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La distribution rapide des secours en cas de calamités exige certaines conditions:1. La nomination et la reconnaissance officielles de la Croix-Rouge comme l'organisme de secours.2. La centralisation des secours sous la direction de la Croix-Rouge. Une direction centrale dans le chaos et le désordre produits par une calamité est aussi nécessaire qu'un commandement militaire unique en temps de guerre.3. La Croix-Rouge devra pouvoir disposer des ressources ou de crédits suffisants pour pouvoir organiser immédiatement les secours en attendant l'apport de fonds spéciaux. La population ne devra pas se trouver dans l'obligation d'attendre qu'une collecte ou une subvention du Gouvernement ait mis les fonds nécessaires à la disposition de la Croix-Rouge. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

L'organisation efficace des secours en cas de guerre et de calamités exige une connaissance préalable des problèmes et des risques qui peuvent se présenter. Pendant ces calamités publiques, l'activité de la Croix-Rouge de tous les pays — et ceci a été le but principal de la Croix-Rouge américaine — s'est concentrée sur le bien-être de la population. La Croix-Rouge a cherché à faire face aux besoins humains et à rétablir dans la mesure du possible les conditions de la vie au niveau existant avant le désastre. La Croix-Rouge n'a pas voulu assumer les fonctions du gouvernement en veillant au maintien de la loi et de l'ordre, en s'occupant de la restauration des rues, des routes, des ponts, des services de voirie et des bâtiments publics. Son rôle s'est limité à venir au secours de la population. C'est ce qui explique l'importance pour la Croix-Rouge des problèmes relatifs aux êtres humains en cas de calamité et aux risques auxquels ils sont exposés. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD), a more severe manifestation of premenstrual syndrome (PMS), is characterized by emotional, behavioral, and physical symptoms that begin in the mid-to-late luteal phase of the menstrual cycle, when estradiol and progesterone levels precipitously decline, and remit after the onset of menses. Remotely monitoring physiologic variables associated with PMDD depression symptoms, such as heart rate variability (HRV), sleep, and physical activity, holds promise for developing an affective state prediction model. Switching into and out of depressive states is associated with an increased risk of suicide, and therefore, monitoring periods of affective switching may help mitigate risk. Management of other chronic health conditions, including cardiovascular disease and diabetes, has benefited from remote digital monitoring paradigms that enable patients and physicians to monitor symptoms in real-time and make behavioral and medication adjustments. PMDD is a chronic condition that may benefit from real-time, remote monitoring. However, clinical practice has not advanced to monitoring affective states in real-time. Identifying remote monitoring paradigms that can detect within-person affective state change may help facilitate later research on timely and efficacious interventions for individuals with PMDD. This narrative review synthesizes the current literature on behavioral and physiological correlates of PMDD suitable for remote monitoring during the menstrual cycle. The reliable measurement of heart rate variability (HRV), sleep, and physical activity, with existing wearable technology, suggests the potential of a remote monitoring paradigm in PMDD and other depressive disorders., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Brown, Bondy, Prim, Dichter and Schiller.)

Background: C-reactive protein (CRP) is a moderately heritable marker of systemic inflammation that is associated with adverse physical and mental health outcomes. Identifying factors associated with genetic liability to elevated CRP in childhood may inform our understanding of variability in CRP that could be targeted to prevent and/or delay the onset of related health outcomes., Methods: We conducted a phenome-wide association study (PheWAS) of genetic risk for elevated CRP (i.e. CRP polygenic risk score [PRS]) among children genetically similar to European ancestry reference populations (median analytic n = 5,509) from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development ℠ (ABCD) Study. Associations between CRP PRS and 2,377 psychosocial and neuroimaging phenotypes were estimated using independent mixed effects models. Post hoc analyses examined whether: (1) covarying for measured body mass index (BMI) or removing the shared genetic architecture between CRP and BMI altered phenotypic associations, (2) sex moderated CRP PRS associations, and (3) associations are unconfounded by assortative mating or passive gene-environment correlations (using a within-family analyses). Multiple testing was adjusted for using Bonferroni and false discovery rate (FDR) correction., Results: Nine phenotypes were positively associated with CRP PRS after multiple testing correction: five weight- and eating-related phenotypes (e.g. BMI, overeating), three phenotypes related to caregiver somatic problems (e.g. caregiver somatic complaints), as well as weekday video watching (all p s = 1.2 × 10 -7 - 2.5 × 10 -4 , all p FDR s = 0.0002 - 0.05). No neuroimaging phenotypes were associated with CRP PRS (all p s = 0.0003 - 0.998; all p FDR s = 0.08 - 0.998) after correction for multiple testing. Eating and weight-related phenotypes remained associated with CRP PRS in within-family analyses. Covarying for BMI resulted in largely consistent results, and sex did not moderate any CRP PRS associations. Removing the shared genetic variance between CRP and BMI attenuated all relationships; associations with weekday video watching, caregiver somatic problems and caregiver report that the child is overweight remained significant while associations with waist circumference, weight, and caregiver report that child overeats did not., Discussion: Genetic liability to elevated CRP is associated with higher weight, eating, and weekday video watching during childhood as well as caregiver somatic problems. These associations were consistent with direct genetic effects (i.e., not solely due to confounding factors like passive gene-environment correlations) and were independent of measured BMI. The majority of associations with weight and eating phenotypes were attributable to shared genetic architecture between BMI and inflammation. The relationship between genetics and heightened inflammation in later life may be partially attributable to modifiable behaviors (e.g. weight and activity levels) that are expressed as early as childhood.

