Gyrification changes are related to cognitive strengths in autism

Using Q-sort method to explore autistic students' views of the impacts of their anxiety at school

LAY ABSTRACT

Many autistic students experience anxiety, but there is little research that explores how anxiety might affect autistic students in the school environment. In this study, 45 autistic students, aged 7 to 17 years, completed an online sorting activity to tell us how anxiety impacts them at school. The students were given 21 statements about possible social and academic effects of anxiety (for example, 'When I'm worried it's hard to start my schoolwork' or 'When I'm worried I talk less to my friends or other students'), and sorted them based on how much they agreed each statement was true for them. The three statements most highly rated as being impacted by anxiety were difficulties related to schoolwork. By comparing the information provided by students, six smaller groups of students were identified who sorted the statements in a similar order. These groups show that anxiety affects different autistic students in different ways, including missing school or activities, communicating less with friends and teachers and finding it harder to complete schoolwork. This online sorting activity enabled autistic students themselves to report how anxiety affects them at school. The results suggest that it is important to provide individualised support for autistic students who experience anxiety at school, to reduce the impact of their anxiety on their participation, communication and interactions, and schoolwork. Further research about the effects of anxiety on the academic outcomes of autistic students is also needed.

Morphometric network-based abnormalities correlate with psychiatric comorbidities and gene expression in PCDH19-related developmental and epileptic encephalopathy

Protocadherin-19 (PCDH19) developmental and epileptic encephalopathy causes an early-onset epilepsy syndrome with limbic seizures, typically occurring in clusters and variably associated with intellectual disability and a range of psychiatric disorders including hyperactive, obsessive-compulsive and autistic features. Previous quantitative neuroimaging studies revealed abnormal cortical areas in the limbic formation (parahippocampal and fusiform gyri) and underlying white-matter fibers. In this study, we adopted morphometric, network-based and multivariate statistical methods to examine the cortex and substructure of the hippocampus and amygdala in a cohort of 20 PCDH19-mutated patients and evaluated the relation between structural patterns and clinical variables at individual level. We also correlated morphometric alterations with known patterns of PCDH19 expression levels. We found patients to exhibit high-significant reductions of cortical surface area at a whole-brain level (left/right pvalue = 0.045/0.084), and particularly in the regions of the limbic network (left/right parahippocampal gyri pvalue = 0.230/0.016; left/right entorhinal gyri pvalue = 0.002/0.327), and bilateral atrophy of several subunits of the amygdala and hippocampus, particularly in the CA regions (head of the left CA3 pvalue = 0.002; body of the right CA3 pvalue = 0.004), and differences in the shape of hippocampal structures. More severe psychiatric comorbidities correlated with more significant altered patterns, with the entorhinal gyrus (pvalue = 0.013) and body of hippocampus (pvalue = 0.048) being more severely affected. Morphometric alterations correlated significantly with the known expression patterns of PCDH19 (rvalue = -0.26, pspin = 0.092). PCDH19 encephalopathy represents a model of genetically determined neural network based neuropsychiatric disease in which quantitative MRI-based findings correlate with the severity of clinical manifestations and had have a potential predictive value if analyzed early.

Assessing cortical features in early stage ASD children

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is defined as a neurodevelopmental disorder largely investigated in the neurologic field. Recently, neuroimaging studies have been conducted in order to investigate cerebral morphologic alterations in ASD patients, demonstrating an atypical brain development before the clinical manifestations of the disorder. Cortical Thickness (CT) and Local Gyrification Index (LGI) distribution for ASD children were investigated in this study, with the aim to evaluate possible relationship between brain measures and individual characteristics (i.e., IQ and verbal ability). 3D T1-w sequences from 129 ASD and 58 age-matched Healthy Controls (HC) were acquired and processed in order to assess CT and LGI for each subject. Intergroup differences between ASD and HC were investigated, including analyses of 2 ASD subgroups, split according to patient verbal ability and IQ. When compared to HC, ASD showed increased CT and LGI within several brain areas, both as an overall group and as verbal ability an IQ subgroups. Moreover, when comparing language characteristics of the ASD subjects, those patients with verbal ability exhibit significant CT and LGI increase was found within the occipital lobe of right hemisphere. No significant results occurred when comparing ASD patients according to their IQ value. These results support the hypothesis of abnormal brain maturation in ASD since early childhood with differences among clinical subgroups suggesting different anatomical substrates underlying an aberrant connectivity.

