Introduction Pregnancy and the postpartum period involve several physiological adaptations crucial for offspring care. Recent research has highlighted reproduction-related brain plasticity in human mothers. Associations with aspects of maternal caregiving suggest adaptive changes that facilitate a woman’s transition to motherhood. However, the dynamic changes that affect a woman’s brain are not merely adaptive, and they likely confer a vulnerability for the mental disorders. To elucidate the pathophysiology of psychiatric problems that occur during the perinatal period, gaining insights into the physiological changes in brain function due to pregnancy is crucial. Objectives Although it has been hypothesized that pregnancy enhances social cognitive functions in mothers to adapt to the offspring care, there are few reports to support this hypothesis. This study aims to investigate whether social cognitive functions change during the first pregnancy, with a focus on maternal adaptation to offspring care. Methods The study included a first pregnancy group and a never-pregnant control group. We conducted a prospective study comparing pregnant women between two-time points (T1, T2); at less than 21 weeks of gestation [T1] and those after 30 weeks of gestation [T2]. To assess the effects of pregnancy and gestational age (< 21 weeks or 30 weeks or more), both the control (never-pregnant) group and pregnant group were evaluated at two time points with similar intervals. The Emotion Recognition Task [ERT] of the Cambridge Neuropsychological Test Automated Battery (CANTAB) was performed to examine the emotion recognition of six basic emotions in facial expressions. We analyzed a cohort of 26 participants in the pregnant group and 25 in the control group. We performed a two-way repeated measures analysis of variance with pregnancy status and gestational period (T1, T2) as independent variables. Results Significant interactions between group and time points (T1, T2) were observed only for Unbiased Hit Rate Anger (p<0.01); facial recognition accuracy for anger increased with the progression of pregnancy. There were no significant interactions for Unbiased Hit Rate Sadness, Happiness, Fear, Disgust, or Surprise. Conclusions This is the first study to demonstrate that facial recognition of anger enhances with the progression of pregnancy, utilizing never-pregnant women as a never-pregnant control group. The results of this study contribute to the physiological effects of pregnancy on the brain and cognitive function and have potential for further study of perinatal mental health problems. Disclosure of Interest None Declared

Introduction Parents have significant genetic and environmental influences, which are known as intergenerational effects, on the cognition, behavior, and brain of their offspring. These intergenerational effects are observed in patients with mood disorders, with a particularly strong association of depression between mothers and daughters. Objectives The main purpose of our study was to investigate female-specific intergenerational transmission patterns in the human brain among patients with depression and their never-depressed offspring. Methods We recruited 78 participants from 34 families, which included remitted parents with a history of depression and their never-depressed biological offspring. We used source-based and surface-based morphometry analyses of magnetic resonance imaging data to examine the degree of associations in brain structure between four types of parent-offspring dyads (i.e. mother-daughter, mother-son, father-daughter, and father-son). Results Using independent component analysis, we found a significant positive correlation of gray matter structure between exclusively the mother-daughter dyads within brain regions located in the default mode and central executive networks, such as the bilateral anterior cingulate cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, precuneus, middle frontal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, superior parietal lobule, and left angular gyrus. These similar observations were not identified in other three parent-offspring dyads. Conclusions The current study provides biological evidence for greater vulnerability of daughters, but not sons, in developing depression whose mothers have a history of depression. Our findings extend our knowledge on the pathophysiology of major psychiatric conditions that show sex biases and may contribute to the development of novel interventions targeting high-risk individuals. Disclosure of Interest None Declared

The metabolic syndrome is highly prevalent in patients with schizophrenia. We previously found that blood C-reactive protein (CRP), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and leptin levels were predictors of current metabolic syndrome in schizophrenia. In the present study, we investigated whether baseline levels of total and differential white blood cell (WBC) counts, inflammatory markers, and adipokines predicted incident metabolic syndrome in schizophrenia.For subjects from the Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness (CATIE) schizophrenia trial who did not have metabolic syndrome at baseline (n = 726), WBC counts, inflammatory markers, and adipokines were investigated as predictors of incident metabolic syndrome over 12 months of antipsychotic treatment. Cox proportional hazards regression models, controlling for multiple potential confounding factors, were used to investigate these associations.39% of subjects (n = 280) had incident metabolic syndrome over 12 months. After controlling for potential confounders, baseline blood IL-6 (HR = 1.12, 95% CI 1.01–1.24, p = 0.031) and leptin (HR = 1.12, 95% CI 1.01–1.24, p = 0.038) were significant predictors of incident metabolic syndrome, and there was a trend-level association with CRP (HR = 1.09, 95% CI 1.00–1.19, p = 0.059).Our findings provide additional evidence that measurement of inflammatory markers and adipokines are germane to the clinical care of patients with schizophrenia. Specifically, these markers may identify—prior to treatment—patients with schizophrenia at heightened risk for incident adverse cardiometabolic effects of antipsychotics. Given the tremendous burden of cardiovascular disease morbidity and mortality in schizophrenia, vigilant screening for and treatment of metabolic risk factors in this patient population are warranted.

