216 research outputs found
Le basi neurali dell’empatia sociale nei processi decisionali economici
No full textDi recente, studi nel campo delle neuroscienze sociali hanno esplorato i processi neurali che sottostanno al fenomeno dell’empatia. Ci riferiamo, con il termine empatia, alla capacità di comprendere e condividere lo stato mentale, in particolare affettivo ed emotivo, di un’altra persona.
E’ ormai riconosciuto che gli stati emotivi giocano un ruolo importante sui processi decisionali di tipo economico. Invece, pochi studi hanno investigato il ruolo e l’influenza dell’empatia sui processi decisionali.
Nell’ambito delle neuroscienze sociali, il paradigma sperimentale dell’Ultimatum Game (UG), viene usato per studiare le relazioni tra le componenti emotive umane e l’ economia.
Nell’UG, un giocatore (proponente) sceglie come dividere una somma di denaro tra sè e un altro giocatore. Il secondo giocatore (ricevente) può accettare o rifiutare l’offerta. In caso accetti, entrambi ricevono la somma pattuita, in caso contrario nessuno dei due riceve denaro.
Lo scopo del nostro studio è quello di investigare i substrati neurali dell’empatia sociale nell’ambito di processi decisionali di tipo economico; a questo fine, abbiamo utilizzato la tecnica della risonanza magnetica funzionale ed un protocollo sperimentale in cui i nostri volontari giocavano nel ruolo del ricevente, mentre il proponente (fittizio) era rappresentato o da A) un’anziana con pensione minima, o da B) una manager/direttrice d’azienda. Nella nostra versione dell’UG, tutti i giocatori erano donne; la nostra condizione di controllo era rappresentata dal proponente ‘computer’, . Abbiamo diviso le offerte in tre categorie: eque,inique e intermedie.
Abbiamo testato l’ipotesi che l’identità (in particolare età e status sociale) del proponente, influenzi la percentuale di accettazione delle offerte e moduli l’attività neurale del ricevente. Inoltre abbiamo raccolto dati sul grado di empatia del ricevente, sia generica, sia riferita specificatamente alle singole categorie di proponenti.
I dati comportamentali mostrano che la percentuale di accettazione è significativamente maggiore per il proponente A rispetto agli altri proponenti, sia per le offerte intermedie che inique (p<0.001), mentre le offerte eque hanno una percentuale di accettazione simile (alta) per i differenti proponenti.
I dati funzionali mostrano, invece, un quadro molto complesso in cui alcune regioni sembrano essere correlate all'identità del proponente in quanto tale, o correlate al grado di empatia e alla percentuale di accettazione. Queste regioni sono: la corteccia prefrontale dorso laterale (DLPFC), il precuneo/corteccia cingolata posteriore (PC/PCC) e l’insula.
Abbiamo inoltre condotto un analisi di connettività funzionale, usando un modello di interazioni psico-fisiologiche (PPI), per esplorare i vari modelli di interazione tra queste stesse regioni nelle differenti condizioni proposte dal nostro paradigma sperimentale.
I nostri dati supportano fortemente l’ipotesi che le scelte di tipo economiche siano influenzata da processi di empatia sociale, ed estendono le attuali conoscenze sui substrati neurali degli effetti delle interazioni sociali sui processi decisionali.In recent years, social neuroscience has begun to shed light on the neural underpinnings of the phenomenon of empathy. We refer to empathy as the capacity to share the mental, and especially affective states of another person.
It is now well established that emotional states play an important role in the economic decision-making process. However, very little is known about how decision-making processes are modulated by empathy.
In the Ultimatum Game (UG) protocol, a player (proposer) proposes to split a certain amount of money, and the other player (responder) can accept or reject the offer. In case the responder accepts, they both get the money, otherwise no one gets nothing. We performed functional magnetic resonance imaging of UG responders, when (fictitious) proposers were presented as either A) old-age retirees living on a small pension, or B) well-to do businesswomen/professionals, to investigate the neural substrates of social empathic processes involved in economic decision-making.
In our version of the UG, all human players were female. The control condition were offers by computer. Offers were categorized as fair, mid-value or unfair. We tested the hypothesis that the identity (age, social status) of the proposer affects the acceptance rates and modulates brain activity of the responder. We also collected data on the degree of empathy shown by the responder, either in general, and specifically towards the proponents.
