Slow cortical potentials neurofeedback in children with ADHD: comorbidity, self-regulation and clinical outcomes 6 months after treatment in a multicenter randomized controlled trial.

Despite sizeable short-term effects of neurofeedback (NF) therapy on attention-deficit and hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), longer-term clinical, comorbidity and self-regulation outcomes are less systematically studied. The aim of this largest NF follow-up to date was to evaluate these outcomes 6 months after NF compared to a semi-active control to disentangle specific from unspecific sustained effects. We performed a multicenter, randomized, parallel, controlled, clinical, superiority trial in five German university outpatient departments. Participants were eligible if they fulfilled DSM-IV-TR criteria for ADHD and were aged from 7 to 9 years. Participants were randomly assigned (1:1-ratio) to 25 sessions of slow cortical potential (SCP)-NF or electromyogram biofeedback (EMG-BF). Participants were not blinded, since they received instructions according to each treatment setting. Primary outcomes were parent ratings of ADHD. The trial was registered, number ISRCTN761871859. Both groups showed improvement of ADHD symptoms compared to baseline at 6-months follow-up with large effect sizes for SCP-NF (d = 1.04) and EMG-BF (d = 0.85), but without group differences. When analyzing all assessments (pre-test, post-test-1, post-test-2 and follow-up), a group-by-time interaction emerged (p = 0.0062), with SCP-NF showing stable improvement following treatment but EMG-BF showing a relapse from post-test-1 to post-test-2, and subsequent remission at follow-up. Six months after the end of treatment, improvement after SCP-NF remained large and stable. However, the lack of group differences at follow-up suggests shared specific and unspecific effects contributing to this clinical outcome. Our correlational results indicate specificity of SCP-NF for selected subscales after training, but not at follow-up.

Implications of FPS1 deletion and membrane ergosterol content for glycerol efflux from Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

The deletion of the gene encoding the glycerol facilitator Fps1p was associated with an altered plasma membrane lipid composition in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The S. cerevisiae fps1delta strain respectively contained 18 and 26% less ergosterol than the wild-type strain, at the whole-cell level and at the plasma membrane level. Other mutants with deficiencies in glycerol metabolism were studied to investigate any possible link between membrane ergosterol content and intracellular glycerol accumulation. In these mutants a modification in intracellular glycerol concentration, or in intra- to extracellular glycerol ratio was accompanied by a reduction in plasma membrane ergosterol content. However, there was no direct correlation between ergosterol content and intracellular glycerol concentration. Lipid composition influences the membrane permeability for solutes during adaptation of yeast cells to osmotic stress. In this study, ergosterol supplementation was shown to partially suppress the hypo-osmotic sensitivity phenotype of the fps1delta strain, leading to more efficient glycerol efflux, and improved survival. The erg-1 disruption mutant, which is unable to synthesise ergosterol, survived and recovered from the hypo-osmotic shock more successfully when the concentration of exogenously supplied ergosterol was increased. The results obtained suggest that a higher ergosterol content facilitates the flux of glycerol across the plasma membrane of S. cerevisiae cells.