Emotional reactivity and regulation in individuals with psychopathic traits: Evidence for a disconnect between neurophysiology and self‐report

Individuals with psychopathic traits often demonstrate blunted reactivity to negative emotional stimuli. However, it is not yet clear whether these individuals also have difficulty regulating their emotional responses to negative stimuli. To address this question, participants with varying levels of psychopathic traits (indexed by the Triarchic Measure of Psychopathy; Patrick, 2010) completed a task in which they passively viewed, increased, or decreased their emotions to negative picture stimuli while electrocortical activity was recorded. During passive viewing of negative images, higher boldness, but not higher disinhibition or meanness, was associated with reduced amplitude of the late positive potential (LPP), an ERP that indexes reactivity to emotionally relevant stimuli. However, all participants demonstrated expected enhancement of the LPP when asked to increase their emotional response. Participants did not show expected suppression of the LPP when asked to decrease their emotional response. Contrary to the electrophysiological data, individuals with higher boldness did not self‐report experiencing blunted emotional response during passive viewing trials, and they reported experiencing greater emotional reactivity relative to other participants when regulating (e.g., both increasing and decreasing) their emotions. Results suggest inconsistency between physiological and self‐report indices of emotion among high‐bold individuals during both affective processing and regulation.     

Enhancing well‐being and alleviating depressive symptoms with positive psychology interventions: a practice‐friendly meta‐analysis

Do positive psychology interventions—that is, treatment methods or intentional activities aimed at cultivating positive feelings, positive behaviors, or positive cognitions—enhance well‐being and ameliorate depressive symptoms? A meta‐analysis of 51 such interventions with 4,266 individuals was conducted to address this question and to provide practical guidance to clinicians. The results revealed that positive psychology interventions do indeed significantly enhance well‐being (mean r=.29) and decrease depressive symptoms (mean r=.31). In addition, several factors were found to impact the effectiveness of positive psychology interventions, including the depression status, self‐selection, and age of participants, as well as the format and duration of the interventions. Accordingly, clinicians should be encouraged to incorporate positive psychology techniques into their clinical work, particularly for treating clients who are depressed, relatively older, or highly motivated to improve. Our findings also suggest that clinicians would do well to deliver positive psychology interventions as individual (versus group) therapy and for relatively longer periods of time. © 2009 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Psychol: In Session 65: 1–21, 2009.     

Immunostaining of gastric cancer with neuroendocrine differentiation: Reg IV‐positive neuroendocrine cells are associated with gastrin,serotonin, pancreatic polypeptide and somatostatin

We previously reported that Reg IV is associated with neuroendocrine (NE) differentiation in gastric cancers. The aim was to examine which NE hormone products are related to Reg IV‐positive NE cells and their roles in gastric cancers. In the present study, we performed immunohistochemical analysis in a tissue microarray (TMA) of a consecutive series of 630 cases with ten different antibodies, including chromogranin A, synaptophysin and neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) as NE differentiation markers, and gastrin, serotonin, calcitonin, gastrin‐releasing peptide (GRP), pancreatic polypeptide (PP), somatostatin and glucagon as NE hormones. In 630 cases, we identified 205 (33%) with NE differentiation and 147 (23%) positive for Reg IV. Reg IV‐positive cases showed NE differentiation more frequently than Reg IV‐negative cases (P < 0.0001). In 205 cases with NE differentiation, Reg IV‐positive cases expressed serotonin (P= 0.0032) and somatostatin (P= 0.036) more frequently than Reg IV‐negative cases. Double immunofluorescence staining revealed co‐expression of Reg IV with gastrin, serotonin and PP. These results indicate that Reg IV might be a mediating factor of several NE hormones.     

Affective temperaments are associated with specific clusters of symptoms and psychopathology: A cross-sectional study on bipolar disorder inpatients in acute manic,mixed, or depressive relapse

Background

The aim of this study was to assess whether different affective temperaments could be related to a specific mood disorder diagnosis and/or to different therapeutic choices in inpatients admitted for an acute relapse of their primary mood disorder.

Method

Hundred and twenty-nine inpatients were consecutively assessed by means of the Structured and Clinical Interview for axis-I disorders/Patient edition and by the Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris, and San Diego auto-questionnaire, Young Mania Rating Scale, Hamilton Scale for Depression and for Anxiety, Brief Psychiatry Rating Scale, Clinical Global impression, Drug Attitude Inventory, Barratt Impulsiveness Scale, Toronto Alexithymia Scale, and Symptoms Checklist-90 items version, along with records of clinical and demographic data.

Results

The following prevalence rates for axis-I mood diagnoses were detected: bipolar disorder type I (BD-I, 28%), type II (31%), type not otherwise specified (BD-NOS, 33%), major depressive disorder (4%), and schizoaffective disorder (4%). Mean scores on the hyperthymic temperament scale were significantly higher in BD-I and BD-NOS, and in mixed and manic acute states. Hyperthymic temperament was significantly more frequent in BD-I and BD-NOS patients, whereas depressive temperament in BD-II ones. Hyperthymic and irritable temperaments were found more frequently in mixed episodes, while patients with depressive and mixed episodes more frequently exhibited anxious and depressive temperaments. Affective temperaments were associated with specific symptom and psychopathology clusters, with an orthogonal subdivision between hyperthymic temperament and anxious/cyclothymic/depressive/irritable temperaments. Therapeutic choices were often poorly differentiated among temperaments and mood states.

Limits

Cross-sectional design; sample size.

Conclusions

Although replication studies are needed, current results suggest that temperament-specific clusters of symptoms severity and psychopathology domains could be described.     

Tumor necrosis factor‐α −308G/A and −238G/A polymorphisms are associated with increased risks of sepsis: evidence from an updated meta‐analysis

Previous studies have reported the relationship between tumor necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α) ?308G/A and ?238G/A polymorphisms and sepsis risk with inconsistent results. The aim of this study was to estimate the association of the two polymorphisms with risk of sepsis or sepsis‐related mortality using a meta‐analysis. PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science databases were searched up to June 20 2016. Pooled odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated using fixed or random effect model. Twenty‐six studies were included in this meta‐analysis. Overall, an increased sepsis risk of TNF‐α ?308G/A was observed (GA vs GG: OR = 1.43, 95% CI: 1.07–1.92; GA/AA vs GG: OR = 1.42, 95% CI: 1.06–1.89). Subgroup analyses showed that the significant association was found in Asians (GA vs GG: OR = 1.63, 95% CI: 1.01–2.63) and adult patients. Similarly, an increased sepsis risk of TNF‐α ?238G/A was observed in overall and subgroup analyses. However, no significant association was found between TNF‐α ?308G/A and ?238G/A polymorphisms and sepsis‐related mortality. These findings indicate that both TNF‐α ?308G/A and ?238G/A polymorphisms were associated with increased risks of sepsis but not sepsis‐related mortality. Further studies with larger sample size are needed to confirm these results.