21 research outputs found

    Dynamic fronto-amygdalar interactions underlying emotion-regulation deficits in women at higher weight

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    Objective: The regulation of negative emotions entails the modulation of subcortical regions, such as the amygdala, by prefrontal regions. There is preliminary evidence suggesting that individuals at higher weight may present with hypoactivity in prefrontal regulatory systems during emotional regulation, although the directionality of these pathways has not been tested. In this study, we compared fronto-amygdalar effective connectivity during cognitive reappraisal as a function of BMI in 48 adult women with obesity and 54 control participants. Methods: Dynamic causal modeling and parametric empirical Bayes were used to map effective connectivity between the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and the amygdala. Results: Difficulty in Emotion Regulation Scale scores were higher in the obesity group compared with control participants (p < 0.001). A top-down cortical model best explained our functional magnetic resonance imaging data (posterior probability = 86%). Participants at higher BMI were less effective at inhibiting activity in the amygdala via the orbitofrontal cortex and dorsomedial prefrontal cortex during reappraisal compared with those at lower BMI. In contrast, increased excitatory modulation of dorsolateral prefrontal cortex-to-amygdalar connectivity was found in participants at lower BMI. Conclusions: These findings support a framework involving alterations in fronto-amygdalar connectivity contributing to difficulties in regulating negative affect in individuals at higher weight

    Treatment outcome of patients with comorbid type 1 diabetes and eating disorders

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    Background: Co-morbidity between Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) and eating disorders (ED) has been previously described; however the effect of this illness on the outcomes for conventional ED treatments has not been previously investigated. This study aims to compare clinical, psychopathological and personality features between two samples of ED individuals: those with comorbid T1DM and those without (No-DM); and to identify differences in treatment outcomes between the groups. Methods: This study compares treatment outcome, dropouts, ED psychopathology and personality characteristics for 20 individuals with ED and T1DM and 20 ED patients without diabetes, matched for diagnostic and treatment type. Results: The study found higher dropout rates from therapy in individuals with T1DM and worse treatment outcome in spite of having no significant differences in eating disorder psychopathology, although individuals with T1DM report misusing insulin. Conclusions: The low levels of motivation to change, and insulin abuse in T1DM patients, may suggest that treatment for patients with ED and T1DM should consider the individual's personality and role of insulin abuse when determining the appropriate intervention

    Dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and amygdala function during cognitive reappraisal predicts weight restoration and emotion regulation impairment in anorexia nervosa

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    Background: although deficits in affective processing are a core component of anorexia nervosa (AN), we lack a detailed characterization of the neurobiological underpinnings of emotion regulation impairment in AN. Moreover, it remains unclear whether these neural correlates scale with clinical outcomes. Methods: we investigated the neural correlates of negative emotion regulation in a sample of young women receiving day-hospital treatment for AN (n = 21) and healthy controls (n = 21). We aimed to determine whether aberrant brain activation patterns during emotion regulation predicted weight gain following treatment in AN patients and were linked to AN severity. To achieve this, participants completed a cognitive reappraisal paradigm during functional magnetic resonance imaging. Skin conductance response, as well as subjective distress ratings, were recorded to corroborate task engagement. Results: compared to controls, patients with AN showed reduced activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) during cognitive reappraisal [pFWE<0.05, threshold-free cluster enhancement (TFCE) corrected]. Importantly, psycho-physiological interaction analysis revealed reduced functional connectivity between the dlPFC and the amygdala in AN patients during emotion regulation (pFWE<0.05, TFCE corrected), and dlPFC-amygdala uncoupling was associated with emotion regulation deficits (r = -0.511, p = 0.018) and eating disorder severity (r = -0.565, p = .008) in the AN group. Finally, dlPFC activity positively correlated with increases in body mass index (r = 0.471, p = 0.042) and in body fat mass percentage (r = 0.605, p = 0.008) following 12 weeks of treatment. Conclusions: taken together, our findings indicate that individuals with AN present altered fronto-amygdalar response during cognitive reappraisal and that this response may serve as a predictor of response to treatment and be linked to clinical severity

    Changes in Body Composition in Anorexia Nervosa: Predictors of Recovery and Treatment Outcome

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    The restoration of body composition (BC) parameters is considered to be one of the most important goals in the treatment of patients with anorexia nervosa (AN). However, little is known about differences between AN diagnostic subtypes [restricting (AN-R) and binge/purging (AN-BP)] and weekly changes in BC during refeeding treatment. Therefore, the main objectives of our study were twofold: 1) to assess the changes in BC throughout nutritional treatment in an AN sample and 2) to analyze predictors of BC changes during treatment, as well as predictors of treatment outcome. The whole sample comprised 261 participants [118 adult females with AN (70 AN-R vs. 48 AN-BP), and 143 healthy controls]. BC was measured weekly during 15 weeks of day-hospital treatment using bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA). Assessment measures also included the Eating Disorders Inventory-2, as well as a number of other clinical indices. Overall, the results showed that AN-R and AN-BP patients statistically differed in all BC measures at admission. However, no significant time×group interaction was found for almost all BC parameters. Significant time×group interactions were only found for basal metabolic rate (p = .041) and body mass index (BMI) (p = .035). Multiple regression models showed that the best predictors of pre-post changes in BC parameters (namely fat-free mass, muscular mass, total body water and BMI) were the baseline values of BC parameters. Stepwise predictive logistic regressions showed that only BMI and age were significantly associated with outcome, but not with the percentage of body fat. In conclusion, these data suggest that although AN patients tended to restore all BC parameters during nutritional treatment, only AN-BP patients obtained the same fat mass values as healthy controls. Put succinctly, the best predictors of changes in BC were baseline BC values, which did not, however, seem to influence treatment outcome

