Investigating the changes in volumes of the limbic system and hypothalamic-subnuclei in patients with depression.

Background: Depression is consistently linked to changes in the hypothalamus, HPA axis, and limbic system, though the specific substructures involved remain unclear. This study aims to explore the relationship between depression and the volumes of specific nuclei within these brain regions. Understanding these connections could provide deeper insights into the biological mechanisms underlying depression.

Voxel-Based Morphometry and Subfield Volumetry Analysis Reveal Limbic System Involvement in Tinnitus.

Background And Purpose: Tinnitus is a condition in which individuals perceive sounds, such as ringing or buzzing, without any external source. Although the exact cause is not fully understood, recent studies have indicated the involvement of nonauditory brain structures, including the limbic system. We aimed to compare the volumes of specific brain structures between patients with tinnitus and controls.

Neuroimaging and epigenetic analysis reveal novel epigenetic loci in major depressive disorder.

Background: Epigenetic modifications, such as DNA methylation, contribute to the pathophysiology of major depressive disorder (MDD). This study aimed to identify novel MDD-associated epigenetic loci using DNA methylation profiles and explore the correlations between epigenetic loci and cortical thickness changes in patients with MDD.

Methods: A total of 350 patients with MDD and 161 healthy controls (HCs) were included in the epigenome-wide association studies (EWAS).

Integration of whole-exome sequencing and structural neuroimaging analysis in major depressive disorder: a joint study.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a common mental illness worldwide and is triggered by an intricate interplay between environmental and genetic factors. Although there are several studies on common variants in MDD, studies on rare variants are relatively limited. In addition, few studies have examined the genetic contributions to neurostructural alterations in MDD using whole-exome sequencing (WES).

Association Between White Matter Tract Integrity and Frontal-Executive Function in Non-Geriatric Adult Patients With Major Depressive Disorder.

Objective: This study investigated the association between white matter tract integrity and frontal executive function in adult non-geriatric patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and healthy controls (HCs) using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI).

Methods: In total, 57 patients with MDD and 115 HCs participated in this study. We calculated the integrity of the white matter tracts using the Tracts Constrained by Underlying Anatomy tool (TRACULA) from FreeSurfer.

Decreased cortical gyrification in major depressive disorder.

Background: Early neurodevelopmental deviations, such as abnormal cortical folding patterns, are candidate biomarkers of major depressive disorder (MDD). We aimed to investigate the association of MDD with the local gyrification index (LGI) in each cortical region at the whole-brain level, and the association of the LGI with clinical characteristics of MDD.

Methods: We obtained T1-weighted images from 234 patients with MDD and 215 healthy controls (HCs).

Childhood Sexual Abuse and Cortical Thinning in Adults With Major Depressive Disorder.

Objective: A growing body of evidence reports on the effect of different types of childhood abuse on the structural and functional architecture of the brain. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the differences in cortical thickness according to specific types of childhood abuse between patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and healthy controls (HCs).

Methods: A total of 61 patients with MDD and 98 HCs were included in this study.

Childhood abuse and cortical gray matter volume in patients with major depressive disorder.

Childhood abuse is associated with brain structural alterations; however, few studies have investigated the association between specific types of childhood abuse and cortical volume in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). We aimed to investigate the association between specific types of childhood abuse and gray matter volumes in patients with MDD. Seventy-five participants with MDD and 97 healthy controls (HCs) aged 19-64 years were included.

Reduced Sulcal Depth in Central Sulcus of Major Depressive Disorder.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is one of the most common psychiatric disorders, and present various symptoms such as the dysregulation of mood, cognition, and behavior. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the morphometric change in MDD patients by voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and sulcal depth analyses. Forty-six MDD patients (mean age, SD; 36.

Association Between the C4 Binding Protein Level and White Matter Integrity in Major Depressive Disorder.

Objective: Considerable evidence suggests that neuroinflammation plays an important role in the pathophysiology of major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the relationship between serum C4 binding protein (C4BP) and white matter (WM) tract integrity in MDD has not been investigated.

Methods: We obtained diffusion tensor images of 44 patients with MDD and 44 healthy controls and performed TRActs Constrained by UnderLying Anatomy (TRACULA) analysis to assess WM tract integrity.

Shape analysis of the subcortical structures in North Korean refugees with post-traumatic stress disorder and major depressive disorder.

