Exposure to linguistic labels during childhood modulates the neural architecture of race categorical perception

Perceptually categorizing a face to its racial belonging may have important consequences on interacting with people. However, race categorical perception (CP) has been scarcely investigated nor its developmental pathway. In this study, we tested the neurolinguistics rewiring hypothesis, stating that language acquisition modulates the brain processing of social perceptual categories. Accordingly, we investigated the electrophysiological correlates of race CP in a group of adults and children between 3 and 5 years of age. For both groups we found a greater modulation of the N400 connected with the processing of between category boundaries (i.e., faces belonging to different race groups) than within-category boundaries (i.e., different faces belonging to the same race group). This effect was the same in both adults and children, as shown by the comparable between-group amplitude of the differential wave (DW) elicited by the between-category faces. Remarkably, this effect was positively correlated with racial-labels acquisition, but not with age, in children. Finally, brain source analysis revealed the activation of a more modularized cortical network in adults than in children, with unique activation of the left superior temporal gyrus (STG) and the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), which are areas connected to language processing. These are the first results accounting for an effect of language in rewiring brain connectedness when processing racial categories

Enzymatic Baeyer-Villiger oxidation of steroids with cyclopentadecanone monooxygenase

Peer reviewed: YesNRC publication: Ye

DMTs and Covid-19 severity in MS: a pooled analysis from Italy and France

We evaluated the effect of DMTs on Covid-19 severity in patients with MS, with a pooled-analysis of two large cohorts from Italy and France. The association of baseline characteristics and DMTs with Covid-19 severity was assessed by multivariate ordinal-logistic models and pooled by a fixed-effect meta-analysis. 1066 patients with MS from Italy and 721 from France were included. In the multivariate model, anti-CD20 therapies were significantly associated (OR = 2.05, 95%CI = 1.39–3.02, p < 0.001) with Covid-19 severity, whereas interferon indicated a decreased risk (OR = 0.42, 95%CI = 0.18–0.99, p = 0.047). This pooled-analysis confirms an increased risk of severe Covid-19 in patients on anti-CD20 therapies and supports the protective role of interferon