Search

Distinguishing amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI) from Alzheimer's disease (AD) and healthy aging depends mainly on clinical evaluation, and, ultimately, on investigator's judgment. Clinical evaluation in vivo is based primarily on cognitive assessments. The present study explores the potential of volumetric magnetic resonance imaging of parietal and lateral temporal brain structures to support the diagnosis of AD and to distinguish AD patients from patients with MCI and healthy control subjects (HCS). 52 age-matched HCS, 18 patients with MCI, and 59 patients with probable late onset AD were investigated. Using computational, neuromorphometric procedures gray matter (GM) was automatically parcellated into 28 local regions of interest, the volumes of which were computed. The left hippocampus (sensitivity/specificity: 80.8-90.4%/55.6-86.4%) and the right hippocampus (73.1-90.4%/66.7-84.7%) provided highest diagnostic accuracy in separating all three diagnostic groups. Promising diagnostic values for distinguishing MCI from HCS were found for the left superior parietal gyrus (61.5%/55.6%) and left supramarginal gyrus (65.4%/66.7%), and for distinguishing subjects with MCI from AD patients for the right middle temporal gyrus (77.8%/79.7%), left inferior temporal gyrus (83.3%/72.9%), and right superior temporal gyrus (77.8%/71.2%). The left superior temporal pole (92.3%/84.7%), left parahippocampal gyrus (86.5%/81.4%), left Heschl's gyrus (86.5%/79.7%), and the right superior temporal pole (82.7%/78.0%) revealed most promising diagnostic values for distinguishing AD patients from HCS. Data revealed that lateral temporal and parietal GM volumes distinguish between HCS, MCI, and AD as accurate as hippocampal volumes do; hence, these volumes can be used in the diagnostic procedure. Results also suggest that cognitive functions associated with these brain regions, e.g., language and visuospatial abilities, may be tested more extensively to obtain additional information that might enhance the diagnostic accuracy further. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The SOPHYA-cohort-study investigated whether the objectively characterized and perceived residential neighborhood of Swiss youth predict accelerometer-measured physical activity and activity in specific domains (participation in a sports club and cycling) five years later., Methods: At baseline in 2014, 1230 children and adolescents aged 6 to 16 years participated and wore accelerometers for 7 days. Of these children, 447 participated again in the follow-up study in 2019 and provided longitudinal accelerometer measurements. Sociodemographic factors and perceptions of the local neighbourhood were assessed by questionnaire. Specific objective environmental data (e.g. built environment or social environment) was modelled to the children's address at baseline. Multivariate linear and logistic regression models were applied to identify short- and long-term characteristics that are associated with accelerometer-based physical activity, cycling and participation in organised sport., Results: If the neighborhood-score as perceived by the parents in 2014 was in the middle or lowest tertile, children were significantly less active cross-sectionally in 2014 (-41.1 (-78.0;-4.2) and -52.4 (-88.6;-16.2) counts per minute, cpm), and five years later (-52.4 (-88.6;-16.2) and 48.1 (-86.6;-9.7) cpm). In addition, they were also less likely to accumulate active minutes above the median at both measuring points compared to peers of the same age and sex. Using objective environmental data modeled around the children's residential address, similar associations were found: In the tertile with the lowest proportion of green space children achieved less cpm in 2014, while a high main street density and a low socioeconomic environment, respectively, hindered physical activity tracking above the median longitudinally. Also for cycling and participation in a sport club, the associations with the perceived and objective environment were more pronounced in the longitudinal analyses., Conclusion: The results suggest that growing up in a physical activity friendly neighborhood increases the likelihood of remaining active during adolescence and early adulthood. Interventions should be implemented to ensure that children growing up in an unfavorable neighborhood do not fall behind at an early stage., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Maintaining physical activity throughout life is crucial for overall health and wellbeing. Yet the age-related decline in average physical activity, a natural phenomenon also observed in animals, poses a challenge. This study aimed to investigate whether participation in organised sports supported by the Swiss Youth+Sports (Y+S) programme is associated with sustaining or enhancing physical activity among children and adolescents during 5 years of follow-up., Methods: The longitudinal study was nested in the population-based SOPHYA (Swiss children's Objectively measured PHYsical Activity) cohort. Participants aged 6-16 years at SOPHYA1 (2014) with complete accelerometer data from baseline and follow-up assessment (SOPHYA2, 2019) were included. The primary exposure was participation in organised sport during the follow-up period, calculated by linkage with the Y+S database as the number of days with at least one activity in Y+S-offered programmes for ages 5 to 20 years. The primary outcome was the categorisation of participants into physical activity "improvers" or "worseners". Improvers in the respective physical activity categories - total activity counts per minute (CPM), minutes in moderate-to-vigorous activity (MVPA), minutes in light activity (LPA) and minutes in sedentary behaviour (SB) - increased or maintained their active physical activity during the 5 follow-up years. Information on confounders and effect modifiers (sex, age, body mass index (BMI), language region, household income, education) was obtained by self-report at baseline. Logistic regressions examined the relationship between organised sport participation and the probability of being a physical activity improver in each physical activity intensity category separately. Covariates for the final models were selected through a stepwise procedure based on the Bayesian information criterion from a maximal model containing all covariates as well as all two-way interactions with organised sport and between them. All models were a priori adjusted for technical variables (season of measurement; wear time; duration of follow-up)., Results: The analysis included 432 participants. There was a strong CPM, MVPA and LPA decline from 2014 to 2019, but an increase in SB. Nevertheless, the prevalence of improvers was 22.5% for CPM, 9.5% for MVPA, 26.9% for LPA and 9.7% for SB. Engagement in organised sport between 2014 and 2019 was positively associated with CPM, MVPA and SB, but not with LPA improver status. For 30 additional days of participation in organised sport over the five years of the study, the odds of being an improver vs being a worsener increased by 4.0% for CPM (95% CI: 0.13-7.69), 6.2% for MVPA (95% CI: 0.82-11.54) and 6.0% for SB (95% CI:-1.49-13.97)., Conclusion: The results provide supporting evidence that organised sport in the context of the Swiss Y+S programme may empower the young to maintain an active lifestyle and even offset the age-related decline in physical activity.

