Category: Research Publications

We explored how adolescents, their parents, school professionals, and hospital professionals viewed school as it positively or negatively influences adolescent mental health. Findings underscore the need for school-based approaches to address the unique academic, social, and emotional needs of students with suicide-related risk that complement the supports and services provided...

We showed that the pregnancy hormones estrogen and progesterone can be used to turn on and turn off symptoms of depression in women. We also showed that these hormones reduce activity in areas of the brain that respond to rewards, which may help explain why some women do not experience...

The present case report describes a patient with recurrent catatonia in the setting of end-stage liver disease (ESLD) and subsequent orthotopic liver transplant. Several important considerations are highlighted, including inherent vulnerability to catatonic states, heightened risk in the posttransplant period, and overlap of catatonia with delirium.

Dissociation is a common, disabling phenomenon that involves profound detachment from the self or surroundings. In the largest prospective, longitudinal neurobiological study of dissociation to date, work by the AURORA team suggests feeling detached from one’s surroundings may suggest a higher risk of later developing psychiatric symptoms. It’s important to...

Compared with non-exposed infants, neonates with prenatal opioid exposure demonstrated altered functional resting state connectivity in multiple brain circuits, beyond changes associated with prenatal exposure to other substances, particularly in reward-related frontal-sensory connections. Medication for opioid use disorder (MOUD) during pregnancy significantly reduced these alterations, particularly in limbic and frontal...

Youth on the autism spectrum often face difficulties accessing mental health services. In this study, we found that clinicians reported feeling less intent on providing therapy to autistic youth compared to youth with ADHD because of differences in their attitudes, social pressures, and knowledge.

The cerebral cortex is full of recurrent connectivities, and their disturbance leads to diseases such as epilepsy and schizophrenia. We found in the auditory cortex that layer 5 to layer 2/3 interlaminar recurrence provides inhibitory feedback, which may stabilize the neural activity and help appropriate information processing in the cortical...

For the first time, scientists have found that brain differences in the visual brain systems of infants who later are diagnosed with autism are associated with inherited genetic factors.

This is one of the first studies to describe cognitive impairment in patients with multiple myeloma and other plasma cell disorders. We found that cancer-related factors and other medical conditions were associated with objectively tested cognitive impairment and psychosocial and functional factors were associated with patient-reported cognitive impairment.

Results from the present study (funded by the Foundation of Hope for Research and Treatment of Mental Illness) demonstrated that a substantial proportion of peripubertal females (ages 11-14, within 1 year post-menarche) showed weekly mood changes tied to estrone (57%) and testosterone (37%) flux. This is an important first step...