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Childhood maltreatment represents a form of trauma capable of altering fundamental neurobiological properties and negatively impacting neurodevelopmental processes. An outcome of childhood maltreatment is the emergence of psychopathology, which might become evident during childhood or adolescence, but might also project into adulthood. In this Review, we propose a biobehavioural framework in which childhood maltreatment and the associated aberrant neurobiological mechanisms and behavioural processes additionally lead to the onset of altered pain processing and, ultimately, the existence of pain syndromes. Considering that subpopulations of maltreated children show preserved function and minimal psychiatric or pain symptoms, compensatory mechanisms-perhaps instilled by robust psychosocial support systems-are also discussed. We present validated tools and experimental methods that could facilitate better comprehension of the interactions between childhood maltreatment, psychopathology, and pain. Such tools and approaches can in parallel be implemented to monitor abnormal pain-related processes and potentially guide early intervention strategies in cases of childhood maltreatment., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests JG-H has received consulting fees from Alkermes Biopharmaceuticals and Sunovion Pharmaceuticals, and serves on the scientific advisory board for Mightier by Neuromotion Labs. JU has received consulting fees from Orion Corporation. MC, MHT, HvdH, DO, and AKS declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Interoception is essential for the maintenance of physical and mental health. Paradigms assessing cardioceptive accuracy do not separate sensitivity from bias or are very demanding. We present the piloting (study 1; N = 60) and psychometric evaluation and validation (study 2; N = 84) of a novel task for the assessment of cardiac interoceptive perception following the principles of signal detection theory. By disentangling sensitivity and response bias, we demonstrate that the previously used interoceptive accuracy score of the heartbeat mental tracking task represents an amalgam of sensitivity and response bias. The new task demonstrated adequate test-retest reliabilities for sensitivity ( d ') and response bias ( c ). Sensitivity was inversely related (β = -.36) to somatic symptom distress after statistically controlling for response bias. The novel cardiovascular signal detection task is easy to implement, feasible, and promising in terms of unraveling the role of (cardiac) interoceptive perception in psychopathology. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Importance: Self-harm is a risk factor for suicide in adolescents, with the prevalence highest in young people in group and residential care programs. Although no established risk factors for self-harm exist, adolescents who self-harm may have decreased pain sensitivity, but this has not been systematically investigated., Objective: To assess somatosensory function using quantitative sensory testing (QST) in children and adolescents living in care grouped by the number of episodes of self-harm in the past year and compare their somatosensory profiles with community control participants to investigate associations with the incidence or frequency of self-harm., Design, Setting, and Participants: Recruitment for this cross-sectional study began January 2019 and ended March 2020. Exclusion criteria included intellectual disability (intelligence quotient <70), autism spectrum disorder, or recent serious injury. Children and adolescents aged 12 to 17 years with no underlying health conditions were recruited from local authority residential care settings in Glasgow, UK, and schools and youth groups in London and Glasgow, UK. The volunteer sample of 64 participants included adolescents ages 13 to 17 years (34 [53%] females; 50 [78%] living in residential care; mean [SD] age, 16.34 [1.01] years) with varying incidents of self-harm in the past year (no episodes, 31 [48%]; 1-4 episodes, 12 [19%]; and ≥5 episodes, 2 [33%])., Exposures: Participants were tested using a standardized QST protocol to establish baseline somatosensory function., Main Outcomes and Measures: Associations between somatosensory sensitivity, incidence and frequency of self-harm, residential status, age, gender, and prescription medication were calculated. Secondary outcomes assessed whether self-harm was associated with specific types of tests (ie, painful or nonpainful)., Results: A total of 64 participants ages 13 to 17 years completed testing (mean [SD] age, 16.3 [1.0] years; 34 [53%.] females and 30 [47%] males; 50 [78%] living in group homes). Adolescents with 5 or more self-harm incidences showed significant pain hyposensitivity compared with community control participants after adjusting for age, gender, and prescription drug use (SH group with 5 or more episodes vs control: -1.03 [95% CI, -1.47 to -0.60]; P < .001). Hyposensitivity also extended to nonpainful stimuli, similarly adjusted (SH group with 5 or more episodes vs control: -1.73; 95% CI, -2.62 to -0.84; P < .001). Pressure pain threshold accounted for most of the observed variance (31.1% [95% CI, 10.5% to 44.7%]; P < .001)., Conclusions and Relevance: The findings of this study suggest that sensory hyposensitivity is a phenotype of Adolescents who self-harm and that pressure pain threshold has clinical potential as a quick, inexpensive, and easily interpreted test to identify adolescents at increased risk of repeated self-harm.

Background: Traditionally, S1 transforaminal epidural steroid injection (TFESI) has been performed using an anteroposterior (AP) fluoroscopic view. In 2007, the oblique "Scotty dog" (OS) approach was introduced as an alternative technique. We compared passage time of the needle into S1 foramen (Tf) between the anteroposterior (AP) and oblique "Scotty dog" (OS) approach during S1 TFESI., Methods: In this prospective randomized controlled trial, seventy patients scheduled S1 TFESI were randomly allocated into AP or OS groups. In the AP group, a slight cephalad-caudad tilt was used. In the OS group, the C-arm was rotated ipsilateral oblique degrees to view the S1 Scotty dog. Both groups received injection of steroid mixed with local anesthetics. We measured the passage time of the needle into S1 foramen (Tf), primary outcome, and total procedure time (Tt) between the groups. We also recorded presence of intravascular injection, patients-assessed pain relief for one month and complications., Results: The Tf and Tt were shorter in the OS than in the AP group (24.4 ± 24.0 s vs 47. 8 ± 53.2seconds; 93.3 ± 35.0 seconds vs 160.0 ± 98.7 seconds, P < .001, both). Incidence of intravascular injection (AP, 8 [22.8%]; OS, 4 [11.4%], P = .205), pain score, and complication rates were not statistically different between the two groups. In logistic regression analysis, the body mass index (BMI) was a risk factor for longer Tt (odds ratio [OR] = 1.27, 95% CI: 1.02-1.58, P = .030)., Conclusion: The passage time of the needle into S1 foramen was shorter in OS approach and the OS approach reduced the procedure time compared with the AP approach during S1 TFESI. The practitioners should note that procedure time can be prolonged in obese patients.

The symptoms related to insular ischemia have been the object of several studies in patients affected by stroke, although they are often accompanied by other ischemic alteration of adjacent brain structures supplied by the middle cerebral artery (MCA). The insula is vulnerable because of an ischemia due to thromboembolic vascular occlusion of the M1 MCA segment and the 2 main MCA branches (M2), mainly when they abruptly arise from the principal stem at a right angle. This topographical and anatomical peculiarity could enable an embolic formation, especially due to atrial fibrillation (AF), to occlude the transition pathway between M1 and M2, while the proximal origin of vascular supply protects the insula from ischemia due to hemodynamic factors. The aim of the study is to characterize the clinical aspects of acute ischemic strokes as a first event in the insular territory with specific attention to atypical manifestation. We have considered 233 patients with a first event stroke involving the insular territory and 13 cases of isolated insular stroke (IIS), from the stroke registry of the Policlinico "G.Martino", University of Messina, between the February 10, 2014 and the February 7, 2018. IIS patients showed CT/MRI lesions restricted to the insular region. Exclusion criteria were coexisting neurological diseases, structural brain lesions, extension to the subinsular area >50% of the total infarct volume. We identified 13 IIS patients (mean age 74 years), with an isolated symptom or a combination of typical and atypical aspects. Furthermore, we observed high frequency detection of cardiac disturbances. To our knowledge, just a few previous studies have described IIS; their incidence is still not well defined. IIS manifested with a combination of deficits including motor, somatosensory, speaking, coordination, autonomic and cognitive disturbances. After an ischemic stroke, AF manifestation could follow briefly the major event and its duration could be very short, as an autonomic dysfunction due to an insular infarction. This clinical condition requires a continuous cardiac monitoring for this dangerous occurrence., (© 2020 S. Karger AG, Basel.)

