Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathology is increasingly recognized to manifest in the retina, offering a non-invasive window for early biomarker discovery. This proof-of-concept study investigated whether multimodal retinal imaging—hyperspectral imaging (HSI), optical coherence tomography (OCT), and color fundus photography (CFP)—can differentiate individuals with and without cerebral amyloid-beta (Aβ) pathology in 40 participants with PET-confirmed Aβ status (17 Aβ+, cognitively normal or with mild cognitive impairment; 23 Aβ− cognitively normal controls). HSI-derived gray-level co-occurrence matrix (GLCM) texture, OCT-derived ganglion cell–inner plexiform layer (GC-IPL) thickness, and CFP-derived vascular biomarkers (VBMs) were extracted, and logistic regression with leave-one-out cross-validation assessed classification performance per modality, alone and combined; the cohort was supplemented with AD dementia patients for an exploratory cross-sectional comparison across disease-stage groups. HSI showed nominally lower GLCM correlation at 466 nm in Aβ+ participants, most pronounced in the inferior macula (AUC = 0.72). GC-IPL thickness showed a similar inferior-predominant regional pattern. Combining HSI and GC-IPL features yielded the best performance (AUC = 0.84; sensitivity = 0.82; specificity = 0.78), although this improvement over the unimodal models did not reach statistical significance, whereas vascular biomarkers contributed minimally. In an exploratory cross-sectional comparison across AD stage groups drawn from two cohorts, HSI features showed a non-monotonic pattern, decreasing in early Aβ+ stages and rising again in dementia. These findings provide preliminary evidence of complementary information between HSI and OCT for detecting retinal biomarkers of early-stage AD, supporting multimodal retinal imaging as a scalable screening approach warranting validation in larger, longitudinal cohorts.

Aims Stress could increase delay discounting in subjects with bulimia nervosa and alcohol use disorder (AUD), meaning that the short-term benefits of coping through eating or drinking outweigh the long-term negative consequences. Therefore, this study explores differences in delay discounting between patients and healthy controls, the impact of stress on food and alcohol delay discounting and associated changes in brain activity. Method A total of 102 female participants (AUD, 27; bulimia nervosa, 25; healthy controls, 50) underwent repeated functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning. Initially, all participants performed a monetary delay discounting task (DDT), followed by a food or alcohol DDT before and after stress induction. Specifically, those with bulimia nervosa completed a food DDT, those with AUD completed an alcohol DDT and healthy controls were randomly allocated to one or either DDT. Results Participants with AUD, but not healthy controls, displayed a higher discounting of alcohol after stress. Healthy controls, but not those with bulimia nervosa, had nominally higher discounting rates of food following stress, although not significant following multiple testing correction. Participants with AUD displayed a lower activity of the right supplementary motor area while discounting alcohol after stress. Healthy controls showed a lower activity of the frontal cortex and a higher activity of the motor cortex while discounting food after stress, while those with bulimia nervosa displayed a higher activity of the occipital cortex. Conclusions The results suggest that, in subjects with AUD, stress induces neurobiological changes that cause them to prefer more immediately available alcohol. However, the results observed in participants with bulimia nervosa suggest a more complex relation between stress and food.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS:Studies show that higher levels of positive affect (PA) and lower levels of negative affect (NA) are related to craving and alcohol consumption at a daily level in men, but little is known on these associations at a momentary level, and whether they are present in women. This study measured the dynamics of within-person NA and PA surrounding craving, non-heavy alcohol use and binge drinking in women with alcohol use disorder (AUD) and female controls without AUD. METHODS:53 female patients with AUD and 75 female controls, all recruited in Belgium, were included in an experience sampling study where they reported on momentary NA, PA, craving and alcohol use in daily life over a period of 12 months. Assessments occurred eight times a day on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays in seven bursts of three weeks. RESULTS:Within-person NA at a previous assessment (t-1) predicted craving at the current assessment (t0) in patients with AUD in a positive linear [β = 0.043; 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.002, 0.057; P = 0.041] and quadratic fashion (β = 0.034; CI = 0.011, 0.057; P = 0.004). Within-person PA at t-1 predicted craving at t0 in patients with AUD with a positive quadratic relation (β = 0.042; CI = 0.08, 0.065; P < 0.001). Within-person NA at t-1 negatively predicted non-heavy alcohol use at t0 in a linear fashion in controls (β = -0.495; CI = -0.677, -0.312; P < 0.001) and patients with AUD (β = -0.276; CI = -0.421, -0.132; P < 0.001). Within-person PA at t-1 significantly predicted non-heavy alcohol use at t0 with a positive linear term (β = 0.470; CI = 0.329, 0.610; P < 0.001) in controls, but with a positive linear term (β = 0.399; CI = 0.260, 0.454; P < 0.001) and a positive quadratic term (β = 0.203; CI = 0.060, 0.347; P = 0.003) in patients with AUD. Within-person NA at t-1 predicted binge drinking at t0 in patients with AUD with a significant quadratic term (β = 0.236; CI = 0.060, 0.412; P = 0.008), but not for controls. Within-person PA at t-1 predicted binge drinking at t0 in patients with AUD with a significant quadratic term (β = 0.378; CI = 0.215, 0.542; P < 0.001), and this was also the case for controls (β = 0.487; CI = 0.158, 0.770; P < 0.001). Non-heavy alcohol use at t0 predicted lower levels of NA at t+1 in both patients with AUD (β = -0.161; SE = 0.044; CI = -0.248, 0.074; P = 0.001) and controls (β = -0.114; CI = -0.198, -0.029; P = 0.010). Non-heavy alcohol use at t0 also predicted higher levels of PA at t+1 in both patients with AUD (β = 0.181; CI = 0.088, 0.274; P < 0.001) and controls (β = 0.189; CI = 0.101, 0.278; P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS:The momentary relation between affect and craving or alcohol use seems to be non-linear in female patients with alcohol use disorder, whereby a worse mood predicts subsequent alcohol use, though more for binge drinking than for non-heavy alcohol use.

