Amygdalohippocampal neuroplastic changes following neuroleptic treatment with quetiapine in first-episode schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia is a severe, debilitating, chronic disease that is accompanied by morphologic changes within the brain. However, it is unclear to what extent alterations of grey and white matter in schizophrenia are linked to the disease itself, or whether they are a consequence of neuroleptic treatment. Typical and atypical antipsychotics exert differential effects on brain structure.

Which tinnitus-related aspects are relevant for quality of life and depression: results from a large international multicentre sample.

Background: The aim of the present study was to investigate, which aspects of tinnitus are most relevant for impairment of quality of life. For this purpose we analysed how responses to the Tinnitus Handicap Inventory (THI) and to the question "How much of a problem is your tinnitus at present" correlate with the different aspects of quality of life and depression.

Methods: 1274 patients of the Tinnitus Research Initiative database were eligible for analysis.

State- and trait-related alterations of motor cortex excitability in tinnitus patients.

Chronic tinnitus is a brain network disorder with involvement of auditory and non-auditory areas. Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) over the temporal cortex has been investigated for the treatment of tinnitus. Several small studies suggest that motor cortex excitability is altered in people with tinnitus.

The revolving door phenomenon revisited: time to readmission in 17’145 [corrected] patients with 37'697 hospitalisations at a German psychiatric hospital.

Objective: Despite the recurring nature of the disease process in many psychiatric patients, individual careers and time to readmission rarely have been analysed by statistical models that incorporate sequence and velocity of recurrent hospitalisations. This study aims at comparing four statistical models specifically designed for recurrent event history analysis and evaluating the potential impact of predictor variables from different sources (patient, treatment process, social environment).

Method: The so called Andersen-Gil counting process model, two variants of the conditional models of Prentice, Williams, and Peterson (gap time model, conditional probability model), and the so called frailty model were applied to a dataset of 17’145 [corrected] patients observed during a 12 years period starting from 1996 and leading to 37’697 psychiatric hospitalisations Potential prognostic factors stem from a standardized patient documentation form.

Tinnitus: therapeutic use of superficial brain stimulation.

Tinnitus is a common disorder and traditional treatment approaches such as medication, active or passive sound enhancement, and cognitive behavioral therapy have limited efficacy. Thus, there is an urgent need for more effective treatment approaches. Functional imaging studies in patients with tinnitus have revealed alterations in neuronal activity of central auditory pathways, probably resulting as a consequence of sensory deafferentation.

Trauma-associated tinnitus.

Background: Up to 53% of individuals suffering from traumatic brain injuries develop tinnitus.

Objective: To review the current literature on trauma-associated tinnitus in order to provide orientation for the clinical management of patients with trauma-associated tinnitus.

Materials: A systematic literature search has been conducted in PubMed database applying the search terms posttraumatic tinnitus and trauma-associated tinnitus.

Comparing single-site with multisite rTMS for the treatment of chronic tinnitus - clinical effects and neuroscientific insights: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Several years ago, repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) of the auditory cortex has been introduced as a treatment approach for chronic tinnitus. Even if this treatment is beneficial for a subgroup of patients, the overall effects are limited. This limitation may be due to the fact that the auditory cortex is only one of several brain areas involved in tinnitus.

Tinnitus: causes and clinical management.

Tinnitus is the perception of sound in the absence of a corresponding external acoustic stimulus. With prevalence ranging from 10% to 15%, tinnitus is a common disorder. Many people habituate to the phantom sound, but tinnitus severely impairs quality of life of about 1-2% of all people.

Illness representations as mediators of the relationship between dispositional optimism and depression in patients with chronic tinnitus: a cross-sectional study.

Objective: Both dispositional optimism and illness representations are related to psychological health in chronic patients. In a group of chronic tinnitus sufferers, the interplay between these two variables was examined. Specifically, it was tested to what extent the relationship between dispositional optimism and depression is mediated by more positive illness representations.

The effects of neurofeedback on oscillatory processes related to tinnitus.

Although widely used, no proof exists for the feasibility of neurofeedback for reinstating the disordered excitatory-inhibitory balance, marked by a decrease in auditory alpha power, in tinnitus patients. The current study scrutinizes the ability of neurofeedback to focally increase alpha power in auditory areas in comparison to the more common rTMS. Resting-state MEG was measured before and after neurofeedback (n = 8) and rTMS (n = 9) intervention respectively.

The functional neuroanatomy of male psychosexual and physiosexual arousal: a quantitative meta-analysis.

