Neuroimaging studies in schizophrenia have remarkably increased and provided some clues to understand its pathophysiology. Here, we reviewed the neuroimaging, studies including volume analysis, functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and diffusion tensor imaging, and findings in both early stage schizophrenia and high-risk group. The reviewed studies suggested that the brain with schizophrenia showed both regional deficits and dysconnectivity of neural circuit in the first episode, even high-risk group as well as chronic schizophrenia. Multimodal neuroimaging or combined approach with genetic, electro- or magneto-encephalographic data could provide promising results to understand schizophrenia in the near future.
Brain ; Diffusion Tensor Imaging ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Neuroimaging ; Schizophrenia

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is profoundly affecting human life around the world. While the mental health of patients and quarantined is of increasing concern, the general public’s mental health also requires significant attention. COVID-19 also has the potential to threaten the mental health of children and adolescents significantly. This paper reviews the effects of the pandemic on the mental health of the general public, including children and adolescents. The risk factors for mental health problems are also reviewed. South Korea has implemented preemptive and aggressive quarantine measures against COVID-19. Mental health professionals have performed various psychological services to support the general public immediately and actively. This paper presents those supporting measures and discusses their limitations. Recognizing the importance of the impact of the pandemic on the mental health of the general public, observing its direct and indirect consequences, and organizing a multi-disciplinary system based on empathy and collaboration are important for developing effective support measures. In particular, national policies and support are needed to implement them.

The onset of many lifelong mental illnesses is during childhood and adolescence. There has been an increase in these conditions among children and adolescents especially, during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is essential to promote mental health literacy (MHL) as a preventive and universal intervention for children and adolescents. Positive mental health status in adolescence is related to an increased level of MHL, and various MHL programs at schools have been reported to be effective for adolescent students worldwide. Recently, MHL programs have been developed in South Korea to be used by schoolteachers. There is a need for active dissemination and development of future programs. For continuous and effective education, it is desirable to include MHL education in regular school curricula.

OBJECTIVES : A neural circuit including amygdala, the hippocampal complex and prefrontal cortex was associated with deficits in facial processing in schizophrenia. These deficits have a significant impact on social functioning in schizophrenia. Both neuropsychological deficits and brain structural abnormalities in first-degree relatives of schizophrenia patients suggest that they may also have the deficit in facial information processing as genetic factors. The purpose of this study was to explore the dysfunction of facial information processing in first-degree relatives of schizophrenia patients using functional magnetic neuroimaging (fMRI). METHODS : Ten non-affected siblings of schizophrenic patients and 10 normal comparison subjects having no schizophrenic siblings underwent fMRI during the d ynamic facial change procedure consisting of presentations of facial emotion and gender discrimination stimuli. The emotion discrimination condition consisted of the presentation of 12 happy faces and 12 disgust/fear faces. The gender discrimination condition consisted of the presentation of 12 male faces and 12 female faces. Condition-specific brain activations were compared between non-affected siblings and normal comparison subjects RESULTS : The facial information processing related brain regions including fusiform gyrus, several areas of frontal, temporal, occipital, and cerebellar regions exhibited more activation during gender discrimination than emotion discrimination tasks in each group. During gender discrimination task, siblings of schizophrenic patients showed less activation in right fusiform gyrus, both middle and superior frontal gyrus, left cuneus, and left inferior frontal gyrus, compared with normal comparison subjects. CONCLUSION : Dysfunctional facial information processing, such as a deficit in gender discrimination, might be an endophenotype of schizophrenia.
Amygdala ; Automatic Data Processing ; Brain ; Discrimination (Psychology) ; Endophenotypes ; Female ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Magnetics ; Magnets ; Male ; Neuroimaging ; Prefrontal Cortex ; Schizophrenia ; Siblings

