Search

This article emphasizes the importance of using subjective measures, such as sleep diaries, to assess insomnia. It argues that objective measures like polysomnography (PSG) are not suitable for diagnosing or treating insomnia, as they are only effective for sleep disorders with underlying pathologies. Sleep diaries are considered more accurate because they capture an individual's perception of sleep continuity over multiple nights. The article also discusses the limitations of objective measures, such as EEG-based devices and wearables, in accurately assessing sleep continuity in individuals with insomnia. It concludes that until a pathophysiological measure is discovered for insomnia, sleep diaries remain the optimal method for assessing sleep continuity disturbance. The Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) is often recommended as the best measure for assessing insomnia, but it has its own limitations. Insomnia is a psychophysiological condition that can be evaluated using a combination of subjective and objective measures, and it is important to understand the strengths and limitations of each method and explore discrepancies between them. The document also provides a list of references covering various aspects of insomnia, including its impact on neuropsychological performance, cognitive impairment, pharmacotherapy for older adults, perception of sleep, use of placebos in treatment, actigraphy as a measurement tool, and assessment and management of insomnia. These references offer a comprehensive overview of current research and understanding of insomnia. [Extracted from the article]

Introduction Objectives Materials and methods Results Discussion and conclusion Several robust epidemiological studies suggest that men are often engaged in sexual relationships with younger women with a variable, age‐dependent age difference. However, the ageing process determines a significant worsening of the andrological status, which favors the onset of erectile dysfunction and hypogonadism.To analyze the effects of differences in age between the partners [delta (Δ) age (M − F)] on patients referring to the Andrology Unit of Careggi University Hospital for male sexual dysfunction.A monocentre cohort of 4055 male subjects was evaluated by SIEDY structured interview. The cross‐sectional analysis assessed the psychobiological and relational correlates. The rate of forthcoming major cardiovascular events (MACE) was investigated in the longitudinal analysis. All the models have been adjusted for age, education, lifestyle, and chronic disease score.∆ age (M–F) shows a stepwise increase, according to the increasing age bands of the male partner. ∆ age (M–F) was associated with a greater number of children, at the cost of more conflictual relationships within the family. The phenotype of these relationships is characterized by the report of a partner with a higher sexual desire and a higher ability to reach climax. Men seeking a younger partner show more often a histrionic personality (p = 0.023) and higher testosterone levels (p = 0.032). However, having a younger partner doesn't improve the ability to obtain a full erection. Kaplan–Maier analysis of a longitudinal subgroup of patients followed longitudinally (N = 1402) for 4.3 ± 2,59 years, showed that patients in the fourth quartile had a higher rate of forthcoming MACE versus those in the first quartile (p = 0.005).In subjects with sexual dysfunctions (as in the general population) age‐different relationships increase as a function of male ageing. A greater Δ age (M–F) is associated with specific men and relationship features and a higher risk of MACE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding biological pathways that mediate trauma‐related psychopathology is a major goal for traumatic stress studies. There is growing interest in studying differences in neural, physiological, and behavioral correlates of traumatic stress across demographic groups (e.g., sex/gender, race/ethnicity). However, challenges remain in how to appropriately conceptualize the source, mechanisms, and practical utility of between‐group variation. The present brief conceptual review discusses ethnicity, race, and sex/gender‐related variability relevant to understanding the psychobiology of traumatic stress in the context of traumatic stress studies. We discuss recent evidence related to socioenvironmental influences on ethnoracial variability in the brain and behavior relevant to traumatic stress, as well as sex/gender associations in neurophysiology that may contribute to the development of adverse posttraumatic sequelae. We further synthesize these findings by discussing intersectional influences of sex/gender‐ and race/ethnicity‐related factors on trauma‐related physical and mental health outcomes. The present review provides an important foundation for future research on disparities and individual differences in traumatic stress to move the field toward more effective assessment and treatment approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychosocial experiences affect brain health and aging trajectories, but the molecular pathways underlying these associations remain unclear. Normal brain function relies on energy transformation by mitochondria oxidative phosphorylation (OxPhos). Two main lines of evidence position mitochondria both as targets and drivers of psychosocial experiences. On the one hand, chronic stress exposure and mood states may alter multiple aspects of mitochondrial biology; on the other hand, functional variations in mitochondrial OxPhos capacity may alter social behavior, stress reactivity, and mood. But are psychosocial exposures and subjective experiences linked to mitochondrial biology in the human brain? By combining longitudinal antemortem assessments of psychosocial factors with postmortem brain (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex) proteomics in older adults, we find that higher well-being is linked to greater abundance of the mitochondrial OxPhos machinery, whereas higher negative mood is linked to lower OxPhos protein content. Combined, positive and negative psychosocial factors explained 18 to 25% of the variance in the abundance of OxPhos complex I, the primary biochemical entry point that energizes brain mitochondria. Moreover, interrogating mitochondrial psychobiological associations in specific neuronal and nonneuronal brain cells with single-nucleus RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) revealed strong cell-type-specific associations for positive psychosocial experiences and mitochondria in glia but opposite associations in neurons. As a result, these "mind-mitochondria" associations were masked in bulk RNA-seq, highlighting the likely underestimation of true psychobiological effect sizes in bulk brain tissues. Thus, self-reported psychosocial experiences are linked to human brain mitochondrial phenotypes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Higher baseline CREB activity predicts better response to compassion-meditation. • Similar results emerged using the same genomics approach in a second data set. • Effects were specific to compassion-meditation (no effect on mindfulness/control). • Baseline gene expression may moderate effects of distinct psychosocial interventions. • Implications for genomics-guided personalization of interventions are discussed. To address the challenge of predicting psychological response to a psychosocial intervention we tested the possibility that baseline gene expression profiles might provide information above and beyond baseline psychometric measures. The genomics strategy utilized individual level inferences of transcription factor activity to predict changes in loneliness and affect in response to two well-established meditation interventions. Initial algorithm development analyses focused on three a-priori defined stress-related gene regulation pathways (CREB, GR, and NF-ĸB) as inferred from TELiS promoter-based bioinformatic analysis of basal (pre-intervention) blood samples from a randomized-controlled trial comparing a compassion-based meditation (CM, n = 45) with mindfulness meditation (MM, n = 44). Greater baseline CREB activity (but not GR or NF-ĸB) predicted greater reductions from pre- to post-intervention in loneliness (b = −0.24, p = 0.016) and negative emotions (b = −0.23, p = 0.017) for CM, but not for MM. A second algorithm validation analysis applied the same approach to another randomized controlled trial comparing CM (n = 42) with MM (n = 38) and a health education control condition (n = 41). Similarly, greater baseline CREB activity predicted greater pre- to