Resting Hypoconnectivity of Theoretically Defined Addiction Networks during Early Abstinence Predicts Subsequent Relapse in Alcohol Use Disorder.

Theoretical models of addiction suggest that alterations in addiction domains including incentive salience, negative emotionality, and executive control lead to relapse in alcohol use disorder (AUD). To determine whether the functional organization of neural networks underlying these domains predict subsequent relapse, we generated theoretically defined addiction networks. We collected resting functional magnetic resonance imaging data from 45 individuals with AUD during early abstinence (number of days abstinent M = 25.40, SD = 16.51) and calculated the degree of resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) within these networks. Regression analyses determined whether the RSFC strength in domain-defined addiction networks measured during early abstinence predicted subsequent relapse (dichotomous or continuous relapse metrics). RSFC within each addiction network measured during early abstinence was significantly lower in those that relapsed (vs. abstained) and predicted subsequent time to relapse. Lower incentive salience RSFC during early abstinence increased the odds of relapsing. Neither RSFC in a control network nor clinical self-report measures predicted relapse. The association between low incentive salience RSFC and faster relapse highlights the need to design timely interventions that enhance RSFC in AUD individuals at risk of relapsing faster.

Resting-state thalamic dysconnectivity in schizophrenia and relationships with symptoms.

BACKGROUND: Schizophrenia (SZ) is a severe neuropsychiatric disorder associated with disrupted connectivity within the thalamic-cortico-cerebellar network. Resting-state functional connectivity studies have reported thalamic hypoconnectivity with the cerebellum and prefrontal cortex as well as thalamic hyperconnectivity with sensory cortical regions in SZ patients compared with healthy comparison participants (HCs). However, fundamental questions remain regarding the clinical significance of these connectivity abnormalities. METHOD: Resting state seed-based functional connectivity was used to investigate thalamus to whole brain connectivity using multi-site data including 183 SZ patients and 178 matched HCs. Statistical significance was based on a voxel-level FWE-corrected height threshold of p < 0.001. The relationships between positive and negative symptoms of SZ and regions of the brain demonstrating group differences in thalamic connectivity were examined. RESULTS: HC and SZ participants both demonstrated widespread positive connectivity between the thalamus and cortical regions. Compared with HCs, SZ patients had reduced thalamic connectivity with bilateral cerebellum and anterior cingulate cortex. In contrast, SZ patients had greater thalamic connectivity with multiple sensory-motor regions, including bilateral pre- and post-central gyrus, middle/inferior occipital gyrus, and middle/superior temporal gyrus. Thalamus to middle temporal gyrus connectivity was positively correlated with hallucinations and delusions, while thalamus to cerebellar connectivity was negatively correlated with delusions and bizarre behavior. CONCLUSIONS: Thalamic hyperconnectivity with sensory regions and hypoconnectivity with cerebellar regions in combination with their relationship to clinical features of SZ suggest that thalamic dysconnectivity may be a core neurobiological feature of SZ that underpins positive symptoms.

Default network connectivity as a vulnerability marker for obsessive compulsive disorder.

BACKGROUND: Aberrant functional connectivity within the default network is generally assumed to be involved in the pathophysiology of obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD); however, the genetic risk of default network connectivity in OCD remains largely unknown. METHOD: Here, we systematically investigated default network connectivity in 15 OCD patients, 15 paired unaffected siblings and 28 healthy controls. We sought to examine the profiles of default network connectivity in OCD patients and their siblings, exploring the correlation between abnormal default network connectivity and genetic risk for this population. RESULTS: Compared with healthy controls, OCD patients exhibited reduced strength of default network functional connectivity with the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), and increased functional connectivity in the right inferior frontal lobe, insula, superior parietal cortex and superior temporal cortex, while their unaffected first-degree siblings only showed reduced local connectivity in the PCC. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that the disruptions of default network functional connectivity might be associated with family history of OCD. The decreased default network connectivity in both OCD patients and their unaffected siblings may serve as a potential marker of OCD.

