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Daniel Cromb^1,2, Alena Uus^1,2, Milou Van Poppel³, Johannes Steinweg³, Alexandra Bonthrone^1,2, Alessandra Maggioni¹, Paul Cawley^1,4, Vanessa Kyriakopoulou¹, Jacqueline Matthew¹, Anthony Price^1,2, A David Edwards^1,2, Maria Deprez^1,2, Joseph V Hajnal^1,2, David F Lloyd^1,3,5, Kuberan Pushparajah^1,3,5, John Simpson^1,3,5, Mary Rutherford^1,4, and Serena J Counsell^1,2
1Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom, ²Biomedical Engineering Department, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom, ³Department of Cardiovascular Imaging, School of Biomedical Engineering & Imaging Science, King's College London, London, United Kingdom, ⁴MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, King's College London, London, United Kingdom, ⁵Paediatric Cardiology, Evelina London Children's Hospital, London, United Kingdom

Keywords: Fetal, Brain, Brain Volumes, Congenital Heart Disease

Total and regional brain volumes, derived from automatically segmented, motion-corrected, 3D fetal brain MR images were obtained in 45 healthy fetuses and 305 fetuses with isolated congenital heart disease (CHD) in the third trimester. Total brain tissue, cortical and deep grey matter, and white matter volumes are significantly lower in fetuses with CHD where cerebral oxygenation and substrate delivery are likely to be reduced. Brain volumes appear normal in fetuses with CHD but an otherwise expected normal cerebral oxygenation.

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Allison Eve Mella¹ and Alexander Weber^2
1Neuroscience, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada, ²Pediatrics, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada

Keywords: Neonatal, fMRI (resting state), Neuroscience

We compared Hurst exponent (H) values in preterm and term healthy controls to quantify brain signaling criticality using rsfMRI scans. Neonatal data from the Developing Human Connectome Project was analyzed. We found that H significantly increased in the preterm groups longitudinally in all resting state networks. Motor and sensory networks were found to have the greatest increase in H. At term age, very preterm, moderately preterm, and health controls displayed different H values in 8 of the 13 networks examined.

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Xinyi Cai¹, Lianghu Guo¹, Mianxin Liu¹, Feihong Liu¹, Jiawei Huang¹, Jiameng Liu¹, Qing Yang¹, Lang Mei¹, Tianli Tao¹, Zhuoyang Gu¹, Xiaozhao Liu¹, Yuxiao Liu¹, Xiangnan Tian¹, Qian Chen¹, Ruoming Wang¹, Yizhou Shi¹, Qian Wang¹, Han Zhang¹, and Dinggang Shen^1
1School of Biomedical Engineering, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, China

Keywords: Normal development, Brain, Infant

Studies have revealed a particular functional connectome gradient (FC-grad) pattern in the human brain, reflecting delicate organization of brain connectome. Interestingly, the pattern can be observed along childhood-adolescent, even in neonates. However, FC-grad changes from infancy to childhood remain unraveled, with significant disparities between neonates and school-aged children not explained. We explored the early development trajectories of the FC-grads between age 0-5 years. We found that the neonatal “prototypic” connectome gradients undergoes rapid changes in this period, especially the first 12 months, reflecting maturing functional integration. Our study filled the gap of FC-grad development in early infancy. 

Ruolin Li¹, Yihan Wu¹, Yifan Shuai¹, Zhiyong Zhao¹, and Dan Wu^1
1Key Laboratory for Biomedical Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Biomedical Engineering & Instrument Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

Keywords: Neonatal, Normal development, brain network

The study aimed to explore the changes of dynamic functional network connectivity (FNC) with age in neonatal brain. We used independent component analysis to extract 17 resting-state networks, and calculated their static and dynamic FNC (sFNC/dFNC). We found that the variance of dFNC significantly correlated with GA, and the sFNC significantly correlated with PMA controlling GA as a covariate. Moreover, the preterm- than term-born neonates showed decreased variances of dFNC between almost all networks, and altered sFNC between several networks. These findings suggest that the time-varying FNCs are modulated more by maternal environment than postnatal experience during early brain development.
 

