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The motivations to protect oneself and others have often been seen as conflicting. Here, we discuss recent evidence that self-defensive mechanisms may in fact be recruited to enable the helping of others. In some instances, the defensive response to a threat may even be more decisive in promoting helping than the response to a conspecific's distress (as predicted by empathy-altruism models). In light of this evidence, we propose that neural mechanisms implicated in self-defence may have been repurposed through evolution to enable the protection of others, and that defence and care may be convergent rather than conflicting functions. Finally, we present and discuss a working model of the shared brain mechanisms implicated in defence of both self and others., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests No interests are declared., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

In Brazil, after the witch's broom disease incidence, diverse cocoa hybrids were developed, and variations were reported on their composition and characteristics. Based on this, the present study aimed to evaluate the pulp composition of several cocoa hybrids in order to better understand these variations. Results show that cocoa pulp is composed, on average, of 76 % sugar, and a wide variation (20 %) was observed in sugar content between hybrids. Regarding the sugar profile, a prevalence of reducing sugars was observed. Pod origin also plays an important role in pulp composition, with variations between hybrids from Espírito Santo and Bahia states. In relation to the degree of ripeness, ripe pods showed higher fructose and glucose content, while unripe pods presented mainly sucrose. Similar to sugars, the cello-oligossacharides profile was influenced by the degree of pod ripeness and origin and most ripe samples presented mainly cellobiose, cellotriose and cellotetrose. In addition, the prebiotic potential of cocoa pulp was highlighted by cello-oligossacharides digestion assay which exhibited low rates of degradation. Varying enzymatic activity was observed amongst different pulp hybrids, with polyphenol oxidase showing a higher variation when compared to invertase and polygalacturonase ranging. This study shows that the pod hybrid, origin and ripening degree may change the cocoa pulp composition. Therefore, it is very important to understand and evaluate these variations, in order to obtain better results in pulp utilization either in cocoa fermentation or as a coproduct., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

While a delicious dessert being presented to us may elicit strong feelings of happiness and excitement, the same treat falling slowly away can lead to sadness and disappointment. Our emotional response to the item depends on its visual motion direction. Despite this importance, it remains unclear whether (and how) cortical areas devoted to decoding motion direction represents or integrates emotion with perceived motion direction. Motion-selective visual area V5/MT+ sits, both functionally and anatomically, at the nexus of dorsal and ventral visual streams. These pathways, however, differ in how they are modulated by emotional cues. The current study was designed to disentangle how emotion and motion perception interact, as well as use emotion-dependent modulation of visual cortices to understand the relation of V5/MT+ to canonical processing streams. During functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), approaching, receding, or static motion after-effects (MAEs) were induced on stationary positive, negative, and neutral stimuli. An independent localizer scan was conducted to identify the visual-motion area V5/MT+. Through univariate and multivariate analyses, we demonstrated that emotion representations in V5/MT+ share a more similar response profile to that observed in ventral visual than dorsal, visual structures. Specifically, V5/MT+ and ventral structures were sensitive to the emotional content of visual stimuli, whereas dorsal visual structures were not. Overall, this work highlights the critical role of V5/MT+ in the representation and processing of visually acquired emotional content. It further suggests a role for this region in utilizing affectively salient visual information to augment motion perception of biologically relevant stimuli., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

This study revisited the link between psychological well-being and prosociality during a global crisis from a cross-cultural perspective. We surveyed two large samples of Chinese ( N ₁ = 1,030; 89 regions; May 1-6, 2020) and Swedish ( N ₂ = 1,160; 22 regions; May 14-24, 2020) individuals during the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Across both countries, we observed that psychological well-being was strongly associated with one's self-reported tendency to perform prosocial behaviors, including actions aimed at relieving the burden of the pandemic (e.g., money donation to charity organizations during COVID-19). Moreover, leveraging inter- and within-subject similarity approaches, our findings suggested that well-being was related to the coherence of prosocial behaviors across domains (including trust, cooperation, and altruism). Collectively, our replication effort shows that psychological well-being holds relevance for prosocial behaviors during a global crisis, with primarily invariance between individualistic and collectivistic cultures. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all domains of human life, including the economic and social fabric of societies. One of the central strategies for managing public health throughout the pandemic has been through persuasive messaging and collective behaviour change. To help scholars better understand the social and moral psychology behind public health behaviour, we present a dataset comprising of 51,404 individuals from 69 countries. This dataset was collected for the International Collaboration on Social & Moral Psychology of COVID-19 project (ICSMP COVID-19). This social science survey invited participants around the world to complete a series of moral and psychological measures and public health attitudes about COVID-19 during an early phase of the COVID-19 pandemic (between April and June 2020). The survey included seven broad categories of questions: COVID-19 beliefs and compliance behaviours; identity and social attitudes; ideology; health and well-being; moral beliefs and motivation; personality traits; and demographic variables. We report both raw and cleaned data, along with all survey materials, data visualisations, and psychometric evaluations of key variables., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

