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This article investigates the differences in cognitive and neural mechanisms between human-human and human-virtual agent interaction using a dataset recorded in an ecologically realistic environment. We use Convergent Cross Mapping (CCM) to investigate functional connectivity between pairs of regions involved in the framework of social cognitive neuroscience, namely the fusiform gyrus, superior temporal sulcus (STS), temporoparietal junction (TPJ), and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC)-taken as prefrontal asymmetry. Our approach is a compromise between investigating local activation in specific regions and investigating connectivity networks that may form part of larger networks. In addition to concording with previous studies, our results suggest that the right TPJ is one of the most reliable areas for assessing processes occurring during human-virtual agent interactions, both in a static and dynamic sense., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 De Castro Martins, Chaminade and Cavazza.)

Prefrontal cortex (PFC) asymmetry is an important marker in affective neuroscience and has attracted significant interest, having been associated with studies of motivation, eating behavior, empathy, risk propensity, and clinical depression. The data presented in this paper are the result of three different experiments using PFC asymmetry neurofeedback (NF) as a Brain-Computer Interface (BCI) paradigm, rather than a therapeutic mechanism aiming at long-term effects, using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) which is known to be particularly well-suited to the study of PFC asymmetry and is less sensitive to artifacts. From an experimental perspective the BCI context brings more emphasis on individual subjects' baselines, successful and sustained activation during epochs, and minimal training. The subject pool is also drawn from the general population, with less bias toward specific behavioral patterns, and no inclusion of any patient data. We accompany our datasets with a detailed description of data formats, experiment and protocol designs, as well as analysis of the individualized metrics for definitions of success scores based on baseline thresholds as well as reference tasks. The work presented in this paper is the result of several experiments in the domain of BCI where participants are interacting with continuous visual feedback following a real-time NF paradigm, arising from our long-standing research in the field of affective computing. We offer the community access to our fNIRS datasets from these experiments. We specifically provide data drawn from our empirical studies in the field of affective interactions with computer-generated narratives as well as interfacing with algorithms, such as heuristic search, which all provide a mechanism to improve the ability of the participants to engage in active BCI due to their realistic visual feedback. Beyond providing details of the methodologies used where participants received real-time NF of left-asymmetric increase in activation in their dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), we re-establish the need for carefully designing protocols to ensure the benefits of NF paradigm in BCI are enhanced by the ability of the real-time visual feedback to adapt to the individual responses of the participants. Individualized feedback is paramount to the success of NF in BCIs., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2020 Charles, De Castro Martins and Cavazza.)

Objective: Loss aversion is defined as the individual perception of losses with a more significant impact than the gains of the same proportion, where people would be more sensitive to the possibility of losing objects or money than to the possibility of winning, even the same quantities. However, studies relating to loss aversion and psychological factors are still incipient. The aim of the present literature review was to identify and analyze the results of studies that investigated loss aversion regarding personality traits and symptoms of depression, anxiety, and suicidal tendencies., Method: A systematic review was done through PUBMED and Scopus databases. Descriptors were defined according to each database specificities., Results: At first, 103 articles were encountered. After evaluation of the inclusion and exclusion criteria, there were a total of 14 remaining articles that were group together into six categories related to loss aversion, depression, anxiety, suicidal tendencies, and personality., Conclusions: The present study contributes to the literature mapping in the Behavioural Economics field. However, discrepancies were found among the studies, which made it difficult to acquire more conclusive findings., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None., (© 2020 Giovanni Fioriti Editore s.r.l.)

Microplastics are important vectors for the transport and accumulation of persistent organic contaminants in coastal and marine environments. We determined the concentration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) associated with microplastic pellets collected along a 39-km stretch of Brazil's South Atlantic coastline to understand the spatial dynamics and potential risk posed by these contaminants. Total PAH concentrations ranged from 1,454 to 6,002 ng g -1 and regularly exceeded the threshold effect level (TEL) for sediments defined by the United States Environmental Protection Agency. Sampling stations, spaced evenly along the coastline (i.e., 3-km intervals) exhibited a general north-to-south decline in the concentrations of some PAHs, but this spatial gradient was complicated by small-scale differences in the concentrations and composition of associated contaminants. Similarly, analysis of individual isomer ratios revealed further complexity driven by differences in the contribution of petrogenic versus pyrolytic inputs which pose different levels of risk to marine organisms. PCB concentrations ranged from 0.8 to 104.6 ng g -1 and were dominated by low chlorinated congeners likely to have originated from major industrial areas to the north. Overall, this study highlights the challenge of directly linking microplastic pollution with the potential toxicological effects of organic contaminants in coastal waters. We recommend that monitoring programs should explicitly consider both the origin (i.e., pellet sources and dispersal pathways) and nature of organic contamination (i.e., concentration and composition) when assessing the risks for biota and human health., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The Iguaçu River is one of the largest and most important rivers in the Southern of Brazil. The Upper Iguaçu Basin is responsible for water supply (80%) of the Metropolitan Region of Curitiba (MRC). After crossing a large urban region, the river is polluted by domestic and industrial sewage, but despite of that few ecotoxicological studies have been performed in order to evaluate the water quality from Iguaçu River. The aim of the present study was to investigate the risk of exposure of Iguaçu water to biota and also human population. In this terms, was utilized the survival effect and the morphological deformities in larval embryos of Rhamdia quelen, a native South America species. The results showed a high level of pollution in all studied sites along the Upper Iguaçu River including PAHs and toxic metals such as lead. The lethal and non-lethal effects described in earlier stages of development suggest an elevated risk to biota. This data was corroborated by the theoretical model, showing that the pollutants present in water from Iguaçu River may further reduce the fish population density including risk of local extinction. The present study reflect the needs to conduct in-depth research to evaluate the real impact of human activities on the endemic fish biota of Iguaçu River including the risk for human populations., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Aim: The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to compare, in the lower third molar surgery, the osteotomy techniques with rotary instruments and piezoelectric motors., Methods: An electronic search was conducted using the following databases: Pubmed, Web of Science, and the Cochrane Oral Health Group Trials Register. Inclusion criteria were: studies in humans, randomized or nonrandomized, comparing the extraction of third molars that required osteotomy and/or odontosection with rotary instrument and osteotomy and/or odontosection with piezoelectric motor assistance. The analysis and inclusion of articles was performed by two reviewers independently. An evaluation of the quality of articles and data extraction was carried out., Results: From a total of nine hundred seventy four (974) trials, eleven articles were included in the qualitative analysis, and seven were included in the quantitative analysis. Rotary instruments were faster than the piezoelectric surgery (95 % CI 0.34 to 1.16). The piezoelectric surgery showed better results when compared with roatry instruments when trismus was assessed in 2 (95 % CI 0.65 to 1.69), 3 (95 % CI 0.63 to 1.67) and 5 (95 % CI 0.03 to 2.26) days after surgery. Seven days after surgery, there were no differences between the techniques (95 % CI (-0.022) to (-1.49))., Conclusion: The piezoelectric surgery was effective in reducing pain, swelling and trismus in third molar surgery, but the same requires greater surgical time than the rotary instruments.