The Relationship between Clinical and Psychophysical Assessments of Visual Perceptual Disturbances in Individuals at Clinical High Risk for Psychosis: A Preliminary Study.

This study investigated relations between a measure of early-stage visual function and self-reported visual anomalies in individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis (CHR-P). Eleven individuals at CHR identified via the Structured Interview for Psychosis-Risk Syndromes (SIPS) were recruited from a CHR-P research program in NYC. The sample was ~36% female, ranging from 16 to 33 years old (M = 23.90, SD = 6.14). Participants completed a contrast sensitivity task on an iPad with five spatial frequencies (0.41-13 cycles/degree) and completed the self-report Audio-Visual Abnormalities Questionnaire. Higher contrast sensitivity (better performance) to low spatial frequencies was associated with higher perceptual (r = 0.616, p = 0.044) and visual disturbances (r = 0.667, p = 0.025); lower contrast sensitivity to a middle spatial frequency was also associated with higher perceptual (r = -0.604, p = 0.049) and visual disturbances (r = -0.606, p = 0.048). This relation between the questionnaire and contrast sensitivity to low spatial frequency may be indicative of a reduction in lateral inhibition and "flooding" of environmental stimuli. The association with middle spatial frequencies, which play a critical role in face processing, may result in a range of perceptual abnormalities. These findings demonstrate that self-reported perceptual anomalies occur in these individuals and are linked to performance on a measure of early visual processing.

Inflammation and emotion regulation: Findings from the MIDUS II study.

Emotion regulation (ER) strategies are thought to contribute to mental as well as physical health outcomes. Two common ER strategies include expressive suppression, or inhibition of emotional expression, and cognitive reappraisal, which involves changing how to think about an emotion-eliciting event in order to change its emotional impact. Recent reports have hypothesized that one potential way in which ER may be linked to health outcomes is via the immune system. However, information on this putative link is scarce. The present study aims to explore whether peripheral inflammatory biomarkers are associated with individual differences in ER-strategy use. Participants (n = 117) from the Midlife in the United States II (MIDUS II) study completed the Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (ERQ), and provided a blood sample for immune biomarker extraction including interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, IL-10, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), C-reactive protein (CRP), E-selectin, Intercellular Adhesion Molecule-1 (ICAM-1), and fibrinogen. Results showed higher levels of expressive suppression were associated with decreased IL-10, TNF-α, and ICAM-1 levels (controlling for age, sex, BMI, total prescribed medications, and depressive symptoms). Consistent with these findings, hierarchical regression results identified TNF-α as a significant predictor of expressive suppression use. In contrast, no inflammatory markers were associated with predicted use of cognitive reappraisal. Our findings suggest a link between inflammation and specific ER-strategy use. Future research should consider the effects of pro-vs. anti-inflammatory cytokines on adaptive ER and subsequent mental and physical health.

Oral contraceptive use is associated with smaller hypothalamic and pituitary gland volumes in healthy women: A structural MRI study.

The effects of hormonal contraceptives on structural features of the hypothalamus and pituitary are incompletely understood. One prior study reported microstructural changes in the hypothalamus with oral contraceptive pill (OCP) use. However, effects on hypothalamic volume have not been reported. One prior study reported volumetric changes in the pituitary. However, this study was limited by including participants evaluated for neurological symptoms. We sought to determine if OCP use is associated with alteration of hypothalamic or pituitary volume. High-resolution 3T MRI was performed for a prospective cohort of 50 healthy women from 2016 to 2018, which comprised 21 OCP users (age, 19-29) and 29 naturally cycling women (age, 18-36). Participants were excluded if they were pregnant or had significant medical conditions including neurological, psychiatric, and endocrine disorders. After confirming reliability of the image analysis techniques, 5 raters independently performed manual segmentation of the hypothalamus and semi-automated intensity threshold-based segmentation of the pituitary using ITK-SNAP. Total intracranial volume was estimated using FreeSurfer. A general linear model tested the association of OCP use with hypothalamic and pituitary volumes. Hypothalamic (B = -81.2 ± 24.9, p = 0.002) and pituitary (B = -81.2 ± 38.7, p = 0.04) volumes in OCP users were smaller than in naturally cycling women. These findings may be related to interference with known trophic effects of sex hormones and suggest a structural correlate of central OCP effects.

