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Jiang Y, Li G, Shao X, Guo H. Simultaneous multislice diffusion imaging using navigator-free multishot spiral acquisitions. Magn Reson Med 2025; 94:73-88. [PMID: 39825518 DOI: 10.1002/mrm.30427] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/27/2024] [Revised: 12/16/2024] [Accepted: 12/26/2024] [Indexed: 01/20/2025]
Abstract
PURPOSE This work aims to raise a novel design for navigator-free multiband (MB) multishot uniform-density spiral (UDS) acquisition and reconstruction, and to demonstrate its utility for high-efficiency, high-resolution diffusion imaging. THEORY AND METHODS Our design focuses on the acquisition and reconstruction of navigator-free MB multishot UDS diffusion imaging. For acquisition, radiofrequency-pulse encoding was used to achieve controlled aliasing in parallel imaging in MB imaging. For reconstruction, a new algorithm named slice-projection onto convex sets-enhanced inherent correction of phase errors (slice-POCS-ICE) was proposed to simultaneously estimate diffusion-weighted images and intershot phase variations for each slice. The efficacy of the proposed methods was evaluated in both numerical simulation and in vivo experiments. RESULTS In both numerical simulation and in vivo experiments, slice-POCS-ICE estimated phase variations more precisely and provided results with better image quality than other methods. The intershot phase variations and MB slice aliasing artifacts were simultaneously resolved using the proposed slice-POCS-ICE algorithm. CONCLUSION The proposed navigator-free MB multishot UDS acquisition and reconstruction method is an effective solution for high-efficiency, high-resolution diffusion imaging.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yuancheng Jiang
- Center for Biomedical Imaging Research, School of Biomedical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
| | - Guangqi Li
- Center for Biomedical Imaging Research, School of Biomedical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
| | - Xin Shao
- Center for Biomedical Imaging Research, School of Biomedical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
| | - Hua Guo
- Center for Biomedical Imaging Research, School of Biomedical Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
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Askeland-Gjerde DE, Westlye LT, Andersson P, Korbmacher M, de Lange AM, van der Meer D, Smeland OB, Halvorsen S, Andreassen OA, Gurholt TP. Mediation Analyses Link Cardiometabolic Factors and Liver Fat With White Matter Hyperintensities and Cognitive Performance: A UK Biobank Study. BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY GLOBAL OPEN SCIENCE 2025; 5:100488. [PMID: 40330223 PMCID: PMC12052680 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsgos.2025.100488] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/20/2024] [Revised: 01/19/2025] [Accepted: 03/10/2025] [Indexed: 05/08/2025] Open
Abstract
Background Liver fat is associated with cardiometabolic disease, cerebrovascular disease, and dementia. Cerebrovascular disease, most often cerebral small vessel disease, identified by magnetic resonance imaging as white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) often contributes to dementia. However, liver fat's role in the relationship between cardiometabolic risk, WMHs, and cognitive performance is unclear. Methods In the UK Biobank cohort (N = 32,461, 52.6% female; mean age 64.2 ± 7.7 years; n = 23,354 in the cognitive performance subsample), we used linear regression to investigate associations between cardiometabolic factors measured at baseline and liver fat, WMHs, and cognitive performance measured at follow-up, which was 9.3 ± 2.0 years later on average. We used structural equation modeling to investigate whether liver fat mediated associations between cardiometabolic factors and WMHs and whether WMHs mediated associations between liver fat and cognitive performance. Results Nearly all cardiometabolic factors were significantly associated with liver fat (|r| range = 0.03-0.41, p = 3.4 × 10-8 to 0) and WMHs (|r| = 0.04-0.15, p = 5.8 × 10-13 to 7.0 × 10-159) in regression models. Liver fat was associated with WMHs (r = 0.11, p = 4.3 × 10-82) and cognitive performance (r = -0.03, p = 1.6 × 10-7). Liver fat mediated the associations between cardiometabolic factors and WMHs (|βmediation| = 0.003-0.027, p mediation = 1.9 × 10-8 to 0), and WMHs mediated the associations between liver fat and cognitive performance (βmediation = -0.01, p mediation = 0). Conclusions Our findings indicate that liver fat mediates associations between cardiometabolic factors and WMHs and that WMHs mediate the association between liver fat and cognitive performance. This suggests that liver fat may be important for understanding the effects of cardiometabolic factors on cerebrovascular disease and cognitive function. Experimental studies are warranted to determine relevant targets for preventing vascular-driven cognitive impairment.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel E. Askeland-Gjerde
- Section for Precision Psychiatry, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
- Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Lars T. Westlye
- Section for Precision Psychiatry, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- K.G. Jebsen Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | | | - Max Korbmacher
- Neuro-SysMed Center of Excellence for Clinical Research in Neurological Diseases, Department of Neurology, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway
- Mohn Medical Imaging and Visualization Centre, Department of Radiology, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway
- Department of Health and Functioning, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Bergen, Norway
| | - Ann-Marie de Lange
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom
| | - Dennis van der Meer
- Section for Precision Psychiatry, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
- School of Mental Health and Neuroscience, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands
| | - Olav B. Smeland
- Section for Precision Psychiatry, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Sigrun Halvorsen
- Department of Cardiology, Oslo University Hospital and University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Ole A. Andreassen
- Section for Precision Psychiatry, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
- Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- K.G. Jebsen Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Tiril P. Gurholt
- Section for Precision Psychiatry, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
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Lewis M, Theis N, Girish N, Prasad K. Determining the atlas correspondence of Desikan-Killiany-Tourville and Glasser MMP1 atlases across magnetic field strengths. J Neurosci Methods 2025; 418:110445. [PMID: 40187536 DOI: 10.1016/j.jneumeth.2025.110445] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2024] [Revised: 03/31/2025] [Accepted: 04/02/2025] [Indexed: 04/07/2025]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Over sixty-six brain atlases exist to parcellate the brain based on cytoarchitecture, function, and connectivity. Because atlas choice depends on individual study goals and hypotheses, variability in findings contributes to challenges in replication, validation, and reconciling the results across studies. Our goal was to measure the intersection of three commonly used atlases and create a tool to find regional correspondence between the atlases. NEW METHOD This study used three independent samples of anatomical MRI data acquired with different B0 magnetic field strengths: 1.5 Tesla (T), 3 T, and 7 T. The Desikan-Killiany- Tourville (DKT) and Glasser atlases were used to parcellate the brain. Coefficient-of- variation of regional volumes was measured to evaluate regional variability across subjects in each atlas. DKT and Glasser parcellation correspondence was calculated to answer the shared question of what Glasser regions intersect with a DKT region and vice versa and to investigate consistency of the parcellations in relation to each other across a variety of individuals and image resolutions. RESULTS We found that regional correspondence was consistent across field strengths for the DKT and Glasser parcellations despite showing population variability in volume, age, and sex, and was validated in the Schaefer400 atlas. Parcellation intersection data along with sample code to calculate specific regional correspondence is available. COMPARISON WITH EXISTING METHODS Prior studies have attempted to reconcile multiple atlases, but did not compare voxel- by-voxel on real data. CONCLUSION This analysis created a tool for researchers and can aid in comparisons with differing atlas choice and variable field strengths.
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Affiliation(s)
- Madison Lewis
- Department of Bioengineering, Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
| | - Nicholas Theis
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
| | - Nidhi Girish
- Department of Neuroscience, Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
| | - Konasale Prasad
- Department of Bioengineering, Swanson School of Engineering, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA; Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA; Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Health System, University Drive, Pittsburgh, PA 15240, USA.
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Wang J, Yang R, Miao Y, Zhang X, Paillard‐Borg S, Fang Z, Xu W. Metabolic Dysfunction-Associated Steatotic Liver Disease Is Associated With Accelerated Brain Ageing: A Population-Based Study. Liver Int 2025; 45:e70109. [PMID: 40296771 PMCID: PMC12038381 DOI: 10.1111/liv.70109] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/06/2025] [Revised: 04/09/2025] [Accepted: 04/12/2025] [Indexed: 04/30/2025]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) is linked to cognitive decline and dementia risk. We aimed to investigate the association between MASLD and brain ageing and explore the role of low-grade inflammation. METHODS Within the UK Biobank, 30 386 chronic neurological disorders-free participants who underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans were included. Individuals were categorised into no MASLD/related SLD and MASLD/related SLD (including subtypes of MASLD, MASLD with increased alcohol intake [MetALD] and MASLD with other combined aetiology). Brain age was estimated using machine learning by 1079 brain MRI phenotypes. Brain age gap (BAG) was calculated as the difference between brain age and chronological age. Low-grade inflammation (INFLA) was calculated based on white blood cell count, platelet, neutrophil granulocyte to lymphocyte ratio and C-reactive protein. Data were analysed using linear regression and structural equation models. RESULTS At baseline, 7360 (24.2%) participants had MASLD/related SLD. Compared to participants with no MASLD/related SLD, those with MASLD/related SLD had significantly larger BAG (β = 0.86, 95% CI = 0.70, 1.02), as well as those with MASLD (β = 0.59, 95% CI = 0.41, 0.77) or MetALD (β = 1.57, 95% CI = 1.31, 1.83). The association between MASLD/related SLD and larger BAG was significant across middle-aged (< 60) and older (≥ 60) adults, males and females, and APOE ɛ4 carriers and non-carriers. INFLA mediated 13.53% of the association between MASLD/related SLD and larger BAG (p < 0.001). CONCLUSION MASLD/related SLD, as well as MASLD and MetALD, is associated with accelerated brain ageing, even among middle-aged adults and APOE ɛ4 non-carriers. Low-grade systemic inflammation may partially mediate this association.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jiao Wang
- Center of Gerontology and GeriatricsNational Clinical Research Center for GeriatricsWest China Hospital, Sichuan UniversityChengduChina
- Aging Research Center, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and SocietyKarolinska InstitutetStockholmSweden
| | - Rongrong Yang
- Aging Research Center, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and SocietyKarolinska InstitutetStockholmSweden
- Public Health Science and Engineering CollegeTianjin University of Traditional Chinese MedicineTianjinChina
| | - Yuyang Miao
- Tianjin Key Laboratory of Elderly Health, Department of Geriatrics, Tianjin Geriatrics InstituteTianjin Medical University General HospitalTianjinChina
| | - Xinjie Zhang
- Department of Pediatric Neurosurgery, West China Second University HospitalSichuan UniversityChengduChina
| | | | - Zhongze Fang
- Department of Toxicology and Health Inspection and Quarantine, School of Public HealthTianjin Medical UniversityTianjinChina
| | - Weili Xu
- Aging Research Center, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and SocietyKarolinska InstitutetStockholmSweden
- Tianjin Key Laboratory of Elderly Health, Department of Geriatrics, Tianjin Geriatrics InstituteTianjin Medical University General HospitalTianjinChina
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Aslan DH, Sayre MK, Bharadwaj PK, Ally M, Maltagliati S, Lai MHC, Wilcox RR, Klimentidis YC, Alexander GE, Raichlen DA. Associations Between Walking Pace, APOE-ε4 Genotype, and Brain Health in Middle-Aged to Older Adults. Med Sci Sports Exerc 2025; 57:1212-1220. [PMID: 39780372 DOI: 10.1249/mss.0000000000003646] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/11/2025]
Abstract
PURPOSE This study aimed to investigate whether self-reported walking pace (a marker of physical function) and the presence of APOE-ε4 allele interact to modify brain health outcomes. METHODS We used data from a prospective cohort study of middle-aged to older adults from the UK Biobank who self-reported walking pace (slow or steady-to-brisk) and who were initially free of dementia ( n = 415,110). Incident all-cause dementia was obtained from hospital and death registry records, and structural brain volumes (right and left hippocampus volumes, total gray matter volume, and volume of white matter hyperintensities) were measured from a subset of participants ( n = 33,113). Cox proportional hazard models and generalized linear models were used to assess associations between exposures and outcomes. RESULTS Slow walking pace and the presence of APOE-ε4 allele were associated with increased dementia risk (HR = 1.79 [95% CI = 1.66-1.93], P < 0.001; HR = 3.06 [2.90-3.23], P < 0.001, respectively), and there was an interaction between these associations, indicating that the association of walking pace with dementia risk is modified by APOE-ε4 status (reference group: HR Steady-Brisk/APOE-ε4- = 1; HR Slow/APOE-ε4- = 2.03 [1.84-2.25], P < 0.001; HR Steady-Brisk/APOE-ε4+ = 3.21 [3.02-3.41], P < 0.001; HR Slow/APOE-ε4+ = 4.99 [4.48-5.58], P < 0.001). Slow self-reported walking pace was associated with worse brain volume outcomes, and these associations were not modified by APOE-ε4 genotype. CONCLUSIONS These results suggest walking pace and APOE-ε4 status independently influence brain volume outcomes, but both factors independently and jointly contribute to increased dementia risk. Individuals with both risk factors (slow walking pace and APOE-ε4 allele) show the strongest associations with dementia risk.
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Affiliation(s)
- Daniel H Aslan
- Human and Evolutionary Biology Section, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern California, CA
| | - M Katherine Sayre
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA
| | | | - Madeline Ally
- Department of Psychology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
| | - Silvio Maltagliati
- Human and Evolutionary Biology Section, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Southern California, CA
| | - Mark H C Lai
- Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, CA
| | - Rand R Wilcox
- Department of Psychology, University of Southern California, CA
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Zhang Y, Guo Y, He Y, You J, Zhang Y, Wang L, Chen S, He X, Yang L, Huang Y, Kang J, Ge Y, Dong Q, Feng J, Cheng W, Yu J. Large-scale proteomic analyses of incident Alzheimer's disease reveal new pathophysiological insights and potential therapeutic targets. Mol Psychiatry 2025; 30:2347-2361. [PMID: 39562718 DOI: 10.1038/s41380-024-02840-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/02/2024] [Revised: 11/07/2024] [Accepted: 11/08/2024] [Indexed: 11/21/2024]
Abstract
Pathophysiological evolutions in early-stage Alzheimer's disease (AD) are not well understood. We used data of 2923 Olink plasma proteins from 51,296 non-demented middle-aged adults. During a follow-up of 15 years, 689 incident AD cases occurred. Cox-proportional hazard models were applied to identify AD-associated proteins in different time intervals. Through linking to protein categories, changing sequences of protein z-scores can reflect pathophysiological evolutions. Mendelian randomization using blood protein quantitative loci data provided causal evidence for potentially druggable proteins. We identified 48 AD-related proteins, with CEND1, GFAP, NEFL, and SYT1 being top hits in both near-term (HR:1.15-1.77; P:9.11 × 10-65-2.78 × 10-6) and long-term AD risk (HR:1.20-1.54; P:2.43 × 10-21-3.95 × 10-6). These four proteins increased 15 years before AD diagnosis and progressively escalated, indicating early and sustained dysfunction in synapse and neurons. Proteins related to extracellular matrix organization, apoptosis, innate immunity, coagulation, and lipid homeostasis showed early disturbances, followed by malfunctions in metabolism, adaptive immunity, and final synaptic and neuronal loss. Combining CEND1, GFAP, NEFL, and SYT1 with demographics generated desirable predictions for 10-year (AUC = 0.901) and over-10-year AD (AUC = 0.864), comparable to full model. Mendelian randomization supports potential genetic link between CEND1, SYT1, and AD as outcome. Our findings highlight the importance of exploring the pathophysiological evolutions in early stages of AD, which is essential for the development of early biomarkers and precision therapeutics.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yi Zhang
- Department of Neurology and National Center for Neurological Disorders, Huashan Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology and MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Yu Guo
- Department of Neurology and National Center for Neurological Disorders, Huashan Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology and MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Yu He
- Department of Neurology and National Center for Neurological Disorders, Huashan Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology and MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Jia You
- Department of Neurology and National Center for Neurological Disorders, Huashan Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology and MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
- Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-inspired Intelligence, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
- Key Laboratory of Computational Neuroscience and Brain-Inspired Intelligence, Fudan University, Ministry of Education, Shanghai, China
| | - YaRu Zhang
- Department of Neurology and National Center for Neurological Disorders, Huashan Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology and MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - LinBo Wang
- Department of Neurology and National Center for Neurological Disorders, Huashan Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology and MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
- Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-inspired Intelligence, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - ShiDong Chen
- Department of Neurology and National Center for Neurological Disorders, Huashan Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology and MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - XiaoYu He
- Department of Neurology and National Center for Neurological Disorders, Huashan Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology and MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Liu Yang
- Department of Neurology and National Center for Neurological Disorders, Huashan Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology and MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - YuYuan Huang
- Department of Neurology and National Center for Neurological Disorders, Huashan Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology and MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - JuJiao Kang
- Department of Neurology and National Center for Neurological Disorders, Huashan Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology and MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
- Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-inspired Intelligence, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - YiJun Ge
- Department of Neurology and National Center for Neurological Disorders, Huashan Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology and MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Qiang Dong
- Department of Neurology and National Center for Neurological Disorders, Huashan Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology and MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - JianFeng Feng
- Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-inspired Intelligence, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
- Key Laboratory of Computational Neuroscience and Brain-Inspired Intelligence, Fudan University, Ministry of Education, Shanghai, China
| | - Wei Cheng
- Department of Neurology and National Center for Neurological Disorders, Huashan Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology and MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
- Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-inspired Intelligence, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
- Key Laboratory of Computational Neuroscience and Brain-Inspired Intelligence, Fudan University, Ministry of Education, Shanghai, China.
| | - JinTai Yu
- Department of Neurology and National Center for Neurological Disorders, Huashan Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Medical Neurobiology and MOE Frontiers Center for Brain Science, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
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Yii F, Strang NC, Gibbon S, MacGillivray TJ. Can fundus features tell us something about 3D eye shape? Ophthalmic Physiol Opt 2025; 45:958-968. [PMID: 39865349 PMCID: PMC12087834 DOI: 10.1111/opo.13454] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/03/2024] [Revised: 01/08/2025] [Accepted: 01/15/2025] [Indexed: 01/28/2025]
Abstract
PURPOSE To determine whether imaging features derived from fundus photographs contain 3D eye shape information beyond that available from spherical equivalent refraction (SER). METHODS We analysed 99 eyes of 68 normal adults in the UK Biobank. An ellipsoid was fitted to the entire volume of each posterior eye (vitreous chamber without the lens)-segmented from magnetic resonance imaging of the brain. Asphericity was computed based on the semidiameters of the ellipsoid's axes to describe posterior eye shape along the horizontal (temporal-nasal) and vertical (superior-inferior) meridians, while volume was calculated as the total number of foreground voxels. Mixed-effects linear regression models were used to test the association of SER with asphericity and volume, controlling for age and sex. Then, the association between various fundus features and asphericity was tested-both before and after controlling for SER, age and sex. RESULTS Posterior eyes were generally oblate (asphericity > 0), but the degree of oblateness reduced as SER decreased, with the shape tending towards prolateness in high myopia. Neither sex nor age influenced asphericity. However, males had larger posterior eyes on average (this difference disappeared after height was additionally controlled for). Optic disc (OD) orientation, OD-fovea angle, vessel tortuosity, vessel fractal dimension and central retinal arteriolar or venular equivalent (CRAE or CRVE) showed significant univariable associations with asphericity along at least one meridian. After controlling for SER, age and sex, a more negative OD-fovea angle (larger OD-fovea angular separation) remained significantly associated with reduced horizontal oblateness (p = 0.01). Similarly, decreasing CRAE (narrower arterioles) remained significantly associated with reduced oblateness along both the horizontal (p = 0.04) and vertical (p < 0.01) meridians. CONCLUSIONS Variations in OD-fovea angle and CRAE are associated with differences in ocular asphericity-even in eyes with similar SER-suggesting that fundus imaging provides eye shape information beyond what is available from refractive error alone.
