Biology subjects

Tapert, S. F.

Publications and source records attributed to Tapert, S. F..

4 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2025

Longitudinal Neurocognitive Trajectories in a Large Cohort of Youth Who Use Cannabis: Combining Self-Report and Toxicology

Adolescents experience extensive neurocognitive development, with cannabis use potentially impacting developmental trajectories. Here, we comprehensively assess the influence of adolescent cannabis use onset on neurocognitive trajectories and consider how recent delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) may influence neurocognition. We use the large, diverse longitudinal Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study dataset, combining self-reported substance use with objective toxicological tests (hair, urine, breath, oral fluid). Longitudinal mixed methods of the full cohort (n=11,036, ages 9-17; 47% Female/53% Male) investigate time-varying cannabis onset on neurocognitive performance. Primary model covariates include sociodemographics, family history of substance use disorder, prenatal substance exposure, early psychopathology, other substance use, and nesting for participant ID, study site, and family ID. Secondarily, in participants with repeat toxicological hair testing (n=645; 38% Female/62% Male) at ages 12-16, we consider the influence of THC v. CBD v. Controls. Primary models included false discovery rate corrections (FDR-p<.05) while secondary models were interpreted at p<.01. Cannabis group interacted with age to show altered neurocognitive trajectories across domains (immediate recall and delayed memory, processing speed, inhibitory control, visuospatial processing, language, and working memory; {beta}s=-0.11- - 0.52). Secondary models indicated hair-identified THC exposure*age predicted worse episodic memory than in Controls ({beta}=-0.60, p=.007), with no difference between CBD exposed and Controls. Data suggest those who use cannabis show likely pre-existing better cognitive performance during late childhood, with reduced improvement or flattened trajectories over time. These neurocognitive trajectories in youth (ages 9-17) who initiate cannabis use were demonstrated after accounting for within-person change and numerous known confounds and improving accuracy in identifying cannabis use through incorporating toxicological measures. Continued monitoring of this cohort will clarify cannabinoid-cognition relationships into young adulthood, including the impact of timing of cannabis use initiation.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2021

Alcohol Use Disrupts Age-Appropriate Cortical Thinning in Adolescence: A Data Driven Approach

ObjectiveCortical thickness changes dramatically during development and is influenced by adolescent drinking. However, previous findings have been inconsistent and limited by region-of-interest approaches that are underpowered because they do not conform to the underlying heterogeneity from the effects of alcohol. MethodsAdolescents (n=657; 12-22 years at baseline) from the National Consortium on Alcohol and Neurodevelopment in Adolescence (NCANDA) who endorsed little to no alcohol use at baseline were assessed with structural MRI and followed longitudinally at four yearly intervals. Seven unique spatially covarying patterns of cortical thickness were obtained from the baseline scans by applying a novel data-driven method called non-negative matrix factorization (NMF). The cortical thickness maps of all participants longitudinal scans were projected onto vertex-level cortical patterns to obtain participant-specific coefficients for each pattern. Linear mixed-effects models were fit to each pattern to investigate longitudinal effects of alcohol consumption on cortical thickness. ResultsIn most NMF-derived cortical thickness patterns, the longitudinal rate of decline in no/low drinkers was similar for all age cohorts, among moderate drinkers the decline was faster in the younger cohort and slower in the older cohort, among heavy drinkers the decline was fastest in the younger cohort and slowest in the older cohort (FDR corrected p-values < 0.01). ConclusionsThe NMF method can delineate spatially coordinated patterns of cortical thickness at the vertex level that are unconstrained by anatomical features. Age-appropriate cortical thinning is more rapid in younger adolescent drinkers and slower in older adolescent drinkers.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2020

Neural vulnerability and hurricane-related media predict posttraumatic stress in youth

As natural disasters increase in frequency and severity1, 2, mounting evidence reveals that their human toll extends beyond death, injury, and loss. Posttraumatic stress (PTS) can be common among directly exposed individuals, and children are particularly vulnerable3, 4. Curiously, PTS can even be found among youth far removed from harms way, and media-based exposure may partially account for this phenomenon5-8. Unfortunately, susceptibility to media effects has been difficult to characterize because most research is initiated post-event, precluding examination of pre-disaster factors. In this study, we mitigate this issue with data from nearly 400 9-to 11-year-old children collected prior to and after Hurricane Irma. We evaluate whether preexisting neural patterns moderate associations between hurricane experiences and later Irma-related PTS. We show that "dose" of both objective exposure and Irma-related media exposure predicted Irma-related PTS, the latter even among children dwelling thousands of kilometers away from the hurricane. Furthermore, we show, using pre-hurricane functional magnetic resonance imaging data, that neural responses in brain regions associated with anxiety and stress confer particular vulnerability to the psychological effects of hurricane exposure among certain children. Surprisingly, this was even the case for media exposure- we found that that right amygdala reactivity to fearful stimuli moderated the association between Irma-related media exposure and PTS symptoms, with the media-PTS association strongest for children showing pre-hurricane heightened amygdala reactivity to Fear vs Neutral Faces. In contrast, in bilateral orbitofrontal cortex and left parahippocampal gyrus, children showing a weak response to the Fear condition relative to the Neutral condition were especially susceptible to PTS as a result of Irma-related media exposure. Collectively, these findings run counter to outdated "bullseye" models of disaster exposure that assume negative effects are narrowly circumscribed around a disasters geographic epicenter9. In contrast, for some youth with measurable preexisting vulnerability, consumption of extensive disaster-related media appears to offer an alternative pathway to disaster exposure that transcends geography and objective risk. This preventable exposure should be considered in disaster-related mental health efforts.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2018

Image processing and analysis methods for the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study

The Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study is an ongoing, nationwide study of the effects of environmental influences on behavioral and brain development in adolescents. The ABCD Study is a collaborative effort, including a Coordinating Center, 21 data acquisition sites across the United States, and a Data Analysis and Informatics Center (DAIC). The main objective of the study is to recruit and assess over eleven thousand 9-10-year-olds and follow them over the course of 10 years to characterize normative brain and cognitive development, the many factors that influence brain development, and the effects of those factors on mental health and other outcomes. The study employs state-of-the-art multimodal brain imaging, cognitive and clinical assessments, bioassays, and careful assessment of substance use, environment, psychopathological symptoms, and social functioning. The data will provide a resource of unprecedented scale and depth for studying typical and atypical development. Here, we describe the baseline neuroimaging processing and subject-level analysis methods used by the ABCD DAIC in the centralized processing and extraction of neuroanatomical and functional imaging phenotypes. Neuroimaging processing and analyses include modality-specific corrections for distortions and motion, brain segmentation and cortical surface reconstruction derived from structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI), analysis of brain microstructure using diffusion MRI (dMRI), task-related analysis of functional MRI (fMRI), and functional connectivity analysis of resting-state fMRI.\n\nHighlightsO_LIAn overview of the MRI processing pipeline for the ABCD Study\nC_LIO_LIA discussion on the challenges of large, multisite population studies\nC_LIO_LIA methodological reference for users of publicly shared data from the ABCD Study\nC_LI

neuroscience↗