Anterior Gyrus Research Articles

Correlations Between Structural Brain Abnormalities, Cognition and Electroclinical Characteristics in Patients With Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy.

ObjectiveTo explore the structural brain abnormality and its relationship with neuropsychological disorders and electroclinical characteristics in juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) patients.MethodsSixty-seven patients diagnosed with JME and 56 healthy controls were enrolled. All subjects underwent MRI using T1-weighted 3D brain structural images with 1 mm thickness. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and surface-based morphometry (SBM) analyses were performed. They also underwent a series of neuropsychological tests to assess cognitive function. The correlation analyses were conducted between structural changes, neuropsychological outcomes, and electroclinical features.ResultsThe gray matter concentration (GMC) was decreased in the bilateral pre-central and post-central gyrus, right anterior cingulate gyrus, left posterior orbital region, bilateral occipital regions, bilateral hippocampus and bilateral caudate nucleus in the JME groups (corrected P < 0.05). The evaluation of gray matter volume (GMV) showed significant decrease respectively in bilateral pre-central and post-central gyrus, left paracentral lobule, left orbital gyrus, left amygdala, left basal ganglia and left thalamus of JME patients (P < 0.05). The cortex thicknesses of the right inferior temporal gyrus, right insular gyrus, and right cingulate gyrus had negative correlations with the disease duration significantly. At the same time, the whole-brain white matter volume was positively associated with the course of the disease (P < 0.05). Patients with persistent abnormal EEG discharges had significantly less whole-brain gray matter volume than JME patients with normal EEG (P = 0.03). Correlation analyses and linear regression analyses showed that, in addition to the gray matter volumes of frontal and parietal lobe, the temporal lobe, as well as the basal ganglia and thalamus, were also significantly correlated with neuropsychological tests' results (P < 0.05).ConclusionThe JME patients showed subtle structural abnormalities in multiple brain regions that were not only limited to the frontal lobe but also included the thalamus, basal ganglia, parietal lobe, temporal lobe and some occipital cortex, with significant involvement of the primary somatosensory cortex and primary motor cortex. And we significantly demonstrated a correlation between structural abnormalities and cognitive impairment. In addition, the course of disease and abnormal discharges had a specific negative correlation with the structural changes.

Effects of Chronic Hypoxic Environment on Cognitive Function and Neuroimaging Measures in a High-Altitude Population.

ObjectiveThis study aimed to investigate the effects of long-term hypoxic environment exposure on cognitive ability and neuroimaging characteristics in a highland population in China.MethodsHealth system workers in Maduo County (4,300 m above sea level) and Minhe County (1,700 m above sea level) were selected as research participants and divided into a high-altitude (HA) group and low-altitude (LA) group, respectively. Cognitive ability was assessed using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), Verbal Fluency Test (VFT), Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT), Trail Making Test A and B (TMT), Digit Span Test (DST), and Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT). All participants underwent a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan, resting state functional MRI scan, and diffusion tensor imaging to clarify changes in regional gray matter (GM) volume, anisotropy index (FA), local consistency (ReHo), and low-frequency oscillation amplitude (ALFF).ResultsThe HA group had significantly lower MoCA, DST, VFT, RAVLT, and TMT scores compared to the control group. No significant differences were found in SDMT score. Furthermore, compared to the LA group, the HA group had significantly lower GM density of the left olfactory cortex, right medial orbital superior frontal gyrus, bilateral insula, left globus pallidus, and temporal lobe (left superior temporal gyrus temporal pole, bilateral middle temporal gyrus temporal pole, and right middle temporal gyrus). In terms of FA, compared with the LA group, the HA group had lower values for the corpus callosum, corpus callosum knee, bilateral radiative corona, and left internal capsule. The HA group had lower ALFF values of the left cerebellum, left putamen, left orbital inferior frontal gyrus, and left precuneus, but higher ALFF values of the left fusiform gyrus, bilateral inferior temporal gyrus, left orbital superior frontal gyrus and medial superior frontal gyrus, compared to the LA group. There was no significant group difference in ReHo values.ConclusionOur findings suggest that a chronic hypoxic environment can induce extensive cognitive impairment. Decreased GM density in multiple brain regions, damaged nerve fibers, and unbalanced neuronal activity intensity in different brain regions may be the structural and functional basis of cognitive impairment due to hypoxia.

Grey Matter Hypertrophy and Atrophy in Early-Blind Adolescents: A Surface-Based Morphometric Study.

Objective This study is aimed at exploring the regional changes in brain cortical morphology (thickness, volume, and surface area) in the early-blind adolescents (EBAs) by using the surface-based morphometric (SBM) method. Methods High-resolution structural T1-weighted images (T1WI) of 23 early-blind adolescents (EBAs) and 21 age- and gender-matched normal-sighted controls (NSCs) were acquired. Structural indices, including cortical thickness (CT), cortical volume (CV), and surface area (SA), were analyzed by using FreeSurfer software, and the correlations between structural indices and the blindness duration were computed by Pearson correlation analysis. Results Compared to controls, EBAs had significantly reduced CV and SA mainly in the primary visual cortex (V1) and decreased CV in the left vision-related cortices (r-MFC). There were no regions that EBAs had a significantly larger CV or SA than NSCs. EBAs had significantly increased CT in the V1 and strongly involved the visual cortex (right lateral occipital gyrus, LOG.R) and the left superior temporal gyrus (STG.L), while it had decreased CT in the left superior parietal lobule (SPL.L) and the right lingual gyrus (LING.R). Additionally, no correlation was found between cortical morphometric measures and clinical variables in the EBA group. Conclusions SBM is a useful method for detecting human brain structural abnormalities in blindness. The results showed that these structural abnormalities in the visual cortex and visual-related areas outside the occipital cortex in the EBAs not only may be influenced by neurodevelopment, degeneration, plasticity, and so on but also involved the interaction of these factors after the early visual deprivation.

Brain structural alterations detected by an automatic quantified tool as an indicator for MCI diagnosing in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients: A magnetic resonance imaging study

Background and objectivesType 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is an important risk factors for mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI) is an effective and widely used method to investigate brain pathomorphological injury in neural diseases. In present study, we aimed to determine the brain regional alterations that correlated to the incidence of MCI in T2DM patients. Materials and methodsEighteen T2DM patients with and without MCI (DMCI/T2DM) respectively, and eighteen age/gender-matched healthy controls (HC) were recruited. Brain MRI imagines of all the individuals were subjected to automatic quantified brain sub-structure volume segmentation and measurement by Dr. brain ™ software. The relative volume of total gray matter (TGM), total white matter (TWM), and 68 pairs (left and right) of brain sub-structures were compared between the three groups. Cognitive function correlation analysis and receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis were conducted in the MCI-related brain regions in T2DM patients, and we utilized a machine learning method to classify the three group of subjects. Results10 and 27 brain sub-structures with significant relative volumetric alterations were observed in T2DM patients without MCI and T2DM patients with MCI, respectively (p < 0.05). Compared with T2DM patients without MCI, eight critical regions include right anterior orbital gyrus, right calcarine and cerebrum, left cuneus, left entorhinal area, left frontal operculum, right medial orbital gyrus, right occipital pole, left temporal pole had significant lower volumetric ratio in T2DM patients with MCI (p < 0.05). Among them, the decrease of volumetric ratio in several regions had a positive correlation with Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) scores and Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) scores. The classification results conducted based on these regions as features by random forest algorithm yielded good accuracies of T2DM/HC 69.4%, DMCI/HC 72.2% and T2DM/DMCI 69.4%. ConclusionsCertain brain regional structural lesions occurred in patients with T2DM, and this condition was more serious in T2DM patients combined with MCI. A systematic way of segmenting and measuring the whole brain has a potential clinical value for predicting the presence of MCI for T2DM patients.

The orbitofrontal cortex represents advantageous choice in the Iowa gambling task.

A good‐based model, the central neurobiological model of economic decision‐making, proposes that the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) represents binary choice outcome, that is, the chosen good. A good is defined by a group of determinants characterizing the conditions in which the commodity is offered, including commodity type, cost, risk, time delay, and ambiguity. Previous studies have found that the OFC represents the binary choice outcome in decision‐making tasks involving commodity type, cost, risk, and delay. Real‐life decisions are often complex and involve uncertainty, rewards, and penalties; however, whether the OFC represents binary choice outcomes in a complex decision‐making situation, for example, Iowa gambling task (IGT), remains unclear. Here, we propose that the OFC represents binary choice outcome, that is, advantageous choice versus disadvantageous choice, in the IGT. We propose two hypotheses: first, the activity pattern in the human OFC represents an advantageous choice; and second, choice induces an OFC‐related functional network. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging and advanced machine‐learning tools, we found that the OFC represented an advantageous choice in the IGT. The OFC representation of advantageous choice was related to decision‐making performance. Choice modulated the functional connectivity between the OFC and the superior medial gyrus. In conclusion, the OFC represents an advantageous choice during the IGT. In the framework of a good‐based model, the results extend the role of the OFC to complex decision‐making situation when making a binary choice.