post-intervention decreases in loneliness (b = −0.24, p = 0.029) and greater increases in satisfaction with life (b = 0.21, p = 0.046) for the CM condition only. Baseline CREB activity was not associated with baseline psychometric measures in either study. Results raise the possibility that pre-intervention gene expression profiles may reflect non-conscious psychobiological states that affect psychological responses to distinct psychosocial interventions, and thereby help personalize intervention selection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Advances have been made in understanding the aetiology of functional neurological disorder (FND); however, its pathophysiological mechanisms have not been definitively demonstrated. Evidence suggests interacting roles for altered emotional processing and interoception, elevated autonomic arousal, and dissociation, but there is limited evidence demonstrating their causal influence on specific FND symptoms. Our superordinate aim is to elucidate potentially shared and distinct aetiological factors and mechanisms in two common FND subtypes, functional seizures (FS) and functional motor symptoms (FMS). Methods: This study has a multimodal, mixed between- and within-groups design. The target sample is 50 individuals with FS, 50 with FMS, 50 clinical controls (anxiety/depression), and 50 healthy controls. Potential aetiological factors (e.g., adverse life events, physical/mental health symptoms, dissociative tendencies, interoceptive insight/sensibility) will be assessed with a detailed medical history interview and self-report questionnaires. A laboratory session will include a neurocognitive battery, psychophysiological testing, cardiac interoception and time estimation tasks and an isometric handgrip task. A subsample will undergo magnetic resonance imaging, including structural, resting-state and task-based scans combined with psychophysiological recording. Remote monitoring with ecological momentary assessment and wearables will measure variability in FND symptoms and their potential predictors/correlates for ≥2 weeks in patients' daily lives. Longitudinal follow-ups at 3, 6, and 12-months will monitor longer-term outcomes in the clinical groups. Discussion: This study employs multimodal research methods to rigorously examine several putative mechanisms in FND, at subjective/experiential, behavioural, and physiological levels. The study will test causal hypotheses about the role of altered emotional processing, autonomic arousal, dissociation and interoception in the initiation or exacerbation of FND symptoms, directly comparing these processes in FS and FMS to healthy and clinical controls. This is the first study of its kind, with potential to reveal important targets for prevention and treatment of FND in future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Taking seriously Ralph Ellison's interest in the sympathetic nervous system and his involvement in the Black hospital movement, this article demonstrates how the protagonist's pain in Invisible Man's factory hospital scene influences the narrator's writerly "choices" in the novel's frame narrative. Scholarship on the novel thoroughly attends to the trope of the protagonist's invisibility but regularly overlooks his corporeal presence. Invisible Man experiences social invisibility, not as a metaphor but as an embodied, somatic state initiated through racializing violence. This essay offers a psychobiologically attentive reading of the factory hospital scene to investigate the potentialities of the Black protagonist's embodied living. In the scene, racist doctors injure the protagonist's brain through electroshock torture, disrupting his cognition and sympathetic nervous system. However, the protagonist's corporeal development of a new consciousness through racist injury has unintended consequences; his resilient brain charts new pathways of thought, undermining his domination through emotional self-awareness. This essay argues that the protagonist's patient narrative—written following brain injury—functions as a countertechnology to the doctors' racializing machine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bondage/discipline, Dominance/submission, and Sadism/Masochism (BDSM) have gained increased attention and discussion in recent years. This prevalence is accompanied by a shift in perceptions of BDSM, including the declassification of sadomasochism as a paraphilic disorder. Evolutionary psychology offers a unique perspective of why some individuals are interested in BDSM and why some prefer certain elements of BDSM over others (e.g., dominance versus submission). In this paper, we examine BDSM from an evolutionary standpoint, examining biopsychosocial factors that underlie the BDSM interests and practice. We articulate this perspective via an exploration of: proximate processes, such as the role of childhood experiences, sexual conditioning, and physiological factors; as well as ultimate explanations for power play and pain play dimensions of BDSM, highlighting the potential adaptive advantages of each. While BDSM may not be adaptive in itself, we examine the literature of sex differences in BDSM role preferences and argue that these preferences may stem from the extreme forms of behaviors which enhance reproductive success. In the realm of pain play, we explore the intersection of pain and pleasure from both physiological and psychological perspectives, highlighting the crucial role of psychological and play partner factors in modulating the experience of pain. Finally, we encourage future research in social sciences to utilize evolutionary frameworks to further explore the subject and help alleviate the mystification surrounding BDSM. This multifaceted exploration of BDSM provides valuable insights for clinicians, kink-identified individuals, and scholars seeking to understand the evolutionary perspectives of human sexual behavior and preferences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Steroid sulphatase (STS) cleaves sulphate groups from steroid hormones, and steroid (sulphate) levels correlate with mood and age‐related cognitive decline. In animals, STS inhibition or deletion of the associated gene, enhances memory/neuroprotection and alters hippocampal neurochemistry. Little is known about the consequences of constitutive STS deficiency on memory‐related processes in humans. We investigated self‐reported memory performance (Multifactorial Memory Questionnaire), word‐picture recall and recent mood (Kessler Psychological Distress Scale, K10) in adult males with STS deficiency diagnosed with the dermatological condition X‐linked ichthyosis (XLI; n = 41) and in adult female carriers of XLI‐associated genetic variants (n = 79); we compared results to those obtained from matched control subjects [diagnosed with ichthyosis vulgaris (IV, n = 98) or recruited from the general population (n = 250)]. Using the UK Biobank, we compared mood/memory‐related neuroanatomy in carriers of genetic deletions encompassing STS (n = 28) and non‐carriers (n = 34,522). We found poorer word‐picture recall and lower perceived memory abilities in males with XLI and female carriers compared with control groups. XLI‐associated variant carriers and individuals with IV reported more adverse mood symptoms, reduced memory contentment and greater use of memory aids, compared with general population controls. Mood and memory findings appeared largely independent. Neuroanatomical analysis only indicated a nominally‐significantly larger molecular layer in the right hippocampal body of deletion carriers relative to non‐carriers. In humans, constitutive STS deficiency appears associated with mood‐independent impairments in memory but not with large effects on underlying brain structure; the mediating psychobiological mechanisms might be explored further in individuals with XLI and in new mammalian models lacking STS developmentally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the present paper, we carry out a replication of a seminal paper by Kahneman, D. & Beatty, J. (1967). Perception & Psychophysics, 2(3),101–105 for using pupillometry as an implicit measure of auditory processing load, specifically, non-verbal auditory processing. While numerous papers since have supported the notion that pupillometry is a fairly reliable index of processing load in general (Zekveld, A. A., Koelewijn, T., and Kramer, S. E. (2018). Trends in Hearing, 22,1–25; Winn, M. B., Wendt, D., Koelewijn, T., and Kuchinsky, S. E. (2018). Trends in Hearing, 22,1–32), they typically have relied on memory recall, and/or more sophisticated cognitive tasks such as language comprehension or