Human Milk Omega-3 Fatty Acid Composition is Associated with Infant Temperament.

There is growing evidence that omega-3 (n-3) polyunsaturated fatty-acids (PUFAs) are important for the brain development in childhood and are necessary for an optimal health in adults. However, there have been no studies examining how the n-3 PUFA composition of human milk influences infant behavior or temperament. To fill this knowledge gap, 52 breastfeeding mothers provided milk samples at 3 months postpartum and completed the Infant Behavior Questionnaire (IBQ-R), a widely used parent-report measure of infant temperament. Milk was assessed for n-3 PUFAs and omega-6 (n-6) PUFAs using gas-liquid chromatography. The total fat and the ratio of n-6/n-3 fatty acids in milk were also examined. Linear regression models revealed that infants whose mothers' milk was richer in n-3 PUFAs had lower scores on the negative affectivity domain of the IBQ-R, a component of temperament associated with a risk for internalizing disorders later in life. These associations remained statistically significant after considering covariates, including maternal age, marital status, and infant birth weight. The n-6 PUFAs, n-6/n-3 ratio, and total fat of milk were not associated with infant temperament. These results suggest that mothers may have the ability to shape the behavior of their offspring by adjusting the n-3 PUFA composition of their milk.

Functional Connectivity within the Primate Extended Amygdala Is Heritable and Associated with Early-Life Anxious Temperament.

Children with an extremely inhibited, anxious temperament (AT) are at increased risk for anxiety disorders and depression. Using a rhesus monkey model of early-life AT, we previously demonstrated that metabolism in the central extended amygdala (EAc), including the central nucleus of the amygdala (Ce) and bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BST), is associated with trait-like variation in AT. Here, we use fMRI to examine relationships between Ce-BST functional connectivity and AT in a large multigenerational family pedigree of rhesus monkeys (n = 170 females and 208 males). Results demonstrate that Ce-BST functional connectivity is heritable, accounts for a significant but modest portion of the variance in AT, and is coheritable with AT. Interestingly, Ce-BST functional connectivity and AT-related BST metabolism were not correlated and accounted for non-overlapping variance in AT. Exploratory analyses suggest that Ce-BST functional connectivity is associated with metabolism in the hypothalamus and periaqueductal gray. Together, these results suggest the importance of coordinated function within the EAc for determining individual differences in AT and metabolism in brain regions associated with its behavioral and neuroendocrine components.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Anxiety disorders directly impact the lives of nearly one in five people, accounting for substantial worldwide suffering and disability. Here, we use a nonhuman primate model of anxious temperament (AT) to understand the neurobiology underlying the early-life risk to develop anxiety disorders. Leveraging the same kinds of neuroimaging measures routinely used in human studies, we demonstrate that coordinated activation between the central nucleus of the amygdala and the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis is correlated with, and coinherited with, early-life AT. Understanding how these central extended amygdala regions work together to produce extreme anxiety provides a neural target for early-life interventions with the promise of preventing lifelong disability in at-risk children.

Taxonomies of psychological individual differences: biological perspectives on millennia-long challenges.

This Editorial highlights a unique focus of this theme issue on the biological perspectives in deriving psychological taxonomies coming from neurochemistry, neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, genetics, psychiatry, developmental and comparative psychology-as contrasted to more common discussions of socio-cultural concepts (personality) and methods (lexical approach). It points out the importance of the distinction between temperament and personality for studies in human and animal differential psychophysiology, psychiatry and psycho-pharmacology, sport and animal practices during the past century. It also highlights the inability of common statistical methods to handle nonlinear, feedback, contingent, dynamical and multi-level relationships between psychophysiological systems of consistent psychological traits discussed in this theme issue.This article is part of the theme issue 'Diverse perspectives on diversity: multi-disciplinary approaches to taxonomies of individual differences'.

Evaluación de un caso de trastorno obsesivo compulsivo e intervención / Assessment of and intervention in a child with an obsessive-compulsive disorder

Se describe el caso de un niño de 11 años que presenta un trastorno obsesivo compulsivo (TOC). Desde bebé era un niño miedoso con características temperamentales de inflexibilidad y persistencia. Los síntomas del cuadro surgen a partir de un episodio familiar negativo y se intensificaron en los últimos dos años. En el momento de la evaluación, el TOC interfería negativamente en la dinámica familiar, personal y social del niño. Se realizó un diagnóstico de sus dificultades por medio de entrevista clínica, instrumentos de observación y pruebas estandarizadas. Se llevó a cabo una intervención basada en el entrenamiento cognitivo-conductual, en el que se incluyó tanto a los padres como a los profesores de su colegio. Se relata la evolución del problema y el seguimiento del caso