Morphological alterations of contralesional hemisphere relate to functional outcomes after stroke

The present study aimed to investigate poststroke morphological alterations contralesionally and correlations with functional outcomes. Structural magnetic resonance images were obtained from 27 poststroke patients (24 males, 50.21 ± 10.97 years) and 20 healthy controls (13 males, 46.63 ± 12.18 years). Voxel-based and surface-based morphometry analysis were conducted to detect alterations of contralesional grey matter volume (GMV), cortical thickness (CT), gyrification index (GI), sulcus depth (SD), and fractal dimension (FD) in poststroke patients. Partial correlation analysis was used to explore the relationship between regions with significant structural differences and scores of clinical assessments, including Modified Barthel Index (MBI), Berg Balance Scale (BBS), Fugl-Meyer Assessment of Upper Extremity (FMA-UE), Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). Correction for multiplicity was conducted within each parameter and for all tests. GMV significantly decreased in the contralesional motor-related, occipital and temporal cortex, limbic system, and cerebellum lobe (P < 0.01, family-wise error [FWE] correction). Lower CT was found in the contralesional precentral and lingual gyrus (P < 0.01, FWE correction), while lower GI found in the contralesional superior temporal gyrus and insula (P < 0.01, FWE correction). There were significant correlations between GMV of contralesional lingual gyrus and MBI (P = 0.031, r = 0.441), and BBS (P = 0.047, r = 0.409) scores, and GMV of contralesional hippocampus and FMA-UE scores (P = 0.048, r = 0.408). In conclusion, stroke patients exhibited wide grey matter loss and cortical morphological changes in the contralesional hemisphere, which correlated with sensorimotor functions and the ability of daily living.

Different levels of visuospatial abilities linked to differential brain correlates underlying visual mental segmentation processes in autism

The neural underpinnings of enhanced locally oriented visual processing that are specific to autistics with a Wechsler's Block Design (BD) peak are largely unknown. Here, we investigated the brain correlates underlying visual segmentation associated with the well-established autistic superior visuospatial abilities in distinct subgroups using functional magnetic resonance imaging. This study included 31 male autistic adults (15 with (AUTp) and 16 without (AUTnp) a BD peak) and 28 male adults with typical development (TYP). Participants completed a computerized adapted BD task with models having low and high perceptual cohesiveness (PC). Despite similar behavioral performances, AUTp and AUTnp showed generally higher occipital activation compared with TYP participants. Compared with both AUTnp and TYP participants, the AUTp group showed enhanced task-related functional connectivity within posterior visuoperceptual regions and decreased functional connectivity between frontal and occipital-temporal regions. A diminished modulation in frontal and parietal regions in response to increased PC was also found in AUTp participants, suggesting heavier reliance on low-level processing of global figures. This study demonstrates that enhanced visual functioning is specific to a cognitive phenotypic subgroup of autistics with superior visuospatial abilities and reinforces the need to address autistic heterogeneity by good cognitive characterization of samples in future studies.

Gray matter asymmetry atypical patterns in subgrouping minors with autism based on core symptoms

