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Ayahuasca is a beverage used in Amazonian traditional medicine and it has been part of the human experience for millennia as well as other different psychoactive plants. Although Ayahuasca has been proposed as potentially therapeutic as an anxiolytic and antidepressant, whilst no studies have been carried out so far investigating their direct effect on brain emotional processing. This study aimed to measure the emotional acute effect of Ayahuasca on brain response to implicit aversive stimulation using a face recognition task in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Nineteen male experienced Ayahuasca users participated in this study in two fMRI sessions before and after 50 min of the Ayahuasca ingestion. Subjects were presented with pictures of neutral (A) and aversive (B) (fearful or disgusted) faces from the Pictures of Facial Affect Series. Subjects were instructed to identify the gender of the faces (gender discrimination task) while the emotional content was implicit. Subjective mood states were also evaluated before Ayahuasca intake and after the second fMRI session, using a visual analogue mood scale (VAMS). During the aversive stimuli, the activity in the bilateral amygdala was attenuated by Ayahuasca (qFDR<0.05). Furthermore, in an exploratory analysis of the effects after intake, Ayahuasca enhances the activation in the insular cortex bilaterally, as well as in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (qFDR<0.05). In the psychometric VAMS scale, subjects reported attenuation of both anxiety and mental sedation (p < 0.01) during acute effects. Together, all reported results including neuroimaging, behavioral data and psychometric self-report suggest that Ayahuasca can promote an emotion regulation mechanism in response to aversive stimuli with corresponding improved cognition including reduced anxiety and mental sedation. [Display omitted] • Ayahuasca is a psychedelic of Amazonian origin with cerebral serotonergic action. • Ayahuasca use by experienced users reveal brain and behavioral changes. • Ayahuasca acts on emotional regulation that could explain its therapeutic potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Cognitive dysfunction is common in multiple sclerosis (MS). The dorsal anterior insula (dAI) is a key hub of the salience network (SN) orchestrating access to critical cognitive brain regions. The aim of this study was to assess whole‐brain dAI intrinsic functional connectivity (iFC) using resting‐state functional MRI (rs‐fMRI) in people with MS and healthy controls (HC) and test the relationship between cognitive reserve (CR) and dAI iFC in people with MS. METHODS: We studied 28 people with relapsing‐remitting MS and 28 HC. CR index was quantified by combining premorbid IQ, leisure activities, and education level. For whole‐brain iFC analyses, the bilateral dAI were used as seeds. Individual subject correlation maps were entered into general linear models for group comparison and to analyze the effect of CR index on dAI iFC, controlling for multiple comparisons. The correlation between CR index and iFC was assessed using a linear regression model. RESULTS: rs‐fMRI analyses revealed a negative relationship between CR index and iFC within the left dAI and a left occipital cluster in people with MS including regions of the cuneus, superior occipital gyrus, and parieto‐occipital sulcus. The regression analysis showed that people with MS and a higher CR index had a statistically significantly reduced iFC within the left dAI and the cluster. CONCLUSIONS: CR is relevant to functional connectivity within one of the main nodes of the SN, the dAI, and occipital regions in MS. These results have implications for how CR may modulate the susceptibility to cognitive dysfunction in MS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Clinical remission of depression may be associated with emotional residual symptoms. We studied the association of emotional blunting, rumination with neural networks dynamics in remitted depressed patients and cognitive performance during an N-Back task. Twenty-six outpatients in remission of depression (Hamilton Depressive rating scale score <7) performed an N-Back task during fMRI assessment. All patients had been treated by paroxetine for a minimum of 4 months. Two subgroups of patients [Nonemotionally blunted (NEB)=14 and emotionally blunted (EB)=12] were determined. To identify functional network maps across participants, the Network Detection using Independent Component Analysis approach was employed. Within and between Task Positive Network (TPN) and Default Mode Network (DMN) connectivity were assessed and related to variability of performance on the N-Back task and rumination. EB and NEB patients were not different for the level of accurate responses at the N-Back. However over the entire working memory task, the negative correlation between DMN and TPN was significantly lower in the EB than NEB group and was differently related to cognitive performance and rumination. The stronger the negative correlation between DMN and TPN was, the less variable the reaction time during 3-Back task in NEB patients. Moreover the greater Contract grant sponsor: Servier; Contract grant sponsor: