Top-down modulation of dichotic listening affects interhemispheric connectivity: an electroencephalography study.

Introduction: Dichotic listening (DL) has been extensively used as a task to investigate auditory processing and hemispheric lateralisation in humans. According to the "callosal relay model," the typical finding of a right ear advantage (REA) occurs because the information coming from the right ear has direct access to the left dominant hemisphere while the information coming from the left ear has to cross via the corpus callosum. The underlying neuroanatomical correlates and neurophysiological mechanisms have been described using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and lagged phase synchronization (LPS) of the interhemispheric auditory pathway.

-Acetylcysteine and a Specialized Preventive Intervention for Individuals at High Risk for Psychosis: A Randomized Double-Blind Multicenter Trial.

Background And Hypothesis: Clinical high risk for psychosis (CHR-P) offers a window of opportunity for early intervention and recent trials have shown promising results for the use of -acetylcysteine (NAC) in schizophrenia. Moreover, integrated preventive psychological intervention (IPPI), applies social-cognitive remediation to aid in preventing the transition to the psychosis of CHR-P patients.

Study Design: In this double-blind, randomized, controlled multicenter trial, a 2 × 2 factorial design was applied to investigate the effects of NAC compared to placebo (PLC) and IPPI compared to psychological stress management (PSM).

Larger putamen in individuals at risk and with manifest bipolar disorder.

Background: Individuals at risk for bipolar disorder (BD) have a wide range of genetic and non-genetic risk factors, like a positive family history of BD or (sub)threshold affective symptoms. Yet, it is unclear whether these individuals at risk and those diagnosed with BD share similar gray matter brain alterations.

Methods: In 410 male and female participants aged 17-35 years, we compared gray matter volume (3T MRI) between individuals at risk for BD (as assessed using the EPI scale; = 208), patients with a DSM-IV-TR diagnosis of BD ( = 87), and healthy controls ( = 115) using voxel-based morphometry in SPM12/CAT12.

Reduced frontocingulate theta connectivity during emotion regulation in major depressive disorder.

Background: Cognitive reappraisal is an essential emotion regulation skill for social life and psychological health. However, individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) cannot use this skill effectively. Successful cognitive reappraisal in healthy controls (HC) has been shown to be associated with theta activity in a frontal and subcortical network.

Frontal theta oscillations during emotion regulation in people with borderline personality disorder.

Background: Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a severe psychiatric disorder conceptualised as a disorder of emotion regulation. Emotion regulation has been linked to a frontolimbic network comprising the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the amygdala, which apparently synchronises its activity via oscillatory coupling in the theta frequency range.

Aims: To analyse whether there are distinct differences in theta oscillatory coupling in frontal brain regions between individuals with BPD and matched controls during emotion regulation by cognitive reappraisal.

Functional connectivity in a monetary and social incentive delay task in medicated patients with schizophrenia.

Introduction: Numerous studies indicate impaired reward-related learning in individuals with schizophrenia, with various factors such as illness duration, medication, disease severity, and level of analysis (behavioral or neurophysiological data) potentially confounding the results. Patients with schizophrenia who are treated with second-generation antipsychotics have been found to have a less affected reward system. However, this finding does not explain the neural dysfunctions observed in previous studies.

Comparison of transcranial brain stimulation approaches: prefrontal theta alternating current stimulation enhances working memory performance.

Introduction: One of the most important cognitive functions in our everyday life is the working memory (WM). In several neuropsychiatric diseases such as ADHD or schizophrenia WM deficits can be observed, making it an attractive target for non-invasive brain stimulation methods like transcranial electrical stimulation (tES). However, the literature shows rather heterogeneous results of tES effects on WM performance.

Prediction of estimated risk for bipolar disorder using machine learning and structural MRI features.

Background: Individuals with bipolar disorder are commonly correctly diagnosed a decade after symptom onset. Machine learning techniques may aid in early recognition and reduce the disease burden. As both individuals at risk and those with a manifest disease display structural brain markers, structural magnetic resonance imaging may provide relevant classification features.

Daring to Feel: Emotion-Focused Psychotherapy Increases Amygdala Activation and Connectivity in Euthymic Bipolar Disorder-A Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: In bipolar disorder (BD), the alternation of extreme mood states indicates deficits in emotion processing, accompanied by aberrant neural function of the emotion network. The present study investigated the effects of an emotion-centered psychotherapeutic intervention on amygdala responsivity and connectivity during emotional face processing in BD.

Methods: In a randomized controlled trial within the multicentric BipoLife project, euthymic patients with BD received one of two interventions over 6 months: an unstructured, emotion-focused intervention (FEST), where patients were guided to adequately perceive and label their emotions (n = 28), or a specific, structured, cognitive behavioral intervention (SEKT) (n = 31).

Hallucinations in Hearing Impairment: How Informed Are Clinicians?

Background And Hypothesis: Patients with hearing impairment (HI) may experience hearing sounds without external sources, ranging from random meaningless noises (tinnitus) to music and other auditory hallucinations (AHs) with meaningful qualities. To ensure appropriate assessment and management, clinicians need to be aware of these phenomena. However, sensory impairment studies have shown that such clinical awareness is low.

