Altered amygdala-cortical connectivity in individuals with Cannabis use disorder.

Background: Cannabis is one of the most commonly used substances in the United States. Prior literature using task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has identified that individuals with Cannabis use disorder (CUD) show impairments in emotion processing circuitry. However, whether the functional networks involving these regions are also altered in CUD remains poorly understood.

Aberrant inhibitory processing in the somatosensory cortices of cannabis-users.

Background: Delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is a major exogenous psychoactive agent, which acts as a partial agonist on cannabinoid (CB) receptors. THC is known to inhibit presynaptic neurotransmission and has been repeatedly linked to acute decrements in cognitive function across multiple domains. Previous electrophysiological studies of sensory gating have shown specific deficits in inhibitory processing in cannabis-users, but to date these findings have been limited to the auditory cortices, and the degree to which these aberrations extend to other brain regions remains largely unknown.

Neural oscillatory activity serving sensorimotor control is predicted by superoxide-sensitive mitochondrial redox environments.

Motor control requires a coordinated ensemble of spatiotemporally precise neural oscillations across a distributed motor network, particularly in the beta range (15 to 30 Hz) to successfully plan and execute volitional actions. While substantial evidence implicates beta activity as critical to motor control, the molecular processes supporting these microcircuits and their inherent oscillatory dynamics remain poorly understood. Among these processes are mitochondrial integrity and the associated redox environments, although their direct impact on human neurophysiological function is unknown.

Spontaneous cortical MEG activity undergoes unique age- and sex-related changes during the transition to adolescence.

Background: While numerous studies have examined the developmental trajectory of task-based neural oscillations during childhood and adolescence, far less is known about the evolution of spontaneous cortical activity during this time period. Likewise, many studies have shown robust sex differences in task-based oscillations during this developmental period, but whether such sex differences extend to spontaneous activity is not understood.

Methods: Herein, we examined spontaneous cortical activity in 111 typically-developing youth (ages 9-15 years; 55 male).

Cannabis use impacts pre-stimulus neural activity in the visual cortices of people with HIV.

People with HIV (PWH) use cannabis at a higher rate than the general population, but the influence on neural activity is not well characterized. Cannabis use among PWH may have a beneficial effect, as neuroinflammation is known to be a critical problem in PWH and cannabis use has been associated with a reduction in proinflammatory markers. Thus, it is important to understand the net impact of cannabis use on brain and cognitive function in PWH.

Three-year reliability of MEG resting-state oscillatory power.

Introduction: Resting-state oscillatory activity has been extensively studied across a wide array of disorders. Establishing which spectrally- and spatially-specific oscillatory components exhibit test-retest reliability is essential to move the field forward. While studies have shown short-term reliability of MEG resting-state activity, no studies have examined test-retest reliability across an extended period of time to establish the stability of these signals, which is critical for reproducibility.

Weaker Connectivity of the Cortical Networks Is Linked with the Uncharacteristic Gait in Youth with Cerebral Palsy.

Cerebral palsy (CP) is the most prevalent pediatric neurologic impairment and is associated with major mobility deficiencies. This has led to extensive investigations of the sensorimotor network, with far less research focusing on other major networks. The aim of this study was to investigate the functional connectivity (FC) of the main sensory networks (i.

Altered Somatosensory Cortical Activity Is Associated with Cortical Thickness in Adults with Cerebral Palsy: Multimodal Evidence from MEG/sMRI.

Somatosensory cortical activity is altered in individuals with cerebral palsy (CP). However, previous studies have focused on the lower extremities in children with CP and have given less attention to structural changes that may contribute to these alterations. We used a multimodal neuroimaging approach to investigate the relationship between somatosensory cortical activity and cortical thickness in 17 adults with CP (age = 32.

Stress-induced aberrations in sensory processing predict worse cognitive outcomes in healthy aging adults.

