Left Medial Superior Frontal Gyrus Research Articles

Altered brain activity in end-stage knee osteoarthritis revealed by resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging.

IntroductionKnee osteoarthritis (KOA) is characterized by a degenerative change of knee cartilage and secondary bone hyperplasia, resulting in pain, stiffness, and abnormal walking gait. Long‐term chronic pain causes considerable cortical plasticity alternations in patients. However, the brain structural and functional alterations associated with the pathological changes in knee joints of end‐stage KOA patients remain unclear. This study aimed to analyze the structural and functional connectivity alterations in end‐stage KOA to comprehensively understand the main brain‐associated mechanisms underlying its development and progression.MethodsIn this study, 37 patients with KOA and 37 demographically matched healthy controls (HCs) were enrolled. Alternations in gray matter (GM) volume in patients with KOA were determined using voxel‐based morphometry. The region with the largest GM volume alteration was selected as the region of interest to calculate the voxel‐wise resting‐state functional connectivity (rs‐FC) in the two groups. Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to analyze the correlation between clinical measures and GM volume alternations in patients with KOA.ResultsCompared with HCs, patients with KOAs exhibited significantly decreased GM volumes in the left middle temporal gyrus (left‐MTG) and the left inferior temporal gyrus. Results of the voxel‐wise rs‐FC analysis revealed that compared with HCs, patients with KOA had decreased left‐MTG rs‐FC to the right dorsolateral superior frontal gyrus, left middle frontal gyrus, and left medial superior frontal gyrus. GM volume in the left‐MTG was negatively correlated with the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Arthritis Index in patients with KOA (r = −0.393, p = .016).ConclusionStructural remodeling and functional connectivity alterations may be one of the central brain mechanisms associated with end‐stage KOA.

The Potential Advantages of Tai Chi Chuan in Promoting Inhibitory Control and Spontaneous Neural Activity in Young Adults.

Tai Chi Chuan (TCC) is assumed to exert beneficial effects on functional brain activity and cognitive function in elders. Until now, empirical evidence of TCC induced intra-regional spontaneous neural activity and inhibitory control remains inconclusive. Whether the effect of TCC is better than that of other aerobic exercises is still unknown, and the role of TCC in younger adults is not yet fully understood. Here we used resting-state functional MRI (fMRI) to investigate the effects of 8-week TCC (n = 12) and brisk walking (BW, n = 12) on inhibitory control and fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFF). The results found that TCC had significant effects on inhibitory control performance and spontaneous neural activity that were associated with significantly increased fALFF in the left medial superior frontal gyrus (Cohen’s d = 1.533) and the right fusiform gyrus (Cohen’s d = 1.436) and decreased fALFF in the right dorsolateral superior frontal gyrus (Cohen’s d = 1.405) and the right paracentral lobule (Cohen’s d = 1.132).TCC exhibited stronger effects on spontaneous neural activity than the BW condition, as reflected in significantly increased fALFF in the left medial superior frontal gyrus (Cohen’s d = 0.862). There was a significant positive correlation between the increase in fALFF in the left medial superior frontal gyrus and the enhancement in inhibitory control performance. The change in fALFF in the left medial superior frontal gyrus was able to explain the change in inhibitory control performance induced by TCC. In conclusion, our results indicated that 8 weeks of TCC intervention could improve processing efficiency related to inhibitory control and alter spontaneous neural activity in young adults, and TCC had potential advantages over BW intervention for optimizing spontaneous neural activity.

Impaired neurovascular coupling and cognitive deficits in anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor encephalitis.

Anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (anti-NMDAR) encephalitis is a recently identified autoimmune disorder with heterogeneous neurological, psychiatric, and cognitive manifestations. The NMDAR is a key signaling node for neurovascular coupling, the mechanism by which cerebral blood perfusion is enhanced to meet local metabolic requirements from increased neuronal activity. Therefore, anti-NMDAR encephalitis may disrupt neurovascular coupling and induce cognitive deficits. This study examined neurovascular coupling and cognitive function in anti-NMDAR encephalitis patients to identify prognostic biomarkers, reveal potential pathogenic mechanisms, and provide clues to possible therapeutic strategies. In this study, twenty-three anti-NMDAR encephalitis patients and thirty healthy controls received neuropsychological testing and multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Cerebral blood flow (CBF) was calculated from arterial spin labeling, and regional homogeneity (ReHo) was computed from functional MRI. Pearson's correlation coefficients between CBF and ReHo were calculated to obtain neurovascular coupling. At the whole gray matter level, CBF‒ReHo coupling was reduced in patients compared to healthy controls. At the regional level, CBF‒ReHo was significantly lower among patients in the precentral gyrus, frontal gyrus, insula, cuneus, inferior parietal lobe, supramarginal gyrus, angular gyrus, precuneus, temporal gyrus, and temporal pole. Reduced CBF‒ReHo in the left superior medial frontal gyrus of patients was significantly correlated with a deficit in verbal inhibition control, and the reduced CBF‒ReHo in the left insula was significantly correlated with impaired executive function. In conclusion, anti-NMDAR encephalitis is associated with both global and regional disruptions in neurovascular coupling that may in turn lead to deficits in specific cognitive domains.

Childhood adversity modulation of central autonomic network components during cognitive regulation of emotion in major depressive disorder and borderline personality disorder.

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have lifelong effects on emotional behavior and are frequent in Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and Major Depressive Disorder (MDD). The Central Autonomic Network (CAN), which modulates heart rate variability (HRV), comprises brain regions that mediate emotion regulation processes. However, it remains unclear the effect of ACEs on CAN dynamics and its relationship with HRV in these disorders. We studied the effects of ACEs on the brain and HRV simultaneously, during regulation of psychological stress in 19 BPD, 20 MDD and 20 healthy controls (HC). Participants underwent a cognitive reappraisal task during fMRI with simultaneous ECG acquisition. ACEs exposure was associated with increased activity of CAN and salience network components in patients with MDD compared to BPD during cognitive reappraisal. A brain-autonomic coupling was found in BPD relative to HC during emotion regulation, whereby greater activity of left anterior cingulate and medial superior frontal gyrus areas was coupled with increased HRV. Results suggest that ACEs exposure is associated with a distinct activation of the CAN and salience network regions governing responses to psychological stress in MDD compared to BPD. These alterations may constitute a distinctive neurobiological mechanism for abnormal emotion processing and regulation related to ACEs in MDD.

Concomitant functional impairment and reorganization in the linkage between the cerebellum and default mode network in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Increasing evidence shows that the default mode network (DMN) and cerebellum are prone to structural and functional abnormalities in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). However, the type of change in the functional connection between the DMN and cerebellum is still unknown. In this study, seed-based functional connectivity (FC) analysis was used to examine the intrinsic FC of the cerebellum-DMN between healthy controls (HCs) and T2DM patients. Pearson correlation analysis was used to explore the relationship between clinical variables and changes in FC. Compared with HCs, T2DM patients showed significantly increased FC of the left crus I-left medial superior frontal gyrus, left crus I-right medial superior frontal gyrus, and right crus I-left medial orbitofrontal cortex. Compared with HCs, T2DM patients showed decreased FC of the lobule IX-the right angular gyrus. Moreover, diabetes duration was positively correlated with increased FC of the left crus I-right medial superior frontal gyrus (r=0.438, P=0.007). Concomitant functional impairment and reorganization in the linkage between the cerebellum and DMN in patients with T2DM may be a biomarker of early brain damage that can help us better understand the pathogenesis of cognitive impairment in T2DM.

Facial Expression Recognition and ReHo Analysis in Major Depressive Disorder.

