Multidimensional relationships between sensory perception and cognitive aging.

A growing literature suggests that declines in sensory/perceptual systems predate cognitive declines in aging, and furthermore, they are highly predictive for developing Alzheimer's disease and Alzheimer's related dementias (ADRD). While vision, hearing, olfaction, and vestibular function have each been shown to be related to ADRD, their causal relations to cognitive declines, how they interact with each other remains to be clarified. Currently, there is substantial debate whether sensory/perceptual systems that fail early in disease progression are causal in their contributions to cognitive load and/or social isolation or are simply coincident declines due to aging.

Dissociable components of visual perceptual learning characterized by non-invasive brain stimulation: Stage 1 Registered Report.

Visual perceptual learning (VPL), the training-induced improvement in visual tasks, has long been considered the product of neural plasticity at early and local stages of signal processing. However, recent evidence suggests that multiple networks and mechanisms, including stimulus- and task-specific plasticity, concur in generating VPL. Accordingly, early models of VPL, which characterized learning as being local and mostly involving early sensory areas, such as V1, have been updated to embrace these newfound complexities, acknowledging the involvement on parietal (i.

tRNS boosts visual perceptual learning in participants with bilateral macular degeneration.

Perceptual learning (PL) has shown promise in enhancing residual visual functions in patients with age-related macular degeneration (MD), however it requires prolonged training and evidence of generalization to untrained visual functions is limited. Recent studies suggest that combining transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS) with perceptual learning produces faster and larger visual improvements in participants with normal vision. Thus, this approach might hold the key to improve PL effects in MD.

Training With Simulated Scotoma Leads to Behavioral Improvements Through at Least Two Distinct Mechanisms.

Purpose: Individuals with central vision loss due to macular degeneration (MD) often spontaneously develop a preferred retinal locus (PRL) outside the area of retinal damage, which they use instead of the fovea. Those who develop a stable PRL are more successful at coping with their vision loss. However, it is unclear whether improvements in visual performance at the PRL are specific to that retinal location or are also observed in other parts of the retina.

Consistency of preferred retinal locus across tasks and participants trained with a simulated scotoma.

After loss of central vision following retinal pathologies such as macular degeneration (MD), patients often adopt compensatory strategies including developing a "preferred retinal locus" (PRL) to replace the fovea in tasks involving fixation. A key question is whether patients develop multi-purpose PRLs or whether their oculomotor strategies adapt to the demands of the task. While most MD patients develop a PRL, clinical evidence suggests that patients may develop multiple PRLs and switch between them according to the task at hand.

Oculomotor changes following learned use of an eccentric retinal locus.

People with bilateral central vision loss sometimes develop a new point of oculomotor reference called a preferred retinal locus (PRL) that is used for fixating and planning saccadic eye movements. How individuals develop and learn to effectively use a PRL is still debated; in particular, the time course of learning to plan saccades using a PRL and learning to stabilize peripheral fixation at the desired location. Here we address knowledge limitations through research describing how eye movements change as a person learns to adopt an eccentric retinal locus.

Perspectives on the Combined Use of Electric Brain Stimulation and Perceptual Learning in Vision.

A growing body of literature offers exciting perspectives on the use of brain stimulation to boost training-related perceptual improvements in humans. Recent studies suggest that combining visual perceptual learning (VPL) training with concomitant transcranial electric stimulation (tES) leads to learning rate and generalization effects larger than each technique used individually. Both VPL and tES have been used to induce neural plasticity in brain regions involved in visual perception, leading to long-lasting visual function improvements.

Contrast adaptation of flankers reduces collinear facilitation and inhibition.

Increase (facilitation) or decrease (inhibition) of contrast sensitivity for a Gabor patch presented between two collinear flankers is a well-studied contextual modulation phenomenon. It has been suggested that this effect has its neural bases in the primary visual cortex, specifically the horizontal connections between hypercolumns with similar orientation and spatial frequency selectivity. Another typical phenomenon dependent on early visual areas is contrast adaptation, in which the neural response to a contrast stimulus is decreased after exposure.