Introduction: Although it is known that anxiety and depressive disorders frequently accompany migraine and TTH, the role of somatic amplification (SSA) and health anxiety in these diseases is not adequately known., Objective: The aim of this study is to compare SSA and health anxiety in patients with migraine or TTH, and healthy controls and to investigate the relationships between SSA, health anxiety, headache characteristics, anxiety and depressive symptoms., Methods: Fifty-four migraine, 50 TTH patients from the outpatient unit of the neurology department and 53 healthy volunteers were recruited for the study. The somatosensory amplification scale (SSAS), health anxiety inventory, Beck depression (BDI) and anxiety inventory (BAI) were administered to all participants., Results: The SSAS scores were significantly higher in migraineurs compared with the healthy controls. The health anxiety scores were significantly higher in both migraine and TTH groups. The BDI and BAI scores were also significantly higher in migraine and TTH groups compared with the controls. A significant positive correlation was found between headache frequency and BAI scores, the visual analogue scale scores and SSAS and BDI scores in migraineurs. The SSAS scores were also significantly correlated with the BDI and BAI scores in both of the headache groups. A similar correlation was determined with the health anxiety scores., Conclusions: While patients with migraine and TTH evalute, taking into account the SSA and health anxiety may contribute to the prognosis and treatment of these diseases.

Heterotopagnosia-without-Autotopagnosia (HwA) is characterized by the incapacity to point to body parts on others, but not on one's own body. This has been classically interpreted as related to a self-other distinction, with impaired visual representations of other bodies seen in third person perspective (3PP), besides spared own body somatosensory representations in 1PP. However, HwA could be impacted by a deficit in the integration of visual and somatosensory information in space, that are spatially congruent in the case of one's own body, but not for others' body. Here, we test this hypothesis in a rare neurological patient with HwA, H+, as well as in a control patient with a comparable neuropsychological profile, but without HwA, and in age-matched healthy controls, in two experiments. First, we assessed body part recognition in a new task where somatosensory information from the participant's body and visual information from the target body shown in virtual reality was never aligned in space. Results show that, differently from the flawless performance in controls, H+ committed errors for not only the body of others in 3PP, but for all conditions where the information related to the real and the target body was not spatially congruent. Then, we tested whether the integration between these multisensory bodily cues in space, as during visuo-tactile stimulation in the full-body illusion, improves the patient's performance. Data show that after the stimulation prompting visuo-tactile integration, but not in control conditions, the patient's abilities to process body parts improved up to normal level, thus confirming and extending the first findings. Altogether, these results support a new interpretation of HwA as linked to the matching between somatosensory inputs from one's body and visual information from a body seen at a distance, and encourage the application of multisensory stimulation and virtual reality for the treatment of body-related disorders., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background and Purpose: Two trait-like characteristics, somatosensory amplification and absorption, have been associated with symptom reports and idiopathic environmental intolerances in past research. Purpose - As the two constructs are not connected with each other, their independent contribution to symptom reports and electromagnetic hypersensitivity, as well as their interaction can be expected., Methods: On-line questionnaire. Patients - 506 college students completed an on-line questionnaire assessing absorption, somatosensory amplification, negative affect, somatic symptoms, and electromagnetic hypersensitivity., Results: Somatosensory amplification (β = 0.170, p < 0.001) and absorption (β = 0.128, p < 0.001) independently contributed to somatic symptoms after controlling for gender and negative affect (R2 = 0.347, p < 0.001). Similarly, somatosensory amplification (OR = 1.082, p < 0.05) and absorption (OR = 1.079, p < 0.01) independently contributed to electromagnetic hypersensitivity after controlling for somatic symptoms, gender, and negative affect (Nagelkerke R2 = 0.134, p < 0.001). However, no interaction effects were found., Conclusion: Somatosensory amplification and absorption independently contribute to symptom reports and electromagnetic hypersensitivity. Conclusion - The findings suggest that psychological mechanisms underlying symptom reports and electromagnetic hypersensitivity might be heterogeneous.

When estimating psychometric functions with sampling procedures, psychophysical assessments should be precise and accurate while being as efficient as possible to reduce assessment duration. The estimation performance of sampling procedures is commonly evaluated in computer simulations for single psychometric functions and reported using metrics as a function of number of trials. However, the estimation performance of a sampling procedure may vary for different psychometric functions. Therefore, the results of these type of evaluations may not be generalizable to a heterogeneous population of interest. In addition, the maximum number of trials is often imposed by time restrictions, especially in clinical applications, making trial-based metrics suboptimal. Hence, the benefit of these simulations to select and tune an ideal sampling procedure for a specific application is limited. We suggest to evaluate the estimation performance of sampling procedures in simulations covering the entire range of psychometric functions found in a population of interest, and propose a comprehensive set of performance metrics for a detailed analysis. To illustrate the information gained from these metrics in an application example, six sampling procedures were evaluated in a computer simulation based on prior knowledge on the population distribution and requirements from proprioceptive assessments. The metrics revealed limitations of the sampling procedures, such as inhomogeneous or systematically decreasing performance depending on the psychometric functions, which can inform the tuning process of a sampling procedure. More advanced metrics allowed directly comparing overall performances of different sampling procedures and select the best-suited sampling procedure for the example application. The proposed analysis metrics can be used for any sampling procedure and the estimation of any parameter of a psychometric function, independent of the shape of the psychometric function and of how such a parameter was estimated. This framework should help to accelerate the development process of psychophysical assessments., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Background and Purpose: Conversion disorder (CD), or functional neurological disorder, is manifested as a neurological disturbance that is not macroscopically visible on clinical structural neuroimaging and is instead ascribed to underlying psychological stress. Known for many years in neuropsychiatry, a comprehensive explanation of the way in which psychological stress leads to a neurological deficit of a structural-like origin is still lacking., Methods: We applied whole-brain network-based data-driven analyses on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging, recorded in seven patients with acute-onset, stroke-like CD with unilateral paresis and hypoesthesia as compared with 15 age-matched healthy controls. We used a clustering analysis to measure functional connectivity (FC) strength within 10 different brain networks, as well as between these networks. Finally, we tested FC of specific brain regions that are known to be involved in CD., Results: We found a significant increase in FC strength only within the default-mode network (DMN), which manages self-referential processing. Examination of inter-connectivity between networks showed a structure of disturbed connectivity, which included decreased connectivity between the DMN and limbic/salience network, increased connectivity between the limbic/salience network and body-related temporo-parieto-occipital junction network, decreased connectivity between the temporo-parieto-occipital junction and memory-related medial temporal lobe, and decreased connectivity between the medial temporal lobe and sensorimotor network. Region-specific FC analysis showed increased connectivity between the hippocampus and DMN., Discussion: These preliminary results of disturbances in brain networks related to memory, emotions and self-referential processing, and networks involved in motor planning and execution, suggest a role of these cognitive functions in the psychopathology of CD., (© 2018 EAN.)

