In 2016, I destroyed my mental health by obsessively refreshing 538 and analyzing poll data and I am so excited to announce that 8 years later I am doing exactly that
Does the brain change during pregnancy? You bet it does. How about doing 26 MRI scans on a single person pre-conception to 2 years post-partum. WOW! Laura Pritschet and colleagues nailed it with their new paper in @NatureNeuro.
Key Points:
- The authors point out that pregnancy is a period of profound hormonal and physiological changes.
- The authors did something incredible by mapping neuroanatomical changes in an individual from preconception through two years postpartum.
- Boom! There were pronounced decreases in gray matter volume and cortical thickness.
- There were increases in white matter microstructural integrity, ventricle volume and cerebrospinal fluid.
- There were few regions untouched by the 'transition to motherhood.'
My take: This study shows us how a single brain in a single person can be a powerful resource when scanned serially over time. This method is hard to pull off, however what it has the potential to teach us about neuroscience is mind-blowing. Though this paper is only a single subject, the data provides a comprehensive map of the human brain across gestation. It will be interesting to add to the dataset, so we can understand changes across multiple persons and multiple conditions. The convergence of evidence is revealing that pregnancy as associated with dramatic neuroplasticity. How about a shout out to this 38-year-old woman who underwent 26 MRI scans along with blood draws from 3 weeks preconception through 2 years postpartum!
https://t.co/LEnPHzKCcl #pregnancy #brain @ndosenbach@andreashorn_@EMiddlebrooksMD
“Half the new building will be dedicated to Boris Johnson alone.”
Oh this is joyous. Electoral street art, just spotted in Oxford.
Planning permission for a new wing at the Bodleian Library.
Enjoy 🔥🔥🔥
Check out our latest innovation: a smartphone-based 3D registration system for infants' fNIRS/DOT studies! 🧠👶 Quick/accurate, it scans a 6-month-old's baby head in just 2s . 📱✨ Discover more about our design in the link below! 🚀
Read our paper: https://t.co/MJONjxbUE7.
How many midwives and epidural anaesthetists at my children’s births and stays in hospital before and after were not ‘foreign workers’? Zero. They all performed miracles, as far as I’m concerned. We all have stories like this.