Immuno-oncological treatment of Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC) in advanced stage with Nivolumab

Immuno-oncology marked a therapeutic revolution in the treatment of cancer. Thanks to the new strategy that aims to awaken the immune system to fight cancer cells, there has been a change in the clinical course in the treatment of advanced Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC). Our study aimed to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of nivolumab monotherapy in the treatment of patients with advanced stage IIIB/IV non-small cell lung cancer beyond the second line. The results showed a progression-free survival of 7.35 months and an improvement in the quality of life of patients compared to other treatments. In addition, no type 3 and type 4 adverse reactions were detected in patients treated with Nivolumab. We hope that these results, already promising, will lead to an increase in overall survival in the future

NEUROSCIENCE OF COMMUNICATION FOR CLINICAL AND MANAGEMENT DOMAINS: OR WHAT IN COMMON AMONG PERSON, CONSCIOUSNESS AND ADVERTISING?

La presente tesi utilizza la metodologia neuroscientifica per studiare la comunicazione dal punto di vista della embodied cognition, la quale vede la comunicazione come la condivisione dell’informazione tra organismi biologici. Lo scopo della tesi è quello di aggiungere conoscenza in aree della comunicazione in cui l’applicazione delle neuroscienze è carente, usando una metodologia integrata che prevede la coregistrazione EEG-Biofeedback. All’interno della tematica della comunicazione mediata, il primo studio compara le pubblicità commerciale e prosociale, poiché l’applicazione delle neuroscienze a quest’ultima risulta carente. Lo scopo è quello di investigare l’esperienza relativa a questi due tipi di comunicazione, all’interno di differenti categorie semantiche di prodotto, confrontando misure implicite ed esplicite. Un secondo studio vuole illustrare il coinvolgimento di cues comunicative sensoriali durante l’esperienza del consumatore, esplorando diverse condizioni di stimolazione sensoriale entro un negozio per studiarne, a livello cerebrale, la loro interazione. Se la comunicazione possiede diversi livelli di consapevolezza, è possibile studiarla anche all’interno di condizioni patologiche. Un terzo studio, quindi, vuole trovare risposte ad alcuni interrogativi circa le componenti inconsce della comunicazione. In particolare, lo studio vuole valutare i processi sensoriali e cognitivi residui relativi al tatto in pazienti in stato vegetativo.The present thesis fits the neuroscientific method to the embodied communication perspective, which defines communication as an information sharing between biological bodies. The aim of this thesis is to increase knowledge into different research areas related to communication, in which the application of neurosciences is already lacking, using a multimethod approach that employs EEG-Biofeedback co-registration. Within the topic of mediated communication, the first study compares commercial and social-issue advertising, given the lack of studies that investigate the latter with a neuroscientific approach. The aim is to investigate the experience of watching these two types of advertising, through different product categories, comparing overt and covert measures. A second study has the aim to illustrate the involvement of sensory communication cues during consumer experience, exploring different conditions of sensory stimulation inside a store, in order to understand the interaction between senses in the consumer’s brain. If communication can be seen as a continuum with multiple degrees of awareness, it can be also studied in clinical and pathological conditions. A third study, thus, tries to find answers to open questions about unconscious components of communication. In particular, the study assesses residual sensory and cognitive processes related to touch in vegetative state patients

Pain and Consciousness in Humans. Or Why Pain Subserves the Identity and Self-representation

Traditional definitions of pain assume that an individual learns about pain through verbal usages related to the experience of injury in early life. This emphasis on the verbal correlates of pain restricts our understanding of pain to the context of adult human consciousness. In this paper we instead support the idea that our understanding of pain originates in neonatal experience and is not merely a verbally determined phenomenon. We also challenge the definition of pain as a merely sensory message related to peripheral tissue trauma. We aim to move beyond this definition by considering the relationship between the centre (Central Nervous System) and periphery, taking into account certain phenomena such as phantom limbs and interoception. We show that pain helps an individual to develop a sense of awareness of himself immersed in a social context, and is thus a complex and adaptive phenomenon, that supports bodily integrity and social behavior

Neuromanagement. What about emotion and communication?

A recent flourishing of research is carried out jointly by psychologists and neuroscientists on management field. The new-born research field of Management Neuroscience involves a new kind of scientist and the ultimate goal of this research domain is to open the “black-box” to understand the behavioral and neural processes through which humans set communication and translate these behaviors into optimal choices. This paper aims to bring forward new results and fresh insights into this matter, taking into account both communication and the emotional components of this process. Starting by a distinction between conscious and unconscious mental processes, we see non-verbal components and their fundamental role in communicative process modulation. Finally verbal communication is treated with suggestions relevant for managers in regulating communication inside the company

Erratum: Balconi, M.; et al. Evidences from Rewarding System, FRN and P300 Effect in Internet-Addiction in Young People SHORT TITLE: Rewarding System and EEG in Internet-Addiction Brain Sciences 2017, 7, 81

We would like to submit the following erratum to our recently published paper [1] due to the error in the title.[...

