Sex-specific relationships between gray matter volume and executive function in young children with and without prenatal alcohol exposure.

Sex differences in brain volume are well established across ages however, limited research has investigated if sex differences in brain structure associate with early cognitive outcomes. Moreover, associations among sex, brain structure, and cognition in individuals with prenatal alcohol exposure (PAE), the most common known cause of developmental delay in North America, are unclear. Here, we investigated associations between executive function (measured by the BRIEF or BRIEF-P Global Executive Composite (GEC) and the Statue subtest of the NEPSY-II) and volumes of 36 gray matter regions in a longitudinal MRI sample of 169 young children (N=37; 534 total scans) aged 2-8 years.

Challenges in the treatment of Tourette syndrome in the Philippines.

Tourette Syndrome (TS), the most recognized primary tic disorder, affects about 0.9% of patients in movement disorders clinics in the Philippines. Its management faces significant challenges, including a shortage of movement disorder specialists.

Ethnic and Gender Disparities in Access to Deep Brain Stimulation Surgery for Parkinson's Disease.

Background: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an established treatment for Parkinson's disease (PD) in appropriately selected patients. DBS may be underused in certain patient populations, especially women and racialized groups. Barriers and biases to receiving DBS that could account for underuse among these groups are not well studied in Canada.

Care Delivery Strategies for Anxiety, Depression, Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, and Tourette Syndrome to Improve Health Outcomes in Children and Youth.

The purpose of this rapid review was to identify effective care delivery strategies for children and youth with anxiety, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and Tourette syndrome (TS) to inform the development of Canadian standards for mental health care provision. The review was developed using the Cochrane organization's minimum standards for Rapid Reviews.The eligible population was children and youth with anxiety disorders, depressive disorder, OCD, or TS.

Exploring the relationship between pain catastrophizing and migraine in youth: A longitudinal clinical cohort study.

Objective: This study explored the relationship between pain catastrophizing and migraine-related outcomes (i.e., migraine-related disability and headache frequency) between visits with a neurologist in a clinical population of children and adolescents with migraine.

Using deep learning to predict internalizing problems from brain structure in youth.

Internalizing problems (e.g., anxiety and depression) are associated with a wide range of adverse outcomes.

Polygenic Risk Scores for Pediatric Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms and their Mediating Effect in Clinically Diagnosed Samples of Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Anxiety, Depression, Autism and Tourette syndrome.

Here, we present the first genome-wide association study of obsessive-compulsive symptoms in a sample of clinically diagnosed pediatric participants and healthy controls. Using a psychiatric questionnaire score as a quantitative trait we conducted a large-scale genetic analysis and ran multiple post-association analyses to investigate the mediating role of obsessive-compulsive symptoms in six comorbid neuropsychiatric disorders. Although no SNPs reached genome-wide significance, we identified suggestive associations on chromosomes 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 17, 19, and 22.

Recent Advances and Future Directions in Eating Disorder Treatments for Emerging Adults.

Purpose Of Review: There is increasing interest and exploration in tailoring eating disorder (ED) treatment for emerging adults/transition-age youth. This review provides a narrative update on research findings from 2021 to 2025.

Recent Findings: There has been continued development of ED-focused family therapy approaches for emerging adults, and we have also started to see the tailoring of existing individual treatments (e.

Cognitive Assessments in Randomized Controlled Trials of Acute or Secondary Prevention Stroke Treatments 2011 to 2024: A Scoping Review.

Background: Cognitive impairment after stroke is common and associated with poorer outcomes. However, cognition is rarely assessed in acute or secondary prevention randomized controlled trials (RCTs), and those that do have not been systematically synthesized. This review examines how often cognitive end points are used, specific assessments applied, domains tested, and rates of missing cognitive data.

Exploring Patient Understandings of Navigation Services Within Alberta's Healthcare System: A Qualitative Study.

Introduction: Patient navigation was first envisioned to assist marginalized cancer patients access timely healthcare services by identifying and addressing social barriers to care. While this understanding of patient navigation may still hold for a subgroup of programs today, its expansion over the past 30 years has resulted in a diverse set of interventions with distinct care settings, patient eligibility criteria, navigator training requirements and program goals. This study aimed to explore patients' understanding of patient navigation programs to identify program features that are of particular value and importance to them.

Harmful words: A qualitative survey of pain clinicians' perspectives on unhelpful messages in chronic pain.

Individuals living with chronic pain report experiences of stigma and invalidation, including from health professionals. Anecdotally, specialist pain clinicians must work hard to engage and treat patients who have past experiences of professionals discounting their pain, or of confusing or unsettling messaging about the cause of their symptoms. However, no study has yet explored pain clinicians' perspectives on unhelpful clinical messaging in this area.

From Data to Care: Development of a recommendation engine to university student mental health support aligned with stepped care.

Background: Mental health challenges are prevalent among Canadian higher-education students, with significant rates of depression and anxiety often going untreated, due to reduced early detection, stigmatizing beliefs, and practical barriers. The U-Flourish longitudinal electronic survey study launched in 2018 engages new cohorts of incoming undergraduate students and repeatedly collects data about mental health and well-being and access to support.

