Publications by authors named "Carrasco M"

Visual perception is characterized by known asymmetries in the visual field; human's visual sensitivity is higher along the horizontal than the vertical meridian, and along the lower than the upper vertical meridian. These asymmetries decrease with decreasing eccentricity from the periphery to the center of gaze, suggesting that they may be absent in the 1-deg foveola, the retinal region used to explore scenes at high-resolution. Using high-precision eyetracking and gaze-contingent display, allowing for accurate control over the stimulated foveolar location despite the continuous eye motion at fixation, we investigated fine visual discrimination at different isoeccentric locations across the foveola and parafovea.

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Introduction: For patients with psychosis, early, intensive therapeutic intervention is thought to improve long-term outcomes. Furthermore, patients with a first-episode psychosis (FEP) who experience a good early response to antipsychotic medication show a clinical and functional benefit over the longer term if they continue low-dose antipsychotic treatment. Lurasidone is an atypical antipsychotic agent which is approved in Europe for the treatment of schizophrenia in adults and adolescents (13-17 years).

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Introduction: The assessment of frailty is crucial for the management and care of older adults. The Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) has been proposed as a useful and practical tool for this assessment, but its implementation requires translation and validation to the specific cultural context.

Methods: A standardized process of translation and cultural adaptation of the CFS in its second version was carried out.

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Background: Maternal mental health is vital to overall well-being, particularly among expectant and postpartum Black and Latina women who experience higher stress levels and mental health challenges. Traditional healthcare systems often fail to meet these needs, underscoring the need for innovative and accessible interventions. NurtureVR, a digital maternal mental health and educational program, leverages virtual reality to offer mindfulness, relaxation, and guided imagery to support these women.

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Background: In Europe, canine leishmaniasis is commonly caused by Leishmania infantum. Allopurinol is the main drug for long-term management of the disease, and clinical relapses of L. infantum infection treated with this drug are described.

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The human brain faces significant constraints in its ability to process every item in a sequence of stimuli. Voluntary temporal attention can selectively prioritize a task-relevant item over its temporal competitors to alleviate these constraints. However, it remains unclear when and where in the brain selective temporal attention modulates the visual representation of a prioritized item.

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The use of non-specific language to describe board-certified dermatologists in academic settings obscures the public understanding of their qualifications. This study analyzes online patient reviews nationwide to assess gender differences in the terminology used to describe academic dermatologists. We conducted a cross-sectional study, examining reviews from 62 academic institutions across 39 states, analyzing the use of terms such as "provider," "practitioner," "clinician," "health care professional," "physician," "dermatologist," and "doctor.

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 Association between global platelet function and the risk of venous thromboembolic disease (VTE) has been proposed, though the mechanisms do not involve increased platelet aggregation. However, platelet adhesiveness has not been systematically explored in VTE patients.  To evaluate platelet adhesive functions in VTE patients.

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  • Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is linked to mitochondrial dysfunction, which involves increased mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) copy number and energy production issues; this study focused on key genes related to mtDNA replication to understand their role in ASD.
  • Children with ASD showed higher mtDNA copy numbers and some mtDNA deletions in oral samples, but no significant changes were found in the expression of mitochondrial replisome genes compared to typically developing controls.
  • Increased oxidative stress and inflammation were noted in ASD subjects, and while overexpressing the TFAM gene in cell cultures led to some mitochondrial benefits, this didn't directly tie to changes in gene expression or mtDNA integrity, indicating a complex relationship between mitochondrial dysfunction and ASD.
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Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to early visual cortex modulates the effect of adaptation and eliminates the effect of exogenous (involuntary) attention on contrast sensitivity. Here, we investigated whether adaptation modulates exogenous attention under TMS to V1/V2. Observers performed an orientation discrimination task while attending to one of two stimuli, with or without adaptation.

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Contrast sensitivity, the amount of contrast required to discriminate an object, depends on spatial frequency (SF). The contrast sensitivity function (CSF) peaks at intermediate SFs and drops at other SFs. The CSF varies from foveal to peripheral vision, but only a couple of studies have assessed how the CSF changes with polar angle of the visual field.

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We can often anticipate the precise moment when a stimulus will be relevant for our behavioral goals. Voluntary temporal attention, the prioritization of sensory information at task-relevant time points, enhances visual perception. However, the neural mechanisms of voluntary temporal attention have not been isolated from those of temporal expectation, which reflects timing predictability rather than relevance.