In recent years, a burgeoning field of research has focused on women's mental health and psychiatric conditions associated with perinatal and postpartum periods. An emerging trend points to the link between hormone fluctuations during pregnancy and postpartum that have immunologic consequences in cases of perinatal depression and postpartum psychosis. The transition to menopause (or "perimenopause") has garnered comparatively less attention, but existing studies point to the influential interaction of hormonal and immune pathways. Moreover, the role of this cross talk in perturbing neural networks has been implicated in risk for cognitive decline, but relatively less work has focused on the depressed brain during perimenopause. This brief review brings a psychoneuroimmunology lens to depression during the perimenopausal period by providing an overview of existing knowledge and suggestions for future research to intertwine these bodies of work., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2024 The Author.)

Background: The 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22qDel) is a genetic copy number variant that strongly increases risk for schizophrenia and other neurodevelopmental disorders. Disrupted functional connectivity between the thalamus and the somatomotor/frontoparietal cortex has been implicated in cross-sectional studies of 22qDel, idiopathic schizophrenia, and youths at clinical high risk for psychosis. Here, we used a novel functional atlas approach to investigate longitudinal age-related changes in network-specific thalamocortical functional connectivity (TCC) in participants with 22qDel and typically developing (TD) control participants., Methods: TCC was calculated for 9 functional networks derived from resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans collected from 65 participants with 22qDel (63.1% female) and 69 demographically matched TD control participants (49.3% female) ages 6 to 23 years. Analyses included 86 longitudinal follow-up scans. Nonlinear age trajectories were characterized with generalized additive mixed models., Results: In participants with 22qDel, TCC in the frontoparietal network increased until approximately age 13, while somatomotor TCC and cingulo-opercular TCC decreased from age 6 to 23. In contrast, no significant relationships between TCC and age were found in TD control participants. Somatomotor connectivity was significantly higher in participants with 22qDel than in TD control participants in childhood, but lower in late adolescence. Frontoparietal TCC showed the opposite pattern., Conclusions: 22qDel is associated with aberrant development of functional network connectivity between the thalamus and cortex. Younger individuals with 22qDel have lower frontoparietal connectivity and higher somatomotor connectivity than control individuals, but this phenotype may normalize or partially reverse by early adulthood. Altered maturation of this circuitry may underlie elevated neuropsychiatric disease risk in this syndrome., (Copyright © 2023 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Stress-induced dysregulation of diurnal cortisol is a cornerstone of stress-disease theories; however, observed associations between cortisol, stress, and health have been inconsistent. The reliability of diurnal cortisol features may contribute to these equivocal findings. Our meta-analysis (5 diurnal features from 11 studies; total participant n = 3307) and investigation (15 diurnal cortisol features) in 2 independent studies (St. Louis Personality and Aging Network [SPAN] Study, n = 147, ages 61-73; Minnesota Longitudinal Study of Risk and Adaptation [MLSRA] Study, n = 90, age 37) revealed large variability in the day-to-day test-retest reliability of diurnal features derived from salivary cortisol data (i.e., ICC = 0.00-0.75). Collectively, these data indicate that some commonly used diurnal cortisol features have poor reliability that is insufficient for individual differences research (e.g., cortisol awakening response) while others (e.g., area under the curve with respect to ground) have fair-to-good reliability that could support reliable identification of associations in well-powered studies., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2023 The Authors.)

