Rethinking the residual approach: leveraging statistical learning to operationalize cognitive resilience in Alzheimer's disease.

Cognitive resilience (CR) describes the phenomenon of individuals evading cognitive decline despite prominent Alzheimer's disease neuropathology. Operationalization and measurement of this latent construct is non-trivial as it cannot be directly observed. The residual approach has been widely applied to estimate CR, where the degree of resilience is estimated through a linear model's residuals.

Alternative models of funding curiosity-driven research.

Funding of curiosity-driven science is the lifeblood of scientific and technological innovation. Various models of funding allocation became institutionalized in the 20th century, shaping the present landscape of research funding. There are numerous reasons for scientists to be dissatisfied with current funding schemes, including the imbalance between funding for curiosity-driven and mission-directed research, regional and country disparities, path-dependency of who gets funded, gender and race disparities, low inter-reviewer reliability, and the trade-off between the effort and time spent on writing or reviewing proposals and doing research.

Inflammatory proteins related to depression in multiple sclerosis: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Up to 50% of individuals with multiple sclerosis (MS) experience depression. Depression has been accompanied by increases in inflammatory proteins. This meta-analysis summarized the data on inflammatory protein concentrations and level of depression in individuals with MS.

The differential fading of disgust and fear reactions to a personal trauma in a non-clinical population.

Persistent negative emotions are a key post-traumatic stress (PTS) symptom. occurs during/following traumatic events and predicts PTS symptoms, but is overlooked relative to other negative emotions like fear. Here, we investigate how trauma-related disgust fades-or persists-in memory (i.

Exploring the Implementation of Cognitive Screening in First-Episode Psychosis Settings: The CogScreen Implementation Study.

Aim: Accurate and appropriate cognitive screening can significantly enhance early psychosis care, yet no screening tools have been validated for the early psychosis population and little is known about current screening practices, experiences, or factors that may influence implementation. CogScreen is a hybrid type 1 study aiming to validate two promising screening tools with young people with first episode psychosis (primary aim) and to understand the context for implementing cognitive screening in early psychosis settings (secondary aim). This protocol outlines the implementation study, which aims to explore the current practices, acceptability, feasibility and determinants of cognitive screening in early psychosis settings from the perspective of key stakeholders.

The Effects of Filter Ventilation and Expanded Tobacco on the Tar, Nicotine and Carbon Monoxide Yields from Cigarettes Sold in Australia.

Cigarette brand variant names and characteristics such as the taste and feel of the smoke can mislead consumers into believing some products are less harmful. We assessed the characteristics of three common cigarette variants sold in Australia, "gold", "blue" and "red", to determine which characteristics differed by color, and which affected tar, nicotine and carbon monoxide (TNCO) yields. TNCO yields, physical parameters, expanded tobacco and filter ventilation were measured in cigarette color variants from eight brands.

Systematic review and meta-analysis of family-based interventions for early psychosis: Carer and patient outcomes.

Background: Previous reviews have indicated that family interventions in early psychosis are beneficial for patients and family caregivers. Given recent developments in research and service provision an updated review is warranted.

Methods: We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of family intervention trials in the first 5 years after psychosis onset.

Conceptual coherence but methodological mayhem: A systematic review of absolute pitch phenotyping.

Despite extensive research on absolute pitch (AP), there remains no gold-standard task to measure its presence or extent. This systematic review investigated the methods of pitch-naming tasks for the classification of individuals with AP and examined how our understanding of the AP phenotype is affected by variability in the tasks used to measure it. Data extracted from 160 studies (N = 23,221 participants) included (i) the definition of AP, (ii) task characteristics, (iii) scoring method, and (iv) participant scores.

Disgust memory enhancement extends to more accurate memory but not more false memories.

People show enhanced memory recall for disgust over fear, despite both being highly negative and arousing emotions. But does disgust's 'stickiness' in memory result in more false memories for disgust versus fear? Existing research finds low false-memory rates for disgust and fear, perhaps from using image lures depicting content unrelated to target images. Therefore, we presented 111 participants with disgust, fear, (and neutral) images during an attention-monitoring task.

Frontostriatal connectivity dynamically modulates the adaptation to environmental volatility.

Humans adjust their learning strategies in changing environments by estimating the volatility of the reinforcement conditions. Here, we examine how volatility affects learning and the underlying functional brain organizations using a probabilistic reward reversal learning task. We found that the order of states was critically important; participants adjusted learning rate going from volatile to stable, but not from stable to volatile environments.

Decoding imagined movement in people with multiple sclerosis for brain-computer interface translation.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a heterogeneous autoimmune-mediated disorder affecting the central nervous system, commonly manifesting as fatigue and progressive limb impairment. This can significantly impact quality of life due to weakness or paralysis in the upper and lower limbs. A brain-computer interface (BCI) aims to restore quality of life through control of an external device, such as a wheelchair.

Patterns in affect and personality states across the menstrual cycle.

Affective, behavioral, and cognitive (i.e., personality) states fluctuate across situations and context, yet the biological mechanisms regulating them remain unclear.

Sex-specific Associations of Gene Expression with Alzheimer's Disease Neuropathology and Ante-mortem Cognitive Performance.

