Pallidum and lateral ventricle volume enlargement in autism spectrum disorder.

Studies on structural brain abnormalities in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have been of limited size and many findings have not been replicated. In the largest ASD brain morphology study to date, we compared subcortical, total brain (TBV), and intracranial (ICV) volumes between 472 subjects with DSM-IV ASD diagnoses and 538 healthy volunteers (age range: 6-64 years), obtained from high-resolution structural brain scans provided by the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange (ABIDE). Compared to healthy volunteers, we found significantly larger pallidum (Cohen's d=0.

Heritability of Hippocampal Formation Sub-region Volumes.

Background: Hippocampal formation (HF) volume and episodic memory performance are substantially heritable, but HF subregion heritability estimates and their possible shared genetic variance with episodic memory performance remain to be determined.

Methods And Findings: This study provides heritability estimates for hippocampal subregions (e.g, Cornu Amonis, Subiculum, Parasubiculum, Molecular and Granule Cell Layers of the Dentate Gryus) and Total HF volumes obtained using FreeSurfer 6.

Genetic contributions to circadian activity rhythm and sleep pattern phenotypes in pedigrees segregating for severe bipolar disorder.

Abnormalities in sleep and circadian rhythms are central features of bipolar disorder (BP), often persisting between episodes. We report here, to our knowledge, the first systematic analysis of circadian rhythm activity in pedigrees segregating severe BP (BP-I). By analyzing actigraphy data obtained from members of 26 Costa Rican and Colombian pedigrees [136 euthymic (i.

Relationships among age, sex, and lateral dominance for 3- to 6-year-old children performing unilateral stance.

To assess influence of age, sex, and lateral dominance on children's unilateral stance, from 6 Houston area preschools and day-care centers, 121 subjects were randomly selected and judged by teachers as normal 3- to 6-yr-old children. The children were tested for eye, hand, and foot preference and were then classified on over-all dominance. Maximal duration of unilateral stance, or up to 60 sec.