COGNITIVE AND AFFECTIVE THEORY OF MIND IN NORMAL AGING AND NEURODEGENERATIVE DISEASES

La presente dissertazione si focalizza sui cambiamenti nella Teoria della Mente (ToM) cognitiva e affettiva nelle patologie neurodegenerative e, in particolare, nel Decadimento Cognitivo Lieve (Mild Cognitive Impairment, MCI), una condizione preclinica ad elevato rischio di conversione in demenza. È stato pertanto indagato: A) se le prestazioni ToM possono essere considerate un marcatore della progressione di malattia (capitoli 2 e 3); B) se le prestazioni ToM possono rappresentare una potenziale misura di outcome di un intervento riabilitativo multidimensionale (capitolo 3); C) se i compiti ToM possono costituire validi strumenti di assessment per discriminare tra successful e unsuccessful aging (capitolo 3) e tra patologie neurodegenerative differenti (capitolo 4). In particolare: Il capitolo 2 valuta i cambiamenti legati all’evoluzione nel tempo delle abilità ToM in persone con MCI di tipo amnestico (aMCI), mettendo in luce un possibile collegamento tra ToM e processi cognitivi nei soggetti aMCI e suggerendo l’importanza di considerare la ToM in aggiunta alla valutazione neuropsicologica standard. Il capitolo 3 ha indagato longitudinalmente i potenziali cambiamenti delle abilità ToM cognitive e affettive in un campione di soggetti MCI coinvolto in un trattamento multidimensionale domiciliare (Multi-Stimulation Therapy@Home - MST@H) sviluppato per potenziare le abilità motorie, cognitive e sociali. I risultati hanno suggerito che entrambe le dimensioni della ToM possono essere considerate potenziali predittori della progressione di malattia, in relazione alle strategie di intervento contro la conversione in demenza. Infine, nel capitolo 4 è stata utilizzata la versione italiana computerizzata dello Yoni task (Shamay-Tsoory & Aharon-Peretz, 2007) in soggetti MCI e con Malattia di Parkinson (MP). I nostri risultati preliminari hanno dimostrato che, a differenza di altri test convenzionali, lo Yoni task è in grado di rilevare un deficit ToM a differenti livelli (cognitivo vs. affettivo, primo- vs. secondo-ordine) nelle persone con MCI e MP sin dalle fasi iniziali di malattia.The present dissertation focused attention on age-related changes in cognitive and affective Theory of Mind in neurodegenerative conditions and, in particular, in Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), a prodromal clinical phase with a high risk to develop dementia. Specifically, we investigated: A) if ToM performance could be considered a marker of disease progression (Chapters 2 and 3); B) if ToM performance could represent a potential outcome measure of a multidimensional intervention (Chapter 3); C) if ToM tasks could constitute valid assessment tools to discriminate between successful and unsuccessful aging (Chapter 3) and between different neurodegenerative pathologies (Chapter 4). In particular: Chapter 2 evaluates the developmental changes of ToM in people with amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI), highlighting a possible link between ToM and cognitive processes in this population. These preliminary findings introduce the importance to add ToM evaluation to the standard neuropsychological assessment in people at risk to develop dementia. Chapter 3 investigates, in a longitudinal perspective, potential changes in cognitive and affective ToM abilities in an aMCI sample involved in a Multi-Stimulation Treatment at Home (MST@H) developed to reinforce motor, cognitive, and social skills. The results suggested that both cognitive and affective ToM can be considered as potential longitudinal predictors of disease progression, also in relation to intervention strategies towards the conversion into dementia. Finally, Chapter 4 investigates ToM tasks as assessment tools able to distinguish between different neurodegenerative pathologies. We investigated both cognitive and affective dimensions of ToM using the computerized Italian version of the Yoni task (Shamay-Tsoory & Aharon-Peretz, 2007) in MCI and Parkinson’s Disease (PD). Our preliminary results showed that the Yoni task, in comparison with conventional ToM measures, is able to detect different patterns of ToM impairment (cognitive vs. affective, first- vs. second-order) in people with MCI and PD from the early stages of the disease

