Corrigendum to: "Striatal changes in Parkinson disease: An investigation of morphology, functional connectivity and their relationship to clinical symptoms" [Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging. Volume 275 (May 2018), Pages 5-13]

The authors regret a mistake in the Discussion section of this article, where we stated: “As lateralised analysis only demonstrated volumetric reductions of the right caudate nucleus and the left putamen, our results only partially support our hypotheses.” The correct statement is “As lateralised analysis only demonstrated volumetric reductions of the left caudate nucleus and the right putamen, our results only partially support our hypotheses.” The authors would like to apologise for any inconvenience caused

Regional structural hypo- and hyperconnectivity of frontal-striatal and frontal-thalamic pathways in behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia

Behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) has been predominantly considered as a frontotemporal cortical disease, with limited direct investigation of frontal–subcortical connections. We aim to characterize the grey and white matter components of frontal–thalamic and frontal–striatal circuits in bvFTD. Twenty‐four patients with bvFTD and 24 healthy controls underwent morphological and diffusion imaging. Subcortical structures were manually segmented according to published protocols. Probabilistic pathways were reconstructed separately from the dorsolateral, orbitofrontal and medial prefrontal cortex to the striatum and thalamus. Patients with bvFTD had smaller cortical and subcortical volumes, lower fractional anisotropy, and higher mean diffusivity metrics, which is consistent with disruptions in frontal–striatal–thalamic pathways. Unexpectedly, regional volumes of the striatum and thalamus connected to the medial prefrontal cortex were significantly larger in bvFTD (by 135% in the striatum, p = .032, and 217% in the thalamus, p = .004), despite smaller dorsolateral prefrontal cortex connected regional volumes (by 67% in the striatum, p = .002, and 65% in the thalamus, p = .020), and inconsistent changes in orbitofrontal cortex connected regions. These unanticipated findings may represent compensatory or maladaptive remodeling in bvFTD networks. Comparisons are made to other neuropsychiatric disorders suggesting a common mechanism of changes in frontal–subcortical networks; however, longitudinal studies are necessary to test this hypothesis.Miller Family Bridgewater Illawarra Health and Medical Research Initiative Summer Scholarship; The Swedish Alzheimer foundation; Thureus foundation; The Swedish Society for Medical Research; The Bente Rexed Gersteds Foundation for Brain Researc

Obesity and nutrition behaviours in Western and Palestinian outpatients with severe mental illness

Extent: 7p.Background: While people with severe mental illness have been found to be more overweight and obese in Western nations, it is unknown to what extent this occurs in Middle Eastern nations and which eating behaviours contribute to obesity in Middle Eastern nations. Method: A total of 665 responses were obtained from patients with serious mental illness attending out-patient clinics in Western developed countries (Germany, UK and Australia; n = 518) and Palestine (n = 147). Patients were evaluated by ICD-10 clinical diagnosis, anthropometric measurements and completed a self-report measure of frequencies of consuming different food items and reasons for eating. Nutritional habits were compared against a Western normative group. Results: More participants from Palestine were overweight or obese (62%) compared to Western countries (47%). In the Western sample, obese patients reported consuming more low-fat products (OR 2.54, 95% CI 1.02-6.33) but also greater eating due to negative emotions (OR 1.84, 95% CI 1.31-2.60) than patients with a healthy body-mass index. In contrast, obese patients from Palestine reported increased consumption of unhealthy snacks (OR 3.73 95% CI 1.16-12.00). Conclusion: Patients with mental illness have poorer nutritional habits than the general population, particularly in Western nations. Separate interventions to improve nutritional habits and reduce obesity are warranted between Western nations and Palestine.David Jakabek, Frances Quirk, Martin Driessen, Yousef Aljeesh and Bernhard T Baun

An MRI study of white matter tract integrity in regular cannabis users: effects of cannabis use and age

