Face Coverings Differentially Alter Valence Judgments of Emotional Expressions

Face masks that prevent disease transmission obscure facial expressions, impairing nonverbal communication. We assessed the impact of lower (masks) and upper (sunglasses) face coverings on emotional valence judgments of clearly valenced (fearful, happy) and ambiguously valenced (surprised) expressions, the latter of which have both positive and negative meanings. Masks, but not sunglasses, impaired judgments of clearly valenced expressions compared to faces without coverings. Drift diffusion models revealed that lower, but not upper, face coverings slowed evidence accumulation and affected differences in non-judgment processes (i.e., stimulus encoding, response execution time) for all expressions. Our results confirm mask-interference effects in nonverbal communication. The findings have implications for nonverbal and intergroup communication, and we propose guidance for implementing strategies to overcome mask-related interference

Neurofilament Light Protein as a Potential Blood Biomarker for Huntington's Disease in Children

BACKGROUND: Juvenile-onset Huntington's disease (JOHD) is a rare and particularly devastating form of Huntington's disease (HD) for which clinical diagnosis is challenging and robust outcome measures are lacking. Neurofilament light protein (NfL) in plasma has emerged as a prognostic biomarker for adult-onset HD. METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of samples and data collected between 2009 and 2020 from the Kids-HD and Kids-JHD studies. Plasma samples from children and young adults with JOHD, premanifest HD (preHD) mutation carriers, and age-matched controls were used to quantify plasma NfL concentrations using ultrasensitive immunoassay. RESULTS: We report elevated plasma NfL concentrations in JOHD and premanifest HD mutation-carrying children. In pediatric HD mutation carriers who were within 20 years of their predicted onset and patients with JOHD, plasma NfL level was associated with caudate and putamen volumes. CONCLUSIONS: Quantifying plasma NfL concentration may assist clinical diagnosis and therapeutic trial design in the pediatric population. © 2022 The Authors. Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Parkinson Movement Disorder Society

Visual predation risk and spatial distributions of large Arctic copepods along gradients of sea ice and bottom depth

Changes in the community size structure of Arctic copepods toward smaller and less fat individuals or species have been linked to environmental changes. The underpinning mechanisms are, however, poorly understood. We use a two-step hurdle regression model to analyze spatially resolved, long-term survey data of the Barents Sea mesozooplankton community along gradients of water mass properties, sea ice, and bottom depth. We test the hypothesis that reduced visual predation, and hence increased survival in dim habitats, explains the distribution of large copepods. We expect the presence and biomass of large copepods to increase with increasing bottom depth and the occurrence of seasonal ice-cover. The patterns and drivers that emerge from our analysis support our hypothesis: in the Barents Sea large copepods were predominantly found in deep troughs that intersect the shelf south of the polar front, or at shallower depths in seasonally ice-covered waters northeast of Svalbard. On the banks, large copepods are largely absent whereas smaller copepods appear to survive. Top-down control provides one plausible explanation for these distributions. Large copepods survive where sea-ice shades the water or deep habitats permit escape from visual predators through vertical migrations. However, when upwelled onto shallow banks or flushed out from below the ice they are decimated by visual foragers. Therefore, advection and topographic blockage of vertical zooplankton distributions are key mechanisms for the efficient energy transfer and productivity in subarctic and Arctic shelf seas. New prolific foraging grounds may open up for planktivores where the ice-edge recedes under a changing climate

Spin and orbital magnetic moments of size-selected iron, cobalt, and nickel clusters and their link to the bulk phase diagrams

Spin and orbital magnetic moments of cationic iron, cobalt, and nickel clusters have been determined from x-ray magnetic circular dichroism spectroscopy. In the size regime of $n = 10 - 15$ atoms, these clusters show strong ferromagnetism with maximized spin magnetic moments of 1~$\mu_B$ per empty $3d$ state because of completely filled $3d$ majority spin bands. The only exception is $\mathrm{Fe}_{13}^+$ where an unusually low average spin magnetic moment of $0.73 \pm 0.12$~$\mu_B$ per unoccupied $3d$ state is detected; an effect, which is neither observed for $\mathrm{Co}_{13}^+$ nor $\mathrm{Ni}_{13}^+$.\@ This distinct behavior can be linked to the existence and accessibility of antiferromagnetic, paramagnetic, or nonmagnetic phases in the respective bulk phase diagrams of iron, cobalt, and nickel. Compared to the experimental data, available density functional theory calculations generally seem to underestimate the spin magnetic moments significantly. In all clusters investigated, the orbital magnetic moment is quenched to $5 - 25$\,\% of the atomic value by the reduced symmetry of the crystal field. The magnetic anisotropy energy is well below 65 $\mu$eV per atom

