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Tag: Psychology and Psychiatry

  • Nature is particularly beneficial for people on lower income

    Nature is particularly beneficial for people on lower income

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    Newswise — Data from a representative sample of the Austrian population suggests that the relationship between nature contact and well-being is consistently stronger for people on lower than higher incomes. However, this pattern was only found when people actively visited nature and not when they merely lived near greenspaces. Findings suggest the availability, accessibility and use of green and blue spaces can play an important role in reducing income-related health inequalities. The study was led by researchers of the University of Vienna in collaboration with the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna and was recently published in the journal Health & Place.

    People on low incomes are at a particularly high risk of suffering from mental health problems such as depression or anxiety. One way to promote good mental and physical health is through nature contact. Time spent in nature is associated with reduced stress levels, better immune functioning, improved cognitive functioning, better sleep and greater life satisfaction. However, these associations do not seem to be the same for everyone.

    As part of a study funded by Austrian and European funding agencies, researchers surveyed 2.300 individuals across Austria representative on age, gender and region. The findings suggest that while people with higher incomes generally reported higher well-being, regardless of how often they visited nature, well-being among the poorest in society was much higher among those who visited nature often. In fact, poorer individuals who visited several times a week had well-being levels nearly as high as the richest respondents. This pattern was clearly shown for both Austria as a whole and for those living in urban Vienna.

    “What the results show is that the well-being benefits from visiting nature at least once a week across the whole year are similar to those from an increase in 1.000 Euros of income per year,” summarises doctoral student and lead author Leonie Fian from the University of Vienna.

    What you do is more important than where you live

    Interestingly, these associations were only found for actively visiting nature, but not for the amount of greenness around people’s homes. In other words, what people did, appeared more important than where they lived. From a public health perspective, it is therefore important to both create greener neighbourhoods and natural recreation areas, and to ensure that they are accessible and used, especially by socio-economically disadvantaged groups.

    “Especially for people on lower incomes, information about attractive natural recreation areas nearby and their accessibility by public transport plays an important role. They should therefore also be easily accessible by public transport at weekends,” says Arne Arnberger from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna.



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    University of Vienna

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  • Many Close Relatives of People with Alcohol Use Disorder Experience Similar Cognitive Weaknesses, Manifesting as Social and Emotional Struggles

    Many Close Relatives of People with Alcohol Use Disorder Experience Similar Cognitive Weaknesses, Manifesting as Social and Emotional Struggles

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    Many people with a family history of alcohol use disorder (AUD) struggle with certain cognition issues that often accompany AUD itself, even if they don’t themselves drink dangerously, according to a novel study. The findings suggest that these issues may be markers of vulnerability for the condition. A family history of AUD—having one or more first-degree relatives with the disorder—increases the risk of developing it, owing to genetic and environmental factors. Differences in cognitive functioning, especially in executive function (EF) and social cognition (SC), may predispose people to AUD and be amplified by chronic drinking. EF involves mental flexibility, inhibiting responses, and working memory, among other processes. SC facilitates social interactions through theory of mind (understanding others’ mental states), emotion recognition, and empathy. Research on healthy people with a family history of AUD has identified EF and SC differences in their neural networks, though little is known about SC processes in this population or whether those neural differences also manifest behaviorally. A better understanding of EF and SC as vulnerability markers may help identify people at risk for AUD. For the study in Alcohol: Clinical & Experimental Research, investigators in France explored behavioral SC in people without AUD who have first-degree relatives with the disorder and assessed the cognitive impact of SC and EF difficulties.

    Researchers worked with 120 adults, of whom 60 had a father or sibling with AUD but did not themselves drink dangerously. The two groups—with and without a family history of AUD—were matched for age, sex, and education level. The participants were assessed for intellectual functioning, psychiatric conditions, problematic drinking, nicotine dependence, depressive symptoms, anxiety, and childhood trauma. They underwent neuropsychological tasks evaluating their EF and theory of mind (a key component of SC) and self-reported impulsivity, alexithymia (“emotional blindness”), and empathy. The investigators used statistical analysis to compare the EF and SC profiles of participants with and without family histories of AUD as groups and individually.

    In tests, the participants with family histories of AUD showed lower resistance to interference—or difficulties suppressing automatic responses and impaired attentional control—EF issues. They also demonstrated weaknesses in theory of mind. (Other differences between groups dissipated after controlling for age, anxiety, and depressive symptoms.) Some participants with AUD relatives had mainly EF difficulties, others predominantly theory of mind. Individual analyses showed EF or SC weaknesses in 53% of people with a family history of AUD; of these, six out of ten struggled with one outcome, the others with more. Those with impaired theory of mind revealed diminished emotional arousal, fantasy, empathy, and perspective-taking. Overall, the findings suggest that EF and SC may drive AUD vulnerability through separate cognitive mechanisms. The participants with close AUD relatives had higher rates of past suicide attempts, anxiety disorders, and childhood trauma than those without such family histories; these mental health symptoms may increase the risk of heavy drinking. The variability in findings was consistent with previous studies suggesting heterogeneous cognitive manifestations in people with AUD as well as in close relatives without the disorder.

    This is the first known study to highlight SC difficulties in a behavioral task measuring theory of mind among healthy close relatives of people with AUD and extends our understanding of the breadth of socioemotional issues affecting this population. Cognitive vulnerabilities involving EF or SC appear to represent a continuum. Despite these risk factors, many people with family histories of AUD likely have protective resiliency factors. More research is needed to examine the relative roles of EF and theory of mind in the development of AUD and to identify people with higher clinical and cognitive vulnerability to AUD, facilitating prevention.

    Patterns of executive functions and theory of mind in adults with a family history of alcohol use disorder: Combined group and single-case analyses. F. Schmid, A. Henry, F. Benzerouk, S. Barrière, J. Gondrexon, A. Kaladjian, F. Gierski. (pp xxx)

    ACER-23-5740.R2

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    Research Society on Alcoholism

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  • How does social media materialism induce stress and unhappiness?

    How does social media materialism induce stress and unhappiness?

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    Six questionnaires answered by over 1,200 people

    Newswise — The researchers headed by Dr. Phillip Ozimek from the Faculty of Psychology at Ruhr University Bochum, Germany, recruited 1,230 people for their online survey. In order to participate, respondents had to use at least one social media channel at least once a week. On average, the participants stated that they spent just over two hours a day on social media.

    The research team used six different questionnaires to determine the extent to which the participants had a materialistic attitude and tended to compare themselves with others, whether they used social media more actively or passively, whether they were addicted to social media, how stressed and how satisfied they were with their lives. 

    Downward spiral set in motion

    “The data showed that a stronger materialistic approach goes hand in hand with a tendency to compare oneself with others,” points out Phillip Ozimek. This comparison is very easy to make on social media, primarily through passive use, i.e. by looking at the content posted by other users. Materialism and passive use were also linked to addictive use of social media. “By this we mean, for example, that users are constantly thinking about the respective channels and fear that they are missing out on something if they are not online,” explains Phillip Ozimek. This in turn leads to symptoms of poorer mental health, i.e. stress. The final link in the chain is reduced life satisfaction. “Social media is one of six stepping stones to unhappiness,” concludes Phillip Ozimek.

    Social media attracts and breeds materialists

    “Overall, the study provides further evidence that the use of social media is associated with risks, especially for people with a highly materialistic mindset,” says the psychologist. This is particularly worrying, because social media can trigger and increase materialistic values, for example through (influencer) marketing. At the same time, the platforms attract materialists anyway, as they are a perfect way to satisfy many materialistic needs.

    “It’s definitely a good idea to be aware of the amount of time you spend on social media and to reduce it,” recommends Phillip Ozimek. He advises against giving up Social Media completely. “If you did, you’re likely to overcompensate.” The research team also suggests recording materialism and social media use in patients undergoing treatment for mental health disorders. “While these factors are often irrelevant, they can be a starting point for additional interventions that patients can try out at home.”

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    Ruhr-Universitat Bochum

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  • Psychotherapy treats PTSD after multiple traumas.

    Psychotherapy treats PTSD after multiple traumas.

