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ELEONORA BORELLI

Assegnista di ricerca
Dipartimento di Scienze Mediche e Chirurgiche Materno-Infantili e dell'Adulto

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Pubblicazioni

2023 - Early palliative care for solid and blood cancer patients and caregivers: Quantitative and qualitative results of a long-term experience as a case of value-based medicine [Articolo su rivista]
Bigi, Sarah; Borelli, Eleonora; Potenza, Leonardo; Gilioli, Fabio; Artioli, Fabrizio; Porzio, Giampiero; Luppi, Mario; Bandieri, Elena
abstract

Introduction: Cancer patients and their caregivers have substantial unmet needs, that negatively impact the clinical outcome and quality of life. However, interventions aimed to address such needs are still suboptimal, failing to answer the recent healthcare call for the adoption of value-based models of care. In the case of incurable oncologic and hematologic cancers, a value-based model of care should plan advanced care on patients' needs and include the quality of death as an outcome. The integration of early palliative care into standard oncologic care for patients with advanced cancers represents a recent innovative model of assistance whose benefits for patients and caregivers are now widely recognized. The key elements underlying the reasons behind these benefits are the multidisciplinary collaboration (teamwork), an honest and empathetic communication between the early palliative care team, the patient, and the caregiver (rapport building), and the ability to detect changes in the physical/psychosocial wellbeing of the patient, along the whole disease trajectory (constant monitoring). Methods: This community case study documents the quantitative and qualitative results of a long term clinical and research experience in delivering early palliative care service to address both solid and blood cancer patients' and their primary caregivers' needs. Results: Data showed decreased use of chemotherapy, blood transfusions and referral to intensive care units near the end of life; increased life expectancy; improved symptom burden and mood; increased frequency of goals-of-care and advanced care planning conversations. Hope perception among bereaved caregivers was associated with resilience and realistic expectations raising from honest communication with the early palliative care team and appreciation toward the model. Patients and caregivers perceived the possibility of a good death as realistic and not as an unlikely event as it was for patients and caregivers on standard oncologic care only. Gratitude expressions toward the model and the team were frequently identified in their reports and positively associated with communication and spirituality. Conclusions: These findings are discussed in the context of an updated literature review regarding value-based care and suggest that early palliative care integrated into standard oncology care may be considered as an effective model of value-based care.

2023 - Early palliative care versus usual haematological care in multiple myeloma: retrospective cohort study [Articolo su rivista]
Giusti, D.; Colaci, E.; Pioli, V.; Banchelli, F.; Maccaferri, M.; Leonardi, G.; Marasca, R.; Morselli, M.; Forghieri, F.; Bettelli, F.; Cuoghi, A.; Bresciani, P.; Messerotti, A.; Gilioli, A.; Candoni, A.; Cassanelli, L.; Sbadili, E.; Bassoli, I.; Longo, G.; Gilioli, F.; Borelli, E.; Bigi, S.; D'Amico, R.; Porro, C. A.; Odejide, O.; Zimmermann, C.; Efficace, F.; Bruera, E.; Luppi, M.; Bandieri, E.; Potenza, L.
abstract

Objectives Although early palliative care (EPC) is beneficial in acute myeloid leukaemia, little is known about EPC value in multiple myeloma (MM). We compared quality indicators for palliative and end of life (EOL) care in patients with MM receiving EPC with those of patients who received usual haematological care (UHC).Methods This observational, retrospective study was based on 290 consecutive patients with MM. The following indicators were abstracted: providing psychological support, assessing/managing pain, discussing goals of care, promoting advance care plan, accessing home care services; no anti MM treatment within 14 and 30 days and hospice length of stay >7 days before death; no cardiopulmonary resuscitation, no intubation, <2 hospitalisations and emergency department visits within 30 days before death. Comparisons were performed using unadjusted and confounder adjusted regression models.Results 55 patients received EPC and 231 UHC. Compared with UHC patients, EPC patients had a significantly higher number of quality indicators of care (mean 2.62 +/- 1.25 vs 1.12 +/- 0.95; p<0.0001)); a significant reduction of pain intensity over time (p<0.01) and a trend towards reduced aggressiveness at EOL, with the same survival (5.3 vs 5.46 years; p=0.74)).Conclusions Our data support the value of integrating EPC into MM routine practice and lay the groundwork for future prospective comparative studies.

