Brain Resting-state Functional Connectivity Research Articles

Dynamic connectivity patterns of resting-state brain functional networks in healthy individuals after acute alcohol intake.

AimsCurrently, there are only a few studies concerning brain functional alterations after acute alcohol exposure, and the majority of existing studies attach more importance to the spatial properties of brain function without considering the temporal properties. The current study adopted sliding window to investigate the resting-state brain networks in healthy volunteers after acute alcohol intake and to explore the dynamic changes in network connectivity.Materials and methodsTwenty healthy volunteers were enrolled in this study. Blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) data prior to drinking were obtained as control, while that 0.5 and 1 h after drinking were obtained as the experimental group. Reoccurring functional connectivity patterns (states) were determined following group independent component analysis (ICA), sliding window analysis and k-means clustering. Between-group comparisons were performed with respect to the functional connectivity states fractional windows, mean dwell time, and the number of transitions.ResultsThree optimal functional connectivity states were identified. The fractional windows and mean dwell time of 0.5 h group and 1 h group increased in state 3, while the fraction window and mean dwell time of 1 h group decreased in state 1. State 1 is characterized by strong inter-network connections between basal ganglia network (BGN) and sensorimotor network (SMN), BGN and cognitive executive network (CEN), and default mode network (DMN) and visual network (VN). However, state 3 is distinguished by relatively weak intra-network connections in SMN, VN, CEN, and DMN. State 3 was thought to be a characteristic connectivity pattern of the drunk brain. State 1 was believed to represent the brain’s main connection pattern when awake. Such dynamic changes in brain network connectivity were consistent with participants’ subjective feelings after drinking.ConclusionThe current study reveals the dynamic change in resting-state brain functional network connectivity before and after acute alcohol intake. It was discovered that there might be relatively independent characteristic functional network connection patterns under intoxication, and the corresponding patterns characterize the clinical manifestations of volunteers. As a valuable imaging biomarker, dynamic functional network connectivity (dFNC) offers a new approach and basis for further explorations on brain network alterations after alcohol consumption and the alcohol-related mechanisms for neurological damage.

The role of basal ganglia network in neural plasticity in neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder with myelitis

ObjectivesTo explore the alternation of the brain baseline activity in neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) patients after myelitis, and characterize the representation of the neural plasticity process. MethodsClinical evaluation and resting-state fMRI were obtained from 20 NMOSD patients with myelitis and 20 healthy controls, matched in gender and age. Resting-state networks (RSNs) were identified through independent component analysis (ICA), and functional connectivity (FC) intra-RSNs and between region-of-interest (ROI) seed to whole-brain voxels were analyzed. Between-group comparisons and correlations with motor performance were also assessed. ResultsA total of 14 main functional RSNs were identified. Group comparison of intra-network FCs revealed that FC strengths increased in basal ganglia network (BGN) and left frontoparietal network, decreased in sensorimotor network and default mode network in NMOSD. Better motor performance was found closely correlated with higher FC of BGN. Additionally, remarkably increased FC between caudate in BGN with cerebellum, frontal lobe and parietal lobe was discovered in further ROI-based whole-brain voxels FC analysis. ConclusionsNMOSD patients presented wide brain resting-state functional connectivity alterations after myelitis, and BGN might be highly active in the process of neural plasticity in chronic stage of NMOSD. Besides, understanding neural plasticity representation, especially that in NMOSD patients after myelitis, might have important applications in monitoring and designing rehabilitative approaches.

Neural mechanisms underlying empathy during alcohol abstinence: evidence from connectome-based predictive modeling.

