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Neuroscience

Plant Protein-Based Diet Is Key to Healthier Aging for Women – Neuroscience News

Summary: A new study reveals that women consuming higher amounts of plant-based protein experience fewer chronic diseases and maintain better health as they age.

Analyzing data from over 48,000 women in the Harvard-based Nurses Health Study, the research showed a significant link between plant protein intake and reduced risk of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and cognitive decline. Protein source matters, with plant proteins being more beneficial for long-term health compared to animal proteins.

Key Facts:

Source: Tufts University

Women who consume higher amounts of protein, especially protein from plant-based sources, develop fewer chronic diseases and are more likely to be healthier overall as they age, according to astudyled by researchers at theJean Mayer USDA Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging(HNRCA) at Tufts University and published Jan. 17 inThe American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Analyzing self-reported data from more than 48,000 women, the researchers saw notably less heart disease, cancer, and diabetes, and cognitive and mental health decline, in those who included more protein in their diets from sources such as fruits, vegetables, bread, beans, legumes, and pasta, compared to those who ate less.

Consuming protein in midlife was linked to promoting good health in older adulthood, saidAndres Ardisson Korat, a scientist at the HNRCA and lead author of the study. We also found that the source of protein matters. Getting the majority of your protein from plant sources at midlife, plus a small amount of animal protein seems to be conducive to good health and good survival to older ages.

Findings were derived from the seminal Harvard-basedNurses Health Study, which followed female health care professionals from 1984 to 2016. The women were between the ages of 38 and 59 in 1984 and deemed to be in good physical and mental health at the start of the study.

Ardisson Korat and fellow researchers, including senior author Qi Sun of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, examined thousands of surveys collected every four years from 1984 to 2016 on how frequently people ate certain foods to pinpoint dietary protein and its effects on healthy aging. They calculated protein intake by multiplying the number of times each food item was consumed by its protein content and then, using the Harvard University Food Composition Database, totaling the amount of protein across all food items.

The researchers then compared the diets of women who didnt develop 11 chronic diseases or lose a lot of physical function or mental health, with the diets of those who did.

Women who ate more plant-based protein, which in 1984 was defined as protein obtained from bread, vegetables, fruits, pizza, cereal, baked items, mashed potatoes, nuts, beans, peanut butter, and pasta, were 46 percent more likely to be healthy into their later years.

Those who consumed more animal protein such as beef, chicken, milk, fish/seafood, and cheese, however, were 6 percent less likely to stay healthy as they aged.

Those who consumed greater amounts of animal protein tended to have more chronic disease and didnt manage to obtain the improved physical function that we normally associate with eating protein, said Ardisson Korat.

Animal protein was modestly tied with fewer physical limitations in older age, but plant protein had a stronger, more consistent correlation across all observed models, and was more closely linked with sound mental health later in life.

For heart disease in particular, higher plant protein consumption came with lower levels of LDL cholesterol (bad cholesterol), blood pressure, and insulin sensitivity, while higher animal protein intake was tied to higher levels, along with increased insulin-like growth factor, which has been detected in multiple cancers.

Dairy protein alone (mainly milk, cheese, pizza, yogurt, and ice cream) was not significantly associated with better health status in older adulthood.

The team acknowledged that the benefits of plant protein might derive from components in plant-based food, rather than the proteincompared to animal foods, plants contain a higher proportion of dietary fiber, micronutrients, and beneficial compounds called polyphenols that are present in plants, rather than exclusively protein.

Ardisson Korat also said data from other groups is needed, as the Nurses Health Study surveyed primarily white females working in health care. The data from the study tended to be very homogeneous in terms of demographic and socioeconomic composition, so it will be valuable to follow up with a study in cohorts that are more diverse. Its a field that is still evolving, said Ardisson Korat.

But the teams findings so far support the recommendationthat women eat most of their protein in the form of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds, although they should also consume some fish and animal protein for their iron and vitamin B12 content.

Dietary protein intake, especially plant protein, in midlife plays an important role in the promotion of healthy aging and in maintaining positive health status at older ages, Ardisson Korat said.

Funding: Research reported in this article was supported by the U.S. Department of AgriculturesAgricultural Research Service, and by the National Institutes of Health under award numbers UM1CA186107 (National Cancer Institute), P01CA87969 (National Cancer Institute), R01DK120870 (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases), U2CDK129670 (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases), R01DK127601 (National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases), R01HL060712 (National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute), R01HL034594 (National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute), R01HL035464 (National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute), and R01HL088521 (National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute). Andres Ardisson Korat was supported by training grant KL2TR002545 from the National Institutes of Healths National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. Complete information on authors, funders, limitations and conflicts of interest is available in the published paper.

The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the U.S. Department of Agriculture or the National Institutes of Health.

Author: Lisa LaPoint Source: Tufts University Contact: Lisa LaPoint Tufts University Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News

Original Research: The findings will appear in American Journal of Clinical Nutrition

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Plant Protein-Based Diet Is Key to Healthier Aging for Women - Neuroscience News

Neuroscience

Memory Loss from TBI Reversed – Neuroscience News

Summary: Researchers made a breakthrough in understanding memory loss due to repeated head impacts, as often experienced by athletes. Their study reveals that memory issues following head injury in mice are linked to inadequate reactivation of neurons involved in memory formation.