The biological mechanisms underlying women's increased Alzheimer's disease (AD) prevalence remain undefined. Previous case/control studies have identified sex-biased molecular pathways, but sex-specific relationships between gene expression and AD endophenotypes, particularly sex chromosomes, are underexplored. With bulk transcriptomic data across 3 brain regions from 767 decedents, we investigated sex-specific associations between gene expression and post-mortem β-amyloid and tau as well as antemortem longitudinal cognition.

Provided and received positive and negative social control, relationship satisfaction, and sedentary behavior in parent-child dyads.

Background: The close relationship processes and health model and the dyadic health influence model posit that relationship beliefs (eg, relationship satisfaction) and influence strategies (eg, provision and receipt of positive and negative social control) mediate health behavior change. However, evidence for such mediation in parent-child dyads is limited.

Purpose: Two complementary mediation hypotheses were tested: (1) social control forms indirect relationships with sedentary behavior (SB), via relationship satisfaction acting as a mediator; and (2) relationship satisfaction forms indirect relationships with SB, with social control operating as a mediator.

Observational comparison of fatigue and sleep disturbance after traumatic injury, in those with and without concomitant mild traumatic brain injury.

Objective: Fatigue and subjective sleep disturbance are elevated after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), raising the question of whether mTBI-specific factors contribute to the experience of fatigue and subjective sleep disturbance after mTBI.

Design: 110 premorbidly healthy individuals who had suffered a traumatic injury during an accident approximately 8 weeks prior were examined and assessed with subjective measures of fatigue and sleep disturbance, psychological distress and pain.

Results: Individuals with a traumatic injury reported significant elevations in most fatigue and all subjective sleep disruption components compared to community-based control participants (n = 45).

A systematic review of pre-pandemic resilience factors and mental health outcomes in adolescents and young adults during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Adolescence and young adulthood are sensitive developmental periods to environmental influences. Investigating pre-emptive measures against stressors, such as those associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, on mental health is crucial. We aimed to synthesize evidence on pre-pandemic resilience factors shaping youth mental health outcomes during this period.

A Narrative Review on the Neurocognitive Profiles in Eating Disorders and Higher Weight Individuals: Insights for Targeted Interventions.

: Recent research has increasingly explored the cognitive processes underlying eating disorders (EDs), including anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN), binge eating disorder (BED), other specified feeding or eating disorders (OSFEDs), and individuals with higher weight (HW). This critical narrative review focuses on neurocognitive findings derived from mainly experimental tasks to provide a detailed understanding of cognitive functioning across these groups. Where experimental data are lacking, we draw on self-report measures and neuroimaging findings to offer supplementary insights.

The Impact of Dexamphetamine Treatment for Obesity on Executive Function: A Double-Blind Randomised Controlled Pilot Study.

Background: Amphetamines increase dopamine levels in mid-brain regions which, in turn, impact top-down executive function. Repeated exposure is linked to substance use disorders. Nonetheless, amphetamines are used to manage attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and eating-related disorders.

Delivering family centred services in child-onset disability: a mixed methods approach to understanding health professionals' experiences and approaches.

Aim: Family-centred service aims to build family capacity to support their children, but behaviours supporting capacity-building vary. We explored what influences the way service providers think about and approach family-centred service.

Method: An online survey drew on experiences, beliefs, and perspectives of Australian providers.

Associations between structural brain changes and blood neurofilament light chain protein in treatment-resistant schizophrenia.

Objective: Around 30% of people with schizophrenia are refractory to antipsychotic treatment (treatment-resistant schizophrenia). Abnormal structural neuroimaging findings, in particular volume and thickness reductions, are often described in schizophrenia. Novel biomarkers of active brain pathology such as neurofilament light chain protein are now expected to improve current understanding of psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia.

Generation Victoria (GenV): protocol for a longitudinal birth cohort of Victorian children and their parents.

Background: In a world confronted with new and connected challenges, novel strategies are needed to help children and adults achieve their full potential, to predict, prevent and treat disease, and to achieve equity in services and outcomes. Australia's Generation Victoria (GenV) cohorts are designed for multi-pronged discovery (what could improve outcomes?) and intervention research (what actually works, how much and for whom?). Here, we describe the key features of its protocol.

Audiology Through a Psychologically Informed Practice Lens.

Psychologically informed practice is a structural framework originating in physiotherapy, that aids clinicians to identify, consider, and address the psychological factors related to chronic conditions and their management. Hearing loss is a chronic condition associated with a variety of psychosocial impacts, and psychological factors are known to heavily influence the engagement, adherence, and success of hearing rehabilitation. This framework could provide a structured method to manage these factors by using evidence-based psychological theory and applications.

Evaluation of an 8-week telehealth cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) program for adults with muscle dysmorphia: A pilot and feasibility study.

Muscle dysmorphia (MD) is a psychological disorder defined by a pathological belief that one lacks muscularity and has excess body fat. To date, treatment research on MD has been sparse. We conducted a pilot feasibility and acceptability study investigating the preliminary efficacy of an 8-week telehealth cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) intervention for adults with diagnosed MD.

Association of clinical phenotypes of depression with comorbid conditions, treatment patterns and outcomes: a 10-year region-based cohort study.

Depression is a heterogeneous and complex psychological syndrome with highly variable manifestations, which poses difficulties for treatment and prognosis. Depression patients are prone to developing various comorbidities, which stem from different pathophysiological mechanisms, remaining largely understudied. The current study focused on identifying comorbidity-specific phenotypes, and whether these clustered phenotypes are associated with different treatment patterns, clinical manifestations, physiological characteristics, and prognosis.