Papers - Mimura, Masaru

Can robotic systems promote self-disclosure in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder? A pilot study

Kumazaki H., Warren Z., Swanson A., Yoshikawa Y., Matsumoto Y., Takahashi H., Sarkar N., Ishiguro H., Mimura M., Minabe Y., Kikuchi M.

Frontiers in Psychiatry (Frontiers in Psychiatry)  9 ( FEB )  2018.02

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© 2018 Kumazaki, Warren, Swanson, Yoshikawa, Matsumoto, Takahashi, Sarkar, Ishiguro, Mimura, Minabe and Kikuchi. Research suggests that many individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often demonstrate challenges providing appropriate levels of information during conversational interchanges. Considering the preference of individuals with ASD, and recent rapid technological advances, robotic systems may yield promise in promoting certain aspects of conversation and interaction such as self-disclosure of appropriate personal information. In the current work, we evaluated personal disclosures of events with specific emotional content across two differing robotic systems (android and simplistic humanoid) and human interactions. Nineteen participants were enrolled in this study: 11 (2 women and 9 men) adolescents with ASD and 8 (4 women and 4 men) adolescents with TD. Each participant completed a sequence of three interactions in a random order. Results indicated differences regarding comfort level and length of disclosures between adolescents with ASD and typically developing (TD) controls in relation to system interactions. Specifically, adolescents with ASD showed a preference for interacting with the robotic systems compared to TD controls and demonstrated lengthier disclosures when interacting with the visually simple humanoid robot compared to interacting with human interviewer. The findings suggest that robotic systems may be useful in eliciting and promoting aspects of social communication such as self-disclosure for some individuals with ASD.

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Exercise program improved subjective dry eye symptoms for office workers

Sano K., Kawashima M., Takechi S., Mimura M., Tsubota K.

Clinical Ophthalmology (Clinical Ophthalmology)  12   307 - 311 2018.02

ISSN  11775467

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© 2018 Sano et al. Introduction: We investigated the benefits of a cognitive behavior therapy-based exercise program to reduce the dry eye symptoms of office workers. Materials and methods: We recruited 11 office workers with dry eye symptoms, aged 31–64 years, who voluntarily participated in group health guidance at a manufacturing company. Participants learned about the role of physical activity and exercise in enhancing wellness and performed an exercise program at home 3 days per week for 10 weeks. We estimated the indexes of body composition, dry eye symptoms, and psychological distress using the Dry Eye-Related Quality of Life Score and the World Health Organization’s Subjective Well-Being Inventory questionnaires pre- and postintervention. Results: The 10-week exercise program and the questionnaires were completed by 48.1% (39 of 81) of the participants. Body composition did not change pre- and postintervention. However, the average of the Dry Eye-Related Quality of Life Score scores in participants with subjective dry eye significantly improved after the intervention. Moreover, the World Health Organization’s Subjective Well-Being Inventory positive well-being score tended to increase after the intervention. Conclusion: In this study, we showed that a 10-week exercise program improved subjective dry eye symptoms of healthy office workers. Our study suggests that a cognitive behavior therapy-based exercise program can play an important role in the treatment of patients with dry eye disease.

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Strengths use as a secret of happiness: Another dimension of visually impaired individuals’ psychological state

Matsuguma S., Kawashima M., Negishi K., Sano F., Mimura M., Tsubota K.

PLoS ONE (PLoS ONE)  13 ( 2 )  2018.02

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© 2018 Matsuguma et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. It is well recognized that visual impairments (VI) worsen individuals’ mental condition. However, little is known about the positive aspects including subjective happiness, positive emotions, and strengths. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to investigate the positive aspects of persons with VI including their subjective happiness, positive emotions, and strengths use. Positive aspects of persons with VI were measured using the Subjective Happiness Scale (SHS), the Scale of Positive and Negative Experience-Balance (SPANE-B), and the Strengths Use Scale (SUS). A cross-sectional analysis was utilized to examine personal information in a Tokyo sample (N = 44). We used a simple regression analysis and found significant relationships between the SHS or SPANE-B and SUS; on the contrary, VI-related variables were not correlated with them. A multiple regression analysis confirmed that SUS was a significant factor associated with both the SHS and SPANE-B. Strengths use might be a possible protective factor from the negative effects of VI.

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Effect of electroconvulsive therapy on hippocampal and amygdala volumes: Systematic review and meta-analysis

Takamiya A., Chung J., Liang K., Graff-Guerrero A., Mimura M., Kishimoto T.

