Discovering common pathogenetic processes between COVID-19 and diabetes mellitus by differential gene expression pattern analysis.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by the newly discovered coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. Increased severity of COVID-19 has been observed in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM). This study aimed to identify common transcriptional signatures, regulators and pathways between COVID-19 and DM. We have integrated human whole-genome transcriptomic datasets from COVID-19 and DM, followed by functional assessment with gene ontology (GO) and pathway analyses. In peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), among the upregulated differentially expressed genes (DEGs), 32 were found to be commonly modulated in COVID-19 and type 2 diabetes (T2D), while 10 DEGs were commonly downregulated. As regards type 1 diabetes (T1D), 21 DEGs were commonly upregulated, and 29 DEGs were commonly downregulated in COVID-19 and T1D. Moreover, 35 DEGs were commonly upregulated in SARS-CoV-2 infected pancreas organoids and T2D islets, while 14 were commonly downregulated. Several GO terms were found in common between COVID-19 and DM. Prediction of the putative transcription factors involved in the upregulation of genes in COVID-19 and DM identified RELA to be implicated in both PBMCs and pancreas. Here, for the first time, we have characterized the biological processes and pathways commonly dysregulated in COVID-19 and DM, which could be in the next future used for the design of personalized treatment of COVID-19 patients suffering from DM as comorbidity.

[How to optimize Audit&Feedback: experience from the EASY-NET programme]. / Come rendere più efficace l'Audit&Feedback: riflessioni dal programma di rete EASY-NET.

This is the second of a series of papers dedicated to the EASY-NET research programme (NET-2016-02364191). The rationale, structure and methodologies are described in the previous contribution. Scientific literature demonstrated that Audit & Feedback (A&F) is an effective strategy for continuous quality improvement and its effectiveness varies considerably according to factors that are currently little known. Some recent publication pointed out, with the contribution of an international group of experts, 15 suggestions to optimize A&F and developed a tool to evaluate their application. This tool, called REFLECT-52, includes 52 items related to the 15 suggestions and organized into four categories relating to the "Nature of the desired action", to the "Nature of the data available for feedback", to the "Feedback Display" and to the "Intervention delivery". Then, the aim of this work was to evaluate the level of adherence of A&F interventions tested in EASY-NET to suggestions from the literature by using a slightly adapted version of the REFLECT-52 tool, in its original language. In EASY-NET, 14 A&F interventions with different characteristics and in different clinical and organizational contexts were tested in seven Italian regions, each of these was evaluated by the respective research groups. Overall, the level of adherence was high in three of the four categories analysed, with some difficulties reported regarding the nature of the data available for feedback. In fact, contrary to what the literature suggests, it was not possible to send repeated feedback for some interventions and, in some cases, the data available for feedback presented a delay longer than one year. In summary, this analysis has confirmed a high level of compliance of the interventions tested with the suggestions from the literature, but it has also allowed researchers to identify critical aspects that need to be addressed for the future development of these strategies.

Effects of diffusion signal modeling and segmentation approaches on subthalamic nucleus parcellation.

The subthalamic nucleus (STN) is commonly used as a surgical target for deep brain stimulation in movement disorders such as Parkinson's Disease. Tractography-derived connectivity-based parcellation (CBP) has been recently proposed as a suitable tool for non-invasive in vivo identification and pre-operative targeting of specific functional territories within the human STN. However, a well-established, accurate and reproducible protocol for STN parcellation is still lacking. The present work aims at testing the effects of different tractography-based approaches for the reconstruction of STN functional territories. We reconstructed functional territories of the STN on the high-quality dataset of 100 unrelated healthy subjects and on the test-retest dataset of the Human Connectome Project (HCP) repository. Connectivity-based parcellation was performed with a hypothesis-driven approach according to cortico-subthalamic connectivity, after dividing cortical areas into three groups: associative, limbic and sensorimotor. Four parcellation pipelines were compared, combining different signal modeling techniques (single-fiber vs multi-fiber) and different parcellation approaches (winner takes all parcellation vs fiber density thresholding). We tested these procedures on STN regions of interest obtained from three different, commonly employed, subcortical atlases. We evaluated the pipelines both in terms of between-subject similarity, assessed on the cohort of 100 unrelated healthy subjects, and of within-subject similarity, using a second cohort of 44 subjects with available test-retest data. We found that each parcellation provides converging results in terms of location of the identified parcels, but with significative variations in size and shape. All pipelines obtained very high within-subject similarity, with tensor-based approaches outperforming multi-fiber pipelines. On the other hand, higher between-subject similarity was found with multi-fiber signal modeling techniques combined with fiber density thresholding. We suggest that a fine-tuning of tractography-based parcellation may lead to higher reproducibility and aid the development of an optimized surgical targeting protocol.

