title: Children with Poor Reading Skills at the Word Level Show Reduced Fractional Anisotropy in White Matter Tracts of Both Hemispheres.
abstract: Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies showed that microstructural alterations are correlated to reading skills. In this study, we aim to investigate white matter microstructure of a group of Portuguese speakers with poor reading level, using different parameters of DTI. To perform this analysis, we selected children ranging from 8 to 12 years of age, poor readers (n = 17) and good readers (n = 23), evaluated in the word-level ability based on a Latent Class Analysis (LCA) of Academic Performance Test (TDE). Poor readers exhibited significant fractional anisotropy (FA) reductions in many tracts of both hemispheres, but small and restricted clusters of increased radial diffusivity (RD) in the left hemisphere. Spatial coherence of fibers might be the main source of differences, as changes in FA were not similarly accompanied in terms of extension by changes in RD. Widespread structural alterations in the white matter could prevent good reading ability at word level, which is consistent with recent studies demonstrating the involvement of multiple cortical regions and white matter tracts in reading disabilities.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Psychiatry, Federal University of Sao Paulo , Sao Paulo, Brazil .|2 Interdisciplinary Lab of Clinical Neurosciences (LiNC), Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo (UNIFESP) , Sao Paulo, Brazil .|3 Institute of Psychiatry , King's College, London, United Kingdom .
authors.forename: Luciana Monteiro
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: de Moura
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Psychiatry, Federal University of Sao Paulo , Sao Paulo, Brazil .
authors.forename: Hugo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cogo-Moreira
authors.affiliation: 4 Department of Language, Speech and Hearing Pathology, Federal University of Sao Paulo , Sao Paulo, Brazil .
authors.forename: Clara Regina Brandão
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: de Ávila
authors.affiliation: 2 Interdisciplinary Lab of Clinical Neurosciences (LiNC), Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo (UNIFESP) , Sao Paulo, Brazil .
authors.forename: Pedro Mario
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: 2 Interdisciplinary Lab of Clinical Neurosciences (LiNC), Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo (UNIFESP) , Sao Paulo, Brazil .
authors.forename: Ary
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gadelha
authors.affiliation: 2 Interdisciplinary Lab of Clinical Neurosciences (LiNC), Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo (UNIFESP) , Sao Paulo, Brazil .
authors.forename: Tais
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Moriyama
authors.affiliation: 2 Interdisciplinary Lab of Clinical Neurosciences (LiNC), Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo (UNIFESP) , Sao Paulo, Brazil .
authors.forename: Marco Antonio
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Del Aquilla
authors.affiliation: 2 Interdisciplinary Lab of Clinical Neurosciences (LiNC), Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo (UNIFESP) , Sao Paulo, Brazil .
authors.forename: Marcelo
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hoexter
authors.affiliation: 5 Department of Psychiatry, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul , Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil .
authors.forename: Giovanni Abrahão
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Salum
authors.affiliation: 5 Department of Psychiatry, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul , Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil .
authors.forename: Felipe Almeida
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Picon
authors.affiliation: 5 Department of Psychiatry, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul , Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil .
authors.forename: Mauricio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Anés
authors.affiliation: 2 Interdisciplinary Lab of Clinical Neurosciences (LiNC), Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo (UNIFESP) , Sao Paulo, Brazil .
authors.forename: Marcos Tomanik
authors.initials: MT
authors.lastname: Mercadante
authors.affiliation: 2 Interdisciplinary Lab of Clinical Neurosciences (LiNC), Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo (UNIFESP) , Sao Paulo, Brazil .
authors.forename: Acioly
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lacerda
authors.affiliation: 6 Department of Radiology, University of Sao Paulo , Sao Paulo Medical School, Sao Paulo, Brazil .
authors.forename: Edson
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Amaro
authors.affiliation: 7 Department of Psychiatry, University of Sao Paulo , Sao Paulo Medical School, Sao Paulo, Brazil .
authors.forename: Euripedes Constantino
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Miguel
authors.affiliation: 5 Department of Psychiatry, Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul , Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil .
authors.forename: Luis Augusto
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Rohde
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Psychiatry, Federal University of Sao Paulo , Sao Paulo, Brazil .|2 Interdisciplinary Lab of Clinical Neurosciences (LiNC), Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo (UNIFESP) , Sao Paulo, Brazil .
authors.forename: Rodrigo Affonseca
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Bressan
authors.affiliation: 3 Institute of Psychiatry , King's College, London, United Kingdom .
authors.forename: Philip
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: McGuire
authors.affiliation: 8 Center of Mathematics, Computation and Cognition, Universidade Federal do ABC , Santo Andre, Brazil .
authors.forename: João Ricardo
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Psychiatry, Federal University of Sao Paulo , Sao Paulo, Brazil .
authors.forename: Jair
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: de Jesus Mari
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Psychiatry, Federal University of Sao Paulo , Sao Paulo, Brazil .|2 Interdisciplinary Lab of Clinical Neurosciences (LiNC), Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo (UNIFESP) , Sao Paulo, Brazil .
authors.forename: Andrea Parolin
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Jackowski
mesh_terms: D016880:Anisotropy; D001076:Aptitude; D001077:Aptitude Tests; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D002648:Child; D056324:Diffusion Tensor Imaging; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011932:Reading; D066127:White Matter / Q000033:anatomy & histology*
keywords: diffusion tensor imaging; poor readers; structural connectivity; tract-based spatial statistics; white matter