Objective: To explore the characteristics of expression recognition and spontaneous activity of the resting state brain in major depressive disorder (MDD) patients to find the neural basis of expression recognition and emotional processing.Methods: In this study, two of the six facial expressions (happiness, sadness, anger, fear, aversion, and surprise) were presented in quick succession using a short expression recognition test. The differences in facial expression recognition between MDD patients and healthy people were compared. Further, the differences in ReHo values between the two groups were compared using a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan to investigate the characteristics of spontaneous brain activity in the resting state and its relationship with clinical symptoms and the accuracy of facial expression recognition in patients with MDD.Results: (1) The accuracy of facial expression recognition in patients with MDD was lower than that of the HC group. There were differences in facial expression recognition between the two groups in sadness-anger (p = 0.026), surprise-aversion (p = 0.038), surprise-happiness (p = 0.014), surprise-sadness (p = 0.019), fear-happiness (p = 0.027), and fear-anger (p = 0.009). The reaction time for facial expression recognition in the patient group was significantly longer than that of the HC group. (2) Compared with the HC group, the ReHo values decreased in the left parahippocampal gyrus, left thalamus, right putamen, left putamen, and right angular gyrus, and increased in the left superior frontal gyrus, left middle temporal gyrus, left medial superior frontal gyrus, and right medial superior frontal gyrus in the patient group. (3) Spearman correlation analysis showed no statistical correlation between ReHo and HAMD-17 scores in MDD patients (p > 0.05). The ReHo value of the left putamen was negatively correlated with the recognition of fear-surprise (r = −0.429, p = 0.016), the ReHo value of the right angular gyrus was positively correlated with the recognition of sadness-anger (r = 0.367, p = 0.042), and the ReHo value of the right medial superior frontal gyrus was negatively correlated with the recognition of fear-anger (r = −0.377, p = 0.037).Conclusion: In view of the different performance of patients with MDD in facial expression tasks, facial expression recognition may have some suggestive effect on the diagnosis of depression and has clinical guiding significance. Many brain regions, including the frontal lobe, temporal lobe, striatum, hippocampus, and thalamus, in patients with MDD show extensive ReHo abnormalities in the resting state. These brain regions with abnormal spontaneous neural activity are important components of LCSPT and LTC circuits, and their dysfunctional functions cause disorder of emotion regulation. The changes in spontaneous activity in the left putamen, right angular gyrus, and right medial superior frontal gyrus may represent the abnormal pattern of spontaneous brain activity in the neural circuits related to emotion perception and may be the neural basis of facial expression recognition.

Alternation of brain intrinsic activity in patients with hypertensive retinopathy: a resting-state fMRI study.

Objective: To investigate the changes of amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) in brain regions of patients with hypertensive retinopathy by using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) and change in the relationship of ALFF value with potential emotional and psychological changes.Methods: Thirty-one patients with hypertensive retinopathy (HR) (16 men and 15 women) and 31 healthy controls (HCs; 16 men and 15 women) matched for age, sex, and weight were enrolled in the research. The changes in mean ALFF values could reflect brain activity between HR patients and HCs. We used the independent samples t-test to evaluate different demographic and general information between the two groups. Two-sample t-test was used to detect differences of mean ALFF values in the brain region between the two groups using the same software.Results: The ALFF values in the brain areas of HR and HCs were different. HR patients had lower ALFF value in the left medial superior frontal gyrus and left middle frontal gyrus than the HCs. The higher ALFF values were found in the cerebellum (left inferior and right superior lobes, vermis) and left inferior temporal gyrus of the HR patients than the controls.Conclusion: Our findings showed fluctuations in ALFF values in the HR patients’ brain regions. ALFF values reflect over or reduced activity in brain regions. Abnormal ALFF values in these brain areas can predict early HR development, preventing the malignant transformation of hypertensive microangiopathy.

