Searching for Linearity: Reconstructive Processes Reverse Temporal Scrambling in Memory for Movie Scenes.

Meaning-making and temporal memory are closely intertwined, yet we still do not know how the overall understanding of complex events affects retrospective temporal judgments. The present study investigated the effect of a manipulation of the temporal linearity of a narrative on the subsequent memory-for-time performance. Participants indicated the time of occurrence of short video clips extracted from a previously encoded movie on a horizontal timeline representing the movie duration.

Long-term memory for movie details: selective decay for verbal information at one week.

Mnemonic representations of complex events are multidimensional, incorporating information about objects and characters, their interactions and their spatial-temporal context. The present study investigated the degree to which detailed verbal information (i.e.

Action observation plus motor imagery and somatosensory discrimination training are effective non-motor approaches to improve manual dexterity.

Background: Action observation plus motor imagery (AOMI) and somatosensory discrimination training (SSDT) represent sensory input-based approaches to train the motor system without necessarily asking subjects to perform active movements.

Purpose: To investigate AOMI and SSDT effects compared to no intervention on manual dexterity in healthy subjects.

Study Design: Randomized controlled study.

The upper extremity functional index (UEFI): Italian validation in patients with Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to adapt the Upper Extremity Functional Index (UEFI) to an Italian population affected by Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) by translating and validating this instrument in an Italian cohort.

Materials And Methods: Five Italian FSHD patients were interviewed regarding the form and content of the translated instrument. Subsequently, fifty-two patients were recruited for the validation purpose by serially completing the UEFI-IT and a battery of clinical assessments and questionnaires.

The facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy - health index: Italian validation of a disease-specific measure of symptomatic burden.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to adapt the Facioscapulohumeral Muscular Dystrophy - Health Index (FSHD-HI) to an Italian population affected by FSHD by translating, validating, and testing this instrument in an Italian cohort.

Materials And Methods: Italian FSHD patients were interviewed regarding the form and content of the translated instrument. Subsequently, forty FSHD patients were recruited to test the reliability (Intraclass Correlation Coefficient, ICC for test-retest; and Cronbach's Alpha for Internal consistency), known groups (Mann-Whitney U test and Area Under the Curve, AUC) and concurrent validity (Pearson's and Spearman's Rank Correlation Coefficient) of the instrument by serially completing the FSHD-HI and an extensive set of tests measuring the neuromotor, psychological and cognitive functions, and perceived quality of life (QoL) aspects.

Effects of a narrative template on memory for the time of movie scenes: automatic reshaping is independent of consolidation.

Memory for time is influenced by reconstructive processes, but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. The present study investigated whether the effect of schematic prior knowledge on temporal memory for movie scenes, produced by the incomplete presentation (cut) of the movie at encoding, is modulated by cut position, retention interval, and task repetition. In a timeline positioning task, participants were asked to indicate when short video clips extracted from a previously encoded movie occurred on a horizontal timeline that represented the video duration.

Travel in the Physical and Mental Space: A Behavioral Assessment of the Phylogenetic Continuity Hypothesis Between Egocentric Navigation and Episodic Memory.

Based on the neuro-functional association between navigation in the physical and the mental space at the level of the hippocampal-entorhinal system, Buzsáki and Moser (2013) have hypothesized a phylogenetic continuity between spatial navigation and declarative memory functions. According to this proposal, mechanisms of episodic and semantic memory would have evolved from mechanisms of self-based and map-based navigation in the physical space, respectively. Using classic versions of path integration and item recognition tasks in human subjects, we have recently described a correlation and a predictive relationship between abilities in egocentric navigation and episodic memory.

Reconstructive nature of temporal memory for movie scenes.

Remembering when events took place is a key component of episodic memory. Using a sensitive behavioral measure, the present study investigates whether spontaneous event segmentation and script-based prior knowledge affect memory for the time of movie scenes. In three experiments, different groups of participants were asked to indicate when short video clips extracted from a previously encoded movie occurred on a horizontal timeline that represented the video duration.

Influence of time-of-day on joint Navon effect.

The shared attention theory suggests that people devote greater cognitive resources to those features co-attended simultaneously with others, determining better performance in several types of tasks. When co-actors performed a go/no-go Navon task attending different features of target letters, the performance was impaired, reflecting a joint Navon effect (the representation of a co-actor's attentional focus made it more difficult to select and apply one's own focus of attention), probably due to asynchronous co-attention with a decrease in cognitive resources involved. Researches in chronobiology and chronopsychology demonstrated that not only selective attention (involved in a Navon task), but also cognitive resources have a daily fluctuations, mainly paralleling the circadian rhythm of body temperature (i.

Synchrony effect on joint attention.

