Disrupted white matter network of brain structural connectomes in bipolar disorder patients revealed by q-ball imaging.

BACKGROUND: Structural and functional brain changes have been found to be associated with altered emotion and cognition in patients with bipolar disorder (BD). Widespread microstructural white matter abnormalities have been observed using traditional structural imaging in BD. q-Ball imaging (QBI) and graph theoretical analysis (GTA) improve the specificity and sensitivity and high accuracy of fiber tracking. We applied QBI and GTA to investigate and compare the structural connectivity alterations and network alterations in patients with and without BD. METHODS: Sixty-two patients with BD and 62 healthy controls (HCs) completed a MR scan. We evaluated the group differences in generalized fractional anisotropy (GFA) and normalized quantitative anisotropy (NQA) values by voxel-based statistical analysis with QBI. We also evaluated the group differences in topological parameters of GTA and subnetwork interconnections in network-based statistical analysis (NBS). RESULTS: The QBI indices in the BD group were significantly lower than those in the HC group in the corpus callosum, cingulate gyrus, and caudate. The GTA indices indicated that the BD group demonstrated less global integration and higher local segregation than the HC group, but they retained small-world properties. NBS evaluation showed that the majority of the more connected subnetworks in BD occurred in thalamo-temporal/parietal connectivity. CONCLUSION: Our findings supported white matter integrity with network alterations in BD.

Lip curve changes in males with premolar extraction or nonextraction treatment.

AIM: This retrospective study was designed to compare the responses of the upper and lower lip curves in young growing males, to orthodontic treatment involving either four premolar extractions or the holding of the E-spaces without premolar extractions. METHOD: Pre- and post-treatment lateral cephalograms of 67 premolar extraction and 30 nonextraction patients were assessed. The results were subjected to analysis of variance to search for statistically significant differences amongst the pretreatment variables and changes in depths of lip curves. Pearson's correlation coefficients were also calculated and stepwise regression analysis undertaken. RESULTS: A wide range of lip curve behaviour was seen in individual patients within all groups. No significant differences were found in the change in depth of lip curve amongst the various extraction and nonextraction groups. The inherent morphology of the soft tissues appeared to be the greatest determinant of lip curve behaviour with treatment. CONCLUSIONS: It would appear that neither premolar extraction nor nonextraction treatment, if based on appropriate diagnostic criteria and followed with competent clinical management, will necessarily lead to direct effects on lip curvature.