British Journal of Psychiatry (British Journal of Psychiatry)  212 ( 1 ) 19 - 26 2018.01

ISSN  00071250

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© 2018 The Royal College of Psychiatrists. Background Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is one of the most effective treatments for depression, although the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Animal studies have shown that electroconvulsive shock induced neuroplastic changes in the hippocampus. Aims To summarise volumetric magnetic resonance imaging studies investigating the effects of ECT on limbic brain structures. Method A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted to assess volumetric changes of each side of the hippocampus and amygdala before and after ECT. Standardised mean difference (SMD) was calculated. Results A total of 8 studies (n = 193) were selected for our analyses. Both right and left hippocampal and amygdala volumes increased after ECT. Meta-regression analyses revealed that age, percentage of those responding and percentage of those in remission were negatively associated with volume increases in the left hippocampus. Conclusions ECT increased brain volume in the limbic structures. The clinical relevance of volume increase needs further investigation.

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White matter endophenotypes and correlates for the clinical diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder

Yamagata B., Itahashi T., Nakamura M., Mimura M., Hashimoto R., Kato N., Aoki Y.

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience (Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience)  13 ( 7 ) 765 - 773 2018

ISSN  17495016

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© The Author(s) (2018). Since prior diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies reported no significant differences in white matter organizations between individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and their unaffected siblings, the neural correlates for developing a clinical diagnosis among people with endophenotypes remain undetermined. We obtained DTI data from a total of 60 participants consisting of 30 people with endophenotypes and 30 people without. We first followed a conventional approach by comparing individuals with ASD and their unaffected siblings. Using region-of-interest approach, we then performed bootstrapping to examine whether the differences in white matter organizations between individuals with ASD and their unaffected siblings were substantially large, considering the distribution of differences between typically developing (TD) siblings. Conventional approaches revealed no significant differences in white matter organizations between individuals with ASD and their unaffected siblings. Bootstrapping revealed a significantly large difference in axial diffusivity in the left stria terminalis between individuals with ASD and their unaffected siblings after accounting for the distribution of differences in axial diffusivity among TD siblings (99.998 percentile). The results remained significant after controlling for multiple comparisons with Bonferroni method. We assumed that one aspect of this tract was associated with the development of a clinical diagnosis.

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Effect of Education on Alzheimer's Disease-Related Neuroimaging Biomarkers in Healthy Controls, and Participants with Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer's Disease: A Cross-Sectional Study

Wada M., Noda Y., Shinagawa S., Chung J., Sawada K., Ogyu K., Tarumi R., Tsugawa S., Miyazaki T., Yamagata B., Graff-Guerrero A., Mimura M., Nakajima S.

Journal of Alzheimer's Disease (Journal of Alzheimer's Disease)  63 ( 2 ) 861 - 869 2018

ISSN  13872877

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© 2018 - IOS Press and the authors. All rights reserved. Background: Cognitive reserve is the acquired capacity reflecting a functional brain adaptability/flexibility in the context of aging. Educational attainment is thought to be among the most important factors that contribute to cognitive reserve. Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate the relationships among duration of education and Alzheimer's disease (AD) related neuroimaging biomarkers such as amyloid-β deposition, glucose metabolism, and brain volumes in each stage of AD. Methods: We reanalyzed a part of the datasets of the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. Participants were between 55 and 90 years of age and diagnosed as one of the following: healthy controls (HC), mild cognitive impairment (MCI), or AD. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine the relationships among duration of education and amyloid-β deposition (n=825), brain metabolism (n=1,304), and brain volumes (n=1,606) among three groups using data for 18 F-Florbetapir (AV-45) imaging, fludeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography, and T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging. Results: Duration of education had no correlations with amyloid-β deposition or brain metabolism in any groups. However, duration of education was positively associated with the total brain volume only in participants with MCI. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that education may exert a protective effect on total brain volume in the MCI stage but not in HC or AD. Thus, education may play an important role in preventing the onset of dementia through brain reserve in MCI.

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Association between Neuropsychiatric Improvement and Neurocognitive Change in Alzheimer's Disease: Analysis of the CATIE-AD Study

Nagata T., Shinagawa S., Nakajima S., Mimura M., Shigeta M.

Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD (Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD)  66 ( 1 ) 139 - 148 2018

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BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVE: To assess associations between improvements in neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS) and neurocognitive change in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) during treatment using the Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness-Alzheimer Disease (CATIE-AD) dataset. METHODS: AD outpatients with NPS who needed pharmacological treatment (n = 421) were followed up with antipsychotics, citalopram, or placebo for up to 36 weeks (mean±SD = 252±52 days). The study aim was to investigate associations between improvement in each NPS evaluating scale (by Clinical Global Impression of Change [CGI-C], Neuropsychiatric Inventory [NPI], or Brief Psychiatric Scale [BPRS]) at endpoint (week 36 or early termination [ET], n = 340) and neurocognitive change (change score in the Mini-Mental State Examination [MMSE] between endpoint and baseline during the treatment). Multiple logistic regression analyses were performed on the associations between each NPS improvement and neurocognitive change as well as socio-clinico-demographic variables of interest. RESULTS: At endpoint, NPS improvement rates were 76.1%, 70.8%, and 58.1% in CGI-C, NPI, and BPRS, respectively, while MMSE score change was -2.3±3.8. NPS improvement was significantly related to more severe psychotic symptoms at baseline and preserved levels of neurocognition (smaller MMSE score change) among several variables. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggested that neurocognitive preservation may be associated with attaining optimal benefits from any treatment against NPSs in a longitudinal treatment course of patients with AD.

