Rosalia Calapai

Dr. Rosalia Calapai

orcid

Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

2Years (2025-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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Verified
Journal Article
Open access
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ACAndrea Calderone
Andrea Calderone
Serena FiloniSerena Filoni
Serena Filoni
RLRosaria De Luca
Rosaria De Luca
FCFrancesco Corallo
Francesco Corallo
RCRosalia Calapai
Rosalia Calapai
CRCarmela Rifici
Carmela Rifici
Background/Objective: Tracheostomy (TCT) creates an artificial airway, essential for overcoming obstructions or enabling long-term ventilation. Decannulation represents a critical step in recovery, with its success strongly influenced by the underlying indication for tracheostomy and the patient’s clinical profile. Successful decannulation requires careful assessment of multiple factors, including respiratory function and underlying pathology. This scoping review aims to identify and categorize these predictive factors, crucial for optimizing decannulation protocols and patient outcomes. Methods: A scoping review was conducted using the PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Embase, EBSCOhost, and Scopus databases (22 February 2025–3 March 2025) to identify studies regarding predictors of successful decannulation. Studies examining physiological, clinical, and demographic factors associated with decannulation outcomes were included. Data were extracted using a standardized form and synthesized narratively. Results: Fifty studies reported a male representation averaging 67% of the total patient population, comprising 2238 males and 1281 females aged 50–70 with acquired brain injuries, employing retrospective and prospective designs. Positive decannulation outcomes correlate with strong cough, effective secretion management, younger age, and robust neurological status. Adverse events were generally mild, with recannulation being infrequent. Conversely, advanced age, chronic lung disease, a high body mass index, and prolonged mechanical ventilation negatively influence decannulation success. Conclusions: It was highlighted that successful decannulation is the result of various physiological, clinical, and demographic factors. Significantly, strong respiratory function, demonstrated by powerful cough reflexes and efficient secretion control, stands out as a fundamental predictive factor.

29 October 2025 in Brain Sciences
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
RLRosaria De Luca
Rosaria De Luca
FIFederica Impellizzeri
Federica Impellizzeri
FCFrancesco Corallo
Francesco Corallo
ACAndrea Calderone
Andrea Calderone
RCRosalia Calapai
Rosalia Calapai
Rocco Salvatore Salvatore CalabròRocco Salvatore Salvatore Calabrò
Rocco Salvatore Salvatore Calabrò
Background: Emotionally salient music may enhance attention-focused rehabilitation, yet concurrent music plus virtual-reality programs in chronic stroke are largely untested. We assessed whether personalized emotional music stimulation (EMS) layered onto a standardized virtual reality rehabilitation system (VRRS) augments cognitive, affective, physiological, and functional outcomes. Methods: In a quasi-randomized outpatient trial, 20 adults ≥ 6 months post-ischemic stroke were allocated by order of recruitment to VRRS alone (control, n = 10) or VRRS+EMS (experimental, n = 10). Both groups performed 45 min of active VRRS cognitive training (3×/week, 8 weeks), while the EMS group received approximately 60 min sessions including setup and feedback phases. Primary outcomes were cognition and global function; secondary outcomes were intrinsic motivation, depression, anxiety, and heart rate. Non-parametric tests with effect sizes and Δ-scores were used. Results: The experimental group improved across all domains: cognition (median +4.5 points), motivation (median +54 points), depression (median −3.5 points), anxiety (median −4.0 points), heart rate (median −6.35 beats per minute), and disability (median one-grade improvement), each with large effects. The control group showed smaller gains in cognition and motivation and a modest heart-rate reduction, without significant changes in mood or disability. At post-treatment, the music group outperformed controls on cognition, motivation, and disability. Change-score analyses favored the music group for every endpoint. Larger heart-rate reductions correlated with greater improvements in depression (ρ = 0.73, p < 0.001) and anxiety (ρ = 0.58, p = 0.007). Conclusions: Adding personalized emotional music to virtual-reality attention training produced coherent, clinically relevant gains in cognition, mood, motivation, autonomic regulation, and independence compared with virtual reality alone.

