Università degli Studi di Salerno

This paper aims to illustrate an automated system developed to give formative and personalized feedback to teachers in training. It is an expert system (Paviotti, Rossi & Zarka, 2012) that uses concrete examples, cases and scenarios to guide the engaged learners (Leake, 1996). In this regard, this system is able to create questionnaires, deliver them, collect and analyze data, send feedback to the participants to provide information about their beliefs and behaviors about teaching and learning processes. Far from constituting an assessment of teaching practices, the automated feedback demonstrates its usefulness in identifying teachers’ mindframes at an early stage, so as to be able to implement more specific and personalized training. This allows its application to be extended to further training areas as well as constituting an effective approach for need analysis and a preparatory action for numerous training activities (guided discussion with experts, observation on practice, modeling, etc.).

In recent years, numerous researches have been carried out to investigate and verify how concept maps could be effective in learning management systems. This paper discusses the use of dynamic concept maps (DCMs) as a tool to encourage remediation processes among digital artefacts and analog resources and, consequently, to enhance learning processes and improve their effectiveness. The DynaMap remediation approach (DMRA) intends to propose a possible interpretation of this process by using Vygotsky’s historical-cultural approach, enriched and contaminated by the perspective of mutual remediation of Bolter and Grusin inspired to McLuhan’s theories. The research carried out in the last five years shows how this methodology (DMRA) has positively influenced study times and learning outcomes of the engaged students.

Background T cell activation and programming from their naïve/resting state, characterized by widespread modifications in chromatin accessibility triggering extensive changes in transcriptional programs, is orchestrated by several cytokines and transcription regulators. PRDM1 and PRDM2 encode for proteins with PR/SET and zinc finger domains that control several biological processes, including cell differentiation, through epigenetic regulation of gene expression. Different transcripts leading to main protein isoforms with (PR +) or without (PR-) the PR/SET domain have been described. Although many studies have established the critical PRDM1 role in hematopoietic cell differentiation, maintenance and/or function, the single transcript contribution has not been investigated before. Otherwise, very few evidence is currently available on PRDM2. Here, we aimed to analyze the role of PRDM1 and PRDM2 different transcripts as mediators of T lymphocyte activation. Methods We analyzed the transcription signature of the main variants from PRDM1 (BLIMP1a and BLIMP1b) and PRDM2 (RIZ1 and RIZ2) genes, in human T lymphocytes and Jurkat cells overexpressing PRDM2 cDNAs following activation through different signals. Results T lymphocyte activation induced an early increase of RIZ2 and RIZ1 followed by BLIMP1b increase and finally by BLIMP1a increase. The “first” and the “second” signals shifted the balance towards the PR- forms for both genes. Interestingly, the PI3K signaling pathway modulated the RIZ1/RIZ2 ratio in favor of RIZ1 while the balance versus RIZ2 was promoted by MAPK pathway. Cytokines mediating different Jak/Stat signaling pathways (third signal) early modulated the expression of PRDM1 and PRDM2 and the relationship of their different transcripts confirming the early increase of the PR- transcripts. Different responses of T cell subpopulations were also observed. Jurkat cells showed that the acute transient RIZ2 increase promoted the balancing of PRDM1 forms towards BLIMP1b. The stable forced expression of RIZ1 or RIZ2 induced a significant variation in the expression of key transcription factors involved in T lymphocyte differentiation. The BLIMP1a/b balance shifted in favor of BLIMP1a in RIZ1-overexpressing cells and of BLIMP1b in RIZ2-overexpressing cells. Conclusions This study provides the first characterization of PRDM2 in T-lymphocyte activation/differentiation and novel insights on PRDM1 and PRDM2 transcription regulation during initial activation phases.

