Patients with psychosis and depression show widespread alterations in brain resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC), affecting both sensory and higher-order brain regions. In this study, we investigate disruptions in the hierarchical organization of brain functional networks in patients with psychotic and affective disorders. We derived functional brain gradients, low dimensional representations of rs-FC that capture cortical hierarchy, in a large patient sample including clinical high-risk for psychosis (CHR-P) patients, recent-onset psychosis (ROP) patients, recent-onset depression (ROD) patients, and healthy controls (HC). We examined regional alterations, network-level alterations and functional differentiation and their relationship to clinical symptoms. In addition, we linked case-control differences to receptor expression maps to explore underlying neurobiological mechanisms. All patient groups exhibited alterations in the visual-to-sensorimotor gradient, while only ROP patients showed alterations in the association-to-sensory gradient. CHR-P and ROP patients exhibited lower values in the ventral attention network. Additionally, patients combined showed higher values in the somatomotor network, a reduced gradient range and altered between-network dispersion. ROD showed reduced within-network dispersion in the attentional networks and a reduced range. Correlational analysis revealed weak associations of gradient measures with functioning, visual dysfunctions and cognition. Furthermore case-control differences showed associations to receptor expression maps, suggesting the involvement of neurotransmitter systems in these disruptions. Our findings reveal transdiagnostic and disease-specific alterations of hierarchical brain organization. These alterations indicate deficits in functional integration across psychiatric diseases, highlighting the role of attentional and sensory networks in disease processes.
Hannah Hacker, L. Hoheisel, M. Buciuman et al.· Research Square· 0 citations
Social anxiety disorder (SAD) is a common anxiety disorder (ANX) with moderate heritability that often co-occurs with other mental disorders. Until now, sample sizes in genetic analyses of SAD have been limited, so that the genetic basis of SAD and its subphenotypes is still largely unknown. In a large cohort comprising n = 1,194 SAD patients derived from five German cohorts and n = 3,409 controls from the Heinz Nixdorf Recall Study, we computed polygenic risk scores (PRS) at six p-thresholds using PRSice-2 based on large-scale genome-wide association studies for depression, major depressive disorder (MDD), ANX, schizophrenia (SCZ), bipolar disorder (BD), attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), anorexia nervosa (AN), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), and alcohol dependence (AD). We used general linear models to examine the association between the PRS and SAD status. In SAD subsamples, we investigated whether the PRS are associated with SAD subphenotypes (i.e., SAD severity, current depressive symptoms, comorbid MDD) using correlation analyses and a general linear model. Results were corrected for multiple testing. The SAD status was significantly associated with PRS for depression, MDD, ANX, SCZ, BD, AN, and ASD (pBH-adjusted<0.05), but not with PRS for ADHD and AD. In SAD subsamples, the subphenotype analyses revealed no significant associations after correction for multiple testing (pBH-adjusted>0.05). Our results support that SAD seems to be genetically highly overlapping with other mental disorders, which might underline a common psychopathological factor. No significant association was found with SAD severity, current depressive symptoms or comorbid MDD. A better understanding of the genetic architecture of SAD may help to develop new diagnostic and treatment approaches.
L. Sindermann, Angelina Röhrig, F. David et al.· Translational Psychiatry· 0 citations
Individuals with psychosis and depression show widespread alterations in brain resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC), affecting both sensory and higher-order brain regions. In this study, we investigate disruptions in the hierarchical organization of brain functional networks in individuals with psychotic and affective disorders. We derived functional brain gradients, low dimensional representations of rs-FC that capture cortical hierarchy, in a sample of 1071 (56.3% female) participants, including clinical high-risk for psychosis (CHR-P) individuals, recent-onset psychosis (ROP) patients, recent-onset depression (ROD) patients, and healthy controls (HC). We examined regional alterations, network-level alterations and functional differentiation and their relationship to clinical symptoms. In addition, we linked case-control differences to receptor expression maps to explore underlying neurobiological mechanisms. All clinical groups exhibited alterations in the visual-to-sensorimotor gradient, while only ROP patients showed alterations in the sensory-to-association gradient. CHR-P and ROP individuals exhibited lower values in the ventral attention network. Clinical groups combined showed higher values in the somatomotor network, a reduced gradient range and altered between-network dispersion. ROD patients showed reduced within-network dispersion in the attentional networks and a reduced range. Correlational analysis revealed weak associations of gradient measures with functioning, visual dysfunctions and cognition. Case-control differences showed associations to receptor expression maps, suggesting the involvement of neurotransmitter systems in these disruptions. Our findings reveal transdiagnostic and disease-specific alterations of hierarchical brain organization. These alterations indicate deficits in functional integration across psychiatric diseases, highlighting the role of attentional and sensory networks in disease processes.
Hannah Hacker, L. Hoheisel, M. Buciuman et al.· Translational Psychiatry· 0 citations
This study provides the first data-driven evidence for a potential causal role of gut microbiota in the pathophysiology of depression in humans, and employs state-of-the-art causal inference tools within Judea Pearl's framework.
L. Fehse, A. H. Ribeiro, N. Winter et al.· Gut microbes· 0 citations
It is found that standard benchmarks do not adequately capture the strengths of the dataset, but expert judgment shows that SQPsych makes LLMs significantly better at therapist roleplaying.
Doan Nam Long Vu, Rui Tan, L. Mary Moench et al.· arXiv.org· 5 citations· ⚡2
We use cookies to run the site and, with your consent, for analytics and to show ads.
See our Cookie Policy.
