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Epilepsy & Behavior : E&B Dec 2021Roughly two-thirds of all people report having experienced déjà vu-the odd feeling that a current experience is both novel and a repeat or replay of a previous,... (Review)
Review
Roughly two-thirds of all people report having experienced déjà vu-the odd feeling that a current experience is both novel and a repeat or replay of a previous, unrecalled experience. Reports of an association between déjà vu and seizure aura symptomatology have accumulated for over a century, and frequent déjà vu is also now known to be associated with focal seizures, particularly those of a medial temporal lobe (MTL) origin. A longstanding question is whether seizure-related déjà vu has the same basis and is the same subjective experience as non-seizure déjà vu. Survey research suggests that people who experience both seizure-related and non-seizure déjà vu can often subjectively distinguish between the two. We present a case of a person with a history of focal MTL seizures who reports having experienced both seizure-related and non-seizure common déjà vu, though the non-seizure type was more frequent during this person's youth than it is currently. The patient was studied with a virtual tour paradigm that has previously been shown to elicit déjà vu among non-clinical, young adult participants. The patient reported experiencing déjà vu of the common non-seizure type during the virtual tour paradigm, without associated abnormalities of the intracranial EEG. We situate this work in the context of broader ongoing projects examining the subjective correlates of seizures. The importance for memory research of virtual scenes, spatial tasks, virtual reality (VR), and this paradigm for isolating familiarity in the context of recall failure are discussed.
Topics: Adolescent; Epilepsy; Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe; Humans; Mental Recall; Recognition, Psychology; Seizures; Young Adult
PubMed: 34735965
DOI: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2021.108373 -
Translational Psychiatry Oct 2021Cognitive deficits commonly accompany psychiatric disorders but are often underrecognised, and difficult to treat. The 5-HT receptor is a promising potential treatment...
Cognitive deficits commonly accompany psychiatric disorders but are often underrecognised, and difficult to treat. The 5-HT receptor is a promising potential treatment target for cognitive impairment because in animal studies 5-HT receptor agonists enhance hippocampal-dependent memory processes. To date, there has been little work translating these effects to humans. We tested whether short-term administration of the 5-HT partial agonist, prucalopride, modified behavioural and neural (fMRI) memory processing in 44 healthy human volunteers using an experimental medicine model. We found that participants who had received six days of prucalopride treatment were significantly better at recalling previously seen neutral images and distinguishing them from new images. At a neural level, prucalopride bilaterally increased hippocampal activity and activity in the right angular gyrus compared with placebo. Taken together, these findings demonstrate the potential of 5-HT-receptor activation for cognitive enhancement in humans, and support the potential of this receptor as a treatment target for cognitive impairment.
Topics: Benzofurans; Hippocampus; Humans; Receptors, Serotonin, 5-HT4; Serotonin; Serotonin 5-HT4 Receptor Agonists
PubMed: 34602607
DOI: 10.1038/s41398-021-01568-4 -
Andes Pediatrica : Revista Chilena de... Feb 2022The birth of intensive care was a process that took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, during and after the polio epidemic of 1952-1953. The fact that marks its beginning was...
The birth of intensive care was a process that took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, during and after the polio epidemic of 1952-1953. The fact that marks its beginning was that anesthesiologist Björn Ibsen was asked to help and "came out of the operating room", not without some controversy. Ib sen proposed and advocated the use of tracheostomy, suctioning and ventilation. Given the lack of positive pressure ventilators, this task was carried out by students who contributed 165,000 hours of manual ventilation. Few years later, in Gothenburg, Sweden, the anesthesiologist Göran Haglund, motivated by the case of a four years old boy with complicated appendicitis, created the first multi disciplinary pediatric intensive care unit in the world (1955). In Chile, during the 1950s, the concept of pediatric intensive care began to develop under the direction of physicians with a solid vision of the future. Given that the planet is experiencing a pandemic, it seems an appropriate moment to review the role of the polio epidemic in the development of positive pressure ventilation, the birth of intensive care medicine and intensive care units, in order to assess the role of the various tasks and innovations carried out.
Topics: Child; Child, Preschool; Critical Care; Humans; Intensive Care Units, Pediatric; Poliomyelitis; Respiration, Artificial; Ventilators, Mechanical
PubMed: 35506786
DOI: 10.32641/andespediatr.v93i1.3977 -
Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Feb 2020One of the core challenges in visual multi-target tracking is occlusion. This is especially important in applications such as video surveillance and sports analytics....