2023 - Electrophysiological correlates of semantic pain processing in the affective priming [Articolo su rivista]
Gilioli, Anna; Borelli, Eleonora; Serafini, Luana; Pesciarelli, Francesca
abstract

2023 - L’elaborazione del dolore nel priming affettivo: studio esplorativo [Articolo su rivista]
Gilioli, Anna; Borelli, Eleonora; Pesciarelli, Francesca
abstract

Il presente studio si propone di indagare i correlati comportamentali dell’elaborazione implicita di parole con semantica di dolore utilizzando un paradigma di priming affettivo. Sono state presentate parole prime negative (metà associate al dolore) e positive, che precedevano parole target negative non associate al dolore e positive. Compito dei partecipanti era di riportare la valenza dello stimolo target. I risultati hanno evidenziato un effetto di priming per coppie di parole positive, confermando quanto riportato in letteratura, e un effetto di priming per coppie di parole negative ma solo quando il target era preceduto da un prime con semantica di dolore.

2023 - Neural correlates of emotional valence for faces and words [Articolo su rivista]
Ballotta, Daniela; Maramotti, Riccardo; Borelli, Eleonora; Lui, Fausta; Pagnoni, Giuseppe
abstract

: Stimuli with negative emotional valence are especially apt to influence perception and action because of their crucial role in survival, a property that may not be precisely mirrored by positive emotional stimuli of equal intensity. The aim of this study was to identify the neural circuits differentially coding for positive and negative valence in the implicit processing of facial expressions and words, which are among the main ways human beings use to express emotions. Thirty-six healthy subjects took part in an event-related fMRI experiment. We used an implicit emotional processing task with the visual presentation of negative, positive, and neutral faces and words, as primary stimuli. Dynamic Causal Modeling (DCM) of the fMRI data was used to test effective brain connectivity within two different anatomo-functional models, for the processing of words and faces, respectively. In our models, the only areas showing a significant differential response to negative and positive valence across both face and word stimuli were early visual cortices, with faces eliciting stronger activations. For faces, DCM revealed that this effect was mediated by a facilitation of activity in the amygdala by positive faces and in the fusiform face area by negative faces; for words, the effect was mainly imputable to a facilitation of activity in the primary visual cortex by positive words. These findings support a role of early sensory cortices in discriminating the emotional valence of both faces and words, where the effect may be mediated chiefly by the subcortical/limbic visual route for faces, and rely more on the direct thalamic pathway to primary visual cortex for words.

2023 - Perceptions of Death Among Patients with Advanced Cancer Receiving Early Palliative Care and Their Caregivers: Results from a Mixed-Method Analysis [Articolo su rivista]
Bigi, S.; Ganfi, V.; Borelli, E.; Potenza, L.; Artioli, F.; Eliardo, S.; Mucciarini, C.; Cottafavi, L.; Ferrari, U.; Lombardo, L.; Cagossi, K.; Pietramaggiori, A.; Fantuzzi, V.; Bernardini, I.; Cruciani, M.; Cacciari, C.; Odejide, O.; Adolfo Porro, C.; Zimmermann, C.; Efficace, F.; Bruera, E.; Luppi, M.; Bandieri, E.
abstract

