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April Research Publications

May 7, 2024

Post-traumatic stress and future substance use outcomes: leveraging antecedent factors to stratify risk

May 7, 2024
This study explored how PTSD symptoms impact future substance use, including tobacco, alcohol, and cannabis, utilizing causal forests to identify what factors are most important in stratifying this relationship. Findings revealed a significant association between PTSD symptoms and heightened tobacco and alcohol use, and that variables for lifetime cigarette use,...

Automatic landmark identification in cone-beam computed tomography

May 7, 2024
The ALICBCT tool offers an open-source, fully automated method for accurately placing landmarks in cone-beam CT scans, leveraging a novel AI approach for landmark detection with high precision and swift processing times, validated for clinical and research use.

Interpretable artificial intelligence for classification of alveolar bone defect in patients with cleft lip and palate

May 7, 2024
This study developed and tested a novel, interpretable AI-based classifier for assessing the severity of alveolar bone defects in CLP patients using 3D surface models and 2D CNNs, achieving high accuracy and providing visual explanations for its decisions.

IcoConv : Explainable brain cortical surface analysis for ASD classification.

May 7, 2024
This study presents a unique method for analyzing 3D shapes through 2D CNNs with custom pooling, aimed at identifying high-risk ASD subjects by analyzing brain measurements mapped onto a sphere, featuring a novel icosahedron convolution operator and generating explainability maps that corroborate and potentially expand on existing ASD research.

Differential cognitive and behavioral development from 6 to 24 months in autism and fragile X syndrome

May 7, 2024
Mullin et al., report that behavioral differences in motor, cognitive, and language developmental trajectories from 6 to 24 months of age in children with autism compared to children with fragile X syndrome. This study highlights an earlier onset of global cognitive delays in fragile X and, conversely, a protracted period...

Etiologic heterogeneity, pleiotropy, and polygenicity in behaviorally defined intellectual and developmental disabilities

May 7, 2024
This editorial overviews the 2023 Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Centers (IDDRCs) Special Issue in the Journal of Neurodevelopmental Disorders. The series focuses on the complex genetics of neurodevelopmental and neuropsychiatric conditions.

GABA release from central amygdala neurotensin neurons differentially modulates ethanol consumption in male and female mice

May 7, 2024
We found that reducing GABA release from a specific set of neurons (central nucleus of the amygdala neurotensin containing neurons) reduced alcohol consumption in male but not female mice. In the female mice however, it altered thermal pain sensitivity.

Dynamic associations among sleep, emotion dysregulation, and desire to live in a perinatal sample

May 7, 2024
Birthing parents who experienced fluctuating desires to live during pregnancy and early postpartum were more likely to have poor sleep, which made it challenging to regulate their emotions from day to day. Future research can build on this study to improve our understanding of how to prevent postpartum suicide, which...

Acute, but not repeated, cocaine exposure alters allopregnanolone levels in the midbrain of male and female rats.

May 7, 2024
Allopregnanolone is a neurosteroid that can be changed in many psychiatric disorders. We found that cocaine increased allopregnanolone levels in an area of the rat brain involved in motivation and reward. We also describe sex differences in allopregnanolone levels between males and female rats.