Empathy impairments have been linked to alcohol dependence even during abstinent periods. Nonetheless, the neural underpinnings of abstinence-induced empathy deficits remain unclear. In this study, we employed connectome-based predictive modeling (CPM) by using whole brain resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) to predict empathy capability of abstinent alcoholics (n = 47) versus healthy controls (n = 59). In addition, the generalizability of the predictive model (i.e., one group treated as a training dataset and another one treated as a test dataset) was performed to determine whether healthy controls and abstinent alcoholics share common neural fingerprints of empathy. Our results showed that abstinent alcoholics relative to healthy controls had decreased empathy capacity. Although no predictive models were observed in the abstinence group, we found that individual empathy scores in the healthy group can be reliably predicted by functional connectivity from the default mode network (DMN) to the sensorimotor network (SMN), occipital network, and cingulo-opercular network (CON). Moreover, the identified connectivity fingerprints of healthy controls could be generalized to predict empathy in the abstinence group. These findings indicate that neural circuits accounting for empathy may be disrupted by alcohol use and the impaired degree varies greatly among abstinent individuals. The large inter-individual variation may impede identification of the predictive model of empathy in alcohol abstainers.

Functional Connectivity in Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder - Systematic Review of Literature and Study on Heterosexual Males

Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder (CSBD) was recently included in ICD-11 as a new impulse control disorder. While this certainly improved the diagnosis of CSBD, the underlying brain mechanisms of the disorder are still poorly understood. Better description of brain functional deficits is required. Here we investigate patterns of resting-state brain functional connectivity (fc) in a group of CSBD patients compared to a group of healthy controls (HC). A MATLAB toolbox named CONN functional connectivity toolbox was employed to study patterns of brain connectivity. Also correlation between fc and severity of CSBD symptoms and other psychological characteristics, assessed with questionnaires, were examined. We collected resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data from 81 heterosexual males: 52 CSBD patients and 29 HC. We found increased fc between left inferior frontal gyrus and right planum temporale and polare, right and left insula, right Supplementary Motor Cortex (SMA), right parietal operculum, and also between left supramarginal gyrus and right planum polare, and between left orbitofrontal cortex and left insula when compared CSBD and HC. The decreased fc was observed between left middle temporal gyrus and bilateral insula and right parietal operculum. No significant correlations between psychological questionnaires assessing CSBD symptoms and resting-state functional connectivity were observed. Results from our study extend the knowledge of brain mechanisms differentiating CSBD from HC. The study was the first large sample study showing 5 distinct functional brain networks differentiating CSBD patients and HC. However, the sample was limited only to heterosexual men, in the future a greater diversity in studied sample and longitudinal studies are needed. Also, the present study examined functional connectivity at the level of regions of interest (ROIs). Future studies could verify these results by examining functional connectivity at the voxel level. The identified functional brain networks differentiate CSBD from HC and provide some support for incentive sensitization as mechanism underlying CSBD symptoms. The correlation between psychological assessment (ie, severity of CSBD, depression and anxiety symptoms, level of impulsivity and compulsivity) and resting-state functional connectivity need further examination. Draps M, Adamus S, Wierzba M, et al. Functional Connectivity in Compulsive Sexual Behavior Disorder - Systematic Review of Literature and Study on Heterosexual Males. J Sex Med 2022;19:1463-1471.

Arousal impacts distributed hubs modulating the integration of brain functional connectivity

Even when subjects are at rest, it is thought that brain activity is organized into distinct brain states during which reproducible patterns are observable. Yet, it is unclear how to define or distinguish different brain states. A potential source of brain state variation is arousal, which may play a role in modulating functional interactions between brain regions. Here, we use simultaneous resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and pupillometry to study the impact of arousal levels indexed by pupil area on the integration of large-scale brain networks. We employ a novel sparse dictionary learning-based method to identify hub regions participating in between-network integration stratified by arousal, by measuring k-hubness, the number (k) of functionally overlapping networks in each brain region. We show evidence of a brain-wide decrease in between-network integration and inter-subject variability at low relative to high arousal, with differences emerging across regions of the frontoparietal, default mode, motor, limbic, and cerebellum networks. State-dependent changes in k-hubness relate to the actual patterns of network integration within these hubs, suggesting a brain state transition from high to low arousal characterized by global synchronization and reduced network overlaps. We demonstrate that arousal is not limited to specific brain areas known to be directly associated with arousal regulation, but instead has a brain-wide impact that involves high-level between-network communications. Lastly, we show a systematic change in pairwise fMRI signal correlation structures in the arousal state-stratified data, and demonstrate that the choice of global signal regression could result in different conclusions in conventional graph theoretical analysis and in the analysis of k-hubness when studying arousal modulations. Together, our results suggest the presence of global and local effects of pupil-linked arousal modulations on resting state brain functional connectivity.

