Neuronal networks in the developing brain are adversely modulated by early psychosocial neglect

The brain's neural circuitry plays a ubiquitous role across domains in cognitive processing and undergoes extensive re-organization during the course of development in part as a result of experience. In this paper we investigated the effects of profound early psychosocial neglect associated with institutional rearing on the development of task-independent brain networks, estimated from longitudinally acquired electroencephalographic (EEG) data from <30 to 96 months, in three cohorts of children from the Bucharest Early Intervention Project (BEIP), including abandoned children reared in institutions who were randomly assigned either to a foster care intervention or to remain in care as usual and never institutionalized children. Two aberrantly connected brain networks were identified in children that had been reared in institutions: 1) a hyper-connected parieto-occipital network, which included cortical hubs and connections that may partially overlap with default-mode network and 2) a hypo-connected network between left temporal and distributed bilateral regions, both of which were aberrantly connected across neural oscillations. This study provides the first evidence of the adverse effects of early psychosocial neglect on the wiring of the developing brain. Given these networks' potentially significant role in various cognitive processes, including memory, learning, social communication and language, these findings suggest that institutionalization in early life may profoundly impact the neural correlates underlying multiple cognitive domains, in ways that may not be fully reversible in the short term

Effect of Early Institutionalization and Foster Care on Long-term White Matter Development

IMPORTANCE: Severe neglect in early life is associated with compromises in brain development and associated behavioral functioning. Although early intervention has been shown to support more normative trajectories of brain development, specific improvements in the white matter pathways that underlie emotional and cognitive development are unknown. OBJECTIVE: To examine associations among neglect in early life, early intervention, and the microstructural integrity of white matter pathways in middle childhood. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: The Bucharest Early Intervention Project is a randomized clinical trial of high-quality foster care as an intervention for institutionally reared children in Bucharest, Romania, from 2000 through the present. During infancy, children were randomly selected to remain in an institution or to be placed in foster care. Those who remained in institutions experienced neglect, including social, emotional, linguistic, and cognitive impoverishment. Developmental trajectories of these children were compared with a group of sociodemographically matched children reared in biological families at baseline and several points throughout development. At approximately 8 years of age, 69 of the original 136 children underwent structural magnetic resonance imaging scans. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Four estimates of white matter integrity (fractional anisotropy [FA] and mean [MD], radial [RD], and axial [AD] diffusivity) for 48 white matter tracts throughout the brain were obtained through diffusion tensor imaging. RESULTS: Significant associations emerged between neglect in early life and microstructural integrity of the body of the corpus callosum (FA, β = 0.01 [P = .01]; RD, β = -0.02 [P = .005]; MD, β = -0.01 [P = .02]) and tracts involved in limbic circuitry (fornix crus [AD, β = 0.02 (P = .046)] and cingulum [RD, β = -0.01 (P = .02); MD, β = -0.01 (P = .049)]), frontostriatal circuitry (anterior [AD, β = -0.01 (P = .02)] and superior [AD, β = -0.02 (P = .02); MD, β = -0.01 (P = .03)] corona radiata and external capsule [right FA, β = 0.01 (P = .03); left FA, β = 0.01 (P = .03); RD, β = -0.01 (P = .01); MD, β = -0.01 (P = .03)]), and sensory processing (medial lemniscus [AD, β = -0.02 (P = .045); MD, β = -0.01 (P = .04)] and retrolenticular internal capsule [FA, β = -0.01 (P = .002); RD, β = 0.01 (P = .003); MD, β = 0.01 (P = .04)]). Follow-up analyses revealed that early intervention promoted more normative white matter development among previously neglected children who entered foster care. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Results suggest that removal from conditions of neglect in early life and entry into a high-quality family environment can support more normative trajectories of white matter growth. Our findings have implications for public health and policy efforts designed to promote normative brain development among vulnerable children

Application of statistical fault detection to civil engineering systems

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 1994.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 167-175).by Catherine Stamoulis.M.S

