BIL&GIN: A neuroimaging, cognitive, behavioral, and genetic database for the study of human brain lateralization
Authors: M Joliot
N Delcroix
G Leroux
M Vigneau
G Perchey
F Crivello
L Zago
N Tzourio-Mazoyer
B Mazoyer
G Jobard
L Petit
E Mellet
Journal: NeuroImage (2016)
Discipline: NEUROSCIENCE & BEHAVIOR
Keywords: Brain; DTI; FMRI; Genetic; Handedness
Affiliations: CNRS UMR5296 Groupe d'Imagerie Neurofonctionnelle, Bordeaux, France; CEA UMR5296 Groupe d'Imagerie Neurofonctionnelle, Bordeaux, France; Université de Bordeaux, UMR5296 Groupe d'Imagerie Neurofonctionnelle, Bordeaux, France. Electronic address: ., CNRS UMR5296 Groupe d'Imagerie Neurofonctionnelle, Bordeaux, France; CEA UMR5296 Groupe d'Imagerie Neurofonctionnelle, Bordeaux, France; Université de Bordeaux, UMR5296 Groupe d'Imagerie Neurofonctionnelle, Bordeaux, France.

Abstract:  We report on a database, named BIL&amp;GIN, designed for investigating the cognitive, behavioral, genetic, and brain morphological/functional correlates of hemispheric specialization. The database contains records from a sample of 453 adult participants enriched in left-handers (45%, N=205) as compared to the general population. For each subject, socio-demographic data, hand and eye laterality, family handedness, and cognitive abilities in the language, motor, visuo-spatial, and numerical domains have been recorded. T1-MRI and DTI data were also acquired, as well as resting-state functional MRI. Task-evoked functional MRI was performed in a sub-sample of 303 subjects (157 left-handers) using a customized functional battery of 16 cognitive tasks exploring the same three cognitive domains. Performances at the tasks executed in the magnet as well as post-acquisition debriefing were recorded. A saliva sample was obtained from the subjects of this sub-sample from which DNA was extracted. The BIL&amp;GIN contains results of imaging data processing for each subject, namely maps of tissue (GM, WM, CSF) probability, cortical thickness, cortical surface, and diffusion parameters as well as regional values of these phenotypes for regions of both AAL and FreeSurfer parcellations. For the subjects who underwent FMRI, individual SPM contrast maps for each of the 8 runs were also calculated and included in the database, as well as corresponding BOLD variations in ROIs of the AAL and AICHA atlases, and Wilke's hemispheric functional lateralization index. The BIL&amp;GIN data sharing is based on a collaborative model. 

Retracted: No

PubPeer comments:
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 #1 Yes, without success. , 
 #1 #2 For your information, as written in the manuscript: How can people access the data? Is it open to everyone (or only those with specifically validated identities)? Is there a registration process? The BIL GIN is not freely available and its content cannot be immediately downloaded. Rather, we have implemented a data-sharing model based on collaborative research agreements. Request for joint research projects can be made through the BIL GIN website (http: www.gin.cnrs.fr BIL GIN) or by email to the corresponding author of the present paper. Email to : fabrice.crivello@u-bordeaux.fr , 
 I made such a request, following all the instructions. It was rejected. , 
 We are sorry for this. This event that has not been reported to us on other occasions, please contact Fabrice Crivello (fabrice.crivello@u-bordeaux.fr) directly to see how to remedy this rejection that should not have happened. Sincerely yours, BIL GIN team , 
 Thanks for the reply. I have copied the original email correspondence to Dr Crivello, but he was already cced into the original email from Nathalie Tzourio-Mazoyer refusing collaboration (dated Nov 2018), so I am not optimistic this would achieve anything. , 
 I have now communicated with Dr Crivello, who is concerned that I misrepresented the situation. I am therefore clarifying here that I was not told that I could *never* have access to the data, but that I would need to wait until the Bordeaux group had completed their own analyses of the language variables I was interested in. He informed me that those analyses are now completed and the data I requested in 2018 would now be available if I complete a formal request. ,