PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

OHSU researchers able to determine brain maturity through analyzing MRI scans

2010-09-14
(Press-News.org) PORTLAND, Ore. — Using MRI technology and mathematical analysis, researchers at Oregon Health & Science University and Washington University in St. Louis are now able to accurately predict a young person's age simply by studying their brain scans. The research, which will likely have several clinical applications, including assessment and diagnosis, is published in the current edition of the journal Science.

For several years, OHSU researcher Damien Fair, Ph.D., and his colleagues at Washington University, Nico Dosenbach, M.D., Ph.D., and Bradley Schlaggar, M.D., Ph.D., have been studying development of the brain using a technology called functional MRI. Traditional functional MRI allows for brain images to be taken while a person is performing an activity. However, in this instance, the scientists use the method to examine the brain is idle or at rest.

Previously, Fair used this information to demonstrate how brains develop throughout life. In short, when we are young, brain activity is more localized in the brain. However, as we develop, these connections in the brain become more complex and distributed — much like the way a city's transportation system becomes bigger and more complex as the city grows.

"By utilizing this approach along with complex mathematical analysis, called machine learning, we found that we could create a form of brain development yardstick, or what Dr. Dosenbach calls a maturation index," said Fair, a postdoctoral research scientist in psychiatry, OHSU School of Medicine. "Using this yardstick of sorts, we learned that you could effectively determine the subjects level of brain development."

The researchers hope that, upon further development, the technology will assist in comparing brain function across populations to assess childhood development during the aging process. For instance, a percentile scale could be developed to gauge brain development much in the way weight and height percentiles are calculated for growing children. Such a tool could highlight individual needs and lead to specific ways of helping individual children.

In the future, this form of analysis may also play a key role in diagnosing childhood developmental delay, ADHD and autism.

"In many cases it can be vey hard to diagnose and properly characterize these problems, which is why we are so encouraged by these findings," added Fair.

INFORMATION: The research was supported by the National Institutes of Health, John Merck Scholars Fund, Burroughs-Wellcome Fund, Dana Foundation, Ogle Family Fund, McDonnell Center, Simons Foundation, American Hearing Research Foundation, and the Diabetes Research Center at Washington University.

About OHSU

Oregon Health & Science University is the state's only health and research university, and Oregon's only academic health center. OHSU is Portland's largest employer and the fourth largest in Oregon (excluding government). OHSU's size contributes to its ability to provide many services and community support activities not found anywhere else in the state. It serves patients from every corner of the state, and is a conduit for learning for more than 3,400 students and trainees. OHSU is the source of more than 200 community outreach programs that bring health and education services to every county in the state.



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Computer in wrapping-paper form

2010-09-14
Washington, D.C. (September 14, 2010) -- Driven by rapid global industrialization, finite fossil fuel reserves, and the high cost of many alternative energy options, meeting the world's energy challenge may demand novel solutions. One potential solution has its roots in the ubiquitous industrial invention: the factory. Investigators at SUNY Binghamton's Center for Advanced Microelectronics Manufacturing (CAMM) -- the only center of its kind in the United States -- are giving factory production of solar energy cells a modern makeover. Their approach includes the use of ...

Lead-free piezoelectric materials of the future

2010-09-14
Washington, D.C. (September 14, 2010) -- Piezoelectric materials have fantastic properties: squeeze them and they generate an electrical field. And vice-versa, they contract or expand when jolted with an electrical pulse. With a name derived from the Greek word meaning to squeeze or press, the piezoelectric effect was just a curiosity after it was discovered in several crystals in 1880. But in 1917, a quartz piezoelectric crystal was at the heart of the world's first submarine-detecting sonar. Piezoelectric materials really took off after the 1950s, with the development ...

New microfluidic chip for discriminating bacteria

2010-09-14
Washington, D.C. (September 14, 2010) -- A new "on-chip" method for sorting and identifying bacteria has been created by biomedical engineers at Taiwan's National Cheng Kung University. The technique, developed by Hsien-Chang Chang, a professor at the Institute of Biomedical Engineering and the Institute of Nanotechnology and Microsystems Engineering, along with former graduate student I-Fang Cheng and their colleagues, is described in the AIP journal Biomicrofluidics. Using roughened glass slides patterned with gold electrodes, the researchers created microchannels to ...

Improving crisis prediction, disaster control and damage reduction

2010-09-14
Washington, D.C. (September 14, 2010) -- Some disasters and crises are related to each other by more than just the common negative social value we assign to them. For example, earthquakes, homicide surges, magnetic storms, and the U.S. economic recession are all kindred of a sort, according to a theoretical framework presented in the journal CHAOS, which is published by the American Institute of Physics. The researchers who developed this framework contend that these four types of events share a precursory development pattern -- a specific change of scale in indicators ...

How do your crystals grow?

2010-09-14
Washington, D.C. (September 14, 2010) -- Because one of the main bottlenecks in determining the structure of protein molecules is producing good isolated single crystals, improved crystallization techniques would be useful in a wide range of genomics and pharmaceutical research. Research reported in The Journal of Chemical Physics uses fluorescence correlation spectroscopy (FCS) to investigate the processes at the surface of a growing crystal. By focusing a laser on the crystal surface and measuring the resulting fluorescence, FCS can resolve dimensions as small as a ...

