Resting-State Functional Connectivity of the Habenula in Mood Disorder Patients With and Without Suicide-Related Behaviors

The habenula is a small midbrain structure that is important for brain signaling and learning from negative events. Thus, the habenula is strongly connected to both the reward system and motor regions. Increasing evidence suggests a role for the habenula in the etiology of psychiatric disorders, including mood and substance use disorders. However, no studies to date have investigated habenular resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) in suicide-related behaviors (SB). The authors enrolled 123 individuals with major depressive disorder (MDD) or bipolar disorder and a history of suicide-related behaviors (SB+), 74 individuals with MDD or bipolar disorder and a history of suicidal ideation but no history of SB (SB-), and 75 healthy control subjects (HC). A seed-based approach was used to identify regions showing different rsFC with the habenula followed by region of interest to region of interest post hoc comparisons. Compared with both the SB- and HC groups, the SB+ group showed higher connectivity between the left habenula and the left parahippocampal gyrus, the right amygdala, and the right precentral and postcentral gyri. Patients with mood disorders displayed higher rsFC between the left habenula and left middle temporal gyrus, the left angular gyrus, and the left posterior cingulate cortex, as well as lower rsFC between the right habenula and the left thalamus, when compared with HCs. These findings suggest that the habenula is involved in the neural circuitry of suicide. The higher habenular rsFC found in the SB+ group may mediate a dysfunction in the mechanism that links the habenula with motor activity and contextual associative processing.

Clinical utility of the DSM-5 alternative model for borderline personality disorder: Differential diagnostic accuracy of the BFI, SCID-II-PQ, and PID-5

BACKGROUND

With the publication of DSM 5 alternative model for personality disorders it is critical to assess the components of the model against evidence-based models such as the five factor model and the DSM-IV-TR categorical model. This study explored the relative clinical utility of these models in screening for borderline personality disorder (BPD).

METHODS

Receiver operator characteristics and diagnostic efficiency statistics were calculated for three personality measures to ascertain the relative diagnostic efficiency of each measure. A total of 1653 adult inpatients at a specialist psychiatric hospital completed SCID-II interviews. Sample 1 (n=653) completed the SCID-II interviews, SCID-II Questionnaire (SCID-II-PQ) and the Big Five Inventory (BFI), while Sample 2 (n=1,000) completed the SCID-II interviews, Personality Inventory for DSM5 (PID-5) and the BFI.

RESULTS

BFI measure evidenced moderate accuracy for two composites: High Neuroticism+ low agreeableness composite (AUC=0.72, SE=0.01, p<0.001) and High Neuroticism+ Low+Low Conscientiousness (AUC=0.73, SE=0.01, p<0.0001). The SCID-II-PQ evidenced moderate-to-excellent accuracy (AUC=0.86, SE=0.02, p<0.0001) with a good balance of specificity (SP=0.80) and sensitivity (SN=0.78). The PID-5 BPD algorithm (consisting of elevated emotional lability, anxiousness, separation insecurity, hostility, depressivity, impulsivity, and risk taking) evidenced moderate-to-excellent accuracy (AUC=0.87, SE=0.01, p<0.0001) with a good balance of specificity (SP=0.76) and sensitivity (SN=0.81).

CONCLUSIONS

Findings generally support the use of SCID-II-PQ and PID-5 BPD algorithm for screening purposes. Furthermore, findings support the accuracy of the DSM 5 alternative model Criteria B trait constellation for diagnosing BPD. Limitations of the study include the single inpatient setting and use of two discrete samples to assess PID-5 and SCID-II-PQ.

Increased habenular connectivity in opioid users is associated with an α5 subunit nicotinic receptor genetic variant

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Opioid use disorder (OUD) is a chronic disorder with relapse based on both desire for reinforcement (craving) and avoidance of withdrawal. The aversive aspect of dependence and relapse has been associated with a small brain structure called the habenula, which expresses large numbers of both opioid and nicotinic receptors. Additionally, opioid withdrawal symptoms can be induced in opioid-treated rodents by blocking not only opioid, but also nicotinic receptors. This receptor co-localization and cross-induction of withdrawal therefore might lead to genetic variation in the nicotinic receptor influencing development of human opioid dependence through its impact on the aversive components of opioid dependence.

