Functional neuroanatomy in panic disorder:Status quo of the research

AIM To provide an overview of the current research in the functional neuroanatomy of panic disorder.METHODS Panic disorder(PD) is a frequent psychiatric disease. Gorman et al(1989; 2000) proposed a comprehensive neuroanatomical model of PD, which suggested that fear-and anxiety-related responses are mediated by a so-called "fear network" which is centered in the amygdala and includes the hippocampus, thalamus, hypothalamus, periaqueductal gray region, locus coeruleus and other brainstem sites. We performed a systematic search by the electronic database PubMed. Thereby, the main focus was laid on recent neurofunctional, neurostructural, and neurochemical studies(from the period between January 2012 and April 2016). Within this frame, special attention was given to the emerging field of imaging genetics. RESULTS We noted that many neuroimaging studies have reinforced the role of the "fear network" regions in the pathophysiology of panic disorder. However, recent functional studies suggest abnormal activation mainly in an extended fear network comprising brainstem, anterior and midcingulate cortex(ACC and MCC), insula, and lateral as well as medial parts of the prefrontal cortex. Interestingly, differences in the amygdala activation were not as consistently reported as one would predict from the hypothesis of Gorman et al(2000). Indeed, amygdala hyperactivation seems to strongly depend on stimuli and experimental paradigms, sample heterogeneity and size, as well as on limitations of neuroimaging techniques. Advanced neurochemical studies have substantiated the major role of serotonergic, noradrenergic and glutamatergic neurotransmission in the pathophysiology of PD. However, alterations of GABAergic function in PD are still a matter of debate and also their specificity remains questionable. A promising new research approach is "imaging genetics". Imaging genetic studies are designed to evaluate the impact of genetic variations(polymorphisms) on cerebral function in regions critical for PD. Most recently, imaging genetic studies have not only confirmed the importance of serotonergic and noradrenergic transmission in the etiology of PD but also indicated the significance of neuropeptide S receptor, CRH receptor, human TransM EMbrane protein(TMEM123D), and amiloride-sensitive cation channel 2(ACCN2) genes. CONCLUSION In light of these findings it is conceivable that in the near future this research will lead to the development of clinically useful tools like predictive biomarkers or novel treatment options.

Resting-state connectivity in the default mode network and insula during experimental low back pain

Functional magnetic resonance imaging studies have shown that the insular cortex has a signif- icant role in pain identification and information integration, while the default mode network is associated with cognitive and memory-related aspects of pain perception. However, changes in the functional connectivity between the defauk mode network and insula during pain remain unclear. This study used 3.0 T functional magnetic resonance imaging scans in 12 healthy sub- jects aged 24.8 ± 3.3 years to compare the differences in the functional activity and connectivity of the insula and default mode network between the baseline and pain condition induced by intramuscular injection of hypertonic saline. Compared with the baseline, the insula was more functionally connected with the medial prefrontal and lateral temporal cortices, whereas there was lower connectivity with the posterior cingulate cortex, precuneus and inferior parietal lobule in the pain condition. In addition, compared with baseline, the anterior cingulate cortex exhibited greater connectivity with the posterior insula, but lower connectivity with the anterior insula, during the pain condition. These data indicate that experimental low back pain led to dysfunction in the connectivity between the insula and default mode network resulting from an impairment of the regions of the brain related to cognition and emotion, suggesting the impor- tance of the interaction between these regions in pain processing.

Sustained attention in psychosis:Neuroimaging findings

To provide a systematic review of scientific literatureon functional magnetic resonance imaging(fMRI) stud-ies on sustained attention in psychosis. We searchedPubMed to identify fMRI studies pertaining sustainedattention in both affective and non-affective psycho-sis. Only studies conducted on adult patients using asustained attention task during fMRI scanning wereincluded in the final review. The search was conductedon September 10 th, 2013. 15 fMRI studies met our in-clusion criteria: 12 studies were focused on Schizophre-nia and 3 on Bipolar Disorder Type Ⅰ(BDI). Only halfof the Schizophrenia studies and two of the BDI stud-ies reported behavioral abnormalities, but all of themevidenced significant functional differences in brain re-gions related to the sustained attention system. Alteredfunctioning of the insula was found in both Schizophre-nia and BDI, and therefore proposed as a candidate trait marker for psychosis in general. On the other hand, other brain regions were differently impaired in affective and non-affective psychosis: alterations of cingulate cortex and thalamus seemed to be more common in Schizophrenia and amygdala dysfunctions in BDI. Neural correlates of sustained attention seem to be of great interest in the study of psychosis, highlight-ing differences and similarities between Schizophrenia and BDI.