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    Newswise — Psychotherapy is an effective treatment for adults with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following exposure to multiple traumatic events. This is the conclusion arrived at by an international team of researchers led by psychologists Dr Thole Hoppen and Prof Nexhmedin Morina from the Department for Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy at the University of Münster (Germany). The efficacy of psychotherapeutic interventions for treating PTSD in adults has been well-documented in various studies. However, until now, it had not been established whether the efficacy of psychotherapeutic interventions varies depending on whether the disorder is caused by one single event – for example, a traffic accident – or by multiple traumatic events such as during warfare or repeated incidents of sexual or physical violence. The meta-analysis, carried out based on data from around 10,600 patients, has now been published in the journal Lancet Psychiatry.

    In this study, the team of researchers – which also included Prof Richard Meiser-Stedman from the University of East Anglia (UK), Dr Ahlke Kip from the University of Münster, and Prof Marianne Skogbrott Birkeland from the Research Centre for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies in Norway – evaluated 137 empirical articles published over the past four decades on the treatment of PTSD in adults. Nexhmedin Morina concludes: “The data show that several psychological interventions are highly effective in treating PTSD following multiple traumatic events – in fact, they are about as effective as when the PTSD follows a single trauma.” These results had, to date, only been reported for the treatment of children and adolescents with PTSD. Now, this study confirms that it also applies in the treatment of PTSD in adults. This is “very encouraging news” for both patients and therapists.

    Around four per cent of the global population suffers from PTSD as a result of traumatic events. The characteristic symptoms of PTSD include distressing intrusive traumatic memories, avoidance behaviour and difficulty with emotional regulation. The new findings have implications for the clinical practice and training of psychotherapists and mental health professionals more generally. “Our data helps remove treatment barriers for patients with a history of multiple traumatic events,” says Thole Hoppen. “In addition to patients’ fear of talking about their traumatic experiences, some psychotherapists hesitate to directly address traumatic experiences during treatment,” he adds. “However, trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy – a form of psychotherapy which helps process the traumatic memories – is not only very effective according to the accumulated data but more effective than non-trauma-focused interventions.” As a result, trauma-focused cognitive behavioural therapy is the first line of treatment recommended in national and international treatment guidelines. However, adds Hoppen, future research requires longer-term data to enable a more solid estimation of the long-term efficacy of the treatment.

     

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    University of Munster

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  • Without brain inhibition, could we possess psi abilities?

    Without brain inhibition, could we possess psi abilities?

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    Research tests a novel neurobiological model of how the brain acts as a psi (e.g. telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, or mind-matter interactions) inhibitor and concludes that the frontal lobes of the brain act as a filter to inhibit humans’ innate psi abilities.

    Newswise — Psi is a phenomenon that includes telepathy (mind-mind connections), clairvoyance (perception of distant objects or events), precognition (perception of future events), and mind-matter interactions (psychokinesis). There are several studies that discuss the empirical evidence for psi, including arguments against their existence as their effects are small and hard to replicate under controlled experimental conditions.

    To address this phenomenon, Dr. Morris Freedman’s team, supported by the BIAL Foundation, has developed a novel neurobiological model based upon the concept that the brain may act as a psi-inhibitory filter. In other words, humans may have innate psi abilities that are suppressed by this frontal lobe filter. To test this hypothesis, he and his colleagues, Dr. Malcolm Binns, Dr. Jed Meltzer, Rohila Hashimi, and Dr. Robert Chen used repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to induce reversible brain lesions in the left medial middle frontal region in healthy participants.

    In an article that was published online ahead of print in the scientific journal Cortex, called Enhanced mind-matter interactions following rTMS induced frontal lobe inhibition, Dr. Freedman and the researchers found a significant psi effect following rTMS inhibition of the left medial middle frontal lobe. Healthy participants with reversible rTMS induced lesions affecting the left medial middle frontal region of the brain showed larger effects on a mind-matter interaction task compared to healthy participants without rTMS induced lesions.

    These findings support the concept that the brain serves as a filter to block psi effects and may help explain why these effects are so small and hard to replicate in healthy participants.

    “This study confirmed our hypothesis”, says Dr. Freedman, head of the Division of Neurology at Baycrest, adding that “individuals with neurological or reversible rTMS induced frontal lesions may represent a useful group for detection and replication of this phenomenon”.

    For Dr. Freedman, these findings “are potentially transformative for the way we view interactions between the brain and seemingly random events” and may “significantly advance research in the area of psi, helping to bring this phenomenon into the realm of mainstream science”.

    Learn more about the project “210/18 – Mind-matter Interactions and the Frontal Lobes of the Brain” here.

    https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0010945223002733

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    BIAL Foundation

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  • Resolutions for a new mentally healthier you

    Resolutions for a new mentally healthier you

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    A 2023 poll from the American Psychiatric Association found that 29 percent of Americans planned to focus their mental health resolutions on:

    • 65 percent said they would exercise more
    • 45 percent said they would meditate
    • 38 percent would see a therapist
    • 37 percent would focus on spirituality
    • 28 percent would journal
    • 23 percent would use a mental health app
    • 6 percent would try something else

    Our mental health experts with Texas Tech Physicians of El Paso can speak on what the public can do to set realistic resolutions that can improve a person’s mental health.

    • Don’t set sweeping resolutions – focus on setting obtainable goals
    • Think of habits you can change
    • Move every day, walk, cycle on a stationary bike, do water aerobics or simply stretch.
    • Make gratitude a daily practice
    • Establish a strong circle of friends and family and even co-workers
    • And definitely, schedule time for fun activities

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    Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso

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  • Michigan Ross Professor Yesim Orhun Explores Information Preference and Avoidance in New Research

    Michigan Ross Professor Yesim Orhun Explores Information Preference and Avoidance in New Research

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    Newswise — In her recently published research, Yesim Orhun, associate professor of marketing and Michael R. and Mary Kay Hallman Fellow, explores unique insights into what information individuals seek when making important decisions and how policymakers, medical professionals, and business leaders should communicate anxiety-provoking news.  

    Recently published in the American Economic Review, “Intrinsic Information Preferences and Skewness” was co-authored by Orhun and two collaborators – Yusufcan Masatiloglu from the University of Maryland and Collin Raymond from Cornell University.

    Orhun’s research extends precursory research that documents information avoidance. Previous studies have shown that individuals avoid obtaining information in some contexts, even when information can be useful for making better decisions. Information avoidance generally arises in anxiety-provoking situations where the information can be good or bad. For example, in deciding to take a test that will determine whether one will develop a debilitating disease later in life. To protect themselves against the emotional blow of getting bad news, people may choose to remain in the dark instead. Orhun and her collaborators tested the implications of these theories with a focus on the kinds of information people prefer.

    The team conducted experiments on informational preferences in medical testing, intelligence testing, and lotteries. First, they tested a new kind of preference — a preference for skewness. Positively skewed information sources present bad news frequently but with low precision. When they deliver good news, which happens infrequently, you can count on it being generally accurate. Negatively skewed information sources present good news frequently but with low precision, and when they deliver bad news, it’s with higher certainty. Their findings showed that when given the choice, people overwhelmingly prefer positively skewed information sources and often avoid negatively skewed information sources.

    “When we started this project, I expected the majority of people to prefer the negatively skewed information sources over the positively skewed ones because I do. I do not like to get my hopes up high only to get disappointed by reality later. In fact, much of the early discussions about this project related to medical tests I was willing to endure as an expectant mom and my inability to fathom why my husband would not share the same informational preferences. The data settled the debate, which showed that I am in the minority,” said Orhun.

    The team then focused on individuals who rejected obtaining precise information that perfectly predicted the outcome. They found that some information-avoidant individuals will agree to receive positively skewed information. “The most important insight from our paper is that more precise information does not always mean more informed decision-making. People manage their emotions about anxiety-provoking events in the future by choosing the beliefs they want to carry, which is partially managed by which information sources they want to expose themselves to,” said Orhun.

    On avenues for future research, Orhun said, “Our findings raise two fundamental questions for me. First, would people pick different information sources if they had better coping mechanisms for dealing with the emotional impact of reality, such as more social support? Secondly, how should we think about the welfare implications of information? We care about one’s emotional well-being and physical and economic well-being. Information generally leads to better decision-making. Should we force information onto people when they want to avoid it? I think this is where knowing that positively skewed information may increase information uptake really comes in handy.”