METHODS

We studied habenular resting state functional connectivity with related brain structures, specifically the striatum. We compared abstinent psychiatric patients who use opioids (N = 51) to psychiatric patients who do not (N = 254) to identify an endophenotype of opioid use that focused on withdrawal avoidance and aversion rather than the more commonly examined craving aspects of relapse.

RESULTS

We found that habenula-striatal connectivity was stronger in opioid-using patients. Increased habenula-striatum connectivity was observed in opioid-using patients with the low risk rs16969968 GG genotype, but not in patients carrying the high risk AG or AA genotypes.

CONCLUSIONS

We propose that increased habenula-striatum functional connectivity may be modulated by the nicotinic receptor variant rs16969968 and may lead to increased opioid use.

SCIENTIFIC SIGNIFICANCE

Our data uncovered a promising brain target for development of novel anti-addiction therapies and may help the development of personalized therapies against opioid abuse. (Am J Addict 2017;26:751-759).

Lexical and prosodic cues in the comprehension of relative certainty

This study examined the development of children's comprehension of the use of intonation and belief verbs to mark the relative certainty with which a speaker makes a statement. Subjects were presented with a task in which they had to guess the location of an object hidden in one of two boxes over a series of trials. As clues to location, the children were presented with contrasting pairs of statements by two puppets. In the first experiment with 30 children at each of three, four, five and six years of age, statements in each pair differed either with respect to the belief term included - know, think or guess - or with respect to terminal pitch contour - rising or falling. Results showed that three-year-olds did not use any information reliably to determine the location of the object, four-year-olds treated falling pitch as a more reliable indicator of location than rising pitch, and older children responded on the basis of the belief terms but not on the basis of prosody. In Experiment 2, 40 children at each of three, four and five years heard statements which differed with respect to both belief verbs and prosody. In one condition falling intonation was paired with the more certain belief term in each pair, and rising intonation with the less certain pair. In a second condition, the pairings were reversed. Results showed that, while four-year-olds could tell the difference between know and think, they could not use intonation information to determine the location. Five-year-olds used both lexical and prosodic information, with prosodic cues modulating the effects of lexical. Taken together, these experiments show that prosodic and lexical cues start to be used by children to interpret relative speaker certainty at about the same time developmentally, but that lexical cues initially appear to dominate while prosodic ones modulate their effects. Finally, it is argued that children's understanding of prosody will be best revealed in contexts in which they are required to respond to the pragmatic function of verbal stimuli rather than to the lexical content.

Early identification of treatment non-response utilizing the Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9)

BACKGROUND

Treatment non-response among high-risk, psychiatric patients exposes those suffering to suicidal risk as well as persistent social and occupational difficulties. Strategies for identification of treatment non-response are limited.

AIMS

Diagnostic efficiency of a self-report, cross-cutting symptom measure was assessed as a marker of treatment non-response.

METHOD

835 inpatients at a specialist psychiatric hospital completed the Patient Health Questionnaire - Depression (PHQ-9) at admission and every two weeks during hospitalization.

RESULTS

For patients admitted with severe depression (PHQ-9 ≥ 20), results indicated good accuracy of 2-week PHQ-9 change score in identifying treatment non-response (AUC = 0.80, SE = 0.04, p < .0001; sensitivity = 85%; specificity = 73%; OR = 14.91).

CONCLUSIONS

The search for predictors of non-response to psychiatric treatment has a long and generally unfulfilled history. The PHQ-9 change score holds promise as a cost-effective test with comparable diagnostic characteristics to other medical tests.

Parent-Reported Problematic Sleep Behaviors in Children with Comorbid Autism Spectrum Disorder and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder

BACKGROUND

Sleep problems are frequent and well documented in children with Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), children with Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and children with internalizing problems, however limited work has examined sleep problems in children presenting with comorbid ASD/ADHD. In healthy children, sleep problems negatively impact social, emotional, and academic functioning. The current study sought to examine diagnostic severity as predictors of sleep problems in children with comorbid ASD/ADHD. Additionally, the association between sleep and "real-life" functional domains (i.e., intellectual functioning, academic achievement, and executive functioning) were assessed.

