Improving Production of Treated and Untreated Verbs in Aphasia:A Meta-Analysis

Background: Demographic and clinical predictors of aphasia recovery have been identified in the literature. However, little attention has been devoted to identifying and distinguishing predictors of improvement for different outcomes, e.g., production of treated vs. untreated materials. These outcomes may rely on different mechanisms, and therefore be predicted by different variables. Furthermore, treatment features are not typically accounted for when studying predictors of aphasia recovery. This is partly due to the small numbers of cases reported in studies, but also to limitations of data analysis techniques usually employed. Method: We reviewed the literature on predictors of aphasia recovery, and conducted a meta-analysis of single-case studies designed to assess the efficacy of treatments for verb production. The contribution of demographic, clinical, and treatment-related variables was assessed by means of Random Forests (a machine-learning technique used in classification and regression). Two outcomes were investigated: production of treated (for 142 patients) and untreated verbs (for 166 patients). Results: Improved production of treated verbs was predicted by a three-way interaction of pre-treatment scores on tests for verb comprehension and word repetition, and the frequency of treatment sessions. Improvement in production of untreated verbs was predicted by an interaction including the use of morphological cues, presence of grammatical impairment, pre-treatment scores on a test for noun comprehension, and frequency of treatment sessions. Conclusion: Improvement in the production of treated verbs occurs frequently. It may depend on restoring access to and/or knowledge of lexeme representations, and requires relative sparing of semantic knowledge (as measured by verb comprehension) and phonological output abilities (including working memory, as measured by word repetition). Improvement in the production of untreated verbs has not been reported very often. It may depend on the nature of impaired language representations, and the type of knowledge engaged by treatment: it is more likely to occur where abstract features (semantic and/or grammatical) are damaged and treated.</p

Global statistical regularities modulate the speed of visual search in patients with focal attentional deficits

There is growing evidence that the statistical properties of ensembles of similar objects are processed in a qualitatively different manner than the characteristics of individual items. It has recently been proposed that these types of perceptual statistical representations are part of a strategy to complement focused attention in order to circumvent the visual system’s limited capacity to represent more than a few individual objects in detail. Previous studies have demonstrated that patients with attentional deficits are nonetheless sensitive to these sorts of statistical representations. Here, we examined how such global representations may function to aid patients in overcoming focal attentional limitations by manipulating the statistical regularity of a visual scene while patients performed a search task. Three patients previously diagnosed with visual neglect searched for a target Gabor tilted to the left or right of vertical in displays of horizontal distractor Gabors. Although the local sizes of the distractors changed on every trial, the mean size remained stable for several trials. Patients made faster correct responses to targets in neglected regions of the visual field when global statistics remained constant over several trials, similar to age-matched controls. Given neglect patients’ attentional deficits, these results suggest that stable perceptual representations of global statistics can establish a context to speed search without the need to represent individual elements in detail

The role of semantics and repair processes in article-noun gender disagreement in Italian:An ERP study

In this sentence reading study, we used event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate the processing mechanism of article-noun gender disagreement in two kinds of nouns in Italian. The first are nouns with syntactic gender (il treno(M) 'train' la sedia(F) 'chair') for which the processing and repair of gender disagreement entails only one repair option, namely for the article (morphosyntactic repair). The second kind are nouns with semantic gender (il bambino(M) 'boy', la bambina(F) 'girl'). Here, there are two options for processing and repairing gender mismatch: repairing the article (morphosyntactic repair) or repairing the noun (both morphosyntactic and semantic repair). Both classes of nouns elicited the LAN, indicating that gender disagreement is always registered at the morphosyntactic level. In addition, the P600 was elicited in both conditions, but was larger for semantic gender, reflecting a more complex repair for this class of nouns

Digital transformation in the visual inspection of heritage railways tunnels: Technology, artificial intelligence and methodology