split attention. Kahneman and Beatty's paper, despite that it was published more than 50 years ago, continues to be the primary citation to support the claim that pupillometry is a reliable index of task difficulty for a simple non-verbal pitch discrimination task therefore giving us an implicit measure for listening effort (e.g.,Kramer, S. E., Lorens, A., Coninx, F., Zekveld, A. A., Piotrowska, A., & Skarzynski, H. (2013). Language and Cognitive Processes, 28(4),426–442; Schlemmer, K. B., Kulke, F., Kuchinke, L., & Van Der Meer, E. (2005). Psychophysiology, 42(4),465–472; Lisi, M., Bonato, M., and Zorzi, M. (2015). Biological Psychology, 112,39–45). This type of task takes very little explicit memory, is non-verbal, and relies heavily on more low-level, automatic perceptual processing. Using two different replication studies, one exact, and one modified, we only replicated the main result in the modified replication. The true replication failed to replicate on all nine statistical tests. Overall, our findings suggest that pupil dilation can be used as an implicit measure of task difficulty for a simple, non-semantic, auditory task, however, the robustness of the effect appears relatively weak in comparison with the original study, and the amount of variation across participants much greater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stress-vulnerability model has been repeatedly highlighted in relation to the risk, onset and course of psychosis, and has been independently studied in clinical high-risk (CHR) and first-episode psychosis (FEP) populations. Notable in this literature, however, is that there are few studies directly comparing markers of stress response across progressive stages of illness. Here we examined the psychobiological response to the Trier Social Stress Test in 28 CHR (mean age 19.1) and 61 FEP (age 23.0) patients, in order to understand the stage(s) or trajectories in which differences in subjective stress or physiological response occur. The overall clinical sample had greater perceived stress and blunted cortisol (FEP + CHR, n = 89, age 21.7) compared with healthy controls (n = 45, age 22.9). Additional analyses demonstrated elevated heart rate and systolic blood pressure in FEP compared with CHR, but there were no further differences in physiological parameters (cortisol, heart rate, or blood pressure) between stage- or trajectory-based groups. Together, this suggests that individual stress response markers may differentially emerge at particular stages en route to psychosis – and demonstrates how stage-based analyses can shed light on the emergence and evolution of neurobiological changes in mental illness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spontaneous, unwilled subjective imagery and symbols (including dreams) often emerge in psychotherapy that can appear baffling and confound interpretation. Early psychoanalytic theories seemed to diverge as often as they agreed on the meaning of such content. Nevertheless, after reviewing key findings in the empirical science of spontaneous thought as well as insights gleaned from neuroscience and especially embodied cognition, it is now possible to construct a more coherent theory of interpretation that is clinically useful. Given that thought is so thoroughly embodied, it is possible to demonstrate that universalities in human physiology yield universalities in thought. Such universalities can then be demonstrated to form a kind of biologically directed universal "code" for understanding spontaneous symbolic expressions that emerge in psychotherapy. An example is given that illustrates how this can be applied to clinical encounters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overweight and obesity can worsen disease activity in multiple sclerosis (MS). Although psychobiological stress processing is increasingly recognized as important obesity factor that is tightly connected to proinflammatory metabolic hormones and cytokines, its role for MS obesity remains unexplored. Consequently, we investigated the interplay between body mass index (BMI), neural stress processing (functional connectivity, FC), and immuno-hormonal stress parameters (salivary cortisol and T cell glucocorticoid [GC] sensitivity) in 57 people with MS (six obese, 19 over-, 28 normal-, and four underweight; 37 females, 46.4 ± 10.6 years) using an Arterial-Spin-Labeling MRI task comprising a rest and stress stage, along with quantitative PCR. Our findings revealed significant positive connections between BMI and MS disease activity (i.e., higher BMI was accompanied by higher relapse rate). BMI was positively linked to right supramarginal gyrus and anterior insula FC during rest and negatively to right superior parietal lobule and cerebellum FC during stress. BMI showed associations with GC functioning, with higher BMI associated with lower CD8+ FKBP4 expression and higher CD8+ FKBP5 expression on T cells. Finally, the expression of CD8+ FKBP4 positively correlated with the FC of right supramarginal gyrus and left superior parietal lobule during rest. Overall, our study provides evidence that body mass is tied to neuro-hormonal stress processing in people with MS. The observed pattern of associations between BMI, neural networks, and GC functioning suggests partial overlap between neuro-hormonal and neural-body mass networks. Ultimately, the study underscores the clinical importance of understanding multi-system crosstalk in MS obesity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses a study that examines the connection between psychological problems and cardiometabolic health conditions. The study, conducted using Swedish health registries, found that mental disorder diagnoses, including depression and anxiety disorders, were linked to cardiometabolic conditions later in life. The study also suggests that shared variance among different psychological problems is the best predictor of future cardiometabolic health. The article proposes that neuroticism and intelligence may be potential mechanisms that link psychological problems to cardiometabolic health. The authors conclude that more research is needed to understand the underlying causes of this association. The document is a list of references and citations for various research articles and books related to the study of psychological problems, mental health conditions, and their associations with physical health and mortality. These resources offer diverse perspectives and research findings on topics such as psychopathology classification, the role of personality traits in mental health, genetic and environmental factors influencing psychopathology, and the relationship between mental health and physical health outcomes. [Extracted from the article]

Studies of the genetic and environmental factors that make children more or less likely to develop distressing and impairing psychological problems, and studies of the psychobiological pathways through which these causal factors operate, have the goal of improving our understanding of the basic nature of psychological problems to develop better methods of prevention and treatment. For this reason, we have long had our eye on the prize of discovering the causes and psychobiological mechanisms underlying each dimension of psychological problems. There are compelling reasons, however, to seek a different and more achievable prize to understand psychological problems. Dimensions of psychological problems are both far too heterogeneous and too highly correlated to line up with distinct causal pathways. In contrast, a small number of orthogonal cognitive and socioemotional dispositional dimensions are correlated with psychological problems in revealing cross-cutting patterns. Each of these dispositions shares its independent causal pathways with psychological problems and help us understand the complex shared and heterogeneous nature of their causal processes. I outline a strategy for understanding the causes and mechanisms of psychological problems using studies of independently measured dispositions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores the interplay between executive functions and body weight, examining both the influence of biological factors, specifically sex, and methodological issues, such as the choice between Body Mass Index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) as the primary anthropometric measure. A total of 386 participants (222 females, mean age = 45.98 years, SD = 17.70) were enrolled, from whom sociodemographic (sex, age, years of formal education) and anthropometric (BMI and WC) data were collected. Executive functions were evaluated using the Frontal Assessment Battery–15 (FAB15). The results showed the increased effectiveness of WC over BMI in examining the relationships between executive functions, sex differences, and body weight. In particular, this study revealed that there was a significant moderating effect of sex at comparable levels of executive functioning. Specifically, women with higher executive performance had lower WCs than their male counterparts, suggesting that executive function has a greater impact on WC in women than in men. Our findings highlight the importance of conducting more in-depth investigations of the complex relationship between cognitive deficits and weight gain, considering confounding variables of behavioral, psychobiological, and neurophysiological origin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is a list of references for various research articles related to the cognitive neuroscience of self-awareness. The articles cover a range of topics, including the definition and measurement of self-awareness, its effects and functions, and its role in mental health conditions. The references provide a starting point for library patrons conducting research on self-awareness and offer a diverse range of perspectives to explore further. [Extracted from the article]