Exploratory study of how Cognitive Multisensory Rehabilitation restores parietal operculum connectivity and improves upper limb movements in chronic stroke.

Cognitive Multisensory Rehabilitation (CMR) is a promising therapy for upper limb recovery in stroke, but the brain mechanisms are unknown. We previously demonstrated that the parietal operculum (parts OP1/OP4) is activated with CMR exercises. In this exploratory study, we assessed the baseline difference between OP1/OP4 functional connectivity (FC) at rest in stroke versus healthy adults to then explore whether CMR affects OP1/OP4 connectivity and sensorimotor recovery after stroke. We recruited 8 adults with chronic stroke and left hemiplegia/paresis and 22 healthy adults. Resting-state FC with the OP1/OP4 region-of-interest in the affected hemisphere was analysed before and after 6 weeks of CMR. We evaluated sensorimotor function and activities of daily life pre- and post-CMR, and at 1-year post-CMR. At baseline, we found decreased FC between the right OP1/OP4 and 34 areas distributed across all lobes in stroke versus healthy adults. After CMR, only four areas had decreased FC compared to healthy adults. Compared to baseline (pre-CMR), participants improved on motor function (MESUPES arm p = 0.02; MESUPES hand p = 0.03; MESUPES total score p = 0.006); on stereognosis (p = 0.03); and on the Frenchay Activities Index (p = 0.03) at post-CMR and at 1-year follow-up. These results suggest enhanced sensorimotor recovery post-stroke after CMR. Our results justify larger-scale studies.

Working memory and DLPFC inefficiency in schizophrenia: the FBIRN study.

BACKGROUND: The Functional Imaging Biomedical Informatics Network is a consortium developing methods for multisite functional imaging studies. Both prefrontal hyper- or hypoactivity in chronic schizophrenia have been found in previous studies of working memory. METHODS: In this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study of working memory, 128 subjects with chronic schizophrenia and 128 age- and gender-matched controls were recruited from 10 universities around the United States. Subjects performed the Sternberg Item Recognition Paradigm1,2 with memory loads of 1, 3, or 5 items. A region of interest analysis examined the mean BOLD signal change in an atlas-based demarcation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), in both groups, during both the encoding and retrieval phases of the experiment over the various memory loads. RESULTS: Subjects with schizophrenia performed slightly but significantly worse than the healthy volunteers and showed a greater decrease in accuracy and increase in reaction time with increasing memory load. The mean BOLD signal in the DLPFC was significantly greater in the schizophrenic group than the healthy group, particularly in the intermediate load condition. A secondary analysis matched subjects for mean accuracy and found the same BOLD signal hyperresponse in schizophrenics. CONCLUSIONS: The increase in BOLD signal change from minimal to moderate memory loads was greater in the schizophrenic subjects than in controls. This effect remained when age, gender, run, hemisphere, and performance were considered, consistent with inefficient DLPFC function during working memory. These findings from a large multisite sample support the concept not of hyper- or hypofrontality in schizophrenia, but rather DLPFC inefficiency that may be manifested in either direction depending on task demands. This redirects the focus of research from direction of difference to neural mechanisms of inefficiency.

Decreased hemispheric connectivity and decreased intra- and inter- hemisphere asymmetry of resting state functional network connectivity in schizophrenia.

Many studies have shown that schizophrenia patients have aberrant functional network connectivity (FNC) among brain regions, suggesting schizophrenia manifests with significantly diminished (in majority of the cases) connectivity. Schizophrenia is also associated with a lack of hemispheric lateralization. Hoptman et al. (2012) reported lower inter-hemispheric connectivity in schizophrenia patients compared to controls using voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity. In this study, we merge these two points of views together using a group independent component analysis (gICA)-based approach to generate hemisphere-specific timecourses and calculate intra-hemisphere and inter-hemisphere FNC on a resting state fMRI dataset consisting of age- and gender-balanced 151 schizophrenia patients and 163 healthy controls. We analyzed the group differences between patients and healthy controls in each type of FNC measures along with age and gender effects. The results reveal that FNC in schizophrenia patients shows less hemispheric asymmetry compared to that of the healthy controls. We also found a decrease in connectivity in all FNC types such as intra-left (L_FNC), intra-right (R_FNC) and inter-hemisphere (Inter_FNC) in the schizophrenia patients relative to healthy controls, but general patterns of connectivity were preserved in patients. Analyses of age and gender effects yielded results similar to those reported in whole brain FNC studies.