Research on joint attention has demonstrated that individuals are sensitive to a coactor's attentional relation to jointly attended stimuli. Within a chronobiological approach, a study was conducted to assess whether the presence of joint attention, as measured by the joint Navon effect, was influenced by the synchrony effect. Pairs of participants sitting next to each other were required to respond to the identity letters in a go/no-go Navon task.

Nailfold capillaroscopy in primary biliary cirrhosis: a useful tool for the early diagnosis of scleroderma.

Background & Aim: Primary biliary cirrhosis (PBC) is frequently associated with other autoimmune diseases, including systemic sclerosis (SSc). In the last years many efforts have been dedicated to the research of widely accepted criteria for the early diagnosis of SSc. Since studies on the prevalence of early SSc in PBC patients are lacking, our aim was to investigate its hitherto unknown prevalence in a large cohort of PBC patients.

Autoimmune liver disorders and small-vessel vasculitis: four case reports and review of the literature.

Autoimmune liver diseases (AILD) are a group of immunologically induced hepatic disorders that can lead to liver cirrhosis and end-stage liver disease. Extra-hepatic involvement and association with rheumatic diseases (such as Sjögren's syndrome, systemic sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis) are well known, whereas the coexistence of AILD with small-vessel vasculitis in the same patients have been only occasionally reported. In the present paper we report four such cases and an extensive review of the literature.

A seroimmunological profile of erosive hand osteoarthritis.

Objectives: erosive hand osteoarthritis (EHOA) is an inflammatory disorder involving joints of the hands, which may be accompanied by acute phase reactants. The relationship between EHOA and classical osteoarthritis (OA) is still controversial, since some authors consider EHOA as a distinct disease, other as a subset of OA, and some as a border entity between OA and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Scarce data are available about the seroimmunological profile of the disease, which could aid to identify a possible role of the immune system in EHOA pathogenesis, and could also allow to better differentiate EHOA both from OA and RA.

Fibromyalgia and coeliac disease: a media hype or an emerging clinical problem?

Objectives: Fibromyalgia (FM) association with autoimmune diseases has been widely reported in literature. Coeliac disease (CD) is a small intestine immune-mediated disorder triggered by gluten ingestion in genetically predisposed patients. In recent years, the Internet and the non-medical press have reported a correlation between gluten-related disorders and fibromyalgia-like symptoms.

Anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies in type 1 autoimmune hepatitis.

Background: Besides the autoantibodies included in the diagnostic criteria of type 1 autoimmune hepatitis, many other autoantibodies have been described in this condition. Recently, antibodies against cyclic citrullinated peptide have been validated as specific diagnostic and prognostic markers of rheumatoid arthritis.

Aim: To assess whether these antibodies are part of the autoantibody repertoire of type 1 autoimmune hepatitis and correlate with rheumatological manifestations.

Haplotype HLA-B8-DR3 confers susceptibility to hepatitis C virus-related mixed cryoglobulinemia.

Our aim was to investigate whether host genetic factors are involved in the onset of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related mixed cryoglobulinemia (MC). We studied 25 consecutive patients presenting with a full-blown clinical picture of MC by physical examination, blood chemistry, assessment of cryoglobulins and their composition, nonorgan-specific autoantibodies, antibodies to HCV, serum HCV RNA, and HLA polymorphism. Biopsies of liver, bone marrow, and minor salivary glands were also performed in a number of patients.

Wheat deficient in gliadins: promising tool for treatment of coeliac disease.

The toxicity of two varieties of bread wheat, one poor in alpha and beta gliadins and the other poor in alpha, beta, gamma, and omega gliadins, has been tested. The peptic-tryptic digest of these wheats was assessed using coeliac mucosa in an in vitro organ culture system. A significantly lower toxicity was found in respect of bread wheat containing all gliadin fractions.

Subclinical celiac sprue. Increasing occurrence and clues to its diagnosis.

We have reviewed the clinical records of 226 consecutive adult patients with celiac sprue diagnosed in our department from 1972 to 1989. The study period has been divided into three subperiods of 6 years each (1972-1977, 1978-1983, 1984-1989). From the first to the third subperiod a significant increase in the number of new diagnoses and of the proportion of patients recognized by minor symptoms has been observed.

Asp57-negative HLA DQ beta chain and DQA1*0501 allele are essential for the onset of DQw2-positive and DQw2-negative coeliac disease.

The genetic predisposition to coeliac disease is associated with the HLA DQw2 allele. Coeliac patients lacking the DQw2 allele are very rare and always exhibit the DR4-DQw3 haplotype. We performed oligotyping of polymerase chain reaction (PCR)-amplified DQA1 and DQB1 genes in six DQw2-negative and 30 DQw2-positive coeliac patients.