Childhood maltreatment as predictor and moderator for treatment outcome in patients with major depressive disorders treated with metacognitive therapy or behavioral activation.

Background: Childhood maltreatment (CM) is a risk factor for developing and maintaining depression. It is unclear whether CM influences the effect of treatments for depression. This study examined CM's predictor and moderator effect in Behavioral Activation (BA) and Metacognitive Therapy (MCT).

The Effectiveness of Dialectical Behavior Therapy Compared to Schema Therapy for Borderline Personality Disorder: A Randomized Clinical Trial.

Introduction: In the treatment of borderline personality disorder (BPD), there is empirical support for both dialectical behavior therapy (DBT) and schema therapy (ST); these treatments have never been compared directly. This study examines whether either of them is more effective than the other in treating patients with BPD.

Methods: In this randomized, parallel-group, rater-blind clinical trial, outpatients aged between 18 and 65 years with a primary diagnosis of BPD were recruited in a tertiary outpatient treatment center (Lübeck, Germany).

The Effectiveness of Metacognitive Therapy Compared to Behavioral Activation for Severely Depressed Outpatients: A Single-Center Randomized Trial.

Introduction: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a highly prevalent and disabling disorder. This study examines two psychotherapy methods for MDD, behavioral activation (BA), and metacognitive therapy (MCT), when applied as outpatient treatments to severely affected patients.

Methods: The study was conducted in a tertiary outpatient treatment center.

Hippocampal Cytokine Release in Experimental Epileptogenesis-A Longitudinal In Vivo Microdialysis Study.

Background: Inflammation, particularly cytokine release, contributes to epileptogenesis by influencing the cerebral tissue remodeling and neuronal excitability that occurs after a precipitating epileptogenic insult. While several cytokines have been explored in this process, release kinetics are less well investigated. Determining the time course of cytokine release in the epileptogenic zone is necessary for precisely timed preventive or therapeutic anti-inflammatory interventions.

Questioning the definition of Tourette syndrome-evidence from machine learning.

Tics in Tourette syndrome are often difficult to discern from single spontaneous movements or vocalizations in healthy people. In this study, videos of patients with Tourette syndrome and healthy controls were taken and independently scored according to the Modified Rush Videotape Rating Scale. We included = 101 patients with Tourette syndrome (71 males, 30 females, mean age 17.

The societal cost of treatment-seeking patients with borderline personality disorder in Germany.

According to previous research, borderline personality disorder (BPD) is associated with high cost-of-illness. However, there is still a shortage of cost-of-illness-studies assessing costs from a broad societal perspective, including direct and indirect costs. Further, there are considerable differences in the results among the existing studies.

Genotype-Phenotype Relations in Primary Familial Brain Calcification: Systematic MDSGene Review.

This systematic MDSGene review covers individuals with confirmed genetic forms of primary familial brain calcification (PFBC) available in the literature. Data on 516 (47% men) individuals, carrying heterozygous variants in SLC20A2 (solute carrier family 20 member 2, 61%), PDGFB (platelet-derived growth factor subunit B, 12%), XPR1 (xenotropic and polytropic retrovirus receptor, 16%), or PDGFRB (platelet-derived growth factor receptor beta, 5%) or biallelic variants in MYORG (myogenesis-regulating glycosidase, 13%) or JAM2 (junctional adhesion molecule 2, 2%), were extracted from 93 articles. Nearly one-third of the mutation carriers were clinically unaffected.

The mediating effect of difficulties in emotion regulation on the association between childhood maltreatment and borderline personality disorder.

Background: Childhood maltreatment and difficulties in emotion regulation are common in patients with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and Depressive Disorders (DD).

Objective: This study examines differences between patients with BPD and patients with DD, regarding childhood maltreatment and difficulties in emotion regulation as well as the mediating effect of different aspects of emotion regulation deficits on the association between childhood maltreatment and BPD-symptoms.

Method: A total of 305 participants, 177 with BPD and 128 with DD completed an assessment including the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), the Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (SCID).

Brain Regional Differences in Hexanucleotide Repeat Length in X-Linked Dystonia-Parkinsonism Using Nanopore Sequencing.

Objective: Our study investigated the presence of regional differences in hexanucleotide repeat number in postmortem brain tissues of 2 patients with X-linked dystonia-parkinsonism (XDP), a combined dystonia-parkinsonism syndrome modified by a (CCCTCT) repeat within the causal SINE-VNTR- retrotransposon insertion in the gene.

Methods: Genomic DNA was extracted from blood and postmortem brain samples, including the basal ganglia and cortex from both patients and from the cerebellum, midbrain, and pituitary gland from 1 patient. Repeat sizing was performed using fragment analysis, small-pool PCR-based Southern blotting, and Oxford nanopore sequencing.

