The neurobiology of interoception and affect.

Scholars have argued for centuries that affective states involve interoception, or representations of the state of the body. Yet, we lack a mechanistic understanding of how signals from the body are transduced, transmitted, compressed, and integrated by the brains of humans to produce affective states. We suggest that to understand how the body contributes to affect, we first need to understand information flow through the nervous system's interoceptive pathways. We outline such a model and discuss how unique anatomical and physiological aspects of interoceptive pathways may give rise to the qualities of affective experiences in general and valence and arousal in particular. We conclude by considering implications and future directions for research on interoception, affect, emotions, and human mental experiences.

[Transition, fertility and options for preservation of fertility]. / Transition, fertilité et options de préservation de fertilité.

Oftentimes ignored or infrequently expressed, some transgender persons harbor a desire for parenthood. Given the evolution of medical techniques and the enacting of legislative reforms, it is henceforth possible to propose fertility preservation strategies in the overall context of gender transidentity. During the "female to male" (FtM) transition pathway, androgen therapy has an impact on gonadic function, generally inducing blockage of the ovarian function, with amenorrhea. Even though these events may be reversed on cessation of treatment, the possible long-term effects on future fertility and on the health of children yet to be born are little known. Moreover, transition surgeries definitively compromise the possibility of pregnancy insofar as they involve bilateral adnexectomy and/or hysterectomy. Options for fertility preservation in the framework of FtM transition are premised on cryopreservation of oocytes and/or ovarian tissue. In a comparable manner, even though relevant documentation is lacking, hormonal treatments for persons transitioning from male to female (MtF) can have an impact on future fertility. In the event of surgery involving bilateral orchidectomy in which spermatozoid cryopreservation has not been carried out, fertility is definitively impossible. In both cases and under present-day legislation, numerous legal and regulatory barriers render highly problematic the reutilization of cryopreserved gametes. Given these different constraints, it is indispensable to closely supervise these types of treatment by proposing psychological support.

[CONFAMI study: Effects of home confinement during the COVID-19 epidemic on the lives of children and their families]. / Étude CONFAMI : effets du confinement durant l'épidémie de la COVID-19 sur la vie des enfants et leur famille.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study is to understand the changes within families during confinement motivated by the COVID-19 pandemic and to explore the psycho-emotional experiences of children and their parents in this new situation. Confinement necessarily induced significant changes in daily family routines, particularly for work, education, leisure and social activities. In the more vulnerable pediatric population, several authors have warned of the need to consider the impact of lockdown measures during COVID-19 on the psychological impact and well-being. METHOD: This is an anonymous online survey with methodology combining quantitative and qualitative analyses. The questions targeted several themes such as life context, emotional experience and the impact on daily habits in children and adolescents, as perceived by parents. Participants are adults and parents of at least one child. They were recruited through social media and email. RESULTS: A total of 439 parents responded to the questionnaire. The families generally stayed in their usual place of residence and managed to adapt well. On average, the children's level of worry (as estimated by parents) was lower than the level of worry parents attributed to themselves. For the majority, the parents did not observe any change, the psychological state of the children and adolescents was generally stable, but for those who experienced more negative emotions than usual, it was an increase in boredom, irritability and anger. A decrease in the quality of sleep was also observed by a third of the respondents. On the other hand, an increase in autonomy was noted. Regarding the quality of family cohabitation, an important result showed that confinement had improved family relationships for 41% parents but at the expense of usual social ties inducing a feeling of deprivation. Indeed, the participants evoke a lack of "social link" and "social contact with friends". Lack became synonymous with absence, a feeling of loneliness and separation. CONCLUSION: Our results confirm European and international data collected in children in countries where strict lockdown measures have been applied. Despite the negative emotions felt in some children, confinement has helped develop new resources in most families. Families seem to have been successful in maintaining a stable and secure routine which has certainly been a protective factor against anxiety. Some reported factors, such as bonding, could be protective factors and constitute good leads in interventions to be offered to children and their families.

