scholarly journals Larger whole brain grey matter associated with long-term Sahaja Yoga Meditation: A detailed area by area comparison

PLoS ONE ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (12) ◽  
pp. e0237552
Author(s):  
Sergio Elías Hernández ◽  
Roberto Dorta ◽  
José Suero ◽  
Alfonso Barros-Loscertales ◽  
José Luis González-Mora ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Grey Matter ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Statistical Significance ◽  
Grey Matter Volume ◽  
Brain Areas ◽  
Left Frontal Lobe ◽  
Whole Brain ◽  
Yoga Meditation

Objectives Our previous study showed that long-term practitioners of Sahaja Yoga Meditation (SYM) had around 7% larger grey matter volume (GMV) in the whole brain compared with healthy controls; however, when testing individual regions, only 5 small brain areas were statistically different between groups. Under the hypothesis that those results were statistically conservative, with the same dataset, we investigated in more detail the regional differences in GMV associated with the practice of SYM, with a different statistical approach. Design Twenty-three experienced practitioners of SYM and 23 healthy non-meditators matched on age, sex and education level, were scanned using structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Their GMV were extracted and compared using Voxel-Based Morphometry (VBM). Using a novel ad-hoc general linear model, statistical comparisons were made to observe if the GMV differences between meditators and controls were statistically significant. Results In the 16 lobe area subdivisions, GMV was statistically significantly different in 4 out of 16 areas: in right hemispheric temporal and frontal lobes, left frontal lobe and brainstem. In the 116 AAL area subdivisions, GMV difference was statistically significant in 11 areas. The GMV differences were statistically more significant in right hemispheric brain areas. Conclusions The study shows that long-term practice of SYM is associated with larger GMV overall, and with significant differences mainly in temporal and frontal areas of the right hemisphere and the brainstem. These neuroplastic changes may reflect emotional and attentional control mechanisms developed with SYM. On the other hand, our statistical ad-hoc method shows that there were more brain areas with statistical significance compared to the traditional methodology which we think is susceptible to conservative Type II errors.

scholarly journals Increases in whole brain grey matter associated with long-term Sahaja Yoga Meditation: a detailed area by area description

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sergio Elías Hernández ◽  
Roberto Dorta ◽  
José Suero ◽  
Alfonso Barros-Loscertales ◽  
José Luis González-Mora ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Grey Matter ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Statistical Significance ◽  
Grey Matter Volume ◽  
Brain Areas ◽  
Left Frontal Lobe ◽  
Whole Brain ◽  
Yoga Meditation

Objectives: Our previous study showed that long-term practitioners of Sahaja Yoga Meditation (SYM) had around 7% larger grey matter volume (GMV) in the whole brain compared with healthy controls; however, when testing individual regions, only 5 small brain areas were statistically different between groups. Under the hypothesis that those results were statistically conservative, with the same dataset, we investigated in more detail the regional differences in GMV associated with the practice of SYM, with a different statistical approach. Design: Twenty-three experienced practitioners of SYM and 23 healthy non-meditators matched on age, gender and education level, were scanned using structural Magnetic Resonance Imaging. Their GMV were extracted and compared using Voxel-Based Morphometry. Using a novel ad-hoc GLM model, statistical comparisons were made to observe if the GMV differences between meditators and controls were statistically significant. Results: In the 16 lobe area subdivisions, GMV was statistically significantly different in 4 out of 16 areas: Right hemispheric temporal and frontal lobes, left frontal lobe and brainstem. In the 116 AAL area subdivisions, GMV difference was statistically significant in 11 areas. The GMV differences were statistically more significant in right hemispheric brain areas. Conclusions: The study shows that long-term practice of SYM is associated with larger GMV overall, and with significant differences mainly in temporal and frontal areas of the right hemisphere and the brainstem. These neuroplastic changes may reflect emotional and attentional control mechanisms developed with SYM. On the other hand, our statistical ad-hoc method shows that there were more brain areas with statistical significance compared to the traditional methodology which we think is susceptible to conservative Type II errors.

scholarly journals Right Hemisphere Grey Matter Volume and Language Functions in Stroke Aphasia

2017 ◽  
Vol 2017 ◽  
pp. 1-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sladjana Lukic ◽  
Elena Barbieri ◽  
Xue Wang ◽  
David Caplan ◽  
Swathi Kiran ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Grey Matter ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Language Ability ◽  
Grey Matter Volume ◽  
Lesion Site ◽  
Language Performance ◽  
Support Functions ◽  
Language Functions ◽  
Lesion Symptom Mapping ◽  
The Right