Perspective on Vision Science-Informed Interventions for Central Vision Loss.

Pathologies affecting central vision, and macular degeneration (MD) in particular, represent a growing health concern worldwide, and the leading cause of blindness in the Western World. To cope with the loss of central vision, MD patients often develop compensatory strategies, such as the adoption of a Preferred Retinal Locus (PRL), which they use as a substitute fovea. However, visual acuity and fixation stability in the visual periphery are poorer, leaving many MD patients struggling with tasks such as reading and recognizing faces.

Healthcare-associated infections over an eight year period in a large university hospital in Sicily (Italy, 2011-2018).

Background: Up to 7% of hospitalised patients acquire at least one healthcare-associated infection (HAI). The aim of the present study was to quantify the burden of HAIs in an Italian hospital, identifying involved risk factors.

Methods: Prevalence point study carried out from 2011 to 2018.

Binding Mechanisms in Visual Perception and Their Link With Neural Oscillations: A Review of Evidence From tACS.

Neurophysiological studies in humans employing magneto- (MEG) and electro- (EEG) encephalography increasingly suggest that oscillatory rhythmic activity of the brain may be a core mechanism for binding sensory information across space, time, and object features to generate a unified perceptual representation. To distinguish whether oscillatory activity is causally related to binding processes or whether, on the contrary, it is a mere epiphenomenon, one possibility is to employ neuromodulatory techniques such as transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS). tACS has seen a rising interest due to its ability to modulate brain oscillations in a frequency-dependent manner.

We don't all look the same; detailed examination of peripheral looking strategies after simulated central vision loss.

Loss of central vision can be compensated for in part by increased use of peripheral vision. For example, patients with macular degeneration or those experiencing simulated central vision loss tend to develop eccentric viewing strategies for reading or other visual tasks. The factors driving this learning are still unclear and likely involve complex changes in oculomotor strategies that may differ among people and tasks.

Combining fixation and lateral masking training enhances perceptual learning effects in patients with macular degeneration.

Macular degeneration (MD), a retinal disease affecting central vision, represents the leading cause of visual impairment in the Western world, and MD patients face severe limitations in daily activities like reading and face recognition. A common compensation strategy adopted by these patients involves the use of a region in the spared peripheral retina as a new fixation spot and oculomotor reference (preferred retinal locus, or PRL). Still, peripheral vision is characterized by poorer visual acuity, fixation stability, and larger crowding zones that further hinder processes like object recognition, visual search, and reading.

Blood and body fluids exposure of healthcare workers in a university hospital of Palermo, Italy: a fourteen years long surveillance.

Background: Healthcare workers are habitually in direct contact with patients, possible carriers of infectious diseases and with potentially infectious biological materials; therefore, the implementation of standard precautions and good working practices represent an intervention strongly recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and required by Italian law, for the prevention of professional cut wounds. The study focused on assessing the exposure frequency and factors related to biological injuries among healthcare workers in a teaching hospital in Palermo, Italy.

Methods: We performed a 14-years retrospective descriptive analysis on blood and body fluids exposures in healthcare workers, documented by questionnaires administered at the time of injury and by data collected during the follow-up period.

A method to characterize compensatory oculomotor strategies following simulated central vision loss.

Loss of central vision can be partially compensated by increased use of peripheral vision. For example, patients experiencing central vision loss due to disease (macular degeneration) or healthy participants trained with simulated central vision loss, tend to develop eccentric fixation spots for reading or other visual tasks. In both patients and in simulated conditions, there are substantial individual variations in the effective use of the periphery.

Age Differences in the Efficiency of Filtering and Ignoring Distraction in Visual Working Memory.

Healthy aging is associated with decline in the ability to maintain visual information in working memory (WM). We examined whether this decline can be explained by decreases in the ability to filter distraction during encoding or to ignore distraction during memory maintenance. Distraction consisted of irrelevant objects (Exp.

Glutathione S-transferase Polymorphisms in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma Treated with Chemotherapy and/or Radiotherapy.

