Dataset Information

Functional Network Development During the First Year: Relative Sequence and Socioeconomic Correlations.

ABSTRACT: The first postnatal year is characterized by the most dramatic functional network development of the human lifespan. Yet, the relative sequence of the maturation of different networks and the impact of socioeconomic status (SES) on their development during this critical period remains poorly characterized. Leveraging a large, normally developing infant sample with multiple longitudinal resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans during the first year (N = 65, scanned every 3 months), we aimed to delineate the relative maturation sequence of 9 key brain functional networks and examine their SES correlations. Our results revealed a maturation sequence from primary sensorimotor/auditory to visual to attention/default-mode, and finally to executive control networks. Network-specific critical growth periods were also identified. Finally, marginally significant positive SES-brain correlations were observed at 6 months of age for both the sensorimotor and default-mode networks, indicating interesting SES effects on functional brain maturation. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study delineating detailed longitudinal growth trajectories of all major functional networks during the first year of life and their SES correlations. Insights from this study not only improve our understanding of early brain development, but may also inform the critical periods for SES expression during infancy.

SUBMITTER: Gao W

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4537436 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Functional Network Development During the First Year: Relative Sequence and Socioeconomic Correlations.

Gao Wei W Alcauter Sarael S Elton Amanda A Hernandez-Castillo Carlos R CR Smith J Keith JK Ramirez Juanita J Lin Weili W

Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) 20140508 9

The first postnatal year is characterized by the most dramatic functional network development of the human lifespan. Yet, the relative sequence of the maturation of different networks and the impact of socioeconomic status (SES) on their development during this critical period remains poorly characterized. Leveraging a large, normally developing infant sample with multiple longitudinal resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans during the first year (N = 65, scanned every 3 months ...[more]

PMID: 24812084

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Project description:The human brain develops rapidly in the first postnatal year, in which rewired functional brain networks could shape later behavioral and cognitive performance. Resting-state functional magnetic resonances imaging (rs-fMRI) and complex network analysis have been widely used for characterizing the developmental brain functional connectome. Yet, such studies focusing on the first year of postnatal life are still very limited. Leveraging normally developing longitudinal infant rs-fMRI scans from neonate to one year of age, we investigated how brain functional networks develop at a fine temporal scale (every 3 months). Considering challenges in the infant fMRI-based network analysis, we developed a novel algorithm to construct the robust, temporally consistent and modular structure augmented group-level network based on which functional modules were detected at each age. Our study reveals that the brain functional network is gradually subdivided into an increasing number of functional modules accompanied by the strengthened intra- and inter-modular connectivities. Based on the developing modules, we found connector hubs (the high-centrality regions connecting different modules) emerging and increasing, while provincial hubs (the high-centrality regions connecting regions in the same module) diminishing. Further region-wise longitudinal analysis validates that different hubs have distinct developmental trajectories of the intra- and inter-modular connections suggesting different types of role transitions in network, such as non-hubs to hubs or provincial hubs to connector hubs et al. All findings indicate that functional segregation and integration are both increased in the first year of postnatal life. The module reorganization and hub transition lead to more efficient brain networks, featuring increasingly segregated modular structure and more connector hubs. This study provides the first comprehensive report of the development of functional brain networks at a 3-month interval throughout the first postnatal year of life, which provides essential information to the future neurodevelopmental and developmental disorder studies.

Project description:BackgroundPhysician decision-making and perceptions of patients are affected by a patient's socioeconomic status (SES). We sought to determine if the perceptions of first- and second-year medical students are similarly affected. We also wanted to determine whether a student's own SES affects his or her perceptions of patients from a low or high SES background.MethodsTwo similar videos of a physician-patient interview were created. One video featured a patient of apparently high SES and the other featured a patient of apparently low SES. Differences in SES were portrayed by means of clothing, accessories and dialogue. First- and second-year medical students at the University of Western Ontario were recruited to view 1 of the videos and to answer a questionnaire using a 5-point Likert scale.ResultsResponses were obtained from 205 (89%) of the 231 medical students invited to participate. Respondents' perceptions of the low SES and high SES patients were significantly different in the following respects. The low SES patient was perceived to be less compliant in taking medications and less likely to return for follow-up visits; was perceived to have a lower level of social support, poorer overall health and a worse prognosis; and was perceived to be more adversely affected in his occupational duties by illness (p < 0.05). Furthermore, second-year students who watched the video with the low SES patient were less inclined to want that patient in their practice than second-year students who watched the video with the high SES patient (p = 0.032). One hundred and six students (52%) were categorized as having high SES and 37 (18%) as having low SES (the remaining students were categorized as having mid-level SES). Among students who watched the video with the low SES patient, the level of agreement with the statement "This person is the kind of patient I would like to have in my practice" was greater among low SES students than among high SES students (p = 0.012).InterpretationFirst- and second-year medical students have negative perceptions of low SES patients on several dimensions.

Dataset Information

Functional Network Development During the First Year: Relative Sequence and Socioeconomic Correlations.

Publications

Functional Network Development During the First Year: Relative Sequence and Socioeconomic Correlations.

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