Brain Sci Research Articles

Correction: Bourahmah et al. Error Function Optimization to Compare Neural Activity and Train Blended Rhythmic Networks. Brain Sci. 2024, 14, 468

Paul S. Katz was not included as an author in the original publication [...]

RETRACTED: Abou-Donia et al. Sex-Based Differences in Plasma Autoantibodies to Central Nervous System Proteins in Gulf War Veterans versus Healthy and Symptomatic Controls. Brain Sci. 2021, 11, 148.

The Brain Sciences Editorial Office retracts the article, "Sex-Based Differences in Plasma Autoantibodies to Central Nervous System Proteins in Gulf War Veterans versus Healthy and Symptomatic Controls" [...].

RETRACTED: Abou-Donia et al. Using Plasma Autoantibodies of Central Nervous System Proteins to Distinguish Veterans with Gulf War Illness from Healthy and Symptomatic Controls. Brain Sci. 2020, 10, 610.

The Brain Sciences Editorial Office retracts the article "Using Plasma Autoantibodies of Central Nervous System Proteins to Distinguish Veterans with Gulf War Illness from Healthy and Symptomatic Controls" [...].

Correction: Raman et al. Relationships between Affect Recognition, Empathy, Alexithymia, and Co-Occurring Conditions in Autism. Brain Sci. 2023, 13, 1161

In the original publication [...]

Introspection of UBNIN and Modified-UBNIN Algorithms for Structural MRI. Reply to Kelly et al. A Comparison of Brain-State Representations of Binary Neuroimaging Connectivity Data. Comment on "Samantaray et al. Unique Brain Network Identification Number for Parkinson's and Healthy Individuals Using Structural MRI. Brain Sci. 2023, 13, 1297".

The purpose of this reply is to address the comments given by Kelly et al. on our original paper "Unique Brain Network Identification Number for Parkinson's and Healthy Individuals using Structural MRI". We agree to the inadvertent rounding pitfall in our original paper due to the non-inclusion of symbolic math toolbox (MATLAB). We now provide the actual ranges (with decimal values) of the UBNIN values of healthy individuals and those with Parkinson's disease and further observations. Upon further introspection, we propose another variant, called Modified-UBNIN (UBNIN-MT,MN) which is highly weighted on the node with the highest network degree (i.e., connections). The italicized sentences within inverted commas are statements from Kelly et al.'s comment paper.

A Comparison of Brain-State Representations of Binary Neuroimaging Connectivity Data. Comment on Samantaray et al. Unique Brain Network Identification Number for Parkinson's and Healthy Individuals Using Structural MRI. Brain Sci. 2023, 13, 1297.

Samantaray et al [...].

Relationship between circadian rhythm and Malondialdehyde serum levels in acute and stabilized schizophrenic patients

IntroductionMalondialdehyde (MDA) is a product of polyunsaturated fatty acid peroxidation (Del Rio D, et al. A review of recent studies on MDA as toxic molecule and biological marker of oxidative stress. Nutr Metab Cardiovasc Dis. 2005;15:316-28). It is a biomarker of oxidative stress and is involved in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia (Goh et al. Asian J Psychiatr. 2022;67:102932). Schizofrenia is linked to disrupted oxidative balance and inflammation (Więdłocha et al. Brain Sci. 2023;13:490). Prior research has shown connections between biomarkers and circadian rhythms in schizophrenia (Morera & Abreu. Acta Physiol Scand. 2007;43:313-14) and diabetes type 2 (Kanabrocki EL, et al. Circadian variation in oxidative stress biomarkers in healthy and type II diabetic men. Chronobiol Int. 2002;19:423-39). To determinate if MDA levels have a role in schizophrenia and follow a circadian rhythm may be useful.ObjectivesThe aim of our study is to compare diurnal and nocturnal MDA serum levels in patients in acute and stabilized phases of schizophrenia according to CIE-10 to find out if there are variations related with circadian rhythmsMethods47 patients were included in our study in two clinical phases: acute episode and stabilization. Blood samples were collected at 12:00h and at 00:00h. MDA serum levels were measured twice: when patients were decompensated (admission) and at clinical stabilization (discharge). The relationship between quantitative variables at both times was analysed by T-Student testResultsThere is no significative difference between night and day MDA levels in the acute phase of the schizophrenia (2.22±1.352 vs. 1.93±1.530, p<0.09). There is statistical significance between 12:00 and 00:00 (1.90±1.136 vs. 1.34±0.868, p<0.001) at discharge: it was observed that levels decreased. This result can be interpreted as there is circadian rhythm in stabilized phases.Conclusions MDA levels in patients with schizophrenia do not follow a circadian rhythm in the acute episode. When they are clinically stabilized present a circadian change. These patients lose the circadian rhythm in acute episodes. MDA circadian rhythm may help diagnose the clinical phase and its severity. It is necessary to perform more studies to know its utility as an oxidative biomarkerDisclosure of InterestNone Declared

