Search results for "57"
showing 10 items of 4186 documents
High-density electromyography activity in various hamstring exercises
2019
Proximal-distal differences in muscle activity are rarely considered when defining the activity level of hamstring muscles. The aim of this study was to determine the inter-muscular and proximal-distal electromyography (EMG) activity patterns of hamstring muscles during common hamstring exercises. Nineteen amateur athletes without a history of hamstring injury performed 9 exercises, while EMG activity was recorded along the biceps femoris long head (BFlh) and semitendinosus (ST) muscles using 15-channel high-density electromyography (HD-EMG) electrodes. EMG activity levels normalized to those of a maximal voluntary isometric contraction (%MVIC) were determined for the eccentric and concentr…
Efficacy of an internet-based exposure treatment for flying phobia (NO-FEAR Airlines) with and without therapist guidance: a randomized controlled tr…
2019
Background Internet-based treatments appear to be a promising way to enhance the in vivo exposure approach, specifically in terms of acceptability and access to treatment. However, the literature on specific phobias is scarce, and, as far as we know, there are no studies on Flying Phobia (FP). This study aims to investigate the effectiveness of an Internet-based exposure treatment for FP (NO-FEAR Airlines) that includes exposure scenarios composed of images and sounds, versus a waiting-list control group. A secondary aim is to explore two ways of delivering NO-FEAR Airlines, with and without therapist guidance. Methods A randomized controlled trial (RCT) was conducted in which 69 participan…
The temperament of preterm infant in preschool age
2010
Abstract Background The study deals with the characteristics of temperament of preterm infants during their preschool age in order to not only investigate likely "difficult or problematic profiles", guided by impairments driven by their preterm birth, but also to provide guidelines for the activation of interventions of prevention, functional to improve the quality of preterm infant's life. Methods The study involved a group of 105 children where 50 preterm children at the average age of 5 years and 2 months, enrolled in preschools of Palermo. The research planned the child reference teachers to be administered a specific questionnaire, the QUIT, made up of 60 items investigating six specif…
Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) Improves Facial Affect Recognition in Schizophrenia
2014
Abstract Objective Facial affect recognition, a basic building block of social cognition, is often impaired in schizophrenia. Poor facial affect recognition is closely related to poor functional outcome; however, neither social cognitive impairments nor functional outcome are sufficiently improved by antipsychotic drug treatment alone. Adjunctive repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has been shown to enhance cognitive functioning in both healthy individuals and in people with neuropsychiatric disorders and to ameliorate clinical symptoms in psychiatric disorders, but its effects on social cognitive impairments in schizophrenia have not yet been studied. Therefore, we evaluate…
TRANSCRANIAL DIRECT CURRENT STIMULATION ENHANCES SUCKING OF A LIQUID BOLUS IN HEALTHY HUMANS
2014
Abstract Background Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive technique used for modulating cortical excitability in vivo in humans. Here we evaluated the effect of tDCS on behavioral and electrophysiological aspects of physiological sucking and swallowing. Methods Twelve healthy subjects underwent three tDCS sessions (anodal, cathodal and sham stimulation) on separate days in a double-blind randomized order. The active electrode was placed over the right swallowing motor cortex. Repeated sucking and swallowing acts were performed at baseline and at 15 and 60 min after each tDCS session and the mean liquid bolus volume ingested at each time point was measured. We also…
Prefrontal and temporo-parietal involvement in taking others' perspective: TMS evidence.
2008
INTRODUCTION: Understanding the mental states of others entails a number of cognitive processes known as Theory of Mind (ToM). Behavioural and functional neuroimaging evidence suggests that prefrontal and temporo-parietal cortices are involved in these abilities. The present study was aimed at investigating the role of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and temporo-parietal junction in ToM by using a repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) paradigm. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Eleven healthy subjects participated in the study. The experimental ToM procedure was constituted by false belief and faux-pas written stories. Subjects were evaluated in baseline condition (Sham) and after 1Hz …
Recognition memory and prefrontal cortex: Dissociating recollection and familiarity processes using rTMS
2008
Recognition memory can be supported by both the assessment of the familiarity of an item and by the recollection of the context in which an item was encountered. The neural substrates of these memory processes are controversial. To address these issues we applied repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) over the right and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) of healthy subjects performing a remember/know task. rTMS disrupted familiarity judgments when applied before encoding of stimuli over both right and left DLPFC. rTMS disrupted recollection when applied before encoding of stimuli over the right DLPFC. These findings suggest that the DLPFC plays a critical role in recog…
The role of Posterior Parietal Cortex in spatial representation of time: a TMS study.
2011
1. Introduction. The existence of a spatial representation of time, where temporal intervals are represented on a mental temporal line (MTL), oriented in ascending order from left to right, was demonstrated manipulating spatial attention by means of Prismatic Adaptation (PA). In young healthy subjects, prisms adaptation inducing a rightward shift of spatialattention produced an overestimation of time intervals, whereas prisms adaptation inducing a leftward shift of spatialattention produced an underestimation of time intervals [4]. The aimof the present study was to investigate the neural basis mediating the effects of PA on spatial time representation. PosteriorParietalCortex (PPC) is the …
Expansion of intestinal Prevotella copri correlates with enhanced susceptibility to arthritis.
2013
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a prevalent systemic autoimmune disease, caused by a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Animal models suggest a role for intestinal bacteria in supporting the systemic immune response required for joint inflammation. Here we performed 16S sequencing on 114 stool samples from rheumatoid arthritis patients and controls, and shotgun sequencing on a subset of 44 such samples. We identified the presence of Prevotella copri as strongly correlated with disease in new-onset untreated rheumatoid arthritis (NORA) patients. Increases in Prevotella abundance correlated with a reduction in Bacteroides and a loss of reportedly beneficial microbes in NORA subjec…
Onset of depressive symptomatology in a sample of university students
2018
The aim of the study was to evaluate depressive symptomatology within the student population of the University of Palermo (Italy). An anonymous online questionnaire was provided to the students of the University of Palermo. The first section investigated demographic and social data, while in the second section the QIDSSR16 (Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology Self-Report) test was administered. 539 students (68.3% female) gave informed consent and completed the questionnaire. Considering as a dependent variable: Depressive symptomatology moderate-severe-very severe, the statistically significant independent variables associated are I don't live with my family (aOR 1.63, 95% CI 1.01…