The comparison of risky and ambiguity decision making and cool executive functions between patients with obsessive compulsive disorder and healthy controls

Background: Executive functioning has been evaluated in obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD). Cool and hot executive functioning discrimination provided a different way of conceptualising executive functions. Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare ambiguity and risky decision-making and cool executive functions in an OCD and a healthy control group. The relationship between decision-making and cool executive functioning was investigated. Methods: Sixty-two OCD patients and 48 healthy control participants were compared. Decision-making was measured using the Iowa Gambling Task. The cool executive functioning was assessed using the Stroop Test and the Wisconsin Card Sorting Task (WCST). Results: The OCD group completed the WCST and the Stroop Test statistically significantly with a lower score than that of the control group. The OCD group had impaired response inhibition and set-shifting that indicate impaired cool executive functioning. In contrast to a lack of a statistically significant difference, the risky decision-making performance was worse in the OCD group than in the healthy control group and in the unmedicated OCD patients than in the medicated OCD patients. Discussion: The OCD patients had a poorer performance in risky decision-making and cool executive functioning. There was a link between risky decision-making performance and impaired cool executive functions

Fronto-striatal structures related with model-based control as an endophenotype for obsessive–compulsive disorder

Recent theories suggest a shift from model-based goal-directed to model-free habitual decision-making in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, it is yet unclear, whether this shift in the decision process is heritable. We investigated 32 patients with OCD, 27 unaffected siblings (SIBs) and 31 healthy controls (HCs) using the two-step task. We computed behavioral and reaction time analyses and fitted a computational model to assess the balance between model-based and model-free control. 80 subjects also underwent structural imaging. We observed a significant ordered effect for the shift towards model-free control in the direction OCD>SIB>HC in our computational parameter of interest. However less directed analyses revealed no shift towards model-free control in OCDs. Nonetheless, we found evidence for reduced model-based control in OCDs compared to HCs and SIBs via 2nd stage reaction time analyses. In this measure SIBs also showed higher levels of model-based control than HCs. Across all subjects these effects were associated with the surface area of the left medial/right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Moreover, correlations between bilateral putamen/right caudate volumes and these effects varied as a function of group: they were negative in SIBs and OCDs, but positive in HCs. Associations between fronto-striatal regions and model-based reaction time effects point to a potential endophenotype for OCD

Depresif alkol bağımlılarında mirtazapin ve amitriptilinin karşılaştırılması

Bu tezin, veri tabanı üzerinden yayınlanma izni bulunmamaktadır. Yayınlanma izni olmayan tezlerin basılı kopyalarına Üniversite kütüphaneniz aracılığıyla (TÜBESS üzerinden) erişebilirsiniz.[Abstarct Not Available

Social cognition in alcohol use disorder: a meta-analysis

Background and aims Deficits in social cognitive abilities including emotion recognition and theory of mind (ToM) can play a significant role in interpersonal difficulties observed in alcohol use disorder (AUD). This meta-analysis aims to estimate mean effect sizes of deficits in social cognition inAUD and examines the effects of demographic and clinical confounding factors on the variability of effect sizes across studies. Methods A literature review was conducted on research reports published from January 1990 to January 2016. Twenty-five studies investigating ToM and facial emotion recognition performances of 756 individuals with AUD and 681 healthy controls were selected after applying inclusion and exclusion criteria. Weighted effect sizes (d) were calculated for ToM, decoding and reasoning aspects of ToM, total facial emotion recognition and recognition of each of six basic emotions. Results Facial emotion recognition was significantly impaired [d=0.65,95% confidence interval (CI)=0.42-0.89], particularly for disgust and anger. AUDwas also associated with deficits in ToM (d=0.58, 95% CI=0.36-0.81). These deficits were evident in tasks measuring both decoding (d=0.46, 95% CI=0.19-0.73) and reasoning (d=0.72, 95% CI=0.37-1.06) aspects of ToM. The longer duration of alcohol misuse and more depressive symptoms were associated with more severe deficits in recognition of facial emotions. Conclusions Alcohol use disorder appears to be associated with significant impairment in facial emotion recognition and theory of mind

Is it important to take the co-occurrence of obesity and cigarette smoking into account in brain imaging studies in major depressive disorder?

