Eva M Meisenzahl

..Amisulpride appears to be an effective atypical agent for treating schizophrenia in a dose-dependent manner...

....

..These regions are compatible with structural findings in the clinically apparent disease of schizophrenia...

....

..Furthermore, our data suggest that in the advanced stages of schizophrenia additional cortical and subcortical brain areas become involved in the disease process. Longitudinal data will be required to further test this hypothesis...

..Future studies should clarify whether amygdala enlargement is a risk factor for MD in BPD patients or a consequence of the affective disorder...

..To date, it is unknown whether these dynamic brain changes can be predicted at the single-subject level prior to disease transition using MRI-based machine-learning techniques...

..Results of experimental studies suggest that neuroplastic changes may occur during depressive episodes. These effects have not been confirmed in patients with depression, to our knowledge...

..The aim of our analysis was to investigate potential changes of white matter in schizophrenic patients compared to controls, and the relationship to clinical characteristics...

..Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) modulates hippocampal plasticity, which is believed to be altered in patients with major depression...

....

..Recently, machine learning algorithms have been successfully used for magnetic resonance imaging-based diagnostic classification of neuropsychiatric patient populations...

..However, structure-cognition relationships in the ARMS have not been directly explored using multivariate neuroimaging techniques...

..Structural brain abnormalities have been described in individuals with an at-risk mental state for psychosis. However, the neuroanatomical underpinnings of the early and late at-risk mental state relative to clinical outcome remain unclear...

..In addition, while right hemisphere ACC volumes significantly differ between schizophrenia subgroups, combining measures of event-related potential (ERP) and ACC volumetry does not add additional information...

..We aimed to investigate whether reduced hippocampal volumes correlate with executive dysfunctioning or memory dysfunctioning or with depression severity...

....

..Furthermore, this structural change might facilitate aggressive behaviour. Subsequent studies are required to clarify whether the reduction of hippocampal volume is a trait and risk factor for increased aggression...

..Thus, structural heterogeneity in schizophrenia may relate to specific patterns of GMD reductions that possibly share a common prefrontal-perisylvian pattern of structural brain alterations...

..Such evidence would provide further support for a relationship between non-clinical schizophrenia-like traits in the general population and the full-blown clinical condition of schizophrenia...

..CONCLUSION: These results do not support the hypothesis that hippocampal volumes diminish during the 1-year follow-up period. However, smaller hippocampal volumes may be related to a poor clinical outcome after 1 year...

..0001) and olanzapine (Pearson r = -0.77, p = 0.002). There was no significant difference between the D2 receptor occupancy of the two substances when given in the clinically recommended dose range (unpaired t-test, t = -0.112, p = 0.911)...

....

..Interestingly, the subgroup of healthy controls without AI also had larger third ventricles. The absence of AI may represent another early developmental marker of cerebral malformation in a clinical subgroup of schizophrenic patients...

..The relation between structural and functional changes is largely unknown. Therefore, we sought to determine the relation between structural differences and functional alterations during the recognition of emotional facial expressions...

..No significant difference between handedness subgroups in CC regions and no significant correlations between HDT values and CC areas were detected...

..The authors used three different anatomical definitions of the planum temporale to examine the anterior, posterior, and total planum temporale gray matter volumes simultaneously...

..Our study demonstrates that a certain trinucleotide repeat influences normal brain structure in humans. This result may have important implications for the understanding of both the healthy and diseased brain...

..Several studies have found reciprocal interactions between the serotonergic system and both brain-derived neurotrophic factor and glutamate, which are known to modulate or affect hippocampal morphologic characteristics...

..99m)Tc]TRODAT-1 seems to be a useful agent for in vivo assessment of a psychopathological association with dopamine metabolism...

..This, however, being a novel finding, should warrant further investigation...

..Our findings are in agreement with earlier behavioral data, which show deficits in self-initiated movements in catatonic patients but no impairment of externally triggered movements...

..SUMMARY: Our findings indicate that, while the thalamus might be involved in the pathogenesis of negative symptoms, thalamic volume reduction is not a required element in the pathophysiology of the schizophrenic phenotype...

..We sought to examine the changes in hippocampal and amygdala volumes at baseline and at 3 years after an acute depressive episode, and the impact of reduced hippocampal volumes on the outcome...

..In the subgroup of schizophrenic patients with a positive family history of schizophrenia, a significant reduction of the subregion corresponding to a part of the trunk of the CC was found...

..Patients with depression show reduced GM volumes, particularly when they are homozygous for the L(A)-allele, suggesting that these patients are more vulnerable for morphological changes during depressive episodes...

..There were no significant differences in the presence of EPS symptoms between patients with recommended doses and those with higher doses of olanzapine...

..Our findings show NSS in schizophrenic patients, independently of neuroleptics. Further, the hypothesis of lateralization of cerebral structures generating NSS towards the right hemisphere in schizophrenia is supported...

..The authors investigated whether absence of the adhesio interthalamica in patients with schizophrenia constitutes a marker of early developmental neuropathological changes...

..Study designs involving fMRI capitalize on the technique's enhanced spatial and temporal resolution, noninvasive nature, and absence of radiation exposure...

..The aim of the present study was to investigate this influence of skull and scalp thicknesses on event-related P300 potentials...

..Additionally, relations between radioligand binding to DAT and D(2) and positive symptoms were assessed...

..No associations between the electrophysiological and structural measurements could be detected. There were also no significant reductions of ERP and MRI measurements within the subgroup of patients with pronounced negative symptoms...

..These novel observations warrant further replication in independent samples...

..Future research is recommended to clarify possible interactions between this functional polymorphism and symptoms, course and treatment responses in this disorder...

..The presented study evaluated the impact of a neuroleptic steady state treatment with quetiapine on the altered working memory activation patterns in schizophrenia...

..However, it remains unclear whether these findings could be replicated in independent populations...

..The authors' findings support the hypothesis that the hippocampus and its connections within limbic-cortical networks may play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of major depression...

..There was no significant difference between the age-related groups. CONCLUSION: We detected a high prevalence of cavum septi pellucidi without a significant age dependence. Enlarged cava septi pellucidi are rare in healthy subjects...

..The input-related processing stages (N100 and P200) were not altered, whereas later, the deviant and task-related processes (N200, frontal P300, parietal P300 and reaction time) were significantly prolonged in schizophrenia...

..in a comparable patient sample. [99mTc]TRODAT-1 seems to be a valuable new SPECT-ligand in the evaluation of the presynaptic site of the striatal dopaminergic synapse in schizophrenia...

..This study investigated the effect on brain morphology of an interleukin-1beta genetic polymorphism (C-->T transition at position -511) in patients with schizophrenia...

..However, the different fMRI working memory correlates found in schizophrenic patients seem to be insufficient in terms of overall task performance...

..The results are discussed in terms of the possibility that abnormalities in interhemispheric transfer may underlie the mechanisms of schizophrenia...

..Electroconvulsive therapy turned out to be a powerful tool for treating catatonic syndromes in patients with mental retardation and should be considered as a potent treatment option in otherwise therapy-resistant cases...

..The possible implications of the correlation between handedness and the extension of the right parietal PT are discussed and have to be elucidated by further studies...

..Our data partially confirm the hypothesis of different neural substrates for the processing of implicit and explicit emotional stimuli...

..e. the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale Version 11 (BIS11). However, it lacks adequate psychometric characterization for German speakers...

..The importance of this suppression effect needs to be further elucidated. Future studies of receptor systems and longitudinal studies will open new perspectives in future imaging research...