Despite the frequent co-ocurrence of hypermobile Ehler-Danlos syndrome (hEDS) and pathological anxiety, little is known about the psychosocial and health implications of such comorbidity. Our aim was to explore the association between high levels of anxiety and psychosocial (catastrophizing, kinesiophobia, somatosensory amplification, social support and functioning), health (pain, fatigue, BMI, tobacco/alcohol use, depression, diagnosis delay, general health), and sociodemographic factors in people with hEDS. In this cross-sectional study, 80 hEDS patients were divided into two groups according to self-reported anxiety levels: low and high. Psychosocial, sociodemographic and health variables were compared between the groups. Forty-one participants reported a high level of anxiety (51.2%). No differences were found in the sociodemographic variables between high-anxious and low-anxious patients. The percentage of participants with severe fatigue and high depressive symptomatology was significantly higher in the high-anxious group (80.5 vs 56.4; 26.8 vs 12.8%, respectively). High-anxious hEDS patients also showed significantly higher levels of pain catastrophizing, somatosensory amplification as well as a poorer social functioning and general health. Multivariate analyses showed that somatosensory amplification, pain catastrophizing and poor social functioning are variables that increase the probability of belonging to the high-anxious group. Despite limitations, this first study comparing high-anxious versus low-anxious hEDS patients with respect to health aspects, highlight the importance of considering the psychosocial factors (many susceptible to modification), to improve the adjustment to this chronic condition and provide support to those affected through a biopsychosocial approach.

During the past decade, research on the biological basis of sensory processing sensitivity (SPS)-a genetically based trait associated with greater sensitivity and responsivity to environmental and social stimuli-has burgeoned. As researchers try to characterize this trait, it is still unclear how SPS is distinct from seemingly related clinical disorders that have overlapping symptoms, such as sensitivity to the environment and hyper-responsiveness to incoming stimuli. Thus, in this review, we compare the neural regions implicated in SPS with those found in fMRI studies of-Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Schizophrenia (SZ) and Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) to elucidate the neural markers and cardinal features of SPS versus these seemingly related clinical disorders. We propose that SPS is a stable trait that is characterized by greater empathy, awareness, responsivity and depth of processing to salient stimuli. We conclude that SPS is distinct from ASD, SZ and PTSD in that in response to social and emotional stimuli, SPS differentially engages brain regions involved in reward processing, memory, physiological homeostasis, self-other processing, empathy and awareness. We suggest that this serves species survival via deep integration and memory for environmental and social information that may subserve well-being and cooperation.This article is part of the theme issue 'Diverse perspectives on diversity: multi-disciplinary approaches to taxonomies of individual differences'., (© 2018 The Authors.)

Objectives: To refine the biobehavioral markers of binge eating disorder (BED)., Methods: We conducted fMRI brain scans using images of high energy processed food (HEPF), low energy unprocessed food (LEUF), or non-foods (NF) in 42 adults (obese with BED [obese -BED; n=13] and obese with no BED [obese non-BED; n=29]) selected via ads. Two blood oxygenated level dependent (BOLD) signal contrast maps were examined: food versus nonfood, and HEPF versus LEUF. In addition, score differences on the disinhibition scale were correlated with BOLD signals., Results: food versus nonfood showed greater BOLD activity for BED in emotional, motivational and somatosensory brain areas: insula, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), Brodmann areas (BA) 19 & 32, inferior parietal lobule (IPL), posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), and lingual, postcentral, middle temporal and cuneate gyri (p≤0.005; k≥88). HEPF versus LEUF showed greater BOLD activity for BED in inhibitory brain regions: BA 6, middle and superior frontal gyri (p<0.01; k≥119). The groups also differed in the relationships between disinhibition and BOLD activity in the postcentral gyrus (PCG; p=0.04) and ACC-BA 32 (p=0.02). For all participants jointly, PCG BOLD amplitude predicted greater disinhibition (p=0.04)., Discussion: Food images elicited neural activity indicating attention bias (cuneate & PCG), emotion dysregulation (BA 19 & 32), and disinhibition (MFG, BA6 & SFG) in obese with BED. These may help tailor a treatment for the obesity with BED phenotype., (Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

The paper reviews and summarizes the history and the development of somatosensory amplification, a construct that plays a substantial role in symptom reports. Although the association with negative affect has been supported by empirical findings, another key elements of the original concept (i.e. body hypervigilance and the tendency of focusing on mild body sensations) have never been appropriately addressed. Recent findings indicate that somatosensory amplification is connected with phenomena that do not necessarily include symptoms (e.g. modern health worries, or expectations of symptoms and medication side effects), and also with the perception of external threats. In conclusion, somatosensory amplification appears to refer to the intensification of perceived external and internal threats to the integrity of the body ("somatic threat amplification") rather than amplification of perceived or actual bodily events only. Practical implications of this new approach are also discussed., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background and Purpose: The frequency of self-reported food sensitivity (SFS) is increasing, and has a negative impact on the well-being and everyday functioning of the affected people. A considerable proportion of SFS cannot be medically explained. The lack of knowledge of its origin and treatment causes further stress in those affected. Purpose - This study aims to get a better understanding of the psychological background of the condition., Methods: A non-representative community sample (N=335; age: 35.1±13.18 yrs; 75.8% female) completed an English on-line questionnaire assessing somatosensory amplification, health anxiety, modern health worries (MHWs), beliefs concerning the scientific validity of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM), holistic beliefs on health and illness., Results: In multiple binary logistic regression analyses, SFS were associated with CAM related beliefs, somatosensory amplification, and health anxiety after controlling for age and gender. The connection between somatosensory amplification and SFS were completely mediated by health anxiety. No differences between the two groups were found with respect to MHWs, worries about the harmful effects of various artificial components in food, and holistic health beliefs. Discussion: More positive attitudes toward CAM might be based on the lack of conventional treatment, rather than on higher levels of MHWs or a more holistic worldview. Both the existence of symptoms and the presence of health anxiety might be needed for the development and maintenance of SFS., Conclusion: The findings support the notion that somatosensory amplification and health anxiety might play a role in the development and maintenance of SFS.

Objectives: Widespread sensory deficits resembling hemihypoesthesia occur in 20% to 40% of chronic pain patients on the side of pain, independent of pain etiology, and have been termed nondermatomal sensory deficits (NDSDs). Sensory profiles have rarely been investigated in NDSDs., Materials and Methods: Quantitative sensory testing according to the protocol of the German Research Network on Neuropathic Pain (DFNS) was performed in the face, hand, and foot of the painful body side and in contralateral regions in chronic pain patients. Twenty-five patients with NDSDs and 23 without NDSDs (termed the pain-only group) were included after exclusion of neuropathic pain. Comprehensive clinical and psychiatric evaluations were carried out., Results: NDSD in chronic pain was associated with high burden of disease and more widespread pain. Only in the NDSD group were significantly higher thresholds for mechanical and painful stimuli found in at least 2 of 3 regions ipsilateral to pain. In addition, we found a bilateral loss of function for temperature and vibration detection, and a gain of function for pressure pain in certain regions in patients with NDSD. Sensory loss and gain of function for pressure pain correlated with pain intensity in several regions., Discussion: This may indicate a distinct sensory profile in chronic non-neuropathic pain and NDSD, probably attributable to altered central pain processing and sensitization. The presence of NDSD in chronic non-neuropathic pain may be regarded as a marker for higher burden of pain disease.