Altruistic Social Activity, Depressive Symptoms, and Brain Regional Gray Matter Volume: Voxel-Based Morphometry Analysis From 8,695 Old Adults.

Altruistic social activity, such as giving support to others, has shown protective benefits on dementia risk and cognitive decline. However, the pathological mechanism is unclear. In the present study, we investigated the association between altruistic social activity and brain regional gray matter. Furthermore, to explore the psychological interplay in altruistic social activity, we tested mediating effect of depressive symptoms on brain regional gray matter. We performed a cross-sectional voxel-based morphology (VBM) analysis including 8 695 old adults (72.9 ± 6.1 years) from Japan Prospective Studies Collaboration for Aging and Dementia (JPSC-AD) Cohort. We measured altruistic social activities by self-report questionnaires, depressive symptoms by Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS)-short version. We employed the whole-brain VBM method to detect relevant structural properties related to altruistic social activity. We then performed multiple regression models to detect the mediating effect of depressive symptoms on particular brain regional gray matter volume while adjusting possible physical and social lifestyle covariables. We found that altruistic social activity is associated with larger gray matter volume in posterior insula, middle cingulate gyrus, hippocampus, thalamus, superior temporal gyrus, anterior orbital gyrus, and middle occipital gyrus. Depressive symptoms mediated over 10% on altruistic social activity and hippocampus volume, over 20% on altruistic social activity and cingulate gyrus volume. Our results indicated that altruistic social activity might preserve brain regional gray matter which are sensitive to aging and cognitive decline. Meanwhile, this association may be explained by indirect effect on depressive symptoms, suggesting that altruistic social activity may mitigate the neuropathology of dementia.

White Matter Network Disruption Is Associated With Melancholic Features in Major Depressive Disorder.

BackgroundThe efficacy and prognosis of major depressive disorder (MDD) are limited by its heterogeneity. MDD with melancholic features is an important subtype of MDD. The present study aimed to reveal the white matter (WM) network changes in melancholic depression.Materials and MethodsTwenty-three first-onset, untreated melancholic MDD, 59 non-melancholic MDD patients and 63 health controls underwent diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) scans. WM network analysis based on graph theory and support vector machine (SVM) were used for image data analysis.ResultsCompared with HC, small-worldness was reduced and abnormal node attributes were in the right orbital inferior frontal gyrus, left orbital superior frontal gyrus, right caudate nucleus, right orbital superior frontal gyrus, right orbital middle frontal gyrus, left rectus gyrus, and left median cingulate and paracingulate gyrus of MDD patients. Compared with non-melancholic MDD, small-worldness was reduced and abnormal node attributes were in right orbital inferior frontal gyrus, left orbital superior frontal gyrus and right caudate nucleus of melancholic MDD. For correlation analysis, the 7th item score of the HRSD-17 (work and interest) was positively associated with increased node betweenness centrality (aBC) values in right orbital inferior frontal gyrus, while negatively associated with the decreased aBC in left orbital superior frontal gyrus. SVM analysis results showed that abnormal aBC in right orbital inferior frontal gyrus and left orbital superior frontal gyrus showed the highest accuracy of 81.0% (69/83), the sensitivity of 66.3%, and specificity of 85.2% for discriminating MDD patients with or without melancholic features.ConclusionThere is a significant difference in WM network changes between MDD patients with and without melancholic features.

Modulation of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation on default mode network in patients with primary insomnia

