Correspondent Functional Topography of the Human Left Inferior Parietal Lobule at Rest and Under Task Revealed Using Resting-State fMRI and Coactivation Based Parcellation

Delineating abnormal individual structural covariance brain network organization in pediatric epilepsy with unilateral resection of visual cortex

Although several previous studies have used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion tensor imaging to report topological changes in the brain in epilepsy, it remains unclear whether the individual structural covariance network (SCN) changes in epilepsy, especially in pediatric epilepsy with visual cortex resection but with normal functions. Herein, individual SCNs were mapped and analyzed for seven pediatric patients with epilepsy after surgery and 15 age-matched healthy controls. A whole-brain individual SCN was constructed based on an automated anatomical labeling template, and global and nodal network metrics were calculated for statistical analyses. Small-world properties were exhibited by pediatric patients after brain surgery and by healthy controls. After brain surgery, pediatric patients with epilepsy exhibited a higher shortest path length, lower global efficiency, and higher nodal efficiency in the cuneus than those in healthy controls. These results revealed that pediatric epilepsy after brain surgery, even with normal functions, showed altered topological organization of the individual SCNs, which revealed residual network topological abnormalities and may provide initial evidence for the underlying functional impairments in the brain of pediatric patients with epilepsy after surgery that can occur in the future.

Physical activity-related individual differences in functional human connectome are linked to fluid intelligence in older adults

The study examined resting state functional connectivity (rs-FC) associated with moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MV-PA), sedentary time (ST), TV viewing, computer use, and their relationship to cognitive performance in older adults. We used pre-intervention data from 119 participants from the Fit & Active Seniors trial. Multivariate pattern analysis revealed two seeds associated with MV-PA: right superior frontal gyrus (SFG; spanning frontoparietal [FPN] and ventral attention networks [VAN]) and right precentral (PrG) and postcentral gyri (PoG) of the somatosensory network (SN). A positive correlation between the right SFG seed and a cluster spanning default mode (DMN), dorsal attention (DAN), FPN, and visual networks (VIS) was linked to higher fluid intelligence, as was FC between the right PrG/PoG seed and a cluster in VIS. No significant rs-FC patterns associated with ST, TV viewing, or computer use were found. Our findings suggest that greater functional integration within networks implementing top-down control and within those supporting visuospatial abilities, paired with segregation between networks critical and those not critical to top-down control, may help promote cognitive reserve in more physically active seniors.

Sex-specific grey matter abnormalities in individuals with chronic insomnia

Previous studies have reported sex differences in altered brain function in patients with chronic insomnia (CI). However, sex-related alterations in brain morphology have rarely been investigated. This study aimed to investigate sex-specific grey matter (GM) alterations in patients with CI and to examine the relationship between GM alterations and neuropsychological assessments. Ninety-three (65 females and 28 males) patients and 78 healthy (50 females and 28 males) controls were recruited. Structural magnetic resonance imaging data were analysed using voxel-based morphometry to test for interactions between sex and diagnosis. Spearman's correlation was used to assess the associations among structure, disease duration, and sleep-, mood-, and cognition-related assessments. Males with CI showed reduced GM volume in the left inferior parietal lobe, left middle cingulate cortex, and right supramarginal gyrus. Females with CI showed increased GM volume in the right Rolandic operculum. Moreover, mood-related assessments were negatively correlated with GM volumes in the right supramarginal gyrus and left inferior parietal lobe in the male patients, and cognitive-related assessments were positively correlated with GM volumes in the Rolandic operculum in the female patients. Our findings indicate sex-specific alterations in brain morphology in CI, thereby broadening our understanding of sex differences in CI and potentially providing complementary evidence for the development of more effective therapies and individual treatments.

Distance-specific functional connectivity strength alterations in human immunodeficiency virus asymptomatic neurocognitive impairment patients: a cross-sectional study

Background

Asymptomatic neurocognitive impairment (ANI) is the mildest form of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-associated neurocognitive disorders (HANDs), and functional connectivity strength (FCS) alternations have been observed in the ANI stage. However, it is not clear whether the FCS alterations are influenced by the anatomical distance. This study sought to investigate distance-specific FCS changes in HIV ANI patients.

Methods

In total, 29 patients with HAND and 32 healthy controls (HCs) were enrolled in the study. Between-group differences were detected for short, middle and long range anatomical distance FCS. A correlation analysis was performed to examine the relationship between distance-specific FCS and immunological parameters and neuropsychological tests. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was conducted to examine the discriminative performance for HIV ANI patients.

Results

In comparison to the HCs, the HAND patients showed increased short-range FCS in the left inferior parietal lobule (IPL), middle-range FCS in the superior temporal gyrus (STG), long-range FCS in the left precuneus (PCC), and decreased FCS in the right postcentral gyrus (PCG) (cluster P<0.05, voxel significance P<0.001). Further, the long-range FCS in the right PCG was negatively correlated with the CD4/CD8 ratio (r=-0.479, 95% confidence interval (CI): -0.735 to -0.104, P=0.015), and the distance-specific FCS also showed good classification performance between the HAND patients and HCs. The left IPL, left STG, right PCG, and left PCC had areas under the curve (AUCs) of 0.875 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.758-0.949, P<0.0001], 0.806 (95% CI: 0.677-0.900, P<0.0001), 0.855 (95% CI: 0.734-0.935, P<0.0001), and 0.852 (95% CI: 0.754-0.950, P<0.0001), respectively. There was no significant relationship between the distance-specific FCS and the neuropsychological tests.

Conclusions

Distance-specific FCS could be used to examine subtle alternations in HIV-infected patients in the ANI stage and help to explain the possible neurophysiological mechanism of HAND.

Altered dynamic effective connectivity of the default mode network in type 2 diabetes

Introduction

Altered functional connectivity of resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) within default mode network (DMN) regions has been verified to be closely associated with cognitive decline in patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), but most studies neglected the fluctuations of brain activities-the dynamic effective connectivity (DEC) within DMN of T2DM is still unknown.

Methods

For the current investigation, 40 healthy controls (HC) and 36 T2DM patients have been recruited as participants. To examine the variation of DEC between T2DM and HC, we utilized the methodologies of independent components analysis (ICA) and multivariate granger causality analysis (mGCA).

Results

We found altered DEC within DMN only show decrease in state 1. In addition, the causal information flow of diabetic patients major affected areas which are closely associated with food craving and metabolic regulation, and T2DM patients stayed longer in low activity level and exhibited decreased transition rate between states. Moreover, these changes related negatively with the MoCA scores and positively with HbA1C level.

Conclusion

Our study may offer a fresh perspective on brain dynamic activities to understand the mechanisms underlying T2DM-related cognitive deficits.

rTMS concurrent with cognitive training rewires AD brain by enhancing GM-WM functional connectivity: a preliminary study

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and cognitive training for patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) can change functional connectivity (FC) within gray matter (GM). However, the role of white matter (WM) and changes of GM-WM FC under these therapies are still unclear. To clarify this problem, we applied 40 Hz rTMS over angular gyrus (AG) concurrent with cognitive training to 15 mild-moderate AD patients and analyzed the resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging before and after treatment. Through AG-based FC analysis, corona radiata and superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF) were identified as activated WM tracts. Compared with the GM results with AG as seed, more GM regions were found with activated WM tracts as seeds. The averaged FC, fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF), and regional homogeneity (ReHo) of the above GM regions had stronger clinical correlations (r/P = 0.363/0.048 vs 0.299/0.108, 0.351/0.057 vs 0.267/0.153, 0.420/0.021 vs 0.408/0.025, for FC/fALFF/ReHo, respectively) and better classification performance to distinguish pre-/post-treatment groups (AUC = 0.91 vs 0.88, 0.65 vs 0.63, 0.87 vs 0.82, for FC/fALFF/ReHo, respectively). Our results indicated that rTMS concurrent with cognitive training could rewire brain network by enhancing GM-WM FC in AD, and corona radiata and SLF played an important role in this process.

