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Although metaphors are essential tools in everyday communication and educational settings, the literature lacks evidence of effective training tools to promote metaphor comprehension in typical development. Grounding in theoretical pragmatics, we developed a novel metaphor comprehension training (MetaCom) for school-age children that focuses on inferential and contextual aspects of metaphors. The effects of the MetaCom were tested against a control training focusing on text comprehension in a randomized controlled trial involving 55 children aged between 8;8 and 9;8. Only children in the MetaCom group improved in the ability to verbally explain the meaning of a metaphor. Moreover, only the MetaCom showed transfer effects to reading comprehension. These findings suggest that targeting inference and attention to context is key to promote metaphor understanding, and that the benefits might extend to linguistic and communicative skills at large. The MetaCom training can thus represent a promising tool for educational programs, possibly also in atypical populations.

Several theoretical proposals tried to account for the meaning open-endedness of metaphors in literature and for the effortful process they trigger in readers. However, very few experiments have tackled the neurophysiological underpinnings of literary metaphor. Here we used Event-Related brain Potentials (ERPs) to explore the temporal dynamics of comprehending metaphors from Italian poems and novels (e.g., "grass of velvet"), presented in their original context, as compared with literal expressions (e.g., "throne of velvet"). Results evidence a more negative ERP response for metaphors, unfolding in an N400 followed by a sustained negativity over frontal sites, suggesting a long-lasting effort in elaborating figurative meanings. Whereas the N400 might be indicative of lexical/semantic processes typical of metaphors and amplified by the literary context, the sustained negativity might reflect the manipulation of multiple meanings in working memory, possibly responsible for the poetic effect. Interestingly, the late negativity effect is driven by familiarity, with a more negative response for those metaphors that are less familiar. These findings offer material to discuss ideas put forward in pragmatics, literary studies, and cognitive neuroscience of literature, like the condensation of weak implicatures, the foregrounding, and the relation between a metaphor and its context.

Several Alveolar Ridge Preservation (ARP) procedures have been proposed over the years. The purpose of this study was to describe the new Modified Periosteal Inhibition (MPI) technique for ARP. Seven patients were enrolled (age range: 28–72 years old; 5 males, 2 females). In total, nine hopeless teeth were treated. Following the elevation of a full-thickness flap, atraumatic tooth extraction was conducted, preserving the buccal bone of the alveolar socket. OsteoBiol® Lamina Soft (Tecnoss®, Giaveno, Italy), 0.5 mm thick, was suitably shaped (8–10 mm in height, extending from the mesial and to the distal corners of the socket). The lamina was gently positioned between the buccal periosteum and the buccal bone plate. Tisseel® (Baxter Healthcare Corporation, Deerfield, IL, USA) was applied to seal the cortical membrane. The flaps were sutured with PTFE 4-0 (Omnia, Fidenza, Italy). Postoperative instructions were provided. Patients were strictly monitored during the follow-up. No early or late biological complications were experienced. Cone Beam Computed Tomography (CBCT) exams were performed at baseline and 4 months later. The thickness of the buccal cortical bone at baseline was 1.18 ± 0.57 mm. The pre-operative and post-operative ridge widths were 10.74 ± 1.54 mm and 11.16 ± 1.57 mm, respectively. A horizontal ridge increase of 0.41 ± 0.21 mm was observed during the healing period. At 4 months of healing, the bone volume was adequate for implant placement and no additional bone regeneration procedures were required. MPI technique was effective in preventing the horizontal contraction of the post-extraction socket. Further studies will be needed in the future to confirm our positive results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) was traditionally described as a disease restricted to the motor system. However, recent findings suggested that it also affects cognition, especially executive functions, social cognition, language and pragmatics. A relevant issue in current research is thus the description of the cognitive phenotype of ALS and the identification of the most vulnerable aspects. Aims: The focus was on a communicative phenomenon placed at the crossroads of pragmatic and other cognitive domains, namely humour, which till now has been poorly explored in ALS. The first aim was to investigate whether ALS is associated with impairments in understanding and appreciating jokes. The second aim was to explore the predictors of humour comprehension and appreciation in patients, to confirm the involvement of pragmatic skills and to explore the role of other cognitive and clinical aspects. Methods & Procedures: A total of 30 non‐demented patients with ALS and 27 controls were assessed with a task of verbal