Background: Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is associated with alterations within the default mode (DMN) and frontoparietal (FPN) networks. However, it is unclear whether changes in these networks occur prior to onset in youth at high familial risk for MDD or are a consequence of MDD. Moreover, studies examining premorbid MDD vulnerability markers have focused on static rather than dynamic network properties, which could further elucidate DMN-FPN imbalances linked to MDD risk., Methods: Eighty-nine unaffected 12-14-year-old adolescents both with ( n = 27) and without ( n = 62) a maternal history of MDD completed a resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging scan and self-report assessments of depressive symptoms and perceived stress at baseline and every three months across a two-year span. A coactivation pattern (CAP) analysis was conducted to examine functional network dynamic properties, including time spent in each CAP (total number of volumes), CAP persistence (number of consecutive volumes in each CAP), and number of transitions between posterior DMN-FPN and canonical DMN CAPs. Multilevel models estimated whether DMN-FPN dynamic properties predicted future depressive symptoms and stress sensitivity., Results: High-risk adolescents spent more time and exhibited a longer persistence in a posterior DMN-FPN CAP. DMN-FPN CAP persistence predicted future perceived stress, but only among high-risk adolescents. High-risk adolescents characterized by high DMN-FPN persistence reported greater future perceived stress, whereas those showing low DMN-FPN persistence had reduced perceived stress over time. Unexpectedly, DMN-FPN dynamics did not predict future depressive symptoms., Conclusions: Altered DMN-FPN CAP properties among high-risk adolescents mirror alterations among individuals with MDD, suggesting that DMN-FPN dynamics may be a risk marker rather than consequence of MDD. Furthermore, longer DMN-FPN CAP persistence increases vulnerability in high-risk adolescents by predicting greater future stress sensitivity, a well-known catalyst for MDD. Replication in a larger sample is warranted., Competing Interests: Over the past 3 years, Dr. Pizzagalli has received consulting fees from Albright Stonebridge Group, Boehringer Ingelheim, Compass Pathways, Engrail Therapeutics, Neumora Therapeutics (formerly BlackThorn Therapeutics), Neurocrine Biosciences, Neuroscience Software, Otsuka, Sage Therapeutics, Sunovion, and Takeda; he has received honoraria from the Psychonomic Society and the American Psychological Association (for editorial work) and from Alkermes; he has received research funding from the Brain and Behavior Research Foundation, the Dana Foundation, Millennium Pharmaceuticals, NIMH, and Wellcome Leap; he has received stock options from Compass Pathways, Engrail Therapeutics, Neumora Therapeutics, and Neuroscience Software. Dr. Auerbach is an unpaid scientific advisor for Ksana Health and a paid scientific advisor for Get Sonar, Inc. No funding from these entities was used to support the current work, and all views expressed are solely those of the authors. All other authors have no conflicts of interest or relevant disclosures.

Women report greater cigarette cravings during the menstrual cycle phase with higher circulating levels of 17β-estradiol (E2), which is metabolized to estrone (E1). Both E2 and E1 bind to estrogen receptors (ERs), which have been highly studied in the breast, uterus, and ovary. Recent studies have found that ERs are also located on GABAergic medium spiny neurons (MSNs) within the nucleus accumbens core (NAcore). Glutamatergic plasticity in NAcore MSNs is altered following nicotine use; however, it is unknown whether estrogens impact this neurobiological consequence. To test the effect of estrogen on nicotine use, we ovariectomized (OVX) female rats that then underwent nicotine self-administration acquisition and compared them to ovary-intact (sham) rats. The OVX animals then received either sesame oil (vehicle), E2, or E1+E2 supplementation for 4 or 20 d before nicotine sessions. While both ovary-intact and OVX females readily discriminated levers, OVX females consumed less nicotine than sham females. Further, neither E2 nor E1+E2 increased nicotine consumption back to sham levels following OVX, regardless of the duration of the treatment. OVX also rendered NAcore MSNs in a potentiated state following nicotine self-administration, which was reversed by 4 d of systemic E2 treatment. Finally, we found that E2 and E1+E2 increased ERα mRNA in the NAcore, but nicotine suppressed this regardless of hormone treatment. Together, these results show that estrogens regulate nicotine neurobiology, but additional factors may be required to restore nicotine consumption to ovary-intact levels., (Copyright © 2022 Maher et al.)

Anhedonia, or the decreased ability to experience pleasure, is a cardinal symptom of major depression that commonly occurs within other forms of psychopathology. Supportive of long-held theory that anhedonia represents a genetically influenced vulnerability marker for depression, evidence from twin studies suggests that it is moderately-largely heritable. However, the genomic sources of this heritability are just beginning to be understood. In this review, we survey what is known about the genomic architecture underlying anhedonia and related constructs. We briefly review twin and initial candidate gene studies before focusing on genome-wide association study (GWAS) and polygenic efforts. As large samples are needed to reliably detect the small effects that typically characterize common genetic variants, the study of anhedonia and related phenotypes conflicts with current genomic research requirements and frameworks that prioritize sample size over precise phenotyping. This has resulted in few and underpowered studies of anhedonia-related constructs that have largely failed to reliably identify individual variants. Nonetheless, the polygenic architecture of anhedonia-related constructs identified in these studies has genetic overlap with depression and schizophrenia as well as related brain structure (e.g., striatal volume), providing important clues to etiology that may usefully guide refinement in nosology. As we await the accumulation of larger samples for more well-powered GWAS of reward-related constructs, novel analytic techniques that leverage GWAS summary statistics (e.g., genomic structural equation modeling) may currently be used to help characterize how the genomic architecture of anhedonia is shared and distinct from that underlying other constructs (e.g., depression, neuroticism, anxiety)., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.)

