Callosal abnormalities, altered cortisol levels, and neurocognitive deficits associated with early maltreatment among adolescents: A voxel-based diffusion-tensor imaging study.

Introduction: Neuroimaging studies have shown callosal abnormalities among maltreated subjects, but little is known about the functional and neurobiological correlates of these supposed developmental alterations. The aim of this study was to investigate childhood maltreatment (CM), neurocognitive functioning, cortisol levels, and corpus callosum (CC) integrity among adolescents.

Methods: One hundred and seven subjects underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with voxel-based diffusion-tensor imaging (DTI) and the Crossed Finger Localization Test (CFLT).

Neurotoxic impact of mercury on the central nervous system evaluated by neuropsychological tests and on the autonomic nervous system evaluated by dynamic pupillometry.

Mercury vapor is highly toxic to the human body. The present study aimed to investigate the occurrence of neuropsychological dysfunction in former workers of fluorescent lamps factories that were exposed to mercury vapor (years after cessation of exposure), diagnosed with chronic mercurialism, and to investigate the effects of such exposure on the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) using the non-invasive method of dynamic pupillometry. The exposed group and a control group matched by age and educational level were evaluated by the Beck Depression Inventory and with the computerized neuropsychological battery CANTABeclipse - subtests of working memory (Spatial Span), spatial memory (Spatial Recognition Memory), visual memory (Pattern Recognition Memory) and action planning (Stockings of Cambridge).