White matter substrates of functional connectivity dynamics in the human brain.

The contribution of structural connectivity to functional connectivity dynamics is still far from being elucidated. Herein, we applied track-weighted dynamic functional connectivity (tw-dFC), a model integrating structural, functional, and dynamic connectivity, on high quality diffusion weighted imaging and resting-state fMRI data from two independent repositories. The tw-dFC maps were analyzed using independent component analysis, aiming at identifying spatially independent white matter components which support dynamic changes in functional connectivity. Each component consisted of a spatial map of white matter bundles that show consistent fluctuations in functional connectivity at their endpoints, and a time course representative of such functional activity. These components show high intra-subject, inter-subject, and inter-cohort reproducibility. We provided also converging evidence that functional information about white matter activity derived by this method can capture biologically meaningful features of brain connectivity organization, as well as predict higher-order cognitive performance.

In Vivo Super-Resolution Track-Density Imaging for Thalamic Nuclei Identification.

The development of novel techniques for the in vivo, non-invasive visualization and identification of thalamic nuclei has represented a major challenge for human neuroimaging research in the last decades. Thalamic nuclei have important implications in various key aspects of brain physiology and many of them show selective alterations in various neurologic and psychiatric disorders. In addition, both surgical stimulation and ablation of specific thalamic nuclei have been proven to be useful for the treatment of different neuropsychiatric diseases. The present work aimed at describing a novel protocol for histologically guided delineation of thalamic nuclei based on short-tracks track-density imaging (stTDI), which is an advanced imaging technique exploiting high angular resolution diffusion tractography to obtain super-resolved white matter maps. We demonstrated that this approach can identify up to 13 distinct thalamic nuclei bilaterally with very high inter-subject (ICC: 0.996, 95% CI: 0.993-0.998) and inter-rater (ICC:0.981; 95% CI:0.963-0.989) reliability, and that both subject-based and group-level thalamic parcellation show a fair share of similarity to a recent standard-space histological thalamic atlas. Finally, we showed that stTDI-derived thalamic maps can be successfully employed to study structural and functional connectivity of the thalamus and may have potential implications both for basic and translational research, as well as for presurgical planning purposes.

The role of teriflunomide in Multiple Sclerosis patient: an observational study.

Teriflunomide is a drug with immunosuppressive and selective immunomodulatory action, characterized by anti-inflammatory and antiproliferative properties. Several clinical studies have demonstrated the efficacy and safety of this drug in Multiple Sclerosis, estimating a significant improvement in cognitive performance.The aim of our study is to evaluate the effects of teriflunomide by analysing the correlation between brain atrophy and the general cognitive profile and evaluating long-term changes. The effect of teriflunomide was studied in 30 patients with multiple sclerosis and 30 control subjects. Patients underwent a full cognitive profile assessment using the Brief Repeatable Battery of Neuropsychological Tests and a neuroimaging examination with a 3.0 T working scanner.Our results suggested that treatment with teriflunomide could potentially not only slow down the accumulation of microstructural tissue damage in Grey Matter and With Matter, but also better preserve the cognitive profile, particularly by highlighting the benefits in the memory domain. Thanks to drug therapy, brain volume in our patients has remained constant, leading to improvements in memory, indicating teriflunomide as a neuroprotective potential and further strengthening the evidence of a link between loss of brain volume and cognitive impairment.

Ventral intermediate nucleus structural connectivity-derived segmentation: anatomical reliability and variability.

