The effects of physical activity on white matter microstructure in children with overweight or obesity: The ActiveBrains randomized clinical trial.

Background: Emerging research supports the idea that physical activity benefits brain development. However, the body of evidence focused on understanding the effects of physical activity on white matter microstructure during childhood is still in its infancy, and further well-designed randomized clinical trials are needed.

Aim: This study aimed: (i) to investigate the effects of a 20-week physical activity intervention on global white matter microstructure in children with overweight or obesity, and (ii) to explore whether the effect of physical activity on white matter microstructure is global or restricted to a particular set of white matter bundles.

Computational modelling of reinforcement learning and functional neuroimaging of probabilistic reversal for dissociating compulsive behaviours in gambling and cocaine use disorders.

Background: Individuals with cocaine use disorder or gambling disorder demonstrate impairments in cognitive flexibility: the ability to adapt to changes in the environment. Flexibility is commonly assessed in a laboratory setting using probabilistic reversal learning, which involves reinforcement learning, the process by which feedback from the environment is used to adjust behavior.

Aims: It is poorly understood whether impairments in flexibility differ between individuals with cocaine use and gambling disorders, and how this is instantiated by the brain.

Early life factors and structural brain network in children with overweight/obesity: The ActiveBrains project.

Background: The aims of this study were to investigate the association of early life factors, including birth weight, birth length, and breastfeeding practices, with structural brain networks; and to test whether structural brain networks associated with early life factors were also associated with academic performance in children with overweight/obesity (OW/OB).

Method: 96 children with OW/OB aged 8-11 years (10.03 ± 1.

Intrinsic neural network dynamics underlying the ability to down-regulate emotions in male perpetrators of intimate partner violence against women.

Research has pointed to difficulties in emotion regulation as a risk factor for perpetrating intimate partner violence against women (IPVAW). While efforts have been made to understand the brain mechanisms underlying emotion regulation strategies such as reappraisal, little is known about the intrinsic neural dynamics supporting this strategy in male perpetrators. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to characterise the network dynamics underlying reappraisal.