Assessing the balance between excitation and inhibition in chronic pain through the aperiodic component of EEG.

Chronic pain is a prevalent and debilitating condition whose neural mechanisms are incompletely understood. An imbalance of cerebral excitation and inhibition (E/I), particularly in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), is believed to represent a crucial mechanism in the development and maintenance of chronic pain. Thus, identifying a non-invasive, scalable marker of E/I could provide valuable insights into the neural mechanisms of chronic pain and aid in developing clinically useful biomarkers.

Stimulation of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and the perception of affective faces. An effective connectivity analysis.

The ventromedial prefrontal cortex is widely linked with emotional phenomena, including appraisal, modulation, and reward processing. Its perigenual part is suggested to mediate the appetitive value of stimulation. In our previous study, besides changes in evoked MEG responses, we were able to induce an apparent behavioral bias toward more positive valence while interpreting the ambiguous, morphed faces after the effect of excitatory tDCS stimulation of the perigenual ventromedial cortex (pgVM).

Accurate diagnosis of ischemic heart disease without exposure to radiation using non-stress unshielded magnetocardiography.

Study Objectives: To evaluate the capability and accuracy of magnetocardiography (MCG) to identify patients with ischemic chest pain from those with non-ischemic pain and to verify normalcy in the MCG in healthy subjects.

Design: We studied 133 patients (mean age 59 ± 14 years, 69 % male) with chronic or acute chest pain syndrome and 63 healthy subjects (mean age 41.7 ± 12.

Frequency-specific cortico-subcortical interaction in continuous speaking and listening.

Speech production and perception involve complex neural dynamics in the human brain. Using magnetoencephalography, our study explores the interaction between cortico-cortical and cortico-subcortical connectivities during these processes. Our connectivity findings during speaking revealed a significant connection from the right cerebellum to the left temporal areas in low frequencies, which displayed an opposite trend in high frequencies.

Choroid plexus morphology in schizophrenia and early-stage psychosis: A cross-sectional study.

Background: The choroid plexus is an important structure within the ventricular system. Schizophrenia has been associated with morphological changes to the choroid plexus but the presence and extent of alterations at different illness stages is unclear.

Methods: We examined choroid plexus volumes in participants at clinical high-risk for psychosis (N = 110), participants with first-episode psychosis (N = 37), participants with schizophrenia (N = 28), clinical (N = 38) and non-clinical controls (N = 75).

Integrated optical probing scheme enabled by localized-interference metasurface for chip-scale atomic magnetometer.

Emerging miniaturized atomic sensors such as optically pumped magnetometers (OPMs) have attracted widespread interest due to their application in high-spatial-resolution biomagnetism imaging. While optical probing systems in conventional OPMs require bulk optical devices including linear polarizers and lenses for polarization conversion and wavefront shaping, which are challenging for chip-scale integration. In this study, an integrated optical probing scheme based on localized-interference metasurface for chip-scale OPM is developed.

Clinical and Functional Outcomes of Community-Recruited Individuals at Clinical High-Risk for Psychosis: Results From the Youth Mental Health Risk and Resilience Study (YouR-Study).

Clinical high-risk for psychosis (CHR-P) individuals are typically recruited from clinical services but the clinical and functional outcomes of community-recruited CHR-P individuals remain largely unclear. The Youth Mental Health Risk and Resilience Study (YouR-Study) obtained a community sample of CHR-P individuals through an online-screening approach and followed-up these individuals for a period of up to 3 years to determine transition rates, persistence of attenuated psychotic symptoms (APS) and functional outcomes. Baseline data were obtained from  = 144 CHR-P participants,  = 51 participants who met online cutoff criteria but not CHR-P criteria (CHR-Ns), and  = 58 healthy controls.

A retrospective two-center cohort study of the bidirectional relationship between depression and tinnitus-related distress.

Background: Tinnitus can cause considerable psychological distress among patients, particularly if comorbidities occur. Despite a strong relationship between tinnitus-related distress and depression, the underlying mechanisms represent a long-standing question. By investigating the co-development of tinnitus-related distress and depressiveness throughout therapy, we capture the dynamic interplay of both conditions and uncover underlying common features mediating their link.

Entrainment of neural oscillations during language processing in Early-Stage schizophrenia.

Background: Impairments in language processing in schizophrenia (ScZ) are a central aspect of the disorder but the underlying pathophysiology mechanisms are unclear. In the current study, we tested the hypothesis that neural oscillations are impaired during speech tracking in early-stage ScZ and in participants at clinical high-risk for psychosis (CHR-P).

Method: Magnetoencephalography (MEG) was used in combination with source reconstructed time-series to examine delta and theta-band entrainment during continuous speech.

A Retrospective Review of Clinical Characteristics and Risk Factors of Dysphagia in Patients with Dermatomyositis.

Background: Dermatomyositis is a rare autoimmune-mediated disease characterised by distinctive rash and progressive muscle weakness. Patients with dermatomyositis may develop swallowing disorders (dysphagia) due to the inflammation of muscles involved in swallowing which may lead to serious health consequences. However, to date, the clinical characteristics of and risk factors for dysphagia in dermatomyositis remain poorly understood.

