Traumatic brain injury patients: does frontal brain lesion influence basic emotion recognition?

Adequate emotion recognition is relevant to individuals’ interpersonal communication. Patients with frontal traumatic brain injury (TBI) exhibit a lower response to facial emotional stimuli, influencing social interactions. In this sense, the main goal of the current study was to assess the ability of TBI patients in recognizing basic emotions. Photographs of facial expressions of five basic emotions (happiness, sadness, fear, anger, and surprise) were presented to 32 TBI patients and 41 healthy controls. Emotion recognition was measured by accuracy and reaction time. Overall performance of the TBI group was poorer than control group for emotion recognition, both in terms of accuracy and reaction time. It is suggested that TBI patients show impairment on emotion recognition, and this relation seems to be moderated by the lesion localization. Keywords: emotion recognition, basic emotions, TBI patients

Enhanced In Vitro Antiviral Activity of Hydroxychloroquine Ionic Liquids against SARS-CoV-2

The authors also thank Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia for the projects Research 4 COVID-19 no. 582, and RECI/BBBBQB/0230/2012. The authors also acknowledge the Solchemar company. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.The development of effective antiviral drugs against SARS-CoV-2 is urgently needed and a global health priority. In light of the initial data regarding the repurposing of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) to tackle this coronavirus, herein we present a quantitative synthesis and spectroscopic and thermal characterization of seven HCQ room temperature ionic liquids (HCQ-ILs) obtained by direct protonation of the base with two equivalents of organic sulfonic, sulfuric and carboxylic acids of different polarities. Two non-toxic and hydrophilic HCQ-ILs, in particular, [HCQH2 ][C1 SO3 ]2 and [HCQH2 ][GlcCOO]2, decreased the virus-induced cytopathic effect by two-fold in comparison with the original drug, [HCQH2 ][SO4 ]. Despite there being no significant differences in viral RNA production between the three compounds, progeny virus production was significantly affected (p < 0.05) by [HCQH2 ][GlcCOO]2 . Overall, the data suggest that the in vitro antiviral activities of the HCQ-ILs are most likely the result of specific intra-and intermolecular interactions and not so much related with their hydrophilic or lipophilic character. This work paves the way for the development of future novel ionic formulations of hydroxychloroquine with enhanced physicochemical properties.publishersversionpublishe

Orthographic depth and its impact on Universal Predictors of Reading: a cross-language investigation

Alphabetic orthographies differ in the transparency of their letter-sound mappings, with English orthography being less transparent than other alphabetic scripts. The outlier status of English has led scientists to question the generality of findings based on English-language studies. We investigated the role of phonological awareness, memory, vocabulary, rapid naming, and nonverbal intelligence in reading performance across five languages lying at differing positions along a transparency continuum (Finnish, Hungarian, Dutch, Portuguese, and French). Results from a sample of 1,265 children in Grade 2 showed that phonological awareness was the main factor associated with reading performance in each language. However, its impact was modulated by the transparency of the orthography, being stronger in less transparent orthographies. The influence of rapid naming was rather weak and limited to reading and decoding speed. Most predictors of reading performance were relatively universal across these alphabetic languages, although their precise weight varied systematically as a function of script transparenc

“There are things I want to say but you do not ask”: a comparison between standardised and individualised evaluations in substance use treatment

There has been an increasing call for service users to be more actively involved with the evaluation of treatment outcomes. One strategy to impove such involvement is to ask service users to contribute with their own criteria for evaluation by sharing their personal story and perspective about their clinical situation. In this cross-sectional study, we contrasted the contents elicited by service users completing two individualised measures against the contents of three widely used standardised measures. We also compared two methods to generate individualised data using self-report and interview-based instruments (PSYCHLOPS and PQ). Following a thematic comparison approach, we found that one quarter of the problems reported by patients in individualised measures were not covered by any of our standardised comparators. Also, half of our sample generated at least one problem whose theme was not covered by any of the three standardised measures. We also found that patients in this population have many other concerns beyond drug use. These included psychological (e.g. interpersonal relationships) and socio-economic (e.g. money) problems, which were frequently reported. Our study suggests that listening to service users’ stories allows us to capture issues of importance to service users in substance use treatment, which may be underestimated by standardised measures

