scholarly journals The influence of reproductive stage on cerebellar network connectivity across adulthood

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah K. Ballard ◽  
T. Bryan Jackson ◽  
Tracey H. Hicks ◽  
Jessica A. Bernard
Keyword(s):  
Biological Process ◽  
Network Connectivity ◽  
Reproductive Stage ◽  
Aging Brain ◽  
Reproductive Aging ◽  
Control Groups ◽  
Neuroimaging Data ◽  
Crus I ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Reproductive Females

Sex-specific differences in the aging cerebellum may be related to hormone changes with menopause. We evaluated the influence of reproductive stage on lobular cerebellar network connectivity using data from the Cambridge Centre for Ageing and Neuroscience repository. We used raw structural and resting state neuroimaging data and information regarding age, sex, and menopause-related variables. Crus I and II and Lobules V and VI were our cerebellar seeds of interest. We characterized reproductive stage using the Stages of Reproductive Aging Workshop criteria. Results show that postmenopausal females have lower cerebello-striatal and cerebello-cortical connectivity, particularly in frontal regions, along with lower connectivity within the cerebellum, compared to reproductive females. Postmenopausal females also exhibit greater connectivity in some brain areas as well. Differences begin to emerge across transitional stages of menopause. Further, results reveal sex-specific differences in connectivity between female reproductive groups and age-matched male control groups. This suggests that menopause may influence cerebellar network connectivity in aging females, and sex differences in the aging brain may be related to this biological process.

scholarly journals Valuation System connectivity is correlated with poly-drug use in young adults

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kavinash Loganathan ◽  
Jinglei Lv ◽  
Vanessa Cropley ◽  
Andrew Zalesky ◽  
Eric Tatt Wei Ho
Keyword(s):  
Substance Use ◽  
Young Adults ◽  
Drug Use ◽  
Network Connectivity ◽  
Demographic Variables ◽  
Complex Model ◽  
Stimulant Use ◽  
Human Connectome Project ◽  
Neuroimaging Data ◽  
Other Substances

AbstractPoly-drug consumption is a dangerous, yet complex model of substance use that contributes to many cases of imprisonment and fatal overdose. Despite the growing number of studies looking at this phenomenon, there remains a lack of neuroimaging data elucidating the neural markers of poly-drug use. In particular, the valuation system, tasked with weighing the value of items and experiences, may hold significance in understanding the motivations behind poly-drug use. To this end, we sought to analyze the functional connectivity of the Valuation System (VS), Executive Control System (ECS) and Valuation-Control Complex (VCC) of drug-using participants in the Human Connectome Project Healthy Young Adult dataset (n=992). Using multivariate regression, network-averaged connectivities were correlated with various substance use measures (stimulants, cocaine, hallucinogens, opiates, sedatives and marijuana) and demographic variables (gender, parental use history). We found that the VS, ECS and VCC were all correlated with drug use behaviour either as individual systems or when paired with other substances. Both VS (R2= 0.53) and ECS (R2= 0.55) connectivity are positively correlated with stimulant use whereas both ECS (R2= 0.45) and VCC (R2= 0.045) connectivity are negatively correlated with marijuana use. VS (R2= 0.75) and VCC (R2= 0.74) connectivities are also negatively correlated with sedative use. Additionally, network connectivity was correlated with drug use behaviour via two-way interactions with other substances. These findings provide preliminary indications of the consequences of poly-drug use in healthy young adults.

scholarly journals Phenotype Discovery from Population Brain Imaging

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weikang Gong ◽  
Christian F. Beckmann ◽  
Stephen M. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Intelligence ◽  
Disease Diagnosis ◽  
Population Variability ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Human Connectome Project ◽  
Analysis Strategies ◽  
Neuroimaging Data ◽  
Using Data ◽  
First Time ◽  
The Brain

