Transforming growth factor beta (TGF-β), which has a role as a regulatory cytokine, has not been widely investigated in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) who experienced childhood trauma. The aim of our study was to investigate the differences in circulating TGF-β levels between the patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) with and without child maltreatment (CM) history, and to compare them to the corresponding control subjects’ groups (with or without CM). Blood samples were obtained from 55 patients, fulfilling DSM-IV-R criteria for a current MDD episode without psychotic symptoms, and 45 healthy controls, matched for age and gender. Participants were administered the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). Serum TGF-β concentration was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. The concentration of TGF-β was significantly higher in patients with MDD with CM history, compared to MDD patients with no CM, as well as both control groups. Furthermore, we have shown that the combined effect of CM history and MDD affected TGF-β levels in adulthood, which was not observed in the control group with CM. These results indicate that MDD patients with the experience of CM have altered immune-regulatory response, and they may constitute a specific subtype within this heterogenic disorder (ecophenotype).Recognition of ADHD in the adult population is relatively recent. Epidemiological research examining the mental health impact of ADHD in adulthood is thus limited. The objective of this study was to examine whether adult ADHD symptoms are associated with psychological distress, hazardous drinking, and problem gambling, after controlling for traumatic brain injury and sociodemographic characteristics. We analyzed data from a population-based survey administered in 2015 and 2016 to adults aged 18 years and over in Ontario, Canada (N = 3,817). Logistic regression was used to construct unadjusted and multivariable models for each of the three focal relationships. In the unadjusted models, ADHD symptoms were significantly related to psychological distress (OR = 9.3; 95% CI6.1, 14.0) and hazardous drinking (OR = 2.1; 95% CI 1.3, 3.4), but not to problem gambling (OR = 1.5; 0.5, 4.3). After adjustment, ADHD symptoms were significantly related to psychological distress (OR = 7.1; 95% CI 4.6, 11.1), but not hazardous drinking (OR = 1.4; 95% CI 0.8, 2.5) or problem gambling (OR = 0.6; 95% CI 0.2, 2.5). This study further highlights the importance of clinicians assessing for concomitant ADHD and psychological distress in adults.Adults with ADHD experience mental restlessness, akin to racing thoughts, but data on this symptom in ADHD remain scarce. Our study aims at investigating self-reported racing thoughts in adults with ADHD, and its relationship with affective dysregulation and insomnia. We were also interested in whether racing thoughts may aid differential diagnosis with bipolar disorder (BD). 182 adults with ADHD, 30 ADHD+BD, 31 hypomanic BD, and 20 euthymic BD patients completed the Racing and Crowded Thoughts Questionnaire (RCTQ). ADHD, anxiety, insomnia and depression symptoms, as well as affective temperament were also assessed in ADHD and ADHD+BD subjects. Results show that RCTQ scores were higher in ADHD compared to hypomania and euthymia and were associated with cyclothymic traits and anxiety. Moreover, in ADHD and ADHD+BD, racing thoughts increased in the evening and at bedtime and were associated with insomnia severity. In conclusion, self-reported racing thoughts are a neglected but an intrinsic feature of adult ADHD that is particularly related to cyclothymia and anxiety, but cannot differentiate ADHD and BD.Adolescent males are at particularly high risk of mental health problems and suicide. However, many in need are left undetected and untreated, and rates of help-seeking are low. To help explain this unmet need, the current study aimed to utilise Exploratory Factor Analysis to validate a measure of help-seeking attitudes using 16 items of the Mental Health Literacy Scale. Convergent validity was assessed through correlations of the factors with other measures capturing aspects of mental health literacy and psychological distress. Male adolescent sport participants (N=361) aged between 12 and 18 years participated in the study. The results revealed a distinct four-factor structure social distance, stigmatising attitudes, confidence accessing information about mental health, and negative help-seeking attitudes. Each factor had satisfactory levels of internal consistency. The patterns of relationships suggest that the four factors may differentiate between important influencers of mental health help-seeking. The measure is brief and is likely to have high utility in measuring attitudes about mental illness and help-seeking among adolescent males. This may have implications for understanding the processes that could influence or improve help-seeking amongst this vulnerable group.How people choose between options with differing outcomes (explore-exploit) is a central question to understanding human behaviour. However, the standard explore-exploit paradigm relies on gamified tasks with low-stake outcomes. Consequently, little is known about decision making for biologically-relevant stimuli. Here, we combined placebo and explore-exploit paradigms to examine detection and selection of the most effective treatment in a pain model. During conditioning, where 'optimal’ and 'suboptimal’ sham-treatments were paired with a reduction in electrical pain stimulation, participants learnt which treatment most successfully reduced pain. Modelling participant responses revealed three important findings. First, participants’ choices reflected both directed and random exploration. Second, expectancy modulated pain – indicative of recursive placebo effects. Third, individual differences in terms of expectancy during conditioning predicted placebo effects during a subsequent test phase. These findings reveal directed and random exploration when the outcome is biologically-relevant. Moreover, this research shows how placebo and explore-exploit literatures can be unified.People often feel guilt for accidents-negative events that they did not intend or have any control over. Why might this be the case? Are there reputational benefits to doing so? Across six studies, we find support for the hypothesis that observers expect „false positive” emotions from agents during a moral encounter – emotions that are not normatively appropriate for the situation but still trigger in response to that situation. For example, if a person accidentally spills coffee on someone, most normative accounts of blame would hold that the person is not blameworthy, as the spill was accidental. Self-blame (and the guilt that accompanies it) would thus be an inappropriate response. However, in Studies 1-2 we find that observers rate an agent who feels guilt, compared to an agent who feels no guilt, as a better person, as less blameworthy for the accident, and as less likely to commit moral offenses. These attributions of moral character extend to other moral emotions like gratitude, but not to nonmoral emotions like fear, and are not driven by perceived differences in overall emotionality (Study 3). In Study 4, we demonstrate that agents who feel extremely high levels of inappropriate (false positive) guilt (e.g., agents who experience guilt but are not at all causally linked to the accident) are not perceived as having a better moral character, suggesting that merely feeling guilty is not sufficient to receive a boost in judgments of character. In Study 5, using a trust game design, we find that observers are more willing to trust others who experience false positive guilt compared to those who do not. In Study 6, we find that false positive experiences of guilt may actually be a reliable predictor of underlying moral character self-reported predicted guilt in response to accidents negatively correlates with higher scores on a psychopathy scale.

