ABSTRACT
Neuroimaging research has uncovered a multitude of neural abnormalities associated with psychopathology, but few prediction-based studies have been conducted during adolescence, and even fewer used neurobiological features that were extracted across multiple neuroimaging modalities. This gap in the literature is critical, as deriving accurate brain-based models of psychopathology is an essential step towards understanding key neural mechanisms and identifying high-risk individuals. As such, we trained adaptive tree-boosting algorithms on multimodal neuroimaging features from the Lifespan Human Connectome Developmental (HCP-D) sample that contained 956 participants between the ages of 8 to 22 years old. Our feature space consisted of 1037 anatomical, 1090 functional, and 192 diffusion MRI features, which were used to derive models that separately predicted internalizing symptoms, externalizing symptoms, and the general psychopathology factor. We found that multimodal models were the most accurate, but all brain-based models of psychopathology yielded out-of-sample predictions that were weakly correlated with actual symptoms (r2 < 0.15). White matter microstructural properties, including orientation dispersion indices and intracellular volume fractions, were the most predictive of general psychopathology, followed by cortical thickness and functional connectivity. Spatially, the most predictive features of general psychopathology were primarily localized within the default mode and dorsal attention networks. These results were mostly consistent across all dimensions of psychopathology, except orientation dispersion indices and the default mode network were not as heavily weighted in the prediction of internalizing and externalizing symptoms. Taken with prior literature, it appears that neurobiological features are an important part of the equation for predicting psychopathology but relying exclusively on neural markers is clearly not sufficient, especially among adolescent samples with subclinical symptoms. Consequently, risk factor models of psychopathology may benefit from incorporating additional sources of information that have also been shown to explain individual differences, such as psychosocial factors, environmental stressors, and genetic vulnerabilities.
ABSTRACT
Resting-state fMRI studies have shown that multiple functional networks, which consist of distributed brain regions that share synchronised spontaneous activity, co-exist in the brain. As these resting-state networks (RSNs) have been thought to reflect the brain's intrinsic functional organization, intersubject variability in the networks' spontaneous fluctuations may be associated with individuals' clinical, physiological, cognitive, and genetic traits. Here, we investigated resting-state fMRI data along with extensive clinical, lifestyle, and genetic data collected from 37,842 UK Biobank participants, with the object of elucidating intersubject variability in the fluctuation amplitudes of RSNs. Functional properties of the RSN amplitudes were first examined by analyzing correlations with the well-established between-network functional connectivity. It was found that a network amplitude is highly correlated with the mean strength of the functional connectivity that the network has with the other networks. Intersubject clustering analysis showed the amplitudes are most strongly correlated with age, cardiovascular factors, body composition, blood cell counts, lung function, and sex, with some differences in the correlation strengths between sensory and cognitive RSNs. Genome-wide association studies (GWASs) of RSN amplitudes identified several significant genetic variants reported in previous GWASs for their implications in sleep duration. We provide insight into key factors determining RSN amplitudes and demonstrate that intersubject variability of the amplitudes primarily originates from differences in temporal synchrony between functionally linked brain regions, rather than differences in the magnitude of raw voxelwise BOLD signal changes. This finding additionally revealed intriguing differences between sensory and cognitive RSNs with respect to sex effects on temporal synchrony and provided evidence suggesting that synchronous coactivations of functionally linked brain regions, and magnitudes of BOLD signal changes, may be related to different genetic mechanisms. These results underscore that intersubject variability of the amplitudes in health and disease need to be interpreted largely as a measure of the sum of within-network temporal synchrony and amplitudes of BOLD signals, with a dominant contribution from the former.
