Développement d’une nouvelle thérapie ciblant l’anomie des verbes d’action : validation comportementale et exploration des corrélats neurofonctionnels de ses effets dans les cas d’aphasie

L’aphasie est un trouble acquis du langage survenant suite à une lésion cérébrale, le plus souvent suite à un accident vasculaire cérébral. Les conséquences des troubles du langage sont multiples et diminuent de manière importante la qualité de vie des personnes avec aphasie. L’anomie ou manque du mot en est la manifestation la plus fréquente et persistante, et ce, quel que soit le type d’aphasie. Le manque du mot peut porter sur les noms, mais aussi sur les verbes. Ces derniers jouent d’ailleurs un rôle central dans la construction des énoncés. Alors que l’anomie des verbes est plus fréquente que celle des noms, les thérapies les ciblant restent moins nombreuses que celles pour les noms. En accord avec la cognition incarnée et située, l’usage de stratégies sensorimotrices telles que l’exécution du geste ou l’observation de l’action semble pouvoir faciliter la dénomination de verbes. Cependant, les travaux publiés jusqu’à présent ne montrent que très peu d’effet de généralisation aux items non entraînés, qui est pourtant l’objectif clinique à atteindre par excellence. Ces études n’ont utilisé en général qu’une seule de ces stratégies, ne considérant pas l’imagerie mentale pourtant en lien avec le traitement de l’action. De plus, ces études incluent rarement les recommandations issues des neurosciences. L’objectif de ce travail doctoral fut alors (1) d’élaborer une nouvelle thérapie à partir de ces constats théoriques et méthodologiques, (2) d’évaluer son « efficacité » au niveau comportemental et enfin (3) de rechercher les substrats neurofonctionnels associés à la thérapie. Les résultats indiquent une amélioration significative de la dénomination d’actions auprès des 10 participants inclus. Plus important, cette amélioration est également valable pour les verbes non entraînés traduisant un effet de généralisation. De plus, cette amélioration se maintient à deux mois et à six mois après la thérapie. Les analyses neurofonctionnelles, conduites auprès de deux patients, montrent une implication des aires appartenant aux réseaux langagier et sensorimoteur lors de la dénomination d’actions. Enfin, les analyses de connectivité au repos, auprès de quatre participants, suggèrent une meilleure intégration dans les réseaux visuomoteurs et moteurs associés à la dénomination de l’action. Ces données préliminaires indiquent que les changements neurofonctionnels sont associés à la nature de la thérapie combinant des stratégies sensorimotrices pour faciliter la dénomination des verbes. Prises ensemble, ces données s’avèrent très prometteuses quant à l’efficacité de POEM, en particulier à travers l’effet de généralisation. Bien que les échantillons soient modestes, la robustesse des analyses employées et la convergence des résultats avec les données existantes dans la littérature et à travers les modalités d’études (niveau comportemental et neurofonctionnel) permettent d’être optimiste quant aux applications cliniques possibles de cette thérapie. Enfin, les perspectives théoriques, à travers la cognition incarnée, et pratiques, avec les limites et travaux toujours en cours sont discutées au regard de la littérature existante.Aphasia is a language impairment due to a brain lesion, most often following a stroke. Language impairments lead to multiple negative outcomes and significantly impoverish the quality of life of persons living with aphasia. Anomia is the most frequent and persistent symptom across all kinds of aphasia. Anomia can be observed for nouns, but also for verbs. Moreover, the latter are at the core of the sentences. Despite the fact that verb anomia is more frequent than anomia with nouns, there is much less interventions available to treat verbs’ anomia. Accordingly, with embodied cognition theory, sensorimotor strategies, such as action execution and action observation seem to improve verb naming. However, published studied show only a very limited generalization effect when this effect is the gold standard of clinical practice. These studies are generally based on only one strategy and did not use mental imagery which was found to be related with action processing. Moreover, these studies rarely include recommendations from the work in neuroscience. The present PhD project aims to (1) develop a new sensorimotor therapy taking into account these theoretical and methodological points, (2) evaluate its « efficacy » at a behavioural level, and (3) seek its neurofunctional underpinning functioning. The results reveal a significant improvement of the verb naming performance for the 10 persons with aphasia. More importantly, this improvement is also observed for the untrained verbs signalling a generalization effect. In addition, the effects are still present after two and six months following the end of the therapy. The neurofunctional results, for the two participants included, confirm the involvement of language and sensorimotor areas during action naming. Finally, resting state connectivity analyses performed with four participants suggest higher integration in the visuomotor and motor networks involved in action naming. These preliminary data support the idea that neurofonctional changes are associated with the nature of the therapy combining different sensorimotor strategies to improve verb naming. Taken together, these results are very promising regarding the efficacy of this new therapy, mainly through the generalization effect. Even if the sample size is limited, the robustness of the analyses and the convergence of the results with the existing data of the literature and through the different modalities of the studies (behavioural and neurofunctional) allow to be optimistic for the clinical applications of the therapy. Finally, the theoretical perspectives, with the embodied cognition theory, as well as the practical ones, with the limits of the projects and the ongoing work, are discussed in light of the existing literature

