1,720,956 research outputs found
Tactile sensitivity, tactile acuity, and affective touch. From childhood to early adolescence
No full textThe development of somatosensation and affective touch acquires a central role throughout our lives, for several reasons. In adults, these functions are driven by different, neuroanatomically and functionally segregated fibres. To date, very little is known about the basic features of these fibres in childhood and this lack of knowledge is mirrored in the affective touch domain, where there are no studies on the main physiological features of the tactile processes linked to the stimulation of the hairy skin, namely the preferential site of affective touch. Thus, our study aims to analyze (1) tactile sensitivity and tactile acuity of children's hairy forearms; (2) a possible dissociation between somatosensation and the affective touch; and (3) the presence/absence of the perception of affective touch already in childhood. To these aims, participants (160 children, aged 6 to 14years), were administered with the Von Frey (tactile sensitivity) and the 2 Point Discrimination (tactile acuity) tests. Affective touch was measured following the classic protocol and pleasantness ratings were recorded. Our findings showed a correlation between age and somatosensation, suggesting a progressive reduction of sensitivity and acuity as age grows. Further, there was no overlap between affective touch and somatosensation, suggesting a behavioural segregation. Lastly, we found higher pleasantness ratings for Affective versus Neutral stimulations at all ages and an enhanced preference for Affective as age grows. We concluded that both somatosensation and affective touch are already present as two separate components of touch in childhood and change as a function of ag
REATTIVITÀ VAGALE IN RISPOSTA A STIMOLI APPETITIVI E NEUTRI IN SOGGETTI CON DIAGNOSI DI OBESITA’
No full textL’obesità è caratterizzata da anomala assunzione di cibo e da eccessivo accumulo di grasso. Il comportamento alimentare è dipendente dall’osservazione di stimoli come il cibo. Un indice particolarmente adatto per studiare la risposta a questi stimoli nei disturbi del comportamento alimentare è la variabilità del battito cardiaco, un parametro di funzionamento del sistema nervoso parasimpatico in grado di riflettere la capacità di regolare le emozioni e di inibire comportamenti disfunzionali.
Questo studio si propone di esplorare la variabilità del battito cardiaco alla presentazione di immagini legate al cibo in un gruppo di pazienti obesi e in soggetti normopeso. Si ipotizza che, per i soli pazienti, gli stimoli legati al cibo diventino ansiogeni e scatenino una risposta fisiologica di crollo vagale. Si ipotizza inoltre che questo non si verifichi di fronte a stimoli non legati al cibo.
24 pazienti obesi ricoverati (19 femmine; età: 49.20 ± 13.64; indice di massa corporea: 41.63 ± 8.09) e 37 soggetti normopeso (24 femmine; età: 25.08 ± 6.76; indice di massa corporea: 22.14 ± 2.74) sono stati sottoposti a monitoraggio elettrocardiografico durante una condizione di riposo (baseline), un compito sperimentale e una fase di recupero. Un sottogruppo di pazienti (n = 11) ha ripetuto il paradigma sostituendo gli stimoli legati al cibo con stimoli neutri (oggetti). I risultati mostrano una riduzione significativa della variabilità interbattito dei pazienti, ma non dei controlli (p < .05), di fronte al cibo. Inoltre, i pazienti mostrano un’incapacità di ritornare ai valori di base al termine del compito (attivazione fisiologica sostenuta; p < .05). Come previsto, di fronte a stimoli neutri, i pazienti non mostrano alcuna risposta di attivazione fisiologica (n.s.).
I risultati confermano la relazione tra aspetti fisiologici e psicologici nei disturbi alimentari e giustificano future indagini sulla reattività del sistema nervoso autonomo a stimoli salienti in persone obese
Cultural adaptation of the Lifespan Memory Interview in the Asylum Seekers (LMI-AS)
No full textAsylum seekers and refugees are likely to be exposed to traumatic experience and they often suffer from post-traumatic symptoms. Patients with post-traumatic disorder have some cognitive impairment in several functions such as in memory. Memory impairment is often related to autobiographical memory. In this study we derived a new instrument to evaluate this kind of memory, i.e. the “Lifespan Memory Interview in the Asylum Seekers (LMI-AS)”
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
Obesity is associated with lack of inhibitory control and impaired heart rate variability reactivity and recovery in response to food stimuli
No full textRecent theories compare obesity with addiction in terms of lack of inhibitory control in both clinical populations. The present study hypothesized impaired inhibition in obese patients reflected both in executive functions and reduced vagal tone (indexed by a decrease in heart rate variability; HRV) in response to food stimuli. Twenty-four inpatients with obesity (19 women) and 37 controls (24 women) underwent ECG monitoring during baseline, food stimuli viewing, and a recovery phase. Tests and questionnaires assessing inhibitory control and psychopathological dispositions were also administered. As hypothesized, patients were characterized by deficits in all the tests measuring inhibitory capacities. Results also show greater HRV reduction and impaired HRV recovery in response to food stimuli in obese patients compared to controls. The drive to eat experienced by obese patients in the absence of caloric need may rely on impairments in inhibitory and vagal functioning. Results are discussed in terms of implications for therap
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
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