Emotion regulation use in daily-life and its association with success of emotion-regulation, self-efficacy, stress, and state rumination.

Introduction: Investigations on emotion regulation strategies (ERS) primarily focus on the influence of instructed emotion regulation (ER) on outcomes. However, recent work has shown that selection of ERS is dependent on, e.g.

Transcranial direct current stimulation in inflammatory bowel disease patients modifies resting-state functional connectivity: A RCT.

Background: Chronic pain is known to be associated with functional and structural changes in the brain. Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) presents with chronic abdominal pain in almost 35% of all patients. This study investigates structural and functional changes in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) after transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) applied to ameliorate pain in IBD.

Spinal cord injury-induced immunodeficiency is mediated by a sympathetic-neuroendocrine adrenal reflex.

Acute spinal cord injury (SCI) causes systemic immunosuppression and life-threatening infections, thought to result from noradrenergic overactivation and excess glucocorticoid release via hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis stimulation. Instead of consecutive hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis activation, we report that acute SCI in mice induced suppression of serum norepinephrine and concomitant increase in cortisol, despite suppressed adrenocorticotropic hormone, indicating primary (adrenal) hypercortisolism. This neurogenic effect was more pronounced after high-thoracic level (Th1) SCI disconnecting adrenal gland innervation, compared with low-thoracic level (Th9) SCI.

Altered paired associative stimulation-induced plasticity in NMDAR encephalitis.

Objective: To determine whether neurophysiological mechanisms indicating cortical excitability, long-term potentiation (LTP)-like plasticity, GABAergic and glutamatergic function are altered in patients with anti-N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) encephalitis and whether they can be helpful as markers of diagnostic assessment, disease progression, and potentially therapy response.

Methods: Neurophysiological characterizations of patients with NMDAR encephalitis (n = 34, mean age: 28 ± 11 years; 30 females) and age/gender-matched healthy controls (n = 27, 28.5 ± 10 years; 25 females) were performed using transcranial magnetic stimulation-derived protocols including resting motor threshold, recruitment curve, intracortical facilitation, short intracortical inhibition, and cortical silent period.

Specific CD4+ T-Cell Reactivity and Cytokine Release in Different Clinical Presentations of Leptospirosis.

Clinical manifestations of leptospirosis are highly variable: from asymptomatic to severe and potentially fatal. The outcome of the disease is usually determined in the immunological phase, beginning in the second week of symptoms. The underlying mechanisms, predictive factors, and individual immune responses that contribute to clinical variations are not well understood.

Reduction of chronic abdominal pain in patients with inflammatory bowel disease through transcranial direct current stimulation: a randomized controlled trial.

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is frequently associated with chronic abdominal pain (CAP). Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has been proven to reduce chronic pain. This study aimed to investigate the effects of tDCS in patients with CAP due to IBD.

Mental imagery-induced attention modulates pain perception and cortical excitability.

Background: Mental imagery is a powerful method of altering brain activity and behavioral outcomes, such as performance of cognition and motor skills. Further, attention and distraction can modulate pain-related neuronal networks and the perception of pain. This exploratory study examined the effects of mental imagery-induced attention on pressure pain threshold and cortical plasticity using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS).

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)-like disease in a case of a 33-year old man with glycogenosis 1b.

Background: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)-like conditions in glycogen storage disease (GSD) type Ib have been predominantly described in children. Signs and symptoms of GSD type Ib are hypoglycemia, pancytopenia and hepatosplenomegaly. Based on few published cases, there is evidence that granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) in patients with glycogenosis-related pancytopenia might ameliorate the IBD-like disease through leukocyte increase.

Movement observation-induced modulation of pain perception and motor cortex excitability.

Objective: The observation of movements increases primary motor cortex (M1) excitability. This exploratory study examined the effects of movement observation on pressure pain threshold (PPT) and transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)-indexed corticospinal excitability bilaterally.

Methods: Thirty healthy right-handed subjects were randomized to a left hand-movement observation task or a control task.

