ENIGMA-anxiety working group : Rationale for and organization of large-scale neuroimaging studies of anxiety disorders

Altres ajuts: Anxiety Disorders Research Network European College of Neuropsychopharmacology; Claude Leon Postdoctoral Fellowship; Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, German Research Foundation, 44541416-TRR58); EU7th Frame Work Marie Curie Actions International Staff Exchange Scheme grant 'European and South African Research Network in Anxiety Disorders' (EUSARNAD); Geestkracht programme of the Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMw, 10-000-1002); Intramural Research Training Award (IRTA) program within the National Institute of Mental Health under the Intramural Research Program (NIMH-IRP, MH002781); National Institute of Mental Health under the Intramural Research Program (NIMH-IRP, ZIA-MH-002782); SA Medical Research Council; U.S. National Institutes of Health grants (P01 AG026572, P01 AG055367, P41 EB015922, R01 AG060610, R56 AG058854, RF1 AG051710, U54 EB020403).Anxiety disorders are highly prevalent and disabling but seem particularly tractable to investigation with translational neuroscience methodologies. Neuroimaging has informed our understanding of the neurobiology of anxiety disorders, but research has been limited by small sample sizes and low statistical power, as well as heterogenous imaging methodology. The ENIGMA-Anxiety Working Group has brought together researchers from around the world, in a harmonized and coordinated effort to address these challenges and generate more robust and reproducible findings. This paper elaborates on the concepts and methods informing the work of the working group to date, and describes the initial approach of the four subgroups studying generalized anxiety disorder, panic disorder, social anxiety disorder, and specific phobia. At present, the ENIGMA-Anxiety database contains information about more than 100 unique samples, from 16 countries and 59 institutes. Future directions include examining additional imaging modalities, integrating imaging and genetic data, and collaborating with other ENIGMA working groups. The ENIGMA consortium creates synergy at the intersection of global mental health and clinical neuroscience, and the ENIGMA-Anxiety Working Group extends the promise of this approach to neuroimaging research on anxiety disorders

Cortical and subcortical brain structure in generalized anxiety disorder: findings from 28 research sites in the enigma-anxiety working group

The goal of this study was to compare brain structure between individuals with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and healthy controls. Previous studies have generated inconsistent findings, possibly due to small sample sizes, or clinical/analytic heterogeneity. To address these concerns, we combined data from 28 research sites worldwide through the ENIGMA-Anxiety Working Group, using a single, pre-registered mega-analysis. Structural magnetic resonance imaging data from children and adults (5–90 years) were processed using FreeSurfer. The main analysis included the regional and vertex-wise cortical thickness, cortical surface area, and subcortical volume as dependent variables, and GAD, age, age-squared, sex, and their interactions as independent variables. Nuisance variables included IQ, years of education, medication use, comorbidities, and global brain measures. The main analysis (1020 individuals with GAD and 2999 healthy controls) included random slopes per site and random intercepts per scanner. A secondary analysis (1112 individuals with GAD and 3282 healthy controls) included fixed slopes and random intercepts per scanner with the same variables. The main analysis showed no effect of GAD on brain structure, nor interactions involving GAD, age, or sex. The secondary analysis showed increased volume in the right ventral diencephalon in male individuals with GAD compared to male healthy controls, whereas female individuals with GAD did not differ from female healthy controls. This mega-analysis combining worldwide data showed that differences in brain structure related to GAD are small, possibly reflecting heterogeneity or those structural alterations are not a major component of its pathophysiology

Authoritarianism in the Living Room: Everyday Disciplines, Senses, and Morality in Taiwan’s Military Villages

With the nationalist government – Kuomintang (KMT) – retreating from mainland China in 1949, some 600,000 military personnel relocated to Taiwan. The military seized former Japanese colonial properties and built its own settlements, establishing temporary military dependents’ villages called juancun (眷村). When the prospect of counter-attacking the mainland vanished, the KMT had to face the reality of settling permanently in Taiwan. How, then, did the KMT’s authoritarian power enter the everyday lives of its own support group? In this article I will focus on the coercive elements of KMT authoritarianism, which permeated these military villages in Taiwan. I will look at the coercive mechanisms through the analytical lens of Foucauldian discipline. I argue that disciplinary techniques such as surveillance, disciplining of the body and the senses, as well as the creation of morality regimes played an important role in the cooptation of village residents into KMT authoritarianism by normalising and naturalising it

