Subcortical Brain Volumes and Neurocognitive Function in Children With Perinatal HIV Exposure: A Population-Based Cohort Study in South Africa.

Background: Children who are HIV-exposed and uninfected (HEU) are at risk for early neurodevelopmental impairment. Smaller basal ganglia nuclei have been reported in neonates who are HEU compared to HIV-unexposed (HU); however, neuroimaging studies outside infancy are scarce. We examined subcortical brain structures and associations with neurocognition in children who are HEU.

Multi-site benchmark classification of major depressive disorder using machine learning on cortical and subcortical measures.

Machine learning (ML) techniques have gained popularity in the neuroimaging field due to their potential for classifying neuropsychiatric disorders. However, the diagnostic predictive power of the existing algorithms has been limited by small sample sizes, lack of representativeness, data leakage, and/or overfitting. Here, we overcome these limitations with the largest multi-site sample size to date (N = 5365) to provide a generalizable ML classification benchmark of major depressive disorder (MDD) using shallow linear and non-linear models.

A global multicohort study to map subcortical brain development and cognition in infancy and early childhood.

The human brain grows quickly during infancy and early childhood, but factors influencing brain maturation in this period remain poorly understood. To address this gap, we harmonized data from eight diverse cohorts, creating one of the largest pediatric neuroimaging datasets to date focused on birth to 6 years of age. We mapped the developmental trajectory of intracranial and subcortical volumes in ∼2,000 children and studied how sociodemographic factors and adverse birth outcomes influence brain structure and cognition.

Antenatal maternal intimate partner violence exposure is associated with sex-specific alterations in brain structure among young infants: Evidence from a South African birth cohort.

Maternal psychological distress during pregnancy has been linked to adverse outcomes in children with evidence of sex-specific effects on brain development. Here, we investigated whether in utero exposure to intimate partner violence (IPV), a particularly severe maternal stressor, is associated with brain structure in young infants from a South African birth cohort. Exposure to IPV during pregnancy was measured in 143 mothers at 28-32 weeks' gestation and infants underwent structural and diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (mean age 3 weeks).

Volume of subcortical brain regions in social anxiety disorder: mega-analytic results from 37 samples in the ENIGMA-Anxiety Working Group.

There is limited convergence in neuroimaging investigations into volumes of subcortical brain regions in social anxiety disorder (SAD). The inconsistent findings may arise from variations in methodological approaches across studies, including sample selection based on age and clinical characteristics. The ENIGMA-Anxiety Working Group initiated a global mega-analysis to determine whether differences in subcortical volumes can be detected in adults and adolescents with SAD relative to healthy controls.

Advanced brain ageing in adult psychopathology: A systematic review and meta-analysis of structural MRI studies.

Evidence suggests that psychopathology is associated with an advanced brain ageing process, typically mapped using machine learning models that predict an individual's age based on structural neuroimaging data. The brain predicted age difference (brain-PAD) captures the deviation of brain age from chronological age. Substantial heterogeneity between studies has introduced uncertainty regarding the magnitude of the brain-PAD in adult psychopathology.

Decreased reward circuit connectivity during reward anticipation in major depression.

An important symptom of major depressive disorder (MDD) is the inability to experience pleasure, possibly due to a dysfunction of the reward system. Despite promising insights regarding impaired reward-related processing in MDD, circuit-level abnormalities remain largely unexplored. Furthermore, whereas studies contrasting experimental conditions from incentive tasks have revealed important information about reward processing, temporal difference modeling of reward-related prediction error (PE) signals might give a more accurate representation of the reward system.

Subcortical brain volumes in young infants exposed to antenatal maternal depression: Findings from a South African birth cohort.

Background: Several studies have reported enlarged amygdala and smaller hippocampus volumes in children and adolescents exposed to maternal depression. It is unclear whether similar volumetric differences are detectable in the infants' first weeks of life, following exposure in utero. We investigated subcortical volumes in 2-to-6 week old infants exposed to antenatal maternal depression (AMD) from a South African birth cohort.

Shape analysis of subcortical structures in obsessive-compulsive disorder and the relationship with comorbid anxiety, depression, and medication use: A meta-analysis by the OCD Brain Imaging Consortium.

Objective: Neuroimaging studies of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients have highlighted the important role of deep gray matter structures. Less work has however focused on subcortical shape in OCD patients.

Methods: Here we pooled brain MRI scans from 412 OCD patients and 368 controls to perform a meta-analysis utilizing the ENIGMA-Shape protocol.

Structural Brain Correlates of Childhood Inhibited Temperament: An ENIGMA-Anxiety Mega-analysis.

Temperament involves stable behavioral and emotional tendencies that differ between individuals, which can be first observed in infancy or early childhood and relate to behavior in many contexts and over many years. One of the most rigorously characterized temperament classifications relates to the tendency of individuals to avoid the unfamiliar and to withdraw from unfamiliar people, objects, and unexpected events. This temperament is referred to as behavioral inhibition or inhibited temperament (IT).

The role of educational attainment and brain morphology in major depressive disorder: Findings from the ENIGMA major depressive disorder consortium.

Brain structural abnormalities and low educational attainment are consistently associated with major depressive disorder (MDD), yet there has been little research investigating the complex interaction of these factors. Brain structural alterations may represent a vulnerability or differential susceptibility marker, and in the context of low educational attainment, predict MDD. We tested this moderation model in a large multisite sample of 1958 adults with MDD and 2921 controls (aged 18 to 86) from the ENIGMA MDD working group.

Early structural brain development in infants exposed to HIV and antiretroviral therapy in utero in a South African birth cohort.

Introduction: There is a growing population of children who are HIV-exposed and uninfected (HEU) with the successful expansion of antiretroviral therapy (ART) use in pregnancy. Children who are HEU are at risk of delayed neurodevelopment; however, there is limited research on early brain growth and maturation. We aimed to investigate the effects of in utero exposure to HIV/ART on brain structure of infants who are HEU compared to HIV-unexposed (HU).

Newborn differential DNA methylation and subcortical brain volumes as early signs of severe neurodevelopmental delay in a South African Birth Cohort Study.

Objectives: Early detection of neurodevelopmental delay is crucial for intervention and treatment strategies. We analysed associations between newborn DNA methylation (DNAm), neonatal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) neuroimaging data, and neurodevelopment.

Methods: Neurodevelopment was assessed in 161 children from the South African Drakenstein Child Health Study at 2 years of age using the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development III.

Cortical and subcortical brain structure in generalized anxiety disorder: findings from 28 research sites in the ENIGMA-Anxiety Working Group.

The goal of this study was to compare brain structure between individuals with generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) and healthy controls. Previous studies have generated inconsistent findings, possibly due to small sample sizes, or clinical/analytic heterogeneity. To address these concerns, we combined data from 28 research sites worldwide through the ENIGMA-Anxiety Working Group, using a single, pre-registered mega-analysis.

ENIGMA-Sleep: Challenges, opportunities, and the road map.

Neuroimaging and genetics studies have advanced our understanding of the neurobiology of sleep and its disorders. However, individual studies usually have limitations to identifying consistent and reproducible effects, including modest sample sizes, heterogeneous clinical characteristics and varied methodologies. These issues call for a large-scale multi-centre effort in sleep research, in order to increase the number of samples, and harmonize the methods of data collection, preprocessing and analysis using pre-registered well-established protocols.