Longitudinal changes in mental health among medical students in China during the COVID-19 epidemic: depression, anxiety and stress at 1-year follow -up.

This study aimed to evaluate the influence of COVID-19 on the mental health of Chinese medical students at 1-year of follow-up. From 2 February 2020 to 23 February 2021, we conducted three waves of research online (T1 = during outbreak, T2 = controlling period, T3 = 1 year after outbreak). The survey collected demographic data and several self reporting questionnaires to measure the depressive, anxiety and stress symptoms. A total of 4002 participants complete the whole research phases. The study major, grade level and gender were the main factors related to psychological distress caused by the COVID-19 crisis. Importantly, medical knowledge has a protective effect on medical students' psychological distress during the COVID-19 period.

Individualized prediction of consummatory anhedonia from functional connectome in major depressive disorder.

BACKGROUND: Anhedonia is a key symptom of major depressive disorder (MDD) and other psychiatric diseases. The neural basis of anhedonia has been widely examined, yet the interindividual variability in neuroimaging biomarkers underlying individual-specific symptom severity is not well understood. METHODS: To establish an individualized prediction model of anhedonia, we applied connectome-based predictive modeling (CPM) to whole-brain resting-state functional connectivity profiles of MDD patients. RESULTS: The CPM can successfully and reliably predict individual consummatory but not anticipatory anhedonia. The predictive model mainly included salience network (SN), frontoparietal network (FPN), default mode network (DMN), and motor network. Importantly, subsequent computational lesion prediction and consummatory-specific model prediction revealed that connectivity of the SN with DMN and FPN is essential and specific for the prediction of consummatory anhedonia. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that brain functional connectivity, especially the connectivity of SN-FPN and SN-DMN, can specifically predict individualized consummatory anhedonia in MDD. These findings suggest the potential of functional connectomes for the diagnosis and prognosis of anhedonia in MDD and other disorders.

Pre-supplementary motor network connectivity and clinical outcome of magnetic stimulation in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

A large proportion of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) respond unsatisfactorily to pharmacological and psychological treatments. An alternative novel treatment for these patients is repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). This study aimed to investigate the underlying neural mechanism of rTMS treatment in OCD patients. A total of 37 patients with OCD were randomized to receive real or sham 1-Hz rTMS (14 days, 30 min/day) over the right pre-supplementary motor area (preSMA). Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data were collected before and after rTMS treatment. The individualized target was defined by a personalized functional connectivity map of the subthalamic nucleus. After treatment, patients in the real group showed a better improvement in the Yale-Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale than the sham group (F1,35  = 6.0, p = .019). To show the neural mechanism involved, we identified an "ideal target connectivity" before treatment. Leave-one-out cross-validation indicated that this connectivity pattern can significantly predict patients' symptom improvements (r = .60, p = .009). After real treatment, the average connectivity strength of the target network significantly decreased in the real but not in the sham group. This network-level change was cross-validated in three independent datasets. Altogether, these findings suggest that personalized magnetic stimulation on preSMA may alleviate obsessive-compulsive symptoms by decreasing the connectivity strength of the target network.

Therapeutic efficacy of connectivity-directed transcranial magnetic stimulation on anticipatory anhedonia.

