3 research outputs found
Born too early and too small: higher order cognitive function and brain at risk at ages 8â16
Prematurity presents a risk for higher order cognitive functions. Some of these deficits
manifest later in development, when these functions are expected to mature. However,
the causes and consequences of prematurity are still unclear. We conducted a
longitudinal study to first identify clinical predictors of ultrasound brain abnormalities in
196 children born very preterm (VP; gestational age 32 weeks) and with very low birth
weight (VLBW; birth weight 1500 g). At ages 8â16, the subset of VP-VLBW children
without neurological findings (124) were invited for a neuropsychological assessment
and an MRI scan (41 accepted). Of these, 29 met a rigorous criterion for MRI quality
and an age, and gender-matched control group (n = 14) was included in this study.
The key findings in the VP-VLBW neonates were: (a) 37% of the VP-VLBW neonates
had ultrasound brain abnormalities; (b) gestational age and birth weight collectively with
hospital course (i.e., days in hospital, neonatal intensive care, mechanical ventilation and
with oxygen therapy, surgeries, and retinopathy of prematurity) predicted ultrasound
brain abnormalities. At ages 8â16, VP-VLBW children showed: a) lower intelligent
quotient (IQ) and executive function; b) decreased gray and white matter (WM) integrity;
(c) IQ correlated negatively with cortical thickness in higher order processing cortical
areas. In conclusion, our data indicate that facets of executive function and IQ are the
most affected in VP-VLBW children likely due to altered higher order cortical areas and
underlying WMThis study was supported by the Spanish Government Institute Carlos III (FIS Pl11/02860), Spanish Ministry of Health to MM-L, and the University of Castilla-La Mancha mobility Grant VA1381500149
Born Too Early and Too Small: Higher Order Cognitive Function and Brain at Risk at Ages 8-16
Prematurity presents a risk for higher order cognitive functions. Some of these deficits
manifest later in development, when these functions are expected to mature. However,
the causes and consequences of prematurity are still unclear. We conducted a
longitudinal study to first identify clinical predictors of ultrasound brain abnormalities in
196 children born very preterm (VP; gestational age 32 weeks) and with very low birth
weight (VLBW; birth weight 1500 g). At ages 8â16, the subset of VP-VLBW children
without neurological findings (124) were invited for a neuropsychological assessment
and an MRI scan (41 accepted). Of these, 29 met a rigorous criterion for MRI quality
and an age, and gender-matched control group (n = 14) was included in this study.
The key findings in the VP-VLBW neonates were: (a) 37% of the VP-VLBW neonates
had ultrasound brain abnormalities; (b) gestational age and birth weight collectively with
hospital course (i.e., days in hospital, neonatal intensive care, mechanical ventilation and
with oxygen therapy, surgeries, and retinopathy of prematurity) predicted ultrasound
brain abnormalities. At ages 8â16, VP-VLBW children showed: a) lower intelligent
quotient (IQ) and executive function; b) decreased gray and white matter (WM) integrity;
(c) IQ correlated negatively with cortical thickness in higher order processing cortical
areas. In conclusion, our data indicate that facets of executive function and IQ are the
most affected in VP-VLBW children likely due to altered higher order cortical areas and
underlying W
Frontal and insular input to the dorsolateral temporal pole in primates: Implications for auditory memory
The temporal pole (TP) has been involved in multiple functions from emotional and
social behavior, semantic processing,memory, language in humans and epilepsy surgery,
to the fronto-temporal neurodegenerative disorder (semantic) dementia. However, the
role of the TP subdivisions is still unclear, in part due to the lack of quantitative data
about TP connectivity. This study focuses in the dorsolateral subdivision of the TP:
area 38DL. Area 38DL main input originates in the auditory processing areas of the
rostral superior temporal gyrus. Among other connections, area 38DL conveys this
auditory highly processed information to the entorhinal, rostral perirhinal, and posterior
parahippocampal cortices, presumably for storage in long-term memory (Muñoz-López
et al., 2015). However, the connections of the TP with cortical areas beyond the temporal
cortex suggest that this area is part of a wider network. With the aim to quantitatively
determine the topographical, laminar pattern and weighting of the lateral TP afferents
from the frontal and insular cortices, we placed a total of 11 tracer injections of the
fluorescent retrograde neuronal tracers Fast Blue and Diamidino Yellow at different levels
of the lateral TP in rhesus monkeys. The results showed that circa 50% of the total
cortical input to area 38DL originates in medial frontal areas 14, 25, 32, and 24 (25%);
orbitofrontal areas Pro and PAll (15%); and the agranular, parainsular and disgranular
insula (10%). This study sets the anatomical bases to better understand the function of
the dorsolateral division of the TP. More specifically, these results suggest that area 38DL
forms part of the wider limbic circuit that might contribute, among other functions, with
an auditory component to multimodal memory processing