Functional connectivity alterations between default mode network and occipital cortex in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

Altered brain network connectivity is a potential biomarker for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). A meta-analysis of resting-state MRI studies by Gürsel et al. (2018) described altered functional connectivity in OCD patients within and between the default mode network (DMN), the salience network (SN), and the frontoparietal network (FPN), as well as evidence for aberrant fronto-striatal circuitry. Here, we tested the replicability of these meta-analytic rsfMRI findings by measuring functional connectivity during resting-state fMRI in a new sample of OCD patients (n = 24) and matched controls (n = 33). We performed seed-to-voxel analyses using 30 seed regions from the prior meta-analysis. OCD patients showed reduced functional connectivity between the SN and the DMN compared to controls, replicating previous findings. We did not observe significant group differences of functional connectivity within the DMN, SN, nor FPN. Additionally, we observed reduced connectivity between the visual network to both the DMN and SN in OCD patients, in particular reduced functional connectivity between lateral parietal seeds and the left inferior lateral occipital pole. Furthermore, the right lateral parietal seed (associated with the DMN) was more strongly correlated with a cluster in the right lateral occipital cortex and precuneus (a region partly overlapping with the Dorsal Attentional Network (DAN)) in patients. Importantly, this latter finding was positively correlated to OCD symptom severity. Overall, our study partly replicated prior meta-analytic findings, highlighting hypoconnectivity between SN and DMN as a potential biomarker for OCD. Furthermore, we identified changes between the SN and the DMN with the visual network. This suggests that abnormal connectivity between cortex regions associated with abstract functions (transmodal regions such as the DMN), and cortex regions associated with constrained neural processing (unimodal regions such as the visual cortex), may be important in OCD

Activated phosphoinositide 3-kinase δ syndrome: Update from the ESID Registry and comparison with other autoimmune-lymphoproliferative inborn errors of immunity

Background: Activated phosphoinositide-3-kinase d syndrome (APDS) is an inborn error of immunity (IEI) with infection susceptibility and immune dysregulation, clinically overlapping with other conditions. Management depends on disease evolution, but predictors of severe disease are lacking. Objectives: This study sought to report the extended spectrum of disease manifestations in APDS1 versus APDS2; compare these to CTLA4 deficiency, NFKB1 deficiency, and STAT3 gain of-function (GOF) disease; and identify predictors of severity in APDS. Methods: Data was collected from the ESID (European Society for Immunodeficiencies)-APDS registry and was compared with published cohorts of the other IEIs. Results: The analysis of 170 patients with APDS outlines high penetrance and early onset of APDS compared to the other IEIs. The large clinical heterogeneity even in individuals with the same PIK3CD variant E1021K illustrates how poorly the genotype predicts the disease phenotype and course. The high clinical overlap between APDS and the other investigated IEIs suggests relevant pathophysiological convergence of the affected pathways. Preferentially affected organ systems indicate specific pathophysiology: bronchiectasis is typical of APDS1; interstitial lung disease and enteropathy are more common in STAT3 GOF and CTLA4 deficiency. Endocrinopathies are most frequent in STAT3 GOF, but growth impairment is also common, particularly in APDS2. Early clinical presentation is a risk factor for severe disease in APDS. Conclusions: APDS illustrates how a single genetic variant can result in a diverse autoimmune-lymphoproliferative phenotype. Overlap with other IEIs is substantial. Some specific features distinguish APDS1 from APDS2. Early onset is a risk factor for severe disease course calling for specific treatment studies in younger patients. (J Allergy Clin Immunol 2023;152:984-96.

Augmented Reality Training for Assembly and Maintenance Skills

Augmented Reality (AR) points out to be a good technology for training in the field of maintenance and assembly, as instructions or rather location-dependent information can be directly linked and/or attached to physical objects. Since objects to maintain usually contain a large number of similar components (e.g. screws, plugs, etc.) the provision of location-dependent information is vitally important. Another advantage is that AR-based training takes place with the real physical devices of the training scenario. Thus, the trainee also practices the real use of the tools whereby the corresponding sensorimotor skills are trained

Augmented reality training platform for assembly and maintenance skills

The training of technicians in the acquisition of new maintenance and assembly tasks is an important factor in industry. As the complexity of these tasks can be enormous, the training of technicians to acquire the necessary skills to perform them efficiently is a challenging point. In this context it is shown that Augmented Reality is a powerful technology to support training in the particular context of industrial service procedures, since instructions on how to perform the service tasks can be directly linked to the machine parts to be processed. Due to the increasing complexity of maintenance tasks, it is not sufficient to train the technicians execution of these tasks, but rather to train the underlying skillssensorimotor and cognitivethat are necessary for an efficient acquisition and performance of new maintenance operations. All these facts lead to the need for efficient training systems for the training of maintenance and assembly skills which accelerate the technicians learning and acquisition of new maintenance procedures. Furthermore, these systems should improve the adjustment of the training process to new training scenarios and enable the reuse of existing training material that has proven its worth. In this context a novel concept and platform for multimodal Augmented Reality-based training of maintenance and assembly skills has been developed, which includes the training of the involved sub-skills and the evaluation of the designed training system. Since procedural skills are considered as the most important skills for maintenance and assembly operations, we focus on the training of these skills, as well as appropriate methods for improving them. We developed Augmented Reality based training methods for assembly and maintenance tasks. We developed multimodal interaction technologies for mobile training systems. We evaluated the transfer of skill in comparison to traditional training methods