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Background  An objective, non-invasive method for redness detection during acute allograft rejection in face transplantation (FT) is lacking. Methods  A retrospective cohort study was performed with 688 images of 7 patients with face transplant (range, 1 to 108 months post-transplant). Healthy controls were matched to donor age, sex, and had no prior facial procedures. Rejection state was confirmed via tissue biopsy. An image-analysis software developed alongside VicarVision (Amsterdam, Netherlands) was used to produce R, a measure of differences between detectable color and absolute red. R is inversely proportional to redness, where lower R values correspond to increased redness. Linear mixed models were used to study fixed effect of rejection state on R values. Estimated marginal means of fitted models were calculated for pairwise comparisons. Results  Of 688 images, 175, 170, 202, and 141 images were attributable to Banff Grade 0,1,2, and 3, respectively. Estimated change in R value of facial allografts decreased with increasing Banff Grade (p  = 0.0001). The mean R value of clinical rejection (Banff Grade ⅔) (16.67, 95% Confidence Interval [CI] 14.79–18.58) was lower (p  = 0.005) than non-rejection (Banff Grade 0/1) (19.38, 95%CI 17.43–21.33). Both clinical and non-rejection mean R values were lower (p  = 0.0001) than healthy controls (24.12, 95%CI 20.96–27.28). Conclusion  This proof-of-concept study demonstrates that software-based analysis can detect and monitor acute rejection changes in FT. Future studies should expand on this tool's potential application in telehealth and as a screening tool for allograft rejection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exposure to a single report about terrorism in the mass media can trigger a range of emotional and political reactions. The consequences of exposure to several terrorism reports in row, however, are a matter of controversy. We examine the effects of prolonged terrorism coverage using an experimental design that combines self-report measures of emotions and political attitudes with instantaneous biometric data on emotions. Consistent with research on nonassociational learning, we find that exposure to multiple videos habituates people to depictions of terrorism: the longer people watch terrorism coverage, the less intense their reactions are to the images of terrorism they see. Some images and videos, however, contribute to this result more than others. This suggests that the ultimate effects of terrorism coverage depend on the interplay between the quantity and quality of reporting, not the quantity alone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]