Altered Brain Activity in Patients with Diabetic Retinopathy Using Regional Homogeneity: a Resting-State fmri Study

Objective: Previous neuroimaging studies have shown that diabetic retinopathy (DR) is accompanied by abnormal spontaneous brain activity. The purpose of the current study was to investigate changes in brain neural homogeneity in patients with DR using regional homogeneity (ReHo).Methods: A total of 56 subjects were recruited, including 28 patients with DR (16 female and 12 male patients) and 28 healthy controls (HCs) (16 female and 12 male patients) approximately matched for age and sex. All subjects underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans. The ReHo method was applied to explore neural homogeneity in the brain. The patients with DR were distinguished from HCs following the construction of receiver operating characteristic curves. The ReHo method was applied to assess changes in synchronous neural activity.Results: Compared to HCs, the ReHo values in the left and right posterior lobes of the cerebellum in patients with DR were significantly increased, whereas ReHo values in the right anterior cingulate gyrus, right cuneus, bilateral precuneus, and left-middle frontal gyrus were significantly decreased. In addition, the ReHo value in the right cuneus showed a positive correlation with the best corrected visual acuity in patients with DR.Conclusion: Dysfunctional brain homology may reveal the pathological mechanisms underlying the visual pathways of patients with DR.Abbreviations: AUC = area under the curve; BA = Brodmann area; DR = diabetic retinopathy; fMRI = functional magnetic resonance imaging; HC = healthy control; MRI = magnetic resonance imaging; rs-fMRI = resting-state fMRI; ReHo = regional homogeneity; ROC = receiver operating characteristic     

Brain Function Alterations in Patients with Diabetic Nephropathy Complicated by Retinopathy Under Resting State Conditions Assessed by Voxel-Mirrored Homotopic Connectivity

Objective: The voxel-mirrored homologous connection (VHMC) technique was applied to detect resting brain function alterations in patients with diabetic nephropathy and retinopathy (DNR), and their relationships with clinical manifestations in the kidneys and eyes are discussed.Methods: Twenty-two patients with DNR and 22 healthy controls (HCs) similarly matched in age, sex, and educational background were recruited. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans were performed for all subjects. Retinal fundus photography and renal biopsy were employed to observe the clinical features of the kidney and retina. Pearson correlation analysis was used to analyze the relationship between clinical manifestations and experimental results.Results: Compared with the HCs, patients with DNR showed decreased mean VMHC values in the bilateral middle temporal gyrus, bilateral middle occipital gyrus (BMOG), and bilateral medial frontal gyrus. The receiver operating characteristic curve analysis of each brain region confirmed that the accuracy of the area under the curve was excellent. The results showed that the average VHMC value of BMOG signals was positively correlated with the urinary protein to creatinine ratio in female subjects (r = 0.626; P<.05). Nonetheless, no such correlation was noted among the male subjects.Conclusion: There were significant changes in brain function in DNR patients compared to the control group. Changes in the central nervous system in patients with DNR were mainly due to the dual negative effects of kidney function and diabetes mellitus.Abbreviations: ACR = albumin/creatinine ratio; BMFG = bilateral medial frontal gyrus; BMOG = bilateral middle occipital gyrus; BMTG = bilateral middle temporal gyrus; DN = diabetic nephropathy; DNR = diabetic nephropathy complicated by retinopathy; DR = diabetic retinopathy; fMRI = functional magnetic resonance imaging; HC = healthy control; MRI = magnetic resonance imaging; PCR = protein to creatinine ratio; ROC = receiver operating characteristic; VHMC = voxel-mirrored homologous connection     

Decreased Functional Connectivity of Homotopic Brain Regions in Chronic Stroke Patients: A Resting State fMRI Study

