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Relatives of individuals with bipolar disorder (BD) are at higher risk of developing the disorder. Identifying brain alterations associated with familial vulnerability in BD can help discover endophenotypes, which are quantifiable biological traits more prevalent in unaffected relatives of BD (BD-RELs) than the general population. This review aimed at expanding our knowledge on endophenotypes of BD by providing an overview of resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) alterations in BD-RELs. A systematic search of PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science was performed to identify all available rs-fMRI studies conducted in BD-RELs up to January 2024. A total of 18 studies were selected. Six included BD-RELs with no history of psychiatric disorders and 10 included BD-RELs that presented psychiatric disorders. Two investigations examined rs-fMRI alterations in BD-RELs with and without subthreshold symptoms for BD. BD-RELs presented rs-fMRI alterations in the cortico-limbic network, fronto-thalamic-striatal circuit, fronto-occipital network, and, to a lesser extent, in the default mode network. This was true both for BD-RELs with no history of psychopathology and for BD-RELs that presented psychiatric disorders. The direct comparison of rs-fMRI alterations in BD-RELs with and without psychiatric symptoms displayed largely non-overlapping patterns of rs-fMRI abnormalities. Small sample sizes and the clinical heterogeneity of BD-RELs limit the generalizability of our findings. The current literature suggests that first-degree BD-RELs exhibit rs-fMRI alterations in brain circuits involved in emotion regulation, cognition, reward processing, and psychosis susceptibility. Future studies are needed to validate these findings and to explore their potential as biomarkers for early detection and intervention. • Brain changes in BD-RELs are not affected by illness-related confounding factors. • This review summarizes resting-state fMRI changes in BD-RELs. • BD-RELs present alterations in cortical, limbic, striatal, and thalamic areas. • RELs of psychotic BD show fronto-occipital and fronto-thalamic-striatal changes. • Results are heterogeneous and need to be replicated in future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schizophrenia is a severe psychiatric disorder associated with brain alterations at rest. Amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) and its fractional version (fALFF) have been widely used to investigate alterations in spontaneous brain activity in schizophrenia. However, results are still inconsistent. Furthermore, while these measurements are similar, they showed some differences, and no meta-analysis has been yet performed to compare them in schizophrenia. Thus, we conducted systematic research in five databases and in the grey literature to find articles investigating fALFF and/or ALFF alterations in schizophrenia. Two separate meta-analyses were performed using the SDM-PSI software to identify fALFF and ALFF alterations separately. Then, a conjunction analysis was conducted to determine congruent results between the two approaches. We found that patients with schizophrenia showed altered fALFF activity in the left insula/putamen, the right paracentral lobule and the left middle occipital gyrus compared to healthy individuals. Patients with schizophrenia exhibited ALFF alterations in the bilateral putamen, the bilateral caudate nucleus, the bilateral inferior frontal gyrus, the right precuneus, the right precentral gyrus, the left postcentral gyrus, the right posterior cingulate gyrus, compared to healthy controls. ALFF increased activity in the left putamen was higher in drug-naïve patients and was correlated with positive symptoms. The conjunction analysis revealed a spatial convergence between fALFF and ALFF studies in the left putamen. This left putamen cluster is part of the associative striatum. Its alteration in schizophrenia provides additional support to the influential aberrant salience hypothesis of psychosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To identify local and functional connectivity abnormalities in the brain's reward network in depressed adolescents and young adults with and without suicidal behavior. Methods: Magnetic resonance imaging data were obtained from 41 major depressive disorder (MDD) patients with suicidal behavior (sMDD, males/females: 12/29), 44 MDD patients without suicidal behavior (nMDD, males/females: 13/32), and 52 healthy controls (HCs, males/females: 17/35). The Young Mania Scale, Hamilton Depression Scale, Columbia Suicide Scale, and Scale for Suicide Ideation were used to evaluate emotional state and suicidal ideation and behaviors. The amplitude of low frequency fluctuations (ALFF), regional homogeneity (ReHo) and functional connectivity of 11 regions of interest (ROIs) in the reward network were determined. RESULTS: ALFF values in the vmPFC of the nMDD group were significantly lower than those in the HC group (p = 0.031). The ReHo values of the nMDD group were lower in the lVS but higher in the vmPFC than those of the HC group (P = 0.018 and 0.025, respectively). Functional connectivity of the AC with the vmPFC, lVS, rVS, and vmPFC was increased in the sMDD group compared with that in the nMDD group (P = 0.038, 0.034, 0.006, respectively). Conclusion: Local and functional connectivity abnormalities in the reward network were found in the MDD groups. However, increased functional connectivity was found in only the sMDD group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorders (ASD) were considered as two neurodevelopmental disorders and had shared clinical features. we hypothesized that they have some common atypical brain functions and the purpose of this study was to explored the shared brain spontaneous activity strength alterations in early onset schizophrenia (EOS) and ASD in the children and adolescents with a multi-center large-sample study. A total of 171 EOS patients (aged 14.25 ± 1.87), 188 ASD patients (aged 9.52 ± 5.13), and 107 healthy controls (aged 11.52 ± 2.82) had scanned with Resting-fMRI and analyzed surface-based amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF). Results showed that both EOS and ASD had hypoactivity in the primary sensorimotor regions (bilateral primary and early visual cortex, left ventral visual stream, left primary auditory cortex) and hyperactivity in the high-order transmodal regions (bilateral SFL, bilateral DLPFC, right frontal eye fields), and bilateral thalamus. EOS had more severe abnormality than ASD. This study revealed shared functional abnormalities in the primary sensorimotor regions and the high-order transmodal regions in EOS and ASD, which provided neuroimaging evidence of common changes in EOS and ASD, and may help with better early recognition and precise treatment for EOS and ASD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Working memory (WM) is an essential cognitive function that underpins various higher-order cognitive processes. Improving WM capacity through targeted training interventions has emergered as a potential approach for enhancing cognitive abilities. The present study employed an 8-week regimen of computerized WM training (WMT) to investigate its effect on neuroplasticity in healthy individuals, utilizing neuroimaging data gathered both before and after the training. The key metrics assessed included the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF), voxel-based morphometry (VBM), and the spatial distribution correlations of neurotransmitter. The results indicated that post-training, compared to baseline, there was a reduction in ALFF in the medial superior frontal gyrus and an elevation in ALFF in the left middle occipital gyrus within the training group. In comparison to the control group, the training group also exhibited decreased ALFF in the anterior cingulate cortex, angular gyrus, and superior parietal lobule, along with increased ALFF in the postcentral gyrus post-training. VBM analysis revealed a significant increase in gray matter volume (GMV) in the right dorsal superior frontal gyrus after the training period, compared to the initial baseline measurement. Furthermore, the training group showed GMV increases in the dorsal superior frontal gyrus, Rolandic operculum, precentral gyrus, and postcentral gyrus when compared to the control group. In addition, significant associations were identifed between neuroimaging measurements (AFLL and VBM) and the spatial patterns of neurotransmitters such as serotonin (5-HT), dopamine (DA), and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA), providing insights into the underlying neurochemical processes. These findings clarify the neuroplastic changes caused by WMT, offering a deeper understanding of brain plasticity and highlighting the potential advantages of cognitive training interventions.

This study examined associations between resting-state amplitude of low frequency fluctuations (ALFF) and negative symptoms represented by total scores, second-order dimension (motivation and pleasure, expressivity), and first-order domain (anhedonia, avolition, asociality, alogia, blunted affect) factor scores in schizophrenia (n = 57). Total negative symptom scores showed positive associations with ALFF in temporal and frontal brain regions. Negative symptom domain scores showed predominantly stronger associations with regional ALFF compared to total scores, suggesting domain scores may better map to neural signatures than total scores. Improving our understanding of the neuropathology underlying negative symptoms may aid in addressing this unmet therapeutic need in schizophrenia.

