The size-weight illusion in visual form agnosic patient DF

ABSTRACT

The size-weight illusion is a perceptual illusion where smaller objects are judged as heavier than equally weighted larger objects. A previous informal report suggests that visual form agnosic patient DF does not experience the size-weight illusion when vision is the only available cue to object size. We tested this experimentally, comparing the magnitudes of DF’s visual, kinesthetic and visual-kinesthetic size-weight illusions to those of 28 similarly-aged controls. A modified t-test found that DF’s visual size-weight illusion was significantly smaller than that of controls (z_cc = ?1.7). A test of simple dissociation based on the Revised Standardized Difference Test found that the discrepancy between the magnitude of DF’s visual and kinesthetic size-weight illusions was not significantly different from that of controls (z_dcc = ?1.054), thereby failing to establish a dissociation between the visual and kinesthetic conditions. These results are consistent with previous suggestions that visual form agnosia, following ventral visual stream damage, is associated with an abnormally reduced size-weight illusion. The results, however, do not confirm that this reduction is specific to the use of visual size cues to predict object weight, rather than reflecting more general changes in the processing of object size cues or in the use of predictive strategies for lifting.     

Automated classification of depression from structural brain measures across two independent community‐based cohorts

Major depressive disorder (MDD) has been the subject of many neuroimaging case–control classification studies. Although some studies report accuracies ≥80%, most have investigated relatively small samples of clinically‐ascertained, currently symptomatic cases, and did not attempt replication in larger samples. We here first aimed to replicate previously reported classification accuracies in a small, well‐phenotyped community‐based group of current MDD cases with clinical interview‐based diagnoses (from STratifying Resilience and Depression Longitudinally cohort, ‘STRADL’). We performed a set of exploratory predictive classification analyses with measures related to brain morphometry and white matter integrity. We applied three classifier types—SVM, penalised logistic regression or decision tree—either with or without optimisation, and with or without feature selection. We then determined whether similar accuracies could be replicated in a larger independent population‐based sample with self‐reported current depression (UK Biobank cohort). Additional analyses extended to lifetime MDD diagnoses—remitted MDD in STRADL, and lifetime‐experienced MDD in UK Biobank. The highest cross‐validation accuracy (75%) was achieved in the initial current MDD sample with a decision tree classifier and cortical surface area features. The most frequently selected decision tree split variables included surface areas of bilateral caudal anterior cingulate, left lingual gyrus, left superior frontal, right precentral and paracentral regions. High accuracy was not achieved in the larger samples with self‐reported current depression (53.73%), with remitted MDD (57.48%), or with lifetime‐experienced MDD (52.68–60.29%). Our results indicate that high predictive classification accuracies may not immediately translate to larger samples with broader criteria for depression, and may not be robust across different classification approaches.     

Breast cancer management pathways during the COVID-19 pandemic: outcomes from the UK ‘Alert Level 4’ phase of the B-MaP-C study

Background The B-MaP-C study aimed to determine alterations to breast cancer (BC) management during the peak transmission period of the UK COVID-19 pandemic and the potential impact of these treatment decisions.Methods This was a national cohort study of patients with early BC undergoing multidisciplinary team (MDT)-guided treatment recommendations during the pandemic, designated ‘standard’ or ‘COVID-altered’, in the preoperative, operative and post-operative setting.Findings Of 3776 patients (from 64 UK units) in the study, 2246 (59%) had ‘COVID-altered’ management. ‘Bridging’ endocrine therapy was used (n = 951) where theatre capacity was reduced. There was increasing access to COVID-19 low-risk theatres during the study period (59%). In line with national guidance, immediate breast reconstruction was avoided (n = 299). Where adjuvant chemotherapy was omitted (n = 81), the median benefit was only 3% (IQR 2–9%) using ‘NHS Predict’. There was the rapid adoption of new evidence-based hypofractionated radiotherapy (n = 781, from 46 units). Only 14 patients (1%) tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 during their treatment journey.Conclusions The majority of ‘COVID-altered’ management decisions were largely in line with pre-COVID evidence-based guidelines, implying that breast cancer survival outcomes are unlikely to be negatively impacted by the pandemic. However, in this study, the potential impact of delays to BC presentation or diagnosis remains unknown.Subject terms: Breast cancer, Surgical oncology, Health care economics, Quality of life, Health policy     

Integrative genomic analysis of matched primary and metastatic pediatric osteosarcoma

Despite being the most common childhood bone tumor, the genomic characterization of osteosarcoma remains incomplete. In particular, very few osteosarcoma metastases have been sequenced to date, critical to better understand mechanisms of progression and evolution in this tumor. We performed an integrated whole genome and exome sequencing analysis of paired primary and metastatic pediatric osteosarcoma specimens to identify recurrent genomic alterations. Sequencing of 13 osteosarcoma patients including 13 primary, 10 metastatic, and 3 locally recurring tumors revealed a highly heterogeneous mutational landscape, including cases of hypermutation and microsatellite instability positivity, but with virtually no recurrent alterations except for mutations involving the tumor suppressor genes RB1 and TP53. At the germline level, we detected alterations in multiple cancer related genes in the majority of the cohort, including those potentially disrupting DNA damage response pathways. Metastases retained only a minimal number of short variants from their corresponding primary tumors, while copy number alterations showed higher conservation. One recurrently amplified gene, KDR, was highly expressed in advanced cases and associated with poor prognosis. © 2019 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.