The knowledge, the preservation and the maintenance of heritage infrastructures is one of the most challenging matters facing modern civilization. It involves, in inextricable patterns, factors belonging to different fields (cultural, humanistic, social, technical, economical, administrative) coupled with the requirements of safety that can be in conflict with the integrity of part of the infrastructure. For these reasons, it is fundamental to carry out investigations and new planning strategies to know and predict the conditions of very old structures. The paper focused on heritage railway tunnels, one of the most crucial elements of the railway infrastructures in Europe. ETS Srl introduced a new method for diagnostic of existing tunnels through multi-dimensional mobile mapping systems, and a new approach for the Management and Identification of the Risk for Existing Tunnels. The approach belongs to the digital strategies for infrastructure maintenance that are very fast and minimally invasive. The integrated instrumentation allows to have almost all the information necessary for the diagnostics of a structure with non-destructive tests, preserving the integrity of very old structures in a phase of preliminary assessment. In such a way, the process of visual inspection is automatized and back-officed. The results, in terms of defects on the structures, are digitalized and manipulated in different IT environments. The results can be incorporated in the information modelling and virtual reality inspections. The use of artificial intelligence will be necessary to speed-up the back-office phase and introduce the technologies as a new inspection standard. A case study for the application is presented through the methodologies, including some preliminary applications of AI algorithms for the detection of water defects

Language processing from the perspective of electrical stimulation mapping

Electrical Stimulation (ES) is a neurostimulation technique that is used to localize language functions in the brain of people with intractable epilepsy and/or brain tumors. We reviewed 25 ES articles published between 1984 and 2018 and interpreted them from a cognitive neuropsychological perspective. Our aim was to highlight ES as a tool to further our understanding of cognitive models of language. We focused on associations and dissociations between cognitive functions within the framework of two non-neuroanatomically specified models of language. Also, we discussed parallels between the ES and the stroke literatures and showed how ES data can help us to generate hypotheses regarding how language is processed. A good understanding of cognitive models of language is essential to motivate task selection and to tailor surgical procedures, for example, by avoiding testing the same cognitive functions and understanding which functions may be more or less relevant to be tested during surgery

Can tDCS enhance item-specific effects and generalization after linguistically motivated aphasia therapy for verbs?

Background: Aphasia therapy focusing on abstract properties of language promotes both item-specific effects and generalization to untreated materials. Neuromodulation with transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) has been shown to enhance item-specific improvement, but its potential to enhance generalization has not been systematically investigated. Here, we test the efficacy of ACTION (a linguistically motivated protocol) and tDCS in producing item-specific and generalized improvement in aphasia. Method: Nine individuals with post-stroke aphasia participated in this study. Participants were pre-tested with a diagnostic language battery and a cognitive screening. Experimental tasks were administered over multiple baselines. Production of infinitives, of finite verbs and of full sentences were assessed before and after each treatment phase. Nonword repetition was used as a control measure. Each subject was treated in two phases. Ten daily 1-h treatment sessions were provided per phase, in a double-blind, cross-over design. Linguistically-motivated language therapy focusing on verb inflection and sentence construction was provided in both phases. Each session began with 20 min of real or sham tDCS. Stimulation site was determined individually, based on MRI scans. Results: Group data showed improved production of treated and untreated verbs, attesting the efficacy of behavioral treatment, and its potential to yield generalization. Each individual showed significant item-specific improvement. Generalization occurred in the first phase of treatment for all subjects, and in the second phase for two subjects. Stimulation effects at the group level were significant for treated and untreated verbs altogether, but a ceiling effect for Sham cannot be excluded, as scores between real tDCS and Sham differed only before treatment. Conclusion: Our data demonstrate the efficacy of ACTION and suggest that tDCS may enhance both item-specific effects and generalization.17 page(s

L'Ingegneria della Grande Guerra 1915-1918. Incontro di studio e mostra bibliografica sugli aspetti tecnologici del primo conflitto mondiale

