Reduced gaze-cueing effect with neutral and emotional faces in adults with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

This study examined whether gaze shift of neutral and emotional faces triggers reflexive attention orienting in 45 adults with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and 45 age-, sex-, and intelligence quotient-matched typically developing (TD) adults. The cues changed from neutral to anger, fearful, or happy expressions under the emotional face condition. Participants were asked to detect a target that appeared to the left or right of the cue stimuli, as rapidly and accurately as possible. The results revealed a gaze-cueing effect, where the reaction time to the target was shorter under the "gaze-at-target" condition than under the "non-gaze-at-target" condition in both groups. Facial expressions did not modulate the gaze-cueing effect in either group. However, the magnitude of the gaze-cueing effect was smaller in the ADHD group than in the TD group. Contrary to our expectations, a larger gaze-cueing effect was observed in individuals with ADHD who exhibited more severe inattention. Our results suggest that adults with ADHD ineffectively orient their attention toward another's gaze. Moreover, difficulty with sustained and selective attention may be associated with a larger influence of gaze direction; this difficulty may play a role in social interaction problems.

Effects of others' gaze and facial expression on an observer's microsaccades and their association with ADHD tendencies.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to examine the effect of others' gaze on an observer's microsaccades. We also aimed to conduct preliminary investigations on the relationship between the microsaccadic response to a gaze and a gazer's facial expression and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) tendencies. METHODS: Twenty healthy undergraduate and graduate students performed a peripheral target detection task by using unpredictable gaze cues. During the task, the participants' eye movements, along with changes in pupil size and response times for target detection, were recorded. ADHD tendencies were determined using an ADHD questionnaire. RESULTS: We found that consciously perceiving the gaze of another person induced the observer's attention; moreover, microsaccades were biased in the direction opposite to the gaze. Furthermore, these microsaccade biases were differentially modulated, based on the cognitive processing of the facial expressions of the gaze. Exploratory correlation analysis indicated that microsaccade biases toward gazes with fearful expressions may specifically be correlated with participant characteristics, including inattention. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings support that microsaccades reflect spatial attention processing and social cognitive processing. Moreover, the exploratory correlation analysis results suggested the potential benefit of using microsaccade bias toward spatial attention to assess pathophysiological responses associated with ADHD tendencies.

Detection of deviance in Japanese kanji compound words.

Reading fluency is based on the automatic visual recognition of words. As a manifestation of the automatic processing of words, an automatic deviance detection of visual word stimuli can be observed in the early stages of visual recognition. To clarify whether this phenomenon occurs with Japanese kanji compounds-since their lexicality is related to semantic association-we investigated the brain response by utilizing three types of deviants: differences in font type, lexically correct or incorrect Japanese kanji compound words and pseudo-kanji characters modified from correct and incorrect compounds. We employed magnetoencephalography (MEG) to evaluate the spatiotemporal profiles of the related brain regions. The study included 22 adult native Japanese speakers (16 females). The abovementioned three kinds of stimuli containing 20% deviants were presented during the MEG measurement. Activity in the occipital pole region of the brain was observed upon the detection of font-type deviance within 250 ms of stimulus onset. Although no significant activity upon detecting lexically correct/incorrect kanji compounds or pseudo-kanji character deviations was observed, the activity in the posterior transverse region of the collateral sulcus (pCoS)-which is a fusiform neighboring area-was larger when detecting lexically correct kanji compounds than when detecting pseudo-kanji characters. Taken together, these results support the notion that the automatic detection of deviance in kanji compounds may be limited to a low-level feature, such as the stimulus stroke thickness.

No Influence of Emotional Faces or Autistic Traits on Gaze-Cueing in General Population.