Introduction: Quality of life (QoL) is an important health indicator among children and adolescents. Evidence on the effect of physical activity (PA)-related behaviors on QoL among youth remains inconsistent. Conventional accelerometer-derived PA metrics and guidelines with a focus on whole weeks may not adequately characterize QoL relevant PA behavior., Objective: This study aims to a) identify clusters of accelerometer-derived PA profiles during weekend days among children and adolescents living in Switzerland, b) assess their cross-sectional and predictive association with overall QoL and its dimensions, and c) investigate whether the associations of QoL with the newly identified clusters persist upon adjustment for the commonly used PA metrics moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) and time spent in sedentary behavior (SB)., Methods: The population-based Swiss children's Objectively measured PHYsical Activity (SOPHYA) cohort among children and adolescents aged 6 to 16 years was initiated at baseline in 2013. PA and QoL information was obtained twice over a five-year follow-up period. The primary endpoint is the overall QoL score and its six dimension scores obtained by KINDL® questionnaire. The primary predictor is the cluster membership of accelerometer-derived weekend PA profile. Clusters were obtained by applying the k-medoid algorithm to the distance matrix of profiles obtained by pairwise alignments of PA time series using the Dynamic Time Warping (DTW) algorithm. Secondary predictors are accelerometer-derived conventional PA metrics MVPA and SB from two combined weekend days. Linear regression models were applied to assess a) the cross-sectional association between PA cluster membership and QoL at baseline and b) the predictive association between PA cluster membership at baseline and QoL at follow-up, adjusting for baseline QoL., Results: The study sample for deriving PA profile clusters consisted of 51.4% girls and had an average age of 10.9 [SD 2.5] years). The elbow and silhouette methods indicated that weekend PA profiles are best classified in two or four clusters. The most differentiating characteristic for the two-clusters classification ("lower activity" and "high activity"), and the four-clusters classification ("inactive", "low activity", "medium activity", and "high activity"), respectively was the participant's mean counts per 15-seconds epoch. Participants assigned to high activity clusters were younger and more often male. Neither the clustered PA profiles nor MVPA or SB were cross-sectionally or predictively associated with overall QoL. The only association of a conventional PA metrics with QoL while adjusting for cluster membership was observed between MVPA during the weekend days and social well-being with a mean score difference of 2.4 (95%CI: 0.3 to 4.5; p = 0.025)., Conclusion: The absence of strong associations of PA metrics for the weekend with QoL, except for the positive association between MVPA during the weekend days and social well-being, is in line with results from two randomized studies not showing efficacy of PA interventions on youth QoL. But because PA decreases with age, its promotion and relevance to QoL remain important research topics. Larger longitudinal study samples with more than two follow-up time points of children and adolescents are needed to derive new novel accelerometer-derived PA profiles and to associate them with QoL dimensions., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Darkhawaja et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Objectives: This study aims to quantify the cross-sectional and prospective associations between quality of life (QoL) and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA). Methods: This study was based on the Swiss children's Objectively measured PHYsical Activity cohort. The primary endpoint is the overall QoL score and its six dimensions. The main predictor is the average time spent in MVPA per day. Linear mixed effects and linear regression models respectively were used to investigate the cross-sectional and prospective associations between MVPA and QoL. Results: There were 352 participants in the study with complete data from baseline (2013-2015) and follow-up (2019). MVPA was positively associated with overall QoL and physical wellbeing ( p = 0.023 and 0.002 respectively). The between-subject MVPA was positively associated with the overall QoL, physical wellbeing, and social wellbeing ( p = 0.030, 0.017, and 0.028 respectively). Within-subject MVPA was positively associated with physical wellbeing and functioning at school ( p = 0.039 and 0.013 respectively). Baseline MVPA was not associated with QoL 5 years later. Conclusion: Future longitudinal studies should employ shorter follow-up times and repeat measurements to assess the PA and QoL association., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they do not have any conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2024 Darkhawaja, Hänggi, Schaffner, Kwiatkowski, Alkaiyat, Dössegger, Kayser, Suggs, Bringolf-Isler and Probst-Hensch.)

