Yawn Contagion and Empathy in Homo sapiens

The ability to share others' emotions, or empathy, is crucial for complex social interactions. Clinical, psychological, and neurobiological clues suggest a link between yawn contagion and empathy in humans (Homo sapiens). However, no behavioral evidence has been provided so far. We tested the effect of different variables (e.g., country of origin, sex, yawn characteristics) on yawn contagion by running mixed models applied to observational data collected over 1 year on adult (>16 years old) human subjects. Only social bonding predicted the occurrence, frequency, and latency of yawn contagion. As with other measures of empathy, the rate of contagion was greatest in response to kin, then friends, then acquaintances, and lastly strangers. Related individuals (r≥0.25) showed the greatest contagion, in terms of both occurrence of yawning and frequency of yawns. Strangers and acquaintances showed a longer delay in the yawn response (latency) compared to friends and kin. This outcome suggests that the neuronal activation magnitude related to yawn contagion can differ as a function of subject familiarity. In conclusion, our results demonstrate that yawn contagion is primarily driven by the emotional closeness between individuals and not by other variables, such as gender and nationality

Long-Lasting Consequences of Neonatal Maternal Separation on Social Behaviors in Ovariectomized Female Mice

Maternal separation (MS) stress is known to induce long-lasting alterations in emotional and anxiety-related behaviors, but effects on social behaviors are not well defined. The present study examined MS effects on female social behaviors in the social investigation (SIT) and social preference (SPT) tests, in addition to non-social behaviors in the open-field (OFT) and light-dark transition (LDT) tests in C57BL/6J mice. All females were tested as ovariectomized to eliminate confounding effects of endogenous estrogen during behavioral testing. Daily MS (3 hr) from postnatal day 1 to 14 did not affect anxiety levels in LDT, but were elevated in OFT with modified behavioral responses to the novel environment. Furthermore, MS altered social investigative behaviors and preference patterns toward unfamiliar stimulus mice in SIT and short- and long-term SPT paradigms. In SIT, MS reduced social investigation duration and increased number of stretched approaches towards both female and male unfamiliar stimulus mice, suggesting increased social anxiety levels in MS females. Similarly, MS heightened levels of social anxiety during short-term SPT but no MS effect on social preference was found. On the other hand, MS females displayed a distinctive preference for female stimuli, unlike control females, when tested for long-term SPT over a prolonged period of 5 days. Evaluation of FosB expression in the paraventricular nucleus, medial and central amygdala following stimulus exposure demonstrated greater number of FosB immunopositive cells in all three brain regions in MS females compared to control females. These results suggest that MS females might differ in neuroendocrine responses toward unfamiliar female and male opponents, which may be associated with modifications in social behaviors found in the present study. Taken together, this study provides new evidence that early life stress modifies female social behaviors by highlighting alterations in behavioral responses to situations involving social as well as non-social novelty

Erratum to: Methods for evaluating medical tests and biomarkers

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1186/s41512-016-0001-y.]

Health, education, and social care provision after diagnosis of childhood visual disability

Aim: To investigate the health, education, and social care provision for children newly diagnosed with visual disability.Method: This was a national prospective study, the British Childhood Visual Impairment and Blindness Study 2 (BCVIS2), ascertaining new diagnoses of visual impairment or severe visual impairment and blindness (SVIBL), or equivalent vi-sion. Data collection was performed by managing clinicians up to 1-year follow-up, and included health and developmental needs, and health, education, and social care provision.Results: BCVIS2 identified 784 children newly diagnosed with visual impairment/SVIBL (313 with visual impairment, 471 with SVIBL). Most children had associated systemic disorders (559 [71%], 167 [54%] with visual impairment, and 392 [84%] with SVIBL). Care from multidisciplinary teams was provided for 549 children (70%). Two-thirds (515) had not received an Education, Health, and Care Plan (EHCP). Fewer children with visual impairment had seen a specialist teacher (SVIBL 35%, visual impairment 28%, χ2p < 0.001), or had an EHCP (11% vs 7%, χ2p < 0 . 01).Interpretation: Families need additional support from managing clinicians to access recommended complex interventions such as the use of multidisciplinary teams and educational support. This need is pressing, as the population of children with visual impairment/SVIBL is expected to grow in size and complexity.This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

Evidence synthesis to inform model-based cost-effectiveness evaluations of diagnostic tests: a methodological systematic review of health technology assessments

Background: Evaluations of diagnostic tests are challenging because of the indirect nature of their impact on patient outcomes. Model-based health economic evaluations of tests allow different types of evidence from various sources to be incorporated and enable cost-effectiveness estimates to be made beyond the duration of available study data. To parameterize a health-economic model fully, all the ways a test impacts on patient health must be quantified, including but not limited to diagnostic test accuracy. Methods: We assessed all UK NIHR HTA reports published May 2009-July 2015. Reports were included if they evaluated a diagnostic test, included a model-based health economic evaluation and included a systematic review and meta-analysis of test accuracy. From each eligible report we extracted information on the following topics: 1) what evidence aside from test accuracy was searched for and synthesised, 2) which methods were used to synthesise test accuracy evidence and how did the results inform the economic model, 3) how/whether threshold effects were explored, 4) how the potential dependency between multiple tests in a pathway was accounted for, and 5) for evaluations of tests targeted at the primary care setting, how evidence from differing healthcare settings was incorporated. Results: The bivariate or HSROC model was implemented in 20/22 reports that met all inclusion criteria. Test accuracy data for health economic modelling was obtained from meta-analyses completely in four reports, partially in fourteen reports and not at all in four reports. Only 2/7 reports that used a quantitative test gave clear threshold recommendations. All 22 reports explored the effect of uncertainty in accuracy parameters but most of those that used multiple tests did not allow for dependence between test results. 7/22 tests were potentially suitable for primary care but the majority found limited evidence on test accuracy in primary care settings. Conclusions: The uptake of appropriate meta-analysis methods for synthesising evidence on diagnostic test accuracy in UK NIHR HTAs has improved in recent years. Future research should focus on other evidence requirements for cost-effectiveness assessment, threshold effects for quantitative tests and the impact of multiple diagnostic tests

Erratum to: Methods for evaluating medical tests and biomarkers

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1186/s41512-016-0001-y.]

Comparative Vertebrate Lateralization

The idea of this book was conceived at the time Richard Andrew retired from his professorial position at Sussex University. It is a celebration of his lifelong contribution to the study of ethology. In that sense, however, it is premature because Richard Andrew has far from retired from highly active research, shown most clearly by his contributions to this book. If anything, his 'retirement' has allowed him to develop his ideas, especially on lateralization, and structure them in a way that unifies the field. For this reason, it was important for Richard and me to work together in editing this volume and for Richard to contribute key chapters that develop his recent lines of thought. Our aim was to collect together a volume of recent research on lateralization in a wide range of vertebrate species and to highlight model systems that have been valuable in elucidating the function of lateralization, its causes, its development and its evolution.Although Richard Andrew's contribution to ethology has been much wider than in the fields of lateralization, this book celebrates his important contribution to the study of lateralization. We hope it demonstrates that knowledge of lateralization clarifies certain problems in the study of brain and behaviour, especially memory formation, and provides an excellent basis for future research with broad implications in the fields of development and genetics. The field of lateralization has 'come of age' largely because it provides a firm basis on which to examine a number of important issues in the study of brain and behaviour