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Stephen Sawiak¹, Michal Graczyk¹, Gemma J Cockcroft¹, Lauren McIver¹, Edward Bullmore², and Angela Roberts^1
1Translational Neuroimaging Laboratory; Physiology, Development and Neuroscience, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom, ²University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom

Keywords: Brain Connectivity, Brain Connectivity

Adolescence is a critical period in development where neuropsychiatric symptoms emerge. The most striking morphological changes in the brain throughout this time are seen in white matter. Here we present a large longitudinal non-human primate study mapping detailed changes in the structural DTI connectome from infancy to adulthood, showing changes in connectivity across this period in higher order association areas, particularly in prefrontal cortex. We demonstrate integration of subcortical structures across hemispheres in the adult brain alongside differentiation of right and left prefrontal areas in their community structure.  

Ruiping Zheng¹, Jingliang Cheng¹, and Yong Zhang^1
1MRI, the first affiliated hospital of zhengzhou university, zhengzhou, henan, China

Keywords: Adolescents, Neuroscience, Resting-state functional connectivity

The striatum is known to be impaired in MDD patients. Abnormal structure or function of the striatum may disturb the top-down regulation of negative emotions among persons more vulnerable to developing depressive state, especially adolescent. Here, we investigated (1) voxel-wise FC between the striatal nucleus and the whole brain; (2) region of interest wise effective connectivity using DCM analysis, according to the between-group differences in FC of the striatal nucleus. We found decreased FC in cerebello-limbic-striatal circuit, and further DCM analysis showed the dysregulation of vrPUT nucleus disturb the top-down regulation of cerebello-limbic-striatal circuit during reward processing in adolescent MDD.

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Chaitra Badve¹, Jessie EP Sun², Ameya Nayate¹, Michael Wien¹, Douglas Martin¹, Jared Durieux¹, Chris Flask², Deanne Wilson Costello³, and Dan Ma^4
1Radiology, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, Cleveland, OH, United States, ²Radiology, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, United States, ³Neonatology, University Hospitals Cleveland Medical Center, Cleveland, OH, United States, ⁴Biomedical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, United States

Keywords: Neonatal, MR Fingerprinting

The 5 min high resolution MRF scans coupled with low-rank iterative reconstruction successfully generated perfectly co-registered T1, T2 maps, synthetic MR contrast images, R1R2 maps, and myelin water fraction maps. Image Quality Assessment analysis with three pediatric neuroradiologists found that MRF based synthetic T1w and T2w images quality were superior in quality to MRI T1w and T2w (p<.0001) with lower image artifacts in the MRF synthetic images as compared to standard of care MRI. MRF T1w images demonstrated better myelin visualization compared to clinical T1w, and MRF T2w demonstrated improved tissue structure visualization as compared to clinical T2w images.

Claire E Kelly^1,2,3, Peter J Anderson^1,2, Sila Genc^3,4, Thijs Dhollander³, Deanne K Thompson^2,3,5, Alice C Burnett^2,5,6,7, Lex W Doyle^2,5,6,8, and Jeanie LY Cheong^2,6,8
1Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia, ²Victorian Infant Brain Studies (VIBeS), Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia, ³Developmental Imaging, Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Melbourne, Australia, ⁴Neurosurgery Advanced Clinical Imaging Service (NACIS), Department of Neurosurgery, The Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia, ⁵Department of Paediatrics, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia, ⁶The Royal Women’s Hospital, Melbourne, Australia, ⁷Neonatal Medicine, The Royal Children's Hospital, Melbourne, Australia, ⁸Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia

Keywords: Neonatal, Neuro

There is large inter-individual variation in cognitive outcomes of adults born preterm, which may relate to under-recognised heterogeneity in white matter tract microstructural disturbances. This study created a normative model of white matter tract profiles using deep learning in term-born adults (n=95). The model was then applied to detect anomalies in tract profiles of preterm adults (n=111). The location and extent of anomalies varied across preterm adults. Further, tract anomalies were correlated with neonatal brain injury and IQ. Thus, this study demonstrates inter-individual variation in white matter abnormalities in preterm adults, helping to explain variation in cognitive outcomes.

