Orbitofrontal connectivity is associated with depression and anxiety in marijuana-using adolescents.

Background: Prevalence of marijuana (MJ) use among adolescents has been on the rise. MJ use has been reported to impact several brain regions, including frontal regions such as the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC). The OFC is involved in emotion regulation and processing and has been associated with symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Decreased anterior cingulate activation in a motor task in youths with bipolar disorder.

Background: Bipolar disorder (BP) is characterized by abnormal shifts in mood between episodes of mania and severe depression, both of which have been linked with psychomotor disturbances. This study compares brain activation patterns in motor networks between euthymic youths with BP and healthy controls (HC) during the completion of a simple motor task.

Methods: Thirty-five youths with BP and 35 HC (aged 10-19) completed a self-paced sequential bilateral finger-tapping task, consisting of a 4-minute scan block with alternating 20-second periods of either the tapping task (six blocks) or rest (six blocks), while undergoing functional magnetic resonance imaging.

Abnormal Functional Connectivity Between Default and Salience Networks in Pediatric Bipolar Disorder.

Background: Pediatric bipolar disorder (PBD) (occurring prior to 18 years of age) is a developmental brain disorder that is among the most severe and disabling psychiatric conditions affecting youth. Despite increasing evidence that brain connectivity is atypical in adults with bipolar disorder, it is not clear how brain connectivity may be altered in youths with PBD.

Methods: This cross-sectional resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging study included 80 participants recruited over 4 years: 32 youths with PBD, currently euthymic (13 males; 15.

Mean cortical curvature reflects cytoarchitecture restructuring in mild traumatic brain injury.

In the United States alone, the number of persons living with the enduring consequences of traumatic brain injuries is estimated to be between 3.2 and 5 million. This number does not include individuals serving in the United States military or seeking care at Veterans Affairs hospitals.

Aberrant orbitofrontal connectivity in marijuana smoking adolescents.

Introduction: Orbitofrontal (OFC) circuits have been implicated in the pathophysiology of substance use disorders. The current study examined OFC functional connectivity differences in marijuana-using adolescents (MJ) and non-using healthy controls (HC).

Methods: Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) resting-state data were obtained on a 3T MRI scanner on 31 HC and 43 heavy MJ smokers.

Sex differences in white matter integrity in youths with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder: a pilot study.

Widespread disparities in white matter (WM) microstructure and organization have been found in adolescents with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD); however, little is known about the role sex plays in these differences. The present diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) study performed whole-brain, tract-based, voxel-wise, and region of interest (ROI) analyses to investigate WM microstructure differences between ADHD and healthy control (HC) adolescents to examine the impact of sex on measures of fractional anisotropy (FA). Eighteen adolescents with ADHD and 24 HC were included in this study.

Reduced insular volume in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

The aim of this study was to evaluate whether structural differences in the insula and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), two critical areas of the "salience network," co-exist in adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) compared with healthy controls (HC). In addition we aimed to determine if structural changes within these regions correlate with attention and inhibitory function. Nineteen adolescents with ADHD and 25 HC received MRI scans on a 3T magnet.

Cortico-cerebellar abnormalities in adolescents with heavy marijuana use.

There are currently no studies that have evaluated the motor network, including the cerebellum, in adolescent marijuana (MJ) smokers. The current study aimed to evaluate whether there were activation differences in Brodmann's area 4 (BA4), Brodmann's area 6 (BA6), cingulate (CG) and cerebellum between MJ-using adolescents and healthy controls (HC) on a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) bilateral finger-tapping task. Twenty-four adolescents (aged 18.

Connectivity gradients between the default mode and attention control networks.

Functional imaging studies have shown reduced activity within the default mode network during attention-demanding tasks. The network circuitry underlying this suppression remains unclear. Proposed hypotheses include an attentional switch in the right anterior insula and reciprocal inhibition between the default mode and attention control networks.

Local brain connectivity and associations with gender and age.

Regional homogeneity measures synchrony of resting-state brain activity in neighboring voxels, or local connectivity. The effects of age and gender on local connectivity in healthy subjects are unknown. We performed regional homogeneity analyses on resting state BOLD time series data acquired from 58 normal, healthy participants, ranging in age from 11 to 35 (mean 18.

Altered prefrontal and insular cortical thickness in adolescent marijuana users.

Introduction: There are limited data regarding the impact of marijuana (MJ) on cortical development during adolescence. Adolescence is a period of substantial brain maturation and cortical thickness abnormalities may be indicative of disruptions of normal cortical development. This investigation applied cortical-surface based techniques to compare cortical thickness measures in MJ using adolescents compared to non-using controls.

Topographic maps of multisensory attention.

