Enhancing Organizational Memory Through Virtual Memoryscapes: Does It Work?

Enhancing cognitive memory through virtual reality represents an issue, that has never been investigated in organizational settings. Here, we compared a virtual memoryscape (treatment) – an immersive virtual environment used by subjects as a shared memory tool based on spatial navigation – with respect to the traditional individual-specific mnemonic tool based on the “method of loci” (control). A memory task characterized by high ecological validity was administered to 82 subjects employed by large banking group. Memory recall was measured, for both groups, immediately after the task (Phase 1) and one week later (Phase 2). Results show that (i) in Phase 1, the method of loci was more efficient in terms of recalling information than the to the virtual memoryscape; (ii) in Phase 2, there was no difference. Compared to the method of loci, the virtual memoryscape presents the advantages – relevant for organizations – of being collective, controllable, dynamic, and non-manipulable

The evolution of psychological and behavioral consequences of self-isolation during lockdown : a longitudinal study across United Kingdom and Italy

INTRODUCTION: Several countries imposed nationwide or partial lockdowns to limit the spread of COVID-19 and avoid overwhelming hospitals and intensive care units. Lockdown may involve restriction of movement, stay-at-home orders and self-isolation, which may have dramatic consequences on mental health. Recent studies demonstrated that the negative impact of lockdown restrictions depends on a wide range of psychological and socio-demographic factors. AIMS: This longitudinal study aimed to understand how internal factors such as personality and mindfulness traits, and external factors, such as daily habits and house features, affect anxiety, depression and general wellbeing indicators, as well as cognitive functions, during the course of a lockdown. METHODS: To address these questions, 96 participants in Italy and the United Kingdom filled out a survey, once a week for 4 weeks, during the first-wave lockdowns. The survey included questions related to their habits and features of the house, as well as validated questionnaires to measure personality traits, mindful attitude and post-traumatic symptoms. Indicators of wellbeing were the affective state, anxiety, stress and psychopathological indices. We also measured the emotional impact of the pandemic on cognitive ability by using two online behavioral tasks [emotional Stroop task (EST) and visual search]. RESULTS: We found that internal factors influenced participants’ wellbeing during the first week of the study, while external factors affected participants in the last weeks. In the first week, internal variables such as openness, conscientiousness and being non-judgmental toward one’s own thoughts and emotions were positively associated with wellbeing; instead, neuroticism and the tendency to observe and describe one’s own thoughts and emotions had detrimental effects on wellbeing. Toward the end of the study, external variables such as watching television and movies, browsing the internet, walking the dog, and having a balcony showed a protective value, while social networking and engaging in video calls predicted lower values of wellbeing. We did not find any effects of wellbeing on cognitive functioning. CONCLUSION: Recognizing specific traits and habits affecting individuals’ wellbeing (in both short and long terms) during social isolation is crucial to identify people at risk of developing psychological distress and help refine current guidelines to alleviate the psychological consequences of prolonged lockdowns

Brain indices of disagreement with one's social values predict EU referendum voting behavior

Pre-electoral surveys typically attempt, and sometimes fail, to predict voting behavior on the basis of explicit measures of agreement or disagreement with a candidate or political position. Here, we assessed whether a specific brain signature of disagreement with one's social values, the event-related potential component N400, could be predictive of voting behavior. We examined this possibility in the context of the EU referendum in the United Kingdom. In the five weeks preceding the referendum, we recorded the N400 while participants with different vote intentions expressed their agreement or disagreement with pro- and against-EU statements. We showed that the N400 responded to statements incongruent with one's view regarding the EU. Crucially, this effect predicted actual voting behavior in decided as well as undecided voters. The N400 was a better predictor of voting choice than an explicit index of preference based on the behavioral responses. Our findings demonstrate that well-defined patterns of brain activity can forecast future voting behavior

