Neural substrates of emotional conflict with anxiety in major depressive disorder: Findings from the Establishing Moderators and biosignatures of Antidepressant Response in Clinical Care (EMBARC) randomized controlled trial.

Background: The brain circuitry of depression and anxiety/fear is well-established, involving regions such as the limbic system and prefrontal cortex. We expand prior literature by examining the extent to which four discrete factors of anxiety (immediate state anxiety, physiological/panic, neuroticism/worry, and agitation/restlessness) among depressed outpatients are associated with differential responses during reactivity to and regulation of emotional conflict.

Methods: A total of 172 subjects diagnosed with major depressive disorder underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing an Emotional Stroop Task.

Psychometric properties of the Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item scale in youth: Screening in a primary care sample.

Background: Anxiety disorders in youth are frequently underdiagnosed and untreated, partly due to a lack of screening in primary care. The Generalized Anxiety Disorder 7-item (GAD-7) scale is a brief self-report measure designed to screen for anxiety in primary care settings. However, little is known about the psychometrics of this scale with adolescents.

Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex and Subcallosal Cingulate Connectivity Show Preferential Antidepressant Response in Major Depressive Disorder.

Background: Major depressive disorder is associated with abnormal connectivity across emotion and reward circuits as well as other established circuits that may negatively impact treatment response. The goal of this study was to perform an exploratory reanalysis of archival data from a clinical trial to identify moderators of treatment outcome of sertraline over placebo.

Methods: EMBARC (Establishing Moderators and Biosignatures of Antidepressant Response in Clinical Care) study participants completed magnetic resonance imaging before randomization to either sertraline or placebo for 8 weeks (n = 279).

Effect of Intrinsic Patterns of Functional Brain Connectivity in Moderating Antidepressant Treatment Response in Major Depression.

Objective: Major depressive disorder is associated with aberrant resting-state functional connectivity across multiple brain networks supporting emotion processing, executive function, and reward processing. The purpose of this study was to determine whether patterns of resting-state connectivity between brain regions predict differential outcome to antidepressant medication (sertraline) compared with placebo.

Methods: Participants in the Establishing Moderators and Biosignatures of Antidepressant Response in Clinical Care (EMBARC) study underwent structural and resting-state functional MRI at baseline.

Discovery and replication of cerebral blood flow differences in major depressive disorder.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a serious, heterogeneous disorder accompanied by brain-related changes, many of which are still to be discovered or refined. Arterial spin labeling (ASL) is a neuroimaging technique used to measure cerebral blood flow (CBF; perfusion) to understand brain function and detect differences among groups. CBF differences have been detected in MDD, and may reveal biosignatures of disease-state.