2,319 research outputs found
Como prevenir enfermedades: el caso de las enfermedades diarreicas
No full textDiapositivas del conversatorio del Doctor Claudio Lanata para el curso Aprendiendo a ser Médico 2, 5 y 7 de septiembre del 2007
Temporal trends of neuro-autonomic complexity during severe episodes of bipolar disorders
No full textBipolar disorder is a chronic psychiatric condition during which patients experience mood swings among depression, hypomania or mania, mixed state (depression-hypomania) and euthymia, i.e., good affective balance. Nowadays, an objective characterization of the temporal trends of the disease as a response to the pharmacological treatment through physiological signatures, especially during severe episodes, is still missing. In this study we show interesting findings relating neuro-autonomic complexity to severe pathological mood states. More specifically, we studied Sample Entropy (SampEn) measures on Heart Rate Variability series gathered from four bipolar patients recruited within the frame of the European project PSYCHE. Patients were monitored through long term ECG recordings from the first hospital admission until clinical remission, i.e., the euthymic state. We observed that a mood transition from mixed-state to euthymia passing through depression can be characterized by increased SampEn values, i.e. as the patient is going to recover, SampEn increases. These results are in agreement with the current literature reporting on the complexity dynamics of the cardiovascular system and can provide a promising and viable clinical decision support to objectify the diagnosis and improve the management of psychiatric disorders
Complexity index from a personalized wearable monitoring system for assessing remission in mental health
No full textThis study discusses a personalized wearable monitoring system, which provides information and communication technologies to patients with mental disorders and physicians managing such diseases. The system, hereinafter called the PSYCHE system, is mainly comprised of a comfortable t-shirt with embedded sensors, such as textile electrodes, to monitor electrocardiogram-heart rate variability (HRV) series, piezoresistive sensors for respiration activity, and triaxial accelerometers for activity recognition. Moreover, on the patient-side, the PSYCHE system uses a smartphone-based interactive platform for electronic mood agenda and clinical scale administration, whereas on the physician-side provides data visualization and support to clinical decision. The smartphone collects the physiological and behavioral data and sends the information out to a centralized server for further processing. In this study, we present experimental results gathered from ten bipolar patients, wearing the PSYCHE system, with severe symptoms who exhibited mood states among depression (DP), hypomania(HM), mixed state (MX), and euthymia (EU), i.e., the good affective balance. In analyzing more than 400 h of cardiovascular dynamics, we found that patients experiencing mood transitions from a pathological mood state (HM, DP, or MX - where depressive and hypomanic symptoms are simultaneously present) to EU can be characterized through a commonly used measure of entropy. In particular, the SampEn estimated on long-term HRV series increases according to the patients' clinical improvement. These results are in agreement with the current literature reporting on the complexity dynamics of physiological systems and provides a promising and viable support to clinical decision in order to improve the diagnosis and management of psychiatric disorders
Mood recognition in bipolar patients through the PSYCHE platform: Preliminary evaluations and perspectives
No full textBackground: Bipolar disorders are characterized by a series of both depressive and manic or hypomanic episodes. Although common and expensive to treat, the clinical assessment of bipolar disorder is still ill-defined. Objective: In the current literature several correlations between mood disorders and dysfunctions involving the autonomic nervous system (ANS) can be found. The objective of this work is to develop a novel mood recognition system based on a pervasive, wearable and personalized monitoring system using ANS-related biosignals. Materials and methods: The monitoring platform used in this study is the core sensing system of the personalized monitoring systems for care in mental health (PSYCHE) European project. It is comprised of a comfortable sensorized t-shirt that can acquire the inter-beat interval time series, the heart rate, and the respiratory dynamics for long-term monitoring during the day and overnight. In this study, three bipolar patients were followed for a period of 90 days during which up to six monitoring sessions and psychophysical evaluations were performed for each patient. Specific signal processing techniques and artificial intelligence algorithms were applied to analyze more than 120. h of data. Results: Experimental results are expressed in terms of confusion matrices and an exhaustive descriptive statistics of the most relevant features is reported as well. A classification accuracy of about 97% is achieved for the intra-subject analysis. Such an accuracy was found in distinguishing relatively good affective balance state (euthymia) from severe clinical states (severe depression and mixed state) and is lower in distinguishing euthymia from the milder states (accuracy up to 88%). Conclusions: The PSYCHE platform could provide a viable decision support system in order to improve mood assessment in patient care. Evidences about the correlation between mood disorders and ANS dysfunctions were found and the obtained results are promising for an effective biosignal-based mood recognition
Postal de Claudio Vivas a Maruja Vieira, junio 23 de 1955
No full textPostal de Claudio Vivas a Maruja Vieira, felicitándola por el reconocimiento que le fue otorgado a la autora de poemasPostcard from Claudio Vivas to Maruja Vieira, congratulating her for the recognition given to the author of poems.Publicación, fondo Maruja Vieira, carpeta 1, folio
High frequency poroelastic waves in hydrogels