Association between resting-state functional brain connectivity and gene expression is altered in autism spectrum disorder

Gene expression covaries with brain activity as measured by resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). However, it is unclear how genomic differences driven by disease state can affect this relationship. Here, we integrate from the ABIDE I and II imaging cohorts with datasets of gene expression in brains of neurotypical individuals and individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) with regionally matched brain activity measurements from fMRI datasets. We identify genes linked with brain activity whose association is disrupted in ASD. We identified a subset of genes that showed a differential developmental trajectory in individuals with ASD compared with controls. These genes are enriched in voltage-gated ion channels and inhibitory neurons, pointing to excitation-inhibition imbalance in ASD. We further assessed differences at the regional level showing that the primary visual cortex is the most affected region in ASD. Our results link disrupted brain expression patterns of individuals with ASD to brain activity and show developmental, cell type, and regional enrichment of activity linked genes.

Functional Connectome Analysis in Mild Cognitive Impairment: Comparing Alzheimer's Disease Continuum and Suspected Non-Alzheimer Pathology.

Introduction: Research in brain resting-state functional connectivity (FC) analysis in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) has conflicting results. This work intends to find differences in resting-state FC of 2 groups of MCI subjects due to Alzheimer's disease (MCI-AD) continuum or to suspected non-Alzheimer pathology (MCI-SNAP). Materials and Methods: Ninety-two subjects older than 55 years were enrolled. MCI and controls were grouped using clinical dementia rating and neuropsychological data. Cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers were collected from MCI subjects, resulting in 32 MCI-AD, 25 MCI-SNAP, and 35 controls. A region of interest (ROI)-to-ROI analysis was carried out looking at inter- and intranetwork interactions selecting the following networks: default mode network (DMN), salience network (SN), visuospatial network (VN), and executive network. Pearson correlation coefficients, converted to Z-scores, were compared by T-tests with alpha set to 0.05, and false discovery rate corrected. Results: Groups were similar in age, education, and demographic measures, there were no differences in neuropsychological data between the MCI groups. The ROI-to-ROI analysis of MCI-AD versus MCI-SNAP showed no differences. MCI-AD versus controls showed decreased FC between ROIs of the SN and between ROIs from SN and VN. MCI-SNAP versus controls showed increased FC between an ROI of DMN and VN. Discussion: SN, DMN, and VN are multimodal networks with high value/high cost and may be more vulnerable to AD pathogenic processes. SN and VN were affected in the MCI-AD group, with maintained anticorrelation between DMN and VN. This may indicate subthreshold DMN dysfunction. The result in MCI-SNAP, although discrete, reflects a rearrangement of brain FC, as DMN and VN are expected to be anticorrelated. More research is necessary to confirm these findings.

Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain Moderates the Association between Sleep Quality and Dorsostriatal-Sensorimotor Resting State Functional Connectivity in Community-Dwelling Older Adults