Combination of transcranial direct current stimulation and methylphenidate in subacute stroke.

Noninvasive transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) and methylphenidate (MP) are associated with motor recovery after stroke. Based on the potentially complementary mechanisms of these interventions, we examined whether there is an interactive effect between MP and tDCS. In this preliminary study, we randomized subacute stroke subjects to receive tDCS alone, MP alone or combination of tDCS and MP.

Technique and considerations in the use of 4x1 ring high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS).

High-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS) has recently been developed as a noninvasive brain stimulation approach that increases the accuracy of current delivery to the brain by using arrays of smaller "high-definition" electrodes, instead of the larger pad-electrodes of conventional tDCS. Targeting is achieved by energizing electrodes placed in predetermined configurations. One of these is the 4x1-ring configuration.

The relationship between cortical excitability and pain catastrophizing in myofascial pain.

Unlabelled: Pain catastrophizing regularly occurs in chronic pain patients. It has been suggested that pain catastrophizing is a stable, person-based construct. These findings highlight the importance of investigating catastrophizing in conceptualizing specific approaches for pain management.

Effects of sensory behavioral tasks on pain threshold and cortical excitability.

Background/objective: Transcutaneous electrical stimulation has been proven to modulate nervous system activity, leading to changes in pain perception, via the peripheral sensory system, in a bottom up approach. We tested whether different sensory behavioral tasks induce significant effects in pain processing and whether these changes correlate with cortical plasticity.

Methodology/principal Findings: This randomized parallel designed experiment included forty healthy right-handed males.

Neurobiological effects of transcranial direct current stimulation: a review.

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive brain stimulation technique that is affordable and easy to operate compared to other neuromodulation techniques. Anodal stimulation increases cortical excitability, while the cathodal stimulation decreases it. Although tDCS is a promising treatment approach for chronic pain as well as for neuropsychiatric diseases and other neurological disorders, several complex neurobiological mechanisms that are not well understood are involved in its effect.

Analgesic effects of noninvasive brain stimulation in rodent animal models: a systematic review of translational findings.

Objectives: Noninvasive brain stimulation (NIBS) interventions have demonstrated promising results in the clinical treatment of pain, according to several preliminary trials, although the results have been mixed. The limitations of clinical research on NIBS are the insufficient understanding of its mechanisms of action, a lack of adequate safety data, and several disparities with regard to stimulation parameters, which have hindered the generalizability of such studies. Thus, experimental animal research that allows the use of more invasive interventions and creates additional control of independent variables and confounders is desirable.

Dissociation of motor task-induced cortical excitability and pain perception changes in healthy volunteers.

Background: There is evidence that interventions aiming at modulation of the motor cortex activity lead to pain reduction. In order to understand further the role of the motor cortex on pain modulation, we aimed to compare the behavioral (pressure pain threshold) and neurophysiological effects (transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) induced cortical excitability) across three different motor tasks.

Methodology/principal Findings: Fifteen healthy male subjects were enrolled in this randomized, controlled, blinded, cross-over designed study.

Electrode positioning and montage in transcranial direct current stimulation.

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a technique that has been intensively investigated in the past decade as this method offers a non-invasive and safe alternative to change cortical excitability. The effects of one session of tDCS can last for several minutes, and its effects depend on polarity of stimulation, such as that cathodal stimulation induces a decrease in cortical excitability, and anodal stimulation induces an increase in cortical excitability that may last beyond the duration of stimulation. These effects have been explored in cognitive neuroscience and also clinically in a variety of neuropsychiatric disorders--especially when applied over several consecutive sessions.

A systematic review on reporting and assessment of adverse effects associated with transcranial direct current stimulation.

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a non-invasive method of brain stimulation that has been intensively investigated in clinical and cognitive neuroscience. Although the general impression is that tDCS is a safe technique with mild and transient adverse effects (AEs), human data on safety and tolerability are largely provided from single-session studies in healthy volunteers. In addition the frequency of AEs and its relationship with clinical variables is unknown.