Maurizio Sibilio

One-year adherence to exercise in elderly patients receiving postacute inpatient rehabilitation after cardiac surgery.

Macchi C, Polcaro P, Cecchi F, Zipoli R, Sofi F, Romanelli A, Pepi L, Sibilio M, Lipoma M, Petrilli M, Molino-Lova R: One-year adherence to exercise in elderly patients receiving postacute inpatient rehabilitation after cardiac surgery. Objective: Promoting an active lifestyle through an appropriate physical exercise prescription is one of the major targets of cardiac rehabilitation. However, information on the effectiveness of cardiac rehabilitation in promoting lifestyle changes in elderly patients is still scant. Design: In 131 patients over the age of 65 yrs (86 men, and 45 women, mean age 75 yrs ± 6 SD) who have attended postacute inpatient cardiac rehabilitation after cardiac surgery, we tested the 1-yr adherence to the physical exercise prescription received at the end of the cardiac rehabilitation by using a questionnaire on physical activity and the 6-min walk test. Results: All of the 36 patients who reported an active lifestyle and 49 of the 95 patients who reported a sedentary lifestyle in the year preceding the cardiac operation reported at least 1 hr/day on 5 days each week of light regular physical activity in the year after the cardiac rehabilitation. Further, the distance walked at the follow-up 6-min walk test was significantly related to the physical activity score gathered from the questionnaire. Conclusions: Our data show that 65% of the elderly patients who have attended postacute inpatient cardiac rehabilitation after cardiac surgery are still capable of recovering or even increasing their regular physical activity and of maintaining these favorable lifestyle changes at least for 1 yr.

Internal jugular vein valves: an assessment of prevalence, morphology and competence by Color Doppler Echography in 240 healthy subjects

The presence of valves in the head and neck veins is known since classical anatomical dissections. Previous studies have investigated whether jugular veins show constant valves at their ostium and whether these valves are physiologically competent, but, unluckily, these studies have reported conflicting results. Further, recent observations have raised the question whether the incompetence of jugular vein valves might play a pivotal role in neurological disorders related to venous engorgement of the brain. In this study we examined 462 internal jugular veins by using an echocolorodoppler apparatus. In particular, we assessed the presence, morphology and competence of valves at their ostium. Unilateral jugular vein valves were present in 406 cases (88%), mainly on the right side. The most frequently observed morphology (75%, 305 cases) was the two-leaflet valve, and jugular vein valves were incompetent in the huge majority of cases (365 cases, 90%). Our findings confirm the anatomical variability predicted from classical anatomical studies but, unluckily, do not provide additional evidence on the possible role of jugular vein valves in physiology and pathology. Further studies are strongly needed to determine whether these valves actually play an important role in counteracting chest venous pressure and in preventing reflux towards the brain.

Can I Consider the Pong Racket as a Part of My Body?: Toward a Digital Body Literacy

Up to which point can people consider as part of their body the Pong racket, or an avatar on the screen, on which do people exert direct motor control as well? When individuals move in a virtual environment, do the proprioceptors convey information about the location of which body? In which environment? How will the information contaminate each other? How does the temperature felt on the real environment influence the interaction in the virtual environment? This paper is not intended to answer these questions, it is rather intended to raise fundamental questions of perception and phenomenology in a digital context in which bodies “are not born; they are made†(Haraway, 1991). The work should act as a positio quaestionis, with the aim of affirming the urgent need for a necessarily interdisciplinary reflection on the overall design of the body - perception - cognition - technology perimeter; it also identifies in the Berthoz simplexity and Ginzburg evidential paradigms, and in the Hansen concept of mixed reality, the building blocks of a theoretical framework aimed to the solution of these questions.

A Constructivist Approach to Virtual Reality for Experiential Learning.

Consideration of a possible use of virtual reality technologies in school contexts requires gathering together the suggestions of many scientific domains aimed at understanding the features of these same tools that let them offer valid support to the teaching-learning processes in educational settings. Specifically, the present study is aimed at creating a theoretical framework for the didactic use of VR technologies in schools, highlighting the characteristics of these tools that are supported by a view of teaching that enhances sensorimotor activity in learning. The theoretical approach, through the study of the international scientific literature on this topic, offers interdisciplinary suggestions for realising teaching-learning practices that are supported by scientific principles and a concept of learning that is consistent with the processes that these tools may activate.

