Empirical examination of the potential adverse psychological effects associated with pediatric FMRI scanning

Direct machine learning reconstruction of respiratory variation waveforms from resting state fMRI data in a pediatric population

In many functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies, respiratory signals are unavailable or do not have acceptable quality due to issues with subject compliance, equipment failure or signal error. In large databases, such as the Human Connectome Projects, over half of the respiratory recordings may be unusable. As a result, the direct removal of low frequency respiratory variations from the blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal time series is not possible. This study proposes a deep learning-based method for reconstruction of respiratory variation (RV) waveforms directly from BOLD fMRI data in pediatric participants (aged 5 to 21 years old), and does not require any respiratory measurement device. To do this, the Lifespan Human Connectome Project in Development (HCP-D) dataset, which includes respiratory measurements, was used to both train a convolutional neural network (CNN) and evaluate its performance. Results show that a CNN can capture informative features from the BOLD signal time course and reconstruct accurate RV timeseries, especially when the subject has a prominent respiratory event. This work advances the use of direct estimation of physiological parameters from fMRI, which will eventually lead to reduced complexity and decrease the burden on participants because they may not be required to wear a respiratory bellows.

Strategies to Engage Systematically Marginalized Youth and Their Families in Research Using High-Tech Methods

The purpose of this study was to identify facilitators and barriers for engaging youth and families from a historically and systematically marginalized community in high-tech research. Adapting community-based participatory research principles, 4 focus groups were conducted with 13 youth and 12 parents. Using codebook thematic analysis, 5 facilitator themes (develop skills, ensure health, build understanding, promote safety, and help others, youth-initiated interest) and 4 barrier themes (anxiety and fear, skepticism, confusion, and unfamiliar/unknown experience) were identified. Youth and parent responses informed proposed guidelines for recruiting and engaging families in research using high-tech methods, particularly those from historically and systematically marginalized communities.

Even a little sleepiness influences neural activation and clinical reasoning in novices

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Sleepiness influences alertness and cognitive functioning and impacts many aspects of medical care, including clinical reasoning. However, dual processing theory suggests that sleepiness will impact clinical reasoning differently in different individual, depending on their level of experience with the given condition. Our aim, therefore, was to examine the association between clinical reasoning, neuroanatomical activation, and sleepiness in senior medical students.

METHODS

Our methodology replicated an earlier study but with novices rather than board-certified physicians. Eighteen final-year medical students answered validated multiple-choice questions (MCQs) during an fMRI scan. Each MCQ was projected in three phases: reading, answering, and reflection (modified think aloud). Echo-planar imaging (EPI) scans gave a time series that reflected blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) signal in each location (voxel) within the brain. Sleep data were collected via self-report (Epworth Sleepiness Scale) and actigraphy. These data were correlated with answer accuracy using Pearson correlation.

RESULTS

Analysis revealed an increased BOLD signal in the right dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (P < .05) during reflection (Phase 3) associated with increased self-reported sleepiness (ESS) immediately before scanning. Covariate analysis also revealed that increased BOLD signal in the right supramarginal gyrus (P < .05) when reflecting (Phase 3) was associated with increased correct answer response time. Both patterns indicate effortful analytic (System 2) reasoning.

CONCLUSION

Our findings that novices use System 2 thinking for clinical reasoning and even a little (perceived) sleepiness influences their clinical reasoning ability to suggest that the parameters for safe working may be different for novices (eg, junior doctors) and experienced physicians.

A comparison study of anxiety in children undergoing brain MRI vs adults undergoing brain MRI vs children undergoing an electroencephalogram

Background

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain in children and adolescents is a well-established method in both clinical practice and in neuroscientific research. This practice is sometimes viewed critically, as MRI scans might expose minors (e.g. through scan-associated fears) to more than the legally permissible “minimal burden”. While there is evidence that a significant portion of adults undergoing brain MRI scans experience anxiety, data on anxiety in children and adolescents undergoing brain MRI scans is rare. This study therefore aimed to examine the prevalence and level of anxiety in children and adolescents who had MRI scans of the brain, and to compare the results to adults undergoing brain MRI scans, and to children and adolescents undergoing electroencephalography (EEG; which is usually regarded a “minimal burden”).

Method

Participants were 57 children and adolescents who had a brain MRI scan (MRI-C; mean age 12.9 years), 28 adults who had a brain MRI scan (MRI-A; mean age 43.7 years), and 66 children and adolescents undergoing EEG (EEG-C; mean age 12.9 years). Anxiety was assessed on the subjective (situational anxiety) and on the physiological level (arousal), before and after the respective examination.

Results

More than 98% of children and adolescents reported no or only minimal fear during the MRI scan. Both pre- and post-examination, the MRI-C and the MRI-A groups did not differ significantly with respect to situational anxiety (p = 0.262 and p = 0.374, respectively), and to physiological arousal (p = 0.050, p = 0.472). Between the MRI-C and the EEG-C group, there were also no significant differences in terms of situational anxiety (p = 0.525, p = 0.875), or physiological arousal (p = 0.535, p = 0.189). Prior MRI experience did not significantly influence subjective or physiological anxiety parameters.

Conclusions

In this study, children and adolescents undergoing a brain MRI scan did not experience significantly more anxiety than those undergoing an EEG, or adults undergoing MRI scanning. Therefore, a general exclusion of minors from MRI research studies does not appear reasonable.

The psychobiology of emotional development: The case for examining sociocultural processes

Psychobiological techniques to assess emotional responding have revolutionized the field of emotional development in recent decades by equipping researchers with the tools to quantify children's emotional reactivity and regulation more directly than behavioral approaches allow. Knowledge gained from the incorporation of methods spanning levels of analysis has been substantial, yet many open questions remain. In this prospective review, we (a) describe the major conceptual and empirical advances that have resulted from this methodological innovation, and (b) lay out a case for what we view as the most pressing challenge for the next decades of research into the psychobiology of emotional development: focusing empirical efforts toward understanding the implications of the broader sociocultural contexts in which children develop that shape the psychobiology of emotion. Thus, this review integrates previous knowledge about the psychobiology of emotion with a forward-looking set of recommendations for incorporating sociocultural processes into future investigations.

Dispositional negativity: An integrative psychological and neurobiological perspective

Dispositional negativity-the propensity to experience and express more frequent, intense, or enduring negative affect-is a fundamental dimension of childhood temperament and adult personality. Elevated levels of dispositional negativity can have profound consequences for health, wealth, and happiness, drawing the attention of clinicians, researchers, and policymakers. Here, we highlight recent advances in our understanding of the psychological and neurobiological processes linking stable individual differences in dispositional negativity to momentary emotional states. Self-report data suggest that 3 key pathways-increased stressor reactivity, tonic increases in negative affect, and increased stressor exposure-explain most of the heightened negative affect that characterizes individuals with a more negative disposition. Of these 3 pathways, tonically elevated, indiscriminate negative affect appears to be most central to daily life and most relevant to the development of psychopathology. New behavioral and biological data provide insights into the neural systems underlying these 3 pathways and motivate the hypothesis that seemingly "tonic" increases in negative affect may actually reflect increased reactivity to stressors that are remote, uncertain, or diffuse. Research focused on humans, monkeys, and rodents suggests that this indiscriminate negative affect reflects trait-like variation in the activity and connectivity of several key brain regions, including the central extended amygdala and parts of the prefrontal cortex. Collectively, these observations provide an integrative psychobiological framework for understanding the dynamic cascade of processes that bind emotional traits to emotional states and, ultimately, to emotional disorders and other kinds of adverse outcomes. (PsycINFO Database Record