Visualizing the neuroanatomical changes in Han Chinese adulthood: A pseudo-longitudinal study based on age-related large-scale statistical Chinese brain atlases

Objective: Understanding how brain changes over lifetime provides the basis for new insights into neurophysiology and neuropathology. In this study, we carried out a pseudo-longitudinal study based on age-related Chinese brain atlases (i.e., Chinese2020) constructed from large-scale volumetric brain MRI data collected in normal Han Chinese adults at varying ages. Methods: In order to quantify the deformation and displacement of brains for each voxel as age increases, optical flow algorithm was employed to compute motion vectors between every two consecutive brain templates of the age-related brain atlas, i.e., Chinese2020. Results: Dynamic age-related neuroanatomical changes in a standardized brain space were shown. Overall, our results demonstrate that brain inward deformation (mainly due to atrophy) can appear in adulthood and this trend generally accelerates as age increases, affecting multiple regions including frontal cortex, temporal cortex, parietal cortex, and cerebellum, whereas occipital cortex is least affected by aging, and even showed some degree of outward deformation in the midlife. Conclusion: Our findings indicated more complicated age-related changes instead of a simple trend of brain volume decrease, which may be in line with the recently increasing interests in the age-related cortical complexity with other morphometry measures.

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Analysis of Neural Interactions Explains the Activation of Occipital Cortex by an Auditory Stimulus

Journal of Neurophysiology ◽

10.1152/jn.1998.80.5.2790 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 80 (5) ◽

pp. 2790-2796 ◽

Cited By ~ 62

Author(s):

A. R. McIntosh ◽

R. E. Cabeza ◽

N. J. Lobaugh

Keyword(s):

Auditory Stimulus ◽

Structural Equation ◽

Large Scale ◽

Human Subjects ◽

Premotor Cortex ◽

Temporal Cortex ◽

Occipital Cortex ◽

Equation Modeling ◽

Occipital Area ◽

Neural Interactions

McIntosh, A. R., R. E. Cabeza, and N. J. Lobaugh. Analysis of neural interactions explains the activation of occipital cortex by an auditory stimulus . J. Neurophysiol. 80: 2790–2796, 1998. Large-scale neural interactions were characterized in human subjects as they learned that an auditory stimulus signaled a visual event. Once learned, activation of left dorsal occipital cortex (increased regional cerebral blood flow) was observed when the auditory stimulus was presented alone. Partial least-squares analysis of the interregional correlations (functional connectivity) between the occipital area and the rest of the brain identified a pattern of covariation with four dominant brain areas that could have mediated this activation: prefrontal cortex (near Brodmann area 10, A10), premotor cortex (A6), superior temporal cortex (A41/42), and contralateral occipital cortex (A18). Interactions among these regions and the occipital area were quantified with structural equation modeling to identify the strongest sources of the effect on left occipital activity (effective connectivity). Learning-related changes in feedback effects from A10 and A41/42 appeared to account for this change in occipital activity. Influences from these areas on the occipital area were initially suppressive, or negative, becoming facilitory, or positive, as the association between the auditory and visual stimuli was acquired. Evaluating the total effects within the functional models showed positive influences throughout the network, suggesting enhanced interactions may have primed the system for the now-expected visual discrimination. By characterizing both changes in activity and the interactions underlying sensory associative learning, we demonstrated how parts of the nervous system operate as a cohesive network in learning about and responding to the environment.

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ASPREE SUB-STUDIES

Innovation in Aging ◽

10.1093/geroni/igz038.2361 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (Supplement_1) ◽

pp. S634-S634

Author(s):

Robyn L Woods ◽

John J McNeil ◽

Anne Murray

Keyword(s):

Older Persons ◽

Large Scale ◽

Social Issues ◽

Brain Mri ◽

Age Related Macular Degeneration ◽

Age Related ◽

Aging Health ◽

Cerebral Microhemorrhages ◽

Areas Of Interest ◽

The Impact

Abstract To maximize opportunities provided by a large-scale clinical trial, we established sub-studies during the ASPREE trial to investigate specific areas of interest to the health of older persons. A biobank now stores multiple aliquots of blood, urine or saliva collected from >15,000 healthy ASPREE participants across the US and Australia, most at baseline (pre-randomization) and/or after 3 years post- randomization. Other sub-studies included ALSOP (ASPREE Longitudinal Study of Older Persons; sets of questionnaires administered every 2 years focused on medical or social issues) and neuroimaging projects with brain MRI and retinal vascular imaging to investigate anatomical changes linked with cognitive or cerebrovascular outcomes. Further sub-studies addressed the impact of aspirin on cerebral microhemorrhages, age-related macular degeneration, age-related hearing loss, severe sepsis, and falls and fractures. Biomarker analyses underway include plasma androgens in older women and DNA sequencing of the cohort to investigate contributions of genomics to aging health and disease.

