Event:

There is long-standing evidence that the brain is expensive
and many aspects of brain network organization
tend to minimize wiring cost. More recently, graph theoretical analysis
of the topological properties of brain
networks has demonstrated many non-random features including
small-worldness, modularity, and the existence
of hub nodes that are highly interconnected to form a rich club. Hubs
and rich clubs are central to the global
efficiency of information transfer in brain networks, which is likely to
be functionally important for adaptive behaviors.
However, these topologically valuable hubs and clubs are also more
expensive, in terms of local metabolism and wiring cost,
suggesting that brain networks may have been selected to negotiate an
economical trade-off between topological value and
biological cost. The existence of these high cost / high value nodes in
brain networks may have important implications for
understanding clinical brain disorders. Their high cost may make hubs
more vulnerable to diverse disease processes; and
their high value may make them more likely to generate symptoms of
cognitive impairment if lesioned. This general theory
is investigated, and broadly supported, by several recent experiments
ranging from analysis of the cellular connectome in the
nematode worm C elegans to meta-analytic studies of large numbers of
primary MRI studies of diverse clinical brain disorders.