-
Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) Jun 2024The inappropriate use of antibiotics gives rise to detrimental consequences, both physical and emotional, with a decreased quality of life and higher levels of anxiety...
The inappropriate use of antibiotics gives rise to detrimental consequences, both physical and emotional, with a decreased quality of life and higher levels of anxiety and depression. The current observational study aimed to investigate the association between awareness, beliefs, and behaviors toward antibiotics, highlighting the modulating role of individual and psychological factors in response to illness and medication. Through an online questionnaire, several psychological indexes, as well as knowledge of, attitude toward, and experiences with antibiotics, both individual and family-related, were assessed in a sample of 100 responders (74 females, mean age 33.37 ± 11.36). A positive association between intake behavior, awareness, and individual attitude emerged. Familial approach to antibiotics appears as a predictor of individual attitude and behavior toward these drugs, and awareness about antibiotic risks mediate the relationship between the tendency to be more compliant with prescriptions (R = 0.300; MSE = 1.541; F(2, 98) = 20.737; < 0.0001). Moreover, individuals with a personality characterized by higher conscientiousness are more aware of antibiotic risks ( < 0.01), whereas individuals with a lower awareness are those with higher indexes of psychophysical discomfort (i.e., anxiety, perceived stress, somatization) and levels of emotional rebound ( < 0.05). Anxiety (F(3, 96) = 3.874; = 0.012; R = 0.108) and somatization (F(2, 97) = 3.114; = 0.030; R = 0.089) also significatively moderated the intake behavior, despite the family approach. Overall, the current study provides preliminary findings regarding the way in which family experiences and individual psychological aspects may be influencing factors in the behavior and attitude towards antibiotics and can be used to plan patient-centered therapeutic communication and education.
PubMed: 38921327
DOI: 10.3390/healthcare12121213 -
Annali Dell'Istituto Superiore Di Sanita 2024The management of Long COVID symptoms is necessary. This study proposes a screening tool for psycho-physical COVID-19 sequelae. Patients' experiences after COVID-19 are...
BACKGROUND
The management of Long COVID symptoms is necessary. This study proposes a screening tool for psycho-physical COVID-19 sequelae. Patients' experiences after COVID-19 are also described.
METHOD
84 COVID-19 patients (66.2±11.0 years old; 71.4% male) underwent a phone interview 1-2 years after the disease using the ad-hoc "Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 Checklist (PASC-C)". It explores 30 physical, psychological, and cognitive symptoms clustered into 10 areas, with possible clinical recommendations in case of high severity scores (>50) of a symptom or the presence of two or more ones within the same area.
RESULTS
Overall, fatigue (69%), dyspnea (52.4%), memory disturbances (44%), joint-muscle pain (41.7%), vision/hearing loss (40.5%), anxiety (40.5%) persist one-two years after COVID-19 disease. Being a survivor was primarily defined in terms of being "lucky".
CONCLUSIONS
PASC-C seems promising in monitoring psycho-physical sequelae of Long COVID and providing tailored suggestions to care for the patient over time.
Topics: Humans; COVID-19; Male; Female; Checklist; Middle Aged; Aged; Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome; Anxiety; Fatigue; Dyspnea; Aged, 80 and over; SARS-CoV-2; Adult
PubMed: 38920258
DOI: 10.4415/ANN_24_01_07 -
Advances in Experimental Medicine and... 2024Humans have the capability to make judgments about the relative duration of time intervals with accuracy (correct perceived duration) and precision (low variability).... (Review)
Review
Humans have the capability to make judgments about the relative duration of time intervals with accuracy (correct perceived duration) and precision (low variability). However, this capability has limitations, some of which are discussed in the present chapter. These limitations, either in terms of accuracy or precision, are obvious when there are changes in the physical characteristics of the stimuli used to mark the intervals to be judged. The characteristics are the structure (filled vs. empty) of the intervals and the sensory origin of the stimuli used to mark them. The variability of time estimates also depends on the use of single intervals by opposition to the use of sequences of intervals, and on the duration range under investigation. In addition to the effect caused by the physical characteristics of the stimuli, the perceived duration also relies on the way of presenting successive stimuli and on whether the intervals are marked by a single source or by different sources with distance (spatial effect) between them.
Topics: Humans; Time Perception; Time Factors
PubMed: 38918345
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-60183-5_3 -
Documenta Ophthalmologica. Advances in... Jun 2024Accurate objective assessment of visual acuity is crucial, particularly in cases of suspected malingering, or when the patient's inability to cooperate makes standard...
PURPOSE
Accurate objective assessment of visual acuity is crucial, particularly in cases of suspected malingering, or when the patient's inability to cooperate makes standard psychophysical acuity tests unreliable. The P300 component of the event-related potentials offers a potential solution and even allows for the use of standard optotypes like the Landolt C. However, low-vision patients with large eccentric visual field defects often struggle to locate the Landolt C gap quickly enough for a P300 to be reliably produced.