24 April 2026 in Brain Sciences
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
CRCarmela Rifici
Carmela Rifici
RLRosaria De Luca
Rosaria De Luca
FCFrancesco Corallo
Francesco Corallo
SMSabrina Miceli
Sabrina Miceli
SCSantina Caliri
Santina Caliri
Rocco Salvatore Salvatore CalabròRocco Salvatore Salvatore Calabrò
Rocco Salvatore Salvatore Calabrò
Background/Objectives: Spatial neglect after stroke may be difficult to characterize in patients with severe motor, cognitive, and communication impairment. Augmentative and alternative communication interfaces require visual scanning and intentional selection and may therefore provide an ecological context in which lateralized visuospatial behavior becomes clinically observable. Methods: A 58-year-old man with a unilateral right-hemisphere hemorrhagic stroke underwent serial assessment at baseline before training, at the end of 24 AAC sessions delivered over 2 months in addition to standard neurorehabilitation, and at 1-month follow-up. Measures included cognitive functioning, behavioral responsiveness, global disability, bedside communication status, and P300 latency. The AAC/eye-tracking intervention also generated process data across 21 analyzable sessions, including calibration quality, free-exploration heatmaps, and performance in the Stars and Bow-Target tasks. Results: Global measures showed modest early improvement followed by stabilization. Cognitive functioning improved from 2 to 3 and remained stable, behavioral responsiveness increased from 7 to 10 and then to 11, bedside communication increased from 7 to 9 and remained stable, and P300 latency decreased from 393 to 350 and then to 351 ms, whereas global disability remained unchanged at 25 throughout. Calibration was at least good in all quadrants and never scored 0. Performance was lower and more unstable in Stars than in Bow-Target. Heatmaps showed rightward clustering, reduced left-sided exploration, and limited whole-screen scanning. Conclusions: AAC/eye-tracking did not provide formal diagnostic proof of neglect, but it supported ecological recognition of a neglect-like lateralized exploratory pattern under less guided conditions.

30 October 2026 in Nutrients
Verified
Journal Article
Open access
PDF file
SCSantina Caliri
Santina Caliri
ACAndrea Calderone
Andrea Calderone
RLRosaria De Luca
Rosaria De Luca
RCRosalia Calapai
Rosalia Calapai
AMAlessio Mirabile
Alessio Mirabile
Rocco Salvatore Salvatore CalabròRocco Salvatore Salvatore Calabrò
Rocco Salvatore Salvatore Calabrò
Background/Objectives: Nutritional changes after spinal cord injury (SCI) can affect bodily appearance and experience, but their relationship with body-image is not consistently defined. This scoping review maps the constructs, measurements, and empirical contributions addressing this intersection. Methods: Guidance from the Joanna Briggs Institute and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews informed this review. Searches were conducted on 12 September 2026 and were updated on 16 October 2026 across clinical and psychological sources. Two reviewers independently assessed records and reports, with third-reviewer adjudication. Eligible evidence concerned acquired SCI at age 10 years or older or relevant professional perspectives, alongside distinguishable nutritional, and body-image domains. Quantitative associations, co-assessment, and qualitative connections were charted separately with design-specific appraisal and cohort linkage. Results: This review includes 36 reports published between 1989 and 2026: 24 contributed patient qualitative findings, 3 contributed professional qualitative perspectives, and 9 contributed quantitative findings. Weight change, perceived muscularity, abdominal appearance, and eating practices were connected with acceptance, attractiveness, and participation. Quantitative evidence combined a small number of direct relational analyses with descriptive co-assessment. Statistical inconsistencies, uncertain measurement properties, and shared samples limited interpretation. Improved satisfaction coexisted with increased adiposity in one uncontrolled report. Adolescent evidence remained sparse. Conclusions: Nutritional health and body-image warrant distinct measurement, even when considered together. The evidence identifies experiences and assessment gaps rather than a causal pathway or an effective combined intervention. Longitudinal construct-specific research is needed before the proposed rehabilitation applications can be evaluated.