The Military Brain Injury group is led by Drs. David Tate (David.Tate@mimh.edu) and Lisa Wilde (Elisabeth.wilde@hsc.utah.edu). Blast-related and impact injuries have been called the "signature injury" of the recent wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with an estimated 1/5 of soldiers sustaining a concussion or TBI (http://dvbic.dcoe.mil/dod-worldwide-numbers-tbi). TBI and PTSD are frequently comorbid, and represent a major cause of disability among the military.

Key questions in the Military Brain Injury group include: what is the effect of blast-related vs. impact TBI? How do males and females respond differently to injury? Are there particular patterns of neural disruption associated with different functional impairments? Are there factors that predict a poorer outcome?

We have begun analyses using ENIGMA's diffusion MRI workflow (presented at NeuroTrauma 2018 in Toronto - Published Abstracts) but are actively recruiting new members! If you are interested in collaborating or have questions about what is involved, please contact one of the leads listed above.

ENIGMA Secondary Proposal Form - Military

Scan parameters for samples included in the Military Brain Injury analyses:

DoD ADNI: (Parameters)

CENC

CETBI

iSCORE: Each participant completed scanning at a 3 Tesla Siemens Verio Syngo scanner, running version MR B17. Sequences included a T1-weighted MP-RAGE and diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI). The volumetric T1-weighted sequence (1 mm3 isotropic voxels) was acquired using a 32-channel head (field of view (FOV), 256 mm; repetition time (TR) = 2300 ms, echo time (TE) = 2.98 ms, flip angle = 9 degrees, and a slice thickness = 1 mm). DWI images were acquired with the following acquisition parameters: TR/TE=12,700/85 ms; FOV=128x128mm; isotropic voxel size=2 mm. 65 images were collected per subject: 1 b0 and 64 diffusion-weighted images (b=1000 s/mm2). All scans were visually inspected for artifacts such as motion or inhomogeneity.

MIRECC: Images were acquired on a GE 3.0 Tesla EXCITE scanner with an 8-channel headcoil. All participants underwent (i) DTI with 2  2  2-mm voxel size automatically resampled to 1  1  2-mm, FOV 240  240-mm, flip angle 90, TR ¼ 17,000-ms, TE ¼ 76-ms, 1 average, 55 noncollinear directions (diffusion gradients), nonzero b-value ¼ 1,000 s/mm2, scanning time ¼ 11-min, and (ii) high resolution T1-weighted 3D-FSPGR images with 1-mm isotropic voxels (TR/TE/flip angle ¼ 7.484-ms/2.984-ms/12, 256-mm FOV, 166 slices, and 1 excitation). All diffusion weighted and T1-weighted images were visually inspected for quality and no scans were rejected.

ENIGMA Military Brain Injury Acknowledgements: ELD is supported by a grant from the NINDS (K99 NS096116). ELD and PT are also supported by NIH grants to PT: U54 EB020403, R01 AG040060, and R01 NS080655. DoD ADNI is supported by the NCIRE (DoD W81XWH-12-2-0012). The Chronic Effects of Neurotrauma Consortium is supported by grants PT108802-SC104835 and W81XWH-13-2-0095 from the Department of Defense and grant 5I01RX002174 from the VA. A Longitudinal Study of Chronic TBI in OEF/OIF/OND Veterans and Service Members is supported by grant funding from the VA (study number O1062-I; grant number: 5I01RX001062). Funding for the iSCORE study was provided by the Defense and Veterans Brain Injury Centers, U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC; W81XWH-13-2-0025). National Institute for Mental Health Grant No. R01-MH111671-01 and VISN6 MIRECC (to RAM); VA Merit Grant Nos. 1I01RX000389-01 (to RAM) and 1I01CX000748-01A1 (to RAM); National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke Grant Nos. 5R01NS086885-02 and K23 MH073091-01 (to RAM); This material is based in part upon work supported by the U.S. Army Medical Research and Material Command and from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity, 820 Chandler Street, Fort Detrick MD 21702-5014 is the awarding and administering acquisition office. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the U.S. Government, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, or the U.S. Department of Defense, and no official endorsement should be inferred.