Neural Bases of Predictions During Natural Reading of Known Statements: An Electroencephalography and Eye Movements Co-registration Study.

Predictions of incoming words performed during reading have an impact on how the reader moves their eyes and on the electrical brain potentials. Eye tracking (ET) experiments show that less predictable words are fixated for longer periods of times. Electroencephalography (EEG) experiments show that these words elicit a more negative potential around 400 ms (N400) after the word onset when reading one word at a time (foveated reading). Nevertheless, there was no N400 potential during the foveated reading of previously known sentences (memory-encoded), which suggests that the prediction of words from memory-encoded sentences is based on different mechanisms than predictions performed on common sentences. Here, we performed an ET-EEG co-registration experiment where participants read common and memory-encoded sentences. Our results show that the N400 potential disappear when the reader recognises the sentence. Furthermore, time-frequency analyses show a larger alpha lateralisation and a beta power increase for memory-encoded sentences. This suggests a more distributed attention and an active maintenance of the cognitive set, in concordance to the predictive coding framework.

Human and computer estimations of Predictability of words in written language.

When we read printed text, we are continuously predicting upcoming words to integrate information and guide future eye movements. Thus, the Predictability of a given word has become one of the most important variables when explaining human behaviour and information processing during reading. In parallel, the Natural Language Processing (NLP) field evolved by developing a wide variety of applications. Here, we show that using different word embeddings techniques (like Latent Semantic Analysis, Word2Vec, and FastText) and N-gram-based language models we were able to estimate how humans predict words (cloze-task Predictability) and how to better understand eye movements in long Spanish texts. Both types of models partially captured aspects of predictability. On the one hand, our N-gram model performed well when added as a replacement for the cloze-task Predictability of the fixated word. On the other hand, word embeddings were useful to mimic Predictability of the following word. Our study joins efforts from neurolinguistic and NLP fields to understand human information processing during reading to potentially improve NLP algorithms.

Multimodal treatment of an extremely rare desmoplastic small round cell tumor primary to the brachial plexus - A case report and review of literature.

BACKGROUND: Desmoplastic small round cell tumor (DSRCT) is a rare and aggressive malignant neoplasm typically located in the abdomen or pelvis. Other possible locations are the chest, pleura, scrotum, and central nervous system. DSRCT originally arising from the brachial plexus (BP) is extremely rare, to the best of our knowledge, only two cases have been previously described in the English scientific literature. CASE DESCRIPTION: The authors present one new case of DSRCT arising from the left BP, the first in this location with rapid progression and in a female patient. We also highlight the importance of multimodal therapy, which included resection and both adjuvant radiation and chemotherapy. Macroscopic and microscopic characteristics of the lesion are detailed, as well as the patient's status at 56-month follow-up. CONCLUSION: For primary BP DSRCT, aggressive subtotal resection followed by radiation and chemotherapy can be satisfactory for disease control and for maintaining or improving the neurological status.

Predicting Known Sentences: Neural Basis of Proverb Reading Using Non-parametric Statistical Testing and Mixed-Effects Models.

Predictions of future events play an important role in daily activities, such as visual search, listening, or reading. They allow us to plan future actions and to anticipate their outcomes. Reading, a natural, commonly studied behavior, could shed light over the brain processes that underlie those prediction mechanisms. We hypothesized that different mechanisms must lead predictions along common sentences and proverbs. The former ones are more based on semantic and syntactic cues, and the last ones are almost purely based on long-term memory. Here we show that the modulation of the N400 by Cloze-Task Predictability is strongly present in common sentences, but not in proverbs. Moreover, we present a novel combination of linear mixed models to account for multiple variables, and a cluster-based permutation procedure to control for multiple comparisons. Our results suggest that different prediction mechanisms are present during reading.

Feelings of uselessness and 3-year mortality in an Italian community older people: the role of the functional status.