BDNF plasma concentrations, cognitive test performances and lifetime suicide ideation in psychotic disorders: a secondary analysis

IntroductionPsychotic disorders present a significant lifetime risk for suicide. Past estimates suggest that up to 25-50% of individuals with schizophrenia (SCZ) may attempt suicide during their lifetime. A growing body of literature indicates that the level of cognitive performances may be associated with a differing level of lifetime suicide attempts, albeit inconsistently depending on the diagnostic category and study setting. However, the vast majority of the literature in the field is composed of cross-sectional studies, limiting the overall interpretation of the available evidence.ObjectivesIn the present study, we probed the possible association of BDNF plasma levels, cognitive functions assessed through the Brief Assessment of Cognition in Schizophrenia (BACS) and lifetime suicide ideation and/or attempts (LSI+LSA). More specifically, we tested whether such association would persist during the 2 years follow-up divided in 5 different timepoints at 6-month intervals, if present.MethodsThe present study represents a secondary analysis of a previously described cohort (Manchia et al. Brain Sci. 2022 Dec 4;12(12):1666). The sample comprised 105 subjects with SZC or schizoaffective disorder. We employed the 1) Wilcoxon test for non-parametric data 2) linear modelling to test the possible association of BACS-defined cognitive task performances with LSI+LSA. We also investigated if either BDNF plasma levels or four tested BDNF SNP genes would mediate this association.ResultsFrom a total of 105 subjects, data relevant to the analysis were available for 89 subjects. We observed a significant association between BACS-Letter fluency task (BACS-LF) with LSI+LSA, persisting even when adjusting for gender, duration of untreated psychosis, total Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale score, age, chlorpromazine equivalents of antipsychotic therapy and for the effect of time. The association remained significant even when adjusting with the Bonferroni-Holms method for multiple comparisons (p=0.002). No association was found either for BDNF plasma levels or the tested BDNF genes for the tested outcomes.ConclusionsIn our sample, higher BACS-LF performances appeared to be associated with a higher lifetime risk of LSI+LSA. This report adds to the previous literature suggesting that different cognitive performance levels may represent one of the many chronic risk factors associated with LSI+LSA, and that may ultimately complexly interact with more proximal ones.Disclosure of InterestNone Declared

Strahler number of natural language sentences in comparison with random trees

The Strahler number was originally proposed to characterize the complexity of river bifurcation and has found various applications. This article proposes a computation of the Strahler number’s upper and lower limits for natural language sentence tree structures. Through empirical measurements across grammatically annotated data, the Strahler number of natural language sentences is shown to be almost 3 or 4, similar to the case of river bifurcation as reported by Strahler (1957 Eos Trans. Am. Geophys. Union 38 913–20). Based on the theory behind this number, we show that there is a kind of lower limit on the amount of memory required to process sentences. We consider the Strahler number to provide reasoning that explains reports showing that the number of required memory areas to process sentences is 3–4 for parsing (Schuler et al 2010 Comput. Linguist. 36 1–30), and reports indicating a psychological ‘magical number’ of 3–5 (Cowan 2001 Behav. Brain Sci. 24 87–114). An analytical and empirical analysis shows that the Strahler number is not constant but grows logarithmically. Therefore, the Strahler number of sentences is derived from the range of sentence lengths. Furthermore, the Strahler number is not different for random trees, which could suggest that its origin is not specific to natural language.

Endovascular treatment of distal middle cerebral artery dissecting aneurysm with intracerebral hemorrhage in a paediatric patient: a case report and literature review

BackgroundIntracranial arterial aneurysms in the paediatric age group constitute less than 5% of all aneurysms. The most common form is spontaneous dissecting aneurysms (SDAs) (Peron et al. in Acta Neurochir 152(9):1511–1517, 2010; Huang et al. in Surg Neurol 63(5):424–432, 2005; Krishna et al. in Acta Neurochir 147(5):469–476, 2005; Ihn and Jung in J Korean Soc Radiol 65(5):441–445, 2011). It occurs most commonly in the posterior circulation and rarely in the anterior circulation, including the middle cerebral artery (MCA) (Chuang et al. in Asian J Surg 35(1):42–48, 2012; Ozaki et al. in World Neurosurg 113:208–211, 2018). MCA dissecting aneurysm even rarely presents with intracerebral haemorrhage (Ete et al. in J Case Rep 3(2):451–454, 2013; Ahmad in Interdiscip Neurosurg 18:100510, 2019; Bartoš et al. in Brain Sci 11(1):29, 2020).Case descriptionA 12 years old non-diabetic, non-hypertensive female presented with distal right MCA (M2-M3 junction) dissecting aneurysm with right parieto-temporal haemorrhage. The patient was well managed with endovascular coil embolization with a good functional outcome.ConclusionEndovascular coil embolization had favourable clinical and angiographic outcomes in distal MCA dissecting aneurysms.

