Did I text you? The influence of the mode of transmission on destination memory.

In a society where people often communicate through digital technology, it is crucial to investigate whether the transmission mode influences destination memory performance (our capacity to remember to whom we transmitted certain information). In Experiment 1, we asked young adults (N = 31) to share of a set of familiar proverbs only by typing and the rest by both typing and saying them aloud. Better destination memory was observed when the information was transmitted by the two means (aloud and typing). Did this better performance occur because participants shared the information aloud or because the information was transmitted by two means? In Experiment 2, young adults (N = 34) shared familiar proverbs aloud, by typing, or simultaneously aloud and by typing. Results showed that transmission aloud led to a better destination memory than typing, and no further improvement occurred when the transmission was both aloud and by typing. Additionally, no differences were observed regarding item memory, supporting the idea that item and destination memories are two different types of memory.

The impact of the use of masks on trait judgments and face recognition.

Although effective in reducing virus transmission, face masks might compromise face recognition and trait judgments. With this study, we aimed to observe the influence of masks on face recognition and trait judgments-more specifically, in trustworthiness, dominance, and distinctiveness judgments. Also, we wanted to observe the possible influence of trait judgments on facial recognition for masked and unmasked faces, which has never been done before. For that, we conducted an online study where 140 participants observed and made trait judgments of masked and unmasked faces in a within-subjects design. After a distractive task, participants performed a recognition memory test. As expected, we observed a better recognition of faces shown without a mask during the study phase, which allowed the holistic processing of the faces. The worst performance was found for faces encoded with a mask but tested without it, occurring simultaneity disruption in holistic face processing and the violation of the encoding specificity principle. Regarding the trait judgments, unmasked faces were considered more distinctive, and masked faces were considered more trustworthy. More interestingly, we can conclude that facial distinctiveness predicts face recognition, regardless of mask use. In contrast, dominance judgments only predicted face recognition when faces were presented without a mask. When faces were exposed with masks, trustworthiness overrides dominance, becoming more critical to recognizing faces. We can interpret these results from an evolutionary perspective.

Viral genetic clustering and transmission dynamics of the 2022 mpox outbreak in Portugal.

Pathogen genome sequencing during epidemics enhances our ability to identify and understand suspected clusters and investigate their relationships. Here, we combine genomic and epidemiological data of the 2022 mpox outbreak to better understand early viral spread, diversification and transmission dynamics. By sequencing 52% of the confirmed cases in Portugal, we identified the mpox virus sublineages with the highest impact on case numbers and fitted them into a global context, finding evidence that several international sublineages probably emerged or spread early in Portugal. We estimated a 62% infection reporting rate and that 1.3% of the population of men who have sex with men in Portugal were infected. We infer the critical role played by sexual networks and superspreader gatherings, such as sauna attendance, in the dissemination of mpox virus. Overall, our findings highlight genomic epidemiology as a tool for the real-time monitoring and control of mpox epidemics, and can guide future vaccine policy in a highly susceptible population.

The influence of information generation on destination memory.

To remember to whom we transmit information, we rely on destination memory, with worse performance occurring when participants share personal facts (e.g., my age is . . .) compared with interesting ones (e.g., a shrimp's heart is in its head). When reporting personal information, the internal attentional focus decreases the attentional resources available to associate that information with recipients, resulting in worse destination memory. Given that the poorer destination memory when participants transmitted personal facts was always compared with the transmission of interesting facts, in Experiment 1 (between-participants design: 41 participants) and Experiment 2 (within-participants design: 30 participants), we compared the generation and transmission of personal facts with the transmission of familiar proverbs. Again, the generation and transmission of personal facts hampered destination memory. Besides the type of information (personal vs. familiar proverbs), the conditions differed regarding the type of process (generation vs. transmission of information). To clarify the influence of generation on destination memory, in Experiment 3 (N = 31), participants (1) transmitted and (2) generated and transmitted familiar proverbs, and significant differences in destination memory between the conditions was not observed. In general, our experiments seem to support the assumption that transmitting personal information leads to worse destination memory not because participants generated the information but because personal facts drive the attentional focus to the self.