Background Machine learning could predict binge behavior and help develop treatments for bulimia nervosa (BN) and alcohol use disorder (AUD). Therefore, this study evaluates person-specific and pooled prediction models for binge eating (BE), alcohol use, and binge drinking (BD) in daily life, and identifies the most important predictors.Methods A total of 120 patients (BN: 50; AUD: 51; BN/AUD: 19) participated in an experience sampling study, where over a period of 12 months they reported on their eating and drinking behaviors as well as on several other emotional, behavioral, and contextual factors in daily life. The study had a burst-measurement design, where assessments occurred eight times a day on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays in seven bursts of three weeks. Afterwards, person-specific and pooled models were fit with elastic net regularized regression and evaluated with cross-validation. From these models, the variables with the 10% highest estimates were identified.Results The person-specific models had a median AUC of 0.61, 0.80, and 0.85 for BE, alcohol use, and BD respectively, while the pooled models had a median AUC of 0.70, 0.90, and 0.93. The most important predictors across the behaviors were craving and time of day. However, predictors concerning social context and affect differed among BE, alcohol use, and BD.Conclusions Pooled models outperformed person-specific models and the models for alcohol use and BD outperformed those for BE. Future studies should explore how the performance of these models can be improved and how they can be used to deliver interventions in daily life.

Introduction: The brain forms a complex functional brain network. This network is dynamically reconfigured to support various cognitive processes. Research on brain network dynamics in patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD) or bulimia nervosa (BN), two highly comorbid psychiatric disorders, remains limited. Previous studies showed altered static network patterns, highlighting that the network is disturbed, but implicitly ignoring network dynamics. This study investigates dynamic network reconfigurations in female patients with AUD or BN and healthy controls (HC).Methods: Resting-state functional MRI data were acquired of 102 female participants (AUD:27, BN:24, HC:51). A sliding-window approach assigned brain regions iteratively to one of seven literature-based subnetworks for each window. Then, previously validated parameters of network reconfiguration were assessed: promiscuity (number of subnetworks switched to) and flexibility (number of switches). These measures were compared between groups and related to behavioral and clinical measures.Results: Compared to HC, patients with BN displayed a higher promiscuity of all brain subnetworks combined, and regionally for the dorsal attention network, with no change in flexibility. Patients with AUD showed no difference in either promiscuity or flexibility. Global and dorsal attention network promiscuity were negatively correlated with subjective stress.Conclusion: Regions typically assigned to the dorsal attention network changed their association with a higher number of other subnetworks in BN compared to HC, which was not seen in AUD. This suggests a less focused dynamic integration of information in patients with BN, which could play a role in their vulnerability to stress, attentional biases and impulsivity.

