Increased testosterone-to-cortisol ratio in psychopathy

Examining the relation among callous-unemotional traits and cortisol, alpha-amylase, and testosterone reactivity in legal system involved young men

Elevated callous-unemotional (CU) traits (e.g., lack of empathy, deficient guilt/remorse, and shallow affect) are associated with increased antisociality and distinct patterns of cognitive and emotional functioning. Previous investigations have suggested that deficits in physiological stress responses may underlie these associations, yet few studies simultaneously examine the multiple physiological systems responsible for mounting a stress response. To clarify how individuals with and without elevated CU traits respond to acute stress, the current study examined the association between CU traits and hormones released by three systems: cortisol from the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis, alpha-amylase from the sympathetic nervous system (SNS), and testosterone from hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axis. Specifically, we used fixed effect regression modeling to examine within-individual changes in each biomarker across the administration of a standardized laboratory stressor (Trier Social Stress Test) in a sample of 55 justice-involved young men (Mage= 22.84). Results indicated significant within-individual changes in cortisol, alpha-amylase, and testosterone following the stressor among those with low or average CU traits. However, those with high levels of CU exhibited no significant changes in their cortisol and testosterone levels. Furthermore, individuals with high CU traits exhibit an asymmetric stress response, such that alpha-amylase and testosterone levels were not associated with changes in cortisol levels. In sum, elevated CU traits were associated with blunted cortisol and testosterone reactivity and asymmetric response to stress. Additional work is needed to determine the behavioral and treatment implications of this distinct stress response.

Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis responsivity during adolescence in relation to psychopathic personality traits later in life

Psychopathic personality traits have been linked to low physiological arousal, particularly among high risk and forensic samples. A core indicator of physiological arousal is the activity of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis; however, findings of a link between HPA axis functioning and psychopathic personality traits have been inconsistent. Furthermore, given sex differences in both HPA axis responsivity and psychopathic personality traits, the association may be expected to differ between men and women. The aim of this study was to investigate the association between HPA axis responsivity in mid-adolescence and psychopathic personality traits in early adulthood and determine whether the association was moderated by sex. We examined this link in a general population sample of twins (N = 556). Adolescents participated in a psychosocial stress task during which samples of salivary cortisol were collected (11-15 years) and reported psychopathic personality traits using the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (19-20 years). Multilevel linear regression models were estimated in which psychopathic personality traits (boldness, meanness and disinhibition), and their interactions with sex, were regressed on HPA axis responsivity. The study was pre-registered on the Open Science Framework (osf.io/gs2a8). Preliminary analyses showed that cortisol levels did not increase significantly during the stressor task but decreased during recovery. Results showed that there was no association between HPA axis responsivity in mid-adolescence and psychopathic personality traits in early adulthood. The associations were not moderated by sex. Findings suggest that HPA axis responsivity in mid-adolescence did not serve as a biological marker for psychopathic personality traits among young adults from the general population.

Blast-Induced Neurotrauma Results in Spatially Distinct Gray Matter Alteration Alongside Hormonal Alteration: A Preliminary Investigation

Blast-induced neurotrauma (BINT) frequently occurs during military training and deployment and has been linked to long-term neuropsychological and neurocognitive changes, and changes in brain structure. As military personnel experience frequent exposures to stress, BINT may negatively influence stress coping abilities. This study aimed to determine the effects of BINT on gray matter volume and hormonal alteration. Participants were Canadian Armed Forces personnel and veterans with a history of BINT (n = 12), and first responder controls (n = 8), recruited due to their characteristic occupational stress professions. Whole saliva was collected via passive drool on the morning of testing and analyzed for testosterone (pg/mL), cortisol (μg/dL), and testosterone/cortisol (T/C) ratio. Voxel-based morphometry was performed to compare gray matter (GM) volume, alongside measurement of cortical thickness and subcortical volumes. Saliva analyses revealed distinct alterations following BINT, with significantly elevated testosterone and T/C ratio. Widespread and largely symmetric loci of reduced GM were found specific to BINT, particularly in the temporal gyrus, precuneus, and thalamus. These findings suggest that BINT affects hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal and -gonadal axis function, and causes anatomically-specific GM loss, which were not observed in a comparator group with similar occupational stressors. These findings support BINT as a unique injury with distinct structural and endocrine consequences.

High-intensity interval and moderate-intensity continuous training ameliorate the deteriorating acute effect of noise stress on corticosterone and testosterone in rats

PURPOSE

Noise has become an integral part of human life. Noise stress affect various physiological indices. In the present study, the effects of acute noise stress on corticosterone and testosterone and testosterone to cortisol ratio (T/C) in male rats, trained with two types of high-intensity interval training (HIIT) and moderate-intensity continuous training (MCT) were evaluated.

METHODS

42 male Wistar rats were divided randomly into seven groups, including the control group (C), control time (CT), exposure to acute noise stress (S), HIIT, MCT, HIIT with noise stress (HIIT + S), and MCT with noise stress (MCT + S). Exercise groups performed eight weeks of exercise training. One session of stress was induced in stress groups following the intervention (exercise or rest) period. Serum levels of corticosterone and T/C were measured through blood samples, taken 48 hours following the last session of exercise in the four exercise groups without noise stress and time control. Immediately after noise stress, blood samples were taken in 3 stress groups.

RESULTS

Serum level of corticosterone in the MCT group was significantly higher than CT and HIIT groups (P = 0.001). Considering the effect of acute noise stress, corticosterone was significantly higher in HIIT + S and MCT + S, respectively, compared to the noise stress group (P < 0.001). Testosterone level of the noise stress group was significantly lower than CT group (P < 0.001). Testosterone level in the S group was significantly lower than other stress groups (MCT + S and HIIT + S) (P < 0.001). T/C in HIIT + S group was significantly higher compared to S and MCT + S groups (P < 0.001).

CONCLUSION

HIIT and MCT, by priority, ameliorated the deteriorating effect of noise stress on testosterone and T/C; and it appears that the intensity and mode of previous exercise training affect the hormonal response to noise stress.

Cortisol awakening response and testosterone jointly affect adolescents' theory of mind

Adolescence is a critical period for the maturation of neurobiological processes and hormone secretion. Recent studies on the dual-hormone hypothesis have indicated that basal cortisol and testosterone jointly affect dominant and aggressive behavior among adolescents and adults. Whether this hypothesis applies to prosocial-related understanding of others' mental states remains unclear. The present study investigated associations between basal testosterone, basal cortisol (and cortisol awakening response [CAR]), and the cognitive/affective theory of mind (ToM) in 243 adolescents (67.9 % male, aged 14 to 17 years, M_age = 16.09, standard deviation = 0.62). Cognitive ToM (cToM) and affective ToM (aToM) were assessed with a cartoon story reasoning task: In the cToM condition, participants viewed a comic strip story and needed to predict what would happen based on a character's intentions, and in the aToM condition, they viewed a comic strip of two characters interacting and needed to think about what would make the protagonist feel better. The results showed that basal testosterone and basal cortisol did not interact with each other to affect the performance of ToM, either in terms of ToM accuracy or response speed. However, under the condition of low CAR, testosterone is associated with the fast performance of cToM, although the interaction of testosterone and CAR occurred only in female adolescents. Overall, our data provide new evidence for the dual-hormone hypothesis and further extend the hypothesis to social understanding.