To explore the modulation of transcutaneous auricular vagus nerve stimulation (taVNS) on default mode network (DMN) in patients with primary insomnia (PI). A total of 22 PI patients (one patient dropped off and two patients were excluded) were included and treated with taVNS. The bilateral auricular points of Xin (CO15) and Shen (CO10) were selected and treated with disperse-dense wave at frequency of 4 Hz/20 Hz, the intensity was based on the patient's tolerance. taVNS was given once in the morning and once in the evening for 30 minutes each time. The treatment lasted for at least 5 days a week for 4 weeks. At the same time, 16 healthy subjects matched with gender and age were recruited. The Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) score was evaluated before and after treatment in PI patients. The resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) data of PI patients before and after treatment and healthy subjects at baseline period were collected to observe the effect of taVNS on the functional connection (FC) between posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and whole brain. After treatment, the total score of PSQI in PI patients was lower than that before treatment (P<0.01). Compared with healthy subjects, the FC of the left PCC was increased either with the left orbital superior frontal gyrus or with left middle frontal gyrus (P<0.001), and the FC between right PCC and left middle frontal gyrus was increased in PI patients before treatment (P<0.001). Compared before treatment, the FC between left PCC and left middle frontal gyrus was decreased (P<0.05), and the FC of the right PCC was decreased either with the right medial prefrontal cortex or with the left middle frontal gyrus in PI patients after treatment (P<0.001, P<0.01). taVNS can modulate the FC between anterior and posterior DMN, and between DMN and cognitive control network of PI patients, which may be one of the brain effect mechanisms of taVNS in the treatment of PI patients.

Altered Brain Activity in Patients With Comitant Strabismus Detected by Analysis of the Fractional Amplitude of Low-Frequency Fluctuation: A Resting-State Functional MRI Study.

More and more studies showed that strabismus is not simply an ocular disease, but a neuro-ophthalmology disease. To analyze potential changes in brain activity and their relationship to behavioral performance in comitant strabismus patients and healthy controls. Our study recruited 28 patients with comitant strabismus and 28 people with matched weight, age range, and sex ratio as healthy controls. Using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging, we evaluated fALFF to compare spontaneous brain activity between comitant strabismus and healthy controls. We did hospital anxiety and depression scale questionnaires for these patients. We found significantly lower fALFF value in comitant strabismus patients compared with controls in the left frontal superior medial gyrus and the right middle cingulum. In the latter region, fALFF was significantly negatively correlated with the hospital anxiety and depression scale, as well as the duration of disease. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis indicated that the fALFF method has clear potential for the diagnosis of comitant strabismus patients. These results revealed abnormal spontaneous activity in two brain regions of comitant strabismus patients, which may indicate underlying pathologic mechanisms and may help to advance clinical treatment.

Decreased Interhemispheric Functional Connectivity and Its Associations with Clinical Correlates following Traumatic Brain Injury.

Objective To explore the interhemispheric functional coordination following traumatic brain injury (TBI) and its association with posttraumatic anxiety and depressive symptoms. Methods This was a combination of a retrospective cohort study and a cross-sectional observational study. We investigated the functional coordination between hemispheres by voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC). Grey matter volumes were examined by voxel-based morphometry (VBM), and microstructural integrity of the corpus callosum (CC) was assessed by diffusion tension imaging (DTI). The anxiety and depressive symptoms were evaluated with the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Results The VMHC values of the bilateral middle temporal gyrus (MTG) and orbital middle frontal gyrus (MFG) were significantly decreased in TBI patients versus the healthy controls. Weakened homotopic functional connectivity (FC) in the bilateral orbital MFG is moderate positively correlated with anxiety and depressive symptoms. The white matter integrity in the CC was extensively reduced in TBI patients. In the receiver operating characteristic analysis, the VMHC value of the orbital MFG could distinguish TBI from HC with an area under the curve of 0.939 (sensitivity of 1 and specificity of 0.867). Conclusion TBI disrupts the interhemispheric functional and structural connection, which is correlated with posttraumatic mood disorders. These findings may serve as a clinical indicator for diagnosis.

Structural and functional biomarkers of the insula subregions predict sex differences in aggression subscales.

Aggression is a common and complex social behavior that is associated with violence and mental diseases. Although sex differences were observed in aggression, the neural mechanism for the effect of sex on aggression behaviors remains unclear, especially in specific subscales of aggression. In this study, we investigated the effects of sex on aggression subscales, gray matter volume (GMV), and functional connectivity (FC) of each insula subregion as well as the correlation of aggression subscales with GMV and FC. This study found that sex significantly influenced (a) physical aggression, anger, and hostility; (b) the GMV of all insula subregions; and (c) the FC of the dorsal agranular insula (dIa), dorsal dysgranular insula (dId), and ventral dysgranular and granular insula (vId_vIg). Additionally, mediation analysis revealed that the GMV of bilateral dIa mediates the association between sex and physical aggression, and left dId–left medial orbital superior frontal gyrus FC mediates the relationship between sex and anger. These findings revealed the neural mechanism underlying the sex differences in aggression subscales and the important role of the insula in aggression differences between males and females. This finding could potentially explain sexual dimorphism in neuropsychiatric disorders and improve dysregulated aggressive behavior.