Altered brain activity in the bilateral frontal cortices and neural correlation with cognitive impairment in schizophrenia

Cognitive impairments are core aspects of schizophrenia and are highly related to poor outcomes. However, the effect of therapy on cognitive impairments remains unsatisfactory as its biological mechanisms are not fully understood. The purpose of this study was to investigate the disrupted intrinsic neural activity of the frontal areas and to further examine the functional connectivity of frontal areas related to cognitive impairments in schizophrenia. We collected brain imaging data using a 3T Siemens Prisma MRI system in 32 patients with schizophrenia and 34 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. The mean fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (mfALFF) in the frontal regions was calculated and analyzed to evaluate regional neural activity alterations in schizophrenia. Seed regions were generated from clusters showing significant changes in mfALFF in schizophrenia, and its resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) with other brain regions were estimated to detect possible aberrant rs-FC indicating cognitive impairments in schizophrenia. We found that mfALFF in the bilateral frontal cortices was increased in schizophrenia. mfALFF-based rs-FC revealed that decreased rs-FC between left middle frontal gyrus (MFG) and left medial superior frontal gyrus (MFSG) was associated with poor delayed memory (r = 0.566, Bonferroni-corrected p = 0.012). These findings demonstrate increased neural activity in the frontal cortices in schizophrenia. FC analysis revealed a diminished rs-FC pattern between the left MFG and left MSFG that was associated with cognitive impairments. These findings have provided deeper insight into the alterations in brain function related to specific domains of cognitive impairment and may provide evidence for precise interventions for cognitive deficits in schizophrenia.

Cortical Areas Associated With Multisensory Integration Showing Altered Morphology and Functional Connectivity in Relation to Reduced Life Quality in Vestibular Migraine.

Background: Increasing evidence suggests that the temporal and parietal lobes are associated with multisensory integration and vestibular migraine. However, temporal and parietal lobe structural and functional connectivity (FC) changes related to vestibular migraine need to be further investigated.Methods: Twenty-five patients with vestibular migraine (VM) and 27 age- and sex- matched healthy controls participated in this study. Participants completed standardized questionnaires assessing migraine and vertigo-related clinical features. Cerebral cortex characteristics [i.e., thickness (CT), fractal dimension (FD), sulcus depth (SD), and the gyrification index (GI)] were evaluated using an automated Computational Anatomy Toolbox (CAT12). Regions with significant differences were used in a seed-based comparison of resting-state FC conducted with DPABI. The relationship between changes in cortical characteristics or FC and clinical features was also analyzed in the patients with VM.Results: Relative to controls, patients with VM showed significantly thinner CT in the bilateral inferior temporal gyrus, left middle temporal gyrus, and the right superior parietal lobule. A shallower SD was observed in the right superior and inferior parietal lobule. FD and GI did not differ significantly between the two groups. A negative correlation was found between CT in the right inferior temporal gyrus, as well as the left middle temporal gyrus, and the Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI) score in VM patients. Furthermore, patients with VM exhibited weaker FC between the left inferior/middle temporal gyrus and the left medial superior frontal gyrus, supplementary motor area.Conclusion: Our data revealed cortical structural and resting-state FC abnormalities associated with multisensory integration, contributing to a lower quality of life. These observations suggest a role for multisensory integration in patients with VM pathophysiology. Future research should focus on using a task-based fMRI to measure multisensory integration.

Abnormal Functional Connectivity Between the Left Medial Superior Frontal Gyrus and Amygdala Underlying Abnormal Emotion and Premature Ejaculation: A Resting State fMRI Study.

IntroductionPremature ejaculation (PE) is a common sexual dysfunction and is found to be associated with abnormal emotion. The amygdala plays an important role in the processing of emotion. The process of ejaculation is found to be mediated by the frontal-limbic neural circuits. However, the correlations between PE and emotion are still unclear.MethodsResting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) data were acquired in 27 PE patients with stable emotion (SPE), 27 PE patients with abnormal emotion (NPE), and 30 healthy controls (HC). We used rs-fMRI to explore the underlying neural mechanisms in SPE, NPE, and HC by measuring the functional connectivity (FC). Differences of FC values among the three groups were compared when choosing bilateral amygdala as the regions of interest (ROIs). We also explored the correlations between the brain regions showing altered FC values and scores of the premature ejaculation diagnostic tool (PEDT)/Eysenck Personality Inventory about neuroticism (EPQ-N) in the PE group.ResultsWhen the left amygdala was chosen as the ROI, the SPE group exhibited an increased FC between the left medial superior frontal gyrus (SFGmed) and amygdala compared with the NPE or HC group. When the right amygdala was chosen as the ROI, the NPE group exhibited a decreased FC between the left SFGmed and right amygdala compared with the HC group. In addition, FC values of the left SFGmed had positive correlations with PEDT and negative correlations with EPQ-N scores in the PE group. Moreover, FC values of the left superior temporal gyrus had positive correlations with EPQ-N scores in the PE group.ConclusionThe increased FC values between the left SFGmed and amygdala could reflect a compensatory cortical control mechanism with the effect of stabilized emotion in the limbic regions of PE patients. Abnormal FC between these brain regions could play a critical role in the physiopathology of PE and could help us in dividing PE into more subtypes.

