The molecular mechanism of naringin improving endometrial receptivity of OHSS rats.

Controlling ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome (OHSS) in the controlled ovarian hyperstimulation treatment is necessary to increase the implantation success rate. This study aimed to explore the effect of naringin on the endometrial receptivity of OHSS rats. Female rats were randomly assigned to six groups: Blank, model, low-dose naringin (100 mg/kg/day), medium-dose naringin (200 mg/kg/day), high-dose naringin (400 mg/kg/day), and positive (0.18 mg/kg/day estradiol valerate) groups. Except for the blank group, rats established the OHSS model on Day 7, and their treatments were from Day 0 to 14, separately. Hematoxylin and eosin, immunohistochemical, and scanning electron microscopy were performed to detect the naringin effects on the endometrial receptivity of the OHSS model. Next, circRNAs transcriptome analysis was performed to screen circRNAs. Western blot analysis and real-time quantitative PCR were used to verify it. Our study showed that naringin treatments increased embryo number, endometrial thickness, pinopodes number, and Ki67 expression in the OHSS rats. Moreover, the result of circRNAs transcriptome sequencing showed that naringin significantly inhibited the rnocirc_008140 expression in the OHSS rats and significantly inhibited the changes of 28 gene ontology terms and three Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathways which were induced by OHSS. Abcc4 and Rps6ka5 genes were the enriched genes of those pathways. Finally, 24 miRNA target genes of rnocirc_008140 were predicted. Our study showed that naringin significantly improved the endometrial receptivity of OHSS rats to increase the embryo implantation success by reducing rnocirc_008140-adsorbed miRNAs to regulate Abcc4 and Rps6ka5 expression.

Postoperative bone graft migration into the thecal sac and shifting down to the lower level after an endoscopic lumbar interbody fusion: a case report.

BACKGROUND: Postoperative bone graft migration (PBGM) is a fairly rare spinal postoperative complication. Its occurrence after endoscopic surgery has rarely been reported in the literature so far. This is a case report of a 52-year-old male occurring PBGM into the thecal sac in the 8th days after an endoscopic lumbar interbody fusion (ELIF), which can make surgeons more minded with such serious rare complication after BGM. CASE PRESENTATION: A 52-year-old male patient, underwent a L4-5 ELIF, presented with an acute radiculopathy on right leg and urinary incontinence in the 8th postoperative day. An emergency lumbar Computed Tomography(CT scan) and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) demonstrated bone graft migration into the thecal sac at the L4-5 level, and shifting down to the lower level. The revision surgery was performed at once successfully. Finally, the patient got well managed before discharge. CONCLUSION: Supported by this case report, we believe that PBGM into the thecal sac is a rare but horrible complication of ELIF. However, too much volume of bone graft and its posterior placement are more prone to developing this complication. Finally, we are not sure that the outcome presented in this study will be repeated in future cases.

The interplay between audiovisual temporal synchrony and semantic congruency in the cross-modal boost of the visual target discrimination during the attentional blink.

The visual attentional blink can be substantially reduced by delivering a task-irrelevant sound synchronously with the second visual target (T2), and this effect is further modulated by the semantic congruency between the sound and T2. However, whether the cross-modal benefit originates from audiovisual interactions or sound-induced alertness remains controversial, and whether the semantic congruency effect is contingent on audiovisual temporal synchrony needs further investigation. The current study investigated these questions by recording event-related potentials (ERPs) in a visual attentional blink task wherein a sound could either synchronize with T2, precede T2 by 200 ms, be delayed by 100 ms, or be absent, and could be either semantically congruent or incongruent with T2 when delivered. The behavioral data showed that both the cross-modal boost of T2 discrimination and the further semantic modulation were the largest when the sound synchronized with T2. In parallel, the ERP data yielded that both the early occipital cross-modal P195 component (192-228 ms after T2 onset) and late parietal cross-modal N440 component (424-448 ms) were prominent only when the sound synchronized with T2, with the former being elicited solely when the sound was further semantically congruent whereas the latter occurring only when that sound was incongruent. These findings demonstrate not only that the cross-modal boost of T2 discrimination during the attentional blink stems from early audiovisual interactions and the semantic congruency effect depends on audiovisual temporal synchrony, but also that the semantic modulation can unfold at the early stage of visual discrimination processing.

