Hormonal contraception and mood disorders.

Hormonal contraception is known to precipitate or perpetuate depression in some patients. The link between oral contraceptive pills and depression relates to the amount and type of progestogen contained in these pills. Many of the older oral contraceptive pills, which contain ethinylestradiol, are linked to severe mood problems.

Single-Pulse Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation-Evoked Potential Amplitudes and Latencies in the Motor and Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex among Young, Older Healthy Participants, and Schizophrenia Patients.

Background: The combination of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) with electroencephalography (EEG) allows for non-invasive investigation of cortical response and connectivity in human cortex. This study aimed to examine the amplitudes and latencies of each TMS-evoked potential (TEP) component induced by single-pulse TMS (spTMS) to the left motor (M1) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) among healthy young participants (YNG), older participants (OLD), and patients with schizophrenia (SCZ).

Methods: We compared the spatiotemporal characteristics of TEPs induced by spTMS among the groups.

Effects of Oral Contraceptive Androgenicity on Visuospatial and Social-Emotional Cognition: A Prospective Observational Trial.

Oral contraceptives (OCs) containing estrogen and progesterone analogues are widely used amongst reproductive-aged women, but their neurocognitive impact is poorly understood. Preliminary studies suggest that OCs improve verbal memory and that OCs with greater androgenic activity may improve visuospatial ability. We sought to explore the cognitive impact of OCs by assessing performance of OC users at different stages of the OC cycle, and comparing this performance between users of different OC formulations according to known androgenic activity.

Characterising the structure of cognitive heterogeneity in schizophrenia spectrum disorders. A systematic review and narrative synthesis.

The aim of the present review was to systematically summarise our current understanding of the structure of the cognitive heterogeneity that exists within schizophrenia spectrum disorder (SSD). Fifty-two relevant studies were identified from January 1980 to March 2019 that investigated cognitive subgroups within SSD. Twenty-five studies employed classification criteria based on current neuropsychological function, 14 studies employed various data-driven subgrouping methodologies and 13 studies investigated putative cognitive symptom trajectories.

Dissecting the syndrome of schizophrenia: Associations between symptomatology and hormone levels in women with schizophrenia.

Despite many studies implicating reproductive hormones in the development and outcome of schizophrenia, few have characterised the association between symptomatology and hormonal trajectories. To understand the influence of hormones on schizophrenia symptoms, serum steroids (estradiol, progesterone, follicular stimulating hormone (FSH), luteinising hormone (LH), and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA)) and psychopathology (The positive-and-negative-syndrome-scale(PANSS)) and depression (Montgomery-Asberg-Depression-Rating Scale(MADRS)) were collected across 12-weeks in 45 women (mean age 46) diagnosed with schizophrenia. To account for potential heterogeneity, Group-based-trajectory-modelling of psychopathology was used to identify distinct subgroups of individuals following a similar pattern of association between symptom score and hormone levels over-time.

Exploring Heterogeneity on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test in Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders: A Cluster Analytical Investigation.

Objectives: The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) is a complex measure of executive function that is frequently employed to investigate the schizophrenia spectrum. The successful completion of the task requires the interaction of multiple intact executive processes, including attention, inhibition, cognitive flexibility, and concept formation. Considerable cognitive heterogeneity exists among the schizophrenia spectrum population, with substantive evidence to support the existence of distinct cognitive phenotypes.

Quantitative separation of the depressive phase of bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder using electrovestibulography.

No electrophysiological, neuroimaging or genetic markers have been established that strongly relate to the diagnostic separation of bipolar disorder (BD) and major depressive disorder (MDD). This paper's objective is to describe the potential of features, extracted from the recording of electrical activity from the outer ear canal, in a process called electrovestibulography (EVestG), for identifying depressed and partly remitted/remitted MDD and BD patients from each other. From EVestG data four sensory vestibulo-acoustic features were extracted from both background (no movement) and using a single supine-vertical translation stimulus to distinguish 27 controls, 39 MDD and 43 BD patients.

The effects of a muscarinic receptor 1 gene variant on executive and non-executive cognition in schizophrenia spectrum disorders.

Individuals with schizophrenia who are homozygous at the c.267C > A (rs2067477) single nucleotide polymorphism within the muscarinic M1 receptor gene have been reported to perform less well on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). We investigated if rs2067477 genotype variation influenced WCST performance and non-executive cognition cross-diagnostically in a sample of 147 schizophrenia spectrum participants (SSD) and 294 healthy controls.

Sleep-wake, cognitive and clinical correlates of treatment outcome with repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation for young adults with depression.

The utility of key phenotypes of depression in predicting response to repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), namely sleep-wake behaviour, cognition and illness chronicity, has been understudied and not been extended to young samples. This study aimed to determine whether sleep-wake disturbance, cognition or depression chronicity are associated with rTMS outcome in young depressed adults. Sixteen depressed young adults diagnosed with mood disorders (aged 18-29 years) completed this open-label study.

Involvement of different neuronal components in the induction of cortical plasticity with associative stimulation.

Background: Paired associative stimulation (PAS), with stimulus interval of 21.5 or 25 ms, using transcranial magnetic stimulation in the posterior-anterior (PA) current direction, produces a long-term-potentiation-like effect. Stimulation with PA directed current generates both early and late indirect (I)-waves while that in anterior-posterior (AP) current predominantly elicits late I-waves.

