Face learning via brief real-world social interactions includes changes in face-selective brain areas and hippocampus

Making new acquaintances requires learning to recognise previously unfamiliar faces. In the current study, we investigated this process by staging real-world social interactions between actors and the participants. Participants completed a face-matching behavioural task in which they matched photographs of the actors (whom they had yet to meet), or faces similar to the actors (henceforth called foils). Participants were then scanned using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while viewing photographs of actors and foils. Immediately after exiting the scanner, participants met the actors for the first time and interacted with them for 10 min. On subsequent days, participants completed a second behavioural experiment and then a second fMRI scan. Prior to each session, actors again interacted with the participants for 10 min. Behavioural results showed that social interactions improved performance accuracy when matching actor photographs, but not foil photographs. The fMRI analysis revealed a difference in the neural response to actor photographs and foil photographs across all regions of interest (ROIs) only after social interactions had occurred. Our results demonstrate that short social interactions were sufficient to learn and discriminate previously unfamiliar individuals. Moreover, these learning effects were present in brain areas involved in face processing and memory

Butoctamide hydrogen succinate and intensive learning sessions: effects on night sleep of Down's syndrome patients.

Mentally retarded children present a reduction in percentage of REM sleep and of oculomotor frequencies. These sleep patterns are probably relevant for their cognitive activities. The effects of butoctamide hydrogen succinate and intensive learning sessions on the night sleep of five Down's syndrome patients was studied by the authors. They found an increase in percentage of REM sleep after pharmacological treatment and an increase in oculomotor frequencies after learning sessions. The authors' hypotheses of REM sleep as a neurophysiological indicator of cerebral "plasticity" and of oculomotor frequencies as an indicator of "organization" abilities are discussed in this article. Pedagogical implications and therapeutical perspectives are also outlined

Anxiety, depression and sleepiness in OSA patients treated with barbed reposition pharyngoplasty: a prospective study

Purpose: To evaluate the efficacy of barbed reposition pharyngoplasty (BRP) on sleepiness, anxiety, and depression o adult patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Methods: We performed a prospective multicentric study to assess functional outcomes in 20 OSA patients treated with BRP and compare the results with an observational group of 20 subjects. All recruited subjects performed at baseline and 6-months postoperative follow-up Polysomnography (PSG), daytime sleepiness scoring using the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), and anxiety and depression evaluation via the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) questionnaires. Results: At follow-up the BRP demonstrated greater improvements in AHI (8.92 ± 2.29 vs. 30.66 ± 2.56; p < 0.001) and ODI (7.65 ± 2.39 vs. 24.55 ± 3.20; p < 0.001) than control at intergroup analysis. Surgical group reported significant data in daytime sleepiness (5.15 ± 1.19 vs. 13.15 ± 1.35; p < 0.001), anxiety (12.65 ± 3.11 vs. 24.2 ± 2.37; p < 0.001), and depression domains (5.85 ± 1.19 vs. 17.55 ± 3.24; p < 0.001). AHI, ODI, and advanced age have been shown to multiple regression as independent predictors of treatment response for mood domains (p < 0.001; p = 0.02; p = 0.041, respectively). Conclusions: Patients with OSA may benefit from palate surgery, reducing not only the apnea and hypopnea index, daytime sleepiness but also associated mood comorbidities. However, further studies are needed to confirm our preliminary results to validate the evidence to date reported

Lateral pharyngoplasty vs. traditional uvulopalatopharyngoplasty for patients with OSA: systematic review and meta-analysis

Objectives: To compare the efficacy and success rates of lateral pharyngoplasty techniques (LP) vs. uvulopalatopharyngoplasty (UPPP) among adult patients surgically treated for obstructive sleep apnea. Methods: A systematic literature review of the last 20 years’ papers was conducted using PubMed/Medline, Embase, Web of Science, Scholar, and the Cochrane Library until April 2021. Only full-text English articles comparing LP and UPPP outcomes in adult patients with objective outcomes were included in the study. Results: We included 9 articles for a total of 312 surgically treated patients with OSA. LP techniques for obstructive sleep apnea were used on 186 (60%) subjects, while 126 patients (40%) were treated with UPPP. Both surgical procedures resulted in significant improvements in apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) score, and lowest oxygen saturation (LOS) (p < 0.001 in all cases). Although better outcomes were reported with lateral pharyngoplasty, the differences were not significant compared to UPPP post-operative results (p > 0.05 in all cases). Conclusions: UPPP and LP are both effective surgical procedures in treating OSA in adults. Although not significant, LPs demonstrated improved post-operative outcomes. However, further evidence comparing the surgical effect on patients with OSA is needed to discriminate post-operative outcomes