Nonlinear complexity analysis of brain fMRI signals in schizophrenia

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Abnormal reward prediction-error signalling in antipsychotic naive individuals with first-episode psychosis or clinical risk for psychosis.

Ongoing research suggests preliminary, though not entirely consistent, evidence of neural abnormalities in signalling prediction errors in schizophrenia. Supporting theories suggest mechanistic links between the disruption of these processes and the generation of psychotic symptoms. However, it is unknown at what stage in the pathogenesis of psychosis these impairments in prediction-error signalling develop. One major confound in prior studies is the use of medicated patients with strongly varying disease durations. Our study aims to investigate the involvement of the meso-cortico-striatal circuitry during reward prediction-error signalling in earliest stages of psychosis. We studied patients with first-episode psychosis (FEP) and help-seeking individuals at-risk for psychosis due to sub-threshold prodromal psychotic symptoms. Patients with either FEP (n = 14), or at-risk for developing psychosis (n = 30), and healthy volunteers (n = 39) performed a reinforcement learning task during fMRI scanning. ANOVA revealed significant (p < 0.05 family-wise error corrected) prediction-error signalling differences between groups in the dopaminergic midbrain and right middle frontal gyrus (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, DLPFC). FEP patients showed disrupted reward prediction-error signalling compared to controls in both regions. At-risk patients showed intermediate activation in the midbrain that significantly differed from controls and from FEP patients, but DLPFC activation that did not differ from controls. Our study confirms that FEP patients have abnormal meso-cortical signalling of reward-prediction errors, whereas reward-prediction-error dysfunction in the at-risk patients appears to show a more nuanced pattern of activation with a degree of midbrain impairment but preserved cortical function

Measurements of long-range azimuthal anisotropies and associated Fourier coefficients for pp collisions at √s=5.02 and 13 TeV and p+Pb collisions at √sNN=5.02 TeV with the ATLAS detector

ATLAS measurements of two-particle correlations are presented for √s=5.02 and 13 TeV ppcollisions and for √sNN=5.02 TeV p+Pb collisions at the LHC. The correlation functions are measured as a function of relative azimuthal angle Δϕ, and pseudorapidity separation Δη, using charged particles detected within the pseudorapidity interval |η|2, is studied using a template fitting procedure to remove a “back-to-back” contribution to the correlation function that primarily arises from hard-scattering processes. In addition to the elliptic, cos (2Δϕ), modulation observed in a previous measurement, the pp correlation functions exhibit significant cos (3Δϕ) and cos (4Δϕ) modulation. The Fourier coefficients vn, n associated with the cos (nΔϕ) modulation of the correlation functions for n=2–4 are measured as a function of charged-particle multiplicity and charged-particle transverse momentum. The Fourier coefficients are observed to be compatible with cos (nϕ) modulation of per-event single-particle azimuthal angle distributions. The single-particle Fourier coefficients vn are measured as a function of charged-particle multiplicity, and charged-particle transverse momentum for n=2–4. The integrated luminosities used in this analysis are, 64nb−1 for the √s=13 TeV pp data, 170 nb−1 for the √ s = 5.02 TeV pp data, and 28 nb−1 for the √sNN = 5.02 TeV p+Pb data

Searches for exclusive Higgs and Z boson decays into J/ψγ,ψ(2S)γ,and Υ(nS)γ at √s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

Searches for the exclusive decays of the Higgs and Z bosons into a J/ψ,ψ(2S), or Υ(nS)(n=1,2,3) meson and a photon are performed with a pp collision data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb −1 collected at √s =13 TeV with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. No significant excess of events is observed above the expected backgrounds, and 95% confidence-level upper limits on the branching fractions of the Higgs boson decays to J/ψγ, ψ(2S)γ,and Υ(nS)γ of 3.5×10 −4, 2.0×10−3,and(4.9,5.9,5.7)×10 −4,respectively, are obtained assuming Standard Model production. The corresponding 95% confidence-level upper limits for the branching fractions of the Z boson decays are 2.3×10 −6, 4.5×10 −6 and (2.8,1.7,4.8)×10 −6, respectively

