The relationship between frontal alpha asymmetry and behavioral and brain activity indices of reactive inhibitory control.

Reactive inhibitory control plays an important role in phenotype of different diseases/different phases of a disease. One candidate electrophysiological marker of inhibitory control is frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA). FAA reflects the relative difference in contralateral frontal brain activity. However, the relationship between FAA and potential behavioral/brain activity indices of reactive inhibitory control is not yet clear. We assessed the relationship between resting-state FAA and indicators of reactive inhibitory control. Additionally, we investigated the effect of modulation of FAA via transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). We implemented a randomized sham-controlled design with 65 healthy humans (Mage = 23.93, SDage = 6.08; 46 female). Before and after 2-mA anodal tDCS of the right frontal site (with the cathode at the contralateral site) for 20 min, we collected EEG data and reactive inhibitory performance in neutral and food-reward conditions, using the stop signal task (SST). There was no support for the effect of tDCS on FAA or any indices of reactive inhibitory control. Our correlation analysis revealed an association between inhibitory brain activity in the food-reward condition and (pre-tDCS) asymmetry. Higher right relative to left frontal brain activity was correlated with reduced early-onset inhibitory activity and, in contrast, linked with higher late-onset inhibitory control in the food-reward condition. Similarly, event-related potential analyses showed reduced early-onset and enhanced late-onset inhibitory brain activity over time, particularly in the food-reward condition. These results suggest that there can be a dissociation regarding the lateralization of frontal brain activity and early- and late-onset inhibitory brain activity.NEW & NOTEWORTHY This research reveals dissociation between baseline frontal alpha asymmetry and the timing of reactive inhibitory brain activities in food-reward contexts. Whereas inhibitory control performance decreases over time in a stop signal task, electrophysiological indices show reduced early- and heightened late-onset inhibitory brain activity, especially in the reward condition. Additionally, greater right frontal activity correlates with reduced early-onset and increased late-onset inhibitory brain activity.

Impulsive reaction to social distress.

Psycho-physiological studies suggest that social rejection leads to social distress and favours impulsivity. We therefore investigated changes in behavioural impulsivity after exposure to social rejection by taking into account impulsive personality traits and changes to affective states. 30 university students were recruited. The Go/No-go task assessed behavioural impulsivity, the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale measured impulsive personality traits, and Likert scales measured affective states. A video clip and a writing exercise were used to induce stress. We found that impulsive error responses increased significantly after exposure. Decreased level of excitement and of loneliness were reported after stress. Distress caused by social rejection increased impulsive behaviour, but the degree of this change could not be associated with trait impulsivity, and was reported subjectively.

Prebiotic effect on mood in obese patients is determined by the initial gut microbiota composition: A randomized, controlled trial.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Metabolic and behavioural diseases, which are often related to obesity, have been associated to alterations of the gut microbiota considered as an interesting therapeutic target. We have analyzed in a cohort of obese patients treated with prebiotic inulin versus placebo the potential link between gut microbiota changes occurring upon intervention and their effect on psychological parameters (mood and cognition). METHODS: A randomized, single-blinded, multicentric, placebo-controlled trial was conducted in 106 obese patients assigned to two groups: prebiotic versus placebo, who received respectively 16 g/d of native inulin or maltodextrin combined with dietary advice to consume inulin-rich or -poor vegetables for 3 months as well as to restrict caloric intake. Anthropometric measurements, food intake, psychological questionnaires, serum measures, and fecal microbiome sequencing were performed before and after the intervention. RESULTS: Inulin supplementation in obese subjects had moderate beneficial effect on emotional competence and cognitive flexibility. However, an exploratory analysis revealed that some patients exhibiting specific microbial signature -elevated Coprococcus levels at baseline- were more prone to benefit from prebiotic supplementation in terms of mood. Positive responders toward inulin intervention in term of mood also displayed worse metabolic and inflammatory profiles at baseline (increased levels of IL-8, insulin resistance and adiposity). CONCLUSION: This study shows that inulin intake can be helpful to improve mood in obese subjects exhibiting a specific microbial profile. The present work highlights some microbial, metabolic and inflammatory features (IL-8, insulin resistance) which can predict or mediate the beneficial effects of inulin on behaviour in obesity. Food4gut, clinicaltrial.gov: NCT03852069, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03852069.