Parkinson's disease progression: Increasing expression of an invariant common core subnetwork

Notable success has been achieved in the study of neurodegenerative conditions using reduction techniques such as principal component analysis (PCA) and sparse inverse covariance estimation (SICE) in positron emission tomography (PET) data despite their widely differing approach. In a recent study of SICE applied to metabolic scans from Parkinson's disease (PD) patients, we showed that by using PCA to prespecify disease-related partition layers, we were able to optimize maps of functional metabolic connectivity within the relevant networks. Here, we show the potential of SICE, enhanced by disease-specific subnetwork partitions, to identify key regional hubs and their connections, and track their associations in PD patients with increasing disease duration. This approach enabled the identification of a core zone that included elements of the striatum, pons, cerebellar vermis, and parietal cortex and provided a deeper understanding of progressive changes in their connectivity. This subnetwork constituted a robust invariant disease feature that was unrelated to phenotype. Mean expression levels for this subnetwork increased steadily in a group of 70 PD patients spanning a range of symptom durations between 1 and 21 years. The findings were confirmed in a validation sample of 69 patients with up to 32 years of symptoms. The common core elements represent possible targets for disease modification, while their connections to external regions may be better suited for symptomatic treatment.

Disrupted Dynamic Functional Network Connectivity Among Cognitive Control Networks in the Progression of Alzheimer's Disease

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common age-related dementia that promotes a decline in memory, thinking, and social skills. The initial stages of dementia can be associated with mild symptoms, and symptom progression to a more severe state is heterogeneous across patients. Recent work has demonstrated the potential for functional network mapping to assist in the prediction of symptomatic progression. However, this work has primarily used static functional connectivity (sFC) from resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. Recently, dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) has been recognized as a powerful advance in functional connectivity methodology to differentiate brain network dynamics between healthy and diseased populations. Methods: Group independent component analysis was applied to extract 17 components within the cognitive control network (CCN) from 1385 individuals across varying stages of AD symptomology. We estimated dFC among 17 components within the CCN, followed by clustering the dFCs into 3 recurring brain states, and then estimated a hidden Markov model and the occupancy rate for each subject. Then, we investigated the link between CCN dFC features and AD progression. Also, we investigated the link between sFC and AD progression and compared its results with dFC results. Results: Progression of AD symptoms was associated with increases in connectivity within the middle frontal gyrus. Also, the very mild AD (vmAD) showed less connectivity within the inferior parietal lobule (in both sFC and dFC) and between this region and the rest of CCN (in dFC analysis). Also, we found that within-middle frontal gyrus connectivity increases with AD progression in both sFC and dFC results. Finally, comparing with vmAD, we found that the normal brain spends significantly more time in a state with lower within-middle frontal gyrus connectivity and higher connectivity between the hippocampus and the rest of CCN, highlighting the importance of assessing the dynamics of brain connectivity in this disease. Conclusion: Our results suggest that AD progress not only alters the CCN connectivity strength but also changes the temporal properties in this brain network. This suggests the temporal and spatial pattern of CCN as a biomarker that differentiates different stages of AD.

Altered spontaneous brain activity as a potential imaging biomarker for generalized and focal to bilateral tonic-clonic seizures: A resting-state fMRI study

OBJECTIVE

We aimed to determine whether alterations in spontaneous regional brain activity in those with generalized tonic-clonic seizures (GTCS) and focal to bilateral tonic-clonic seizures (FBTCS) and explore whether the alterations could be used as biomarkers to classify disease subtypes through support vector machine analysis (SVM).

METHODS

The fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFF) and regional homogeneity (ReHo) from resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) data were extracted from 57 patients with GTCS, 35 patients with FBTCS, and 50 age-matched and sex-matched normal controls (NCs) using the DPARSF 5.0 toolbox. Between-group comparisons were adjusted for covariates (age, sex, and equipment). Correlation analyses between imaging biomarkers and the frequency or duration of seizure activity were calculated using partial correlations. The differential imaging indicators, age, and sex were considered as the discriminative features in the SVM to evaluate classification performance.

RESULTS

The patients with GTCS showed lower fALFF values (voxel p < 0.001, cluster p < 0.05, Gaussian random field corrected, GRF corrected) in the right postcentral gyrus and precentral gyrus and lower ReHo values (GRF corrected) in the middle temporal gyrus than the NCs. The patients with FBTCS showed higher fALFF (GRF corrected) values in the right postcentral and precentral gyrus and higher ReHo (GRF corrected) values in the right postcentral gyrus. Both fALFF (GRF corrected) and ReHo (GRF corrected) values were lower in the right postcentral gyrus and precentral gyrus in the GTCS group than in the FBTCS group. In patients with FBTCS, fALFF values in the right postcentral and precentral gyrus were positively correlated with duration (r = 0.655, p = 0.008, Bonferroni corrected) in the low-duration group, and ReHo values in the right postcentral gyrus were positively correlated with frequency (r = 0.486, p = 0.022, uncorrected) in the low-frequency group. SVM results showed receiver operating characteristic curves of 0.89, 0.87, and 0.76 for the classification between GTCS and NC, between FBTCS and NC, and GTCS and FBTCS, respectively.

SIGNIFICANCE

This study detected alterations in fALFF and ReHo in the postcentral gyrus and precentral gyrus in patients with GTCS and FBTCS, which might contribute to understanding the pathogenesis, disease classification, and clinical targeted therapy.

Altered Neurovascular Coupling for Multidisciplinary Intensive Rehabilitation in Parkinson's Disease

Effective rehabilitation in Parkinson's disease (PD) is related to brain reorganization with restoration of cortico-subcortical networks and compensation of frontoparietal networks; however, further neural rehabilitation evidence from a multidimensional perspective is needed. To investigate how multidisciplinary intensive rehabilitation treatment affects neurovascular coupling, 31 PD patients (20 female) before and after treatment and 30 healthy controls (17 female) underwent blood oxygenation level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging and arterial spin labeling scans. Cerebral blood flow (CBF) was used to measure perfusion, and fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF) was used to measure neural activity. The global CBF-fALFF correlation and regional CBF/fALFF ratio were calculated as neurovascular coupling. Dynamic causal modeling (DCM) was used to evaluate treatment-related alterations in the strength and directionality of information flow. Treatment reduced CBF-fALFF correlations. The altered CBF/fALFF exhibited increases in the left angular gyrus and the right inferior parietal gyrus and decreases in the bilateral thalamus and the right superior frontal gyrus. The CBF/fALFF alteration in right superior frontal gyrus showed correlations with motor improvement. Further, DCM indicated increases in connectivity from the superior frontal gyrus and decreases from the thalamus to the inferior parietal gyrus. The benefits of rehabilitation were reflected in the dual mechanism, with restoration of executive control occurring in the initial phase of motor learning and compensation of information integration occurring in the latter phase. These findings may yield multimodal insights into the role of rehabilitation in disease modification and identify the dorsolateral superior frontal gyrus as a potential target for noninvasive neuromodulation in PD.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Although rehabilitation has been proposed as a promising supplemental treatment for PD as it results in brain reorganization, restoring cortico-subcortical networks and eliciting compensatory activation of frontoparietal networks, further multimodal evidence of the neural mechanisms underlying rehabilitation is needed. We measured the ratio of perfusion and neural activity derived from arterial spin labeling and blood oxygenation level-dependent fMRI data and found that benefits of rehabilitation seem to be related to the dual mechanism, restoring executive control in the initial phase of motor learning and compensating for information integration in the latter phase. We also identified the dorsolateral superior frontal gyrus as a potential target for noninvasive neuromodulation in PD patients.

The connectivity-based parcellation of the angular gyrus: fiber dissection and MR tractography study

The angular gyrus (AG) wraps the posterior end of the superior temporal sulcus (STS), so it is considered a continuation of the superior temporal gyrus (STG)/ middle temporal gyrus (MTG) and forms the inferior parietal lobule (IPL) with the supramarginal gyrus (SMG). The AG was functionally divided in the literature, but there is no fiber dissection study in this context. This study divided AG into superior (sAG) and inferior (iAG) parts by focusing on STS. Red, blue silicone-injected eight and four non-silicone-injected human cadaveric cerebrums were dissected via the Klingler method focusing on the AG. White matter (WM) tracts identified during dissection were then reconstructed on the Human Connectome Project 1065 individual template for validation. According to this study, superior longitudinal fasciculus (SLF) II and middle longitudinal fasciculus (MdLF) are associated with sAG; the anterior commissure (AC), optic radiation (OR) with iAG; the arcuate fasciculus (AF), inferior frontooccipital fasciculus (IFOF), and tapetum (Tp) with both parts. In cortical parcellation of AG based on STS, sAG and iAG were associated with different fiber tracts. Although it has been shown in previous studies that there are functionally different subunits with AG parcellation, here, for the first time, other functions of the subunits have been revealed with cadaveric dissection and tractography images.

