Babette Jakobi

Scopus Publications

GutMicrobiotAware: an international exploratory survey on awareness and understanding of the gut microbiota
Enriqueta Garcia-Gutierrez, Sara Arbulu, Charlotte Oliver, Sandeep Kumar, Sarita A. Dam, et al.
Frontiers in Microbiology, 2026
Over the past two decades, scientific understanding of the composition and function of the human gut microbiome has expanded substantially. The recent surge in human gut microbiota-related studies has unveiled the profound influence of the gut microbiota on host nutrition, health, and behavior, bridging biology, medicine, and ecology, among others. The dynamic interaction between daily lifestyle choices, life events, and the gut microbiota makes it understandably, a topic of interest among the lay public. Communicating scientific insights from the laboratory to the population effectively, however, can be challenging, and might involve adapting the delivery of knowledge to different audiences, using precise language in corresponding settings and the use of more accessible concepts in public forums such as science festivals or social media. With the growing interest in gut microbiota beyond academic circles, there is also an increased risk of disseminating information lacking scientific rigor. The current study aimed to assess the general knowledge regarding the gut microbiota among an exploratory pool of participants, primarily accessed via academic and social networks, and evaluate healthcare professionals’ understanding of its links to various health conditions, ultimately informing better communication strategies for both groups. Our findings from this exploratory survey indicate that while most participants were familiar with the gut microbiota, instances of partial and even complete misconceptions persisted. The results from our survey further underlined the need for targeted scientific communication to emphasize the microbial diversity of the gut microbiota, the factors influencing it, its links to health conditions, and the realistic scope of current microbiota analyses.
The gut-microbiome in adult Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder - A Meta-analysis
Babette Jakobi, Priscilla Vlaming, Danique Mulder, Marta Ribases, Vanesa Richarte, et al.
European Neuropsychopharmacology, 2024
Gut microbiota composition links to variation in functional domains across psychiatric disorders
Danique Mulder, Babette Jakobi, Yingjie Shi, Peter Mulders, Josina D. Kist, et al.
Brain Behavior and Immunity, 2024
The Role of Diet and the Gut Microbiota in Reactive Aggression and Adult ADHD—An Exploratory Analysis
Babette Jakobi, Chiara Cimetti, Danique Mulder, Priscilla Vlaming, Barbara Franke, et al.
Nutrients, 2024
Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a common neurodevelopmental condition, of-ten persistent into adulthood and accompanied by reactive aggression. Associations of diet and the gut-microbiome with ADHD as well as emotional behaviors suggest potential clinical rele-vance of both. However, studies on diet and the gut-microbiome in human reactive aggression are lacking, and should investigate the interaction between diet and the gut-microbiome leading to behavioral changes to assess their potential clinical relevance. In this study, we investigated the interaction of diet and gut-microbiota with adult ADHD and reactive aggression in 77 adults with ADHD and 76 neurotypical individuals. We studied the relationships of ADHD and reactive ag-gression with dietary patterns, bacterial community and taxonomic differences of 16S-sequenced fecal microbiome samples, and potential mediating effects of bacterial genus abundance on signifi-cant diet-behavior associations. The key findings include: (1) An association of high-energy intake with reactive aggeression scores (pFDR = 4.01 × 10−02); (2) Significant associations of several genera with either reactive aggression or ADHD diagnosis with no overlap; and (3) No significant mediation effects of the selected genera on the association of reactive aggression with the high-energy diet. Our results suggest that diet and the microbiome are linked to reactive aggression and/or ADHD individually, and highlight the need to further study the way diet and the gut-microbiome inter-act.
Virtual Ontogeny of Cortical Growth Preceding Mental Illness
Yash Patel, Jean Shin, Christoph Abé, Ingrid Agartz, Clara Alloza, et al.
Biological Psychiatry, 2022
Characterizing Creative Thinking and Creative Achievements in Relation to Symptoms of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Autism Spectrum Disorder
Marije Stolte, Victoria Trindade-Pons, Priscilla Vlaming, Babette Jakobi, Barbara Franke, et al.
