Psychiatry research. Neuroimaging
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Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging · Feb 2018
Brain signature of mild stages of cognitive and behavioral impairment in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.
We aimed to assess the brain signature of cognitive and behavioral impairment in C9orf72-negative non-demented ALS patients. The study included 50 amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) patients (out of 75 initially recruited) and 38 healthy controls. High-resolution T1-weighted and spin-echo diffusion tensor images were acquired in a 3T MRI scanner. ⋯ These parameters did correlate with cognitive/behavioral scores, but not with motor-functional parameters in the ALS cohort. We believe that basal ganglia and fornix damage might be related to cognitive and behavioral impairment across ALS-frontotemporal dementia continuum. Also, distinct anatomical areas seem to influence the behavioral and cognitive status of these individuals.
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Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging · Oct 2017
Brain structural changes in late-life generalized anxiety disorder.
Late-life Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is relatively understudied and the underlying structural and functional neuroanatomy has received little attention. In this study, we compare the brain structural characteristics in white and gray matter in 31 non-anxious older adults and 28 late-life GAD participants. Gray matter indices (cortical thickness and volume) were measured using FreeSurfer parcellation and segmentation, and mean diffusivity was obtained through Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI). ⋯ The results did not survive the multiple comparison correction, but the effect sizes indicate a moderate effect. The study suggests that late-life GAD is associated with gray matter changes in areas involved in emotion regulation, more so than with white matter changes. We conclude that anxiety-related chronic hypercortisolemia may have a dissociative effect on gray and white matter integrity.
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Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging · Oct 2017
Childhood maltreatment is associated with gray matter volume abnormalities in patients with first-episode depression.
Previous neuroimaging studies suggest that childhood maltreatment (CM) can affect brain function and structure and constitutes a potent risk of developing depression. The present study attempts to differentiate the effect of CM from the impact of depression diagnosis on brain structure. Eighty-four patients with first-episode depression and 84 controls participated in this study. ⋯ The CM severity was negatively related with the inferior occipital volume and positively with volumes in the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, right caudate, and left middle temporal gyrus. This study suggested that early life stress like CM is associated with structural abnormalities of the fronto-limbic regions that are commonly regarded as the psychopathological consequence of depression. The effect of CM on brain structure should be considered in future neuroimaging research of depression.
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Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging · Apr 2017
Association of medial prefrontal resting state functional connectivity and metacognitive capacity in early phase psychosis.
Metacognition refers to a range of cognitive processes that allow one to form complex ideas of self and others and to use this information to navigate psychosocial challenges. Several studies in both early-phase and prolonged schizophrenia have demonstrated not only that significant deficits in metacognitive ability are present, but importantly that they are associated with significant functional impairment and decreased quality of life. ⋯ Analyses revealed a positive association of resting state functional connectivity between the mPFC and precuneus and posterior cingulate structures and metacognitive ability. These results provide evidence of disrupted resting state connectivity in structures relevant to metacognitive dysfunction in early-phase psychosis, which may have implications for pathophysiological models of complex cognitive deficits in this illness.
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Psychiatry Res Neuroimaging · Mar 2017
Using probabilistic tractography to target the subcallosal cingulate cortex in patients with treatment resistant depression.
The lack of efficacy of deep brain stimulation (DBS) of subcallosal cingulate (SCC) in treatment resistant depression (TRD) may be due in part to suboptimal targeting. In two patients treated with SCC DBS for TRD we assessed the voxel-wise probabilistic connectivity of SCC with four tractography-defined target areas implicated in depression, thereby identifying the tractography-optimized target (TOT). Compared to the non-responder, the responder's DBS leads were implanted and stimulation was delivered closer to the TOT. This automated patient-specific data-driven approach provides tomographic maps that could guide DBS targeting and programming with possible implications for improving response to DBS.