To investigate the subjective experience of adult cancer patients undergoing external radiotherapy and provide evidence for better practices in radiotherapy services.

A systematic review was performed according to the PRISMA Statement Guidelines. Qualitative and mixed studies were identified through five electronic databases (CINAHL, PsychINFO, Medline, Scopus and Web of Science), between March and April 2020, using defined criteria. Methodological quality assessment was conducted, and the data integrated into a thematic synthesis.

Of the 886 studies identified, 13 met our inclusion criteria. Patients experiences were described into four main themes (1) Time, (2) Physical Environment, (3) Treatment Concerns and (4) Radiotherapy Team. Time refers to waiting time and treatment time; Physical Environment states temperature in the treatment room and equipment; Treatment Concerns included side effects, daily activities, positioning and immobilization and treatment preparation (e.g., bladder filling); radiothell as to the delivery of more patient-centred care adjusted to the concerns and needs of patients.Somatosensory deficits after ischaemic stroke are common and can occur in patients with lesions in the anterior parietal cortex and subcortical nuclei. It is less clear to what extent damage to white matter tracts within the somatosensory system may contribute to somatosensory deficits after stroke. We compared the roles of cortical damage and disruption of subcortical white matter tracts as correlates of somatosensory deficit after ischaemic stroke. Clinical and imaging data were assessed in incident stroke patients. Somatosensory deficits were measured using a standardized somatosensory test. Remote effects were quantified by projecting the MRI-based segmented stroke lesions onto a predefined atlas of white matter connectivity. Direct ischaemic damage to grey matter was computed by lesion overlap with grey matter areas. The association between lesion impact scores and sensory deficit was assessed statistically. In 101 patients, median sensory score was 188/193 (97.4%). Lesion volume was associated with somatosensory deficit, explaining 23.3% of variance. Beyond this, the stroke-induced grey and white matter disruption within a subnetwork of the postcentral, supramarginal, and transverse temporal gyri explained an additional 14% of the somatosensory outcome variability. On mutual comparison, white matter network disruption was a stronger predictor than grey matter damage. Ischaemic damage to both grey and white matter are structural correlates of acute somatosensory disturbance after ischaemic stroke. Our data suggest that white matter integrity of a somatosensory network of primary and secondary cortex is a prerequisite for normal processing of somatosensory inputs and might be considered as an additional parameter for stroke outcome prediction in the future.

In mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), diffuse axonal injury results in disruption of functional networks in the brain and is thought to be a major contributor to cognitive dysfunction even years after trauma.

Few studies have assessed longitudinal changes in network topology in chronic mTBI. We utilized a graph theoretical approach to investigate alterations in global network topology based on resting-state functional connectivity in veterans with chronic mTBI.

50 veterans with chronic mTBI (mean of 20.7 yrs. from trauma) and 40 age-matched controls underwent two functional magnetic resonance imaging scans 18months apart. Graph theory analysis was used to quantify network topology measures (density, clustering coefficient, global efficiency, and modularity). Hierarchical linear mixed models were used to examine longitudinal change in network topology.

With all network measures, we found a significant group×time interaction. At baseline, brain networks of individuals with mTBI were less clustered (p=0.