Patients with schizophrenia differ widely in their symptoms, long-term outcome and response to medication. However, most patients are treated with the same medications and interventions. This study aims to better facilitate the targeting of novel treatments to groups of patients (biotypes) that are likely to benefit most from a treatment. Groups of patients that share distinct patterns of deficits in brain connectivity will be delineated using state-of-the-art white matter imaging techniques.
Mental illness is the largest single cause of disability in Australia. While mental illness is increasingly recognised as a disorder of the brain, a patient’s diagnosis, treatment and prediction of course of outcome is seldom guided by the results of a biological test. My research aims to combine the power of modern brain imaging and cutting-edge bioinformatics to enable a biological approach to the problem of mental illness.
Cognition In Motion: Characterization And Evolution Of Cognitive Dysfunction In Motor Neurodegeneration And Frontotemporal Dementia
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$604,106.00
Summary
Motor neuron disease (MND) is a fatal disease. Cognition may be unaffected or may be severely impaired to warrant a dementia diagnosis. The cognitive status at onset, its progression and the presence of co-morbid dementia of most MND patients is unknown. This research program will develop and validate a cognitive screener that diagnosis co-morbid dementia in the context of motor neurodegeneration in MND.
The Effect Of Stress And Hypercortisolaemia On Limbic Epileptogenesis & Affective Disorder.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$380,714.00
Summary
This project has the potential to provide novel insights about the causal connections between stress, psychiatric illness (specifically anxiety and depression) and temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) - the most common form of medical refractory epilepsy in the community. Up to 50% of patients with TLE suffer from anxiety and-or depression. Until relatively recently it had been widely assumed that this was a consequence of the chronic epileptic condition. However, recent evidence suggests that there is ....This project has the potential to provide novel insights about the causal connections between stress, psychiatric illness (specifically anxiety and depression) and temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) - the most common form of medical refractory epilepsy in the community. Up to 50% of patients with TLE suffer from anxiety and-or depression. Until relatively recently it had been widely assumed that this was a consequence of the chronic epileptic condition. However, recent evidence suggests that there is a bi-directional relationship, with the psychiatric conditions and stress also acting to aggravate the seizures and even predispose to the development of the epilepsy itself. Apart from gaining insights into causes of TLE, anxiety and depression, this framework has potential public health relevance suggesting approaches to the eventual primary and secondary prevention of both MTLE and its associated psychiatric co-morbidities, a neglected area at present. The use of an animal model allows investigation of aetiological processes that extend over the lifetime, which is exceptionally difficult to achieve in humans. Retrospective studies, such as case-control studies, although an indispensable research methods, are subject to bias and imprecision when it comes to measuring remote past exposures to stress, abuse, and deprivation. If the results of these experiments are consistent with our hypotheses, a very strong case would exist for exploring this relationship in human studies. The data would also provide a strong rationale for more aggressive detection and treatment of these psychiatric co-morbidities in TLE patients, in order to potentially modify the progression of the disorder as well as improve the quality of life of sufferers. The results of intervention studies in animal models may suggest specific mode of treatment to achieve this.Read moreRead less
Why Does Early Life Stress Aggravate Limbic Epileptogenesis?
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$540,116.00
Summary
High rates of anxiety and depression occur in individuals with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), the most common form of focal epilepsy in adults. Rats that have experienced early life stress show increased anxiety, decreased seizure thresholds and accelerated epilepsy as adults. We have important leads to mechanisms. The proposed study will better understand the mechanisms connecting early life stress and psychiatric disease to adult TLE, and to test interventions that may counteract these effects.
Cognitive Training In Older Diabetic Persons At Risk Of Dementia: Cognitive And Non-cognitive Outcomes And The Role Of Concurrent Neuropsychiatric Symptoms
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$372,797.00
Summary
Older people with diabetes have a higher chance of developing cognitive decline and dementia. Certain types of cognitive training were found to be effective for those at higher risk for dementia, but these treatments have not been tried on diabetic patients. This project will examine the impact of a cognitive training treatment on diabetic patients. It will examine its effectiveness in this group and some of the characteristics that may predict who responds best to the treatment.