BACKGROUND: There are currently no effective treatments specifically targeting anticipatory anhedonia, a major symptom of severe depression which is associated with poor outcomes. The present study investigated the efficacy of individualized repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) targeting the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (lDLPFC)-nucleus accumbens (NAcc) network on anticipatory anhedonia in depression. METHODS: This randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled clinical trial (NCT03991572) enrolled 56 depression patients with anhedonia symptoms. Each participant received 15 once-daily sessions of rTMS at 10 Hz and 100% motor threshold. Stimulation was localized to the site of strongest IDLPFC-NAcc connectivity by functional magnetic resonance imaging. The Hamilton depression rating scale (HAMD) was used to measure depression severity, the temporal experience pleasure scale (TEPS) to measure anticipatory and consummatory anhedonia to specifically measure anticipatory/motivational anhedonia. Event-related potentials during the monetary incentive delay (MID) task were recorded to evaluate the electrophysiological correlates of reward anticipation and response. RESULTS: Patients in the Real group showed significant improvements in anticipatory anhedonia and general depression symptoms posttreatment compared to the Sham group. The Real group also demonstrated more positive going cue-N2 and cue-P3 amplitude during MID reward trials after treatment. The change in cue-P3 posttreatment was positive correlated with improved TEPS-anti score. CONCLUSION: Individualized rTMS of the lDLPFC-NAcc network can effectively alleviate anticipatory anhedonia and improved the reward seeking as evidenced by enhanced MID behavioral performance and more positive going cue-N2 and cue-P3. The lDLPFC-NAcc network plays a critical role in anticipatory reward and motivation processing.

Impaired empathy in patients with idiopathic generalized epilepsy: An event-related potentials study.

PURPOSE: Epilepsy is a common neurological disorder that may be complicated by neurobehavioral comorbidities. In a previous study, we identified impairment of empathy in patients with idiopathic generalized epilepsy (IGE). However, the temporal processing of empathy in patients with IGE is not well understood. METHODS: We investigated empathy for pain and self-reported empathy in 21 patients with IGE and 22 healthy control subjects. All study participants were required to complete a pain empathy task involving images of individuals in pain and neutral conditions during recording of event-related potentials. RESULTS: Compared with the controls, the patients with IGE showed impaired cognitive empathy but intact emotional empathy on the Chinese version of the Interpersonal Reactivity Index; they also had normal N1, N2, and late positive potential (LPP) but lower P3 amplitudes evoked by depictions of pain in others when compared with neutral images during the pain judgment task; the difference in the effects of pain empathy on the pain task between the IGE group and the control group was statistically significant. CONCLUSION: These results indicate that later processing of pain empathy is impaired but early processing is intact in patients with IGE. The present study extends the findings of our previous behavioral study by providing solid evidence of impaired empathy in patients with IGE at the neural processing level.

Functional plasticity of the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex in depression reorganized by electroconvulsive therapy: Validation in two independent samples.

Previous studies have implied a key role for the prefrontal cortex in the antidepressive effect of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT). However, there is still ubiquitous inconsistency across these studies, partly due to several confounding effects induced by the use of different samples. Studies with independent samples are necessary for validations to minimize confounding effects. In the current study, resting-state magnetic resonance imaging of 84 participants was collected using two scanners and two types of scanning parameters. One sample consisted of 28 patients and 23 healthy controls, and the other sample consisted of 33 patients. The local activity (indexed by the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations) and functional connectivity were used to examine functional plasticity in the two independent samples before and after ECT. Both samples showed increased local activity of the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC) and enhanced connectivity of the DMPFC with the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) following ECT. The enhanced connectivity between the DMPFC and PCC was positively associated with clinical improvement for both samples. These findings provide relatively strong evidence to support the functional plasticity of the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex and reorganization by ECT. The functional plasticity of the DMPFC-PCC may underlie the antidepressive effect of ECT.

Classification of schizophrenia by intersubject correlation in functional connectome.

Functional connectomes have been suggested as fingerprinting for individual identification. Accordingly, we hypothesized that subjects in the same phenotypic group have similar functional connectome features, which could help to discriminate schizophrenia (SCH) patients from healthy controls (HCs) and from depression patients. To this end, we included resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data of SCH, depression patients, and HCs from three centers. We first investigated the characteristics of connectome similarity between individuals, and found higher similarity between subjects belonging to the same group (i.e., SCH-SCH) than different groups (i.e., HC-SCH). These findings suggest that the average connectome within group (termed as group-specific functional connectome [GFC]) may help in individual classification. Consistently, significant accuracy (75-77%) and area under curve (81-86%) were found in discriminating SCH from HC or depression patients by GFC-based leave-one-out cross-validation. Cross-center classification further suggests a good generalizability of the GFC classification. We additionally included normal aging data (255 young and 242 old subjects with different scanning sequences) to show factors could be improved for better classification performance, and the findings emphasized the importance of increasing sample size but not temporal resolution during scanning. In conclusion, our findings suggest that the average functional connectome across subjects contained group-specific biological features and may be helpful in clinical diagnosis for schizophrenia.

