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Background and Objective: Only few studies investigated social cognition in Becker muscular dystrophy (BMD). However, brain dystrophin deficiency could be a neural substrate for cognitive, emotional, and neuropsychological features in BMD., Methods: We compared interoceptive accuracy and interpersonal comfort distance in two brothers with BMD presenting with the same genetic deletion and a healthy control. When possible, we collected neuropsychological and psychopathological assessments., Results: Our BMD patients were significantly different in interoceptive accuracy, with patient 1 being extremely accurate and patient 2 being significantly less accurate than his brother but more accurate than the control. Interestingly, they presented opposite patterns of interpersonal distance. Patient 1 was comfortable with very short interpersonal distance (≤50 cm from the confederate/object) vs the control and patient 2. By contrast, patient 2 preferred larger distance vs the control and patient 1. Patient 1 also presented difficulties in social and emotional skills on the psychopathological assessment., Conclusions: We are aware this is a small sample; nonetheless, this is also the first description of such aspects in BMD and the first report ever of such divergent behavioral pattern. As impaired social cognition affects the quality of life and social relationship, further studies are needed for a closer understanding of involved mechanisms., (© 2023. Fondazione Società Italiana di Neurologia.)

Sensory features of autism include hypo- or hyper-reactivity to pain; however, previous studies on pain in autism lead to conflicting results. Here, we present the state of the art and the methodological challenges concerning pain perception in autism, focusing on studies that used standardized protocol as Quantitative Sensory Testing (QST) to measure perception. Despite there are still scant evidences found with the use of QST, they have challenged the presumed hyposensitivity to pain in autisms, which emerged from parents' reports. Both, peripheral and central mechanisms, have been found involved in typical features of perception in autism. Nonetheless, evidences with controlled protocols are still scarce, and even scarcer are studies focused on children. Overall, complex ethical challenges have to be overcome in order to collect subjective and objective measures from autistic children. With heterogeneous neurodevelopmental features, or intellectual disability, novel or modified protocols are needed., (© 2023. Fondazione Società Italiana di Neurologia.)

This mini-review covers recent works on the study of pleasant touch in patients with chronic pain (CP) and its potential use as a treatment. While experiments have demonstrated that pleasant touch, through the activation of CT-afferents and the brain regions involved in its affective value, might reduce the unpleasantness and intensity of induced pain, the interaction between pleasant touch and CP remains under-examined. Some experiments show that CP might disrupt the positive aspects of receiving pleasant touch, while in other studies the perception of pleasantness is preserved. Moreover, only a few attempts have been made to test whether touch can have a modulatory effect on CP, but these results also remain inconclusive. Indeed, while one recent study demonstrated that CT-touch can diminish CP after a short stimulation, another study suggested that pleasant touch might not be sufficient. Future studies should further investigate the psychological and neural interplay between pleasant touch and CP. In the conclusion of this mini-review, we propose a new tool we have recently developed using immersive virtual reality (IVR)., 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 Fusaro, Bufacchi, Nicolardi and Provenzano.)

Purpose: We aimed to clarify and contribute to a better comprehension of associations and correlations between placental histological findings, pregnancy evolution, and neonatal outcomes., Study Design: This is a longitudinal and prospective observational study, performed between May 2015 and May 2019, on 506 pregnant women. Clinical data related to pregnancy outcome, neonatal health status, and placental histology were primarily collected. Twin pregnancies or malformed newborns were excluded and therefore the study was conducted on 439 cases. These cases have been then subdivided into the following study groups: (a) 282 placentas from pathological pregnancies; and, (b) a control group of 157 pregnancies over 33 weeks of gestational age, defined as physiological or normal pregnancies due to the absence of maternal, fetal, and early neonatal pathologies, most of which had undergone elective cesarean section for maternal or fetal indication., Results: A normal placenta was present in 57.5% of normal pregnancies and in 42.5% of pathological pregnancies. In contrast, placental pathology was present in 26.2% of normal pregnancies and 73.8% of pathological pregnancies. Comparison of the neonatal health status with the pregnancy outcome showed that, among the 191 newborns classified as normal, 98 (51.3%) were born from a normal pregnancy, while 93 (48.7%) were born from mothers with a pathological pregnancy. Among the 248 pathological infants, 59 (23.8%) were born from a mother with a normal pregnancy, while 189 (76.2%) were born from pregnancies defined as pathological., Conclusion: Placental histology must be better understood in the context of natural history of disease. Retrospective awareness of placental damage is useful in prevention in successive pregnancy, but their early identification in the evolving pregnancy could help in association with biological markers or more sophisticated instruments for early diagnosis., 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 Loverro, Di Naro, Nicolardi, Resta, Mastrolia, Schettini, Capozza, Loverro, Loverro and Laforgia.)

