Brain
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Autism spectrum disorder and brain volume link through a set of mTOR-related genes
Open Access paper from the JCPP – ‘Here we investigated whether variants in mTOR-related genes are also associated with ASD and if they constitute a genetic link between large brains and ASD.’ Martina Arenella et al.
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Brain grey and white matter structural associations with future suicidal ideation and behaviors in adolescent and young adult females with mood disorders
Open Access from JCPP Advances – “To reduce suicide in females with mood disorders, it is critical to understand brain substrates underlying their vulnerability to future suicidal ideation and behaviors (SIBs) in adolescence and young adulthood”. Lejla Colic et al.
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Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and white matter microstructure: The importance of dimensional analyses and sex differences
Open Access paper from JCPP Advances – “Attention-deficit/hyperactive disorder (ADHD) has substantial heterogeneity in clinical presentation. A potentially important clue may be variation in brain microstructure. Using fractional anisotropy (FA), previous studies have produced equivocal results in relation to ADHD. This may be due to insufficient consideration of possible sex differences and ADHD’s multi-componential nature”. Scott A. Jones et al.
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Transdiagnostic profiles of behaviour and communication relate to academic and socioemotional functioning and neural white matter organisation
Open Access paper from the JCPP – “Behavioural and language difficulties co-occur in multiple neurodevelopmental conditions. Our understanding of these problems has arguably been slowed by an overreliance on study designs that compare diagnostic groups and fail to capture the overlap across different neurodevelopmental disorders and the heterogeneity within them”. Silvana Mareva (pic) et al.
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Multivariate associations between behavioural dimensions and white matter across children and adolescents with and without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder
Open Access paper from the JCPP – “This study aimed to identify associations between white matter and a broad set of clinical features across children and adolescent with and without ADHD using a data-driven multivariate approach”. Xuan Bu et al.
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EEG data might help identify children at risk for social anxiety
Electroencephalography (EEG) is a non-invasive method to monitor the electrical activity of the brain. There are five main broad frequency bands in the EEG power spectrum: alpha, beta, gamma, delta and theta. Data suggest that EEG-derived delta–beta coupling — indicating related activity in the delta and beta frequency bands — might serve as a marker of emotion regulation.
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Progressive cortical thinning might identify children at risk of developing psychotic spectrum symptoms
Offspring of patients with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder have an increased risk of developing these conditions. However, our capacity to predict the long-term outcomes of these at-risk individuals is limited. Now, researchers have investigated whether longitudinal changes in brain structure differ in individuals at high familial risk who develop psychotic spectrum symptoms, compared to those who do not and to low-risk controls.
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Emotional abuse during childhood is linked with differences in brain structure
Delia Gheorghe and colleagues at the University of Oxford have harnessed data from the UK Biobank to delineate the relationship between adverse experiences and brain structure. The researchers accessed brain imaging data together with retrospective reports of childhood adversity and adulthood partner abuse from more than 6,000 adults (mean age, 62.1 years).
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Mothers’ prenatal BMI is linked with foetal brain connectivity
New data suggest that a high maternal prenatal body mass index (BMI) is associated with differences in functional connectivity in the foetal brain that might confer a risk of mental health and cognitive problems in childhood.
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Do brain function abnormalities lead to substance use, or vice versa?
New research has, for the first time, investigated the direction of links between brain function and substance use throughout adolescence. Jungmeen Kim-Spoon and colleagues studied 167 adolescents who were assessed annually for four years from 13-14 years old.
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