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IntroductionSleep-disordered breathing (SDB) and gas exchange disorders are common in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF). Currently, the impact of the disease on sleep patterns in patients living at high altitude and the relationship of these patterns to lung function are largely unknown. The aim of this study was to determine the frequency of SDB in children with CF aged 6–18 years and the relationship between SDB and lung function (FEV1).MethodsThis is an analytical cross-sectional study of children aged 6–18 years diagnosed with CF. Spirometry before and after bronchodilators and polysomnography with capnography were performed. Descriptive analysis of qualitative and continuous variables was performed. Spearman's correlation coefficient was used to determine the correlation between polysomnogram and lung function (FEV1).ResultsTwenty-four patients with CF were included. The mean age was 10.5 ± 3.1 years and 62.5% were male. Nine children had bronchiectasis on chest CT. The median absolute baseline FEV1 was 1,880 (1,355–2,325) ml and 98% (83%–110%) of predicted value. No significant difference in FEV1% was observed between subjects with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and those without OSA (P = 0.56). The prevalence of OSA was 66.7% in children younger than 13 years and 40% in children older than 13 years. The Spearman correlation coefficient between FEV1 and percentage of total sleep time with saturation less than 90% (T90) was rho −0.52 (p-value = 0.018), and between FEV1 and percentage of total sleep time with saturation less than 85% (T85) was statistically significant with rho −0.45 (p-value = 0.041). A positive correlation was observed between FEV1 and SpO2 during sleep with rho 0.53 and a statistically significant p-value (0.014).ConclusionsA high prevalence of sleep apnea was found in children with CF living at high altitude, with a negative correlation between FEV1 and T90 and T85 oxygenation indices, and a positive correlation between FEV1 and SpO2 during sleep.

Premenstrual exacerbation of an existing psychiatric disorder refers to the worsening of symptoms inherent to the condition during the premenstrual phase. Research consistently indicates that hormonal fluctuations during the menstrual cycle present a unique period of vulnerability for the onset or exacerbation of psychiatric symptoms, impacting diagnosis, risk assessment, and treatment. This review sought to elucidate the phenomenon of premenstrual exacerbation and its impact across a spectrum of psychiatric illnesses, including mood, anxiety, psychotic, obsessive-compulsive, personality, and trauma-related disorders. Despite the expanded research in recent years on premenstrual dysphoric disorder and premenstrual syndrome, premenstrual exacerbation remains underexplored and poorly defined. This review offers significant contributions to the diagnosis and management of psychiatric conditions, advocating for heightened awareness and novel treatment approaches in the context of premenstrual exacerbation.

Animal welfare is of increasing importance, with consumers preferring animal products made with ethical practices due to growing awareness. This shift highlights the need for reliable methods to evaluate welfare. This systematic review aims to assess the validity of current animal-based welfare indicators for dairy cows to aid farmers and agricultural professionals in evaluating and improving welfare amidst the lack of a clear legislative definition. The literature search spanned five databases: CAB Direct, PubMed, Scopus, Google Scholar and Livivo, covering publications in English and German from 2011 to 2021. Specific search terms were employed, and abstracts were screened for relevance. Publications were categorized based on exclusion criteria, with a final verification process conducted by three independent scientists. Research highlights correlations between welfare measures, farm characteristics and innovative indicators like hair cortisol concentration. Farming systems and housing methods significantly affect welfare, with pasture-based systems generally resulting in reduced lameness and improved behavior. Proper housing design and management practices are important, as they influence indicators like lameness and cleanliness. Heart rate variability and heart rate monitoring provide insights into dairy cow stress levels during milking and other stressors, making them valuable for welfare assessment. Biomarker research emphasizes the need to balance productivity and health in breeding strategies, as high milk production alone does not indicate good welfare. Behavioral studies and the human-animal relationship are key to understanding welfare. Precision Livestock Farming offers real-time assessment capabilities, although validation is needed. Stress physiology is complex, and while cortisol measurement methods are promising, further research is necessary. Assessment tools like the Animal Needs Index and routine herd data analysis are valuable for identifying welfare concerns. Key findings highlight the WQ® protocol’s effectiveness and versatility, the challenge of its time demands, and the DCF protocol’s promise for more practical and efficient welfare assessments. Commercial animal welfare audits should prioritize easily observable indicators and herd records due to logistical constraints in measuring biomarkers or heart rate variability. This focus on easily accessible indicators, such as body condition score, lameness, claw health, cleanliness, and somatic cell count allows effective welfare assessments, enabling prompt action to enhance wellbeing.

