Implicit processing of the eyes and mouth: Evidence from human electrophysiology

The current study examined the time course of implicit processing of distinct facial features and the associate event-related potential (ERP) components. To this end, we used a masked priming paradigm to investigate implicit processing of the eyes and mouth in upright and inverted faces, using a prime duration of 33 ms. Two types of prime-target pairs were used: 1. congruent (e.g., open eyes only in both prime and target or open mouth only in both prime and target); 2. incongruent (e.g., open mouth only in prime and open eyes only in target or open eyes only in prime and open mouth only in target). The identity of the faces changed between prime and target. Participants pressed a button when the target face had the eyes open and another button when the target face had the mouth open. The behavioral results showed faster RTs for the eyes in upright faces than the eyes in inverted faces, the mouth in upright and inverted faces. Moreover they also revealed a congruent priming effect for the mouth in upright faces. The ERP findings showed a face orientation effect across all ERP components studied (P1, N1, N170, P2, N2, P3) starting at about 80 ms, and a congruency/priming effect on late components (P2, N2, P3), starting at about 150 ms. Crucially, the results showed that the orientation effect was driven by the eye region (N170, P2) and that the congruency effect started earlier (P2) for the eyes than for the mouth (N2). These findings mark the time course of the processing of internal facial features and provide further evidence that the eyes are automatically processed and that they are very salient facial features that strongly affect the amplitude, latency, and distribution of neural responses to faces

Pulmonary embolism post-Covid-19 infection. Physiopathological mechanisms and vascular damage biomarkers

Covid-19 infection is characterized by several acute complications, as well long-term sequelae, mostly sustained by endothelial dysfunction; several studies show that complications as pulmonary embolism (PE) are described both in the acute phase and after negativization. Aim of research was to evaluate anthropometric, bio-humoral, instrumental parameters in a group of patients affected by PE after recent Covid-19 infection compared to PE patients without previous Covid-19 infection. We enrolled 72 consecutive patients (35M, 37F) with acute PE, distinguished in relation to previous acute Covid-19 infection: 54 pts without previous acute Covid-19 infection and 18 pts with previous Covid-19 infection within negativity at least 2 months before PE diagnosis; 44 healthy subjects (21M, 23F) were recruited as control group. Patients who had previously developed Covid-19 needed hospitalization in high percentage (84%); this group showed significantly higher prevalence of diabetes mellitus than Covid-19-free PE patients, reduced serum levels of C-reactive protein, sST2 and PESI score. In post-Covid-19 PE group, we observed higher mean IMPROVE risk score, whereas in Covid-19-free group lower P/F ratio, higher radiological severity, and worse PESI score and severity index. Covid-19 infection affects not just the lung parenchyma but also other organs; endothelial damage plays pivotal role in long-term alterations; in high thrombotic risk group (recent hospitalization due to acute Covid-19 infection), we have described thrombotic complications characterized by persistent prothrombotic state after recovery, highlighted by well-known markers as PCR and D-Dimer as well as novel vascular marker (sST2)

Implicit processing of facial features: Evidence from human electrophysiology

In this study, we used ERPs to investigate neural correlates of face processing. More specifically, we utilized a masked priming paradigm to investigate implicit processing of the eyes and mouth in upright and inverted faces, using prime duration of 50 ms. Three types of prime-target pairs were used: 1. congruent (e.g., open eyes only in both prime and target); 2. incongruent (e.g., open eyes only in prime and open mouth only in target) and 3. dual (both mouth and eyes open in the prime only followed by either type of target, i.e., either eyes or mouth but not both, open). The identity of the faces changed between prime and target. Participants pressed one button to indicate whether the target face’s mouth was open, and an other if the eyes were open. The behavioural results indicated a congruent priming effect for both upright and inverted faces. In addition, we found an enhanced negativity at about 200 ms after target presentation. The amplitude of the N200-like depended on the relation between prime and target, being smaller when the stimuli were congruent in both upright and inverted faces. This N200-like was followed by a P300 component, which was influenced by the three conditions, with incongruency and dual producing a smaller positivity than congruency in both upright and inverted faces. Moreover, when the stimuli were presented upside down, the N200 and the P300 effects took place about 30 ms later. The functional significance of these ERP effects is discussed in relation to unconscious perception and configural face processing

The time course of implicit processing of facial features: An event-related potential study

In this study, we used ERPs to investigate the time course of implicit face processing. More specifically, we utilized a masked priming paradigm to investigate implicit processing of the eyes and mouth in upright and inverted faces, using a prime duration of 33 ms. Two types of prime–target pairs were used: (1) congruent (e.g., open eyes only in both prime and target); (2) incongruent (e.g., open eyes only in prime and open mouth only in target). The identity of the faces changed between prime and target. Participants pressed one button to indicate whether the target face’s mouth was open, and another if the eyes were open. The behavioral results indicated a congruent priming effect for upright but not for inverted faces. The ERP results indicated a face orientation effect across all ERP components studied (P1, N1, P2, N170, N2, P3) starting at about 80 ms, and a congruency/priming effect on late components (N2, P3), starting at about 200 ms. The functional significance of these ERP effects is discussed in relation to unconscious perception and configural face processing

L'importanza delle caratteristiche interne nell'elaborazione implicita del volto: uno studio sui correlati neurali.