Relation between testosterone, cortisol and aggressive behavior in humans

Aggression is an evolutionary behavior as it has a role in survival, increasing one’s access to food, shelter, status and reproduction. Testosterone and Cortisol are hormones often linked to aggressive behavior. We gathered and organized data from the last five years on the relation among Testosterone, Cortisol and aggression, while assessing the methods used by those scientific papers. A systematic review was made according to PRISMA guidelines. The search for indexed articles was performed in January 2019 using the keywords aggress* AND Testosterone AND Cortisol in three databases: Web of Science, SCOPUS and PsycInfo. The specific role of Testosterone and Cortisol in aggressive behavior is not unanimous. However, most articles found either an increase in Testosterone or a decrease in Cortisol associated with this behavior. There is the need for standardizing methods of triggering and assessing aggressive behavior, taking into account the assessment of social desirability and its impacts.

Sex Moderates Reward- and Loss-Related Neural Correlates of Triarchic-Model Traits and Antisocial Behavior

Abnormalities in responses to reward and loss are implicated in the etiology of antisocial behavior and psychopathic traits. While there is evidence for sex differences in neural response to reward and loss, it remains unclear how sex differences may moderate links between these neural responses and the phenotypic expression of antisocial behavior and psychopathic traits. This study examined sex differences in associations of neural response to reward and loss with antisocial personality symptoms and psychopathic traits. Functional neuroimaging data were collected during a monetary incentive delay task from 158 participants. Among males, during loss anticipation, activation in the left nucleus accumbens was negatively associated with antisocial behavior. Among females, during loss feedback, activation in the left nucleus accumbens and left amygdala was negatively associated with antisocial behavior. These results suggest that phenotypic sex differences in psychopathic traits and antisocial behavior may in part be attributable to different etiological pathways.

Abnormal Plasma Levels of Steroids and Their Ratios in Patients With Prurigo Nodularis: A Pilot Study

Background: It has been suggested that cortisol levels are abnormal in chronic urticaria and atopic dermatitis, but other steroids, such as dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and testosterone, are still unknown, and whether these hormones affect the maintenance of skin homeostasis or the pathogenesis of skin diseases is not fully understood. Limited data are available on steroid levels in prurigo nodularis (PN)-related research, and no study has examined the association between pruritus severity and steroid levels in PN patients. Aims: This pilot study aimed to investigate the differences in the levels of five steroids combined with their ratios in plasma between PN patients and controls and to examine the associations between the biomarkers and pruritus severity. Methods: Plasma concentrations of five steroids, including cortisol, cortisone, testosterone, progesterone, and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), in 36 patients with PN were compared with concentrations in thirty-six and matched healthy controls. The concentrations of steroids were quantitated using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The PN symptoms, including pruritus severity, pain, and life quality, were assessed with the use of the visual analog scale, prurigo score index, numerical rating scale, and verbal rating scale and dermatology life quality index scores. Results: In comparison with controls, PN patients had lower levels of plasma cortisol and cortisone, which negatively correlated with PN symptoms. PN patients had higher levels of cortisone and testosterone to cortisol, which positively correlated with pruritus severity. Additionally, there were no significant differences in plasma concentrations of DHEA and testosterone between the two groups. We found no correlation between plasma concentrations of DHEA and testosterone and pruritus severity. Conclusion: This pilot study suggests that there may be abnormalities in peripheral blood levels of cortisol, and cortisone and the ratios of cortisone and testosterone to cortisol in patients with PN, and they are related to pruritus severity. The plasma concentrations of testosterone and DHEA may be not abnormal in PN patients and may not be associated with pruritus severity.

Testing the role of inflammation in the relation of childhood maltreatment and suicidal ideation among young adults

BACKGROUND

In recent years, the prevalence of suicidal ideation among young adults has been on the rise, with childhood maltreatment thought to partially explain this disparity. Systemic inflammation-a product of over-activation of the body's stress response system-has been hypothesized to play a predictive role in the development of suicidal ideation. Enduring childhood maltreatment can lead to systemic inflammation, possibly accounting for suicidal ideation's increased prevalence among young adults who have a history of childhood maltreatment.

METHODS

The current study sought to investigate the importance of childhood maltreatment as a static risk factor for downstream suicidal ideation in young adulthood with the immunological response (i.e., systemic inflammation) to childhood maltreatment serving as a mediating factor.

RESULTS

Systemic inflammation was found to be positively associated with suicidal ideation, supporting the unique role systemic inflammation may play in the pathogenesis of suicidal ideation, though hypotheses regarding childhood maltreatment were not supported.

CONCLUSION

This study provides novel insight into a potential immunobiological model for suicidal ideation development in young adult populations.

REMOVED: Plasma Steroids and Endocannabinoids Used as Biomarkers to Assess the Pruritus Severity of Patients With Prurigo Nodularis

This article has been retracted: please see Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal (http://www.elsevier.com/locate/withdrawalpolicy). This article has been retracted at the request of the first author and the approval of all of the co-authors. After publication, the author contacted the journal regarding errors affecting the statistical analysis: the incorrect identification of patients in the part of clinical information and biomarker's levels led to incorrect conclusions of the study. The data is lacking experimental verification due to data loss and errors. The editor in chief accepted the retraction. The authors offer their apologies.

REMOVED: Plasma Steroids and Endocannabinoids Used as Biomarkers to Assess the Pruritus Severity of Patients With Prurigo Nodularis

This article has been retracted: please see Elsevier Policy on Article Withdrawal (http://www.elsevier.com/locate/withdrawalpolicy). This article has been retracted at the request of the first author and the approval of all of the co-authors. After publication, the author contacted the journal regarding errors affecting the statistical analysis: the incorrect identification of patients in the part of clinical information and biomarker's levels led to incorrect conclusions of the study. The data is lacking experimental verification due to data loss and errors. The editor in chief accepted the retraction. The authors offer their apologies.

Stress system dysfunction revealed by integrating reactivity of stress pathways to psychological stress in lean and overweight/obese men

While the patterns of response within the sympatho-adrenal medullary (SAM) system and hypothalamo-pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis are interesting and important in their own accord, the overall response to acute psychological stress involves reactivity of both pathways We tested the hypothesis that consideration of the integrated response of these pathways may reveal dysregulation of the stress systems that is not evident when considering either system alone. Age matched lean and overweight/obese men were subjected to a Trier Social Stress Test and reactivity of the SAM system (salivary alpha amylase, systolic blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure and heart rate) and the HPA axis (salivary cortisol) were measured. Relative reactivity of SAM system and HPA axis was calculated as the ratio between the measures from each pathway. While analysis of reactivity of individual stress pathways showed no evidence of dysfunction in overweight/obese compared with lean men, analysis of HPA/SAM reactivity revealed significantly lower cortisol over systolic blood pressure (CoSBP) and cortisol over diastolic blood pressure (CoDBP) reactivity in overweight/obese compared with lean men. Other measures of HPA/SAM reactivity and all measures of SAM/HPA reactivity were unaltered in overweight/obese compared with lean men. These findings suggest that the cortisol response per unit of blood pressure response is blunted in men with elevated adiposity. Further, these findings support a notion of a coordinated overall approach to activation of the stress pathways with the degree of activation in one pathway being related to the degree of activation of the other.