Subject(s)
Brain Mapping , Genome-Wide Association Study , Humans , Brain Mapping/methods , Rest/physiology , Brain/physiology , Magnetic Resonance Imaging/methods , Nerve Net/diagnostic imaging , Nerve Net/physiologyABSTRACT
Resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) is widely used to predict behavioral measures. To predict behavioral measures, representing RSFC with parcellations and gradients are the two most popular approaches. Here, we compare parcellation and gradient approaches for RSFC-based prediction of a broad range of behavioral measures in the Human Connectome Project (HCP) and Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) datasets. Among the parcellation approaches, we consider group-average "hard" parcellations (Schaefer et al., 2018), individual-specific "hard" parcellations (Kong et al., 2021a), and an individual-specific "soft" parcellation (spatial independent component analysis with dual regression; Beckmann et al., 2009). For gradient approaches, we consider the well-known principal gradients (Margulies et al., 2016) and the local gradient approach that detects local RSFC changes (Laumann et al., 2015). Across two regression algorithms, individual-specific hard-parcellation performs the best in the HCP dataset, while the principal gradients, spatial independent component analysis and group-average "hard" parcellations exhibit similar performance. On the other hand, principal gradients and all parcellation approaches perform similarly in the ABCD dataset. Across both datasets, local gradients perform the worst. Finally, we find that the principal gradient approach requires at least 40 to 60 gradients to perform as well as parcellation approaches. While most principal gradient studies utilize a single gradient, our results suggest that incorporating higher order gradients can provide significant behaviorally relevant information. Future work will consider the inclusion of additional parcellation and gradient approaches for comparison.
Subject(s)
Connectome , Magnetic Resonance Imaging , Adolescent , Humans , Magnetic Resonance Imaging/methods , Connectome/methods , Algorithms , Brain/diagnostic imaging , Image Processing, Computer-Assisted/methodsABSTRACT
Genetic risk for Late Onset Alzheimer Disease (AD) has been associated with lower cognition and smaller hippocampal volume in healthy young adults. However, whether these and other associations are present during childhood remains unclear. Using data from 5556 genomically-confirmed European ancestry youth who completed the baseline session of the ongoing the Adolescent Brain Cognitive DevelopmentSM Study (ABCD Study®), our phenome-wide association study estimating associations between four indices of genetic risk for late-onset AD (i.e., AD polygenic risk scores (PRS), APOE rs429358 genotype, AD PRS with the APOE region removed (ADPRS-APOE), and an interaction between ADPRS-APOE and APOE genotype) and 1687 psychosocial, behavioral, and neural phenotypes revealed no significant associations after correction for multiple testing (all ps > 0.0002; all pfdr > 0.07). These data suggest that AD genetic risk may not phenotypically manifest during middle-childhood or that effects are smaller than this sample is powered to detect.
Subject(s)
Alzheimer Disease , Child , Humans , Alzheimer Disease/genetics , Alzheimer Disease/psychology , Cognition , Genotype , Risk Factors , Apolipoproteins E/geneticsABSTRACT
The UK Biobank (UKB) is a highly promising dataset for brain biomarker research into population mental health due to its unprecedented sample size and extensive phenotypic, imaging, and biological measurements. In this study, we aimed to provide a shared foundation for UKB neuroimaging research into mental health with a focus on anxiety and depression. We compared UKB self-report measures and revealed important timing effects between scan acquisition and separate online acquisition of some mental health measures. To overcome these timing effects, we introduced and validated the Recent Depressive Symptoms (RDS-4) score which we recommend for state-dependent and longitudinal research in the UKB. We furthermore tested univariate and multivariate associations between brain imaging-derived phenotypes (IDPs) and mental health. Our results showed a significant multivariate relationship between IDPs and mental health, which was replicable. Conversely, effect sizes for individual IDPs were small. Test-retest reliability of IDPs was stronger for measures of brain structure than for measures of brain function. Taken together, these results provide benchmarks and guidelines for future UKB research into brain biomarkers of mental health.
