Behavioral inhibition (BI), a tendency to withdraw from or avoid novel social and non-social situations, is a personality trait which can confer risk for anxiety disorders. Like many personality traits, BI is often assessed via self-report questionnaires where respondents rate themselves for frequency of certain behaviors or feelings. However, questionnaires have inherent limitations, particularly in psychiatric populations where there may be unawareness of deficit. A viable alternative may be virtual environments, in which the participant guides an on-screen “avatar” through a series of onscreen events meant to simulate real-world situations. Here, we report on initial development of such an assessment tool, involving several onscreen scenarios with choice points where the participant can select from response options corresponding to inhibited or uninhibited behaviors. In two experiments involving over 300 college students, scores on the computer-based task were strongly correlated with BI scores attained through self-report questionnaire (r>.780, p<.001); this relationship held regardless of participant gender and experience with computer games. The results suggest that virtual environments may hold promise as alternative formats for assessment of personality traits in populations unsuited to traditional paper-and-pencil questionnaire formats due to psychopathology, limited attention span, or poor vocabulary and/or literacy skills.

Decisions based on trust are critical for human social interaction. We judge the trustworthiness of partners in social interactions based on a number of partner characteristics as well as experiences with those partners. These decisions are also influenced by personality. The current study examined how the personality trait of behavioral inhibition, which involves the tendency to avoid or withdraw from novelty in both social and non-social situations, is related to explicit ratings of trustworthiness as well as decisions made in the trust game. In the game, healthy young adults interacted with three fictional partners who were portrayed as trustworthy, untrustworthy or neutral through biographical information. Participants could choose to keep $1 or send $3 of virtual money to a partner. The partner could then choose to send $1.5 back to the participant or to keep the entire amount. On any trial in which the participant chose to send, the partner always reciprocated with 50% probability, irrespective of how that partner was portrayed in the biography. Behavioral inhibition was assessed through a self-report questionnaire. Finally, a reinforcement learning computational model was fit to the behavior of each participant. Self-reported ratings of trust confirmed that all participants, irrespective of behavioral inhibition, perceived differences in the moral character of the three partners (trustworthiness of good > neutral > bad partner). Decisions made in the game showed that inhibited participants tended to trust the neutral partner less than uninhibited participants. In contrast, this was not reflected in the ratings of the neutral partner (either pre- or post-game), indicating a dissociation between ratings of trustworthiness and decisions made by inhibited participants. Computational modeling showed that this was due to lower initial trust of the neutral partner rather than a higher learning rate associated with loss, suggesting an implicit bias against the neutral partner. Overall, the results suggest inhibited individuals may be predisposed to interpret neutral or ambiguous information more negatively which could, at least in part, account for the tendency to avoid unfamiliar people characteristic of behaviorally inhibited temperament, as well as its relationship to anxiety disorders.

laboratory workup, had decreasing hemoglobin levels with elevated WBC count and lactate. Contrast-enhanced abdominal CT scan revealed portal and superior mesenteric vein thrombosis, bowel wall ischemia along the segment of the jejenum in the left hemiabdomen, and infrarenal abdominal aorta and ascending aorta thrombi. Emergency exploratory laparotomy was done with segmental jejunoileal resection and primary end-to-end anastomosis with intraoperative findings of gangrenous small bowels measuring 100 cm in length, with the rest of the proximal small bowels noted to be dilated and edematous. The patient was transferred to the intensive care unit post-operatively for closer monitoring; Heparin drip was started 24 hours post-surgery. Histopathology results showed extensive transmural infarction, hemorrhage, and necrosis on small bowel segments; organizing thrombi were seen on mesenteric vessels. The patient was worked-up for other causes of hypercoagulable states which showed elevated Homocysteine levels at 20.6 (NV: 5-12). Discussion: It is likely that HHcy may increase the risk of patients with liver cirrhosis to develop arterial and venous thrombosis considering the pivotal role the liver plays in the metabolism of sulphur amino acids and Hcy-related vitamin storage. Therefore, identification of this high-risk group may be important to plan prevention management, such as vitamin supplementation, other Hcy-lowering strategies, or long-term anticoagulation.

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Background:CD38 monoclonal antibodies (mAb) have become part of backbone regimens for the treatment of multiple myeloma (MM). GEN3014 (HexaBody-CD38) is a next-generation CD38 mAb, carrying an E430G mutation in its Fc domain. This mutation facilitates IgG hexamer formation upon binding to CD38 on the cell membrane, leading to enhanced binding of complement and highly efficient complement-dependent cytotoxicity (CDC). In cell lines and primary MM patient samples, GEN3014 showed CDC-mediated tumor cell killing that was more efficient than daratumumab. In MM patients dosed with GEN3014, reduction in peripheral complement factor C2 and total complement lytic activity was observed at all evaluable doses (0.2-24 mg/kg). Complement parameters rapidly returned to baseline after dosing, indicating that GEN3014 did not exhaust complement (Spencer et al. ASH2022).