Pupillary Responses Obey Emmert’s Law and Co-vary with Autistic Traits

We measured the pupil response to a light stimulus subject to a size illusion and found that stimuli perceived as larger evoke a stronger pupillary response. The size illusion depends on combining retinal signals with contextual 3D information; contextual processing is thought to vary across individuals, being weaker in individuals with stronger autistic traits. Consistent with this theory, autistic traits correlated negatively with the magnitude of pupil modulations in our sample of neurotypical adults; however, psychophysical measurements of the illusion did not correlate with autistic traits, or with the pupil modulations. This shows that pupillometry provides an accurate objective index of complex perceptual processes, particularly useful for quantifying interindividual differences, and potentially more informative than standard psychophysical measures

Pupillary Responses Obey Emmert’s Law and Co-vary with Autistic Traits

We measured the pupil response to a light stimulus subject to a size illusion and found that stimuli perceived as larger evoke a stronger pupillary response. The size illusion depends on combining retinal signals with contextual 3D information; contextual processing is thought to vary across individuals, being weaker in individuals with stronger autistic traits. Consistent with this theory, autistic traits correlated negatively with the magnitude of pupil modulations in our sample of neurotypical adults; however, psychophysical measurements of the illusion did not correlate with autistic traits, or with the pupil modulations. This shows that pupillometry provides an accurate objective index of complex perceptual processes, particularly useful for quantifying interindividual differences, and potentially more informative than standard psychophysical measures

The structure and diversity of strain-level variation in vaginal bacteria

The vaginal microbiome plays an important role in human health and species of vaginal bacteria have been associated with reproductive disease. Strain-level variation is also thought to be important, but the diversity, structure and evolutionary history of vaginal strains is not as well characterized. We developed and validated an approach to measure strain variation from metagenomic data based on SNPs within the core genomes for six species of vaginal bacteria

Objective pupillometry shows that perceptual styles covary with autistic-like personality traits

We measured the modulation of pupil-size (in constant lighting) elicited by observing transparent surfaces of black and white moving dots, perceived as a cylinder rotating about its vertical axis. The direction of rotation was swapped periodically by flipping stereo-depth of the two surfaces. Pupil size modulated in synchrony with the changes in front-surface color (dilating when black). The magnitude of pupillary modulation was larger for human participants with higher Autism-Spectrum Quotient (AQ), consistent with a local perceptual style, with attention focused on the front surface. The modulation with surface color, and its correlation with AQ, was equally strong when participants passively viewed the stimulus. No other indicator, including involuntary pursuit eye-movements, covaried with AQ. These results reinforce our previous report with a similar bistable stimulus (Turi, Burr, & Binda, 2018), and go on to show that bistable illusory motion is not necessary for the effect, or its dependence on AQ

The Modified Five-Point Test (MFPT): normative data for a sample of Italian elderly

INTRODUCTION: Non-verbal figural fluency is related to executive functions and specifically to the ability to create as many unique designs as possible, while minimizing their repetitions. An Italian version of figural fluency is the Modified Five-Point Test (MFPT), which is highly employed in the clinical practice of neuropsychologists. To date, reference data of Italian population are limited to a sample aged between 16 and 60 years old. Thus, the current study aims to provide normative data of the MFPT in the context of a population-based setting, conducted in Southern Italy. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We collected N = 340 Italian healthy subjects, aged over 65 years old (range: 65-91), pooled across subgroups for age, sex, and education. Multiple regression analyses were performed to estimate the effect of age, education, and sex on the participant's performance. Equivalent scores and cut-off scores were also defined for the number of unique designs (UDs) and the number of strategies (CSs). RESULTS: Multiple regression analyses revealed that UDs increase with decreasing age and increasing educational level. CSs are influenced by higher educational levels but neither by age nor sex. A significant inverse correlation between the UDs and percentage of errors occurred, suggesting that a higher number of UDs are associated with a fewer number of errors and higher CSs employed. CONCLUSION: The MFPT provides a measure of cognitive functioning in terms of the ability to initiate and realize designs, affording useful hints for clinical settings. The MFPT may represent a handy and useful tool with a specific focus in the differentiation of healthy versus pathological aging

