Based on comprehensive testing and educational history, children in grades 4–9 (on average 12 years) were diagnosed with dysgraphia (persisting handwriting impairment) or dyslexia (persisting word spelling/reading impairment) or as typical writers and readers (controls). The dysgraphia group (n = 14) and dyslexia group (n = 17) were each compared to the control group (n = 9) and to each other in separate analyses. Four brain region seed points (left occipital temporal gyrus, supramarginal gyrus, precuneus, and inferior frontal gyrus) were used in these analyses which were shown in a metaanalysis to be related to written word production on four indicators of white matter integrity and fMRI functional connectivity for four tasks (self-guided mind wandering during resting state, writing letter that follows a visually displayed letter in alphabet, writing missing letter to create a correctly spelled real word, and planning for composing after scanning on topic specified by researcher). For those DTI indicators on which the dysgraphic group or dyslexic group differed from the control group (fractional anisotropy, relative anisotropy, axial diffusivity but not radial diffusivity), correlations were computed between the DTI parameter and fMRI functional connectivity for the two writing tasks (alphabet and spelling) by seed points. Analyses, controlled for multiple comparisons, showed that (a) the control group exhibited more white matter integrity than either the dysgraphic or dyslexic group; (b) the dysgraphic and dyslexic groups showed more functional connectivity than the control group but differed in patterns of functional connectivity for task and seed point; and (c) the dysgraphic and dyslexic groups showed different patterns of significant DTI–fMRI connectivity correlations for specific seed points and written language tasks. Thus, dysgraphia and dyslexia differ in white matter integrity, fMRI functional connectivity, and white matter–gray matter correlations. Of clinical relevance, brain differences were observed in dysgraphia and dyslexia on written language tasks yoked to their defining behavioral impairments in handwriting and/or in word spelling and on the cognitive mind wandering rest condition and composition planning.

Objective The hippocampus is a key structure implicated in food motivation and intake. Research has shown that the hippocampus is vulnerable to the consumption of a western diet (i.e., high saturated fat and simple carbohydates). Studies of patients with obesity (OB), compared to healthy weight (HW), show changes in hippocampal volume and response to food cues. Moreover, evidence suggests that OB children, relative to HW, have greater hippocampal response to taste. However, no study has examined the association of hippocampal volume with taste functioning in children. We hypothesized that OB children, relative to HW, would show a significant reduction in hippocampal volume and that decreased volume would be significantly associated with greater activation to taste. Finally, we explored whether hippocampal activation would be associated with measures on eating and eating habits. Subjects Twenty-five 8–12 year old children (i.e., 13 HW, 12 OB) completed a Magnetic Resonance Imaging scan while participating in a taste paradigm (i.e., 1mL of 10% sucrose or ionic water delivered pseudorandomly every 20 seconds). Results Children with OB, relative to HW, showed reduced left hippocampal volume (t=1.994, p=0.03, 95%CI=−40.23,755.42), and greater response to taste in three clusters within the left hippocampus (z=3.3, p=0.001, 95%CI=−0.241, −0.041; z=3.3, p=0.001, 95%CI=−0.2711, −0.0469; z=2.7, p=0.007, 95%CI= −0.6032, −0.0268). Activation within the hippocampus was associated with eating in the absence of hunger (EAH%; t = 2.408, p=0.025, 95%CI= 1.751708, 23.94109) and two subscales on a measure of eating behaviors (Food responsiveness, t = 2.572, p=0.017, 95%CI= 0.9565195, 9.043440; Food enjoyment, t = 2.298, p= 0.032, 95%CI= 0.2256749, 4.531298). Conclusion As hypothesized, OB children, relative to HW, had significantly reduced hippocampal volume, and greater hippocampal activation to taste. Moreover, hippocampal activation was associated with measures of eating. These results contribute to research on the relationship between obesity, overeating and cognitive impairment.

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The contribution of this paper is to describe how we can program neuroimaging workflow using Make, a software development tool designed for describing how to build executables from source files. A makefile (or a file of instructions for Make) consists of a set of rules that create or update target files if they have not been modified since their dependencies were last modified. These rules are processed to create a directed acyclic dependency graph that allows multiple entry points from which to execute the workflow. We show that using Make we can achieve many of the features of more sophisticated neuroimaging pipeline systems, including reproducibility, parallelization, fault tolerance, and quality assurance reports. We suggest that Make permits a large step toward these features with only a modest increase in programming demands over shell scripts. This approach reduces the technical skill and time required to write, debug, and maintain neuroimaging workflows in a dynamic environment, where pipelines are often modified to accommodate new best practices or to study the effect of alternative preprocessing steps, and where the underlying packages change frequently. This paper has a comprehensive accompanying manual with lab practicals and examples (see Supplemental Materials) and all data, scripts, and makefiles necessary to run the practicals and examples are available in the “makepipelines” project at NITRC.