Psychopathy in women: insights from neuroscience and ways forward for research

Psychopathy is a severe form of personality disturbance, resulting in a detrimental impact on individuals, healthcare systems, and society as a whole. Until relatively recently, most research in psychopathy has focused on male samples, not least because of its link with criminal behavior and the large proportion of violent crime committed by men. However, psychopathy in women also leads to considerable problems at an individual and societal level, including substance misuse, poor treatment outcomes, and contribution to ever-increasing numbers of female prisoners. Despite this, due to relative neglect, most research into adult female psychopathy is underpowered and outdated. We argue that the field needs revitalizing, with a focus on the developmental nature of the condition and neurocognitive research. Recent work international consortia into conduct disorder in female youth-a precursor of psychopathy in female adults-gives cause for optimism. Here, we outline key strategies for enriching research in this important field with contemporary approaches to other psychiatric conditions.

Testosterone and cortisol do not predict rejecting harm or maximizing outcomes in sacrificial moral dilemmas: A preregistered analysis

Contemporary moral psychology explores the biological underpinnings of morality, including how neuromodulators influence moral judgment and decision making. Some studies suggest that higher circulating testosterone is associated with increased acceptance of sacrificial harm, such as killing one person to save five lives, consistent with utilitarian ethics and inconsistent with deontological ethics. However, most studies employ conventional analytic techniques that conflate concern about outcomes with reduced concern about sacrificial harm, many are statistically underpowered, and none examine potential regulating effects of cortisol. Therefore, we examined whether salivary concentrations of testosterone and cortisol jointly predict sacrificial dilemma judgments among a large sample of undergraduates (n = 199). We utilized an advanced cognitive modeling technique (process dissociation) to independently assess sensitivity to causing harm and maximizing outcomes, preregistering the prediction that higher testosterone would predict reduced harm-rejection rather than increased concern for outcomes, especially among people low in cortisol. However, neither testosterone, nor cortisol, nor their interaction predicted sacrificial dilemma response tendencies. Such findings raise questions about the robustness of past evidence suggesting links between testosterone and sacrificial dilemma judgments.

Inflammatory and environmental contributions to social information processing

It appears that social information processing is negatively affected by inflammation, but extant research is primarily experimental and comes from laboratory-based manipulations of inflammatory states. We aimed to examine interactions between inflammation, stressful life events, and positive memories of childhood relations with parents in relation to social information processing in 201 adults. We hypothesized that increased inflammation and stressful life events would be associated with greater hostile social information processing, but that positive memories of childhood relations with parents would moderate both relations. Results indicated that high IL-6 levels and stressful life events were significantly associated with direct and hostile social information processing. Positive memories of childhood relations with parents attenuated the link between stressful life events and social information processing. Findings suggest that both immune function and environmental stressors are related to social information processing and that positive memories of childhood relations exert some buffering effect.

Thoracic Spinal Manipulation Effect on Neuroendocrine Response in People With Achilles Tendinopathy: A Randomized Crossover Trial

OBJECTIVE

The purpose of the present study was to determine the neuroendocrine response after a thoracic spinal manipulation in people with Achilles tendinopathy.

METHODS

This was a randomized 2-sequence, 2-period crossover trial. A total of 24 participants, mean (standard deviation) age of 48 (7) years, with a diagnosis of Achilles tendinopathy (>3 mo) were randomly assigned into sequence 1 (sham intervention and then thoracic spinal manipulation) or sequence 2 (thoracic spinal manipulation and then sham intervention). The trial was conducted at a university laboratory with a washout period of 1 week. The primary outcome measure was the testosterone/cortisol (T/C) ratio (salivary samples). The secondary outcome measures included heart rate variability (measured with electrocardiography) and total oxygenation index (nmol/L) of calf muscle and Achilles tendon (measured with near-infrared spectroscopy). A 2-way mixed-model analysis of variance was performed. The statistic of interest was the condition by time interaction.

RESULTS

A statistically significant condition by time interaction was found for the T/C ratio (mean difference: -0.16; confidence interval: -0.33 to 0.006; interaction: P < .05) and the total oxygenation index (mean difference: 1.35; confidence interval: -1.3 to 4.1; interaction: P < .05) of calf muscle but not for Achilles tendon (P = .6); however, no difference was found for heart rate variability (P = .5).

CONCLUSION

In people with Achilles tendinopathy, thoracic spinal manipulation resulted in immediate increase in the total oxygenation index in the calf muscle followed by an increase in the T/C ratio 6 hours post-intervention.

Developmental variation in testosterone:cortisol ratio alters cortical- and amygdala-based cognitive processes

Testosterone (T) and cortisol (C) are the end products of neuroendocrine axes that interact with the process of shaping brain structure and function. Relative levels of T:C (TC ratio) may alter prefrontal-amygdala functional connectivity in adulthood. What remains unclear is whether TC-related effects are rooted to childhood and adolescence. We used a healthy cohort of 4-22-year-olds to test for associations between TC ratios, brain structure (amygdala volume, cortical thickness (CTh), and their coordinated growth), as well as cognitive and behavioral development. We found greater TC ratios to be associated with the growth of specific brain structures: 1) parietal CTh; 2) covariance of the amygdala with CTh in visual and somatosensory areas. These brain parameters were in turn associated with lower verbal/executive function and higher spatial working memory. In sum, individual TC profiles may confer a particular brain phenotype and set of cognitive strengths and vulnerabilities, prior to adulthood.

Salivary cortisol patterns in psychopathic and non-psychopathic offenders

Previous research has described diverse biological correlates of the psychopathic personality. Efforts to understand the underpinnings of low fear responses in psychopathic individuals have drawn attention to the possible role of abnormalities in hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis function, but studies to date have been largely limited to youth or to adult community samples. The current study therefore examined morning basal cortisol levels and responses to a psychosocial stress task in a forensic clinical sample of psychopathic offenders (n = 14), non-psychopathic offenders (n = 22), and non-offender controls (n = 14). Morning cortisol levels were similar in all three groups. Throughout the stress task, psychopathic offenders showed significantly lower cortisol than controls; non-psychopathic offenders showed a similar but non-significant trend towards lower cortisol. The three groups did not differ, however, in cortisol response slopes. Implications of these findings are discussed in the framework of current theories about biological mechanisms underlying psychopathic personality.

