Formyl-peptide receptors (FPRs) recognize bacterial and mitochondrial formylated peptides as well as endogenous non-formylated peptides and even lipids. FPRs are expressed on various host cell types ...but most strongly on neutrophils and macrophages. After the discovery of FPRs on leukocytes, it was assumed that these receptors predominantly govern a proinflammatory response resulting in chemotaxis, degranulation, and oxidative burst during infection. However, it is clear that the activation of FPRs has more complex consequences and can also promote the resolution of inflammation. Recent studies have highlighted associations between FPR function and inflammatory conditions, including inflammatory disorders, cancer, and infection. In this review we discuss these recent findings.
Formyl-peptide receptors (FPRs) belong to the family of seven-transmembrane G protein-coupled receptors, which are involved in host defense against infections and in clearance of damaged host cells.
FPR1 is activated by short N-formylated peptides; these are cleavage products of bacterial and mitochondrial proteins. FPR2 is activated by endogenous non-formylated ligands as well as by longer amphipathic, α-helical bacterial peptides such as staphylococcal phenol-soluble modulins.
Endogenous FPR2 ligands can increase host survival during bacterial infections by reducing bacterial loads and by preventing excessive inflammatory responses.
FPRs are critical for effective healing of sterile wounds, as they can mediate the first wave of neutrophil infiltration.
FPR expression is associated with tumor progression in various cancer types. However, chemotherapy-induced tumor regression can also require FPR1 expression.
Persons with dementia often show circadian rhythm disturbances and sleep problems. Timed light exposure seems to be a promising non-pharmacological treatment option. In this review, meta-analyses ...were run on light effects on circadian activity rhythm parameters in persons with dementia measured with wrist actimetry. Further, we update a Cochrane review, published in 2014, on actigraphically measured light effects in nighttime sleep parameters in persons with dementia.
Four electronic databases were searched for randomized controlled trials. Effects in meta-analyses were summarized by using mean differences and 95% confidence intervals. We followed PRISMA guidelines to assess the risk of bias and registered the review protocol (PROSPERO: CRD42020149001).
Thirteen trials met inclusion criteria, and either utilized light therapy devices, ambient room lighting systems, or dawn-dusk interventions. Eleven of these studies were subjected to meta-analyses. They did not reveal significant light effects on circadian activity parameters: amplitude (p=.62; n=313), acrophase (p=.34; n=313), intradaily variability (p=.51; n=354), and interdaily stability (p=.38; n=354). Furthermore, no light effects were found on sleep parameters: total sleep duration (p=.53; n=594), sleep efficiency (p=.63; n=333), wake after sleep onset (p=.95; n=212), and sleep onset latency (p=.26; n=156). Subgroup analyses, pooling data from three studies including persons with Alzheimer's dementia, also did not show light effects on circadian activity and sleep parameters. The overall risk of bias of included studies was high.
There is insufficient evidence for actigraphically measured circadian light effects in persons with dementia. More high-quality research is needed to recommend the application of adjunctive light.
The capacity to find humorous perspectives in aversive situations may outline a helpful strategy in the context of cognitive reappraisal. Yet, research suggested that some people produce more ...adaptive humour than others. At the same time, not all forms of cognitive reinterpretation seem to be unequivocally beneficial. The present study aimed to investigate specific cognitive reappraisal strategies that individuals employ in humorous reappraisal of adverse events. In a sample of 95 participants, the use of cognitive reappraisal sub-strategies was assessed in a behavioural test in which participants were required to generate a series of humorous reappraisals of self-relevant, threatening events. These reappraisal sub-strategies (three positive reinterpretation strategies, three de-emphasising strategies) were then related to the habitual use of different kinds of humour as well as the broader DSM-5 personality trait domains and well-being in terms of depressive experiences, assessed by self-report questionnaires. While no robust relationships were found for reappraisal strategies based on de-emphasising, sub-strategies within the positive reinterpretation category showed specific and contrasting associations with the examined traits. Findings indicated that the ability to produce humour is only linked to a favourable pattern of reappraisal strategies when manifested in benign forms of humour. Specific relations also emerged for the broader personality traits. The study suggests that some characteristics that advance the use of benign humour also benefit adaptive emotion regulation. The opposite seems to be true for malicious, or "dark" humour. The introduced behavioural approach to the analysis of humorous cognitive reappraisal may prove useful also in future related research.