Architecture and connectivity of the human angular gyrus and of its homolog region in the macaque brain

The angular gyrus roughly corresponds to Brodmann's area 39, which is a multimodal association brain region located in the posterior apex of the human inferior parietal lobe, at its interface with the temporal and occipital lobes. It encompasses two cyto- and receptor architectonically distinct areas: caudal PGp and rostral PGa. The macaque brain does not present an angular gyrus in the strict sense, and the establishment of homologies was further hindered by the fact that Brodmann defined a single cytoarchitectonic area covering the entire guenon inferior parietal lobule in the monkey brain, i.e. area 7. Latter architectonic studies revealed the existence of 6 architectonically distinct areas within macaque area 7, further connectivity and functional imaging studies supported the hypothesis that the most posterior of these macaque areas, namely Opt and PG, may constitute the homologs of human areas PGp and PGa, respectively. The present review provides an overview of the cyto-, myelo and receptor architecture of human areas PGp and PGa, as well as of their counterparts in the macaque brain, and summarizes current knowledge on the connectivity of these brain areas. Finally, the present study elaborates on the rationale behind the definition of these homologies and their importance in translational studies.

Altered static and dynamic functional connectivity of habenula in first-episode, drug-naïve schizophrenia patients, and their association with symptoms including hallucination and anxiety

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE

The pathogenesis of schizophrenia (SCH) is related to the dysfunction of monoamine neurotransmitters, and the habenula participates in regulating the synthesis and release of dopamine. We examined the static functional connectivity (sFC) and dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) of habenula in first-episode schizophrenia patients using resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) in this study.

METHODS

A total of 198 first-Episode, drug-Naïve schizophrenia patients and 199 healthy controls (HC) underwent rs-fMRI examinations. The sFC and dFC analysis with habenula as seed was performed to produce a whole-brain diagram initially, which subsequently were compared between SCH and HC groups. Finally, the correlation analysis of sFC and dFC values with the Positive and Negative Symptom Scale (PANSS) were performed.

RESULTS

Compared with the HC groups, the left habenula showed increased sFC with the bilateral middle temporal gyrus, bilateral superior temporal gyrus, and right temporal pole in the SCH group, and the right habenula exhibited increased sFC with the left middle temporal gyrus, left superior temporal gyrus, and left angular gyrus. Additionally, compared with the HC group, the left habenula showed decreased dFC with the bilateral cuneus gyrus and bilateral calcarine gyrus in the SCH group. The PANSS negative sub-scores were positively correlated with the sFC values of the bilateral habenula with the bilateral middle temporal gyrus, superior temporal gyrus and angular gyrus. The PANSS general sub-scores were positively correlated with the sFC values of the right habenula with the left middle temporal gyrus and left superior temporal gyrus. The hallucination scores of PANSS were negatively correlated with the sFC values of the left habenula with the bilateral cuneus gyrus and bilateral calcarine gyrus; The anxiety scores of PANSS were positively correlated with the dFC values of the left habenula with the right temporal pole.

CONCLUSION

This study provides evidence that the habenula of the first-episode schizophrenia patients presented abnormal static functional connectivity with temporal lobe and angular gyrus, and additionally showed weakened stability of functional connectivity in occipital lobe. This abnormality is closely related to the symptoms of hallucination and anxiety in schizophrenia, which may indicate that the habenula involved in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia by affecting the dopamine pathway.

Correspondence between cognitive and neural representations for phonology, orthography, and semantics in supramarginal compared to angular gyrus

The angular and supramarginal gyri (AG and SMG) together constitute the inferior parietal lobule (IPL) and have been associated with cognitive functions that support reading. How those functions are distributed across the AG and SMG is a matter of debate, the resolution of which is hampered by inconsistencies across stereotactic atlases provided by the major brain image analysis software packages. Schematic results from automated meta-analyses suggest primarily semantic (word meaning) processing in the left AG, with more spatial overlap among phonological (auditory word form), orthographic (visual word form), and semantic processing in the left SMG. To systematically test for correspondence between patterns of neural activation and phonological, orthographic, and semantic representations, we re-analyze a functional magnetic resonance imaging data set of participants reading aloud 465 words. Using representational similarity analysis, we test the hypothesis that within cytoarchitecture-defined subregions of the IPL, phonological representations are primarily associated with the SMG, while semantic representations are primarily associated with the AG. To the extent that orthographic representations can be de-correlated from phonological representations, they will be associated with cortex peripheral to the IPL, such as the intraparietal sulcus. Results largely confirmed these hypotheses, with some nuanced exceptions, which we discuss in terms of neurally inspired computational cognitive models of reading that learn mappings among distributed representations for orthography, phonology, and semantics. De-correlating constituent representations making up complex cognitive processes, such as reading, by careful selection of stimuli, representational formats, and analysis techniques, are promising approaches for bringing additional clarity to brain structure-function relationships.

Altered functional association and couplings: Effective diagnostic neuromarkers for Alzheimer’s disease

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a common neurodegenerative disorder causing dementia in the elderly population. Functional disconnection of brain is considered to be the main cause of AD. In this study, we applied a newly developed association (Asso) mapping approach to directly quantify the functional disconnections and to explore the diagnostic effects for AD with resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data from 36 AD patients and 42 age-, gender-, and education-matched healthy controls (HC). We found that AD patients showed decreased Asso in left dorsoanterior insula (INS) while increased functional connections of INS with right medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) and left posterior cingulate cortex (PCC). The changed Asso and functional connections were closely associated with cognitive performances. In addition, the reduced Asso and increased functional connections could serve as effective neuromarkers to distinguish AD patients from HC. Our research provided new evidence for functional disconnections in AD and demonstrated that functional disconnections between cognition-memory networks may be potential early biomarkers for AD.

Disrupted functional connectivity patterns of the left inferior frontal gyrus subregions in benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes

BACKGROUND

Benign epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes (BECTS) is one of the most common pediatric epileptic syndromes. Recent studies have shown that BECTS can lead to significant language dysfunction. Although research supports the role of the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) in BECTS, it is unclear whether the subregions of the LIFG show different change patterns in patients with this syndrome.

METHODS

Using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data in a group of 49 BECTS patients and 49 healthy controls, we investigated whether the BECTS patients show abnormal connectivity patterns of the LIFG subregions.

RESULTS

Compared with healthy controls, the BECTS patients exhibited higher connectivity between the following: the inferior frontal sulcus (IFS) and the right anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and the ventral area 44 (A44v) region and the left hippocampus/parahippocampus. Also, a decreased connectivity was found between the IFS and the left inferior temporal gyrus (ITG). No other significant differences in functional connectivity were found in the other 4 functional subregions of the LIFG in the BECTS.

CONCLUSIONS

These findings provide evidence for BECTS-related functional connectivity patterns of the LIFG subregions and suggest that different subregions may be involved in different neural circuits associated with language function in the BECTS.

Nodal degree changes induced by electroconvulsive therapy in major depressive disorder: Evidence in two independent cohorts

OBJECTIVE

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), a rapidly acting treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD), has been reported to regulate brain networks. Nodes and their connections are the main components of the brain network and are essential for establishing and maintaining effective information transmission. This study aimed to evaluate the role of nodes in mediating antidepressant effects of ECT.

METHODS

Voxel-based nodal degree analysis was performed in 42 patients with MDD receiving ECT and 42 matched healthy controls at two time points to identify the nodal changes induced by ECT. Verification analysis was evaluated in a second, independent cohort of 23 MDD patients.

RESULTS

MDD patients showed improved nodal degree of the bilateral angular cortex (AG), precuneus, inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and the right superior frontal gyrus (SFG) after ECT, and the increased nodal degree index (IND) rate of the AG and precuneus were negatively correlated to the depressive changes following ECT. Furthermore, validation analysis revealed a similar pattern of IND abnormalities in the first and second cohort of MDD patients.

CONCLUSION

ECT regulates the disrupted nodal degree of the AG and precuneus to achieve an antidepressant effect. This study may provide further insights into the pathogenesis of depression and provide potential targets for antidepressant pharmacotherapies.

