Is Our Self Nothing but Reward? Neuronal Overlap and Distinction between Reward and Personal Relevance and Its Relation to Human Personality

Background: The attribution of personal relevance, i.e. relating internal and external stimuli to establish a sense of belonging, is a common phenomenon in daily life. Although previous research demonstrated a relationship between reward and personal relevance, their exact neuronal relationship including the impact of personality traits remains unclear. Methodology/Principal Findings: Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we applied an experimental paradigm that allowed us to explore the neural response evoked by reward and the attribution of personal relevance separately. We observed different brain regions previously reported to be active during reward and personal relevance, including the bilateral caudate nucleus and the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex (PACC). Additional analysis revealed activations in the right and left insula specific for the attribution of personal relevance. Furthermore, our results demonstrate a negative correlation between signal changes in both the PACC and the left anterior insula during the attribution of low personal relevance and the personality dimension novelty seeking. Conclusion/Significance: While a set of subcortical and cortical regions including the PACC is commonly involved in reward and personal relevance, other regions like the bilateral anterior insula were recruited specifically during personal relevance. Based on our correlation between novelty seeking and signal changes in both regions during personal relevance, we assume that the neuronal response to personally relevant stimuli is dependent on the personality trait novelty seeking.http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000273104000004&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=8e1609b174ce4e31116a60747a720701Multidisciplinary SciencesSCI(E)SSCI50ARTICLE12null

Decision Conflicts in Clinical Care during COVID-19: A Multi-Perspective Inquiry

Background: The early COVID-19-pandemic was characterized by changes in decision making, decision-relevant value systems and the related perception of decisional uncertainties and conflicts resulting in decisional burden and stress. The vulnerability of clinical care professionals to these decisional dilemmas has not been characterized yet. Methods: A cross-sectional questionnaire study (540 patients, 322 physicians and 369 nurses in 11 institutions throughout Germany) was carried out. The inclusion criterion was active involvement in clinical treatment or decision making in oncology or psychiatry during the first year of COVID-19. The questionnaires covered five decision dimensions (conflicts and uncertainty, resources, risk perception, perception of consequences for clinical processes, and the perception of consequences for patients). Data analysis was performed using ANOVA, Pearson rank correlations, and the Chi²-test, and for inferential analysis, nominal logistic regression and tree classification were conducted. Results: Professionals reported changes in clinical management (27.5%) and a higher workload (29.2%), resulting in decisional uncertainty (19.2%) and decisional conflicts (22.7%), with significant differences between professional groups (p < 0.005), including anxiety, depression, loneliness and stress in professional subgroups (p < 0.001). Nominal regression analysis targeting “Decisional Uncertainty” provided a highly significant prediction model (LQ p < 0.001) containing eight variables, and the analysis for “Decisional Conflicts” included six items. The classification rates were 64.4% and 92.7%, respectively. Tree analysis confirmed three levels of determinants. Conclusions: Decisional uncertainty and conflicts during the COVID-19 pandemic were independent of the actual pandemic load. Vulnerable professional groups for the perception of a high number of decisional dilemmas were characterized by individual perception and the psychological framework. Coping and management strategies should target vulnerability, enable the handling of the individual perception of decisional dilemmas and ensure information availability and specific support for younger professionals

Structural alterations in functional neurological disorder and related conditions: A software and hardware problem?

Functional neurological (conversion) disorder (FND) is a condition at the interface of neurology and psychiatry. A “software” vs. “hardware” analogy describes abnormal neurobiological mechanisms occurring in the context of intact macroscopic brain structure. While useful for explanatory and treatment models, this framework may require more nuanced considerations in the context of quantitative structural neuroimaging findings in FND. Moreover, high co-occurrence of FND and somatic symptom disorders (SSD) as defined in DSM-IV (somatization disorder, somatoform pain disorder, and undifferentiated somatoform disorder; referred to as SSD for brevity in this article) raises the possibility of a partially overlapping pathophysiology. In this systematic review, we use a transdiagnostic approach to review and appraise the structural neuroimaging literature in FND and SSD. While larger sample size studies are needed for definitive characterization, this article highlights that individuals with FND and SSD may exhibit sensorimotor, prefrontal, striatal-thalamic, paralimbic, and limbic structural alterations. The structural neuroimaging literature is contextualized within the neurobiology of stress-related neuroplasticity, gender differences, psychiatric comorbidities, and the greater spectrum of functional somatic disorders. Future directions that could accelerate the characterization of the pathophysiology of FND and DSM-5 SSD are outlined, including “disease staging” discussions to contextualize subgroups with or without structural changes. Emerging neuroimaging evidence suggests that some individuals with FND and SSD may have a “software” and “hardware” problem, although if structural alterations are present the neural mechanisms of functional disorders remain distinct from lesional neurological conditions. Furthermore, it remains unclear whether structural alterations relate to predisposing vulnerabilities or consequences of the disorder. Keywords: Conversion disorder, Psychogenic, Neuroimaging, MRI, Functional neurological disorder, Somatic symptom disorde

Efficient syntheses of enantioenriched (R)-pipecolic acid and (R)-proline via electrophilic organocatalytic amination

International audienc

Chapitre 4. Enfouissement de l’épave et actions de l’homme : dynamisme et état de conservation des vestiges