Social issues vs commercial advertising, differences in psychophysiological activation during multimedial artefact fruition

This study aimed to investigate differences in neurophysiological activation during different types of multimedial artefact fruition. In particular we wanted to verify cortical activation during the vision of both social issues and commercial advertising videos. 10 videos of 30 seconds of duration were presented to a sample of 15 healthy subjects. Half of them was commercial advertising videos and the other half dealed with social issue. Advertising videos were selected identifying 5 cathegories comparable by a commercial or pro-social point of view, and they were: money, health, technology, nutrition and clothing. During videos vision, cortical and physiological activation were recorded by electroencephalography and biofeedback. Data showed an increasing of Alpha power in central brain areas, greater during social issue advertising fruition and a higher Delta power in frontal brain areas for social issue advertising except for nutrition category, in wich there is a greater activation for commercial advertising. Physiological data showed an increasing of heartbeat during commercial advertising fruition, in particular for money, technology and nutrition cathegories. Data suggest a grater disposition to action and involvement in subjects due to commercial advertising features. This is showed by heartbeat increasing during commercial videos and alpha band incrising in central areas while whatching prosocial videos, that means a de-activation of central areas, involved in movement and tension to action. During social issue advertising, instead, we can see an activation of frontal area, linked to motivation processes. Finally, starting by the point that frontal lobe is related to evolved social functions linked to adaptation to social environment, we could imagine that commercial advertising touches more ancestral and instinctual processes related to movement and action, with lower central Alpha power; social issue advertising, on the other side, with higher frontal Delta power, activates higher functions related to motivation, adaptation to the environment, and thus to prosociality

Smell and 3D Haptic Representation: A Common Pathway to Understand Brain Dynamics in a Cross-Modal Task. A Pilot OERP and fNIRS Study

Cross-modal perception allows olfactory information to integrate with other sensory modalities. Olfactory representations are processed by multisensory cortical pathways, where the aspects related to the haptic sensations are integrated. This complex reality allows the development of an integrated perception, where olfactory aspects compete with haptic and/or trigeminal activations. It is assumed that this integration involves both perceptive electrophysiological and metabolic/hemodynamic aspects, but there are no studies evaluating these activations in parallel. The aim of this study was to investigate brain dynamics during a cross-modal olfactory and haptic attention task, preceded by an exploratory session. The assessment of cross-modal dynamics was conducted through simultaneous electroencephalography (EEG) and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) recording, evaluating both electrophysiological and hemodynamic activities. The study consisted of two experimental sessions and was conducted with a sample of ten healthy subjects (mean age 25 5.2 years). In Session 1, the subjects were trained to manipulate 3D haptic models (HC) and to smell different scents (SC). In Session 2, the subjects were tested during an attentive olfactory task, in order to investigate the olfactory event-related potentials (OERP) N1 and late positive component (LPC), and EEG rhythms associated with fNIRS components (oxy- Hb and deoxy-Hb). The main results of this study highlighted, in Task 1, a higher fNIRS oxy-Hb response during SC and a positive correlation with the delta rhythm in the central and parietal EEG region of interest. In Session 2, the N1 OERP highlighted a greater amplitude in SC. A negative correlation was found in HC for the deoxy-Hb parietal with frontal and central N1, and for the oxy-Hb frontal with N1 in the frontal, central and parietal regions of interests (ROIs). A negative correlation was found in parietal LPC amplitude with central deoxy-Hb. The data suggest that cross-modal valence modifies the attentional olfactory response and that the dorsal cortical/metabolic pathways are involved in these responses. This can be considered as an important starting point for understanding integrated cognition, as the subject could perceive in an ecological context

Does physical attractiveness of the face affect neural correlates of empathy for pain? A fNIRS study

