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Objectives: To develop a deep learning (DL) model for differentiating between osteolytic osteosarcoma (OS) and giant cell tumor (GCT) on radiographs. Methods: Patients with osteolytic OS and GCT proven by postoperative pathology were retrospectively recruited from four centers (center A, training and internal testing; centers B, C, and D, external testing). Sixteen radiologists with different experiences in musculoskeletal imaging diagnosis were divided into three groups and participated with or without the DL model's assistance. DL model was generated using EfficientNet-B6 architecture, and the clinical model was trained using clinical variables. The performance of various models was compared using McNemar's test. Results: Three hundred thirty-three patients were included (mean age, 27 years ± 12 [SD]; 186 men). Compared to the clinical model, the DL model achieved a higher area under the curve (AUC) in both the internal (0.97 vs. 0.77, p = 0.008) and external test set (0.97 vs. 0.64, p < 0.001). In the total test set (including the internal and external test sets), the DL model achieved higher accuracy than the junior expert committee (93.1% vs. 72.4%; p < 0.001) and was comparable to the intermediate and senior expert committee (93.1% vs. 88.8%, p = 0.25; 87.1%, p = 0.35). With DL model assistance, the accuracy of the junior expert committee was improved from 72.4% to 91.4% (p = 0.051). Conclusion: The DL model accurately distinguished osteolytic OS and GCT with better performance than the junior radiologists, whose own diagnostic performances were significantly improved with the aid of the model, indicating the potential for the differential diagnosis of the two bone tumors on radiographs. Critical relevance statement: The deep learning model can accurately distinguish osteolytic osteosarcoma and giant cell tumor on radiographs, which may help radiologists improve the diagnostic accuracy of two types of tumors. Key points: • The DL model shows robust performance in distinguishing osteolytic osteosarcoma and giant cell tumor. • The diagnosis performance of the DL model is better than junior radiologists'. • The DL model shows potential for differentiating osteolytic osteosarcoma and giant cell tumor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI), as a high risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD), represents a state of cognitive function between normal aging and dementia. Moxibustion may effectively delay the progression of AD, while there is a lack of studies on the treatments in MCI. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of moxibustion treatment revealed by the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) in MCI. Method: We enrolled 30 MCI patients and 30 matched healthy controls (HCs) in this study. We used ALFF to compare the difference between MCI and HCs at baseline and the regulation of spontaneous neural activity in MCI patients by moxibustion. The Mini-Mental State Examination and Montreal Cognitive Assessment scores were used to evaluate cognitive function. Results: Compared with HCs, the ALFF values significantly decreased in the right temporal poles: middle temporal gyrus (TPOmid), right inferior temporal gyrus, left middle cingulate gyrus, and increased in the left hippocampus, left middle temporal gyrus, right lingual gyrus, and right middle occipital gyrus in MCI patients. After moxibustion treatment, the ALFF values notably increased in the left precuneus, left thalamus, right temporal poles: middle temporal gyrus, right middle frontal gyrus, right inferior temporal gyrus, right putamen, right hippocampus, and right fusiform gyrus, while decreased in the bilateral lingual gyrus in MCI patients. The Mini-Mental State Examination and Montreal Cognitive Assessment scores increased after moxibustion treatment, and the increase in Mini-Mental State Examination score was positively correlated with the increase of ALFF value in the right TPOmid, the right insula, and the left superior temporal gyrus. Conclusion: Moxibustion treatment might improve the cognitive function of MCI patients by modulating the brain activities within the default mode network, visual network, and subcortical network with a trend of increased ALFF values and functional asymmetry of the hippocampus. These results indicate that moxibustion holds great potential in the treatment of MCI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To develop and validate a radiomic nomogram for individualized prediction of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in HBV cirrhosis patients based on baseline magnetic resonance imaging examinations and clinical data. Methods: 364 patients with HBV cirrhosis from five hospitals were assigned to the training, internal validation, external validation-1 or external validation-2 cohort. All patients underwent baseline magnetic resonance image (MRI) scans and clinical follow-up within three-year time. Clinical risk factors and MRI-based features were extracted and analyzed. The radiomic signatures were built using the radiomics-score (Rad-score) that calculated for each patient as a linear weighted combination of selected MRI-based features. Prognostic performances of the clinical and radiomic nomograms were evaluated with Cox modeling in the training and validation cohorts. Results: Eighteen features were selected for inclusion in the Rad-score prognostic model. The radiomic signature from multi-sequence MRI yielded a concordance index (C-index) of 0.710, 0.681, 0.632 and 0.658 in the training, internal validation, external validation-1, external validation-2 cohorts, respectively. Sex and Child-Turcotte-Pugh (CTP) class were the most prognostic clinical risk factors in univariate Cox proportional hazards analyses. The radiomic combined nomogram that integrated the radiomic signature with the clinical factors yielded a C-index of 0.746, 0.710, and 0.641 in the training, internal validation, and external validation-1 cohorts, respectively, which was an improvement over either the clinical nomogram or radiomic signature alone. Conclusion: We developed an MRI-based radiomic combined nomogram with good discrimination ability for the individualized prediction of HCC in HBV cirrhosis patients within three-year time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This cross-sectional study aimed to distinguish patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) from patients with normal controls (NCs) by measuring the levels of N -acetyl aspartate (NAA), total creatinine (tCr), and choline (Cho) in their hippocampus (HIP) and their posterior cingulate gyrus (PCG) by using proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and to predict the cutoff value on the ratios of metabolites. We further aimed to provide a reference for the diagnosis of MCI in elderly patients in China. Methods: About 69 patients who underwent a clinical diagnosis of the MCI group and 67 patients with NCs, the Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE) score, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) score, and MRS of the bilateral HIP and bilateral PCG were considered. The ratio of NAA/tCr and Cho/tCr in the bilateral HIP and bilateral PCG was calculated. The relationship between the ratios of metabolites and the scores of MMSE and MoCA was analyzed, and the possible brain metabolite cutoff point for the diagnosis of MCI was evaluated. Results: Compared with the NC group, the scores of MMSE and MoCA in the MCI group decreased significantly (p < 0.05); the ratio of NAA/tCr in the bilateral HIP and bilateral PCG and the ratio of Cho/tCr at the right HIP in the MCI group decreased significantly (p < 0.05); however, there was no significant difference in the ratio of Cho/tCr in the left HIP and bilateral PCG between the two groups (p > 0.05). The correlation coefficient between MMSE/MoCA and the ratio of NAA/tCr was 0.49–0.56 in the bilateral HIP (p < 0.01). The best cutoff value of NAA/creatine (Cr) in the left HIP and the right HIP was 1.195 and 1.19. Sensitivity, specificity, and the Youden index (YDI) in the left HIP and the right HIP were (0.725, 0.803, 0.528) and (0.754, 0.803, 0.557), respectively. Conclusion: The level of metabolites in the HIP and the PCG of patients with MCI and of those with normal subjects has a certain correlation with the score of their MMSE and MoCA. When the value of NAA/tCr in the left HIP and right HIP is <1.19, it suggests that MCI may have occurred. According to this cutoff point, elderly patients with MCI in China could be screened. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Background: Recently, subjective cognitive decline (SCD) has been described as the earliest at-risk state of Alzheimer's disease (AD), and drawn attention of investigators. Studies suggested that SCD-community individuals may constitute a more vulnerable population than SCD-clinic patients, therefore, to investigate the early changes of the brain may provide guidance for treatment of the disease. We sought to investigate the changes of structure and functional connectivity alternation of the hippocampus in individuals with SCD recruited from the community using structural and resting-state functional MRI (fMRI). Methods: Thirty-five SCD patients and 32 healthy controls were recruited. Resting-state fMRI data and high-resolution T1-weighted images were collected. Whole-brain voxel-based morphometry was used to examine the brain structural changes. We also used the hippocampal tail and the whole hippocampus as seeds to investigate functional connectivity alternation in SCD. Results: Individuals with SCD showed significant gray matter volume decreases in the bilateral hippocampal tails and enlargement of the bilateral paracentral lobules. We also found that individuals with SCD showed decreased