[Fertility preservation for transwomen]. / Place de la préservation de la fertilité dans le parcours de transition des femmes transgenres.

The evolution of medical care for transgender people currently makes it possible to propose fertility preservation. Fertility preservation should be initiated before the start of hormonal treatments and/or surgical procedures. The "reproductive" aspect and the desire for parenthood among transgender people have long been ignored. However, these aspects are important to consider and fertility preservation should be discussed before the start of the physical transition. The aim of this review is to assess the literature on fertility preservation for transgender women ("male to female"). Many uncertainties remain regarding the impact of hormonal treatments on the reproductive functions of transgender women and their reversibility. However, the significant increase in the number of recently published articles is evidence of the improvement in the conditions of access to these procedures for women starting a transition process. Nevertheless, there are still a number of barriers that can prevent or delay this process.

[Sterilisation of patient specific surgical guide for dental implantology made in a hospital: Validation of a sterility test and structural deformation study]. / Stérilisation de guides d'implantologie imprimés sur mesure à l'hôpital : validation d'un essai de stérilité et étude de déformation.

Medical device made to measure by 3D printing are now emerging in hospital. In order to improve the precision of surgery and facilitate the treatment of complicated cases, patient specific surgical guides for dental implantology are made by stereolithography in our facial surgical unit. This new activity requires to ensure the safety of patients and health personnel by validating the various step of the manufacturing circuit. In this context, the goal of this work was to study the quality of autoclave sterilisation of the patient specific surgical guide made to measure in our hospital. A protocol of sterility test was designed and validated. Sterility of implantology guides 0, 7, 14 and 28 days after sterilisation was checked. The impact of the autoclave sterilisation on the medical device structure was evaluated by visual check and during surgeries. The sterility of the implantology guides up to 28 days after sterilisation was also validated. The protocol of sterility test executed can be extended to other hospitals interested in validating a sterility test. No deformation was observed by surgeons during the dental implant process. Future studies may be necessary to check the accurate impact of sterilisation on surgical guide structure.

In vitro antimicrobial effect of various commercial essential oils and their chemical constituents on Aeromonas salmonicida subsp. salmonicida.

AIMS: This study aimed to evaluate in vitro efficacy of essential oils (EOs) and their compounds (EOCs) alone or in combination against Aeromonas salmonicida subsp. salmonicida, the causative agent of furunculosis in salmonid fish. METHODS AND RESULTS: Antimicrobial activity of 13 EOs and 16 EOCs was investigated for four A. salmonicida subsp. salmonicida strains using broth microdilution. The checkerboard assay was used to evaluate a putative synergy between the most efficient EOs and EOCs against the tested strains. Cinnamon bark, oregano, clove, and thyme oils and their major compounds cinnamaldehyde, eugenol, carvacrol and thymol showed the lower minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum bactericidal concentration values. The association of cinnamaldehyde and eugenol (V/V: 30%/70%) showed a synergistic activity against three tested strains. The combinations of cinnamon with oregano, clove or thyme EOs showed a neutral or additive activity against all the tested strains. CONCLUSIONS: Cinnamon, oregano, clove and thyme oils and their major phytochemical compounds showed strong activities against A. salmonicida subsp. salmonicida strains. SIGNIFICANCE AND IMPACT OF THE STUDY: To reduce the use of antibiotics in aquaculture, phytochemicals such as cinnamaldehyde and eugenol can be tested alone or in combination in in vivo studies as functional feed alternatives.

[Is diabetes a risk factor of urinary tract infection in patients with ureteral obstruction? Results of a retrospective study]. / Le diabète est-il un facteur de risque d'infection urinaire dans les obstructions urétérales ? Résultats d'une étude rétrospective.

