Pediatric Brain Imaging

在许多最严重的儿童期起病的神经精神障碍是偏离正常大脑发育路径的表现的假设的推动下，我们的团队一直在收集和分析来自健康和患有精神疾病的儿童、青少年和成人的大脑MRI扫描。这项研究设计是纵向的，不仅评估大脑大小或形状的差异，而且绘制出各种大脑结构在健康和疾病中的发育曲线。将大脑成像信息与广泛的行为和神经心理测试以及遗传数据相结合，使我们能够探索基因、大脑和行为之间的关系。在临床上，该项目包括最大规模的ADHD和儿童期精神分裂症的成像研究。在这些领域中的每一个领域都产生了对文学的开创性贡献。规范发展部分利用了世界上最大的具有良好特征的儿科脑MRI扫描(N=1000)集合，并作为世界各地许多神经成像项目的资源。为了评估大脑中的性别差异，我们检查了X和Y染色体数量发生变化的受试者(即Klinefelter综合征，XXXY)和激素异常的受试者(即库兴氏病、先天性肾上腺增生症、家族性性早熟)。为了评估先天/后天问题，我们正在研究同卵双胞胎和异卵双胞胎的大脑发育。

Driven by the hypothesis that many of the most severe neuropsychiatric disorders of childhood onset are manifestations of deviations from the path of normal brain development, the anatomical substrates of which can be detected by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), our team has been acquiring and analyzing brain MRI scans from healthy and psychiatrically ill children, adolescents, and adults. The study design is longitudinal to assess not only brain size or shape differences but to map out the developmental curves for a variety of brain structures in health and in illness. Combining the brain imaging information with extensive behavioral and neuropsychological testing as well as genetic data allows us to explore the relationship between genes, brain, and behavior. Clinically, the project encompasses the largest imaging studies of ADHD and Childhood-Onset Schizophrenia. Seminal contributions to the literature have been produced in each of these areas. The normative development component utilizes the world's largest collection of well-characterized pediatric brain MRI scans (N = 1000) and serves as a resource for many neuroimaging projects throughout the world. To assess sex differences in the brain, we are examining subjects with variations in the number of X and Y chromosomes (i.e. Klinefelter Syndrome, XXXY) and subjects with hormone anomalies (i.e. Cushings disease, Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia, Familial Precocious Puberty). To assess nature/nurture questions we are studying brain development in mono and dizygotic twins.