We describe the iDO serious game developed during implementation of the Innovative Digital Training Opportunities on Dementia for Direct Care Workers (IDO) project. The project targets formal and ...informal caregivers of persons with dementia in order to improve caregiver knowledge and competences skills with a non-traditional source of training. This paper describes the steps faced to define the iDO caregiver behavior improvement model, design of game mechanics, development of game art and game characters, and implementation of gameplay. Furthermore, it aimed to assess the direct impact of the game on caregivers (n = 48) and seniors with early signs of dementia (n = 14) in Lithuania measured with the Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) and Dementia Attitudes Scale (DAS). The caregivers’ GDS scores showed a decrease in negative answers from 13.4% (pre-game survey) to 5.2% (post-game survey). The seniors’ GDS scores showed a decrease in negative answers from 24.9% (pre-game survey) to 10.9% (post-game survey). The overall DAS scores increased from 6.07 in the pre-game survey to 6.41 in the post-game survey, statistically significant for both caregivers and seniors (p < 0.001), respectively. We conclude that the game aroused positive moods and attitudes for future caregivers of persons with dementia, indicating a more relaxed status and a decreased fear in accomplishing the caring process.
The EMPATHIC project develops and validates new interaction paradigms for personalized virtual coaches (VC) to promote healthy and independent aging. To this end, the work presented in this paper is ...aimed to analyze the interaction between the EMPATHIC-VC and the users. One of the goals of the project is to ensure an end-user driven design, involving senior users from the beginning and during each phase of the project. Thus, the paper focuses on some sessions where the seniors carried out interactions with a Wizard of Oz driven, simulated system. A coaching strategy based on the GROW model was used throughout these sessions so as to guide interactions and engage the elderly with the goals of the project. In this interaction framework, both the human and the system behavior were analyzed. The way the wizard implements the GROW coaching strategy is a key aspect of the system behavior during the interaction. The language used by the virtual agent as well as his or her physical aspect are also important cues that were analyzed. Regarding the user behavior, the vocal communication provides information about the speaker’s emotional status, that is closely related to human behavior and which can be extracted from the speech and language analysis. In the same way, the analysis of the facial expression, gazes and gestures can provide information on the non verbal human communication even when the user is not talking. In addition, in order to engage senior users, their preferences and likes had to be considered. To this end, the effect of the VC on the users was gathered by means of direct questionnaires. These analyses have shown a positive and calm behavior of users when interacting with the simulated virtual coach as well as some difficulties of the system to develop the proposed coaching strategy.
In this work, the antibacterial activity of deflazacort and several of its synthetic precursors was tested against a panel of bacterial pathogens responsible for most drug-resistant infections ...including
spp.,
,
,
,
, and
spp. The derivative of deflazacort, PYED-1 (pregnadiene-11-hydroxy-16α,17α-epoxy-3,20-dione-1) showed the best antibacterial activity in a dose-dependent way. We focused on the action of PYED-1 against
cells. PYED-1 exhibited an additive antimicrobial effect with gentamicin and oxacillin against the methicillin-resistant
isolate 00717. In addition to its antimicrobial effect
PYED-1 was found to repress the expression of several virulence factors of
, including toxins encoded by the
(alpha-haemolysin),
(beta-haemolysin),
(leucotoxins E-D), and
(staphylococcal enterotoxin A) genes, and cell surface factors (
fibronectin-binding protein B) and capC (capsule biosynthesis protein C)). The expression levels of autolysin isaA (immunodominant staphylococcal antigen) were also increased.
Invasive
infections have become a global public health problem due to the increase of
species resistant against antifungal therapeutics. The glucocorticoid PYED-1 ...(pregnadiene-11-hydroxy-16α,17α-epoxy-3,20-dione-1) has antimicrobial activity against various bacterial taxa. Consequently, it might be considered for the treatment of
infections. The antifungal activity of PYED-1 was evaluated against several fungal strains that were representative of the five species that causes the majority of
infections-namely,
,
,
,
and
. PYED-1 exhibited a weak antifungal activity and a fungistatic effect on all five
species. On the other hand, PYED-1 exhibited a good anti-biofilm activity, and was able to eradicate the preformed biofilms of all
species analyzed. Moreover, PYED-1 inhibited germ tube and hyphae formation of
and reduced adhesion of
to abiotic surfaces by up to 30%.
