Brain and Behavior最新文献

Objective: The aim of our study was to evaluate the effect of the 4-7-8 breathing exercise on tinnitus handicap, psychological factors, and sleep quality.

Methods: The present study employed a parallel-group randomized controlled trial design. A total of 23 patients with subjective tinnitus in the experimental group and 25 patients with subjective tinnitus in the control group took part in the study. Both groups received 1 hour of informative session on tinnitus, and the experimental group also performed 4-7-8 breathing exercises for 6 weeks. Visual analog scale (VAS), tinnitus handicap inventory (THI), insomnia severity index (ISI), trait anxiety inventory (TAI), and perceived stress scale-10 (PSS-10) were applied before and on the day the 6-week program is done or 6 weeks after the informative session is completed.

Results: When the experimental group and the control group were compared after the intervention, a significant decrease was found in all questionnaire and VAS scores of the experimental group. While the questionnaire and VAS scores of the control group after the session did not differ significantly from the baseline scores, all questionnaire scores of the experimental group after the 6-week program showed a significant decrease compared to the pre-application scores.

Conclusions: This exercise technique can be used as a simple, effective, and supportive therapy method in the clinical management of tinnitus patients.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT06360731.

Background: Post-stroke cognitive impairment (PSCI) is a common complication following a stroke. Recent findings highlight the role of miR-502-3p in both vascular and neurodegenerative diseases. However, the role in PSCI remains uncovered.

Objective: This study emphasized the differential expression of miR-502-3p and subsequently evaluated the predictive value of miR-502-3p expression levels for PSCI.

Materials and methods: The study subjects included 112 patients with PSCI and 161 individuals with post-stroke cognitive normality. The relative expression of miR-502-3p was calculated by qPCR, while its predictive value for PSCI was assessed via ROC curve. Pearson's correlation coefficient was utilized to analyze the correlation between serum miR-502p-3p levels and PSCI. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify risk factors of PSCI.

Results: Serum miR-502-3p was identified as significantly elevated in the PSCI group. The area under the ROC curve was 0.850, with a sensitivity of 76.79% and a specificity of 77.64%. The miR-502-3p level was positively correlated with both NIHSS and mRS scores. In addition, a negative correlation was observed between the miR-502-3p level and MoCA score. Elevated miR-502-3p and hypertension were identified as independent risk factors for PSCI.

Conclusion: Significantly elevated serum miR-502-3p was a promising biomarker for the onset of PSCI. Elevated miR-502-3p and hypertension were independent risk factors for PSCI.

Introduction: Panic disorder, agoraphobia, and generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) frequently co-occur and share overlapping symptoms, yet it remains unclear whether they reflect distinct or interconnected symptom systems. This study examined the network structure of these disorders using clinician-administered diagnostic data.

Methods: A total of 463 adults completed the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (M.I.N.I.) conducted by trained clinicians. Eighteen items from the panic disorder, agoraphobia, and GAD modules were retained after a multistep selection procedure ensuring clinical relevance, endorsement variability, and nonredundancy. A binary Ising network was estimated using eLASSO with EBIC model selection. Network accuracy, stability, and edge differences were evaluated through nonparametric bootstrapping.

Results: The estimated network revealed two well-defined symptom clusters corresponding to (1) panic-agoraphobia and (2) GAD. Within the panic-agoraphobia cluster, physiological symptoms (e.g., palpitations, shortness of breath, sweating, dizziness) were tightly interconnected, and catastrophic cognitions (fear of dying, fear of losing control) were moderately linked to bodily sensations. Agoraphobia symptoms were strongly connected to each other but relatively peripheral to other panic symptoms. The GAD cluster was anchored by difficulty controlling worry, which emerged as the most central symptom and showed strong associations with restlessness, sleep disturbance, fatigue, and irritability. Notably, no direct edges were found between panic-agoraphobia and GAD symptoms, suggesting distinct anxiety systems.

Conclusion: These findings indicate that fear-based and worry-based anxiety symptoms form separable yet clinically relevant structures. Focusing on core processes like excessive worry and interoceptive regulation could enhance the specificity of interventions and more effectively disrupt anxiety maintenance mechanisms.

Background: The attentional boost effect refers to enhanced memory for information presented concurrently with target detection. This study explored the temporal neural dynamics of attentional boost effect during encoding and recognition to clarify whether it results from target enhancement or distractor inhibition.