Altered intrinsic brain connectivity of patients with anorexia nervosa has been observed in the acute phase of the disorder, but it remains unclear to what extent these alterations recover during weight normalization. In this study, we used functional imaging data from three time points to probe longitudinal changes in intrinsic connectivity patterns in patients with severe anorexia nervosa (BMI ≤ 15.5 kg/m 2 ) over the course of weight normalization. At three distinct stages of inpatient treatment, we examined resting-state functional connectivity in 27 women with severe anorexia nervosa and 40 closely matched healthy controls. Using network-based statistics and graph-theoretic measures, we examined differences in global network strength, subnetworks with altered intrinsic connectivity, and global network topology. Patients with severe anorexia nervosa showed weakened intrinsic connectivity and altered network topology which did not recover during treatment. The persistent disruption of brain networks suggests sustained alterations of information processing in weight-recovered severe anorexia nervosa., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is difficult to treat with up to half of patients failing to gain weight during treatment. Neurobiological factors predicting treatment response in AN are poorly understood. In this longitudinal study, we aimed to identify morphological characteristics in the grey matter which predict treatment success in patients with AN. Fifty patients with severe AN participated in an eating disorder-specific inpatient treatment. On admission, T1-weighted magnetic resonance images were acquired from all patients. Half of the patients successfully gained weight, reaching a body-mass index ≥ 17.5 kg/m 2 . Using voxel-based morphometry, local grey matter volumes were compared between the two groups of patients who gained weight and those who did not. This approach allowed us to identify anatomical characteristics which predict treatment success in terms of post-treatment weight status. Patients who did not reach the weight threshold at discharge had a smaller volume in the right cerebellar crus I at the time of admission. In this group, smaller volume was associated with a greater alexithymia score. The findings suggest that a trophic state within the cerebellum before treatment might be prognostic for treatment success. Consistent with previous reports, this result further substantiates the possible role of the cerebellum in the psychopathology of AN., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting containment measures had and still have a profound impact on everyday life. Both the fear of infection and the imposed restrictions can have biopsychosocial consequences. The aim of the present study was to analyze whether there is a difference in the health-related quality of life (HRQoL) of primary school children in 2014/15 compared to in 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic., Methods: The present study included 1,712 children aged 5 to 11 years who either participated in the baseline assessment of the SOPHYA cohort study in 2014/15 or were newly recruited during follow-up of the cohort in 2020. In both surveys, the children invited for participation were identified based on registry data. HRQoL was assessed with the validated KINDL-R questionnaire, which scores HRQoL along six different dimensions., Results: The overall scores (82.4 [81.8; 83.0] vs. 79.6 [79,1; 80.2]), and in particular the emotional well-being scores (85.6 [84.6; 86.6] vs. 83.3 [82.4; 84.2]), were lower during the year of the pandemic (2020) compared to the survey year 2014/15. The highest decrease between 2014/15 and 2020 in the adjusted models was seen for the youngest age group (-3.9 points), followed by children from families with a high income (-3.2 points), girls (-3.1 points), Swiss citizens (-3.1 points) and children from the German-speaking part of Switzerland (-3.1 points). HRQoL was particularly low during periods with restrictions and at the height of the COVID-19 waves in 2020., Conclusion: The SOPHYA-study showed that HRQoL, and especially emotional well-being, was lower in 5 to 11-year-old children in Switzerland during the first year of the pandemic compared to the results from the survey conducted in 2014/15. In the year of the pandemic, the scores were lowest at the height of the COVID-19 waves and their associated restrictions. As it cannot be distinguished whether fear of the disease itself or the restrictions caused this decrease in HRQoL, containment policies should keep COVID-19 infections as low as possible, but still enable children to profit from protective factors such as leisure activities, physical activity and social contact.

