Host genetic signatures of susceptibility to fungal disease

Our relative inability to predict the development of fungal disease and its clinical outcome raises fundamental questions about its actual pathogenesis. Several clinical risk factors are described to predispose to fungal disease, particularly in immunocompromised and severely ill patients. However, these alone do not entirely explain why, under comparable clinical conditions, only some patients develop infection. Recent clinical and epidemiological studies have reported an expanding number of monogenic defects and common polymorphisms associated with fungal disease. By directly implicating genetic variation in the functional regulation of immune mediators and interacting pathways, these studies have provided critical insights into the human immunobiology of fungal disease. Most of the common genetic defects reported were described or suggested to impair fungal recognition by the innate immune system. Here, we review common genetic variation in pattern recognition receptors and its impact on the immune response against the two major fungal pathogens Candida albicans and Aspergillus fumigatus. In addition, we discuss potential strategies and opportunities for the clinical translation of genetic information in the field of medical mycology. These approaches are expected to transfigure current clinical practice by unleashing an unprecedented ability to personalize prophylaxis, therapy and monitoring for fungal disease.This work was supported by the Northern Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the Portugal 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (FEDER) (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000013), the Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT) (IF/00735/2014 to AC, and SFRH/BPD/96176/2013 to CC), the Institut Mérieux (Mérieux Research Grant 2017 to CC), and the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ESCMID Research Grant 2017 to AC)

Exploring Gender Differences on eCommerce Websites: A Behavioral and Neural Approach Utilizing fNIRS

Whether males and females evaluate ecommerce websites differently has long been discussed and has resulted in inconsistent research findings. While some studies identified gender differences in the evaluation of websites, other studies indicate that these differences are inexistent. To shed light on these hypothetical gender differences on ecommerce website perceptions, a behavioral and functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) experiment in which participants had to use and evaluate three different ecommerce websites was conducted. While the questionnaire-based behavioral results showed no significant differences between gender, neural gender differences could be discovered. In particular, well rated websites resulted in increased neural activity for men in brain regions of the dlPFC and vlPFC in the left hemisphere, while the lower evaluated websites resulted in an increased neural activity in brain regions of the vmPFC for men in the right hemisphere. Consequently, the results suggest that men seem to require higher neural activity for the emotional appraisal of, and decision making on ecommerce websites.</p