Framing potential for adverse effects of repetitive subconcussive impacts in soccer in the context of athlete and non-athlete controls.

The benefits of athletic activity may be attenuated by sport-related head impacts, including soccer-related concussion and subconcussive events. The purpose of this study is to characterize the specific effects of soccer heading on white matter microstructure and cognitive function, independent of concussion, relative to non-athlete controls and relative to active athletes who are not involved in collision sports. 246 amateur soccer players, 72 non-contact/non-collision sports athletes and 110 healthy,non-athlete controls were included in the study, and underwent cognitive testing and 3T diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Voxelwise linear regression, comparing soccer players and non-contact/non-collision sports athletes healthy,non-athlete controls, identified regions of abnormally low and high fractional anisotropy (FA), axial diffusivity (AD), radial diffusivity (RD) and mean diffusivity (MD) in athlete participants. Generalized estimating equations were used to examine the effects of 2 week and 1 year heading exposure quartile on cognitive performance and on the volume of each high and each low DTI parameter. Athletes with no or lower exposure to repetitive heading exhibited greater expression of low RD, greater expression of high FA and better performance on tasks of attention, processing speed, verbal memory, and working memory compared to non-athletes. Soccer players with the highest exposure to repetitive head impacts, however, did not differ significantly from healthy, non-athletes on either micro-structural features or cognitive performance, findings not explained by concussion history or demographic factors. These results are consistent with the notion that beneficial effects of athletic conditioning or training on brain structure and function may be attenuated by exposure to repeated subconcussive head impacts.

Soccer heading and concussion are not associated with reduced brain volume or cortical thickness.

Soccer is the most popular sport in the world and, since it is a contact sport, players are at risk for head injury, including concussion. Here, we proposed to investigate the association of heading and concussion with macroscopic brain structure among adult amateur soccer players. For this study, 375 amateur soccer players (median age 23 years) completed HeadCount-12m to estimate heading over the 12 months prior to MRI and lifetime concussion. T1-weighted 3D magnetization prepared rapid acquisition gradient echo (MP-RAGE) MRI was performed at 3 Tesla. Parcellation was performed using Freesurfer to extract regional gray and white matter volumes as well as regional cortical thickness and total intracranial volume. Regional cortical brain volumes were normalized by total intracranial volume. We categorized heading into quartiles and concussion as 0, 1 or 2 or more. Generalized linear regressions were used to test the association of heading or concussion with each brain morphometry metric, including age and sex, as covariates. Neither heading nor concussion were associated with reduced brain volume or cortical thickness. We observed that greater heading was associated with greater gray matter volume in the left inferior parietal area, which may reflect effects related to training.

Personality and Risk Taking in Sports: A Focus on Unintentional and Intentional Head Impacts in Amateur Soccer Players.

OBJECTIVE: In soccer, unintentional and intentional (heading) head impacts are associated with concussive symptoms and cognitive dysfunction. We examined whether personality traits were associated with these behaviors in soccer players. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS: Participants completed study visits at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine. A total of 307 adult amateur soccer players, recruited from New York City and the surrounding area, completed 737 HeadCount-2w questionnaires. PREDICTOR VARIABLES: Personality traits (intellect/imagination, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism) were assessed with the Mini-International Personality Item Pool questionnaire at the baseline study visit. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Participants completed an online questionnaire (HeadCount-2w) to ascertain frequency of intentional head impacts and occurrence of unintentional head impacts every 3 to 6 months. Generalized estimating equations repeated-measures regressions determined whether personality predicted unintentional and intentional impacts. RESULTS: Personality traits were not associated with unintentional head impact(s) or frequency of intentional head impacts. CONCLUSIONS: These findings have important clinical implications, suggesting that personality is not driving the association between high levels of unintentional and intentional head impacts and worse neuropsychological functioning and concussive symptoms.