Subject(s)
Biological Specimen Banks , Brain/diagnostic imaging , Databases, Factual , Depression/diagnosis , Mental Disorders/diagnosis , Neuroimaging/standards , Self Report , Aged , Biological Specimen Banks/standards , Databases, Factual/standards , Depression/diagnostic imaging , Female , Humans , Male , Mental Disorders/diagnostic imaging , Middle Aged , Neuroimaging/methods , Reproducibility of Results , Self Report/standards , United KingdomABSTRACT
Research into the human connectome (i.e., all connections in the human brain) with the use of resting state functional MRI has rapidly increased in popularity in recent years, especially with the growing availability of large-scale neuroimaging datasets. The goal of this review article is to describe innovations in functional connectome representations that have come about in the past 8 years, since the 2013 NeuroImage special issue on 'Mapping the Connectome'. In the period, research has shifted from group-level brain parcellations towards the characterization of the individualized connectome and of relationships between individual connectomic differences and behavioral/clinical variation. Achieving subject-specific accuracy in parcel boundaries while retaining cross-subject correspondence is challenging, and a variety of different approaches are being developed to meet this challenge, including improved alignment, improved noise reduction, and robust group-to-subject mapping approaches. Beyond the interest in the individualized connectome, new representations of the data are being studied to complement the traditional parcellated connectome representation (i.e., pairwise connections between distinct brain regions), such as methods that capture overlapping and smoothly varying patterns of connectivity ('gradients'). These different connectome representations offer complimentary insights into the inherent functional organization of the brain, but challenges for functional connectome research remain. Interpretability will be improved by future research towards gaining insights into the neural mechanisms underlying connectome observations obtained from functional MRI. Validation studies comparing different connectome representations are also needed to build consensus and confidence to proceed with clinical trials that may produce meaningful clinical translation of connectome insights.
Subject(s)
Connectome/methods , Brain/diagnostic imaging , Humans , Individuality , Magnetic Resonance Imaging/methods , Nerve Net , NeuroimagingABSTRACT
A major goal of large-scale brain imaging datasets is to provide resources for investigating heterogeneous populations. Characterisation of functional brain networks for individual subjects from these datasets will have an enormous potential for prediction of cognitive or clinical traits. We propose for the first time a technique, Stochastic Probabilistic Functional Modes (sPROFUMO), that is scalable to UK Biobank (UKB) with expected 100,000 participants, and hierarchically estimates functional brain networks in individuals and the population, while allowing for bidirectional flow of information between the two. Using simulations, we show the model's utility, especially in scenarios that involve significant cross-subject variability, or require delineation of fine-grained differences between the networks. Subsequently, by applying the model to resting-state fMRI from 4999 UKB subjects, we mapped resting state networks (RSNs) in single subjects with greater detail than has been possible previously in UKB (>100 RSNs), and demonstrate that these RSNs can predict a range of sensorimotor and higher-level cognitive functions. Furthermore, we demonstrate several advantages of the model over independent component analysis combined with dual-regression (ICA-DR), particularly with respect to the estimation of the spatial configuration of the RSNs and the predictive power for cognitive traits. The proposed model and results can open a new door for future investigations into individualised profiles of brain function from big data.
Subject(s)
Brain Mapping/methods , Brain/diagnostic imaging , Magnetic Resonance Imaging/methods , Nerve Net/diagnostic imaging , Big Data , Humans , Models, Statistical , Regression AnalysisABSTRACT
Recent work has highlighted the scale and ubiquity of subject variability in observations from functional MRI data (fMRI). Furthermore, it is highly likely that errors in the estimation of either the spatial presentation of, or the coupling between, functional regions can confound cross-subject analyses, making accurate and unbiased representations of functional data essential for interpreting any downstream analyses. Here, we extend the framework of probabilistic functional modes (PFMs) (Harrison et al., 2015) to capture cross-subject variability not only in the mode spatial maps, but also in the functional coupling between modes and in mode amplitudes. A new implementation of the inference now also allows for the analysis of modern, large-scale data sets, and the combined inference and analysis package, PROFUMO, is available from git.fmrib.ox.ac.uk/samh/profumo. A new implementation of the inference now also allows for the analysis of modern, large-scale data sets. Using simulated data, resting-state data from 1000 subjects collected as part of the Human Connectome Project (Van Essen et al., 2013), and an analysis of 14 subjects in a variety of continuous task-states (Kieliba et al., 2019), we demonstrate how PFMs are able to capture, within a single model, a rich description of how the spatio-temporal structure of resting-state fMRI activity varies across subjects. We also compare the new PFM model to the well established independent component analysis with dual regression (ICA-DR) pipeline. This reveals that, under PFM assumptions, much more of the (behaviorally relevant) cross-subject variability in fMRI activity should be attributed to the variability in spatial maps, and that, after accounting for this, functional coupling between modes primarily reflects current cognitive state. This has fundamental implications for the interpretation of cross-sectional studies of functional connectivity that do not capture cross-subject variability to the same extent as PFMs.