The recovery of motor functions is accompanied by brain reorganization, and identifying the inter-hemispheric interaction post stroke will conduce to more targeted treatments. However, the alterations of bi-hemispheric coordination pattern between homologous areas in the whole brain for chronic stroke patients were still unclear. The present study focuses on the functional connectivity (FC) of mirror regions of the whole brain to investigate the inter-hemispheric interaction using a new fMRI method named voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC). Thirty left subcortical chronic stroke patients with pure motor deficits and 37 well-matched healthy controls (HCs) underwent resting-state fMRI scans. We employed a VMHC analysis to determine the brain areas showed significant differences between groups in FC between homologous regions, and we explored the relationships between the mean VMHC of each survived area and clinical tests within patient group using Pearson correlation. In addition, the brain areas showed significant correlations between the mean VMHC and clinical tests were defined as the seed regions for whole brain FC analysis. Relative to HCs, patients group displayed lower VMHC in the precentral gyrus, postcentral gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, middle temporal gyrus, calcarine gyrus, thalamus, cerebellum anterior lobe, and cerebellum posterior lobe (CPL). Moreover, the VMHC of CPL was positively correlated with the Fugl–Meyer Score of hand (FMA-H), while a negative correlation between illness duration and the VMHC of this region was also detected. Furthermore, we found that when compared with HCs, the right CPL exhibited reduced FC with the left precentral gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, inferior parietal lobule, middle temporal gyrus, thalamus and hippocampus. Our results suggest that the functional coordination across hemispheres is impaired in chronic stroke patients, and increased VMHC of the CPL is significantly associated with higher FMA-H scores. These findings may be helpful in understanding the mechanism of hand deficit after stroke, and the CPL may serve as a target region for hand rehabilitation following stroke.     

Identify Changes of Brain Regional Homogeneity in Bipolar Disorder and Unipolar Depression Using Resting-State fMRI

Background

To identify changes in brain activation patterns in bipolar disorder (BD) and unipolar depression (UD) patients.

Methodology/Principal Findings

Resting-state fMRI scans of 16 healthy controls, 17 BD and 16 UD patients were obtained. T-test of normalized regional homogeneity (ReHo) was performed in a voxel-by-voxel manner. A combined threshold of á = 0.05, minimum cluster volume of V = 10503 mm³ (389 voxels) were used to determine ReHo differences between groups. In UD group, fMRI revealed ReHo increases in the left middle occipital lobe, right inferior parietal lobule, right precuneus and left convolution; and ReHo decreases in the left parahippocampalgyrus, right precentralgyrus, left postcentralgyrus, left precentralgyrus and left cingulated. In BD group, ReHo increases in the right insular cortex, left middle frontal gyrus, left precuneus, left occipital lobe, left parietal, left superior frontal gyrus and left thalamus; and ReHo decreases in the right anterior lobe of cerebellum, pons, right precentralgyrus, left postcentralgyrus, left inferior frontal gyrus, and right cingulate. There were some overlaps in ReHo profiles between UD and BD groups, but a marked difference was seen in the thalamus of BD.

Conclusions/Significance

The resting-state fMRI and ReHo mapping are a promising tool to assist the detection of functional deficits and distinguish clinical and pathophysiological signs of BD and UD.     

Investigation of changes in the activity and function of dry eye-associated brain regions using the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations method

Objective: The local characteristics of spontaneous brain activity in patients with dry eye (DE) and its relationship with clinical characteristics were evaluated using the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) method.Methods: A total of 27 patients with DE (10 males and 17 females) and 28 healthy controls (HCs) (10 males and 18 females) were recruited, matched according to sex, age, weight and height, classified into the DE and HC groups, and examined using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans. Spontaneous brain activity changes were recorded using ALFF technology. Data were recorded and plotted on the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, reflecting changes in activity in different brain areas. Finally, Pearson correlation analysis was used to calculate the potential relationship between spontaneous brain activity abnormalities in multiple brain regions and clinical features in patients with DE. GraphPad Prism 8 (GraphPad Software, Inc.) was used to analyze the linear correlation between the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and ALFF value.Results: Compared with HCs, the ALFF values of patients with DE were decreased in the right middle frontal gyrus (MFG)/right inferior orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), left triangle inferior frontal gyrus, left MFG, and right superior frontal gyrus. In contrast, the ALFF value of patients with DE was increased in the left calcarine.Conclusion: There are significant fluctuations in the ALFF value of specific brain regions in patients with DE versus HCs. This corroborates previous evidence showing that the symptoms of ocular surface damage in patients with DE are related to dysfunction in specific brain areas.     