Chapter 4. Burial of the wreck and human action : dynamism and state of preservation of the remains Although the wood of the barge has been deformed or eaten away in places where it suffered greater or lesser damage (splits, cracks etc.) from multiple causes (sinking, burial, lifting, restoration treatment and handling), the overall state of preservation can be considered as good, if not very good. A precise reading and comprehensive study of its architectural characteristics is possible. With the hull being almost complete – the preserved remains represent a little over 93 % of the entire hull – and the ensemble of internal fittings preserved, the Arles-Rhône 3 wreck is probably one of the best preserved inland waterways vessels of antiquity.Bien que le bois des éléments du chaland puisse être déformé ou érodé par endroit ou qu’il ait subi des dégradations plus ou moins importantes (fissures, fractures…) dont les origines sont multiples (naufrage, enfouissement, fouille, relevage, manipulations et traitements de conservation), l’état de conservation global peut être considéré comme bon, voire très bon, et a permis une lecture et une étude exhaustive des caractéristiques architecturales. Avec une coque quasiment entière – les vestiges conservés représentent un peu plus de 93 % de l’ensemble de la coque – et l’ensemble des aménagements internes conservés, l’épave Arles-Rhône 3 est sans doute l’un des bateaux de navigation intérieure les mieux conservés de l’Antiquité.Marlier Sabrina, Greck Sandra, Bernard-Maugiron Henri, de Viviés Philippe. Chapitre 4. Enfouissement de l’épave et actions de l’homme : dynamisme et état de conservation des vestiges. In: Archaeonautica, 18, 2014. Arles-Rhône 3.Un chaland gallo-romain du Ier siècle après Jésus-Christ, sous la direction de Sabrina Marlier. pp. 75-80

Para determinar a viabilidade sistemas de construção ambientais: o caso da área central BTC da República mexicana

This paper presents the progress of an investigation that pretends to identify and characterize a valid method forassessing the environmental viability of building materials, focusing on the case study of compressed earth blocksused in central Mexico.Raw earth materials have been granted the status of green, clean, or sustainable. But it has not been fully explainedwhy. Generally, the argument revolves around their low or zero energy consumption, but the environmental spectrumis much broader and complex. From the logic of life cycle analysis (LCA) it is possible to identify events at each stageof a material, from raw material extraction to the end of its useful life. Based on this logic, and generally knowing theproduction processes of three masonry materials, it becomes a deductive exercise, from which possible values areprovided with positive and negative impacts, for eight interest variables, along each stage of its life cycle. compressed earth blocks;El presente trabajo expone los avances de una investigación tendiente a la definición y caracterización de una metodología que permita la evaluación de la viabilidad ambiental de materiales constructivos, a partir del estudio de caso de los bloques de tierra comprimida utilizados en el centro de la República Mexicana. A los materiales de tierra cruda se les ha concedido la categoría de ecológicos, limpios, o sustentables. Sin embargo no se ha explicado a fondo el por qué. Generalmente se argumenta su bajo o nulo consumo energético, pero el espectro ambiental es mucho más amplio y complejo. Desde la lógica del análisis de ciclo de vida (ACV) es posible identificar eventos en cada etapa de un material, desde la extracción de materias primas hasta el final de su vida útil. Tomando en cuenta esta lógica, y conociendo de manera general los procesos productivos de tres materiales de mampostería, se hace un ejercicio deductivo, a partir del cual se otorgan valores de posibles impactos positivos y negativos a cada uno, en relación con ocho variables de interés, a lo largo de cada etapa de su ciclo de vida.Este artigo apresenta o andamento de uma investigação para a identificação e caracterização de uma metodologiapara avaliar a viabilidade ambiental dos materiais de construcção, a partir do estudo de caso de blocos de terracompactada no centro do México.A matéria-prima da terra têm sido concedido o estatuto de verde, limpo, ou sustentável. Mas não totalmente explicadoo porquê. Geralmente argumentou sua energia baixa ou zero, mas o espectro ambiental é muito mais amploe complexo. A partir da lógica de análise do ciclo de vida (ACV) é possível identificar eventos em cada fase de ummaterial, a partir de extracção da matéria-prima para fim da vida. Com base nesta lógica e, geralmente, conhecendoos processos de produção de três materiais de alvenaria, torna-se um exercício de dedutivo, a partir do qual osvalores são dados impactos positivos e negativos para cada um, em relação a 8 variáveis de interesse , ao longo decada fase do seu ciclo de vida

Proteína C reactiva y enfermedad arterial coronaria. C reactive protein and coronary artery disease.

Taking into account the crucial roll of the inflammatory process in the formation, progressionand development of atherotrombosis, many inflammatory markers have been studied to improvethe coronary risk stratification in primary and secondary prevention. C reactive protein,determined by a highly sensitive method, has been one of the most thoroughly evaluated.Its utility as a strong predictor of cardiovascular events in healthy people, or as apredictor of recurrence in patients with stable coronary artery disease or acute coronary syndromeshas been demonstrated. The aim of this paper is to revise the biological characteristicsas well as the methods to determine the C reactive protein, and its relation with the cardiovascularrisk factors and coronary artery disease