Concurrent Structural and Functional Patterns in Patients With Amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment

Amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) is a clinical subtype of MCI, which is known to have a high risk of developing Alzheimer's disease (AD). Although neuroimaging studies have reported brain abnormalities in patients with aMCI, concurrent structural and functional patterns in patients with aMCI were still unclear. In this study, we combined voxel-based morphometry (VBM), amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFFs), regional homogeneity (Reho), and resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) approaches to explore concurrent structural and functional alterations in patients with aMCI. We found that, compared with healthy controls (HCs), both ALFF and Reho were decreased in the right superior frontal gyrus (SFG_R) and right middle frontal gyrus (MFG_R) of patients with aMCI, and both gray matter volume (GMV) and Reho were decreased in the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG_L) of patients with aMCI. Furthermore, we took these overlapping clusters from VBM, ALFF, and Reho analyses as seed regions to analyze RSFC. We found that, compared with HCs, patients with aMCI had decreased RSFC between SFG_R and the right temporal lobe (subgyral) (TL_R), the MFG_R seed and left superior temporal gyrus (STG_L), left inferior parietal lobule (IPL_L), and right anterior cingulate cortex (ACC_R), the IFG_L seed and left precentral gyrus (PRG_L), left cingulate gyrus (CG_L), and IPL_L. These findings highlighted shared imaging features in structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), suggesting that SFG_R, MFG_R, and IFG_L may play a major role in the pathophysiology of aMCI, which might be useful to better understand the underlying neural mechanisms of aMCI and AD.

Cognitive behavioral therapy may rehabilitate abnormally functional communication pattern among the triple-network in major depressive disorder: A follow-up study

BACKGROUND

Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) is an established treatment for Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). MDD is characterized by imbalanced communication patterns among three networks: the central executive network (CEN), the default mode network (DMN) and the salience network (SN). The effect of CBT in restoring communications among these networks in MDD is unknown.

METHODS

Thirty-three patients with MDD and 27 healthy controls (HC) participated in the study. Patients were treated with CBT. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) data were obtained in patients at three stages (T0: before treatment; T1: after 6 weeks CBT; T2: after 28 weeks CBT) and in HC (only T0). Both independent component analysis (ICA) and granger causality analysis (GCA) were used to explore dynamic causal communication patterns among the three networks (CEN, DMN, SN) over a course of CBT treatment.

RESULTS

In the HC group, the SN had an inhibitory causal effect on CEN; the CEN and DMN had an excitatory causal effect on the SN. The SN had an inhibitory causal effect on the CEN and the DMN; only the DMN had an excitatory causal effect on the SN in the MDD patients at the T0 stage. As the CBT treatment went on for MDD patients, the CEN restored excitatory causal effect on the SN, and the SN lost inhibitory effect on the DMN. This result mimicked the one found in the HC group. Four regions, left ventromedial prefrontal cortex (lvmPFC), posterior cingulate gyrus (PCC), right inferior parietal lobule (rIPL) and right insula, were implicated in mediating network communications.

LIMITATIONS

The findings should be considered preliminary given the small sample sizes, and assessed only one stage in HC subjects.

CONCLUSION

CBT may enhance the regulatory function of the SN, and rehabilitate the imbalanced brain network communication mode in the MDD. PCC, lvmPFC and rIPL may all be potential targets of CBT.

Improving Depressive Symptoms of Post-stroke Depression Using the Shugan Jieyu Capsule: A Resting-State Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

Regional homogeneity (ReHo) and fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF) were used to detect the neuroimaging mechanism of Shugan Jieyu Capsule (SG) in ameliorating depression of post-stroke depression (PSD) patients. Fifteen PSD patients took SG for 8 weeks, completed the 24-item Hamilton Depression Scale (HAMD) assessment at the baseline and 8 weeks later, and underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning. Twenty-one healthy controls (HCs) underwent these assessments at the baseline. We found that SG improved depression of PSD patients, in which ReHo values decreased in the left calcarine sulcus (CAL.L) and increased in the left superior frontal gyrus (SFG.L) of PSD patients at the baseline. The fALFF values of the left inferior parietal cortex (IPL.L) decreased in PSD patients at the baseline. Abnormal functional activities in the brain regions were reversed to normal levels after the administration of SG for 8 weeks. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis found that the changes in three altered brain regions could be used to differentiate PSD patients at the baseline and HCs. Average signal values of altered regions were related to depression in all subjects at the baseline. Our results suggest that SG may ameliorate depression of PSD patients by affecting brain region activity and local synchronization.

Anterior precuneus related to the recovery of consciousness

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Degree centrality of anterior precuneus correlated with Glasgow Outcome Scale scores.

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Anterior precuneus was shown as a hub in multiple recoverable unconscious states.

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Anterior precuneus had similar connectivity pattern in recoverable unconscious states.

The neural mechanism that enables the recovery of consciousness in patients with unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (UWS) remains unclear. The aim of the current study is to characterize the cortical hub regions related to the recovery of consciousness. In the current fMRI study, voxel-wise degree centrality analysis was adopted to identify the cortical hubs related to the recovery of consciousness, for which a total of 27 UWS patients were recruited, including 13 patients who emerged from UWS (UWS-E), and 14 patients who remained in UWS (UWS-R) at least three months after the experiment performance. Furthermore, other recoverable unconscious states were adopted as validation groups, including three independent N3 sleep datasets (n = 12, 9, 9 respectively) and three independent anesthesia datasets (n = 27, 14, 6 respectively). Spatial similarity of the hub characteristic with the validation groups between the UWS-E and UWS-R was compared using the dice coefficient. Finally, with the cortical regions persistently shown as hubs across UWS-E and validation states, functional connectivity analysis was further performed to explore the connectivity patterns underlying the recovery of consciousness. The results identified four cortical hubs in the UWS-E, which showed significantly higher degree centrality for UWS-E than UWS-R, including the anterior precuneus, left inferior parietal lobule, left inferior frontal gyrus, and left middle frontal gyrus, of which the degree centrality value also positively correlated with the patients’ Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) score that assessed global brain functioning outcome after a brain injury. Furthermore, the anterior precuneus was found with significantly higher similarity of hub characteristics as well as functional connectivity patterns between UWS-E and the validation groups. The results suggest that the recovery of consciousness may be relevant to the integrity of cortical hubs in the recoverable unconscious states, especially the anterior precuneus. The identified cortical hub regions could serve as potential treatment targets for patients with UWS.

Enduring effect of abuse: Childhood maltreatment links to altered theory of mind network among adults

Childhood maltreatment (CM) confers a great risk of maladaptive development outcomes later in life, however, the neurobiological mechanism underlying this vulnerability is still unclear. The present study aimed to investigate the long-term consequences of CM on neural connectivity while controlling for psychiatric conditions, medication, and, substance abuse. A sample including adults with (n = 40) and without CM (n = 50) completed Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), personality questionnaires, and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scan were recruited for the current study. The whole-brain functional connectivity (FC) was evaluated using an unbiased, data-driven, multivariate pattern analysis method. Relative to controls, adults with CM suffered a higher level of temperament and impulsivity and showed decreased FC between the insula and superior temporal gyrus (STG) and between inferior parietal lobule (IPL) and middle frontal gyrus, STG, and dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC), while increased FC between IPL and cuneus and superior frontal gyrus (SFG) regions. The FCs of IPL with dACC and SFG were correlated with the anxious and cyclothymic temperament and attentional impulsivity. Moreover, these FCs partially mediated the relationship between CM and attentional impulsivity. Our results suggest that CM has a significant effect on the modulation of FC within theory of mind (ToM) network even decades later in adulthood, and inform a new framework to account for how CM results in the development of impulsivity. The novel findings reveal the neurobiological consequences of CM and provide new clues to the prevention and intervention strategy to reduce the risk of the development of psychopathology.

Abnormal resting-state functional connectivity of hippocampal subregions in children with primary nocturnal enuresis

OBJECTIVE

Previous neuroimaging studies have shown abnormal brain-bladder control network in children with primary nocturnal enuresis (PNE). The hippocampus, which has long been considered to be an important nerve center for memory and emotion, has also been confirmed to be activating during micturition in several human imaging studies. However, few studies have explored hippocampus-related functional networks of PNE in children. In this study, the whole resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) of hippocampus was investigated in children with PNE.

METHODS

Functional magnetic resonance imaging data of 30 children with PNE and 29 matched healthy controls (HCs) were analyzed in our study. We used the seed-based RSFC method to evaluate the functional connectivity of hippocampal subregions defined according to the Human Brainnetome Atlas. Correlation analyses were also processed to investigate their relationship with disease duration time, bed-wetting frequency, and bladder volume.

RESULTS

Compared with HCs, children with PNE showed abnormal RSFC of the left rostral hippocampus (rHipp) with right fusiform gyrus, right Rolandic operculum, left inferior parietal lobule, and right precentral gyrus, respectively. Moreover, decreased RSFC of the left caudal hippocampus (cHipp) with right fusiform gyrus and right supplementary motor area was discovered in the PNE group. There were no significant results in the right rHipp and cHipp seeds after multiple comparison corrections. In addition, disease duration time was negatively correlated with RSFC of the left rHipp with right Rolandic operculum (r = -0.386, p = 0.035, uncorrected) and the left cHipp with right fusiform gyrus (r = -0.483, p = 0.007, uncorrected) in the PNE group, respectively. In the Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis, all the above results of RSFC achieved significant performance.