Negative urgency (NU), or the tendency to act rashly when stress of negative affect is high, could be the result of an insufficient control of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) over the striatum, through an impaired dopamine (DA) transmission. Therefore, we investigated in vivo human stress-induced DA release in the vmPFC, its relation with fronto-striatal functional connectivity (FC), and NU in daily life. In total, 12 female healthy participants performed a simultaneous [18 F]fallypride PET and fMRI scan during which stress was induced. Regions displaying stress-induced DA release were identified and used to investigate stress-induced changes in fronto-striatal FC. Additionally, participants enrolled in an experience sampling study, reporting on daily life stress and rash actions over a 12-month-long period. Mixed models explored whether stress-induced DA release and FC moderated NU in daily life. Stress led to a lower FC between the vmPFC and dorsal striatum, but a higher FC between the vmPFC and contralateral ventral striatum. Participants with a higher FC between the vmPFC and dorsal striatum displayed more NU in daily life. A higher stress-induced DA release in the vmPFC was related to a higher stress-induced change in FC between the vmPFC and striatum. Participants with a higher DA release in the vmPFC displayed more NU in daily life. In conclusion, stress could differentially impact fronto-striatal FC whereby the connectivity with the dorsal striatum is especially important for NU in daily life. This could be mediated by a higher, but not a lower, stress-induced DA release in the vmPFC.

Introduction: Studies in daily life report that higher levels of positive affect (PA), but not negative affect (NA) are related to craving and alcohol consumption. However, these studies have mostly been performed in non-problematic drinkers. Therefore, this study compares how NA and PA are related to craving, non-heavy alcohol use, and binge drinking (BD) in patients with alcohol use disorder (AUD) and controls.Methods: A total of 53 female patients with AUD and 75 female controls were included in an experience sampling study where they reported on momentary NA, PA, craving, and alcohol use in daily life in a burst-measurement design over a period of 12 months. Assessments occurred eight times a day on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays in seven bursts of three weeks, all separated by 5-week periods of no assessment.Results: Subsequent craving was predicted by NA and PA in a quadratic fashion in patients with AUD, but not in controls. Future non-heavy alcohol use was predicted by lower levels of NA and higher levels of PA in patients with AUD and controls, but also by lower levels of PA in patients with AUD. Subsequent BD was predicted by PA in a quadratic manner in patients with AUD and controls, but also predicted by NA in a quadratic fashion in patients with AUD. Non-heavy alcohol use predicted subsequent lower levels of NA and PA, but this was not the case for BD.Conclusions: These results suggest that the relation between affect and craving or alcohol use is often non-linear in daily life. Furthermore, they show that a worse mood can indeed predict subsequent alcohol use in patients with AUD. However, this could be more pronounced for BD than for non-heavy alcohol use.