The puma population is constantly decreasing, and cloning by somatic cell nuclear transfer can be used to conserve the species. One of the factors determining the success of the development of cloned embryos is the cell cycle stage of the donor cells. We evaluated the effects of full confluency (~100%), serum starvation (0.5% serum), and roscovitine (15 µM) treatments on the cell cycle synchronization in G 0 /G 1 of puma skin-derived fibroblasts by flow cytometric analysis. Also, we assessed the effects of these synchronization methods on morphology, viability, and apoptosis levels using microscopy tools. The results showed that culturing the cells to confluence for 24 h (84.0%), 48 h (84.6%), and 72 h (84.2%) and serum starvation for 96 h (85.4%) yielded a significantly higher percentage of cells arrested in the G 0 /G 1 (P 0.05) phase than cells not subjected to any cell cycle synchronization method (73.9%). Nevertheless, while serum starvation reduced the percentage of viable cells, no difference was observed for the full confluence and roscovitine treatments (P 0.05). Moreover, roscovitine for 12 h (78.6%) and 24 h (82.1%) was unable to synchronize cells in G 0 /G 1 (P 0.05). In summary, full confluency induces puma fibroblast cell cycle synchronization at the G 0 /G 1 stage without affecting cell viability. These outcomes may be valuable for planning donor cells for somatic cell nuclear transfer in pumas., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest: The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.

Prior laboratory research has suggested that humans may become more prosocial in stressful or threatening situations, but it is unknown whether the link between prosociality and defense generalizes to real-life. Here, we examined the association between defensive responses to a real-world threat (the COVID-19 pandemic) and everyday altruism. Four independent samples of 150 (N = 600) US residents were recruited online at 4 different timepoints, and self-report measures of perceived COVID-19 threat, defensive emotions (e.g., stress and anxiety), and everyday altruism were collected. Our operationalization of defensive emotions was inspired by the threat imminence framework, an ecological model of how humans and animals respond to varying levels of threat. We found that perceived COVID-19 threat was associated with higher levels of everyday altruism (assessed by the Self-report Altruism scale). Importantly, there was a robust association between experiencing acute anxiety and high physiological arousal during the pandemic (responses typically characteristic of higher perceived threat imminence), and propensity to engage in everyday altruism. Non-significant or negative associations were found with less acute defensive responses like stress. These findings support a real-life relation between defensive and altruistic motivation in humans, which may be modulated by perceived threat imminence., (© 2022. Crown.)

Empathy for others' distress has long been considered the driving force of helping. However, when deciding to help others in danger, one must consider not only their distress, but also the risk to oneself. Whereas the role of self-defense in helping has been overlooked in human research, studies in other animals indicate defensive responses are necessary for the protection of conspecifics. In this pre-registered study (N=49), we demonstrate that human defensive neural circuits are implicated in helping others under threat. Participants underwent fMRI scanning while deciding whether to help another participant avoid aversive electrical shocks, at the risk of also being shocked. We found that higher engagement of neural circuits that coordinate fast escape from self-directed danger (including the insula, PAG, and ACC) facilitated decisions to help others. Importantly, using representational similarity analysis, we found that the strength with which the amygdala and insula uniquely represented the threat to oneself (and not the other's distress) predicted helping. Our findings indicate that in humans, as other mammals, defensive mechanisms play a greater role in helping behavior than previously understood., Competing Interests: JV, AO No competing interests declared, (© 2022, Vieira and Olsson.)

