Neurocognitive training enhances the outcomes of children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: A preliminary study.

BACKGROUND: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a prevalent neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by diverse clinical manifestations including inattention, hyperactivity and impulsivity. OBJECTIVE: The present study aims to investigate the effects of neurocognitive training (NT), a personalized and specialized exercise programme on symptoms, attention and dynamic balance in treatment-naïve children diagnosed with ADHD. METHODS: Fourteen treatment-naïve children aged 7-12 years diagnosed with ADHD were enrolled in the intervention group. The NT intervention was administered weekly for 10 consecutive weeks, supplemented by a structured home exercise programme for 6 days a week over the same 10-week period. ADHD-related symptoms, attention and dynamic balance were assessed in pre-treatment, post-treatment, 6 months, and 12 months. Fifteen typically developing (TD) children, matched for age, underwent evaluation only once to establish baseline normative values. RESULTS: Following the NT (post-treatment), significant improvements were observed in hyperactivity-impulsivity scores, oppositional-defiant behaviours and dynamic balance when compared to the TD children (p < 0.05). In the ADHD group, a significant difference was found in the long term (12-month follow-up) in hyperactivity-impulsivity, oppositional-defiant behaviours and dynamic balance (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The findings suggest that the NT yields favourable effects on hyperactivity-impulsivity, oppositional defiant behaviours and dynamic balance in children diagnosed with ADHD, with these improvements appearing to be sustained over the long term. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT04707040.

The association between pragmatic language impairment, social cognition and emotion regulation skills in adolescents with ADHD.

OBJECTIVE: Attention Deficit and Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) is associated with significant pragmatic language impairment and theory of mind deficits, but there are only a handful of studies have investigated the relationship between them in these conditions. This study aimed that investigate two different aspects of Theory of Mind (ToM) (ToM decoding and reasoning), pragmatic language impairment, and emotion regulation in patients with ADHD. METHOD: Seventy adolescents with ADHD were compared to matched 64 healthy controls. We administered Social Responsiveness Scale-2 (SRS-2), Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), Kiddie-SADS, Conners Parent Rating Scale, Children's Communication Checklist-2 (CCC-2), Faux Pas, Comprehension Test, and Reading Mind in the Eyes Test (RMET) to all study participants. RESULTS: The CCC-2 scores were found to be statistically significantly higher in the ADHD group than in healthy controls. ADHD group had lower performance in the Faces Test and RMET compared to healthy controls, which did not survive from false discovery rate correction. We also found that CCC-2 performance and Conners scores were significant predictors of social responsiveness. CONCLUSION: Our results point to widespread impairment in pragmatic language use and communication from many perspectives. These results might be important to understand the difficulties in social functioning and interpersonal relationship in adolescents with ADHD.Key pointsADHD is associated with significant impairment in pragmatic language use and social cognitive functions.ToM-Decoding (RMET) is impaired much more than ToM-Reasoning (Faux Pas) in ADHD.Pragmatic language skills and severity of ADHD may be significant predictors of social responsiveness.Emotion regulation problems may affect communication and pragmatic language use.

Altered regional grey matter volume and appetite-related hormone levels in adolescent obesity with or without binge-eating disorder.

PURPOSE: Binge eating disorder (BED) is characterized by frequent and persistent overeating episodes of binge eating without compensatory behaviors. The aim was to evaluate regional gray matter volume (GMV) abnormalities and appetite-regulating hormone levels (NPY and Leptin) in obese subjects either with or without BED compared to healthy controls (HC). METHODS: Twenty-six obese patients with BED, 25 obese patients without BED and 27 healthy subjects as an age-matched control group with neuroimaging and appetite-regulating hormone levels were found eligible for regional GMV abnormalities. A structural magnetic resonance scan and timely blood samples were drawn to assess the appetite-regulating hormone levels. RESULTS: The BED obese patients had a greater GMVs of the right medial orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) and the left medial OFC compared to the non-BED obese patients. BED patients were characterized by greater GMV of the left medial OFC than HCs. Relative to the HCs, higher serum NPY levels were found in BED obese and non-BED obese groups. Serum leptin levels (pg/mL) had positively correlations with GMV in right medial OFC, left medial OFC, right lateral OFC, and left anterior cingulate cortex. CONCLUSION: Among the reward processing network, which is largely associated with feeding behaviours in individuals with obesity and binge eating disorder, the OFC volumes was correlated with serum leptin concentrations. The results of our study may provide a rationale for exploring the link between regional grey matter volumes and appetite-related hormone levels in people with BED. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level III, case-control analytic study.

Regio- and stereoselective synthesis of 2,3,5-trienoates by palladium-catalyzed alkoxycarbonylation of conjugated enyne carbonates.

Palladium-catalyzed carbonylation of 2,4-enyne carbonates in an alcohol and under balloon pressure of CO proceeds through 1,5-substitution to yield (E)-2,3,5-trienoates. The olefin geometry of the substrate is important to control the overall stereochemistry of this alkoxycarbonylation method. The reaction proceeds through successive formation of π-allylpalladium with an R(3) group oriented syn and σ-allenyl palladium complexes.