Emotional intelligence (EI) is one's ability to monitor one's own and other's emotions and the use of emotional information to enhance thought and action. Previous behavioral studies have shown that EI is separable into trait EI and ability EI, which are known to have distinct characteristics at the behavioral level. A relevant and unanswered question is whether both forms of EI have a dissociable neural basis. Previous studies have individually explored the neural underpinnings of trait EI and ability EI, but there has been no direct comparison of the neural mechanisms underlying these two types of emotional intelligence. The present study addresses this question by using resting-state fMRI to examine the correlational pattern between the regional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) of the brain and individuals' trait EI and ability EI scores. We found that trait EI scores were positively correlated with the ALFF in the bilateral superior temporal gyrus, and negatively correlated with the ALFF in the ventral medial prefrontal cortex. In contrast, ability EI scores were positively correlated with the ALFF in the insula. Taken together, these results provide preliminary evidence of dissociable neural substrates between trait EI and ability EI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: We aimed to evaluate the effect of Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) on the pain neural network (PNN) in healthy subjects using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Methods: Twenty healthy volunteers participated in a balanced-order crossover study, receiving intravenous administration of LSD and placebo in two fMRI scanning sessions. Brain regions associated with pain processing were analyzed by amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF), independent component analysis (ICA), functional connectivity and dynamic casual modeling (DCM). Results: ALFF analysis demonstrated that LSD effectively relieves pain due to modulation in the neural network associated with pain processing. ICA analysis showed more active voxels in anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), thalamus (THL)-left, THL-right, insula cortex (IC)-right, parietal operculum (PO)-left, PO-right and frontal pole (FP)-right in the placebo session than the LSD session. There were more active voxels in FP-left and IC-left in the LSD session compared to the placebo session. Functional brain connectivity was observed between THL-left and PO-right and between PO-left with FP-left, FP-right and IC-left in the placebo session. In the LSD session, functional connectivity of PO-left with FP-left and FP-right was observed. The effective connectivity between left anterior insula cortex (lAIC)-lAIC, lAIC-dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) and secondary somatosensory cortex (SII)-dlPFC were significantly different. Finally, the correlation between fMRI biomarkers and clinical pain criteria was calculated. Conclusion: This study enhances our understanding of the LSD effect on the architecture and neural behavior of pain in healthy subjects and provides great promise for future research in the field of cognitive science and pharmacology.

Xiao-Yu Wang,1– 3,* San-Hua Xu,3,* Hong Wei,3,* Min Kang,3 Jie Zou,3 Qian Ling,3 Hui Huang,3 Xu Chen,4 Yi-Xin Wang,5 Yi Shao,3 Yao Yu1 1Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Jiangxi Clinical Research Center for Endocrine and Metabolic Disease, Jiangxi Branch of National Clinical Research Center for Metabolic Disease, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330006, People’s Republic of China; 2The First Clinical Medical College, Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330006, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Ophthalmology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Jiangxi Branch of National Clinical Research Center for Ocular Disease, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330006, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences, Maastricht University, Maastricht, Limburg Province, 6200MA, Netherlands; 5School of Optometry and Vision Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, CF244HQ, UK*These authors contributed equally to this workCorrespondence: Yi Shao, Department of Ophthalmology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330006, People’s Republic of China, Email freebee99@163.com Yao Yu, Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, 330006, People’s Republic of China, Email yuyao1234562023@163.comPurpose: This study aimed to explore the spontaneous brain activity in patients with diabetic optic neuropathy (DON) by using the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) technique.Methods: Sixteen DON patients and 16 age- and sex-matched healthy controls (HCs) were recruited. ALFF along with functional MRI method was used to detect the intrinsic brain activity alterations. The mean values of ALFF in DON patients and HCs were analyzed by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Pearson’s correlation analysis was used to determine the correlation between Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and ALFF values of DONs.Results: The DON group showed significantly increased ALFF values in the fusiform gyrus, and decreased ALFF values in the medial frontal gyrus/left frontal superior orbit/right frontal medial orbit, and left frontal inferior triangle. ROC curve analysis indicated that the accuracy of AUC was good. The anxiety scale and depression scale of the DON group were negatively correlated with the ALFF values of the medial frontal gyrus.Conclusion: DON is a neurodegenerative disease involving multiple brain regions. The abnormal activity of neurons in these brain regions helps to reveal the underlying neural mechanisms of brain activity related to DON.Keywords: ALFF, fMRI, diabetic optic neuropathy, spontaneous brain activity

Brain iron is vital for core neurodevelopmental processes including myelination and neurotransmitter synthesis and, accordingly, iron accumulates in the brain with age. However, little is known about the association between brain iron and neural functioning and how they evolve with age in early infancy. This study investigated brain iron in 48 healthy infants (22 females) aged 64.00 ± 33.28 days by estimating R2 * relaxometry from multi-echo functional MRI (fMRI). Linked independent component analysis was performed to examine the association between iron deposition and spontaneous neural activity, as measured by the amplitude of low frequency fluctuations (ALFF) by interrogating shared component loadings across modalities. Further, findings were validated in an independent dataset (n = 45, 24 females, 77.93 ± 26.18 days). The analysis revealed developmental coupling between the global R2 * and ALFF within the default mode network (DMN). Furthermore, we observed that this coupling effect significantly increased with age (r = 0.78, p = 9.2e-11). Our results highlight the importance of iron-neural coupling during early development and suggest that the neural maturation of the DMN may correspond to growth in distributed brain iron.