Background/aim: The Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) are important carcinogen-metabolizing enzymes. Polymorphisms involved in these enzymes can modulate the development and treatment of head and neck cancer. To investigate the association of GSTs polymorphisms with head and neck cancer and risk factors, clinical-pathological features, and survival time of the patients treated with chemotherapy and/or radiotherapy.

Short-term Perceptual Learning Game Does Not Improve Patching-Resistant Amblyopia in Older Children.

Purpose: To investigate self-administered, at-home use of a perceptual learning-based video game consisting of target detection of stimuli in different sizes, spatial frequency, orientation, and contrast as a potential dichoptic therapy to improve binocular function in amblyopic patients resistant to patching.

Methods: Children (ages 8 to 18 years) with strabismic and/or anisometropic amblyopia were recruited from a single institution. All participants (n = 25) were prescribed 6 weeks of patching for 2 hours per day, and those whose visual acuity did not improve were randomized to binocular perceptual learning (n = 7), monocular perceptual learning (n = 8), or patching (n = 10) groups for 8 weeks in this prospective cohort study.

Knowledge and attitudes of parents after the implementation of mandatory vaccination in kindergartens of Palermo, Italy.

Background And Aim Of The Work: Even though vaccination is easy to access in Europe, it has been facing several outbreaks caused by vaccine preventable diseases. Trying to balance the right to health of the community with individual self-determination, in Italy was mandate vaccination for ten vaccine preventable diseases in 2017. The project "Sportello Vaccinale" provided a counseling service to parents in kindergarten of Palermo.

tRNS effects on visual contrast detection.

In recent years, transcranial electrical stimulation (tES) has been used to improve cognitive and perceptual abilities and to boost learning. In the visual domain, transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS), a type of tES in which electric current is randomly alternating in between two electrodes at high frequency, has shown potential in inducing long lasting perceptual improvements when coupled with tasks such as contrast detection. However, its cortical mechanisms and online effects have not been fully understood yet, and it is still unclear whether these long-term improvements are due to early-stage perceptual enhancements of contrast sensitivity or later stage mechanisms such as learning consolidation.

TMS reveals inhibitory extrastriate cortico-cortical feedback modulation of V1 activity in humans.

The interaction between the primary visual cortex (V1) and extrastriate visual areas provides the first building blocks in our perception of the world. V2, in particular, seems to play a crucial role in shaping contextual modulation information through feedback projections to V1. However, whether this feedback is inhibitory or excitatory is still unclear.

Methodological issues in a cross-sectional survey on cervical cancer screening using telephone interviews in Sicily (Italy): a SWOT analysis.

Objective: A cross-sectional study on knowledge, perceptions, and adherence to cervical cancer screening was conducted using telephone interviews of Sicilian women that were performed in 2016. This study aimed to identify areas that need to be addressed to improve the validity of data collection and to minimize possible biases.

Methods: We performed a qualitative study through SWOT analysis, which is a multidimensional method based on evaluation of Strengths (S), Weaknesses (W), Opportunities (O), and Threats (T) of the research project.

[The epidemiological surveillance in the programme of public health intervention in the national priority contaminated sites of Sicily Region (Southern Italy): update of mortality, hospitalization, and cancer incidence].

Objectives: to update the health profile of populations residing in the national priority contaminated sites (NPCSs) in Sicily Region (Southern Italy) through a description of mortality and hospitalization for causes and through cancer incidence. This new profile is part of the implementation of the epidemiological surveillance system within the new Programme of care intervention for health protection in these populations and in the new Regional Prevention Plan.

Design: geographic population survey providing, for each NPCS considered in this study, a comparison between the local population and the populations of the neighbouring areas.

tRNS boosts perceptual learning in peripheral vision.

Visual crowding, the difficulty of recognizing elements when surrounded by similar items, is a widely studied perceptual phenomenon and a trademark characteristic of peripheral vision. Perceptual Learning (PL) has been shown to reduce crowding, although a large number of sessions is required to observe significant improvements. Recently, transcranial random noise stimulation (tRNS) has been successfully used to boost PL in low-level foveal tasks (e.