Comparable level of aggression between patients with behavioural addiction and healthy subjects

Heightened aggression is identified in several psychiatric disorders, including addiction. In this preliminary study with a relatively small number of samples, aggression in subjects diagnosed with behavioural addiction (BA) was implicitly assessed using the point subtraction aggression paradigm (PSAP) test along with measurements of oxy- and deoxyhaemoglobin dynamics in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) during the test using functional near-infrared spectroscopy. Aggression in BA patients was no higher than that of healthy control (CT) subjects in the PSAP test. Although no apparent increase or decrease in haemoglobin concentrations was observed in the PFC of either BA patients or CT subjects, abnormal correlations within the PFC network were present in BA patients. Consistent with comparable aggression between the groups, blood concentrations of the sex hormone testosterone, which has been shown to be associated with aggressiveness, was even lower in BA patients than in CT subjects. In contrast, when a set of questionnaire surveys for the assessment of aggression were administered, BA patients rated themselves as more aggressive than non-BA subjects. Collectively, these results suggest that aggression may not be heightened in BA, but BA patients may overestimate their aggressiveness, raising concerns about the use of questionnaire surveys for assessments of affective traits such as aggression in behavioural addiction.

Androgenic morality? Associations of sex, oral contraceptive use and basal testosterone levels with moral decision making

Aside from cultural, psychological, or situational factors, differences in moral judgements might also be influenced by biological variables. Since previous studies have reported stronger utilitarian tendencies in men, the relationship between testosterone and moral judgments has gained interest. Utilitarian judgements focus on the consequences of an action in terms of a cost-benefit analysis while deontological judgements are based on rules that are independent of an action's outcome or of situational features. We investigated decisions in moral dilemma situations in N = 157 young adults using a process dissociation approach to allow an independent estimate of underlying utilitarianism and deontology. Significant effects of sex (p = .009) and endocrine status (p = .011) on utilitarianism were found with the highest levels in men and the lowest in free cycling women while oral contraceptive users fell in between. Furthermore, there were correlations of salivary testosterone with utilitarianism in free cycling women (r = .303) and with deontology in men (r = -0.263) while no significant associations between testosterone and moral choices were found in oral contraceptive users. However, the duration of contraceptive use correlated negatively with deontology (r = -.316). The findings underscore the role of sex, endocrine status as well as testosterone in moral judgements but also point to specific associations depending on sex and oral contraceptive use.

Age-related changes in endogenous glucocorticoids, gonadal steroids, endocannabinoids and their ratios in plasma and hair from the male C57BL/6 mice

Age-related level changes of hormones, endocannabinoids and their ratios are of pathophysiological significance for understanding functions, activities and interactions of the endocrine systems, including the hypothalamic-pituitaryadrenal (HPA), hypothalamic-pituitary-gonadal (HPG) axes and endogenous cannabinoid system (ECS). The present study aimed to investigate the age-dependent fluctuations of glucocorticoids, gonadal steroids, endocannabinoids and their ratios from 21 days to 10 months in both plasma and hair from the male C57BL/6 mice. A novel framework based on the liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry was developed to simultaneously determine ten hormones and two endocannabinoids in plasma and hair. Results showed that glucocorticoids, corticosterone (CORT), aldosterone (ALD), 11-dehydrocorticosterone (11-DHC), gonadal steroids, progesterone (P), dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), testosterone (T) and dihydrotestosterone (DHT) in plasma were unimodally fluctuated (ps < 0.001) along age with the maximum value at 2.7-month-old. In contrast, the other two gonadal steroids, estrone (E1) and estradiol (E2) were declined with age (ps < 0.001). Differently, endocannabinoids, N-arachidonoyl-ethanolamine (AEA) and 1-arachydonoyl glycerol (1-AG) showed nadir and zenith values at 2.7-month-old and 3.4-month-old, respectively (ps < 0.001). Additionally, the ratios of CORT to 11-DHC and ALD in plasma were dropped similarly with age (ps < 0.001). The ratios of 1-AG to AEA, and of T to A4 and DHT, and of DHEA to A4 were unimodally changed (ps < 0.001) along age with maximum value at 2.7- or 3.4-month-old. In contrast, the ratios of E2 to T and E1 to A4 were decreased with age (ps < 0.05). The rest six ratios that reflected the interactions among the three endocrine systems, were similar age-dependent and showed nadir and zenith values at 2.7-month-old and 3.4-month-old, respectively (ps < 0.05). Most importantly, these findings in light of age-related changing patterns in plasma were repeated in hair, suggesting that the fi41-ndings in the two matrices were mutually validated. However, it was worth noting that their magnitude of levels in the two bio-matrices were markedly different. The current findings could provide reliable hormone and endocannabinoid signatures with age on neuroendocrine profiles as well as their ratios for the male C57BL/6 mice.

Reconsidering the role of sex hormones in psychopathy development: Estrogen and psychopathy among male justice-involved youth

Prominent theory suggests that factor one psychopathic traits may develop from increased input from hormones in the hypothalamic pituitary gonadal axis (HPG; i.e., testosterone) and decreased input from the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis (HPA; i.e., cortisol). Although there are extensive findings connecting low cortisol to psychopathy, less support has emerged for high levels of testosterone. This study examined whether incorporating the HPG hormone, estradiol, into this model would reveal relationships in line with theory: high levels of estradiol and testosterone in combination with low levels of cortisol would inform psychopathic traits. Baseline and reactive hormone levels were measured and compared to Psychopathy Checklist-Youth Version (PCL-YV) interviews among 66 male justice-involved youth (M age = 15.73) in a Southeastern juvenile detention center. The primary findings of this study were relationships between interacting HPA and HPG axis hormones with facet one and facet two psychopathic traits. Specifically, psychopathy total scores, interpersonal traits, and affective traits related to estradiol and testosterone reactivity, in that psychopathy scores were more likely with decreases in hormone reactivity (i.e., change in hormone level) following a stressor. Moreover, affective traits related to reactivity in all three hormones. These findings support inclusion of estradiol in neurobiological models of psychopathy and consideration of the individual components of psychopathy. This study adds to the growing body of research supporting interactions between variations in functioning of the HPA and HPG axes in relation to psychopathy.

Aggressive behavior in psychiatric patients in relation to hormonal imbalance (Review)

Aggressive behavior is one of the main characteristics of different psychiatric disorders such as: personality disorders (antisocial personality disorder, borderline personality disorder), schizophrenia, intermittent explosive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, bipolar disorder, depression, alcohol/substance induced psychiatric disorders. Epidemiological evidence shows that always there is a higher risk of violence and aggressivity among patients with psychiatric disorders compared with general population. Researchers have tried many times to narrow the theories that can explain such a behavior, starting from models that involve a link between illness and aggression going up to external-environmental factors including the therapeutic relation in the hospital. Even if the majority of studies are centered on intoxications (with alcohol or other substances that potentiate the aggressive behavior) we will highlight another somatic dimension linked with this behavior. In the following review we summarize the hormonal imbalances that have been noted to accompany aggressive behavior in different psychiatric disorders. Several studies have been made starting even at the age of ten corelating hormone cortisol with increase aggression, but patients with psychiatric disorders have a higher sensitivity in linking hormonal imbalance with their behavior.