Studies suggest that negative affect (NA) can trigger binge eating (BE) in patients with bulimia nervosa (BN). Important factors in this relation between NA and BE could be craving (an intense desire for a BE episode) and negative urgency (the tendency to act rashly when NA is high). Therefore, this study wants to firstly explore the relations between NA, craving, rash action, and BE in daily life and secondly whether craving and rash action mediate the relationship between NA and BE. A sample of 70 female patients with BN and 76 female healthy controls (HC) took part in an experience sampling study where they reported on momentary NA, craving, rash action, and eating behaviors in daily life in a burst-measurement design over a period of 12 months. Assessments occurred eight times a day on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays in seven bursts of 3 weeks, all separated by 5-week periods of no assessment. First, NA predicted subsequent rash action in the whole sample but this was more pronounced in patients with BN. Second, NA predicted subsequent craving in patients with BN, but not in HC. Third, rash action and craving predicted subsequent BE in patients with BN. Fourth, NA had competing effects on eating in patients with BN, predicting subsequent BE through rash action and craving, but also predicting subsequent not eating. These results suggest that NA can lead to BE in daily life through rash action and craving, but that NA can also lead to dietary restriction. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that is the leading cause of dementia, affecting more than 50 million people worldwide. In the search for new biomarkers, increasing attention has been dedicated to the retina. As part of the central nervous system, the retina manifests many of the characteristic pathological processes that occur in the AD brain. Moreover, it can be imaged at low-cost and non-invasively at high resolution, and therefore it may be used for AD diagnosis and monitoring. In this context, emerging evidence suggests the potential of in vivo hyperspectral retinal imaging (HSRI) as a potential biomarker for brain amyloid-β accumulation. Therefore, this project aims at studying HSRI as a novel biomarker that could lead to inexpensive population screening, thereby removing one of the principal bottlenecks to therapeutic advances in AD. In this study, we seek to define the molecular basis, sensitivity, and specificity of the HSRI signal of AD, and whether it can distinguish AD from other dementias in a translational pre-clinical and clinical research project. We perform HSRI of synthetic protein aggregates, and different cell and mouse models of neurodegenerative proteinopathies, and correlate these data with molecular biology assays, to study the molecular basis and pathological correlates of HSRI signals. In a parallel clinical study, we assess the correlation between amyloid status and HSRI and evaluate whether the diagnostic power of HSRI can be increased via a multimodal imaging approach. Our preliminary results demonstrate that HSRI can be used to quantify retinal amyloid in AD animal models and post-mortem tissues as well as discriminate between AD patients and controls, with improvement in classification accuracy by including optical coherence tomography (OCT) data. This research study covers out-of-the-box thinking to transform the detection of AD. It collects evidence of the specificity and molecular basis of HSRI which is essential for its rational clinical use as an AD imaging biomarker.

Purpose Phosphodiesterase 10A (PDE10A) is a dual substrate enzyme highly enriched in dopamine-receptive striatal medium spiny neurons, which are involved in psychiatric disorders such as alcohol use disorders (AUD). Although preclinical studies suggest a correlation of PDE10A mRNA expression in neuronal and behavioral responses to alcohol intake, little is known about the effects of alcohol exposure on in vivo PDE10A activity in relation to apparent risk factors for AUD such as decision-making and anxiety. Methods We performed a longitudinal [ 18 F]JNJ42259152 microPET study to evaluate PDE10A changes over a 9-week intermittent access to alcohol model, including 6 weeks of alcohol exposure, 2 weeks of abstinence followed by 1 week relapse. Parametric PDE10A binding potential (BP ND ) images were generated using a Logan reference tissue model with cerebellum as reference region and were analyzed using both a volume-of-interest and voxel-based approach. Moreover, individual decision-making and anxiety levels were assessed with the rat Iowa Gambling Task and open field test over the IAE model. Results We observed an increased alcohol preference especially in those animals that exhibited poor initial decision-making. The first 2-weeks of alcohol exposure resulted in an increased striatal PDE10A binding (> 10%). Comparing PDE10A binding potential after 2- versus 4-weeks of exposure, showed a significant decreased PDE10A in the caudate-putamen and nucleus accumbens ( p FWEcorrected <0.05). This striatal PDE10A decrease was related to alcohol consumption and preference. Normalization of striatal PDE10A to initial levels was observed after 1 week of relapse, apart from the globus pallidus. Conclusion This study shows that chronic voluntary alcohol consumption induces a reversible increased PDE10A enzymatic availability in the striatum, which is related to the amount of alcohol preference. Thus, PDE10A-mediated signaling plays an important role in modulating the reinforcing effects of alcohol, and the data suggest that PDE10A inhibition may have beneficial behavioral effects on alcohol intake.

A large number of patients with COVID-19 will suffer from long-term smell and taste disorders (STD). These STD symptoms could have a significant impact on patients with an eating disorder (ED). To highlight this issue, a case is presented of a patient with bulimia nervosa who experienced COVID-19-relate STD symptoms. Clinicians should reassess patients with an ED who suffer from COVID-19 with STD symptomatology and potentially redirect treatment. More research is needed on STD symptoms in patients with an ED to improve our knowledge on the role of smell and taste in disordered eating behaviors and improve treatment guidelines.