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a severe psychiatric disorder characterized by emotion dysregulation, impulsivity, and interpersonal disturbances. Several structural and functional neuroimaging abnormalities have been described in BPD. In particular, resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) studies have recently suggested various connectivity alterations within and between large-scale brain networks in BPD. This review aimed at providing an updated summary of the evidence reported by the available rs-fMRI studies in BPD individuals. A search on PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science was performed to identify rs-fMRI alterations in BPD. A total of 15 studies met our inclusion criteria. Overall, aberrant resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) within and between default mode network (DMN), salience network (SN), and central executive network (CEN) were observed in BPD compared to healthy controls, as well as selective functional impairments in bilateral amygdala, anterior and posterior cingulate cortex, hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex. The observational design, small sample size, prevalence of females, high rates of concurrent comorbidities and medications, and heterogeneity across imaging methodologies limit the generalizability of the results. The identification of altered patterns of rs-FC within and between selective brain networks, including DMN, SN, and CEN, could further our knowledge of the clinical symptoms of BPD, and therefore, future studies with multimodal methodologies and longitudinal designs are warranted to further explore the neural correlates of this disorder. • The functional neurobiological underpinnings of BPD are largely unknown. • This review summarizes fMRI studies exploring rs-FC in BPD. • fMRI studies show alterations in rs-FC within and between brain networks. • Results need to be replicated in larger and more homogeneous samples. • Further studies with a longitudinal design and multimodal imaging are warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Epilepsy surgery consists of surgical resection of the epileptic focus and is recommended for patients with drug-resistant focal epilepsy. However, focal brain lesions can lead to effects in distant brain regions. Similarly, the focal resection in temporal lobe epilepsy surgery has been shown to lead to functional changes distant from the resection. Here we hypothesize that there are changes in brain function caused by temporal lobe epilepsy surgery in regions distant from the resection that are due to their structural disconnection from the resected epileptic focus. Therefore, the goal of this study was to localize changes in brain function caused by temporal lobe epilepsy surgery and relate them to the disconnection from the resected epileptic focus. This study takes advantage of the unique opportunity that epilepsy surgery provides to investigate the effects of focal disconnections on brain function in humans, which has implications in epilepsy and broader neuroscience. Changes in brain function from pre- to post-epilepsy surgery were quantified in a group of temporal lobe epilepsy patients (n = 36) using a measure of resting state functional MRI activity fluctuations. We identified regions with significant functional MRI changes that had high structural connectivity to the resected region in healthy controls (n = 96) and patients based on diffusion MRI. The structural disconnection from the resected epileptic focus was then estimated using presurgical diffusion MRI and related to the functional MRI changes from pre- to post-surgery in these regions. Functional MRI activity fluctuations increased from pre- to post-surgery in temporal lobe epilepsy in the two regions most highly structurally connected to the resected epileptic focus in healthy controls and patients—the thalamus and the fusiform gyrus ipsilateral to the side of surgery (P FWE < 0.05). Broader surgeries led to larger functional MRI changes in the thalamus than more selective surgeries (P < 0.05), but no other clinical variables were related to functional MRI changes in either the thalamus or fusiform. The magnitude of the functional MRI changes in both the thalamus and fusiform increased with a higher estimated structural disconnection from the resected epileptic focus when controlling for the type of surgery (P < 0.05). These results suggest that the structural disconnection from the resected epileptic focus may contribute to the functional changes seen after epilepsy surgery. Broadly, this study provides a novel link between focal disconnections in the structural brain network and downstream effects on function in distant brain regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Self‐control, the ability to regulate prepotent desires or impulses in order to realize one's valued goal, has been found to be associated with early life adversity. However, the neural correlates underlying this relationship remain poorly understood. The present study employed resting‐state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate this issue among late adolescents (N = 538). Results showed that family unpredictability rather than family harshness of early life adversity was negatively correlated with self‐control ability. The whole brain analysis showed that self‐control was associated with enhanced ALFF in the right middle and inferior frontal gyrus, the left anterior insula, and with decreased ALFF in the left precuneus. Moreover, the mediating analysis showed that ALFF in the inferior frontal gyrus could partially mediated the association of family unpredictability with self‐control ability. These findings suggested that the brain regions implicating in executive control might be the neural correlates underlying the relationship between early life adversity and self‐control ability, which advances the mechanistic understanding of how early family environment relates to the development of self‐regulation in late adolescence. The neural correlates underlying the relationship between early life adversity and self‐control remain poorly understood. We used fMRI and found that family unpredictability, rather than family harshness, was negatively correlated with self‐control, and ALFF (amplitude of low‐frequency fluctuations) in inferior frontal gyrus partially mediated this association. Our findings suggest that proximal factors and brain regions implicated in cognitive control are important for self‐control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: There is a growing interest in exploring brain-heart interactions. However, few studies have investigated the brain-heart interactions in healthy populations, especially in healthy young adults. The aim of this study was to explore the association between cardiovascular and spontaneous brain activities during dobutamine infusion in healthy young adults. Methods: Forty-eight right-handed healthy participants (43 males and 5 females, range: 22–34 years) underwent vital signs monitoring, cognitive function assessment and brain MRI scans. Cardiovascular function was evaluated using blood pressure and heart rate, while two restingstate functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) methods—regional homogeneity (ReHo) and amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF)— were used together to reflect the local neural activity of the brain. Logistic regression was used to model the association between brain and heart. Results: Results showed that blood pressure and heart rate significantly increased after dobutamine infusion, and the performance in brain functional activity was the decrease in ReHo in the left gyrus rectus and in ALFF in the left frontal superior orbital. The results of logistic regression showed that the difference of diastolic blood pressure (DBP) had significant positive relationship with the degree of change of ReHo, while the difference of systolic blood pressure (SBP) had significant negative impact on the degree of change in ALFF. Discussion: These findings suggest that the brain-heart interactions exist in healthy young adults under acute cardiovascular alterations, and more attention should be paid to blood pressure changes in young adults and assessment of frontal lobe function to provide them with more effective health protection management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objects: The efficacy of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in the treatment of adolescents with treatment-refractory depression is still unsatisfactory, and the individual differences are large. It is not clear which factors are related to the treatment effect. Resting-state fMRI may be a good tool to predict the clinical efficacy of this treatment, and it is helpful to identify the most suitable population for this treatment. Methods: Forty treatment-refractory depression adolescents were treated by ECT and evaluated using HAMD and BSSI scores before and after treatment, and were then divided into a treatment response group and a non-treatment group according to the reduction rate of the HAMD scale. We extracted the ALFF, fALFF, ReHo, and functional connectivity of patients as predicted features after a two-sample t-test and LASSO to establish and evaluate a prediction model of ECT in adolescents with treatment-refractory depression. Results: Twenty-seven patients achieved a clinical response; symptoms of depression and suicidal ideation were significantly improved after treatment with ECT, which was reflected in a significant decrease in the scores of HAMD and BSSI (p < 0.001). The efficacy was predicted by ALFF, fALFF, ReHo, and whole-brain-based functional connectivity. We found that models built on a subset of features of ALFF in the left insula, fALFF in the left superior parietal gyrus, right superior parietal gyrus, and right angular, and functional connectivity between the left superior frontal gyrus, dorsolateral–right paracentral lobule, right middle frontal gyrus, orbital part–left cuneus, right olfactory cortex–left hippocampus, left insula–left thalamus, and left anterior cingulate gyrus–right hippocampus to have the best predictive performance (AUC > 0.8). Conclusions: The local brain function in the insula, superior parietal gyrus, and angular gyrus as well as characteristic changes in the functional connectivity of cortical–limbic circuits may serve as potential markers for efficacy judgment of ECT and help to provide optimized individual treatment strategies for adolescents with depression and suicidal ideation in the early stages of treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Vestibular migraine (VM) is one of the most common causes of episodic central vestibular disorders; it is worth investigating whether VM belongs to the migraine subtype or is a separate disorder. The study is aimed at investigating resting-state functional brain activity alterations in patients with definite VM (dVM). Methods: Seventeen patients with dVM, 8 patients with migraine, and 17 health controls (HCs) were recruited. The amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (ALFF), fractional ALFF (fALFF), and regional homogeneity (ReHo) were calculated to observe the changes in spontaneous brain activity. Results: Compared with HCs, VM patients showed significantly increased ALFF values in the right temporal lobe (P = 0.002) and increased ReHo values in the right superior, middle, and inferior temporal gyrus (STG, MTG, and ITG, P = 0.013); patients with migraine showed significantly increased ALFF values in the right limbic lobe (P = 0.04), left ITG (P = 0.024), and right frontal lobe (P < 0.001), significantly decreased ALFF values in the pons and brainstem (P = 0.013), and significantly decreased ReHo values in the frontal cortex (P < 0.001). Compared with patients with migraine, VM patients showed significantly increased fALFF values in the right parietal lobe (P = 0.011) and right frontal lobe (P = 0.026) and significantly increased ReHo values in the right thalamus (P = 0.043). Conclusions: Patients with VM and migraine both had altered brain function, but the regions involved are different. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a disabling and severe psychiatric disorder with a high rate of prevalence, and adolescence is one of the most probable periods for the first onset. The neurobiological mechanism underlying the adolescent MDD remains unexplored. Methods: In this study, we examined the cortical and subcortical alterations of neuroanatomical structures and spontaneous functional activation in 50 unmedicated adolescents withMDD vs. 39 healthy controls through the combined structural and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. Results: Significantly altered regional gray matter volume was found at broader frontal-temporal-parietal and subcortical brain areas involved with various forms of information processing in adolescent MDD. Specifically, the increased GM volume at the left paracentral lobule and right supplementary motor cortex was significantly correlated with depression severity in adolescent MDD. Furthermore, lower cortical thickness at brain areas responsible for visual and auditory processing as well as motor movements was found in adolescent MDD. The lower cortical thickness at the superior premotor subdivision was positively correlated with the course of the disease. Moreover, higher spontaneous neuronal activity was found at the anterior cingulum and medial prefrontal cortex, and this hyperactivity was also negatively correlated with the course of the disease. It potentially reflected the rumination, impaired concentration, and physiological arousal in adolescent MDD. Conclusion: The abnormal structural and functional findings at cortico- subcortical areas implied the dysfunctional cognitive control and emotional regulations in adolescent depression. The findings might help elaborate the underlying neural mechanisms of MDD in adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous work in incarcerated boys and adult men and women suggest that individuals scoring high on psychopathic traits show altered resting-state limbic/paralimbic, and default mode functional network properties. However, it is unclear whether similar results extend to high-risk adolescent girls with elevated psychopathic traits. This study examined whether psychopathic traits [assessed via the Hare Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL:YV)] were associated with altered inter-network connectivity, intra-network connectivity (i.e., functional coherence within a network), and amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFFs) across resting-state networks among high-risk incarcerated adolescent girls (n = 40). Resting-state networks were identified by applying group independent component analysis (ICA) to resting-state fMRI scans, and a priori regions of interest included limbic, paralimbic, and default mode network components. We tested the association of psychopathic traits (PCL:YV Factor 1 measuring affective/interpersonal traits and PCL:YV Factor 2 assessing antisocial/lifestyle traits) to these three resting-state measures. PCL:YV Factor 1 scores were associated with increased low-frequency and decreased high-frequency fluctuations in components corresponding to the default mode network, as well as increased intra-network FNC in components corresponding to cognitive control networks. PCL:YV Factor 2 scores were associated with increased low-frequency fluctuations in sensorimotor networks and decreased high-frequency fluctuations in default mode, sensorimotor, and visual networks. Consistent with previous analyses in incarcerated adult women, our results suggest that psychopathic traits among incarcerated adolescent girls are associated with altered intra-network ALFFs—primarily that of increased low-frequency and decreased high-frequency fluctuations—and connectivity across multiple networks including paralimbic regions. These results suggest stable neurobiological correlates of psychopathic traits among women across development.