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Affiliation(s)
- Fabian Yii
- Robert O Curle Ophthalmology Suite, Institute for Regeneration and RepairThe University of EdinburghEdinburghUK
- Centre for Clinical Brain SciencesThe University of EdinburghEdinburghUK
| | - Niall C. Strang
- Department of Vision SciencesGlasgow Caledonian UniversityGlasgowUK
| | - Samuel Gibbon
- Robert O Curle Ophthalmology Suite, Institute for Regeneration and RepairThe University of EdinburghEdinburghUK
- Centre for Clinical Brain SciencesThe University of EdinburghEdinburghUK
| | - Tom J. MacGillivray
- Robert O Curle Ophthalmology Suite, Institute for Regeneration and RepairThe University of EdinburghEdinburghUK
- Centre for Clinical Brain SciencesThe University of EdinburghEdinburghUK
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8
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Lal-Trehan Estrada UM, Sheth S, Oliver A, Lladó X, Giancardo L. Encoding 3D information in 2D feature maps for brain CT-Angiography. Comput Med Imaging Graph 2025; 122:102518. [PMID: 40068388 DOI: 10.1016/j.compmedimag.2025.102518] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/31/2024] [Revised: 02/13/2025] [Accepted: 02/23/2025] [Indexed: 03/24/2025]
Abstract
We propose learnable 3D pooling (L3P), a CNN module designed to compress 3D information into 2D feature maps using anisotropic convolutions and unidirectional max pooling. Specifically, we used L3P followed by a 2D network to generate predictions from 3D brain CT-Angiography (CTA) in the context of large vessel occlusion (LVO). To further demonstrate its versatility, we extended its application to 3D brain MRI analysis for brain age prediction. First, we designed an experiment to classify the LVO-affected hemisphere (left or right), projecting the input CTA into the sagittal plane, which allowed to assess the ability of L3P to encode the 3D location where the location information was in the 3D-to-2D compression axis. Second, we evaluated the use of L3P on LVO detection as a binary classification (presence or absence). We compared the L3P models performance to that of 2D and stroke-specific 3D models. L3P models achieved results equivalent to stroke-specific 3D models while requiring fewer parameters and resources and provided better results than 2D models using maximum intensity projection images as input. The generalizability of L3P approach was evaluated on the LVO-affected hemisphere detection using data from a single site for training/validation and data from 36 other sites for testing, achieving an AUC of 0.83 on the test set. L3P also performed comparably or better than a fully 3D network on a brain age prediction task with a separate T1 MRI dataset, demonstrating its versatility across different tasks and imaging modalities. Additionally, L3P models generated more interpretable feature maps.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Sunil Sheth
- McGovern Medical School, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, United States
| | - Arnau Oliver
- Research institute of Computer Vision and Robotics, University of Girona, Girona, Spain
| | - Xavier Lladó
- Research institute of Computer Vision and Robotics, University of Girona, Girona, Spain
| | - Luca Giancardo
- Center for Precision Health, McWilliams School of Biomedical Informatics, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, United States.
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Fan W, Yang S, Wei Y, Tian M, Liu Q, Li X, Ding J, Li X, Mao M, Han X, Du Y, Qiu C, Dong Y, Wang Y. Characterization of brain morphology associated with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease in the UK Biobank. Diabetes Obes Metab 2025; 27:3419-3430. [PMID: 40171859 DOI: 10.1111/dom.16362] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/09/2024] [Revised: 03/08/2025] [Accepted: 03/13/2025] [Indexed: 04/04/2025]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Emerging evidence has linked metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) with accelerated cognitive decline and dementia. We aimed to investigate the associations of MASLD with volumes of total brain tissue and subcortical grey matter, and white matter microstructures in the UK Biobank. METHODS This cross-sectional study included 29,195 individuals (aged 45-82 years) from the UK Biobank who undertook a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sub-study between 2014 and 2022. The brain MRI covers three modalities (T1, T2 FLAIR, and diffusion). Volumes of grey matter, subcortical grey matter structures, and regional cortex were derived from T1-weighted images. Fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) were derived from diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to assess global and tract-specific microstructure. MASLD was defined as the MRI-derived proton density fat fraction (MRI-PDFF) ≥5% and the presence of at least one cardiometabolic criterion. Data were analysed using multiple linear regression models. RESULTS MASLD was significantly associated with smaller volumes of total grey matter and subcortical grey matter (p < 0.05) and reduced Alzheimer's disease (AD)-signature cortical thickness (multivariable-adjusted β = -0.04; 95% confidence interval [CI]: -0.07, -0.01). Having MASLD was associated with higher total white matter hyperintensity (WMH) volume (multivariable-adjusted β = 0.12; 95% CI: 0.10, 0.15). For white matter microstructure, MASLD was associated with increased global FA (multivariable-adjusted β = 0.05; 95% CI: 0.03, 0.08) and reduced global MD (multivariable-adjusted β = -0.04; 95% CI: -0.07, -0.01). CONCLUSIONS Brain morphology associated with MASLD is characterized by smaller subcortical grey matter volume and higher coherence but lower magnitudes of white matter microstructure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Wenxiao Fan
- Key Laboratory of Endocrine Glucose & Lipids Metabolism and Brain Aging, Ministry of Education, Department of Neurology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, People's Republic of China
- Shandong Institute of Brain Science and Brain-inspired Research, Medical Science and Technology Innovation Center, Shandong First Medical University & Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan, People's Republic of China
| | - Shuping Yang
- Department of Oncology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, People's Republic of China
| | - Yiran Wei
- Key Laboratory of Endocrine Glucose & Lipids Metabolism and Brain Aging, Ministry of Education, Department of Neurology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, People's Republic of China
- Shandong Institute of Brain Science and Brain-inspired Research, Medical Science and Technology Innovation Center, Shandong First Medical University & Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan, People's Republic of China
| | - Minle Tian
- Key Laboratory of Endocrine Glucose & Lipids Metabolism and Brain Aging, Ministry of Education, Department of Neurology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, People's Republic of China
- Shandong Institute of Brain Science and Brain-inspired Research, Medical Science and Technology Innovation Center, Shandong First Medical University & Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan, People's Republic of China
| | - Qianying Liu
- Key Laboratory of Endocrine Glucose & Lipids Metabolism and Brain Aging, Ministry of Education, Department of Neurology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, People's Republic of China
- Shandong Institute of Brain Science and Brain-inspired Research, Medical Science and Technology Innovation Center, Shandong First Medical University & Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan, People's Republic of China
| | - Xiaomeng Li
- Key Laboratory of Endocrine Glucose & Lipids Metabolism and Brain Aging, Ministry of Education, Department of Neurology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, People's Republic of China
- Shandong Institute of Brain Science and Brain-inspired Research, Medical Science and Technology Innovation Center, Shandong First Medical University & Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan, People's Republic of China
| | - Jiahao Ding
- Shandong Institute of Brain Science and Brain-inspired Research, Medical Science and Technology Innovation Center, Shandong First Medical University & Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan, People's Republic of China
| | - Xuewei Li
- Key Laboratory of Endocrine Glucose & Lipids Metabolism and Brain Aging, Ministry of Education, Department of Neurology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, People's Republic of China
- Shandong Institute of Brain Science and Brain-inspired Research, Medical Science and Technology Innovation Center, Shandong First Medical University & Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan, People's Republic of China
| | - Ming Mao
- Key Laboratory of Endocrine Glucose & Lipids Metabolism and Brain Aging, Ministry of Education, Department of Neurology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, People's Republic of China
- Shandong Institute of Brain Science and Brain-inspired Research, Medical Science and Technology Innovation Center, Shandong First Medical University & Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan, People's Republic of China
| | - Xiaolei Han
- Key Laboratory of Endocrine Glucose & Lipids Metabolism and Brain Aging, Ministry of Education, Department of Neurology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, People's Republic of China
- Shandong Institute of Brain Science and Brain-inspired Research, Medical Science and Technology Innovation Center, Shandong First Medical University & Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan, People's Republic of China
| | - Yifeng Du
- Key Laboratory of Endocrine Glucose & Lipids Metabolism and Brain Aging, Ministry of Education, Department of Neurology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, People's Republic of China
- Shandong Institute of Brain Science and Brain-inspired Research, Medical Science and Technology Innovation Center, Shandong First Medical University & Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan, People's Republic of China
| | - Chengxuan Qiu
- Key Laboratory of Endocrine Glucose & Lipids Metabolism and Brain Aging, Ministry of Education, Department of Neurology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, People's Republic of China
- Shandong Institute of Brain Science and Brain-inspired Research, Medical Science and Technology Innovation Center, Shandong First Medical University & Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan, People's Republic of China
- Aging Research Center, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet-Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
| | - Yi Dong
- Key Laboratory of Endocrine Glucose & Lipids Metabolism and Brain Aging, Ministry of Education, Department of Neurology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, People's Republic of China
- Shandong Institute of Brain Science and Brain-inspired Research, Medical Science and Technology Innovation Center, Shandong First Medical University & Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan, People's Republic of China
| | - Yongxiang Wang
- Key Laboratory of Endocrine Glucose & Lipids Metabolism and Brain Aging, Ministry of Education, Department of Neurology, Shandong Provincial Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical University, Jinan, People's Republic of China
- Shandong Institute of Brain Science and Brain-inspired Research, Medical Science and Technology Innovation Center, Shandong First Medical University & Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan, People's Republic of China
- Aging Research Center, Department of Neurobiology, Care Sciences and Society, Karolinska Institutet-Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
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10
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Li P, Zhu X, Huang C, Tian S, Li Y, Qiao Y, Liu M, Su J, Tian D. Effects of obesity on aging brain and cognitive decline: A cohort study from the UK Biobank. IBRO Neurosci Rep 2025; 18:148-157. [PMID: 39896714 PMCID: PMC11786748 DOI: 10.1016/j.ibneur.2025.01.001] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/02/2024] [Revised: 12/19/2024] [Accepted: 01/04/2025] [Indexed: 02/04/2025] Open
Abstract
Objective To investigate the impact of obesity on brain structure and cognition using large neuroimaging and genetic data. Methods Associations between body mass index (BMI), gray matter volume (GMV), whiter matter hyper-intensities (WMH), and fluid intelligence score (FIS) were estimated in 30283 participants from the UK Biobank. Longitudinal data analysis was conducted. Genome-wide association studies were applied to explore the genetic loci associations among BMI, GMV, WMH, and FIS. Mendelian Randomization analyses were applied to further estimate the effects of obesity on changes in the brain and cognition. Results The observational analysis revealed that BMI was negatively associated with GMV (r = -0.15, p < 1 × 10-24) and positively associated with WMH (r = 0.08, p < 1 × 10-16). The change in BMI was negatively associated with the change in GMV (r = -0.04, p < 5 × 10-5). Genetic overlap was observed among BMI, GMV, and FIS at SBK1 (rs2726032), SGF29 (rs17707300), TUFM (rs3088215), AKAP6 (rs1051695), IL27 (rs4788084), and SPI1 (rs3740689 and rs935914). The MR analysis provided evidence that higher BMI was associated with lower GMV (β=-1119.12, p = 5.77 ×10-6), higher WMH (β=42.76, p = 6.37 ×10-4), and lower FIS (β=-0.081, p = 1.92 ×10-23). Conclusions The phenotypic and genetic association between obesity and aging brain and cognitive decline suggested that weight control could be a promising strategy for slowing the aging brain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Panlong Li
- School of Electrical and Information Engineering, Zhengzhou University of Light Industry, Zhengzhou, China
| | - Xirui Zhu
- School of Electrical and Information Engineering, Zhengzhou University of Light Industry, Zhengzhou, China
| | - Chun Huang
- School of Electrical and Information Engineering, Zhengzhou University of Light Industry, Zhengzhou, China
| | - Shan Tian
- Department of Neurology, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Yuna Li
- Department of Neurology, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Yuan Qiao
- Department of Neurology, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Min Liu
- Department of Hypertension, Henan Provincial People’s Hospital & Zhengzhou University People’s Hospital, Zhengzhou, China
| | - Jingjing Su
- Department of Neurology, Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, Shanghai, China
| | - Dandan Tian
- Department of Hypertension, Henan Provincial People’s Hospital & Zhengzhou University People’s Hospital, Zhengzhou, China
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11
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Schoeler T, Pingault JB, Kutalik Z. Combining cross-sectional and longitudinal genomic approaches to identify determinants of cognitive and physical decline. Nat Commun 2025; 16:4524. [PMID: 40374629 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-59383-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/30/2024] [Accepted: 04/22/2025] [Indexed: 05/17/2025] Open
Abstract
Large-scale genomic studies focusing on the genetic contribution to human aging have mostly relied on cross-sectional data. With the release of longitudinally curated aging phenotypes by the UK Biobank (UKBB), it is now possible to study aging over time at genome-wide scale. In this work, we evaluated the suitability of competing models of change in realistic simulation settings, performed genome-wide association scans on simulation-validated measures of age-related deweekcline, and followed up with LD-score regression and Mendelian Randomization (MR) analyses. Focusing on global cognitive and physical function, we observed marked differences between baseline function (θ) and accelerated decline (Δ). Both outcomes showed distinct heritability levels (e.g., 31.38%h θ 2 versus 3.15%h Δ 2 for physical function) and different associated loci (e.g., DUSP6 specific to physical Δ). Further, we found little commonalities across the two dimensions of aging-while cognitive decline was largely driven by Alzheimer's disease liability (standardized MR-effect, γ = 0.17), physical decline was mostly impacted by telomere length (γ = -0.05) and bone mineral density (γ = -0.05). Our work highlights the utility of longitudinal genomic efforts to scrutinize age-dependent genetic and environmental effects on physical and cognitive outcomes. Careful modelling and attention to participation characteristics are, however, crucial for valid inference.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tabea Schoeler
- Department of Computational Biology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
- Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, London, UK.
- Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Lausanne, Switzerland.
| | - Jean-Baptiste Pingault
- Department of Clinical, Educational and Health Psychology, University College London, London, UK
- Social, Genetic and Developmental Psychiatry Centre, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London, UK
| | - Zoltán Kutalik
- Department of Computational Biology, University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
- Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, Lausanne, Switzerland.
- University Center for Primary Care and Public Health, Lausanne, Switzerland.
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12
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Nowell J, Gentleman S, Edison P. Cardiovascular risk and obesity impact loss of grey matter volume earlier in males than females. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2025; 96:546-557. [PMID: 39603675 DOI: 10.1136/jnnp-2024-333675] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/25/2024] [Accepted: 09/13/2024] [Indexed: 11/29/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND It remains imperative to discover the time course that cardiovascular risk factors influence neurodegeneration in males and females and decipher whether the apolipoprotein (APOE) genotype mediates this relationship. Here we perform a large-scale evaluation of the influence of cardiovascular risk and obesity on brain volume in males and females in different age groups. METHODS 34 425 participants between the ages of 45 and 82 years were recruited from the UK Biobank database https://www.ukbiobank.ac.uk. T1-weighted structural MR images (n=34 425) were downloaded locally for all participants, and voxel-based morphometry was performed to characterise the volumetric changes of the whole brain. The influence of Framingham cardiovascular risk (general cardiovascular risk), abdominal subcutaneous adipose tissue, and visceral adipose tissue volume (obesity) on cortical grey matter volume across different decades of life was evaluated with voxel-wise analysis. RESULTS In males, cardiovascular risk and obesity demonstrated the greatest influence on lower grey matter volume between 55-64 years of age. Female participants showed the greatest effect on lower grey matter volume between 65-74 years of age. Associations remained significant in APOE ε4 carriers and APOE ε4 non-carriers when evaluated separately. CONCLUSIONS The strongest influence of cardiovascular risk and obesity on reduced brain volume was between 55-64 years of age in males, whereas women were most susceptible to the detrimental effects of cardiovascular risk a decade later between 65-74 years of age. Here we elucidate the timing that targeting cardiovascular risk factors and obesity should be implemented in males and females to prevent neurodegeneration and Alzheimer's disease development.
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Affiliation(s)
- Joseph Nowell
- Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Steve Gentleman
- Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, London, UK
| | - Paul Edison
- Department of Brain Sciences, Imperial College London, London, UK
- Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK
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13
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Yu L, Flinker A, Veraart J. Enhanced structural brain connectivity analyses using high diffusion-weighting strengths. Brain Struct Funct 2025; 230:65. [PMID: 40369308 DOI: 10.1007/s00429-025-02916-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/10/2024] [Accepted: 04/05/2025] [Indexed: 05/16/2025]
Abstract
Tractography is a unique modality for the in vivo measurement of structural connectivity, crucial for understanding brain networks and neurological conditions. With increasing b-value, the diffusion-weighting signal becomes primarily sensitive to the intra-axonal signal. However, it remains unclear how tractography is affected by this observation. Here, using open-source datasets, we showed that at high b-values, DWI reduces the uncertainty in estimating fiber orientations. Specifically, we found the ratio of biologically-meaningful longer-range connections increases, accompanied with downstream impact of redistribution of connectome and network metrics. However, when going beyond b = 6000 s/mm2, the loss of SNR imposed a penalty. Lastly, we showed that the data reaches satisfactory reproducibility with b-values above 1200 s/mm2. Overall, the results suggest that using b-values above 2500 s/mm2 is essential for more accurate connectome reconstruction by reducing uncertainty in fiber orientation estimation, supporting the use of higher b-value protocols in standard diffusion MRI scans and pipelines.