Decline of anterior cingulate functional network efficiency in first-episode, medication-naïve somatic symptom disorder and its relationship with catastrophizing

The high prevalence of somatic symptom disorder (SSD) led to cumulative burdens to the medical system. However, the pathogenesis of this disease still remains unclear. Graph theoretical analysis discovered altered network topology across various psychiatric disorders, yet alteration in the topological structure of brain functional network in SSD patients is still unexplored. Catastrophizing is a common cognitive distortion in SSD. We hypothesize that the network topological metrics of SSD should be altered, and should correlate with catastrophizing scales. 32 medication-naïve, first-episode SSD patients and 30 age, gender matched HCs were recruited. The 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD-17), Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAMA) and Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire (CERQ) were accessed. Functional MRI were scanned and brain functional networks were constructed based on 166 anatomically cerebrum regions from the automated anatomical labeling 3 (AAL3) template. Network topological metrics were calculated and compared between the two groups. Correlation between these metrics and clinical scales were also calculated. Network global efficiency of SSD was significantly lower than that of HC. Nodal global efficiency of the left subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC) of SSD was significantly lower than that of HC. FCs between the left sgACC and other 21 seed nodes were significantly declined in SSD in comparison with HC. In SSD group, HAMD total score was significantly negatively correlated with the connection between the left medial superior frontal gyrus and the left sgACC. CERQ catastrophizing score was significantly negatively correlated with nodal global efficiency of left sgACC and with the FCs between the left sgACC and other 13 seed nodes. Catastrophizing could reflect the specific sgACC-centered dysfunction of brain network global efficiency of SSD. The left sgACC may be a future treatment target of dealing with catastrophizing, which is a core cognitive distortion of SSD.

Time-Frequency Characterization of Resting Brain in Bipolar Disorder during Euthymia-A Preliminary Study.

The goal of this paper is to investigate the baseline brain activity in euthymic bipolar disorder (BD) patients by comparing it to healthy controls (HC) with the use of a variety of resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) analyses, such as amplitude of low frequency fluctuations (ALFF), fractional ALFF (f/ALFF), ALFF-based functional connectivity (FC), and r egional homogeneity (ReHo). We hypothesize that above-mentioned techniques will differentiate BD from HC indicating dissimilarities between the groups within different brain structures. Forty-two participants divided into two groups of euthymic BD patients (n = 21) and HC (n = 21) underwent rs-fMRI evaluation. Typical band ALFF, slow-4, slow-5, f/ALFF, as well as ReHo indexes were analyzed. Regions with altered ALFF were chosen as ROI for seed-to-voxel analysis of FC. As opposed to HC, BD patients revealed: increased ALFF in left insula; increased slow-5 in left middle temporal pole; increased f/ALFF in left superior frontal gyrus, left superior temporal gyrus, left middle occipital gyrus, right putamen, and bilateral thalamus. There were no significant differences between BD and HC groups in slow-4 band. Compared to HC, the BD group presented higher ReHo values in the left superior medial frontal gyrus and lower ReHo values in the right supplementary motor area. FC analysis revealed significant hyper-connectivity within the BD group between left insula and bilateral middle frontal gyrus, right superior parietal gyrus, right supramarginal gyrus, left inferior parietal gyrus, left cerebellum, and left supplementary motor area. To our best knowledge, this is the first rs-fMRI study combining ReHo, ALFF, f/ALFF, and subdivided frequency bands (slow-4 and slow-5) in euthymic BD patients. ALFF, f/ALFF, slow-5, as well as REHO analysis revealed significant differences between two studied groups. Although results obtained with the above methods enable to identify group-specific brain structures, no overlap between the brain regions was detected. This indicates that combination of foregoing rs-fMRI methods may complement each other, revealing the bigger picture of the complex resting state abnormalities in BD.