Fan Yang, Wenxiao Jia, Hanjiaerbieke Kukun, Shuang Ding, Haotian Zhang, Yunling Wang Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Ürümqi, Xinjiang, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Yunling Wang, Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University, Ürümqi, Xinjiang, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86 139 9990 9377, Email 1079806994@qq.comPurpose: Patients with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-negative temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE-N) represent an important subgroup of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Here, we aimed to combine three voxel-based local brain area analysis methods of resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI), to examine the TLE-N patients’ resting brain function based on neural synchronization and intensity of local brain areas.Methods: The study included 47 patients with TLE, including 28 cases of drug-controlled TLE (cTLE-N) and 19 cases of drug-resistant TLE-N (rTLE-N), as well as 30 participants in the healthy control (HC) group. To comprehensively assess the altered brain function associated with TLE-N patients, we analyzed three data-driven rs-fMRI algorithms for amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF), fractional ALFF (fALFF) and regional homogeneity (ReHo).Results: Compared to the HC group, the distribution of abnormal functional brain areas in cTLE-N patients was dominated by occipital lobe activation, as measured by increased fALFF values in the superior occipital gyrus (SOG) and increased ReHo values in the lingual gyrus (Lin), fusiform gyrus, and middle occipital gyrus. Patients with rTLE-N exhibited a diffuse distribution of abnormal functional brain areas, showing increased fALFF values in the SOG, Lin, superior temporal gyrus, and postcentral gyrus, and decreased fALFF values in the inferior frontal gyrus orbital, parahippocampal gyrus, and superior frontal gyrus orbital. The ReHo values were reduced in the orbital region of the middle frontal gyrus, the precuneus, and the parietal inferior angular gyrus; while ReHo values were elevated values in several frontal, temporal, occipital, and subcortical brain areas.Conclusion: Patients with rTLE-N have local brain activity changes in the prefrontal limbic system and default model network dysfunction, while cTLE-N patients have local brain activity changes in the visual functional areas. Different epilepsy networks exist between cTLE-N and rTLE-N.Keywords: temporal lobe epilepsy, resting-state fMRI, ALFF, fALFF, ReHo

Lulu Zhang,1 Xinghua Wei,2 Jingping Zhao3 1Department of Psychiatry, Guangzhou First People’s Hospital, Guangzhou, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Medical Imaging, Guangzhou First People’s Hospital, Guangzhou, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Psychiatry and Mental Health Institute of the Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Chinese National Clinical Research Center on Mental Disorders, Chinese National Technology Institute on Mental Disorders, Hunan Key Laboratory of Psychiatry and Mental Health, Changsha, Hunan, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Lulu Zhang, Department of Psychiatry, Guangzhou First People’s Hospital, 1 Panfu Road, Guangzhou, Guangdong, People’s Republic of China, Tel/Fax +86 2081046473, Email llzhang1304@126.comObjective: To observe characteristics of the amplitudes of low-frequency oscillation (LFO) in first-episode drug-naive patients with major depressive disorder (MDD).Methods: Amplitudes of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) and fractional ALFF (fALFF) were computed using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) data of 39 first-episode drug-naive patients with MDD and 37 healthy controls.Results: ALFF and fALFF in the left cerebellum were significantly higher in patients with MDD compared to control group, while ALFF in the right rolandic operculum was significantly lower (all p < 0.001, AlphaSim correction).Conclusion: Abnormal neurological activity in multiple brain regions in first-episode drug-naive patients with MDD may be involved in the neurobiological mechanisms of MDD and should be considered in future studies.Keywords: major depressive disorder, first-episode, ALFF, fALFF, fMRI

• Somatization symptoms are associated with emotional memory in adolescents with depressive disorders. • Somatization symptoms in adolescent depression are associated with the superior occipital gyrus and inferior temporal gyrus. • Superior occipital, middle occipital and inferior temporal gyrus may be the brain regions acting on the memory bias of adolescent depressive disorder patients. Studies have revealed that somatization symptoms are associated with emotional memory in adolescents with depressive disorders. This study investigated somatization symptoms and emotional memory among adolescents with depressive disorders using low-frequency amplitude fluctuations (ALFF). Participants were categorized into the somatization symptoms (FSS) group, non-FSS group and healthy control group (HC). The correctness of negative picture re-recognition was higher in the FFS and HC group than in the non-FSS group. The right superior occipital gyrus and right inferior temporal gyrus were significantly larger in the FSS group than those in the non-FSS and HC groups. Additionally, the ALFF in the superior occipital and inferior temporal gyrus were positively correlated with CSI score. Furthermore, the ALFF values in the temporal region positively correlated with correct negative image re-recognition. The negative image re-recognition rate was positively correlated with the ALFF in the left and right middle occipital gyri. These findings indicated that somatization symptoms in adolescent depression are associated with the superior occipital gyrus and inferior temporal gyrus. Notably, somatization symptoms play a role in memory bias within depressive disorders, with middle occipital and inferior temporal gyri potentially serving as significant brain regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Following an 8-week computerized working memory training, participants exhibited a notable alternation in the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) in the fronto-occipital regions. • An increase in gray matter volume (GMV) was observed in the right dorsal superior frontal gyrus of the training group post-training. • Significant correlations was found between neuroimaging measures (ALFF and VBM) and the spatial patterns of neurotransmitters such as serotonin (5-HT), dopamine (DA), and N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA). Working memory (WM) is an essential cognitive function that underpins various higher-order cognitive processes. Improving WM capacity through targeted training interventions has emergered as a potential approach for enhancing cognitive abilities. The present study employed an 8-week regimen of computerized WM training (WMT) to investigate its effect on neuroplasticity in healthy individuals, utilizing neuroimaging data gathered both before and after the training. The key metrics assessed included the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF), voxel-based morphometry (VBM), and the spatial distribution correlations of neurotransmitter. The results indicated that post-training, compared to baseline, there was a reduction in ALFF in the medial superior frontal gyrus and an elevation in ALFF in the left middle occipital gyrus within the training group. In comparison to the control group, the training group also exhibited decreased ALFF in the anterior cingulate cortex, angular gyrus, and superior parietal lobule, along with increased ALFF in the postcentral gyrus post-training. VBM analysis revealed a significant increase in gray matter volume (GMV) in the right dorsal superior frontal gyrus after the training period, compared to the initial baseline measurement. Furthermore, the training group showed GMV increases in the dorsal superior frontal gyrus, Rolandic operculum, precentral gyrus, and postcentral gyrus when compared to the control group. In addition, significant associations were identifed between neuroimaging measurements (AFLL and VBM) and the spatial patterns of neurotransmitters such as serotonin (5-HT), dopamine (DA), and N-methyl- D -aspartate (NMDA), providing insights into the underlying neurochemical processes. These findings clarify the neuroplastic changes caused by WMT, offering a deeper understanding of brain plasticity and highlighting the potential advantages of cognitive training interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hallucinations characterize schizophrenia, with approximately 59% of patients reporting auditory hallucinations and 27% reporting visual hallucinations. Prior neuroimaging studies suggest that hallucinations are linked to disrupted communication across distributed (sensory, salience-monitoring and subcortical) networks. Yet, our understanding of the neurophysiological mechanisms that underlie auditory and visual hallucinations in schizophrenia remains limited. This study integrates two resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) analysis methods - amplitudes of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) and functional network connectivity (FNC) - to explore the hypotheses that (1) abnormal FNC between salience and sensory (visual/auditory) networks underlies hallucinations in schizophrenia, and (2) disrupted hippocampal oscillations (as measured by hippocampal ALFF) beget changes in FNC linked to hallucinations. Our first hypothesis was supported by the finding that schizophrenia patients reporting hallucinations have higher FNC between the salience network and an associative auditory network relative to healthy controls. Hippocampal ALFF was negatively associated with FNC between primary auditory cortex and the salience network in healthy subjects, but was positively associated with FNC between these networks in patients reporting hallucinations. These findings provide indirect support favoring our second hypothesis. We suggest future studies integrate fMRI with electroencephalogram (EEG) and/or magnetoencephalogram (MEG) methods to directly probe the temporal relation between altered hippocampal oscillations and changes in cross-network functional communication.