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Affiliation(s)
- Leyao Yu
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, NYU Tandon School of Engineering, Brooklyn, USA.
| | - Adeen Flinker
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, NYU Tandon School of Engineering, Brooklyn, USA
- Department of Neurology, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, USA
| | - Jelle Veraart
- Department of Neurology, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, USA
- Center for Advanced Imaging Innovation and Research (CAI2R), Department of Radiology, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, New York, USA
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14
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Skandalakis GP, Viganò L, Neudorfer C, Rossi M, Fornia L, Cerri G, Kinsman KP, Bajouri Z, Tavakkoli AD, Koutsarnakis C, Lani E, Komaitis S, Stranjalis G, Zadeh G, Barrios-Martinez J, Yeh FC, Serletis D, Kogan M, Hadjipanayis CG, Hong J, Simmons N, Gordon EM, Dosenbach NUF, Horn A, Bello L, Kalyvas A, Evans LT. White matter connections within the central sulcus subserving the somato-cognitive action network. Brain 2025; 148:1789-1800. [PMID: 39869456 PMCID: PMC12073987 DOI: 10.1093/brain/awaf022] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/17/2024] [Revised: 10/10/2024] [Accepted: 12/29/2024] [Indexed: 01/29/2025] Open
Abstract
The somato-cognitive action network (SCAN) consists of three nodes interspersed within Penfield's motor effector regions. The configuration of the somato-cognitive action network nodes resembles the one of the 'plis de passage' of the central sulcus: small gyri bridging the precentral and postcentral gyri. Thus, we hypothesize that these may provide a structural substrate of the somato-cognitive action network. Using microdissections of 16 human hemispheres, we consistently identified a chain of three distinct plis de passage with increased underlying white matter in locations analogous to the somato-cognitive action network nodes. We mapped localizations of plis de passage into standard stereotactic space to seed functional MRI connectivity across 9000 resting-state functional MRI scans, which demonstrated the connectivity of these sites with the somato-cognitive action network. Intraoperative recordings during direct electrical central sulcus stimulation further identified inter-effector regions corresponding to plis de passage locations. This work provides a critical step towards an improved understanding of the somato-cognitive action network in both structural and functional terms. Furthermore, our work has the potential to guide the development of refined motor cortex stimulation techniques for treating brain disorders and operative resective techniques for complex surgery of the motor cortex.
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Affiliation(s)
- Georgios P Skandalakis
- Department of Surgery, Section of Neurosurgery, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH 03756, USA
| | - Luca Viganò
- Department of Medical Biotechnology and Translational Medicine, MoCA Laboratory, University of Milan, IRCCS Galeazzi Sant'Ambrogio, 20157 Milan, Italy
| | - Clemens Neudorfer
- Department of Neurology Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Center for Brain Circuit Therapeutics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- MGH Neurosurgery & Center for Neurotechnology and Neurorecovery (CNTR) at MGH Neurology Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA
- Department of Neurology, Movement Disorder and Neuromodulation Unit, Charité–Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin and Humboldt–Universität zu Berlin, Berlin 10117, Germany
| | - Marco Rossi
- Department of Medical Biotechnology and Translational Medicine, Neurosurgical Oncology Unit, University of Milan, IRCCS Galeazzi Sant'Ambrogio, 20157 Milan, Italy
| | - Luca Fornia
- Department of Medical Biotechnology and Translational Medicine, MoCA Laboratory, University of Milan, IRCCS Galeazzi Sant'Ambrogio, 20157 Milan, Italy
| | - Gabriella Cerri
- Department of Medical Biotechnology and Translational Medicine, MoCA Laboratory, University of Milan, IRCCS Galeazzi Sant'Ambrogio, 20157 Milan, Italy
| | - Kelsey P Kinsman
- Department of Surgery, Section of Neurosurgery, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH 03756, USA
| | - Zabiullah Bajouri
- Department of Surgery, Section of Neurosurgery, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH 03756, USA
| | - Armin D Tavakkoli
- Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH 03755, USA
| | - Christos Koutsarnakis
- Department of Neurosurgery, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, School of Medicine, Athens 11527, Greece
| | - Evgenia Lani
- Department of Neurosurgery, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, School of Medicine, Athens 11527, Greece
| | - Spyridon Komaitis
- Department of Neurosurgery, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, School of Medicine, Athens 11527, Greece
| | - George Stranjalis
- Department of Neurosurgery, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, School of Medicine, Athens 11527, Greece
| | - Gelareh Zadeh
- Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada, M5T 1P5
| | | | - Fang-Cheng Yeh
- Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA 15213, USA
| | - Demitre Serletis
- Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine of Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA
- Cleveland Clinic Epilepsy Center, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA
- Department of Neurosurgery, Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Cleveland, OH 44195, USA
| | - Michael Kogan
- Department of Neurosurgery, University of New Mexico Hospital, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA
| | | | - Jennifer Hong
- Department of Surgery, Section of Neurosurgery, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH 03756, USA
| | - Nathan Simmons
- Department of Surgery, Section of Neurosurgery, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH 03756, USA
| | - Evan M Gordon
- Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St Louis, MO 63110, USA
| | - Nico U F Dosenbach
- Department of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Washington University in St. Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA
- Department of Pediatrics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA
| | - Andreas Horn
- Department of Neurology Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Center for Brain Circuit Therapeutics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA
- MGH Neurosurgery & Center for Neurotechnology and Neurorecovery (CNTR) at MGH Neurology Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02114, USA
| | - Lorenzo Bello
- Department of Oncology and Haemato-Oncology, Neurosurgical Oncology Unit, University of Milan, IRCCS Galeazzi Sant'Ambrogio, 20161 Milan, Italy
| | - Aristotelis Kalyvas
- Department of Neurosurgery, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, School of Medicine, Athens 11527, Greece
- Division of Neurosurgery, Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada, M5T 1P5
| | - Linton T Evans
- Department of Surgery, Section of Neurosurgery, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, Lebanon, NH 03756, USA
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15
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Xia C, Lu Y, Zhou Z, Marchi M, Kweon H, Ning Y, Liewald DCM, Anderson EL, Koellinger PD, Cox SR, Boks MP, Hill WD. Deciphering the influence of socioeconomic status on brain structure: insights from Mendelian randomization. Mol Psychiatry 2025:10.1038/s41380-025-03047-4. [PMID: 40360725 DOI: 10.1038/s41380-025-03047-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/25/2024] [Revised: 04/18/2025] [Accepted: 05/06/2025] [Indexed: 05/15/2025]
Abstract
Socioeconomic status (SES) influences physical and mental health, however its relation with brain structure is less well documented. Here, we examine the role of SES on brain structure using Mendelian randomisation. First, we conduct a multivariate genome-wide association study of SES using educational attainment, household income, occupational prestige, and area-based social deprivation, with an effective sample size of N = 947,466. We identify 554 loci associated with SES and distil these loci into those that are common across those four traits. Second, using an independent sample of ~35,000 we provide evidence to suggest that SES is protective against white matter hyperintensities as a proportion of intracranial volume (WMHicv). Third, we find that differences in SES still afford a protective effect against WMHicv, independent of that made by cognitive ability. Our results suggest that SES is a modifiable risk factor, causal in the maintenance of cognitive ability in older-age.
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Affiliation(s)
- Charley Xia
- Lothian Birth Cohort studies, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
- Department of Psychology, School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Yuechen Lu
- Lothian Birth Cohort studies, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
- Department of Psychology, School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Zhuzhuoyu Zhou
- Lothian Birth Cohort studies, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
- Department of Psychology, School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Mattia Marchi
- Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy
- Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services, Azienda USL-IRCCS di Reggio Emilia, Reggio Emilia, Italy
| | - Hyeokmoon Kweon
- Department of Economics, School of Business and Economics, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Yuchen Ning
- Department of Economics, School of Business and Economics, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - David C M Liewald
- Lothian Birth Cohort studies, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
- Department of Psychology, School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Emma L Anderson
- MRC Integrative Epidemiology Unit, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Oakfield House, Bristol, UK
- Division of Psychiatry, Faculty of Brain Sciences, University College London, London, UK
| | - Philipp D Koellinger
- Department of Economics, School of Business and Economics, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Simon R Cox
- Lothian Birth Cohort studies, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
- Department of Psychology, School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK
| | - Marco P Boks
- Amsterdam UMC, Department of psychiatry, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - W David Hill
- Lothian Birth Cohort studies, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
- Department of Psychology, School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK.
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16
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Elliott ML, Du J, Nielsen JA, Hanford LC, Kivisäkk P, Arnold SE, Dickerson BC, Mair RW, Eldaief MC, Buckner RL. Precision Estimates of Longitudinal Brain Aging Capture Unexpected Individual Differences in One Year: Summary: A novel brain imaging method boosts precision to reveal variable brain aging trajectories. MEDRXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR HEALTH SCIENCES 2025:2025.02.21.25322553. [PMID: 40061349 PMCID: PMC11888524 DOI: 10.1101/2025.02.21.25322553] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/17/2025]
Abstract
Longitudinal studies are required to measure individual differences in human brain aging, but they are difficult to estimate over short intervals because of measurement error. Using cluster scanning, an approach that reduces error by densely repeating rapid structural scans, we assessed brain aging in individuals across three longitudinal timepoints spaced across one year. Cluster scanning substantially improved the precision of individualized estimates, revealing previously undetectable individual differences in brain change. In just one year, expected differences in the rates of brain aging between younger and older individuals were evident, as were differences between cognitively unimpaired and impaired individuals. Each person's brain change trajectory was compared to modeled normative expectations from a large cohort of age-matched UK Biobank participants. Cognitively unimpaired older individuals variably revealed relative brain maintenance, unexpectedly rapid decline, and asymmetrical changes. These atypical brain aging trajectories were found across structures and verified in independent within-individual test and retest data. Cluster scanning promises to advance our understanding of the marked heterogeneity in brain aging by affording better short-term tracking of individual variability in structural change.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maxwell L Elliott
- Department of Psychology, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | - Jingnan Du
- Department of Psychology, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | - Jared A Nielsen
- Department of Psychology, Neuroscience Center, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT, 84602, USA
| | - Lindsay C Hanford
- Department of Psychology, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
| | - Pia Kivisäkk
- Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
- Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
| | - Steven E Arnold
- Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
- Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
| | - Bradford C Dickerson
- Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
- Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
- Frontotemporal Disorders Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
| | - Ross W Mair
- Department of Psychology, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
| | - Mark C Eldaief
- Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
- Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
- Frontotemporal Disorders Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
| | - Randy L Buckner
- Department of Psychology, Center for Brain Science, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
- Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital & Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA 02129, USA
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17
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Hannon K, Easley T, Zhang W, Lew D, Sotiras A, Sheline YI, Marquand A, Barch DM, Bijsterbosch JD. Parsing clinical and neurobiological sources of heterogeneity in depression. Biol Psychiatry 2025:S0006-3223(25)01186-2. [PMID: 40348312 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2025.04.025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2025] [Revised: 03/28/2025] [Accepted: 04/23/2025] [Indexed: 05/14/2025]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Patients with depression vary from one-another in their clinical and neuroimaging presentation, yet the relationship between clinical and neuroimaging sources of variation is poorly understood. Determining sources of heterogeneity in depression is important to gain insights into its diverse and complex neural etiology. This study aims to test if depression heterogeneity is characterized by subgroups that differ both clinically and neurobiologically and/or whether multiple neuroimaging profiles give rise to the same clinical presentation. METHODS This study utilizes population-based data from the UK Biobank over multiple imaging sites. Clinically dissociated groups were selected to isolate clinical characteristics of depression (symptoms of anhedonia, depressed mood, and somatic disturbance; severity indices of lifetime chronicity and acute impairment; and late onset). Residual neuroimaging heterogeneity within each group was assessed using neuroimaging driven clustering. RESULTS The clinically dissociated subgroups had significantly larger neuroimaging normative deviations than a comparison heterogeneous group and had distinct neuroimaging profiles from each other. Imaging driven clustering within each clinically dissociated group identified two stable subtypes within the acute impairment group that differed significantly in cognitive ability, despite identical clinical profiles. CONCLUSIONS The study identified distinct neuroimaging profiles related to particular clinical depression features that may explain inconsistencies in the literature and sub-clusters within the acute impairment group with cognitive differences that were only differentiable by neuroimaging. Our results provide evidence that multiple neuroimaging profiles may give rise to the same clinical presentation, emphasizing the presence of complex interactions between clinical and neuroimaging sources of heterogeneity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kayla Hannon
- Department of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, 4525 Scott Avenue, Saint Louis, Missouri 63110, USA.
| | - Ty Easley
- Department of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, 4525 Scott Avenue, Saint Louis, Missouri 63110, USA
| | - Wei Zhang
- Department of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, 4525 Scott Avenue, Saint Louis, Missouri 63110, USA
| | - Daphne Lew
- Institute for Informatics, Data Science, and Biostatistics, Washington University School of Medicine
| | - Aristeidis Sotiras
- Department of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, 4525 Scott Avenue, Saint Louis, Missouri 63110, USA; Institute for Informatics, Data Science, and Biostatistics, Washington University School of Medicine
| | | | - Andre Marquand
- Donders Institute for Brain, Cognition and Behaviour, Radboud University Medical Centre
| | - Deanna M Barch
- Department of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, 4525 Scott Avenue, Saint Louis, Missouri 63110, USA; Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine; Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Washington University
| | - Janine D Bijsterbosch
- Department of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, 4525 Scott Avenue, Saint Louis, Missouri 63110, USA.
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18
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Zhu AH, Nir TM, Javid S, Villalón-Reina JE, Rodrigue AL, Strike LT, de Zubicaray GI, McMahon KL, Wright MJ, Medland SE, Blangero J, Glahn DC, Kochunov P, Williamson DE, Håberg AK, Thompson PM, Jahanshad N. Lifespan reference curves for harmonizing multi-site regional brain white matter metrics from diffusion MRI. Sci Data 2025; 12:748. [PMID: 40328780 PMCID: PMC12056076 DOI: 10.1038/s41597-025-05028-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/01/2024] [Accepted: 04/17/2025] [Indexed: 05/08/2025] Open
Abstract
Age-related white matter (WM) microstructure maturation and decline occur throughout the human lifespan, complementing the process of gray matter development and degeneration. Here, we create normative lifespan reference curves for global and regional WM microstructure by harmonizing diffusion MRI (dMRI)-derived data from ten public datasets (N = 40,898 subjects; age: 3-95 years; 47.6% male). We tested three harmonization methods on regional diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) based fractional anisotropy (FA), a metric of WM microstructure, extracted using the ENIGMA-DTI pipeline. ComBat-GAM harmonization provided multi-study trajectories most consistent with known WM maturation peaks. Lifespan FA reference curves were validated with test-retest data and used to assess the effect of the ApoE4 risk factor for dementia in WM across the lifespan. We found significant associations between ApoE4 and FA in WM regions associated with neurodegenerative disease even in healthy individuals across the lifespan, with regional age-by-genotype interactions. Our lifespan reference curves and tools to harmonize new dMRI data to the curves are publicly available as eHarmonize ( https://github.com/ahzhu/eharmonize ).
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Affiliation(s)
- Alyssa H Zhu
- Imaging Genetics Center, USC Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Keck School of Medicine of USC, Marina del Rey, CA, USA
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Talia M Nir
- Imaging Genetics Center, USC Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Keck School of Medicine of USC, Marina del Rey, CA, USA
| | - Shayan Javid
- Imaging Genetics Center, USC Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Keck School of Medicine of USC, Marina del Rey, CA, USA
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Julio E Villalón-Reina
- Imaging Genetics Center, USC Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Keck School of Medicine of USC, Marina del Rey, CA, USA
| | - Amanda L Rodrigue
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Lachlan T Strike
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
- Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | | | - Katie L McMahon
- Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Margaret J Wright
- Queensland Brain Institute, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
- Centre for Advanced Imaging, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - Sarah E Medland
- QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
- Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
- School of Psychology, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
| | - John Blangero
- Department of Human Genetics, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Brownsville, TX, USA
- South Texas Diabetes and Obesity Institute, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Brownsville, TX, USA
| | - David C Glahn
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA
- Olin Neuropsychiatry Research Center, Institute of Living, Hartford, CT, USA
| | - Peter Kochunov
- Faillace Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at McGovern Medical School, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Douglas E Williamson
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, NC, USA
- Research, Durham VA Health Care System, Durham, NC, USA
| | - Asta K Håberg
- Department of Neuromedicine and Movement Science, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, Norway
- Department of MiDtT National Research Center, St. Olav's Hospital, Trondheim University Hospital, Trondheim, Norway
| | - Paul M Thompson
- Imaging Genetics Center, USC Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Keck School of Medicine of USC, Marina del Rey, CA, USA
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, Los Angeles, CA, USA
| | - Neda Jahanshad
- Imaging Genetics Center, USC Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Keck School of Medicine of USC, Marina del Rey, CA, USA.
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, USC Viterbi School of Engineering, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
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19
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Ling Q, Liu A, Li Y, Mi T, Chan P, Thomas Yeo BT, Chen X. High-Order Graphical Topology Analysis of Brain Functional Connectivity Networks Using fMRI. IEEE Trans Neural Syst Rehabil Eng 2025; 33:1611-1620. [PMID: 40279239 DOI: 10.1109/tnsre.2025.3564293] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/27/2025]
Abstract
The brain connectivity network can be represented as a graph to reveal its intrinsic topological properties. While classical graph theory provides a powerful framework for examining brain connectivity patterns, it often focuses on low-order graphical indicators and pays less attention to high-order topological metrics, which are crucial to the comprehensive understanding of brain topology. In this paper, we capture high-order topological features via a graphical topology analysis framework for brain connectivity networks derived from functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). Several high-order metrics are examined across varying sparsity levels of binary graphs to trace the evolution of brain networks. Topological phase transitions are primarily investigated that reflect brain criticality, and a novel indicator called "redundant energy" is proposed to measure the chaos level of the brain. Extensive experiments on diverse datasets from healthy controls validate the reproducibility and generalizability of our framework. The results demonstrate that around critical points, classical graph theoretical indicators change sharply, driven by crucial brain regions that have high node curvatures. Further investigations on fMRI of subjects with and without Parkinson's disease uncover significant alterations in high-order topological features which are further associated with the severity of the disease. This study provides a fresh perspective on studying topological architectures of the brain, with the potential to expand our comprehension on brain function in both healthy and diseased states.
