Dissociating language switching from executive control in bilinguals with MCI.

Bilingual language control is a dynamic cognitive system that enables individuals to effectively manage language use and prevent interference when switching between languages. Research indicates that certain neurodegenerative conditions may influence language-switching abilities or hinder the suppression of cross-language interference. However, it remains uncertain whether neurodegeneration primarily affecting mesial temporal structures, such as Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), impacts lexical retrieval in dual-language naming conditions.

Real-Life Use of Filgotinib in Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Janus kinase inhibitors (JAKis) are a novel class of drugs interfering with intracellular signaling of type I and type II cytokines, which play a crucial role in immune dysregulation associated with several chronic inflammatory diseases. Filgotinib (FIL), in particular, is the newest member of the JAKi class and exerts its therapeutic effects by selectively targeting and inhibiting the kinase activity of JAK1. While the efficacy of FIL in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been confirmed in clinical trials, real-world evidence may provide better insights into its effectiveness and safety in routine clinical practice.

Evolving trends in neuropsychological profiles of post COVID-19 condition: A 1-year follow-up in individuals with cognitive complaints.

Cognitive difficulties are reported as lasting sequelae within post COVID-19 condition. However, the chronicity of these difficulties and related factors of fatigue, mood, and perceived health have yet to be fully determined. To address this, the current longitudinal study aimed to clarify the trends of cognitive test performance and cognitive domain impairment following COVID-19 onset, and whether hospitalization influences outcomes.

Color Doppler ultrasound evaluation of arteriovenous grafts for hemodialysis.

Although arteriovenous fistula (AVF) continues to be the vascular access of choice for the hemodialysis, arteriovenous graft (AVG) can be the best choice in certain categories of patients and could have several advantages over AVF in a "patient centered approach" to vascular access. In the clinical management of prosthetic fistulas, color Doppler ultrasound (CDU) is the imaging method of choice for identifying stenosis and other AVG complications. In this review, besides highlighting the pivotal role of CDU in the diagnosis of AVG complications, we will underline the key role that ultrasound can play in identifying those stenosis most likely to cause AVG thrombosis.

Background Music and Memory in Mild Cognitive Impairment: The Role of Interindividual Differences.

Background: Recent research has shown that background music may improve memory consolidation and retrieval. Nevertheless, in the clinical conditions preceding dementia such as mild cognitive impairment (MCI), there is no current evidence speaking to what effect background music during memory tasks has on impaired cognition.

Objective: Across three experiments, we investigated if background music is able to improve memory performance, the most impacted cognitive domain in amnestic MCI.

Post-COVID-19 fatigue: the contribution of cognitive and neuropsychiatric symptoms.

Fatigue in its many forms of physical, mental, and psychosocial exhaustion is a common symptom of post-COVID-19 condition, also known as "Long COVID." Persistent fatigue in COVID-19 patients is frequently accompanied by cognitive dysfunction and neuropsychiatric symptoms; however, less is known about the relationships between these components of post-COVID-19 condition and fatigue itself. Consequently, the present study sought to (1) distinguish the types of fatigue experienced by participants, and (2) investigate whether cognitive deficits across various domains and neuropsychiatric conditions predicted these different types of fatigue.

Role of Complete Duplex Ultrasound to Diagnose Deep Vein Thrombosis in COVID-19 Critical Patients.

An increased risk of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) has been reported in critical COVID-19 patients, despite adequate thromboprophylaxis, and most of DVT are probably asymptomatic. As a screening approach has been advocated, the best examination protocol is unknown. The objective of this study is to assess the role of a Complete Duplex Ultrasound (CDUS) examination in detecting DVT in a large population of COVID-19 patients admitted to intensive care unit (ICU) for respiratory failure.

[Welcome].

. Welcome. The publication of a structured and detailed report on the general policy and on model (positive and negative) experiences of 'welcome' directed to the spectrum of human groups (from migrants to marginalised minorities) over the last 2 years in Italy, provides the opportunity of a comprehensive and critical reflection on the impact of a culture of 'emergency' on societal values: a choice between diffuse (institutional and general) strategies of care, and widespread practices of violations of human rights.

Neuropsychological deficits in patients with cognitive complaints after COVID-19.

Background: While much of the scientific focus thus far has been on cognitive sequelae in patients with severe COVID-19, subjective cognitive complaints are being reported across the spectrum of disease severity, with recent studies beginning to corroborate patients' perceived deficits. In response to this, the aims of this study were to (1) explore the frequency of impaired performance across cognitive domains in post-COVID patients with subjective complaints and (2) uncover whether impairment existed within a single domain or across multiple.

Methods: Sixty-three patients with subjective cognitive complaints post-COVID were assessed with a comprehensive protocol consisting of various neuropsychological tests and mood measures.

Obliterating potential of active products for dentin hypersensitivity treatment under an erosive challenge.

Objectives: To compare the effect of 5 desensitizing agents on the hydraulic conductance (Lp) of dentin and to analyze its surface under a Laser Scanning Confocal Microscope (LSCM) before and after an erosive challenge.

Methods: Lp was analyzed in the following sequence: in the presence of smear layer (pMin), after a 15-second acid etching (pMax), after treatment with a desensitizing agent (pTreat) and after a 1-minute erosive challenge (6% citric acid - pEro). Fifty 1.

Voluntary Language Switching in the Context of Bilingual Aphasia.

