In the rubber hand illusion (RHI), watching a rubber hand being stroked in synchrony with one's own hidden hand may induce a sense of ownership over the rubber hand. The illusion relies on bottom-up ...multisensory integration of visual, tactile, and proprioceptive information, and on top-down processes through which the rubber hand is incorporated into pre-existing representations of the body. Although the degree of illusory experience varies largely across individuals, the factors influencing individual differences are unknown. We investigated whether sensory suggestibility might modulate susceptibility to the RHI. Sensory suggestibility is a personality trait related to how individuals react to sensory information. Because of its sensory nature, this trait could be relevant for studies using the RHI paradigm. Seventy healthy volunteers were classified by Sensory Suggestibility Scale (SSS) scores as having high or low suggestibility and assigned to either a high- (High-SSS) or a low-suggestibility (Low-SSS) group. Two components of the RHI were evaluated in synchronous and asynchronous stroking conditions: subjective experience of sense of ownership over the rubber hand via a 9-statement questionnaire, and proprioceptive drift as measured with a ruler. The High-SSS group was generally more susceptible to the subjective component; in the synchronous condition, they rated the statement assessing the sense of ownership higher than the Low-SSS group. The scores for this statement significantly correlated with the total SSS score, indicating that the higher the sensory suggestibility, the stronger the sense of ownership. No effect of sensory suggestibility on proprioceptive drift was observed, suggesting that the effect is specific for the subjective feeling of ownership. This study demonstrates that sensory suggestibility may contribute to participants' experience of the illusion and should be considered when using the RHI paradigm.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder whose pathogenesis depends on a combination of genetic and environmental factors. The aim of the present review was to provide an updated ...description of the findings emerging from prospective longitudinal cohort studies on the possible risk/protective factors underlying the development, progression and clinical subtypes of PD. We reviewed all the environmental, lifestyle, dietary, comorbid and pharmacological factors that have been investigated as possible modifiable protective/risk factors for PD by longitudinal studies. Only a few factors have the epidemiological evidence and the biological plausibility to be considered risk (pesticides, dairy products, β2-adrenoreceptor antagonists) or protective (smoking, caffeine and tea intake, physical activity, gout, vitamin E intake, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and β2-adrenoreceptor agonists) factors for PD. Caffeine intake and physical activity also seem to slow down the progression of the disease, thus representing good candidates for primary prevention and disease modifying strategies in PD. Possible modifiable risk factors of PD subtypes is almost unknown and this might depend on the uncertain biological and neuropathological reliability of clinical subtypes. The results of the present review suggest that only eleven risk/protective factors may be associated with the risk of PD. It may be possible to target some of these factors for preventive interventions aimed at reducing the risk of developing and the rate of progression of PD.
•Eleven risk/protective factors may affect Parkinson's disease development.•Caffeine and physical activity may improve Parkinson's disease progression.•Risk factors for Parkinson's disease subtypes are unknown.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
How do age-related changes affect the sense of body ownership? This study tackles this issue by means of the rubber hand illusion (RHI), a widely used experimental tool for investigating the sense of ...body ownership. There is ample literature on the RHI in young populations, but research on age-related changes in the RHI is still scarce. Here we extend the use of the RHI to examine the changes in the sense of body ownership related to healthy aging. Subjective reports (i.e., questionnaire) and proprioceptive drift were compared among young (n = 22, age range 20-22 years), middle-aged (n = 22, age range 44-55 years), and older adults (n = 22, age range 60-72 years). A stronger subjective experience of illusion was observed in the young and older adults as compared to the middle-aged. No differences in proprioceptive drift were found between the three groups. These findings are discussed in relation to: 1) different stages of development of perceptual and cognitive components of the sense of body ownership, and 2) compensatory mechanisms.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Functional motor disorders (FMDs) are prevalent and highly disabling conditions in young adults that can result in reduced independence. Despite advances in diagnosis and treatment, the economic ...burden of FMDs is largely unknown.
This pilot retrospective study provides a real-world overview of the economic costs related to delayed diagnosis of FMDs from a cohort of patients of a specialized clinic in Italy, based on Italian healthcare costs.
Sociodemographic data, clinical history, healthcare service utilization, and associated direct costs were collected for a period of up to 5 years before a definite diagnosis of FMDs in 40 patients.
The mean time lag between the onset of FMDs symptoms and diagnosis was 6.63 years (±8.57). The mean annual use of recourses per patient was three specialist visits (95% CI 2.4-3.4) and three diagnostic examinations (95% CI 2.2-3.6) that made up a total of six investigations and over seven (95% CI 5.5-9.7) rehabilitation contacts per year per patient were used before a diagnosis of FMDs was established. In more than 50% of the cases, patients had been hospitalized or made an ER visit at least once before receiving the correct diagnosis. The average annual costs for delayed diagnosis, taking into account only direct healthcare costs (without medications), was about €2,302 (CI 95% €1,570-2,830) per patient €1,524 covered by the NHS (CI 95% €1,214-1,834) and € 778 by the patient (CI 95% €606-960). Hospitalization accounted for €916 (CI 95% €670-1,160) per patient per year, followed by rehabilitation €493 (CI 95% €345-641) and diagnostic tests € 387 (CI 95% €314-460).
These preliminary results shed some light on the high healthcare services volume and direct healthcare costs from clinic to clinic for visits, unnecessary tests, and prescribed treatments in a real-world overview from a cohort of patients of a specialized clinic in Italy. It may represent a starting point for future studies to statistically test and quantify cost reduction after implementing appropriate healthcare pathways.
When subjects look at a rubber hand being brush-stroked synchronously with their own hidden hand, they might feel a sense of ownership over the rubber hand. The perceived mislocalization of the own ...hand towards the rubber hand (proprioceptive drift) would reflect an implicit marker of this illusion occurring through the dominance of vision over proprioception. This account, however, contrasts with principles of multisensory integration whereby percepts result from a "statistical sum" of different sensory afferents. In this case, the most-known proprioceptive drift should be mirrored by complementary visual drift of the rubber hand in the opposite direction. We investigated this issue by designing two experiments in which subjects were not only requested to localize their own hand but also the rubber hand and further explored the subjective feeling of the illusion. In both experiments, we demonstrated a (visual) drift in the opposite direction of the proprioceptive drift, suggesting that both hands converge toward each other. This might suggest that the spatial representations of the two hands are integrated in a common percept placed in between them, contradicting previous accounts of substitution of the real hand by the rubber hand.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Highlights • Repetitive tactile stimulation improves somatosensory spatial and temporal perception. • The same intervention also modifies cortical sensorimotor interactions. • These changes are ...likely due to an increased effectiveness of cortical inhibition.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZRSKP
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