Reproductive behavior is mandatory for conservation of species and mediated by a state of sexual arousal (SA), involving both complex mental processes and bodily reactions. An early neurobehavioral model of SA proposes cognitive, emotional, motivational, and autonomic components. In a comprehensive quantitative meta-analysis on previous neuroimaging findings, we provide here evidence for distinct brain networks underlying psychosexual and physiosexual arousal.

Chronic tinnitus: an interdisciplinary challenge.

Background: Tinnitus is defined as the perception of sound in the absence of a corresponding external acoustic stimulus. It is a common problem that markedly impairs the quality of life of about 1% of the general population.

Methods: We selectively reviewed the pertinent literature to provide an overview of the current treatment options for chronic tinnitus.

The influence of psychological factors on tinnitus severity.

Objective: Subjective tinnitus is a frequent symptom characterized by perception of sound in the absence of a corresponding external stimulus. Although many people learn to live with tinnitus, some find it severely debilitating. Why tinnitus is debilitating in some patients, but not in others, is still incompletely understood.

Regensburg Insomnia Scale (RIS): a new short rating scale for the assessment of psychological symptoms and sleep in insomnia; study design: development and validation of a new short self-rating scale in a sample of 218 patients suffering from insomnia and 94 healthy controls.

Background: The Regensburg Insomnia Scale (RIS) is a new self-rating scale to assess cognitive, emotional and behavioural aspects of psychophysiological insomnia (PI) with only ten items. A specific purpose of the new scale is the evaluation of the outcome of insomnia- specific cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT-I).

Methods: Internal consistency of the RIS has been validated in 218 patients with PI.

An integrative model of auditory phantom perception: tinnitus as a unified percept of interacting separable subnetworks.

Tinnitus is a considered to be an auditory phantom phenomenon, a persistent conscious percept of a salient memory trace, externally attributed, in the absence of a sound source. It is perceived as a phenomenological unified coherent percept, binding multiple separable clinical characteristics, such as its loudness, the sidedness, the type (pure tone, noise), the associated distress and so on. A theoretical pathophysiological framework capable of explaining all these aspects in one model is highly needed.

Risk attitudes and birth order.

Risk attitudes play important roles in health behavior and everyday decision making. It is unclear, however, whether these attitudes can be predicted from birth order. We investigated 200 mostly male volunteers from two distinct settings.

Auditory cortex is implicated in tinnitus distress: a voxel-based morphometry study.

Neuroimaging studies of tinnitus suggest the involvement of wide-spread neural networks for perceptual, attentional, memory, and emotional processes encompassing auditory, frontal, parietal, and limbic areas. Despite sparse findings for tinnitus duration and laterality, tinnitus distress has been shown to be related to changes in non-auditory cortical areas. The aim of this study was to correlate tinnitus characteristics with grey matter volume in two large samples of tinnitus patients.

Association between brain structure and phenotypic characteristics in pedophilia.

Studies applying structural neuroimaging to pedophiles are scarce and have shown conflicting results. Although first findings suggested reduced volume of the amygdala, pronounced gray matter decreases in frontal regions were observed in another group of pedophilic offenders. When compared to non-sexual offenders instead of community controls, pedophiles revealed deficiencies in white matter only.

rTMS induced tinnitus relief is related to an increase in auditory cortical alpha activity.

Chronic tinnitus, the continuous perception of a phantom sound, is a highly prevalent audiological symptom. A promising approach for the treatment of tinnitus is repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) as this directly affects tinnitus-related brain activity. Several studies indeed show tinnitus relief after rTMS, however effects are moderate and vary strongly across patients.

Multisite rTMS for the treatment of chronic tinnitus: stimulation of the cortical tinnitus network--a pilot study.

Low-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) of the auditory cortex has been shown to significantly reduce tinnitus severity in some patients. There is growing evidence that a neural network of both auditory and non-auditory cortical areas is involved in the pathophysiology of chronic subjective tinnitus. Targeting several core regions of this network by rTMS might constitute a promising strategy to enhance treatment effects.

Mindfulness-and body-psychotherapy-based group treatment of chronic tinnitus: a randomized controlled pilot study.

Background: Tinnitus, the perception of sound in absence of an external acoustic source, impairs the quality of life in 2% of the population. Since in most cases causal treatment is not possible, the majority of therapeutic attempts aim at developing and strengthening individual coping and habituation strategies. Therapeutic interventions that incorporate training in mindfulness meditation have become increasingly popular in the treatment of stress-related disorders.

Current pharmacological treatments for tinnitus.

Introduction: Tinnitus, the phantom perception of sound, is a highly prevalent disorder and treatment is elusive.

Areas Covered: This review focuses on clinical research regarding pharmacological treatments for tinnitus. The authors searched PubMed databases for English language articles related to pharmacological treatment of tinnitus, published through August 2012.