Search for additional heavy neutral Higgs and gauge bosons in the ditau final state produced in 36 fb−1 of pp collisions at √s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search for heavy neutral Higgs bosons and Z′ bosons is performed using a data sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 36.1 fb−1 from proton-proton collisions at √s=13 TeV recorded by the ATLAS detector at the LHC during 2015 and 2016. The heavy resonance is assumed to decay to τ+τ− with at least one tau lepton decaying to final states with hadrons and a neutrino. The search is performed in the mass range of 0.2-2.25 TeV for Higgs bosons and 0.2-4.0 TeV for Z′ bosons. The data are in good agreement with the background predicted by the Standard Model. The results are interpreted in benchmark scenarios. In the context of the hMSSM scenario, the data exclude tan β > 1.0 for mA= 0.25 TeV and tan β > 42 for mA=1.5 TeV at the 95% confidence level. For the Sequential Standard Model, ZSSM′ with mZ′< 2.42 TeV is excluded at 95% confidence level, while Z NU′ with mZ ′ < 2.25 TeV is excluded for the non-universal G(221) model that exhibits enhanced couplings to third-generation fermions

Correlated long-range mixed-harmonic fluctuations measured in pp, p+Pb and low-multiplicity Pb+Pb collisions with the ATLAS detector

For abstract see published article

Search for Higgs bosons produced via vector-boson fusion and decaying into bottom quark pairs in √s =13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for the bb ¯ decay of the Standard Model Higgs boson produced through vector-boson fusion is presented. Three mutually exclusive channels are considered: two all-hadronic channels and a photon-associated channel. Results are reported from the analysis of up to 30.6 fb −1 of pp data at s √ =13 TeV collected with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The measured signal strength relative to the Standard Model prediction from the combined analysis is 2.5 +1.4 −1.3 for inclusive Higgs boson production and 3.0 +1.7 −1.6 for vector-boson fusion production only

Prompt and non-prompt J/ψ elliptic flow in Pb+Pb collisions at √sNN =5.02 TeV with the ATLAS detector

The elliptic flow of prompt and non-prompt J/ψ was measured in the dimuon decay channel in Pb+Pb collisions at √sNN = 5.02 TeV with an integrated luminosity of 0.42 nb −1 with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The prompt and non-prompt signals are separated using a two-dimensional simultaneous fit of the invariant mass and pseudo-proper decay time of the dimuon system from the J/ψ decay. The measurement is performed in the kinematic range of dimuon transverse momentum and rapidity 9<p T <30 GeV,|y|<2 , and 0-60% collision centrality. The elliptic flow coefficient,v2, is evaluated relative to the event plane and the results are presented as a function of transverse momentum, rapidity and centrality. It is found that prompt and non-prompt J/ψ mesons have non-zero elliptic flow. Prompt J/ψ v 2 decreases as a function of p T , while non-prompt J/ψ it is, with limited statistical significance, consistent with a flat behaviour over the studied kinematic region. There is no observed dependence on rapidity or centrality

Search for pair production of heavy vectorlike quarks decaying into hadronic final states in pp collisions at √s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search is presented for the pair production of heavy vectorlike quarks, T¯T or B¯B, that decay into final states with jets and no reconstructed leptons. Jets in the final state are classified using a deep neural network as arising from hadronically decaying W/Z bosons, Higgs bosons, top quarks, or background. The analysis uses data from the ATLAS experiment corresponding to 36.1  fb−1 of proton-proton collisions with a center-of-mass energy of √s=13  TeV delivered by the Large Hadron Collider in 2015 and 2016. No significant deviation from the Standard Model expectation is observed. Results are interpreted assuming the vectorlike quarks decay into a Standard Model boson and a third-generation-quark, T→Wb,Ht,Zt or B→Wt,Hb,Zb, for a variety of branching ratios. At 95% confidence level, the observed (expected) lower limit on the vectorlike B -quark mass for a weak-isospin doublet (B, Y) is 950 (890) GeV, and the lower limits on the masses for the pure decays B→Hb and T→Ht, where these results are strongest, are 1010 (970) GeV and 1010 (1010) GeV, respectively

Search for lepton-flavor violation in different-flavor, high-mass final states in pp collisions at √s=13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A search is performed for a heavy particle decaying into different-flavor, dilepton pairs (eμ, eτ or μτ), using 36.1  fb−1 of proton-proton collision data at √s=13  TeV collected in 2015–2016 by the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. No excesses over the Standard Model predictions are observed. Bayesian lower limits at the 95% credibility level are placed on the mass of a Z′ boson, the mass of a supersymmetric τ-sneutrino, and on the threshold mass for quantum black-hole production. For the Z′ and sneutrino models, upper cross-section limits are converted to upper limits on couplings, which are compared with similar limits from low-energy experiments and which are more stringent for the eτ and μτ modes