METHODS
Addressing this challenge, we introduce a novel optotype (the "FreiBurger") with a critical detail that extends through the optotype's center. Two experiments, with 16 and 12 participants, respectively, were conducted. In the first, psychophysical acuity estimates were obtained with both the FreiBurger and the Landolt C. In the second, we tested the performance of the FreiBurger, relative to the Landolt C, in eliciting a P300 with undegraded vision, simulated low vision, and in a simulated combination of low vision and visual field constriction.
RESULTS
Comparable psychophysical acuity values (average difference 0.03 logMAR) were obtained for both optotypes. In the P300 recordings, both optotypes produced similar P300 responses under conditions of undegraded vision and low vision. However, with the combination of low vision and constricted visual field, the P300 could only be reliably obtained with the FreiBurger, while the amplitude was drastically reduced with the Landolt C (9.1 µV vs. 2.2 µV; p < 0.0005).
CONCLUSION
The new optotype extends the applicability of P300-based acuity estimation to the frequently encountered combination of low vision and constricted visual field, where Landolt C optotypes fail. Although impairments were simulated in the present study, we assume that the advantages of the new optotype will also manifest in patients with such impairments. We furthermore expect the advantages to apply to time-sensitive psychophysical examinations as well.
PubMed: 38916779
DOI: 10.1007/s10633-024-09982-x -
Journal of Vision Jun 2024The watercolor effect (WCE) is a striking visual illusion elicited by a bichromatic double contour, such as a light orange and a dark purple, hugging each other on a... (Review)
Review
The watercolor effect (WCE) is a striking visual illusion elicited by a bichromatic double contour, such as a light orange and a dark purple, hugging each other on a white background. Color assimilation, emanating from the lighter contour, spreads onto the enclosed surface area, thereby tinting it with a chromatic veil, not unlike a weak but real color. Map makers in the 17th century utilized the WCE to better demarcate the shape of adjoining states, while 20th-century artist Bridget Riley created illusory watercolor as part of her op-art. Today's visual scientists study the WCE for its filling-in properties and strong figure-ground segregation. This review emphasizes the superior strength of the WCE for grouping and figure-ground organization vis-à-vis the classical Gestalt factors of Max Wertheimer (1923), thereby inspiring a notion of form from induced color. It also demonstrates that a thin chromatic line, flanking the inside of a black Mondrian-type pattern, induces the WCE across a large white surface area. Phenomenological, psychophysical, and neurophysiological approaches are reviewed.
Topics: Humans; Color Perception; History, 20th Century; Optical Illusions; Form Perception; History, 17th Century; History, 19th Century; History, 18th Century
PubMed: 38913017
DOI: 10.1167/jov.24.6.15 -
Vision Research Jun 2024There is a surprisingly strong effect on color appearance when low levels of luminance contrast are added to visual targets in which only S-cones are modulated. This...
There is a surprisingly strong effect on color appearance when low levels of luminance contrast are added to visual targets in which only S-cones are modulated. This phenomenon can be studied with checkerboard patterns composed of alternating S-cone-modulated checks and gray checks. + S checks look purple when surrounded by slightly brighter gray checks but look highly desaturated (lavender, almost white) when surrounded by darker gray checks. -S checks change in hue with luminance contrast; they look yellow when surrounded by darker gray checks but are greener when surrounded by lighter checks. Psychophysical paired comparisons confirm these perceptions. Furthermore, visual evoked potentials (VEPs) recorded from human posterior cortex indicate that signals evoked by low luminance contrast interact nonlinearly with S-cone-evoked signals in early cortical color processing. Our new psychophysics and electrophysiology results prove that human perception of color appearance is not based on neural computations within a separate, isolated color system. Rather, signals evoked by color contrast and luminance contrast interact to produce the colors we see.
PubMed: 38906035
DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2024.108448 -
Cortex; a Journal Devoted To the Study... Jun 2024Our brains are constantly adapting to changes in our visual environments. Neural adaptation exerts a persistent influence on the activity of sensory neurons and our... (Review)
Review
Our brains are constantly adapting to changes in our visual environments. Neural adaptation exerts a persistent influence on the activity of sensory neurons and our perceptual experience, however there is a lack of consensus regarding how adaptation is implemented in the visual system. One account describes fatigue-based mechanisms embedded within local networks of stimulus-selective neurons (networked fatigue models). Another depicts adaptation as a product of stimulus expectations (predictive coding models). In this review, I evaluate neuroimaging and psychophysical evidence that poses fundamental problems for predictive coding models of neural adaptation. Specifically, I discuss observations of distinct repetition and expectation effects, as well as incorrect predictions of repulsive adaptation aftereffects made by predictive coding accounts. Based on this evidence, I argue that networked fatigue models provide a more parsimonious account of adaptation effects in the visual system. Although stimulus expectations can be formed based on recent stimulation history, any consequences of these expectations are likely to co-occur (or interact) with effects of fatigue-based adaptation. I conclude by proposing novel, testable hypotheses relating to interactions between fatigue-based adaptation and other predictive processes, focusing on stimulus feature extrapolation phenomena.