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    University of Michigan Ross School of Business

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  • The Science of Consciousness Conference 2024 – Announcement + Call for Abstracts

    The Science of Consciousness Conference 2024 – Announcement + Call for Abstracts

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    Dear Friends,

    Newswise — We are pleased to announce the 30th annual conference ‘The Science of Consciousness’ (‘TSC’), April 22-27, 2024 at the beautiful Loews Ventana Canyon Resort in the hills above Tucson, Arizona. The conference is hosted and sponsored by the University of Arizona, Center for Consciousness Studies and co-sponsored by the University of Michigan, Center for Consciousness Science.

     

    Conference Themes – The Science of Consciousness 2024

    • Cortical Oscillations & Traveling Waves
    • Psychedelics & Psychoplastogens
    • Astrobiology & Astroconsciousness
    • Dual Aspect Monism
    • Megahertz EEG & DoDecoGraphy (DDG)
    • Theories of Consciousness
    • Consciousness & Reality
    • Artificial Intelligence (AI) & Consciousness
    • Detecting Consciousness
    • Microtubule Time Crystals
    • Searching for Consciousness and Entanglement in Cerebral Organoids
    • Brain Dimensions, Wavefunctions and Symmetry

     

    Keynote Speakers 

    Earl K Miller – Susan Schneider – Anirban Bandyopadhyay – Dante Lauretta

     

    Plenary Speakers

    Steven Laureys

    Donald Hoffman

    Tanya Luhrmann

    Brian Muraresku

    George Mashour

    Sir Roger Penrose

    Caleb Scharf

    Hartmut Neven

    Pieter-Jan Maes

    Giulio Tononi

    Paavo Pylkkanen

    Claudia Passos

    Gina Poe

    Stuart Hameroff

    Harald Atmanspacher

    Dinesh Pal

    David Chalmers

    Alysson Muotri

    Dean Rickles

    Santosh A. Helekar

    Melanie Boly

    Deepak Chopra

    Bill Seager

    Christof Koch

    Zirui Huang

    Aaron Schurger

    Dimitris Pinotsis

    Andre Bastos

    Pulin Gong

    Phillip Schmitt-Kopplin

    Valerie Gray Hardcastle

    Matteo Grasso

     

    Program Sessions by Day

     

    WORKSHOPS / SYMPOSIUM

    TSC Workshops are 4 hour parallel sessions on particular topics Monday morning,

    afternoon and evening. Attendance is included in your registration.

     

    MONDAY April 22, 2024

     

    8:30 am to 12:30 pm (Workshop speakers listed below)

    • Quantum Biology
    • Dual Aspect Monism
    • Dreamless Sleep
    • Indian Knowledge Systems and Medical Applications (IKSHMA)

     

    2:00 pm to 6:00 pm

    • Neurophysiology of Loss and Recovery of Consciousness
    • Meditation and Global Spiritual Practices
    • Education in Consciousness Studies
    • Terminal Lucidity

     

    SYMPOSIUM

    7:00 pm to 10:00 pm – Symposium and Open Discussion

    • Integrated Information Theory of Consciousness

    Giulio Tononi, Christof Koch, Melanie Boly, Matteo Grasso, Paavo Pylkkanen (Moderator)

     

    TUESDAY April 23, 2024

    7:15 am – 8:00 am – Kiva Plaza

    Meditation Wellness Kickoff with Deepak Chopra

     

    PLENARY PROGRAM 

    8:30 am to 10:40 am – Plenary 1

    ‘Detecting Consciousness’

    Steven Laureys, Claudia Passos, Gina Poe

     

    11:10 am to 12:30 pm – KEYNOTE/Plenary 2

    ‘Cortical Oscillations, Waves and Consciousness 1’

    Earl K. Miller

    2:00 pm to 4:10 pm – Plenary 3

    ‘Consciousness and Reality’

    Donald Hoffman, Deepak Chopra, Paavo Pylkkanen

     

    CONCURRENTS

    5:00-7:00 pm – Concurrent Sessions 1-8 (Speakers TBA)

    C-1, C-2, C-3, C-4, C-5, C-6, C-7, C-8

    6:30-9:00 pm Welcome Reception

     

    WEDNESDAY April 24, 2024

    PLENARY

    8:30 am to 10:40 am – Plenary 4

    ‘Cortical Oscillations,Waves and Consciousness 2’

    Andre Bastos, Pulin Gong, Dimitris Pinotsis

     

    11:10 am to 12:30 pm – KEYNOTE/Plenary 5

    ‘AI and the Future of the Mind’

    Susan Schneider

     

    2:00 pm to 4:10 pm – Plenary 6

    ‘Psychedelics and Altered States’

    Tanya Luhrmann, Brian Muraresku, Dinesh Pal

     

    CONCURRENTS

    5:00 pm – 7:00 pm – Concurrents 9-16 (Speakers TBA)

    C-9. C-10, C-11, C-12, C-13, C-14, C-15, C-16

    6:30 pm – 9:00 pm – Art-Tech Demos, Exhibits, Posters (Presenters TBA)

    Refreshments

    Cash Bar

     

    THURSDAY April 25, 2024

    PLENARY

    8:30 am to 10:40 am – Plenary 7

    ‘Mechanisms of Consciousness’

    Aaron Schurger, Pieter-Jan Maes, George Mashour

     

    11:10 am to 12:30 pm – KEYNOTE/Plenary 8

    ‘DoDecoGraphy (‘DDG’) – 12 Orders of Frequency Oscillations in EEG’

    Anirban Bandyopadhyay

     

    2:00 pm to 4:10 pm – Plenary 9

    Astrobiology and Astroconsciousness

    Caleb Scharf, Phillipe Schmitt-Kopplin, Stuart Hameroff

    6:30-9:00 pm – optional dinner under the stars – tickets required

     

    FRIDAY April 26, 2024

    PLENARY

    8:30 am to 10:40 am – Plenary 10

    ‘Dual Aspect Monism’

    Harald Atmanspacher, Bill Seager, Dean Rickles

     

    11:10 am to 12:30 pm – KEYNOTE/Plenary 11

    ‘Molecules of Life and Consciousness from the Asteroid Bennu

    Dante Lauretta

     

    2:00 pm to 4:10 pm – Plenary 12

    ‘The Science of Consciousness – 30 Years On’

    Panel: Valerie Gray Hardcastle, David Chalmers, Christof Koch,

    Stuart Hameroff, Paavo Pylkkanen

     

    CONCURRENTS

    5:00 pm – 7:00 pm Concurrents 17-24

    C-17, C-18, C-19, C-20, C-21, C-22, C-23, C-24 (Speakers TBA)

     

    7:00 pm – 11:00 pm

    Art-Tech Demos, Exhibits, Posters (Presenters TBA)

    Reception

    Poetry Slam / No-End of Consciousness Party

    Cash Bar

     

     

    SATURDAY April 27, 2024

    PLENARY

    9:00 am to 10:30 am – Plenary 13

    ‘Dimensions, Wavefunctions and Symmetry in the Brain’

    Zirui Huang, Santosh Helekar, Sir Roger Penrose

     

    11:00 am to 12:30 pm – Plenary 14

    ‘Searching for Consciousness and Entanglement in Cerebral Organoids’

    Alysson Muotri, Harmut Neven

     

    Conference Close 

     

    For more information visit https://conta.cc/3T5iZvh

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    Center for Consciousness Studies, University of Arizona

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  • Matters of the brain

    Matters of the brain

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    ​Newswise — Researchers at UHN’s Krembil Brain Institute have uncovered links between structural changes in the brain and neuropsychiatric symptoms of various neurodegenerative diseases.

    Neuropsychiatric symptoms, such as depression, anxiety and hallucinations, can pose a tremendous burden for people living with neurodegenerative diseases, as well as their families and care partners.

    A research team led by Dr. Carmela Tartaglia, a clinician investigator and cognitive neurologist at UHN’s Krembil Brain Institute, set out to clarify the neural basis of these symptoms and how they differ across conditions, including Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.

    The researchers analyzed brain imaging and clinical data from more than 510 adult men and women who participated in the Ontario Neurodegenerative Disease Research Initiative – a program focused on advancing our understanding of neurodegenerative diseases to improve diagnosis, treatment and health outcomes.