Next to amyloid and tau, synaptic loss is a key pathological hallmark in Alzheimer's disease, closely related to cognitive dysfunction and neurodegeneration. Tau is thought to cause synaptic loss, but this has not been experimentally verified in vivo. In a 2-year follow-up study, dual tracer PET-MR was performed in 12 amnestic MCI patients using 18F-MK-6240 for tau and 11C-UCB-J for SV2A as a proxy for synaptic density. Tau already accumulated in the neocortex at baseline with progression in Braak V/VI at follow-up. While synaptic loss was limited to limbic regions at baseline, it followed the specific tau pattern to stage IV/V regions two years later, indicating that tau spread might drive synaptic vulnerability. Moreover, synaptic density changes correlated to changes in cognitive function. This study shows for the first time in vivo that synaptic loss regionally follows tau accumulation after two years, providing a disease-modifying window of opportunity for (combined) tau-targeting therapies.

Objective Changes in reward processing are hypothesized to play a role in the onset and maintenance of binge eating (BE). However, despite an increasing number of studies investigating the neurobiological reward system in individuals who binge eat, no comprehensive systematic review exists on this topic. Therefore, this review has the following objectives: (1) identify structural and functional changes in the brain reward system, either during rest or while performing a task; and (2) formulate directions for future research. Methods A search was conducted of articles published until March 31, 2022. Neuroimaging studies were eligible if they wanted to study the reward system and included a group of individuals who binge eat together with a comparator group. Their results were summarized in a narrative synthesis. Results A total of 58 articles were included. At rest, individuals who binge eat displayed a lower striatal dopamine release, a change in the volume of the striatum, frontal cortex, and insula, as well as a lower frontostriatal connectivity. While performing a task, there was a higher activity of the brain reward system when anticipating or receiving food, more model-free reinforcement learning, and more habitual behavior. Most studies only included one patient group, used general reward-related measures, and did not evaluate the impact of comorbidities, illness duration, race, or sex. Discussion Confirming previous hypotheses, this review finds structural and functional changes in the neurobiological reward system in BE. Future studies should compare disorders, use measures that are specific to BE, and investigate the impact of confounding factors. Public Significance Statement This systematic review finds that individuals who binge eat display structural and functional changes in the brain reward system. These changes could be related to a higher sensitivity to food, relying more on previous experiences when making decisions, and more habitual behavior. Future studies should use a task that is specific to binge eating, look across different patient groups, and investigate the impact of comorbidities, illness duration, race, and sex.

Background:Stress could induce neurobiological changes in patients with bulimia nervosa (BN) and alcohol use disorder (AUD) that increase delay discounting (DD), making the short-term benefits of coping through eating or drinking outweigh long-term negative consequences. Therefore, this study explores differences in DD between patients (BN or AUD) and healthy controls (HC), the impact of stress on food and alcohol DD, and the associated changes in brain activity.Methods:A total of 102 female participants (AUD: 27, BN: 25, HC: 50; age range: 18-38 years) underwent repeated fMRI scanning while performing three DD tasks (DDT). Initially, all participants performed a monetary DDT. Then, participants performed a food or alcohol DDT before and after stress induction with the Montreal Imaging Stress Task (MIST). Specifically, patients with BN completed a food DDT,patients with AUD completed an alcohol DDT and HC were randomly allocated to either DDT.Results:No differences were found in the DD of money, food or alcohol between patients and controls before stress. However, stress increased the DD of alcohol in patients with AUD, but not in HC. Stress also increased the DD of food in HC, but not in patients with BN. Furthermore, stress caused patients with AUD to display a lower activity of the right supplementary motor area while discounting alcohol. Stress also caused HC to display a lower activity of the middle/super frontalcortex and a higher activity of the motor cortex while discounting food, but caused patients with BN to display a higher activity of the occipital cortex.Conclusion:The results suggest that stress induces neurobiological changes in patients with AUD which cause them to prefer more immediately available alcohol. However, the results observed in patients with BN suggest a more complex relation between stress and food.

