Functional development in the infant brain for auditory pitch processing

Infancy is a dynamic and immensely important period in human brain development. Studies of infant functional development using resting-state fMRI rely on precisely defined cortical parcellation maps. However, available adult-based functional parcellation maps are not applicable for infants due to their substantial differences in functional organizations. Fine-grained infant-dedicated cortical parcellation maps are highly desired but remain scarce, due to difficulties ranging from acquiring to processing of infant brain MRIs. In this study, leveraging 1,064 high-resolution longitudinal rs-fMRIs from 197 infants from birth to 24 months and advanced infant-dedicated processing tools, we create the first set of infant-specific, fine-grained cortical functional parcellation maps. Besides the conventional folding-based cortical registration, we specifically establish the functional correspondences across individuals using functional gradient densities and generate both age-specific and age-common fine-grained parcellation maps. The first set of comprehensive brain functional developmental maps are accordingly derived, and reveals a complex, hitherto unseen multi-peak fluctuation development pattern in temporal variations of gradient density, network sizes, and local efficiency, with more dynamic changes during the first 9 months than other ages. Our proposed method is applicable in generating fine-grained parcellations for the whole lifespan, and our parcellation maps will be available online to advance the neuroimaging field.

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Infant Brain Tumors

Neurosurgery Clinics of North America ◽

10.1016/s1042-3680(18)30626-0 ◽

1992 ◽

Vol 3 (4) ◽

pp. 781-789 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

J. Russell Geyer

Keyword(s):

Brain Tumors ◽

Infant Brain

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A Unique Asymmetrical Stroop Effect in Absolute Pitch Possessors

Experimental Psychology (formerly Zeitschrift für Experimentelle Psychologie) ◽

10.1027/1618-3169/a000153 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 59 (5) ◽

pp. 272-278 ◽

Cited By ~ 19

Author(s):

Lilach Akiva-Kabiri ◽

Avishai Henik

Keyword(s):

Selective Attention ◽

Stroop Task ◽

Stroop Effect ◽

Congruency Effect ◽

Absolute Pitch ◽

Naming Task ◽

Color Naming ◽

Reading Task ◽

Pitch Processing ◽

Reverse Pattern

The Stroop task has been employed to study automaticity or failures of selective attention for many years. The effect is known to be asymmetrical, with words affecting color naming but not vice versa. In the current work two auditory-visual Stroop-like tasks were devised in order to study the automaticity of pitch processing in both absolute pitch (AP) possessors and musically trained controls without AP (nAP). In the tone naming task, participants were asked to name the auditory tone while ignoring a visual note name. In the note naming task, participants were asked to read a note name while ignoring the auditory tone. The nAP group showed a significant congruency effect only in the tone naming task, whereas AP possessors showed the reverse pattern, with a significant congruency effect only in the note reading task. Thus, AP possessors were unable to ignore the auditory tone when asked to read the note, but were unaffected by the verbal note name when asked to label the auditory tone. The results suggest that pitch identification in participants endowed with AP ability is automatic and impossible to suppress.

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Pitch Processing of Music and Speech in Congenital Amusia

Advances in Psychological Science ◽

10.3724/sp.j.1042.2012.00159 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 20 (2) ◽

pp. 159-167

Author(s):

Cun-Mei JIANG ◽

Yu-Fang YANG

Keyword(s):

Pitch Processing ◽

Congenital Amusia

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Development of Mucosal Immunity: Functional Interactions with Mucosal Microbiome in Health and Disease

Current Immunology Reviews ◽

10.2174/1573395515666190225153529 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 15 (2) ◽

pp. 154-165

Author(s):

Oscar G. Gómez-Duarte ◽

Pearay L. Ogra

Keyword(s):

Adaptive Immunity ◽

Mucosal Immunity ◽

Plasma Cells ◽

External Environment ◽

Mammalian Host ◽

Immune Functions ◽

Principal Mechanism ◽

Functional Development ◽

Mucosal Surfaces ◽

Specific Pathogen

The mucosal surfaces and the skin are the primary sites of interactions between the mammalian host and the external environment. These sites are exposed continuously to the diverse components of the environment, including subcellular, unicellular and multicellular organisms, dietary agents and food products; and numerous other soluble or cellular air or water borne products. The development of innate and adaptive immunity in the mucosal surfaces and the skin are the principal mechanism of mammalian defense evolved to date, in order to maintain effective homeostatic balance between the host and the external environment. The innate immune functions are mediated by a number of host specific Pathogen Recognition Receptors (PRR), designed to recognize unique Pathogen Associated Molecular Patterns (PAMP), essential to the molecular structure of the microorganism. The major components of specific adaptive immunity in the mucosal surfaces include the organized antigen-reactive lymphoid follicles in different inductive mucosal sites and the effector sites of the lamina propria and sub-epithelial regions, which contain lymphoid and plasma cells, derived by the homing of antigen sensitized cells from the inductive sites. The acquisition of environmental microbiome by the neonate in its mucosal surfaces and the skin, which begins before or immediately after birth, has been shown to play a critical and complex role in the development of mucosal immunity. This report provides an overview of the mammalian microbiome and highlights its role in the evolution and functional development of immunologic defenses in the mucosal surface under normal physiologic conditions and during infectious and non-infectious inflammatory pathologic states associated with altered microbiota.

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Evaluation of risk factors for cerebral palsy

The Egyptian Journal of Neurology Psychiatry and Neurosurgery ◽

10.1186/s41983-020-00265-1 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 57 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Dina Salama Abd Elmagid ◽

Hend Magdy

Keyword(s):

Risk Factors ◽

Cerebral Palsy ◽

Intracranial Hemorrhage ◽

Cns Infection ◽

Motor Impairments ◽

Cerebrovascular Accidents ◽

Common Causes ◽

Children With Cerebral Palsy ◽

Infant Brain ◽

Cns Malformation

Abstract Background Cerebral palsy (CP) has been identified as one of the most important and common causes of childhood disabilities worldwide and is often accompanied by multiple comorbidities. CP is defined as a group of disorders of the development of movement and posture, causing activity limitation that are attributed to non-progressive disturbances that occurred in the developing fetal or infant brain. The objective of our study was to describe main clinical pattern and motor impairments of our patients, and to evaluate the presence of risk factors and if there is a relation to the type of cerebral palsy. Methods Children with cerebral palsy were retrospectively enrolled over 2 years from the neurology outpatient clinics. Cerebral palsy risk factors and motor impairments were determined through caregiver interviews, review of medical records, and direct physical examination. Results One thousand children with cerebral palsy were enrolled. Subjects were 64.4% male, with a median age of 2.5 years. The risk factors for cerebral palsy in our study were antenatal (21%), natal and post-natal (30.5%), post-neonatal (17.1%), and unidentified (31.4%). Antenatal as CNS malformation (26.6%), maternal DM (17.6%), prolonged rupture of membrane (11.9%), maternal hemorrhage (10.4%), and pre-eclampsia (4.7%). Natal and post-natal as hypoxic ischemic encephalopathy (28.5%), infection (16.3%), hyperbilirubinemia (12.7%), cerebrovascular accidents (8.8%), meconium aspiration (6.2%), and intracranial hemorrhage. Post-neonatal as CNS infection (34.5%), cerebrovascular accidents (28.6%), sepsis (23.9%), and intracranial hemorrhage (8.7%). Conclusions Cerebral palsy has different etiologies and risk factors. Further studies are necessary to determine optimal preventative strategies in these patients.

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