Can Perceivers Differentiate Intense Facial Expressions? Eye Movement Patterns.

Recent research on intense real-life faces has shown that although there was an objective difference in facial activities between intense winning faces and losing faces, viewers failed to differentiate the valence of such expressions. In the present study, we explored whether participants could perceive the difference between intense positive facial expressions and intense negative facial expressions in a forced-choice response task using eye-tracking techniques. Behavioral results showed that the recognition accuracy rate for intense facial expressions was significantly above the chance level. For eye-movement patterns, the results indicated that participants gazed more and longer toward the upper facial region (eyes) than the lower region (mouth) for intense losing faces. However, the gaze patterns were reversed for intense winning faces. The eye movement pattern for successful differentiation trials did not differ from failed differentiation trials. These findings provided preliminary evidence that viewers can utilize intense facial expression information and perceive the difference between intense winning faces and intense losing faces produced by tennis players in a forced-choice response task.

Reward advantage over punishment for incentivizing visual working memory.

The prospects of gaining reward and avoiding punishment widely influence human behavior. Despite of numerous attempts to investigate the influence of motivational signals on working memory (WM), whether the valence and the magnitude of motivational signals interactively influence WM performance remains unclear. To investigate this, the present study used a free-recall working memory task with EEG recording to compare the effect of incentive valence (reward or punishment), as well as the magnitude of incentives on visual WM. Behavioral results revealed that the presence of incentive signals improved WM precision when compared with no-incentive condition, and compared with punishing cues, rewarding cues led to greater facilitation in WM precision, as well as confidence ratings afterward. Moreover, event related potential (ERP) results suggested that compared with punishment, reward led to an earlier latency of late positive component (LPC), a larger amplitude of contingent negative variation (CNV) during the expectation period, and a larger P300 amplitude during the sample and delay periods. Furthermore, reward advantage over punishment in behavioral and neural results were correlated, such that individuals with larger CNV difference between reward and punishment conditions also report greater distinction in confidence ratings between the two conditions. In sum, our results demonstrate what and how rewarding cues cause more beneficial effects than punishing cues when incentivizing visual WM.

Assessment of Rat Sciatic Nerve Using Diffusion-Tensor Imaging With Readout-Segmented Echo Planar Imaging.

Objectives: This study aimed to compare readout-segmented-3, readout-segmented-5, and readout-segmented-7 echo-planar imaging (RS3-EPI, RS5-EPI, and RS7-EPI) of DTI in the assessment of rat sciatic nerve at 3T MR. Methods: Eight male adult healthy Sprague-Dawley rats were scanned at 3T MR with RS-3 EPI, RS5-EPI, and RS-7 EPI DTI. The image quality of RS-3 EPI, RS-5 EPI, and RS-7 EPI in terms of the nerve morphology, distortions of the nearby femur, muscles, and homogeneity of neuromuscular were evaluated by two experienced radiologists. The correlations between the histopathological and DTI parameters, including fractional anisotropy (FA) and radial diffusivity (RD), were calculated, respectively, and compared in RS-3, RS-5, and RS-7 EPI. The image quality scores for RS-3 EPI, RS-5 EPI, and RS-7 EPI were compared using the Wilcoxon rank-sum test. The correlation between DTI and histopathological parameters was calculated using the Pearson correlation coefficient. Results: RS-5 EPI yielded the best SNR-values corrected for the acquisition time compared to RS3-EPI and RS7-EPI. The image quality scores of RS-5 EPI were superior to those of RS-3 and RS-7 EPI (P = 0.01-0.014) and lower artifacts of the ventral/dorsal margin and femur (P = 0.008-0.016) were shown. DTT analysis yielded a significantly higher number of tracts for RS5-EPI compared to RS3-EPI (P = 0.007) but no significant difference with RS7-EPI (P = 0.071). For the three sequences, FA and RD were well-correlated with the myelin-related histopathological parameters (|r| 0.709-0.965, P = 0.001-0.049). The overall correlation coefficients of FA and RD obtained from RS-5 EPI were numerically higher than that with both RS3-EPI and RS7-EPI. Conclusion: For the rat sciatic nerve DTI imaging, RS-5 EPI offered the best image quality and SNR-values corrected for the acquisition time. The FA and RD derived from the RS-5 EPI were the most sensitive quantitative biomarkers to detect rat sciatic nerve histopathological change.

