Reduced gray matter volume in ventral prefrontal cortex but not amygdala in bipolar disorder:significant effects of gender and trait anxiety

Neuroimaging studies in bipolar disorder report gray matter volume (GMV) abnormalities in neural regions implicated in emotion regulation. This includes a reduction in ventral/orbital medial prefrontal cortex (OMPFC) GMV and, inconsistently, increases in amygdala GMV. We aimed to examine OMPFC and amygdala GMV in bipolar disorder type 1 patients (BPI) versus healthy control participants (HC), and the potential confounding effects of gender, clinical and illness history variables and psychotropic medication upon any group differences that were demonstrated in OMPFC and amygdala GMV. Images were acquired from 27 BPI (17 euthymic, 10 depressed) and 28 age- and gender-matched HC in a 3T Siemens scanner. Data were analyzed with SPM5 using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to assess main effects of diagnostic group and gender upon whole brain (WB) GMV. Post-hoc analyses were subsequently performed using SPSS to examine the extent to which clinical and illness history variables and psychotropic medication contributed to GMV abnormalities in BPI in a priori and non-a priori regions has demonstrated by the above VBM analyses. BPI showed reduced GMV in bilateral posteromedial rectal gyrus (PMRG), but no abnormalities in amygdala GMV. BPI also showed reduced GMV in two non-a priori regions: left parahippocampal gyrus and left putamen. For left PMRG GMV, there was a significant group by gender by trait anxiety interaction. GMV was significantly reduced in male low-trait anxiety BPI versus male low-trait anxiety HC, and in high- versus low-trait anxiety male BPI. Our results show that in BPI there were significant effects of gender and trait-anxiety, with male BPI and those high in trait-anxiety showing reduced left PMRG GMV. PMRG is part of medial prefrontal network implicated in visceromotor and emotion regulation.

The Maudsley Early Onset Schizophrenia Study:The effect of age of onset and illness duration on fronto-parietal gray matter

Objective: In Early Onset Schizophrenia (EOS; onset before the 18th birthday) late brain maturational changes may interact with disease mechanisms leading to a wave of back to front structural changes during adolescence. To further explore this effect we examined the relationship between age of onset and duration of illness on brain morphology in adolescents with EOS. Subjects and methods: Structural brain magnetic resonance imaging scans were obtained from 40 adolescents with EOS. We used Voxel Based Morphometry and multiple regressions analyses, implemented in SPM, to examine the relationship between gray matter volume with age of onset and illness duration. Results: Age of onset showed a positive correlation with regional gray matter volume in the right superior parietal lobule (Brodmann Area 7). Duration of illness was inversely related to regional gray matter volume in the left inferior frontal gyrus (BA 11/47). Conclusions: Parietal gray matter loss may contribute to the onset of schizophrenia while orbitofrontal gray matter loss is associated with illness duration. © 2008 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Social movement studies, Social movement studies, and the challenges of Parochialism:a rejoinder to Poulson, Caswell and Gray

In this short rejoinder, I briefly contextualise and discuss the implications of Poulson, Caswell and Gray's article for Social Movement Studies. © 2014 Taylor & Francis.

Hamid Tafazoli und Richard T. Gray (Hg.): Außenraum – Mitraum – Innenraum. Heterotopien in Kultur und Gesellschaft

Review of Hamid Tafazoli und Richard T. Gray (Hg.): Außenraum – Mitraum – Innenraum. Heterotopien in Kultur und Gesellschaft