METHOD

Sleep, internalizing difficulties, intellectual functioning, academic achievement and executive functioning were assessed in 85 children with who carried the dual diagnoses of ASD and ADHD.

RESULTS

Internalizing difficulties, rather than ASD or ADHD symptom severity, was the most consistent predictor of problematic sleep behaviors (i.e., nightmares overtiredness, sleeping less than other children, trouble sleeping, and Total Problematic Sleep Behaviors) in this sample. Further, parent report of problematic sleep behaviors was significantly associated with functional domains after controlling for ASD, ADHD, and internalizing symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS

Results suggest that internalizing symptoms are associated with problematic sleep behaviors in children with comorbid ASD/ADHD and may have implications for the "real-life" functioning among children with comorbid ASD/ADHD.

Orbitofrontal, dorsal striatum, and habenula functional connectivity in psychiatric patients with substance use problems

Substance abuse is commonly defined as the persistence of drug use despite negative consequences. Recent preclinical work has shown that higher input from the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) to the dorsal striatum was associated with compulsive reward-seeking behavior despite negative effects. It remains unknown whether drug use is associated with the connectivity between the OFC and dorsal striatum in humans. We studied the resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) between the OFC, dorsal striatum, and habenula (and the whole brain in a separate analysis) in psychiatric inpatients with high (PU, problem users) and low (LU, low users) substance use. We matched PU and LU for psychiatric comorbidities. We found that PU showed higher RSFC between the left OFC and the left dorsal striatum than LU. RSFC between the habenula and both OFC and dorsal striatum was also higher in PU, which suggests the habenula may be a part of the same circuit. Finally, higher RSFC between the OFC and insula was also observed in PU. Our data shows that OFC, habenula, dorsal striatum, and insula may play an important role in PU. Furthermore, we postulate that the habenula may link the mesolimbic and cortico-striatal systems, which are altered in PU.

Mobility Performance in Community-Dwelling Older Adults: Potential Digital Biomarkers of Concern about Falling

INTRODUCTION

Concern about falling is a prevalent worry among community-dwelling older adults and may contribute to a decline in physical and mental health. This study aimed to examine the association between mobility performance and concern about falling.

METHODS

Older adults aged 65 years and older, with Mini-Mental State Examination score ≥24, and ambulatory (with or without the assistive device) were included. Concern about falling was evaluated with Falls Efficacy Scale-International (FES-I) scores. Participants with high concern about falling were identified using the cutoff of FES-I ≥23. Participants' motor capacity was assessed in standardized walking tests under single- and dual-task conditions. Participants' mobility performance was measured based on a 48-h trunk accelerometry signal from a wearable pendant sensor.

RESULTS

No significant differences were observed at participant characteristics across groups with different levels of concern about falling (low: N = 64, age = 76.3 ± 7.2 years, female = 46%; high: N = 59, age = 79.3 ± 9.1 years, female = 47%), after propensity matching with BMI, age, depression, and cognition. With adjustment of motor capacity (stride velocity and stride length under single- and dual-task walking conditions), participants with high concern about falling had significantly poorer mobility performance than those with low concern about falling, including lower walking quantity (walking bouts, steps and time per day, and walking bout average, walking bout variability, and longest walking bout, p ≤ 0.013), and poorer daily-life gait (stride velocity and gait variability, p ≤ 0.023), and poorer walking quality (frontal gait symmetry, and trunk acceleration and velocity intensity, p ≤ 0.041). The selected mobility performance metrics (daily steps and frontal gait symmetry) could significantly contribute to identifying older adults with high concern about falling (p ≤ 0.042), having better model performance (p = 0.036) than only walking quantity (daily steps) with adjustment of confounding effects from the motor capacity (stride length under dual-task walking condition).

CONCLUSION

There is an association between mobility performance and concern about falling in older adults. Mobility performance metrics can serve as predictors to identify older adults with high concern about falling, potentially providing digital biomarkers for clinicians to remotely track older adults' change of concern about falling via applications of remote patient monitoring.

