Peer audience effects on children's vocal masculinity and femininity.

Existing evidence suggests that children from around the age of 8 years strategically alter their public image in accordance with known values and preferences of peers, through the self-descriptive information they convey. However, an important but neglected aspect of this 'self-presentation' is the medium through which such information is communicated: the voice itself. The present study explored peer audience effects on children's vocal productions.

Emotional authenticity modulates affective and social trait inferences from voices.

The human voice is a primary tool for verbal and nonverbal communication. Studies on laughter emphasize a distinction between spontaneous laughter, which reflects a genuinely felt emotion, and volitional laughter, associated with more intentional communicative acts. Listeners can reliably differentiate the two.

Effect of pitch range on dogs' response to conspecific vs. heterospecific distress cries.

Distress cries are emitted by many mammal species to elicit caregiving attention. Across taxa, these calls tend to share similar acoustic structures, but not necessarily frequency range, raising the question of their interspecific communicative potential. As domestic dogs are highly responsive to human emotional cues and experience stress when hearing human cries, we explore whether their responses to distress cries from human infants and puppies depend upon sharing conspecific frequency range or species-specific call characteristics.

Myelin-oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody-associated disease.

Myelin-oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody-associated disease (MOGAD) is a recently identified autoimmune disorder that presents in both adults and children as CNS demyelination. Although there are clinical phenotypic overlaps between MOGAD, multiple sclerosis, and aquaporin-4 antibody-associated neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) cumulative biological, clinical, and pathological evidence discriminates between these conditions. Patients should not be diagnosed with multiple sclerosis or NMOSD if they have anti-MOG antibodies in their serum.

Friend or foe: Risso's dolphins eavesdrop on conspecific sounds to induce or avoid intra-specific interaction.

The detection and use of emitters' signals by unintended receivers, i.e., eavesdropping, represents an important and often low-cost way for animals to gather information from their environment.

Efficacy and Safety of Teriflunomide in Multiple Sclerosis across Age Groups: Analysis from Pooled Pivotal and Real-world Studies.

Background: Evidence suggests that efficacy and safety of disease-modifying treatments for multiple sclerosis may differ with age. We evaluate efficacy and safety of teriflunomide across age subgroups of patients from pooled clinical trials and real-world studies.

Methods: Post hoc analyses of patients who received teriflunomide 14 mg in the pooled phase II and III TEMSO, TOWER, TENERE, and TOPIC core and extension studies (n 1978), and the real-world Teri-PRO (n 928) and TAURUS-MS I (n 1126) studies were conducted.

Roars, groans and moans: Anatomical correlates of vocal diversity in polygynous deer.

Eurasian deer are characterized by the extraordinary diversity of their vocal repertoires. Male sexual calls range from roars with relatively low fundamental frequency (hereafter f ) in red deer Cervus elaphus, to moans with extremely high f in sika deer Cervus nippon, and almost infrasonic groans with exceptionally low f in fallow deer Dama dama. Moreover, while both red and fallow males are capable of lowering their formant frequencies during their calls, sika males appear to lack this ability.

Effects of High- and Low-Efficacy Therapy in Secondary Progressive Multiple Sclerosis.

Objective: To compare the clinical effectiveness of high- and low-efficacy treatments in patients with recently active and inactive secondary progressive multiple sclerosis (SPMS) after accounting for therapeutic lag.

Methods: Patients treated with high-efficacy (natalizumab, alemtuzumab, mitoxantrone, ocrelizumab, rituximab, cladribine, fingolimod) or low-efficacy (interferon beta, glatiramer acetate, teriflunomide) therapies after SPMS onset were selected from MSBase and Observatoire Français de la Sclérose en Plaques (OFSEP), 2 large observational cohorts. Therapeutic lag was estimated for each patient from their demographic and clinical characteristics.

Clinical failure of natalizumab in multiple sclerosis: Specific causes and strategy.

Background: Natalizumab is a very effective treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS). Failure is rare and should lead to consider some specific etiologies. The purpose of our study was to describe causes of subacute neurological events under natalizumab.

The effectiveness of natalizumab vs fingolimod-A comparison of international registry studies.

Background: Natalizumab and fingolimod were the first preparations recommended for disease breakthrough in priorly treated relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. Of three published head-to-head studies two showed that natalizumab is the more effective to prevent relapses and EDSS worsening.

Methods: By re-analyzing original published results from MSBase, France, and Denmark using uniform methodologies, we aimed at identifying the effects of differences in methodology, in the MS-populations, and at re-evaluating the differences in effectiveness between the two drugs.

Authentic and posed emotional vocalizations trigger distinct facial responses.

The ability to recognize the emotions of others is a crucial skill. In the visual modality, sensorimotor mechanisms provide an important route for emotion recognition. Perceiving facial expressions often evokes activity in facial muscles and in motor and somatosensory systems, and this activity relates to performance in emotion tasks.

Treatment Switching and Discontinuation Over 20 Years in the Big Multiple Sclerosis Data Network.

Although over a dozen disease modifying treatments (DMTs) are available for relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis (MS), treatment interruption, switching and discontinuation are common challenges. The objective of this study was to describe treatment interruption and discontinuation in the Big MS data network. We merged information on 269,822 treatment episodes in 110,326 patients from 1997 to 2016 from five clinical registries in this cohort study.