Background: Brain areas involved with the direct experience of pain are also involved with the observation of pain in others. Indeed, a higher brain activation registered when observing individuals in painful versus non-painful condition is interpreted as an empathic reaction. However, empathy for pain is modulated also by other variables such as group membership or attractiveness. As shown by the so-called Racial Bias in Empathy (RBE), even simple information about group affiliation can influence brain empathic responses (Sessa, Meconi, Castelli, & Dell\u2019Acqua, 2014). Previous research demonstrated that enhancing attention to others suffering, to individual attributes and including other-race individuals in one's own team may reduce the racial bias (Sheng & Han 2012). Thus, we aimed to assess cortical activity when attention is focused on an individual\u2019s painful feelings as a cognitive strategy that enhances the individuated processing of persons. Methods: Brain activity, considered in its hemodynamic (optical imaging: functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy, fNIRS) components (oxygenated [oxy-Hb] and deoxygenated hemoglobin [deoxy-Hb]) was monitored when 22 subjects (Mage=24.9; SD=3.6) observed faces (Attractive; Unattractive) that express painful conditions (Pain; No pain) and were asked to rate the attractiveness and pain feeling of the face. A total of 8 channels was considered to target Inferior Frontal Gyrus (IFG), sensory cortex and temporo-parietal junction (TPJ). In addition, the cortical lateralization effect (more left or right) was explored. Oxy-Hb and deoxy-Hb levels were analyzed for each channel, selected regions of interest and lateralization. Results: Single channel analyses revealed significant lower oxy-Hb levels in left IFG when asking participants to rate both face\u2019s attractiveness and pain. In addition, single channel analyses revealed lower levels of deoxy-Hb in the left TPJ for attractive faces and in the right TPJ for unattractive faces, in both pain conditions. Instead, beyond attractiveness, higher deoxy-Hb values were found in the left hemisphere when subjects were asked to rate face pain. Conclusions: These fNIRS significant effects could be due to enhanced attention to faces physical features and revealed a right/left lateralization tendency that were both discussed at the light of emotional processing and empathic response. Future research in the field of empathy for pain may benefit from the integration of hemodynamic and electrophysiological measures as added value to investigate pro-social behavior, which is in line with social standards. References Sessa, P., Meconi, F., Castelli, L., & Dell\u2019Acqua, R. (2013). Taking one\u2019s time in feeling other-race pain: an event-related potential investigation on the time-course of cross-racial empathy. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 9(4), 454-463. Sheng, F., & Han, S. (2012). Manipulations of cognitive strategies and intergroup relationships reduce the racial bias in empathic neural responses. NeuroImage, 61(4), 786-797

IMMUNO-ONCOLOGICAL TREATMENT OF NON-SMALL-CELL LUNG CANCER IN ADVANCED STAGE WITH NIVOLUMAB

In recent years, significant scientific progress has been made in the therapy of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC),which has made possible a better knowledge of this pathology and above all the realization of new personalized therapies. The main therapeutic revolution in advanced NSCLC is immunooncology, a new therapeutic strategy that aims to awaken the immune system to fight cancer cells. Our work helped us evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of monotherapy with Nivolumab in the treatment of patients with advanced stage IIIB/IV non-smallcell lung cancer beyond the second line. We can conclude that in the treatment of non-small-cell lung cancer, the use of Nivolumab improves the prognosis and quality of life of the patients, without causing serious side effects compared to other treatments. We hope that in the future the combination of predictive biomarker research combined with the improvement of Immunoncology protocols will led to ever greater overall survival data

Neural correlates of empathy for pain: an EEG-fNIRS coregistration study

Background: Besides personal features and belonging to a group, even the physical attractiveness of the person might modify the course of an empathic response in different conditions, such as empathy for pain. This research checked the impact of the physical attractiveness of the face in a situation associated with the sensation of pain. Methods: 22 participants (Mage=24.9; SD=3.6) observed faces (Attractive; Unattractive) that express painful conditions (Pain, P; No pain, NP) and were asked to rate the attractiveness and pain feeling of the face while hemodynamic and electrophysiological brain activity was recorded by means of functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (fNIRS) and electroencephalogram (EEG) technology. To better deepening the empathy for pain effect, participants attention was drawn on the pain and on the attractiveness of the faces by a specific question. Results: Event-Related Potential (ERP) analysis revealed a significant interaction for N2 component (p= .015) between P and NP condition only for attractive condition, regardless of the question. For P3 component there is a significant difference (p= .008) between P and NP condition only when the participants\u2019 attention is turned on pain. fNIRS single channel analysis showed significant reduction of oxygenated hemoglobin in the left Inferior Frontal Gyrus for pain stimuli (p= .026) and a significant difference for the question about pain (p= .019), between P and NP condition only for unattractive condition. Conclusions: Findings suggested that to process the question about pain or about attractiveness higher cognitive processes are needed, so the question condition might not have an influence on emotional empathy (reflected by early ERP components like N2), but it should have an impact on the cognitive aspect of empathy (reflected by P3). However, as shown by both EEG and fNIRS results physical attractiveness affects frontal areas involved in the appraisal of faces in painful conditions