The case of an eleven-year old child with an obsessive compulsive disorder is described. He was coward since he was a baby, with temperamental characteristics of inflexibility and persistence. The symptoms appeared from a negative family event and increased over the last two years. At the moment of evaluation the disorder interfered negatively in the child's family, personal, and social dynamics. A diagnosis of his difficulties was made by means of a clinical interview, observation, and standard tests. An intervention consisting of cognitive behavioral training was carried out, with the participation of parents and teachers. The case's evolution and follow up are described

Dispositional mindfulness is predicted by structural development of the insula during late adolescence.

Adolescence is a critical period of development, in which the increasing social and cognitive demands of independence need to be met by enhanced self-regulatory abilities. The cultivation of mindfulness has been associated with improved self-regulation in adult populations, and it is theorized that one neurodevelopmental mechanism that supports this capacity is the development of the prefrontal cortex. The current study examined the neurodevelopmental mechanisms associated with dispositional mindfulness in adolescence. Using a longitudinal within-persons design, 82 participants underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) assessments at approximately ages 16 and 19, and also completed self-reported measurements of mindfulness at age 19. It was hypothesized that adolescents who demonstrated greater thinning of frontal cortical regions between the age of 16 and 19 would exhibit higher dispositional mindfulness levels at age 19. Results indicated that, contrary to predictions, adolescents with higher levels of mindfulness demonstrated less thinning in the left anterior insula. By contrast, higher IQ was associated with greater thinning of the right caudal middle frontal and right superior frontal regions. The involvement of insula development in mindfulness is consistent with a direct role for this structure in managing self-regulation, and in doing so concords with recent models of self-referential interoceptive awareness.

Bipolar temperaments and light.

BACKGROUND: Converging lines of evidence have established a relationship between exposure to ambient light and both mood state and mood disorders. In view of the association between mood disorder and affective disposition, in this study, the relationship between temperament (depressive, cyclothymic, hyperthymic, irritable and anxious) and daily light exposure was closely examined. METHODS: Fifty-six subjects completed the Japanese standardized version of the Temperament Evaluation of Memphis, Pisa, Paris and San Diego-auto questionnaire version (TEMPS-A) and illuminance of daytime using actigraphy. RESULTS: Cyclothymic temperament scores were significantly and negatively associated with illuminance of daytime whereas hyperthymic temperament scores were significantly and positively associated with illuminance of daytime. LIMITATIONS: Sample size was relatively small and they were only healthy subjects and no patients. CONCLUSIONS: The findings suggest that illuminance of daytime may be related to both cyclothymic and hyperthymic temperaments but that the associations lie in opposite directions. If this is the case, it seems important to consider individual patients' temperaments when light therapy is used to treat their depressive episode. Further studies are required to determine why and how these temperaments are associated with illuminance.

External and internal modulators of sheep reproduction.

Several factors such as season, genetics, social interaction and metabolic status control or modulate the reproductive capacity of sheep. In addition to these well-studied factors in sheep, the influence of emotional reactivity on the reproductive success of sheep has started to be investigated over the last two decades. In this paper, after briefly reviewing the impact of classical factors affecting reproduction in sheep, we define emotional reactivity and the expression of its inter-individual variability, named temperament. Then, following a description of the protocol to measure temperament in sheep and discussion on the heritability of temperament traits, we illustrate how this selection affects the reproductive biology of sheep. We will be mainly using results obtained from a unique flock of sheep selected for low or high emotional reactivity. In conclusion, we propose that energy partitioning could be one of the mechanisms by which selection for temperament in sheep affects the different steps of the reproductive cycle.

Infant brain development and vulnerability to later internalizing difficulties: the Generation R study.

OBJECTIVE: Although clinical studies have demonstrated smaller subcortical volumes in structures such as the amygdala, hippocampus, caudate nucleus, and thalamus in adults and adolescents with depressive disorders and anxiety, no study has assessed such structures in babies, long before the development of the disorders. This study examined whether the size of the "gangliothalamic ovoid" (encompassing the basal ganglia and thalamus) assessed during infancy is associated with increased internalizing problems in early childhood. METHOD: Cranial ultrasounds were used to assess gangliothalamic ovoid diameter and ventricular volume at 6 weeks of postnatal age; moreover, head circumference was measured. Outcome data included ratings of internalizing and externalizing problems using the Child Behavior Checklist (reported by mothers and fathers) at 18 and/or 36 months. Analyses were based on a total of 651 children. RESULTS: Smaller gangliothalamic diameter was associated with higher Child Behavior Checklist Internalizing scores at ages 18 and 36 months. Results remained significant after correcting for head circumference and were evident for the DSM-oriented subscales of anxiety problems and affective problems. Total ventricular volume was not consistently associated with Internalizing scores. CONCLUSIONS: Findings associating infant brain measurements with Child Behavior Checklist mother and father reports at two time points are consistent with previous cross-sectional reports of smaller subcortical volumes in depression. Results were not simply reflective of overall brain development, because the pattern held after adjustment for head circumference. This is the first study to point toward a biological vulnerability evident in infancy, involved in the development of internalizing problems in childhood.