One of the core challenges in visual multi-target tracking is occlusion. This is especially important in applications such as video surveillance and sports analytics. While offline batch processing algorithms can utilise future measurements to handle occlusion effectively, online algorithms have to rely on current and past measurements only. As such, it is markedly more challenging to handle occlusion in online applications. To address this problem, we propagate information over time in a way that it generates a sense of déjà vu when similar visual and motion features are observed. To achieve this, we extend the Generalized Labeled Multi-Bernoulli (GLMB) filter, originally designed for tracking point-sized targets, to be used in visual multi-target tracking. The proposed algorithm includes a novel false alarm detection/removal and label recovery methods capable of reliably recovering tracks that are even lost for a substantial period of time. We compare the performance of the proposed method with the state-of-the-art methods in challenging datasets using standard visual tracking metrics. Our comparisons show that the proposed method performs favourably compared to the state-of-the-art methods, particularly in terms of ID switches and fragmentation metrics which signifies occlusion.
PubMed: 32050574
DOI: 10.3390/s20030929 -
Neuron May 2022Genetic and environmental factors during development are involved in autism, and in this issue of Neuron Krüttner et al. (2022) find environment may play a more acute...
Genetic and environmental factors during development are involved in autism, and in this issue of Neuron Krüttner et al. (2022) find environment may play a more acute role in modulating autism behavior in a Shank3 exon 21 deletion mutant mouse (Shank3). The authors explore the underlying circuit mechanisms in detail.
Topics: Animals; Autism Spectrum Disorder; Autistic Disorder; Disease Models, Animal; Mice; Microfilament Proteins; Nerve Tissue Proteins
PubMed: 35512633
DOI: 10.1016/j.neuron.2022.04.007 -
Tobacco Control Nov 2020The distribution of nicotine among its free-base (fb) and protonated forms in aerosolised nicotine affects inhalability. It has been manipulated in tobacco smoke and now...
INTRODUCTION
The distribution of nicotine among its free-base (fb) and protonated forms in aerosolised nicotine affects inhalability. It has been manipulated in tobacco smoke and now in electronic cigarettes by the use of acids to de-freebase nicotine and form 'nicotine salts'.
METHODS
Measurements on electronic cigarette fluids (e-liquids) were carried out to determine (1) the fraction of nicotine in the free-base form () and (2) the levels of organic acid(s) and nicotine. Samples included JUUL 'pods', 'look-a-like/knock-off' pods and some bottled 'nicotine salt' and 'non-salt' e-liquids.
RESULTS
= 0.12 ±0.01 at 40°C (≈ 37°C) for 10 JUUL products, which contain benzoic acid; nicotine protonation is extensive but incomplete.
DISCUSSION
First-generation e-liquids have ≈ 1. At cigarette-like total nicotine concentration (Nic) values of ~60 mg/mL, e-liquid aerosol droplets with ≈ 1 are harsh upon inhalation. The design evolution for e-liquids has paralleled that for smoked tobacco, giving a 'déjà vu' trajectory for . For 17th-century 'air-cured' tobacco, in the smoke particles was likely ≥ 0.5. The product Nic in the smoke particles was high. 'Flue-curing' retains higher levels of leaf sugars, which are precursors for organic acids in tobacco smoke, resulting in ≈ 0.02 and lowered harshness. Some tobacco cigarette formulations/designs have been adjusted to restore some nicotine sensory 'kick/impact' with ≈ 0.1, as for Marlboro. Overall, for tobacco smoke, the de-freebasing trajectory was ≥ 0.5 → ~0 →~0.1, as compared with = ~1 →~0.1 for e-cigarettes. For JUUL, the result has been, perhaps, an optimised, flavoured nicotine delivery system. The design evolution for e-cigarettes has made them more effective as substitutes to get smokers off combustibles. However, this evolution has likely made e-cigarette products vastly more addictive for never-smokers.