In subjects at risk for psychosis, the studies on gray matter volume (GMV) predominantly reported volume loss compared with healthy controls (CON). However, other important morphological measurements such as cortical surface area (CSA) and cortical thickness (CT) were not systematically compared. So far, samples mostly comprised subjects at genetic risk or at clinical risk fulfilling an ultra-high risk (UHR) criterion. No studies comparing UHR subjects with at-risk subjects showing only basic symptoms (BS) investigated the differences in CSA or CT. Therefore, we aimed to unravel the contribution of the 2 morphometrical measures constituting the cortical volume (CV) and to test whether these groups inhere different morphometric features. We conducted a surface-based morphometric analysis in 34 CON, 46 BS, and 39 UHR to examine between-group differences in CV, CSA, and CT vertex-wise across the whole cortex. Compared with BS and CON, UHR individuals presented increased CV in frontal and parietal regions, which was driven by larger CSA. These groups did not differ in CT. Yet, at-risk subjects who later developed schizophrenia showed thinning in the occipital cortex. Furthermore, BS presented increased CSA compared with CON. Our results suggest that volumetric differences in UHR subjects are driven by CSA while CV loss in converters seems to be based on cortical thinning. We attribute the larger CSA in UHR to aberrant pruning representing a vulnerability to develop psychotic symptoms reflected in different levels of vulnerability for BS and UHR, and cortical thinning to a presumably stress-related cortical decomposition., (© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

There are few things as irrefutable as the evidence that our limbs belong to us. However, persons with body integrity dysphoria (BID) [1] deny the ownership of one of their fully functional limbs and seek its amputation [2]. We tapped into the brain mechanisms of BID, examining sixteen men desiring the removal of the left healthy leg. The primary sensorimotor area of the to-be-removed leg and the core area of the conscious representation of body size and shape (the right superior parietal lobule [rSPL]) [3, 4] were less functionally connected to the rest of the brain. Furthermore, the left premotor cortex, reportedly involved in the multisensory integration of limb information [5-7], and the rSPL were atrophic. The more atrophic the rSPL, the stronger the desire for amputation, and the more an individual pretended to be an amputee by using wheelchairs or crutches to solve the mismatch between the desired and actual body. Our findings illustrate the pivotal role of the connectivity of the primary sensorimotor limb area in the mediation of the feeling of body ownership. They also delineate the morphometric and functional alterations in areas of higher-order body representation possibly responsible for the dissatisfaction with a standard body configuration. The neural correlates of BID may foster the understanding of other neuropsychiatric disorders involving the bodily self. Ultimately, they may help us understand what most of us take for granted, i.e., the experience of body and self as a seamless unity., Competing Interests: Declaration of Interests The authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Neuroimaging studies on anorexia nervosa (AN) have consistently reported globally reduced gray matter in patients with acute AN. While first studies on adolescent AN patients provide evidence for the reversibility of these impairments after weight gain, longitudinal studies with detailed regional analysis for adult AN patients are lacking and factors associated with brain restitution are poorly understood. We investigated structural changes in anorexia nervosa using T1-weighted magnetic resonance images with surface-based morphometry. The sample consisted of 26 adult women with severe AN and 30 healthy controls. The longitudinal design comprised three time points, capturing the course of weight-restoration therapy in AN patients at distinct stages of weight gain (BMI ≤ 15.5 kg/m 2 ; 15.5 < BMI < 17.5 kg/m 2 ; BMI ≥ 17.5 kg/m 2 ). Compared to controls, AN patients showed globally decreased cortical thickness and subcortical volumes at baseline. Linear mixed effect models revealed the reversibility of these alterations, with brain restoration being most pronounced during the first half of treatment. The restoration of cortical thickness of AN patients negatively correlated with age, but not duration of illness. After weight restoration, residual group differences of cortical thickness remained in the superior frontal cortex. These findings indicate that structural brain alterations of adult patients with severe AN recuperate independently of the duration of illness during weight-restoration therapy. The temporal pattern of brain restoration suggests a decrease in restoration rate over the course of treatment, with patients' age as a strong predictor of brain restitution, possibly reflecting decreases of brain plasticity as patients grow older.

