About
283
Publications
126,019
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
36,129
Citations
Introduction
Skills and Expertise
Current institution
Publications
Publications (283)
DNA methylation in peripheral tissues may be a relevant biomarker of risk for developing mental disorders after exposure to early life adversity. Genes involved in HPA axis regulation, such as FKBP5, might play a key role. In this study, we aimed to identify the main drivers of salivary FKBP5 methylation in a cohort of 162 maltreated and non-maltre...
Background: The brain and the intestinal microbiota are highly interconnected and especially vulnerable to disruptions in early life. Emerging evidence indicates that psychosocial adversity detrimentally impacts the intestinal microbiota, affecting both physical and mental health. This study aims to investigate the gut microbiome in young children...
MRI-based whole-brain manual segmentation methods are considered the gold standard for brain volumetric analysis but are time-consuming and prone to human error. Automated segmentation tools like FreeSurfer can identify differences in brain volumes between healthy and non-healthy individuals. Deep-learning-based segmentation tools, such as FastSurf...
Epigenetic clocks are a common group of tools used to measure biological aging – the progressive deterioration of cells, tissues and organs. Epigenetic clocks have been trained almost exclusively using blood-based tissues but there is growing interest in estimating epigenetic age using less-invasive oral-based tissues (i.e., buccal or saliva) in bo...
The hippocampal-dependent memory system and striatal-dependent memory system modulate reinforcement learning depending on feedback timing in adults, but their contributions during development remain unclear. In a 2-year longitudinal study, 6-to-7-year-old children performed a reinforcement learning task in which they received feedback immediately o...
Substance use disorders (SUDs) are seen as a continuum ranging from goal‐directed and hedonic drug use to loss of control over drug intake with aversive consequences for mental and physical health and social functioning. The main goals of our interdisciplinary German collaborative research centre on Losing and Regaining Control over Drug Intake (Re...
Introduction
Stress-related diseases pose significant health risks and show wide prevalence. Empirical evidence suggests that contemplative practices, such as socio-emotional dyadic mental exercises, hold promise in mitigating the adverse effects of stress and promoting psychosocial well-being. This study aimed to investigate the differential effec...
Neue Erkenntnisse in der Neuro- und Molekularbiologie, der Epigenetik und Entwicklungspsychologie sowie der Psychotherapie- und der Stressforschung haben zu einem weitreichenden Paradigmenwechsel in der Psychosomatischen Medizin geführt.
Dieses Lehr- und Handbuch bietet in 100 Kapiteln zunächst eine aktuelle Bestandsaufnahme der wissenschaftlich...
The hippocampal-dependent memory system and striatal-dependent memory system modulate reinforcement learning depending on feedback timing in adults, but their contributions during development remain unclear. In a 2-year longitudinal study, 6-to-7-year-old children performed a reinforcement learning task in which they received feedback immediately o...
Kernaussagen: • Ein großer Teil der modernen Medizin beruht weiterhin auf einem bio-medizinischen Verständnis von Krankheit und Gesundheit. • Als Grundlage des vorliegenden Lehr-und Handbuchs wird in diesem Kapitel ein bio-psycho-soziales Krankheitsmodell dargestellt, wie es von G. L. Engel (1977) erstmals konzipiert und durch das Situationskreis-M...
Telomere length (TL) is an important biomarker of cellular aging, yet its links with health outcomes may be complicated by use of different tissues. We evaluated within- and between-individual variability in TL and quality metrics of DNA across five tissues using a cross-sectional dataset ranging from 8 to 70 years (N = 197). DNA was extracted from...
Emotional abuse, defined as degrading, manipulative, or neglectful behaviors by caregivers, represents a common adverse experience for children and adolescents, often co-occurring with other maltreatment types. Exposure to emotional abuse significantly affects mental health across the lifespan and is particularly associated with elevated depression...
Background
Childhood maltreatment profoundly alters trajectories of brain development, promoting markedly increased long-term health risks and impaired intellectual development. However, the immediate impact of maltreatment on brain development in children and the extent to which altered global brain volume contributes to intellectual development i...
The hippocampal-dependent memory system and striatal-dependent memory system modulate reinforcement learning depending on feedback timing in adults, but their contributions during development remain unclear. In a 2-year longitudinal study, 6-to-7-year-old children performed a reinforcement learning task in which they received feedback immediately o...
The hippocampal-dependent memory system and striatal-dependent memory system modulate reinforcement learning depending on feedback timing in adults, but their contributions during development remain unclear. In a 2-year longitudinal study, 6-to-7-year-old children performed a reinforcement learning task in which they received feedback immediately o...
Telomere length (TL) is an important biomarker of cellular aging, yet its links with health outcomes may be complicated by use of different tissues. We evaluated within- and between-individual variability in TL and quality metrics of DNA across five tissues using a cross-sectional dataset ranging from 8 to 70 years (N=197). DNA was extracted from a...