Elevated neuroticism may confer vulnerability to the depressogenic effects of stressful life events (SLEs). However, the mechanisms underlying this susceptibility remain poorly understood. Accumulating evidence suggests that stress-related disruptions in neural reward processing might undergird links between stress and depression. Using data from the Saint Louis Personality and Aging Network (SPAN) study and Duke Neurogenetics Study (DNS), we examined whether neuroticism moderates links between stressful life events (SLE) and depression as well as SLEs and ventral striatum (VS) response to reward. In the longitudinal SPAN sample ( n = 971 older adults), SLEs prospectively predicted future depressive symptoms, especially among those reporting elevated neuroticism, even after accounting for prior depressive symptoms and previous SLE exposure (NxSLE interaction: p = .016, Δ R ² = 0.003). Cross-sectional analyses of the DNS, a young adult college sample with neuroimaging data, replicated this interaction ( n = 1,343: NxSLE interaction: p = .019, Δ R ² = 0.003) and provided evidence that neuroticism moderates the association between SLEs and reward-related VS response ( n = 1,195, NxSLE: p = .017, Δ R ² = 0.0048). Blunted left VS response to reward was associated with a lifetime depression diagnosis, r = -0.07, p = .02, but not current depressive symptoms, r = -0.003, p = .93. These data suggest that neuroticism may promote vulnerability to stress-related depression and that sensitivity to stress-related reductions in VS response may be a potential neural mechanism underlying vulnerability to clinically significant depression. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Background: A parental history of major depressive disorder (MDD) is an established risk factor for MDD in youth, and clarifying the mechanisms related to familial risk transmission is critical. Aberrant reward processing is a promising biomarker of MDD risk; accordingly, the aim of this study was to test behavioral measures of reward responsiveness and underlying frontostriatal resting activity in healthy adolescents both with (high-risk) and without (low-risk) a maternal history of MDD., Methods: Low-risk and high-risk 12- to 14-year-old adolescents completed a probabilistic reward task (n = 74 low-risk, n = 27 high-risk) and a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scan (n = 61 low-risk, n = 25 high-risk). Group differences in response bias toward reward and resting ventral striatal and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFFs) were examined. Computational modeling was applied to dissociate reward sensitivity from learning rate., Results: High-risk adolescents showed a blunted response bias compared with low-risk adolescents. Computational modeling analyses revealed that relative to low-risk adolescents, high-risk adolescents exhibited reduced reward sensitivity but similar learning rate. Although there were no group differences in ventral striatal and mPFC fALFFs, groups differed in their relationships between mPFC fALFFs and response bias. Specifically, among high-risk adolescents, higher mPFC fALFFs correlated with a blunted response bias, whereas there was no fALFFs-response bias relationship among low-risk youths., Conclusions: High-risk adolescents exhibit reward functioning impairments, which are associated with mPFC fALFFs. The blunted response bias-mPFC fALFFs association may reflect an excessive mPFC-mediated suppression of reward-driven behavior, which may potentiate MDD risk., (Copyright © 2020 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Inflammation has been reliably associated with depression. However, the directionality of this association is poorly understood, with evidence that elevated inflammation may promote and precede the development of depression, as well as arise following its expression. Using data from older adults ( N  ​= ​1,072, ages 60-73) who participated in the ongoing longitudinal St. Louis Personality and Aging Network (SPAN) study, we examined whether inflammatory markers (interleukin-6: IL-6, C-reactive protein: CRP, and tumor necrosis factor α: TNFα) and depression were prospectively predictive of one another. Fasting serum samples and self-reports of depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory-II) were obtained from participants at 2 sessions approximately 2 years apart. Structural equation models as well as regressions that accounted for a host of potentially confounding covariates and depression at baseline revealed that baseline IL-6 and CRP, but not baseline TNFα were associated with elevated depressive symptoms at the follow-up session (IL-6: β ​= ​0.080, p  ​= ​0.036; CRP: β ​= ​0.083, p  ​= ​0.03; TNFα: β ​= ​0.039, p  ​= ​0.314). However, there was no association between baseline depressive symptoms and follow-up inflammatory markers (βs ​= ​-0.12 to -0.006, all p s ​> ​0.05). Collectively, these data suggest that inflammation prospectively predicts depression, but depression does not predict inflammation in older age. These data add to a growing literature suggesting that inflammatory signaling may plausibly promote the development of depression., Competing Interests: None., (© 2021 The Authors.)