Brain responses to surprising sounds are related to temperament and parent-child dyadic synchrony in young children.

This study investigated the relationship between temperament characteristics, parent-child dyadic synchrony and auditory event-related potentials (ERP) in 15 two-year-old children. Temperament was assessed with the Early Childhood Behavior Questionnaire, and parent-child dyadic synchrony was analyzed from video-taped play situations. Involuntary switching of attention toward surprising sounds was measured with auditory ERPs by quantifying the P3a response for repeated and nonrepeated novel, naturally varying sounds, presented in a continuous repetitive sound sequence. Lower negative emotionality, higher effortful control and higher dyadic synchrony were associated with larger P3a responses to repeated novel sounds. The results demonstrate that temperament is related to P3a responses in early childhood, and that parent-child synchrony associates with both temperament and P3a responses in a theoretically meaningful way.

Temperamento e hipertensión arterial. Divertimento / Temperament and arterial hypertension. Divertissement

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Temperamento, carácter y trastornos de la personalidad. Aplicación del TCI-R a una muestra de consumidores de drogas en tratamiento y su relación con el MCMI-II / Temperament, character, and personality disorders. Results of TCI-R administration in a sample of drug-addicts in treatment and its relation with MCMI-II

Objetivo: Estudiar los resultados de aplicación de la versión española del TCI-R en una muestra de sujetos que inician tratamiento por consumo problemático de sustancias. Explorar las relaciones entre las puntuaciones del TCI-R y las escalas de trastornos de la personalidad del MCMI-II. Material y método: Se administran el TCI-R y el MCM-II a una muestra de 316 sujetos que inician tratamiento por abuso/dependencia de heroína,cocaína, alcohol o cannabis, en un centro público de tratamiento ambulatorio del Ayuntamiento de Madrid. Resultados: La versión española del TCI-R ofrece adecuadas propiedades psicométricas. Existe una amplia concordancia entre los instrumentos de Cloninger y Millon en la caracterización de los trastornos de personalidad. Bajas puntuaciones en Autodirección y Cooperatividad, junto con elevada Autotrascendencia, sugieren existencia de un trastorno de personalidad. Las diversas combinaciones de los cuatro rasgos temperamentales informan del tipo de trastorno presente. Conclusiones: La versión española del TCI-R es un instrumento fiable y válido para el estudio de los trastornos de personalidad en sujetos adictos. Ambos instrumentos, TCI-R y MCMI-II, presentan indudable utilidad para una caracterización dimensional de los trastornos del Eje II

Objective. The results of the administration of the Spanish version of the TCI-R were examined in a sample of subjects undergoing treatment for substance addiction. The relationships between the TCI-R scores and the MCMI-II personality disorders scales were explored. Material and method: The TCI-R and MCMI-ii were administered to a sample of 316 subjects who had begun treatment for heroin, cocaine, alcohol or cannabis abuse/dependency in a public outpatient treatment centre in Madrid in Spain. Results: the Spanish version of the TCI-R provides suitable psychometric properties. There is a broad concordance between the Cloninger and Millon instruments on the characterisation of personality disorders. Low scores in self-directedness and cooperativeness, together with high self-transcendence, suggest the existence of a personality disorder. The different combinations of the four temperatmental traits provide information on the specific disorder. Conclusions: the Spanish version of the TCI-R appears to be a reliable and valid instrument for the study of personality disorders in addicts. Both instruments, the TCI-R and the MCMI-II, offer undoubted utility inthe dimensional characterisation of Axis II disorders

Links between temperamental dimensions and brain monoamines in the rat.