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20
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Chen H, Cao Z, Zhang J, Li D, Wang Y, Xu C. Accelerometer-Measured Physical Activity and Neuroimaging-Driven Brain Age. HEALTH DATA SCIENCE 2025; 5:0257. [PMID: 40321644 PMCID: PMC12046135 DOI: 10.34133/hds.0257] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/03/2024] [Revised: 12/29/2024] [Accepted: 02/20/2025] [Indexed: 05/08/2025]
Abstract
Background: A neuroimaging-derived biomarker termed the brain age is considered to capture the degree and diversity in the aging process of the brain, serving as a robust indicator of overall brain health. The impact of different levels of physical activity (PA) intensities on brain age is still not fully understood. This study aimed to investigate the associations between accelerometer-measured PA and brain age. Methods: A total of 16,972 eligible participants with both valid T 1-weighted neuroimaging and accelerometer data from the UK Biobank was included. Brain age was estimated using an ensemble learning approach called Light Gradient-Boosting Machine (LightGBM). Over 1,400 image-derived phenotypes (IDPs) were initially chosen to undergo data-driven feature selection for brain age prediction. A measure of accelerated brain aging, the brain age gap (BAG) can be derived by subtracting the chronological age from the estimated brain age. A positive BAG indicates accelerated brain aging. PA was measured over a 7-day period using wrist-worn accelerometers, and time spent on light-intensity PA (LPA), moderate-intensity PA (MPA), vigorous-intensity PA (VPA), and moderate- to vigorous-intensity PA (MVPA) was extracted. The generalized additive model was applied to examine the nonlinear association between PA and BAG after adjusting for potential confounders. Results: The brain age estimated by LightGBM achieved an appreciable performance (r = 0.81, mean absolute error [MAE] = 3.65), which was further improved by age bias correction (r = 0.90, MAE = 3.03). We found that LPA (F = 2.47, P = 0.04), MPA (F = 6.49, P < 1 × 10-300), VPA (F = 4.92, P = 2.58 × 10-5), and MVPA (F = 6.45, P < 1 × 10-300) exhibited an approximate U-shaped relationship with BAG, demonstrating that both insufficient and excessive PA levels adversely impact brain aging. Furthermore, mediation analysis suggested that BAG partially mediated the associations between PA and cognitive functions as well as brain-related disorders. Conclusions: Our study revealed a U-shaped association between accelerometer-measured PA and BAG, highlighting that advanced brain health may be attainable through engaging in moderate amounts of objectively measured PA irrespectively of intensities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Han Chen
- School of Public Health,
Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Zhi Cao
- School of Public Health,
Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
- Department of Psychiatry, Sir Run Run Shaw Hospital,Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China
| | - Jing Zhang
- School of Public Health,
Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
| | - Dun Li
- School of Integrative Medicine, Public Health Science and Engineering College,
Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, China
| | - Yaogang Wang
- School of Integrative Medicine, Public Health Science and Engineering College,
Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin, China
- School of Public Health,
Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China
- National Institute of Health Data Science at Peking University,
Peking University, Beijing, China
| | - Chenjie Xu
- School of Public Health,
Hangzhou Normal University, Hangzhou, China
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21
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Maximov II, Westlye LT. Comparison of different neurite density metrics with brain asymmetry evaluation. Z Med Phys 2025; 35:177-192. [PMID: 37562999 DOI: 10.1016/j.zemedi.2023.07.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/23/2023] [Revised: 07/05/2023] [Accepted: 07/13/2023] [Indexed: 08/12/2023]
Abstract
The standard diffusion MRI model with intra- and extra-axonal water pools offers a set of microstructural parameters describing brain white matter architecture. However, non-linearities in the standard model and diffusion data contamination by noise and imaging artefacts make estimation of diffusion metrics challenging. In order to develop reliable diffusion approaches and to avoid computational model degeneracy, additional theoretical assumptions allowing stable numerical implementations are required. Advanced diffusion approaches allow for estimation of intra-axonal water fraction (AWF), describing a key structural characteristic of brain tissue. AWF can be interpreted as an indirect measure or proxy of neurite density and has a potential as useful clinical biomarker. Established diffusion approaches such as white matter tract integrity, neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging (NODDI), and spherical mean technique provide estimates of AWF within their respective theoretical frameworks. In the present study, we estimated AWF metrics using different diffusion approaches and compared measures of brain asymmetry between the different metrics in a sub-sample of 182 subjects from the UK Biobank. Multivariate decomposition by mean of linked independent component analysis revealed that the various AWF proxies derived from the different diffusion approaches reflect partly non-overlapping variance of independent components, with distinct anatomical distributions and sensitivity to age. Further, voxel-wise analysis revealed age-related differences in AWF-based brain asymmetry, indicating less apparent left-right hemisphere difference with higher age. Finally, we demonstrated that NODDI metrics suffer from a quite strong dependence on used numerical algorithms and post-processing pipeline. The analysis based on AWF metrics strongly depends on the used diffusion approach and leads to poorly reproducible results.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ivan I Maximov
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway; Norwegian Centre for Mental Disorders Research (NORMENT), Department of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway; Department of Health and Functioning, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Bergen, Norway.
| | - Lars T Westlye
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway; Norwegian Centre for Mental Disorders Research (NORMENT), Department of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway; KG Jensen Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
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22
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Yang S, Webb AJS. Reduced neurovascular coupling is associated with increased cardiovascular risk without established cerebrovascular disease: A cross-sectional analysis in UK Biobank. J Cereb Blood Flow Metab 2025; 45:897-907. [PMID: 39576882 PMCID: PMC11585009 DOI: 10.1177/0271678x241302172] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/13/2024] [Revised: 10/31/2024] [Accepted: 11/02/2024] [Indexed: 11/24/2024]
Abstract
Mid-life vascular risk factors predict late-life cerebrovascular diseases and poor global brain health. Although endothelial dysfunction is hypothesized to contribute to this process, evidence of impaired neurovascular function in early stages remains limited. In this cross-sectional study of 31,934 middle-aged individuals from UK Biobank without established cerebrovascular disease, the overall 10-year risk of cardiovascular events was associated with reduced neurovascular coupling (p < 2 × 10-16) during a visual task with functional MRI, including in participants with no clinically apparent brain injury on MRI. Diabetes, smoking, waist-hip ratio, and hypertension were each strongly associated with decreased neurovascular coupling with the strongest relationships for diabetes and smoking, whilst in older adults there was an inverted U-shaped relationship with DBP, peaking at 70-80 mmHg DBP. These findings indicate that mid-life vascular risk factors are associated with impaired cerebral endothelial-dependent neurovascular function in the absence of overt brain injury. Neurovascular dysfunction, measured by neurovascular coupling, may play a role in the development of late-life cerebrovascular disease, underscoring the need for further longitudinal studies to explore its potential as a mediator of long-term cerebrovascular risk.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sheng Yang
- Wolfson Centre for Prevention of Stroke and Dementia, Nuffield, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Alastair John Stewart Webb
- Wolfson Centre for Prevention of Stroke and Dementia, Nuffield, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Department of Brain Sciences, Hammersmith Hospital, Imperial College London, London, UK
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23
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Lin T, Barash JA, Wang S, Li F, Yang Z, Kofke WA, Sha F, Tang J. Regular use of opioids and dementia, cognitive measures, and neuroimaging outcomes among UK Biobank participants with chronic non-cancer pain. Alzheimers Dement 2025; 21:e70177. [PMID: 40390206 PMCID: PMC12089068 DOI: 10.1002/alz.70177] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2024] [Revised: 02/26/2025] [Accepted: 03/17/2025] [Indexed: 05/21/2025]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION We investigated the association between regular opioid use and incident dementia, neuroimaging outcomes, and cognitive measures. METHODS Cox regression was used to assess the association between opioid use and incident dementia among197,673 UK Biobank participants with chronic non-cancer pain. Linear and logistic regression were applied to explore the associations between opioid use and dementia-related neuroimaging and cognitive function outcomes. RESULTS Regular opioid use was associated with a 20% higher risk of all-cause dementia and a 49% higher risk of vascular dementia (VD) compared with those not using analgesics. Moreover, those using strong opioids had a 72% higher risk of all-cause dementia and a 155% higher risk of VD. Strong opioid use was also linked to reductions in hippocampal, white matter, and total brain volumes. Lastly, regular opioid use was associated with lower fluid intelligence. DISCUSSION A higher risk of dementia was observed among participants regularly using opioids, escalating with opioid strength. HIGHLIGHTS Regular opioid use was associated with an increased risk of all-cause dementia and VD. Those using strong opioids had a much higher risk of all-cause dementia and VD. Strong opioid use was also associated with worse neuroimaging outcomes. Regular opioid use was also associated with lower fluid intelligence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Tengfei Lin
- Shenzhen Institute of Advanced TechnologyChinese Academy of SciencesShenzhenGuangdong ProvinceChina
| | - Jed A. Barash
- Department of MedicineVeterans HomeChelseaMassachusettsUSA
| | - Shiyu Wang
- Shenzhen Institute of Advanced TechnologyChinese Academy of SciencesShenzhenGuangdong ProvinceChina
| | - Fuxiao Li
- Department of Computational Biology and Medical Big DataShenzhen University of Advanced TechnologyShenzhenGuangdong ProvinceChina
| | - Zhirong Yang
- Shenzhen Institute of Advanced TechnologyChinese Academy of SciencesShenzhenGuangdong ProvinceChina
- Department of Computational Biology and Medical Big DataShenzhen University of Advanced TechnologyShenzhenGuangdong ProvinceChina
| | - W. Andrew Kofke
- Department of Anesthesiology and Critical CareUniversity of PennsylvaniaPhiladelphiaPennsylvaniaUSA
| | - Feng Sha
- Shenzhen Institute of Advanced TechnologyChinese Academy of SciencesShenzhenGuangdong ProvinceChina
- Department of Computational Biology and Medical Big DataShenzhen University of Advanced TechnologyShenzhenGuangdong ProvinceChina
| | - Jinling Tang
- Shenzhen Institute of Advanced TechnologyChinese Academy of SciencesShenzhenGuangdong ProvinceChina
- Department of Computational Biology and Medical Big DataShenzhen University of Advanced TechnologyShenzhenGuangdong ProvinceChina
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24
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Qiu SD, Zhang DD, Ma LY, Li QY, Wang LY, Wang YD, Wang YC, Xiong SY, Tan L. Associations of metabolic syndrome with risks of dementia and cognitive impairment: A systematic review and meta-analysis. J Alzheimers Dis 2025; 105:15-27. [PMID: 40111916 DOI: 10.1177/13872877251326553] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/22/2025]
Abstract
BackgroundPrevious studies have linked metabolic syndrome (MetS) to dementia risk.ObjectiveWe conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the association between MetS and dementia as well as cognitive impairment, with additional focus on individual MetS components.MethodsWe systematically searched the PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane Library databases from inception through July 2024. We used random-effects models to calculate relative risks (RRs) and odds ratios (ORs) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Publication bias was evaluated using the Egger's test, while potential sources of heterogeneity were investigated through meta-regression, subgroup, and sensitivity analyses.ResultsOur analysis included 21 studies with a total of 411,810 participants. MetS was associated with increased risks of all-cause dementia (RR = 1.33, 95% CI = 1.03-1.71, I² = 85.8%) and vascular dementia (RR = 2.07, 95% CI = 1.32-3.24, I² = 10.1%), but not Alzheimer's disease (RR = 1.10, 95% CI = 0.64-1.91, I² = 81.8%). Regarding cognitive impairment, longitudinal studies showed an increased risk (OR = 1.38, 95% CI = 1.24-1.53, I² = 3.3%), with similar findings in cross-sectional studies (OR = 1.65, 95% CI = 1.19-2.28, I² = 85.3%).ConclusionsThis study found that MetS is significantly associated with increased risks of dementia and cognitive impairment, with each component potentially being a modifiable factor. These findings may help guide clinicians in recommending lifestyle interventions to prevent cognitive decline and promote brain health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shu-Dong Qiu
- Department of Neurology, Qingdao Municipal Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
| | - Dan-Dan Zhang
- Department of Neurology, Qingdao Municipal Hospital, Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, China
| | - Li-Yun Ma
- Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China
| | - Qiong-Yao Li
- Department of Neurology, Qingdao Municipal Hospital, Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, China
| | - Lan-Yang Wang
- Department of Neurology, Qingdao Municipal Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
| | - Yu-Dong Wang
- School of Clinical Medicine, Shandong Second Medical University, Weifang, Shandong, China
| | - Yong-Chang Wang
- Department of Neurology, Qingdao Municipal Hospital, Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, China
| | - Shi-Yin Xiong
- Department of Neurology, Qingdao Municipal Hospital, Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, China
| | - Lan Tan
- Department of Neurology, Qingdao Municipal Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China
- Department of Neurology, Qingdao Municipal Hospital, Qingdao University, Qingdao, Shandong, China
- Department of Neurology and Psychiatry, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, Hubei, China
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25
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Koch A, Stirnberg R, Estrada S, Zeng W, Lohner V, Shahid M, Ehses P, Pracht ED, Reuter M, Stöcker T, Breteler MMB. Versatile MRI acquisition and processing protocol for population-based neuroimaging. Nat Protoc 2025; 20:1223-1245. [PMID: 39672917 DOI: 10.1038/s41596-024-01085-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/05/2024] [Accepted: 10/04/2024] [Indexed: 12/15/2024]
Abstract
Neuroimaging has an essential role in studies of brain health and of cerebrovascular and neurodegenerative diseases, requiring the availability of versatile magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) acquisition and processing protocols. We designed and developed a multipurpose high-resolution MRI protocol for large-scale and long-term population neuroimaging studies that includes structural, diffusion-weighted and functional MRI modalities. This modular protocol takes almost 1 h of scan time and is, apart from a concluding abdominal scan, entirely dedicated to the brain. The protocol links the acquisition of an extensive set of MRI contrasts directly to the corresponding fully automated data processing pipelines and to the required quality assurance of the MRI data and of the image-derived phenotypes. Since its successful implementation in the population-based Rhineland Study (ongoing, currently more than 11,000 participants, target participant number of 20,000), the proposed MRI protocol has proved suitable for epidemiological and clinical cross-sectional and longitudinal studies, including multisite studies. The approach requires expertise in magnetic resonance image acquisition, in computer science for the data management and the execution of processing pipelines, and in brain anatomy for the quality assessment of the MRI data. The protocol takes ~1 h of MRI acquisition and ~20 h of data processing to complete for a single dataset, but parallelization over multiple datasets using high-performance computing resources reduces the processing time. By making the protocol, MRI sequences and pipelines available, we aim to contribute to better comparability, interoperability and reusability of large-scale neuroimaging data.
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Affiliation(s)
- Alexandra Koch
- Population Health Sciences, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany
| | - Rüdiger Stirnberg
- MR Physics, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany
| | - Santiago Estrada
- Population Health Sciences, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany
- AI in Medical Imaging, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany
| | - Weiyi Zeng
- Population Health Sciences, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany
| | - Valerie Lohner
- Population Health Sciences, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany
| | - Mohammad Shahid
- Population Health Sciences, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany
| | - Philipp Ehses
- MR Physics, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany
| | - Eberhard D Pracht
- MR Physics, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany
| | - Martin Reuter
- AI in Medical Imaging, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany.
- A.A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA.
- Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA.
| | - Tony Stöcker
- MR Physics, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany.
- Department for Physics and Astronomy, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
| | - Monique M B Breteler
- Population Health Sciences, German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE), Bonn, Germany.
- Institute for Medical Biometry, Informatics and Epidemiology (IMBIE), Faculty of Medicine, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
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26
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Del Mauro G, Li Y, Yu J, Kochunov P, Sevel LS, Boissoneault J, Chen S, Wang Z. Chronic pain is associated with greater brain entropy in the prefrontal cortex. THE JOURNAL OF PAIN 2025; 32:105421. [PMID: 40316037 DOI: 10.1016/j.jpain.2025.105421] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/31/2025] [Revised: 04/17/2025] [Accepted: 04/28/2025] [Indexed: 05/04/2025]
Abstract
Chronic pain is a debilitating clinical condition and a severe public health issue that demands to be addressed. Neuroimaging-based techniques have been widely adopted to investigate the neural underpinnings of chronic pain. Despite the efforts the complex nature of pain experience as well as the heterogeneity of chronic pain have made the identification of neuroimaging-based biomarkers extremely challenging. In this study, resting-state fMRI-based brain entropy, a measure reflecting the "irregularity" of brain activity, was adopted as a biomarker of chronic pain by comparing individuals with chronic pain and healthy controls in a sample of middle-to-old-age participants (n > 30,000) drawn from the UK Biobank database. Abnormal brain entropy is associated with altered brain dynamics and may serve as a potential marker of disrupted pain processing in individuals with chronic pain. Compared to healthy controls, individuals with chronic pain exhibited increased brain entropy in a broad set of regions including the frontal, temporal, and occipital lobes, as well as the cerebellum. In addition, individuals with a more distributed chronic pain showed increased brain entropy in occipital lobes. When examining distinct types of chronic pain individually, only participants with headache and pain all over the body showed brain entropy differences compared to a matched sample of healthy controls. PERSPECTIVE: This article investigates the neural substrates of chronic pain using brain entropy, a measure of the randomness and irregularity of brain activity. This measure could potentially aid in the assessment and treatment of chronic pain.
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Affiliation(s)
- Gianpaolo Del Mauro
- Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
| | - Yiran Li
- Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Jiaao Yu
- Department of Mathematics, University of Maryland College Park, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Peter Kochunov
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, TX, USA
| | | | - Jeff Boissoneault
- Department of Anesthesiology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Shuo Chen
- Division of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Department of Public Health and Epidemiology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Ze Wang
- Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
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27
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Pan Y, Bi C, Ye Z, Lee H, Yu J, Yammine L, Ma T, Kochunov P, Hong LE, Chen S. Tobacco Smoking Functional Networks: A Whole-Brain Connectome Analysis in 24 539 Individuals. Nicotine Tob Res 2025; 27:917-925. [PMID: 39468718 DOI: 10.1093/ntr/ntae256] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/19/2024] [Revised: 09/04/2024] [Accepted: 10/22/2024] [Indexed: 10/30/2024]
Abstract
INTRODUCTION Nicotine addiction, a multifaceted neuropsychiatric disorder, profoundly impacts brain functions through interactions with neural pathways. Despite its significance, the impact of tobacco smoking on the whole-brain functional connectome remains largely unexplored. AIMS AND METHODS We conducted a whole-brain analysis on 24 539 adults aged 40 and above from the United Kingdom Biobank cohort. Subjects were categorized into individuals who use nicotine and those who do not use nicotine based on current and chronic tobacco smoking information. Functional connectivity was assessed using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. We employed a network analysis method to assess the systematic effects of tobacco smoking on brain connectome by identifying subnetworks that show nicotine-use-related differences. RESULTS Our analyses revealed two nicotine-use-related subnetworks with distinct network structure (permutation p < .001). In the first network, there is a significant decrease in resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) between the basal ganglia regions (eg, nucleus accumbens) and 73% of the remaining brain regions, emphasizing the central hub role of basal ganglia in addictive smoking behaviors. Additionally, a data-driven subnetwork, mainly involving regions from frontal and occipital lobes, showed reduced rsFC among individuals who use nicotine. CONCLUSIONS The results suggest significant alterations in the communication and coordination among the basal ganglia and the broader network of brain regions. The observed changes in rsFC indicate a widespread disruption in the connectivity patterns associated with nicotine use. IMPLICATIONS This study identifies rsFC subnetworks related to chronic nicotine use through whole-brain connectome analysis. The findings confirm that widespread alterations in rsFC are centered around hub nodes within the basal ganglia, including bilateral nucleus accumbens, putamen, caudate, and globus pallidus. In addition, our analysis found a clique-forming subnetwork vulnerable to tobacco smoking consisting of regions from the visual, dorsal/ventral attention, and frontoparietal networks.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yezhi Pan
- Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Institute for Health Computing, University of Maryland, North Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Chuan Bi
- Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Zhenyao Ye
- Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Division of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, School of Medicine, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Hwiyoung Lee
- Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA
| | - Jiaao Yu
- Department of Mathematics, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
| | - Luba Yammine
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, University of Texas Health Science Center Houston, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Tianzhou Ma
- Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA
| | - Peter Kochunov
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, University of Texas Health Science Center Houston, Houston, TX, USA
| | - L Elliot Hong
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, University of Texas Health Science Center Houston, Houston, TX, USA
| | - Shuo Chen
- Maryland Psychiatric Research Center, Department of Psychiatry, School of Medicine, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA
- Institute for Health Computing, University of Maryland, North Bethesda, MD, USA
- Division of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, School of Medicine, University of Maryland, Baltimore, MD, USA
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28
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Manzano-Patrón JP, Deistler M, Schröder C, Kypraios T, Gonçalves PJ, Macke JH, Sotiropoulos SN. Uncertainty mapping and probabilistic tractography using Simulation-based Inference in diffusion MRI: A comparison with classical Bayes. Med Image Anal 2025; 103:103580. [PMID: 40311303 DOI: 10.1016/j.media.2025.103580] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/18/2024] [Revised: 02/27/2025] [Accepted: 04/01/2025] [Indexed: 05/03/2025]
Abstract
Simulation-Based Inference (SBI) has recently emerged as a powerful framework for Bayesian inference: Neural networks are trained on simulations from a forward model, and learn to rapidly estimate posterior distributions. We here present an SBI framework for parametric spherical deconvolution of diffusion MRI data of the brain. We demonstrate its utility for estimating white matter fibre orientations, mapping uncertainty of voxel-based estimates and performing probabilistic tractography by spatially propagating fibre orientation uncertainty. We conduct an extensive comparison against established Bayesian methods based on Markov-Chain Monte-Carlo (MCMC) and find that: a) in-silico training can lead to calibrated SBI networks with accurate parameter estimates and uncertainty mapping for both single- and multi-shell diffusion MRI, b) SBI allows amortised inference of the posterior distribution of model parameters given unseen observations, which is orders of magnitude faster than MCMC, c) SBI-based tractography yields reconstructions that have a high level of agreement with their MCMC-based counterparts, equal to or higher than scan-rescan reproducibility of estimates. We further demonstrate how SBI design considerations (such as dealing with noise, defining priors and handling model selection) can affect performance, allowing us to identify optimal practices. Taken together, our results show that SBI provides a powerful alternative to classical Bayesian inference approaches for fast and accurate model estimation and uncertainty mapping in MRI.