Rationale Conflicting evidence exists on the effects of cannabis use on brain white matter integrity. The extant literature has exclusively focused on younger cannabis users, with no studies sampling older cannabis users. Objectives We recruited a sample with a broad age range to examine the integrity of major white matter tracts in association with cannabis use parameters and neurodevelopmental stage. Methods Regular cannabis users (n = 56) and non-users (n = 20) with a mean age of 32 (range 18-55 years) underwent structural and diffusion MRI scans. White matter was examined using voxel-based statistics and via probabilistic tract reconstruction. The integrity of tracts was assessed using average fractional anisotropy, axial diffusivity and radial diffusivity. Diffusion measures were compared between users and non-users and as group-by-age interactions. Correlations between diffusion measures and age of onset, duration, frequency and dose of current cannabis use were examined. Results Cannabis users overall had lower fractional anisotropy than healthy non-users in the forceps minor tract only (p = .015, partial eta = 0.07), with no voxel-wise differences observed. Younger users showed predominantly reduced axial diffusivity, whereas older users had higher radial diffusivity in widespread tracts. Higher axial diffusivity was associated with duration of cannabis use in the cingulum angular bundle (beta = 5.00 x 10−5, p = .003). Isolated higher AD in older cannabis users was also observed. Conclusions The findings suggest that exogenous cannabinoids alter normal brain maturation, with differing effects at various neurodevelopmental stages of life. These age-related differences are posited to account for the disparate results described in the literature

Attachment style, perceived social support and health behaviour

This study examined the relationship between attachment style, satisfaction with social support and the practise of health behaviours versus risk behaviours. There were 105 respondents (31 male, 74 female) who participated in the study. Attachment was assessed using the Relationship Styles Questionnaire. Health promoting and risk behaviours were assessed across the domains of exercise, smoking, drinking, drug use, hygiene, diet, driving and sexual behaviour. Satisfaction with social support was measured using the Social Support Questionnaire. Attachment was not significantly associated with risk behaviours. Regression analyses found main effects for secure (beta = .243), fearful (beta = -.263) and dismissing (beta = -.267) attachment styles on the practise of health promoting behaviours, indicating that those with a fearful or dismissing attachment style were less likely to practise health behaviours. Secure, fearful and preoccupied attachment styles were significantly linked to satisfaction with social support, those with fearful and preoccupied attachment being less satisfied with the support received. Satisfaction with social support was associated with the practise of more health behaviours. Using bootstrapping techniques, satisfaction with social support significantly mediated the influence of secure and fearful attachment style on health behaviour. Findings have implications for the provision of support interventions for those with insecure attachment to enhance health-promoting behaviours

Assessing the end of post-traumatic amnesia from an executive attention paradigm

Background and Aim: Attention is implicated as the primary deficit of post-traumatic amnesia (PTA) by historical accounts and recent research. Paradoxically, attention is not directly assessed by the commonly used Westmead PTA Scale (WPTAS). Tentative validation was provided by Tate et al. (2006) who found few improvements in a limited subset of attention tasks by severely brain-injured patients between the first 12/12 score and the final of three consecutive 12/12 scores on the WPTAS. The aim of the current study was to examine the end stage of PTA as measured by the WPTAS against a broader array of executive attention tasks. \ud \ud Method: Fifteen participants (M:F 8:7, aged 34 ± 15 years [range: 18-63 years]) with predominately moderate-severe brain injury were assessed on information processing, verbal fluency, updating, inhibition/selective attention and switching tasks. Participants were assessed on the first 12/12 score on the WPTAS and the final of three consecutive 12/12 scores. Practice effects of testing were considered against 15 demographically matched controls assessed between equivalent intervals. \ud \ud Results: Repeated-measures ANOVA found only speed of processing to significantly improve as PTA resolved over and above the practice effect of a control group (between-within interaction F(1,28) = 5.78, p = 0.023). However, no significant improvement over a control group was noted for any other more complex measure of attention or executive functioning. \ud \ud Conclusion: The lack of a broader improvement in executive attention abilities suggests that patients have likely emerged from PTA by the first 12/12 score on the WPTAS

