Archivio Istituzionale della Ricerca- Università del Piemonte Orientale
Not a member yet
52951 research outputs found
Sort by
Are you sure? Measuring models bias in content moderation through uncertainty
Get PDFAutomatic content moderation is crucial to ensuring safety in social media. Language Model-based classifiers are increasingly adopted for this task, but it has been shown that they perpetuate racial and social biases. Even if several resources and benchmark corpora have been developed to challenge this issue, measuring the fairness of models in content moderation remains an open issue. In this work, we present an unsupervised approach that benchmarks models on the basis of their uncertainty in classifying messages annotated by people belonging to vulnerable groups. We use uncertainty, computed by means of the conformal prediction technique, as a proxy to analyze the bias of 11 models (LMs and LLMs) against women and non-white annotators and observe to what extent it diverges from metrics based on performance, such as the F1 score. The results show that some pre-trained models predict with high accuracy the labels coming from minority groups, even if the confidence in their prediction is low. Therefore, by measuring the confidence of models, we are able to see which groups of annotators are better represented in pre-trained models and lead the debiasing process of these models before their effective use
The clinical approach to child and adolescent patients with lipodystrophy: a series of international case discussions
Get PDFIntroduction: Lipodystrophy syndromes comprise a group of rare endocrine disorders characterized by the generalized or partial loss of adipose tissue. Affected individuals frequently display absolute or relative reductions in leptin, a key adipokine regulator of hunger-satiety signaling, and are predisposed to a range of metabolic and end-organ complications, often from a young age. The presentation and severity of lipodystrophy syndromes is largely dependent on the extent of adipose tissue loss while comorbidities often deteriorate with age. In this regard, optimizing care for children and adolescents with lipodystrophy syndromes is a pivotal step in supporting them into adulthood. To assist clinicians with limited experience of managing young patients with lipodystrophy syndromes, we describe our clinical approach to a series of pediatric patients with these rare diseases. Methods: The clinical history, diagnosis, disease management and follow-up care of 10 international pediatric patients with lipodystrophy syndromes are presented. Teaching points from each case study are also provided. Most of these cases are based on patients from our clinics with certain details changed to protect privacy. Others represent hypothetical scenarios based on our clinical experience supported by review of the medical literature and are included here for educational purposes. Results: Our patients illustrate the broad phenotypic spectrum of lipodystrophy syndromes that can manifest early in life. We highlight the importance of timely and accurate diagnosis in guiding early disease management strategies to help reduce the risk of comorbidities. The challenges faced by clinicians managing pediatric patients with lipodystrophy syndromes and how these challenges may differ from adult patients are also explored. Discussion: The cases presented in this manuscript may assist clinical teams to promptly diagnose and holistically manage young patients with lipodystrophy syndromes and help optimize clinical outcomes as they transition to adult care
An adamantane-based ligand as a novel chemical tool for thermosensory TRPM8 channel therapeutic modulation
No full textTransient receptor potential cation channel subfamily M member 8 (TRPM8) is a nonselective thermosensory cation channel expressed in peripheral nociceptor terminals where it transduces cold temperatures and cooling agents such as menthol. TRPM8 dysfunction has been involved in disabling sensory symptoms, such as cold allodynia. In addition, its widespread expression has signaled this channel as a pivotal therapeutic target for a variety of diseases, from peripheral neuropathies to cancer. Thus, the design and therapeutic validation of TRPM8 antagonists is an important endeavor in biomedicine. To address this, we used the multicomponent Passerini and Ugi reactions to design a novel family of TRPM8 modulators using as a scaffold the adamantane ring that exhibits drug-like qualities. These green chemistry transformations are ideal for the fast synthesis of libraries of medium complexity with minimal or no generation of waste by-products. We report the identification of a family of TRPM8 agonists and antagonists. Among them, 2-((3S,5S,7S)-adamantan-1-ylamino)-2-oxoethyl [1,1 '-biphenyl]-2-carboxylate (referred to as compound 23) is a potent and selective antagonist that reduces TRPM8-induced neuronal firing in primary nociceptor cultures. Compound 23 exhibits 10-fold higher potency for human TRPM8 (hTRPM8) than for hTRPV1 and hTRPA1 channels. Notably, local administration of compound 23 significantly attenuated oxaliplatin-induced peripheral cold allodynia by modulating epidermal TRPM8 sensory endings. Thus, alpha-acyloxy carboxamide 23 appears as a promising therapeutic candidate to topically intervene on TRPM8-mediated peripheral neuropathies
XPO-1 targeting in chronic lymphocytic leukemia: is there potential for therapeutic strategy?
No full textNo abstract availabl
La biofilia, fra eredità genetica e cultura
Get PDFLa cultura media la nostra relazione con le altre specie e con l'ambiente. Ma il suo intervento non avviene su una tabula rasa. Siamo co-evoluti per milioni di anni in stretto contatto e interazione con il nostro pianeta. Questo legame pare essere iscritto nel nostro stesso genoma.
