Structural, Functional, and Metabolic Brain Differences as a Function of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation: A Systematic Review of the Human Neuroimaging Literature

This review systematically explored structural, functional, and metabolic features of the cisgender brain compared with the transgender brain before hormonal treatment and the heterosexual brain compared to the homosexual brain from the analysis of the neuroimaging literature up to 2018, and identified and discussed subsequent studies published up to March 2021. Our main aim was to help identifying neuroradiological brain features that have been related to human sexuality to contribute to the understanding of the biological elements involved in gender identity and sexual orientation. We analyze 39 studies on gender identity and 24 on sexual orientation. Our results suggest that some neuroanatomical, neurophysiological, and neurometabolic features in transgender individuals resemble those of their experienced gender despite the majority resembling those from their natal sex. In homosexual individuals the majority resemble those of their same sex heterosexual population rather than their opposite sex heterosexual population. However, it is always difficult to interpret findings with non-invasive neuroimaging. Given the gross nature of these measures, it is possible that more differences too subtle to measure with available tools yet contributing to gender identity and sexual orientation could be found. Conflicting results contributed to the difficulty of identifying specific brain features which consistently differ between cisgender and transgender or between heterosexual and homosexual groups. The small number of studies, the small-to-moderate sample size of each study, and the heterogeneity of the investigations made it impossible to meta-analyze all the data extracted. Further studies are necessary to increase the understanding of the neurological substrates of human sexuality.

Neurobehavioral correlates of impaired emotion recognition in pediatric PTSD

Despite broad evidence suggesting that adversity-exposed youth experience an impaired ability to recognize emotion in others, the underlying biological mechanisms remains elusive. This study uses a multimethod approach to target the neurological substrates of this phenomenon in a well-phenotyped sample of youth meeting diagnostic criteria for posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Twenty-one PTSD-afflicted youth and 23 typically developing (TD) controls completed clinical interview schedules, an emotion recognition task with eye-tracking, and an implicit emotion processing task during functional magnetic resonance imaging )fMRI). PTSD was associated with decreased accuracy in identification of angry, disgust, and neutral faces as compared to TD youth. Of note, these impairments occurred despite the normal deployment of visual attention in youth with PTSD relative to TD youth. Correlation with a related fMRI task revealed a group by accuracy interaction for amygdala–hippocampus functional connectivity (FC) for angry expressions, where TD youth showed a positive relationship between anger accuracy and amygdala–hippocampus FC; this relationship was reversed in youth with PTSD. These findings are a novel characterization of impaired threat recognition within a well-phenotyped population of severe pediatric PTSD. Further, the differential amygdala–hippocampus FC identified in youth with PTSD may imply aberrant efficiency of emotional contextualization circuits.

Structural, Functional, and Metabolic Brain Differences as a Function of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation: A Systematic Review of the Human Neuroimaging Literature

This systematic review explored structural, functional, and metabolic features of the cisgender brain compared with the transgender brain before hormonal treatment and the heterosexual brain compared to the homosexual brain from the analysis of the neuroimaging literature up to 2018. Our main aim was to help identifying neuroradiological brain features that have been related to human sexuality to contribute to the understanding of the biological elements involved in gender identity and sexual orientation. We analyze 30 studies on gender identity and 21 on sexual orientation. Our results suggest that some neuroanatomical, neurophysiological, and neurometabolic features in transgender individuals resemble those of their experienced gender despite the majority resembling those from their natal sex. In homosexual individuals the majority resemble those of their same sex heterosexual population rather than their opposite sex heterosexual population. However, it is always difficult to interpret findings with non-invasive neuroimaging. Given the gross nature of these measures, it is possible that more differences too subtle to measure with available tools yet contributing to gender identity and sexual orientation could be found. Conflicting results contributed to the difficulty of identifying specific brain features which consistently differ between cisgender and transgender or between heterosexual and homosexual groups. The small number of studies, the small sample size of each study, and the heterogeneity of the investigations made it impossible to meta-analyze all the data extracted. Further studies are necessary to increase the understanding of the neurological substrates of human sexuality.

