A phenomenological take on mirror self-face perception in schizophrenia

Studies concerning social deficits in schizophrenia has often been restrained to exploring facial recognition. Various investigations have shown that those diagnosed with schizophrenia have difficulties in perceiving the identities and emotions of those around them merely through observing their facial features. A few others have also taken into account the issue of self-face recognition in individuals with schizophrenia, finding that their capacity to associate photos or videos of their own face to themselves is hindered due to the illness. However, to my knowledge, only a few studies have so far delved into the intricacies of how individuals with schizophrenia or schizotypal traits perceive their own facial features during mirror gazing. Some authors highlighted that it is imperative to differentiate between the ability of identifying one’s own face in photographs or videos and while mirror gazing, not only in virtue of the fact that mirror self-recognition arises earlier than photo self-recognition, but also because the neural responses elicited by the former are distinct from those generated by the latter. In light of this, it is crucial to elucidate the developmental aspects of the cognitive mechanism of mirror self-recognition. I will do so in order to introduce a discussion on the results of the studies on mirror self-face perception in schizophrenia, which will be carried out through an approach inspired by phenomenological theories of schizophrenia and self-consciousness. Finally, the Conclusions will provide further comments on the linkages among schizophrenia, mirror self-face perception, and self-consciousness

The “fluid mask” of Antonin Artaud: effects of corporeal hyperreflexivity on schizophrenic subjects

The aim of this paper is to frame schizophrenia as a paradigm for the identification of the bodily roots of self. In order to do that, we will deepen the knowledge of a central figure of twentieth-century theatre: the schizophrenic playwright, actor and poet Antonin Artaud. However, we will not focus on his notorious conceptualization of theatre, but rather on the interpretation that an influential psychiatrist – namely, Louis Sass – gave to some excerpts of his early writings, such as The Umbilicus of Limbo, The Nerve Meter and Fragments of a Journal in Hell, which all date back to 1925. The reason why such collections of poems and disorganized thoughts are particularly interesting is that they shed light on some typical traits of schizophrenia, such as disembodiment, self-fragmentation and a tendency towards the “explication of the implicit”, or hyperreflexivity. The writings of Artaud will serve us as a key to understanding the schizophrenic corporeity, since his words reflect the tormented relationship that all the patients have with their own body. We will address the topic of the problematic subject-body relationship starting with one of the most peculiar features of schizophrenic alienation: the distorted, inharmonious, mask-like perception of one’s own and others’ face

Different patterns of cortical excitability in major depression and vascular depression: a transcranial magnetic stimulation study

BACKGROUND: Clinical and functional studies consider major depression (MD) and vascular depression (VD) as different neurobiological processes. Hypoexcitability of the left frontal cortex to transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is frequently reported in MD, whereas little is known about the effects of TMS in VD. Thus, we aimed to assess and compare motor cortex excitability in patients with VD and MD. METHODS: Eleven VD patients, 11 recurrent drug-resistant MD patients, and 11 healthy controls underwent clinical, neuropsychological and neuroimaging evaluations in addition to bilateral resting motor threshold, cortical silent period, and paired-pulse TMS curves of intracortical excitability. All patients continued on psychotropic drugs, which were unchanged throughout the study. RESULTS: Scores on one of the tests evaluating frontal lobe abilities (Stroop Color-Word interference test) were worse in patients compared with controls. The resting motor threshold in patients with MD was significantly higher in the left hemisphere compared with the right (p < 0.05), and compared with the VD patients and controls. The cortical silent period was bilaterally prolonged in MD patients compared with VD patients and controls, with a statistically significant difference in the left hemisphere (p < 0.01). No differences were observed in the paired-pulse curves between patients and controls. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed distinctive patterns of motor cortex excitability between late-onset depression with subcortical vascular disease and early-onset recurrent drug resistant MD. The data provide a TMS model of the different processes underlying VD and MD. Additionally, our results support the “Vascular depression hypothesis” at the neurophysiological level, and confirm the inter-hemispheric asymmetry to TMS in patients with MD. We were unable to support previous findings of impaired intracortical inhibitory mechanisms to TMS in patients with MD, although a drug-induced effect on our results cannot be excluded. This study may aid the understanding of the pathogenetic differences underlying the clinical spectrum of depressive disorders

Update on intensive motor training in spinocerebellar ataxia: time to move a step forward?:

Some evidence suggests that high-intensity motor training slows down the severity of spinocerebellar ataxia. However, whether all patients might benefit from these activities, and by which activity, and the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. We provide an update on the effect and limitations of different training programmes in patients with spinocerebellar ataxias. Overall, data converge of the finding that intensive training is still based either on conventional rehabilitation protocols or whole-body controlled videogames ("exergames"). Notwithstanding the limitations, short-term improvement is observed, which tends to be lost once the training is stopped. Exergames and virtual reality can ameliorate balance, coordination, and walking abilities, whereas the efficacy of adapted physical activity, gym, and postural exercises depends on the disease duration and severity. In conclusion, although a disease-modifying effect has not been demonstrated, constant, individually tailored, high-intensity motor training might be effective in patients with degenerative ataxia, even in those with severe disease. These approaches may enhance the remaining cerebellar circuitries or plastically induce compensatory networks. Further research is required to identify predictors of training success, such as the type and severity of ataxia and the level of residual functioning

