Neuroanatomical Abnormalities in Violent Individuals with and without a Diagnosis of Schizophrenia

Several structural brain abnormalities have been associated with aggression in patients with schizophrenia. However, little is known about shared and distinct abnormalities underlying aggression in these subjects and non-psychotic violent individuals. We applied a region-of interest volumetric analysis of the amygdala, hippocampus, and thalamus bilaterally, as well as whole brain and ventricular volumes to investigate violent (n = 37) and non-violent chronic patients (n = 26) with schizophrenia, non-psychotic violent (n = 24) as well as healthy control subjects (n = 24). Shared and distinct volumetric abnormalities were probed by analysis of variance with the factors violence (non-violent versus violent) and diagnosis (non-psychotic versus psychotic), adjusted for substance abuse, age, academic achievement and negative psychotic symptoms. Patients showed elevated vCSF volume, smaller left hippocampus and smaller left thalamus volumes. This was particularly the case for non-violent individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia. Furthermore, patients had reduction in right thalamus size. With regard to left amygdala, we found an interaction between violence and diagnosis. More specifically, we report a double dissociation with smaller amygdala size linked to violence in non-psychotic individuals, while for psychotic patients smaller size was linked to non-violence. Importantly, the double dissociation appeared to be mostly driven by substance abuse. Overall, we found widespread morphometric abnormalities in subcortical regions in schizophrenia. No evidence for shared volumetric abnormalities in individuals with a history of violence was found. Finally, left amygdala abnormalities in non-psychotic violent individuals were largely accounted for by substance abuse. This might be an indication that the association between amygdala reduction and violence is mediated by substance abuse. Our results indicate the importance of structural abnormalities in aggressive individuals

Application of the Climate Vulnerability Index (CVI): Vegaøyan – the Vega Archipelago World Heritage property

Climate change has been identified as the fastest-growing threat to World Heritage (WH) and many WH properties are already experiencing negative impacts. This has resulted in the degradation of the values for which many WH properties were listed and, as a consequence, there are impacts upon the communities associated with these properties. As the climate crisis intensifies, there remains an urgent need to understand the climate vulnerability of the world’s natural and cultural heritage. This report describes the outcomes from an application of the Climate Vulnerability Index (CVI) for the Vega Archipelago. The CVI is a methodology to rapidly assess the vulnerability of natural and cultural WH properties. It systematically evaluates the realised and potential impacts upon the values that collectively comprise the Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) of the property, as well as the consequent impacts upon the economic, social and cultural (ESC) elements of the associated community. The CVI process was carried out through workshops involving the property managers, researchers, and representatives from relevant agencies, municipalities, NGOs and the community. The other seven Norwegian WH properties were also represented, providing an opportunity to increase the awareness about climate change, and to acquire and exchange knowledge and experience relevant to cultural and natural heritage management