Aging is associated with poor sleep quality, and greater chronic pain prevalence with age-related changes in brain function as potential underlying mechanisms. The following cross-sectional study aimed to determine whether self-reported chronic musculoskeletal pain in community-dwelling older adults moderates the association between sleep quality and resting state functional brain connectivity (rsFC). Community-dwelling older individuals (mean age=73.29 years) part of the NEPAL study who completed the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and an rsFC scan were included (n=48) in the present investigation. To that end, we tested the effect of chronic pain-by-PSQI interaction on rsFC among atlas-based brain regions-of-interest, controlling for age and sex. A significant network connecting the bilateral putamen and left caudate with bilateral precentral gyrus, postcentral gyrus and juxtapositional lobule cortex, survived global multiple comparisons (FDR; q<0.05) and threshold-free network-based-statistics. Greater PSQI scores were significantly associated with greater dorsostriatal-sensorimotor rsFC in the no-pain group, suggesting that a state of somatomotor hyperarousal may be associated with poorer sleep quality in this group. However, in the pain group greater PSQI scores were associated with less dorsostriatal-sensorimotor rsFC, possibly due to a shift of striatal functions toward regulation sensorimotor aspects of the pain experience, and/or aberrant cortico-striatal loops in the presence of chronic pain. This preliminary investigation advances knowledge about the neurobiology underlying the associations between chronic pain and sleep in community-dwelling older adults that may contribute to the development of effectitractve therapies to decrease disability in geriatric populations. This work was supported by the National Institutes of Aging (NIAK01AG048259, R01AG059809, R01AG067757, and T32AG049673). A portion of this work was performed in the McKnight Brain Institute at the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory's Advanced Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Spectroscopy (AMRIS) Facility, which is supported by National Science Foundation Cooperative Agreement No. DMR-1644779 and DMR-1157490, and the State of Florida and the University of Florida Claude D. Pepper Older Americans Independence Center.

Robot-assisted gait training with auditory and visual cues in Parkinson's disease: A randomized controlled trial

Robot-assisted gait training (RAGT) may have beneficial effects on Parkinson's disease (PD); however, the evidence to date is inconsistent. This study compared the effects of RAGT and treadmill training (TT) on gait speed, dual-task gait performance, and changes in resting-state brain functional connectivity in individuals with PD. In this prospective, single-center, randomized controlled trial with a parallel two-group design, 44 participants were randomly allocated to undergo 12 sessions (3 times per week for 4 weeks) of RAGT or TT. The primary outcome was gait speed on the 10-m walk test (10mWT) under comfortable walking conditions. Secondary outcomes included dual-task interference on gait speed, balance, disability scores, fear of falling, freezing of gait, and brain functional connectivity changes. All clinical outcomes were measured before (T0), immediately after (T1), and 1 month after treatment (T2). The mean (SD) age of the participants was 68.1 (8.1) years, and mean disease duration 108.0 (61.5) months. The groups did not significantly differ on the 10mWT (T0-T1, p=0.726, Cohen's d=0.133; T0-T2, p=0.778, Cohen's d=0.121). We observed a significant time-by-group interaction (F=3.236, p=0.045) for cognitive dual-task interference, controlling for confounders. After treatment, coupling was decreased to a greater extent with RAGT than TT between the visual and dorsal attention networks (p=0.015), between bilateral fronto-parietal networks (p=0.043), and between auditory and medial temporal networks (p=0.018). Improvement in cognitive dual-task interference was positively correlated with enhanced visual and medial temporal network coupling overall (r=0.386, p=0.029) and with TT (r=0.545, p=0.024) but not RAGT (r=0.151, p=0.590). RAGT was not superior to intensity-matched TT on improving gait functions in individuals with PD but may be beneficial in improving gait ability under cognitive dual-task conditions. The therapeutic mechanism and key functional connectivity changes associated with improvement may differ between treatment strategies. GOV: #NCT03490578.

Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (rTMS) of Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex May Influence Semantic Fluency and Functional Connectivity in Fronto-Parietal Network in Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI).