Analysis of ice-induced acoustic events in the central arctic

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Civil and Environmental Engineering, 1997.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 244-247).by Catherine Stamoulis.Ph.D

Modulatory effects of fMRI acquisition time of day, week and year on adolescent functional connectomes across spatial scales: Implications for inference

Metabolic, hormonal, autonomic and physiological rhythms may have a significant impact on cerebral hemodynamics and intrinsic brain synchronization measured with fMRI (the resting-state connectome). The impact of their characteristic time scales (hourly, circadian, seasonal), and consequently scan timing effects, on brain topology in inherently heterogeneous developing connectomes remains elusive. In a cohort of 4102 early adolescents with resting-state fMRI (median age = 120.0 months; 53.1 % females) from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study, this study investigated associations between scan time-of-day, time-of-week (school day vs weekend) and time-of-year (school year vs summer vacation) and topological properties of resting-state connectomes at multiple spatial scales. On average, participants were scanned around 2 pm, primarily during school days (60.9 %), and during the school year (74.6 %). Scan time-of-day was negatively correlated with multiple whole-brain, network-specific and regional topological properties (with the exception of a positive correlation with modularity), primarily of visual, dorsal attention, salience, frontoparietal control networks, and the basal ganglia. Being scanned during the weekend (vs a school day) was correlated with topological differences in the hippocampus and temporoparietal networks. Being scanned during the summer vacation (vs the school year) was consistently positively associated with multiple topological properties of bilateral visual, and to a lesser extent somatomotor, dorsal attention and temporoparietal networks. Time parameter interactions suggested that being scanned during the weekend and summer vacation enhanced the positive effects of being scanned in the morning. Time-of-day effects were overall small but spatially extensive, and time-of-week and time-of-year effects varied from small to large (Cohen's f ≤ 0.1, Cohen's d<0.82, p < 0.05). Together, these parameters were also positively correlated with temporal fMRI signal variability but only in the left hemisphere. Finally, confounding effects of scan time parameters on relationships between connectome properties and cognitive task performance were assessed using the ABCD neurocognitive battery. Although most relationships were unaffected by scan time parameters, their combined inclusion eliminated associations between properties of visual and somatomotor networks and performance in the Matrix Reasoning and Pattern Comparison Processing Speed tasks. Thus, scan time of day, week and year may impact measurements of adolescent brain's functional circuits, and should be accounted for in studies on their associations with cognitive performance, in order to reduce the probability of incorrect inference

Discordant radiologic and histological dimensions of the zone of provisional calcification in fetal piglets

Studies have shown that the fracture plane of the classic metaphyseal lesion (CML) of infant abuse occurs in the region of the primary spongiosa, encompassing a radiodense fracture fragment customarily referred to as the “zone of provisional calcification” or ZPC. However, the zone of provisional calcification is defined differently in the pathology and the imaging literature, potentially impeding efforts to understand the fundamental morphological features of the classic metaphyseal lesion.We systematically correlated micro-CT data with histology in piglets to explore the differing definitions of the zone of provisional calcification and to elucidate the anatomical basis for divergent definitions.The distal tibias of five normal fetal piglets were studied postmortem. The specimens were resected and imaged with digital radiography (50 μm resolution) and micro-CT (45 μm3 isotropic resolution). Image processing techniques were applied to the micro-CT data for visualization and data analysis. The resected tissue specimens were then processed routinely and the light microscopic features were correlated with the imaging findings.The longitudinal dimension of the radiologic zone of provisional calcification is greater than the histological ZPC, and these dimensions are statistically distinct (P < 0.0002). The radiologic zone of provisional calcification consists of two adjoining mineralized discoid regions that span the chondro-osseous junction—a thick discoid region that encompasses the densest region of the primary spongiosa, and a thin discoid region (corresponding to the histological ZPC) that is situated in the base of the physis adjacent to the metaphysis.The correlation of the normal histology and micro-CT appearance of this dynamic and complex region provides an anatomical foundation upon which a deeper appreciation of the morphology of the classic metaphyseal lesion can be built