Inter-Network Effective Connectivity During Emotional Working Memory Task in two independent samples of young adults.

Background: Effective connectivity (EC) analysis provides valuable insights into the directionality of neural interactions, crucial for understanding the mechanisms underlying cognitive and emotional regulation in depressive and anxiety disorders. This study examined EC within key neural networks during working memory (WM) and emotional regulation (ER) tasks in young adults, both healthy and seeking help from mental health professionals for emotional distress.

Methods: Dynamic Causal Modeling (DCM) was employed to analyze EC in two independent samples (n=97 and n=94).

Left Ventrolateral Prefrontal Cortical Activity During Reward Expectancy and Mania Risk.

Importance: Mania/hypomania is the pathognomonic feature of bipolar disorder (BD). As BD is often misdiagnosed as major depressive disorder (MDD), replicable neural markers of mania/hypomania risk are needed for earlier BD diagnosis and pathophysiological treatment development.

Objective: To replicate the previously reported positive association between left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC) activity during reward expectancy (RE) and mania/hypomania risk, to explore the effect of MDD history on this association, and to compare RE-related left vlPFC activity in individuals with and at risk of BD.

Lifetime depression and mania/hypomania risk predicted by neural markers in three independent young adult samples during working memory and emotional regulation.

Objective markers of pathophysiological processes underlying lifetime depression and mania/hypomania risk can provide biologically informed targets for novel interventions to help prevent the onset of affective disorders in individuals with subsyndromal symptoms. Greater activity within and functional connectivity (FC) between the central executive network (CEN), supporting emotional regulation (ER) subcomponent processes such as working memory (WM), the default mode network (DMN), supporting self-related information processing, and the salience network (SN), is thought to interfere with cognitive functioning and predispose to depressive disorders. Using an emotional n-back paradigm designed to examine WM and ER capacity, we examined in young adults: (1) relationships among activity and FC in these networks and lifetime depression and mania/hypomania risk; (2) the extent to which these relationships were specific to lifetime depression risk versus lifetime mania/hypomania risk; (3) whether findings in a first, Discovery sample n = 101, 63 female, age = 23.

Sex differences in neural responses to emotional facial expressions are associated with lifetime depression and mania risk.

Introduction: No studies systematically examined sex differences in neural mechanisms underlying depression and mania/hypomania risk.

Method: 80 females and 35 males, n = 115(age21.6±1.

Identifying tripartite relationship among cortical thickness, neuroticism, and mood and anxiety disorders.

The number of young adults seeking help for emotional distress, subsyndromal-syndromal mood/anxiety symptoms, including those associated with neuroticism, is rising and can be an early manifestation of mood/anxiety disorders. Identification of gray matter (GM) thickness alterations and their relationship with neuroticism and mood/anxiety symptoms can aid in earlier diagnosis and prevention of risk for future mood and anxiety disorders. In a transdiagnostic sample of young adults (n = 252;177 females; age 21.

Patterns of Neural Network Functional Connectivity Associated With Mania/Hypomania and Depression Risk in 3 Independent Young Adult Samples.

Importance: Mania/hypomania is the pathognomonic feature of bipolar disorder (BD). Established, reliable neural markers denoting mania/hypomania risk to help with early risk detection and diagnosis and guide the targeting of pathophysiologically informed interventions are lacking.

Objective: To identify patterns of neural responses associated with lifetime mania/hypomania risk, the specificity of such neural responses to mania/hypomania risk vs depression risk, and the extent of replication of findings in 2 independent test samples.

The Role of Puberty and Sex on Brain Structure in Adolescents With Anxiety Following Concussion.

Background: Adolescence represents a window of vulnerability for developing psychological symptoms following concussion, especially in girls. Concussion-related lesions in emotion regulation circuits may help explain these symptoms. However, the contribution of sex and pubertal maturation remains unclear.

White matter predictors of worsening of subthreshold hypomania severity in non-bipolar young adults parallel abnormalities in individuals with bipolar disorder.

Background: Identifying neural predictors of worsening subthreshold hypomania severity can help identify risk of progression to BD. While diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging (dMRI) studies reported white matter microstructural abnormalities in tracts supporting emotional regulation in individuals with BD, it remains unknown whether similar patterns of white matter microstructure predict worsening of subthreshold hypomania severity in non-BD individuals.

Methods: dMRI data were collected in: 81 non-BD individuals recruited across a range of subthreshold depression and hypomania, and followed for six months; and independent samples of 75 BD and 58 healthy individuals.

White Matter Abnormalities Associated With Prolonged Recovery in Adolescents Following Concussion.

Concussion symptoms in adolescents typically resolve within 4 weeks. However, 20 - 30% of adolescents experience a prolonged recovery. Abnormalities in tracts implicated in visuospatial attention and emotional regulation (i.