Mating strategy is determinant of adenovirus prevalence in European bats

Adenoviruses are double-strained DNA viruses found in a great number of vertebrates, including humans. In order to understand their transmission dynamics, it is crucial, even from a human health perspective, to investigate how host traits influence their prevalence. Bats are important reservoirs for adenoviruses, and here we use the results of recent screenings in Western Europe to evaluate the association between characteristic traits of bat species and their probability of hosting adenoviruses, taking into account their phylogenetic relationships. Across species, we found an important phylogenetic component in the presence of adenoviruses and mating strategy as the most determinant factor conditioning the prevalence of adenoviruses across bat species. Contrary to other more stable mating strategies (e.g. harems), swarming could hinder transmission of adenoviruses since this strategy implies that contacts between individuals are too short. Alternatively, bat species with more promiscuous behavior may develop a stronger immune system. Outstandingly high prevalence of adenoviruses was reported for the Iberian species Pipistrellus pygmaeus, P. kuhlii and Nyctalus lasiopterus and we found that in the latter, males were more likely to be infected by adenoviruses than females, due to the immunosuppressing consequence of testosterone during the mating season. As a general trend across species, we found that the number of adenoviruses positive individuals was different across localities and that the difference in prevalence between populations was correlated with their geographic distances for two of the three studied bat species (P. pygmaeus and P.kuhlii). These results increase our knowledge about the transmission mechanisms of adenoviruses.This work received support from: grant number: SAF2006-12784-C02/01-02 to JE, JJ, IC; URLs to sponsors’ websites: http://www.ciencia.gob.es/portal/site/MICINN/menuitem.7eeac5cd345b4f34f09dfd1001432ea0/?vgnextoid=beebec05f2a7d210VgnVCM1000001d04140aRCRD; grant numbers: SAF2009-09172 to JE, JJ; URLs to sponsors’ websites: http://www.ciencia.gob.es/portal/site/MICINN/menuitem.7eeac5cd345b4f34f09dfd1001432ea0/?vgnextoid=fe5aec1eb658c310VgnVCM1000001d04140aRCRD; grant numbers: SAF2013-47194-P to JE, JJ, GP, OP; URLs to sponsors’ websites: http://www.ciencia.gob.es/portal/site/MICINN/menuitem.7eeac5cd345b4f34f09dfd1001432ea0/?vgnextoid=0b7f11a1c35d0610VgnVCM1000001d04140aRCRD; grant numbers: SAF2017-89355-P to JE, JJ, GP, OP, JB; URLs to sponsors’ websites: http://www.ciencia.gob.es/portal/site/MICINN/menuitem.7eeac5cd345b4f34f09dfd1001432ea0/?vgnextoid=abf192b9036c2210VgnVCM1000001d04140aRCRD; grant numbers: PI15CIII/00028 to IC, MMIC; URLs to sponsors’ websites: http://www.ciencia.gob.es/portal/site/MICINN. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.S

Roadside Car Surveys: Methodological Constraints and Solutions for Estimating Parrot Abundances across the World

Parrots stand out among birds because of their poor conservation status and the lack of available information on their population sizes and trends. Estimating parrot abundance is complicated by the high mobility, gregariousness, patchy distributions, and rarity of many species. Roadside car surveys can be useful to cover large areas and increase the probability of detecting spatially aggregated species or those occurring at very low densities. However, such surveys may be biased due to their inability to handle differences in detectability among species and habitats. We conducted 98 roadside surveys, covering > 57,000 km across 20 countries and the main world biomes, recording ca. 120,000 parrots from 137 species. We found that larger and more gregarious species are more easily visually detected and at greater distances, with variations among biomes. However, raw estimates of relative parrot abundances (individuals/km) were strongly correlated (r = 0.86–0.93) with parrot densities (individuals/km2) estimated through distance sampling (DS) models, showing that variability in abundances among species (>40 orders of magnitude) overcomes any potential detectability bias. While both methods provide similar results, DS cannot be used to study parrot communities or monitor the population trends of all parrot species as it requires a minimum of encounters that are not reached for most species (64% in our case), mainly the rarest and more threatened. However, DS may be the most suitable choice for some species-specific studies of common species. We summarize the strengths and weaknesses of both methods to guide researchers in choosing the best–fitting option for their particular research hypotheses, characteristics of the species studied, and logistical constraints.This research was funded by Fundación Biodiversidad (Spanish Ministerio de Medio Ambiente, project 52I.CA2109), Fundación Repsol, Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (Project CGL2015-71378-P), and mostly by Loro Parque Fundación (Project SEJI/2018/024).Peer reviewe