The objective of the present study is to determine the somatosensory amplification, anxiety, and depression levels in patients with normal coronary arteries. Thirty-five patients with normal coronary arteries and 35 healthy individuals of similar age and gender as the patient group were included in the study. Somatosensory Amplification Scale (SSAS), Health Anxiety Inventory (HAI-18), Penn State Anxiety Scale (PSWQ), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) were applied to all participants. Comparison of the patient group with the control group demonstrated that SSAS (22.7±8.2; 18.5±5.98; p=0.018), BAI (15.4±9.43; 9.4±7.3; p=0.004), BDI (24.9±13.5; 13.7±7.5; p<0.001), PSWQ (55.3±13.7; 33.8±6.7; p<0.001), and HAI-18 (18.8±8.7; 12.3±7.1; p=0.001) scores were statistically significantly higher in the patient group. Furthermore, a positive correlation was found between SSAS, BAI, BDI, PSWQ, and HAI-18 scores. It was found that concerns about disease prevailed in patients having normal coronary arteries, the patients continued to amplify their somatic sensations, and their anxiety and depression scores were higher than those of healthy individuals. Thus, the necessity of these interventions should be assessed in detail in the future., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Sensitive skin is a syndrome defined by the occurrence of unpleasant sensations (stinging, burning, pain, pruritus, and tingling sensations) in response to stimuli that normally should not provoke such sensations. The worldwide prevalence of sensitive skin is approximately 40%. Clinical, histologic, biochemical, and therapeutic data show that this condition is related to changes in epidermal nerve endings with subsequent hyperreactivity and neurogenic inflammation; hence, sensitive skin is not a psychosomatic disorder, although psychologic consequences are possible., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: The first mention of a condition in which apparently nonpsychotic individuals have a strong, unrelenting desire to amputate ≥1 of their healthy limbs was published nearly 4 decades ago. Once dismissed as a paraphilia, the condition in recent years has been re-investigated with neurologic testing and imaging, yielding evidence suggesting it may be attributable to a neuroanatomical anomaly., Methods: A literature review of data was conducted of recently published studies with pinprick testing, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)/functional MRI imaging, magnetoencephalography, and interviews of individuals with a desire for limb amputation., Results: Published literature on this condition features studies with a limited number of participants. However, the results indicate that affected individuals predominantly desire amputation of the left lower limb, and correspondingly, usually have changes in cortical thickness in the right parietal lobe., Conclusions: Further investigation of this condition is warranted, particularly, more research into the precise nature of the anomalous neuroanatomy, biopsychosocial background of those with the condition, and longitudinal perspective of the childhood onset and evolution of symptoms. Large sample studies involving a collaborative effort across multiple sites are required.

The questionnaire study aimed to evaluate the relative contribution of body awareness, subjective symptoms, and anxiety to the construct of somatosensory amplification in both healthy controls (n = 475) and patients visiting their general practitioner (n = 236). Regression analysis explained 52.0 percent of total variance of the somatosensory amplification scale scores. Body awareness was the most influential predictor (β = 0.489, p < 0.001) when considering all predictors simultaneously. The results suggest that dispositional interoceptive focus, as indicated by body awareness, may be an important aspect of somatosensory amplification, over and above dispositional anxiety or subjective symptom report., (© The Author(s) 2015.)

Background: Pain induced by electrical stimuli has been found in previous research to be reduced by brief, weak electrical pulses, termed prepulses, presented 40 to 60ms prior to the painful electrical stimulus., Methods: The present experiment investigated the generality of this effect by presenting weak acoustic stimuli simultaneously with, or 80 or 1000ms prior to, painful electric shocks. In the second half of the experimental session, each participant (N=119) was told that the acoustic stimuli would either increase or decrease the pain induced by the electric shock, to investigate automatic and controlled cognitive processes in the modulation of pain., Results: Acoustic stimuli presented simultaneously with painful stimulation increased pain slightly (4mm on a 100mm scale). Acoustic stimuli presented 80 and 1000ms prior to painful stimuli had no effect on pain. Information that acoustic stimuli would increase pain did so in females, but only when the acoustic stimulus was presented 80ms prior to the painful stimulus., Conclusions: The effect of the acoustic stimuli and of information was weak. Failure to replicate previous findings of decreased pain by weak prepulses was most likely due to the sensory modality of the prepulse stimuli. It is recommended that further studies of pain modulation by brief stimulation use electrical and not acoustic prepulse stimuli., (Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In addition to the diagnostic criteria for autism spectrum disorder, a number of clinically important comorbid complaints, including sensory abnormalities, are also discussed. One difference often noted in these accounts is hyposensitivity to pain; however, evidence for this is limited. The purpose of the current review therefore was to examine sensitivity to pain of individuals with autism spectrum disorder. This review is interested in reports which consider differences in subjective experience of pain (i.e. different pain thresholds) and differences in behavioural response to pain (i.e. signs of pain-related distress). Studies were included if they were conducted with human subjects, included a clearly diagnosed autism spectrum disorder population and reported data pertaining to pain experience relative to the neurotypical population. Studies were classified as being self/parent report, clinical observations, observations of response to medical procedures or experimental examination of pain. Both self/parent report and clinical observations appeared to report hyposensitivity to pain, whereas observations of medical procedures and experimental manipulation suggested normal or hypersensitive responses to pain. This review suggests that contrary to classical reports, individuals with autism spectrum disorder do not appear to have systematically altered pain responses or thresholds. More systematic experimental examination of this area is needed to understand responses to pain of individuals with autism spectrum disorder., (© The Author(s) 2014.)

Background: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) patients show evidence of altered central processing of visceral signals. One of the proposed alterations in sensory processing is an altered engagement of endogenous pain modulation mechanisms. The aim was to test the hypothesis that IBS patients with (IBS-S) and without visceral hypersensitivity (IBS-N) differ in their ability to engage endogenous pain modulation mechanism during habituation to repeated visceral stimuli., Methods: Brain blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) response was measured during repeated rectal distension and its anticipation in 33 IBS patients with and without visceral hypersensitivity and 18 healthy controls (HCs). BOLD response to early and late phase of the distension series was compared within and between groups., Key Results: While BOLD response was similar during the early phase of the experiment, IBS-S showed greater BOLD response than IBS-N and HCs during the late phase of the distension series. IBS-S showed increasing BOLD response both to the anticipation and delivery of low intensity rectal distensions in brain regions including insula, anterior and mid cingulate cortex. IBS-N showed decreasing BOLD response to repeated rectal distensions in brain regions including insula, prefrontal cortex and amygdala., Conclusions & Inferences: These findings are consistent with compromised ability of IBS-S to respond to repeated delivery of rectal stimuli, both in terms of sensitization of sensory pathways and habituation of emotional arousal. The fact that both IBS subgroups met Rome criteria, and did not differ in terms of reported symptom severity demonstrates that similar symptom patterns can result from different underlying neurobiological mechanisms., (© 2015 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Objective: Numerous studies have emphasized the importance of body contact for health, regulation, and development of infants as well as for parent-child interaction. Especially for infants with regulatory disorders (such as excessive crying, sleeping, and feeding problems), high-quality physical contact would be desirable. Observations in the context of parental counseling suggest that precisely these infants have a poor quality of body and eye contact. The present study compares infants with and without regulatory disorders with respect to their body and eye contact., Methods: Quality of body contact and amount of eye contact were examined by means of video ratings of the mother-child interaction. In addition, we measured the daily amount of crying, sleeping, feeding, being fussy, and quiet play in an infant behavior diary., Results: Infants with regulatory disorders scored worse in body contact (p < .01) and gaze contact (p < .001). There were also significant differences in most of the diary variables., Conclusions: Body and eye contact - basic communication skills - may be disturbed in infants with regulatory disorders, which could have an adverse effect on the regulation problems. Therapeutic interventions with affected children and their parents should aim at improving the ability of body and eye contact.

