Microstructural mapping of dentate gyrus pathology in Alzheimer's disease: A 16.4 Tesla MRI study.

The dentate gyrus (DG) is an integral portion of the hippocampal formation, and it is composed of three layers. Quantitative magnetic resonance (MR) imaging has the capability to map brain tissue microstructural properties which can be exploited to investigate neurodegeneration in Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, assessing subtle pathological changes within layers requires high resolution imaging and histological validation.

Cortical change after a 2-week novel robotic rehabilitation program in children with prior hemispherectomy: pilot imaging study.

Introduction: Partial preservation of sensory and motor functions in the contralateral extremities after hemispherectomy is likely secondary to cortical reorganization of the remaining hemisphere and can be improved by rehabilitation. This study aims to investigate behavioral and structural cerebral cortical changes that may occur after a 2-week novel robotic rehabilitation program in children with prior anatomic hemispherectomy.

Methods: Five patients with prior anatomic hemispherectomy (average age 10.

Selective morphological and volumetric alterations in the hippocampus of children exposed in utero to gestational diabetes mellitus.

Prior epidemiological studies have found that in utero exposure to gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM) is associated with increased risk for neurodevelopmental disorders. However, brain alterations associated with GDM are not known. The hippocampus is pivotal for cognition and emotional regulation.

Child physical activity as a modifier of the relationship between prenatal exposure to maternal overweight/obesity and neurocognitive outcomes in offspring.

Background/objectives: With rising obesity rates among pregnant women, more children are exposed in utero to maternal obesity. In prior epidemiological studies, exposure to maternal obesity was associated with lower intelligence quotient (IQ) scores and worse cognitive abilities in offspring. Further studies have shown that offspring exposed to maternal obesity, exhibit differences in the white matter microstructure properties, fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD).

Homologous laminar organization of the mouse and human subiculum.

The subiculum is the major output component of the hippocampal formation and one of the major brain structures most affected by Alzheimer's disease. Our previous work revealed a hidden laminar architecture within the mouse subiculum. However, the rotation of the hippocampal longitudinal axis across species makes it unclear how the laminar organization is represented in human subiculum.

The effect of body mass index on hippocampal morphology and memory performance in late childhood and adolescence.

Childhood obesity is associated with negative physiological and cognitive health outcomes. The hippocampus is a diverse subcortical structure involved in learned feeding behaviors and energy regulation, and research has shown that the hippocampus is vulnerable to the effects of excess adiposity. Previous studies have demonstrated reduced hippocampal volume in overweight and obese children; however, it is unclear if certain subregions are selectively affected.

Dietary Fructose Intake and Hippocampal Structure and Connectivity during Childhood.

In rodent literature, there is evidence that excessive fructose consumption during development has a detrimental impact on hippocampal structure and function. In this study of 103 children ages 7-11 years old, we investigated whether dietary fructose intake was related to alterations in hippocampal volume and connectivity in humans. To examine if these associations were specific to fructose or were related to dietary sugars intake in general, we explored relationships between dietary intake of added sugars and the monosaccharide, glucose, on the same brain measures.

Magnitude and timing of major white matter tract maturation from infancy through adolescence with NODDI.

White matter maturation is a nonlinear and heterogeneous phenomenon characterized by axonal packing, increased axon caliber, and a prolonged period of myelination. While current in vivo diffusion MRI (dMRI) methods, like diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), have successfully characterized the gross structure of major white matter tracts, these measures lack the specificity required to unravel the distinct processes that contribute to microstructural development. Neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging (NODDI) is a dMRI approach that probes tissue compartments and provides biologically meaningful measures that quantify neurite density index (NDI) and orientation dispersion index (ODI).

The LONI QC System: A Semi-Automated, Web-Based and Freely-Available Environment for the Comprehensive Quality Control of Neuroimaging Data.

