Selective distortion of body image by asynchronous visuotactile stimulation

In the rubber hand illusion (RHI), a rubber hand is felt as being part of one’s body. This illusion is evoked by providing synchronous visuotactile stimulation to the fake and real hands. Asynchronous visuotactile stimulation is known not to produce such an illusion of ownership, being commonly used as the control condition. Here we explored the impact of synchronous and asynchronous visuotactile stimulation on the body image. We combined the induction of the RHI with a quantitative test for the internal representation of body metrics (i.e., the positions of key fiducial points on the body relative to each other). We found a significant recalibration of the upper/lower arm lengths following asynchronous visuotactile stimulation. In particular, we observed a selective elongation of the lower arm, a distortion typical of deafferentation. Conversely, synchronous visuotactile stimulation did not alter the estimation of the arm segments' length. Our findings are consistent with a dynamic internal representation of body image that is continuously updated based on incoming multisensory information. Furthermore, the use of asynchronous multisensory stimulation as a neutral condition should be reconsidered since it introduces changes in the body image

La Imagen y la Narrativa como Herramientas para el Abordaje Psicosocial en Escenarios de Violencia, Bogota D.C.

El presente informe pretende mostrar al lector el análisis realizado por los estudiantes del Diplomado de Profundización de Acompañamiento Psicosocial en Escenarios de Violencia en los diferentes temas abordados durante el curso, resaltando la importancia de la imagen y la narrativa, elementos utilizados para lograr analizar los relatos de violencia a los que han estado sometidos por varias décadas en Colombia distintas comunidades y que a causa de ello han sufrido desplazamiento, muerte, desesperanza, pérdida de identidad cultural pero sobre todo abandono por parte del estado, situaciones que generan secuelas psicológicas y físicas que interfieren en la calidad de vida. Es impactante ver como miles de víctimas de esta guerra quedan marcadas a tal manera de que no solo se afecta su vida emocional sino también su parte física, adicional a esto sus familiares también son víctimas indirectas de estas tragedias, son familias tan vulnerables que cuesta entender el abandono del estado y tantas trabas que les pone para poder reponer algo que de por si les corresponde por derecho. Adicional a esto es increíble como este gobierno se demora tanto en el proceso de reparación y ayuda a las víctimas y a sus familias, personas tan humildes y vulnerables que son las más afectadas con esta guerra absurda, tantos años de espera reclamando lo que es justo y les pertenece solo porque a este gobierno impone muchas trabas para llevar a cabo estos procesos además de no tener verdaderas leyes y hacerlas cumplir a cabalidad. De acuerdo a lo anterior el estudiante debe analizar diferentes casos de personas víctimas del conflicto armado quienes por medio de la memoria, experiencias y narrativas busca consolidar estrategias de apoyo psicosocial que logren abordar las problemáticas que afectan a estas personas y a través del acompañamiento psicológico llegar a fortalecer sus emociones y encontrar por medio de sus proyectos de vida una transformación de la realidad. Todos los protagonistas de los relatos a pesar del abandono del estado han superado todos los obstáculos que se les ha presentado, todos con las mismas ganas de luchar, de vivir, de salir adelante, de superarse y querer ayudar a muchas personas que al igual que ellos han sido víctimas del conflicto.This report aims to show the reader about the analysis made by the students of the Diploma of Deepening Psychosocial Accompaniment in Scenarios of Violence in the different topics addressed during the course, highlighting the importance of image and narrative, elements used to analyze the accounts of violence to which different communities have been subjected for several decades in Colombia and which have suffered displacement, death, despair as a result, loss of cultural identity but above all abandonment by the state, situations that generate psychological and physical consequences that interfere with the quality of life. It’s shocking to see how thousands of victims of this war are scarred in such a way that not only their emotional lives are affected but also their physical part, in addition to this their families are also indirect victims of these tragedies, They are families so vulnerable that it is difficult to understand the abandonment of the state and so many obstacles that it puts in their way in order to replace something that is rightfully theirs. In addition to this, it is incredible how this government is taking so long to repair and help the victims and their families, people so humble and vulnerable that they are the most affected by this absurd war, many years of waiting for what is just and belongs to them only because this government imposes many obstacles to carry out these processes increasing to not having real laws and enforcing them in full. According to the above, the student must analyze different cases of victims of the armed conflict who, through memory, experiences and narratives seek to consolidate strategies of psychosocial support that manage to address the problems that affect these people and through psychological support to strengthen their emotions and find through their life projects a transformation of reality. All the protagonists of the stories despite the abandonment of the state have overcome all the obstacles that have been presented to them, all with the same desire to fight, to live, to get ahead, to rise above themselves and to want to help many people who, like them, have been victims of the conflict