Metals in Scalp Hair from Relapsing-Remitting Multiple Sclerosis Patients (RRMS)

We measured the concentrations of 21 chemical elements (TE) in hair of 48 Sicilian patients with RRMS compared with 51 controls (HC). MS patients showed a significantly (p<0.01) lower hair concentration of Al and Rb and higher hair concentration of U compared to HC. The percentage of MS patients showing hair elemental concentrations greater than the 95th percentile of controls was 20% for Ni, 19% for Ba and U, and 15% for Ag, Mo and Se. The ratio Zn/Cu varied from 17 to 19, with no significant differences between HC and MS groups or between individuals differentiated by gender. No significant association was found between levels of each TE and age, disease duration, Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) score, dietary habits and smoking. Gender was shown to influence the levels of Ag, Cr, Fe, Ni, Sr in MS female patients. The major inter-element correlations were observed for Ba-Se and Fe-Ni in both groups. The increase in U and decrease in Al and Rb levels in RRMS compared to controls require further assessments as well as the different distributions of other elements

Dust, Metals and Metalloids in the Environment: From Air to Hair .

Billion tons of particulate matter, made up of inorganic and organic compounds, are released every year into the atmosphere, from both anthropogenic and natural sources. These latters, which include geogenic material from erosion, agriculture, sea spray and volcanic activity account for about 97% of the total mass of particles. The contribution of anthropogenic sources, about 3%, is more pronounced in industrialized and also in urban areas, where vehicular traffic is one of the most important sources. When examining the health impact, in addition to mass level and size, two other main characteristics of particulate matter need to be considered: its nature and chemical composition. These parameters appear intrinsically related one another. Presence, abundance and behavior of trace metals in air are also closely related to atmospheric particulate matter, as most metals in the lower atmosphere are present in association with particles. Most of these aspects are presented and discussed in the present article as only a better knowledge of atmospheric particulate matter, its composition, metal content and some implications on the human health, may aid to select correct actions and appropriate control strategies

Gender as a key factor in trace metal and metalloid content of human scalp hair. A multi-site study

This multi-site study discusses the content of metals and metalloids (MM) in scalp hair of children, living in different environmental contexts, with the purpose of verifying if hair level of some MM is distinctively gender-specific. A total of 943 hair samples (537 females and 406 males) from adolescents were analysed for their content of Al, As, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Li, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Rb, Sb, Se, Sr, U, V and Zn. Elemental quantification was performed by ICP-MS. The obtained data identified different metal distributions in adolescent girls which exhibited significantly higher hair concentrations of some trace metals, especially Sr, Zn and Ni, than boys. On the base of the median value, hair of female donors contained 3.8 times more Sr (6.6μg/g) than males (1.7μg/g). Highest concentrations of Zn in females were observed in samples from the mining area of Sardinia (587μg/g). Nickel showed significant differences resulting 2.5-fold higher in female hair. Regardless of the residence site, these elements resulted always significantly different (at p&lt;0.01) between female and male indicating that gender is a confounding factor that has to be more extensively considered for a correct interpretation of metal profiles in human hair

Influence of industrial activity on metal and metalloid contents in scalp hair of adolescents

