1,720,968 research outputs found
EXECUTIVE FUNCTIONS IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC LOW BACK PAIN: A BEHAVIORAL AND EVOKED RELATED POTENTIAL STUDY
No full textEvidenze convergenti da studi di neuroimaging funzionale e con metodiche neurofisiologiche indicano pattern distinti ed alterazioni a lungo termine nell'attivazione di aree cerebrali connesse al dolore, la cosiddetta pain matrix, nelle condizioni di dolore cronico. Queste aree includono la corteccia prefrontale dorsolaterale (dlPFC), dove gli studi morfometrici di risonanza magnetica hanno mostrato una riduzione della materia grigia nei pazienti con dolore cronico. Nonostante questi dati, la correlazione tra dolore cronico e funzioni cognitive, in particolare le funzioni esecutive (FE), è scarsamente stato esplorato.
Gli obiettivi di questo studio sono: 1) esplorare le FE meta-cognitive in pazienti con mal di schiena cronico e in un gruppo di controlli con una batteria di test neuropsicologici; 2) esplorare le FE emotivo-motivazionali in soggetti con mal di schiena cronico e controlli utilizzando Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) , al fine di esaminare l’impatto che il dolore cronico può imporre sul processo decisionale; 3) esplorare i correlati neurofisiologici sottostanti le FE emotivo-motivazionali con la registrazione di ERPs durante l'esecuzione dell’IGT, al fine di comprendere i meccanismi alla base dell'elaborazione del feedback ed i processi di apprendimento nei soggetti con mal di schiena cronico.
Abbiamo valutato 24 pazienti con mal di schiena cronico e 24 volontari sani appaiati con i pazienti per età, sesso e livello di istruzione. Le FE sono state esplorate con una batteria di test neuropsicologici (Iowa Gambling Task IGT, Trail Making Test, Stroop Test, Modified Card Sorting Test MCST, Digit Span avanti e indietro, Memory Interference Test). Gli ERPs sono stati registrati durante l’IGT in un sottogruppo di pazienti e controlli.
Abbiamo riscontrato differenze significative tra i due gruppi nel numero di categorie trovate al MCST, che sono più basse nei pazienti rispetto ai controlli e nel numero di errori perseverativi al MCST che sono significativamente più alti nei pazienti. L’analisi dei dati IGT ha mostrato una compromissione sia della quantità totale di denaro vinto che nella strategia di apprendimento. L’analisi degli ERPs evidenzia un pattern differente delle risposte durante l' IGT. L’ampiezza della Feedback Related Negativity (FRN) è risultata superiore per i feedback positivi rispetto ai negativi nei controlli, mentre il pattern opposto si è presentato nei pazienti. L'ampiezza della P300 è superiore per il feedback positivo rispetto al negativo nei controlli, mentre questa differenza era assente nei pazienti, risultando 'ampiezza nei pazienti molto elevata per entrambi i tipi di feedback .
Questi risultati indicano che il dolore cronico è associato ad un deficit di elaborazione del feedback, sia per le componenti meta-cognitive che emotivo-motivazionali delle FE. Queste anomalie potrebbero influenzare negativamente la funzionalità cognitiva nelle attività della vita quotidiana.Converging functional neuroimaging and neurophysiological evidence indicates distinct patterns and long-term changes in the activation of pain-related brain areas, i.e. the so-called pain matrix, in chronic pain. These areas include prefrontal cortices, in particular the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), where MRI morphometric studies showed decreased gray matter in chronic pain patients. Despite these data, the correlation between chronic pain and cognitive functions, in particular executive functions (EFs), has scantily been explored.
The aims of this study are 1) to explore meta-cognitive EFs in chronic LBP and controls with a battery of neuropsychological tests; 2) to explore the emotional-motivational EFs in chronic LBP and controls using the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) in order to examine the costs that chronic pain may impose on emotional decision making; 3) to explore the neural correlates of emotional-motivational EFs mechanisms with ERPs during the IGT in order to better understand the mechanisms underlying feedback elaboration and subsequent learning processes in chronic LBP.
We collected 24 patients with chronic LBP and 24 normal volunteers matched with the patients for age, sex and educational level. Changes in executive functions have been explored with a battery of neuropsychological tests (Iowa Gambling Task, Trail Making Test, Stroop Test, Modified Card Sorting Test, Digit Span Forward and Backward, Memory Interference Test). ERPs have been recorded during IGT in a subgroup of patients and controls.
We found significant differences between the two groups in the MCST right categories, which were significantly lower in patients vs. controls and in MCST perseverative errors that were significantly higher in patients vs. controls. IGT data showed an impairment of both the total amount of money and the learning strategy. ERPs findings suggest a differential behavior of brain responses during IGT. The feedback related negativity (FRN) amplitude was higher to positive than negative feedback in controls, while the opposite happened in patients. The P300 amplitude was higher to positive than negative feedback in control, while this difference was absent in patients, being the P300 amplitude similarly high for both types of feedback.
Our evidence indicates that chronic pain is associated with a deficit in feedback processing both for meta-cognitive and emotional-motivational components of EFs. These abnormalities may negatively influence everyday behavior
A game a day keeps the doctor away: a short review of computer games in mental healthcare.
No full textComputer games are currently a focal topic in different research areas. One of the emerging contexts for their use is represented by healthcare. Thanks to their potentialities, they have been successfully exploited in this domain to foster motivation and to enhance cognitive processes. This paper proposes a review of existing research on computer games, exploited for prevention, support, training, rehabilitation, and particularly stressing the relationship between cognitive processes and gaming
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
koamabayili/VECTRON-author-checklist: VECTRON author checklist
No full textWe have done our best to complete the author checklist relating to the use of animals in the hut study. Note that the objective for the hut study was to evaluate the IRS treatment applications for residual efficacy against Anopheles mosquitoes, including the local An. coluzzii mosquito population. Cows were only used to attract mosquitoes into the huts and no tests were carried out directly on the cows. The author checklist is intended for use with studies where experiments are carried out on animals, which is why we have had such difficulty in completing this for the hut study, as many of the questions do not relate to how the cows were used
Multifocal cognitive dysfunction in high-dose benzodiazepine users: a cross-sectional study
No full textBenzodiazepines (BZDs) are the most widely prescribed drug class in developed countries, but they have high potential for tolerance, dependence and abuse. Cognitive deficits in long-term BZD users have long been known, but previous results might have been biased by patients' old age, coexisting neurological or psychiatric conditions or concurrent alcohol or psychotropic drug dependence. The study was aimed to explore the neuropsychological effect of high-dose BZD dependence, which represents an emerging addiction phenomenon. We recruited a group of high-dose BZD users with neither neurological or psychiatric comorbidity except anxiety or depression nor concurrent alcohol or psychotropic drug dependence. They underwent a battery of cognitive tests to explore verbal, visuospatial memory, working memory, attention, and executive functions. All the neuropsychological measures were significantly worse in patients than controls, and some of them were influenced by the BZD cumulative dose. The severity of depression and anxiety had a minimal influence on cognitive tests. Patients with high-dose BZD intake show profound changes in cognitive function. The impact of cognition should be considered in this population of patients, who may be involved in risky activities or have high work responsibilities
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