Treatment with morning blue light increases left amygdala volume and sleep duration among individuals with posttraumatic stress disorder

Background: Posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is associated with numerous cognitive, affective, and psychophysiological outcomes, including problems with sleep and circadian rhythms. We tested the effectiveness of a daily morning blue-light exposure treatment (BLT) versus a matched amber light treatment (ALT) to regulate sleep in individuals diagnosed with PTSD. Moreover, PTSD is also associated with reliable findings on structural neuroimaging scans, including reduced amygdala volumes and other differences in cortical gray matter volume (GMV) that may be indicative of underlying neurobehavioral dysfunctions. We examined the effect of BLT versus ALT on GMV and its association with sleep outcomes. Methods: Seventy-six individuals (25 male; 51 female) meeting DSM-V criteria for PTSD (Age = 31.45 years, SD = 8.83) completed sleep assessments and structural neuroimaging scans, followed by random assignment one of two light groups, including BLT (469 nm; n = 39) or placebo ALT (578 nm; n = 37) light therapy daily for 30-min over 6-weeks. Participants wore a wrist actigraph for the duration of the study. After treatment, participants returned to complete sleep assessments and a structural neuroimaging scan. Neuroimaging data were analyzed using the Computational Anatomy Toolbox (CAT12) and Voxel-Based Morphometry (VBM) modules within the Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM12) software. Results: The BLT condition produced significant increases in total time in bed and total sleep time from actigraphy compared to the ALT condition, while ALT improved wake after sleep onset and sleep efficiency compared to BLT. Additionally, BLT led to an increase in left amygdala volume compared to ALT but did not affect hypothesized medial prefrontal regions. Finally, within group correlations showed that improvements in sleep quality and nightmare severity were correlated with increases in left amygdala volume over the course of treatment for the BLT group but not the ALT group. Conclusion: In individuals with PTSD, daily exposure to morning blue light treatment was associated with improvements in objective sleep duration and increased volume of the left amygdala compared to amber placebo light treatment, and changes in amygdala volume correlated with subjective improvement in sleep. These findings suggest that daily morning BLT may provide an important non-pharmacologic adjunctive approach for facilitating sleep and neurobehavioral recovery from PTSD. Copyright © 2022 Killgore, Vanuk and Dailey.Open access journalThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

The COVID-19 vaccine is here-now who is willing to get it?

The U.S. vaccine campaign against COVID-19 began in December 2020, but many individuals seem reluctant to get vaccinated. During the first week of the vaccination campaign, we collected data from 1017 individuals with an online survey to identify factors that were associated with willingness to get the vaccine once it is available. Most participants (55.3%) were willing to get the vaccine, although 46.2% also expressed some fear of the vaccine. Political ideology was by far the most consistent predictor of both willingness to be vaccinated and fear of the vaccine, followed by participant sex, education level, income, and race/ethnicity. Our findings suggest that, for the vaccine campaign to be broadly supported and successful, it will be important for frontline healthcare workers to discuss the role of inoculation for COVID-19 in a manner consistent with each individual patient’s political and sociological worldview. © 2021 by the authors.Open access journalThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Exposure to Blue Wavelength Light Is Associated With Increases in Bidirectional Amygdala-DLPFC Connectivity at Rest

Blue wavelength light has been used successfully as a treatment method for certain mood disorders, but, the underlying mechanisms behind the mood enhancing effects of light remain poorly understood. We investigated the effects of a single dose of 30 min of blue wavelength light (n = 17) vs. amber wavelength light (n = 12) exposure in a sample of healthy adults on subsequent resting-state functional and directed connectivity, and associations with changes in state affect. Individuals who received blue vs. amber wavelength light showed greater positive connectivity between the right amygdala and a region within the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC). In addition, using granger causality, the findings showed that individuals who received blue wavelength light displayed greater bidirectional information flow between these two regions relative to amber light. Furthermore, the strength of amygdala-DLPFC functional connectivity was associated with greater decreases in negative mood for the blue, but not the amber light condition. Blue light exposure may positively influence mood by modulating greater information flow between the amygdala and the DLPFC, which may result in greater engagement of cognitive control strategies that are needed to perceive and regulate arousal and mood. © Copyright © 2021 Alkozei, Dailey, Bajaj, Vanuk, Raikes and Killgore.Open access journalThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Morning blue light treatment improves sleep complaints, symptom severity, and retention of fear extinction memory in post-traumatic stress disorder

