Short-term memory for emotional faces in dysphoria

The study aimed to determine if the memory bias for negative faces previously demonstrated in depression and dysphoria generalises from long- to short-term memory. A total of 29 dysphoric (DP) and22 non-dysphoric (ND) participants were presented with a series of faces and asked to identify the emotion portrayed (happiness, sadness, anger, or neutral affect). Following a delay, four faces were presented (the original plus three distractors) and participants were asked to identify the target face. Half of the trials assessed memory for facial emotion, and the remaining trials examined memory for facial identity. At encoding, no group differences were apparent. At memory testing, relative to ND participants, DP participants exhibited impaired memory for all types of facial emotion and for facial identity when the faces featured happiness, anger, or neutral affect, but not sadness. DP participants exhibited impaired identity memory for happy faces relative to angry, sad, and neutral, whereas ND participants exhibited enhanced facial identity memory when faces were angry. In general, memory for faces was not related to performance at encoding. However, in DP participants only, memory for sad faces was related to sadness recognition at encoding. The results suggest that the negative memory bias for faces in dysphoria does not generalise from long- to short-term memory

Antibody decay, T cell immunity and breakthrough infections following two SARS-CoV-2 vaccine doses in infliximab- and vedolizumab-treated patients

We report SARS-CoV-2 vaccine-induced immunity and risk of breakthrough infections in patients with inflammatory bowel disease treated with infliximab, a commonly used anti-TNF drug and those treated with vedolizumab, a gut-specific antibody targeting integrin a4b7 that does not impact systemic immunity. In infliximab-treated patients, the magnitude of anti-SARS-CoV2 antibodies was reduced 4-6-fold. One fifth of both infliximab- and vedolizumab-treated patients did not mount a T cell response. Antibody half-life was shorter in infliximab-treated patients. Breakthrough SARS-CoV-2 infections occurred more frequently in infliximab-treated patients and the risk was predicted by the level of antibody response after second vaccine dose. Overall, recipients of two doses of the BNT162b2 vaccine had higher anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody concentrations, higher seroconversion rates, shorter antibody half-life and less breakthrough infections compared to ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine recipients. Irrespective of biologic treatment, higher, more sustained antibody levels were observed in patients with a history of SARS-CoV-2 infection prior to vaccination. Patients treated with anti-TNF therapy should be offered third vaccine doses

Root Canal Anatomy of Maxillary and Mandibular Teeth

It is a common knowledge that a comprehensive understanding of the complexity of the internal anatomy of teeth is imperative to ensure successful root canal treatment. The significance of canal anatomy has been emphasized by studies demonstrating that variations in canal geometry before cleaning, shaping, and obturation procedures had a greater effect on the outcome than the techniques themselves. In recent years, significant technological advances for imaging teeth, such as CBCT and micro-CT, respectively, have been introduced. Their noninvasive nature allows to perform in vivo anatomical studies using large populations to address the influence of several variables such as ethnicity, aging, gender, and others, on the root canal anatomy, as well as to evaluate, quantitatively and/or qualitatively, specific and fine anatomical features of a tooth group. The purpose of this chapter is to summarize the morphological aspects of the root canal anatomy published in the literature of all groups of teeth and illustrate with three-dimensional images acquired from micro-CT technology.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Antibody decay, T cell immunity and breakthrough infections following two SARS-CoV-2 vaccine doses in inflammatory bowel disease patients treated with infliximab and vedolizumab