Disrupted Brain Functional Network Topology in Essential Tremor Patients With Poor Sleep Quality.

Sleep disturbances, especially poor quality of sleep (QoS), are common among essential tremor (ET) patients and may have adverse effects on their quality of life, but the etiology driving the poor QoS in these individuals remains inadequately understood. Few data are available on the neuroimaging alterations of ET with poor QoS. Thirty-eight ET patients with poor QoS (SleET), 48 ET patients with normal QoS (NorET), and 80 healthy controls (HCs) participated in this study. All subjects underwent a 3.0-T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan for resting-state functional MRI data collection. Then, the whole-brain functional connectome was constructed by thresholding the partial correlation matrices of 116 brain regions. Graph theory and network-based statistical analyses were performed. We used a non-parametric permutation test for group comparisons of topological metrics. Partial correlation analyses between the topographical features and clinical characteristics were conducted. The SleET and NorET groups exhibited decreased clustering coefficients, global efficiency, and local efficiency and increased the characteristic path length. Both of these groups also showed reduced nodal degree and nodal efficiency in the left superior dorsolateral frontal gyrus, superior frontal medial gyrus (SFGmed), posterior cingulate gyrus (PCG), lingual gyrus, superior occipital gyrus, right middle occipital gyrus, and right fusiform gyrus. The SleET group additionally presented reduced nodal degrees and nodal efficiency in the right SFGmed relative to the NorET and HC groups, and nodal efficiency in the right SFGmed was negatively correlated with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index score. The observed impaired topographical organizations of functional brain networks within the central executive network (CEN), default mode network (DMN), and visual network serve to further our knowledge of the complex interactions between tremor and sleep, adding to our understanding of the underlying neural mechanisms of ET with poor QoS.

Cerebral Blood Flow Pattern Changes in Unilateral Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss.

ObjectiveThis study analyzed the differences in the cerebral blood flow (CBF) between unilateral Sudden Sensorineural Hearing Loss (SSNHL) patients and healthy controls (HCs). We also investigated CBF differences in auditory-related areas in patients with left- and right-sided SSNHL (lSSNHL and rSSNHL) and HCs. We further explore the correlation between unilateral SSNHL characteristics and changes in the CBF.Methods36 patients with unilateral SSNHL (15 males and 21 females, 40.39 ± 13.42 years) and 36 HCs (15 males and 21 females, 40.39 ± 14.11 years) were recruited. CBF images were collected and analyzed using arterial spin labeling (ASL). CereFlow software was used for the post-processing of the ASL data to obtain the CBF value of 246 subregions within brainnetome atlas (BNA). The Two-sample t-test was used to compare CBF differences between SSNHL patients and HCs. One-way ANOVA or Kruskal-Wallis test was used to compare the CBF difference of auditory-related areas among the three groups (lSSNHL, rSSNHL, and HCs). Then, the correlation between CBF changes and specific clinical characteristics were calculated.ResultsThe SSNHL patients exhibited decreased CBF in the bilateral middle frontal gyrus (MFG, MFG_7_1 and MFG_7_3), the contralateral precentral gyrus (PrG, PrG_6_3) and the bilateral superior parietal lobule (SPL, bilateral SPL_5_1, SPL_5_2, and ipsilateral SPL_5_4), p < 0.0002. Compared with HCs, unilateral SSNHL patients exhibited increased rCBF in the bilateral orbital gyrus (OrG, OrG_6_5), the bilateral inferior temporal gyrus (ITG, contralateral ITG_7_1 and bilateral ITG_7_7), p < 0.0002. lSSNHL showed abnormal CBF in left BA21 caudal (p = 0.02) and left BA37 dorsolateral (p = 0.047). We found that the CBF in ipsilateral MFG_7_1 of SSNHL patients was positively correlated with tinnitus Visual Analog Scale (VAS) score (r = 0.485, p = 0.008).ConclusionOur preliminary study explored CBF pattern changes in unilateral SSNHL patients in auditory-related areas and non-auditory areas, suggesting that there may exist reduced attention and some sensory compensation in patients with SSNHL. These findings could advance our understanding of the potential pathophysiology of unilateral SSNHL.

