Recent evidence suggests that chronic pain patients exhibit elevated brain levels of the neuroinflammation marker 18 kDa translocator protein (TSPO). However, the clinical significance of brain TSPO elevations, and their responses to pain interventions, remain unknown. To explore these questions, we studied patients with knee osteoarthritis (KOA) undergoing total knee arthroplasty (TKA), a procedure which is curative for most, but carries a relatively high risk of persistent post-surgical pain....

Real-world evidence (RWE) can complement clinical trials by addressing gaps in how approved anti-amyloid therapies for early Alzheimer's disease (AD) are used in everyday practice. This article outlines strategies to generate RWE that bridge three key challenges in AD care: low detection rates of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), limited data on long-term safety and effectiveness, and a lack of personalized treatment strategies. With MCI detection rates among primary care providers as low as...

Neuroimaging studies suggest that resilience to adversity is linked to reduced emotional reactivity or enhanced emotion regulation. However, such studies are scarce and mainly use adult samples and categorical definitions of resilience. Using a novel, data-driven approach to define resilience dimensionally, based on cumulative adversity exposure across childhood and psychopathology, we investigated associations between resilience and brain activation during facial emotion processing in youth. We...

Endogenous retroviruses (ERVs) are genetic elements derived from a process of germline infection by exogenous retroviruses. Some ERVs have been co-opted for physiological functions, and their activation has been associated with complex diseases, including Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). We have already demonstrated an abnormal expression of ERVs in the BTBR T + tf/J (BTBR) mouse model of ASD during intrauterine life till adulthood. Thus, starting from the assumptions that ERVs may contribute to...

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) serves as a unique non-invasive tool for investigating brain function by analyzing blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) series. These signals result from the complex interplay between deterministic and stochastic components underpinning biological brain activity. In this context, the quantification of the stochastic component, here defined as brain noise, is challenging without making assumptions on the deterministic dynamics. Leveraging on...