Neuroimaging allows for the non-invasive study of the brain in rich detail. Data-driven discovery of patterns of population variability in the brain has the potential to be extremely valuable for early disease diagnosis and understanding the brain. The resulting patterns can be used as imaging-derived phenotypes (IDPs), and may complement existing expert-curated IDPs. However, population datasets, comprising many different structural and functional imaging modalities from thousands of subjects, provide a computational challenge not previously addressed. Here, for the first time, a multimodal independent component analysis approach is presented that is scalable for data fusion of voxel-level neuroimaging data in the full UK Biobank (UKB) dataset, that will soon reach 100,000 imaged subjects. This new computational approach can estimate modes of population variability that enhance the ability to predict thousands of phenotypic and behavioural variables using data from UKB and the Human Connectome Project. A high-dimensional decomposition achieved improved predictive power compared with widely-used analysis strategies, single-modality decompositions and existing IDPs. In UKB data (14,503 subjects with 47 different data modalities), many interpretable associations with non-imaging phenotypes were identified, including multimodal spatial maps related to fluid intelligence, handedness and disease, in some cases where IDP-based approaches failed.

Development of an Observational Instrument to Measure Mother-Infant Separation Post Birth

2004 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 215-234 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gene Cranston Anderson ◽  
Doreen Radjenovic ◽  
Sheau-Huey Chiu ◽  
Michael Conlon ◽  
Ann E. Lane
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Trial ◽  
Psychometric Properties ◽  
Content Validity ◽  
Interrater Reliability ◽  
Newborn Infants ◽  
Reliability And Validity ◽  
Control Groups ◽  
Validity Indices ◽  
Observational Measure ◽  
Using Data

The importance of the timing, quality, and quantity of early maternal-infant contact has gained prominence over the years. However, no researcher has adequately documented the nature of maternal-infant contact and separation. This study assessed the psychometric properties of the Index of Mother-Infant Separation (IMIS), pronounced “I miss,” which is a 37-item observational measure of the process of mother-infant contact or separation post birth. Assessment of reliability and validity of the IMIS was conducted using data collected in a randomized clinical trial with 224 healthy newborn infants assigned at 1 hour post birth to self-regulatory or routine nursery care (control) groups. Time-sampled observations occurred every 15 minutes. Content validity indices of the IMIS, determined by nine nationally known perinatal experts, were 77% to 100% for instrument items. Construct validity was supported through known-groups hypothesis testing (p < .0001). Interrater reliability was from 86% to 90%. The IMIS is a valid observational measure of maternal contact when raters are trained to score it reliably.

scholarly journals Oogonial stem cells as a model to study age-associated infertility in women

2015 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 969 ◽  
Author(s):  
Neha Garg ◽  
David A. Sinclair
Keyword(s):  
Stem Cells ◽  
Ovarian Function ◽  
Biological Process ◽  
Reproductive Aging ◽  
Germline Stem Cells ◽  
Female Age ◽  
Ovarian Aging ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Fixed Pool

Fertility is the first biological process to break down during aging, thereby making it a useful tool to understand fundamental processes of aging. Reproductive aging in females is associated with a loss of ovarian function characterised by a reduction in the number and quality of oocytes. The central dogma, namely that females are born with a fixed pool of oocytes that progressively decline with increasing maternal age, has been challenged by evidence supporting postnatal oogenesis in mammals. Reports demonstrating formation of new oocytes from newly discovered germline stem cells, referred to as oogonial stem cells (OSCs), has opened new avenues for treatment of female infertility. In this review we discuss why the OSCs possibly lose their regenerative potential over time, and focus specifically on the aging process in germline stem cells as a possible mechanism for understanding female age-related infertility and how we can slow or delay ovarian aging.

scholarly journals Children’s Active School Travel: Examining the Combined Perceived and Objective Built-Environment Factors from Space Syntax

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 286
Author(s):  
Ayse Ozbil ◽  
Demet Yesiltepe ◽  
Gorsev Argin ◽  
Greg Rybarczyk
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Space Syntax ◽  
Network Connectivity ◽  
Active Commuting ◽  
Street Network ◽  
School Travel ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Active Commuting To School ◽  
Active School Travel ◽  
Using Data

