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No systematic review has been conducted to provide an overview of the effectiveness of psychoanalysis on outcomes for bipolar depression and mania. The present study undertakes a scoping review on the effectiveness of psychoanalysis for bipolar disorder (BD), provides a summary of the evidence base, and identifies issues for future research in this area. A thorough search of journal articles in MEDLINE, PEP-Web, PsycINFO, Scopus, and Web of Science was carried out to obtain available studies of psychoanalytic treatment for BD published 1990-2021. We searched for either quantitative or single-case studies. Twenty-six single case reports from 21 articles and no quantitative studies met a prior inclusion criteria. Qualitative analysis suggests efficacy and cost-effectiveness but thus far there is no scientific evidence in support of psychoanalysis. Although these pilot findings suggest that psychoanalysis may impact symptoms and global functioning in patients with BD, the underlying evidence is poor and should be confirmed by experimental studies.

Purpose: Acquired central dysgraphia is a heterogeneous neurological disorder that usually co-occurs with other language disorders. Written language training is relevant to improve everyday skills and as a compensatory strategy to support limited oral communication. A systematic evaluation of existing writing treatments is thus needed. Method: We performed a systematic review of speech and language therapies for acquired dysgraphia in studies of neurological diseases (PROSPERO: CRD42018084221), following the PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) checklist with a search on several databases for articles written in English and published until August 31, 2021. Only methodological well-designed studies were included. Further assessment of methodological quality was conducted by means of a modified version of the Downs and Black checklist. Results: Eleven studies of 43 patients in total were included. For each study, we collected data on type of population, type of impairment, experimental design, type of treatment, and measured outcomes. The studies had a medium level of assessed methodological quality. An informative description of treatments and linkages to deficits is reported. Conclusions: Although there is a need for further experimental evidence, most treatments showed good applicability and improvement of written skills in patients with dysgraphia. Lexical treatments appear to be more frequently adopted and more flexible in improving dysgraphia and communication, especially when a multimodal approach is used. Finally, the reported description of treatment modalities for dysgraphia in relation to patients' deficits may be important for providing tailored therapies in clinical management.

Background and Purpose: Post-stroke dysphagia affects almost half of the survivors and severely influences quality of life, thus becoming swallowing rehabilitation of paramount importance. However, there is little adequate evidence on which the best rehabilitative strategy can be. Surface electromyography (sEMG) allows for recording swallowing muscles’ activity and provides real time visual feedback, as a biofeedback adjunctive technique to improve treatment outcome. This study aimed to analyze the effectiveness of biofeedback rehabilitation of swallowing through sEMG compared to standard techniques, in post-stroke dysphagia. Methods: A pilot-randomized controlled trial included 17 patients diagnosed with post-stroke dysphagia. Nine underwent sEMG-biofeedback rehabilitation; seven controls were submitted to control treatment, one dropout. The primary outcome was the functional oral intake scale (FOIS), secondary outcomes was pharyngeal clearance and safe swallowing, assessed through fiberoptic endoscopic evaluation of swallowing (FEES). Results: FOIS improved in all patients, regardless of treatment. sEMG-biofeedback rehabilitation led to improvements of the pharyngeal clearance and swallowing safety. The rehabilitative effects appeared stable at 2-months follow-up. Conclusions: The application of biofeedback based on sEMG in post-stroke dysphagia patients resulted in an effective rehabilitative technique, in particular for pharyngeal clearance improvements and safe swallowing, thus reducing the risk of aspiration and malnutrition.

