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Terry L Jernigan

Publications and source records attributed to Terry L Jernigan.

11 recordsLinked to original sources

Quantitative evaluation of automated skull-stripping methods applied to contemporary and legacy images: effects of diagnosis, bias correction, and slice location.

Performance of automated methods to isolate brain from nonbrain tissues in magnetic resonance (MR) structural images may be influenced by MR signal inhomogeneities, type of MR image set, regional anatomy, and age and diagnosis of subjects studied. The present study compared the performance of four methods: Brain Extraction Tool (BET; Smith [2002]: Hum Brain Mapp 17:143-155); 3dIntracranial (Ward [1999] Milwaukee: Biophysics Research Institute, Medical College of Wisconsin; in AFNI); a Hybrid Watershed algorithm (HWA, Segonne et al. [2004] Neuroimage 22:1060-1075; in FreeSurfer); and Brain Surface Extractor (BSE, Sandor and Leahy [1997] IEEE Trans Med Imag 16:41-54; Shattuck et al. [2001] Neuroimage 13:856-876) to manually stripped images. The methods were applied to uncorrected and bias-corrected datasets; Legacy and Contemporary T1-weighted image sets; and four diagnostic groups (depressed, Alzheimer's, young and elderly control). To provide a criterion for outcome assessment, two experts manually stripped six sagittal sections for each dataset in locations where brain and nonbrain tissue are difficult to distinguish. Methods were compared on Jaccard similarity coefficients, Hausdorff distances, and an Expectation-Maximization algorithm. Methods tended to perform better on contemporary datasets; bias correction did not significantly improve method performance. Mesial sections were most difficult for all methods. Although AD image sets were most difficult to strip, HWA and BSE were more robust across diagnostic groups compared with 3dIntracranial and BET. With respect to specificity, BSE tended to perform best across all groups, whereas HWA was more sensitive than other methods. The results of this study may direct users towards a method appropriate to their T1-weighted datasets and improve the efficiency of processing for large, multisite neuroimaging studies.

Adult↗

Effects of methamphetamine dependence and HIV infection on cerebral morphology.

OBJECTIVE: The authors examined the separate and combined effects of methamphetamine dependence and HIV infection on brain morphology. METHOD: Morphometric measures obtained from magnetic resonance imaging of methamphetamine-dependent and/or HIV-positive participants and their appropriate age- and education-matched comparison groups were analyzed. Main effects of age, HIV infection, methamphetamine dependence, and the interactions of these factors were examined in analyses of cerebral gray matter structure volumes. RESULTS: Independent of the effect of age, HIV infection was associated with reduced volumes of cortical, limbic, and striatal structures. There was also some evidence of an interaction between age and HIV infection such that older HIV-positive participants suffered disproportionate loss. Methamphetamine dependence was surprisingly associated with basal ganglia and parietal cortex volume increases, and in one of these structures-the nucleus accumbens-there appeared to be a larger effect in younger methamphetamine abusers. Neurocognitive impairment was associated with decreased cortical volumes in HIV-positive participants but with increased cortical volumes in methamphetamine-dependent participants. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest significant brain structure alterations associated with both HIV infection and methamphetamine dependence. The regional patterns of the changes associated with these factors were distinct but overlapping, and the effects on brain volumes were opposing. Although the results of the present study provide little information about the specific mechanisms leading to the unexpected methamphetamine effects, they may be related to glial activation or neuritic growth, both of which have been associated with methamphetamine exposure in animal studies. These results have implications for the interpretation of brain morphological findings in methamphetamine-dependent, HIV-positive individuals, a group whose numbers are unfortunately increasing.

Adult↗

Correlation of in vivo neuroimaging abnormalities with postmortem human immunodeficiency virus encephalitis and dendritic loss.