    They found that neuropsychiatric symptoms were common across all conditions studied, with depression being the most prevalent. The highest symptom burden was seen in frontotemporal dementia – a group of disorders that primarily affect brain areas involved in cognition, memory, emotional control and other complex behaviours.

    They also found that neurodegenerative conditions had distinct symptom profiles. For example, anxiety was more common among people with frontotemporal dementia, whereas symptoms of psychosis, such as hallucinations, were more common in people with Parkinson’s disease.

    In parallel, the team examined how these symptoms relate to changes in brain structure.

    Brain imaging techniques, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), can reveal changes in the brain associated with neurodegenerative diseases. (Photo: Getty Images)

    Most studies of neurodegenerative diseases focus on the impact of brain shrinkage, but these conditions are also commonly linked to abnormalities in the brain’s white matter – the bundles of nerve fibres that connect different brain regions.

    “White matter changes warrant further investigation because they can indicate cerebrovascular disease – a condition that disrupts blood flow in the brain, such as stroke – which can play a role in neurodegeneration,” explains Miracle Ozzoude, a former research analyst in Dr. Tartaglia’s lab and the first author of the study.

    Upon analyzing their imaging data, the researchers discovered a stronger link between symptom burden and brain shrinkage across all conditions studied. Additionally, the team identified subtle links to changes in white matter.

    “This is an important development because it suggests that cerebrovascular disease might be a contributing factor to neuropsychiatric symptoms,” says Miracle, who is now a PhD student at the University of Edinburgh. “However, more research is needed to confirm the exact impact of white matter changes on these symptoms.”

    Given that cerebrovascular disease is preventable, this finding suggests that implementing lifestyle changes, such as diet, exercise and medications that improve blood flow, could help reduce symptom burden and enhance quality of life.

    Due to their high prevalence across neurode​generative diseases, it’s important to study the importance of studying neuropsychiatric symptoms in future research, says Dr. Tartaglia, who is also the Marion and Gerald Soloway Chair in Brain Injury and Concussion Research and Director of the Memory Clinical Trials Unit at UHN.

    “These symptoms are often responsible for patient institutionalization and caregiver burnout,” says Dr. Tartaglia, associate professor at the Tanz Centre for Research in Neurodegenerative Diseases at the University of Toronto. “Learning more about their presence and severity can provide valuable insights into the disease processes occurring in the brain.”

    This work was supported by the Ontario Brain Institute, the Baycrest Foundation, the Bruyère Research Institute, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health Foundation, the London Health Sciences Foundation, the Faculty of Health Sciences at McMaster University, the Brain and Mind Research Institute and the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa, the Faculty of Health Sciences at Queen’s University, the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre, the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, the Windsor-Essex County ALS Association, the Temerty Family Foundation and UHN Foundation.

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    University Health Network (UHN)

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  • Psychological science can help counter spread of misinformation, says APA report

    Psychological science can help counter spread of misinformation, says APA report

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    Newswise — WASHINGTON – Debunking, “prebunking,” nudging and teaching digital literacy are several of the more effective ways to counter misinformation, according to a new report from the American Psychological Association.

    Written by a panel of U.S. and international experts on the psychology of misinformation, the report outlines the processes that make people susceptible to misinformation and offers solutions to combat it.

    People are more likely to believe misinformation if it comes from groups they belong to or if they judge the source as credible, according to the report “Using Psychological Science to Understand and Fight Health Misinformation: An APA Consensus Statement.” It defines misinformation as “any information that is demonstrably false or otherwise misleading, regardless of its source or intention.”

    The report outlines the key features of misinformation that fool people into believing and spreading it. For instance, it found that people are more likely to believe false statements that appeal to emotions such as fear and outrage. They are also more likely to believe misinformation that paints groups that they view as “others” in a negative light. And people are more likely to believe information the more it is repeated, even when it contradicts their prior knowledge. These findings suggest that it is important to stop misinformation early, the report says.

    The report also describes features of social media that help misinformation spread very quickly. “Rapid publication and peer-to-peer sharing allow ordinary users to distribute information quickly to large audiences, so misinformation can be policed only after the fact (if at all),” the report says. “’Echo chambers’ bind and isolate online communities with similar views, which aids the spread of falsehoods and impedes the spread of factual corrections.” 

    As a result, “most online misinformation originates from a small minority of ‘superspreaders,’ but social media amplifies their reach and influence.”

    There are two levels on which misinformation can be stopped, according to the report: systemic approaches, such as legislation and technology standards, and individual approaches focused on changing individual behaviors. The latter include: 

    • fact-checking, or debunking; 
    • prebunking, or pre-emptive debunking to prevent people from falling for misinformation in the first place; 
    • nudges, such as asking people to consider the accuracy of information before sharing it, or rewarding people to be as accurate as possible; 
    • and formal education or community outreach to raise people’s awareness about healthy online behavior and media use.

    The report acknowledges that there is much more to learn and recommends more research funding and industry cooperation to understand behaviors related to misinformation and create tools to correct it. The panel members who wrote the report spent more than a year reviewing the scientific literature to develop their recommendations. The report was commissioned by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and funded as part of a $2 million grant to develop effective solutions to COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. 

    While the panel’s recommendations focus on health misinformation, they can also be used for broader topics such as politics and climate change. For instance, these findings offer direct input to one of the main issues highlighted in APA’s Health Advisory on Social Media by addressing tactics that can be used to combat misinformation.  

    The report recommends eight steps for policymakers, scientists, media and the public to help curb the spread of misinformation and the risks it poses to health, well-being and civic life: 

    1. Avoid repeating misinformation without including a correction.
    2. Collaborate with social media companies to understand and reduce the spread of harmful misinformation.
    3. Use misinformation correction strategies with tools already proven to promote healthy behaviors.
    4. Leverage trusted sources to counter misinformation and provide accurate health information.
    5. Debunk misinformation often and repeatedly using evidence-based methods.
    6. Prebunk misinformation to inoculate susceptible audiences by building skills and resilience from an early age.
    7. Demand data access and transparency from social media companies for scientific research on misinformation.
    8. Fund basic and translational research into the psychology of health misinformation, including ways to counter it.

    “These psychological science findings help to explain how misinformation enters our thought processes,” the report states. “It is effortful and difficult for our brains to apply existing knowledge when encountering new information; when new claims are false but sufficiently reasonable, we can learn them as facts. Thus, everyone is susceptible to misinformation to some degree: we acquire it even when we know better.”

     

    The American Psychological Association, in Washington, D.C., is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States. APA’s membership includes over 146,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 54 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance the creation, communication and application of psychological knowledge to benefit society and improve people’s lives.

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  • Brain imaging pinpoints mental illness biomarkers.

    Brain imaging pinpoints mental illness biomarkers.

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    Newswise — Philadelphia, November 9, 2023 – Research and treatment of psychiatric disorders are stymied by a lack of biomarkers – objective biological or physiological markers that can help diagnose, track, predict, and treat diseases. In a new study, researchers use a very large dataset to identify predictive brain imaging-based biomarkers of mental illness in adolescents. The work appears in Biological Psychiatry, published by Elsevier.

    Traditionally, psychiatric disorders such as depression have been diagnosed based on symptoms according to subjective assessments. The identification of biomarkers to aid in diagnosis and treatment selection would greatly advance treatments.

    In the current study, the investigators used brain imaging data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study of nearly 12,000 children aged 9 to 10 at the beginning of the study. Modern neuroimaging techniques, including resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) analysis, allow researchers to investigate the organization of brain circuits through their interaction with one another over time.

    Yihong Yang, PhD, senior author of the study, at the Neuroimaging Research Branch, National Institute on Drug Abuse, said, “Using a functional MRI dataset, we identified a brain connectivity variate that is positively correlated with cognitive functions and negatively correlated with psychopathological measures.”

    Cognition has long been studied in the context of mental disorders, and recent research has pointed to shared neurobiology between the two, as supported in this new study.

    This brain-based variate predicted how many psychiatric disorders were identified in participants at the time of the scan and over the following two years. It also predicted the transition of diagnosis across disorders over the two-year follow-up period.”

    Dr. Yang added, “These findings provide evidence for a transdiagnostic brain-based measure that underlies individual differences in developing psychiatric disorders in early adolescence.”