Polypharmacological targeting of lipid mediator networks offers potential for efficient and safe anti-inflammatory therapy. Because of the diversity of its biological targets, curcumin (1a) has been viewed as a privileged structure for bioactivity or, alternatively, as a pan-assay interference (PAIN) compound. Curcumin has actually few high-affinity targets, the most remarkable ones being 5-lipoxygenase (5-LOX) and microsomal prostaglandin E2 synthase (mPGES)-1. These enzymes are critical for the production of pro-inflammatory leukotrienes and prostaglandin (PG)E2, and previous structure-activity-relationship studies in this area have focused on the enolized 1,3-diketone motif, the alkyl-linker and the aryl-moieties, neglecting the rotational state of curcumin, which can adopt twisted conformations in solution and at target sites. To explore how the conformation of curcuminoids impacts 5-LOX and mPGES-1 inhibition, we have synthesized rotationally constrained analogues of the natural product and its pyrazole analogue by alkylation of the linker and/or of the ortho aromatic position(s). These modifications strongly impacted 5-LOX and mPGES-1 inhibition and their systematic analysis led to the identification of potent and selective 5-LOX (3b, IC50 = 0.038 µM, 44.7-fold selectivity over mPGES-1) and mPGES-1 inhibitors (2f, IC50 = 0.11 µM, 4.6-fold selectivity over 5-LOX). Molecular docking experiments suggest that the C2-methylated pyrazolocurcuminoid 3b targets an allosteric binding site at the interface between catalytic and regulatory 5-LOX domain, while the o, o'-dimethylated desmethoxycurcumin 2f likely binds between two monomers of the trimeric mPGES-1 structure. Both compounds trigger a lipid mediator class switch from pro-inflammatory leukotrienes to PG and specialized pro-resolving lipid mediators in activated human macrophages.

To provide a review of journal articles discussing clinical cases or vignettes of psychoanalysis or psychoanalytic psychotherapy of patients affected by bipolar disorder (BD).A thorough search of journal articles was performed in five databases to identify studies published from 1990-2021.Twenty-four articles were included in this review, comprising a total of 29 case reports. The most common theoretical approach adopted by the authors was 'object relations.' Two main sets of clinical-theoretical considerations and recommendations emerge: the applicability of analytic treatment to patients with BD-taking into account their analyzability and practical arrangements for conducting therapy-and theoretical speculations on the nature and development of the illness, as well as on the conceptualization of its different phases.Our findings reveal that there is some psychoanalytic literature providing insight into the psychological dynamics and treatment of patients with BD. Elaboration of this literature may help improve our understanding and provide more accurate and comprehensive descriptions of the intrapsychic and interpersonal dynamics of these patients, yielding potentially valuable information for clinical and research purposes, particularly with regard to reducing interpersonal conflict, and increasing insight and engagement with lifestyle changes and other behaviors likely to promote health and stability.

The preparation of anomeric tetrabutylammonium sulphates of glucose and galactose derivatives is reported and their role as donors in glycosylation reactions is studied. Metal triflates showed good performance in activating sulphate as a leaving group. Among them, ytterbium triflate in stoichiometric amounts gave the best results. Basic conditions using barium oxide in combination with trimethylsilyl trifluoromethanesulfonate (TMSOTf) were also shown to give good results. Benzylated sulphates were much more reactive than benzoylated donors when activated either by ytterbium triflate or by BaO and TMSOTf. Different acceptors were tested, such as isopropanol, cholesterol, and other common sugar derivatives. High reaction rates and excellent glycosylation yields were obtained under mild reaction conditions. The α/β anomeric ratio suggests a predominant SN2-like reaction mechanism.

Glycosylation is the key reaction by which our body can produce and modify carbohydrates and their conjugates which are molecules essential for life. The study of the diversity of their functions is a current and ever-expanding topic that requires the ability to provide pure saccharides quickly, efficiently and in a controlled way which can be achieved by chemical synthesis. Although the influence of the donor and the promoter on the outcome of a glycosylation reaction is well documented, the search for new methodologies and new promoters/activators is constantly expanding. In this review, after an introduction dealing with well-known glycosylation strategies, we describe the most recent advances in terms of the use of innovative approaches, focalizing the study on new promoters and leaving groups exploited in the last ten years.