Conduct Disorder: Biology and Developmental Trajectories

For centuries, attempting a successful rehabilitation of youth with antisocial behaviors has challenged juvenile justice systems and society. More recently, advances in science and neuroimaging have permitted a deeper understanding of the biological underpinnings of antisocial behavior and psychopathic tendencies. This paper reviews biological findings in youth with conduct disorder, highlighting comparisons to biological findings in adults with antisocial personality disorder and psychopathy. Overall, youth with conduct disorder exhibit several biological findings that are similar to adults with antisocial personality disorder and psychopathy, consistent with theories that conduct disorder is a neurodevelopmental disorder that progresses to these adult conditions. There is evidence that treatment interventions might mitigate this progression and induce biological changes. Further, biological findings might guide interventions to rehabilitate youth and change the developmental trajectory of antisocial behaviors.

The Relationships Among Testosterone, Cortisol, and Cognitive Control of Emotion as Underlying Mechanisms of Emotional Intelligence of 10- to 11-Year-Old Children

Emotional intelligence is an important factor contributing to social adaptation. The current study investigated how salivary testosterone (T) and cortisol (C) levels, cognitive control of emotional conflict processing were associated with children's emotional intelligence (EI). Thirty-four 10- to 11-year-old children were enrolled and instructed to complete questionnaires on emotional intelligence as well as empirical tasks of emotional flanker and Stroop with event-related potential (ERP) recordings. Saliva collection took place on another day without ERP tasks. Results showed that lower T and C levels were associated with higher accuracy in emotional conflict tasks, as well as better emotional intelligence (managing self emotions). In the Stroop task, higher T/C ratios were associated with greater congruency effects of N2 latencies, and lower cortisol levels correlated with stronger slow potential activities (SP). For girls, the correlation between cortisol and emotional utilization was mediated by the SP amplitudes on fearful conflicts in the flanker task (95% CI: -8.64, -0.54, p < 0.050). In conclusion, the current study found the relationship between cortisol and an emotional intelligence ability, emotional utilization, might be mediated by brain activities during emotional conflict resolution processing (SP responses) in preadolescent girls. Future studies could further investigate testosterone-cortisol interaction and its relation with cognitive control of emotion as underlying mechanisms of emotional intelligence.

Serum testosterone/cortisol ratio in people with obstructive sleep apnea

Objectives

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a major health problem that has been associated with endocrine dysfunction in the hypothalamic‐pituitary‐gonadal (HPG) and hypothalamic‐pituitary‐adrenal (HPA) axes. This study investigated cortisol, testosterone, and the testosterone/cortisol ratio in patients with OSA compared to normal sleepers.

Methods

Thirty‐nine OSA patients diagnosed by overnight polysomnography (PSG) were divided into three groups, including ten mild OSA patients, 16 patients with moderate OSA, and 13 patients with severe OSA according to the apnea‐hypopnea index (AHI). In addition, 13 normal sleepers with normal PSG findings were recruited as the control group. Serum levels of cortisol, testosterone, and sex hormone‐binding globulin (SHBG) were measured using enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

Results

There were no significant differences between the normal sleepers and the three subtypes of OSA in terms of total and free testosterone levels (P > .1). The results showed significantly higher levels of cortisol in the severe OSA group compared to the normal sleepers and the two other subtypes of OSA (P < .01). In addition, the testosterone/cortisol (T/C) ratio was significantly lower among the severe OSA compared to the moderate OSA patients (P = .01). A significant correlation was observed between minimal SpO2 and AHI (r=−0.69, P < .01), cortisol and AHI (r = .47, P < .01) and cortisol and minimal SpO2 (r = −.26, P = .06).

Conclusion

According to the findings, OSA is linked to HPA axis activity in severe OSA patients but not among the mild and moderate subtypes of the disorder.

The Predictive Value of Early-Life Trauma, Psychopathy, and the Testosterone-Cortisol Ratio for Impulsive Aggression Problems in Veterans

Background

In this study, we examined whether early-life trauma, psychopathy, and the testosterone/cortisol ratio predicted impulsive aggression problems in veterans.

Method

A sample of 49 male veterans with impulsive aggression problems and 51 nonaggressive veterans were included in the study. Logistic regression analysis was performed with early-life trauma, primary and secondary psychopathy, and testosterone/cortisol ratio as continuous predictor variables; impulsive aggression status was entered as a binary outcome measure. Correlation analyses were conducted to examine pairwise relations among the predictors.

Results

Results indicated that early-life trauma and secondary psychopathy, but not the testosterone/cortisol ratio or primary psychopathy, were significant predictors of impulsive aggression status.

Conclusions

The current results indicate that early-life trauma and secondary psychopathy are risk factors for impulsive aggression problems among veterans. Future studies are needed to determine the exact causal relations among the variables examined here.

Female primary and secondary psychopathic variants show distinct endocrine and psychophysiological profiles

Research with predominantly male samples supports primary and secondary developmental pathways to psychopathy that are phenotypically indistinguishable on aggressive and antisocial behavior. The aim of this study was to examine whether female variants of psychopathy show divergent endocrine (i.e., cortisol, dehydroepiandrosterone [DHEA], testosterone, and their ratios) and psychophysiological (i.e., heart rate variability [HRV]) reactivity to social provocation. We also tested whether variants differed on reactive aggression when performing a competitive reaction time task against the fictitious participant who previously insulted them. Latent profile analyses on 101 undergraduate women oversampled for high psychopathic traits identified a high-anxious, maltreated secondary variant (n=64) and a low-anxious primary variant (n=37). Although variants did not differ on aggression, secondary variants showed higher cortisol, testosterone, cortisol-to-DHEA ratios, and HRV following social provocation relative to primary variants. Findings suggest that the neurobiological mechanisms underpinning aggression in psychopathy may differ between women on primary versus secondary developmental pathways.

Testosterone, cortisol, and status-striving personality features: A review and empirical evaluation of the Dual Hormone hypothesis

Decades of research in behavioral endocrinology has implicated the gonadal hormone testosterone in the regulation of mating effort, often expressed in primates in the form of aggressive and/or status-striving behavior. Based on the idea that neuroendocrine axes influence each other, recent work among humans has proposed that links between testosterone and indices of status-striving are rendered conditional by the effects of glucocorticoids. The Dual Hormone hypothesis is one particular instance of this argument, predicting that cortisol blocks the effects of testosterone on dominance, aggression, and risk-taking in humans. Support for the Dual Hormone hypothesis is wide-ranging, but considerations of theoretical ambiguity, null findings, and low statistical power pose problems for interpreting the published literature. Here, we contribute to the development of the Dual Hormone hypothesis by (1) critically reviewing the extant literature-including p-curve analyses of published findings; and, (2) "opening the file drawer" and examining relationships between testosterone, cortisol, and status-striving personality features in seven previously published studies from our laboratories (total N = 718; median N per feature = 318) that examined unrelated predictions. Results from p-curve suggest that published studies have only 16% power to detect effects, while our own data show no robust interactions between testosterone and cortisol in predicting status-striving personality features. We discuss the implications of these results for the Dual Hormone hypothesis, limitations of our analyses, and the development of future research.

Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and its ratio to cortisol moderate associations between maltreatment and psychopathology in male juvenile offenders

This study examined whether DHEA and its ratio to cortisol moderated risk for psychopathology among incarcerated youth exposed to childhood maltreatment. Resistance to stress-related psychopathology under adversity was also examined in relation to callous-unemotional (CU) traits, a personality construct characterized by resistance to pathological anxiety and blunted reactivity to threatening stimuli. Participants were 201 ethnically heterogeneous (41.8% White, 35.3% Black, 17.2% Hispanic) adolescent boys (M age = 16.75, SD = 1.15 years) incarcerated in a juvenile detention facility in the South Eastern United States who provided four afternoon saliva samples (later assayed for DHEA and cortisol) and completed self-report questionnaires. Results indicated that childhood maltreatment was associated with greater internalizing problems at lower DHEA concentrations and at higher cortisol-to-DHEA ratios. Conversely, higher DHEA levels and lower cortisol-to-DHEA ratios were associated with greater CU traits, irrespective of maltreatment exposure. CU traits did not attenuate levels of psychopathology in maltreated youth. Findings inform biosocial models of how exposure to parental maltreatment in early life contributes to risk and resilience through mechanisms associated with adaptive environmentally sensitive biological systems and processes.

Dual-hormone regulation of psychopathy: Evidence from mass spectrometry

Previous work suggests that testosterone and cortisol interactively predict psychopathy. This effect represents a reversal of the established dual-hormone hypothesis, whereby testosterone is positively correlated with psychopathic traits, but only among individuals with elevated cortisol concentrations. This study aims to replicate the dual-hormone moderation of psychopathy in two independent samples. Enzyme-linked immunoassays (ELISAs) were used to assess cortisol across both samples and testosterone in Sample 1 (n = 165, 100% males). To address recent criticism of ELISAs and potentially extend these findings to women, testosterone concentrations were determined by liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) in Sample 2 (n = 213, 44.1% males). We found conflicting evidence of the dual-hormone moderation of psychopathic traits. Although results were non-significant in Sample 1, a reversal of the dual-hormone hypothesis was found in Sample 2, in which testosterone was positively correlated with psychopathic traits, but only among individuals with high cortisol. This replication provides mixed support for less common reversals to the dual-hormone hypothesis. These findings emphasize the importance of using LC-MS/MS to measure testosterone and adds to the growing body of work on the relationship between hormones and psychopathology in general.

Early life predictors of callous-unemotional and psychopathic traits

Psychopathy is a disorder that occurs primarily in males. Offenders with psychopathic traits are responsible for a disproportionate amount of crime in society, particularly violent crime. Early childhood is a time when individual differences in empathy and guilt-key indicators of the construct of psychopathy-are first evident. A growing number of longitudinal studies have begun to investigate how factors in infancy and early childhood predict psychopathic-like traits in later childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. These studies have suggested that parenting styles during infancy (parental sensitivity, maternal harsh intrusion, commenting on the emotional state of the child) as well as attachment styles are predictive of later psychopathic-like traits. In addition, child characteristics such as temperament and the functioning of biological systems such as the autonomic nervous system and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis are predictive. Overall, studies have suggested that at least some of the origins of psychopathic traits are present in infancy and early childhood, which is consistent with the perspective of psychopathy as a neurodevelopmental disorder. A recent evolutionary-developmental model provides hypotheses regarding how psychopathy may develop and why it is more common in males than females. This model, and its implications for intervention, is discussed in the context of the longitudinal studies that have been conducted on psychopathy.

Psychopathic personality factor "Fearless dominance" is related to low self-reported stress-levels, fewer psychiatric symptoms, and more adaptive stress coping in psychiatric disorders

The aim of this cross-sectional study was to test the idea that the psychopathic trait "Fearless dominance" (FD) may be associated with reduced psychological stress symptoms and better stress coping strategies in psychiatric patients, whereas the factor "Self-centered impulsivity" (SCI) may be associated with more stress and maladaptive stress coping. The investigation included 626 individuals with psychiatric disorders treated in a psychiatric rehabilitation program. The participants were tested with the Psychopathic Personality Inventory Revised (PPI-R) and completed several clinical scales measuring stress experience and stress coping (Symptom-Checklist Revised, Trier Inventory for Chronic Stress, The Stress Coping Style Questionnaire 78). Consistent with the hypothesis, structural equation modeling results showed that self-reported stress levels and adaptive stress coping strategies might be explained by psychopathic FD traits in the psychiatric sample. Supplemental subscale analyses showed that especially the PPI-R scales Stress Immunity and Social Influence were positively related to adaptive stress coping. The second model of SCI did not fit our data well. In conclusion, individuals with psychopathic FD traits may experience less stress symptoms during residential care. Well-designed prospective trials may ultimately answer the question whether psychopathic traits could be viewed as serving a buffer function in the development of depression.

The Role of the Lateral Hypothalamus in Violent Intraspecific Aggression-The Glucocorticoid Deficit Hypothesis

This review argues for a central role of the lateral hypothalamus in those deviant forms of aggression, which result from chronic glucocorticoid deficiency. Currently, this nucleus is considered a key region of the mechanisms that control predatory aggression. However, recent findings demonstrate that it is strongly activated by aggression in subjects with a chronically downregulated hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis; moreover, this activation is causally involved in the emergence of violent aggression. The review has two parts. In the first part, we review human findings demonstrating that under certain conditions, strong stressors downregulate the HPA-axis on the long run, and that the resulting glucocorticoid deficiency is associated with violent aggression including aggressive delinquency and aggression-related psychopathologies. The second part addresses neural mechanisms in animals. We show that the experimental downregulation of HPA-axis function elicits violent aggression in rodents, and the activation of the brain circuitry that originally subserves predatory aggression accompanies this change. The lateral hypothalamus is not only an integral part of this circuitry, but can elicit deviant and violent forms of aggression. Finally, we formulate a hypothesis on the pathway that connects unfavorable social conditions to violent aggression via the neural circuitry that includes the lateral hypothalamus.