Il Benchmarking dell'Enoturismo

Il turismo del vino \ue8 un fenomeno in crescita nelle aree viticole di tutto il mondo e a partire dalla seconda met\ue0 degli anni '90 del secolo scorso si \ue8 sviluppato un filone di ricerca che ha inteso approfondire diversi aspetti, dallo studio del fenomeno in senso stretto, all'analisi dell'enoturista e del suo comportamento. In questo contributo si valuta il concetto di benchmarking nell'enoturismo con l'intento di delineare degli indicatori utili per una classificazione ovvero una valutazione comparativa dell'enoturismo nel mond

Assistenti Sociali e Maltrattamento Infantile: conoscenze e prassi operative degli operatori nel territorio Veneto

Il maltrattamento infantile determina gravi conseguenze sul benessere dei bambini con un conseguente altissimo costo sociale per tutta la societ\ue0. Attraverso la somministrazione di un questionario ad assistenti sociali dei servizi di tutela (comunali e sociosanitari) e dei servizi sociosanitari altri rispetto alla tutela (p.e. Servizi per le Dipendenze o per la Salute Mentale) si \ue8 voluto indagare la conoscenza del fenomeno del maltrattamento infantile e le prassi operative attualmente utilizzate. I risultati hanno evidenziato sia elementi positivi, quali l\u2019adeguata conoscenza del fenomeno, quanto elementi di criticit\ue0, quali le carenze nella fase di segnalazione da parte degli operatori non direttamente impegnati nella tutela

Whole-Head Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy as an Ecological Monitoring Tool for Assessing Cortical Activity in Parkinson’s Disease Patients at Different Stages

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is increasingly employed as an ecological neuroimaging technique in assessing age-related chronic neurological disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease (PD), mainly providing a cross-sectional characterization of clinical phenotypes in ecological settings. Current fNIRS studies in PD have investigated the effects of motor and non-motor impairment on cortical activity during gait and postural stability tasks, but no study has employed fNIRS as an ecological neuroimaging tool to assess PD at different stages. Therefore, in this work, we sought to investigate the cortical activity of PD patients during a motor grasping task and its relationship with both the staging of the pathology and its clinical variables. This study considered 39 PD patients (age 69.0 ± 7.64, 38 right-handed), subdivided into two groups at different stages by the Hoehn and Yahr (HY) scale: early PD (ePD; N = 13, HY = [1; 1.5]) and moderate PD (mPD; N = 26, HY = [2; 2.5; 3]). We employed a whole-head fNIRS system with 102 measurement channels to monitor brain activity. Group-level activation maps and region of interest (ROI) analysis were computed for ePD, mPD, and ePD vs. mPD contrasts. A ROI-based correlation analysis was also performed with respect to contrasted subject-level fNIRS data, focusing on age, a Cognitive Reserve Index questionnaire (CRIQ), disease duration, the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS), and performances in the Stroop Color and Word (SCW) test. We observed group differences in age, disease duration, and the UPDRS, while no significant differences were found for CRIQ or SCW scores. Group-level activation maps revealed that the ePD group presented higher activation in motor and occipital areas than the mPD group, while the inverse trend was found in frontal areas. Significant correlations with CRIQ, disease duration, the UPDRS, and the SCW were mostly found in non-motor areas. The results are in line with current fNIRS and functional and anatomical MRI scientific literature suggesting that non-motor areas—primarily the prefrontal cortex area—provide a compensation mechanism for PD motor impairment. fNIRS may serve as a viable support for the longitudinal assessment of therapeutic and rehabilitation procedures, and define new prodromal, low-cost, and ecological biomarkers of disease progression

System Integrated Digital Empowering and teleRehabilitation to promote patient Activation and well-Being in chronic disabilities: A usability and acceptability study

