The processing of UK Biobank imaging data goes on apace. Release of the latest batch of data this weekend includes the imaging data and derived data-fields from the brain MRI scan, now for 10,000 participants, and also a number of new derived measures. These are volumes of tissue changes in white matter, and measures reflecting variations in grey matter volume in 139 different regions of the brain.
Other new data fields are also now provided, including those relating to algorithmically-defined cases of myocardial infarction (heart attack) and stroke. Derived data fields on body composition from the abdominal MRI scan for the first 1,000 participants are also available.
More than 13,000 UK Biobank participants have now been scanned. UK Biobank endeavours to provide new data fields on scanned individuals as quickly as possible. The project currently runs one imaging centre, in Cheadle, Stockport, but expects to open a second, in Newcastle upon Tyne, shortly.
A recent paper in Nature Neuroscience by Professors Karla Miller and Stephen Smith of the Oxford Centre for Functional MRI of the Brain, presents results from the first 5,000 participants’ data release. The authors reported that though this covers just 5% of the ultimate study group, it has already yielded a rich range of associations between brain imaging and other measures provided by UK Biobank volunteer participants.