Dorsal Visual Pathway Changes in Patients with Comitant Extropia

Background

Strabismus is a disorder in which the eyes are misaligned. Persistent strabismus can lead to stereopsis impairment. The effect of strabismus on human brain is not unclear. The present study is to investigate whether the brain white structures of comitant exotropia patients are impaired using combined T1-weighted imaging and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI).

Principal Findings

Thirteen patients with comitant strabismus and twelve controls underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with acquisition of T1-weighted and diffusion tensor images. T1-weighted images were used to analyze the change in volume of white matter using optimized voxel-based morphology (VBM) and diffusion tensor images were used to detect the change in white matter fibers using voxel-based analysis of DTI in comitant extropia patients. VBM analysis showed that in adult strabismus, white matter volumes were smaller in the right middle occipital gyrus, right occipital lobe/cuneus, right supramarginal gyrus, right cingulate gyrus, right frontal lobe/sub-gyral, right inferior temporal gyrus, left parahippocampa gyrus, left cingulate gyrus, left occipital lobe/cuneus, left middle frontal gyrus, left inferior parietal lobule, and left postcentral gyrus, while no brain region with greater white matter volume was found. Voxel-based analysis of DTI showed lower fractional anisotropy (FA) values in the right middle occipital gyrus and right supramarginal gyrus in strabismus patients, while brain region with increased FA value was found in the right inferior frontal gyrus.

Conclusion

By combining VBM and voxel-based analysis of DTI results, the study suggests that the dorsal visual pathway was abnormal or impaired in patients with comitant exotropia.     

Altered Spontaneous Brain Activity in Patients with Hemifacial Spasm: A Resting-State Functional MRI Study

Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has been used to detect the alterations of spontaneous neuronal activity in various neurological and neuropsychiatric diseases, but rarely in hemifacial spasm (HFS), a nervous system disorder. We used resting-state fMRI with regional homogeneity (ReHo) analysis to investigate changes in spontaneous brain activity of patients with HFS and to determine the relationship of these functional changes with clinical features. Thirty patients with HFS and 33 age-, sex-, and education-matched healthy controls were included in this study. Compared with controls, HFS patients had significantly decreased ReHo values in left middle frontal gyrus (MFG), left medial cingulate cortex (MCC), left lingual gyrus, right superior temporal gyrus (STG) and right precuneus; and increased ReHo values in left precentral gyrus, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), right brainstem, and right cerebellum. Furthermore, the mean ReHo value in brainstem showed a positive correlation with the spasm severity (r = 0.404, p = 0.027), and the mean ReHo value in MFG was inversely related with spasm severity in HFS group (r = -0.398, p = 0.028). This study reveals that HFS is associated with abnormal spontaneous brain activity in brain regions most involved in motor control and blinking movement. The disturbances of spontaneous brain activity reflected by ReHo measurements may provide insights into the neurological pathophysiology of HFS.     

Altered Functional Connectivity in Patients with Subcortical Vascular Cognitive Impairment—A Resting-State Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study

Recent neuroimaging studies have shown that people with subcortical vascular cognitive impairment (sVCI) have structural and functional abnormalities in the frontal lobe and subcortical brain sites. In this study, we used seed-based resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) analysis and voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC) techniques to investigate the alteration of rsFC in patients with sVCI. rsFC and structural magnetic resonance images were acquired for 51 patients with subcortical cerebrovascular disease. All patients were subdivided based on cognitive status into 29 with sVCI and 22 controls; patient characteristics were matched. rsFC of the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and VMHC were calculated separately, and rsFC of the PCC and VMHC between the two groups were compared. The regions showing abnormal rsFC of the PCC or VMHC in sVCI patients were adopted as regions of interest for correlation analyses. Our results are as follows: The patients with sVCI exhibited increases in rsFC in the left middle temporal lobe, right inferior temporal lobe and left superior frontal gyrus, and significant decreases in rsFC of the left thalamus with the PCC. sVCI patients showed a significant deficit in VMHC between the bilateral lingual gyrus, putamen, and precentral gyrus. Additionally, the z-memory score was significantly positively associated with connectivity between the left thalamus and the PCC (r = 0.41, p = 0.03, uncorrected) in the sVCI group. Our findings suggest that the frontal lobe and subcortical brain sites play an important role in the pathogenesis of sVCI. Furthermore, rsFC between the left thalamus and the PCC might indicate the severity of sVCI.     