Heading and unintentional head impacts have opposing associations with Patient Reported Outcomes in amateur soccer players.

The effects of soccer-related head impacts, beyond overt concussions, on Patient Reported Outcomes (PROs) have not been explored to date. Generalized estimating equations were employed to determine the association between soccer-related head impacts (headers in the prior 2 weeks, unintentional head impacts in the prior 2 weeks, headers in the prior 12 months and lifetime concussions) on PROs including depression, anxiety, sleep disturbance and sleep impairment. Compared to players with no unintentional head impacts in the prior 2 weeks, players with one unintentional exposure reported more symptoms of anxiety (p = 0.002) and players with 2+ exposures reported more symptoms of depression (p = 0.006) and anxiety (p < 0.001). In contrast, players in the 3rd Quartile of 12 mo. headers reported less anxiety (p = 0.001), sleep disturbance (p = 0.002) and sleep impairment (p < 0.001) compared to those in the 1st quartile. Unintentional head impacts are associated with worse PROs while more headers are paradoxically associated with better PROs.

Heading Frequency Is More Strongly Related to Cognitive Performance Than Unintentional Head Impacts in Amateur Soccer Players.

OBJECTIVE: Compared to heading, unintentional head impacts (e.g., elbow to head, head to head, head to goalpost) in soccer are more strongly related to risk of moderate to very severe Central Nervous System (CNS) symptoms. But, most head impacts associated with CNS symptoms that occur in soccer are mild and are more strongly related to heading. We tested for a differential relation of heading and unintentional head impacts with neuropsychological (NP) test performance. METHOD: Active adult amateur soccer players were recruited in New York City and the surrounding areas for this repeated measures longitudinal study of individuals who were enrolled if they had 5+ years of soccer play and were active playing soccer 6+ months/year. All participants completed a baseline validated questionnaire ("HeadCount-2w"), reporting 2-week recall of soccer activity, heading and unintentional head impacts. In addition, participants also completed NP tests of verbal learning, verbal memory, psychomotor speed, attention, and working memory. Most participants also completed one or more identical follow-up protocols (i.e., HeadCount-2w and NP tests) at 3- to 6-month intervals over a 2-year period. Repeated measures General Estimating Equations (GEE) linear models were used to determine if variation in NP tests at each visit was related to variation in either heading or unintentional head impacts in the 2-week period before testing. RESULTS: 308 players (78% male) completed 741 HeadCount-2w. Mean (median) heading/2-weeks was 50 (17) for men and 26 (7) for women. Heading was significantly associated with poorer performance on psychomotor speed (p < 0.001) and attention (p = 0.02) tasks and was borderline significant with poorer performance on the working memory (p = 0.06) task. Unintentional head impacts were not significantly associated with any NP test. Results did not differ after excluding 22 HeadCount-2w with reported concussive or borderline concussive symptoms. CONCLUSION: Poorer NP test performance was consistently related to frequent heading during soccer practice and competition in the 2 weeks before testing. In contrast, unintentional head impacts incurred during soccer were not related to cognitive performance.

Validation of HeadCount-2w for estimation of two-week heading: Comparison to daily reporting in adult amateur player.

