The Role of Negative Affect in Emotional Processing of Food-Related Images in Eating Disorders and Obesity

Risk of eating disorders in Mexican university students

OBJECTIVE

To determine the distribution of the risk of developing an eating disorder, other psychological variables, body mass index (BMI) and physical activity in Mexican university students. The second aim was to determine the association between the risk of developing an eating disorder and all variables by sex.

DESIGN

A cross-sectional study was carried out.

SETTING

The Health Sciences Institute and the Agricultural Sciences Institute within the Autonomous University of Hidalgo State, Mexico.

PARTICIPANTS

395 university students (65 % women) aged 18 to 29.

ANALYSIS

Descriptive, correlational and binary regression model.

RESULTS

The risk of developing an eating disorder (moderate and high) was 37.3 % for women and 32.6 % for men. A logistic regression analysis of women showed that thin-ideal internalization (12.9 times), BMI (3.5 times) and inactivity (2.6 times) increased the risk of developing an eating disorder. In men, the drive for muscularity (7.5 times) and BMI (2.3 times) increased the risk.

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONS

The variables associated with the risk of developing an eating disorder differed by sex, except for BMI, which increased the risk in both sexes. Findings should be considered in the design of future interventions to prevent the risk of eating disorders and associated factors.

Selection of social comparison standards in cardiac patients with and without experienced defibrillator shock

Patients with an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) often report psychological distress. Literature suggests that patients with physical disease often compare their well-being and coping to fellow patients. However, we lack knowledge on social comparison among patients with ICD. In this study, we examined psychological distress and social comparison selection in patients with (ICD+) and without experienced ICD shocks (ICD-). We theorized that relative to ICD- patients, those with ICD+ display higher levels of psychological distress and thereby compare more frequently with fellow patients with more severe disease, but better disease coping and try to identify more strongly with these standards to improve their own coping. We recruited 92 patients with (ICD+, n = 38) and without an experienced ICD shock (ICD-, n = 54), who selected one of four comparison standards varying in disease severity and coping capacity. Relative to ICD-, ICD+ patients reported higher levels of device-related distress, but there were no significant differences in anxiety, depression, or quality of life. ICD+ patients selected more often comparison standards with poor coping and, irrespective of standard choice, displayed more negative mood following comparison. Our results show that ICD+ patients tend to perform unfavorable comparisons to fellow patients, which might explain higher psychological distress and worse coping. These findings warrant further research into social comparison as a relevant coping mechanism in ICD patients.

The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on healthcare workers under the "Ten New Guidelines" in Taizhou, China

Purpose

We explored the influence of the "Ten new guidelines" on healthcare workers' preparedness, work impact, personal life impact, concerns, and support in Taizhou, China.

Methods

A hospital-based self-administered online survey was conducted to investigate the levels of COVID-19 related experience among healthcare workers in December 2022. In total, 472 out of 2080 healthcare workers (22.7 % response rate) completed the questionnaires with valid responses. Stepwise linear regression was used to investigate the independence of factors associated with preparedness, work impact, personal life impact, concerns, and support.

Results

The results revealed that working position (p < 0.001), pressure (p = 0.005), and negative affect (p < 0.001) were significantly associated with preparedness. Working position (p = 0.015), number of children (p = 0.040), working years (p = 0.019), COVID-19 risk perception (p < 0.001), work overload (p < 0.001), and negative affect (p < 0.001) were significantly associated with work impact. In addition, COVID-19 risk perception (p < 0.001), work overload (p < 0.001), pressure (p = 0.002), history of COVID-19 infection (p = 0.008), and awareness of possible infectious time (p = 0.031) were significantly associated with personal life impact. COVID-19 risk perception (p < 0.001), negative affect (p < 0.001), and work overload (p = 0.020) were significantly associated with concerns. Sex (p = 0.020) and negative affect (p = 0.016) were significantly associated with support.

Conclusion

Negative affect was the most significant factor associated with COVID-19 related questions among healthcare workers under "Ten new guidelines" during COVID-19 pandemic.

Mental flexibility assessment: A research protocol for patients with Parkinson's Disease and Anorexia Nervosa

