The gold standard for clinical assessment of Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) relies on assessing behavior via semi-structured play-based interviews and parent interviews. Although these methods show ...good sensitivity and specificity in diagnosing ASD cases, behavioral assessments alone may hinder the identification of asymptomatic at-risk group. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) could be an appropriate approach to produce objective neural markers to supplement behavioral assessments due to its non-invasive and task-free nature. Previous neuroimaging studies reported inconsistent resting-state abnormalities in ASD, which may be explained by small sample sizes and phenotypic heterogeneity in ASD subjects, and/or the use of different analytical methods across studies. The current study aims to investigate the local resting-state abnormalities of ASD regardless of subject age, IQ, gender, disease severity and methodological differences, using activation likelihood estimation (ALE). MEDLINE/PubMed databases were searched for whole-brain rs-fMRI studies on ASD published until Feb 2018. Eight experiments involving 424 subjects were included in the ALE meta-analysis. We demonstrate two ASD-related resting-state findings: local underconnectivity in the dorsal posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and in the right medial paracentral lobule. This study contributes to uncovering a consistent pattern of resting-state local abnormalities that may serve as potential neurobiological markers for ASD.
Sleep and mental health are intrinsically intertwined, but not every individual with problems sleeping develops a mental health disorder. This study examined the association among chronotypes, ...resilience, sleep quality and mental health symptoms amongst otherwise healthy individuals. Two hundred adults (M
= 27.75 ± 5.11, 68% female) with no previous diagnosis of mental illness were recruited and filled in a set of questionnaires measuring chronotypes, sleep quality, depression and anxiety symptoms. The findings from the path analysis showed that the morning type had a statistically significant direct effect on a range of sleep quality indices. These included better subjective sleep quality, shortened sleep latency, and fewer daytime dysfunctions, as well as a higher level of resilience. However, it did not significantly affect depression and anxiety symptoms. In addition, the morning type had statistically significant indirect effects on a higher level of resilience and fewer depression and anxiety symptoms through the mediating effect of sleep quality indices. Findings from this study support that morning type is associated with better resilience and psychological health, which is mediated through better sleep quality.
Subthreshold depression (StD) affects people who experience clinically relevant depressive symptoms, which does not meet the diagnostic criteria for major depressive disorder (MDD). StD represents an ...ideal model for understanding the pathophysiological mechanisms of depression. Impaired emotion processing is a core feature of depression; careful investigation is required to better understand the neural correlates of emotion processing in depressed populations. In the current study, we explored whether the resting-state functional connectivity of the amygdala, a hub that taps a wide range of brain areas involved in emotion processing, is altered in individuals with StD when compared with healthy controls. Resting-state imaging data was collected from 59 individuals with StD and 59 age- and gender-matched controls. We found that the resting-state functional connectivity of the left amygdala with the cognitive control network and the left insula was significantly lower in people with StD than that in healthy controls. Such association was not observed in the right amygdala. Furthermore, functional connectivity strength between the left amygdala and the left precuneus was positively associated with depressive symptoms in individuals with StD. Our findings are in line with those reported in subjects with MDD, which may assist in further elucidating the pathophysiological mechanisms of depression, and contribute to the development of tailored treatments for individuals with StD who are at high risk of developing MDD.
Disrupted whole-brain resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) of the posterior cingulate (PCC) has been highlighted to associate with cognitive and affective dysfunction in major depressive ...disorder (MDD). However, prior findings showed certain inconsistency about the RSFC of the PCC in MDD. This study aims to investigate the aberrant RSFC of the PCC in MDD using anisotropic effect-size version of seed-based d mapping (AES-SDM). Web of Science and PubMed were searched for studies investigating PCC-based RSFC in MDD. A total of 17 studies, involving 804 patients and 724 healthy controls (HCs), fit our selection criteria. Additionally, to seek for the link between functional and structural differences, we did a meta-analysis on the studies in conjunction with voxel-based morphology (VBM) analysis. The PCC showed higher RSFC with the left middle temporal gyrus (MTG) and the right middle frontal gyrus (MFG), and lower RSFC with the left superior frontal gyrus (SFG) and the left precuneus in patients with MDD than HCs. Moreover, the meta-regression analysis revealed a negative correlation between the FC alteration of the right MFG with the PCC and depression severity. Notably, the left MTG and the left MFG demonstrated gray matter deviations in conjunction analysis. Our results indicated that the aberrant RSFC between the PCC and brain regions sub-serving cognitive control and emotional regulation in patients with MDD. And such functional alterations may have structural basis. These findings may underlie the mechanisms of deficits in cognitive control and emotional regulation of MDD.