This study investigated EEG activity in the upper alpha band during the well-known Picture Completion Task of the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking (TTCT), a widely used creative ideation task in ...the figural domain. The application of a sophisticated computerized version of the TTCT facilitating the online assessment and digitalizing of participant's drawings allowed to separate two central stages of the creative ideation process (i.e., idea generation and idea elaboration). During idea generation, the participants’ task was to generate an initial draft of an original and creative completion of the presented abstract lines and figures of the TTCT. During idea elaboration, the participants were required to mentally improve the originality of the initially generated idea/draft. Creative ideation in this figural task was generally associated with comparatively strong desynchronization of upper alpha power over parietal and occipital sites, indicating high visual/figural processing demands. Interestingly, the stage of idea elaboration was accompanied by a relative increase of upper alpha power at parietal and occipital sites compared to the stage of idea generation, indicating heightened top-down processing demands. Furthermore, task performance was associated with relative increases of upper alpha power at frontal sites and relative decreases at centro-temporal sites from the stage of idea generation to idea elaboration. This association suggests the importance of increased inhibitory control over stimulus-based bottom-up information and motor imagery in order to achieve more creative outputs. Taken together these findings add to the relevant literature in that they a) extend research on the relationship between EEG alpha activity and creativity to the figural domain, and b) support a multistage view of creative ideation, involving cognitive control and mental imagery as important components of creativity.
•Figural creative thinking was linked to increased task related alpha power decreases.•Idea elaboration was associated with more alpha power compared to idea generation.•Creative performance was associated with frontal and centro-temporal power changes.
Increases in EEG alpha power during creative ideation are among the most consistent findings in the neuroscientific study of creativity, but existing studies did not focus on time-related changes of ...EEG alpha activity patterns during the process of creative ideation so far. Since several cognitive processes are involved in the generation of creative ideas, different EEG correlates may result as a function of time. In this study we addressed this crucial point. Forty-five participants worked on the "Alternative Uses Task" while the EEG was recorded and changes in task-related power (relative to rest) in the upper-frequency band (10-12 Hz) for three isochronous time intervals of the idea generation period were determined. Alpha power changes during idea generation followed a characteristic time course: we found a general increase of alpha power at the beginning of idea generation that was followed by a decrease and finally by a re-increase of alpha prior to responding that was most pronounced at parietal and temporal sites of the right hemisphere. Additionally, the production of more original ideas was accompanied by increasing hemispheric asymmetry (more alpha in the right than left hemisphere) with increasing duration of the idea generation period. The observed time course of brain activity may reflect the progression of different but well-known stages in the idea generation process: that is the initial retrieval of common and old ideas followed by the actual generation of novel and more creative ideas by overcoming typical responses through processes of mental simulation and imagination.
•This study examined the relationship between creativity and cognitive control.•Cognitive control was assessed by a modified Stroop color naming task.•Design students showed stronger cognitive ...control (no Stroop interference effect).•Stronger cognitive control was associated with higher creativity scores.
Creative potential has been variably associated with disinhibition and defocused attention, focused attention and effective cognitive control, or a flexible adaption of cognitive control. The present study examined the relationship between creativity and cognitive control in a sample of design students and a control group. Cognitive control was assessed by a modified Stroop color naming task, in which two color words and two font colors were used to generate congruent and incongruent conditions. Design students showed stronger cognitive control as indicated by the absence of a Stroop interference effect, and performed generally better (faster) on the Stroop task than students in the control group did. Moreover, correlational analyses revealed associations between stronger cognitive control and higher scores in originality, fluency and ideational behavior in psychometric creativity tasks. These results suggest that one cognitive feature of creative individuals is effective suppression of dominant but irrelevant response tendencies.