Objective: To date, a small number of studies have investigated cortical thickness, cortical surface area, and subcortical volume abnormalities in first-episode, untreated patients with Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). The findings of previous studies are not entirely consistent. Previous studies did not match first-episode, untreated patients with MDD to controls regarding body mass index (BMI) and smoking, which could contribute to the inconsistency of results. The aim of the current study was to examine whether morphological abnormalities are present in first-episode and untreated MDD patients in comparison with well-matched controls, particularly concerning BMI and smoking status

Abnormal white matter integrity and impairment of cognitive abilities in adolescent inhalant abusers

WOS: 000348955000010PubMed ID: 25479538Inhalant abuse represents a major health problem especially among adolescents and young adults. However, less is known about white matter (WM) microstructure in adolescent inhalant abusers. In the present study, we used diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to study WM changes in adolescent inhalant abusers compared with healthy controls. We also tested whether there was any relationship between WM integrity and neuropsychological measures in adolescent inhalant abusers. The study included 19 adolescent inhalant abusers and 19 healthy control subjects. Whole brain analysis of WM microstructure was performed using tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) to detect abnormal WM regions between groups. Wisconsin card sorting test (WCST) and Stroop test were used to measure neuropsychological performance. We found that adolescent inhalant abuser group had significantly higher axial diffusivity (AD) values in left parietal, occipital and temporal WM than in healthy control group. Inhalant abuser and control groups did not differ significantly on fractional anisotropy (FA) and radial diffusivity (RD) values. Adolescent inhalant abusers showed worse performance when compared with control group in WCST and Stroop test. There was no significant correlation of AD values in significant clusters with neuropsychological test performances within the two groups. We only found discrete impairments in neuropsychological test performance and WM integrity in adolescent inhalant abusers compared with healthy control subjects and we were not able to demonstrate a direct correlation between WM alterations and neurocognitive performance. Future work is required to longitudinally evaluate brain abnormalities through methods assessing brain structure, function and connectivity. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.Ege University Science and Technology Application and Research CenterEge University [09/EGEBAM/001]This research was funded by Ege University Science and Technology Application and Research Center (grant number 09/EGEBAM/001) which had no role in the design of the study, collection and analysis of data and decision to publish

DEHB Birlikteliği Gösteren ve Göstermeyen Sentetik Kannabinoid Kullanıcılarında Kortikal Kalınlık ve Subkortikal Hacimlerin Kontrollerle Karşılaştırılması

Introduction: Synthetic cannabinoids (SCs) have become increasingly popular in the last few years, especially among adolescents. Given Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is over represented in patients with substance use across adolescents compared to the general population, the current study aims were two-fold: i) examine cortical thickness, surface area and subcortical volumes in SC users compared to controls, ii) examine the influence of ADHD on cortical thickness, surface area and subcortical volumes in SC users. Methods: Structural magnetic resonance imaging scans were acquired from 28 SC users (15 without ADHD and 13 with ADHD combined type) and 13 controls. Results: We found that SC users both with and without ADHD groups have significantly reduced cortical thickness compared to controls in areas of the left caudal middle frontal and left superior frontal. in addition, SC users with ADHD also showed reduced cortical thickness in the right precentral and postcentral gyruses. We also found increased right nucleus accumbens volume in SC users without ADHD, but not with ADHD, compared to controls. Conclusion: These results suggest that similar to cannabis use, SC use has also negative effects on brain morphology and comorbidity of ADHD and substance dependence may show different cortical thickness and subcortical volume alterations than substance use alone.Giriş: Başta ergenler arasında olmak üzere, son yıllarda sentetik kannabinoid (SK) kullanımı giderek artmaktadır. Dikkat eksikliği ve hiperaktivite bozukluğunun (DEHB) madde kullanım bozukluğu olanlarda genel popülasyondan daha sık görüldüğü dikkate alınarak, bu çalışmada DEHB eştanısı olan ve olmayan SK kullanıcılarının kortikal kalınlık, yüzey alanı ve subkortikal hacimlerinin kontroller ile karşılaştırılması amaçlanmıştır. Yöntem: 28 SK kullanıcısı (13 DEHB eş tanısı olan ve 15 olmayan) ile 13 kontrolün yapısal beyin görüntüleri karşılaştırılmıştır. Sonuçlar: DEHB eştanısı olan ve olmayan SK kullanıcılarının sol kaudal frontal ve sol superior frontal korteks de kontrollere göre daha düşük kortikal kalınlık gösterdikleri saptanmıştır. DEHB eş tanısı olan grup kontrollerle karşılaştırıldığında sağ pre-, post-santral gyrus’larda kortikal kalınlık azalması göstermiştir. Ayrıca, DEHB eş tanısı olmayan grupta da nükleus akumbens hacminde artış saptanmıştır. Tartışma: Sonuçlarımız SK kullanımının beyin morfolojisi üzerine olumsuz etkileri olduğunu ve ayrıca DEHB eştanısı olan madde kullanım bozukluğu hastalarının eştanısı olmayanlara göre farklı beyin morfolojik özellikleri gösterebileceğini düşündürtmektedir

Structural dysconnectivity in offspring of individuals with bipolar disorder: The effect of co-existing clinical-high-risk for bipolar disorder

Background: Bipolar disorder (BD) might be associated in disturbances in brain networks. However, little is known about the abnormalities in structural brain connectivity which might be related to vulnerability to BD and predictive of the emergence of manic symptoms. No previous study has investigated the effect of subthreshold syndromes on structural dysconnectivity in offspring of parents with BD (BDoff)