Driven Topological Transitions in Active Nematic Films

The topological properties of many materials are central to their behavior, with the dynamics of topological defects being particularly important to intrinsically out-of-equilibrium, active materials. In this paper, local manipulation of the ordering, dynamics, and topological properties of microtubule-based extensile active nematic films is demonstrated in a joint experimental and simulation study. Hydrodynamic stresses created by magnetically actuated rotation of disk-shaped colloids in proximity to the films compete with internal stresses in the active nematic, enabling local control of the motion of the +1/2 charge topological defects that are intrinsic to spontaneously turbulent active films. Sufficiently large applied stresses drive the formation of +1 charge topological vortices in the director field through the merger of two +1/2 defects. The directed motion of the defects is accompanied by ordering of the vorticity and velocity of the active flows within the film that is qualitatively unlike the response of passive viscous films. Many features of the film's response to the disk are captured by Lattice Boltzmann simulations, leading to insight into the anomalous viscoelastic nature of the active nematic. The topological vortex formation is accompanied by a rheological instability in the film that leads to significant increase in the flow velocities. Comparison of the velocity profile in vicinity of the vortex with fluid-dynamics calculations provides an estimate of film viscosity

Molecular biomarkers in the context of focal therapy for prostate cancer: Recommendations of a delphi consensus from the focal therapy society

BACKGROUND: Focal therapy (FT) for prostate cancer (PCa) is promising. However, long-term oncological results are awaited and there is no consensus on follow-up strategies. Molecular biomarkers (MB) may be useful in selecting, treating and following up men undergoing FT, though there is limited evidence in this field to guide practice. We aimed to conduct a consensus meeting, endorsed by the Focal Therapy Society, amongst a large group of experts, to understand the potential utility of MB in FT for localized PCa. METHODS: A 38-item questionnaire was built following a literature search. The authors then performed three rounds of a Delphi Consensus using DelphiManager, using the GRADE grid scoring system, followed by a face-to-face expert meeting. Three areas of interest were identified and covered concerning MB for FT, 1) the current/present role; 2) the potential/future role; 3) the recommended features for future studies. Consensus was defined using a 70% agreement threshold. RESULTS: Of 95 invited experts, 42 (44.2%) completed the three Delphi rounds. Twenty-four items reached a consensus and they were then approved at the meeting involving (N.=15) experts. Fourteen items reached a consensus on uncertainty, or they did not reach a consensus. They were re-discussed, resulting in a consensus (N.=3), a consensus on a partial agreement (N.=1), and a consensus on uncertainty (N.=10). A final list of statements were derived from the approved and discussed items, with the addition of three generated statements, to provide guidance regarding MB in the context of FT for localized PCa. Research efforts in this field should be considered a priority. CONCLUSIONS: The present study detailed an initial consensus on the use of MB in FT for PCa. This is until evidence becomes available on the subject

A Novel Unstable Duplication Upstream of HAS2 Predisposes to a Breed-Defining Skin Phenotype and a Periodic Fever Syndrome in Chinese Shar-Pei Dogs

Hereditary periodic fever syndromes are characterized by recurrent episodes of fever and inflammation with no known pathogenic or autoimmune cause. In humans, several genes have been implicated in this group of diseases, but the majority of cases remain unexplained. A similar periodic fever syndrome is relatively frequent in the Chinese Shar-Pei breed of dogs. In the western world, Shar-Pei have been strongly selected for a distinctive thick and heavily folded skin. In this study, a mutation affecting both these traits was identified. Using genome-wide SNP analysis of Shar-Pei and other breeds, the strongest signal of a breed-specific selective sweep was located on chromosome 13. The same region also harbored the strongest genome-wide association (GWA) signal for susceptibility to the periodic fever syndrome (praw = 2.3×10−6, pgenome = 0.01). Dense targeted resequencing revealed two partially overlapping duplications, 14.3 Kb and 16.1 Kb in size, unique to Shar-Pei and upstream of the Hyaluronic Acid Synthase 2 (HAS2) gene. HAS2 encodes the rate-limiting enzyme synthesizing hyaluronan (HA), a major component of the skin. HA is up-regulated and accumulates in the thickened skin of Shar-Pei. A high copy number of the 16.1 Kb duplication was associated with an increased expression of HAS2 as well as the periodic fever syndrome (p<0.0001). When fragmented, HA can act as a trigger of the innate immune system and stimulate sterile fever and inflammation. The strong selection for the skin phenotype therefore appears to enrich for a pleiotropic mutation predisposing these dogs to a periodic fever syndrome. The identification of HA as a major risk factor for this canine disease raises the potential of this glycosaminoglycan as a risk factor for human periodic fevers and as an important driver of chronic inflammation