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  • * This study evaluated the effects of lacosamide, an alternative treatment, in 15 neonates using video EEG monitoring to assess changes in seizure activity.
  • * The results showed that lacosamide significantly reduced seizure burden from an average of 13% to 3%, and the treatment was generally well tolerated, suggesting that further studies on lacosamide for neonatal seizures are needed.
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Background: Neonatal seizures (NS) represent an important clinical manifestation among critically ill infants and are often the first sign of underlying brain injury. Early recognition and treatment are essential to reduce morbidity and mortality. The present study investigated the NS management and treatment approaches employed by level II/III neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) across the United States to identify areas of consensus and variability.

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  • Early diagnosis and timely referrals are essential for improving skin cancer outcomes, and teledermatology (TD) can help streamline the referral process.
  • A study analyzed data from 20,522 teleinterconsultations in Chile, finding that 1,853 raised suspicion for skin cancer, with average referral times significantly exceeding recommended guidelines.
  • The research highlights the variability in waiting times across different healthcare facilities and regions, stressing the need for standardized protocols to reduce delays in skin cancer diagnosis and treatment.
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Purpose: Upper airway (UA) surgery is commonly employed in the treatment of patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). The intricate pathophysiology of OSA, variability in sites and patterns of UA collapse, and the interaction between anatomical and non-anatomical factors in individual patients may contribute to possible surgical failures. This clinical consensus statement aims to identify areas of agreement among a development group comprising international experts in OSA surgery, regarding the appropriate definition, predictive factors in patients, and management of surgical failure in OSA treatment.

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Crowding, our inability to identify a feature or object - the target - due to its proximity to adjacent features or objects - flankers - exhibits a notable inner-outer asymmetry. This asymmetry is characterized by the outer flanker - more peripheral - creating stronger interference than the inner one - closer to the fovea. But crowding is not uniform across different feature dimensions.

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The global population is projected to increase, indicating that there will be greater demand for animal protein to meet the associated food needs. This demand will place additional pressure on livestock systems to increase output while also minimizing natural resource inputs. Insect protein has emerged as a potential alternative to conventional protein feeds, such as soybean meal.

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The presaccadic preview of a peripheral target enhances the efficiency of its postsaccadic processing, termed the extrafoveal preview effect. Peripheral visual performance-and thus the quality of the preview-varies around the visual field, even at isoeccentric locations: It is better along the horizontal than vertical meridian and along the lower than upper vertical meridian. To investigate whether these polar angle asymmetries influence the preview effect, we asked human participants to preview four tilted gratings at the cardinals, until a central cue indicated which one to saccade to.

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  • Research explores the role of DCX-expressing neural progenitor cells in breast cancer, particularly focusing on how these cells are associated with tumor characteristics like higher histological grades and poor patient survival.
  • Using Imaging Mass Cytometry and a 3D in vitro model, the study analyzed over 372,000 cells to understand the presence and influence of these neural elements in breast cancer stroma.
  • Findings suggest that neural elements actively contribute to breast cancer progression, meriting further investigation into their implications for tumor behavior and patient outcomes.
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Eliciting potent and broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) is a major goal in HIV-1 vaccine development. Here, we describe how germline-targeting immunogen BG505 SOSIP germline trimer 1.1 (GT1.

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Contrast sensitivity (CS), which constrains human vision, decreases from fovea to periphery, from the horizontal to the vertical meridian, and from the lower vertical to the upper vertical meridian. It also depends on spatial frequency (SF), and the contrast sensitivity function (CSF) depicts this relation. To compensate for these visual constraints, we constantly make saccades and foveate on relevant objects in the scene.

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  • Neonates with congenital heart disease (CHD) face risks for neurodevelopmental challenges, prompting this review of neuromonitoring methods, including NIRS, EEG, aEEG, TCD, and multimodal approaches.
  • The studies examined focused on monitoring cerebral oxygenation, detecting seizures, and assessing clinical outcomes, using varying practices and limited participant numbers without standardized testing protocols.
  • Recommendations for future research emphasize the need for large multicenter studies, standardized testing guidelines, addressing resource disparities, and improved integration of monitoring techniques to enhance care for CHD-affected neonates.
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