The origin-independent magnetically induced CTOCD-GRRO and -GPRO (after continuous transformation of the origin of the current density-gradient of ρ and gradient of a power of ρ) current densities are shown to vary linearly with respect to their own defining α and β parameters. The same is reflected in the connected magnetic properties, in particular the magnetic shielding. This is exploited to find values for α and β that, using small basis sets, provide isotropic nuclear magnetic shieldings matching an accurate prediction, chosen as the complete basis set limit. An application to the 20 naturally occurring amino acids shows that different nuclei require different values of the parameters, which have been determined at the BHandHLYP/6-31+G(d,p) level with or without consideration of diversified chemical environments. Using CTOCD-GRRO and -GPRO methods, equipped with the optimized parameters at this low-cost level of calculation, 1H, 13C, 15N, and 17O magnetic shielding constants in glutathione, ophthalmic acid, and thyrotropin-releasing hormone are predicted with nearly the same accuracy as that of much more expensive calculations.

Background/aims: Tomographic analysis of macular and peripapillary retinal nerve fibers layer (RNFL) thickness in patients with history of congenital (CC) and developmental cataract (DC). Methods: Analysis of macular and RNFL thickness using a spectral-domain optical coherence tomography was performed. Retinal layers thickness was measured using the internal segmentation software. Measurements of affected (unilateral and bilateral), contralateral eyes and control eyes were compared. Results: Patients with history of CC or DC (n = 13 and 11 respectively) and 35 healthy control subjects were enrolled. Thicker inner and outer nuclear layers (INL, ONL) and thicker ONL were found when CC and DC group when compared to controls respectively. Bilateral CC showed the most relevant differences. Slight thickening of CC inner retinal layers were found when compared to DC. Increased superonasal RNFL thickness was found in CC group when compared to DC and controls. Thickening of RNFL of contralateral unaffected eyes of unilateral CC were found when compared to controls. Conclusion: Significant macular and RNFL thickness changes between CC, DC patients and controls that partially involve also contralateral unaffected eyes of unilateral congenital cataract were found. CC and DC groups show significant differences only in inner retinal layers thickness. Our data suggest that early visual deprivation may influence retinal arrangements occurring during development involving predominantly the outer nuclear layer and para/perifoveal inner retinal layers, and confirm that early treatment of CC allow to achieve better long-term visual outcome. Moreover functional and structural data support the hypothesis that unilateral amblyopia is not exclusively an unilateral issue.

In this work, Fe3+-iminodisuccinic acid (Fe:IDS) based solar photo Fenton (SPF), an Italian patented method, was investigated in quaternary treatment of real urban wastewater and compared to Fe3+-ethylenediamine-N,N′-disuccinic acid (Fe:EDDS) for the first time. Three pharmaceuticals (PCs) (sulfamethoxazole, carbamazepine and trimethoprim) and four pathogens (Escherichia coli, somatic and F-plus coliphages, Clostridium perfringens, consistently with the new EU regulation for wastewater reuse (2020/741)), were chosen as target pollutants.

Background: GLUT1 deficiency syndrome is a rare, genetically determined neurological disorder for which Ketogenic Dietary Treatment represents the gold standard and lifelong treatment. Patient registries are powerful tools providing insights and real-world data on rare diseases. Objective: To describe the implementation of a national web-based registry for GLUT1-DS. Methods: This is a retrospective and prospective, multicenter, observational registry developed in collaboration with the Italian GLUT1-DS association and based on an innovative, flexible and configurable cloud computing technology platform, structured according to the most rigorous requirements for the management of patient's sensitive data. The Glut1 Registry collects baseline and follow-up data on the patient's demographics, history, symptoms, genotype, clinical, and instrumental evaluations and therapies. Results: Five Centers in Italy joined the registry, and two more Centers are currently joining. In the first two years of running, data from 67 patients (40 females and 27 males) have been collected. Age at symptom onset was within the first year of life in most (40, 60%) patients. The diagnosis was formulated in infancy in almost half of the cases (34, 51%). Symptoms at onset were mainly paroxysmal (mostly epileptic seizure and paroxysmal ocular movement disorder) or mixed paroxysmal and fixed symptoms (mostly psychomotor delay). Most patients (53, 79%) are currently under Ketogenic dietary treatments. Conclusions: We describe the principles behind the design, development, and deployment of the web-based nationwide GLUT1-DS registry. It represents a stepping stone towards a more comprehensive understanding of the disease from onset to adulthood. It also represents a virtuous model from a technical, legal, and organizational point of view, thus representing a possible paradigmatic example for other rare disease registry implementation.