The Effect of Vascular Neuropathology on Late-life Cognition: Results from the SMART Project.

BACKGROUND: Cerebral vascular pathology may contribute to cognitive decline experienced by some elderly near death. Given evidence for mixed neuropathologies in advanced age, preventing or reducing cerebrovascular burden in late life may be beneficial. OBJECTIVE: To correlate measures of cerebral vascular pathology with cognitive trajectories. SETTING: Observational study. PARTICIPANTS: A cohort of 2,274 individuals who came to autopsy at a mean age of 89.3 years and 82 percent of whom had at least two cognitive assessments within the last six years of life was compiled from six centers conducting longitudinal studies. MEASUREMENTS: For each cognitive domain: immediate and delayed memory, language, and naming, three trajectories were examined: good, intermediate, and poor cognition. The probability of a participant belonging to each trajectory was associated with measures of cerebral vascular pathology after adjustment for demographics, APOE, and Alzheimer neuropathology. RESULTS: A large proportion of the cohort (72-94%) experienced good or intermediate cognition in the four domains examined. The presence of arteriolosclerosis and the presence of lacunar infarcts doubled the odds of belonging to the poor cognitive trajectory for language when compared to the good trajectory. The presence of lacunar infarcts increased the odds of an intermediate or poor trajectory for immediate and delayed recall while the presence of large artery infarcts increased the odds of poor trajectories for all four cognitive domains examined. Microinfarcts and cerebral amyloid angiopathy had little effect on the trajectories. CONCLUSION: Indicators of cerebral vascular pathology act differently on late life cognition.

Progressive brain volume changes and the clinical course of schizophrenia in men: a longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging study.

BACKGROUND: We sought to determine whether the brain dysmorphology previously observed cross-sectionally in people with schizophrenia progresses over time and whether such progression is related to the severity of the illness course. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Men with chronic schizophrenia (n = 24) and control men (n = 25) received 2 brain magnetic resonance imaging scans, on average 4 years apart. Changes in brain volume were adjusted for head-repositioning error and expressed as slopes (cubic centimeters per year). Clinical course severity for the schizophrenic patients was assessed using the mean of time 1 and time 2 Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS) scores and the percentage of time the patient was hospitalized during the interscan interval. RESULTS: Schizophrenic patients exhibited faster volume decline than control subjects in right frontal gray matter and bilateral posterior superior temporal gray matter, as well as faster cerebrospinal fluid volume expansion in right frontal sulci, left lateral ventricle, and bilateral prefrontal and posterior superior temporal sulci. Faster rates of frontal sulcal expansion were related to greater BPRS total and positive symptom scores and longer time hospitalized. Prefrontal gray matter decline and sulcal expansion were associated with greater BPRS negative symptom scores and longer time hospitalized. Temporal lobe gray matter decline was associated with greater BPRS total and negative symptom scores. CONCLUSIONS: This controlled study revealed that patients with chronic schizophrenia exhibited accelerated frontotemporal cortical gray matter decline and cortical sulcal and lateral ventricular expansion. Further, greater clinical severity was associated with faster rates of frontotemporal brain volume changes. These observations are consistent with a progressive pathophysiological process but need to be replicated in a larger sample.

Computed tomographic evidence for generalized sulcal and ventricular enlargement in schizophrenia.