CONCLUSIONS

To our knowledge, this is the first attempt to examine the RSFC patterns of hippocampal subregions in children with PNE. These findings indicated that children with PNE have potential dysfunctions in the limbic network, sensorimotor network, default mode network, and frontoparietal network. These networks may become less efficient with disease duration time, inducing impairments in brain-bladder control, cognition, memory, and emotion. Further prospective research with dynamic observation of brain imaging, bladder function, cognition, memory, and emotion is warranted.

Modulating Gamma Oscillations Promotes Brain Connectivity to Improve Cognitive Impairment

Dementia causes a substantial global economic burden, but effective treatment is lacking. Recently, studies have revealed that gamma-band waves of electrical brain activity, particularly 40 Hz oscillations, are closely associated with high-order cognitive functions and can activate microglia to clear amyloid-β deposition. Here, we found that compared with sham stimulation, applying 40-Hz high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) over the bilateral angular gyrus in patients with probable Alzheimer's disease (AD; n = 37) resulted in up to 8 weeks of significantly improved cognitive function. Power spectral density analysis of the resting-state electroencephalography (EEG) demonstrated that 40-Hz rTMS modulated gamma-band oscillations in the left posterior temporoparietal region. Further testing with magnetic resonance imaging and TMS-EEG revealed the following: 40-Hz rTMS 1) prevented gray matter volume loss, 2) enhanced local functional integration within bilateral angular gyrus, as well as global functional integration in bilateral angular gyrus and the left middle frontal gyrus, 3) strengthened information flow from the left posterior temporoparietal region to the frontal areas and strengthened the dynamic connectivity between anterior and posterior brain regions. These findings demonstrate that modulating gamma-band oscillations effectively improves cognitive function in patients with probable AD by promoting local, long-range, and dynamic connectivity within the brain.

Voxel-Wise Quantitative Mapping of the Brain Association Ability

The association cortices of the brain are essential for integrating multimodal information that subserves complex and high-order cognitive functions. To delineate the changing pattern of associative cortices can provide critical insight into brain development, aging, plasticity, and disease-triggered functional abnormalities. However, how to quantitatively characterize the association capability of the brain is elusive. Here, we developed a new method of association index (Asso) at the voxel level to quantitatively characterize the brain association ability. Using the Asso method, we found high Asso values in association cortical networks, and low values in visual and limbic networks, suggesting a pattern of significant gradient distribution in neural functions. The spatial distribution patterns of Asso show high similarities across different thresholds suggesting that Asso mapping is a threshold-free method. In addition, compared with functional connectivity strength, i.e., degree centrality method, Asso mapping showed different patterns for association cortices and primary cortices. Finally, the Asso method was applied to investigate aging effects and identified similar findings with previous studies. All these results indicated that Asso can characterize the brain association patterns effectively and open a new avenue to reveal a neural basis for development, aging, and brain disorders.

Establishment of Effective Biomarkers for Depression Diagnosis With Fusion of Multiple Resting-State Connectivity Measures

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a severe mental disorder and is lacking in biomarkers for clinical diagnosis. Previous studies have demonstrated that functional abnormalities of the unifying triple networks are the underlying basis of the neuropathology of depression. However, whether the functional properties of the triple network are effective biomarkers for the diagnosis of depression remains unclear. In our study, we used independent component analysis to define the triple networks, and resting-state functional connectivities (RSFCs), effective connectivities (EC) measured with dynamic causal modeling (DCM), and dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) measured with the sliding window method were applied to map the functional interactions between subcomponents of triple networks. Two-sample t-tests with p < 0.05 with Bonferroni correction were used to identify the significant differences between healthy controls (HCs) and MDD. Compared with HCs, the MDD showed significantly increased intrinsic FC between the left central executive network (CEN) and salience network (SAL), increased EC from the right CEN to left CEN, decreased EC from the right CEN to the default mode network (DMN), and decreased dFC between the right CEN and SAL, DMN. Moreover, by fusion of the changed RSFC, EC, and dFC as features, support vector classification could effectively distinguish the MDD from HCs. Our results demonstrated that fusion of the multiple functional connectivities measures of the triple networks is an effective way to reveal functional disruptions for MDD, which may facilitate establishing the clinical diagnosis biomarkers for depression.

Altered Functional Connectivity Patterns of Parietal Subregions Contribute to Cognitive Dysfunction in Patients with White Matter Hyperintensities

BACKGROUND

The white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) are considered as one of the core neuroimaging findings of cerebral small vessel disease and independently associated with cognitive deficit. The parietal lobe is a heterogeneous area containing many subregions and play an important role in the processes of neurocognition.

OBJECTIVE

To explore the relationship between parietal subregions alterations and cognitive impairments in WHMs.

METHODS

Resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) analyses of parietal subregions were performed in 104 right-handed WMHs patients divided into mild (n = 39), moderate (n = 37), and severe WMHs (n = 28) groups according to the Fazekas scale and 36 healthy controls. Parietal subregions were defined using tractographic Human Brainnetome Atlas and included five subregions for superior parietal lobe, six subregions for inferior parietal lobe (IPL), and three subregions for precuneus. All participants underwent a neuropsychological test battery to evaluate emotional and general cognitive functions.

RESULTS

Differences existed between the rs-FC strength of IPL_R_6_2 with the left anterior cingulate gyrus, IPL_R_6_3 with the right dorsolateral superior frontal gyrus, and the IPL_R_6_5 with the left anterior cingulate gyrus. The connectivity strength between IPL_R_6_3 and the left anterior cingulate gyrus were correlated with AVLT-immediate and AVLT-recognition test in WMHs.

CONCLUSION

We explored the roles of parietal subregions in WMHs using rs-FC. The functional connectivity of parietal subregions with the cortex regions showed significant differences between the patients with WMHs and healthy controls which may be associated with cognitive deficits in WMHs.

Group-guided individual functional parcellation of the hippocampus and application to normal aging

Aging is closely associated with cognitive decline affecting attention, memory and executive functions. The hippocampus is the core brain area for human memory, learning, and cognition processing. To delineate the individual functional patterns of hippocampus is pivotal to reveal the neural basis of aging. In this study, we developed a group‐guided individual parcellation approach based on semisupervised affinity propagation clustering using the resting‐state functional magnetic resonance imaging to identify individual functional subregions of hippocampus and to identify the functional patterns of each subregion during aging. A three‐way group parcellation was yielded and was taken as prior information to guide individual parcellation of hippocampus into head, body, and tail in each subject. The superiority of individual parcellation of hippocampus is validated by higher intraregional functional similarities by compared to group‐level parcellation results. The individual variations of hippocampus were associated with coactivation patterns of three typical functions of hippocampus. Moreover, the individual functional connectivities of hippocampus subregions with predefined target regions could better predict age than group‐level functional connectivities. Our study provides a novel framework for individual brain functional parcellations, which may facilitate the future individual researches for brain cognitions and brain disorders and directing accurate neuromodulation.

Differences Changes in Cerebellar Functional Connectivity Between Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer's Disease: A Seed-Based Approach

Background: Recent studies have discovered that functional connections are impaired among patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), even at the preclinical stage. The cerebellum has been implicated as playing a role in cognitive processes. However, functional connectivity (FC) among cognitive sub-regions of the cerebellum in patients with AD and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) remains to be further elucidated. Objective: Our study aims to investigate the FC changes of the cerebellum among patients with AD and MCI, compared to healthy controls (HC). Additionally, we explored the role of cerebellum FC changes in the cognitive performance of all subjects. Materials: Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) data from three different groups (28 AD patients, 26 MCI patients, and 30 HC) was collected. We defined cerebellar crus II and lobule IX as seed regions to assess the intragroup differences of cortico-cerebellar connectivity. Bias correlational analysis was performed to investigate the relationship between changes in FC and neuropsychological performance. Results: Compared to HC, AD patients had decreased FC within the caudate, limbic lobe, medial frontal gyrus (MFG), middle temporal gyrus, superior frontal gyrus, parietal lobe/precuneus, inferior temporal gyrus, and posterior cingulate gyrus. Interestingly, MCI patients demonstrated increased FC within inferior parietal lobe, and MFG, while they had decreased FC in the thalamus, inferior frontal gyrus, and superior frontal gyrus. Further analysis indicated that FC changes between the left crus II and the right thalamus, as well as between left lobule IX and the right parietal lobe, were both associated with cognitive decline in AD. Disrupted FC between left crus II and right thalamus, as well as between left lobule IX and right parietal lobe, was associated with attention deficit among subjects with MCI. Conclusion: These findings indicate that cortico-cerebellar FC in MCI and AD patients was significantly disrupted with different distributions, particularly in the default mode networks (DMN) and fronto-parietal networks (FPN) region. Increased activity within the fronto-parietal areas of MCI patients indicated a possible compensatory role for the cerebellum in cognitive impairment. Therefore, alterations in the cortico-cerebellar FC represent a novel approach for early diagnosis and a potential therapeutic target for early intervention.

