Hypnotic trait and attentional functions: a psychophysiological study

In questo lavoro abbiamo studiato le capacità attentive di individui con diversa suscettibilità all’ipnosi allo scopo di evidenziare possibili differenze legate al tratto ipnotico. La suscettibilità ipnotica fa riferimento ad un tratto individuale, presente all’incirca nel 10-15% degli individui sani, che li rende capaci di accettare suggestioni modificando, conseguentemente, le loro esperienze coscienti. Recentemente, nell’ambito dell’ipnosi sperimentale il concetto che l’ipnotizzabilità sia strettamente legata a particolari caratteristiche attentive dei soggetti è ormai largamente condiviso. Tuttavia, è ancora dibattuto se, durante la veglia, il sistema attentivo dei soggetti altamente suscettibili all’ipnosi (highs, H) sia effettivamente più efficiente rispetto a quello dei soggetti non suscettibili (lows, L). La prima parte di questa tesi ha cercato di studiare l’esistenza di una relazione tra suscettibilità ipnotica e funzioni attentive, concentrandosi sugli effetti della manipolazione dell’attenzione durante test di attenzione visiva effettuati su individui svegli con diversi livelli di ipnotizzabilità. Nel primo esperimento è stato studiata la possibile relazione tra ipnotizzabilità e attenzione spaziale mediante l’Attention Network Test (ANT). Nel secondo esperimento abbiamo studiato gli effetti della manipolazione dell’attenzione sulla memoria implicita di highs e lows. Nel terzo abbiamo cercato di analizzare le dinamiche temporali dell’attenzione visiva in highs e lows utilizzando l’Attentional Blink (AB) test. I risultati sui tre test mostravano un andamento comune con tempi di reazione più brevi per gli highs rispetto ai lows e una capacità di utilizzare le risorse attentive in ambito visivo che risentiva meno delle limitazioni temporali. Questi dati vengono discussi in termini di una possibile interazione tra regioni frontali e locus coeruleus. Questi risultati suggeriscono che le differenze legate all’ipnotizzabilità possono interessare anche le dinamiche del processamento attentivo. Per quanto riguarda l’ultima parte della tesi presentiamo i risultati iniziali di uno studio psicofisiologico, mirato ad indagare le possibili differenze tra highs e lows a partire dalle fasi più precoci dell’elaborazione degli stimoli uditivi, mediante l’impiego di test con tempi di reazione e la registrazione degli ERP. Nonostante i risultati preliminari, i dati risultavano diversi rispetto a quelli ottenuti nel dominio visivo. L’analisi effettuata sulla latenza e l’ampiezza dei picchi delle componenti prese in considerazione (P100, N170, P200 e N400) ha indicato che durante la fase precoce del processamento delle parole highs e lows presentavano differenze sia nella latenza che nell’ampiezza delle varie componenti nonchè una diversa distribuzione emisferica

Data-driven Intra-operative Estimation of Anatomical Attachments for Autonomous Tissue Dissection

The execution of surgical tasks by an Autonomous Robotic System (ARS) requires an up-to-date model of the current surgical environment, which has to be deduced from measurements collected during task execution. In this work, we propose to automate tissue dissection tasks by introducing a convolutional neural network, called BA-Net, to predict the location of attachment points between adjacent tissues. BA-Net identifies the attachment areas from a single partial view of the deformed surface, without any a-priori knowledge about their location. The proposed method guarantees a very fast prediction time, which makes it ideal for intra-operative applications. Experimental validation is carried out on both simulated and real world phantom data of soft tissue manipulation performed with the da Vinci Research Kit (dVRK). The obtained results demonstrate that BA-Net provides robust predictions at varying geometric configurations, material properties, distributions of attachment points and grasping point locations. The estimation of attachment points provided by BA-Net improves the simulation of the anatomical environment where the system is acting, leading to a median simulation error below 5mm in all the tested conditions. BA-Net can thus further support an ARS by providing a more robust test bench for the robotic actions intra-operatively, in particular when replanning is needed. The method and collected dataset are available at https://gitlab.com/altairLab/banet

Language modulation by hypnotizability

During upright stance that is an attention consuming task, subjects with high (Highs) hypnotic susceptibility have shown a similar ability at guided visual imagery, but a greater ability at somestetic imagery than individuals with low hypnotizability (Lows). Aim of the study was to assess whether any sensory modality preferences can be observed in the language of Highs and Lows

Evidence of SARS-CoV-2 in nasal brushings and olfactory mucosa biopsies of COVID-19 patients