Military conflicts are ubiquitous. There are a lot of combat veterans around the world. Suicidality in combat veterans is a large and important issue. In this article, the author discusses some aspects of this issue. The combat environment is characterized by violence, physical strains, separation from loved ones and other hardships. Combat deployment may lead to multiple emotional, cognitive, psychosomatic symptoms, suicidal ideation and behavior. Pre-deployment, deployment and post-deployment adversities may increase suicide risk in combat veterans. The act of killing in combat is a stressor which may raise suicide risk. Combat-related injuries are associated with increased suicide risk. Post-deployment difficulties of reintegrating into civilian life may lead to depression and suicidality. Studies suggest that suicidal behavior in combat veterans may have a neurobiological basis. Prevention of suicide among combat veterans should include pre-deployment screening to exclude individuals with psychiatric disorders; psychological support and prevention of harassment and/or abuse during deployment; psychosocial support after deployment; diagnosing and treating psychiatric and medical disorders including neurological disorders; frequent suicide screening; education of mental and non-mental health clinicians, war veterans, their families and friends regarding signs/symptoms of suicidality; and restriction of access to lethal means. We need to study the specific psychobiology of combat veterans to understand how to develop effective suicide prevention interventions for this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accumulating evidence suggests that psychological distress during pregnancy is linked to offspring risk for externalizing outcomes (e.g., reactive/aggressive behaviors, hyperactivity, and impulsivity). Effect sizes across studies have varied widely, however, due to differences in study design and methodology, including control for the confounding continuation of distress in the postnatal period. Clarifying these inconsistencies is necessary to guide the precision of prevention efforts and inform public health policies. A meta-analysis was conducted with 55 longitudinal studies to investigate the association between prenatal psychological distress (anxiety, depression, and perceived stress) and offspring externalizing behaviors. Results revealed a significant but small effect (r =.160) of prenatal distress on externalizing behaviors. The magnitude of the prenatal effect size remained largely unchanged after adjusting for postnatal distress (r =.159), implicating a unique effect of psychological distress during the prenatal period in the etiology of externalizing behaviors. Moderation tests showed that prenatal effects did not vary based on type and timing of psychological distress during pregnancy. Greater instability of distress from prenatal to postnatal periods predicted larger effects. Prenatal effects were comparable across most externalizing outcomes, consistent with the common comorbidity of externalizing spectrum disorders, although effects appeared smaller for nonaggressive rule-breaking (vs. aggressive) behaviors. Significant associations persisted across all developmental periods, appearing slightly larger in early childhood. We discuss these results in the context of developmental and psychobiological theories of externalizing behavior, offer preliminary clinical and public health implications, and highlight directions for future research including the need for longitudinal studies with more racially and socioeconomically diverse families. Public Significance Statement: This meta-analysis suggests that psychological distress during the pregnancy period uniquely increases children's risk for aggressive, disinhibited, and impulsive behaviors. Effects are relatively small but persist across developmental periods from early childhood through adolescence. Providing widely accessible mental health care and support during pregnancy may be a critical step to early prevention of childhood behavior problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document provides summaries of various conferences and meetings related to human biology and health. The events cover a wide range of topics, including psychosocial factors, human biocultural variation, and health. The conferences aim to promote diversity and inclusion by providing opportunities for international scholars to participate. The presentations and sessions offer valuable insights into different aspects of human biology and provide opportunities for further research and discussion. The studies and research articles included in the document explore various populations and regions, aiming to understand the factors that influence health outcomes. The conferences and meetings emphasize the importance of understanding diverse perspectives and cultural contexts in research. [Extracted from the article]

There is a widespread agreement that Nietzsche has developed a kind of position or doctrine called 'perspectivism'. Scholars go on and develop metaphysical, semantic, epistemic, and psychobiological interpretations of the supposed Nietzschean perspectivism or even 'perspectivisms'. They engage in debates about whether this perspectivism is relativistic, realistic, or anti-realistic and what the tenets of perspectivism are. In this paper, I suggest putting an end to this practice. I examine Nietzsche's explicit mentions of the term 'perspectivism', the problems associated with the misunderstanding of this term as a label, attempts to reconstruct perspectivism based on explicit mentions of 'perspective' and related vocabulary, and doctrinal assumptions scholars try to connect with this terminology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I should like to name here another perspective for (bio)Technology, a theologically-inspired one. I would call it Dialogical (Bio)Technology, in consideration of the fact that its fundamental characteristics, internally interdependent, would be the initial orientation towards what I have called the 'dialectical composition of created nature'; thereafter the overthrow of the enforced homogenisation of people which is brought about by their being reduced to their psychobiological elements through the promotion of a genuine dialogical society of real people, in which people do not dictate their existence to others; and the creation, in the end, of precisely that analogical identity which is expressed as imitation of the unifying, agapetic energy of God -of the will to consubstantiality rather than the will to power. These three principles would have the power to make (bio)Technology in general, and Artificial Intelligence in particular, dialogical, constantly reviewing the words, the actions and, in the end the purposes of God among his creations: wise, moderating and beneficial, with the sense of boundaries always present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Many persons with opioid use disorders (OUDs) have HIV disease and experience clinically significant stress after they enroll in abstinence-based treatment and undergo medically assisted withdrawal. We examined whether opioid withdrawal affects virologic control, inflammatory markers, cognition, and mood in persons with an OUD and HIV, and explored whether measures of withdrawal stress, such as activation of the HPA