Theoretical and clinical advances in neuropsychoanalysis: reflections on consciousness, dreams, wishing, and the relationship between inner speech, the superego, and the prefrontal cortex

Our understanding of the relationship between the immune system and cancers has undergone significant discovery recently. Immunotherapy with T cell therapies and checkpoint blockade has meaningfully changed the oncology landscape. While remarkable clinical advances in adaptive immunity are occurring, modulation of innate immunity has proven more difficult. The myeloid compartment, including macrophages, neutrophils, and dendritic cells, has a significant impact on the persistence or elimination of tumors. Myeloid cells, specifically in the tumor microenvironment, have direct contact with tumor tissue and coordinate with tumor-reactive T cells to either stimulate or antagonize cancer immunity. However, the myeloid compartment comprises a broad array of cells in various stages of development. In addition, hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells at various stages of myelopoiesis in distant sites undergo significant modulation by tumors. Understanding how tumors exert their influence on myeloid progenitors is critical to making clinically meaningful improvements in these pathways. Therefore, this review will cover recent developments in our understanding of how solid tumors modulate myelopoiesis to promote the formation of pro-tumor immature myeloid cells. Then, it will cover some of the potential avenues for capitalizing on these mechanisms to generate antitumor immunity.

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Extraversion mediates the relationship between structural variations in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and social well-being

NeuroImage ◽

10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.10.062 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 105 ◽

pp. 269-275 ◽

Cited By ~ 25

Author(s):

Feng Kong ◽

Siyuan Hu ◽

Song Xue ◽

Yiying Song ◽

Jia Liu

Keyword(s):

Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Well Being ◽

Structural Variations ◽

Dorsolateral Prefrontal ◽

The Relationship

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Developmental Fractionation of Working Memory and Response Inhibition During Childhood

Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie) ◽

10.1027/1618-3169.54.1.30 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 54 (1) ◽

pp. 30-37 ◽

Cited By ~ 42

Author(s):

Satoshi Tsujimoto ◽

Mariko Kuwajima ◽

Toshiyuki Sawaguchi

Keyword(s):

Working Memory ◽

Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Response Inhibition ◽

Cognitive Functions ◽

Cognitive Abilities ◽

Childhood Development ◽

Neural Systems ◽

Older Children ◽

Efficient Processing ◽

The Relationship

Abstract. The lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) plays a major role in both working memory (WM) and response inhibition (RI), which are fundamental for various cognitive abilities. We explored the relationship between these LPFC functions during childhood development by examining the performance of two groups of children in visuospatial and auditory WM tasks and a go/no-go RI task. In the younger children (59 5- and 6-year-olds), performance on the visuospatial WM task correlated significantly with that in the auditory WM task. Furthermore, accuracy in these tasks correlated significantly with performance on the RI task, particularly in the no-go trials. In contrast, there were no significant correlations among those tasks in older children (92 8- and 9-year-olds). These results suggest that functional neural systems for visuospatial WM, auditory WM, and RI, especially those in the LPFC, become fractionated during childhood, thereby enabling more efficient processing of these critical cognitive functions.

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Subjective value and decision entropy are jointly encoded by aligned gradients across the human brain

10.1101/2020.02.18.954362 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Sebastian Bobadilla-Suarez ◽

Olivia Guest ◽

Bradley C. Love

Keyword(s):

Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Human Brain ◽

Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Neural Representation ◽

Retrospective Evaluation ◽

Systematic Fashion ◽

Subjective Value ◽

Fmri Analysis ◽

The Relationship ◽

The Brain

AbstractRecent work has considered the relationship between value and confidence in both behavior and neural representation. Here we evaluated whether the brain organizes value and confidence signals in a systematic fashion that reflects the overall desirability of options. If so, regions that respond to either increases or decreases in both value and confidence should be widespread. We strongly confirmed these predictions through a model-based fMRI analysis of a mixed gambles task that assessed subjective value (SV) and inverse decision entropy (iDE), which is related to confidence. Purported value areas more strongly signalled iDE than SV, underscoring how intertwined value and confidence are. A gradient tied to the desirability of actions transitioned from positive SV and iDE in ventromedial prefrontal cortex to negative SV and iDE in dorsal medial prefrontal cortex. This alignment of SV and iDE signals could support retrospective evaluation to guide learning and subsequent decisions.

