Differences in social decision-making between proposers and responders during the ultimatum game: an eeg study

The Ultimatum Game (UG) is a typical paradigm to investigate social decision-making. Although the behavior of humans in this task is already well established, the underlying brain processes remain poorly understood. Previous investigations using event-related potentials (ERPs) revealed three major components related to cognitive processes in participants engaged in the responder condition, the early ERP component P2, the feedback-related negativity (FRN) and a late positive wave (late positive component, LPC). However, the comparison of the ERP waveforms between the responder and proposer conditions has never been studied. Therefore, to investigate condition-related electrophysiological changes, we applied the UG paradigm and compared parameters of the P2, LPC and FRN components in twenty healthy participants. For the responder condition, we found a significantly decreased amplitude and delayed latency for the P2 component, whereas the mean amplitudes of the LPC and FRN increased compared to the proposer condition. Additionally, the proposer condition elicited an early component consisting of a negative deflection around 190 ms, in the upward slope of the P2, probably as a result of early conflict-related processing. Using independent component analysis (ICA), we extracted one functional component time-locked to this deflection, and with source reconstruction (LAURA) we found the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) as one of the underlying sources. Overall, our findings indicate that intensity and time-course of neuronal systems engaged in the decision-making processes diverge between both UG conditions, suggesting differential cognitive processes. Understanding the electrophysiological bases of decision-making and social interactions in controls could be useful to further detect which steps are impaired in psychiatric patients in their ability to attribute mental states (such as beliefs, intents, or desires) to oneself and others. This ability is called mentalizing (also known as theory of mind)

Identification and manipulation of tumor associated macrophages in human cancers

Evading immune destruction and tumor promoting inflammation are important hallmarks in the development of cancer. Macrophages are present in most human tumors and are often associated with bad prognosis. Tumor associated macrophages come in many functional flavors ranging from what is known as classically activated macrophages (M1) associated with acute inflammation and T-cell immunity to immune suppressive macrophages (M2) associated with the promotion of tumor growth. The role of these functionally different myeloid cells is extensively studied in mice tumor models but dissimilarities in markers and receptors make the direct translation to human cancer difficult. This review focuses on recent reports discriminating the type of infiltrating macrophages in human tumors and the environmental cues present that steer their differentiation. Finally, immunotherapeutic approaches to interfere in this process are discussed

Attentional bias modification in social anxiety: Effects on the N2pc component

Several meta-analyses to date have confirmed the efficacy of attentional bias modification (ABM) in shifting reaction times away from threatening stimuli, reducing anxiety symptoms, and buffering against stressor vulnerability. The reliability of reaction time differences, however, has been found to show unacceptable psychometric properties. In this study, we tested the impact of an extensive Dot-Probe ABM procedure, consisting of close to 7000 trials, concurrently with behavioral and electrophysiological measures within a large sample of over 100 highly socially anxious participants. Results indicated that the N2pc component demonstrates superior internal consistency and more statistical power in detecting attentional biases and their modification than reaction time (RT) differences. RTs were neither indicative of an attentional bias before ABM nor of a modification over time. In contrast, the N2pc indexed both an initial attentional preference for threatening stimuli and an alteration of this relationship after training. Outcomes were not specific for attentional training away from threat but also occurred in the no-contingency control procedure, casting doubt on the theoretic underpinnings of ABM. Electrophysiological measures are an important complement to the ABM literature and should be further utilized to assess attentional biases with excellent reliability

Electron beam and optical depth profiling of quasibulk GaN

Electron beam and optical depth profiling of thick (5.5-64 mu m) quasibulk n-type GaN samples, grown by hydride vapor-phase epitaxy, were carried out using electron beam induced current (EBIC), microphotoluminescence (PL), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The minority carrier diffusion length, L, was found to increase linearly from 0.25 mu m, at a distance of about 5 mu m from the GaN/sapphire interface, to 0.63 mu m at the GaN surface, for a 36-mu m-thick sample. The increase in L was accompanied by a corresponding increase in PL band-to-band radiative transition intensity as a function of distance from the GaN/sapphire interface. We attribute the latter changes in PL intensity and minority carrier diffusion length to a reduced carrier mobility and lifetime at the interface, due to scattering at threading dislocations. The results of EBIC and PL measurements are in good agreement with the values for dislocation density obtained using TEM

Hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha, in association with inflammation, angiogenesis and MYC, is a critical prognostic factor in patients with HCC after surgery