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Direct comparison of contralateral bias and face/scene selectivity in human occipitotemporal cortex

Brain Structure and Function ◽

10.1007/s00429-021-02411-8 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Edward H. Silson ◽

Iris I. A. Groen ◽

Chris I. Baker

Keyword(s):

Visual Cortex ◽

Visual Field ◽

Visual Information ◽

Large Scale ◽

Temporal Cortex ◽

Spatial Location ◽

Occipital Cortex ◽

Ventral Surface ◽

Right Visual Field ◽

Ventral Temporal Cortex

AbstractHuman visual cortex is organised broadly according to two major principles: retinotopy (the spatial mapping of the retina in cortex) and category-selectivity (preferential responses to specific categories of stimuli). Historically, these principles were considered anatomically separate, with retinotopy restricted to the occipital cortex and category-selectivity emerging in the lateral-occipital and ventral-temporal cortex. However, recent studies show that category-selective regions exhibit systematic retinotopic biases, for example exhibiting stronger activation for stimuli presented in the contra- compared to the ipsilateral visual field. It is unclear, however, whether responses within category-selective regions are more strongly driven by retinotopic location or by category preference, and if there are systematic differences between category-selective regions in the relative strengths of these preferences. Here, we directly compare contralateral and category preferences by measuring fMRI responses to scene and face stimuli presented in the left or right visual field and computing two bias indices: a contralateral bias (response to the contralateral minus ipsilateral visual field) and a face/scene bias (preferred response to scenes compared to faces, or vice versa). We compare these biases within and between scene- and face-selective regions and across the lateral and ventral surfaces of the visual cortex more broadly. We find an interaction between surface and bias: lateral surface regions show a stronger contralateral than face/scene bias, whilst ventral surface regions show the opposite. These effects are robust across and within subjects, and appear to reflect large-scale, smoothly varying gradients. Together, these findings support distinct functional roles for the lateral and ventral visual cortex in terms of the relative importance of the spatial location of stimuli during visual information processing.

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Direct comparison of category and spatial selectivity in human occipitotemporal cortex

10.1101/2021.05.06.442603 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Edward H Silson ◽

Iris Isabelle Anna Groen ◽

Chris I Baker

Keyword(s):

Visual Cortex ◽

Visual Field ◽

Visual Information ◽

Large Scale ◽

Spatial Information ◽

Temporal Cortex ◽

Occipital Cortex ◽

Right Visual Field ◽

Ventral Temporal Cortex ◽

Category Bias

Human visual cortex is organised broadly according to two major principles: retinotopy (the spatial mapping of the retina in cortex) and category-selectivity (preferential responses to specific categories of stimuli). Historically, these principles were considered anatomically separate, with retinotopy restricted to the occipital cortex and category-selectivity emerging in lateral-occipital and ventral-temporal cortex. Contrary to this assumption, recent studies show that category-selective regions exhibit systematic retinotopic biases. It is unclear, however, whether responses within these regions are more strongly driven by retinotopic location or by category preference, and if there are systematic differences between category-selective regions in the relative strengths of these preferences. Here, we directly compare spatial and category preferences by measuring fMRI responses to scene and face stimuli presented in the left or right visual field and computing two bias indices: a spatial bias (response to the contralateral minus ipsilateral visual field) and a category bias (response to the preferred minus non-preferred category). We compare these biases within and between scene- and face-selective regions across the lateral and ventral surfaces of visual cortex. We find an interaction between surface and bias: lateral regions show a stronger spatial than category bias, whilst ventral regions show the opposite. These effects are robust across and within subjects, and reflect large-scale, smoothly varying gradients across both surfaces. Together, these findings support distinct functional roles for lateral and ventral category-selective regions in visual information processing in terms of the relative importance of spatial information.