Transfer without Forgetting

This work investigates the entanglement between Continual Learning (CL) and Transfer Learning (TL). In particular, we shed light on the widespread application of network pretraining, highlighting that it is itself subject to catastrophic forgetting. Unfortunately, this issue leads to the under-exploitation of knowledge transfer during later tasks. On this ground, we propose Transfer without Forgetting (TwF), a hybrid approach building upon a fixed pretrained sibling network, which continuously propagates the knowledge inherent in the source domain through a layer-wise loss term. Our experiments indicate that TwF steadily outperforms other CL methods across a variety of settings, averaging a 4.81% gain in Class-Incremental accuracy over a variety of datasets and different buffer sizes.Comment: 22 pages, 3 Figures. Accepted at 17th European Conference on Computer Vision (ECCV 2022), Tel Aviv, Israe

Monitoring of stress distribution in damaged small-scale masonry walls by using two innovative sensors

Structural Health Monitoring (SHM) represents a strategic solution for the preservation of cultural heritage buildings. Existing masonry structures often suffer reductions in mechanical performances due to physiological aging of material constituents, external actions, and effect of catastrophic natural events. In many cases, the prompt prediction of damage in masonry elements is difficult and it can cause sudden collapses, compromising the safety of people. The proposed experimental study examines the effectiveness of two low-cost and innovative stress sensors, i.e. piezoelectric and capacitive stress sensors, for SHM of masonry structures. To this scope, the sensors were embedded in the mortar joints of two small-scale clay brick and calcarenite masonry wall specimens consisting of three panels. Experimental tests were carried out by applying a constant vertical compressive load at the top of each specimen and simulating the damage with a progressive reduction of the cross-section of one of the panels. During the tests, the vertical stress distributions (and their variations), were monitored by the sensors. Experimental outcomes from sensor reading were then compared to that numerically provided by a refined finite element simulation of the test. Results will show that vertical stress variations in masonry structures can be effectively accounted by the adopted sensors and potentially interpreted for the early prediction of structural damage

Impaired Cerebral Haemodynamics in Vascular Depression: Insights From Transcranial Doppler Ultrasonography

Introduction: Late-life depression is a well-known risk factor for future dementia. Increasing evidences also show a link between cerebral hypoperfusion and neurodegeneration, although data on Transcranial Doppler ultrasonography (TCD)-derived measures in patients with “Vascular Depression” (VD) are lacking. The aim of this study was to assess and correlate TCD parameters with cognitive function and severity of subcortical ischemic vascular disease in a sample of VD patients.Methods: Seventy six patients (mean age 72.5 ± 5.3 years; 53.9% females) met the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for unipolar major depression. Mean blood flow velocity (MBFv) and pulsatility index (PI) were recorded from the middle cerebral artery. Quantification of depressive symptoms (17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale –HDRS), neuropsychological test evaluating frontal lobe abilities (Stroop Color-Word test interference—Stroop T), and white matter lesions (WMLs) load according to the Fazekas visual score were also assessed.Results: WMLs severity was mild in 20 patients (group I), moderate in 32 (group II), and severe in 24 (group III). The groups were comparable in terms of clinical features, vascular risk factors profile, and HDRS score, whereas Stroop T score was worse in group III. An increased PI and a reduced MBFv were found in VD patients with severe WMLs. According to the regression analysis, a reduced MBFv was independently and significantly associated with depressive symptoms and executive dysfunction, even after adjusting for demographic features and vascular risk factors. Similarly, an independent and significant association was observed between the increase of PI and both Stroop T and WMLs severity.Conclusions: A TCD profile of low perfusion and high vascular resistance in VD patients suggests a diffuse cerebrovascular pathology likely arising from the small vessels and then extending to larger arteries. Hemodynamic dysfunction might play a pathogenic role in the development of cognitive impairment in patients with late-life depression and subcortical ischemic vascular disease. TCD represents a valuable tool in the early detection, assessment, and management of VD patients at risk for dementia

Early diagnosis of candidemia in intensive care unit patients with sepsis: a prospective comparison of (1→3)-β-D-glucan assay, Candida score, and colonization index

The culture-independent serum (1\u21923)-\u3b2-D-glucan (BG) detection test may allow early diagnosis of invasive fungal disease, but its clinical usefulness needs to be firmly established. A prospective single-center observational study was conducted to compare the diagnostic value of BG assay, Candida score (CS), and colonization index in intensive care unit (ICU) patients at risk for Candida sepsis

A new enhanced PSPICE implementation of the equivalent circuit model of SiPM detectors

The present work proposes an improved PSPICE implementation of the equivalent electrical model of silicon photomultipliers (SiPMs) to simulate and predict their transient re-sponse to avalanche trigger events. In particular, the developed model provides a detailed investigation of magnitude and timing of the read-out signals and can therefore be exploited to perform reliable circuit-level simulations. The modeling approach used is strictly related to the physics of each basic microcell constituting the SiPM device, and allows the avalanche timing as well as the photodiode current and voltage to be accurately simulated. Predictive capabilities of the proposed model are demonstrated by means of experimental measurements on a real detector. Versatility of the proposed model is also confirmed