Embodiment and the Self: using Virtual Reality and Full Body Illusion to change bodily self-representation, perception and behaviour

Virtual Reality (VR) is an important tool for researchers of many different fields, from cognitive neuroscience to social psychology. The present work will explore the use of VR, and in particular of immersive virtual reality (IVR), in the study of some key aspects of our bodily self and bodily related behaviour and perception. In the first part of the present work we will discuss the combined used of IVR and full body illusion (FBI) in the study of body image distortion (BID) in anorexia nervosa (AN). The first chapter will serve as a general introduction to AN and its most prominent clinical characteristics, as well as introducing some key concepts like the malleability of the bodily-self through multisensory bodily illusions and a brief overview of a series of studies that applied both IVR and embodiment illusions to manipulate participants’ body representation. The second chapter will present a study in which we used the embodiment illusion of different sized avatars to characterize and reduce both the perceptual (body overestimation) and cognitive-emotional (body dissatisfaction) components of BID in AN. For this study we built personalized avatars for each participants (healthy controls (HC) and AN patients) and applied synchronous and asynchronous interpersonal multisensory stimulation (IMS) to three different virtual bodies (the perceived one, a +15% fatter one and a -15% thinner one). The different components of BID were measured by asking participants to choose the body that best resembled their real and ideal body before and after the embodiment illusion was induced. The results of this study showed a higher body dissatisfaction in AN patients, who also reported stronger negative emotions after being exposed to the largest avatar. However, the embodiment procedure did not affect BID in AN patients. Based on the results of the previous study, in the study presented in the third chapter we decided to shift our focus from somatorepresentation, i.e. the explicit representation of the body which comprise both cognitive and emotional components of body image, to somatoperception, i.e. the implicit representation of the body which comprise both body perception and body schema. In this study we applied a FBI over an underweight (BMI = 15) and normal weight (BMI = 19) avatar and measured the effect of the embodiment illusion on participants’ (AN and HC) body perception and body schema estimations. To measure body perception, we asked participants to estimate the width of their hips while their vision was blocked, whereas for the body schema estimation participants had to estimate the minimum door’s aperture width in order to pass through it inside an IVR scenario. The results showed that AN patients reported an overestimation in both body perception and body schema estimations. Furthermore, in AN patients we saw a change in the body schema estimation accordingly to the size of the embodied avatar, thus showing a higher bodily self-plasticity compared to HC. In the fourth chapter of the present work we will go over the results of the two aforementioned studies and will briefly discuss some possible future directions. Finally, the last two chapters of the thesis will present two research projects that will respectively utilize IVR and the embodiment illusion for the study of individual dishonest behaviour in digital interactions (chapter 5) and for the modulation of acute and chronic pain (chapter 6). As the COVID-19 pandemic deeply affected the work on both these studies, these two final chapters will only present a general introduction and the methods/technical implementation for both research projects

Role of Albuminuria in Detecting Cardio-Renal Risk and Outcome in Diabetic Subjects

The clinical significance of albuminuria in diabetic subjects and the impact of its reduction on the main cardiorenal outcomes by different drug classes are among the most interesting research focuses of recent years. Although nephrologists and cardiologists have been paying attention to the study of proteinuria for years, currently among diabetics, increased urine albumin excretion ascertains the highest cardio-renal risk. In fact, diabetes is a condition by itself associated with a high-risk of both micro/macrovascular complications. Moreover, proteinuria reduction in diabetic subjects by several treatments lowers both renal and cardiovascular disease progression. The 2019 joint ESC-EASD guidelines on diabetes, prediabetes and cardiovascular (CV) disease assign to proteinuria a crucial role in defining CV risk level in the diabetic patient. In fact, proteinuria by itself allows the diabetic patient to be staged at very high CV risk, thus affecting the choice of antihyperglycemic drug class. The purpose of this review is to present a clear update on the role of albuminuria as a cardio-renal risk marker, starting from pathophysiological mechanisms in support of this role. Besides this, we will show the prognostic value in observational studies, as well as randomized clinical trials (RCTs) demonstrating the potential improvement of cardio-renal outcomes in diabetic patients by reducing proteinuria

Uji Efek Analgesik Ekstrak Kulit Manggis (Garcinia Mangostana L.) Pada Mencit Swiss (Muss Musculus)

