51 research outputs found
Systematic Review and Meta-analysis on Association Between Air Pollutants and Hippocampal Volume from Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Adults
No full textBACKGROUND AND AIM: The neurotoxicity of air pollutants has been actively investigated in recent years, and there is increasing epidemiological evidence suggesting that air pollution can adversely affect the central nervous system. In neurodegenerative disease, one important diagnostic biomarker is volume reduction in a key brain structure, the hippocampus, as assessed with neuroimaging techniques. Few epidemiological articles investigated the association of hippocampal volume with air pollution, with inconsistent results. In this paper, we aimed to estimate such association through a systematic review and meta-analysis. METHODS: Scopus and PubMed literature databases were searched through 31 March 2021. Eligibility criteria were: 1) assessment of air pollutant levels; 2) assessment of hippocampal volume through structural magnetic resonance imaging; 3) reporting of correlation coefficients along with standard error. We performed a meta-analysis using a random-effects model. RESULTS:We retrieved four studies using linear regression models to evaluate the possible effect of air pollutants on hippocampal volume of adult populations. The investigated air pollutants were nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulate matter, with diameter ≤2.5μm (PM2.5) and ≤10μm (PM10). All studies used a similar methodology based on standard spatial coordinates of images, and considered intracranial volume as a covariate. We found that hippocampal volume was inversely associated with PM2.5 concentration (β regression coefficient -7.90, 95% confidence interval (CI) -14.60 to -1.20) and more slightly with PM10 concentrations (β -1.70, 95%CI -3.96 to 0.57), whereas no association with NO2 concentrations emerged (β -0.29, 95%CI -1.13 to 0.55). CONCLUSIONS:Our results suggest that PM2.5 and less clearly PM10 have an adverse effect on hippocampal volume, a phenomenon associated with cognitive decline and increased risk of neurodegenerative disease. These epidemiologic findings appear to be biologically plausible especially for PM2.5, also taking into account some studies carried out in animals. KEYWORDS: Neurotoxicity, Neuroimaging, Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Hippocampus, Meta-analysis, Nitrogen dioxid
ICT in Latin America: A Microdata Analysis
No full textThis book is the final report of the ECLAC-IDRC project Observatory for the Information Society in Latin American and the Caribbean (OSILAC), Third Phase”. OSILAC III is a cooperating project between the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the Division of Production, Productivity and Management, ECLAC-UN, which aims at understanding the dynamics of the ICT evolution and revolution and producing evidence on its potential to support socio-economic development, particularly in developing countries. As such, microdata analysis drawn from National Household Surveys and National Innovation Surveys in Latin America were used in the framework of the project in the attempt to reach those objectives Both statistical information sources provide attractive potentialities in order to investigate not only determinants of innovation activities and technology diffusion, but also its economic impacts.ICT, Innovation, Productivity
La glottodidattica umanistica in Italia: una prospettiva storica
No full text‘Humanistic Language Teaching’ is still used today in essays and books, mostly referring to a methodology which focuses on the learner and above all on his emotions as relevant factors in acquisition. As a matter of fact, HLT is something more and it concerns the very idea of learning, of interpersonal relations, of verbal and non-verbal languages, and so on. In this essay the author describes the scientific context of the ’60s, the decade when an impressive number of books were published that changed the history of teaching and in particular of language teaching. Then, the main 6 elements of HLT are described, with reference to their definition in the ’70s and ’80s. The rationale of the essay is not just historical survey, but rather the need to focus attention on the whole paradigm of HLT, not only on the affective dimension
Insegnare l’italiano lingua materna nelle società “liquide”.
No full textin 2006 the author pulished a book about the teaching of Italian as the mother tongue, and it situated such teaching in a "complex society", according to Edgar Morin's definition of such society. The world has changed, as stated by Symunt Baumann in his theory of "liquid modernity".
Such a social change affects mother tongue teaching to "liquid" students used to "liquid" communication, and the author discusses the new perspective of mother tongue teaching to these students
“Un approccio etico alla facilitazione dell’apprendimento linguistico”
No full textThe author has been working for the last decade at the epistemological and philosophical nature of Language Teaching Research. In this essay he deals with the ethical dimension of LTR. The book is about hte procedures to make language learning easier for students, and this essay is the first of the book, a sort of keynote essay dealing with the topic from a philosophical point of view. The main thesis is that making language learning easier does not mean to solve singular problems when they arise, which feebles the student's attitude rather than teaching him or her how to face them, but it means easying the procedures enabling the student to face language learning problems, helping him or her to learn from difficulties in order to find it easier to overcome them later
Com’è stata insegnata la grammatica, come potrebbe essere insegnata.
No full textIt is the keenote article of the book and it provides a general viewe of the way grammar has been taught in Italian as a Foreing Language courses, and of the way it could/should be taught according to today's educational lingjistics. The author of the article is also the author of the general bibliography of the volume and the editor of the anthological secion of the book
Il ruolo delle emozioni di studente e insegnante nel processo di apprendimento e insegnamento linguistico
No full textThe Venetian school of language education research devotes equal attention to the objective of teaching, i.e. language(s) as communicative instrument(s), and to the subject of the learning process, the student. In EL.LE 1, 2012, we gave an epistemological basis for this idea of language education. In this issue we focus our attention on the human components of the teaching process, the teacher and the students, seen from the humanistic perspective, which assumes that human beings are governed by reason and emotion, and that both are important to understand what and why they act the way they do. The role of the students’ emotions in language acquisition has been studied for the last 20 years and has produced a considerable amount of literature, whilst the role of the teacher’s emotions has been very rarely considered – yet a teacher is a person, and he or she is an emotional being like his or her students. This dual perspective is the contribution of this essay – and of the Venetian school – to language education research. There is a second point worth mentioning: the emotional factor of both teacher and student is analyzed through the grid of factors defined by the cognitive theory of emotions, used so far only for the students’ side; yet the author goes back to the classics and assumes Plato’s classification of emotions as another grid to be considered in a discourse about the impact of emotions and their relationship to the rational side – and the classic perspective proves to be a highly productive one as far as language education is concerned
Le ‘nuove’ sfide di Babele. Insegnare le lingue nelle società “liquide”.
No full textIn 2002 the Author publish a general theory of foreign language teaching "in complex societies", quoting Edgar Morin's idea fo modern societies. The world seems to have changed, as complex societies have become Sigmunt Buamann's "liquid societies". As a consequence, in 2023 this new book was published: it is not a new edition of the 2002 book, It is a new volume, aimed at understanding how "liquid" students can face such a complex task as learning a foreign language
Dare un senso all’apprendimento di una lingua ‘inutile’.
No full textItalian is often seen as a "useless" language as far as international use is concerned. The author accepts the idea, yet it discusses the logic of usefulness applied to languages - apart from lingua franca languages such as English
Riduzione della carica batterica totale quantificata mediante analisi biomolecolare in ulcere infette trattate con Cutimed® Sorbact®.
No full text- …
