A DISSUADER FOR ANIMALS

A dissuader (1) for animals (1a) is envisaged comprising: an emitter (2) of a sound emission to fend off animals (1a); the sound emission comprises a main sound wave comprising a first emission period at a first frequency; a second emission period at a frequency variable from the first to a second frequency; a third emission period at said second frequency; a fourth emission period at a frequency variable from the second frequency to the first frequency

Effects of combined Transcranial direct current stimulation with cognitive training in girls with Rett syndrome

Background: Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) combined with traditional rehabilitative techniques has not been widely applied to Rett Syndrome (RTT). The aim of this study was to examine the effects of combined cognitive traditional training with tDCS applied to attention and language measures in subjects with RTT. Methods: 31 subjects with RTT were randomly allocated into two groups: Non-sham tDCS (n = 18) and sham tDCS (n = 13). The former received the integrated intervention non-sham tDCS plus cognitive empowerment during the treatment phase. The latter received sham stimulation plus cognitive empowerment. All participants underwent neurological and cognitive assessment to evaluate attention and language measures: Before integrated treatment (pre-test phase), at the conclusion of the treatment (post-test phase), and at 1 month after the conclusion of the treatment (follow-up phase). Results: The results indicated longer attention time in the non-sham tDCS group compared to the sham tDCS group with a stable trend also in the follow-up phase; an increase of the number of vowel/phoneme sounds in the non-sham tDCS group; and an improvement in the neurophysiological parameters in the non-sham tDCS group. Conclusions: This study supports the use of tDCS as a promising and alternative approach in the RTT rehabilitation field

Needs of Female Outpatients with Alcohol Use Disorder: Data from an Italian Study

Aims: Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a common mental disorder characterized by sex-gender differences (SGDs). The present study was aimed at evaluating attitudes displayed by Italian AUD treatment services towards investigating the presence of SGDs in their patients and implementing gender-specific treatments for female AUD patients. Methods: Potential SGDs were initially investigated in a sample of AUD outpatients, subsequently followed by a national survey on the adoption of specific interventions for female AUD outpatients. Results: The presence of SGDs was confirmed in a sample of 525 (332 men; 193 women) AUD outpatients, including a higher prevalence of anxiety and mood disorders, and episodes of violence and trauma among female AUD outpatients compared to males. Despite the presence of these SGDs, only less than 20% of a total of 217 Italian AUD treatment services reported the implementation of specific strategies for female AUD outpatients. The majority of services (94%) reported investigating episodes of violence and/or trauma, largely resorting to specific procedures only when these issues were detected. Conclusions: Our findings confirm the presence of SGDs among AUD outpatients, including a higher prevalence of anxiety and mood disorders and episodes of violence and trauma among females compared to males. However, only a small number of services has adopted a gender medicine approach in AUD treatment. These results underline the urgency of investigating the specific needs of female, male, and non-binary AUD patients in order to personalize and enhance the effectiveness and appeal of AUD treatment

Gamma Hydroxybutyric Acid (GHB) for the Treatment of Alcohol Dependence: A Review

Gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GHB) is a short-chain fatty acid structurally similar to the inhibitory neurotransmitter γ-aminobutyric acid. Clinical trials have demonstrated that 50–100 mg/kg of GHB fractioned into three or six daily doses is able to suppress alcohol withdrawal symptoms and facilitates the maintenance of abstinence from alcohol. These studies have also shown that GHB craving episodes are a very limited phenomenon (about 10–15%). Thus, physicians with access should consider the clinical efficacy of GHB as a valid pharmacological tool for the treatment of alcohol addiction

Guidelines for the use and interpretation of diagnostic methods in adult food allergy

Food allergy has an increasing prevalence in the general population and in Italy concerns 8 % of people with allergies. The spectrum of its clinical manifestations ranges from mild symptoms up to potentially fatal anaphylactic shock. A number of patients can be diagnosed easily by the use of first- and second-level procedures (history, skin tests and allergen specific IgE). Patients with complex presentation, such as multiple sensitizations and pollen-food syndromes, frequently require a third-level approach including molecular diagnostics, which enables the design of a component-resolved sensitization profile for each patient. The use of such techniques involves specialists' and experts' skills on the issue to appropriately meet the diagnostic and therapeutic needs of patients. Particularly, educational programs for allergists on the use and interpretation of molecular diagnostics are needed

Interfacce multimodale: sviluppo di algoritmi per il riconoscimento vocale e la sintesi audiovisiva di volti parlanti

Dottorato di ricerca in ingegneria elettronica ed informatica. 12. ciclo. Relatori Carlo Braccini e Fabio LavagettoConsiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche - Biblioteca Centrale - P.le Aldo Moro, 7, Rome; Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale - Piazza Cavalleggeri, 1, Florence / CNR - Consiglio Nazionale delle RichercheSIGLEITItal

A Neural Clustering Algorithm for Estimating Visible Articulatory Trajectory

. The bimodal acoustic-visual nature of speech establishes sound correlations between its audio component and the corresponding articulatory information associated to the time-varying geometry of the vocal tract. In this paper we propose an estimation structure consisting of a simplified Time-Delay Neural Network (TDNN) working on 4-5 dimensional cepstrum trajectories provided by a preceding clusterization layer based on a Self Organizing Map (SOM). The use of this pre-processing layer has allowed an effective non-linear clusterization of cepstrum vectors thus simplifying of one order the complexity of the resulting system while maintaining unchanged the global estimation performances. The achieved results are shown in terms estimation precision and robustness with reference to previously published results. 1 A direct approach to articulatory estimation The objective of any direct approach to articulatory estimation is the design of a suitable mechanism for mapping a predefined acoust..

Lip Movements Synthesis Using Time Delay Neural Networks

A method exploiting the audio-visual correlation of speech in order to estimate the lip and mouth movements is presented. Its applications are in the field of aids and services for elderly people, in videotelephony, in cartoons and movie dubbing. Notice that lip movements synthesis does not imply speech recognition and that the mouth shape is not only specified by the phoneme currently uttered but it also depends on some past and future speech information. In order to take into account this temporal correlation, and considering the constraint of computational effectiveness, the Time Delay Neural Networks (TDNNs) seem to be the most appropriate analysis tool in comparison with methods like Markov Models, which are more resource consuming. 1 INTRODUCTION In a model-based videophone the encoder performs a visual analysis and transmits the extracted parameters to the receiver, which then animates a facial model. The measured visual parameters describing the shape of the person's lips are..