Ugly or Pretty: The Effects of Aesthetics and Exercise Involvement on Consumers’ Evaluations of Healthy Functional Foods

PURPOSE This study explores the impact of visual shape and exercise involvement on consumers' evaluation and happiness with healthy functional foods, specifically protein cookies. METHODS Using a one-factor design with two levels (pretty vs. ugly shape) and one measured variable (exercise involvement), we uncover interesting insights. RESULTS Consumers highly engaged in exercise show a greater purchase intention for ugly-shaped healthy functional foods compared to pretty-shaped ones. Conversely, consumers with low exercise involvement express a higher purchase intention and happiness when it comes to pretty-shaped healthy functional foods compared to their ugly counterparts. CONCLUSIONS These findings contribute to the sports management and sports science literature by shedding light on how visual shape influences the evaluation of healthy functional foods by sport consumers. Furthermore, this research offers valuable practical implications for designing the shape of such foods to cater to the preferences of sports enthusiasts

Abnormal Voxel-Wise Degree Centrality in Patients With Late-Life Depression: A Resting-State Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study.

Objectives:Late-life depression (LLD) has negative impacts on somatic, emotional and cognitive domains of the lives of patients. Elucidating the abnormality in the brain networks of LLD patients could help to strengthen the understanding of LLD pathophysiology, however, the studies exploring the spontaneous brain activity in LLD during the resting state remain limited. This study aimed at identifying the voxel-level whole-brain functional connectivity changes in LLD patients. Methods:Fifty patients with late-life depression (LLD) and 33 healthy controls were recruited. All participants underwent a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scan to assess the voxel-wise degree centrality (DC) changes in the patients. Furthermore, DC was compared between two patient subgroups, the late-onset depression (LOD) and the early-onset depression (EOD). Results:Compared with the healthy controls, LLD patients showed increased DC in the inferior parietal lobule, parahippocampal gyrus, brainstem and cerebellum (p < 0.05, AlphaSim-corrected). LLD patients also showed decreased DC in the somatosensory and motor cortices and cerebellum (p < 0.05, AlphaSim-corrected). Compared with EOD patients, LOD patients showed increased centrality in the superior and middle temporal gyrus and decreased centrality in the occipital region (p < 0.05, AlphaSim-corrected). No significant correlation was found between the DC value and the symptom severity or disease duration in the patients after the correction for multiple comparisons. Conclusions:These findings indicate that the intrinsic abnormality of network centrality exists in a wide range of brain areas in LLD patients. LOD patients differ with EOD patients in cortical network centrality. Our study might help to strengthen the understanding of the pathophysiology of LLD and the potential neural substrates underlie related emotional and cognitive impairments observed in the patients

Bilateral Habenula deep brain stimulation for treatment-resistant depression: clinical findings and electrophysiological features.

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of structures in the brain's reward system is a promising therapeutic option for patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD). Recently, DBS of the habenula (HB) in the brain's anti-reward system has also been reported to alleviate depressive symptoms in patients with TRD or bipolar disorder (BD). In this pilot open-label prospective study, we explored the safety and clinical effectiveness of HB-DBS treatment in seven patients with TRD or BD. Also, local field potentials (LFPs) were recorded from the patients' left and right HB to explore the power and asymmetry of oscillatory activities as putative biomarkers of the underlying disease state. At 1-month follow-up (FU), depression and anxiety symptoms were both reduced by 49% (n = 7) along with substantial improvements in patients' health status, functional impairment, and quality of life. Although the dropout rate was high and large variability in clinical response existed, clinical improvements were generally maintained throughout the study [56%, 46%, and 64% reduction for depression and 61%, 48%, and 70% reduction for anxiety at 3-month FU (n = 5), 6-month FU (n = 5), and 12-month FU (n = 3), respectively]. After HB-DBS surgery, sustained improvements in mania symptoms were found in two patients who presented with mild hypomania at baseline. Another patient, however, experienced an acute manic episode 2 months after surgery that required hospitalization. Additionally, weaker and more symmetrical HB LFP oscillatory activities were associated with more severe depression and anxiety symptoms at baseline, in keeping with the hypothesis that HB dysfunction contributes to MDD pathophysiology. These preliminary findings indicate that HB-DBS may offer a valuable treatment option for depressive symptoms in patients who suffer from TRD or BD. Larger and well-controlled studies are warranted to examine the safety and efficacy of HB-DBS for treatment-refractory mood disorders in a more rigorous fashion