Abnormal Default-Mode Network Homogeneity in Melancholic and Nonmelancholic Major Depressive Disorder at Rest.

Background Melancholic depression has been assumed as a severe type of major depressive disorder (MDD). We aimed to explore if there were some distinctive alterations in melancholic MDD and whether the alterations could be used to discriminate the melancholic MDD and nonmelancholic MDD. Methods Thirty-one outpatients with melancholic MDD, thirty-three outpatients with nonmelancholic MDD, and thirty-two age- and gender-matched healthy controls were recruited. All participants were scanned by resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Imaging data were analyzed with the network homogeneity (NH) and support vector machine (SVM) methods. Results Both patient groups exhibited increased NH in the right PCC/precuneus and right angular gyrus and decreased NH in the right middle temporal gyrus compared with healthy controls. Compared with nonmelancholic patients and healthy controls, melancholic patients exhibited significantly increased NH in the bilateral superior medial frontal gyrus and decreased NH in the left inferior temporal gyrus. But merely for melancholic patients, the NH of the right middle temporal gyrus was negatively correlated with TEPS total and contextual anticipatory scores. SVM analysis showed that a combination of NH values in the left superior medial frontal gyrus and left inferior temporal gyrus could distinguish melancholic patients from nonmelancholic patients with accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of 79.66% (47/59), 70.97% (22/31), and 89.29%(25/28), respectively. Conclusion Our findings showed distinctive network homogeneity alterations in melancholic MDD which may be potential imaging markers to distinguish melancholic MDD and nonmelancholic MDD.

Occipital cortex is modulated by transsaccadic changes in spatial frequency: an fMRI study

Previous neuroimaging studies have shown that inferior parietal and ventral occipital cortex are involved in the transsaccadic processing of visual object orientation. Here, we investigated whether the same areas are also involved in transsaccadic processing of a different feature, namely, spatial frequency. We employed a functional magnetic resonance imaging paradigm where participants briefly viewed a grating stimulus with a specific spatial frequency that later reappeared with the same or different frequency, after a saccade or continuous fixation. First, using a whole-brain Saccade > Fixation contrast, we localized two frontal (left precentral sulcus and right medial superior frontal gyrus), four parietal (bilateral superior parietal lobule and precuneus), and four occipital (bilateral cuneus and lingual gyri) regions. Whereas the frontoparietal sites showed task specificity, the occipital sites were also modulated in a saccade control task. Only occipital cortex showed transsaccadic feature modulations, with significant repetition enhancement in right cuneus. These observations (parietal task specificity, occipital enhancement, right lateralization) are consistent with previous transsaccadic studies. However, the specific regions differed (ventrolateral for orientation, dorsomedial for spatial frequency). Overall, this study supports a general role for occipital and parietal cortex in transsaccadic vision, with a specific role for cuneus in spatial frequency processing.

Disrupted Topological Organization of the Brain Structural Network in Patients With Thyroid-Associated Ophthalmopathy.