The goal of this retrospective study is to assess if diabetic patients are more likely to develop urinary tract infection (UTI) within the context of ureteral obstruction. 804 patients that had received an emergency treatment by double J placement for ureteral stone were selected between January 2004 and December 2014 at the Clinique Saint Pierre d'Ottignies, Ottignies-Louvain-La-Neuve,Belgium. They were divided in two groups : patients with UTI associated and the control group with the non infected ones. In the group of infected patients, 82 were diabetic whereas they were 46 in the control group. There was a significant difference regarding the presence of diabetes between the group of patients with UTI and the control group (p inferior to 0.001). This study demonstrates that diabetic patients are at higher risk of urinary tract infection in case of ureteral obstruction, thus an invasive treatment could be considered faster.

Cette étude rétrospective a pour but de déterminer si les patients diabétiques sont plus à risque de développer une infection urinaire en cas d'obstruction urétérale. 804 patients ayant bénéficié de la mise en place d'une sonde JJ en urgence pour une lithiase urétérale ont été sélectionnés entre le 1er janvier 2004 et le 31 décembre 2014 à la Clinique Saint Pierre d'Ottignies, à Ottignies Louvain la Neuve, Belgique. Ces patients ont été répartis en 2 groupes suivant qu'ils étaient ou non suspects d'infection urinaire associée. Dans le groupe des patients infectés, 82 patients étaient diabétiques alors qu'ils étaient 46 dans le groupe des patients sans infection urinaire. Les résultats montrent qu'il existe une différence significative entre les deux groupes en présence de diabète (p inf�rieur a 0,001). Cette étude montre un risque accru d'infection urinaire en cas d'obstruction urétérale chez les patients diabétiques. Un traitement invasif pourrait donc être envisagé plus rapidement.

Implementation of a digital chain for the design and manufacture of implant-based surgical guides in a hospital setting.

The digital revolution has led to many recent developments in implantology that have considerably facilitated implant planning and the creation of surgical guides. The purpose of this article is to explain how we set up a digital workflow in a large city hospital and how we met the requirements of the European regulations on the production of custom-made devices in a medical establishment. The internal manufacture of a surgical guide complied with European regulation EU/2017/45 concerning medical devices. This regulation allowed the hospital to create these medical devices locally without CE marking. However, the hospital must be declared as a manufacturer of medical devices and comply with the general requirements in terms of safety and performance related to the manufacture and use of medical devices. In addition, hospitals are large structures involving many different actors. Each step of the digital workflow, which included both the patient course and the creation of the surgical guide, was thus adapted to European regulations by considering local constraints.

Neural Reorganization Due to Neonatal Amygdala Lesions in the Rhesus Monkey: Changes in Morphology and Network Structure.

It is generally believed that neural damage that occurs early in development is associated with greater adaptive capacity relative to similar damage in an older individual. However, few studies have surveyed whole brain changes following early focal damage. In this report, we employed multimodal magnetic resonance imaging analyses of adult rhesus macaque monkeys who had previously undergone bilateral, neurotoxic lesions of the amygdala at about 2 weeks of age. A deformation-based morphometric approach demonstrated reduction of the volumes of the anterior temporal lobe, anterior commissure, basal ganglia, and pulvinar in animals with early amygdala lesions compared to controls. In contrast, animals with early amygdala lesions had an enlarged cingulate cortex, medial superior frontal gyrus, and medial parietal cortex. Diffusion-weighted imaging tractography and network analysis were also used to compare connectivity patterns and higher-level measures of communication across the brain. Using the communicability metric, which integrates direct and indirect paths between regions, lesioned animals showed extensive degradation of network integrity in the temporal and orbitofrontal cortices. This work demonstrates both degenerative as well as progressive large-scale neural changes following long-term recovery from neonatal focal brain damage.

A novel approach for BCR-ABL1 standardization to improve International Scale estimation.

