Kristina A. Uban

Bio: Kristina A. Uban is an academic researcher from University of California, Irvine. The author has contributed to research in topics: Cognitive development & Cognition. The author has an hindex of 5, co-authored 13 publications receiving 287 citations. Previous affiliations of Kristina A. Uban include University of California & University of California, Berkeley.

Image processing and analysis methods for the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study

Abstract: The Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study is an ongoing, nationwide study of the effects of environmental influences on behavioral and brain development in adolescents. The ABCD Study is a collaborative effort, including a Coordinating Center, 21 data acquisition sites across the United States, and a Data Analysis and Informatics Center (DAIC). The main objective of the study is to recruit and assess over eleven thousand 9-10-year-olds and follow them over the course of 10 years to characterize normative brain and cognitive development, the many factors that influence brain development, and the effects of those factors on mental health and other outcomes. The study employs state-of-the-art multimodal brain imaging, cognitive and clinical assessments, bioassays, and careful assessment of substance use, environment, psychopathological symptoms, and social functioning. The data will provide a resource of unprecedented scale and depth for studying typical and atypical development. Here, we describe the baseline neuroimaging processing and subject-level analysis methods used by the ABCD DAIC in the centralized processing and extraction of neuroanatomical and functional imaging phenotypes. Neuroimaging processing and analyses include modality-specific corrections for distortions and motion, brain segmentation and cortical surface reconstruction derived from structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI), analysis of brain microstructure using diffusion MRI (dMRI), task-related analysis of functional MRI (fMRI), and functional connectivity analysis of resting-state fMRI.

Baseline brain function in the preadolescents of the ABCD Study.

Abstract: The Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study® is a 10-year longitudinal study of children recruited at ages 9 and 10. A battery of neuroimaging tasks are administered biennially to track neurodevelopment and identify individual differences in brain function. This study reports activation patterns from functional MRI (fMRI) tasks completed at baseline, which were designed to measure cognitive impulse control with a stop signal task (SST; N = 5,547), reward anticipation and receipt with a monetary incentive delay (MID) task (N = 6,657) and working memory and emotion reactivity with an emotional N-back (EN-back) task (N = 6,009). Further, we report the spatial reproducibility of activation patterns by assessing between-group vertex/voxelwise correlations of blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) activation. Analyses reveal robust brain activations that are consistent with the published literature, vary across fMRI tasks/contrasts and slightly correlate with individual behavioral performance on the tasks. These results establish the preadolescent brain function baseline, guide interpretation of cross-sectional analyses and will enable the investigation of longitudinal changes during adolescent development. This paper reports activation patterns for fMRI tasks assessing response inhibition, working memory and reward processing obtained at baseline in the longitudinal ABCD Study, providing a reference for research into adolescent brain development.

Positive Economic, Psychosocial, and Physiological Ecologies Predict Brain Structure and Cognitive Performance in 9-10-Year-Old Children.

Abstract: While low socioeconomic status (SES) introduces risk for developmental outcomes among children, there are an array of proximal processes that determine the ecologies and thus the lived experiences of children. This study examined interrelations between 22 proximal measures in the economic, psychosocial, physiological, and perinatal ecologies of children, in association with brain structure and cognitive performance in a diverse sample of 8,158 9-10-year-old children from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. SES was measured by the income-to-needs ratio (INR), a measure used by federal poverty guidelines. Within the ABCD study, in what is one of the largest and most diverse cohorts of children studied in the United States, we replicate associations of low SES with lower total cortical surface area and worse cognitive performance. Associations between low SES (<200% INR) and measures of development showed the steepest increases with INR, with apparent increases still visible beyond the level of economic disadvantage in the range of 200-400% INR. Notably, we found three latent factors encompassing positive ecologies for children across the areas of economic, psychosocial, physiological, and perinatal well-being in association with better cognitive performance and the higher total cortical surface area beyond the effects of SES. Specifically, latent factors encompassing youth perceived social support and perinatal well-being were positive predictors of developmental measures for all children, regardless of SES. Further, we found a general latent factor that explained relationships between 20 of the proximal measures and encompassed a joint ecology of higher social and economic resources relative to low adversity across psychosocial, physiological, and perinatal domains. The association between the resource-to-adversity latent factor and cognitive performance was moderated by SES, such that for children in higher SES households, cognitive performance progressively increased with these latent factor scores, while for lower SES, cognitive performance increased only among children with the highest latent factor scores. Our findings suggest that both positive ecologies of increased access to resources and lower adversity are mutually critical for promoting better cognitive development in children from low SES households. Our findings inform future studies aiming to examine positive factors that influence healthier development in children.

