The aim of this study was to investigate white matter (WM) abnormalities in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and its relationship to severity of obsessive-compulsive symptoms.

Conventional and diffusion tensor imaging were acquired in nine patients with OCD and nine gender- and age-matched healthy volunteers. Changes in fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) were investigated using selected regions of interest (ROIs) analyses and whole brain tract-based spatial statistic analyses. A priori ROIs were placed bilaterally in internal capsule (IC), superior longitudinal fascicule (SLF), cingulate bundle (CB), and corpus calosum (CC).

ROIs analyses showed that, as compared to healthy volunteers, patients with OCD exhibited reduced FA values bilaterally in regions of the posterior limb of the IC and in the SLF and increased MD values bilaterally in the posterior limb of the IC, in the left CB, and in the splenium of CC. Voxelwise analysis showed that, as compared to controls, patients with OCD exhibited reduced FA and increased MD in regions of the cortical spinal tract (genu and posterior limb of internal capsule and corona radiata) and the SLF. Severity of OCD correlated with WM alterations in different brain regions, ie, the left (rho=0.70 [MD]) and right (rho=0.70 [MD]) anterior limb of the IC, the left (rho=0.97 [MD]) and right SLF (rho=0.81 [MD]), and the genu of CC (rho=0.66 [MD]; rho=-0.69 [FA]).

Our findings support the involvement of different WM tracts in OCD and suggest that greater impairment in WM integrity is associated with increased severity of OCD symptoms.

The aim of this study is to explore the applicability of brain rate (fb) for the diagnosis of attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), analyzing the spatial distribution of fb through analysis of its values in sagittal and lateral electrodes' positions, recorded in four conditions (eyes closed, eyes opened, visual continuous performance task and emotional continuous performance task).

Sixty-seven adults diagnosed with ADHD according to Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition criteria and 50 age-matched control subjects participated in the study. The brain activity of the subjects was recorded by 19 channel quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG) system and fb was calculated with the fb software.

Maximum values of fb for sagittal topography are obtained in central region and the minimum in frontal region, while lateral topography maximum values are found in the left and right sides and the minimum in midline region. A positive correlation between the fb values and the QEEG spectra subtypes was obtained, with lower values for normals, first and second subtype, and higher values for the third and fourth subtype. On the other hand, there was no correlation between behavioral symptoms and fb values.

The applicability of an fb indicator in the diagnosis of ADHD is especially pronounced for the higher subtypes (ADHD III and IV), corresponding to heterogeneous and multifactorial character of this disorder.