Gyrification across psychotic disorders: A bipolar-schizophrenia network of intermediate phenotypes study.

BACKGROUND: The profiles of cortical gyrification across schizophrenia, bipolar I disorder, and schizoaffective disorder have been studied to a limited extent, report discordant findings, and are rarely compared in the same study. Here we assess gyrification in a large dataset of psychotic disorder probands, categorized according to the DSM-IV. Furthermore, we explore gyrification changes with age across healthy controls and probands. METHODS: Participants were recruited within the Bipolar-Schizophrenia Network of Intermediate Phenotypes study and received T1-MPRAGE and clinical assessment. Gyrification was measured using FreeSurfer 7.1.0. Pairwise t-tests were conducted in R, and age-related gyrification changes were analyzed in MATLAB. P values <0.05 after false discovery rate correction were considered significant. RESULTS: Significant hypogyria in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and schizoaffective disorder probands compared to controls was found, with a significant difference bilaterally in the frontal lobe between schizophrenia and bipolar disorder probands. Verbal memory was associated with gyrification in the right frontal and right cingulate cortex in schizophrenia. Age-fitted gyrification curves differed significantly among psychotic disorders and controls. CONCLUSIONS: Findings indicate hypogyria in DSM-IV psychotic disorders compared to controls and suggest differential patterns of gyrification across the different diagnoses. The study extends age related models of gyrification to psychotic disorder probands and supports that age-related differences in gyrification may differ across diagnoses. Fitted gyrification curves among probands categorized by DSM-IV significantly deviate from controls, with the model capturing early hypergyria and later hypogyria in schizophrenia compared to controls; this suggests unique disease and age-related changes in gyrification across psychotic disorders.

Characterization of childhood trauma, hippocampal mediation and Cannabis use in a large dataset of psychosis and non-psychosis individuals.

BACKGROUND: Cannabis use (CA) and childhood trauma (CT) independently increase the risk of earlier psychosis onset; but their interaction in relation to psychosis risk and association with endocannabinoid-receptor rich brain regions, i.e. the hippocampus (HP), remains unclear. The objective was to determine whether lower age of psychosis onset (AgePsyOnset) is associated with CA and CT through mediation by the HP volumes, and genetic risk, as measured by schizophrenia polygene scores (SZ-PGRS). METHODS: Cross-sectional, case-control, multicenter sample from 5 metropolitan US regions. Participants (n = 1185) included 397 controls not affected by psychosis (HC); 209 participants with bipolar disorder type-1; 279 with schizoaffective disorder; and 300 with schizophrenia (DSM IV-TR). CT was assessed using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ); CA was assessed by self-reports and trained clinical interviewers. Assessment included neuroimaging, symptomatology, cognition and calculation of the SZ polygenic risk score (SZ-PGRS). RESULTS: In survival analysis, CT and CA exposure interact to be associated with lower AgePsyOnset. At high CT or CA, CT or CA are individually sufficient to affect AgePsyOnset. CT relation with AgePsyOnset is mediated in part by the HP in CA users before AgePsyOnset. CA before AgePsyOnset is associated with higher SZ-PGRS and correlated with younger age at CA usage. DISCUSSION: CA and CT interact to increase risk when moderate; while severe CT and/or CA abuse/dependence are each sufficient to affect AgePsyOnset, indicating a ceiling effect. Probands with/out CA before AgePsyOnset differ on biological variables, suggesting divergent pathways to psychosis. FUNDING: MH077945; MH096942; MH096913; MH077862; MH103368; MH096900; MH122759.

A Snapshot of Female Representation in Twelve Academic Psychiatry Institutions Around the World.

The study presented here aims at bringing a global perspective to the phenomenon of unequal representation of females in science by offering empirical data of female representation in neuroscience/schizophrenia academic or clinical departments in several institutions around the world. We took advantage of a budding network of scientists and colleagues from different countries to bring the data together. The data presented are related to sex, that is the biological distinction between males and females, based on genetics and reproductive anatomy, while gender, considered a cultural concept was harder to determine. We report data from two clinical/academic departments in Nigeria, Africa; 2 clinical/academic departments from Sudan, Africa; 1 clinical/academic department from South Africa, Africa; 3 academic institutions from Ireland, Europe; 1 clinical/academic institution from Spain, Europe; 2 academic institutions from Buenos Aires University, Argentina; and the Psychiatry Departments at Harvard Medical School, Boston, USA.