Altered brain complexity in first-episode antipsychotic-naïve patients with schizophrenia: A whole-brain voxel-wise study.

Background: Measures of cortical topology are believed to characterize large-scale cortical networks. Previous studies used region of interest (ROI)-based approaches with predefined templates that limit analyses to linear pair-wise interactions between regions. As cortical topology is inherently complex, a non-linear dynamic model that measures the brain complexity at the voxel level is suggested to characterize topological complexities of brain regions and cortical folding.

Progressive alterations of resting-state hypothalamic dysconnectivity in schizophrenia.

Background: The hypothalamus may be involved in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. Investigating hypothalamus dysfunction in schizophrenia and probing how it is related to symptoms and responds to antipsychotic medication is crucial for understanding the potential mechanism of hypothalamus dysfunction under the long-term illness.

Methods: We recruited 216 patients with schizophrenia, including 140 antipsychotic-naïve first-episode patients (FES, including 44 patients with 1-year follow-up data), 76 chronically treated schizophrenia (CTS), and 210 healthy controls (HC).

Applications of MRI in Schizophrenia: Current Progress in Establishing Clinical Utility.

Schizophrenia is a severe mental illness that significantly impacts the lives of affected individuals and with increasing mortality rates. Early detection and intervention are crucial for improving outcomes but the lack of validated biomarkers poses great challenges in such efforts. The use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in schizophrenia enables the investigation of the disorder's etiological and neuropathological substrates in vivo.

Sex-related cortical asymmetry in antipsychotic-naïve first-episode schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia has been considered to exhibit sex-related clinical differences that might be associated with distinctly abnormal brain asymmetries between sexes. One hundred and thirty-two antipsychotic-naïve first-episode patients with schizophrenia and 150 healthy participants were recruited in this study to investigate whether cortical asymmetry would exhibit sex-related abnormalities in schizophrenia. After a 1-yr follow-up, patients were rescanned to obtain the effect of antipsychotic treatment on cortical asymmetry.

The difference in volumetric alternations of the orbitofrontal-limbic-striatal system between major depressive disorder and anxiety disorders: A systematic review and voxel-based meta-analysis.

Background: Major depressive disorder (MDD) and anxiety disorders (ANX) are psychiatric disorders with high mutual comorbidity rates that might indicate some shared neurobiological pathways between them, but they retain diverse phenotypes that characterize themselves specifically. However, no consistent evidence exists for common and disorder-specific gray matter volume (GMV) alternations between them.

Methods: A systematic review and meta-analysis on voxel-based morphometry studies of patients with MDD and ANX were performed.

Convergent and distinct neural structural and functional patterns of mild cognitive impairment: a multimodal meta-analysis.

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is regarded as a transitional stage between normal aging and Alzheimer's disease. Numerous voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI) studies have provided strong evidence of abnormalities in the structure and intrinsic function of brain regions in MCI. Studies have recently begun to explore their association but have not employed systematic information in this pursuit.

Cerebellar gray matter volume changes in patients with schizophrenia: A voxel-based meta-analysis.

Background: In schizophrenia, the structural changes in the cerebellum are associated with patients' cognition and motor deficits. However, the findings are inconsistent owing to the heterogeneity in sample size, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanners, and other factors among them. In this study, we conducted a meta-analysis to characterize the anatomical changes in cerebellar subfields in patients with schizophrenia.

Growth hormone deficiency interferes with dynamic brain networks in short children.

Purpose: This study aimed to explore the disparities in dynamic brain networks between children with growth hormone deficiency (GHD) and idiopathic short stature (ISS, non-growth hormone deficiency).

Methods: This study enrolled 65 children with GHD and 60 sex- and age-matched children with ISS. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) was performed for all participants to obtain information on dynamic regional homogeneity (dReHo) and functional connectivity (FC) in dynamic (dFC) or static (sFC) state.

Structural connectivity associated with familial risk for mental illness: A meta-analysis of diffusion tensor imaging studies in relatives of patients with severe mental disorders.

Schizophrenia (SCZ), bipolar disorder (BD), and major depressive disorder (MDD) are heritable conditions with overlapping genetic liability. Transdiagnostic and disorder-specific brain changes associated with familial risk for developing these disorders remain poorly understood. We carried out a meta-analysis of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies to investigate white matter microstructure abnormalities in relatives that might correspond to shared and discrete biomarkers of familial risk for psychotic or mood disorders.

Microstructural Abnormalities of White Matter Across Tourette Syndrome: A Voxel-Based Meta-Analysis of Fractional Anisotropy.

Tourette syndrome (TS) is a neuropsychiatric disorder with multiple motor and vocal tics whose neural basis remains unclear. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies have demonstrated white matter microstructural alternations in TS, but the findings are inconclusive. In this study, we aimed to elucidate the most consistent white matter deficits in patients with TS.

The Effects of Antipsychotic Treatment on the Brain of Patients With First-Episode Schizophrenia: A Selective Review of Longitudinal MRI Studies.

A large number of neuroimaging studies have detected brain abnormalities in first-episode schizophrenia both before and after treatment, but it remains unclear how these abnormalities reflect the effects of antipsychotic treatment on the brain. To summarize the findings in this regard and provide potential directions for future work, we reviewed longitudinal structural and functional imaging studies in patients with first-episode schizophrenia before and after antipsychotic treatment. A total of 36 neuroimaging studies was included, involving 21 structural imaging studies and 15 functional imaging studies.

Altered functional synchrony between gray and white matter as a novel indicator of brain system dysconnectivity in schizophrenia.

Background: There is increasing evidence that blood oxygenation level-dependent signaling in white matter (WM) reflects WM functional activity. Whether this activity is altered in schizophrenia remains uncertain, as does whether it is related to established alterations of gray matter (GM) or the microstructure of WM tracts.

Methods: A total of 153 antipsychotic-naïve schizophrenia patients and 153 healthy comparison subjects were assessed by resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging, diffusion tensor imaging, and high-resolution T1-weighted imaging.

Functional Alterations of White Matter in Chronic Never-Treated and Treated Schizophrenia Patients.

Background: Schizophrenia is one of the most severe psychiatric disorders and dysfunction of gray matter (GM) has been usually investigated by resting-state functional (f)MRI. However, functional organization of white matter (WM) in chronic schizophrenia remains unclear.

Purpose: To investigate the WM functional alterations in chronic never-treated schizophrenia and the effects of long-term antipsychotic treatment.

Characteristic alteration of subcortical nuclei shape in medication-free patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Background: Subcortical nuclei are important components in the pathology model of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and subregions of these structures subserve different functions that may distinctively contribute to OCD symptoms. Exploration of the subregional-level profile of structural abnormalities of these nuclei is needed to develop a better understanding of the neural mechanism of OCD.

Methods: A total of 83 medication-free, non-comorbid OCD patients and 93 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were recruited, and high-resolution T1-weighted MR images were obtained for all participants.