The present study addressed the controversial issue of whether autistic traits in the general population are associated with the automatic and fundamental aspects of joint attention through eye gaze. Specifically, we examined whether the degree of autistic traits is associated with the magnitude of reflexive attention orienting in the direction of another's eye gaze embedded in neutral and emotional (angry, fearful, and happy) faces. The cue stimuli changed gaze direction and facial expressions simultaneously. Participants were asked to detect a target that appeared at the left or right of the cue stimuli. The results revealed a robust gaze-cueing effect, such that the reaction time to the target was shorter under the gazed-at-target condition than under the non-gazed-at-target condition. However, emotional expressions did not modulate the gaze-cueing effect. Furthermore, individual differences in autistic traits and emotional characteristics (social anxiety, alexithymia, and emotional disturbances) did not influence the magnitude of the gaze-cueing effect. Although the ability to orient attention in the direction of another's gaze is a fundamental function of social development, the gaze-cueing effect measured in a controlled experiment might not be an elaborate representation of the current social cognitive function, at least in typically developing adults.

Beauty in everyday motion: Electrophysiological correlates of aesthetic preference for human walking.

Aesthetic preference occurs in everyday experience. Studies have suggested that aesthetic preference (such as observing other's motion) affects social interaction via enhanced neural processing. This study investigated the effect of aesthetic preference on neural activities, in response to walking motion. Twenty participants observed biological motion (BM) representing three walking types (model-posture, good-posture, and bad-posture) and their scrambled motion (SM) during the event-related potentials measurement. The N200 and N300 amplitudes, reflecting the early sensory and the later integrational processes, were analyzed. The results revealed that the N200 amplitude of BM was greater than that of SM in the good- and bad-posture conditions. The N300 amplitude was larger in BM than SM regardless of the walking type. Exploratory regression analyses indicated that the N300 for BM, but not for SM or N200, was more negatively deflected with the increase of aesthetic preference scores. Our findings suggest that aesthetic preference enhances the later integrational process of BM represented in the N300 amplitude, whereas the early perceptual process (reflected by the N200 amplitude) is potentially modulated by familiarity rather than aesthetic preference in other's motion.

Metabolic syndrome and its components in adult hypopituitary patients.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its components in adult hypopituitary patients. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Retrospective, cross-sectional analysis of a cohort of hypopituitary adult patients followed in a single reference center for pituitary diseases. MetS was defined by the National Cholesterol Education Program Adult Treatment Panel III (NCEP-ATP III) criteria. Patients with 18 years or older, presenting two or more anterior pituitary deficiencies associated or not with diabetes insipidus (DI), were included, while patients with hypopituitarism due to Acromegaly or Cushing's disease were excluded. RESULTS: We studied 99 hypopituitary patients (52 males, mean age 50.1 ± 16.3 years, mean age at diagnosis 33.7 ± 17.6 years) who have been followed for a mean time of 15.9 ± 10.1 years. Hypothalamic-pituitary tumors and non-tumoral etiologies were observed in 53.4% and 46.6% of the cases, respectively. FSH/LH, GH, TSH, ACTH deficiency and DI was present in 99%, 98.6%, 96%, 81.8%, and 23.2%, respectively. The prevalence of MetS was 39.4% and was significantly higher in patients older than 50 years (p = 0.02), overweight/obese (p < 0.001), with hypopituitarism diagnosed in adult life (p = 0.02), who did not replace GH (p = 0.004) and in smokers (p = 0.007). In the logistic regression model, body mass index (BMI) and GH replacement were significantly associated with the presence of MetS. Reduced HDL cholesterol was the most prevalent component of MetS in hypopituitary patients. CONCLUSIONS: MetS is a common finding in adult hypopituitary patients, which is mainly influenced by increased BMI and untreated GH deficiency. Trial Registration number (Plataforma Brasil): CAAE 51008815.2.0000.0096 (May 31, 2017) .

ERP study on the associations of peripheral oxytocin and prolactin with inhibitory processes involving emotional distraction.