PurposeIncreasing evidence indicated that thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy (TAO) might be a neural related disease more than an ocular disease. In this study, we aimed to investigate the alterations of structural brain connectome in patients with TAO.MethodsTwenty-seven patients with TAO and 27 well-matched healthy controls underwent diffusion tensor imaging. Graph theoretical analyses, including global (shortest path length, clustering coefficient, small-worldness, global efficiency, and local efficiency) and nodal (nodal betweenness, nodal degree, and nodal efficiency) topological properties and network-based statistics were performed to evaluate TAO-related changes in brain network pattern. Correlations were assessed between the network properties and clinical variables, including disease duration, visual acuity, neuropsychiatric measurements, and serum thyroid function indexes.ResultsCompared with healthy controls, patients with TAO exhibited preserved global network parameters but altered nodal properties. We found decreased nodal betweenness and nodal degree in right anterior cingulate and paracingulate gyri, decreased nodal degree and nodal efficiency in the right orbital part of middle frontal gyrus (ORBmid), whereas increased nodal degree and nodal efficiency in the left cuneus. Decrease of structural connectivity strength was found involving the right ORBmid, right putamen, left caudate nucleus, and left medial superior frontal gyrus. Significant correlations were also found between nodal properties and neuropsychological performances as well as visual acuity.ConclusionsPatients with TAO developed disruption of structural brain network connectome. Disrupted topological organization of the brain structural network may be associated with the clinical-psychiatric dysfunction of patients with TAO.

Brain function in children with obstructive sleep apnea: a resting-state fMRI study.

To explore the neural difference between children with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and healthy controls, together with the relation between this difference and cognitive dysfunction of children with OSA. Twenty children with OSA (7.2 ± 3.1 years, apnea hypopnea index (AHI): 16.5 ± 16.6 events/h) and 29 healthy controls (7.7 ± 2.8 years, AHI: 1.7 ± 1.2 events/h) were recruited and matched with age, gender, and handedness. All children underwent resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI) and T1-wighted imaging. Some children were sedated for MRI scanning. We compared amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (ALFF) and regional homogeneity (ReHo) of children with OSA with those of healthy controls. During resting-state, the former reflects the intensity of the spontaneous neural activities, whereas the latter reflects temporal similarity of the spontaneous neural activities within a local brain region. Pearson correlation analysis was performed between these features of rs-fMRI and cognitive scores among children with OSA. Compared with controls, children with OSA showed decreased ALFF in the left angular gyrus but increased ALFF in the right insula, and decreased ReHo in the left medial superior frontal gyrus, right lingual gyrus, and left precuneus. Additionally, among children with OSA, the ReHo value in the right lingual gyrus was negatively correlated with FIQ and VIQ, whereas that in the left medial superior frontal gyrus was positively correlated with VIQ. Children with OSA presented abnormal neural activities in some brain regions and impaired cognitive functions with the former possibly being the neural mechanism of the latter.

Exosomal MicroRNAs Contribute to Cognitive Impairment in Hypertensive Patients by Decreasing Frontal Cerebrovascular Reactivity.

Mechanisms underlying cognitive impairment (CI) in hypertensive patients remain relatively unclear. The present study aimed to explore the relationship among serum exosomal microRNAs (miRNAs), cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR), and cognitive function in hypertensive patients. Seventy-three hypertensive patients with CI (HT-CI), 67 hypertensive patients with normal cognition (HT-NC), and 37 healthy controls underwent identification of exosomal miRNA, multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans, and neuropsychological tests. CVR mapping was investigated based on resting-state functional MRI data. Compared with healthy subjects and HT-NC subjects, HT-CI subjects displayed decreased serum exosomal miRNA-330-3p. The group difference of CVR was mainly found in the left frontal lobe and demonstrated that HT-CI group had a lower CVR than both HT-NC group and control group. Furthermore, both the CVR in the left medial superior frontal gyrus and the miRNA-330-3p level were significantly correlated with executive function (r = −0.275, P = 0.021, and r = −0.246, P = 0.04, respectively) in HT-CI subjects, and the CVR was significantly correlated with the miRNA-330-3p level (r = 0.246, P = 0.040). Notably, path analysis showed that the CVR mediated the association between miRNA-330-3p and executive function. In conclusion, decreased miRNA-330-3p might contribute to CI in hypertensive patients by decreasing frontal CVR and could be a biomarker of early diagnosis.