INTRODUCTION: Standardization of BCR-ABL1 messenger RNA quantification by real-time PCR on the International Scale (IS) is critical for monitoring therapy response in chronic myelogenous leukaemia. Since 2006, BCR-ABL1 IS standardization is propagated along reference laboratories by calculating a laboratory-specific conversion factor (CF), co-ordinated in Europe through the European Treatment and Outcome Study project. Although this process has proven successful to some extent, it has not been achievable for all laboratories due to the complexity of the process and the stringent requirements in terms of numbers of samples to be exchanged. In addition, several BCR-ABL1 IS quantification methods and secondary reference materials became commercially available. However, it was observed that different IS methods generate consistently different results. METHODS: To overcome these difficulties, we have developed an alternative and simple approach of CF calculation, based on the retrospective analysis of existing external quality assessment (EQA) data. Our approach does not depend on the exchange of samples and is solely based on the mathematical CF calculation using EQA results. RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: We have demonstrated by thorough statistical validation that this approach performs well in converting BCR-ABL1 measurements to improve IS estimation. In expectation of a true golden standard method for BCR-ABL1 IS quantification, the proposed method is a valuable alternative.

Babesia divergens apical membrane antigen-1 (BdAMA-1): A poorly polymorphic protein that induces a weak and late immune response.

Babesiosis is an important veterinary and zoonotic tick borne disease caused by the hemoprotozoan Babesia spp. which infects red blood cell of its vertebrate host. In order to control the infection, vaccination that targets molecules involved in the invasion process of red blood cells could provide a good alternative to chemotherapy. Among these molecules, Apical Membrane Antigen-1 (AMA-1) has been described as an excellent vaccine candidate in Plasmodium spp. In this paper, we have investigated AMA-1 of Babesia divergens (BdAMA-1) as vaccine candidate by evaluating its polymorphism and by studying the humoral response against BdAMA-1 of sheep experimentally infected with B. divergens. Polymorphism of BdAMA-1 was investigated by sequencing the corresponding gene of 9 B. divergens isolates from different geographical areas in France. Two Bdama-1 haplotypes (A and B) could be defined based on 2 non-synonymous point mutations. In silico prediction of linear epitopes revealed that the antigenicity of the 2 haplotypes is very similar. Antibody production against the extracellular domain of BdAMA-1 is weak and late, between 1 and 5 months after the inoculation of parasites. Both IgG1 and IgG2 are components of the anti-BdAMA-1 response. These results indicate that while BdAMA-1 may not be an immuno-dominant antigen, it could induce a mixed type 1 and type 2 immune response. In light of these results, the potential of BdAMA-1 as vaccine candidate is discussed.

A retrospective serological survey on human babesiosis in Belgium.

In Europe, most clinical babesiosis cases in humans have been attributed to Babesia divergens and Babesia sp. EU1. Babesia microti infection of humans occurs mainly in the United States; although a case of autochthonous B. microti infection and serological evidence of infection have been reported in Europe. The Indirect Fluorescent Antibody Test was used to screen sera from 199 anonymous Belgian patients with history of tick bite and clinical symptoms compatible with a tick-borne disease. The serological screen detected positive reactivity in 9% (n = 18), 33.2% (n = 66), and 39.7% (n = 79) of the samples against B. microti, B. divergens, and Babesia sp. EU1, respectively. Thus, evidence of contact among three potentially zoonotic species of Babesia and humans has been confirmed in Belgium. Preventive action and development of better diagnostic tools should help in prevention of clinical cases and to clarify the true burden of such infection for individuals and public health.

[Infections of central venous catheters in home parenteral nutrition: a retrospective monocentric study over 2 years]. / Infections des voies veineuses centrales en nutrition parentérale à domicile : étude rétrospective monocentrique sur 2ans.

