AIMS OF THE STUDY: The study aims to identify the differences in brain activity between participants with anorexia nervosa and healthy control using visual stimulus conditions combined with the quantitative dense-array EEG recording analysis method called Brain Activation Sequences (BAS). MATERIALS AND METHODS: 23 participants with anorexia nervosa and 21 healthy controls were presented with visual stimuli, including the subject's facial expressions and body images. The 128-channel EEG data were processed using BAS and displayed as activity in up to 66 brain regions. Subsequent cluster analysis was used to identify groups of participants exhibiting area-specific activation patterns. RESULTS: Cluster analysis identified three distinct groups: one including all healthy controls (HC) and two consisting of all participants with anorexia (AN-I with 19 participants and AN-II with four participants). The AN-I and AN-II groups differed in their response to treatment. Comparisons of HC vs. AN confirmed the dominance of the right cerebral hemisphere in participants with anorexia nervosa in two of the three reported conditions. The facial expressions condition, specifically the facial reaction expressing disgust, indicates the existence of a social attentional bias toward faces, whereas emotions remained undetected in participants. High limbic activity, medial frontal gyrus involvement, low fusiform cortex activity, and milder visual cortex activity in healthy controls compared to participants indicate that the facial expression stimulus is perceived by healthy subjects primarily as an emotion, not as the face itself. In the body image condition, participants showed higher activity in the fusiform gyrus and right insula, indicating activation of the brain's "fear network." CONCLUSION: The study describes a specific pattern of brain activation in response to facial expression of disgust and body images that likely contributes to social-cognitive and behavioral impairments in anorexia. In addition, the substantial difference in the pattern of brain activation within the participants with AN and its association with treatment resistance deserves special attention because of its potential to develop a clinically useful prediction tool and identify potential targets for, for example, neuromodulatory treatments and/or individualized psychotherapy.
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
Aims of the study: Commonly used approach to illness assessment focuses on the patient's actual state supplemented by binary records of past events and conditions. This research project was designed to explain subjective experience in idiopathic hypersomnia (IH) patients influenced by their clinical symptoms and comorbidities. Material and Methods: Forty-three IH patients of both sexes (female 60.5%, male 39.5%) were assessed using a detailed structured examination. The interview covered neurologic, psychiatric, and internal medicine anamnesis, medication past and current, substance abuse, work impairment, detailed sleep-related data, specific sleep medication, and a full-length set of questionnaires including depression, quality of life, sleepiness, anxiety, fatigue, insomnia, and sleep inertia. The data were digitized and imported into statistical software (SPSS by IBM), and dynamic simulation software (Vensim by Ventana Systems Inc.) was used to build a causal loop diagram and stocks and flows diagram as a simulation structure. Results: The overall raw data and simulation-based patterns fit at 76.1%. The simulation results also identified the parameters that contribute the most to patients' subjective experience. These included sleep inertia, the refreshing potential of naps, the quality of nocturnal sleep, and the social aspects of the patient's life. Psychiatric disorders influence the overall pattern at a surprisingly low level. The influence of medication has been studied in detail. Although its contribution to the dynamics looks marginal at first sight, it significantly influences the contribution of other variables to the overall patient experience of the disease. Conclusion: Even the simplified dynamic structure designed by the research team reflects the real-life events in patients with IH at the acceptable level of 76.1% and suggests that a similar structure plays an important role in the course of the disease. Therapeutic focus on the parameters identified by the model should enhance the patients' subjective experience throughout illness duration and might even turn the progress from negative into positive. Further research is needed to understand the dynamics of idiopathic hypersomnia in greater detail to better understand the causes and design therapeutic approaches to improve patients' quality of life.
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
Reported brain abnormalities in anatomy and function in patients with narcolepsy with cataplexy led to a project based on qualitative electroencephalography examination and analysis in an attempt to find a narcolepsy with cataplexy-specific brain-derived pattern, or a sequence of brain locations involved in processing humorous stimuli. Laughter is the trigger of cataplexy in these patients, and the difference between patients and healthy controls during the laughter should therefore be notable. Twenty-six adult patients (14 male, 12 female) suffering from narcolepsy with cataplexy and 10 healthy controls (five male, five female) were examined. The experiment was performed using a 256-channel electroencephalogram and then processed using specialized software built according to the scientific research team's specifications. The software utilizes electroencephalographic data recorded during elevated emotional states in participants to calculate the sequence of brain areas involved in emotion processing using non-linear and linear algorithms. Results show significant differences in activation (pre-laughter) patterns between the patients with narcolepsy and healthy controls, as well as significant similarities within the patients and the controls. Specifically, gyrus orbitalis, rectus and occipitalis inferior are active in healthy controls, while gyrus paracentralis, cingularis and cuneus are activated solely in the patients in response to humorous audio stimulus. There are qualitative electroencephalographic-based patterns clearly discriminating between patients with narcolepsy and healthy controls during laughter processing.
