Extraction of Seafarers' Occupational Plasticity Brain Network Based on Effective Connectivity Lateralization.

BackgroundCognitive dysfunction (CI) is frequently reported in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), but the identification and assessment of SLE-related CI remain challenging. Previous studies have focused on changes in static brain activity, and no studies have investigated the characteristics of dynamic brain activity in SLE patients with CI.ObjectsWe calculated the dynamic amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (dALFF) by combining the ALFF with a sliding window method to assess the temporal variability of brain functional activity in SLE patients with and without CI.MethodsThirty-eight SLE with CI, thirty-eight SLE without CI, and thirty-eight healthy controls (HCs) were recruited. By comparing static ALFF (sALFF) and dALFF among the three groups, changes in brain activity intensity and its temporal variability were assessed in patients with SLE with or without CI. Spearman correlation coefficients were calculated between the brain function indicator and Mini-mental State Examination (MMSE) scores of SLE with CI.ResultsSubjects among the three groups exhibited significant sALFF differences in the right parahippocampal gyrus, left caudate nucleus, right putamen, and left cuneus. Compared to the SLE without CI, the right parahippocampal gyrus exhibited higher sALFF in the SLE with CI group. Compared to the HCs, the left caudate nucleus exhibited increased sALFF in the SLE with CI group. Participants in the three groups exhibited significant dALFF variability in the right parahippocampal gyrus, right lingual gyrus, and bilateral inferior occipital gyrus. Compared to the HCs, the right lingual gyrus exhibited reduced dALFF in the SLE without CI group. Compared to the HCs, the right parahippocampal gyrus exhibited increased dALFF, left calcarine fissure, and the surrounding cortex exhibited reduced dALFF in the SLE with CI group. There was no significant correlation between the MMSE score, sALFF, and dALFF in the SLE with CI group.ConclusionSLE patients with CI have abnormal brain activity intensity and stability. By analyzing the dynamics of intrinsic brain activity, it provides a new idea for evaluating SLE-related CI. However, more research and validation with multiple metrics are needed to determine the link between the severity of cognitive impairment (CI) and brain activity in patients with SLE.

A Commentary on “Can Neuroscience Provide a New Foundation for the Rorschach Variables?” (Jimura et al., 2021)

What Can Neuroimaging Tell Us About Aphasia?

Operationalizing compensation over time in neurodegenerative disease.

P119 Brain function and fatigue in patients with inflammatory bowel disease

Dopamine signaling plays a critical role in shaping brain functional network organization and behavior. Prominent theories suggest the relative expression of D1- to D2-like dopamine receptors shapes excitatory versus inhibitory signaling, with broad consequences for cognition. Yet it remains unknown how the balance between cortical D1R versus D2R signaling coordinates the activity and connectivity of functional networks in the human brain. To address this, we collected three PET scans and two fMRI scans in 36 healthy adults (13 female/23 male; average age 43 ± 12 years), including a baseline D1R PET scan and two sets of D2R PET scans and fMRI scans following administration of either 60 mg oral methylphenidate or placebo (two separate days, blinded, order counterbalanced). The drug challenge allowed us to assess how pharmacologically boosting dopamine levels alters network organization and behavior in association with D1R-D2R ratios across the brain. We found that the relative D1R-D2R ratio was significantly greater in high-level association cortices than in sensorimotor cortices. After stimulation with methylphenidate compared to placebo, brain activity (as indexed by the fractional amplitude of low frequency fluctuations) increased in association cortices and decreased in sensorimotor cortices. Further, within-network resting state functional connectivity strength decreased more in sensorimotor than association cortices following methylphenidate. Finally, in association but not sensorimotor cortices, the relative D1R-D2R ratio (but not the relative availability of D1R or D2R alone) was positively correlated with spatial working memory performance, and negatively correlated with age. Together, these data provide a framework for how dopamine-boosting drugs like methylphenidate alter brain function, whereby regions with relatively higher inhibitory D2R (i.e., sensorimotor cortices) tend to have greater decreases in brain activity and connectivity compared to regions with relatively higher excitatory D1R (i.e., association cortices). They also support the importance of a balanced interaction between D1R and D2R in association cortices for cognitive function and its degradation with aging.

Relapses in major depression are frequent and are associated with a high burden of disease. Although short-term studies suggest a normalisation of depression-associated brain functional alterations directly after treatment, long-term investigations are sparse. To examine brain function during negative emotion processing in association with course of illness over a 2-year span. In this prospective case-control study, 72 in-patients with current depression and 42 healthy controls were investigated during a negative emotional face processing paradigm, at baseline and after 2 years. According to their course of illness during the study interval, patients were divided into subgroups (n = 25 no-relapse, n = 47 relapse). The differential changes in brain activity were investigated by a group × time analysis of covariance for the amygdala, hippocampus, insula and at whole-brain level. A significant relapse × time interaction emerged within the amygdala (PTFCE-FWE = 0.011), insula (PTFCE-FWE = 0.001) and at the whole-brain level mainly in the temporal and prefrontal cortex (PTFCE-FWE = 0.027), resulting from activity increases within the no-relapse group, whereas in the relapse group, activity decreased during the study interval. At baseline, the no-relapse group showed amygdala, hippocampus and insula hypoactivity compared with healthy controls and the relapse group. This study reveals course of illness-associated activity changes in emotion processing areas. Patients in full remission show a normalisation of their baseline hypo-responsiveness to the activation level of healthy controls after 2 years. Brain function during emotion processing could further serve as a potential predictive marker for future relapse.