    A multimodal MRI study of the neural mechanisms of emotion regulation impairment in women with obesity

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    Maladaptive emotion regulation contributes to overeating and impedes weight loss. Our study aimed to compare the voluntary downregulation of negative emotions by means of cognitive reappraisal in adult women with obesity (OB) and female healthy controls (HC) using a data-driven, multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) approach. Women with OB (n = 24) and HC (n = 25) carried out an emotion regulation task during functional MRI scanning. Seed-to-voxel resting-state connectivity patterns derived from activation peaks identified by this task were compared between groups. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was used to examine white matter microstructure integrity between regions exhibiting group differences in resting-state functional connectivity. Participants in the OB group presented reduced activation in the ventromedial prefrontal (vmPFC) cortex in comparison to the HC group when downregulating negative emotions, along with heightened activation in the extrastriate visual cortex (p < 0.05, AlphaSim-corrected). Moreover, vmPFC peak activity levels during cognitive reappraisal were negatively correlated with self-reported difficulties in emotion regulation. OB patients exhibited decreased functional connectivity between the vmPFC and the temporal pole during rest (peak-pFWE = 0.039). Decreased fractional white-matter track volume in the uncinate fasciculus, which links these two regions, was also found in participants with OB. Taken together, our findings are indicative of emotion regulation deficits in OB being underpinned by dysfunctional hypoactivity in the vmPFC and hyperactivity in the extrastriate visual cortex. Our results provide a potential target circuit for neuromodulatory interventions to improve emotion regulation skills and weight-loss intervention outcomes

    Treatment outcome of patients with comorbid type 1 diabetes and eating disorders

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    Background: Co-morbidity between Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) and eating disorders (ED) has been previously described; however the effect of this illness on the outcomes for conventional ED treatments has not been previously investigated. This study aims to compare clinical, psychopathological and personality features between two samples of ED individuals: those with comorbid T1DM and those without (No-DM); and to identify differences in treatment outcomes between the groups. Methods: This study compares treatment outcome, dropouts, ED psychopathology and personality characteristics for 20 individuals with ED and T1DM and 20 ED patients without diabetes, matched for diagnostic and treatment type. Results: The study found higher dropout rates from therapy in individuals with T1DM and worse treatment outcome in spite of having no significant differences in eating disorder psychopathology, although individuals with T1DM report misusing insulin. Conclusions: The low levels of motivation to change, and insulin abuse in T1DM patients, may suggest that treatment for patients with ED and T1DM should consider the individual's personality and role of insulin abuse when determining the appropriate intervention

    Treatment outcome of patients with comorbid type 1 diabetes and eating disorders

    No full text
    Background: Co-morbidity between Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) and eating disorders (ED) has been previously described; however the effect of this illness on the outcomes for conventional ED treatments has not been previously investigated. This study aims to compare clinical, psychopathological and personality features between two samples of ED individuals: those with comorbid T1DM and those without (No-DM); and to identify differences in treatment outcomes between the groups. Methods: This study compares treatment outcome, dropouts, ED psychopathology and personality characteristics for 20 individuals with ED and T1DM and 20 ED patients without diabetes, matched for diagnostic and treatment type. Results: The study found higher dropout rates from therapy in individuals with T1DM and worse treatment outcome in spite of having no significant differences in eating disorder psychopathology, although individuals with T1DM report misusing insulin. Conclusions: The low levels of motivation to change, and insulin abuse in T1DM patients, may suggest that treatment for patients with ED and T1DM should consider the individual's personality and role of insulin abuse when determining the appropriate intervention

    Orexin and sleep quality in anorexia nervosa: Clinical relevance and influence on treatment outcome

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    Background and aims Orexins/hypocretins are orexigenic peptides implicated in the regulation of feeding behavior and the sleep/wake cycle. Little is known about the functioning of these peptides in anorexia nervosa (AN). The aims of the current study were to evaluate the extent to which orexin-A might be linked to sleep and treatment outcome in AN. Method Fasting plasma orexin-A concentrations were measured in 48 females with AN at the start of a day hospital treatment and in 98 normal-eater/healthy-weight controls. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index was administered at the beginning of the treatment as a measure of sleep quality. Other psychopathological variables were evaluated with the Symptom Checklist-Revised (SCL90R) and the Eating Disorder Inventory-2 (EDI). Patients were assessed at the start and end of treatment by means of commonly used diagnostic criteria and clinical questionnaires. Results The AN patients presented more sleep disturbances and poorer overall sleep quality than did the healthy controls (p = .026) but there were no global differences between groups in plasma orexin-A concentrations (p = .071). In the AN sample, orexin-A concentrations were associated with greater sleep disturbances (|r| = .30), sleep inefficiency (|r| = .22) and poorer overall sleep (|r| = .22). Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) showed that both elevated orexin-A concentrations and inadequate sleep predicted poorer treatment outcome. Conclusion Plasma orexin-A concentrations contribute to poor sleep quality in AN, and both of these variables are associated with therapy response.This manuscript was partially supported by grants from Insti- tuto Salud Carlos III (FIS PI14/290 and CIBERobn) and Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER) a way to build Europe, but also AGAUR de la Generalitat de Catalunya (2014SGR1672) and PROMOSAM (PSI2014-56303-REDT), Spain. CIBEROBN, CIBERSMA and CIBERESP are all initiatives of ISCIII. Sarah Sauchelli is recipient of a pre-doctoral Grant (2013–17) by IDIBELL. José C. Fernández- García is recipient of a research contract from Servicio Andaluz de Salud (SAS) (B-0033-2014). The funders had no role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or prepa- ration of the manuscript
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