Developing a medical device-grade T phantom optimized for myocardial T mapping by cardiovascular magnetic resonance.

Introduction: A long T relaxation time can reflect oedema, and myocardial inflammation when combined with increased plasma troponin levels. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) T mapping therefore has potential to provide a key diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers. However, T varies by scanner, software, and sequence, highlighting the need for standardization and for a quality assurance system for T mapping in CMR.

A medical device-grade T1 and ECV phantom for global T1 mapping quality assurance-the T Mapping and ECV Standardization in cardiovascular magnetic resonance (T1MES) program.

Background: T mapping and extracellular volume (ECV) have the potential to guide patient care and serve as surrogate end-points in clinical trials, but measurements differ between cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) scanners and pulse sequences. To help deliver T mapping to global clinical care, we developed a phantom-based quality assurance (QA) system for verification of measurement stability over time at individual sites, with further aims of generalization of results across sites, vendor systems, software versions and imaging sequences. We thus created T1MES: The T1 Mapping and ECV Standardization Program.

Early Cannabis Use, Polygenic Risk Score for Schizophrenia and Brain Maturation in Adolescence.

Importance: Cannabis use during adolescence is known to increase the risk for schizophrenia in men. Sex differences in the dynamics of brain maturation during adolescence may be of particular importance with regard to vulnerability of the male brain to cannabis exposure.

Objective: To evaluate whether the association between cannabis use and cortical maturation in adolescents is moderated by a polygenic risk score for schizophrenia.

Oxytocin receptor genotype modulates ventral striatal activity to social cues and response to stressful life events.

Background: Common variants in the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) have been shown to influence social and affective behavior and to moderate the effect of adverse experiences on risk for social-affective problems. However, the intermediate neurobiological mechanisms are not fully understood. Although human functional neuroimaging studies have reported that oxytocin effects on social behavior and emotional states are mediated by amygdala function, animal models indicate that oxytocin receptors in the ventral striatum (VS) modulate sensitivity to social reinforcers.

Creating probabilistic maps of the face network in the adolescent brain: a multicentre functional MRI study.

Large-scale magnetic resonance (MR) studies of the human brain offer unique opportunities for identifying genetic and environmental factors shaping the human brain. Here, we describe a dataset collected in the context of a multi-centre study of the adolescent brain, namely the IMAGEN Study. We focus on one of the functional paradigms included in the project to probe the brain network underlying processing of ambiguous and angry faces.