Disrupted sleep is a major feature in numerous clinical disorders and is related to decrements in affective memory processing. The prevalence of sleep disruption in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is suggested to be a key feature that exacerbates the impaired ability to recall extinction memories during experimental fear conditioning. We hypothesized that an intervention employing blue-wavelength light therapy (BLT) to regulate sleep and stabilize circadian rhythms in patients with PTSD (i.e., via regulated morning exposure) would be associated with PTSD symptom improvement, decreased sleep-related complaints, as well as improved consolidation and retention of extinction memories relative to a fear conditioning/extinction paradigm. Eighty-two individuals with PTSD underwent a well-validated fear conditioning/extinction protocol with subsequent assignment to receive morning BLUE (BLT) or placebo AMBER (ALT) light therapy daily for 30-min over 6-weeks. Participants returned after the intervention for post-treatment extinction recall, comprised of exposure to the previously conditioned stimuli, with the difference in skin conductance response between the “extinguished” and the “never-extinguished” stimuli at follow-up. Participants also viewed previously conditioned stimuli in a novel context during a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan. BLUE light therapy was associated with improvements relative to correlated decreases between PTSD symptoms and sleep-related complaints. Participants receiving BLT also sustained retention of the extinction memory, while those in the placebo amber light treatment group showed impairment, characterized by the restoration of the extinguished fear response after 6-weeks. Participants in the ALT also demonstrated greater reactivity in the left insula when viewing the previously extinguished fear-conditioned stimuli in a novel context. Daily BLUE-wavelength morning light exposure was associated with greater retention of extinction learning in patients with PTSD when compared to ALT, as supported by both autonomic and neurobiological reactivity. We speculate that improved sleep facilitated by a stabilized circadian rhythm, after fear-learning, led to greater consolidation of the fear extinction memory, decreased PTSD symptom presentation, and associated decreases in sleep-related complaints. Prominent exposure treatments for PTSD incorporate principles of fear extinction, and our findings suggest that blue light treatment may facilitate treatment gains by promoting the consolidation of extinction memories via improved sleep. Copyright © 2022 Vanuk, Pace-Schott, Bullock, Esbit, Dailey and Killgore.Open access journalThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Sleep loss suicidal ideation: the role of trait extraversion

Background: It is known that sleep disturbance is associated with increased suicidal thinking. Moreover, completed suicides, when adjusted for the proportion of the populace that is awake at a given time, are more probable during the late night/early morning hours. Despite these concerns, no studies have examined the role of trait-like individual differences in vulnerability to suicidal ideation during sleep deprivation or insomnia. In two separate studies, we examined whether the trait of extraversion is predictive of changes in suicidal thinking following two nights of sleep deprivation and among individuals meeting the criteria for insomnia. Methods: Study 1: Twenty-five healthy military personnel (20 males), ages 20–35 completed the NEO-PI-R Extraversion scale and the Suicidal Ideation (SUI) scale of the Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI). Participants completed 77 h of continuous sleep deprivation. After 56 h of sleep deprivation, participants completed the SUI scale a second time. We predicted a change in SUI scores from baseline extraversion. Study 2: 2,061 adults aged 18–79 (900 males) were divided into two groups based on the clinical threshold (≥ 10) on the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) and completed measures of extraversion and depression, including the suicide item of the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ9). Results: Study 1: After controlling for the caffeine group and changes in PAI Depression, Extraversion scores were used to predict changes in SUI scores using stepwise multiple linear regression. Higher Extraversion was significantly associated with increased non-clinical suicidal ideation following sleep loss, β = 0.463, partial r = 0.512, p = 0.013. Study 2: After controlling for depression, the effect of insomnia on suicidal ideation was moderated by trait extraversion (p < 0.0001). Overall, the presence or absence of insomnia had little effect on individuals low in trait extraversion (i.e., introverts), but insomnia was associated with significantly higher suicidal ideation among high trait extraverted individuals. Conclusions: Higher trait extraversion was associated with increased vulnerability to suicidal ideation between rested baseline and total sleep deprivation and was associated with greater suicidal ideation among those meeting criteria for clinically severe insomnia. These findings point to a potential trait-like vulnerability factor that may further our understanding of sleep disruption in the phenomenology of suicide. Copyright © 2022 Killgore, Grandner, Tubbs, Fernandez, Doty, Capaldi, and Dailey.Open access journalThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Functional connectivity of the default mode network predicts subsequent polysomnographically measured sleep in people with symptoms of insomnia