Opposite Modulation of the NMDA Receptor by Glycine and S-Ketamine and the Effects on Resting State EEG Gamma Activity: New Insights into the Glutamate Hypothesis of Schizophrenia.

NMDA-receptor hypofunction is increasingly considered to be an important pathomechanism in schizophrenia. However, to date, it has not been possible to identify patients with relevant NMDA-receptor hypofunction who would respond to glutamatergic treatments. Preclinical models, such as the ketamine model, could help identify biomarkers related to NMDA-receptor function that respond to glutamatergic modulation, for example, via activation of the glycine-binding site.

Boosting the Theory of Mind Network: Specific Psychotherapy Increases Neural Correlates of Affective Theory of Mind in Euthymic Bipolar Disorder.

Background: In bipolar disorder, impaired affective theory of mind (aToM) performance and aberrant neural activation in the ToM brain network partly explain social functioning impairments. However, it is not yet known whether psychotherapy of bipolar disorder influences neuroimaging markers of aToM.

Methods: In this study, conducted within the multicentric randomized controlled trial of the BipoLife consortium, patients with euthymic bipolar disorder underwent 2 group interventions over 6 months (mean = 28.

The decoupling of structural and functional connectivity of auditory networks in individuals at clinical high-risk for psychosis.

Objectives: Disrupted auditory networks play an important role in the pathophysiology of psychosis, with abnormalities already observed in individuals at clinical high-risk for psychosis (CHR). Here, we examine structural and functional connectivity of an auditory network in CHR utilising state-of-the-art electroencephalography and diffusion imaging techniques.

Methods: Twenty-six CHR subjects and 13 healthy controls (HC) underwent diffusion MRI and electroencephalography while performing an auditory task.

Shared and distinct white matter abnormalities in adolescent-onset schizophrenia and adolescent-onset psychotic bipolar disorder.

Background: While adolescent-onset schizophrenia (ADO-SCZ) and adolescent-onset bipolar disorder with psychosis (psychotic ADO-BPD) present a more severe clinical course than their adult forms, their pathophysiology is poorly understood. Here, we study potentially state- and trait-related white matter diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) abnormalities along the adolescent-onset psychosis continuum to address this need.

Methods: Forty-eight individuals with ADO-SCZ (20 female/28 male), 15 individuals with psychotic ADO-BPD (7 female/8 male), and 35 healthy controls (HCs, 18 female/17 male) underwent dMRI and clinical assessments.

Association between peripheral inflammation and free-water imaging in Major Depressive Disorder before and after ketamine treatment - A pilot study.

Background: Alterations in the peripheral inflammatory profile and white matter (WM) deterioration are frequent in Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). The present study applies free-water imaging to investigate the relationship between altered peripheral inflammation and WM microstructure and their predictive value in determining response to ketamine treatment in MDD.

Methods: Ten individuals with MDD underwent diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging and a blood-draw before and 24 h after ketamine infusion.

Glycine attenuates impairments of stimulus-evoked gamma oscillations in the ketamine model of schizophrenia.

Although a substantial number of studies suggests some clinical benefit concerning negative symptoms in schizophrenia through the modulation of NMDA-receptor function, none of these approaches achieved clinical approval. Given the large body of evidence concerning glutamatergic dysfunction in a subgroup of patients, biomarkers to identify those with a relevant clinical benefit through glutamatergic modulation are urgently needed. A similar reduction of the early auditory evoked gamma-band response (aeGBR) as found in schizophrenia patients can be observed in healthy subjects following the application of an NMDA-receptor antagonist in the ketamine-model, which addresses the excitation / inhibition (E/I) imbalance of the disease.

Simultaneous EEG-fMRI reveals theta network alterations during reward feedback processing in borderline personality disorder.

Previous studies using imaging techniques such as electroencephalography (EEG) or functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have identified neurophysiological markers of impaired feedback processing in patients with Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD). These mainly include reduced oscillatory activity in the theta frequency range in the EEG and altered activations in frontal and striatal regions in fMRI studies. The aim of the present study is to integrate these results using a coupling of simultaneously recorded EEG and fMRI.

Sex-Related Differences in White Matter Asymmetry and Its Implications for Verbal Working Memory in Psychosis High-Risk State.

Sexual dimorphism has been investigated in schizophrenia, although sex-specific differences among individuals who are at clinical high-risk (CHR) for developing psychosis have been inconclusive. This study aims to characterize sexual dimorphism of language areas in the brain by investigating the asymmetry of four white matter tracts relevant to verbal working memory in CHR patients compared to healthy controls (HC). HC typically show a leftward asymmetry of these tracts.

Ketamine Alters Functional Gamma and Theta Resting-State Connectivity in Healthy Humans: Implications for Schizophrenia Treatment Targeting the Glutamate System.

Disturbed functional connectivity is assumed to cause neurocognitive deficits in patients suffering from schizophrenia. A Glutamate N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) dysfunction has been suggested as a possible mechanism underlying altered connectivity in schizophrenia, especially in the gamma- and theta-frequency range. The present study aimed to investigate the effects of the NMDAR-antagonist ketamine on resting-state power, functional connectivity, and schizophrenia-like psychopathological changes in healthy volunteers.