This discovery is significant because it demonstrates that the memory loss is not a permanent, degenerative condition but potentially reversible. By using lasers to activate specific memory neurons, the researchers successfully reversed amnesia in mice, opening new avenues for treating cognitive impairments in humans caused by repeated head impacts.

Key Facts:

Source: Georgetown University

A mouse study designed to shed light on memory loss in people who experience repeated head impacts, such as athletes, suggests the condition could potentially be reversed. The research in mice finds that amnesia and poor memory following head injury is due to inadequate reactivation of neurons involved in forming memories.

The study, conducted by researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center in collaboration with Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, is reported January 16, 2024, in theJournal of Neuroscience.

Importantly for diagnostic and treatment purposes, the researchers found that the memory loss attributed to head injury was not a permanent pathological event driven by a neurodegenerative disease. Indeed, the researchers could reverse the amnesia to allow the mice to recall the lost memory, potentially allowing cognitive impairment caused by head impact to be clinically reversed.

The Georgetown investigators had previously found that the brain adapts to repeated head impacts by changing the way the synapses in the brain operate. This can cause trouble in forming new memories and remembering existing memories. In their new study, investigators were able to trigger mice to remember memories that had been forgotten due to head impacts.

Our research gives us hope that we can design treatments to return the head-impact brain to its normal condition and recover cognitive function in humans that have poor memory caused by repeated head impacts, says the studys senior investigator, Mark Burns, PhD, a professor and Vice-Chair in Georgetowns Department of Neuroscience and director of the Laboratory for Brain Injury and Dementia.

In the new study, the scientists gave two groups of mice a new memory by training them in a test they had never seen before. One group was exposed to a high frequency of mild head impacts for one week (similar to contact sport exposure in people) and one group were controls that didnt receive the impacts. The impacted mice were unable to recall the new memory a week later.

Most research in this area has been in human brains with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), which is a degenerative brain disease found in people with a history of repetitive head impact, said Burns. By contrast, our goal was to understand how the brain changes in response to the low-level head impacts that many young football players regularly experience.

Researchers have found that, on average, college football players receive 21 head impacts per week with defensive ends receiving 41 head impacts per week. The number of head impacts to mice in this study were designed to mimic a week of exposure for a college football player, and each single head impact by itself was extraordinarily mild.

Using genetically modified mice allowed the researchers to see the neurons involved in learning new memories, and they found that these memory neurons (the memory engram) were equally present in both the control mice and the experimental mice.

To understand the physiology underlying these memory changes, the studys first author, Daniel P. Chapman, Ph.D., said, We are good at associating memories with places, and thats because being in a place, or seeing a photo of a place, causes a reactivation of our memory engrams. This is why we examined the engram neurons to look for the specific signature of an activated neuron.

When the mice see the room where they first learned the memory, the control mice are able to activate their memory engram, but the head impact mice were not. This is what was causing the amnesia.

The researchers were able to reverse the amnesia to allow the mice to remember the lost memory using lasers to activate the engram cells.

We used an invasive technique to reverse memory loss in our mice, and unfortunately this is not translatable to humans, Burns adds.

We are currently studying a number of non-invasive techniques to try to communicate to the brain that it is no longer in danger, and to open a window of plasticity that can reset the brain to its former state.

In addition to Burns and Chapman the authors include Stefano Vicini at Georgetown University and Sarah D. Power and Toms J. Ryan at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland.

Funding: This work was supported by the Mouse Behavior Core in the Georgetown University Neuroscience Department and by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) / National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) grants R01NS107370 & R01NS121316. NINDS also supported F30 NS122281 and the Neural Injury and Plasticity Training Grant housed in the Center for Neural Injury and Recovery at Georgetown University (T32NS041218). Seed funding is from the CTE Research Fund at Georgetown.

The authors report having no personal financial interests related to the study.

Author: Karen Teber Source: Georgetown University Contact: Karen Teber Georgetown University Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News

Original Research: Closed access. Amnesia after repeated head impact is caused by impaired synaptic plasticity in the memory engram by Mark Burns et al. Journal of Neuroscience

Abstract

Amnesia after repeated head impact is caused by impaired synaptic plasticity in the memory engram

Sub-concussive head impacts are associated with the development of acute and chronic cognitive deficits. We recently reported that high-frequency head impact (HFHI) causes chronic cognitive deficits in mice through synaptic changes. To better understand the mechanisms underlying HFHI-induced memory decline, we used TRAP2/Ai32 transgenic mice to enable visualization and manipulation of memory engrams.

We labeled the fear memory engram in male and female mice exposed to an aversive experience and subjected them to sham or HFHI. Upon subsequent exposure to natural memory recall cues, sham, but not HFHI mice, successfully retrieved fearful memories.

In sham mice the hippocampal engram neurons exhibited synaptic plasticity, evident in amplified AMPA:NMDA ratio, enhanced AMPA-weighted tau, and increased dendritic spine volume compared to non-engram neurons. In contrast, although HFHI mice retained a comparable number of hippocampal engram neurons, these neurons did not undergo synaptic plasticity.