Meditation practice is suggested to engage training of cognitive control systems in the brain. To evaluate the functional involvement of attentional and cognitive monitoring processes during meditation, the present study analysed the electroencephalographic synchronization of fronto-parietal (FP) and medial-frontal (MF) brain networks in highly experienced meditators during different meditation states (focused attention, open monitoring and loving kindness meditation). The aim was to assess whether and how the connectivity patterns of FP and MF networks are modulated by meditation style and expertise. Compared to novice meditators, (1) highly experienced meditators exhibited a strong theta synchronization of both FP and MF networks in left parietal regions in all mediation styles, and (2) only the connectivity of lateralized beta MF networks differentiated meditation styles. The connectivity of intra-hemispheric theta FP networks depended non-linearly on meditation expertise, with opposite expertise-dependent patterns found in the left and the right hemisphere. In contrast, inter-hemispheric FP connectivity in faster frequency bands (fast alpha and beta) increased linearly as a function of expertise. The results confirm that executive control systems play a major role in maintaining states of meditation. The distinctive lateralized involvement of FP and MF networks appears to represent a major functional mechanism that supports both generic and style-specific meditation states. The observed expertise-dependent effects suggest that functional plasticity within executive control networks may underpin the emergence of unique meditation states in expert meditators.

Meditation has been integrated into different therapeutic interventions. To inform the evidence-based selection of specific meditation types it is crucial to understand the neural processes associated with different meditation practices. Here we explore commonalities and differences in electroencephalographic oscillatory spatial synchronisation patterns across three important meditation types. Highly experienced meditators engaged in focused attention, open monitoring, and loving kindness meditation. Improving on previous research, our approach avoids comparisons between groups that limited previous findings, while ensuring that the meditation states are reliably established. Employing a novel measure of neural coupling - the imaginary part of EEG coherence - the study revealed that all meditation conditions displayed a common connectivity pattern that is characterised by increased connectivity of (a) broadly distributed delta networks, (b) left-hemispheric theta networks with a local integrating posterior focus, and (c) right-hemispheric alpha networks, with a local integrating parieto-occipital focus. Furthermore, each meditation state also expressed specific synchronisation patterns differentially recruiting left- or right-lateralised beta networks. These observations provide evidence that in addition to global patterns, frequency-specific inter-hemispheric asymmetry is one major feature of meditation, and that mental processes specific to each meditation type are also supported by lateralised networks from fast-frequency bands.

Despite the growing interest on the effect of the social context on pain, whether and how different facets of interpersonal interactions modulate pain are still unclear. We tested whether personal (i.e., convenient for the self), moral (i.e., equitability of the transaction) or social (i.e., positive vs. negative feedback from others) valence of an interpersonal interaction differentially affects pain and the perceived fairness. Thirty-two healthy participants played the role of Receivers in a Dictator Game, where a player, the Dictator, determined how to divide a payoff between her/himself and the other player, the Receiver. We manipulated the payoff (pain vs. money), the personal valence (favorable vs. unfavorable offer to participants), the moral valence of the offer (from very iniquitous to equitable), and social valence of the Dictator (social acceptance vs. rejection). Moral and personal valence differentially modulated pain. Lower pain was elicited by iniquity, but also by favorable offers. Moreover, unfavorable offers in the economic game were rated as more unfair, whereas only very iniquitous offers elicited such ratings in the pain game, suggesting that participants valued when Dictators endured extra pain for their benefit. Together, we show that the valence of a social interaction at different levels can independently modulate pain and fairness perception.

Detecting errors in one's own actions, and in the actions of others, is a crucial ability for adaptable and flexible behavior. Studies show that specific EEG signatures underpin the monitoring of observed erroneous actions (error-related negativity, error positivity, mid-frontal theta oscillations). However, the majority of studies on action observation used sequences of trials where erroneous actions were less frequent than correct actions. Therefore, it was not possible to disentangle whether the activation of the performance monitoring system was due to an error, as a violation of the intended goal, or to a surprise/novelty effect, associated with a rare and unexpected event. Combining EEG and immersive virtual reality (IVR-CAVE system), we recorded the neural signal of 25 young adults who observed, in first-person perspective, simple reach-to-grasp actions performed by an avatar aiming for a glass. Importantly, the proportion of erroneous actions was higher than correct actions. Results showed that the observation of erroneous actions elicits the typical electrocortical signatures of error monitoring, and therefore the violation of the action goal is still perceived as a salient event. The observation of correct actions elicited stronger alpha suppression. This confirmed the role of the alpha-frequency band in the general orienting response to novel and infrequent stimuli. Our data provide novel evidence that an observed goal error (the action slip) triggers the activity of the performance-monitoring system even when erroneous actions, which are, typically, relevant events, occur more often than correct actions and thus are not salient because of their rarity. NEW & NOTEWORTHY Activation of the performance-monitoring system (PMS) is typically investigated when errors in a sequence are comparatively rare. However, whether the PMS is activated by errors per se or by their infrequency is not known. Combining EEG-virtual reality techniques, we found that observing frequent (70%) action errors performed by avatars elicits electrocortical error signatures suggesting that deviation from the prediction of how learned actions should correctly deploy, rather than its frequency, is coded in the PMS.