Subject(s)
Brain Mapping , Brain/pathology , Image Processing, Computer-Assisted , Magnetic Resonance Imaging , Algorithms , Connectome , Cross-Sectional Studies , Humans , Image Processing, Computer-Assisted/methodsABSTRACT
We respond to a critique of our temporal Independent Components Analysis (ICA) method for separating global noise from global signal in fMRI data that focuses on the signal versus noise classification of several components. While we agree with several of Power's comments, we provide evidence and analysis to rebut his major criticisms and to reassure readers that temporal ICA remains a powerful and promising denoising approach.
Subject(s)
Artifacts , Brain Mapping/methods , Brain/physiology , Image Processing, Computer-Assisted/methods , Magnetic Resonance Imaging , Data Interpretation, Statistical , Humans , Principal Component Analysis , Signal Processing, Computer-AssistedABSTRACT
Temporal fluctuations in functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) have been profitably used to study brain activity and connectivity for over two decades. Unfortunately, fMRI data also contain structured temporal "noise" from a variety of sources, including subject motion, subject physiology, and the MRI equipment. Recently, methods have been developed to automatically and selectively remove spatially specific structured noise from fMRI data using spatial Independent Components Analysis (ICA) and machine learning classifiers. Spatial ICA is particularly effective at removing spatially specific structured noise from high temporal and spatial resolution fMRI data of the type acquired by the Human Connectome Project and similar studies. However, spatial ICA is mathematically, by design, unable to separate spatially widespread "global" structured noise from fMRI data (e.g., blood flow modulations from subject respiration). No methods currently exist to selectively and completely remove global structured noise while retaining the global signal from neural activity. This has left the field in a quandary-to do or not to do global signal regression-given that both choices have substantial downsides. Here we show that temporal ICA can selectively segregate and remove global structured noise while retaining global neural signal in both task-based and resting state fMRI data. We compare the results before and after temporal ICA cleanup to those from global signal regression and show that temporal ICA cleanup removes the global positive biases caused by global physiological noise without inducing the network-specific negative biases of global signal regression. We believe that temporal ICA cleanup provides a "best of both worlds" solution to the global signal and global noise dilemma and that temporal ICA itself unlocks interesting neurobiological insights from fMRI data.
Subject(s)
Brain Mapping/methods , Brain/diagnostic imaging , Image Processing, Computer-Assisted/methods , Magnetic Resonance Imaging/methods , Adult , Brain/physiology , Brain Mapping/standards , Connectome , Female , Humans , Image Processing, Computer-Assisted/standards , Magnetic Resonance Imaging/standards , Male , Sensitivity and Specificity , Young AdultABSTRACT
The amplitudes of spontaneous fluctuations in brain activity may be a significant source of within-subject and between-subject variability, and this variability is likely to be carried through into functional connectivity (FC) estimates (whether directly or indirectly). Therefore, improving our understanding of amplitude fluctuations over the course of a resting state scan and variation in amplitude across individuals is of great relevance to the interpretation of FC findings. We investigate resting state amplitudes in two large-scale studies (HCP and UK Biobank), with the aim of determining between-subject and within-subject variability. Between-subject clustering distinguished between two groups of brain networks whose amplitude variation across subjects were highly correlated with each other, revealing a clear distinction between primary sensory and motor regions ('primary sensory/motor cluster') and cognitive networks. Within subjects, all networks in the primary sensory/motor cluster showed a consistent increase in amplitudes from the start to the end of the scan. In addition to the strong increases in primary sensory/motor amplitude, a large number of changes in FC were found when comparing the two scans acquired on the same day (HCP data). Additive signal change analysis confirmed that all of the observed FC changes could be fully explained by changes in amplitude. Between-subject correlations in UK Biobank data showed a negative correlation between primary sensory/motor amplitude and average sleep duration, suggesting a role of arousal. Our findings additionally reveal complex relationships between amplitude and head motion. These results suggest that network amplitude is a source of significant variability both across subjects, and within subjects on a within-session timescale. Future rfMRI studies may benefit from obtaining arousal-related (self report) measures, and may wish to consider the influence of amplitude changes on measures of (dynamic) functional connectivity.
