Delusion-proneness predicts COVID-19 vaccination behavior.

Introduction: Vaccination-related conspiracy ideation is related to reduced compliance with public health advice globally. Such beliefs have previously been linked to the delusion-proneness trait. However, it is not known how this extends to getting vaccinated.

Alternative beliefs in psychedelic drug users.

Previous research has suggested that classical psychedelics can foster significant and enduring changes in personality traits and subjective wellbeing. Despite the lack of evidence for adverse effects on mental health stemming from psychedelic use, concerns persist regarding the capacity of these substances to modulate information processing and attitudes towards factual data. The aim of the present study was to investigate the propensity for accepting alternative facts and the general treatment of knowledge within a sample of 392 participants, 233 of whom reported at least a single incidence of psychedelic use in their lifetime.

Advances in Microfluidics for Single Red Blood Cell Analysis.

The utilizations of microfluidic chips for single RBC (red blood cell) studies have attracted great interests in recent years to filter, trap, analyze, and release single erythrocytes for various applications. Researchers in this field have highlighted the vast potential in developing micro devices for industrial and academia usages, including lab-on-a-chip and organ-on-a-chip systems. This article critically reviews the current state-of-the-art and recent advances of microfluidics for single RBC analyses, including integrated sensors and microfluidic platforms for microscopic/tomographic/spectroscopic single RBC analyses, trapping arrays (including bifurcating channels), dielectrophoretic and agglutination/aggregation studies, as well as clinical implications covering cancer, sepsis, prenatal, and Sickle Cell diseases.

Resistance to Extinction of Evaluative Fear Conditioning in Delusion Proneness.

Delusional beliefs consist of strong priors characterized by resistance to change even when evidence supporting another view is overwhelming. Such bias against disconfirmatory evidence (BADE) has been experimentally demonstrated in patients with psychosis as well as in delusion proneness. In this fMRI-study, we tested for similar resistance to change and associated brain processes in extinction of fear learning, involving a well-described mechanism dependent of evidence updating.

Single Red Blood Cell Hydrodynamic Traps via the Generative Design.

This paper describes a generative design methodology for a micro hydrodynamic single-RBC (red blood cell) trap for applications in microfluidics-based single-cell analysis. One key challenge in single-cell microfluidic traps is to achieve desired through-slit flowrates to trap cells under implicit constraints. In this work, the cell-trapping design with validation from experimental data has been developed by the generative design methodology with an evolutionary algorithm.

Large-scale societal dynamics are reflected in human mood and brain.

The stock market is a bellwether of socio-economic changes that may directly affect individual well-being. Using large-scale UK-biobank data generated over 14 years, we applied specification curve analysis to rigorously identify significant associations between the local stock market index (FTSE100) and 479,791 UK residents' mood, as well as their alcohol intake and blood pressure adjusting the results for a large number of potential confounders, including age, sex, linear and non-linear effects of time, research site, other stock market indexes. Furthermore, we found similar associations between FTSE100 and volumetric measures of affective brain regions in a subsample (n = 39,755; measurements performed over 5.

Behavioural and neuroplastic effects of a double-blind randomised controlled balance exercise trial in people with Parkinson's disease.

Balance dysfunction is a disabling symptom in people with Parkinson's disease (PD). Evidence suggests that exercise can improve balance performance and induce neuroplastic effects. We hypothesised that a 10-week balance intervention (HiBalance) would improve balance, other motor and cognitive symptoms, and alter task-evoked brain activity in people with PD.

Longitudinal Structural Brain Changes in Bipolar Disorder: A Multicenter Neuroimaging Study of 1232 Individuals by the ENIGMA Bipolar Disorder Working Group.

Background: Bipolar disorder (BD) is associated with cortical and subcortical structural brain abnormalities. It is unclear whether such alterations progressively change over time, and how this is related to the number of mood episodes. To address this question, we analyzed a large and diverse international sample with longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and clinical data to examine structural brain changes over time in BD.

Psychedelic drug use and schizotypy in young adults.

Despite recently resurrected scientific interest in classical psychedelics, few studies have focused on potential harms associated with abuse of these substances. In particular, the link between psychedelic use and psychotic symptoms has been debated while no conclusive evidence has been presented. Here, we studied an adult population (n = 1032) with a special focus on young (18-35 years) and healthy individuals (n = 701) to evaluate the association of psychedelic drug use with schizotypy and evidence integration impairment typically observed in psychosis-spectrum disorders.

Second Language Learning in Older Adults: Effects on Brain Structure and Predictors of Learning Success.

It has previously been demonstrated that short-term foreign language learning can lead to structural brain changes in younger adults. Experience-dependent brain plasticity is known to be possible also in older age, but the specific effect of foreign language learning on brain structure in language-and memory-relevant regions in the old brain remains unknown. In the present study, 160 older Swedish adults (65-75 years) were randomized to complete either an entry-level Italian course or a relaxation course, both with a total duration of 11 weeks.

Measuring implicit sequence learning and dual task ability in mild to moderate Parkinson´s disease: A feasibility study.

We investigated the feasibility aspects of two choice reaction time tasks designed to assess implicit sequence learning and dual task ability in individuals with mild to moderate Parkinson's disease in comparison to healthy individuals. Twelve individuals with mild to moderate Parkinson's disease and 12 healthy individuals, all ≥ 60 years of age, were included. A serial reaction time task was used as a measure of implicit sequence learning and a similar task but with the addition of a simple counting task, was used as a measure of dual task ability.

Effects of daily L-dopa administration on learning and brain structure in older adults undergoing cognitive training: a randomised clinical trial.

Cognitive aging creates major individual and societal burden, motivating search for treatment and preventive care strategies. Behavioural interventions can improve cognitive performance in older age, but effects are small. Basic research has implicated dopaminergic signalling in plasticity.

