ÌÇÐÄvlog

Fishman and colleagues investigate whether adolescents with autism spectrum disorder show altered functional connectivity in 2 brain networks putatively impaired in autism spectrum disorder and involved in social processing, the mentalizing theory of mind and mirror neuron systems.

Chiappelli et al investigate whether the level of KYNA changes following psychological stress and whether this change is associated with stress-related behavior. Javitt provides commentary in a related editorial.

Mathew et al characterize medial temporal lobe structures, including hippocampal subfields, using magnetic resonance imaging and examine their relation to psychosis and cognitive function across the psychosis spectrum.

Nicodemus and colleagues assessed the association between single nucleotide polymorphisms in ZNF804A and the ZNF804A polygenic score with measures of cognition in cases with psychosis and assessed whether epistasis within the ZNF804A pathway could explain additional variation above and beyond that explained by the polygenic score.

Holz and coauthors clarify the influence of maternal smoking during pregnancy on the neural circuitry of response inhibition and its association with related behavioral phenotypes such as attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and novelty seeking in the mother’s offspring.

Brody et al determine whether the degree of nicotinic acetylcholine receptor upregulation in smokers predicts quitting with a standard course of treatment.

Kühn and colleagues investigate the effect of alcohol abstinence on neuronal plasticity measured as longitudinal volume change in distinct hippocampal subfields.

Kohno and colleagues aimed to determine how methamphetamine-dependent and control participants differed in brain activation during a risky decision-making task, resting-state functional connectivity within mesolimbic and executive control circuits, and the relationships between these measures.

There have been a number of mainstream media reports that the abuse of heroin has migrated from low-income urban areas with large minority populations to more affluent suburban and rural areas with primarily white populations. Cicero et al examine the veracity of these anecdotal reports and define the relationship between the abuse of prescription opioids and the abuse of heroin.

Kühn and Gallinat determine whether frequent pornography consumption is associated with the frontostriatal network.