- MeSH
- dospělí MeSH
- elektroencefalografie metody MeSH
- emoce fyziologie MeSH
- kataplexie patofyziologie MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- mozek patofyziologie MeSH
- narkolepsie patofyziologie MeSH
- Check Tag
- dospělí MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- mužské pohlaví MeSH
- ženské pohlaví MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- práce podpořená grantem MeSH
Recent evidence indicates that the nature of interactions between the nervous system and immune system is important in the pathogenesis of depression. Specifically, alterations in pro-inflammatory cytokines have been related to the development of several psychological and neurobiological manifestations of depressive disorder, as well as to stress exposure. A number of findings point to tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) as one of the central factors in these processes. Accordingly, in the present study, we test the hypothesis that specific influences of chronic stressors related to traumatic stress and dissociation are related to alterations in TNF-α levels. We performed psychometric measurement of depression (Beck Depression Inventory [BDI]-II), traumatic stress symptoms (Trauma Symptom Checklist [TSC]-40), and psychological and somatoform dissociation (Dissociative Experiences Scale [DES] and Somatoform Dissociation Questionnaire [SDQ]-20, respectively), and immunochemical measure of serum TNF-α in 66 inpatients with unipolar depression (mean age 43.1 ± 7.3 years). The results show that TNF-α is significantly related to DES (Spearman R=-0.42, P<0.01), SDQ-20 (Spearman R=-0.38, P<0.01), and TSC-40 (Spearman R=-0.41, P<0.01), but not to BDI-II. Results of the present study suggest that TNF-α levels are related to dissociative symptoms and stress exposure in depressed patients.
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
Severe mental illnesses like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are disabling, chronic conditions that are often accompanied by medical comorbidities. In this theoretical article, we review the allostatic load model representing the "wear and tear" that chronic stress exacts on the brain and body. We propose an innovative way of monitoring physical and psychiatric comorbidities by integrating the allostatic load model into clinical practice. By interpreting peripheral biomarkers differently, medical professionals can calculate a simple, count-based, allostatic load index known to predict diverse stress-related pathologies. In addition to screening for comorbidities, allostatic load indices can be used to monitor the effects of pharmacological and psychosocial interventions. This framework can also be used to generate a dialogue between patient and practitioner to promote preventive and proactive approaches to health care.
- MeSH
- alostáza fyziologie MeSH
- duševní poruchy epidemiologie patofyziologie terapie MeSH
- komorbidita * MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- stupeň závažnosti nemoci MeSH
- Check Tag
- lidé MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- přehledy MeSH
- MeSH
- behaviorální výzkum metody MeSH
- biomedicínský výzkum metody MeSH
- cytokiny imunologie izolace a purifikace škodlivé účinky MeSH
- depresivní poruchy etiologie imunologie MeSH
- disociační poruchy * diagnóza etiologie imunologie MeSH
- imunitní systém * fyziologie patologie MeSH
- imunomodulace imunologie MeSH
- klinické laboratorní techniky metody využití MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- nervový systém * imunologie MeSH
- příznaky a symptomy MeSH
- průzkumy a dotazníky MeSH
- psychický stres imunologie komplikace psychologie MeSH
- psychometrie metody MeSH
- statistika jako téma MeSH
- TNF-alfa imunologie izolace a purifikace škodlivé účinky MeSH
- zdravotnická zařízení MeSH
- Check Tag
- lidé MeSH
- Publikační typ
- práce podpořená grantem MeSH
BACKGROUND: Alcohol dependence during withdrawal and also in abstinent period in many cases is related to reduced inhibitory functions and kindling that may appear in the form of psychosensory symptoms similar to temporal lobe epilepsy frequently in conditions of normal EEG and without seizures. Because temporal lobe epileptic activity tend to spread between hemispheres, it is possible to suppose that measures reflecting interhemispheric information transfer such as electrodermal activity (EDA) might be related to the psychosensory symptoms. METHODS AND FINDINGS: We have performed measurement of bilateral EDA, psychosensory symptoms (LSCL-33) and alcohol craving (ACQ) in 34 alcohol dependent patients and 32 healthy controls. The results in alcohol dependent patients show that during rest conditions the psychosensory symptoms (LSCL-33) are related to EDA transinformation (PTI) between left and right EDA records (Spearman r = 0.44, p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The result may present potentially useful clinical finding suggesting a possibility to indirectly assess epileptiform changes in alcohol dependent patients.
- MeSH
- alkoholismus komplikace MeSH
- dospělí MeSH
- epilepsie komplikace diagnóza MeSH
- galvanická kožní odpověď MeSH
- lidé středního věku MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- Check Tag
- dospělí MeSH
- lidé středního věku MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- mužské pohlaví MeSH
- ženské pohlaví MeSH
- Publikační typ
- časopisecké články MeSH
- práce podpořená grantem MeSH
- MeSH
- ateroskleróza enzymologie komplikace patofyziologie MeSH
- biologické markery krev MeSH
- depresivní poruchy * enzymologie metabolismus patofyziologie MeSH
- dospělí MeSH
- fyziologický stres fyziologie MeSH
- interleukin-6 * izolace a purifikace škodlivé účinky MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- metabolický syndrom enzymologie komplikace patofyziologie MeSH
- nádory enzymologie komplikace patofyziologie MeSH
- psychický stres enzymologie patofyziologie MeSH
- reakce akutní fáze enzymologie komplikace patofyziologie MeSH
- schizofrenie enzymologie metabolismus patofyziologie MeSH
- statistika jako téma MeSH
- TNF-alfa izolace a purifikace škodlivé účinky MeSH
- zánět * enzymologie komplikace patofyziologie MeSH
- Check Tag
- dospělí MeSH
- lidé MeSH
- Publikační typ
- metaanalýza MeSH
- práce podpořená grantem MeSH