The effects of alcohol on cognitive processes related to social anxiety

Social anxiety is generally characterised by the features of excessive fear of negative evaluation in social situations and it is often associated with alcohol use and misuse. Socially-anxious individuals may consider alcohol to be a confidence-enhancer and may use it as self-medication to alleviate anxiety symptoms arising during social situations. However, the relationship between social anxiety and alcohol use is not linear and it involves several cognitive processes. This thesis presents a series of studies investigating the relationship between social anxiety and the effects of alcohol. The aim was to explore the effects of alcohol on attentional and other cognitive processes, as well as individual characteristics, that might be important to better understand the complex relationship between social anxiety, cognition and alcohol use. First, the effects of alcohol on attention were tested in a non-clinical sample of high socially-anxious (HSA) and low socially-anxious (LSA) individuals’ by examining their eye movements using a series of eye tracking tasks. The first eye tracking task examined how alcohol influenced participants’ attention using a dot probe paradigm; the second and the third eye tracking tasks measured the influence of alcohol on involuntary (antisaccade task) and voluntary (prosaccade task) eye movements. The second set of tasks (4-5) investigated decision-making processes and attentional biases in a similar sample of HSA and LSA individuals under the effects of alcohol. Task 4 used a modified Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) paradigm to assess the effects of alcohol on participants’ decision-making processes under ambiguity; task 4 also used the “Game of Dice” (GDT) paradigm to measure the influence of alcohol on participants’ risk-taking behaviours during a non-ambiguous Task; task 5 consisted of a dot probe task to measure the effects of alcohol on participants’ attentional biases using a shorter stimulus presentation time than previously adopted. The final study was a survey comprising several questionnaires looking at the relationships between social anxiety and drinking behaviours, motives, attentional styles and mindfulness traits. Results 3 strongly indicated that HSA participants drink alcohol as a coping strategy and to regulate their negative emotions. The eye tracking tasks showed that alcohol influenced social anxiety by increasing vigilance via longer dwell times, especially when shown emotional faces (angry or happy) compared to neutral facial expressions. Overall, alcohol impaired reaction times, accuracy and speed; error rates increased in both groups, regardless of their levels of social anxiety. There was an effect of alcohol on decision-making in situations of risk under ambiguity when emotional content was shown (IGT) but not in a situation where risks were explicit and no emotional content was shown (GDT). On the IGT, HSA participants shifted from selecting fewer advantageous choices to selecting more advantageous choices after consuming alcohol compared with LSA participants. Finally, the survey showed that high levels of social anxiety and drinking-related behaviours are associated with lower mindfulness abilities. Overall, these findings demonstrate a complex interaction between alcohol use and social anxiety that is mediated by several cognitive factors, such as attention and decision-making processes. The findings imply an important role for cognitive processes in clinical interventions designed to address problematic alcohol use in social anxiety

TOLL-LIKE RECEPTOR 2 INFLUENCES THE SEVERITY OF NEUROPATHY DURING HERPES SIMPLEX VIRUS TYPE 1 INFECTION OF MURINE ENTERIC NERVOUS SYSTEM

INTRODUCTION: Recently, we have found that the neurotropic herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) establishes latency in rodent enteric nervous system (ENS), leading to gut dysmotility with no signs of illness, suggesting that may be involved in gastrointestinal motor disorders. AIMS&METHODS: Since the toll-like receptor (TLR) 2 contributes to antiviral innate immunity, this study aimed to assess the role of TLR2 on gut dysmotility and on ENS neurochemical changes induced at the early phase of HSV-1 infection. In C57/Bl6 mice (males, 10 weeks old) infection with HSV-1 was established by intranasal viral dose (103 pfu) followed 4 weeks (W) later by an intragastric inoculum (IG; 108 pfu). After 1-3W IG infection, in isolated ileum segments, changes in muscle tension were isometrically recorded following charbacol (0.001-30 \u3bcM) treatment and electric field stimulation (1-40 Hz). ENS neuropathy in whole mount preparations of ileal longitudinal muscle-myenteric plexus, immunostained with the neural markers HuC/D, peripherin and \u3b2III-tubulin and with the glial marker S100\u3b2 was assessed by confocal microscopy. Acetylcholinesterase (AChE) biochemical assay and nNOS (neuronal Nitric Oxide Synthetase), VIP, substance P (SP) and choline acetyltransferase (ChAT) immunohistochemistry were performed to evaluate alterations in the neurochemical coding. RESULTS: In vitro contractility studies have shown reduced muscarinic (Emax -35%) and nerve-mediated (-67% at 20 Hz) responses in WT post IG infection whereas in TLR2 KO were significantly increased by 23% and 51%, respectively. In the ENS of WT infected mice HuC/D and S100\u3b2 immunoreactivities were drastically decreased whereas in TLR2 KO a higher S100\u3b2 staining was observed. Neuronal integrity assessed by peripherin and \u3b2III-tubulin immunofluorescence evidenced an irregular distribution more pronounced in infected TLR2 KO. In WT HSV-1 infection increased immunoreactivity of inhibitory nNOS+ and VIP+ neurons and decreased that of excitatory SP+. Furthermore, a reduced staining of AChE+ neurons, large fibers or small fibers, with an increased immunoreactivity of ChAT+ neurons was observed. Interestingly, opposite changes were found for these neurochemical markers in TLR2 KO. CONCLUSION: HSV-1 infection alters neuromuscular contractility, ENS integrity and neurochemical coding. TLR2 appears to be essentially involved in the severity of ENS neuropathy development. These results illustrate the complex but important roles that innate immune receptors play in host responses to HSV-1 during the early stages of ENS infection

