Investigation on the Neural Mechanism of Hypnosis-Based Respiratory Control Using Functional MRI

Asthma's effect on brain connectivity and cognitive decline

Objective

To investigate the changes in dynamic voxel mirror homotopy connection (dVMHC) between cerebral hemispheres in patients with asthma.

Methods

Our study was designed using a case-control method. A total of 31 subjects with BA and 31 healthy subjects with matching basic information were examined using rsfMRI. We also calculated and obtained the dVMHC value between the cerebral cortexes.

Results

Compared with the normal control group, the dVMHC of the lingual gyrus (Ling) and the calcarine sulcus (CAL), which represented the visual network (VN), increased significantly in the asthma group, while the dVMHC of the medial superior frontal gyrus (MSFG), the anterior/middle/posterior cingulate gyrus (A/M/PCG), and the supplementary motor area (SMA) of the sensorimotor network decreased significantly in the asthma group.

Conclusion

This study showed that the ability of emotion regulation and the efficiency of visual and cognitive information processing in patients with BA was lower than in those in the HC group. The dVMHC analysis can be used to sensitively evaluate oxygen saturation, visual function changes, and attention bias caused by emotional disorders in patients with asthma, as well as to predict airway hyperresponsiveness, inflammatory progression, and dyspnea.

Altered spontaneous brain activity in patients with asthma: a resting-state functional MRI study using regional homogeneity analysis

OBJECTIVE

Studies have shown that patients with asthma have changes in brain function activities, but the specific relationship is still unknown. This study aims to investigate the potential regional homogeneity (ReHo) brain activity changes in patients with asthma and healthy controls.

METHODS

Thirty-one patients with asthma and 31 healthy controls closely matched in age, sex, and weight underwent resting-state functional MRI scans, respectively. The ReHo method was applied to evaluate synchronous neural activity changes. Receiver operating characteristic curve was used to show high test-retest stability and a high degree of sensitivity and specificity.

RESULTS

Compared with the healthy controls, asthma patients had significantly increased ReHo values in left cerebellum posterior lobe and left superior frontal gyrus, and decreased ReHo values of right middle temporal gyrus, right Putamen, right inferior temporal gyrus, right inferior middle frontal gyrus, left middle occipital gyrus, and right precentral/middle frontal gyrus.

CONCLUSION

Patients with asthma have different functional changes in different brain regions, mainly including the cerebellum, frontal lobe, temporal lobe, and occipital lobe, which provides important pieces of evidence to support the role of brain networks in the pathophysiology of asthma and offers an entirely new target for potential therapeutic intervention in asthma.

Impaired Interhemispheric Synchrony in Bronchial Asthma

Purpose

Methods

Results

Conclusion

Cerebral regional and network characteristics in asthma patients: a resting-state fMRI study

Asthma is a serious health problem that involves not only the respiratory system but also the central nervous system. Previous studies identified either regional or network alterations in patients with asthma, but inconsistent results were obtained. A key question remains unclear: are the regional and neural network deficits related or are they two independent characteristics in asthma? Answering this question is the aim of this study. By collecting resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging from 39 patients with asthma and 40 matched health controls, brain functional measures including regional activity (amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations) and neural network function (degree centrality (DC) and functional connectivity) were calculated to systematically characterize the functional alterations. Patients exhibited regional abnormities in the left angular gyrus, right precuneus, and inferior temporal gyrus within the default mode network. Network abnormalities involved both the sensorimotor network and visual network with key regions including the superior frontal gyrus and occipital lobes. Altered DC in the lingual gyrus was correlated with the degree of airway obstruction. This study elucidated different patterns of regional and network changes, thereby suggesting that the two parameters reflect different brain characteristics of asthma. These findings provide evidence for further understanding the potential cerebral alterations in the pathophysiology of asthma.

The Efficacy of Hypnotherapy in the Treatment of Functional Dyspepsia

BACKGROUND

Functional dyspepsia (FD) is one of the most frequent functional gastrointestinal disorders and is defined using the Rome IV criteria as any combination of the following symptoms: postprandial fullness, early satiety, epigastric pain, and epigastric burning that are severe enough to interfere with the usual activities and occur at least 3 days per week over the past 3 months with an onset of at least 6 months before the presentation. The purpose of this systematic review is to analyze all the relevant studies in the literature that investigate the efficiency of hypnotherapy in FD.

AREAS OF UNCERTAINTY

FD refractory to conservative treatment is a therapeutic challenge, and alternative treatment options are needed. Gut-oriented hypnotherapy has been reported an effective treatment for irritable bowel syndrome, but poorly tested in FD.

DATA SOURCES

We performed a search in 6 bibliographic databases (PubMed, Embase, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, Scopus, and LILACS) using customized search strategies for each engine. The search strategy included the following terms: (hypnosis, hypnotherapy, hypnotherapies, hypnogenesis, hypnotism, hypnotist, hypnotical suggestion, suggestion, and mesmerism) and {[functional and (dyspepsia or dyspeptic)] or FD}.

RESULTS

Taking the aforementioned criteria into account, the result was a review of 4 articles analyzing the efficacy of hypnotherapy in the treatment of FD, published in the past 20 years. The initial search identified 398 articles, of which 37 potentially appropriate articles were reviewed. Of these 37 articles, 4 articles were included in the review. The benefits observed by numerous studies go beyond the field of digestive pathology, patients describing a general improvement in physical and mental health.

CONCLUSIONS

Current studies analyzing the efficacy of hypnotherapy in FD provide encouraging data, but additional randomized controlled trials are needed before a firm position on the effectiveness of hypnosis in FD.

Coupled Temporal Fluctuation and Global Signal Synchronization of Spontaneous Brain Activity in Hypnosis for Respiration Control: An fMRI Study

Hypnosis is a psychological technology proved to be effective in respiratory motion control, which is essential to reduce radiation dose during radiotherapy. This study explored the neural mechanisms and cognitive neuroscience of hypnosis for respiration control by functional magnetic resonance imaging with a within-subject design of 15 healthy volunteers in rest state (RS) and hypnosis state (HS). Temporal fluctuation and signal synchronization of brain activity were employed to investigate the altered physiological performance in hypnosis. The altered correlations between temporal fluctuation and signal synchronization were examined within large scale of intrinsic networks which were identified by seed-wise functional connectivity. As a result, hypnosis was observed with increased activity in the right calcarine, bilateral fusiform gyrus and left middle temporal gyrus, and with decreased activity in the left cerebellum posterior lobe (inferior semilunar lobule part). Compared to RS, enhanced positive correlations were observed between temporal fluctuation and signal synchronization in HS. Most importantly, coupled correlation was observed between temporal fluctuation and global signal synchronization within the identified intrinsic networks (R = 0.3843, p > 0.05 in RS; R = 0.6212, p < 0.005 in HS). The findings provide implications for the neural basis of hypnosis for respiratory motion control and suggest the involvement of emotional processing and regulation of perceptual consciousness in hypnosis.