Approaches to study in higher education portuguese students: a portuguese version of the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students (ASSIST)

This paper examines the validity of the Approaches and Study Skills Inventory for Students—short version (ASSIST; Tait et al. in Improving student learning: Improving students as learners, 1998), to be used with Portuguese undergraduate students. The ASSIST was administrated to 566 students, in order to analyse a Portuguese version of this inventory. Exploratory factor analysis (principal axis factor analysis followed by direct oblimin rotation) reproduced the three main factors that correspond to the original dimensions of the inventory (deep, surface apathetic and strategic approaches to learning). The results are consistent with the background theory on approaches to learning. Additionally, the reliability analysis revealed acceptable internal consistency indexes for the main scales and subscales. This inventory might represent a valuable research tool for the assessment of approaches to learning among Portuguese higher education students

Implicit sequence learning is preserved in dyslexic children

This study investigates the implicit sequence learning abilities of dyslexic children using an artificial grammar learning task with an extended exposure period. Twenty children with developmental dyslexia participated in the study and were matched with two control groups-one matched for age and other for reading skills. During 3 days, all participants performed an acquisition task, where they were exposed to colored geometrical forms sequences with an underlying grammatical structure. On the last day, after the acquisition task, participants were tested in a grammaticality classification task. Implicit sequence learning was present in dyslexic children, as well as in both control groups, and no differences between groups were observed. These results suggest that implicit learning deficits per se cannot explain the characteristic reading difficulties of the dyslexics.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A meta-analytic review of naming-speed deficits in developmental dyslexia

This study presents a meta-analytic review of serial rapid automatized naming (RAN) deficits in individuals with dyslexia relative to typical readers (based on 216 effect sizes comprising 8335 dyslexic readers, 14,083 age-matched controls, and 921 reading-matched controls). A random-effects model analysis indicated a large impairment in speeded RAN in individuals with dyslexia compared with age-matched controls (d = 1.19) but a similar performance when compared with reading-matched controls (d = 0.13). In addition, dyslexic readers presented a deficit in discrete-naming formats (d = 0.74), although the deficit in serial RAN was notably larger; hence, adding seriality is particularly detrimental for these readers. The deficit appears to span all stimulus types (alphanumeric and nonalphanumeric), indicating that processes beyond letter processing are responsible for the delays and are independent of set size. Poor RAN is a long-term and universal symptom of dyslexia, and the transparency of the writing system does not influence its severitFundacao para a Ciencia e a TecnologiaPortuguese Foundation for Science and Technology [IF/00533/2015

Changes in social emotion recognition following traumatic frontal lobe injury

Changes in social and emotional behaviour have been consistently observed in patients with traumatic brain injury. These changes are associated with emotion recognition deficits which represent one of the major barriers to a successful familiar and social reintegration. In the present study, 32 patients with traumatic brain injury, involving the frontal lobe, and 41 age- and education-matched healthy controls were analyzed. A Go/No-Go task was designed, where each participant had to recognize faces representing three social emotions (arrogance, guilt and jealousy). Results suggested that ability to recognize two social emotions (arrogance and jealousy) was significantly reduced in patients with traumatic brain injury, indicating frontal lesion can reduce emotion recognition ability. In addition, the analysis of the results for hemispheric lesion location (right, left or bilateral) suggested the bilateral lesion sub-group showed a lower accuracy on all social emotions

Semaphorin 4B is an ADAM17-cleaved adipokine that inhibits adipocyte differentiation and thermogenesis

