In real life, it is not unusual that we face potential threats (i.e., physical stimuli and environments that may cause harm or danger) with other individuals together, yet it remains largely unknown ...how threat‐induced anxious feelings influence prosocial behaviors such as resource sharing. In this study, we investigated this question by combining functional magnetic resonance imaging and a novel paradigm. Together with an anonymous partner, each participant faced the possibility of receiving a 10‐s noise administration, which had a low or high probability to be a threat (i.e., the intensity of noise can induce a high level of unpleasantness). Each participant first reported her/his immediate feeling of anxiety about the current situation (being threatened by the unpleasant noise), then decided how to split a number of resources (which could relieve the noise) between her/him and the partner. Behavioral results revealed that the participants showed a selfish bias in the threat conditions than in the safe conditions, and that self‐reported anxiety feeling significantly predicted this bias. Functional magnetic resonance imaging results revealed that: (1) the activation level of the anterior insula was correlated with self‐reported anxiety and (2) the connectivity between the anterior insula and the temporoparietal junction was sensitive to the modulating effect of anxiety on the selfish bias. These findings indicate the neural correlates of the association between threat‐induced anxiety and prosocial tendencies in social interactions.
The present study investigated this question by combining functional magnetic resonance imaging and a novel paradigm. Results revealed that increased selfish bias in sharing decisions were associated with increased self‐reported anxiety. Neurally, we found that the activation level of the anterior insula was correlated with self‐reported anxiety and the connectivity between the anterior insula and the temporoparietal junction was sensitive to the modulating effect of anxiety on the selfish bias. These findings offer neural evidence about how threat‐induced anxiety suppresses prosocial tendencies in social interactions.
In the research field of anxiety, previous studies generally focus on emotional responses following threat. A recent model of anxiety proposes that altered anticipation prior to uncertain threat is ...related with the development of anxiety. Behavioral findings have built the relationship between anxiety and distinct anticipatory processes including attention, estimation of threat, and emotional responses. However, few studies have characterized the brain organization underlying anticipation of uncertain threat and its role in anxiety. In the present study, we used an emotional anticipation paradigm with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine the aforementioned topics by employing brain activation and general psychophysiological interactions (gPPI) analysis. In the activation analysis, we found that high trait anxious individuals showed significantly increased activation in the thalamus, middle temporal gyrus (MTG), and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC), as well as decreased activation in the precuneus, during anticipation of uncertain threat compared to the certain condition. In the gPPI analysis, the key regions including the amygdala, dmPFC, and precuneus showed altered connections with distributed brain areas including the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), inferior parietal sulcus (IPS), insula, para‐hippocampus gyrus (PHA), thalamus, and MTG involved in anticipation of uncertain threat in anxious individuals. Taken together, our findings indicate that during the anticipation of uncertain threat, anxious individuals showed altered activations and functional connectivity in widely distributed brain areas, which may be critical for abnormal perception, estimation, and emotion reactions during the anticipation of uncertain threat.
Aims
Gut microbiota and metabolites have a profound impact on the maintenance of body health. In this study, we assessed the association between gut microbiota and serum metabolite changes in ...myositis using 16S rRNA gene sequencing and metabolomics to provide new ideas for screening and treating myositis.
Methods and results
Blood and faecal samples were collected from 20 myositis patients and 20 healthy control subjects. Then, 16S rRNA gene sequencing, enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assays and untargeted metabolomics study were performed to evaluate the relationship between gut microbiota and serum metabolites in patients with myositis. Compared to healthy control subjects, the blood samples from the patients with myositis had elevated levels of interleukin‐4 (IL‐4), tumour necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α), and malondialdehyde (MDA) and decreased superoxide dismutase (SOD) levels. The increase in Bacteroidota (including Bacteroides and Parabacteroides, but not Prevotella) and the decrease in Firmicutes in the patients were accompanied by functional changes in amino acid and lipid metabolism. The gut microbiota (Bacteroides and Parabacteroides) were negatively correlated with the differential serum metabolites (glutamate and taurine). The differential serum metabolites (glutamate, pyrrolidonecarboxylic acid, and taurine) were also correlated with inflammatory factors (IL‐4 and TNF‐α) and oxidative stress indexes (MDA and SOD).
Conclusion
Dysbiosis of gut microbiota in patients with myositis was accompanied by changes in inflammatory factors, oxidative stress indexes, and small molecule metabolites in serum.
Significance and impact of study
Blood and faecal biomarkers could be used for screening myositis.