BACKGROUND: Oncologists are often concerned that talking about death with patients may hinder their relationship. However, the views of death held by patients have not been thoroughly investigated. This study aimed to describe the perception of death among patients with advanced cancer receiving early palliative care (EPC) and their caregivers. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Qualitative and quantitative analyses were performed on 2 databases: (a) transcripts of open-ended questionnaires administered to 130 cancer patients receiving EPC with a mean age of 68.4 years and to 115 primary caregivers of patients on EPC with a mean age of 56.8; (b) texts collected from an Italian forum, containing instances of web-mediated interactions between patients and their caregivers. RESULTS: Quantitative analysis shows that: (a) patients and caregivers are not afraid of speaking about death; (b) patients and caregivers on EPC use the word "death" significantly more than patients on standard oncology care (SOC) and their caregivers (P < .0001). For both participants on EPC and SOC, the adjectives and verbs associated with the word "death" have positive connotations; however, these associations are significantly more frequent for participants on EPC (verbs, Ps < .0001; adjectives, Ps < .003). Qualitative analysis reveals that these positive connotations refer to an actual, positive experience of the end of life in the EPC group and a wish or a negated event in the SOC group. CONCLUSIONS: EPC interventions, along with proper physician-patient communication, may be associated with an increased acceptance of death in patients with advanced cancer and their caregivers.

2023 - Stigma of Palliative Care among Patients with Advanced Cancer and Their Caregivers on Early Palliative Care [Articolo su rivista]
Bandieri, Elena; Borelli, Eleonora; Gilioli, Fabio; Bigi, Sarah; Mucciarini, Claudia; Ferrari, Umberto; Eliardo, Sonia; Pinto, Lidia; Porro, Carlo Adolfo; Efficace, Fabio; Luppi, Mario; Potenza, Leonardo
abstract

: The early referral to palliative care (PC) represents a successful value-based model with proven benefits regarding the quality of life and clinical outcomes for advanced cancer patients and their caregivers. Yet, its provision remains typically confined to the last weeks of life as per the historical, late PC model. The stigma according to which PC represents end-of-life care has been identified as the root of the problem. To explore the presence and effects of the stigma in a clinical context, we surveyed 78 patients and 110 caregivers (mean age: 71.7 and 60.7, respectively) on early PC to study what their perception of PC was before their direct experience. The responses were analyzed through a qualitative descriptive approach. The participants explicitly mentioned a lack of knowledge about PC (53% of the sample), which they identified also among physicians and the population (13%); an identification of PC with the late PC model (53%); and a detrimental reaction to the proposal of an early PC referral (83%). However, the participants explicitly mentioned that a direct experience of early PC allowed for an acquired awareness of early PC meaning and benefits (52%), as well as a comprehension of its differences with late PC (34%); the regret for the delayed referral (8%); the perception of the word "palliative" as a barrier (21%); and the belief that early PC should be part of the cancer routine practice (25%). A comprehensive multi-level intervention is necessary for a widespread understanding of the essence of anticipated PC.

2023 - Words hurt: common and distinct neural substrates underlying nociceptive and semantic pain [Articolo su rivista]
Borelli, Eleonora; Benuzzi, Francesca; Ballotta, Daniela; Bandieri, Elena; Luppi, Mario; Cacciari, Cristina; Porro, Carlo Adolfo; Lui, Fausta
abstract