BACKGROUND: Sense of self-worth influences the health status of the elderly and may be associated with mortality. The aim of the study was to investigate whether the association between subjective feelings of uselessness and mortality was confounded or modified by functional limitation in non-institutionalized older people. METHODS: Participants were community-dwelling older people, aged 70 years and older, who lived in neighbourhoods of Massa and Carrara municipalities in northern Tuscany, Italy. At baseline, 2335 non-institutionalized older people were assessed with a short self-administered questionnaire; the analysis included 2132 older persons for whom vital statistical data were available after a 3-year follow-up. RESULTS: The feeling of uselessness was associated with an increased mortality at the 3-year follow-up, but only in older people who reported disability problems (adjusted hazard ratio = 1.97, 95% confidence interval = 1.48-2.63, P < 0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: People who reported disability problems and a feeling of uselessness may be vulnerable to an increased risk for poor health outcomes in later life. This study outlined the importance of enquiring about feelings of uselessness, which is a relational variable that is linked to both psychological and physical health status, especially in older people who need help in daily activities.

Análise de sobrevida em pacientes submetidos à angioplastia coronariana com stent em um hospital da região sul de Santa Catarina / Survival analysis of patients undergoing coronary angioplasty with stenting in ahospital of the south region of Santa Catarina state, Brazil

Objetivos: Analisar a sobrevida de pacientes submetidos à angioplastia com colocação de stent no Hospital Nossa Senhora da Conceição, em Tubarão, Santa Catarina.Métodos: Um estudo de coorte avaliou na linha de base o perfil sociodemográfico dos pacientes submetidos ao procedimento no período de janeiro a dezembro de 2009. Após pelo menos 16 meses, foram avaliadas sua evolução clínica e sobrevida.Resultados: Dos 84 pacientes estudados, 9,5% eram assintomáticos, 31% apresentavam angina estável, 21,4% angina instável, 32,2% tiveram infarto agudo do miocárdio tratado em menos de 24 horas de evolução e em 5,9% foi realizada intervenção após 24 horas do infarto. Quanto aos resultados da cineangiocoronariografia, 59,5% apresentavam obstrução uniarterial, 23,8% biarterial, 15,5% triarterial e 1,2% obstrução de todo o tronco coronário esquerdo. Com relação à sobrevida, 9,5% evoluíram a óbito, tendo como fatores predisponentes o padrão de obstrução coronariana (p<0,001). Pacientes assintomáticos e com angina estável tiveram maior sobrevida do que pacientes com angina instável ou infarto.Conclusões: Evoluíram com sucesso 94% das intervenções, sendo que a complicação mais frequente foi a reestenose do stent. Quanto maior o número de coronárias acometidas, menor foi o tempo de sobrevida. Infarto prévio não teve relação com a sobrevida. Pacientes com acidente vascular cerebral prévio apresentaram maior mortalidade. Pacientes com infarto agudo do miocárdio com angioplastia primária isolada, com tempo de evolução menor do que 24 horas e obstrução uniarterial apresentaram maior tempo de sobrevida.

Aims: To analyze the survival of patients undergoing angioplasty with stent placement, at the Hospital Nossa Senhora da Conceição, Tubarão City, Santa Catarina state, Brazil. Methods: A cohort study evaluated at the baseline the socio-demographic profile of patients undergoing coronary angioplasty with stenting in the period January to December 2009. After at least 16 months, their clinical outcome and survival were evaluated. Results: Of the 84 patients studied, 9.5% were asymptomatic, 31% had stable angina, 21.4% had unstable angina, 32.2% had acute myocardial infarction treated before 24 hours of evolution and in 5.9% the intervention was performed after 24 hours of infarction. As for the results of coronary angiography, 59.5% had single vessel obstruction, 23.8% two-vessel, 15.5% triple vessel and 1.2% had blockage throughout the left coronary trunk. With regard to survival, 9.5% died, having the pattern of coronary obstruction as predisposing factors (p<0.001). Asymptomatic patients with stable angina had higher survival than patients with unstable angina or myocardial infarction. Conclusions: Ninety-four percent of interventions were successful, and the most common complication was stent restenosis. The greater the number of affected coronary arteries, the lower was the survival time. Previous infarction was not associated with survival. Patients with previous stroke had higher mortality. Patients with acute myocardial infarction with primary angioplasty alone, with symptoms lasting less than 24 hours and one-vessel obstruction, had longer survival.