Pediatric Brain Imaging

许多儿童发病的最严重的神经精神疾病是偏离正常大脑发育路径的表现，其解剖学基础可以通过磁共振成像（MRI）检测到，我们的团队一直在获取和分析来自健康和精神疾病儿童，青少年和成人的大脑MRI扫描。研究设计是纵向的，不仅评估大脑大小或形状的差异，而且绘制出健康和疾病状态下各种大脑结构的发育曲线。将脑成像信息与广泛的行为和神经心理学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，该项目包含了最大的ADHD和儿童期精神分裂症的影像学研究。在这些领域都产生了对文献的开创性贡献。规范发展部分利用了世界上最大的具有良好特征的儿童脑MRI扫描集（N = 1000），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，我们正在检查X和Y染色体数量变化的受试者（即Klinefelter综合征，XXXY）和激素异常的受试者（即库欣病，先天性肾上腺增生，家族性性早熟）。为了评估先天/后天的问题，我们正在研究单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.