Response inhibition or salience detection in the right ventrolateral prefrontal cortex?

This study addresses the question of whether frontal activation in response-inhibition tasks is specifically associated with the suppression of a motor response. An alternative model suggests a role in the detection of behaviorally relevant or salient events. For this purpose, we used functional MRI with an auditory go/no-go paradigm.

Differential neural responses to food images in women with bulimia versus anorexia nervosa.

Background: Previous fMRI studies show that women with eating disorders (ED) have differential neural activation to viewing food images. However, despite clinical differences in their responses to food, differential neural activation to thinking about eating food, between women with anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN) is not known.

Methods: We compare 50 women (8 with BN, 18 with AN and 24 age-matched healthy controls [HC]) while they view food images during functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI).

Elevated myocardial enzymes and natriuretic peptides in anorexia nervosa: prototypic condition for the pathophysiology of cachexia?

We report on a patient suffering from chronic anorexia nervosa who in the course of treatment showed elevated high-sensitive troponin T, creatine kinase and most markedly N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP). Elevated enzymes improved significantly throughout the course of treatment without cardiac specific medication but exceeded the normal range for weeks. Abnormally high myocardial enzymes and NT-proBNP in cachectic anorectic patients might resemble conditions of cardiac cachexia.

Quantitative sensory testing profiles in chronic back pain are distinct from those in fibromyalgia.

Objectives: Alterations in the central nervous system leading to higher pain sensitivity have been shown in both chronic back pain (CBP) and fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS). The aim of this study was to disclose commonalities and differences in the pathophysiology of FMS and CBP.

Methods: We used the quantitative sensory testing protocol of the German Research Network on Neuropathic Pain to obtain comprehensive profiles of somatosensory functions.

Cognitive-behavioral flexibility in anorexia nervosa.

Anorexia nervosa (AN) patients are characterized by perfectionism and obsessional personality traits. This anorectic personality type is associated with an exaggerated cognitive control and impaired cognitive-behavioral flexibility. Neuropsychological studies addressing flexibility have supported an impaired cognitive set-shifting (i.

Attentional processing of food pictures in individuals with anorexia nervosa--an eye-tracking study.

Background: Etiologic models of anorexia nervosa (AN) suggest that cognitive factors play a crucial role in the disorder's psychopathology. Attentional aspects of food processing in AN remain largely unknown. Both an early attentional bias (vigilance) and inattentiveness (avoidance) to food pictures have been reported in patients with eating disorders.

Acupuncture improves exercise tolerance of patients with heart failure: a placebo-controlled pilot study.

Background: Congestive heart failure (CHF) is a complex clinical syndrome with autonomic dysbalance and increased plasma levels of inflammatory cytokines, which further worsen the syndrome. Experimental data have shown that stimulation of certain acupoints decreases autonomic dysbalance.

Objective: To test the therapeutic potential of acupuncture for life-threatening diseases such as CHF.

Neural correlates of body dissatisfaction in anorexia nervosa.

Body dissatisfaction is an important precipitating and maintenance factor in anorexia nervosa (AN) and behavioral studies suggest that a cognitive-affective component and a perceptual component (perceptual disturbance of one's own body) are both important in this pathophysiology. However, the functional neuroanatomy of body dissatisfaction in AN is largely unknown. This study has investigated self-other body-shape comparison to establish neural correlates of body dissatisfaction in patients with AN.

Memory performance in acute and weight-restored anorexia nervosa patients.

Background: Anorexia nervosa (AN), at the stage of starvation and emaciation, is characterized by abnormalities in cognitive function, including memory performance. It is unclear whether memory impairment persists or is reversible following weight restoration, and whether memory function differs between AN subtypes. The aim of the present study was to investigate general memory performance in currently ill and fully weight-restored patients of different AN subtypes.

A graphical vector autoregressive modelling approach to the analysis of electronic diary data.

Background: In recent years, electronic diaries are increasingly used in medical research and practice to investigate patients' processes and fluctuations in symptoms over time. To model dynamic dependence structures and feedback mechanisms between symptom-relevant variables, a multivariate time series method has to be applied.

Methods: We propose to analyse the temporal interrelationships among the variables by a structural modelling approach based on graphical vector autoregressive (VAR) models.

Processing of pictorial food stimuli in patients with eating disorders--a systematic review.

Objective: The processing of food cues in eating-disordered patients has recently been increasingly investigated. Outlined is current evidence from pictorial food stimuli studies.