Introduzione Lo scopo del presente studio \ue8 indagare i correlati neurali nell'elaborazione implicita di occhi e bocca in volti presentati nell\u2019orientamento canonico (dritti) e ruotati di 180\ub0 (inversi). A tal fine \ue8 stato utilizzato il priming di mascheramento nel quale lo stimolo prime \ue8 presentato per un tempo brevissimo ed \ue8 poi immediatamente oscurato o da un pattern di mascheramento o dallo stimolo target stesso. Poich\ue8 il mascheramento interferisce con il consolidamento dell\u2019informazione nella memoria episodica risulta un ottimo strumento per indagare i correlati neurali dell\u2019elaborazione implicita del volto. Metodo Sono state impiegate due condizioni prime-target: congruente (solo occhi aperti sia nel prime che nel target) e incongruente (occhi aperti solo nel prime e bocca aperta solo nel target). L\u2019identit\ue0 dei volti cambiava tra prime e target. I partecipanti dovevano premere un tasto per indicare se il volto target aveva la bocca aperta e un altro tasto per indicare se aveva gli occhi aperti. Risultati A livello comportamentale \ue8 emerso un effetto di priming per la bocca nel volto dritto e per gli occhi nel volto inverso. I risultati ERP hanno evidenziato: un effetto orientamento per la N170 per gli occhi e non per la bocca; un effetto di congruenza (priming) per la P200, solo per gli occhi del volto dritto; un effetto di cogruenza per la N2 maggiore nella bocca nel volto inverso rispetto al volto dritto; un effetto di congruenza per la N3-like nella bocca del volto dritto; un effetto di congruenza per la P300 negli occhi dritti. Conclusioni I risultati hanno evidenziato una differenza nell'elaborazione delle caratteristiche interne del volto. Il significato funzionale degli effetti emersi da questo studio saranno discussi in relazione alla elaborazione della percezione implicita della configurazione del volto

ERP effects of masked priming.

<p>Grand-averaged event-related potentials as a function of prime-target congruency, internal features and face orientation.</p

Time course of implicit face processing.

<p>Histogram of the amplitude of face-sensitive ERP components as a function of internal features and face orientation (upper panel) and as a function of internal features and prime-target congruency (lower panel). *p < 0.05.</p

Behavioral results.

<p>Mean reaction times separately for upright and inverted faces in each experimental condition: open eyes congruent (white bar), open eyes incongruent (light grey bar), open mouth congruent (dark grey bar), and open mouth incongruent (black bar). Error bars represent standard errors.</p

Obesity phenotypes and resorption percentage after breast autologous fat grafting: Rule of low-grade inflammation

Background: One of the main reasons why the breast fat grafting was questioned is that there may be lipofilling resorption. In the literature, the resorption rate reported over the 1st year is highly variable (20–90%). Objective: The aim of this work was to identify the biochemical and clinical parameters, which increase fat graft maintenance in breast reconstruction. Materials and Methods: A sample of 19 patients was treated with fat grafting mixed with platelet-rich plasma. A complete screening of anthropometry, body composition, and blood biochemical parameters was assessed using the standardized equipment. Pre- and post-operative evaluation was performed, which included a complete clinical examination, photographic assessment, nuclear magnetic resonance imaging of the soft tissue, and ultrasound. The follow-up period was 2 years. Results: The authors divided the results into two types of patients: “responder” and “not a responder.” In the “responder” group patients with normal weight, gynoid fat distribution, obese, with normal blood biochemical parameters, and atherogenic indices but with high preoperative values of platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio (PLR) (174.49) and neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) (2.65) showed a greater increase of fat graft maintenance at 6 and 12 months after the last lipofilling session. In the “not responder group” patients with overweight, android fat distribution, obese, high values of atherogenic indices, but with normal preoperative NLR and PLR ratios showed a lower fat graft maintenance at 6 and 12 months. Conclusion: We assume, the problem of fat resorption may be resolved by analysis of body composition and by examine the predictive role of preoperative markers of low-grade inflammation