The Influence of Lockdown Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic on Weight Management in Patients With Obesity in Portugal.

INTRODUCTION: Obesity is a chronic and multifactorial disease, and the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown have led to changes in the lifestyle habits of those patients. This study aimed to compare compliance with dietary and lifestyle measures, physical activity, mental health status, and motivation to lose weight during the pandemic in these patients. METHODS: An observational study was conducted, which included 63 patients over 18 years old who were followed in the outpatient setting through obesity medical appointments and who agreed to answer a questionnaire. RESULTS: We found that the majority of patients lost weight during the pandemic (61.7%), associating it with a 68% change in dietary habits. Regarding physical activity, there was a 34.9% reduction in its practice among those who used to exercise before the pandemic. Moreover, 52.4% felt more anxious and 44.4% felt sadder during the lockdown. DISCUSSION: The weight loss reported in our study seems to be related to a decrease in the consumption of carbohydrates and snacks and a lower percentage of those who relied on takeaways. Additionally, we hypothesize a greater number of home-cooked meals. Regarding exercise, the closure of gyms and the limitations imposed on daily life appear to have contributed unfavorably to this matter. Home confinement, loneliness, and a lack of social activities had harmful effects on the mental health of our sample. CONCLUSION: Overall, the hostile influence of the pandemic on mental well-being and exercise habits was evident. Nevertheless, contrary to our expectations, we observed weight loss during the lockdown.

The Cytoplasmic Region of SARAF Reduces Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Metastasis through the Regulation of Store-Operated Calcium Entry.

Triple-negative breast cancer has a poor prognosis and is non-responsive to first-line therapies; hence, new therapeutic strategies are needed. Enhanced store-operated Ca2+ entry (SOCE) has been widely described as a contributing factor to tumorigenic behavior in several tumor types, particularly in breast cancer cells. SOCE-associated regulatory factor (SARAF) acts as an inhibitor of the SOCE response and, therefore, can be a potential antitumor factor. Herein, we generated a C-terminal SARAF fragment to evaluate the effect of overexpression of this peptide on the malignancy of triple-negative breast cancer cell lines. Using both in vitro and in vivo approaches, we showed that overexpression of the C-terminal SARAF fragment reduced proliferation, cell migration, and the invasion of murine and human breast cancer cells by decreasing the SOCE response. Our data suggest that regulating the activity of the SOCE response via SARAF activity might constitute the basis for further alternative therapeutic strategies for triple-negative breast cancer.

Remembering to whom we transmit information during pandemics: the effect of face masks on destination memory.

Considering the global pandemic we currently experience, face masks have become standard in our daily routine. Even though surgical masks are established as a safety measure against the dissemination of COVID-19, previous research showed that their wearing compromises face recognition. Consequently, the capacity to remember to whom we transmit information-destination memory-could also be compromised. In our study, through a between-participants design (experiment 1) and a within-participants design (experiment 2), undergraduate students have to transmit Portuguese proverbs to masked and unmasked celebrity faces. Following our hypothesis, participants who shared information with masked faces had worse destination memory performance than those who shared information with unmasked faces. Also, we observed lower recognition for masked faces compared to unmasked faces. These results were expected since using a surgical mask affects facial recognition, thus making it harder to recognize a person to whom information was previously transmitted. More importantly, these results also support the idea that variables associated with the recipient's face are important for destination memory performance.

Thyroid Eye Disease.

Thyroid eye disease (TED), an autoimmune inflammatory disorder of the orbit, presents with a potential array of clinical sequelae. The pathophysiology behind TED has been partially characterized in the literature. There remain certain elusive mechanisms welcoming of research advances. Disease presentation can vary, but those that follow a characteristic course start mild and increase in severity before plateauing into an inactive phase. Diagnosis and evaluation include careful physical examination, targeted laboratory work up, appropriate imaging studies, and tailored treatment regimens. Special consideration may apply to certain populations, such as pediatric and pregnant patients.

Clinical and Epidemiological Features of Hospitalized and Ambulatory Patients with Human Monkeypox Infection: A Retrospective Observational Study in Portugal.