hippocampal tail resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) with the right medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the left temporoparietal junction (TPJ), and decreased whole hippocampus rsFC with the bilateral mPFC and TPJ. These brain region and FC showing significant differences also showed significantly correlation with Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) scores. Conclusion: Individuals with SCD recruited from the community is associated with structural and functional changes of the hippocampus, and these changes may serve as potential biomarkers of SCD. Clinical Trial Registration: The Declaration of Helsinki, and the study was registered in http://www.chictr.org.cn. The Clinical Trial Registration Number was ChiCTR-IPR-16009144. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

N-acetyl aspartate, creatine, posterior cingulate gyrus, mild cognitive impairment, choline hippocampus Keywords: N-acetyl aspartate; creatine; choline hippocampus; posterior cingulate gyrus; mild cognitive impairment EN N-acetyl aspartate creatine choline hippocampus posterior cingulate gyrus mild cognitive impairment 1 2 2 10/14/21 20211012 NES 211012 In the original article, there were mistakes in Table 1 and Table 2 as published. Additionally, Table 2 incorrectly showed the data calculation results of 64 patients with MCI and 30 patients with NC. [Extracted from the article]

Purpose: We sought to evaluate the performance of a new "one-stop-shop" scan protocol combining brain computed tomography perfusion (CTP) and head-and-neck CT angiography (CTA) imaging for acute stroke patients using a 256-detector CT scanner.Method: From March to August 2020, 60 patients (30 men and 30 women) aged 22-88 years with suspected acute stroke were enrolled and randomly divided into 2 groups to undergo brain CTP and head-and-neck CTA with a 256-detector CT system. Group A used traditional scan protocol with a separate brain CTP and head-and-neck CT examination that included non-contrast-enhanced and contrast-enhanced acquisitions; group B used the new "one-stop-shop" scan protocol with head-and-neck CTA data inserted into brain CTP scans at the peak time (PT) of the arterial phase. The insertion point of the head-and-neck CTA data was determined by a test bolus. The examination time, contrast dose, radiation dose, and image quality were compared between the groups.Results: The total contrast dose was reduced by 40% in group B compared to group A (60 mL vs. 100 mL). The imaging time was 52.5 ± 2.6 s in group B and 74.9 ± 3.3 s in group A, showing a reduction of approximately 43% in group B. There was no significant difference in image quality both quantitatively and qualitatively between the groups (all P > 0.05). Group B had a slight reduction in dose length product (1139.0 ± 45.3 vs. 1211.6 ± 31.9 mGy·cm, P < 0.001).Conclusions: The proposed "one-stop-shop" scan protocol combining brain CTP and head-and-neck CTA on a 256-detector CT system can reduce imaging time and contrast dose, without affecting image quality or perfusion results, compared to the traditional protocol of separating the examinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • The abnormal local and long-range FCD in MCI compared with HCs. • The reversed FCD was found in MCI after treatments of acupoint-related moxibustion. • After moxibustion treatment, the MoCA scores of MCI were improved. Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a general neurodegenerative disease. Moxibustion has been shown to have remarkable effect on cognitive improvement, however, less is known about the effect of moxibustion on MCI and its underlying neural mechanism. This study aimed to investigate the ameliorative brain network in MCI after treatments of acupoint-related moxibustion. Resting-state functional MRI were derived from 47 MCI patients and 30 healthy controls (HCs). Patients were randomized as Tiaoshen YiZhi (TSYZ, n = 27) and sham (SHAM, n = 20) acupoint moxibustion groups. Functional connectivity density (FCD) method and repeated-measures two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) were performed to ascertain the interaction effects between groups (TSYZ and SHAM) and time (baseline and post-treatment). Abnormal FCD was examined between baseline and post-treatment in TSYZ and SHAM groups, respectively. Compared with HCs, MCI showed altered FCD in the middle frontal cortex (MFC), inferior frontal cortex, temporal pole, thalamus and middle cingulate cortex. After moxibustion treatment in MCI, 1) a significant time-by-groups interaction was observed in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC); 2) abnormal long-range FCD (lrFCD) in the mPFC and MFC were modulated in TSYZ group; 3) significantly improved clinical symptoms; 4) changed lrFCD in the MFC was significantly negatively correlated with the increased Montreal Cognitive Assessment scores in TSYZ group. These imaging findings suggest that treatments of acupoint-related moxibustion could improve lrFCD in certain regions related to self-related cognitive and decision making. Our study might promote understanding of MCI neural mechanisms and expand the clinical application of moxibustion in MCI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• An new multi-task learning framework is devised for differential diagnosis of subjective cognitive decline and mild cognive impairment. • The proposed multi-task learning algorithm combines functional and structural brain information. • The proposed method can discover the most disease-related brain regions and their connectivity. • The extensive experiments demonstrate good classification performance against competing techniques. Early diagnosis and intervention of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and its early stage (i.e., subjective cognitive decline (SCD)) is able to delay or reverse the disease progression. However, discrimination between SCD, MCI and healthy subjects accurately remains challenging. This paper proposes an auto-weighted centralised multi-task (AWCMT) learning framework for differential diagnosis of SCD and MCI. AWCMT is based on structural and functional connectivity information inferred from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). To be specific, we devise a novel multi-task learning algorithm to combine neuroimaging functional and structural connective information. We construct a functional brain network through a sparse and low-rank machine learning method, and also a structural brain network via fibre bundle tracking. Those two networks are constructed separately and independently. Multi-task learning is then used to identify features integration of functional and structural connectivity. Hence, we can learn each task's significance automatically in a balanced way. By combining the functional and structural information, the most informative features of SCD and MCI are obtained for diagnosis. The extensive experiments on the public and self-collected datasets demonstrate that the proposed algorithm obtains better performance in classifying SCD, MCI and healthy people than traditional algorithms. The newly proposed method has good interpretability as it is able to discover the most disease-related brain regions and their connectivity. The results agree well with current clinical findings and provide new insights into early AD detection based on the multi-modal neuroimaging technique. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Sleep disturbances are among the most prevalent neuropsychiatric symptoms in individuals who have recovered from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infections. Previous studies have demonstrated abnormal brain structures in patients with sleep disturbances who have recovered from coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, neuroimaging studies on sleep disturbances caused by COVID-19 are scarce, and existing studies have primarily focused on the long-term effects of the virus, with minimal acute phase data. As a result, little is known about the pathophysiology of sleep disturbances in the acute phase of COVID-19. To address this issue, we designed a longitudinal study to investigate whether alterations in brain structure occur during the acute phase of infection, and verified the results using 3-month follow-up data. A total of 26 COVID-19 patients with sleep disturbances (aged 51.5 ± 13.57 years, 8 women and 18 men), 27 COVID-19 patients without sleep disturbances (aged 47.33 ± 15.98 years, 9 women and 18 men), and 31 age-and gender-matched healthy controls (aged 49.19 ± 17.51 years, 9 women and 22 men) were included in this study. Eleven COVID-19 patients with sleep disturbances were included in a longitudinal analysis. We found that COVID-19 patients with sleep disturbances exhibited brain structural changes in almost all brain lobes. The cortical thicknesses of the left pars opercularis and left precuneus were significantly negatively correlated with Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index scores. Additionally, we observed changes in the volume of the hippocampus and its subfield regions in COVID-19 patients compared with the healthy controls. The 3-month follow-up data revealed indices of altered cerebral structure (cortical thickness, cortical grey matter volume, and cortical surface area) in the frontal-parietal cortex compared with the baseline in COVID-19 patients with sleep disturbances.Our findings indicate that the sleep disturbances patients had altered morphology in the cortical and hippocampal structures during the acute phase of infection and persistent changes in cortical regions at 3 months post-infection. These data improve our understanding of the pathophysiology of sleep disturbances caused by COVID-19., (Copyright © 2025 Copyright: © 2025 Neural Regeneration Research.)