Background: Approximately half of depressed adolescents fail to respond to cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Given the variability in response, it is important to identify pretreatment characteristics that predict prognosis. Knowledge of which depressed adolescents are likely to exhibit a positive versus poor outcome to CBT may have important clinical implications (e.g., informing treatment recommendations). Emerging evidence suggests that neural reward responsiveness represents one promising predictor., Methods: Adolescents with major depressive disorder (n = 36) received CBT and completed a reward task at 3 time points (pretreatment, midtreatment and posttreatment) while 128-channel electroencephalographic data were acquired. Healthy control participants (n = 29) completed the same task at 3 corresponding time points. Analyses focused on event-related potentials linked to 2 stages of neural processing: initial response to rewards (reward positivity) and later, elaborative processing (late positive potential). Moreover, time-frequency analyses decomposed the reward positivity into 2 constituent components: reward-related delta and loss-related theta activity., Results: Multilevel modeling revealed that greater pretreatment reward responsiveness, as measured by the late positive potential to rewards, predicted greater depressive symptom change. In addition, a group × condition × time interaction emerged for theta activity to losses, reflecting normalization of theta power in the group with major depressive disorder from baseline to posttreatment., Conclusions: An event-related potential measure of sustained (late positive potential)-but not initial (reward positivity)-reward responsiveness predicted symptom improvement, which may help inform which depressed adolescents are most likely to benefit from CBT. In addition to alleviating depression, successful CBT may attenuate underlying neural (theta) hypersensitivity to negative outcomes in depressed youths., (Copyright © 2020 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Importance: In light of increasing cannabis use among pregnant women, the US Surgeon General recently issued an advisory against the use of marijuana during pregnancy., Objective: To evaluate whether cannabis use during pregnancy is associated with adverse outcomes among offspring., Design, Setting, and Participants: In this cross-sectional study, data were obtained from the baseline session of the ongoing longitudinal Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development Study, which recruited 11 875 children aged 9 to 11 years, as well as a parent or caregiver, from 22 sites across the United States between June 1, 2016, and October 15, 2018., Exposure: Prenatal cannabis exposure prior to and after maternal knowledge of pregnancy., Main Outcomes and Measures: Symptoms of psychopathology in children (ie, psychotic-like experiences [PLEs] and internalizing, externalizing, attention, thought, and social problems), cognition, sleep, birth weight, gestational age at birth, body mass index, and brain structure (ie, total intracranial volume, white matter volume, and gray matter volume). Covariates included familial (eg, income and familial psychopathology), pregnancy (eg, prenatal exposure to alcohol and tobacco), and child (eg, substance use) variables., Results: Among 11 489 children (5997 boys [52.2%]; mean [SD] age, 9.9 [0.6] years) with nonmissing prenatal cannabis exposure data, 655 (5.7%) were exposed to cannabis prenatally. Relative to no exposure, cannabis exposure only before (413 [3.6%]) and after (242 [2.1%]) maternal knowledge of pregnancy were associated with greater offspring psychopathology characteristics (ie, PLEs and internalizing, externalizing, attention, thought and, social problems), sleep problems, and body mass index, as well as lower cognition and gray matter volume (all |β| > 0.02; all false discovery rate [FDR]-corrected P < .03). Only exposure after knowledge of pregnancy was associated with lower birth weight as well as total intracranial volume and white matter volumes relative to no exposure and exposure only before knowledge (all |β| > 0.02; all FDR-corrected P < .04). When including potentially confounding covariates, exposure after maternal knowledge of pregnancy remained associated with greater PLEs and externalizing, attention, thought, and social problems (all β > 0.02; FDR-corrected P < .02). Exposure only prior to maternal knowledge of pregnancy did not differ from no exposure on any outcomes when considering potentially confounding variables (all |β| < 0.02; FDR-corrected P > .70)., Conclusions and Relevance: This study suggests that prenatal cannabis exposure and its correlated factors are associated with greater risk for psychopathology during middle childhood. Cannabis use during pregnancy should be discouraged.

Adolescents strive for peer approval, and an increased sensitivity to peers' opinions is normative. However, among vulnerable adolescents, peer evaluation can be detrimental, contributing to affective disorders. It is, therefore, critical to improve our understanding of neural underpinnings of peer evaluation. Prior research has investigated averaged neural responses to peer acceptance or rejection, neglecting to probe trial-by-trial computations that mirror real-time updating of daily activities. In non-social decision-making, a common neural valuation system centered on the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) has emerged, which evaluates different reward types on a common scale to guide choices. However, it is unclear whether the mPFC also tracks complex social scenarios involving peer feedback. To address this gap, we acquired fMRI data from 55 healthy adolescents during the Chatroom Task, which probes peer evaluation, and implemented a computational approach to characterize trial-by-trial social value, thereby allowing us to interrogate the neural correlates of social value. Consistent with our hypothesis, social value signals were encoded in the mPFC. Interestingly, analyses also revealed a wider social-specific valuation network including the precuneus and amygdala. Understanding how adolescents make social decisions and neural markers associated with it, may, ultimately, help us clarify promising targets for intervention., (© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press.)