Quantifying three types of abnormal language in semantic variant primary progressive aphasia

AbstractBackgroundPatients with the semantic variant of Primary Progressive Aphasia (svPPA) experience a gradual loss of semantic memory, impairing word retrieval and word comprehension. As such, svPPA patients often use superordinate, vague, and empty words. These patients often use language that refers to one’s own experience (“self‐referential”), one’s language impairments (“inability”), and/or contains tangents (“tangential”). These forms of aberrant language were identified previously as distinguishing svPPA from the other canonical variants of PPA (Gallee et al., 2021).MethodSpeech samples of the WAB picnic scene from 15 svPPA patients were analyzed by counting words and categorizing three forms of aberrant language at two timepoints (30 samples total), baseline and follow‐up (at least 12 months post baseline). Words were identified as self‐referential, inability, or tangential. Quantitative analyses were conducted to look for relationships between total word count and each of the three forms of aberrant language.ResultPreliminary results showed a strong correlation (r = .97) between the total number of aberrant words and the total number of words in the picture description transcriptions. At T1, 40% (6/15) used self‐referential words, 87% (13/15) used inability words, and 53% (8/15) used tangential words. At T2, 67% (10/15) used self‐referential words, 100% (15/15) used inability words, and 67% (10/15) used tangential words. Inability is the most prominent type of aberrant language. Longitudinal analyses are ongoing to investigate consistency or inconsistency within patients and relationship to aphasia severity.ConclusionPreliminary findings suggest patients with svPPA produce distinct types of aberrant language in a picture description task. The prominent use of inability words may be due to its scripted nature in that svPPA patients use these phrases repeatedly and may be related to disinhibition. Further, it is notable that several components of language not analyzed in this study, including grammar, syntax, and content units, are potentially informative. Using this method provides an efficient way to characterize speech of svPPA patients, which may lead to early subtyping, prognostication, and targeted treatment goals.Reference: Gallée,J.;Cordella,C.; Fedorenko, E.; Hochberg, D.; Touroutoglou, A.; Quimby, M.; Dickerson, B.C. Breakdowns in Informativeness of Naturalistic Speech Production in Primary Progressive Aphasia. Brain Sci. 2021,11, 130.

Correction: Bowers et al. Tart Cherry Extract and Omega Fatty Acids Reduce Behavioral Deficits and Gliosis in the 5xFAD Mouse Model of Alzheimer’s Disease. Brain Sci. 2021, 11, 1423

There is an error in the title of the published paper [...]

Assessment of Theory of Mind in Psychopathology: a Scoping Review

IntroductionTheory of Mind (ToM) is defined as the cognitive ability that infers other’s mental states (Premack & Woodruff. J Behav Brain Sci 1978; 1 515-526).The interest in the study of ToM distinguishing its affective and cognitive components has been growing. Its study in psychopathology has been evolved from its original studies in autism spectrum disorders (ASD), schizophrenia (SCZ) and, borderline personality disorder (BPD), to other mental disorders like major depressive disorder (MDD), bipolar disorder (BP), anorexia nervosa (AN) and social anxiety disorder (SAD).Objectives1) review the most commonly used instruments for ToM assessment; 2) to compile the evidence on ToM deficits across mental disorders. For both objectives, target disorders are previously mentioned.MethodsThe search was carried out on the PubMed, PsycInfo and Scopus databases, using the terms “Theory of mind”, “Mentalization” and the previously mentioned mental disorders and pertinent thesaurus. Articles in English, published since 2010 were considered. A 2-step strategy (first, article screening and full reading) was followed to select articles of interest.ResultsReading the Mind in the Eyes (Baron-Cohen et al., J Child Psychol Psychiatry 2001; 42 241-251) and Movie for the Assessment of Social Cognition (Dziobeck et al. J Autism Dev Disord 2006; 36 623-636) were the most commonly used tasks to assess ToM. Regarding mental disorders, studies showed deficits in cognitive and affective ToM skills in ASD, SCZ, BPD, MDD and BP. Hypomentalization was mainly observed in ASD and MDD, while BPD and SCZ were featured by errors associated with hypermentalization. Studies in AN and SAD are scarce, but they mainly highlight a cognitive ToM deficit, with hypomentalization in AN and hypermentalization in ASD. In all of them, depressive symptomatology seems to be a critical moderator of ToM performance.ConclusionsAlthough ToM impairments are well described for some mental disorders, more research is needed to reach solid conclusions for others. The use of different and heterogeneous ToM assessment instruments can strongly influence the results of studies. The study of ToM is essential to gain a better understanding of the diseases and to develop effective treatments targeting specific ToM deficits.Disclosure of InterestNone Declared