    John Krystal, MD, Editor of Biological Psychiatry, said of the work, “Mental illness in adolescence has emerged as a cardinal public health challenge in the post-COVID era. More than ever before, we would benefit from better ways to identify adolescents at risk. This study uses data from the landmark ABCD Study to illustrate how neuroimaging data could illuminate risk for mental illness across the spectrum of diagnoses.”

    Dr. Yang added, “Finding biomarkers of mental illnesses, rather than relying on symptoms, may provide a more precise means of diagnosis, and thereby aligning psychiatric diagnosis with other medical diagnoses.”

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  • Stress in America 2023: A nation grappling with psychological impacts of collective trauma

    Stress in America 2023: A nation grappling with psychological impacts of collective trauma

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    Newswise — U.S. society appears to be experiencing the psychological impacts of a collective trauma in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the results of a new survey by the American Psychological Association. Psychologists warn that a superficial characterization of life being “back to normal” is obscuring the post-traumatic effects on mental and physical health.   The long-term stress sustained since the COVID-19 pandemic began has had a significant impact on well-being, evidenced by a significant increase in reported mental health conditions and chronic illnesses, according to the results of Stress in America™ 2023, a nationwide survey conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of APA among more than 3,000 U.S. adults age 18+.  

    The survey revealed that those ages 35 to 44 reported the most significant increase in chronic health conditions since the pandemic — 58% in 2023 compared with 48% in 2019. Adults ages 35 to 44 also experienced the highest increase in mental health diagnoses — 45% reported a mental illness in 2023 compared with 31% in 2019 — though adults ages 18 to 34 still reported the highest rate of mental illnesses at 50% in 2023. Adults ages 35 to 44 were more likely to report that money (77% vs. 65%) and the economy (74% vs. 51%) were the factors that cause them significant stress today compared with 2019.

    “The COVID-19 pandemic created a collective experience among Americans. While the early pandemic lockdowns may seem like the distant past, the aftermath remains,” said Arthur C. Evans Jr., PhD, APA’s chief executive officer. “We cannot ignore the fact that we have been significantly changed by the loss of more than one million Americans, as well as the shift in our workplaces, school systems and culture at large. To move toward post-traumatic growth, we must first identify and understand the psychological wounds that remain.”

    APA psychologists noted that many people had generally positive perceptions of their physical health even when they reported being diagnosed with a chronic condition. More than four in five adults rated their physical health as good, very good or excellent (81%), yet 66% of adults said they have been told by a health care provider that they have a chronic illness.

    Furthermore, 81% of adults reported their mental health as good, very good or excellent, while more than one-third (37%) said they have a diagnosed mental health condition — a 5 percentage point increase from pre-pandemic levels in 2019 (32%).  

    The majority of adults also downplayed their stress; 67% said their problems aren’t “bad enough” to be stressed about, knowing that others have it worse. When asked why they don’t seek treatment, adults’ top reasons were the belief that therapy doesn’t work (40%), lack of time (39%) or lack of insurance (37%). Despite these reasons, nearly half (47%) said they wish they had someone to help manage their stress, and 62% reported they don’t talk about their stress because they don’t want to burden others.  

    Nearly a quarter of adults (24%) rated their average stress between eight and 10 on a scale of one to 10 where one means little to no stress and 10 means a great deal of stress. This is up from 19% in 2019, before the pandemic. This increase was mirrored across all age groups except those age 65+: 34% of those age 18 to 34 reported this in 2023 (+8 percentage points from 2019); 31% of those 35 to 44 (+10 percentage points); 22% of those 45 to 64 (+4 percentage points); and 9% of those 65+ (-1 percentage point). Parents of children under the age of 18 who ranked their average stress between eight and 10 also saw a significant increase (33% in 2023 vs. 24% in 2019).   

    In 2023, parents were more likely than other adults to report that financial strain increased in their household (46% vs. 34%), that money is a cause of fights in their family (58% vs. 30%) and that they are more likely to feel consumed by worries regarding money (66% vs. 39%). Most troubling is that compared with other adults, parents of children under the age of 18 were more likely to report that on most days their stress is completely overwhelming (48% vs. 26%), they are so stressed they feel numb (42% vs. 22%) or on most days they are so stressed they can’t function (41% vs. 20%).   “Stress affects all systems of the body, so it is crucial that Americans know the serious impacts of stress and what they can do to reduce the effect of stressors in their life, as well as receive help from their health care providers, workplace and support systems to prevent further health crises,” said Evans.

    More information on the survey findings and how to handle stress is available at www.stressinamerica.org. APA psychologists are available for media interviews to discuss these findings and provide science-based recommendations on how to address the ongoing mental health crisis in the U.S.

     

    METHODOLOGY

    The research was conducted online in the United States by The Harris Poll on behalf of the American Psychological Association among 3,185 adults age 18+ who reside in the U.S. (i.e., a national sample). In addition, oversamples allowed for increased totals by race/ethnicity: 805 Black, 811 Latino/a/e and 800 Asian individuals. For adults who identify as Latino/a/e, interviews were conducted in English and Spanish. The survey was conducted Aug. 4 – 26, 2023. 

    Respondents for this survey were selected from among those who have agreed to participate in Harris’ surveys. The sampling precision of Harris online polls is measured by using a Bayesian credible interval. For this study, the sample data for the national sample is accurate to within + 2.5 percentage points using a 95% confidence level. This credible interval will be wider among subsets of the surveyed population of interest.

    A full methodology is available.

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  • fMRI study finds correlated shifts in brain connectivity associated with overthinking in adolescents

    fMRI study finds correlated shifts in brain connectivity associated with overthinking in adolescents

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    Newswise — COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new study from The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and College of Medicine, University of Utah and University of Exeter (UK) substantiates previous groundbreaking research that rumination (overthinking) can be reduced through an intervention called Rumination-focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (RF-CBT). In addition, the use of fMRI technology allowed researchers to observe correlated shifts in the brain connectivity associated with overthinking.

    Study findings are published online in the journal Biological Psychiatry Global Open Science.

    “We know adolescent development is pivotal. Their brains are maturing, and habits are forming. Interventions like RF-CBT can be game-changers, steering them towards a mentally healthy adulthood. We were particularly excited that the treatment seemed developmentally appropriate and was acceptable and accessible via telehealth during the early pandemic,” said corresponding author Scott Langenecker, PhD, vice chair of research in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health at Ohio State, who started this project while at the University of Utah.

    RF-CBT is a promising approach pioneered by Ed Watkins, PhD, professor of experimental and applied Clinical Psychology at the University of Exeter. It has been shown to be effective among adults with recurrent depression.

    “We wanted to see if we could adapt it for a younger population to prevent the ongoing burden of depressive relapse,” said Rachel Jacobs, PhD, adjunct assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Northwestern University who conducted the pilot study in 2016.

    “As a clinician, I continued to observe that standard CBT tools such as cognitive restructuring didn’t give young people the tools to break out of the painful mental loops that contribute to experiencing depression again. If we could find a way to do that, maybe we could help young people stay well as they transition to adulthood, which has become even more important since we’ve observed the mental health impact of COVID-19,” Jacobs said.

    In the just published trial, 76 teenagers, ages 14-17, with a history of depression were randomly assigned to 10-14 sessions of RF-CBT, while controls were allowed and encouraged to receive any standard treatment. Teens reported ruminating significantly less if they received RF-CBT. Even more intriguing, fMRI illustrated shifts in brain connectivity, marking a change at the neural level.

    Specifically, there was a reduction in the connection between the left posterior cingulate cortex and two other regions; the right inferior frontal gyrus and right inferior temporal gyrus. These zones, involved in self-referential thinking and emotional stimuli processing, respectively, suggest RF-CBT can enhance the brain’s ability to shift out of the rumination habit. Notably, this work is a pre-registered replication; it demonstrates the same brain and clinical effects in the Utah sample in 2023 that was first reported in the Chicago sample in 2016.

    “For the first time, this paper shows that the version of rumination-focused CBT we have developed at the University of Exeter leads to changes in connectivity in brain regions in adolescents with a history of depression relative to treatment as usual. This is exciting, as it suggests the CBT either helps patients to gain more effortless control over rumination or makes it less habitual. We urgently need new ways to reduce rumination in this group in order to improve the mental health of our young people,” Watkins said.