Monkeypox, a neglected and re-emergent zoonotic disease caused by monkeypox virus (MPXV) infection, has been endemic in Central and Western Africa for decades. More recently, an outbreak has spread to a global level, occurring in sites with no previous reported cases and being clustered among men who have sex with men, suggesting new modes of transmission. There is an urgent need for research for a better understanding of the genomic evolution and changing epidemiology of the Orthopoxvirus group. Our work aimed to characterize the clinical and epidemiological features of a cohort of patients with MPXV infection in a Portuguese hospital, admitted between 5 May and 26 July 2022. In this retrospective observational study, aggregate data of a case series on the presentation, clinical course, and outcomes of confirmed MPXV infections are reported. The study included 40 men and 1 woman, with a mean age of 37.2 years old; 92.7% identified as men who have sex with men, 90.2% had unprotected sex or sex with multiple or anonymous partners in the previous month, and 39.0% reported to have had sex with an MPXV-confirmed case; 59.5% had previously known human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection, all of whom were under antiretroviral therapy, and no patients had acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) criteria. About a quarter of patients were observed only a week after symptom onset. All patients had skin or mucosal lesions and the anogenital region was the most frequent lesion site. There were no statistically significant clinical differences between HIV-positive and negative individuals. Four patients were admitted to the inpatient clinic, two of whom had proctitis with difficult-to-manage anal pain. There were no reported deaths. Our findings suggest the sexual route as a relevant mode of transmission of MPXV and confirm the mostly benign presentation of this disease.

The impact of COVID-19 on memory: Recognition for masked and unmasked faces.

Considering the current state of the worldwide pandemic, it is still common to encounter people wearing face protection masks. Although a safety measure against COVID-19, face masks might be compromising our capacity for face recognition. We conducted an online study where 140 participants observed masked and unmasked faces in a within-subjects design and then performed a recognition memory task. The best performance was found when there were no masks either at study and test phase, i.e., at the congruent unmasked condition. The worst performance was found for faces encoded with a mask but tested without it (i.e., masked-unmasked incongruent condition), which can be explained by the disruption in holistic face processing and the violation of the encoding specificity principle. Interestingly, considering the unmasked-masked incongruent condition, performance was probably affected by the violation of the encoding specificity principle but protected by holistic processing that occurred during encoding.

High-resolution micro-CT for 3D infarct characterization and segmentation in mice stroke models.

Characterization of brain infarct lesions in rodent models of stroke is crucial to assess stroke pathophysiology and therapy outcome. Until recently, the analysis of brain lesions was performed using two techniques: (1) histological methods, such as TTC (Triphenyltetrazolium chloride), a time-consuming and inaccurate process; or (2) MRI imaging, a faster, 3D imaging method, that comes at a high cost. In the last decade, high-resolution micro-CT for 3D sample analysis turned into a simple, fast, and cheaper solution. Here, we successfully describe the application of brain contrasting agents (Osmium tetroxide and inorganic iodine) for high-resolution micro-CT imaging for fine location and quantification of ischemic lesion and edema in mouse preclinical stroke models. We used the intraluminal transient MCAO (Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion) mouse stroke model to identify and quantify ischemic lesion and edema, and segment core and penumbra regions at different time points after ischemia, by manual and automatic methods. In the transient-ischemic-attack (TIA) mouse model, we can quantify striatal myelinated fibers degeneration. Of note, whole brain 3D reconstructions allow brain atlas co-registration, to identify the affected brain areas, and correlate them with functional impairment. This methodology proves to be a breakthrough in the field, by providing a precise and detailed assessment of stroke outcomes in preclinical animal studies.

Ischemic Stroke, Lessons from the Past towards Effective Preclinical Models.

Ischemic stroke is a leading cause of death worldwide, mainly in western countries. So far, approved therapies rely on reperfusion of the affected brain area, by intravenous thrombolysis or mechanical thrombectomy. The last approach constitutes a breakthrough in the field, by extending the therapeutic window to 16-24 h after stroke onset and reducing stroke mortality. The combination of pharmacological brain-protective strategies with reperfusion is the future of stroke therapy, aiming to reduce brain cell death and decrease patients' disabilities. Recently, a brain-protective drug-nerinetide-reduced brain infarct and stroke mortality, and improved patients' functional outcomes in clinical trials. The success of new therapies relies on bringing preclinical studies and clinical practice close together, by including a functional outcome assessment similar to clinical reality. In this review, we focused on recent upgrades of in vitro and in vivo stroke models for more accurate and effective evaluation of therapeutic strategies: from spheroids to organoids, in vitro models that include all brain cell types and allow high throughput drug screening, to advancements in in vivo preclinical mouse stroke models to mimic the clinical reality in surgical procedures, postsurgical care, and functional assessment.