Quantifying, controlling, and monitoring image quality is an essential prerequisite for ensuring the validity and reproducibility of many types of neuroimaging data analyses. Implementation of quality control (QC) procedures is the key to ensuring that neuroimaging data are of high-quality and their validity in the subsequent analyses. We introduce the QC system of the Laboratory of Neuro Imaging (LONI): a web-based system featuring a workflow for the assessment of various modality and contrast brain imaging data.

Hippocampal Shape Maturation in Childhood and Adolescence.

The hippocampus is a subcortical structure critical for learning and memory, and a thorough understanding of its neurodevelopment is important for studying these processes in health and disease. However, few studies have quantified the typical developmental trajectory of the structure in childhood and adolescence. This study examined the cross-sectional age-related changes and sex differences in hippocampal shape in a multisite, multistudy cohort of 1676 typically developing children (age 1-22 years) using a novel intrinsic brain mapping method based on Laplace-Beltrami embedding of surfaces.

Neuroanatomical morphometric characterization of sex differences in youth using statistical learning.

Exploring neuroanatomical sex differences using a multivariate statistical learning approach can yield insights that cannot be derived with univariate analysis. While gross differences in total brain volume are well-established, uncovering the more subtle, regional sex-related differences in neuroanatomy requires a multivariate approach that can accurately model spatial complexity as well as the interactions between neuroanatomical features. Here, we developed a multivariate statistical learning model using a support vector machine (SVM) classifier to predict sex from MRI-derived regional neuroanatomical features from a single-site study of 967 healthy youth from the Philadelphia Neurodevelopmental Cohort (PNC).

Predictive Big Data Analytics: A Study of Parkinson's Disease Using Large, Complex, Heterogeneous, Incongruent, Multi-Source and Incomplete Observations.

Background: A unique archive of Big Data on Parkinson's Disease is collected, managed and disseminated by the Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI). The integration of such complex and heterogeneous Big Data from multiple sources offers unparalleled opportunities to study the early stages of prevalent neurodegenerative processes, track their progression and quickly identify the efficacies of alternative treatments. Many previous human and animal studies have examined the relationship of Parkinson's disease (PD) risk to trauma, genetics, environment, co-morbidities, or life style.

Parametric Probability Distribution Functions for Axon Diameters of Corpus Callosum.

Axon diameter is an important neuroanatomical characteristic of the nervous system that alters in the course of neurological disorders such as multiple sclerosis. Axon diameters vary, even within a fiber bundle, and are not normally distributed. An accurate distribution function is therefore beneficial, either to describe axon diameters that are obtained from a direct measurement technique (e.

Brain tissue compartment density estimated using diffusion-weighted MRI yields tissue parameters consistent with histology.

We examined whether quantitative density measures of cerebral tissue consistent with histology can be obtained from diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). By incorporating prior knowledge of myelin and cell membrane densities, absolute tissue density values were estimated from relative intracellular and intraneurite density values obtained from diffusion MRI. The NODDI (neurite orientation distribution and density imaging) technique, which can be applied clinically, was used.

Neuroanatomical precursors of dyslexia identified from pre-reading through to age 11.

Developmental dyslexia is a common reading disorder that negatively impacts an individual's ability to achieve literacy. Although the brain network involved in reading and its dysfunction in dyslexia has been well studied, it is unknown whether dyslexia is caused by structural abnormalities in the reading network itself or in the lower-level networks that provide input to the reading network. In this study, we acquired structural magnetic resonance imaging scans longitudinally from 27 Norwegian children from before formal literacy training began until after dyslexia was diagnosed.

Gait abnormalities and progressive myelin degeneration in a new murine model of Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease with tandem genomic duplication.

Pelizaeus-Merzbacher disease (PMD) is a hypomyelinating leukodystrophy caused by mutations of the proteolipid protein 1 gene (PLP1), which is located on the X chromosome and encodes the most abundant protein of myelin in the central nervous sytem. Approximately 60% of PMD cases result from genomic duplications of a region of the X chromosome that includes the entire PLP1 gene. The duplications are typically in a head-to-tail arrangement, and they vary in size and gene content.