Post-partum relapse in women with multiple sclerosis after neuraxial labour analgesia or neuraxial anaesthesia: A multicentre retrospective cohort study.

Background: The proportion of women with multiple sclerosis experiencing a relapse in the post-partum period after neuraxial labour analgesia or neuraxial anaesthesia remains uncertain. This study aimed to assess the association between neuraxial labour analgesia or neuraxial anaesthesia and the occurrence of relapse during the first three months post-partum.

Methods: In this retrospective cohort study, cases of women with a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis delivering between January 2010 and April 2015 were analysed.

Using a new video rating tool to crowd-source analysis of behavioural reaction to stimuli.

Quantifying the intensity of animals' reaction to stimuli is notoriously difficult as classic unidimensional measures of responses such as latency or duration of looking can fail to capture the overall strength of behavioural responses. More holistic rating can be useful but have the inherent risks of subjective bias and lack of repeatability. Here, we explored whether crowdsourcing could be used to efficiently and reliably overcome these potential flaws.

Untreated patients with multiple sclerosis: A study of French expert centers.

Background And Purpose: Disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) have an impact on relapses and disease progression. Nonetheless, many patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) remain untreated. The objectives of the present study were to determine the proportion of untreated patients with MS followed in expert centers in France and to determine the predictive factors of nontreatment.

Do nonlinear vocal phenomena signal negative valence or high emotion intensity?

Nonlinear vocal phenomena (NLPs) are commonly reported in animal calls and, increasingly, in human vocalizations. These perceptually harsh and chaotic voice features function to attract attention and convey urgency, but they may also signal aversive states. To test whether NLPs enhance the perception of negative affect or only signal high arousal, we added subharmonics, sidebands or deterministic chaos to 48 synthetic human nonverbal vocalizations of ambiguous valence: gasps of fright/surprise, moans of pain/pleasure, roars of frustration/achievement and screams of fear/delight.

Determinants of therapeutic lag in multiple sclerosis.

Background: A delayed onset of treatment effect, termed therapeutic lag, may influence the assessment of treatment response in some patient subgroups.

Objectives: The objective of this study is to explore the associations of patient and disease characteristics with therapeutic lag on relapses and disability accumulation.

Methods: Data from MSBase, a multinational multiple sclerosis (MS) registry, and OFSEP, the French MS registry, were used.

Clinical significance of a single cerebrospinal fluid immunoglobulin band: A retrospective study.

Background: To demonstrate an inflammatory process in the central nervous system, the presence of at least two immunoglobulin (Ig) bands in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is required. So far, the presence of a single abnormal Ig band is considered as negative.

Objective: The objective was to assess retrospectively the significance of a single CSF Ig band in clinical practice.

Relapses in Patients Treated with High-Dose Biotin for Progressive Multiple Sclerosis.

High-dose biotin (HDB) is a therapy used in non-active progressive multiple sclerosis (PMS). Several reports have suggested that HDB treatment may be associated with an increased risk of relapse. We aimed to determine whether HDB increases the risk of clinical relapse in PMS and describe the characteristics of the patients who experience it.

A comparative evaluation of different neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder sets of criteria.

Background And Purpose: Three different sets of criteria have been proposed for the diagnosis of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD). The objective was to compare the specificity, sensitivity and diagnostic accuracy of the three different sets of NMOSD criteria in patients presenting with inflammatory disorders of the central nervous system suggestive of NMOSD.

Methods: For 236 suspected NMOSD patients referred for serum aquaporin-4 immunoglobulin G antibody (AQP4-IgG) testing between 2012 and 2014, the three sets of NMOSD criteria [1999, 2006 NMO criteria and 2015 International Panel for NMO Diagnosis (IPND) criteria] were applied and compared to the final diagnosis.

Aggressive multiple sclerosis (1): Towards a definition of the phenotype.

While the major phenotypes of multiple sclerosis (MS) and relapsing-remitting, primary and secondary progressive MS have been well characterized, a subgroup of patients with an active, aggressive disease course and rapid disability accumulation remains difficult to define and there is no consensus about their management and treatment. The current lack of an accepted definition and treatment guidelines for aggressive MS triggered a 2018 focused workshop of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) on aggressive MS. The aim of the workshop was to discuss approaches on how to describe and define the disease phenotype and its treatments.

Aggressive multiple sclerosis (2): Treatment.

The natural history of multiple sclerosis (MS) is highly heterogeneous. A subgroup of patients has what might be termed aggressive MS. These patients may have frequent, severe relapses with incomplete recovery and are at risk of developing greater and permanent disability at the earlier stages of the disease.

Breaking conversational rules matters to captive gorillas: A playback experiment.

Across human cultures, conversations are regulated by temporal and social rules. The universality of conversational rules suggests possible biological bases and encourages comparisons with the communicative interactions of nonhuman animals. Unexpectedly, few studies have focused on other great apes despite evidence of proto-conversational rules in monkeys, thus preventing researchers from drawing conclusions on potential evolutionary origins of this behaviour.