Reliability and validity of four cognitive interpretation bias measures in the context of social anxiety.

People with social anxiety disorder tend to interpret ambiguous social information in a negative rather than positive manner. Such interpretation biases may cause and maintain anxiety symptoms. However, there is considerable variability in the observed effects across studies, with some not finding a relationship between interpretation biases and social anxiety.

Visual mental imagery of atypical color objects attracts attention to an imagery-matching object.

Mental imagery attracts attention to imagery-matching stimuli. However, it remains unknown whether voluntarily imagined atypical color also attracts attention to a stimulus that matches the imagery when the imagined stimuli are color-diagnostic objects, which are strongly associated with typical color. This study investigated whether people can voluntarily imagine atypical colors of such objects and attend to imagery-matching stimuli.

Long-term memory for distractors: Effects of involuntary attention from working memory.

In a visual search task, attention to task-irrelevant distractors impedes search performance. However, is it maladaptive to future performance? Here, I showed that attended distractors in a visual search task were better remembered in long-term memory (LTM) in the subsequent surprise recognition task than non-attended distractors. In four experiments, participants performed a visual search task using real-world objects of a single color.

Usefulness of cell block examination for the cytological diagnosis of thoracic SMARCA4-deficient undifferentiated tumor: A case report.

SMARCA4-deficient undifferentiated tumor (SMARCA4-UT) is a high-grade malignant neoplasm showing undifferentiated or rhabdoid morphology that significantly involves the thorax of adults. It has been reported as SMARCA4-deficient thoracic sarcoma or SMARCA4-deficient non-small cell lung carcinoma according to the findings of immunohistochemical and genetic studies. We report a case of thoracic SMARCA4-UT for which cell block analysis and immunohistochemical staining were useful for the final diagnosis.

Novel rapid immunohistochemistry using an alternating current electric field identifies Rac and Cdc42 activation in human colon cancer FFPE tissues.

It is important to determine the activation status of Rac and Cdc42 in cancer tissues for the prediction of metastasis and patient prognosis. However, it has been impossible to detect their spatial activation on formalin-fixed paraffin embedded (FFPE) surgical specimens thus far. Here, we established a novel detection technique for activated Rac/Cdc42 in human colon cancer FFPE tissues by using a p21-activated kinase (PAK)-Rac binding domain (RBD) detection probe fused with glutathione S-transferase (GST), designated GST-PAK-RBD, and novel rapid-immunohistochemistry (R-IHC) systems using noncontact alterating-current electric field mixing, although there is a technical limitation in that it may not distinguish between Rac members and Cdc42.

De novo development of proteolytically resistant therapeutic peptides for oral administration.

The oral administration of peptide drugs is hampered by their metabolic instability and limited intestinal uptake. Here, we describe a method for the generation of small target-specific peptides (less than 1,600 Da in size) that resist gastrointestinal proteases. By using phage display to screen large libraries of genetically encoded double-bridged peptides on protease-resistant fd bacteriophages, we generated a peptide inhibitor of the coagulation Factor XIa with nanomolar affinity that resisted gastrointestinal proteases in all regions of the gastrointestinal tract of mice after oral administration, enabling more than 30% of the peptide to remain intact, and small quantities of it to reach the blood circulation.

Imprint cytology of biphenotypic sinonasal sarcoma of the paranasal sinus: A case report.

Biphenotypic sinonasal sarcoma (BSNS) is a rare low-grade spindle cell sarcoma that predominantly affects middle-aged women with multiple tumors in the sinonasal tract. BSNS shows biphenotypic expression of neural and myogenic markers on immunohistochemistry (IHC) with a specific chimeric PAX3-MAML3 fusion. The cytological features of BSNS have so far not been reported.

Visual mental imagery influences attentional guidance in a visual-search task.

Visual mental imagery resembles visual working memory (VWM). Because both visual mental imagery and VWM involve the representation and manipulation of visual information, it was hypothesized that they would exert similar effects on visual attention. Several previous studies have demonstrated that working-memory representations guide attention toward a memory-matching task-irrelevant stimulus during visual-search tasks.

Association between Social Anxiety and Visual Mental Imagery of Neutral Scenes: The Moderating Role of Effortful Control.

According to cognitive theories, verbal processing attenuates emotional processing, whereas visual imagery enhances emotional processing and contributes to the maintenance of social anxiety. Individuals with social anxiety report negative mental images in social situations. However, the general ability of visual mental imagery of neutral scenes in individuals with social anxiety is still unclear.

Lost in distractors: Reduced Autobiographical Memory Specificity and dispersed activation spreading over distractors in working memory.

Studies on autobiographical memory retrieval highlight the prominence of rapid and direct access to a specific event memory. Because it has been believed that autobiographical memory retrieval mostly relies on an effortful generative process, there is little empirical evidence on the early stage of information processing that contributes to autobiographical memory specificity (AMS). Therefore, we investigated the associations between AMS and automatic activation of information stimulated by rapid presentation of emotional words.

Psychometric properties of the written version of the autobiographical memory test in a japanese community sample.

The autobiographical memory test (AMT) is a widely used measure to assess the specificity of autobiographical memories. Reduced Autobiographical Memory Specificity (AMS) or increased overgeneralization of memories is considered as a cognitive hallmark of depression. Therefore, reduced AMS is the subject of much psychopathological research, and is a promising target for psychological interventions.

Attentional networks and visuospatial working memory capacity in social anxiety.

