Economic and social values in the brain: evidence from lesions to the human ventromedial prefrontal cortex.

Making good economic and social decisions is essential for individual and social welfare. Decades of research have provided compelling evidence that damage to the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) is associated with dramatic personality changes and impairments in economic and social decision-making. However, whether the vmPFC subserves a unified mechanism in the social and non-social domains remains unclear.

Extension of the Clinicoradiologic Spectrum of Newly Described End-Truncating Variations.

Objectives: To refine the clinical spectrum of a very recently identified phenotype associated with end-truncating pathogenic variations.

Methods: Detailed clinical, neuropsychological, and MRI investigation of 6 patients from 2 unrelated families segregating end-truncating variations.

Results: All patients harbored end-truncating pathogenic variation.

Effort avoidance as a core mechanism of apathy in frontotemporal dementia.

Apathy is a core symptom in patients with behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD). It is defined by the observable reduction in goal-directed behaviour, but the underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. According to decision theory, engagement in goal-directed behaviour depends on a cost-benefit optimization trading off the estimated effort (related to the behaviour) against the expected reward (related to the goal).

A neuro-computational account of procrastination behavior.

Humans procrastinate despite being aware of potential adverse consequences. Yet, the neuro-computational mechanisms underlying procrastination remain poorly understood. Here, we use fMRI during intertemporal choice to inform a computational model that predicts procrastination behavior in independent tests.

Elevated Effort Cost Identified by Computational Modeling as a Distinctive Feature Explaining Multiple Behaviors in Patients With Depression.

Background: Motivational deficit is a core clinical manifestation of depression and a strong predictor of treatment failure. However, the underlying mechanisms, which cannot be accessed through conventional questionnaire-based scoring, remain largely unknown. According to decision theory, apathy could result either from biased subjective estimates (of action costs or outcomes) or from dysfunctional processes (in making decisions or allocating resources).

Unravelling the impact of frontal lobe impairment for social dysfunction in myotonic dystrophy type 1.

Myotonic dystrophy type 1 is an autosomal dominant multisystemic disorder affecting muscular and extra muscular systems, including the central nervous system. Cerebral involvement in myotonic dystrophy type 1 is associated with subtle cognitive and behavioural disorders, of major impact on socio-professional adaptation. The social dysfunction and its potential relation to frontal lobe neuropsychology remain under-evaluated in this pathology.

Rescue stenting versus medical care alone in refractory large vessel occlusions: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Purpose: Mechanical thrombectomy (MT) failure is associated with very poor prognosis. Permanent intracranial stenting (PIS) may be useful in such refractory occlusions. However, this strategy requires an aggressive antithrombotic regimen that may be harmful in extended strokes.

Efficacy of Endovascular Therapy in Acute Ischemic Stroke Depends on Age and Clinical Severity.

Background And Purpose: Efficacy of endovascular treatment (EVT) for ischemic stroke because of large vessel occlusion may depend on patients' age and stroke severity; we, therefore, developed a prognosis score based on these variables and examined whether EVT efficacy differs between patients with good, intermediate, or poor prognostic score.

Methods: A total of 4079 patients with an acute ischemic stroke were identified from the Paris Stroke Consortium registry. We developed the stroke checkerboard (SC) score (SC score=1 point per decade ≥50 years of age and 2 points per 5 points on the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale) to predict spontaneous outcome.

Miming neurological syndromes improves medical student's long-term retention and delayed recall of neurology.

Basic examination and diagnostic skills in neurology are important for every graduating medical student. However, a majority of medical students consider neurology as complex and difficult to master. We evaluate the impact a learner-friendly, innovative simulation-based training programme has on long-term retention and delayed recall of neurological semiology amongst third-year medical students from the University Pierre et Marie Curie in Paris, France.

The silver effect of admission glucose level on excellent outcome in thrombolysed stroke patients.

