Neural Transcription Correlates of Multimodal Cortical Phenotypes during Development.

During development, cellular events such as cell proliferation, migration, and synaptogenesis determine the structural organization of the brain. These processes are driven in part by spatiotemporally regulated gene expression. We investigated how the genetic signatures of specific neural cell types shape cortical organization of the human brain throughout infancy and childhood.

Maternal care in infancy and the course of limbic development.

Maternal care may predict limbic development, though relations may vary by age and type of assessment. Here, we examined maternal behavior during early infancy (i.e.

Cortical graph neural network for AD and MCI diagnosis and transfer learning across populations.

Combining machine learning with neuroimaging data has a great potential for early diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, it remains unclear how well the classifiers built on one population can predict MCI/AD diagnosis of other populations. This study aimed to employ a spectral graph convolutional neural network (graph-CNN), that incorporated cortical thickness and geometry, to identify MCI and AD based on 3089 T-weighted MRI data of the ADNI-2 cohort, and to evaluate its feasibility to predict AD in the ADNI-1 cohort (n = 3602) and an Asian cohort (n = 347).

Correction: Progressive decline in hippocampal CA1 volume in individuals at ultra-high-risk for psychosis who do not remit: findings from the longitudinal youth at risk study.

An amendment to this paper has been published and can be accessed via a link at the top of the paper.

Sex-Dependent Associations among Maternal Depressive Symptoms, Child Reward Network, and Behaviors in Early Childhood.

Maternal depression is associated with disrupted neurodevelopment in offspring. This study examined relationships among postnatal maternal depressive symptoms, the functional reward network and behavioral problems in 4.5-year-old boys (57) and girls (65).

Long-term Influences of Prenatal Maternal Depressive Symptoms on the Amygdala-Prefrontal Circuitry of the Offspring From Birth to Early Childhood.

Background: Prenatal maternal depression may have long-term impacts on amygdala-cortical development. This study explored associations of prenatal maternal depressive symptoms on the amygdala-cortical structural covariance of the offspring from birth to early childhood, derived from a longitudinal birth cohort.

Methods: Structural magnetic resonance imaging was performed to obtain the amygdala volume and cortical thickness at each time point.

Maternal sensitivity predicts anterior hippocampal functional networks in early childhood.

Maternal care influences child hippocampal development. The hippocampus is functionally organized along an anterior-posterior axis. Little is known with regards to the extent maternal care shapes offspring anterior and posterior hippocampal (aHPC, pHPC) functional networks.

Functional and structural networks of lateral and medial orbitofrontal cortex as potential neural pathways for depression in childhood.

Background: Converging evidence suggests that the lateral and medial orbitofrontal cortices (lOFC and mOFC) may contribute distinct neural mechanisms in depression. This study investigated the relations of their functional and structural organizations with postnatal maternal depressive symptoms in young children.

Methods: Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging and structural magnetic resonance imaging were acquired in children at age 4 (n = 199) and 6 years (n = 234).

Fronto-parietal numerical networks in relation with early numeracy in young children.

Early numeracy provides the foundation of acquiring mathematical skills that is essential for future academic success. This study examined numerical functional networks in relation to counting and number relational skills in preschoolers at 4 and 6 years of age. The counting and number relational skills were assessed using school readiness test (SRT).

Behavioral Heterogeneity in Relation with Brain Functional Networks in Young Children.

This study aimed to identify distinct behavioral profiles in a population-based sample of 654 4-year-old children and characterize their relationships with brain functional networks using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data. Young children showed 7 behavioral profiles, including a super healthy behavioral profile with the lowest scores across all Child Behavior CheckList (CBCL) subscales (G1) and other 6 behavioral profiles, respectively with pronounced withdrawal (G2), somatic complaints (G3), anxiety and withdrawal (G4), somatic complaints and withdrawal (G5), the mixture of emotion, withdrawal, and aggression (G6), and attention (G7) problems. Compared with children in G1, children with withdrawal shared abnormal functional connectivities among the sensorimotor networks.

