Annals of Neurosciences最新文献

Background: Self-report questionnaires assessing psycho-social constructs such as values, empathy, personality, mindfulness and resting-state cognition are widely used in psychological research. Given India's collectivistic cultural orientation-emphasising interdependence and social harmony-these instruments may function differently than in Western settings.

Purpose: This study evaluated five widely used instruments-the Revised Portrait Value Questionnaire (PVQ-RR), Interpersonal Reactivity Index (IRI), Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ), International Personality Item Pool's Big Five Inventory (IPIP-BFI), and Amsterdam Resting-State Questionnaire (ARSQ)-to determine their construct validity, internal consistency, and construct dimensionality within an Indian university student sample.

Methods: A sample of 580 Indian university students (291 females; M = 22.5 ± 4.45 years) completed self-report questionnaires-PVQ-RR, IRI, IPIP-BFI and FFMQ-whose internal consistency, factorial validity, and structural deviations were examined employing Internal Consistency, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) measures. Besides, a subsample (N = 97) undergoing a one-hour meditation intervention completed the ARSQ to assess similar construct metrics in a state mindfulness context.

Results: FFMQ exhibited strong construct validity, reinforcing its five-factor structure and supporting its applicability in collectivistic Indian settings. IRI demonstrated near-optimal validity, with Empathic Concern (EC) and Perspective Taking (PT) showing expected conceptual overlap; overall, reinforcing the sole employment of EC and PT for assessing trait empathy. PVQ-RR exhibited circumplexity consistent with Schwartz's model but revealed cultural deviations in value clustering. ARSQ showed moderate structural alignment, while the IPIP-BFI displayed poor structural validity due to cross-loadings and interpretational inconsistencies.

Conclusion: The findings provided an evaluation of the construct validity, internal consistency, and dimensionality of standardised psycho-social instruments in an Indian adult-educated cohort. FFMQ and IRI provided strong support for their theoretical foundations, whereas the PVQ-RR and ARSQ exhibited deviations related to cultural and cognitive-affective factors, respectively. In contrast, the IPIP-BFI necessitated significant future modifications for the Indian usage context.

Background: The rising female labour force participation in India brings social isolation and stress into focus. The unique social challenges of maintaining contacts while juggling multiple roles highlight the significance of this research for understanding the psychological impacts of social isolation and stress in women. The study further emphasis the necessity of providing specific intervention strategies that help alleviate stress and improve techniques of adjustment; if successful, this indeed mitigates loneliness in women.

Purpose: The study analyses the association among loneliness, stress and the level of adjustment among working and homemaker women aged 25-45 years living in Delhi NCR, considering their possible interrelations and effects on women's psychological well-being.

Methods: This was a cross-sectional design with 130 participants, involving the UCLA Loneliness Questionnaire, the Perceived Stress Scale and the Bell Adjustment Inventory as study measures.

Results: The findings indicate a moderate positive correlation between adjustment difficulties and loneliness, along with a correlation between stress and loneliness. Regression analysis shows that stress and adjustment together account for 75.4% of the variance in loneliness, suggesting that higher stress and adjustment challenges significantly contribute to loneliness among women.

Conclusion: This raises a critical concern aboutmitigating these aspects related to the mental health of women who navigate professional and domestic roles.

Background: Students with disabilities often encounter multiple barriers in accessing and succeeding in higher education. These challenges include physical inaccessibility, lack of academic support and social exclusion.

Summary: This systematic research attempts to identify important hurdles to higher education for students with disabilities, as well as examine the lack of accessibility and assistance. It also looks at publishing patterns, emphasising key publications, authors, nations and organisations in the subject.

Methods: The data was collected from Scopus and the Web of Science database and was analysed through a bibliometric approach with R software. The results indicated that students with disabilities in higher education encounter numerous challenges, which this study categorised into 14 major themes.

Key message: This article offers recommendations for creating an inclusive educational environment in which students with disabilities are treated fairly and given equal access to learning opportunities.

Background: Astrocytes play an integral role in Alzheimer's disease (AD) pathology, where they may act as a double-edged sword. The existing serum-supplemented in vitro astrocyte culture models are not suitable to study certain stress response mechanisms that occur in AD.

Purpose: Here, we tried to develop a serum-free murine primary cortical astrocyte culture model to study endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and inflammation to investigate the effect of amyloid-beta (Aβ_1-42).

Methods: Astrocytes were cultured in a controlled serum-free environment to minimise interference from serum components. Serum-free astrocytes were exposed to oligomeric Aβ and subjected to imaging, immunocytochemistry, real-time PCR and western blot analysis.

Results: Using an established protocol, no significant activation of eIF2α, a key marker of ER stress, was observed under serum-free conditions, but with the removal of N-acetyl cysteine (NAC), ER stress response was enhanced after 24 hours of Aβ exposure. Subsequently, the Aβ-induced inflammatory response, assessed through TNF-α expression, which was minimal in the presence of growth factors, became pronounced when these factors were withdrawn. Concomitantly, a significant increase in astrocytes reactivity, assessed by GFAP expression upon 24 hours of Aβ exposure, was observed. Transcript analysis revealed a time-dependent shift in the expression of inflammatory molecules, with early time points showing an increase in anti-inflammatory markers, while late exposure promoting pro-inflammatory responses.