Plasma Inflammatory Cytokines Are Elevated in ALS

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease which leads to death in a median time of 2–3 years. Inflammation has been claimed important to the ALS pathogenesis, but its role is still not well-characterized. In the present study, a panel of five cytokines (IL-2, IL-6, IL-10, IFN-gamma, and TNF-alpha)measured in plasma has been investigated in ALS. These biomarkers of inflammation were measured in a population-based cohort of 79 patients with ALS and 79 age- and sex-matched healthy controls using the Bio-Plex technology (Bio-Rad). All the five cytokines were significantly increased in plasma samples of patients compared with controls (p < 0.0001), with IL-6 having the highest median concentration (10.11 pg/ml) in the ALS group. Furthermore, IL-6 was the plasma cytokine with the highest discrimination ability between patients and controls according to the receiver operating characteristic analysis (area under the curve = 0.93). At a cut-off point of 5.71 pg/ml, it was able to classify patients and controls with 91% of sensitivity and 87% of specificity. In the ALS group, plasma IL-6 concentration correlated with demographic (age: rs = 0.25, p = 0.025) and clinical (revised ALS Functional Rating Scale at evaluation: rs = −0.32, p = 0.007; Manual Muscle Testing: rs =−0.33, p=0.004; progression: rs=0.29, p=0.0395) parameters. In line with previous studies, our results confirm that inflammatory cytokines are elevated in ALS, supporting a possible role of inflammation in disease mechanism and progression. However, the precise role of inflammation in ALS needs to be further investigated on larger samples and with more mechanistic studies

Episodic memory and learning rates in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis without dementia

In amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), memory deficits may be primary or secondary to executive dysfunction. We assessed episodic memory and executive function of nondemented ALS patients, comparing episodic memory profiles and learning rates of ALS patients with those of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) subjects and cognitively healthy controls (HC). In a multidisciplinary tertiary centre for motor neuron disease, 72 nondemented ALS patients, 57 amnestic MCI (aMCI), 89 single non amnestic MCI with compromised executive functions (dysexecutive MCI), and 190 HC were enrolled. They were screened using the Frontal Assessment Battery and Mini Mental State Examination. Episodic memory performances and learning rates were tested using the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT). Episodic memory dysfunction (immediate recall) was found in 14 ALS patients (19.4%). The ALS group had lower performance than HC on immediate recall, without differences in learning rate, and better performance than aMCI subjects on all RAVLT measures. Compared to dysexecutive MCI subjects, ALS patients had only better verbal learning abilities. ALS patients with executive dysfunction had a lower score on immediate and delayed recalls, verbal learning, and primacy effect than ALS patients without executive dysfunction. The immediate recall among couples of diagnostic groups differed in a statistically significant way except for the ALS/dysexecutive MCI groups. In ALS patients, episodic memory performances and learning rates appeared to be better than in aMCI subjects and similar to those with dysexecutive MCI, suggesting also a secondary functional damage due to executive impairment

The prevalence of peripheral and central hearing impairment and its relation to cognition in older adults.

Age-related hearing loss (ARHL) and dementia are two highly prevalent conditions in the adult population. Recent studies have suggested that hearing loss is independently associated with poorer cognitive functioning. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of ARHL and cognitive impairment in a large sample of subjects older than 65 years and to correlate hearing function with cognitive function. A total of 488 subjects older than 65 years (mean age 72.8 years) participating in the Great Age Study underwent a complete audiological, neurological and neuropsychological evaluation as part of a multidisciplinary assessment. The prevalence of a hearing loss greater than 25 dB HL was 64.1%, of Central Auditory Processing Disorder (CAPD) was 14.3 and 25.3% of the subjects reported a hearing handicap as reported on the Hearing Handicap Inventory for the Elderly Screening Version questionnaire. Multiple logistic regression analysis corrected for gender, age and education duration showed that mild cognitive impairment (MCI) was significantly associated with hearing impairment (CAPD and hearing threshold; odds ratio 1.6, p = 0.05) and that Alzheimer's disease (AD) was significantly associated with CAPD (odds ratio 4.2, p = 0.05). Given that up to 80% of patients affected by MCI convert to AD, adding auditory tests to a screening cognitive battery might have value in the early diagnosis of cognitive decline