Background: Individuals with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS) are at increased risk of developing psychosis and cognitive impairments, which may be related to dopaminergic and glutamatergic abnormalities. Therefore, in this exploratory study, we examined the association between dopaminergic and glutamatergic functioning in 22q11DS. Additionally, the associations between glutamatergic functioning and brain volumes in 22q11DS and healthy controls (HC), as well as those between dopaminergic and cognitive functioning in 22q11DS, were also examined. Methods: In this cross-sectional, multimodal imaging study, glutamate, glutamine, and their combined concentration (Glx) were assessed in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and striatum in 17 22q11DS patients and 20 HC using 7T proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy. Ten 22q11DS patients also underwent 18F-fallypride positron emission tomography to measure dopamine D2/3 receptor (D2/3R) availability in the ACC and striatum. Cognitive performance was assessed with the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery. Results: No significant associations were found between ACC or striatal (1) glutamate, glutamine, or Glx concentrations and (2) D2/3R availability. In HC but not in 22q11DS patients, we found a significant relationship between ACC volume and ACC glutamate, glutamine, and Glx concentration. In addition, some aspects of cognitive functioning were significantly associated with D2/3R availability in 22q11DS. However, none of the associations remained significant after Bonferroni correction. Conclusions: Although our results did not reach statistical significance, our findings suggest an association between glutamatergic functioning and brain volume in HC but not in 22q11DS. Additionally, D2/3R availability seems to be related to cognitive functioning in 22q11DS. Studies in larger samples are needed to further elucidate our findings.

The established role of dopamine (DA) in the mediation of reward and positive reinforcement, reward processing is strongly influenced by the type 1 cannabinoid receptors (CB1 Rs). Although considerable preclinical evidence has demonstrated several functional CB1 R-DA interactions, the relation between human CB1 R availability, DA release capacity and drug-reinforcing effects has been never investigated so far. Here, we perform a multitracer [18 F]MK-9470 and [18 F]fallypride positron emission tomography (PET) study in 10 healthy male subjects using a placebo-controlled and single-blinded amphetamine (AMPH) (30 mg) administration paradigm to (1) investigate possible functional interactions between CB1 R expression levels and DA release capacity in a normo-DAergic state, relating in vivo AMPH-induced DA release to CB1 R availability, and (2) to test the hypothesis that the influence of striatal DAergic signalling on the positive reinforcing effects of AMPH may be regulated by prefrontal CB1 R levels. Compared with placebo, AMPH significantly reduced [18 F]fallypride binding potential (hence increase DA release; ΔBPND ranging from -6.1% to -9.6%) in both striatal (p < 0.005, corrected for multiple comparisons) and limbic extrastriatal regions (p ≤ 0.04, uncorrected). Subjects who reported a greater dopaminergic response in the putamen also showed higher CB1 R availability in the medial and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (r = 0.72; p = 0.02), which are regions involved in salience attribution, motivation and decision making. On the other hand, the magnitude of DA release was greater in those subjects with lower CB1 R availability in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) (r = -0.66; p = 0.03). Also, the correlation between the DA release in the nucleus accumbens with the subjective AMPH effect liking was mediated through the CB1 R availability in the ACC (c' = -0.76; p = 0.01). Our small preliminary study reports for the first time that the human prefrontal CB1 R availability is a determinant of DA release within both the ventral and dorsal reward corticostriatal circuit, contributing to a number of studies supporting the existence of an interaction between CB1 R and DA receptors at the molecular and behavioural level. These preliminary findings warrant further investigation in pathological conditions characterized by hypo/hyper excitability to DA release such as addiction and schizophrenia.