Magnetic resonance imaging assessment of the therapeutic effect of combined electroacupuncture and stem cells in acute peripheral nerve injury.

Objectives: This study aimed to evaluate the therapeutic effect of a combination of Bone Mesenchymal stem cells (BMSCs) transplantation and Electroacupuncture (EA) for acute sciatic nerve injury in rats using magnetic resonance. Methods: Ninety-two male adult healthy Sprague-Dawley rats were randomly divided into the EA+BMSCs group, EA group, MSCs group, and PBS group (control). Electroacupuncture was performed on a rat receiving EA treatment at Huantiao (GB30) and Zusanli (ST36). T2 values and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) derived from multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), histological assessments, and immunohistochemistry was used to monitor nerve regeneration. Walking track analysis was used to assess nerve functional recovery. Repeated-measures one-way analysis of variance was used to evaluate the significance of T2, DTI, and SFI values among the four groups. One-way analysis of variance was used for comparing the histological characteristics. Bonferroni test was used for multiple pairwise comparisons at each time point. Results: In terms of FA, the EA+BMSCs and EA groups had faster recovery than PBS (control) in all time points after surgery, and the EA+BMSCs group recovered better than the BMSCs group at 3 weeks (P ≤ 0.008). FA values were higher in the EA group than in the BMSCs group at 4 weeks (P ≤ 0.008). In terms of RD, the EA+BMSCs group recovered better than the BMSCs group at 2 and 4 weeks (P ≤ 0.008). Immunofluorescence staining for axon guidance molecule netrin-1 revealed that it was significantly higher in the EA+BMSCs subgroup and EA subgroup than it was in the control (PBS) subgroup at 1-3 weeks (P < 0.001). Immunofluorescence staining for S100 showed the continuity of nerve fibers recovered more quickly in the EA+BMSCs subgroup than in the BMSCs subgroup. Conclusion: Our research revealed that a combination of MSCs and EA can provide both topological and biomolecular guidance to promote axonal extension, myelin regeneration, and functional recovery after PNI. EA not only promotes nerve repair on its own, but also enhanced the beneficial effects of stem cell treatment and the secretion of netrin 1, a guidance regeneration factor, and promotes the orderly growth of nerve fibers. These PNI repairs could be monitored non-invasively and in situ by MRI. The FA and RD values derived from MRI could be sensitive biomarkers to reflect the PNI repair process.

Study on Anti-Inflammatory Effect and Major Anti-Inflammatory Components of PSORI-CM02 by Zebrafish Model.

PSORI-CM02 is an optimization formula of PSORI-CM01, which is a clinical herbal formula for the treatment for psoriasis in the Guangdong Provincial Hospital of Chinese Medicine. Previous research indicates that it plays a critical role in anti-inflammation and immunoregulation. Rhizoma smilacis glabrae (RSG) is one herbal medicine of PSORI-CM02, whose effective anti-inflammatory component is astilbin. This study aims to test the anti-inflammatory and immunoregulation effects of astilbin as well as RSG in PSORI-CM02, and we, respectively, used the CuSO4-induced neutrophil-specific transgenic zebrafish model Tg(mpx: EGFP) and the melanin allele mutated Albino strain zebrafish model to visualize the effects of neutrophil recruitment and macrophage phagocytosis. Our data indicated that both PSORI-CM02 and astilbin had anti-inflammatory effects, leading to a reduction in the recruitment of neutrophils and promotion in macrophage phagocytosis. Nevertheless, the negative liquor of Rhizoma smilacis glabrae (PSORI-CM02 without RSG) also had anti-inflammatory and promoting macrophage phagocytosis effects. The results revealed the formula excluding RSG also had anti-inflammatory and immunoregulation effects, which demonstrated that RSG was not the major anti-inflammatory herbal medicine in PSORI-CM02. Similarly, astilbin was not the major anti-inflammatory active ingredient in the formula. The anti-inflammatory and the promotion of macrophage phagocytosis effect of PSORI-CM02 in vivo zebrafish were the results of multiple component interaction, which was the common characteristic of the Chinese medicine compound.