Acetaminophen changes Mu rhythm power related to pain empathy.

Empathy is an intricate ability that entails the subjective feeling and understanding of emotions someone else may be experiencing. Acetaminophen, the active ingredient found in Tylenol, is among the most common pain medications consumed. There is new evidence, however, that suggests this common analgesic may also dampen empathic processes.

Symptoms of depression together with trait anxiety increase the ability to predict alpha power change between attention and resting states.

Research suggests that symptoms of anxiety may result in atypical alpha activity associated with cognitive functioning. It is well documented that symptoms of anxiety are often comorbid with symptoms of depression. However, the combined influence of these symptoms on alpha activity changes between engaged attention states and rest is poorly understood.

Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for Treatment-Resistant Depression in Active-Duty Service Members Improves Depressive Symptoms.

Objectives: Current research on the efficacy of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) over left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex as a noninvasive therapy for treatment-resistant depression is largely settled science. However, little is known about its efficacy with active-duty service members (ADSMs) with major depressive disorder. In a retrospective chart review, we examined depressive symptom ratings in ADSMs seeking treatment at the US Army Outpatient Behavioral Health Service Clinic at Eisenhower Army Medical Center, Fort Gordon, Ga.

Childhood emotional invalidation and right hemispheric mu suppression during a pain empathy task: An EEG study.

Empathy is a critical aspect of social behavior, and impairment in empathic processing is linked to hindered social interactions and several disorders. Despite much interest in this topic, our understanding of the developmental and neural involvement for empathic processing is limited. Recent evidence suggests the Mirror Neuron System (MNS) may play a role in this behavior, and that mu rhythm suppression found over the sensorimotor cortices may be a proxy for the MNS.

White matter hyperintensities and their penumbra lie along a continuum of injury in the aging brain.

Background And Purpose: Aging is accompanied by clinically silent cerebral white matter injury identified through white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) on fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR)- and diffusion tensor imaging-based measures of white matter integrity. The temporal course of FLAIR and diffusion tensor imaging changes within WMHs and their less-injured periphery (ie, their penumbra), however, has not been fully studied. We used longitudinal diffusion tensor imaging and FLAIR to explore these changes.

White matter hyperintensities are associated with visual search behavior independent of generalized slowing in aging.

A fundamental controversy is whether cognitive decline with advancing age can be entirely explained by decreased processing speed, or whether specific neural changes can elicit cognitive decline, independent of slowing. These hypotheses are anchored by studies of healthy older individuals where age is presumed the sole influence. Unfortunately, advancing age is also associated with asymptomatic brain white matter injury.

Episodic memory function is associated with multiple measures of white matter integrity in cognitive aging.

Previous neuroimaging research indicates that white matter injury and integrity, measured respectively by white matter hyperintensities (WMH) and fractional anisotropy (FA) obtained from diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), differ with aging and cerebrovascular disease (CVD) and are associated with episodic memory deficits in cognitively normal older adults. However, knowledge about tract-specific relationships between WMH, FA, and episodic memory in aging remains limited. We hypothesized that white matter connections between frontal cortex and subcortical structures as well as connections between frontal and temporo-parietal cortex would be most affected.