Dataset Information

Sex Classification by Resting State Brain Connectivity.

ABSTRACT: A large amount of brain imaging research has focused on group studies delineating differences between males and females with respect to both cognitive performance as well as structural and functional brain organization. To supplement existing findings, the present study employed a machine learning approach to assess how accurately participants' sex can be classified based on spatially specific resting state (RS) brain connectivity, using 2 samples from the Human Connectome Project (n1?=?434, n2?=?310) and 1 fully independent sample from the 1000BRAINS study (n?=?941). The classifier, which was trained on 1 sample and tested on the other 2, was able to reliably classify sex, both within sample and across independent samples, differing both with respect to imaging parameters and sample characteristics. Brain regions displaying highest sex classification accuracies were mainly located along the cingulate cortex, medial and lateral frontal cortex, temporoparietal regions, insula, and precuneus. These areas were stable across samples and match well with previously described sex differences in functional brain organization. While our data show a clear link between sex and regionally specific brain connectivity, they do not support a clear-cut dimorphism in functional brain organization that is driven by sex alone.

SUBMITTER: Weis S

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7444737 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Sex Classification by Resting State Brain Connectivity.

Weis Susanne S Patil Kaustubh R KR Hoffstaedter Felix F Nostro Alessandra A Yeo B T Thomas BTT Eickhoff Simon B SB

Cerebral cortex (New York, N.Y. : 1991) 20200301 2

A large amount of brain imaging research has focused on group studies delineating differences between males and females with respect to both cognitive performance as well as structural and functional brain organization. To supplement existing findings, the present study employed a machine learning approach to assess how accurately participants' sex can be classified based on spatially specific resting state (RS) brain connectivity, using 2 samples from the Human Connectome Project (n1 = 434, n2 ...[more]

PMID: 31251328

Similar Datasets

Project description:ObjectiveA long-standing hypothesis is that when compared with males, females may be at increased risk of experiencing greater pain sensitivity and unpleasantness. The purpose of this study was to examine sex differences in pain psychophysics and resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) in core pain regions in an age- and sex-matched sample of healthy older adults.DesignBetween groups, cross-sectional.SettingVanderbilt University and Medical Center.SubjectsThe sample in the analyses reported here consisted of 19 cognitively intact males matched with 19 cognitively intact females of similar ages (median ages: females?=?70 years, males?=?68 years).MethodsPsychophysical assessment of experimental thermal pain and RSFC.ResultsThere were no significant differences in perceptual thresholds or unpleasantness ratings in response to thermal stimuli. Older males showed greater RSFC between the affective and sensory networks and between affective and descending modulatory networks. Conversely, older females showed greater RSFC between the descending modulatory network and both sensory and affective networks. The strongest evidence for sex differences emerged in the associations of thermal pain with RSFC between the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and amygdala and between the ACC and periaqueductal gray matter in older females relative to older males.ConclusionsWe found no differences in pain sensitivity or pain affect between older males and older females. Additionally, we found that older females exhibited a greater association between thermal pain sensitivity and RSFC signal between regions typically associated with pain affect and the descending modulatory system. One interpretation of these findings is that older females may better engage the descending pain modulatory system. This better engagement possibly translates into older females having similar perceptual thresholds for temperature sensitivity and unpleasantness associated with mild and moderate pain. These findings contrast with studies demonstrating that younger females find thermal pain more sensitive and more unpleasant.

Dataset Information

Sex Classification by Resting State Brain Connectivity.

Publications

Sex Classification by Resting State Brain Connectivity.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets