Giorgio Gronchi

Multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 1: institution, management, and data analysis of a nationwide multicenter patient database

ObjectiveThe aim of this study was to integrate European epidemiological data on patients with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 by creating an Italian registry of this syndrome, including clinical and genetic characteristics and therapeutic management.MethodsClinical, familial and genetic data of patients with multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1, diagnosed, treated, and followed-up for a mean time of 11.3 years, in 14 Italian referral endocrinological centers, were collected, over a 3-year course (2011–2013), to build a national electronic database.ResultsThe Italian multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 database includes 475 patients (271 women and 204 men), of whom 383 patients (80.6%) were classified as familial cases (from 136 different pedigrees), and 92 (19.4%) patients were sporadic cases. A MEN1 mutation was identified in 92.6% of familial cases and in 48.9% of sporadic cases. Four hundred thirty-six patients were symptomatic, presenting primary hyperparathyroidism, gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors and pituitary tumors in 93, 53, and 41% of cases, respectively. Thirty-nine subjects, belonging to affected pedigrees positive for a MEN1 mutation, were asymptomatic at clinical and biochemical screening. Age at diagnosis of multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 probands was similar for both familial and simplex cases (mean age 47.2 ± 15.3 years). In familial cases, diagnosis of multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 in relatives of affected probands was made more than 10 years in advance (mean age at diagnosis 36.5 ± 17.6 years).ConclusionsThe analysis of Italian registry of multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 patients revealed that clinical features of Italian multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 patients are similar to those of other western countries, and confirmed that the genetic test allowed multiple endocrine neoplasia type 1 diagnosis 10 years earlier than biochemical or clinical diagnosis.

Cognitive dissonance and social influence effects on preference judgments: An eye tracking based system for their automatic assessment

Abstract Researchers have investigated the social influence on the human decision making process. Social pressure and individual cognitive dynamics are complex variables in decision making that can give very useful insight in predicting human behavior. This is also useful in exploiting important factors that can be embedded in ICTs in order to equip them with human cognitive-inspired features. By tracking eye movements and measuring reaction times, we investigated the decision making process made when asked to rate two photos against each other. We manipulate the social information available to participants: no information (blind), information about responses of other participants (others), and information about responses of the community of friends of the participants. In particular the investigation of the social pressure effects (e.g., In–Out group bias and cognitive dissonance effects) on the human decision making represents an inspiring perspective of research for several domains. In this paper we demonstrate how this approach allows us to investigate both, the decision making process at individual level, and the role played by the social dimension. The possibility to create a formal model of these processes can give very useful clues and inputs to the ICT domain. On one hand, the computational modeling approach could allow us to predict the behavior of human people in order to optimize the interaction between users and ICTs. On the other hand, this new understanding can allow computer scientist equip technological systems with some interesting features that characterized the human cognitive system towards the Self-Awareness in autonomic centric systems.

You are that smiling guy I met at the party! Socially positive signals foster memory for identities and contexts.

The emotional influence of facial expressions on memory is well-known whereas the influence of emotional contextual information on memory for emotional faces is yet to be extensively explored. This study investigated the interplay between facial expression and the emotional surrounding context in affecting both memory for identities (item memory) and memory for associative backgrounds (source memory). At the encoding fearful and happy faces were presented embedded in fear or happy scenes (i.e.: fearful faces in fear-scenes, happy faces in happy-scenes, fearful faces in happy-scenes and happy faces in fear-scenes) and participants were asked to judge the emotional congruency of the face-scene compounds (i.e. fearful faces in fear-scenes and happy faces in happy-scenes were congruent compounds). In the recognition phase, the old faces were intermixed with the new ones: all the faces were presented isolated with a neutral expression. Participants were requested to indicate whether each face had been previously presented (item memory). Then, for each old face the memory for the scene originally compounded with the face was tested by a three alternative forced choice recognition task (source memory). The results evidenced that face identity memory is differently modulated by the valence in congruent face-context compounds with better identity recognition (item memory) for happy faces encoded in happy-scenarios. Moreover, also the memory for the surrounding context (source memory) benefits from the association with a smiling face. Our findings highlight that socially positive signals conveyed by smiling faces may prompt memory for identity and context.

Age-Trend-Related Différences in Tasks Involving Conjunctive Probabilistic Reasoning

Conjunctive probabilistic reasoning has been studied at different ages to ascertain whether the conjunction fallacy is due to a task demand misinterpretation. Such a misinterpretation might occur because a task that requires a comparison between a superordinate class A and a subordinate class A&B is mistakenly interpreted as requiring a comparison between the two complementary subordinate classes of A (i.e., A&B and A&notB). Children (7- and 10-year-olds) and adults were required to make conjunctive probability judgments about problems for which explicit objective probabilities were provided. The total number of A items was kept constant and the frequencies of the A&B and of the A&notB items varied across problems. When the number of A&B items was smaller than the number of A&notB items, the frequency of congruent responses increased with age. When the number of A&B items was greater or equal to that of the A&notB items, the frequency of correct answers decreased.

