title: Occipital bending in schizophrenia.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the prevalence of occipital bending (an occipital lobe crossing or twisting across the midline) in subjects with schizophrenia and matched healthy controls.
  
  
  METHODS
  Occipital bending prevalence was investigated in 37 patients with schizophrenia and 44 healthy controls.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Ratings showed that prevalence was nearly three times higher among schizophrenia patients (13/37 [35.1%]) than in control subjects (6/44 [13.6%]). Furthermore, those with schizophrenia had greater normalized gray matter volume but less white matter volume and had larger brain-to-cranial ratio.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results suggest that occipital bending is more prevalent among schizophrenia patients than healthy subjects and that schizophrenia patients have different gray matter-white matter proportions. Although the cause and clinical ramifications of occipital bending are unclear, the results infer that occipital bending may be a marker of psychiatric illness.
authors.affiliation: 1 Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre, The Alfred and Monash University, Central Clinical School, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
authors.forename: Jerome J
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Maller
authors.affiliation: 1 Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre, The Alfred and Monash University, Central Clinical School, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
authors.forename: Rodney J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.affiliation: 1 Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre, The Alfred and Monash University, Central Clinical School, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
authors.forename: Richard H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Thomson
authors.affiliation: 2 Temerty Centre for Therapeutic Brain Intervention, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
authors.forename: Zafiris J
authors.initials: ZJ
authors.lastname: Daskalakis
authors.affiliation: 3 The Alfred Hospital, Prahran, VIC, Australia.|4 Monash Institute of Medical Engineering (MIME), Melbourne, VIC, Australia.|5 F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine, Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, MD, USA.
authors.forename: Jeffrey V
authors.initials: JV
authors.lastname: Rosenfeld
authors.affiliation: 1 Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre, The Alfred and Monash University, Central Clinical School, Melbourne, VIC, Australia.
authors.forename: Paul B
authors.initials: PB
authors.lastname: Fitzgerald
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009778:Occipital Lobe / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Occipital; bending; magnetic resonance imaging; schizophrenia