TIC y motivación en estudiantes del área de ciencia y tecnología de la Institución Educativa Pública Virgen de Fátima-Huancayo, 2022

La investigación tuvo como objetivo general determinar la relación entre el uso de las TIC y la motivación en estudiantes del área de ciencia y tecnología de la Institución Educativa Pública Virgen de Fátima-Huancayo, 2022. En la investigación se aplicó el enfoque cuantitativo, de tipo básico, nivel descriptivo - correlacional, el método fue hipotético deductivo, el diseño fue no experimental, de corte trasversal. La población estuvo constituida por 834 estudiantes, con una muestra de 114 estudiantes del primer año de secundaria; la recolección de datos fue por encuestas con escala de Likert. Las conclusiones fueron, que el uso de las TIC se relaciona significativamente con la motivación en estudiantes del área de CyT de la I.E.P Virgen de Fátima de Huancayo, 2022. (Sig. bilateral es de 0.000, rs = 0.504); asimismo, se evidenció que el uso de las TIC se relaciona significativamente con la motivación intrínseca y extrínseca en estudiantes del área de CyT de la I.E.P Virgen de Fátima de Huancayo, 2022. (Significancia bilateral 0.000, rs = 0.542 y Significancia bilateral 0.000, rs = 0.349, respectivamente)

A methodology for the design of dynamic accuracy operators by runtime back bias

Mobile and IoT applications must balance increasing processing demands with limited power and cost budgets. Approximate computing achieves this goal leveraging the error tolerance features common in many emerging applications to reduce power consumption. In particular, adequate (i.e., energy/quality-configurable) hardware operators are key components in an error tolerant system. Existing implementations of these operators require significant architectural modifications, hence they are often design-specific and tend to have large overheads compared to accurate units. In this paper, we propose a methodology to design adequate data-path operators in an automatic way, which uses threshold voltage scaling as a knob to dynamically control the power/accuracy tradeoff. The method overcomes the limitations of previous solutions based on supply voltage scaling, in that it introduces lower overheads and it allows fine-grain regulation of this tradeoff. We demonstrate our approach on a state-of-the-art 28nm FDSOI technology, exploiting the strong effect of back biasing on threshold voltage. Results show a power consumption reduction of as much as 39% compared to solutions based only on supply voltage scaling, at iso-accuracy