Background:Indonesia is the country with the second largest plants after Brazil. One of the plants that grow in Indonesia is the mangosteen plant is utilized as a medicine by the people of Indonesia but also by people in some other countries. Mangosteen skin is most often used to treat diseases such as fever, diarrhea, hypertension, antioksidant, antibiotics, anti-inflammatory, and many other diseases. This study aims to prove the presence or absence laboratorik analgesic effects of mangosteen peel extract in mice.Methods:This study uses a sample of nine experimental Swiss mice. The sample was divided into 3 groups, namely the positive control group given the drug tramadol, negative control group given distilled water control and experimental groups were given mangosteen peel extract, each group consisted of three mice. Testing is done by providing analgesic effects of pain stimuli using thermal stimuli (hot plate method) with a temperature of 550C. Given pain stimuli will cause the mice were protecting themselves by jumping response or lick the feet and tail. Testing efekan algesik done before giving the test substance and the reference solution, then at minute 30,60,90 and 120 minutes after administration of the test substance and the reference solution. Tests carried out for 1 minute.Results:mangosteen peel extract has analgesic effects are starting to look at minute 30 to minute 120 with the maximum effect seen at minute 90.Conclusion:mangosteen peel extract (Garcinia mangostana, L) has analgesic effect in Swiss mice (Mus musculus

Enhanced Function and Overexpression of Metabotropic Glutamate Receptors 1 and 5 in the Spinal Cord of the SOD1G93A Mouse Model of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis during Disease Progression

open10Glutamate (Glu)-mediated excitotoxicity is a major cause of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and our previous work highlighted that abnormal Glu release may represent a leading mechanism for excessive synaptic Glu. We demonstrated that group I metabotropic Glu receptors (mGluR1, mGluR5) produced abnormal Glu release in SOD1G93A mouse spinal cord at a late disease stage (120 days). Here, we studied this phenomenon in pre-symptomatic (30 and 60 days) and early-symptomatic (90 days) SOD1G93A mice. The mGluR1/5 agonist (S)-3,5-Dihydroxyphenylglycine (3,5-DHPG) concentration dependently stimulated the release of [3H]d-Aspartate ([3H]d-Asp), which was comparable in 30- and 60-day-old wild type mice and SOD1G93A mice. At variance, [3H]d-Asp release was significantly augmented in 90-day-old SOD1G93A mice and both mGluR1 and mGluR5 were involved. The 3,5-DHPG-induced [3H]d-Asp release was exocytotic, being of vesicular origin and mediated by intra-terminal Ca2+ release. mGluR1 and mGluR5 expression was increased in Glu spinal cord axon terminals of 90-day-old SOD1G93A mice, but not in the whole axon terminal population. Interestingly, mGluR1 and mGluR5 were significantly augmented in total spinal cord tissue already at 60 days. Thus, function and expression of group I mGluRs are enhanced in the early-symptomatic SOD1G93A mouse spinal cord, possibly participating in excessive Glu transmission and supporting their implication in ALS. Please define all abbreviations the first time they appear in the abstract, the main text, and the first figure or table caption.openTiziana Bonifacino, Claudia Rebosio, Francesca Provenzano, Carola Torazza, Matilde Balbi, Marco Milanese, Luca Raiteri, Cesare Usai, Ernesto Fedele, Giambattista Bonanno.Bonifacino, Tiziana; Rebosio, Claudia; Provenzano, Francesca; Torazza, Carola; Balbi, Matilde; Milanese, Marco; Raiteri, Luca; Usai, Cesare; Fedele, Ernesto; Bonanno, Giambattist

Precision Nephrology Is a Non-Negligible State of Mind in Clinical Research:Remember the Past to Face the Future

CKD is a major public health problem. It is characterized by a multitude of risk factors that, when aggregated, can strongly modify outcome. While major risk factors, namely, albuminuria and low estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) have been well analyzed, a large variability in disease progression still remains. This happens because (1) the weight of each risk factor varies between populations (general population or CKD cohort), countries, and single individuals and (2) response to nephroprotective drugs is so heterogeneous that a non-negligible part of patients maintains a high cardiorenal risk despite optimal treatment. Precision nephrology aims at individualizing cardiorenal prognosis and therapy. The purpose of this review is to focus on the risk stratification in different areas, such as clinical practice, population research, and interventional trials, and to describe the strategies used in observational or experimental studies to afford individual-level evidence. The future of precision nephrology is also addressed. Observational studies can in fact provide more adequate findings by collecting more information on risk factors and building risk prediction models that can be applied to each individual in a reliable fashion. Similarly, new clinical trial designs can reduce the individual variability in response to treatment and improve individual outcomes

Recurrent Sweet's syndrome in a patient with multiple myeloma

Key Clinical MessageWe report on a case of Sweet's syndrome associated with multiple myeloma, as harbinger for disease relapse