Biology subjects

Uy, J. P.

Publications and source records attributed to Uy, J. P..

3 recordsLinked to original sources

bioRxiv2026

A Single, Reproducible Dimension Organizes Associations Between the Early Environment and the Developing Brain

Childhood adversity has enduring consequences for health and development across the lifespan, yet the organizing structure linking diverse environmental experiences to the developing brain remains poorly understood. We jointly modeled 104 measures of children's environments, spanning interpersonal, household, and neighborhood contexts, with 7 neuroimaging modalities of brain structure and function in 5,976 youth. Despite this breadth, only a single adversity-brain dimension emerged and replicated in held-out data. This dimension was defined primarily by socioeconomic and neighborhood deprivation and selectively expressed in lower cortical surface area and distributed functional connectivity concentrated in sensorimotor systems. Total cortical surface area reproduced 96% of the regional association, indicating a global rather than regionally specific structural signature. This dimension predicted poorer cognition and cardiometabolic health six years later. These findings reveal a strikingly selective, low-dimensional relation between children's environments and neurodevelopment, with socioeconomic deprivation emerging as the principal environmental axis associated with the developing brain.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2026

Prenatal exposure to PFAS and multimodal structural brain development across childhood

BackgroundPer- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are ubiquitous environmental pollutants that are posited to be neurotoxic to the developing brain; however, the impact of prenatal exposure to PFAS -- particularly to newer, short-chain PFAS -- on brain development across childhood is unclear. MethodsConcentrations of 9 PFAS were quantified in cord blood plasma of 459 infants who later participated in structural and diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at ages 4.5, 6, 7.5, and 10.5 years, providing estimates of regional cortical thickness and surface area, subcortical volumes, and fractional anisotropy (FA) of key white matter tracts. Longitudinal mixed effect models estimated associations of PFAS with age 4.5 brain metrics and their developmental trajectories across childhood. ResultsHigher concentrations of long-chain PFAS (PFNA, PFHxS, PFDA) in cord blood were associated with lower surface area of the right paracentral lobule at age 4.5. PFHpA was associated with faster surface area growth in the left rostral anterior cingulate and slower growth in the right caudal middle frontal gyrus from 4.5 to 10.5 years. The short-chain compound PFBS was linked with greater FA in 17 of 27 white matter tracts at 4.5 years; those associations attenuated with age. Finally, PFOA was associated with lower FA in 6 tracts at 4.5 years. ConclusionsPrenatal exposure to PFAS was associated with altered development of frontal and paracentral regions and of white matter microstructure. These findings highlight the need for further research examining the long-term effects of prenatal exposure to PFAS on childrens neurodevelopment.

neuroscience↗

bioRxiv2026

Early Adversity Selectively Reshapes the Somato-Cognitive Action Network in the Developing Brain

Early adversity is among the most potent environmental influences on the developing brain; yet whether it remodels the areal layout of cortical networks, and along which dimensions, is unknown. In a longitudinal sample of 4,525 youth aged 9-18, we derived individualized cortical parcellations and related the topography of 15 networks to 10 data-driven dimensions of adversity. Greater exposure to threat, but not deprivation or unpredictability, predicted dose-dependent expansion of the somato-cognitive action network (SCAN), an effect nearly seven times larger than for any other network. The SCAN expanded toward the sensorimotor pole, encroached on neighbors, and shifted functional connectivity toward sensorimotor and away from control systems. Expansion mediated the association between threat and poorer cognition, replicating across waves, within children, and out-of-sample. Rather than diffusing across many systems, the imprint of adversity on the developing cortex converges on the territory of a single integrative network that couples brain to body.

neuroscience↗