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Assessing ICD-9-CM and ICPC-2 Use in Primary Care. An Italian Case Study
Get PDFControlled vocabularies and standardized coding systems play a fundamental role in the healthcare domain. The International Classification of Diseases (ICD) is one of the most widely used classification systems for clinical problems and procedures. In Italy the 9th revision of the standard is used and recommended in primary care for encoding prescription documents. This paper describes a statistical and terminological study to assess ICD-9-CM use in primary care and its comparison to the International Classification of Primary Care (ICPC), specifically designed for primary care. The study has been conducted by analyzing the clinical records of about 199,000 patients provided by a set of 166 General Practitioners (GPs) in different Italian areas. The analysis has been based on several techniques for detecting coding practice and errors, like natural language processing and text-similarity comparison. Results showed that the selected GPs do not fully exploit the diseases and procedures descriptive capabilities of ICD-9-CM due to its complexity. Furthermore, compared to ICPC-2, it resulted less feasible in the primary care setting, particularly for the high granularity of the structure and for the lack of reasons for encounters
A New Method for Discovering Disease-Specific MiRNA-Target Regulatory Networks
Get PDFGenes and their expression regulation are among the key factors in the comprehension of the genesis and development of complex diseases. In this context, microRNAs (miRNAs) are post-transcriptional regulators that play an important role in gene expression since they are frequently deregulated in pathologies like cardiovascular disease and cancer. In vitro validation of miRNA - targets regulation is often too expensive and time consuming to be carried out for every possible alternative. As a result, a tool able to provide some criteria to prioritize trials is becoming a pressing need. Moreover, before planning in vitro experiments, the scientist needs to evaluate the miRNA-target genes interaction network. In this paper we describe the?miRablemethod whose purpose is to identify new potentially relevant genes and their interaction networks associate to a specific pathology. To achieve this goal?miRable?follows a system biology approach integrating together general-purpose medical knowledge (literature, Protein-Protein Interaction networks, prediction tools) and pathology specific data (gene expression data). A case study on Prostate Cancer has shown that?miRable?is able to: 1) find new potential miRNA-targets pairs, 2) highlight novel genes potentially involved in a disease but never or little studied before, 3) reconstruct all possible regulatory subnetworks starting from the literature to expand the knowledge on the regulation of miRNA regulatory mechanisms
Proceedings of the NetWordS Final Conference on Word Knowledge and Word Usage: Representations and Processes in the Mental Lexicon
No full textThe international conference "Word Knowledge and Word Usage: Representations and processes in the mental lexicon" is the final outcome of 4 years of intense multi-disciplinary research networking and cooperation funded by the European Science Foundation within the framework of the NetWordS programme (May 2011 - April 2015). NetWordS\u27 mission was to bring together experts of various research fields (from brain sciences and computing to cognition and linguistics) and of different theoretical inclinations, to advance the current awareness of theoretical, typological, psycholinguistic, computational and neurophysiological evidence on the structure and processing of words, with a view to developing novel research paradigms and bringing up a new generation of language scholars. The conference was intended to provide a first forum for assessing current progress of crossdisciplinary research on language architecture and usage, and discussing prospects of future synergy. People are known to memorise, parse and access words in a context-sensitive and opportunistic way, by caching their most habitual and productive processing patterns into routinized behavioural schemes. Speakers not only take advantage of token-based information such as frequency of individual, holistically stored words, but they are also able to organise stored words through paradigmatic structures (or word families) whose overall size and frequency is an important determinant of ease of lexical access and interpretation. Accordingly, lexical organisation is not necessarily functional to descriptive economy and minimisation of storage, but to more performance-oriented factors such as efficiency of memorisation, access and recall. Usage-based approaches to word processing lend support to this view, to promote explanatory frameworks that aim to investigate the stable correlation patterns linking distributional entrenchment of lexical units with productivity, internal structure and ease of interpretation. Ultimately, this is intended to establish a deep interconnection between performance-oriented,low-level lexical functions such as memorisation, rehearsal, access and recall, and their neuroanatomical correlates
Pr?face ? Albert Camus : m?moire et dialogue en M?diterran?e
No full textPreface highlights how the book "Albert Camus: Memory and Dialogue in the Mediterranean" analyses the complexity and brutality of events that affect the very foundations of everyvone\u27s humanity. The history of colonialism as well as that of independence is not the theory of simple changes in political status of a country, but a series of actions whose impact on the tiny and fragile life of everyone is upsetting.La Pr?face met en ?vidence comment le livre "Albert Camus : m?moire et dialogue en M?diterran?e" sonde la complexit? et la brutalit? d\u27?v?nements qui touchent aux fondements m?me de l\u27humanit? de chacun. L\u27histoire des colonialismes ainsi que celle des ind?pendances n\u27est pas la th?orie de simples changements de statut politique d\u27un pays ou d\u27un autre, mais une suite d\u27actions dont l\u27impact sur la vie menue et fragile de tout un chacun est bouleversant
Towards a better Understanding of Aggression and Other Related Concepts
Get PDFThis special issue entitled "Towards a better understanding of aggression and other related concepts" is a product of the XXXVII CICA International Conference co-organized by two Polish universities: Kazimierz Wielki University of Bydgoszcz and the University of Zielona G?ra. It took place from the 22 to the 25 June, 2014 and was attended by about 100 participants from 16 countries [1]. The aim of the Conference was to study the phenomena of aggression and conflict resolution using a comprehensive, integrated and interdisciplinary approach which takes into account both biological and psycho-socio-cultural factors. Several communications dealing with emotions, including anger and fear, and others with behaviors such as aggression, violence and terrorism, have been selected for this issue. The discussion on aggression and other related concepts is carried out from various scientific perspectives, which include traditional experimental psychology with a special focus on the role of family relationships and cultural factors, social and political psychology with a special focus on the role of State policies, and other theoretical perspectives which try to integrate their psychological framework with contributions from western and eastern philosophy, the neurosciences, biology, quantum physics, and complexity theory