OBJECTIVE: Emoticon as well as face is a tool for the communication of emotion. However, little is known about behavioral response to emoticon, unlike face. To explore the characteristics of behavioral response of emoticon and face, we measured both response time and accuracy in healthy young subjects. METHODS: The 29 subjects were asked to respond to emoticons or faces which contained one among happy, sad, angry/fearful or neutral emotion. Using univariate analysis of variance, behavioral responses were analyzed for three main effects of stimulation (face, emoticon), emotion (happy, sad, angry/fearful, neutral), gender (male, female) and also their interactions. RESULTS: The response to face was faster and more accurate than that to emoticon. Female's response to face, not to emoticon, was faster than male. A common finding of face and emoticon stimuli was that their responses were slower and less accurate in angry/fearful condition than in the rest emotional ones. There was not any interaction among three factors. The different finding was that neutral condition was less informative in only emoticon, not in face, condition. CONCLUSION: Our results demonstrated emoticon is different from face in terms of the characteristics in the transfer ability of emotion and in gender effect.
Humans ; Male ; Reaction Time ; Transfer (Psychology)

OBJECTIVE: Many studies have showed that excess or lack of sexual hormones, such as prolactin and testosterone, induced the sexual dysfunction in humans. Little, however, is known about the role of sexual hormones showing normal range in, especially, the basal state unexposed to any sexual stimulation. We hypothesized sexual hormones in the basal state may affect sexual behavior. METHODS: We investigated the association of the sexual hormones level in the basal hormonal state before visual sexual stimulation with the sexual response-related brain activity during the stimulation. Twelve heterosexual men were recorded the functional MRI signals of their brain activation elicited by passive viewing erotic (ERO), happy-faced (HA) couple, food and nature pictures. Both plasma prolacitn and testosterone concentrations were measured before functional MR scanning. A voxel wise regression analyses were performed to investigate the relationship between the concentration of sexual hormones in basal state and brain activity elicited by ERO minus HA, not food minus nature, contrast. RESULTS: The plasma concentration of prolactin in basal state showed positive association with the activity of the brain involving cognitive component of sexual behavior including the left middle frontal gyrus, paracingulate/superior frontal/anterior cingulate gyri, bilateral parietal lobule, right angular, bilateral precuneus and right cerebellum. Testosterone in basal state was positively associated with the brain activity of the bilateral supplementary motor area which related with motivational component of sexual behavior. CONCLUSION: Our results suggested sexual hormones in basal state may have their specific target regions or network associated with sexual response.
Brain ; Cerebellum ; Dopamine ; Heterosexuality ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Plasma ; Prolactin ; Reference Values ; Sexual Behavior ; Testosterone

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to compare the discontinuation rate of widely prescribed atypical antipsychotics when administered to newly admitted, acutely ill patients with schizophrenia or bipolar mania. METHODS: Medical records of patients admitted to psychiatric ward of two university hospitals between January 2007 and December 2008 were retrospectively reviewed. Subjects were eligible for inclusion if they prescribed olanzapine, risperidone or aripiprazole for their psychotic or manic symptom control. Patient groups (olanzapine/risperidone/aripiprazole) were compared for rate of antipsychotics discontinuation and duration of treatment continuation. RESULTS: There was no statistically significant difference in the rates of discontinuation during hospitalized period between olanzapine, risperidone and aripiprazole. Rates of discontinuation were 14.5% for olanzapine, 18.6% for aripiprazole and 24.0% for risperidone. Predictor of treatment discontinuation was short titration period and long illness duration. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated that risperidone, olanzapine and aripiprazole were comparable with no difference found on the discontinuation rate in treating acutely ill psychiatric patients. However, the small number of patients who participated in this study made it difficult to establish significance.
Antipsychotic Agents ; Benzodiazepines ; Bipolar Disorder ; Hospitals, University ; Humans ; Medical Records ; Piperazines ; Quinolones ; Retrospective Studies ; Risperidone ; Schizophrenia ; Aripiprazole

