Social Cognition Deficits as a Target of Early Intervention for Psychoses: A Systematic Review

Backgrounds: Social cognition deficits are a core feature of schizophrenia and deteriorate functionality of patients. However, evidence is sparse for the treatment effect on social cognition impairments in the early stage of psychosis. Here, we provide a systematic review of the literature on social cognitive impairment in early psychosis in relation to its intervention.Methods: A literature search was conducted on English articles identified by Web of Science and PubMed databases, according to the guidelines of the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) statement.Results: Five papers met the inclusion criteria. Results from two studies of cognitive training and one study of modafinil indicate positive results regarding social cognition outcomes in patients with early psychosis. On the other hand, two studies with oxytocin and modafinil did not suggest such effects.Conclusions: Further research is warranted to explore the benefit of early intervention into disturbances of social cognition in psychoses

Brain structural connectivity and neuroticism in healthy adults

Understanding the neural correlates of the neurotic brain is important because neuroticism is a risk factor for the development of psychopathology. We examined the correlation between brain structural networks and neuroticism based on NEO Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) scores. Fifty-one healthy participants (female, n = 18; male, n = 33; mean age, 38.5 ± 11.7 years) underwent the NEO-FFI test and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), including diffusion tensor imaging and 3D T1WI. Using MRI data, for each participant, we constructed whole-brain interregional connectivity matrices by deterministic tractography and calculated the graph theoretical network measures, including the characteristic path length, global clustering coefficient, small-worldness, and betweenness centrality (BET) in 83 brain regions from the Desikan-Killiany atlas with subcortical segmentation using FreeSurfer. In relation to the BET, neuroticism score had a negative correlation in the left isthmus cingulate cortex, left superior parietal, left superior temporal, right caudal middle frontal, and right entorhinal cortices, and a positive correlation in the bilateral frontal pole, left caudal anterior cingulate cortex, and left fusiform gyrus. No other measurements showed significant correlations. Our results imply that the brain regions related to neuroticism exist in various regions, and that the neuroticism trait is likely formed as a result of interactions among these regions. This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas (Comprehensive Brain Science Network) from the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports and Culture of Japan

Dual-Cation Electrolytes for High-Power and High-Energy LTO//AC Hybrid Capacitors

Dual-cation electrolyte systems, which contain two cations [Li+ and spiro-1,1′-bipyrrolidinium (SBP+), are proposed to enhance the power capability of hybrid capacitors composed of thick Li4Ti5O12 (LTO) negative (200 μm) and activated carbon (AC) positive electrodes (400 μm), which thus reduces the resistive overvoltage in the system. Detailed studies of the mass transport properties based on the combination of spectroscopy and electrochemical analysis have shown that the presence of SBP+, despite slower Li+ transport in the electrolyte bulk, further reduces overvoltage associated with migration limitation in the thick LTO electrode macropores. This study on the dual-cation electrolyte quantifies the influence of the addition of a supporting electrolyte and shows interest in SBPBF4 addition for increasing the output power density of hybrid capacitors with a thick electrode configuration

ALMA twenty-six arcmin2^2 survey of GOODS-S at one-millimeter (ASAGAO): Near-infrared-dark faint ALMA sources

We report detections of two 1.2 mm continuum sources ($S_\mathrm{1.2mm}$ ~ 0.6 mJy) without any counterparts in the deep $H$- and/or $K$-band image (i.e., $K$-band magnitude $\gtrsim$ 26 mag). These near-infrared-dark faint millimeter sources are uncovered by ASAGAO, a deep and wide-field ($\simeq$ 26 arcmin$^2$) Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) 1.2 mm survey. One has a red IRAC (3.6 and 4.5 $\mu$m) counterpart, and the other has been independently detected at 850 and 870 $\mu$m using SCUBA2 and ALMA Band 7, respectively. Their optical to radio spectral energy distributions indicate that they can lie at $z \gtrsim$ 3-5 and can be in the early phase of massive galaxy formation. Their contribution to the cosmic star formation rate density is estimated to be ~ 1 $\times$ 10$^{-3}$ $M_\odot$ yr$^{-1}$ Mpc$^{-3}$ if they lie somewhere in the redshift range of $z$ ~ 3-5. This value can be consistent with, or greater than that of bright submillimeter galaxies ($S_\mathrm{870\mu m}>$ 4.2 mJy) at $z$ ~ 3-5. We also uncover 3 more candidates near-infrared-dark faint ALMA sources without any counterparts ($S_\mathrm{1.2mm}$ ~ 0.45-0.86 mJy). These results show that an unbiased ALMA survey can reveal the dust-obscured star formation activities, which were missed in previous deep optical/near-infrared surveys.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, accepted for publication in Ap