Silicosis is an irreversible and progressive fibrotic lung disease caused by massive inhalation of crystalline silica dust at workplaces, affecting millions of industrial workers worldwide. A tyrosine kinase inhibitor, nintedanib (NTB), has emerged as a potential silicosis treatment due to its inhibitory effects on key signaling pathways that promote silica-induced pulmonary fibrosis. However, chronic and frequent use of the oral NTB formulation clinically approved for treating other fibrotic lung diseases often results in significant side effects. To this end, we engineered a nanocrystal-based suspension formulation of NTB (NTB-NS) possessing specific physicochemical properties to enhance drug retention in the lung for localized treatment of silicosis via inhalation. Our NTB-NS formulation was prepared using a wet-milling procedure in presence of Pluronic F127 to endow the formulation with nonadhesive surface coatings to minimize interactions with therapy-inactivating delivery barriers in the lung. We found that NTB-NS, following intratracheal administration, provided robust anti-fibrotic effects and mechanical lung function recovery in a mouse model of silicosis, whereas a 100-fold greater oral NTB dose given with a triple dosing frequency failed to do so. Importantly, several key pathological phenotypes were fully normalized by NTB-NS without displaying notable local or systemic adverse effects. Overall, NTB-NS may open a new avenue for localized treatment of silicosis and potentially other fibrotic lung diseases., (© 2022 The Authors. Bioengineering & Translational Medicine published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of American Institute of Chemical Engineers.)

At the beginning of 2020, COVID-19 became a global problem. Despite all the efforts to emphasize the relevance of preventive measures, not everyone adhered to them. Thus, learning more about the characteristics determining attitudinal and behavioral responses to the pandemic is crucial to improving future interventions. In this study, we applied machine learning on the multinational data collected by the International Collaboration on the Social and Moral Psychology of COVID-19 ( N  = 51,404) to test the predictive efficacy of constructs from social, moral, cognitive, and personality psychology, as well as socio-demographic factors, in the attitudinal and behavioral responses to the pandemic. The results point to several valuable insights. Internalized moral identity provided the most consistent predictive contribution-individuals perceiving moral traits as central to their self-concept reported higher adherence to preventive measures. Similar results were found for morality as cooperation, symbolized moral identity, self-control, open-mindedness, and collective narcissism, while the inverse relationship was evident for the endorsement of conspiracy theories. However, we also found a non-neglible variability in the explained variance and predictive contributions with respect to macro-level factors such as the pandemic stage or cultural region. Overall, the results underscore the importance of morality-related and contextual factors in understanding adherence to public health recommendations during the pandemic., (© The Author(s) 2022. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of National Academy of Sciences.)

Changing collective behaviour and supporting non-pharmaceutical interventions is an important component in mitigating virus transmission during a pandemic. In a large international collaboration (Study 1, N = 49,968 across 67 countries), we investigated self-reported factors associated with public health behaviours (e.g., spatial distancing and stricter hygiene) and endorsed public policy interventions (e.g., closing bars and restaurants) during the early stage of the COVID-19 pandemic (April-May 2020). Respondents who reported identifying more strongly with their nation consistently reported greater engagement in public health behaviours and support for public health policies. Results were similar for representative and non-representative national samples. Study 2 (N = 42 countries) conceptually replicated the central finding using aggregate indices of national identity (obtained using the World Values Survey) and a measure of actual behaviour change during the pandemic (obtained from Google mobility reports). Higher levels of national identification prior to the pandemic predicted lower mobility during the early stage of the pandemic (r = -0.40). We discuss the potential implications of links between national identity, leadership, and public health for managing COVID-19 and future pandemics., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Objectives: To ascertain whether systemic administration of mitochondria-rich fraction isolated from mesenchymal stromal cells would reduce lung, kidney, and liver injury in experimental sepsis., Design: Animal study., Setting: Laboratory investigation., Subjects: Sixty C57BL/6 male mice., Interventions: Sepsis was induced by cecal ligation and puncture; sham-operated animals were used as control. At 24 hours after surgery, cecal ligation and puncture and Sham animals were further randomized to receive saline or mitochondria-rich fraction isolated from mesenchymal stromal cells (3 × 106) IV. At 48 hours, survival, peritoneal bacterial load, lung, kidney, and liver injury were analyzed. Furthermore, the effects of mitochondria on oxygen consumption rate and reactive oxygen species production of lung epithelial and endothelial cells were evaluated in vitro., Measurements and Main Results: In vitro exposure of lung epithelial and endothelial cells from cecal ligation and puncture animals to mitochondria-rich fraction isolated from mesenchymal stromal cells restored oxygen consumption rate and reduced total reactive oxygen species production. Infusion of exogenous mitochondria-rich fraction from mesenchymal stromal cells (mitotherapy) reduced peritoneal bacterial load, improved lung mechanics and histology, and decreased the expression of interleukin-1β, keratinocyte chemoattractant, indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase-2, and programmed cell death protein 1 in lung tissue, while increasing keratinocyte growth factor expression and survival rate in cecal ligation and puncture-induced sepsis. Mitotherapy also reduced kidney and liver injury, plasma creatinine levels, and messenger RNA expressions of interleukin-18 in kidney, interleukin-6, indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase-2, and programmed cell death protein 1 in liver, while increasing nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor-2 and superoxide dismutase-2 in kidney and interleukin-10 in liver., Conclusions: Mitotherapy decreased lung, liver, and kidney injury and increased survival rate in cecal ligation and puncture-induced sepsis., Competing Interests: Drs. Lopes-Pacheco and Rocco received support for article research from the Brazilian Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), Rio de Janeiro State Research Foundation (FAPERJ), Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel, Department of Science and Technology—Brazilian Ministry of Health, and the National Institute of Science and Technology for Regenerative Medicine/CNPq. Drs. de Carvalho, Abreu, P. M. Silva, Vieira, Santos, and Cabral disclosed government funding. Dr. Khoury received funding from the University of Los Andes, Chile, and Cells for Cells. Dr. Weiss received support for article research from the National Institutes of Health. Dr. P. L. Silva received support for article research from CNPq and FAPERJ. The remaining authors have disclosed that they do not have any potential conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2021 by the Society of Critical Care Medicine and Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