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Zhiyi Hu¹, Dengrong Jiang², Jennifer Shepard³, Yuto Uchida², Kenichi Oishi², Peiying Liu^2,4, Doris Lin², Vivek Yedavalli², Aylin Tekes², W. Christopher Golden³, and Hanzhang Lu^1,2,5
1Department of Biomedical Engineering, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States, ²Department of Radiology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States, ³Department of Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States, ⁴Department of Diagnostic Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States, ⁵F.M. Kirby Research Center for Functional Brain Imaging, Kennedy Krieger Research Institute, Baltimore, MD, United States

Keywords: Neonatal, Perfusion

 A prominent feature in neonatal cerebral blood flow (CBF) measurement is the hyperperfusion in the deep brain region. Given the rich presence of large arteries in this region, it is plausible that macrovascular artifacts may play a major role in the hyperintense signals observed. This study presented a new MRI technique, pCASL with arterial suppression and flow suppression (AFS-pCASL) to minimize the macrovascular artifacts in neonates. We demonstrated that macrovascular artifacts in neonatal pCASL can be substantially suppressed, from which quantitative CBF and arterial transit time can be measured when applying the sequence in a multi-delay setting.

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Jeffrey N Stout¹, Julie Swanson¹, Alfred P See², Shivani Rangwala¹, and Darren B Orbach^1
1Cerebrovascular Surgery and Interventions Center, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States, ²Department of Neurosurgery, CSIC, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA, United States

Keywords: Blood vessels, Blood vessels, 4D Flow, Vein of Galen Malformation, blood flow

Vein of Galen Malformation is the most common congenital cerebrovascular malformation and patients have variable mortality risk and cognitive outcomes. Tools are needed to guide treatment decisions, so we investigated the hemodynamic underpinnings of a morphological metric used for clinical prognostication. We used 4D flow MRI to quantify flow through the venous sinus that drains the malformation, and compared this to the maximum mediolateral diameter of the same sinus. A significant positive correlation between flow and diameter was observed when controlling for prior embolization; this finding motivates continued efforts to develop hemodynamic metrics of disease severity and treatment progress.

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HaiFeng Ran¹, Jie Hu^1,2, GuiQin Chen¹, YuLun He¹, Heng Liu¹, and TiJiang Zhang^1
1Department of Radiology, The Affiliated Hospital of Zunyi Medical University, ZunYi, China, ²Department of Radiology and Nuclear Medicine, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, BeiJing, China

Keywords: Neuro, Epilepsy, Neurovascular coupling

This study investigated the neurovascular coupling of children with idiopathic epilepsy using resting-state functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging and arterial spin labeling. Children with IGE present altered global neurovascular coupling, and higher regional neurovascular coupling in in the right medial frontal gyrus associated with lower performance intelligence quotient scores. The study shed a new insight into the pathophysiology of epilepsy and provided the potential imaging biomarkers of cognitive performances in children with IGE.

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Jiani Wu¹, Hongxi Zhang², Haotian Li¹, Siyifei Wang¹, Xingwang Yong¹, and Dan Wu^1
1Key Laboratory for Biomedical Engineering of Ministry of Education, Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Biomedical Engineering & Instrument Science, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China, ²Department of Radiology, Children's Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine, Hangzhou, China

Keywords: Pulse Sequence Design, Contrast Mechanisms

3D T2-weighted MRI using fast spin-echo (FSE) with variable flip angles has been widely for anatomical imaging. However, 3D FSE of infant brains exhibits poor contrast due to the inherently close and rapidly changing T2 relaxation times between white matter and grey matter. Here we proposed an extended-phase-graph-based method to optimize the flip angles in FSE sequence for maximizing the white/grey matter contrast in 0 to 6 month-old infant brains at 3T, based on T2 values acquired from 37 infant brains. Results demonstrated improved relative contrasts in infant brains by 1.6-2 folds at different ages in different regions of interest.