Multi-ancestry GWAS reveals excitotoxicity associated with outcome after ischaemic stroke

During the first hours after stroke onset, neurological deficits can be highly unstable: some patients rapidly improve, while others deteriorate. This early neurological instability has a major impact on long-term outcome. Here, we aimed to determine the genetic architecture of early neurological instability measured by the difference between the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) within 6 h of stroke onset and NIHSS at 24 h. A total of 5876 individuals from seven countries (Spain, Finland, Poland, USA, Costa Rica, Mexico and Korea) were studied using a multi-ancestry meta-analyses. We found that 8.7% of NIHSS at 24 h of variance was explained by common genetic variations, and also that early neurological instability has a different genetic architecture from that of stroke risk. Eight loci (1p21.1, 1q42.2, 2p25.1, 2q31.2, 2q33.3, 5q33.2, 7p21.2 and 13q31.1) were genome-wide significant and explained 1.8% of the variability suggesting that additional variants influence early change in neurological deficits. We used functional genomics and bioinformatic annotation to identify the genes driving the association from each locus. Expression quantitative trait loci mapping and summary data-based Mendelian randomization indicate that ADAM23 (log Bayes factor = 5.41) was driving the association for 2q33.3. Gene-based analyses suggested that GRIA1 (log Bayes factor = 5.19), which is predominantly expressed in the brain, is the gene driving the association for the 5q33.2 locus. These analyses also nominated GNPAT (log Bayes factor = 7.64) ABCB5 (log Bayes factor = 5.97) for the 1p21.1 and 7p21.1 loci. Human brain single-nuclei RNA-sequencing indicates that the gene expression of ADAM23 and GRIA1 is enriched in neurons. ADAM23, a presynaptic protein and GRIA1, a protein subunit of the AMPA receptor, are part of a synaptic protein complex that modulates neuronal excitability. These data provide the first genetic evidence in humans that excitotoxicity may contribute to early neurological instability after acute ischaemic stroke. Ibanez et al. perform a multi-ancestry meta-analysis to investigate the genetic architecture of early stroke outcomes. Two of the eight genome-wide significant loci identified-ADAM23 and GRIA1-are involved in synaptic excitability, suggesting that excitotoxicity contributes to neurological instability after ischaemic stroke.Peer reviewe

2019 ARIA Care pathways for allergen immunotherapy

Allergen immunotherapy (AIT) is a proven therapeutic option for the treatment of allergic rhinitis and/or asthma. Many guidelines or national practice guidelines have been produced but the evidence-based method varies, many are complex and none propose care pathways. This paper reviews care pathways for AIT using strict criteria and provides simple recommendations that can be used by all stakeholders including healthcare professionals. The decision to prescribe AIT for the patient should be individualized and based on the relevance of the allergens, the persistence of symptoms despite appropriate medications according to guidelines as well as the availability of good-quality and efficacious extracts. Allergen extracts cannot be regarded as generics. Immunotherapy is selected by specialists for stratified patients. There are no currently available validated biomarkers that can predict AIT success. In adolescents and adults, AIT should be reserved for patients with moderate/severe rhinitis or for those with moderate asthma who, despite appropriate pharmacotherapy and adherence, continue to exhibit exacerbations that appear to be related to allergen exposure, except in some specific cases. Immunotherapy may be even more advantageous in patients with multimorbidity. In children, AIT may prevent asthma onset in patients with rhinitis. mHealth tools are promising for the stratification and follow-up of patients.Peer reviewe