Methods: A dual-task paradigm combining digit detection with word memorization was employed. Electroencephalography was recorded throughout the encoding and recognition stages. Event-related potential components, including P1, N1, P2, N2, P3, FN400, and late positive component (LPC), were analyzed across four regions of interest to track the time course of neural processing associated with attentional facilitation.

Results: Recognition accuracy for target-associated words was significantly higher than for baseline and distractor words, confirming a robust attentional boost effect. Event-related potential analyses revealed that during the encoding stage, target words elicited shorter P2/N2 latencies and larger P3 amplitudes. During the recognition stage, target words evoked more positive FN400 and LPC responses relative to new words.

Conclusions: The attentional boost effect emerges from the combined operation of target enhancement and distractor inhibition. These findings outline the neural timeline of attentional boost effect and provide insights for developing cognitive enhancement and rehabilitation strategies.

Introduction: Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by a complex interplay of motor and non-motor symptoms. While cross-sectional studies have shown a link between psychological symptoms and self-reported physical function, the longitudinal and directional nature of this relationship remains unclear. This study aimed to clarify the temporal relationships between psychological symptoms (depression and anxiety) and physical function (both participant-reported and clinician-rated) in individuals with PD.

Methods: We used a rigorous longitudinal analytical approach, random-intercept cross-lagged panel modeling (RI-CLPM), on data from 1128 individuals with PD from the Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) dataset. We examined directional cross-lagged paths between psychological symptoms (via GDS and STAI) and physical function measures (via MDS-UPDRS Parts II and III).

Results: Our analysis revealed significant bidirectional cross-lagged paths between depressive symptoms and participant-reported physical function. A worsening of depression scores predicted a subsequent decline in participant-reported physical function (via MDS-UPDRS Part II), and vice versa. In contrast, no significant cross-lagged paths were found between psychological symptoms and clinician-rated motor function (via MDS-UPDRS Part III). The analysis also showed a significant unidirectional path from participant-reported function to future clinician-rated function, suggesting that a participant's self-perception of disability may precede objective motor decline.

Conclusions: Our findings reveal a bidirectional relationship between depressive symptoms and an individual's own reporting of their physical function. This emphasizes the important role of patient-reported outcomes as an indicator of PD progression. Therefore, we advocate for an integrated, multidisciplinary approach in clinical practice, where mental health screening and support are included in standard PD care.

Background: Despite increasing interest in school belonging, few studies have applied person-centered approaches to explore how emotional and psychological factors interact within adolescent populations. This study aimed to identify latent profiles of adolescents based on their experiences of school belonging, emotional problems, psychological symptoms, meaningful school engagement, and ostracism.

Method: A multidimensional construct was developed, incorporating indicators such as ignorance, exclusion, somatization, depression, anxiety, purpose enjoyment, responsible understanding, and prosociality. A convenience sample of 749 adolescents (64.4% female; M_age = 15.27, SD = 1.25) was recruited. Latent profile analysis was conducted to uncover distinct student profiles.

Results: Four profiles emerged: (1) Distressed but Included-high emotional problems despite near-average ostracism; (2) Adaptive and Successful-high meaningful school engagement and prosociality with low emotional problems; (3) Balanced and Typical-normative levels across all indicators; and (4) Ostracized with Psychological Risk-the highest levels of ostracism and emotional problems.

Conclusion: School belonging plays a critical role in identifying psychological risk and resilience among adolescents. Latent profile analysis offers a nuanced framework for developing targeted interventions to support students' emotional and social well-being.

Purpose: This study addresses an important gap in understanding the mechanisms linking adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) to spiritual well-being. Specifically, it tested the serial mediating roles of resilient mindset and psychological distress-depression, anxiety, and stress-in both independent and sequential pathways. By controlling for age and gender, the study aimed to clarify how resilience and distress jointly explain the relationship between ACEs and spiritual well-being.

Method: A cross-sectional design was used to conduct this study. A total of 686 university students participated in this study (75.4% females; M  =  21.5, SD  =  2.21).

Finding: The results showed that higher ACEs were associated with lower spiritual well-being, with a significant total effect (B = -0.64). Significant indirect effects supported the mediating roles of resilient mindset (B = -0.06) and psychological distress, including depression (B = -0.14), anxiety (B = -0.09), and stress (B = -0.09). Serial mediation analyses further showed that ACEs were indirectly associated with spiritual well-being through resilient mindset, followed by depression (B = -0.03), anxiety (B = -0.01), and stress (B = -0.01).

