Usefulness of virtual scale endoscope for early gastrointestinal lesions.

Objectives: For early gastrointestinal lesions, size is an important factor in the selection of treatment. Virtual scale endoscope (VSE) is a newly developed endoscope that can measure size more accurately than visual measurement. This study aimed to investigate whether VSE measurement is accurate for early gastrointestinal lesions of various sizes and morphologies. Methods: This study prospectively enrolled patients with early gastrointestinal lesions ≤20 mm in size visually. Lesion sizes were measured in the gastrointestinal tract visually, on endoscopic resection specimens with VSE, and finally on endoscopic resection specimens using a ruler. The primary endpoint was the normalized difference (ND) of VSE measurement. The secondary endpoints were the ND of visual measurement and the variation between NDs of VSE and visual measurements. ND was calculated as (100 × [measured size - true size] / true size) (%). True size was defined as size measured using a ruler. Results: This study included 60 lesions from April 2022 to December 2022, with 20 each in the esophagus, stomach, and colon. The lesion size was 14.0 ± 6.3 mm (mean ± standard deviation). Morphologies were protruded, slightly elevated, and flat or slightly depressed type in 8, 24, and 28 lesions, respectively. The primary endpoint was 0.3 ± 8.8%. In the secondary endpoints, the ND of visual measurement was -1.7 ± 29.3%, and the variability was significantly smaller in the ND of VSE measurement than in that of visual measurement (p < 0.001, F-test). Conclusions: VSE measurement is accurate for early gastrointestinal lesions of various sizes and morphologies.

Percepción de los familiares de pacientes críticos en relación a la comunicación que le brinda el profesional de enfermería de la unidad de cuidados intensivos / Perception of the relatives of critically ill patients in relation to the communication pro-vided by the nursing professional of the intensive care unit

Introducción: cuando un individuo es hospitalizado en UCI para control y monitorización permanente de su salud, su cuidado está orientado específicamente a la asistencia plena de médicos y personal de enfermería. La complejidad de estos cuidados genera una crisis situacional y emocional en la familia que causa ansiedad, estrés, miedo y duda. La forma en la que el enfermero intervenga con el familiar en situaciones críticas es lo que va a determinar la percepción de los mismos hacia el cuidado de enfermería, en tanto la comunicación y el apoyo emocional forma parte de la competencia profesional y contribuye al cuidado holístico del paciente y familia. Objetivo: Determinar la percepción de los familiares de pacientes, respecto a la comunicación que le brinda el profesional de enfermería en la unidad de cuidados críticos. Materiales y método: Se realizó un estudio de tipo cuantitativo, descriptivo y de corte transversal. La muestra estuvo constituida por 40 familiares adultos responsables del paciente hospitalizado en la unidad de terapia intensiva, durante los meses Junio - septiembre del 2023. El instrumento de recolección de información fue un cuestionario de "Percepción de los familiares de los Pacientes Críticos, respecto a la intervención de Enfermería durante su Crisis Situacional"; el mismo fue utilizado y validado por la autora Franco Canales Rosa aplicado en el Hospital Nacional Edgardo Rebagliati, Abril de 2003. Resultados:Los resultados muestran que la percepción global de los familiares, es favorable, respecto a la comunicación verbal, comunicación no verbal y el apoyo emocional[AU]

Introduction: health is the condition in which every living being enjoys absolute well-being both physically and mentally and socially, when it is affected either by a pathology or by general accidents; Given the physical condition of the individual, he or she is often hospitalized in the ICU for permanent control and monitoring. Your care is specifically oriented towards the full assistance of Doctors and Nurses. The complexity of this care generates a situational and emotional crisis in the immediate family that causes anxiety, stress, fear and doubt. The way in which the nurse supports the family member in critical or distressing situations is what will determine the perception of the family members towards the nurses, since communication and emotional support are part of the professional competence and contribute to the holistic care of the patient. patient and family. It is a care that is reflected in the feeling that the nurses have that when they do it, the families are very grateful and that, without a doubt, it is their job. Objective: Determine the perception of the patient's relatives regarding the communication provided by the nursing professional in the critical care unit of a private institution. Materials and Methods: A quantitative, descriptive and cross-sectional study was carried out. The sample was made up of 40 adult relatives responsible for the patient hospitalized in the Adult intensive care unit, during the months of June - September 2023. The information collection instrument was a questionnaire on "Perception of relatives of Critical Patients, regarding to Nursing intervention during their Situational Crisis"; It was used and validated by the author Franco Canales Rosa applied at the Edgardo Rebagliati National Hospital, April 2003. Results:The results show that the overall perception of family members is favorable, regarding verbal communication, non-verbal communication and emotional support[AU]

