Face-brain correlates as potential sex-specific biomarkers for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Given the shared ectodermal origin and integrated development of the face and the brain, facial biomarkers emerge as potential candidates to assess vulnerability for disorders in which neurodevelopment is compromised, such as schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar disorder (BD). The sample comprised 188 individuals (67 SZ patients, 46 BD patients and 75 healthy controls (HC)). Using a landmark-based approach on 3D facial reconstructions, we quantified global and local facial shape differences between SZ/BD patients and HC using geometric morphometrics. We also assessed correlations between facial and brain cortical measures. All analyses were performed separately by sex. Diagnosis explained 4.1 % - 5.9 % of global facial shape variance in males and females with SZ, and 4.5 % - 4.1 % in BD. Regarding local facial shape, we detected 43.2 % of significantly different distances in males and 47.4 % in females with SZ as compared to HC, whereas in BD the percentages decreased to 35.8 % and 26.8 %, respectively. We detected that brain area and volume significantly explained 2.2 % and 2 % of facial shape variance in the male SZ - HC sample. Our results support facial shape as a neurodevelopmental marker for SZ and BD and reveal sex-specific pathophysiological mechanisms modulating the interplay between the brain and the face.

Assessment of Attentional Processes in Patients with Anxiety-Depressive Disorders Using Virtual Reality.

To characterize the attention deficits in one-hundred-fifteen participants, comprising two types of clinical profiles (affective and anxiety disorder), through a test of continuous VR execution. Method: Three tests (i.e., Nesplora Aquarium, BDI, and STAI) were used to obtain a standardized measure of attention, as well as the existence and severity of depression and anxiety, respectively. Results: Significant differences (CI = 95%) were found between the control group and the group with depression, in variables related to the speed of visual processing (p = 0.008) in the absence of distractors (p = 0.041) and during the first dual execution task (p = 0.011). For scores related to sustained attention, patients with depression and those with anxiety did not differ from controls. Our results suggest attentional deficits in both clinical populations when performing a continuous performance test that involved the participation of the central executive system of working memory.

Auditory hallucinations activate language and verbal short-term memory, but not auditory, brain regions.

Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH, 'hearing voices') are an important symptom of schizophrenia but their biological basis is not well understood. One longstanding approach proposes that they are perceptual in nature, specifically that they reflect spontaneous abnormal neuronal activity in the auditory cortex, perhaps with additional 'top down' cognitive influences. Functional imaging studies employing the symptom capture technique-where activity when patients experience AVH is compared to times when they do not-have had mixed findings as to whether the auditory cortex is activated. Here, using a novel variant of the symptom capture technique, we show that the experience of AVH does not induce auditory cortex activation, even while real speech does, something that effectively rules out all theories that propose a perceptual component to AVH. Instead, we find that the experience of AVH activates language regions and/or regions that are engaged during verbal short-term memory.