Introduction: Recent studies have shown that processing semantic pain, such as words associated with physical pain, modulates pain perception and enhances activity in regions of the pain matrix. A direct comparison between activations due to noxious stimulation and processing of words conveying physical pain may clarify whether and to what extent the neural substrates of nociceptive pain are shared by semantic pain. Pain is triggered also by experiences of social exclusion, rejection or loss of significant others (the so-called social pain), therefore words expressing social pain may modulate pain perception similarly to what happens with words associated with physical pain. This event-related fMRI study aims to compare the brain activity related to perceiving nociceptive pain and that emerging from processing semantic pain, i.e., words related to either physical or social pain, in order to identify common and distinct neural substrates. Methods: Thirty-four healthy women underwent two fMRI sessions each. In the Semantic session, participants were presented with positive words, negative pain-unrelated words, physical pain-related words, and social pain-related words. In the Nociceptive session, participants received cutaneous mechanical stimulations that could be either painful or not. During both sessions, participants were asked to rate the unpleasantness of each stimulus. Linguistic stimuli were also rated in terms of valence, arousal, pain relatedness, and pain intensity, immediately after the Semantic session. Results: In the Nociceptive session, the 'nociceptive stimuli' vs. 'non-nociceptive stimuli' contrast revealed extensive activations in SI, SII, insula, cingulate cortex, thalamus, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. In the Semantic session, words associated with social pain, compared to negative pain-unrelated words, showed increased activity in most of the same areas, whereas words associated with physical pain, compared to negative pain-unrelated words, only activated the left supramarginal gyrus and partly the postcentral gyrus. Discussion: Our results confirm that semantic pain partly shares the neural substrates of nociceptive pain. Specifically, social pain-related words activate a wide network of regions, mostly overlapping with those pertaining to the affective-motivational aspects of nociception, whereas physical pain-related words overlap with a small cluster including regions related to the sensory-discriminative aspects of nociception. However, most regions of overlap are differentially activated in different conditions.

2022 - Early Palliative Care in Acute Myeloid Leukemia [Articolo su rivista]
Potenza, L.; Borelli, E.; Bigi, S.; Giusti, D.; Longo, G.; Odejide, O.; Porro, C. A.; Zimmermann, C.; Efficace, F.; Bruera, E.; Luppi, M.; Bandieri, E.
abstract

Background: Several novel targeted therapies seem to improve the outcome of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients. Nonetheless, the 5-year survival rate remains below 40%, and the trajectory of the disease remains physically and emotionally challenging, with little time to make relevant decisions. For patients with advanced solid tumors, the integration of early palliative care (EPC) with standard oncologic care a few weeks after diagnosis has demonstrated several benefits. However, this model is underutilized in patients with hematologic malignancies. Methods: In this article, we analyze the palliative care (PC) needs of AML patients, examine the operational aspects of an integrated model, and review the evidence in favor of EPC integration in the AML course. Results: AML patients have a high burden of physical and psychological symptoms and high use of avoidant coping strategies. Emerging studies, including a phase III randomized controlled trial, have reported that EPC is feasible for inpatients and outpatients, improves quality of life (QoL), promotes adaptive coping, reduces psychological symptoms, and enhances the quality of end-of-life care. Conclusions: EPC should become the new standard of care for AML patients. However, this raises issues about the urgent development of adequate programs of education to increase timely access to PC.

2022 - Edmonton symptom assessment system Global Distress Score and overall survival in acute leukaemia [Articolo su rivista]
Morselli, M.; Banchelli, F.; Borelli, E.; Cordella, S.; Forghieri, F.; Bettelli, F.; Bigi, S.; Longo, G.; D'Amico, R.; Porro, C. A.; Efficace, F.; Bruera, E.; Luppi, M.; Bandieri, E.; Potenza, L.
abstract

2022 - Edmonton symptom assessment system global distress score and overall survival among patients with advanced cancer receiving early palliative care [Articolo su rivista]
Bandieri, E.; Banchelli, F.; Borelli, E.; D'Amico, R.; Efficace, F.; Bruera, E.; Luppi, M.; Potenza, L.
abstract

2022 - Gratitude among advanced cancer patients and their caregivers: The role of early palliative care [Articolo su rivista]
Borelli, E.; Bigi, S.; Potenza, L.; Gilioli, F.; Artioli, F.; Porzio, G.; Porro, C. A.; Efficace, F.; Bruera, E.; Luppi, M.; Bandieri, E.
abstract

