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| Open AccessNeonatal brain dynamic functional connectivity in term and preterm infants and its association with early childhood neurodevelopment
Neonatal brain dynamics are not well understood. Here, the authors characterise brain transient states in neonates, and show that preterm infants display altered whole brain dynamics and an atypical repertoire of regional transient states, which are associated with behavioural outcomes at 18 months of age.
- Lucas G. S. França
- , Judit Ciarrusta
- & Dafnis Batalle
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| Open AccessBrain asymmetries from mid- to late life and hemispheric brain age
The human brain is highly asymmetrical and increasingly so with age. Here the authors examine hemispheric brain age estimates, which provide additional insights into brain asymmetries.
- Max Korbmacher
- , Dennis van der Meer
- & Ivan I. Maximov
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| Open AccessStructural connectome architecture shapes the maturation of cortical morphology from childhood to adolescence
Cortical morphology shows maturation during childhood and adolescence. Here the authors show this is structurally constrained by a diffusion network model and that this constraint is linked to gene expression profiles of microstructural development.
- Xinyuan Liang
- , Lianglong Sun
- & Yong He
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| Open AccessA phylogenetically-conserved axis of thalamocortical connectivity in the human brain
The principles underpinning the projection patterns of the thalamus to the cortex are not well characterised. Here, the authors reveal a medial to lateral thalamic gradient of genetic and connectomic variation which aligns with an anterior to posterior cortical pattern.
- Stuart Oldham
- & Gareth Ball
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Matters Arising
| Open AccessFluid signal suppression characteristics of 3D-FLAIR with a T2 selective inversion pulse in the skull base
- Shinji Naganawa
- , Yutaka Kato
- & Michihiko Sone
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| Open AccessMultivariate genome-wide association study on tissue-sensitive diffusion metrics highlights pathways that shape the human brain
How the tissue composition of the human brain is determined remains unclear. Here, the authors apply advanced analyses to two large imaging genetic datasets to identify and validate genetic loci that simultaneously influence multiple brain regions.
- Chun Chieh Fan
- , Robert Loughnan
- & Anders M. Dale
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| Open AccessWhite matter myelination during early infancy is linked to spatial gradients and myelin content at birth
Myelination in early infancy develops at different rates. Here the authors describe this process whereby the back and top of the brain, as well as sections that are least mature at birth develop the fastest.
- Mareike Grotheer
- , Mona Rosenke
- & Kalanit Grill-Spector
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| Open AccessPharmacoSTORM nanoscale pharmacology reveals cariprazine binding on Islands of Calleja granule cells
The authors introduce PharmacoSTORM single-molecule imaging that uses fluorescent ligands and immunolabeling for cellular and subcellular nanoscale molecular pharmacology. They demonstrate its capabilities by visualizing cariprazine binding to D3 dopamine receptors on Islands of Calleja granule cell axons.
- Susanne Prokop
- , Péter Ábrányi-Balogh
- & István Katona
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Article
| Open AccessIdentification of the suprachiasmatic nucleus venous portal system in the mammalian brain
The first known portal system in the mammalian brain was identified in 1933. Here the authors describe a new portal system between the capillary beds of the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus master clock and a circumventricular organ, enabling humoral signals to reach targets without dilution in the systemic circulation.
- Yifan Yao
- , Alana B’nai Taub
- & Rae Silver
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| Open AccessOutcome after acute ischemic stroke is linked to sex-specific lesion patterns
Acute ischemic stroke impacts men and women differently. Here, the authors show how different lesion patterns in men and women are linked to the extent of stroke severity.
- Anna K. Bonkhoff
- , Markus D. Schirmer
- & Natalia S. Rost
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| Open AccessThe genetic architecture of the human thalamus and its overlap with ten common brain disorders
Differences in thalamic structure have been observed in several psychiatric disorders, but the genetic overlap has not been explored. Here, the authors perform a genome-wide association study on thalamic nuclei volume and find genetic loci in common between thalamic volumes and brain disorders.
