scholarly journals Lack of evidence for sex differences in higher cognitive function in macaques

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamie R.J. Nagy ◽  
Christienne G. Damatac ◽  
Mark G. Baxter ◽  
Peter H. Rudebeck ◽  
Paula L. Croxson

AbstractHere we assessed whether higher cognitive function differed between male and female rhesus monkeys using tests of episodic memory and strategy implementation. We did not find any difference between males and females on behavioral performance or on analyses of grey matter volume of key regions. Our findings suggest that, at least where higher cognitive function in healthy monkeys is concerned, the sexes may not differ.

2008 ◽  
Vol 38 (7) ◽  
pp. 599-606 ◽  
Author(s):  
O. P. Almeida ◽  
G. J. Garrido ◽  
C. Beer ◽  
N. T. Lautenschlager ◽  
L. Arnolda ◽  
...  

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elvisha Dhamala ◽  
Keith W. Jamison ◽  
Mert R. Sabuncu ◽  
Amy Kuceyeski

AbstractA thorough understanding of sex differences, if any, that exist in the brains of healthy individuals is crucial for the study of neurological illnesses that exhibit differences in clinical and behavioural phenotypes between males and females. In this work, we evaluate sex differences in regional temporal dependence of resting-state brain activity using 195 male-female pairs (aged 22-37) from the Human Connectome Project. Male-female pairs are strictly matched for total grey matter volume. We find that males have more persistent long-range temporal dependence than females in regions within temporal, parietal, and occipital cortices. Machine learning algorithms trained on regional temporal dependence measures achieve sex classification accuracies of up to 81%. Regions with the strongest feature importance in the sex classification task included cerebellum, amygdala, frontal cortex, and occipital cortex. Additionally, we find that even after males and females are strictly matched on total grey matter volume, significant regional volumetric sex differences persist in many cortical and subcortical regions. Our results indicate males have larger cerebella, hippocampi, parahippocampi, thalami, caudates, and amygdalae while females have larger cingulates, precunei, frontal cortices, and parietal cortices. Sex classification based on regional volume achieves accuracies of up to 85%; cerebellum, cingulate cortex, and temporal cortex are the most important features. These findings highlight the important role of strict volume matching when studying brain-based sex differences. Differential patterns in regional temporal dependence between males and females identifies a potential neurobiological substrate underlying sex differences in functional brain activation patterns and the behaviours with which they correlate.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Enikő Zsoldos ◽  
Abda Mahmood ◽  
Nicola Filippini ◽  
Sana Suri ◽  
Verena Heise ◽  
...  

Abstract Cardiovascular health in midlife is an established risk factor for cognitive function later in life. Knowing mechanisms of this association may allow preventative steps to be taken to preserve brain health and cognitive performance in older age. In this study, we investigated the association of the Framingham stroke-risk score, a validated multifactorial predictor of 10-year risk of stroke, with brain measures and cognitive performance in stroke-free individuals. We used a large (N = 800) longitudinal cohort of community-dwelling adults of the Whitehall II imaging sub-study with no obvious structural brain abnormalities, who had Framingham stroke risk measured five times between 1991 and 2013 and MRI measures of structural integrity, and cognitive function performed between 2012 and 2016 [baseline mean age 47.9 (5.2) years, range 39.7–62.7 years; MRI mean age 69.81 (5.2) years, range 60.3–84.6 years; 80.6% men]. Unadjusted linear associations were assessed between the Framingham stroke-risk score in each wave and voxelwise grey matter density, fractional anisotropy and mean diffusivity at follow-up. These analyses were repeated including socio-demographic confounders as well as stroke risk in previous waves to examine the effect of residual risk acquired between waves. Finally, we used structural equation modelling to assess whether stroke risk negatively affects cognitive performance via specific brain measures. Higher unadjusted stroke risk measured at each of the five waves over 20 years prior to the MRI scan was associated with lower voxelwise grey and white matter measures. After adjusting for socio-demographic variables, higher stroke risk from 1991 to 2009 was associated with lower grey matter volume in the medial temporal lobe. Higher stroke risk from 1997 to 2013 was associated with lower fractional anisotropy along the corpus callosum. In addition, higher stroke risk from 2012 to 2013, sequentially adjusted for risk measured in 1991–94, 1997–98 and 2002–04 (i.e. ‘residual risks’ acquired from the time of these examinations onwards), was associated with widespread lower fractional anisotropy, and lower grey matter volume in sub-neocortical structures. Structural equation modelling suggested that such reductions in brain integrity were associated with cognitive impairment. These findings highlight the importance of considering cerebrovascular health in midlife as important for brain integrity and cognitive function later in life (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03335696).


