Non-invasive brain stimulation over the Frontopolar Cortex promotes willingness to exert cognitive effort in a foraging-like sequential choice task.

Individuals avoid spending cognitive effort unless expected rewards offset the perceived costs. Recent work employing tasks that provide explicit information about demands and incentives, suggests causal involvement of the Frontopolar Cortex (FPC) in effort-based decision-making. Using transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), we examined whether the FPC's role in motivating effort generalizes to sequential choice problems in which task demand and reward rates vary indirectly and as a function of experience.

Stereotactic Cardiac Radiotherapy for Refractory Ventricular Tachycardia in Structural Heart Disease Patients: A Systematic Review.

Background: Among patients with structural heart disease with ventricular tachycardia (VT) refractory to medical therapy and catheter ablation, cardiac stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) is a paradigm-changing treatment option.

Aims: To assess the efficacy of cardiac SBRT in refractory VT by comparing the rates of VT episodes, anti-tachycardia pacing (ATP) therapies, and implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) shocks post-SBRT with pre-SBRT.

Methods: We performed a comprehensive literature search and included all clinical studies reporting outcomes on cardiac SBRT for VT.

Targeting schema change in social anxiety via autobiographical memory reconstruction.

Negative self-schemas are fundamental to social anxiety disorder and contribute to its persistence, thus understanding how to change schemas is of critical importance. Memory-based interventions and associated theories propose that reconstructing autobiographical memories tethered to schemas with conceptual details that challenge the associated expectations will lead to schema change. Here, we test this proposal in a between-subjects behavioural experiment with undergraduate participants with social anxiety.

Predictors of Device-Related Thrombus After Left Atrial Appendage Occlusion: TED-F Score.

Background: Left atrial appendage (LAA) occlusion (LAAO) is performed to prevent LAA thrombus in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). The risk of device-related thrombus (DRT) on the atrial side of the LAAO device is approximately 4%. Identifying patients at high risk of DRT would enable closer surveillance and more-aggressive anticoagulation to prevent post-LAAO DRT-related stroke.