Introdução: saúde é a condição em que todo ser vivo goza de absoluto bem-estar tanto físico quanto mental e social, quando é acometido por alguma patologia ou por acidentes gerais; Dada a condição física do indivíduo, muitas vezes ele é internado em UTI para controle e monitoramento permanente. O seu atendimento é especificamente orientado para a assistência integral de Médicos e Enfermeiros. A complexidade desse cuidado gera uma crise situacional e emocional na família imediata que causa ansiedade, estresse, medo e dúvidas. A forma como o enfermeiro apoia o familiar em situações críticas ou angustiantes é o que determinará a percepção dos familiares em relação aos enfermeiros, uma vez que a comunicação e o apoio emocional fazem parte da competência profissional e contribuem para o cuidado holístico do paciente. paciente e família. É um cuidado que se reflete no sentimento que os enfermeiros têm de que quando o fazem as famílias ficam muito gratas e que, sem dúvida, é o seu trabalho. Objetivo: Determinar a percepção dos familiares do paciente quanto à comunicação prestada pelo profissional de enfermagem na unidade de terapia intensiva de uma instituição privada. Materiais e Métodos: Foi realizado um estudo quantitativo, descritivo e transversal. A amostra foi composta por 40 familiares adultos responsáveis pelo paciente internado na Unidade de Terapia Intensiva Adulto, durante os meses de junho a setembro de 2023. O instrumento de coleta de informações foi um questionário sobre "Percepção dos familiares de Pacientes Críticos, quanto à intervenção de Enfermagem durante a sua crise situacional"; Foi utilizado e validado pelo autor Franco Os resultados mostram que a percepção geral dos familiares é favorável, no que diz respeito à comunicação verbal, à comunicação não verbal e ao apoio emocional.Canales Rosa apl i c a d o n o Hospital Nacional Edgardo Rebagliati, abril de 2003. Resultados: Os resultados mostram que a percepção geral dos familiares é favorável, no que diz respeito à comunicação verbal, à comunicação não verbal e ao apoio emocional.

Study of stereopsis using a depth sensation detection platform equipped with computer vision technology (DALE3D) / Estudio de estereopsis mediante una plataforma de detección de sensaciones de profundidad equipada con tecnología de visión por ordenador (DALE3D)

Background and objectives: The invention described herein is a prototype based on computer vision technology that measures depth perception and is intended for the early examination of stereopsis. Materials and methods: The prototype (software and hardware) is a depth perception measurement system that consists on: (a) a screen showing stereoscopic models with a guide point that the subject must point to; (b) a camera capturing the distance between the screen and the subject's finger; and (c) a unit for recording, processing and storing the captured measurements. For test validation, the reproducibility and reliability of the platform were calculated by comparing results with standard stereoscopic tests. A demographic study of depth perception by subgroup analysis is shown. Subjective comparison of the different tests was carried out by means of a satisfaction survey. Results: We included 94 subjects, 25 children and 69 adults, with a mean age of 34.2 ± 18.9 years; 36.2 % were men and 63.8 % were women. The DALE3D platform obtained good repeatability with an interclass correlation coefficient (ICC) between 0.94 and 0.87, and coefficient of variation (CV) between 0.1 and 0.26. Threshold determining optimal and suboptimal results was calculated for Randot and DALE3D test. Spearman's correlation coefficient, between thresholds was not statistically significant (p value > 0.05). The test was considered more visually appealing and easier to use by the participants (90 % maximum score). Conclusions: The DALE3D platform is a potentially useful tool for measuring depth perception with optimal reproducibility rates. Its innovative design makes it a more intuitive tool for children than current stereoscopic tests. Nevertheless, further studies will be needed to assess whether the depth perception measured by the DALE3D platform is a sufficiently reliable parameter to assess stereopsis.(AU)

Resilience after severe critical illness: a prospective, multicentre, observational study (RESIREA).