Subject(s)
Brain/physiology , Neural Pathways/physiology , Adult , Female , Humans , Magnetic Resonance Imaging , Male , RestABSTRACT
We present a practical "how-to" guide to help determine whether single-subject fMRI independent components (ICs) characterise structured noise or not. Manual identification of signal and noise after ICA decomposition is required for efficient data denoising: to train supervised algorithms, to check the results of unsupervised ones or to manually clean the data. In this paper we describe the main spatial and temporal features of ICs and provide general guidelines on how to evaluate these. Examples of signal and noise components are provided from a wide range of datasets (3T data, including examples from the UK Biobank and the Human Connectome Project, and 7T data), together with practical guidelines for their identification. Finally, we discuss how the data quality, data type and preprocessing can influence the characteristics of the ICs and present examples of particularly challenging datasets.
Subject(s)
Brain/diagnostic imaging , Functional Neuroimaging/methods , Image Processing, Computer-Assisted/methods , Magnetic Resonance Imaging/methods , Adult , Child , HumansABSTRACT
Sustained anxiety about potential future negative events is an important feature of anxiety disorders. In this study, we used a novel anticipation of shock paradigm to investigate individual differences in functional connectivity during prolonged threat of shock. We examined the correlates of between-participant differences in trait anxious affect and induced anxiety, where the latter reflects changes in self-reported anxiety resulting from the shock manipulation. Dissociable effects of trait anxious affect and induced anxiety were observed. Participants with high scores on a latent dimension of anxious affect showed less increase in ventromedial pFC-amygdala connectivity between periods of safety and shock anticipation. Meanwhile, lower levels of induced anxiety were linked to greater augmentation of dorsolateral pFC-anterior insula connectivity during shock anticipation. These findings suggest that ventromedial pFC-amygdala and dorsolateral pFC-insula networks might both contribute to regulation of sustained fear responses, with their recruitment varying independently across participants. The former might reflect an evolutionarily old mechanism for reducing fear or anxiety, whereas the latter might reflect a complementary mechanism by which cognitive control can be implemented to diminish fear responses generated due to anticipation of aversive stimuli or events. These two circuits might provide complementary, alternate targets for exploration in future pharmacological and cognitive intervention studies.
Subject(s)
Anxiety/physiopathology , Brain/physiology , Personality/physiology , Adolescent , Adult , Brain Mapping , Electroshock , Factor Analysis, Statistical , Female , Humans , Individuality , Magnetic Resonance Imaging , Male , Neural Pathways/physiology , Personality Tests , Self Report , Stress, Psychological/physiopathology , Surveys and Questionnaires , Young AdultABSTRACT
Resting state fMRI may help identify markers of risk for affective disorder. Given the comorbidity of anxiety and depressive disorders and the heterogeneity of these disorders as defined by DSM, an important challenge is to identify alterations in resting state brain connectivity uniquely associated with distinct profiles of negative affect. The current study aimed to address this by identifying differences in brain connectivity specifically linked to cognitive and physiological profiles of anxiety, controlling for depressed affect. We adopted a two-stage multivariate approach. Hierarchical clustering was used to independently identify dimensions of negative affective style and resting state brain networks. Combining the clustering results, we examined individual differences in resting state connectivity uniquely associated with subdimensions of anxious affect, controlling for depressed affect. Physiological and cognitive subdimensions of anxious affect were identified. Physiological anxiety was associated with widespread alterations in insula connectivity, including decreased connectivity between insula subregions and between the insula and other medial frontal and subcortical networks. This is consistent with the insula facilitating communication between medial frontal and subcortical regions to enable control of physiological affective states. Meanwhile, increased connectivity within a frontoparietal-posterior cingulate cortex-precunous network was specifically associated with cognitive anxiety, potentially reflecting increased spontaneous negative cognition (e.g., worry). These findings suggest that physiological and cognitive anxiety comprise subdimensions of anxiety-related affect and reveal associated alterations in brain connectivity.