Introduction: This study aimed to evaluate morphological changes in cortical and subcortical regions and their asymmetrical differences in individuals with subjective cognitive decline (SCD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI). These morphological changes may provide valuable insights into the early diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD)., Methods: We conducted structural MRI scans on a cohort comprising 62 SCD patients, 97 MCI patients, and 70 age-, sex-, and years of education-matched healthy controls (HC). Using Freesurfer, we quantified surface area, thickness, the local gyrification index (LGI) of cortical regions, and the volume of subcortical nuclei. Asymmetry measures were also calculated. Additionally, we explored the correlation between morphological changes and clinical variables related to cognitive decline., Results: Compared to HC, patients with MCI exhibited predominantly left-sided surface morphological changes in various brain regions, including the transverse temporal gyrus, superior temporal gyrus, insula, and pars opercularis. SCD patients showed relatively minor surface morphological changes, primarily in the insula and pars triangularis. Furthermore, MCI patients demonstrated reduced volumes in the anterior-superior region of the right hypothalamus, the fimbria of the bilateral hippocampus, and the anterior region of the left thalamus. These observed morphological changes were significantly associated with clinical ratings of cognitive decline., Conclusion: The findings of this study suggest that cortical and subcortical morphometric changes may contribute to cognitive impairment in MCI, while compensatory mechanisms may be at play in SCD to preserve cognitive function. These insights have the potential to aid in the early diagnosis and treatment of AD., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest. The author(s) declared that they were an editorial board member of Frontiers, at the time of submission. This had no impact on the peer review process and the final decision., (Copyright © 2023 Yang, Liang, Wei, Liu, Li, Huang, Zhang, Li and Deng.)

Background: Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is a menstrual-related disorder, characterized by physical, emotional, behavioral and cognitive symptoms. However, the neuropathological mechanisms of PMS remain unclear. This study aimed to investigate the frequency-specific functional connectivity density (FCD) and structural covariance in PMS., Methods: Functional and T1-weighted structural data were obtained from 35 PMS patients and 36 healthy controls (HCs). This study was a cross-sectional and prospective design. The local/long-range FCD (LFCD/LRFCD) across slow-4 (0.027-0.073 Hz) and slow-5 (0.01-0.027 Hz) bands were computed, and two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) was performed to ascertain the main effects of group and interaction effects between group and frequency band. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was performed to investigate reliable biomarkers for identifying PMS from HCs. Based on the ROC results, characterized the changes of whole-brain structural covariance patterns of striatum subregions in two groups. Correlation analysis was applied to examine relationships between the clinical symptoms and abnormal brain regions., Results: Compared with HCs, PMS patients exhibited: (I) aberrant functional communication in the middle cingulate cortex and precentral gyrus; (II) significant frequency band-by-group interaction effects of the striatum, thalamus and orbitofrontal cortex; (III) the better classification ability of the LFCD in the striatum in ROC analysis (slow-5); (IV) decreased gray matter volumes in the caudate subregions and decreased structural associations of between the caudate subregions and frontal cortex; (V) the LFCD value in thalamus were significantly negatively correlated with the sleep problems (slow-5)., Conclusions: Based on multi-modal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) analysis, this study might imply the aberrant emotional regulation and cognitive function related to menstrual cycle in PMS and improve our understanding of the pathophysiologic mechanism in PMS from novel perspective., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at https://qims.amegroups.com/article/view/10.21037/qims-22-506/coif). The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (2023 Quantitative Imaging in Medicine and Surgery. All rights reserved.)

Background: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a common neurological disorder. Moxibustion has been shown to be effective in treating MCI, but its therapeutic mechanisms still remain unclear. This study mainly aimed to investigate the modulation effect of moxibustion treatment for patients with MCI by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)., Methods: A total of 47 patients with MCI and 30 healthy controls (HCs) participated in resting-state fMRI imaging (rs-fMRI) scans. Patients with MCI were randomly divided into true moxibustion group (TRUE, n = 30) and sham moxibustion group (SHAM, n = 17). The degree centrality (DC) approach was applied to distinguish altered brain functions. Correlation analysis was then performed to examine the relationships between the neuroimaging findings and clinical symptoms., Results: Compared with HCs, patients with MCI mainly showed decreased DC in the left middle frontal cortex (MFC) and bilateral middle cingulate cortex (MCC). After moxibustion treatment, the SHAM group had no significant DC findings, while TRUE group mainly showed significant increased DC in the bilateral MFC and MCC, as well as decreased DC in the left middle occipital cortex (MOC). Repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed significant interactions between the two groups of patients with MCI. In addition, the higher Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) score was significantly positively correlated with increased DC in the right MFC and left MCC after moxibustion treatment., Conclusion: Our findings demonstrate that the potential value of moxibustion treatment on MCI, which adds new insights into the popular view that moxibustion treatment may slow cognitive decline in patients with MCI., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Xu, Wei, Liu, Zhao, Geng, Mai, Zhang, Liang, Zeng, Deng and Liu.)

