Moderating factors in psilocybin-assisted treatment affecting mood and personality: A naturalistic, open-label investigation.

Rationale: Psychedelic-assisted therapy is increasingly applied within mental health treatment.

Objectives: This study focused on factors moderating changes in the acute and long-term effects of an individual psilocybin-assisted program on depression, anxiety, PTSD and personality structures by including demographic factors, subjective experience and degree of mystical type experiences during the dosing, as well as emotional breakthrough and personal growth after the program.

Methods: At baseline, 1 week and 3 months after the psilocybin program participants completed the Generalized Anxiety Disorder Assessment (GAD-7), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), PTSD Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5) and NEO Five-Factor Inventory-3 (NEO-FFI-3).

The effects of a moderate physical activity intervention on physical fitness and cognition in healthy elderly with low levels of physical activity: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Increasing physical activity is one of the most promising and challenging interventions to delay or prevent cognitive decline and dementia.

Methods: We conducted a randomized controlled trial to assess the effects of a physical activity intervention, aimed at increasing step count, in elderly with low levels of physical activity on measures of strength, balance, aerobic capacity, and cognition. Participants were assigned to 9 months of exercise counseling or active control.

The long-term relation between physical activity and executive function in the Rotterdam Study.

Background: Research on the association between physical inactivity and cognitive decline and dementia is dominated by studies with short-term follow-up, that might be biased by reverse causality.

Objective: Investigate the long-term association between physical activity, cognition, and the rate of age-associated cognitive decline.

Methods: We investigated the association between late-life physical activity and executive functioning and rate of decline of executive abilities during follow-up of up to 16 years, in 3553 participants of the prospective Rotterdam Study cohort.

The effects of autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) on mood, attention, heart rate, skin conductance and EEG in healthy young adults.

Autonomous sensory meridian response (ASMR) is a warm tingling sensation which is often accompanied by feelings of calmness and relaxation. The present study examined the effects of an ASMR video on mood, attention, heart rate (HR), electrodermal activity (EDA), electroencephalography (EEG) and the interaction with personality factors in 38 young adults (33 females and 5 males). Based on the ASMR-checklist responses of having tingles during watching the ASMR video 15 participants out of 38 were classified as ASMR-experiencers.

Food-Related Brain Activation Measured by fMRI in Adults with Prader-Willi Syndrome.

(1) Background: Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is characterized by hyperphagia, resulting in morbid obesity if not controlled. The primary aim of this study was to investigate whether PWS patients show altered activation of brain areas involved in hunger. As a secondary objective, we assessed whether there is an association between these brain areas and several endocrine and metabolic factors in the fasting state.

Effects of binaural and monaural beat stimulation on attention and EEG.

Nowadays a popular technique to improve mood and cognition is auditory beat stimulation (ABS), which is thought to induce a frequency-following response of brainwaves. The main types of ABS are monaural beats (MB) and binaural beats (BB). BB involves the presentation of a specific frequency to one ear and another frequency to the other ear which may induce neural entrainment.

Plasma Brain-Derived Neurotropic Factor Levels Are Associated with Aging and Smoking But Not with Future Dementia in the Rotterdam Study.

Background: Brain-derived neurotropic factor (BDNF) plays a vital role in neuronal survival and plasticity and facilitates long-term potentiation, essential for memory. Alterations in BDNF signaling have been associated with cognitive impairment, dementia, and Alzheimer's disease. Although peripheral BDNF levels are reduced in dementia patients, it is unclear whether changes in BDNF levels precede or follow dementia onset.

Psychological well-being and illness perceptions in patients with hypopituitarism.

Objective: The primary aim of the current study was to objectify a spectrum of persisting subjective psychological complaints in patients with hypopituitarism, at least six months after normalizing of the hormonal disturbances. Also, gender differences on these outcomes were investigated. The secondary aim was to identify illness perceptions and causal attributions within this patient group.

Impaired neuropsychological functioning in patients with hypopituitarism.

