Emotion processing in joint hypermobility: A potential link to the neural bases of anxiety and related somatic symptoms in collagen anomalies.

BACKGROUND: Joint hypermobility syndrome (JHS) has repeatedly been associated with anxiety and anxiety disorders, fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome and temporomandibular joint disorder. However, the neural underpinnings of these associations still remain unclear. This study explored brain responses to facial visual stimuli with emotional cues using fMRI techniques in general population with different ranges of hypermobility. METHODS: Fifty-one non-clinical volunteers (33 women) completed state and trait anxiety questionnaire measures, were assessed with a clinical examination for hypermobility (Beighton system) and performed an emotional face processing paradigm during functional neuroimaging. RESULTS: Trait anxiety scores did significantly correlate with both state anxiety and hypermobility scores. BOLD signals of the hippocampus did positively correlate with hypermobility scores for the crying faces versus neutral faces contrast in ROI analyses. No results were found for any of the other studied ROIs. Additionally, hypermobility scores were also associated with other key affective processing areas (i.e. the middle and anterior cingulate gyrus, fusiform gyrus, parahippocampal region, orbitofrontal cortex and cerebellum) in the whole brain analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Hypermobility scores are associated with trait anxiety and higher brain responses to emotional faces in emotion processing brain areas (including hippocampus) described to be linked to anxiety and somatic symptoms. These findings increase our understanding of emotion processing in people bearing this heritable variant of collagen and the mechanisms through which vulnerability to anxiety and somatic symptoms arises in this population.

Striatal volume deficits in children with ADHD who present a poor response to methylphenidate.

Methylphenidate (MPH) is the first choice of medical treatment for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Its mechanism of action is to inhibit the reuptake of dopamine and noradrenaline mainly in the region of the striatum. It has been estimated that 10-30 % of patients with ADHD do not respond adequately to MPH. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether striatal differences exist between good and poor responders to MPH. The sample included 27 treatment-naïve children with ADHD between the ages of 6 and 14. MPH administration started 1 day after the MRI acquisition. After a month, psychiatrists established the good or poor response to treatment according to clinical criteria. MRI images were analyzed using a technique based on regions of interest applied specifically to the caudate and accumbens nuclei. Sixteen patients showed good response to MPH and 11 a poor one. Regions of interest analysis showed that good responders had a higher concentration of gray matter in the head of both caudate nuclei and the right nucleus accumbens. Furthermore, a significant correlation was found between caudate and accumbens nuclei volume and the Conners' Parent Rating Scale and Continuous Performance Test improvement. These results support the hypothesis of the involvement of the caudate and accumbens nuclei in MPH response and in ADHD pathophysiology.

Psychometric properties of the Perception of Teasing Scale in a Spanish adolescent sample: POTS-S.

The present study examines the psychometric properties of the Spanish version of the Perception of Teasing Scale (POTS-S). Participants were 1559 adolescents. They completed a translated version of the POTS and versions validated in Spanish population of the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, the Body Dissatisfaction and Drive for Thinness subscales of the Eating Disorders Inventory-2, and the Children's Eating Attitudes Test. The results showed that the POTS-S retains the original structure of two factors, weight and competency, with satisfactory fit indices. The POTS-S constitutes a shorter questionnaire than the original version; specifically, it consists of 9 items instead of 11. The POTS-S showed good internal consistency and satisfactory test-retest stability. The relationship between the weight subscale and the variables related to eating and weight were statistically significant. As regards the competency subscale, the correlations were all lower than those for the weight subscale, except in the case of the self-esteem variable. The POTS-S showed good psychometric properties, indicating its suitability as an instrument for assessing the perception of teasing in Spanish adolescents.

[Role of central catecholamines in the psychostimulant activity of pyrovalerone]. / Rôle des catécholamines centrales dans l'activité psychostimulante de la pyrovalérone

A comparative study of the effects of alpha methylparatyrosine (alpha MPT) and/or reserpine pretreatments on mice motorhyperactivity and rat stereotyped behaviour induced by pyrovalerone and amphetamine suggests a different mechanism for these two substances. Both behavioral effects were abolished by alpha MPT but not altered by reserpine in the case of amphetamine which presumably acts through a selective release of "newly synthesized" catecholamines from a "functional" pool. In contrast to this, pyrovalerone would increase spontaneous motor activity through a preferential release of norepinephrine from a "storage" pool since motorhyperactivity was not altered by alpha MPT especially during the first phase, whereas it was abolished by reserpine. Stereotyped behaviour induced by pyrovalerone, was still present after pretreatment with alpha MPT or reserpine; these data suggest an action through a release of both "newly synthesized" and "stored" dopamine. On the other hand, a direct action on dopamine receptors might be involved after high doses of pyrovalerone and amphetamine since stereotyped behaviour was found to be present after a combined pretreatment with alpha MPT + reserpine.