Il volume raccoglie gli atti e i materiali di un seminario di studi e di una mostra bibliografica tenutisi in occasione del primo centenario della Grande guerra presso la Scuola di Ingegneria e Architettura dell’Università di Bologna. Gli interventi indagano l’applicazione e lo sviluppo, in ambito bellico, di tecnologie ingegneristiche che da un lato espressero un tragico potenziale distruttivo, dall’altro ebbero nel conflitto un’occasione di sviluppo. Vi si tratta dell’importanza strategica del petrolio come carburante per navi, carrarmati e aerei e come fonte di energia per le fabbriche, dello sviluppo delle tecniche di mappatura del territorio, la fotogrammetria aerea, delle nuove drammatiche modalità di combattimento e costruzione di ordigni bellici, senza trascurare il più generale contesto dello sviluppo industriale italiano legato alla produzione di armamenti. In appendice si pubblica il catalogo dell’esposizione, tenutasi nell’atrio della Scuola di Ingegneria e Architettura, progettata negli anni ’30 dall’architetto Giuseppe Vaccaro. Questa parte del volume indaga l’interesse tecnico-scientifico dei professori e degli studenti della Scuola d’applicazione per gli ingegneri di Bologna verso il conflitto mondiale; vi sono descritti alcuni documenti bibliografici conservati nelle raccolte storiche della Biblioteca Interdipartimentale di Ingegneria e Architettura. Inoltre lo spoglio della documentazione amministrativa conservata presso l’Archivio Storico dell’Università di Bologna ha fatto riemergere il coinvolgimento umano e l’interesse più generale della comunità, che alla Scuola faceva riferimento: l’entusiasmo degli studenti desiderosi di partecipare al conflitto, lo strazio dei molti lutti e la celebrazione della memoria dei caduti

Synthesis of Bioactive Silver Nanoparticles Using New Bacterial Strains from an Antarctic Consortium

In this study, we report on the synthesis of silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) achieved by using three bacterial strains Rhodococcus, Brevundimonas and Bacillus as reducing and capping agents, newly isolated from a consortium associated with the Antarctic marine ciliate Euplotes focardii. After incubation of these bacteria with a 1 mM solution of AgNO3 at 22 degrees C, AgNPs were synthesized within 24 h. Unlike Rhodococcus and Bacillus, the reduction of Ag+ from AgNO3 into Ag-0 has never been reported for a Brevundimonas strain. The maximum absorbances of these AgNPs in the UV-Vis spectra were in the range of 404 nm and 406 nm. EDAX spectra showed strong signals from the Ag atom and medium signals from C, N and O due to capping protein emissions. TEM analysis showed that the NPs were spherical and rod-shaped, with sizes in the range of 20 to 50 nm, and they were clustered, even though not in contact with one another. Besides aggregation, all the AgNPs showed significant antimicrobial activity. This biosynthesis may play a dual role: detoxification of AgNO3 and pathogen protection against both the bacterium and ciliate. Biosynthetic AgNPs also represent a promising alternative to conventional antibiotics against common nosocomial pathogens

Effects of feeding green forage of sulla (Hedysarum coronarium L.) on lamb growth and carcass and meat quality.

The nutritional effects of sulla (Hedysarum coronarium L.) forage containing condensed tannins (CT) on growth of lambs, and carcass and meat quality were investigated. Thirty-two male Comisana lambs aged 100 ± 8 days weighing 19.0 ± 2.8 kg were fed fresh forage of sulla or CT-free annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam. subsp. Wersterwoldicum) for 49 days until slaughter; in addition, each lamb was supplied with 200 g/days of concentrate. Eight lambs per diet had been previously treated with anthelmintic drugs to remove nematode parasites. Measurements of BW and feed intake, and counts of faecal nematode eggs were made. Carcass parameters were recorded after slaughter, and tissue components of the hind leg were determined. Longissimus dorsi meat was evaluated for pH, colour, thawing and cooking losses, Warner-Bratzler shear force, chemical composition and sensory properties based on triangle tests. Relative to ryegrass-fed lambs, sulla-fed lambs had significantly greater dry matter (DM) and protein intake, a more favourable feed conversion ratio, and superior growth rate, final BW at 150 days of age, carcass weight, yield and fatness. These results were attributed to the high protein and non-structural carbohydrate content of sulla, and also to the moderate CT content of sulla (16.7 and 20.3 g/kg of DM in offered and consumed sulla forage, respectively). Anthelmintic treatment did not affect lamb growth, as the level of parasitic infection (initial and final) was low. The physical, chemical and sensory properties of the lamb meat were not influenced by diet