Alma Twenty-six Arcmin^2 Survey Of Goods-s At One-millimeter (asagao): Source Catalog And Number Counts

We present the survey design, data reduction, construction of images, and source catalog of the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA) twenty-six arcmin^2 survey of GOODS-S at one-millimeter (ASAGAO). ASAGAO is a deep (1sigma ~ 61 uJy/beam for a 250 klambda-tapered map with a synthesized beam size of 0.51" x 0.45") and wide area (26 arcmin^2) survey on a contiguous field at 1.2 mm. By combining with ALMA archival data in the GOODS-South field, we obtained a deeper map in the same region (1sigma ~ 30 uJy/beam for a deep region with a 250 klambda-taper, and a synthesized beam size of 0.59" x 0.53"), providing the largest sample of sources (25 sources at >=5.0sigma, 45 sources at >=4.5sigma) among ALMA blank-field surveys to date. The number counts shows that 52(+11 -8)% of the extragalactic background light at 1.2 mm is resolved into discrete sources at S1.2m > 135 uJy. We create infrared (IR) luminosity functions (LFs) in the redshift range of z = 1-3 from the ASAGAO sources with KS-band counterparts, and constrain the faintest luminosity of the LF at 2.0 < z < 3.0. The LFs are consistent with previous results based on other ALMA and SCUBA-2 observations, which suggest a positive luminosity evolution and negative density evolution with increasing redshift. We find that obscured star-formation of sources with IR luminosities of log(L(IR)/Lsun)} ~> 11.8 account for ~~60%-90% of the z ~ 2 cosmic star-formation rate density.Comment: 19 pages, 18 figures, accepted for publication in PAS

Omecamtiv mecarbil in chronic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, GALACTIC‐HF: baseline characteristics and comparison with contemporary clinical trials

Aims: The safety and efficacy of the novel selective cardiac myosin activator, omecamtiv mecarbil, in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) is tested in the Global Approach to Lowering Adverse Cardiac outcomes Through Improving Contractility in Heart Failure (GALACTIC‐HF) trial. Here we describe the baseline characteristics of participants in GALACTIC‐HF and how these compare with other contemporary trials. Methods and Results: Adults with established HFrEF, New York Heart Association functional class (NYHA) ≥ II, EF ≤35%, elevated natriuretic peptides and either current hospitalization for HF or history of hospitalization/ emergency department visit for HF within a year were randomized to either placebo or omecamtiv mecarbil (pharmacokinetic‐guided dosing: 25, 37.5 or 50 mg bid). 8256 patients [male (79%), non‐white (22%), mean age 65 years] were enrolled with a mean EF 27%, ischemic etiology in 54%, NYHA II 53% and III/IV 47%, and median NT‐proBNP 1971 pg/mL. HF therapies at baseline were among the most effectively employed in contemporary HF trials. GALACTIC‐HF randomized patients representative of recent HF registries and trials with substantial numbers of patients also having characteristics understudied in previous trials including more from North America (n = 1386), enrolled as inpatients (n = 2084), systolic blood pressure &lt; 100 mmHg (n = 1127), estimated glomerular filtration rate &lt; 30 mL/min/1.73 m2 (n = 528), and treated with sacubitril‐valsartan at baseline (n = 1594). Conclusions: GALACTIC‐HF enrolled a well‐treated, high‐risk population from both inpatient and outpatient settings, which will provide a definitive evaluation of the efficacy and safety of this novel therapy, as well as informing its potential future implementation

Positive symptoms and time perception in schizophrenia: A meta-analysis

Positive symptoms of schizophrenia may be related to distortions in time perception. To examine this issue, we conducted a meta-analysis to determine whether positive symptoms are associated with deficits in time processing performance. MEDLINE and Web of Science were searched from January 1980 through March 2017, and all related articles and their references were scrutinized to find relevant studies. Studies were selected if they included participants with a diagnosis of schizophrenia, and reported data from behavioral measures of interval timing (e.g. duration discrimination and temporal order judgement). The results indicated that positive symptoms of schizophrenia are related with overestimation of interval timing (i.e., acceleration of the “internal clock”), and suggest that time perception may be associated with psychosis. Keywords: Interval timing, Positive symptoms, Psychosis, Time perception, Internal cloc