Subject(s)
Affect/physiology , Anxiety/physiopathology , Brain/physiology , Rest/physiology , Adolescent , Adult , Amygdala/physiology , Brain Mapping , Cluster Analysis , Cognition/physiology , Depression/physiopathology , Female , Humans , Individuality , Magnetic Resonance Imaging , Male , Neural Pathways/physiology , Surveys and Questionnaires , Young AdultABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The Whitehall II (WHII) study of British civil servants provides a unique source of longitudinal data to investigate key factors hypothesized to affect brain health and cognitive ageing. This paper introduces the multi-modal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) protocol and cognitive assessment designed to investigate brain health in a random sample of 800 members of the WHII study. METHODS/DESIGN: A total of 6035 civil servants participated in the WHII Phase 11 clinical examination in 2012-2013. A random sample of these participants was included in a sub-study comprising an MRI brain scan, a detailed clinical and cognitive assessment, and collection of blood and buccal mucosal samples for the characterisation of immune function and associated measures. Data collection for this sub-study started in 2012 and will be completed by 2016. The participants, for whom social and health records have been collected since 1985, were between 60-85 years of age at the time the MRI study started. Here, we describe the pre-specified clinical and cognitive assessment protocols, the state-of-the-art MRI sequences and latest pipelines for analyses of this sub-study. DISCUSSION: The integration of cutting-edge MRI techniques, clinical and cognitive tests in combination with retrospective data on social, behavioural and biological variables during the preceding 25 years from a well-established longitudinal epidemiological study (WHII cohort) will provide a unique opportunity to examine brain structure and function in relation to age-related diseases and the modifiable and non-modifiable factors affecting resilience against and vulnerability to adverse brain changes.
Subject(s)
Aging/pathology , Brain/pathology , Cognition Disorders/pathology , Magnetic Resonance Imaging/methods , Neuroimaging/methods , Adult , Aged , Aged, 80 and over , Cognition , Female , Humans , Longitudinal Studies , Male , Middle Aged , Retrospective StudiesABSTRACT
Research into the brain basis of psychopathology is challenging due to the heterogeneity of psychiatric disorders, extensive comorbidities, underdiagnosis or overdiagnosis, multifaceted interactions with genetics and life experiences, and the highly multivariate nature of neural correlates. Therefore, increasingly larger datasets that measure more variables in larger cohorts are needed to gain insights. In this review, we present current "best practice" approaches for using existing databases, collecting and sharing new repositories for big data analyses, and future directions for big data in neuroimaging and psychiatry with an emphasis on contributing to collaborative efforts and the challenges of multi-study data analysis.
ABSTRACT
Background: 1.The use of machine learning to classify diagnostic cases versus controls defined based on diagnostic ontologies such as the ICD-10 from neuroimaging features is now commonplace across a wide range of diagnostic fields. However, transdiagnostic comparisons of such classifications are lacking. Such transdiagnostic comparisons are important to establish the specificity of classification models, set benchmarks, and assess the value of diagnostic ontologies. Results: 2.We investigated case-control classification accuracy in 17 different ICD-10 diagnostic groups from Chapter V (mental and behavioral disorders) and Chapter VI (diseases of the nervous system) using data from the UK Biobank. Classification models were trained using either neuroimaging (structural or functional brain MRI feature sets) or socio-demographic features. Random forest classification models were adopted using rigorous shuffle splits to estimate stability as well as accuracy of case-control classifications. Diagnostic classification accuracies were benchmarked against age classification (oldest versus youngest) from the same feature sets and against additional classifier types (K-nearest neighbors and linear support vector machine). In contrast to age classification accuracy, which was high for all feature sets, few ICD-10 diagnostic groups were classified significantly above chance (namely, demyelinating diseases based on structural neuroimaging features, and depression based on socio-demographic and functional neuroimaging features). Conclusion: 3.These findings highlight challenges with the current disease classification system, leading us to recommend caution with the use of ICD-10 diagnostic groups as target labels in brain-based disease prediction studies.