The Ventral intermediate nucleus (Vim) of thalamus is the most targeted structure for the treatment of drug-refractory tremors. Since methodological differences across existing studies are remarkable and no gold-standard pipeline is available, in this study, we tested different parcellation pipelines for tractography-derived putative Vim identification. Thalamic parcellation was performed on a high quality, multi-shell dataset and a downsampled, clinical-like dataset using two different diffusion signal modeling techniques and two different voxel classification criteria, thus implementing a total of four parcellation pipelines. The most reliable pipeline in terms of inter-subject variability has been picked and parcels putatively corresponding to motor thalamic nuclei have been selected by calculating similarity with a histology-based mask of Vim. Then, spatial relations with optimal stimulation points for the treatment of essential tremor have been quantified. Finally, effect of data quality and parcellation pipelines on a volumetric index of connectivity clusters has been assessed. We found that the pipeline characterized by higher-order signal modeling and threshold-based voxel classification criteria was the most reliable in terms of inter-subject variability regardless data quality. The maps putatively corresponding to Vim were those derived by precentral and dentate nucleus-thalamic connectivity. However, tractography-derived functional targets showed remarkable differences in shape and sizes when compared to a ground truth model based on histochemical staining on seriate sections of human brain. Thalamic voxels connected to contralateral dentate nucleus resulted to be the closest to literature-derived stimulation points for essential tremor but at the same time showing the most remarkable inter-subject variability. Finally, the volume of connectivity parcels resulted to be significantly influenced by data quality and parcellation pipelines. Hence, caution is warranted when performing thalamic connectivity-based segmentation for stereotactic targeting.

Cognitive Decline in Rheumatoid Arthritis: Insight into the Molecular Pathogenetic Mechanisms.

Cognitive decline refers to a deterioration of intellectual and learning abilities and related memory problems, and is often associated with behavioral alterations, which prevents sufferers from carrying out the most common daily activities, such as maintaining normal productive interpersonal relationships, communicating, and leading an autonomous life. Numerous studies have highlighted the association between cognitive decline and autoimmune disorders, including rheumatoid arthritis (RA). RA is a chronic, inflammatory, autoimmune disease that involves systems and organs other than the bones and joints, with varying severity among patients. Here, we review the studies investigating the link between cognitive decline and RA, focusing on the main molecular pathogenetic mechanisms involved. The emerging body of data suggests that clinical, psychological, and biological factors may contribute to the pathogenesis of cognitive decline in RA, including cardiovascular complications, chronic pain, depression, inflammatory factors, changes in hormone levels, drug side effects, and genetics. Further studies are warranted in order to fully clarify the basis underlying the association between cognitive decline and RA and to find new possible diagnostic strategies and therapeutic targets for RA patients.

Emerging Role of the Macrophage Migration Inhibitory Factor Family of Cytokines in Neuroblastoma. Pathogenic Effectors and Novel Therapeutic Targets?

Neuroblastoma (NB) is the most frequent extracranial pediatric tumor. Despite the current available multiple therapeutic options, the prognosis for high-risk NB patients remains unsatisfactory and makes the disease a clear unmet medical need. Thus, more tailored therapeutic approaches are warranted to improve both the quality of life and the survival of the patients. Macrophage migration inhibitory factor (MIF) is a pleiotropic cytokine that plays a key role in several diseases, including cancer. Preclinical and clinical studies in NB patients convergently indicate that MIF exerts pro-tumorigenic properties in NB. MIF is upregulated in NB tumor tissues and cell lines and it contributes to NB aggressiveness and immune-escape. To date, there are only a few data about the role of the second member of the MIF family, the MIF homolog d-dopachrome tautomerase (DDT), in NB. Here, we review the preclinical and clinical studies on the role of the MIF family of cytokines in NB and suggest that MIF and possibly DDT inhibitors may be promising novel prognostic and therapeutic targets in NB management.

Effects of Combined Admistration of Imatinib and Sorafenib in a Murine Model of Liver Fibrosis.