Background
Childhood maltreatment is associated with pervasive risk for depression. However, the immediate cognitive and neural mechanisms that mediate this risk during development are unknown. We here studied the impact of maltreatment on self‐generated thought (SGT) patterns and their association with depressive symptoms, subcallosal cingulate co...
The hippocampal-dependent memory system and striatal-dependent memory system modulate reinforcement learning depending on feedback timing in adults, but their contributions during development remain unclear. In a 2-year longitudinal study, 6-to-7-year-old children performed a reinforcement learning task in which they received feedback immediately o...
Exposure to various forms of stress has been associated with shorter telomere length (TL). However, the molecular underpinnings of this effect are poorly understood. Based on an understanding of the key role of the reverse transcriptase enzyme telomerase in regulating TL, and building upon our previous work in developing and validating a biomarker...
The foundation for the development of a broad spectrum of stress-related disorders is laid early in development. Early-life stress, including prenatal stress exposure, increases individual susceptibility for the development of mental disorders and physical diseases across the lifespan. Persistent alterations in the brain as well as in endocrine, im...
Background:
Immune cell proportions can be used to detect pathophysiological states and are also critical covariates in genomic analyses. The complete blood count (CBC) is the most common method of immune cell proportion estimation, but immune cell proportions can also be estimated using whole-genome DNA methylation (DNAm). Although the concordanc...
Background:
Immune cell proportions can be used to detect pathophysiological states and are also critical covariates in genomic analyses. The complete blood count (CBC) is the most common method of immune cell proportion estimation, but immune cell proportions can also be estimated using whole-genome DNA methylation (DNAm). Although the concordance...
Importance:
Alcohol consumption (AC) leads to death and disability worldwide. Ongoing discussions on potential negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on AC need to be informed by real-world evidence.
Objective:
To examine whether lockdown measures are associated with AC and consumption-related temporal and psychological within-person mechanis...
The Cognitive Behavioral Analysis System of Psychotherapy (CBASP) model proposes preoperational functioning as a core feature of persistent depressive disorders (PDD). Empathy deficits comprise one aspect. Resulting from childhood maltreatment, empathy deficits may aggravate social isolation, a key factor in the maintenance of depression. CBASP tar...
Background: The CBASP model proposes preoperational functioning as a core feature of persistent depressive disorders (PDD). Empathy deficits comprise one aspect. Resulting from childhood maltreatment, empathy deficits may aggravate social isolation, a key factor in the maintenance of depression. CBASP targets empathy by teaching patients to disenga...
Major depressive disorder (MDD) and adverse childhood experiences (ACE) are associated with poor physical and mental health in adulthood. One underlying mechanism might be accelerated cellular aging. For example, both conditions, MDD and ACE, have been related to a biological marker of cellular aging, accelerated shortening of telomere length (TL)....
Objective
The immediate impact of child maltreatment on health and developmental trajectories over time is unknown. Longitudinal studies starting in the direct aftermath of exposure with repeated follow‐up are needed.
Method
We assessed health and developmental outcomes in 6‐month intervals over 2 years in 173 children, aged 3–5 years at study ent...
Childhood maltreatment (CM) has well-established consequences for the mental and physical health of the exposed individual. Accumulating evidence now suggests that the detrimental sequelae of CM may be transmitted from one generation to the next, thereby extending the long-term ramifications of early adverse experiences and constituting intergenera...
BACKGROUND
Childhood maltreatment (CM) has long-term consequences for dysregulation of the immune system which is particularly pronounced when mental and physical health sequelae have manifested. Higher proinflammatory state has been shown in non-pregnant state in association with CM as well as with depression, one of the most frequent and pernicio...
Cross-sectional findings suggest that volumes of specific hippocampal subfields increase in middle childhood and early adolescence. In contrast, a small number of available longitudinal studies reported decreased volumes in most subfields over this age range. Further, it remains unknown whether structural changes in development are associated with...
Background:
Mothers with borderline personality disorder (BPD) often show altered emotional availability toward their own child and heightened stress vulnerability. The aims of the present study were (1) to examine total cortisol output in saliva during mother-child interaction in mothers with BPD and their children and (2) to test whether materna...
Various approaches exist to assess population differences in biological aging. Telomere length (TL) is one such measure, and is associated with disease, disability and early mortality. Yet, issues surrounding precision and reproducibility are a concern for TL measurement. An alternative method to estimate TL using DNA methylation (DNAmTL) was recen...
The precise location of the human female genital representation field in the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) is controversial and its capacity for use-associated structural variation as a function of sexual behavior remains unknown. We used a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)-compatible sensory-tactile stimulation paradigm to functiona...