ABSTRACT
Information processing in the brain spans from localised sensorimotor processes to higher-level cognition that integrates across multiple regions. Interactions between and within these subsystems enable multiscale information processing. Despite this multiscale characteristic, functional brain connectivity is often either estimated based on 10-30 distributed modes or parcellations with 100-1000 localised parcels, both missing across-scale functional interactions. We present Multiscale Probabilistic Functional Modes (mPFMs), a new mapping which comprises modes over various scales of granularity, thus enabling direct estimation of functional connectivity within- and across-scales. Crucially, mPFMs emerged from data-driven multilevel Bayesian modelling of large functional MRI (fMRI) populations. We demonstrate that mPFMs capture both distributed brain modes and their co-existing subcomponents. In addition to validating mPFMs using simulations and real data, we show that mPFMs can predict ~900 personalised traits from UK Biobank more accurately than current standard techniques. Therefore, mPFMs can offer a paradigm shift in functional connectivity modelling and yield enhanced fMRI biomarkers for traits and diseases.
ABSTRACT
Objective: Though caffeine use during pregnancy is common, its longitudinal associations with child behavioral and physical health outcomes remain poorly understood. Here, we estimated associations between prenatal caffeine exposure, body mass index (BMI), and behavior as children enter adolescence. Method: Longitudinal data and caregiver-reported prenatal caffeine exposure were obtained from the ongoing Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) SM Study, which recruited 11,875 children aged 9-11 years at baseline from 21 sites across the United States starting June 1, 2016. Prenatal caffeine exposure was analyzed as a 4-level categorical variable, and further group contrasts were used to characterize "any exposure" and "daily exposure" groups. Outcomes included psychopathology characteristics in children, sleep problems, and BMI. Potentially confounding covariates included familial (e.g., income, familial psychopathology), pregnancy (e.g., prenatal substance exposure), and child (e.g., caffeine use) variables. Results: Among 10,873 children (5,686 boys [52.3%]; mean [SD] age, 9.9 [0.6] years) with nonmissing prenatal caffeine exposure data, 6,560 (60%) were exposed to caffeine prenatally. Relative to no exposure, daily caffeine exposure was associated with higher child BMI (ß=0.08; FDR-corrected p=0.02), but was not associated with child behavior. Those exposed to two or more cups of caffeine daily (n=1,028) had greater sleep problems than those with lower/no exposure (ß>0.92; FDR-corrected p<0.04). Conclusion: Daily prenatal caffeine exposure is associated with heightened childhood BMI, and when used multiple times a day greater sleep problems even after accounting for potential confounds. Whether this relationship is a consequence of prenatal caffeine exposure or its correlated factors remains unknown.
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION: The hippocampus atrophies with age and is implicated in neurodegenerative disorders including Alzheimer's disease (AD). We examined the interplay between age and APOE genotype on total hippocampal volume. METHODS: Utilizing neuroimaging data from 37,463 UK Biobank participants, we applied linear regression to quantify the association of age and APOE with hippocampal volume and identified the age when volumes of ε2/ε3, ε3/ε4, and ε4/ε4 carriers significantly deviated from ε3/ε3 using generalized additive modeling. RESULTS: Total hippocampal volume declined with age, with significant differences by APOE genotype emerging after age 60. ε3/ε4 and ε4/ε4 carriers displayed reduced volumes from ages 69 and 61, respectively, while ε2/ε3 showed delayed decline starting at age 76. DISCUSSION: The association of APOE and hippocampal volume is age-dependent, with differences in volumes of ε4/ε4 carriers detected as early as age 61. This work underscores the importance of APOE genotype in determining when to begin screening for AD.