BACKGROUND: Critical-illness survivors may experience post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and quality-of-life impairments. Resilience may protect against psychological trauma but has not been adequately studied after critical illness. We assessed resilience and its associations with PTSD and quality of life, and also identified factors associated with greater resilience. METHODS: This prospective, multicentre, study in patients recruited at 41 French ICUs was done in parallel with the NUTRIREA-3 trial in patients given mechanical ventilation and vasoactive amines for shock. Three months to one year after intensive-care-unit admission, survivors completed the Connor-Davidson Resilience Scale (CD-RISC-25), Impact of Event-Revised scale for PTSD symptoms (IES-R), SF-36 quality-of-life scale, Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support (MSPSS), and Brief Illness Perception Questionnaire (B-IPQ). RESULTS: Of the 382 included patients, 203 (53.1%) had normal or high resilience (CD-RISC-25 ≥ 68). Of these resilient patients, 26 (12.8%) had moderate to severe PTSD symptoms (IES-R ≥ 24) vs. 45 (25.4%) patients with low resilience (p = 0.002). Resilient patients had higher SF-36 scores. Factors independently associated with higher CD-RISC-25 scores were higher MSPSS score indicating stronger social support (OR, 1.027; 95%CI 1.008-1.047; p = 0.005) and lower B-IPQ scores indicating a more threatening perception of the illness (OR, 0.973; 95%CI 0.950-0.996; p = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Resilient patients had a lower prevalence of PTSD symptoms and higher quality of life scores, compared to patients with low resilience. Higher scores for social support and illness perception were independently associated with greater resilience. Thus, our findings suggest that interventions to strengthen social support and improve illness perception may help to improve resilience. Such interventions should be evaluated in trials with PTSD mitigation and quality-of-life improvement as the target outcomes.

The influence of travel time on perceived traveled distance varies by spatiotemporal scale.

The influence of travel time on perceived traveled distance has often been studied, but the results are inconsistent regarding the relationship between the two magnitudes. We argue that this is due to differences in the lengths of investigated travel distances and hypothesize that the influence of travel time differs for rather short compared to rather long traveled distances. We tested this hypothesis in a virtual environment presented on a desktop as well as through a head-mounted display. Our results show that, for longer distances, more travel time leads to longer perceived distance, while we do not find an influence of travel time on shorter distances. The presentation through an HMD vs. desktop only influenced distance judgments in the short distance condition. These results are in line with the idea that the influence of travel time varies by the length of the traveled distance, and provide insights on the question of how distance perception in path integration studies is affected by travel time, thereby resolving inconsistencies reported in previous studies.

Facial impressions of niceness influence children's interpretations of peers' ambiguous behavior.

Children infer personality traits from faces when they are asked explicitly which face appears nice or mean. Less is known about how children use face-trait information implicitly to make behavioral evaluations. We used the Ambiguous Situations Protocol to explore how children use face-trait information to form interpretations of ambiguous situations when the behavior or intention of the target child was unclear. On each trial, children (N = 144, age range = 4-11.95 years; 74 girls, 67 boys, 3 gender not specified; 70% White, 10% other or mixed race, 5% Asian, 4% Black, 1% Indigenous, 9% not specified) viewed a child's face (previously rated high or low in niceness) before seeing the child's face embedded within an ambiguous scene (Scene Task) or hearing a vignette about a misbehavior done by that child (Misbehavior Task). Children described what was happening in each scene and indicated whether each misbehavior was done on purpose or by accident. Children also rated the behavior of each child and indicated whether the child would be a good friend. Facial niceness influenced children's interpretations of ambiguous behavior (Scene Task) by 4 years of age, and ambiguous intentions (Misbehavior Task) by 6 years. Our results suggest that the use of face-trait cues to form interpretations of ambiguous behavior emerges early in childhood, a bias that may lead to differential treatment for peers perceived with a high-nice face versus a low-nice face.

Consequences of eye movements for spatial selectivity.

What determines spatial tuning in the visual system? Standard views rely on the assumption that spatial information is directly inherited from the relative position of photoreceptors and shaped by neuronal connectivity.1,2 However, human eyes are always in motion during fixation,3,4,5,6 so retinal neurons receive temporal modulations that depend on the interaction of the spatial structure of the stimulus with eye movements. It has long been hypothesized that these modulations might contribute to spatial encoding,7,8,9,10,11,12 a proposal supported by several recent observations.13,14,15,16 A fundamental, yet untested, consequence of this encoding strategy is that spatial tuning is not hard-wired in the visual system but critically depends on how the fixational motion of the eye shapes the temporal structure of the signals impinging onto the retina. Here we used high-resolution techniques for eye-tracking17 and gaze-contingent display control18 to quantitatively test this distinctive prediction. We examined how contrast sensitivity, a hallmark of spatial vision, is influenced by fixational motion, both during normal active fixation and when the spatiotemporal stimulus on the retina is altered to mimic changes in fixational control. We showed that visual sensitivity closely follows the strength of the luminance modulations delivered within a narrow temporal bandwidth, so changes in fixational motion have opposite visual effects at low and high spatial frequencies. By identifying a key role for oculomotor activity in spatial selectivity, these findings have important implications for the perceptual consequences of abnormal eye movements, the sources of perceptual variability, and the function of oculomotor control.