It is well recognized that not all individuals age equivalently, with functional dependence attributable, at least in part, to stress accumulated across the lifespan. Amongst these dependencies are age-related declines in cognitive function, which may be the result of impaired inhibitory processing (e.g.

Visuospatial alpha and gamma oscillations scale with the severity of cognitive dysfunction in patients on the Alzheimer's disease spectrum.

Background: Entrainment of neural oscillations in occipital cortices by external rhythmic visual stimuli has been proposed as a novel therapy for patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Despite this increased interest in visual neural oscillations in AD, little is known regarding their role in AD-related cognitive impairment and in particular during visuospatial processing.

Methods: We used source-imaged magnetoencephalography (MEG) and an established visuospatial processing task to elicit multi-spectral neuronal responses in 35 biomarker-confirmed patients on the AD spectrum and 20 biomarker-negative older adults.

Gray matter volumes discriminate cognitively impaired and unimpaired people with HIV.

Background: Current diagnostic criteria of HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) rely on neuropsychological assessments. The aim of this study was to evaluate if gray matter volumes (GMV) can distinguish people with HAND, neurocognitively unimpaired people with HIV (unimpaired PWH), and uninfected controls using linear discriminant analyses.

Methods: A total of 231 participants, including 110 PWH and 121 uninfected controls, completed a neuropsychological assessment and an MRI protocol.

Increases in Stressors Prior to-Versus During the COVID-19 Pandemic in the United States Are Associated With Depression Among Middle-Aged Mothers.

Working parents in are struggling to balance the demands of their occupation with those of childcare and homeschooling during the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, studies show that women are shouldering more of the burden and reporting greater levels of psychological distress, anxiety, and depression relative to men. However, research has yet to show that increases in psychological symptoms are linked to changes in stress during the pandemic.

Amount of Hearing Aid Use Impacts Neural Oscillatory Dynamics Underlying Verbal Working Memory Processing for Children With Hearing Loss.

Objectives: Children with hearing loss (CHL) may exhibit spoken language delays and may also experience deficits in other cognitive domains including working memory. Consistent hearing aid use (i.e.

Neuroinflammatory profiles regulated by the redox environment predicted cognitive dysfunction in people living with HIV: A cross-sectional study.

Background: Despite effective combination antiretroviral therapy (cART), people living with HIV (PLWH) remain at risk for developing neurocognitive impairment primarily due to systemic inflammation that persists despite virologic suppression, albeit the mechanisms underlying such inflammation are poorly understood.

Methods: Herein, we evaluate the predictive capacity of the mitochondrial redox environment on circulating neuro- and T-lymphocyte-related inflammation and concomitant cognitive function in 40 virally-suppressed PLWH and 40 demographically-matched controls using structural equation modeling. We used state-of-the-art systems biology approaches including Seahorse Analyzer of mitochondrial function, electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy to measure superoxide levels, antioxidant activity assays, and Meso Scale multiplex technology to quantify inflammatory proteins in the periphery.

Peripheral Somatosensory Entrainment Modulates the Cross-Frequency Coupling of Movement-Related Theta-Gamma Oscillations.

Motor control requires a reciprocal volley between somatosensory and motor systems, with somatosensory feedback being essential for the online updating of motor commands to achieve behavioral outcomes. However, this dynamic interplay among sensorimotor brain systems serving motor control remains poorly understood. To address this, we designed a novel somatosensory entrainment-movement task, which 25 adults completed during magnetoencephalography (MEG).

Person-Based Similarity Index for Cognition and Its Neural Correlates in Late Adulthood: Implications for Cognitive Reserve.

Healthy aging is typically associated with some level of cognitive decline, but there is substantial variation in such decline among older adults. The mechanisms behind such heterogeneity remain unclear but some have suggested a role for cognitive reserve. In this work, we propose the "person-based similarity index" for cognition (PBSI-Cog) as a proxy for cognitive reserve in older adults, and use the metric to quantify similarity between the cognitive profiles of healthy older and younger participants.