Cultivation of resilience is believed to ameliorate mental health problems. The impact of mental health problems on resilience is however rarely discussed. This study investigated the reciprocal ...relationship of resilience with depression and anxiety symptoms using a three‐wave cross‐lagged design. Resilience level, depression, and anxiety symptoms were assessed at baseline, the third and the sixth month in 125 university students without psychiatric disorders (62 females). No significant changes in resilience levels were observed across the 6 months. Depressive symptoms, but not anxiety symptoms significantly increased at the third and sixth months compared with baseline. The three‐wave cross‐lagged models revealed an unstable reciprocal relationship of resilience with depression and a stable reciprocal relationship between resilience and anxiety symptoms over time. The reciprocal relationship between resilience and mental health problems indicates the importance of cultivating resilience for the prevention of mental illness as well as the importance of managing mental health symptoms at non‐clinical levels for monitoring resilience. The unstable reciprocal relationship between resilience and depression symptoms across time suggests the existence of potential moderators that impact the relationship between resilience and depression. Our findings further support the notion that resilience is conceptualized as a dynamic process.
Abstract
Schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar disorder (BD) share some similarities in terms of genetic-risk genes and abnormalities of gray-matter structure in the brain, but white matter (WM) ...abnormalities have not been studied in depth. We undertook a comparative multimodal meta-analysis to identify common and disorder-specific abnormalities in WM structure between SZ and BD. Anisotropic effect size-signed differential mapping software was used to conduct a comparative meta-analysis of 68 diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and 34 voxel-based morphometry (VBM) studies comparing fractional anisotropy (FA) and white matter volume (WMV), respectively, between patients with SZ (DTI: N = 1543; VBM: N = 1068) and BD (DTI: N = 983; VBM: N = 518) and healthy controls (HCs). The bilateral corpus callosum (extending to the anterior and superior corona radiata) showed shared decreased WMV and FA in SZ and BD. Compared with BD patients, SZ patients showed remarkable disorder-specific WM abnormalities: decreased FA and increased WMV in the left cingulum, and increased FA plus decreased WMV in the right anterior limb of the internal capsule. SZ patients showed more extensive alterations in WM than BD cases, which may be the pathophysiological basis for the clinical continuity of both disorders. The disorder-specific regions in the left cingulum and right anterior limb of the internal capsule provided novel insights into both disorders. Our study adds value to further understanding of the pathophysiology, classification, and differential diagnosis of SZ and BD.
Background
Trait anxiety is considered a susceptible factor for stress‐related disorders, and is characterized by abnormal brain activity and connectivity in the regions related to emotional ...processing (e.g., the amygdala). However, only a few studies have examined the static and dynamic changes of functional connectivity in trait anxiety.
Method
We compared the resting‐state static and dynamic functional connectivity (sFC/dFC) in individuals with high trait anxiety (HTA, n = 257) and low trait anxiety (LTA, n = 264) using bilateral amygdala subregions as the seeds, that is, the centromedial amygdala (CMA), basolateral amygdala (BLA), and superficial amygdala (SFA).
Results
The CMA, BLA, and SFA all showed reduced sFC with the executive control network (ECN) and anomalous dFC with the default mode network (DMN) in individuals with HTA. The CMA only showed reduced sFC with the ECN and reduced dFC with the DMN in individuals with HTA. The BLA showed reduced sFC with the salience network (mainly in the anterior and median cingulate), and increased dFC between the BLA and the DMN in individuals with HTA compared to those with LTA. Notably, HTA showed widespread anomalous functional connectivity in the SFA, including the visual network, mainly in the calcarine fissure, limbic system (olfactory cortex), and basal ganglia (putamen).
Conclusion
The anomalous sFC and dFC in individuals with HTA may reflect altered mechanisms in prefrontal control, salient stimuli processing, and amygdaloidal responsivity to potential threats, leading to alterations in associative, attentional, interpretative, and regulating processes that sustain a threat‐related processing bias in HTA individuals.
Cigarette smoking is a major risk factor in the development of age-related chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). The serotonin transporter (SERT) gene polymorphism has been reported to be ...associated with COPD, and the degree of cigarette smoking has been shown to be a significant mediator in this relationship. The interrelation between circulating serotonin (5-hydroxytyptamine, 5-HT), cigarette smoking and COPD is however largely unknown. The current study aimed at investigating the mediation effects of plasma 5-HT on cigarette smoking-induced COPD and the relation between plasma 5-HT levels and age.
