Brain Connectivity Inhibited in HIV-Positive Youth
Brain Connectivity Inhibited in HIV-Positive Youth
- The researchers used diffusion MRI-based tractography and graph-theoretic approaches to gain insights into communication between regions of the brain. The team discovered that changes in the organization of white matter in the young HIV positive patients was related to cognitive deficits detected by neuropsychological testing.
Weaker connectivity in the brains of the HIV positive test subjects correlated with significantly poorer learning/recall. Network global connection strength was measured at 385.99 standard deviations in the HIV positive group and 312.58 in the HIV negative sample. This difference had a P value of .006. There also were clinically significant differences in network global clustering co-efficient and global characteristic path length, which were other metrics for connectivity, according to the study. Psychomotor/processing speeds, executive functioning, fine motor skills and dexterity, and visuospatial skills did not appear to be affected.
- The researchers used diffusion MRI-based tractography and graph-theoretic approaches to gain insights into communication between regions of the brain. The team discovered that changes in the organization of white matter in the young HIV positive patients was related to cognitive deficits detected by neuropsychological testing.
Weaker connectivity in the brains of the HIV positive test subjects correlated with significantly poorer learning/recall. Network global connection strength was measured at 385.99 standard deviations in the HIV positive group and 312.58 in the HIV negative sample. This difference had a P value of .006. There also were clinically significant differences in network global clustering co-efficient and global characteristic path length, which were other metrics for connectivity, according to the study. Psychomotor/processing speeds, executive functioning, fine motor skills and dexterity, and visuospatial skills did not appear to be affected.