Morphological Differences in Adolescent Female to Male Transsexuals before Cross-Hormone Treatment

Early-onset gender identity disorder (EO-GID) describes a strong and persistent development of cross-gender identification. Using structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI) and blood samples, we studied 13 female to male patients with EO-GID and compared them to 11 biological female controls. We found that the EO-GID group in comparison to its control group showed several significant differences in regional brain volumes. These include an increase in cerebral gray matter and a decrease in volume of cerebellar white matter in the mid anterior and posterior part of the corpus callosum. Furthermore, we showed statistically significant relationships between hormone levels and regional brain volume. These include relationships between the free thyroid hormone thyroxine (T4) and volumes of the frontal lobe, the temporal lobe and cerebral white matter; between sex-hormone binding globulin (SHGB) and the frontal lobe; as well as between thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) and cerebral gray matter. The results of regression analyses indicate that brain volume (outcome variables) decreases with the lower thyroid hormone levels (predictor variables). We propose that abnormal hormonal development of thyroid hormones influences white matter volume in our EO-GID group. Such an abnormal development further might affect both structural and functional properties of the brain

Trajectories of brain volumes in young children are associated with maternal education

Brain growth in early childhood is reflected in the evolution of proportional cerebrospinal fluid volumes (pCSF), grey matter (pGM), and white matter (pWM). We study brain development as reflected in the relative fractions of these three tissues for a cohort of 388 children that were longitudinally followed between the ages of 18 and 96 months. We introduce statistical methodology (Riemannian Principal Analysis through Conditional Expectation, RPACE) that addresses major challenges that are of general interest for the analysis of longitudinal neuroimaging data, including the sparsity of the longitudinal observations over time and the compositional structure of the relative brain volumes. Applying the RPACE methodology, we find that longitudinal growth as reflected by tissue composition differs significantly for children of mothers with higher and lower maternal education levels.publishedVersio

Network evolution of regional brain volumes in young children reflects neurocognitive scores and mother's education

The maturation of regional brain volumes from birth to preadolescence is a critical developmental process that underlies emerging brain structural connectivity and function. Regulated by genes and environment, the coordinated growth of different brain regions plays an important role in cognitive development. Current knowledge about structural network evolution is limited, partly due to the sparse and irregular nature of most longitudinal neuroimaging data. In particular, it is unknown how factors such as mother’s education or sex of the child impact the structural network evolution. To address this issue, we propose a method to construct evolving structural networks and study how the evolving connections among brain regions as reflected at the network level are related to maternal education and biological sex of the child and also how they are associated with cognitive development. Our methodology is based on applying local Fréchet regression to longitudinal neuroimaging data acquired from the RESONANCE cohort, a cohort of healthy children (245 females and 309 males) ranging in age from 9 weeks to 10 years. Our findings reveal that sustained highly coordinated volume growth across brain regions is associated with lower maternal education and lower cognitive development. This suggests that higher neurocognitive performance levels in children are associated with increased variability of regional growth patterns as children age.publishedVersio

A Nutrient Formulation Affects Developmental Myelination in Term Infants: A Randomized Clinical Trial

Background and Objectives: Observational studies suggest differences between breast-fed and formula-fed infants in developmental myelination, a key brain process for learning. The study aims to investigate the efficacy of a blend of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), arachidonic acid (ARA), iron, vitamin B12, folic acid, and sphingomyelin (SM) from a uniquely processed whey protein concentrate enriched in alpha-lactalbumin and phospholipids compared with a control formulation on myelination, cognitive, and behavioral development in the first 6 months of life. Methods: These are 6-month results from an ongoing two-center, randomized controlled trial with a 12-month intervention period (completed for all participants). In this study, full term, neurotypical infants of both sexes (N = 81) were randomized into investigational (N = 42) or control groups (N = 39). In addition, non-randomized breast-fed children (N = 108) serve as a natural reference group. Main outcomes are myelination (MRI), cognitive (Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, 3rd edition [Bayley-III]), social-emotional development (Ages and Stages Questionnaires: Social-Emotional, 2nd edition [ASQ:SE-2]), sleep (Brief Infant Sleep Questionnaire [BISQ]), and safety (growth and adverse events [AEs]). Results: The full analyses set comprises N = 66 infants. Significant differences in myelin structure, volume, and rate of myelination were observed in favor of the investigational myelin blend at 3 and 6 months of life. Effects were demonstrated for whole brain myelin and for cerebellar, parietal, occipital, and temporal regions, known to be functionally involved in sensory, motor, and language skills. No statistically significant differences were found for early behavior and cognition scores. Conclusions: This is the first study demonstrating the efficacy of a myelin nutrient blend in well-nourished, term infants on developmental myelination, which may be foundational for later cognitive and learning outcomes.publishedVersio