In addition, all participants undergo a resting state functional brain scan to reveal the connectivity of brain regions that are consistently found while the subject is at rest. Participants are instructed to clear their minds and lie still while not performing a specific task.

“Analyses will be conducted that compare the resting states of PCS, PTSD and healthy participants to test if differences exist across groups in the connectivity of the brain regions,” Katz said.

The scans create a large data set that will be analyzed by Gopikrishna Deshpande, an assistant professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, who works at the MRI Center.

“We’re doing a 3D scan of the brain every two seconds for 10 minutes, getting gigabytes worth of data for each little bit of the brain,” Denney said. “We have thousands of time series from each part of the brain that correlate with each other to see which ones work in a network or in concert with each other. Dr. Deshpande’s expertise is taking these sets of data and reducing the information to something that tells us what parts of the brain are working in concert together in a network and how strongly related they are. We can measure the different types of networks.”

Study participants also have their blood drawn for researchers to look for particular biomarkers that are related to PCS and PTSD. Researchers will conduct biochemical assays to better understand the relationships between the peripheral (blood plasma) protein molecules and lipid species and the outcomes of the brain scans and neuropsychological assessments. In addition, specific genes implicated in neurobiological processes and their role in neural functioning associated with PTSD and PCS will be explored.

“Ideally, we’d really like to understand what’s taking place when a soldier is concussed – when you get a concussion, what changes take place?” Dretsch said. “And are there specific biomarkers – imaging biomarkers or blood-based biomarkers – which could better assess and diagnose what’s happening with the soldier? This is a very unique study in that our sample size of soldiers is enormous compared to other studies which have previously been published. We have a lot of opportunities here to contribute to the body of research in psychological resilience, as well as the clinical psychopathology.”

“Once you’ve established all of this with the military population, then you can start asking about treatment,” Katz said. “You establish these tasks, scan the participants, then they go through treatment, which may be meditation, cognitive behavioral therapy or other forms of treatment. Then, you scan them at a later time and ask, ‘Are they better able to perform these tasks?’ to validate whether or not those therapies are working.”

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