Within- and across-network alterations of the sensorimotor network in Parkinson's disease

Purpose

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is primarily defined by motor symptoms and is associated with alterations of sensorimotor areas. Evidence for network changes of the sensorimotor network (SMN) in PD is inconsistent and a systematic evaluation of SMN in PD yet missing. We investigate functional connectivity changes of the SMN in PD, both, within the network, and to other large-scale connectivity networks.

Methods

Resting-state fMRI was assessed in 38 PD patients under long-term dopaminergic treatment and 43 matched healthy controls (HC). Independent component analysis (ICA) into 20 components was conducted and the SMN was identified within the resulting networks. Functional connectivity within the SMN was analyzed using a dual regression approach. Connectivity between the SMN and the other networks from group ICA was investigated with FSLNets. We investigated for functional connectivity changes between patients and controls as well as between medication states (OFF vs. ON) in PD and for correlations with clinical parameters.

Results

There was decreased functional connectivity within the SMN in left inferior parietal and primary somatosensory cortex in PD OFF. Across networks, connectivity between SMN and two motor networks as well as two visual networks was diminished in PD OFF. All connectivity decreases partially normalized in PD ON.

Conclusion

PD is accompanied by functional connectivity losses of the SMN, both, within the network and in interaction to other networks. The connectivity changes in short- and long-range connections are probably related to impaired sensory integration for motor function in PD. SMN decoupling can be partially compensated by dopaminergic therapy.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00234-021-02731-w.

Abnormal Intrinsic Functional Interactions Within Pain Network in Cervical Discogenic Pain

Cervical discogenic pain (CDP) is mainly induced by cervical disc degeneration. However, how CDP modulates the functional interactions within the pain network remains unclear. In the current study, we studied the changed resting-state functional connectivities of pain network with 40 CDP patients and 40 age-, gender-matched healthy controls. We first defined the pain network with the seeds of the posterior insula (PI). Then, whole brain and seed-to-target functional connectivity analyses were performed to identify the differences in functional connectivity between CDP and healthy controls. Finally, correlation analyses were applied to reveal the associations between functional connectivities and clinical measures. Whole-brain functional connectivity analyses of PI identified increased functional connectivity between PI and thalamus (THA) and decreased functional connectivity between PI and middle cingulate cortex (MCC) in CDP patients. Functional connectivity analyses within the pain network further revealed increased functional connectivities between bilateral PI and bilateral THA, and decreased functional connectivities between left PI and MCC, between left postcentral gyrus (PoCG) and MCC in CDP patients. Moreover, we found that the functional connectivities between right PI and left THA, between left PoCG and MCC were negatively and positively correlated with the visual analog scale, respectively. Our findings provide direct evidence of how CDP modulates the pain network, which may facilitate understanding of the neural basis of CDP.

Cortical Regions Activated by Spectrally Degraded Speech in Adults With Single Sided Deafness or Bilateral Normal Hearing

Those with profound sensorineural hearing loss from single sided deafness (SSD) generally experience greater cognitive effort and fatigue in adverse sound environments. We studied cases with right ear, SSD compared to normal hearing (NH) individuals. SSD cases were significantly less correct in naming last words in spectrally degraded 8- and 16-band vocoded sentences, despite high semantic predictability. Group differences were not significant for less intelligible 4-band sentences, irrespective of predictability. SSD also had diminished BOLD percent signal changes to these same sentences in left hemisphere (LH) cortical regions of early auditory, association auditory, inferior frontal, premotor, inferior parietal, dorsolateral prefrontal, posterior cingulate, temporal-parietal-occipital junction, and posterior opercular. Cortical regions with lower amplitude responses in SSD than NH were mostly components of a LH language network, previously noted as concerned with speech recognition. Recorded BOLD signal magnitudes were averages from all vertices within predefined parcels from these cortex regions. Parcels from different regions in SSD showed significantly larger signal magnitudes to sentences of greater intelligibility (e.g., 8- or 16- vs. 4-band) in all except early auditory and posterior cingulate cortex. Significantly lower response magnitudes occurred in SSD than NH in regions prior studies found responsible for phonetics and phonology of speech, cognitive extraction of meaning, controlled retrieval of word meaning, and semantics. The findings suggested reduced activation of a LH fronto-temporo-parietal network in SSD contributed to difficulty processing speech for word meaning and sentence semantics. Effortful listening experienced by SSD might reflect diminished activation to degraded speech in the affected LH language network parcels. SSD showed no compensatory activity in matched right hemisphere parcels.

Altered Dynamic Amplitude of Low-Frequency Fluctuations in Patients With Migraine Without Aura

Migraine is a chronic and idiopathic disorder leading to cognitive and affective problems. However, the neural basis of migraine without aura is still unclear. In this study, dynamic amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (dALFF) analyses were performed in 21 patients with migraine without aura and 21 gender- and age-matched healthy controls to identify the voxel-level abnormal functional dynamics. Significantly decreased dALFF in the bilateral anterior insula, bilateral lateral orbitofrontal cortex, bilateral medial prefrontal cortex, bilateral anterior cingulate cortex, and left middle frontal cortex were found in patients with migraine without aura. The dALFF values in the anterior cingulate cortex were negatively correlated with pain intensity, i.e., visual analog scale. Finally, support vector machine was used to classify patients with migraine without aura from healthy controls and achieved an accuracy of 83.33%, sensitivity of 90.48%, and specificity of 76.19%. Our findings provide the evidence that migraine influences the brain functional activity dynamics and reveal the neural basis for migraine, which could facilitate understanding the neuropathology of migraine and future treatment.

The Deficits of Individual Morphological Covariance Network Architecture in Schizophrenia Patients With and Without Violence

Background: Schizophrenia is associated with a significant increase in the risk of violence, which constitutes a public health concern and contributes to stigma associated with mental illness. Although previous studies revealed structural and functional abnormalities in individuals with violent schizophrenia (VSZ), the neural basis of psychotic violence remains controversial. Methods: In this study, high-resolution structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data were acquired from 18 individuals with VSZ, 23 individuals with non-VSZ (NSZ), and 22 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HCs). Whole-brain voxel-based morphology and individual morphological covariance networks were analysed to reveal differences in gray matter volume (GMV) and individual morphological covariance network topology. Relationships among abnormal GMV, network topology, and clinical assessments were examined using correlation analyses. Results: GMV in the hypothalamus gradually decreased from HCs and NSZ to VSZ and showed significant differences between all pairs of groups. Graph theory analyses revealed that morphological covariance networks of HCs, NSZ, and VSZ exhibited small worldness. Significant differences in network topology measures, including global efficiency, shortest path length, and nodal degree, were found. Furthermore, changes in GMV and network topology were closely related to clinical performance in the NSZ and VSZ groups. Conclusions: These findings revealed the important role of local structural abnormalities of the hypothalamus and global network topological impairments in the neuropathology of NSZ and VSZ, providing new insight into the neural basis of and markers for VSZ and NSZ to facilitate future accurate clinical diagnosis and targeted treatment.

Altered Intrinsic and Casual Functional Connectivities of the Middle Temporal Visual Motion Area Subregions in Chess Experts

An outstanding chess player needs to accumulate massive visual and spatial information for chess configurations. Visual motion area (MT) is considered as a brain region specialized for visual motion perception and visuospatial attention processing. However, how long-term chess training shapes the functional connectivity patterns of MT, especially its functional subregions, has rarely been investigated. In our study, using resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) and Granger causality analysis (GCA), we studied the changed functional couplings of MT subregions between 28 chess master players and 27 gender- and age-matched healthy novices to reveal the neural basis of long-term professional chess training. RSFC analysis identified decreased functional connections between right dorsal-anterior subregion (CI1.R) and left angular gyrus, and increased functional connections between right ventral-anterior MT subregion (CI2.R) and right superior temporal gyrus in chess experts. Moreover, GCA analyses further found increased mutual interactions of left angular gyrus and CI1.R in chess experts compared to novice players. These findings demonstrate that long-term professional chess training could enhance spatial perception and reconfiguration and semantic processing efficiency for superior performance.