Novel Susceptibility Loci for Moyamoya Disease Revealed by a Genome-Wide Association Study.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Moyamoya disease (MMD) is a rare cerebral vasculopathy characterized by bilateral internal carotid artery stenosis and often leads to stroke in children or young adults. Although familial inheritance is well recognized, the genetic basis of MMD remains poorly understood. METHODS: A 2-stage genome-wide association study was conducted involving 1492 cases and 5084 controls. In the discovery stage, logistic regression was used to test associations, and imputation was conducted based on genotyped single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). In the validation stage, the top significant SNPs were again genotyped in an independent cohort. Fixed-effects inverse variance-weighted meta-analysis was used in the combined discovery and validation samples. Furthermore, association analysis was conducted in subgroups using patient clinical data. RESULTS: The study identified 10 novel risk loci with genome-wide significance (P<5×10-8) and confirmed a previously reported locus on 17q25. No significant SNP showed evidence of heterogeneity between the 2 stages. Cumulatively, these SNPs explained 14.76% of disease risk variance-a substantial proportion of the 39.02% of risk variance explained by all genome-wide genotyped SNPs. One SNP, rs9916351 in RNF213 (Pcombined=4.57×10-54; odds ratio, 1.96), showed a stronger genetic effect on early-onset than late-onset MMD (P=0.003). Two novel SNPs in genes regulating homocysteine metabolism, rs9651118 in MTHFR (Pcombined=2.49×10-19; odds ratio, 0.65) and rs117353193 in TCN2 (Pcombined=6.15×10-13; odds ratio, 1.43), were associated with high-serum homocysteine in MMD cases. Additionally, another SNP associated with MMD (rs2107595 in HDAC9; Pcombined=1.49×10-29; odds ratio, 1.64) was previously implicated in large-vessel disease. Tissue enrichment analysis showed that the genes of associated loci were highly expressed in the immune system (false discovery rate, <0.05). CONCLUSIONS: This study identifies several novel susceptibility genes for MMD. The association with homocysteine metabolism and the immune system enrichment of susceptibility gene expression suggest that therapeutic interventions targeting these pathways may be effective approaches for MMD treatment.

Dynamic aftereffects in supplementary motor network following inhibitory transcranial magnetic stimulation protocols.

The supplementary motor area (SMA) is a key node of the motor network. Inhibitory repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) of the SMA can potentially improve movement disorders. However, the aftereffects of inhibitory rTMS on brain function remain largely unknown. Using a single-blind, crossover within-subject design, we investigated the role of aftereffects with two inhibitory rTMS protocols [1800 pulses of either 1-Hz repetitive stimulation or continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS)] on the left SMA. A total of 19 healthy volunteers participated in the rTMS sessions on 2 separate days. Firstly, short-term aftereffects were estimated at three levels (functional connectivity, local activity, and network properties) by comparing the resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging datasets (9min) acquired before and after each rTMS session. Local activity and network properties were not significantly altered by either protocol. Functional connectivity within the SMA network was increased (in the left paracentral gyrus) by 1-Hz stimulation and decreased (in the left inferior frontal gyrus and SMA/middle cingulate cortex) by cTBS. The subsequent three-way analysis of variance (site×time×protocol) did not show a significant interaction effect or "protocol" main effect, suggesting that the two protocols share an underlying mechanism. Secondly, sliding-window analysis was used to evaluate the dynamic features of aftereffects in the ~29min after the end of stimulation. Aftereffects were maintained for a maximum of 9.8 and 6.6min after the 1-Hz and cTBS protocols, respectively. In summary, this study revealed topographical and temporal aftereffects in the SMA network following inhibitory rTMS protocols, providing valuable information for their application in future neuroscience and clinical studies.

