Upper Limb and Cervical Dystonia MRI (ds006395)
Upper limb dystonia, cervical dystonia and healthy controls dataset
Brain MRI, diffusion MRI and task and resting-state fMRI of adults with focal upper limb or cervical dystonia and healthy controls, collected in São Paulo to study the brain basis of focal dystonia. Includes dystonia severity scores.
Overview
This OpenNeuro release holds raw brain MRI from a Brazilian study of idiopathic focal dystonia. Researchers at Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, Universidade Federal de São Paulo and Hospital do Servidor Público Estadual scanned people with cervical dystonia, people with upper limb dystonia and healthy controls to look for structural, diffusion and functional brain differences between the dystonia subtypes. The first snapshot appeared in June 2025 under CC0; the current snapshot is 1.0.8 from May 2026. The dataset description links three papers from the group, on task fMRI in upper limb dystonia (Neurophotonics 2020), striatal and white matter changes (Parkinsonism and Related Disorders 2025) and brain structure in upper limb dystonia (Scientific Reports 2026).
Composition
There are 91 participants: 37 healthy controls, 25 with cervical dystonia and 29 with upper limb dystonia. 59 are female and 32 male, aged 19 to 78 years at the scan. All were right-handed adults. According to the release notes, 112 people were enrolled; 4 were dropped for incidental findings on MRI and 16 for image artifacts. participants.tsv gives group, sex, age and the Burke-Fahn-Marsden Dystonia Rating Scale score (0 for controls).
Acquisition
All scans come from one Siemens MAGNETOM Prisma 3 T scanner with a 64-channel head coil at Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein. Each session has a T1-weighted MPRAGE, a diffusion series with 60 directions at b = 1000 s/mm² plus 9 b0 volumes and a reverse phase-encoding b0 for distortion correction, a multiband resting-state BOLD run (TR 0.9 s, 400 volumes, eyes open) and a block-design finger opposition BOLD run (TR 2 s, 360 volumes). T1-weighted images were defaced with pydeface.
Annotations
There are no image annotations. Event files give the timing of the finger-tapping blocks.
Known limitations
- Single site and single scanner, with a small sample per group.
- One subject (sub-P00790) has no diffusion series, only the reverse phase-encoding b0, and one (sub-P00927) has no resting-state run.
- The groups differ in sex balance: most patients are female.
- No processed data are included yet.
Cohort
Aggregate numbers from the sources below. Bars are relative to the 91 subjects.
Sex
- Female 59 65%
- Male 32 35%
sex in participants.tsv of ds006395 snapshot 1.0.8 (CC0), counted per row
Contrast / sequence
Groups can overlap
- T1-weighted 91 100%
- BOLD fMRI 91 100%
- Diffusion-weighted 90 99%
anat/*_T1w.nii.gz, dwi/*_dwi.nii.gz, func/*_bold.nii.gz in File tree of ds006395 snapshot 1.0.8 (CC0), NIfTI files counted per subject and BIDS suffix
Scanner vendor
- Siemens Healthineers 91 100%
README.txt in OpenNeuro ds006395 snapshot 1.0.8 (dataset_description.json, README.txt, CHANGES, sidecars and snapshot summary)
Country
- Brazil 91 100%
README.txt and *_T1w.json InstitutionAddress in OpenNeuro ds006395 snapshot 1.0.8 (dataset_description.json, README.txt, CHANGES, sidecars and snapshot summary)
Age by condition
Reported cross table. A dot marks a cell the source does not give.
| Healthy control | Upper limb dystonia | |
|---|---|---|
| 30-39 | 13 | · |
| 50-59 | · | 12 |
group and age in participants.tsv of ds006395 snapshot 1.0.8 (CC0), counted per row
Age
mean 46.2 ± 13.9, median 48, range 19 to 78
age in participants.tsv of ds006395 snapshot 1.0.8 (CC0), counted per row
Condition
Groups can overlap
- Healthy control 37 41%
- Upper limb dystonia 29 32%
- Cervical dystonia 25 27%
group (HC), group (CD), group (ULD) in participants.tsv of ds006395 snapshot 1.0.8 (CC0), counted per row
Field strength
- 3 T 91 100%
README.txt in OpenNeuro ds006395 snapshot 1.0.8 (dataset_description.json, README.txt, CHANGES, sidecars and snapshot summary)
Condition by sex
Reported cross table. A dot marks a cell the source does not give.
| Female | Male | |
|---|---|---|
| Healthy control | 20 | 17 |
| Upper limb dystonia | 20 | · |
| Cervical dystonia | 19 | · |
group and sex in participants.tsv of ds006395 snapshot 1.0.8 (CC0), counted per row
Age by sex
Reported cross table. Missing cells were not published (fewer than 10 or not reported).
- 2250-59n/a
- 1530-39n/a
sex and age in participants.tsv of ds006395 snapshot 1.0.8 (CC0), counted per row
Contrast combinations
How many subjects have exactly each set of contrasts.
| T1w | dwi | bold | Subjects with exactly this set |
|---|---|---|---|
90 | |||
1 |
sub-*/ in File tree of ds006395 snapshot 1.0.8 (CC0), NIfTI files counted per subject and BIDS suffix
License and access
Our reading of the license, not legal advice. Before you use the data, read the original license and confirm that your use is allowed. We take no responsibility for how you use a dataset. Full disclaimer
Download without an account
Creative Commons Zero 1.0 Universal
Public domain dedication. Do anything with the data, including commercial use, without asking and without having to give credit.
dataset_description.json of snapshot 1.0.8 states "License" CC0, and the README names CC0 v1.0.
What you can do
- Yes
- Yes
- Yes
- Yes
- Yes
What you can share
- Yes
- Yes
- Yes
What you must do
- No
- Share alike No
- No
- No
- Manuscript review No
- Release code No
- Return results No
- Delete after use No
Limits
- No
- Location limits No
Citation
de Faria DD, Paulo AJM, de Paiva JPQ, Winkler A, Borges V, Silva SMA, Ballalai H, de Carvalho Aguiar P. Upper limb dystonia, cervical dystonia and healthy controls dataset (ds006395, version 1.0.8). OpenNeuro (2026). doi:10.18112/openneuro.ds006395.v1.0.8
Sources
Every number on this page comes from one of these documents. Each chart names the table or page it is taken from. The raw numbers are in stats.csv.