This exploratory laboratory study analyzes emotional responses to two types of populist strategies on social media platforms. We focus on emotional responses to content expressing ordinariness (on Instagram) and victimhood (on TikTok), where the content creator is a right-wing populist leader who is unfavorably perceived by the respondents in the study. Thus, the study critically tests the effectiveness of de-demonization strategies used by populist leaders to diversify the electorate. The research employs a combination of facial expressions analysis and two self-report measures of emotions to investigate the emotional responses elicited by populist strategies in individuals belonging to an out-group. Additionally, we examine the interrelation between psychophysiological measures and self-reported emotions. In doing so, the study makes a methodological contribution by advancing our understanding of emotional response processes and the methodologies employed to measure emotional responses. The results reveal positive and negative emotional responses, challenging the prevailing emphasis on negative emotions in response to out-group communication. However, the facial expressions and the self-reported emotions do not correlate. Our interpretation underscores the role of cognitive reasoning processes in differentiating emotional responses to political out-group social media content.

Background and objectivesEncephalitis is a devastating neurologic disorder with high morbidity and mortality. Autoimmune causes are roughly as common as infectious ones. N-methyl-D-aspartic acid receptor (NMDAR) encephalitis (NMDARE), characterized by serum and/or spinal fluid NMDAR antibodies, is the most common form of autoimmune encephalitis (AE). A translational rodent NMDARE model would allow for pathophysiologic studies of AE, leading to advances in the diagnosis and treatment of this debilitating neuropsychiatric disorder. The main objective of this work was to identify optimal active immunization conditions for NMDARE in mice.MethodsFemale C57BL/6J mice aged 8 weeks old were injected subcutaneously with an emulsion of complete Freund’s adjuvant, killed and dessicated Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and a 30 amino acid peptide flanking the NMDAR GluN1 subunit N368/G369 residue targeted by NMDARE patients’ antibodies. Three different induction methods were examined using subcutaneous injection of the peptide emulsion mixture into mice in 1) the ventral surface, 2) the dorsal surface, or 3) the dorsal surface with reimmunization at 4 and 8 weeks (boosted). Mice were bled biweekly and sacrificed at 2, 4, 6, 8, and 14 weeks. Serum and CSF NMDAR antibody titer, mouse behavior, hippocampal cell surface and postsynaptic NMDAR cluster density, and brain immune cell entry and cytokine content were examined.ResultsAll immunized mice produced serum and CSF NMDAR antibodies, which peaked at 6 weeks in the serum and at 6 (ventral and dorsal boosted) or 8 weeks (dorsal unboosted) post-immunization in the CSF, and demonstrated decreased hippocampal NMDAR cluster density by 6 weeks post-immunization. In contrast to dorsally-immunized mice, ventrally-induced mice displayed a translationally-relevant phenotype including memory deficits and depressive behavior, changes in cerebral cytokines, and entry of T-cells into the brain at the 4-week timepoint. A similar phenotype of memory dysfunction and anxiety was seen in dorsally-immunized mice only when they were serially boosted, which also resulted in higher antibody titers.DiscussionOur study revealed induction method-dependent differences in active immunization mouse models of NMDARE disease. A novel ventrally-induced NMDARE model demonstrated characteristics of AE earlier compared to dorsally-induced animals and is likely suitable for most short-term studies. However, boosting and improving the durability of the immune response might be preferred in prolonged longitudinal studies.

Purpose/ObjectiveYoung people with paediatric acquired brain injury (pABI) are twice as likely to develop a mood disorder as their peers, frequently have significant unmet socio-emotional needs, and are at over double the risk of going on to use adult mental health services. Recent years have seen significant advances in the development of interventions for young people with mood disorders. However, evidence-based approaches to mood disorders in pABI are lacking and surprisingly little work has evaluated clinical and neuro-developmental models of mood disorders in this population.MethodWe review the literature regarding key mechanisms hypothesised to account for the increased vulnerability to mood disorders in pABI: First, we summarise the direct neurocognitive consequences of pABI, considering the key areas of the brain implicated in vulnerability to mood disorders within a neurodevelopmental framework. Second, we outline five key factors that contribute to the heightened prevalence of mood disorders in young people following ABI. Finally, we synthesise these, integrating neuro-cognitive, developmental and systemic factors to guide clinical formulation.Results and ImplicationsWe present a framework that synthesises the key mechanisms identified in our review, namely the direct effects of pABI, neurocognitive and neuroendocrine factors implicated in mood and anxiety disorders, maladaptive neuroplasticity and trauma, structural and systemic factors, and psychological adjustment and developmental context. This framework is the first attempt to provide integrated guidance on the multiple factors that contribute to elevated life-long risk of mood disorders following pABI.