Anterior limb of the internal capsule tractography: relationship with capsulotomy outcomes in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Funder: Guangci Professorship ProgramOBJECTIVES: Surgical procedures targeting the anterior limb of the internal capsule (aLIC) can be effective in patients with selected treatment-refractory obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The aLIC consists of white-matter tracts connecting cortical and subcortical structures and show a topographical organisation. Here we assess how aLIC streamlines are affected in OCD compared with healthy controls (HCs) and which streamlines are related with post-capsulotomy improvement. METHODS: Diffusion-weighted MRI was used to compare white-matter microstructure via the aLIC between patients with OCD (n=100, 40 women, mean of age 31.8 years) and HCs (n=88, 39 women, mean of age 29.6 years). For each individual, the fractional anisotropy (FA) and streamline counts were calculated for each white-matter fibre bundle connecting a functionally defined prefrontal and subcortical region. Correlations between tractography measures and pre-capsulotomy and post-capsulotomy clinical outcomes (in obsessive-compulsive, anxiety and depression scores 6 months after surgery) were assessed in 41 patients with OCD. RESULTS: Hierarchical clustering dendrograms show an aLIC organisation clustering lateral and dissociating ventral and dorsal prefrontal-thalamic streamlines, findings highly relevant to surgical targeting. Compared with HCs, patients with OCD had lower aLIC FA across multiple prefrontal cortical-subcortical regions (p<0.0073, false discovery rate-adjusted). Greater streamline counts of the dorsolateral prefrontal-thalamic tracts in patients with OCD predicted greater post-capsulotomy obsessive-compulsive improvement (p=0.016). In contrast, greater counts of the dorsal cingulate-thalamic streamlines predicted surgical outcomes mediated by depressive and anxiety improvements. CONCLUSIONS: These findings shed light on the critical role of the aLIC in OCD and may potentially contribute towards precision targeting to optimise outcomes in OCD

Abnormal Voxel-Wise Degree Centrality in Patients With Late-Life Depression: A Resting-State Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study.

Objectives: Late-life depression (LLD) has negative impacts on somatic, emotional and cognitive domains of the lives of patients. Elucidating the abnormality in the brain networks of LLD patients could help to strengthen the understanding of LLD pathophysiology, however, the studies exploring the spontaneous brain activity in LLD during the resting state remain limited. This study aimed at identifying the voxel-level whole-brain functional connectivity changes in LLD patients. Methods: Fifty patients with late-life depression (LLD) and 33 healthy controls were recruited. All participants underwent a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scan to assess the voxel-wise degree centrality (DC) changes in the patients. Furthermore, DC was compared between two patient subgroups, the late-onset depression (LOD) and the early-onset depression (EOD). Results: Compared with the healthy controls, LLD patients showed increased DC in the inferior parietal lobule, parahippocampal gyrus, brainstem and cerebellum (p < 0.05, AlphaSim-corrected). LLD patients also showed decreased DC in the somatosensory and motor cortices and cerebellum (p < 0.05, AlphaSim-corrected). Compared with EOD patients, LOD patients showed increased centrality in the superior and middle temporal gyrus and decreased centrality in the occipital region (p < 0.05, AlphaSim-corrected). No significant correlation was found between the DC value and the symptom severity or disease duration in the patients after the correction for multiple comparisons. Conclusions: These findings indicate that the intrinsic abnormality of network centrality exists in a wide range of brain areas in LLD patients. LOD patients differ with EOD patients in cortical network centrality. Our study might help to strengthen the understanding of the pathophysiology of LLD and the potential neural substrates underlie related emotional and cognitive impairments observed in the patients

Abnormal Voxel-Wise Degree Centrality in Patients With Late-Life Depression: A Resting-State Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study.