A concise and stereoselective synthesis of α-galactosylceramide (α-GalCer) is described. The key features of the synthetic strategy are the use of a phytosphingosine in which the amine is masked as a tetrachlorophthalimide and the diol as an isopropylidene acetal, and the galactosyl donor is protected as a 4,6-benzylidene to improve the α selectivity of the glycosylation reaction. The pattern of protecting groups on the donor and the acceptor have proven to give an excellent match of reactivity, allowing the glycosylation reaction to take place stereoselectively. The overall synthesis gave α-GalCer in good yields and in few steps.

Background: Neglect dyslexia (ND) is a reading disorder that impairs the left visual field. The Left periphery (LP) is the highest layer of the extended syntactic structure, and it represents the i...

Sugars are a versatile tool for targeting malignant cells and have been extensively used for drug delivery and imaging techniques. Their prototype, fluorodeoxyglucose ([F]FDG), is currently used for positron emission tomography. Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is a cancer treatment that relies on irradiation with thermal neutrons of cancer cells previously loaded with [B]-containing compounds. The recent introduction of accelerators as a neutron source for clinical use prompts the planning of delivery compounds enriched with boron able to be traced in real time. This work describes the first synthesis of a new class of sugar derivatives conjugated to a trifluoroborate moiety as potential theranostic agents. Stability and cytotoxicity studies are reported for all compounds, together with [F] radiolabeling optimization and in vivo preliminary positron emission tomography (PET) experiments on a selected compound., The work was funded in part by Università del Piemonte Orientale A. Avogadro Progetto Ricerca Locale─(DSF) 2019, Fondazione CRT (Grant No. 236-2019 - id.406 for a fellowship to D.I.) and by Centro Nacional de Aceleradores, University of Seville, Spain.

T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (T-ALL) is an aggressive hematological malignancy considered curable by modern clinical management. Nevertheless, the prognosis for T-ALL high-risk cases or patients with relapsed and refractory disease is still dismal. Therefore, there is a keen interest in developing more efficient and less toxic therapeutic approaches. T-ALL pathogenesis is associated with Notch signaling alterations, making this pathway a highly promising target in the fight against T-ALL. Here, by exploring the anti-leukemic capacity of the natural polyphenol curcumin and its derivatives, we found that curcumin exposure impacts T-ALL cell line viability and decreases Notch signaling in a dose- and time-dependent fashion. However, our findings indicated that curcumin-mediated cell outcomes did not depend exclusively on Notch signaling inhibition, but might be mainly related to compound-induced DNA-damage-associated cell death. Furthermore, we identified a novel curcumin-based compound named CD2066, endowed with potentiated anti-proliferative activity in T-ALL compared to the parent molecule curcumin. At nanomolar concentrations, CD2066 antagonized Notch signaling, favored DNA damage, and acted synergistically with the CDK1 inhibitor Ro3306 in T-ALL cells, thus representing a promising novel candidate for developing therapeutic agents against Notch-dependent T-ALL.

Targeted delivery of drugs into specific cancer cells is an effective way to enhance the efficacy and minimize the side effects of therapy. Prostate malignant cells overexpress the prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA), a membrane protein that may be a valid target for selective drug administration. To target prostate cancer cells, a β-cyclodextrin perfunctionalised with dipeptide-like urea arms, a well-established mimic of a selective ligand against PSMA, is herein reported, to develop a multivalent drug delivery and targeting system. Firstly, fluorescein was used to validate the system on cells that express high levels of PSMA (prostate tumoral cells, LNCap) or very low levels of PSMA (non-tumoral cells, Hek293T). Then, the antineoplastic agent doxorubicin complexed with β-cyclodextrin functionalized with PSMA-like ligand takes less time to induce cytotoxicity on LNCap cells compared to doxorubicin alone. This might represent a promising drug-delivery approach to selectively target prostate cancer cells.

