The impact of culture on neuropsychological performance: A global social cognition study across 12 countries

AbstractBackgroundDecades of researches aiming to unveil truths about human neuropsychology may have instead unveil facts appropriate to only a fraction of the world's population: those living in western educated rich democratic nations (Muthukrishna et al., 2020 Psych Sci). So far, most studies were conducted as if education and cultural assumptions on which neuropsychology is based were universals and applied everywhere in the world. The importance given to sociological or cultural factors is thus still relatively ignored. With the growth of international clinical studies on dementia, we believe that documenting the potential inter‐cultural differences at stake in a common neuropsychological assessment is an essential topic. This study thus aimed to explore these potential variations in two classical tasks used in neuropsychology that are composing the mini‐SEA (Bertoux et al., 2012 JNNP), i.e. a reduced version of the well‐known Ekman faces (FER), where one has to recognize facial emotions, and a modified version of the Faux Pas test (mFP), where one has to detect and explain social faux.MethodThe data of 573 control participants were collected through the Social Cognition & FTLD Network, an international consortium investigating social cognitive changes in dementia covering 3 continents (18 research centres in 12 countries). Impact of demographic factors and the effect of countries on performance (mini‐SEA, FER, mFP) were explored through linear mixed‐effects models.ResultAge, education and gender were found to significantly impact the performance of the mini‐SEA subtests. Significant and important variations across the countries were also retrieved, with England having the highest performance for all scores. When controlling for demographical factors, differences within countries explained between 14% (mFP) and 24% (FER) of the variance at the mini‐SEA. These variations were not explained by any economical or sociological metrics.ConclusionImportant variations of performance were observed across the 12 countries of the consortium, showing how cultural differences may critically impact neuropsychological performance in international studies

Does Culture Shape Our Understanding of Others’ Thoughts and Emotions? An Investigation Across 12 Countries

Q2Q2Measures of social cognition have now become central in neuropsychology, being essential for early and differential diagnoses, follow-up, and rehabilitation in a wide range of conditions. With the scientific world becoming increasingly interconnected, international neuropsychological and medical collaborations are burgeoning to tackle the global challenges that are mental health conditions. These initiatives commonly merge data across a diversity of populations and countries, while ignoring their specificity. Objective: In this context, we aimed to estimate the influence of participants’ nationality on social cognition evaluation. This issue is of particular importance as most cognitive tasks are developed in highly specific contexts, not representative of that encountered by the world’s population. Method: Through a large international study across 18 sites, neuropsychologists assessed core aspects of social cognition in 587 participants from 12 countries using traditional and widely used tasks. Results: Age, gender, and education were found to impact measures of mentalizing and emotion recognition. After controlling for these factors, differences between countries accounted for more than 20% of the variance on both measures. Importantly, it was possible to isolate participants’ nationality from potential translation issues, which classically constitute a major limitation. Conclusions: Overall, these findings highlight the need for important methodological shifts to better represent social cognition in both fundamental research and clinical practice, especially within emerging international networks and consortia.https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9422-3579https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6529-7077Revista Internacional - IndexadaA2N

miR-98 delays skeletal muscle differentiation by down-regulating E2F5.

International audienceA genome-wide screen had previously shown that knocking down miR-98 and let-7g, two miRNAs of the let-7 family, leads to a dramatic increase in terminal myogenic differentiation. In the present paper, we report that a transcriptomic analysis of human myoblasts, where miR-98 was knocked down, revealed that approximately 240 genes were sensitive to miR-98 depletion. Among these potential targets of miR-98, we identified the transcriptional repressor E2F5 and showed that it is a direct target of miR-98. Knocking down simultaneously E2F5 and miR-98 almost fully restored normal differentiation, indicating that E2F5 is involved in the regulation of skeletal muscle differentiation. We subsequently show that E2F5 can bind to the promoters of two inhibitors of terminal muscle differentiation, ID1 (inhibitor of DNA binding 1) and HMOX1 (heme oxygenase 1), which decreases their expression in skeletal myoblasts. We conclude that miR-98 regulates muscle differentiation by altering the expression of the transcription factor E2F5 and, in turn, of multiple E2F5 targets