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Affiliation(s)
- J P Manzano-Patrón
- Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, UK.
| | - Michael Deistler
- Machine Learning in Science, Excellence Cluster Machine Learning, University of Tübingen & Tübingen AI Center, Germany
| | - Cornelius Schröder
- Machine Learning in Science, Excellence Cluster Machine Learning, University of Tübingen & Tübingen AI Center, Germany
| | | | - Pedro J Gonçalves
- VIB-Neuroelectronics Research Flanders (NERF), Belgium; Department of Computer Science and Department of Electrical Engineering, KU Leuven, Belgium
| | - Jakob H Macke
- Machine Learning in Science, Excellence Cluster Machine Learning, University of Tübingen & Tübingen AI Center, Germany; Department Empirical Inference, Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Tübingen, Germany
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29
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Zhou L, Saltoun K, Carrier J, Storch KF, Dunbar RIM, Bzdok D. Multimodal population study reveals the neurobiological underpinnings of chronotype. Nat Hum Behav 2025:10.1038/s41562-025-02182-w. [PMID: 40246996 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-025-02182-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/13/2024] [Accepted: 03/14/2025] [Indexed: 04/19/2025]
Abstract
The rapid shifts in society have altered human behavioural patterns, with increased evening activities, increased screen time and changed sleep schedules. As an explicit manifestation of circadian rhythms, chronotype is closely intertwined with physical and mental health. Night owls often exhibit unhealthier lifestyle habits, are more susceptible to mood disorders and have poorer physical fitness compared with early risers. Although individual differences in chronotype yield varying consequences, their neurobiological underpinnings remain elusive. Here we conducted a pattern-learning analysis with three brain-imaging modalities (grey matter volume, white-matter integrity and functional connectivity) and capitalized on 976 phenotypes in 27,030 UK Biobank participants. The resulting multilevel analysis reveals convergence on the basal ganglia, limbic system, hippocampus and cerebellum. The pattern derived from modelling actigraphy wearables data of daily movement further highlighted these key brain features. Overall, our population-level study comprehensively investigates chronotype, emphasizing its close connections with habit formation, reward processing and emotional regulation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Le Zhou
- TheNeuro - Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI), Department of Biomedical Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Mila - Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Karin Saltoun
- TheNeuro - Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI), Department of Biomedical Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Mila - Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Julie Carrier
- Department of Psychology, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Center for Advanced Research in Sleep Medicine, Research center of the Centre intégré universitaire de santé et de services sociaux du Nord de l'Île-de-Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Kai-Florian Storch
- Department of Psychiatry, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- Douglas Mental Health University Institute, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Robin I M Dunbar
- Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Danilo Bzdok
- TheNeuro - Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI), Department of Biomedical Engineering, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
- Mila - Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute, Montreal, Quebec, Canada.
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30
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Korbmacher M, Tranfa M, Pontillo G, van der Meer D, Wang MY, Andreassen OA, Westlye LT, Maximov II. White matter microstructure links with brain, bodily and genetic attributes in adolescence, mid- and late life. Neuroimage 2025; 310:121132. [PMID: 40096952 DOI: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121132] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/27/2024] [Revised: 03/02/2025] [Accepted: 03/07/2025] [Indexed: 03/19/2025] Open
Abstract
Advanced diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) allows one to probe and assess brain white matter (WM) organisation and microstructure in vivo. Various dMRI models with different theoretical and practical assumptions have been developed, representing partly overlapping characteristics of the underlying brain biology with potentially complementary value in the cognitive and clinical neurosciences. To which degree the different dMRI metrics relate to clinically relevant geno- and phenotypes is still debated. Hence, we investigate how tract-based and whole WM skeleton parameters from different dMRI approaches associate with clinically relevant and white matter-related phenotypes (sex, age, pulse pressure (PP), body-mass-index (BMI), brain asymmetry) and genetic markers in the UK Biobank (UKB, n=52,140) and the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study (n=5,844). In general, none of the imaging approaches could explain all examined phenotypes, though the approaches were overall similar in explaining variability of the examined phenotypes. Nevertheless, particular diffusion parameters of the used dMRI approaches stood out in explaining some important phenotypes known to correlate with general human health outcomes. A multi-compartment Bayesian dMRI approach provided the strongest WM associations with age, and together with diffusion tensor imaging, the largest accuracy for sex-classifications. We find a similar pattern of metric and tract-dependent asymmetries across datasets, with stronger asymmetries in ABCD data. The magnitude of WM associations with polygenic scores as well as PP depended more on the sample, and likely age, than dMRI metrics. However, kurtosis was most indicative of BMI and potentially of bipolar disorder polygenic scores. We conclude that WM microstructure is differentially associated with clinically relevant pheno- and genotypes at different points in life.
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Affiliation(s)
- Max Korbmacher
- Neuro-SysMed Center of Excellence for Clinical Research in Neurological Diseases, Department of Neurology, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway; Mohn Medical Imaging and Visualization Centre (MMIV),Department of Radiology, Haukeland University Hospital, Bergen, Norway; Department of Health and Functioning, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Bergen, Norway.
| | - Mario Tranfa
- Department of Advanced Biomedical Sciences, University "Federico II", Naples, Italy; Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam,Amsterdam UMC location VUMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Giuseppe Pontillo
- Department of Advanced Biomedical Sciences, University "Federico II", Naples, Italy; Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam,Amsterdam UMC location VUMC, Amsterdam, The Netherlands; Department of Brain Repair & Rehabilitation, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology,University College London, London, United Kingdom
| | - Dennis van der Meer
- Center for Precision Psychiatry, University of Oslo and Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Meng-Yun Wang
- Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics, Nijmegen, Netherlands
| | - Ole A Andreassen
- Center for Precision Psychiatry, University of Oslo and Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway
| | - Lars T Westlye
- Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway; KG Jebsen Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Ivan I Maximov
- Department of Health and Functioning, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences, Bergen, Norway
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31
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Ghiyamihoor F, Peymani P, Perron J, Asemi‐Rad A, Marzban M, Mohite A, Ardila K, Aljada B, Marzban A, Toback M, Eltonsy S, Ko JH, Siddiqui TJ, Steele CJ, Kong J, Manto M, MacDonald ME, Gill JS, Sillitoe RV, Balcı F, Beheshti I, Marzban H. Volumetric Changes in Cerebellar Transverse Zones: Age and Sex Effects in Health and Neurological Disorders. Hum Brain Mapp 2025; 46:e70214. [PMID: 40241499 PMCID: PMC12003958 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.70214] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2025] [Revised: 03/05/2025] [Accepted: 04/02/2025] [Indexed: 04/18/2025] Open
Abstract
Cerebellar volumetric changes are intricately linked to aging, with distinct patterns across its transverse zones, the functional subdivisions characterized by unique cytoarchitectural and connectivity profiles. Despite research efforts, the cerebellar aging process in health and neurological disorders remains poorly understood. In this study, we investigated the effects of age and sex on total cerebellum, transverse zone, and lobule volumes using MRI data from over 45,000 participants compiled from six neuroimaging datasets. We also propose a framework for estimating cerebellum age as an indicator of cerebellar health. Significant age-dependent volume reductions were observed across transverse zones, with the central zone (CZ; lobules VI and VII) exhibiting the steepest decline in both health and neurological disorders. This finding highlights the CZ's vulnerability to aging and its critical role in cognitive and emotional processing. We also found prominent sex differences in age-dependent volumetric changes. Males exhibited smaller total intracranial volume (TIV)-adjusted cerebellum volume and faster age-dependent volume reduction than females in both health and mild cognitive impairment (MCI), Alzheimer disease (AD), and Parkinson disease (PD). In contrast, females with schizophrenia (SZ) and cocaine use disorder (CUD) revealed faster age-dependent cerebellar volume reduction than males. Patients with MCI, AD, and PD experienced more pronounced atrophy in the posterior (PZ) and nodular (NZ) zones compared to age-matched healthy controls, while SZ patients were characterized by a more prominent reduction in CZ. In CUD, a non-significant volume decline was observed in all zones compared to the controls. Moreover, our framework for estimating cerebellum age revealed a notable difference in cerebellar aging between healthy individuals and neurological patients. Finally, we charted age-dependent changes in cerebellar volume in healthy individuals, focusing on transverse zones capturing the functional subdivisions. These findings underscore the potential of cerebellar volumetric analysis as a biomarker for early detection and monitoring of neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric disorders. Our novel approach complements and enhances MRI-based analyses, providing essential insights into the pathogenesis of aging, neurodegeneration, and chronic neuropsychiatric conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Farshid Ghiyamihoor
- Department of Human Anatomy and Cell Science, Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health SciencesUniversity of ManitobaWinnipegManitobaCanada
- The Children's Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba (CHRIM), Rady Faculty of Health ScienceUniversity of ManitobaWinnipegManitobaCanada
| | - Payam Peymani
- College of Pharmacy, Rady Faculty of Health SciencesUniversity of ManitobaWinnipegManitobaCanada
| | - Jarrad Perron
- Graduate Program in Biomedical Engineering, Price Faculty of EngineeringUniversity of ManitobaWinnipegManitobaCanada
| | - Azam Asemi‐Rad
- Department of Human Anatomy and Cell Science, Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health SciencesUniversity of ManitobaWinnipegManitobaCanada
- The Children's Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba (CHRIM), Rady Faculty of Health ScienceUniversity of ManitobaWinnipegManitobaCanada
| | - Mehdi Marzban
- Department of Electrical & Software Engineering, Schulich School of EngineeringUniversity of CalgaryCalgaryAlbertaCanada
| | - Aashka Mohite
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Schulich School of EngineeringUniversity of CalgaryCalgaryAlbertaCanada
- Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Cumming School of MedicineUniversity of CalgaryCalgaryAlbertaCanada
| | - Karen Ardila
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Schulich School of EngineeringUniversity of CalgaryCalgaryAlbertaCanada
- Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Cumming School of MedicineUniversity of CalgaryCalgaryAlbertaCanada
| | - Bara Aljada
- Department of Human Anatomy and Cell Science, Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health SciencesUniversity of ManitobaWinnipegManitobaCanada
| | - Asghar Marzban
- Department of Pediatrics, School of MedicineZanjan University of Medical SciencesZanjanIran
| | - Mehnosh Toback
- Department of Human Anatomy and Cell Science, Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health SciencesUniversity of ManitobaWinnipegManitobaCanada
| | - Sherif Eltonsy
- The Children's Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba (CHRIM), Rady Faculty of Health ScienceUniversity of ManitobaWinnipegManitobaCanada
- College of Pharmacy, Rady Faculty of Health SciencesUniversity of ManitobaWinnipegManitobaCanada
| | - Ji Hyun Ko
- Department of Human Anatomy and Cell Science, Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health SciencesUniversity of ManitobaWinnipegManitobaCanada
- Graduate Program in Biomedical Engineering, Price Faculty of EngineeringUniversity of ManitobaWinnipegManitobaCanada
| | - Tabrez J. Siddiqui
- The Children's Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba (CHRIM), Rady Faculty of Health ScienceUniversity of ManitobaWinnipegManitobaCanada
- Graduate Program in Biomedical Engineering, Price Faculty of EngineeringUniversity of ManitobaWinnipegManitobaCanada
- Department of Physiology and Pathophysiology, Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health ScienceUniversity of ManitobaWinnipegManitobaCanada
| | - Christopher J. Steele
- Department of Psychology and School of HealthConcordia UniversityMontrealQuebecCanada
- Department of NeurologyMax Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain SciencesLeipzigGermany
| | - Jiming Kong
- Department of Human Anatomy and Cell Science, Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health SciencesUniversity of ManitobaWinnipegManitobaCanada
| | - Mario Manto
- Service des NeurosciencesUniversité de MonsMonsBelgium
| | - M. Ethan MacDonald
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Schulich School of EngineeringUniversity of CalgaryCalgaryAlbertaCanada
- Hotchkiss Brain Institute, Cumming School of MedicineUniversity of CalgaryCalgaryAlbertaCanada
| | - Jason S. Gill
- Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children's HospitalHoustonTexasUSA
- Department of Pediatrics, Division of Neurology and Developmental NeuroscienceBaylor College of MedicineHoustonTexasUSA
| | - Roy V. Sillitoe
- Department of Pathology & ImmunologyBaylor College of MedicineHoustonTexasUSA
- Department of NeuroscienceBaylor College of MedicineHoustonTexasUSA
| | - Fuat Balcı
- The Children's Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba (CHRIM), Rady Faculty of Health ScienceUniversity of ManitobaWinnipegManitobaCanada
- Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of ScienceUniversity of ManitobaWinnipegManitobaCanada
| | - Iman Beheshti
- Department of Human Anatomy and Cell Science, Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health SciencesUniversity of ManitobaWinnipegManitobaCanada
| | - Hassan Marzban
- Department of Human Anatomy and Cell Science, Max Rady College of Medicine, Rady Faculty of Health SciencesUniversity of ManitobaWinnipegManitobaCanada
- The Children's Hospital Research Institute of Manitoba (CHRIM), Rady Faculty of Health ScienceUniversity of ManitobaWinnipegManitobaCanada
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32
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Korbmacher M, Vidal‐Pineiro D, Wang M, van der Meer D, Wolfers T, Nakua H, Eikefjord E, Andreassen OA, Westlye LT, Maximov II. Cross-Sectional Brain Age Assessments Are Limited in Predicting Future Brain Change. Hum Brain Mapp 2025; 46:e70203. [PMID: 40235434 PMCID: PMC12000824 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.70203] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/19/2024] [Revised: 03/05/2025] [Accepted: 03/17/2025] [Indexed: 04/17/2025] Open
Abstract
The concept of brain age (BA) describes an integrative imaging marker of brain health, often suggested to reflect aging processes. However, the degree to which cross-sectional MRI features, including BA, reflect past, ongoing, and future brain changes across different tissue types from macro- to microstructure remains controversial. Here, we use multimodal imaging data of 39,325 UK Biobank participants, aged 44-82 years at baseline and 2,520 follow-ups within 1.12-6.90 years to examine BA changes and their relationship to anatomical brain changes. We find insufficient evidence to conclude that BA reflects the rate of brain aging. However, modality-specific differences in brain ages reflect the state of the brain, highlighting diffusion and multimodal MRI brain age as potentially useful cross-sectional markers.