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a noninvasive neuromodulation technique that is increasingly used as a nonpharmacological intervention against cognitive impairment in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and other dementias. Although rTMS has been shown to modify cognitive performances and brain functional connectivity (FC) in many neurological and psychiatric diseases, there is still no evidence about the possible relationship between executive performances and resting-state brain FC following rTMS in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). In this preliminary study, we aimed to evaluate the possible effects of rTMS of the bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) in 27 MCI patients randomly assigned to two groups: one group received high-frequency (10 Hz) rTMS (HF-rTMS) for four weeks (n = 11), and the other received sham stimulation (n = 16). Cognitive and psycho-behavior scores, based on the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status, Beck Depression Inventory-II, Beck Anxiety Inventory, Apathy Evaluation Scale, and brain FC, evaluated by independent component analysis of resting state functional MRI (RS-fMRI) networks, together with the assessment of regional atrophy measures, evaluated by whole-brain voxel-based morphometry (VBM), were measured at baseline, after five weeks, and six months after rTMS stimulation. Our results showed significantly increased semantic fluency (p = 0.026) and visuo-spatial (p = 0.014) performances and increased FC within the salience network (p ≤ 0.05, cluster-level corrected) at the short-term timepoint, and increased FC within the left fronto-parietal network (p ≤ 0.05, cluster-level corrected) at the long-term timepoint, in the treated group but not in the sham group. Conversely, regional atrophy measures did not show significant longitudinal changes between the two groups across six months. Our preliminary findings suggest that targeting DLPFC by rTMS application may lead to a significant long-term increase in FC in MCI patients in a RS network associated with executive functions, and this process might counteract the progressive cortical dysfunction affecting this domain.

Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain Moderates the Association between Sleep Quality and Dorsostriatal-Sensorimotor Resting State Functional Connectivity in Community-Dwelling Older Adults.

Aging is associated with poor sleep quality and greater chronic pain prevalence, with age-related changes in brain function as potential underlying mechanisms. Objective. The following cross-sectional study aimed to determine whether self-reported chronic musculoskeletal pain in community-dwelling older adults moderates the association between sleep quality and resting state functional brain connectivity (rsFC). Methods. Community-dwelling older individuals (mean age = 73.29 years) part of the NEPAL study who completed the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and a rsFC scan were included (n = 48) in the present investigation. To that end, we tested the effect of chronic pain-by-PSQI interaction on rsFC among atlas-based brain regions-of-interest, controlling for age and sex. Results and Discussion. A significant network connecting the bilateral putamen and left caudate with bilateral precentral gyrus, postcentral gyrus, and juxtapositional lobule cortex, survived global multiple comparisons (FDR; q < 0.05) and threshold-free network-based-statistics. Greater PSQI scores were significantly associated with greater dorsostriatal-sensorimotor rsFC in the no-pain group, suggesting that a state of somatomotor hyperarousal may be associated with poorer sleep quality in this group. However, in the pain group, greater PSQI scores were associated with less dorsostriatal-sensorimotor rsFC, possibly due to a shift of striatal functions toward regulation sensorimotor aspects of the pain experience, and/or aberrant cortico-striatal loops in the presence of chronic pain. This preliminary investigation advances knowledge about the neurobiology underlying the associations between chronic pain and sleep in community-dwelling older adults that may contribute to the development of effective therapies to decrease disability in geriatric populations.

Associations between pain catastrophizing and resting-state functional brain connectivity: Ethnic/race group differences in persons with chronic knee pain.

Chronic pain is a significant public health problem, and the prevalence and societal impact continues to worsen annually. Multiple cognitive and emotional factors are known to modulate pain, including pain catastrophizing, which contributes to pain facilitation and is associated with altered resting-state functional connectivity in pain-related cortical and subcortical circuitry. Pain and catastrophizing levels are reported to be higher in non-Hispanic black (NHB) compared with non-Hispanic White (NHW) individuals. The current study, a substudy of a larger ongoing observational cohort investigation, investigated the pathways by which ethnicity/race influences the relationship between pain catastrophizing, clinical pain, and resting-state functional connectivity between anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), insula, and primary somatosensory cortex (S1). Participants included 136 (66 NHBs and 70 NHWs) community-dwelling adults with knee osteoarthritis. Participants completed the Coping Strategies Questionnaire-Revised Pain Catastrophizing subscale and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index. Magnetic resonance imaging data were obtained, and resting-state functional connectivity was analyzed. Relative to NHW, the NHB participants were younger, reported lower income, were less likely to be married, and self-reported greater clinical pain and pain catastrophizing (ps<0.05). Ethnicity/race moderated the mediation effects of catastrophizing on the relationship between clinical pain and resting-state functional connectivity between the ACC, dlPFC, insula, and S1. These results indicate the NHB and NHW groups demonstrated different relationships between pain, catastrophizing, and functional connectivity. These results provide evidence for a potentially important role of ethnicity/race in the interrelationships among pain, catastrophizing, and resting-state functional connectivity.

