Louise RÖNNQVIST, Department of Psychology, Umeå University, Sweden has given a talk on Zoom on October 10th.

https://www.umu.se/en/staff/louise-ronnqvist/

Short abstract:

It is well documented that white matter injury (WMI) in the preterm born infants is a major risk factor for long-term neurodevelopmental disabilities, including motor, cognitive and mental impairments and diversities. Improvements in obstetric and neonatal care have increased the survival rates of very- and extremely preterm born infants. Though followed by a significant increase number of milder, predominantly diffuse forms of WMI in this population. The consequences of long-term structural-functional alterations remain uncertain. This raises questions of how alterations in white-matter-micro-structures and myelination contribute to long-term neuro-developmental adversities and affect hemispheric specialization and lateralization.
In this presentation I will focus on outcomes from use of multimodal brain imaging methods and quantitative, multi-parametric functional assessments. This includes findings from diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and Synthetic MRI (SyMRI). In addition, how this outcome associates with degree of prematurity and risk factors at birth, and further, with findings from high-resolution movement registrations, functional laterality assessments, and cognitive performances, when investigated at early school-age and in adolescents. All analyses, based from both brain and behavioral assessments, are made in comparison to full-term-born, neuro-typical, age-matched children.