1. |
- Hubert, D., et al.
(author)
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Ground-based assessment of the bias and long-term stability of 14 limb and occultation ozone profile data records
- 2016
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In: Atmospheric Measurement Techniques. - : Copernicus GmbH. - 1867-1381 .- 1867-8548. ; 9:6, s. 2497-2534
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The ozone profile records of a large number of limb and occultation satellite instruments are widely used to address several key questions in ozone research. Further progress in some domains depends on a more detailed understanding of these data sets, especially of their long-term stability and their mutual consistency. To this end, we made a systematic assessment of 14 limb and occultation sounders that, together, provide more than three decades of global ozone profile measurements. In particular, we considered the latest operational Level-2 records by SAGE II, SAGE III, HALOE, UARS MLS, Aura MLS, POAM II, POAM III, OSIRIS, SMR, GOMOS, MIPAS, SCIAMACHY, ACE-FTS and MAESTRO. Central to our work is a consistent and robust analysis of the comparisons against the ground-based ozonesonde and stratospheric ozone lidar networks. It allowed us to investigate, from the troposphere up to the stratopause, the following main aspects of satellite data quality: long-term stability, overall bias and short-term variability, together with their dependence on geophysical parameters and profile representation. In addition, it permitted us to quantify the overall consistency between the ozone profilers. Generally, we found that between 20 and 40km the satellite ozone measurement biases are smaller than ±5%, the short-term variabilities are less than 5-12% and the drifts are at most ±5%decade-1 (or even ±3%decade-1 for a few records). The agreement with ground-based data degrades somewhat towards the stratopause and especially towards the tropopause where natural variability and low ozone abundances impede a more precise analysis. In part of the stratosphere a few records deviate from the preceding general conclusions; we identified biases of 10% and more (POAM II and SCIAMACHY), markedly higher single-profile variability (SMR and SCIAMACHY) and significant long-term drifts (SCIAMACHY, OSIRIS, HALOE and possibly GOMOS and SMR as well). Furthermore, we reflected on the repercussions of our findings for the construction, analysis and interpretation of merged data records. Most notably, the discrepancies between several recent ozone profile trend assessments can be mostly explained by instrumental drift. This clearly demonstrates the need for systematic comprehensive multi-instrument comparison analyses.
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2. |
- Griffioen, Gina, et al.
(author)
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Serotonin 5-HT1A receptor binding and self-transcendence in healthy control subjects : a replication study using Bayesian hypothesis testing
- 2018
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In: PeerJ. - : PeerJ. - 2167-8359. ; 6
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Objective. A putative relationship between markers for the serotonin system and the personality scale self-transcendence (ST) and its subscale spiritual acceptance (SA) has been demonstrated in a previous PET study of 5-HT1A receptor binding in healthy control subjects. The results could however not be replicated in a subsequent PET study at an independent centre. In this study, we performed a replication of our original study in a larger sample using Bayesian hypothesis testing to evaluate relative evidence both for and against this hypothesis. Methods. Regional 5-HT1A receptor binding potential (BPND) was examined in 50 healthy male subjects using PET with the radioligand [C-11]WAY100635. 5-HT1A availability was calculated using the simplified reference tissue model (SRTM) yielding regional BPND. ST and SA were measured using the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) questionnaire. Correlations between ST/SA scores and 5-HT1A BPND in frontal cortex, hippocampus and raphe nuclei were examined by calculation of default correlation Bayes factors (BFs) and replication BFs. Results. There were no significant correlations between 5-HT1A receptor binding and ST/SA scores. Rather, five of six replication BFs provided moderate to strong evidence for no association between 5-HT1A availability and ST/SA, while the remaining BF provided only weak evidence. Conclusion. We could not replicate our previous findings of an association between 5-HT1A availability and the personality trait ST/SA. Rather, the Bayesian analysis provided evidence for a lack of correlation. Further research should focus on whether other components of the serotonin system may be related to ST or SA. This study also illustrates how Bayesian hypothesis testing allows for greater flexibility and more informative conclusions than traditional p-values, suggesting that this approach may be advantageous for analysis of molecular imaging data.