One generation's experience of childhood maltreatment is associated with that of the next. However, whether this intergenerational transmission is specific to distinct forms of maltreatment and what factors may contribute to its continuity remains unclear. Borderline personality pathology is predicted by childhood maltreatment and characterized by features (e.g., dysregulated emotion, relationship instability, impulsivity, and inconsistent appraisals of others) that may contribute to its propagation. Among 364 older adults and 573 of their adult children (total n = 937), self-reported exposure to distinct forms of childhood maltreatment (i.e., emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, and emotional and physical neglect as assessed by the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire) showed homotypic and heterotypic associations across generations with little evidence that latent factors unique to specific forms of maltreatment show generational continuity. General nonspecific indices of childhood maltreatment showed evidence of intergenerational transmission after accounting for demographic factors and parent socioeconomic status (b = 0.126, p = 9.21 × 10-4). This continuity was partially mediated by parental borderline personality pathology (assessed longitudinally through a variety of measures and sources, indirect effect: b = 0.031, 95% confidence interval [0.003, 0.060]). The intergenerational continuity of childhood maltreatment may largely represent general risk for nonspecific maltreatment that may, in part, be propagated by borderline personality pathology and/or shared risk factors.

Objective: Despite a growing body of research supporting the efficacy of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) for depressed adolescents, few studies have investigated the role of the acquisition and use of CBT skills in accounting for symptom improvement. The present study examined the role of cognitive versus behavioral skills in predicting symptom improvement in depressed youth. Analyses considered different raters of patient skills (patient vs. therapist) as well as disaggregated between-patient versus within-patient effects., Method: Data were derived from a 12-week clinical trial of CBT for depressed adolescent females (N = 33; ages 13-18 years; 69.7% White). Both therapist-report and patient-report measures of CBT skills (skills of cognitive therapy) were acquired at 5 time points throughout therapy: Sessions 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12. Depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory-II) were assessed at every session., Results: Therapist and patient ratings of CBT skills showed small to moderate associations (rs = .20-.38). Intraclass correlation coefficients indicated that the majority of the variance in skills scores (61-90%) was attributable to within-patient variance from session to session, rather than due to between-patient differences. When disaggregating within-patient and between-patient effects, and consistent with a causal relationship, within-patient variability in both patient-rated (b = -2.55; p = .025) and therapist-rated (b = -2.41; p = .033) behavioral skills predicted subsequent symptom change., Conclusions: Analyses highlight the importance of the acquisition and use of behavioral skills in CBT for depressed adolescents. Findings also underscore the importance of disentangling within-patient from between-patient effects in future studies, an approach infrequently used in process-outcome research. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

Altered reward processing is a transdiagnostic factor implicated in a wide range of psychiatric disorders. While prior animal and adult research has shown that stress contributes to reward dysfunction, less is known about how stress impacts reward processing in youth. Towards addressing this gap, the present study probed neural activation associated with reward processing following an acute stressor. Healthy adolescents (n = 40) completed a clinical assessment, and fMRI data were acquired while participants completed a monetary guessing task under a no-stress condition and then under a stress condition. Based on prior literature, analyses focused on a priori defined regions-of-interest, specifically the striatum (win trials) and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex [dACC] and insula (loss trials). Two main findings emerged. First, reward-related neural activation (i.e., striatum) was blunted in the stress relative to the no-stress condition. Second, the stress condition also contributed to blunted neural response following reward in loss-related regions (i.e., dACC, anterior insula); however, there were no changes in loss sensitivity. These results highlight the importance of conceptualizing neural vulnerability within the presence of stress, as this may clarify risk for mental disorders during a critical period of development., Competing Interests: Over the past 3 years, Dr. Pizzagalli has received consulting fees from Akili Interactive Labs, BlackThorn Therapeutics, Boehringer Ingelheim, Pfizer and Posit Science, for activities unrelated to the current research. this does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials. No other authors report any conflicts of interest.