Altered Resting State in Diabetic Neuropathic Pain

Background

The spontaneous component of neuropathic pain (NP) has not been explored sufficiently with neuroimaging techniques, given the difficulty to coax out the brain components that sustain background ongoing pain. Here, we address for the first time the correlates of this component in an fMRI study of a group of eight patients suffering from diabetic neuropathic pain and eight healthy control subjects. Specifically, we studied the functional connectivity that is associated with spontaneous neuropathic pain with spatial independent component analysis (sICA).

Principal Findings

Functional connectivity analyses revealed a cortical network consisting of two anti-correlated patterns: one includes the left fusiform gyrus, the left lingual gyrus, the left inferior temporal gyrus, the right inferior occipital gyrus, the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex bilaterally, the pre and postcentral gyrus bilaterally, in which its activity is correlated negatively with pain and positively with the controls; the other includes the left precuneus, dorsolateral prefrontal, frontopolar cortex (both bilaterally), right superior frontal gyrus, left inferior frontal gyrus, thalami, both insulae, inferior parietal lobuli, right mammillary body, and a small area in the left brainstem, in which its activity is correlated positively with pain and negatively with the controls. Furthermore, a power spectra analyses revealed group differences in the frequency bands wherein the sICA signal was decomposed: patients'' spectra are shifted towards higher frequencies.

Conclusion

In conclusion, we have characterized here for the first time a functional network of brain areas that mark the spontaneous component of NP. Pain is the result of aberrant default mode functional connectivity.     

Subthalamic Nucleus Stimulation Affects Theory of Mind Network: A PET Study in Parkinson's Disease

Background

There appears to be an overlap between the limbic system, which is modulated by subthalamic nucleus (STN) deep brain stimulation (DBS) in Parkinson''s disease (PD), and the brain network that mediates theory of mind (ToM). Accordingly, the aim of the present study was to investigate the effects of STN DBS on ToM of PD patients and to correlate ToM modifications with changes in glucose metabolism.

Methodology/Principal Findings

To this end, we conducted ¹⁸FDG-PET scans in 13 PD patients in pre- and post-STN DBS conditions and correlated changes in their glucose metabolism with modified performances on the Eyes test, a visual ToM task requiring them to describe thoughts or feelings conveyed by photographs of the eye region. Postoperative PD performances on this emotion recognition task were significantly worse than either preoperative PD performances or those of healthy controls (HC), whereas there was no significant difference between preoperative PD and HC. Conversely, PD patients in the postoperative condition performed within the normal range on the gender attribution task included in the Eyes test. As far as the metabolic results are concerned, there were correlations between decreased cerebral glucose metabolism and impaired ToM in several cortical areas: the bilateral cingulate gyrus (BA 31), right middle frontal gyrus (BA 8, 9 and 10), left middle frontal gyrus (BA 6), temporal lobe (fusiform gyrus, BA 20), bilateral parietal lobe (right BA 3 and right and left BA 7) and bilateral occipital lobe (BA 19). There were also correlations between increased cerebral glucose metabolism and impaired ToM in the left superior temporal gyrus (BA 22), left inferior frontal gyrus (BA 13 and BA 47) and right inferior frontal gyrus (BA 47). All these structures overlap with the brain network that mediates ToM.

Conclusion/Significance

These results seem to confirm that STN DBS hinders the ability to infer the mental states of others and modulates a distributed network known to subtend ToM.     

