Plasma levels of 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol are associated with microstructural changes within the cerebellum in the early stage of first-episode schizophrenia: a longitudinal VBM study.

The aims of this study are to determine how the interval changes of the brain structures in the early stage of first-episode schizophrenia relate to the interval changes in the clinical data, including the clinical symptoms of schizophrenia and catecholaminergic measures (plasma homovanillic acid [HVA] and 3-methoxy-4-hydroxyphenylglycol [MHPG]). Regional brain volumes and fractional anisotropy (FA)/mean diffusivity (MD) with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) were measured at baseline and 6-month follow-up in a 3T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system in a cohort of 16 schizophrenic patients, who were in their first episode at the time of baseline MRI. At the time of baseline and follow-up MRI, all 16 patients underwent evaluations that included a psychopathological assessment (Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale [PANSS]) and peripheral catecholaminergic measures (plasma MHPG or HVA).

Abnormal white matter integrity in the corpus callosum among smokers: tract-based spatial statistics.

In the present study, we aimed to investigate the difference in white matter between smokers and nonsmokers. In addition, we examined relationships between white matter integrity and nicotine dependence parameters in smoking subjects. Nineteen male smokers were enrolled in this study.

Diagnosis of intracranial hemorrhagic lesions: comparison between 3D-SWAN (3D T2*-weighted imaging with multi-echo acquisition) and 2D-T2*-weighted imaging.

Background: 3D-susceptibility-weighted angiography (SWAN) can produce high-resolution images that yield excellent susceptibility-weighted contrast at a relatively short acquisition time.

Purpose: To compare SWAN- and 2D-T2*-weighted gradient-echo images (T2*-WI) for their sensitivity in the depiction of cerebral hemorrhagic lesions.

Material And Methods: We subjected 75 patients with suspected cerebral hemorrhagic lesions to SWAN and T2*-WI at 3T.

Delineation of optic nerves and chiasm in close proximity to large suprasellar tumors with contrast-enhanced FIESTA MR imaging.

Purpose: To evaluate whether contrast material-enhanced (CE) fast imaging employing steady-state acquisition (FIESTA) can depict the anterior optic pathways in patients with large suprasellar tumors.

Materials And Methods: Institutional review board approval was obtained. Twenty-eight patients with large suprasellar tumors undergoing surgical treatment (19 pituitary adenomas, six meningiomas, and three additional miscellaneous tumors) underwent preoperative magnetic resonance (MR) imaging, including CE FIESTA, at 3.

Six-month treatment with atypical antipsychotic drugs decreased frontal-lobe levels of glutamate plus glutamine in early-stage first-episode schizophrenia.

Objective: To study the effects of treatment with atypical antipsychotic drugs on brain levels of glutamate plus glutamine in early-stage first-episode schizophrenia.

Participants: Sixteen patients (eight males, eight females; aged 30 ± 11 years) completed the study.

Methods: We used administered 6 months of atypical antipsychotic drugs and used proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy to evaluate the results.

No alterations of brain GABA after 6 months of treatment with atypical antipsychotic drugs in early-stage first-episode schizophrenia.

We investigated the effects of atypical antipsychotic drugs on GABA concentrations in early-stage, first-episode schizophrenia patients. Sixteen (8 males, 8 females; age, 30±11 years old) patients were followed up for six months. We also included 18 sex- and age-matched healthy control subjects.