Investissements d'avenir; Contract grant number: ANR-10-IAIHU-06. *Correspondence the negative correlation between DMN and TPN was, the lower the rumination score in EB patients. Emotional blunting may be associated with compromised monitoring of rumination and cognitive functioning in remitted depressed patients through altered cooperation between DMN and TPN. The study suggests clinical remission in depression is associated with biological heterogeneity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the present study was to evaluate the impact of a violent environment on mental health and the impact of a sport for social development (SSD) program on quality of life, mental distress symptoms, and heart rate variability (HRV). HRV and psychometric data were measured from 20 men professional athletes assisted by the SSD and 20 men living in the same violent community. The comparison of groups revealed greater sympathetic parameters of HRV, positive affect, and quality of life in the SSD group. Multiple regression analysis showed that the quality of life in the SSD group was positively predicted by positive affect, while in the control group the quality of life was negatively predicted by their history of traumatic events. Both groups reported high levels of exposure to traumatic events and posttraumatic stress symptoms. However, this study demonstrates the benefits of SSD programs in mental health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Heart rate variability (HRV) is an important physiological measure of the capacity for neurogenic homeostatic regulation, and an indirect measure of emotional processing. We aimed to investigate whether HRV parameters are altered in people with chronic low back pain when compared to healthy controls. We searched on PubMed, Scopus, CINAHL, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and PsycINFO from inception to January 2018. The inclusion criteria were: patients with non-specific chronic low back pain, absence of radiculopathy, age from 18 to 65 years, and comparison with healthy controls. Data extraction was performed by two independent review authors. The methodological quality of the studies was assessed using the appraisal tool for cross-sectional studies. After screening 2,873 potential articles, two studies met the inclusion criteria. Studies were composed of 153 patients with chronic low back pain and 62 healthy controls. An electrocardiogram was used to record HRV and linear methods (time and frequency) were used to analyze the results. The main findings indicate that patients with chronic low back pain have a significant reduction in HRV, with sympathetic predominance compared to healthy controls. There is limited evidence suggesting that chronic low back pain patients presented a lower vagal activity evidenced by HRV, when compared to healthy controls. The results of this systematic review should be interpreted with caution due to the restricted number of included studies, small sample sizes and different protocols used to measure HRV. The limited evidence about HRV alterations in low back pain also suggests the need of future studies to investigate if HRV parameters can be a useful measure in chronic pain samples or even if it can be used as an outcome in clinical trials aiming to investigate the effectiveness of interventions based on emotion regulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Emotions are involved in the identification of safety cues in the environment, and are also related to social interaction through recognition of emotional facial expressions. Heart rate variability (HRV) can be an indicator of the adaptive response of the autonomic nervous system to stressful conditions, including pain. This study aimed to investigate the emotional processing in a sample of patients with chronic musculoskeletal by measuring the resting-state HRV and the ability to recognize facial emotion expressions. This cross-sectional study was composed of 40 participants with chronic musculoskeletal pain and 40 asymptomatic participants. Resting HRV was measured for 10 min. The facial emotion recognition task was presented in videos and included modification from a neutral expression to faces of fear, anger, sadness, happiness, and disgust. For the facial emotion recognition task, the hit rate (%) and response time for each emotional category were measured. The symptomatic group had a mean high frequency (HF) lower (mean = 34.14; SD = 16.95; p<0.001) than the asymptomatic group (mean = 51.11; SD = 13.01; p<0.001). The emotional facial expressions of disgust (H (1, 80)=7.82; p<0.01), anger (H (1, 80)=13.56; p<0.01), sadness (H (1, 80)=6.58; p=0.01), and happiness (H (1, 80)=12.68; p<0.01) were those for which volunteers from the symptomatic group had a lower hit rate of correct answers compared to the asymptomatic group. The response time to corrected answers showed a major group effect (F (1.77)=21.11; p<0.001) and emotional category (F (4.308)=174.21; p<0.001), without presenting any interaction between the factors (F (4.308)=0.446; p=0.775). The symptomatic group was slower to perform the task of identifying facial emotional expression (7.066 s; SD = 1.188) than the participants in the asymptomatic group (6.298 s; SD = 1.203) for all