Abnormal gray matter (GM) asymmetry has been verified in autism spectrum disorder (ASD), which is characterized by high heterogeneity. ASD is distinguished by three core symptom domains. Previous neuroimaging studies have offered support for divergent neural substrates of different core symptom domains in ASD. However, no previous study has explored GM asymmetry alterations underlying different core symptom domains. This study sought to clarify atypical GM asymmetry patterns underlying three core symptom domains in ASD with a large sample of 230 minors with ASD (ages 7-18 years) and 274 matched TD controls from the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange I (ABIDE I) repository. To this end, the scores of the revised autism diagnostic interview (ADI-R) subscales were normalized for grouping ASD into three core-symptom-defined subgroups: social interaction (SI), verbal communication (VA), and restricted repetitive behaviors (RRB). We investigated core-symptom-related GM asymmetry alterations in ASD resulting from advanced voxel-based morphometry (VBM) by general linear models. We also examined the relationship between GM asymmetry and age and between GM asymmetry and symptom severity assessed by the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS). We found unique GM asymmetry alterations underlying three core-symptom-defined subgroups in ASD: more rightward asymmetry in the thalamus for SI, less rightward asymmetry in the superior temporal gyrus, anterior cingulate and caudate for VA, and less rightward asymmetry in the middle and inferior frontal gyrus for RRB. Furthermore, the asymmetry indexes in the thalamus were negatively associated with ADOS_SOCIAL scores in the general ASD group. We also showed significant correlations between GM asymmetry and age in ASD and TD individuals. Our results support the theory that each core symptom domain of ASD may have independent etiological and neurobiological underpinnings, which is essential for the interpretation of heterogeneity and the future diagnosis and treatment of ASD.

Structural brain abnormalities and their association with language impairment in school-aged children with Autism Spectrum Disorder

Language impairment is comorbid in most children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) but its neural basis is poorly understood. Using structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the present study provides the whole-brain comparison of both volume- and surface-based characteristics between groups of children with and without ASD and investigates the relationships between these characteristics in language-related areas and the language abilities of children with ASD measured with standardized tools. A total of 36 school-aged children participated in the study: 18 children with ASD and 18 age- and sex-matched typically developing controls. The results revealed that multiple regions differed between groups of children in gray matter volume, gray matter thickness, gyrification, and cortical complexity (fractal dimension). White matter volume and sulcus depth did not differ between groups of children in any region. Importantly, gray matter thickness and gyrification of language-related areas were related to language functioning in children with ASD. Thus, the results of the present study shed some light on the structural brain abnormalities associated with language impairment in ASD.

Differential neural correlates underlying mental rotation processes in two distinct cognitive profiles in autism

Enhanced visuospatial abilities characterize the cognitive profile of a subgroup of autistics. However, the neural correlates underlying such cognitive strengths are largely unknown. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we investigated the neural underpinnings of superior visuospatial functioning in different autistic subgroups. Twenty-seven autistic adults, including 13 with a Wechsler's Block Design peak (AUTp) and 14 without (AUTnp), and 23 typically developed adults (TYP) performed a classic mental rotation task. As expected, AUTp participants were faster at the task compared to TYP. At the neural level, AUTp participants showed enhanced bilateral parietal and occipital activation, stronger occipito-parietal and fronto-occipital connectivity, and diminished fronto-parietal connectivity compared to TYP. On the other hand, AUTnp participants presented greater activation in right and anterior regions compared to AUTp. In addition, reduced connectivity between occipital and parietal regions was observed in AUTnp compared to AUTp and TYP participants. A greater reliance on posterior regions is typically reported in the autism literature. Our results suggest that this commonly reported finding may be specific to a subgroup of autistic individuals with enhanced visuospatial functioning. Moreover, this study demonstrated that increased occipito-frontal synchronization was associated with superior visuospatial abilities in autism. This finding contradicts the long-range under-connectivity hypothesis in autism. Finally, given the relationship between distinct cognitive profiles in autism and our observed differences in brain functioning, future studies should provide an adequate characterization of the autistic subgroups in their research. The main limitations are small sample sizes and the inclusion of male-only participants.

Atypical cortical thickness and folding of language regions in Chinese nonsyndromic cleft lip and palate children after speech rehabilitation

Objective

Even after palatoplasty and speech rehabilitation, patients with cleft lip and palate (CLP) remain to produce pronunciation errors. We hypothesized that nonsyndromic CLP (NSCLP) after speech rehabilitation had structural abnormalities in language-related brain regions. This study investigates structural patterns in NSCLP children after speech rehabilitation using surface-based morphometry (SBM) analysis.