Thyroid-Associated Ophthalmopathy: Preliminary Study Using T2 Mapping to Characterize Intraorbital Optic Nerve Changes Before Dysthyroid Optic Neuropathy

ObjectiveTo evaluate the performance of T2 mapping in detecting intraorbital optic nerve (ON) changes in patients with thyroid-associated ophthalmopathy (TAO) before the onset of dysthyroid optic neuropathy (DON).MethodsThirty-five patients with TAO and without DON (21 active, 14 inactive) and 21 healthy controls (HCs) were enrolled. Magnetic resonance imaging-derived parameters of T2 relaxation time (T2RT) at the intraorbital ON, extraocular muscle (EOM), orbital fat, exophthalmos, summed thickness of EOMs, orbital fat thickness, and clinical variables were compared. Correlations between T2RT at the ON and other variables were assessed.ResultsPatients with TAO showed significantly higher T2RTs at the intraorbital ON than HCs (P < .001). Patients with active TAO had significantly higher T2RTs than those with inactive TAO and HCs (P < .001). Differences between patients with inactive TAO and HCs were insignificant (P > .05/3). T2RT at the intraorbital ON was positively correlated with clinical activity score, modified NOSPECS score, T2RT at EOM, exophthalmos, and summed thickness of EOMs in the TAO group (P ≤ .003) and negatively correlated with visual acuity (P = .033) and visual field indices (P = .030) in patients with active TAO. A T2RT cutoff of 82.9 ms for the intraorbital ON distinguished active TAO and healthy eyes optimally (area under the curve, 0.800; sensitivity, 85.7%; specificity, 64.3%).ConclusionT2RT detects disturbance in the intraorbital ON in patients with TAO, especially active TAO, before DON develops. T2 mapping has a potential for noninvasive evaluation of ON changes in patients with TAO.     

Resting State-fMRI with ReHo Analysis as a Non-Invasive Modality for the Prognosis of Cirrhotic Patients with Overt Hepatic Encephalopathy

BackgroundTo investigate the relationships among regional activity abnormalities, clinical disease severity, and prognosis in cirrhotic patients with overt hepatic encephalopathy (OHE) using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI).MethodsRegional homogeneity (ReHo) values of 12 cirrhotic patients with OHE and 12 age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers were calculated from rs-fMRI. Two-sample t-test was performed on individual ReHo maps between the two groups. The relationships between ReHo variation, disease severity, and prognosis were analyzed.ResultsCirrhotic patients with OHE had significantly low ReHo values in the left middle cingulum, bilateral superior temporal, left inferior orbito-frontal, right calcarine, left inferior frontal gyrus, left post-central, left inferior temporal, and left lingual areas, and high ReHo in the right superior frontal, right inferior temporal, right caudate, and cerebellum. There was significant group difference in the right superior temporal lobe (p=0.016) and crus1 of the left cerebellum (p=0.015) between survivors and non-survivors in the OHE group. Worse Glasgow Coma Scale was associated with increased local connectivity in the left cerebellar crus I (r= -0.868, p=0.001).ConclusionsInformation on the functional activity of cirrhotic patients with OHE suggests the use of rs-fMRI with ReHo analysis as a non-invasive prognosticating modality.     

Genotypic Association of the DAOA Gene with Resting-State Brain Activity in Major Depression

Compelling evidence suggests that the glutamatergic system may contribute to the pathophysiology of major depression (MDD). While the D-amino acid oxidase activator (DAOA) gene can affect glutamatergic function, its genetic associations with MDD and abnormal resting-state brain activity have yet to be elucidated. A total of 488 patients with MDD and 480 controls were recruited to examine MDD association for the DAOA gene in a Chinese population, of whom 53 medication-free patients and 46 well-matched controls underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging for regional homogeneity (ReHo) analysis. The differences in ReHo between genotypes of interest were initially tested by the Student??s t test, and the 2?×?2 (genotypes?×?disease status) ANOVA was then performed to identify the main effects of genotypes, disease status, and their interactions in MDD. Allelic association of the DAOA gene with MDD was observed for rs2391191, rs3918341, and rs778294 and haplotypic association for 2- and 3-SNP haplotypes. Six clusters in the cerebellum, right middle frontal gyrus and left middle temporal gyrus showed genotypic association between altered ReHo and rs2391191. The main effects of rs2391191 genotypes were found in the right culmen and right middle frontal gyrus. The left uvula and left middle temporal gyrus showed a genotypes?×?disease status interaction. Our results suggest that the DAOA gene may confer genetic risk of MDD. Genotypic effect of rs2391191 and its interaction with disease status may contribute to the altered ReHo in patients with MDD. Glutamatergic modulation may play an important role in alteration of the resting-state brain activities.     