humour comprehension and appreciation, including two types of jokes: phonological and mental. We also administered a battery of pragmatic and other language tasks, and cognitive and socio‐cognitive tasks. Mixed‐effects models were used to test differences in the humour task between the two groups. Multiple regressions determined the best predictors of humour comprehension and appreciation in patients. Outcomes & Results: Patients obtained lower comprehension accuracy scores than controls in the humour task, independently of the type of joke. Conversely, patients and controls did not differ in joke appreciation and both rated mental jokes as funnier than the phonological ones. Patients' comprehension accuracy was predicted by pragmatic skills and ALS severity, whereas appreciation was predicted by several clinical variables and, to a smaller extent, by language skills. Conclusions & Implications: The findings suggest that humour is a very vulnerable aspect in ALS, and that impairment in humour comprehension might be part of the larger cognitive impairment, being linked to pragmatic impairment. Clinical variables were also important, especially in relation to humour appreciation. More generally, these data speak in favour of pragmatics as a relevant aspect to sketch the cognitive phenotype of ALS. On the practical level, these findings point to the need of supporting communication at large, not only motor‐related aspects such as dysarthria but also social–pragmatic aspects such as understanding jokes, to increase well‐being in ALS. What this paper addsWhat is already known on this subjectThe literature of the last decades has shown that ALS comes with impairment in several cognitive domains, affecting especially executive functions as well as language. There is also initial evidence that the pragmatics of communication and humour comprehension are impaired, although non‐serious talk has been documented in conversational interaction among people with ALS.What this paper adds to existing knowledgeThis study offers compelling evidence of an impairment in the comprehension of jokes in ALS, whereas the appreciation of joke funniness seems to be spared. The study also highlights the interplay of cognitive factors (especially pragmatics) and clinical factors (related to disease severity) in predicting the patients' performance in the humour task.What are the potential or actual clinical implications of this work?The study's findings call for the need of increased awareness among scholars as well as practitioners and caregivers of the profile of humour comprehension and appreciation in ALS. On a practical level, we highlight the need of assessing humour comprehension and adapting the communicative style accordingly. Second, we recommend that intervention programmes targeting communication in ALS go beyond speech‐related difficulties and include pragmatic aspects such as humour. Considering the important communicative and social function of humour, as well as its use as a coping strategy, humour interventions are key to improve the quality of life of individuals with ALS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: There is an increasing need of assessing functional communication in daily activities and the impact on the quality of life from the perspective of the major protagonists of life situations following aphasia. Several instruments are available for English. One of the most recent is the Communication Outcome after Stroke scale for patients (COAST) and caregivers (Carer COAST). These scales are comprised of two components, interactive communication skills and their impact on quality of life, assessed through 20 question items, from the point of view of patient and carer. In contrast, the number of tools available in Italian is very limited. Aims: (i) To validate the COAST and Carer COAST scales for the Italian-speaking population; (ii) to explore the applicability of the COAST scales to a wider range of people with communication problems, not limited to moderate aphasia; (iii) to explore the agreement between patient’s and carer’s perspective on communication difficulties, and the effect of severity. Methods&Procedures: The scales were translated into Italian and adapted for the sociocultural context, preserving the accessible presentation and response format. Thirty people with a history of aphasia (from mild to severe) and 28 caregivers provided usable data. The scales’ psychometric properties were measured, along with exploratory analyses on the agreement between patients and carers. Outcomes& Results: The Italian versions of the COAST scales, i.e., COAST-IT and Carer COAST-IT, showed excellent internal consistency (α = 0.94 and 0.94–0.95, respectively), good test–retest reliability (ICC = 0.85 and 0.88, respectively), and indicative evidence of construct validity as judged by the correlations with measures derived from background and current Aachener Aphasia Test (AAT) scores (rranging from 0.32 to 0.41 and from 0.47 to 0.70, respectively). The patient and caregiver scales were strongly correlated along the score range (r = 0.70–0.72) and agreement was not influenced by aphasia severity. Conclusions: The COAST-IT and Carer COAST-IT scales are practical and reliable patient- and carer-centred measures of functional communication and its impact on the quality of life, applicable to people with communication problems of different severity. These scales fill an important gap of effectiveness indicators for speech–language assessment and therapy in Italy. More generally, the results strengthen the need of complementing traditional language assessment with functional outcome measures, and considering the perspective both of people with communication difficulties and their carers. This adaptation could pave the way for cross-national sharing of functional communication assessment instruments and comparative studies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The detection of detached nearshore wedges formed in response to relative sea-level drops is considered one of the hottest topics in sequence stratigraphic analysis due to their importance as reservoir analogues. In fact, they usually constitute sandy and porous bodies generally encased in impermeable clay, thus presenting a good potential as traps for fluids. This paper focuses on the sequence stratigraphic analysis of the Pliocene deposits cropping out in the central-southern sector of the Siena Basin (Tuscany, Italy), a post-collisional basin of the Northern Apennines. The exposed sedimentary succession was investigated through a detailed sedimentological and stratigraphic approach, integrated by biostratigraphic analyses, aimed at a better characterization of the infilling history of this sector of the basin. Specifically, this study revealed the occurrence of repeated facies shifts that allowed the identification of two depositional sequences. In detail, a thick sand-rich body far from the basin margins, and previously considered as a turbiditic lobe, has been reinterpreted as formed in a nearshore setting during a fall in relative sea level. This body is totally encased in offshore clay, and due to the lack of physical connection with the related HST deposits, it has to be considered as a detached forced-regressive wedge. The present work led to the recognition of some sedimentological and stratigraphic features typical of falling stage systems tract deposits (e.g. presence of intrabasinal recycled materials, sedimentological evidence of a pre-existing fluvial network subsequently eroded) that can provide useful clues for the identification of detached forced-regressive nearshore wedges in core studies and poorly exposed settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hypothesis Our study aimed to evaluate the effect of preservation or elective division of the ilioinguinal nerve on pain and postoperative symptoms after open inguinal hernia repair with mesh. Design Double-blind, randomized trial. Setting Four public, government-financed hospitals in Italy. Patients From January 1, 1997, to June 30, 2002, 813 patients with primary inguinal hernia were randomly allocated to undergo inguinal hernia repair either with ilioinguinal nerve preservation (408 patients, group A) or elective transection (405 patients, group B). Intervention Hernia repair with sutureless apposition of a polypropylene mesh. Main Outcome Measures The primary outcome was the evaluation of chronic pain 1 year after operation. Secondary outcomes were postoperative symptoms assessment at 1 week and 1, 6, and 12 months after operation. Telephone interview was performed 35.5 months (range, 12-59 months) after operation to assess the presence of chronic pain. Results Of the 302 group A and 291 group B patients who made an office visit 1 year postoperatively, pain was absent in 231 (76.5%) and 213 (73%) (difference, 3.30%; 95% confidence interval, -3.68% to 10.28%), mild in 55 (18%) and 60 (21%), moderate in 11 (4%) and 9 (3%), and severe in 5 (2%) and 9 (3%), respectively (P= .55; Pearson χ23 test). At 1-month and 6-month follow-up visits, no difference was found between the 2 groups with respect to pain, but loss of pain or touch sensation were significantly greater when the ilioinguinal nerve was divided. One year after operation, the 2 groups were also comparable with respect to loss of pain sensation, but touch sensation remained decreased in group B. At telephone interview, the presence of chronic pain was similar in both groups. Conclusions Pain after open hernia repair with polypropylene mesh is not affected by elective division of the ilioinguinal nerve; sensory disturbances in the area of distribution of the transected nerve are significantly increased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grammatical gender processing is a classic topic in the neurolinguistic literature. However, most of the studies consider major standard languages, such as English, Dutch, Spanish or Italian. This is a limitation, since these languages display relatively simple systems that are fairly stable and do not allow to address language variation and change. Here we investigated gender agreement in a dialect of Southern Italy spoken in Agnone, using Event-Related Potentials. Compared with Italian and most standard Romance languages, the Agnonese gender system is more complex (with three target genders: feminine, masculine, neuter) and, also under the pressure of standard Italian, undergoing change, with the neuter merging into the masculine. Results