Methods

Forty-two children with NSCLP and 42 age- and gender-matched healthy controls were scanned for 3D T1-weighted images on a 3T MRI scanner. After reconstructing each brain surface, we computed SBM parameters and assessed between-group differences using two-sample t-tests and permutation tests (5,000 times). Then, we assessed the relationship between the SBM parameters and the Chinese language clear degree scale (CLCDS) using Pearson's correlation analysis.

Result

The speech-rehabilitated children with NSCLP showed lower cortical thickness and higher gyrification index mainly involving left language-related brain regions (permutation tests, p < 0.05). Furthermore, the lower cortical thickness of the left parahippocampal gyrus was positively correlated with CLCDS scores (r = 0.370, p = 0.017) in patients with NSCLP.

Conclusion

The SBM analysis showed that the structural abnormalities of speech-rehabilitated children with NSCLP mainly involved language-related brain regions, especially the dominant cerebral hemisphere. The structural abnormalities of the cortical thickness and folding in the language-related brain regions might be the neural mechanisms of speech errors in NSCLP children after speech rehabilitation. The cortical thickness of the parahippocampal gyrus may be a biomarker to evaluate pronunciation function.

White matter volume loss drives cortical reshaping after thalamic infarcts

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White matter volume loss after unilateral thalamic infarcts shows the trajectories of sensory and ocular motor input from the brainstem to the thalamus and their thalamocortical connections.

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The extensive volume loss drives reshaping of the cortex more than grey matter atrophy. Associated ocular motor and vestibular symptoms are compensated over time due to their redundant and intermingled connectivity and an early integration with other sensory modalities.

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Associated ocular motor and vestibular symptoms are compensated over time due to their redundant and intermingled connectivity and an early integration with other sensory modalities.

Objective

The integration of somatosensory, ocular motor and vestibular signals is necessary for self-location in space and goal-directed action. We aimed to detect remote changes in the cerebral cortex after thalamic infarcts to reveal the thalamo-cortical connections necessary for multisensory processing and ocular motor control.

Methods

Thirteen patients with unilateral ischemic thalamic infarcts presenting with vestibular, somatosensory, and ocular motor symptoms were examined longitudinally in the acute phase and after six months. Voxel- and surface-based morphometry were used to detect changes in vestibular and multisensory cortical areas and known hubs of central ocular motor processing. The results were compared with functional connectivity data in 50 healthy volunteers.

Results

Patients with paramedian infarcts showed impaired saccades and vestibular perception, i.e., tilts of the subjective visual vertical (SVV). The most common complaint in these patients was double vision or vertigo / dizziness. Posterolateral thalamic infarcts led to tilts of the SVV and somatosensory deficits without vertigo. Tilts of the SVV were higher in paramedian compared to posterolateral infarcts (median 11.2° vs 3.8°). Vestibular and ocular motor symptoms recovered within six months. Somatosensory deficits persisted. Structural longitudinal imaging showed significant volume reduction in subcortical structures connected to the infarcted thalamic nuclei (vestibular nuclei region, dentate nucleus region, trigeminal root entry zone, medial lemniscus, superior colliculi). Volume loss was evident in connections to the frontal, parietal and cingulate lobes. Changes were larger in the ipsilesional hemisphere but were also detected in homotopical regions contralesionally. The white matter volume reduction led to deformation of the cortical projection zones of the infarcted nuclei.

Conclusions

White matter volume loss after thalamic infarcts reflects sensory input from the brainstem as well the cortical projections of the main affected nuclei for sensory and ocular motor processing. Changes in the cortical geometry seem not to reflect gray matter atrophy but rather reshaping of the cortical surface due to the underlying white matter atrophy.

