Browsing by Author "Lee, Tatia M. C."

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Cognitive reserve-mediated neural modulation of emotional control and regulation in people with late-life depression
(2019-08-01)
Huang, Chih-Mao
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Fan, Yang-Teng
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Lee, Shwu-Hua
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Liu, Ho-Ling
;
Chen, Yao-Liang
Late-life depression (LLD) is an affective disorder that is highly prevalent among older people. Cognitive reserve (CR) refers to an active process that facilitates the flexibility and efficiency of the neural networks to compensate for impairments that emerge in consequence of brain pathology. The current functional magnetic resonance imaging study investigated whether and how CR affects emotional regulation, level of depression severity and neural activity associated with affective control during emotional Stroop (eStroop) task. Altogether, 90 older people participated in this study, 50 of whom suffered from LLD. We used years of education and verbal fluency capacity as proxies for CR. Clinical participants with relatively higher CR presented with milder degrees of depression, better eStroop performance and stronger neural activity in the middle frontal gyrus (MFG) involved with exercising affective control. Results of the mediation analysis indicated that both education and verbal fluency significantly mediated the association between the depression severity and MEG activity. These results suggest a negative association between CR and age-related clinical symptoms of emotional dysregulation. Our neurobehavioral findings provide supportive evidence that CR implies efficiency of top-down emotional regulation and operates as a protective factor against emotional and cognitive vulnerability in the aging brain.
The neural correlates of perceived energy levels in older adults with late-life depression
(2019-10-01)
Lam, Charlene L. M.
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Liu, Ho-Ling
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Huang, Chih-Mao
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Wai, Yau-Yau
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Lee, Shwu-Hua
Late-life depression is common among older adults. Although white-matter abnormality is highly implicated, the extent to which the corticospinal tract is associated with the pathophysiology of late-life depression is unclear. The current study aims to investigate the white-matter structural integrity of the corticospinal tract and determine its cognitive and functional correlates in older adults with late-life depression. Twenty-eight older adults with clinical depression and 23 healthy age-matched older adults participated in the study. The white matter volume and the white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) of the corticospinal tract, as well as the global WMHs, were measured. Psychomotor processing speed, severity of depression, perceived levels of energy and physical functioning were measured to examine the relationships among the correlates in the depressed participants. The right corticospinal tract volume was significantly higher in depressed older adults relative to healthy controls. Moreover, the right corticospinal tract volume was significantly associated with the overall severity of depression and accounted for 17% of its variance. It further attenuated the relationship between the severity of depression and perceived levels of energy. Our findings suggested that higher volume in the right corticospinal tract is implicated in LLD and may relate to lower perceived levels of energy experienced by older adults with depression.
The relationship between loneliness and working-memory-related frontoparietal network connectivity in people with major depressive disorder
(2020-09-01)
Gao, Mengxia
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Shao, Robin
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Huang, Chih-Mao
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Liu, Ho-Ling
;
Chen, Yao-Liang
Loneliness affects up to 40 % of middle-aged and older adults, and is closely associated with major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the relationship between loneliness and neural network functioning during executive cognitive processes, such as working memory, in MDD is still unclear. To address this gap, our study recruited 21 medicated MDD patients (mean age = 52.0 +/- 5 years) and 24 matched healthy controls (HC) (mean age = 48.7 +/- 6 years) who completed an n-back fMRI task. For behavioural performance, we observed no significant moderating effect of MDD or loneliness on the task condition effect. However, loneliness was positively associated, and MDD was negatively associated, with the functional connectivity between the inferior parietal cortex and the rostral dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (DMPFC) during task performance. Furthermore, an interactive effect of loneliness and MDD was observed on the functional connectivity between the supplementary motor area and the caudal DMPFC during the n-back task, with loneliness showing a positive relationship in the HC group but a negative relationship in the MDD group with the connectivity. Our results indicated that loneliness may be associated with altered neural regulatory functioning on self-referential processing and action control, which may further depend on the individual's depressive state. These findings can form the theoretical basis for devising intervention programme aimed at improving the mental wellness of the healthy and depressed lonely individuals.
The relationships between brain structural changes and perceived loneliness in older adults suffering from late-life depression
(2018-04-01)
Sin, Emily L. L.
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Liu, Ho-Ling
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Lee, Shwu-Hua
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Huang, Chih-Mao
;
Wai, Yau-Yau
ObjectiveLate-life depression is a significant health risk factor for older adults, part of which is perceived loneliness. In this voxel-based morphometry study, we examined the relationships between perceived loneliness and depression recurrence. MethodsFifty-two older adults were recruited, and they were split into 3 groups: single episode, multiple episodes, or normal control groups, according to their clinical histories. ResultsThis result suggests the level of functioning regarding the reward system may be negatively related to the number of depressive episodes. Taken together, the findings of this study offer important insight into the neural underpinnings of the course and chronicity of late-life depression.