Statistical knowledge is a key competency for psychologists in order to correctly interpret assessment outcomes. Importantly, when learning statistics (and its mathematical foundations), ...self‐efficacy (defined as an individual's belief to successfully accomplish specific performance attainments) is a central predictor of students’ motivation to learn, learning engagement, and actual achievement. Therefore, it is crucial to gain a better understanding of students’ self‐efficacy for statistics and its interrelations with statistics anxiety and students’ belief in the relevance of statistics. Here, we present results showing development and validation of a self‐assessment questionnaire for examining self‐efficacy for statistics in psychology students (Self‐Efficacy for Learning Statistics for Psychologists, SES‐Psy). Upon using different methodological approaches, we demonstrate that the SES‐Psy questionnaire has (1) sound psychometric properties, and within our sample of university students, (2) a robust latent structure disclosing three clearly distinctive profiles that are characterized by a complex and nonlinear interplay between perceived self‐efficacy (for basic and advanced statistics), statistics anxiety, and students’ belief in the relevance of statistics. Implications for educational settings and future research are discussed.
We developed an economic assessment tool to evaluate psychologist's self‐efficacy for statistical competencies. We chose to validate the assessment instrument on psychology students attending basic and advanced statistic courses. We extended our approach with a person‐centered analysis using latent profile analysis to shed further light on the relation between motivational and emotional factors, as well as self‐efficacy.
Even though game elements can increase motivation and engagement, they also might distract learners and thereby decrease performance and learning outcomes. In the current study, we investigated the ...effects of intrinsically integrated game elements on performance and learning outcomes. In a pre-post training study, 85 adult participants were randomly assigned either to the game-based or non-game-based training condition. Participants trained their fraction magnitude understanding with digital number line estimation tasks on five consecutive days (á 15–20 min). The learning outcomes were evaluated using a paper-based number line estimation task. While participants in both the game-based and non-game-based condition improved their fraction magnitude understanding from pretest to posttest, their improvement did not differ significantly. However, during the training, participants in the game-based condition responded more accurately but were slower than those in the non-game-based condition. The current results suggest that game elements might increase participants’ cognitive engagement and change their priorities or strategies (i.e., accuracy over speed) during learning. Nevertheless, better training performance did not lead to superior learning outcomes.
Abstract
Background
Formyl-peptide receptors (FPRs) are important pattern recognition receptors that sense specific bacterial peptides. Formyl-peptide receptors are highly expressed on neutrophils ...and monocytes, and their activation promotes the migration of phagocytes to sites of infection. It is currently unknown whether FPRs may also influence subsequent processes such as bacterial phagocytosis and killing. Staphylococcus aureus, especially highly pathogenic community-acquired methicillin-resistant S aureus strains, release high amounts of FPR2 ligands, the phenol-soluble modulins.
Methods
We demonstrate that FPR activation leads to upregulation of complement receptors 1 and 3 as well as FCγ receptor I on neutrophils and, consequently, increased opsonic phagocytosis of S aureus and other pathogens.
Results
Increased phagocytosis promotes killing of S aureus and interleukin-8 release by neutrophils.
Conclusions
We show here for the first time that FPRs govern opsonic phagocytosis. Manipulation of FPR2 activation could open new therapeutic opportunities against bacterial pathogens.
FPR activation enhances phagocytosis by neutrophils, because of stronger expression of complement receptor 1 and 3 as well as FCγ receptor I. Furthermore, FPR activation during phagocytosis augmented synergistically the release of IL-8 and thereby neutrophil recruitment and bacterial killing.
Humor comprehension is increasingly recognized as showing parallels to more conventional creative cognition; yet our understanding of brain mechanisms underlying creative cognition in a humorous ...context is still limited. The present study addressed this issue by investigating functional patterns of EEG alpha activity while 93 participants viewed nonverbal humorous cartoons until they indicated having recognized the punch line, and subsequently vocalized their idea as to what constituted it. In a similar fashion, EEG was also assessed during performance of the Alternate Uses Task (AUT), in order to identify similarities and differences in EEG alpha activity implicated in conventional creative cognition vs. humor comprehension. Analyses revealed a pattern of robust task-related alpha power increases in both tasks, which were markedly more right-lateralized at ventral fronto-temporal sites in the humor task as compared to the AUT. Findings are interpreted in line with recent literature on the functional role of alpha activity in the creativity domain. Altogether, this study adds further evidence to the particular role of EEG alpha oscillations in creative cognition and supports the idea that conventional creative ideation and the comprehension of humor share neural mechanisms affiliated to creative cognition.
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