In Prototypical Autism, the Genetic Ability to Learn Language Is Triggered by Structured Information, Not Only by Exposure to Oral Language

What does the way that autistic individuals bypass, learn, and eventually master language tell us about humans’ genetically encoded linguistic ability? In this theoretical review, we argue that autistic non-social acquisition of language and autistic savant abilities provide a strong argument for an innate, human-specific orientation towards (and mastery of) complex embedded structures. Autistic non-social language learning may represent a widening of the material processed during development beyond oral language. The structure detection and manipulation and generative production of non-linguistic embedded and chained material (savant abilities in calendar calculation, musical composition, musical interpretation, and three-dimensional drawing) may thus represent an application of such innate mechanisms to non-standard materials. Typical language learning through exposure to the child’s mother tongue may represent but one of many possible achievements of the same capacity. The deviation from typical language development in autism may ultimately allow access to oral language, sometimes in its most elaborate forms, and also explain the possibility of the absence of its development when applied exclusively to non-linguistic structured material. Such an extension of human capacities beyond or in parallel to their usual limits call into question what we consider to be specific or expected in humans and therefore does not necessarily represent a genetic “error”. Regardless of the adaptive success or failure of non-social language learning, it is the duty of science and ethical principles to strive to maintain autism as a human potentiality to further foster our vision of a plural society.

Cortical complexity and gyrification patterns in Parkinson's disease

This study aimed to investigate the cortical complexity and gyrification patterns in Parkinson's disease (PD) using local fractional dimension (LFD) and local gyrification index (LGI), respectively. In a cross-sectional study, LFD and LGI in 60 PD patients without dementia and 56 healthy controls (HC) were investigated using brain structural MRI data. LFD and LGI were estimated using the Computational Anatomy Toolbox (CAT12) and statistically analyzed between groups on a vertex level using statistical parametric mapping 12 (SPM12). Additionally, correlations between structural changes and clinical indices were further examined. PD patients showed widespread LFD reductions mainly in the left pre- and postcentral cortex, the left superior frontal cortex, the left caudal middle frontal cortex, the bilaterally superior parietal cortex and the right superior temporal cortex compared to HC. For LGI, there was no significant difference between PD and HC. In PD patients group, a significant negative correlation was found between LFD of the left postcentral cortex and duration of illness (DOI). Our results of widespread LFD reductions, but not LGI, indicate that LFD may provide a more sensitive diagnostic biomarker and encode specific information of PD. The significant negative correlation between LFD of the left postcentral cortex and DOI suggests that LFD may be a biomarker to monitor disease progression in PD.

Cortical Gyrification Morphology in Individuals with ASD and ADHD across the Lifespan: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are common neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) that may impact brain maturation. A number of studies have examined cortical gyrification morphology in both NDDs. Here we review and when possible pool their results to better understand the shared and potentially disorder-specific gyrification features. We searched MEDLINE, PsycINFO, and EMBASE databases, and 24 and 10 studies met the criteria to be included in the systematic review and meta-analysis portions, respectively. Meta-analysis of local Gyrification Index (lGI) findings across ASD studies was conducted with SDM software adapted for surface-based morphometry studies. Meta-regressions were used to explore effects of age, sex, and sample size on gyrification differences. There were no significant differences in gyrification across groups. Qualitative synthesis of remaining ASD studies highlighted heterogeneity in findings. Large-scale ADHD studies reported no differences in gyrification between cases and controls suggesting that, similar to ASD, there is currently no evidence of differences in gyrification morphology compared with controls. Larger, longitudinal studies are needed to further clarify the effects of age, sex, and IQ on cortical gyrification in these NDDs.

Core-Symptom-Defined Cortical Gyrification Differences in Autism Spectrum Disorder

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a heterogeneous disease that is characterized by abnormalities in social communication and interaction as well as repetitive behaviors and restricted interests. Structural brain imaging has identified significant cortical folding alterations in ASD; however, relatively less known is whether the core symptoms are related to neuroanatomical differences. In this study, we aimed to explore core-symptom-anchored gyrification alterations and their developmental trajectories in ASD. We measured the cortical vertex-wise gyrification index (GI) in 321 patients with ASD (aged 7-39 years) and 350 typically developing (TD) subjects (aged 6-33 years) across 8 sites from the Autism Brain Imaging Data Exchange I (ABIDE I) repository and a longitudinal sample (14 ASD and 7 TD, aged 9-14 years in baseline and 12-18 years in follow-up) from ABIDE II. Compared with TD, the general ASD patients exhibited a mixed pattern of both hypo- and hyper- and different developmental trajectories of gyrification. By parsing the ASD patients into three subgroups based on the subscores of the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R) scale, we identified core-symptom-specific alterations in the reciprocal social interaction (RSI), communication abnormalities (CA), and restricted, repetitive, and stereotyped patterns of behavior (RRSB) subgroups. We also showed atypical gyrification patterns and developmental trajectories in the subgroups. Furthermore, we conducted a meta-analysis to locate the core-symptom-anchored brain regions (circuits). In summary, the current study shows that ASD is associated with abnormal cortical folding patterns. Core-symptom-based classification can find more subtle changes in gyrification. These results suggest that cortical folding pattern encodes changes in symptom dimensions, which promotes the understanding of neuroanatomical basis, and clinical utility in ASD.

