The clinical analysis of new-onset status epilepticus.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate and analyze the etiology and prognosis of patients with new-onset status epilepticus (NOSE). METHODS: We conducted a retrospective analysis of all adult patients (≧16 years old) who were admitted to Sichuan Provincial People's Hospital between January 2018 and December 2020 with status epilepticus (SE) and no prior epilepsy history. RESULTS: We collected data from 85 patients, aged from 16 to 90 years, of whom 49 were male and 36 were female. Fifty-five of these cases (64.7%) were younger than 60 years of age. Acute symptomatic SE was mostly seen in the NOSE (53.9%), followed by unknown SE (25.9%), progressive SE (11.8%), and remote SE (9.4%). The differences in the etiology of NOSE between age groups were statistically significant (P < .05). For the young, the main etiology remained unknown (36.3%), followed by autoimmune-related SE (16.4%); in the elderly, the primary etiology was central nervous system (CNS) infection (23.3%), followed by cerebrovascular disease (20%), and intracranial tumors (20%). Normal imaging was mostly seen in young people with NOSE (P < .001). Regarding outcome parameters and risk factors in patients with NOSE, adverse outcome was associated with age (OR = 3.5, 95% CI = 0.108-0.758, P = .012), co-infection (OR = 4.5, 95% CI = 0.083-0.599, P = .003), and tracheal intubation (OR = 6.318, 95% CI = 0.060-0.204, P = .011). SIGNIFICANCE: In our cohort, intracranial tumors, CNS infections, and cerebrovascular disease were the predominant causes of NOSE in the elderly, while autoimmune encephalitis was the largest recognized cause of NOSE in young patients. In addition, imaging varies with age. According to the data, preventing infections may enhance patient prognosis because greater infection rates are connected with less favorable results. Meanwhile, age and mechanical ventilation are related to the prognosis of NOSE.

Animal Model Contributions to Primary Congenital Glaucoma.

Primary congenital glaucoma (PCG) is an ocular disease characterized by congenital anterior segmental maldevelopment with progressive optic nerve degeneration. Certain genes, such as cytochrome P450 family 1 subfamily B member 1 and latent TGF-ß-binding protein 2, are involved in the pathogenesis of PCG, but the exact pathogenic mechanism has not yet been fully elucidated. There is an urgent need to determine the etiology and pathophysiology of PCG and develop new therapeutic methods to stop disease progression. Animal models can simulate PCG and are essential to study the pathogenesis and treatment of PCG. Various animal species have been used in the study of PCG, including rabbits, rats, mice, cats, zebrafish, and quails. These models are formed spontaneously or by combining with genetic engineering technology. The focus of the present study is to review the characteristics and potential applications of animal models in PCG and provide new approaches to understand the mechanism and develop new treatment strategies for patients with PCG.

Attachment voices promote safety learning in humans: A critical role for P2.

Humans have evolved to seek the proximity of attachment figures during times of threat in order to obtain a sense of safety. In this context, we examined whether or not the voice of an intimate partner (termed "attachment voice") could reduce fear-learning of conditioned stimuli (CS+) and enhance learning of safety signals (CS-). Although the ability to learn safety signals is vital for human survival, few studies have explored how attachment voices affect safety learning. To test our hypothesis, we recruited thirty-five young couples and performed a classic Pavlovian conditioning experiment, recording behavioral and electroencephalographic (EEG) data. The results showed that compared with a stranger's voice, the voices of the partners reduced expectancy of the unconditioned stimulus (a shock) during fear-conditioning, as well as the magnitude of P2 event-related potentials within the EEG responses, provided the voices were safety signals. Additionally, behavioral and EEG responses to the CS+ and CS- differed more when the participants heard their partner's voice than when they heard the stranger's voice. Thus, attachment voices, even as pure vowel sounds without any semantic information, enhanced acquisition of conditioned safety (CS-). These findings may provide implications for investigating other new techniques to improve clinical treatments for fear- and anxiety-related disorders and for psychological interventions against the mental health effects of the public health emergency.

Urogenital System Damaging Manifestations of 3 Human Infected Coronaviruses.