Back Ground: Subjective cognitive decline (SCD) may be the first clinical sign of Alzheimer's disease (AD). The possible neural mechanisms of SCD are not well known. This study aimed to compare percent amplitude of fluctuation (PerAF) and structural covariance patterns in patients with SCD and healthy controls (HCs)., Methods: We enrolled 53 patients with SCD and 65 HCs. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data and T1-weighted anatomical brain 3.0-T MRI scans were collected. The PerAF approach was applied to distinguish altered brain functions between the two groups. A whole-brain voxel-based morphometry analysis was performed, and all significant regions were selected as regions of interest (ROIs) for the structural covariance analysis. Statistical analysis was performed using two-sample t -tests, and multiple regressions were applied to examine the relationships between neuroimaging findings and clinical symptoms., Results: Functional MRI results revealed significantly increased PerAF including the right hippocampus (HIPP) and right thalamus (THA) in patients with SCD relative to HCs. Gray matter volume (GMV) results demonstrated decreased GMV in the bilateral ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC) and right insula in patients with SCD relative to HCs. Taking these three areas including the bilateral vlPFC and right insula as ROIs, differences were observed in the structural covariance of the ROIs with several regions between the two groups. Additionally, significant correlations were observed between neuroimaging findings and clinical symptoms., Conclusion: Our study investigated the abnormal PerAF and structural covariance patterns in patients with SCD, which might provide new insights into the pathological mechanisms of SCD., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Xu, Wei, Zhang, Zhao, Geng, Mai, Li, Liang, Chen, Zeng, Deng and Liu.)

Objective: To explore the effect of moxa cone moxibustion on N -acetyl aspartate/total creatinine (NAA/tCr) and choline/total creatinine (Cho/tCr) in the bilateral hippocampus (HIP) and bilateral posterior cingulate gyrus (PCG) in patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) using hydrogen proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ( 1 H-MRS) and to provide imaging basis for moxa cone moxibustion treatment for MCI., Methods: One hundred eight patients with MCI were served as the MCI group, and 67 age-matched subjects were enrolled as the normal control group. The MCI group was randomized and allocated into acupoint group, drug group, and sham acupoint group, with 36 cases in each group. Some patients in each group withdrew. Finally, 25 cases were included in the acupoint group, 24 cases in the drug group, and 20 cases in the sham acupoint group. The drug group was treated with oral donepezil hydrochloride. The acupoint group and sham acupoint group received moxa cone moxibustion treatment. Mini-mental state exam (MMSE) and Montreal cognitive assessment (MoCA) scores were recorded before intervention, at the end of the first and the second months of intervention, and in the 5th month of follow-up. The NAA/tCr and Cho/tCr ratios in the HIP and PCG were bilaterally measured by 1 H-MRS before and after intervention., Results: Before intervention, compared with the normal control group, the MMSE and MoCA scores, the Cho/tCr ratio in the right HIP, the NAA/tCr ratio in the bilateral HIP, and the NAA/tCr ratio in the left PCG in the three treatment groups decreased significantly (both p < 0.01), and the NAA/tCr ratio in the right PCG significantly reduced in the acupoint and drug groups ( p < 0.05). After two months of treatment, compared with the normal control group, there were no differences in the MoCA scores, the NAA/tCr, and Cho/tCr ratios in the bilateral PCG and bilateral HIP in the three treatment groups ( p > 0.05). However, the MMSE scores in the drug group decreased when compared with the acupoint group and normal control group ( p < 0.05, p < 0.01). The scores of MMSE and MoCA in the acupoint group and sham acupoint group at all time points were better than those in the drug group, which were similar to those in the normal control group., Conclusion: Our findings suggest that moxibustion could improve the cognitive function of patients with MCI. The mechanism may be related to the improvement of abnormal brain metabolism in HIP and PCG., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Mai, Zhang, Liu, Tang, Wei, Su, Duan, Teng, Nong, Yu, Li, Shao, Deng, Chen and Zhao.)

