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In a recent experiment, Zhang and colleagues designed a closed-loop brain–machine interface that learned to reduce participants' pain by decoding pain-related brain activity. In doing so, they also highlighted some of the challenges associated with coadaptive processes in brain–machine communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

No discrete choice experiment study has been conducted to elicit women's preferences for water immersion during labor and birth. An online survey including sociodemographic questions and choice cards was conducted to explore women's preferences (i.e., factors that may influence their decision). Each participant responded to 12 choice cards with 6 attributes/factors (i.e., birth mode, duration of the labor phase, pain sensation, risk of severe perineal tears, risk of death of the newborn, and newborn general condition). Utilities were estimated using logit, latent class, and hierarchical Bayesian analyses. A total of 1088 subjects completed the survey in 2019. The risk of death of the newborn was given high priority by women in all but one analyses, while the risk of severe perineal tears was always considered the least important attribute. The latent class analysis clearly revealed three classes of women. The largest class including 52.9% of women was interested in water birth if it could reduce pain and would be risk-free for the newborn. The second class included 30.8% of women interested in water immersion but only during the labor phase. Finally, the third class (16.2%) did not want to consider water immersion during labor and birth, regardless of its risks and benefits. Follow-up questions revealed that many women were interested in water birth only if they could be assured that there would be no risk for the newborn. This study provided insights in favor of water immersion during labor and birth contingent upon the safety of the procedure for the newborn. No discrete choice experiment on women's preference for water immersion during childbirth was previously conducted. Six attributes/factors were used for the discrete choice experiment. Water immersion is poorly used in Quebec with only 49 (7.9%) women over 621 with childbirth experience reporting such immersion. A majority of women (70–80%) were in favor of water immersion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The dominant socioaffective model of empathy has emphasized the overlap between brain mechanisms involved in the encoding and the decoding of internal states. The role of dispositional empathy has been extensively studied in this research, but several other individual factors fundamental to communication processes have been largely ignored. We studied the effects of dispositional expressiveness in chronic back pain patients to determine if the decoding of communicative and noncommunicative information signaling pain in others would be enhanced in individuals displaying a spontaneous propensity to consistently express more pain during a behavioral-observational naturalistic standardized lifting task performed on 2 separate occasions. Blood oxygenation level–dependent signal change was measured in response to pictures showing facial pain expressions and hands/feet in pain-evoking situations in chronic back pain patients and healthy controls. Vicarious brain responses to others’ pain were comparable between groups. However, more expressive patients rated others’ pain higher and showed stronger vicarious pain responses in the right ventral part of the inferior frontal gyrus, the right insula, and the midbrain. Activity in the right insula correlated positively with both the patients' expressiveness (encoding) and the intensity of the pain perceived in the images (decoding), suggesting that this structure linked the dispositional expressiveness with vicarious pain perception. Importantly, these effects were independent from dispositional empathy and were found with both communicative (facial expression) and noncommunicative (hand and foot) cues. These results suggest that dispositional expressiveness is a self-related factor that facilitates vicarious pain processing and might reflect individual tendencies to rely on social coping strategies. Perspective: This article shows that pain expressivity in chronic pain patients increased the vicarious brain responses and the sensibility to others' pain. These results may help provide empirical support for better defining models of pain communication in chronic pain patients. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) are affected by chronic abdominal pain and show decreased pain inhibition. Moreover, they exhibit differences in brain morphology compared with healthy volunteers. The aim of this study was to examine whether decreased pain inhibition is associated with altered brain morphology in IBS patients. Structural magnetic resonance imaging scans were acquired in 14 female patients with diarrhea-predominant IBS and 14 controls. Pain and anxiety modulation were characterized using electrical stimulation of the sural nerve and heterotopic noxious counterstimulation. IBS patients reported decreased pain inhibition (P = .02) as well as increased shock anxiety, pain catastrophizing, depressive symptoms, and trait anxiety (P's ≤ .05). IBS patients also showed a thicker right posterior insula (pINS), associated with longer IBS duration (r = .67, P = .02). In addition, thicker right lateral orbitofrontal cortex was strongly associated with less pain inhibition in both IBS patients (r = .70, P = .02) and controls (r = .68, P = .01). Results are consistent with the role of the insula in interoception and pain and suggest that IBS may induce thickening of the pINS. Reduced pain inhibition may further involve a modification of the regulatory influence of the orbitofrontal cortex on pain-related processes. Perspective: This study investigated the brain morphology of IBS patients. IBS patients showed thicker right pINS, associated with longer disease duration but not with psychological symptoms. This suggests that IBS induces thickening of pINS, which may contribute to its pathophysiology, consistent with the role of the pINS in interoception and pain. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Despite numerous body image researches focusing on children, adolescents, young and middle-aged adults, there is a dearth regarding the body image of Western seniors. In this paper, we reviewed this literature using a systematic three-step extraction procedure plus a quality evaluation assessment for each retained article. The results showed that, while body dissatisfaction (BD) and body image distortion (BID) exist at older ages, the importance given to body image as it relates to physical appearance is lower in comparison with younger samples. Associations between body image and physical/mental health were also shown. Various tensions regarding the aging body (appearance vs. health, inside vs. outside, natural vs. unnatural) as well as a double standard of aging were also reported among older women. We conclude that the body image experience of Western seniors has both specificities and similarities with the one of younger populations. We also conclude that some methodological aspects of the literature on body image among older adults need to be addressed in order to move forward with this field of research. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Surveillance of social inequalities in health is a platform for action. We examined the trends in smoking behaviours (current and ever smoking, quit ratios) according to education and place of residence and we quantified the observed inequalities. Data were from repeated cross-sectional surveys (2003–2009) of Montreal (Canada) residents ≥15 years (n=12,053). Trends in smoking behaviours according to education were measured with logistic and log-binomial regressions. Spatial distribution of smoking behaviours across local areas was assessed with Morans'' Index. Observed inequalities were quantified with prevalence ratio and difference, population attributable risk, and slope index of inequality. Results showed that ever smoking rose among low-educated individuals. Among their high-educated fellow-citizens, current smoking decreased and quit ratios increased. Adverse smoking behaviours (current and ever smoking) were clustered in south-central areas. We conclude that smoking inequalities in Montreal are growing. We thus encourage a closer monitoring of smoking social differentials. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) comprises a set of interconnected regions that integrate information from affective sensory and social cues, long-term memory, and representations of the ‘self’. Alhough the vmPFC is implicated in a variety of seemingly disparate processes, these processes are organized around a common theme. The vmPFC is not necessary for affective responses per se, but is critical when affective responses are shaped by conceptual information about specific outcomes. The vmPFC thus functions as a hub that links concepts with brainstem systems capable of coordinating organism-wide emotional behavior, a process we describe in terms of the generation of affective meaning, and which could explain the common role played by the vmPFC in a range of experimental paradigms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Free living populations adopt practices designed to maintain or influence their weight. These practices include at least two components: a personal weight goal and use of a variety of behaviors to reach this personal weight goal. Personal weight goals can either concur (match) or not concur (mismatch) with recommendations that a health professional might stipulate for achieving a healthy weight status. The variety of behaviors used to achieve a personal weight goal can be thought of as inherently healthy, unhealthy, or disordered. We examined associations between matched vs. mismatched personal weight goals and the frequency of use of different types of weight-related behaviors among adolescents. Measures included whether or not personal weight goals matched or mismatched aims that should be pursued given current weight status and self-reported frequency of use of behaviors from a representative population-based sample of adolescents (n =2, 346, 51% female; 93.3% complete data). Sex-specific multilevel logistic and ordinal regression analyses showed that pursuing a mismatched personal weight goal increases the likelihood of using unhealthy behaviors across sexes. This association is however not significant for healthy and disordered behaviors. We conclude that there is an association between pursuing a mismatched personal weight goal and the use of unhealthy behaviors but not with healthy or disordered behaviors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: This paper pursues two objectives: (1) to estimate proportions of adolescents with a weight goal that matched and mismatched weight status, and (2) to identify correlates of a mismatched weight goal. Data were from a representative population-based sample of adolescents (n =2346, 51% female; 91.5% complete data). Results showed that 69% of adolescents had a weight goal that matched weight status whereas 31% had a weight goal that mismatched weight status. Body dissatisfaction was a significant predictor of having a mismatched weight goal for both sexes while elevated psychological distress was a predictor among girls. Being body dissatisfied mediated the association between psychological distress and having a mismatched weight goal among girls. Casting weight goal as a function of weight status may allow for a better understanding of overall weight management strategies. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Several studies suggest that children who chronically underachieve are, like children with learning disorders, at risk for negative outcomes and are more likely to experience adjustment problems than are their typically developing peers. This study compares children''s self-esteem, perceived competence, negative perfectionism and beliefs of peer acceptance, temperament-based factors (parent-rated), and socioemotional adjustment (parent and teacher rated) of underachieving and non-underachieving elementary school children. It also explores whether children''s perceptions of parental support act as a protective factor in children''s self-perceptions and socioemotional adjustment. The sample includes 309 fifth and sixth graders 55 underachievers (31 boys and 24 girls), 217 standard achievers (90 boys and 127 girls) and 37 overachievers (16 boys and 21 girls) from the same classes. Significant intergroup differences are found in children''s self-perceptions and in teachers’ report of socioemotional adjustment but no difference is observed in parental reports. Children''s perceptions of parental support do not differ between groups and do not significantly mediate the association between level of achievement and socioemotional adjustment. Results underscore that whatever the achievement classification of children, their perception of parental support has a unique contribution to their self-perceptions and socioemotional adjustment. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper aims to investigate to what extent a bias in self-evaluation is an enduring characteristic among children, and whether there is a relationship between the trajectory of children''s self-evaluation bias over a five-year period and their psychosocial adjustment. 462 children (200 boys) in Grade 3 (mean age=8.6 years old) or Grade 4 (mean age=9.7 years old) at the outset of the study participated following their parents’ written consent. The group-based approach using a multinomial modeling strategy allowed identifying five groups based on changes in the children''s self-evaluation bias over the five-year period. Children in the stable and highly positive bias group stood out as having markedly more positive scores on all indices of psychosocial adjustment, and also outperformed the other children in achievement in language arts and math. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: The ability to self-report on affective experience is essential to both our everyday communication about emotion and our scientific understanding of it. However, the underlying cognitive and neural mechanisms for how people construct statements even as simple as “I feel bad!” remain unclear. We examined whether the neural architecture underlying the ability to make statements about affective experience is composed of distinct functional systems. Methods: In a novel functional magnetic neuroimaging paradigm, 20 participants were shown images varying in affective intensity; they were required either to attend to and judge the affective response versus to nonaffective aspects of the stimulus and either to categorize their response into a verbal label or report on a scale that did not require verbal labeling. Results: We found that the ability to report on affective states involves (at least) three separable systems, one for directing attention to the affective response and making attributions about it that involves the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, one for categorizing the response into a verbal label or word that involves the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, and one sensitive to the intensity of the affective response including the ventral anterior insula and amygdala. Conclusions: These results suggest that unified statements about affective experience rely on integrating information from several distinct neural systems. Results are discussed in the context of how disruptions to one or another of these systems may produce unique deficits in the ability to describe affective states and the implications this may hold for clinical populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]