Aberrant Resting-State Functional Brain Connectivity of Insular Subregions in Obstructive Sleep Apnea.

The insular cortex is a cortical regulatory area involved in dyspnea, cognition, emotion, and sensorimotor function. Previous studies reported that obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) shows insular tissue damage and abnormal functional connections for the whole insula. The insula can be divided into different subregions with distinct functional profiles, including the ventral anterior insula (vAI) participating in affective processing, dorsal anterior insula (dAI) involved in cognitive processing, and posterior insula (PI) involved in the processing of sensorimotor information. However, the functional connectivity (FC) of these insular subregions in OSA has yet to be established. Hence, the purpose of this study was to explore the resting-state FC of the insular subregions with other brain areas and its relationship with clinical symptoms of OSA. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data from 83 male OSA patients and 84 healthy controls were analyzed by whole-brain voxel-based FC using spherical seeds from six insular subregions, namely, the bilateral vAI, dAI, and PI, to identify abnormalities in the insular subregions network and related brain regions. Ultimately, the Pearson correlation analysis was carried out between the dysfunction results and the neuropsychological tests. Compared with the healthy control group, the OSA patients exhibited disturbed FC from the dAI to areas relevant to cognition, such as the bilateral cerebellum posterior lobe, superior frontal gyrus, right middle frontal gyrus and middle temporal gyrus; decreased FC from the vAI to areas linked with emotion, such as the bilateral fusiform gyrus, superior parietal lobule, precuneus and cerebellum posterior lobe; and abnormal FC from the PI to the brain regions involved in sensorimotor such as the bilateral precentral gyrus, right superior/middle temporal gyrus and left superior frontal gyrus. The linear regression result showed that the apnea-hypopnea index was positively correlated with the increased FC between the right PI and the right precuneus (after Bonferroni correlation, P < 0.001) In conclusion, the abnormal FC between insular subregions and other brain regions were related to cognitive, emotional and sensorimotor networks in OSA patients. These results may provide a new imaging perspective for further understanding of OSA-related cognitive and affective disorders.

Cortical and subcortical changes in resting-state neuronal activity and connectivity in early symptomatic ALS and advanced frontotemporal dementia

The objective of this study was to examine if patterns of resting-state brain activity and functional connectivity in cortical and subcortical regions in patients with early symptomatic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) resemble those of behavioural variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD). In a cross-sectional design, eyes-closed resting-state magnetoencephalography (MEG) data of 34 ALS patients, 18 bvFTD patients and 18 age- and gender-matched healthy controls (HCs) were projected to source-space using an atlas-based beamformer. Group differences in peak frequency, band-specific oscillatory activity and functional connectivity (corrected amplitude envelope correlation) in 78 cortical regions and 12 subcortical regions were determined. False discovery rate was used to correct for multiple comparisons. BvFTD patients, as compared to ALS and HCs, showed lower relative beta power in parietal, occipital, temporal and nearly all subcortical regions. Compared to HCs, patients with ALS and patients with bvFTD had a higher delta (0.5–4 Hz) and gamma (30–48 Hz) band resting-state functional connectivity in a high number of overlapping regions in the frontal lobe and in limbic and subcortical regions. Higher delta band connectivity was widespread in the bvFTD patients compared to HCs. ALS showed a more widespread higher gamma band functional connectivity compared to bvFTD. In conclusion, MEG in early symptomatic ALS patients shows resting-state functional connectivity changes in frontal, limbic and subcortical regions that overlap considerably with bvFTD. The findings show the potential of MEG to detect brain changes in early symptomatic phases of ALS and contribute to our understanding of the disease spectrum, with ALS and bvFTD at the two extreme ends.

Predicting children's math skills from task-based and resting-state functional brain connectivity.