Neural Basis of Semantically Dependent and Independent Cross-Modal Boosts on the Attentional Blink.

The present study recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) in a visual object-recognition task under the attentional blink paradigm to explore the temporal dynamics of the cross-modal boost on attentional blink and whether this auditory benefit would be modulated by semantic congruency between T2 and the simultaneous sound. Behaviorally, the present study showed that not only a semantically congruent but also a semantically incongruent sound improved T2 discrimination during the attentional blink interval, whereas the enhancement was larger for the congruent sound. The ERP results revealed that the behavioral improvements induced by both the semantically congruent and incongruent sounds were closely associated with an early cross-modal interaction on the occipital N195 (192-228 ms). In contrast, the lower T2 accuracy for the incongruent than congruent condition was accompanied by a larger late occurring cento-parietal N440 (424-448 ms). These findings suggest that the cross-modal boost on attentional blink is hierarchical: the task-irrelevant but simultaneous sound, irrespective of its semantic relevance, firstly enables T2 to escape the attentional blink via cross-modally strengthening the early stage of visual object-recognition processing, whereas the semantic conflict of the sound begins to interfere with visual awareness only at a later stage when the representation of visual object is extracted.

Updating the dual-mechanism model for cross-sensory attentional spreading: The influence of space-based visual selective attention.

Selective attention to visual stimuli can spread cross-modally to task-irrelevant auditory stimuli through either the stimulus-driven binding mechanism or the representation-driven priming mechanism. The stimulus-driven attentional spreading occurs whenever a task-irrelevant sound is delivered simultaneously with a spatially attended visual stimulus, whereas the representation-driven attentional spreading occurs only when the object representation of the sound is congruent with that of the to-be-attended visual object. The current study recorded event-related potentials in a space-selective visual object-recognition task to examine the exact roles of space-based visual selective attention in both the stimulus-driven and representation-driven cross-modal attentional spreading, which remain controversial in the literature. Our results yielded that the representation-driven auditory Nd component (200-400 ms after sound onset) did not differ according to whether the peripheral visual representations of audiovisual target objects were spatially attended or not, but was decreased when the auditory representations of target objects were presented alone. In contrast, the stimulus-driven auditory Nd component (200-300 ms) was decreased but still prominent when the peripheral visual constituents of audiovisual nontarget objects were spatially unattended. These findings demonstrate not only that the representation-driven attentional spreading is independent of space-based visual selective attention and benefits in an all-or-nothing manner from object-based visual selection for actually presented visual representations of target objects, but also that although the stimulus-driven attentional spreading is modulated by space-based visual selective attention, attending to visual modality per se is more likely to be the endogenous determinant of the stimulus-driven attentional spreading.

Early cross-modal interactions underlie the audiovisual bounce-inducing effect.

Two identical visual disks moving towards one another on a two-dimensional display can be perceived as either "streaming through" or "bouncing off" each other after their coincidence/overlapping. A brief sound presented at the moment of the coincidence of the disks could strikingly bias the percept towards bouncing, which was termed the audiovisual bounce-inducing effect (ABE). Although the ABE has been studied intensively since its discovery, the debate about its origin is still unresolved so far. The present study used event-related potential (ERP) recordings to investigate whether or not early neural activities associated with cross-modal interactions play a role on the ABE. The results showed that the fronto-central P2 component ∼200 ms before the coincidence of the disks was predictive of subsequent streaming or bouncing percept in the unimodal visual display but not in auditory-visual display. More importantly, the cross-modal interactions revealed by the fronto-central positivity PD170 (125-175 ms after sound onset), as well as the occipital positivity PD190 (180-200 ms), were substantially enhanced on bouncing trials compared to streaming trials in the auditory-visual display. These findings provide direct electrophysiological evidence that early cross-modal interactions contribute to the origin of ABE phenomenon at the perceptual stage of processing.

The stimulus-driven and representation-driven cross-modal attentional spreading are both modulated by audiovisual temporal synchrony.

