Search results for "project"
showing 10 items of 3466 documents
Structural hemispheric asymmetries underlie verbal Stroop performance
2017
Performance on tasks involving cognitive control such as the Stroop task is often associated with left lateralized brain activations. Based on this neuro-functional evidence, we tested whether leftward structural grey matter asymmetries would also predict inter-individual differences in combatting Stroop interference. To check for the specificity of the results, both a verbal Stroop task and a spatial one were administered to a total of 111 healthy young individuals, for whom T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) images were also acquired. Surface thickness and area estimations were calculated using FreeSurfer. Participants' hemispheres were registered to a symmetric template and Lat…
Fumaric acid ester treatment in cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE): a prospective, open-label, phase II pilot study.
2016
Objective The aim of the study was to assess the efficacy and safety of fumaric acid esters (FAEs) in patients with cutaneous lupus erythematosus (CLE). Methods In this 24-week, prospective, open-label, phase II pilot study, 11 patients with CLE, refractory to topical corticosteroids, were included. The primary endpoint of the study was the evaluation of the efficacy of FAEs after 24 weeks of treatment as assessed by the Revised Cutaneous Lupus Disease Area and Severity Index (RCLASI). Results Compared to baseline, significant improvement in the mean total RCLASI activity score and the mean RCLASI activity score for skin lesions was observed in week 12 ( p = 0.002, p = 0.002, respectively) …
Urinary levels of enniatin B and its phase I metabolites: First human pilot biomonitoring study
2018
Abstract Enniatins (Enns) are mycotoxins produced by Fusarium spp. and are widely distributed contaminants of cereals and derivate products. Among the different identified enniatins, Enn B is the most relevant analogue in cereals in Europe. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate for the first time the occurrence of Enn B and Enn B phase I metabolites in 300 human urine samples throughout an ultrahigh-performance liquid chromatography-high resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap HRMS) methodology. Three different sample preparation procedures were evaluated and salting-out liquid-liquid extraction showed satisfactory validation results. Enn B was quantified in 83.7% of sa…
Pathological implications of Th1/Th2 cytokine genetic variants in Behçet's disease: Data from a pilot study in a Sicilian population
2013
Cytokines act as pleiotropic polypeptides able to regulate inflammatory/immune responses and to provide important signals in physiological and pathological processes. Several cytokines (Th1, Th2, and Th17) seem to be involved in the pathophysiology of Behçet's disease, a chronic immune-mediated disease characterized by oral and genital lesions and ocular inflammation. Its individual susceptibility seems to be modulated by genetic variants in genes codifying these cytokines. Th1 and Th17 seem to be involved in the disease's active phases, and Th2 seems to affect the development or severity of the disease; however, contrasting data are reported. In this study, some genetic variants of the Th1…
The health of irregular and illegal immigrants: analysis of day-hospital admissions in a department of migration medicine
2011
It is difficult to trace full details of the path which irregular or illegal immigrants follow when seeking assistance in the network of the various hospital departments and health structures. The aim of this work was to analyze the health needs of immigrant people by reviewing the types of treatment given to them in the day-hospital of our Department of Migration Medicine. Our study analyzed day-hospital admissions between 2003 and 2009. The patient charts used for managing day-hospital activity were adopted in 2002 in conformity with the "OSI project". From these it is possible to draw up a scale picture of the distribution of each pathology in the immigrant population. The sample populat…
Task-Modulated Corticocortical Synchrony in the Cognitive-Motor Network Supporting Handwriting
2019
Abstract Both motor and cognitive aspects of behavior depend on dynamic, accurately timed neural processes in large-scale brain networks. Here, we studied synchronous interplay between cortical regions during production of cognitive-motor sequences in humans. Specifically, variants of handwriting that differed in motor variability, linguistic content, and memorization of movement cues were contrasted to unveil functional sensitivity of corticocortical connections. Data-driven magnetoencephalography mapping (n = 10) uncovered modulation of mostly left-hemispheric corticocortical interactions, as quantified by relative changes in phase synchronization. At low frequencies (~2–13 Hz), enhanced …
Does order and timing in performance of imagined and actual movements affect the motor imagery process? The duration of walking and writing task.
2002
The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effects on the duration of imagined movements of changes in timing and order of performance of actual and imagined movement. Two groups of subjects had to actually execute and imagine a walking and a writing task. The first group first executed 10 trials of the actual movements (block A) and then imagined the same movements at different intervals: immediately after actual movements (block I-1) and after 25 min (I-2), 50 min (I-3) and 75 min (I-4) interval. The second group first imagined and then actually executed the tasks. The duration of actual and imagined movements, recorded by means of an electronic stopwatch operated by the subj…
Lessons learnt from TB screening in closed immigration centres in Italy
2016
Background Between June 2012 and December 2013 Médecins Sans Frontières launched a pilot project with the aim of testing a strategy for improving timely diagnosis of active pulmonary TB among migrants hosted in four centres of identification and expulsion (CIE) in Italy. Methods This is a descriptive study. For active TB case finding we used an active symptom screening approach among migrants at admission in four CIE's. Here we describe the feasibility and the yield of this programme. Results Overall, 3588 migrants were screened, among whom 87 (2.4%) had a positive questionnaire. Out of 30 migrants referred for further investigations, three were diagnosed as having TB, or 0.1% out of 3588 i…
Preference between two methods of active-alert hypnosis: not all techniques are created equal.
1999
Abstract In a cross-over design (N = 80), we compared the differential liking and preference for two hypnotic techniques involving physical activity: Active-alert and waking-alert (or alert-hand) procedures. Participants expressed significantly higher liking and preference for the waking-alert as compared to the active-alert procedure. The latter technique, which also had significantly lower suggestibility scores (Cardena et al., 1998) was also associated with a significantly higher attrition rate (23%). These significant differences may be explained by the greater physical effort and difficulty associated with the active-alert technique. It seems that the waking-alert method extends the ad…
Mental Imagery Training Increases Wanting of Rewards and Reward Sensitivity and Reduces Depressive Symptoms.
2017
High reward sensitivity and wanting of rewarding stimuli help to identify and motivate repetition of pleasant activities. This behavioral activation is thought to increase positive emotions. Therefore, both mechanisms are highly relevant for resilience against depressive symptoms. Yet, these mechanisms have not been targeted by psychotherapeutic interventions. In the present study, we tested a mental imagery training comprising eight 10-minute sessions every second day and delivered via the Internet to healthy volunteers (N = 30, 21 female, mean age of 23.8 years, Caucasian) who were preselected for low reward sensitivity. Participants were paired according to age, sex, reward sensitivity, …