Publications by authors named "Joel Steinberg"
The central autonomic network (CAN) serves as a regulatory hub with top-down regulatory control and integration of bottom-up physiological feedback via the autonomic nervous system. Heart rate variability (HRV)-the time variance of the heart's beat-to-beat intervals-is an index of the CAN's affective and behavioral regulatory capacity. Although neural functional connectivities that are associated with HRV and CAN have been well studied, no published report to date has studied effective (directional) connectivities (EC) that are associated with HRV and CAN.
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- Resting-state fMRI (rsfMRI) often suffers from low test-retest reliability, prompting researchers to suggest longer scan times and larger sample sizes, which can be challenging in rare populations.
- The study investigated whether dynamic causal modeling (DCM) could improve the reliability of effective connectivity (EC) metrics in rsfMRI without requiring excessively long scans or large sample sizes.
- Results showed that 10.8-minute scans achieved a high accuracy rate (92%) without needing longer durations, and increasing sample sizes improved reliability, plateauing at around 70 subjects for optimal EC analysis.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigates the relationship between traumatic brain injury (TBI) and changes in brain connectivity, particularly in military personnel with different histories of TBI during combat versus non-combat situations.
- It focuses on how functional connectivity (FC) in brain regions related to movement, like the basal ganglia, varies depending on the context of the injuries.
- The results reveal that those with deployment-related mild TBI have increased connectivity in certain brain areas, while non-deployment mild TBI was linked to significant correlations with walking performance, suggesting different behavioral outcomes based on the circumstances of the injury.*
Background And Purpose: Compared to healthy controls, adult patients with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD) are anemic, and therefore have higher cardiac output and Cerebral Blood Flow (CBF) to maintain brain oxygenation. They also demonstrate comparatively more cognitive deficits due to either overt strokes or silent cerebral ischemia. However, there are few correlative studies between CBF and cognitive deficits, specifically processing speed in SCD.
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- This study investigates the impact of chronic cocaine use on brain structure, specifically focusing on white matter microstructure using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) technology.
- A total of 46 participants were involved—25 with a history of cocaine use disorder (CocUD) and 21 healthy controls—to analyze differences in DTI metrics.
- Results showed that cocaine users exhibited significant reductions in fractional anisotropy (FA) and axial diffusivity (AD) in various brain regions compared to controls, but the influence of lifetime alcohol use on these findings remains uncertain.
Resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has been used to study functional connectivity of brain networks in addictions. However, most studies to-date have focused on the default mode network (DMN) with fewer studies assessing the executive control network (ECN) and salience network (SN), despite well-documented cognitive executive behavioral deficits in addictions. The present study assessed the functional and effective connectivity of the ECN, DMN, and SN in cocaine dependent subjects (CD) ( = 22) compared to healthy control subjects (HC) ( = 22) matched on age and education.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDynamic causal modeling (DCM) is a method for analyzing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and other functional neuroimaging data that provides information about directionality of connectivity between brain regions. A review of the neuropsychiatric fMRI DCM literature suggests that there may be a historical trend to under-report self-connectivity (within brain regions) compared to between brain region connectivity findings. These findings are an integral part of the neurologic model represented by DCM and serve an important neurobiological function in regulating excitatory and inhibitory activity between regions.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFResting-State Directional Connectivity and Anxiety and Depression Symptoms in Adult Cannabis Users.
Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging
May 2021
Background: Anxiety and depression symptoms are common among cannabis users and could be a risk factor for cannabis use (CU) disorder. Thus, it is critical to understand the neuronal circuits underlying the associations between CU and these symptoms. Alterations in resting-state functional connectivity within and/or between the default mode network and salience network have been reported in CU, anxiety, and depressive disorders and thus could be a mechanism underlying the associations between CU disorder and anxiety/depression symptoms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) functional connectivity has been used as a tool to study brain mechanisms associated with addictions. Recent research in substance use disorders has focused on three brain networks termed the default mode network (DMN), salience network (SN), and executive control network (ECN). The purpose of this study was to examine the functional connectivity of those three networks in opioid use disorder (OUD) subjects compared to healthy control subjects (HC).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA behavioral intervention can decrease asthma exacerbations in older adults.
Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol
March 2020
Background: Older adults have higher rates of asthma morbidity and mortality compared with younger age groups. Few interventions are tailored to this population.
Objective: To evaluate a self-management asthma intervention in older adults.
Individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) often relapse when exposed to opioid-related cues. Previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have identified neuronal corticolimbic changes related to drug cue reactivity in OUD. However, the corresponding manner in which brain regions interact is still unclear.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study is an ongoing, nationwide study of the effects of environmental influences on behavioral and brain development in adolescents. The main objective of the study is to recruit and assess over eleven thousand 9-10-year-olds and follow them over the course of 10 years to characterize normative brain and cognitive development, the many factors that influence brain development, and the effects of those factors on mental health and other outcomes. The study employs state-of-the-art multimodal brain imaging, cognitive and clinical assessments, bioassays, and careful assessment of substance use, environment, psychopathological symptoms, and social functioning.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAltered Effective Connectivity of Central Autonomic Network in Response to Negative Facial Expression in Adults With Cannabis Use Disorder.
Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging
January 2020
Article Synopsis
- Cannabis use disorder (CUD) may increase the risk of cardiovascular issues related to stress by altering neural connectivity in the central autonomic network when exposed to negative emotions.
- A study analyzed brain connectivity using functional MRI and dynamic causal modeling with 23 CUD patients and 23 controls during an emotional face-matching task involving negative and neutral stimuli.
- Results indicated that CUD patients showed significant changes in connectivity between brain regions associated with stress and emotion regulation, suggesting these changes could contribute to their heightened risk for stress-related disorders, while some connections might also serve a protective role.
Chronic cocaine and alcohol use impart significant stress on biological and cognitive systems, resulting in changes consistent with an allostatic load model of neurocognitive impairment. The present study measured potential markers of allostatic load in individuals with comorbid cocaine/alcohol use disorders (CUD/AUD) and control subjects. Measures of brain white matter (WM), telomere length, and impulsivity/attentional bias were obtained.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Investigate the relation of chronic pain interference to functional connectivity (FC) of brain regions and to cortical thickness in post-911 Veterans and Service Members (SMs) who sustained a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI).
Methods: This is an observational study with cross-sectional analyses. A sample of 65 enrollees completing initial evaluation at a single site of the Chronic Effects of Neurotrauma Consortium (CENC) reported pain interference ratings on the TBI QOL.
Fronto-striatal effective connectivity of working memory in adults with cannabis use disorder.
Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging
August 2018
Previous working memory (WM) studies found that relative to controls, subjects with cannabis use disorder (CUD) showed greater brain activation in some regions (e.g., left [L] and right [R] ventrolateral prefrontal cortex [VLPFC], and L dorsolateral prefrontal cortex [L-DLPFC]), and lower activation in other regions (e.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Insomnia remains one of the most common sleep disorders encountered in the geriatric clinic population, frequently characterized by the subjective complaint of difficulty falling or maintaining sleep, or nonrestorative sleep, producing significant daytime symptoms including difficulty concentrating and mood disturbances.
Methods: A search of the literature was conducted to review the epidemiology, definition, and age-related changes in sleep, as well as factors contributing to late-life insomnia and scales utilized for the assessment of insomnia in older people. The aim is to summarize recent diagnostic guidelines and both nonpharmacological and pharmacological strategies for the management of insomnia in the older population.
Background: Understanding patient preferences and desire for involvement in making medical decisions is important when managing chronic conditions. Previous studies have used the Autonomy Preference Index (API) in younger patients with asthma to evaluate these preferences.
Objective: To identify factors associated with autonomy and to determine whether autonomy is related to asthma outcomes among older adults.
Risk factors and clinical outcomes associated with fixed airflow obstruction in older adults with asthma.
Ann Allergy Asthma Immunol
February 2018
Background: Asthma in older adults is associated with increased morbidity and mortality compared with asthma in younger patients. Fixed airflow obstruction (FAO) is associated with decreased survival in younger patients, but its significance remains unclear in older adults with asthma.
Objective: To identify risk factors and outcomes related to FAO in older adults with asthma.
Drug-related attentional bias may have significant implications for the treatment of cocaine use disorder (CocUD). However, the neurobiology of attentional bias is not completely understood. This study employed dynamic causal modeling (DCM) to conduct an analysis of effective (directional) connectivity involved in drug-related attentional bias in treatment-seeking CocUD subjects.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: There is evidence of brain recovery on brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) early postliver transplant (LT), but the longer-term impact is unclear. The aim of this study was to determine the change in brain MRI parameters, cognition, and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) between 6 and 12 months post-LT.
Methods: Listed cirrhotics underwent cognitive, HRQOL and brain MRI pre-LT, 6 months (post-LT1), and 1-year (post-LT2) post-LT.
Background: Previous diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies have consistently shown that subjects with cocaine use disorder (CocUD) had altered white matter microstructure in the corpus callosum. It is believed that these alterations are due to preexisting factors, chronic cocaine use, or both. However, there is no published longitudinal DTI study on human cocaine users yet which could shed light on the relationship between cocaine use and DTI findings.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCognitive difficulties manifested by the growing elderly population with cirrhosis could be amnestic (memory-related) or non-amnestic (memory-unrelated). The underlying neuro-biological and gut-brain changes are unclear in this population. We aimed to define gut-brain axis alterations in elderly cirrhotics compared to non-cirrhotic individuals based on presence of cirrhosis and on neuropsychological performance.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe propensity for reactive aggression (RA) which occurs in response to provocation has been linked to hyperresponsivity of the mesocorticolimbic reward network in healthy adults. Here, we aim to elucidate the role of the mesocorticolimbic network in clinically significant RA for two competing motivated behaviors, reward-seeking vs. retaliation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Cognitive impairment (CI) cannot be diagnosed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) paradigms, such as the immediate/delayed memory task (I/DMT), detect varying degrees of working memory (WM). Preliminary findings using I/DMT showed differences in blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) activation between impaired (MSCI, n = 12) and non-impaired (MSNI, n = 9) multiple sclerosis (MS) patients.
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