Georeferentiation and Social Sciences: an interdisciplinary way to detect vulnerability
No full textThis paper is concerned with using georeferenced information in Social Sciences as a concrete case of interdisciplinary research and building of knowledge related to vulnerability. Geospatial framework is a central factor in analyzing data from sociology, psychology, anthropology and economics. That notwithstanding, its potential contribution has been substantially ignored. In the last years, the reconciliation between GIS techniques and Social Sciences is occurring, mainly because of improvements in software to manage complex data. The paper arises from CLARA project, an Italian national project on risk assessment and management in the field of natural disasters. The article discusses the theoretical and technical steps aimed at georeferencing specific data on a geographical map. This process entails two main pros: information on a map are more quickly readable and relations among them stand out more easily. Furthermore, georeferenced data bring back complexity to the object studied, because they allow a multidimensional, contextual and integrated reading of it. The multidimensionality highlights the importance of interdisciplinarity as an opportunity for encounter of scholars and technicians and for acquisition of diversified, deeper and richer perspective, which allows better outcomes. Finally, the paper discusses several advantages for interventions and policies
Neurobiology of sleep disturbances in PTSD patients and traumatized controls: MRI and SPECT findings
Get PDFObjective: Sleep disturbances such as insomnia and nightmares are core components of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), yet their eurobiological relationship is still largely unknown. We investigated brain alterations related to sleep disturbances in PTSD patients and controls by using both structural and functional neuroimaging techniques. Method: Thirty-nine subjects either developing (n=21) or not developing (n=18) PTSD underwent magnetic resonance imaging and a symptom-provocation protocol followed by the injection of 99mTc-hexamethylpropyleneamineoxime. Subjects were also tested with diagnostic and self-rating scales on the basis of which a Sleep Disturbances Score (SDS; i.e., amount of insomnia/nightmares) was computed. Results: Correlations between SDS and gray matter volume (GMV)/regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) were computed in the whole sample and separately in the PTSD and control groups. In the whole sample, higher sleep disturbances were associated with significantly reduced GMV in amygdala, hippocampus, anterior cingulate, and insula; increased rCBF in midbrain, precuneus, and insula; and decreased rCBF in anterior cingulate. This pattern was substantially confirmed in the PTSD group, but not in controls. Conclusion: Sleep disturbances are associated with GMV loss in anterior limbic/paralimbic, PTSD-sensitive structures and with functional alterations in regions implicated in rapid eye movement-sleep control, supporting the existence of a link between PTSD and sleep disturbance
Self-Policing Through Norm Internalization: A Cognitive Solution to the Tragedy of the Digital Commons in Social Networks
No full textIn the seminal work \u27An Evolutionary Approach to Norms\u27, Axelrod identified internalization as one of the key mechanisms that supports the spreading and stabilization of norms. But how does this process work? This paper advocates a rich cognitive model of different types, degrees and factors of norm internalization. Rather than a none-or-all phenomenon, we claim that norm internalization is a dynamic process, whose deepest step occurs when norms are complied with thoughtlessly. In order to implement a theoretical model of internalization and check its effectiveness in sustaining social norms and promoting cooperation, a simulated web-service distributed market has been designed, where both services and agents\u27 tasks are dynamically assigned. Internalizers are compared with agents whose behaviour is driven only by self-interested motivations. Simulation findings show that in dynamic unpredictable scenarios, internalizers prove more adaptive and achieve higher level of cooperation than agents whose decision-making is based only on utility calculation
Reading segments is not reading words: Comment on Kawamoto et al. (2014)
Get PDFWord production involves computing the sound of a word from its concept or visually presented form. To perform such process multiple operations are required, including lexical access, word form encoding, and articulation. With regard to articulation, a critical issue is understanding which is the minimal planning unit (henceforth MPU) to address articulatory programs and start motor implementation. Kawamoto and colleagues (2014, QJEP) have recently proposed that the MPU consists in the word initial segment. The segment as MPU hypothesis is winsome, but it is difficult to substantiate. In this commentary, we argue that, in addition to some methodological concerns, at least three issues may challenge this hypothesis. A first challenge to the segment as MPU hypothesis is how to reconcile it with the typical articulatory behavior shown by readers. A second issue questioning the generalizability of the segment as MPU hypothesis is the phonetic realization of stress in polysyllabic words, which in many languages constitute a great part of the lexicon. A third issue deals with the opacity of the orthography-to-phonology mapping. Overall, our observations suggest that the segment as MPU hypothesis is more an exceptional behavior than the behavior usually occurring at the phonology-to-phonetics interface of the reading system. We show that several findings suggest that the phonology-to-phonetics interface adopts units larger than the segment. The latter proposal can account for a bulk of phenomena such as those related to orthography-to-phonology opacity, stress assignment, and co-articulation
The process of stress assignment in reading aloud: Critical issues from studies on Italian.
Get PDFIn polysyllabic languages the assignment of stress is crucial for understanding the reading process. Here we review empirical evidence, drawn mainly from studies on Italian, and discuss critical issues in understanding reading. We first discuss the lexical and sub-lexical mechanisms responsible for stress assignment and propose that the former is based on item-specific knowledge and the latter on the statistical-distributional knowledge readers have acquired about their language. Then, we examine the idea that stress and phonemes pertain to two dimensions of the word, which can be placed at two different representational levels. Finally, we analyze the effects of stress assignment on word articulation, a promising field for future investigation. These issues are addressed by reviewing the studies conducted in adult and young readers to outline the developmental trajectory of stress assignment and discuss how it operates in the reading system