Identifying Changes of Brain Regional Homogeneity and Cingulo-Opercular Network Connectivity in First-Episode, Drug-Naïve Depressive Patients With Suicidal Ideation.

ObjectiveAdult patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) may not actively reveal their suicidal ideation (SI). Therefore, this study is committed to finding the alterations in the cingulo-opercular network (CON) that are closely related to SI with multi-imaging methods, thus providing neuroimaging basis for SI.MethodA total of 198 participants (129 MDD patients and 69 healthy controls) were recruited and evaluated with the Montgomery–Asberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS). The healthy individuals formed the HC group, while the MDD patients were subdivided into no SI MDD (NSI, n = 32), mild SI MDD (MSI, n = 64), and severe SI MDD (SSI, n = 33) according to their MADRS item 10. We obtained MRI data of all participants and applied regional homogeneity (ReHo) analysis to verify a previous finding that links CON abnormality to SI. In addition, we employed the structural covariance network (SCN) analysis to investigate the correlation between abnormal structural connectivity of CON and SI severity.ResultsCompared to those of the HC group, MDD ReHo values and gray matter volume (GMV) were consistently found abnormal in CON. ReHo values and GMV of the right orbital inferior frontal gyrus (ORBinf.R) in the MDD group decreased with the increase of SI. Compared to the HC group, the MDD patients showed enhanced structural connectivity of three pairs of brain regions in CON [ACC.L–left superior frontal gyrus (SFG.L), SFG.L–left middle temporal gyrus (MTG.L), and the SFG.L–left post-central gyrus (PoCG.L)]. Compared with that of the NSI and MSI groups, the structural connectivity of three pairs of brain regions in CON is enhanced in the SSI groups [ORBinf.L–right ventral posterior cingulate gyrus (VPCC.R), VPCC.R–SFG.R, and SFG.R–PoCG.R].ConclusionOur findings showed the distinctive ReHo, GMV, and SCN pattern of CON in MDD patients with SI; and with the severity of suicide, abnormal brain regions increased. Our finding suggested that MDD patients with different severity of SI have different neuroimaging changes.

Sex-Based Differences in Functional Brain Activity During Working Memory in Survivors of Pediatric Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia.

BackgroundLong-term survivors of pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia are at elevated risk for neurocognitive deficits and corresponding brain dysfunction. This study examined sex-based differences in functional neuroimaging outcomes in acute lymphoblastic leukemia survivors treated with chemotherapy alone.MethodsFunctional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and neurocognitive testing were obtained in 123 survivors (46% male; median [min-max] age = 14.2 years [8.3-26.5 years]; time since diagnosis = 7.7 years [5.1-12.5 years]) treated on the St. Jude Total XV treatment protocol. Participants performed the n-back working memory task in a 3 T scanner. Functional neuroimaging data were processed (realigned, slice time corrected, normalized, smoothed) and analyzed using statistical parametric mapping with contrasts for 1-back and 2-back conditions, which reflect varying degrees of working memory and task load. Group-level fMRI contrasts were stratified by sex and adjusted for age and methotrexate exposure. Statistical tests were 2-sided (P < .05 statistical significance threshold).ResultsRelative to males, female survivors exhibited less activation (ie, reduced blood oxygen dependent–level signals) in the right parietal operculum, supramarginal gyrus and inferior occipital gyrus, and bilateral superior frontal medial gyrus during increased working memory load (family-wise error–corrected P = .004 to .008, adjusting for age and methotrexate dose). Female survivors were slower to correctly respond to the 2-back condition than males (P < .05), though there were no differences in overall accuracy. Performance accuracy was negatively correlated with fMRI activity in female survivors (Pearson’s r = −0.39 to −0.29, P = .001 to .02), but not in males.ConclusionsThese results suggest the working memory network is more impaired in female survivors than male survivors, which may contribute to ongoing functional deficits.