BACKGROUND AND STUDY AIMS: Infection of the central venous catheter (CVC) is the main aggravating factor of parenteral nutrition. The aim of this study was to determine the ecology of these infections in our home parenteral nutrition center and to evaluate our care protocol. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The present study was monocentric and retrospective, and was conducted in the parenteral nutrition service of the Marseille University Hospital between 1 January 2011 and 31 May 2012. During this period, all the children who presented fever and a positive hemoculture in a medical emergency were taken into account, and the characteristics of the infection were analyzed. RESULTS: After 17 months, 17 children had been subject to an infection in their central catheter: 47 bacteremia were identified, which is equivalent to 5.4 infections for 1000 days of CVC. An average 2.8 hemocultures were performed during this time. The most common bacterium was Staphylococcus hominis. The children affected by a digestive stoma or by a gastrostomy were not subject to more infections and their ecology was not different. All the children were referred to the hospital and treated with an intravenous antibiotic through the CVC. DISCUSSION: As expected during the time of the study, the infection rate was very high. This finding led us to reassess our prevention protocol. It is also very likely that the number of infections was overestimated due to the protocol for sampling in the hemocultures and their subsequent analysis. Lastly, some children relapsed easily, although no predisposing factor was found in the present study. The therapy chosen was in agreement with the best practices and the ecology recovered. CONCLUSION: The high number of infections observed during the study encourages a prospective evaluation of current practices.

Antibody colocalization microarray: a scalable technology for multiplex protein analysis in complex samples.

DNA microarrays were rapidly scaled up from 256 to 6.5 million targets, and although antibody microarrays were proposed earlier, sensitive multiplex sandwich assays have only been scaled up to a few tens of targets. Cross-reactivity, arising because detection antibodies are mixed, is a known weakness of multiplex sandwich assays that is mitigated by lengthy optimization. Here, we introduce (1) vulnerability as a metric for assays. The vulnerability of multiplex sandwich assays to cross-reactivity increases quadratically with the number of targets, and together with experimental results, substantiates that scaling up of multiplex sandwich assays is unfeasible. We propose (2) a novel concept for multiplexing without mixing named antibody colocalization microarray (ACM). In ACMs, both capture and detection antibodies are physically colocalized by spotting to the same two-dimensional coordinate. Following spotting of the capture antibodies, the chip is removed from the arrayer, incubated with the sample, placed back onto the arrayer and then spotted with the detection antibodies. ACMs with up to 50 targets were produced, along with a binding curve for each protein. The ACM was validated by comparing it to ELISA and to a small-scale, conventional multiplex sandwich assay (MSA). Using ACMs, proteins in the serum of breast cancer patients and healthy controls were quantified, and six candidate biomarkers identified. Our results indicate that ACMs are sensitive, robust, and scalable.

Context-specific social behavior is altered by orbitofrontal cortex lesions in adult rhesus macaques.

Although the orbitofrontal cortex has been implicated in important aspects of social behavior, few studies have evaluated semi-naturalistic social behavior in nonhuman primates after discrete lesions of this cortical area. In the present report, we evaluated the behavior of adult rhesus monkeys during dyadic social interactions with novel animals following discrete lesions of the orbitofrontal cortex. In a constrained condition, in which animals could engage in only restricted social behaviors, there were no significant differences in social behavior between the lesion group and the sham-operated control group. When the experimental animals could freely interact with partner animals, however, lesioned animals differed from control animals in terms of social interest and fear-related behaviors. These alterations were contingent on the partner with which they interacted. The lesioned animals, when compared to the control animals, had a significantly greater propensity to approach some but not all of their social partners. They also grimaced more towards the partner animal that they did not approach. Behavioral alterations were more apparent during the initial interactions between animals. We discuss these findings in relation to the role of the orbitofrontal cortex in context dependent modulation of social behavior.

Neonatal amygdala lesions alter responsiveness to objects in juvenile macaques.