Activity or connectivity? A randomized controlled feasibility study evaluating neurofeedback training in Huntington's disease

Non-invasive methods, such as neurofeedback training, could support cognitive symptom management in Huntington’s disease by targeting brain regions whose function is impaired. The aim of our single-blind, sham-controlled study was to collect rigorous evidence regarding the feasibility of neurofeedback training in Huntington’s disease by examining two different methods, activity and connectivity real-time functional MRI neurofeedback training. Thirty-two Huntington’s disease gene-carriers completed 16 runs of neurofeedback training, using an optimized real-time functional MRI protocol. Participants were randomized into four groups, two treatment groups, one receiving neurofeedback derived from the activity of the supplementary motor area, and another receiving neurofeedback based on the correlation of supplementary motor area and left striatum activity (connectivity neurofeedback training), and two sham control groups, matched to each of the treatment groups. We examined differences between the groups during neurofeedback training sessions and after training at follow-up sessions. Transfer of training was measured by measuring the participants’ ability to upregulate neurofeedback training target levels without feedback (near transfer), as well as by examining change in objective, a priori defined, behavioural measures of cognitive and psychomotor function (far transfer) before and at 2 months after training. We found that the treatment group had significantly higher neurofeedback training target levels during the training sessions compared to the control group. However, we did not find robust evidence of better transfer in the treatment group compared to controls, or a difference between the two neurofeedback training methods. We also did not find evidence in support of a relationship between change in cognitive and psychomotor function and learning success. We conclude that although there is evidence that neurofeedback training can be used to guide participants to regulate the activity and connectivity of specific regions in the brain, evidence regarding transfer of learning and clinical benefit was not robust

Activity or Connectivity? Evaluating neurofeedback training in Huntington's disease

Non-invasive methods, such as neurofeedback training (NFT), could support cognitive symptom management in Huntington’s disease (HD) by targeting brain regions whose function is impaired. The aim of our single-blind, sham-controlled study was to collect rigorous evidence regarding the feasibility of NFT in HD by examining two different methods, activity and connectivity real-time fMRI NFT. Thirty-two HD gene-carriers completed 16 runs of NFT training, using an optimized real-time fMRI protocol. Participants were randomized into four groups, two treatment groups, one receiving neurofeedback derived from the activity of the Supplementary Motor Area (SMA), and another receiving neurofeedback based on the correlation of SMA and left striatum activity (connectivity NFT), and two sham control groups, matched to each of the treatment groups. We examined differences between the groups during NFT training sessions and after training at follow-up sessions. Transfer of training was measured by measuring the participants’ ability to upregulate NFT target levels without feedback (near transfer), as well as by examining change in objective, a-priori defined, behavioural measures of cognitive and psychomotor function (far transfer) before and at 2 months after training. We found that the treatment group had significantly higher NFT target levels during the training sessions compared to the control group. However, we did not find robust evidence of better transfer in the treatment group compared to controls, or a difference between the two NFT methods. We also did not find evidence in support of a relationship between change in cognitive and psychomotor function and NFT learning success. We conclude that although there is evidence that NFT can be used to guide participants to regulate the activity and connectivity of specific regions in the brain, evidence regarding transfer of learning and clinical benefit was not robust. Although the intervention is non-invasive, given the costs and absence of reliable evidence of clinical benefit, we cannot recommend real-time fMRI NFT as a potential intervention in HD

Synthetic Photoswitchable Neurotransmitters Based on Bridged Azobenzenes

Photoswitchable neurotransmitters of ionotropic kainate receptors were synthesized by tethering a glutamate moiety to disubstituted C2-bridged azobenzenes, which were prepared through a novel methodology that allows access to diazocines with higher yields and versatility. Because of the singular properties of these photochromes, photoisomerizable compounds were obtained with larger thermal stability for their inert cis isomer than for their biologically activity trans state. This enabled selective neuronal firing upon irradiation without background activity in the dark