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3. |
- Matheson, Granville J., et al.
(author)
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Assessment of simplified ratio-based approaches for quantification of PET [11C] PBR28 data
- 2017
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In: EJNMMI Research. - : Springer Nature. - 2191-219X. ; 7
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Purpose: Kinetic modelling with metabolite-corrected arterial plasma is considered the gold standard for quantification of [C-11] PBR28 binding to the translocator protein (TSPO), since there is no brain region devoid of TSPO that can serve as reference. The high variability in binding observed using this method has motivated the use of simplified ratio-based approaches such as standardised uptake value ratios (SUVRs) and distribution volume (VT) ratios (DVRs); however, the reliability of these measures and their relationship to VT have not been sufficiently evaluated.Methods: Data from a previously published [C-11] PBR28 test-retest study in 12 healthy subjects were reanalysed. VT was estimated using a two-tissue compartment model. SUVR and DVR values for the frontal cortex were calculated using the whole brain and cerebellum as denominators. Test-retest reliability was assessed for all measures. Interregional correlations were performed for SUV and VT, and principal component analysis (PCA) was applied. Lastly, correlations between ratio-based outcomes and VT were assessed.Results: Reliability was high for VT, moderate to high for SUV and SUVR, and poor for DVR. Very high interregional correlations were observed for both VT and SUV (all R-2 > 85%). The PCA showed that almost all variance (> 98%) was explained by a single component. Ratio-based methods correlated poorly with VT (all R-2 < 34%, divided by genotype).Conclusions: The reliability was good for SUVR, but poor for DVR. Both outcomes showed little to no association with VT, questioning their validity. The high interregional correlations for VT and SUV suggest that after dividing by a denominator region, most of the biologically relevant signal is lost. These observations imply that results from TSPO PET studies using SUVR or DVR estimates should be interpreted with caution.
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4. |
- Matheson, Granville J., et al.
(author)
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Diurnal and seasonal variation of the brain serotonin system in healthy male subjects
- 2015
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In: NeuroImage. - : ACADEMIC PRESS INC ELSEVIER SCIENCE. - 1053-8119 .- 1095-9572. ; 112, s. 225-231
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- The mammalian circadian clock underlies both diurnal and seasonal changes in physiology, and its function is thought to be disturbed in both seasonal and non-seasonal depression. In humans, molecular imaging studies have reported seasonal changes in the serotonin system. Despite the role of the circadian clock in generating seasonal physiological changes, however, diurnal variation of serotonin receptors and transporters has never been directly studied in humans. We used positron emission tomography to examine diurnal and seasonal changes in the serotonin 5-HT1A receptor and serotonin transporter in two large cohorts of healthy male subjects, employing a cross-sectional design. In 56 subjects measured with [C-11] WAY-100635, we observed diurnal increases in the availability of 5-HT1A receptors in the cortex. In 40 subjects measured with [C-11] MADAM, a decrease in 5-HTT was observed in the midbrain across the day. We also found seasonal changes in the 5-HT1A receptor in serotonin projection regions, with higher availability on days with a longer duration of daylight. Our observation that serotonin receptor and transporter levels may change across the day in humans is corroborated by experimental research in rodents. These findings have important implications for understanding the relationship between the circadian and serotonin systems in both the healthy brain and in affective disorders, as well as for the design of future molecular imaging studies. (C) 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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5. |
- Matheson, Granville J, et al.