Valor compartido en el sector minero metálico del Perú

Esta investigación tuvo como finalidad describir la situación actual de creación de valor compartido (CVC) en siete empresas del sector de minería metálica en el Perú, se identificó el conocimiento de dichas empresas sobre el concepto, el conocimiento y las formas potenciales de CVC, la predisposición para crear VC y la descripción de CVC con enfoque en stakeholders usando la teoría del valor. La investigación tuvo un enfoque cuantitativo de alcance descriptivo y diseño longitudinal no experimental, en base a una muestra no probabilística por conveniencia de siete empresas de la gran minería metálica. De la revisión de antecedentes de la investigación, se infirió que no existe un estudio bajo estas características en el contexto peruano, por ello su importancia en la contribución del conocimiento académico y científico. Como resultado de la investigación se determinó que las empresas analizadas tienen conocimiento sobre la existencia del concepto de valor compartido, aunque las definiciones varían por cada empresa, éstas mostrarían aproximaciones conceptuales a lo planteado por Porter y Kramer (2011). Otro aspecto importante es que el concepto de VC de manera oficial no forma parte de las políticas y estrategias de intervención social en las empresas estudiadas, solo una empresa en la actualidad desarrolla su gestión social bajo los lineamientos de VC. De las matrices de iniciativas de involucramiento con stakeholders por cada empresa estudiada, se pudo identificar prácticas potenciales de generación de VC en los tres niveles de creación planteados por Porter y Kramer (2011). Se encontró que el nivel más común desarrollado fue la redefinición de la productividad en la cadena de valor, caracterizado por el interés en mejorar la productividad de los colaboradores y el abastecimiento. Finalmente, características como la vida útil de las operaciones mineras y el relacionamiento temprano con comunidades con un débil servicio público, hacen necesario que las empresas mineras estudiadas opten por recursos locales y se involucren en el desarrollo comunal con el objetivo de poner en marcha sus proyectos mineros. Una posición favorable que se constituye como una etapa inicial de abordar los problemas sociales y económicos de las comunidades anfitrionas con un modelo de negocio innovadorThis research is intended to describe the current situation of creating shared value (CSV) of seven enterprises in the metal mining sector, enterprises that are under study. There is a special emphasis in the following areas; description of the extent to which the enterprises know this concept, the forms of CSV, description of the preparation made to implement the CSV, and finally description of the CSV with a focus from the stakeholders using the theory of value. The research had a quantitative focus of descriptive scope and longitudinal nonexperimental design, based on a random sample of the most representative enterprises of the big-sized metallic mining companies currently working in our country (seven of them). As there is no previous research of this nature in the Peruvian context, this effort represents a great contribution for the scientific knowledge in the area and it will be a reference for further researches too. One of the findings of the current research is that the companies analyzed have knowledge about the existence of the concept of shared value, although the definitions could vary by each company, these ones can show conceptual approaches to the ones proposed by Porter and Kramer (2011). Another important aspect is that the concept of CVC is not officially part of the policies and strategies of social intervention in the companies studied, only one of them is currently using it under the CVC guidelines. Based on the analyses of the sustainability reports and classified the main information according to the three levels of CSV creation pointed out by Porter and Kramer (2011). That was found was that the most common level developed in the companies under study turned out to be the redefinition of productivity in the main chain value, characterized by the interest in different aspects such as the improvement of the local labor capacity, the strengthening of the value chain, the enhancement of the employment of hydric resources and the maximization of the use of energy and other resources used in mining operation. In order to start mining operations in communities with a weak public service, it is necessary for mining companies to commit to the development of local resources and community development This favorable position is an opportunity to face social problems through an innovative business modelTesi

Nutrimetabolomics: An Integrative Action for Metabolomic Analyses in Human Nutritional Studies

The life sciences are currently being transformed by an unprecedented wave of developments in molecular analysis, which include important advances in instrumental analysis as well as biocomputing. In light of the central role played by metabolism in nutrition, metabolomics is rapidly being established as a key analytical tool in human nutritional studies. Consequently, an increasing number of nutritionists integrate metabolomics into their study designs. Within this dynamic landscape, the potential of nutritional metabolomics (nutrimetabolomics) to be translated into a science, which can impact on health policies, still needs to be realized. A key element to reach this goal is the ability of the research community to join, to collectively make the best use of the potential offered by nutritional metabolomics. This article, therefore, provides a methodological description of nutritional metabolomics that reflects on the state‐of‐the‐art techniques used in the laboratories of the Food Biomarker Alliance (funded by the European Joint Programming Initiative "A Healthy Diet for a Healthy Life" (JPI HDHL)) as well as points of reflections to harmonize this field. It is not intended to be exhaustive but rather to present a pragmatic guidance on metabolomic methodologies, providing readers with useful "tips and tricks" along the analytical workflow

Synthetic Double-Stranded RNAs Are Adjuvants for the Induction of T Helper 1 and Humoral Immune Responses to Human Papillomavirus in Rhesus Macaques