emotional categories. Participants with chronic musculoskeletal pain presented a lower vagal activity evidenced by HRV. Participants in the symptomatic group showed lower ability to recognize faces of disgust, anger, and sadness when compared to asymptomatic participants. Considering that individuals with low resting HF-HRV have difficulties with regulating their emotions, the lower vagal activity and lower ability to recognize faces of emotional expressions observed in chronic musculoskeletal pain may suggest alterations in emotional processing. This study may shed light on changes in the emotional processing and in the autonomic nervous system in this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Recently, there has been a growing interest in a methodology for dose planning in radiosynoviorthesis to substitute fixed activity. Clinical practice based on fixed activity frequently does not embrace radiopharmaceutical dose optimization in patients. The aim of this paper is to propose and discuss a dose planning methodology considering the radiological findings of interest obtained by three-dimensional magnetic resonance imaging combined with Monte Carlo simulation in radiosynoviorthesis treatment applied to hemophilic arthropathy. Method The parameters analyzed were: surface area of the synovial membrane (synovial size), synovial thickness and joint effusion obtained by 3D MRI of nine knees from nine patients on a SIEMENS AVANTO 1.5 T scanner using a knee coil. The 3D Slicer software performed both the semiautomatic segmentation and quantitation of these radiological findings. A Lucite phantom 3D MRI validated the quantitation methodology. The study used Monte Carlo N-Particle eXtended code version 2.6 for calculating the S-values required to set up the injected activity to deliver a 100 Gy absorbed dose at a determined synovial thickness. The radionuclides assessed were: 90Y, 32P, 188Re, 186Re, 153Sm, and 177Lu, and the present study shows their effective treatment ranges. Result The quantitation methodology was successfully tested, with an error below 5% for different materials. S-values calculated could provide data on the activity to be injected into the joint, considering no extra-articular leakage from joint cavity. Calculation of effective treatment range could assist with the therapeutic decision, with an optimized protocol for dose prescription in RSO. Conclusion Using 3D Slicer software, this study focused on segmentation and quantitation of radiological features such as joint effusion, synovial size, and thickness, all obtained by 3D MRI in patients' knees with hemophilic arthropathy. The combination of synovial size and thickness with the parameters obtained by Monte Carlo simulation such as effective treatment range and S-value, from which is calculated the injected activity, could be used for treatment planning in RSO. Data from this methodology could be a potential aid to clinical decision making by selecting the most suitable radionuclide; justifying the procedure, fractioning the dose, and the calculated injected activity for children and adolescents, considering both the synovial size and thickness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction Pattern recognition analysis (PRA) applied to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has been used to decode cognitive processes and identify possible biomarkers for mental illness. In the present study, we investigated whether the positive affect (PA) or negative affect (NA) personality traits could be decoded from patterns of brain activation in response to a human threat using a healthy sample. Methods fMRI data from 34 volunteers (15 women) were acquired during a simple motor task while the volunteers viewed a set of threat stimuli that were directed either toward them or away from them and matched neutral pictures. For each participant, contrast images from a General Linear Model (GLM) between the threat versus neutral stimuli defined the spatial patterns used as input to the regression model. We applied a multiple kernel learning (MKL) regression combining information from different brain regions hierarchically in a whole brain model to decode the NA and PA from patterns of brain activation in response to threat stimuli. Results The MKL model was able to decode NA but not PA from the contrast images between threat stimuli directed away versus neutral with a significance above chance. The correlation and the mean squared error (MSE) between predicted and actual NA were 0.52 (p-value = 0.01) and 24.43 (p-value = 0.01), respectively. The MKL pattern regression model identified a network with 37 regions that contributed to the predictions. Some of the regions were related to perception (e.g., occipital and temporal regions) while others were related to emotional evaluation (e.g., caudate and prefrontal regions). Conclusion These results suggest that there was an interaction between the individuals' NA and the brain response to the threat stimuli directed away, which enabled the MKL model to decode NA from the brain patterns. To our knowledge, this is the first evidence that PRA can be used to decode a personality trait from patterns of brain activation during emotional contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]