The association between plasma 5-HT, age and COPD was analyzed in a total of 62 COPD patients (ever-smokers) and 117 control subjects (healthy non-smokers and ever-smokers). Plasma 5-HT levels were measured by enzyme-linked immuno assay (EIA).
The elevated plasma 5-HT levels were significantly associated with increased odds for COPD (OR = 1.221, 95% CI = 1.123 to 1.319, p<0.0001). The effect remained significant after being adjusted for age and pack-years smoked (OR = 1.271, 95% CI = 1.134 to 1.408, p = 0.0003). Furthermore, plasma 5-HT was found to mediate the relation between pack-years smoked and COPD. A positive correlation (r = 0.303, p = 0.017) was found between plasma 5-HT levels and age in COPD, but not in the control subjects (r = -0.149, p = 0.108).
Our results suggest that cigarette smoke-induced COPD is partially mediated by the plasma levels of 5-HT, and that these become elevated with increased age in COPD. The elevated plasma 5-HT levels in COPD might contribute to the pathogenesis of this disease.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Abstract Ectopic adipose tissue surrounding the intra-abdominal organs (visceral fat) and located in the liver, heart, pancreas and muscle, is linked to cardio-metabolic complications commonly ...experienced in type 2 diabetes. A systematic review and meta-analysis was performed to determine the effect of exercise on ectopic fat in adults with type 2 diabetes. Relevant databases were searched to February 2016. Included were randomised controlled studies, which implemented ≥ 4 weeks of aerobic and/or resistance exercise and quantified ectopic fat via magnetic resonance imaging, computed tomography, proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy or muscle biopsy before and after intervention. Risk of bias and study quality was assessed using Egger's funnel plot test and modified Downs and Black checklist, respectively. Of the 10,750 studies retrieved, 24 were included involving 1383 participants. No studies were found assessing the interaction between exercise and cardiac or pancreas fat. One study assessed the effect of exercise on intramyocellular triglyceride concentration. There was a significant pooled effect size for the meta-analysis comparing exercise vs. control on visceral adiposity (ES = −0.21, 95% CI: −0.37 to −0.05; P = 0.010) and a near-significant pooled effect size for liver steatosis reduction with exercise (ES = −0.28, 95% CI: −0.57 to 0.01; P = 0.054). Aerobic exercise (ES = −0.23, 95% CI: −0.44 to −0.03; P = 0.025) but not resistance training exercise (ES = −0.13, 95% CI: −0.37 to 0.12; P = 0.307) was effective for reducing visceral fat in overweight/obese adults with type 2 diabetes. These data suggest that exercise effectively reduces visceral and perhaps liver adipose tissue and that aerobic exercise should be a key feature of exercise programs aimed at reducing visceral fat in obesity-related type 2 diabetes. Further studies are required to assess the relative efficacy of exercise modality on liver fat reduction and the effect of exercise on pancreas, heart, and intramyocellular fat in type 2 diabetes and to clarify the effect of exercise on ectopic fat independent of weight loss.
•Low-resilience people showed negative trait affect and stress experience.•High-resilience people showed negative affect increase to psychosocial stress.•High- and low-resilience people showed ...opposite sgACC-insula rsFC change to stress.•SgACC-insula rsFC change mediated group difference in affect change to stress.•Affect change moderated group difference in sgACC-insula rsFC change to stress.
Accumulating evidence indicates important roles of the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex and rostral limbic regions such as the anterior insula, in regulating stress-related affective responses and negative affect states in general. However, research is lacking in simultaneously assessing the inter-relations between trait and state affective responses to stress, and the functional connectivity between the subgenual anterior cingulate and anterior insula. This preliminary research involved matched healthy participants with high (N = 10) and low (N = 10) self-reported trait stress resilience, and assessed their affective and subgenual anterior cingulate-anterior insula resting-state functional connectivity patterns before and after a psychosocial stress task. We found that while the low-resilience group displayed higher trait negative affect and perceived greater task-related stress, only the high-resilience group showed increase of negative affect, along with greater decrease of left subgenual anterior cingulate-right anterior insula connectivity, following stress induction. Moreover, the functional connectivity change mediated group difference in affect change following stress task. We speculate that the contingent increase of negative affect, and the associated temporary decoupling of subgenual anterior cingulate-insula circuitry, may represent a normative and adaptive stress response underpinned by adaptive and dynamic interplay between the default mode and salience networks. Such findings, if consolidated, have important implications for promoting stress resilience and reducing risk for stress-related affective disorders.
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