- Torbjørn Elvsåshagen
- , Alexey Shadrin
- & Tobias Kaufmann
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Article
| Open AccessCortical structural differences in major depressive disorder correlate with cell type-specific transcriptional signatures
The correlation between brain structural changes in major depressive disorder (MDD) and gene expression is unclear. Here, the authors explore the correlation between cell type-specific gene expression changes and cortical structural difference in individuals with major depressive disorder.
- Jiao Li
- , Jakob Seidlitz
- & Wei Liao
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Article
| Open AccessThe human endogenous attentional control network includes a ventro-temporal cortical node
Endogenous attention is known to be controlled by dorsal fronto-parietal brain areas. Here the authors identify a control attention area located in the temporal lobe, which is functionally distinct from surrounding areas, and is directly connected to parietal and frontal attentional regions.
- Ilaria Sani
- , Heiko Stemmann
- & Winrich A. Freiwald
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Article
| Open AccessChildren’s family income is associated with cognitive function and volume of anterior not posterior hippocampus
The hippocampus is thought to underlie income gaps in children’s cognition. Here, the authors find that the stress-sensitive anterior (but not posterior) hippocampus mediates income-gaps in memory and vocabulary, especially in children whose families earn ≤$75k annually.
- Alexandra L. Decker
- , Katherine Duncan
- & Donald J. Mabbott
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| Open AccessThe genetic architecture of human brainstem structures and their involvement in common brain disorders
The genetic architecture underlying brainstem regions and how this links to common brain disorders is not well understood. Here, the authors use MRI and GWAS data from 27,034 individuals to identify genetic and morphological brainstem features that influence common brain disorders.
- Torbjørn Elvsåshagen
- , Shahram Bahrami
- & Tobias Kaufmann
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| Open AccessA neurovascular high-frequency optical coherence tomography system enables in situ cerebrovascular volumetric microscopy
High resolution intravascular imaging in the brain is limited by the high tortuosity of the vasculature. Here the authors present a fiber optic imaging technology using high-frequency optical coherence tomography (HF-OCT) to provide volumetric high resolution images in the highly tortuous cerebral vasculature.
- Giovanni J. Ughi
- , Miklos G. Marosfoi
- & Ajit S. Puri
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Article
| Open AccessThe visual word form area (VWFA) is part of both language and attention circuitry
The visual word form area (VWFA) is a brain region associated with written language, but it has also been linked to visuospatial attention. Here, the authors reveal distinct structural and functional circuits linking VWFA with language and attention networks, and demonstrate that these circuits separately predict language and attention abilities.
- Lang Chen
- , Demian Wassermann
- & Vinod Menon
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Article
| Open AccessFirst-in-human trial of blood–brain barrier opening in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis using MR-guided focused ultrasound
MR-focused ultrasound can be used to transiently open the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Here, the authors report the results of a first-in-human trial on four patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), showing that the procedure reversibly permeabilised the BBB in the motor cortex without complications, and suggest that the procedure could in the future be used to increase drug delivery in ALS patients.
- Agessandro Abrahao
- , Ying Meng
- & Lorne Zinman
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Article
| Open AccessHCN2 Rescues brain defects by enforcing endogenous voltage pre-patterns
The authors have previously shown that membrane voltage can influence embryonic patterning during development. Here, the authors computationally model how nicotine disrupts Xenopus embryogenesis by perturbing voltage gradients, and rescue nicotine-inducted defects with HCN2 channel expression.
- Vaibhav P. Pai
- , Alexis Pietak
- & Michael Levin
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| Open AccessOutflow of cerebrospinal fluid is predominantly through lymphatic vessels and is reduced in aged mice
It is believed that the bulk of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) drains through arachnoid projections from the subarachnoid space to the dural venous sinuses. Here the authors show that the major outflow pathway for CSF in mice are lymphatic vessels and that this drainage decreases as the mice age.