BACKGROUND: In the absence of significant opportunistic infection, the most common alterations on neuroimaging in the brains of patients with AIDS include enlarged cerebrospinal fluid spaces, white-matter loss, volume loss in striatal structures, and white-matter signal abnormalities. Although previous studies have linked brain viral levels to these alterations, other neuropathological mechanisms might also contribute to them. OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between findings on premortem magnetic resonance images and postmortem neuropathologic evidence of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) encephalitis and neurodegeneration. DESIGN: Morphometric analysis of magnetic resonance imaging in seropositive cases with matched seronegative controls, and the correlation of these volumes to neuropathological measures in autopsied seropositive cases. SETTING: University of California, San Diego, HIV Neurobehavioral Research Center. SUBJECTS: Twenty-one seropositive subjects studied at autopsy and 19 seronegative cases. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: In vivo structural magnetic resonance imaging data analyzed by quantitative methods, with comparison of volumes from magnetic resonance imaging and neuropathological data from autopsies. RESULTS: The HIV-seropositive subjects demonstrated cerebrospinal fluid increases relative to seronegative controls. These increases were associated with a significant decrease in the volumes of cerebral and cerebellar white matter, caudate nucleus, hippocampus, and, to a lesser extent, cerebral cortex. The volume of cerebral white-matter tissue with elevated signal was also increased. This signal elevation in white matter predicted the autopsy diagnosis of HIV encephalitis, as well as the extent of dendritic loss as assessed by analysis of microtubule-associated protein 2 immunoreactivity. CONCLUSIONS: White-matter and cortical damage resulting from HIV disease are closely related. In vivo magnetic resonance imaging may be a valuable adjunct in the assessment of patients at risk for developing HIV encephalitis.

Adult↗

More "mapping" in brain mapping: statistical comparison of effects.

The term "mapping" in the context of brain imaging conveys to most the concept of localization; that is, a brain map is meant to reveal a relationship between some condition or parameter and specific sites within the brain. However, in reality, conventional voxel-based maps of brain function, or for that matter of brain structure, are generally constructed using analyses that yield no basis for inferences regarding the spatial nonuniformity of the effects. In the normal analysis path for functional images, for example, there is nowhere a statistical comparison of the observed effect in any voxel relative to that in any other voxel. Under these circumstances, strictly speaking, the presence of significant activation serves as a legitimate basis only for inferences about the brain as a unit. In their discussion of results, investigators rarely are content to confirm the brain's role, and instead generally prefer to interpret the spatial patterns they have observed. Since "pattern" implies nonuniform effects over the map, this is equivalent to interpreting results without bothering to test their significance, a practice most of the experimentally-trained would eschew in other contexts. In this review, we appeal to investigators to adopt a new standard of data presentation that facilitates comparison of effects across the map. Evidence for sufficient effect size difference between the effects in structures of interest should be a prerequisite to the interpretation of spatial patterns of activation.

Brain Mapping↗

Left hippocampal volume loss in Alzheimer's disease is reflected in performance on odor identification: a structural MRI study.

The very high sensitivity and specificity of odor identification tasks in discriminating between Alzheimer's patients and normals suggests that they reflect the presence of underlying neuropathology. Significant neuropathological changes are seen in areas critical to processing olfactory information, even in the early stages of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The current study was designed to investigate whether performance on olfactory tasks (odor threshold and odor identification) was related to volumetric MRI measures of mesial temporal areas central to olfactory information processing and important in the neuropathology of AD. Participants were 8 male and 5 female patients with probable AD, and 10 male and 12 female normal age-matched controls, diagnosed at the UCSD Alzheimer's Disease Research Center. The study investigated correlations between volumetric measures of hippocampus, the parahippocampal gyrus and the amygdala, and the psychophysical measures of olfactory function. Robust relationships were observed between mesial temporal lobe volumes and olfactory functional measures. The finding of a strong relationship between left hippocampal volume and performance on the odor identification task (r = .85) is compatible with a left-hemisphere superiority for verbally mediated olfactory tasks. The findings suggest a neural substrate for the breakdown in functional performance on verbally mediated odor identification tasks in Alzheimer's disease and suggest the utility of quantitative MRI measures and psychophysical performance in the assessment of AD. These results support the potential clinical utility of inclusion of odor identification tests in diagnostic batteries for detecting AD.

