Examining the Relationship between White Matter Integrity and Externalizing Behavior Problems in Children

Aunapu, D., Church, L., Patros, C., & Olino, T. M. (2019, June). Examining the Relationship between White Matter Integrity and Externalizing Behavior Problems in Children. Retrieved from osf.io/bha7

Contemporary Methods In Delayed Discounting: Applications for Suicidology With Simulation

Objective: To present an approach for integrating recently developed methods in behavioral economics into suicidology research. At present, existing applications of delay discounting in suicidology have focused predominantly on hypothetical choices related to monetary value as a proxy to “risky” choices linked to unsafe or suicidal behavior. In this report, we outline a more targeted approach that directly indexes choices related to treatment in suicide prevention initiatives and incorporates the strengths afforded by multi-level modeling. This more targeted approach precludes the need for multi-step comparisons (improving power), avoids compressing choice variability across delays into individual values (improving precision), and better accommodates decision-making at the upper and lower extremes (improving reliability). Method: We present this analytical approach within the context of a Hypothetical Firearm Decision-making Task with simulated participants. A simulated study is provided to illustrate how this approach can be used to evaluate how individuals make temporally delayed decisions related to treatment for suicidal behavior (i.e., temporarily limiting their access to firearms while undergoing treatment). Results and Conclusions: The results of this simulated study are provided to illustrate how more advanced behavioral decision-making models can be used to supplement existing research methods in suicidology

White matter hyperintensities correlate to cognition and fiber tract integrity in older adults with HIV

Our aim was to examine the clinical relevance of white matter hyperintensities (WMH) in HIV. We used an automated approach to quantify WMH volume in HIV seropositive (HIV+; n = 65) and HIV seronegative (HIV-; n = 29) adults over age 60. We compared WMH volumes between HIV+ and HIV- groups in cross-sectional and multiple time-point analyses. We also assessed correlations between WMH volumes and cardiovascular, HIV severity, cognitive scores, and diffusion tensor imaging variables. Serostatus groups did not differ in WMH volume, but HIV+ participants had less cerebral white matter (mean: 470.95 [43.24] vs. 497.63 [49.42] mL, p = 0.010). The distribution of WMH volume was skewed in HIV+ with a high proportion (23%) falling above the 95th percentile of WMH volume defined by the HIV- group. Serostatus groups had similar amount of WMH volume growth over time. Total WMH volume directly correlated with measures of hypertension and inversely correlated with measures of global cognition, particularly in executive functioning, and psychomotor speed. Greater WMH volume was associated with poorer brain integrity measured from diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in the corpus callosum and sagittal stratum. In this group of HIV+ individuals over 60, WMH burden was associated with cardiovascular risk and both worse diffusion MRI and cognition. The median total burden did not differ by serostatus; however, a subset of HIV+ individuals had high WMH burden