Partnerships to Address School Safety through a Student Support Lens

School safety is a primary concern of school leaders, employees, parents, and a variety of community stakeholders. Attempts to mitigate and prevent school safety concerns often focus on strategies around school climate assessment, emergency communication, school safety plan development, and school resource officer employment (U.S. DHS et al., 2018). Involvement of key stakeholders, such as school social workers, school counselors, and school-based mental health professionals is emphasized in creating and assessing school safety in a wholistic manner. This article provides an overview of a Trainings to Increase School Safety grant program that was implemented with public school stakeholders through partnerships between a university and five public school districts in the Southeastern North Carolina region

Association of Brain Reward Response With Body Mass Index and Ventral Striatal-Hypothalamic Circuitry Among Young Women With Eating Disorders.

ImportanceEating disorders are severe psychiatric disorders; however, disease models that cross subtypes and integrate behavior and neurobiologic factors are lacking.ObjectiveTo assess brain response during unexpected receipt or omission of a salient sweet stimulus across a large sample of individuals with eating disorders and healthy controls and test for evidence of whether this brain response is associated with the ventral striatal-hypothalamic circuitry, which has been associated with food intake control, and whether salient stimulus response and eating disorder related behaviors are associated.Design, setting, and participantsIn this cross-sectional functional brain imaging study, young adults across the eating disorder spectrum were matched with healthy controls at a university brain imaging facility and eating disorder treatment program. During a sucrose taste classic conditioning paradigm, violations of learned associations between conditioned visual and unconditioned taste stimuli evoked the dopamine-related prediction error. Dynamic effective connectivity during expected sweet taste receipt was studied to investigate hierarchical brain activation between food intake relevant brain regions. The study was conducted from June 2014 to November 2019. Data were analyzed from December 2019 to February 2020.Main outcomes and measuresPrediction error brain reward response across insula and striatum; dynamic effective connectivity between hypothalamus and ventral striatum; and demographic and behavior variables and their correlations with prediction error brain response and connectivity edge coefficients.ResultsOf 317 female participants (197 with eating disorders and 120 healthy controls), the mean (SD) age was 23.8 (5.6) years and mean (SD) body mass index was 20.8 (5.4). Prediction error response was elevated in participants with anorexia nervosa (Wilks λ, 0.843; P = .001) and in participants with eating disorders inversely correlated with body mass index (left nucleus accumbens: r = -0.291; 95% CI, -0.413 to -0.167; P < .001; right dorsal anterior insula: r = -0.228; 95% CI, -0.366 to -0.089; P = .001), eating disorder inventory-3 binge eating tendency (left nucleus accumbens: r = -0.207; 95% CI, -0.333 to -0.073; P = .004; right dorsal anterior insula: r = -0.220; 95% CI, -0.354 to -0.073; P = .002), and trait anxiety (left nucleus accumbens: r = -0.148; 95% CI, -0.288 to -0.003; P = .04; right dorsal anterior insula: r = -0.221; 95% CI, -0.357 to -0.076; P = .002). Ventral striatal to hypothalamus directed connectivity was positively correlated with ventral striatal prediction error in eating disorders (r = 0.189; 95% CI, 0.045-0.324; P = .01) and negatively correlated with feeling out of control after eating (right side: r = -0.328; 95% CI, -0.480 to -0.164; P < .001; left side: r = -0.297; 95% CI, -0.439 to -0.142; P = .001).Conclusions and relevanceThe results of this cross-sectional imaging study support that body mass index modulates prediction error and food intake control circuitry in the brain. Once altered, this circuitry may reinforce eating disorder behaviors when paired with behavioral traits associated with overeating or undereating

Association of Brain Reward Response With Body Mass Index and Ventral Striatal-Hypothalamic Circuitry Among Young Women With Eating Disorders.

ImportanceEating disorders are severe psychiatric disorders; however, disease models that cross subtypes and integrate behavior and neurobiologic factors are lacking.ObjectiveTo assess brain response during unexpected receipt or omission of a salient sweet stimulus across a large sample of individuals with eating disorders and healthy controls and test for evidence of whether this brain response is associated with the ventral striatal-hypothalamic circuitry, which has been associated with food intake control, and whether salient stimulus response and eating disorder related behaviors are associated.Design, setting, and participantsIn this cross-sectional functional brain imaging study, young adults across the eating disorder spectrum were matched with healthy controls at a university brain imaging facility and eating disorder treatment program. During a sucrose taste classic conditioning paradigm, violations of learned associations between conditioned visual and unconditioned taste stimuli evoked the dopamine-related prediction error. Dynamic effective connectivity during expected sweet taste receipt was studied to investigate hierarchical brain activation between food intake relevant brain regions. The study was conducted from June 2014 to November 2019. Data were analyzed from December 2019 to February 2020.Main outcomes and measuresPrediction error brain reward response across insula and striatum; dynamic effective connectivity between hypothalamus and ventral striatum; and demographic and behavior variables and their correlations with prediction error brain response and connectivity edge coefficients.ResultsOf 317 female participants (197 with eating disorders and 120 healthy controls), the mean (SD) age was 23.8 (5.6) years and mean (SD) body mass index was 20.8 (5.4). Prediction error response was elevated in participants with anorexia nervosa (Wilks λ, 0.843; P = .001) and in participants with eating disorders inversely correlated with body mass index (left nucleus accumbens: r = -0.291; 95% CI, -0.413 to -0.167; P < .001; right dorsal anterior insula: r = -0.228; 95% CI, -0.366 to -0.089; P = .001), eating disorder inventory-3 binge eating tendency (left nucleus accumbens: r = -0.207; 95% CI, -0.333 to -0.073; P = .004; right dorsal anterior insula: r = -0.220; 95% CI, -0.354 to -0.073; P = .002), and trait anxiety (left nucleus accumbens: r = -0.148; 95% CI, -0.288 to -0.003; P = .04; right dorsal anterior insula: r = -0.221; 95% CI, -0.357 to -0.076; P = .002). Ventral striatal to hypothalamus directed connectivity was positively correlated with ventral striatal prediction error in eating disorders (r = 0.189; 95% CI, 0.045-0.324; P = .01) and negatively correlated with feeling out of control after eating (right side: r = -0.328; 95% CI, -0.480 to -0.164; P < .001; left side: r = -0.297; 95% CI, -0.439 to -0.142; P = .001).Conclusions and relevanceThe results of this cross-sectional imaging study support that body mass index modulates prediction error and food intake control circuitry in the brain. Once altered, this circuitry may reinforce eating disorder behaviors when paired with behavioral traits associated with overeating or undereating