Emotional contexts modulate intentional memory suppression of neutral faces: Insights from ERPs

The main goal of present work is to gain new insight into the temporal dynamics underlying the voluntary memory control for neutral faces associated with neutral, positive and negative contexts. A directed forgetting (DF) procedure was used during the recording of EEG to answer the question whether is it possible to forget a face that has been encoded within a particular emotional context. A face-scene phase in which a neutral face was showed in a neutral or emotional scene (positive, negative) was followed by the voluntary memory cue (cue phase) indicating whether the face had to-be remember or to-be-forgotten (TBR and TBF). Memory for faces was then assessed with an old/new recognition task. Behaviorally, we found that it is harder to suppress faces-in-positive-scenes compared to faces-in-negative and neutral-scenes. The temporal information obtained by the ERPs showed: 1) during the face-scene phase, the Late Positive Potential (LPP), which indexes motivated emotional attention, was larger for faces-in-negative-scenes compared to faces-in-neutral-scenes. 2) Remarkably, during the cue phase, ERPs were significantly modulated by the emotional contexts. Faces-in-neutral scenes showed an ERP pattern that has been typically associated to DF effect whereas faces-in-positive-scenes elicited the reverse ERP pattern. Faces-in-negative scenes did not show differences in the DF-related neural activities but larger N1 amplitude for TBF vs. TBR faces may index early attentional deployment. These results support the hypothesis that the pleasantness or unpleasantness of the contexts (through attentional broadening and narrowing mechanisms, respectively) may modulate the effectiveness of intentional memory suppression for neutral information.

Growing Strong and Healthy with Mister Bone: An Educational Program to Have Strong Bones Later in Life.

Optimal peak bone mass and bone health later in life are favored by a sufficient calcium intake in infancy, childhood and adolescence. The purpose of this study was to test a new educational program created to monitor and to improve calcium and vitamin D intake in children. Nutritional habits in children were evaluated through a food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) to assess the intake of calcium, vitamin D, dairy products, and total caloric energy at baseline and after seven months of exposure to a unique educational program applied between November 2013 and May 2014 in 176 schoolchildren (48% male, 52% female) attending the fourth and fifth grades of two selected primary schools in Florence, Italy. A significant increase of calcium (from 870 ± 190 to 1100 ± 200 mg/day, p < 0.05), and vitamin D (from 3.6 ± 1.53 to 4.1 ± 2 µg/day) intake in children was documented after the educational program. The amount of specific foods important for bone health consumed, such as milk and vegetables, increased significantly, both in male and female children (p < 0.05). The proposed educational program appears to be effective in modifying calcium intake in children, with a significant increase in the consumption of dairy products and vegetables, but without a significant change in the total caloric intake.

Evaluating Cerebral Cortex Connectivity with Local Information Algorithm

Previous works have analyzed the cluster organization of the cat cortical network using both traditional multidimensional scaling methods and evolutionary optimization algorithms. Interestingly, the evolutionary optimization principle of previous works is based on the modularity measure used to find communities in network with global algorithms. In this paper, we deepen this point taking into account different community-detection algorithms. We compare the performances of Net Explorer, a local information dynamics algorithm for detecting communities in networks, with six well-known community detection algorithms: Info map, Hierarchical Info map, Lou vain, Modularity Optimization, Label Propagation and Oslom. The results indicate that Net Explorer is able to detect the four functional clusters where misattributions of some areas are explained by their multimodal function. Results are discussed in terms of misattributions of brain areas to the different clusters emphasizing connections which are explainable (or not) by a cognitive point of view.

Simulating the Cost of Cooperation: A Recipe for Collaborative Problem-Solving

Collective problem-solving and decision-making, along with other forms of collaboration online, are central phenomena within ICT. There had been several attempts to create a system able to go beyond the passive accumulation of data. However, those systems often neglect important variables such as group size, the difficulty of the tasks, the tendency to cooperate, and the presence of selfish individuals (free riders). Given the complex relations among those variables, numerical simulations could be the ideal tool to explore such relationships. We take into account the cost of cooperation in collaborative problem solving by employing several simulated scenarios. The role of two parameters was explored: the capacity, the group’s capability to solve increasingly challenging tasks coupled with the collective knowledge of a group, and the payoff, an individual’s own benefit in terms of new knowledge acquired. The final cooperation rate is only affected by the cost of cooperation in the case of simple tasks and small communities. In contrast, the fitness of the community, the difficulty of the task, and the groups sizes interact in a non-trivial way, hence shedding some light on how to improve crowdsourcing when the cost of cooperation is high.