The neutrino telescopes of KM3NeT are being incrementally expanded, and will reach their final size in the coming years. New versions of optical modules running new versions of firmware and new instrumentation for calibration are being introduced in the originally repetitive lattice. The inner architecture and data flow of the Control Unit of the KM3NeT telescopes is described, with information about computational and architectural complexity. The current goal is to control two full blocks of the KM3NeT/ARCA detector, i.e. 4370 CLBs and 128340 photomultipliers for 230 detection units, with a single mid-range commercial server machine. The system is designed with software protections and fault tolerance for hardware failure.

Increased attention to professionalism and realism in translation classes at university has resulted in the development of a wide range of approaches to foster future translators’ construction of knowledge and identity pertaining to their upcoming professional career and community. This paper centres on a professionalizing seminar that shared these aims. Employing corpus, stance and discourse analysis, it examines the retrospective reports written by the future translators who participated in the seminar to unveil beliefs on their experience of the seminar, their university training, their perceived competence, and their present and future identities as translators. The results of the study suggest, on the one hand, that participants perceived that the seminar fostered awareness of the professional domain of translators, heightened cognizance of their skills, and gave them authentic practice as translators and, on the other, participants perceived lacunae in their training and gaps in their competences, with potential implications on their (perceived) employability.

The present paper aims at expanding the English as an International Language (EIL) paradigm and providing new insights into the current status and role of EIL. 1 The main focus of the study is on information structuring (IS) in dialogic speech events to show how IS affects the use of particular constructions, namely it -clefts, wh -cleft and topicalisation (left dislocation) which seem to show higher frequency in EIL than in standard English ( Biber et al. 1998 ). For the purpose of this preliminary study, samples of spoken ELF data including private dialogues and academic discussions were selected from the VOICE (Vienna-Oxford International Corpus of English) to investigate left-right asymmetries in EIL interactions, which is an area still lacking of attention with respect to lexical and other phrasal phenomena.

Quantum materials can display physical phenomena rooted in the geometry of electronic wavefunctions. The corresponding geometric tensor is characterized by an emergent field known as the Berry curvature (BC). Large BCs typically arise when electronic states with different spin, orbital or sublattice quantum numbers hybridize at finite crystal momentum. In all the materials known to date, the BC is triggered by the hybridization of a single type of quantum number. Here we report the discovery of the first material system having both spin- and orbital-sourced BC: LaAlO3/SrTiO3 interfaces grown along the [111] direction. We independently detect these two sources and probe the BC associated to the spin quantum number through the measurements of an anomalous planar Hall effect. The observation of a nonlinear Hall effect with time-reversal symmetry signals large orbital-mediated BC dipoles. The coexistence of different forms of BC enables the combination of spintronic and optoelectronic functionalities in a single material.