Quantification of ventricular and sulcal volumes from the computed tomographic (CT) scans of 45 schizophrenic patients and 57 normal controls was carried out using a semi-automated computerized approach. The sizes of all cerebrospinal fluid spaces measured were significantly related to age in the control population. An age regression model was used to compare patients and controls. Schizophrenics had slightly larger ventricles and considerably larger sulci than controls. Enlargement of the ventricles and sulci was not correlated with measures of negative symptoms or neuropsychological impairment. The CT scans of eight very ill chronically institutionalized schizophrenics were also analyzed. Their CT findings did not differ significantly from the larger group of schizophrenics studied. Our results show that the cerebral atrophy found in schizophrenia is diffuse in nature and does not relate clearly to measures of disease severity or chronicity.

Widespread cerebral gray matter volume deficits in schizophrenia.

Magnetic resonance imaging was used to investigate whether the structural brain differences commonly observed in patients with schizophrenia as compared with normal control subjects are specific to gray or white matter, and furthermore whether such abnormalities are localizable to circumscribed cortical regions. Accordingly, 22 patients meeting DSM-III-R criteria for schizophrenia and 20 healthy community volunteers, all 23 to 45 years old, received magnetic resonance imaging scans. Seven axial magnetic resonance imaging sections of 5-mm thickness were segmented into cerebrospinal fluid, gray matter, and white matter compartments and used for volumetric quantification. For the healthy control subjects, age correlated significantly with the percentage of all magnetic resonance imaging sections taken up by gray matter but not white matter. After correcting for the normal effect of age, the schizophrenic group was found to have significantly less gray matter than the control group but no difference in white matter; ventricular volume was 34% greater in the schizophrenic group. The schizophrenic group had less gray matter in all six cortical subregions analyzed; these differences attained statistical significance for all but the parietal measure. These findings have implications for studies of localized gray matter abnormalities and suggest that regional brain volume measurements need to be expressed in the context of possible widespread gray matter volume deficits in schizophrenia.

In vivo brain concentrations of N-acetyl compounds, creatine, and choline in Alzheimer disease.

BACKGROUND: Alzheimer disease (AD) and normal aging result in cortical gray matter volume deficits. The extent to which the remaining cortex is functionally compromised can be estimated in vivo with magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging. OBJECTIVE: To assess the effects of age and dementia on gray matter and white matter concentrations of 3 metabolites visible in the proton spectrum: N-acetyl compounds, present only in living neurons; creatine plus phosphocreatine, reflecting high-energy phosphate metabolism; and choline, increasing with membrane synthesis and degradation. METHOD: Fifteen healthy young individuals, 19 healthy elderly individuals, and 16 patients with AD underwent 3-dimensional magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging and memory and language testing. RESULTS: Gray matter N-acetyl compound concentrations (signal intensity corrected for the amount of brain tissue contributing to the magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging signal) was significantly reduced only in patients with AD, even though both the AD and elderly control groups had substantial gray matter volume deficits relative to the young control group. Both the healthy elderly and AD groups had abnormally high gray matter creatine plus phosphocreatine concentrations. Gray matter choline concentrations were higher in the elderly than the younger controls, and even higher in the AD group than in the elderly control group. Functional significance of these findings was supported by correlations between poorer performance on recognition memory tests and lower gray matter N-acetyl compounds in elderly controls and higher gray matter creatine plus phosphocreatine and choline concentrations in patients with AD. CONCLUSION: Cortical gray matter volume deficits in patients with AD are accompanied by disease-related increases in gray matter choline concentrations suggestive of cellular degeneration and reduced N-acetyl compound concentrations, with possible effects on behavioral function.

Compromised white matter tract integrity in schizophrenia inferred from diffusion tensor imaging.

BACKGROUND: Current investigations suggest that brain white matter may be qualitatively altered in schizophrenia even in the face of normal white matter volume. Diffusion tensor imaging provides a new approach for quantifying the directional coherence and possibly connectivity of white matter fibers in vivo. METHODS: Ten men who were veterans of the US Armed Forces and met the DSM-IV criteria for schizophrenia and 10 healthy, age-matched control men were scanned using magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging and magnetic resonance structural imaging. RESULTS: Relative to controls, the patients with schizophrenia exhibited lower anisotropy in white matter, despite absence of a white matter volume deficit. In contrast to the white matter pattern, gray matter anisotropy did not distinguish the groups, even though the patients with schizophrenia had a significant gray matter volume deficit. The abnormal white matter anisotropy in patients with schizophrenia was present in both hemispheres and was widespread, extending from the frontal to occipital brain regions. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the small sample size, diffusion tensor imaging was powerful enough to yield significant group differences, indicating widespread alteration in brain white matter integrity but not necessarily white matter volume in schizophrenia.