- Qiaoli Ma
- , Benjamin V. Ineichen
- & Steven T. Proulx
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Article
| Open AccessCerebral complexity preceded enlarged brain size and reduced olfactory bulbs in Old World monkeys
The evolution of the brain in Old World monkeys (cercopithecoids) is poorly understood. Here the authors describe a complete endocast of Victoriapithecus, a 15 Myr old cercopithecoid, which shows that the brain size was much smaller and the olfactory bulbs much larger than in any extant catarrhine primate.
- Lauren A. Gonzales
- , Brenda R. Benefit
- & Fred Spoor
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A sequence variant in human KALRN impairs protein function and coincides with reduced cortical thickness
Mutations of the human KALRN gene are implicated in schizophrenia. Here, Russell et al.identify a genetic variant of this gene in a schizophrenia patient and his sibling diagnosed with major depressive disorder and substance abuse, and find that this is associated with reduced cortical volume and thickness.
- Theron A. Russell
- , Katherine D. Blizinsky
- & Peter Penzes
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Modular structure facilitates mosaic evolution of the brain in chimpanzees and humans
Understanding how developmental, functional and geometric factors determine brain evolution is challenging. Here, the authors show that chimpanzee and human brains have a modular structure and find that local spatial interactions pose stronger constrains to evolution than developmental and functional patterns.
- Aida Gómez-Robles
- , William D. Hopkins
- & Chet C. Sherwood
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| Open AccessPostmortem examination of patient H.M.’s brain based on histological sectioning and digital 3D reconstruction
Studies on Patient H.M. showed that bilateral resection of the hippocampus results in impaired consolidation of long-term memory. Annese et al.create a digital map of Henry Molaison’s brain and find that a significant portion of the posterior hippocampus is actually histologically intact.
- Jacopo Annese
- , Natalie M. Schenker-Ahmed
- & Suzanne Corkin
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Competing signals drive telencephalon diversity
The brains of rock- and sand-dwelling Lake Malawi cichlid fishes differ in telencephalon partitioning. Sylvester et al. show that these differences can be attributed to divergence in Hedgehog and Wingless signalling during development.
- J B. Sylvester
- , C A. Rich
- & J T. Streelman
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Genetic architecture supports mosaic brain evolution and independent brain–body size regulation
It has been controversial whether the sizes of different regions of the brain can evolve independently of each other. This study identifies genetic loci responsible for independent size regulation in different brain regions, and finds brain size to be regulated independently of body size.
- Reinmar Hager
- , Lu Lu
- & Robert W. Williams
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Evolution of the base of the brain in highly encephalized human species
Encephalization—increase of brain size relative to body size—has occurred in two distinct evolutionary lineages; Neanderthals and modern humans. However, the 3D endocranial surface shape analysis reported here reveals unique structures at the base of the brain inHomo sapiens, which may have contributed to learning and social capacities.
- Markus Bastir
- , Antonio Rosas
- & Jean-Jacques Hublin
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Vocalization frequency and duration are coded in separate hindbrain nuclei
Vocal communication is relatively common among fish: the midshipman being an example with a particularly wide dynamic range. In this paper, the authors demonstrate that different populations of hindbrain neurons are responsible for the frequency and duration of these calls.
- Boris P. Chagnaud
- , Robert Baker
- & Andrew H. Bass
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| Open AccessCircadian regulation of intracellular G-protein signalling mediates intercellular synchrony and rhythmicity in the suprachiasmatic nucleus
Circadian rhythm is controlled by the suprachiasmatic nucleus and the mechanisms that control the rhythm are largely undiscovered. In this study, a G protein regulator, RGS16, is shown to be involved in the production of cyclic AMP that is required for the suprachiasmatic nucleus to maintain rhythm
- Masao Doi
- , Atsushi Ishida
- & Hitoshi Okamura