Author(s):  
William D. Hopkins ◽  
Cheryl D. Stimpson ◽  
Chet C. Sherwood

Bonobos and chimpanzees are two closely relates species of the genus Pan, yet they exhibit marked differences in anatomy, behaviour and cognition. For this reason, comparative studies on social behaviour, cognition and brain organization between these two species provide important insights into evolutionary models of human origins. This chapter summarizes studies on socio-communicative competencies and social cognition in chimpanzees and bonobos from the authors’ laboratory in comparison to previous reports. Additionally, recent data on species differences and similarities in brain organization in grey matter volume and distribution is presented. Some preliminary findings on microstructural brain organization such as neuropil space and cellular distribution in key neurotransmitters and neuropeptides involved in social behaviour and cognition is presented. Though these studies are in their infancy, the findings point to potentially important differences in brain organization that may underlie bonobo and chimpanzees’ differences in social behaviour, communication and cognition. Les bonobos et les chimpanzés sont deux espèces du genus Pan prochement liées, néanmoins ils montrent des différences anatomiques, comportementales et cognitives marquées. Pour cette raison, les études comparatives sur le comportement social, la cognition et l’organisation corticale entre ces deux espèces fournissent des idées sur les modèles évolutionnaires des origines humaines. Dans ce chapitre, nous résumons des études sur les compétences socio-communicatives et la cognition sociale chez les chimpanzés et les bonobos de notre laboratoire en comparaison avec des rapports précédents. En plus, nous présentons des données récentes sur les différences et similarités d’organisation corticale du volume et distribution de la matière grise entre espèces. Nous présentons plus de résultats préliminaires sur l’organisation corticale microstructurale comme l’espace neuropile et la division cellulaire dans des neurotransmetteurs clés et les neuropeptides impliqués dans le comportement social et la cognition. Bien que ces études sont dans leur enfance, les résultats montrent des différences d’organisation corticale importantes qui sont à la base des différences de comportement social, la communication et la cognition entre les bonobos et les chimpanzés.


2021 ◽  
pp. jnnp-2020-323541
Author(s):  
Jessica L Panman ◽  
Vikram Venkatraghavan ◽  
Emma L van der Ende ◽  
Rebecca M E Steketee ◽  
Lize C Jiskoot ◽  
...  

ObjectiveProgranulin-related frontotemporal dementia (FTD-GRN) is a fast progressive disease. Modelling the cascade of multimodal biomarker changes aids in understanding the aetiology of this disease and enables monitoring of individual mutation carriers. In this cross-sectional study, we estimated the temporal cascade of biomarker changes for FTD-GRN, in a data-driven way.MethodsWe included 56 presymptomatic and 35 symptomatic GRN mutation carriers, and 35 healthy non-carriers. Selected biomarkers were neurofilament light chain (NfL), grey matter volume, white matter microstructure and cognitive domains. We used discriminative event-based modelling to infer the cascade of biomarker changes in FTD-GRN and estimated individual disease severity through cross-validation. We derived the biomarker cascades in non-fluent variant primary progressive aphasia (nfvPPA) and behavioural variant FTD (bvFTD) to understand the differences between these phenotypes.ResultsLanguage functioning and NfL were the earliest abnormal biomarkers in FTD-GRN. White matter tracts were affected before grey matter volume, and the left hemisphere degenerated before the right. Based on individual disease severities, presymptomatic carriers could be delineated from symptomatic carriers with a sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 96.1%. The estimated disease severity strongly correlated with functional severity in nfvPPA, but not in bvFTD. In addition, the biomarker cascade in bvFTD showed more uncertainty than nfvPPA.ConclusionDegeneration of axons and language deficits are indicated to be the earliest biomarkers in FTD-GRN, with bvFTD being more heterogeneous in disease progression than nfvPPA. Our data-driven model could help identify presymptomatic GRN mutation carriers at risk of conversion to the clinical stage.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Buhrmann ◽  
A. M. A. Brands ◽  
J. van der Grond ◽  
C. Schilder ◽  
R. C. van der Mast ◽  
...  

2003 ◽  
Vol 341 (3) ◽  
pp. 173-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
L.J. Whalley ◽  
R.T. Staff ◽  
A.D. Murray ◽  
S.J. Duthie ◽  
A.R. Collins ◽  
...  

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