In the present study we investigated 90 musicians of both sexes who possess different degrees of absolute pitch (AP) using diffusion tensor imaging in association with a correlational approach and evaluated whether there are differences in perisylvian connections depending on the proficiency level of AP. We expected higher fractional anisotropy with increasing AP ability in the white matter underlying perisylvian brain areas. Results revealed a significant positive correlation between the proficiency level of AP and fractional anisotropy values in the left-sided white matter underlying the planum temporale. We interpret this result as an indicator of auditory processing differences between musicians possessing different degrees of AP, reflecting early auditory encoding and categorization processes. The present study provides further evidence for the substantial importance of the left-sided planum temporale for the ability of AP., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest None., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

The core symptoms of schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD) include abnormal semantic processing which may rely on the ventral language stream of the human brain. Thus, structural disruption of the ventral language stream may play an important role in semantic deficits observed in SSD patients. Therefore, we compared white matter tract integrity in SSD patients and healthy controls using diffusion tensor imaging combined with probabilistic fiber tractography. For the ventral language stream, we assessed the inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus [IFOF], inferior longitudinal fasciculus, and uncinate fasciculus. The arcuate fasciculus and corticospinal tract were used as control tracts. In SSD patients, the relationship between semantic processing impairments and tract integrity was analyzed separately. Three-dimensional tract reconstructions were performed in 45/44 SSD patients/controls ("Bern sample") and replicated in an independent sample of 24/24 SSD patients/controls ("Basel sample"). Multivariate analyses of fractional anisotropy, mean, axial, and radial diffusivity of the left IFOF showed significant differences between SSD patients and controls (p (FDR-corr)  < 0.001, η p 2  = 0.23) in the Bern sample. Axial diffusivity (AD) of the left UF was inversely correlated with semantic impairments (r = -0.454, p (FDR-corr)  = 0.035). In the Basel sample, significant group differences for the left IFOF were replicated (p < .01, η p 2  = 0.29), while the correlation between AD of the left IFOF and semantic processing decline (r = -0.376, p = .09) showed a statistical trend. No significant effects were found for the dorsal language stream. This is direct evidence for the importance of the integrity of the ventral language stream, in particular the left IFOF, in semantic processing deficits in SSD., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Objectives: Patients suffering from Takotsubo syndrome have a higher prevalence of anxiety and depressive disorders compared to those with acute myocardial infarction and might thus show impaired regulation and processing of emotions., Methods: In this cross-sectional study, neural activity during an emotional picture processing task was examined in 26 Takotsubo patients (on average 27 months after the Takotsubo event) and 22 healthy age- and gender-matched control subjects undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging. Imaging data were analyzed with two complementary approaches: First, univariate analysis was used to detect brain regions showing condition-specific differences in mean neural activity between groups. Second, multivariate pattern analysis was applied to decode the experimental conditions from individual activity patterns., Results: In the univariate analysis approach, patients showed lower bilateral superior parietal activity during the processing of negative expected pictures compared to the control subjects. The multivariate pattern analysis revealed group differences in decoding negative versus neutral pictures from a widespread network consisting of frontal, parietal, occipital, and cerebellar brain regions. Additionally, differences in decoding the expectation of a negative versus positive upcoming picture were observed in the visual cortex., Conclusion: The lower involvement of brain regions observed in Takotsubo patients suggests an impairment in emotion regulation, which might be of etiological importance in this brain-heart disease., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest None., (Copyright © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