Philippa Bridgen^1,2, Tomoki Arichi ^2,3,4, Megan Quirke^2,3,5, Jennifer Almabis^2,3,5, Daniel Cromb³, Paul Cawley³, Raphael Tomi-Tricot^1,5,6, Enrico De Vita^7,8, Anthony N Price^2,3, Alena Uus^3,7, Maira Deprez^3,7, Lucilio Cordero-Grande^3,7,9, Sharon Giles^1,2,7, Serena Counsell³, Tom Finck^3,10, Mary A Rutherford³, A David Edwards^3,4, Joseph V Hajnal^1,3,7, and Shaihan J Malik^1,3,7
1London Collaborative Ultra high field System (LoCUS), King's College London, London, United Kingdom, ²Guys and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom, ³Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom, ⁴MRC Centre for Neurodevelopmental Disorders, King's College London, London, United Kingdom, ⁵Biomedical Engineering Department, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom, ⁶MR Research Collaborations, Siemens Healthcare Limited, Frimley, United Kingdom, ⁷School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, Biomedical Engineering Department, King's College London, London, United Kingdom, ⁸Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children, London, United Kingdom, ⁹Biomedical Image Technologies, ETSI Telecomunicación, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid, Spain, ¹⁰Department for Diagnostic and Interventional Neuroradiology, Klinikum rechts der Isar der Technischen Universität München, Munich, Germany

Keywords: Neuro, High-Field MRI, 7T; MRI; Newborn Infant

We describe operational processes developed for, and our first experiences in, imaging of newborn infants at 7T. Based on an initial safety study, a new SAR model was adopted, and a protocol developed for safe switching of mode prior and post imaging. Monitoring equipment was tested and cleared for use. Sequences for high-resolution and high-contrast brain imaging were optimized within stricter SAR limits. Image quality and SNR were compared at 7T and 3T, with improved anatomical and pathological features seen at 7T. Our study indicates scanning of newborn infants imaging is possible within the safety considerations needed at 7T.

Jeong-Won Jeong^1,2, Min-Hee Lee^1,2, Csaba Juhász^1,2, and Eishi Asano^1,3
1Pediatrics, Wayne State University, Detroit, MI, United States, ²the Translational Imaging Laboratory, Children's Hospital of Michigan, Detroit, MI, United States, ³Neurology, Children's Hospital of Michigan, Detroit, MI, United States

Keywords: Neuro, Epilepsy, Ensemble deep learning, Localization of epileptogenic zone

We present a novel ensemble deep learning neural network of multi-scale deep MRI features that can non-invasively localize the epileptogenic zone (EZ) partially overlapping seizure onset zone (SOZ) and irritative zone (IZ) in children with medically intractable epilepsy. The presented network provided high balanced accuracy of 90% to predict SOZ and IZ in 3-fold cross-validation. It also yielded a new MRI marker of epileptogenicity providing a huge effect size between the ground-truth EZ and non-EZ (i.e., Cohen’s d = 2.73), suggesting its high translational value for accurately guiding invasive EEG practice to determine the boundaries of the EZ sites

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Keywords: Adolescents, Neuro, Congenital Heart Disease Neurodevelopment Machine Learning

This study examined cerebrospinal fluid volumes as neuroimaging features and their role in predicting specific executive function impairments among adolescents with congenital heart disease using explainable machine learning models. The findings showed CSF volumes were among the most important predictors of executive function inhibition domain with 3 CSF volumes ranked amongst the top 20, and 4 more CSF volumes among the top 20% of all features. Selective increased lateral ventricular volume in the frontal regions in CHD patients may be secondary to loss of white matter integrity in the uncinate fasciculus (emotional regulation) and subsequently lead to inhibitory dysfunction.