Lisdexamfetamine Alters BOLD-fMRI Activations Induced by Odor Cues in Impulsive Children.

INTRODUCTION: Lisdexamfetamine (LDX) is a drug used to treat ADHD/impulsive patients. Impulsivity is known to affect inhibitory, emotional and cognitive function. On the other hand, smell and odor processing are known to be affected by neurological disorders, as they are modulators of addictive and impulsive behaviors specifically. We hypothesize that, after LDX ingestion, inhibitory pathways of the brain would change, and complementary behavioral regulation mechanisms would appear to regulate decision-making and impulsivity. METHODS: 20 children were studied in an aleatory crossover study. Imaging of BOLD-fMRI activity, elicited by olfactory stimulation in impulsive children, was performed after either LDX or placebo ingestion. RESULTS: Findings showed that all subjects who underwent odor stimulation presented activations of similar intensities in the olfactory centers of the brain. This contrasted with inhibitory regions of the brain such as the cingulate cortex and frontal lobe regions, which demonstrated changed activity patterns and intensities. While some differences between the placebo and medicated states were found in motor areas, precuneus, cuneus, calcarine, supramarginal, cerebellum and posterior cingulate cortex, the main changes were found in frontal, temporal and parietal cortices. When comparing olfactory cues separately, pleasant food smells like chocolate seemed not to present large differences between the medicated and placebo scenarios, when compared to non-food-related smells. CONCLUSION: It was demonstrated that LDX, first, altered the inhibitory pathways of the brain, secondly it increased activity in several brain regions which were not activated by smell in drug-naïve patients, and thirdly, it facilitated a complementary behavioral regulation mechanism, run by the cerebellum, which regulated decision-making and impulsivity in motor and frontal structures.

Skeletal Maturation in the Current Pediatric Mexican Population.

OBJECTIVE: The most commonly used methods for bone age (BA) reading were described in the Caucasian population decades ago. However, there are secular trends in skeletal maturation and different BA patterns between ethnic groups. Automated BA reading makes updating references easier and more precise than human reading. The objective of the present study was to present automated BA reference curves according to chronological age and gender in the Mexican population and compare the maturation tempo with that of other populations. METHODS: The study included 923 healthy participants aged 5 to 18 years between 2017 and 2018. A hand radio-graph was analyzed using BoneXpert software to obtain the automated BA reading according to Greulich and Pyle (G&P) and Tanner-Whitehouse 2 (TW2) references. We constructed reference curves using the average difference between the BA and chronological age according to sex and age. RESULTS: The G&P and TW2 automated reference curves showed that Mexican boys exhibit delays in BA during middle childhood by 0.5 to 0.7 (95% confidence interval [CI], -0.9 to -0.2) years; however, they demonstrate an advanced BA of up to 1.1 (95% CI, 0.8 to 1.4) years at the end of puberty. Mexican girls exhibited a delay in BA by 0.3 to 0.6 (95% CI, -0.9 to -0.1) years before puberty and an advanced BA of up to 0.9 (95% CI, 0.7 to 1.2) years at the end of puberty. CONCLUSION: Mexican children aged <10 years exhibited a delay in skeletal maturity, followed by an advanced BA by approximately 1 year at the end of puberty. This may affect the estimation of growth potential in this population.

Correction: A Multi-Methodological MR Resting State Network Analysis to Assess the Changes in Brain Physiology of Children with ADHD.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0099119.].