Correspondence Between Perceived Pubertal Development and Hormone Levels in 9-10 Year-Olds From the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study

Abstract: Author(s): Herting, Megan M; Uban, Kristina A; Gonzalez, Marybel Robledo; Baker, Fiona C; Kan, Eric C; Thompson, Wesley K; Granger, Douglas A; Albaugh, Matthew D; Anokhin, Andrey P; Bagot, Kara S; Banich, Marie T; Barch, Deanna M; Baskin-Sommers, Arielle; Breslin, Florence J; Casey, BJ; Chaarani, Bader; Chang, Linda; Clark, Duncan B; Cloak, Christine C; Constable, R Todd; Cottler, Linda B; Dagher, Rada K; Dapretto, Mirella; Dick, Anthony S; Dosenbach, Nico; Dowling, Gayathri J; Dumas, Julie A; Edwards, Sarah; Ernst, Thomas; Fair, Damien A; Feldstein-Ewing, Sarah W; Freedman, Edward G; Fuemmeler, Bernard F; Garavan, Hugh; Gee, Dylan G; Giedd, Jay N; Glaser, Paul EA; Goldstone, Aimee; Gray, Kevin M; Hawes, Samuel W; Heath, Andrew C; Heitzeg, Mary M; Hewitt, John K; Heyser, Charles J; Hoffman, Elizabeth A; Huber, Rebekah S; Huestis, Marilyn A; Hyde, Luke W; Infante, M Alejandra; Ivanova, Masha Y; Jacobus, Joanna; Jernigan, Terry L; Karcher, Nicole R; Laird, Angela R; LeBlanc, Kimberly H; Lisdahl, Krista; Luciana, Monica; Luna, Beatriz; Maes, Hermine H; Marshall, Andrew T; Mason, Michael J; McGlade, Erin C; Morris, Amanda S; Nagel, Bonnie J; Neigh, Gretchen N; Palmer, Clare E; Paulus, Martin P; Potter, Alexandra S; Puttler, Leon I; Rajapakse, Nishadi; Rapuano, Kristina; Reeves, Gloria; Renshaw, Perry F; Schirda, Claudiu; Sher, Kenneth J; Sheth, Chandni; Shilling, Paul D; Squeglia, Lindsay M; Sutherland, Matthew T; Tapert, Susan F; Tomko, Rachel L; Yurgelun-Todd, Deborah; Wade, Natasha E; Weiss, Susan RB; Zucker, Robert A | Abstract: AimTo examine individual variability between perceived physical features and hormones of pubertal maturation in 9-10-year-old children as a function of sociodemographic characteristics.MethodsCross-sectional metrics of puberty were utilized from the baseline assessment of the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study-a multi-site sample of 9-10 year-olds (n = 11,875)-and included perceived physical features via the pubertal development scale (PDS) and child salivary hormone levels (dehydroepiandrosterone and testosterone in all, and estradiol in females). Multi-level models examined the relationships among sociodemographic measures, physical features, and hormone levels. A group factor analysis (GFA) was implemented to extract latent variables of pubertal maturation that integrated both measures of perceived physical features and hormone levels.ResultsPDS summary scores indicated more males (70%) than females (31%) were prepubertal. Perceived physical features and hormone levels were significantly associated with child's weight status and income, such that more mature scores were observed among children that were overweight/obese or from households with low-income. Results from the GFA identified two latent factors that described individual differences in pubertal maturation among both females and males, with factor 1 driven by higher hormone levels, and factor 2 driven by perceived physical maturation. The correspondence between latent factor 1 scores (hormones) and latent factor 2 scores (perceived physical maturation) revealed synchronous and asynchronous relationships between hormones and concomitant physical features in this large young adolescent sample.ConclusionsSociodemographic measures were associated with both objective hormone and self-report physical measures of pubertal maturation in a large, diverse sample of 9-10 year-olds. The latent variables of pubertal maturation described a complex interplay between perceived physical changes and hormone levels that hallmark sexual maturation, which future studies can examine in relation to trajectories of brain maturation, risk/resilience to substance use, and other mental health outcomes.

The Ecology of Human Development

Abstract: This chapter explores the ecology of human development, those forces in the person's environment that affect and influence development. Urie Bronfenbrenner's model of the human ecosystem guides the discussion, making connections between children in families and in communities and the larger society that surrounds them. The human ecosystem model is much like the study of the natural ecology, focusing on the interactions between subjects at various levels of the environment as they affect each other. The interaction between individual and environment forms the basis of an ecological approach to human development. This view sees the process of development as the expansion of the child's conception of the world and the child's ability to act on that world. Risks to development can come from both direct threats and the absence of opportunities for development. Sociocultural risk refers to the impoverishment in the child's world of essential experiences and relationships.

