Investigating the effects of cortico-cortical paired associative stimulation in the human brain: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Recent decades have witnessed a rapid development of novel neuromodulation techniques that allow direct manipulation of cortical pathways in the human brain. These techniques, known as cortico-cortical paired stimulation (ccPAS), apply magnetic stimulation over two cortical regions altering interregional connectivity. This review evaluates ccPAS's effectiveness to induce plastic changes in cortical pathways in the healthy brain.

When the heart inhibits the brain: Cardiac phases modulate short-interval intracortical inhibition.

The phasic cardiovascular activity influences the central nervous system through the systolic baroreceptor inputs, inducing widespread inhibitory effects on behavior. Through transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) delivered during resting-state over the left primary motor cortex and across the different cardiac phases, we measured corticospinal excitability (CSE) and distinct indices of intracortical motor inhibition: short (SICI) and long (LICI) interval, corresponding to GABA and GABA neurotransmission, respectively. We found a significant effect of the cardiac phase on short-intracortical inhibition, without any influence on LICI.

Increasing associative plasticity in temporo-occipital back-projections improves visual perception of emotions.

The posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) is a critical node in a network specialized for perceiving emotional facial expressions that is reciprocally connected with early visual cortices (V1/V2). Current models of perceptual decision-making increasingly assign relevance to recursive processing for visual recognition. However, it is unknown whether inducing plasticity into reentrant connections from pSTS to V1/V2 impacts emotion perception.

Human perceptual and metacognitive decision-making rely on distinct brain networks.

Perceptual decisions depend on the ability to exploit available sensory information in order to select the most adaptive option from a set of alternatives. Such decisions depend on the perceptual sensitivity of the organism, which is generally accompanied by a corresponding level of certainty about the choice made. Here, by use of corticocortical paired associative transcranial magnetic stimulation protocol (ccPAS) aimed at inducing plastic changes, we shaped perceptual sensitivity and metacognitive ability in a motion discrimination task depending on the targeted network, demonstrating their functional dissociation.

Tuning alpha rhythms to shape conscious visual perception.

It is commonly held that what we see and what we believe we see are overlapping phenomena. However, dissociations between sensory events and their subjective interpretation occur in the general population and in clinical disorders, raising the question as to whether perceptual accuracy and its subjective interpretation represent mechanistically dissociable events. Here, we uncover the role that alpha oscillations play in shaping these two indices of human conscious experience.

Exposure to first-person shooter videogames is associated with multisensory temporal precision and migraine incidence.

Adaptive interactions with the environment require optimal integration and segregation of sensory information. Yet, temporal misalignments in the presentation of visual and auditory stimuli may generate illusory phenomena such as the sound-induced flash illusion, in which a single flash paired with multiple auditory stimuli induces the perception of multiple illusory flashes. This phenomenon has been shown to be robust and resistant to feedback training.

Clinical and epidemiological characteristics of childhood vitiligo: a study of 701 patients from Brazil.

Background: Vitiligo is an acquired pigmentary disorder that affects approximately 0.5-2% of the world's population, and 25% of cases begin before 10 years of age. Although prevalent, there are few studies on the characterization of childhood vitiligo.

[Parasites of zoonotic importance in dog feces collected in parks and public squares of the city of Los Angeles, Bío-Bío, Chile].

Introduction: The contamination of public squares and parks with dog feces poses a risk to the population, since it may contain parasitic elements of zoonotic importance.

Aim: To identify human pathogenic parasites in samples of dog feces collected from parks and public squares.

Methods: 452 fecal dog samples collected from 65 squares and public parks were analyzed using the technique of Burrows.

[Use of prostheses in the treatment of laparocele].

