Gender differences in functional connectivity during emotion regulation.

Gender differences in emotion regulation (ER) have been postulated, yet their neural basis remains poorly understood. The goal of this study was to investigate this issue from a functional connectivity (FC) perspective. Utilizing a region of interest (ROI) analysis, we investigated whether men and women (N = 48) differed in their FC pattern while viewing versus regulating negative emotion induced by highly salient pictures, and whether this pattern related to their self-reported negative affect and suppression success. Despite women reporting more negative affect, both genders had comparable suppression success. Moreover, differences emerged between men and women's FC patterns. During the regulation of negative emotion, better suppression in women was associated with stronger FC within a cingulo-opercular network, while men exhibited stronger FC within posterior regions of the ventral attentional network. We conclude that due to their propensity for higher emotional reactivity, women may employ a frontal top-down control network to downregulate negative emotion, while men may redirect attention away from the negative stimulus by using posterior regions of the ventral attention network. The findings may have significant implications for understanding women's vulnerability for developing affective disorders and developing targeted individualized treatment.

Neural activity in functional movement disorders after inpatient rehabilitation.

Functional movement disorders (FMD) are a common source of disability in neurology.While treatment of FMD can reduce motor severity and disability, the neural mechanisms implicated in such a response remain unclear. We aimed to investigate neural changes in patients with FMD after a one-week multidisciplinary motor retraining (MoRe) treatment program. Fourteen FMD patients completed an emotional Go/No-Go fMRI task before and after MoRe treatment. Standardized pre- and post-treatment videos were rated for motor severity by a blinded reviewer using the psychogenic movement disorder rating scale (PMDRS). PMDRS scores before and after treatment were used for whole-brain regression. PMDRS scores were significantly reduced after MoRe treatment. Worse severity prior to treatment was associated with greater primary motor cortex (M1) activation at baseline and a larger response to treatment. Globally, increased connectivity between bilateral amygdala and premotor regions was observed following treatment. Lower post-treatment PMDRS scores were associated with increased connectivity between amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex, whereas higher post-treatment PMDRS scores (and poorer treatment response) were associated with increased connectivity between amygdala and M1. Motor retraining in FMD may reorganize activity and connectivity in emotion processing and motor planning networks, with shifts in amygdala connectivity from posterior to frontal/prefrontal regions.

Bimolecular extrusion of TeR2 from beta-diketiminato supported scandium bis-tellurolates.

Reaction of the well-defined, base-free dialkyl scandium compounds LnSc(CH2SiMe3)2 supported by the beta-diketiminato ligands ArNC(R)CHC(R)NAr (Ar = 2,6-diisopropyl; R = Me, L1: R = tBu, L2) with two equivalents of nBuP = Te gives the bis-tellurolate complexes LnSc(TeCH2SiMe3)2, 1b (L1) and 2b (L2). Tellurolate 2b was isolated and fully characterized, including an X-ray structure analysis, and exhibits two chemically distinct tellurolate ligands in solution on the NMR time scale. Tellurolate 1b is only moderately stable and decomposes with elimination of two equivalents of Te(CH2SiMe3)2 to form the dimeric bis-telluride 1d. This compound was characterized by X-ray crystallography and elemental analysis. In contast, tellurolate 2b decomposes with loss of only one equivalent of Te(CH2SiMe3)2, leading to the formation of a dinuclear complex with one bridging telluride unit joining two L2Sc(TeCH2SiMe3) fragments. This compound was also structurally characterized. The solution behavior of this material is complex, as it exists as three conformational isomers that undergo slow exchange on the NMR time scale. The production of dimer 2c, along with the results of crossover experiments, suggest strongly that TeR2 elimination from these bis-tellurolates is bimolecular.