A simple optical flow model explains why certain object viewpoints are special.

A core challenge in perception is recognizing objects across the highly variable retinal input that occurs when objects are viewed from different directions (e.g. front versus side views). It has long been known that certain views are of particular importance, but it remains unclear why. We reasoned that characterizing the computations underlying visual comparisons between objects could explain the privileged status of certain qualitatively special views. We measured pose discrimination for a wide range of objects, finding large variations in performance depending on the object and the viewing angle, with front and back views yielding particularly good discrimination. Strikingly, a simple and biologically plausible computational model based on measuring the projected three-dimensional optical flow between views of objects accurately predicted both successes and failures of discrimination performance. This provides a computational account of why certain views have a privileged status.

Daytime sleepiness in insomnia: Are we focusing on what truly matters?

Insomnia, the most prevalent sleep disorder, is commonly associated with other mental and somatic disorders, making it a significant health concern. It is characterized by nighttime symptoms and daytime dysfunction, with sleepiness being a potential criterion for the latter. Sleepiness is a normal physiological state that is typically experienced near usual bedtime, in normal circumstances. In insomnia, it seems somewhat logical the idea that there is significant daytime sleepiness. However, the topic has been the subject of various discussions in sleep medicine, with studies yielding contradictory and inconsistent results. In this article, we aim to critically examine daytime sleepiness in individuals with insomnia disorder and propose an alternative approach to addressing it, both in clinical practice and research settings. It is crucial to further investigate the role of daytime sleepiness in insomnia, particularly by focusing on sleepiness perception as a more relevant dimension to explore in majority of patients. It is plausible that certain insomnia phenotypes are objectively sleepy during the day, but more studies are necessary, particularly with well-defined clinical samples. The implications of assessing sleepiness perception in insomnia for clinical practice are discussed, and new avenues for research are suggested.

Impact of a pharmacist-led intervention on prostate cancer illness perception.

DISCLAIMER: In an effort to expedite the publication of articles, AJHP is posting manuscripts online as soon as possible after acceptance. Accepted manuscripts have been peer-reviewed and copyedited, but are posted online before technical formatting and author proofing. These manuscripts are not the final version of record and will be replaced with the final article (formatted per AJHP style and proofed by the authors) at a later time. PURPOSE: Illness perception (IP) significantly determines illness outcomes. This study determined the impact of a pharmacist educational intervention on IP in patients with prostate cancer (PCa) and predictors of IP. METHODS: Using a brief IP questionnaire, an interventional study of patients with PCa was conducted in all cancer reference hospitals in one Nigerian state. After a pre-post assessment of patients' IP, descriptive and inferential statistical analyses were performed. The impact of pharmacists' intervention on IP was determined by paired-sample statistics and correlation analysis at the 95% CI. Relationships and predictors of IP were determined using Kendall's tau-b (τb), likelihood ratio, and F tests of equality of means, respectively. P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Pharmacists' educational intervention significantly improved IP (SEM, 0.13; r = 0.875; P < 0.0001) among the 200 participants. The analyses also showed a significant paired sample difference (2.662; SEM, 0.06; 95%CI, 2.536-2.788; t = 41.69; df = 199; P < 0.0001). All subscales of patients' IP significantly improved except for illness consequences (P = 0.173) and identity (mean [SD], 4.40 [3.730] in both pre- and postintervention assessments). Pre- and postintervention assessments showed a significant negative relationship of IP with age (τb = -110 [P = 0.040] and τb = -14 [P = 0.021], respectively), Gleason score (τb = -0.125 [P = 0.021] and τb = -0.124 [P=0.012], respectively), and age at diagnosis (τb = -0.103 [P = 0.036] post intervention). IP was significantly dependent on the drug therapy (df = 8; mean square [M] = 6.292; F = 2.825; P = 0.006), alcohol intake (df = 1; M = 9.608; F = 4.082; P = 0.045) and Gleason score (df = 9; M = 6.706; F = 3.068; P = 0.002). CONCLUSION: Patients' IP significantly improved after pharmacists' educational intervention. Predictors of IP were drug therapies, alcohol use and Gleason score. Findings can be extrapolated in clinical settings to improve treatment outcomes.