Dual Process Theory of Thought and Default Mode Network: A Possible Neural Foundation of Fast Thinking

The notion of default mode network (DMN) and the dual process theory of thought, topics within different cognitive neuroscience and psychology subfields, have attracted considerable attention and been extensively studied in the past decade. The former originated from experimental evidence on the brain function obtained when an individual is not involved in a specific task, and recent research suggests that the DMN plays a role in mental and neurological disorders (Buckner et al., 2008). A distinction is made according to the psychology of thinking in the dual process theory of thought between fast, effortless associative processes and slow, deliberative ones (Kahneman, 2011). This theory has been exploited both theoretically, to better understand human thought, and in many applications of behavior modification (Thaler and Sunstein, 2008). This paper proposes that an amalgamation of the aspects of these two topics could be of mutual benefit to scientists within the respective fields. The discovery of the DMN has stimulated several hypotheses regarding the neural basis of the self and the theory of the mind. However, with few exceptions, these hypotheses lack reference to current research on thought processes like reasoning and decision-making. A role of the DMN in the organization and expression of preplanned, reflexive behaviors characteristics of fast thinking has been mentioned by Raichle (2015). Moreover, a link between fast and slow processes and the activity of neural circuits including the DMN, has been proposed in the framework of the Predictive And Reactive Control Systems (PARCS) theory (Tops et al., 2014). More recently, the contribution of the DMN to automated processing has been also suggested (Vatansever et al., 2017). In contrast, the dual process theory of thought is the most shared explanation of how thoughts arise but does not adequately address the neural basis of thought, although an attempt has been made to determine the relationship between ego depletion and biological parameters (Elkins-Brown et al., 2016). Thus, in our opinion the DMN may provide a neural foundation for the associative, fast, and effortless form of thinking elucidated by the dual process theory.

AB1200 From the calcaneus quantitative ultrasonography (QUS) to the femoral radiofrequency echographic multi spectrometry (REMS): non-ionising approaches to diagnosize osteoporosis proposed by f.i.r.m.o. foundation

Background The high prevalence of osteoporosis and its insidious development, often silent until a fracture occurs, make it necessary to resort to prevention by promoting early diagnosis and educational programmes for a healthy life style. Objectives To develop screening campaigns of the Italian population for the osteoporosis prevention thanks to the collaboration with F.I.R.M.O. Foundation (Fondazione Italiana Ricerca Malattie Ossee).1 Methods An experienced medical staff administered to the afferent people the IOF “One minute risk test” questionnaire, (to detect the presence of clinical risk factors), together with a densitometric examination performed by a portable device aboard a mobile unit, in several Italian cities between 2011 and 2017. The technique employed to assess bone status in 2011 and 2012 was calcaneus Quantitative Ultrasonography (QUS), applied to a peripheral skeletal site, which has been shown as effective in identifying osteoporotic men or post-menopausal women.2 Although representing a low-cost and accessible approach, the heel measurement of speed of ultrasound (SOS) can be influenced by foot positioning, oedema and temperature.3 Since 2017, a novel non-invasive densitometric technique is available, which allows to evaluate the axial fragile bone sites (spine and femur). It is Radiofrequency Echographic Multi Spectrometry (REMS), that a multicentric clinical study has been shown to provide parameters highly correlated with DXA ones. Results As measured by calcaneus QUS in 7305 subjects, the prevalence rate of osteoporosis was approximately 18.7%, while the 42.6% had a T-score compatible with osteopenia. People with a QUS T-score <−2.5 was recommended to early undergo a DXA at lumbar and femoral sites and a specialistic visit. On the other hand, REMS examinations at femoral neck, performed on 397 people, revealed that osteoporosis resulted in 25% of the sample and osteopenia in 54%. Also in this case, people with a T-score <−2.5 was suggested to perform a DXA, considering that the accuracy and operator-independent automatic analysis performed by REMS, make more reliable the obtained data. Conclusions Nowadays, with REMS introduction, F.I.R.M.O. foundation and the health system could avail themselves of a new non-invasive, rapid, easy-to-use and automatized technology for the prevention of osteoporosis. References [1] Cavalli L, Guazzini G, Cianferotti L, et al. “Prevalence of osteoporosis in the Italian population and main risk factors: results of BoneTour Campaign”. BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders (2016) 17:396; DOI 10.1186/s12891–016–1248–8 [2] Krieg MA, Barkmann R, Gonnelli S, Stewart A, Bauer DC, Del Rio Barquero L, et al. Quantitative ultrasound in the management of osteoporosis: the 2007. ISCD official positions. J Clin Densitom. 2008;11:163 [3] Hans D, Krieg MA. Quantitative ultrasound for the detection and management of osteoporosis. Salud Publica Mex2009;51suppl 1:S25-S37 Acknowledgements The authors are grateful to F.I.R.M.O. Foundation for promoting these screening campaigns. Disclosure of Interest None declared