Quantitative Image Analysis of White Matter Dysregulation Using Brain Normalization for Diagnostic Analysis of Pediatric Hydrocephalus

Surgical management for hydrocephalus is among the most common procedures performed by pediatric neurosurgeons. However, how to best predict postoperative outcomes is unknown. Neuroimaging studies could provide insight, though working with these images is non-trivial. This thesis aims to 1) evaluate registration and preprocessing methodologies to best prepare data for comparisons, and 2) assess the impact of postoperative lateral ventricle volume (LVV) as a predictor of white matter health in networks that are dysregulated in hydrocephalus patients. We found that skull-stripped, bias corrected images with the SyN algorithm produced most accurate registration. We also found large dysregulated white matter networks in patients, and postoperative LVV did not have a large impact in predicting these networks. Overall, these studies suggest an image processing pipeline for pathological pediatric images and adds to the knowledge surrounding both the impact of pediatric hydrocephalus on white matter networks and the association with postoperative LVV

Pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic evaluation of buprenorphine + samidorphan for the treatment of major depressive disorder

10.1080/17425255.2018.1459564Expert Opinion on Drug Metabolism & Toxicology144475-48

Association between antipsychotic treatment and leptin levels across multiple psychiatric populations: An updated meta-analysis

Objective: Antipsychotics (APs) are associated with metabolic syndrome, with increases in leptin proposed as an underlying mechanism of AP-induced weight gain. Currently available meta-analyses on this topic have limited their populations of interest to those diagnosed with schizophrenia. The purpose of this meta-analysis is to explore the relationship between leptin levels and AP use across multiple psychiatric diagnoses, and also in healthy controls. Method: Systematic electronic searches were conducted using PubMed and OVID: Medline. Longitudinal studies were included if showing leptin levels before and after AP use. We included participants with any psychiatric disorders and mentally healthy participants, if exposed to AP use. The differences in leptin levels were evaluated using Hedges' g with a random effects model. Results: Forty-two studies were found (36 schizophrenia, 2 bipolar disorder, 1 anorexia nervosa, and 3 healthy controls), encompassing 66 study arms and 1,156 participants. The meta-analysis showed that regardless of diagnoses, leptin levels increase with AP use (Hedges' g = 0.811, p â\u89¤.001). Conclusion: Leptin increases induced by APs are present across all diagnoses. More comprehensive research is needed to understand the relationship between AP use and leptin levels across multiple diagnoses

Drug-Drug Interactions as a Result of Co-Administering ?9-THC and CBD with Other Psychotropic Agents

10.1080/14740338.2017.1397128Expert Opinion on Drug Safety17151-5