Author name cluster

Toshio Munesue

Possible papers associated with this exact author name in Arrow. This page groups case-insensitive exact name matches and is not a full identity disambiguation profile.

4 papers

1 author row

YNICL Journal 2016 Journal Article

Synchrony of auditory brain responses predicts behavioral ability to keep still in children with autism spectrum disorder

Yuko Yoshimura
Mitsuru Kikuchi
Hirotoshi Hiraishi
Chiaki Hasegawa
Tetsuya Takahashi
Gerard B. Remijn
Manabu Oi
Toshio Munesue

The auditory-evoked P1m, recorded by magnetoencephalography, reflects a central auditory processing ability in human children. One recent study revealed that asynchrony of P1m between the right and left hemispheres reflected a central auditory processing disorder (i.e., attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, ADHD) in children. However, to date, the relationship between auditory P1m right-left hemispheric synchronization and the comorbidity of hyperactivity in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is unknown. In this study, based on a previous report of an asynchrony of P1m in children with ADHD, to clarify whether the P1m right-left hemispheric synchronization is related to the symptom of hyperactivity in children with ASD, we investigated the relationship between voice-evoked P1m right-left hemispheric synchronization and hyperactivity in children with ASD. In addition to synchronization, we investigated the right-left hemispheric lateralization. Our findings failed to demonstrate significant differences in these values between ASD children with and without the symptom of hyperactivity, which was evaluated using the Autism Diagnostic Observational Schedule, Generic (ADOS-G) subscale. However, there was a significant correlation between the degrees of hemispheric synchronization and the ability to keep still during 12-minute MEG recording periods. Our results also suggested that asynchrony in the bilateral brain auditory processing system is associated with ADHD-like symptoms in children with ASD.

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YNIMG Journal 2014 Journal Article

A longitudinal study of auditory evoked field and language development in young children

Yuko Yoshimura
Mitsuru Kikuchi
Sanae Ueno
Kiyomi Shitamichi
Gerard B. Remijn
Hirotoshi Hiraishi
Chiaki Hasegawa
Naoki Furutani

The relationship between language development in early childhood and the maturation of brain functions related to the human voice remains unclear. Because the development of the auditory system likely correlates with language development in young children, we investigated the relationship between the auditory evoked field (AEF) and language development using non-invasive child-customized magnetoencephalography (MEG) in a longitudinal design. Twenty typically developing children were recruited (aged 36–75months old at the first measurement). These children were re-investigated 11–25months after the first measurement. The AEF component P1m was examined to investigate the developmental changes in each participant's neural brain response to vocal stimuli. In addition, we examined the relationships between brain responses and language performance. P1m peak amplitude in response to vocal stimuli significantly increased in both hemispheres in the second measurement compared to the first measurement. However, no differences were observed in P1m latency. Notably, our results reveal that children with greater increases in P1m amplitude in the left hemisphere performed better on linguistic tests. Thus, our results indicate that P1m evoked by vocal stimuli is a neurophysiological marker for language development in young children. Additionally, MEG is a technique that can be used to investigate the maturation of the auditory cortex based on auditory evoked fields in young children. This study is the first to demonstrate a significant relationship between the development of the auditory processing system and the development of language abilities in young children.

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YNICL Journal 2013 Journal Article

Altered brain connectivity in 3-to 7-year-old children with autism spectrum disorder

Mitsuru Kikuchi
Kiyomi Shitamichi
Yuko Yoshimura
Sanae Ueno
Hirotoshi Hiraishi
Tetsu Hirosawa
Toshio Munesue
Hideo Nakatani

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is often described as a disorder of aberrant neural connectivity and/or aberrant hemispheric lateralization. Although it is important to study the pathophysiology of the developing ASD cortex, the physiological connectivity of the brain in young children with ASD under conscious conditions has not yet been described. Magnetoencephalography (MEG) is a noninvasive brain imaging technique that is practical for use in young children. MEG produces a reference-free signal and is, therefore, an ideal tool for computing the coherence between two distant cortical rhythms. Using a custom child-sized MEG, we recently reported that 5- to 7-year-old children with ASD (n = 26) have inherently different neural pathways than typically developing (TD) children that contribute to their relatively preserved performance of visual tasks. In this study, we performed non-invasive measurements of the brain activity of 70 young children (3-7 years old, of which 18 were aged 3-4 years), a sample consisting of 35 ASD children and 35 TD children. Physiological connectivity and the laterality of physiological connectivity were assessed using intrahemispheric coherence for 9 frequency bands. As a result, significant rightward connectivity between the parietotemporal areas, via gamma band oscillations, was found in the ASD group. As we obtained the non-invasive measurements using a custom child-sized MEG, this is the first study to demonstrate a rightward-lateralized neurophysiological network in conscious young children (including children aged 3-4 years) with ASD.

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YNIMG Journal 2010 Journal Article

Smaller insula and inferior frontal volumes in young adults with pervasive developmental disorders

Hirotaka Kosaka
Masao Omori
Toshio Munesue
Makoto Ishitobi
Yukiko Matsumura
Tetsuya Takahashi
Kousuke Narita
Tetsuhito Murata

Enlarged head circumference and increased brain weight have been reported in infants with pervasive developmental disorders (PDD), and volumetric studies suggest that children with PDD have abnormally enlarged brain volumes. However, little is known about brain volume abnormalities in young adults with PDD. We explored gray matter (GM) volume in young adults with PDD. T1-weighted volumetric images were acquired with a 3-T magnetic resonance scanner from 32 males with high-functioning PDD (23. 8±4. 2 years; Full Scale Intelligence Quotient [FSIQ]=101. 6±15. 6) and 40 age-matched normal male control subjects (22. 5±4. 3 years; FSIQ=109. 7±7. 9). Regional GM volumes were compared between the two groups using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) with the Diffeomorphic Anatomical Registration using Exponentiated Lie algebra (DARTEL). Compared with the control group, the high-functioning PDD group showed significantly less GM in the right insula, the right inferior frontal gyrus, and the right inferior parietal lobule. A conservative threshold confirmed considerably smaller volumes in the right insula and inferior frontal gyrus. In these areas, negative correlations were found between Autism Spectrum Quotient scores and GM volume, although no significant correlations were found between each subject's FSIQ and GM volume. No regions showed greater GM volumes in the high-functioning PDD group. The insular cortex, which works as a relay area for multiple neurocognitive systems, may be one of the key regions underlying the complex clinical features of PDD. These smaller GM volumes in high-functioning PDD subjects may reflect the clinical features of PDD itself, rather than FSIQ.

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