131 research outputs found
Bertoldo, Bertoldino e Cacasenno, poema giocoso.
No full textPoem in 20 cantos each by a different author, G.P. Riva, P.B. Balbi and others, which is a metrical version of the prose romances "Le sottilissime astutie di Bertoldo" and "Le piacevoli et ridicolose simplicità di Bertoldino" by G.C. Croce and the "Novella di Cacasseno" by A. Banchieri under the pseudonym of Camillo Scaligeri della Fratta.Mode of access: Internet
The effect of processing pipelines, input images and age on automatic cortical morphology estimates
No full textBackground and Objective: Magnetic resonance imaging of the brain allows to enrich the study of the relationship between cortical morphology, healthy ageing, diseases and cognition. Since manual segmentation of the cerebral cortex is time consuming and subjective, many software packages have been developed. FreeSurfer (FS) and Advanced Normalization Tools (ANTs) are the most used and allow as inputs a T1-weighted (T1w) image or its combination with a T2-weighted (T2w) image. In this study we evaluated the impact of different software and input images on cortical estimates. Additionally, we investigated whether the variation of the results depending on software and inputs is also influenced by age.Methods: For 240 healthy subjects, cortical thickness was computed with ANTs and FreeSurfer. Estimates were derived using both the T1w image and adding the T2w image. Significant effects due to software, input images and age range were investigated with ANOVA statistical analysis. Moreover, the accuracy of the cortical thickness estimates was assessed based on their age-prediction precision. Results: Using FreeSurfer and ANTs with T1w or T1w-T2w images resulted in significant differences in the cortical thickness estimates. These differences change with the age range of the subjects. Regardless of the images used, the more recent FS version tested exhibited the best performances in terms of age prediction. Conclusions: Our study points out the importance of i) consistently processing data using the same tool; ii) considering the software, input images and the age range of the subjects when comparing multiple studies
Designing Studies and Evaluating Research Results: Type M and Type S Errors for Pearson Correlation Coefficient
No full textIt is widely appreciated that many studies in psychological science suffer from low statistical power. One of the consequences of analyzing underpowered studies with thresholds of statistical significance is a high risk of finding exaggerated effect size estimates, in the right or the wrong direction. These inferential risks can be directly quantified in terms of Type M (magnitude) error and Type S (sign) error, which directly communicate the consequences of design choices on effect size estimation. Given a study design, Type M error is the factor by which a statistically significant effect is on average exaggerated. Type S error is the probability to find a statistically significant result in the opposite direction to the plausible one. Ideally, these errors should be considered during a prospective design analysis in the design phase of a study to determine the appropriate sample size. However, they can also be considered when evaluating studies’ results in a retrospective design analysis. In the present contribution, we aim to facilitate the considerations of these errors in the research practice in psychology. For this reason, we illustrate how to consider Type M and Type S errors in a design analysis using one of the most common effect size measures in psychology: Pearson correlation coefficient. We provide various examples and make the R functions freely available to enable researchers to perform design analysis for their research projects
Investigating the Impact of Different Free Surfer Approaches on Cortical Thickness Estimation
No full textImpact of the Visceral Adipose Tissue on Bone Quality in Patients with Untreated mild-to-severe Obstructive Sleep Apnoea
No full textObstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is an increasingly prevalent sleep disorder characterised by upper airway obstruction during sleep, resulting in breathing pauses, intermittent hypoxia, and fragmented sleep. The strongest risk factor for OSA is obesity, in particular visceral obesity. The risk of OSA progressively rises with increases in BMI (body mass index). In a population-based study of more than 1,000 subjects, OSA (defined by an apnea-hypopnea index-AHI ≥ 15) was present in 11% of men having a normal BMI, in 21% of those having a BMI between 25 and 30 kg/m2 and in 63% of those who were obese (BMI >30 kg/m2). The same trend was observed in women. As a result of this association, the highest rate of OSA is found in countries with a high prevalence of obesity, and due to the increasing levels of obesity, the prevalence of OSA is also on the increase.
Many comorbidities are associated with obesity, such as insulin resistance, elevated blood pressure, and metabolic syndrome, but little is known about the relationship between fat distribution and bone impairment in these patients.
For this reason, we aimed to evaluate the impact of the visceral adipose tissue (VAT) on the bone quality of OSA patients.
In our prospective study, we selected forty-nine patients with untreated mild-to-severe OSA who underwent polygraphy in our dedicated ambulatory for sleep disease. All subjects performed a dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry to evaluate body composition and bone status. Anamnestic and clinical information and data from the instrumental tests performed were collected. According to the recent reference values for European adults, patients were divided by the sex-related threshold of the VAT index into two categories: VAT index within limits (normal VAT, nVAT) and increased (iVAT).
63% of patients were iVAT. Compared with nVAT, iVAT patients had a higher prevalence of arterial hypertension (52% vs 22%), diabetes (32% vs 6%) and higher values of mean nocturnal desaturation. We found that patients with iVAT had, in comparison to nVAT, lower values of the lumbar spine trabecular bone score (TBS) (mean 1.24 vs 1.39; p<0.001), TBS T-score (mean -1.82 vs -0.52; p<0.001) and TBS Z-score (mean -0.35 vs 0.75; p=0.002). Moreover, a close association was present between the VAT index and TBS lumbar spine L1-L4 (r2 linear 0.573; p<0.001) and altered values of the TBS Z-score were associated with the severity of vertebral fractures. Finally, in a linear regression-adjusted model, the VAT index predicted TBS lumbar spine L1-L4 (β -0.323; p<0.001).
In conclusion, VAT impacts bone quality in OSA patients, particularly on trabecular bone microarchitecture. In these patients, the role of VAT as a metabolically active tissue should be considered and quantified: studying the body composition is important to research or prevent osteopenia, osteoporosis, or osteoporotic fracture
Agrihood: A Motivational Digital System for Sustainable Urban Environments
No full textExtreme industrialization and globalization have turned cities into the most voracious consumers of materials and they are overwhelmingly the source of carbon emissions through both direct and embodied energy consumption. Newly created cities and the urbanization process in rural areas replicate a lifestyle based on consumerism and the linear economy, causing destructive social and economic impact while compromising the ecology of the planet. To reduce this phenomenon, we need to re-imagine cities and the ways they operate, with the perspective of making them locally productive and globally connected. The purpose of this contribution is to make the citizens more aware about their consumption, ecological footprint, visible and invisible fluxes to suggest a new trend in the urban context. We propose a method to plan the city of tomorrow in a dynamic way, where the active participatory process and the gamification techniques are the core pillars of our vision. We analyze the issues of a pilot city (Trento) and report one of the possible outcomes: Agrihood. The provided solution shows how a physical temporary space and digital tools can be integrated and can interoperate to drive a more sustainable urban environment through citizens engagement and participation. If you create an Agrihood network for the whole city the system begins to have major impacts on it: new green spaces that become real lungs for the city, new interactions between neighborhoods, new production and savings in economic terms for each individual family
The role of noise modeling in the estimation of resting-state brain effective connectivity
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