Objective: The metalloprotease ADAM17 (also called TACE) plays fundamental roles in homeostasis by shedding key signaling molecules from the cell surface. Although its importance for the immune system and epithelial tissues is well-documented, little is known about the role of ADAM17 in metabolic homeostasis. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of ADAM17 expression, specifically in adipose tissues, on metabolic homeostasis. Methods: We used histopathology, molecular, proteomic, transcriptomic, in vivo integrative physiological and ex vivo biochemical approaches to determine the impact of adipose tissue-specific deletion of ADAM17 upon adipocyte and whole organism metabolic physiology. Results: ADAM17adipoq-creΔ/Δ mice exhibited a hypermetabolic phenotype characterized by elevated energy consumption and increased levels of adipocyte thermogenic gene expression. On a high fat diet, these mice were more thermogenic, while exhibiting elevated expression levels of genes associated with lipid oxidation and lipolysis. This hypermetabolic phenotype protected mutant mice from obesogenic challenge, limiting weight gain, hepatosteatosis and insulin resistance. Activation of beta-adrenoceptors by the neurotransmitter norepinephrine, a key regulator of adipocyte physiology, triggered the shedding of ADAM17 substrates, and regulated ADAM17 expression at the mRNA and protein levels, hence identifying a functional connection between thermogenic licensing and the regulation of ADAM17. Proteomic studies identified Semaphorin 4B (SEMA4B), as a novel ADAM17-shed adipokine, whose expression is regulated by physiological thermogenic cues, that acts to inhibit adipocyte differentiation and dampen thermogenic responses in adipocytes. Transcriptomic data showed that cleaved SEMA4B acts in an autocrine manner in brown adipocytes to repress the expression of genes involved in adipogenesis, thermogenesis, and lipid uptake, storage and catabolism. Conclusions: Our findings identify a novel ADAM17-dependent axis, regulated by beta-adrenoceptors and mediated by the ADAM17-cleaved form of SEMA4B, that modulates energy balance in adipocytes by inhibiting adipocyte differentiation, thermogenesis and lipid catabolism

iRhom2/ADAM17 deletion protects from obesity associated to increased adipocyte thermogenesis and differentiation and reduced adipocyte Semaphorin 4B shedding

Objectives: The metalloprotease ADAM17 (also called TACE) plays fundamental roles during development, and to promote homeostasis and multiple inflammatory diseases and cancer by shedding key signaling molecules from the cell surface. Its importance in inflammation and growth control is well documented, while little is known about the role of ADAM17 and its regulator iRhom2 in metabolic homeostasis. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of the sheddase ADAM17/TACE and of its modulator iRhom2 in the pathophysiology of obesity and in adipocyte homeostasis. Materials and Methods: We challenged controls versus iRhom2 global KO or adipocyte specific ADAM17 KO mice to positive energy balance by chronic exposure to a high fat diet, and then compared their metabolic phenotypes. We also carried out ex vivo assays with primary and immortalized mouse brown and beige adipocytes to establish the autonomy of the effect of loss of iRhom2 and ADAM17 on differentiation, thermogenesis and respiration. In addition, we used proteomic and transcriptomic analyses to identify and characterize a novel ADAM17 substrate involved. Results: iRhom2 global KO and adipocyte-specific ADAM17 KO mice exhibited a hypermetabolic phenotype characterized by elevated energy consumption and increased levels of adipocyte thermogenic gene expression and browning. This protected mutant mice from obesogenic challenge, limiting weight gain, hepatosteatosis and insulin resistance. Proteomic studies identified Semaphorin 4B (SEMA4B), as a novel ADAM17-shed adipokine, whose expression is regulated by physiological thermogenic cues, that acts to inhibit adipocyte differentiation and dampen thermogenic responses in adipocytes. Conclusion: Our findings identify a novel iRhom2/ADAM17-dependent axis, regulated by beta-adrenoceptors and mediated by the ADAM17-cleaved form of SEMA4B, that modulates energy balance in adipocytes by inhibiting adipocyte differentiation, thermogenesis and lipid catabolism. Keywords: iRhom2, ADAM17/TACE; Semaphorin4B; Thermogenesis; Obesity