Evaluation of the reliability and validity of computerized tests of attention.

Different aspects of attention can be assessed through psychological tests to identify stable individual or group differences as well as alterations after interventions. Aiming for a wide applicability of attentional assessments, Psychology Experiment Building Language (PEBL) is an open-source software system for designing and running computerized tasks that tax various attentional functions. Here, we evaluated the reliability and validity of computerized attention tasks as provided with the PEBL package: Continuous Performance Task (CPT), Switcher task, Psychomotor Vigilance Task (PVT), Mental Rotation task, and Attentional Network Test.

Comorbidity of ketamine dependence with major depressive disorder increases the vulnerability to neuroaxonal pathology.

We recently demonstrated that patients with ketamine dependence (KD) have increased serum levels of neurofilament light chain (NfL), a novel marker of active neuroaxonal pathology, with NfL levels being significantly higher in those KD patients comorbid with major depressive disorder (MDD). However, considering that NfL elevation has been associated with both ketamine-related brain pathology and MDD, we could not determine whether the observed elevation of NfL levels was driven by an interaction of KD with MDD or by MDD itself. Therefore, we compared serum NfL levels between 35 patients with MDD without ketamine use (MDD group), 23 with KD without MDD (KD without MDD group), 30 KD with MDD (KD with MDD group), and 86 healthy controls (HC group).

Does chronic use of amphetamine-type stimulants impair interference control? - A meta-analysis.

In substance use and addiction, inhibitory control is key to ignoring triggers, withstanding craving and maintaining abstinence. In amphetamine-type stimulant (ATS) users, most research focused on behavioral inhibition, but largely neglected the equally important subdomain of cognitive interference control. Given its crucial role in managing consumption, we investigated the relationship between interference control and chronic ATS use in adults.

Adaptive changes in sensorimotor processing in patients with acute low back pain.

In low back pain (LBP), primary care and secondary prevention of recurrent and persistent LBP are not always successful. Enhanced understanding of neural mechanisms of sensorimotor processing and pain modulation in patients with acute LBP is mandatory. This explorative fMRI study investigated sensorimotor processing due to mechanosensory stimulation of the lumbar spine.

Functional connectivity and amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations changes in people with complete subacute and chronic spinal cord injury.

After spinal cord injury (SCI), reorganization processes and changes in brain connectivity occur. Besides the sensorimotor cortex, the subcortical areas are strongly involved in motion and executive control. This exploratory study focusses on the cerebellum and vermis.

Dexmedetomidine in Psychiatry: Repurposing of its Fast-Acting Anxiolytic, Analgesic and Sleep Modulating Properties.

Drug repurposing is a strategy to identify new indications for already approved drugs. A recent successful example in psychiatry is ketamine, an anesthetic drug developed in the 1960s, now approved and clinically used as a fast-acting antidepressant. Here, we describe the potential of dexmedetomidine as a psychopharmacological repurposing candidate.

Mechanical thrombectomy for large vessel occlusion between 6 and 24 h: outcome comparison of DEFUSE-3/DAWN eligible versus non-eligible patients.

Background: The DEFUSE-3 and DAWN trials showed that mechanical thrombectomy (MT) improves the outcome of selected patients with anterior circulation large vessel occlusions (LVO) up to 24 h after stroke onset. However, it is unknown whether only those patients fulfilling the trial inclusion criteria benefit, or whether benefit is seen in a broader range of patients presenting between 6 and 24 h.

Aims: We determined whether fulfilling the DEFUSE-3 and DAWN selection criteria affects outcomes in MT patients in clinical practice.

Cue-induced cocaine craving enhances psychosocial stress and vice versa in chronic cocaine users.

Stress and craving, it has been found, contribute to the development and maintenance of and relapse in cocaine use disorder. Chronic cocaine users (CU), previous research has shown, display altered physiological responses to psychosocial stress and increased vegetative responding to substance-related cues. However, how psychosocial stress and cue-induced craving interact in relation to the CU's physiological responses remains largely unknown.

Lateral Geniculate Nucleus Volume Determined on MRI Correlates With Corresponding Ganglion Cell Layer Loss in Acquired Human Postgeniculate Lesions.

Purpose: To quantitatively assess lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) volume loss in the presence of lesions in the postgeniculate pathway and its correlation with optical coherence tomography retinal parameters.

Methods: This was a case control study of patients recruited at the University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland. Nine patients who were suffering from lesions in the postgeniculate pathway acquired at least 3 months earlier participated.

Learning from Ingroup Experiences Changes Intergroup Impressions.

Humans form impressions toward individuals of their own social groups (ingroup members) and of different social groups (outgroup members). Outgroup-focused theories predict that intergroup impressions are mainly shaped by experiences with outgroup individuals, while ingroup-focused theories predict that ingroup experiences play a dominant role. Here we test predictions from these two psychological theories by estimating how intergroup impressions are dynamically shaped when people learn from both ingroup and outgroup experiences.

The role of serotonin in declarative memory: A systematic review of animal and human research.

The serotonergic system is involved in diverse cognitive functions including memory. Of particular importance to daily life are declarative memories that contain information about personal experiences, general facts, and events. Several psychiatric or neurological diseases, such as depression, attention-deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and dementia, show alterations in serotonergic signalling and attendant memory disorders.

Effects of the mu-opioid receptor agonist morphine on facial mimicry and emotion recognition.

Facial mimicry and emotion recognition are two socio-cognitive abilities involved in adaptive socio-emotional behavior, promoting affiliation and the establishment of social bonds. The mu-opioid receptor (MOR) system plays a key role in affiliation and social bonding. However, it remains unclear whether MORs are involved in the categorization and spontaneous mimicry of emotional facial expressions.