Insomnia is often accompanied by excessive pre-sleep rumination. Such ruminative thinking is also associated with increased connectivity of the default mode network (DMN). It is likely that DMN connectivity and associated rumination contribute to the pathogenesis of insomnia. We hypothesized that resting state functional connectivity (rsFC) between the DMN and other brain regions prior to bedtime would predict objectively measured sleep among individuals with insomnia. Twenty participants (12 female; M age = 26.9, SD = 6.6 years) with symptoms of insomnia underwent an rsFC scan in the early evening followed by a night of polysomographically (PSG) measured sleep. Connectivity of the DMN with other brain regions was regressed against several PSG sleep metrics, including time in wake, N1, N2, N3, REM, total sleep time (TST), and sleep efficiency (SE) at a cluster corrected false discovery rate (FDR) correction P < 0.05. The connectivity between DMN and cortical regions was negatively correlated with PSG indices of poorer sleep including time in wake (right angular gyrus) and N1 (precuneus) but positively correlated with time in REM (orbitofrontal cortex), TST (insula, orbitofrontal cortex, superior frontal gyrus, paracingulate gyrus), SE (orbitofrontal cortex). Connectivity between DMN and the pons was negatively correlated with SE. Among individuals with symptoms of insomnia, better sleep was predicted by rsFC between the DMN and cortical regions involved in executive functioning, consciousness, and complex cognition. Findings raise the possibility that future interventions aimed at suppressing pre-sleep DMN activation may weaken synergy between pre-sleep ruminative worry and complex cognitions, potentially ameliorating problems falling asleep. Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.Open access articleThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]

Dynein Supports Motility of Endoplasmic Reticulum in the Fungus Ustilago maydis

The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) of most vertebrate cells is spread out by kinesin-dependent transport along microtubules, whereas studies in Saccharomyces cerevisiae indicated that motility of fungal ER is an actin-based process. However, microtubules are of minor importance for organelle transport in yeast, but they are crucial for intracellular transport within numerous other fungi. Herein, we set out to elucidate the role of the tubulin cytoskeleton in ER organization and dynamics in the fungal pathogen Ustilago maydis. An ER-resident green fluorescent protein (GFP)-fusion protein localized to a peripheral network and the nuclear envelope. Tubules and patches within the network exhibited rapid dynein-driven motion along microtubules, whereas conventional kinesin did not participate in ER motility. Cortical ER organization was independent of microtubules or F-actin, but reformation of the network after experimental disruption was mediated by microtubules and dynein. In addition, a polar gradient of motile ER-GFP stained dots was detected that accumulated around the apical Golgi apparatus. Both the gradient and the Golgi apparatus were sensitive to brefeldin A or benomyl treatment, suggesting that the gradient represents microtubule-dependent vesicle trafficking between ER and Golgi. Our results demonstrate a role of cytoplasmic dynein and microtubules in motility, but not peripheral localization of the ER in U. maydis

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least 4 m. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the 6.5 m James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 yr, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit. © 2023. The Author(s). Published by IOP Publishing Ltd on behalf of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP). All rights reserved.Open access articleThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]