Biology subjects

Gordaliza, P. M.

Publications and source records attributed to Gordaliza, P. M..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2024

Towards Longitudinal Characterization of Multiple Sclerosis Atrophy Employing SynthSeg Framework and Normative Modeling

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a complex neurodegenerative disease characterized by heterogeneous progression patterns. Traditional clinical measures like the Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) inadequately capture the full spectrum of disease progression, highlighting the need for advanced Disease Progression Modeling (DPM) approaches. This study harnesses cutting-edge neuroimaging and deep learning techniques to investigate deviations in subcortical volumes in MS patients. We analyze T1-weighted and Fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) data using advanced DL segmentation models, SynthSeg+ and SynthSeg-WMH, which address the challenges of conventional methods in the presence of white matter lesions. By comparing subcortical volumes of 326 MS patients to a normative model from 37,407 healthy individuals, we identify significant deviations that enhance our understanding of MS progression. This study highlights the potential of integrating DL with normative modeling to refine MS progression characterization, automate informative MRI contrasts, and contribute to data-driven DPM in neurodegenerative diseases.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2024

Maturation-informed synthetic Magnetic Resonance Images of the Developing Human Fetal Brain

Magnetic resonance imaging is a powerful modality to investigate abnormal developmental patterns in utero. However, since it is not the first-line diagnostic tool in this sensitive population, data remain scarce and heterogeneous between scanners and centers. In addressing the data scarcity issue while generating data representative of real fetal brain MRI, we proposed FaBiAN, a Fetal Brain magnetic resonance Acquisition Numerical phantom. Here, we present a novel synthetic dataset of 594 two-dimensional, low-resolution series of T2-weighted images corresponding to 78 developing human fetal brains between 20.0 and 34.8 weeks of gestational age. Data are generated with substantive improvements from the original FaBiAN to account for local heterogeneities within white matter tissues throughout maturation. These synthetic-yet-highly-realistic images cover both healthy and pathological development trajectories simulated with standard clinical settings and anatomically informed by the Fetal Tissue Annotations (FeTA) dataset. Two independent radiologists qualitatively assessed the realism of the simulated images. We also quantitatively demonstrate the simulated datas increased fidelity to real data compared to the previous FaBiAN version. The reuse potential of the proposed dataset was also evaluated in the context of automated fetal brain tissue segmentation. Besides, our dataset that combines images generated from various clinical scenarios has been made publicly available to support the continuous endeavor of the community to develop advanced post-processing methods aswell as cutting-edge artificial intelligence models.

bioinformatics↗

bioRxiv2020

Sex differences in lifespan trajectories and variability of human sulcal and gyral morphology

Sex differences in development and aging of human sulcal morphology have been understudied. We charted sex differences in trajectories and inter-individual variability of global sulcal depth, width, and length, pial surface area, exposed (hull) gyral surface area, unexposed sulcal surface area, cortical thickness, and cortex volume across the lifespan in a longitudinal sample (700 scans, 194 participants two scans, 104 three scans, age range: 16-70 years) of neurotypical males and females. After adjusting for brain volume, females had thicker cortex and steeper thickness decline until age 40 years; trajectories converged thereafter. Across sexes, sulcal shortening was faster before age 40, while sulcal shallowing and widening were faster thereafter. While hull area remained stable, sulcal surface area declined and was more strongly associated with sulcal shortening than with sulcal shallowing and widening. Males showed greater variability for cortex volume and thickness and lower variability for sulcal width. Across sexes, variability decreased with age for all measures except for cortical volume and thickness. Our findings highlight the association between loss of sulcal area, notably through sulcal shortening, with cortex volume loss. Studying sex differences in lifespan trajectories may improve knowledge of individual differences in brain development and the pathophysiology of neuropsychiatric conditions.

neuroscience↗