Longitudinal structural and functional brain changes associated with stuttering improvement by therapy or brain lesion

This study aims to examine the changes in task-related brain activity induced by rehabilitative therapy using brain-computer interface (BCI) technologies and whether these changes are relevant to functional gains achieved through the use of these therapies. Stroke patients with persistent upper-extremity motor deficits received interventional rehabilitation therapy using a closed-loop neurofeedback BCI device (n = 8) or no therapy (n = 6). Behavioral assessments using the Stroke Impact Scale, the Action Research Arm Test (ARAT), and the Nine-Hole Peg Test (9-HPT) as well as task-based fMRI scans were conducted before, during, after, and 1 month after therapy administration or at analogous intervals in the absence of therapy. Laterality Index (LI) values during finger tapping of each hand were calculated for each time point and assessed for correlation with behavioral outcomes. Brain activity during finger tapping of each hand shifted over the course of BCI therapy, but not in the absence of therapy, to greater involvement of the non-lesioned hemisphere (and lesser involvement of the stroke-lesioned hemisphere) as measured by LI. Moreover, changes from baseline LI values during finger tapping of the impaired hand were correlated with gains in both objective and subjective behavioral measures. These findings suggest that the administration of interventional BCI therapy can induce differential changes in brain activity patterns between the lesioned and non-lesioned hemispheres and that these brain changes are associated with changes in specific motor functions.

Electroencephalography (EEG) allows for the evaluation of real time changes in brain (electrocortical) activity during exercise. A few studies have examined changes in electrocortical activity using stationary cycling, but the findings have been mixed. Some of these studies have found increases in brain activity following exercise, while others have found decreases in brain activity following exercise. Hence, it is of importance to identify post-exercise changes in brain activity. Sixteen healthy, untrained subjects (8 males; 8 females) participated in the study. All 16 participants performed a graded exercise test (GXT) to volitional exhaustion on an upright cycle ergometer. Continuous EEG recordings were sampled before (PRE) and immediately following (IP) the GXT. Regions of interest were primarily the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC), and left and right motor cortex (MC). In the DLPFC, a frontal asymmetry index was also identified. There was a statistically significant increase in theta power in the DLPFC, VLPFC, and left and right MC from PRE to IP (all p < 0.05). There was also a shift towards right hemisphere asymmetry at the IP time point in the DLPFC (p < 0.05). Finally, there was an increase in alpha power from PRE to IP in the right MC (p < 0.05). EEG could prove to be an important way to measure the effects of central fatigue on brain activity before and immediately following exercise.

To review the literature on sleep changes and brain function in children with microcephaly due to Zika virus. Systematic review conducted in the databases MEDLINE (PubMed), Scopus, Web of Science, CINAHL, EMBASE, LILACS, and SciELO and the grey databases Google Scholar and OpenGrey. Ten Brazilian primary studies with observational research design were included. These were published between 2017 and 2020 with 516 children with microcephaly due to Zika virus infection aged 4 months to 4 years. Out of these, 4 investigated qualitative aspects of sleep using the questionnaires Brief Infant Sleep Questionnaire or Infant Sleep Questionnaire and 6 investigated changes in brain activities during sleep using the Electroencephalogram or Video-Electroencephalogram exams. The children's quality of sleep was not compromised in most studies. Changes in brain activity during sleep were frequent, with epileptogenic activity being a common finding among the studies. The quality of sleep of children with microcephaly due to Zika virus has shown to be similar to that of children with typical development and the presented behavioral changes may be related to changes in electric brain activity.

Changes in nonhuman primate brain function following chronic alcohol consumption in previously naïve animals

Serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine; 5-HT) is an important signaling molecule in the brain-gut axis, and abnormalities of 5-HT signaling system in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract have been investigated in irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).1 However, there

ObjectiveChildren’s motor development is closely related to the development of their brain functions. Currently, the central neural mechanisms in children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) are poorly understood. This study investigated the changes of EEG patterns in DCD boys.MethodsIn this study, 15 boys with DCD were screened via the Movement Assessment Battery for Children 2nd Edition (MABC-2), and 15 boys with typical development (TD) at the same age were matched as the control group. The electroencephalographic (EEG) signals of the boys were recorded in the resting state and during the visual motor integration (VMI) task, and the relative power, sample entropy (SampEn), phase lag index (PLI), and lateralization of functional connectivity were analyzed.ResultsIn the resting state, no abnormal changes were found in the relative power of the EEG or SampEn of the DCD boys (p > 0.05), and the PLI of each frequency band in the DCD boys was significantly lower than that in the TD boys (p < 0.001). During the VMI task, the θ power of the DCD boys decreased significantly at the right frontal central border (FC2: p < 0.05), the β power decreased significantly at the right frontal central border (FC2: p < 0.001), and the midline of the parietal region (Pz: p < 0.001), and there was no abnormal change in SampEn. The PLIs of the α, β, and γ frequency bands in DCD boys were significantly lower than those in TD boys (p < 0.001), and the functional connectivity of the β band around the cerebral motor cortex was significantly lateralized right hemispheric acceleration (p < 0.05).ConclusionThe brain functional network connectivity of DCD boys may have developmental defects, and the abnormal changes in brain activation, functional connectivity, and lateralization of functional connectivity during movement may be important brain mechanisms for their poor motor coordination. These findings provide a new perspective for analyzing and evaluating the brain function of DCD children.

How changes in brain activity and connectivity are associated with motor performance in people with MS.