Neural Mechanisms of Anaphoric Reference Revealed by fMRI

Pronouns are bound to their antecedents by matching syntactic and semantic information. The aim of this functional magnetic resonance imaging study was to localize syntactic and semantic information retrieval and integration during pronoun resolution. Especially we investigated their possible interaction with verbal working memory manipulated by distance between antecedent and pronoun. We disentangled biological and syntactic gender information using German sentences about persons (biological/syntactic gender) or things (syntactic gender) followed by congruent or incongruent pronouns. Increasing the distance between pronoun and antecedent resulted in a short and a long distance condition. Analysis revealed a language related network including inferior frontal regions bilaterally (integration), left anterior and posterior temporal regions (lexico-semantics and syntactic retrieval) and the anterior cingulate gyrus (conflict resolution) involved in pronoun resolution. Activities within the inferior frontal region were driven by Congruency (incongruent > congruent) and Distance (long > short). Temporal regions were sensitive to Distance and Congruency (but solely within long distant conditions). Furthermore, anterior temporal regions were sensitive to the antecedent type with an increased activity for person pronouns compared to thing pronouns. We suggest that activity modulations within these areas reflect the integration process of an appropriate antecedent which depends on the type of information that has to be retrieved (lexico-syntactic posterior temporal, lexico-semantics anterior temporal). It also depends on the overall syntactic and semantic complexity of long distant sentences. The results are interpreted in the context of the memory–unification-control model for sentence comprehension as proposed by Vosse and Kempen (2000), Hagoort (2005), and Snijders et al. (2009)

Application of the "risk of ambulatory disability" (RoAD) score in a "real-world" single-center multiple sclerosis cohort.

Survival analysis of reaching EDSS ≥4.0 based on RoAD score ≥4 (dashed line) and <4 (solid line) by Cox regression analysis. (A) Unadjusted regression analysis. (B) Regression controlled for sex and immunotherapy groups, and the trajectory of treatment changes during follow-up

Neural correlates of semantic and syntactic processes in the comprehension of case marked pronouns: Evidence from German and Dutch

BACKGROUND: It is well known that both semantic and syntactic information play a role in pronoun resolution in sentences. However, it is unclear what the relative contribution of these sources of information is for the establishment of a coreferential relationship between the pronoun and the antecedent in combination with a local structural case constraint on the pronoun (i.e. case assignment of a pronoun under preposition governing). In a prepositional phrase in German and Dutch, it is the preposition that assigns case to the pronoun. Furthermore, in these languages different overtly case-marked pronouns are used to refer to male and female persons. Thus, one can manipulate biological/syntactic gender features separately from case marking features. The major aim of this study was to determine what the influence of gender information in combination with a local structural case constraint is on the processing of a personal pronoun in a sentence. Event-related brain potential (ERP) experiments were performed in German and in Dutch. In a word by word sentence reading study in German and Dutch, gender congruency between the antecedent and the pronoun was manipulated and/or case assignment by the preposition was violated while ERPs of young native speakers were recorded. RESULTS: The German and the Dutch ERP data showed an enlarged negativity broadly distributed starting approximately 350 ms after onset of the pronoun followed by a late positivity for gender violations. For syntactic incongruencies without gender violations only a positivity was present. The Dutch data showed an earlier onset of the positivity in comparison to German. CONCLUSION: Finding negativities and positivities for conditions with a gender violation indicates that pronoun resolution with gender incongruency between the pronoun and the antecedent suffers from semantic as well as syntactic integration problems. The presence of a positivity for the syntactically incongruent conditions without gender violations suggests that the processing of incorrect case marking without a gender violation gives rise to syntactic but not semantic integration problems. We suggest that the more prominent case violation in Dutch caused the earlier onset of the positivity in the Dutch study. In addition, the pattern of ERP effects shows that both case and gender information are used almost immediately implying that the local structural constraint affects the resolution process with more processing activity than for a pronoun of which only one source of information is violated or incongruent

Observation of sonified movements engages a basal ganglia frontocortical network

Background: Producing sounds by a musical instrument can lead to audiomotor coupling, i.e. the joint activation of the auditory and motor system, even when only one modality is probed. The sonification of otherwise mute movements by sounds based on kinematic parameters of the movement has been shown to improve motor performance and perception of movements.Results: Here we demonstrate in a group of healthy young non-athletes that congruently (sounds match visual movement kinematics) vs. incongruently (no match) sonified breaststroke movements of a human avatar lead to better perceptual judgement of small differences in movement velocity. Moreover, functional magnetic resonance imaging revealed enhanced activity in superior and medial posterior temporal regions including the superior temporal sulcus, known as an important multisensory integration site, as well as the insula bilaterally and the precentral gyrus on the right side. Functional connectivity analysis revealed pronounced connectivity of the STS with the basal ganglia and thalamus as well as frontal motor regions for the congruent stimuli. This was not seen to the same extent for the incongruent stimuli.Conclusions: We conclude that sonification of movements amplifies the activity of the human action observation system including subcortical structures of the motor loop. Sonification may thus be an important method to enhance training and therapy effects in sports science and neurological rehabilitation.DFG/SFB/TR31/EUDFG/TP/A7/E