Fear-potentiated startle (FPS) paradigms provide insight into fear learning mechanisms that contribute to impairment among individuals with posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS). Electrophysiology also has provided insight into these mechanisms through the examination of event-related potentials (ERPs) such as the P100 and LPP. It remains unclear, however, whether the P100 and LPP may be related to fear learning processes within the FPS paradigm. To this end, we tested differences in ERP amplitudes for conditioned stimuli associated (CS+) and not associated (CS-) with an aversive unconditioned stimulus (US) during fear acquisition. Participants included 54 female undergraduate students (mean age = 20.26). The FPS response was measured via electromyography of the orbicularis oculi muscle. EEG data were collected during the FPS paradigm. While the difference between CS+ and CS- P100 amplitude was not significant, LPP amplitudes were significantly enhanced following the CS+ relative to CS-. Furthermore, the LPP difference wave (CS+ minus CS-) was associated with FPS scores for the CS- during the later portion of fear acquisition. These findings suggest that conditioned stimuli may have altered emotional encoding (LPP) during the FPS paradigm. Thus, the LPP may be a promising neurophysiological marker that is related to fear learning processes., (Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The Emotional Interrupt Task (EIT) has been used to probe emotion processing in healthy and clinical samples; however, research exploring the stability and reliability of behavioral measures and ERPs elicited from this task is limited. Establishing the psychometric properties of the EIT is critical, particularly as phenotypes and biological indicators may represent traitlike characteristics that underlie psychiatric illness. To address this gap, test-retest stability and internal consistency of behavioral indices and ERPs resulting from the EIT in healthy, female youth (n = 28) were examined. At baseline, participants were administered the EIT while high-density 128-channel EEG data were recorded to probe the late positive potential (LPP). One month later, participants were readministered the EIT. Four principal findings emerged. First, there is evidence of an interference effect at baseline, as participants showed a slower reaction time for unpleasant and pleasant images relative to neutral images, and test-retest of behavioral measures was relatively stable over time. Second, participants showed a potentiated LPP to unpleasant and pleasant images compared to neutral images, and these effects were stable over time. Moreover, in a test of the difference waves (unpleasant-neutral vs. pleasant-neutral), there was sustained positivity for unpleasant images. Third, behavioral measures and LPP demonstrated excellent internal consistency (odd/even correlations) across conditions. Fourth, highlighting important age-related differences in LPP activity, younger age was associated with larger LPP amplitudes across conditions. Overall, these findings suggest that the LPP following emotional images is a stable and reliable marker of emotion processing in healthy youth., (© 2017 Society for Psychophysiological Research.)

Anhedonia is a transdiagnostic risk factor implicated in mental illness onset, treatment non-response, and suicidal behaviors. Prior cross-sectional research in adults has shown that anhedonia is associated with reduced dorsal striatal volume, but it is unknown whether this relationship extends to adolescents and whether reduced striatal volume prospectively predicts anhedonia. To address these gaps, the current study investigated whether striatal volume predicted anhedonia severity in adolescents. At baseline, healthy female adolescents aged 12-14 years (n=50) completed a clinical assessment, and structural MRI data were acquired on a 3 Tesla MR scanner. While in the scanner, participants also completed a peer feedback task where subjective ratings following peer 'acceptance' or 'rejection' were obtained. At the three-month follow-up, participants provided self-report assessments of anhedonia, depression, and anxiety symptoms. Three main findings emerged. First, in cross-sectional analyses, right nucleus accumbens volume was inversely related to anhedonia severity. Second, reduced bilateral putamen volume prospectively predicted anhedonia severity while controlling for baseline anhedonia, depression, and anxiety symptoms. Third, a blunted subjective response to peer acceptance (ie, neutral response to positive feedback), but not a more negative subjective response to peer rejection, contributed to anhedonia severity, but only among youth with smaller putamen volume. Collectively, these results suggest that smaller volume in striatal regions critically implicated in reward processing is associated with current and future anhedonic symptoms among healthy female youth. These anatomical features may confer vulnerability to anhedonia and thus, may inform early identification of individuals at high risk for mental illness.

Depression rates surge in adolescence, particularly among females. Recent findings suggest that depressed adolescents are characterized by hypersensitivity to negative outcomes and blunted responsiveness to rewards. However, our understanding of the pathophysiology and time course of these abnormalities remains limited. Due to their high temporal resolution, event-related potentials (ERPs) provide an ideal probe to investigate these processes. In the present study, healthy (n = 25) and depressed (n = 26) female adolescents (13-18 years) completed a gambling task during 128-channel ERP recording. Time-domain analyses focused on ERPs linked to initial processing of negative versus rewarding outcomes (feedback-related negativity; FRN), and later, elaborative processing (late positive potential; LPP). Additionally, time-frequency analyses were used to decompose the FRN into its 2 constituent neural signals: loss-related theta and reward-related delta activity, thereby allowing us to separately probe these 2 putative mechanisms underlying FRN abnormalities in depression. Relative to healthy adolescents, depressed youth showed potentiated FRN (loss vs. reward) responses. Time-frequency analyses revealed that this group difference in the FRN was driven by increased loss-related theta activity in depressed youth, and not by reward-related delta activity. For the LPP, healthy adolescents exhibited sustained positivity to rewards versus losses, whereas depressed adolescents showed the opposite pattern. Moreover, an enhanced LPP to losses was associated with rumination. In summary, the LPP may be a sensitive probe of depressive rumination, whereas FRN-linked theta activity may represent a neural marker of hypersensitivity to negative outcomes in depressed youth. Implications for treatment and future ERP research are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record, ((c) 2017 APA, all rights reserved).)