Callous-unemotional traits and early life stress predict treatment effects on stress and sex hormone functioning in incarcerated male adolescents

The stress response system is highly plastic, and hormone rhythms may "adaptively calibrate" in response to treatment. This investigation assessed whether stress and sex hormone diurnal rhythms changed over the course of behavioral treatment, and whether callous-unemotional (CU) traits and history of early adversity affected treatment results on diurnal hormone functioning in a sample of 28 incarcerated adolescent males. It was hypothesized that the treatment would have beneficial effects, such that healthier diurnal rhythms would emerge post-treatment. Diurnal cortisol, testosterone, and dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) were sampled two weeks after admission to the correctional/treatment facility, and again approximately four months later. Positive treatment effects were detected for the whole sample, such that testosterone dampened across treatment. CU traits predicted a non-optimal hormone response to treatment, potentially indicating biological preparedness to respond to acts of social dominance and aggression. The interaction between CU traits and adversity predicted a promising and sensitized response to treatment including increased cortisol and a steeper testosterone drop across treatment. Results suggest that stress and sex hormones are highly receptive to treatment during this window of development.

The Developmental Nature of the Victim-Offender Overlap

PURPOSE

It is well-established that victims and offenders are often the same people, a phenomenon known as the victim-offender overlap, but the developmental nature of this overlap remains uncertain. In this study, we drew from a developmental theoretical framework to test effects of genetics, individual characteristics, and routine-activity-based risks. Drawing from developmental literature, we additionally tested the effect of an accumulation of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs).

METHODS

Data came from the Environmental Risk (E-Risk) Study, a representative UK birth cohort of 2232 twins born in 1994-1995 and followed to age 18 (with 93% retention). Crime victimization and offending were assessed through self-reports at age 18 (but findings replicated using crime records). We used the classical twin study method to decompose variance in the victim-offender overlap into genetic and environmental components. We used logistic regression to test the effects of childhood risk factors.

RESULTS

In contrast to past twin studies, we found that environment (as well as genes) contributed to the victim-offender overlap. Our logistic regression results showed that childhood low self-control and childhood antisocial behavior nearly doubled the odds of becoming a victim-offender, compared to a victim-only or an offender-only. Each additional ACE increased the odds of becoming a victim-offender, compared to a victim-only or an offender-only, by approximately 12%, pointing to the importance of cumulative childhood adversity.

CONCLUSIONS

This study showed that the victim-offender overlap is, at least partially, developmental in nature and predictable from personal childhood characteristics and an accumulation of many adverse childhood experiences.

Measuring Resilience to Operational Stress in Canadian Armed Forces Personnel

Adaptability to stress is governed by innate resilience, comprised of complex neuroendocrine and immune mechanisms alongside inherited or learned behavioral traits. Based on their capacity to adapt, some people thrive in stressful situations, whereas others experience maladaptation. In our study, we used state-of-the-art tools to assess the resilience level in individuals, as well as their susceptibility to developing military stress-induced behavioral and cognitive deficits. To address this complex question, we tested Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) personnel in three distinct stress environments (baselines): during predeployment training, deployment in Afghanistan, and readjustment upon return to Canada. Our comprehensive outcome measures included psychometric tests, saliva biomarkers, and computerized cognitive tests that used the Cambridge Neuropsychological Automated Test Battery. Participants were categorized based on initial biomarker measurements as being at low-, moderate-, or high stress-maladaptation risk. Biomarkers showed significant changes (ds = 0.56 to 2.44) between baselines, calculated as "delta" changes. Participants at low stress-maladaptation risk demonstrated minimal changes, whereas those at high stress-maladaptation risk showed significant biomarker variations. The psychometric patterns and cognitive functions were likewise affected across baselines, suggesting that the panel of saliva stress biomarkers could be a useful tool for determining the risk of stress maladaptation that can cause psychological and cognitive decline.

The Development of Severe and Chronic Violence Among Youth: The Role of Psychopathic Traits and Reward Processing

Psychopathic traits are a manifestation of a personality pathology that comprises a core affective-interpersonal dysfunction (callous-unemotional traits) and an impulsive-antisocial behavioral component. Of particular importance, psychopathic traits are associated with the perpetration of some of the most severe acts of violence, and they appear to indicate a subset of youth at risk for earlier onset, greater frequency, and persistence of violent offending. Although these youth represent a minority of the population, they commit a significant proportion of the violence in the general community. In our review, we highlight evidence of a unique neurobiological predisposition that underlies the core affective deficits and describe contemporary accounts for the developmental processes leading to the antisocial behavior associated with psychopathy. Current evidence suggests that, for this subset of youth, the structure and function of neural circuitry supporting emotion processing, reward learning, decision making, and the development of emotion related to empathy may be crucial to understanding why they are at risk for violence. In particular, a reward dominant pattern of neurobehavioral conditioning may explain how these youth progress to some of the most severe and persistent forms of violence. However, this pattern of conditioning may also be essential to the primary prevention of such deleterious behavior. We suspect that effective strategies to prevent such violence may ultimately be informed by understanding these affective and motivational mechanisms.

Social evaluative threat with verbal performance feedback alters neuroendocrine response to stress

Laboratory stress tasks such as the Trier Social Stress Test (TSST) have provided a key piece to the puzzle for how psychosocial stress impacts the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis, other stress-responsive biomarkers, and ultimately wellbeing. These tasks are thought to work through biopsychosocial processes, specifically social evaluative threat and the uncontrollability heighten situational demands. The present study integrated an experimental modification to the design of the TSST to probe whether additional social evaluative threat, via negative verbal feedback about speech performance, can further alter stress reactivity in 63 men and women. This TSST study confirmed previous findings related to stress reactivity and stress recovery but extended this literature in several ways. First, we showed that additional social evaluative threat components, mid-task following the speech portion of the TSST, were still capable of enhancing the psychosocial stressor. Second, we considered stress-reactive hormones beyond cortisol to include dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and testosterone, and found these hormones were also stress-responsive, and their release was coupled with one another. Third, we explored whether gain- and loss-framing incentive instructions, meant to influence performance motivation by enhancing the personal relevance of task performance, impacted hormonal reactivity. Results showed that each hormone was stress reactive and further had different responses to the modified TSST compared to the original TSST. Beyond the utility of showing how the TSST can be modified with heightened social evaluative threat and incentive-framing instructions, this study informs about how these three stress-responsive hormones have differential responses to the demands of a challenge and a stressor.