IntroductionTelerehabilitation systems represent a promising way for the management of chronic disability, delivering technology-enabled rehabilitation outside the hospital setting. However, usability and acceptability assessment with users represents a critical starting point when using digital healthcare solutions. This study aims at evaluating the user experience with a Telerehabilitation system (SIDERA∧B) from the end-user side.MethodsSIDERA∧B consists of an asynchronous delivery of rehabilitation activities through multimedia digital contents and tele-monitoring of vital parameters with technological devices for individualized, home-based management of chronic conditions. Usability (with the System Usability Scale, SUS) and acceptability (using the Technology Acceptance Model, TAM - and The Service User Technology Acceptance Questionnaire, SUTAQ) data were analyzed from the dataset of the SIDERA∧B project (N = 112 patients with Chronic Heart Failure, Parkinson's Disease and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease). The possible influence of five external factors (i.e., technological expertise, education, sex, age, and level of disability) on TAM domains was tested using Spearman's Correlation analysis.ResultsResults showed a satisfactory level of technological usability (SUS Median = 77.5) and good scores in usability and learnability SUS subdomains (mean scores > 2.5). Regarding technological acceptability, participants showed high scores (Median > 4) in “Behavioral Intention”, “Perceived Usefulness”, and “Perceived Ease of Use” TAM domains. Finally, results from the SUTAQ scale highlighted that the SIDERA∧B system obtained optimal scores in all domains, especially in “Increased accessibility,” “Care personnel concerns,” and “Satisfaction.” Age (rho = −0.291, p = 0.002) and disability level (WHODAS Total score: rho = −0.218, p = 0.021) were the two external factors inversely associated with the Perceived Ease of Use.DiscussionThe age of digital transformation requires everyone to understand, accept and master the changes affecting modern-day healthcare. The usability and acceptability of the SIDERA∧B system were high across all end-users, despite the medium-low level of the technological expertise of the sample. These findings support the efficiency and the suitability of these digital solutions in the modern digital age transition of rehabilitation from inside to outside the clinic

EXIT 360°-EXecutive-functions innovative tool 360°-A simple and effective way to study executive functions in parkinson’s disease by using 360° videos

Executive dysfunction represents a common non-motor symptom in Parkinson’s disease (PD), with a substantial negative impact on daily functioning and quality of life. Assessing executive functions (EFs) with ecological tools is therefore essential. The ecological limitations of traditional neuropsychological tests have led to increased use of virtual reality and 360° environment-based tools for the assessment of EFs in real life. The study aims to evaluate the efficacy and usability of the EXecutive-Functions Innovative Tool 360° (EXIT 360°), a 360°-based tool for the evaluation of EFs in PD. Twenty-five individuals with PD and 25 healthy controls (HC) were assessed with a conventional neuropsychological battery and EXIT 360° delivered via a head-mounted display. EXIT 360° will show a domestic scenario and seven different subtasks of increasing complexity, and will collect verbal responses, reaction times, and physiological data. We expect that EXIT 360° will be judged usable, engaging, and challenging. Moreover, we expect to find a highly convergent (conventional test and EXIT 360°) and diagnostic validity (individuals with PD vs. HC). The validation of EXIT 360° will allow for the adoption of a fast, ecological, and useful instrument for PD screening, likely transforming the assessment for the clinic and the patient

A Psychometric Tool for Evaluating Executive Functions in Parkinson’s Disease

Recently, there has been an increasing interest in using 360◦ virtual-reality video for an ecologically valid assessment of executive functioning in the neurologic population. In this framework, we have developed the EXecutive-functions Innovative Tool (EXIT 360◦ ), an original 360◦-based instrument for a multicomponent, ecologically valid evaluation of executive functioning in Parkinson’s Disease (PD). This work aimed to test the usability and user experience of EXIT 360◦ in patients with PD (PwPD). Twenty-seven PwPD and twenty-seven healthy controls underwent an evaluation that involved: (1) usability assessment by the System Usability Scale and (2) evaluation of user experience using the ICT—Sense of Presence and User Experience Questionnaire. Results showed a satisfactory level of usability for patients (mean = 76.94 ± 9.18) and controls (mean = 80 ± 11.22), with good scores for usability and learnability. Regarding user experience, patients provided a positive overall impression of the tool, evaluating it as attractive, enjoyable, activating, and funny. Moreover, EXIT 360◦ showed good pragmatic (e.g., efficient, fast, clear) and hedonic quality (e.g., exciting, interesting, and creative). Finally, PwPD considered EXIT 360◦ as an original tool with high ecological validity (mean = 4.29 ± 0.61), spatial presence (mean = 3.11 ± 0.83) and engagement (mean = 3.43 ± 0.54) without relevant adverse effects. Technological expertise had no impact on performance. Overall, EXIT 360◦ appeared to be a usable, easy-to-learn, engaging, and innovative instrument for PD. Further studies will be conducted to deepen its efficacy in distinguishing between healthy subjects and patients with executive dysfunctions