The aim of the present study is to detect the presence of SARS-CoV-2 of patients affected by COVID-19 in olfactory mucosa (OM), sampled with nasal brushing (NB) and biopsy, and to assess whether a non-invasive procedure, such as NB, might be used as a large-scale procedure for demonstrating SARS-CoV-2 presence in olfactory neuroepithelium. Nasal brushings obtained from all the COVID-19 patients resulted positive to SARS-CoV-2 immunocytochemistry while controls were negative. Double immunofluorescence showed that SARS-CoV-2 positive cells included supporting cells as well as olfactory neurons and basal cells. OM biopsies showed an uneven distribution of SARS-CoV-2 positivity along the olfactory neuroepithelium, while OM from controls were negative. SARS-CoV-2 was distinctively found in sustentacular cells, olfactory neurons, and basal cells, supporting what was observed in NB. Ultrastructural analysis of OM biopsies showed SARS-CoV-2 viral particles in the cytoplasm of sustentacular cells. This study shows the presence of SARS-CoV-2 at the level of the olfactory neuroepithelium in patients affected by COVID-19. For the first time, we used NB as a rapid non-invasive tool for assessing a potential neuroinvasion by SARS-CoV-2 infection

Bile Acid Recognition by NAPE-PLD

The membrane-associated enzyme NAPE-PLD (N-acyl phosphatidylethanolamine specific-phospholipase D) generates the endogenous cannabinoid arachidonylethanolamide and other lipid signaling amides, including oleoylethanolamide and palmitoylethanolamide. These bioactive molecules play important roles in several physiological pathways including stress and pain response, appetite and lifespan. Recently, we reported the crystal structure of human NAPE-PLD and discovered specific binding sites for the bile acid deoxycholic acid. In this study we demonstrate that in the presence of this secondary bile acid, the stiffness of the protein measured by elastic neutron scattering increases, and NAPE-PLD results ~7 times faster to catalyze the hydrolysis of the more unsaturated substrate N-arachidonyl-phosphatidylethanolamine, compared with N-palmitoyl-phosphatidylethanolamine. Chenodeoxycholic acid and glyco- or tauro-dihydroxy conjugates can also bind to NAPE-PLD and drive its activation. The only natural monohydroxy bile acid, lithocholic acid, shows an affinity of ~20 μM and acts instead as a reversible inhibitor (IC(50) ≈ 68 μM). Overall, these findings provide important insights into the allosteric regulation of the enzyme mediated by bile acid cofactors, and reveal that NAPE-PLD responds primarily to the number and position of their hydroxyl groups

Consumption and Consumer Footprint: methodology and results

This report presents the results of the Life Cycle Indicators (LCIND2) project, aimed at developing two sets of Life cycle Assessment-based indicators for assessing the environmental impact of EU consumption: the Consumption Footprint and the Consumer Footprint. The indicators have been designed aiming at: • monitoring the evolution of impacts over time in the EU and the Member States as well as the progress towards decoupling economic growth from environmental impacts • building an LCA-based framework for assessing relevant consumption and eco-innovation policies. The methodology shall measure the environmental impacts from three different perspectives at end consumer product group level; consumption areas (food, housing, mobility, consumer goods, and appliances); the average EU consumer. • developing a single headline indicator to monitor the evolution of the overall environmental impacts of EU consumption and production at macro level. This includes the elaboration of a specific framework on which to build such indicator and complete time-series for each Member State and European Union as a whole. • testing ecoinnovation scenarios along the supply chains, from extraction of raw materials, to consumer behaviour, up to end of life options. This science for policy report is complemented by a technical report, where methodological details and assumptions as well as comparison with other available studies are reported.JRC.D.1-Bio-econom

Daytime naps improve motor imagery learning

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Intraspecific variability of leaf form and function across habitat types

: Trait-based ecology has already revealed main independent axes of trait variation defining trait spaces that summarize plant adaptive strategies, but often ignoring intraspecific trait variability (ITV). By using empirical ITV-level data for two independent dimensions of leaf form and function and 167 species across five habitat types (coastal dunes, forests, grasslands, heathlands, wetlands) in the Italian peninsula, we found that ITV: (i) rotated the axes of trait variation that define the trait space; (ii) increased the variance explained by these axes and (iii) affected the functional structure of the target trait space. However, the magnitude of these effects was rather small and depended on the trait and habitat type. Our results reinforce the idea that ITV is context-dependent, calling for careful extrapolations of ITV patterns across traits and spatial scales. Importantly, our study provides a framework that can be used to start integrating ITV into trait space analyses