Brain connectomes in youth at risk for serious mental illness: an exploratory analysis

Abstract Background Identifying early biomarkers of serious mental illness (SMI)—such as changes in brain structure and function—can aid in early diagnosis and treatment. Whole brain structural and functional connectomes were investigated in youth at risk for SMI. Methods Participants were classified as healthy controls (HC; n = 33), familial risk for serious mental illness (stage 0; n = 31), mild symptoms (stage 1a; n = 37), attenuated syndromes (stage 1b; n = 61), or discrete disorder (transition; n = 9) based on clinical assessments. Imaging data was collected from two sites. Graph-theory based analysis was performed on the connectivity matrix constructed from whole-brain white matter fibers derived from constrained spherical deconvolution of the diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) scans, and from the correlations between brain regions measured with resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data. Results Linear mixed effects analysis and analysis of covariance revealed no significant differences between groups in global or nodal metrics after correction for multiple comparisons. A follow up machine learning analysis broadly supported the findings. Several non-overlapping frontal and temporal network differences were identified in the structural and functional connectomes before corrections. Conclusions Results suggest significant brain connectome changes in youth at transdiagnostic risk may not be evident before illness onset

Additional file 1 of Brain connectomes in youth at risk for serious mental illness: an exploratory analysis

Additional file 1: Supplementary figure 1. Machine analysis flowchart. Supplementary figure 2. Structural and functional nodes with significant group differences (p <.05, uncorrected). Blue nodes are from the structural analysis, red nodes are from the functional analysis, and the purple nodes were found in both analyses. None of the differences survive FDR correction for multiple comparisons. See Table 2 for details

Additional file 2 of Brain connectomes in youth at risk for serious mental illness: an exploratory analysis

Additional file 2: Supplementary Table 1. Detailed clinical criteria for PROCAN [13]. Participants can meet Stages 0 to 1b for entry into the study. Supplementary Table 2a. Linear mixed effects analysis for structural connectivity modular interactions (based on [50]). Supplementary Table 2b. Linear mixed effects analysis for functional connectivity modular interactions (based on [50])

The gold rush: Analysis of the performance of the Spanish Olympic federations

Research question: This study assesses the performance of the Spanish Sports Federations in the Olympic Games of Beijing 2008 and London 2012 from the point of view of their efficiency in the use of the available resources. The research aims to identify the possible existence of a behaviour pattern in the performance of these sports federations and, particularly, the influence of the different funding sources on the results. Research methods: The measurement of the relative efficiency of the 22 federations that participated in both editions is carried out by applying the Data Envelopment Analysis methodology. The Malmquist index is used to analyse the evolution of the efficiency and, a persistence study, to evaluate the consistency of the results. Finally, correlations are estimated to verify the possible links between the efficiency of the federations and their funding sources. Results and findings: The study captures the relative efficiency of the federations in the sample, a deceleration in the performance being observed between Beijing 2008 and London 2012. It finds little relation between the relative efficiency of the federations and their different funding sources. Implications: This study may be especially relevant in a context where an important amount of public resources is earmarked for elite sports, without clarifying the “value for money” of such investments. It hopes to contribute to the existing literature with regard to the measurement of efficiency in sports through the introduction of indicators which can capture the performance of sports federations more precisely