Can Immersive Sound Therapy Counteract Neurodegeneration by Enhancing Glymphatic Clearance? Comment on Sachdeva et al. Effects of Sound Interventions on the Permeability of the Blood-Brain Barrier and Meningeal Lymphatic Clearance. Brain Sci. 2022, 12, 742.

We would like to congratulate Sachdeva and colleagues for establishing an informative review regarding the effects of music/sound exposure on blood-brain barrier permeability and meningeal lymphatic/glymphatic clearance, and would appreciate the opportunity to make a comment. The review by Sachdeva and colleagues documents the beneficial effects of sound interventions on blood-brain barrier permeability and the activity of the meningeal lymphatic/glymphatic system. The authors further note that sound interventions may have the potential to reduce the accumulation of amyloid-β within the brain in Alzheimer's disease through improved meningeal lymphatic/glymphatic clearance. The authors also nicely discuss evidence that music influences sleep quality, which may facilitate glymphatic solute clearance as a result of an increase in the interstitial space, which results in reduced resistance to fluid transport. We fully agree with this notion, since we recently hypothesized that immersive sound therapy may be an innovative approach to reduce the individual risk of developing neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, by inducing EEG slow-wave delta oscillations (which characterize deep sleep), thereby promoting glymphatic clearance.

Artificial Agential Intelligence

Since artificial intelligence (AI) emerged in the mid-20th century, it has incurred many theoretical criticisms (Dreyfus, H. [1972] What Computers Can’t Do (MIT Press, New York); Dreyfus, H. [1992] What Computers Still Can’t Do (MIT Press, New York); Searle, J. [1980] Minds, brains and programs, Behav. Brain Sci. 3, 417–457; Searle, J. [1984] Minds, Brains and Sciences (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA); Searle, J. [1992] The Rediscovery of the Mind (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA); Fodor, J. [2002] The Mind Doesn’t Work that Way: The Scope and Limits of Computational Psychology (MIT Press, Cambridge, MA).). The technical improvements of machine learning and deep learning, though, have been continuing and many breakthroughs have occurred recently. This makes theoretical considerations urgent again: can this new wave of AI fare better than its precursors in emulating or even having human-like minds? I propose a cautious yet positive hypothesis: current AI might create human-like mind, but only if it incorporates certain conceptual rewiring: it needs to shift from a task-based to an agent-based framework, which can be dubbed “Artificial Agential Intelligence” (AAI). It comprises practical reason (McDowell, J. [1979] Virtue and reason, Monist 62(3), 331–350; McDowell, J. [1996] Mind and World (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA)), imaginative understanding (Campbell, J. [2020] Causation in Psychology (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA)), and animal knowledge (Sosa, E. [2007] A Virtue Epistemology: Apt Belief and Reflective Knowledge, volume 1 (Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK); Sosa, E. [2015] Judgment and Agency (Oxford University Press, Cambridge, MA)). Moreover, I will explore whether and in what way neuroscience-inspired AI and predictive coding (Hassabis, D., Kumaran, D., Summerfield, C., & Botvinick, M. [2017] Neuroscience-inspired artificial intelligence, Neuron 95(2), 245–258) can help carry out this project.

COVID-19 Infection and Risk for Neuropsychiatric Symptoms

COVID-19 Infection and Risk for Neuropsychiatric Symptoms

Reply to Daly, J.J. Comment on "Chow, J.W.; Stokic, D.S. Longitudinal Changes in Temporospatial Gait Characteristics during the First Year Post-Stroke. Brain Sci. 2021, 11, 1648".

This commentary [...].

Comment on Chow, J.W.; Stokic, D.S. Longitudinal Changes in Temporospatial Gait Characteristics during the First Year Post-Stroke. Brain Sci. 2021, 11, 1648.

The field of neurorehabilitation has moved considerably beyond a narrow use of gait speed [...].

Entorhinal Cortex and Persistent Olfactory Loss in COVID-19 Patients: A Neuroanatomical Hypothesis. Comment on Fiorentino et al. Correlations between Persistent Olfactory and Semantic Memory Disorders after SARS-CoV-2 Infection. Brain Sci. 2022, 12, 714.

Recently, Fiorentino et al. [...].

CPAP setup by mail: we're not there yet.

CPAP setup by mail: we're not there yet.