Neurogenic bladder and bowel

This chapter discusses continence. Bladder and bowel anatomy and physiology are complex, with continence being dependent on both intact anatomical structures and normal peripheral, autonomic, and central nervous system function. This chapter focuses on continence and incontinence, but with an emphasis towards the neurological substrates. Starting with the physiological considerations of normal bladder and bowel function, urinary incontinence is defined. The separate categories are then described, and pathophysiologies of bladder and bowel disorders are explained. Management of urinary problems are defined, including surgical interventions. Bowel incontinence is described, with common contributors (anatomical, neurology, and stool consistency) and management strategies outlined.

Management Imperatives of Corruption and Governance Failures in Nigeria

This study was designed to explore the relationship between neurological substrates of emotional intelligence and human behavior. Neuropsychologists posit that human actions are propelled by the neurons, which allow information to travel through the brain and body, in controlling voluntary and involuntary human behaviours. There is evidence that the connection between the amygdala and the neocortex are hug of operations between head and heart, thought and feeling. This circuitry explains why emotion is very crucial to effective thought and decision making. The architecture of the amygdala interferes with the neurons to ensure that each plays effective role as different neurotransmitters. The survey method was used for the study involving 300 respondents; and it was found that neurological substrates of emotional intelligence have positive relationship with human behavior.

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OBJECTIVES/SPECIFIC AIMS: Identify objective neurological substrates of cognitive fatigue in Parkinson’s disease and in aging. METHODS/STUDY POPULATION: Structural and diffusion MRI. Behavioral assessments for aged adults and Parkinson’s disease. RESULTS/ANTICIPATED RESULTS: Gray and white matter deficits that correlate with deficits in the basal ganglia for fatigued Parkinson’s disease patients Versus anterior cingulate cortex in healthy aged adults with fatigue. DISCUSSION/SIGNIFICANCE OF IMPACT: Over 50% of patients with Parkison’s disease and 38% of healthy older adults suffer from cognitive fatigue. However, diagnostics are limited to subjective surveys and there are no treatments for either population. Therefore, objective measures are greatly needed for better diagnosis and development of treatment targets.

Self-Injurious Behaviors

Self-injurious behaviors represent a heterogeneous group of behaviors that affect the individual negatively either in a physiological, physical, and/or emotional manner. Many children who have survived a traumatic event engage in nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI) as a diversely expressed, maladaptive coping mechanism that has been associated with a variety of negative outcomes across the lifespan. The current chapter discusses the preclinical literature that informs our understanding of these behaviors, the various instruments used to assess them, and research on adults and children who engage in self-injurious behaviors (SIB). Several theoretical models for the neurological substrates of SIB are compared, suggesting that SIB use several parts of the brain to manage otherwise uncontrollable cascades of negative affect in PTSD. Challenges, such as the stigma surrounding SIB engagement and its strong association with borderline personality disorder, as well as future directions, including potential SIB directed pharmacological interventions, are discussed.

Gray matter changes related to medication overuse in patients with chronic migraine

Objective The objective of this article is to investigate the neurological substrates associated with medication overuse (MO) in patients with chronic migraine (CM). Methods We recruited age- and sex-matched CM patients with MO (CMwMO), CM patients without MO (CMwoMO), and healthy controls (HCs). Magnetic resonance T1-weighted images were processed by voxel-based morphometry, and the findings were correlated with clinical variables and treatment responses. Results A total of 66 patients with CM (half with MO) and 33 HCs completed the study. Patients with CMwMO compared to the patients with CMwoMO showed gray matter volume (GMV) decrease in the orbitofrontal cortex and left middle occipital gyrus as well as GMV increase in the left temporal pole/parahippocampus. The GMV changes explained 31.1% variance of the analgesics use frequency. The patients who responded to treatment had greater GMV in the orbitofrontal cortex ( p = 0.028). Patients with CM (with and without MO), compared with HCs, had decreased GMV at multiple brain areas including the frontal, temporal and occipital lobes, precuneus and cerebellum. Conclusions Our study showed GMV changes in CMwMO patients compared to the CMwoMO patients. These three cerebral regions accounted for significant variance in analgesics use frequency. Moreover, the GMV of the orbitofrontal cortex was predictive of the response to MO treatments.

The “putting the baby down” hypothesis: Bipedalism, babbling, and baby slings

My responses to the observations and criticisms of 26 commentaries focus on the coregulated and affective nature of initial mother/infant interactions, the relationship between motherese and emergent linguistic skills and its implication for hominin evolution, the plausibility of the “putting the baby down” hypothesis, and details about specific neurological substrates that may have formed the basis for the evolution of prelinguistic behaviors and, eventually, protolanguage.