Right temporal pole volume reduction in PTSD

Previous magnetic resonance imaging studies of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) have reported cortical volume alterations in the parahippocampal, anterior cingulate cortex, and temporal pole. It is unclear, however, if these cortical regions are specifically associated with PTSD or associated with common comorbidities. Here, we present the result of cortical volume differences between PTSD and healthy and psychiatric controls. In this study, healthy controls (n = 67) were matched for demographic characteristics (age, sex, race) and psychiatric controls (n = 67) were matched for demographic characteristics plus all other psychiatric diagnoses (past and current) to a group of PTSD patients (N = 67). We assessed group differences of 34 bilateral cortical structure volumes using statistically defined brain regions-of-interest from FreeSurfer between PTSD patients and healthy controls. We found 10 regions to be significantly different between PTSD and healthy controls and analyzed the group differences between PTSD and psychiatric controls within these regions. The right temporal pole volume in PTSD was found to be significantly smaller than both healthy and psychiatry controls. Our finding suggests only right temporal pole volume reduction is specifically associated with PTSD, and also highlights the need for using appropriate controls in psychiatry research.

Adolescent Sleep Disturbance, Emotion Regulation and Borderline Features in an Inpatient Setting

OBJECTIVE

The current study aimed to examine the relation between sleep disturbance, emotion dysregulation and borderline personality features in adolescent inpatients.

METHOD

N = 217 adolescents (67.1% female; ages 12-17) with the following racial/ethnic breakdown: 67.4% White, 3.7% Hispanic, 2.8% Asian, 1.8% African American, and 6.4% multiracial) completed self-report measures of sleep disturbance, emotion dysregulation and borderline personality symptoms at admission to, discharge from, and at 6-months-post discharge from an inpatient psychiatric hospital. Group comparison and path analyses were conducted to examine differences in sleep disturbance between those with and without borderline personality disorder and the mediating role of emotion dysregulation in the relation between sleep disturbance and borderline personality features.

RESULTS

Borderline personality features and emotion dysregulation were significantly related to indices of sleep disturbance. Path models revealed that some sleep disturbance indices at admission directly predicted levels of borderline features at discharge and at 6-months-post-discharge. However, none of the indirect pathways between sleep disturbance at admission, emotion dysregulation at discharge, and borderline features at discharge or 6-months post-discharge were significant.

CONCLUSIONS

Findings are consistent with prior literature which suggest that a unique relation exists between sleep disturbance and BPD, beyond comorbid depression symptoms. However, contrary to our hypotheses, the current study did not provide empirical support for the mediating role of emotion regulation in this relation. These findings have implications for existing personality disorder and sleep interventions and suggest further research into the mechanisms underlying the relation between sleep disturbance and borderline personality pathology is necessary.

Examination of reward processing dysfunctions in the left dorsal striatum and other brain regions among psychiatric inpatients with substance use

BACKGROUND

Substance misuse is a major public health issue and research has established attenuated reward responses to drug cues in those who misuse substances. Yet, little is known about whether the expectation of natural reinforcers engages distinct brain regions in substance misuse.

METHODS

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we delivered juice at expected and unexpected times to examine reward processing dysfunctions. We focused on the responses within the left dorsal striatum (DS) in individuals with high-risk substance use (HRU, n = 65), low-risk substance use (psychiatric controls, PC, n = 65), and healthy controls (HC, n = 65). Additionally, we investigated whether the dysfunction in reward processing within the left DS is correlated with other common psychiatric symptoms. Finally, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of the whole brain to investigate other non-hypothesized brain regions.

RESULTS

Compared to HC, HRU displayed lower responses to juice delivery (i.e., reward) in the left DS (p <.05). The whole-brain analysis demonstrated that compared to HC, HRU displayed significantly lower responses to reward stimuli in various brain regions, including the bilateral caudate, temporal gyrus, left frontal gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, and right thalamus.

LIMITATIONS

Participants were individuals with polysubstance use; therefore, we were not able to examine the effects of individual substances.

CONCLUSIONS

Our findings suggest that HRU displays lower responses to reward stimuli within the left DS and other non-hypothesized brain regions. Our findings may help further elucidate reward processing dysfunctions related to substance misuse.