This lack of plasticity coincided with impaired activation of the engram network, leading to retrograde amnesia in HFHI mice. We validated that the memory deficits induced by HFHI stem from synaptic plasticity impairments by artificially activating the engram using optogenetics, and found that stimulated memory recall was identical in both sham and HFHI mice.

Our work shows that chronic cognitive impairment after HFHI is a result of deficiencies in synaptic plasticity instead of a loss in neuronal infrastructure, and we can reinstate a forgotten memory in the amnestic brain by stimulating the memory engram. Targeting synaptic plasticity may have therapeutic potential for treating memory impairments caused by repeated head impacts.

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Memory Loss from TBI Reversed - Neuroscience News

Neuroscience

NEUROSCIENCE PROFESSOR (ASSISTANT, ASSOCIATE OR FULL PROFESSOR) job with University of Medicine … – The Chronicle of Higher Education

NEUROSCIENCE

Rank: Assistant, Associate or FullProfessor

UMHS Campus in St. Kitts, West Indies

The University of Medicine and Health Sciences-St. Kitts (UMHS) invites applications for a faculty position in Neuroscience.Neuroscience/Neuroanatomy is focused on team-teaching and, as such, faculty have adequate time to engage in research and/or writing. The UMHS academic year has three semesters; therefore, teaching responsibilities occur throughout the year.

Responsibilities include:

Minimum qualifications:

Course Description: MNEU 0810 Neuroscience/Neuroanatomy 7 credits. Neuroscience begins with an overview of the entire nervous system. As the course progresses, the focus is on comprehending the basic structure and function of each level of the nervous system, integrating both the anatomy and physiology of the nervous system. The principles that underlie the anatomical structure of each system of the brain are correlated with its physiology; correlations between the functional deficits, and the pathological anatomy in several neurological diseases which require working knowledge of anatomy and physiology are stressed. Special attention is given to integrating current understandings of human neurological and psychiatric diseases, and each topic is supplemented by relevant lab exercises which include detailed brain dissection and exposure to angiograms, CT scans, MRI, etc.

About UMHS.Students complete the Basic Science Program at the UMHS at our state-of-the-art campus in St Kitts. The fifth semester occurs at the UMHS campus in Portland, Maine. Students complete their third year of core clinical rotations and fourth year of elective rotations in one of our many affiliated, accredited teaching hospitals throughout the United States. To graduate, students must successfully complete the UMHS medical program and pass the USMLE Step1 and Step 2. Our graduates have obtained residencies through the United States and Canada. Please visit our website for further details about our academic program and student successes

Course Benefits:The position is full time and the salary is commensurate with teaching experience and degree. The faculty member is provided with an excellent health care plan which covers both the US and St. Kitts health care. Since there are three fifteen week semesters, the faculty member has seven weeks vacation a year which comes as the last two weeks of May and August and three weeks in December. Faculty are also provided an annual one week leave with expenses to attend a pre approved professional convention. Please note that we recruit highly credentialed faculty worldwide to promote diversity, equity and inclusion. UMHS offers a tax-free annual salary within certain limits, a state of the art institution on an idyllic island, the opportunity to become involved in the growth and success of the institution, and most importantly the opportunity to educate and nurture a new generation of physicians.

Send letter of interest, CV, and references to: Dr. Jerry Thornton, Executive Vice President at drjerrythornton@gmail.com andhr@umhs-sk.net

See more at:http://www.umhs-sk.org

We are an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer M/F/D/V

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NEUROSCIENCE PROFESSOR (ASSISTANT, ASSOCIATE OR FULL PROFESSOR) job with University of Medicine ... - The Chronicle of Higher Education

Neuroscience

Acetaminophen Use in Pregnancy Linked to ADHD in Kids – Neuroscience News

Summary: Researchers found a connection between the increased use of acetaminophen during pregnancy, particularly in the second trimester, and attention and behavior problems in young children. The research, part of the Illinois Kids Development Study, involved tracking prenatal chemical exposures and assessing the behaviors and traits of children at ages 2, 3, and 4.

While acetaminophen is deemed the safest painkiller during pregnancy, the study reveals a trend where higher usage, especially in the second trimester, corresponds to more attention-related problems and ADHD-type behaviors in children. However, the studys authors emphasize the need for more research and caution against interpreting the findings as an indication of ADHD or other disorders.

Key Facts:

Source: University of Illinois

A new study links increased use of acetaminophen during pregnancy particularly in the second trimester to modest but noticeable increases in problems with attention and behavior in 2-, 3- and 4-year-olds.

The study adds to a growing body of evidence linking the frequent use of acetaminophen in pregnancy to developmental problems in offspring.

The findings are detailed in the journalNeurotoxicology and Teratology.

The research is part of theIllinois Kids Development Studyat the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, which explores how environmental exposures influence child development. The study tracked hundreds of children, collecting data on their prenatal chemical exposures and asking caregivers to assess their behaviors and traits at ages 2, 3 and 4.

While acetaminophen is considered the safest painkiller and fever reducer available during pregnancy, previous studies have found evidence of a range of possible negative outcomes for children exposed to the drug in gestation, said Megan Woodbury, who led the research as a graduate student at the U. of I. withcomparative biosciencesprofessor emeritaSusan Schantz, the principal investigator of the IKIDS program at Illinois. Woodbury is now a postdoctoral researcher at Northeastern University in Boston. Schantz is a faculty member of theBeckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technologyat the U. of I.