Despite advances in medical therapy, pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) remains an inexorably progressive and highly lethal disease. Signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT)-3 is one of the main intracellular transcription factors implicated in PAH vascular remodeling. We hypothesized that niclosamide, a STAT3 inhibitor, would reduce vascular remodeling in an established pulmonary arterial hypertension model, thus enhancing cardiac function. Male Wistar rats were treated either with monocrotaline (60 mg/kg), to induce PAH, or saline (C group) by intraperitoneal injection. On day 14, PAH animals were randomly assigned to receive oral (1) saline (PAH-SAL); (2) niclosamide (75 mg/kg/day) (PAH-NICLO); (3) sildenafil (20 mg/kg/day) (PAH-SIL); or (4) niclosamide + sildenafil (PAH-NICLO + SIL), once daily for 14 days. On day 28, right ventricular systolic pressure was lower in all treated groups compared to PAH-SAL. Pulmonary vascular collagen content was lower in PAH-NICLO (37 ± 3%) and PAH-NICLO + SIL (37 ± 6%) compared to PAH-SAL (68 ± 4%), but not in PAH-SIL (52 ± 1%). CD-34, an endothelial cell marker, was higher, while vimentin, a mesenchymal cell marker, was lower in PAH-NICLO and PAH-NICLO + SIL compared to PAH-SAL, suggesting attenuation of endothelial-mesenchymal transition. Expression of STAT3 downstream targets such as transforming growth factor (TGF)-β, hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1, and provirus integration site for Moloney murine leukemia virus (PIM-1) in lung tissue was reduced in PAH-NICLO and PAH-NICLO + SIL compared to PAH-SAL. In conclusion, niclosamide, with or without sildenafil, mitigated vascular remodeling and improved right ventricle systolic pressure. This new role for a well-established drug may represent a promising therapy for PAH., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objective: to unveil the interrelation of childhood colic management by mothers and Family Health Strategy professional., Methods: a qualitative, exploratory and descriptive research carried out with 4 Family Health Strategy teams and 31 mothers who experienced childhood colic. Data collection included, respectively, focus group and individual unstructured interview. Symbolic Interactionism was adopted as the theoretical framework, and Narrative Research as methodological., Results: two themes emerged: "Colic approach" and "Social support and care". Professional childhood colic management is based on diagnosis and drug interventions. For mothers, the child's suffering and impotence in the face of the disease stand out., Final Considerations: childhood colic is socially widespread because it is a physiological and self-limiting event. Mothers felt helpless in the face of childhood colic. Professionals felt the need to expand their care, with a view to achieving maternal suffering and alleviating it.

Silicosis is a pneumoconiosis caused by inhaled crystalline silica microparticles, which trigger inflammatory responses and granuloma formation in pulmonary parenchyma, thus affecting lung function. Although systemic administration of mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) ameliorates lung inflammation and attenuates fibrosis in experimental silicosis, it does not reverse collagen deposition and granuloma formation. In an attempt to improve the beneficial effects of MSCs, magnetic targeting (MT) has arisen as a potential means of prolonging MSC retention in the lungs. In this study, MSCs were incubated with magnetic nanoparticles and magnets were used for in vitro guidance of these magnetized MSCs and to enhance their retention in the lungs in vivo. In vitro assays indicated that MT improved MSC transmigration and expression of chemokine receptors. In vivo, animals implanted with magnets for 48 hours had significantly more magnetized MSCs in the lungs, suggesting improved MSC retention. Seven days after magnet removal, silicotic animals treated with magnetized MSCs and magnets showed significant reductions in static lung elastance, resistive pressure, and granuloma area. In conclusion, MT is a viable technique to prolong MSC retention in the lungs, enhancing their beneficial effects on experimentally induced silicosis. MT may be a promising strategy for enhancing MSC therapies for chronic lung diseases., (© 2020 The Authors. STEM CELLS TRANSLATIONAL MEDICINE published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of AlphaMed Press.)

