More Like this

1. The Effect of Anxiety on Regional Brain Volumes in the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center Uniform Data Set

   https://doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igaa057.1197  

   Burke, Shanna ; Li, Tan ; Grudzien, Adrienne ; Barnes, Christopher ; Hanson, Kevin ; DeKosky, Steven ( December 2020 , Innovation in Aging)

   null (Ed.)

   Abstract Anxiety has been associated with greater risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and existing research has identified structural differences in regional brain tissue in anxious compared to healthy samples, but results have been variable and somewhat inconsistent. We sought to determine the effect of anxiety on regional brain volumes by cognitive and apolipoprotein e (APOE) e4 status using data from a large, national dataset. A secondary analysis of the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center Uniform (NACC) Data Set was conducted using complete MRI data from 1,371 participants (mean age: 70.5; SD: 11.7). Multiple linear regression was used to estimate the adjusted effect of anxiety (via the Neuropsychiatric Inventory Questionnaire) on regional brain volumes through measurement of 30 structural MRI biomarkers. Anxiety was associated with lower total brain and total cortical gray matter volumes and increased lateral ventricular volume (p<.05). Lower mean volumes were also observed in all hippocampal, frontal lobe, parietal lobe, temporal lobe, and right occipital lobe volumes among participants who reported anxiety. Conversely, greater ventricular volumes were also correlated with anxiety. Findings suggest that anxiety is associated with significant atrophy in multiple brain regions and ventricular enlargement, even after controlling for intracranial volume and demographic covariates. Anxiety-related changes to brain morphology may contribute to greater AD risk. 

   more » « less
2. Regional Brain Volumes Associated With Depression in the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center Uniform Data Set

   https://doi.org/10.1093/geroni/igaa057.1196  

   Burke, Shanna ; Li, Tan ; Grudzien, Adrienne ; Barnes, Christopher ; Hanson, Kevin ; DeKosky, Steven ( December 2020 , Innovation in Aging)

   null (Ed.)

   Abstract Depression has been associated with greater risk of Alzheimer’s disease (AD), and existing research has identified structural differences in brain regions in depressed subjects compared to healthy samples, but results have been heterogeneous. We sought to determine the effect of depression on regional brain volumes by cognitive and APOE e4 status. Secondary analysis of the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center (NACC) Uniform Data Set was conducted using complete MRI data from 1,371 participants (mean age: 70.5; SD: 11.7). Multiple linear regression was used to estimate the adjusted effect of depression (via the Neuropsychiatric Inventory Questionnaire) on regional brain volumes through measurement of 30 structural MRIs. Depression in the prior two years was associated with lower total brain, cerebrum,, and gray matter volumes and greater total brain white matter hyperintensities (p<.05). Greater volumes were also observed in all ventricular volume measures. Lower mean volumes were observed in six additional frontal lobe and parietal lobe cortical regions. Alternately, depression antecedent to the past 2 years correlated only with occipital lobe gray matter volumes (right, left, total). Our findings suggest that depression in the prior two years is associated with atrophy across multiple brain regions and related ventricular enlargement, even after controlling for intracranial volume and demographic covariates. The duration of depression influences results, however, as depression prior to 2 years before assessment was correlated with significantly fewer and different regional brain volume changes. 

   more » « less
3. Linking brain structure, cognition, and sleep: insights from clinical data

   https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsad294  

   Wei, Ruoqi ; Ganglberger, Wolfgang ; Sun, Haoqi ; Hadar, Peter N. ; Gollub, Randy L. ; Pieper, Steve ; Billot, Benjamin ; Au, Rhoda ; Eugenio Iglesias, Juan ; Cash, Sydney S. ; et al ( November 2023 , SLEEP)

   To use relatively noisy routinely collected clinical data (brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data, clinical polysomnography (PSG) recordings, and neuropsychological testing), to investigate hypothesis-driven and data-driven relationships between brain physiology, structure, and cognition.

   We analyzed data from patients with clinical PSG, brain MRI, and neuropsychological evaluations. SynthSeg, a neural network-based tool, provided high-quality segmentations despite noise. A priori hypotheses explored associations between brain function (measured by PSG) and brain structure (measured by MRI). Associations with cognitive scores and dementia status were studied. An exploratory data-driven approach investigated age-structure-physiology-cognition links.