Effective solutions to the problem of surgery for bulk laparoceles began to emerge with the introduction of synthesis materials that can be used to reinforce or replace the abdominal wall. The ideal prosthesis has yet to be found, though today a large number of laparoceles are treated with the use of polypropylene (Marlex) and PTFE (Goretex), which are considered the best materials for alloplasty with only a very limited number of recurrences and complications. The authors describe their experience over two distinct periods: in the first of these, from 1985 to 1994, 49 of 126 patients were treated with prostheses (39 using the Rives technique and 10 simple alloplasty); in the second period, from 1995 to 2000, 39 of 79 patients were treated with prostheses (12 using the Rives technique and 27 simple alloplasty).

The Trabucco technique in the treatment of inguinal hernias; A six-year experience.

Background: The introduction of both polypropylene prosthesis and the new tension-free methods for the treatment of inguinal hernias, induced us to choose the Trabucco technique since August 1994.

Methods: Up to April 2001 983 inguinal hernia repairs were carried out in 825 patients, 948 with the Trabucco technique.

Results: Minor complications (hematoma, seroma, inguino-crural pain) were 42 (5.

[Carcinoid of the appendix. Clinical report of 3 cases and diagnostic and therapeutic considerations].

The Authors report three cases of carcinoid of the appendix and discuss the difficult preoperative diagnosis and the different therapeutic options available. Over the period from January 1994 to December 1999, in the Surgery Unit of Penne Hospital, 424 appendicectomies were performed in 182 males and 242 females (age: 12-86 years; mean age: 39.9 years).

[Cancer of the gallbladder].

Carcinoma of the gallbladder is the most frequent neoplasia of the biliary tract with an incidence of 2.5-4.4 cases for every 100,000 inhabitants; it more often affects females and elderly patients (60-70 years).

[The selective use of intraoperative cholangiography in video laparoscopic cholecystectomy].

Intraoperative cholangiography, a diagnostic method through images introduced in to clinical use in 1932, has recently become a different technical support from that attributed by traditional surgery and it has got a different diagnostic meaning with the introduction of video surgery. The authors used it in 54 of 194 patients submitted to a CVL, always making use of the trans-cystic access, with a percentage of success of 82.6%.

[A rare case of Meckel's diverticulum perforation].

Meckel's diverticulum is a pathology not rarely found everyday clinical medicine especially when it present with one of its complications. The specific diagnosis is a bit difficult to put because of the low sensibility and specificity of symptoms of diagnostic and instrumental techniques used. The reported case shows a rare type of complication constituted by the phlogosis of Meckel's diverticulum, itself due to an extraneous thing ingested by the patient.

[Branchial carcinoma].

The Authors report three cases of epidermoidal carcinoma arising from a congenital cyst of the anterolateral region of the neck. This type of tumor, rarely found in daily practice, arises from a degenerate branchial tissue and differential diagnosis often includes nodal involvement from systemic neoplasias. However, diagnostic criteria of such diseases are well defined; furthermore the rarity of branchial carcinoma is opposed to the high frequency of metastatic lymph nodes deriving from tumors with similar histological aspects located in other sites which could alter the real percentage of branchial tumor manifestation.

[Laparovideocholecystectomy].

The authors present the guidelines which have been followed to introduce into their own Surgical Division an alternative method to cholelithiasis treatment: laparovideocholecystectomy (l.v.c.

[Extraperitonealization of the liver in the Chilaiditi syndrome].

The Chilaiditi syndrome or viscero hepato diaphragmatic interposition is a rare anomaly. The authors describe one case they observed. Even if it is often asymptomatic, it may manifest also by recurrent sub-occlusion or occlusion.

[Lumbar hernia of Grynfeltt's quadrilateral space. Apropos a case].

The authors discuss a case of Grynfeltt's quadrilateral lumbar hernia in an 85-year-old patient. These rather rare hernias can be classified as Grynfeltt's hernias of the superior lumbar space, as Petit's inferior lumbar space and as diffused hernias concerning the whole hip. In our case this hernia was located in the superior lumbar space and it was delimited on the upper part by the 12th rib and by the serratus posterior-inferior muscle; in the lower part by the internal oblique muscle and by the lumbar quadratus muscle.