Comparison of mRNA Vaccinations with BNT162b2 or mRNA-1273 in Anti-CD20-Treated Multiple Sclerosis Patients

Objective: Anti-CD20-treated patients are at risk of a reduced humoral immune response during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Our aim was to compare the antibody response after two vaccinations with the mRNA vaccines BNT162b2 or mRNA-1273 in patients with multiple sclerosis. Methods: Data from the University Hospital of Bern and Cantonal Hospital of Lucerne were retrospectively collected from medical records and then analyzed. Anti-spike IgG serum titers were collected from both centers and were considered to be protective from a value of ≥100 AU/mL. Continuous variables were given as the mean and 95% confidence interval (95% CI); categorical variables were given as frequencies. A Mann–Whitney test and Fisher’s exact test as well as a multivariable linear regression analysis with anti-spike IgG (AU/mL) as the dependent variable were run using SPSS Statistic 25 (IBM Corp., Amonk, NY, USA). Results: A total of 74 patients were included; 41/74 (63.51%) were female patients and the mean age was 46.6 years (95% CI 43.4–49.9). Of these patients, 36/74 were vaccinated with BNT162b2 and 38/74 with mRNA-1273, following the national vaccination recommendation. In both vaccine groups, protective anti-spike IgG titers (≥100 AU/mL) were infrequently achieved (5/74: mRNA-1273 3/38; BNT162b2 2/36). Conclusions: In addition to a low rate of protective anti-spike IgG titers in both vaccine groups, we identified a drop in anti-spike IgG serum titers over time. This observation bears therapeutic consequences, as initial positive titers should be checked in case of an infection with the SARS-CoV-2 virus to identify patients who would benefit from an intravenous anti-spike IgG treatment against acute COVID-19

Multidimensional phenotyping of the post-COVID-19 syndrome: A Swiss survey study.

INTRODUCTION Post-COVID-19 syndrome affects approximately 10-25% of people after a COVID-19 infection, irrespective of initial COVID-19 severity. The aim of this project was to assess the clinical characteristics, course, and prognosis of post-COVID-19 syndrome using a systematic multidimensional approach. PATIENTS AND METHODS An online survey of people with suspected and confirmed COVID-19 and post-COVID-19 syndrome, distributed via Swiss COVID-19 support groups, social media, and our post-COVID-19 consultation, was performed. A total of 8 post-infectious domains were assessed with 120 questions. Data were collected from October 15 to December 12, 2021, and 309 participants were included. Analysis of clinical phenomenology of post-COVID-19 syndrome was performed using comparative statistics. RESULTS The three most prevalent post-COVID-19 symptoms in our survey cohort were fatigue (288/309, 93.2%), pain including headache (218/309, 70.6%), and sleep-wake disturbances (mainly insomnia and excessive daytime sleepiness, 145/309, 46.9%). Post-COVID-19 syndrome had an impact on work ability, as more than half of the respondents (168/268, 62.7%) reported an inability to work, which lasted on average 26.6 weeks (95% CI 23.5-29.6, range 1-94, n = 168). Quality of life measured by WHO-5 Well-being Index was overall low in respondents with post-COVID-19 syndrome (mean, 95% CI 9.1 [8.5-9.8], range 1-25, n = 239). CONCLUSION Fatigue, pain, and sleep-wake disturbances were the main symptoms of the post-COVID-19 syndrome in our cohort and had an impact on the quality of life and ability to work in a majority of patients. However, survey respondents reported a significant reduction in symptoms over 12 months. Post-COVID-19 syndrome remains a significant challenge. Further studies to characterize this syndrome and to explore therapeutic options are therefore urgently needed

Fatigue in Post-COVID-19 Syndrome: Clinical Phenomenology, Comorbidities and Association With Initial Course of COVID-19.

Introduction Post-COVID-19 syndrome affects approximately 10-25% of people suffering from COVID-19 infection, irrespective of initial COVID-19 severity. Fatigue is one of the major symptoms, occurring in 30-90% of people with post-COVID-19 syndrome. This study aims at describing factors associated with fatigue in people with Post-COVID-19 seen in our newly established Post-Covid clinic. Methods This retrospective single center study included 42 consecutive patients suffering from Post-COVID-19 syndrome treated at the Department of Neurology, University Hospital Bern, between 11/2020 and05/2021. Clinical phenomenology of Post-COVID-19 syndrome with a special focus on fatigue and risk factor identification was performed using Mann-Whitney U Test, Pearson Correlation, and Chi-Quadrat-Test. Results Fatigue (90.5%) was the most prevalent Post-COVID-19 symptom followed by depressive mood (52.4%) and sleep disturbance (47.6%). Fatigue was in mean severe (Fatigue severity scale (FSS) mean 5.5 points (95% Confidence interval (95CI) 5.1 - 5.9, range .9 - 6.9, n = 40), and it was unrelated to age, COVID-19 severity or sex. The only related factors with fatigue severity were daytime sleepiness and depressed mood. Conclusion Fatigue is the main symptom of the Post-COVID-19 syndrome in our cohort. Further studies describing this syndrome are needed to prepare the healthcare systems for the challenge of treating patients with Post-COVID-19 syndrome

Differences in the processing of anaphoric reference between closely related languages: neurophysiological evidence

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