Conclusion: These findings suggest that developing a resilient mindset and reducing psychological distress may be important in reducing the effects of ACEs on well-being.

Background: Acute suicidality is an emergency psychiatric condition that requires urgent treatment. Traditional treatment approaches, such as antidepressant pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy, take weeks to achieve optimal effectiveness, hence exposing patients in imminent crisis to significant risk. Ketamine is a fast-acting N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist that has been suggested as a possible treatment option for suicidality. The current meta-analysis aims at comparing the relative efficacy and safety of ketamine with midazolam, an active sedative/anxiolytic comparator used in ketamine trials to support masking/blinding and control nonspecific acute effects, for reducing suicidal ideation and co-occurring depression severity.

Methods: The systematic search was done on PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Central databases by July 2025. Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that involved ketamine and midazolam in adults with acute suicidality were chosen. The major outcomes were the variations in suicidal ideation as assessed by the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale-Suicidal Ideation item (MADRS-SI) and Beck Scale of Suicide Ideation (BSS). Additional outcomes were the severity of depression in general (Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS) total score) and adverse events. Pooled effects were calculated using a random-effects model.

Results: This systematic review comprised ten randomized controlled trials (RCTs) with 649 participants. The meta-analysis showed that the administration of ketamine was linked to a considerable decrease in suicidal ideation in comparison to midazolam with mean differences of -1.23 points on the Montgomery-Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS-SI; 95% confidence interval (CI) -2.14 to -0.32) and -4.30 points on the Beck Scale for Suicide Ideation (BSS; 95% CI -8.01 to -0.59). Ketamine was also associated with reduced severity of depressive symptoms compared to midazolam, with a difference of -6.23 (95% CI -10.37 to -2.08) on the MADRS total score. At the same time, adverse events such as nausea, emotional disturbance, derealization, and dizziness were much more frequent in the ketamine group.

Conclusions: Ketamine is much more effective than midazolam in the short-term improvement of suicidal ideation and depressive symptoms in adult patients with acute suicidality. Despite the fact that ketamine is linked to increased rates of transient adverse effects, its quick action makes it an especially appealing intervention in emergency psychiatric treatment. Further research is thus needed to clarify the long-term effectiveness of the agent and to optimize the best treatment regimes.

Objectives: Comparison of recorded diagnoses of multiple sclerosis (MS) and related disorders and disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) in The Danish Multiple Sclerosis Registry (DMSR) with other nationwide health registries. The aim of the study is to describe and compare information on diagnoses of MS and related disorders and treatments with DMTs available in three national registries, highlighting the key differences relevant to MS research and providing insight for researchers for their choice of data source(s) suitable for their study.

Materials and methods: DMSR is a disease registry encompassing information on persons with MS and related disorders. The Danish National Patient Registry (DNPR) is a registry of activities at Danish hospitals. The Danish National Hospital Medication Registry (DNHMR) contains information on in-hospital prescription medications. The population comprised all persons in DMSR in 2023 who were alive or born after and residing in Denmark on January 1, 1995 (N = 26,474). For this population, we identified DNPR contacts with diagnoses of MS or related disorders and initiated DMTs in DNHMR. Diagnostic and demographic characteristics were reported as recorded in DMSR for the total population, and the subset included in DMSR but not in DNPR. Characteristics of the part of the population identified in DNPR were reported as recorded in DNPR. We calculated the proportions of DMT treatments in DMSR identified in DNHMR.

Results: Of the 26,474 persons, 23,857 (90.1%) were recorded with a diagnosis of MS or a related disorder in DNPR. Most (86.6%) of the 2617 persons not identified in DNPR were diagnosed before 1995. The proportion of persons with MS recorded without specification of the disease phenotype was 23.5% in the DMSR and 76.2% in the DNPR. After 2005, only 1.8% of persons with MS were recorded with an unspecified phenotype in DMSR. Of a total of 18,168 initiated DMT treatments in DMSR, 7230 (39.8%) were identified in DNHMR, with proportions ranging from 0.0% (mitoxantrone) to 88.5% (ocrelizumab).

Conclusions: DMSR is suitable for disease-specific research addressing treatment efficacy, disease development, and long-term outcomes. In contrast, DNPR is well suited for broad epidemiological studies involving various health conditions and hospital utilization. The DNHMR will, when matured, be useful for studies involving medical treatment and comedication. However, as each registry has limitations, for most studies the best approach will be combining registries, depending on the research question.