1,721,050 research outputs found

    Variation in brain structure volumes in schizophrenia: A commentary

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    Recently, Kuo and Pogue-Geile (2019) quantitatively reviewed Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) findings in patients with schizophrenia demonstrating, besides altered volume of several brain structures significantly greater structural variability in patients relative to controls as for intracranial, lateral and third ventricles volumes. We believe that additional points could be usefully included in the discussion of the conceptual meaning of these findings. In this commentary, first we highlight the role of potential confounding factors such as antipsychotic medication intake and duration of illness when interpreting MRI data in schizophrenia. Second, we discuss the finding of greater variability of cerebral structure volumes in the broader context of the pathophysiology and time course of brain abnormalities in the disease

    Strucutural brain imaging at the onset of schizophrenia:What have we learned and what have we missed

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    Over the past 50 years, the application of structural neuroimaging techniques to schizophrenia research has added relevant information about the pathophysiology of the disorder. Several lines of investigation gave strong evidence that schizophrenia is associated with multiple subtle brain abnormalities that involve both cerebral grey and white matter volumes and structure. The time of onset and longitudinal course of brain morphological abnormalities support the notion that brain pathology of schizophrenia has a neurodevelopmental component and a progressive course, although several confounders of brain changes should be carefully taken into account. Brain anomalies detected before and close to the onset of schizophrenia are likely to be unrelated to confounders of brain changes such as antipsychotic drug treatment, duration of illness or illicit substance abuse, i.e. they related to the pathological process of the disorder per se. Nonetheless, clinically useful diagnostic or prognostic biomarkers have not derived from neuroimaging studies and this is likely related to the neurobiological heterogeneity of the disorder. Thus, there is the compelling need to set new methodological standards for developing innovative hypothesis-driven studies to overcome what we have missed to date in neuroimaging research in schizophrenia

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    The present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed

    Variations on the Author

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    “Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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