In 27 female Wistar rats, the authors obtained composite scores on harm avoidance and novelty seeking, as well as 57 measures of monoamines and metabolites from 10 different brain regions. A multivariate regression method was used to discover associations between individual differences in temperament and neurochemistry. Harm-avoidant subjects had low levels of striatal dopamine and high levels of cortical norepinephrine and amygdaloid 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid. High novelty-seeking scores were linked to low levels of brainstem serotonin and dopamine and to low levels of 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid in amygdala and accumbens. Moreover, rats scoring high on novelty seeking had higher-than-average levels of norepinephrine in the thalamus and amygdala and of serotonin in the amygdala.

Neurobehavioral evaluation of rhesus monkey infants fed cow's milk formula, soy formula, or soy formula with added manganese.

The possible neurobehavioral effects of excess manganese in soy formula were studied. Male rhesus monkeys (n=8/group) were fed a commercial cow's milk based formula (Control), a commercial soy protein based formula (Soy), or the soy formula with added manganese (Soy+Mn) from birth to 4 months of age. Soy formulas naturally have higher manganese (Mn) content than cow's milk formulas. Monkeys received behavioral evaluations, growth measurements, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) sampling from birth to 18 months of age. Soy and Soy+Mn groups engaged in less play behavior and more affiliative clinging in social dyadic interactions. These groups also had shorter wake cycles and shorter periods of daytime inactivity than controls. An impulsivity test was sensitive to the Soy group diet. The Soy+Mn group also had a blunted response to the dopamine agonist apomorphine. Groups did not differ significantly in CSF dopamine and serotonin metabolite concentrations, but these concentrations were correlated with several tasks affected by experimental formula. This experiment suggests that components of soy formula, including Mn, may influence brain development as reflected in behavioral measures.

Constituição e temperamento: uma visão unicista e aplicação prática / Constitution and temperament: A Oneness vision and practical application

Constituição e Temperamento é fruto de uma ampla sistematização dos conhecimentos de grandes mestres da escola francesa que desenvolveram trabalhos reconhecidamente importantes no campo da morfologia. Nesta, buscou-se reconhecer a sintomatologia característica de um medicamento não só pelo imaginário mental, mas observando a expressão mais física desta sintomatologia por meio da constituição e do temperamento. São abordadas as diversas constituições: Sulfúrica, Carbônica, Fosfórica, Fluórica e as Mistas, bem como os temperamentos, a saber: Linfático, Sangüineo, Biliar e Atrabiliar, acompanhados de ilustrações, resumo e exemplos práticos...

Constituição e temperamento: uma visão unicista e aplicação prática / Constitution and temperament: A Oneness vision and practical application

Constituição e Temperamento é fruto de uma ampla sistematização dos conhecimentos de grandes mestres da escola francesa que desenvolveram trabalhos reconhecidamente importantes no campo da morfologia. Nesta, buscou-se reconhecer a sintomatologia característica de um medicamento não só pelo imaginário mental, mas observando a expressão mais física desta sintomatologia por meio da constituição e do temperamento. São abordadas as diversas constituições: Sulfúrica, Carbônica, Fosfórica, Fluórica e as Mistas, bem como os temperamentos, a saber: Linfático, Sangüineo, Biliar e Atrabiliar, acompanhados de ilustrações, resumo e exemplos práticos.

The serotonin system and spiritual experiences.

OBJECTIVE: The serotonin system has long been of interest in biological models of human personality. The purpose of this positron emission tomography (PET) study was to search for relationships between serotonin 5-HT(1A) receptor density and personality traits. METHOD: Fifteen normal male subjects, ages 20-45 years, were examined with PET and the radioligand [(11)C]WAY100635. Personality traits were assessed with the Swedish version of the Temperament and Character Inventory self-report questionnaire. Binding potential, an index for the density of available 5-HT(1A) receptors, was calculated for the dorsal raphe nuclei, the hippocampal formation, and the neocortex. For each region, correlation coefficients between 5-HT(1A) receptor binding potential and Temperament and Character Inventory personality dimensions were calculated and analyzed in two-tailed tests for significance. RESULTS: The authors found that the binding potential correlated inversely with scores for self-transcendence, a personality trait covering religious behavior and attitudes. No correlations were found for any of the other six Temperament and Character Inventory dimensions. The self-transcendence dimension consists of three distinct subscales, and further analysis showed that the subscale for spiritual acceptance correlated significantly with binding potential but not with the other two subscales. CONCLUSIONS: This finding in normal male subjects indicated that the serotonin system may serve as a biological basis for spiritual experiences. The authors speculated that the several-fold variability in 5-HT(1A) receptor density may explain why people vary greatly in spiritual zeal.

Nonhuman primate studies of fear, anxiety, and temperament and the role of benzodiazepine receptors and GABA systems.