Aim: To examine the associations of depressive symptoms with insulin resistance, evaluating somatic and cognitive depressive symptoms separately., Methods: A total of 328 individuals (mean age 60 years) referred for exercise stress testing, taking part in the Mechanisms and Outcomes of Silent Myocardial Ischemia study, completed the Beck Depression Inventory II. A fasting venous blood sample was collected for assessments of insulin and glucose level; the HOMA-IR (homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance) was calculated. In principal component analysis, Beck Depression Inventory II items were forced to load onto two components (somatic and cognitive depressive symptoms). Adjusting for age, sex, BMI, medication use, smoking, physical activity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease, general linear model analyses were conducted to examine the associations between the components and log HOMA-IR ., Results: Principal component analysis showed that nine items loaded onto a cognitive depressive symptoms component and 10 items loaded onto a somatic depressive symptoms component. When examined separately, both components were significantly associated with log HOMA-IR however, when including both components simultaneously in the model, only somatic depressive symptoms remained significantly associated with log HOMA-IR. Back-transformed, a one-unit change in somatic depressive symptoms was associated with a 1.07 (95% CI 1.002, 1.14) change in HOMA-IR and a one-unit change in cognitive depressive symptoms was associated with a 1.03 (95% CI 0.97, 1.14) change in HOMA-IR., Conclusion: Somatic depressive symptoms seem to be more strongly associated with insulin resistance than do cognitive depressive symptoms. Monitoring somatic depressive symptoms may be more appropriate than monitoring cognitive depressive symptoms among depressed individuals with high insulin resistance., (© 2014 The Authors. Diabetic Medicine © 2014 Diabetes UK.)

A number of studies have demonstrated that therapeutic hypercapnia ameliorates neurological deficits and attenuates the histological damage of cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury. However, the effects of therapeutic hypercapnia on impaired spatial memory have not been reported. Here we aimed to investigate the effects and mechanisms of therapeutic hypercapnia on spatial memory in a rat model of focal cerebral ischemia induced by middle cerebral artery occlusion/reperfusion (MCAO/R). Adult male rats were randomly assigned into three experimental groups: sham (sham operation), IR (MCAO/R), and hypercapnia [arterial blood CO2 tension (PaCO2) 80-100 mmHg+IR] groups. Sensorimotor deficits and spatial memory testing were evaluated by an 18-point scoring system and an 8-arm radial maze task, respectively. The hippocampal histological damage and the percentage of apoptotic neurons were evaluated by hematoxylin and eosin (HE) staining as well as flow cytometry. Western blotting was used to investigate the changes of the apoptosis-related Bcl-2 and Bax proteins. The results indicated that hypercapnia treatment significantly improved the abilities of impaired sensorimotor and spatial memory after MCAO/R. Moreover, hypercapnia treatment significantly increased the percentage of surviving neurons and decreased the percentage of apoptotic neurons in the hippocampus after MCAO/R damage. The expressions of anti-apoptotic protein Bcl-2 and pro-apoptotic protein Bax were significantly increased and decreased in the hypercapnia treated rats, respectively. These findings suggest that therapeutic hypercapnia can attenuate neuronal apoptosis and improve impaired spatial memory and sensorimotor after MCAO/R, which may be attributable to its anti-apoptotic effects through modulation of apoptosis-related protein., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: This study hopes to establish the timeframe for a safe return to driving under different speed conditions for patients after minimally invasive total knee arthroplasty and further explores how well various kinds of functional tests on knee performance can predict the patients' braking ability., Methods: 14 patients with right knee osteoarthritis were included in the present study and instructed to perform three simulated driving tasks at preoperative, 2 weeks postoperative and 4 weeks postoperative., Results: The results showed that the total braking time at 4 week postoperative has attained the preoperative level at the driving speed 50 and 70 km/hr but not at the driving speed 90 km/hr. It had significantly improving in knee reaction time and maximum isometric force at 4 weeks postoperative. Besides, there was a moderate to high correlation between the scores of the step counts and the total braking time., Conclusions: Summary, it is recommended that driving may be resumed 4 weeks after a right knee replacement but had to drive at low or moderate speed and the best predictor of safety driving is step counts.

Background: Somatosensory ability is commonly impaired after stroke. Despite the growing recognition for the need to understand service users' experiences and perspectives in health services provision, the experiences of stroke survivors' living with somatosensory impairment have yet to be reported., Objective: To gain an insight into how stroke survivors experience somatosensory impairment after stroke., Design: A qualitative study design was used with data analysed using Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis., Methods: Semi-structured in-depth interviews were carried out with purposively selected community dwelling stroke survivors who had somatosensory impairment., Results: Five stroke survivors were interviewed in this study. Data analysis resulted in the emergence of three superordinate themes (i) making sense of somatosensory impairment, (ii) interplay of somatosensory impairment and motor control for executing tasks and (iii) perseverance versus learned non-use. The stroke survivors in this study were aware that their somatosensory ability was affected as a result of their stroke, but had difficulty in articulating their experiences of sensation and the impact of the impairment on functional ability. Most often somatosensory impairment was described in terms of difficulties with executing specific tasks, particularly by the upper limb., Conclusion: It is important to be aware that somatosensory impairment is of concern to stroke survivors. Further research is needed to develop evidence-based and practice-appropriate clinical assessment tools and treatment strategies for somatosensory rehabilitation after stroke., (Copyright © 2013 Chartered Society of Physiotherapy. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

This study's objective was to investigate the efficacy of sensory integration therapy (SIT) for children with high-functioning autism spectrum disorder (HFASD). The subjects were 20 HFASD children with IQs above 70 selected from previously collected data. Eight participated in individual SIT sessions, and 12 participated in group therapy (GT) including social skill training, communication training, kinetic activities, and child-parent play for 8-10 months. Changes in Total score and five Index scores on the Japanese version of the Miller Assessment for Preschoolers before and after therapy between children in the SIT and GT groups were compared. The results showed that Total score and all Index scores except for Verbal Index increased significantly in the SIT group, while only Total score increased in the GT group. Furthermore, the SIT group showed more improvement compared with the GT group in Total score and on Coordination, Non-verbal, and Complex Index scores. SIT might have a more positive effect on motor coordination abilities, non-verbal cognitive abilities, and combined abilities of sensory motor and cognition in children with HFASD when compared with GT. This study has limitations such as being an analysis of previously collected data. Further study should be conducted with a randomized control trial., (Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

The cross-sectional study aimed at the psychometric evaluation of the Modern Health Worries Scale in adolescents and the exploration of the relationship among modern health worries, somatosensory amplification, health anxiety, and somatic symptoms. A total of 480 secondary school students (aged between 14 and 19 years) completed a set of questionnaires. Four-factor structure of the scale was confirmed by confirmatory factor analysis. Modern health worries were connected to somatosensory amplification and health anxiety, and somatosensory amplification and health anxiety were partial mediators of the connection between modern health worries and somatic symptoms. Perceived vulnerability (conceptualized as somatosensory amplification and health anxiety) appears to build a "social-cognitive-emotional bridge" between symptoms and modern health worries.