Arecent studyled by Woodbury and Schantz linked higher acetaminophen exposure in pregnancy to language delays in children.

Some previous studies have found no relationship between acetaminophen use in pregnancy and attention and behavior in childhood, while other, usually larger studies found relationships between more frequent use of the medication during pregnancy and attention-related and behavioral problems in offspring.

Most of the latter studies were conducted in older children and questioned pregnant participants about their use of acetaminophen at most once per trimester.

The new study asked pregnant parents about their acetaminophen use six times over the course of the pregnancy roughly once every four-to-six weeks offering a more precise picture of the magnitude and timing of the drug exposures.

The researchers also asked caregivers to answer dozens of standardized questions about their childs behavior and ability to pay attention at ages 2, 3 and 4. More than 300 children were assessed at age 2, with 262 assessed again at 3, and 196 at age 4.

Our most important finding was that with increasing acetaminophen use by pregnant participants, especially during the second trimester, their children showed more attention-related problems and ADHD-type behaviors, which we call externalizing behaviors, at every age we measured, Woodbury said.

The kinds of behaviors the caregivers reported included things like the child talking out of turn, not paying attention, not being quiet when they were supposed to be quiet, not sitting down when they were supposed to be sitting down, and being a little aggressive with other children, Schantz said.

The findings are not an indication that the children have attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder or that they will be diagnosed with ADHD at a later date, Schantz said. But the children seem to be having more trouble with attention than peers of the same age who were less exposed or not exposed to acetaminophen in the womb.

Woodbury, who herself is pregnant, says she does not want to scare others away from using acetaminophen in pregnancy when needed. Extreme headaches or other painful episodes and fevers can be debilitating and even dangerous, calling for use of the drug. She said she has turned to acetaminophen once per trimester so far. But she also chooses not to use it for minor aches, pains or slight fevers.

More research is needed to test whether more frequent use of acetaminophen during the second trimester of pregnancy may be particularly problematic for the developing brain, the researchers said.

The study also is limited as participants were mostly white, non-Hispanic and of higher economic status. Schantz and her team are working to broaden the cohort of participants in IKIDS to include pregnant people from a greater diversity of social, economic and racial backgrounds.

Funding: This research was supported by the Childrens Environmental Health and Disease Prevention Research Center funded by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the National Institutes of Health Environmental Influences on Child Health Outcomes program.

Author: Diana Yates Source: University of Illinois Contact: Diana Yates University of Illinois Image The image is credited to Neuroscience News

Original Research: Open access. The relationship of prenatal acetaminophen exposure and attention-related behavior in early childhood by Susan Schantz et al. Neurotoxicology and Teratology

Abstract

The relationship of prenatal acetaminophen exposure and attention-related behavior in early childhood

Acetaminophenis currently the only analgesic considered safe for use throughout pregnancy, but recent studies indicate thatprenatal exposureto acetaminophen may be related to poorer neurodevelopmental outcomes. Multiple studies have suggested that it may be associated with attention problems, but few have examined this association by trimester of exposure.

The Illinois Kids Development Study is a prospective birth cohort located in east-central Illinois. Exposure data were collected between December 2013 and March 2020, and 535 newborns were enrolled during that period. Mothers reported the number of times they took acetaminophen at six time points across pregnancy.

When children were 2, 3, and 4years of age, caregivers completed the ChildBehaviorChecklist for ages 1.55years (CBCL). Associations of acetaminophen use during pregnancy with scores on the Attention Problems andADHDProblems syndrome scales, the Internalizing and Externalizing Behavior composite scales, and the Total Problems score were evaluated.

Higher acetaminophen exposure during the second trimester of fetal development was associated with higher Attention Problems, ADHD Problems, Externalizing Behavior, and Total Problems scores at ages 2 and 3. Higher second trimester exposure was only associated with higher Externalizing Behavior and Total Problems scores at 4years.

Higher cumulative exposure across pregnancy was associated with higher Attention Problems and ADHD Problems scores at ages 2 and 3. Findings suggest that prenatal acetaminophen exposure, especially during the second trimester, may be related to problems with attention in early childhood.

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Acetaminophen Use in Pregnancy Linked to ADHD in Kids - Neuroscience News

Neuroscience

Personality Traits and Social Media’s Influence on Teen Depression – Neuroscience News

Summary: Researchers explored how different social media platforms relate to depressive symptoms in teens. The study, involving 237 participants aged 14 to 16, found that personality traits, particularly extraversion, significantly influence how teens experience social media.

Platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube varied in their impact, with TikTok associated with higher depressive symptoms in teens prone to negative thoughts. The research underscores the importance of considering individual differences in how social media affects mental health.

Key Facts:

Source: West Virginia University

Teens using social media are vulnerable to depressive symptoms and some platforms, like TikTok, Instagram and YouTube, may be linked to higher levels of depression than others, according toWest Virginia Universityresearch.

Amy Gentzler, professor ofpsychologyat theWVU Eberly College of Arts and Sciences, as well as graduate students Jacob Alderson, Jeff Hughes and Matty Johnston,published an articlefrom a National Institutes of Health-funded study on how teens use social media and how specific platforms relate to depressive symptoms. They considered attributes like gender, personality and self-esteem.

