Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41699119›Full record

ArticleScientific reports2026

Comparing local brain activity and distant functional connectivity in transgender women compared to cisgender controls.

Xiongyu Li, Zhibiao Xiang, Dayi Liu, Zhening Liu, Yicheng Long, Shixiong Tang

Abstract readComparative Study
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Scientific reports, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Xiongyu LiDepartment of Psychiatry, and National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.
Zhibiao XiangDepartment of Psychiatry, and National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.
Dayi LiuDepartment of Psychiatry and Psychology, Jiangmen Central Hospital, Jiangmen, 529000, Guangdong, China.
Zhening LiuDepartment of Psychiatry, and National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China.
Yicheng LongDepartment of Psychiatry, and National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China. yichenglong@csu.edu.cn.
Shixiong TangDepartment of Radiology, Clinical Research Center for Medical Imaging in Hunan Province, The Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan, China. tangsx1990@csu.edu.cn.

Funding

Natural Science Foundation of Hunan Province 2026JJ81239the Health Research Project of Hunan Provincial Health Commission W20243225the National Natural Science Foundation of China 82071506the National Natural Science Foundation of China 82201692
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

To date, the knowledge about the neurobiological mechanisms associated with transgender populations, especially transgender women (TW), remains limited and lacks consensus. This study aims to fill such gaps using the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) method. Resting-state fMRI data was obtained from 16 TW, 16 cisgender men (CM), and 16 cisgender women (CW). Measures of local brain activity and distant functional connectivity (FC) were compared among groups. Several corresponding dynamic measures were also explored based on the assumption of fluctuating brain functional organizations over time. For local brain activity, TW showed higher amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation within the cerebellum, precentral gyrus, and thalamus, as well as lower regional homogeneity in the precuneus than cisgender participants. For FC measures, TW showed weaker FCs mainly involving the ventral attention and sensorimotor networks, as well as lower local efficiency than cisgender participants. In most of these measures, CM were intermediate among the three groups (i.e., TW < CM < CW, or TW > CM > CW). Our results suggest that TW have distinct patterns of brain function compared with cisgender people, while they are more aligned with those of CM (their sex assigned at birth) rather than CW.

Indexed as

BrainNerve NetTransgender PersonsAdultBrain MappingFemaleHumansMagnetic Resonance ImagingMaleYoung AdultBrain networkfMRITransgender

Identifiers

PMID41699119
PMCPMC13000162

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.