Method: PubMed and PsychINFO were searched for quantitative pictorial food stimuli studies investigating healthy controls and expert-diagnosed eating-disordered patients.

Neural reward processing is modulated by approach- and avoidance-related personality traits.

The neural processing of reward can be differentiated into two sub-components with different functions, "wanting" (i.e., the expectation of a reward which includes appetitive and motivational components) and "liking" (i.

[Treatment of tobacco dependence: a responsibility of psychiatry and addiction medicine].

The World Health Organisation (WHO) considers smoking to be the biggest avoidable health risk. The consumption of tobacco leads to health hazards and resulting diseases, the consequences of which are far more serious than those emanating from other addictive substances. Approximately 27% of the German adult population smoke regularly and the proportion of smokers addicted to tobacco or nicotine is estimated to be around 60%.

[Acceptance of smoke-free policy in a psychiatric department by in-patients and staff].

The high smoking prevalence among psychiatric patients and staff in psychiatric hospitals explains the difficulties in accompanying efforts for the introduction of regulations for a smoke-free environment. Prior to the establishment of regulations for a smoke-free psychiatric department at the University Hospital, Dept. of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy in Tubingen, a democratic process was initiated.

Neural correlates of impaired cognitive-behavioral flexibility in anorexia nervosa.

Objective: Impaired cognitive-behavioral flexibility is regarded as a trait marker in anorexia nervosa patients. The authors sought to investigate the neural correlates of this deficit in executive functioning in anorexia nervosa.

Method: Fifteen women with anorexia nervosa and 15 age-matched healthy comparison women underwent event-related functional MRI while performing a target-detection task.

Anorexia nervosa: selective processing of food-related word and pictorial stimuli in recognition and free recall tests.

Objective: Maladaptive processing of food cues is considered pivotal in the psychopathology of anorexia nervosa. However, the influence of hunger and differences in processing because of the type of stimuli remain largely unclear.

Method: Memory bias for food-related pictorial and semantic stimuli was assessed in a recognition and a free recall test in 16 anorexia nervosa (AN) patients, 16 control participants with food intake prior to the study (CG-FI) and 16 control participants with a fasting period prior to the study (CG-NF).

Neuroendocrinological effects of acupuncture treatment in patients with irritable bowel syndrome.

Objectives: Quality of life (QoL) improvement in patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) during acupuncture (AC) treatment seems to be due to a placebo effect. The aim was to explore if acupuncture has some specific influence on the neuroendocrinic and autonomic nervous system (ANS).

Design/setting: Patients with IBS were randomly assigned to receive either acupuncture (AC) or sham acupuncture (SAC) using the so-called "Streitberger needle".

[Multilevel modelling applied to the analysis of diary data of obese patients with and without binge eating disorder].

Fitting multilevel models to diary data allows the analysis of development trends, group differences, and breakpoints in time trends. The aim of this study is the application of multilevel modelling to determine time trends in the diary data of a group of obese patients with and without binge eating disorder (BED). Throughout the course of a four-month multi-modal intervention program, the patients answered questions daily on handheld computers about their eating behaviour as well as their psychological and physical states.

Intra-individual reaction time variability in schizophrenia, depression and borderline personality disorder.

Intra-individual reaction time variability (IIV) in neuropsychological task performance reflects short term fluctuations in performance. Increased IIV has been reported in patients with schizophrenia and could be related to a deficient neural timing mechanism, but the role of IIV in adult patients with other psychiatric disorders has not been established. Therefore, we compared IIV measures obtained in a Go/Nogo task from patients with schizophrenia, major depression and borderline personality disorder.

I'm not as slim as that girl: neural bases of body shape self-comparison to media images.

The aim of the present study was to assess the impact of images of slim female fashion models on healthy young women. Brain responses to images of slim-idealized bodies (active condition) and interior designs (control condition) were measured using functional neuroimaging in 18 healthy young women. Instructions encouraged the participants to compare their own body shape/own home with the one in the images.

Treatment outcome in people with subthreshold compared with full-syndrome binge eating disorder.

Objective: There is a controversial discussion in the literature as to whether individuals with subthreshold binge eating disorder (subBED) differ clinically significantly from individuals with full-syndrome binge eating disorder (BED). This study was designed to compare eating-related and general psychopathology at baseline and in response to a multimodal treatment program in obese people with subBED compared with BED.

Research Methods And Procedures: A total of 96 obese participants (BMI > or = 30 kg/m(2)) were assessed for eating-related and general psychopathology at baseline.