Is the serotonergic system altered in romantic love? A literature review and research suggestions

Infatuated individuals think about their beloved a lot. The notions that these frequent thoughts resemble the obsessions of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients and that those patients benefit from serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), have led to the hypothesis that romantic love is associated with reduced central serotonin levels. In this chapter, the literature on this topic is reviewed and suggestions for future research are made. Previous studies have shown that romantic love is associated with lower blood serotonin levels and with lower serotonin transporter densities, the latter of which has also been observed in OCD patients. Further, SSRIs have been found to decrease feelings of romantic love and the serotonin 2 receptor gene has been associated with the love trait ‘mania’, which is a possessive and dependent form of love. Given that serotonin 2 receptors in the prefrontal cortex have also been implicated in impulsive aggression, this suggests that stalking behavior may be associated with these receptors. In short, the serotonergic system appears to be altered in romantic love indeed. Future research is needed to identify what parts of the serotonergic system, such as which serotonergic projections, brain areas, transmission stages and receptor types, are affected in romantic love and in what way they are altered. Furthermore, challenging the serotonergic system would be useful in determining the causal relationship between central serotonin levels and feelings of romantic love. In addition, future research should specifically investigate the different aspects of romantic love, such as state, trait, requited and unrequited love and its development in time

Regulation of romantic love feelings: Preconceptions, strategies, and feasibility

Love feelings can be more intense than desired (e.g., after a break-up) or less intense than desired (e.g., in long-Term relationships). If only we could control our love feelings! We present the concept of explicit love regulation, which we define as the use of behavioral and cognitive strategies to change the intensity of current feelings of romantic love. We present the first two studies on preconceptions about, strategies for, and the feasibility of love regulation. Questionnaire responses showed that people perceive love feelings as somewhat uncontrollable. Still, in four open questions people reported to use strategies such as cognitive reappraisal, distraction, avoidance, and undertaking (new) activities to cope with break-ups, to maintain long-Term relationships, and to regulate love feelings. Instructed up-regulation of love using reappraisal increased subjective feelings of attachment, while love down-regulation decreased subjective feelings of infatuation and attachment. We used the late positive potential (LPP) amplitude as an objective index of regulation success. Instructed love up-regulation enhanced the LPP between 300-400 ms in participants who were involved in a relationship and in participants who had recently experienced a romantic break-up, while love down-regulation reduced the LPP between 700-3000 ms in participants who were involved in a relationship. These findings corroborate the self-reported feasibility of love regulation, although they are complicated by the finding that love up-regulation also reduced the LPP between 700-3000 ms in participants who were involved in a relationship. To conclude, although people have the preconception that love feelings are uncontrollable, we show for the first time that intentional regulation of love feelings using reappraisal, and perhaps other strategies, is feasible. Love regulation will benefit individuals and society because it could enhance positive effects and reduce negative effects of romantic love

Kleine deeltjes, grote kwesties: Een issueanalyse van de maatschappelijke dialoog nanotechnologie

Dit artikel beantwoordt de vraag welke kwesties aan bod zijn gekomen in de Maatschappelijke Dialoog Nanotechnologie en in hoeverre deze dialoog heeft bijgedragen aan verbreding van het debat. Is het gelukt naast een technologisch ook een maatschappelijk perspectief neer te zetten? Naast de issueanalyse is ook onderzocht welke organisaties hierbij betrokken zijn geweest en de mogelijkheden die zij boden voor publieksinbren

Preschool children's vision screening in New Zealand: a retrospective evaluation of referral accuracy

Langeslag-Smith MA, Vandal AC, Briane V, et al. Preschool children's vision screening in New Zealand: a retrospective evaluation of referral accuracy. BMJ Open 2015;5:e009207. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2015-009207Objectives To assess the accuracy of preschool vision screening in a large, ethnically diverse, urban population in South Auckland, New Zealand. Design Retrospective longitudinal study. Methods B4 School Check vision screening records (n=5572) were compared with hospital eye department data for children referred from screening due to impaired acuity in one or both eyes who attended a referral appointment (n=556). False positive screens were identified by comparing screening data from the eyes that failed screening with hospital data. Estimation of false negative screening rates relied on data from eyes that passed screening. Data were analysed using logistic regression modelling accounting for the high correlation between results for the two eyes of each child. Primary outcome measure Positive predictive value of the preschool vision screening programme. Results Screening produced high numbers of false positive referrals, resulting in poor positive predictive value (PPV=31%, 95% CI 26% to 38%). High estimated negative predictive value (NPV=92%, 95% CI 88% to 95%) suggested most children with a vision disorder were identified at screening. Relaxing the referral criteria for acuity from worse than 6/9 to worse than 6/12 improved PPV without adversely affecting NPV. Conclusions The B4 School Check generated numerous false positive referrals and consequently had a low PPV. There is scope for reducing costs by altering the visual acuity criterion for referral.This work was supported by the Arthur D Bronlund Trust, CCRep and University of Auckland Faculty Research Development Fund Grants (3704420)