While studies have looked at social medias effects on overall teen mental health, Gentzler wanted to see how individuals are differentially affected.

The goal was to consider the individual people more than research has done in the past, she said. Its good to look at your teen and ask, Who are they as a person? How does that influence how they navigate these apps? I think thats a much more interesting question as a researcher, and its also much more important for parents and educators to consider.

Gentzlers research revealed a subjects personality in particular the degree of extraversion can determine how they experience social media. Findings indicated teens with higher levels of extraversion who use Instagram often may not experience depression, whereas those with low and average levels of extraversion may be at risk for greater depressive symptoms.

Alderson focused on the role personality played in the study.

When were thinking about personality and social media, were thinking about how your general disposition influences how you navigate and interact with these platforms, he explained, adding that social media platforms use predictive algorithms to match the content users see to their personality and interests.

If your teen is highly extroverted or has even average levels of extraversion, the social media content they see and how they interact with that content may differ relative to teens lower in extraversion, Alderson continued.

I think that gets at some of the negative affective reactions to social media that we saw as well, particularly for an app like TikTok thats tailored to them through an algorithm.

The researchers believe its important for teens to take note of how they feel on a social media platform.

Those cognitions you have while youre navigating an app are important, Alderson said. A teen could take a step back and think, What is it Im consuming on this platform? And when Im scrolling through, what am I thinking about? Do I feel better or worse after Ive scrolled TikTok for 30 minutes? As the study talks about, there are different ways of interacting with social media platforms, which in turn may influence how you feel after using them.

This may be because extroverted teens are likely to have more friends who will like and interact with their posts, thereby making their experiences on Instagram more rewarding. Also, extroverted people tend to have more positive outlooks and may interpret negativity on social media in a more positive way.

Gentzler said passively using social media rather than actively communicating directly with others has been found to be particularly problematic for teens mental health. While Instagram users often interact with friends, TikTok users usually watch videos from strangers.

TikTok was also associated with higher depressive symptoms, but only for teens who said they were likely to have negative thoughts and feelings while using social media. For the teens who reported they were unlikely to have negative reactions to social media, TikTok was unrelated to depressive symptoms.

Social comparison is common for adolescents both in person and online, she said. Thus, it is possible that these teens who already said theyre prone to negative thoughts and feelings may be comparing themselves to people they see on TikTok and feeling badly about themselves as a result.

This study also suggested teens who were more often on YouTube reported higher levels of depressive symptoms, and the association did not vary based on gender, self-esteem or personality.

The study included 237 participants, most from West Virginia, aged 14 to 16. Gentzler employed the help of students in the research.

Through the NIH funding, I was able to support graduate students with research stipends, she said. And regarding undergraduate students, there were probably 12 to 15 in the lab at a time, and they really had a lot of hands-on experience with this project.

In addition to creating surveys and planning, her undergraduate research assistants assisted with data collection while the study leads met with parents and teens.

They would pile in the cars with us at five in the morning to get to high schools because we were not just going to Monongalia County we were all over, Gentzler said.

Sometimes the undergraduates would present to entire homerooms, trying to get students interested in our study. The undergraduate students got a lot of experience, and it was nice to see a lot of them go on to graduate school and use what theyve learned.

According to Gentzler, the big takeaway is how people react differently to social media.

Researchers are often trying to find direct associations between time on social media and depressive symptoms, she said. Sometimes that holds, but its not going to be the same association for everyone. Some people might be prone to more bad feelings than good when using social media, so we need to recognize that were all different.

Author: Jake Stump Source: West Virginia University Contact: Jake Stump West Virginia University Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News

Original Research: Open access. Which social media platforms matter and for whom? Examining moderators of links between adolescents social media use and depressive symptoms by Amy Gentzler et al. Journal of Adolescence

Abstract

Which social media platforms matter and for whom? Examining moderators of links between adolescents social media use and depressive symptoms

Despite extensive research on social media and risks for mental health, not enough is known about individual differences in these risks.

The present study, with data collected from 2018 to 2020, investigated the association between social media use (total and for specific platforms) and depressive symptoms in a sample of 237 American adolescents (Mage=15.10; SD=0.49; 51.1% girls and 48.5% boys). We investigated several moderators: gender, self-esteem, personality, and negative reactions to social media. Covariates were gender, timing of the follow-up (pre vs. during the pandemic), and depressive symptoms a year earlier.

Results indicated that greater total time spent on social media was associated with higher levels of depressive symptoms. This effect held for Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube (but not Snapchat, Facebook, or Twitter). Several moderated effects were found. Twitter was associated with more depressive symptoms for girls but not boys. More frequent Instagram use was linked to more depressive symptoms for less or average-level extraverted teens but not for more extraverted teens, suggesting extraversion may be protective. More frequent TikTok use was associated with more depressive symptoms, particularly for teens who said they have more or average-level negative reactions to social media a year earlier.

This study suggests that certain adolescents may be at increased risk for serious mental health challenges, like elevated depressive symptoms, when using TikTok, Instagram, or Twitter more frequently, underscoring the importance of examining individual differences and particular social media platforms.

