Characteristics Associated with Engagement in the Early Detection Cascade of Care for Psychosis at a College Counseling Center.

Using the Cascade of Care framework, we explored the demographic and clinical characteristics of students at six stages in an early psychosis detection program at a college counseling center, with a focus on the transition between stages with the highest disengagement. We detailed and compared the demographic and clinical characteristics of those who (1) completed the Prodromal Questionnaire-Brief (PQ-B, N = 1588); (2) met the PQ-B cutoff score (n = 486); (3) were referred for secondary phone screening (n = 404); (4) completed secondary phone screening (n = 198); (5) completed a Coordinated Specialty Care (CSC) eligibility assessment (n = 51); and (6) were enrolled in CSC (n = 21). Education level and gender identity were associated with engagement at multiple stages of the early detection cascade.

The Cascade of Care for Early Psychosis Detection in a College Counseling Center.

Objective: Programs for early detection of psychosis help identify individuals experiencing emerging psychosis and link them with appropriate services, thereby reducing the duration of untreated psychosis (DUP). The authors used the cascade-of-care framework to identify various care stages between screening and enrollment in coordinated specialty care (CSC) and to determine attrition at each stage, with the goal of identifying points in the referral process that may affect DUP.

Methods: Project partners included a college counseling center and CSC program.

Trauma exposure and disclosure in Hispanic youth at clinical high risk for psychosis: A retrospective review study.

Aim: This exploratory study aimed to examine differences in rates of self and clinician-reports of trauma in youth at clinical high risk for psychosis (CHR) and whether rates of reporting differed by ethnicity.

Methods: Self-reported history of trauma was collected at intake amongst youth at CHR enrolled in Coordinated Specialty Care (CSC) services (N = 52). A structured chart review was conducted for the same sample to identify clinician-reported history of trauma throughout treatment in CSC.

Longitudinal Changes in Structural Connectivity in Young People at High Genetic Risk for Bipolar Disorder.

Objective: Recent studies of patients with bipolar disorder or at high genetic risk reveal structural dysconnections among key brain networks supporting cognitive and affective processes. Understanding the longitudinal trajectories of these networks across the peak age range of bipolar disorder onset could inform mechanisms of illness onset or resilience.

Methods: Longitudinal diffusion-weighted MRI and phenotypic data were acquired at baseline and after 2 years in 183 individuals ages 12-30 years in two cohorts: 97 unaffected individuals with a first-degree relative with bipolar disorder (the high-risk group) and 86 individuals with no family history of mental illness (the control group).

Feasibility of a virtual reality-based exercise intervention and low-cost motion tracking method for estimation of motor proficiency in youth with autism spectrum disorder.

Background: Motor impairment is widely acknowledged as a core feature in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which can affect adaptive behavior and increase severity of symptoms. Low-cost motion capture and virtual reality (VR) game technologies hold a great deal of promise for providing personalized approaches to motor intervention in ASD. The present study explored the feasibility, acceptability and potential efficacy of a custom-designed VR game-based intervention (GaitWayXR™) for improving gross motor skills in youth with ASD.

Longitudinal Structural Brain Changes in Bipolar Disorder: A Multicenter Neuroimaging Study of 1232 Individuals by the ENIGMA Bipolar Disorder Working Group.

Background: Bipolar disorder (BD) is associated with cortical and subcortical structural brain abnormalities. It is unclear whether such alterations progressively change over time, and how this is related to the number of mood episodes. To address this question, we analyzed a large and diverse international sample with longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and clinical data to examine structural brain changes over time in BD.

Increased Glutamate Plus Glutamine in the Right Middle Cingulate in Early Schizophrenia but Not in Bipolar Psychosis: A Whole Brain H-MRS Study.

Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (H-MRS) studies have examined glutamatergic abnormalities in schizophrenia and bipolar-I disorders, mostly in single voxels. Though the critical nodes remain unknown, schizophrenia and bipolar-I involve brain networks with broad abnormalities. To provide insight on the biochemical differences that may underlie these networks, the combined glutamine and glutamate signal (Glx) and other metabolites were examined in patients in early psychosis with whole brain H-MRS imaging (H-MRSI).

Characteristics of Hispanics Referred to Coordinated Specialty Care for First-Episode Psychosis and Factors Associated With Enrollment.

Objective: The primary objectives of this study were to examine referral sources and demographic, clinical, and socioenvironmental characteristics of Hispanics referred to and enrolled in a program of coordinated specialty care (Early CSC program) for first-episode psychosis, to compare them with characteristics of other referred and enrolled racial-ethnic groups, and to identify factors associated with enrollment in the program.

Methods: A retrospective review was conducted for all individuals referred to and enrolled in the Early CSC program over a 2-year period. Extracted data included referral sources and demographic and clinical characteristics.

Examining the Boundary Sharpness Coefficient as an Index of Cortical Microstructure in Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is associated with atypical brain development. However, the phenotype of regionally specific increased cortical thickness observed in ASD may be driven by several independent biological processes that influence the gray/white matter boundary, such as synaptic pruning, myelination, or atypical migration. Here, we propose to use the boundary sharpness coefficient (BSC), a proxy for alterations in microstructure at the cortical gray/white matter boundary, to investigate brain differences in individuals with ASD, including factors that may influence ASD-related heterogeneity (age, sex, and intelligence quotient).

Cortical mediation of relationships between dopamine receptor D2 and cognition is absent in youth at risk of bipolar disorder.

Bipolar disorder is associated with cognitive deficits and cortical changes for which the developmental dynamics are not well understood. The dopamine D2 receptor (DRD2) gene has been associated with both psychiatric disorders and cognitive variability. Here we examined the mediating role of brain structure in the relationship between DRD2 genomic variation and cognitive performance, with target cortical regions selected based on evidence of association with DRD2, bipolar disorder and/or cognition from prior literature.

Impact of gonadectomy on maturational changes in brain volume in adolescent macaques.

Adolescence is a transitional period between childhood and adulthood characterized by significant changes in global and regional brain tissue volumes. It is also a period of increasing vulnerability to psychiatric illness. The relationship between these patterns and increased levels of circulating sex steroids during adolescence remains unclear.

In vivo hippocampal subfield volumes in bipolar disorder-A mega-analysis from The Enhancing Neuro Imaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis Bipolar Disorder Working Group.

The hippocampus consists of anatomically and functionally distinct subfields that may be differentially involved in the pathophysiology of bipolar disorder (BD). Here we, the Enhancing NeuroImaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis Bipolar Disorder workinggroup, study hippocampal subfield volumetry in BD. T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging scans from 4,698 individuals (BD = 1,472, healthy controls [HC] = 3,226) from 23 sites worldwide were processed with FreeSurfer.

Accelerated cortical thinning and volume reduction over time in young people at high genetic risk for bipolar disorder.

Background: Bipolar disorder (BD) is a familial psychiatric disorder associated with frontotemporal and subcortical brain abnormalities. It is unclear whether such abnormalities are present in relatives without BD, and little is known about structural brain trajectories in those at risk.

Method: Neuroimaging was conducted at baseline and at 2-year follow-up interval in 90 high-risk individuals with a first-degree BD relative (HR), and 56 participants with no family history of mental illness who could have non-BD diagnoses.

Glutamatergic hypo-function in the left superior and middle temporal gyri in early schizophrenia: a data-driven three-dimensional proton spectroscopic imaging study.

Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (H-MRS) studies have examined glutamatergic abnormalities in schizophrenia, mostly in single voxels. Though the critical brain nodes remain unknown, schizophrenia involves networks with broad abnormalities. Hence, glutamine plus glutamate (Glx) and other metabolites were examined with whole-brain H-MRS, in early schizophrenia.