The Working Memory and Dorsolateral Prefrontal-Hippocampal Functional Connectivity Changes in Long-Term Survival Breast Cancer Patients Treated with Tamoxifen.

Background: Tamoxifen is the most widely used drug for treating patients with estrogen receptor-sensitive breast cancer. There is evidence that breast cancer patients treated with tamoxifen exhibit cognitive dysfunction. However, the underlying neural mechanism remains unclear. The present study aimed to investigate the neural mechanisms underlying working memory deficits in combination with functional connectivity changes in premenopausal women with breast cancer who received long-term tamoxifen treatment. Methods: A total of 31 premenopausal women with breast cancer who received tamoxifen and 32 matched healthy control participants were included. The participants completed n-back tasks and underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging, which measure working memory performance and brain functional connectivity, respectively. A seed-based functional connectivity analysis within the whole brain was conducted, for which the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex was chosen as the seed region. Results: Our results indicated that the tamoxifen group had significant deficits in working memory and general executive function performance and significantly lower functional connectivity of the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex with the right hippocampus compared with the healthy controls. There were no significant changes in functional connectivity in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex within the whole brain between the tamoxifen group and healthy controls. Moreover, significant correlations were found in the tamoxifen group between the functional connectivity strength of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex with the right hippocampus and decreased working memory performance. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus may be affected by tamoxifen treatment, supporting an antagonistic role of tamoxifen in the long-term treatment of breast cancer patients.

Selective impairment of decision making under ambiguity in alexithymia.

BACKGROUND: Alexithymia is characterised by difficulties identifying and describing emotions. Few studies have investigated how alexithymia influences decision-making under different conditions (ambiguity and risk). This study aimed to examine whether alexithymia contributes to impairment in decision-making. METHOD: This study included 42 participants with high scores in the Chinese version of Toronto Alexithymia Scale (alexithymia group), and 44 matched subjects with low scores (control group). Decision-making was measured using the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) and the Game of Dice Task (GDT). RESULTS: The main findings of this study revealed selective deficits in IGT performance for the alexithymia group, while GDT performance was unimpaired when compared with the control group. In IGT, total netscores were lower for the alexithymia group compared to the control group, particularly with regard to block 5. Moreover, the alexithymia individuals selected significantly more adverse cards than the controls, indicating significant decision-making impairments. CONCLUSION: Alexithymia selectively influences decision-making under ambiguity.

Selective impairment of attention networks in breast cancer patients receiving chemotherapy treatment.

INTRODUCTION: Complaints about attention disorders are common among breast cancer survivors who have undergone chemotherapy treatment. However, it is not known whether these complaints indicate a global attention deficit or the selective impairment of attention networks. OBJECTIVE: This study sought to investigate the attentional abilities of breast cancer patients after chemotherapy treatment using the attention network test (ANT). METHODS: The participants included breast cancer patients who had undergone chemotherapy (CT, N = 58), patients who had not undergone chemotherapy (non-CT, N = 53), and matched healthy controls (HC, N = 55). All participants completed the ANT, which provides measures of three independent attention networks (alerting, orienting, and executive control) and neuropsychological background tests. RESULTS: Our results indicated that the chemotherapy-treated breast cancer patients had significant deficits in the alerting and executive control networks but not in the orienting network. The CT group scored significantly lower in several cognitive tasks, including attention, memory, and information processing tasks, relative to the other two groups. Additionally, significant correlations were found between information processing and the efficiency of the executive control network within the CT group. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that the three attention networks were selectively impaired following chemotherapy treatment, which affected different brain areas in the breast cancer survivors.

Childhood maltreatment and engaging in NSSI for automatic-negative reinforcement: The mediating role of alexithymia and moderating role of help-seeking attitudes.