Neuroendocrine Response Following a Thoracic Spinal Manipulation in Healthy Men

Study Design Controlled laboratory study. Background Spinal manipulation (SM) can trigger a cascade of responses involving multiple systems, including the sympathetic nervous system and the endocrine system, specifically, the hypothalamic-pituitary axis. However, no manual therapy study has investigated the neuroendocrine response to SM (ie, sympathetic nervous system-hypothalamic-pituitary axis) in the same trial. Objective To determine short-term changes in sympathetic nervous system activity, heart rate variability, and endocrine activity (cortisol, testosterone, and testosterone-cortisol [T/C] ratio) following a thoracic SM. Methods Twenty-four healthy men aged between 18 and 45 years were randomized into 2 groups: thoracic SM (n = 12) and sham (n = 12). Outcome measures were salivary cortisol (micrograms per deciliter), salivary testosterone (picograms per milliliter), T/C ratio, heart rate variability, and changes in oxyhemoglobin concentration of the right calf muscle (micromoles per liter). Measurements were done before and at 5 minutes, 30 minutes, and approximately 6 hours after intervention. Results A statistically significant group-by-time interaction was noted for T/C ratio (P<.05) and salivary cortisol (P<.01) concentrations. Significant between-group differences were noted for salivary cortisol concentration at 5 minutes (mean difference, 0.35; 95% confidence interval: 0.12, 0.6; interaction: P<.01) and for T/C ratio at 6 hours postintervention (mean difference, -0.09; 95% confidence interval: -0.16, -0.04; P = .02). However, SM did not differentially alter oxyhemoglobin, testosterone, or heart rate variability relative to responses in the sham group. Conclusion Thoracic SM resulted in an immediate decrease in salivary cortisol concentration and reduced T/C ratio 6 hours after intervention. A pattern of immediate sympathetic excitation was also observed in the SM group. J Orthop Sports Phys Ther 2017;47(9):617-627. Epub 13 Jul 2017. doi:10.2519/jospt.2017.7348.

Associations between psychopathic traits and brain activity during instructed false responding

Lying is one of the characteristic features of psychopathy, and has been recognized in clinical and diagnostic descriptions of the disorder, yet individuals with psychopathic traits have been found to have reduced neural activity in many of the brain regions that are important for lying. In this study, we examine brain activity in sixteen individuals with varying degrees of psychopathic traits during a task in which they are instructed to falsify information or tell the truth about autobiographical and non-autobiographical facts, some of which was related to criminal behavior. We found that psychopathic traits were primarily associated with increased activity in the anterior cingulate, various regions of the prefrontal cortex, insula, angular gyrus, and the inferior parietal lobe when participants falsified information of any type. Associations tended to be stronger when participants falsified information about criminal behaviors. Although this study was conducted in a small sample of individuals and the task used has limited ecological validity, these findings support a growing body of literature suggesting that in some contexts, individuals with higher levels of psychopathic traits may demonstrate heightened levels of brain activity.

Callous-Unemotional Traits Moderate the Relation Between Prenatal Testosterone (2D:4D) and Externalising Behaviours in Children

Children who exhibit callous-unemotional (CU) traits are identified as developing particularly severe forms of externalising behaviours (EB). A number of risk factors have been identified in the development of CU traits, including biological, physiological, and genetic factors. However, prenatal testosterone (PT) remains un-investigated, yet could signal fetal programming of a combination of CU/EB. Using the 2D:4D digit ratio, the current study examined whether CU traits moderated the relationship between PT and EB. Hand scans were obtained from 79 children aged between 5 and 6 years old whose parents completed the parent report ICU (Inventory of Callous Unemotional Traits) and SDQ (Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire). CU traits were found to moderate the relationship between PT and EB so that children who were exposed to increased PT and were higher in CU traits exhibited more EB. Findings emphasize the importance of recognising that vulnerability for EB that is accompanied by callousness may arise before birth.

The Correlation among Neural Dynamic Processing of Conflict Control, Testosterone and Cortisol Levels in 10-Year-Old Children

Cognitive control is related to goal-directed self-regulation abilities, which is fundamental for human development. Conflict control includes the neural processes of conflict monitoring and conflict resolution. Testosterone and cortisol are essential hormones for the development of cognitive functions. However, there are no studies that have investigated the correlation of these two hormones with conflict control in preadolescents. In this study, we aimed to explore whether testosterone, cortisol, and testosterone/cortisol ratio worked differently for preadolescent's conflict control processes in varied conflict control tasks. Thirty-two 10-year-old children (16 boys and 16 girls) were enrolled. They were instructed to accomplish three conflict control tasks with different conflict dimensions, including the Flanker, Simon, and Stroop tasks, and electrophysiological signals were recorded. Salivary samples were collected from each child. The testosterone and cortisol levels were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The electrophysiological results showed that the incongruent trials induced greater N2/N450 and P3/SP responses than the congruent trials during neural processes of conflict monitoring and conflict resolution in the Flanker and Stroop tasks. The hormonal findings showed that (1) the testosterone/cortisol ratio was correlated with conflict control accuracy and conflict resolution in the Flanker task; (2) the testosterone level was associated with conflict control performance and neural processing of conflict resolution in the Stroop task; (3) the cortisol level was correlated with conflict control performance and neural processing of conflict monitoring in the Simon task. In conclusion, in 10-year-old children, the fewer processes a task needs, the more likely there is an association between the T/C ratios and the behavioral and brain response, and the dual-hormone effects on conflict resolution may be testosterone-driven in the Stroop and Flanker tasks.

Sex Hormone/Cortisol Ratios Differentially Modulate Risk-Taking in Men and Women

The present study aimed to extend the original focus of the dual-hormone hypothesis on testosterone and cortisol involvement in risk-taking to other sex hormones: estrogen and progesterone. The study also examined two alternative models for the proposed relationship between cortisol and sex steroids and for their joint influence on risk-taking: interaction and ratio terms. In all, 40 women and 37 men were tested for circulating sex hormones and provided self-reports on risk-taking. The findings suggest that sex hormone-cortisol ratios differentially modulate risk-taking in men and women: In men, high ratios were associated with risk-taking, whereas in women the opposite pattern was found. The findings are discussed in light of evolutionary assumptions regarding sex differences in neuroendocrine mechanisms, suggesting sex differences in neural sensitivity to sex hormones in risk-taking.

A hormonal approach to anti-social behaviour

BACKGROUND

Altered levels of cortisol and testosterone have previously been associated with anti-social personality disorder (ASPD) and psychopathy, but there is some conflicting evidence as to how characteristic these findings are.

AIM

To test the hypothesis that diurnal fluctuations in cortisol and/or testosterone will differentiate ASPD and psychopathy among male forensic psychiatric inpatients and distinguish both groups from healthy men not in treatment.

METHODS

One hundred and sixty-six men participated: 81 patients with ASPD, 42 of whom had a Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) score of 26 or more and 39 with a score of 25 or less, 51 forensic hospital employees and 34 general population men. None in the latter two groups had abnormal personality traits. For each person, diurnal cortisol and testosterone saliva samples were collected.

RESULTS

Both patient groups and the forensic hospital employees showed significantly higher diurnal testosterone levels than the general population, community-based men. The community men showed significantly lower values in their diurnal cortisol variation than the ASPD and psychopathy groups but, in this, were similar to the forensic employee group. Neither cortisol nor testosterone levels differentiated the higher from lower Psychopathy Checklist-Revised scorers.

CONCLUSIONS

We replicated findings of diurnal testosterone deficiencies among men with psychopathy and ASPD, but we were unable to differentiate patients groups from each other or from the hospital employees on cortisol measures. This suggests a case for more research with more diverse comparison groups and more differentiation of personality traits before drawing definitive conclusions about distinctive hormonal patterns among men with psychopathy, as external environmental variables may prove more influential than previously suspected. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.