The intraparietal sulcus (IPS) region is uniquely situated at the intersection of visual, somatosensory, and auditory association cortices, ideally located for processing of multisensory attention. We examined the internal architecture of the IPS region and its connectivity to other regions in the dorsal attention and cinguloinsular networks using maximal connectivity clustering. We show with resting state fMRI data from 58 healthy adolescent and young adult volunteers that points of maximal connectivity between the IPS and other regions in the dorsal attention and cinguloinsular networks are topographically organized, with at least seven maps of the IPS region in each hemisphere.

Age-related changes in the corpus callosum in early-onset bipolar disorder assessed using volumetric and cross-sectional measurements.

Corpus callosum (CC) area abnormalities have been reported in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies of adults and youths with bipolar disorder (BPD), suggesting interhemispheric communication may be abnormal in BPD and may be present early in the course of illness and affect normal neuromaturation of this structure throughout the lifecycle. Neuroimaging scans from 44 youths with DSM-IV BPD and 22 healthy controls (HC) were analyzed using cross-sectional area measurements and a novel method of volumetric parcellation. Univariate analyses of variance were conducted on CC subregions using both volume and traditional area measurements.

Network anticorrelations, global regression, and phase-shifted soft tissue correction.

Synchronized low-frequency BOLD fluctuations are observed in dissociable large-scale, distributed networks with functional specialization. Two such networks, referred to as the task-positive network (TPN) and the task-negative network (TNN) because they tend to be active or inactive during cognitively demanding tasks, show reproducible anticorrelation of resting BOLD fluctuations after removal of the global brain signal. Because global signal regression mandates that anticorrelated regions to a given seed region must exist, it is unclear whether such anticorrelations are an artifact of global regression or an intrinsic property of neural activity.

Altered frontal cortical volume and decision making in adolescent cannabis users.

Anticipating future outcomes is central to decision making and a failure to consider long-term consequences may lead to impulsive choices. Adolescence is a vulnerable period during which underdeveloped prefrontal cortical systems may contribute to poor judgment, impulsive choices, and substance abuse. Conversely, substance abuse during this period may alter neural systems involved in decision making and lead to greater impulsivity.

Magnetic resonance imaging studies in early onset bipolar disorder: an updated review.

Over the past 5-10 years, advances in neuroimaging methods and study designs have begun to appear in the literature of early-onset bipolar disorder (onset before 18 years of age). This article contains an updated review of the literature regarding neuroimaging in youths with bipolar disorder (BPD), highlighting important new study designs and techniques. Overall, structural, functional (fMRI) and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) report consistent abnormalities in regions of the frontal lobe and limbic structures.

Subcortical differences among youths with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder compared to those with bipolar disorder with and without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Introduction: A significant number of children with bipolar disorder (BP) have co-morbid attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). It is unknown if these children have neuroimaging findings unique to their co-morbid presentation, or if their brain findings are similar to children diagnosed with BP alone.

Method: Fifty three children with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4(th) edition (DSM-IV) BP (23 with ADHD, 30 without), 29 healthy controls (HC), and 23 children with ADHD, similar in sex and age, had magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans on a 1.

Diagnostic and sex effects on limbic volumes in early-onset bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

Objective: The limbic structures in early-onset schizophrenia-spectrum illness (SZ) and bipolar disorder (BPD) were studied to discern patterns associated with diagnosis and sex.

Methods: Thirty-five youths with DSM-IV BPD without psychosis, 19 with BPD with psychosis, 20 with SZ, and 29 healthy controls (HC), similar in age (6-17 years) and sex, underwent structured and clinical interviews, neurological examination, and cognitive testing. Structural magnetic resonance images (MRIs) were acquired on a 1.

Empirical evidence for the use of lithium and anticonvulsants in children with psychiatric disorders.

Background: The use of psychotropic medications-in particular, mood stabilizers--in youths with psychiatric illness has grown. There are trends toward polypharmacy and the increased use of newer mood stabilizers in youths with psychiatric illness despite a paucity of studies examining the short- and long-term efficacy and safety of these agents in the pediatric population.

Method: PubMed was used to identify peer-reviewed publications from the past 30 years (January 1975 to August 2005) studying lithium and anticonvulsants in youths with psychiatric illness.

Regional prefrontal gray and white matter abnormalities in bipolar disorder.

Background: Previous magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies indicate that compared with healthy volunteers, patients with bipolar disorder have structural and functional abnormalities in the prefrontal cortex. The aim of this study was to investigate differences in prefrontal subregions between bipolar patients and healthy subjects.

Methods: Bipolar patients hospitalized for a manic episode (n = 17), and demographically matched healthy volunteers (n = 12) were recruited.