Background: Previous multimodal neuroimaging studies analyzed each dataset independently in subjective cognitive decline (SCD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI), missing the cross-information. Multi-modal fusion analysis can provide more integral and comprehensive information regarding the brain. There has been a paucity of research on fusion analysis of sMRI and DTI in SCD and MCI., Materials and Methods: In the present study, we conducted fusion analysis of structural MRI and DTI by applying multimodal canonical correlation analysis with joint independent component analysis (mCCA-jICA) to capture the cross-information of gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) in 62 SCD patients, 99 MCI patients, and 70 healthy controls (HCs). We further analyzed correlations between the mixing coefficients of mCCA-jICA and neuropsychological scores among the three groups., Results: A set of joint-discriminative independent components of GM and fractional anisotropy (FA) exhibited significant links between SCD and HCs, as well as between MCI and HCs. The covariant abnormalities primarily involved the frontal lobe/middle temporal gyrus/calcarine sulcus-anterior thalamic radiation/superior longitudinal fasciculus in SCD, and middle temporal gyrus/ fusiform gyrus/caudate necleus-forceps minor/anterior thalamic radiation in MCI. There was no significant difference between SCD and MCI groups., Conclusions: The covariant GM-WM abnormalities in SCD and MCI were found in specific brain regions involved in cognitive processing, which confirms the simultaneous GM and WM changes underlying cognitive decline. These findings suggest that multimodal fusion analysis allows for a more comprehensive understanding of the association among different types of brain tissues and its crucial role in the neuropathological mechanism of SCD and MCI., (Copyright © 2021 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background : Premenstrual syndrome (PMS) is a menstrual cycle-related disorder which causes physical and mood changes prior to menstruation and is associated with the functional dysregulation of the brain. Acupuncture is an effective alternative therapy for treating PMS, and sanyinjiao (SP6) is one of the most common acupoints used for improving the symptoms of PMS. However, the mechanism behind acupuncture's efficacy for relieving PMS symptoms remains unclear. The aim of this study was to identify the brain response patterns induced by acupuncture at acupoint SP6 in patients with PMS. Materials and Methods : Twenty-three females with PMS were enrolled in this study. All patients underwent resting-state fMRI data collection before and after 6 min of electroacupuncture stimulation (EAS) at SP6. A regional homogeneity (ReHo) approach was used to compare patients' brain responses before and after EAS at SP6 using REST software. The present study was registered at http://www.chictr.org.cn, and the Clinical Trial Registration Number is ChiCTR-OPC-15005918. Results : EAS at SP6 elicited decreased ReHo value at the bilateral precuneus, right inferior frontal cortex (IFC) and left middle frontal cortex (MFC). In contrast, increased ReHo value was found at the bilateral thalamus, bilateral insula, left putamen and right primary somatosensory cortex (S1). Conclusions : Our study provides an underlying neuroimaging evidence that the aberrant neural activity of PMS patients could be regulated by acupuncture at SP6.

Background : Previous studies have revealed that the etiologies of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) refer to menstrual cycle related brain changes. However, its intrinsic neural mechanism is still unclear. The aim of the present study was to assess abnormal spontaneous brain activity and to explicate the intricate neural mechanism of PMS using resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (RS-fMRI). Materials and Methods : The data of 20 PMS patients (PMS group) and 21 healthy controls (HC group) were analyzed by regional homogeneity (ReHo) method during the late luteal phase of menstrual cycle. In addition, all the participants were asked to complete a daily record of severity of problems (DRSP) questionnaire. Results : Compared with HC group, the results showed that PMS group had increased ReHo mainly in the bilateral precuneus, left inferior temporal cortex (ITC), right inferior frontal cortex (IFC) and left middle frontal cortex (MFC) and decreased ReHo in the right anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) at the luteal phase. Moreover, the PMS group had higher DRSP scores, and the DRSP scores positively correlated with ReHo in left MFC and negatively correlated with ReHo in the right ACC. Conclusion : Our results suggest that abnormal spontaneous brain activity is found in PMS patients and the severity of symptom is specifically related to the left MFC and right ACC. The present findings may be beneficial to explicate the intricate neural mechanism of PMS.