Because of the biophysical relation between muscle fibre diameter and the propagation velocity of action potentials along the muscle fibres, motor unit conduction velocity could be a non-invasive index of muscle fibre size in humans. However, the relation between motor unit conduction velocity and fibre size has been only assessed indirectly in animal models and in human patients with invasive intramuscular EMG recordings, or it has been mathematically derived from computer simulations. By combining advanced non-invasive techniques to record motor unit activity in vivo, i.e., high-density surface EMG, with the gold standard technique for muscle tissue sampling, i.e., muscle biopsy, here we investigated the relation between the conduction velocity of populations of motor units identified from the biceps brachii muscle, and muscle fibre diameter. We demonstrate the possibility to predict muscle fibre diameter (R2 = 0.66) and cross-sectional area (R2 = 0.65) from conduction velocity estimates with low systematic bias (∼2% and ∼4% respectively) and a relatively low margin of individual error (∼8% and ∼16%, respectively). The proposed neuromuscular interface opens new perspectives in the use of high-density EMG as a non-invasive tool to estimate muscle fibre size without the need of surgical biopsy sampling. The non-invasive nature of high-density surface EMG for the assessment of muscle fibre size may be useful in studies monitoring child development, aging, space and exercise physiology, although the applicability and validity of the proposed methodology needs to be more directly assessed in these specific populations by future studies. KEY POINTS: Because of the biophysical relation between muscle fibre size and the propagation velocity of action potentials along the sarcolemma, motor unit conduction velocity could represent a potential non-invasive candidate to estimate muscle fibre size in vivo. This relation has been previously assessed in animal models and humans with invasive techniques, or it has been mathematically-derived from simulations. By combining high-density surface EMG with muscle biopsy, here we explored the relation between the conduction velocity of populations of motor units and muscle fibre size in healthy individuals. Our results confirmed that motor unit conduction velocity can be considered as a novel biomarker of fibre size, which can be adopted to predict muscle fibre diameter and cross-sectional area with low systematic bias and margin of individual error. The proposed neuromuscular interface opens new perspectives in the use of high-density EMG as a non-invasive tool to estimate muscle fibre size without the need of surgical biopsy sampling Abstract figure legend In this study, we investigated the relation between the conduction velocity of populations of motor units identified from biceps brachii muscle and muscle fibre size. We adopted high-density surface EMG to decode the activity of voluntarily activated motor units and estimated their conduction velocity. Similarly, we adopted muscle biopsy to measure muscle fibre size. We revealed the possibility to accurately transform motor unit conduction velocity values into estimated measures of muscle fibre size, which in turn showed a good degree of association with the muscle fibre size measured directly by muscle biopsy. Furthermore, we demonstrated that the proposed neuromuscular interface allows to predict the mean measured fibre diameter and cross-sectional area from an EMG-derived parameter with a relatively low bias and error, thus opening new perspectives in the use of high-density EMG as a non-invasive tool to estimate muscle fibre size without the need of surgical biopsy sampling This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

In this paper, we contribute to the topic of the non-performing loans (NPLs) business profitability on the secondary market by developing machine learning-based due diligence. In particular, a loan became non-performing when the borrower is unlikely to pay, and we use the ability of the ML algorithms to model complex relationships between predictors and outcome variables, we set up an ad hoc dependent random forest regressor algorithm for projecting the recovery rate of a portfolio of the secured NPLs. Indeed the profitability of the transactions under consideration depends on forecast models of the amount of net repayments expected from receiva-bles and related collection times. Finally, the evaluation approach we provide helps to reduce the "lemon discount" by pricing the risky component of informational asymmetry between better-informed banks and potential investors in particular for higher quality, collateralised NPLs.

This book aims at investigating discourse phenomena (i.e., linguistic elements and constructions that help to manage the organization, flow, and outcome of communication) from a typological and cross-linguistic perspective. Although it is a well-established idea in functional-typological approaches that grammar is shaped by discourse use, systematic typological cross-linguistic investigations on discourse phenomena are relatively rare. This volume aims at bridging this gap, by integrating different linguistic subfields, such as discourse analysis, pragmatics, and typology. The contributions, both theoretically and empirically oriented, focus on a broad variety of discourse phenomena (ranging from discourse markers to discourse function of grammatical markers, to strategies that manage the discourse and information flow) while adopting a typological perspective and considering typologically distant languages.