The Mid-Fusiform Sulcus in Autism Spectrum Disorder: Establishing a Novel Anatomical Landmark Related to Face Processing

Despite decades of research, the brain basis of aberrant face processing in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) remains a topic of debate. The mid-fusiform sulcus (MFS), a minor feature of the ventral occipitotemporal cortex, provides new directions for studying face processing. The MFS closely aligns with face-selective cortical patches and other structural and functional divisions of the fusiform gyrus; however, it has received little attention in clinical populations. We collected structural MRI data from 54 individuals with ASD and 61 age-and-IQ-matched controls ages 8 to 40 years. The MFS was identified on cortical surface reconstructions via 4 trained raters and classified into known surface patterns. Mean MFS gray matter volume (GMV), cortical surface area (SA), cortical thickness (CT), and standard deviation of CT (CT SD) were extracted. Effects of diagnosis, age, and hemisphere on MFS surface presentation and morphometry were assessed via multinomial logistic regression and mixed effects general linear modeling, respectively. The MFS was reliably identified in 97% of hemispheres examined. Macroanatomical patterns and age-related decreases in MFS GMV and CT were similar between groups. CT SD was greater in the left hemisphere in ASD. Participants' ability to interpret emotions and mental states from facial features was significantly negatively correlated with MFS CT and CT SD. Overall, the MFS is a stable feature of the fusiform gyrus in ASD and CT related measures appear to be sensitive to diagnosis and behavior. These results can inform future investigations of face processing and structure-function relationships in populations with social deficits. LAY SUMMARY: A small structural feature of the brain related to seeing faces (the mid-fusiform sulcus; MFS) appears similar in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and neurotypical development; however, the thickness of this structure on the left side of the brain is more variable in ASD. People who are better at judging mental states from another person's eyes tend to have thinner and less variable MFS. This feature may teach us more about face processing and how brain structure influences function in ASD.

Age of Speech Onset in Autism Relates to Structural Connectivity in the Language Network

Speech onset delays (SOD) and language atypicalities are central aspects of the autism spectrum (AS), despite not being included in the categorical diagnosis of AS. Previous studies separating participants according to speech onset history have shown distinct patterns of brain organization and activation in perceptual tasks. One major white matter tract, the arcuate fasciculus (AF), connects the posterior temporal and left frontal language regions. Here, we used anatomical brain imaging to investigate the properties of the AF in adolescent and adult autistic individuals with typical levels of intelligence who differed by age of speech onset. The left AF of the AS group showed a significantly smaller volume than that of the nonautistic group. Such a reduction in volume was only present in the younger group. This result was driven by the autistic group without SOD (SOD−), despite their typical age of speech onset. The autistic group with SOD (SOD+) showed a more typical AF as adults relative to matched controls. This suggests that, along with multiple studies in AS-SOD+ individuals, atypical brain reorganization is observable in the 2 major AS subgroups and that such reorganization applies mostly to the language regions in SOD− and perceptual regions in SOD+ individuals.