Magnetocardiography in the Evaluation of Sudden Cardiac Death Risk: A Systematic Review.

Sudden cardiac death (SCD) is responsible for 15%-20% of deaths globally/year, predominantly due to ventricular arrhythmias (VA) caused by vulnerable cardiac substrate. Identifying those at risk has proved difficult with several limitations of current methods. We evaluated the evidence for magnetocardiography (MCG) in predicting SCD events.

Visual body size estimation in adolescent anorexia nervosa: Behavioural and neurophysiological data suggest intact visual perception and biased emotional attention.

Body image disturbance is a key symptom of anorexia nervosa (AN). AN patients report body dissatisfaction and overestimate their own body size in several tasks. This study aimed to clarify whether this overestimation arises from deficits in visual perception.

Standardized Kalman filtering for dynamical source localization of concurrent subcortical and cortical brain activity.

Objective: We introduce standardized Kalman filtering (SKF) as a new spatiotemporal method for tracking brain activity. Via the Kalman filtering scheme, the computational workload is low, and by spatiotemporal standardization, we reduce the depth bias of non-standardized Kalman filtering (KF).

Methods: We describe the standardized KF methodology for spatiotemporal tracking from the Bayesian perspective.

A Dynamic Link between Respiration and Arousal.

Viewing brain function through the lens of other physiological processes has critically added to our understanding of human cognition. Further advances though may need a closer look at the interactions between these physiological processes themselves. Here we characterize the interplay of the highly periodic, and metabolically vital respiratory process and fluctuations in arousal neuromodulation, a process classically seen as nonperiodic.

Common threads: Altered interoceptive processes across affective and anxiety disorders.

There is growing attention towards atypical brain-body interactions and interoceptive processes and their potential role in psychiatric conditions, including affective and anxiety disorders. This paper aims to synthesize recent developments in this field. We present emerging explanatory models and focus on brain-body coupling and modulations of the underlying neurocircuitry that support the concept of a continuum of affective disorders.

Predictors of pharyngeal electrical stimulation treatment success in tracheotomised stroke patients with dysphagia: Secondary analysis from PHADER cohort study.

Pharyngeal electrical stimulation (PES) has emerged as a promising intervention for neurogenic dysphagia, with potential benefits in reducing dysphagia severity in stroke patients. PES may facilitate decannulation in tracheotomised stroke patients with dysphagia, yet the predictive factors for treatment success have not been investigated in detail. This study used data from the PHAryngeal electrical stimulation for treatment of neurogenic Dysphagia European Registry (PHADER) study to identify predictive factors for PES treatment success among patients with post stroke dysphagia who required mechanical ventilation and tracheotomy.

Impact of NPSR1 gene variation on the neural correlates of phasic and sustained fear in spider phobia-an imaging genetics and independent replication approach.

The functional neuropeptide S receptor 1 (NPSR1) gene A/T variant (rs324981) is associated with fear processing. We investigated the impact of NPSR1 genotype on fear processing and on symptom reduction following treatment in individuals with spider phobia. A replication approach was applied [discovery sample: Münster (MS) nMS = 104; replication sample Würzburg (WZ) nWZ = 81].

Feasibility of magnetomyography with optically pumped magnetometers in a mobile magnetic shield.

While magnetomyography (MMG) using optically pumped magnetometers (OPMs) is a promising method for non-invasive investigation of the neuromuscular system, it has almost exclusively been performed in magnetically shielded rooms (MSRs) to date. MSRs provide extraordinary conditions for biomagnetic measurements but limit the widespread adoption of measurement methods due to high costs and extensive infrastructure. In this work, we address this issue by exploring the feasibility of mobile OPM-MMG in a setup of commercially available components.

CutFEM-based MEG forward modeling improves source separability and sensitivity to quasi-radial sources: A somatosensory group study.

Source analysis of magnetoencephalography (MEG) data requires the computation of the magnetic fields induced by current sources in the brain. This so-called MEG forward problem includes an accurate estimation of the volume conduction effects in the human head. Here, we introduce the Cut finite element method (CutFEM) for the MEG forward problem.

Aperiodic Activity Indexes Neural Hyperexcitability in Generalized Epilepsy.

Generalized epilepsy (GE) encompasses a heterogeneous group of hyperexcitability disorders that clinically manifest as seizures. At the whole-brain level, distinct seizure patterns as well as interictal epileptic discharges (IEDs) reflect key signatures of hyperexcitability in magneto- and electroencephalographic (M/EEG) recordings. Moreover, it had been suggested that aperiodic activity, specifically the slope of the 1/ decay function of the power spectrum, might index neural excitability.

Entrainment echoes in the cerebellum.

Evidence accumulates that the cerebellum's role in the brain is not restricted to motor functions. Rather, cerebellar activity seems to be crucial for a variety of tasks that rely on precise event timing and prediction. Due to its complex structure and importance in communication, human speech requires a particularly precise and predictive coordination of neural processes to be successfully comprehended.