Modeling the Repetition-Based Recovering of Acoustic and Visual Sources With Dendritic Neurons.

In natural auditory environments, acoustic signals originate from the temporal superimposition of different sound sources. The problem of inferring individual sources from ambiguous mixtures of sounds is known as blind source decomposition. Experiments on humans have demonstrated that the auditory system can identify sound sources as repeating patterns embedded in the acoustic input.

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor protects serotonergic neurons against 3,4-methylenedioxymethamphetamine ("Ecstasy") induced cytoskeletal damage.

3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, "Ecstasy") use has been linked to persistent alterations of the brain serotonergic (5-HT) system in animal and human studies, but the molecular underpinnings are still unclear. Cytoskeletal structures such as neurofilament light chain (NfL) are promising markers of drug-induced brain toxicity and may be involved in MDMA neurotoxicity. The brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) promotes the growth and sprouting of 5-HT neurons and its differential response to MDMA administration was suggested to mediate dose- and region-dependent 5-HT damage by MDMA.

The impact of levamisole and alcohol on white matter microstructure in adult chronic cocaine users.

Previous brain imaging studies with chronic cocaine users (CU) using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) mostly focused on fractional anisotropy to investigate white matter (WM) integrity. However, a quantitative interpretation of fractional anisotropy (FA) alterations is often impeded by the inherent limitations of the underlying tensor model. A more fine-grained measure of WM alterations could be achieved by measuring fibre density (FD).

Differential Expression of Serum Extracellular Vesicle miRNAs in Multiple Sclerosis: Disease-Stage Specificity and Relevance to Pathophysiology.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease of the central nervous system (CNS). Its first clinical presentation (clinically isolated syndrome, CIS) is often followed by the development of relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS). The periphery-to-CNS transmission of inflammatory molecules is a major pathophysiological pathway in MS.

Evidence for Effects of Extracellular Vesicles on Physical, Inflammatory, Transcriptome and Reward Behaviour Status in Mice.

Immune-inflammatory activation impacts extracellular vesicles (EVs), including their miRNA cargo. There is evidence for changes in the EV miRNome in inflammation-associated neuropsychiatric disorders. This mouse study investigated: (1) effects of systemic lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and chronic social stress (CSS) on plasma EV miRNome; and (2) physiological, transcriptional, and behavioural effects of peripheral or central delivered LPS-activated EVs in recipient mice.

Polysubstance Use in Early Adulthood: Patterns and Developmental Precursors in an Urban Cohort.

Polysubstance use (i.e., simultaneous or sequential use of different psychoactive substances) is associated with increases in the risk of severe health problems and social impairments.

Opioid-blunted cortisol response to stress is associated with increased negative mood and wanting of social reward.

Animal research suggests a central role of the μ-opioid receptor (MOR) system in regulating affiliative behaviors and in mediating the stress-buffering function of social contact. However, the neurochemistry of stress-related social contact seeking in humans is still poorly understood. In a randomized, double-blind, between-subjects design, healthy female volunteers (N = 80) received either 10 mg of the µ-opioid agonist morphine sulfate, or a placebo.

High Prevalence and Early Onsets: Legal and Illegal Substance Use in an Urban Cohort of Young Adults in Switzerland.

Introduction: Debates about the legalization of illegal substances (e.g., cannabis) continue around the globe.

Characterization of exploratory patterns and hippocampal-prefrontal network oscillations during the emergence of free exploration.

During free exploration, the emergence of patterned and sequential behavioral responses to an unknown environment reflects exploration traits and adaptation. However, the behavioral dynamics and neural substrates underlying the exploratory behavior remain poorly understood. We developed computational tools to quantify the exploratory behavior and performed in vivo electrophysiological recordings in a large arena in which mice made sequential excursions into unknown territory.

Opioid antagonism modulates wanting-related frontostriatal connectivity.

Theoretical accounts distinguish between motivational ('wanting') and hedonic ('liking') dimensions of rewards. Previous animal and human research linked wanting and liking to anatomically and neurochemically distinct brain mechanisms, but it remains unknown how the different brain regions and neurotransmitter systems interact in processing distinct reward dimensions. Here, we assessed how pharmacological manipulations of opioid and dopamine receptor activation modulate the neural processing of wanting and liking in humans in a randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind clinical trial.

Attitudes Toward COVID-19 Vaccination Among Young Adults in Zurich, Switzerland, September 2020.

Young adults are essential to the effective mitigation of the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19) given their tendency toward greater frequency of social interactions. Little is known about vaccine willingness during pandemics in European populations. This study examined young people's attitudes toward COVID-19 vaccines in Fall 2020.

Alterations of Stress-Related Glucocorticoids and Endocannabinoids in Hair of Chronic Cocaine Users.

Background: Previous research in animals and humans has demonstrated a potential role of stress regulatory systems, such as the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the endocannabinoid (eCB) system, in the development of substance use disorders. We thus investigated alterations of HPA and eCB markers in individuals with chronic cocaine use disorder by using an advanced hair analysis technique.

Methods: We compared hair concentrations of glucocorticoids (cortisone, cortisol) and the eCBs 2-arachidonylglycerol, anandamide (AEA), oleoylethanolamide (OEA), and palmitoylethanolamide (PEA) between 48 recreational cocaine users (RCU), 25 dependent cocaine users (DCU), and 67 stimulant-naïve controls.

Frequent teenage cannabis use: Prevalence across adolescence and associations with young adult psychopathology and functional well-being in an urban cohort.

Background: Amidst cannabis legalization efforts and laws, we do not fully understand how the youngest frequent cannabis users fare during young adulthood. This study aims to 1) examine the prevalence of cannabis use during adolescence, and 2) investigate links of frequent (i.e.