Fig. 3.

Tract profiles in the preterm and full term groups. Mean FA profiles are depicted for each of the cerebral tracts in Fig. 1, for the full term group (solid green line) and the preterm group (solid purple line), from two different dMRI acquisition protocols. Left column (A, C, E, G, I) presents data from Protocol 1 (30 directions, b = 1000 s/mm²) and right column (B, D, F, H, J) presents data from Protocol 2 (96 directions, b = 2500 s/mm²). A–B: ATR-R, nodes 1–15; C–D: IFOF-L, nodes 1–30; E–F: IFOF-R, nodes 1–30; G-H: ILF-L, nodes 1–30; I–J: ILF-R, nodes 1–30. For all tracts, node 0 corresponds to ROI-1 and node 30 corresponds to ROI-2. Dashed lines indicate ± 1 standard error of the mean. Shaded brown background indicates nodes where mean FA of the PT group is significantly increased compared to the FT group. Tracts demonstrating group differences that were significant (p < 0.05) after correcting for multiple comparisons along the tract are indicated with **. Tracts demonstrating a trend toward significant group differences (p < 0.05, uncorrected) are indicated with a single *. Tract renderings from a single subject are shown for each tract for illustration purposes. ATR = anterior thalamic radiation; IFOF = inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus; ILF = inferior longitudinal fasciculus; PT = preterm; FT = full term; FA = fractional anisotropy; L = left; R = right. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)