The role of the right hemisphere (RH) in recovery from aphasia is incompletely understood. The present study quantified RH grey matter (GM) volume in individuals with chronic stroke-induced aphasia and cognitively healthy people using voxel-based morphometry. We compared group differences in GM volume in the entire RH and in RH regions-of-interest. Given that lesion site is a critical source of heterogeneity associated with poststroke language ability, we used voxel-based lesion symptom mapping (VLSM) to examine the relation between lesion site and language performance in the aphasic participants. Finally, using results derived from the VLSM as a covariate, we evaluated the relation between GM volume in the RH and language ability across domains, including comprehension and production processes both at the word and sentence levels and across spoken and written modalities. Between-subject comparisons showed that GM volume in the RH SMA was reduced in the aphasic group compared to the healthy controls. We also found that, for the aphasic group, increased RH volume in the MTG and the SMA was associated with better language comprehension and production scores, respectively. These data suggest that the RH may support functions previously performed by LH regions and have important implications for understanding poststroke reorganization.

Whole brain and grey matter volume of Japanese patients with multiple sclerosis

2017 ◽  
Vol 306 ◽  
pp. 68-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tetsuya Akaishi ◽  
Ichiro Nakashima ◽  
Shunji Mugikura ◽  
Masashi Aoki ◽  
Kazuo Fujihara
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Sclerosis ◽  
Grey Matter ◽  
Japanese Patients ◽  
Grey Matter Volume ◽  
Whole Brain ◽  
Matter Volume

scholarly journals Usefulness of two-dimensional measurements for the evaluation of brain volume and disability in multiple sclerosis

2022 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 205521732110707
Author(s):  
Satori Ajitomi ◽  
Juichi Fujimori ◽  
Ichiro Nakashima
Keyword(s):  
Multiple Sclerosis ◽  
Processing Speed ◽  
Lateral Ventricle ◽  
Grey Matter ◽  
Brain Volume ◽  
Grey Matter Volume ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
Whole Brain ◽  
Brain Volumes ◽  
Matter Volume

Background Two-dimensional (2D) measures have been proposed as potential proxies for whole-brain volume in multiple sclerosis (MS). Objective To verify whether 2D measurements by routine MRI are useful in predicting brain volume or disability in MS. Methods In this cross-sectional analysis, eighty-five consecutive Japanese MS patients—relapsing-remitting MS (81%) and progressive MS (19%)—underwent 1.5 Tesla T1-weighted 3D MRI examinations to measure whole-brain and grey matter volume. 2D measurements, namely, third ventricle width, lateral ventricle width (LVW), brain width, bicaudate ratio, and corpus callosum index (CCI), were obtained from each scan. Correlations between 2D measurements and 3D measurements, the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS), or processing speed were analysed. Results The third and lateral ventricle widths were well-correlated with the whole-brain volume ( p < 0.0001), grey matter volume ( p < 0.0001), and EDSS scores ( p = 0.0001, p = .0004, respectively).The least squares regression model revealed that 78% of the variation in whole-brain volume could be explained using five explanatory variables, namely, LVW, CCI, age, sex, and disease duration. By contrast, the partial correlation coefficient excluding the effect of age showed that the CCI was significantly correlated with the EDSS and processing speed ( p < 0.0001). Conclusion Ventricle width correlated well with brain volumes, while the CCI correlated well with age-independent (i.e. disease-induced) disability.

scholarly journals Morphometric network differences in ageing versus Alzheimer’s disease dementia

Brain ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 143 (2) ◽  
pp. 635-649 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexa Pichet Binette ◽  
Julie Gonneaud ◽  
Jacob W Vogel ◽  
Renaud La Joie ◽  
Pedro Rosa-Neto ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Older Adults ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Grey Matter ◽  
Grey Matter Volume ◽  
Whole Brain ◽  
Matter Volume ◽  
Brain Ageing ◽  
Brain Pattern ◽  
Age Range