PubMed: 38905873
DOI: 10.1016/j.cortex.2024.06.003 -
Frontiers in Pain Research (Lausanne,... 2024Pain is a complex and multifaced sensory and emotional experience. Virtual reality (VR) has shown promise in reducing experimental pain and chronic pain. This study...
BACKGROUND
Pain is a complex and multifaced sensory and emotional experience. Virtual reality (VR) has shown promise in reducing experimental pain and chronic pain. This study examines an immersive VR environment initially designed for endometriosis patients, which demonstrated short-term analgesic effects. The research aims to determine the impact of the VR environment on experimental pain intensity and unpleasantness both during and after VR exposure (3D with binaural beats), while using an active control condition (2D with no binaural beats). Additionally, a secondary objective of the study was to identify the psychological and psychophysical factors that predict the analgesic effects of the immersive digital therapeutic tool.
METHODS
The study involved twenty-one healthy individuals and used a within-subject design, comparing a VR treatment with an active control condition. Continuous heat stimulation was applied to the left forearm with a Peltier thermode. Pain ratings were collected for immediate and short-term effects.
RESULTS
In both the VR and Control conditions, there were no significant differences in pain intensity before, during, and after exposure. However, during VR exposure, there was a significant decrease in pain unpleasantness as compared to before exposure ( < 0.001), with a 27.2% pain reduction. In the Control condition, there were no significant differences in pain unpleasantness during and after exposure. Furthermore, no psychological and psychophysical factors predicted the analgesic effects.
DISCUSSION
The study investigated how a VR environment affected experimentally induced pain in healthy volunteers. It showed that VR reduced pain unpleasantness during exposure but had no lasting impact. The VR environment mainly influenced the emotional aspect of pain, possibly due to its inclusion of binaural beats and natural stimuli. The study suggests that the VR environment should be tested in chronic pain population with high distress levels.
REGISTRATION NUMBER CLINICALTRIALSGOV
NCT06130267.
PubMed: 38903416
DOI: 10.3389/fpain.2024.1366892 -
Vision Research Jun 2024It is important to understand the development of meridional anisotropies in neurotypical children since those with poor visual development, such as amblyopia, can have...
It is important to understand the development of meridional anisotropies in neurotypical children since those with poor visual development, such as amblyopia, can have different patterns of meridional anisotropies. While the oblique effect is usually observed in adults, neurotypical children who have normal 20/20 visual acuity tend to demonstrate a horizontal effect electrophysiologically. In this longitudinal study, orientation-specific visual evoked potentials (osVEPs) and psychophysical grating acuity were used to investigate the changes in the meridional anisotropies in children aged 3.8 to 9.2 years over two visits averaging four months apart. While it was hypothesized that the electrophysiological horizontal effect may shift towards an oblique effect, it was found that the electrophysiological horizontal effect persisted to be present in response to the suprathreshold moderate contrast 4 cycles-per-degree grating stimuli. Psychophysical grating acuity, however, demonstrated an oblique effect when assessed binocularly. In addition, a significant effect of visit, representing an increase in the average age over this period, was observed in the average osVEP C3 amplitudes (4.5 μV) and psychophysical grating acuity (0.28 octaves or approximately 1-line on the logMAR chart). These findings are relevant when evaluating amblyopia treatments and interventions, as it confirms the necessity to take into account of the effect of normal maturation and learning effects when evaluating young children. Special attention should also be given to children with early-onset myopia and high astigmatism even when their visual acuity is 20/20 as the electrophysiological findings are suggestive of poor visual development, which warrants further investigation.
PubMed: 38896923
DOI: 10.1016/j.visres.2024.108439 -
BioRxiv : the Preprint Server For... Jun 2024Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the striatum, predominantly associated with motor symptoms. However, non-motor...
Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the striatum, predominantly associated with motor symptoms. However, non-motor deficits, particularly sensory symptoms, often precede motor manifestations, offering a potential early diagnostic window. The impact of non-motor deficits on sensation behavior and the underlying mechanisms remains poorly understood. In this study, we examined changes in tactile sensation within a Parkinsonian state by employing a mouse model of PD induced by 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) to deplete striatal dopamine (DA). Leveraging the conserved mouse whisker system as a model for tactile-sensory stimulation, we conducted psychophysical experiments to assess sensory-driven behavioral performance during a tactile detection task in both the healthy and Parkinson-like states. Our findings reveal that DA depletion induces pronounced alterations in tactile sensation behavior, extending beyond expected motor impairments. We observed diverse behavioral deficits, spanning detection performance, task engagement, and reward accumulation, among lesioned individuals. While subjects with extreme DA depletion consistently showed severe sensory behavioral deficits, others with substantial DA depletion displayed minimal changes in sensory behavior performance. Moreover, some exhibited moderate degradation of behavioral performance, likely stemming from sensory signaling loss rather than motor impairment. The implementation of a sensory detection task is a promising approach to quantify the extent of impairments associated with DA depletion in the animal model. This facilitates the exploration of early non-motor deficits in PD, emphasizing the importance of incorporating sensory assessments in understanding the diverse spectrum of PD symptoms.
PubMed: 38895263
DOI: 10.1101/2024.06.05.597339