Connectomics in Psychiatric Classification of Bipolar Disorder and Schizophrenia

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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Washington University Early Recognition Center is conducting a research study to examine brain functional connectivity and network patterns in participants with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia.

Detailed Description
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This study extends the assessment of brain connectivity and function, being conducted in the Human Connectome Project (HCP), to psychiatrically ill populations. The HCP consortium has made significant improvements in MRI instrumentation, data acquisition, preprocessing, and analysis. These improvements are currently providing publicly available data on the structure, function, and connectivity of young adult human (age 22-35) brains at unprecedented spatial resolution, temporal resolution, and accuracy. This study will focus on individuals aged 18-40 years who have a diagnosis of either schizophrenia/schizoaffective disorder or bipolar disorder, or are healthy controls. Additionally, similar to the HCP, the investigator will study the effect of genetics on the patterns of brain connectivity in various psychiatric populations. DNA will be collected non-invasively from saliva. Furthermore, this investigator will study cortisol levels in hair samples as an additional assessment to help characterize brain imagining findings.

Official Title
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Connectomics in Psychiatric Classification

Conditions
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Bipolar Disorder, Schizophrenia

Intervention / Treatment
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* Other: no intervention


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Between ages 18-30 Exclusion Criteria: Head Injury Unstable Medical Condition

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years
Maximum Age: 30 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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No

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Control<br>Individuals between 18-30 years old No diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder or Schizophrenia No intervention used | Other: no intervention<br>* no intervention is used<br>|
| Bipolar Disorder<br>Individuals between 18-30 years old Diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder No intervention used | Other: no intervention<br>* no intervention is used<br>|
| Schizophrenia<br>Individuals between 18-30 years old Diagnosis of Schizophrenia or Schizoaffective Disorder No intervention used | Other: no intervention<br>* no intervention is used<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| MRI Brain Imaging | The current project aims to uncover latent, homogenous, connectivity phenotypes using neuroimaging tools, which are free from the limitations of traditional diagnostic boundaries, and which correlate with clinical characteristics. The investigator will use resting state functional connectivity MRI (rs-fcMRI), diffusion MRI (dMRI) and tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) to identify brain signatures that cut across schizophrenia (SZ) and bipolar (BP). | within one month of study enrollment | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| DNA testing through saliva | Saliva samples will be collected from participants for DNA extraction and the development of lymphoblastoid cell lines. DNA is used for research purposes only, for studies assessing brain connectivity in schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and control subjects. | within one month of study enrollment | 
| Hair sample for cortisol measurement | To see how cortisol levels can help characterize brain imaging findings | within one month of study enrollment | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Bipolar, schizophrenia, schizoaffective