   Six hundred and twenty-three patients with sleep PSG and brain MRI data were included in this study; 160 with cognitive evaluations. Three hundred and forty-two participants (55%) were female, and age interquartile range was 52 to 69 years. Thirty-six individuals were diagnosed with dementia, 71 with mild cognitive impairment, and 326 with major depression. One hundred and fifteen individuals were evaluated for insomnia and 138 participants had an apnea–hypopnea index equal to or greater than 15. Total PSG delta power correlated positively with frontal lobe/thalamic volumes, and sleep spindle density with thalamic volume. rapid eye movement (REM) duration and amygdala volume were positively associated with cognition. Patients with dementia showed significant differences in five brain structure volumes. REM duration, spindle, and slow-oscillation features had strong associations with cognition and brain structure volumes. PSG and MRI features in combination predicted chronological age (R2 = 0.67) and cognition (R2 = 0.40).

   Routine clinical data holds extended value in understanding and even clinically using brain-sleep-cognition relationships.

    

   more » « less
4. Sleep duration and brain MRI measures: Results from the SOL‐INCA MRI study

   https://doi.org/10.1002/alz.13451  

   González, Kevin A. ; Tarraf, Wassim ; Stickel, Ariana M. ; Kaur, Sonya ; Agudelo, Christian ; Redline, Susan ; Gallo, Linda C. ; Isasi, Carmen R. ; Cai, Jianwen ; Daviglus, Martha L. ; et al ( September 2023 , Alzheimer's & Dementia)

   Sleep duration has been associated with dementia and stroke. Few studies have evaluated sleep pattern–related outcomes of brain disease in diverse Hispanics/Latinos.

   The SOL‐INCA (Study of Latinos‐Investigation of Neurocognitive Aging) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study recruited diverse Hispanics/Latinos (35–85 years) who underwent neuroimaging. The main exposure was self‐reported sleep duration. Our main outcomes were total and regional brain volumes.

   The final analytic sample includedn = 2334 participants. Increased sleep was associated with smaller brain volume (β_{total_brain} = −0.05,p < 0.01) and consistently so in the 50+ subpopulation even after adjusting for mild cognitive impairment status. Sleeping >9 hours was associated with smaller gray (β_{combined_gray} = −0.17,p < 0.05) and occipital matter volumes (β_{occipital_gray} = −0.18,p < 0.05).

   We found that longer sleep duration was associated with lower total brain and gray matter volume among diverse Hispanics/Latinos across sex and background. These results reinforce the importance of sleep on brain aging in this understudied population.

   Longer sleep was linked to smaller total brain and gray matter volumes.

   Longer sleep duration was linked to larger white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) and smaller hippocampal volume in an obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) risk group.

   These associations were consistent across sex and Hispanic/Latino heritage groups.

    

   more » « less
5. Fronto-parietal structural connectivity in childhood predicts development of functional connectivity and reasoning ability: a large-scale longitudinal investigation

   https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3726-16.2017  

   Wendelken, Carter ; Ferrer, Emilio ; Ghetti, Simona ; Bailey, Stephen ; Cutting, Laurie ; Bunge, Silvia A. ( August 2017 , The Journal of Neuroscience)

   Prior research points to a positive concurrent relationship between reasoning ability and both frontoparietal structural connectivity (SC) as measured by diffusion tensor imaging (Tamnes et al., 2010) and frontoparietal functional connectivity (FC) as measured by fMRI (Cocchi et al., 2014). Further, recent research demonstrates a link between reasoning ability and FC of two brain regions in particular: rostrolateral prefrontal cortex (RLPFC) and the inferior parietal lobe (IPL) (Wendelken et al., 2016). Here, we sought to investigate the concurrent and dynamic, lead-lag relationships among frontoparietal SC, FC, and reasoning ability in humans. To this end, we combined three longitudinal developmental datasets with behavioral and neuroimaging data from 523 male and female participants between 6 and 22 years of age. Cross-sectionally, reasoning ability was most strongly related to FC between RLPFC and IPL in adolescents and adults, but to frontoparietal SC in children. Longitudinal analysis revealed that RLPFC-IPL SC, but not FC, was a positive predictor of future changes in reasoning ability. Moreover, we found that RLPFC-IPL SC at one time point positively predicted future changes in RLPFC-IPL FC, whereas, in contrast, FC did not predict future changes in SC. Our results demonstrate the importance of strong white matter connectivity between RLPFC and IPL during middle childhood for the subsequent development of both robust FC and good reasoning ability.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The human capacity for reasoning develops substantially during childhood and has a profound impact on achievement in school and in cognitively challenging careers. Reasoning ability depends on communication between lateral prefrontal and parietal cortices. Therefore, to understand how this capacity develops, we examined the dynamic relationships over time among white matter tracts connecting frontoparietal cortices (i.e., structural connectivity, SC), coordinated frontoparietal activation (functional connectivity, FC), and reasoning ability in a large longitudinal sample of subjects 6-22 years of age. We found that greater frontoparietal SC in childhood predicts future increases in both FC and reasoning ability, demonstrating the importance of white matter development during childhood for subsequent brain and cognitive functioning. 

   more » « less