Ending the oceans' 'tragedy of the commons'

2010-09-14
Leading international marine scientists are proposing radical changes in the governance of the world's oceans to rescue them from overfishing, pollution and other human impacts. Based on a successful experiment in Chile, the researchers say a new approach to marine tenure could help to reverse the maritime 'tragedy of the commons' which has led to the depletion of fish stocks worldwide. "Marine ecosystems are in decline around the world. New transformational changes in governance are urgently required to cope with overfishing, pollution, global changes, and other drivers ...

Study shows tranquil scenes have positive impact on brain

2010-09-14
Tranquil living environments can positively affect the human brain function, according to researchers at the University of Sheffield. The research, which was published in the journal NeuroImage, uses functional brain imaging to assess how the environment impacts upon our brain functions. The findings demonstrated that tranquil environmental scenes containing natural features, such as the sea, cause distinct brain areas to become 'connected' with one another whilst man-made environments, such as motorways, disrupt the brain connections. The research involved academics ...

Measuring preference for multitasking

Measuring preference for multitasking
2010-09-14
INDIANAPOLIS – A new study led by Elizabeth Poposki, Ph.D., assistant professor of psychology in the School of Science at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, may help employers identify employees who enjoy multitasking and are less inclined to quit jobs involving multitasking. The study presents a new tool developed to measure preference for multitasking, information which may be of interest to bosses who tire of repeatedly hiring and training new employees. A growing number of individuals must multitask at work and positions requiring a significant amount ...

Largest ever white-shouldered ibis count

2010-09-14
A record-breaking 429 White-shouldered Ibis Pseudibis davisoni have just been recorded in Cambodia, making the known global population much larger than previously thought. With so many birds remaining in the wild the chances of conservation success are greatly improved – welcome news for this Critically Endangered bird species. The University of East Anglia (UEA), UK, brought together a group of conservationists for a coordinated survey of 37 roost sites across Cambodia. Participants came from the Cambodian Forestry Administration and General Department for Administration ...

Research will help ID bodies left behind by Chilean earthquake, Pinochet regime

Research will help ID bodies left behind by Chilean earthquake, Pinochet regime
2010-09-14
New research from North Carolina State University will help medical examiners and others identify human remains of those killed during the recent earthquake in Chile, as well as the bodies of the "disappeared" who were killed during the Pinochet administration. "We have developed population-specific identification criteria for the Chilean population, which will help us determine the stature and biological sex of skeletal remains," says Dr. Ann Ross, an associate professor of sociology and anthropology at NC State and lead author of a paper describing the research. "My ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Zidesamtinib shows durable responses in ROS1 TKI pre-treated NSCLC, including patients with CNS disease and ROS1 G2032R mutations

Crizotinib fails to improve disease-free survival in resected early-stage ALK+ NSCLC

Ivonescimab plus chemotherapy improves progression-free survival in patients with EGFR+ NSCLC following 3rd-generation EGFR-TKI therapy

FLAURA2 trial shows osimertinib plus chemotherapy improves overall survival in eGFR-mutated advanced NSCLC

Aumolertinib plus chemotherapy improves progression-free survival in NSCLC with EGFR and concomitant tumor suppressor genes: ACROSS 2 phase III study

New antibody-drug conjugate shows promising efficacy in EGFR-mutated NSCLC patients

Iza-Bren in combination with osimertinib shows 100% response rate in EGFR-mutated NSCLC, phase II study finds

COMPEL study shows continuing osimertinib treatment through progression with the addition of chemotherapy improves progression-free survival in EGFR-mutated NSCLC

CheckMate 77T: Nivolumab maintains quality of life and reduces symptom deterioration in resectable NSCLC

Study validates AI lung cancer risk model Sybil in predominantly Black population at urban safety-net hospital

New medication lowered hard-to-control high blood pressure in people with chronic kidney disease

Innovative oncolytic virus and immunotherapy combinations pave the way for advanced cancer treatment

New insights into energy metabolism and immune dynamics could transform head and neck cancer treatment

Pennington Biomedical’s Dr. Steven Heymsfield named LSU Boyd Professor – LSU’s highest faculty honor

Study prompts new theory of human-machine communication

New method calculates rate of gene expression to understand cell fate

Researchers quantify rate of essential evolutionary process in the ocean

Innovation Crossroads companies join forces, awarded U.S. Air Force contract

Using new blood biomarkers, USC researchers find Alzheimer’s disease trial eligibility differs among various populations

Pioneering advances in in vivo CAR T cell production

Natural medicines target tumor vascular microenvironment to inhibit cancer growth

Coral-inspired pill offers a new window into the hidden world of the gut

nTIDE September2025 Jobs Report: Employment for people with disabilities surpasses prior high

When getting a job makes you go hungry

Good vibrations could revolutionize assisted reproductive technology

More scrutiny of domestic fishing fleets at ports could help deter illegal fishing

Scientists transform plastic waste into efficient CO2 capture materials

Discovery of North America’s role in Asia’s monsoons offers new insights into climate change

MD Anderson and Phoenix SENOLYTIX announce strategic cross-licensing agreement to enhance inducible switch technologies for cell and gene therapies

Researchers discover massive geo-hydrogen source to the west of the Mussau Trench

[Press-News.org] OHSU researchers able to determine brain maturity through analyzing MRI scans