Research News

Writer: Dr. Nicole Sanford @ University of British Columbia A new study using UK Biobank data suggests that lifestyle and physical health may help explain why some people with depression show signs of accelerated brain ageing while others do not. Researchers analysed lifestyle, physical health, and social factors in 896 adults with depression and 36,206 participants without a psychiatric illness to better understand the links between everyday habits and brain ageing. The rese

Writer: Dr. Ruiyang Ge @ University of British Columbia A new study has published in PNAS found that models based on brain scans can work well for people from many different ethnoracial backgrounds, without needing to build separate models for different racial or ethnic groups. The findings help answer an important question about whether brain-imaging tools developed using large datasets can be used fairly and accurately across diverse populations. These brain models compare

Writer: Dr. Ruiyang Ge @ University of British Columbia The ENIGMA Lifespan Working Group is excited to share their latest work in estimating the biological age of the brain using structural neuroimaging data: "Brain-age prediction: Systematic evaluation of site effects, and sample age range and size". This method, known as brain-age estimation, has proven to be a valuable tool in understanding brain development and aging, offering insights into various biologically and behav

Writer: Dr. Ruiyang Ge @ University of British Columbia 22q11.2 deletion syndrome (22q11DS) stands as the most prevalent microdeletion in humans. This genetic condition is linked to notable effects on brain structure, marked by substantial reductions in gray matter volume. Additionally, it manifests in neuropsychiatric symptoms, encompassing cognitive impairment and psychosis. The ENIGMA 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome Working Group has recently shared a publication entitled "Sourc

Writer: Dr. Shalaila Haas @ ISMMS This study was the first application of the robust and large scale normative models developed by Ge and colleagues to a clinical sample. Normative modeling provides standards or "norms" at different ages for specific measures. In this case, normative models were generated for each region in the brain in more than 37,000 healthy individuals. These models can then be applied to other datasets, for example patients with a specific mental illness

Writer: Dr. Ruiyang Ge @ University of British Columbia In the last two decades, neuroimaging techniques have become essential tools for both basic research and clinical studies of the human brain. However, there is currently a lack of reference standards to accurately quantify individual differences in neuroimaging metrics across the human lifespan. Normative values are a common tool in psychology and medicine to assess individual risk and aid in diagnosis at the level of a

Writer: Dr. Ruiyang Ge @ University of British Columbia Mood and anxiety disorders are the leading contributors to mental illness in individuals between the ages of 10 and 24, accounting for over 65% of the disease burden. However, the currently defined diagnostic boundaries of mood disorders (such as major depressive disorders and bipolar disorders) and anxiety disorders are highly permeable, with significant overlap in psychopathology. This clinical overlap is especially pr