The developmental trajectory of executive functions and their stress sensitivity in adolescence.

This paper aims to review previous findings on the developmental trajectory of core executive functions - attentional control, inhibition, mental shifting, cognitive flexibility, and working memory - in adolescence with special attention to age-related stress-sensitivity in this period. More simple abilities, like attentional control and inhibition, go through a dramatic maturation process between the ages of 10 and 11. This is followed by a final progress, and as a result, after age 13-15 years acute stress deteriorates attentional control performance less, or it may even improve it. Working memory matures later, around 14-15 years, and it reaches the adult level at 17 years. Concerning mental shifting and cognitive flexibility, more maturation points could be identified: word fluency usually reaches full maturation at the age of 13, semantic fluency between the ages of 17 and 18, and general flexibility around 18-19 years. Based on the reviewed papers we could see that acute stress affects executive functions differently during adolescence, depending on how these functions mature. Those functions which develop later, are more sensitive to stress during the entire period of adolescence, and reviewed studies show that acute stress has a deteriorating effect on these functions. At the same time, early matured inhibition and attentional control are enhanced by acute stress in the half of the studies. Other theories and methodological issues are also discussed. Keywords: attentional control; inhibition; shifting; working memory.

Does immersion or detachment facilitate healthy eating? Comparing the effects of sensory imagery and mindful decentering on attitudes and behavior towards healthy and unhealthy food.

Many people would like to reduce indulging in unhealthy foods, but find it difficult to do so. Previous research shows that individuals eat smaller portions of unhealthy hedonic food if they first imagine the sensory properties of tempting food (sensory imagery; Cornil & Chandon, 2016). Similarly, they show less preference for such food if they think about food in a detached way (decentering; Papies, Barsalou, & Custers, 2012; Papies, Pronk, Keesman, & Barsalou, 2015). Given that these two mindsets are seemingly at odds with each other, we compared them across two studies to examine their effects on the preference for (Experiment 1) and consumption of (Experiment 2) hedonic healthy and unhealthy food. Although sensory imagery and decentering had largely different effects for preferences towards healthy and unhealthy foods, they had comparable effects on the consumption of both types of foods, serving to reduce the effects of consumption in participants affected by hunger and emotional eating. These results suggest that while sensory imagery and decentering are based on different mechanisms, they produce similar results when it comes to the consumption of hedonic food, regardless of how healthy the food is.

[Follow-up study of extremely low birth weight preterm infants to preschool age in the light of perinatal complications]. / Az extrém kis születési súlyú koraszülöttek fejlodésének követése az óvodáskor végéig a perinatalis szövodmények tükrében.

INTRODUCTION: Owing to the rapid progress of the medical science and technology, the chances of survival of the extremely low birth weight (<1000 g) preterm babies have dramatically improved. Nevertheless, the research findings on their long-term developmental outcome are inconsistent. AIM: Our study has attempted to contribute to the understanding of the developmental mechanisms in the extremely low birth weight preterm infants and to the prediction of the developmental outcomes taking into account of the risk factors of development. METHOD: 34 preterm children who were free of any major central nervous system injury were followed up from one to 5-6 years of age. The psychomotor development of the infants was assessed at 1 and 2 years of age and, at 5-6 years of age, intelligence tests were administered to the children. Perinatal and environmental factors were included in the data analysis. RESULTS: The extremely low birth weight preterm children as a group displayed no developmental delay at any of the measurement points. The mean developmental quotients were 98.6 and 106.6 at ages 1 and 2 years, respectively. At 5-6 years of age, the mean verbal IQ was 101.4, while the mean performance IQ was 92.9. Behind the group means there was a wide range of individual variations. The most powerful contributors to the developmental outcomes were birth weight, bronchopulmonary dysplasia, intra-uterine growth retardation, gender, and maternal education. The girls had a significant advantage over the boys in language development. Verbal intelligence was hampered by intracranial hemorrhage, while intrauterine growth restriction had a similar effect on the performance IQ. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that even the extremely preterm infants may have rather good chances of satisfactory mental development. However, the individual developmental prospects are influenced by a great number of domain-specific risk- and protective factors. Although at a group-level, infant psychomotor development is a significant predictor of later intelligence quotient, the rate of development may change at any age. The phenomenon of "moving risk" underscores the importance of the long-term follow-up of preterm infants. Orv Hetil. 2018; 159(41): 1672-1679.