Background
The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has led to a mental health crisis on a global scale. Epidemiological studies have reported a drastic increase in mental health problems, such as depression and anxiety, increased loneliness and feelings of disconnectedness from others, while resilience levels have been negatively affected, indicating an urgent nee...
Background: New insights into mechanisms linking obesity to poor health outcomes suggest a role for cellular aging pathways, casting obesity as a disease of accelerated biological aging. Although obesity has been linked to accelerated epigenetic aging in middle-aged adults, the impact during childhood remains unclear. We tested the association betw...
Background
Studies reporting accelerated ageing in children with affective disorders or maltreatment exposure have relied on algorithms for estimating epigenetic age derived from adult samples. These algorithms have limited validity for epigenetic age estimation during early development. We here use a pediatric buccal epigenetic (PedBE) clock to pr...
Precision psychiatry stands to benefit from the latest digital technologies for assessment and analyses to tailor treatment towards individuals. Insights into dynamic psychological processes as they unfold in humans' everyday life can critically add value in understanding symptomatology and environmental stressors to provide individualized treatmen...
Maternal psychosocial stress during pregnancy can impact the developing fetal brain and influence offspring mental health. In this context, animal studies have identified the hippocampus and amygdala as key brain regions of interest, however, evidence in humans is sparse. We, therefore, examined the associations between maternal prenatal psychosoci...
Major depressive disorder (MDD) has been linked to elevated inflammation markers. It remains unclear whether the elevation of C-reactive protein (CRP) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) levels are not only observable in acute MDD but also in patients after remission. MDD is a common sequela of early life maltreatment (ELM), which has also been associated wit...
Background
Prenatal loss which occurs in approximately 20% of pregnancies represents a well-established risk factor for anxiety and affective disorders. In the current study, we examined whether a history of prenatal loss is associated with a subsequent pregnancy with maternal psychological state using ecological momentary assessment (EMA)-based me...
Many cross-sectional findings suggest that volumes of specific hippocampal subfields increase in middle childhood and early adolescence. In contrast, a small number of available longitudinal studies observed decreased volumes in most subfields over this age range. Further, it remains unknown whether structural changes in development are associated...
As championed by the work of Ed Zigler, investing in nurturing environments for all children is a chief tenet of primary prevention that will have far-reaching benefits to the health and welfare of all members of society. Children who endure child maltreatment (CM) are among society's most vulnerable. Prospective longitudinal research aimed at a co...
Childhood maltreatment (CM) is an established major risk factor for a number of negative health outcomes later in life. While epigenetic mechanisms, such as DNA methylation (DNAm), have been proposed as a means of embedding this environmental risk factor, little is known about its timing and trajectory, especially in very young children. It is also...
Lasting effects of adversity, such as exposure to childhood adversity (CA) on disease risk, may be embedded via epigenetic mechanisms but findings from human studies investigating the main effects of such exposure on epigenetic measures, including DNA methylation (DNAm), are inconsistent. Studies in perinatal tissues indicate that variability of DN...
Exposure to maltreatment during childhood can lead to increased risk for poor health outcomes in adulthood. Child maltreatment and later poor health may be linked by premature biological aging. We tested whether childhood sexual abuse (CSA) is associated with telomere length (TL) in adult females. We further tested the hypothesis of intergeneration...
Exposure to child maltreatment increases the risk for psychiatric and physical diseases. Inflammation has been proposed as a mechanism through which early adverse experiences become biologically embedded. However, most studies providing evidence for the link between early adverse exposures and inflammation have been retrospective or cross-sectional...
Understanding effects of emotional valence and stress on children’s memory is important for educational and legal contexts. This study disentangled the effects of emotional content of to-be-remembered information (i.e., items differing in emotional valence and arousal), stress exposure, and associated cortisol secretion on children’s memory. We als...
Environmental enrichment, particularly during the early life phases of enhanced neuroplasticity, can stimulate cognitive development. However, individuals exhibit considerable variation in their response to environmental enrichment. Recent evidence suggests that certain neurophenotypes such as hippocampal size may index inter-individual differences...
Background
Exposure to maltreatment in childhood can lead to increased risk for poor health outcomes in adulthood. Child maltreatment and later poor health may be linked by premature biological aging. We tested whether childhood sexual abuse (CSA) was associated with telomere length (TL) in adult females. We further tested the hypothesis of interge...
In den letzten zwei Jahrzehnten ist es durch eine enorme Zahl wissenschaftlicher Erkenntnisse etwa in der neurobiologischen und molekularbiologischen Grundlagenforschung, der Epigenetik, Bindungs- und Säuglingsforschung sowie der Stressforschung zu einem weitreichenden Wissenszuwachs im Bereich der Psychosomatischen Medizin gekommen, der fast schon...