"I Heard of PrEP-I Didn't Think I Needed it." Understanding the Formation of HIV Risk Perception Among People Who Inject Drugs.

Uptake of pre-exposure prophylaxis medication (PrEP) to prevent HIV among people who inject drugs (PWID) remains extremely low in the United States. West Virginia's rising HIV incidence and highest drug overdose rate in the nation makes it an important locus for opioid use and HIV risk interaction. In this pilot study we pioneered the use of Cultural Theory among PWID to understand HIV-related risk perception arising from four contrasting modes of social organization. Carried out during an HIV outbreak, we explored PrEP uptake qualitatively as a window onto risk perception. Of the 26 interviewees, 18 were HIV- and despite the medication's free availability from the health center where recruitment took place, none had taken PrEP, half considering they were not at risk. Intimate couples who showed characteristics of 'enclaves' considered the boundary around themselves protective against HIV, creating a safe space or 'invisible risk group'. Higher HIV risk was perceived among those who were housed compared to those living homeless. Beliefs about the causation of the local HIV outbreak and the validity of scientific research corresponded with characteristics of the contrasting modes of social organization and the approach is promising for informing public health interventions among PWID.

Understanding Others' Distress Through Past Experiences: The Role of Memory Engram Cells in Observational Fear.

For individuals to survive and function in society, it is essential that they recognize, interact with, and learn from other conspecifics. Observational fear (OF) is the well-conserved empathic ability of individuals to understand the other's aversive situation. While it is widely known that factors such as prior similar aversive experience and social familiarity with the demonstrator facilitate OF, the neural circuit mechanisms that explicitly regulate experience-dependent OF (Exp OF) were unclear. In this review, we examine the neural circuit mechanisms that regulate OF, with an emphasis on rodent models, and then discuss emerging evidence for the role of fear memory engram cells in the regulation of Exp OF. First, we examine the neural circuit mechanisms that underlie Naive OF, which is when an observer lacks prior experiences relevant to OF. In particular, the anterior cingulate cortex to basolateral amygdala (BLA) neural circuit is essential for Naive OF. Next, we discuss a recent study that developed a behavioral paradigm in mice to examine the neural circuit mechanisms that underlie Exp OF. This study found that fear memory engram cells in the BLA of observers, which form during a prior similar aversive experience with shock, are reactivated by ventral hippocampal neurons in response to shock delivery to the familiar demonstrator to elicit Exp OF. Finally, we discuss the implications of fear memory engram cells in Exp OF and directions of future research that are of both translational and basic interest.

CoFormerNet: A Transformer-Based Fusion Approach for Enhanced Vehicle-Infrastructure Cooperative Perception.

Vehicle-infrastructure cooperative perception is becoming increasingly crucial for autonomous driving systems and involves leveraging infrastructure's broader spatial perspective and computational resources. This paper introduces CoFormerNet, which is a novel framework for improving cooperative perception. CoFormerNet employs a consistent structure for both vehicle and infrastructure branches, integrating the temporal aggregation module and spatial-modulated cross-attention to fuse intermediate features at two distinct stages. This design effectively handles communication delays and spatial misalignment. Experimental results using the DAIR-V2X and V2XSet datasets demonstrated that CoFormerNet significantly outperformed the existing methods, achieving state-of-the-art performance in 3D object detection.

When Trustworthiness Meets Face: Facial Design for Social Robots.

As a technical application in artificial intelligence, a social robot is one of the branches of robotic studies that emphasizes socially communicating and interacting with human beings. Although both robot and behavior research have realized the significance of social robot design for its market success and related emotional benefit to users, the specific design of the eye and mouth shape of a social robot in eliciting trustworthiness has received only limited attention. In order to address this research gap, our study conducted a 2 (eye shape) × 3 (mouth shape) full factorial between-subject experiment. A total of 211 participants were recruited and randomly assigned to the six scenarios in the study. After exposure to the stimuli, perceived trustworthiness and robot attitude were measured accordingly. The results showed that round eyes (vs. narrow eyes) and an upturned-shape mouth or neutral mouth (vs. downturned-shape mouth) for social robots could significantly improve people's trustworthiness and attitude towards social robots. The effect of eye and mouth shape on robot attitude are all mediated by the perceived trustworthiness. Trustworthy human facial features could be applied to the robot's face, eliciting a similar trustworthiness perception and attitude. In addition to empirical contributions to HRI, this finding could shed light on the design practice for a trustworthy-looking social robot.