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Affiliation(s)
- Max Korbmacher
- Department of Health and FunctioningWestern Norway University of Applied SciencesBergenNorway
- Department of NeurologyNeuro‐SysMed Center of Excellence for Clinical Research in Neurological Diseases, Haukeland University HospitalBergenNorway
- Mohn Medical Imaging and Visualization Centre (MMIV)BergenNorway
| | - Didac Vidal‐Pineiro
- Center for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition, Department of PsychologyUniversity of OsloOsloNorway
| | - Meng‐Yun Wang
- Max Planck Institute for PsycholinguisticsNijmegenthe Netherlands
| | - Dennis van der Meer
- Centre for Precision Psychiatry, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital & Institute of Clinical MedicineUniversity of OsloOsloNorway
| | - Thomas Wolfers
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Tübingen Center for Mental HealthUniversity of TübingenTübingenGermany
| | - Hajer Nakua
- Columbia University Irving Medical CentreColumbia UniversityNew York CityUSA
| | - Eli Eikefjord
- Department of Health and FunctioningWestern Norway University of Applied SciencesBergenNorway
- Department of NeurologyNeuro‐SysMed Center of Excellence for Clinical Research in Neurological Diseases, Haukeland University HospitalBergenNorway
| | - Ole A. Andreassen
- Centre for Precision Psychiatry, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital & Institute of Clinical MedicineUniversity of OsloOsloNorway
- KG Jebsen Centre for Neurodevelopmental DisordersUniversity of OsloOsloNorway
| | - Lars T. Westlye
- Centre for Precision Psychiatry, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital & Institute of Clinical MedicineUniversity of OsloOsloNorway
- KG Jebsen Centre for Neurodevelopmental DisordersUniversity of OsloOsloNorway
- Department of PsychologyUniversity of OsloOsloNorway
| | - Ivan I. Maximov
- Department of Health and FunctioningWestern Norway University of Applied SciencesBergenNorway
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33
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Bao J, Wen J, Chang C, Mu S, Chen J, Shivakumar M, Cui Y, Erus G, Yang Z, Yang S, Wen Z, Zhao Y, Kim D, Duong-Tran D, Saykin AJ, Zhao B, Davatzikos C, Long Q, Shen L. A genetically informed brain atlas for enhancing brain imaging genomics. Nat Commun 2025; 16:3524. [PMID: 40229250 PMCID: PMC11997130 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-57636-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/14/2024] [Accepted: 02/24/2025] [Indexed: 04/16/2025] Open
Abstract
Brain imaging genomics has manifested considerable potential in illuminating the genetic determinants of human brain structure and function. This has propelled us to develop the GIANT (Genetically Informed brAiN aTlas) that accounts for genetic and neuroanatomical variations simultaneously. Integrating voxel-wise heritability and spatial proximity, GIANT clusters brain voxels into genetically informed regions, while retaining fundamental anatomical knowledge. Compared to conventional (non-genetics) brain atlases, GIANT exhibits smaller intra-region variations and larger inter-region variations in terms of voxel-wise heritability. As a result, GIANT yields increased regional SNP heritability, enhanced polygenicity, and its polygenic risk score explains more brain volumetric variation than traditional neuroanatomical brain atlases. We provide extensive validation to GIANT and demonstrate its neuroanatomical validity, confirming its generalizability across populations with diverse genetic ancestries and various brain conditions. Furthermore, we present a comprehensive genetic architecture of the GIANT regions, covering their functional annotation at the molecular levels, their associations with other complex traits/diseases, and the genetic and phenotypic correlations among GIANT-defined imaging endophenotypes. In summary, GIANT constitutes a brain atlas that captures the complexity of genetic and neuroanatomical heterogeneity, thereby enhancing the discovery power and applicability of imaging genomics investigations in biomedical science.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jingxuan Bao
- Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Graduate Group in Genomics and Computational Biology, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Junhao Wen
- Laboratory of AI and Biomedical Science (LABS), Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
- Center for Innovation in Imaging Biomarkers and Integrated Diagnostics (CIMBID), Department of Radiology, Columbia University, New York, NY, USA
- New York Genome Center (NYGC), New York, NY, USA
| | - Changgee Chang
- Department of Biostatistics and Health Data Science, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA
| | - Shizhuo Mu
- Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Jiong Chen
- Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Graduate Group in Bioengineering, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Manu Shivakumar
- Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Graduate Group in Genomics and Computational Biology, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Yuhan Cui
- Center for Biomedical Image Computing and Analytics (CBICA), University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Guray Erus
- Center for Biomedical Image Computing and Analytics (CBICA), University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Zhijian Yang
- Center for Biomedical Image Computing and Analytics (CBICA), University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Graduate Group in Applied Mathematics and Computational Science, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Shu Yang
- Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Zixuan Wen
- Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Graduate Group in Applied Mathematics and Computational Science, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Yize Zhao
- Department of Biostatistics, Yale University School of Public Health, New Haven, CT, USA
| | - Dokyoon Kim
- Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Duy Duong-Tran
- Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Department of Mathematics, United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD, USA
| | - Andrew J Saykin
- Department of Radiology and Imaging Sciences, Indiana University, Indianapolis, IN, USA
| | - Bingxin Zhao
- Department of Statistics and Data Science, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Christos Davatzikos
- Center for AI and Data Science for Integrated Diagnostics (AI2D), Department of Radiology, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA
| | - Qi Long
- Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
| | - Li Shen
- Department of Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
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Warrington S, Torchi A, Mougin O, Campbell J, Ntata A, Craig M, Assimopoulos S, Alfaro-Almagro F, Miller KL, Jenkinson M, Morgan PS, Sotiropoulos SN. A multi-site, multi-modal travelling-heads resource for brain MRI harmonisation. Sci Data 2025; 12:609. [PMID: 40216796 PMCID: PMC11992253 DOI: 10.1038/s41597-025-04822-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/13/2024] [Accepted: 03/13/2025] [Indexed: 04/14/2025] Open
Abstract
Despite its great potential for studying the living brain, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can be often limited by nuisance non-biological factors, such as hardware/software differences between scanners, which can interfere with biological variability. This lack of standardisation or harmonisation between scanners hinders reproducibility and quantifiability of MRI. Towards addressing this challenge, we present one of the most comprehensive MRI harmonisation resources, based on a travelling heads paradigm; healthy volunteers scanned repeatedly across different scanners. The Oxford-Nottingham Harmonisation (ON-Harmony) resource offers data from 20 participants each scanned on six different 3 T MRI scanners from three major vendors (GE/Philips/Siemens) across five imaging sites. Each scanning session includes five imaging modalities (T1w/T2w/dMRI/rfMRI/SWI) with protocols aligned to the UK Biobank, while for about half of the participants five within-scanner repeats are additionally acquired. The 165 multi-modal scanning sessions allow mapping of different pools of variability (biological, between-scanner, within-scanner) for hundreds of MRI-derived measures. We describe the breadth of information contained in the publicly-available data and showcase their reuse potential for evaluating efficacy of harmonisation approaches.
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Affiliation(s)
- Shaun Warrington
- Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre, Mental Health and Clinical Neurosciences, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
| | - Andrea Torchi
- Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre, Mental Health and Clinical Neurosciences, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
| | - Olivier Mougin
- Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre, School of Physics, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
| | - Jon Campbell
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, FMRIB Centre, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Asante Ntata
- Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre, Mental Health and Clinical Neurosciences, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
- National Physical Laboratory, Teddington, Middlesex, UK
| | - Martin Craig
- Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre, Mental Health and Clinical Neurosciences, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
| | - Stephania Assimopoulos
- Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre, Mental Health and Clinical Neurosciences, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
| | - Fidel Alfaro-Almagro
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, FMRIB Centre, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Karla L Miller
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, FMRIB Centre, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
| | - Mark Jenkinson
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, FMRIB Centre, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
- Australian Institute for Machine Learning (AIML), School of Computer and Mathematical Sciences, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia
- South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI), Adelaide, Australia
| | - Paul S Morgan
- Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre, Mental Health and Clinical Neurosciences, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK
- Nottingham NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham, UK
| | - Stamatios N Sotiropoulos
- Sir Peter Mansfield Imaging Centre, Mental Health and Clinical Neurosciences, School of Medicine, University of Nottingham, Nottingham, UK.
- Nottingham NIHR Biomedical Research Centre, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Queen's Medical Centre, Nottingham, UK.
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35
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Krimmel SR, Laumann TO, Chauvin RJ, Hershey T, Roland JL, Shimony JS, Willie JT, Norris SA, Marek S, N Van A, Wang A, Monk J, Scheidter KM, Whiting FI, Ramirez-Perez N, Metoki A, Baden NJ, Kay BP, Siegel JS, Nahman-Averbuch H, Snyder AZ, Fair DA, Lynch CJ, Raichle ME, Gordon EM, Dosenbach NUF. The human brainstem's red nucleus was upgraded to support goal-directed action. Nat Commun 2025; 16:3398. [PMID: 40210909 PMCID: PMC11986128 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-58172-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/16/2024] [Accepted: 03/13/2025] [Indexed: 04/12/2025] Open
Abstract
The red nucleus, a large brainstem structure, coordinates limb movement for locomotion in quadrupedal animals. In humans, its pattern of anatomical connectivity differs from that of quadrupeds, suggesting a different purpose. Here, we apply our most advanced resting-state functional connectivity based precision functional mapping in highly sampled individuals (n = 5), resting-state functional connectivity in large group-averaged datasets (combined n ~ 45,000), and task based analysis of reward, motor, and action related contrasts from group-averaged datasets (n > 1000) and meta-analyses (n > 14,000 studies) to precisely examine red nucleus function. Notably, red nucleus functional connectivity with motor-effector networks (somatomotor hand, foot, and mouth) is minimal. Instead, connectivity is strongest to the action-mode and salience networks, which are important for action/cognitive control and reward/motivated behavior. Consistent with this, the red nucleus responds to motor planning more than to actual movement, while also responding to rewards. Our results suggest the human red nucleus implements goal-directed behavior by integrating behavioral valence and action plans instead of serving a pure motor-effector function.
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Affiliation(s)
- Samuel R Krimmel
- Department of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
| | - Timothy O Laumann
- Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Roselyne J Chauvin
- Department of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Tamara Hershey
- Department of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
- Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Jarod L Roland
- Department of Neurosurgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Joshua S Shimony
- Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Jon T Willie
- Department of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
- Department of Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
- Department of Neurosurgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
- National Center for Adaptive Neurotechnologies, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Scott A Norris
- Department of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
- Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Scott Marek
- Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Andrew N Van
- Department of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Anxu Wang
- Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
- Division of Computation and Data Science, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Julia Monk
- Department of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Kristen M Scheidter
- Department of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Forrest I Whiting
- Department of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Nadeshka Ramirez-Perez
- Department of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
- Department of Neurosurgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Athanasia Metoki
- Department of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Noah J Baden
- Department of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Benjamin P Kay
- Department of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Joshua S Siegel
- Department of Psychiatry, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA
| | - Hadas Nahman-Averbuch
- Washington University Pain Center, Department of Anesthesiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Abraham Z Snyder
- Department of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
- Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Damien A Fair
- Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
- Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
- Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA
| | - Charles J Lynch
- Department of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, New York, USA
| | - Marcus E Raichle
- Department of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
- Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA
- Department of Neuroscience, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Evan M Gordon
- Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Nico U F Dosenbach
- Department of Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
- Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
- Department of Psychological & Brain Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA.
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA.
- Program in Occupational Therapy, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA.
- Department of Pediatrics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USA.
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36
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Carnevale L, Lembo G. Imaging the cerebral vasculature at different scales: translational tools to investigate the neurovascular interfaces. Cardiovasc Res 2025; 120:2373-2384. [PMID: 39082279 DOI: 10.1093/cvr/cvae165] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/23/2024] [Revised: 04/26/2024] [Accepted: 05/23/2024] [Indexed: 04/09/2025] Open
Abstract
The improvements in imaging technology opened up the possibility to investigate the structure and function of cerebral vasculature and the neurovascular unit with unprecedented precision and gaining deep insights not only on the morphology of the vessels but also regarding their function and regulation related to the cerebral activity. In this review, we will dissect the different imaging capabilities regarding the cerebrovascular tree, the neurovascular unit, the haemodynamic response function, and thus, the vascular-neuronal coupling. We will discuss both clinical and preclinical setting, with a final discussion on the current scenery in cerebrovascular imaging where magnetic resonance imaging and multimodal microscopy emerge as the most potent and versatile tools, respectively, in the clinical and preclinical context.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lorenzo Carnevale
- Department of AngioCardioNeurology and Translational Medicine, I.R.C.C.S. INM Neuromed, Via dell'Elettronica, 86077 Pozzilli, IS, Italy
| | - Giuseppe Lembo
- Department of AngioCardioNeurology and Translational Medicine, I.R.C.C.S. INM Neuromed, Via dell'Elettronica, 86077 Pozzilli, IS, Italy
- Department of Molecular Medicine, 'Sapienza' University of Rome, Viale Regina Elena, 291, 00161 Rome, Italy
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Pan L, Yang L, Ding W, Hu Y, Yang W, Wang J, Zhang Z, Fan K, Sun Z, Liang Y, Lin X, Chen J, Zhang Y. Integrated genetic analysis and single cell-RNA sequencing for brain image-derived phenotypes and Parkinson's disease. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry 2025; 138:111317. [PMID: 40081564 DOI: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2025.111317] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/16/2024] [Revised: 02/22/2025] [Accepted: 03/04/2025] [Indexed: 03/16/2025]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Previous studies have reported Parkinson's disease (PD) patients usually have changes in brain image-derived phenotypes (IDPs). However, the role of genetic factors in their association and biological mechanism remains unclear. We aimed to unveil genetic and biological links between brain IDPs and PD. METHODS Using genome-wide association study (GWAS) summary statistics and single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) data, we performed a comprehensive analysis between 624 brain IDPs and PD. The genetic correlations and causality were examined by linkage disequilibrium score regression (LDSC), two-sample bidirectional Mendelian randomization (MR) and meta-analysis. Potential shared genes were identified using MAGMA and PLACO. Finally, pathway enrichment using FUMA and Metascape, and scRNA-seq analysis were performed to determine biological mechanisms and gene expression atlas across various cell types in brain tissue. RESULTS LDSC revealed that 50 brain IDPs were genetically correlated with PD (P < 0.05), in which 5 IDPs, exhibited putative causality on PD through MR (P < 0.05). For instance, we identified that the increased volume of the right thalamus (IVW: OR = 2.08, 95 % CI: 1.33 to 3.25, PFDR = 0.03) was positively correlated with the risk of PD, which was also supported by replicated MR (IVW: OR = 1.63, 95 % CI: 1.17-2.26, PFDR = 0.02) in FinnGen and meta-analysis (OR = 1.78, 95 % CI: 1.36-2.31, PFDR = 5.00 × 10-4). Additionally, we identified 56 unique pleiotropic genes, such as FAM13A, with notable enrichment in neuronal cells. Biological mechanism analysis revealed these genes were enriched in brain tissues and a variety of pathways such as negative regulation of neuron apoptotic processes. CONCLUSION We indicated the shared genetic architecture and biological mechanisms between brain IDPs and PD. These findings might provide insights on the therapeutic intervention and early prediction of PD at the brain imaging level.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lin Pan
- Department of Neurology, Neuroscience Research Center, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China
| | - Laiyu Yang
- Department of Urology, China-Japan Union Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China
| | - Weijie Ding
- Department of Neurology, Neuroscience Research Center, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China
| | - Yongfei Hu
- State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Dongfeng Road East 651, Guangzhou 510060, China
| | - Wenzhuo Yang
- Department of Neurosurgery, State Key Laboratory of Oncology in South China, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Medicine, Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center, Guangzhou, China
| | - Jingning Wang
- Department of Neurology, Neuroscience Research Center, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China
| | - Zhiyun Zhang
- Department of Plastic Surgery, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun 130000, China
| | - Kangli Fan
- Department of Neurology, Neuroscience Research Center, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China
| | - Zhihui Sun
- Department of Neurology, Neuroscience Research Center, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China
| | - Yue Liang
- Department of Neurology, Neuroscience Research Center, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China
| | - Xiaoyue Lin
- Department of Neurology, Neuroscience Research Center, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China
| | - Jun Chen
- Department of Neurology, Neuroscience Research Center, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China.
| | - Ying Zhang
- Department of Neurology, Neuroscience Research Center, The First Hospital of Jilin University, Changchun, China.
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38
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Kou M, Ma H, Wang X, Heianza Y, Qi L. Plasma proteomics-based brain aging signature and incident dementia risk. GeroScience 2025; 47:2335-2349. [PMID: 39532828 PMCID: PMC11978599 DOI: 10.1007/s11357-024-01407-6] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/07/2024] [Accepted: 10/18/2024] [Indexed: 11/16/2024] Open
Abstract
Investigating brain-enriched proteins with machine learning methods may enable a brain-specific understanding of brain aging and provide insights into the molecular mechanisms and pathological pathways of dementia. The study aims to analyze associations of brain-specific plasma proteomic aging signature with risks of incident dementia. In 45,429 dementia-free UK Biobank participants at baseline, we generated a brain-specific biological age using 63 brain-enriched plasma proteins with machine learning methods. The brain age gap was estimated, and Cox proportional hazards models were used to study the association with incident all-cause dementia, Alzheimer's disease (AD), and vascular dementia. Per-unit increment in the brain age gap z-score was associated with significantly higher risks of all-cause dementia (hazard ratio [95% confidence interval], 1.67 [1.56-1.79], P < 0.001), AD (1.85 [1.66-2.08], P < 0.001), and vascular dementia (1.86 [1.55-2.24], P < 0.001), respectively. Notably, 2.1% of the study population exhibited extreme old brain aging defined as brain age gap z-score > 2, correlating with over threefold increased risks of all-cause dementia and vascular dementia (3.42 [2.25-5.20], P < 0.001, and 3.41 [1.05-11.13], P = 0.042, respectively), and fourfold increased risk of AD (4.45 [2.32-8.54], P < 0.001). The associations were stronger among participants with healthier lifestyle factors (all P-interaction < 0.05). These findings were corroborated by magnetic resonance imaging assessments showing that a higher brain age gap aligns global pathophysiology of dementia, including global and regional atrophy in gray matter, and white matter lesions (P < 0.001). The brain-specific proteomic age gap is a powerful biomarker of brain aging, indicative of dementia risk and neurodegeneration.
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Affiliation(s)
- Minghao Kou
- Department of Epidemiology, Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA
| | - Hao Ma
- Department of Epidemiology, Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA
| | - Xuan Wang
- Department of Epidemiology, Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA
| | - Yoriko Heianza
- Department of Epidemiology, Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA
- Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Lu Qi
- Department of Epidemiology, Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA, USA.
- Department of Nutrition, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA.
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39
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Hoogen H, Hebling Vieira B, Langer N. Maintaining Brain Health: The Impact of Physical Activity and Fitness on the Aging Brain-A UK Biobank Study. Eur J Neurosci 2025; 61:e70085. [PMID: 40237304 DOI: 10.1111/ejn.70085] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/03/2024] [Revised: 02/23/2025] [Accepted: 03/12/2025] [Indexed: 04/18/2025]
Abstract
The growing prevalence of physical and neurological disorders linked to aging poses significant challenges for society. Many of these disorders are closely linked to changes in brain structure and function, highlighting the importance of identifying protective factors that can preserve brain structure in later life and mitigate age-related decline. Physical activity (PA) is consistently linked to physical health and was found to mitigate age-related disorders. However, its effects on markers of brain aging remain inconclusive, partly due to reliance on underpowered studies and self-reported data. We investigated the effects of accelerometer-measured PA and physical fitness on BrainAGE, a machine-learning-derived marker of brain aging, in a large UK Biobank cohort. Using cortical and subcortical neuroimaging-derived features, a BrainAGE model was trained on 21,442 participants (mean absolute error: 3.75 years) and applied to predict BrainAGE for an independent sample of 10,874 participants. Accelerometer-measured moderate-intensity PA, but not self-reported PA, was associated with decelerated brain aging, indicated by a negative BrainAGE. Further, higher hand grip strength, along with lower body mass index (BMI), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), and resting heart rate, was linked to decelerated aging. These fitness measures impacted BrainAGE independently of PA. Additionally, fitness partially accounted for the relationship between PA and BrainAGE. Specifically, BMI, DBP, and resting heart rate showed a significant mediating effect, while grip strength did not. These findings highlight the interplay between PA and fitness in maintaining brain health and provide valuable insights for neuroscience and preventive health measures.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hanna Hoogen
- Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
- Faculty of Psychology & Neuroscience, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Netherlands
| | | | - Nicolas Langer
- Department of Psychology, University of Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland
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40
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Perneczky R, Darby D, Frisoni GB, Hyde R, Iwatsubo T, Mummery CJ, Park KH, van Beek J, van der Flier WM, Jessen F. Real-world datasets for the International Registry for Alzheimer's Disease and Other Dementias (InRAD) and other registries: An international consensus. J Prev Alzheimers Dis 2025; 12:100096. [PMID: 39971671 DOI: 10.1016/j.tjpad.2025.100096] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/12/2025] [Revised: 02/02/2025] [Accepted: 02/10/2025] [Indexed: 02/21/2025]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Many dementia and Alzheimer's disease (AD) registries operate at local or national levels without standardization or comprehensive real-world data (RWD) collection. This initiative sought to achieve consensus among experts on priority outcomes and measures for clinical practice in caring for patients with symptomatic AD, particularly in the mild cognitive impairment and mild to moderate dementia stages. OBJECTIVE The primary aim was to define a minimum dataset (MDS) and extended dataset (EDS) to collect RWD in the new International Registry for AD and Other Dementias (InRAD) and other AD registries. The MDS and EDS focus on informing routine clinical practice, covering relevant comorbidities and safety, and are designed to be easily integrated into existing data capture systems. METHODS AND RESULTS An international steering committee (ISC) of AD clinician experts lead the initiative. The first drafts of the MDS and EDS were developed based on a previous global inter-societal Delphi consensus on outcome measures for AD. Based on the ISC discussions, a survey was devised and sent to a wider stakeholder group. The ISC discussed the survey results, resulting in a consensus MDS and EDS covering: patient profile and demographics; lifestyle and anthropometrics; co-morbidities and diagnostics; imaging; treatment; clinical characterization; safety; discontinuation; laboratory tests; patient and care partner outcomes; and interface functionality. CONCLUSION By learning from successful examples in other clinical areas, addressing current limitations, and proactively enhancing data quality and analytical rigor, the InRAD registry will be a foundation to contribute to improving patient care and outcomes in neurodegenerative diseases.