Objectives:Late-life depression (LLD) has negative impacts on somatic, emotional and cognitive domains of the lives of patients. Elucidating the abnormality in the brain networks of LLD patients could help to strengthen the understanding of LLD pathophysiology, however, the studies exploring the spontaneous brain activity in LLD during the resting state remain limited. This study aimed at identifying the voxel-level whole-brain functional connectivity changes in LLD patients. Methods:Fifty patients with late-life depression (LLD) and 33 healthy controls were recruited. All participants underwent a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scan to assess the voxel-wise degree centrality (DC) changes in the patients. Furthermore, DC was compared between two patient subgroups, the late-onset depression (LOD) and the early-onset depression (EOD). Results:Compared with the healthy controls, LLD patients showed increased DC in the inferior parietal lobule, parahippocampal gyrus, brainstem and cerebellum (p < 0.05, AlphaSim-corrected). LLD patients also showed decreased DC in the somatosensory and motor cortices and cerebellum (p < 0.05, AlphaSim-corrected). Compared with EOD patients, LOD patients showed increased centrality in the superior and middle temporal gyrus and decreased centrality in the occipital region (p < 0.05, AlphaSim-corrected). No significant correlation was found between the DC value and the symptom severity or disease duration in the patients after the correction for multiple comparisons. Conclusions:These findings indicate that the intrinsic abnormality of network centrality exists in a wide range of brain areas in LLD patients. LOD patients differ with EOD patients in cortical network centrality. Our study might help to strengthen the understanding of the pathophysiology of LLD and the potential neural substrates underlie related emotional and cognitive impairments observed in the patients

Effects of Anterior Capsulotomy on Decision Making in Patients with Refractory Obsessive–Compulsive Disorder

Despite various lines of evidence implicating impaired decision-making ability in individuals with obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD), neuropsychological investigation has generated inconsistent findings. Although the cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical (CSTC) circuitry has been suggested, the involvement of the cortex has not yet been fully demonstrated. Moreover, it is unknown whether surgical intervention on the CSTC circuitry results in a predicted improvement of decision-making ability of OCD. Here we present a study of decision making based on the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) to investigate decision making in a large sample of individuals with treatment-resistant OCD with and without anterior capsulotomy (AC). Task performance was evaluated in healthy subjects, individuals with OCD that had not undergone surgery, and postsurgical OCD patients with AC. The latter group was further divided into a short-term postsurgical group and a long-term postsurgical group. We found that the OCD patients without surgery performed significantly worse than the healthy controls on the IGT. There were no significant differences in decision-making between the presurgical OCD patients and those at the short-term postsurgical follow-up. Decision-making ability of the long-term postsurgical OCD patients was improved to the level comparable to that of healthy controls. All clinical symptoms (OCD, depression, and anxiety) assessed by psychiatric rating scales were significantly alleviated post-surgically, but exhibited no correlation with their IGT task performance. Our findings provide strong evidence that OCD is linked to impairments in decision-making ability; that impaired CSTC circuitry function is directly involved in the manifestation of OCD; and that AC related improvements in cognitive functions are caused by long-term plasticity in the brain circuitry

Power signatures of habenular neuronal signals in patients with bipolar or unipolar depressive disorders correlate with their disease severity.

The habenula is an epithalamic structure implicated in negative reward mechanisms and plays a downstream modulatory role in regulation of dopaminergic and serotonergic functions. Human and animal studies show its hyperactivity in depression which is curtailed by the antidepressant response of ketamine. Deep brain stimulation of habenula (DBS) for major depression have also shown promising results. However, direct neuronal activity of habenula in human studies have rarely been reported. Here, in a cross-sectional design, we acquired both spontaneous resting state and emotional task-induced neuronal recordings from habenula from treatment resistant depressed patients undergoing DBS surgery. We first characterise the aperiodic component (1/f slope) of the power spectrum, interpreted to signify excitation-inhibition balance, in resting and task state. This aperiodicity for left habenula correlated between rest and task and which was significantly positively correlated with depression severity. Time-frequency responses to the emotional picture viewing task show condition differences in beta and gamma frequencies for left habenula and alpha for right habenula. Notably, alpha activity for right habenula was negatively correlated with depression severity. Overall, from direct habenular recordings, we thus show findings convergent with depression models of aberrant excitatory glutamatergic output of the habenula driving inhibition of monoaminergic systems.Medical Research Council Senior Clinical Fellowship (MR/P008747/1