A Lightweight Cross-Layer Smoke-Aware Network.

Smoke is an obvious sign of pre-fire. However, due to its variable morphology, the existing schemes are difficult to extract precise smoke characteristics, which seriously affects the practical applications. Therefore, we propose a lightweight cross-layer smoke-aware network (CLSANet) of only 2.38 M. To enhance the information exchange and ensure accurate feature extraction, three cross-layer connection strategies with bias are applied to the CLSANet. First, a spatial perception module (SPM) is designed to transfer spatial information from the shallow layer to the high layer, so that the valuable texture details can be complemented in the deeper levels. Furthermore, we propose a texture federation module (TFM) in the final encoding phase based on fully connected attention (FCA) and spatial texture attention (STA). Both FCA and STA structures implement cross-layer connections to further repair the missing spatial information of smoke. Finally, a feature self-collaboration head (FSCHead) is devised. The localization and classification tasks are decoupled and explicitly deployed on different layers. As a result, CLSANet effectively removes redundancy and preserves meaningful smoke features in a concise way. It obtains the precision of 94.4% and 73.3% on USTC-RF and XJTU-RS databases, respectively. Extensive experiments are conducted and the results demonstrate that CLSANet has a competitive performance.

Mediating Effects of Self-Efficacy and Illness Perceptions on Mental Health in Men with Localized Prostate Cancer: A Secondary Analysis of the Prostate Cancer Patient Empowerment Program (PC-PEP) Randomized Controlled Trial.

Understanding how interventions reduce psychological distress in patients with prostate cancer is crucial for improving patient care. This study examined the roles of self-efficacy, illness perceptions, and heart rhythm coherence in mediating the effects of the Prostate Cancer Patient Empowerment Program (PC-PEP) on psychological distress compared to standard care. In a randomized controlled trial, 128 patients were assigned to either the PC-PEP intervention or standard care. The PC-PEP, a six-month program emphasizing daily healthy living habits, included relaxation and stress management, diet, exercise, pelvic floor muscle exercises, and strategies to improve relationships and intimacy, with daily activities supported by online resources and live sessions. Participants in the intervention group showed significant improvements in self-efficacy and specific illness perceptions, such as personal control and emotional response, compared to the control group. These factors mediated the relationship between the intervention and its psychological benefits, with self-efficacy accounting for 52% of the reduction in psychological distress. No significant differences in heart rhythm coherence were observed. This study highlights the critical role of self-efficacy and illness perceptions in enhancing psychological health in prostate cancer patients through the PC-PEP. The results underscore this program's effectiveness and the key mechanisms through which it operates. Given the high rates of distress among men undergoing prostate cancer treatments, these findings emphasize the importance of integrating the PC-PEP into clinical practice. The implementation of the PC-PEP in clinical settings can provide a structured approach to reducing psychological distress and improving overall patient well-being.

Newborn's neural representation of instrumental and vocal music as revealed by fMRI: A dynamic effective brain connectivity study.

Music is ubiquitous, both in its instrumental and vocal forms. While speech perception at birth has been at the core of an extensive corpus of research, the origins of the ability to discriminate instrumental or vocal melodies is still not well investigated. In previous studies comparing vocal and musical perception, the vocal stimuli were mainly related to speaking, including language, and not to the non-language singing voice. In the present study, to better compare a melodic instrumental line with the voice, we used singing as a comparison stimulus, to reduce the dissimilarities between the two stimuli as much as possible, separating language perception from vocal musical perception. In the present study, 45 newborns were scanned, 10 full-term born infants and 35 preterm infants at term-equivalent age (mean gestational age at test = 40.17 weeks, SD = 0.44) using functional magnetic resonance imaging while listening to five melodies played by a musical instrument (flute) or sung by a female voice. To examine the dynamic task-based effective connectivity, we employed a psychophysiological interaction of co-activation patterns (PPI-CAPs) analysis, using the auditory cortices as seed region, to investigate moment-to-moment changes in task-driven modulation of cortical activity during an fMRI task. Our findings reveal condition-specific, dynamically occurring patterns of co-activation (PPI-CAPs). During the vocal condition, the auditory cortex co-activates with the sensorimotor and salience networks, while during the instrumental condition, it co-activates with the visual cortex and the superior frontal cortex. Our results show that the vocal stimulus elicits sensorimotor aspects of the auditory perception and is processed as a more salient stimulus while the instrumental condition activated higher-order cognitive and visuo-spatial networks. Common neural signatures for both auditory stimuli were found in the precuneus and posterior cingulate gyrus. Finally, this study adds knowledge on the dynamic brain connectivity underlying the newborns capability of early and specialized auditory processing, highlighting the relevance of dynamic approaches to study brain function in newborn populations.

