CNO (3 mg/kg, ip) or vehicle was administered 30 min before sessions 11-12. CeA inactivation prior to sucrose downshift eliminated the cSNC effect, which was observed in vehicle controls. However, there was no evidence that CeA inactivation affected preference for 10% alcohol over water. These results support the hypothesis that CeA activity is critical for cSNC effect, an outcome consistent with the view that the amygdala plays a central role in frustrative nonreward. Metamemory is crucial for monitoring, evaluating, and optimizing memory performance. The basis of metamemory, however, is a matter of considerable debate. In the present study, we examined the contribution of processing fluency-the ease of processing information during learning-to metamemory judgments. We recorded event-related potentials (ERPs) while participants studied related and unrelated word pairs across two study-test cycles in a judgment of learning (JOL) task. In the first study-test cycle, related pairs were associated with better cued recall, higher JOLs, and a reduced N400 amplitude than unrelated pairs. Crucially, between- and within subject correlational analyses indicated that reduced N400 amplitudes, indexing more fluent processing, were associated with higher JOLs. Furthermore, single-trial N400 mediated a small but significant portion of the relatedness effect on JOLs. In the second study-test cycle, relatedness still increased recall and JOLs. However, related and unrelated pairs did not differ in N400 amplitude. Rather, unrelated pairs elicited a parietal positivity in a later time window that partially mediated the relatedness effect on JOLs. Together, these results suggest that processing fluency, indexed by the N400, contributes to the relatedness effect on JOLs when novel word pairs are learned, but not when previously studied pairs are relearned. Our results also imply that aspects of fluency not captured by the N400 and/or explicit beliefs about memory contribute to JOLs. This study demonstrates the utility of ERPs in gaining new insights into the neurocognitive mechanisms of metamemory. BACKGROUND Past studies have shown that pain memories are often inaccurate, a phenomenon known as mnemonic pain bias. Pain memories are thought to play an important role on how future pain is felt. Recent evidence from our laboratory suggests that individuals who exaggerate past pain display increased superior temporal gyrus (STG) activity during the encoding of experimental painful stimulations, suggesting that this brain structure plays an important role in pain memories. OBJECTIVE /hypothesis. To determine whether a virtual lesion paradigm, targeting the STG during pain encoding, can affect long-lasting pain memories. We hypothesized that interfering with the activity of the STG would attenuate mnemonic bias. METHODS Randomized double-blind study with two parallel groups. Participants received either sham (n = 21) or real (n = 21) transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS – virtual lesion paradigm) over the STG during pain encoding (milliseconds after the administration of a painful stimuli). Pain intensity and unpleasantness were evaluated using a visual analog scale (VAS; 0 to 10) immediately after the painful event, and at recall, 2 months later. The mnemonic pain bias (calculated by subtracting the pain scores obtained at recall from the pain score obtained during encoding) was compared between the two groups for both pain intensity and unpleasantness. RESULTS Participants in both groups did not differ in terms of age and gender (real TMS = 27 years ± 9, 43% female; sham TMS = 25 years ± 4, 49% female; p > 0.64). The mnemonic bias related to pain intensity was similar in both groups (p = 0.83). mTOR activity However, the mnemonic bias related to pain unpleasantness was lower in the real TMS group (p = 0.04). CONCLUSIONS Our results provide the first evidence that the STG, is causally involved in the formation of biased memories of pain unpleasantness. BACKGROUND In microbiological diagnosis of periprosthetic joint infection (PJI) there is much controversial discussion about culture media and incubation time, especially if anaerobic bacteria are the causative agents. This retrospective analysis was conducted to compare the results obtained by inoculation of sonicate fluid from prosthetic components into BD Bactec blood culture bottles with those obtained by our culture method using sensitive supplemented growth media. METHODS Twenty-eight cases were included in this study. For definition of PJI, the criteria of the Musculoskeletal Infection Society (MSIS) were considered. The quantity and time to positivity of anaerobes detected in sonicate fluid were monitored both from inoculated supplemented liver thioglycollate broth and anaerobic blood culture bottles. Furthermore, phenotypic testing was performed on the antimicrobial activity within the sonicate fluid. RESULTS The most frequently isolated microbes were Cutibacterium species, followed by Finegoldia magna, Parvimonas micra, Robinsoniella peoriensis, Clostridium species, Peptoniphilus harei and Slackia exigua. In 24 cases, the microorganisms became detectable within five days (median time 3.2 days) when sonicate fluid was incubated in supplemented liver thioglycollate broth, regardless of whether the patients had taken antimicrobial agents prior to surgery. However, when sonicate fluid was inoculated into anaerobic Bactec bottles, the median time to positivity was 7.4 days and only 12 cases (43%) were correctly identified. Sixteen cases remained negative after 14 days of incubation. CONCLUSION Depending on the pathogen, incubation of sonicate fluid using blood culture bottles can support diagnosis of PJI but compared with our culture medium it is less efficient if anaerobes are the suspected cause of infection. Microbiological expertise is therefore indispensable to ensure reliable detection of these microorganisms in PJI until a gold standard for laboratory handling of anaerobes has been established. Microbial production of carotenoids has mainly focused towards a few products, such as β-carotene, lycopene and astaxanthin. However, other less explored carotenoids, like violaxanthin, have also shown unique properties and promissory applications. Violaxanthin is a plant-derived epoxidated carotenoid with strong antioxidant activity and a key precursor of valuable compounds, such as fucoxanthin and β-damascenone. In this study, we report for the first time the heterologous production of epoxycarotenoids in yeast. We engineered the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae following multi-level strategies for the efficient accumulation of violaxanthin. Starting from a β-carotenogenic yeast strain, we first evaluated the performance of several β-carotene hydroxylases (CrtZ), and zeaxanthin epoxidases (ZEP) from different species, together with their respective N-terminal truncated variants. The combined expression of CrtZ from Pantoea ananatis and truncated ZEP of Haematococcus lacustris showed the best performance and led to a yield of 1.