Abnormal Whole Brain Functional Connectivity Pattern Homogeneity and Couplings in Migraine Without Aura

Previous studies have reported abnormal amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation and regional homogeneity in patients with migraine without aura using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. However, how whole brain functional connectivity pattern homogeneity and its corresponding functional connectivity changes in patients with migraine without aura is unknown. In the current study, we employed a recently developed whole brain functional connectivity homogeneity (FcHo) method to identify the voxel-wise changes of functional connectivity patterns in 21 patients with migraine without aura and 21 gender and age matched healthy controls. Moreover, resting-state functional connectivity analysis was used to reveal the changes of corresponding functional connectivities. FcHo analyses identified significantly decreased FcHo values in the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), thalamus (THA), and left anterior insula (AI) in patients with migraine without aura compared to healthy controls. Functional connectivity analyses further found decreased functional connectivities between PCC and medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), between AI and anterior cingulate cortex, and between THA and left precentral gyrus (PCG). The functional connectivities between THA and PCG were negatively correlated with pain intensity. Our findings indicated that whole brain FcHo and connectivity abnormalities of these regions may be associated with functional impairments in pain processing in patients with migraine without aura.

Habenula and left angular gyrus circuit contributes to response of electroconvulsive therapy in major depressive disorder

The habenula (Hb), one of the hottest structures in depression, has been widely demonstrated to be involved in the neurobiology of depression. Although the structural and functional abnormalities of Hb have been reported in major depressive disorders (MDD) patients, the role of Hb in treatment response in MDD remains unclear. In this study, resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) and Granger causality analysis (GCA) were performed to investigate the intrinsic and causal changes of Hb in MDD after ECT. Moreover, support vector classification was applied to find out whether the changed functional and causal connections of Hb can effectively distinguish the MDD patients from healthy controls. The RSFC and GCA identified increased RSFC strength between bilateral Hb and left angular gyrus (AG), decreased causal connectivity strength from left AG to left Hb, from right Hb to left AG, and bidirectional interactions between left and right Hb in MDD patients after ECT. The changed causal connectivities from left AG to left Hb, and from right Hb to left AG were correlated with the changed depression symptoms and impaired delay memory recall performances. Furthermore, the functional and causal connectivities between left AG and bilateral Hb could serve as a biomarker to differentiate MDD from HCs. These results provided new evidence for the importance of Hb in depression and revealed that the interactions between Hb and left AG contribute to ECT response in MDD. Our findings will facilitate the future treatment of depression with the target of Hb in MDD and other brain disorders.

Organized Resting-state Functional Dysconnectivity of the Prefrontal Cortex in Patients with Schizophrenia

Schizophrenia has prominent functional dysconnectivity, especially in the prefrontal cortex (PFC). However, it is unclear whether in the same group of patients with schizophrenia, PFC functional dysconnectivity appears in an organized manner or is stochastically located in different subregions. By investigating the resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) of each PFC subregion from the Brainnetome atlas in 40 schizophrenia patients and 40 healthy subjects, we found 24 altered connections in schizophrenia, and the connections were divided into four categories by a clustering analysis: increased connections within the PFC, increased connections between the inferior PFC and the thalamus/striatum, reduced connections between the PFC and the motor control areas, and reduced connections between the orbital PFC and the emotional perception regions. In addition, the four categories of rsFC showed distinct cognitive engagement patterns. Our findings suggest that PFC subregions have specific functional dysconnectivity patterns in schizophrenia and may reflect heterogeneous symptoms and cognitive deficits in schizophrenia.

Alterations of Functional Connectivity in Stroke Patients With Basal Ganglia Damage and Cognitive Impairment

Background: Stroke with basal ganglia damage (SBG) is a neurological disorder characterized by cognitive impairment. The neurobiological mechanism of cognitive impairment in stroke patients with basal ganglia damage (SBG patients) remains unclear. This study aimed to explore the underlying neurobiological mechanism of cognitive impairment in SBG patients using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI).

Methods: The differences in functional connectivity (FC) between 14 SBG patients (average age: 61.00 ± 7.45 years) and 21 healthy controls (HC) (average age: 60.67 ± 6.95 years) were examined using voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC) and degree centrality (DC). Moreover, we compared the cognitive functions of SBG patients with HC using the Chinese Revised Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS-RC) and Wechsler Memory Scale (WMS).

Results: Full-scale intelligence quotient (FIQ) (t = 2.810, p < 0.010) and memory quotient (MQ) (t = 2.920, p < 0.010) scores of SBG patients were significantly lower than those of HC. Compared with HC, significantly decreased VMHC values in the bilateral angular gyrus, supramarginal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, hippocampus, precuneus, precentral gyrus, and middle occipital gyrus and decreased DC values in the right supramarginal gyrus, bilateral angular gyrus, and right postcentral gyrus were observed in SBG patients. Moreover, the VMHC values in the angular gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, supramarginal gyrus, and middle temporal gyrus and the DC values in the right supramarginal gyrus were significantly correlated with cognitive functions in all participants.

Conclusion: Our findings may provide a neural basis for cognitive impairments in SBG patients. Furthermore, local abnormalities of functional networks and interhemispheric interaction deficits may provide new ideas and insights for understanding and treating SBG patients' cognitive impairments.

Direct brain recordings identify hippocampal and cortical networks that distinguish successful versus failed episodic memory retrieval

Human data collected using noninvasive imaging techniques have established the importance of parietal regions towards episodic memory retrieval, including the angular gyrus and posterior cingulate cortex. Such regions comprise part of a putative core episodic retrieval network. In free recall, comparisons between contextually appropriate and inappropriate recall events (i.e. prior list intrusions) provide the opportunity to study memory retrieval networks supporting veridical recall, and existing findings predict that differences in electrical activity in these brain regions should be identified according to the accuracy of recall. However, prior iEEG studies, utilizing principally subdural grid electrodes, have not fully characterized brain activity in parietal regions during memory retrieval and have not examined connectivity between core recollection areas and the hippocampus or prefrontal cortex. Here, we employed a data set obtained from 100 human patients implanted with stereo EEG electrodes for seizure mapping purposes as they performed a free recall task. This data set allowed us to separately analyze activity in midline versus lateral parietal brain regions, and in anterior versus posterior hippocampus, to identify areas in which retrieval-related activity predicted the recollection of a correct versus an incorrect memory. With the wide coverage afforded by the stereo EEG approach, we were also able to examine interregional connectivity. Our key findings were that differences in gamma band activity in the angular gyrus, precuneus, posterior temporal cortex, and posterior (more than anterior) hippocampus discriminated accurate versus inaccurate recall as well as active retrieval versus memory search. The left angular gyrus exhibited a significant power decrease preceding list intrusions as well as unique phase-amplitude coupling properties, whereas the prefrontal cortex was unique in exhibiting a power increase during list intrusions. Analysis of connectivity revealed significant hemispheric asymmetry, with relatively sparse left-sided functional connections compared to the right hemisphere. One exception to this finding was elevated connectivity between the prefrontal cortex and left angular gyrus. This finding is interpreted as evidence for the engagement of prefrontal cortex in memory monitoring and mnemonic decision-making.

Transcutaneous Spinal Cord Direct-Current Stimulation Modulates Functional Activity and Integration in Idiopathic Restless Legs Syndrome

Idiopathic restless legs syndrome (RLS) is a sensorimotor disorder and is suggested to be caused by central nervous system abnormalities. Non-invasive transcutaneous spinal direct-current stimulation (tsDCS) was recently used for RLS therapy. However, the neurophysiological basis of tsDCS treatment is still unknown. In this study, we explored the neural basis of tsDCS in 15 RLS patients and 20 gender- and age-matched healthy controls using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. We calculated the whole-brain voxel-wise fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFF), regional homogeneity (ReHo), and weighted degree centrality (DC) to characterize the intrinsic functional activities and the local and global functional integration. We found that tsDCS can effectively improve the sleep and RLS symptoms in RLS patients. Moreover, after tsDCS therapy, the RLS patients showed decreased fALFF in the right anterior insula/temporal pole, decreased ReHo in the supplementary motor area, increased weighted DC in the left primary visual cortex, and decreased weighted DC in the right posterior cerebellum. The changed patterns were consistent with that found between RLS patients and healthy controls. The weighted DC in the left primary visual cortex after treatment and the fALFF in the right anterior insula/temporal pole before treatment were significantly and marginally correlated with sleep and RLS symptom scores, respectively. These results revealed that tsDCS can normalize the functional patterns of RLS patients and is an effective way for RLS therapy. Our findings provide the neurophysiological basis for tsDCS treatment and may facilitate understanding the neuropathology of RLS and directing other neuromodulation treatments.