    Next, the researchers will focus on demonstrating the efficacy of RF-CBT in a larger sample with an active treatment control, including continued work at Ohio State, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, University of Exeter, University of Utah and the Utah Center for Evidence Based Treatment. Future directions include bolstering access to teens in clinical settings and enhancing the ways we can learn about how this treatment helps youth with similar conditions.

    “Our paper suggests a science-backed method to break the rumination cycle and reinforces the idea that it’s never too late or too early to foster healthier mental habits. Our research team thanks the youths and families who participated in this study for their commitment and dedication to reducing the burden of depression through science and treatment, particularly during the challenges of a global pandemic,” Langenecker said.

    This work was supported by the National Institutes of Mental Health and funds from the Huntsman Mental Health Institute and is dedicated to researcher Kortni K. Meyers and others who have lost their lives to depression.

     # # #

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  • Your body knows the difference between good stress and bad stress: Do you?

    Your body knows the difference between good stress and bad stress: Do you?

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    Newswise — LONDON — It may be surprising to hear, but medically speaking, not all stress is bad. Healthy stress levels help build resilience, says Safia Debar, MBBS, a stress management expert at Mayo Clinic Healthcare in London. In this expert alert, Dr. Debar explains the difference between good and bad stress and how to tell when you are in danger of overload.

    Stress is a physical and psychological reaction to a demand, and that demand can be anything, Dr. Debar says. Stress that is good for us and may even give us a sense of well-being is eustress, the opposite of distress. The same event—for example, getting married—might provoke either one, Dr. Debar says.

    “It’s about the perception of that stress and how your body is actually handling it,” Dr. Debar says. “Chronic stress will impact every organ system in the body: You might feel anxiety, depression and digestive issues, for example.”

    Stress prompts a cascade of reactions within the mind and body as you mount a stress response, Dr. Debar says. Under normal stress, a person starts at a baseline of relaxation, encounters a stressor, the stress response begins, rises to a peak, and then comes back down to baseline.

    Among the physical changes that may occur when you perceive a threat:

    • The sympathetic nervous system and production of the primary stress hormone, cortisol, activate.
    • Thinking becomes negative as you experience or anticipate something bad. Attention becomes hyperfocused on what is happening.
    • The heart, lungs and muscles prepare for you to fight or run. There is increased heart rate, blood pressure and breathing rate as the body needs to deliver more oxygen to cells. Muscles tense.
    • The digestive and reproductive systems aren’t needed, so their activities slow.
    • The immune system turns its attention from fighting microscopic invaders such as viruses or cancer cells and goes into an inflammatory mode, increasing its production of proteins called cytokines that adjust this process.  

    When someone realizes the threat has passed, the body begins to repair itself from this response and “tidy up”. It shifts to a repair, renew and growth state as the stress response is mopped up. Physically, breathing and heart rate slow down, blood pressure normalizes, you take more expansive breaths, muscular tension eases, the digestive and reproductive systems resume normal activity, and you may begin to connect with others to recount the threat you just experienced, Dr. Debar says.

    “If you go up in stress and then come back down, you have completed our cycle. There’s no wear and tear, there’s no damage,” Dr. Debar says. “In fact, it’s probably good for you because it leads to greater resilience. If you’ve ever overcome a stressful event in life, processed it fully and completed that cycle, then the next similar experience you have, you think, `Oh no, but I can do it.’”

    However, when someone is repeatedly under too much stress, the ability to go back to baseline slowly starts to wane, Dr. Debar says.

    “You can go up in stress and stay there, having a prolonged response. This is when you’re hypervigilant: You’re wired but tired, you’re anxious,” Dr. Debar says. “Or, life has thrown at you so many stressors, that you respond inadequately. It is the lack of recovery rather than the actual stressor itself that is critical. After a while, you may just numb out and show no response.”

    Sometimes people think it would be good to show no response, Dr. Debar adds, but internally the stress response and its cascade of internal activities are still happening. They are just hidden.

    There are several signs that you may be in danger of stress overload and it is time to address it, Dr. Debar says:

    • If stress feels unremitting and constant.
    • If stress feels uncontrollable and you’re unable to relax or feel like you’re on autopilot.
    • If you have problems regulating emotions.
    • If you start hiding from life and/or people.
    • You’re experiencing physical symptoms such as headaches, chest pain, stomach upsets, problems sleeping, or getting sick more often.

    “Think about how your body handles stress, and how you handle it emotionally, physically and in your relationships,” Dr. Debar says. “What do you do, what do you not do.”

    Chronic stress can have long-term health effects. People who feel ongoing physical symptoms or find that lifestyle changes do not seem to help should consult with their health care team, Dr. Debar says.

    ###

    About Mayo Clinic Healthcare
    Mayo Clinic Healthcare, located in London, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Mayo Clinic, a not-for-profit academic medical center. Mayo Clinic is ranked No. 1 by U.S. News & World Report in more specialties than any other hospital for a reason: quality of care. Mayo Clinic Healthcare is the U.K.’s front door to that unparalleled experience. Visit Mayo Clinic Healthcare for more information.

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  • Uncovering insights into the early stages of schizophrenia.

    Uncovering insights into the early stages of schizophrenia.

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    Newswise — Philadelphia, October 24, 2023 – Schizophrenia is a severe neuropsychiatric disease that remains poorly understood and treated. Schizophrenia onset is typically in adolescence or early adulthood, but its underlying causes are thought to involve neurodevelopmental abnormalities. Because human prenatal and postnatal brain tissue is exceedingly difficult to procure and therefore study, researchers have had limited opportunities to identify early disease mechanisms, especially during the critical prenatal period. Now, a pair of studies that appear in Biological Psychiatry, published by Elsevier, use new technology to study schizophrenia in models of early human brain development.

    The first study used a unique approach involving three-dimensional brain organoids, which are known to recapitulate fetal brain development. The researchers, led by first author Ibrahim A. Akkouh, PhD, and senior author Srdjan Djurovic, PhD, both at Oslo University Hospital, collected skin cells from 14 patients with schizophrenia and 14 healthy controls and generated induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which they then manipulated to develop into brain-like cortical spheroids.

    The organoids grown from patients and controls differed in their expression of thousands of genes – in line with the finding that the genetic influences on schizophrenia are many and very small. However, among the genes, those associated with neuronal axons stood out as a group.

    Dr. Akkouh explained, “We identified persistent axonal dysregulation as an early contribution to disease risk.”

    Importantly, the researchers assessed organoid maturation at several time points, which enabled them to establish the persistent nature of the disturbances throughout development.

    Dr. Akkouh added, “Our findings provide novel and hitherto inaccessible insights into the molecular basis of schizophrenia during early brain development.”

    In the second study, researchers led by Roy H. Perlis, PhD, at Harvard Medical School, focused on a particular genetic risk locus. The schizophrenia risk locus 15q11.2, a particular chromosomal region containing four genes, has a penetrance of over 10%, translating to a doubling of risk for schizophrenia among people carrying an unusual copy number of this genetic region. One gene in the locus, CYFIP1, has been associated with synaptic function in neurons and confers increased risk for neurodevelopmental disorders including schizophrenia and autism.

    CYFIP1 is highly expressed in microglia, the brain’s own immune cells, but its function there is unknown. Microglia are known to carry out synaptic pruning, in which they “eat” excess synaptic structures, a process critical to healthy brain development.

    Dr. Perlis and colleagues collected blood cells from healthy volunteers and isolated iPSCs, which they then manipulated to differentiate into microglia-like cells. The researchers then used CRISPR technology to remove functional CYFIP1 from the cells.

    Dr. Perlis said of the work, “Our findings suggest that changes in the behavior and function of microglia due to aberrant CYFIP1 function, such as through coding or copy number variants, could affect microglial processes such as synaptic pruning, homeostatic surveillance, and neuronal maintenance, which are critical for proper brain development and function. This could contribute to CYFIP1-related neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders resulting in part from microglia dysfunction. Among the specific disorders linked to variation in CYFIP1 are both autism and schizophrenia.”

    John Krystal, MD, Editor of Biological Psychiatry, commented, “The biology of schizophrenia is very complex and yet two themes represented by these two studies seem to be very important: the increased rate of elimination of glutamatergic synapses during development, and disturbances in the signaling properties of these glutamate synapses. These two disturbances could perturb circuit function in ways that are critical to development of symptoms and cognitive impairments associated with schizophrenia.”