BACKGROUND: There is evidence indicating that childhood maltreatment is linked to the occurrence of non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI). Nevertheless, the association between childhood maltreatment and the automatic-negative reinforcement aspect of NSSI remains understudied. Chapman's (2006) experiential avoidance model posits that the main factor in sustaining NSSI is negative reinforcement, specifically through the avoidance or escape from distressful emotional experiences. The current study examines a conceptual framework based on this theory and the available literature that explores the potential mediation role of alexithymia in the relation between childhood maltreatment and the automatic-negative reinforcement of NSSI. Additionally, this study investigates how this process may be influenced by individuals' attitudes toward seeking professional help. METHODS: 3657 adolescents (1616 females) completed questionnaires regarding childhood maltreatment, alexithymia, help-seeking attitudes, the NSSI, and its functions. RESULTS: The findings of the study exposed a positive link between childhood maltreatment and the automatic-negative reinforcement of NSSI, with the mediating role of alexithymia. Interestingly, it was unexpected to discover that individuals with high help-seeking attitudes experienced an intensification of the relationship between childhood maltreatment and both alexithymia and the automatic-negative reinforcement of NSSI. LIMITATION: The study's cross-sectional design hindered the inference of causality. CONCLUSION: The present study demonstrated that it is crucial to consider the impact of both alexithymia and help-seeking attitudes in adolescents who have experienced maltreatment. These findings hold implications for preventive interventions that target the reduction of NSSI behaviors driven by automatic-negative reinforcement.

Psychosocial predictors of persistent suicidal ideation among Chinese adolescents: A longitudinal study.

BACKGROUND: Suicide is the fourth leading cause of death among adolescents. Studies have shown that persistent suicidal ideation has a more important effect on suicidal behavior. The objective of this study was to identify predictors of persistent suicidal ideation. METHODS: Data were collected from 4225 Chinese middle and high school students. These adolescents were assessed for suicidal ideation at baseline and the second year. We used multinomial logistic regression (n = 4171) for the predictive effect of these factors on persistent suicidal ideation. We controlled for gender, residence, clinical diagnosis, clinical diagnosis family, suicide planning, and suicide attempts. RESULTS: Depressive symptoms are essential in predicting persistent suicidal ideation (OR = 14.0; p < 0.001). Persistent suicidal ideation was predicted by sleep disorders, such as poor sleep quality (OR = 2.3; p = 0.008), difficulty falling asleep (OR = 2.4; p = 0.005), frequently midnight awakening (OR = 1.9; p = 0.044), and frequent nightmares (OR = 2.1; p = 0.040). There was a significant association between concern with persistent ideation and parental-peer alienation (OR for father, 1.9[p = 0.024]; OR for mother, 3.1[p < 0.001]; OR for peer, 2.3[p = 0.003]). LIMITATIONS: All measures are based on self-report rather than objective assessment or clinical diagnostic assessment. CONCLUSIONS: Persistent suicidal ideation had a more important role in influencing suicide planning and attempt. Interventions targeting sleep disorders and attention to attachments in the home and school are particularly important in preventing persistent suicidal ideation in adolescents.

Aberrant reward dynamics in depression with anticipatory anhedonia.

OBJECTIVE: Previous studies have shown that anticipatory anhedonia is linked to abnormal reward processing. The present study aimed to explore the underlying neural mechanism of the influence of anticipatory anhedonia symptoms on reward processing. METHODS: Electrophysiological activities in the anticipatory and consummatory phase were recorded during the Monetary Incentive Delay (MID) task in 24 depressed high anticipatory anhedonia (HAA) patients, 25 depressed low anticipatory anhedonia (LAA) patients, and 29 healthy controls (HC). RESULTS: We suggested a significant condition × group interaction effect on feedback-related negativity (FRN) amplitudes during the consummatory phase, a smaller FRN in reward cue trails compared with neutral cue trail was revealed in the HC and LAA group, but such reward-related effect was not found in the HAA group. In addition, we found significant correlations between FRN, fb-P3 and cue-N1, cue-N2 in the HC group, besides, significant correlations between FRN, fb-P3 and cue-P2 was also revealed in the HC and LAA group. However, no significant correlation was found in HAA patients. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that the link between the anticipatory and consummatory phase was interrupted in depressed HAA patients, which may be driven by the aberrant consummatory reward processing. SIGNIFICANCE: The current study is the first one to demonstrate the influence of anticipatory anhedonia symptom on the association between anticipatory and consummatory phase of reward process.