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Affiliation(s)
- Robert Perneczky
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, LMU Hospital, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany; German Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) Munich, Munich, Germany; Munich Cluster for Systems Neurology (SyNergy), Munich, Germany; Ageing Epidemiology Research Unit (AGE), School of Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK; Division of Neuroscience, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, UK.
| | - David Darby
- Department of Neurology, School of Translational Medicine, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia
| | - Giovanni B Frisoni
- Memory Center, Department of Rehabilitation and Geriatrics, Geneva University Hospitals, Geneva, Switzerland
| | | | - Takeshi Iwatsubo
- Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Catherine J Mummery
- Dementia Research Centre, Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK
| | - Kee Hyung Park
- Department of Neurology, College of Medicine, Gachon University Gil Medical Centre, Incheon, South Korea
| | | | | | - Frank Jessen
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany; German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases (DZNE) Cologne, Cologne, Germany
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41
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Mauri C, Cerri S, Puonti O, Mühlau M, Van Leemput K. A lightweight generative model for interpretable subject-level prediction. Med Image Anal 2025; 101:103436. [PMID: 39793217 PMCID: PMC11876000 DOI: 10.1016/j.media.2024.103436] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/09/2023] [Revised: 12/06/2024] [Accepted: 12/09/2024] [Indexed: 01/13/2025]
Abstract
Recent years have seen a growing interest in methods for predicting an unknown variable of interest, such as a subject's diagnosis, from medical images depicting its anatomical-functional effects. Methods based on discriminative modeling excel at making accurate predictions, but are challenged in their ability to explain their decisions in anatomically meaningful terms. In this paper, we propose a simple technique for single-subject prediction that is inherently interpretable. It augments the generative models used in classical human brain mapping techniques, in which the underlying cause-effect relations can be encoded, with a multivariate noise model that captures dominant spatial correlations. Experiments demonstrate that the resulting model can be efficiently inverted to make accurate subject-level predictions, while at the same time offering intuitive visual explanations of its inner workings. The method is easy to use: training is fast for typical training set sizes, and only a single hyperparameter needs to be set by the user. Our code is available at https://github.com/chiara-mauri/Interpretable-subject-level-prediction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chiara Mauri
- Department of Health Technology, Technical University of Denmark, Denmark; Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, USA.
| | - Stefano Cerri
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, USA
| | - Oula Puonti
- Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Center for Functional and Diagnostic Imaging and Research, Copenhagen University Hospital Hvidovre, Denmark
| | - Mark Mühlau
- Department of Neurology and TUM-Neuroimaging Center, School of Medicine, Technical University of Munich, Germany
| | - Koen Van Leemput
- Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, USA; Department of Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering, Aalto University, Finland; Department of Computer Science, Aalto University, Finland
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Sghirripa S, Bhalerao G, Griffanti L, Gillis G, Mackay C, Voets N, Wong S, Jenkinson M, For the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative. Evaluating Traditional, Deep Learning and Subfield Methods for Automatically Segmenting the Hippocampus From MRI. Hum Brain Mapp 2025; 46:e70200. [PMID: 40143669 PMCID: PMC11947432 DOI: 10.1002/hbm.70200] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2024] [Revised: 03/10/2025] [Accepted: 03/16/2025] [Indexed: 03/28/2025] Open
Abstract
Given the relationship between hippocampal atrophy and cognitive impairment in various pathological conditions, hippocampus segmentation from MRI is an important task in neuroimaging. Manual segmentation, though considered the gold standard, is time-consuming and error-prone, leading to the development of numerous automatic segmentation methods. However, no study has yet independently compared the performance of traditional, deep learning-based and hippocampal subfield segmentation methods within a single investigation. We evaluated 10 automatic hippocampal segmentation methods (FreeSurfer, SynthSeg, FastSurfer, FIRST, e2dhipseg, Hippmapper, Hippodeep, FreeSurfer-Subfields, HippUnfold and HSF) across 3 datasets with manually segmented hippocampus labels. Performance metrics included overlap with manual labels, correlations between manual and automatic volumes, volume similarity, diagnostic group differentiation and systematically located false positives and negatives. Most methods, especially deep learning-based ones that were trained on manual labels, performed well on public datasets but showed more error and variability on clinical data. Many methods tended to over-segment, particularly at the anterior hippocampus border, but were able to distinguish between healthy controls, MCI, and dementia patients based on hippocampal volume. Our findings highlight the challenges in hippocampal segmentation from MRI and the need for more publicly accessible datasets with manual labels across diverse ages and pathological conditions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Sabrina Sghirripa
- Australian Institute for Machine Learning, School of Computer and Mathematical SciencesThe University of AdelaideAdelaideSouth AustraliaAustralia
- Hopwood Centre of Neurobiology, Lifelong Health ThemeSouth Australian Health and Medical Research InstituteAdelaideSouth AustraliaAustralia
| | - Gaurav Bhalerao
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Oxford Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain, Nuffield Department of Clinical NeurosciencesUniversity of OxfordOxfordUK
- Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of PsychiatryUniversity of OxfordOxfordUK
| | - Ludovica Griffanti
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Oxford Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain, Nuffield Department of Clinical NeurosciencesUniversity of OxfordOxfordUK
- Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of PsychiatryUniversity of OxfordOxfordUK
| | - Grace Gillis
- Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of PsychiatryUniversity of OxfordOxfordUK
| | - Clare Mackay
- Oxford Centre for Human Brain Activity, Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Department of PsychiatryUniversity of OxfordOxfordUK
| | - Natalie Voets
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Oxford Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain, Nuffield Department of Clinical NeurosciencesUniversity of OxfordOxfordUK
| | - Stephanie Wong
- College of Education, Psychology and Social WorkFlinders UniversityAdelaideAustralia
| | - Mark Jenkinson
- Australian Institute for Machine Learning, School of Computer and Mathematical SciencesThe University of AdelaideAdelaideSouth AustraliaAustralia
- Hopwood Centre of Neurobiology, Lifelong Health ThemeSouth Australian Health and Medical Research InstituteAdelaideSouth AustraliaAustralia
- Wellcome Centre for Integrative Neuroimaging, Oxford Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain, Nuffield Department of Clinical NeurosciencesUniversity of OxfordOxfordUK
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43
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Ganesan S, Barrios FA, Batta I, Bauer CCC, Braver TS, Brewer JA, Brown KW, Cahn R, Cain JA, Calhoun VD, Cao L, Chetelat G, Ching CRK, Creswell JD, Dagnino PC, Davanger S, Davidson RJ, Deco G, Dutcher JM, Escrichs A, Eyler LT, Fani N, Farb NAS, Fialoke S, Fresco DM, Garg R, Garland EL, Goldin P, Hafeman DM, Jahanshad N, Kang Y, Khalsa SS, Kirlic N, Lazar SW, Lutz A, McDermott TJ, Pagnoni G, Piguet C, Prakash RS, Rahrig H, Reggente N, Saccaro LF, Sacchet MD, Siegle GJ, Tang YY, Thomopoulos SI, Thompson PM, Torske A, Treves IN, Tripathi V, Tsuchiyagaito A, Turner MD, Vago DR, Valk S, Zeidan F, Zalesky A, Turner JA, King AP. ENIGMA-Meditation: Worldwide Consortium for Neuroscientific Investigations of Meditation Practices. BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY. COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE AND NEUROIMAGING 2025; 10:425-436. [PMID: 39515581 PMCID: PMC11975497 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2024.10.015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 04/20/2024] [Revised: 09/25/2024] [Accepted: 10/28/2024] [Indexed: 11/16/2024]
Abstract
Meditation is a family of ancient and contemporary contemplative mind-body practices that can modulate psychological processes, awareness, and mental states. Over the last 40 years, clinical science has manualized meditation practices and designed various meditation interventions that have shown therapeutic efficacy for disorders including depression, pain, addiction, and anxiety. Over the past decade, neuroimaging has been used to examine the neuroscientific basis of meditation practices, effects, states, and outcomes for clinical and nonclinical populations. However, the generalizability and replicability of current neuroscientific models of meditation have not yet been established, because they are largely based on small datasets entrenched with heterogeneity along several domains of meditation (e.g., practice types, meditation experience, clinical disorder targeted), experimental design, and neuroimaging methods (e.g., preprocessing, analysis, task-based, resting-state, structural magnetic resonance imaging). These limitations have precluded a nuanced and rigorous neuroscientific phenotyping of meditation practices and their potential benefits. Here, we present ENIGMA (Enhancing Neuro Imaging Genetics through Meta Analysis)-Meditation, the first worldwide collaborative consortium for neuroscientific investigations of meditation practices. ENIGMA-Meditation will enable systematic meta- and mega-analyses of globally distributed neuroimaging datasets of meditation using shared, standardized neuroimaging methods and tools to improve statistical power and generalizability. Through this powerful collaborative framework, existing neuroscientific accounts of meditation practices can be extended to generate novel and rigorous neuroscientific insights that account for multidomain heterogeneity. ENIGMA-Meditation will inform neuroscientific mechanisms that underlie therapeutic action of meditation practices on psychological and cognitive attributes, thereby advancing the field of meditation and contemplative neuroscience.
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Affiliation(s)
- Saampras Ganesan
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Carlton, Victoria, Australia; Contemplative Studies Centre, Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia; Systems Lab of Neuroscience, Neuropsychiatry and Neuroengineering, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.
| | - Fernando A Barrios
- Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Neurobiolgía, Querétaro, México
| | - Ishaan Batta
- Center for Translational Research in Neuroimaging and Data Science: Georgia State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
| | - Clemens C C Bauer
- Department of Psychology, Northeastern University, Boston, Massachusetts; Brain and Cognitive Science, McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
| | - Todd S Braver
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri
| | - Judson A Brewer
- Department of Behavioral and Social Sciences, Brown University, School of Public Health, Providence, Rhode Island
| | - Kirk Warren Brown
- Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| | - Rael Cahn
- University of Southern California Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Los Angeles, California; University of Southern California Center for Mindfulness Science, Los Angeles, California
| | - Joshua A Cain
- Institute for Advanced Consciousness Studies, Santa Monica, California
| | - Vince D Calhoun
- Center for Translational Research in Neuroimaging and Data Science: Georgia State University, Georgia Institute of Technology, and Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
| | - Lei Cao
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, Ohio
| | - Gaël Chetelat
- Normandie University, Université de Caen Normandie, INSERM U1237, Neuropresage Team, Cyceron, Caen, France
| | - Christopher R K Ching
- Imaging Genetics Center, Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
| | - J David Creswell
- Desert-Pacific Mental Illness Research Education and Clinical Center, VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, California
| | - Paulina Clara Dagnino
- Computational Neuroscience Group, Center for Brain and Cognition, Department of Information and Communication Technologies, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Svend Davanger
- Division of Anatomy, Institute of Basic Medical Science, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Richard J Davidson
- Psychology Department and Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin; Center for Healthy Minds, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin
| | - Gustavo Deco
- Computational Neuroscience Group, Center for Brain and Cognition, Department of Information and Communication Technologies, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain; Institució Catalana de la Recerca i Estudis Avançats, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
| | - Janine M Dutcher
- Department of Psychology, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| | - Anira Escrichs
- Computational Neuroscience Group, Center for Brain and Cognition, Department of Information and Communication Technologies, Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Lisa T Eyler
- Desert-Pacific Mental Illness Research Education and Clinical Center, VA San Diego Healthcare System, San Diego, California; Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California
| | - Negar Fani
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
| | - Norman A S Farb
- Department of Psychology, University of Toronto, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada; Department of Psychological Clinical Science, University of Toronto, Scarborough, Ontario, Canada
| | - Suruchi Fialoke
- National Resource Center for Value Education in Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, India
| | - David M Fresco
- Department of Psychiatry and Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
| | - Rahul Garg
- National Resource Center for Value Education in Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, India; Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, India
| | - Eric L Garland
- Center on Mindfulness and Integrative Health Intervention Development, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah
| | - Philippe Goldin
- Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing, University of California Davis, Sacramento, California
| | - Danella M Hafeman
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| | - Neda Jahanshad
- Imaging Genetics Center, Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
| | - Yoona Kang
- Department of Psychology, Rutgers University - Camden, Camden, New Jersey
| | - Sahib S Khalsa
- Laureate Institute for Brain Research, Tulsa, Oklahoma; Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California
| | - Namik Kirlic
- Laureate Institute for Brain Research, Tulsa, Oklahoma
| | - Sara W Lazar
- Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Antoine Lutz
- Eduwell Team, Lyon Neuroscience Research Centre, INSERM U1028, CNRS UMR 5292, Lyon University, Lyon, France; Lyon Neuroscience Research Centre, INSERM U1028, Lyon, France
| | - Timothy J McDermott
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
| | - Giuseppe Pagnoni
- Department of Biomedical, Metabolic, and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, Modena, Italy
| | - Camille Piguet
- Psychiatry Department, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | | | - Hadley Rahrig
- Psychology Department and Department of Psychiatry, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin
| | - Nicco Reggente
- Institute for Advanced Consciousness Studies, Santa Monica, California
| | - Luigi F Saccaro
- Psychiatry Department, Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland; Psychiatry Department, Geneva University Hospital, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Matthew D Sacchet
- Meditation Research Program, Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Greg J Siegle
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
| | - Yi-Yuan Tang
- College of Health Solutions, Arizona State University, Phoenix, Arizona
| | - Sophia I Thomopoulos
- Imaging Genetics Center, Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
| | - Paul M Thompson
- Imaging Genetics Center, Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute, Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
| | - Alyssa Torske
- Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, School of Medicine and Health, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany
| | - Isaac N Treves
- Brain and Cognitive Science, McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts
| | - Vaibhav Tripathi
- Center for Brain Science and Department of Psychology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
| | - Aki Tsuchiyagaito
- Laureate Institute for Brain Research, Tulsa, Oklahoma; Oxley College of Health & Natural Sciences, The University of Tulsa, Tulsa, Oklahoma; Research Center for Child Mental Development, Chiba University, Chiba, Japan
| | - Matthew D Turner
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, Ohio
| | - David R Vago
- Department of Psychiatry, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts
| | - Sofie Valk
- Max Planck Institute for Human Cognitive and Brain Sciences, Leipzig, Germany; Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Heinrich-Heine-University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany; Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, INM-7, Brain & Behaviour Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany
| | - Fadel Zeidan
- Department of Anesthesiology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California; T. Denny Sanford Institute for Empathy and Compassion, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California
| | - Andrew Zalesky
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Melbourne, Carlton, Victoria, Australia; Systems Lab of Neuroscience, Neuropsychiatry and Neuroengineering, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia
| | - Jessica A Turner
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, Ohio
| | - Anthony P King
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Health, The Ohio State University College of Medicine, Columbus, Ohio; Department of Psychology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio; Institute for Behavioral Medicine Research, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.
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Thompson WK, Fan CC, White EJ, Buchwald D, Fair DA, Jernigan T, Paulus MP. Ten Suggestions for Better Inference in Population Neuroscience Studies. BIOLOGICAL PSYCHIATRY. COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE AND NEUROIMAGING 2025:S2451-9022(25)00123-5. [PMID: 40169110 DOI: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2025.03.010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/19/2025] [Accepted: 03/23/2025] [Indexed: 04/03/2025]
Affiliation(s)
- Wesley K Thompson
- Laureate Institute for Brain Research, Tulsa, Oklahoma; Center for Population Neuroscience and Genetics, Tulsa, Oklahoma.
