Affective Science Research: Perspectives and Priorities from the National Institutes of Health.

Affective science is a broad and burgeoning field, and the National Institutes of Health (NIH) support research on a similarly broad range of topics. Across NIH, funding is available for basic, translational, and intervention research, including research in non-human animals, healthy populations, and those with or at risk for disease. Multiple NIH Institutes and Centers have specific programs devoted to topics within the affective science umbrella.

Externalizing behavior severity in youths with callous-unemotional traits corresponds to patterns of amygdala activity and connectivity during judgments of causing fear.

Callous-unemotional (CU) traits characterize a subgroup of youths with conduct problems who exhibit low empathy, fearlessness, and elevated externalizing behaviors. The current study examines the role of aberrant amygdala activity and functional connectivity during a socioemotional judgment task in youths with CU traits, and links these deficits to externalizing behaviors. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to compare neural responses in 18 healthy youths and 30 youths with conduct problems and varying levels of CU traits as they evaluated the acceptability of causing another person to experience each of several emotions, including fear.

Investigating neurological deficits in carriers and affected patients with ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency.

Background: Urea cycle disorders are caused by dysfunction in any of the six enzymes and two transport proteins involved in urea biosynthesis. Our study focuses on ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency (OTCD), an X-linked disorder that results in a dysfunctional mitochondrial enzyme, which prevents the synthesis of citrulline from carbamoyl phosphate and ornithine. This enzyme deficiency can lead to hyperammonemic episodes and severe cerebral edema.

Working memory-related changes in functional connectivity persist beyond task disengagement.

We examined whether altered connectivity in functional networks during working memory performance persists following conclusion of that performance, into a subsequent resting state. We conducted functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 50 young adults during an initial resting state, followed by an N-back working memory task and a subsequent resting state, in order to examine changes in functional connectivity within and between the default-mode network (DMN) and the task-positive network (TPN) across the three states. We found that alterations in connectivity observed during the N-back task persisted into the subsequent resting state within the TPN and between the DMN and TPN, but not within the DMN.

Urea cycle defects and hyperammonemia: effects on functional imaging.

The urea-cycle disorders (UCDs) are a group of congenital enzyme and carrier deficiencies predisposing to hyperammonemia (HA). HA causes changes in the central nervous system (CNS) including alterations of neurotransmitter function, cell volume, and energy deprivation ultimately leading to cerebral edema. Neuropathological findings of UCDs primarily reflect changes in astrocyte morphology.

Altered neural activation in ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency during executive cognition: an fMRI study.

Background: Ornithine transcarbamylase deficiency (OTCD) is an X-linked urea cycle disorder characterized by hyperammonemia resulting in white matter injury and impairments in working memory and executive cognition.

Objective: To test for differences in BOLD signal activation between subjects with OTCD and healthy controls during a working memory task.

Design, Setting And Patients: Nineteen subjects with OTCD and 21 healthy controls participated in a case-control, IRB-approved study at Georgetown University Medical Center.

Risky decision making and the anterior cingulate cortex in abstinent drug abusers and nonusers.

Risky decision making is a hallmark behavioral phenotype of drug abuse; thus, an understanding of its biological bases may inform efforts to develop therapies for addictive disorders. A neurocognitive task that measures this function (Rogers Decision-Making Task; RDMT) was paired with measures of regional cerebral perfusion to identify brain regions that may underlie deficits in risky decision making in drug abusers. Subjects were abstinent drug abusers (> or =3 months) and healthy controls who underwent positron emission tomography scans with H(2)(15)O.