Association of extent of cannabis use and psychotic like intoxication experiences in a multi-national sample of first episode psychosis patients and controls

BackgroundFirst episode psychosis (FEP) patients who use cannabis experience more frequent psychotic and euphoric intoxication experiences compared to controls. It is not clear whether this is consequent to patients being more vulnerable to the effects of cannabis use or to their heavier pattern of use. We aimed to determine whether extent of use predicted psychotic-like and euphoric intoxication experiences in patients and controls and whether this differs between groups.MethodsWe analysed data on patients who had ever used cannabis (n = 655) and controls who had ever used cannabis (n = 654) across 15 sites from six countries in the EU-GEI study (2010-2015). We used multiple regression to model predictors of cannabis-induced experiences and to determine if there was an interaction between caseness and extent of use.ResultsCaseness, frequency of cannabis use and money spent on cannabis predicted psychotic-like and euphoric experiences (p ≤ 0.001). For psychotic-like experiences (PEs) there was a significant interaction for caseness × frequency of use (p &lt; 0.001) and caseness × money spent on cannabis (p = 0.001) such that FEP patients had increased experiences at increased levels of use compared to controls. There was no significant interaction for euphoric experiences (p &gt; 0.5).ConclusionsFEP patients are particularly sensitive to increased psychotic-like, but not euphoric experiences, at higher levels of cannabis use compared to controls. This suggests a specific psychotomimetic response in FEP patients related to heavy cannabis use. Clinicians should enquire regarding cannabis related PEs and advise that lower levels of cannabis use are associated with less frequent PEs

Social disadvantage, linguistic distance, ethnic minority status and first-episode psychosis: Results from the EU-GEI case-control study

BackgroundEthnic minority groups in Western countries face an increased risk of psychotic disorders. Causes of this long-standing public health inequality remain poorly understood. We investigated whether social disadvantage, linguistic distance and discrimination contributed to these patterns.MethodsWe used case-control data from the EUropean network of national schizophrenia networks studying Gene-Environment Interactions (EU-GEI) study, carried out in 16 centres in six countries. We recruited 1130 cases and 1497 population-based controls. Our main outcome measure was first-episode ICD-10 psychotic disorder (F20-F33), and exposures were ethnicity (white majority, black, mixed, Asian, North-African, white minority and other), generational status, social disadvantage, linguistic distance and discrimination. Age, sex, paternal age, cannabis use, childhood trauma and parental history of psychosis were included as a priori confounders. Exposures and confounders were added sequentially to multivariable logistic models, following multiple imputation for missing data.ResultsParticipants from any ethnic minority background had crude excess odds of psychosis [odds ratio (OR) 2.03, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.69-2.43], which remained after adjustment for confounders (OR 1.61, 95% CI 1.31-1.98). This was progressively attenuated following further adjustment for social disadvantage (OR 1.52, 95% CI 1.22-1.89) and linguistic distance (OR 1.22, 95% CI 0.95-1.57), a pattern mirrored in several specific ethnic groups. Linguistic distance and social disadvantage had stronger effects for first- A nd later-generation groups, respectively.ConclusionSocial disadvantage and linguistic distance, two potential markers of sociocultural exclusion, were associated with increased odds of psychotic disorder, and adjusting for these led to equivocal risk between several ethnic minority groups and the white majority