Cognitive reappraisal inventiveness in emotion regulation

<p id=C9>Emotion regulation is an essential ability to maintain individual mental health and life happiness. Cognitive reappraisal is one of the most effective emotion regulation strategies. Cognitive reappraisal inventiveness is a central component of the generation process in the context of cognitive reappraisal. It is the ability to create multiple and different reappraisals for negative situations. The total number and diversity of cognitive reappraisal strategies produced by individuals in cognitive reappraisal (i.e., the fluency and flexibility of cognitive reappraisal strategies) are taken as indicators of cognitive reappraisal inventiveness. A high creative cognitive reappraisal is an effective premise for ensuring individual emotional regulation. <p id=C10>Here, we review recent studies on cognitive reappraisal inventiveness. A large body of research demonstrates that inventiveness in cognitive reappraisal is positively correlated with divergent thinking and openness, but not with neuroticism and trait anger. Creative cognitive reappraisal strategies, or high-level cognitive reconstruction using metaphor and analogy, are more conducive to the regulation of negative emotions, and the superior regulatory effect of creative cognitive reappraisal can be mediated by amygdala-based salient emotional arousal, hippocampus-based new association formation, and striatum-based mental rewarding to produce to a novel and positive experience that can be kept in long-term memory. These results are consistent with the creative reconstruction theory of cognitive reappraisal. The theory holds that an individual’s response to negative situations comes not from the event itself, but from their view of the event. Emotional situations are viewed as problems that can be solved by a variety of reappraisal styles. To regulate negative emotions, it is necessary to produce a novel and effective psychological representation of the emotional situation or event, modifying the initial maladaptive representation. Creative individuals may be more likely to find effective reappraisals. However, other studies claim that there is no correlation between cognitive reappraisal inventiveness and reappraisal effectiveness. Thus, no consistent conclusion about the relationship between cognitive reappraisal inventiveness and reappraisal effectiveness has yet been reached. <p id=C11>By comparing the neural mechanisms of cognitive reappraisal inventiveness (using the Reappraisal Inventiveness Test, RIT) and traditional creativity (using the Alternative Use Test, AUT), it was found that both, the RIT and AUT, exhibited a comparatively strong increase in alpha power at prefrontal sites, indicating that they have similar brain activation patterns; however, the activation degree of cognitive reappraisal inventiveness is higher in the middle region of the prefrontal cortex, whereas the activation degree of traditional creativity is higher in the ventral prefrontal apex region. The regions of brain activation of the two forms of creativity overlap primarily in the right cerebellum, central anterior gyrus, central posterior gyrus, and anterior cingulate cortex, especially in the left prefrontal network. Cognitive reappraisal inventiveness activates the right superior frontal gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, right middle temporal gyrus, and left and right angular gyrus. Traditional creativity tasks primarily activate the left superior frontal gyrus, left inferior temporal gyrus, and left inferior frontal gyrus. This shows that traditional creativity and cognitive reappraisal inventiveness have common cognitive processing needs, including inhibiting strong responses, switching between different perspectives, and controlling memory retrieval; however, the process of cognitive reappraisal inventiveness requires the specific executive function of emotional representation. <p id=C12>Future research may expand the group of participants by selecting participants with emotional disorders (e.g., depression and anxiety disorders), improve the measurement methods of cognitive reappraisal inventiveness, explore the situational and internal factors that affect cognitive reappraisal inventiveness (e.g., positive metaphor, trait anxiety, self-efficacy, and humorous personality), and further reveal how the neural mechanisms of the special process, or reaction mechanism of cognitive reappraisal inventiveness, differ from traditional creativity.

Association between resting-state functional connectivity of amygdala subregions and peripheral pro-inflammation cytokines levels in bipolar disorder.

The pathophysiological mechanisms of bipolar disorder (BD) are not completely known, and systemic inflammation and immune dysregulation are considered as risk factors. Previous neuroimaging studies have proved metabolic, structural and functional abnormalities of the amygdala in BD, suggesting the vital role of amygdala in BD patients. This study aimed to test the underlying neural mechanism of inflammation-induced functional connectivity (FC) in the amygdala subregions of BD patients. Resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) was used to delineate the amygdala FC from two pairs of amygdala seed regions (the bilateral lateral and medial amygdala) in 51 unmedicated BD patients and 69 healthy controls (HCs). The levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines including interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α were measured in the serum. The correlation between abnormal levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines and FC values were calculated in BD patients. The BD group exhibited decreased FC between the right medial amygdala and bilateral medial frontal cortex (MFC), and decreased FC between the left medial amygdala and the left temporal pole (TP), right orbital inferior frontal gyrus compared with HCs. The BD patients had higher levels of TNF-α than HCs. Correlation analysis showed negative correlation between the TNF-α level and abnormal FC of the right medial amygdala-bilateral MFC; and negative correlation between TNF-α levels and abnormal FC of the left medial amygdala-left TP in BD group. These findings suggest that dysfunctional and immune dysregulation between the amygdala and the frontotemporal circuitry might play a critical role in the pathogenesis of BD.

