Download pdf - Halliday, et al. (fNIRS 2014) fNIRS in Rural Gambia ...Montreal.pdf• To establish functional near infrared spectroscopy ( fNIRS) as a low cost, non invasive brain imaging tool for

D. Halliday1, S. Lloyd-Fox2, K. Begus2, P. Vellekoop3,4, H. Maris2, M. Papademetriou1, N. Everdell1, M. K. Darboe3, A. M. Prentice3,4, S. E. Moore3,4, C. E. Elwell1

fNIRS in Rural Gambia: Studies of Cognitive Function from Birth to 24 Months of Age

1Department of Medical Physics and Bioengineering, University College London, UK; 2Centre for Brain and Cognitive Development, Birkbeck, University of London, UK; 3MRC International Nutrition Group, Keneba Field

Station, The Gambia; 4MRC International Nutrition Group, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK

Aims• To establish functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) as alow

cost, non invasive brain imaging toolforassessing neurocognitivefunction in infants frombirthin resource poor settings.

• To provide earlybiomarkers of cognitive development toinformandevaluate nutritional intervention strategies.

• To supplement current assessment methods with adirectmeasureofcognitive functioning, unbiased tocultural background.

Lloyd-Fox, S.,Papademetriou, M., Darboe, M. K.,Everdell, N.L.,eeePrentice, A.M., Moore, S.E.,&Elwell, C. E.(2014).eeeFunctional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) to assess eeecognitive function ininfants inrural Africa. Nature ScientificeeeReport, 4:4740, DOI: 10.1038/srep04740

www.globalfnirs.org

Brain Imaging for Global Health

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StudyProtocolAtotalof 99infantswerestudied between birth and 24months of age.InfantsworeanfNIRS sourcedetectorarrayovertherighthemisphere.Newborninfantswerepresented with social and non-social auditory stimuliwhilst sleeping. Allother agegroups werepresented with social and non social visual stimuli in addition totheauditory stimuli. Additionally, infants 6months and older underwent behaviouralassessment using theMullen Scales ofEarly Learning (MSEL). An assessment oftheimplementation ofMSELwas performed to control forcultural bias.

Conclusions• fNIRS can be used tomeasure neurocognitive function ininfants frombirth to24

months ofageina resource poor setting.• Cross-sectional and longitudinal studies revealed distinct regions ofthe posterior

superior temporal and inferior frontal cortexactivated byeither visual or auditorysocial stimuli.

• fNIRS maybe used toelucidate typical and atypical brain development frombirthand hence investigate the effectsofnutritional insults and interventions inglobalhealth studies.

0-2months 4-8months* 12-16months 18-24monthsResults

INFANTSWERESLEEPING

*When thesame agedUKinfants werestudied, similar patterns of selective cortical activationwereseen

Faltering head growt h is apparent by 12months of age in rura l Gam bian infants.Associated neurocognitive ramificationsare poorly understood.

Standar dised assessment measures are designed andnormed on Western population, and are biased as such.

Anthropom etric measurement s are commonlyused to tra ck physi cal developm ent; indicesfrom whi ch indicat ors of nutritional status canbe derived.

Brainregionsshowingsignificantcorticalactivation:

NON-SOCIAL >SILENCESOCIALandNON–SOCIAL>SILENCE

SOCIAL>NON–SOCIAL

Rationale

USnorm

Cog

nitiv

e t-s

core

Age