Social anxiety is associated with attentional bias and working memory for emotional stimuli; however, the ways in which social anxiety affects cognitive functions involving non-emotional stimuli remains unclear. The present study focused on the role of attentional networks (i.e.

Attention Moderates the Relationship Between Primary Psychopathy and Affective Empathy in Undergraduate Students.

Psychopathy is personality traits, which is consisted of primary psychopathy characterized by affective and interpersonal problems and secondary psychopathy characterized by behavioral problems. Prior researchers have suggested that people with psychopathy have peculiar attention, which prevents them from detecting information peripheral to their concern, and we hypothesized that this explains their low empathy. Based on these reasoning, the present study assessed whether attention moderates the relationship between psychopathy and affective empathy.

Unraveling the linguistic nature of specific autobiographical memories using a computerized classification algorithm.

In the present study, we explored the linguistic nature of specific memories generated with the Autobiographical Memory Test (AMT) by developing a computerized classifier that distinguishes between specific and nonspecific memories. The AMT is regarded as one of the most important assessment tools to study memory dysfunctions (e.g.

A case of cerebral astroblastoma with rhabdoid features: a cytological, histological, and immunohistochemical study.

Astroblastoma is a rare neuroepithelial neoplasm of unknown origin, usually occurring in children and young adults. Here we report a case of astroblastoma with uncommon features in an 18-year-old female. The tumor was a well-circumscribed cystic and solid mass with marked gadolinium enhancement in the right frontal lobe.

Rapid immunocytochemistry based on alternating current electric field using squash smear preparation of central nervous system tumors.

The role of intraoperative pathological diagnosis for central nervous system (CNS) tumors is crucial for neurosurgery when determining the surgical procedure. Especially, treatment of carmustine (BCNU) wafers requires a conclusive diagnosis of high-grade glioma proven by intraoperative diagnosis. Recently, we demonstrated the usefulness of rapid immunohistochemistry (R-IHC) that facilitates antigen-antibody reaction under alternative current (AC) electric field in the intraoperative diagnosis of CNS tumors; however, a higher proportion of water and lipid in the brain parenchyma sometimes leads to freezing artifacts, resulting in poor quality of frozen sections.

Structure-Based Development of a Protein-Protein Interaction Inhibitor Targeting Tumor Necrosis Factor Receptor-Associated Factor 6.

The interactions between tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor-associated factor 6 (TRAF6) and TNF superfamily receptors (TNFRSFs) are promising targets for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) treatment. However, due to the challenging nature of protein-protein interactions (PPIs), a potent inhibitor that surpasses the affinity of the TRAF6-TNFRSF interactions has not been developed. We developed a small-molecule PPI inhibitor of TRAF6-TNFRSF interactions using NMR and in silico techniques.

The influence of working memory on visual search for emotional facial expressions.

In visual search tasks, an angry face surrounded by happy faces is more rapidly detected compared with a happy face surrounded by angry faces. This is called the anger superiority effect. The anger superiority effect has been mainly related to automatic attentional effects, but top-down mechanisms may also influence this effect.

The influence of working memory on the anger superiority effect.

The anger superiority effect shows that an angry face is detected more efficiently than a happy face. However, it is still controversial whether attentional allocation to angry faces is a bottom-up process or not. We investigated whether the anger superiority effect is influenced by top-down control, especially working memory (WM).

Socially anxious individuals with low working memory capacity could not inhibit the goal-irrelevant information.

Socially anxious individuals are interfered by distractors. Recent work has suggested that low working memory capacity and inappropriate temporary goal induce attention to distractors. We investigated the effects of working memory capacity and temporary goal on attention to distractors in social anxiety.

CD133 expression: a potential prognostic marker for non-small cell lung cancers.

Background: CD133 is a membrane glycoprotein containing five transmembrane loops. Previous reports suggest that a CD133-positive subpopulation of multipotent cells with extensive proliferative and self-renewal characteristics has biological features of a cancer stem cell. In addition, the presence of CD133-positive cells was associated with a significantly poorer prognosis for some solid tumors, compared to those with CD133-negative cells.

Repeated short presentations of morphed facial expressions change recognition and evaluation of facial expressions.

This study investigated whether sensitivity to and evaluation of facial expressions varied with repeated exposure to non-prototypical facial expressions for a short presentation time. A morphed facial expression was presented for 500 ms repeatedly, and participants were required to indicate whether each facial expression was happy or angry. We manipulated the distribution of presentations of the morphed facial expressions for each facial stimulus.

Impaired attentional disengagement from stimuli matching the contents of working memory in social anxiety.

Although many cognitive models in anxiety propose that an impaired top-down control enhances the processing of task-irrelevant stimuli, few studies have paid attention to task-irrelevant stimuli under a cognitive load task. In the present study, we investigated the effects of the working memory load on attention to task-irrelevant stimuli in trait social anxiety. The results showed that as trait social anxiety increased, participants were unable to disengage from task-irrelevant stimuli identical to the memory cue under low and high working memory loads.

High visual working memory capacity in trait social anxiety.

Working memory capacity is one of the most important cognitive functions influencing individual traits, such as attentional control, fluid intelligence, and also psychopathological traits. Previous research suggests that anxiety is associated with impaired cognitive function, and studies have shown low verbal working memory capacity in individuals with high trait anxiety. However, the relationship between trait anxiety and visual working memory capacity is still unclear.