No evidence for any effect of multiple sessions of frontal transcranial direct stimulation on mood in healthy older adults.

The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is part of a network important for emotional regulation and the possibility of modulating activity in this region with transcranial direct current stimulation (TDCS) to change mood has gained great interest, particularly for application in clinical populations. Whilst results in major depressive disorder have been promising, less is known about the effects of TDCS on mood in non-clinical populations. We hypothesized that multiple sessions of anodal TDCS applied over the left DLPFC would enhance mood, primarily as measured by the Profile of Mood States questionnaire, in healthy older adults.

Dynamic susceptibility of a concentrated ferrofluid: The role of interparticle interactions.

The dynamic susceptibility of concentrated ferrofluids of magnetite-kerosene type is studied experimentally to clarify the effect of interparticle interactions on the magnetization reversal dynamics and the ferrofluid relaxation time spectrum. We synthesize six ferrofluid samples, four of which have the same wide particle size distribution with a high (more than 2kT) average energy of magnetic dipole interactions. These samples differ in particle concentration and dynamic viscosity.

Structural and functional alterations in the brain during working memory in medication-naïve patients at clinical high-risk for psychosis.

Several previous studies suggest that clinical high risk for psychosis (CHR) is associated with prefrontal functional abnormalities and more widespread reduced grey matter in prefrontal, temporal and parietal areas. We investigated neural correlates to CHR in medication-naïve patients. 41 CHR patients and 37 healthy controls were examined with 1.

Working Memory and Reasoning Benefit from Different Modes of Large-scale Brain Dynamics in Healthy Older Adults.

Researchers have proposed that solving complex reasoning problems, a key indicator of fluid intelligence, involves the same cognitive processes as solving working memory tasks. This proposal is supported by an overlap of the functional brain activations associated with the two types of tasks and by high correlations between interindividual differences in performance. We replicated these findings in 53 older participants but also showed that solving reasoning and working memory problems benefits from different configurations of the functional connectome and that this dissimilarity increases with a higher difficulty load.

Direct-Current Stimulation Does Little to Improve the Outcome of Working Memory Training in Older Adults.

The promise of transcranial direct-current stimulation (tDCS) as a modulator of cognition has appealed to researchers, media, and the general public. Researchers have suggested that tDCS may increase effects of cognitive training. In this study of 123 older adults, we examined the interactive effects of 20 sessions of anodal tDCS over the left prefrontal cortex (vs.

Temperature-dependent dynamic correlations in suspensions of magnetic nanoparticles in a broad range of concentrations: a combined experimental and theoretical study.

The interweave of competing individual relaxations influenced by the presence of temperature and concentration dependent correlations is an intrinsic feature of superparamagnetic nanoparticle suspensions. This unique combination gives rise to multiple applications of such suspensions in medicine, nanotechnology and microfluidics. Here, using theory and experiment, we investigate dynamic magnetic susceptibility in a broad range of temperatures and frequencies.

No Significant Effect of Prefrontal tDCS on Working Memory Performance in Older Adults.

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been put forward as a non-pharmacological alternative for alleviating cognitive decline in old age. Although results have shown some promise, little is known about the optimal stimulation parameters for modulation in the cognitive domain. In this study, the effects of tDCS over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) on working memory performance were investigated in thirty older adults.

Finding the self by losing the self: Neural correlates of ego-dissolution under psilocybin.

Ego-disturbances have been a topic in schizophrenia research since the earliest clinical descriptions of the disorder. Manifesting as a feeling that one's "self," "ego," or "I" is disintegrating or that the border between one's self and the external world is dissolving, "ego-disintegration" or "dissolution" is also an important feature of the psychedelic experience, such as is produced by psilocybin (a compound found in "magic mushrooms"). Fifteen healthy subjects took part in this placebo-controlled study.

Aberrant cerebral network topology and mild cognitive impairment in early Parkinson's disease.

The aim of this study was to assess whether mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is associated with disruption in large-scale structural networks in newly diagnosed, drug-naïve patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Graph theoretical analyses were applied to 3T MRI data from 123 PD patients and 56 controls from the Parkinson's progression markers initiative (PPMI). Thirty-three patients were classified as having Parkinson's disease with mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI) using the Movement Disorders Society Task Force criteria, while the remaining 90 PD patients were classified as cognitively normal (PD-CN).

Cognitive executive impairment and dopaminergic deficits in de novo Parkinson's disease.

Cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease (PD) is common and does directly impact patients' everyday functioning. However, the underlying mechanisms of early cognitive decline are not known. This study explored the association between striatal dopaminergic deficits and cognitive impairment within a large cohort of early, drug-naïve PD patients and tested the hypothesis that executive dysfunction in PD is associated with striatal dopaminergic depletion.

Large-scale resting state network correlates of cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease and related dopaminergic deficits.

Cognitive impairment is a common non-motor feature of Parkinson's disease (PD). Understanding the neural mechanisms of this deficit is crucial for the development of efficient methods for treatment monitoring and augmentation of cognitive functions in PD patients. The current study aimed to investigate resting state fMRI correlates of cognitive impairment in PD from a large-scale network perspective, and to assess the impact of dopamine deficiency on these networks.

Cortical changes associated with depression and antidepressant use in Alzheimer and Lewy body dementia: an MRI surface-based morphometric study.

Context: Depression is common in dementia, especially in the early stages, with important clinical implications, but the etiology is unknown and most likely heterogeneous. Antidepressant use in the elderly without dementia has previously been shown to be associated with high risks of adverse events and with structural brain alterations.

Objective: To investigate cortical changes associated with depression and antidepressant use in patients with mild Alzheimer's disease (AD) and Lewy body dementia (LBD).