An ERP study of low and high relevance semantic features

It is believed that the N400 elicited by concepts belonging to Living is larger than N400 to Non-living. This is considered as evidence that concepts are organized, in the brain, on the basis of categories. We conducted a feature-verification experiment where Living and Non-living concepts were matched for relevance of semantic features. Relevance is a measure of the contribution of semantic features to the “core” meaning of a concept. We found that when relevance is low the N400 is large. In addition, we found that when the two categories of Living and Non-living are equated for relevance the seemingly category effect at behavioral and neural level disappeared. In sum, N400 is sensitive, rather than to categories, to semantic features, thus showing that previously reported effects of semantic categories may arise as a consequence of the differing relevance of concepts belonging to Living and Non-living categories

FEATURE TYPE EFFECTS IN SEMANTIC MEMORY: AN EVENT RELATED POTENTIALS STUDY

It is believed that the N400 elicited by concepts belonging to Living is larger than N400 to Objects. This is considered as evidence that concepts are organized, in the brain, on the basis of categories. Similarly, differential N400 to sensory and non-sensory semantic features was taken as evidence for a neural organisation of conceptual memory based on semantic features. We conducted a feature-verification experiment where Living and Non-Living concepts are described by sensory and non-sensory features were matched for age-of-acquisition, typicality and familiarity and for relevance of semantic features. Relevance is a measure of the contribution of semantic features to the “core” meaning of a concept. We found that when Relevance is low then N400 is larger. In addition, we found that when the two categories of Living and Non-Living concepts are matched for relevance the seemingly category effect at the neural level disappeared. Also no difference between sensory and non-sensory descriptions was detected when relevance was matched. In sum, N400 does not differ between categories or feature types. Previously reported effects of semantic categories and feature type may have arisen as a consequence of the differing Relevance of concepts belonging to Living and Non-Living categories

Epistocracy for Online Deliberative Bioethics

The suggestion that deliberative democratic approaches would suit the management of bioethical policymaking in democratic pluralistic societies has triggered what has been called the deliberative turn in health policy and bioethics. Most of the empirical work in this area has focused on the allocation of healthcare resources and priority setting at the local or national level. The variety of the more or less articulated theoretical efforts behind such initiatives is remarkable and has been accompanied, to date, by an overall lack of method specificity. We propose a set of methodological requirements for online deliberative procedures for bioethics. We provide a theoretical motivation for these requirements. In particular, we discuss and adapt an epistocratic proposal and argue that, regardless of its merits as a general political theory, a more refined version of its normative claims can generate a useful framework for the design of bioethical forums that combine maximal inclusiveness with informed and reasonable deliberation

The guilty brain: the utility of neuroimaging and neurostimulation studies in forensic field

Several studies have aimed to address the natural inability of humankind to detect deception and accurately discriminate lying from truth in the legal context. To date, it has been well established that telling a lie is a complex mental activity. During deception, many functions of higher cognition are involved: the decision to lie, withholding the truth, fabricating the lie, monitoring whether the receiver believes the lie, and, if necessary, adjusting the fabricated story and maintaining a consistent lie. In the previous 15 years, increasing interest in the neuroscience of deception has resulted in new possibilities to investigate and interfere with the ability to lie directly from the brain. Cognitive psychology, as well as neuroimaging and neurostimulation studies, are increasing the possibility that neuroscience will be useful for lie detection. This paper discusses the scientific validity of the literature on neuroimaging and neurostimulation regarding lie detection to understand whether scientific findings in this field have a role in the forensic setting. We considered how lie detection technology may contribute to addressing the detection of deception in the courtroom and discussed the conditions and limits in which these techniques reliably distinguish whether an individual is lying

Epstein Barr Virus and <i>Mycobacterium avium</i> subsp. <i>paratuberculosis</i> peptides are recognized in sera and cerebrospinal fluid of MS patients

Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) epitopes elicit a consistent humoral response in serum of multiple sclerosis patients, but the cross reactivity against the homologous myelin basic protein (MBP) and human interferon regulatory factor 5 (IRF5) has not been searched within the Cerebral Spinal Fluid (CSF). We evaluated in sera and CSF of patients with MS and with other neurological diseases (OND) the humoral response against EBV/MAP peptides and the IRF5/MBP. Our data showed that EBV and MAP peptides are able to induce a specific humoral immune response in MS patients compared to OND controls both in serum and in CSF. An intrathecal specific synthesis of IgG against MBP and their EBV and MAP homologous as indicated by the antibody index was observed in MS patients. The humoral response against EBV, MAP, MBP and IRF5 was significantly higher in MS patients compared to OND both in serum and in CSF. The higher presence of antibodies against MBP and their MAP and EBV homologous in CSF during relapses suggests a possible role of the pathogens in enhancing inflammation

Lack of humoral response against <i>Helicobacter pylori</i> peptides homologous to human ZnT8 in Hashimoto's thyroiditis patients

Introduction: The Helicobacter pylori (HP) reinfection rate seems to be higher in developing countries than in developed ones. An increased seroprevalence of HP has also been reported in patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D) and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis (HT). Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) has been linked to both T1D and HT. Quite a few lines of evidence indicate that autoantibodies against several epitopes belonging to human zinc transporter 8 (ZnT8) cross-recognize the homologous MAP3865c epitopes in both T1D and HT patients. HP may play a role in HT disease, most likely acting through a molecular mimicry mechanism that targets ZnT8 as reported for MAP and the two autoimmune diseases. Methodology: An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) has been developed for the detection of antibodies against several epitopes deriving from HP proteins, which are highly homologous to the immunodominant ZnT8 peptides previously identified: ZnT8178–186 and ZnT8186–194. Results: None of the HP peptides tested were significantly recognized when the humoral responses of 92 HT patients and 91 healthy volunteers were analyzed. Conclusions: These findings do not support a triggering role for HP (through ZnT8 mimicking) in HT. If a molecular mimicry phenomenon is taking place, it involves a different self-antigen. Moreover, the negative outcome of the experiments performed stresses the fact that sharing stretches of sequence homology is relevant, but not enough to trigger an antibody-mediated cross-recognition