Brain pathways of pain empathy activated by pained facial expressions: a meta-analysis of fMRI using the activation likelihood estimation method

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to summarize and analyze the brain signal patterns of empathy for pain caused by facial expressions of pain utilizing activation likelihood estimation, a meta-analysis method. DATA SOURCES: Studies concerning the brain mechanism were searched from the Science Citation Index, Science Direct, PubMed, DeepDyve, Cochrane Library, SinoMed, Wanfang, VIP, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, and other databases, such as SpringerLink, AMA, Science Online, Wiley Online, were collected. A time limitation of up to 13 December 2016 was applied to this study. DATA SELECTION: Studies presenting with all of the following criteria were considered for study inclusion: Use of functional magnetic resonance imaging, neutral and pained facial expression stimuli, involvement of adult healthy human participants over 18 years of age, whose empathy ability showed no difference from the healthy adult, a painless basic state, results presented in Talairach or Montreal Neurological Institute coordinates, multiple studies by the same team as long as they used different raw data. OUTCOME MEASURES: Activation likelihood estimation was used to calculate the combined main activated brain regions under the stimulation of pained facial expression. RESULTS: Eight studies were included, containing 178 subjects. Meta-analysis results suggested that the anterior cingulate cortex(BA32), anterior central gyrus(BA44), fusiform gyrus, and insula(BA13) were activated positively as major brain areas under the stimulation of pained facial expression. CONCLUSION: Our study shows that pained facial expression alone, without viewing of painful stimuli, activated brain regions related to pain empathy, further contributing to revealing the brain's mechanisms of pain empathy.

Differential aberrant connectivity of precuneus and anterior insula may underpin the diagnosis of schizophrenia and mood disorders

BACKGROUND Over the past decade,resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging(rsfMRI)has concentrated on brain networks such as the default mode network(DMN),the salience network(SN),and the central executive network(CEN),allowing for a better understanding of cognitive deficits observed in mental disorders,as well as other characteristic psychopathological phenomena such as thought and behavior disorganization.AIM To investigate differential patterns of effective connectivity across distributed brain networks involved in schizophrenia(SCH)and mood disorders.METHODS The sample comprised 58 patients with either paranoid syndrome in the context of SCH(n=26)or depressive syndrome(Ds)(n=32),in the context of major depressive disorder or bipolar disorder.The methods used include rs-fMRI and subsequent dynamic causal modeling to determine the direction and strength of connections to and from various nodes in the DMN,SN and CEN.RESULTS A significant excitatory connection from the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex to the anterior insula(aI)was observed in the SCH patient group,whereas inhibitory connections from the precuneus to the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex and from the aI to the precuneus were observed in the Ds group.CONCLUSION The results delineate specific patterns associated with SCH and Ds and offer a better explanation of the underlying mechanisms of these disorders,and inform differential diagnosis and precise treatment targeting.

Separate Neural Networks for Gains and Losses in Intertemporal Choice

An important and unresolved question is how human brain regions process information and interact with each other in intertemporal choice related to gains and losses. Using psychophysiological interaction and dynamic causal modeling analyses, we investigated the functional interactions between regions involved in the decision- making process while participants performed temporal discounting tasks in both the gains and losses domains. We found two distinct intrinsic valuation systems underlying temporal discounting in the gains and losses domains： gains were specifically evaluated in the medial regions, including the medial prefrontal and orbitofrontal cortices, and losses were evaluated in the lateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. In addition, immediate reward or pun- ishment was found to modulate the functional interactions between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and distinct regions in both the gains and losses domains： in the gains domain, the mesolimbic regions; in the losses domain, the medial prefrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, and insula. These findings suggest that intertemporal choice of gains and losses might involve distinct valuation systems, and more importantly, separate neural interactions may implement the intertemporal choices of gains and losses. These findings may provide a new biological perspective for understanding the neural mechanisms underlying intertemporal choice of gains and losses.

To Blame or Not?Modulating Third-Party Punishment with the Framing Effect

People as third-party observers,without direct self-interest,may punish norm violators to maintain social norms.However,third-party judgment and the follow-up punishment might be susceptible to the way we frame(i.e.,verbally describe)a norm violation.We conducted a behavioral and a neuroimaging experiment to investigate the above phenomenon,which we call the“third-party framing effect”.In these experiments,participants observed an anonymous perpetrator deciding whether to keep her/his economic benefit while exposing a victim to a risk of physical pain(described as“harming others”in one condition and“not helping others”in the other condition),then they had a chance to punish that perpetrator at their own cost.Our results showed that the participants were more willing to execute third-party punishment under the harm frame compared to the help frame,manifesting a framing effect.Self-reported anger toward perpetrators mediated the relationship between empathy toward victims and the framing effect.Meanwhile,activation of the insula mediated the relationship between mid-cingulate cortex activation and the framing effect;the functional connectivity between these regions significantly predicted the size of the framing effect.These findings shed light on the psychological and neural mechanisms of the third-party framing effect.