No full textIn this work a continuum model for high frequency poroelastic longitudinal waves in hydrogels is presented. A viscoelastic force describing the interaction between the polymer network and the bounded water present in such materials is introduced. The model is tested by means of ultrasound wave speed and attenuation measurements in polyvinylalcohol hydrogel samples. The theory and experiments show that ultrasound attenuation decreases linearly with the increase in the water volume fraction of the hydrogel. The introduction of the viscoelastic force between the bounded water and the polymer network leads to a bi-phasic theory, showing an ultrasonic fast wave attenuation that can vary as a function of the frequency with a non-integer exponent in agreement with the experimental data in literature. When tends to 1 100% of interstitial water due to the presence of bounded water in the hydrogel, the ultrasound phase velocity acquires higher value than that of pure water. The ultrasound speed gap at =1 is confirmed by the experimental results, showing that it increases in less cross-linked gel samples which own a higher concentration of bounded water
Predicting mood changes in bipolar disorder through heartbeat nonlinear dynamics: A preliminary study
No full textBipolar disorder (BD) is characterized by an alternation of mood states from depression to (hypo)mania. Mixed states, i.e., a combination of depression and mania symptoms at the same time, can also be present. The diagnosis of this disorder in the current clinical practice is based only on subjective interviews and questionnaires, while no reliable objective psycho-physiological markers are available. Furthermore, there are no biological markers predicting BD outcomes, or providing information about the future clinical course of the phenomenon. To overcome this limitation, here we propose a methodology predicting mood changes in BD using heartbeat nonlinear dynamics exclusively, derived from the ECG. Mood changes are here intended as transitioning between two mental states: euthymic state (EUT), i.e., the good affective balance, and non-euthymic (non-EUT) states. Heart rate variability (HRV) series from 14 bipolar spectrum patients (age: 33.43 ± 9.76, age range: 23-54; six females) involved in the European project PSYCHE, undergoing whole night electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring were analyzed. Data were gathered from a wearable system comprised of a comfortable t-shirt with integrated fabric electrodes and sensors able to acquire ECGs. Each patient was monitored twice a week, for 14 weeks, being able to perform normal (unstructured) activities. From each acquisition, the longest artifact-free segment of heartbeat dynamics was selected for further analyses. Sub-segments of 5 min of this segment were used to estimate trends of HRV linear and nonlinear dynamics. Considering data from a current observation at day t0, and past observations at days (t-1, t-2 ,⋯,), personalized prediction accuracies in forecasting a mood state (EUT/non-EUT) at day t+1 were 69% on average, reaching values as high as 83.3%. This approach opens to the possibility of predicting mood states in bipolar patients through heartbeat nonlinear dynamics exclusively
“Dialogue between Translators and Authors. The Example of Claudio Magris”
No full textThe paper focuses on the forms of cooperation between authors and their translator(s) in all cases in which the two operate simultaneously. This issue is explored on the example of the Trieste-born author Claudio Magris, who cultivates a very close relationship with most of his translators.
Writing and translation have been coexisting in this author throughout his career and have resulted in the heightened sensitivity of Magris the author with regards to translation, as the first part of the analysis shows. The second part describes the dialogue between Magris and the translators of his works, and ends with the more general question of the significance and role of such a form of exchange
Consideraciones sobre la poética de Claudio Rodríguez
No full textThe purpose of this paper is to study the poetics of Claudio Rodríguez, delimiting its components and trying to clarify them and to present them as a whole. The author left some pages written on his conception of poetry that encourage reflection and, in some cases, interpretation. So with his conception of poetry as a gift and inebriation, as an alliance and condemnation or celebration (giving title to his collections of poems), or with notions such as «participation», «living contemplation», «living expression » or «personal rhythm» that make up his way of understanding the poetic process.El propósito de este artículo es estudiar la poética de Claudio Rodríguez, deslindando sus componentes y tratando de clarificarlos y presentarlos en su conjunto. El autor dejó escritas algunas páginas sobre su concepción de la poesía que animan a la reflexión y, en algunos casos, a la interpretación. Así sucede con su concepción de la poesía como un don y una ebriedad, como alianza y condena o como celebración (que dan título a sus poemarios), o con nociones como las de «participación», «contemplación viva», «expresión viva» o «ritmo personal», que configuran su forma de entender el proceso poético
Consistency and flexibility in solving spatial tasks: Different horses show different cognitive styles
No full textIndividual animals vary in their behaviour and reactions to novel situations. These differences may extend to differences in cognition among individuals. We tested twenty-six horses for their ability to detour around symmetric and asymmetric obstacles. All of the animals were able to get around the barrier to reach a food target, but varied in their approach. Some horses moved slowly but were more accurate in choosing the shortest way. Other horses acted quickly, consistently detoured in the same direction, and did not reliably choose the shortest way. The remaining horses shifted from a faster, directionally consistent response with the symmetric barrier, to a slower but more accurate response with the asymmetric barrier. The asymmetric barrier induced a reduction in heart rate variability, suggesting that this is a more demanding task. The different approaches used to solve the asymmetric task may reflect distinct cognitive styles in horses, which vary among individuals, and could be linked to different personality traits. Understanding equine behaviour and cognition can inform horse welfare and management
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