Anal fistula is a common disease that needs surgical treatment to be resolved. Despite a variety of surgical options, the major problem is still to cure complex fistulas without any recurrence in the ...long-term follow-up but, at the same time, to avoid an impairment of continence. In recent years, one solution has been the application of mesenchymal stem cells derived from adipose tissue, especially in association with other treatments, such as the use of fibrin glue or the previous application of a seton. Their initial use in fistulas associated with Crohn's disease has shown encouraging results. In this non-systematic review our aim is to analyze the use in cryptoglandular fistulas: the rate of healing is not so high, and the number of studies is limited. Therefore, further randomized controlled trials are needed to establish their efficacy in the case of complex cryptoglandular anal fistulas and their possible complications.
Il documento qui esaminato, rogato dal notaio romano Ponziano de’ Ponziani, si presenta nelle sue caratteristiche formali come un’instrumentum investimenti domus, una pratica che perfezionava lo ...stato della proprietà di un immobile, diffusa un po’ ovunque in Italia e in modo particolare a Roma L’interesse particolare di questo atto notarile è dato dalle circostanze davvero speciali in cui fu redatto (prendere possesso di una casa abitata da ebrei appestati) e da altri aspetti attinenti alla grave congiuntura determinata dall’epidemia di peste che sconvolse Roma tra maggio 1522 e giugno 1523.
Il documento qui esaminato, rogato dal notaio romano Ponziano de’ Ponziani, si presenta nelle sue caratteristiche formali come un’instrumentum investimenti domus, una pratica che perfezionava lo ...stato della proprietà di un immobile, diffusa un po’ ovunque in Italia e in modo particolare a Roma L’interesse particolare di questo atto notarile è dato dalle circostanze davvero speciali in cui fu redatto (prendere possesso di una casa abitata da ebrei appestati) e da altri aspetti attinenti alla grave congiuntura determinata dall’epidemia di peste che sconvolse Roma tra maggio 1522 e giugno 1523.
Classical neurophysiological studies demonstrated that the monkey brain is equipped with neurons selectively representing the visual shape of the primate hand. Neuroimaging in humans provided data ...suggesting that a similar representation can be found in humans. Here, we investigated the selectivity of hand representation in humans by means of the visual adaptation technique. Results showed that participants' judgement of human-likeness of a visual probe representing a human hand was specifically reduced by a visual adaptation procedure when using a human hand adaptor but not when using an anthropoid robotic hand or a non-primate animal paw adaptor. Instead, human-likeness of the anthropoid robotic hand was affected by both human and robotic adaptors. No effect was found when using a non-primate animal paw as adaptor or probe. These results support the existence of specific neural mechanisms encoding human hand in the human's visual system.
•Emotional expressions.•Multimodal communication.•Needs and challenges in emotionally and believable ICT interfaces.
Demand for and delivery so far of sophisticated computational instruments able to ...recognize, process and store relevant interactional signals, as well as interact with people, displaying suitable autonomous reactions appropriately sensitive to environmental changes, have produced great expectations in Information Communication Technology (ICT). Knowing what an appropriate continuation of an interaction is depends on detecting the addresser's register and a machine interface unable to assess differences will have difficulty managing interactions. Progress toward understanding and modeling such facets is crucial for implementing behaving Human Computer Interaction (HCI) systems that will simplify user access to future, profitable, remote and nearby social services. This paper raises new research questions via new means for socio‐behavioral and emotional investigations, and suggests the gathering of new experimental data and theories across a spectrum of research concepts, in order to develop new psychological and computational approaches crucial for implementing believable and trustable HCI systems which exploit synthetic agents, robots, and sophisticated humanlike interfaces.
Abstract Conventional pancreatic resections for pancreatic neck and body diseases include pancreaticoduodenectomy, distal pancreatectomy with or without splenectomy, and total pancreatectomy. Recent ...studies have reported encouraging results of non-traditional pancreatic resections, including central pancreatectomy (CP), for central pancreatic disease. This surgical approach offers the potentials of low postoperative morbidity and preservation of metabolic functions. This study performs a systematic review on CP. A comprehensive literature search was conducted, for the period 1992–2015, on three worldwide databases: PubMed, Scopus, ISI-Web of Knowledge. We focused on indications, morbidity and mortality of this surgical procedure. The review shows that CP is particularly suitable for small-medium size diseases localized into the pancreatic body. This procedure is associated with an increased postoperative morbidity but an excellent postoperative pancreatic function. CP is a safe and effective procedure when performed following the right indications.