Impairments in recognition of emotional facial expressions, affective prosody, and multisensory facilitation of response time in high-functioning autism.

Introduction: Deficits in emotional perception are common in autistic people, but it remains unclear to which extent these perceptual impairments are linked to specific sensory modalities, specific emotions or multisensory facilitation. Methods: This study aimed to investigate uni- and bimodal perception of emotional cues as well as multisensory facilitation in autistic (n = 18, mean age: 36.72 years, SD: 11.36) compared to non-autistic (n = 18, mean age: 36.41 years, SD: 12.18) people using auditory, visual and audiovisual stimuli. Results: Lower identification accuracy and longer response time were revealed in high-functioning autistic people. These differences were independent of modality and emotion and showed large effect sizes (Cohen's d 0.8-1.2). Furthermore, multisensory facilitation of response time was observed in non-autistic people that was absent in autistic people, whereas no differences were found in multisensory facilitation of accuracy between the two groups. Discussion: These findings suggest that processing of auditory and visual components of audiovisual stimuli is carried out more separately in autistic individuals (with equivalent temporal demands required for processing of the respective unimodal cues), but still with similar relative improvement in accuracy, whereas earlier integrative multimodal merging of stimulus properties seems to occur in non-autistic individuals.

Reduced impact of nonverbal cues during integration of verbal and nonverbal emotional information in adults with high-functioning autism.

Background: When receiving mismatching nonverbal and verbal signals, most people tend to base their judgment regarding the current emotional state of others primarily on nonverbal information. However, individuals with high-functioning autism (HFA) have been described as having difficulties interpreting nonverbal signals. Recognizing emotional states correctly is highly important for successful social interaction. Alterations in perception of nonverbal emotional cues presumably contribute to misunderstanding and impairments in social interactions. Methods: To evaluate autism-specific differences in the relative impact of nonverbal and verbal cues, 18 adults with HFA (14 male and four female subjects, mean age 36.7 years (SD 11.4) and 18 age, gender and IQ-matched typically developed controls [14 m/4 f, mean age 36.4 years (SD 12.2)] rated the emotional state of speakers in video sequences with partly mismatching emotional signals. Standardized linear regression coefficients were calculated as a measure of the reliance on the nonverbal and verbal components of the videos for each participant. Regression coefficients were then compared between groups to test the hypothesis that autistic adults base their social evaluations less strongly on nonverbal information. Further exploratory analyses were performed for differences in valence ratings and response times. Results: Compared to the typically developed control group, nonverbal cue reliance was reduced in adults with high-functioning autism [t(23.14) = -2.44, p = 0.01 (one-sided)]. Furthermore, the exploratory analyses showed a tendency to avoid extreme answers in the HFA group, observable via less positive as well as less negative valence ratings in response to emotional expressions of increasingly strong valence. In addition, response time was generally longer in HFA compared to the control group [F (1, 33) = 10.65, p = 0.004]. Conclusion: These findings suggest reduced impact of nonverbal cues and longer processing times in the analysis of multimodal emotional information, which may be associated with a subjectively lower relevance of this information and/or more processing difficulties for people with HFA. The less extreme answering tendency may indicate a lower sensitivity for nonverbal valence expression in HFA or result from a tendency to avoid incorrect answers when confronted with greater uncertainty in interpreting emotional states.

Cerebrospinal fluid findings in patients with psychotic symptoms-a retrospective analysis.

In current international classification systems (ICD-10, DSM5), the diagnostic criteria for psychotic disorders (e.g. schizophrenia and schizoaffective disorder) are based on symptomatic descriptions since no unambiguous biomarkers are known to date. However, when underlying causes of psychotic symptoms, like inflammation, ischemia, or tumor affecting the neural tissue can be identified, a different classification is used ("psychotic disorder with delusions due to known physiological condition" (ICD-10: F06.2) or psychosis caused by medical factors (DSM5)). While CSF analysis still is considered optional in current diagnostic guidelines for psychotic disorders, CSF biomarkers could help to identify known physiological conditions. In this retrospective, partly descriptive analysis of 144 patients with psychotic symptoms and available CSF data, we analyzed CSF examinations' significance to differentiate patients with specific etiological factors (F06.2) from patients with schizophrenia, schizotypal, delusional, and other non-mood psychotic disorders (F2). In 40.3% of all patients, at least one CSF parameter was out of the reference range. Abnormal CSF-findings were found significantly more often in patients diagnosed with F06.2 (88.2%) as compared to patients diagnosed with F2 (23.8%, p < 0.00001). A total of 17 cases were identified as probably caused by specific etiological factors (F06.2), of which ten cases fulfilled the criteria for a probable autoimmune psychosis linked to the following autoantibodies: amphiphysin, CASPR2, CV2, LGl1, NMDA, zic4, and titin. Two cases presented with anti-thyroid tissue autoantibodies. In four cases, further probable causal factors were identified: COVID-19, a frontal intracranial tumor, multiple sclerosis (n = 2), and neurosyphilis. Twenty-one cases remained with "no reliable diagnostic classification". Age at onset of psychotic symptoms differed between patients diagnosed with F2 and F06.2 (p = 0.014), with the latter group being older (median: 44 vs. 28 years). Various CSF parameters were analyzed in an exploratory analysis, identifying pleocytosis and oligoclonal bands (OCBs) as discriminators (F06.2 vs. F2) with a high specificity of > 96% each. No group differences were found for gender, characteristics of psychotic symptoms, substance dependency, or family history. This study emphasizes the great importance of a detailed diagnostic workup in diagnosing psychotic disorders, including CSF analysis, to detect possible underlying pathologies and improve treatment decisions.