To date, research examining the relationship between brain structure and hearing acuity is sparse, especially given the context of a broad age range. To investigate this relationship, we applied an automated surface-based morphometry (SBM) approach (FreeSurfer) in this study to re-examine a sample of normal-hearing (n = 17) and hearing-impaired (n = 17) age- and education-matched adults, aged between 20 and 63 years (Alfandari et al., 2018). The SBM approach allows the disentanglement of cortical surface area (CSA) from cortical thickness (CT), the 2 independent constituents of cortical volume (CV). We extend the findings of Alfandari and colleagues by showing several clusters in auditory-related areas as well as in the left and right angular gyrus that showed reduced CT, CSA and CV in hearing-impaired compared to normal-hearing listeners. Nevertheless, none of the clusters found correlated significantly with hearing acuity, measured by pure-tone thresholds, in the 2 groups. An additional vertex-wise correlation analysis between hearing acuity and morphometric parameters over all participants revealed a single significant cluster encompassing the left Heschl's gyrus. Higher hearing thresholds were associated with a thinner cortex within this cluster. Our results imply that hearing impairment is associated with reduced thickness in primary and secondary auditory cortex regions, those regions especially involved in perceiving and processing relevant speech cues. This decrease was observed not only in older but also in younger and middle-aged adults, independent of age-related decline in the cognitive domain and age-dependent whole-brain atrophy. Further, the results show the value added when considering CV, CT and CSA separately, relative to previous studies which have solely relied on voxel-based morphometry to investigate brain structure and hearing acuity across the lifespan., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Due to the high linguistic and cognitive demands placed on real-time language translation, professional simultaneous interpreters (SIs) have previously been proposed to serve as a reasonable model for evaluating experience-dependent brain properties. However, currently it is still unknown whether intensive language training during adulthood might be reflected in microstructural changes in language-related white matter pathways contributing to sound-to-meaning mapping, auditory-motor integration, and verbal memory functions. Accordingly, we used a fully automated probabilistic tractography algorithm and compared the white matter microstructure of the bilateral inferior longitudinal fasciculus (ILF), uncinate fasciculus (UF), and arcuate fasciculus (AF, long and anterior segments) between professional SIs and multilingual control participants. In addition, we classically re-evaluated the three constitutional elements of the AF (long, anterior, and posterior segments) using a deterministic manual dissection procedure. Automated probabilistic tractography demonstrated overall reduced mean fractional anisotropy (FA) and increased radial diffusivity (RD) in SIs in the fiber tracts of the left hemisphere (LH). Furthermore, SIs exhibited reduced mean FA in the bilateral AF. However, according to manual dissection, this effect was limited to the anterior AF segment and accompanied by increased mean RD. Deterministic AF reconstruction also uncovered increased mean FA in the right and RD in the left long AF segment in SIs compared to controls. These results point to a relationship between simultaneous interpreting and white matter organization of pathways underlying speech and language processing in the language-dominant LH as well as of the AF., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Aims: Takotsubo syndrome (TTS) is characterized by acute left ventricular dysfunction often triggered by emotional or physical stress. Severe activation of the sympathetic nervous system with catecholamine release caused by a dysfunctional limbic system has been proposed as a potential mechanism. We hypothesize that brain regions responsible for autonomic integration and/or limbic processing might be involved in the development of TTS. Here, we investigated alterations in resting state functional connectivity in TTS patients compared with healthy controls., Methods and Results: Using brain functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), resting state functional connectivity has been assessed in 15 subjects with TTS and 39 healthy controls. Network-based statistical analyses were conducted to identify subnetworks with altered resting state functional connectivity. Sympathetic and parasympathetic networks have been constructed in addition to the default mode network and whole-brain network. We found parasympathetic- and sympathetic-associated subnetworks both showing reduced resting state functional connectivity in TTS patients compared with controls. Important brain regions constituting parasympathetic- and sympathetic-associated subnetworks included the amygdala, hippocampus, and insula as well as cingulate, parietal, temporal, and cerebellar regions. Additionally, the default mode network as well as limbic regions in the whole-brain analysis demonstrated reduced resting state functional connectivity in TTS, including the hippocampus, parahippocampal, and medial prefrontal regions., Conclusion: For the first time, we demonstrate hypoconnectivity of central brain regions associated with autonomic functions and regulation of the limbic system in patients with TTS. These findings suggest that autonomic-limbic integration might play an important role in the pathophysiology and contribute to the understanding of TTS., (© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology.)