Petrochemical industries represent a controversial although important economical resource. They offer a great deal of job opportunities producing also a development of several areas. However, such kind of industrial plants are responsible for the change of the environmental background through the emission of toxic pollutants such as metalsmetalloids and organic compounds. People living in cities close to such industrial plants are particularly exposed to a severe environmental decline, which implies the deterioration of the quality of air, soil, water and food with the consequent human health concerns. The municipalities of Gela (GL) and Pace del Mela (PM), located respectively along the Mediterranean southern coast and Tyrrhenian northern coast of Sicily, hosting large petroleum refineries, have been declared “areas at high risk of environmental crisis”, since 1986. The purpose of this study was to assess whether the degree of human exposure to trace elements in young subjects living in these towns may be revealed by hair analysis. Nineteen elements (Al, As, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Li, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Rb, Sb, Se, Sr, U, V and Zn) were analysed by inductively coupled mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) in 245 samples of human scalp hair collected from adolscents (11-14 years old) of both genders. The obtained results were compared with those from other less polluted areas. The distributions of Al, As, Ba, Cd, Cu, Mo, Ni, Sr, U, V and Zn pointed to a common origin of these elements, likely related to the petrochemical plants and to collateral anthropogenic activities, confirming findings of other authors carried out at Gela on samples of pine needles and road dust showing high concentrations of V, Ni, As near the industrial plants and Zn, Pb, Sb and Cu in the vicinity of the urban area. Other studies performed on lichen samples, soils and fruit products at Pace del Mela showed anomalies for As, Cr, Pb, Zn, Ni and V, as well as human biomonitoring studies conducted on blood and urine samples, at GL and PM, showed accumulation of As, Ni, Cr and Cd. Our data were compared to those from the urban center of Palermo (Sicily), where a similar study was conducted on young students of the same age. The results suggested that Al, Ba, Li, Mo, Rb, Sb, Se and Zn are comparable, whereas As, Cr, Mn, Sr, U and V are higher in the industrial areas than in Palermo city. Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) indicated an industrial factor made up As, Sr, U and V, and a second factor, concerning the urban site, characterized by Cd, Cu, Ni, and Mo. The results obtained in this study evidence the dispersal of heavy metals close to petrochemical plants and also confirm that hair analysis can be used as a screening procedure where environmental exposure are of concern

Modelling groundwater processes in a carbonate catchment: a case study from the Madonie area (Northern Sicily)

This study reports on the results of a hydrogeochemical survey carried out in the Madonie area, a carbonate massif located in Palermo Province, Northern Sicily. The large dataset (226 collected sites) is used to highlight the processes controlling the distribution of dissolved chemicals in groundwaters; and, more importantly, to develop a general model (based on reaction-path modelling, and using the EQ3/6 code) of rock–water reactions in a carbonate environment. The investigated groundwater samples have conductivity between 31.7 and 8220 lS/cm; their total dissolved solids (TDS) content is higher near the coast area, where the seawater contribution becomes important. Calcium and HCO 3 excess concentrations in groundwaters, with respect to the meteoric water–seawater mixing line, suggest that water–rock interactions in carbonate aquifers play a major role on water chemistry. Using the dataset, reaction-path modelling is used to simulate the evolution of groundwaters upon interaction with carbonate rocks. Model simulations are performed in time mode, taking into account the mineralogical composition of Madonie carbonate rocks, and the different dissolution rates of each dissolving mineral. The model results of reaction path calculations are in fair agreement with analytical data for natural waters, demonstrating the likelihood of model assumptions, and supporting further the relevance of carbonate dissolution in determining the chemistry of fluids in the investigated area. The developed model is useful for low-temperature weathering of carbonate mineral in general, and is thus likely to apply in a variety of geological contexts

Speciation of Sb in airborne particulate matter, vehicle brake linings, and brake pad wear residues

Insights into the speciation of Sb in samples of brake linings, brake pad wear residues, road dust, and atmospheric particulate matter PM10 and PM2.5 were obtained combining several well established and advanced characterization techniques, such as scanning electron microscopy e energy dispersive spectrometry (SEM-EDS), inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and synchrotron radiation X-ray absorption spectroscopy (SR-XAS). The advantage of SR-XAS is that samples do not undergo any chemical treatment prior to measurements, thus excluding possible alterations. These analyses revealed that the samples of wheel rims dust, road dust, and atmospheric particulate matter are composed by an admixture of Sb(III) and Sb(V) in different relative abundances. Brake linings turned out to be composed by Sb(III) oxide (Sb2O3) and stibnite (Sb2S3). Stibnite was also detected in some of the particulate matter samples. The obtained data suggest that Sb2S3 during the brake abrasion process is easily decomposed forming more stable compounds such as antimony mixed oxidic forms. Sb redox speciation, in particular and well studied circumstances, may enhance the potential and selectivity of this element as a tracer of motor vehicle emissions in apportioning studies