Event-related potential responses to love-related facial stimuli

In event-related potential (ERPs) studies, emotional stimuli usually elicit an enhanced late positive potential (LPP), which is assumed to reflect motivated attention. However, whether a stimulus elicits emotional responses may depend on the individual's state, such as experiencing romantic love. It has been suggested that stimuli that are related to someone's beloved will elicit increased attention in that infatuated individual. In this study, participants who were in love viewed faces of their beloved, their friend, and of an unknown, beautiful person. The friend was included to control for familiarity, and the unknown person for perceived beauty. As expected, the LPP was larger in response to the face of the beloved than to the other two emotionally significant faces. Interpreting the LPP as reflecting motivated attention, this implies that romantic love is accompanied by increased attention for the face of one's beloved

Predicting death or long-term neurodevelopmental outcome in term newborns after hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy

Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy after perinatal asphyxia is a severe neonatal disease with a high mortality and morbidity rate despite recent improvements in medical care in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. In the diagnostic and prognostic workup of these patients, a wide range of biochemical, neurophysiological and radiological tests is performed. Although many of these predictive parameters have been studied, an internationally accepted, validated prediction model to predict the long-term neurodevelopmental outcome in this high-risk population is currently lacking. This thesis aimed to investigate and contribute to the current evidence on long-term outcome prediction of newborns with hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy treated with controlled therapeutic hypothermia. The systematic review performed confirmed that to date there is no clinically applicable multivariate prediction model available for long-term outcome in these infants. The additional studies showed that the MRI Weeke score is a reliable predictor of outcome and should be implemented in clinical practice. It was demonstrated that multiple organ dysfunction should not be taken into account when predicting or discussing the outcome of these infants. Neither the presence of seizures, nor the severity of seizures (described by the number of anti-epileptic drugs needed) are associated with the combined outcome up until the age of five years after correction for important confounders. Finally, a novel prediction model for the combined outcome death or NDI at two years of age was build and internally validated

Effects of organization and disorganization on pleasantness, calmness, and the frontal negativity in the event-related potential

A preference for organization is associated with several disorders, but is widespread in the general population as well. It remains unclear whether organization and various degrees of disorganization elicit pleasant or unpleasant feelings (i.e., valence), calming or arousing feelings (i.e., arousal), and a frontal negativity in the event-related potential (ERP) related to cognitive control. This study tested how organization, slight disorganization, and total disorganization affect valence, arousal, and the frontal negativity. Participants passively viewed organized, slightly disorganized, totally disorganized, and control pictures while their electroencephalogram was recorded. They also rated the valence and arousal elicited by each picture and completed questionnaires assessing desire for order and organization behavior. Organized pictures made participants feel most pleasant, control pictures made participants feel less pleasant, slightly disorganized pictures made participants feel even less pleasant, and totally disorganized pictures made participants feel least pleasant. There were no significant effects on arousal. Totally disorganized pictures elicited a frontal negativity in the ERP between 200–2000 ms after stimulus onset, which might reflect inhibition of rearranging behavior. Individual differences in desire for order and organization behavior did not correlate with valence, arousal, or the frontal negativity. The current study design and findings could be a starting point for examining the differences between adaptive and maladaptive preferences for organization and aversions to disorganization

Predicting death or long-term neurodevelopmental outcome in term newborns after hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy

Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy after perinatal asphyxia is a severe neonatal disease with a high mortality and morbidity rate despite recent improvements in medical care in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. In the diagnostic and prognostic workup of these patients, a wide range of biochemical, neurophysiological and radiological tests is performed. Although many of these predictive parameters have been studied, an internationally accepted, validated prediction model to predict the long-term neurodevelopmental outcome in this high-risk population is currently lacking. This thesis aimed to investigate and contribute to the current evidence on long-term outcome prediction of newborns with hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy treated with controlled therapeutic hypothermia. The systematic review performed confirmed that to date there is no clinically applicable multivariate prediction model available for long-term outcome in these infants. The additional studies showed that the MRI Weeke score is a reliable predictor of outcome and should be implemented in clinical practice. It was demonstrated that multiple organ dysfunction should not be taken into account when predicting or discussing the outcome of these infants. Neither the presence of seizures, nor the severity of seizures (described by the number of anti-epileptic drugs needed) are associated with the combined outcome up until the age of five years after correction for important confounders. Finally, a novel prediction model for the combined outcome death or NDI at two years of age was build and internally validated