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Personality Traits and Social Media's Influence on Teen Depression - Neuroscience News

Neuroscience

Inflammation and Poverty Increase Health and Mortality Risks – Neuroscience News

Summary: Recent research highlights a synergistic relationship between chronic inflammation and poverty, exacerbating health risks and reducing life expectancy in the U.S.

Analyzing data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), researchers found that individuals suffering from both poverty and chronic inflammation face significantly worse health outcomes than those affected by either factor alone. The study used high sensitivity C-reactive protein levels to measure inflammation and considered household income against the poverty threshold.

The findings suggest that the combined effect of poverty and inflammation on mortality is not merely additive but synergistic, emphasizing the need for targeted healthcare interventions.

Key Facts:

Source: Frontiers

In the US, approximately 37.9 million people, or 11.4% of the population, lived below the poverty line in 2022. It has been well demonstrated that poverty negatively affects physical and mental health. For example, people living in poverty run a greater risk of mental illness, heart disease, hypertension, and stroke, and have a higher mortality and lower life expectancy.

The mechanisms by which poverty impacts on health outcomes are manifold: for example, people experiencing poverty have reduced access to healthy food, clean water, safe housing, education, and healthcare.

Now, researchers have shown for the first time that the effects of poverty may combine in a synergistic manner with another risk factor, chronic inflammation, to reduce health and life expectancy even further. They found that health outcomes for Americans living in poverty and with chronic inflammation are significantly worse than expected from their separate health effects.

The results are published inFrontiers in Medicine.

Here we show that clinicians need to consider the effect of inflammation on peoples health and longevity, especially on those experiencing poverty, said lead author Dr Arch Mainous, a professor at the University of Florida.

Inflammation is a natural physiological reaction to infections or injuries, essential for healing. But chronic inflammation caused by exposure to environmental toxins, certain diets, autoimmune disorders such as arthritis, or other chronic diseases like Alzheimers is a known risk factor for disease and mortality, just like poverty.

NHANES

Mainous and colleagues analyzed data from adults aged 40 and older, enrolled between 1999 and 2002 in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), and followed them until 31 December 2019. The NHANES, conducted since 1971 by the National Center for Health Statistics, tracks the health and nutritional status of US adults and children.

The NHANES allows for estimates of the US population represented by the cohort, and this study represented nearly 95 million adults. The authors combined NHANES data with records from the National Death Index, to calculate mortality rates over a period of 15 years after enrollment.

Among other demographics, NHANES records the household income. The authors divided this by the official poverty threshold to calculate the poverty index ratio, a standard measure of poverty.

Chronic inflammation

Whether participants suffered from severe inflammation was deduced from their plasma concentration of high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), produced by the liver in response to the secretion of interleukins by immune and fat cells.

The concentration of hs-CRP, included among NHANES data, is a readily available, informative, and well-studied measure of inflammation: for example, elevated concentrations are known to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality.

Typically, a concentration of greater than 0.3 mg/dl hs-CRP is taken to indicate chronic systemic inflammation, but Mainouset al.also considered the more stringent threshold of 1.0 mg/dl in a separate analysis.

The authors classified participants in four groups: with or without chronic inflammation, and living below the poverty line or not. By comparing the 15-year mortality rate between these, they could thus study the effects of poverty and inflammation separately and jointly.

Synergistic effect

We found that participants with either inflammation or poverty alone each had about a 50% increased risk in all-cause mortality. In contrast, individuals with both inflammation and poverty had a 127% increased heart disease mortality risk and a 196% increased cancer mortality risk, said Dr Frank A. Orlando, an associate professor at the University of Florida and the studys second author.

If the effects of inflammation and poverty on mortality were additive, youd expect a 100% increase in mortality for people where both apply. But since the observed 127% and 196% increases are much greater than 100%, we conclude that the combined effect of inflammation and poverty on mortality is synergistic.

Routine screening for both risk factors?

A wide variety of treatments for systemic inflammation exists, ranging from diet and exercise to nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and steroids. The present results suggest that clinicians might consider screening socially disadvantaged people already a medically vulnerable group for chronic inflammation, and if necessary treat them with such anti-inflammatory drugs.

However, steroids and NSAIDS arent without risks when taken long-term. More research will thus be needed before patients are routinely prescribed them in clinical practice to decrease systemic inflammation.

Its important for guidelines panels to take up this issue to help clinicians integrate inflammation screening into their standard of care, particularly for patients who may have factors that place them at risk for chronic inflammation, including living in poverty. It is time to move beyond documenting the health problems that inflammation can cause, to trying to fix these problems, concluded Mainous.

Author: Mischa Dijkstra Source: Frontiers Contact: Mischa Dijkstra Frontiers Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News

Original Research: The findings will appear in Frontiers in Medicine

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Inflammation and Poverty Increase Health and Mortality Risks - Neuroscience News

Neuroscience

Universal Emotional Hubs in Language – Neuroscience News

Summary: Researchers made a breakthrough in understanding the universality of emotions across languages by using colexification analysis, a method of studying word associations. Their study identifies four central emotion-related concepts GOOD, WANT, BAD, and LOVE as having the highest number of associations with other emotional words in multiple languages.

This finding aligns with traditional semantic methods and natural semantic metalanguage (NSM), reinforcing the universality of these emotions. The studys insights can significantly impact natural language processing and cross-cultural communication, aiding the development of language processing algorithms and large language models (LLMs).