When patients with psychodermatologic disorders present in clinic, the dermatologist can refer them to psychiatrists or other mental health care professionals. However, it is often the case that these patients will refuse a psychiatric referral because they either do not believe they have a disorder of psychiatric nature or they feel there is societal stigma associated with psychiatric illness. Therefore, it is essential for dermatologists to understand the common classifications for psychodermatological cases and to know how to optimally treat these patients with pharmacotherapy. The intent of this article is to help guide physicians in understanding the classifications of psychodermatological cases and in managing these conditions with pharmacotherapies. In this article, two classifications for psychodermatological cases are presented, followed by a discussion of medical therapies used to treat the main categories of psychopathologies that are more frequently encountered in dermatology. These include depression, anxiety, delusions, and obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Objective: To evaluate fibromyalgia in the general population with emphasis on prevalence, dimensionality, and somatic symptom severity., Methods: We studied 2,445 subjects randomly selected from the German general population in 2012 using the American College of Rheumatology 2010 preliminary diagnostic criteria for fibromyalgia, as modified for survey research, and the polysymptomatic distress scale (PSD). Anxiety, depression, and somatic symptom severity were assessed with the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ) series, and measures of symptoms and quality of life were assessed with the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer questionnaire., Results: The prevalence of fibromyalgia was 2.1% (95% confidence interval [95% CI] 1.6, 2.7), with 2.4% (95% CI 1.5, 3.2) in women and 1.8% (95% CI 1.1, 2.6) in men, but the difference was not statistically significant. Prevalence rose with age. Fibromyalgia subjects had markedly abnormal scores for all covariates. We found smooth, nondisordered relationships between PSD and all predictors, providing additional evidence against the hypothesis that fibromyalgia is a discrete disorder and in support of a dimensional or spectrum disorder. There was a strong correlation (r = 0.790) between the PSD and the PHQ somatic symptom severity scale; 38.5% of persons with fibromyalgia satisfied the proposed Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fifth Edition criteria for a physical symptom disorder., Conclusion: The modified 2010 diagnostic criteria do not result in high levels of fibromyalgia. PSD and fibromyalgia are strongly related to somatic symptom severity. There is evidence in support of fibromyalgia as a dimensional or continuum disorder. This has important ramifications for neurobiologic and epidemiology research, and for clinical diagnosis, treatment, and ascertainment of disability., (Copyright © 2013 by the American College of Rheumatology.)

Cognitive and affective processing has been the central focus of brain-related functions in psychology and psychiatry for many years. Much less attention has been paid to what could be considered the primary function of the brain, to regulate the function of the body. Recent developments, which include the conceptualization of interoception as a process consisting of integrating the information coming from the inside of the body in the central nervous system and the appreciation that complex emotional processes are fundamentally affected by the processing and regulation of somatic states, have profoundly changed the view of the function and dysfunction of the brain. This review focuses on the relationship between breathing and anxiety. Several anxiety disorders have been associated with altered breathing, perception of breathing, and response to manipulations of breathing. Both clinical and experimental research studies are reviewed that relate breathing dysfunctions to anxiety. Altered breathing may be useful as a physiological marker of anxiety as well as a treatment target using interoceptive interventions., (© 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

The Wisconsin Twin Research Program comprises multiple longitudinal studies that utilize a panel recruited from statewide birth records for the years 1989 through 2004. Our research foci are the etiology and developmental course of early emotions, temperament, childhood anxiety and impulsivity, autism, sensory over-responsivity, and related topics. A signature feature of this research program is the breadth and depth of assessment during key periods of development. The assessments include extensive home- and laboratory-based behavioral batteries, recorded sibling and caregiver interactions, structured psychiatric interviews with caregivers and adolescents, observer ratings of child behavior, child self-report, cognitive testing, neuroendocrine measures, medical records, dermatoglyphics, genotyping, and neuroimaging. Across the various studies, testing occasions occurred between 3 months and 18 years of age. Data collection for some aspects of the research program has concluded and, for other aspects, longitudinal follow-ups are in progress.

Introduction: Aging is typically associated with progressive multi-system impairment that leads to decreased physical and cognitive function and reduced adaptability to stress. Due to its capacity to characterize complex dynamics within and between physiological systems, the emerging field of complex systems biology and its array of quantitative tools show great promise for improving our understanding of aging, monitoring senescence, and providing biomarkers for evaluating novel interventions, including promising mind-body exercises, that treat age-related disease and promote healthy aging., Material and Methods: An ongoing, two-arm randomized clinical trial is evaluating the potential of Tai Chi mind-body exercise to attenuate age-related loss of complexity. A total of 60 Tai Chi-naïve healthy older adults (aged 50-79) are being randomized to either six months of Tai Chi training (n=30), or to a waitlist control receiving unaltered usual medical care (n=30). Our primary outcomes are complexity-based measures of heart rate, standing postural sway and gait stride interval dynamics assessed at 3 and 6months. Multiscale entropy and detrended fluctuation analysis are used as entropy- and fractal-based measures of complexity, respectively. Secondary outcomes include measures of physical and psychological function and tests of physiological adaptability also assessed at 3 and 6months., Discussion: Results of this study may lead to novel biomarkers that help us monitor and understand the physiological processes of aging and explore the potential benefits of Tai Chi and related mind-body exercises for healthy aging., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

When assessing for the presence of hemianesthesia, the examiner touches the body of the patients, and requests that they report verbally the location of the delivered tactile stimulus. Contralesional omissions of single tactile stimuli, however, might be due to either primary somatosensory deficits or to spatial attention impairment (i.e., neglect). In this preliminary study, we tested whether clinical assessment can be improved to differentiate between these two types of deficit by modifying the assessment procedure. K.L., a patient with left unilateral neglect, was asked to detect tactile stimuli delivered in two conditions: spatial attention distributed either to his left or to his right hand, and spatial attention focused only on his left hand. Note that K.L. did not receive double simultaneous tactile stimuli. In the distributed spatial attention condition, K.L. omitted most of the single tactile stimuli delivered to his left hand. In the focused attention condition, K.L. was asked to focus his spatial attention only on his left hand. Under this latter condition, his performance increased dramatically, suggesting that his omissions were not due to hemianesthesia, but rather reflected left tactile neglect. In line with the neuropsychological findings, voxel based analysis of his grey and white matter damage confirmed significant loss in areas associated with left-sided neglect, but sparing of the primary somatosensory cortex. This result suggests that standard somatosensory assessment and differential diagnosis between hemianesthesia and tactile neglect may be more accurate when neuropsychology-based procedures are incorporated in the standard neurological examination.