Perinatal maternal depressive symptoms alter amygdala functional connectivity in girls.

Perinatal maternal depressive symptoms influence brain development of offspring. Such effects are particularly notable in the amygdala, a key structure involved in emotional processes. This study investigated whether the functional organization of the amygdala varies as a function of pre- and postnatal maternal depressive symptoms.

Large-Scale Network Topology Reveals Heterogeneity in Individuals With at Risk Mental State for Psychosis: Findings From the Longitudinal Youth-at-Risk Study.

Emerging evidence demonstrates heterogeneity in clinical outcomes of prodromal psychosis that only a small percentage of at-risk individuals eventually progress to full-blown psychosis. To examine the neurobiological underpinnings of this heterogeneity from a network perspective, we tested whether the early patterns of large-scale brain network topology were associated with risk of developing clinical psychosis. Task-free functional MRI data were acquired from subjects with At Risk Mental State (ARMS) for psychosis and healthy controls (HC).

Progressive Decline in Hippocampal CA1 Volume in Individuals at Ultra-High-Risk for Psychosis Who Do Not Remit: Findings from the Longitudinal Youth at Risk Study.

Most individuals identified as ultra-high-risk (UHR) for psychosis do not develop frank psychosis. They continue to exhibit subthreshold symptoms, or go on to fully remit. Prior work has shown that the volume of CA1, a subfield of the hippocampus, is selectively reduced in the early stages of schizophrenia.

Pre- and Post-Natal Maternal Depressive Symptoms in Relation with Infant Frontal Function, Connectivity, and Behaviors.

This study investigated the relationships between pre- and early post-natal maternal depression and their changes with frontal electroencephalogram (EEG) activity and functional connectivity in 6- and 18-month olds, as well as externalizing and internalizing behaviors in 24-month olds (n = 258). Neither prenatal nor postnatal maternal depressive symptoms independently predicted neither the frontal EEG activity nor functional connectivity in 6- and 18-month infants. However, increasing maternal depressive symptoms from the prenatal to postnatal period predicted greater right frontal activity and relative right frontal asymmetry amongst 6-month infants but these finding were not observed amongst 18-month infants after adjusted for post-conceptual age on the EEG visit day.

Developmental synchrony of thalamocortical circuits in the neonatal brain.

The thalamus is a deep gray matter structure and consists of axonal fibers projecting to the entire cortex, which provide the anatomical support for its sensorimotor and higher-level cognitive functions. There is limited in vivo evidence on the normal thalamocortical development, especially in early life. In this study, we aimed to investigate the developmental patterns of the cerebral cortex, the thalamic substructures, and their connectivity with the cortex in the first few weeks of the postnatal brain.

Lack of Evidence for Regional Brain Volume or Cortical Thickness Abnormalities in Youths at Clinical High Risk for Psychosis: Findings From the Longitudinal Youth at Risk Study.

There is cumulative evidence that young people in an "at-risk mental state" (ARMS) for psychosis show structural brain abnormalities in frontolimbic areas, comparable to, but less extensive than those reported in established schizophrenia. However, most available data come from ARMS samples from Australia, Europe, and North America while large studies from other populations are missing. We conducted a structural brain magnetic resonance imaging study from a relatively large sample of 69 ARMS individuals and 32 matched healthy controls (HC) recruited from Singapore as part of the Longitudinal Youth At-Risk Study (LYRIKS).

Preserved working memory and altered brain activation in persons at risk for psychosis.

Objective: Patients with schizophrenia exhibit impairments in working memory that often appear in attenuated form in persons at high risk for the illness. The authors hypothesized that deviations in task-related brain activation and deactivation would occur in persons with an at-risk mental state performing a working memory task that entailed the maintenance and manipulation of letters.

Method: Participants at ultra high risk for developing psychosis (N=60), identified using the Comprehensive Assessment of At-Risk Mental States, and healthy comparison subjects (N=38) 14 to 29 years of age underwent functional MRI while performing a verbal working memory task.