Key Facts:

Source: Tokyo University of Science

Emotions exert a profound influence on human behavior, prompting extensive explorations in the realms of psychology and linguistics. Understanding central emotions also has practical utility since it can help organizations create messages that resonate better with people. For instance, businesses can enhance their connection with their customers, and non-profits can prompt quicker action by skillfully leveraging the salient emotions in humans.

Colexification is a phenomenon in which the occurrence of a single word is associated with multiple concepts that share semantic relationships. The analysis of colexification is an innovative linguistic method for indirect semantic associativity analysis, leveraging existing semantic relations without the need for additional data.

In a groundbreaking discovery, researchers from Japan have identified emotional hubs that exist across languages. Their work,published online in Scientific Reportson December 09, 2023, analyzed word associations by employing a colexification network and revealed that the emotion-related concepts GOOD, WANT, BAD, and LOVE have the highest number of associations with all other words that represent emotions.

The researchers, including Dr. Tohru Ikeguchi, Ms. Mitsuki Fukuya, and Dr. Tomoko Matsumoto from the Tokyo University of Science, and Dr. Yutaka Shimada from Saitama University, built a network by connecting concepts in several languages. In doing so, they ensured that the connection between two words represented the strength of colexification.

Colexification is the phenomenon of a single word with multiple concepts. For example, the Spanish word malo has two meanings BAD and SEVERE. It means that the two concepts of BAD and SEVERE are colexified in Spanish. In this paper, by focusing on colexification, we succeeded in detecting central emotions that share semantic commonality with many other emotions, explains Dr. Ikeguchi, the lead author of the study.

In a discovery that affirms the universality of their findings, the team discovered that three of the four emotions they identified are identical to core emotions discovered through traditional semantic methods and the natural semantic metalanguage (NSM), which corresponds with their previous study findings.

In this context, Dr. Ikeguchi notes, To identify the semantic primes, NSM researchers studied numerous languages using traditional semantic methods. Intriguingly, the set of semantic primes includes three of our four central emotion-related concepts: GOOD,BAD, and WANT. This agreement supports our conclusion that the central concepts identified by colexification analysis could be shared by many languages rather than specific to English.

The findings of this study may offer novel insights into the evolution of languages and cross-cultural communication since words are considered to be intricately connected to emotions. The outcomes gain significance amid the increasing importance of comprehending natural language processing.

As Dr. Ikeguchi explains, Concepts associated with sentiments or emotions play an important role in the field of natural language processing, particularly sentiment analyses. The analysis methods enable us to identify semantically positive and negative orientations of written texts and have various applications in the real world.

A better understanding of natural language processing will also aid in the development of language processing algorithms and large language models (LLMs). LLMs are now used extensively for information processing and content generation. Globally, there is a trend of increasing investments aimed at enhancing and refining these models. Therefore, the findings of this study may have useful implications for the future of online communication.

Author: Hiroshi Matsuda Source: Tokyo University of Science Contact: Hiroshi Matsuda Tokyo University of Science Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News

Original Research: Open access. Central emotions and hubs in a colexification network by Tohru Ikeguchi et al. Scientific Reports

Abstract

Central emotions and hubs in a colexification network

By focusing on colexification, we detected central emotions sharing semantic commonalities with many other emotions in terms of a semantic relationship of both similarity and associativity. In analysis, we created colexification networks from multiple languages by assigning a concept to a vertex and colexification to an edge.

We identify concepts of emotions with a large weight in the colexification network and specify central emotions by finding hub emotions. Our resultant central emotions are four: GOOD, WANT, BAD, and LOVE.

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Universal Emotional Hubs in Language - Neuroscience News

Neuroscience

Addiction treatment pioneered by WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute featured on ’60 Minutes’ – West Virginia MetroNews

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. The work of the WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute and Director Dr. Ali Rezai to help people suffering from Alzheimers disease and substance abuse disorder was the focus of the news magazine 60 Minutes on CBS Sunday evening.

Rezai, who was featured in two segments, said the addiction treatment uses a focused ultrasound on a specific area of the brain. He compared the effect of the ultrasound beam to rebooting the computer at home or work, or in this case, resetting the brain to remove cravings that allow the patient to focus on treatment and reduce detractors.

We are resetting the brain and allowing people more control, Rezai said during an appearance on MetroNews Talkline. Cutting the cravings and reducing them so people are not being driven by the next fix or the next drink because the cravings are down.

The process targets the area of the brain associated with addiction that malfunctions electronically and chemically, non-invasively. The procedure could become a groundbreaking treatment for many other disorders as well.

For addictions of all kindssubstances, alcohol, drugs, Rezai said. Its even for behavioral addictionseating disorders, gambling, or social media addiction.

Rezai said initial results suggest the treatments can give more control to the patient going through addiction treatment by reducing cravings. The patients are then more focused on the next aspect of recovery and growth.

The initial results are very encouraging in reducing cravings, drug intake, and even making people who have suffered for years and decades with addiction become abstinent, Rzai said.

The goal is to make this treatment available to more people, possibly in an out-patient setting. But, he described how the treatment is currently administered.

You come in, lay down in the MRI, a helmet goes on your head, and the ultrasound beam is delivered to the part of the brain involving addiction, then you get off the table and go home, Rezai said. Our goal is to work harder, do more research, and get more clinical trials.

