Review
Psychology, Clinical
Agnes Norbury, Saren H. Seeley, M. Mercedes Perez-Rodriguez, Adriana Feder
Summary: Resilience refers to the ability to adapt successfully following stressful life events, and several key psychological factors have been consistently linked to it in functional MRI studies. These factors include emotion regulation, reward responsivity, and cognitive control. Additionally, emerging areas of study such as social cognition, active coping, and fear extinction may further facilitate resilience. The ongoing issues in neuroimaging study design need to be addressed to improve treatments for post-traumatic stress syndromes.
PSYCHOLOGICAL MEDICINE
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Xi Zhu, Benjamin Suarez-Jimenez, Sigal Zilcha-Mano, Amit Lazarov, Shay Arnon, Ari L. Lowell, Maja Bergman, Matthew Ryba, Allan J. Hamilton, Jane F. Hamilton, J. Blake Turner, John C. Markowitz, Prudence W. Fisher, Yuval Neria
Summary: This study demonstrates that Equine-assisted therapy (EAT) can induce functional and structural changes in the brains of patients with PTSD, particularly in the caudate. Higher baseline caudate functional connectivity (FC) is associated with greater reduction in PTSD symptoms post-treatment.
HUMAN BRAIN MAPPING
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Christelle Langley, Naoki Masuda, Simon Godwin, Giovanni De Marco, Angela Davies Smith, Rosemary Jones, Jared Bruce, Ngoc Jade Thai
Summary: This study aimed to establish the role of the basal ganglia in fatigue in multiple sclerosis (MS) using functional connectivity measures. The results suggest that decreased local functional connectivity within the basal ganglia plays a key role in cognitive fatigue in MS. Increased global functional connectivity between the basal ganglia and the cortex may serve as a compensatory mechanism to reduce the impact of fatigue in MS.
FRONTIERS IN NEUROSCIENCE
(2023)
Editorial Material
Psychiatry
Antje A. T. S. Reinders, Dick J. Veltman
Summary: Dissociative identity disorder (DID) is a severely debilitating disorder that remains controversial in terms of diagnosis and treatment. Neurobiological evidence supports the clinical observation that DID is a severe form of post-traumatic stress disorder.
BRITISH JOURNAL OF PSYCHIATRY
(2021)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Jenna L. Merenstein, Jessica R. Petok, Ilana J. Bennett
Summary: This study revealed that older adults show worse learning performance and increased brain activity related to implicit associative learning in certain brain regions compared to younger adults at different stages of a task. However, when considering the stage of learning, there were no significant age group differences in learning performance or brain activity.
BEHAVIOURAL BRAIN RESEARCH
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Demetrio Milardi, Gianpaolo Antonio Basile, Joshua Faskowitz, Salvatore Bertino, Angelo Quartarone, Giuseppe Pio Anastasi, Alessia Bramanti, Rosella Ciurleo, Alberto Cacciola
Summary: This study aimed to test the effects of different tractography-based approaches for the reconstruction of subthalamic nucleus (STN) functional territories. Four parcellation pipelines were compared, and it was found that each parcellation provided consistent results in terms of location of the identified parcels, but with variations in size and shape. It is suggested that fine-tuning of tractography-based parcellation may lead to higher reproducibility and aid the development of an optimized surgical targeting protocol.
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Beatriz Ruiz-Saez, Manuela Martin-Bejarano Garcia, Ana Martinez de Aragon, Mario Gil-Correa, Helena Melero, Norberto Antonio Malpica, Santiago Jimenez de Ory, Berta Zamora, Sara Guillen, Pablo Rojo, Lola Falcon-Neyra, Alberto Alvarez, Pilar Fernandez, Maria Luisa Lorente-Jareno, Jose Tomas Ramos, Talia Sainz, Carlos Velo, Maria Luisa Navarro, Maria Isabel Gonzalez-Tome
Summary: Brain atrophy has been observed in perinatally HIV-infected patients despite treatment, indicating potential neurological consequences of the infection. This study aimed to evaluate cortical thickness and subcortical gray matter volumes in PHIV patients and found thinner cortices and lower subcortical GM volumes in certain brain regions compared to HIV-negative controls. While no differences were found in neuropsychological performance or psychopathological symptoms, neuroimaging revealed structural alterations in PHIV patients. More research is needed to understand the impact of HIV on brain structure and identify potential risk and protective factors in these patients.
