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We performed optical photometry and spectral observations of the symbiotic stars 4U1954+319 and ZZ CMi. For 4U1954+319, using high-resolution spectra, we, measure the equivalent widths of diffuse interstellar bands (DIBs) and estimate the interstellar reddening E(B-V ) = 0:83±0:09. Using the GAIA distances and our photometry, we find: (1) the absolute V -band magnitude MV =-5:23 ± 0:08 of 4U1954+319 and that the mass donor is a supergiant of luminosity class Ib, and (2) MV = -0:27±0:2 for ZZ CMi and that the mass donor is a giant of luminosity class III.

Introduction: Patients with chronic headaches and chronic oro-facial pain commonly present psychosocial issues that can affect social interactions. A possible reason could be that patients with these disorders might present impairments in facial recognition, laterality judgement and also alexithymia. However, a systematic review summarizing the effects of facial emotion recognition, laterality judgement and alexithymia in individuals with headaches and oro-facial pain is still not available., Aim: The main objective of this systematic review (SR) and meta-analysis (MA) was to compile and synthesize the evidence on the occurrence of alexithymia, deficits in laterality or left-right (LR) recognition and/or facial emotion recognition (FER) in patients with chronic headache and facial pain., Methods: Electronic searches were conducted in five databases (up to September 2023) and a manual search to identify relevant studies. The outcomes of interest were alexithymia scores, speed and accuracy in LR and/or FER, or any other quantitative data assessing body image distortions. The screening process, data extraction, risk of bias and data analysis were performed by two independent assessors following standards for systematic reviews., Results: From 1395 manuscripts found, only 34 studies met the criteria. The overall quality/certainty of the evidence was very low. Although the results should be interpreted carefully, individuals with chronic headaches showed significantly higher levels of alexithymia when compared to healthy individuals. No conclusive results were found for the other variables of interest., Conclusion: Although the overall evidence from this review is very low, people with chronic primary headaches and oro-facial pain could be regularly screened for alexithymia to guarantee appropriate management., (© 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

The cerebellum is traditionally considered a movement control structure because of its established afferent and efferent anatomical and functional connections with the motor cortex. In the last decade, studies also proposed its involvement in perception, particularly somatosensory acquisition and prediction of the sensory consequences of movement. However, compared to its role in motor control, the cerebellum's specific role or modulatory influence on other brain areas involved in sensory perception, specifically the primary sensorimotor cortex, is less clear. In the present study, we explored whether peripherally applied vibrotactile stimuli at flutter frequency affect functional cerebello-cortical connections. In 17 healthy volunteers, changes in cerebellar brain inhibition (CBI) and vibration perception threshold (VPT) were measured before and after a 20-min right hand mechanical stimulation at 25 Hz. 5 Hz mechanical stimulation of the right foot served as an active control condition. Performance in a Grooved Pegboard test (GPT) was also measured to assess stimulation's impact on motor performance. Hand stimulation caused a reduction in CBI (13.16%) and increased VPT but had no specific effect on GPT performance, while foot stimulation had no significant effect on all measures. The result added evidence to the functional connections between the cerebellum and primary motor cortex, as shown by CBI reduction. Meanwhile, the parallel increase in VPT indirectly suggests that the cerebellum influences the processing of vibrotactile stimulus through motor-sensory interactions., (© 2022. The Author(s).)