Prospective relationship between hemispheric lateralisation and CD4+ T cells in human immunodeficiency virus type 1.

OBJECTIVES: Neuromodulation of the immune system has been proposed to be influenced by hemispheric lateralisation (HL). The present study tested whether HL predicted CD4+ levels, statistically controlling for confounders. METHODS: Employing two assessments of HL, 68 human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-1+ patients were followed prospectively. Numerous exclusion criteria and confounder assessments were employed (e.g. age/medication). RESULTS: Left HL significantly positively predicted CD4+ levels at follow-up, and this was qualified by medication (HAART) status: only in HAART-naïve patients did HL predict CD4 levels. Furthermore, HL significantly predicted whether patients had clinically significantly high/low CD4+ counts. CONCLUSIONS: Using a more rigorous methodology than a previous study, the present work partly corroborated the theory of HL influences on immunity, extended it to HIV immunity and identified a possible moderator: HAART medication. Implications for future research and treatments are provided.

Optimizing cardiopulmonary rehabilitation duration for long COVID patients: an exercise physiology monitoring approach.

The presence of prolonged symptoms after COVID infection worsens the workability and quality of life. 200 adults with long COVID syndrome were enrolled after medical, physical, and mental screening, and were divided into two groups based on their performance. The intervention group (n = 100) received supervised rehabilitation at Department of Pulmonology, Semmelweis University with the registration number 160/2021 between 01/APR/2021-31/DEC/2022, while an age-matched control group (n = 100) received a single check-up. To evaluate the long-term effects of the rehabilitation, the intervention group was involved in a 2- and 3-month follow-up, carrying out cardiopulmonary exercise test. Our study contributes understanding long COVID rehabilitation, emphasizing the potential benefits of structured cardiopulmonary rehabilitation in enhancing patient outcomes and well-being. Significant difference was found between intervention group and control group at baseline visit in pulmonary parameters, as forced vital capacity, forced expiratory volume, forced expiratory volume, transfer factor for carbon monoxide, transfer coefficient for carbon monoxide, and oxygen saturation (all p < 0.05). Our follow-up study proved that a 2-week long, patient-centered pulmonary rehabilitation program has a positive long-term effect on people with symptomatic long COVID syndrome. Our data showed significant improvement between two and three months in maximal oxygen consumption (p < 0.05). Multidisciplinary, individualized approach may be a key element of a successful cardiopulmonary rehabilitation in long COVID conditions, which improves workload, quality of life, respiratory function, and status of patients with long COVID syndrome.

Cardiopulmonary rehabilitation programme improves physical health and quality of life in post-COVID syndrome.

