Enhanced efficiency in the bilingual brain through the inter-hemispheric cortico-cerebellar pathway in early second language acquisition.

Bilingualism has a profound impact on the structure and function of the brain, but it is not yet well understood how this experience influences brain functional organization. We examine a large sample (151 participants) of monolinguals and bilinguals with varied age of second language acquisition, who underwent resting-state functional magnetic brain imaging. Whole-brain network analyses reveal higher global efficiency in bilingual individuals than monolinguals, indicating enhanced functional integration in the bilingual brain.

A New Quantitative Tool for the Ultrasonographic Assessment of Tendons: A Reliability and Validity Study on the Patellar Tendon.

Ultrasound is widely used for tendon assessment due to its safety, affordability, and portability, but its subjective nature poses challenges. This study aimed to develop a new quantitative analysis tool based on artificial intelligence to identify statistical patterns of healthy and pathological tendons. Furthermore, we aimed to validate this new tool by comparing it to experts' subjective assessments.

Predicting depression risk in early adolescence via multimodal brain imaging.

Depression is an incapacitating psychiatric disorder with increased risk through adolescence. Among other factors, children with family history of depression have significantly higher risk of developing depression. Early identification of pre-adolescent children who are at risk of depression is crucial for early intervention and prevention.

Investigating Associations Between Maternal Behavior and the Development of Functional Connectivity During the Transition From Late Childhood to Early Adolescence.

Background: Parenting behavior is thought to affect child brain development, with implications for mental health. However, longitudinal studies that use whole-brain approaches are lacking. In this study, we investigated associations between parenting behavior, age-related changes in whole-brain functional connectivity, and psychopathology symptoms in children and adolescents.

PREDICTING DEPRESSION RISK IN EARLY ADOLESCENCE VIA MULTIMODAL BRAIN IMAGING.

Depression is an incapacitating psychiatric disorder with high prevalence in adolescent populations that is influenced by many risk factors, including family history of depression. The ability to predict who may develop depression before adolescence, when rates of depression increase markedly, is important for early intervention and prevention. Using a large longitudinal sample from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study (2658 participants after imaging quality control, between 9-10 years at baseline), we applied machine learning methods on a set of comprehensive multimodal neuroimaging features to predict depression risk at the two-year follow-up from the baseline visit.

Development of the Functional Connectome Topology in Adolescence: Evidence from Topological Data Analysis.

Adolescence is a crucial developmental period in terms of behavior and mental health. Therefore, understanding how the brain develops during this stage is a fundamental challenge for neuroscience. Recent studies have modeled the brain as a network or connectome, mainly applying measures from graph theory, showing a change in its functional organization, such as an increase in its segregation and integration.

Fronto-parietal homotopy in resting-state functional connectivity predicts task-switching performance.

Homotopic functional connectivity reflects the degree of synchrony in spontaneous activity between homologous voxels in the two hemispheres. Previous studies have associated increased brain homotopy and decreased white matter integrity with performance decrements on different cognitive tasks across the life-span. Here, we correlated functional homotopy, both at the whole-brain level and specifically in fronto-parietal network nodes, with task-switching performance in young adults.

The Time Varying Networks of the Interoceptive Attention and Rest.

Focused attention to spontaneous sensations is a dynamic process that demands interoceptive abilities. Failure to control it has been linked to neuropsychiatric disorders like illness-anxiety disorder. Regulatory strategies, such as focused attention meditation (FAM), may enhance the ability to control focused attention particularly to body sensations, which can be reflected on functional neuroanatomy.

Development of the brain functional connectome follows puberty-dependent nonlinear trajectories.

Adolescence is a developmental period that dramatically impacts body and behavior, with pubertal hormones playing an important role not only in the morphological changes in the body but also in brain structure and function. Understanding brain development during adolescence has become a priority in neuroscience because it coincides with the onset of many psychiatric and behavioral disorders. However, little is known about how puberty influences the brain functional connectome.

Brain functional networks associated with social bonding in monogamous voles.

Previous studies have related pair-bonding in , the prairie vole, with plastic changes in several brain regions. However, the interactions between these socially relevant regions have yet to be described. In this study, we used resting-state magnetic resonance imaging to explore bonding behaviors and functional connectivity of brain regions previously associated with pair-bonding.

Topological Data Analysis Reveals Robust Alterations in the Whole-Brain and Frontal Lobe Functional Connectomes in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder.

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a developmental disorder characterized by difficulty to control the own behavior. Neuroimaging studies have related ADHD with the interplay of fronto-parietal attention systems with the default mode network (DMN; Castellanos and Aoki, 2016). However, some results have been inconsistent, potentially due to methodological differences in the analytical strategies when defining the brain functional network, i.

Hemispheric asymmetry and homotopy of resting state functional connectivity correlate with visuospatial abilities in school-age children.

Hemispheric specialization of cognitive functions is a developmental process that shapes the brain from the gestational stage to adulthood. Functional connectivity of the resting brain has been largely used to infer the hemispheric organization of the spontaneous brain activity. In particular, two main properties have been largely explored throughout development: hemispheric asymmetry of functional connectivity and homotopic functional connectivity.

Resting state functional connectivity of the anterior striatum and prefrontal cortex predicts reading performance in school-age children.

The current study investigated the neural basis of reading performance in 60 school-age Spanish-speaking children, aged 6 to 9years. By using a data-driven approach and an automated matching procedure, we identified a left-lateralized resting state network that included typical language regions (Wernicke's and Broca's regions), prefrontal cortex, pre- and post-central gyri, superior and middle temporal gyri, cerebellum, and subcortical regions, and explored its relevance for reading performance (accuracy, comprehension and speed). Functional connectivity of the left frontal and temporal cortices and subcortical regions predicted reading speed.