OBJECTIVE To test the relationship of anxiety to caloric intake and food cue perception in women and men. METHODS Fifty-five twins (26 complete, 3 incomplete pairs; 51% women) underwent 2 functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans (before and after a standardized meal) and then ate at an ad libitum buffet to objectively assess food intake. State and trait anxiety were assessed using the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. During the fMRI scans, participants viewed blocks of fattening and non-fattening food images, and non-food objects. RESULTS In women, higher trait anxiety was associated with a higher body mass index (BMI) (r=0.40, P=0.010). Trait anxiety was positively associated with kilocalories consumed at the buffet (r=0.53, P=0.005) and percent kilocalories consumed from fat (r=0.30, P=0.006), adjusted for BMI. In within-pair models, which control for shared familial and genetic factors, higher trait anxiety remained associated with kilocalories consumed at the buffet (ρ=0.66, P=0.014), but not with BMI. In men, higher state anxiety was related to macronutrient choices, but not to total caloric intake or BMI. FMRI results revealed that women with high trait anxiety did not suppress activation by fattening food cues across brain regions associated with satiety perception after eating a standardized meal (mean difference low anxiety: −15.4, P<0.001; high anxiety: −1.53, P=0.82, adjusted for BMI). CONCLUSIONS In women, trait anxiety may promote excess caloric consumption through altered perception of high-calorie environmental food cues, placing women with genetic predispositions toward weight gain at risk of obesity.

While eye movements were recorded and brains scanned, 29 children with and without specific learning disabilities (SLDs) decided if sentences they read (half with only correctly spelled words and half with homonym foils) were meaningful. Significant main effects were found for diagnostic groups (non-SLD control, dysgraphia control, and dyslexia) in total fixation (dwell) time, total number of fixations, and total regressions in during saccades; the dyslexia group had longer and more fixations and made more regressions in during saccades than either control group. The dyslexia group also differed from both control groups in (a) fractional anisotropy in left optic radiation and (b) silent word reading fluency on a task in which surrounding letters can be distracting, consistent with Rayner's selective attention dyslexia model. Different profiles for non-SLD control, dysgraphia, and dyslexia groups were identified in correlations between total fixation time, total number of fixations, regressions in during saccades, magnitude of gray matter connectivity during the fMRI sentence reading comprehension from left occipital temporal cortex seed with right BA44 and from left inferior frontal gyrus with right inferior frontoccipital fasciculus, and normed word-specific spelling and silent word reading fluency measures. The dysgraphia group was more likely than the non-SLD control or dyslexia groups to show negative correlations between eye movement outcomes and sentences containing incorrect homonym foils. Findings are discussed in reference to a systems approach in future sentence reading comprehension research that integrates eye movement, brain, and literacy measures.

Background: Family-based weight loss treatment (FBT) for childhood obesity, the current ''gold standard,'' is typically provided in weekly groups for 6 months. Although this program is considered effective, it poses limitations to treatment engagement, due to time commitment and lack of widespread availability. A guided self-help version of FBT (gshFBT; eleven 20-minute sessions and one 1-hour over 5 months) was developed to circumvent such limitations. The current study examined the comparative efficacy of a 5-month FBT and gshFBT program. Methods: Participants included 50 parent-child dyads enrolled in FBT between 2011 and 2013 and 50 parent-child dyads enrolled in gshFBT between 2009 and 2010. Data were collected at baseline, posttreatment, and 6-month follow-up. Noninferiority analyses were conducted to assess comparative efficacy of changes in parent and child weight status, child nutrition, child physical activity, and drop-out. Results: Results indicated that gshFBT was noninferior to FBT in changes in child BMI z-score, overweight parent BMI, child nutritional intake, child vigorous physical activity, and drop-out. Results did not support noninferiority for changes in moderate to vigorous physical activity. Conclusions: gshFBT is less intensive, more flexible, and may be similarly effective to FBT and could reach a greater proportion of the pediatric overweight population. Further research, including a randomized clinical trial, is needed to confirm these results.

Objective: The hippocampus is a key structure in feeding behaviors and weight regulation. Obesity may lead to disruptions in hippocampal structure. In animals, obesity-related factors (e.g., high-fat/sugar foods) are associated with hippocampal insult (e.g., alterations in the blood brain barrier). In humans, individuals with obesity, relative to healthy weight, have smaller hippocampal volumes. Few studies have examined the association between body weight and the hippocampus during adolescence, a critical brain development period. This study examined hippocampal volume and tissue signal intensity in adolescents across the weight spectrum. Methods: Structural magnetic resonance imaging and anthropomorphic data were available for 102 12-to 18-year-old adolescents (53% female; 15.07 [SD 1.84] years; standardized BMI [BMIz] scores using the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention growth charts: 0.54 [SD 1.17]) from the Pediatric Imaging, Neurocognition, and Genetics database. Linear regression models controlling for age, sex, genetic ancestry, scanner, and household income examined the relationship between BMIz, hippocampal volume, and T2-weighted hippocampal signal intensity. Results: BMIz was negatively associated with T2-weighted hippocampal signal intensity in the left (t = −3.05; P = 0.003; r = −0.21) and right (t = −2.50; P = 0.01; r = −0.36) hippocampi. BMIz was not significantly associated with hippocampal volume. Conclusions: BMIz is associated with hippocampal tissue characteristics during adolescence, which could impact later brain development.