Reproducible brain-wide association studies require thousands of individuals

Abstract: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has transformed our understanding of the human brain through well-replicated mapping of abilities to specific structures (for example, lesion studies) and functions1-3 (for example, task functional MRI (fMRI)). Mental health research and care have yet to realize similar advances from MRI. A primary challenge has been replicating associations between inter-individual differences in brain structure or function and complex cognitive or mental health phenotypes (brain-wide association studies (BWAS)). Such BWAS have typically relied on sample sizes appropriate for classical brain mapping4 (the median neuroimaging study sample size is about 25), but potentially too small for capturing reproducible brain-behavioural phenotype associations5,6. Here we used three of the largest neuroimaging datasets currently available-with a total sample size of around 50,000 individuals-to quantify BWAS effect sizes and reproducibility as a function of sample size. BWAS associations were smaller than previously thought, resulting in statistically underpowered studies, inflated effect sizes and replication failures at typical sample sizes. As sample sizes grew into the thousands, replication rates began to improve and effect size inflation decreased. More robust BWAS effects were detected for functional MRI (versus structural), cognitive tests (versus mental health questionnaires) and multivariate methods (versus univariate). Smaller than expected brain-phenotype associations and variability across population subsamples can explain widespread BWAS replication failures. In contrast to non-BWAS approaches with larger effects (for example, lesions, interventions and within-person), BWAS reproducibility requires samples with thousands of individuals.

Reproducible brain-wide association studies require thousands of individuals

Abstract: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has transformed our understanding of the human brain through well-replicated mapping of abilities to specific structures (for example, lesion studies) and functions1-3 (for example, task functional MRI (fMRI)). Mental health research and care have yet to realize similar advances from MRI. A primary challenge has been replicating associations between inter-individual differences in brain structure or function and complex cognitive or mental health phenotypes (brain-wide association studies (BWAS)). Such BWAS have typically relied on sample sizes appropriate for classical brain mapping4 (the median neuroimaging study sample size is about 25), but potentially too small for capturing reproducible brain-behavioural phenotype associations5,6. Here we used three of the largest neuroimaging datasets currently available-with a total sample size of around 50,000 individuals-to quantify BWAS effect sizes and reproducibility as a function of sample size. BWAS associations were smaller than previously thought, resulting in statistically underpowered studies, inflated effect sizes and replication failures at typical sample sizes. As sample sizes grew into the thousands, replication rates began to improve and effect size inflation decreased. More robust BWAS effects were detected for functional MRI (versus structural), cognitive tests (versus mental health questionnaires) and multivariate methods (versus univariate). Smaller than expected brain-phenotype associations and variability across population subsamples can explain widespread BWAS replication failures. In contrast to non-BWAS approaches with larger effects (for example, lesions, interventions and within-person), BWAS reproducibility requires samples with thousands of individuals.

FURSTENBERG, Frank F. Jr., Thomas D. COOK, Jacquelynne ECCLES, Glen H. ELDER, Jr., and Arnold SAMEROFF, MANAGING TO MAKE IT: Urban Families and Adolescent Success

Abstract: FURSTENBERG, Frank F Jr., Thomas D. COOK, Jacquelynne ECCLES, Glen H. ELDER, Jr., and Arnold SAMEROFF, MANAGING TO MAKE IT: Urban Families and Adolescent Success. Chicago, IL: The University of Chicago Press, 1999, 305 pp., $ 32.50 hardcover / $17.00 softcover. When five academics get together to write a book, one might expect that it would never be published: it would take forever for them to agree on anything. This book on families and neighborhoods, however, shows the positive benefits of such collaboration. Very well written and methodologically sound, it provides the reader with plenty of quantitative information, peppered with illustrative examples from in-depth qualitative interviews. The central theme of the book is how parents, especially poor and working class parents, manage the resources available to them to protect their children and promote their chances of success. The book is centered on research conducted in the inter city neighborhood of Philadelphia in the early 1990s and is divided into ten chapters, each of which covers an important aspect of studying the family. The first chapter of the book outlines the authors' theoretical perspective. Chapter two describes how the areas studied were selected and provides details of the sample. Chapter three explores the measurements of adolescent success for the subjects of this study. Chapter four looks at parental management strategies. Parents employ preventative strategies to manage risk in order to protect their children from harm. At the same time, parents seek opportunities to develop and promote their children's abilities. Neighborhoods have significant effects on the use of preventative measures, such as monitoring and discipline. Parents in low-resource neighborhoods are faced with greater levels of risk for their children, so they are forced to put more emphasis on risk management in order to protect their children. This in turn has an effect on the ability of adolescents in these areas to develop their sense of autonomy. Chapter five explores how parenting efforts affect behaviors of disadvantaged adolescents. Chapter six addresses an additional consideration of the impact of parenting on adolescent competence by questioning the effect of parental and household resources on adolescent wellbeing. Chapter seven explores how neighborhood characteristics are related to family management and consequently adolescent success. Chapter eight addresses issues of how to identify high-risk environments and family management practices that may mitigate the consequences of unfavorable conditions on the success of adolescents - referred to as a `risk-and-resiliency' framework. It is suggested that the adolescent period of an individual's life is frequently marked by opportunities to improve skills and may also be fraught with setbacks. Evidence in prior chapters of the book suggests that the advantages and disadvantages experienced by youths and families tend to accumulate over time, ensuring a level of continuity in life experiences. …