Background: Psychedelics are able to acutely alter emotional reactivity and self-consciousness. However, whether the regular naturalistic use of psychedelics can be linked to more persistent trait-level changes in these domains remains an open question. Aim: To test the hypotheses that (1) using psychedelics is related to higher positive and lower negative emotional reactivity; and (2) an adaptive pattern of self-consciousness, including diminished public self-consciousness and rumination, and increased reflection and self-awareness; and (3) these relations are mediated by the intensity of past ego-dissolution and mystical experiences. Method: An online survey including questions about the history of psychoactive substance use; questionnaires measuring trait levels of emotional reactivity and self-consciousness; questionnaires for retrospective assessment of ego-dissolution and mystical experiences. Data collected from 2516 participants (1661 psychedelics users) were analyzed using robust linear regression and mediation analysis. Results: A higher number of lifetime uses of psychedelics predicted greater positive and lower negative emotional reactivity; also, in the domain of self-consciousness, it predicted greater reflection and internal state awareness, and reduced rumination tendency and public self-consciousness. Finally, the intensity of past mystical and ego-dissolution experiences mediated almost all the observed relationships between the lifetime number of psychedelics uses and psychological variables. Conclusions: Lifetime psychedelics use predicts an adaptive pattern of trait-level emotional reactivity and self-consciousness. Ego-dissolution and mystical experiences are essential in understanding the long-lasting psychological effects of psychedelics use. Our findings might potentially explain previous observations of increased well-being in psychedelics users.

Brain signal diversity constitutes a robust neuronal marker of the global states of consciousness. It has been demonstrated that, in comparison to the resting wakefulness, signal diversity is lower during unconscious states, and higher during psychedelic states. A plausible interpretation of these findings is that the neuronal diversity corresponds to the diversity of subjective conscious experiences. Therefore, in the present study we varied an information rate processed by the subjects and hypothesized that greater information rate will be related to richer and more differentiated phenomenology and, consequently, to greater signal diversity. To test this hypothesis speech recordings (excerpts from an audio-book) were presented to subjects at five different speeds (65, 83, 100, 117, and 135% of the original speed). By increasing or decreasing speed of the recordings we were able to, respectively, increase or decrease the presented information rate. We also included a backward (unintelligible) speech presentation and a resting-state condition (no auditory stimulation). We tested 19 healthy subjects and analyzed the recorded EEG signal (64 channels) in terms of Lempel-Ziv diversity (LZs). We report the following findings. First, our main hypothesis was not confirmed, as Bayes Factor indicates evidence for no effect when comparing LZs among five presentation speeds. Second, we found that LZs during the resting-state was greater than during processing of both meaningful and unintelligible speech. Third, an additional analysis uncovered a gradual decrease of diversity over the time-course of the experiment, which might reflect a decrease in vigilance. We thus speculate that higher signal diversity during the unconstrained resting-state might be due to a greater variety of experiences, involving spontaneous attention switching and mind wandering.

Transitions between wakefulness and anesthesia are accompanied by profound changes in brain functioning. A key challenge is thus to disentangle neuronal mechanisms specific to loss and recovery of consciousness, from more general effects that are not directly related to the capacity for conscious experience. Measures of neuronal diversity have been recently proposed to constitute a robust correlate of the global states of consciousness. In the present study we investigated whether EEG signal diversity is indeed related to behavioral responsiveness during propofol sedation, or rather to the general drug-related effects. To this end, we reanalyzed data collected from 20 subjects sedated with propofol. Based on the responsiveness to auditory stimuli all subjects were subdivided into two subgroups -responsive (n = 13), who remains awake throughout the experiment, and drowsy (n = 7), who becomes unresponsive during moderate sedation. Resting state EEG recorded during wakefulness and sedation was characterized by the Mean Information Gain (MIG) and Fluctuation complexity (FC) -information-theory measures estimating signal diversity or complexity, respectively. The main finding is that the drowsy group exhibited a decrease in diversity during sedation but, unexpectedly, the responsive group exhibited a robust increase in diversity (ANOVA group x state interaction: F(3) = 7.81, p < 0.001; BF 10 > 197). However, signal complexity neither differentiated the subgroups, nor decreased reliably during sedation (t-test wake vs. moderate sedation: t(19) = 2.57, p = 0.092; BF 10 = 3.08). Further, we show that a change in signal diversity is negatively correlated with a delta power change (r = -0.62, p = 0.002), and positively correlated with a beta power change (r = 0.84, p < 0.001). Finally, we show that MIG behaves in a qualitatively similar manner to Lempel-Ziv -another diversity measures used in several recent studies.Overall, we revealed that propofol sedation is initially related to an increase in EEG signal diversity, and that only upon loss of responsiveness EEG diversity decreases. The qualitatively different pattern of changes in the responsive and drowsy groups makes EEG diversity a robust indirect index of responsiveness and, presumably, consciousness.