Introduction: Sciatica is a pain disorder often caused by the herniated disk compressing the lumbosacral nerve roots. Neuroimaging studies have identified functional abnormalities in patients with chronic sciatica (CS). However, few studies have investigated the neural marker of CS using brain structure and the classification value of multidimensional neuroimaging features in CS patients is unclear. Methods: Here, structural and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was acquired for 34 CS patients and 36 matched healthy controls (HCs). We analyzed cortical surface area, cortical thickness, amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF), regional homogeneity (REHO), between-regions functional connectivity (FC), and assessed the correlation between neuroimaging measures and clinical scores. Finally, the multimodal neuroimaging features were used to differentiate the CS patients and HC individuals by support vector machine (SVM) algorithm. Results: Compared to HC, CS patients had a larger cortical surface area in the right banks of the superior temporal sulcus and rostral anterior cingulate; higher ALFF value in the left inferior frontal gyrus; enhanced FCs between somatomotor and ventral attention network. Three FCs values were associated with clinical pain scores. Furthermore, the three multimodal neuroimaging features with significant differences between groups and the SVM algorithm could classify CS patients and HC with an accuracy of 90.00%. Discussion: Together, our findings revealed extensive reorganization of local functional properties, surface area, and network metrics in CS patients. The success of patient identification highlights the potential of using artificial intelligence and multimodal neuroimaging markers in chronic pain research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Major depressive disorder (MDD) has a high disability rate and brings a large disease burden to patients and the country. Significant sex differences exist in both the epidemiological and clinical features in MDD. The effect of sex on brain function in MDD is not clear now. Regional homogeneity (ReHo) and ALFF are widely used research method in the study of brain function. This research aimed to use ReHo and ALFF to explore gender differences in brain function images in MDD. Methods: Eighty first-episode drug-naive patients (47 women and 30 men) with MDD and 85 age, education matched healthy volunteers (47 women and 31men) were recruited in our study and participated in resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scans. ReHo and ALFF were used to assess brain activity, two-way ANOVA and post hoc analysis was conducted to explore the sex difference inMDD. Correlation analysis was used to explore the relationship between abnormal brain functioning and clinical symptoms. Results: We observed sex-specific patterns and diagnostic differences in MDD Patients, further post hoc comparisons indicated that women with MDD showed decreased ALFF value in the right superior occipital gyrus and decreased ReHo value in the left calcarine and left dorsolateral superior frontal gyrus compared with HC females and men with MDD. Men with MDD showed decreased ReHo value in the right median cingulate gyrus compared with HC males and increased ReHo value in the left dorsolateral superior frontal gyrus compared with HC males, we also found that HC males showed higher ReHo value in the right median cingulate gyrus than HC females. Conclusions: Men and women do have sex differences in brain function, the occipital lobe, calcarine, DLPFC, andDCGwere themain different brain regions found between male and female in MDD, which may be the biomarker brain regions that can help diagnose and treat MDD in men and women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although it has been found that self-esteem and self-concept clarity are positively correlated, self-determination theory shows that the positive relationship might be lowered for individuals whose basic psychological needs are chronically thwarted. The exact neural mechanisms underlying the relationship between self-esteem and self-concept clarity are still not fully understood. The dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) plays an important role in monitoring basic psychological needs, considering that it ismore active when some basic psychological needs are actually or potentially thwarted. To better understand the neuralmechanisms underlying the relationship between self-esteem and self-concept clarity, we investigated the differences in the relationship between self-esteem and self-concept clarity among healthy adults with different levels of spontaneous activities of the dACC using rs-fMRI combined with amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF). As expected, the results showed that the positive relationship between self-esteem and self-concept clarity wasmodulated by the ALFF value of the right dACC, which indicated that the positive relationship was significant when the ALLF value of the right dACC was lower, but the positive relationship was not significant when the ALFF value of the right dACC was higher. The modulating roles of right dACC might also reflect that the individuals with higher ALFF value of dACC might experience chronically thwarted relatedness of basic psychological needs, which means the more disturbed by thwarting relatedness information in individuals, the lower positive relationship emerged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) was used to investigate the effects of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) causing brain function changes in adolescents who suffered from depression and suicidal ideation (SI). A total of 30 patients (MDDs) and 25 healthy controls (HCs) matched by gender, age, and education level were enrolled. The amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) and regional homogeneity (ReHo) were used to compare differences between HCs and MDDs at baseline, and differences in ALFF and ReHo pre/post ECT in MDDs. Pearson correlation analysis was used to evaluate the relationship between altered brain function and clinical symptoms. At baseline, MDDs showed decreased ALFF in the left inferior temporal gyrus and right amygdala, decreased ReHo in left inferior temporal gyrus, and increased ReHo in the right inferior frontal gyrus, opercular part and left middle occipital gyrus. After ECT, MDDs showed increased ALFF in the right middle occipital gyrus, decreased ALFF in left temporal pole, left inferior frontal gyrus, opercular part, and right frontal middle gyrus, increased ReHo in the right middle occipital gyrus, and left inferior temporal gyrus. Pearson correlation found HAMD scores at baseline were negatively correlated with ALFF in the left inferior temporal gyrus, and HAMD and BSSI scores after ECT were negatively correlated with ALFF in the right middle occipital gyrus. The abnormal activities of amygdala, inferior temporal gyrus and middle occipital gyrus might be related to depressive and suicidal symptoms in adolescents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study aims to explore differences in the static and dynamic amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (sALFF and dALFF) in resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) data between patients with Benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes (SeLECTS) and healthy controls (HCs)., Materials and Methods: We recruited 45 patient with SeLECTS and 55 HCs, employing rs-fMRI to assess brain activity. The analysis utilized a two-sample t-test for primary comparisons, supplemented by stratification and matching based on clinical and demographic characteristics to ensure comparability between groups. Post hoc analyses assessed the relationships between sALFF/dALFF alterations and clinical demographics, incorporating statistical adjustments for potential confounders and performing sensitivity analysis to test the robustness of our findings., Results: Our analysis identified significant differences in sALFF and dALFF between patient with SeLECTS and HCs. Notably, increases in sALFF and dALFF were observed in the right middle temporal gyrus and left superior temporal gyrus among patient with SeLECTS, while a decrease in dALFF was seen in the right cerebellum crus 1. Additionally, a positive correlation was found between abnormal dALFF variability in specific brain regions and various clinical and demographic factors of patient with SeLECTS, with age being one such influential factor., Conclusion: This investigation provides insights into the assessment of local brain activity in SeLECTS through both static and dynamic approaches. It highlights the significance of non-invasive neuroimaging techniques in understanding the complexities of epilepsy syndromes like SeLECTS and emphasizes the need to consider a range of clinical and demographic factors in neuroimaging studies of neurological disorders., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

