The Librarian

Exploring the Link Between the Gut Microbiome and Anxiety

In 2022, Caltech researchers discovered that a specific microbial metabolite called 4-ethylphenyl sulfate can increase anxiety in mice. They also found that transferring fecal microbiota from anxious mice to non-anxious mice caused the latter to become anxious. In addition, antibiotic treatment in mice, which affects the gut microbiome, has been shown to impact anxiety levels.

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Romanian Inventory of Depression and Anxiety Symptoms (IDAS-II)

BackgroundThe Inventory of Depression and Anxiety Symptoms (IDAS-II) is a self-report measure comprising 99 items divided into 18 non-overlapping scales that allows for a dimensional assessment of depression, anxiety, and bipolar symptoms. The IDAS-II is currently available in English, Turkish, Spanish, German, and Swedish. This study’s major goal was to adapt and validate the IDAS-II to the Romanian population.MethodParticipants from a community sample (N = 1,072) completed the IDAS-II (Romanian version) and additional measures assessing depression and anxiety disorders.ResultsItem-level factor analyses validated the unidimensionality of the scales, and internal consistency results indicated that most symptom scales had satisfactory alpha coefficient values. Based on previous structural analyses, a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) on the IDAS-II scales confirmed a three-component model of “Distress,” “Obsessions/Fear,” and “Positive Mood.” Convergent and discriminant validity were established by correlational analyses with other symptom measures.LimitationsThis study was conducted using a sample from the general population and several of the employed measures have limitations. Specifically, the current study was unable to employ Romanian versions of the gold-standard instruments that assess well-being, obsessive–compulsive disorder, and claustrophobia.ConclusionThe IDAS-II (Romanian version) is the first clinical measure to assess internalizing dimensions of the Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) model that is available for the Romanian population.

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Concept Creep: How Our Concepts of Anxiety and Depression Are Changing

A study exploring “concept creep” suggests that, with increased mental health awareness following the COVID-19 pandemic, the concepts of “anxiety” and “depression” are broadening. The study revealed that, contrary to expectations of less emotionally intense use, these terms have taken on more severe connotations over the past five decades.

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Effects of Music Combined With Sports Games on Alleviating Psychological Stress, Anxiety and Mental Energy Among Adolescents During COVID-19 Pandemic in Lanzhou Gansu Province China

Conditions:   Stress;   Anxiety and FearInterventions:   Behavioral: Music intervention only;   Behavioral: Sports games intervention only;   Behavioral: Music and sports games interventionSponsor:   Wu JiarunCompleted

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Face Processing in Major Depression: Pathology, Risk, and Resilience

Background
Aberrant brain connectivity during emotional processing, especially within the fronto-limbic pathway, is one of the hallmarks of major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the methodological heterogeneity of previous studies made it difficult to determine the functional and etiological implications of specific alterations in brain connectivity. We previously reported alterations in psychophysiological interaction measures during emotional face processing, distinguishing depressive pathology from at-risk/resilient and healthy states. Here, we extended these findings by effective connectivity analyses in the same sample to establish a refined neural model of emotion processing in depression.

Methods
Thirty-seven patients with MDD, 45 first-degree relatives of patients with MDD and 97 healthy controls performed a face-matching task during functional magnetic resonance imaging. We used dynamic causal modeling to estimate task-dependent effective connectivity at the subject level. Parametric empirical Bayes was performed to quantify group differences in effective connectivity.

Results
MDD patients showed decreased effective connectivity from the left amygdala and left lateral prefrontal cortex to the fusiform gyrus compared to relatives and controls, whereas patients and relatives showed decreased connectivity from the right orbitofrontal cortex to the left insula and from the left orbitofrontal cortex to the right fusiform gyrus compared to controls. Relatives showed increased connectivity from the anterior cingulate cortex to the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex compared to patients and controls.

Conclusions
Our results suggest that the depressive state alters top-down control of higher visual regions during face processing. Alterations in connectivity within the cognitive control network present potential risk or resilience mechanisms.

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