Frontiers in Psychiatry, 2022
Previous research on ADHD and ASD has mainly focused on the deficits associated with these conditions, but there is also evidence for strengths. Unfortunately, our understanding of potential strengths in neurodevelopmental conditions is limited. One particular strength, creativity, has been associated with both ADHD and ASD. However, the distinct presentations of both conditions beg the question whether ADHD and ASD associate with the same or different aspects of creativity. Therefore, the current study investigated the links between ADHD and ASD symptoms, creative thinking abilities, and creative achievements. To investigate the spectrum of ADHD and ASD symptoms, self-reported ADHD and ASD symptoms, convergent (Remote Associations Test) and divergent thinking (Alternative Uses Task) and creative achievements (Creative Achievement Questionnaire) were assessed in a self-reportedly healthy sample of adults (n = 470). We performed correlation analysis to investigate the relation between ADHD/ASD symptoms and creativity measures. In a second phase of analysis, data from an adult ADHD case-control study (n = 151) were added to investigate the association between ADHD symptoms and divergent thinking in individuals with and without a diagnosis of ADHD.Our analysis revealed that having more ADHD symptoms in the general population was associated with higher scores on all the outcome measures for divergent thinking (fluency, flexibility, and originality), but not for convergent thinking. Individuals with an ADHD diagnosis in the case-control sample also scored higher on measures of divergent thinking. Combining data of the population based and case-control studies showed that ADHD symptoms predict divergent thinking up to a certain level of symptoms. No significant associations were found between the total number of ASD symptoms and any of the creativity measures. However, explorative analyses showed interesting links between the ASD subdomains of problems with imagination and symptoms that relate to social difficulties. Our findings showed a link between ADHD symptoms and divergent thinking abilities that plateaus in the clinical spectrum of symptoms. For ASD symptoms, no relation was found with creativity measures. Increasing the knowledge about positive phenotypes associated with neurodevelopmental conditions and their symptom dimensions might aid psychoeducation, decrease stigmatization and improve quality of life of individuals living with such conditions.
Neural Correlates of Reactive Aggression in Adult Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder
Babette Jakobi, Alejandro Arias-Vasquez, Erno Hermans, Priscilla Vlaming, Jan Buitelaar, et al.
Frontiers in Psychiatry, 2022
Despite not being part of the core diagnostic criteria for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), emotion dysregulation is a highly prevalent and clinically important component of (adult) ADHD. Emotionally dysregulated behaviors such as reactive aggression have a significant impact on the functional outcome in ADHD. However, little is known about the mechanisms underlying reactive aggression in ADHD. In this study, we aimed to identify the neural correlates of reactive aggression as a measure of emotionally dysregulated behavior in adults with persistent ADHD during implicit emotion regulation processes. We analyzed associations of magnetic resonance imaging-based whole-brain activity during a dynamic facial expression task with levels of reactive aggression in 78 adults with and 78 adults without ADHD, and also investigated relationships of reactive aggression with symptoms and impairments. While participants with ADHD had higher reactive aggression scores than controls, the neural activation patterns of both groups to processing of emotional faces were similar. However, investigating the brain activities associated with reactive aggression in individuals with and without ADHD showed an interaction of diagnosis and reactive aggression scores. We found high levels of activity in the right insula, the hippocampus, and middle and superior frontal areas to be particularly associated with high reactive aggression scores within the ADHD group. Furthermore, the limbic activity was associated with more hyperactivity/impulsivity symptoms. These results suggest a partly differential mechanism associated with reactive aggression in ADHD as compared to controls. Emotional hyper-reactivity in the salience network as well as more effortful top–down regulation from the self-regulation network might contribute to emotionally dysregulated behavior as measured by reactive aggression.
Towards precision medicine in psychosis: Benefits and challenges of multimodal multicenter studies - PSYSCAN: Translating neuroimaging findings from research into clinical practice
Stefania Tognin, Hendrika H van Hell, Kate Merritt, Inge Winter-van Rossum, Matthijs G Bossong, et al.
Schizophrenia Bulletin, 2020
In the last 2 decades, several neuroimaging studies investigated brain abnormalities associated with the early stages of psychosis in the hope that these could aid the prediction of onset and clinical outcome. Despite advancements in the field, neuroimaging has yet to deliver. This is in part explained by the use of univariate analytical techniques, small samples and lack of statistical power, lack of external validation of potential biomarkers, and lack of integration of nonimaging measures (eg, genetic, clinical, cognitive data). PSYSCAN is an international, longitudinal, multicenter study on the early stages of psychosis which uses machine learning techniques to analyze imaging, clinical, cognitive, and biological data with the aim of facilitating the prediction of psychosis onset and outcome. In this article, we provide an overview of the PSYSCAN protocol and we discuss benefits and methodological challenges of large multicenter studies that employ neuroimaging measures.
Cognitive and emotional empathy in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders: A replication and extension study
Philipp Berger, Florian Bitsch, Babette Jakobi, Arne Nagels, Benjamin Straube, et al.
Psychiatry Research, 2019