BACKGROUND: Many patients with previous COVID-19 infection suffer from prolonged symptoms after their recovery: cough, dyspnea, chest pain, shortness of breath, fatigue, anxiety or depression, regardless of milder or severe coronavirus infection. Review of the literature demonstrates underrepresented complex cardiopulmonary rehabilitation of patients with post-COVID syndrome. The aim of our quasi-experimental study was to evaluate the effectiveness of complex cardiopulmonary rehabilitation and to assess the quality of life, functional parameters before and after a 14-day specific cardiopulmonary rehabilitation and two months later. METHODS: Sixty-eight patients participated in rehabilitation at Semmelweis University's Department of Pulmonology. Respiratory function: forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1%pred), 6-minute walk test (6MWT), chest kinematics (CK), quality of life [EuroQol-5D (EQ-5D), Post-COVID-19 Functional Status (PCFS)] and Modified Medical Research Council (mMRC) dyspnea scale were measured at the beginning and end of the programme and two months after the rehabilitation. RESULTS: The 14-day rehabilitation programme resulted in significant improvement of 6MWT {492 [interquartile range (IQR), 435-547] vs. 523 (IQR, 477-580) m; P=0.031}, mMRC [1 (IQR, 0.25-1) vs. 0 (IQR, 0-1); P=0.003], EQ-VAS score [75 (IQR, 65-80) vs. 85 (IQR, 75-90); P=0.015], and PCFS [1 (IQR, 1-2) vs. 0.5 (IQR, 0-1); P=0.032]. Respiratory function and chest kinematics also improved, FEV1(%pred) [86 (IQR, 73-103) vs. 91 (IQR, 80-99); P=0.360], chest kinematics [3.5 (IQR, 2.75-4.25) vs. 4 (IQR, 1-5.25) cm; P=0.296], and breath-holding test (BHT) [33 (IQR, 23-44) vs. 41 (IQR, 28-58) s; P=0.041]. CONCLUSIONS: Complex cardiopulmonary rehabilitation improved workload, quality of life, respiratory function, complaints and clinical status of patients with post-COVID syndrome. Personalized complex pulmonary rehabilitation can be beneficial and recommended for patients suffer from post-COVID syndrome, who have good potential for recovery and are able to participate in the two weeks complex pulmonary rehabilitation.

Patterns of functioning and predictive factors in children born moderately preterm or at term.

AIM: The aim of this study was to identify subgroups of children born moderately preterm (MPT) and term with distinctive levels and patterns of functioning, and the perinatal and demographic factors that predict subgroup membership. METHOD: A total of 378 children aged 7 years, 248 MPT (138 males, 110 females; gestational age 32-36 wks) and a comparison group of 130 children born at term (58 males, 72 females; gestational age 38-41 wks), were selected from a community-based cohort study. Latent class analyses were performed on measures of intelligence, verbal memory, attention, executive functioning, and visuomotor and motor skills. χ(2) automatic interaction detection analyses were performed to detect associations between the subgroups and predictors. RESULTS: Four subgroups differing in levels of performance were identified, with parental education being the only statistically significant determinant of subgroup assignment (p < 0.01). The subgroup that performed the most poorly showed an irregular pattern of performance, with specific weakness in attentional skill and relative strength in intelligence and verbal memory. Parental education predicted classification probability in the preterm group (p = 0.04) but not in the term group (p = 0.15). INTERPRETATION: Our results show that the poorer performance of children born MPT reflects a higher proportion of children with below average performance rather than a subgroup with extremely poor performance. They indicate that MPT birth affects neurodevelopmental functioning at early school age only slightly, with effects being largest in such children with low parental education.

The relationship between reward context and inhibitory control, does it depend on BMI, maladaptive eating, and negative affect?

BACKGROUND: Recent studies suggest that higher Body Mass Index (BMI) is associated with reduced inhibitory control in contexts of palatable food. However, due to limitations of previous studies, it remained the question whether this reduction is specific to food contexts, and whether it generalizes to other contexts of reward, such as money. This main question was addressed in the current study. In addition, we explored the effect of maladaptive eating and stress regarding inhibitory control across the contexts that differed in terms of reward. METHODS: In total, 46 participants between 19 and 50 years old (39% males and 61% females) with an average BMI of 23.5 (SD = 3.9) participated. Participants filled out questionnaires and performed a go/no-go task (indexing inhibitory control) with three conditions (neutral, food, and money condition). RESULTS: Relatively high (above median) BMI was associated with challenged inhibitory control in the food relative to the neutral context, but not in the money relative to neutral context. Explorative analyses suggested that maladaptive eating and stress were associated with reduced inhibitory control in the food context. Only rumination was associated with reduced inhibitory control in the money context. CONCLUSIONS: The effects of BMI, maladaptive eating behavior, and stress on inhibitory control were specific to the food context, and did not generalize to a non-intrinsic reward condition, operationalized with money pictures. Our results imply that (research on) interventions directed at improving inhibitory control in relation to overweight and obesity, should consider food-reward context.