A critical goal of cognitive neuroscience is to predict behavior from neural structure and function, thereby providing crucial insights into who might benefit from clinical and/or educational interventions. Across development, the strength of functional connectivity among a distributed set of brain regions is associated with children's math skills. Therefore, in the present study we use connectome-based predictive modeling to investigate whether functional connectivity during numerical processing and at rest "predicts" children's math skills (N = 31, Mage = 9.21years, 14 Female). Overall, we found that functional connectivity during symbolic number comparison and rest, but not during nonsymbolic number comparison, predicts children's math skills. Each task revealed a largely distinct set of predictive connections distributed across canonical brain networks and major brain lobes. Most of these predictive connections were negatively correlated with children's math skills so that weaker connectivity predicted better math skills. Notably, these predictive connections were largely nonoverlapping across task states, suggesting children's math abilities may depend on state-dependent patterns of network segregation and/or regional specialization. Furthermore, the current predictive modeling approach moves beyond brain-behavior correlations and toward building models of brain connectivity that may eventually aid in predicting future math skills.

Atypical resting-state functional brain connectivity in children with developmental coordination disorder

Children with developmental coordination disorder (DCD) present lower abilities to acquire and execute coordinated motor skills. DCD is frequently associated with visual perceptual (with or without motor component) impairments. This magnetoencephalography (MEG) study compares the brain resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) and spectral power of children with and without DCD.29 children with DCD and 28 typically developing (TD) peers underwent 2 × 5 min of resting-state MEG. Band-limited power envelope correlation and spectral power were compared between groups using a functional connectome of 59 nodes from eight resting-state networks. Correlation coefficients were calculated between fine and gross motor activity, visual perceptual and visuomotor abilities measures on the one hand, and brain rsFC and spectral power on the other hand. Nonparametric statistics were used.Significantly higher rsFC between nodes of the visual, attentional, frontoparietal, default-mode and cerebellar networks was observed in the alpha (maximum statistics, p = .0012) and the low beta (p = .0002) bands in children with DCD compared to TD peers. Lower visuomotor performance (copying figures) was associated with stronger interhemispheric rsFC within sensorimotor areas and power in the cerebellum (right lobule VIII).Children with DCD showed increased rsFC mainly in the dorsal extrastriate visual brain system and the cerebellum. However, this increase was not associated with their coordinated motor/visual perceptual abilities. This enhanced functional brain connectivity could thus reflect a characteristic brain trait of children with DCD compared to their TD peers. Moreover, an interhemispheric compensatory process might be at play to perform visuomotor task within the normative range.

Caregiver Stress and Empathy: Neural and Hormonal Correlates

Providing care to older adults with chronic conditions can be emotionally meaningful and stressful. The tend-and-befriend theory highlights the role of affiliation/empathy in stress reduction, but it has not been established whether this theory extends to caregivers for older adults. Addressing this gap, we assessed caregiver empathy and stress through behavioral, hormone, and neuroimaging measures. In Experiment 1, we compared 19 caregivers (Mage=67.1) to 24 non-caregivers (Mage=72.6), and found that caregivers with a greater reduction in cortisol to an empathic context showed greater prosocial behavior (r2=0.3). In experiment 2 (N=32), we examined differences between caregivers and non-caregivers in whole brain resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) with seed regions of interest (posterior cingulate cortex (PCC); amygdala), and covariation of RSFC with empathy (α=0.05). For emotional empathy, caregivers had stronger connectivity between the PCC seed, medial prefrontal cortex, and right supramarginal gyrus, and between the amygdala seed and the right middle frontal gyrus.

Altered Functional Connectivity and Sensory Processing in Blepharospasm and Hemifacial Spasm: Coexistence and Difference.