Multisensory integration and attention can interact in a way that attention to the visual constituent of a multisensory object results in an attentional spreading to its ignored auditory constituent, which can be either stimulus-driven or representation-driven depending on whether the object's visual constituent receives extra representation-based selective attention. Previous research using simple unrelated audiovisual combinations has shown that the stimulus-driven attentional spreading is contingent on audiovisual temporal simultaneity. However, little is known about whether this temporal constraint applies also to the representation-driven attentional spreading, and whether it holds for the stimulus-driven process elicited by real-life multisensory objects. The current event-related potential study investigated these questions by systematically manipulating the visual-to-auditory stimulus onset asynchrony (SOA: 0/100/300 ms) in an object-selective visual recognition task wherein the representation-driven and stimulus-driven spreading processes, measured as two distinct auditory negative difference (Nd) components, could be isolated independently. Our results showed that both the representation-driven and stimulus-driven Nds decreased as the SOA increased. Interestingly, the representation-driven Nd was completely absent, whereas the stimulus-driven Nd was still robust, when the auditory constituents were delayed by 300 ms. These findings not only indicate that the role of audiovisual simultaneity in the representation-driven attentional spreading has been underestimated, but also suggest that learned associations between the unisensory constituents of real-life objects render the stimulus-driven attentional spreading more tolerant of audiovisual asynchrony.

Temporal dynamics of spatial attentional biases toward weight-related words among females with weight dissatisfaction.

Attentional bias toward weight-related stimuli plays a crucial role in the development and maintenance of body image disturbances. However, the temporal dynamics of attentional biases responsible for the previously reported behavioral effects caused by the task-irrelevant but spatial-relevant weight-related stimuli presented in the peripheral visual field among females with high weight dissatisfaction (HWD) remain unclear. The present study combined the modified dot-probe task and event-related potentials to explore the temporal dynamics of spatial attentional biases toward weight-related words among females with HWD. The results showed significantly larger N2pc amplitudes were elicited by fat-related and thin-related words than neutral words only in the HWD group. Moreover, only fat-related words elicited a significant PD for the HWD group, and the PD amplitudes were larger in the HWD group than in the control group. These findings revealed that weight-related words initially captured spatial allocation among females with HWD, and then fat-related words were actively suppressed after the initial capturing.

Spatial attentional biases toward height-related words in young males with physical stature dissatisfaction.

By recording event-related potentials (ERPs) during a dot-probe task, the present study examined the neural dynamics of attentional bias toward height-related words among height dissatisfied males. Sixty male participants screened by Negative Physical Self Scale-Stature Concerns subscale (NPS-S) were assigned into a high height dissatisfaction (HHD) group and a low height dissatisfaction (LHD) group. The results showed that tall-related versus neutral words elicited larger N2pc for both HHD and LHD groups, whereas short-related versus neutral words elicited larger N2pc only for the HHD group. Additionally, an evident Pd was elicited by tall-related words for the HHD group, but not for the LHD group. Taken together, these findings revealed attentional biases toward height-related information for HHD individuals on a neural level. Specifically, HHD individuals showed an enhanced spatial attention oriented toward both tall-related and short-related words, and then, the allocated attention to the tall-related words was terminated by an active suppression mechanism.

Training to be a spinal endoscopic surgeon: What matters?

Objective: Spinal endoscopic surgery has been promoted rapidly in the past decade, attracting an increasing number of young, dedicated surgeons. However, it has long been denounced for its long learning curve as a factor impeding the development of this state-of-the-art technique. The aim of the present study was to discover what really matters in the educational process of becoming a spinal endoscopic surgeon. Methods: An online survey consisting of 14 compulsory questions was distributed in April and May 2022 through the First Chinese Spinal Endoscopic Surgeons Skills Competition. Reminders were sent to increase response rates. Results: Of the 893 emails that were sent, we received 637 responses. A total of 375 (76.7%) surgeons most frequently used endoscopic techniques in their practices. Regardless of their different backgrounds, 284 (75.7%) surgeons thought it would be necessary for a young spinal endoscopic surgeon to perform 300 cases independently in order to become proficient, followed by 500 (n=43, 11.5%), 100 (n=40, 10.7%), and 1,000 (n=8, 2.1%) cases. According to the surgeons, the most difficult aspect of mastering the endoscopic technique is a disparate surgical view (n=255, 68%), followed by adaption to new instruments (n=86, 22.9%) and hand-eye coordination (n=34, 9.1%). The most helpful training method for helping the spinal endoscopic surgeons of younger generations improve is operating on simulation models or cadaver courses (n=216, 57.6%), followed by online or offline theoretical courses (n=67, 17.9%), acquiring opportunities during surgeries (n=51, 13.6%), and frequently participating in surgeries as an assistant (n=41, 10.9%). Conclusion: From the perspective of surgeons, to be skilled in spinal endoscopic surgery means overcoming a steep learning curve. However, training systems should be given more attention to make them more accessible to younger surgeons so they can work on simulation models or take cadaver courses.