The role of the cyclic 2,3-N,O-carbamate protecting group in directing the selectivity of mannosylation reactions of diacetone- d -glucose, promoted by BSP/Tf2O via α-triflate intermediates, has been investigated through a combined computational and experimental approach. DFT calculations were used to locate the transition states leading to the α or β anomers. These data indicate the preferential formation of the β−adduct with mannosyl donors either equipped with the 4,6-O-benzylidene protection or without it. The synthetic results confirmed this preference, showing in both cases an α/β selectivity of 4:6. This highlights a role for the 2,3-N,O-carbamate in sharp contrast with what described in the case of 2,3-O-carbonate mannosyl donors.

After the development of accelerators as neutron source, the access to new suitable agents for boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) became a major need. Among many others, sugar boronic acids have recently attracted attention as boron carriers. Herein we report the synthesis and preliminary biological studies of two new sugar analogues containing a boronic acid at the anomeric position. The analogues were obtained by hydroboration of proper open-chain terminal alkenes that, after quenching with water, spontaneously afforded cyclic boronic acids with hemiacetal-like structures.

Boron Neutron Capture Therapy (BNCT) is a binary therapy that promises to be suitable in treating many non-curable cancers. To that, the discovery of new boron compounds able to accumulate selectively in the tumour tissue is still required. Hypoxia, a deficiency of oxygen in tumor tissue, is a great challenge in the conventional treatment of cancer, because hypoxic areas are resistant to conventional anticancer treatments. 2-Nitroimidazole derivatives are known to be hypoxia markers due to their enrichment by bioreduction in hypoxic cells. In the present work, 2-nitroimidazole was chosen as the starting point for the synthesis of a new boron-containing compound based on a 1,3,5-triazine skeleton. Two o-carborane moieties were inserted to achieve a high ratio of boron on the molecular weight, exploiting a short PEG spacer to enhance the polarity of the compound and outdistance the active part from the core. The compound showed no toxicity on normal human primary fibroblasts, while it showed noteworthy toxicity in multiple myeloma cells together with a consistent intracellular boron accumulation.

The rehabilitation of motor deficits following stroke relies on both sensorimotor and cognitive abilities, thereby involving large-scale brain networks. However, few studies have investigated the integration between motor and cognitive domains, as well as its neuroanatomical basis. In this retrospective study, upper limb motor responsiveness to technology-based rehabilitation was examined in a sample of 29 stroke patients (18 with right and 11 with left brain damage). Pretreatment sensorimotor and attentional abilities were found to influence motor recovery. Training responsiveness increased as a function of the severity of motor deficits, whereas spared attentional abilities, especially visuospatial attention, supported motor improvements. Neuroanatomical analysis of structural lesions and white matter disconnections showed that the poststroke motor performance was associated with putamen, insula, corticospinal tract, and frontoparietal connectivity. Motor rehabilitation outcome was mainly associated with the superior longitudinal fasciculus and partial involvement of the corpus callosum. The latter findings support the hypothesis that motor recovery engages large-scale brain networks that involve cognitive abilities and provides insight into stroke rehabilitation strategies.

Active involvement with nature (such as gardening), doing something in the nature (such as strolling), and taking occasional looks to the nature by the windows are three different levels of engagement with nature. The horticultural therapy (HT) activity carried out in the Neurorehabilitation Therapeutic Garden in Venice, at the San Camillo Hospital Foundation, gave the opportunity for examining how different levels of involvement with nature are perceived to bring well-being, by different users. The aim was to explore the perceived restorative potential (PRP) of the garden by a) neurological patients b) relatives and caregivers and c) staff of the hospital. Among the 294 participants 1) 134 were usually engaged in HT, 2) 84 were regularly walking in the garden, 3) 76 was aware of the garden but they did not attend it. All of them were asked to complete the Italian version of the perceived restorativeness scale (PRS) on their experience in the garden. The results show that the garden is perceived as restorative, both in total and for the four restorative factors (being away, fascination, extent and compatibility) examined in the questionnaire, discriminating between the three different levels of engagement. The restorative potential was significantly higher in patients regularly engaged in HT in comparison to the other sub-groups. Relatives and caregivers had benefits from both working and strolling in the garden. These experimental evidences confirm that the green spaces in the hospitals are a fundamental health resource for the mind-body unit and that promoting outdoor physical activity in natural environments brings benefits to relatives and caregivers. The Perceived Restorative Potential could be both a useful index to address people to HT and to follow up the HT benefits.

Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) has the potential to specifically destroy tumor cells without damaging the tissues infiltrated by the tumor. BNCT is a binary treatment method based on the combination of two agents that have no effect when applied individually:B and thermal neutrons. Exclusively, the combination of both produces an effect, whose extent depends on the amount ofB in the tumor but also on the organs at risk. It is not yet possible to determine theB concentration in a specific tissue using non-invasive methods. At present, it is only possible to measure theB concentration in blood and to estimate the boron concentration in tissues based on the assumption that there is a fixed uptake ofB from the blood into tissues. On this imprecise assumption, BNCT can hardly be developed further. A therapeutic approach, combining the boron carrier for therapeutic purposes with an imaging tool, might allow us to determine theB concentration in a specific tissue using a non-invasive method. This review provides an overview of the current clinical protocols and preclinical experiments and results on how innovative drug development for boron delivery systems can also incorporate concurrent imaging. The last section focuses on the importance of proteomics for further optimization of BNCT, a highly precise and personalized therapeutic approach., E.H.-H. and M.K. gratefully acknowledge support from the DFG (HE 1376/38-1); L.S. received funding from GEFLUC Grenoble Dauphiné Savoie.

The synthesis of d-glucoheptose derivative containing a boronic moiety is described herein. Starting from benzyl 6,7-dideoxy-2,3,4-tri-O-benzyl-β-d-gluco-ept-6-enopyranoside, the introduction of the boronic acid was performed through a metathesis reaction by using MIDA vinyl boronic acid and the 2nd generation Grubbs catalyst. Hydrogenation led to the final product in only two reaction steps. This new sugar-containing boronic acid in the skeleton could mimic carbohydrate behavior and follow the glucose uptake in living cells. The in vitro toxicity tests performed in fibroblasts and glioma tumor cell lines showed minimal toxicity. Boron uptake measured using ICP-MS was minimal in fibroblasts, while in glioma cells showed a value of 6 ng of total boron accumulation per mg of cells, implying that compound 1a is able to accumulate selectively in the tumor tissues compared to normal.

Boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT) is a binary type of radiotherapy for the treatment of cancer. Due to recent developments of neutron accelerators and their installation in some hospitals, BNCT is on the rise worldwide and is expected to have a significant impact on patient treatments. Therefore, there is an increasing need for improved boron delivery agents. Among the many small molecules and delivery systems developed, a significant amount of recent research focused on the synthesis of boron-containing sugar and amino acid derivatives to exploit specific transport proteins, as d-glucose transporter 1 (GLUT1) and large neutral amino acid transporter (LAT1), overexpressed by tumor cells. This review will discuss the last year’s achievements in the synthesis and some biological evaluation of boronated sugars derivatives. The compounds described in this review are intrinsically asymmetric due to the presence of chiral sugar moieties, often joined to boron clusters, which are structural elements with high symmetry.

To date, sugar analogues that contain boronic acids as substitutes for hydroxyl groups are a class of compounds nearly unknown in the literature. The challenging synthesis of two sugar-boronic acid analogues is described, and data are retrieved on their solution behavior, stability, and toxicity. As these compounds were expected to mimic the behavior of carbohydrates, they were tested in regards to their future development as potential boron neutron capture therapy agents.

