Effects of a synbiotic on symptoms,and daily functioning in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder – A double-blind randomized controlled trial

Some prebiotics and probiotics have been proposed to improve psychiatric symptoms in children with autism. However, few studies were placebo-controlled, and there is no study on persons with an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) diagnosis. Our aim was to study effects of Synbiotic 2000 on psychiatric symptoms and functioning in children and adults with ADHD without an autism diagnosis. Children and adults (n = 182) with an ADHD diagnosis completed the nine weeks randomized double-blind parallel placebo-controlled trial examining effects of Synbiotic 2000 on the primary endpoints ADHD symptoms, autism symptoms and daily functioning, and the secondary endpoint emotion regulation, measured using the questionnaires SNAP-IV, ASRS, WFIRS, SCQ, AQ and DERS-16. Levels at baseline of plasma C-reactive protein and soluble vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (sVCAM-1), central to leukocyte-endothelial cell adhesion facilitating inflammatory responses in tissues, were measured using Meso Scale Discovery. Synbiotic 2000 and placebo improved ADHD symptoms equally well, and neither active treatment nor placebo had any statistically significant effect on functioning or sub-diagnostic autism symptoms. However, Synbiotic 2000, specifically, reduced sub-diagnostic autism symptoms in the domain restricted, repetitive and stereotyped behaviors in children, and improved emotion regulation in the domain of goal-directed behavior in adults. In children with elevated sVCAM-1 levels at baseline as well as in children without ADHD medication, Synbiotic 2000 reduced both the total score of autism symptoms, and the restricted, repetitive and stereotyped behaviors. In adults with elevated sVCAM-1 at baseline, Synbiotic 2000 significantly improved emotion regulation, both the total score and four of the five subdomains. To conclude, while no definite Synbiotic 2000-specific effect was detected, the analysis of those with elevated plasma sVCAM-1 levels proposed a reduction of autism symptoms in children and an improvement of emotion regulation in adults with ADHD.Trial registration number: ISRCTN57795429.     

Local thermal reaction after influenza vaccination: Quantification by infrared imaging and biometric considerations

BackgroundExtensive clinical investigations are mandatory to evaluate the safety and reactogenicity of vaccines. The recording of common adverse events like injection site soreness or general discomfort derives from individual subjective perceptions. Thermal imaging at the injection site possibly provides a non-subjective and a non-invasive approach to supplement this evaluation.ResultsA protocol for quantified injection-site infrared imaging included 86 participants during a flu vaccine campaign, 40% of whom had a thermal reaction of 1 °C; 25–30% had no thermal response. There was little subjective pain reporting and no clinical correlations were observed except with post-vaccination erythema.Higher responses were linked with advanced age and multiple previous vaccinations.ConclusionEvan if influenza vaccine was only moderately reactogenic, a thermal response was detectable in about 70% of vaccinees, though no relationship to reactogenicity was seen.Infrared imaging might however be a prospective tool for individual studies of vaccine-induced vascular responses.     

Deficient processing of alcohol cues in the addicted brain: Evidence from event-related potential microstates

ObjectivePatients with alcohol use disorder (AUD) show altered brain responses to alcohol cues as compared to healthy controls. Event-related potential (ERP) studies mostly focus on the P3, which is usually diminished in AUD patients. The few studies that have investigated earlier components have yielded inconsistent results. The present study aimed at identifying the onset of impaired alcohol cue processing in AUD patients, as well as the association between neurophysiological processing and subjective craving.MethodsA sample of 15 inpatients with AUD and 15 healthy controls completed a cue reactivity task with alcohol-related, neutral, and scrambled pictures. Multichannel-EEG was recorded from 70 scalp electrodes, and ERP microstates were analyzed.ResultsPatients displayed impaired neurophysiological processing, as indexed by a weaker P3 and a weaker, insensitive P1. The blunted P1 was associated with higher subjective craving.ConclusionsImpaired alcohol cue processing in AUD emerges early, at the stage of sensory processing. Such deficient initial processing seems crucial to understanding cue reactivity processes in the brain and in the subjective experience of craving.SignificanceThe results highlight the importance of investigating early ERP components preceding the P3, and contribute to the debate on the onset of information-processing dysfunction in the addicted brain.     

Prediction of skin sensitization potency using machine learning approaches

The replacement of animal use in testing for regulatory classification of skin sensitizers is a priority for US federal agencies that use data from such testing. Machine learning models that classify substances as sensitizers or non‐sensitizers without using animal data have been developed and evaluated. Because some regulatory agencies require that sensitizers be further classified into potency categories, we developed statistical models to predict skin sensitization potency for murine local lymph node assay (LLNA) and human outcomes. Input variables for our models included six physicochemical properties and data from three non‐animal test methods: direct peptide reactivity assay; human cell line activation test; and KeratinoSens™ assay. Models were built to predict three potency categories using four machine learning approaches and were validated using external test sets and leave‐one‐out cross‐validation. A one‐tiered strategy modeled all three categories of response together while a two‐tiered strategy modeled sensitizer/non‐sensitizer responses and then classified the sensitizers as strong or weak sensitizers. The two‐tiered model using the support vector machine with all assay and physicochemical data inputs provided the best performance, yielding accuracy of 88% for prediction of LLNA outcomes (120 substances) and 81% for prediction of human test outcomes (87 substances). The best one‐tiered model predicted LLNA outcomes with 78% accuracy and human outcomes with 75% accuracy. By comparison, the LLNA predicts human potency categories with 69% accuracy (60 of 87 substances correctly categorized). These results suggest that computational models using non‐animal methods may provide valuable information for assessing skin sensitization potency. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Cardiovascular responses to a laboratory stressor in women: Assessing the role of body awareness

