Designs on consciousness: literature and predictive processing.

Predictive processing is a recent approach in cognitive science that describes the brain as an engine of probabilistic hierarchical inference. Initially proposed as a general theory of brain function, predictive processing has recently been expanding to account for questions of consciousness in philosophy and neuroscience. In my previous work (Kukkonen 2020 .

The Finnish versions of food allergy quality of life questionnaires including parent form 10.

Aim: Examining health-related quality of life (HRQoL) is important to improve patient care. In this study, we translate and evaluate the Finnish versions of the Food Allergy Specific Quality of Life Questionnaires (FAQLQs) from a Finnish perspective and undertake a detailed evaluation of the 10-question Parent Form Questionnaire (FAQLQ-PF10).

Methods: This validation study was performed to evaluate the Finnish versions of the FAQLQs.

Interaction of mediators and effector cells in cashew nut-induced anaphylaxis.

Background: The underlying mechanisms of an immediate food-induced allergic reaction involve mast cell degranulation and recruitment of other effector cells, such as lymphocytes, eosinophils, and basophils. How the interaction of various mediators and cells results in anaphylaxis is not fully understood.

Objective: To evaluate changes in platelet-activating factor (PAF), platelet-activating factor acetylhydrolase (PAF-AH), tryptase, eosinophils, basophils, and eosinophil cationic protein (ECP) in cashew nut-induced anaphylaxis.

Molecular allergy diagnostics in predicting oral cow's milk challenge outcome in Finnish children.

Oral food challenges (OFC) are required to diagnose food allergies but are resource-intensive. To reduce the need for OFCs, we sought to determine serum specific immunoglobulin E (sIgE) cutoff levels for cow's milk and its major allergens predicting oral milk challenge outcomes in children with suspected cow's milk allergy. A total of 135 Finnish children (median age, 1.

Am I present in imaginary worlds? Intentions, actions, and flow in mediated experiences and fiction.

We support the idea of applying cultural evolution theory to the study of storytelling, and fiction in particular. However, we suggest that a more plausible link between real and imaginary worlds is the feeling of "presence" we can experience in both of them: we feel present when we are able to correctly and intuitively enact our embodied predictions.

Bronchial hyperresponsiveness and asthma during oral immunotherapy for egg or peanut allergy in children.

Background: Bronchial hyperresponsiveness (BHR) and asthma are frequently present in children with food allergy. We assessed BHR in children receiving oral immunotherapy (OIT) for persistent egg or peanut allergy and examined whether OIT affects asthma control.

Methods: Methacholine challenge testing was performed in 89 children with persistent egg or peanut allergy diagnosed by double-blind, placebo-controlled food challenge and 80 control children without food allergy.

Nonmalignant AR-positive prostate epithelial cells and cancer cells respond differently to androgen.

Prostate cancer research suffers from the lack of suitable models to study the role of normal cells in prostate carcinogenesis. To address this challenge, we developed a cell line model mimicking luminal prostate epithelial cells by modifying the immortalized prostate epithelial cell line RWPE-1 to constitutively express the androgen receptor (AR). RWPE-1-AR cells express known AR target genes, and exhibit coexpression of luminal and basal markers characteristic of transient amplifying cells, and an RNA signature resembling prostate luminal progenitor cells.

Optimizing tools for evaluating challenge outcomes in children with cashew nut allergy.

Background: The incidence of cashew nut anaphylaxis is increasing and there is a need for accurate diagnostic tests. Age-specific cutoffs in children are lacking. Changes in serum tryptase levels are not well documented in pediatric food allergy, except in anaphylaxis.

Mindsets and Neural Mechanisms of Automatic Reactions to Negative Feedback in Mathematics in Elementary School Students.

Neuroscientific research regarding mindsets is so far scarce, especially among children. Moreover, even though research indicates the importance of domain specificity of mindsets, this has not yet been investigated in neuroscientific studies regarding implicit beliefs. The purpose of this study was to examine general intelligence and math ability mindsets and their relations to automatic reactions to negative feedback in mathematics in the Finnish elementary school context.

