Longitudinal trajectories of cortical thickness as a biomarker for psychosis in individuals with 22q11.2 deletion syndrome.

Objective: 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (DS) or velo-cardio-facial syndrome (VCFS) is a genetic condition that has been identified as the highest genetic risk factor for developing psychotic illnesses. This unique biological nature of 22q11DS provides a valuable opportunity to explore predictive biomarkers of psychosis.

A comparison of FreeSurfer-generated data with and without manual intervention.

This paper examined whether FreeSurfer-generated data differed between a fully-automated, unedited pipeline and an edited pipeline that included the application of control points to correct errors in white matter segmentation. In a sample of 30 individuals, we compared the summary statistics of surface area, white matter volumes, and cortical thickness derived from edited and unedited datasets for the 34 regions of interest (ROIs) that FreeSurfer (FS) generates. To determine whether applying control points would alter the detection of significant differences between patient and typical groups, effect sizes between edited and unedited conditions in individuals with the genetic disorder, 22q11.

Neuroanatomic predictors to prodromal psychosis in velocardiofacial syndrome (22q11.2 deletion syndrome): a longitudinal study.

Background: Up to 30% of young adults with velocardiofacial syndrome (VCFS; 22q11.2 deletion syndrome) develop schizophrenia or psychosis. Identifying the neuroanatomic trajectories that increase risk for psychosis in youth with this genetic disorder is of great interest.

Neuroanatomic alterations and social and communication deficits in monozygotic twins discordant for autism disorder.

Objective: Investigating neuroanatomic differences in monozygotic twins who are discordant for autism can help unravel the relative contributions of genetics and environment to this pervasive developmental disorder. The authors used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to investigate several brain regions of interest in monozygotic twins who varied in degree of phenotypic discordance for narrowly defined autism.

Method: The subjects were 14 pairs of monozygotic twins between the ages of 5 and 14 years old and 14 singleton age- and gender-matched typically developing comparison subjects.