Autoimmune chorea syndromes represent a vast array of paraneoplastic, parainfectious and idiopathic disorders. It is increasingly apparent that familiarity with these disorders is critically important, as they may be treatable or may be part of a syndrome requiring further work-up and monitoring. These disorders are mediated by an aberrant immunologic attack with resultant neuronal dysfunction, manifesting as chorea. These conditions are typically accompanied by other neurologic or systemic manifestations. In this review we outline the clinical features, epidemiologic factors, and delineate the specific antibodies associated with each of these autoimmune mediated disorders. We highlight up to date information regarding this heterogeneous group of disorders, including a discussion of parainfectious Sydenham's chorea; paraneoplastic syndromes associated with CRMP-5 (collapsin response mediated protein-5/CV2) and ANNA-1 (antineuronal nuclear antibody / Hu) antibodies, in addition to neuronal antibody-associated disorders including anti-NMDAR, LGI1 (leucine-rich glioma inactivated-1) and CASPR2 (contactin associated protein-2). We discuss the more recently described entities of IgLON5, which has evidence of both immunologic and degenerative pathophysiology, in addition to PDE-10A antibody-associated chorea. We also outline chorea secondary to systemic diseases including Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) and Primary Antiphospholipid Syndrome (PAPS). We provide a framework for diagnosis and treatment.

The triarchic model of psychopathy was developed to bridge opposing descriptions of psychopathy by separating the core construct in three domains; boldness, meanness, and disinhibition. The Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TriPM) operationalizes the model through a 58-item self-report questionnaire. The current study examined the psychometric properties of the Swedish translation by investigating intercorrelations and associations to expert-rated psychopathy, general personality and psychopathy-related traits in male high-security prisoners (n = 191). Psychopathy rated with TriPM and the Psychopathy Checklist Revised (PCL-R) demonstrated expected convergence, as did empathy and impulsivity measures. The Disinhibition and Meanness scales were highly correlated, indicating that the scales might not be adequately differentiated. Nevertheless, the divergent association patterns to other important variables, particularly neuroticism and empathy, also points to meaningful differences. However, the lack of association between Disinhibition and Boldness may put into question if these domains are related at all, especially since there was a lack of similarity in the association patterns with other clinical variables. The influence of antisocial behavior in the TriPM operationalization might amplify the similarities of the Meanness and Disinhibition scales, while diluting the associations between Meanness and Boldness. In conclusion, the Swedish TriPM is effective in measuring the domains of triarchic model in forensic settings, even though a revision of the scales might improve the psychometric properties of the instrument.

Using low-cost air quality sensors (LCS) in citizen science projects opens many possibilities. LCS can provide an opportunity for the citizens to collect and contribute with their own air quality data. However, low data quality is often an issue when using LCS and with it a risk of unrealistic expectations of a higher degree of empowerment than what is possible. If the data quality and intended use of the data is not harmonized, conclusions may be drawn on the wrong basis and data can be rendered unusable. Ensuring high data quality is demanding in terms of labor and resources. The expertise, sensor performance assessment, post-processing, as well as the general workload required will depend strongly on the purpose and intended use of the air quality data. It is therefore a balancing act to ensure that the data quality is high enough for the specific purpose, while minimizing the validation effort. The aim of this perspective paper is to increase awareness of data quality issues and provide strategies to minimizing labor intensity and expenses while maintaining adequate QA/QC for robust applications of LCS in citizen science projects. We believe that air quality measurements performed by citizens can be better utilized with increased awareness about data quality and measurement requirements, in combination with improved metadata collection. Well-documented metadata can not only increase the value and usefulness for the actors collecting the data, but it also the foundation for assessment of potential integration of the data collected by citizens in a broader perspective.

