Anorexia nervosa-specific home treatment in children and adolescents and their families (the HoT study): a study protocol of a randomized, controlled, multicenter, open-label, parallel group superiority trial.

Background: New treatment approaches are urgently needed to improve the prognosis of children and adolescents with anorexia nervosa (AN). Recently, the feasibility of multidisciplinary home treatment that strongly involves the patients' parents/caregivers has been investigated. However, no RCT has yet been performed to test the efficacy and safety of this approach compared to standard treatment approaches, such as inpatient treatment.

Premorbid body weight predicts weight loss in both anorexia nervosa and atypical anorexia nervosa: Further support for a single underlying disorder.

Objective: For adolescents, DSM-5 differentiates anorexia nervosa (AN) and atypical AN with the 5th BMI-centile-for-age. We hypothesized that the diagnostic weight cut-off yields (i) lower weight loss in atypical AN and (ii) discrepant premorbid BMI distributions between the two disorders. Prior studies demonstrate that premorbid BMI predicts admission BMI and weight loss in patients with AN.

Movement initiation and preparation in subjects with schizophrenia - The amplitude of the readiness potential as a biological marker for negative symptom severity.

Objective: Despite extensive research, the etiology of negative symptoms is not well understood. Preliminary findings are linking motor disturbances to negative symptom severity. We aimed to further the understanding to what extent motor movement preparation influences negative symptom severity.

Attention for Emotion-How Young Adults With Neurodevelopmental Disorders Look at Facial Expressions of Affect.

While Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Schizophrenia (SCZ) differ in many clinically relevant features such as symptomatology and course, they may also share genetic underpinnings, affective problems, deviancies in social interactions, and are all characterized by some kind of cognitive impairment. This situation calls for a joint investigation of the specifics of cognitive (dys-)functions of the three disorders. Such endeavor should focus, among other domains, on the inter-section of processing cognitive, affective and social information that is crucial in effective real-life interactions and can be accomplished when attentional preferences for human facial expressions of emotions is studied.

An German Short-Version of the "Sensory Perception Quotient" for Adults With Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Sensory features in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) have received increasing interest in clinical work and research during the recent years. With the Sensory Perception Quotient (SPQ), Tavasolli and colleagues have produced a self-rating scale for adults with ASD that measures sensory hyper-sensitivity in different sensory modalities, without also tapping cognitive or motivational aspects that precede or follow autistic sensory experiences. Here, we present the results of a translation of the SPQ to German and its short version as well as their validation in samples of autistic or neuro-typical participants.

Bereitschaftspotential and lateralized readiness potential in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder: altered motor system activation and effects of methylphenidate.

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) has been linked to abnormal functioning of cortical motor areas such as the supplementary motor area, the premotor cortex and primary motor cortex (MI). The Bereitschaftspotential (BP) and lateralized readiness potential (LRP) are movement-related potentials generated by cortical motor areas. We hypothesized that the BP and LRP would be altered in children with ADHD.

Time-resolved neuroimaging of visual short term memory consolidation by post-perceptual attention shifts.

Post-perceptual cues can enhance visual short term memory encoding even after the offset of the visual stimulus. However, both the mechanisms by which the sensory stimulus characteristics are buffered as well as the mechanisms by which post-perceptual selective attention enhances short term memory encoding remain unclear. We analyzed late post-perceptual event-related potentials (ERPs) in visual change detection tasks (100ms stimulus duration) by high-resolution ERP analysis to elucidate these mechanisms.

Neurological soft signs and brainstem morphology in first-episode schizophrenia.

Background: Minor motor and sensory deficits or neurological soft signs (NSS) have frequently been reported in patients with schizophrenia at any stage of their illness. NSS have been demonstrated to correlate with neuroanatomical abnormalities in various brain regions. Despite its important role in the integration and coordination of automatic motor actions, the brainstem has so far rather been ignored in previous neuroimaging studies on NSS in schizophrenia.

White matter alterations in the corpus callosum of adolescents with first-admission schizophrenia.

Several diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies involving adults and adolescents with schizophrenia have examined fractional anisotropy (FA) in the corpus callosum (CC) with conflicting findings. This may be due to confounding factors such as the chronicity of the disorder, long-term medication with psychotropics or methodological differences. To provide a clearer picture of early alterations, we examined 13 adolescents with first-admission schizophrenia and 13 healthy controls using a region-of-interest approach based on probabilistic voxel classification.

The optic radiation and the cerebellar peduncles in adolescents with first-admission schizophrenia--a diffusion tensor imaging study.

Background And Purpose: Previous studies have found gray matter alterations in the cerebellum and in the visual system in both adults and adolescents with schizophrenia. The present study was conducted to investigate whether white matter tracts associated with these regions are also affected in the early stages of the disorder.

Methods: Using a 1.

Cortical post-movement and sensory processing disentangled by temporary deafferentation.

Motor system calibration depends crucially on the adjustment to the consequences of a movement, which often occur when the movement itself is already completed. The mechanisms by which reafferent feedback information is compared to the programmed movement remain unclear. In the current study, the hypothesis of a short term memory trace in the motor cortex which outlasts quick movements and is generated independently from reafferent feedback was challenged by temporal deafferentation.

Gray matter alterations in first-admission adolescents with schizophrenia.

Background And Purpose: Imaging studies of patients with schizophrenia have described a variety of cerebral alterations. However, long-term medication and the chronicity of the disorder may have contributed substantially to these alterations. Studies examining patients in the early stages of the disorder reduce the possibility of such confounding factors but are rare.

The role of a pseudocapsula in thymic epithelial tumors: outcome and correlation with established prognostic parameters. Results of a 20-year single centre retrospective analysis.

Background: Treatment of thymoma is often based on observation of only a few patients. Surgical resection is considered to be the most important step. Role of a pseudocapsula for surgery, its clinical significance and outcome compared with established prognostic parameters is discussed which has not been reported so far.