The false memory syndrome: Experimental studies and comparison to confabulations

a b s t r a c t False memories, or recollections that are factually incorrect but strongly believed, remain a source of confusion for both psychiatrists and neurologists. We propose model for false memories based on recent experimental investigations, particularly when analyzed in comparison to confabulations, which are the equivalent of false memories from neurological disease. Studies using the Deese/Roedinger-McDermott experimental paradigm indicate that false memories are associated with the need for complete and integrated memories, self-relevancy, imagination and wish fulfillment, familiarity, emotional facilitation, suggestibility, and sexual content. In comparison, confabulations are associated with the same factors except for emotional facilitation, suggestibility, and sexual content. Both false memories and confabulations have an abnormal sense of certainty for their recollections, and neuroanatomical findings implicate decreased activity in the ventromedial frontal lobe in this certainty. In summary, recent studies of false memories in comparison to confabulations support a model of false memories as internally-generated but suggestible and emotionally-facilitated fantasies or impulses, rather than repressed memories of real events. Furthermore, like confabulations, in order for false memories to occur there must be an attenuation of the normal, nonconscious, right frontal ''doubt tag'' regarding their certainty. Published by Elsevier Ltd

Large-Scale Statistical Analysis of Defect Emission in hBN: Revealing Spectral Families and Influence of Flakes Morphology

Quantum emitters in two-dimensional layered hexagonal boron nitride are quickly emerging as a highly promising platform for next-generation quantum technologies. However, precise identification and control of defects are key parameters to achieve the next step in their development. We conducted a comprehensive study by analyzing over 10,000 photoluminescence emission lines, revealing 11 distinct defect families within the 1.6 to 2.2 eV energy range. This challenges hypotheses of a random energy distribution. We also reported averaged defect parameters, including emission linewidths, spatial density, phonon side bands, and the Debye-Waller factors. These findings provide valuable insights to decipher the microscopic origin of emitters in hBN hosts. We also explored the influence of hBN host morphology on defect family formation, demonstrating its crucial impact. By tuning flake size and arrangement we achieve selective control of defect types while maintaining high spatial density. This offers a scalable approach to defect emission control, diverging from costly engineering methods. It highlights the importance of investigating flake morphological control to gain deeper insights into the origins of defects and to expand the spectral tailoring capabilities of defects in hBN

Spin Textures of Polariton Condensates in a Tunable Microcavity with Strong Spin-Orbit Interaction

We report an extended family of spin textures in coexisting modes of zero-dimensional polariton condensates spatially confined in tunable open microcavity structures. The coupling between photon spin and angular momentum, which is enhanced in the open cavity structures, leads to new eigenstates of the polariton condensates carrying quantised spin vortices. Depending on the strength and anisotropy of the cavity confinement potential and the strength of the spin-orbit coupling, which can be tuned via the excitonic/photonic fractions, the condensate emissions exhibit either spin-vortex-like patterns or linear polarization, in good agreement with theoretical modelling

Nonparametric Online Learning Control for Soft Continuum Robot: An Enabling Technique for Effective Endoscopic Navigation.

Bioinspired robotic structures comprising soft actuation units have attracted increasing research interest. Taking advantage of its inherent compliance, soft robots can assure safe interaction with external environments, provided that precise and effective manipulation could be achieved. Endoscopy is a typical application. However, previous model-based control approaches often require simplified geometric assumptions on the soft manipulator, but which could be very inaccurate in the presence of unmodeled external interaction forces. In this study, we propose a generic control framework based on nonparametric and online, as well as local, training to learn the inverse model directly, without prior knowledge of the robot's structural parameters. Detailed experimental evaluation was conducted on a soft robot prototype with control redundancy, performing trajectory tracking in dynamically constrained environments. Advanced element formulation of finite element analysis is employed to initialize the control policy, hence eliminating the need for random exploration in the robot's workspace. The proposed control framework enabled a soft fluid-driven continuum robot to follow a 3D trajectory precisely, even under dynamic external disturbance. Such enhanced control accuracy and adaptability would facilitate effective endoscopic navigation in complex and changing environments

Spatial patterns of dissipative polariton solitons in semiconductor microcavities

We report propagating bound microcavity polariton soliton arrays consisting of multipeak structures either along (x) or perpendicular (y) to the direction of propagation. Soliton arrays of up to five solitons are observed, with the number of solitons controlled by the size and power of the triggering laser pulse. The breakup along the x direction occurs when the effective area of the trigger pulse exceeds the characteristic soliton size determined by polariton-polariton interactions. Narrowing of soliton emission in energymomentum space indicates phase locking between adjacent solitons, consistent with numerical modeling which predicts stable multihump soliton solutions. In the y direction, the breakup originates from inhomogeneity across the wave front in the transverse direction which develops into a stable array only in the solitonic regime via phase-dependent interactions of propagating fronts

ESC core curriculum for the general cardiologist (2013)

[No abstract available

Influence of the Quantity of Aortic Valve Calcium on the Agreement Between Automated 3-Dimensional Transesophageal Echocardiography and Multidetector Row Computed Tomography for Aortic Annulus Sizing

Cardiolog

Personalised Management of Dyslipidaemias in patients with diabetes - It is time for a new approach.

Dyslipidemia in patients with type 2 diabetes (DMT2) is one of the worst controlled worldwide, with only about 1/4 of patients being on the low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) target. There are many reasons of this, including physicians’ inertia, including diabetologists and cardiologists, therapy nonadherence, but also underusage and underdosing of lipid lowering drugs due to unsuitable cardiovascular (CV) risk stratification. In the last several years there is a big debate on the risk stratification of DMT2 patients, with the strong indications that all patients with diabetes should be at least at high cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk. Moreover, we have finally lipid lowering drugs, that not only allow for the effective reduction of LDL-C and do not increase the risk of new onset diabetes (NOD), and/or glucose impairment; in the opposite, some of them might effectively improve glucose control. One of the most interesting is pitavastatin, which is now available in Europe, with the best metabolic profile within statins (no risk of NOD, improvement of fasting blood glucose, HOMA-IR, HbA1c), bempedoic acid (with the potential for the reduction of NOD risk), innovative therapies - PCSK9 inhibitors and inclisiran with no DMT2 risk increase, and new forthcoming therapies, including apabetalone and obicetrapib – for the latter one with the possibility of even decreasing the number of patients diagnosed with prediabetes and DMT2. Altogether, nowadays we have possibility to individualize lipid lowering therapy in DMT2 patients and increase the number of patients on LDL-C goal without any risk of new onset diabetes and/or diabetes control worsening, and in consequence to reduce the risk of CVD complications due to progression of atherosclerosis in this patients’ group

Effect of polariton-polariton interactions on the excitation spectrum of a nonequilibrium condensate in a periodic potential

Polariton condensates are investigated in periodical potentials created by surface acoustic waves (SAWs) using both coherent and incoherent optical excitation. Under coherent resonant pumping, condensates are formed due to polariton-parametric scattering from the pump. In this case, the excitation spectrum of the condensate shows a strong reduction of the energy gap arising from the acoustic modulation, indicating efficient screening of the SAW potential by spatial modulation of the polariton density. The observed results are in good agreement with a model based on generalized Gross-Pitaveskii equations, with account taken of the spatial dependence of the exciton energy landscape. In the case of incoherent pumping, coexisting nonequilibrium condensates with s- and p-type wavefunctions are observed, which have different energies, symmetry, and spatial coherence. The energy splitting between these condensate states is also reduced with respect to the gap of the one particle spectrum below threshold, but the screening effect is less pronounced than in the case of coherently pumped system due to weaker modulation of the pump state