FRACTAL DIMENSION IN HUMAN CEREBELLUM MEASURED BY MRI

该子项目是利用 由NIH/NCRR资助的中心赠款提供的资源。子项目和 研究者（PI）可能从另一个NIH来源获得主要资金， 因此可以在其他CRISP条目中表示。列出的机构是 中心，不一定是研究者的机构。 分形维数已被用于量化生物学和医学中广泛的对象的结构。在这项研究中，我们将使用MR CB图像测量人类小脑（CB）的分形维数（FD）。将从健康成人受试者和患有白色物质疾病（AUTISM、MS等）的患者中收集覆盖整个CB的高分辨率冠状面MRI脑图像。CB图像将被重新采样为一系列具有不同三维分辨率的图像集。在每个分辨率下，将获得CB白色物质的骨架，并且将确定属于骨架的像素的数量。CB骨架的分形维数将使用盒计数法计算。将比较正常受试者组和患者组之间的分形维数，以量化结构变化。分维值可作为衡量CB在发育、退化、病变和进化过程中结构复杂性和形态变化的定量指标。

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Fractal dimension has been used to quantify the structures of a wide range of objects in biology and medicine. In this study we will measure the fractal dimension (FD) of human cerebellum (CB) using MR CB images. High resolution coronal MRI brain images covering the whole CB will be collected from healthy adult subjects and patients with white matter diseases (AUTISM, MS, etc.) CB images will be resampled to a series of image sets with different three-dimensional resolutions. At each resolution, the skeleton of the CB white matter will be obtained and the number of pixels belonging to the skeleton will be determined. Fractal dimension of the CB skeleton will be calculated using the box-counting method. Fractal dimension will be compared between the normal subjects group and patients group to quantify the structure changes. The fractal dimension may serve as a quantitative index for structural complexity and morphometric changes of the CB at its developmental, degenerative, diseased or evolutional stages.