The dissociation of semantically congruent and incongruent cross-modal effects on the visual attentional blink.

Introduction: Recent studies have found that the sound-induced alleviation of visual attentional blink, a well-known phenomenon exemplifying the beneficial influence of multisensory integration on time-based attention, was larger when that sound was semantically congruent relative to incongruent with the second visual target (T2). Although such an audiovisual congruency effect has been attributed mainly to the semantic conflict carried by the incongruent sound restraining that sound from facilitating T2 processing, it is still unclear whether the integrated semantic information carried by the congruent sound benefits T2 processing. Methods: To dissociate the congruence-induced benefit and incongruence-induced reduction in the alleviation of visual attentional blink at the behavioral and neural levels, the present study combined behavioral measures and event-related potential (ERP) recordings in a visual attentional blink task wherein the T2-accompanying sound, when delivered, could be semantically neutral in addition to congruent or incongruent with respect to T2. Results: The behavioral data clearly showed that compared to the neutral sound, the congruent sound improved T2 discrimination during the blink to a higher degree while the incongruent sound improved it to a lesser degree. The T2-locked ERP data revealed that the early occipital cross-modal N195 component (192-228 ms after T2 onset) was uniquely larger in the congruent-sound condition than in the neutral-sound and incongruent-sound conditions, whereas the late parietal cross-modal N440 component (400-500 ms) was prominent only in the incongruent-sound condition. Discussion: These findings provide strong evidence that the modulating effect of audiovisual semantic congruency on the sound-induced alleviation of visual attentional blink contains not only a late incongruence-induced cost but also an early congruence-induced benefit, thereby demonstrating for the first time an unequivocal congruent-sound-induced benefit in alleviating the limitation of time-based visual attention.

Attentional suppression of weight-related distractors among females with weight dissatisfaction.

Although many studies have investigated attentional biases toward weight-related information among individuals with weight dissatisfaction, the mechanisms underlying the processing of task-irrelevant and spatial-irrelevant weight-related information as distractors remain unclear. Participants were assigned to groups according to their levels of weight dissatisfaction to address this question. Participants with high weight dissatisfaction (HWD) were assigned to the experimental group; those with low weight dissatisfaction (LWD) were assigned to a control group. By recording event-related potentials during a visual search task along the median vertical line, fatness-related/thinness-related/neutral words and scrambled strokes were presented horizontally in pairs as task-irrelevant distractors. The results showed that intact words facilitated fast attentional orienting compared to scrambled strokes, as revealed by the significant N2pc for all types of intact words for both the HWD and LWD groups. More importantly, only fatness- and thinness-related words elicited the evident PD in the HWD group, and the PD amplitudes were larger in the HWD group compared to the LWD group. These findings suggest that weight-related distractors were actively suppressed after initial attentional orienting among females with HWD. This reveals the mechanisms of attentional biases toward weight-related information among females with HWD and contributes to the model of the cognitive-behavioral theory of body image disturbance. These results may help enhance prevention and interventions for reducing weight dissatisfaction.

Cross-modal enhancement of spatially unpredictable visual target discrimination during the attentional blink.