Objective: A cancer diagnosis represents a unique trauma, given its life-threatening, multidimensional, and uncertain nature. Gratitude is a construct representing the emotional state that arises when individuals recognize that a benefit has been received as a result of someone else’s action or a spiritual entity’s intervention. Based on the positive psychological wellbeing, gratitude has been associated with improved health outcomes even in the disease setting. Thus, the models of care that foster gratitude should be adopted in the clinical context. This study aims to explore whether and how gratitude may originate in patients with advanced cancer and their caregivers undergoing early palliative care (EPC). Methods: We analyzed 251 reports from 133 patients and 118 caregivers describing their clinical experience in two EPC units. The sources of gratitude were identified and ranked based on their frequencies. Words expressing gratitude and words referring to communication and spirituality were collected by means of the Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count software and correlated. Results: In total, 123 (92.5%) of 133 patients’ and 97 (82.2%) of 118 caregivers’ reports, respectively, included explicit or implicit expressions of gratitude. Gratitude was associated specifically with successful physical symptom management, emotional support, improved attitude toward death, better information, humanity, and the familiar environment. The use of words of gratitude in patients’ reports was positively correlated with the use of words referring to communication (r =.215, p =.026) and spirituality (r =.612, p <.001). Conclusion: Our results suggest that interventions within the EPC model based on doctor–patient–caregiver communication may allow patients and caregivers to experience a feeling of gratitude, and this may represent a resource to be exploited to improve their physical and psychosocial wellbeing.

2022 - Impact of Motor Stroke on Novel and Conventional Action Metaphor Comprehension [Articolo su rivista]
Borelli, Eleonora; Butera, Christiana; Katirai, Andrew; Adams, Thomas C. E.; Aziz-Zadeh., Lisa
abstract

Previous studies indicate that damage to motor brain regions impacts comprehension of literal action-related language. However, whether such damage also impacts comprehension of action-metaphors remains unknown. Such a finding would support the notion that metaphors are grounded in sensorimotor representations. Here we tested this hypothesis by comparing comprehension of novel, conventional, and frozen action and non-action metaphors in 14 right-handed adults with right-sided mild to moderate paresis following left hemisphere motor stroke and 23 neurotypical participants. Consistent with our hypothesis, results indicated that only in the stroke group, accuracy for action metaphors was significantly lower than for non-action metaphors. Further, in the stroke group, accuracy was significantly worse in the following pattern: novel < conventional < frozen action metaphors. These results strongly support the notion that motor-related brain regions are important not only for literal action-related language comprehension, but also for action-related metaphor comprehension, especially for less familiar metaphors.

2022 - Need for integrating early palliative care with standard hematology care long before the allogeneic hemopoietic stem cells transplantation [Articolo su rivista]
Potenza, L.; Borelli, E.; Bigi, S.; Ganfi, V.; Luppi, M.; Bandieri, E.
abstract

2022 - Perceptions of Hope Among Bereaved Caregivers of Cancer Patients Who Received Early Palliative Care: A Content and Lexicographic Analysis [Articolo su rivista]
Bigi, Sarah; Ganfi, Vittorio; Borelli, Eleonora; Potenza, Leonardo; Artioli, Fabrizio; Eliardo, Sonia; Mucciarini, Claudia; Cottafavi, Luca; Cruciani, Massimiliano; Cacciari, Cristina; Odejide, Oreofe; Porro, Carlo Adolfo; Zimmermann, Camilla; Efficace, Fabio; Bruera, Eduardo; Luppi, Mario; Bandieri, Elena
abstract

2021 - Changes in Cancer Patients' and Caregivers' Disease Perceptions While Receiving Early Palliative Care: A Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis [Articolo su rivista]
Borelli, Eleonora; Bigi, Sarah; Potenza, Leonardo; Eliardo, Sonia; Artioli, Fabrizio; Mucciarini, Claudia; Cottafavi, Luca; Cagossi, Katia; Razzini, Giorgia; Cruciani, Massimiliano; Pietramaggiori, Alessandra; Fantuzzi, Valeria; Lombardo, Laura; Ferrari, Umberto; Ganfi, Vittorio; Lui, Fausta; Odejide, Oreofe; Cacciari, Cristina; Porro, Carlo Adolfo; Zimmermann, Camilla; Efficace, Fabio; Bruera, Eduardo; Luppi, Mario; Bandieri, Elena
abstract