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Linking Vestibular Function and Subcortical Gray Matter Volume Changes in a Longitudinal Study of Aging Adults

10.52294/6727e860-95c1-445c-a47a-177d9e699d46 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 2021 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Dominic Padova ◽

J. Tilak Ratnanather ◽

Qian-Li Xue ◽

Susan M. Resnick ◽

Yuri Agrawal

Keyword(s):

Longitudinal Study ◽

Basal Ganglia ◽

Brain Mri ◽

Vestibular Function ◽

Vestibular Evoked Myogenic Potentials ◽

Intracranial Volume ◽

Vestibular Loss ◽

Horizontal Semicircular Canal ◽

Age Related ◽

Over Time

Emerging evidence suggests a relationship between impairments of the vestibular (inner ear balance) system and alterations in the function and the structure of the central nervous system (CNS) in older adults. However, it is unclear whether age-related vestibular loss is associated with volume loss in brain regions known to receive vestibular input. To address this gap, we investigated the association between vestibular function and the volumes of four structures that process vestibular information (the hippocampus, entorhinal cortex, thalamus, and basal ganglia) in a longitudinal study of 97 healthy, older participants from the Baltimore Longitudinal Study of Aging. Vestibular testing included cervical vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials (cVEMP) to measure saccular function, ocular VEMP (oVEMP) to measure utricular function, and video head impulse tests to measure the horizontal semicircular canal vestibulo-ocular reflex (VOR). Participants in the sample had vestibular and brain MRI data for a total of one (18.6%), two (49.5%), and three (32.0%) visits. Linear mixed-effects regression was used to model regional volume over time as a function of vestibular physiological function, correcting for age, sex, intracranial volume, and intersubject random variation in the baseline levels and rates of change of volume over time. We found that poorer saccular function, characterized by lower cVEMP amplitude, is associated with reduced bilateral volumes of the basal ganglia and thalamus at each time point, demonstrated by a 0.0714 cm3 ± 0.0344 (unadjusted p = 0.038; 95% CI: 0.00397–0.139) lower bilateral-mean volume of the basal ganglia and a 0.0440 cm3 ± 0.0221 (unadjusted p = 0.046; 95% CI: 0.000727–0.0873) lower bilateral-mean volume of the thalamus for each 1-unit lower cVEMP amplitude. We also found a relationship between a lower mean VOR gain and lower left hippocampal volume (β = 0.121, unadjusted p = 0.018, 95% CI: 0.0212–0.222). There were no significant associations between volume and oVEMP. These findings provide insight into the specific brain structures that undergo atrophy in the context of age-related loss of peripheral vestibular function.

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Neural Substrates Associated With Fatigue Symptom In Fibromyalgia

10.21203/rs.3.rs-1225198/v1 ◽

2022 ◽

Author(s):

Hung-Yu Liu ◽

Pei-Lin Lee ◽

Kun-Hsien Chou ◽

Yen-Feng Wang ◽

Shih-Pin Chen ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Brain Mri ◽

Temporal Cortex ◽

Occipital Cortex ◽

Neural Substrates ◽

Inferior Temporal Cortex ◽

Morphometry Analysis ◽

Fatigue Severity ◽

Subcortical Regions ◽

The Right ◽

Neural Signatures

Abstract Many patients with fibromyalgia (FM) experience fatigue, but the associated biological mechanisms have not been delineated. We aimed to investigate the neural signatures associated with fatigue severity in patients with FM using MRI. We consecutively recruited 138 patients with FM and collected their clinical profiles and brain-MRI data. We categorized the patients into 3 groups based on their fatigue severity. Using voxel-based morphometry analysis and trend analysis, we first identified neural structures showing volumetric changes associated with fatigue severity, and further explored their seed-to-voxel structural covariance networks (SCNs). Results showed decreased bilateral thalamic volumes were associated with higher severity of fatigue. There was a more widespread distribution of the thalamic SCNs to the frontal, parietal, subcortical, and limbic regions in patients with higher fatigue severity. In addition, increased right inferior temporal cortex volumes were associated with higher severity of fatigue. The right inferior temporal seed showed more SCNs distributions over the temporal cortex and a higher strength of SCNs to the bilateral occipital cortex in patients with higher fatigue severity. The thalamus and the right inferior temporal cortex as well as their altered interactions with cortical and subcortical regions comprise the neural signatures of fatigue in FM.

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CSF sTREM2 and Tau Work Together in Predicting Increased Temporal Lobe Atrophy in Older Adults

Cerebral Cortex ◽

10.1093/cercor/bhz240 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 30 (4) ◽

pp. 2295-2306 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Nathalie Bodd Halaas ◽

Kristi Henjum ◽

Kaj Blennow ◽

Shams Dakhil ◽

Ane-Victoria Idland ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Older Adults ◽