A controlled study of cortical gray matter and ventricular changes in alcoholic men over a 5-year interval.

BACKGROUND: We report on structural brain changes during a 5-year period in healthy control and alcoholic men. METHODS: Alcoholic patients (n = 16), from an initial group of 58 who underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging scanning while in treatment, were rescanned with the same acquisition sequence approximately 5 years later. Control subjects (n = 28) spanning the same age range also were scanned twice at a comparable interval. Changes in brain volume were corrected for error due to differences in head placement between scans and expressed as slopes (cubic centimeters per year), percentage of change over baseline for the control subjects, and standardized change for the alcoholic patients. The alcoholic patients varied considerably in the percentage of time that symptoms of alcohol dependence were present and in the amount of alcohol consumed during follow-up. RESULTS: The cortical gray matter diminished in volume over time in the control subjects, most prominently in the prefrontal cortex, while the lateral and third ventricles enlarged. The alcoholic patients showed similar age-related changes with a greater rate of gray matter volume loss than the control subjects in the anterior superior temporal lobe. The amount of alcohol consumed during follow-up predicted the rate of cortical gray matter volume loss, as well as sulcal expansion. The rate of ventricular enlargement in alcoholic patients who maintained virtual sobriety was comparable to that in the control subjects. CONCLUSIONS: During a 5-year period, brain volume shrinkage is exaggerated in the prefrontal cortex in normal aging with additional loss in the anterior superior temporal cortex in alcoholism. The association of cortical gray matter volume reduction with alcohol consumption over time suggests that continued alcohol abuse results in progressive brain tissue volume shrinkage.

Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging of cortical gray and white matter in schizophrenia.

OBJECTIVE: To apply in vivo proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy imaging estimates of N-acetylaspartate (NAA), a neuronal marker, to clarify the relative contribution of neuronal and glial changes to the widespread volume deficit of cortical gray matter seen in patients with schizophrenia with magnetic resonance images. METHODS: Ten male veterans meeting criteria of the DSM-IV, for schizophrenia and 9 healthy age-matched men for comparison were scanned using spectroscopic, anatomical, and field-map sequences. Instrument and collection variables were standardized to allow an estimation of comparable values for NAA, choline, and creatine for all subjects. Metabolite values from each voxel on 3 upper cortical slices were regressed against the gray tissue proportion of that voxel to derive estimates of gray and white matter NAA, creatine, and choline concentrations. RESULTS: The volume of cortical gray matter was reduced in patients with schizophrenia, but NAA signal intensity from a comparable region was normal. In contrast, the volume of cortical white matter was normal in patients with schizophrenia, but NAA signal intensity from a comparable region was reduced. CONCLUSIONS: The lack of reduction in gray matter NAA signal intensity suggests that the cortical gray matter deficit in these patients involved both neuronal and glial compartments rather than a neurodegenerative process in which there is a decrease in the neuronal relative to the glial compartment. Reduced white matter NAA signal intensity without a white matter volume deficit may reflect abnormal axonal connections.