Aged↗

Brain morphometry in female victims of intimate partner violence with and without posttraumatic stress disorder.

BACKGROUND: To examine neuroanatomical morphometry in adult female victims of intimate partner violence with and without posttraumatic stress disorder. METHODS: Seventeen nonvictimized comparison subjects and 22 victims of intimate partner violence, 11 with and 11 without posttraumatic stress disorder, were studied. Using quantitative magnetic resonance imaging, three mesial temporal lobe areas were measured: hippocampus, amygdala, and parahippocampal gyrus. Additionally, whole brain morphometry provided fluid, gray, and white matter volumes of the cortex and cerebellum for exploratory analyses. Relationships of morphometric measures to symptoms, abuse history, and neuropsychological function were examined. RESULTS: Intimate partner violence subjects with posttraumatic stress disorder did not demonstrate significantly smaller hippocampal or other mesial temporal lobe volumes. Overall, intimate partner violence subjects had smaller supratentorial cranial vaults and smaller frontal and occipital gray matter volumes relative to nonvictimized comparison subjects. Supratentorial cranial vault volume was negatively correlated with severity of childhood physical abuse, but not with intimate partner violence or posttraumatic stress disorder severity. Trails B performance was negatively correlated with frontal gray matter volume. CONCLUSIONS: These findings are inconsistent with prior reports of smaller hippocampal volumes in patients with posttraumatic stress disorder. Rather, the findings point to cerebral abnormalities that may reflect the influence of early trauma on neurodevelopmental processes or denote brain morphometric characteristics of persons at increased risk for serious psychosocial adversity.

Adult↗

Mapping cortical gray matter asymmetry patterns in adolescents with heavy prenatal alcohol exposure.

Here we report on detailed three-dimensional quantitative maps of brain surface and gray matter density asymmetry patterns during normal adolescent development and show how these anatomical features of the brain are disrupted as a result of prenatal exposure to large quantities of alcohol. We studied two independent samples of normally developing children, adolescents, and young adults, totaling 83 subjects from two different research groups, and compared them to 21 individuals with heavy prenatal alcohol exposure. Surface-based image analysis techniques allowed us to match cortical anatomy across subjects and between hemispheres based on manually delineated sulcal landmarks. Quantitative maps of brain surface asymmetry reveal prominent peri-Sylvian hemispheric differences in which the superior temporal and inferior parietal cortices are shifted backward in the left relative to the right hemisphere in both normal and alcohol-exposed subjects. Cortical surface gray matter asymmetry, mapped here in adolescent populations, is most prominent in the posterior inferior temporal lobes (right greater than left), and this effect does not differ between groups of normally developing children, adolescents, or young adults. Alcohol-exposed individuals show a significant reduction in this asymmetry, whether studied with surface-based or more traditional volumetric region of interest analyses. This region of cortex, near the junction of Brodmann's areas 21, 22, and 37, primarily subserves language functions that are known to be impaired on average in the alcohol-exposed subjects. Our findings elucidate regional patterns of brain surface and gray matter asymmetry during normal development and may contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of the neural substrates of cognitive dysfunction after heavy prenatal alcohol exposure.

Adolescent↗

Development of cortical and subcortical brain structures in childhood and adolescence: a structural MRI study.