BackgroundCognitive subtypes of schizophrenia may exhibit different neurobiological characteristics. This study aimed to reveal the underlying neurobiological features between cognitive subtypes in the early course of schizophrenia (ECS). According to prior studies, we hypothesized to identify 2–4 distinct cognitive subtypes. We further hypothesized that the subtype with relatively poorer cognitive function might have lower brain spontaneous neural activity than the subtype with relatively better cognitive function.MethodCognitive function was assessed by the MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB). Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning was conducted for each individual. There were 155 ECS individuals and 97 healthy controls (HCs) included in the subsequent analysis. Latent profile analysis (LPA) was used to identify the cognitive subtypes in ECS individuals, and amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFFs) was used to measure brain spontaneous neural activity in ECS individuals and HCs.ResultsLPA identified two cognitive subtypes in ECS individuals, containing a severely impaired subtype (SI, n = 63) and a moderately impaired subtype (MI, n = 92). Compared to HCs, ECS individuals exhibited significantly increased ALFF in the left caudate and bilateral thalamus and decreased ALFF in the bilateral medial prefrontal cortex and bilateral posterior cingulate cortex/precuneus (PCC/PCu). In ECS cognitive subtypes, SI showed significantly higher ALFF in the left precentral gyrus (PreCG) and lower ALFF in the left PCC/PCu than MI. Furthermore, ALFFs of left PreCG were negatively correlated with several MCCB cognitive domains in ECS individuals, while ALFF of left PCC/PCu presented opposite correlations.ConclusionOur findings suggest that differences in the brain spontaneous neural activity of PreCG and PCC/PCu might be the potential neurobiological features of the cognitive subtypes in ECS, which may deepen our understanding of the role of PreCG and PCC/PCu in the pathogenesis of cognitive impairment in schizophrenia.

Visual-spatial attention disorder after stroke seriously affects recovery and quality of life in stroke patients. Previous studies have shown that some patients recovery rapidly from visual-spatial neglect (VSN), but the brain networks underlying this recovery are not well understood. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we aimed to identify network differences between patients who rapidly recovered from VSN and those with persistent VSN. The study included 30 patients with VSN who suffered subacute stroke. Patients were examined 2-4 weeks after stroke onset and 4 weeks after the initial assessment. At the last evaluation, patients in the persistent VSN (n = 15) and rapid recovery (n = 15) groups underwent paper-and-pencil tests. We defined the bilateral frontal eye fields, bilateral intraparietal sulcus in the dorsal attention network, and right temporoparietal junction and ventral frontal cortex areas in the ventral attention network as regions of interest (ROI) and measured whole-brain ROI-based functional connectivity (FC) and amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) in subacute right-hemisphere stroke patients. VSN recovery was associated with changes in the activation of multiple bilateral attentional brain regions. Specifically, persistent VSN was associated with lower FC in the right superior frontal gyrus, right inferior temporal gyrus, right medial orbitofrontal cortex, left precuneus, right inferior parietal gyrus, right medial frontal gyrus, right rectus gyrus, left superior frontal gyrus, left middle cingulate gyrus, right superior temporal pole, right postcentral gyrus, and right posterior cingulate gyrus compared to that in those with rapid recovery, whereas ALFF in the left cerebellum were decreased in patients with persistent VSN. Our results demonstrate that the DAN rather than the VAN, plays a more important role in recovery from VSN, and that the cerebellum is involved in recovery. We believe that our results supplement those of previous studies on recovery from VSN. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is characterized by persistent fatigue, which often leads to physical and psychological damage. The Prolong Life with Nine Turn method (PLWNT) Qigong is considered as one of the complementary treatments for improving symptoms in patients with CFS. In this study, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to explore the effects of PLWNT intervention on the subjects with CFS. Methods: Thirty four CFS patients were randomly divided into PLWNT group and cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) group. Both groups were taught by a highly qualified professor at the Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine once a week and were supervised online during the remaining 6 days at home, over 12 consecutive weeks. We calculated the regional rs-fMRI index amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) for all subjects. To study the changes of the brain network, we used the brain regions with significant differences in ALFF as the regions of interest for whole-brain functional connectivity (FC) analysis. The Multi-dimensional Fatigue Inventory 20 (MFI-20) and Short Form 36-item Health Survey (SF-36) were used for clinical symptom assessment to explore the possible correlation between the rs-fMRI indicators and clinical variations. Results: The ALFF values of the right superior frontal gyrus (SFG), and left median cingulate gyrus (DCG) were increased, whereas those of the left middle occipital gyrus (OG), right middle OG and left middle temporal gyrus (MTG) were decreased in PLWNT group. The FC values between the DCG and middle temporal gyrus (MTG), and those between the left OG and the right OG were enhanced. In addition, the SF-36 were positively with the left OG (r = 0.524), SFG (r = 0.517), and DCG (r = 0.533), MFI-20 were negatively with the SFG (r = -0.542) and DCG (r = -0.578). These results were all corrected by FWE (voxel level p < 0.001, cluster level p < 0.05). Conclusion: CFS patients have abnormal regional spontaneous neuronal activity and abnormal functional connections between regions after PLWNT intervention. PLWNT can relieve the fatigue symptoms of CFS patients and improve their quality of life. The study was registered in the American Clinical Trial Registry (12/04/2018). Registration Number is NCT03496961. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background Subclinical depression (ScD) is a prevalent condition associated with relatively mild depressive states, and it poses a high risk of developing into major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the neural pathology of ScD is still largely unknown. Identifying the spontaneous neural activity involved in ScD may help clarify risk factors for MDD and explore treatment strategies for mild stages of depression. Methods A total of 34 ScD subjects and 40 age-, sex-, and education-matched healthy controls were screened from 1105 college students. The amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) and regional homogeneity (ReHo) of resting-state fMRI were calculated to reveal neural activity. Strict statistical strategies, including Gaussian random field (GRF), false discovery rate (FDR), and permutation test (PT) with threshold-free cluster enhancement (TFCE), were conducted. Based on the altered ALFF and ReHo, resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) was further analyzed using a seed-based approach. Results The right precuneus and left middle frontal gyrus (MFG) both showed significantly increased ALFF and ReHo in ScD subjects. Moreover, the left hippocampus and superior frontal gyrus (SFG) showed decreased ALFF and increased ReHo, respectively. In addition, ScD subjects showed increased RSFC between MFG and hippocampus compared to healthy controls, and significant positive correlation was found between the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) score and RSFC from MFG to hippocampus in ScD group. Conclusion Spontaneous neural activities in the right precuneus, left MFG, SFG, and hippocampus were altered in ScD subjects. Functional alterations in these dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and default mode network regions are largely related to abnormal emotional processing in ScD, and indicate strong associations with brain impairments in MDD, which provide insight into potential pathophysiology mechanisms of subclinical depression.

