Predictive Model of Anxiety and Depression Perception in Multiple Sclerosis Patients: Possible Implications for Clinical Treatment

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a neurodegenerative disease characterized by motor and non-motor symptoms, including emotional distress, anxiety, and depression. These emotional symptoms currently have a pharmacological treatment with limited effectiveness; therefore, it is necessary to delve into their relationship with other psychological, functional, or prefrontal alterations. Additionally, exploring non-pharmacological therapeutic alternatives that have shown benefits in addressing emotional distress in MS patients is essential.

AIM

To establish a predictive model for the presence of anxiety and depression in MS patients, based on variables such as psychological well-being, functional activity, and prefrontal symptoms. Additionally, this study aimed to propose non-pharmacological therapeutic alternatives based on this model.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A descriptive, observational, and cross-sectional study was conducted with a sample of 64 diagnosed MS patients who underwent functional and cognitive assessments using the following questionnaires and scales: Functional Activities Questionnaire (FAQ), Acceptance and Action Questionnaire (AAQ-II), Experiences Questionnaire (EQ), Self-Compassion Scale Short Form (SCS-SF), Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II), State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and Prefrontal Symptoms Inventory (PSI).

RESULTS

The model showed an excellent fit to the data and indicated that psychological well-being was the most significant predictor of the criteria (β = -0.83), followed by functional activity (β = -0.18) and prefrontal symptoms (β = 0.15). The latter two are negatively related to psychological well-being (β = -0.16 and β = -0.75, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS

Low psychological well-being is the variable that most significantly predicts the presence of anxiety and depression in MS patients, followed by functional activity and prefrontal alterations. Interventions based on mindfulness and acceptance are recommended, along with nutritional interventions such as antioxidant-enriched ketogenic diets and moderate group physical exercise.

Phasic and repetitive self-touch differ in hemodynamic response in the prefrontal cortex-An fNIRS study

Introduction

Each individual touches the own body several 100 times a day. While some researchers propose a self-regulatory function of self-touch, others report that self-touching increases nervousness. This controversy appears to be caused by the fact that researchers did not define the kind of self-touch they examined and actually, referred to different types of self-touch. Thus, kinematically defining different types of self-touch, such as phasic (discrete), repetitive, and irregular, and exploring the neural correlates of the different types will provide insight into the neuropsychological function of self-touching behavior.

Methods

To this aim, we assessed hemodynamic responses in prefrontal brain areas using functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) and behavioral responses with NEUROGES®. Fifty-two participants were recorded during three specific kinematically types of self-touch (phasic, irregular, repetitive) that were to be performed on command. The recently developed toolbox Satori was used for the visualization of neuronal processes.

Results

Behaviorally, the participants did not perform irregular self-touch reliably. Neurally, the comparison of phasic, irregular and repetitive self-touch revealed different activation patterns. Repetitive self-touch is associated with stronger hemodynamic responses in the left Orbitofrontal Cortex and the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex than phasic self-touch.

Discussion

These brain areas have been reported to be associated with self-regulatory processes. Furthermore, irregular self-touch appears to be primarily generated by implicit neural control. Thus, by distinguishing kinematically different types of self-touch, our findings shed light on the controverse discussion on the neuropsychological function of self-touch.

Left and Right Cortical Activity Arising from Preferred Walking Speed in Older Adults

Cortical activity and walking speed are known to decline with age and can lead to an increased risk of falls in the elderly. Despite age being a known contributor to this decline, individuals age at different rates. This study aimed to analyse left and right cortical activity changes in elderly adults regarding their walking speed. Cortical activation and gait data were obtained from 50 healthy older individuals. Participants were then grouped into a cluster based on their preferred walking speed (slow or fast). Analyses on the differences of cortical activation and gait parameters between groups were carried out. Within-subject analyses on left and right-hemispheric activation were also performed. Results showed that individuals with a slower preferred walking speed required a higher increase in cortical activity. Individuals in the fast cluster presented greater changes in cortical activation in the right hemisphere. This work demonstrates that categorizing older adults by age is not necessarily the most relevant method, and that cortical activity can be a good indicator of performance with respect to walking speed (linked to fall risk and frailty in the elderly). Future work may wish to explore how physical activity training influences cortical activation over time in the elderly.

Influence of Dental Prostheses on Cognitive Functioning in Elderly Population: A Systematic Review

Aim

The aim of the systematic review was to assess the influence of dental prostheses on cognitive functioning in elderly population.

Materials and Methods

This systematic review was conducted according to the PRISMA guidelines. The initial electronic search was conducted using the following search databases: MEDLINE (PubMed), Cochrane Library, Google Scholar, and EMBASE. The search was limited to English language using the search items/keywords: "dental prostheses and cognitive functioning," "dental prostheses and brain function," "Tooth loss and cognitive loss," "mastication and prefrontal activity," and "prostheses on mental state." The search strategy was followed using the PICOS framework.

Results

A total of 19 studies were selected according to the selection criteria. Out of 19 studies, 15 studies were included and 4 studies were excluded from the review.

Conclusion

With the available evidence in the literature, it can be concluded that dental prostheses have a very significant role in preventing the cognitive impairment and act as a protective factor in enhancing the cognitive function in patients with dementia-related diseases and neurodegenerative diseases.

Negative emotion modulates prefrontal cortex activity during a working memory task: a NIRS study

This study investigated the neural processing underlying the cognitive control of emotions induced by the presentation of task-irrelevant emotional pictures before a working memory task. Previous studies have suggested that the cognitive control of emotion involves the prefrontal regions. Therefore, we measured the hemodynamic responses that occurred in the prefrontal region with a 16-channel near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) system. In our experiment, participants observed two negative or two neutral pictures in succession immediately before a 1-back or 3-back task. Pictures were selected from the International Affective Picture System (IAPS). We measured the changes in the concentration of oxygenated hemoglobin (oxyHb) during picture presentation and during the n-back task. The emotional valence of the picture affected the oxyHb changes in anterior parts of the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) (located in the left and right superior frontal gyrus) and left inferior frontal gyrus during the n-back task; the oxyHb changes during the task were significantly greater following negative rather than neutral stimulation. As indicated in a number of previous studies, and the time courses of the oxyHb changes in our study, activation in these locations is possibly led by cognitive control of emotion, though we cannot deny it may simply be emotional responses. There were no effects of emotion on oxyHb changes during picture presentation or on n-back task performance. Although further studies are necessary to confirm this interpretation, our findings suggest that NIRS can be used to investigate neural processing during emotional control.