Toll-like receptor (TLR) ligands are being considered as adjuvants for the induction of antigen-specific immune responses, as in the design of vaccines. Polyriboinosinic-polyribocytoidylic acid (poly I:C), a synthetic double-stranded RNA (dsRNA), is recognized by TLR3 and other intracellular receptors. Poly ICLC is a poly I:C analogue, which has been stabilized against the serum nucleases that are present in the plasma of primates. Poly I:C12U, another analogue, is less toxic but also less stable in vivo than poly I:C, and TLR3 is essential for its recognition. To study the effects of these compounds on the induction of protein-specific immune responses in an animal model relevant to humans, rhesus macaques were immunized subcutaneously (s.c.) with keyhole limpet hemocyanin (KLH) or human papillomavirus (HPV)16 capsomeres with or without dsRNA or a control adjuvant, the TLR9 ligand CpG-C. All dsRNA compounds served as adjuvants for KLH-specific cellular immune responses, with the highest proliferative responses being observed with 2 mg/animal poly ICLC (p = 0.002) or 6 mg/animal poly I:C12U (p = 0.001) when compared with immunization with KLH alone. Notably, poly ICLC—but not CpG-C given at the same dose—also helped to induce HPV16-specific Th1 immune responses while both adjuvants supported the induction of strong anti-HPV16 L1 antibody responses as determined by ELISA and neutralization assay. In contrast, control animals injected with HPV16 capsomeres alone did not develop substantial HPV16-specific immune responses. Injection of dsRNA led to increased numbers of cells producing the T cell–activating chemokines CXCL9 and CXCL10 as detected by in situ hybridization in draining lymph nodes 18 hours after injections, and to increased serum levels of CXCL10 (p = 0.01). This was paralleled by the reduced production of the homeostatic T cell–attracting chemokine CCL21. Thus, synthetic dsRNAs induce an innate chemokine response and act as adjuvants for virus-specific Th1 and humoral immune responses in nonhuman primates

Functional connectivity in post-stroke aphasia: innovative tools at the service of evidence-based practice

Introduction: Stroke remains a major health problem with over 800,000 people living with post-stroke aphasia in Canada. In post-stroke aphasia, the resulting language deficits are the source of long-term handicap. From a neurofunctional perspective, aphasia affects the integrity of neural networks contributing to language processing. Specifically, the canonical language network (CLN), including Broca and Wernicke is altered after a stroke. More recently, our team documented poor integration within the default mode network (DMN), in patients with chronic aphasia, and improved connectivity after noun anomia therapy with SFA/N (Semantic Feature Analysis). The purpose of the present study was to examine DMN network dynamics within the context of verb anomia therapy with a modified version of SFA, adapted to verb anomia therapy (SFA/V) More specifically, the aim is to examine DMN integration before and after therapy with SFA, and to gather functional connectivity pre-therapy markers that characterize a good response to SFA/V. Methodology: Nine participants with chronic aphasia and moderate to severe anomia, secondary to a left-hemisphere stroke (between 4 and 25 years post-stroke) received from SFA/V to improve verb production. Functional connectivity markers of good response to SFA/V were gathered within the DMN. Measures were collected in healthy controls, and in persons with aphasia during two fMRI sessions, prior- and post SFA/V therapy. Functional connectivity was quantified via integration measures reflecting synchronously different brain areas are engaged during a given task. Results: Prior to SFA/V, functional integration with the DMN was decreased in participants with aphasia, as compared with controls. After SFA/V, a functional connectivity within the DMN improved, concurrently with behavioral improvement in verb naming. Moreover, functional connectivity within the DMN showed a distinct pattern following SFA/V, as compared to SFA/N, from our previous work (Marcotte et al 2013). Specifically, with SFA/V a normalization of integration values was observed particularly in the anterior DMN sub-network, whereas with SFA/N, the main contribution to normalization within the DMN connectivity came from the posterior sub-network. Moreover, there was a positive correlation between DMN connectivity prior to therapy, and verb naming recovery following SFA/V (r=0.710, p= 0.032), mostly explained by the posterior subnetwork contribution (r = 0.817; p= 0.007) Discussion: This study presents an innovative approach to clinical management in post-stroke aphasia. Specifically, the evidence shows that specific anomia therapy for verbs normalizes DMN integration, thus reflecting the large scope impact of speech therapy. Also, the correlation between DMN integration values and reactivity to SFA/V shows that DMN status before therapy can be predictive of response to specific therapy. Altogether, these results show that functional integration measures of the DMN can highlight prognosis and therapy efficiency in aphasia rehabilitation