The identifiable target effect refers to the preference for helping identified victims and punishing identifiable perpetrators compared with equivalent but unidentifiable counterparts. The ...identifiable target effect is often attributed to the heightened moral emotions evoked by identified targets. However, the specific neurocognitive processes that mediate and/or modulate this effect remain largely unknown. Here, we combined a third-party punishment game with brain imaging and computational modeling to unravel the neurocomputational underpinnings of the identifiable transgressor effect. Human participants (males and females) acted as bystanders and punished identified or anonymous wrongdoers. Participants were more punitive toward identified wrongdoers than anonymous wrongdoers because they took a vicarious perspective of victims and adopted lower reference points of inequity (i.e., more stringent norms) in the identified context than in the unidentified context. Accordingly, there were larger activity of the ventral anterior insula, more distinct multivariate neural patterns in the dorsal anterior insula and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, and lower strength between ventral anterior insula and dorsolateral PFC and between dorsal anterior insula and ventral striatum connectivity in response to identified transgressors than anonymous transgressors. These findings implicate the interplay of expectancy violations, emotions, and self-interest in the identifiability effect. Last, individual differences in the identifiability effect were associated with empathic concern/social dominance orientation, activity in the precuneus/cuneus and temporo-parietal junction, and intrinsic functional connectivity of the dorsolateral PFC. Together, our work is the first to uncover the neurocomputational processes mediating identifiable transgressor effect and to characterize psychophysiological profiles modulating the effect.
The identifiable target effect, more help to identified victims or stronger punishment to identifiable perpetrators, is common in daily life. We examined the neurocomputational mechanisms mediating/modulating the identifiability effect on third-party punishment by bridging literature from economics and cognitive neuroscience. Our findings reveal that identifiable transgressor effect is mediated by lower reference points of inequity (i.e., more stringent norms), which might be associated with a stronger involvement of the emotion processes and a weaker engagement of the analytic/deliberate processes. Furthermore, personality traits, altered brain activity, and intrinsic functional connectivity contribute to the individual variance in the identifiability effect. Overall, our study advances the understanding of the identifiability effect by shedding light on its component processes and modulating factors.
Cognitive control is the coordination of mental operations under conditions of uncertainty in accordance with goal‐directed behaviors, and plays a key role in the domains of executive control, ...working memory, and decision‐making. Although there is emerging evidence of common involvement of the cognitive control network (CCN) of the brain in these domains, this network has mostly been linked to the processing of conflict, which is just one case of an increase in uncertainty. Here, we conducted an activation‐likelihood‐estimation‐based large‐scale meta‐analysis of 289 functional magnetic resonance imaging studies in the three domains to examine the common involvement of the CCN in uncertainty processing by contrasting the high‐uncertainty versus low‐uncertainty conditions. We found a general association between increase in uncertainty and an activation increase in regions of the CCN, including the frontoparietal network (comprising the frontal eye fields, the areas near and along the intraparietal sulcus, and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex), the cingulo‐opercular network (including the anterior cingulate cortex extending to the supplementary motor area, and the anterior insular cortex), and a subcortical structure (the striatum). These results demonstrate that the CCN is a domain‐general construct underlying uncertainty processing to support goal‐directed behaviors.
In this large‐scale meta‐analysis, we examined the common involvement of the cognitive control network (CCN) in uncertainty processing for three cognitive domains: executive control, working memory, and decision‐making. Results showed a general association between increase in uncertainty and an activation increase in regions of the CCN across these domains, suggesting that the CCN is a domain‐general brain network for the coordination of thoughts and actions.
The catalytic transfer hydrogenation of furfural to the fuel additives 2‐methylfuran (2‐MF) and 2‐methyltetrahydrofuran (2‐MTHF) was investigated over various bimetallic catalysts in the presence of ...the hydrogen donor 2‐propanol. Of all the as‐prepared catalysts, bimetallic Cu‐Pd catalysts showed the highest catalytic activities towards the formation of 2‐MF and 2‐MTHF with a total yield of up to 83.9 % yield at 220 °C in 4 h. By modifying the Pd ratios in the Cu‐Pd catalyst, 2‐MF or 2‐MTHF could be obtained selectively as the prevailing product. The other reaction conditions also had a great influence on the product distribution. Mechanistic studies by reaction monitoring and intermediate conversion revealed that the reaction proceeded mainly through the hydrogenation of furfural to furfuryl alcohol, which was followed by deoxygenation to 2‐MF in parallel to deoxygenation/ring hydrogenation to 2‐MTHF. Finally, the catalyst showed a high reactivity and stability in five catalyst recycling runs, which represents a significant step forward toward the catalytic transfer hydrogenation of furfural.