Liver fibrosis is defined as excessive extracellular matrix deposition in the hepatic parenchyma as a consequence of complex interactions among matrix-producing hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) and liver-resident and infiltrating cells. In addition to the liver, the process of fibrosis may represent end-stage disease of several diseases including kidneys, lungs, spleens, heart, muscles and at certain extent, the central nervous system and the peripheral nerves. To date, antifibrotic treatment of fibrosis represents an unconquered area for drug development. The aim of the present study was to test the efficacy of a new drug combination for the treatment of hepatic fibrosis in order to provide a proof-of-concept for the use of therapeutic agents in clinical practice. For this purpose, we have studied the effects of the PDGF inhibitor imatinib and the angiogenesis inhibitor sorafenib, administered alone or in combination, in reducing the progression of the fibrogenetic process in a pre-clinical model of liver damage induced in mice by repeated administration of Concanavalin A (ConA), resembling long-tern autoimmune hepatitis. Our results suggest that treatments with imatinib and sorafenib can modulate potently and, in a superimposable fashion, the fibrinogenic process when administered alone. However, and in agreement with the computational data presently generated, they only exert partial overlapping antifibrotic effects in modulating the main pathways involved in the process of liver fibrosis, without significant additive or synergist effects, when administered in combination.

Role of diffusion tensor imaging in the diagnosis and management of post-traumatic anosmia.

INTRODUCTION: Anosmia is a possible complication of Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI). Psychometric and electrophysiological methods of olfaction measure and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) are the tools to evaluate the post-traumatic olfactory loss. Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) provides useful data for a better understanding of etiopathogenesis TBI-related anosmia, in particular the loss of neural connections and their eventual recovery over time. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study describes a case of TBI-related anosmia. The olfactory function was evaluated by Sniffin' Sticks Test (SST), Olfactory Event-Related Potentials (OERPs), MRI and DTI at baseline (T0) and after one year (T1). RESULTS: At baseline, SST highlighted a functional anosmia. The OERPs showed the presence of a small N1-P2 complex. MRI confirmed the presence of a scarring involved in the right orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). DTI detected a reduction in the average length and the number of neuronal fibre pathways of right OFC. At T1, a recovery of olfactory function was confirmed by SST and OERPs. CONCLUSION: While MRI images are unchanged from T0, DTI showed an increase in average length and number of fibre tracts in the right OFC. DTI could be a valid tool to display a post-traumatic loss of neural connections and to better understand TBI-recovery mechanisms.

Automatic Algorithm for Segmentation of Atherosclerotic Carotid Plaque.

BACKGROUND: Carotid atherosclerosis is one of the major causes of stroke. The determination of the intima-media thickness, the identification of carotid atherosclerotic plaque, and the classification of the different stenoses are considered as important parameters for the assessment of atherosclerotic diseases. The aim of this work is to segment the plaques and to allow a better comprehension of carotid atherosclerosis. METHODS: We considered 44 subjects, 22 with and 22 without the presence of plaques in the carotid axis, and we applied the snake algorithm. RESULTS: The resulting interclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were significant for all 3 parameters (mean echogenicity: ICC1 = .78 [95%CI: .55-0.90]; perimeter: ICC2 = .81 [95%CI: .61-0.92]; area: ICC3 = .89 [95%CI: .75-0.95]). The diagnostic accuracy was 82%, with an appropriate cutoff value of 224.5, sensitivity of 79%, and specificity of 85%. CONCLUSIONS: In this study, we developed an automatic method to identify the carotid plaque. Our results showed that an automatic system of image segmentation could be used to identify, characterize, and measure atherosclerotic carotid plaques.

Effect of the antiepileptic therapy on olfactory disorders associated with mesial temporal sclerosis.

Parosmia has been described in neurological disorders, including temporal epilepsy. We reported a case of parosmia associated with unilateral hyposmia and mesial temporal sclerosis. We assessed the olfactory function by using Sniffin' sticks test and olfactory event-related potentials (OERPs). The findings of unilateral deficit of identification associated with parosmia only in the side ipsilateral to mesial temporal sclerosis area, that involves temporal olfactory regions responsible for higher level of smell processing, suggest a central genesis of olfactory disorders. The administration of levetiracetam restored olfactory function, OERP N1-P2 amplitude, and mesial temporal sclerosis-related electroencephalographic findings.

Effectiveness of risk minimization measures for cabergoline-induced cardiac valve fibrosis in clinical practice in Italy.