Increasing active school travel (AST) among children may provide the required level of daily physical activity and reduce the prevalence of obesity. Despite efforts to promote this mode, recent evidence shows that AST rates continue to decrease in suburban and urban areas alike. The aim of this research study, therefore, is to facilitate our understanding of how objective and perceived factors near the home influence children’s AST in an understudied city, İstanbul, Turkey. Using data from a cross-sectional sample of students aged 12–14 from 20 elementary schools (n = 1802) and consenting parents (n = 843), we applied a nominal logistic regression model to highlight important predictors of AST. The findings showed that street network connectivity (as measured by two novel space syntax measures, metric reach and directional reach) was the main deciding factor for active commuting to school, while parents’ perceptions of condition of sidewalks and shade-casting street trees were moderately significant factors associated with AST. Overall, this study demonstrated the significance of spatial structure of street network around the homes in the potential for encouraging AST, and more importantly, the need to consider objective and perceived environmental attributes when strategizing means to increase this mode choice and reduce ill-health among children.

Default mode network connectivity and cognition in the aging brain: The effect of age, sex, and APOE genotype.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrea T. Shafer ◽  
Lori. Beason-Held ◽  
Yang An ◽  
Owen A. Williams ◽  
Yuankai Huo ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Default Mode Network ◽  
Apoe Genotype ◽  
Network Connectivity ◽  
Aging Brain ◽  
Default Mode ◽  
Effect Of Age

scholarly journals Examination of the Trexler-DeAngelis Model of Maternal Provisioning Reveals That Matrotrophy Is Costly

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nabila Saleh-Subaie ◽  
Gonzalo A. Ramírez-Cruz ◽  
J. Jaime Zúñiga-Vega
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Model ◽  
Food Availability ◽  
Selective Advantage ◽  
Compelling Evidence ◽  
Stomach Fullness ◽  
Trade Off ◽  
Maternal Provisioning ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Reproductive Females ◽  
Individual Body

The evolution of matrotrophy (post-fertilization maternal provisioning to developing embryos) has been explained through several hypotheses. Trexler and DeAngelis proposed in 2003 a theoretical model that defines the ecological conditions under which matrotrophy would be favored over lecithotrophy (pre-fertilization maternal provisioning). According to this model, matrotrophy offers a selective advantage in environments with abundant and constantly available food, whereas environments with limited and fluctuating food resources should instead promote a lecithotrophic mode of maternal provisioning. This model also proposes that matrotrophy entails the consequence of leaner reproductive females and in turn shorter lifespans. In this study, we examined the Trexler-DeAngelis model using data from 45 populations of five viviparous species from the fish genus Poeciliopsis (family Poeciliidae). We used the matrotrophy index (MI) as a measure of post-fertilization maternal provisioning, and the index of stomach fullness and individual body condition (BC) as proxies for food availability. We also estimated the magnitude of fluctuations in food availability by calculating the temporal variances of these two proxies. Neither abundant nor constantly available food were associated with greater degrees of matrotrophy, which fails to support the predictions of the Trexler-DeAngelis model with respect to the ecological drivers of increased post-fertilization provisioning to embryos. Nonetheless, in all five species we observed that females with greater degrees of matrotrophy had poorer BC compared to females that provided less nutrients to embryos after fertilization. This finding is consistent with one of the expected consequences of advanced matrotrophy according to the Trexler-DeAngelis model, namely, a detriment to the nutritional status of females. Our study provides compelling evidence that gestating females experience a trade-off between post-fertilization provisioning to embryos and self-maintenance, revealing in turn that matrotrophy is a costly reproductive strategy.

scholarly journals Characterization and Gene Expression of Vitellogenesis-Related Transcripts in the Hepatopancreas and Ovary of the Red Swamp Crayfish, Procambarus clarkii (Girard, 1852), during Reproductive Cycle

Diversity ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 445
Author(s):  
Chiara Manfrin ◽  
Moshe Tom ◽  
Massimo Avian ◽  
Silvia Battistella ◽  
Alberto Pallavicini ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Tissue Specificity ◽  
Procambarus Clarkii ◽  
Constitutive Expression ◽  
Density Lipoprotein ◽  
Egg Yolk ◽  
Reproductive Stage ◽  
Decapod Crustaceans ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Reproductive Females