BACKGROUND: Child maltreatment is a major health and social welfare problem, with serious and longstanding consequences. Impulse control ability plays an important role in reducing the risk of child maltreatment. The aim of this study was to investigate the associations of oxytocin (OXT) and prolactin (PRL) with behavior inhibition using children's facial expressions (angry or neutral) as emotional distractions. This may clarify a part of the neuroendocrinological mechanism that modulates impulse control ability in the context of child caregiving. METHODS: Participants were 16 females who had never been pregnant. Following venous blood sampling for OXT and PRL levels, participants performed an emotional Go/Nogo task during their follicular and luteal phases to test inhibitory control ability. Behavioral performance and event-related potentials (ERPs) during the task were measured. RESULTS: The results showed that there were significant fixed effects of OXT on behavioral performance, as measured by sensitivity (d-prime). This suggests that high peripheral OXT levels may be associated with better performance on the emotional Go/Nogo task, regardless of emotional distractors. PRL was associated with inhibitory processes as reflected by the Nogo-N2 and Nogo-P3. Particularly, high PRL levels were associated with the Nogo-N2 latency extension with the emotional distractors. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that OXT might be associated with improving behavioral performance regardless of emotional processes. It is suggested that processes related to PRL are related to premotor activities of behavioral inhibitions and emotions.

Enhanced Nogo-P3 amplitudes of mothers compared with non-mother women during an emotional Go/Nogo task.

BACKGROUND: It is known that emotion regulatory responses of humans are changed by the experiences they have, but in particular, they are changed by becoming a mother. A recent study has found how a woman's emotion regulatory response to a child's crying changes after becoming a mother. However, mothers' emotion regulatory responses other than those to children and the association between emotion regulatory response and parental stress are still unknown. METHODS: Eighteen healthy Japanese females (nine mothers and nine non-mothers) participated in the experiment. They performed an emotional Go/Nogo task, with facial expressions of others (angry, happy, and neutral faces) used as emotional stimuli. The percentage of correct responses, response time, and event-related potentials (ERPs) during the task was measured. RESULTS: This comparison revealed that the mother group had a larger P3 (Nogo-P3) amplitude than the non-mother group when Nogo trials were held. This indicates that in mothers, there was greater activation of the behavioral inhibition-related brain areas than in non-mother women when they inhibited inappropriate behavior following recognition of facial expressions of others. In addition, in the mother group, there was a negative correlation between parental stress levels and Nogo-P3 amplitudes evoked by angry faces. This suggests that there is a relation between the level of parental stress of mothers and their emotion regulatory responses to angry faces. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate that mothers' emotion regulatory processes may differ from those of non-mothers in response, not only to a child's crying but also to expressions of emotions by others, and also suggest that the inhibitory recognition activity of mothers can be affected by parental stress.

Design and synthesis of new chiral phosphorus-olefin bidentate ligands and their use in the rhodium-catalyzed asymmetric addition of organoboroxines to N-sulfonyl imines.

Novel chiral phosphorus-olefin bidentate ligands have been synthesized in a few steps from a readily available enantiopure compound. These ligands have been applied to a rhodium-catalyzed asymmetric addition of organoboroxines to N-sulfonyl aldimines, achieving high yield and enantioselectivity.

Palladium-catalyzed allylation of aryl halides with homoallyl alcohols bearing a trisubstituted double bond: application to chirality transfer from hydroxylated carbon to benzylic one.

A facile route to homoallyl alcohols bearing a trisubstituted double bond has been devised. The palladium-catalyzed reactions of aryl halides with the alcohols thus synthesized result in regiospecific allyl transfer from the alcohols to aryl halides via retro-allylation, providing allylarenes having two substituents at the 1 and 2 positions of the allyl moiety. Optically active homoallyl alcohols transfer their chirality at the hydroxylated carbon to the benzylic carbon of the product.

Palladium-catalysed arylative cyclisation of N-allylacetamides with aryl halides yielding benzyl-substituted oxazolines.

Treatment of N-allylacetamide with aryl halide in the presence of sodium t-butoxide and a palladium catalyst leads to arylative cyclisation to provide the corresponding benzyl-substituted oxazoline in high yield.

Synthesis of epoxides by palladium-catalyzed reactions of tertiary allyl alcohols with aryl or alkenyl halides.

A novel synthetic method for the preparation of tri- or tetrasubstituted epoxides is reported. Treatment of readily available tertiary allyl alcohol with aryl or alkenyl halide under palladium catalysis resulted in arylative cyclization to form the epoxide. The reaction includes intramolecular C-O bond and intermolecular C-C bond construction.