Conclusion: This study identifies that NAC and growth factors impede ER stress and inflammatory responses in astrocytes upon Aβ exposure in serum-free culture. These findings also highlight the potential of a serum-free culture system for studying ER stress and inflammation in astrocytes to understand the complex role of these cells in AD pathophysiology.

Background: In young patients, improving post-surgery quality of life is vital. A critical lacuna in glioma resections is the absence of tract-specific digital tests to safeguard cognitive functions.

Objective: This study aimed to assess cognitive impairment in patients with pre-frontal low-grade gliomas (LGG) involving the superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF).

Material and methods: The current study documented cognitive impairment using the battery of tests temporarily licensed from The Many Brains Project (TMB) in patients who underwent surgery for pre-frontal LGG with radiological evidence of involvement of the SLF.

Results: Post-operative neuropsychological evaluations in patients with SLF lesions revealed significantly reduced cognitive performance compared to healthy participants. These deficits were evident in tests such as Simple Reaction Time, Visual Patterns, Digit Symbol Substitution, Digit Span, Attention tasks and Trail Making Tests.

Conclusion: Functional domains like attention, working memory and executive function may be affected in patients by both the tumour and neurosurgical intervention. Based on these results, we recommend using Reaction Time, Digit Symbol Substitution, Multiple Object Tracking and Trail Making Tests as practical cognitive evaluation tools, complementing traditional Intraoperative Neurophysiological techniques.

Background: The interplay between emotional stimuli and cognitive control is crucial to understanding adaptive behaviour, particularly in young adolescents whose executive functioning and emotional regulation are still developing. While prior research has examined these influences, the underlying neurobehavioural correlates remain insufficiently understood.

Purpose: This study investigated the influence of attentional demands on emotional valence in young Indian adolescents through the analysis of behavioural responses and event-related potentials (ERPs) in an affect-primed flanker task.

Methods: Forty-four young adolescents (68.18% female, aged 13-14) participated in a flanker task with congruent and incongruent trials at two levels of difficulty, wherein each flanker trial was presented immediately after time-locked affective picture stimuli (positive/negative/neutral valence). Electroencephalography recordings were analysed to identify ERP components alongside an examination of the behavioural data (reaction times/accuracy). Robust statistical methods addressed gender-specific ERP and behavioural patterns.

Results: ERP-based mass-univariate analysis revealed significant differences between positive and negative stimuli at early (88-140 ms) and late (352-412 ms) time windows. Negative stimuli elicited stronger N1 amplitudes, while positive stimuli demonstrated enhanced P3b amplitudes. This differentiation aligns with dual-processing models of emotion and attention, whereby negative stimuli are processed rapidly at an early stage, while positive stimuli engage deeper cognitive processing at later stages. The absence of a typical late positive potential component highlighted the prioritisation of task demands over emotional processing, suggesting that limited attentional resources were allocated to sustained emotional evaluation. Gender differences were noted, with females demonstrating slower reaction times yet higher accuracy, as well as more positive ERP waves in fronto-temporal regions, regardless of valence.

Conclusion: The findings underscored the temporal dynamics of emotion-attention interactions during young adolescence, highlighting the salience-driven nature of early attentional processes and the role of emotional valence in cognitive engagement. Furthermore, gender differences suggested distinct strategies for emotion-cognition integration.

Background: Head injury (HI) causes a wide range of psychological symptoms, such as cognitive deficits and mood changes, leading to significant disability. Although a few studies have explored the prevalence of HI in India. However, none of the meta-analytical studies reported the estimation of the prevalence of HI in India based on cross-sectional community surveys.

Summary: A systematic review search was conducted on journal hosting sites, namely EBSCOhost, Google Scholar, Ovid, PubMed, and Web of Science, complying with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Cross-sectional Indian studies reporting the prevalence of HI in India were included in the present study. The risk of bias was assessed using the Risk of Bias Tool for Prevalence Studies. The meta-analysis was conducted using 'meta' and 'dmetar' packages through R software (4.4.0). A total of 17 studies surveyed 85,720 people, of whom 921 suffered from HI. The results showed an HI prevalence of 25.7 per thousand people in India. Subgroup analysis revealed a higher prevalence of HI among females (91.1 per 1,000) in comparison to males (85.1 per 1,000). Additionally, subgroup analysis of domicile revealed a higher HI prevalence among those from urban areas (29.5 per 1,000) than among those from rural areas (22.4 per 1,000).

Key message: This study highlights the substantial burden of HI in India and the associated disparities in gender and domicile. The findings will be helpful to health professionals and policymakers in making informed decisions regarding the preventive aspects of HI in India.