Background/aim: To evaluate and stratify early cardiovascular risk of transsexuals who underwent pharmacological and/or surgical gender reassignment., Methods: Fifty-six transsexuals were divided into two groups: group 1 - underwent gonadectomy (orchiectomy for transwomen and hystero-annessiectomy for transmen); group 2 - hormone replacement therapy alone. All participants underwent carotid artery intima-media thickness (C-IMT) and flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD) of brachial artery evaluations., Results: FMD was lower in patients who had undergone gonadectomy compared with non-surgically treated patients (Group 1: 5.711 vs Group 2: 7.339, P < 0.0001). Mean C-IMT was higher in group 1 than group 2 (group 1: 0.733 vs group 2: 0.582). The duration of hormone therapy correlates positively with mean C-IMT (B = 0.001) and negatively with FMD (%) (B = - 0.007)., Conclusions: Cardiovascular risk, which is expressed in terms of endothelial (FMD) and morphological (C-IMT) dysfunction, increases in subjects undergoing gonadectomy compared with those receiving cross-sex reassignment therapy alone., (© 2017 Royal Australasian College of Physicians.)

Previous research suggests that prompting individuals to think on their own mortality affects their perception of painful somatic stimuli and related brain activity. Grounded on the assumption that reminders of mortality may recruit threat-defence mechanisms similar to the ones activated by painful nociceptive stimuli, we hypothesize that the effects exerted by linguistic reminders of death on pain perception and brain activity would be elicited by passive observation of death-related pictures vs. more generic threat-related pictures. Results showed an increase of the laser evoked P2 amplitude and oscillatory theta activity when participants observed death-related images. However, no change in pain ratings was found. Moreover, observation of death-related content was linked to increased oscillatory alpha desynchronisation but not to variations of visual evoked potentials amplitude. Our findings indicate that pairing potentially noxious stimuli with death-related images exerts a preferential modulation of nociceptive and visual cortical representations., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Research suggests that working memory (WM) is impaired in chronic pain. Yet, information on how potentially noxious stimuli are maintained in memory is limited in patients as well as in healthy people. We recorded electroencephalography (EEG) in healthy volunteers during a modified delayed match-to-sample task where maintenance in memory of relevant attributes of nociceptive laser stimuli was essential for subsequent cued-discrimination. Participants performed in high and low load conditions (i.e. three vs. two stimuli to keep in WM). Modulation of EEG oscillations in the beta band during the retention interval and in the alpha band during the pre-retention interval reflected performance in the WM task. Importantly, both a non-verbal and a verbal neuropsychological WM test predicted oscillatory modulations. Moreover, these two neuropsychological tests and self-reported personality measures predicted the performance in the nociceptive WM task. Results demonstrate (i) that beta and alpha EEG oscillations can represent WM for nociceptive stimuli; (ii) the association between neuropsychological measures of WM and the brain representation of phasic nociceptive painful stimuli; and (iii) that personality factors can predict memory for nociceptive stimuli at the behavioural level. Altogether, our findings offer a promising approach for investigating cortical correlates of nociceptive memory in clinical pain conditions., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Social psychology studies show that awareness of one's eventual death profoundly influences human cognition and behaviour by inducing defensive reactions against end-of-life-related anxiety. Much less is known about the impact of reminders of mortality on brain activity. Here we tested whether reminders of mortality can induce a modulation of the slow electroencephalographic activity triggered by somatosensory nociceptive or auditory threatening stimulation and if this modulation is related to mood and anxiety as well as personality traits. We found a specific slow wave (SW) modulation only for nociceptive stimulation and only following mortality salience induction (compared to reminders of an important failed exam). The enhancement of SW negativity at the scalp vertex was associated with increased state anxiety and negative mood, whereas higher self-esteem was associated with reduced SW amplitude. In addition, mortality salience was linked to an increased amplitude of frontal delta band, which was correlated also with increased positive mood and higher self-esteem. The results indicate that SW and delta spectral activity may represent both proximal and distal defences associated with reminders of death and that neurophysiological correlates of somatosensory representation of painful and threatening stimuli may be useful for existential neuroscience studies., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The uptake kinetics of elemental gaseous Hg (Hg(0)) in three species of epiphytic lichens (Pseudevernia furfuracea, Evernia prunastri, and Xanthoria parietina) were investigated under four different Hg concentrations (10, 15, 30, and 45 μg/m(3)) and three different temperatures (10, 20, and 30 °C) with the aim of evaluating the lichen efficiency for Hg(0) accumulation and their potential use in the estimate of atmospheric concentrations of this metal in the field. The results showed that under our experimental conditions the lichens accumulated Hg according to exposure time and that the metal is not released back to the atmosphere after Hg(0) was removed from the air (clearance). Pseudevernia furfuracea showed the highest Hg accumulation capacity and Evernia prunastri showed the lowest, but in these species the metal uptake kinetics was affected by temperature. Xanthoria parietina showed an intermediate metal accumulation capacity and a Hg accumulation rate independent of temperature (in the range 10-30 °C). The use of first-order kinetics equations for Hg uptake in X. parietina and available field data on Hg bioaccumulation in this species allowed reliable estimates of atmospheric Hg concentrations in the environment.