Hydrodesulfurization of heavy oil is usually operated in a trickle bed reactor. Analysis and design of this reactor require modeling both at the macro-reactor scale and micro-catalyst scale. The paper is focused on the catalyst-level modeling and takes into consideration complex catalyst shapes, wettability, and spatial variation in diffusivity due to catalyst pore plugging. Furthermore, the effects of mass transfer from dry and wet zones around the partially wetted catalyst surface are included. Finite element method is used for two-dimensional analysis as it is versatile and can handle complex shapes. The catalyst-level model includes an updating of effective diffusivity with time, and hence the lifetime of a complex shaped catalyst can be predicted. Long-time operation shows that thickness of plugged pore is large and also non-uniform across the two-dimensional catalyst particle with more plugging near the catalyst surface. In addition, the reaction regime changes with time, the fresh catalyst initially being in a diffusion-resistance-free regime and changing to a strong-diffusion-resistance regime at longer operating times. The computational method can be used for optimization of the operating protocol and to design optimum pore size and shape of the catalyst, although these details are not addressed in this paper.

Crunching the numbers suggests that Earth's life isn't a one-off. But our wildest imaginings probably don't encompass what aliens look like

Cortical excitation/inhibition (E/I) imbalances may contribute to various clinical symptoms observed in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), such as sensory dysfunction or social communication deficits. However, the precise neural basis supporting E/I balance of cortex remains unclear. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) motor evoked potential (MEP) studies examine cortical excitation and inhibition in ASD. Here, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis on TMS neurophysiology studies of thei motor cortex (M1) such as MEPs and short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) between individuals with ASD and controls. We identified six articles out of 538 initial records. Five studies measured MEP and four studies measured SICI. There was no difference in MEP amplitude between the two groups (standardized mean difference (SMD) = -0.04, 95% CI: -0.34 to 0.26, p = 0.79) while SICI was significantly reduced in individuals with ASD compared to controls (SMD = 0.38, 95% CI: 0.04 to 0.73, p = 0.03). Since SICI mainly reflects GABA(A) receptor-mediated function, our findings are congruent with previous studies that demonstrated potential deficits in GABA receptor-mediated function in ASD. In conclusion, reduced GABAergic function in neural circuits may underlie the E/I imbalance in ASD, which may be related to the pathophysiology of clinical symptoms of ASD. Individuals with ASD may have the E/I balance biased toward excitation due to reduced inhibition and/or increased excitation in the cortex. Therefore, novel treatments targeting neural circuits related to GABA(A) receptor-mediated function in regions involved in the pathophysiology of ASD may be promising.

Atherosclerosis is a major cause of cardiovascular disease and one of the most deadly diseases in the world. Macrophages are the main contributors in the development of atherosclerosis, a target that drugs inhibit the inflammation and regulate lipid metabolism. In this review, we summarized the effects and mechanisms of traditional Chinese medicines and their bioactive compounds on atherosclerosis.

Thalamic chronotaraxis is an isolated disorientation of time caused by the damage of thalamus, especially the mediodorsal nucleus. We performed interval timing trials on a patient with this phenomenon. Based on the results of those trials and compared to the previous reports, thalamic chronotaraxis of our case might be due to the disfunction of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex caused by the right thalamic infarction.

Objective To examine characteristics of placebo responders and seek optimal criteria of early improvement with placebo for predicting subsequent placebo response in patients with schizophrenia. Method Data of 672 patients with schizophrenia randomized to placebo in nine double‐blind antipsychotic trials were analyzed. Multiple logistic regression analyses were conducted to examine associations between placebo response at week 6 (i.e., a ≥ 25% reduction in the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale [ PANSS ] score) and gender, age, study locations, baseline PANSS total or Marder 5‐Factor scores, and per cent PANSS score reduction at week 1. Predictive power of improvement at week 1 for subsequent response was investigated; sensitivity and specificity of incremental 5% cutoff points between 5% and 25% reduction in the PANSS total score at week 1 were calculated. Results Per cent PANSS total score reduction at week 1 and lower PANSS Marder disorganized thought scores at baseline were significantly associated with subsequent placebo response. A 10% reduction in a per‐protocol analysis or a 15% reduction in last‐observation‐carried‐forward analysis in the PANSS total score at week 1 showed the highest predictive power. Conclusion These findings are informative to identify potential placebo responders at the earliest opportunity for optimal trial design for schizophrenia.