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Approaches for assessing olfaction in children with autism spectrum disorder

Kumazaki H., Okamoto M., Kanzaki S., Okada K.i., Mimura M., Minabe Y., Kikuchi M.

Methods in Molecular Biology (Methods in Molecular Biology)  1820   221 - 228 2018

ISSN  10643745

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© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2018. Olfactory traits in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are considered the strongest predictors of social impairment. Compared to other sensory abnormalities, olfactory abnormalities in individuals with ASD are poorly understood. In this chapter, we provide an overview of the current assessment in individuals with ASD. Several confounding factors have to be considered when conducting research on olfaction in individuals with ASD. Qualitative measures of olfaction contain only limited information about the olfactory stimuli. In addition, little systematic information is available about individual’s actual uses of olfaction in daily life. Only a limited number of experimental studies have performed quantitative measurements of olfactory abnormalities in ASD. Therefore, clarifying the relationship between olfactory traits and the influence of real-life situations in a laboratory setting is very difficult. Some new methodologies for measuring olfactory traits are gradually becoming available. New methods that reveal important links between ASD and olfactory traits should be developed in the future.

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Linked functional network abnormalities during intrinsic and extrinsic activity in schizophrenia as revealed by a data-fusion approach

Hashimoto R.i., Itahashi T., Okada R., Hasegawa S., Tani M., Kato N., Mimura M.

NeuroImage: Clinical (NeuroImage: Clinical)  17   69 - 79 2018

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© 2017 The Authors Abnormalities in functional brain networks in schizophrenia have been studied by examining intrinsic and extrinsic brain activity under various experimental paradigms. However, the identified patterns of abnormal functional connectivity (FC) vary depending on the adopted paradigms. Thus, it is unclear whether and how these patterns are inter-related. In order to assess relationships between abnormal patterns of FC during intrinsic activity and those during extrinsic activity, we adopted a data-fusion approach and applied partial least square (PLS) analyses to FC datasets from 25 patients with chronic schizophrenia and 25 age- and sex-matched normal controls. For the input to the PLS analyses, we generated a pair of FC maps during the resting state (REST) and the auditory deviance response (ADR) from each participant using the common seed region in the left middle temporal gyrus, which is a focus of activity associated with auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs). PLS correlation (PLS-C) analysis revealed that patients with schizophrenia have significantly lower loadings of a component containing positive FCs in default-mode network regions during REST and a component containing positive FCs in the auditory and attention-related networks during ADR. Specifically, loadings of the REST component were significantly correlated with the severities of positive symptoms and AVH in patients with schizophrenia. The co-occurrence of such altered FC patterns during REST and ADR was replicated using PLS regression, wherein FC patterns during REST are modeled to predict patterns during ADR. These findings provide an integrative understanding of altered FCs during intrinsic and extrinsic activity underlying core schizophrenia symptoms.

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Protocol for a prospective multicentre registry cohort study on suicide attempters given the assertive case management intervention after admission to an emergency department in Japan: Post-ACTION-J Study (PACS)

Kawanishi C., Ishii T., Yonemoto N., Yamada M., Tachikawa H., Kishimoto T., Tsujii N., Hashimoto S., Kinoshita T., Mimura M., Okubo Y., Otsuka K., Yoshimura R.

BMJ Open (BMJ Open)  8 ( 9 )  2018

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© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2018. Introduction Suicide attempt is the most important risk factor for later suicide. A randomised-controlled, multicentre trial of postsuicide attempt case management for the prevention of further suicide attempts in Japan, named ACTION-J, has established effective interventions for prevention of suicide reattempts. The ACTION-J assertive case management intervention programme was adopted by the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare in 2016, when medical fees were revised. This nationwide programme is provided to patients who attempt suicide and who are admitted to emergency departments in Japan. The aim of the present study is to examine the current implementation status of the ACTION-J programme. The present study also aims to clarify which patients' and hospitals' factors affect the implementation of the programme. Methods and analysis This is a prospective, multicentre, patient registry cohort study. Participants will be suicide attempters admitted to the emergency departments of medical facilities with both psychiatry and emergency departments. The assertive case management programme will be delivered to participants by a case manager for up to 24 weeks, based on psychiatric diagnoses, social risks and patient needs. The core feature of the programme is to encourage patients to participate in psychiatric treatment. The primary outcome will be the proportion of patients still participating in the case management intervention at 24 weeks after registration. The secondary outcomes will include measures of the fidelity of the case management intervention. The fidelity will be evaluated using a fidelity assessment manual developed by the study group. Ethics and dissemination This observational study has been approved by the ethics board of Sapporo Medical University. Enrolment began in October 2016 and will continue until December 2018. Dissemination plans include presentations at scientific conferences and scientific publications.

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