Flexibility in autism during unpredictable shifts of socio-emotional stimuli: Investigation of group and sex differences.

LAY ABSTRACT: Flexibility difficulties in autism might be particularly common in complex situations, when shifts (i.e. the switch of attentional resources or strategy according to the situation) are unpredictable, implicit (i.e. not guided by explicit rules) and the stimuli are complex. We analyzed the data of 101 autistic and 145 non-autistic adults, without intellectual deficiency, on two flexibility tasks performed online. The first task involved unpredictable and non-explicit shifts of complex socio-emotional stimuli, whereas the second task involved predictable and explicit shifts of character stimuli. Considering the discrepancies between laboratory results and the real-life flexibility-related challenges faced by autistic individuals, we need to determine which factor could be of particular importance in flexibility difficulties. We point out that the switch cost (i.e. the difference between shift and non-shift condition) was larger for autistic than for non-autistic participants on the complex flexibility task with unpredictable and non-explicit shifts of socio-emotional stimuli, whereas this was not the case when shifts were predictable, explicit and involved less complex stimuli. We also highlight sex differences, suggesting that autistic females have better social skills than autistic males and that they also have a specific cognitive profile, which could contribute to social camouflaging. The findings of this work help us understand which factors could influence flexibility difficulties in autism and are important for designing future studies. They also add to the literature on sex differences in autism which underpin better social skills, executive function, and camouflaging in autistic females.

The neural correlates of context driven changes in the emotional response: An fMRI study.

Emotional flexibility reflects the ability to adjust the emotional response to the changing environmental context. To understand how context can trigger a change in emotional response, i.e., how it can upregulate the initial emotional response or trigger a shift in the valence of emotional response, we used a task consisting of picture pairs during functional magnetic resonance imaging sessions. In each pair, the first picture was a smaller detail (a decontextualized photograph depicting emotions using primarily facial and postural expressions) from the second (contextualized) picture, and the neural response to a decontextualized picture was compared with the same picture in a context. Thirty-one healthy participants (18 females; mean age: 24.44 ± 3.4) were involved in the study. In general, context (vs. pictures without context) increased activation in areas involved in facial emotional processing (e.g., middle temporal gyrus, fusiform gyrus, and temporal pole) and affective mentalizing (e.g., precuneus, temporoparietal junction). After excluding the general effect of context by using an exclusive mask with activation to context vs. no-context, the automatic shift from positive to negative valence induced by the context was associated with increased activation in the thalamus, caudate, medial frontal gyrus and lateral orbitofrontal cortex. When the meaning changed from negative to positive, it resulted in a less widespread activation pattern, mainly in the precuneus, middle temporal gyrus, and occipital lobe. Providing context cues to facial information recruited brain areas that induced changes in the emotional responses and interpretation of the emotional situations automatically to support emotional flexibility.

Dispositional Mindfulness and Inhibitory Control after Perceiving Neutral, Food and Money Related Stimuli.

Previous studies have shown that dispositional mindfulness is positively associated with cognitive performance, including the ability to stop behavioral actions (formally called inhibitory control). However, some studies suggest that the relationship may be context dependent. The current study addressed previous limitations and focused on the role of reward context regarding the relationship between mindfulness and inhibitory control. Seventy-five participants (31 men, 44 women) between 18-50 years old (M = 30, SD = 9) were included in the final sample. Participants filled out a self-report measure of mindfulness and performed a stop signal task with three conditions that varied in terms of reward context. In the neutral condition, go stimuli (stimuli to which a response was required) were letters; in the food and money condition, these were pictures of food and money, respectively. Results showed that inhibitory control was reduced in the money condition relative to the neutral condition (p = 0.012). Mindfulness was positively correlated with inhibitory control, but only in the money condition (p = 0.001). However, results might differ when inhibitory control is required while perceiving a learned reward-related stimulus. The latter represents an open question for future research.