Background: Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is significantly affected in individuals with schizophrenia or bipolar I disorder (BD-I). The current study investigated whether symptomatic remission and resilience might differently impact HRQOL in these patients. Methods: Fifty-two patients with schizophrenia and 60 patients suffering from BD-I from outpatient mental health services as well as 77 healthy control subjects from the general community were included into a cross-sectional study. HRQOL and resilience were assessed using the WHOQOL-BREF and the Resilience Scale. In patients, psychopathology was quantified by the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale or the Montgomery Asberg Depression Rating Scale and the Young Mania Rating Scale, respectively. Results: Notably, both patient groups showed lower HRQOL and resilience compared to control subjects, non-remitted patients indicated lower HRQOL than remitted ones. The effect of remission on HRQOL was significantly larger in patients with BD-I than in those with schizophrenia but did not explain the difference in HRQOL between groups. Resilience predicted HRQOL in all three groups. When accounting for the effect of resilience among remitted patients, only the difference in HRQOL between schizophrenia patients and control subjects was significant. Conclusion: These findings demonstrate the impact of symptomatic remission and resilience on HRQOL of both patients suffering from schizophrenia and BD-I and indicate that these factors are especially relevant for HRQOL of patients with BD-I. (C) 2017 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Objective The impact of religious/spiritual activities on clinical outcomes in patients with serious mental illnesses remains controversial, which was addressed in this international cross‐sectional study. Method Three‐hundred sixty‐nine subjects were recruited from Austria ( n = 189) and Japan ( n = 180), consisting of 112 outpatients with paranoid schizophrenia, 120 with bipolar I disorder ( DSM ‐ IV ), and 137 healthy controls. Religiosity was assessed in terms of attendance and importance of religious/spiritual activities, while resilience was assessed using the 25‐item Resilience Scale. General linear models were used to test whether higher religiosity will be associated with higher resilience, higher social functioning, and lower psychopathology. The association between levels of spiritual well‐being and resilience was also examined. Results Attendance of religious services ( F [4,365] = 0.827, P = 0.509) and importance of religion/spirituality ( F [3,365] = 1.513, P = 0.211) did not show significant associations with resilience. Regarding clinical measures, a modest association between higher importance of religion/spirituality and residual manic symptoms was observed in bipolar patients ( F [3,118] = 3.120, P = 0.029). In contrast to the findings regarding religiosity, spiritual well‐being showed a strong positive correlation with resilience ( r = 0.584, P < 0.001). Conclusion The protective effect of religiosity in terms of resilience, social functioning, and psychopathology was not evident in our sample. Spiritual well‐being appears more relevant to resilience than religiosity.

Herein a NiCrBSi coating with 800 μm thickness was fabricated via plasma spraying on AISI 1045 steel, whereupon gas tungsten arc welding (GTA) process was employed to remelt the coating. The microstructure and mechanical properties of the coating before and after remelting were investigated. The results indicate that microstructural inhomogeneity in the as-sprayed coating were almost completely eliminated by GTA remelting. The main phases in the as-sprayed coating are γ-Ni, Cr7C3 and Cr2B. While, the remelted coating is mainly composed of fine dendrite γ-(Ni,Fe,Cr) and thin interdendritic lamellar eutectic (Fe,Cr)23C6. Moreover, there are some submicron particles Ni3B, CrB and Ni3Si in the grain interior of γ-(Ni,Fe,Cr), and a large number of nanocrystallines in the grain boundary of γ-(Ni,Fe,Cr). After remelting, a compact and complete solid solution γ-(Ni,Fe,Cr) is formed at the interface between the remelted coating and substrate, hence the interface is transformed from mechanical bonding to metallurgical bonding. In addition, remelting the coating was found to induce a 84.4% increase in the elastic modulus, a 18.5 times increase in the fracture toughness, and a 42.8% increase in the microhardness. Therefore, GTA remelting is found a feasible method to significantly improve the microstructure and mechanical properties of the coating.