The attentional blink can be substantially reduced by delivering a task-irrelevant sound synchronously with the second target (T2) embedded in a rapid serial visual presentation stream, which is further modulated by the semantic congruency between the sound and T2. The present study extended the cross-modal boost during attentional blink and the modulation of audiovisual semantic congruency in the spatial domain by showing that a spatially uninformative, semantically congruent (but not incongruent) sound could even improve the discrimination of spatially unpredictable T2 during attentional blink. T2-locked event-related potential (ERP) data yielded that the early cross-modal P195 difference component (184-234 ms) over the occipital scalp contralateral to the T2 location was larger preceding accurate than inaccurate discriminations of semantically congruent, but not incongruent, audiovisual T2s. Interestingly, the N2pc component (194-244 ms) associated with visual-spatial attentional allocation was enlarged for incongruent audiovisual T2s relative to congruent audiovisual and unisensory visual T2s only when they were accurately discriminated. These ERP findings suggest that the spatially extended cross-modal boost during attentional blink involves an early cross-modal interaction strengthening the perceptual processing of T2, without any sound-induced enhancement of visual-spatial attentional allocation toward T2. In contrast, the absence of an accuracy decrease in response to semantically incongruent audiovisual T2s may originate from the semantic mismatch capturing extra visual-spatial attentional resources toward T2.

Attentional biases toward auditory weight-related information among females with weight dissatisfaction.

Although there is substantial evidence of visual attentional biases in processing weight-related information among individuals with weight dissatisfaction, few studies have examined auditory attentional biases in these individuals. The identification of attentional biases may provide an impetus for interventions to reduce distress, negative body image, and pathological eating patterns among weight-dissatisfied individuals. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the attentional biases, as well as the neural consequences, toward auditory weight-related information among weight-dissatisfied young females. In this experiment, young female participants were assigned to an experimental group with high weight dissatisfaction (HWD) and a control group with low weight dissatisfaction (LWD) according to the levels of weight dissatisfaction. Using a spatial cueing paradigm, auditory fatness-related, thinness-related, and neutral household words were presented laterally as cue stimuli, followed by visual stimuli presented at either the cued or uncued location. The results revealed that auditory fatness-related words elicited significantly larger N2ac amplitudes than auditory thinness-related and neutral words in the HWD group. However, for the LWD group, thinness-related words elicited a significantly larger N2ac than fatness-related and neutral words. These results suggest an orienting attentional bias toward auditory fatness-related body words among females with HWD and an orienting attentional bias toward auditory thinness-related words among females with LWD.

Comparison of the mid-term clinical efficacy of different fixtaion methods combined with oblique lumbar interbody fusion in treating lumbar degenerative diseases.

BACKGROUND: To compare the mid-term follow-up clinical efficacy among three treatment approaches for lumbar degenerative diseases (LDD): standalone oblique lumbar interbody fusion (SF), oblique lumbar interbody fusion combined with lateral screw fixation (LF), and oblique lumbar interbody fusion combined with posterior screw fixation (PF). METHOD: This retrospective study included a total of 71 cases of single level LDD that underwent OLIF in Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine were retrospectively collected between March 2016 and September 2017. Patients were divided into three groups: 24 cases in the SF group, 24 cases in the LF group and 23 cases in the PF group. Various parameters, such as operation time, hospitalization time, and complications, were recorded. The fusion condition was assessed at last follow up. Clinical outcomes were evaluated using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) and Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) from pre-operation to 5 years post-surgery. RESULTS: Significantly lower mean operation time and hospitalization time were observed in the SF and LF groups compared to the PF group (p < .05). However, no significant difference in fusion rate was found among the three groups. Regarding clinical outcomes, there was no statistically significant difference in VAS scores between the three groups during all follow-up periods. At the 6th month and 1st year after surgery, the SF and LF groups had significantly lower Oswestry Disability Index (ODI) scores compared to the PF group (p < .05). There was no significant difference in perioperative complication rates among the three groups (p > .05). In the LF group, one case of instrument displacement and urethra injury were reported, while in the SF, LF, and PF groups, 10, 9, and 3 cases of cage subsidence were reported, respectively. CONCLUSION: The study findings suggest that oblique lumbar interbody fusion (OLIF) is a safe and effective treatment for mid-term management of lumbar degenerative diseases (LDD). Compared to the posterior screw fixation (PF) group, both the standalone OLIF (SF) and OLIF combined with lateral screw fixation (LF) groups showed advantages in terms of reduced operation time, shorter hospitalization, and faster symptom alleviation in the short-term. However, OLIF combined with PF demonstrated comparable symptom relief in the mid-term and had the additional benefit of lower cage subsidence rates while improving fusion rates as well.