Lichens are an excellent model to study the bioaccumulation of heavy metals but limited information is available on the molecular mechanisms occurring during bioaccumulation. We investigated the changes of the lichen proteome during exposure to constant concentrations of mercury. We found that most of changes involves proteins of the photosynthetic pathway, such as the chloroplastic photosystem I reaction center subunit II, the oxygen-evolving protein and the chloroplastic ATP synthase β-subunit. This suggests that photosynthesis is a target of the toxic effects of mercury. These findings are also supported by changes in the content of photosynthetic pigments (chlorophyll a and b, and β-carotene). Alterations to the photosynthetic machinery also reflect on the structure of thylakoid membranes of algal cells. Response of lichens to mercury also involves stress-related proteins (such as Hsp70) but not cytoskeletal proteins. Results suggest that lichens adapt to mercury exposure by changing the metabolic production of energy., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To investigate the role of adjuvant treatment with gonadotropin-releasing-hormone agonist (GnRHa) following conservative surgical treatment of endometriosis., Study Design: Sixty patients in the reproductive age (mean age 28.6 years), with symptomatic stages III and IV endometriosis following laparoscopic surgery and without previous hormonal treatment were enrolled in a prospective, randomized, controlled trial to compare the effects of 3-month treatment with triptorelin depot-3.75 i.m. (30 patients) versus expectant management using placebo injection (30 patients)., Results: Six patients (one in triptorelin group and five in placebo group) were lost at follow-up, the remaining 54 were suitable for analysis. Pelvic pain persistence or recurrence, endometrioma relapses and pregnancy rate were evaluated during a 5-year follow-up. The results of 29 cases treated with triptorelin and 25 that received placebo did not show significant differences in pain recurrence (P=1, RR=0.94, 95% CI=0.57-1.55), endometrioma relapse (P=0.67, RR=1.29, 95% CI=0.66-2.50), and pregnancy rate in infertile women (P=0.80, RR=0.81, 95% CI=0.37-1.80). Curves of time of pain recurrence and pregnancy during 5-year follow-up did not show significant differences between the two groups (P=0.79 and P=0.51, respectively, using Mantel-Haenzsel logrank test)., Conclusion: Triptorelin treatment after operative laparoscopy for stage III/IV endometriosis does not appear to be superior to expectant management in terms of prevention of symptoms recurrence and endometrioma relapse, and has no influence on pregnancy rate in endometriosis-associated infertility.

The authors have carried out a perspective randomized trial between two homogeneous groups, each one of 30 pts., consisting of 50 males and 10 females with an average age of 42 (18-65) affected by an uncomplicated inguinal hernia. Group A underwent a Bassini repair technique and group B underwent a Trabucco's operation. The early results in terms of clinical conditions and days of post-operative course and period of return to work were analysed with Shapiro-Wilk and t tests. The group B patients had a significant reduction of the post-operative period (2.3 days vs 3.46), a significant reduction of post-operative pain (present in all group A patients vs 6.6%) with rapid return to normal functions and to work. All these conditions reduce the costs of the operation for society and the health service. There were no statistically significant differences in terms of morbidity and long-term follow-up (about 9 months).