Studies of nonhuman primate models have been useful in defining anxious temperament as an individual's stable set of physiologic and behavioral responses and in providing insights regarding human anxiety. Anxious temperament in rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) is marked by excessive anxiety, exaggerated defensive behavioral responses, extreme asymmetric right frontal brain electrical activity, and elevated cerebrospinal fluid levels of corticotropin-releasing hormone and plasma cortisol. In the human brain, extreme asymmetric right frontal activation is likewise associated with negative affect and anxious disposition. Our studies of infant rhesus monkeys using the human intruder paradigm allow us to investigate individual differences in fear-related defensive behavioral responses and suggest that responses to threatening stimuli are mediated by gamma-aminobutyric acid and benzodiazepine receptors. Ongoing studies with nonhuman primates in our laboratory are further examining the neurochemistry underlying individual differences in anxious temperament. We believe that these studies will provide insights into the adaptive and maladaptive responses of humans as they relate to psychopathology as associated with anxiety.

Response inhibition and disruptive behaviors: toward a multiprocess conception of etiological heterogeneity for ADHD combined type and conduct disorder early-onset type.

Response disinhibition is one of several processes that may account for disruptive behavior problems. It is associated with both attention deficits/hyperactivity (ADHD-C) and early onset, unsocialized conduct disorder (CD-E). Response inhibition is not a unitary construct. It is best understood via a dual process model of regulatory control. Executive inhibition refers to deliberate suppression of immediate motor behavior in the service of a distal goal in working memory, with relatively low anxiety activation. It is instantiated in the same frontal-striatal-thalamic neural loops as executive function and corresponds in temperament theory to effortful control. Motivational or reactive inhibition refers to anxiety-provoked interruption of behavior in the context of unexpected, novel, or punishment-cue indicators. Along with reward-response and hostile/angry response it corresponds to reactivity in temperament theory, and invokes limbic responsivity. With regard to these types of inhibitory control, ADHD-combined type is predominantly associated with dysfunctional executive inhibition. CD-E is predominantly associated with dysfunctions in the motivational inhibition process, with smaller, secondary effects in executive control. However, in both syndromes etiological heterogeneity is notable. For example, recent evidence indicates that executive inhibitory control is familial, but characterizes only a subset of children with ADHD-C. Recent dual-process models for both ADHD-C and CD-E are therefore important; they are noted and integrated. Examination of the correlates of behavioral inhibition in the subgroups with these inhibitory deficits may prove fruitful in clarifying the diverse routes to disruptive psychopathology in children.

Continuity and discontinuity of behavioral inhibition and exuberance: psychophysiological and behavioral influences across the first four years of life.

Four-month-old infants were screened (N = 433) for temperamental patterns thought to predict behavioral inhibition, including motor reactivity and the expression of negative affect. Those selected (N = 153) were assessed at multiple age points across the first 4 years of life for behavioral signs of inhibition as well as psychophysiological markers of frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) asymmetry. Four-month temperament was modestly predictive of behavioral inhibition over the first 2 years of life and of behavioral reticence at age 4. Those infants who remained continuously inhibited displayed right frontal EEG asymmetry as early as 9 months of age while those who changed from inhibited to noninhibited did not. Change in behavioral inhibition was related to experience of nonparental care. A second group of infants, selected at 4 months of age for patterns of behavior thought to predict temperamental exuberance, displayed a high degree of continuity over time in these behaviors.

Comparison of two sensitization paradigms of the acoustic startle response in Wistar and Sprague-Dawley rats.

An increase in general responsiveness after aversive stimulation has provided a most widely accepted and well-understood sensitization paradigm. According to a second paradigm (based on the dual process theory of habituation and sensitization), not only additional aversive stimuli, but also the response-eliciting stimuli themselves, induce sensitization. To relate these two sensitization paradigms, we compared the course of startle response parameters during repetitive acoustic stimulation with the change in startle amplitude after electric footshocks in outbred Wistar and Sprague-Dawley rats. Compared to the Wistar rats used, the Sprague-Dawley rats showed a lower response decrement and a shortened latency during repetitive stimulation, both of which are indicators of increased sensitization by the startle-eliciting stimuli. In addition, the Sprague-Dawley rats also demonstrated a reduced increase in startle amplitude following footshock. This was postulated to be a consequence of the strong sensitization by startle-eliciting stimuli, which interferes with sensitization elicited by footshock. Because our Wistar and Sprague-Dawley rats did not differ in initial startle amplitude, but mainly in susceptibility to sensitization, further comparisons of these genetically different stocks of rats seem to be of potential value in studying differences in fear-motivated behavior.