Mental Flexibility oscillates between adaptive variability in behavior and the capacity to restore homeostasis, linked to mental health. It has recently been one of the most investigated abilities in mental and neurological diseases such as Anorexia nervosa and Parkinson's disease, studied for rigidity or cognitive inflexibility. Patients with anorexia nervosa have rigid cognitive processes about food and weight, which leads to restrictive eating and excessive exercise. People who struggle to adapt their cognitive processes and actions to change their diet and exercise habits may have a harder time recovering from the disorder. On the other hand, research suggests that Parkinson's disease patients may have cognitive flexibility impairments that impair their ability to perform daily tasks and adapt to new environments. Although of clinical interest, mental flexibility lacks theoretical liberalization and unified assessment. This study introduces "IntellEGO" a protocol for a new, multidimensional psychometric assessment of flexibility. This assessment evaluates a person's authentic ability to handle daily challenges using cognitive, emotional, and behavioral factors. Since traditional assessments often focus on one domain, we aim to examine flexibility from multiple angles, acknowledging the importance of viewing people as whole beings with mental and physical aspects. The study protocol includes two assessment phases separated by a rehabilitation period. T0, the acute phase upon admission, and T1, the post-rehabilitation phase lasting 15 days for Parkinson's patients and 4 weeks for eating disorder patients, will be assessed. Neuropsychological performance, self-report questionnaires, psychophysiological measures, and neuroendocrine measures will be collected from Anorexia Nervosa and Parkinson's Disease patients during each study phase. The objective of this procedure is to provide clinicians with a comprehensive framework for conducting meticulous assessments of mental flexibility. This framework considers emotional, cognitive, and behavioral factors, and is applicable to various patient populations.

Trait anxiety is associated with amygdala expectation and caloric taste receipt response across eating disorders

Anxious traits are elevated in eating disorders (EDs), are considered risk factors for ED development, and trait anxiety has been linked to ED psychopathology. How trait anxiety relates to ED neurobiology is not well understood. In this study 197 individuals across the ED spectrum (anorexia nervosa n = 91; other specified EDs n = 34; bulimia nervosa n = 56; binge ED n = 16), and 120 healthy controls were assessed for anxious traits and learned to expect and receive caloric or neutral taste stimuli during brain imaging. Amygdala sucrose expectation response differed across groups (Wilk's lambda = 0.945, p = 0.023), and was higher on the left in anorexia nervosa compared to healthy controls (p = 0.002). Expected sucrose receipt response across taste reward regions was not different between groups. In the ED sample, trait anxiety negatively moderated the relationship between amygdala expectation and right dorsal (p = 0.0062) and ventral (p = 0.0046) anterior insula receipt response. A subgroup analysis showed similar results for anorexia nervosa, and partially in bulimia nervosa. Across EDs, appetitive motivation correlated positively with bilateral orbitofrontal cortex, caudate head, and ventral striatal sucrose receipt response (r = 0.215 to 0.179, p = 0.002 to 0.012). Across the study sample, trait anxiety showed an inverted-U-shaped relationship with right (r = 0.147, p = 0.034) and left (r = 0.162, p = 0.016) amygdala expectation response. Amygdala sucrose expectation response is elevated in anorexia nervosa, correlates with sucrose receipt response, and this relationship is negatively moderated by trait anxiety across EDs. Trait anxiety may have an important role in how expectation drives taste stimulus receipt brain response and perhaps food approach in individuals with EDs.

Brain and gut microbiota disorders in the psychopathology of anorexia nervosa

Studies of pathophysiological mechanisms involved in eating disorders (EDs) have intensified over the past several years, revealing their unprecedented and unanticipated complexity. Results from many articles highlight critical aspects in each member of ED family. Notably, anorexia nervosa (AN) is a disorder due to undefined etiology, frequently associated with symptoms of depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsiveness, accompanied by endocrine alterations, altered immune response, increased inflammation, and dysbiosis of the gut microbiota. Hence, an advanced knowledge of how and why a multisystem involvement exists is of paramount importance to understand the pathogenetic mechanisms of AN. In this review, we describe the change in the brain structure/function focusing on hypothalamic endocrine disorders and the disequilibrium of gut microbiota in AN that might be responsible for the psychopathological complication.

Interactions between emotions and eating behaviors: Main issues, neuroimaging contributions, and innovative preventive or corrective strategies

Emotional eating is commonly defined as the tendency to (over)eat in response to emotion. Insofar as it involves the (over)consumption of high-calorie palatable foods, emotional eating is a maladaptive behavior that can lead to eating disorders, and ultimately to metabolic disorders and obesity. Emotional eating is associated with eating disorder subtypes and with abnormalities in emotion processing at a behavioral level. However, not enough is known about the neural pathways involved in both emotion processing and food intake. In this review, we provide an overview of recent neuroimaging studies, highlighting the brain correlates between emotions and eating behavior that may be involved in emotional eating. Interaction between neural and neuro-endocrine pathways (HPA axis) may be involved. In addition to behavioral interventions, there is a need for a holistic approach encompassing both neural and physiological levels to prevent emotional eating. Based on recent imaging, this review indicates that more attention should be paid to prefrontal areas, the insular and orbitofrontal cortices, and reward pathways, in addition to regions that play a major role in both the cognitive control of emotions and eating behavior. Identifying these brain regions could allow for neuromodulation interventions, including neurofeedback training, which deserves further investigation.