Three clinically relevant ebolaviruses – Ebola (EBOV), Bundibugyo (BDBV), and Sudan (SUDV) viruses, are responsible for severe disease and occasional deadly outbreaks in Africa. The largest Ebola virus disease (EVD) epidemic to date in 2013-2016 in West Africa highlighted the urgent need for countermeasures, leading to the development and FDA approval of the Ebola virus vaccine rVSV-ZEBOV (Ervebo®) in 2020 and two monoclonal antibody (mAb)-based therapeutics (Inmazeb® [atoltivimab, maftivimab, and odesivimab-ebgn] and Ebanga® (ansuvimab-zykl) in 2020. The humoral response plays an indispensable role in ebolavirus immunity, based on studies of mAbs isolated from the antibody genes in peripheral blood circulating ebolavirus-specific human memory B cells. However, antibodies in the body are not secreted by circulating memory B cells in the blood but rather principally by plasma cells in the bone marrow. Little is known about the protective polyclonal antibody responses in convalescent plasma. Here we exploited both single-cell antibody gene sequencing and proteomic sequencing approaches to assess the composition of the ebolavirus glycoprotein (GP)-reactive antibody repertoire in the plasma of an EVD survivor. We first identified 1,512 GP-specific mAb variable gene sequences from single cells in the memory B cell compartment. Using mass spectrometric analysis of the corresponding GP-specific plasma IgG, we found that only a portion of the large B cell antibody repertoire was represented in the plasma. Molecular and functional analysis of proteomics-identified mAbs revealed recognition of epitopes in three major antigenic sites - the GP head domain, the glycan cap, and the base region, with a high prevalence of neutralizing and protective mAb specificities that targeted the base and glycan cap regions on the GP. Polyclonal plasma antibodies from the survivor reacted broadly to EBOV, BDBV, and SUDV GP, while reactivity of the potently neutralizing mAbs we identified was limited mostly to the homologous EBOV GP. Together these results reveal a restricted diversity of neutralizing humoral response in which mAbs targeting two antigenic sites on GP – glycan cap and base – play a principal role in plasma-antibody-mediated protective immunity against EVD.

Virtual reality allows for testing of multisensory integration for balance using portable Head Mounted Displays (HMDs). HMDs provide head kinematics data while showing a moving scene when participants are not. Are HMDs useful to investigate postural control? We used an HMD to investigate postural sway and head kinematics changes in response to auditory and visual perturbations and whether this response varies by context. We tested 25 healthy adults, and a small sample of people with diverse monaural hearing (n = 7), or unilateral vestibular dysfunction (n = 7). Participants stood naturally on a stable force-plate and looked at 2 environments via the Oculus Rift (abstract “stars;” busy “street”) with 3 visual and auditory levels (static, “low,” “high”). We quantified medio-lateral (ML) and anterior-posterior (AP) postural sway path from the center-of-pressure data and ML, AP, pitch, yaw and roll head path from the headset. We found no difference between the different combinations of “low” and “high” visuals and sounds. We then combined all perturbations data into “dynamic” and compared it to the static level. The increase in path between “static” and “dynamic” was significantly larger in the city environment for: Postural sway ML, Head ML, AP, pitch and roll. The majority of the vestibular group moved more than controls, particularly around the head, when the scenes, especially the city, were dynamic. Several patients with monaural hearing performed similar to controls whereas others, particularly older participants, performed worse. In conclusion, responses to sensory perturbations are magnified around the head. Significant differences in performance between environments support the importance of context in sensory integration. Future studies should further investigate the sensitivity of head kinematics to diagnose vestibular disorders and the implications of aging with hearing loss to postural control. Balance assessment and rehabilitation should be conducted in different environmental contexts.

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) represents a health problem with multidimensional impacts and heterogeneous respiratory involvement in children, probably due to the interaction between different and complex mechanisms that could explain its variable degrees of severity. Although the majority of reports reveal that children develop less severe cases, the number of patients is increasing with more morbidity. Most serious respiratory manifestations are acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and pneumonia. By understanding the key aspects that can be used to differentiate between pediatric and adult respiratory compromise by COVID-19, we can improve our knowledge, and thus decrease the negative impact of the disease in the pediatric population. In this mini review, we summarize some of the mechanisms and findings that distinguish between adult and pediatric COVID-19 and respiratory involvement, taking into account some issues related to the physiopathology, diagnosis, clinical and paraclinical presentation, severity, treatment, and control of the disease.