Competitive (but not cooperative) body odors bias the discrimination of action intentions towards cooperation.

Odors help us to interpret the environment, including the nature of social interactions. But, whether and how they influence the ability to discriminate the intentional states embedded in actions is unclear. In two experiments, we asked two independent groups of participants to discriminate motor intentions from videos showing one agent performing a reach-to-grasp movement with another agent with a cooperative or a competitive intent, and the same movement performed alone at either natural- or fast-speed, as controls. Task-irrelevant odor primes preceded each video presentation. Experiment 1 (N = 19) included masked cooperative and competitive body odors (human sweat collected while the donors were engaged in cooperative and competitive activities), whereas Experiment 2 (N = 20) included a common odor (cedarwood oil) and no odor (clean air) as primes. In an odor-primed, two-alternative forced choice task, participants discriminated the intention underlying the observed action. The results indicated that the odor exposure modulated the discrimination speed across different intentions, but only when the action intentions were hard to discriminate (cooperative vs. individual natural-speed, and competitive vs. individual fast-speed). Contrary to our hypothesis, a direct odor-action intention compatibility effect was not found. Instead, we propose a negative arousal compatibility-like effect to explain our results. Discrimination of high arousing action intentions (i.e., competitive) took longer when primed by high arousing odors (common odor and competitive body odor) than by low arousing odors (cooperative body odor and no odor). Discrimination of low arousing action intentions (i.e., cooperative) took longer when primed by low arousing odors than by high arousing odors. All in all, competitive (but not cooperative) body odors bias the discrimination of action intentions towards cooperation.

Tropospheric ozone effect on olfactory perception and olfactory bulb dopaminergic interneuron excitability.

Ozone (O3) forms in the Earth's atmosphere, both naturally and by reactions of man-made air pollutants. Deleterious effects of O3 have been found in the respiratory system. Here, we examine whether O3 alters olfactory behavior and cellular properties in the olfactory system. For this purpose, mice were exposed to O3 at a concentration found in highly polluted city air [0.8 ppm], and the behavior elicited by social and non-social odors in habituation/dishabituation tests was assessed. In addition, the electrical responses of dopaminergic olfactory bulb (OB) neurons were also evaluated. O3 differentially compromises olfactory perception to odors: it reduces responses to social and non-social odors in Swiss Webster mice, while this effect was observed in C57BL/6J mice only for some non-social odors. Additionally, O3 reduced the rate of spontaneous spike firing in periglomerular dopaminergic cells (PG-DA) of the OB. Because this effect could reflect changes in excitability and/or synaptic inputs, the ability of O3 to alter PG-DA spontaneous activity was also tested together with cell membrane resistance, membrane potential, rheobase and chronaxia. Taken together, our data suggest the ability of O3 to affect olfactory perception.

A social cognition perspective on misophonia.

Misophonia is commonly classified by intense emotional reactions to common everyday sounds. The condition has an impact both on the mental health of its sufferers and societally. As yet, formal models on the basis of misophonia are in their infancy. Based on developing behavioural and neuroscientific research we are gaining a growing understanding of the phenomenology and empirical findings in misophonia, such as the importance of context, types of coping strategies used and the activation of particular brain regions. In this article, we argue for a model of misophonia that includes not only the sound but also the context within which sound is perceived and the emotional reaction triggered. We review the current behavioural and neuroimaging literature, which lends support to this idea. Based on the current evidence, we propose that misophonia should be understood within the broader context of social perception and cognition, and not restricted within the narrow domain of being a disorder of auditory processing. We discuss the evidence in support of this hypothesis, as well as the implications for potential treatment approaches. This article is part of the theme issue 'Sensing and feeling: an integrative approach to sensory processing and emotional experience'.