Cognitive theories of medically unexplained ("somatoform") symptoms stress the importance of alterations in attention and memory processes. Accordingly, specific schemata are hypothesized to (mis-)guide the processing of somatosensory stimuli leading to the formation of symptom-like perceptions. The current study tested a possible association between altered automatic somatosensory evaluation processes and the tendency to experience somatoform symptoms in a nonclinical sample. In a first pilot study, a modified version of the affect misattribution procedure (AMP) by Payne, Cheng, Govorun, and Stewart (2005) with aversive and nonaversive tactile stimuli (nonpainful electric vs. vibration stimulus) was successfully tested in 40 college students. In a second study (n = 50), automatic evaluations following aversive tactile stimuli were found to be positively associated (r = .35) with somatic symptom distress (PHQ). Moreover, negative affectivity significantly moderated this association (i.e., people high on negative affectivity revealed the strongest associations between somatic symptom distress and negative automatic evaluations in the tactile AMP). The findings support cognitive theories of somatoform symptom formation. The tactile AMP is suggested as a promising paradigm to study automatic evaluations of body sensations in people with somatoform disorders and related clinical conditions.

Background: Although impaired sensory processing accompanies various clinical conditions, the question of its status as an independent disorder remains open. Our goal was to delineate the comorbidity (or lack thereof) between childhood psychopathology and sensory over-responsivity (SOR) in middle childhood using phenotypic and behavior-genetic analyses., Method: Participants (N = 970) were drawn from the Wisconsin Twin Project, a population-based sample of twins and their families. Mothers completed a sensory responsivity checklist when their offspring were on average 7 years old, followed by a diagnostic interview (Diagnostic Interview Schedule for Children; DISC) within 6-12 months. We examined the incidence of DISC diagnoses - attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, conduct disorder, oppositional defiant disorder, agoraphobia, general anxiety, obsessive-compulsive disorder, panic disorder, separation anxiety, social phobia, specific phobia, depression, enuresis, trichtollomaniatics, selective mutism, and pica - among children with SOR, and vice versa. Children with autism or pervasive developmental disorders were excluded from the present study. In addition, we examined parent-reported physical health diagnoses among nondiagnosed children and three groups of children with SOR and/or DISC diagnoses. Biometric models explored common underlying genetic and environmental influences on symptoms of SOR and psychopathology., Results: A majority of individuals who screened positive for SOR did not qualify for a DISC diagnosis (58.2%), and vice versa (68.3%). Children who screened positive for SOR only and typical children had similar rates of physical health problems. Turning to a dimensional approach, multivariate twin models demonstrated that modest covariation between SOR and DISC symptoms could be entirely accounted for by common underlying genetic effects., Conclusions: Our results suggest that SOR occurs independently of recognized childhood psychiatric diagnoses but is also a relatively frequent comorbid condition with recognized diagnoses. Genetic sources of this comorbidity are implicated., (© 2011 The Authors. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry © 2011 Association for Child and Adolescent Mental Health.)

Compared to healthy individuals, schizophrenic patients suffer from sensorimotor disorders including problems when tracking moving targets and perceiving biological motion. Recent advances in embodied cognition and social coordination dynamics have emphasized the important role played by bodily information exchange (e.g. facial expressions, posture, and movements) in the way people interact with and mutually influence each other. These experimental studies on healthy participants provide data on sensorimotor performances of a patient that are recorded at high temporal and spatial resolutions. They should therefore be considered in studies on schizophrenic patients. These functional, quantitive and dynamic aspects of sensorimotor coordination abilities, may offer promising perspectives and could lead to a better understanding of sensorimotor disorders in schizophrenia. The purpose of this article is to introduce a new experimental paradigm in schizophrenia inspired by the field of coordination dynamics, a theoretical and experimental approach born more than 30 years ago that has recently expanded to interpersonal interactions, the so-called social coordination dynamics. In our study, we hypothesize that the sensorimotor deficits associated with schizophrenia in social interaction may be, at least partially, due to a failure to properly pick up information about the movements of other people. We therefore designed a study where healthy individuals and schizophrenic patients were asked to intentionally track the oscillations of visual targets of various social relevance using hand movements. Four different rhythmic visual stimuli varying in degree of biological relevance (form and motion) are used: [1] an oscillating dot; [2] a computer generated hand moving up and down continuously driven by a sine function; [3] pre-recorded oscillatory movements of a real hand; and [4] the hand of a real individual (behind a curtain that occluded vision of the rest of the body). Two distinct dependent variables are computed to quantify the coordination between the movements of the participants and the visual stimuli: the relative phase and the power spectrum overlap between their own movements. In this preliminary study, analyses of kinematic data revealed that schizophrenic patients had trouble synchronizing to (the more) "biological" target unlike control healthy individuals. These results suggest that patients with schizophrenia may suffer from sensorimotor coordination disabilities with socially relevant visual stimuli. The novel paradigm we introduce in research on schizophrenia should allow for a better understanding of the troubles these patients encounter when interacting with other people thanks to an approach rooted and building on social coordination dynamics as well as motor and social cognition., (Copyright © 2011 L’Encéphale. Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.. All rights reserved.)

Background: Damage to the right parietal lobe has long been associated with various disorders of body image. The authors have recently suggested that an unusual behavioural condition in which otherwise rational individuals desire the amputation of a healthy limb might also arise from right parietal dysfunction., Methods: Four subjects who desired the amputation of healthy legs (two right, one left and one, at first, bilateral and then left only) were recruited and underwent magnetoencephalography (MEG) scans during tactile stimulation of sites above and below the desired amputation line. Regions of interest (ROIs) in each hemisphere (superior parietal lobule (SPL), inferior parietal lobule, S1, M1, insula, premotor cortex and precuneus) were defined using FreeSurfer software., Results: Analysis of average MEG activity across the 40-140 ms post-stimulation timeframe was carried out using an unpaired t test. This revealed significantly reduced activation only in the right SPL ROI for the subjects' affected legs when compared with both subjects' unaffected legs and that of controls., Conclusions: The right SPL is a cortical area that appears ideally placed to unify disparate sensory inputs to create a coherent sense of having a body. The authors propose that inadequate activation of the right SPL leads to the unnatural situation in which the sufferers can feel the limb in question being touched without it actually incorporating into their body image, with a resulting desire for amputation. The authors introduce the term 'xenomelia' as a more appropriate name than apotemnophilia or body integrity identity disorder, for what appears to be an unrecognised right parietal lobe syndrome.