Article
Neurosciences
Dongning Su, Zhijin Zhang, Zhe Zhang, Yawen Gan, Yingkui Zhang, Xinyao Liu, Jingfeng Bi, Lingyan Ma, Huiqing Zhao, Xuemei Wang, Zhan Wang, Huizi Ma, Shairy Sifat, Junhong Zhou, Wei Li, Tao Wu, Jing Jing, Tao Feng
Summary: This study investigates the relationship between magnetic susceptibility changes and other microstructural and functional alterations in subcortical nuclei of Wilson's disease patients. It also explores the diagnostic utility of these MRI-related metrics. Results show that Wilson's disease patients exhibit increased susceptibility, widespread atrophy, and microstructural impairments in the basal ganglia. The study concludes that microstructural impairment of the basal ganglia and brain atrophy are useful neuroimaging biomarkers for assessing neurological impairment in Wilson's disease.
FRONTIERS IN NEUROSCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Ziang Gao, Xixiang Chen, Rong Xiang, Wei Zhang, Lu Tan, Wenjun Fan, Peiqiang Liu, Hao Lv, Yu Xu
Summary: This study used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging to discover functional changes in brain activity in patients with allergic rhinitis, including hypoactivity in the precuneus and hyperactivity in the anterior cingulate cortex. These changes were significantly correlated with symptom scores and quality of life measures. Further investigation into brain activity in allergic rhinitis patients may provide new insights for clinical interventions.
FRONTIERS IN NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Patrick A. F. Laing, Kim L. Felmingham, Christopher G. Davey, Ben J. Harrison
Summary: Safety learning creates associations between conditional stimuli and the absence of threat. Studies have shown that human safety learning is related to fear inhibition, positive affect, and memory processes. Animal models have also identified distinctions between acquisition and expression in safety learning. Therefore, the neurobiology of safety learning should be conceptualized along an acquisition-expression model.
NEUROSCIENCE AND BIOBEHAVIORAL REVIEWS
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Geraldine Gvozdanovic, Sarah Schoch, Philipp Staempfli, Erich Seifritz, Bjorn Rasch
Summary: Recent research has shown that sleep can inhibit the development of intrusive memory after trauma, possibly through consolidating and integrating memories. However, the neural mechanisms behind this effect are still unknown. In this study, researchers used fMRI recordings to examine the neural correlates of sleep on traumatic memory development in healthy participants. They found that sleep reduced the number of intrusive traumatic memories compared to wakefulness. Additionally, targeted memory reactivation during sleep showed a descriptive reduction in intrusions. These findings suggest the beneficial effects of sleep on traumatic memory and provide insights into potential neural predictors.
HUMAN BRAIN MAPPING
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
M. H. Reda, H. A. Marusak, T. D. Ely, S. J. H. van Rooij, A. F. Stenson, J. S. Stevens, J. M. France, N. Tottenham, T. Jovanovic
Summary: The study found that community violence has a unique impact on the hippocampal functional connectivity in youth, showing significant associations with the Default Mode Network and Salience Network. Community violence is uniquely associated with lower hippocampus-insula rsFC, while age and violence exposure levels also affect hippocampus-insula rsFC reductions.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Clara Rodriguez-Sabate, Manuel Rodriguez, Ingrid Morales
Summary: Two new recurrence plot methods were introduced to study the long-term dynamics and interactions between different brain regions. These methods were applied to compare interactions between patients with Parkinson's disease and healthy controls, revealing disruptions in interactions that may contribute to motor disorders and side effects of dopaminergic drugs.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Hagar G. Yamin, Guy Gurevitch, Tomer Gazit, Lavi Shpigelman, Itzhak Fried, Yuval Nir, Yoav Benjamini, Talma Hendler
Summary: By analyzing simultaneous recordings of scalp EEG and unit activity, we found that the average firing activity of two medial temporal lobe areas can be estimated from EEG spectral features. Changes in firing activity in both areas and states can be predicted from scalp EEG frequency modulations.
Article
Neurosciences
Andy Wai Kan Yeung, Michaela Robertson, Angela Uecker, Peter T. Fox, Simon B. Eickhoff
Summary: The literature of neuroimaging meta-analysis, particularly the activation likelihood estimation (ALE) approach, has been thriving for over a decade. A meta-evaluation of these meta-analyses was performed to evaluate their design and reporting standards. The study found that the use of cluster-level family-wise error (FWE) correction method has become dominant, and there has been slight improvement in reporting on data redundancy elimination and providing input data. However, there is still room for improvement in terms of data and code availability statements and data submission to BrainMap.