Secondo importanti studi di psicologia ambientale, alla base della nostra attrazione per quanto siamo soliti chiamare "natura" c'è un legame psichico innato, chiamato "biofilia". Importante fonte di benessere sul piano fisico, cognitivo ed emotivo, la biofilia corrisponde a un bisogno psichico primario che non puo' essere disatteso senza conseguenze.
E tuttavia, la biofilia non si esprime necessariamente. Il suo sviluppo dipende, in modo rilevante, dalla trasmissione culturale. Imbricata fra genetica e cultura, fra umano e non-umano, ed estremamente importante sul piano del comportamento pro-ambientale, la biofilia pare all'autrice come un nuovo e promettente campo di ricerca per l'antropologia educativa
Tra diritto alla salute e diritto all’istruzione: governance e disuguaglianze territoriali nella gestione delle malattie croniche a scuola
No full textResoconto Ornitologico per la regione Piemonte - Valle d’Aosta. Anno 2024. Progetti coordinati
No full textThis new issue of the Resoconto Ornitologico Annuale for Piedmont and Aosta Valley (ROAN) is focused on the results of the monitoring censuses coordinated by the GPSO in the year 2024. In particular, we are presenting the results of the wintering wildfowl census, the data from the heronry census, the census of the Sacred ibises’ roosts and the wintering Common Cranes in our Region. The ringing activities carried out during the period in question are also described
System size and energy dependence of the mean transverse momentum fluctuations at the LHC
Get PDFEvent-by-event fluctuations of the event-wise mean transverse momentum, ⟨pT⟩, of charged particles produced in proton–proton (pp) collisions at s = 5.02 TeV, Xe–Xe collisions at sNN = 5.44 TeV, and Pb–Pb collisions at sNN = 5.02 TeV are studied using the ALICE detector based on the integral correlator ⟨⟨ΔpTΔpT⟩⟩. The correlator strength is found to decrease monotonically with increasing produced charged-particle multiplicity measured at midrapidity in all three systems. In Xe–Xe and Pb–Pb collisions, the multiplicity dependence of the correlator deviates significantly from a simple power-law scaling as well as from the predictions of the HIJING and AMPT models. The observed deviation from power-law scaling is expected from transverse radial flow in semicentral to central Xe–Xe and Pb–Pb collisions. In pp collisions, the correlation strength is also studied by classifying the events based on the transverse spherocity, S0, of the particle production at midrapidity, used as a proxy for the presence of a pronounced back-to-back jet topology. Low-spherocity (jetty) events feature a larger correlation strength than those with high spherocity (isotropic). The strength and multiplicity dependence of jetty and isotropic events are well reproduced by calculations with the PYTHIA 8 and EPOS LHC models
Investigating the Impact of Microgravity on Cancer Cell Behavior and Drug Response: Implications for Novel Therapeutic Strategies
Get PDFThis PhD thesis investigates the profound impact of simulated microgravity (SMG) on both cancerous and non-cancerous cellular behavior and their drug responses. Specifically, this thesis examines cancer induction in pleura mesothelial cells and SMG-induced alterations in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) cells, highlighting Trichostatin A's (TSA) potential to restore normal cellular phenotypes. Ultimately, this work highlights simulated microgravity as an exciting new avenue for cancer biology and for developing advanced 3D cell culture models. Further insights reveal that SMG induces a tumoral switch in mesothelial cells by altering cytoskeleton and adhesion proteins (actin, vinculin, connexin-43). SMG exposure leads to expression patterns of tumoral markers (p27, CD44, Fibulin-3, NANOG) and cancer-related genes (NANOG, CDH-1, Zeb-1) resembling malignant cells. In PDAC cell line, the research work details the molecular and proteomic effects of TSA treatment under SMG. This treatment significantly impacts cell growth, modulates cytokeratin, and influences proteins involved in apoptosis, metabolism, and synthesis. It impairs the cell cycle (Cdc42, G1/G2-, G2/M-phase transitions), and modifies survival, autophagy, transcription regulation, and DNA repair pathways. Crucially, TSA downregulates stem cell potency markers while upregulating differentiation-inducing proteins. These findings suggest TSA's capability to restore the cellular phenotype, reduce proliferation, and induce cell death, offering a promising therapeutic direction
The Durum Wheat miRNAome
Get PDFSmall non-coding RNAs are RNA molecules that do not code for a protein, but still retain a fundamental biological role as negative regulators of gene expression; among them the most studied are the miRNAs, 21- and 22-nt long molecules that interfere in trans with a target mRNA. Notably, miRNAs are rarely responsible for an on/off regulation, but more often fine tune gene expression involved in several relevant biological processes such as plant development and organ morphogenesis, biotic and abiotic stress response, nutrient homeostasis, flowering time, and secondary metabolism. About 30 publications describing miRNAs in durum wheat are available through the literature. After downloading all miRNA sequences from these publications, a total of 7544 different precursors and 7267 miRNAs have been counted. This chapter reviews the durum wheat miRNAome and focuses on the most relevant miRNA/target-RNA modules as well as their role in plant development and biotic/abiotic stress tolerance