带状疱疹后遗神经痛患者脑基础活动改变的功能核磁共振研究

带状疱疹后遗神经痛(postherpetic neuralgia,PHN)是临床上一种慢性顽固性神经病理性疼痛,然而,对于其潜在的中枢机制还知之甚少.为了进一步探讨带状疱疹后遗神经痛患者的相关脑区活动,利用功能核磁共振成像低频振幅振荡(ALFF)技术观察带状疱疹后遗神经痛患者的基础脑区活动.8名带状疱疹后遗神经痛患者与8名性别、年龄相匹配的健康者行静息态功能磁共振(f MRI)成像扫描,用SPM8中的多重回归分析,在控制被试年龄、性别、教育年限的影响下,将每个体素的ALFF值同每个被试的病程、视觉模拟评分(visual analog scale,VAS)进行相关分析.与健康志愿者相比,PHN组与VAS评分相关的ALFF值增高的脑区有:右侧小脑后叶、前额叶背外侧区域(BA11/46/47)、右侧顶叶(BA40)、右侧舌回(BA17/18/19);与VAS评分相关的ALFF值降低的脑区有:右侧颞中回(BA21)、左侧舌回(BA17/18)、右侧小脑前叶、左侧后扣带回(BA30/19)和右侧中央前回(BA3/4/6);PHN组与病程相关的ALFF值增高的脑区有:右侧小脑后叶、前额叶背外侧区域(BA9/10/11/47)、左侧颞上回(BA38)、右侧顶叶和右侧舌回(BA17/18/19);与病程相关ALFF值降低的脑区有:左侧海马旁回(BA28)、右侧小脑前叶、左侧扣带回(BA24)、右侧颞上回(BA13)、左侧中央前回和右侧顶下小叶(BA39/40).研究结果提示,涉及疼痛的情绪、警觉行为、注意的脑区在带状疱疹后遗痛慢性疼痛的产生和维持中发挥重要作用.     

抑郁症患者的脑CT灌注成像特征与认知功能的相关性

摘要 目的：探讨抑郁症患者的脑CT灌注成像特征与认知功能的相关性。方法：选取我院2020年1月到2023年1月收治的90例抑郁症患者作为研究对象,将其分为观察组,另选取同期来我院体检的90名健康志愿者作为对照组。收集所有受检者脑CT灌注成像检查数据,分析抑郁症患者的脑CT灌注成像特征,并建立受试者工作特征（ROC）曲线分析脑CT灌注成像对抑郁症的诊断效能。随后对观察组和对照组受检者均进行认知功能评估,其中包括连线检测（TMT）、视觉再生测验（VRT）、言语流畅性测验（VF）、数字广度测验（DST）以及数字符号测验（SDMT）,并分析脑CT灌注成像与抑郁症认知功能的相关性。结果：观察组与对照组受检者rCBV、rCBF、MTT、TIP、右枕叶、左枕叶、右颞叶、左颞叶、右顶叶、左顶叶CT值对比无明显差异（P＞0.05）,观察组与对照组受检者右额叶、左额叶CT值对比差异显著,观察组明显低于对照组（P＜0.05）;90例抑郁症患者经过汉密尔顿抑郁量表（HAMD）评估后分数均＞20分,确定存在抑郁症状,脑CT灌注成像与HAMD评分诊断抑郁症的准确性、灵敏度、特异性、阳性预测值和阴性预测值对比无明显差异（P＞0.05）,脑CT灌注成像的曲线下面积为83.89,最佳诊断着色界限值为82.53%,HAMD评分的曲线下面积为84.26,最佳诊断着色界限值为87.57%;观察组与对照组受检者连线提笔数、连线错误数、视觉再生检测结果对比无明显差异（P＞0.05）,观察组与对照组受检者连线、言语流畅性、数字广度、数字符号检测结果对比差异显著（P＜0.05）;Spearman相关分析结果表明：连线提笔数、连线错误数、视觉再生与脑CT灌注参数均无明显相关性（P＞0.05）,连线、言语流畅性、数字广度、数字符号与rCBV、rCBF、MTT、TIP、右枕叶、左枕叶、右颞叶、左颞叶、右顶叶、左顶叶CT值无明显相关性（P＞0.05）,连线与右额叶、左额叶CT值呈负相关（P＜0.05）,言语流畅性、数字广度、数字符号与右额叶、左额叶CT值呈正相关（P＜0.05）。结论：抑郁症患者的脑CT灌注成像与健康群体呈现差异,其中右额叶、左额叶差异情况最为显著,提示抑郁症患者可能存在大脑额叶功能改变,另外,抑郁症患者的大脑额叶功能与认知功能变化具有明显相关性。     