Characterizing multiscale modular structures in medication-free obsessive-compulsive disorder patients with no comorbidity.

Brain networks exhibit signatures of modular structure, which maintains a fine trade‐off between wiring cost and efficiency of information transmission. Alterations in modular structure have been found in patients with obsessive–compulsive disorder (OCD). However, previous studies were focused on a single scale (i.e., modularity or intra/intermodular connectivity) for investigation. Here, we recruited 92 OCD patients and 90 healthy controls. A comprehensive analysis was performed on modular architecture alterations in the voxelwise functional connectome at the “global” (modularity), “meso” (modular segregation and within‐ and between‐module connections), and “local” (participation coefficients, PC) scales. We also examined the correlation between modular structure metrics and clinical symptoms. The findings revealed that (1) there was no significant group difference in global modularity; (2) both primary modules (visual network, sensorimotor network) and high‐order modules (dorsal attention network, frontoparietal network) exhibited lower modular segregation in OCD patients, which was mainly driven by increased numbers of between‐module connections; and (3) OCD patients showed higher PC in several connectors including the bilateral middle occipital gyri, left medial orbital frontal gyrus, left superior frontal gyrus, left posterior cingulate gyrus, right superior temporal gyrus and right middle frontal gyrus, and lower PC in the right lingual gyrus. Moreover, these alterations in modular structure were associated with clinical symptoms in patients. Our findings provide further insights into the involvement of different modules in functional network dysfunction in OCD from a connectomic perspective and suggest a synergetic mechanism of module interactions that may be related to the pathophysiology of OCD.

Application of Mass Multivariate Analysis on Neuroimaging Data Sets for Precision Diagnostics of Depression.

We used the Mass Multivariate Method on structural, resting-state, and task-related fMRI data from two groups of patients with schizophrenia and depression in order to define several regions of significant relevance to the differential diagnosis of those conditions. The regions included the left planum polare (PP), the left opercular part of the inferior frontal gyrus (OpIFG), the medial orbital gyrus (MOrG), the posterior insula (PIns), and the parahippocampal gyrus (PHG). This study delivered evidence that a multimodal neuroimaging approach can potentially enhance the validity of psychiatric diagnoses. Structural, resting-state, or task-related functional MRI modalities cannot provide independent biomarkers. Further studies need to consider and implement a model of incremental validity combining clinical measures with different neuroimaging modalities to discriminate depressive disorders from schizophrenia. Biological signatures of disease on the level of neuroimaging are more likely to underpin broader nosological entities in psychiatry.

Relationship between cerebral blood flow reduction patterns on scintigraphy and nonmotor symptoms in new-onset Lewy body disease.

This study aimed to investigate the relationship between patterns of reduced cerebral blood flow (CBF) evaluated by means of 123I-N-isopropyl-p-iodoamphetamine ([123I]IMP) scintigraphy and nonmotor symptoms in new-onset Lewy body disease (Parkinson's disease and dementia with Lewy bodies [DLB]). Twenty-four patients diagnosed with new-onset Parkinson's disease or DLB underwent [123I]IMP CBF scintigraphy at St. Marianna Medical University Hospital between January 1, 2010, and March 30, 2018. The reductions in CBF in various brain regions were analyzed using the three-dimensional stereotactic surface projection method and were compared to standard database values, yielding extent values (%). The extent values were evaluated in relation to the presence/absence of motor or nonmotor symptoms such as visual hallucinations, auditory hallucinations, delirium, depression, delusions, and dementia. The extent value was 100% in the angular, supramarginal, and lingual gyri; 95% in the orbital gyri; and 92.6% in the fusiform gyri. The extent value in patients without hallucinations and those with visual hallucinations was 41.2% and 54.3%, respectively, in the frontal lobe (p = 0.02) and 33.3% and 51.0%, respectively, in the medial prefrontal gyri (p = 0.02). Age-adjusted multivariate analysis showed that extent values in the frontal lobe were associated with visual hallucinations (odds ratio: 1.09, 95% confidence interval 1.00-1.18, p = 0.04). The above results show that the CBF is reduced in several areas of the cerebral cortex and suggest an association between reduced blood flow in the frontal lobe and the appearance of visual hallucinations in patients with new-onset DLB.