[pt] CLASSIFICAÇÃO DE HEMATITAS EM MINÉRIO DE FERRO: OTIMIZAÇÃO DE AQUISIÇÃO E PROCESSAMENTO DE IMAGENS

O minério de ferro é um material policristalino oriundo de processos naturais complexos. Os minerais mais comuns que o compõem (hematita, magnetita, goethita, etc.) podem ser identificados no microscópio ótico de luz refletida, através de suas refletâncias distintas. A importância do estudo das hematitas, especificamente, surge porque os maiores depósitos de minério de ferro, no Brasil, são praticamente todos do tipo hematítico, com altos teores de ferro. A hematita é um mineral fortemente anisotrópico que apresenta pleocroísmo de reflexão. Isto faz com que o brilho na imagem mude com diferentes orientações dos cristais. Assim, quando se utiliza luz polarizada, o contraste entre os cristais aumenta o suficiente para diferenciá-los. Tradicionalmente, as hematitas são classificadas em tipos texturais identificados como hematita microcristalina (Mc), martita (Ma), e partículas policristalinas compactas (Co) formadas, por sua vez, de cristais dos tipos: granular (Gr), lamelar (La), lobular (Lo). Em trabalhos anteriores foi desenvolvida uma rotina de classificação automática para os diferentes tipos de hematitas. Esta rotina utiliza como entrada duas imagens de uma mesma região, a primeira em campo claro (CC) e a segunda polarizada circularmente (CPOL). Neste trabalho foram implementadas modificações nas etapas de aquisição das imagens CPOL e no processamento de ruído, visando melhorar as etapas de classificação. Assim, a imagem CPOL, que apresenta problemas característicos de iluminação, passou a ser capturada utilizando o recurso de sub-quadros (subframe), o que elimina a necessidade de correção de fundo, melhorando a qualidade dos mosaicos de imagens capturados. Em seguida, explorou-se recurso de saturação digital da câmera, de forma a melhorar, substancialmente, o contraste entre os cristais de hematita. Finalmente, testou-se o impacto do uso de um novo filtro de redução de ruído – Non-Local Means (MNL) – sobre a segmentação de cristais. Os resultados mostraram uma melhora substancial na identificação dos tipos texturais de hematita com relação aos métodos anteriores e também superiores à tradicional identificação visual por operador treinado.Iron ore is a polycrystalline material originated from complex natural processes. Its main composing minerals (hematite, magnetite, goethite, etc.) can be identified with the reflected light optical microscope through their distinctive reflectances. The relevance of studying hematite, specifically, originates from the fact that the largest Brazilian iron deposits are mostly of the hematitic type, with high iron content. Hematite is a strongly anisotropic mineral that presents reflectance pleocroism. Thus, different crystal orientations produce different brightness and, when using polarized light, the contrast between crystals is strong enough to allow their discrimination. Traditionally, hematites are classified in textural types identified as microcrystalline (Mc), martite (Ma) and compact polycristalline (Co), composed of granula (Gr), lamellar (La) and lobular (Lo) crystals. An automatic classification routine for hematite types was developed in previous works. This routine takes as input two images of the same region, one in Bright Field and the second in Circular Polarization (CPOL). In this work, modifications in the CPOL image acquisition and in noise filtering were implemented, in order to improve the classification step. Thus, the CPOL images, which present a characteristic background problem, were acquired employing the subframe method, what eliminates the need for background correction, improving the quality of image mosaics. Then, the digital saturation of the camera was optimized to improve substantially the contrast between hematite types. Finally, the impact of a new noise reduction filter – the Non-Local Means Filter – on crystal segmentation was evaluated. The results showed a substantial improvement in the identification of hematite textural types as compared to the previous method, and also superior to the traditional visual identification by an operator

The Neural and Behavioral Correlates of Anomia Recovery following Personalized Observation, Execution, and Mental Imagery Therapy: A Proof of Concept

The impact of sensorimotor strategies on aphasia recovery has rarely been explored. This paper reports on the efficacy of personalized observation, execution, and mental imagery (POEM) therapy, a new approach designed to integrate sensorimotor and language-based strategies to treat verb anomia, a frequent aphasia sign. Two participants with verb anomia were followed up in a pre-/posttherapy fMRI study. POEM was administered in a massed stimulation schedule, with personalized stimuli, resulting in significant improvement in both participants, with both trained and untrained items. Given that the latter finding is rarely reported in the literature, the evidence suggests that POEM favors the implementation of a word retrieval strategy that can be integrated and generalized. Changes in fMRI patterns following POEM reflect a reduction in the number of recruited areas supporting naming and the recruitment of brain areas that belong to the language and mirror neuron systems. The data provide evidence on the efficacy of POEM for verb anomia, while pointing to the added value of combined language and sensorimotor strategies for recovery from verb anomia, contributing to the consolidation of a word retrieval strategy that can be better generalized to untrained words. Future studies with a larger sample of participants are required to further explore this avenue