In humans and other mammals, defensive responses to danger vary with threat imminence, but it is unknown how those responses affect decisions to help conspecifics. Here, we manipulated threat imminence to investigate the impact of different defensive states on human helping behaviour. Ninety-eight healthy adult participants made trial-by-trial decisions about whether to help a co-participant avoid an aversive shock, at the risk of receiving a shock themselves. Helping decisions were prompted under imminent or distal threat, based on temporal distance to the moment of shock administration to the co-participant. Results showed that, regardless of how likely participants were to also receive a shock, they helped the co-participant more under imminent than distal threat. Reaction times and cardiac changes during the task supported the efficacy of the threat imminence manipulation in eliciting dissociable defensive states, with faster responses and increased heart rate during imminent compared to distal threats. Individual differences in empathic concern were specifically correlated with helping during imminent threats. These results suggest that defensive states driving active escape from immediate danger may also facilitate decisions to help others, potentially by engaging neurocognitive systems implicated in caregiving across mammals.

Personal space regulation ensures the maintenance of a margin of safety between the individual and the surrounding world. However, little is known about the specific neural mechanisms implicated in regulating the distance from conspecifics versus non-social stimuli. Here, we investigated the neural correlates of personal space intrusions by social versus non-social stimuli. Thirty volunteers underwent fMRI scanning while viewing approaching or withdrawing faces (Social) and insects/arachnids (Non-social). Preferred distance to the stimuli was assessed behaviourally in a computerized task, and in real life. Results showed that approaching social and non-social stimuli of varying threat levels elicited activation of frontoparietal regions previously linked to peripersonal space, as well as of the midbrain periaqueductal gray, suggesting the engagement of defensive mechanisms by personal space intrusions. However, functional connectivity patterns of the midbrain differed for social and non-social stimuli, with enhanced coupling with the premotor cortex to approaching social stimuli. Additionally, connectivity strength between the midbrain and the premotor cortex was associated with preferred interpersonal distance. These findings highlight a common defensive architecture implicated in personal space regulation to social and non-social stimuli, and the specific neural mechanisms involved in regulating the distance from conspecifics.

Background and Purpose: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a progressive disease associated with high morbidity and mortality, despite advances in medical therapy. We compared the effects of infigratinib (NVP-BGJ398), a new FGF receptor-1 inhibitor, with or without the PDE-5 inhibitor sildenafil, on vascular function and remodelling as well as on gene expression of signal transducers for receptors of TGF-β (Smads-1/2/4) and transcription factor of endothelial-mesenchymal transition (Twist-1) in established experimental PAH. Types I and III pro-collagen and TGF-β expressions in lung fibroblasts were analysed in vitro after the different treatments., Experimental Approach: PAH was induced in male Wistar rats with monocrotaline. 14 days later, treatments [sildenafil (SIL), infigratinib (INF) or their combination (SIL+INF)] were given for another 14 days. On Day 28, echocardiography and haemodynamic assays were performed, and lungs and pulmonary vessels were removed for analysis by histology, immunohistochemistry and RT-PCR. Fibroblasts prepared from PAH lungs were also analysed for TGF-β and pro-collagen., Key Results: Only the combination of infigratinib and sildenafil significantly improved right ventricular systolic pressure and vascular remodelling parameters (right ventricular hypertrophy, smooth muscle α-actin, vessel wall thickness, and vascular collagen content). Infigratinib may act by reducing gene expression of Smads-1/4 and Twist-1 in lung tissue, as well as TGF-β and types I and III pro-collagen in lung fibroblasts., Conclusions and Implications: In this model of monocrotaline-induced PAH, the combination of the new inhibitor of FGF receptor-1, infigratinib, and sildenafil effectively improved haemodynamics and decreased vascular remodelling., (© 2019 The British Pharmacological Society.)