| | - Chun-Chieh Fan
- Laureate Institute for Brain Research, Tulsa, Oklahoma; Center for Population Neuroscience and Genetics, Tulsa, Oklahoma
| | - Evan J White
- Laureate Institute for Brain Research, Tulsa, Oklahoma; Oxley College of Health and Natural Sciences, University of Tulsa, Tulsa, Oklahoma
| | - Dedra Buchwald
- Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
| | - Damien A Fair
- Masonic Institute for the Developing Brain, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Institute of Child Development, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Department of Pediatrics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota
| | - Terry Jernigan
- Center for Human Development, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California
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Vidal-Piñeiro D, Sørensen Ø, Strømstrad M, Amlien IK, Baaré W, Bartrés-Faz D, Brandmaier AM, Cattaneo G, Düzel S, Ghisletta P, Henson RN, Kühn S, Lindenberger U, Mowinckel AM, Nyberg L, Pascual-Leone A, Roe JM, Solana-Sánchez J, Solé-Padullés C, Watne LO, Wolfers T, the Australian Imaging Biomarkers and Lifestyle flagship study of ageing (AIBL), the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI), Walhovd KB, Fjell AM. Vulnerability to memory decline in aging - a mega-analysis of structural brain change. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2025:2025.03.27.642988. [PMID: 40196574 PMCID: PMC11974904 DOI: 10.1101/2025.03.27.642988] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/09/2025]
Abstract
Brain atrophy is a key factor behind episodic memory loss in aging, but the nature and ubiquity of this relationship remains poorly understood. This study leveraged 13 longitudinal datasets, including 3,737 cognitively healthy adults (10,343 MRI scans; 13,460 memory assessments), to determine whether brain change-memory change associations are more pronounced with age and genetic risk for Alzheimer's Disease. Both factors are associated with accelerated brain decline, yet it remains unclear whether memory loss is exacerbated beyond what atrophy alone would predict. Additionally, we assessed whether memory decline aligns with a global pattern of atrophy or stems from distinct regional contributions. Our mega-analysis revealed a nonlinear relationship between memory decline and brain atrophy, primarily affecting individuals with above-average brain structural decline. The associations were stronger in the hippocampus but also spread across diverse cortical and subcortical regions. The associations strengthened with age, reaching moderate associations in participants in their eighties. While APOE ε4 carriers exhibited steeper brain and memory loss, genetic risk had no effect on the change-change associations. These findings support the presence of common biological macrostructural substrates underlying memory function in older age which are vulnerable to multiple age-related factors, even in the absence of overt pathological changes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Didac Vidal-Piñeiro
- Centre for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Øystein Sørensen
- Centre for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Marie Strømstrad
- Centre for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Inge K. Amlien
- Centre for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - William Baaré
- Danish Research Centre for Magnetic Resonance, Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Copenhagen University Hospital-Amager and Hvidovre, Copenhagen, Denmark
| | - David Bartrés-Faz
- Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Institute of Neurosciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Institut Guttmann, Institut Universitari de Neurorehabilitació adscrit a la UAB, Badalona, Barcelona, Spain
- Institut de Recerca Biomèdica August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Andreas M. Brandmaier
- Center for Lifespan Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Psychology, MSB Medical School Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, Berling, Germany, and London, UK
| | - Gabriele Cattaneo
- Institut Guttmann, Institut Universitari de Neurorehabilitació adscrit a la UAB, Badalona, Barcelona, Spain
- Fundació Institut d’Investigació en Ciències de la Salut Germans Trias i Pujol, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Sandra Düzel
- Center for Lifespan Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany
| | - Paolo Ghisletta
- Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland
| | - Richard N. Henson
- MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
| | - Simone Kühn
- Center for Lifespan Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Department of Psychiatry, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Germany
- Center for Environmental Neuroscience, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Germany
| | - Ulman Lindenberger
- Center for Lifespan Psychology, Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin, Germany
- Max Planck UCL Centre for Computational Psychiatry and Ageing Research, Berling, Germany, and London, UK
| | - Athanasia M. Mowinckel
- Centre for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Lars Nyberg
- Centre for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- Umeå Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Umeå University, Umeå, Sweden
- Department of Medical and Translational Biology, Umeå University, Sweden
- Department of Diagnostics and Intervention, Umeå University, Sweden
| | - Alvaro Pascual-Leone
- Hinda and Arthur Marcus Institute for Aging Research, Deanna and Sidney Wolk Center for Memory Health, Harvard Medical School, Hebrew SeniorLife, Boston, MA, United States
- Department of Neurology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States
| | - James M. Roe
- Centre for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
| | - Javier Solana-Sánchez
- Institut Guttmann, Institut Universitari de Neurorehabilitació adscrit a la UAB, Badalona, Barcelona, Spain
- Fundació Institut d’Investigació en Ciències de la Salut Germans Trias i Pujol, Barcelona, Spain
| | - Cristina Solé-Padullés
- Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Institute of Neurosciences, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain
- Institut de Recerca Biomèdica August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Barcelona, Spain
| | - Leiv Otto Watne
- Oslo Delirium Research Group, Institute of Clinical Medicine, Campus Ahus, University of Oslo, Norway
- Department of Geriatric Medicine, Akershus University Hospital, Norway
| | - Thomas Wolfers
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, German Center for Mental Health, University Clinic Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
| | | | | | - Kristine B Walhovd
- Centre for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- Computational Radiology and Artificial Intelligence, Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Oslo University Hospital, Norway
| | - Anders M. Fjell
- Centre for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition, Department of Psychology, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
- Computational Radiology and Artificial Intelligence, Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Oslo University Hospital, Norway
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Kong R, Spreng RN, Xue A, Betzel RF, Cohen JR, Damoiseaux JS, De Brigard F, Eickhoff SB, Fornito A, Gratton C, Gordon EM, Holmes AJ, Laird AR, Larson-Prior L, Nickerson LD, Pinho AL, Razi A, Sadaghiani S, Shine JM, Yendiki A, Yeo BTT, Uddin LQ. A network correspondence toolbox for quantitative evaluation of novel neuroimaging results. Nat Commun 2025; 16:2930. [PMID: 40133295 PMCID: PMC11937327 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-58176-9] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/15/2024] [Accepted: 03/13/2025] [Indexed: 03/27/2025] Open
Abstract
The brain can be decomposed into large-scale functional networks, but the specific spatial topographies of these networks and the names used to describe them vary across studies. Such discordance has hampered interpretation and convergence of research findings across the field. We have developed the Network Correspondence Toolbox (NCT) to permit researchers to examine and report spatial correspondence between their novel neuroimaging results and multiple widely used functional brain atlases. We provide several exemplar demonstrations to illustrate how researchers can use the NCT to report their own findings. The NCT provides a convenient means for computing Dice coefficients with spin test permutations to determine the magnitude and statistical significance of correspondence among user-defined maps and existing atlas labels. The adoption of the NCT will make it easier for network neuroscience researchers to report their findings in a standardized manner, thus aiding reproducibility and facilitating comparisons between studies to produce interdisciplinary insights.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ru Kong
- Centre for Translational MR Research and Centre for Sleep & Cognition, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | - R Nathan Spreng
- Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
| | - Aihuiping Xue
- Centre for Translational MR Research and Centre for Sleep & Cognition, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore
| | - Richard F Betzel
- Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA
| | - Jessica R Cohen
- Department of Psychology and Neuroscience, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
| | - Jessica S Damoiseaux
- Department of Psychology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA
- Institute of Gerontology, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, USA
| | | | - Simon B Eickhoff
- Institute of Systems Neuroscience, Medical Faculty, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, Germany
- Institute of Neuroscience and Medicine, Brain & Behaviour (INM-7), Research Centre Jülich, Jülich, Germany
| | - Alex Fornito
- School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
- Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
- Monash Biomedical Imaging, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Caterina Gratton
- Department of Psychology, University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign, IL, USA
- Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign, IL, USA
| | - Evan M Gordon
- Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO, USA
| | - Avram J Holmes
- Department of Psychiatry, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
- Center for Brain Health, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, USA
| | - Angela R Laird
- Department of Physics, Florida International University, Miami, FL, USA
| | - Linda Larson-Prior
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR, USA
- Department of Neurosciences, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, AR, USA
| | - Lisa D Nickerson
- Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, McLean Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Ana Luísa Pinho
- Western Centre for Brain and Mind, Western University, London, ON, Canada
- Department of Computer Science and Department of Psychology, Western University, London, ON, Canada
| | - Adeel Razi
- School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
- Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
- Monash Biomedical Imaging, Monash University, Melbourne, VIC, Australia
| | - Sepideh Sadaghiani
- Department of Psychology, University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign, IL, USA
- Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign, IL, USA
| | - James M Shine
- Brain and Mind Center, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
| | - Anastasia Yendiki
- Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA, USA
| | - B T Thomas Yeo
- Centre for Translational MR Research and Centre for Sleep & Cognition, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore.
| | - Lucina Q Uddin
- Department of Psychiatry and Biobehavioral Sciences, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
- Department of Psychology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA.
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Korologou-Linden R, Xu B, Coulthard E, Walton E, Wearn A, Hemani G, White T, Cecil C, Sharp T, Tiemeier H, Banaschewski T, Bokde A, Desrivières S, Flor H, Grigis A, Garavan H, Gowland P, Heinz A, Brühl R, Martinot JL, Paillère Martinot ML, Artiges E, Nees F, Orfanos DP, Paus T, Poustka L, Millenet S, Fröhner JH, Smolka M, Walter H, Winterer J, Whelan R, Schumann G, Howe LD, Ben-Shlomo Y, Davies NM, Anderson EL. Genetics impact risk of Alzheimer's disease through mechanisms modulating structural brain morphology in late life. J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry 2025; 96:350-360. [PMID: 38663994 PMCID: PMC7616849 DOI: 10.1136/jnnp-2023-332969] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/09/2023] [Accepted: 03/11/2024] [Indexed: 11/27/2024]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Alzheimer's disease (AD)-related neuropathological changes can occur decades before clinical symptoms. We aimed to investigate whether neurodevelopment and/or neurodegeneration affects the risk of AD, through reducing structural brain reserve and/or increasing brain atrophy, respectively. METHODS We used bidirectional two-sample Mendelian randomisation to estimate the effects between genetic liability to AD and global and regional cortical thickness, estimated total intracranial volume, volume of subcortical structures and total white matter in 37 680 participants aged 8-81 years across 5 independent cohorts (Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development, Generation R, IMAGEN, Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children and UK Biobank). We also examined the effects of global and regional cortical thickness and subcortical volumes from the Enhancing NeuroImaging Genetics through Meta-Analysis (ENIGMA) Consortium on AD risk in up to 37 741 participants. RESULTS Our findings show that AD risk alleles have an age-dependent effect on a range of cortical and subcortical brain measures that starts in mid-life, in non-clinical populations. Evidence for such effects across childhood and young adulthood is weak. Some of the identified structures are not typically implicated in AD, such as those in the striatum (eg, thalamus), with consistent effects from childhood to late adulthood. There was little evidence to suggest brain morphology alters AD risk. CONCLUSIONS Genetic liability to AD is likely to affect risk of AD primarily through mechanisms affecting indicators of brain morphology in later life, rather than structural brain reserve. Future studies with repeated measures are required for a better understanding and certainty of the mechanisms at play.
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Affiliation(s)
- Roxanna Korologou-Linden
- Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Population Health Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Bing Xu
- The Generation R Study Group, Erasmus MC University Medical Center, Rotterdam, UK
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology, Erasmus MC University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Elizabeth Coulthard
- Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- North Bristol NHS Trust, Bristol, UK
| | - Esther Walton
- Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Department of Psychology, University of Bath, Bath, UK
| | - Alfie Wearn
- Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Gibran Hemani
- Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Population Health Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Tonya White
- The Generation R Study Group, Erasmus MC University Medical Center, Rotterdam, UK
- Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Erasmus University School of Medicine, Rotterdam, UK
| | - Charlotte Cecil
- Department of Epidemiology, Erasmus MC University Medical Center Rotterdam, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
| | - Tamsin Sharp
- Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Biostatistics and Health Informatics Department, King's College London, Boston, UK
| | - Henning Tiemeier
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychology, Erasmus MC University Medical Center, Rotterdam, The Netherlands
- Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Harvard T H Chan School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
| | - Tobias Banaschewski
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Arun Bokde
- Psychiatry, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Sylvane Desrivières
- Kings College London, Centre for Population Neuroscience and Precision Medicine (PONS), London, UK
| | - Herta Flor
- Institute of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Central Institute of Mental Health, University of Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany
- Psychology, School of Social Sciences, University of Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany
| | | | | | | | - Andreas Heinz
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy CCM, Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany
| | - Rüdiger Brühl
- Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB), Braunschweig, Germany
| | - Jean-Luc Martinot
- Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, INSERM U1299, Paris, France
- Centre Borelli, Cachan, France
| | - Marie-Laure Paillère Martinot
- Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, INSERM U1299, Paris, France
- Centre Borelli, Cachan, France
| | - Eric Artiges
- Institut National de la Santé et de la Recherche Médicale, INSERM U1299, Paris, France
- Centre Borelli, Cachan, France
| | - Frauke Nees
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
- Institute of Cognitive and Clinical Neuroscience, Central Institute of Mental Health, University of Mannheim, Mannheim, Germany
- Institute of Medical Psychology and Medical Sociology, Kiel University, Kiel, Germany
| | | | - Tomáš Paus
- Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
| | - Luise Poustka
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Centre Göttingen, Göttingen, Germany
| | - Sabina Millenet
- Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Heidelberg University, Heidelberg, Germany
| | - Juliane H Fröhner
- Department of Psychiatry, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Michael Smolka
- Department of Psychiatry, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany
| | - Henrik Walter
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy CCM, Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin, Germany
- Berlin Institute of Health at Charite, Berlin, Germany
| | - Jeanne Winterer
- Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy CCM, Berlin Institute of Health, Berlin, Germany
- Department of Education and Psychology, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
| | - Robert Whelan
- Trinity Centre for Bioengineering, Trinity College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
| | - Gunter Schumann
- Kings College London, Centre for Population Neuroscience and Precision Medicine (PONS), London, UK
- Fudan University, Shanghai, People's Republic of China
- PONS Centre, Dept. of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience, CCM, Berlin, Germany
| | - Laura D Howe
- Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Population Health Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Yoav Ben-Shlomo
- Population Health Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
| | - Neil M Davies
- Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Population Health Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- University College London Division of Psychiatry, London, UK
| | - Emma Louise Anderson
- Medical Research Council Integrative Epidemiology Unit, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- Population Health Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK
- University College London Division of Psychiatry, London, UK
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Zugman A, Ringlein GV, Finn ES, Lewis KM, Berman E, Silverman WK, Lebowitz ER, Pine DS, Winkler AM. Brain functional connectivity and anatomical features as predictors of cognitive behavioral therapy outcome for anxiety in youths. Psychol Med 2025; 55:e91. [PMID: 40125734 PMCID: PMC12080668 DOI: 10.1017/s0033291724003131] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/27/2024] [Revised: 07/26/2024] [Accepted: 11/07/2024] [Indexed: 03/25/2025]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Because pediatric anxiety disorders precede the onset of many other problems, successful prediction of response to the first-line treatment, cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), could have a major impact. This study evaluates whether structural and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging can predict post-CBT anxiety symptoms. METHODS Two datasets were studied: (A) one consisted of n = 54 subjects with an anxiety diagnosis, who received 12 weeks of CBT, and (B) one consisted of n = 15 subjects treated for 8 weeks. Connectome predictive modeling (CPM) was used to predict treatment response, as assessed with the PARS. The main analysis included network edges positively correlated with treatment outcome and age, sex, and baseline anxiety severity as predictors. Results from alternative models and analyses are also presented. Model assessments utilized 1000 bootstraps, resulting in a 95% CI for R2, r, and mean absolute error (MAE). RESULTS The main model showed a MAE of approximately 3.5 (95% CI: [3.1-3.8]) points, an R2 of 0.08 [-0.14-0.26], and an r of 0.38 [0.24-0.511]. When testing this model in the left-out sample (B), the results were similar, with an MAE of 3.4 [2.8-4.7], R2-0.65 [-2.29-0.16], and r of 0.4 [0.24-0.54]. The anatomical metrics showed a similar pattern, where models rendered overall low R2. CONCLUSIONS The analysis showed that models based on earlier promising results failed to predict clinical outcomes. Despite the small sample size, this study does not support the extensive use of CPM to predict outcomes in pediatric anxiety.
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Affiliation(s)
- Andre Zugman
- Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Grace V. Ringlein
- Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Emily S. Finn
- Psychological and Brain Sciences, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH, USA
| | - Krystal M. Lewis
- Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Erin Berman
- Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | | | | | - Daniel S. Pine
- Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
| | - Anderson M. Winkler
- Emotion and Development Branch, National Institute of Mental Health, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA
- Division of Human Genetics, School of Medicine, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Brownsville, TX, USA
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49
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Yeung HW, Buchanan CR, Moodie J, Deary IJ, Tucker-Drob EM, Bastin ME, Whalley HC, Smith KM, Cox SR. Relative strength variability measures for brain structural connectomes and their relationship with cognitive functioning. BIORXIV : THE PREPRINT SERVER FOR BIOLOGY 2025:2025.03.15.643458. [PMID: 40161802 PMCID: PMC11952564 DOI: 10.1101/2025.03.15.643458] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 04/02/2025]
Abstract
In this work, we propose a new class of graph measures for weighted connectivity information in the human brain based on node relative strengths: relative strength variability (RSV), measuring susceptibility to targeted attacks, and hierarchical RSV (hRSV), a first weighted statistical complexity measure for networks. Using six different network weights for structural connectomes from the UK Biobank, we conduct comprehensive analyses to explore relationships between the RSV and hRSV, and (i) other known network measures, (ii) general cognitive function (' g '). Both measures exhibit low correlations with other graph measures across all connectivity weightings indicating that they capture new information of the brain connectome. We found higher g was associated with lower RSV and lower hRSV. That is, higher g was associated with higher resistance to targeted attack and lower statistical complexity. Moreover, the proposed measures had consistently stronger associations with g than other widely used graph measures including clustering coefficient and global efficiency and were incrementally significant for predicting g above other measures for five of the six network weights. Overall, we present a new class of weighted network measures based on variations of relative node strengths which significantly improved prediction of general cognition from traditional weighted structural connectomes.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hon Wah Yeung
- Lothian Birth Cohorts, Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Colin R Buchanan
- Lothian Birth Cohorts, Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Joanna Moodie
- Lothian Birth Cohorts, Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Ian J Deary
- Lothian Birth Cohorts, Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Elliot M Tucker-Drob
- Department of Psychology, University of Texas, Austin, TX, USA
- Population Research Center and Center on Aging and Population Sciences, University of Texas at Austin, TX, USA
| | - Mark E Bastin
- Lothian Birth Cohorts, Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
- Centre for Clinical Brain Science, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Heather C Whalley
- Department of Psychiatry, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
| | - Keith M Smith
- Department of Computer and Information Sciences, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, United Kingdom
| | - Simon R Cox
- Lothian Birth Cohorts, Department of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
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50
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Liang Y, Nyasimi F, Melia O, Carroll TJ, Brettin T, Brown A, Im HK. BrainXcan identifies brain features associated with behavioral and psychiatric traits using large-scale genetic and imaging data. Dev Cogn Neurosci 2025; 73:101542. [PMID: 40101670 PMCID: PMC11964658 DOI: 10.1016/j.dcn.2025.101542] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/01/2024] [Revised: 02/12/2025] [Accepted: 02/19/2025] [Indexed: 03/20/2025] Open
Abstract
Advances in brain MRI have enabled many discoveries in neuroscience. Case-control comparisons of brain MRI features have highlighted potential causes of psychiatric and behavioral disorders. However, due to the cost and difficulty of collecting MRI data, most studies have small sample sizes, limiting their reliability. Furthermore, reverse causality complicates interpretation because many observed brain differences are the result rather than the cause of the disease. Here we propose a method (BrainXcan) that leverages the power of large-scale genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and reference brain MRI data to discover new mechanisms of disease etiology and validate existing ones. BrainXcan tests the association with genetic predictors of brain MRI-derived features and complex traits to pinpoint relevant brain-wide and region-specific features. Requiring only genetic data, BrainXcan allows us to test a host of hypotheses on mental illness, across many MRI modalities, using public data resources. For example, our method shows that reduced axonal density across the brain is associated with schizophrenia risk, consistent with the disconnectivity hypothesis. We also find that the hippocampus volume is associated with schizophrenia risk, highlighting the potential of our approach. Taken together, our results show the promise of BrainXcan to provide insights into the biology of GWAS traits.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yanyu Liang
- Section of Genetic Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States.
| | - Festus Nyasimi
- Section of Genetic Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Owen Melia
- Department of Computer Science, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Timothy J Carroll
- Department of Radiology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Thomas Brettin
- Computing Environment and Life Sciences Directorate, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL, United States; Consortium for Advanced Science and Engineering, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States
| | - Andrew Brown
- Department of Population Health and Genomics, University of Dundee, Dundee, United Kingdom
| | - Hae Kyung Im
- Section of Genetic Medicine, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, United States; Computing Environment and Life Sciences Directorate, Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL, United States.
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