A educação popular em saúde como dispositivo transformador das práticas da rede de atenção psicossocial no município de Itajaí-SC / Popular education in health as a transforming device of the practices of the psychosocial attention network in the city of Itajaí-SC / La Educación Popular en Salud como dispositivo transformador de las prácticas de la Red de Atención Psicosocial en la ciudad de Itajaí-SC

A pesquisa retrata experiências oportunizadas por uma Residência Multiprofissional em Saúde da Família, com objetivo compreender e intervir com usuários da Rede de Atenção Psicossocial no município de Itajaí por meio da Educação Popular em Saúde (EPS). Trata-se de um estudo qualitativo, tendo como perspectiva metodológica a pesquisa intervenção. Envolveu sujeitos participantes usuários de um Centro de Atenção Psicossocial - Álcool e outras Drogas. No trabalho, são relatados alguns caminhos e experiências em EPS e seus desdobramentos refletidos com base em uma perspectiva histórico-crítica por meio dos conceitos de Alteridade e Humildade. Conclui-se que as intervenções em EPS possibilitaram a construção de relações sociais pautadas por valores orientados para uma ética do diálogo, alteridade e solidariedade, e por construir em coletivo uma concepção de mundo capaz de tensionar com as forças de alienação e produção de sofrimento.

The research portrays experiences offered by a Multiprofessional Residency in Family Health, aiming to understand and intervene with users of the Psychosocial Care Network in the city of Itajaí through Popular Education in Health (EPS). It is a qualitative research, having as a methodological perspective the intervention research. It involved as subject users of a Psychosocial Care Center - Alcohol and other Drugs. In the work are described some paths and experiences in EPS and its unfolding reflected on a historical-critical perspective through the concepts of Alterity and Humility. It is concluded that the interventions in EPS allowed the construction of social relations based on values oriented to an ethics of dialogue, alterity and solidarity, and to build in a collaborative way a conception of the world able to strain with the forces of alienation and production of suffering.

La investigación retrata experiencias oportunizadas por una Residencia Multiprofesional en Salud de la Familia, con objetivo de comprender e intervenir junto a usuarios de la Red de Atención Psicosocial en el municipio de Itajaí por medio de la Educación Popular en Salud (EPS). Se trata de investigación cualitativa y tiene como perspectiva metodológica la investigación intervención. Envolvió a sujetos usuarios de un Centro de Atención Psicosocial - Alcohol y otras Drogas. En el trabajo se relatan caminos y experiencias en EPS y sus desdobles reflejados en base a una perspectiva histórico-crítica con conceptos de Alteridad y Humildad. Se concluye que las intervenciones en EPS posibilitar la construcción de relaciones sociales basadas en valores orientados hacia una ética del diálogo, alteridad y solidaridad, y por construir en colectivo una concepción de mundo capaz de crear tensiones con las fuerzas de alienación y producción de sufrimiento.

Comparative proteomics reveals a diagnostic signature for pulmonary head-and-neck cancer metastasis.

Patients with head-and-neck cancer can develop both lung metastasis and primary lung cancer during the course of their disease. Despite the clinical importance of discrimination, reliable diagnostic biomarkers are still lacking. Here, we have characterised a cohort of squamous cell lung (SQCLC) and head-and-neck (HNSCC) carcinomas by quantitative proteomics. In a training cohort, we quantified 4,957 proteins in 44 SQCLC and 30 HNSCC tumours. A total of 518 proteins were found to be differentially expressed between SQCLC and HNSCC, and some of these were identified as genetic dependencies in either of the two tumour types. Using supervised machine learning, we inferred a proteomic signature for the classification of squamous cell carcinomas as either SQCLC or HNSCC, with diagnostic accuracies of 90.5% and 86.8% in cross- and independent validations, respectively. Furthermore, application of this signature to a cohort of pulmonary squamous cell carcinomas of unknown origin leads to a significant prognostic separation. This study not only provides a diagnostic proteomic signature for classification of secondary lung tumours in HNSCC patients, but also represents a proteomic resource for HNSCC and SQCLC.