The self-referential encoding task (SRET)-an implicit measure of self-schema-has been used widely to probe cognitive biases associated with depression, including among adolescents. However, research testing the stability of behavioral and electrocortical effects is sparse. Therefore, the current study sought to evaluate the stability of behavioral markers and ERPs elicited from the SRET over time in healthy, female adolescents (n = 31). At baseline, participants were administered a diagnostic interview and a self-report measure of depression severity. In addition, they completed the SRET while 128-channel ERP data were recorded to examine early (P1) and late (late positive potential [LPP]) ERPs. Three months later, participants were readministered the depression self-report measure and the SRET in conjunction with ERPs. Results revealed that healthy adolescents endorsed, recalled, and recognized more positive and fewer negative words at each assessment, and these effects were stable over time (rs = .44-.83). Similarly, they reported a faster reaction time when endorsing self-relevant positive words, as opposed to negative words, at both the initial and follow-up assessment (r = .82). Second, ERP responses, specifically potentiated P1 and late LPP positivity to positive versus negative words, were consistent over time (rs = .56-.83), and the internal reliability of ERPs were robust at each time point (rs = .52-.80). As a whole, these medium-to-large effects suggest that the SRET is a reliable behavioral and neural probe of self-referential processing., (© 2016 Society for Psychophysiological Research.)

Background: Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is debilitating, and theoretical models have postulated that cognitive-affective biases contribute to the onset and maintenance of BPD symptoms. Despite advances, our understanding of BPD pathophysiology in youth is limited. The present study used event-related potentials (ERPs) to identify cognitive-affective processes that underlie negative self-referential processing in BPD youth., Methods: Healthy females ( n = 33) and females with BPD ( n = 26) 13 to 22 years of age completed a self-referential encoding task while 128-channel electroencephalography data were recorded to examine early (i.e., P1 and P2) and late (late positive potential [LPP]) ERP components. Whole-brain standardized low-resolution electromagnetic tomography explored intracortical sources underlying significant scalp ERP effects., Results: Compared to healthy females, participants with BPD endorsed, recalled, and recognized fewer positive and more negative words. Moreover, unlike the healthy group, females with BPD had faster reaction times to endorse negative versus positive words. In the scalp ERP analyses, the BPD group had greater P2 and late LPP positivity to negative as opposed to positive words. For P2 and late LPP, whole-brain standardized low-resolution electromagnetic tomography analyses suggested that females with BPD overrecruit frontolimbic circuitry in response to negative stimuli., Conclusions: Collectively, these findings show that females with BPD process negative self-relevant information differently than healthy females. Clinical implications and future directions are discussed.

Wolbachia bacteria are endosymbionts that infect approximately 40% of all insect species and are best known for their ability to manipulate host reproductive systems. Though the effect Wolbachia infection has on somatic tissues is less well understood, when present in cells of the adult Drosophila melanogaster brain, Wolbachia exerts an influence over behaviors related to olfaction. Here, we show that a strain of Wolbachia influences male aggression in flies, which is critically important in mate competition. A specific strain of Wolbachia was observed to reduce the initiation of aggressive encounters in Drosophila males compared to the behavior of their uninfected controls. To determine how Wolbachia was able to alter aggressive behavior, we investigated the role of octopamine, a neurotransmitter known to influence male aggressive behavior in many insect species. Transcriptional analysis of the octopamine biosynthesis pathway revealed that two essential genes, the tyrosine decarboxylase and tyramine β-hydroxylase genes, were significantly downregulated in Wolbachia-infected flies. Quantitative chemical analysis also showed that total octopamine levels were significantly reduced in the adult heads., (Copyright © 2015, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.)

In the course of an ethnographic study of an intergenerational Geriatric Remotivation Program in a Southeastern U.S. nursing home, we encountered difficulties in interviewing institutionalized elders that threatened the validity of the data. The purpose of this paper is to explicate the difficulties and to recommend strategies for overcoming them. Four main clusters of elder characteristics threatened the validity of data: (1) physical characteristics; (2) cognitive characteristics; (3) affective characteristics; and (4) personal characteristics. Problematic data were categorized as "insufficient," "unclear," "nice" and "emotionally charged." Strategies for increasing validity when interviewing impaired institutionalized elders included increasing the sample size, returning to the setting frequently, lengthening observation periods, recognizing the value of stories, recognizing the value of socializing, using videotapes, collecting both interview and observation data, and having elders view and respond to videotaped recordings.

Social isolation is a major problem for the institutionalized elderly. An intergenerational geriatric remotivation program is one method to stimulate social awareness and functioning. Data analysis revealed the construct of invitational work as describing the social behaviors of children and elders during the program sessions, and the basic social psychological process of reconnecting as referring to what certain elders did in the Pals Program and to what the program meant to the elders. Although touted as a panacea for social isolation of elders, intergenerational remotivation programs are revealed in this research to be quite complex and even problematic. To be successful in decreasing social isolation, such programs require ongoing staff monitoring and interventions.