The major component of the animal egg yolk is the lipoglycoprotein vitellin, derived from its precursor vitellogenin (VTG), which is produced species-specifically in decapod crustaceans in the hepatopancreas and/or in the ovary of reproductive females. Previous studies on Procambarus clarkii vitellogenesis report the existence of two single VTGs. Here, from a multiple tissue transcriptome including ovaries and hepatopancreas of P. clarkii, we characterized four different VTG and two VTG-like transcriptomes encoding for the discoidal lipoprotein-high density lipoprotein/β-glucan binding protein (dLp/HDL-BGBP). The relative expression of the various genes was evaluated by quantitative Real-Time PCR in both the ovary and hepatopancreas of females at different reproductive stages (from immature until fully mature oocytes). These studies revealed tissue-specificity and a reproductive stage related expression for the VTGs and a constitutive expression in the hepatopancreas of dLp/HDL-BGBP independent from the reproductive stage. This study may lead to more detailed study of the vitellogenins, their transcription regulation, and to the determination of broader patterns of expression present in the female hepatopancreas and ovary during the vitellogenesis. These findings provide a starting point useful for two different practical aims. The first is related to studies on P. clarkii reproduction, since this species is highly appreciated on the market worldwide. The second is related to the study of new potential interference in P. clarkii reproduction to delay or inhibit the worldwide spread of this aggressively invasive species.

scholarly journals Older adults benefit from more widespread brain network integration during working memory

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
C.A. Crowell ◽  
S.W. Davis ◽  
L. Beynel ◽  
L. Deng ◽  
D. Lakhlani ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Working Memory ◽  
Network Connectivity ◽  
Task Demands ◽  
Global Network ◽  
Aging Brain ◽  
Network Integration ◽  
Younger Adults ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Cortical Regions

AbstractNeuroimaging evidence suggests that the aging brain relies on a more distributed set of cortical regions than younger adults in order to maintain successful levels of performance during demanding cognitive tasks. However, it remains unclear how task demands give rise to this age-related expansion in cortical networks. To investigate this issue, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to measure univariate activity, network connectivity, and cognitive performance in younger and older adults during a working memory (WM) task. In the WM task investigated, participants hold letters online (maintenance) while reordering them alphabetically (manipulation). WM load was titrated to obtain four individualized difficulty levels. Network integration—defined as the ratio of within-versus between-network connectivity—was linked to individual differences in WM capacity. The study yielded three main findings. First, as task difficulty increased, network integration decreased in younger adults, whereas it increased in older adults. Second, age-related increases in network integration were driven by increases in right hemispheric connectivity to both left and right cortical regions, a finding that helps to reconcile extant theories of compensatory recruitment in aging to address the multivariate dynamics of global network functioning. Lastly, older adults with higher WM capacity demonstrated higher levels of network integration in the most difficult condition. These results shed light on the mechanisms of age-related network reorganization by suggesting that changes in network connectivity may act as an adaptive form of compensation, with older adults recruiting a more distributed cortical network as task demands increase.Significance statementOlder adults often activate brain regions not engaged by younger adults, but the circumstances under which this widespread network emerges are unclear. Here, we examined the effects of aging on network connectivity between task regions recruited during a working memory (WM) manipulation task, and the rest of the brain. We found an age-related increase in the more global network integration in older adults, and an association between this integration and working memory capacity in older adults. The findings are generally consistent with the compensatory interpretation of these effects.

scholarly journals Cerebellum and Emotion in Morality

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hyemin Han
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Functional Neuroimaging ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Moral Functioning ◽  
Neuroimaging Data ◽  
Crus I ◽  
The Right ◽  
Brain Image Analysis ◽  
The Relationship

In the current chapter, I examined the relationship between the cerebellum, emotion, and morality with evidence from large-scale neuroimaging data analysis. Although the aforementioned relationship has not been well studied in neuroscience, recent studies have shown that the cerebellum is closely associated with emotional and social processes at the neural level. Also, debates in the field of moral philosophy, psychology, and neuroscience have supported the importance of emotion in moral functioning. Thus, I explored the potentially important but less-studies topic with NeuroSynth, a tool for large-scale brain image analysis, while addressing issues associated with reverse inference. The result from analysis demonstrated that brain regions in the cerebellum, the right Crus I and Crus II in particular, were specifically associated with morality in general. I discussed the potential implications of the finding based on clinical and functional neuroimaging studies of the cerebellum, emotional functioning, and neural networks for diverse psychological processes.

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