In a patient suffering from tactile agnosia a comparison was made (using the ABABAB paradigm) between three blocks of neuropsychological rehabilitation sessions involving off-line anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (anodal-tDCS) and three blocks of rehabilitation sessions without tDCS. During the blocks with anodal-tDCS, the stimulation was administered in counterbalanced order to two sites: i) the perilesional parietal area (specific stimulation) and ii) an occipital area far from the lesion (nonspecific stimulation).Rehabilitation associated with anodal-tDCS (in particular in the perilesional areas) is more efficacious than without stimulation.

Background Anoxic brain injury (ABI) is a neurological condition associated to a severe deterioration of brain functioning, whose symptomatology and clinical outcomes may be heterogeneous: cognitive deficits, language disorders like dysarthria and swallowing impairments. Nevertheless, there is still a lack of information on the rehabilitation outcomes. Objective To confirm the occurrence of communication and swallowing deficits in 37 ABI patients and to examine whether intensive rehabilitation may contribute to any improvements and its relation to ABI severity and functional autonomy. Methods 37 patients, hospitalized at IRCCS San Camillo Hospital from 2011 to 2018 were analyzed retrospectively. All patients completed a functional evaluation and a language and swallowing assessment, within one week from hospital admission (T0). The assessment was repeated after an intensive rehabilitation treatment (T1). Results Results show that dysphagia is a frequent and severe outcome in anoxic patients, whereas communication disorders (aphasia and dysarthria) are less severe. Moreover, ABI patients seem to be positively sensitive to an intensive rehabilitation program. Conclusions An early multidisciplinary management of communicative-linguistic and swallowing functions is crucial in order to prevent adverse events and to plan a tailored rehabilitation pathway.

Grape seeds are among the main constituents of grape pomace, ranging between 20% and 30% of the wet matrix; however, their oligosaccharide composition has not been studied. This paper describes the purification and the identification of low molecular weight oligosaccharides contained in an EtOH/water extract of grape seeds. A sequential two-step purification by size exclusion chromatography was carried out to fractionate compounds according to molecular weights. Chemical characterization of the combined fractions was performed by Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy and Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry analyses. The separation process gave two fractions abundant in sucrose and glucose. A third fraction containing trisaccharides was acetylated allowing the purification of the main trisaccharide. The structure elucidation of the acetylated product made it possible to identify gentianose, a predominant carbohydrate reserve found in the storage roots of perennial Gentiana lutea. Grape seeds are wine industry by-products and the obtained results suggest the importance of their recovery.

Somatoparaphrenic symptoms after left-hemisphere damage are rare. To verify the potential role of body-related sensory (proprioceptive, visual, and somatosensory) manipulation in patients experiencing sensations of hand disownership, the symptoms of a patient suffering from right-hand somatoparaphrenia were monitored and clinical and neuropsychological variables were controlled. Four types of manipulation were administered: changes in spatial position of the hand, multisensory stimulation, and self-observation using video or mirrors. Multisensory visuo-tactile stimulation was efficacious in terms of reducing somatoparaphrenia, and changes in the position of the hand produced some positive effects. Third-person perspective self-observation did not, however, result in any changes.

Anosognosia for hemiplegia is a lack of awareness of motor deficits following a right hemisphere lesion. Residual forms of awareness co-occur with an explicit denial of hemiplegia. The term emergent awareness refers to a condition in which awareness of motor deficits is reported verbally during the actual performance of an action involving the affected body part. In this study, two tasks were used to explore the potential effects of i) attempting actions which are impossible for sufferers of hemiplegia and ii) attempting actions which are potentially dangerous. Sixteen hemiplegic patients (8 anosognosic, and 8 non-anosognosic) were asked to perform both potentially dangerous and neutral actions. Our results confirm an increase in emergent awareness in anosognosic patients during the execution of both of these types of action. Moreover, actions that are potentially dangerous improved the degree of awareness. However, lesions in the fronto-temporal areas appear to be associated with a reduced effect of action execution (emergent awareness) while lesions in the basal ganglia and amygdale and the white matter underlying the insula and fronto-temporal areas are associated with a lesser degree of improvement resulting from attempting to perform dangerous actions.

