Invasive neurophysiology and whole brain connectomics for neural decoding in patients with brain implants.

Brain computer interfaces (BCI) provide unprecedented spatiotemporal precision that will enable significant expansion in how numerous brain disorders are treated. Decoding dynamic patient states from brain signals with machine learning is required to leverage this precision, but a standardized framework for identifying and advancing novel clinical BCI approaches does not exist. Here, we developed a platform that integrates brain signal decoding with connectomics and demonstrate its utility across 123 hours of invasively recorded brain data from 73 neurosurgical patients treated for movement disorders, depression and epilepsy.

Faster speed of onset of the depressive episode is associated with lower cytokine serum levels (IL-2, -4, -6, -10, TNF-α and IFN-γ) in patients with major depression.

Introduction: Cytokines might play a key role in the pathophysiology of major depressive disorder (MDD). The speed of onset of depressive episodes has been discussed as an important clinical parameter in MDD. The aim of this study was to investigate a potential influence of the speed of onset of the depressive episode on cytokine serum levels.

Correction: Negative mood induction: Affective reactivity in recurrent, but not persistent depression.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.

Negative mood induction: Affective reactivity in recurrent, but not persistent depression.

Background: Despite the high clinical and epidemiological relevance of persistent depression, little is known about its specific psychopathology and whether it is distinct from recurrent depression. Depression in general has been associated with blunted affective reactivity but the evidence from previous studies is inconsistent. Here, we asked whether affective reactivity might differ between persistent and recurrent depression.

Leptin gene polymorphisms are associated with weight gain during lithium augmentation in patients with major depression.

Weight gain is a common adverse effect of lithium augmentation. Previous studies indicate an impact of genetic variants at the leptin gene on weight gain as a consequence of psychopharmacological treatment. The primary aim of our study was to identify variants at the leptin locus that might predict lithium-induced weight gain.

Deep brain stimulation of the subcallosal cingulate gyrus in patients with treatment-resistant depression: A double-blinded randomized controlled study and long-term follow-up in eight patients.

Background: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subcallosal cingulate gyrus (SCG) is an experimental approach in treatment-resistant depression (TRD). Short-term results of efficacy in DBS are incongruent and studies investigating long-term effects are warranted.

Methods: We assessed efficacy of SCG-DBS in eight patients randomized into a delayed-onset group (sham-DBS four weeks) and a non-delayed-onset group.

Effects of subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation on emotional working memory capacity and mood in patients with Parkinson's disease.

Background: In Parkinson's disease (PD), cognitive symptoms and mood changes may be even more distressing for the patient than motor symptoms.

Objective: Our aim was to determine the effects of bilateral subthalamic nucleus deep brain stimulation (STN-DBS) on working memory (WM) and mood.

Methods: Sixteen patients with PD were assessed with STN-DBS switched on (DBS-ON) and with dopaminergic treatment (Med-ON) compared to switched off (DBS-OFF) and without dopaminergic treatment (Med-OFF).

Probabilistic conversion of neurosurgical DBS electrode coordinates into MNI space.

In neurosurgical literature, findings such as deep brain stimulation (DBS) electrode positions are conventionally reported in relation to the anterior and posterior commissures of the individual patient (AC/PC coordinates). However, the neuroimaging literature including neuroanatomical atlases, activation patterns, and brain connectivity maps has converged on a different population-based standard (MNI coordinates). Ideally, one could relate these two literatures by directly transforming MRIs from neurosurgical patients into MNI space.

Accepting unfairness by a significant other is associated with reduced connectivity between medial prefrontal and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex.

Conflict is a ubiquitous feature of interpersonal relationships, yet many of these relationships preserve their value following conflict. Our ability to refrain from punishment despite the occurrence of conflict is a characteristic of human beings. Using a combination of behavioral and neuroimaging techniques, we show that prosocial decision-making is modulated by relationship closeness.

Processing of emotional stimuli is reflected by modulations of beta band activity in the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex in patients with treatment resistant depression.

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC) has emerged as a new therapeutic option in patients with treatment resistant depression (TRD). At the same time, DBS offers a unique opportunity as an innovative research tool to study brain function in vivo Indirect measures of brain function such as positron-emission-tomography imaging findings have revealed a hypermetabolism in the sgACC area in patients with TRD that normalizes in parallel with treatment response to DBS. We used direct intracranial recordings via implanted DBS electrodes to study the neuronal oscillatory activity in the sgACC area during a picture viewing task including emotional and neutral stimuli in eight patients with TRD who underwent DBS.

Deep brain stimulation of the posterior gyrus rectus region for treatment resistant depression.

Background: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) represents an alternative symptomatic treatment for major depressive disorder in case of failure of pharmacotherapy. The sub-genual cingulate-Brodmann area 25 (CG-25), is one of the most widely used targets for electrode implantation. Given the diverging clinical outcome after DBS, there is a pressing need for in-depth study of brain anatomy and function allowing accurate and reliable prognosis before surgery.

Modulation of Beta-Band Activity in the Subgenual Anterior Cingulate Cortex during Emotional Empathy in Treatment-Resistant Depression.

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a promising approach in treatment-resistant depression (TRD). TRD is associated with problems in interpersonal relationships, which might be linked to impaired empathy. Here, we investigate the influence of DBS in the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC) on empathy in patients with TRD and explore the pattern of oscillatory sgACC activity during performance of the multifaceted empathy test.