Differences in Rhythmic Neural Activity Supporting the Temporal and Spatial Cueing of Attention.

The neural processes serving the orienting of attention toward goal-relevant stimuli are generally examined with informative cues that direct visual attention to a spatial location. However, cues predicting the temporal emergence of an object are also known to be effective in attentional orienting but are implemented less often. Differences in the neural oscillatory dynamics supporting these divergent types of attentional orienting have only rarely been examined.

Movement-Related Gamma Synchrony Differentially Predicts Behavior in the Presence of Visual Interference Across the Lifespan.

The ability to allocate neural resources to task-relevant stimuli, while inhibiting distracting information in the surrounding environment (i.e., selective attention) is critical for high-level cognitive function, and declines in this ability have been linked to functional deficits in later life.

Sexually dimorphic development in the cortical oscillatory dynamics serving early visual processing.

Successful interaction with one's visual environment is paramount to developing and performing many basic and complex mental functions. Although major aspects of visual development are completed at an early age, other structural and functional components of visual processing appear to be dynamically changing across a much more protracted period extending into late childhood and adolescence. However, the underlying neurophysiological changes and cortical oscillatory dynamics that support maturation of the visual system during this developmental period remain poorly understood.

Spatio-spectral relationships between pathological neural dynamics and cognitive impairment along the Alzheimer's disease spectrum.

Introduction: Numerous studies have described aberrant patterns of rhythmic neural activity in patients along the Alzheimer's disease (AD) spectrum, yet the relationships between these pathological features and cognitive decline are uncertain.

Methods: We acquired magnetoencephalography (MEG) data from 38 amyloid-PET biomarker-confirmed patients on the AD spectrum and a comparison group of biomarker-negative cognitively normal (CN) healthy adults, alongside an extensive neuropsychological battery.

Results: By modeling whole-brain rhythmic neural activity with an extensive neuropsychological profile in patients on the AD spectrum, we show that the spectral and spatial features of deviations from healthy adults in neural population-level activity inform their relevance to domain-specific neurocognitive declines.

Neural oscillations underlying selective attention follow sexually divergent developmental trajectories during adolescence.

Selective attention processes are critical to everyday functioning and are known to develop through at least young adulthood. Although numerous investigations have studied the maturation of attention systems in the brain, these studies have largely focused on the spatial configuration of these systems; there is a paucity of research on the neural oscillatory dynamics serving selective attention, particularly among youth. Herein, we examined the developmental trajectory of neural oscillatory activity serving selective attention in 53 typically developing youth age 9-to-16 years-old.

Modular and state-relevant functional network connectivity in high-frequency eyes open vs eyes closed resting fMRI data.

Background: Resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI) is employed to assess "functional connections" of signal between brain regions. However, multiple rs-fMRI paradigms and data-filtering strategies have been used, highlighting the need to explore BOLD signal across the spectrum. Rs-fMRI data is typically filtered at frequencies ranging between 0.

The impact of mild-to-severe hearing loss on the neural dynamics serving verbal working memory processing in children.

Children with hearing loss (CHL) exhibit delays in language function relative to children with normal hearing (CNH). However, evidence on whether these delays extend into other cognitive domains such as working memory is mixed, with some studies showing decrements in CHL and others showing CHL performing at the level of CNH. Despite the growing literature investigating the impact of hearing loss on cognitive and language development, studies of the neural dynamics that underlie these cognitive processes are notably absent.

Stairway to memory: Left-hemispheric alpha dynamics index the progressive loading of items into a short-term store.

The encoding, maintenance, and subsequent retrieval of memories over short time intervals is an essential cognitive function. Load effects on the neural dynamics supporting the maintenance of short-term memories have been well studied, but experimental design limitations have hindered the study of similar effects during the encoding of information into online memory stores. Theoretically, the active encoding of complex visual stimuli into memory must also recruit neural resources in a manner that scales with memory load.