Bipolar disorder in the balance.

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a severe mood disorder that lacks established electrophysiological, neuroimaging or biological markers to assist with both diagnosis and monitoring disease severity. This study's aim is to describe the potential of new neurophysiological features assistive in BD diagnosis and severity measurement utilizing the recording of electrical activity from the outer ear canal called Electrovestibulography (EVestG). From EVestG data sensory vestibulo-acoustic features were extracted from a single supine-vertical translation stimulus to distinguish 50 depressed and partly remitted/remitted bipolar disorder patients [18 symptomatic (BD-S, MADRS > 19), 32 reduced symptomatic (BD-R, MADRS ≤ 19)] and 31 age and gender matched healthy individuals (controls).

Transcranial magnetic stimulation in obsessive-compulsive disorder: A focus on network mechanisms and state dependence.

Background: Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) is a non-invasive brain stimulation technique that has shown promise as an adjunct treatment for the symptoms of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Establishing a clear clinical role for TMS in the treatment of OCD is contingent upon evidence of significant efficacy and reliability in reducing symptoms.

Objectives: We present the basic principles supporting the effects of TMS on brain activity with a focus on network-based theories of brain function.

Menstrual cycle irregularity and menopause status influence cognition in women with schizophrenia.

Cognitive impairments are a core feature of schizophrenia and contribute significantly to functional complications. Current pharmacological treatments do not ameliorate cognitive dysfunction and the aetiology of cognitive impairments are poorly understood. Hormones of the hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis that regulate reproductive function have multiple effects on the development, maintenance and function of the brain and have been suggested to also influence cognition.

Psychological Factors Associated With Ultramarathon Runners' Supranormal Pain Tolerance: A Pilot Study.

Athletes seem to have higher pain tolerance than the normally active population. It is unknown whether psychological factors contribute to their supranormal pain tolerance. The aim of this pilot study was to examine pain-related psychological processes in ultramarathon runners ('ultrarunners') and to explore whether psychological factors mediate the elevated pain tolerance displayed by ultrarunners.

Impaired neuroplasticity in the prefrontal cortex in depression indexed through paired associative stimulation.

Background: Dysfunctional neuroplasticity may be one of the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying major depression. We have previously established methods to assess neuroplasticity from the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) using a paired associative stimulation (PAS) paradigm, which pairs a preceding peripheral nerve stimulation with subsequent transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) combined with electroencephalography (EEG). We aimed to investigate neuroplasticity through the PAS paradigm in the DLPFC in patients with depression compared to healthy subjects.

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) during pregnancy: quantifying and assessing the electric field strength inside the foetal brain.

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is an effective treatment option for severe mental illness during pregnancy. However, there is little knowledge about the amount of electric field produced inside the foetus, which is important to understand the effects of ECT on the foetal excitable tissues. Thus, in this paper, the electric field strength inside the foetus was computed and compared to the basic restriction of the International Commission for Non-Ionizing Radiation Protection (ICNIRP).

GABA concentration in sensorimotor cortex following high-intensity exercise and relationship to lactate levels.

Key Points: Magnetic resonance spectroscopy was conducted before and after high-intensity interval exercise. Sensorimotor cortex GABA concentration increased by 20%. The increase was positively correlated with the increase in blood lactate.

The effect of stimulus strength on binocular rivalry rate in healthy individuals: Implications for genetic, clinical and individual differences studies.

Binocular rivalry (BR) occurs when conflicting images concurrently presented to corresponding retinal locations of each eye stochastically alternate in perception. Anomalies of BR rate have been examined in a range of clinical psychiatric conditions. In particular, slow BR rate has been proposed as an endophenotype for bipolar disorder (BD) to improve power in large-scale genome-wide association studies.

When you can, scale up: Large-scale study shows no effect of tDCS in an ambiguous risk-taking task.

Background: A wide range of neuroimaging and neuromodulation studies have shown that the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) plays a pivotal role in decision-making. Of particular interest is the question of its role in decision-making when conditions are uncertain and whether manipulating this neural substrate through neuromodulation changes subsequent risk-taking behaviour. Previous work using the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) suggests that bilateral tDCS stimulation of the DLPFC reduces risk-taking behaviour but unilateral stimulation has no effect.

Evidence that eye-movement profiles do not explain slow binocular rivalry rate in bipolar disorder: support for a perceptual endophenotype.

Objectives: Presenting conflicting images simultaneously, one to each eye, produces perceptual alternations known as binocular rivalry (BR). Slow BR rate has been proposed as an endophenotype for bipolar disorder (BD) for use in large-scale genome-wide association studies. However, the trait could conceivably reflect eye movement (EM) dysfunction in BD rather than anomalous perceptual processing per se.

Modulation of cognitive cerebello-cerebral functional connectivity by lateral cerebellar continuous theta burst stimulation.

Network connectivity measured with resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) has revealed the contribution of distinct cerebellar lobules to an array of brain wide networks sub-serving motor and cognitive processes. As distinct cerebellar lobules form relatively accessible nodes of different brain networks, this raises the possibility for site-specific modulation of network connectivity using non-invasive brain stimulation techniques such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS). Continuous theta burst transcranial magnetic stimulation (cTBS) induces long-lasting inhibition of cortical areas.