2021 - Different semantic and affective meaning of the words associated to physical and social pain in cancer patients on early palliative/supportive care and in healthy, pain-free individuals [Articolo su rivista]
Borelli, Eleonora; Bigi, Sarah; Potenza, Leonardo; Artioli, Fabrizio; Eliardo, Sonia; Mucciarini, Claudia; Cagossi, Katia; Razzini, Giorgia; Pasqualini, Antonella; Lui, Fausta; Ferlazzo, Fabio; Cruciani, Massimiliano; Bruera, Eduardo; Efficace, Fabio; Luppi, Mario; Cacciari, Cristina; Porro, Carlo Adolfo; Bandieri, Elena
abstract

2021 - Early palliative/supportive care in acute myeloid leukaemia allows low aggression end-of-life interventions: Observational outpatient study [Articolo su rivista]
Potenza, L.; Scaravaglio, M.; Fortuna, D.; Giusti, D.; Colaci, E.; Pioli, V.; Morselli, M.; Forghieri, F.; Bettelli, F.; Messerotti, A.; Catellani, H.; Gilioli, A.; Marasca, R.; Borelli, E.; Bigi, S.; Longo, G.; Banchelli, F.; D'Amico, R.; L Back, A.; Efficace, F.; Bruera, E.; Luppi, M.; Bandieri, E.
abstract

Objectives: Early palliative supportive care has been associated with many advantages in patients with advanced cancer. However, this model is underutilised in patients with haematological malignancies. We investigated the presence and described the frequency of quality indicators for palliative care and end-of-life care in a cohort of patients with acute myeloid leukaemia receiving early palliative supportive care. Methods: This is an observational, retrospective study based on 215 patients consecutively enrolled at a haematology early palliative supportive care clinic in Modena, Italy. Comprehensive hospital chart reviews were performed to abstract the presence of well-established quality indicators for palliative care and for aggressiveness of care near the end of life. Results: 131 patients received a full early palliative supportive care intervention. All patients had at least one and 67 (51%) patients had four or more quality indicators for palliative care. Only 2.7% of them received chemotherapy in the last 14 days of life. None underwent intubation or cardiopulmonary resuscitation and was admitted to intensive care unit during the last month of life. Only 4% had either multiple hospitalisations or two or more emergency department access. Approximately half of them died at home or in a hospice. More than 40% did not receive transfusions within 7 days of death. The remaining 84 patients, considered late referrals to palliative care, demonstrated sensibly lower frequencies of the same indicators. Conclusions: Patients with acute myeloid leukaemia receiving early palliative supportive care demonstrated high frequency of quality indicators for palliative care and low rates of treatment aggressiveness at the end of life.

2021 - Education of early palliative care specialists among hematologists and oncologists to address patients’ rather than physicians’ rights [Articolo su rivista]
Potenza, L.; Luppi, M.; Borelli, E.; Bigi, S.; Bandieri, E.
abstract

2021 - Influence of acute pain on valence rating of words [Articolo su rivista]
Brodhun, Christoph; Borelli, Eleonora; Weiss, Thomas
abstract

2020 - Investigating the association between physicians self-efficacy regarding communication skills and risk of “burnout” [Articolo su rivista]
Messerotti, Andrea; Banchelli, Federico; Ferrari, Silvia; Barbieri, Emiliano; Bettelli, Francesca; Bandieri, Elena; Giusti, Davide; Catellani, Hillary; Borelli, Eleonora; Colaci, Elisabetta; Pioli, Valeria; Morselli, Monica; Forghieri, Fabio; Galeazzi, Gian Maria; Marasca, Roberto; Bigi, Sarah; D’Amico, Roberto; Martin, Peter; Efficace, Fabio; Luppi, Mario; Potenza, Leonardo
abstract