Ineffective penicillin treatment and absence of partner treatment may drive the congenital syphilis epidemic in Brazil.

BACKGROUND: Reducing congenital syphilis has been the focus of Brazilian health programs for decades, yet the cases continue to increase. Although health interventions have targeted HIV screening and treatment, syphilis management continues to be challenging. Syphilis during pregnancy may enhance the HIV maternal seroconversion risk. The potential factors fueling the syphilis epidemic were evaluated in south Brazil, an area of high HIV or syphilis endemicity. OBJECTIVE: We hypothesized that ineffective treatment because of a lack of partner treatment, late presentation to care, and reinfection of previously treated mothers were potential drivers of syphilis mother-to-child transmission. STUDY DESIGN: Data on women diagnosed with syphilis during pregnancy between January 1, 2008 and December 31, 2018 were obtained from a large urban hospital in Porto Alegre, Brazil. The patients were stratified into effective vs ineffective treatment groups according to the World Health Organization guidelines. Crude and adjusted risk ratios for the prediction of congenital syphilis and adverse fetal or neonatal outcomes were computed using Poisson regression. RESULTS: Nearly 56,000 pregnant women delivered over the 11-year period; 1541 (2.8%) had confirmed syphilis during pregnancy, with 934 (61%) receiving ineffective syphilis treatment because of late presentation and diagnosis, delayed treatment initiation, and loss to follow-up with no treatment recorded. Ineffective treatment was associated with maternal education, prenatal care, timing of syphilis diagnosis, venereal diseases research laboratory titers, and maternal HIV coinfection. On multivariate regression analysis, ineffective treatment (adjusted risk ratio, 4.52; 95% confidence interval, 2.35-8.69), absence of prenatal care (adjusted risk ratio, 9.31; 95% confidence interval, 3.77-23.0), syphilis diagnosis at delivery (adjusted risk ratio, 3.08; 95% confidence interval, 2.07-4.58), and maternal nontreponemal titers ≥1:64 (1.09-1.93) were associated with an increased risk of fetal loss. Ineffective treatment (adjusted risk ratio, 1.71; 95% confidence interval, 1.59-1.84), year of diagnosis 2014 to 2016 (adjusted risk ratio, 1.07; 95% confidence interval, 1.02-1.13), absence of prenatal care (adjusted risk ratio, 1.44; 95% confidence interval, 1.17-1.76), and maternal nontreponemal titers >1:4 were associated with an increased risk of congenital syphilis. Although partner treatment reduced the congenital syphilis risk (adjusted risk ratio, 0.60; 95% confidence interval, 0.55-0.66), only 31.8% of partners received treatment. Maternal HIV coinfection was not associated with an increased risk of fetal loss, low birthweight, preterm birth, congenital syphilis, or symptomatic neonatal infection. CONCLUSION: Public health initiatives promoting effective syphilis treatment in pregnancy, increased access to high-quality prenatal care, and partner treatment should be considered to reduce congenital syphilis.

Unraveling the Genetic Architecture of Hepatoblastoma Risk: Birth Defects and Increased Burden of Germline Damaging Variants in Gastrointestinal/Renal Cancer Predisposition and DNA Repair Genes.