Presence, flow, and narrative absorption: an interdisciplinary theoretical exploration with a new spatiotemporal integrated model based on predictive processing.

Presence, flow, narrative absorption, immersion, transportation, and similar subjective phenomena are studied in many different disciplines, mostly in relation to mediated experiences (books, film, VR, games). Moreover, since real, virtual, or fictional agents are often involved, concepts like identification and state empathy are often linked to engaging media use. Based on a scoping review that identified similarities in the wording of various questionnaire items conceived to measure different phenomena, we categorize items into the most relevant psychological aspects and use this categorization to propose an interdisciplinary systematization.

Chromatin and Epigenetic Dysregulation of Prostate Cancer Development, Progression, and Therapeutic Response.

The dysregulation of chromatin and epigenetics has been defined as the overarching cancer hallmark. By disrupting transcriptional regulation in normal cells and mediating tumor progression by promoting cancer cell plasticity, this process has the ability to mediate all defined hallmarks of cancer. In this review, we collect and assess evidence on the contribution of chromatin and epigenetic dysregulation in prostate cancer.

Picture This: A Review of Research Relating to Narrative Processing by Moving Image Versus Language.

Reading fiction for pleasure is robustly correlated with improved cognitive attainment and other benefits. It is also in decline among young people in developed nations, in part because of competition from moving image fiction. We review existing research on the differences between reading or hearing verbal fiction and watching moving image fiction, as well as looking more broadly at research on image or text interactions and visual versus verbal processing.

Reconsidering the Mind-Wandering Reader: Predictive Processing, Probability Designs, and Enculturation.

Studies on mind-wandering frequently use reading as an experimental task. In these studies, reading is conceived as a cognitive process that potentially offers a contrast to mind-wandering, because it seems to be task-related, goal-directed and stimulus-dependent. More recent work attempts to avoid the dichotomy of successful cognitive processes and processes of mind-wandering found in earlier studies.

Probiotic supplementation restores normal microbiota composition and function in antibiotic-treated and in caesarean-born infants.

Background: Infants born by caesarean section or receiving antibiotics are at increased risk of developing metabolic, inflammatory and immunological diseases, potentially due to disruption of normal gut microbiota at a critical developmental time window. We investigated whether probiotic supplementation could ameliorate the effects of antibiotic use or caesarean birth on infant microbiota in a double blind, placebo-controlled randomized clinical trial. Mothers were given a multispecies probiotic, consisting of Bifidobacterium breve Bb99 (Bp99 2 × 10 cfu) Propionibacterium freundenreichii subsp.

Fucosylated oligosaccharides in mother's milk alleviate the effects of caesarean birth on infant gut microbiota.

One of the most abundant components in human milk is formed by oligosaccharides, which are poorly digested by the infant. The oligosaccharide composition of breast milk varies between mothers, and is dependent on maternal secretor (FUT2) genotype. Secretor mothers produce milk containing α1-2 fucosylated human milk oligosaccharides, which are absent in the milk of non-secretor mothers.

The effect of oral immunotherapy treatment in severe IgE mediated milk, peanut, and egg allergy in adults.

Introduction: The standard care of severe food allergy in both adults and children means avoidance of allergens. In recent years promising results of oral immunotherapy (OIT) have been reported in children. In adults, information on OIT in severe food allergy is very limited.

Childhood BMI in relation to microbiota in infancy and lifetime antibiotic use.

Background: Children with high body mass index (BMI) at preschool age are at risk of developing obesity. Early identification of factors that increase the risk of excessive weight gain could help direct preventive actions. The intestinal microbiota and antibiotic use have been identified as potential modulators of early metabolic programming and weight development.

Interaction of NPSR1 genotypes and probiotics in the manifestation of atopic eczema in early childhood.

Background: Neuropeptide S Receptor (NPSR1) gene has been associated with multiple allergic phenotypes in several patient populations.

Objective: We analysed the effect of the NPSR1 genotypes in the development of asthma, rhinitis, eczema, or food allergy in children randomly receiving either probiotic or placebo treatment.

Methods: 796 children born to families at high risk for allergic diseases were examined by a paediatrician at the age of three months, six months, two years, and five years.