    Dr. Perlis added, “More broadly, our findings highlight the importance of looking beyond neurons to understand risk genes. While finding risk loci may be the first step in understanding the role of genes in brain diseases, it’s only a first step; figuring out the relevant cell type, and what those genes are doing, is absolutely critical in moving from association to – we hope – actual treatments.”

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  • Awe-inspiring science can have a positive effect on mental wellbeing, new research finds

    Awe-inspiring science can have a positive effect on mental wellbeing, new research finds

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    Newswise — Research led by psychologists at the University of Warwick has revealed a profound connection between the spirituality of science and positive wellbeing, much like the benefits traditionally associated with religion. 

    The research explored how people use science as a source of spirituality and its connection with their sense of wellbeing.  

    Dr Jesse Preston, Associate Professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Warwick and lead author of the study said: “Spirituality is most often associated with religion, but science can be a powerful source of awe and wonder for many. It can provide a meaningful source of understanding oneself and the universe, and it can foster a sense of connection to others and our place in the world.” 

    Science parallels positive wellbeing observed in religious people  

    In three studies, Dr. Preston and her research team surveyed 1197 people (602 men, 589 women, and 6 others) on their attitudes towards religious beliefs, spirituality and their interest and belief in science.  

    The first study established the concept of “Spirituality of Science”, and asked people about feelings of transcendence, connection and meaning when engaging with science. Participants’ responses were compared with other attitudes towards science, including an interest in science and belief in science, feelings of awe, meaning in their lives and religious beliefs.  

    Spirituality of Science was related to belief in science, but unlike other attitudes including interest in science and belief in science, Spirituality of Science was also associated with feelings of awe and general spirituality. This showed that scientific sources of spirituality may be psychologically similar to religious spirituality. 

    In the second study, the researchers focused specifically on a group of 526 atheists and agnostics, and found that Spirituality of Science was correlated with measures of psychological wellbeing, such as happiness, and meaning in life.   

    Preston explained: “Previous research has found that religious belief generally predicts positive mental wellbeing, but it has also implied that non-religious people may be subject to poorer psychological wellbeing. This research has found that in fact, sources of spirituality outside of religion, like science, can have similar positive effects.” 

     

    Meaningful experiences could improve educational outcomes in science 

    The third study investigated links between Spirituality of Science and engagement and learning in science, and found that spiritual experiences in science predicted stronger engagement and recall of scientific information. 

    Dr Preston says the findings of the research could improve the teaching and learning of science in schools and predict better educational outcomes:  

    “Although science and religion differ in many ways, they share a capacity for spirituality through feelings of awe, coherence, and meaning in life. This capacity for spirituality has some important benefits and implications, as this research has found. 

    “People with greater feelings of Spirituality of Science were more positively engaged with science material, which predicted better science performance. And in a group of atheists and agnostics, Spirituality of Science predicted measures of well-being and meaning in life, paralleling the positive effects of religion that is frequently observed in religious people.   

    Dr Preston added: “This work contributes not only to our current understanding of science attitudes but also to our general understanding of spirituality.”

    The paper, Spirituality of Science: Implications for Meaning, Well-Being, and Learning has been published in Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin.

     

    ENDS 

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  • Protein p53 regulates learning, memory, sociability in mice

    Protein p53 regulates learning, memory, sociability in mice

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    BYLINE: Jenna Kurtzweil

    Newswise — Researchers have established the protein p53 as critical for regulating sociability, repetitive behavior, and hippocampus-related learning and memory in mice, illuminating the relationship between the protein-coding gene TP53 and neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders like autism spectrum disorder.

    “This study shows for the first time that p53 is linked directly to autism-like behavior,” said Nien-Pei Tsai, an associate professor of molecular and integrative biology at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a researcher at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology.

    In living systems, genes act as a biological version of binary code, using the letters A, C, G, and T instead of ones and zeroes to spell out cellular marching orders. Some genes — called coding genes — instruct cells to create proteins with specific functions. For example, the gene TP53 instructs cells to create the protein p53; its job is to regulate how other genes are expressed.

    In this study, Tsai and his colleagues lowered hippocampal p53 levels in mice, looking for changes in gene expressions related to behavior. They observed that the decreased p53 levels:

    • Promoted repetitive behavior in mice.
    • Reduced sociability in mice.
    • Impaired hippocampus-dependent learning and memory, especially in male mice.

    The researchers also observed that p53 levels were elevated after a period of active communication between hippocampal neurons called long-term potentiation. Flexible neuron firing — known as plasticity — is related to positive learning and memory outcomes.

    In a 2018 study, Tsai and his colleagues identified p53 as a key protein involved in the irregular brain cell activity seen in ASD and epilepsy. In future studies, they aim to explore how p53 coordinates the expression of those autism-linked genes to guide behavior.

    Editor’s notes:

    The paper associated with this study is titled “Tumor suppressor p53 modulates activity-dependent synapse strengthening, autism-like behavior and hippocampus-dependent learning” and appears in the journal Molecular Psychiatry.

    Research reported in this press release was supported by the National Institutes of Health under award numbers R01NS105615, R01MH124827, and R21MH122840. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

    Access the free paper online: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41380-023-02268-9

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  • تزيد الخلايا المناعية المسنة من نمو ورم الرئة تبعًا لورقة بحثية

    تزيد الخلايا المناعية المسنة من نمو ورم الرئة تبعًا لورقة بحثية

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    Newswise — مدينة روتشستر، ولاية مينيسوتا — البلعميات هي إحدى أنواع خلايا الدم البيضاء، وهي جزء من خط الدفاع الأول للجسم ضد العدوى. بالإضافة إلى دورها في قتل الكائنات الدقيقة الضارة، يمكن للبلعميات بدء استجابة الجسم ضد الأورام. على الرغم من ذلك، فالبلعميات -مثل كل الخلايا الأخرى- تتقدم في العمر، وربما تدخل في مرحلة الشيخوخة. قد يرتبط هذا بتقدم عمر الإنسان، أو إصابته بالأمراض، أو بمختلف المشكلات الفسيولوجية.

    عندما تصبح البلعميات خلايا مسنة، تتوقف عن التكاثر، إلا أنها لا تموت، ولا يتم التخلص منها دائمًا. لذا تتراكم البلعميات المسنة في بعض الأنسجة وتفرز بعض الجزيئات الضارة. لهذا يطلق على الخلايا المسنة اسم “خلايا الزومبي”. وحتى الآن، لم نستطع التوصل إلى سبب تحول الخلايا السليمة إلى خلايا مسنة.

    في هذا البحث الجديد والذي نُشر في مجلة Cancer Cell البحثية، اكتشف الباحثون أن الخلايا البلعمية المسنة لا تتراكم فقط في الرئة، بل وتعزز من نمو ورم الرئة.

    وضح د. دارِن بيكر أن “البيولوجي المتخصص في الخلايا المسنة في Mayo Clinic وكبير المؤلفين” من الناحية النظرية، لم نتوقع وجود احتمالية لأن تتحول البلعميات لخلايا مسنة تتسبب في نمو الورم. “لذا يقربنا هذا البحث خطوة من فهم كيفية تكون الأورام على المستوى الخلوي.”

    اكتشف د. بيكر وزملاؤه أن البلعميات المسنة قد تمنع الجهاز المناعي من الاستجابة لمنع النمو الشاذ للخلايا. وبالتالي يؤدي هذا لتكون ورم.

    “ووضح د. لويس بريتو، الباحث الرئيسي، وزميل أبحاث ما بعد الدكتوراه، وخريج كلية Mayo Clinic للدراسات العليا للعلوم الطبية الحيوية. “استطعنا من خلال التجارب والتحليلات المختلفة أن نفرّق بين البلعميات المسنة وغيرها من البلعميات الطبيعية. ووجدنا أنه إنه استطعنا التخلص من البلعميات المسنة بأساليب جينية أو دوائية، فيمكننا تأخير عملية تكوٌن الورم.