Purpose Visual snow syndrome (VSS) is a recently recognized chronic neurologic condition characterized by the constant perceiving of tiny flickering dots throughout the entire visual field. Metabolic overactivity and grey matter volume increase in the lingual gyrus has been reported. We investigated this by 18 F-FDG PET/MR in comparison to healthy controls. Aside from voxel-based characterization, the classification accuracy of volume-of-interest (VOI)-based multimodal assessment was evaluated, also in comparison with visual analysis. Methods Simultaneous 18 F-FDG PET and MR imaging was performed in 7 patients with VSS (24.6 ± 5.7 years; 5 M/2F) and 15 age-matched healthy controls (CON) (28.0 ± 5.3 years; 8 M/7F). SPM12 and voxel-based morphometric analysis was performed. A VOI-based discriminant analysis was performed with relative 18 F-FDG uptake, MR grey matter (GM) volumes and their combination. A visual analysis was done by two blinded experienced readers. Results Relative increased hypermetabolism was found in VSS patients in the lingual gyrus and cuneus ( p FWE < 0.05, peak change + 24%), and hypometabolism in the mesiotemporal cortex ( p height,uncorr < 0.001, peak change − 14%). VSS patients also had increased GM volume in the limbic system and frontotemporal cortex bilaterally ( p FWE < 0.05), and in the left secondary and associative visual cortex and in the left lingual gyrus ( p height,uncorr < 0.001). Discriminant analysis resulted in 100% correct classification accuracy for 18 F-FDG with lingual gyrus, cuneus and lateral occipital lobe (BA 17 and BA 18) as main discriminators. Unimodal MR- and combined 18 F-FDG + MR classification resulted in an accuracy of 91% and 95%, respectively. Visual analysis of 18 F-FDG was highly observer dependent. Conclusion Patients with VSS have highly significant structural and metabolic abnormalities in the visual and limbic system. VOI-based discriminant analysis of 18 F-FDG PET allows reliable individual classification versus controls, whereas visual analysis of experienced observers was highly variable. Further investigation in larger series, also in comparison to VSS mimicking disorders such as migraine, is warranted. Trail registration : Retrospectively registered at clinicaltrials.gov under NCT05569733 on Oct 5, 2022.

Interventional yoga studies with an active control group remain scarce and are important to clarify the underlying neurobiology. We conducted an interventional study in healthy controls using simultaneous positron emission tomography/magnetic resonance (PET/MR) imaging and psychometric scales. Thirty healthy, female volunteers (28.4 ± 8.4 years) participated and were randomly assigned to a 12-week yoga or indoor cycling intervention. Before and after the intervention, [18F]FDG and [11C]UCB-J PET was performed on a simultaneous GE Signa PET/MR with volumetric imaging. Psychometric scales were evaluated on affect, mindfulness, stress, worrying, self-compassion, and interoceptive awareness. Yoga subjects scored higher on interoceptive awareness compared to baseline (p < 0.001). Cognitive (P = 0.009) and overall cognitive functioning (P = 0.01) improved after the yoga intervention compared to the cycling group. We did not observe significant differences in glucose metabolism, synaptic density, or gray matter (GM) volume. The indoor cycling group did not show changes in psychometric variables, but significant increases in relative glucose metabolism were observed in the parahippocampal/fusiform gyrus and cerebellum (P < 0.001). In conclusion, 12 weeks of yoga practice has significant effects on interoceptive awareness and perceived cognitive function in starters. Longer interventions and/or higher frequency of yoga practice may be needed to detect cerebral metabolic and/or morphologic effects on the macroscopic level.

IntroductionPreliminary results indicate that COVID-19 lockdown measures could lead to an increase in eating disorder pathology. However, some patients could be more vulnerable to experience such an increase than others. The reason why some patients are more susceptible to the impact of lockdown measures is still not known.ObjectivesTo analyze the impact of the Belgian COVID-19 lockdown measures on the surroundings, social context, negative affect (NA), positive affect (PA) and binge eating frequency of patients with bulimia nervosa (BN).Methods The data of 15 female patients with BN from an ongoing experience sampling method study were analyzed. Mixed effects models compared surroundings, social context, NA, PA and binge eating before and after the implementation of the lockdown measures.Results After the implementation of the lockdown measures, significant changes in surroundings and social context were found as well as an increase in NA (p < 0.001) and decrease in PA (p = 0.015). Patients who experienced an increase in binge eating frequency also experienced a stronger increase in NA (p = 0.012) and decrease in PA (p = 0.026) after the lockdown measures were implemented.ConclusionsFuture research should also look at changes in surroundings, social context, affect and how these interact with factors such as personality traits and coping styles when investigating why some patients are more susceptible to the negative effects of lockdown measures than others.