The effect of OROS methylphenidate on the sleep of children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

We evaluated the effect of OROS methylphenidate (MPH) on sleep quality and architecture in children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) using both a parental sleep questionnaire and polysomnography. Twenty-four ADHD children who had no comorbid psychiatric or sleep disorders except for oppositional defiant disorder completed the 6-week, prospective, open-label, flexible-dose trial with OROS MPH (Concerta) monotherapy. After OROS MPH administration, the polysomnography data indicated that the percentage of stage 2 sleep was increased (P=0.

Multi-level comparison of empathy in schizophrenia: an fMRI study of a cartoon task.

Empathy deficits might play a role in social dysfunction in schizophrenia. However, few studies have investigated the neuroanatomical underpinnings of the subcomponents of empathy in schizophrenia. This study investigated the hemodynamic responses to three subcomponents of empathy in patients with schizophrenia (N=15) and healthy volunteers (N=18), performing an empathy cartoon task during functional magnetic resonance imaging.

Thalamus surface shape deformity in obsessive-compulsive disorder and schizophrenia.

The authors performed a three-dimensional shape deformation analysis to clarify the various patterns of specific thalamic nuclei abnormality using three age-matched and sex-matched groups of 22 patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), 22 patients with schizophrenia and 22 control participants. Compared with the healthy volunteers, the anterior, lateral outward surface deformities of the thalamus were significant in OCD patients, whereas the posterior, medial outward deformities of the thalamus were prominent in schizophrenia patients. In terms of thalamic asymmetry, both OCD and schizophrenia patients exhibited the loss of a leftward pattern of asymmetry on the posterior, medial surface of the thalamus.

Shape deformity of the corpus striatum in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Volumetric changes of striatal structures based on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have been inconsistent in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) due to methodological limitations. The purpose of this study was to investigate shape deformities of the corpus striatum in patients with OCD. We performed 3-D shape deformation analysis of the caudate nucleus, the putamen, and the globus pallidus in 36 patients with OCD and 36 healthy normal subjects.

Volumetric investigation of the frontal-subcortical circuitry in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

The pathophysiology of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is thought to involve disturbance of the frontal-subcortical circuitry. To investigate the morphological characteristics of this circuitry, we examined the volume of the orbitofrontal cortex, anterior cingulate, thalamus, caudate, and the putamen in 36 age- and sex-matched OCD patients and normal control subjects using three-dimensional magnetic resonance (MR) brain imaging. The left orbitofrontal volumes were found to be significantly smaller in the OCD patients and showed significant negative correlations with obsessive-compulsive symptom severity.