Die Grundlage für die Entstehung verschiedenster stressbedingter Störungen wird bereits früh in der Entwicklung gelegt. Frühe stressreiche oder traumatische Erlebnisse, ebenso wie pränatale Stressoren, können die individuelle Anfälligkeit für das Auftreten psychischer und körperlicher Erkrankungen über die gesamte Lebensspanne erhöhen. Auf welche W...
The human hippocampus, a brain structure crucial for memory across the lifespan, is highly sensitive to adverse life events. Stress exposures during childhood have been linked to altered hippocampal structure and memory performance in adulthood. Animal studies suggest that these differences are in part driven by aberrant glucocorticoid secretion du...
One of the major risk factors for global death and disability is alcohol, tobacco, and illicit drug use. While there is increasing knowledge with respect to individual factors promoting the initiation and maintenance of substance use disorders (SUDs), disease trajectories involved in losing and regaining control over drug intake (ReCoDe) are still...
Despite common notion that the correlation of socioeconomic status with child cognitive performance may be driven by both environmentally- and genetically-mediated transactional pathways, there is a lack of longitudinal and genetically informed research that examines these postulated associations. The present study addresses whether family income p...
About 285 million people are estimated to be visually impaired worldwide, amongst them 39 million are blind. In contrast to refractive deficits caused by diseases of the cornea or lens which can be corrected by optic means or surgery, diseases affecting the visual nervous system (retina, optic nerve, brain) are widely assumed to be irreversible. If...
Background:
Chronotype influences several physiological systems, including the immune system and the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA)-axis. Previous research has shown that evening chronotype is associated with adverse metabolic health outcomes and obesity. However, the exact mechanisms underlying the observed differences in metabolic function...
Background:
Early life maltreatment (ELM), borderline personality disorder (BPD), andmajor depressive disorder (MDD) have been associated with empathy deficits in differentdomains. Lack of maternal empathy has also been related to child behavioral problems. As ELM, BPD, and MDD often co-occur, we aimed to identify dissociable effects on empathydue...
Erratum zu: Nervenarzt 2019 10.1007/s00115-019-0688-4 Die Schreibweise eines Autorennamens in diesem Beitrag muss korrigiert werden. Korrekt lautet die Schreibweise Stefan Roepke statt Stefan Röpke. Wir bitten dies zu …
Maternal behavior (MB) is observable across mammals and represents an important feature of environmental variation during early postnatal development. Oxytocin (OT) plays a crucial role in MB. Even prior to childbirth, pregnancy induces epigenetic and other downstream changes in the maternal OT-system, likely mediated by the actions of steroid horm...
Objective: Women exposed to childhood maltreatment (CM) are more likely to exhibit insensitive parenting, which may have consequences for their offspring´s development. Variation in the Oxytocin-receptor gene (OXTR) moderates risk of CM-associated long-term sequelae associated with mother-child attachment, although functionality of previously inves...
Background
The “empathy hormone” oxytocin (OXT) is associated with social interaction and parent-child interaction. Mothers with mental stress factors, e.g., history of depression, borderline personality disorder or early life maltreatment in their own childhood often show distinct maternal behavior.
The objectives of the study were (1) to examine...
This review integrates scientific knowledge obtained over the past few decades on the biological mechanisms that contribute to the profound association between exposure to early adversity, including childhood trauma and prenatal stress, and the lifelong elevated risk to develop a broad range of diseases. We further discuss insights into gene-enviro...
Background: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a complex psychiatric condition with different subtypes and etiologies. Exposure to adverse childhood experiences (ACE) is an important risk factor for the development of MDD later in life. Evidence suggests that pro-inflammatory processes may convey this risk as both MDD and ACE have been related to i...
Chronic stress is associated with the accelerated aging of the immune system and represents a potent risk factor for the development and progression of a wide range of physical and mental disorders. The elucidation of molecular pathways and mechanisms underlying the link between stress and cellular aging is an area of considerable interest and inve...
Adversity in early life, such as childhood abuse, neglect, and loss, is a well-established major risk factor for developing a range of psychiatric and medical disorders later in life. Biological embedding of maltreatment during development is thought to underlie this long-term increased risk. Our results suggest that childhood trauma in humans is a...
Background
Early life maltreatment (ELM), borderline personality disorder (BPD) and major depressive disorder (MDD) have been shown to increase the potential of abuse. Emotion regulation is an identified mediator for the association of ELM and BPD with abuse potential. Until now, there has been no study to account for the co-occurrence of these ris...
Upon publication of the original article [1] it was highlighted by the authors that a transposition error affected Additional file 1, causing the misplacement of several columns and rendering the table difficult to read. This transposition does not influence any of the results nor analyses presented in the paper and has since been formally noted in...