Abstract Age being the main risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease, it is particularly challenging to disentangle structural changes related to normal brain ageing from those specific to Alzheimer’s disease. Most studies aiming to make this distinction focused on older adults only and on a priori anatomical regions. Drawing on a large, multi-cohort dataset ranging from young adults (n = 468; age range 18–35 years), to older adults with intact cognition (n = 431; age range 55–90 years) and with Alzheimer’s disease (n = 50 with late mild cognitive impairment and 71 with Alzheimer’s dementia, age range 56–88 years), we investigated grey matter organization and volume differences in ageing and Alzheimer’s disease. Using independent component analysis on all participants’ structural MRI, we first derived morphometric networks and extracted grey matter volume in each network. We also derived a measure of whole-brain grey matter pattern organization by correlating grey matter volume in all networks across all participants from the same cohort. We used logistic regressions and receiver operating characteristic analyses to evaluate how well grey matter volume in each network and whole-brain pattern could discriminate between ageing and Alzheimer’s disease. Because increased heterogeneity is often reported as one of the main features characterizing brain ageing, we also evaluated interindividual heterogeneity within morphometric networks and across the whole-brain organization in ageing and Alzheimer’s disease. Finally, to investigate the clinical validity of the different grey matter features, we evaluated whether grey matter volume or whole-brain pattern was related to clinical progression in cognitively normal older adults. Ageing and Alzheimer’s disease contributed additive effects on grey matter volume in nearly all networks, except frontal lobe networks, where differences in grey matter were more specific to ageing. While no networks specifically discriminated Alzheimer’s disease from ageing, heterogeneity in grey matter volumes across morphometric networks and in the whole-brain grey matter pattern characterized individuals with cognitive impairments. Preservation of the whole-brain grey matter pattern was also related to lower risk of developing cognitive impairment, more so than grey matter volume. These results suggest both ageing and Alzheimer’s disease involve widespread atrophy, but that the clinical expression of Alzheimer’s disease is uniquely associated with disruption of morphometric organization.

scholarly journals Relationship between depression, prefrontal creatine and grey matter volume

2021 ◽  
pp. 026988112110505
Author(s):  
Paul Faulkner ◽  
Susanna Lucini Paioni ◽  
Petya Kozhuharova ◽  
Natasza Orlov ◽  
David J Lythgoe ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Prefrontal Cortex ◽  
Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Grey Matter ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Resonance Spectroscopy ◽  
Grey Matter Volume ◽  
Whole Brain ◽  
Negatively Associated ◽  
Matter Volume

Background: Depression and low mood are leading contributors to disability worldwide. Research indicates that clinical depression may be associated with low creatine concentrations in the brain and low prefrontal grey matter volume. Because subclinical depression also contributes to difficulties in day-to-day life, understanding the neural mechanisms of depressive symptoms in all individuals, even at a subclinical level, may aid public health. Methods: Eighty-four young adult participants completed the Depression, Anxiety and Stress Scale (DASS) to quantify severity of depression, anxiety and stress, and underwent 1H-Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy of the medial prefrontal cortex and structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to determine whole-brain grey matter volume. Results/outcomes: DASS depression scores were negatively associated (a) with concentrations of creatine (but not other metabolites) in the prefrontal cortex and (b) with grey matter volume in the right superior medial frontal gyrus. Medial prefrontal creatine concentrations and right superior medial frontal grey matter volume were positively correlated. DASS anxiety and DASS stress scores were not related to prefrontal metabolite concentrations or whole-brain grey matter volume. Conclusions/interpretations: This study provides preliminary evidence from a representative group of individuals who exhibit a range of depression levels that prefrontal creatine and grey matter volume are negatively associated with depression. While future research is needed to fully understand this relationship, these results provide support for previous findings, which indicate that increasing creatine concentrations in the prefrontal cortex may improve mood and well-being.

scholarly journals Associations between childhood family emotional health, fronto-limbic grey matter volume, and saliva 5mC in young adulthood

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
J. R. Pfeiffer ◽  
Angela C. Bustamante ◽  
Grace S. Kim ◽  
Don Armstrong ◽  
Annchen R. Knodt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Indirect Effect ◽  
Grey Matter ◽  
Right Hemisphere ◽  
Emotional Health ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
Hippocampal Volume ◽  
Grey Matter Volume ◽  
Social Environments ◽  
Matter Volume ◽  
Environment Exposure

Abstract Background Poor family emotional health (FEH) during childhood is prevalent and impactful, and likely confers similar neurodevelopmental risks as other adverse social environments. Pointed FEH study efforts are underdeveloped, and the mechanisms by which poor FEH are biologically embedded are unclear. The current exploratory study examined whether variability in 5-methyl-cytosine (5mC) and fronto-limbic grey matter volume may represent pathways through which FEH may become biologically embedded. Results In 98 university students aged 18–22 years, retrospective self-reported childhood FEH was associated with right hemisphere hippocampus (b = 10.4, p = 0.005), left hemisphere amygdala (b = 5.3, p = 0.009), and right hemisphere amygdala (b = 5.8, p = 0.016) volumes. After pre-processing and filtering to 5mC probes correlated between saliva and brain, analyses showed that childhood FEH was associated with 49 5mC principal components (module eigengenes; MEs) (prange = 3 × 10–6 to 0.047). Saliva-derived 5mC MEs partially mediated the association between FEH and right hippocampal volume (Burlywood ME indirect effect b = − 111, p = 0.014), and fully mediated the FEH and right amygdala volume relationship (Pink4 ME indirect effect b = − 48, p = 0.026). Modules were enriched with probes falling in genes with immune, central nervous system (CNS), cellular development/differentiation, and metabolic functions. Conclusions Findings extend work highlighting neurodevelopmental variability associated with adverse social environment exposure during childhood by specifically implicating poor FEH, while informing a mechanism of biological embedding. FEH-associated epigenetic signatures could function as proxies of altered fronto-limbic grey matter volume associated with poor childhood FEH and inform further investigation into primarily affected tissues such as endocrine, immune, and CNS cell types.