The CHEK2 gene is involved in the repair of damaged DNA. CHEK2 germline mutations impair this repair mechanism, causing genomic instability and increasing the risk of various cancers, including papillary thyroid carcinoma (PTC). Here, we asked whether CHEK2 germline mutations predict a worse clinical course for PTC. The study included 1547 unselected PTC patients (1358 women and 189 men) treated at a single center. The relationship between mutation status and clinicopathological characteristics, treatment responses, and disease outcome was assessed. CHEK2 mutations were found in 240 (15.5%) of patients. A CHEK2 I157T missense mutation was found in 12.3%, and CHEK2 truncating mutations (IVS2 + 1G > A, del5395, 1100delC) were found in 2.8%. The truncating mutations were more common in women (p = 0.038), and were associated with vascular invasion (OR, 6.91; p < 0.0001) and intermediate or high initial risk (OR, 1.92; p = 0.0481) in multivariate analysis. No significant differences in these parameters were observed in patients with the I157T missense mutation. In conclusion, the CHEK2 truncating mutations were associated with vascular invasion and with intermediate and high initial risk of recurrence/persistence. Neither the truncating nor the missense mutations were associated with worse primary treatment response and outcome of the disease.

Conclusions Autofluorescence spectroscopy may be a supporting tool for differential diagnosis of changes in laryngeal epithelium. Objectives Early detection and differential diagnosis of proliferative changes in the larynx are still a challenge for laryngologists. The aim of the study was to evaluate the autofluorescence spectroscopy technique to in vitro differential diagnosis of pathological changes in the epithelium of the larynx. Methods Forty-two patients aged 34-79 years were included in the study. The fifty-two tissue specimens, including 10 samples of cancerous lesion, 10 adjacent normal tissue, 10 chronic inflammation, eight cyst, three leukoplakia, four polyp, and seven Reinke's edema, were obtained during laryngological procedures. All tissue samples were independently diagnosed histopathologically. The autofluorescence emission spectra at two excitation wavelengths, 290 nm and 370 nm, were measured for every sample studied. Results The autofluorescence signals of cancerous tissue samples at both excitations exhibited identical emission band shapes of much lower intensities at their maxima as compared to the adjacent healthy tissue samples studied. The autofluorescence spectra intensities of cancerous and normal tissues varied inter-individually. Evident differences in autofluorescence intensities and its band shapes of different pathological laryngeal changes at the 290 nm excitations were demonstrated.

Identifying risk factors is crucial for predicting papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) with severe course, which causes a clinical problem. The purpose of this study was to assess whether male sex can be such a predictive factor and to verify whether including it as a predictive factor of high initial risk of recurrence/persistence would help to enhance the value of the American Thyroid Association initial risk stratification system (ATA). We retrospectively analyzed 1547 PTC patients (1358 females and 189 males), treated from 1986 to 2018. The relationship between sex and clinicopathological features, response to therapy, and disease status was assessed. Men with PTC showed some adverse clinicopathological features more often than women, including angioinvasion, lymph node metastases, and tumor size > 40 mm. There were sex-related disparities with respect to response to initial therapy and final follow-up. Male sex is associated with some unfavorable clinicopathological features of PTC, which may affect response to initial therapy or final disease status. In our study, modification of the ATA system by including male sex as a risk factor does not enhance its value. Thus, further studies are needed to assess whether males require treatment modalities or oncological follow-up protocols that are different from those of females.

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Introduction The aim of this article was to compare the 30-day morbidity after radical cystectomy comparing the prevalent Clavien-Dindo Classification (CDC) and the novel Comprehensive Complication Index (CCI). Additionally, we evaluated the correlation between particular clinical features and the severity of perioperative morbidity. Material and methods A total of 42 patients were included into the study (33 men and 9 women) who underwent open radical cystectomy (RC) with bilateral lymphadenectomy for bladder cancer. The selection of complications was based on groundbreaking research on morbidity after RC. The assessment of perioperative complications was performed using the CDC and then the CCI. Results The CCI was found to be a significant upgrade in capturing cumulative morbidity in comparison to the CDC when used as the only evaluational tool. Conclusions Using only the CDC may underestimate the severity of perioperative complications. Unfavorable clinical features e.g. older age, chronic kidney disease (CKD), persistent nodal (pN+) disease, prior abdominal and pelvic surgeries as well as smoking are of significant importance for the increase of the severity of perioperative complications.