Background Immune-mediated conditions associated to Corona Virus Disease-19 (COVID-19) have been reported, including vasculitis, antiphospholipid antibody syndrome, myositis, and lupus. Emerging studies have reported the potential occurrence of reactive arthritis in patients previously infected with COVID-19. This systematic review summarised the current evidence on the occurrence of reactive arthritis in patients previously infected by COVID-19. Methods This study was conducted according to the 2020 PRISMA guidelines. All the clinical investigations describing the occurrence of reactive arthritis following COVID-19 were accessed. In September 2022, the following databases were accessed: PubMed, Web of Science, Google Scholar, Embase. The generalities of the study were extracted: author, year and journal of publication, country of the main author, study design, sample size, mean age, number of women, main results of the study. The following data on COVID-19 severity and management were retrieved: type of treatment, hospitalization regimes (inpatient or outpatient), admission to the intensive care unit, need of mechanical ventilation, pharmacological management. The following data on reactive arthritis were collected: time elapsed between COVID-19 infection to the onset of reactive arthritis symptoms (days), pharmacological management, type of arthritis (mono- or bilateral, mono- or polyarticular), extra-articular manifestations, presence of tenosynovitis or enthesitis, synovial examination at microscopic polarised light, imaging (radiography, magnetic resonance, sonography), clinical examination, laboratory findings. Results Data from 27 case reports (54 patients) were retrieved, with a mean age of 49.8 ± 14.5 years. 54% (29 of 54 patients) were women. The mean time span between COVID-19 infection and the occurrence of reactive arthritis symptoms was 22.3 ± 10.7 days. Between studies diagnosis and management of reactive arthritis were heterogeneous. Symptoms resolved within few days in all studies considered. At last follow-up, all patients were minimally symptomatic or asymptomatic, and no additional therapy or attentions were required by any patient. Conclusion Poor evidence suggests that COVID-19 could target the musculoskeletal system causing reactive arthritis at its post infectious stage. COVID-19 can act as a causative agent or as a trigger for development of reactive arthritis even without presence of antibodies of rheumatological disorders. Treating physicians should have a high index of suspicion while treating post infectious COVID-19 patient with arthralgia. Level of evidence Level IV, systematic review.

Recent studies have shown that people who are immunocompromised may inadvertently play a role in spurring the mutations of the virus that create new variants. This is because some immunocompromised individuals remain at risk of getting COVID-19 despite vaccination, experience more severe disease, are susceptible to being chronically infected and remain contagious for longer if they become infected and considering that immunocompromised individuals represent approximately 2% of the overall population, this aspect should be carefully considered. So far, some autoimmune rheumatic disease (ARD) patients with COVID-19 have been treated with antiviral therapies or anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody products. However, there is no homogeneous approach to these treatment strategies. This issue was addressed within the European Reference Network (ERN) on Rare and Complex Connective Tissue and Musculoskeletal Diseases (ReCONNET) in a discussion among experts and patient's representatives in the context of the rare and complex connective tissue diseases (rCTDs) covered by the Network. ERN ReCONNET is one of the 24 ERNs launched by the European Commission in 2017 with the aim of tackling low prevalence and rare diseases that require highly specialised treatment and promoting concentration of knowledge and resources through virtual networks involving healthcare providers (HCPs) across the European Union (EU). Considering the urgent need to provide guidance not only to the rCTDs community, but also to the whole ARDs community, a multidisciplinary Task Force, including expert clinicians and European Patient Advocacy Group (ePAG) Advocates, was created in the framework of ERN ReCONNET with the aim of developing overarching principles (OP) and points-to-consider (PtC) on a homogenous approach to treat immunocompromised patients with ARDs (with a particular focus on CTDs) affected by COVID-19 using antiviral therapies and anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody products. The present work reports the final OP and PtC agreed by the Task Force.

This study aimed to describe the intellectual profile based on the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children 4th edition (WISC‐IV) in children with self‐limited epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes (SeLECTS), with an attempt to define possible predictive epilepsy‐related variables of cognitive performance. The WISC‐IV was assessed in 161 children with SeLECTS and their cognitive profiles were compared to a matched sample of healthy control children. Children with SeLECTS performed within normal range across all indices, demonstrating particular strength based on the Perceptual Reasoning Index. Compared to healthy control children, we observed a significant difference in performance based on the Full Scale Intelligence Quotient, Verbal Comprehension Index and Processing Speed Index. Regarding epilepsy‐related variables, earlier onset of epilepsy, use of anti‐seizure medications, the presence of neurodevelopmental disorders, a higher frequency of seizures, and a longer treatment duration were associated with an overall lower level of performance. Children with SeLECTS performed within the average range for cognitive assessment based on the WISC‐IV, demonstrating that children had normal levels of global intelligence. However, compared to healthy control children, children with SeLECTS showed a slightly lower level of performance. Reasoning skills represented the relative strengths in children with SeLECTS. Predictors of intellectual performance in patients with SeLECTS include epilepsy‐related variables and neurodevelopmental comorbidities.