PURPOSE: At present, there are no comparative studies on the damage of the 3 coronaviruses infections to the urinary system. Therefore, we reviewed the correlations and differences between invading mechanisms and resultant urogenital system damage by the 3 kinds of coronaviruses in an effort to help doctors in the prevention and treatment of these damages, which will be of significance in improving prognosis and quality of life after rehabilitation. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We searched PubMed® for English language articles published since 2003 with the key words "Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)," "severe acute respiratory syndrome-2 (SARS-CoV-2)," "severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-CoV" and "Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS)-CoV "with "semen" and "kidney." We also used relevant data from websites including the World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. RESULTS: Recent studies have revealed that both SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 invade target cells through a membrane-bound angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, an important component of the renin-angiotensin system, which maintains human homeostasis, whereas MERS utilizes host cells' receptor dipeptidyl peptidase 4 for entry. While pneumonia is the most prominent symptom in patients infected by coronaviruses due to the transmission through respiratory droplets, the urogenital system can also suffer from infection with coronaviruses, resulting in renal failure, testicular atrophy etc. The impairments of the genitourinary system would be different with the 3 coronavirus infections but they still have a strong correlation. CONCLUSIONS: The pathogenesis and clinical symptoms of SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 coronaviruses in the genitourinary system are comparable. All 3 coronaviruses have been found to affect kidney and testicular function. Therefore, both urologists and nephrologists should pay attention to the damage caused by coronavirus infection to the genitourinary system, especially monitoring renal and semen function.

Taxonomic relations evoke more fear than thematic relations after fear conditioning: An EEG study.

When fear is generalized, knowledge based on concepts is also retrieved. Concepts have two very different relations: thematic relations based on the co-occurrence of events or scenarios, and taxonomic relations based on similarity or shared features. However, it remains unclear whether thematic and taxonomic relationships differentially affect fear generalization. To clarify the underlying cognitive mechanisms of these relations, the current study combined the classical fear conditioning procedure with electroencephalography (EEG). Forty participants were conditioned to a neutral word by pairing the presentation of the word with an unpleasant electrical pulse. A different stimulus was not paired with the electrical pulse. Next, during generalization testing, thematically related or taxonomic-related words were presented. Behavioral responses (shock expectancy and response time) and brain responses (event-related potentials [ERP] and oscillation activity) were recorded. Behavioral results showed that taxonomic relations initiated higher shock expectancy compared with thematic relations, and that conceptual relations did not affect response times. Taxonomic relations induced larger P2 components than thematic relations, and danger generalization stimuli initiated smaller P600 components than safe generalization stimuli. In addition, the magnitudes of alpha and beta oscillations were larger for danger generalization stimuli. These results suggested that taxonomic stimuli generalize broader responses compared with thematic relations after fear conditioning. Therefore, we report a possible new electrophysiological evidence for the presentation of fear generalization. These findings aid our understanding of fear generalization at the concept level and have clinical implications for the cognitive treatment of anxiety disorders.

The Influence of Hierarchical Masks on Masked Repetition Priming: Evidence From Event-Related Potential Investigation.

The discussion about relationship between prime and target has contributed to the mechanism of priming effect and object recognition. Nevertheless, the role of relationship between mask and target in those cognitive processes remains unquestioned. In the present study, we aim to investigate how mask-target hierarchical relationship may affect word priming and familiarity, by using the masked repetition paradigm and manipulating three hierarchical relationship between mask and target. It is hypothesized that a closer hierarchical relationship between mask and target is associated with a higher mask target similarity, and thereby it leads to a worse recognition performance. Our behavioral results do not support this hypothesis by showing no effect of mask target hierarchical relationship on response time (RT) and accuracy. Event-related potentials (ERPs) indicated that highly similar mask-target triggered (i.e., the subordinate-subordinate-subordinate trials) larger N1 amplitudes, suggesting that it requires more cognitive resource to discriminate the stimuli. In addition, trials with highly similar mask-target hierarchical relationship induced smaller P2 (150-250 ms) and larger mid-frontal FN400 amplitudes than do trials with low mask-target similarity (i.e., the subordinate-basic-subordinate and the subordinate-superordinate-subordinate trials). Our results suggested that the similarity between mask and target may impede conceptual fluency to reduce word priming and familiarity effect.