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Contains fulltext : 191289.pdf (Publisher’s version ) (Open Access) Despite decades of research, the pathophysiology of bipolar disorder (BD) is still not well understood. Structural brain differences have been associated with BD, but results from neuroimaging studies have been inconsistent. To address this, we performed the largest study to date of cortical gray matter thickness and surface area measures from brain magnetic resonance imaging scans of 6503 individuals including 1837 unrelated adults with BD and 2582 unrelated healthy controls for group differences while also examining the effects of commonly prescribed medications, age of illness onset, history of psychosis, mood state, age and sex differences on cortical regions. In BD, cortical gray matter was thinner in frontal, temporal and parietal regions of both brain hemispheres. BD had the strongest effects on left pars opercularis (Cohen's d=-0.293; P=1.71 x 10(-21)), left fusiform gyrus (d=-0.288; P=8.25 x 10(-21)) and left rostral middle frontal cortex (d=-0.276; P=2.99 x 10(-19)). Longer duration of illness (after accounting for age at the time of scanning) was associated with reduced cortical thickness in frontal, medial parietal and occipital regions. We found that several commonly prescribed medications, including lithium, antiepileptic and antipsychotic treatment showed significant associations with cortical thickness and surface area, even after accounting for patients who received multiple medications. We found evidence of reduced cortical surface area associated with a history of psychosis but no associations with mood state at the time of scanning. Our analysis revealed previously undetected associations and provides an extensive analysis of potential confounding variables in neuroimaging studies of BD.

Sonmartel forms part of the anticlinal Cornu-Foulets Chain of the Neuchâtel High Jura. The strata exposed in the district include much of the Malm (Argovien to Purbeckien), the Lower Cretaceous (Berriasien to Hauterivien) and some Tertiary rocks (Siderolithique, Helvetian Miocene). An outline account is given of the Mesozoic formations, the distribution of marker bands being shown on the map (Pl. 1).

THE first results from a geological survey of the floor of the Bristol Channel, carried out during the spring of 1960, have already been reported1. Jurassic rocks were found “from the Holms westwards to beyond Ilfracombe” which were thought to be of Liassic age, but macrofaunal evidence was scanty and no estimate could be made of the extent of the Jurassic sequence.