Background: Treatment of pituitary pathology mostly does not result in complete recovery of impairment in cognitive functioning. The primary aim of the current study was to assess cognitive impairment in patients with stable replacement therapy for hypopituitarism during the last 6 months prior to inclusion. It was expected that patients showed subjective and objective subnormal scores on neuropsychological functioning.

The Interrelationship between Insulin-Like Growth Factor 1, Apolipoprotein E ε4, Lifestyle Factors, and the Aging Body and Brain.

Aging is associated with a decrease in body and brain function and with a decline in insulin-like growth factor 1 levels. The observed associations between alterations in insulin-like growth factor 1 levels and cognitive functioning and Mild Cognitive Impairment suggest that altered insulin-like growth factor 1 signaling may accompany Alzheimer's disease or is involved in the pathogenesis of the disease. Recent animal research has suggested a possible association between insulin-like growth factor 1 levels and the Apolipoprotein E ε4 allele, a genetic predisposition to Alzheimer's disease.

The Effects of Binaural and Monoaural Beat Stimulation on Cognitive Functioning in Subjects with Different Levels of Emotionality.

Today, binaural and monaural beats are offered over the Internet or by mental health institutes to improve wellbeing or cognitive functioning. This improvement is explained by the assumption that the brain adapts its brainwave frequency to the frequency of the auditory beat. The present study examined the effects of binaural and monaural beat stimulation on attention and working memory in high and low emotional participants.

Effect of low-normal and high-normal IGF-1 levels on memory and wellbeing during growth hormone replacement therapy: a randomized clinical trial in adult growth hormone deficiency.

Background: The aim of the present study was to investigate the effect of low-normal and high-normal levels of IGF-1 in growth hormone (GH) deficient adults on cognition and wellbeing during GH treatment.

Methods: A randomized, open-label, clinical trial including 32 subjects receiving GH therapy for at least 1 year. Subjects were randomized to receive either a decrease (IGF-1 target level of - 2 to - 1 SDS) or an increase of their daily GH dose (IGF-1 target level of 1 to 2 SDS) for a period of 24 weeks.

Adjunctive memantine in clozapine-treated refractory schizophrenia: an open-label 1-year extension study.

Background: In a recent placebo-controlled, double-blind crossover trial (n = 52), significant beneficial effects on memory (d = 0.30) and negative symptoms (d = 0.29) were found after 12 weeks of memantine augmentation in patients with clozapine-refractory schizophrenia.

Acute and short-term effects of caloric restriction on metabolic profile and brain activation in obese, postmenopausal women.

Objective: Early anthropometric and metabolic changes during a caloric-restricted diet in obese postmenopausal women and correlations between these factors with activity in brain areas involved in processing of visual food related stimuli were investigated.

Subjects And Methods: An 8-week prospective intervention study of 18 healthy postmenopausal women, with a body mass index of 30-35 kg m. The first 2 weeks subjects were on an isocaloric diet and 4 weeks on a 1000 kcal restricted diet followed by 2 weeks on an isocaloric diet.

Short and long-term effects of sham-controlled prefrontal EEG-neurofeedback training in healthy subjects.

Objective: In this study we evaluated long-term effects of frontal beta EEG-neurofeedback training (E-NFT) on healthy subjects. We hypothesized that E-NFT can change frontal beta activity in the long-term and that changes in frontal beta EEG activity are accompanied by altered cognitive performance.

Methods: 25 healthy subjects were included and randomly assigned to active or sham E-NFT.

The Effects of Physical Activity and Fitness in Adolescence on Cognition in Adulthood and the Role of Insulin-Like Growth Factor I.

Background: Physical activity and fitness in adolescence may improve cognition in adulthood by increasing insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I).

Methods: As part of the Amsterdam Growth and Health Longitudinal Study, following subjects from age 13 to 42 years, physical activity and fitness of 303 subjects were assessed annually between the ages 13 to 16. At mean age 36, physical activity, fitness and IGF-I were measured.

Functional connectivity and cognitive decline over 3 years in Parkinson disease.

Objective: To evaluate fMRI whole-brain resting-state functional connectivity changes in relation to cognitive decline in Parkinson disease (PD) over a 3-year period.