Population Data for Y-Chromosome Haplotypes Defined by AmpFlSTR YFiler PCR Amplification Kit in North Sardinia (Italy)

The 17 Y-chromosomal short tandem repeats (STRs) included in the AmpFlSTR YFiler Amplification Kit (AB Applied Biosystems) (DYS19, DYS389I, DYS389II, DYS390, DYS391, DYS392, DYS393, DYS385, DYS437, DYS438, DYS439, DYS448, DYS456, DYS458, DYS635 and GATA H4.1) were typed in 100 samples from North Sardinia (Italy). A total of 91 different haplotypes were found, where 9 haplotypes were shared by two individuals. The overall haplotype diversity (HD) was 0.9982. DYS458 non-consensus alleles were found in one samples, and one in the DYS438. We found a double peak in one sample for the DYS19 with alleles 15/16. Population comparisons with available 10 YSTR loci data in Mediterranean Basin samples were undertaken, significant differences were observed between our sample and all the compared populations, except for a entire sample from Sardinia. Prediction of haplogroups showed I2a1 was found to be the most frequent haplogroup (33%) in our sample. Testing high-resolution Y-chromosome data sets it is useful in autochthonous population and micro-population studies to highlight the most informative loci for evolutionary aims

Serum BAFF levels, methypredsinolone therapy, Epstein-Barr virus and <i>Mycobacterium avium</i> subsp. <i>paratuberculosis</i> infection in Multiple Sclerosis patients

Elevated B lymphocyte activating factor BAFF levels have been reported in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients; moreover, disease-modifying treatments (DMT) have shown to influence blood BAFF levels in MS patients, although the significance of these changes is still controversial. In addition, BAFF levels were reported increased during infectious diseases. In our study, we wanted to investigate on the serum BAFF concentrations correlated to the antibody response against Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and their human homologous epitopes in MS and in patients affected with other neurological diseases (OND), divided in Inflammatory Neurological Diseases (IND), Non Inflammatory Neurological Diseases (NIND) and Undetermined Neurological Diseases (UND), in comparison to healthy controls (HCs). Our results confirmed a statistically significant high BAFF levels in MS and IND patients in comparison to HCs but not NIND and UND patients. Interestingly, BAFF levels were inversely proportional to antibodies level against EBV and MAP peptides and the BAFF levels significantly decreased in MS patients after methylprednisolone therapy. These results implicate that lower circulating BAFF concentrations were present in MS patients with humoral response against MAP and EBV. In conclusion MS patients with no IgGs against EBV and MAP may support the hypothesis that elevated blood BAFF levels could be associated with a more stable disease

Type 1 Diabetes at-risk children highly recognize <i>Mycobacterium avium</i> subspecies <i>paratuberculosis</i> epitopes homologous to human Znt8 and Proinsulin

Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP) has been previously associated to T1D as a putative environmental agent triggering or accelerating the disease in Sardinian and Italian populations. Our aim was to investigate the role of MAP in T1D development by evaluating levels of antibodies directed against MAP epitopes and their human homologs corresponding to ZnT8 and proinsulin (PI) in 54 T1D at-risk children from mainland Italy and 42 healthy controls (HCs). A higher prevalence was detected for MAP/ZnT8 pairs (62,96% T1D vs. 7,14% HCs; p &lt; 0.0001) compared to MAP/PI epitopes (22,22% T1D vs. 9,52% HCs) and decreasing trends were observed upon time-point analyses for most peptides. Similarly, classical ZnT8 Abs and GADA decreased in a time-dependent manner, whereas IAA titers increased by 12%. Responses in 0–9 year-old children were stronger than in 10–18 age group (75% vs. 69,1%; p &lt; 0.04). Younger age, female sex and concomitant autoimmune disorders contributed to a stronger seroreactivity suggesting a possible implication of MAP in multiple autoimmune syndrome. Cross-reactivity of the homologous epitopes was reflected by a high correlation coefficient (r2 &gt; 0.8) and a pairwise overlap of positivity (&gt;83% for MAP/ZnT8)

Combining HLA-DRB1-DQB1 and <i>Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratubercolosis</i> (MAP) antibodies in Sardinian multiple sclerosis patients: associated or independent risk factors?

Background: Amongst Sardinians the human leukocyte antigen (HLA) DRB1-DQB1 haplotypes *15:02-*06:01, *16:01-*05:02, *14:01-4-*05:03 are protective for multiple sclerosis (MS), while *13:03-*03:01, *04:05-*03:01, *03:01-*02:01, *15:01-*06:02 and Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratubercolosis (MAP) are predisposing factors. We studied the correlation between MAP and HLA. Methods: Five hundred thirty-one patients were searched for anti-MAP2694 antibodies, DRB1-DQB1 genotyping was performed. The haplotypes were classified as predisposing, neutral or protective. Results: Anti-MAP2694 were found in 23 % of subjects carrying one protective HLA versus 32 % without (p = 0.04). Conclusions: We showed a lower frequency of Abs in patients with protective HLA. These haplotypes could have a protective role for both MS and MAP