Elda Fischi-Gomez1,
2, Djalel Eddine Meskaldji1, Lana Vasung2,
Franois Lazeyras3, 4, Jean-Philippe Thiran1,
5, Petra Susan Hppi
1cole
Polytechnique Fdrale de Lausanne (EPFL), Signal Processing Laboratory
5(LTS5), Lausanne, (VD), Switzerland; 2Division of Development and
Growth. Department of Pediatrics. University of Geneva, Geneva, (GE),
Switzerland; 3Center for Biomedical Imaging (CIBM), Lausanne and
Geneva, Geneva, (GE), Switzerland; 4Department of Radiology,
University of Geneva and University Hospital of Geneva, Geneva, (GE),
Switzerland; 5Department of Radiology of the University Hospital
Center (CHUV) and University of Lausanne (UNIL), Lausanne, (VD), Switzerland
In this study, we hypothesized that underlying changes in neurogenesis due to early exposure to environmental factors or due to altered in-utero environment are associated to axonal fiber development and white matter connectivity and organization. Using diffusion MRI-derived brain graphs we studied children born extreme preterm (EP) and born moderate preterm with intra-uterine growth restriction (IUGR) at school age. The localized significant differences found in node degree within some subcortical regions for both groups of subjects and in betweenness centrality in case of EP may suggest a direct link between events occurring in critical developmental periods and specific cognitive capacities.
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