On Application of Method of Orthomorphic Transformations for Calculation of Parameters of Technology of Preparation of Artificial Sushentsi

В статье рассмотрены случаи конформного отображения области приведенного комплексного потенциала одномерной установившейся фильтрации на область безнапорной равномерной фильтрации, которая происходит в проницаемом пласте торфов при движении несжимаемого активированного раствора реагента в пористой среде. На этой основе разработана методика расчета параметров технологии подготовки искусственных сушенцов на вскрышных работах при разработке россыпных месторождений.The article deals with the cases of orthomorphic projection of area of the resulted complex potential of a one-dimensional established filtration to an area of free-flow uniform filtration which occurs in a permeable layer of peat during the movement of incompressible activated solution of a reagent in porous medium. The calculation procedure of preparation technology parameters of artificial sushentsi on stripping in the process of gravel deposits development was worked out on this basis

On Application of Method of Orthomorphic Transformations for Calculation of Parameters of Technology of Preparation of Artificial Sushentsi

В статье рассмотрены случаи конформного отображения области приведенного комплексного потенциала одномерной установившейся фильтрации на область безнапорной равномерной фильтрации, которая происходит в проницаемом пласте торфов при движении несжимаемого активированного раствора реагента в пористой среде. На этой основе разработана методика расчета параметров технологии подготовки искусственных сушенцов на вскрышных работах при разработке россыпных месторождений.The article deals with the cases of orthomorphic projection of area of the resulted complex potential of a one-dimensional established filtration to an area of free-flow uniform filtration which occurs in a permeable layer of peat during the movement of incompressible activated solution of a reagent in porous medium. The calculation procedure of preparation technology parameters of artificial sushentsi on stripping in the process of gravel deposits development was worked out on this basis

A high‐fat diet changes astrocytic metabolism to promote synaptic plasticity and behavior

Aim: A high-fat diet (HFD) is generally considered to negatively influence the body, the brain, and cognition. Nonetheless, fat and fatty acids are essential for nourishing and constructing brain tissue. Astrocytes are central for lipolysis and fatty acids metabolism. We tested how HFD affects astrocyte metabolism, morphology, and physiology. Methods: We used Raman microspectroscopy to assess the redox state of mitochondria and lipid content in astrocytes and neurons in hippocampal slices of mice subjected to HFD. Astrocytes were loaded with fluorescent dye through patch pipette for morphological analysis. Whole-cell voltage-clamp recordings were performed to measure transporter and potassium currents. Western blot analysis quantified the expression of astrocyte-specific proteins. Field potential recordings measured the magnitude of long-term potentiation (LTP). Open filed test was performed to evaluate the effect of HFD on animal behavior. Results: We found that exposure of young mice to 1 month of HFD increases lipid content and relative amount of reduced cytochromes in astrocytes but not in neurons. Metabolic changes were paralleled with an enlargement of astrocytic territorial domains due to an increased outgrowth of branches and leaflets. Astrocyte remodeling was associated with an increase in expression of ezrin and with no changes in glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), glutamate transporter-1 (GLT-1), and glutamine synthetase (GS). Such physiological (non-reactive) enlargement of astrocytes in the brain active milieu promoted glutamate clearance and LTP and translated into behavioral changes. Conclusion: Dietary fat intake is not invariably harmful and might exert beneficial effects depending on the biological context.</p

Mitochondrial malfunction and atrophy of astrocytes in the aged human cerebral cortex

