Alain Dagher

Integrating and interpreting brain maps | doi.org/10.1016/j.ti...

Imaging and recording technologies make it possible to map multiple biological features of the brain. How can these features be conceptually integrated into a coherent understanding of brain structure and function? ⤵️

LaSalle College says it helps French thrive, so why is Quebec cracking down on it? Instead of punishing the school, the CAQ government should be using it as a model for francization and the principle of harmonious “vivre ensemble,” the school’s president and CEO says.

"The Quebec government has served the school with fines totalling almost $30 million for violating the province’s language law by admitting too many students to its English-taught continuing-education programs over the last two years."

Read more at: www.montrealgazette.com/news/article...

In collab with @alaindagher.bsky.social @misicbata.bsky.social and Shady Rahayel, we used the SIR model to computationally model neurodegenration as a function of the structural connectome and gene expression. SIR cpatures the dynamics better than axonal connectivity (very bad!) and gene expression!

Linking neuron-axon-synapse architecture to white matter vasculature using high-resolution multimodal MRI in primate brain Abstract. Blood vessels and axons align outside the brain due to shared growth factors. However, this neuron-axon-synapse and vessel relationship within the brain white matter remains unclear, primari...

direct.mit.edu/imag/article...

Energy expenditure and obesity across the economic spectrum | PNAS Global economic development has been associated with an increased prevalence of obesity and related health problems. Increased caloric intake and r...

On the root cause of global obesity
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Food Intelligence by Julia Belluz, Kevin Hall, PhD: 9780593332306 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books The essential guide for understanding what you’re eating, and the forces that are driving you to eat it. Nutrition isn’t rocket science; it’s harder. There are new diet fads, bold...

Excited to announce my new book FOOD INTELLIGENCE coauthored with brilliant journalist @juliabelluz.bsky.social‬! Cutting through the confusion about diet & health, #FoodIntelligence describes the fascinating science of how food both nourishes & harms us. www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/671334...

Hi everyone! Blue Sky seems alright!
Check out our massive new review on Coenzyme Q that earned the cover 😉.

ENIGMA is a tremendous achievement ! Congratulations @ptenigma.bsky.social

New paper in Imaging Neuroscience by Stephen M. Smith, Karla L. Miller, and Thomas E. Nichols:

Characterising ongoing brain aging and baseline effects from cross-sectional data

doi.org/10.1162/IMAG...

Does the carbon footprint calculation include travel to hackathons?

In sum, we use genetics to uncover three different facets of impulsivity, each with different genetic and neurodevelopmental associations. Further deciphering the complicated interplay of genetics and environment is an exciting future direction⭐

Finally, we found that each brain measure has a different ratio of genetic vs environmental influences. For example, cortical thickness was better captured by impulsivity PGSs, but surface area was more environmental.

Next: how does environment come into play? We found that Area Deprivation Index modulates the relationship between lack of self-control PGS and white matter. Lower ADI amplified the effect of genetic risk on WM development.

We also tested longitudinal changes in brain anatomy! Lack of self-control PGS was mostly related to slower development of white matter.

We then asked how the polygenic score for each latent factor manifested in the brain using ABCD (9-11 yrs, N>4,000). Lack of self-control: reduced prefrontal GM; reward drive: increased cellularity in subcortical nuclei; sensation seeking: increased surface area and white matter FA.

Gene-enrichment analysis showed that “reward drive” is preferentially associated with genes related to neurogenesis expressed at prenatal stage, while “sensation seeking” was associated with genes related to synaptic properties and expressed at late infancy.

A notable finding is that the drive/motivation facet could be subdivided into reward drive and sensation-seeking, with different genetic, neurodevelopmental and behavioural associations. Sensation-seeking may actually associate with positive outcomes (see preprint for details).

Applying gSEM to 17 GWASs, we discovered that different measures of impulsivity and risk-taking could be grouped into three factors based on their genetic architecture. We named them “lack of self-control,” “reward drive,” and “sensation seeking.”

Impulsivity is a multi-faceted trans-diagnostic trait present in many psychiatric conditions. It is often separated into self-control versus drive/motivation, the so-called dual-systems model. One way to understand genetic organization of related phenotypes is genomic SEM.

🧵 Beautiful new preprint by @marishishi.bsky.social on the genetic architecture of impulsivity. With the UCSD team of Sandra Sanchez-Roige, Abe Palmer et al. and Lang Liu, Ziv Gan-Or @ukuvainik.bsky.social @filipkmorys.bsky.social @misicbata.bsky.social and others www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Attenborough’s Ocean is the film I’ve been waiting my whole career for – now the world must act on its message | George Monbiot The documentary shows the damage that fishing does to our planet. So why does the industry still hold governments to ransom? asks Guardian columnist George Monbiot

"The extraordinary thing is just how tiny [the fishing] industry is, yet it seems to hold the world’s governments to ransom"

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

🔥 Just out! Our new massive global ENIGMA-CNV study led by Ana Silva + David Linden (+90 authors!) reveals how rare copy number variants (CNVs) in the human genome disrupt brain structure. Landmark in human genetics
🧨 Basically

Convergent large-scale network and local vulnerabilities underlie brain atrophy across Parkinson's disease stages: a worldwide ENIGMA study Parkinson's disease (PD) is associated with extensive structural brain changes. Recent work has proposed that the spatial pattern of disease pathology is shaped by both network spread and local vulner...

www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...

Thanks: Christina Tremblay, Shady Rahayel, Ysbrand van der Werf, Max Laansma, @misicbata.bsky.social‬ @ptenigma.bsky.social‬ @cowenswal.bsky.social‬ and all co-authors

Summary: cortical thinning (representing synaptic damage and los of neuropil) is widespread even in early stages; atrophy patterns are shaped by connectivity and local vulnerability, supporting (once again) the prion-spread hypothesis of PD

Imaging transcriptomics with the @alleninstitute.org‬ Human Brain atlas identified the biological processes related to brain atrophy in PD, mostly related to excitatory synapses

To test the prion-spread theory of PD, we found that cortical atrophy in any region was proportional to atrophy of its connected regions. We further identified the likeliest epicentres of disease initiation as the temporal lobe and amygdala, consistent with the brain-first route of propagation

Widespread cortical thinning was the most prominent finding when correlating MRI measures to disease stage and duration, and global cognitive score. It is thought that cortical thinning represents loss of synapses and neuropil.

New preprint. @ndrewvo.bsky.social‬ and @enigmabrains.bsky.social‬ analyzed MRI of > 3,000 people with Parkinson’s disease. W-score method to compare PD to matched controls confirmed extensive loss of cortical thickness, surface area and subcortical volumes in PD, even in early stages

The best thing about this is the chess clock on the desk - JP thought this was going to be like those chess grandmaster versus 20 kids exhibitions - except the kids trounced him.