Psychiatry research
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Psychiatry research · Feb 2012
Tract-specific analysis of white matter integrity disruption in schizophrenia.
Several studies have suggested that white matter integrity is disrupted in some brain regions in patients with schizophrenia. The purpose of this study was to assess the white matter integrity of the cingulum, uncinate fasciculus, fornix, and corpus callosum using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Participants comprised 39 patients with schizophrenia (19 males and 20 females) and 40 age-matched normal controls (20 males and 20 females). ⋯ The gender-separated analyses found that the male patients had a significant negative correlation between negative symptom scores and FA in the right fornix, a positive correlation between illness duration and FA in the right anterior cingulum, and a negative correlation between illness duration and FA in the left uncinate fasciculus. Our DTI study showed that the integrity of white matter is disrupted in patients with schizophrenia. The results of our sub-analyses suggest that changes in FA and ADC may be related to negative symptom scores or illness duration.
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Psychiatry research · Jan 2012
Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy in pediatric obsessive-compulsive disorder: longitudinal study before and after treatment.
Abnormalities in neurochemical compounds in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) may help increase our knowledge of neurobiological abnormalities in the fronto-subcortical circuits. The aims of this exploratory study were to identify with in vivo magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1)H-MRS) the possible alterations in neurometabolites in a group of drug naïve children and adolescents with OCD in comparison with a control group and to determine whether there was any effect of treatment on the metabolite levels. Eleven OCD children and adolescents (age range 9-17 years; 6 male, 5 female) and twelve healthy subjects with similar age, sex and estimated intellectual quotient were studied. ⋯ We found significantly lower concentrations of total Cho in left striatum in OCD patients compared with healthy subjects. The difference in Cho concentrations in left striatum between the two groups did not change over time and persisted at follow-up assessment. Like the control subjects, OCD patients undergoing pharmacological treatment and clinical recovery showed no significant changes in neurometabolic activity between the first and second evaluations.
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Psychiatry research · Dec 2011
Reduced amygdala-orbitofrontal connectivity during moral judgments in youths with disruptive behavior disorders and psychopathic traits.
We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate dysfunction in the amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex in adolescents with disruptive behavior disorders and psychopathic traits during a moral judgment task. Fourteen adolescents with psychopathic traits and 14 healthy controls were assessed using fMRI while they categorized illegal and legal behaviors in a moral judgment implicit association task. fMRI data were then analyzed using random-effects analysis of variance and functional connectivity. ⋯ These results suggest that psychopathic traits are associated with amygdala and orbitofrontal cortex dysfunction. This dysfunction may relate to previous findings of disrupted moral judgment in this population.
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Body image disturbances are central to anorexia nervosa (AN). Previous studies have focused mainly on attitudinal and visual aspects. Studies on somatosensory aspects thus far have been scarce. ⋯ Compared to controls (n=25), AN patients (n=20) not only visualized their body less accurately, but also overestimated distances between tactile stimuli on both the arm and abdomen, which might reflect a disturbance in both visual and tactile body image. High levels of body dissatisfaction were related to more severe inaccuracies in the visual mental image of the body, and overestimation of tactile distances. Our results imply that body image disturbances in AN are more widespread than previously assumed as they not only affect visual mental imagery, but also extend to disturbances in somatosensory aspects of body image.
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Psychiatry research · Oct 2011
Default-mode network connectivity and white matter burden in late-life depression.
The brain's default-mode network has been the focus of intense research. This study characterizes the default-mode network activity in late-life depression and the correlation of the default-mode network activity changes with the white-matter hyperintensities burden. We hypothesized that elderly depressed subjects would have altered default-mode network activity, which would correlate with the increased white-matter hyperintensities burden. ⋯ Remitted elderly depressed subjects had improved functional connectivity compared to pretreatment, although alterations persisted in the anterior cingulate and the prefrontal cortex when remitted elderly depressed subjects were compared with non-depressed elderly. Our study provides evidence for altered default-mode network connectivity in late-life depression. The correlation between white-matter hyperintensities burden and default-mode network connectivity emphasizes the role of vascular changes in late-life depression etiopathogenesis.