Background: Alcohol use among young adults has been associated with a range of negative consequences, including poor academic performance, higher risk of accidents, and increased likelihood of developing addictive behaviors. This age group (18-25 years) represents a key public health concern, as a significant proportion report alcohol consumption, and many engage in binge drinking.

Purpose: This article seeks to examine the relationship between attachment, alcohol expectancies, and metacognitive beliefs with the use of alcohol in young adults.

Methods: This study has a correlational research design. The study had 200 participants whose ages ranged between 18 and 25 years, divided into two groups. Group 1 comprising of 100 males and Group 2 comprising of 100 females. The sampling method was Nonprobability type criterion-based sampling. The dependent variable was alcohol use, and the independent variables were attachment style, alcohol expectancies and metacognitive beliefs about alcohol.

Results: The results have indicated significant relationships of positive alcohol expectancies and metacognitive beliefs about emotional self-regulation with the severity of alcohol use. Anxious and avoidant style of attached individuals consumed significantly more than securely attached ones. Moderate risk consumers reported positive expectancies and metacognition as significantly higher than low-risk consumers.

Conclusions: Findings suggest that attachment orientations, alcohol expectancies, and metacognition interact and affect young adults' drinking behaviours. These results suggest that these psychological factors should be considered when designing interventions aimed at eradicating risky drinking behaviours.

Background: Over the past two decades, the intersection of yoga and psychoneuroimmunology (PNI) has received significant attention as a promising field for promoting mental and immune well-being. This bibliometric analysis explores global research trends, prolific authors, influential journals and collaboration patterns from 2003 to 2023. The study underscores the need to integrate traditional knowledge with modern science, positioning yoga as a validated tool in mainstream healthcare for disease prevention and management.

Purpose: This study aims to explore global contributions, impact trends in yoga and PNI research, prolific authors, journals and spotlight leading countries, emerging opportunities, influential research hubs and collaboration gaps. Additionally, to conduct thematic analysis aimed at integrating yoga into mainstream healthcare as a scientifically validated tool for promoting mental and immune well-being within the context of PNI.

Methods: Articles published between 2003 and 2023 were retrieved from Scopus and analysed using Biblioshiny version 4.0.0 (via R-Studio) and VOSviewer.

Results: A total of 2,173 publications were included. The average number of citations per document was 50.24. Although India is the birthplace of yoga, it still ranks fifth in terms of citations, behind the USA, Canada, the United Kingdom and Australia. It was observed that around 30%-50% of India's publications (n = 239) involve international collaboration. The Canadian Institutes of Health Research and National Institute of Health dominate the funding landscape, whereas Indian funding agencies (Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy, Indian Council of Medical Research and Department of Science and Technology) play a relatively minor role in the global context.

Conclusion: This analysis provides an updated perspective for understanding the field's hotspot, which facilitates future research to uncover the mechanisms underlying the effects of yoga on the psycho-neuro-immuno-endocrine systems in disease prevention and management. Integration of traditional knowledge with modern scientific practices, with a focus on high-impact publishing, will help position India as a leader in this research domain.

Background: Brain endothelial interaction with neurons, astrocytes, oligodendrocytes and microglial cells is critical for brain physiology; it is still far from being mapped. Understanding of the endothelial communication with other brain cell type could unravel novel insight into neurovascular homeostasis.

Purpose: This study aims to construct neurovascular interaction network, focusing on brain endothelial cell interactome using brain cell marker gene dataset and ligand-receptor (LR) pair.

Methods: We curated brain marker gene list from McKenzie et al.'s brain cell type top 1000 marker list of endothelial, microglia, astrocyte, neuron, oligodendrocyte and oligodendrocyte progenitor cell (OPC) and extracted LR interaction between them. Subsequently, using Cytoscape, endothelial cell interaction map was constructed and top interaction and hub gene were derived. Moreover, we performed Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes (KEGG) pathways enrichment (p value < .1) to infer biological information hidden.

Results: Neurovascular LR interaction showed endothelial cells as the top network having 25.34% of total interaction with 176 outgoing and 171 incoming interactions. A considerable portion of signalling (11%) is involved in autocrine signalling functionally related to vascular tone, angiogenesis and others. Paracrine signalling between endothelial cells with microglia, astrocytes, neurons and OPC constituted 13.5%, 8.9%, 5.8% and 4.9% of total interactions, respectively. Functional enrichment of LR interaction in endothelial-microglia, endothelial-astrocyte and endothelial-neuron networks constitutes 49, 45 and 36 significant KEGG pathways (p value < .1) respectively. These pathways include extracellular matrix (ECM) receptor, axon guidance, chemokine, nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kB) and signalling pathways, among others. Hub gene analysis showed ITGB1 in endothelial cells, ITGA4 in microglia, NOTCH2 in astrocytes and LAMC2 in neurons having maximum interaction in the endothelial network.

Conclusion: This study recapitulated not only previously known gene interactions using a markers gene list but also identified novel interactions between endothelial and other brain cell types. In conclusion, this analysis underscores the critical role of endothelial cell interactions in brain physiology.