High level of oxysterols in neonatal cholestasis: A pitfall in analysis of biochemical markers for Niemann-Pick type C disease

Background: Niemann-Pick disease type C (NPC) is a rare lipid storage disorder characterized by progressive neurological deterioration. Diagnosing NPC is challenging as clinical signs and symptoms are variable and non-specific. Two oxysterols, cholestane-3 beta,5 alpha,6 beta-triol (triol) and 7-ketocholesterol (7KC), have been proposed as biomarkers for aiding diagnosis of NPC. This study evaluated the use of triol and 7KC as biomarkers in cholestatic neonates with suspected NPC. Methods: Plasma triol and 7KC were analysed as - dimethylglycine esters using an liquid chromato-graphy tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) assay in selected neonates with severe cholestasis and suspected NPC (n=7), adults with cholestasis (n=15), patients with confirmed NPC (positive controls; n=11 [one child and 10 adults]), healthy subjects (negative controls; n=40 [20 children and 20 adults]), and cholestatic adults (comparative reference; n=15). The LC-MS/MS method was subjected to a number of tests for accuracy and consistency. Results: Triol and 7KC levels were substantially and significantly increased in NPC positive patients compared with healthy controls (p<0.001). However, positive results (markedly increased levels of both oxysterols) were identified in 6/7 (86%) neonates with cholestasis. Genetic testing confirmed NPC only in one neonate who had increased triol and 7KC, and increased oxysterol levels among neonates with no identified NPC gene mutations were considered likely due to biliary atresia (BA). Conclusions: While the potential of oxysterols as NPC biomarkers has been well evaluated in older patient populations (without cholestasis), our data suggest that cholestasis might represent a pitfall in oxysterol measurements intended to aid diagnosis of NPC in affected patients

Persistent increase of osteoprotegerin levels after cortisol normalization in patients with Cushing's syndrome

Objective: Osteoprotegerin (OPG) has been identified as a decoy receptor that inhibits osteoclast differentiation and, more recently, as a paracrine regulator of vascular calcification. OPG is suppressed by glucocorticoids (GC); however, results from experimental and clinical studies are not univocal. The aim of this study was to evaluate OPG and bone metabolism in patients with Cushing\u2019s syndrome (CS) before and after cure. Design and methods: Twenty-six patients with CS (all women, mean age: 39.1G11.9 years) and 24 ageand gonadal status-matched healthy women were studied for bone mineral density, bone metabolism, OPG, and receptor activator of nuclear factor-kB ligand at baseline. Twelve patients were also studied 6\u201318 months after surgery, with persistent normalization of cortisol levels. Results: OPG was significantly higher and osteocalcin (OC) was significantly lower in CS patients than in controls (OPG: 4.17G1.23 vs 2.95G0.79 pmol/l, PZ0.00001; OC: 15.0G6.1 vs 18.8 G6.8 ng/ml, PZ0.04 in CS and controls respectively). After cure, we found no difference in OPG levels, despite a significant increase in OC levels (from 16.4G11 to 37.2G15 ng/ml, PZ0.03). Conclusion: Patients with CS showed increased OPG serum levels that remained unchanged after recovery, despite a restoration of bone formation.We speculate that high levels of OPG could reflect the persistent damage of the GCs on cardiovascular system