Novel probiotic treatment of autism spectrum disorder associated social behavioral symptoms in two rodent models.

The prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has rapidly increased in the past decades, and several studies report about the escalating use of antibiotics and the consequent disruption of the gastrointestinal microbiome leading to the development of neurobehavioral symptoms resembling to those of ASD. The primary purpose of this study was to investigate whether depletion of the gastrointestinal microbiome via antibiotics treatment could induce ASD-like behavioral symptoms in adulthood. To reliably evaluate that, validated valproic acid (VPA) ASD animal model was introduced. At last, we intended to demonstrate the assessed potential benefits of a probiotic mixture (PM) developed by our research team. Male Wistar rats were used to create antibiotics treated; antibiotics and PM treated; PM treated, VPA treated; VPA and PM treated; and control groups. In all investigations we focused on social behavioral disturbances. Antibiotics-induced microbiome alterations during adulthood triggered severe deficits in social behavior similar to those observed in the VPA model. Furthermore, it is highlighted that our PM proved to attenuate both the antibiotics- and the VPA-generated antisocial behavioral symptoms. The present findings underline potential capacity of our PM to improve social behavioral alterations thus, indicate its promising therapeutic power to attenuate the social-affective disturbances of ASD.

Reduced capacity in automatic processing of facial expression in restrictive anorexia nervosa and obesity.

There is growing evidence that disordered eating is associated with facial expression recognition and emotion processing problems. In this study, we investigated the question of whether anorexia and obesity occur on a continuum of attention bias towards negative facial expressions in comparison with healthy individuals of normal weight. Thirty-three patients with restrictive anorexia nervosa (AN-R), 30 patients with obesity (OB) and 63 healthy age and social-economic status matched controls were recruited. Our results indicated that AN-R patients were more attentive to angry faces and had difficulties in being attentive to positive expressions, whilst OB patients had problems in looking for or being attentive to negative expressions independently of self-reported depression and anxiety. Our findings did not support the idea that AN-R and OB occur on a continuum. We found that AN-R was associated with a reduced capacity in positive facial expression processing, whereas OB was associated with a reduced capacity in negative facial expressions processing. The social relevance of our findings and a possible explanation based upon neuroscience are discussed.

Inhibitory Performance in Smokers Relative to Nonsmokers When Exposed to Neutral, Smoking- and Money-Related Pictures.

INTRODUCTION: Smoking is associated with significant negative health consequences. It has been suggested that deficient inhibitory control may be implicated in (nicotine) addiction, but its exact role has not yet been elucidated. In the current study, our aim was to investigate the role of inhibitory control in relation to nicotine addiction in contexts that differ in terms of reward. METHODS: Participants filled out questionnaires and performed a go/no-go task with three conditions. In one condition, the stimuli were neutral color squares, and in the reward conditions, these were smoking-related pictures and money-related pictures, respectively. In total, 43 non-abstinent individuals that smoke and 35 individuals that do not smoke were included in the sample. RESULTS: The main results showed that individuals that smoke, relative to individuals that do not smoke, had reduced inhibitory control in both reward contexts, relative to a neutral context. The reductions in inhibitory control were mirrored by speeded responses. CONCLUSIONS: Individuals that smoke seem to present with reduced inhibitory control, which is most pronounced in contexts of reward. Consistent with incentive sensitization theory, the reduced inhibitory control may be (at least partly) due to the heightened approach bias to reward-related stimuli as indicated by the speeded responses.

Microbiota and Metabolite Profiling as Markers of Mood Disorders: A Cross-Sectional Study in Obese Patients.