Evolutional and developmental anatomical architecture of the left inferior frontal gyrus

The left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) including Broca's area is involved in the processing of many language subdomains, and thus, research on the evolutional and human developmental characteristics of the left IFG will shed light on how language emerges and maturates. In this study, we used diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) and resting-state functional MRI (fMRI) to investigate the evolutional and developmental patterns of the left IFG in humans (age 6-8, age 11-13, and age 16-18 years) and macaques. Tractography-based parcellation was used to define the subcomponents of left IFG and consistently identified four subregions in both humans and macaques. This parcellation scheme for left IFG in human was supported by specific coactivation patterns and functional characterization for each subregion. During evolution and development, we found increased functional balance, amplitude of low frequency fluctuations, functional integration, and functional couplings. We also observed higher fractional anisotropy values, i.e. better myelination of dorsal and ventral white matter language pathways during evolution and development. We assume that the resting-state functional connectivity and task-related coactivation mapping are associated with hierarchical language processing. Our findings have shown the evolutional and human developmental patterns of left IFG, and will contribute to the understanding of how the human language evolves and how atypical language developmental disorders may occur.

Joint Multi-modal Parcellation of the Human Striatum: Functions and Clinical Relevance

The human striatum is essential for both low- and high-level functions and has been implicated in the pathophysiology of various prevalent disorders, including Parkinson's disease (PD) and schizophrenia (SCZ). It is known to consist of structurally and functionally divergent subdivisions. However, previous parcellations are based on a single neuroimaging modality, leaving the extent of the multi-modal organization of the striatum unknown. Here, we investigated the organization of the striatum across three modalities-resting-state functional connectivity, probabilistic diffusion tractography, and structural covariance-to provide a holistic convergent view of its structure and function. We found convergent clusters in the dorsal, dorsolateral, rostral, ventral, and caudal striatum. Functional characterization revealed the anterior striatum to be mainly associated with cognitive and emotional functions, while the caudal striatum was related to action execution. Interestingly, significant structural atrophy in the rostral and ventral striatum was common to both PD and SCZ, but atrophy in the dorsolateral striatum was specifically attributable to PD. Our study revealed a cross-modal convergent organization of the striatum, representing a fundamental topographical model that can be useful for investigating structural and functional variability in aging and in clinical conditions.

Static and Dynamic Changes of Amplitude of Low-Frequency Fluctuations in Cervical Discogenic Pain

Cervical discogenic pain (CDP) is a clinically common pain syndrome caused by cervical disk degeneration. A large number of studies have reported that CDP results in brain functional impairments. However, the detailed dynamic brain functional abnormalities in CDP are still unclear. In this study, using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging, we explored the neural basis of CDP with 40 CDP patients and 40 age-, gender-matched healthy controls to delineate the changes of the voxel-level static and dynamic amplitude of low frequency fluctuations (ALFF). We found increased static ALFF in left insula (INS) and posterior precuneus (PCu), and decreased static ALFF in left precentral/postcentral gyrus (PreCG/PoCG), thalamus (THA), and subgenual anterior cingulate cortex in CPD patients compared to healthy controls. We also found decreased dynamic ALFF in left PreCG/PoCG, right posterior middle temporal gyrus, and bilateral THA. Moreover, we found that static ALFF in left PreCG/PoCG and dynamic ALFF in THA were significantly negatively correlated with visual analog scale and disease duration, respectively. Our findings provide the neurophysiological basis for CDP and facilitate understanding the neuropathology of CDP.

Morality in advertising: An fMRI study on persuasion in communication

Advertising slogans serve the function of persuasive communication by presenting catchy phrases. To decide whether a slogan is convincing or not, cognitive reasoning is assumed to be complemented by a more implicit and intuitive route of information processing, presumably similar to evaluating normative judgments in moral statements. We employed functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) while Western male subjects judged advertising slogans and moral statements as another decision task with subjective nature. Compared to a neutral control condition that targeted declarative memory and to an aesthetic-related condition, the evaluation processes in both domains engaged the anterior medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), which is associated with decision-making incorporating personal value. Conjoint activations were also observed in the left temporoparietal junction (TPJ) when compared to the aesthetics condition. Results are discussed with reference to domain-independence, a suspected difference to aesthetic-like appreciations, and functional organization in the mPFC and the TPJ.

Improved and residual functional abnormalities in major depressive disorder after electroconvulsive therapy

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) can induce fast remission of depression but still retain the residual functional impairments in major depressive disorder (MDD) patients. To delineate the different functional circuits of effective antidepressant treatment and residual functional impairments is able to better guide clinical therapy for depression. Herein, voxel-level whole brain functional connectivity homogeneity (FcHo), functional connectivity, multivariate pattern classification approaches were applied to reveal the specific circuits for treatment response and residual impairments in MDD patients after ECT. Increased FcHo values in right dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) and left angular gyrus (AG) and their corresponding functional connectivities between dmPFC and right AG, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), superior frontal gyrus, precuneus (Pcu) and between left AG with dlPFC, bilateral AG, and left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex in MDD patients after ECT. Moreover, we found decreased FcHo values in left middle occipital gyrus (MOG) and lingual gyrus (LG) and decreased functional connectivities between MOG and dorsal postcentral gyrus (PCG) and between LG and middle PCG/anterior superior parietal lobule in MDD patients before and after ECT compared to healthy controls (HCs). The increased or normalized FcHo and functional connections may be related to effective antidepressant therapy, and the decreased FcHo and functional connectivities may account for the residual functional impairments in MDD patients after ECT. The different change patterns in MDD after ECT indicated a specific brain circuit supporting fast remission of depression, which was supported by the following multivariate pattern classification analyses. Finally, we found that the changed FcHo in dmPFC was correlated with changed depression scores. These results revealed a specific functional circuit supporting antidepressant effects of ECT and neuroanatomical basis for residual functional impairments. Our findings also highlighted the key role of dmPFC in antidepressant and will provide an important reference for depression treatment.

Functional Segregation of the Middle Temporal Visual Motion Area Revealed With Coactivation-Based Parcellation

Traditionally, the visual motion area (MT) is considered as a brain region specialized for visual motion perception. However, accumulating evidence showed that MT is also related to various functions, suggesting that it is a complex functional area and different functional subregions might exist in this area. To delineate functional subregions of this area, left and right masks of MT were defined using meta-analysis in the BrainMap database, and coactivation-based parcellation was then performed on these two masks. Two dorsal subregions (Cl1 and Cl2) and one ventral subregion (Cl3) of left MT, as well as two dorsal-anterior subregions (Cl1 and Cl2), one ventral-anterior subregion (Cl3), and an additional posterior subregion (Cl4) of right MT were identified. In addition to vision motion, distinct and specific functions were identified in different subregions characterized by task-dependent functional connectivity mapping and forward/reverse inference on associated functions. These results not only were in accordance with the previous findings of a hemispheric asymmetry of MT, but also strongly confirmed the existence of subregions in this region with distinct and specific functions. Furthermore, our results extend the special role of visual motion perception on this area and might facilitate future cognitive study.

Amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation of resting-state fMRI in primary nocturnal enuresis and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder

Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and nocturnal enuresis (NE) have similar symptoms, for example, inattention and dysfunction of working memory. We investigate disorder-specific abnormal activity by using the simple resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (RS-fMRI) metric amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF). About 18 ADHD, NE, and typically developing children were examined by RS-fMRI and the child behavior checklist (CBCL) test. One-way ANOVA were used to compare the ALFF values of the three groups and post hoc was done. We conducted Pearson correlation analysis on the results of the three groups' scales with ALFF values at the discrepant brain areas after then. Significant group effect was found in the bilateral medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), left inferior temporal gyrus (ITG), left middle temporal gyrus (MTG), cerebellum anterior lobe (CAL), and left inferior parietal lobule (IPL). There was no shared abnormal region for ADHD and NE. Specially, ADHD showed increased ALFF in the bilateral MPFC, left ITG, and CAL and showed decreased ALFF in the left MTG. The children with NE showed increased ALFF in the left IPL. This study reveals the brain mechanism of cognitive changes on ADHD and NE, which provides neuroimaging basis for behavioral differences among different diseases.