2020 - Pre-transplant diabetes predicts atherosclerotic vascular events and cardiovascular mortality in liver transplant recipients: a long-term follow-up study [Articolo su rivista]
Gitto, S.; De Maria, N.; Marzi, L.; Magistri, P.; Falcini, M.; Vitale, G.; Olivieri, T.; Guerrini, G. P.; Serra, V.; Forte, P.; Carrai, P.; De Simone, P.; Mega, A.; Zoller, H.; Piai, G.; Schepis, F.; Marocchi, M.; Villa, E.; Marra, F.; Andreone, P.; Di Benedetto, F.; Vizzutti, F.; Laffi, G.; Borelli, E.; Ballarin, R.; Tarantino, G.; Di Sandro, S.; Puntili, R.; Petruccelli, S.; Valente, G.; Turco, L.
abstract

Background Early after surgery, liver transplant (LT) recipients often develop weight gain. Metabolic disorders and cardiovascular disease represent main drivers of morbidity and mortality. Our aim was to identify predictors of atherosclerotic vascular events (AVE) and to assess the impact of AVE on the long-term outcome. Methods We retrospectively analyzed data from patients transplanted between 2000 and 2005 and followed-up in five Italian transplant clinics. Cox Regression analysis was performed to identify predictors of AVE, global mortality, and cardiovascular mortality. Survival analysis was performed using the Kaplan-Meier method. Results We analyzed data from 367 subjects during a median follow-up of 14 years. Thirty-seven post-LT AVE were registered. Patients with AVE more frequently showed pre-LT diabetes mellitus (DM) (48.6 vs 13.9%, p=0.000). In the post-LT period, patients with AVE satisfied criteria of metabolic syndrome in 83.8% vs. 36.7% of subjects without AVE (p=0.000). At multivariate analysis, pre-LT DM independently predicted AVE (HR 2.250, CI 4.848-10.440, p=0.038). Moreover, both pre-LT DM and AVE strongly predicted cardiovascular mortality (HR 5.418, CI 1.060-29.183, p=0.049, and HR 86.097, CI 9.510-779.480, p=0.000, respectively). Conclusions Pre-LT DM is the main risk factor for post-LT AVE. Pre-LT DM and post-LT AVE are strong, long-term predictors of cardiovascular mortality. Patients with pre-LT DM should obtain a personalized follow-up for prevention or early diagnosis of AVE.

2019 - The Comprehension of Metaphorical Descriptions Conveying Gender Stereotypes. An Exploratory Study. [Articolo su rivista]
Borelli, Eleonora; Cacciari, Cristina
abstract

In this adjective elicitation study, we investigated the comprehension of Italian sentences where a metaphorically intended noun (e.g., butterfly, nightmare) was used to describe a gender-stereotyped or stereotype-neutral individual (e.g., flute player, engineer, person). Specifically, we explored whether and to what extent meaning availability and the affective valence of these metaphorical descriptions (e.g., This flute player is a butterfly) varied as a function of the stereotypical or stereotype-neutral nature of the sentential subject, the male vs. female direction of the stereotype, and the grammatical gender marked in the subject noun phrase. Our goals were to test whether the meaning of metaphorical descriptions was equally available regardless of the presence and direction of the gender stereotype and of the grammatical gender of the subject, and whether the adjectives expressing the sentential meaning had the same affective valence no matter who was the subject. The results showed that it was easier (i.e., more adjectives came up to mind) to express the sentence meaning when the sentences described male stereotyped individuals than female stereotyped or stereotype-neutral individuals. The adjective valence did not significantly change according to the subject type. Participants produced adjectives with the wrong grammatical gender more often for males in stereotypically female occupations than for females in stereotypically male occupations. These gender errors occurred also when the sentences described females engaged in stereotypically female occupations. Overall, these results extend to metaphorical descriptions previous findings showing that a social group (males) is seen as more normative than another (females), and acts as the unmarked normative group.