Higher admission glucose levels (AGL) are associated with less favorable outcome in thrombolysis. But, could AGL's impact on outcome vary by onset-to-treatment (OTT) time? Is hyperglycemia associated with a shorter therapeutic time window for excellent outcome for thrombolysed stroke patients? We assessed predictive values of AGL, baseline NIHSS, age, and OTT time quartiles on excellent outcome (3-month modified Rankin score of 0-1) in 773 patients treated by rt-Pa. We added the AGL × OTT time quartile interaction in the model and separately analyzed the predictive values of AGL, age, and NIHSS for each OTT time quartile if the interaction was significant.

[Motivation in all Ks: computational approach to neuro-psychiatric diseases].

Motivation can be defined as the function that orients and activates the behavior. Motivation deficits such as apathy are pervasive in both neurological and psychiatric diseases, and are currently assessed with clinical scales that do not give any mechanistic insight. Here, we present another approach that consists in phenotyping the behaviour of patients in motivation tests, using computational models.

Why not try harder? Computational approach to motivation deficits in neuro-psychiatric diseases.

Motivation deficits, such as apathy, are pervasive in both neurological and psychiatric diseases. Even when they are not the core symptom, they reduce quality of life, compromise functional outcome and increase the burden for caregivers. They are currently assessed with clinical scales that do not give any mechanistic insight susceptible to guide therapeutic intervention.

Mechanical Thrombectomy in Perioperative Strokes: A Case-Control Study.

Background And Purpose: Perioperative strokes (POS) are rare but serious complications for which mechanical thrombectomy could be beneficial. We aimed to compare the technical results and patients outcomes in a population of POS versus non-POS (nPOS) treated by mechanical thrombectomy.

Methods: From 2010 to 2017, 25 patients with POS (ie, acute ischemic stroke occurring during or within 30 days after a procedure) who underwent mechanical thrombectomy (POS group) were enrolled and paired with 50 consecutive patients with nPOS (control group), based on the occlusion's site, National Institute of Health Stroke Scale, and age.

Delay discounting of gains and losses, glycemic control and therapeutic adherence in type 2 diabetes.

Objective: Delay discounting is the tendency to prefer smaller, sooner rewards to larger, later ones. Poor adherence in type 2 diabetes could be partially explained by a discounted value of health, as a function of delay. Delay discounting can be described with a hyperbolic model characterized by a coefficient, k.

Computational Dissection of Dopamine Motor and Motivational Functions in Humans.

Unlabelled: Motor dysfunction (e.g., bradykinesia) and motivational deficit (i.

Limiting Factors of Brain Donation in Neurodegenerative Diseases: The Example of French Memory Clinics.

Postmortem neuropathological examination of the brain is essential in neurodegenerative diseases, to ensure accurate diagnosis, to obtain an a posteriori critical assessment of the adequacy of clinical care, and to validate new biomarkers, but is only rarely performed. The purpose of this study was to assess factors limiting brain donation, such as reluctance of physicians to seek donation consent, opposition from patients and families, and organizational constraints. We conducted a survey across French memory clinics and major neuropathological centers.

Imaging social motivation: distinct brain mechanisms drive effort production during collaboration versus competition.

Collaborative and competitive interactions have been investigated extensively so as to understand how the brain makes choices in the context of strategic games, yet such interactions are known to influence a more basic dimension of behavior: the energy invested in the task. The cognitive mechanisms that motivate effort production in social situations remain poorly understood, and their neural counterparts have not been explored so far. A dominant idea is that the motivation provided by the social context is reducible to the personal utility of effort production, which decreases in collaboration and increases in competition.

My belief or yours? Differential theory of mind deficits in frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

Theory of mind reasoning-the ability to understand someone else's mental states, such as beliefs, intentions and desires-is crucial in social interaction. It has been suggested that a theory of mind deficit may account for some of the abnormalities in interpersonal behaviour that characterize patients affected by behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia. However, there are conflicting reports as to whether understanding someone else's mind is a key difference between behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia and other neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimer's disease.