OBJECTIVES: To validate the HeadCount-2w questionnaire for estimation of 2-week soccer heading by comparison to daily electronic diary reporting over the same two-week period. DESIGN: Prospective observational study. METHODS: Adult amateur soccer players completed HeadCount-daily, comprising 14 daily at-home assessments of soccer play and heading via a tablet PC. Following the 14day period, players completed HeadCount-2w, a web-based two-week-recall questionnaire on soccer and heading. intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) was estimated between HeadCount-daily, the reference standard, and HeadCount-2w estimates of heading during the same 2-week period. RESULTS: 53 participants (38 men) reported a mean of 24.36 (median=11.76) headers during 2 weeks via HeadCount-daily and a mean of 38.34 (median=15.0) headers for the same 2 weeks via HeadCount-2w. The ICC comparing 2-week heading from HeadCount-daily and HeadCount-2w was 0.85. Linear regression of the log-transformed Headcount-daily on HeadCount-2w data yielded a slope of 0.71 (p<0.001; 95% CI 0.54-0.82), suggesting that heading tends to be over-estimated by HeadCount-2w relative to HeadCount-daily. Slope estimates for men (0.65) and women (0.71) were similar. CONCLUSIONS: HeadCount, a self-administered web-based survey, is valid for self-reporting 2-week heading in adult amateur players, supporting its use in future research and as a simple and low-cost technique for exposure monitoring.

Symptoms from repeated intentional and unintentional head impact in soccer players.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the rate and differential contribution of heading vs unintentional head impacts (e.g., head to head, goal post) to CNS symptoms in adult amateur soccer players. METHODS: Amateur soccer players completed baseline and serial on-line 2-week recall questionnaires (HeadCount) and reported (1) soccer practice and games, (2) heading and unintentional soccer head trauma, and (3) frequency and severity (mild to very severe) of CNS symptoms. For analysis, CNS symptoms were affirmed if one or more moderate, severe, or very severe episodes were reported in a 2-week period. Repeated measures logistic regression was used to assess if 2-week heading exposure (i.e., 4 quartiles) or unintentional head impacts (i.e., 0, 1, 2+) were associated with CNS symptoms. RESULTS: A total of 222 soccer players (79% male) completed 470 HeadCount questionnaires. Mean (median) heading/2 weeks was 44 (18) for men and 27 (9.5) for women. One or more unintentional head impacts were reported by 37% of men and 43% of women. Heading-related symptoms were reported in 20% (93 out of 470) of the HeadCounts. Heading in the highest quartile was significantly associated with CNS symptoms (odds ratio [OR] 3.17, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.57-6.37) when controlling for unintentional exposure. Those with 2+ unintentional exposures were at increased risk for CNS symptoms (OR 6.09, 95% CI 3.33-11.17) as were those with a single exposure (OR 2.98, 95% CI 1.69-5.26) when controlling for heading. CONCLUSIONS: Intentional (i.e., heading) and unintentional head impacts are each independently associated with moderate to very severe CNS symptoms.

PER1 rs3027172 Genotype Interacts with Early Life Stress to Predict Problematic Alcohol Use, but Not Reward-Related Ventral Striatum Activity.

Increasing evidence suggests that the circadian and stress regulatory systems contribute to alcohol use disorder (AUD) risk, which may partially arise through effects on reward-related neural function. The C allele of the PER1 rs3027172 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) reduces PER1 expression in cells incubated with cortisol and has been associated with increased risk for adult AUD and problematic drinking among adolescents exposed to high levels of familial psychosocial adversity. Using data from undergraduate students who completed the ongoing Duke Neurogenetics Study (DNS) (n = 665), we tested whether exposure to early life stress (ELS; Childhood Trauma Questionnaire) moderates the association between rs3027172 genotype and later problematic alcohol use (Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test) as well as ventral striatum (VS) reactivity to reward (card-guessing task while functional magnetic resonance imaging data were acquired). Initial analyses found that PER1 rs3027172 genotype interacted with ELS to predict both problematic drinking and VS reactivity; minor C allele carriers, who were also exposed to elevated ELS reported greater problematic drinking and exhibited greater ventral striatum reactivity to reward-related stimuli. When gene × covariate and environment × covariate interactions were controlled for, the interaction predicting problematic alcohol use remained significant (p < 0.05, corrected) while the interaction predicting VS reactivity was no longer significant. These results extend our understanding of relationships between PER1 genotype, ELS, and problematic alcohol use, and serve as a cautionary tale on the importance of controlling for potential confounders in studies of moderation including gene × environment interactions.