G-quadruplex-deficient precursor hairpin probes for ultra-low background dual-mode detection of miRNAs.

Design of oligonucleotide probe-based isothermal amplification with the ability to identify miRNA biomarkers is crucial for molecular diagnostics. Herein, we engineered a miRNA-21 responsive G-quadruplex-deficient precursor hairpin probe (PHP) to achieve dual-mode detection of fluorescent signal and colorimetric signal. Due to lack of complete G-quadruplex sequence, PHP becomes shorter in length, lower background signal and less interference. Based on the polymerase-driven amplification mechanism, in the presence of miRNAs, two simultaneous amplification reaction processes will occur in PHP: miRNA-based amplification process and endogenous amplification process along the 3' end. Due to the positional difference between the starting points of the two amplification processes, the orderly and efficient occurrence of the two amplification processes can be achieved. Based on an interesting concept, PHP can achieve high detection performance with only simple amplification cycles. In such a way, the detection limits for fluorescence and colorimetry were 2.93 fM and 8.81 fM, which would cover most of clinical qualitative and quantitative needs. Thus, the accurate quantitative and visual miRNA detection technology based on PHP is beneficial to carry out extensive disease screening and treatment monitoring in various complex occasions.

Acupuncture and moxibustion in patients with cancer-related insomnia: A systematic review and network meta-analysis.

Objectives: Cancer-related insomnia (CRI) is one of the most common and serious symptoms in patients with cancer. Acupuncture and moxibustion have been widely applied in the treatment of CRI. Nevertheless, the comparative efficacy and safety of different acupuncture and moxibustion techniques remain unclear. This study aimed to evaluate and compare the efficacy and safety of different acupuncture and moxibustion techniques in the treatment of CRI. Methods: Eight medical databases were comprehensively searched for relevant randomized controlled trials (RCTs) as of June 2022. Two independent reviewers assessed the risk of bias and conducted the research selection, data extraction, and quality assessment of the included RCTs. A network meta-analysis (NMA) was performed using frequency models, combining all available direct and indirect evidence from RCTs. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) was set as the primary outcome, and adverse events and effective rates were set as the secondary outcomes. The efficacy rate was calculated as the ratio of patients with insomnia symptom relief to the total number of patients. Results: Thirty-one RCTs with 3,046 participants were included, including 16 acupuncture- and moxibustion-related therapies. Transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation [surface under the cumulative ranking curve (SUCRA) 85.7%] and acupuncture and moxibustion (SUCRA 79.1%) were more effective than Western medicine, routine care, and placebo-sham acupuncture. Furthermore, Western medicine showed significantly better effects than placebo-sham acupuncture. In the NMA, the acupuncture and moxibustion treatments with the best therapeutic effects for CRI were transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation (SUCRA 85.7%), acupuncture and moxibustion (SUCRA 79.1%), auricular acupuncture (SUCRA 62.9%), routine care combined with intradermal needling (SUCRA 55.0%), and intradermal needling alone (SUCRA 53.3%). No serious acupuncture- or moxibustion-related adverse events were reported in the included studies. Conclusion: Acupuncture and moxibustion are effective and relatively safe in treating CRI. The relatively conservative recommended order of acupuncture- and moxibustion-related therapies for CRI is as follows: transcutaneous electrical acupoint stimulation, acupuncture and moxibustion, and auricular acupuncture. However, the methodological quality of the included studies was generally poor, and further high-quality RCTs are needed to strengthen the evidence base.

Audiovisual Emotional Congruency Modulates the Stimulus-Driven Cross-Modal Spread of Attention.