Contribution of alcohol abuse to cerebellar volume deficits in men with schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND: It is controversial whether cerebellar tissue volume deficits occur in schizophrenia and, if so, what regions and tissue types are affected. Complicating such investigations is the high incidence of alcoholism comorbidity in patients with schizophrenia that itself can contribute to cerebellar abnormalities. METHOD: We studied 61 healthy men (control subjects), 25 men with alcoholism, 27 men with schizophrenia, and 19 men comorbid for schizophrenia and alcoholism with the use of magnetic resonance imaging. Cerebellar structures were outlined manually, tissue classification was determined statistically, and regional volumes were corrected for normal variation in head size and age. RESULTS: Patients with schizophrenia alone had enlarged fourth ventricles (1.5 SD relative to controls) but showed no cerebellar tissue volume deficits. The alcoholic group had gray and white matter vermian deficits (-0.5 SD), most prominent in anterior superior lobules, and gray matter hemisphere deficits (-0.8 SD), but not fourth ventricle enlargement. The comorbid group had cerebellar hemisphere (-1.3 SD) and vermian gray matter volume deficits (-0.7 SD) and fourth ventricular enlargement (1.6 SD); these abnormalities were greater than in either single-diagnosis group, despite significantly lower levels of alcohol consumption compared with the alcoholic group. Gray matter volume in the anterior superior vermis correlated with lifetime alcohol consumption in the schizophrenic and comorbid groups when combined. CONCLUSIONS: Cerebellar tissue volume deficits were detected in schizophrenia only when accompanied by alcoholism. By contrast, fourth ventricular enlargement occurred in schizophrenia even without alcoholism, although it was exacerbated by alcoholism. These findings support a model of cerebellar supersensitivity to alcohol-related tissue volume deficits in schizophrenia.

Structural magnetic resonance imaging abnormalities in men with severe chronic schizophrenia and an early age at clinical onset.

BACKGROUND: Early age at onset of schizophrenia often signifies a more severe form of the illness. However, the relationship between age at onset and brain abnormalities has not been established. We assessed temporal-limbic morphometry in severely ill men with chronic schizophrenia who had a relatively early onset of illness and examined the relationships among regional brain volumes, clinical symptoms, and age at illness onset. METHOD: Temporal lobe, superior temporal gyrus, hippocampus, temporal horn, lateral ventricles, third ventricle, and frontoparietal volumes were measured on magnetic resonance imaging data from 56 schizophrenic men (mean [SD] age at illness onset, 16.6 [4.2] years) recruited from a state hospital and 52 age- and range-matched healthy control men. RESULTS: Patients had significantly smaller gray matter volumes in the temporal lobe, superior temporal gyrus, and frontoparietal regions; smaller temporal lobe white matter volumes; and larger cerebrospinal fluid volumes for temporal lobe sulci and the 3 ventricular measures. There were no group differences in hippocampal volumes. Psychotic symptom subscores from the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale were selectively correlated with smaller left posterior superior temporal gyrus gray matter volumes. None of the brain measurements were significantly correlated with age at illness onset. CONCLUSIONS: Data from this unique sample of severely ill schizophrenic men emphasize a pattern of structural abnormalities involving the cortex, but not the hippocampus, in schizophrenia. Furthermore, these data support theories suggesting that superior temporal gyrus abnormalities contribute selectively to psychotic symptoms and that the extent of structural abnormalities is unrelated to age of clinical symptom onset.

Low frequency dynamic viscoelastic properties of human mitral valve tissue.

The dynamic viscoelasticity of the anterior leaflet of human mitral valves was investigated by subjecting the ventricular aspect of membranous samples of the tissue to sinusoidal fluid pressures. The frequency range of the stressing function used was from 0.5 Hz to 5 Hz. The storage modulus of the tissue was found to be independent of the stressing frequency and an average value of 2.55 (SE = 0-12) X 10(8) dyn cm-2 was observed. Losses were small and the phase shift between stressing function and resulting strain and hence the loss modulus increased with frequency. For the frequency range investigated the phase shift varied from 0.04 to 0.06 rad and the loss modulus was of the order of 10(7) dyn cm-2. From the observed data it was concluded that any tissue substitute used in mitral valve replacement should be rather inextensible and have a low loss modulus. Also under normal physiological conditions, the mitral valve cannot bulge into the left atrium during peak ventricular systole and hence events in the cardiac cycle, such as the presence of the atrial pressure 'c' wave, that involve the distensibility of the valve need to be re-examined.