A Resting-State Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study of Acute Carbon Monoxide Poisoning in Humans

The objective of this study was to evaluate the brain function characteristics of carbon monoxide poisoning patients using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) method. For this purpose, 12 carbon monoxide poisoning patients and healthy controls were subjected to resting-state fMRI scans separately. A regional homogeneity (ReHo) approach was used to analyze the brain function in carbon monoxide poisoning patients. Compared with control group, the value of ReHo in carbon monoxide poisoning group showed distinct decrease in bilateral superior frontal gyrus, middle frontal gyrus, right cuneus, left middle temporal gyrus, right insula, and cerebellum. Therefore, it was concluded that the brain functions in carbon monoxide poisoning patients were abnormal under the resting-state. The cuneate lobe function may indicate the degree of brain hypoxia and strengthening the cerebellar function training may promote the rehabilitation process.     

Decreased Prefrontal Lobe Interhemispheric Functional Connectivity in Adolescents with Internet Gaming Disorder: A Primary Study Using Resting-State fMRI

Purposes

Recent neuroimaging studies have shown that people with Internet gaming disorder (IGD) have structural and functional abnormalities in specific brain areas and connections. However, little is known about the alterations of the interhemispheric resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) in participants with IGD. In the present study, we used a newly developed voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC) method to investigate the interhemispheric rsFC of the whole brain in participants with IGD.

Methods

We compared interhemispheric rsFC between 17 participants with IGD and 24 healthy controls, group-matched on age, gender, and education status. All participants were provided written informed consent. Resting-state functional and structural magnetic resonance images were acquired for all participants. The rsFC between bilateral homotopic voxels was calculated. Regions showing abnormal VMHC in IGD participants were adopted as regions of interest for correlation analyses.

Results

Compared to healthy controls, IGD participants showed decreased VMHC between the left and right superior frontal gyrus (orbital part), inferior frontal gyrus (orbital part), middle frontal gyrus and superior frontal gyrus. Further analyses showed Chen Internet Addiction Scale (CIAS)-related VMHC in superior frontal gyrus (orbital part) and CIAS (r = −0.55, p = 0.02, uncorrected).

Conclusions

Our findings implicate the important role of altered interhemispheric rsFC in the bilateral prefrontal lobe in the neuropathological mechanism of IGD, and provide further supportive evidence for the reclassification of IGD as a behavioral addiction.     

Aberrant Resting-State Corticostriatal Functional Connectivity in Cirrhotic Patients with Hyperintense Globus Pallidus on T1-Weighted MR Imaging

Neurobiological and neuroimaging studies have emphasized the structural and functional alterations in the striatum of cirrhotic patients, but alterations in the functional connections between the striatum and other brain regions have not yet been explored. Of note, manganese accumulation in the nervous system, frequently reflected by hyperintensity at the bilateral globus pallidus (GP) on T1-weighted imaging, has been considered a factor affecting the striatal and cortical functions in hepatic decompensation. We employed resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging to analyze the temporal correlation between the striatum and the remaining brain regions using seed-based correlation analyses. The two-sample t-test was conducted to detect the differences in corticostriatal connectivity between 44 cirrhotic patients with hyperintensity at the bilateral GP and 20 healthy controls. Decreased connectivity of the caudate was detected in the anterior/middle cingulate gyrus, and increased connectivity of the caudate was found in the left motor cortex. A reduction in functional connectivity was found between the putamen and several regions, including the anterior cingulate gyrus, right insular lobe, inferior frontal gyrus, left parahippocampal gyrus, and anterior lobe of the right cerebellum; increased connectivity was detected between the putamen and right middle temporal gyrus. There were significant correlations between the corticostriatal connectivity and neuropsychological performances in the patient group, but not between the striatal connectivity and GP signal intensity. These alterations in the corticostriatal functional connectivity suggested the abnormalities in the intrinsic brain functional organiztion among the cirrhotic patients with manganese deposition, and may be associated with development of metabolic encephalopathy. The manganese deposition in nervous system, however, can not be an independent factor predicting the resting-state brain dysfunction in real time.     