Background: Cocaine use has been consistently associated with decreased gray matter volumes in the prefrontal cortex. However, it is unclear if such neuroanatomical abnormalities depict either pre-existing vulnerability markers or drug-induced consequences. Thus, this longitudinal MRI study investigated neuroplasticity and cognitive changes in relation to altered cocaine intake., Methods: Surface-based morphometry, cocaine hair concentration, and cognitive performance were measured in 29 cocaine users (CU) and 38 matched controls at baseline and follow-up. Based on changes in hair cocaine concentration, CU were classified either as Decreasers (n = 15) or Sustained Users (n = 14). Surface-based morphometry measures did not include regional tissue volumes., Results: At baseline, CU displayed reduced cortical thickness (CT) in lateral frontal regions, and smaller cortical surface area (CSA) in the anterior cingulate cortex, compared to controls. In Decreasers, CT of the lateral frontal cortex increased whereas CT within the same regions tended to further decrease in Sustained Users. In contrast, no changes were found for CSA and subcortical structures. Changes in CT were linked to cognitive performance changes and amount of cocaine consumed over the study period., Conclusions: These results suggest that frontal abnormalities in CU are partially drug-induced and can recover with decreased substance use. Moreover, recovery of frontal CT is accompanied by improved cognitive performance confirming that cognitive decline associated with cocaine use is potentially reversible., (Copyright © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

We examined whether it is possible to identify individual subjects on the basis of brain anatomical features. For this, we analyzed a dataset comprising 191 subjects who were scanned three times over a period of two years. Based on FreeSurfer routines, we generated three datasets covering 148 anatomical regions (cortical thickness, area, volume). These three datasets were also combined to a dataset containing all of these three measures. In addition, we used a dataset comprising 11 composite anatomical measures for which we used larger brain regions (11LBR). These datasets were subjected to a linear discriminant analysis (LDA) and a weighted K-nearest neighbors approach (WKNN) to identify single subjects. For this, we randomly chose a data subset (training set) with which we calculated the individual identification. The obtained results were applied to the remaining sample (test data). In general, we obtained excellent identification results (reasonably good results were obtained for 11LBR using WKNN). Using different data manipulation techniques (adding white Gaussian noise to the test data and changing sample sizes) still revealed very good identification results, particularly for the LDA technique. Interestingly, using the small 11LBR dataset also revealed very good results indicating that the human brain is highly individual.

Background: Xenomelia is a rare condition characterized by the persistent desire for the amputation of physically healthy limbs. Prior studies highlighted the importance of superior and inferior parietal lobuli (SPL/IPL) and other sensorimotor regions as key brain structures associated with xenomelia. We expected activity differences in these areas in response to pictures showing the desired body state, i.e. that of an amputee in xenomelia., Methods: Functional magnetic resonance images were acquired in 12 xenomelia individuals and 11 controls while they viewed pictures of their own real and virtually amputated body. Pictures were rated on several dimensions. Multivariate statistics using machine learning was performed on imaging data., Results: Brain activity when viewing pictures of one's own virtually amputated body predicted group membership accurately with a balanced accuracy of 82.58% (p = 0.002), sensitivity of 83.33% (p = 0.018), specificity of 81.82% (p = 0.015) and an area under the ROC curve of 0.77. Among the highest predictive brain regions were bilateral SPL, IPL, and caudate nucleus, other limb representing areas, but also occipital regions. Pleasantness and attractiveness ratings were higher for amputated bodies in xenomelia., Conclusions: Findings show that neuronal processing in response to pictures of one's own desired body state is different in xenomelia compared with controls and might represent a neuronal substrate of the xenomelia complaints that become behaviourally relevant, at least when rating the pleasantness and attractiveness of one's own body. Our findings converge with structural peculiarities reported in xenomelia and partially overlap in task and results with that of anorexia and transgender research., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