Prior resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) analyses have identified patterns of functional connectivity associated with hallucinations in schizophrenia (Sz). In this study, we performed an analysis of the mean amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) to compare resting state spontaneous low-frequency fluctuations in patients with Sz who report experiencing hallucinations impacting different sensory modalities. By exploring dynamics across 2 low-frequency passbands (slow-4 and slow-5), we assessed the impact of hallucination modality and frequency range on spatial ALFF variation. Drawing from a sample of Sz and healthy controls studied as part of the Functional Imaging Biomedical Informatics Research Network (FBIRN), we replicated prior findings showing that patients with Sz have decreased ALFF in the posterior brain in comparison to controls. Remarkably, we found that patients that endorsed visual hallucinations did not show this pattern of reduced ALFF in the back of the brain. These patients also had elevated ALFF in the left hippocampus in comparison to patients that endorsed auditory (but not visual) hallucinations. Moreover, left hippocampal ALFF across all the cases was related to reported hallucination severity in both the auditory and visual domains, and not overall positive symptoms. This supports the hypothesis that dynamic changes in the ALFF in the hippocampus underlie severity of hallucinations that impact different sensory modalities.

Disturbances in intrinsic activity during resting-state functional MRI (rsfMRI) are common in Parkinson's disease (PD), but have largely been studied in a priori defined subnetworks. The cognitive significance of abnormal intrinsic activity is also poorly understood, as are abnormalities that precede the onset of mild cognitive impairment. To address these limitations, we leveraged three different analytic approaches to identify disturbances in rsfMRI metrics in 31 cognitively normal PD patients (PD-CN) and 30 healthy adults. Subjects were screened for mild cognitive impairment using the Movement Disorders Society Task Force Level II criteria. Whole-brain data-driven analytic approaches first analyzed the amplitude of low-frequency intrinsic fluctuations (ALFF) and regional homogeneity (ReHo), a measure of local connectivity amongst functionally similar regions. We then examined if regional disturbances in these metrics altered functional connectivity with other brain regions. We also investigated if abnormal rsfMRI metrics in PD-CN were related to brain atrophy and executive, visual organization, and episodic memory functioning. The results revealed abnormally increased and decreased ALFF and ReHo in PD-CN patients within the default mode network (posterior cingulate, inferior parietal cortex, parahippocampus, entorhinal cortex), sensorimotor cortex (primary motor, pre/post-central gyrus), basal ganglia (putamen, caudate), and posterior cerebellar lobule VII, which mediates cognition. For default mode network regions, we also observed a compound profile of altered ALFF and ReHo. Most regional disturbances in ALFF and ReHo were associated with strengthened long-range interactions in PD-CN, notably with regions in different networks. Stronger long-range functional connectivity in PD-CN was also partly expanded to connections that were outside the networks of the control group. Abnormally increased activity and functional connectivity appeared to have a pathological, rather than compensatory influence on cognitive abilities tested in this study. Receiver operating curve analyses demonstrated excellent sensitivity (≥90%) of rsfMRI variables in distinguishing patients from controls, but poor accuracy for brain volume and cognitive variables. Altogether these results provide new insights into the topology, cognitive relevance, and sensitivity of aberrant intrinsic activity and connectivity that precedes clinically significant cognitive impairment. Longitudinal studies are needed to determine if these neurocognitive associations presage the development of future mild cognitive impairment or dementia.