(author)
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Reliability of volumetric and surface-based normalisation and smoothing techniques for PET analysis of the cortex : A test-retest analysis using [11C]SCH-23390
- 2017
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In: NeuroImage. - : Elsevier BV. - 1053-8119 .- 1095-9572. ; 155, s. 344-353
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Parametric voxelwise analysis is a commonly used tool in neuroimaging, as it allows for identification of regions of effects in the absence of a strong a-priori regional hypothesis by comparing each voxel of the brain independently. Due to the inherent imprecision of single voxel measurements, spatial smoothing is performed to increase the signal-to-noise ratio of single-voxel estimates. In addition, smoothing compensates for imprecisions in anatomical registration, and allows for the use of cluster-based statistical thresholding. Smoothing has traditionally been applied in three dimensions, without taking the tissue types of surrounding voxels into account. This procedure may be suitable for subcortical structures, but is problematic for cortical regions for which grey matter often constitutes only a small proportion of the smoothed signal. New methods have been developed for cortical analysis in which voxels are sampled to a surface, and smoothing is restricted to neighbouring regions along the cortical grey matter in two dimensions. This procedure has recently been shown to decrease intersubject variability and bias of PET data. The aim of this study was to compare the variability, bias and test-retest reliability of volumetric and surface-based methods as they are applied in practice. Fifteen healthy young males were each measured twice using the dopamine D1 receptor radioligand [11C]SCH-23390, and analyses were performed at the level of individual voxels and vertices within the cortex. We found that surface-based methods yielded higher BPND values, lower coefficient of variation, less bias, better reliability and more precise estimates of parametric binding. All in all, these results suggest that surface-based methods exhibit superior performance to volumetric approaches for voxelwise analysis of PET data, and we advocate for their use when a ROI-based analysis is not appropriate.
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6. |
- Plaven-Sigray, Pontus, et al.
(author)
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Extrastriatal dopamine D2-receptor availability in social anxiety disorder
- 2017
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In: European Neuropsychopharmacology. - : Elsevier BV. - 0924-977X .- 1873-7862. ; 27:5, s. 462-469
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Alterations in the dopamine system are hypothesized to influence the expression of social anxiety disorder (SAD) symptoms. However, molecular imaging studies comparing dopamine function between patients and control subjects have yielded conflicting results. Importantly, while all previous investigations focused on the striatum, findings from activation and blood flow studies indicate that prefrontal and limbic brain regions have a central role in the pathophysiology. The objective of this study was to investigate extrastriatal dopamine D2-receptor (D2-R) availability in SAD. We examined 12 SAD patients and 16 healthy controls using positron emission tomography and the high-affinity D2-R radioligand [C-11]FLB457. Parametric images of D2-R binding potential were derived using the Logan graphical method with cerebellum as reference region. Two-tailed one-way independent ANCOVAs, with age as covariate, were used to examine differences in D2-R availability between groups using both region-based and voxel-wise analyses. The region-based analysis showed a medium effect size of higher D2-R levels in the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) in patients, although this result did not remain significant after correction for multiple comparisons. The voxel-wise comparison revealed elevated D2-R availability in patients within OFC and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex after correction for multiple comparisons. These preliminary results suggest that an aberrant extrastriatal dopamine system may be part of the disease mechanism in SAD.
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7. |
- Plaven-Sigray, Pontus, et al.
(author)
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Positron Emission Tomography Studies of the Glial Cell Marker Translocator Protein in Patients With Psychosis : A Meta-analysis Using Individual Participant Data
- 2018
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In: Biological Psychiatry. - : Elsevier BV. - 0006-3223 .- 1873-2402. ; 84:6, s. 433-442
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- BACKGROUND: Accumulating evidence suggests that the immune system may be an important target for new treatment approaches in schizophrenia. Positron emission tomography and radioligands binding to the translocator protein (TSPO), which is expressed in glial cells in the brain including immune cells, represents a potential method for patient stratification and treatment monitoring. This study examined whether patients with first-episode psychosis and schizophrenia had altered TSPO levels compared with healthy control subjects.METHODS: PubMed was searched for studies comparing patients with psychosis with healthy control subjects using second-generation TSPO radioligands. The outcome measure was total distribution volume (V-T), an index of TSPO levels, in frontal cortex, temporal cortex, and hippocampus. Bayes factors (BFs) were applied to examine the relative support for higher, lower, or no difference in patients' TSPO levels compared with healthy control subjects.RESULTS: Five studies, with 75 participants with first-episode psychosis or schizophrenia and 77 healthy control subjects, were included. BFs showed strong support for lower VT in patients relative to no difference (all BFs > 32), or relative to higher V-T (all BFs > 422), in all brain regions. From the posterior distributions, mean patient-control differences in standardized V-T values were -0.48 for frontal cortex (95% credible interval [CredInt] = -0.88 to 0.09), -0.47 for temporal cortex (CredInt = -0.87 to -0.07), and -0.63 for hippocampus (CredInt = -1.00 to -0.25).CONCLUSIONS: The lower levels of TSPO observed in patients may correspond to altered function or lower density of brain immune cells. Future studies should focus on investigating the underlying biological mechanisms and their relevance for treatment.