Empathy is crucial for successful interpersonal interactions, and it is impaired in many psychiatric and neurological disorders. Action-perception matching, or action simulation mechanisms, has been suggested to facilitate empathy by supporting the simulation of perceived experience in others. However, this remains unclear, and the involvement of the action simulation circuit in cognitive empathy (the ability to adopt another's perspective) vs emotional empathy (the capacity to share and react affectively to another's emotional experience) has not been quantitatively compared. Presently, healthy adults completed a classic cognitive empathy task (false belief), an emotional empathy task and an action simulation button-pressing task during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Conjunction analyses revealed common recruitment of the inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), thought to be critical for action-perception matching, during both action simulation and emotional, but not cognitive, empathy. Furthermore, activation was significantly greater in action simulation regions in the left IFG during emotional vs cognitive empathy, and activity in this region was positively correlated with mean feeling ratings during the emotional empathy task. These findings provide evidence for greater involvement of action simulation mechanisms in emotional than cognitive empathy. Thus, the action simulation circuit may be an important target for delineating the pathophysiology of disorders featuring emotional empathy impairments., (© The Author(s) (2018). Published by Oxford University Press.)

Background: The Monocyte Monolayer Assay (MMA) is an in vitro simulation of red blood cell (RBC) alloantibody behavior. It has been classically applied to predict the risks of post-transfusion hemolytic reactions when transfusing incompatible RBC units. Quantifying erythrophagocytosis by MMA may be an interesting option for situations where there is doubt whether a RBC autoantibody is mediating significant hemolysis. Here, we present three situations involving RBC autoantibodies in which the MMA was decisive for clarifying the diagnosis and choosing the best clinical treatment., Case Report: Case 1. Pregnant patient with severely anemic fetus exhibited warm autoantibody without signs of hemolysis. MMA revealed 30% of monocyte index (MI) highlighting that fetal hemolysis was caused by maternal autoantibody. Prednisone was prescribed with fetal clinical improvement. Cases 2 and 3. Two patients with the diagnosis of mixed auto-immune hemolytic anemia and poor response to corticosteroids were evaluated using MMA. The resulting MI was less than 10% in both cases, suggesting that the cold-agglutinin rather than the warm auto-IgG was responsible for overt hemolysis. Treatment with rituximab was begun, with good clinical response., Conclusion: MMA can be used to evaluate the ability of RBC autoantibodies to mediate overt hemolysis. It can be especially useful to determine the role played by cold and warm auto-antibodies in mixed auto-immune hemolytic disease, helping to define the best treatment option., (© 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Emotional information, and specifically fear-related stimuli, have been shown to be preferentially processed at a nonconscious level and gain privileged access to awareness. However, recent evidence has emerged suggesting these findings are explained by low-level visual features rather than emotional salience. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that emotional salience increases both blindsight (i.e., detection with reduced awareness) and awareness of visually suppressed stimuli. We used fear conditioning to manipulate the emotional significance of neutral expressions presented under Continuous Flash Suppression. Fifty-two healthy participants were presented with perithreshold neutral faces, previously paired with an electric shock (CS+) or not (CS-), and asked to localise the quadrant wherein faces were presented and rate their level of confidence in the response. Results showed fear conditioning strength (indexed by skin conductance response to CS+ versus CS-) was positively associated with both increased "blindsight" and awareness of conditioned stimuli. These findings suggest emotional significance alone, and not merely low-level visual differences, can enhance pre-conscious and conscious processing of visual stimuli.

Background: The complexity of Rh genetic variation among sickle cell disease (SCD) patients is high. Conventional molecular assays cannot identify all genetic variants already described for the RH locus as well as foresee novel alleles. Sequencing RHD and RHCE is indicated to broaden the search for Rh genetic variants., Aims: To standardize the Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) strategy to assertively identify Rh genetic variants among SCD patients with serologic suspicion of Rh variants and evaluate if it can improve the transfusion support., Methods: Thirty-five SCD patients with unexplained Rh antibodies were enrolled. A NGS-based strategy was developed to genotype RHD and RHCE using gene-specific primers. Genotype and serological data were compared., Results: Data obtained from the NGS-based assay were gene-specific. Ten and 25 variant RHD and RHCE alleles were identified, respectively. Among all cases of unexplained Rh antibodies, 62% had been inaccurately classified by serological analysis and, of these, 73.1% were considered as relevant, as were associated with increased risk of hemolytic reactions and shortage of units suitable for transfusion., Conclusion: The NGS assay designed to genotype RH coding regions was effective and accurate in identifying variants. The proposed strategy clarified the Rh phenotype of most patients, improving transfusion support., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)