scholarly journals 3D CNN based Alzheimer’s diseases classification using segmented Grey matter extracted from whole-brain MRI

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 200
Author(s):  
Bijen Khagi ◽  
Goo-Rak Kwon
Keyword(s):  
Grey Matter ◽  
Imaging Techniques ◽  
Brain Mri ◽  
Statistical Parameter ◽  
Matter Content ◽  
Grey Matter Volume ◽  
Whole Brain ◽  
Mapping Tool ◽  
Positron Emission ◽  
A Minor

A recent study from MRI has revealed that there is a minor increase in cerebral-spinal fluid (CSF) content in brain ventricles and sulci, along with a substantial decrease in grey matter (GM) content and brain volume among Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients. It has been discovered that the grey matter volume shrinkage may indicate the possible case of dementia and related diseases like AD. Clinicians and radiologists use imaging techniques like Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), Computed Tomography (CT) scan, and Positron Emission Tomography (PET) to diagnose and visualize the tissue contents of the brain. Using the whole brain MRI as the feature is an on-going approach among machine learning researchers, however, we are interested only in grey matter content. First, we segment the MRI using the SPM (Statistical parameter mapping) tool and then apply the smoothing technique to get a 3D image of grey matter (later called as grey version) from each MRI. This image file is then fed into 3D convolutional neural network (CNN) with necessary pre-processing so that it can train the network, to produce a classifying model. Once trained, an untested MRI (i.e. its grey version) can be passed through the CNN to determine whether it is a healthy control (HC), or Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) due to AD (mAD) or AD dementia (ADD). Our validation and testing accuracy are reported here and compared with normal MRI and its grey version.

Abstract MP67: Long-term TV Viewing Is Associated With Grey Matter Brain Volume In Midlife: The Coronary Artery Risk Development In Young Adults (CARDIA) Study

Circulation ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 143 (Suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ryan J Dougherty ◽  
Tina Hoang ◽  
Lenore J Launer ◽  
David R Jacobs ◽  
Stephen Sidney ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Physical Activity ◽  
Sedentary Behavior ◽  
Entorhinal Cortex ◽  
Grey Matter ◽  
Grey Matter Volume ◽  
Intracranial Volume ◽  
Tv Viewing ◽  
Standard Deviation Increase ◽  
Matter Volume

Introduction: While it is generally accepted that a physically active lifestyle is important for overall health, sedentary behavior has become a public health focus due to evidence that it may impart unique risk for chronic diseases. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between 20-year television (TV) viewing patterns, as a proxy for sedentary behavior, with grey matter volume in midlife. We hypothesized that greater TV viewing in early to mid-adulthood would be associated with lower grey matter volume at midlife, independent from physical activity. Methods: We evaluated 599 participants (306 female, 264 black, mean age 30.3±3.5 at baseline and 50.2±3.5 years at follow-up and MRI) from the prospective CARDIA study. We assessed TV patterns with repeated interviewer-administered questionnaire spanning 20 years. Structural MRI (3T) measures of grey matter were assessed at year 20 during midlife. We used multivariable linear models to examine the association between long-term TV viewing (mean hours) and frontal cortex, entorhinal cortex, hippocampal, and total grey matter volumes, adjusting for demographics, intracranial volume, and study site. Results: Over the 20 years, participants reported viewing an average of 2.5±1.7 hours of TV per day (range: 0-10 hours). After multivariable adjustment, greater TV viewing was negatively associated with grey matter volume in the frontal (β= -0.773; p = 0.01) and entorhinal cortex (β= -23.8; p = 0.05) as well as total grey matter (β= -2.089; p = 0.003) but not hippocampus. These results remained unchanged after additional adjustment for physical activity. For each one standard deviation increase in TV viewing, the difference in grey matter volume z-score was approximately 0.06 less for each of the three regions ( p< 0.05; Figure 1). Conclusions: Among middle-aged adults, greater TV viewing in early to mid-adulthood was associated with lower grey matter volume. Sedentariness or other facets of TV viewing may be an important risk factor for brain aging even in middle age.

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