On June 2008, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) introduced changes to the Summary of Product Characteristics (SPC) for cabergoline and pergolide, to reduce the risk of cardiac valvulopathy in users of these drugs. To assess the effectiveness of EMA recommendations in Italian clinical practice, we retrospectively reviewed medical charts of patients with degenerative Parkinsonism treated with cabergoline in three large Italian clinics between January 2006 and June 2012. The prevalence and the severity of cardiac valve regurgitation were assessed in patients who stopped cabergoline therapy prior to June 2008 or continued therapy after that date. In addition, the proportion of patients undergoing echocardiographic examination in each cohort was evaluated. A total of 61 patients were available for evaluation. The proportion of patients who underwent a baseline echocardiographic examination increased from 64 % in the period before the 2008 SPC changes to 71 % among those who continued treatment after that date. However, only 18 and 29 % of patients underwent at least two echocardiographic examinations during the pre-SPC and cross-SPC change period, respectively. No severe cardiac valve regurgitation was documented in any of the study patients using cabergoline either prior or after 26th June 2008. Our findings show that the 2008 changes to the SPC resulted in an increase in physicians' awareness of cabergoline-induced valvulopathy risk in Italy. However, only a small percentage of patients underwent serial echocardiography. Further efforts are needed to achieve better compliance with the prescribing guidelines for cabergoline treated patients in clinical practice.

Role of statins in the treatment of multiple sclerosis.

Statins as inhibitors of 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A reductase are widely prescribed for hypercholesterolemia treatment. In the last years, statins have also been shown to exert immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory effects which appear to be related to inhibition of isoprenylation of small GTP-binding proteins and, at least in part, independent of their cholesterol-lowering effects. These "pleiotropic" effects make statins an attractive treatment option for immune-mediated disorders such as multiple sclerosis. Studies in vitro and in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis animal model seem to support not only the efficacy of statins as immunomodulatory agents but also their potential neuroprotective properties, although the exact mechanism with which statins exert these effects has not yet been fully understood. The immunomodulatory, anti-inflammatory and neuroprotective properties of statins provided the incentive for several clinical trials in multiple sclerosis, in which they were tested not only as mono-therapy but also in combination with interferon-ß. However, the attempt to translate the results of animal model studies in humans produced conflicting results. Further large, prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials, designed to evaluate the long-term effects of statins alone or in add-on to other disease-modifying therapies, are needed to support their routine clinical use in multiple sclerosis.

Post-traumatic olfactory loss: psychophysical, electrophysiological and neuroradiological findings in three single case studies.

BACKGROUND: Traumatic brain injury is one of the main causes of smell disorders. The degree of olfactory loss may vary and depend on the severity, nature and location of injury within the olfactory system. The diagnosis of disorders of the sense of smell is based on medical history and clinical data supported by psychophysical tests of smell, electrophysiological and neuroimaging measures. METHODS: This study reports three single clinical cases of post-traumatic anosmia evaluated by Sniffin' Sticks Test, Olfactory Event-Related Potential and Magnetic Resonance Imaging examinations. RESULTS: The Olfactory Event-Related Potential findings confirmed the presence of functional olfactory impairment in all three post-traumatic patients showing a good correlation with results of the psychophysical testing. In particular, Sniffin' Sticks Test and OERPs allowed to demonstrate the functional nature of post-traumatic olfactory loss, while the MRI identified the location and extent of injury compatible with the olfactory disorder. CONCLUSIONS: OERPs may have a good clinical application in objective diagnosis of post-traumatic anosmia, especially when the neuroradiological examination does not show lesions compatible with olfactory loss.

Comparison of two audit and feedback approaches: descriptive analysis of personal and contextual dynamics.

INTRODUCTION: Audit and feedback (A&F) is a systematic intervention that can be used to improve the quality of health care. The EASY-NET Network Project proposes an innovative A&F model. AIM: This study aimed to describe the newly proposed A&F model. An analysis was conducted, examining the participants' attitudes and their individual and interpersonal mechanisms to understand how they influence the work context and vice versa. METHODS: Two A&F models were compared, involving emergency and rehabilitation health workers, who were divided into two groups. The classic A&F model was compared with a new model, using a desk audit followed by interactive feedback. Communication training was provided to the audit team by psychologists before commencement of the project. The experimental group underwent psychological screening using two standardized tools (COPE-NVI and ProQoL) to evaluate personal and relational dynamics using the context-mechanism-outcome (CMO) paradigm. RESULTS: The exchange of ideas among health professionals is more effective when using face-to-face feedback than written feedback. The COPE-NVI and ProQoL questionnaires highlighted the difficulties experienced by health care professionals in implementing effective coping strategies to deal with stressful events. CONCLUSIONS: Identifying signs of stress in health care workers is essential for improvement strategies to be implemented and for establishing new, optimal conditions. Remote feedback makes it possible to overcome logistical barriers and, in the future, this method can be used for inter-organizational collaboration. SPANISH ABSTRACT: http://links.lww.com/IJEBH/A203.

