Network Analysis of Symptoms of Generalized Anxiety and Autism: Discrete but Connected.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is comorbid with several major psychiatric disorders, primarily anxiety. Although a previous report of a network analysis of five anxiety subtypes and some ASD diagnostic criteria suggested that anxiety was not part of the ASD symptomatology, several methodological limitations challenge the conclusions reported there. To address those limitations and extend understanding of the association between ASD and anxiety, data on ASD symptomatology and the symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) were collected from 150 autistic boys and their parents and were analysed via network analysis.

Low-Level Social Demand Is Associated with Anxiety-Related Gamma Wave Responses in Autistic Male Youth.

Background: The Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) characteristic of difficulties in social communication and interaction has been previously associated with elevated anxiety and the degree of mental effort required to understand and respond to social cues. These associations have implications for the mental health of autistic youth, but they are usually based on correlational statistics between measures of anxiety and social interaction demands that are collected in formal psychological testing settings. Another index of mental effort that has been found to correlate with anxious arousal is gamma wave activity, which is measured via EEG.

Prevalence, Symptom Profiles, and Correlates of Mixed Anxiety-Depression in Male and Female Autistic Youth.

Relatively little attention has been given to mixed anxiety and depression in autistic youth, particularly how this differs between males and females. This study investigated sex-based differences in the prevalence and correlates of mixed anxiety and depression in a sample of 51 autistic males ( age = 10.16 yr, SD = 2.

Neurological Validation of ASD Diagnostic Criteria Using Frontal Alpha and Theta Asymmetry.

Diagnosis of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) relies on the observation of difficulties in social communication and interaction, plus the presence of repetitive and restrictive behaviors. The identification of neurological correlates of these symptoms remains a high priority for clinical research, and has the potential to increase the validity of diagnosis of ASD as well as provide greater understanding of how the autistic brain functions. This study focused on two neurological phenomena that have been previously associated with psychiatric disorders (alpha- and theta-wave asymmetry across the frontal region of the brain), and tested for their association with the major diagnostic criteria for ASD.

Functional Network Connectivity for Components of Depression-Related Psychological Fragility.

Psychological resilience (PR) is known to be inversely associated with depression. While there is a growing body of research examining how depression alters activity across multiple functional neural networks, how differences in PR affect these networks is largely unexplored. This study examines the relationship between PR and functional connectivity in the alpha and beta bands within (and between) eighteen established cortical nodes in the default mode network, the central executive network, and the salience network.

Depression Severity, Slow- versus Fast-Wave Neural Activity, and Symptoms of Melancholia.

Melancholia is a major and severe subtype of depression, with only limited data regarding its association with neurological phenomena. To extend the current understanding of how particular aspects of melancholia are correlated with brain activity, electroencephalographic data were collected from 100 adults (44 males and 56 females, all aged 18 y or more) and investigated for the association between symptoms of melancholia and the ratios of alpha/beta activity and theta/beta activity at parietal-occipital EEG sites PO1 and PO2. The results indicate differences in these associations according to the depressive status of participants and the particular symptom of melancholia.

Frontal Alpha Asymmetry Argues for the Heterogeneity of Psychological Resilience.

Depression is associated with frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) and Psychological Resilience (PR), although in different ways. Only cursory attention has been given to how these three constructs interact despite the possible clinical and research implications of those associations. One limitation of recent research into these associations has been conceptualising PR as a unitary construct, whereas it has been shown to be multi-component.

Conflict and control in cortical responses to inconsistent emotional signals in a face-word Stroop.

Social communication is fraught with ambiguity. Negotiating the social world requires interpreting the affective signals we receive and often selecting between channels of conflicting affective information. The affective face-word Stroop (AFWS) provides an experimental paradigm which may identify cognitive-affective control mechanisms underpinning essential social-affective skills.

Retinal and Cortical Contributions to Phosphenes During Transcranial Electrical Current Stimulation.

It is generally believed that the phosphenes induced by transcranial electric current stimulation (tECS) are a product of retinal activation, even when electrode placement is directly over the primary visual cortex. However, the origins of these tECS-induced phosphenes have not yet been conclusively determined. In this study, phosphene detection thresholds using an FPz-Oz montage were compared with those from (i) an Oz-Cz montage to determine whether prefrontal regions, such as the retina, contribute to phosphenes and (ii) an FPz-Cz montage to determine whether the visual cortex in the occipital lobe contributes to phosphenes.

Frequency-dependent and montage-based differences in phosphene perception thresholds via transcranial alternating current stimulation.

It is well known that applying transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) to the scalp can generate artefactual visual perceptions of flashing or shimmering light known as phosphenes. The thresholds for generating these phosphenes have been used by international standards bodies to provide conservative estimates of the field strength required to interfere with human neural functioning and set safety limits accordingly. However, the precise relationship between electric currents and phosphene perception thresholds remains uncertain.

Inhibition of retrieval in hypnotic amnesia: dissociation by upper-alpha gating.

Hypnotic amnesia is a functional dissociation from awareness during which information from specific neural processes is unavailable to consciousness. We test the proposal that changes in topographic patterns of cortical oscillations in upper-alpha (10-12 Hz) band selectively inhibit the recall of memories during hypnotic amnesia by blocking availability of locally processed information at specific points in retrieval. Participants were prescreened for high or low hypnotic susceptibility.

Australian Federal Police seizures of illicit crystalline methamphetamine ('ice') 1998-2002: impurity analysis.

Nineteen crystalline methamphetamine ('ice') seizures captured by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) at the Australian border between 1998 and 2002 were analysed. Using a modified gas chromatograph-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) impurity profiling approach of these samples we have identified >30 compounds associated with methamphetamine and/or its synthetic route. Major impurities detected include 1,2-dimethyl-3-phenylaziridine 8, dimethylamphetamine 14, N-formylmethamphetamine 24, N-acetylmethamphetamine 25, 1,3-dimethyl-2-phenylnaphthalene 32, 1-benzyl-3-methylnaphthalene 33 and methamphetamine dimer 34.