    استنتج الباحثون أن الخلايا محتملة التسرطن تتواصل مع الخلايا المحيطة بها بما في ذلك البلعميات. وتحفز الخلايا محتملة التسرطن البلعميات لتتحول لخلايا مسنة. بعدها، تساهم الخلايا المسنة في تغيير المنطقة المحيطة لتعزيز نمو الورم.

    في البداية اعتقد الباحثون أن التخلص من الخلايا المسنة سيؤدي إلى زيادة الأورام الغُدّية في الرئة، وهو نوع الورم الذي كانوا يدرسونه. ولكن أظهرت نتائج التجارب الأولية خلاف ذلك.

    وضح د. بريتو “كان الأمر محفِّزًا، فكلما قمنا بتجربة كانت النتائج عكس توقعنا تمامًا.” “إن أزلنا مثبطات الأورام المسنة فمن المتوقع أن تزيد نسبة الأورام. ولكن النتائج أظهرت العكس. فبعد إزالة مثبطات الأورام المسنة، قلت نسبة الأورام.”

    عمل الباحثون مع المؤلف المشارك د. هو لي، الباحث في الطب الفردي في Mayo Clinic، وأجروا تسلسل الحمض الننوي الريبوزي أحادي الخلية في معمله. ساهم هذا البحث في تحديد البلعميات الرئوية كخلية رئيسية تعزز نمو الأورام. والآن، يعتقد الباحثون أن البلعميات تستجيب لإشارات الخلايا محتملة التسرطن مع بدء تكون الورم.

    يقول د. بيكر “أعدنا التفكير في فرضياتنا الأولية، فقد تعملنا الكثير عما يمكن أن تفعله الخلايا. بعدها اتضح لنا كيف يمكن للبلعميات المسنة أن تؤثر على الخلايا الأخرى وعلى البيئة وعلى جهاز المناعة.”

    دُعم هذا البحث من قبل مركز بول ف. جلين لعلم أبحاث الشيخوخة البيولوجي التابع لـ Mayo Clinic وكلية Mayo Clinic للدراسات العليا للعلوم الطبية الحيوية.

    تم نشر ورقة بحثية تكميلية في مجلة Cancer Cell من قبل الباحثين في المملكة المتحدة.

    للحصول على القائمة الكاملة للمؤلفين والإفصاحات والتمويل، راجع الورقة البحثية.

    لمزيد من المعلومات، يرجى زيارة ديسكافريز إيدج.

    ### 

    نبذة عن مايو كلينك
    مايو كلينك هي مؤسسة غير ربحية تلتزم بالابتكار في الممارسات السريرية والتعليم والبحث وتوفير التعاطف والخبرة لكل مَن يحتاج إلى الاستشفاء والرد على استفساراته. لمعرفة المزيد من أخبار مايو كلينك، تفضَّل بزيارة شبكة مايو كلينك الإخبارية.  

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    Mayo Clinic

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  • UTHealth Houston study: Unruptured brain aneurysms may be missed in routine clinical care, but AI-powered algorithm can help

    UTHealth Houston study: Unruptured brain aneurysms may be missed in routine clinical care, but AI-powered algorithm can help

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    Newswise — Unruptured cerebral aneurysms of sizes and locations that require attention may be frequently missed in routine clinical care, but a machine learning algorithm could minimize missed care opportunities, according to a new study from UTHealth Houston.

    The research, published today in Stroke: Vascular and Interventional Neurology, was led by senior author Sunil A. Sheth, MD, associate professor in the Department of Neurology with McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston, as well as co-first authors Hyun Woo Kim, MD, vascular and interventional neurology fellow at UTHealth Houston, and Anjan Nagesh Ballekere, MS, research coordinator in the neurology department.

    Approximately 30,000 people living in the U.S. experience a ruptured aneurysm annually. The estimated prevalence of unruptured cerebral aneurysms is 3.2%. Currently, many of these aneurysms are found incidentally on brain imaging, performed often for unrelated reasons, and getting an accurate count remains challenging.

    “We have already seen the tremendous benefit that machine learning can bring to patients suffering from acute stroke,” said Sheth, who is also director of the vascular neurology program at McGovern Medical School. “In this study, we see a similar possibility for substantially improving the way in which we identify, counsel, and help patients with brain aneurysms.”

    The team studied a prospectively maintained registry that included eight certified stroke centers. They identified patients who underwent computed tomography (CT) angiography for evaluation of possible stroke from March 14, 2021, to Nov. 31, 2021. A machine learning algorithm called Viz Aneurysm analyzed imaging to identify unruptured brain aneurysms at least 4 millimeters in size.

    Of the 1,191 CT angiograms performed during the study period, 50 were flagged by the machine learning algorithm as possibly demonstrating an unruptured cerebral aneurysm. Among those, 36 true aneurysms were identified from the 31 CT angiograms, with four cases of multiple aneurysms.

    Twenty-four of the 36 aneurysms (67%) were previously not referred for follow-up, with a median size of 4.4 millimeters. Among them, five aneurysms measured greater than 7 millimeters and had an average risk of rupture of 2.4% over five years. In other words, only 33% of unruptured cerebral aneurysms – many of which require attention and may warrant treatment – were originally referred for follow-up in routine clinical care.

    “Before Viz Aneurysm, the referral rate of unruptured cerebral aneurysms were significantly lower than we expected,” Kim said. “We believe that machine learning algorithm screening and alerting clinicians to studies that may harbor cerebral aneurysms could improve rates of detection and follow-ups.”

    Overall, the most common locations of aneurysms included the internal carotid artery (46%).

    The researchers said machine learning algorithms have the potential to improve the identification of unruptured cerebral aneurysms by flagging CT angiograms suspected of aneurysm, and coordinating the potential follow-up with referral and communication options for the entire care team in the same application.

    “We hope to continue and improve upon this work in order to benefit patients,” Ballekere said. “This will help improve quality of care for acute stroke patients when implemented.”

    Co-authors with McGovern Medical School included Iman Ali, third-year student; neurology residents Sergio Salazar Marioni, MD, and Arash Niktabe, MD; and neurology research coordinators Hussain Azeem and Ananya Iyyangar. Other UTHealth Houston co-authors included Rania Abdelkhaleq, MPH, third-year student at UTHealth Houston School of Public Health, and Luca Giancardo, PhD, associate professor of health data science and artificial intelligence with McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics at UTHealth Houston. Also co-authoring the study were Omri Segev, BMedSc; Orin Bibas; and Christopher J. Love, PhD, with Viz.ai; and Dan Paz, MD, with Galilee Medical Center in Israel. Viz.ai sponsored the study in part.

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    University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

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  • Digital Media Use and Psychosis Risk in Young Adults

    Digital Media Use and Psychosis Risk in Young Adults

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    Newswise — On average, young adults in Canada spend several hours on their smartphones every day. Many jump from TikTok to Netflix to Instagram, putting their phone down only to pick up a video game controller. A growing body of research is looking into the potential dangers of digital media overuse, as well as potential benefits of moderate digital media use, from a mental health standpoint.

    A recent McGill University study of 425 Quebecers between the ages of 18 and 25 has found that young adults who have more frequent psychotic experiences also tend to spend more time using digital media. Interestingly, the study, which surveyed the participants over a period of six months, also found that spending more time on digital media did not seem to cause any change in the frequency of psychotic experiences over time, said lead author and psychiatry resident at McGill, Vincent Paquin.

    By “psychotic experiences,” the researchers refer to a range of unusual thoughts and perceptions, such as the belief of being in danger and the experience of hearing and seeing things that other people cannot see or hear. These experiences are relatively common, affecting about 5% of young adults.

    “Our findings are reassuring because they do not show evidence that digital media can cause or exacerbate psychotic experiences in young people,” said Paquin. “It is important to keep in mind that each person is different. In some situations, digital media may be highly beneficial for a person’s well-being, and in other cases, these technologies may cause unintended harms.”

    Accessing mental health services through digital media

    The researchers hope their findings will help improve mental health services for young people. By better understanding the types of digital contents and activities that matter to young people, mental health services can be made more accessible and better aligned with individual needs, they say.

    “It is important for young people, their families, and for clinicians and policymakers to have scientific evidence on the risks and benefits of digital media for mental health, Paquin said. “Considering that young adults with more psychotic experiences may prefer digital technologies, we can use digital platforms to increase their access to accurate mental health information and to appropriate services.”

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    McGill University

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