Imaging social and environmental factors as modulators of brain dysfunction: time to focus on developing, non-Western societies

Social and environmental factors are known risk factors and modulators of mental health disorders. We here conducted a nonsystematic review of the neuroimaging literature studying the effects of poverty, urbanicity, and community violence, highlighting the opportunities of studying non-Western developing societies such as those in Latin America. Social and environmental factors in these communities are widespread and have a large magnitude, as well as an unequal distribution, providing a good opportunity for their characterization. Studying the effect of poverty in these settings could help to explore the brain effect of economic improvements, disentangle the effect of absolute and relative poverty, and characterize the modulating impact of poverty on the underlying biology of mental health disorders. Exploring urbanicity effects in highly unequal cities could help identify the specific factors that modulate this effect as well as examine a possible dose–response effect by studying megacities. Studying brain changes in those living among violence, which is particularly high in places such as Latin America, could help to characterize the interplay between brain predisposition and exposure to violence. Furthermore, exploring the brain in an adverse environment should shed light on the mechanisms underlying resilience. We finally provide examples of two methodological approaches that could contribute to this field, namely a big cohort study in the developing world and a consortium-based meta-analytic approach, and argue about the potential translational value of this research on the development of effective social policies and successful personalized medicine in disadvantaged societies.Fil: Crossley, Nicolas A.. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile; ChileFil: Alliende, Luz Maria. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile; ChileFil: Ossandon, Tomas. Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile; ChileFil: Castañeda, Carmen Paz. Instituto Psiquiátrico Dr. José Horwitz Barak; ChileFil: González Valderrama, Alfonso. Instituto Psiquiátrico Dr. José Horwitz Barak; Chile. Universidad Finis Terrae.; ChileFil: Undurraga, Juan. Universidad del Desarrollo; Chile. Instituto Psiquiátrico Dr. José Horwitz Barak; ChileFil: Castro, Mariana Nair. Fundación para la Lucha contra las Enfermedades Neurológicas de la Infancia; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Guinjoan, Salvador Martín. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina; Argentina. Fundación para la Lucha contra las Enfermedades Neurológicas de la Infancia; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Díaz Zuluaga, Ana M.. Universidad de Antioquia; ColombiaFil: Pineda-Zapata, Julián A.. Instituto de Alta Tecnología Médica; ColombiaFil: López-Jaramillo, Carlos. Hospital Universitario San Vicente Fundación; Colombia. Universidad de Antioquia; ColombiaFil: Reyes Madrigal, Francisco. Instituto Nacional de Neurología y Neurocirugía; MéxicoFil: León-Ortíz, Pablo. Instituto Nacional de Neurología y Neurocirugía; MéxicoFil: de la Fuente-Sandoval, Camilo. Instituto Nacional de Neurología y Neurocirugía; MéxicoFil: Czepielewski, Leticia Sanguinetti. Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre; BrasilFil: Gama, Clarissa S.. Hospital de Clinicas de Porto Alegre; BrasilFil: Zugman, Andre. Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Gadelha, Ary. Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Jackowski, Andrea. Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Bressan, Rodrigo. Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo; Brasi

Homemade

Es el nuevo trabajo musical nacido del proyecto de extensión ALAC de la Facultad de artes ASAB.t is the new musical work born from the ALAC extension project of the ASAB Faculty of Arts

An overlapping pattern of cerebral cortical thinning is associated with both positive symptoms and aggression in schizophrenia via the ENIGMA consortium

Positive symptoms are a useful predictor of aggression in schizophrenia. Although a similar pattern of abnormal brain structures related to both positive symptoms and aggression has been reported, this observation has not yet been confirmed in a single sample.; To study the association between positive symptoms and aggression in schizophrenia on a neurobiological level, a prospective meta-analytic approach was employed to analyze harmonized structural neuroimaging data from 10 research centers worldwide. We analyzed brain MRI scans from 902 individuals with a primary diagnosis of schizophrenia and 952 healthy controls.; The result identified a widespread cortical thickness reduction in schizophrenia compared to their controls. Two separate meta-regression analyses revealed that a common pattern of reduced cortical gray matter thickness within the left lateral temporal lobe and right midcingulate cortex was significantly associated with both positive symptoms and aggression.; These findings suggested that positive symptoms such as formal thought disorder and auditory misperception, combined with cognitive impairments reflecting difficulties in deploying an adaptive control toward perceived threats, could escalate the likelihood of aggression in schizophrenia