Deep learning-based embedding of functional connectivity profiles for precision functional mapping.

Spatial similarity of functional connectivity profiles across matching anatomical locations in individuals is often calculated to delineate individual differences in functional networks. Likewise, spatial similarity is assessed across average functional connectivity profiles of groups to evaluate the maturity of functional networks during development. Despite its widespread use, spatial similarity is limited to comparing two samples at a time.

What makes the human brain special - from cellular function to clinical translation.

What makes the human brain special? Human neurons, glia cells, and cortical circuits have been shown to be significantly different from those of other species, including mammals. This has led to a massive effort by the neuroscience community to directly study these differences in a multimodal approach. The studies conducted include single-cell and network recordings of human tissue samples, single-cell transcriptomics, and morphological analysis of the distinct cells to better understand the underlying differences from the cellular to the systems level.

Caregiver-Implemented AAC Interventions for Children with Intellectual or Developmental Disabilities: a Systematic Review.

Many children with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities benefit from augmentative and alternative communication strategies (AAC) to increase their communicative competency. Furthermore, caregiver-implemented AAC interventions are an effective and efficient strategy to improve communication outcomes. We reviewed the caregiver-implemented AAC intervention literature to assess child and caregiver characteristics, what kind of interventions caregivers were taught, how caregivers were trained, and how studies evaluated caregiver implementation.

Alterations in beta oscillatory activity occur with the emergence of parkinsonian motor signs across the basal ganglia-thalamocortical network.

Mounting evidence suggests that elevated beta oscillatory activity in the basal ganglia thalamocortical (BGTC) network is associated with the cardinal motor signs in people with Parkinson's disease (PD). The evolution of abnormal beta oscillatory activity across the BGTC network as motor signs emerge, however, is not well understood. The goal of this study was to investigate whether beta oscillatory activity in the BGTC network changes prior to and how it evolves during the emergence of mild parkinsonian motor signs.

Modulating salience network connectivity through olfactory nerve stimulation.

Depression is associated with reduced functional connectivity within the brain's salience network and its strengthened interactions with the default mode network (DMN). Modification of this clinical pattern is challenging. Leveraging the direct neural pathways from olfactory processing regions to the salience network, we explored the effects of electrical stimulation of the olfactory mucosa on brain connectivity.

Baby Open Brains: An open-source dataset of infant brain segmentations.

Reproducibility of neuroimaging research on infant brain development remains limited due to highly variable processing approaches. Progress towards reproducible pipelines is limited by a lack of benchmarks such as gold-standard brain segmentations. These segmentations are limited by the difficulty of infant brain segmentations, which require extensive neuroanatomical knowledge and are time-consuming in nature.

Body size and intracranial volume interact with the structure of the central nervous system: A multi-center in vivo neuroimaging study.

Clinical research emphasizes the implementation of rigorous and reproducible study designs that rely on between-group matching or controlling for sources of biological variation such as subject's sex and age. However, corrections for body size (i.e.

Multi-echo acquisition and thermal denoising advances precision functional imaging.

The characterization of individual functional brain organization with Precision Functional Mapping has provided important insights in recent years in adults. However, little is known about the ontogeny of inter-individual differences in brain functional organization during human development. Precise characterization of systems organization during periods of high plasticity is likely to be essential for discoveries promoting lifelong health.

XCP-D: A robust pipeline for the post-processing of fMRI data.

Functional neuroimaging is an essential tool for neuroscience research. Pre-processing pipelines produce standardized, minimally pre-processed data to support a range of potential analyses. However, post-processing is not similarly standardized.

Precision Functional Neuroimaging Reveals Individually Specific Auditory Responses in Infants.

Adaptively responding to salient stimuli in the environment is a fundamental feature of cognitive development in early life, which is enabled by the developing brain. Understanding individual variability in how the brain supports this fundamental process is essential for uncovering neurodevelopmental trajectories and potential neurodevelopmental risks. In the present study, we used a precision functional imaging approach to probe activation in response to salient auditory stimuli and its relation to brain functional networks in individual infants.

Social context is a cue for tic reduction in clinical settings.

Assessment and diagnosis of Tourette Syndrome and other tic disorders relies on clinical observation and self-reported history. However, tics are highly susceptible to contextual influences, including clinical interactions. We used video-based observation to quantify the contextual impact of clinician presence on tics and evaluate the potential for these methods to improve tic detection.

Structural and Functional Brain Changes in Children and Adolescents With Obesity.

Obesity, particularly pediatric obesity, has dramatically increased over the last three decades, with a wide range of detrimental health outcomes, including negative consequences for brain neurodevelopment. The present article reviewed magnetic resonance imaging studies between January 2011 and March 2024 examining the brain's role in pediatric obesity, including parental influences and diverse interventions. A literature search identified 97 eligible MRI studies in the pediatric population.

The Artist Mindset: A Collaborative Autoethnography by a Poet and a Psychiatrist.