Objectives: Phantom limb perception is common following amputation, and is sometimes characterised by pain that resembles the characteristics, intensity or location of past pain. We tested Flor's model that phantom pain results from memory for long-lasting znoxious input., Methods: We report a questionnaire study of 283 amputees, that explored the experience of painful, non-painful and postural somatosensory memories in the phantom. We explore the impact of pre-amputation pain and impairment duration, and complications in the limb (eg, infection, gangrene, surgery, and vascular disease). Differences in mood, coping and adjustment to amputation are also explored in those with somatosensory pain memories., Results: Our findings support Flor's model, as amputation-related and non-amputation-related pain memories, and non-painful memories comprised pains or sensations that were either enduring/recurring pains or sensations (eg, ingrown toenail, corns, chilblains, arthritis-type pain in winter, night-cramps, or holding a tennis racquet), or resulted from a painful event with a "core-trauma" element (eg, fracture, crushing/penetration injury). Pain memories related to amputation were more common following functional impairment before amputation; infection or surgery prior to amputation; or having diabetic or vascular amputations-which are associated with multiple complications, including neuropathic changes, infection and prior surgery. Furthermore, participants with amputation-related pain memories exhibited higher sensory pain ratings, as well as poorer mood and adjustment to the limitations of amputation., Discussion: We propose that somatosensory pain memories likely relate to the generation and maintenance of limb representations upon which intense or emotionally powerful past experiences have been imprinted.

Suicidality in patients with schizophrenia is high. To clarify the characteristics of suicidal behavior in patients with schizophrenia, we investigated suicide attempters with schizophrenia spectrum disorders in comparison with patients with mood disorders. One hundred patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders and 155 patients with mood disorders admitted to an emergency department after a suicide attempt were interviewed in detail on items concerning 1) demographic characteristics, 2) previous suicidal behavior, and 3) index suicidal behavior. Differences between the two groups were subsequently analyzed. Patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders showed a lower incidence of previous deliberate self-harm, and a higher incidence of a subsequent suicide attempt more than 1 year after the previous suicide attempt as well as a higher lethality of index suicide attempt compared to patients with mood disorders. Furthermore, the most common motive for making a suicide attempt in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders was having a mental problem. This study revealed the factors associated with suicide attempts among Japanese patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders, and the nature of these factors makes it difficult to predict future attempts. This makes clear the importance of continuous long-term follow-up with careful attention to the mental symptoms and psychological burden for such patients., (Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Elderly patients tend to seek later for medical help during myocardial infarction. This may be caused by impaired pain perception with ageing. The aim of our study was to prospectively evaluate age-dependent differences in pain perception during temporary induced coronary ischemia., Methods: In 102 patients (68 male, age 68±11 years) undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention, ischemia was induced by balloon inflation for up to 120 s. Time to onset of perceived pain, pain characteristics and pain severity (0=no pain, 100=worst pain possible) was registered. This was repeated twice to evaluate ischemic preconditioning. A 12 lead ECG-tracing was simultaneously recorded. Patients were divided by their median age into 2 groups with comparable demographics: ≤69 years (group 1) and >69 years (group 2)., Results: Group 1 patients demonstrated earlier onset of pain (most apparent during the second inflation: 31±15 s vs. 46±26 s; p<0.001), and greater pain severity (inflation #1: 64±21 vs. 51±25 [p=0.017]; #2: 66±23 vs.52±27 [p=0.008]; #3: 63±23 vs. 54±24 [p=0.085]). ST-changes did not differ (0.24±0.10 vs. 0.20±0.14, [p=0.18]; 0.27±0.17 vs. 0.20±0.14, [p=0.11]; 0.19±0.13 vs. 0.16±0.09; [p=0.32]). Time from occlusion to onset of ECG changes did not differ between the groups, but increased with repetitive inflations (inflation #1: 29±11 s vs. 29±11 s; #2: 31±14 vs. 33±11; #3: 39±21 vs. 40±15 s [increase p=0.017; p<0.001])., Conclusion: These data suggest that the perception of pain from myocardial ischemia in the elderly is significantly less severe and delayed compared to younger patients., (Copyright © 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

The authors undertook the assessment of the available methods for the analysis of the sensations of patients suffering pathology of the vestibular analyzer. The fact that such conditions as dizziness and disequilibrium have great influence on the social status of a patient and his (her) position in society accounts for the use of functional stabilometry in the clinical practice along with the evaluation of quality of life. It is emphasized that the timely diagnosis of these disorders and elucidation of their primary causes are as important for the successful treatment of this pathology as the choice of an adequate course of medicamental and rehabilitative therapy.

Objectives: Nondermatomal somatosensory deficits (NDSDs) not conforming to the distribution of peripheral nerves or dermatomes, and often present after a minor injury or with no known inciting event, have long been associated with "hysteria." This article reviews the modern literature concerning NDSDs associated with chronic pain with regard to their prevalence, phenomenology and clinical presentation, clinical assessment, etiology and pathophysiology, relationship with Conversion Disorder and psychological factors, and their treatment and prognosis., Methods: Past research and relevant literature concerning NDSDs are reviewed and summarized. Clinical case reports are presented to illustrate the salient features of NDSDs., Results: The prevalence of NDSDs varies between 25% and 50% in samples of chronic pain populations. We describe the temporal, spatial, qualitative, motor, sensory, and behavioral characteristics of NDSDs. Illustrative case reports show the remarkable NDSD phenomenology, variability, and reversibility. NDSDs represent intensely dynamic phenomena that are likely associated with supraspinal mechanisms. Recent functional imaging findings show significant alterations in brain activation patterns in these patients. Similar but spatially and temporally restricted phenomena have been shown in experimental studies with healthy controls and pain patients. NDSDs are associated with certain demographic variables, and possibly psychological factors seem to constitute a poor prognostic sign for response to treatment and return to work and can coexist with structural musculoskeletal or nervous system abnormalities., Conclusions: NDSDs are important and prevalent clinical phenomena associated with chronic pain. Their prevalence in the general population, primary care settings, and non pain patients is unknown. Research needs to be carried out to elucidate these important phenomena.

The degree of multiscale complexity in human behavioral regulation, such as that required for postural control, appears to decrease with advanced aging or disease. To help delineate causes and functional consequences of complexity loss, we examined the effects of visual and somatosensory impairment on the complexity of postural sway during quiet standing and its relationship to postural adaptation to cognitive dual tasking. Participants of the MOBILIZE Boston Study were classified into mutually exclusive groups: controls [intact vision and foot somatosensation, n = 299, 76 ± 5 (SD) yr old], visual impairment only (<20/40 vision, n = 81, 77 ± 4 yr old), somatosensory impairment only (inability to perceive 5.07 monofilament on plantar halluxes, n = 48, 80 ± 5 yr old), and combined impairments (n = 25, 80 ± 4 yr old). Postural sway (i.e., center-of-pressure) dynamics were assessed during quiet standing and cognitive dual tasking, and a complexity index was quantified using multiscale entropy analysis. Postural sway speed and area, which did not correlate with complexity, were also computed. During quiet standing, the complexity index (mean ± SD) was highest in controls (9.5 ± 1.2) and successively lower in the visual (9.1 ± 1.1), somatosensory (8.6 ± 1.6), and combined (7.8 ± 1.3) impairment groups (P = 0.001). Dual tasking resulted in increased sway speed and area but reduced complexity (P < 0.01). Lower complexity during quiet standing correlated with greater absolute (R = -0.34, P = 0.002) and percent (R = -0.45, P < 0.001) increases in postural sway speed from quiet standing to dual-tasking conditions. Sensory impairments contributed to decreased postural sway complexity, which reflected reduced adaptive capacity of the postural control system. Relatively low baseline complexity may, therefore, indicate control systems that are more vulnerable to cognitive and other stressors.