It has been reported that attending to stimuli in visual modality can spread to task-irrelevant but synchronously presented stimuli in auditory modality, a phenomenon termed the cross-modal spread of attention, which could be either stimulus-driven or representation-driven depending on whether the visual constituent of an audiovisual object is further selected based on the object representation. The stimulus-driven spread of attention occurs whenever a task-irrelevant sound synchronizes with an attended visual stimulus, regardless of the cross-modal semantic congruency. The present study recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) to investigate whether the stimulus-driven cross-modal spread of attention could be modulated by audio-visual emotional congruency in a visual oddball task where emotion (positive/negative) was task-irrelevant. The results first demonstrated a prominent stimulus-driven spread of attention regardless of audio-visual emotional congruency by showing that for all audiovisual pairs, the extracted ERPs to the auditory constituents of audiovisual stimuli within the time window of 200-300 ms were significantly larger than ERPs to the same auditory stimuli delivered alone. However, the amplitude of this stimulus-driven auditory Nd component during 200-300 ms was significantly larger for emotionally incongruent than congruent audiovisual stimuli when their visual constituents' emotional valences were negative. Moreover, the Nd was sustained during 300-400 ms only for the incongruent audiovisual stimuli with emotionally negative visual constituents. These findings suggest that although the occurrence of the stimulus-driven cross-modal spread of attention is independent of audio-visual emotional congruency, its magnitude is nevertheless modulated even when emotion is task-irrelevant.

Auricular acupressure for adverse events following immunization after COVID-19 vaccine injection: A multicentre, blinded, randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Some adverse events following immunization (AEFI) were observed in potential corelation with COVID-19 vaccination but without prevention or ongoing trial for it. We aimed to investigate efficacy of auricular acupressure (AuriAc) therapy in preventing AEFI after first dosage of the vaccine. METHODS: We performed a multicentre randomized controlled trial with three arms, including AuriAc, SAuriAc (sham auricular acupressure), and TrAsU (treatment as usual) group, carried out in four medical institutions in Chengdu, China, from March 17th to April 23rd, 2021. We enrolled participants based on eligibility criteria and randomized them into three groups: AuriAc (AEFI-specific auricular points applied, n = 52), SAuriAc (n = 51) or TrAsU (n = 44) group. Primary outcomes were percentages of any AEFI and local pain, and secondary outcomes were percentages who reported other AEFI. They were followed at 1, 3, 5, 7, and 14 days, by phone or online, with severity evaluated. RESULTS: 147 participants (73.47% females) were included with median age as 31 years (25-45, IQR). One day after the injection, participants in AuriAc group reported significant reduction on percentages of any AEFI [intention-to-treat, difference of percentage (DP) = -20.13, 95%CI: - 0.39, - 0.02, p = 0.01; per-protocol, DP = -22.21, 95%CI: - 0.40, - 0.03, P = 0.02] and local pain (per-protocol, DP = -18.40, 95%CI: -0.36, -0.01, P = 0.04), compared with TrAsU group. The effects were slight at other follow-up days and for other outcomes, and with a low percentage of mild local allergic reactions. CONCLUSIONS: We firstly explored potential of AuriAc for preventing AEFI related to COVID-19 vaccine injection, which is beneficial for the vaccine recipients, but evidence is limited. TRIAL REGISTRATION: chictr.org.cn no. ChiCTR2100043210 (http://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=121519).

Attentional blink suppresses both stimulus-driven and representation-driven cross-modal spread of attention.

Previous studies have shown that visual attention effect can spread to the task-irrelevant auditory modality automatically through either the stimulus-driven binding process or the representation-driven priming process. Using an attentional blink paradigm, the present study investigated whether the long-latency stimulus-driven and representation-driven cross-modal spread of attention would be inhibited or facilitated when the attentional resources operating at the post-perceptual stage of processing are inadequate, whereas ensuring all visual stimuli were spatially attended and the representations of visual target object categories were activated, which were previously thought to be the only endogenous prerequisites for triggering cross-modal spread of attention. The results demonstrated that both types of attentional spreading were completely suppressed during the attentional blink interval but were highly prominent outside the attentional blink interval, with the stimulus-driven process being independent of, whereas the representation-driven process being dependent on, audiovisual semantic congruency. These findings provide the first evidence that the occurrences of both stimulus-driven and representation-driven spread of attention are contingent on the amount of post-perceptual attentional resources responsible for the late consolidation processing of visual stimuli, whereas the early detection of visual stimuli and the top-down activation of the visual representations are not the sole endogenous prerequisites for triggering any types of cross-modal attentional spreading.