HUMAN BRAIN MAPPING
(2023)
Article
Psychology, Clinical
Kirsten Smith, Anke Ehlers
Summary: This study examined the mediating role of unhelpful coping strategies in the relationship between negative appraisals, memory characteristics, and symptoms of prolonged grief disorder (PGD), posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and depression. The results showed that coping strategies played a significant mediating role in the relationship between appraisals, memory characteristics, and symptoms of these disorders. These findings have important implications for the prediction and treatment of mental health problems following loss.
PSYCHOLOGICAL MEDICINE
(2023)
Article
Psychology, Clinical
David M. Clark, Jennifer Wild, Emma Warnock-Parkes, Richard Stott, Nick Grey, Graham Thew, Anke Ehlers
Summary: Compared to conventional face-to-face therapy, Internet-based cognitive therapy for social anxiety disorder (iCT-SAD) can achieve more symptom change per therapist hour.
PSYCHOLOGICAL MEDICINE
(2023)
Review
Nutrition & Dietetics
Flavia M. Silva, Julia Lima, Paula P. Teixeira, Guilherme B. Grezzana, Mabel Figueiro, Talita Colombo, Katia Souto, Airton T. Stein
Summary: This umbrella review of systematic reviews with meta-analysis indicates that there is a significant association between obesity and mortality in patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, these studies have a high risk of bias and a low certainty of evidence.
CLINICAL NUTRITION ESPEN
(2023)
Article
Psychology, Developmental
Joseph Murray, Andreas Bauer, Christian Loret de Mola, Rafaela Costa Martins, Cauane Blumenberg, Michelle Degli Esposti, Alan Stein, Fernando C. Barros, Pedro C. Hallal, Mariangela F. Silveira, Andrea D. Bertoldi, Marlos R. Domingues
Summary: This study conducted a longitudinal analysis on a birth cohort in Pelotas, Brazil, examining the mental health of children and caregivers before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. The findings suggest that families in poverty experienced significant material and interpersonal difficulties during the pandemic, resulting in increased mental health problems among children and caregivers.
JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY OF CHILD AND ADOLESCENT PSYCHIATRY
(2023)
Review
Neurosciences
Saara Nolvi, Emily C. Merz, Eeva-Leena Kataja, Christine E. Parsons
Summary: Heightened maternal stress during pregnancy is associated with atypical brain development and an elevated risk for psychopathology in offspring. Supportive environments during early postnatal life may promote brain development and reverse atypical developmental trajectories induced by prenatal stress. Factors such as parental caregiving quality, environmental enrichment, social support, and socioeconomic status can moderate the effects of prenatal stress on infant brain and neurocognitive outcomes.
BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Josephine Cruzat, Ruben Herzog, Pavel Prado, Yonatan Sanz-Perl, Raul Gonzalez-Gomez, Sebastian Moguilner, Morten L. Kringelbach, Gustavo Deco, Enzo Tagliazucchi, Agustin Ibanez
Summary: Healthy brain dynamics are characterized by a complex system that is far from thermodynamic equilibrium. However, Alzheimer's disease (AD) disrupts the time-reversal symmetry of brain activity, moving it towards equilibrium dynamics. Through the analysis of brain data from AD patients and healthy control subjects, it was found that AD is associated with a decrease in temporal irreversibility at global, local, and network levels, affecting multiple frequency bands. Specifically, frontal and temporoparietal regions were most affected at the local level, while limbic, frontoparietal, default mode, and salience networks were most compromised at the network level. Temporal reversibility was related to cognitive decline in AD and gray matter volume in healthy control subjects.
JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Psychology, Clinical
Christine E. Parsons, Kirstin L. Purves, Megan Skelton, Alicia J. Peel, Molly R. Davies, Fruhling Rijsdijk, Shannon Bristow, Thalia C. Eley, Gerome Breen, Colette R. Hirsch, Katherine S. Young
Summary: This study found that most participants showed little change in their depression and anxiety symptoms during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there were divergent responses among some participants, with some showing improvements and others experiencing worsening symptoms during national lockdowns. Younger age, a history of mental health diagnosis, non-binary or self-defined gender, and unemployed or student status were significant predictors of membership in the high symptom groups.
PSYCHOLOGICAL MEDICINE
(2023)
Article
Biochemical Research Methods
Pau Clusella, Gustavo S. Deco, Morten Kringelbach, Giulio S. Ruffini, Jordi Garcia-Ojalvo
Summary: In this study, the authors investigate the complex spatiotemporal dynamics in large-scale brain models. They show that destabilization of a synchronized oscillatory state can lead to the emergence of traveling waves and high-dimensional chaos. This work establishes a general route towards understanding spatiotemporal oscillations in the brain.