Introduction: According to the Traditional Chinese Medicine theory of acupuncture, Baihui (GV20) is applied to treat neurological and psychiatric disorders. However, the relationships between neural responses and GV20 remain unknown. Thus, the main aim of this study was to examine the brain responses induced by electro-acupuncture stimulation (EAS) at GV20., Materials and Methods: Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was performed in 33 healthy subjects. Based on the non-repeated event-related (NRER) paradigm, group differences were examined between GV20 and a sham acupoint using the regional homogeneity (ReHo) method., Results: Compared with the sham acupoint, EAS at GV20 induced increased ReHo in regions including the orbital frontal cortex (OFC), middle cingulate cortex (MCC), precentral cortex, and precuneus (preCUN). Decreased ReHo was found in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), supplementary motor area (SMA), thalamus, putamen, and cerebellum., Conclusions: The current findings provide preliminary neuroimaging evidence to indicate that EAS at GV20 could induce a specific pattern of neural responses by analysis of ReHo of brain activity. These findings might improve the understanding of mechanisms of acupuncture stimulation at GV20.

Background: Previous neuroimaging studies have revealed that acupuncture modulates the default mode network (DMN) in healthy subjects and patients with certain disorder. However, few studies have been performed to investigate whether or not acupuncture might modulate the DMN in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). Thereby, the aim of the present study was to assess alterations of the DMN induced by acupuncture stimulation in patients with first-episode, drug-naïve MDD., Materials and Methods: Twenty nine patients with first-episode, drug-naïve MDD and 29 healthy subjects were enrolled in this study. All the healthy subjects underwent 6-min resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (R-fMRI) scan. While patients underwent acupuncture stimulation for 20-min electro-acupuncture stimulation (EAS) at Baihui acupoint (GV20) and two 6-min R-fMRI scans before and after EAS. Based on the precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex (PC/PCC) as the seed region, functional connectivity (FC) method was adopted to examine abnormal DMN in patients by comparing with healthy subjects and to evaluate the influence of EAS on intrinsic connectivity within the DMN in patients with MDD., Results: Compared to healthy subjects, MDD patients had abnormal DMN. Moreover, results showed that EAS at GV20 induced increased FC between the PC/PCC and bilateral anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and decreased FC between the PC/PCC and left middle prefrontal cortex, left angualr gyrus and bilateral hippocampus/parahippocampus (HIPP/paraHIPP) in patients with MDD, which were the main brain regions showing significant differences between the patients and healthy subjects., Conclusion: Our findings provide imaging evidence to support that GV20-related acupuncture stimulation may modulate the DMN in patients with first-episode, drug-naïve MDD. This study may partly interpret the neural mechanisms of acupuncture at GV20 which is used to treat patients with MDD in clinical.

The aim of the present study was to investigate the application of a double-echo pulse sequence with 3D ultrashort echo time (UTE) in the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of bones and joints. In total, 7 healthy volunteers and 1 volunteer with a suspected tear of the lateral meniscus of the left knee joint underwent MRI with a double-echo pulse sequence and 3D UTE. The imaging was performed on the tibial diaphysis, knee joint and ankle of the volunteers and on a segment of porcine fibula in vitro . The echo time of echo 1 (TE1) of the UTE images for the achilles tendon of the ankle joint were set as 0.08, 0.16, 0.24 and 0.35 msec. The maximum intensity projection (MIP) of the difference images created from the primary double-echo images with a TE1 of 0.08 msec were performed on the tendons of the ankle to display their 3D structure. The data were analyzed with a one-way ANOVA and paired-sample t-test. The 3D distribution of the tendons was displayed through MIPs of the difference images created from the primary double-echo images. The cortical bones, periosteum, tendons and menisci of the 8 volunteers appeared as high signal intensities in the UTE pulse sequence. Multiplanar reconstruction followed by subtraction of the primary double-echo images raised the image signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio from 2.80±0.75 to 3.76±0.88 (t=-4.851, P<0.01). The artifacts appeared more marked as the TE1 was prolonged. A double pulse sequence MRI with 3D UTE may display the short T 2 components which are not displayed with a conventional clinical MRI sequence, therefore creating a basis for the further quantification of these tissues.