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Despite well-studied tumor hypoxia in laboratory, little is known about the association with other pathophysiological events in the clinical view. We investigated the prognostic value of hypoxia-inducible factor-1 alpha (HIF-1alpha) in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and its correlations with inflammation, angiogenesis and MYC oncogene.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In a random series of 110 HCC patients, the mRNA of HIF-1alpha, inflammation related factors (COX-2, MMP7 and MMP9), angiogenesis related factors (VEGF and PDGFRA) and MYC in tumor tissue were detected by real-time RT-PCR and HIF-1alpha protein was assessed by immunohistochemistry. The correlations between HIF-1alpha mRNA and the factors mentioned previously, the relationship between HIF-1alpha and clinicopathologic features, and the prognostic value were analyzed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The expression of both HIF-1alpha mRNA and protein in HCC were independent prognostic factors for overall survival (OS) (<it>P </it>= 0.012 and <it>P </it>= 0.021, respectively) and disease-free survival (DFS) (<it>P </it>= 0.004 and <it>P </it>= 0.007, respectively) as well. Besides, the high expression of HIF-1alpha mRNA and protein proposed an advanced BCLC stage and more incidence of vascular invasion. The mRNA of HIF-1alpha had significantly positive correlations to that of COX-2, PDGFRA, MMP7, MMP9, MYC, except VEGF. In addition to HIF-1alpha, COX-2 and PDGFRA were also independent prognosticators for OS (<it>P </it>= 0.004 and <it>P </it>= 0.010, respectively) and DFS (<it>P </it>= 0.010 and <it>P </it>= 0.038, respectively).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>HIF-1alpha in HCC plays an important role in predicting patient outcome. It may influence HCC biological behaviors and affect the tumor inflammation, angiogenesis and act in concert with the oncogene MYC. Attaching importance to HIF-1alpha in HCC may improve the prognostic and therapeutic technique.</p

Affective regulation of cognitive-control adjustments in remitted depressive patients after acute tryptophan depletion

Negative affect in healthy populations regulates the appraisal of demanding situations, which tunes subsequent effort mobilization and adjustments in cognitive control. In the present study, we hypothesized that dysphoria in depressed individuals similarly modulates this adaptation, possibly through a neural mechanism involving serotonergic regulation. We tested the effect of dysphoria induced by acute tryptophan depletion (ATD) in remitted depressed patients on conflict adaptation in a Simon task. ATD temporarily lowers the availability of the serotonin precursor L-Tryptophan and is known to increase depressive symptoms in approximately half of remitted depressed participants. We found that depressive symptoms induced by ATD were associated with increased conflict adaptation. Our finding extends recent observations implying an important role of affect in regulating conflict-driven cognitive control

Differential pattern and prognostic significance of CD4+, FOXP3+ and IL-17+ tumor infiltrating lymphocytes in ductal and lobular breast cancers

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Clinical relevance of tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) in breast cancer is controversial. Here, we used a tumor microarray including a large series of ductal and lobular breast cancers with long term follow up data, to analyze clinical impact of TIL expressing specific phenotypes and distribution of TILs within different tumor compartments and in different histological subtypes.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A tissue microarray (TMA) including 894 ductal and 164 lobular breast cancers was stained with antibodies recognizing CD4, FOXP3, and IL-17 by standard immunohistochemical techniques. Lymphocyte counts were correlated with clinico-pathological parameters and survival.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>CD4⁺lymphocytes were more prevalent than FOXP3⁺TILs whereas IL-17⁺TILs were rare. Increased numbers of total CD4⁺and FOXP3⁺TIL were observed in ductal, as compared with lobular carcinomas. High grade (G3) and estrogen receptor (ER) negative ductal carcinomas displayed significantly (<it>p </it> < 0.001) higher CD4⁺and FOXP3⁺lymphocyte infiltration while her2/neu over-expression in ductal carcinomas was significantly (<it>p </it> < 0.001) associated with higher FOXP3⁺TIL counts. In contrast, lymphocyte infiltration was not linked to any clinico-pathological parameters in lobular cancers. In univariate but not in multivariate analysis CD4⁺infiltration was associated with significantly shorter survival in patients bearing ductal, but not lobular cancers. However, a FOXP3⁺/CD4⁺ratio > 1 was associated with improved overall survival even in multivariate analysis (<it>p </it>= 0.033).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Ductal and lobular breast cancers appear to be infiltrated by different lymphocyte subpopulations. In ductal cancers increased CD4⁺and FOXP3⁺TIL numbers are associated with more aggressive tumor features. In survival analysis, absolute numbers of TILs do not represent major prognostic indicators in ductal and lobular breast cancer. Remarkably however, a ratio > 1 of total FOXP3⁺/CD4⁺TILs in ductal carcinoma appears to represent an independent favorable prognostic factor.</p