This study aimed to evaluate the impact of face masks used for COVID-19 prevention on emotion recognition in facial expressions. Seventy-two (72) adult participants (48 females, 24 males) attempted to correctly identify different emotions displayed by a female and a male actor’s facial expressions. Simulated emotions included neutrality, happiness, surprise, disgust, sadness, fear, and anger at two levels of intensity, with or without wearing a surgical mask. Accuracy rates of facial expression recognition and response times were collected. The GLM analysis for accuracy revealed a main effect of emotions (F(5,350)=57.47, P<.001) and face masks (without>with) (F(1,70)=338.95, P<.001), as well as a three-way interaction between emotions, masks, and actors (F(5,350)=9.69, P<.001). Disgust was the least recognized emotion, followed by sadness, while happiness, anger and surprise were the easiest to identify. The analysis of response times suggested that, when partially covered by a mask, facial expressions can be more ambiguous and difficult to read, and a larger amount of time was required to provide a response. In line with results on accuracy, sadness was generally the most difficult emotion to identify. Male and female participants had similar response times. Globally, these results show that wearing masks can significantly reduce the ability to detect emotions in facial expressions. However, when emotions are expressed at higher intensity levels, this effect may be mitigated.

Background: Covid-19 has become a global concern. Many risk factors have been identified. Down syndrome which is 21 trisomy affects the mental and physical health of the patient. The syndrome has many neurological complications, which include structural changes, mental retardation, young-onset Alzheimer's disease, strokes and basal ganglia damage. Very less data is available regarding the association of COVID with down syndrome. Objective: The objective of this systemic review is to focus on different evidence available related to the association of COVOD with down syndrome. Method: PubMed/Medline, Science Direct, Web of Science, and Scopus databases were used to find the research done related to the association of COVID with down syndrome up to 2022. Results: this systemic review includes 8 studies. All studies showed that Down syndrome is associated with severe COVID and can lead to hospitalization. Discussion: Down syndrome leads to severe immune dysregulation. Scientists are investigating the exact mechanism behind the dysregulation of the immune system caused by trisomy 21 or down syndrome but still, the research on it is going on. In DS, chromosome 21 activates multiple genes which cause hyperactivity of the immune system. Chromosome 21 encodes the following immune regulators: interferon (IFN) receptors, (IL)-10, IL-22, and IL-26. Immune and non-immune cells are sensitive to IFN and many studies report that in the absence of any infection there is still hyperactivity of T cells due to TFN in DS patients. IFN response which is involved in the antiviral response is vigorous in DS patient and lead to cytokine storm. Recent studies showed that COVID infections are driven by an exacerbated immune response to the virus, leading to cytokine storm, acute respiratory distress syndrome, thromboembolic processes, and multi-organ failure. Conclusion: Patients with COVID and down syndrome are more vulnerable and should be prioritized for vaccination.

Mental representations in various bodily formats (e.g., somatosensory, interoceptive, motoric) have been suggested to play a pivotal role in social cognition. However, data on children and adolescents are lacking.

This study aims to investigate whether individual differences in the sensing of the internal body state, in terms of interoceptive accuracy (IAcc) and sensibility (IS), and in the action-oriented (i.e., body schema) and nonaction-oriented (i.e., visuo-spatial body map) body representations (BR) influence a core component of the social cognition, namely empathy, during the early adolescence.

Thirty healthy teens (mean age 13.2 yrs) completed an empathy questionnaire, a heartbeat tracking task probing IAcc, an IS questionnaire, including a visceral and a somatosensorial factor, and a computerized battery consisting of action-oriented and nonaction-oriented BR tasks.

The correlational analysis showed that as IAcc increased, the empathy levels decreased, while as IS increased, the empathy levels increased, especially when the visceral factor was taken into account. No association was found between action/nonaction-oriented BR and empathy.

These preliminary results suggest that teens with a higher sensibility towards visceral body changes also show a higher tendency to feel and understand another's emotional state. In contrast, teens with higher IAcc for cardiac signals show a lower empathy level, possibly due to a more stable body self-representation that prevents the self-other overlap necessary in some form of empathy. As a corollary finding, the opposed relation between these interoceptive dimensions and empathy confirms that IS and IA are two distinct constructs that can impact cognitive and affective abilities differently.

Depression, stress, anxiety disorders, and PTSD are some of the mental health problems which are prevalent among immigrant populations despite being underdiagnosed. Stigma, difficulties in adapting, cultural barriers, and reduced access to mental health support can seriously hamper their ability to build resilience and recover. Other limitations include assuming that therapies can be universally applied, the lack of sufficient evidence on mental health issues of this population, and the use of therapeutic models developed on Caucasian populations. Here, professional guidance to find the meaning of life through interventions such as logotherapy could help them in this process. The present work systematically reviewed studies investigating the effectiveness of logotherapy in diverse populations and its relevance to a Muslim immigrant population in Europe. Following PRISMA guidelines and the keywords 'logotherapy, mental health problems, immigrant, and treatment', the search identified 16 relevant studies conducted since 2005. The studies revealed that logotherapy could be implemented through paradoxical intention, dereflection, Socratic dialogue, and attitude modification. All these techniques had the potential to help the client to realize long-term relief for underlying stressors associated with migration and settling in a new location. Though data on logotherapy is still scarce, it is evident that it deserves more research so that a structured, evidence-based, and effective therapy for Muslim immigrants in Europe can be developed and tested. In this regard, we propose that the four logotherapy techniques have huge potential in helping psychiatrists develop an effective therapy for mental health problems among these immigrant populations confronting adversity.

The crosstalk between obesity, diabetes, steatohepatitis, and dementia creates a controversial scenario also when studied using animal models. In the present work, this crosstalk was investigated in male and female 3xTg-AD mice for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) at different ages/stages and compared to sex- and age-matched counterparts with normal aging. The relevance of the genetic background and classical intrinsic factors (AD genotype and sex) were determined using a retrospective analysis of population data and an experimental design. Age/stage of disease was considered a source of stochastic and non-stochastic factors. Data from two different colonies of 3xTg-AD mice with distinct genetic backgrounds were analyzed to verify the functional interplay between the studied factors. Data from asymptomatic/prodromal to early/advanced stages of the disease were screened. Then, all factors' relationships were studied in an experimental design using the same set of animals. The population data unveiled that the genetic background and sex effects were confirmed with regards to the variable body weight, with changes during the disease development and progress. Besides, sexual dimorphism was found as an important factor in glucose metabolism. Statistically significant differences in glucose tolerance and behavioral assessment (exploration, anxiety, and cognition in a two-days open-field paradigm) were found when all the factors were analyzed. In summary, the present study shows that all the studied factors should always be considered when assessing the outcome of the research interventions in the field because they have a distinct functional interplay through the process of normal and AD-pathological aging and from a gender perspective.