An open science resource for establishing reliability and reproducibility in functional connectomics

Efforts to identify meaningful functional imaging-based biomarkers are limited by the ability to reliably characterize inter-individual differences in human brain function. Although a growing number of connectomics-based measures are reported to have moderate to high test-retest reliability, the variability in data acquisition, experimental designs, and analytic methods precludes the ability to generalize results. The Consortium for Reliability and Reproducibility (CoRR) is working to address this challenge and establish test-retest reliability as a minimum standard for methods development in functional connectomics. Specifically, CoRR has aggregated 1,629 typical individuals’ resting state fMRI (rfMRI) data (5,093 rfMRI scans) from 18 international sites, and is openly sharing them via the International Data-sharing Neuroimaging Initiative (INDI). To allow researchers to generate various estimates of reliability and reproducibility, a variety of data acquisition procedures and experimental designs are included. Similarly, to enable users to assess the impact of commonly encountered artifacts (for example, motion) on characterizations of inter-individual variation, datasets of varying quality are included

Age-related Changes in Inter-Network Connectivity by Component Analysis

Healthy aging is associated with brain changes that reflect an alteration to a functional unit in response to the available resources and architecture. Even before the onset of noticeable cognitive decline, the neural scaffolds underlying cognitive function undergo considerable change. Prior studies have suggested a disruption of the connectivity pattern within the default-mode network (DMN), and more specifically a disruption of the anterio-posterior connectivity. In this study, we explored the effects of aging on within-network connectivity of three DMN subnetworks: a posterior DMN (pDMN), an anterior DMN (aDMN), and a ventral DMN (vDMN); as well as between-network connectivity during resting-state. Using groupICA on 43 young and 43 older healthy adults, we showed a reduction of network co-activation in two of the DMN subnetworks (pDMN and aDMN) and demonstrated a difference in between-component connectivity levels. The older group exhibited more numerous high-correlation pairs (Pearson’s rho>0.3, # of comp-pairs = 46) in comparison to the young group (# of comp-pairs = 34), suggesting a more connected/less segregated cortical system. Moreover, three component-pairs exhibited statistically significant differences between the two populations. Visual areas V2-V1 and V2-V4 were more correlated in the older adults, while aDMN-pDMN correlation decreased with aging. The increase in the number of high-correlation component-pairs and the elevated correlation in the visual areas are consistent with the prior hypothesis that aging is associated with a reduction of functional segregation. However, the aDMN-pDMN dis-connectivity may be occurring under a different mechanism, a mechanism more related to a breakdown of structural integrity along the anterio-posterior axis

Individual classification of children with epilepsy using support vector machine with multiple indices of diffusion tensor imaging

AbstractIntroductionSupport vector machines (SVM) have recently been demonstrated to be useful for voxel-based MR image classification. In the present study we sought to evaluate whether this method is feasible in the classification of childhood epilepsy intractability based on diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), with adequate accuracy. We applied SVM in conjunction DTI indices of fractional anisotropy (FA), mean diffusivity (MD), radial diffusivity (RD) and axial diffusivity (AD). DTI studies have reported white matter abnormalities in childhood-onset epilepsy, but the mechanisms underlying these abnormalities are not well understood. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between epileptic seizures and cerebral white matter abnormalities identified by DTI in children with active compared to remitted epilepsy utilizing an automated and unsupervised classification method.MethodsThe DTI data were tensor-derived indices including FA, MD, AD and RD in 49 participants including 20 children with epilepsy 5–6years after seizure onset as compared to healthy controls. To determine whether there was normalization of white matter diffusion behavior following cessation of seizures and treatment, the epilepsy subjects were grouped into those with active versus remitted epilepsy. Group comparisons were previously made examining FA, MD and RD via whole-brain tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS). The SVM analysis was undertaken with the WEKA software package with 10-fold cross validation. Weighted sensitivity, specificity and accuracy were measured for all the DTI indices for two classifications: (1) controls vs. all children with epilepsy and (2) controls vs. children with remitted epilepsy vs. children with active epilepsy.ResultsUsing TBSS, significant differences were identified between controls and all children with epilepsy, between controls and children with active epilepsy, and also between the active and remitted epilepsy groups. There were no significant differences between the remitted epilepsy and controls on any DTI measure. In the SVM analysis, the best predictor between controls and all children with epilepsy was MD, with a sensitivity of 90–100% and a specificity between 96.6 and 100%. For the three-way classification, the best results were for FA with 100% sensitivity and specificity.ConclusionDTI-based SVM classification appears promising for distinguishing children with active epilepsy from either those with remitted epilepsy or controls, and the question that arises is whether it will prove useful as a prognostic index of seizure remission. While SVM can correctly identify children with active epilepsy from other groups' diagnosis, further research is needed to determine the efficacy of SVM as a prognostic tool in longitudinal clinical studies

Age-Related Differences in Test-Retest Reliability in Resting-State Brain Functional Connectivity

<div><p>Resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) has emerged as a powerful tool for investigating brain functional connectivity (FC). Research in recent years has focused on assessing the reliability of FC across younger subjects within and between scan-sessions. Test-retest reliability in resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) has not yet been examined in older adults. In this study, we investigated age-related differences in reliability and stability of RSFC across scans. In addition, we examined how global signal regression (GSR) affects RSFC reliability and stability. Three separate resting-state scans from 29 younger adults (18–35 yrs) and 26 older adults (55–85 yrs) were obtained from the International Consortium for Brain Mapping (ICBM) dataset made publically available as part of the 1000 Functional Connectomes project <a href="http://www.nitrc.org/projects/fcon_1000">www.nitrc.org/projects/fcon_1000</a>. 92 regions of interest (ROIs) with 5 cubic mm radius, derived from the default, cingulo-opercular, fronto-parietal and sensorimotor networks, were previously defined based on a recent study. Mean time series were extracted from each of the 92 ROIs from each scan and three matrices of <em>z</em>-transformed correlation coefficients were created for each subject, which were then used for evaluation of multi-scan reliability and stability. The young group showed higher reliability of RSFC than the old group with GSR (<em>p</em>-value = 0.028) and without GSR (<em>p</em>-value <0.001). Both groups showed a high degree of multi-scan stability of RSFC and no significant differences were found between groups. By comparing the test-retest reliability of RSFC with and without GSR across scans, we found significantly higher proportion of reliable connections in both groups without GSR, but decreased stability. Our results suggest that aging is associated with reduced reliability of RSFC which itself is highly stable within-subject across scans for both groups, and that GSR reduces the overall reliability but increases the stability in both age groups and could potentially alter group differences of RSFC.</p> </div