The Statistical Modeling of Aging and Risk of Transition Project: Data Collection and Harmonization Across 11 Longitudinal Cohort Studies of Aging, Cognition, and Dementia.

Longitudinal cognitive trajectories and other factors associated with mixed neuropathologies (such as Alzheimer's disease with co-occurring cerebrovascular disease) remain incompletely understood, despite being the rule and not the exception in older populations. The Statistical Modeling of Aging and Risk of Transition study (SMART) is a consortium of 11 different high-quality longitudinal studies of aging and cognition (N=11,541 participants) established for the purpose of characterizing risk and protective factors associated with subtypes of age-associated mixed neuropathologies (N=3,001 autopsies). While brain donation was not required for participation in all SMART cohorts, most achieved substantial autopsy rates (i.e., > 50%). Moreover, the studies comprising SMART have large numbers of participants who were followed from intact cognition and transitioned to cognitive impairment and dementia, as well as participants who remained cognitively intact until death. These data provide an exciting opportunity to apply sophisticated statistical methods, like Markov processes, that require large, well-characterized samples. Thus, SMART will serve as an important resource for the field of mixed dementia epidemiology and neuropathology.

Schizophrenics have fewer and smaller P300s: a single-trial analysis.

Because P300 is typically measured from an average of single trials, variations among individual trials may account for P300 amplitude reduction so often seen in patients with schizophrenia. We tested three hypotheses regarding single-trial contribution to small average P300s in schizophrenics: normal P300s are elicited on some trials and no P300s on others, all trials have consistently small P300s, or P300 latency varies over trials. Nineteen schizophrenics and 35 controls were tested on a two-tone auditory oddball event-related potential (ERP) paradigm. ERPs recorded from the parietal electrode (Pz) were subjected to a P300-screening procedure in which a 2 Hz half-sine wave template was moved across the electroencephalogram (EEG) to find the point of best fit. If, for the point of best fit, the EEG:Template covariance was greater in the signal epoch (280-600 msec) than in the noise epoch (610-930 msec), and if the EEG:Template correlation was statistically significant, the trial passed the P300-screen and was deemed to have a P300. Three types of average ERPs were constructed: Traditional Average from all good (artifact-free, correct response) trials, P300-Screen Average from all good trials that also passed the P300-screen, and Latency Adjusted Average by aligning the P300-screen trials at the latency of maximum covariance. Traditional average ERPs were significantly smaller in schizophrenics than in controls. The results of the P300-screen confirmed all three hypotheses: schizophrenics had fewer trials passing the P300-screen, smaller P300s on each trial, and P300s that were more variable in latency across trials.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Patterns of regional cortical dysmorphology distinguishing schizophrenia and chronic alcoholism.

BACKGROUND: This study used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to compare the extent and pattern of tissue volume deficit and cerebrospinal fluid volume enlargement in chronic alcoholics and schizophrenics. METHODS: The subjects included 62 detoxified chronic alcoholics (26-63 years), 71 schizophrenics (23-63 years), and 73 controls spanning the adult age range (21-70 years). MRI volumes were adjusted for normal variation in head size and age established from the control group. RESULTS: Both patient groups showed widespread cortical gray matter volume deficits compared with controls, but only the alcoholics had white matter volume deficits. The schizophrenics had significantly greater volume deficits in the prefrontal and anterior superior temporal gray matter than in the more posterior cortical regions. By contrast, the deficits in the alcoholics were relatively homogeneous across the cortex. For white matter, the deficits in the alcoholics were greatest in the prefrontal and temporal-parietal regions. Although both patient groups had abnormally larger cortical sulci and lateral and third ventricles than the controls, the alcoholics had significantly larger sulcal volumes in the frontal, anterior, and posterior parietal-occipital regions than the schizophrenics. CONCLUSIONS: This quantitative MRI study revealed different patterns of regional cortical volume abnormalities in schizophrenics and alcoholics. The schizophrenic group exhibited cortical gray matter volume deficits of modestly greater magnitude than that observed in the alcoholic group, and the alcoholics but not the schizophrenics exhibited cortical white matter volume deficits.