Forgiving, fast and slow: validity of the implicit association test for predicting differential response latencies in a transgression-recall paradigm.

This study examined the role of automaticity in forgiving a real-life offense. As an alternative to self-report, an Implicit Association Test (IAT) of forgiveness was developed. Implicit (IAT-measured) and explicit (self-reported) forgiveness predicted shorter response times of state forgiveness ratings.

Associations between obsessive-compulsive symptoms, revenge, and the perception of interpersonal transgressions.

Anger and aggression have only recently gained center stage in research on obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). An investigation of obsessive-compulsive (OC) symptoms focusing on the outcome of unresolved anger (i.e.

Cognitive-behavioral therapy as continuation treatment to sustain response after electroconvulsive therapy in depression: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Although electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is the most effective acute antidepressant intervention, sustained response rates are low. It has never been systematically assessed whether psychotherapy, continuation ECT, or antidepressant medication is the most efficacious intervention to maintain initial treatment response.

Methods: In a prospective, randomized clinical trial, 90 inpatients with major depressive disorder (MDD) were treated with right unilateral ultra-brief acute ECT.

Antidepressant effects after short-term and chronic stimulation of the subgenual cingulate gyrus in treatment-resistant depression.

Background: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subcallosal cingulate gyrus (SCG) is an experimental approach in treatment-resistant depression (TRD). Apart from its potential long-term antidepressant effects acute stimulation effects have been described. We investigated putative neuroanatomical clusters in which such acute effects accumulate and followed patients over the long-term.

Nightmares that mislead to diagnosis of reactivation of PTSD.

Background: Sleep disturbance is a common characteristic of patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Besides the clinical descriptions of nightmares and insomnia, periodic limb movements (PLMs) are reported to co-occur in PTSD. Although the causal relationship between sleep disturbance and PTSD is not fully understood, sleep disturbance is an independent risk factor for the development and reactivation of PTSD.

Towards a multifaceted understanding of revenge and forgiveness.

We focus on two aspects: First, we argue that it is necessary to include implicit forgiveness as an additional adaptive behavioral option to the perception of interpersonal transgressions. Second, we present one possible way to investigate the cognitive-affective underpinnings of revenge and forgiveness: a functional MRI (fMRI) approach aiming at integrating forgiveness and revenge mechanisms into a single paradigm.

Gender differences in a clinical sample of patients with borderline personality disorder.

The aim of the study was to investigate gender differences and similarities in patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) with respect to Axis I comorbidity, Axis II comorbidity, general psychopathology (Symptom Checklist 90-Revised), and dimensional personality traits (NEO-Personality-Inventory Revised [NEO-PI-R] and the Dimensional Assessment of Personality Profile Basic questionnaire [DAPP-BQ]). Fifty-seven men and 114 women with BPD were included in the study. Regarding Axis I and II disorders in an exploratory analysis, men with BPD more often fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for binge eating disorder, antisocial personality disorder, narcissistic personality disorder, and conduct disorder in childhood, whereas women had higher frequencies of bulimia nervosa, posttraumatic stress disorder, and panic disorder with agoraphobia.

Region-specific glutamate changes in patients with unipolar depression.

The present study aimed to investigate glutamate concentrations in patients with unipolar depression in the midcingulate cortex (MCC) as compared to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). We hypothesized a dissociation of glutamate levels with unchanged levels in DLPFC and abnormally changed levels in MCC as well as differential effects of antidepressant pharmacotherapy. Glutamate was determined using magnetic resonance spectroscopy at 3 T in DLPFC and MCC in fourteen depressed patients and matched healthy volunteers.

Abnormal cingulate and prefrontal cortical neurochemistry in major depression after electroconvulsive therapy.

Background: Metabolic changes after electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) have been described in depressed patients, but results are heterogeneous. To determine the concentrations of N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA), choline-containing compounds, creatine + phosphocreatine (tCr), and glutamate in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and left anterior cingulum of depressed patients before and after ECT, we used proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy.

Methods: Metabolite concentrations in the DLPFC and anterior cingulum were determined in 25 patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and 27 healthy control subjects using the point resolved spectroscopy sequence.

Processing of visual stimuli in borderline personality disorder: a combined behavioural and magnetoencephalographic study.

Background: Behavioral studies on facial emotion recognition yielded heterogeneous results in patients with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). Extrastriate cortex hyperactivation has been demonstrated in imaging studies in patients with BPD during face recognition, but electrophysiological studies are lacking. The aim was to investigate temporal processes following face perception in patients with BPD.

Effects of 3 different stimulus intensities of ultrabrief stimuli in right unilateral electroconvulsive therapy in major depression: a randomized, double-blind pilot study.

Objective: Efficacy and cognitive outcome of ECT is depending on electrode placement, pulse width and electrical dosage. Several studies showed that high-dosage right unilateral ECT (RULECT) had a better antidepressant effects than low-dosage RULECT and less cognitive side effect than bilateral stimulation. In this prospective, randomized, double-blind trial, we examined the efficacy and cognitive side effects of RULECT with three different (high dose) stimulus intensities (4×, 7× and 10× above the seizure threshold (ST)).

Two-year outcome of vagus nerve stimulation in treatment-resistant depression.

One of the major goals of antidepressant treatment is a sustained response and remission of depressive symptoms. Some of the previous studies of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) have suggested antidepressant effects. Our naturalistic study assessed the efficacy and the safety of VNS in 74 European patients with therapy-resistant major depressive disorder.