Effects of high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation on implicit emotion regulation of social pain in healthy individuals.

BACKGROUND: Implicit emotion regulation (ER), a form of ER, is essential for protecting mental health in the process of social interaction. Both the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) have been shown to be involved in ER processes, including explicit ER of social pain, but whether they play a role in implicit ER is unclear. METHODS: We investigated whether anodal high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS) of the right VLPFC (rVLPFC) or the right DLPFC (rDLPFC) influences implicit ER. In total, 63 healthy participants completed an emotion priming task, which measures the implicit ER of social pain, before and after receiving active or sham HD-tDCS (2 mA for 20 min, 10 consecutive days). Event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded during task performance. RESULTS: Combined with the results of the behavioral and electrophysiological indices indicated that stimulation of both the rVLPFC and the rDLPFC by anodic HD-tDCS could significantly reduce the affective responses caused by social exclusion. The further results also suggested that rDLPFC activation may contribute to promoting the involvement of early cognitive resources in the implicit ER process of social pain, thus helping to reduce the subjective negative experience of individuals. LIMITATIONS: There were no dynamic interactive emotional stimuli to induce social pain, and only static images of social exclusion were used. CONCLUSION: Our study provides cognitive and neurological evidence that expands our knowledge of the role of the rDLPFC and the rVLPFC in social ER. It can also serve as a reference for targeted intervention of implicit ER in social pain.

Selected rhizosphere bacteria are associated with endangered species - Scutellaria tsinyunensis via comparative microbiome analysis.

Scutellaria tsinyunensis is an endangered plant under extremely critical condition. Soil microbiome is important for plants growth. To better understand the endangered mechanism of S. tsinyunensis from the perspective of rhizosphere bacteria, we examined soil bacteria community in nearly all extant S. tsinyunensis populations at two altitude levels through high-throughput sequencing. Our co-occurrence network analysis manifested six key genera had active interactions with many genera. Moreover, we found that deterministic processes dominate rhizosphere bacterial community assembly. By constructing structural equation model, we found that pH as a key factor shaping the bacterial community, suggesting canopy density - pH - bacterial diversity regulatory model may contribute to the endangerment of S. tsinyunensis. Further, we revealed that Haliangium and Candidatus Koribacter act as essential genera for the protection of S. tsinyunensis through controlling multi combination of covariates. Together, our study revealed a holistic picture of rhizosphere microbiome and environmental factors associated with S. tsinyunensis, and provided direction for future protection of this endangered plant.

Comparison of three machine learning models to predict suicidal ideation and depression among Chinese adolescents: A cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Machine learning (ML) algorithms based on various clinicodemographic, psychometric, and biographic factors have been used to predict depression, suicidal ideation, and suicide attempt in adolescents, but there is still a need for more accurate and efficient models for screening the general adolescent population. In this study, we compared various ML methods to identify a model that most accurately predicts suicidal ideation and level of depression in a large cohort of school-aged adolescents. METHODS: Ten psychological scale scores and 20 sociodemographic parameters were collected from 10,243 Chinese adolescents in the first or second year of middle school and high school. These variables were then included in a random forest (RF) model, support vector machine (SVM) model, and decision tree model for factor screening, dichotomous prediction of suicidal ideation (yes/no), and trichotomous prediction of depression (no depression, mild-moderate depression, or major depression). RESULTS: The RF model demonstrated greater accuracy for predicting suicidal ideation (mean accuracy (ACC) = 87.3 %, SD = 3.2 %, area under curve (AUC) = 92.4 %) and depressive status (ACC = 84.0 %, SD = 2.8 %, AUC = 90.1 %) than SVM and decision tree models. We have also used the RF model to predict adolescents with both depression and suicidal ideation with satisfactory results. Significant differences were found in several sociodemographic parameters and scale scores among classification groups and differences in six factors between sexes. CONCLUSIONS: This RF model may prove valuable for predicting suicidal ideation, depression, and non-suicidal self-injury among the general population of Chinese adolescents.