Obesity and nutrition behaviours in Western and Palestinian outpatients with severe mental illness

Jakabek D, Quirk F, Driessen M, Aljeesh Y, Baune BT. Obesity and nutrition behaviours in Western and Palestinian outpatients with severe mental illness. BMC Psychiatry. 2011;11: 159.**Background** While people with severe mental illness have been found to be more overweight and obese in Western nations, it is unknown to what extent this occurs in Middle Eastern nations and which eating behaviours contribute to obesity in Middle Eastern nations. **Method** A total of 665 responses were obtained from patients with serious mental illness attending out-patient clinics in Western developed countries (Germany, UK and Australia; n = 518) and Palestine (n = 147). Patients were evaluated by ICD-10 clinical diagnosis, anthropometric measurements and completed a self-report measure of frequencies of consuming different food items and reasons for eating. Nutritional habits were compared against a Western normative group. **Results** More participants from Palestine were overweight or obese (62%) compared to Western countries (47%). In the Western sample, obese patients reported consuming more low-fat products (OR 2.54, 95% CI 1.02-6.33) but also greater eating due to negative emotions (OR 1.84, 95% CI 1.31-2.60) than patients with a healthy body-mass index. In contrast, obese patients from Palestine reported increased consumption of unhealthy snacks (OR 3.73 95% CI 1.16-12.00). **Conclusion** Patients with mental illness have poorer nutritional habits than the general population, particularly in Western nations. Separate interventions to improve nutritional habits and reduce obesity are warranted between Western nations and Palestine

Post-traumatic amnesia

Of patients hospitalised for traumatic brain injury (TBI), most pass through a state of altered consciousness known as "post-traumatic amnesia" (PTA). Despite the lack of a consistent definition, PTA is widely used as a construct in neurosurgical practice to guide decision-making and prognosis. Accurate PTA assessment is important, because over-evaluation leads to excess social, financial and opportunity costs, whilst under-evaluation risks patient welfare. Whilst anterograde memory is certainly disrupted in PTA, PTA in fact involves a far more extensive memory disturbance. More instructively, the complete "post-TBI syndrome" also comprises an extensive cognitive deficit which includes a confusional state, as well as a behavioural disturbance characterised by acute agitation. Recently, impairments in attention and executive functioning have also been emphasised; indeed, some consider these the primary disturbance with PTA. Although all of these features were fully described (or implied) by the earliest pioneers, most current PTA scores do not assess the complete "post-TBI syndrome". Currently, the Westmead PTA scale (WPTAS) directs most in-hospital TBI management throughout Australasia: however, in addition to general defects, specific limitations have been identified in the levels of evidence for WPTAS validity. We review the literature regarding PTA and, in particular, the continued role of the WPTAS in directing neurosurgical practice

Bipolar Affective Disorder: The Striatal Morphological Correlates

Background: Strong evidence is emerging that implicates corticobasal ganglia circuit abnormalities in the expression of affective illnesses, such as bipolar affective disorder (BAD). The striatum (comprising caudate, putamen and nucleus accumbens) has been shown to be reduced in size in younger patients with BAD, and we wish to explore this in an older cohort. Objectives: We aim to refine our understanding of the relationship between striatal morphology and the progression and features of BAD in older persons. Methods: We are conducting a case–control study in an older population (>45 years) utilising brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans and clinical data in patients with BAD (N = 18) and healthy controls (N = 21). Using the ANALYZE (Analyze Direct Inc.) software system and spherical harmonic (SPHARM) software, we will measure the volume and shape of the caudate and the putamen. We will analyse striatal morphology and bipolar status both between groups and within groups for clinical features of neuropsychiatric dysfunction. Findings: We expect that striatal volume will be reduced in patients with BAD compared to controls and that within groups volume will be correlated with the severity of neuropsychological dysfunction. Conclusions: This project will elucidate brain structural– functional correlations of BA