On the behavioural point of view, we found that acceptance rates were significantly higher when the proposers were old age retirees than for the other proposers, both for unfair and mid-value offers (p<0.001), whereas fair offers had similar (high) acceptance rates for all proposers.
Functional magnetic data gave us a complex picture, in which some brain regions appear especially related to the identity of the proposer, either per se or depending on empathy scores and acceptance rates; there regions were dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), precuneus/posterior cingulated cortex (PC/PCC), and insula.
Furthermore, we used functional connectivity analyses, using a psycho-physiological interactions model (PPI), to explore the different patterns of interactions between these same regions in the different conditions proposed by our task.
Our data strongly support the hypothesis that economic decisions are affected by social empathic processes, and extend the current understanding of the neural substrates of social interaction effects in decision-making
Prevalence, natural history and dynamic nature of chronic headache and medication overuse headache in Italy: The SPARTACUS study
No full textBackground: Chronic headaches and medication overuse headache are common and burdening conditions. No studies have evaluated the prevalence of chronic headache and medication overuse headache in an unselected Italian population. Methods: We performed a three-year cross-sectional and longitudinal population-based study to investigate prevalence, natural history, and prognostic factors of chronic headache. We delivered a self-administered questionnaire to 25,163 subjects. Chronic headache patients were interviewed by General Practitioners. After three years, medication overuse headache patients were invited to undergo a neurological evaluation at our Center. Results: 16,577 individuals completed the questionnaire; 6878 (41,5%) were episodic headache sufferers and 636 (3.8%) were chronic headache subjects. 239 (1.4%) patients were acute medication over-users. All medication overuse headache patients had migraine or headache with migrainous features. At the three-year follow-up of 98 patients, we observed conversion to episodic headaches in 53 (54.1%) patients. 27 (50.9%) patients remitted spontaneously. Conclusions: We present the first prevalence data on chronic headache and medication overuse headache in an unselected Italian population and a high rate of spontaneous remission. These data support the interpretation of medication overuse headache as a specific migraine-related disorder that may reflect chronic migraine’s dynamic nature, the need for more specific medication overuse headache diagnostic criteria, and highlight the priority of targeted public health policies
The spatial resolution of the nociceptive system.
No full textBackground and aims: A systematic study of the spatial resolution of the nociceptive system across different body districts is surprisingly lacking, especially considering the recent description of a fovea for pain at the fingertips (Mancini et al Curr Biol 2013). In this psychophysical study we assessed the spatial acuity of ten body regions, using the two-point discrimination (2PD) of Nd:YAP laser pulses that selectively activate Aδ cutaneous afferents.
Methods: Using two Nd:YAP lasers we delivered either one or two simultaneous pulses (diameter: 1.3 mm) of identical energy on each of the following body sites: forehead, volar forearm, hand dorsum, hand palm, fingertip, shoulder, lower back, upper thigh, calf, and foot dorsum. The 2PD task consisted in judging whether one or two stimuli were delivered, using ascending and descending staircases of varying spatial distance between the two pulses. Single stimuli were included as catch trials. All stimuli elicited a clear pinprick sensation related to the activation of Aδ afferents.
Results: We found a proximal-distal gradient of spatial acuity for nociceptive stimuli, with higher acuity for proximal stimuli, an observation in agreement with innervation density of skin nociceptors and perceptual threshold of Aδ stimuli. Two distal regions (fingertips and palm) represented an exception, and showed maximal spatial acuity (see also Mancini et al., 2013).
Conclusions: This study provides the first systematic description of spatial acuity of the nociceptive system across the entire body in healthy participants
Increased lead absorption in children living in an area with high concentration of ceramic workshops.