Objective: U-Flourish survey data provides a unique opportunity to train evidence-based prediction risk models and a personalized recommendation engine to signpost students to indicated mental health support based on their own data.

'Multi-stressed': A qualitative study exploring the impact of the social determinants of health on access to digital mental health for youth and young adults in Alberta.

Background: Mental illness among youth (ages 15-24) is a critical and global public health issue. Youth's pathways to accessing mental healthcare are complex, non-linear, and mediated by the social determinants of health - including social, economic, environmental, and systemic factors. Digital mental health is recognised as a potential solution to address inequitable access to mental healthcare among youth.

Latent Profile Analysis of Childhood Maltreatment and Neural Markers in Depression.

Importance: The limited success of major depressive disorder (MDD) treatments is largely due to the disorder's etiological and pathophysiological heterogeneity. Addressing this heterogeneity is essential for developing accurate prognostic models and personalized treatment strategies.

Objective: To characterize MDD heterogeneity using a mechanism-first latent profile analysis based on environmental, neurostructural, and neurofunctional indicators, and to validate profiles via associations with MDD course, severity, and antidepressant treatment remission.

Prevalence of Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders Among Adolescents Experiencing Homelessness: A Systematic Review.

Adolescents with existing mental health and substance use disorders are at higher risk for homelessness, and being homeless can further exacerbate these issues. However, no systematic review has specifically assessed the prevalence of mental health and substance use disorders among homeless adolescents using validated diagnostic measures. The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of mental health and substance use disorders among adolescents experiencing homelessness, based on studies employing validated diagnostic measures.

Transitions for youth and young adults with eating disorders and/or other mental health conditions: a Canadian guideline.

Background: Eating disorders (EDs) are severe mental illnesses with high rates of mortality, morbidity, and reduced quality of life. Their onset occurs during adolescence and early adulthood, coinciding with the critical transition from pediatric to adult care. To address the lack of guidelines to support ED transitions in Canada, this study developed evidence-based guideline recommendations.

The Occupation of Youth Peer Support Workers Within an Integrated Youth Services Initiative.

Youth peer support workers (YPSWs) use lived/living experience to provide support. However, there is a knowledge gap about service impact on YPSWs themselves. To understand (1) impact being a YPSW has on well-being, (2) experience of being a YPSW, and (3) barriers and facilitators of being a YPSW.

Reproducibility of HERMES-measured GABA+ and glutathione in the mesial temporal lobe.

Background: There is growing interest in using Hadamard Encoding and Reconstruction for MEGA-Edited Spectroscopy (HERMES) within the mesial temporal lobe (MTL). For cross-sectional group comparisons and longitudinal repeated measures designs, an understanding of the internal and test-retest validity of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA+) and glutathione (GSH) is critical. We therefore evaluated the reproducibility of the consensus recommended semi-localization by adiabatic selective refocusing (sLASER) localization for edited-MRS acquisitions in a challenging region, the MTL.

Effects of acute alcohol administration on endocannabinoids and relation to subjective effects.

Rationale: Harmful alcohol use remains a significant global public health challenge. Examining variability in the acute subjective effects of alcohol and related neurobiological mechanisms may advance the understanding of susceptibility to harmful alcohol use. Research suggests the endocannabinoid (eCB) system may play an important role in mediating the reinforcing effects of alcohol.

Using the service needs index to quantify complexity and identify treatment needs across youth mental health service populations: an observational study.

Background: Digital technologies can facilitate comprehensive mental health assessment of an individual's treatment needs, while also enabling data aggregation and analysis at the population or service level. The Service Needs Index (made up of clinical, psychosocial, and comorbidity components) collectively expresses a concise metric for the type, range, and complexity of young people's treatment needs. This study aimed to examine variation in the Service Needs Index across service settings and assess its potential to inform population-level mental health planning.

Multi-voxel pattern analysis for characterizing functional connectivity and neurocognitive function in major depression: A CAN-BIND-1 report.

Background: Major depressive disorder (MDD) affects not only mood but also neurocognitive function. In this study, we used whole-brain functional connectivity multi-voxel pattern analysis (fc-MVPA) to examine the relationship between resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) and neurocognitive function in individuals with MDD compared to healthy controls (HC).

Methods: Baseline functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans from the CAN-BIND-1 dataset were analyzed using a data-driven whole-brain fc-MVPA approach in 147 individuals with MDD and 98 HC.

Transdiagnostic links of reward processing in obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression.

Objectives: Transdiagnostic models aim to uncover shared mechanisms across mental disorders. Reward responsiveness (the ability to experience pleasure from rewarding stimuli) is a plausible, yet underexplored, transdiagnostic mechanism linking obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and depression. This study used network analysis to (1) examine how key reward responsiveness domains are interlinked in individuals with OCD and (2) explore how each domain is uniquely associated with OCD and depression.