showed that all determiner-noun gender mismatches elicited robust P600 and moderate Left Anterior Negativity (LAN) effects. Yet not all violations involving neuter nouns were equally outright. For masculine-neuter, the amplitude of the P600 was less pronounced than for feminine-neuter violations. Moreover, when looking at individual differences, the P600 for masculine-neuter was progressively reduced as participants' competence in the Agnonese conservative variety decreased. Since sociolinguistics shows that individual variation within the speech community may reflect linguistic change, the smaller P600 exhibited by less conservative speakers could be described as a brain signature of ongoing language change in the Agnonese gender system. In other words, the attenuation of ungrammaticality-driven brain responses may provide a measurable indicator of the fading of the neuter and its merging into the masculine. This work paves the way to the neurolinguistic description of non-standard varieties and also breaks ground for a "diachronic neurolinguistics", extending investigation into the neurobiology of language beyond the synchronic dimension. • We investigated gender agreement in a non-standard dialect of Southern Italy. • The P600 is reduced for masculine-neuter compared with feminine-neuter violations. • The P600 is sensitive to participants' competence in the dialect. • The smaller P600 captures synchronically the neuter-into-masculine merging. • This work contributes to the neurolinguistic study of language diversity and change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We investigated the role of bodily experience in Italian verb processing. • We present ratings and the results of three tasks at the language-memory interface. • Bodily experience influences verb lexical access and memory recognition. • It does not affect grammatical decisions, due to language-specific factors. • Results support multiple representation theories and semantic-episodic memory interplay. Multiple representation accounts of conceptual knowledge argue that information associated with sensory-motor experience, in addition to pure linguistic information, contributes to word processing. A number of issues, however, remain under-investigated, including the extent to which these dimensions affect verb processing (rather than nouns), especially in languages other than English, and their role across different tasks along the language-memory continuum. Here, we collected ratings for a verb-specific dimension linked to bodily experience (relative embodiment , RE) for 647 Italian verbs and we tested its effects in three tasks differently modulating semantic activation and memory processes (i.e., lexical decision, grammatical decision, and memory recognition). Our results showed reliable influences of RE during lexical decision and memory recognition, but not in grammatical decision, possibly due to the Italian morphological richness. The cross-task analysis showed that RE effects were substantially higher in memory recognition compared to lexical decision, indicating that semantic and episodic processes interact at the interface of language and memory. Overall, results support the flexible and context-dependent role of sensory-motor and bodily-related experience during verb processing, pointing also to language-specific factors and implications for the organization of declarative memory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We studied the Covid-19 humor appreciation during Italy's lockdown in March 2020. • Humor inspired by Covid-19 showed a mark of aversiveness, but not of funniness. • With increasing age and in women, Covid-19 humor was judged more aversive. • The use of humor as a coping mechanism increased the appreciation of Covid-19 humor. • Perceived risk of contagion raised the disturbing potential of Covid-19 humor. We often see an upsurge of humor inspired by tragic circumstances: this happened also during the Coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) outbreak. However, little is known about the emotional response to tragedy-triggered humor, let alone Covid-19 humor. With a large-scale survey completed during the early stages of Italy's lockdown, we studied the appreciation (funniness and aversiveness) of different formats of Covid-19 humor shared on social media. Results of an analysis of the role of demographic, personality, and psychological distance factors with linear mixed models showed that Covid-19 humor lacks a "signature" of funniness, but displays a mark of aversiveness. Among demographics, age and gender were key factors: with increasing age and in women, Covid-19 humor was judged as more aversive. Individuals using humor to cope with uneasy circumstances judged Covid-19 humor as funnier and less aversive. Furthermore, the perceived risk of infection amplified Covid-19 humor aversiveness, while kilometrical distance from the first Italian contagion hotspot raised the amusement in global terms. These findings expand our knowledge about dark humor and should raise awareness of the great variation in the emotional impact of Covid-19 humor and of the need to ponder where and with whom to share the laugh about the pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]