Faculty Bibliography

Longitudinal imaging studies involve tracking changes in individuals by repeated image acquisition over time. The goal of these studies is to quantify biological shape variability within and across individuals, and also to distinguish between normal and disease populations. However, data variability is influenced by outside sources such as image acquisition, image calibration, human expert judgment, and limited robustness of segmentation and registration algorithms. In this paper, we propose a two-stage method for the statistical analysis of longitudinal shape. In the first stage, we estimate diffeomorphic shape trajectories for each individual that minimize inconsistencies in segmented shapes across time. This is followed by a longitudinal mixed-effects statistical model in the second stage for testing differences in shape trajectories between groups. We apply our method to a longitudinal database from PREDICT-HD and demonstrate our approach reduces unwanted variability for both shape and derived measures, such as volume. This leads to greater statistical power to distinguish differences in shape trajectory between healthy subjects and subjects with a genetic biomarker for Huntington's disease (HD).

Recent advances in neuroimaging methods have made accessible new ways of disentangling the complex interplay between genetic and environmental factors that influence structural brain development. In recent years, research investigating associations between socioeconomic status (SES) and brain development have found significant links between SES and changes in brain structure, especially in areas related to memory, executive control, and emotion. This review focuses on studies examining links between structural brain development and SES disparities of the magnitude typically found in developing countries. We highlight how highly correlated measures of SES are differentially related to structural changes within the brain.

Reviews the book, Essentials of Autism Spectrum Disorders Evaluation and Assessment by Celine A. Saulnier and Pamela E. Ventola (see record 2012-17480-000). This book is really designed to help busy mental health professionals quickly acquire the knowledge and references they need to make optimal use of the major psychological assessment tests or test results for patients with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Different parts in the book are devoted to a particular field, and they use an easy-to-follow format for rapid reference. The first part of the book describing the spectrum disorders in detail and the differences among the various diagnoses, and also explains the DSM change in Asperger's syndrome. Another part of the book clearly lays out a lot of the basic types of assessments for developmental, cognitive, behavioral, and neuropsychological profiles, and explains briefly and smoothly the purpose of each of these categories. Overall, the book is an ideal addition to a busy clinical practice, as an informative and easy-to-read book for clinicians or student clinicians who assess or work with children with ASD, and a useful supplement to any arsenal of books on assessment.

Aversive Pavlovian memory coordinates the defensive behavioral response to learned threats. The amygdala is a key locus for the acquisition and storage of aversive associations. Information about conditioned and unconditioned stimuli converge in the lateral amygdala, which is a hot spot for the plasticity induced by associative learning. Central amygdala uses Pavlovian memory to coordinate the conditioned reaction to an aversive conditioned stimulus. Aversive associations can also access the brain networks of instrumental action. The offset of an aversive conditioned stimulus can reinforce behavior, recruiting a pathway that includes the lateral and basal amygdala, as opposed to the lateral and central amygdala circuit for Pavlovian reactions. Aversive conditioned stimuli can also modulate ongoing behavior, suppressing appetitive actions and facilitating aversive actions. Facilitation depends on an amygdalar network involving the lateral and central, as well as medial, nuclei. Thus, aversive Pavlovian memory has wide-reaching effects on defensive behavior, coordinating reactive to active responses to environmental threats.

This editorial presents an overview of the two books discussed in the issue Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. The first book is about fighting stigma that argues against several myths. It is important to keep debates around stigma alive and to investigate the myths and realities of stigma, rather than just assuming that stigma is an all-powerful force, that we are necessarily bound to our patients with a shared stigma, or that it explains more than it really does. The second book examines treatment for a behavior that has been imbued with all the hallmarks of stigma, including shame and secrecy.

This article provides an overview of the books featured in the present issue of Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry book forum section. The books encounter some of the challenges that come with moving a unique identity into a diagnostic construct. Feng Liu reviews a book about evaluating and assessing autism spectrum disorders (ASD), which is how we as professional caregivers move individuals into a group. Janella Hong takes us in a different direction, looking at a book that explores identity from within a group whose members often found meaning by being part of that group; this particular book quickly became significantly dated, not because the experiences it describes belong to a different era, but because formally, in certain circles, that group vanished and became part of another group. Finally, Aaron Roberto reviews a novel about an adolescent with ASD who works "in the real world, " imaginative literature with a poignant message about how a child with an ASD might find it difficult to become the next Tommy Hilfiger. Three books, 3 genres, all of which explore the relationship of the individual to the group.