The amygdala is widely recognized to play a central role in emotional processing. In nonhuman primates, the amygdala appears to be critical for generating appropriate behavioral responses in emotionally salient contexts. One common finding is that macaque monkeys that receive amygdala lesions as adults are behaviorally uninhibited in the presence of potentially dangerous objects. While control animals avoid these objects, amygdala-lesioned animals readily interact with them. Despite a large literature documenting the role of the amygdala in emotional processing in adult rhesus macaques, little research has assessed the role of the amygdala across the macaque neurodevelopmental trajectory. We assessed the behavioral responses of 3-year-old (juvenile) rhesus macaques that received bilateral ibotenic acid lesions of the amygdala or hippocampus at 2 weeks of age. Animals were presented with salient objects known to produce robust fear-related responses in macaques (e.g., snakes and reptile-like objects), mammal-like objects that included animal-like features (e.g., eyes and mouths) but not reptile-like features (e.g., scales), and non-animal objects. The visual complexity of objects was scaled to vary the objects' salience. In contrast to control and hippocampus-lesioned animals, amygdala-lesioned animals were uninhibited in the presence of potentially dangerous objects. They readily retrieved food rewards placed near these objects and physically explored the objects. Furthermore, while control and hippocampus-lesioned animals differentiated between levels of object complexity, amygdala-lesioned animals did not. Taken together, these findings suggest that early damage to the amygdala, like damage sustained during adulthood, permanently compromises emotional processing.

Merozoite proteins from Babesia sp. BQ1 (Lintan) as potential antigens for serodiagnosis by ELISA.

Babesia sp. BQ1 (Lintan) is a Babesia isolated from sheep infested with Haemaphysalis qinghaiensis in China, and is closely related to B. motasi based on the 18S rRNA gene sequence. In the present study, an ELISA was developed with merozoite antigens of Babesia sp. BQ1 (Lintan) (BQMA) purified from in vitro culture. When the positive threshold was chosen as 30% of the antibodies rate, evaluated with 198 negative sera, the specificity was 95.5%. Except for Babesia sp. Tianzhu, there was no cross-reaction between BQMA and positive sera from Babesia sp. BQ1 (Ningxian)-, Babesia sp. Hebei-, Babesia sp. Xinjiang-, Theileria luwenshuni-, T. uilenbergi-, or Anaplasma ovis-infected sheep, which are the dominant haemoparasites of small ruminants in China. Specific antibodies against Babesia sp. BQ1 (Lintan) were produced 1 or 2 weeks post-infection and a high level of antibodies persisted for more than 8 months in experimentally infected sheep. This ELISA was tested on 974 sera collected from field-grazing sheep in 3 counties of Gansu province, northwestern China to evaluate the seroprevalence of Babesia sp. BQ1 (Lintan) infection and the average positive rate was 66.84%. The feasibility of increasing the specificity of this BQMA-based ELISA, by using some BQMA antigens for serodiagnosis is discussed.

Course of infection by Babesia sp. BQ1 (Lintan) and B. divergens in sheep depends on the production of IFNgamma and IL10.

Ovine babesiosis is an important disease in China and responsible for economic losses. Several Babesia strains are involved, but Babesia sp. BQ1 (Lintan) and Babesia sp. BQ1 (Ningxian) are particularly prevalent in the Guansu region. Babesia divergens, in contrast, can experimentally infect spleen-intact sheep, but does not induce clinical signs. The immune response of spleen-intact sheep to Babesia sp. BQ1 (Lintan) and to B. divergens was therefore compared to identify the immune mechanisms involved in pathogenicity. The greater pathogenicity of Babesia sp. BQ1 (Lintan) than that of B. divergens was confirmed: sheep infected with Babesia sp. BQ1 (Lintan), but not with B. divergens, developed hyperthermia and showed patent parasitaemia in Giemsa-stained blood smears from the ear vein. Furthermore, more parasites were also detected in the blood from the jugular vein of Babesia sp. BQ1 (Lintan)-infected sheep. Pathogenicity of Babesia spp. involved cellular responses, but not humoral responses. Interferon-gamma was produced only by specifically activated PBMC from B. divergens-infected sheep and interleukin-10 only by specifically activated PBMC from Babesia sp. BQ1 (Lintan)-infected sheep. The role of these cytokines in the course of infection by Babesia spp. is discussed.