Medication Adherence in Adolescents with Psychiatric Disorders.

This study investigates whether adolescents' adherence to psychotropic medication is associated with demographic and socioeconomic factors, and to what extent parents' assessments of their offspring's attitudes toward treatment correspond with the adolescents' self-report. This study is part of the multicenter SEMA study (Subjective Experience and Medication Adherence in Adolescents with Psychiatric Disorders). Adolescents' subjective attitudes toward medication and their adherence were assessed using the patient and parent versions of the QATT (Questionnaire on Attitudes Toward Treatment) and the MARS (Medication Adherence Rating Scale).

Early maternal care and amygdala habituation to emotional stimuli in adulthood.

Evidence suggests that maternal care constitutes a protective factor for psychopathology which may be conditional on the level of family adversity. Given that psychopathology is frequently linked with social deficits and the amygdala with social functioning, we investigated the impact of early maternal care on amygdala function under high vs low familial risk for psychopathology. Amygdala activity and habituation during an emotional face-matching paradigm was analyzed in participants of an epidemiological cohort study followed since birth (n = 172, 25 years).

Psychophysiological Effects of Downregulating Negative Emotions: Insights From a Meta-Analysis of Healthy Adults.

Assessing psychophysiological responses of emotion regulation is a cost-efficient way to quantify emotion regulation and to complement subjective report that may be biased. Previous studies have revealed inconsistent results complicating a sound interpretation of these findings. In the present study, we summarized the existing literature through a systematic search of articles.

The Long-Term Impact of Early Life Stress on Orbitofrontal Cortical Thickness.

Early adversity has been related to brain structure alterations and to an increased risk of psychiatric disorders. The orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) is a key region for emotional processing, with structural alterations being described in several mental disorders. However, little is known about how its cortical thickness (CT) is affected by the long-term impact of life stress (LS) at different developmental stages.

A novel seizure quality index based on ictal parameters for optimizing clinical decision-making in electroconvulsive therapy. Part 2: Validation.

Early identification of patients who are at a high risk for an unfavorable outcome to ECT during the treatment course might be beneficial because it provides an opportunity for timely intensification or optimization of stimulus conditions. We aimed to validate a previously developed seizure quality index (SQI) that delivers a clinically relevant outcome prediction early in the treatment course and can be used within common clinical setting. Therefore, a prospective study was conducted.

Early maternal care may counteract familial liability for psychopathology in the reward circuitry.

Reward processing is altered in various psychopathologies and has been shown to be susceptible to genetic and environmental influences. Here, we examined whether maternal care may buffer familial risk for psychiatric disorders in terms of reward processing. Functional magnetic resonance imaging during a monetary incentive delay task was acquired in participants of an epidemiological cohort study followed since birth (N = 172, 25 years).

"When I Stop My Medication, Everything Goes Wrong": Content Analysis of Interviews with Adolescent Patients Treated with Psychotropic Medication.

Objectives: Medication nonadherence constitutes a major problem in adolescent psychiatry. Previous studies have identified various factors associated with nonadherent behavior. The aim of this study is to explore adolescents' health beliefs and subjective perceptions relating to psychotropic medication, and to statistically link these to reported medication adherence.

A novel Seizure Quality Index based on ictal parameters for optimizing clinical decision making in electroconvulsive therapy. Part 1: development.

Early identification of patients at high risk for an unfavorable outcome to ECT during the course might be beneficial because it provides an opportunity for timely intensification or optimization of stimulus conditions. We aimed to develop a new Seizure Quality Index (SQI) that delivers a clinical relevant outcome prediction early in the treatment course and can be used within common clinical setting. An observational study was conducted.

Sex-specific trajectories of ADHD symptoms from adolescence to young adulthood.

Reports of current ADHD symptoms in adults with a childhood diagnosis of ADHD are often discrepant: While one subgroup reports a particularly high level of current ADHD symptoms, another reports-in contrast-a very low level. The reasons for this difference remain unclear. Although sex might play a moderating role, it has not yet been examined in this regard.

Impact of prenatal stress on mother-infant dyadic behavior during the still-face paradigm.

Background: Mother-infant interaction provides important training for the infant's ability to cope with stress and the development of resilience. Prenatal stress (PS) and its impact on the offspring's development have long been a focus of stress research, with studies highlighting both harmful and beneficial effects. The aim of the current study was to examine the possible influence of both psychological stress and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis activity during pregnancy with mother-child dyadic behavior following stress exposure.

Does the efficacy of parent-child training depend on maternal symptom improvement? Results from a randomized controlled trial on children and mothers both affected by attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Multimodal treatment of children with ADHD often includes parent-child training (PCT). However, due to the high heritability, parents of children with ADHD are frequently also affected by the disorder, which is likely to constitute a significant barrier to successful treatment of the child. This secondary analysis of our randomized controlled multicentre AIMAC trial (ADHD in mothers and children) investigates whether children's outcomes following parent-child training in combination with maternal ADHD treatment depend on maternal symptom improvement.

Impact of prenatal stress on the dyadic behavior of mothers and their 6-month-old infants during a play situation: role of different dimensions of stress.

Prenatal stress (PS) is an established risk factor in the etiology of mental disorders. Although mother-child interaction is the infant's first important training in dealing with stress, little is yet known about the impact of PS on mother-infant dyadic behavior. The current study aimed to elucidate the prospective influence of psychological and physiological stresses during pregnancy on mother-infant dyadic behavior.

Collaborative meta-analysis finds no evidence of a strong interaction between stress and 5-HTTLPR genotype contributing to the development of depression.

