Associations among clinical variables and anger differ by early life adversity among post-9/11 veterans.

Maladaptive anger and aggression are common in US military veterans and increase risk for impaired social relationships and functioning, justice-involvement and violence. Early life (before age 18) adversity predisposes veterans to later life psychopathology, though the link to increased later life anger is unclear. We analysed cross-sectional data of 158 post-9/11 veterans from the Translational Research Center for Traumatic Brain Injury and Stress Disorders study with and without a history of early life adversity (ns = 109 and 49, respectively).

The impact of interpersonal early life trauma on cardio-metabolic health in post-9/11 veterans.

Objective: This study examined the impact of early life trauma (ELT) on cardio-metabolic health in veterans from post-9/11 conflicts who experience significant stress from deployment and reintegration.

Method: Three hundred thirty-seven veterans from the Translational Research Center for Traumatic Brain Injury and Stress Disorders study underwent physiological assessments, including blood pressure and waist circumference. Fasting blood samples were collected to measure metabolic syndrome (MetS; cholesterol/triglycerides/glucose).

Interpersonal early-life trauma alters amygdala connectivity and sustained attention performance.

Introduction: Interpersonal early life trauma (I-ELT) is associated with a myriad of functional impairments in adulthood, increased risk of drug addiction, and neuropsychiatric disorders. While deficits in emotional regulation and amygdala functioning are well characterized, deficits in general cognitive functioning have also been documented. However, the neural underpinnings of cognitive dysfunction in adults with a history of I-ELT and the potential relationship between amygdala-based functional connectivity and behavioral performance are currently poorly understood.

Early life trauma is associated with altered white matter integrity and affective control.

Early life trauma (ELT) has been shown to impair affective control and attention well into adulthood. Neuroimaging studies have further shown that ELT was associated with decreased white matter integrity in the prefrontal areas in children and adults. However, no study to date has looked at the relationship between white matter integrity and affective control in individuals with and without a history of ELT.

Combat exposure is associated with cortical thickness in Veterans with a history of chronic pain.

Chronic Pain (CP) has been associated with changes in gray matter integrity in the cingulate and insular cortex. However, these changes have not been studied in Veterans, despite high prevalence rates of CP and interactions with combat-derived disorders. In the current study, 54 Veterans with a history of CP and 103 Veterans without CP were recruited from the Translational Research Center for Traumatic Brain Injury and Stress Disorders (TRACTS).

Sleep Quality and Reexperiencing Symptoms of PTSD Are Associated With Current Pain in U.S. OEF/OIF/OND Veterans With and Without mTBIs.

Pain, a debilitating condition, is frequently reported by U.S. veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq.

Reduced cortical thickness in veterans exposed to early life trauma.

Studies have shown that early life trauma may influence neural development and increase the risk of developing psychological disorders in adulthood. We used magnetic resonance imaging to examine the impact of early life trauma on the relationship between current posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms and cortical thickness/subcortical volumes in a sample of deployed personnel from Operation Enduring Freedom/Operation Iraqi Freedom. A group of 108 service members enrolled in the Translational Research Center for Traumatic Brain Injury and Stress Disorders (TRACTS) were divided into those with interpersonal early life trauma (EL-Trauma+) and Control (without interpersonal early life trauma) groups based on the Traumatic Life Events Questionnaire.

Early menarche predicts increased depressive symptoms and cortisol levels in Quebec girls ages 11 to 13.

Earlier age of menarche is believed to confer greater vulnerability to depressive symptoms via increased reactivity to stressors associated with adolescence. In this longitudinal study, we measured depressive symptoms and salivary cortisol levels in 198 boys and 142 girls between the ages of 11 and 13 tested four times during Grade 7 as they transitioned from elementary school to secondary school as per Quebec's education system. Results showed that girls who had already reached menarche before starting secondary school had significantly higher depressive symptoms and salivary cortisol levels across the school year in comparison to girls who had not reached menarche, who in turn presented higher depressive scores than boys.

Assessment of the caudate nucleus and its relation to route learning in both congenital and late blind individuals.

Background: In the absence of visual input, the question arises as to how complex spatial abilities develop and how the brain adapts to the absence of this modality. As such, the aim of the current study was to investigate the relationship between visual status and an important brain structure with a well established role in spatial cognition and navigation, the caudate nucleus. We conducted a volumetric analysis of the caudate nucleus in congenitally and late blind individuals, as well as in matched sighted control subjects.

Differentiating anticipatory from reactive cortisol responses to psychosocial stress.

Most psychosocial stress studies assess the overall cortisol response without further identifying the temporal dynamics within hormone levels. It has been shown, however, that the amplitude of anticipatory cortisol stress levels has a unique predictive value for psychological health. So far, no "best practice" in how to investigate the anticipatory cortisol stress response has emerged.

Larger amygdala but no change in hippocampal volume in 10-year-old children exposed to maternal depressive symptomatology since birth.

Maternal separation and poor maternal care in animals have been shown to have important effects on the developing hippocampus and amygdala. In humans, children exposed to abuse/maltreatment or orphanage rearing do not present changes in hippocampal volumes. However, children reared in orphanages present enlarged amygdala volumes, suggesting that the amygdala may be particularly sensitive to severely disturbed (i.

Investigation into the cross-correlation of salivary cortisol and alpha-amylase responses to psychological stress.

Stress is a multidimensional construct. To accurately represent stress physiology, multiple stress measures across multiple stress-related systems should be assessed. However, associations may be masked given that different systems underlie different time courses.

Amygdala response in patients with acute PTSD to masked and unmasked emotional facial expressions.

Objective: This study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate amygdala response in patients with acute posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) to emotional expressions.

Method: Thirteen medication-free individuals with acute PTSD and no axis I psychiatric comorbidity were scanned while viewing pictures of fearful or happy faces, presented above or below consciousness, with backward masking.

Results: There was a significant positive correlation between the severity of PTSD and the difference in amygdala responses between masked fearful and happy faces and a corresponding negative correlation for the difference between unmasked fearful and happy faces.

Size versus shape differences: contrasting voxel-based and volumetric analyses of the anterior cingulate cortex in individuals with acute posttraumatic stress disorder.

Background: Two studies found morphological differences in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) of individuals with chronic posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). We sought to replicate and extend these findings in a sample of individuals with acute PTSD.

Methods: The ACCs of individuals with acute PTSD (n = 14) and matched healthy control subjects (n = 14) were compared using voxel-based morphometry (VBM), semi-automated volumetric analyses, and probabilistic maps.