For now, the treatment is reserved for those who have continued to suffer from addiction and have failed over a long period of time.

People who have tried in-patient treatment, residential treatment, and out-patient treatments and are taking medications and behavioral therapy are still failing, Rezai said. Even people who have overdosed or have had multiple overdoses, so its for people with severe addiction disorders.

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Addiction treatment pioneered by WVU Rockefeller Neuroscience Institute featured on '60 Minutes' - West Virginia MetroNews

Neuroscience

Autism and Beyond: Unveiling Overlapping Neurotypes – Neuroscience News

Summary: A study has uncovered significant overlaps in neurodivergent traits among children diagnosed with autism.

The research, which evaluated medical records of children referred for autism assessments, revealed that 76.2% of these children also exhibited traits associated with other neurotypes such as ADHD. Over half (55.6%) of the children assessed for autism potentially met the criteria for ADHD, indicating a high level of co-occurrence.

This study, a pioneering effort in Scotland, emphasizes the need for holistic assessments in child neurodevelopment, considering multiple neurotypes for accurate diagnosis and tailored support.

Key Facts:

Source: University of Glasgow

Three quarters of children (76.2%) who were diagnosed with autism also had traits of other neurodivergent neurotypesincluding traits associated with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), learning and motor differencesaccording to a new study.

The researchled by the University of Glasgow andpublished inPLOS Onefound that more than half (55.6%) of children referred for autism assessment may also meet the diagnostic threshold for ADHD, and certainly have at least some significant ADHD traits.

The study only looked at a small selection of possible neurotypes, suggesting the actual number of children with autism and other neurotypes may be higher.

This study is believed to be the first time the level of overlap of different neurodivergences in children has been studied in Scotland, where services aim to move away from single neurotype assessments to a more holistic assessment model, where all possible overlapping neurotypes are explored and identified.

The research showed there was apositive associationbetween the number of neurodivergence detected and an earlier age of referral and also suggested that neurodivergent females were less likely than males to be identified before the age of five. However, despite clinical overlap and co-occurrence of neurodivergence in children, just 26% of those in the study with other traits were investigated for an additional underlying diagnosis.

For the study, the researchers evaluated anonymized medical records of children aged between two and 17 years old who were referred for anautismassessment, using validated questionnaires to assess for neurodivergent traits.

The research suggests that validated questionnaires may help clinicians identify co-occurring neurodivergence at the firstassessment, allowing for earlier support and the development of whole-system insight into a childs neurotype.

Dr. Jason Lang, Clinical Senior Lecturer in Neurodevelopment and Honorary Consultant in Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, said, This study is extremely important, as it shows how vital it is to have aholistic approachto assessing children, to identify possible overlapping neurotypes properly. As well as a better understanding of the neurodivergent population as a whole, identifying a childs precise make and model will help provide better and more bespoke support for these children when needed.

However, it can be challenging for professionals to work across various neurotypes. As such, more work must be done to ensure services are truly holistic for overlapping traits to be properly identified. Our work suggests that one way to help is for services to use holistic questionnaires to gather this information.

And while this work is based inchildrens services, we would also recommend that similar studies be carried out in adult populations, where current approaches remain, to a large extent, siloed in approach.

Author: Jason Lang Source: University of Glasgow Contact: Jason Lang University of Glasgow Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News

Original Research: Open access. Towards system redesign: An exploratory analysis of neurodivergent traits in a childhood population referred for autism assessment by Jason Lang et al. PLOS ONE

Abstract

Towards system redesign: An exploratory analysis of neurodivergent traits in a childhood population referred for autism assessment

Childrens health services in many countries are moving from single condition diagnostic silo assessments to considering neurodevelopment in a more holistic sense. There has been increasing recognition of the importance of clinical overlap and co-occurrence of different neurotypes when assessing neurodivergent children. Using a cross-sectional service evaluation design, we investigated the overlap of neurodivergences in a cohort of children referred for autism assessment, focusing on motor, learning, and attention/activity level domains. We aimed to determine what proportion of children in a cohort referred for an autism assessment showed traits of additional neurodivergences, and what proportion were further investigated.

We evaluated anonymised medical records of children aged between two and 17 years referred for autism assessment. We used validated questionnaires to assess for neurodivergent traits. A weighted scoring system was developed to determine traits in each neurodevelopmental domain and a score above the median was considered to indicate a neurodivergent trait. Evidence of further investigations were recorded. We then examined the relationships between autism traits and traits of additional neurodivergence.

114 participants were included for evaluation. 62.3% (n = 71) had completed questionnaires for analysis. Of these, 71.8% (n = 51) scored greater than the median for at least one additional neurotype, indicating the presence of other neurodivergent traits, and 88.7% (n = 64) attracted a diagnosis of autism. Only 26.3% of children with evidence of additional neurotypes were further investigated beyond their autism assessment.

Our results demonstrate the extensive overlap between additional neurodivergent traits in a population of children referred with suspected autism and show that only a small proportion were further investigated. The use of standardised questionnaires to uncover additional neurodivergences may have utility in improving the holistic nature of neurodevelopmental assessments.

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Autism and Beyond: Unveiling Overlapping Neurotypes - Neuroscience News