Zinc powder in aqueous alkaline media was employed to perform reductive amination of aldehydes with primary amines. The corresponding secondary amines were obtained in good yields along with minor amounts of hydrodimerization byproducts. The protocol is a green alternative to the use of complex hydrides in chlorinated or highly flammable solvents.

An original diaminotetracarboxylic ligand based on the rigid bicyclic norbornane skeleton was synthesized in four steps. The stability of its metal complexes was measured in water by potentiometric titration and discussed.

The crystal structures of the ligand AAZTA (6-amino-6-methylperhydro-1,4-diazepine tetraacetic acid) and of its Gd complex Na[Gd(H 2 O)AAZTA] · 3H 2 O have been determined by single crystal X-ray diffraction. The AAZTA ligand crystallizes in a zwitterion form with two deprotonated carboxylic groups and two protonated tertiary nitrogen atoms. Two independent molecules of about a similar conformation and three water molecules as asymmetric units, are present in the crystal. In the solid state the gadolinium complex is a centrosymmetric dimer with a bicapped square antiprismatic coordination geometry around each metal ion. Two symmetric bridging carboxylate groups determine the dimer formation with Gd–O(2) and Gd–O(2)′ bond distances rather comparable of 2.526(4) and 2.548(4) A, respectively, while the Gd–O(1) (inner sphere water) bond distance is 2.443(5) A. A network of hydrogen bonds between the water of inner and outer spheres and the AAZTA carboxylic groups is present in the crystal structure.

Contains fulltext : 141646.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Closed access) Damage to the human ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) leads to profound changes in everyday social interactions [1, 2]. Yet, in the lab, vmPFC patients show surprising proficiency in reasoning about other agents [3-8]. These conflicting observations suggest that what vmPFC patients lack in everyday social interactions might be the ability to guide their decisions with knowledge about a social partner [9-13], despite preserved access to that knowledge [2, 14]. Quantification of socially relevant decisions during live interaction with different partners offers the possibility of testing this hypothesis. Eight patients with vmPFC damage, eight patients with brain damage elsewhere, and 15 healthy participants were asked to communicate non-verbally with two different addressees, an adult or a child, in an experimentally controlled interactive setting [15, 16]. In reality, a confederate blindly performed the role of both adult and child addressee, with matched performance and response times, such that the two addressees differed only in terms of the communicator's beliefs. Patients with vmPFC damage were able-and motivated-to generate communicatively effective behaviors. However, unlike patient and healthy controls, vmPFC patients failed to adjust their communicative decisions to the presumed abilities of their addressee. These findings indicate that the human vmPFC is necessarily involved in social interactions, insofar as those interactions need to be tailored toward knowledge about a social partner. In this perspective, the known contribution of this region to disparate domains like value-based decision-making [17-19], schema-based memory-processing [20-22], and person-specific mentalizing [11-13] might be instances of decisions based on contingently updated conceptual knowledge. 6 p.

A new dual MRI/SPECT pH-responsive agent where the SPECT active moiety acts as reporter of the concentration making it possible to exploit the responsiveness of the MRI probe.

Two di-aqua Eu(III) complexes of heptadentate ligands are reported that show differing reactivity profiles towards various anions; a cationic complex with two azaxanthone moieties exhibits pronounced selectivity towards bicarbonate with an affinity constant, logK = 2.65 (295 K, 0.1 M NaCl).

Polyaminopolycarboxylic acids are a well known class of ligands employed for metal ion complexation. Despite the large commercial availability, reports of their use as substrates for direct structural modifications are rare. Herein we report a simple and efficient protocol for the preparation of substituted polyaminopolycarboxylic ligands relying on a one-pot N-alkylation-Stevens rearrangement cascade.