Body awareness (BA) is characterised by a general tendency towards awareness and recognition of normal, non-emotive bodily processes and physical sensations. BA considers one's sensitivity towards and belief in how well they can sense, predict, and describe their bodily functions and sensations. This study investigated the role of BA in haemodynamic and anxiety responses to a laboratory stressor. Women (n?=?40) completed assessments of BA and state/trait anxiety. Women with low BA displayed higher blood pressure (BP) and heart rate (HR) reactivity in response to the stressor than women with high BA. Delayed HR recovery poststressor was observed in women with low BA. BA was a significant predictor of haemodynamic reactivity over and above trait anxiety. BA effects on state anxiety were not observed. Thus, greater BA is associated with less haemodynamic stress reactivity in women lending further support for the development of BA interventions aimed at stress reduction.     

Cardiovascular response to stress and perceived stress is not altered 40 years after hypertensive pregnancies

Objective: Women experiencing hypertensive pregnancies have an increased risk for cardiovascular disease. Whether stress increase the risk is unknown. The objective was to test if cardiovascular response to stress and/or perceived stress differed in relation to blood pressure status during pregnancy 40 years earlier. Methods: Cardiovascular response was examined with mental stress test, and perceived stress was evaluated with a questionnaire in 105 women. Results: Resting heart rate was higher, and pulse reactivity was lower in women with previous hypertensive pregnancies. Neither blood pressure nor perceived stress differed. Conclusion: Response to physical or psychological stress is not affected many years after pregnancy.     

Introduction of amine groups on poly(ethylene) by plasma immobilization of a preadsorbed layer of decylamine hydrochloride

In order to introduce amine groups on poly(ethylene) (PE) surfaces, PE surfaces were preadsorbed with decylamine hydrochloride (DA.HCl) and subsequently treated with an argon plasma. It was shown by XPS (X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy), that approximately half of the preadsorbed (mono)layer was immobilized and that a substantial part (60-70%) of the incorporated nitrogen containing groups were amine groups. The availability of the surface amine groups for reactions was investigated by applying a gas phase reaction with 4-trifluoromethylbenzaldehyde and by a reductive methylation reaction in aqueous solution with ¹⁴C formaldehyde. A maximal number of reactive amine groups was found after a plasma treatment time of 2 s. The reductive methylation reaction was used to estimate the surface concentration of amine groups resulting in a typical surface concentration of 1 x 10^-6 mol/m² after a plasma treatment time of 2 s.     

Complexity of oxytocin׳s effects in a chronic cocaine dependent population

Behavioral and neuroplastic changes occurring in the development of addiction parallel those that occur in social bonding. This has led to speculation that drugs of abuse co-opt systems that subserve social attachment to shift attachment to drugs of abuse. Oxytocin, a neuropeptide that is important in social bonding, has been shown in rodents to decrease psychostimulant self-administration, locomotor activity, and conditioned place preference, it is unclear what role it may play in human drug addiction. In this double-blind, placebo-controlled crossover study, 23 cocaine-dependent inpatients in court-ordered treatment completed 4 task sessions measuring desire to use cocaine, cue-induced craving, monetary reward decisions and social cognition. Before each session, subjects administered 24 IU of intranasal oxytocin or placebo. Oxytocin increased desire to use cocaine and cue-induced excitability with no effect on cue-induced desire to use. Oxytocin also removed the effect of state anger on several measures of cue reactivity. Response to monetary reward increased under oxytocin and measures of social cognition worsened. The significant increase in the desire for drug and monetary reward as well as the significant decrease in measures of social cognition was small but warrant further study of the effect of oxytocin׳s effect in cocaine dependent subjects. The effect of oxytocin to modulate the relationship between state anger and cue reactivity should be explored further for potential therapeutic use of oxytocin in cocaine dependent patients. These findings are discussed in light of the human and rodent oxytocin literature.     

Emotional reactivity to war stressors: An experience sampling study in people with and without different psychiatric diagnoses

There is a lack of knowledge regarding real-time emotional reactivity to high-intensity stressors, particularly in people with mental illness, a potentially vulnerable population. The current study aimed to examine negative emotional reactions to recurring high-intensity stressors within a continuous war situation, in people with different psychiatric diagnosis types. Experience sampling method was used to examine emotional reactions among 143 civilians exposed to rockets during the 2014 Israel–Gaza war, of them 18.2% with psychosis, 14.7% with anxiety or depression and 67.1% without mental illness. Participants reported exposure to rocket warning sirens and the levels of 10 negative emotions twice a day for 30 days. Negative emotional levels were higher on most emotions following high-intensity stressors (sirens), that is, emotional reactivity was demonstrated in real-time during war. Overall, no difference in reactivity was found among the three study groups. Moreover, people with anxiety/depression were less reactive than people without mental illness on sadness and being overwhelmed. The findings indicate similar and sometimes lower emotional reactivity to high-intensity stressors in people with mental illness compared to the general population. Nevertheless, people with mental illness seem to have significant emotional needs during war, to be addressed in prevention and intervention efforts.