Blood absolute monocyte count trends in preterm infants with suspected necrotizing enterocolitis: an adjunct tool for diagnosis?

Objective: We investigated the trends of blood absolute monocyte count (AMC) over 72 h after suspecting necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC).

Study Design: A single center, retrospective study, the AMC was plotted over 72 h after NEC evaluation. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis assessed change in AMC to identify absence of NEC and different NEC stages.

The role of uncertainty in regulating associative change.

Rescorla (2000, 2001) interpreted his compound test results to show that both common and individual error terms regulate associative change such that the element of a conditioned compound with the greater prediction error undergoes greater associative change than the one with the smaller prediction error. However, it has recently been suggested that uncertainty, not prediction error, is the primary determinant of associative change in people (Spicer et al., 2020, 2022).

Disinhibition account of the conditioned response (DACR).

Pavlovian conditioning is widely used to study the substrates of learning and memory in the mammalian brain. In a standard protocol, subjects are exposed to pairings of a conditioned stimulus (CS; e.g.

Context and Time Regulate Fear Memory Consolidation and Reconsolidation in the Basolateral Amygdala Complex.

It is widely accepted that fear memories are consolidated through protein synthesis-dependent changes in the basolateral amygdala complex (BLA). However, recent studies show that protein synthesis is required to consolidate the memory of a new dangerous experience when it is similar to a prior experience. Here, we examined whether the protein synthesis requirement for consolidating the new experience varies with its spatial and temporal distance from the prior experience.

The effects of extinction and an explicitly unpaired treatment on the reinforcing properties of a Pavlovian conditioned stimulus.

This series of experiments examined the effects of extinction and an explicitly unpaired treatment on the ability of a conditioned stimulus (CS) to function as a reinforcer. Rats were trained to lever press for food, exposed to pairings of a noise CS and food, and, finally, tested for their willingness to lever press for the CS in the absence of the food. Experiment 1 provided a demonstration of conditioned reinforcement (using controls that were only exposed to unpaired presentations of the CS and food) and showed that it was equivalent after one or four sessions of CS-food pairings.

Stimulating oxytocin receptors in the basolateral amygdala enhances stimulus processing: Differential and consistent effects for stimuli paired with fear versus sucrose in extinction and reversal learning.

Oxytocin (OT) influences a range of social behaviors by enhancing the salience of social cues and regulating the expression of specific social behaviors (e.g., maternal care versus defensive aggression).

What is Learned Determines How Pavlovian Conditioned Fear is Consolidated in the Brain.

Activity in the basolateral amygdala complex (BLA) is needed to encode fears acquired through contact with both innate sources of danger (i.e., things that are painful) and learned sources of danger (e.

NMDA Receptors in the Basolateral Amygdala Complex Are Engaged for Pavlovian Fear Conditioning When an Animal's Predictions about Danger Are in Error.

It is widely accepted that Pavlovian fear conditioning requires activation of NMDA receptors (NMDARs) in the basolateral amygdala complex (BLA). However, it was recently shown that activation of NMDAR in the BLA is only required for fear conditioning when danger occurs unexpectedly; it is not required for fear conditioning when danger occurs as expected. This study tested the hypothesis that NMDARs in the BLA are engaged for Pavlovian fear conditioning when an animal's predictions regarding danger are in error.

Danger Changes the Way the Brain Consolidates Neutral Information; and Does So by Interacting with Processes Involved in the Encoding of That Information.

This study examined the effect of danger on consolidation of neutral information in two regions of the rat (male and female) medial temporal lobe: the perirhinal cortex (PRh) and basolateral amygdala complex (BLA). The neutral information was the association that forms between an auditory stimulus and a visual stimulus (labeled S2 and S1) across their pairings in sensory preconditioning. We show that, when the sensory preconditioning session is followed by a shocked context exposure, the danger shifts consolidation of the S2-S1 association from the PRh to the BLA; and does so by interacting with processes involved in encoding of the S2-S1 pairings.

How common is a common error term? The rules that govern associative learning in sensory preconditioning and second-order conditioning.

In standard (first-order) Pavlovian conditioning protocols, pairings of an initially neutral conditioned stimulus (CS) and a biologically significant unconditioned stimulus (US) result in the formation of a CS-US association. The strength of this association is theoretically regulated by prediction error: specifically, the difference between the total level of conditioning supported by the US and the degree to which it is predicted by all stimuli present (i.e.

The neural substrates of higher-order conditioning: A review.

Sensory preconditioned and second-order conditioned responding are each well-documented. The former occurs in subjects (typically rats) exposed to pairings of two relatively neutral stimuli, S2 and S1, and then to pairings of S1 and a motivationally significant event [an unconditioned stimulus (US)]; the latter occurs when the order of these experiences is reversed with rats being exposed to S1-US pairings and then to S2-S1 pairings. In both cases, rats respond when tested with S2 in a manner appropriate to the affective nature of the US, e.

Second-order fear conditioning involves formation of competing stimulus-danger and stimulus-safety associations.

How do animals process experiences that provide contradictory information? The present study addressed this question using second-order fear conditioning in rats. In second-order conditioning, rats are conditioned to fear a stimulus, S1, through its pairings with foot-shock (stage 1); and some days later, a second stimulus, S2, through its pairings with the already-conditioned S1 (stage 2). However, as foot-shock is never presented during conditioning to S2, we hypothesized that S2 simultaneously encodes 2 contradictory associations: one that drives fear to S2 (S2-danger) and another that reflects the absence of the expected unconditioned stimulus and partially masks that fear (e.

Prediction Error Determines Whether NMDA Receptors in the Basolateral Amygdala Complex Are Involved in Pavlovian Fear Conditioning.