axis, contribute to alterations in immune function, cognition, and mood. Method and participants: Study participants were 53 persons with HIV who were admitted for OUD treatment at the City Addiction Hospital in Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation. Participants were examined at admission, at the anticipated peak of withdrawal 3 to 7 days after the last day of a clonidine-based withdrawal process lasting 7 to 14 days, and 3 to 4 weeks after completing withdrawal. At these times, participants received medical exams and were evaluated for symptoms of withdrawal, as well as cognition and mood. Viral load, plasma cortisol, DHEA sulfate ester (DHEA-S), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and soluble CD14 (sCD14) were determined. Multivariable models examined the relationships between markers of HPA activation and the other parameters over time. Results: HPA activation as indexed by cortisol/DHEA-S ratio increased during withdrawal, as did markers of immune activation, IL-6 and sCD14. There were no significant associations between viral load and indicators of HPA activation. In longitudinal analyses, higher cortisol/DHEA sulfate was related to worse cognition overall, and more mood disturbance. Increase in IL-6 was associated with worse cognitive performance on a learning task. There were no significant associations with sCD14. Conclusions: Worsening of cognition and measures of mood disturbance during withdrawal were associated with activation of the HPA axis and some measures of inflammation. Whether repeated episodes of opioid withdrawal have a cumulative impact on long-term HIV outcomes and neurocognition is a topic for further investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Psychological researchers often identify with psychological disciplines, such as social or clinical psychology. The current study analyzed Google Scholar profiles from 6,532 international scientists who attracted more than 100 citations in 2019 and self-identified with at least one of 10 common psychological disciplines (psychoanalysis; clinical psychology; (cognitive) neuroscience; developmental psychology; educational psychology; experimental psychology; biological psychology/psychophysiology; mathematical psychology/psychometrics; social psychology; personality psychology). Results indicated that almost half of all psychologists self-identified with either social psychology or cognitive neuroscience. There were 487 topics that were endorsed at least five times, ranging from highly discipline-specific topics to more integrative ones, such as emotion and personality. We also factor-analyzed frequencies of topical endorsement across disciplines and found two factors, which we interpreted as reflecting correlational and experimental research traditions (with social psychology being the largest discipline within the former tradition and cognitive neuroscience being the largest discipline within the latter tradition). Differences in productivity and impact were also found, with researchers identifying with psychometrics being the most productive and researchers identifying with personality psychology, cognitive neuroscience, and multidisciplinary psychology as the most impactful in terms of citation increases per additional output. Recommendations for promoting cross-fertilization across psychological disciplines are formulated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gianni Francesetti's book, "Fundamentals of Phenomenological Gestalt Psychopathology: A Light Introduction," provides a philosophical exploration of Phenomenological Gestalt Psychopathology (PGP). The book consists of 17 chapters that cover various topics related to psychopathology, including etymological definitions, the therapeutic relationship, spectrum of disorders, and societal implications. Francesetti emphasizes the importance of understanding human suffering from a phenomenological and field approach, and he argues that PGP practitioners should focus on perceiving the absences that contribute to psychopathology and guiding clients towards presence. The book appeals to a professional audience and references a wide range of clinical approaches. [Extracted from the article]

Resilience or the capacity to "bend but not break" refers to the ability to maintain or regain psychobiological equilibrium during or after exposure to stressful life events. Specifically, resilience has been proposed as a potential resource for staving off pathological states that often emerge after exposure to repeated stress and that are related to alterations in circulating cortisol. The aim of this systematic review of the literature was to gather evidence related to the relationship between psychological resilience and cortisol levels in adult humans. An extensive systematic search was carried out following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses (PRISMA) method in the PubMed and Web of Science databases. In total, 1256 articles were identified and, of these, 35 peer‐reviewed articles were included in the systematic review. We categorized findings according to (1) the short and long‐term secretion period covered by the cortisol matrices selected by studies and also according to (2) the differentiated diurnal, phasic (acute), and tonic (basal) components of the HPA output to which they refer and their relationships with resilience. Reported relationships between psychological resilience and distinct cortisol output parameters varied widely across studies, finding positive, negative, and null associations between the two variables. Notably, several of the studies that found no relationship between resilience and cortisol used a single morning saliva or plasma sample as their assessment of HPA axis activity. Despite limitations such as the great variability of the instruments and methods used by the studies to measure both resilience and cortisol, together with their high heterogeneity and small sample sizes, the evidence found in this systematic review points to the potential of resilience as a modifiable key factor to modulate the physiological response to stress. Therefore, further exploration of the interaction between the two variables is necessary for the eventual development of future interventions aimed at promoting resilience as an essential component of health prevention. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies have shown that depression and interpersonal relationships are interdependently connected and that including the intimate partner in treatment for depression has beneficial effects. Given evidence that compassion is both an interpersonal quality and a promising treatment target, the goal of this study was to examine the effects of a compassion-based, contemplative treatment for couples employing a multi-method approach for evaluation. In a pre-post-follow-up design, n = 53 different-sex couples including women with current depression were randomly assigned to a 10-week-long CBCT®- fC (Cognitively-Based Compassion Training/intervention for couples) or treatment-as-usual (TAU) condition. Multi-level linear regression models and post-hoc contrasts were calculated to determine changes in depressive symptoms, mindfulness and self-compassion, interpersonal functioning and neuroendocrine markers collected during a partnership appreciation task (PAT) in the laboratory before and after CBCT- fC treatment. While CBCT- fC led to a comparable decrease of depressive symptoms as TAU, the training specifically increased self-compassion and mindfulness versus TAU. Interestingly, interpersonal functioning did not improve, which was also reflected in participants' preferred self-focus in-between-session practices, instead of practices with interpersonal focus. There were no group-specific changes in psychobiological stress-marker reactivity. CBCT- fC was effective in decreasing current depressive symptomatology and increasing mindfulness, and self-compassion. Especially the motivation to participate, such as improving interpersonal functioning, should be addressed and intrinsic motives of the partners to be involved. In highly burdened individuals, self-regulation may need to be improved before co-regulation can be addressed, which would requiring longer treatments. Facilitating factors for engaging in the practice between-sessions seem meaningful. • A compassion-based couple treatment reduced depressive symptoms in female partners. • Treatment increased mindfulness and self-compassion in both partners, but not relationship functioning. • Compassion treatment did not result in psychobiological changes post treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: Sleep is a biological imperative, so one might wonder "what has psychology got to do with it?" A person's behaviours, thoughts, emotions and interactions with the environment inevitably serve for good, or for ill, as the "setting conditions" for the expression of sleep. Put simply, although sleep is not a psychological phenomenon, sleep has crucial behavioural dependencies. Consequently, the Psychobiological Inhibition Model can embrace numerous, potentially interacting, pathways to the persistence of this ubiquitous disorder, providing an overarching conceptual framework for why and how insomnia develops. The clinical guideline treatment for chronic insomnia is cognitive behavioural therapy. Although typically delivered as "talking therapy", cognitive behavioural therapy is not some form of "psychobabble". Rather, the Psychobiological Inhibition Model framework for insomnia articulates how specific techniques can correct the various ways in which the expression of normal sleep and circadian brain–behaviour relationships have become disrupted. Indeed, cognitive behavioural therapy is best conceived of as an approach to treatment rather than being one specific agent. A shift in emphasis towards a cognitive and behavioural therapeutics formulary would provide improved impetus to understanding of how insomnia develops, and of how it may best be treated in any given patient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

I will here pick up on a suggestion made by Greve (2023) in this journal, namely that a proper understanding of lifespan development means defending a non-reductionist psychology taking biological processes seriously, but without reducing psychology to physiology. I will here suggest and argue for the use of niche construction theory as a way of providing a psychological theoretical perspective on lifespan development broad enough to contain both naturalistic and normative elements in a non-reductionist manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recent affective turn in the sciences and humanities has substantially impacted upon human perception of other animals. This article begins with a brief discussion of the affective turn as it relates to animals' experiential (vs reflective) consciousness. Then, building on previous work on animal spirituality, it explores the psychobiological significance of spirituality for animals. Spirituality in this context is defined as exchange with agencies in the environment, whereby agency is understood as any phenomenon, event, etc., that has an effect on the animal regardless of whether or not the phenomenon has independent agency. Specifically, the article aims to establishing whether a previously proposed essentiality of such spiritual exchanges, and the comparison of the latter with other organismic necessities (e.g., food), is warranted, and the ensuing ethical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Anxiety and depressive symptoms and disorders are prevalent and poorly treated. The salutary benefits of resistance exercise training (RET), a potential alternative therapy, are well established, but mental health effects are understudied. This forum article summarizes the most rigorous evidence regarding efficacy of resistance exercise and provides a primer for putative psychobiological mechanisms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Initial social behaviors through play are a fundamental tool for the development of social cognition, because the exchange of emotions, gestures, communication face to face, verbal expressions and joint attention are facilitated through the mother-child dyad. In interactions by way of play, pleasure and spontaneous activities are carried out with specific purposes that involve an active commitment, affective relationships, and imaginary situations, where rules are established, decisions are made, structures of solid knowledge are built with close relationships between objects, persons, words and meanings; also, diversity of interests and cognitive styles are expressed and individuals are constituted as members of a group. In children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the promotion of social interactions through play is relevant for the achievement of learning, language development and inclusion in the school context, because the disorder is characterized by deficiencies in reciprocity or social interaction, which makes it difficult for them to maintain and understand social relationships; due to alterations in non-verbal and verbal communication and the presence of stereotyped behaviors. The objective of this research was to describe the interactions through play in mother-child dyads with ASD. Ten children with ASD from 7 to 12 years of age participated, with diagnoses of child psychiatrists, confirmed by the interview for the Autism Diagnosis-Revised (ADI-R) sections a, b and c and the Observation Scale for the Diagnosis of Autism-2 (ADOS-2). With the difficulties observed in the evaluations of both instruments, the participants were classified in three levels of severity according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5): grade 1 when they need help, grade 2 when they need notable help, and grade 3 when they need very noticeable help. Children who obtained scores from 9 to 20 in ADOS-2 and 10 to 14 in ADI-R were grouped with grade 1, while, children who obtained scores = 21 in ADOS-2 and = 15 in ADI-R were classified with grade 2. Based on Psychobiology Laboratory research project about the study of the neurodevelopment of ASD, 15 minutes of the interaction of the mother-child dyad with ASD were videotaped, in play, in a space free of distracting stimuli and with adequate light. 10 intermediate minutes were analyzed; classifying the forms, responses and the type of game in the interaction. The forms as: a) Active vs Passive and b) Impositive vs. Non-Impositive; the answers as: a) verbal, b) object or c) gestual and the game in: a) sensorimotor, b) construction, c) rules and d) symbolic. As a result, in the mother-child dyads, high scores were observed in the qualitative alterations of the reciprocal social interaction of the children, as well as a higher percentage of active interaction with verbal and object responses. A predominance of the play of rules was observed, followed by the symbolic one, and the sensorimotor, with a lower percentage of the construction play. In the play of rules, the mothers established how to use the objects, in the symbolic, the children pretended the toys were talking, in the sensorimotor they placed the objects outside or inside the box and gave them to their mothers, while in the construction play, children build some structures taking criteria like color or form. In conclusion, the analysis of the interactions in the mother-child dyads describes in detail the characteristics of the game, as well as the areas of development that should be considered for it in the family, educational and therapeutic contexts. It is relevant that parents and educators implement interaction strategies through play, because they can modulate the behavior of boys and girls with ASD to facilitate their integral development and inclusion in the school context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work discusses the etiological relationships between elementary failure and the subjectivation processes in borderline cases. Starting from a relational metapsychology, we understand these failures as psychobiological mismatches between the baby and the care environment, including in these mismatches, both the expectations of the subject in the constitution and the environment's capacity to meet them. These mismatches are understood as carrying an intense traumatic burden insofar as I emphasize the aspect of asymmetry that characterizes the object's initial relations, and, therefore, I attribute to the care environment a leading role in the processes of psychic constitution and its possible psychopathological developments. This discussion takes place based on a dialogue about trauma and its different understandings within the scope of psychoanalytic theories about the schizoid personality, the false self, and the crucial flaw. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Negative interpersonal interactions are associated with acute increases in ambulatory blood pressure (ABP). Yet, the mechanisms underlying this relationship are unclear. Purpose This study tested whether negative interpersonal interactions predict higher ABP both in the moment and during subsequent observations, and whether increases in negative mood mediate these relations. These associations were tested among Black and Hispanic urban adults who may be at higher risk for negative interpersonal interactions as a function of discrimination. Race/ethnicity and lifetime discrimination were tested as moderators. Methods Using a 24-hr ecological momentary assessment (EMA) design, 565 Black and Hispanic participants (aged 23–65, M = 39.06, SD = 9.35; 51.68% men) had their ABP assessed every 20 min during daytime accompanied by an assessment of negative interpersonal interactions and mood. This produced 12,171 paired assessments of ABP and self-reports of participants' interpersonal interactions, including how much the interaction made them feel left out, harassed, and treated unfairly, as well as how angry, nervous, and sad they felt. Results Multilevel models revealed that more intense negative interpersonal interactions predicted higher momentary ABP. Mediation analyses revealed that increased negative mood explained the relationship between negative interpersonal interactions and ABP in concurrent and lagged analyses. Discrimination was associated with more negative interpersonal interactions, but neither race/ethnicity nor lifetime discrimination moderated findings. Conclusions Results provide a clearer understanding of the psychobiological mechanisms through which interpersonal interactions influence cardiovascular health and may contribute to health disparities. Implications include the potential for just-in-time interventions to provide mood restoring resources after negative interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research work has already demonstrated that both the form of teaching as well as different teaching methods directly influence students' learning experience along with their psychobiological responses at the endocrine and autonomic level. Aiming to gain deeper insights into the constitution of the learning experience, this study examined the influence of external factors such as generally perceived life stress and self-efficacy on the immediate learning experience in different learning environments. Therefore, a randomized experimental field study was conducted in which both psychological constructs and physiological data (heart rate variability) were collected from healthy first-year medical students (n = 101) during the COVID-19 pandemic. In an effort to determine the consistency of the effects across various teaching formats, the same content of a practical histology course was carried out in a face-to-face setting as well as in passive and active online teaching. While self-efficacy was a strong predictor for positive course perceptions in all learning conditions (Pearson's r = 0.41–0.58), generally perceived worries correlated with higher anxiety during passive online learning and face-to-face learning (Pearson's r = 0.21–0.44), a finding supported by the negative correlation between the level of perceived life demands and enjoyment during the learning unit (Pearson's r = −0.40–−0.43). Here, we additionally report initial evidence pointing towards the role of reduced general life stress as a resilience factor for the expression of physiological stress parameters in an academic context (small-sized effect; Pearson's r = 0.18). The data gathered in this study illustrate the relevance of emerging emotional manifestations—either aversive; negative effect or positive; protective effect—for the immediate learning process and thus establish a connection between medical education and the importance of mental health and wellbeing—especially discussed against the background of current social and political challenges in increasingly complex societal structures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stress of a mother's depression may increasingly tax psychobiological systems that help children with self-regulation, increasing children's allostatic load over time. Some evidence supports children exposed to maternal depression tend to have shorter telomeres and tend to have more somatic and psychological problems. Children having one or more A1 alleles of dopamine receptor 2 (DRD2, rs1800497), tend to have greater sensitivity to maternal depression and could experience more adverse child outcomes that contribute to greater allostatic load. Using the Future Families and Child Wellbeing dataset, secondary-data analyses were used to test the effect of repeated exposure to maternal depression during early childhood on children's telomere length during middle childhood moderated by children's DRD2 genotype (N = 2884). Greater maternal depression was not significantly associated with shorter child telomere length and this association was not moderated by DRD2 genotypes while controlling for factors associated with child telomere length. The effect of maternal depression on children's TL may not be significant in populations from diverse racial-ethnic and family backgrounds during middle childhood. These findings could help further our current understanding psychobiological systems affected by maternal depression that result in adverse child outcomes. Even though this study used a relatively large and diverse sample, replication of DRD2 moderation in even larger samples is an important next step. • Children exposed to maternal depression tend to have shorter telomeres and more adverse somatic and psychological problems. • Having greater genetic sensitivity to early-caregiving experiences like maternal depression may explain why some children are more strongly affected. • Exposure to maternal depression was not significantly associated with shorter child telomere length during middle childhood. • The association between maternal depression and child telomere length was not moderated by children's DRD2 genotype. • The present study uses a large sample of racially and ethnically diverse families, and many families were unmarried. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Substance use increases throughout adolescence, and earlier substance use may increase risk for poorer health. However, limited research has examined whether stress responses relate to adolescent substance use, especially among adolescents from ethnic minority and high-adversity backgrounds. The present study assessed whether blunted emotional and cortisol responses to stress at age 14 related to substance use by ages 14 and 16, and whether associations varied by poverty status and sex. A sample of 277 Mexican-origin youth (53.19% female; 68.35% below the poverty line) completed a social-evaluative stress task, which was culturally adapted for this population, and provided saliva samples and rated their anger, sadness, and happiness throughout the task. They also reported whether they had ever used alcohol, marijuana, cigarettes, and vaping of nicotine at age 14 and again at age 16. Multilevel models suggested that blunted cortisol reactivity to stress was associated with alcohol use by age 14 and vaping nicotine by age 16 among youth above the poverty line. Also, blunted sadness and happiness reactivity to stress was associated with use of marijuana and alcohol among female adolescents. Blunted stress responses may be a risk factor for substance use among youth above the poverty line and female adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A "diagnosis" of FA was assigned to participants who endorse three or more symptoms plus satisfying the clinical impairment criteria, in line with the DSM-IV diagnosis of traditional substance dependence (Gearhardt et al., [18]). Keywords: Food addiction; Symptoms; YFAS; Academic performance; Adolescents EN Food addiction Symptoms YFAS Academic performance Adolescents 2325 2333 9 08/17/23 20230801 NES 230801 Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11469-021-00724-7. 2, students meeting the FA diagnosis showed a statistically significant lower mark that those students that did not meet the FA diagnosis ( I p i = 0.002, I d i = 0.812) (Fig. [Extracted from the article]

In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we aimed to provide a comprehensive overview of gray matter alterations of adult- and underage patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in comparison to healthy trauma-exposed (TC) and non-exposed (HC) individuals. We subdivided our groups into patients with PTSD after trauma exposure in adulthood (aa) or childhood (ac) as well as children with PTSD (cc). We identified 113 studies, including 6.800 participants in our review, which we divided into studies focusing on whole-brain and region-of-interest (ROI) analysis. We performed a coordinate-based meta-analysis on 14 studies in the group of aa-PTSD. We and found lower gray matter volume in patients with PTSD (aa) in the medial frontal gyrus (PTSD