Converging evidence supports the idea that engaging in the arts can benefit mental health. However, the mechanisms underlying such effects are poorly understood. To gain insights that would be useful to the arts-in-health field, the current paper applied collaborative autoethnography to the questions, "How do artists manage their creative process? How might this process be helpful for adolescents with depression?" In an unstructured exchange that took place over 5 years, the two authors (a poet/teaching artist and a child and adolescent psychiatrist/researcher) explored the intersection of the artist's strategies for creative practice and mental health.

A whole-brain voxel-based analysis of structural abnormalities in PTSD: An ENIGMA-PGC study.

Background: Patients with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) exhibit smaller regional brain volumes in commonly reported regions including the amygdala and hippocampus, regions associated with fear and memory processing. In the current study, we have conducted a voxel-based morphometry (VBM) meta-analysis using whole-brain statistical maps with neuroimaging data from the ENIGMA-PGC PTSD working group.

Methods: T1-weighted structural neuroimaging scans from 36 cohorts (PTSD  = 1309; controls  = 2198) were processed using a standardized VBM pipeline (ENIGMA-VBM tool).

Longitudinal changes in infant attention-related brain networks and fearful temperament.

Background: Anxiety disorders may partly stem from altered neurodevelopment of attention-related networks. Neonatal alterations in resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) among the dorsal attention (DAN); frontal parietal (FPN); salience (SN); and default mode networks (DMN)) relate to fearful temperament, a risk marker for anxiety. Nevertheless, little research examines development of these networks beyond the first months of life, particularly in fearful infants.

Unintended bias in the pursuit of collinearity solutions in fMRI analysis.

In task functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), collinearity between task regressors in time series models may impact power. When collinearity is identified after data collection, researchers often modify the model in an effort to reduce collinearity. However, some model adjustments are suboptimal and may introduce bias into parameter estimates.

Standardizing Survey Data Collection to Enhance Reproducibility: Development and Comparative Evaluation of the ReproSchema Ecosystem.

Background: Inconsistencies in survey-based (eg, questionnaire) data collection across biomedical, clinical, behavioral, and social sciences pose challenges to research reproducibility. ReproSchema is an ecosystem that standardizes survey design and facilitates reproducible data collection through a schema-centric framework, a library of reusable assessments, and computational tools for validation and conversion. Unlike conventional survey platforms that primarily offer graphical user interface-based survey creation, ReproSchema provides a structured, modular approach for defining and managing survey components, enabling interoperability and adaptability across diverse research settings.

Task-evoked functional connectivity exhibits novel and strengthened relationships with executive function relative to the resting state.

Executive functioning in children has been linked to intrinsic brain network organization assessed during the resting state, as well as to brain network organization during the performance of cognitive tasks. Prior work has established that task-based brain networks are stronger predictors of behavior than resting state networks, yet it is unclear if tasks only strengthen relationships that exist weakly at rest or if tasks also evoke unique relationships. A lack of discernment regarding how tasks and the resting state commonly and uniquely support executive functions precludes a holistic understanding of the neurobiological basis of executive functions.

Beyond hearing loss: exploring neurological and neurodevelopmental sequelae in asymptomatic congenital cytomegalovirus infection.

Congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) infection is common, and usually clinically inapparent. The prevalence of infection is approximately 1:200 births, but only 10-15% of infants have clinically apparent CMV disease (CACMV) as newborns. The most common long-term disability is sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL), which occurs in 10-15% of all cases.

Human thalamocortical structural connectivity develops in line with a hierarchical axis of cortical plasticity.

Human cortical development follows a hierarchical, sensorimotor-to-association sequence. The brain's capacity to enact this sequence indicates that it relies on unknown mechanisms to regulate regional differences in the timing of cortical maturation. Given evidence from animal systems that thalamic axons mechanistically regulate periods of cortical plasticity, here we evaluate in humans whether the development of structural connections between the thalamus and cortex aligns with cortical maturational heterochronicity.

Polygenic Risk, Psychopathology, and Personalized Functional Brain Network Topography in Adolescence.

Importance: Functional brain networks are associated with both behavior and genetic factors. To uncover biological mechanisms of psychopathology, it is critical to define how the spatial organization of these networks relates to genetic risk during development.

Objective: To determine the associations among transdiagnostic polygenic risk scores (PRSs), personalized functional brain networks (PFNs), and overall psychopathology (p-factor) during early adolescence.

Reproducible sex differences in personalised functional network topography in youth.

Background: A key step toward understanding psychiatric disorders that disproportionately impact female mental health is delineating the emergence of sex-specific patterns of brain organisation at the critical transition from childhood to adolescence. Prior work suggests that individual differences in the spatial organisation of functional brain networks across the cortex are associated with psychopathology and differ systematically by sex.

Aims: We aimed to evaluate the impact of sex on the spatial organisation of person-specific functional brain networks.