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Purpose Methods and materials Results Conclusion Personal information and conflict of interest References, Purpose: Bipolar disorder (BD) is a common mental health condition that manifests in extreme affective instability among youth and adults [1], with the recognition that it develops in a spectrum of successive clinical stages. Regarding its high heritability,...

This meta-analysis aims to identify patterns of neural abnormalities associated with working memory across the three illness courses in schizophrenia (clinical high risk, first-episode psychosis and long-term schizophrenia), by comparing fMRI findings between subjects at these three stages and healthy controls respectively using unbiased whole-brain approach. The coordinate-based meta-analyses performed via Seed-based d Mapping with Permutation of Subject Images may elucidate the brain markers across disorders and bridge the gap between MRI-derived brain alterations and psychiatric diagnoses.

Purpose Methods and materials Results Conclusion Personal information and conflict of interest References, Purpose: Severe mental health problems with the represent of negative affect symptoms have been increasingly reported during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic [1, 2]. The severity of negative affect for individuals may vary due to external...

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a highly prevalent psychiatric disorder that often presents as inattention and cognitive impairment in both children and adults. Methylphenidate, an indirect catecholamine agonist, is the most commonly used psychostimulant for ADHD that blocks both dopamine transporter and norepinephrine transporter, while non-stimulants (mostly atomoxetine, a selective nor-epinephrine inhibitor) also serve as an alternative. Both medications may mitigate clinical symptoms of ADHD cases through both common and divergent neurophysiologic actions in frontoparietal regions, but about one-third of children have a preferential response to either stimulants or non-stimulants. To identify individuals with better treatment responses to specific medications, identifying their distinct neuropharmacological substrates of these medications may facilitate better clinical strategies, and their partially overlapping neural bases may indicate novel therapeutic markers for medication. Herein, we hypothesize that differential and overlapping actions for stimulant and non-stimulant treatments of ADHD derive from frontoparietal therapeutic alterations. To investigate their normalization effects on neural mechanisms, we will perform a comparative meta-analysis on task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies to investigate the brain activation patterns in response to stimulants and non-stimulants. The finding could have implications for individualized medication strategies based on neuroimaging approach and help to enhance the treatment response by achieving preciseness of therapeutic targets.

The aim of the current meta-analysis is to identify brain regions where brain activity was significantly correlated with extraversion in healthy individuals by systematically reviewing whole-brain functional neuroimaging studies. The imputed maps of pooled functional activation will be meta-analyzed by Seed-based d Mapping with Permutation of Subject Images (SDM-PSI, version 6.21, https://www.sdmproject.com/). Findings based on our study may elucidate neural functional correlates of extraversion. Personality is relatively stable underlying a fundamental aspect that interacts with environment and differs among individuals (Mathew et al., 1984). As one of the most important personality traits, extraversion calls more attention in the field of neuroimaging to shed light into its neural substrates. A considerable amount of literature has proven that extraversion plays a key role in life outcomes and mental health (Costa & McCrae, 1992a). Extraverts have always been described as impulsive, optimistic, active, sociable, outgoing and talkative, while introverts tend to be quiet, unsociable, careful and passive (Eysenck, 1963; Goldberg, 1990; Gray, 1970). The two most commonly used assessments for extraversion are the NEO Five-Factor Inventory and the Eysenck Personality Questionnaire (EPQ) (Costa & McCrae, 1992a; Eysenck & Eysenck, 1975). Recent advances in functional brain imaging, including positron emission tomography (PET), single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) and task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (task-fMRI) facilitate investigation of the neural correlates of extraversion. Functional brain imaging studies provide evidence that extraversion has specific neural functional correlates within several identified brain regions, especially within frontal, temporal, and subcortical regions. Stenberg et al. found lower cerebral blood flow in the temporal lobes in healthy volunteers with high extraversion at rest (Stenberg et al., 1993). In Kumari’s study, extraversion scores measured by EPQ were negatively associated with rs-fMRI signal intensityin the thalamus and Broca’s area extending to Wernicke’s area (Kumari et al., 2004). Using passive scene viewing task and emotional stroop task, Canli et al. identified an association between extraversion and the blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) signal in several brain regions, such as amygdala, middle frontal gyrus and inferior frontal gyrus (Canli et al., 2001; Canli et al., 2004). However, the relationship between brain activities and extraversion has been extremely inconsistent in reported studies. In this regard, we will conduct a meta-analysis of previous research findings to obtain a comprehensive and consistent understanding of the whole-brain functional neuroimaging basis underlying extraversion.

This meta-analysis aims to investigate the common and distinct neural profiles of borderline personality disorder and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder, including the shared and disorder-specific neuroanatomical and neurofunctional correlates underlying cognitive disinhibition and emotional dysregulation. The coordinate-based meta-analyses performed via Seed-based d Mapping with Permutation of Subject Images may elucidate the brain markers across disorders and bridge the gap between MRI-derived brain alterations and psychiatric diagnoses. From the perspective of DSM-5, it is difficult for a clinical psychiatrist to distinguish attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) from borderline personality disorder (BPD) in adults (Battle, 2013). The co-morbidity is another critical clinical issue with the estimation that 38% of BPD diagnoses co-occur with ADHD, and 18% to 27% of adults with ADHD have the comorbidity of BPD (O’Malley et al., 2016). The heterogeneity and similarity between BPD and ADHD call for the investigation towards the potential psychopathological mechanisms. Apart from the maintaining factors (e.g., adverse childhood experience and genetic link) that lead to different trajectories and comorbidity, their distinct and overlapped brain abnormalities are poorly understood. In this regard, we would provide a transdiagnostic review investigating the neural substrates of BPD and ADHD to facilitate the diagnoses of differentiating and comorbidity and bring light to the corresponding intervention approaches.

To investigate the common and distinct neural patterns of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and Bipolar Disorder (BD) in children/adolescents, we will employ Seed-based d Mapping (SDM) software to analyze studies comparing children/adolescents with ADHD or BD with healthy individuals on gray matter volume. We hypothesize the overlapping brain structural alterations will be identified in regions associated with behavioral and emotional domains, while the differentiated neural substrates may lie in brain regions underlying cognitive performance.

Mood disorders are heritable mental disorders with associated brain alterations that are observed preceding illness onset in at-risk individuals. Functional imaging of unaffected relatives at high familial risk facilitates the investigation of such intermediate neural endophenotypes for mood disorders. However, substantial findings lack consistency, and the severity of abnormalities have not yet been established. To identify robust brain functional abnormalities related to familial risk for mood disorders, we performed a meta-analysis of task-based functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies of unaffected relatives of patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar disorder (BD). Functional decoding and meta-analytic connectivity modeling were applied to advance the understanding of identified findings. A total of 39 studies comparing 1121 high-risk relatives and 1367 healthy controls (HC) were included. Compared with HC, relatives of patients with mood disorders exhibited hyper-activation in the right insula, and hypo-activation in the left inferior parietal lobule and precuneus. Disorder-specific analysis identified the hyper-activated limbic areas in relatives at familial risk for BD. No robust MDD-specific findings were observed, which might be ascribed to its lower heritability compared with BD. These findings provide promising neural phenotypes for familial risk and genetic vulnerability in mood disorders. Further investigation towards these underlying neural correlates may have practical implications in clinical identification of at-risk individuals for guiding prevention efforts.