Being bullied ups mental illness risk in teens

Being bullied can change the physical structure of the adolescent brain, increasing the risk of mental illness, a study has found.

Researchers  suggest that the effects of constantly being bullied are more than just psychological.

The study, is the first to suggest that chronic peer victimisation during adolescence impacts mental health via structural brain changes.

Researchers analysed data, questionnaires and brain scans of 682 participants from England, Ireland, France and Germany.

As part of this project, high resolution brain scans of participants were taken when they were 14 and 19 years old.

At the ages of 14, 16 and 19 these participants also had to complete questionnaires about whether they had been bullied, and to what extent.

Overall, the results showed that 36 of the 682 young people were found to have experienced chronic bullying.

The data of these participants were compared with those of the others who had experienced less chronic/severe bullying.
 
Changes in brain volume as well as the levels of depression, anxiety and hyperactivity at age 19 were taken into account.

The subsequent findings validate and extend the literature linking peer victimisation with mental health problems.

However, the novel finding is that bullying is linked to decreases in the volume of parts of the brain called the caudate and putamen.

These changes were found to partly explain the relationship between high peer victimisation and higher levels of general anxiety at age 19.

"Although not classically considered relevant to anxiety, the importance of structural changes in the putamen and caudate to the development of anxiety most likely lies in their contribution to related behaviours such as reward sensitivity, motivation, conditioning, attention, and emotional processing," said lead researcher of the study.

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Epilepsy associated with brain volume differences

Epilepsy, a disorder in which nerve cell activity in the brain is disturbed, is linked to brain volume and thickness differences, according to a study.

Epilepsy is a neurological disorder that affects 0.6-1.5% of the global population, comprising many different syndromes and conditions, and defined by a tendency for seizures.
 
The largest-ever neuro-imaging study of people with epilepsy shows that epilepsy involves more widespread physical differences than previously assumed, even in types of epilepsy that are typically considered to be more benign if seizures are under control.

The brain abnormalities the researchers identified were subtle, and have not yet been implicated in any loss of function.

"We found differences in brain matter even in common epilepsy that are often considered to be comparatively benign. While we haven't yet assessed the impact of these differences, our findings suggest there's more to epilepsy than we realise, and now we need to do more research to understand the causes of these differences," said the study's lead author.

The study was conducted  pooled data from 24 research centres across Europe, North and South America, Asia and Australia. Structural brain measures were extracted from MRI brain scans of 2,149 people with epilepsy, and compared with 1,727 healthy controls. The epilepsy group was analysed together for common patterns, and divided into four subgroups to identify differences.

The team found reduced grey matter thickness in parts of the brain's outer layer (cortex) and reduced volume in subcortical brain regions in all epilepsy groups when compared to the control group. Reduced volume and thickness were associated with longer duration of epilepsy. 

Notably, people with epilepsy exhibited lower volume in the right thalamus - a region which relays sensory and motor signals, and has previously only been associated with certain epilepsy - and reduced thickness in the motor cortex, which controls the body's movement.

These patterns were even present among people with idiopathic generalised epilepsy, a type of epilepsy characterised by a lack of any noticeable changes in the brain, such that typically an experienced neuroradiologist would not be able to see anything unusual in their brain scans.

"Some of the differences we found were so subtle they could only be detected due to the large sample size that provided us with very robust, detailed data," said the study's first author.

The researchers also identified differences between the subgroups, which they say must reflect differences in underlying biology, as suggested by recent genetic studies.

"We have identified a common neuroanatomical signature of epilepsy, across multiple epilepsy types. We found that structural changes are present in multiple brain regions, which informs our understanding of epilepsy as a network disorder," the Dr.  said.

The authors say their findings need to be followed up by longitudinal and genetic studies which could clarify the cause of the structural differences.

"From our study, we cannot tell whether the structural brain differences are caused by seizures, or perhaps an initial insult to the brain, or other consequences of seizures - nor do we know how this might progress over time. But by identifying these patterns, we are developing a neuro-anatomical map showing which brain measures are key for further studies that could improve our understanding and treatment of the epilepsy," said the Professor.

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A brain scanner to detect weight loss success

A team of researchers has developed a non-invasive brain scanner which can predict weight loss success based on the brain volume of the elderly.

According to the study published in the journal Obesity, scientists at the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center have found a way to predict who will be successful in their weight-loss efforts with a quick, non-invasive brain scan.

"A simple test that can predict intentional weight loss success using structural brain characteristics  could ultimately be used to tailor treatment for patients," said Jonathan Burdette, Professor at the Wake Forest School of Medicine, at Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in the US.

"For example, people identified at high risk for failure might benefit from intensive treatment and close guidance. People identified as having a high probability for success might best respond to less intensive treatment," Burdette added.

In the study, the researchers observed 52 participants, aged 60 to 79, who were overweight or obese (BMI greater than 28 and less than 42) and had a history of either cardiovascular disease or metabolic syndrome.

All participants had a baseline MRI scan and then were randomised to one of three groups -- diet only, diet plus aerobic exercise training or diet plus resistance exercise training. The goal of the 18-month diet and exercise programme was a weight loss of seven to 10 per cent of body mass.

Basic brain structure information garnered from the MRIs was classified using a support vector machine, a type of computerised predictive algorithm.

Predictions were based on baseline brain grey and white matter volume from the participants' MRIs and compared to the study participants' actual weight loss after the 18 months.

Brain gray matter volume provided higher prediction accuracy compared with white matter and the combination of the two outperformed either one alone, the study suggested.

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A team of researchers has developed a non-invasive brain scanner which can predict weight loss success based on the brain volume of the elderly.

According to the study published in the journal Obesity, scientists at the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center have found a way to predict who will be successful in their weight-loss efforts with a quick, non-invasive brain scan.

"A simple test that can predict intentional weight loss success using structural brain characteristi ..

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