Network Centrality of Resting-State fMRI in Primary Angle-Closure Glaucoma Before and After Surgery

Purpose

Using voxel-wise degree centrality (DC), as measured by resting-state fMRI, we aimed to study alterations in the brain functional networks in patients with primary angle-closure glaucoma (PACG) and to reveal the plastic trajectories of surgery.

Methods

A total of 23 preoperative PACG patients (49.48 ± 14.37 years old) were recruited to undergo a resting-state fMRI scan, and 9 of them were rescanned 3 months after surgery. All PACG patients underwent a complete ophthalmologic examination, including intraocular pressure (IOP), retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness, vertical cup to disc ratio (V C/D), and average cup to disc ratio (A C/D). Another 23 gender- and age-matched healthy controls (48.18 ± 9.40 years old) underwent scanning once for comparison. The group difference in DC was calculated in each voxel, and the correlations between the DC value and each of the clinical variables were analyzed in the PACG patients.

Results

Preoperative PACG (pre-PACG) patients showed significantly decreased DC in the bilateral visual cortices but increased DC in the left anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and caudate (p < 0.05, corrected) compared with the controls. Statistical analysis showed a significantly negative correlation between DC in the bilateral visual cortices and the IOP score and between DC in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and both the A C/D and V C/D scores in the pre-PACG patients. Three months after surgery, these postoperative PACG (post-PACG) patients showed a significantly increased DC in both the bilateral visual cortices and the left precentral gyrus compared with the pre-PACG patients.

Conclusions

Our results suggest that PACG may contribute to decreased functional centrality in the visual system and to increased degree centrality in cognition-emotional processing regions. Alterations in visual areas seem to parallel the cup to disc ratio, but not the duration of angle closure. The changes of functional centrality in PACG patients after operation may reveal the plasticity or degeneration of the visual-associated brain areas. Our findings may provide further understanding of the pathophysiology of PACG.     

Disturbed Small-World Networks and Neurocognitive Function in Frontal Lobe Low-Grade Glioma Patients

Background

Brain tumor patients often associated with losses of the small-world configuration and neurocognitive functions before operations. However, few studies were performed on the impairments of frontal lobe low-grade gliomas (LGG) after tumor resection using small-world network features.

Methodology/Principal Findings

To detect differences in the whole brain topology among LGG patients before and after operation, a combined study of neurocognitive assessment and graph theoretical network analysis of fMRI data was performed. We collected resting-state fMRI data of 12 carefully selected frontal lobe LGG patients before and after operation. We calculated the topological properties of brain functional networks in the 12 LGG, and compared with 12 healthy controls (HCs). We also applied Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) in a subset of patients (n = 12, including before and after operation groups) and HCs (n = 12). The resulting functional connectivity matrices were constructed for all 12 patients, and binary network analysis was performed. In the range of , the functional networks in preoperative LGG and postoperative one both fitted the definition of small-worldness. We proposed as small-world network interval, and the results showed that the topological properties were found to be disrupted in the two LGG groups, meanwhile the global efficiency increased and the local efficiency decreased. in the two LGG groups both were longer than HCs. in the LGG groups were smaller than HCs. Compared with the Hcs, MoCA in the two LGG groups were lower than HCs with significant difference, and the disturbed networks in the LGG were negatively related to worse MoCA scores.

Conclusions

Disturbed small-worldness preperty in the two LGG groups was found and widely spread in the strength and spatial organization of brain networks, and the alterated small-world network may be responsible for cognitive dysfunction in frontal lobe LGG patients.