In major depressive disorder (MDD), the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) has been associated with clinical outcome as well as with antidepressant treatment response. Nonetheless, the association between individual differences in ACC structure and function and the response to cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is still unexplored. For this aim, twenty-five unmedicated patients with MDD were scanned with structural and resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging before the beginning of CBT treatment. ACC morphometry was correlated with clinical changes following psychotherapy. Furthermore, whole-brain resting state functional connectivity with the ACC was correlated with clinical measures. Greater volume in the left subgenual (subACC), the right pregenual (preACC), and the bilateral supragenual (supACC) predicted depressive symptoms improvement after CBT. Greater subACC volume was related to stronger functional connectivity with the inferior parietal cortex and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Stronger subACC-inferior parietal cortex connectivity correlated with greater adaptive rumination. Greater preACC volume was associated with stronger functional connectivity with the inferior parietal cortex and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex. In contrast, greater right supACC volume was related to lower functional connectivity with the inferior parietal cortex. These results suggest that ACC volume and its functional connectivity with the fronto-parietal cortex are associated with CBT response in MDD, and this may be mediated by adaptive forms of rumination. Our findings support the role of the subACC as a potential predictor for CBT response., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. and ECNP. All rights reserved.)

The objective of this study was to evaluate group-by-time interactions between gray matter morphology of healthy controls and that of patients with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) as they transitioned from acute to chronic stages, and to relate these findings to long-term cognitive alterations to identify distinct recovery trajectories between good outcome (GO) and poor outcome (PO). High-resolution T1-weighted magnetic resonance images were acquired in 49 mTBI patients within 7 days and 1 year post-injury and at equivalent times in 49 healthy controls. Using linear mixed-effects models, we performed mass-univariate analyses and associated the results of the interaction with changes in cognitive performance. Morphological alterations indexed by increased or decreased cortical thickness have been expected mainly in frontal, parietal, and temporal brain regions. A significant interaction was found in cortical thickness, spatially restricted to bilateral structures of the prefrontal cortex, showing thickening in mTBI and normal developmental thinning in controls. A discrete thickness increase that can interpreted as the absence of cortical thinning typically seen in the healthy population was associated with cognitive recovery in the GO subgroup, while the exaggerated cortical thickening in the PO patients was linked to worsening cognitive performance. Thickness of the prefrontal cortex is subject to structural alterations during the first year after mTBI. Beside beneficial neuroplasticity, a prolonged state of neuroinflammation for symptomatic patients (maladaptive neuroplasticity) cannot be excluded. If the underlying cellular processes responsible for cortical thickening following mTBI have been determined, brain stimulation or even pharmacological intervention targeting the prefrontal cortex might promote endogenous neural restoration.

Takotsubo syndrome (TTS) is characterized by acute left ventricular dysfunction, with a hospital-mortality rate similar to acute coronary syndrome (ACS). However, the aetiology of TTS is still unknown. In the present study, a multivariate pattern analysis using machine learning with multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data of the human brain of TTS patients and age- and gender-matched healthy control subjects was performed. We found consistent structural and functional alterations in TTS patients compared to the control group. In particular, anatomical and neurophysiological measures from brain regions constituting the emotional-autonomic control system contributed to a prediction accuracy of more than 82%. Thus, our findings demonstrate homogeneous neuronal alterations in TTS patients and substantiate the importance of the concept of a brain-heart interaction in TTS.

Background: Acute anorexia nervosa (AN) is characterized by reduced brain mass and corresponding increased sulcal and ventricular cerebrospinal fluid. Recent studies of white matter using diffusion tensor imaging consistently identified alterations in the fornix, such as reduced fractional anisotropy (FA). However, because the fornix penetrates the ventricles, it is prone to cerebrospinal fluid-induced partial volume effects that interfere with a valid assessment of FA. We investigated the hypothesis that in the acute stage of AN, FA of the fornix is markedly affected by ventricular volumes., Methods: First, using diffusion tensor imaging data we established the inverse associations between forniceal FA and volumes of the third and lateral ventricles in a prestudy with 32 healthy subjects to demonstrate the strength of ventricular influence on forniceal FA independent of AN. Second, we investigated a sample of 25 acute AN patients and 25 healthy control subjects., Results: Using ventricular volumes as covariates markedly reduced the group effect of forniceal FA, even with tract-based spatial statistics focusing only on the center of the fornix. In addition, after correcting for free water on voxel level, the group differences in forniceal FA between AN patients and controls disappeared completely., Conclusions: It is unlikely that microstructural changes affecting FA occurred in the fornix of AN patients. Previously identified alterations in acute AN may have been biased by partial volume effects and the proposed central role of this structure in the pathophysiology may need to be reconsidered. Future studies on white matter alterations in AN should carefully deal with partial volume effects., (Copyright © 2017 Society of Biological Psychiatry. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)