Non-cell-autonomous OTX2 transcription factor regulates anxiety-related behavior in the mouse.

The OTX2 homeoprotein transcription factor is expressed in the dopaminergic neurons of the ventral tegmental area, which projects to limbic structures controlling complex behaviors. OTX2 is also produced in choroid plexus epithelium, from which it is secreted into cerebrospinal fluid and transferred to limbic structure parvalbumin interneurons. Previously, adult male mice subjected to early-life stress were found susceptible to anxiety-like behaviors, with accompanying OTX2 expression changes in ventral tegmental area or choroid plexus.

Treatment of Tourette Syndrome With Attention Training Technique-A Case Series.

The existing therapeutic strategies of Tourette syndrome (TS) do not lead to sufficient improvement in a significant number of patients. Recently published studies show that paying attention to tics increases whereas directing attention away decreases tic frequency. The aim of the present case series in three patients with TS was to investigate the effect of attention training technique (ATT) on TS symptoms.

Help or hurt? How attention modulates tics under different conditions.

Tourette syndrome is a neuropsychiatric developmental disorder, characterized by tics that are often preceded by an increasingly uncomfortable urge to move. Tic frequency can increase when patients pay attention to their tics, if tics are not suppressed. This study investigates how attentions modulates urge intensity, tic frequency and arousal during free ticcing and tic suppression.

Motor protein binding and mitochondrial transport are altered by pathogenic TUBB4A variants.

Mutations in TUBB4A have been identified to cause a wide phenotypic spectrum of diseases ranging from hereditary generalized dystonia with whispering dysphonia (DYT-TUBB4A) and hereditary spastic paraplegia (HSP) to leukodystrophy hypomyelination with atrophy of the basal ganglia and cerebellum (H-ABC). TUBB4A encodes the brain-specific β-tubulin isotype, β-tubulin 4A. To elucidate the pathogenic mechanisms conferred by TUBB4A mutations leading to the different phenotypes, we functionally characterized three pathogenic TUBB4A variants (c.

Massive weight loss following deep brain stimulation of the nucleus accumbens in a depressed woman.

Obese individuals share behavioral characteristics with drug/alcohol addicts as well as obsessive compulsive disease. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has been used successfully in these disorders, thus warranting an evaluation in obesity. A woman with treatment-resistant depression as well as severe obesity was selected for DBS of the nucleus accumbens (NAcc) bilaterally with depression being the primary and obesity being the secondary target of treatment.

Functional Characterization of Rare RAB12 Variants and Their Role in Musician's and Other Dystonias.

Mutations in RAB (member of the Ras superfamily) genes are increasingly recognized as cause of a variety of disorders including neurological conditions. While musician's dystonia (MD) and writer's dystonia (WD) are task-specific movement disorders, other dystonias persistently affect postures as in cervical dystonia. Little is known about the underlying etiology.

Acylated and unacylated ghrelin confer neuroprotection to mesencephalic neurons.

The polypeptide ghrelin is an endogenous ligand at the growth hormone secretagogue receptor 1a. To ghrelin multiple functions have been ascribed including promotion of gastrointestinal motility. Postprandial ghrelin levels have been reported to be reduced in patients suffering from Parkinson disease (PD).

Primary familial brain calcification in the 'IBGC2' kindred: All linkage roads lead to SLC20A2.

Background: Linkage analyses of families with primary familial brain calcification (formerly idiopathic basal ganglia calcification [IBGC]) identified 3 candidate loci (IBGC1-3). Recently, SLC20A2 mutations were found in the IBGC1 and IBGC3 families, merging these 2 loci. We here elucidate the genetic cause of primary familial brain calcification in the 'IBGC2' kindred.

Glucocerebrosidase deficiency and mitochondrial impairment in experimental Parkinson disease.

Gaucher disease is an autosomal recessive disease, caused by a lack or functional deficiency of the lysosomal enzyme, glucocerebrosidase (GCase). Recently, mutations in the glucocerebrosidase gene (GBA) have been associated with Parkinson's disease (PD) and GBA mutations are now considered the most important genetic vulnerability factor for PD. In this study, we have investigated (i) in vivo whether inhibition of the enzyme glucosylceramide synthase by miglustat may protect C57Bl/6 mice against subchronic 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) intoxication and (ii) in vitro whether a decrease of GCase activity may render dopaminergic neurons susceptible to MPP(+) (1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium) or alpha-synuclein (α-Syn) toxicity and amenable to miglustat treatment.