A Novel Approach to Link Genetics and Human MRI Identifies AKAP7-Dependent Subicular/Prefrontal Functional Connectivity as Altered in Suicidality

Background

Brain imaging and genetics are fields acquiring data at increasing speed, but more information does not always result in a better understanding of the underlying biology. We developed the ProcessGeneLists (PGL) approach to use genetics and mRNA gene expression data to generate regions of interest for imaging studies.

Methods

We applied PGL to past suicide attempt (ATT): We averaged the mRNA expression levels of genes (n = 130) possibly associated with ATT (p ≤ 10-3 in a published genome-wide association study, GWAS) in each brain region studied in the Human Allen Brain Atlas (6 ex-vivo brains, 158 to 946 regions/brain have mRNA expression data) and compared that to the averaged mRNA expression levels of all other genes in each region in each brain in the atlas.

Results

PGL revealed 8 regions where "attempt-related genes" were differentially expressed (Wilcoxon test with Bonferroni correction 8.88-11 = 

Conclusion

PGL uncovered a brain function/genotype interaction in ATT by using published GWAS data to inform imaging studies. This could inform individualized therapies in the future.

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Key Words

• AKAP-7
• dorsolateral prefrontal cortex
• habenula
• resting state functional connectivity
• subiculum
• suicide

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MESH Headings Collapse

Grants

• I01 CX000994 CSRD VA
• I01 CX001937 CSRD VA
• Office of Research and Development
• National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression
• American Foundation for Suicide Prevention
• Robert and Janice McNair Foundation

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A next-generation approach to mental health outcomes: Treatment, time, and trajectories

Over the last several decades, inpatient psychiatric length of stay (LOS) has been greatly reduced to the detriment of patients. Latent variable mixture modeling, can be used to improve the quality of care for patients by identifying unobserved subgroups and optimize treatment variables, including LOS. This study had three objectives (1) to replicate the findings made by Oh et al. in a distinct sample, (2) to examine demographic differences related to inpatient treatment trajectories, and (3) to relate additional variables to each trajectory. We collected data on six key mental illness factors and information on felonies, misdemeanors, history of stopping psychiatric medication and psychotherapy, length of time in psychotherapy, and the number of therapists and psychiatrists from 489 patients at an inpatient psychiatric hospital. We derived latent mental illness scores after applying growth mixture modeling to these data. We identified three distinct trajectories of mental illness change: High-Risk, Rapid Improvement (HR-RI), Low-Risk, Partial Response (LR-PR), and High-Risk, Gradual Improvement (HR-GI). The HR-GI group was more likely to have patients who were female, Asian, younger, Yearly Income (YI) <$20,000, that spent more time in psychotherapy throughout their life, and had the longest LOS while inpatient. The LR-PR group had was more likely to be male, Hispanic/Latino and multiracial, older, YI >$500,000, have a history of misdemeanors, and this group had the shortest LOS (p < .05). These findings replicate and extend our previous findings in Oh et al. (2020a) and highlight the clinical utility of agnostically determining the treatment trajectories.

Associations between big five personality dimensions and lifetime use of cannabis

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

With the rise in cannabis use over the last couple of decades and shifting social views around drug use, the characterization of potential predictors for the development of cannabis use disorder (CUD) may be of high relevance for the implementation of preventive measures toward this condition. We conducted a study with the aim of analyzing possible associations between personality traits and CUD.

METHODS

Our sample consisted of 1335 inpatients admitted to The Menninger Clinic between September 2016 and December 2021. All participants completed the Big Five Inventory for the characterization of their personalities. The presence of a diagnosis of CUD and other substance use disorders was established through the administration of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-5 (SCID-5). Patients with and without a lifetime diagnosis of CUD were compared with regard to their scores in the five personality dimensions. We utilized analysis of covariance for the statistical inference, with age, sex, and use of other substances as covariates.

RESULTS

Our findings revealed that low conscientiousness, low agreeableness, and high open-mindedness were associated with the presence of CUD. The relationships between CUD and the remaining personality dimensions explored (extraversion and neuroticism) were not statistically significant.

CONCLUSIONS AND SCIENTIFIC SIGNIFICANCE

This study indicates that certain personality dimensions are potential predictors for the risk for developing CUD. An inpatient population was sampled for this study, allowing for the comparison with other community-based studies. These findings have important preventative and treatment implications from a clinical and research standpoint.