Topics: Aerosols; Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems; Humans; Nicotine; Smoke; Nicotiana; Tobacco Products
PubMed: 31848312
DOI: 10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2019-055275 -
PloS One 2022Appropriate descriptions of statistical methods are essential for evaluating research quality and reproducibility. Despite continued efforts to improve reporting in... (Observational Study)
Observational Study
Appropriate descriptions of statistical methods are essential for evaluating research quality and reproducibility. Despite continued efforts to improve reporting in publications, inadequate descriptions of statistical methods persist. At times, reading statistical methods sections can conjure feelings of dèjá vu, with content resembling cut-and-pasted or "boilerplate text" from already published work. Instances of boilerplate text suggest a mechanistic approach to statistical analysis, where the same default methods are being used and described using standardized text. To investigate the extent of this practice, we analyzed text extracted from published statistical methods sections from PLOS ONE and the Australian and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry (ANZCTR). Topic modeling was applied to analyze data from 111,731 papers published in PLOS ONE and 9,523 studies registered with the ANZCTR. PLOS ONE topics emphasized definitions of statistical significance, software and descriptive statistics. One in three PLOS ONE papers contained at least 1 sentence that was a direct copy from another paper. 12,675 papers (11%) closely matched to the sentence "a p-value < 0.05 was considered statistically significant". Common topics across ANZCTR studies differentiated between study designs and analysis methods, with matching text found in approximately 3% of sections. Our findings quantify a serious problem affecting the reporting of statistical methods and shed light on perceptions about the communication of statistics as part of the scientific process. Results further emphasize the importance of rigorous statistical review to ensure that adequate descriptions of methods are prioritized over relatively minor details such as p-values and software when reporting research outcomes.
Topics: Australia; Publications; Reproducibility of Results; Research Design
PubMed: 35263374
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0264360 -
Acta Medica Portuguesa Oct 2023
PubMed: 37788652
DOI: 10.20344/amp.20116 -
Blood Nov 2020Activated B-cell (ABC)-diffuse large B-cell lymphomas (DLBCLs) are clinically aggressive and phenotypically complex malignancies, whose transformation mechanisms remain...
Activated B-cell (ABC)-diffuse large B-cell lymphomas (DLBCLs) are clinically aggressive and phenotypically complex malignancies, whose transformation mechanisms remain unclear. Partially differentiated antigen-secreting cells (plasmablasts) have long been regarded as cells-of-origin for these tumors, despite lack of definitive experimental evidence. Recent DLBCL reclassification based on mutational landscapes identified MCD/C5 tumors as specific ABC-DLBCLs with unfavorable clinical outcome, activating mutations in the signaling adaptors MYD88 and CD79B, and immune evasion through mutation of antigen-presenting genes. MCD/C5s manifest prominent extranodal dissemination and similarities with primary extranodal lymphomas (PENLs). In this regard, recent studies on TBL1XR1, a gene recurrently mutated in MCD/C5s and PENLs, suggest that aberrant memory B cells (MBs), and not plasmablasts, are the true cells-of-origin for these tumors. Moreover, transcriptional and phenotypic profiling suggests that MCD/C5s, as a class, represent bona fide MB tumors. Based on emerging findings we propose herein a generalized stepwise model for MCD/C5 and PENLs pathogenesis, whereby acquisition of founder mutations in activated B cells favors the development of aberrant MBs prone to avoid plasmacytic differentiation on recall and undergo systemic dissemination. Cyclic reactivation of these MBs through persistent antigen exposure favors their clonal expansion and accumulation of mutations, which further facilitate their activation. As a result, MB-like clonal precursors become trapped in an oscillatory state of semipermanent activation and phenotypic sway that facilitates ulterior transformation and accounts for the extranodal clinical presentation and biology of these tumors. In addition, we discuss diagnostic and therapeutic implications of a MB cell-of-origin for these lymphomas.
Topics: B-Lymphocytes; Humans; Immunologic Memory; Lymphoma, Large B-Cell, Diffuse
PubMed: 32932517
DOI: 10.1182/blood.2020005857 -
Qualitative Social Work : QSW :... Mar 2021My emotional responses to this moment include feelings of anger, hope, and déjà vu. Although the scope and scale of this pandemic is unprecedented in our lifetimes,...
My emotional responses to this moment include feelings of anger, hope, and déjà vu. Although the scope and scale of this pandemic is unprecedented in our lifetimes, what has been especially hard is not necessarily new - nor entirely unprecedented - and therefore unavoidable. In this essay, I reflect on what was avoidable and call for better response. We must question the seemingly benign (if not optimistic) terms emerging as pandemic discourse, such as "pivot to a new normal" and "essential work," for what they reveal of social injustice and failure to avert future crisis.
PubMed: 34253964
DOI: 10.1177/1473325020973394