Neuroanatomical correlates of peripersonal space: bridging the gap between perception, action, emotion and social cognition.

Peripersonal space (PPS) is a construct referring to the portion of space immediately surrounding our bodies, where most of the interactions between the subject and the environment, including other individuals, take place. Decades of animal and human neuroscience research have revealed that the brain holds a separate representation of this region of space: this distinct spatial representation has evolved to ensure proper relevance to stimuli that are close to the body and prompt an appropriate behavioral response. The neural underpinnings of such construct have been thoroughly investigated by different generations of studies involving anatomical and electrophysiological investigations in animal models, and, recently, neuroimaging experiments in human subjects. Here, we provide a comprehensive anatomical overview of the anatomical circuitry underlying PPS representation in the human brain. Gathering evidence from multiple areas of research, we identified cortical and subcortical regions that are involved in specific aspects of PPS encoding.We show how these regions are part of segregated, yet integrated functional networks within the brain, which are in turn involved in higher-order integration of information. This wide-scale circuitry accounts for the relevance of PPS encoding in multiple brain functions, including not only motor planning and visuospatial attention but also emotional and social cognitive aspects. A complete characterization of these circuits may clarify the derangements of PPS representation observed in different neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases.

Persistent anosmia in a traumatic brain injury patient: role of orbitofrontal cortex.

BACKGROUND: The olfactory loss due to traumatic brain injury is a common clinical condition. The understanding of the cortical areas involved in ability to detect, discriminate and identify the odours is still limited. However, it has been shown that the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is involved in the discrimination and recognition of odours and in particular the right OFC has a dominant role in the central processing of smell. METHOD: This study used the Sniffin' Sticks Test to evaluate olfactory function of a 40-year-old female with persistent post-traumatic anosmia and to have a objective measure method for the follow-up. RESULTS: A marked decrease in the ability to identify and discriminate odours was found. On the other hand the ability to perceive the odours was little compromised. A cerebral Magnetic Resonance Imaging, performed 10 months after the trauma, showed the presence of a post-traumatic scarring in the right frontal lobe involving the OFC. CONCLUSIONS: In this case of post-traumatic anosmia, the ability to perceive and recognize odours does not seem to be compromised in the same measure. It is postulated that the post-traumatic outcomes, involving areas of multisensory integration such as the OFC, have an important pathogenetic role in the loss of ability to recognize and discriminate odours.

Communication Training: Significance and Effects of a Preliminary Psychological Intervention upon an Audit Team.

Communication constitutes an essential aspect of teamwork. This is especially true for audit teams, where communication takes place not only within the work group but also with the audit recipients. For this reason, given the poor evidence in the literature, communication training was carried out on an audit team. Training was divided into 10 meetings of two hours each, with the meetings taking place over 2 months. Questionnaires were administered to identify the characteristics and styles of communication, to assess the sense of perceived self-efficacy in general and at work, and to evaluate the knowledge inherent in the communication. This battery was administered before and after the training to evaluate its effectiveness and its effects on self-efficacy, communication style, and knowledge. Furthermore, a communication audit was performed on the feedback provided by the team, to highlight satisfaction, strengths, and any critical issues that emerged during the feedback phase. The results obtained suggest that training has an effect not only on individual knowledge but also on personological aspects. Communication among colleagues and general self-efficacy appear to be improved by the process. Self-efficacy also specifically improves in the work environment, with subjects feeling more able to manage relationships and collaborations with colleagues and supervisors. Moreover, the audit team members were satisfied with the training received, perceiving an improvement in their own communication skills during the feedback phases.