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An fNIRS examination of executive function in bilingual young children

International Journal of Bilingualism ◽

10.1177/1367006920952881 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 136700692095288

Author(s):

Sha Xie ◽

Dandan Wu ◽

Jinfeng Yang ◽

Jiutong Luo ◽

Chunqi Chang ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Executive Function ◽

Group Membership ◽

Brain Activity ◽

Bilingual Children ◽

Behavioral Performance ◽

Immersion Program ◽

Prefrontal Region ◽

And Performance ◽

The Relationship

Aims: The present study aims to examine: (1) the relationship between young children’s bilingualism and their performance in the Dimensional Card Change Sort (DCCS) task; and (2) whether prefrontal activation was associated with children’s bilingualism and executive function. Methodology: Children performed three sessions of the DCCS and their brain activity during the task was measured using functional nearinfrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). Data and analysis: A sample of bilingual children ( N = 49) was recruited from a preschool with an English immersion program. We examined whether children’s performance in the DCCS was related to their bilingualism and whether the changes in oxygenated hemoglobin in the prefrontal regions were related to their bilingualism and performance in the DCCS. Findings/conclusions: Results showed that children’s English ability was significantly correlated with their behavioral performance in DCCS, and predicted children’s group membership (pass or perseverate). Furthermore, children in the pass group significantly activated the prefrontal cortex than those in the perseverate group, and activation in the prefrontal region was significantly correlated with children’s English ability. Originality: The current study first examined the effect of children’s bilingualism on their executive function and prefrontal activation.

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Oxygenation of the Prefrontal Cortex during Memory Interference

Journal of Clinical Medicine ◽

10.3390/jcm8122055 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 8 (12) ◽

pp. 2055 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Lindsay Crawford ◽

Liye Zou ◽

Paul D. Loprinzi

Keyword(s):

Prefrontal Cortex ◽

Null Hypothesis ◽

Near Infrared ◽

Memory Task ◽

Functional Near Infrared Spectroscopy ◽

Moderate Evidence ◽

Memory Interference ◽

Study Participants ◽

Future Work ◽

The Relationship

Background: Memory interference occurs when information (or memory) to be retrieved is interrupted by competing stimuli. Proactive interference (PI) occurs when previously acquired information interferes with newly acquired information, whereas retroactive interference (RI) occurs when newly acquired information interferes with previously acquired information. In animal paradigms, the prefrontal cortex (PFC) has been shown to help facilitate pattern separation, and ultimately, attenuate memory interference. Research evaluating the role of the PFC on memory interference among humans is, however, limited. The present study evaluated the relationship between PFC oxygenation on memory interference among humans, with the null hypothesis being that there is no association between PFC oxygenation and memory interference. Methods: A total of 74 participants (Mage = 20.8 years) completed the study. Participants completed a computerized memory interference task using the AB-DE AC-FG paradigm, with PFC oxyhemoglobin levels measured via functional near-infrared spectroscopy. Results: For PI, the change in oxygenated hemoglobin for encoding list 1 and retrieval of list 1 showed moderate evidence for the null hypothesis (BF01 = 4.05 and 3.28, respectively). For RI, the Bayesian analysis also established moderate evidence for the null hypothesis across all memory task time points. Conclusion: Our study demonstrates evidence of the null hypothesis regarding the relationship between PFC oxygenation and memory interference. Future work should continue to investigate this topic to identify mechanistic correlates of memory interference.

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Factors Influencing Nursing Students’ Person-Centered Care

Medicina ◽

10.3390/medicina56080414 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 56 (8) ◽

pp. 414

Author(s):

Myoungsuk Kim

Keyword(s):

Nursing Students ◽

Perceived Stress ◽

Clinical Training ◽

Interpersonal Competence ◽

Person Centered Care ◽

Factors Influencing ◽

Centered Care ◽

The Relationship ◽

Clinical Advances

Background and objectives: Numerous theoretical and clinical advances have been made through research on person-centered care (PCC). Nevertheless, care is still focused on the medical aspects of treating patients’ diseases in Korea, and thus providing individualized PCC to patients tends to be neglected. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between PCC competence, empathic competence, interpersonal competence, and perceived stress to identify the factors that impact PCC competence for developing programs that foster PCC competence in nursing students. Materials and Methods: Data were collected from 149 participants, which comprised third- and fourth-year nursing students from two universities in Korea who have experienced clinical training. PCC competence, empathic competence, interpersonal competence, and perceived stress were measured using structured self-reported questionnaires. Results: PCC competence was positively correlated with empathic competence (p < 0.001) and interpersonal competence (p < 0.001), and negatively correlated with perceived stress (p < 0.001). Empathic competence, perceived stress, interpersonal competence, and satisfaction with the participants’ nursing major were identified as factors that influenced the PCC competence (adjusted R2 = 0.570). Conclusions: To enhance PCC competence in nursing students, empathic competence, interpersonal competence, and satisfaction with the participants’ nursing major need to be improved and perceived stress needs to be reduced.

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