It is widely accepted that activation of NMDA receptors (NMDAR) is necessary for the formation of fear memories in the basolateral amygdala complex (BLA). This acceptance is based on findings that blockade of NMDAR in the BLA disrupts Pavlovian fear conditioning in rodents when initially innocuous stimuli are paired with aversive and unexpected events (surprising foot shock). The present study challenges this acceptance by showing that the involvement of NMDAR in Pavlovian fear conditioning is determined by prediction errors in relation to aversive events.

The Opioid Receptor Antagonist Naloxone Enhances First-Order Fear Conditioning, Second-Order Fear Conditioning and Sensory Preconditioning in Rats.

The opioid receptor antagonist naloxone enhances Pavlovian fear conditioning when rats are exposed to pairings of an initially neutral stimulus, such as a tone, and a painful foot shock unconditioned stimulus (US; so-called first-order fear conditioning; Pavlov, 1927). The present series of experiments examined whether naloxone has the same effect when conditioning occurs in the absence of US exposure. In Experiments 1a and 1b, rats were exposed to tone-shock pairings in stage 1 (one trial per day for 4 days) and then to pairings of an initially neutral light with the already conditioned tone in stage 2 (one trial per day for 4 days).

Not "either-or" but "which-when": A review of the evidence for integration in sensory preconditioning.

Sensory preconditioning protocols can be used to assess how the brain integrates memories that share common features. In these protocols, animals are first exposed to pairings of two relatively innocuous stimuli, S2 and S1 (stage 1), and then to pairings of one of these stimuli, S1, with an event of motivational significance (stage 2). Following this training, test presentations of S2 elicit responses appropriate to the motivationally significant event, and these responses are taken to indicate formation of distinct S2-S1 and S1-event memories that are integrated in some way to generate that responding.

Protecting the Rescorla-Wagner (1972) theory: A reply to Spicer et al. (2020).

Rescorla (2001) used the compound test procedure to compare associative changes to cues located at different points on a performance scale. He found that associative changes to cues conditioned in compound are not necessarily equal, as predicted by common error term theories like Rescorla and Wagner (1972), but instead are larger for the poorer predictor of a trial outcome. Hence, Rescorla proposed a modification to the Rescorla-Wagner model whereby associative change is calculated as the product of 2 error terms: a common error term, as in the original model, and a unique error term for each cue present, which accounts for his findings that the poorer predictor of a trial outcome undergoes more associative change.

Latent inhibition is facilitated when a target stimulus is preexposed in compound with a nontarget stimulus, but only when the two stimuli coterminate: A test of the Hall-Rodriguez theory.

The Hall-Rodriguez (Hall & Rodriguez, 2010) theory predicts that latent inhibition can be facilitated when a target stimulus is preexposed in compound with a second, nontarget stimulus: specifically, latent inhibition will be facilitated when the target coterminates with the second stimulus in preexposure, but facilitation will fail to occur when the two stimuli do not coterminate. The present study tested these predictions. In each experiment, rats were preexposed to a 30 s target stimulus alone or in compound with a second stimulus across its final 10 s, or they were preexposed to the context.

Acquisition and extinction of second-order context conditioned fear: Role of the amygdala.

Second-order fear conditioning has been demonstrated in protocols using discrete and simple stimuli, and much is now known about its behavioral and neural characteristics. In contrast, the mechanisms of second-order conditioning to more complex stimuli, such as contexts, are unknown. To address this gap in our knowledge, we conducted a series of experiments to investigate the neural and behavioral characteristics of second-order context fear conditioning in rats.

Invasive Outbreak at a Pediatric Dental Clinic.

Background: species, specifically and (MABs), are known to contaminate water systems and are uncommon causes of health care-associated infection, but morbidity can be significant and treatment complex.

Methods: Odontogenic MAB infections occurred in patients following pulpotomy procedures at dental clinic A from 1 January to 6 September 2016. We identified confirmed and probable cases using culture data, imaging, pathology results, and surgical findings.

The effect of early list manipulations on the DRM illusion.

The Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm is widely used to study false memory in the laboratory. It tests memory for lists of semantically related words (correct list item memories) and their non-presented associates (false lure memories). Evidence suggests that early items in DRM lists could make an especially significant contribution to false memories of lures, as they may critically influence the underlying associative activation and/or gist extraction processes.

The separate and combined effects of a dangerous context and an epinephrine injection on sensory preconditioning in rats.

Four experiments examined the effects of a dangerous context and a systemic epinephrine injection on sensory preconditioning in rats. In each experiment, rats were exposed to presentations of a tone and light in stage 1, light-shock pairings in stage 2, and test presentations of the tone alone and light alone in stage 3. Presentations of the tone and light in stage 1 occurred in either a safe or a previously shocked context, and/or under a systemic injection of epinephrine.

An application of Wagner's Standard Operating Procedures or Sometimes Opponent Processes (SOP) model to experimental extinction.

The present study used simulations to examine whether Wagner's (SOP) model explains various extinction phenomena. These included the so-called signature characteristics of extinction-renewal, reinstatement, and spontaneous recovery-as well as the effects on extinction of manipulations such as preexposure, the interval between extinction trials, the rate at which reinforcement ceases, and the presence of other stimuli. The simulations showed that SOP accounts for the effects of each of these manipulations.

VariCarta: A Comprehensive Database of Harmonized Genomic Variants Found in Autism Spectrum Disorder Sequencing Studies.

Recent years have seen a boom in the application of the next-generation sequencing technology to the study of human disorders, including Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), where the focus has been on identifying rare, possibly causative genomic variants in ASD individuals. Because of the high genetic heterogeneity of ASD, a large number of subjects is needed to establish evidence for a variant or gene ASD-association, thus aggregating data across cohorts and studies is necessary. However, methodological inconsistencies and subject overlap across studies complicate data aggregation.