As studies of bilingual language control (BLC) seek to explore the underpinnings of bilinguals' abilities to juggle two languages, different types of language switching tasks have been used to uncover switching and mixing effects and thereby reveal what proactive and reactive control mechanisms are involved in language switching. Voluntary language switching tasks, where a bilingual participant can switch freely between their languages while naming, are being utilized more often due to their greater ecological validity compared to cued switching paradigms. Because this type of task had not yet been applied to language switching in bilingual patients, our study sought to explore voluntary switching in bilinguals with aphasia (BWAs) as well as in healthy bilinguals.

Active bilingualism delays the onset of mild cognitive impairment.

Lifelong bilingualism may contribute to cognitive reserve (CR) in neurodegenerative diseases as shown by a delay of the age at symptom onset in bilinguals with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI). However, some studies have failed to show this bilingual advantage, suggesting that it might depend on the type and degree of bilingualism. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that active bilingualism, defined as the continuous use of the two languages as opposed to second language exposition only, may protect against cognitive decline.

Efficacy of transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block in colorectal surgery: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Multimodal opioid-sparing analgesia is a key component of the enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocol for postoperative pain management. Transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block has contributed to the implementation of this approach in different kinds of surgical procedures. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of TAP block and its impact on recovery in colorectal surgery.

A cross-sectional and longitudinal study on the protective effect of bilingualism against dementia using brain atrophy and cognitive measures.

Background: Evidence from previous studies suggests that bilingualism contributes to cognitive reserve because bilinguals manifest the first symptoms of Alzheimer's disease (AD) up to 5 years later than monolinguals. Other cross-sectional studies demonstrate that bilinguals show greater amounts of brain atrophy and hypometabolism than monolinguals, despite sharing the same diagnosis and suffering from the same symptoms. However, these studies may be biased by possible pre-existing between-group differences.

Semantic Processing in Bilingual Aphasia: Evidence of Language Dependency.

Individuals with aphasia frequently show lexical retrieval deficits due to increased interference of semantically related competitors, a phenomenon that can be observed in tasks such as naming pictures grouped by semantic category. These deficits are explained in terms of impaired semantic control, a set of abilities that are to some extent dependent upon executive control (EC). However, the extent to which semantic control abilities can be affected in a second and non-dominant language has not been extensively explored.

Is quality of life affected by temporomandibular disorders?

Objective: To determine the impact of temporomandibular disorders in quality of life.

Methods: A total of 102 volunteer patients (68 female) aged 19 to 86 years, who sought medical care in health clinics of the university and were evaluated in the period from September to December 2013. The subjects were examined according to the Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorders, using a mechanical algometer (Palpeter®) with standardized pressure of 0.

Non-linguistic effects of language switching training.

What is the relationship between bilingual language control (BLC) mechanisms and domain-general executive control (EC) processes? Do these two domains share some of their mechanisms? Here, we take a novel approach to this question, investigating whether short-term language switching training improves non-linguistic task switching performance. Two groups of bilinguals were assigned to two different protocols; one group was trained in language switching (switching-task training group) another group was trained in blocked language picture naming (single-block training group). Both groups performed a non-linguistic and linguistic switching task before (pre-training) and after training (post-training).

On the Reliability of Switching Costs Across Time and Domains.

Bilingual speakers are suggested to use control processes to avoid linguistic interference from the unintended language. It is debated whether these bilingual language control (BLC) processes are an instantiation of the more domain-general executive control (EC) processes. Previous studies inconsistently report correlations between measures of linguistic and non-linguistic control in bilinguals.

Neural basis of bilingual language control.

Acquiring and speaking a second language increases demand on the processes of language control for bilingual as compared to monolingual speakers. Language control for bilingual speakers involves the ability to keep the two languages separated to avoid interference and to select one language or the other in a given conversational context. This ability is what we refer with the term "bilingual language control" (BLC).

Whole network, temporal and parietal lobe contributions to the earliest phases of language production.

We investigated whether it is possible to study the network dynamics and the anatomical regions involved in the earliest moments of picture naming by using invasive electroencephalogram (EEG) traces to predict naming errors. Four right-handed participants with focal epilepsy explored with extensive stereotactic implant montages that recorded temporal, parietal and occipital regions -in two patients of both hemispheres-named a total of 228 black and white pictures in three different sessions recorded in different days. The subjects made errors that involved anomia and semantic dysphasia, which related to word frequency and not to visual complexity.

Speak My Language and I Will Remember Your Face Better: An ERP Study.

Here we investigated how the language in which a person addresses us, native or foreign, influences subsequent face recognition. In an old/new paradigm, we explored the behavioral and electrophysiological activity associated with face recognition memory. Participants were first presented with faces accompanied by voices speaking either in their native (NL) or foreign language (FL).

On the overlap between bilingual language control and domain-general executive control.

We explored the overlap between bilingual language control (bLC) and domain-general executive control (EC) by focusing on inhibitory control processes. We tested 62 bilinguals in linguistic and non-linguistic switching tasks for two types of costs, such as the n-1 shift cost and the n-2 repetition cost. In order to explore the involvement of inhibitory control in bLC and EC, we assessed the pattern of switch costs in the two tasks and then we correlated them between tasks.

A 12-month clinical trial examining the effects of a surface sealant on Class I composite resin restorations.

A split-mouth, double-blind trial evaluated the effects of a surface sealant on the clinical performance of Class I composite resin restorations. In 16 patients, 27 pairs of maxillary and mandibular molars or premolars with Class I carious lesions or unsatisfactory restorations were restored with composite resin. For each pair, 1 surface was sealed with surface sealant.