OBJECTIVE: Resting-state networks (RSNs), including the default mode network (DMN), have been considered as markers of brain status such as consciousness, developmental change, and treatment effects. The consistency of functional connectivity among RSNs has not been fully explored, especially among resting-state-related independent components (RSICs). MATERIALS AND METHODS: This resting-state fMRI study addressed the consistency of functional connectivity among RSICs as well as their spatial consistency between 'at day 1' and 'after 4 weeks' in 13 healthy volunteers. RESULTS: We found that most RSICs, especially the DMN, are reproducible across time, whereas some RSICs were variable in either their spatial characteristics or their functional connectivity. Relatively low spatial consistency was found in the basal ganglia, a parietal region of left frontoparietal network, and the supplementary motor area. The functional connectivity between two independent components, the bilateral angular/supramarginal gyri/intraparietal lobule and bilateral middle temporal/occipital gyri, was decreased across time regardless of the correlation analysis method employed, (Pearson's or partial correlation). CONCLUSION: RSICs showing variable consistency are different between spatial characteristics and functional connectivity. To understand the brain as a dynamic network, we recommend further investigation of both changes in the activation of specific regions and the modulation of functional connectivity in the brain network.
Brain/*physiology ; Brain Mapping ; Humans ; Image Processing, Computer-Assisted ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging/*methods ; Male ; Neural Pathways/*physiology ; Regression Analysis ; Rest/*physiology ; Young Adult

OBJECTIVES: Abnormalities in various subcortical regions have been reported in previous structural neuroimaging studies for schizophrenia. To understand the subcortical abnormalities as a whole, all subcortical regions should be explored in each subject unlike most previous studies. Here, we explored major subcortical structures using volume measurement and shape analysis for schizophrenic patients (SZ), their unaffected siblings (Sib) and healthy controls without affected sibling (HC). METHODS: Structural magnetic resonance images were acquired from 24 SZ, 24 Sib and 19 HC. Both segmentation and shape analysis for subcortical structures was performed using FMRIB Integrated Registration and Segmentation Tool integrated within the FSL software. The group comparison of subcortical volumes was performed with multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA). RESULTS: In SZ group, shape deformities were observed in the left nucleus caudates, left thalamus, left putamen and bilateral pallidus were increased compared with HC group. In Sib group, shape deformities were observed in the left pallidus, left putamen and left putamen was decreased compared with HC group. In Sib group, left nucleus accumbens was increased compared with SZ group. CONCLUSION: The result of this study using volume measurement and shape analysis suggest that subcortical structural abnormalities in cortico-striato-pallido-thalamic and reward circuits are related with both the pathology of schizophrenia and genetic predisposition.
Congenital Abnormalities ; Genetic Predisposition to Disease ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy ; Multivariate Analysis ; Neuroimaging ; Nucleus Accumbens ; Putamen ; Reward ; Schizophrenia ; Siblings ; Thalamus

OBJECTIVE: Previous studies showing the association of exposure to peer (PeVA) and parental verbal abuse in childhood with structural alterations in the young adult brain suggest functional changes in adolescence. In this functional MRI study, we investigated the effects of exposure to PeVA, during elementary and middle school periods, on brain response to emotional words, in high school students. METHODS: An emotional Stroop task consisting of swear, negative, positive, and neutral words was performed during functional MRI scan for 23 subjects who were divided into low- and high exposure groups to PeVA. RESULTS: High-PeVA group had a higher depression score, greater left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) activity, and higher left VLPFC-left hippocampus connectivity in swear word conditions. The VLPFC activity and left VLPFC-left hippocampus connectivity was negatively related to the severity of anxiety and depressive symptoms, respectively. CONCLUSION: These preliminary findings support the hypothesis that exposure to PeVA, during childhood, is an aversive stimulus associated with meaningful functional change in emotional regulation network, showing hypersensitivity to swear words, at middle adolescence.
Adolescent* ; Anxiety ; Brain ; Depression ; Hippocampus ; Humans ; Hypersensitivity ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Parents ; Prefrontal Cortex* ; Young Adult