Background: Despite the growing number of refugees and their mental health issues, neurobiological mechanisms to explain clinical symptoms resulting from traumatic events, such as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or major depressive disorder (MDD), have not been extensively investigated. Research on the mental health of North Korean refugees (NKRs) who defected to South Korea for resettlement is still at an early stage but commonly reports structural and functional abnormalities in brain regions related to reward and motivational processing. The nucleus accumbens (NAc) and ventral pallidum (VP) are the major sites in subcortical structures that play key roles in reward and motivation.

Structural Changes in the Arcuate Fasciculus and Recovery of Post-stroke Aphasia: A 6-Month Follow-up Study using Diffusion Tensor Imaging.

Background: Temporal changes in the structural connectivity of major language tracts after stroke and their contribution to aphasia recovery are unclear.

Objective: To investigate longitudinal arcuate fasciculus (AF) integrity changes and their relationship with post-stroke aphasia recovery using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI).

Methods: Thirty-five patients with aphasia due to first-ever left hemispheric stroke underwent the Korean version of the Western Aphasia Battery and DTI at 1- and 6-month post stroke onset.

Association of DNA Methylation of the Gene with Changes in Cortical Thickness in Major Depressive Disorder.

The Nod-like receptor pyrin containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome has been reported to be a convergent point linking the peripheral immune response induced by psychological stress and neuroinflammatory processes in the brain. We aimed to identify differences in the methylation profiles of the gene between major depressive disorder (MDD) patients and healthy controls (HCs). We also investigated the correlation of the methylation score of loci in with cortical thickness in the MDD group using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data.

Cerebral Cortex Changes in Basketball Players.

Background: Plastic changes to brain structure and function have been reported in elite athletes of various sports. Interestingly, different regions of the brain were engaged according to the type of sports analyzed. Our laboratory reported no difference in total cerebellar volume of basketball players compared to that in the control group using the manual segmentation method.

Alterations in the Occipital Cortex of Drug-Naïve Adults With Major Depressive Disorder: A Surface-Based Analysis of Surface Area and Cortical Thickness.

Objective: Advances in surface-based morphometric methods have allowed researchers to separate cortical volume into cortical thickness (CTh) and surface area (SA). Although CTh alterations in major depressive disorder (MDD) have been observed in numerous studies, few studies have described significant SA alterations. Our study aimed to measure patients' SAs and to compare it with their CTh to examine whether SA exhibits alteration patterns that differ from those of CTh in drug-naïve patients with MDD.

Cortical Thickness and Surface Area Abnormalities in Bipolar I and II Disorders.

Objective: Although bipolar II disorder (BD II) is not simply a mitigated form of bipolar I disorder (BD I), their neurobiological differences have not been elucidated. The present study aimed to explore cortical thickness (CT) and surface area (SA) in patients with BD I and BD II and healthy controls (HCs) to investigate the shared and unique neurobiological mechanisms of BD subtypes.

Methods: We enrolled 30 and 44 patients with BD I and BD II, respectively, and 100 HCs.

Volumetric alterations in subregions of the amygdala in adults with major depressive disorder.

Background: Although major depressive disorder (MDD) has been associated with volumetric abnormalities in the amygdala, studies investigating the association between structural alterations of the amygdala and depression have yielded varying results. Since the amygdala comprises several subregions, it is difficult to detect subtle regional changes by measuring the total amygdala volume. This study aimed to examine the volume in each amygdala subregion in adults with and without a diagnosis of MDD.

Neuroanatomical correlates of poststroke complex regional pain syndrome: a voxel-based lesion symptom-mapping study.

Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a common poststroke complication. However, the neural substrates associated with CRPS remain unclear. We investigated the neural correlates associated with poststroke CRPS using voxel-based lesion‒symptom mapping (VLSM) analysis.

Association of Prefrontal Cortex Thinning with High Impulsivity in Healthy Adults.

Objective: Studies have been conducted to identify brain structural alterations related to high impulsivity in psychiatric populations. However, research on healthy subjects is relatively less extensive. Therefore, we aimed to investigate the correlation between the cortical thickness of whole brain regions and the impulsivity level in a healthy population.

Effects of aging on brain networks during swallowing: general linear model and independent component analyses.

Swallowing disorders occur more frequently in older adults. However, the effects of the aging process on neural activation when swallowing are unclear. We aimed to identify neural regions activated during swallowing and evaluate changes in neural activation and neural networks with aging.

Decreased cortical gyrification in patients with bipolar disorder.

Background: An aberrant neural connectivity has been known to be associated with bipolar disorder (BD). Local gyrification may reflect the early neural development of cortical connectivity and has been studied as a possible endophenotype of psychiatric disorders. This study aimed to investigate differences in the local gyrification index (LGI) in each cortical region between patients with BD and healthy controls (HCs).