Identifying the intermediates: The catalytic transfer hydrogenation of biomass‐derived furfural to fuel additives 2‐methylfuran and 2‐methyltetrahydrofuran is performed over a bimetallic Cu‐Pd catalyst in the presence of 2‐propanol. The reaction proceeds via the intermediate furfuryl alcohol, which is then deoxygenated/hydrogenated to the desired products.
Previous studies examining the relationship between ingroup bias and resource scarcity have produced heterogeneous findings, possibly due to their focus on the allocation of positive resources (e.g. ...money). This study aims to investigate whether ingroup bias would be amplified or eliminated when perceived survival resources for counteracting negative stimuli are scarce. For this purpose, we exposed the participants and another confederate of the experimenters (ingroup/outgroup member) to a potential threat of unpleasant noise. Participants received some 'relieving resources' to counteract noise administration, the amount of which may or may not be enough for them and the confederate in different conditions (i.e. abundance vs. scarcity). First, a behavioural experiment demonstrated that intergroup discrimination manifested only in the scarcity condition; in contrast, the participants allocated similar amounts of resource to ingroup and outgroup members in the abundance condition, indicating a context-dependent allocation strategy. This behavioural pattern was replicated in a follow-up neuroimaging experiment, which further revealed that when contrasting scarcity with abundance, there was higher activation in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) as well as stronger functional connectivity of the ACC with the empathy network (including the temporoparietal junction and medial prefrontal cortex) for ingroup compared to outgroup members. We suggest that ACC activation reflects the mentalizing process toward ingroup over outgroup members in the scarcity condition. Finally, the ACC activation level significantly predicted the influence of resource scarcity on ingroup bias in hypothetical real-life situations according to a follow-up examination.
The cognitive and behavioral development of children and adolescents is closely related to the maturation of brain morphology. Although the trajectory of brain development has been depicted in ...detail, the underlying biological mechanism of normal cortical morphological development in childhood and adolescence remains unclear. By combining the Allen Human Brain Atlas dataset with two single‐site magnetic resonance imaging data including 427 and 733 subjects from China and the United States, respectively, we performed partial least squares regression and enrichment analysis to explore the relationship between the gene transcriptional expression and the development of cortical thickness in childhood and adolescence. We found that the spatial model of normal cortical thinning during childhood and adolescence is associated with genes expressed predominantly in astrocytes, microglia, excitatory and inhibitory neurons. Top cortical development‐related genes are enriched for energy‐related and DNA‐related terms and are associated with psychological and cognitive disorders. Interestingly, there is a great deal of similarity between the findings derived from the two single‐site datasets. This fills the gap between early cortical development and transcriptomes, which promotes an integrative understanding of the potential biological neural mechanisms.
The underlying biological mechanism of early cortical morphological development remains unclear. We found linear development pattern of cortical thickness during childhood and adolescence is associated with spatially varying gene transcription, which expresses predominantly in astrocytes, microglia, excitatory and inhibitory neurons, and ontologically enriches for energy‐related and DNA‐related terms. Cortical development‐related genes are also associated with psychological and cognitive disorders.
Trust constitutes a fundamental basis of human society and plays a pivotal role in almost every aspect of human relationships. Although enormous interest exists in determining the neuropsychological ...underpinnings of a person's propensity to trust utilizing task‐based fMRI; however, little progress has been made in predicting its variations by task‐free fMRI based on whole‐brain resting‐state functional connectivity (RSFC). Here, we combined a one‐shot trust game with a connectome‐based predictive modeling approach to predict propensity to trust from whole‐brain RSFC. We demonstrated that individual variations in the propensity to trust were primarily predicted by RSFC rooted in the functional integration of distributed key nodes—caudate, amygdala, lateral prefrontal cortex, temporal–parietal junction, and the temporal pole—which are part of domain‐general large‐scale networks essential for the motivational, affective, and cognitive aspects of trust. We showed, further, that the identified brain‐behavior associations were only evident for trust but not altruistic preferences and that propensity to trust (and its underlying neural underpinnings) were modulated according to the extent to which a person emphasizes general social preferences (i.e., horizontal collectivism) rather than general risk preferences (i.e., trait impulsiveness). In conclusion, the employed data‐driven approach enables to predict propensity to trust from RSFC and highlights its potential use as an objective neuromarker of trust impairment in mental disorders.
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