Università degli Studi eCampus

About: Università degli Studi eCampus is a education organization based out in Novedrate, Italy. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Anxiety & Planck. The organization has 124 authors who have published 538 publications receiving 21483 citations. The organization is also known as: Universita degli Studi eCampus.

Rethinking the Role of Affect in Risk Judgment: What We Have Learned From COVID-19 During the First Week of Quarantine in Italy

Abstract: Due to COVID-19 spreading in Italy, on March 11 the Prime Minister of Italy declared a lockdown and imposed severe restrictive measures impacting citizens' freedom at several levels. People were required to stay at home and go out only to satisfy basic needs. Several risk models have postulated a link among online searching behavior, affect, anxiety, and complaints by individuals toward government restrictions (GR), which emerged as also related to an increased perception of knowledge toward risk. However, to date, no study has addressed how these key risk-related aspects (i.e., affect, anxiety, perceived knowledge on risk, and risk dimensions) can act jointly to orient online health information-seeking behavior, and people's complaints toward GR imposed during the lockdown. This study investigated the mechanisms underlying online health information-seeking behavior and people's complaints toward the government's restrictions during a COVID-19 emergency in the Italian population. Drawing from the health belief model (HBM), which postulates a link between sociodemographic variables, risk, and affect dimensions in emergency, we assumed risk factors as predictors of affect and anxiety, which, in turn, were posited as mediators between risk dimensions, online health information-seeking behavior, and complaints toward GR. Participants (1,031) were involved during the first week of the quarantine (March 11-18) and completed an online survey composed of (i) an adapted version of the Italian Risk Perception Questionnaire; (ii) the Italian Positive (PA) and Negative Affect (NA) Schedule (PANAS-10); (iii) the State Anxiety Scale (STAI-Y1); (iv) ad hoc personal knowledge measure about novel coronavirus; (v) ad hoc item measuring information search behavior regarding the novel coronavirus; (vi) ad hoc measure of the complains regarding GR; and (vii) sociodemographic questions. General linear models and structural equation modeling (SEM) were carried out to test the model. Sociodemographic and cognitive factors predicted the participants' affect and anxiety, which, in turn, motivated and fully mediated both information search behavior and complaint toward GR. This research can offer useful suggestions for policy-makers during the COVID-19 emergency, and it advanced the knowledge on the risk-emotion link in emergency situations.

The laminar organization of the motor cortex in monodactylous mammals: a comparative assessment based on horse, chimpanzee, and macaque

Abstract: The architecture of the neocortex classically consists of six layers, based on cytological criteria and on the layout of intra/interlaminar connections. Yet, the comparison of cortical cytoarchitectonic features across different species proves overwhelmingly difficult, due to the lack of a reliable model to analyze the connection patterns of neuronal ensembles forming the different layers. We first defined a set of suitable morphometric cell features, obtained in digitized Nissl-stained sections of the motor cortex of the horse, chimpanzee, and crab-eating macaque. We then modeled them using a quite general non-parametric data representation model, showing that the assessment of neuronal cell complexity (i.e., how a given cell differs from its neighbors) can be performed using a suitable measure of statistical dispersion such as the mean absolute deviation-mean absolute deviation (MAD). Along with the non-parametric combination and permutation methodology, application of MAD allowed not only to estimate, but also to compare and rank the motor cortical complexity across different species. As to the instances presented in this paper, we show that the pyramidal layers of the motor cortex of the horse are far more irregular than those of primates. This feature could be related to the different organizations of the motor system in monodactylous mammals.

Data Science in Unveiling COVID-19 Pathogenesis and Diagnosis: Evolutionary Origin to Drug Repurposing

Abstract: MOTIVATION: The outbreak of novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2, also known as COVID-19) in Wuhan has attracted worldwide attention. SARS-CoV-2 causes severe inflammation, which can be fatal. Consequently, there has been a massive and rapid growth in research aimed at throwing light on the mechanisms of infection and the progression of the disease. With regard to this data science is playing a pivotal role in in silico analysis to gain insights into SARS-CoV-2 and the outbreak of COVID-19 in order to forecast, diagnose and come up with a drug to tackle the virus. The availability of large multiomics, radiological, bio-molecular and medical datasets requires the development of novel exploratory and predictive models, or the customisation of existing ones in order to fit the current problem. The high number of approaches generates the need for surveys to guide data scientists and medical practitioners in selecting the right tools to manage their clinical data. RESULTS: Focusing on data science methodologies, we conduct a detailed study on the state-of-the-art of works tackling the current pandemic scenario. We consider various current COVID-19 data analytic domains such as phylogenetic analysis, SARS-CoV-2 genome identification, protein structure prediction, host-viral protein interactomics, clinical imaging, epidemiological research and drug discovery. We highlight data types and instances, their generation pipelines and the data science models currently in use. The current study should give a detailed sketch of the road map towards handling COVID-19 like situations by leveraging data science experts in choosing the right tools. We also summarise our review focusing on prime challenges and possible future research directions. CONTACT: hguzzi@unicz.it, sroy01@cus.ac.in.

Psychological, Behavioral, and Interpersonal Effects and Clinical Implications for Health Systems of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic: A Call for Research

Abstract: The novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) emerged at the end of 2019 and was classified as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11, 2020. Both the COVID-19 emergency and the extraordinary measures to contain it have negatively affected the life of billions of people and have threatened individuals and nations. One of the main goals of clinical and health psychology during this pandemic is to investigate the behavioral, cognitive, emotional, and psychobiological responses to the COVID-19 emergency as well as to the preventive measures that have been imposed by governments to limit the contagion, such as social isolation. Psychological research has the responsibility to deliver sound empirical evidence to inform public health policies and to support and advise governments and policymakers in their introduction of sustainable, feasible, and cost-efficient prevention and intervention guidelines. Hence, the goal of this call for research is to stimulate theoretical discussions and empirical investigations on the bio-psycho-social impacts of COVID-19 for individuals, groups, and nations. We invite contributions that address the challenges that the COVID-19 emergency has imposed on couples, families, and social systems. In addition, we call for studies that assess the specific effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on highly vulnerable populations such as children, adolescents, pregnant women, patients suffering from chronic and life-threatening conditions, healthcare workers, and elderly citizens. Papers focusing on the impact of emotion regulation and coping strategies are encouraged. Original research, data reports, study protocols, single case reports and community case studies, theoretical perspectives, and viewpoints are invited to help improve our understanding of the COVID-19 pandemic.