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8. |
- Stenkrona, Per, et al.
(author)
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[11C]SCH23390 binding to the D-1-dopamine receptor in the human brain : a comparison of manual and automated methods for image analysis
- 2018
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In: EJNMMI Research. - : Springer Nature. - 2191-219X. ; 8
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: The D-1-dopamine receptor radioligand [C-11] SCH23390 has been frequently used in PET studies. In drug-naive patients with schizophrenia, the findings have been inconsistent, with decreases, increases, and no change in the frontal cortex D-1-dopamine receptors. While these discrepancies are likely primarily due to a lack of statistical power in these studies, we speculated that an additional explanation may be the differences due to methods of image analysis between studies, affecting reliability as well as bias between groups. Methods: Fifteen healthy subjects underwent two PET measurements with [C-11] SCH23390 on the same day. The binding potential (BPND) was compared using a 95% confidence interval following manual and automated delineation of a region of interest (ROI) as well as with and without frame-by-frame realignment. Results: Automated target region delineation produced lower BPND values, while automated delineation of the reference region yielded higher BPND values. However, no significant differences were observed for repeatability using automated and manual delineation methods. Frame-by-frame realignment generated higher BPND values and improved repeatability. Conclusions: The results suggest that the choice of ROI delineation method is not an important factor for reliability, whereas the improved results following movement correction confirm its importance in PET image analysis. Realignment is therefore especially important for measurements in patient populations such as schizophrenia or Parkinson's disease, where motion artifacts may be more prevalent.
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9. |
- Stenkrona, Per, et al.
(author)
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D1-Dopamine Receptor Availability in First-Episode Neuroleptic Naive Psychosis Patients
- 2019
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In: International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology. - : OXFORD UNIV PRESS. - 1461-1457 .- 1469-5111. ; 22:7, s. 415-425
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Journal article (peer-reviewed)abstract
- Background: Positron emission tomography studies examining differences in D1-dopamine receptor binding between control subjects and patients with schizophrenia have been inconsistent, reporting higher, lower, and no difference in the frontal cortex. Exposure to antipsychotic medication has been suggested to be a likely source of this heterogeneity, and thus there is a need for studies of patients at early stages of the disorder who have not been exposed to such drugs. Methods: Here, we compared 17 healthy control subjects and 18 first-episode neuroleptic naive patients with schizophrenia or schizophreniform psychosis using positron emission tomography and the D1-dopamine receptor radioligand [C-11]SCH23390. Results: We observed a statistically significant difference in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Contrary to our expectations, patients had less D1-dopamine receptor availability with a moderate effect size. In a Bayesian analysis, we show that the data are over 50 times more likely to have occurred under the decrease as opposed to the increase hypothesis. This effect was not global, as our analysis showed that the null hypothesis was preferred over either hypothesis in the striatum. Conclusions: This investigation represents the largest single sample of neuroleptic-naive patients examined for D1-dopamine receptor availability using PET and suggests a reduction of prefrontal D1-dopamine receptor density in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. However, further work will be required to reach a consensus.
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