An assessment of the autism neuroimaging literature for the prospects of re-executability

Background: The degree of reproducibility of the neuroimaging literature in psychiatric application areas has been called into question and the issues that relate to this reproducibility are extremely complex. Some of these complexities have to do with the underlying biology of the disorders that we study and others arise due to the technology we apply to the analysis of the data we collect. Ultimately, the observations we make get communicated to the rest of the community through publications in the scientific literature. Methods: We sought to perform a 're-executability survey' to evaluate the recent neuroimaging literature with an eye toward seeing if the technical aspects of our publication practices are helping or hindering the overall quest for a more reproducible understanding of brain development and aging. The topic areas examined include availability of the data, the precision of the imaging method description and the reporting of the statistical analytic approach, and the availability of the complete results. We applied the survey to 50 publications in the autism neuroimaging literature that were published between September 16, 2017 to October 1, 2018. Results: The results of the survey indicate that for the literature examined, data that is not already part of a public repository is rarely available, software tools are usually named but versions and operating system are not, it is expected that reasonably skilled analysts could approximately perform the analyses described, and the complete results of the studies are rarely available.  Conclusions: We have identified that there is ample room for improvement in research publication practices. We hope exposing these issues in the retrospective literature can provide guidance and motivation for improving this aspect of our reporting practices in the future.

An assessment of the autism neuroimaging literature for the prospects of re-executability

Background: The degree of reproducibility of the neuroimaging literature in psychiatric application areas has been called into question and the issues that relate to this reproducibility are extremely complex. Some of these complexities have to do with the underlying biology of the disorders that we study and others arise due to the technology we apply to the analysis of the data we collect. Ultimately, the observations we make get communicated to the rest of the community through publications in the scientific literature. Methods: We sought to perform a 're-executability survey' to evaluate the recent neuroimaging literature with an eye toward seeing if our publication practices are helping or hindering the overall quest for a more reproducible understanding of brain development and aging. The topic areas examined include availability of the data, the precision of the imaging method description and the reporting of the statistical analytic approach, and the availability of the complete results. We applied the survey to 50 publications in the autism neuroimaging literature that were published between September 16, 2017 to October 1, 2018. Results: The results of the survey indicate that for the literature examined, data that is not already part of a public repository is rarely available, software tools are usually named but versions and operating system are not, it is expected that reasonably skilled analysts could approximately perform the analyses described, and the complete results of the studies are rarely available.  Conclusions: We have identified that there is ample room for improvement in research publication practices. We hope exposing these issues in the retrospective literature can provide guidance and motivation for improving this aspect of our reporting practices in the future.

Quantitative MRI-Based Analysis Identifies Developmental Limbic Abnormalities in PCDH19 Encephalopathy

Protocadherin-19 (PCDH19) is a calcium dependent cell-adhesion molecule involved in neuronal circuit formation with prevalent expression in the limbic structures. PCDH19-gene mutations cause a developmental encephalopathy with prominent infantile onset focal seizures, variably associated with intellectual disability and autistic features. Diagnostic neuroimaging is usually unrevealing. We used quantitative MRI to investigate the cortex and white matter in a group of 20 PCDH19-mutated patients. By a statistical comparison between quantitative features in PCDH19 brains and in a group of age and sex matched controls, we found that patients exhibited bilateral reductions of local gyrification index (lGI) in limbic cortical areas, including the parahippocampal and entorhinal cortex and the fusiform and lingual gyri, and altered diffusivity features in the underlying white matter. In patients with an earlier onset of seizures, worse psychiatric manifestations and cognitive impairment, reductions of lGI and diffusivity abnormalities in the limbic areas were more pronounced. Developmental abnormalities involving the limbic structures likely represent a measurable anatomic counterpart of the reduced contribution of the PCDH19 protein to local cortical folding and white matter organization and are functionally reflected in the phenotypic features involving cognitive and communicative skills as well as local epileptogenesis.

[Research advances in multimodal magnetic resonance for cognitive impairment in children with benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes]

Cognitive impairment in children with benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes (BECT) has complex etiologies and is closely associated abnormal neural networks. Multimodal magnetic resonance imaging of brain structure and function is a powerful tool for studying abnormal neural networks of cognitive impairment in epilepsy and can explore the pathogenesis of cognitive impairment in epilepsy at the level of brain structure and function by analyzing the imaging features of brain structure and function. This article reviews the research advances in multimodal magnetic resonance for cognitive impairment in children with BECT.