Background: Blepharospasm (BSP) and hemifacial spasm (HFS) are both facial hyperkinesia however BSP is thought to be caused by maladaptation in multiple brain regions in contrast to the peripherally induced cause in HFS. Plausible coexisting pathophysiologies between these two distinct diseases have been proposed.Objectives: In this study, we compared brain resting state functional connectivity (rsFC) and quantitative thermal test (QTT) results between patients with BSP, HFS and heathy controls (HCs).Methods: This study enrolled 12 patients with BSP, 11 patients with HFS, and 15 HCs. All subjects received serial neuropsychiatric evaluations, questionnaires determining disease severity and functional impairment, QTT, and resting state functional MRI. Image data were acquired using seed-based analyses using the CONN toolbox.Results: A higher cold detection threshold was found in the BSP and HFS patients compared to the HCs. The BSP and HFS patients had higher rsFC between the anterior cerebellum network and left occipital regions compared to the HCs. In all subjects, impaired cold detection threshold in the QTT of lower extremities had a correlation with higher rsFC between the anterior cerebellar network and left lingual gyrus. Compared to the HCs, increased rsFC in right postcentral gyrus in the BSP patients and decreased rsFC in the right amygdala and frontal orbital cortex in the HFS subjects were revealed when the anterior cerebellar network was used as seed.Conclusions: Dysfunction of sensory processing detected by the QTT is found in the BSP and HSP patients. Altered functional connectivity between the anterior cerebellar network and left occipital region, especially the Brodmann area 19, may indicate the possibility of shared pathophysiology among BSP, HFS, and impaired cold detection threshold. Further large-scale longitudinal study is needed for testing this theory in the future.

Individual Discriminative Ability of Resting Functional Brain Connectivity is Susceptible to the Time Span of MRI Scans

Recent studies have suggested that resting-state brain functional connectivity (RSFC) has the potential to discriminate among individuals in a population. These studies mostly utilized a pattern of RSFC obtained from one scan to identify a given individual from the set of patterns obtained from the second scan. However, it remains unclear whether the discriminative ability would change with the extension of the time span between the two brain scans. This study explores the variations in the discriminative ability of RSFC on eight time spans, including 6 hours, 12 hours, 1 day, 1 month, 3–6 months, 7–12 months, 1–2 years and 2–3 years. We first searched for a set of the most discriminative RSFCs using the data of 200 healthy adult subjects from the Human Connectome Project dataset, and we then utilized this set of RSFCs to identify individuals from a population. The variations in the discriminative accuracies over different time spans were evaluated on datasets from a total of 682 unseen adult subjects acquired from four different sites. We found that although the accuracies were detectable at above-chance levels, the discriminative accuracies showed a significant decrease (F = 17.87, p < 0.01) along with the extension of brain imaging time span, from over 90% within one month to 66% at 2–3 years. Furthermore, the decreasing trend was robust and not dependent on the training set or analysis method. Therefore, we suggest that the discriminative ability of RSFC in identifying individuals should be susceptible to the length of time between brain scans.

Measurement matters: An individual differences examination of family socioeconomic factors, latent dimensions of children’s experiences, and resting state functional brain connectivity in the ABCD sample

The variation in experiences between high and low-socioeconomic status contexts are posited to play a crucial role in shaping the developing brain and may explain differences in child outcomes. Yet, examinations of SES and brain development have largely been limited to distal proxies of these experiences (e.g., income comparisons). The current study sought to disentangle the effects of multiple socioeconomic indices and dimensions of more proximal experiences on resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) in a sample of 7834 youth (aged 9–10 years) from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) study. We applied moderated nonlinear factor analysis (MNLFA) to establish measurement invariance among three latent environmental dimensions of experience (material/economic deprivation, caregiver social support, and psychosocial threat). Results revealed measurement biases as a function of child age, sex, racial group, family income, and parental education, which were statistically adjusted in the final MNLFA scores. Mixed-effects models demonstrated that socioeconomic indices and psychosocial threat differentially predicted variation in frontolimbic networks, and threat statistically moderated the association between income and connectivity between the dorsal and ventral attention networks. Findings illuminate the importance of reducing measurement biases to gain a more socioculturally-valid understanding of the complex and nuanced links between socioeconomic context, children’s experiences, and neurodevelopment.