Relation of Decreased Functional Connectivity Between Left Thalamus and Left Inferior Frontal Gyrus to Emotion Changes Following Acute Sleep Deprivation.

Objective: The thalamus is a key node for sleep-wake pathway gate switching during acute sleep deprivation (ASD), and studies have shown that it plays a certain role in emotion changes. However, there are no studies on the association between the thalamus and emotion changes in ASD. In this study, we used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (R-fMRI) to explore whether changes in the functional connections between the thalamus and other brain regions are related to emotion changes and further explored the function of the thalamus under total ASD conditions.Method: Thirty healthy, right-handed adult men underwent emotional assessment according to the Profile of Mood States Scale and R-fMRI scans before and after ASD. The correlations between changes in functional connectivity between the thalamus and other brain regions and emotion changes were then studied.Results: Positive emotions and psychomotor performance were reduced, and negative emotions were increased following ASD. The functional connections between the left thalamus and left middle temporal gyrus, left inferior frontal gyrus, right thalamus, right inferior temporal gyrus, left middle temporal pole gyrus, right calcarine, left cuneus, left rectus and left medial superior frontal gyrus were significantly altered. Decreased functional connectivity between left thalamus and left inferior frontal gyrus related to emotion changes following ASD.Conclusion: This study finds that functional changes in the thalamus are associated with emotion changes during ASD, suggesting that the left thalamus probably plays an essential role in emotion changes under ASD conditions.

Intrinsic brain abnormalities of irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea: a preliminary resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging study

BackgroundThe aim of the present study was to explore the brain active characteristics of patients with irritable bowel syndrome with diarrhea (IBS-D) using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging technology.MethodsThirteen IBS-D patients and fourteen healthy controls (HC) were enrolled. All subjects underwent head MRI examination during resting state. A voxel-based analysis of fractional amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (fALFF) maps between IBS-D and HC was performed using a two-sample t-test. The relationship between the fALFF values in abnormal brain regions and the scores of Symptom Severity Scale (IBS-SSS) were analyzed using Pearson correlation analysis.ResultsCompared with HC, IBS-D patients had lower fALFF values in the left medial superior frontal gyrus and higher fALFF values in the left hippocampus and right precuneus. There was a positive correlation between the duration scores of IBS-SSS and fALFF values in the right precuneus.ConclusionThe altered fALFF values in the medial superior frontal gyri, left hippocampus and right precuneus revealed changes of intrinsic neuronal activity, further revealing the abnormality of gut-brain axis of IBS-D.

Enhanced functional connectivity between insular subregions correlates with the efficacy of music and instruction-guided relaxation in depression.

Music and instruction-guided relaxation (MIGR) is a complementary therapeutic tool used in the treatment of the major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the neural mechanism that underlies the effect of MIGR on MDD patients is not known. Twenty-three right-handed MDD patients and 23 age-, sex-, handedness-, and educational level-matched healthy controls were enrolled. Resting-state functional MRI data were acquired from patients before and after MIGR and from healthy controls. The relationships between insular subregion-based functional connectivity and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAM-A), Automatic Thoughts Questionnaire, and Ruminative Responses Scale scores were examined. One-way analysis of variance exhibited significant differences among the three groups in functional connectivity between the left dorsal anterior insula (dAI) and left superior medial frontal gyrus (SMFG), left dAI and left precuneus, left posterior insula and left gyrus rectus, right ventral anterior insula (vAI) and left posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), right vAI and right inferior frontal gyrus (R-IFG). Further comparisons in regions of interest showed that MDD patients before MIGR showed decreased functional connectivity between the left dAI and left SMFG, left dAI and left precuneus, left posterior insula, and left gyrus rectus, right vAI and left PCC, right vAI and R-IFG relative to those in healthy controls. The strength of functional connectivity between the right dAI and left putamen also exhibited a negative correlation with the HAM-A score in MDD cases before MIGR. MIGR may result in enhanced functional connectivity in insular subregions, thereby potentially increasing the regulatory influence of cognitive reappraisal.