The ultrarare hepatoblastoma (HB) is the most common pediatric liver cancer. HB risk is related to a few rare syndromes, and the molecular bases remain elusive for most cases. We investigated the burden of rare damaging germline variants in 30 Brazilian patients with HB and the presence of additional clinical signs. A high frequency of prematurity (20%) and birth defects (37%), especially craniofacial (17%, including craniosynostosis) and kidney (7%) anomalies, was observed. Putative pathogenic or likely pathogenic monoallelic germline variants mapped to 10 cancer predisposition genes (CPGs: APC, CHEK2, DROSHA, ERCC5, FAH, MSH2, MUTYH, RPS19, TGFBR2 and VHL) were detected in 33% of the patients, only 40% of them with a family history of cancer. These findings showed a predominance of CPGs with a known link to gastrointestinal/colorectal and renal cancer risk. A remarkable feature was an enrichment of rare damaging variants affecting different classes of DNA repair genes, particularly those known as Fanconi anemia genes. Moreover, several potentially deleterious variants mapped to genes impacting liver functions were disclosed. To our knowledge, this is the largest assessment of rare germline variants in HB patients to date, contributing to elucidate the genetic architecture of HB risk.

Bridging the Transient Intraluminal Stroke Preclinical Model to Clinical Practice: From Improved Surgical Procedures to a Workflow of Functional Tests.

Acute ischemic stroke (AIS) remains a leading cause of mortality, despite significant advances in therapy (endovascular thrombectomy). Failure in developing novel effective therapies is associated with unsuccessful translation from preclinical studies to clinical practice, associated to inconsistent and highly variable infarct areas and lack of relevant post-stroke functional evaluation in preclinical research. To outreach these limitations, we optimized the intraluminal transient middle cerebral occlusion, a widely used mouse stroke model, in two key parameters, selection of appropriate occlusion filaments and time of occlusion, which show a significant variation in the literature. We demonstrate that commercially available filaments with short coating length (1-2 mm), together with 45-min occlusion, results in a consistent affected brain region, similar to what is observed in most patients with AIS. Importantly, a dedicated post-stroke care protocol, based on clinical practice applied to patients who had stroke, resulted in lower mortality and improved mice welfare. Finally, a battery of tests covering relevant fine motor skills, sensory functions, and learning/memory behaviors revealed a significant effect of tMCAO brain infarction, which is parallel to patient symptomatology as measured by relevant clinical scales (NIH Stroke Scale, NIHSS and modified Rankin Scale, mRS). Thus, in order to enhance translation to clinical practice, future preclinical stroke research must consider the methodology described in this study, which includes improved reproducible surgical procedure, postoperative care, and the battery of functional tests. This will be a major step s closing the gap from bench to bedside, rendering the development of novel effective therapeutic approaches.

Environmental diagnosis with Raman Spectroscopy applied to diatoms.

Freshwater quality has been changing due to the ever greater use of water resources and the contamination load resulting from human activities. Management of these systems, thus, requires constant diagnose of water quality with fast and efficient methodologies. The conventional methods adopted are, however, time-consuming, often very expensive, and require specialised expertise. Raman spectroscopy (RS) is a simple, fast and label-free technique that can be applied to environmental diagnosis using diatoms. Here, we developed a diagnostic method based on Raman spectroscopy applied to freshwater diatoms. For this, Raman spectra were recorded from diatoms of three lakes of a natural city park. The data acquired was analysed by chemometrics methods to describe the data (Partial Least Squares Regression), infer relationships in the dataset (Cluster Analysis) and produce classification models (Artificial Neural Network). The classification models developed diagnosed the lakes with excellent accuracy (89%) without requiring taxonomic information about the diatom species recorded. This study provides a proof-of-concept for the application of diatom Raman spectroscopy to diagnosing water quality, laying an important foundation for future environmental studies aiming at assessing freshwater systems, to be replicated at larger scales and to varied geographic settings.

Thromboembolic Risk in COVID-19 Patients: Is There a Hidden Link?