Understanding Neuronal Architecture in Obesity through Analysis of White Matter Connection Strength.

Despite the prevalence of obesity, our understanding of its neurobiological underpinnings is insufficient. Diffusion weighted imaging and calculation of white matter connection strength are methods to describe the architecture of anatomical white matter tracts. This study is aimed to characterize white matter architecture within taste-reward circuitry in a population of obese individuals. Obese (n = 18, age = 28.7 ± 8.3 years) and healthy control (n = 24, age = 27.4 ± 6.3 years) women underwent diffusion weighted imaging. Using probabilistic fiber tractography (FSL PROBTRACKX2 toolbox) we calculated connection strength within 138 anatomical white matter tracts. Obese women (OB) displayed lower and greater connectivity within taste-reward circuitry compared to controls (Wilks' λ < 0.001; p < 0.001). Connectivity was lower in white matter tracts connecting insula, amygdala, prefrontal cortex (PFC), orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and striatum. Connectivity was greater between the amygdala and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). This study indicates that lower white matter connectivity within white matter tracts of insula-fronto-striatal taste-reward circuitry are associated with obesity as well as greater connectivity within white matter tracts connecting the amygdala and ACC. The specificity of regions suggests sensory integration and reward processing are key associations that are altered in and might contribute to obesity

Understanding Neuronal Architecture in Obesity through Analysis of White Matter Connection Strength

Despite the prevalence of obesity, our understanding of its neurobiological underpinnings is insufficient. Diffusion weighted imaging and calculation of white matter connection strength are methods to describe the architecture of anatomical white matter tracts. This study is aimed to characterize white matter architecture within taste-reward circuitry in a population of obese individuals. Obese (n = 18, age = 28.7 ± 8.3 years) and healthy control (n = 24, age = 27.4 ± 6.3 years) women underwent diffusion weighted imaging. Using probabilistic fiber tractography (FSL PROBTRACKX2 toolbox) we calculated connection strength within 138 anatomical white matter tracts. Obese women (OB) displayed lower and greater connectivity within taste-reward circuitry compared to controls (Wilks’ λ < 0.001; p < 0.001). Connectivity was lower in white matter tracts connecting insula, amygdala, prefrontal cortex (PFC), orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and striatum. Connectivity was greater between the amygdala and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC). This study indicates that lower white matter connectivity within white matter tracts of insula-fronto-striatal taste-reward circuitry are associated with obesity as well as greater connectivity within white matter tracts connecting the amygdala and ACC. The specificity of regions suggests sensory integration and reward processing are key associations that are altered in and might contribute to obesity

Understanding Neuronal Architecture in Obesity through Analysis of White Matter Connection Strength

Despite the prevalence of obesity, our understanding of its neurobiological underpinnings is insufficient. Diffusion weighted imaging and calculation of white matter connection strength are methods to describe the architecture of anatomical white matter tracts. This study aimed to characterize white matter architecture within taste-reward circuitry in a population of obese individuals.Obese (n=18, age = 28.7 ± 8.3 years) and healthy control (n=24, age = 27.4 ± 6.3 years) women underwent diffusion weighted imaging. Using probabilistic fiber tractography (FSL PROBTRACKX2 toolbox) we calculated connection strength within 138 anatomical white matter tracts.Obese women displayed lower and greater connectivity within taste-reward circuitry compared to controls (Wilks’ λ < 0.001; p < 0.001). Connectivity was lower in white matter tracts connecting insula, amygdala, prefrontal cortex, orbitofrontal cortex and striatum. Connectivity was greater between the amygdala and anterior cingulate cortex. This study indicates that lower white matter connectivity within white matter tracts of insula-fronto-striatal taste-reward circuitry are associated with obesity as well as greater connectivity within white matter tracts connecting the amygdala and anterior cingulate cortex. The specificity of regions suggests sensory integration and reward processing are key associations that are altered in and might contribute to obesity