Brain Imaging of the Cortex in ADHD: A Coordinated Analysis of Large-Scale Clinical and Population-Based Samples.

Objective: Neuroimaging studies show structural alterations of various brain regions in children and adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), although nonreplications are frequent. The authors sought to identify cortical characteristics related to ADHD using large-scale studies.

Methods: Cortical thickness and surface area (based on the Desikan-Killiany atlas) were compared between case subjects with ADHD (N=2,246) and control subjects (N=1,934) for children, adolescents, and adults separately in ENIGMA-ADHD, a consortium of 36 centers.

Subcortical brain volume differences in participants with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder in children and adults: a cross-sectional mega-analysis.

Background: Neuroimaging studies have shown structural alterations in several brain regions in children and adults with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Through the formation of the international ENIGMA ADHD Working Group, we aimed to address weaknesses of previous imaging studies and meta-analyses, namely inadequate sample size and methodological heterogeneity. We aimed to investigate whether there are structural differences in children and adults with ADHD compared with those without this diagnosis.

Neurobiological markers predicting treatment response in anxiety disorders: A systematic review and implications for clinical application.

Anxiety disorders constitute the largest group of mental disorders with a high individual and societal burden. Neurobiological markers of treatment response bear potential to improve response rates by informing stratified medicine approaches. A systematic review was performed on the current evidence of the predictive value of genetic, neuroimaging and other physiological markers for treatment response (pharmacological and/or psychotherapeutic treatment) in anxiety disorders.

Predominant polarity in bipolar disorder and validation of the polarity index in a German sample.

Background: A large number of patients with bipolar disorder (BD) can be characterized by predominant polarity (PP), which has important implications for relapse prevention. Recently, Popovic et al. (EUR NEUROPSYCHOPHARM 22(5): 339-346, 2012) proposed the Polarity Index (PI) as a helpful tool in the maintenance treatment of BD.

Disease severity is correlated to tract specific changes of fractional anisotropy in MD and CM thalamus--a DTI study in major depressive disorder.

Background: Depression is commonly conceptualized as corticolimbic dysregulation. Due to insufficient studies in normal aged populations especially subcortical sources of disconnection are unclear in contrast to potentially general parietal white matter (WM) deficits. This may be due to important influences of variable patient characteristics, most importantly episode severity.

Hippocampal CA1 deformity is related to symptom severity and antipsychotic dosage in schizophrenia.

Abnormalities of the hippocampus are intricately involved in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. Hippocampal volume decrease is present at disease onset and has mainly been observed in the anterior and posterior part of the hippocampus. Nevertheless, an association between regionally specific hippocampal shape deformities putatively affecting a pathophysiologically crucial region, i.

Distinct structural alterations independently contributing to working memory deficits and symptomatology in paranoid schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia is considered a brain disease with a quite heterogeneous clinical presentation. Studies in schizophrenia have yielded a wide array of correlations between structural and functional brain changes and clinical and cognitive symptoms. Reductions of grey matter volume (GMV) in the prefrontal and temporal cortex have been described which are crucial for the development of positive and negative symptoms and impaired working memory (WM).

The relationship between level of processing and hippocampal-cortical functional connectivity during episodic memory formation in humans.

New episodic memory traces represent a record of the ongoing neocortical processing engaged during memory formation (encoding). Thus, during encoding, deep (semantic) processing typically establishes more distinctive and retrievable memory traces than does shallow (perceptual) processing, as assessed by later episodic memory tests. By contrast, the hippocampus appears to play a processing-independent role in encoding, because hippocampal lesions impair encoding regardless of level of processing.

The role of hippocampus dysfunction in deficient memory encoding and positive symptoms in schizophrenia.

Background: Declarative memory disturbances, known to substantially contribute to cognitive impairment in schizophrenia, have previously been attributed to prefrontal as well as hippocampal dysfunction.

Aims: To characterize the role of prefrontal and mesolimbic/hippocampal dysfunction during memory encoding in schizophrenia.

Method: Neuronal activation in schizophrenia patients and controls was assessed using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during encoding of words in a deep (semantic judgement) and shallow (case judgment) task.

Glutamatergic and resting-state functional connectivity correlates of severity in major depression - the role of pregenual anterior cingulate cortex and anterior insula.

Glutamatergic mechanisms and resting-state functional connectivity alterations have been recently described as factors contributing to major depressive disorder (MDD). Furthermore, the pregenual anterior cingulate cortex (pgACC) seems to play an important role for major depressive symptoms such as anhedonia and impaired emotion processing. We investigated 22 MDD patients and 22 healthy subjects using a combined magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) approach.

Changes in cortical blood oxygenation during arithmetical tasks measured by near-infrared spectroscopy.

Solving arithmetical problems is a core skill which is learned starting early in childhood and has been shown to involve a temporo-parietal network. In this study, we investigated hemodynamic concentration changes in oxygenated (O(2)Hb) and deoxygenated hemoglobin (HHb) within cortical brain regions by means of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Ten healthy subjects had to calculate or just read two-digit addition tasks that were either presented as numeric formulas or embedded in text.

Brain pathology in pedophilic offenders: evidence of volume reduction in the right amygdala and related diencephalic structures.

Context: Pedophilic crime causes considerable public concern, but no causative factor of pedophilia has yet been pinpointed. In the past, etiological theories postulated a major impact of the environment, but recent studies increasingly emphasize the role of neurobiological factors, as well. However, the role of alterations in brain structures that are crucial in the development of sexual behavior has not yet been systematically studied in pedophilic subjects.