Background Although evidence has emerged indicating that patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pneumonia present a high risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE), its real incidence and best diagnosis course remain unclear. In this study, we aimed to determine the incidence of pulmonary embolism in these patients and the role of D-dimer serum level as a predictive factor of a new VTE event. Methodology This was a single-center retrospective observational cohort study conducted in a tertiary hospital. All patients admitted to the infectious diseases ward with SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia with clinical or laboratory criteria for suspected VTE events were eligible for inclusion in the study. The t-test or Mann-Whitney U test was used to analyze the differences between the with-VTE group and the without-VTE group. Results Overall, VTE incidence was registered to be 30%. Chest computed tomography angiography data revealed thrombus mainly in segmental (five patients, 71%) and subsegmental pulmonary artery branches (four patients, 57%). No thrombus on major branches was documented. D-dimer serum levels (collected at hospital admission, 48 hours before the suspected VTE event date and at suspected VTE event date) were analyzed, and, despite a consistent tendency of higher values in the with-VTE group, no statistical difference was observed. Moreover, no statistical difference was observed between the two groups in mortality rates. Conclusions A clear higher risk of VTE events in SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia patients was not documented, and a link between the impact of VTE occurrence and a worse prognosis was not demonstrated. Therefore, we suggest that the use of D-dimer serum level should not be used as a predictor of VTE in SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia patients.

Prospective cohort study of children exposed to hepatitis C virus through a pregnancy screening program.

OBJECTIVES: Porto Alegre, in south Brazil, has one of the highest hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection rates in the country (84.4 cases/100 000 in 2018). Prenatal screening of HCV, however, has not been routinely offered. METHODS: A longitudinal study of pregnant women with HCV and their infants was conducted between January 2014 and December 2018. Screening for HCV antibodies was offered to all women delivering at the study tertiary institution. HCV RT-PCR was performed if the woman was seropositive. Infants were followed prospectively. RESULTS: Among 18 953 pregnant women delivering infants during the study period, 17 810 were screened for HCV antibodies (93.9%) with 130 positive results (HCV seroprevalence 0.7%). HCV-RNA was detectable in 57/117 cases (48.7%). HCV viremia was associated with the use of injectable drugs (P = 0.03), inhaled/crack drug use (P = 0.02), having an HCV-seropositive partner, and ≥3 lifetime sexual partners (P < 0.01). Genotype 1 was most prevalent (68%) during pregnancy. Among 43 children with follow-up, six (13%) were HCV-infected (transmission rate 13.9%); 50% were infected with genotype 3. Two infants (33%) cleared their infection; the mothers had genetic polymorphisms associated with clearance. CONCLUSION: HCV vertical transmission was high in the study population, with HCV infection during pregnancy being vastly underdiagnosed. Public health efforts must focus on this vulnerable population for disease prevention and early treatment.

The effect of distinctive facial features on destination memory.

Destination memory involves remembering to whom we told information. Low accuracy of this memory is linked to higher self-focus and lower attentional resources allocated to the recipient of the information. The present paper aimed to investigate whether the existence of distinctive features (e.g., tattoos) of destination face would improve destination memory, in a within- (Experiment 1 and 2) and between-participants (Experiment 3) design. In a destination memory task, participants had to tell proverbs to faces that presented a distinctive feature and to other faces that did not. Results showed that a destination memory advantage only occurs when faces with different distinctive features are compared to faces without distinctive features (Experiment 1). These results are in accordance with the existing theoretical framework on destination memory and distinctiveness; highlighting the importance of personal attributes, namely, the distinctiveness of the destination face and the relativity of distinctiveness in destination memory.

Microplastics as a vehicle of exposure to chemical contamination in freshwater systems: Current research status and way forward.

Contamination by microplastics is increasing steadily worldwide, affecting all environments. Additionally, aquatic organisms are often exposed to mixtures of other contaminants, including various chemicals. Numerous studies reported adsorption of chemicals to microplastics, raising concern about their possible role as vehicles of exposure through transfer to biota. Nevertheless, until recently, the studies on the topic were mostly focused on the marine environment. In the past five years, however, plenty of publications contributed empirical data about freshwater ecosystems, raising the need for a critical appraisal of the information. Herein the scientific literature was reviewed and multivariate data analysis was done. The analysed studies employed widely different experimental designs, endpoints, test species, shapes and concentrations of various polymer types and chemicals, often not relevant for the freshwater environment. Our integrated analytical approach revealed unfathomable research gaps, given the theoretical knowledge available and lessons learned from research about the marine environment. Greater harmonization of laboratory studies investigating this topic is needed, as well as testing conditions reflecting real exposure scenarios. Furthermore, standardized testing protocols are urgently required to guide such experiments and improve the comparability of the results obtained.