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Abstract: Schizophrenia has been associated with autonomic dysregulation and increased cardiovascular co-morbidity. We hypothesised that autonomic dysregulation in patients with schizophrenia is associated with psychopathology and metabolic profiles. In this study, we aimed to evaluate psychopathology, comprehensive metabolic profiles and cardiac autonomic function using heart-rate variability (HRV) analysis in patients with schizophrenia. A total of 94 patients with schizophrenia and 51 healthy controls were recruited. Each patient underwent a physical examination, laboratory tests and rating scale evaluation, and all subjects underwent a 1-h electrocardiogram monitoring. Analysis of variance was used to compare demographic and HRV variables between control and patient groups. We applied multiple regression analysis with backward selection to examine the association between HRV indices and demographic, metabolic and psychopathology profiles. A decreased HRV was found in patient groups, compared to controls. Reduced vagal-related and complexity domain of HRV indices in patient groups were correlated with increased body mass indices, diastolic pressure, triglycerides, high- and low-density lipoprotein and severity of psychosis mainly in the negative symptom domain. This study provides evidence that altered autonomic function is associated with both psychopathology and metabolic profiles in patients with schizophrenia. These findings may warrant future research in using HRV as objective markers to monitor cardiovascular health and the severity of psychosis in patients with schizophrenia. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• Having sleep initiation difficulty can significantly affect morning cardiovascular function. • Reduced vagal tone, blunted baroreflex sensitivity, and elevated blood pressure presented in the morning among sleep-onset insomnia. • Autonomic nervous system dysregulation in the morning may be a possible link between sleep-onset insomnia and high risk of cardiovascular events. Insomnia is a risk factor for hypertension and cardiovascular events, and this association is strongest for sleep-onset insomnia. This study explored morning cardiovascular function in individuals with sleep-onset insomnia by analysing heart rate variability (HRV), blood pressure variability, and baroreflex sensitivity. Sleep quality of fifteen good sleepers and 13 individuals with sleep-onset insomnia was measured by overnight polysomnography, followed by continuous recordings of the participant's blood pressure and heart rate for 10 min immediately after they had woken up the following morning. After morning awakening (averaged time: 12.33 ± 10.48 min), a significantly reduced vagal tone assessed by HRV, including lower total power of HRV, lower high frequency of HRV, and elevated slopes of systolic as well as diastolic blood pressure in the morning with a blunted baroreflex sensitivity in the insomnia group were noted, compared to the control group. No differences in sympathetic-related activity were observed. The regulation of cardiovascular activity by the parasympathetic nervous system plays an important role in sleep-onset insomnia. Weak vagal modulation and blunted baroreflex sensitivity were evident in this insomnia subtype, which indicates that difficulty in initiating sleep can independently affect morning cardiovascular function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Poorer objective sleep quality is noted in periodic limb movements in sleep. • Severity of limb movements is positively correlated to changes in autonomic tone. • Leg movement events and changes in autonomic tone are not temporally correlated. : Restless legs syndrome (RLS) has been thought to increase the risk of hypertension, cardiovascular events, and all-cause mortality. Periodic limb movements in sleep (PLMS) can be observed in most patients with RLS. Using non-invasive physiologic measurement and analysis, including heart rate variability (HRV) analysis, we aimed to investigate sleep quality and sleep state stability. : A total of 53 healthy controls and 15 patients with RLS and PLMS were recruited. Patients with other sleep-related disorders such as obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and major depressive disorder (MDD) were excluded. Each subject was evaluated using sleep and mood questionnaires and had to undergo polysomnography (PSG). HRV analysis was applied to assess autonomic function and analyze correlations with the severity of periodic leg movements (PLM). The power of different brainwaves was analyzed using electroencephalogram (EEG). Electromyogram (EMG) was also used to explore the temporal correlation between changes in HRV and leg movement events. : Compared with healthy controls, PLMS group had not only poorer perceived sleep and mood questionnaires scales but also reductions in parasympathetic-related HRV indices and increases in sympathetic-related HRV parameters. The changes were in proportion to the severity of PLM. Brainwaves and sleep stage which indicate "deep sleep" decreased in the PLMS group. There were no significant temporal correlations between changes in HRV and leg movement events. : Our findings suggest that patients with RLS and PLMS have poorer subjective sleep and mood scales. Besides, objective sleep quality including HRV analysis and brainwaves analysis revealed reduced parasympathetic tone, increased sympathetic tone, and sleep disturbance, which reveal the possibility of a higher risk for secondary disease. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We identified some brain regions have association of age with both rs-fMRI signal variability and gFC respectively. • Two typical associations could be observed between SD gFC: positive and negative correlations, though each brain area had its own mode. • The influence of signal variability to global functional connectivity was changing with age at the voxel level. Research suggests that the aging relates to variability of resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI) signal and the functional connectivity. However, the association between the spatial and temporal activity of resting-state fMRI signal was less documented. We recruited 477 healthy Han Chinese participants, who were separated into young, middle and old groups to investigate the relationship between the variability and global functional connectivity (gFC) in different age ranges using standard deviation (SD) of time series and gFC, respectively. Our analysis revealed the changing patterns during healthy aging: 1) 17 brain regions(Olfactory_L, Orbital_L etc.) were identified to have significant association of age with both SD and gFC respectively by linear regression analysis; 2) Two typical associations could be observed between SD and gFC: positive and negative correlations; 3) The variation ratio of SD to gFC was changing with age at the voxel level by using unsupervised clustering method. It is the first time to combine voxel-wise variability and gFC together for the study of age-related changes with rs-fMRI signal. This study may provide a new clue for understanding the synchronization of human brain based on SD and gFC due to the effect of aging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]