2019 - Words hurt: common and distinct neural substrates between physical and semantic pain [Poster]
Borelli, Eleonora; Lui, Fausta; Benuzzi, Francesca; Cacciari, Cristina; Porro, Carlo Adolfo
abstract

2018 - The psycholinguistic and affective structure of words conveying pain [Articolo su rivista]
Borelli, Eleonora; Crepaldi, Davide; Porro, Carlo Adolfo; Cacciari, Cristina
abstract

Despite the flourishing research on the relationships between affect and language, the characteristics of pain-related words, a specific type of negative words, , have never been systematically investigated from a psycholinguistic and emotional perspective, despite their psychological relevance. This study offers psycholinguistic, affective, and pain-related norms for words expressing physical and social pain. This may provide a useful tool for the selection of stimulus materials in future studies on negative emotions and/or pain. We explored the relationships between psycholinguistic, affective, and pain-related properties of 512 Italian words (nouns, adjectives and verbs) conveying physical and social pain by asking 1020 Italian students to provide ratings of Familiarity, Age of Acquisition, Imageability, Concreteness, Context Availability, Valence, Arousal, Pain-Relatedness, Intensity, and Unpleasantness. We also collected data concerning Length, Written Frequency (Subtlex-IT), N-Size, Orthographic Levenshtein Distance 20, Neighbor Mean Frequency, and Neighbor Maximum Frequency of each word. Interestingly, the words expressing social pain were rated as more negative, arousing, pain-related, and conveying more intense and unpleasant experiences than the words conveying physical pain.

2011 - Neurons controlling voluntary vocalization in the macaque ventral premotor cortex [Articolo su rivista]
Coudé, Gino; Ferrari, Pier Francesco; Rodà, Francesca; Maranesi, Monica; Borelli, Eleonora; Veroni, Vania; Monti, Fabio; Rozzi, Stefano; Fogassi, Leonardo
abstract

The voluntary control of phonation is a crucial achievement in the evolution of speech. In humans, ventral premotor cortex (PMv) and Broca's area are known to be involved in voluntary phonation. In contrast, no neurophysiological data are available about the role of the oro-facial sector of nonhuman primates PMv in this function. In order to address this issue, we recorded PMv neurons from two monkeys trained to emit coo-calls. Results showed that a population of motor neurons specifically fire during vocalization. About two thirds of them discharged before sound onset, while the remaining were time-locked with it. The response of vocalization-selective neurons was present only during conditioned (voluntary) but not spontaneous (emotional) sound emission. These data suggest that the control of vocal production exerted by PMv neurons constitutes a newly emerging property in the monkey lineage, shedding light on the evolution of phonation-based communication from a nonhuman primate species.

2005 - Macaques (Macaca nemestrina) recognize when they are being imitated [Articolo su rivista]
Paukner, A.; Anderson, J. R.; Borelli, E.; Visalberghi, E.; Ferrari, P. F.
abstract

This study investigated whether monkeys recognize when a human experimenter imitates their actions towards an object. Two experimenters faced 10 pigtailed macaques, who were given access to an interesting object. One experimenter imitated the monkeys' object-directed actions, the other performed temporally contingent but structurally different object-directed actions. Results show a significant visual preference for the imitator during manual object manipulations, but not mouthing actions. We argue that the ability to match actions could be based on both visual-visual and kinaesthetic-visual matching skills, and that mirror neurons, which have both visual and motor properties, could serve as a neural basis for recognizing imitation. However, imitation recognition as assessed by visual preference does not necessarily imply the capacity to attribute imitative intentionality to the imitator. The monkeys might implicitly recognize when they are being imitated without deeper insight into the mental processes of others. © 2005 The Royal Society.