PLOS COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biology
Yonatan Sanz Perl, Sol Fittipaldi, Cecilia Gonzalez Campo, Sebastian Moguilner, Josephine Cruzat, Matias E. Fraile-Vazquez, Ruben Herzog, Morten L. Kringelbach, Gustavo Deco, Pavel Prado, Agustin Ibanez, Enzo Tagliazucchi, Muireann Irish
Summary: To address the lack of interventions for neurodegenerative diseases, this study combined deep learning with a model of whole-brain functional connectivity in Alzheimer's disease (AD) and behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) patients. Disease-specific atrophy maps were used to modulate local parameters, revealing stable dynamics in the hippocampus and insula as indicators of brain atrophy in AD and bvFTD, respectively. By using variational autoencoders, the evolution of different pathologies and their severity were visualized in a low-dimensional latent space. Perturbing the model identified key regions specific to AD and bvFTD, allowing transitions from pathological to healthy brain states. Overall, this study provides new insights into disease progression and control in neurodegeneration through external stimulation and uncovers the underlying dynamic mechanisms driving functional alterations.
Article
Biology
Adrian Ponce-Alvarez, Morten L. Kringelbach, Gustavo Deco
Summary: Human fMRI and dMRI data were used to test the phenomenological renormalization group (PRG) method and found that the scale invariance of rs-fMRI activity may emerge from criticality and exponentially decaying connectivity between brain regions.
COMMUNICATIONS BIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Health Policy & Services
Kirsten Rowe, Julia Ruiz Pozuelo, Alecia Nickless, Absolum David Nkosi, Andeline dos Santos, Kathleen Kahn, Stephen Tollman, Ryan G. Wagner, Gaia Scerif, Alan Stein
Summary: The AHEAD feasibility trial assessed the feasibility and acceptability of a group drumming programme in improving executive function, depression and anxiety symptoms, and social support among adolescents with HIV in rural South Africa. The trial included 68 adolescents who were randomly assigned to either receive weekly drumming sessions or no intervention. The results showed that the intervention was feasible and acceptable, with high rates of enrolment and retention. Although there were positive effects on depressed mood and some qualitative benefits, there were no significant effects on executive function or socio-emotional scales.
AIDS CARE-PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIO-MEDICAL ASPECTS OF AIDS/HIV
(2023)
Article
Psychology, Clinical
Graham R. Thew, Jennifer Wild, Anke Ehlers
Summary: This service evaluation study describes a case series of five participants experiencing PTSD following recent traumas. Participants completed a shortened 6-week form of Internet-delivered Cognitive Therapy for PTSD (iCT-PTSD), which used fewer treatment modules and primarily focused on psychoeducation about PTSD, and two key treatment components, 'reclaiming your life' and trigger discrimination. Results showed that the intervention was associated with large reductions in symptoms of PTSD, depression, and anxiety at the 6-week timepoint, which were maintained at 3-month follow-up.
BRITISH JOURNAL OF CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Solvej Mathiasen, Christine E. Parsons, Riccardo Fusaroli, E. Juulia Paavonen, Hasse Karlsson, Linnea Karlsson
Summary: Maternal symptoms of depression and anxiety during the perinatal period can affect infant sleep, with postnatal depression symptoms having a stronger impact compared to prenatal symptoms.
Article
Rheumatology
Christine Parsons, Jose Rubio, Afroditi Boulougoura, Suzanne Krishfield, Vasileios Kyttaris
Summary: Objectives of this study were to characterize the antibody response to COVID-19 mRNA vaccination in patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) and identify predictors of poor response. The study found that the use of two or more immunosuppressive drugs was associated with being a non-responder. Among lupus patients, 76% had a vaccine response after receiving Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine.
RHEUMATOLOGY INTERNATIONAL
(2023)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Edna C. Cieslik, Markus Ullsperger, Martin Gell, Simon B. Eickhoff, Robert Langner
Summary: Previous studies on error processing have primarily focused on the posterior medial frontal cortex, but the role of other brain regions has been underestimated. This study used activation likelihood estimation meta-analyses to explore brain activity related to committing errors and responding successfully in interference tasks. It was found that the salience network and the temporoparietal junction were commonly involved in both correct and incorrect responses, indicating their general involvement in coping with situations that require increased cognitive control. Error-specific convergence was observed in the dorsal posterior cingulate cortex, posterior thalamus, and left superior frontal gyrus, while successful responding showed stronger convergence in the dorsal attention network and lateral prefrontal regions. Underrecruitment of these regions in error trials may reflect failures in activating the appropriate stimulus-response contingencies necessary for successful response execution.
NEUROSCIENCE AND BIOBEHAVIORAL REVIEWS
(2024)