Superficial white matter: effects of age, sex, and hemisphere.

Structural and diffusion imaging studies demonstrate effects of age, sex, and asymmetry in many brain structures. However, few studies have addressed how individual differences might influence the structural integrity of the superficial white matter (SWM), comprised of short-range association (U-fibers), and intracortical axons. This study thus applied a sophisticated computational analysis approach to structural and diffusion imaging data obtained from healthy individuals selected from the International Consortium for Brain Mapping (ICBM) database across a wide adult age range (n=65, age: 18-74 years, all Caucasian).

Cerebrospinal fluid fetuin-A is a biomarker of active multiple sclerosis.

Background: There is an urgent need for biomarkers in multiple sclerosis (MS) that can reliably measure ongoing disease activity relative to inflammation, neurodegeneration, and demyelination/remyelination. Fetuin-A was recently identified as a potential biomarker in MS cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Fetuin-A has diverse functions, including a role in immune pathways.

Mapping the human connectome.

Knowledge of the properties of white matter fiber tracts isa crucial and necessary step toward a precise understanding of the functional architecture of the living human brain. Previously, this knowledge was severely limited, as it was difficult to visualize these structures or measure their functions in vivo. The HCP has recently generated considerable interest because of its potential to explore connectivity and its relationship with genetics and behavior.

White matter integrity, language, and childhood onset schizophrenia.

Background: The heterogeneity of symptoms and cognitive deficits in schizophrenia can be explained by abnormal connectivity between brain regions. Childhood-onset schizophrenia (COS) is a particularly severe form of schizophrenia, with an onset during a key time period for both cerebral pruning and myelination.

Methods: Diffusion tensor images were acquired from 18 children and adolescents with COS and 25 controls.

Bridging the hemispheres in meditation: thicker callosal regions and enhanced fractional anisotropy (FA) in long-term practitioners.

Recent findings suggest a close link between long-term meditation practices and the structure of the corpus callosum. Prior analyses, however, have focused on estimating mean fractional anisotropy (FA) within two large pre-defined callosal tracts only. Additional effects might exist in other, non-explored callosal regions and/or with respect to callosal attributes not captured by estimates of FA.

Enhanced brain connectivity in long-term meditation practitioners.

Very little is currently known about the cerebral characteristics that underlie the complex processes of meditation as only a limited number of studies have addressed this topic. Research exploring structural connectivity in meditation practitioners is particularly rare. We thus acquired diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data of high angular and spatial resolution and used atlas-based tract mapping methods to investigate white matter fiber characteristics in a well-matched sample of long-term meditators and controls (n=54).

Mapping corticocortical structural integrity in schizophrenia and effects of genetic liability.

Background: Structural and diffusion tensor imaging studies implicate gray and white matter (WM) abnormalities and disruptions of neural circuitry in schizophrenia. However, the structural integrity of the superficial WM, comprising short-range association (U-fibers) and intracortical axons, has not been investigated in schizophrenia.

Methods: High-resolution structural and diffusion tensor images and sophisticated cortical pattern matching methods were used to measure and compare global and local variations in superficial WM fractional anisotropy between schizophrenia patients and their relatives and community comparison subjects and their relatives (n = 150).

Mean diffusivity and fractional anisotropy as indicators of disease and genetic liability to schizophrenia.

The goals of this study were to first determine whether the fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) of major white matter pathways associate with schizophrenia, and secondly to characterize the extent to which differences in these metrics might reflect a genetic predisposition to schizophrenia. Differences in FA and MD were identified using a comprehensive atlas-based tract mapping approach using diffusion tensor imaging and high-resolution structural data from 35 patients, 28 unaffected first-degree relatives of patients, 29 community controls, and 14 first-degree relatives of controls. Schizophrenia patients had significantly higher MD in the following tracts compared to controls: the right anterior thalamic radiations, the forceps minor, the bilateral inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus (IFO), the temporal component of the left superior longitudinal fasciculus (tSLF), and the bilateral uncinate.