Enhanced functional connectivity and increased graymatter volume of insula related to action video game playing

With the support by the National Natural Science Foundation of China and the Ministry of Science and Technology of China,Prof.Yao Dezhong’s group at the Key Laboratory For NeuroInformation of Ministry of Education,School of Life Science and Technology,University of Electronic Science and Technology of China,reported enhanced functional connectivity(FC)and increased gray matter volume(GMV)of

Disruption of orbitofrontal-hypothalamic projections in a murine ALS model and in human patients

Background:Increased catabolism has recently been recognized as a clinical manifestation of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis(ALS).The hypothalamic systems have been shown to be involved in the metabolic dysfunction in ALS,but the exact extent of hypothalamic circuit alterations in ALS is yet to be determined.Here we explored the integrity of large-scale cortico-hypothalamic circuits involved in energy homeostasis in murine models and in ALS patients.Methods:The rAAV2-based large-scale projection mapping and image analysis pipeline based on Wholebrain and Ilastik software suites were used to identify and quantify projections from the forebrain to the lateral hypothalamus in the SOD1(G93A)ALS mouse model(hypermetabolic)and the FusΔNLS ALS mouse model(normo-metabolic).3 T diffusion tensor imaging(DTI)-magnetic resonance imaging(MRI)was performed on 83 ALS and 65 control cases to investigate cortical projections to the lateral hypothalamus(LHA)in ALS.Results:Symptomatic SOD1(G93A)mice displayed an expansion of projections from agranular insula,ventrolateral orbitofrontal and secondary motor cortex to the LHA.These findings were reproduced in an independent cohort by using a different analytic approach.In contrast,in the FusΔNLS ALS mouse model hypothalamic inputs from insula and orbitofrontal cortex were maintained while the projections from motor cortex were lost.The DTI-MRI data confirmed the disruption of the orbitofrontal-hypothalamic tract in ALS patients.Conclusion:This study provides converging murine and human data demonstrating the selective structural disruption of hypothalamic inputs in ALS as a promising factor contributing to the origin of the hypermetabolic phenotype.

“冷血”的人不无情

我们常常用"冷血动物"来形容那些无情的人。想知道,每个人血液的温度都是一样的么?如果有不一样,血液温度更冷一些的人,在个性上会有类似更冷静、更理智、更无情的倾向么?形容一个人冷血,是一种比喻的修辞方式,"冷血"代表着"冷血动物",和人本身的血液温度没什么直接关系。

电线、电缆、护套

Y2001-62844 02000892000年 IEEE 电绝缘与介电现象年会会议录,卷2=2000 IEEE annual report conference on electrical insula-tion and dielectrlc phenomena,Vol.2[会,英]/IEEE Di-electrics and Insulation Society.—2000.—379P.(EC)本会议录共分2卷,本书为第2卷。

绝缘与介电材料

Y2001-62843 02000512000年 IEEE 电绝缘与介电现象年会会议录,卷1=2000 IEEE annual report conference on electrical insula-tion and dielectric phenomena,Vol.1[会,英]/IEEE Di-electrics and Insulation Society.—2000.—451P.(EC)本会议录共分2卷,本书为第1卷,收集了于2000年10月15～18日在加拿大 Victoria 召开的电绝缘与介电现象会议上发表的104篇论文,内容涉及核电站电缆绝缘老化评价。

CNOOC Joins Hands with Fujian Province to Develop Haixi Economic Zone

China National Offshore Oil Corp.(CNOOC)signed a cooperation agreement with the Fujianprovincial government in Beijing on June 23rdto accelerate developing the Sanduao Xinan Pen-insula in Ningde,and the Haixi economic zone.According to the pact,they will set up

Trimellitic Anhydride Capacity Is Serious Surplus

China’s capacity to make trimellitic anhydride(TMA) reached 105 000 t/a in 2008. MajorTMA producers in China include WuxiBaichuan Chemical Industrial Co., Ltd.,Jiangsu Zhengdan Group Corp, PolyntChemical (Changzhou) Co., Ltd. and AnhuiTaida New Materials CO., Ltd. TMA consumptionin China was only around 33