The hypothesis that the S allele of the 5-HTTLPR serotonin transporter promoter region is associated with increased risk of depression, but only in individuals exposed to stressful situations, has generated much interest, research and controversy since first proposed in 2003. Multiple meta-analyses combining results from heterogeneous analyses have not settled the issue. To determine the magnitude of the interaction and the conditions under which it might be observed, we performed new analyses on 31 data sets containing 38 802 European ancestry subjects genotyped for 5-HTTLPR and assessed for depression and childhood maltreatment or other stressful life events, and meta-analysed the results.

Disadvantageous decision-making in borderline personality disorder: Partial support from a meta-analytic review.

To achieve long-term goals, organisms evaluate outcomes and expected consequences of their behaviors. Unfavorable decisions maintain many symptoms of borderline personality disorder (BPD); therefore, a better understanding of the mechanisms underlying decision-making in BPD is needed. In this review, the current literature comparing decision-making in patients with BPD versus healthy controls is analyzed.

Ventral striatum and amygdala activity as convergence sites for early adversity and conduct disorder.

Childhood family adversity (CFA) increases the risk for conduct disorder (CD) and has been associated with alterations in regions of affective processing like ventral striatum (VS) and amygdala. However, no study so far has demonstrated neural converging effects of CFA and CD in the same sample. At age 25 years, functional MRI data during two affective tasks, i.

Interacting effect of MAOA genotype and maternal prenatal smoking on aggressive behavior in young adulthood.

Findings on the etiology of aggressive behavior have provided evidence for an effect both of genetic factors, such as variation in the monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) gene, and adverse environmental factors. Recent studies have supported the existence of gene × environment interactions, with early experiences playing a key role. In the present study, the effects of prenatal nicotine exposure, MAOA genotype and their interaction on aggressive behavior during young adulthood were examined.

Interaction between COMT Val(158)Met polymorphism and childhood adversity affects reward processing in adulthood.

Background: Accumulating evidence suggests that altered dopamine transmission may increase the risk of mental disorders such as ADHD, schizophrenia or depression, possibly mediated by reward system dysfunction. This study aimed to clarify the impact of the COMT Val(158)Met polymorphism in interaction with environmental variation (G×E) on neuronal activity during reward processing.

Methods: 168 healthy young adults from a prospective study conducted over 25years participated in a monetary incentive delay task measured with simultaneous EEG-fMRI.

Positive coping styles and perigenual ACC volume: two related mechanisms for conferring resilience?

Stress exposure has been linked to increased rates of depression and anxiety in adults, particularly in females, and has been associated with maladaptive changes in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), which is an important brain structure involved in internalizing disorders. Coping styles are important mediators of the stress reaction by establishing homeostasis, and may thus confer resilience to stress-related psychopathology. Anatomical scans were acquired in 181 healthy participants at age 25 years.

Interacting effects of maternal responsiveness, infant regulatory problems and dopamine D4 receptor gene in the development of dysregulation during childhood: A longitudinal analysis.

Recent longitudinal studies have indicated that affective and behavioral dysregulation in childhood is associated with an increased risk for various negative outcomes in later life. However, few studies to date have examined early mechanisms preceding dysregulation during early childhood. Aim of this study was to elucidate early mechanisms relating to dysregulation in later life using data from an epidemiological cohort study on the long-term outcome of early risk factors from birth to adulthood.

Association of norepinephrine transporter (NET, SLC6A2) genotype with ADHD-related phenotypes: findings of a longitudinal study from birth to adolescence.

Variation in the gene encoding for the norepinephrine transporter (NET, SLC6A2) has repeatedly been linked with ADHD, although there is some inconsistency regarding the association with specific genes. The variants for which most consistent association has been found are the NET variants rs3785157 and rs28386840. Here, we tested for their association with ADHD diagnosis and ADHD-related phenotypes during development in a longitudinal German community sample.

Evidence for a Sex-Dependent MAOA× Childhood Stress Interaction in the Neural Circuitry of Aggression.

Converging evidence emphasizes the role of an interaction between monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) genotype, environmental adversity, and sex in the pathophysiology of aggression. The present study aimed to clarify the impact of this interaction on neural activity in aggression-related brain systems. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed in 125 healthy adults from a high-risk community sample followed since birth.

The long-term impact of early life poverty on orbitofrontal cortex volume in adulthood: results from a prospective study over 25 years.

Converging evidence has highlighted the association between poverty and conduct disorder (CD) without specifying neurobiological pathways. Neuroimaging research has emphasized structural and functional alterations in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) as one key mechanism underlying this disorder. The present study aimed to clarify the long-term influence of early poverty on OFC volume and its association with CD symptoms in healthy participants of an epidemiological cohort study followed since birth.

Are infants differentially sensitive to parenting? Early maternal care, DRD4 genotype and externalizing behavior during adolescence.

Insensitive and unresponsive caregiving during infancy has been linked to externalizing behavior problems during childhood and adolescence. The 7-repeat (7r) allele of the dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4) gene has meta-analytically been associated with a heightened susceptibility to adverse as well as supportive environments. In the present study, we examined long-term effects of early maternal care, DRD4 genotype and the interaction thereof on externalizing and internalizing psychopathology during adolescence.

Determination of reference limits: statistical concepts and tools for sample size calculation.

Reference limits are estimators for 'extreme' percentiles of the distribution of a quantitative diagnostic marker in the healthy population. In most cases, interest will be in the 90% or 95% reference intervals. The standard parametric method of determining reference limits consists of computing quantities of the form X̅±c·S.