Methods: Resting-state fMRI scans were acquired in 55 patients with PD (mean age 65.8 years, SD 6.

The Association between IGF-1 Polymorphisms, IGF-1 Serum Levels, and Cognitive Functions in Healthy Adults: The Amsterdam Growth and Health Longitudinal Study.

Several studies have demonstrated an association between polymorphisms in the insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) gene and IGF-1 serum levels. IGF-1 levels have been associated with cognitive functioning in older persons and growth hormone deficient patients. The present study investigates whether IGF-1 polymorphisms, IGF-1 levels, and cognition are interconnected in healthy adults.

Cognitive functioning during long-term tamoxifen treatment in postmenopausal women with breast cancer.

Objective: Endocrine therapy is widely used-often for many years-in women with breast cancer. Yet little is known about cognitive functioning after long-term use of tamoxifen. We examine cognitive sequelae, approximately 3 years after diagnosis, in postmenopausal women with breast cancer who were treated with adjuvant tamoxifen.

Effects of insulin detemir and NPH insulin on body weight and appetite-regulating brain regions in human type 1 diabetes: a randomized controlled trial.

Unlabelled: Studies in rodents have demonstrated that insulin in the central nervous system induces satiety. In humans, these effects are less well established. Insulin detemir is a basal insulin analog that causes less weight gain than other basal insulin formulations, including the current standard intermediate-long acting Neutral Protamine Hagedorn (NPH) insulin.

Predicting dementia in Parkinson disease by combining neurophysiologic and cognitive markers.

Objective: To assess the ability of neurophysiologic markers in conjunction with cognitive assessment to improve prediction of progression to dementia in Parkinson disease (PD).

Methods: Baseline cognitive assessments and magnetoencephalographic recordings from 63 prospectively included PD patients without dementia were analyzed in relation to PD-related dementia (PDD) conversion over a 7-year period. We computed Cox proportional hazard models to assess the risk of converting to dementia conveyed by cognitive and neurophysiologic markers in individual as well as combined risk factor analyses.

Disrupted brain network topology in Parkinson's disease: a longitudinal magnetoencephalography study.

Although alterations in resting-state functional connectivity between brain regions have previously been reported in Parkinson's disease, the spatial organization of these changes remains largely unknown. Here, we longitudinally studied brain network topology in Parkinson's disease in relation to clinical measures of disease progression, using magnetoencephalography and concepts from graph theory. We characterized whole-brain functional networks by means of a standard graph analysis approach, measuring clustering coefficient and shortest path length, as well as the construction of a minimum spanning tree, a novel approach that allows a unique and unbiased characterization of brain networks.

Resting-state functional connectivity as a marker of disease progression in Parkinson's disease: A longitudinal MEG study.

The assessment of resting-state functional connectivity has become an important tool in studying brain disease mechanisms. Here we use magnetoencephalography to longitudinally evaluate functional connectivity changes in relation to clinical measures of disease progression in Parkinson's disease (PD). Using a source-space based approach with detailed anatomical mapping, functional connectivity was assessed for temporal, prefrontal and high order sensory association areas known to show neuropathological changes in early clinical disease stages.

Supporting the generalist genes hypothesis for intellectual ability/disability: the case of SNAP25.

Intellectual disability (ID) is an unresolved health care problem with a worldwide prevalence rate of 2-3%. For many years, research into the genetic causes of ID and related disorders has mainly focused on chromosomal abnormalities or X-linked genetic deficits. Only a handful of autosomal genes are known to cause ID.

Cognitive decline in Parkinson's disease is associated with slowing of resting-state brain activity: a longitudinal study.

The pathophysiological mechanisms of Parkinson's disease (PD)-related dementia (PDD) are still poorly understood. Previous studies using electroencephalography (EEG) and magnetoencephalography (MEG) have demonstrated widespread slowing of oscillatory brain activity as a neurophysiological characteristic of PD-related dementia. Here, we use MEG to longitudinally study early changes in oscillatory brain activity in initially nondemented PD patients that may be associated with cognitive decline.