This is the final version. Available on open access from Nature Research via the DOI in this recordData availability: The study protocol including the statistical analysis plan is available at https://www.clarityibd.org/. Individual participant de-identified data that underlie the results reported in this article will be available immediately after publication for a period of 5 years. Due to the sensitive nature of the data, this will be made available to investigators whose proposed use of the data has been approved by an independent review committee. Analyses will be restricted to the aims in the approved proposal. Proposals should be directed to [email protected]. To gain access data requestors will need to sign a data access agreement. Data from the Virus Watch study is currently being archived on the Office of National Statistics Secure Research Service and will be available shortly. Source data are provided with this paper in the Source Data file. Source data are provided with this paper.Code availability: Statistical analyses were undertaken in R 4.1.2 (R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. Code has been made available at: https://github.com/exeteribd/clarityibd-public.Anti tumour necrosis factor (anti-TNF) drugs increase the risk of serious respiratory infection and impair protective immunity following pneumococcal and influenza vaccination. Here we report SARS-CoV-2 vaccine-induced immune responses and breakthrough infections in patients with inflammatory bowel disease, who are treated either with the anti-TNF antibody, infliximab, or with vedolizumab targeting a gut-specific anti-integrin that does not impair systemic immunity. Geometric mean [SD] anti-S RBD antibody concentrations are lower and half-lives shorter in patients treated with infliximab than vedolizumab, following two doses of BNT162b2 (566.7 U/mL [6.2] vs 4555.3 U/mL [5.4], p <0.0001; 26.8 days [95% CI 26.2 - 27.5] vs 47.6 days [45.5 - 49.8], p <0.0001); similar results are also observed with ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccination (184.7 U/mL [5.0] vs 784.0 U/mL [3.5], p <0.0001; 35.9 days [34.9 - 36.8] vs 58.0 days [55.0 - 61.3], p value < 0.0001). One fifth of patients fail to mount a T cell response in both treatment groups. Breakthrough SARS-CoV-2 infections are more frequent (5.8% (201/3441) vs 3.9% (66/1682), p = 0.0039) in patients treated with infliximab than vedolizumab, and the risk of breakthrough SARS-CoV-2 infection is predicted by peak anti-S RBD antibody concentration after two vaccine doses. Irrespective of the treatments, higher, more sustained antibody levels are observed in patients with a history of SARS-CoV-2 infection prior to vaccination. Our results thus suggest that adapted vaccination schedules may be required to induce immunity in at-risk, anti-TNF-treated patients

Expression influences the recognition of familiar faces

Face recognition has been assumed to be independent of facial expression. We used familiar and unfamiliar faces that were morphed from a happy to an angry expression within a given identity. Participants performed speeded two-choice decisions according to whether or not a face was familiar. Consistent with earlier findings, reaction times for classifications of unfamiliar faces were independent of facial expressions. In contrast, expression clearly influenced the recognition of familiar faces, with fastest recognition for moderately happy expressions. This suggests that representations of familiar faces for recognition preserve some information about typical emotional expressions

Three-layered proteomic characterization of a novel ACTN4 mutation unravels its pathogenic potential in FSGS

Genetic diseases constitute the most important cause for end-stage renal disease in children and adolescents. Mutations in the ACTN4 gene, encoding the actin-binding protein alpha-actinin-4, are a rare cause of autosomal dominant familial focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS). Here, we report the identification of a novel, disease-causing ACTN4 mutation (p.G195D, de novo) in a sporadic case of childhood FSGS using next generation sequencing. Proteome analysis by quantitative mass spectrometry (MS) of patient-derived urinary epithelial cells indicated that ACTN4 levels were significantly decreased when compared with healthy controls. By resolving the peptide bearing the mutated residue, we could proof that the mutant protein is less abundant when compared with the wild-type protein. Further analyses revealed that the decreased stability of p.G195D is associated with increased ubiquitylation in the vicinity of the mutation site. We next defined the ACTN4 interactome, which was predominantly composed of cytoskeletal modulators and LIM domain-containing proteins. Interestingly, this entire group of proteins, including several highly specific ACTN4 interactors, was globally decreased in the patient-derived cells. Taken together, these data suggest a mechanistic link between ACTN4 instability and proteome perturbations of the ACTN4 interactome. Our findings advance the understanding of dominant effects exerted by ACTN4 mutations in FSGS. This study illustrates the potential of genomics and complementary, high-resolution proteomics analyses to study the pathogenicity of rare gene variants

Visual Acuity and Experience with Magnification Devices in Swiss Dental Practices

OBJECTIVES The aims of the present study in Swiss dental practices were 1) to provide an update on the prevalence of different magnification devices, 2) to examine the relationship between self-assessed and objectively measured visual acuity, and 3) to evaluate the visual performance of dentists in the individually optimized clinical situation of their respective practices. METHODS AND MATERIALS Sixty-nine dentists from 40 randomly selected private practices (n=20, <40 years; n=49, ≥40 years) participated in the study. A questionnaire was provided to evaluate the self-assessed near visual acuity and the experience with magnification devices. The objective near visual acuity was measured under standardized conditions on a negatoscope. The clinical situation, including the use of habitual optical aids, was evaluated with visual tests on a phantom head. RESULTS A total of 64% of the dentists owned a dental loupe: 45% Galilean loupes, 16% Keplerian loupes, and 3% single lens loupes. In total, 19% of the questioned dentists owned a microscope in addition to the loupes. The correlation between the self-assessed and the objective visual performance of the dentists was weak (Spearman rank correlation coefficient=0.25). In the habitual clinical situation, magnification devices (p=0.03) and the dentist's age (p=0.0012) had a significant influence on the visual performance. CONCLUSIONS Many dentists were not aware of their visual handicaps. Optical aids such as loupes or microscopes should be used early enough to compensate for individual or age-related visual deficiencies