Motor activities teaching and complexity: a reversal of the classical description of the mechanisms of perception and action

In the last decade we saw a heated debate on the implementation of complex learning theories in Physical Education. In the educational field there has been the difficulty to apply in the teaching practice a conception of the knowledge and learning which, on a theoretical level, has recognized the role of the body in movement, while it struggles, on the operative level, to define methodologies and tools usable in everyday’s activities. The constructivist hypothesis in Physical Education has faced serious difficulties in educationally interpreting the nature of the motor experience. This paper focuses on the concept of action and on the reversal of the process of perception-action operated by the phenomenological tradition (Merleau-Ponty), which has been confirmed in more or less recent neuroscientific evidences (Berthoz, Decety, Jeannerod). In this perspective, the subject builds his world according to his basic needs and action tools. From this point of view, faced with insurmountable difficulties posed by a multidimensional reality, the typical activity of living beings proceeds through the reduction of the dimensionality of the problems, a reduction that addresses complexity simply acting ahead. In other words, the body in action solves local complexity. This idea leads to the disintegration of cognitivist methodological model, based on a concept of information processing that involves discrete, separate, non-overlapping stages of perception-action, and moves in direction of an approach to complexity that shifts from a descriptive level (identification and understanding of the phenomenon) to a pragmatic level (supporting its existence and development).

Assessment of internal diameters of abdominal and femoral blood vessels in 250 living subjects using Color Doppler ultrasonography

Acquiring data about venous or arterial vessel size is important for several reasons, given the increasing incidence of thomboembolic phenomena and arterial aneurysms and the emerging new vascular techniques. We studied 250 healthy subjects (125 men and 125 women; age range: 50 to 91 years) with no known vascular pathology, nor hypertension, nor diabetes. We assessed the caliber of abdominal aorta, inferior vena cava, iliac and femoral arteries and viens by color doppler ultrasonography, and analyzed the results with regard to sex, height, weight and body surface of each subject. The mean caliber measure of the large abdominal vessels appeared lower than the value obtained from cadavers. There was a direct proportion between the left and right vessels of the same subject. The difference in vessel caliber between male and female subjects was statistically significant. There was no correlation between vessel caliber and age, height or body surface area.

Design and Development of an Inclusive Learning Videogames Aimed to Promote the Development of Reading and Writing Skills

Inclusive didactics can be defined as the set of strategies, methods and resources that enable the teacher to pay more attention to the personal profile of the student in terms of learning. With reference to the teaching resources applied, technology offers effective opportunities for the implementation of an inclusive approach. The aim of this paper is to illustrate, on the basis of recent literature, how action videogames can foster the development of reading and writing skills in an inclusive way, through the specific types of human-machine interactions on which they are based. In addition, the design and development phases of the game, targeted for pupils attending Italian primary schools, is presented.

The non-linear potential of didactic action

Starting from a perspective that views education as a complex and adaptive system, this paper is aimed at providing a first reflection on the concept of linearity , intended as a possible interpretation of the limitations arising from the characteristics and the relationships among the actors, the objects and the events that form part of the teaching-learning process. What results is a deterministic vision of teaching and a real negation of the embodied and situated dimension of teaching. This reflection forms part of a branch of educational research that investigates didactic corporealities - those aspects of teaching that are manifested in bodily form, real and metaphoric representations of the triadic interaction between the teacher, the student and the environment. This is configured as the set of elements that contribute to a complex meaning of the teaching experience, able to contribute to a deconstruction of linear schemes of action that are repetitive in nature and are inadequate to address the emerging needs of 21 st Century classrooms. In order to foster and promote the success of all learners, a pluralistic and proteiform perspective is therefore required. This view paves the way to a non-linear form of teaching that is aware of the didactic morphologies that are the characteristics , the spaces , the functions and the potentialities of action during teaching.

Use of Optoelectronic Systems for the Analysis of Technique in Trials

Optoelectronic systems represent the gold standard of technologies used in the motion analysis for the evaluation of kinematics. Trials, a specialty of mountain biking, differ a lot from other cycling specialties, because in addition to pedaling, they require jumping techniques to overcome obstacles that involve the whole body. In this sport, more than in others, the evaluation of technical movements using optoelectronic systems goes far beyond simply assessing the biomechanics of pedaling or the correct positioning on the bike. Starting from a previous study conducted with video analysis technique applied to the lateral jumping technique, two versions of this technique were compared, considering the kinematics of the act, taking into account both the data relating the subject and the bicycle. The joint angles of the lower limbs and the angles described by the bicycle on the three space plane were considered. The major differences have been found in the “leap over” phase, about the bending of the lower limbs and the angles described by the bicycle.

Creatività, pensiero divergente e pensiero laterale per una didattica semplessa

In the current dynamic school contexts, teachers are requested to plan and implement flexible and differentiated didactic programmes with the aim of meeting all the students’ needs and bring their potential to light. This educational investment, besides being a professional need, aids in removing any obstacle to learning and promotes full participation in school life. This article outlines the theoretical framework of creative thinking within a simplex perspective, intended as a tool for didactic deviations, and consequently provides the basis of how this innovative strategy could help to decipher and face complexity in challenging situations.