No full textThe burden of lung cancer attributable to occupational asbestos exposure in Italy
No full textOBJECTIVES: to perform a meta-analysis of cohort studies on lung cancer mortality in occupational sectors exposed to as-bestos, particularly in the construction sector, and to use data from Italian cohorts exposed to asbestos to estimate the number of lung cancer cases attributable to asbestos in Italy. METHODS: systematic literature review and estimation of lung cancer deaths and cases attributable to asbestos in Italian cohorts and from the Italian National Register of Malignant Mesothelioma (ReNaM). SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: the literature search was conducted in Medline and Embase (Ovid), including papers published from 1999 to May 2019. The following sectors were considered most exposed to asbestos: asbestos-cement, rolling-stock, shipyards, dockyards, glass workers, insulators, asphalt roll production workers, industrial ovens, miners. Moreover, the construction sector was included. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: the standardized mortality ratio (SMR) was estimated from the meta-analysis of the literature review. The ratio lung cancer to mesothelioma attributable cases was estimated by occupational sector from the Italian cohorts. For the construction sector, the ratio lung cancer to mesothelioma cases was estimated within the exposed workers estimated by CAREX (1990-1993). The ratios were applied to the mesothelioma cases registered at the ReNaM for the 2010-2015 period, to obtain a national estimate of lung cancer cases attributable to occupational exposure to asbestos. RESULTS: the meta-analytical SMR for lung cancer in men varied between 1.05 (asphalt roll) and 2.36 (insulation). The mean risk for all sectors was 1.37 in men and 1.60 in wo-men. It increased in cohorts with latency higher than 20 years. Significant risks were observed in asbestos-cement (both genders), construction, and mining sectors. There was a mean of 1.1, 2.7, and 2.8 lung cancer deaths per mesothe-lioma death in the cement-asbestos, harbour, and construction sectors, respectively. The impact in terms of lung cancer cases estimated at the national level was equal to 3,814 cases between 2010 and 2015. CONCLUSIONS: to provide an overall assessment of the impact of the occupational asbestos exposure, it is import-ant to consider lung cancer cases, in addition to malignant mesotheliomas. This study was able to estimate the impact of asbestos on lung cancer in Italy 25 years after the ban of this occupational carcinogen, with the largest contribution in terms of attributable cases coming from the construction sector. It is urgent to implement adequate information and prevention strategies, health surveillance of workers, and the appropriate legal framework for insurance purposes
Multi-wavelength calibration procedure for the Pierre Auger Observatory fluorescence detectors
No full textWe present a method to measure the relative spectral response of the Pierre Auger Observatory Fluorescence Detector. The calibration was done at wavelengths of 320, 337, 355, 380 and 405 nm using an end-to-end technique in which the response of all detector components are combined in a single measurement. A xenon flasher and notch-filters were used as the light source for the calibration device. The overall uncertainty is 5%.Fil: Rovero, Adrian Carlos. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciónes Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Ciudad Universitaria. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio. - Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales. Instituto de Astronomía y Física del Espacio; ArgentinaFil: Bauleo, P.. State University of Colorado - Fort Collins; Estados UnidosFil: Brack, J.. State University of Colorado - Fort Collins; Estados UnidosFil: Harton, J.. State University of Colorado - Fort Collins; Estados UnidosFil: Knapik, R.. State University of Colorado - Fort Collins; Estados Unido
Blood lead levels in children living in three communities, at different risks of lead pollution.
No full textRole of the chest radiograph in the preoperative assessment of the pulmonary function in patients with cirrhosis candidates to liver transplant
No full textPURPOSE: To appraise the role of chest radiography (CXR) in the clinical assessment of pulmonary complications occurring as a result of liver disease of any cause, a standardised reading of CXR was compared both with the results of lung function studies and with the severity of liver disease in 60 consecutive patients with cirrhosis candidates to liver transplant.
MATERIALS AND METHODS:
CXR were scored for signs of cardiomegaly, enlargement of central and or peripheral vessels, hyperkinetic circulatory and/or intravascular volume states, abnormally increased interstitial lung markings, and pleural effusion by three independent observers.
RESULTS:
The CXR score of this complete vascular-interstitial deficiency showed a high interobserver reproducibility and was significantly increased in those patients with a more decompensated liver cirrhosis. Moreover, a larger number of CXR signs of vascular and interstitial deficiency was present in those patients who had a more severe cirrhosis (Child-Pugh class 3). Functional indices of pulmonary gas exchange and diffusing capacity were worse in patients with end-stage liver cirrhosis, and for some indices the correlation was statistically significant. The comparison between lung function and CXR score showed that on average lung function impairment was significantly less severe in patients with lower CXR scores.
CONCLUSIONS:
In conclusion, the information derived from a standardised reading of CXR is valuable in the clinical assessment of the pulmonary damage induced by liver cirrhosis as it allows discrimination of classes of severity of liver disease and of lung function impairment. When integrated with physiologic measurements and, if necessary, with high resolution tomographic studies, chest radiography helps to discriminate patients with advanced liver cirrhosis and progressing towards a hepatopulmonary syndrome, who need a proper therapeutic management
- …