• Cell-free mitochondrial DNA (cf-mtDNA) is an emerging biomarker of psychobiological stress. • MitoQuicLy was developed to perform high-throughput quantification of cf-mtDNA in clinically relevant biofluids. • Within a person, cf-mtDNA levels vary up to ∼100-fold between biofluid types. • Correlations between cf-mtDNA and clinical biomarkers is biofluid dependent. • These results raise critical questions around the biological nature of cf-mtDNA in different biofluids. Circulating cell-free mitochondrial DNA (cf-mtDNA) is an emerging biomarker of psychobiological stress and disease which predicts mortality and is associated with various disease states. To evaluate the contribution of cf-mtDNA to health and disease states, standardized high-throughput procedures are needed to quantify cf-mtDNA in relevant biofluids. Here, we describe MitoQuicLy: Mito chondrial DNA Qu antification i n c ell-free samples by Ly sis. We demonstrate high agreement between MitoQuicLy and the commonly used column-based method, although MitoQuicLy is faster, cheaper, and requires a smaller input sample volume. Using 10 µL of input volume with MitoQuicLy, we quantify cf-mtDNA levels from three commonly used plasma tube types, two serum tube types, and saliva. We detect, as expected, significant inter-individual differences in cf-mtDNA across different biofluids. However, cf-mtDNA levels between concurrently collected plasma, serum, and saliva from the same individual differ on average by up to two orders of magnitude and are poorly correlated with one another, pointing to different cf-mtDNA biology or regulation between commonly used biofluids in clinical and research settings. Moreover, in a small sample of healthy women and men (n = 34), we show that blood and saliva cf-mtDNAs correlate with clinical biomarkers differently depending on the sample used. The biological divergences revealed between biofluids, together with the lysis-based, cost-effective, and scalable MitoQuicLy protocol for biofluid cf-mtDNA quantification, provide a foundation to examine the biological origin and significance of cf-mtDNA to human health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One-fourth to one-third of women with endometriosis receiving first-line hormonal treatment lacks an adequate response in terms of resolution of painful symptoms. This phenomenon has been ascribed to "progesterone resistance", an entity that was theorized to explain the gap between the ubiquity of retrograde menstruation and the 10% prevalence of endometriosis among women of reproductive age. Nevertheless, the hypothesis of progesterone resistance is not free of controversies. As our understanding of endometriosis is increasing, authors are starting to set aside the traditionally accepted tunnel vision of endometriosis as a strictly pelvic disease, opening to a more comprehensive perspective of the condition. The question is: are patients not responding to first-line treatment because they have an altered signaling pathway for such treatment, or have we been overlooking a series of other pain contributors which may not be resolved by hormonal therapy? Finding an answer to this question is evermore impelling, for two reasons mainly. Firstly, because not recognizing the presence of further pain contributors adds a delay in treatment to the already existing delay in diagnosis of endometriosis. This may lead to chronicity of the untreated pain contributors as well as causing adverse consequences on quality of life and psychological health. Secondly, misinterpreting the consequences of untreated pain contributors as a non-response to standard first-line treatment may imply the adoption of second-line medical therapies or of surgery, which may entail non-negligible side effects and may not be free of physical, psychological and socioeconomic repercussions. The current narrative review aims at providing an overview of all the possible pain contributors in endometriosis, ranging from those strictly organic to those with a greater neuro-psychological component. Including these aspects in a broader psychobiological approach may provide useful suggestions for treating those patients who report persistent pain symptoms despite receiving first-line hormonal medical treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ability to perform two tasks simultaneously is essential for daily activities. In older adults, this ability is markedly reduced, as evidenced by the dual-task cost on gait. Preliminary evidences indicate that the dual-task cost can be influenced by different types of manipulations. Here, we explored the effectiveness of a new approach to reduce the dual-task cost, based on the placebo effect, a psychobiological phenomenon whereby a positive outcome follows the administration of an inert device thought to be effective. Thirty-five healthy older adults were asked to walk on a sensorized carpet (single-task condition) and to walk while counting backward (dual-task condition) in two sessions (pre-test and post-test). A placebo group, randomly selected, underwent sham transcranial direct current stimulation over the supraorbital areas between sessions, along with information about its positive effects on concentration and attention. A control group did not receive any intervention between sessions. The dual-task cost was significantly reduced in the placebo group at the post-test session compared to the pre-test for several gait parameters (Cohen's d > 1.43). At the post-test session, the dual-task cost was also lower in the placebo group than in the control group (d > 0.73). Cognitive (number of subtractions and number of errors) and subjective (perceived mental fatigability) variables remained stable across sessions. The reduced dual-task cost in the placebo group could indicate the ability to re-establish the allocation of attentional resources between tasks. These findings could contribute to the development of cognitive strategies that leverage positive expectations to boost motor control in older adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to critically analyze Antonio Guillamón Fernández's book Gender identity. A psychobiological approach (2021). In order to do so, the book is contextualized within the current "brain-centric" wave, and I also discuss the theoretical framework underlying the presentation of empirical material. From a constructivist point of view, I suggest that Guillamón assumes a monistic ontology and a reductionist approach that blocks the interpretation of this empirical material, which could be better understood by including psychosocial identification processes that, in turn, depend on specific historical and cultural phenomena. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examine neural correlates of discrete expressions of negative emotionality in infants to determine whether the microstructure of white matter tracts at 1 month of age foreshadows the expression of specific negative emotions later in infancy. Infants (n = 103) underwent neuroimaging at 1‐month, and mothers reported on infant fear, sadness, and anger at 6, 12, and 18 months using the Infant Behavior Questionnaire‐Revised. Levels and developmental change in fear, sadness, and anger were estimated from mother reports. Relations between MRI and infant emotion indicated that 1‐month white matter microstructure was differentially associated with level and change in infant fear, but not anger or sadness, in the left stria terminalis (p < 0.05, corrected), a tract that connects frontal and tempo‐parietal regions and has been implicated in emerging psychopathology in adults. More relaxed constraints on significance (p < 0.10, corrected) revealed that fear was associated with lower white matter microstructure bilaterally in the inferior portion of the stria terminalis and regions within the sagittal stratum. Results suggest the neurobehavioral uniqueness of fear as early as 1 month of age in regions that are associated with potential longer‐term outcomes. This work highlights the early neural precursors of fearfulness, adding to literature explaining the psychobiological accounts of affective development. Highlights: Expressions of infant fear and anger, but not sadness, increase from 6 to 18 months of age.Early neural architecture in the stria terminalis is related to higher initial levels and increasing fear in infancy.After accounting for fear, anger and sadness do not appear to be associated with differences in early white matter microstructure.This work identifies early neural precursors of fearfulness as early as 1‐month of age. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]