The purpose of the present study was to describe in greater anatomical detail the changes in brain structure that occur during maturation between childhood and adolescence. High-resolution MRI, tissue classification, and anatomical segmentation of cortical and subcortical regions were used in a sample of 35 normally developing children and adolescents between 7 and 16 years of age (mean age 11 years; 20 males, 15 females). Each cortical and subcortical measure was examined for age and sex effects on raw volumes and on the measures as proportions of total supratentorial cranial volume. Results indicate age-related increases in total supratentorial cranial volume and raw and proportional increases in total cerebral white matter. Gray-matter volume reductions were only observed once variance in total brain size was proportionally controlled. The change in total cerebral white-matter proportion was significantly greater than the change in total cerebral gray-matter proportion over this age range, suggesting that the relative gray-matter reduction is probably due to significant increases in white matter. Total raw cerebral CSF volume increases were also observed. Within the cerebrum, regional patterns varied depending on the tissue (or CSF) assessed. Only frontal and parietal cortices showed changes in gray matter, white matter, and CSF measures. Once the approximately 7% larger brain volume in males was controlled, only mesial temporal cortex, caudate, thalamus, and basomesial diencephalic structures showed sex effects with the females having greater relative volumes in these regions than the males. Overall, these results are consistent with earlier reports and describe in greater detail the regional pattern of age-related differences in gray and white matter in normally developing children and adolescents.

Adolescent↗

Mapping sulcal pattern asymmetry and local cortical surface gray matter distribution in vivo: maturation in perisylvian cortices.

Previous in vivo morphometric studies of human brain maturation between childhood and young adulthood have revealed a spatial and temporal pattern of progressive brain changes that is consistent with the post mortem cytoarchitectonic and cognitive developmental literatures. In this study, we mapped age differences in structural asymmetries at the cortical surface in groups of normally developing children (7-11 years), adolescents (12-16 years) and young adults (23-30 years) using novel surface-based mesh modeling image analytic methods. We also assessed relationships between cortical surface sulcal asymmetry and the local density of the underlying cortical gray matter. Results from this study reveal that perisylvian sulcal asymmetries are much more prominent in the adults than in the children studied. The superior posterior extent of the Sylvian fissure in the right hemisphere is approximately 7 mm more superior in the average adult than in the average child studied, whereas little difference is observed during this age range in the location of this anatomical structure in the left hemisphere. Age-related differences in Sylvian fissure asymmetry were significant (P = 0.0129, permutation test), showing increased asymmetry with increasing age. We also show age-related increases in local gray matter proportion bilaterally in the temporo-parietal cortices that are anatomically and temporally related to the sulcal asymmetries. Results from this cross-sectional study imply that asymmetries in the Sylvian fissure are dynamically changing into young adulthood and show that variability in brain tissue density is related to asymmetry in this region. These morphological differences may be related to changing cognitive abilities and are relevant in interpreting results from studies of abnormal brain development where perisylvian brain regions are implicated.

Adolescent↗

Regional brain shape abnormalities persist into adolescence after heavy prenatal alcohol exposure.

We assessed regional brain shape abnormalities and spatial relationships between brain shape and abnormalities observed in the underlying tissue in children and adolescents prenatally exposed to large quantities of alcohol. We used high resolution, 3-D, structural magnetic resonance imaging data and novel, whole-brain, surface-based image analysis procedures to study 21 subjects with heavy prenatal alcohol exposure (8-22 years, mean age 12.6 years) and 21 normally developing control subjects (8-25 years, mean age 13.5 years). Significant brain size and shape abnormalities were observed in the alcohol-exposed subjects in inferior parietal/ perisylvian regions bilaterally, where their brains appeared to be narrower than those of the controls in the same general location where they also had increased gray matter density. Highly significant decreased brain surface extent or reduced brain growth was also observed in the ventral aspects of the frontal lobes most prominent in the left hemisphere. For the first time in this report we have mapped brain morphologic abnormalities to the cortical surface in subjects with prenatal alcohol exposure and have shown that the size and shape of the brain is altered in these individuals. The results imply that brain growth continues to be adversely affected long after the prenatal insult of alcohol exposure to the developing brain and the brain regions most implicated, frontal and inferior parietal/ perisylvian, may be consistent with behavioral deficits characteristic of individuals prenatally exposed to alcohol.

Adolescent↗