Cortical gyrification in relation to age and cognition in older adults

Gyrification of the cerebral cortex changes with aging and relates to development of cognitive function during early life and midlife. Little is known about how gyrification relates to age and cognitive function later in life. We investigated this in 4397 individuals (mean age: 63.5 years, range: 45.7 to 97.9) from the Rotterdam Study, a population-based cohort. Global and local gyrification were assessed from T₁-weighted images. A measure for global cognition, the g-factor, was calculated from five cognitive tests. Older age was associated with lower gyrification (mean difference per year ​= ​-0.0021; 95% confidence interval ​= ​-0.0025; -0.0017). Non-linear terms did not improve the models. Age related to lower gyrification in the parietal, frontal, temporal and occipital regions, and higher gyrification in the medial prefrontal cortex. Higher levels of the g-factor were associated with higher global gyrification (mean difference per g-factor unit ​= ​0.0044; 95% confidence interval ​= ​0.0015; 0.0073). Age and the g-factor did not interact in relation to gyrification (p ​> ​0.05). The g-factor bilaterally associated with gyrification in three distinct clusters. The first cluster encompassed the superior temporal gyrus, the insular cortex and the postcentral gyrus, the second cluster the lingual gyrus and the precuneus, and the third cluster the orbitofrontal cortex. These clusters largely remained statistically significant after correction for cortical surface area. Overall, the results support the notion that gyrification varies with aging and cognition during and after midlife, and suggest that gyrification is a potential marker for age-related brain and cognitive decline beyond midlife.

A prospective population-based study of gestational vitamin D status and brain morphology in preadolescents

Low vitamin D level during pregnancy has been associated with adverse neurodevelopmental outcomes such as autism spectrum disorders (ASD) in children. However, the underlying neurobiological mechanism remains largely unknown. This study investigated the association between gestational 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] concentration and brain morphology in 2597 children at the age of 10 years in the population-based Generation R Study. We studied both 25(OH)D in maternal venous blood in mid-gestation and in umbilical cord blood at delivery, in relation to brain volumetric measures and surface-based cortical metrics including cortical thickness, surface area, and gyrification using linear regression. We found exposure to higher maternal 25(OH)D concentrations in mid-gestation was associated with a larger cerebellar volume in children (b ​= ​0.02, 95%CI 0.001 to 0.04), however this association did not remain after correction for multiple comparisons. In addition, children exposed to persistently deficient (i.e., <25 ​nmol/L) 25(OH)D concentration from mid-gestation to delivery showed less cerebral gray matter and white matter volumes, as well as smaller surface area and less gyrification at 10 years than those with persistently sufficient (i.e., ≥50 ​nmol/L) 25(OH)D concentration. These results suggest temporal relationships between gestational vitamin D concentration and brain morphological development in children.

Autism spectrum heterogeneity: fact or artifact?

The current diagnostic practices are linked to a 20-fold increase in the reported prevalence of ASD over the last 30 years. Fragmenting the autism phenotype into dimensional "autistic traits" results in the alleged recognition of autism-like symptoms in any psychiatric or neurodevelopemental condition and in individuals decreasingly distant from the typical population, and prematurely dismisses the relevance of a diagnostic threshold. Non-specific socio-communicative and repetitive DSM 5 criteria, combined with four quantitative specifiers as well as all their possible combinations, render limitless variety of presentations consistent with the categorical diagnosis of ASD. We propose several remedies to this problem: maintain a line of research on prototypical autism; limit the heterogeneity compatible with a categorical diagnosis to situations with a phenotypic overlap and a validated etiological link with prototypical autism; reintroduce the qualitative properties of autism presentations and of current dimensional specifiers, language, intelligence, comorbidity, and severity in the criteria used to diagnose autism in replacement of quantitative "social" and "repetitive" criteria; use these qualitative features combined with the clinical intuition of experts and machine-learning algorithms to differentiate coherent subgroups in today's autism spectrum; study these subgroups separately, and then compare them; and question the autistic nature of "autistic traits".