Publications

Authored on

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience: Mother–Child Neural Synchronization Is Time Linked to Mother–Child Positive Affective State Matching

Researcher and Child with Headsets On

In the first years of life, affective state matching, in which mothers and children imitate and elaborate on each other’s positive emotional expressions—through shared smiling, mutual eye gaze, back-and-forth vocalizations, and joint play—is a hallmark of early mother-child interactions. In addition, positive affective state matching also appears to promote child emotional self-regulation through the process in...

Neurocognitive and Cardiometabolic Function in Retired Night shift Workers 

Hall & Colleagues 2023 Publications

Two recent studies from Pitt Psychiatry have examined neurocognitive and cardiometabolic function in retired night shift workers compared with retired day shift workers. The late Tica Hall, PhD, an internationally recognized expert in sleep and circadian science, served as senior author of both studies, and we recognize this important work in honor of her memory. Cardiometabolic function in retired night shift...

Microglial and Astrocyte Reactivity Are Key to Determining Alzheimer’s Disease Progression

Dr. Tharick Pascoal

Tharick Pascoal, MD, PhD (Associate Professor of Psychiatry) is an internationally recognized expert on the imaging and fluid biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. He recently published two papers examining the multifaceted but interactive nature of Alzheimer’s disease pathology. “Microglia and astrocytes are glial cells that act together and play a major role in the immune response in the human...

Molecular Psychiatry - Prefrontal, Parietal, and Limbic Condition-Dependent Differences in Bipolar Disorder: A Large-Scale Meta-Analysis of Functional Neuroimaging Studies

Maya Schumer and Dr. Mary Phillips

Over the past few decades, neuroimaging research in bipolar disorder has identified neural differences underlying cognitive and emotional processing. However, substantial clinical and methodological heterogeneity across neuroimaging experiments (resulting from differences in healthcare systems, diagnostic subtypes, mood state, treatment response, comorbidity, chronicity, and severity)—as well as additional factors...

New Research from Pitt Psychiatry on Alzheimer’s Disease Biomarkers

Drs. Villemagne, Pascoal & Karkari

Department of Psychiatry investigators focused on Alzheimer’s Research—Victor Villemagne, MD (Professor of Psychiatry); Tharick Pascoal, MD, PhD (Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Neurology); and Thomas Karikari, PhD (Assistant Professor of Psychiatry)—have recently published studies improving our understanding of biomarkers for Alzheimer’s disease. Plasma Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein Is Associated with 18F...

American Journal of Psychiatry: The Nature of Prefrontal Cortical GABA Neuron Alterations in Schizophrenia: Markedly Lower Somatostatin and Parvalbumin Gene Expression Without Missing Neurons

American Journal of Psychiatry

Alterations in markers of cortical gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) signaling are among the most widely replicated findings in postmortem brain studies of schizophrenia. In the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, consistent findings of lower levels of gene products related to GABA neuron signaling indicates that inhibitory neurotransmission signaling is weaker in people with schizophrenia. However, clarity regarding...

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