High-definition transcranial direct current stimulation modulates eye gaze on emotional faces in college students with alexithymia: An eye-tracking study.

BACKGROUND: Atypical eye gaze on emotional faces is a core feature of alexithymia. The inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) is considered to be the neurophysiological basis of alexithymia-related emotional face fixation. Our aim was to examine whether anodal high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS) administered to the right (r)IFG would facilitate eye gaze of emotional faces in alexithymia individuals. METHOD: Forty individuals with alexithymia were equally assigned to anodal or sham HD-tDCS of the rIFG according to the principle of randomization. The individuals then completed a free-viewing eye tracking task (including happy, sad, and neutral faces) before and after 5 consecutive days of stimulation (twice a day). RESULTS: The results showed that twice a day anodal HD-tDCS of the rIFG significantly increased the fixation time and fixation count of the eye area on happy and neutral faces, but there was no significant effect on sad faces. According to the temporal-course analysis, after the intervention, the fixation time on neutral faces increased significantly at almost all time points of the eye tracking task. For happy faces, the improvement was demonstrated between 500 and 1000 ms and between 2500 and 3500 ms. For sad faces, the fixation time improved but not significantly. CONCLUSIONS: Applying high-dose anodal HD-tDCS to the rIFG selectively facilitated eye gaze in the eye area of neutral and happy faces in individuals with alexithymia, which may improve their face processing patterns.

Contrasting Responses of Rhizosphere Fungi of Scutellaria tsinyunensis, an Endangered Plant in Southwestern China.

Scutellaria tsinyunensis is an endangered species in southwest China, distributed sporadically in mountainous areas at an elevation of approximately 200 to 900 m. Rhizosphere soil properties and fungal communities play critical roles in plant survival and expansion. Nevertheless, understanding of soil properties and fungal communities in the S. tsinyunensis distribution areas is extremely limited. The present study examined soil properties and fungal communities in nearly all extant S. tsinyunensis populations at two altitudinal gradients (low and high groups). Our findings indicated that soil characteristics (i.e., soil pH, water content, and available phosphorus) were affected distinctively by altitudes (P < 0.05). In addition, the low altitude group harbored higher fungal richness and diversity than the high altitude. Co-occurrence network analysis identified six key genera that proved densely connected interactions with many genera. Further analysis represented that the low altitude group harbored three beneficial genera belonging to Ascomycota (Archaeorhizomyces, Dactylella, and Helotiales), whereas the high altitude showed more pathogenic fungi (Apiosporaceae, Colletotrichum, and Fusarium). Correlation analysis found that soil water content was highly correlated with Hydnodontaceae and Lophiostoma. Besides, plants' canopy density was negatively correlated with four pathogenic fungi, indicating that the high abundance of the pathogen at high altitudes probably inhibited the survival of S. tsinyunensis. To sum up, this comprehensive analysis generates novel insights to explore the contrasting responses of S. tsinyunensis rhizosphere fungal communities and provides profound references for S. tsinyunensis habitat restoration and species conservation. IMPORTANCE Our study highlighted the importance of rhizosphere fungal communities in an endangered plant, S. tsinyunensis. Comparative analysis of soil samples in nearly all extant S. tsinyunensis populations identified that soil properties, especially soil water content, might play essential roles in the survival and expansion of S. tsinyunensis. Our findings proved that a series of fungal communities (e.g., Archaeorhizomyces, Dactylella, and Helotiales) could be essential indicators for S. tsinyunensis habitat restoration and protection for the first time. In addition, further functional and correlation analyses revealed that pathogenic fungi might limit the plant expansion into high altitudes. Collectively, our findings displayed a holistic picture of the rhizosphere microbiome and environmental factors associated with S. tsinyunensis.