Obesity is associated with an increased risk of several neurological and psychiatric diseases, but few studies report the contribution of biological features in the occurrence of mood disorders in obese patients. The aim of the study is to evaluate the potential links between serum metabolomics and gut microbiome, and mood disturbances in a cohort of obese patients. Psychological, biological characteristics and nutritional habits were evaluated in 94 obese subjects from the Food4Gut study stratified according to their mood score assessed by the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). The fecal gut microbiota and plasma non-targeted metabolomics were analysed. Obese subjects with increased negative mood display elevated levels of Coprococcus as well as decreased levels of Sutterella and Lactobacillus. Serum metabolite profile analysis reveals in these subjects altered levels of several amino acid-derived metabolites, such as an increased level of L-histidine and a decreased in phenylacetylglutamine, linked to altered gut microbiota composition and function rather than to differences in dietary amino acid intake. Regarding clinical profile, we did not observe any differences between both groups. Our results reveal new microbiota-derived metabolites that characterize the alterations of mood in obese subjects, thereby allowing to propose new targets to tackle mood disturbances in this context. Food4gut, clinicaltrial.gov: NCT03852069.

Specific gut microbial, biological, and psychiatric profiling related to binge eating disorders: A cross-sectional study in obese patients.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Binge eating disorder (BED) is a frequent eating disorder associated with obesity and co-morbidities including psychiatric pathologies, which represent a big health burden on the society. The biological processes related to BED remain unknown. Based on psychological testing, anthropometry, clinical biology, gut microbiota analysis and metabolomic assessment, we aimed to examine the complex biological and psychiatric profile of obese patients with and without BED. METHODS: Psychological and biological characteristics (anthropometry, plasma biology, gut microbiota, blood pressure) of 101 obese subjects from the Food4Gut cohort were analysed to decipher the differences between BED and Non BED patients, classified based on the Questionnaire for Eating Disorder Diagnosis (Q-EDD). Microbial 16S rDNA sequencing and plasma non-targeted metabolomics (liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry) were performed in a subcohort of 91 and 39 patients respectively. RESULTS: BED subjects exhibited an impaired affect balance, deficits in inhibition and self-regulation together with marked alterations of eating behaviour (increased emotional and external eating). BED subjects displayed a lower blood pressure and hip circumference. A decrease in Akkermansia and Intestimonas as well as an increase in Bifidobacterium and Anaerostipes characterized BED subjects. Interestingly, metabolomics analysis revealed that BED subjects displayed a higher level of one food contaminants, Bisphenol A bis(2,3-dihydroxypropyl) ether (BADGE.2H(2)O) and a food derived-metabolite the Isovalerylcarnitine. CONCLUSIONS: Non-targeted omics approaches allow to select specific microbial genera and two plasma metabolites that characterize BED obese patients. Further studies are needed to confirm their potential role as drivers or biomarkers of binge eating disorder. Food4gut, clinicaltrial.gov:NCT03852069, https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03852069.

Explicit vs. implicit body image evaluation in restrictive anorexia nervosa.

In the present study we investigated the evaluation of body shapes in patients with restrictive anorexia nervosa (AN) on both automatic and controlled levels. The first aim of the study was to examine whether an ultra-thin ideal or negative attitudes toward overweight might be the motivation behind pathological restriction. The second aim was to investigate the relationship between body figure evaluations, eating disorder symptoms and mood. A Modified Affective Priming Test was used to measure implicit evaluations of body silhouettes, while a Likert scale was used to assess explicit evaluations. The study involved 35 women with restrictive anorexia nervosa and 35 age- and education-level-matched controls with normal body weight. In contrast to the control group, the patients did not show a positive attitude toward the ultra-thin body shape on the automatic level. The AN group both on the automatic and the self-reported levels evaluated the overweight body as negative. Depression and anxiety did not influence body evaluation. Strong negative evaluation of overweight appears to be a key issue in AN rather than positive evaluation of ultra-thin role models.