Brain Atrophy ◽

Temporal Cortex ◽

Brain Atlas ◽

Specific Gene ◽

Hippocampal Atrophy ◽

Cortical Thinning ◽

Age Related ◽

Key Factor ◽

High Level

Abstract Neuroinflammation may be a key factor in brain atrophy in aging and age-related neurodegenerative disease. The objective of this study was to test the association between microglial expression of soluble Triggering Receptor Expressed on Myeloid Cells 2 (sTREM2), as a measure of neuroinflammation, and brain atrophy in cognitively unimpaired older adults. Brain magnetic resonance imagings (MRIs) and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) sTREM2, total tau (t-tau), phosphorylated181 tau (p-tau), and Aβ42 were analyzed in 115 cognitively unimpaired older adults, classified according to the A/T/(N)-framework. MRIs were repeated after 2 (n = 95) and 4 (n = 62) years. High baseline sTREM2 was associated with accelerated cortical thinning in the temporal cortex of the left hemisphere, as well as bilateral hippocampal atrophy, independently of age, Aβ42, and tau. sTREM2-related atrophy only marginally increased with biomarker positivity across the AD continuum (A−T− #x2292; A+T− #x2292; A+T+) but was significantly stronger in participants with a high level of p-tau (T+). sTREM2-related cortical thinning correlated significantly with areas of high microglial-specific gene expression in the Allen Human Brain Atlas. In conclusion, increased CSF sTREM2 was associated with accelerated cortical and hippocampal atrophy in cognitively unimpaired older participants, particularly in individuals with tau pathology. This suggests a link between neuroinflammation, neurodegeneration, and amyloid-independent tauopathy.

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Human brain atlasing: past, present and future

The Neuroradiology Journal ◽

10.1177/1971400917739274 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 30 (6) ◽

pp. 504-519 ◽

Cited By ~ 8

Author(s):

Wieslaw L Nowinski

Keyword(s):

Human Brain ◽

Large Scale ◽

State Of The Art ◽

The State ◽

Brain Atlas ◽

Future Directions ◽

Human Connectome Project ◽

Health And Disease ◽

The Brain ◽

Brain Atlases

We have recently witnessed an explosion of large-scale initiatives and projects addressing mapping, modeling, simulation and atlasing of the human brain, including the BRAIN Initiative, the Human Brain Project, the Human Connectome Project (HCP), the Big Brain, the Blue Brain Project, the Allen Brain Atlas, the Brainnetome, among others. Besides these large and international initiatives, there are numerous mid-size and small brain atlas-related projects. My contribution to these global efforts has been to create adult human brain atlases in health and disease, and to develop atlas-based applications. For over two decades with my R&D lab I developed 35 brain atlases, licensed to 67 companies and made available in about 100 countries. This paper has two objectives. First, it provides an overview of the state of the art in brain atlasing. Second, as it is already 20 years from the release of our first brain atlas, I summarise my past and present efforts, share my experience in atlas creation, validation and commercialisation, compare with the state of the art, and propose future directions.

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Immigrant Youth in Germany

European Psychologist ◽

10.1027/1016-9040/a000154 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 18 (3) ◽

pp. 158-168 ◽

Cited By ~ 28

Author(s):

Emily Frankenberg ◽

Katharina Kupper ◽

Ruth Wagner ◽

Stephan Bongard

Keyword(s):

School System ◽

Large Scale ◽

Age Groups ◽

Well Being ◽

Ethnic Discrimination ◽

Emotional And Behavioral Problems ◽

Sociocultural Adaptation ◽

Age Related ◽

German School ◽

Transcultural Adaptation

This paper reviews research on young migrants in Germany. Particular attention is given to the question of how Germany’s history of migration, immigration policies, and public attitude toward migrants influence the transcultural adaptation of children and adolescents from different ethnic backgrounds. We combine past research with the results of new empirical studies in order to shed light on migrants’ psychological and sociocultural adaptation. Studies comparing young migrants and their German peers in terms of psychological well-being, life satisfaction, and mental health outcome suggest higher rates of emotional and behavioral problems among migrants of most age groups. With regard to adolescent populations between the ages of 14 and 17 years, however, the existence of differences between migrants and natives appears to be less clear. Research has also yielded inconsistent findings regarding the time trajectory of transcultural adaptation among adolescents. The coincidence of acculturation and age-related change is discussed as a possible source of these inconsistencies. Further, we provide an overview of risk and protective factors such as conflicting role expectations and ethnic discrimination, which may cause heightened vulnerability to adverse adaptation outcomes in some groups. Large-scale studies have repeatedly shown migrants of all age groups to be less successful within the German school system, indicating poor sociocultural adaptation. Possible explanations, such as the idiosyncrasies of the German school system, are presented. Our own studies contribute to the understanding of young migrants’ adaptation process by showing that it is their orientation to German culture, rather than the acculturation strategy of integration, that leads to the most positive psychological and sociocultural outcomes. The paper concludes by discussing implications for future cross-cultural research on young migrants and by suggesting recommendations for multicultural policies.

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