Nickel-catalyzed allylation of allyl carbonates with homoallyl alcohols via retro-allylation providing 1,5-hexadienes.

A highly efficient and mild method for the synthesis of 1,5-hexadienes, nickel-catalyzed reactions of Boc-protected allyl alcohols with homoallyl alcohols, has been developed. Nickel-mediated retro-allylation allows for the use of homoallyl alcohols as allylmetal equivalents in the synthesis of 1,5-hexadienes.

Synthesis of arylallenes by palladium-catalyzed retro-propargylation of homopropargyl alcohols.

Treatment of tertiary homopropargyl alcohol with aryl halide under palladium catalysis provided arylallenes regioselectively. The reaction includes retro-propargylation, which proceeds in a concerted fashion via a cyclic transition state and transfers the stereochemistry of homopropargyl alcohols through C-C bond cleavage. The present method enables the use of homopropargyl alcohols as allenylmetal equivalents.

Rhodium-catalyzed allylation of aldehydes with homoallylic alcohols by retroallylation and isomerization to saturated ketones with conventional or microwave heating.

The treatment of an aldehyde with a tertiary homoallylic alcohol at 100-250 degrees C in the presence of cesium carbonate and a rhodium catalyst leads to allyl transfer from the homoallylic alcohol to the aldehyde. The process includes Rh-mediated retroallylation to form an allyl rhodium species as the key intermediate. The homoallylic alcohol formed initially through allyl transfer is converted under the reaction conditions into the corresponding saturated ketone when bulky ligands are used. Microwave heating at 250 degrees C accelerates the reaction significantly.

Pd(OAc)2/P(cC6H11)3-catalyzed allylation of aryl halides with homoallyl alcohols via retro-allylation.

Allylations of aryl halides take place upon treatment of tertiary homoallyl alcohols with aryl halides in the presence of cesium carbonate and a palladium catalyst. The allylation reaction would consist of the following steps: (1) oxidative addition of aryl halide to palladium, (2) ligand exchange between the halide and the homoallyl alcohol affording aryl(homoallyloxy)palladium, (3) retro-allylation of the palladium alkoxide to generate sigma-allyl(aryl)palladium with concomitant liberation of the relevant ketone, and (4) productive reductive elimination. Since the retro-allylation step proceeds in a concerted fashion via a conformationally regulated six-membered cyclic transition state, the allylation reactions are highly regio- and stereospecific when homoallyl alcohols having a substituted allyl group are used. Whereas triarylphosphine is known to serve as a ligand for the palladium-catalyzed allyl transfer reactions, tricyclohexylphosphine proves to significantly expand the scopes of aryl halides to electron-rich aryl chlorides and of homoallyl alcohols to cyclic homoallyl alcohols. The new arylative ring-opening reactions of cyclic homoallyl alcohols allow for the synthesis of ketones having a branched or linear allylarene moiety at the remote terminus in regio- and stereospecific manners.

Rhodium-catalyzed allyl transfer from homoallyl alcohols to aldehydes via retro-allylation followed by isomerization into ketones.

Retro-allylation of homoallyl alcohol by rhodium catalysis occurs to generate allylrhodium species. This allylrhodium reacts with aldehydes to give the corresponding secondary alcohols in situ. Isomerization of these alcohols proceeds in the same pots to furnish the corresponding saturated ketones in good yields. [reaction: see text]

Palladium-catalyzed stereo- and regiospecific allylation of aryl halides with homoallyl alcohols via retro-allylation: selective generation and use of sigma-allylpalladium.

Treatment of tertiary homoallyl alcohol with aryl halide under palladium catalysis resulted in the transfer of the allyl moiety of the homoallyl alcohol to aryl halide and yielded the corresponding cross-coupling product stereo- and regiospecifically. The transfer process includes retro-allylation, which proceeds via a conformationally regulated six-membered transition state. The retro-allylation can be regarded as a method for the stereo- and regiospecific preparation of sigma-allylpalladium.