How aging affects cells of the human brain active milieu remains largely unknown. Here, we analyze astrocytes and neurons in the neocortical tissue of younger (22–50 years) and older (51–72 years) adults. Aging decreases the amount of reduced mitochondrial cytochromes in astrocytes but not neurons. The protein-to-lipid ratio decreases in astrocytes and increases in neurons. Aged astrocytes show morphological atrophy quantified by the decreased length of branches, decreased volume fraction of leaflets, and shrinkage of the anatomical domain. Atrophy correlates with the loss of gap junction coupling between astrocytes and increased input resistance. Aging is accompanied by the upregulation of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) and downregulation of membrane-cytoskeleton linker ezrin associated with leaflets. No significant changes in neuronal excitability or spontaneous inhibitory postsynaptic signaling is observed. Thus, brain aging is associated with the impaired morphological presence and mitochondrial malfunction of cortical astrocytes, but not neurons.</p

Structural and Magnetic Transitions in CaCo3V4O12\mathrm{CaCo_{3}V_{4}O_{12}} Perovskite at Extreme Conditions

We investigated the structural, vibrational, magnetic, and electronic properties of the recently synthesized CaCo$_{3}$V$_{4}$O$_{12}$ double perovskite with the high-spin (HS) Co$^{2+}$ ions in a square-planar oxygen coordination at extreme conditions of high pressures and low temperatures. The single-crystal X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy studies up to 60 GPa showed a conservation of its cubic crystal structure but indicated a crossover near 30 GPa. Above 30 GPa, we observed both an abnormally high “compressibility” of the Co–O bonds in the square-planar oxygen coordination and a huge anisotropic displacement of HS-Co$^{2+}$ ions in the direction perpendicular to the oxygen planes. Although this effect is reminiscent of a continuous HS → LS transformation of the Co$^{2+}$ ions, it did not result in the anticipated shrinkage of the cell volume because of a certain “stiffing” of the bonds of the Ca and V cations. We verified that the oxidation states of all the cations did not change across this crossover, and hence, no charge-transfer effects were involved. Consequently, we proposed that CaCo$_{3}$V$_{4}$O$_{12}$ could undergo a phase transition at which the large HS-Co$^{2+}$ ions were pushed out of the oxygen planes because of lattice compression. The antiferromagnetic transition in CaCo$_{3}$V$_{4}$O$_{12}$ at 100 K was investigated by neutron powder diffraction at ambient pressure. We established that the magnetic moments of the Co$^{2+}$ ions were aligned along one of the cubic axes, and the magnetic structure had a 2-fold periodicity along this axis, compared to the crystallographic one

Structural and Magnetic Transitions in CaCo₃V₄O₁₂ Perovskite at Extreme Conditions

We investigated the structural, vibrational, magnetic, and electronic properties of the recently synthesized CaCo₃V₄O₁₂ double perovskite with the high-spin (HS) Co²⁺ ions in a square-planar oxygen coordination at extreme conditions of high pressures and low temperatures. The single-crystal X-ray diffraction and Raman spectroscopy studies up to 60 GPa showed a conservation of its cubic crystal structure but indicated a crossover near 30 GPa. Above 30 GPa, we observed both an abnormally high “compressibility” of the Co–O bonds in the square-planar oxygen coordination and a huge anisotropic displacement of HS-Co²⁺ ions in the direction perpendicular to the oxygen planes. Although this effect is reminiscent of a continuous HS → LS transformation of the Co²⁺ ions, it did not result in the anticipated shrinkage of the cell volume because of a certain “stiffing” of the bonds of the Ca and V cations. We verified that the oxidation states of all the cations did not change across this crossover, and hence, no charge-transfer effects were involved. Consequently, we proposed that CaCo₃V₄O₁₂ could undergo a phase transition at which the large HS-Co²⁺ ions were pushed out of the oxygen planes because of lattice compression. The antiferromagnetic transition in CaCo₃V₄O₁₂ at 100 K was investigated by neutron powder diffraction at ambient pressure. We established that the magnetic moments of the Co²⁺ ions were aligned along one of the cubic axes, and the magnetic structure had a 2-fold periodicity along this axis, compared to the crystallographic one