Electrophysiological, cognitive and clinical profiles of at-risk mental state: The longitudinal Minds in Transition (MinT) study. Atkinson Rebbekah J,Fulham W Ross,Michie Patricia T,Ward Philip B,Todd Juanita,Stain Helen,Langdon Robyn,Thienel Renate,Paulik Georgie,Cooper Gavin, ,Schall Ulrich PloS one The onset of schizophrenia is typically preceded by a prodromal period lasting several years during which sub-threshold symptoms may be identified retrospectively. Clinical interviews are currently used to identify individuals who have an ultra-high risk (UHR) of developing a psychotic illness with a view to provision of interventions that prevent, delay or reduce severity of future mental health issues. The utility of bio-markers as an adjunct in the identification of UHR individuals is not yet established. Several event-related potential measures, especially mismatch-negativity (MMN), have been identified as potential biomarkers for schizophrenia. In this 12-month longitudinal study, demographic, clinical and neuropsychological data were acquired from 102 anti-psychotic naive UHR and 61 healthy controls, of whom 80 UHR and 58 controls provided valid EEG data during a passive auditory task at baseline. Despite widespread differences between UHR and controls on demographic, clinical and neuropsychological measures, MMN and P3a did not differ between these groups. Of 67 UHR at the 12-month follow-up, 7 (10%) had transitioned to a psychotic illness. The statistical power to detect differences between those who did or did not transition was limited by the lower than expected transition rate. ERPs did not predict transition, with trends in the opposite direction to that predicted. In exploratory analysis, the strongest predictors of transition were measures of verbal memory and subjective emotional disturbance. 10.1371/journal.pone.0171657

Nonlinear relations between post-traumatic stress symptoms and electrocortical reactivity during emotional face processing in combat-exposed veterans. Psychophysiology Combat-related post-traumatic stress symptoms (PTSS) are prevalent among recently deployed veterans, making identification of biomarkers of PTSS in this population a public health priority. Given the link between threat processing neurobiology and PTSS, the threat-related late positive potential (LPP), an ERP reflective of attentional processing sensitive to emotion and its regulation, may have utility as a cost-effective biomarker. Existing PTSS/threat-related LPP findings are mixed, possibly due to variability in PTSS across samples, but this has never been explicitly tested. To address this gap, LPP amplitudes to angry, fearful, and happy emotional face stimuli were recorded among 81 combat-exposed veterans at a VA hospital. A quadratic relationship between self-reported PTSS and LPP amplitude modulation by angry faces emerged such that greater PTSS was related to a decreased LPP response to angry faces among veterans with subthreshold PTSD and an enhanced LPP response to angry faces among veterans with probable PTSD. These results suggest that prior mixed findings may be due to variability in PTSS severity. In addition, exploratory moderation analysis revealed that PTSS was positively associated with late LPP modulation for veterans reporting low cognitive reappraisal use and negatively associated with late LPP modulation for veterans reporting high cognitive reappraisal use. All results were specific to the 1,000-3,000 ms LPP time window. Thus, the functional nature of LPP modulation by direct threat cues may depend upon PTSS severity and/or related variables (e.g., cognitive reappraisal utilization). 10.1111/psyp.13423

Electroencephalographic (EEG) alterations in young women with high subclinical eating pathology levels: a quantitative EEG study. Imperatori Claudio,Massullo Chiara,Carbone Giuseppe Alessio,Farina Benedetto,Colmegna Fabrizia,Riboldi Ilaria,Giacomo Ester Di,Clerici Massimo,Dakanalis Antonios Eating and weight disorders : EWD PURPOSE:To explore electroencephalographic (EEG) alterations in young women with different eating disorder (ED) psychopathology levels. METHODS:Thirty-seven young women completed general and ED psychopathology (i.e., the ED Examination Questionnaire; EDE-Q) measures. EEG power spectra data were investigated in two conditions: (a) 5 min of resting state (RS) and (b) 5 min of RS after a single taste of a milkshake (ML-RS). EEG analyses were performed using exact Low-Resolution Electromagnetic Tomography software (eLORETA). RESULTS:Cluster analysis performed on the EDE-Q responses revealed a group of 17 women with high levels of ED pathology falling into the subclinical (i.e., sub-threshold) EDs category and a group of 20 women with low levels of ED pathology (controls). In the RS conditions, no significant modifications were observed between groups. Compared to controls, women with subclinical EDs showed an increase in theta activity in the parieto-occipital areas in the ML-RS condition. After controlling for body mass index and general psychopathology, theta activity in these brain structures was positively associated with EDE-Q global and subscale (restraint, shape and weight concern) scores. CONCLUSIONS:Our results may reflect the neurophysiological substrate of ED psychopathology core features like shape/weight concerns. Previous brain imaging and qEEG studies with full-syndrome ED patients also underscored the involvement of parieto-occipital areas in ED pathophysiology. These studies also found brain alterations in the RS condition, not observed here. This is notable given that full-syndrome and subclinical EDs are considered as different manifestations of the same disease along a severity spectrum. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE:Level V, cross-sectional, electroencephalographic, descriptive study. 10.1007/s40519-019-00801-w

Behavioral and electrophysiological evidence for parent training in young children with autism symptoms and excessive screen-time. Sadeghi Saeid,Pouretemad Hamidreza,Khosrowabadi Reza,Fathabadi Jalil,Nikbakht Sedighe Asian journal of psychiatry Recent studies have shown the relationship between excessive screen time and autism symptoms. Unfortunately, there are no studies that evaluated the interventions for children with autism symptoms and excessive screen-time. This paper is a preliminary attempt to examine the effects of parent training on the duration of screen-time, repetitive behaviors and brain electrophysiological characteristics in young children with subthreshold autism symptoms and excessive screen time. Results showed that after the 2 months' parent-child interaction, children's screen-time and repetitive behaviors decreased and EEG ratio power in some channels changed. Our findings suggest that parent training have positive effects on young children with excessive screen-time and autism symptoms. 10.1016/j.ajp.2019.08.003