Visual experience modulates the intensity of evoked brain activity in response to training-related stimuli. Spontaneous fluctuations in the restful brain actively encode previous learning experience. However, few studies have considered how real-world visual experience alters the level of baseline brain activity in the resting state. This study aimed to investigate how short-term real-world visual experience modulates baseline neuronal activity in the resting state using the amplitude of low-frequency (<0.08 Hz) fluctuation (ALFF) and a visual expertise model of radiologists, who possess fine-level visual discrimination skill of homogeneous stimuli. In detail, a group of intern radiologists (n = 32) were recruited. The resting-state fMRI data and the behavioral data regarding their level of visual expertise in radiology and face recognition were collected before and after 1 month of training in the X-ray department in a local hospital. A machine learning analytical method, i.e., support vector machine, was used to identify subtle changes in the level of baseline brain activity. Our method led to a superb classification accuracy of 86.7% between conditions. The brain regions with highest discriminative power were the bilateral cingulate gyrus, the left superior frontal gyrus, the bilateral precentral gyrus, the bilateral superior parietal lobule, and the bilateral precuneus. To the best of our knowledge, this study is the first to investigate baseline neurodynamic alterations in response to real-world visual experience using longitudinal experimental design. These results suggest that real-world visual experience alters the resting-state brain representation in multidimensional neurobehavioral components, which are closely interrelated with high-order cognitive and low-order visual factors, i.e., attention control, working memory, memory, and visual processing. We propose that our findings are likely to help foster new insights into the neural mechanisms of visual expertise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Methods that capture the features of single voxels of resting-state fMRI (RS-fMRI) could precisely localize the abnormal spontaneous activity and hence guide precise brain stimulation. As one of these metrics, the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) has been used in numerous studies, however, it is frequency-dependent and the division of frequency bands is still controversial. Based on the well-accepted power law of time series, this study proposed an approach, namely, power spectrum slope (PSS), to characterize the RS-fMRI time series of single voxels. Two metrics, i.e., linear coefficient b and power-law slope b' were used and compared with ALFF. The reliability and validity of the PSS approach were evaluated on public RS-fMRI datasets (n = 145 in total) of eyes closed (EC) and eyes open (EO) conditions after image preprocessing, with 21 subjects scanned two times for test–retest reliability analyses. Specifically, we used the paired t -test between EC and EO conditions to assess the validity and intra-class correlation (ICC) to assess the reliability. The results included the following: (1) PSS detected similar spatial patterns of validity (i.e., EC–EO differences) and less test–retest reliability with those of ALFF; (2) PSS linear coefficient b showed better validity and reliability than power-law slope b'; (3) While the PPS showed less validity in most regions, PSS linear coefficient b showed exclusive EC–EO difference in the medial temporal lobe which did not show in ALFF. The power spectrum plot in the parahippocampus showed a "cross-over" of power magnitudes between EC and EO conditions in the higher frequency bands (>0.1 Hz). These results demonstrated that PSS (linear coefficient b) is complementary to ALFF for detecting the local spontaneous activity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Linguistic deficits are frequent symptoms among stroke survivors. The neural mechanism of post-stroke aphasia (PSA) was incompletely understood. Recently, resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) was widely used among several neuropsychological disorders. However, previous rs-fMRI studies of PSA were limited to very small sample size and the absence of reproducibility with different neuroimaging indexes. The present study performed comparisons with static and dynamic amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) and functional connectivity (FC) based on modest sample size (40 PSA and 37 healthy controls). Compared with controls, PSA showed significantly increased static ALFF predominantly in the bilateral supplementary motor area (SMA) and right hippocampus-parahippocampus (R HIP-ParaHip) and decreased static ALFF in right cerebellum. The increased dynamic ALFF in SMA and decreased dynamic ALFF in right cerebellum were also found in PSA. The static and dynamic ALFF in right cerebellum was positively correlated with spontaneous speech. The FC between the SMA and R HIP-ParaHip was significantly stronger in patients than controls and positively correlated with ALFF in bilateral SMA. In addition, the FC between the R HIP-ParaHip and the right temporal was also enhanced in patients and negatively correlated with repetition, naming, and comprehension score. These findings revealed consistently abnormal intrinsic neural activity in SMA and cerebellum, which may underlie linguistic deficits in PSA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mounting evidence suggests that amyloid-β (Aβ) and vascular etiologies are intertwined in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signals, measured by resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI), are associated with neuronal activity and cerebrovascular hemodynamics. Nevertheless, it is unclear if BOLD fluctuations are associated with Aβ deposition in individuals at high risk of AD. Thirty-three patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment underwent rs-fMRI and AV45 PET. The AV45 standardized uptake value ratio (AV45-SUVR) was calculated using cerebral white matter as reference, to assess Aβ deposition. The whole-brain normalized amplitudes of low-frequency fluctuations (sALFF) of local BOLD signals were calculated in the frequency band of 0.01–0.08 Hz. Stepwise increasing physiological/vascular signal regressions on the rs-fMRI data examined whether sALFF-AV45 correlations were driven by vascular hemodynamics, neuronal activities, or both. We found that sALFF and AV45-SUVR were negatively correlated in regions of default-mode and visual networks (precuneus, angular, lingual and fusiform gyri). Regions with higher sALFF had less Aβ accumulation. Correlated cluster sizes in MNI space (r ≈ −0.47) were reduced from 3018 mm3 to 1072 mm3 with stronger cardiovascular regression. These preliminary findings imply that local brain blood fluctuations due to vascular hemodynamics or neuronal activity can affect Aβ homeostasis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neuropathic pain (NeuP), a challenging medical condition, has been suggested by neuroimaging studies to be associated with abnormalities of neural activities in some brain regions. However, aberrancies in brain functional alterations underlying the sensory-discriminative abnormalities and negative emotions in the setting of NeuP remain unexplored. Here, we aimed to investigate the functional alterations in neural activity relevant to pain as well as pain-related depressive-like and anxiety-like behaviors in NeuP by combining amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (ALFF) and degree centrality (DC) analyses methods based on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). A rat model of NeuP was established via chronic constriction injury (CCI) of the sciatic nerve. Results revealed that the robust mechanical allodynia occurred early and persisted throughout the entire observational period. Depressive and anxiety-like behaviors did not appear until 4 weeks after injury. When the maximum allodynia was apparent early, CCI rats exhibited decreased ALFF and DC values in the left somatosensory and nucleus accumbens shell (ACbSh), respectively, as compared with sham rats. Both values were significantly positively correlated with mechanical withdrawal thresholds (MWT). At 4 weeks post-CCI, negative emotional states were apparent and CCI rats were noted to exhibit increased ALFF values in the left somatosensory and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) as well as increased DC values in the right motor cortex, as compared with sham rats. At 4 weeks post-CCI, ALFF values in the left somatosensory cortex and DC values in the right motor cortex were noted to negatively correlate with MWT and exhibition of anxiety-like behavior on an open-field test (OFT); values were found to positively correlate with the exhibition of depressive-like behavior on forced swimming test (FST). The mPFC ALFF values were found to negatively correlate with the exhibition of anxiety-like behavior on OFT and positively correlate with the exhibition of depressive-like behavior on FST. Our findings detail characteristic alterations of neural activity patterns induced by chronic NeuP and underscore the important role of the left somatosensory cortex, as well as its related networks, in the mediation of subsequent emotional dysregulation due to NeuP. Brain functional alteration at different stages of neuropathic pain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research into the effects of hormonal contraceptives on emotion processing and brain function suggests that hormonal contraceptive users show (a) reduced accuracy in recognizing emotions compared to naturally cycling women, and (b) alterations in amygdala volume and connectivity at rest. To date, these observations have not been linked, although the amygdala has certainly been identified as core region activated during emotion recognition. To assess, whether volume, oscillatory activity and connectivity of emotion-related brain areas at rest are predictive of participant's ability to recognize facial emotional expressions, 72 participants (20 men, 20 naturally cycling women, 16 users of androgenic contraceptives, 16 users of anti-androgenic contraceptives) completed a brain structural and resting state fMRI scan, as well as an emotion recognition task. Our results showed that resting brain characteristics did not mediate oral contraceptive effects on emotion recognition performance. However, sex and oral contraceptive use emerged as a moderator of brain-behavior associations. Sex differences did emerge in the prediction of emotion recognition performance by the left amygdala amplitude of low frequency oscillations (ALFF) for anger, as well as left and right amygdala connectivity for fear. Anti-androgenic oral contraceptive users (OC) users stood out in that they showed strong brain-behavior associations, usually in the opposite direction as naturally cycling women, while androgenic OC-users showed a pattern similar to, but weaker, than naturally cycling women. This result suggests that amygdala ALFF and connectivity have predictive values for facial emotion recognition. The importance of the different connections depends heavily on sex hormones and oral contraceptive use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neuroimaging studies have revealed hippocampal hyperactivity in schizophrenia. In the early stage of the illness, hyperactivity is present in the anterior hippocampus and is thought to spread to other regions as the illness progresses. However, there is limited evidence for changes in basal hippocampal function following the onset of psychosis. Resting state functional MRI signal amplitude may be a proxy measure for increased metabolism and disrupted oscillatory activity, both consequences of an excitation/inhibition imbalance underlying hippocampal hyperactivity. Here, we used fractional amplitude of low frequency fluctuations (fALFF) to test the hypothesis of progressive hippocampal hyperactivity in a two-year longitudinal case-control study. We found higher fALFF in the anterior and posterior hippocampus of individuals in the early stage of non-affective psychosis at study entry. Contrary to our hypothesis of progressive hippocampal dysfunction, we found evidence for normalization of fALFF over time in psychosis. Our findings support a model in which hippocampal fALFF is a marker of psychosis vulnerability or acute illness state rather than an enduring feature of the illness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neuropathic pain (NeuP), a challenging medical condition, has been suggested by neuroimaging studies to be associated with abnormalities of neural activities in some brain regions. However, aberrancies in brain functional alterations underlying the sensory-discriminative abnormalities and negative emotions in the setting of NeuP remain unexplored. Here, we aimed to investigate the functional alterations in neural activity relevant to pain as well as pain-related depressive-like and anxiety-like behaviors in NeuP by combining amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (ALFF) and degree centrality (DC) analyses methods based on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). A rat model of NeuP was established via chronic constriction injury (CCI) of the sciatic nerve. Results revealed that the robust mechanical allodynia occurred early and persisted throughout the entire observational period. Depressive and anxiety-like behaviors did not appear until 4 weeks after injury. When the maximum allodynia was apparent early, CCI rats exhibited decreased ALFF and DC values in the left somatosensory and nucleus accumbens shell (ACbSh), respectively, as compared with sham rats. Both values were significantly positively correlated with mechanical withdrawal thresholds (MWT). At 4 weeks post-CCI, negative emotional states were apparent and CCI rats were noted to exhibit increased ALFF values in the left somatosensory and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) as well as increased DC values in the right motor cortex, as compared with sham rats. At 4 weeks post-CCI, ALFF values in the left somatosensory cortex and DC values in the right motor cortex were noted to negatively correlate with MWT and exhibition of anxiety-like behavior on an open-field test (OFT); values were found to positively correlate with the exhibition of depressive-like behavior on forced swimming test (FST). The mPFC ALFF values were found to negatively correlate with the exhibition of anxiety-like behavior on OFT and positively correlate with the exhibition of depressive-like behavior on FST. Our findings detail characteristic alterations of neural activity patterns induced by chronic NeuP and underscore the important role of the left somatosensory cortex, as well as its related networks, in the mediation of subsequent emotional dysregulation due to NeuP.

Methods that capture the features of single voxels of resting-state fMRI (RS-fMRI) could precisely localize the abnormal spontaneous activity and hence guide precise brain stimulation. As one of these metrics, the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) has been used in numerous studies, however, it is frequency-dependent and the division of frequency bands is still controversial. Based on the well-accepted power law of time series, this study proposed an approach, namely, power spectrum slope (PSS), to characterize the RS-fMRI time series of single voxels. Two metrics, i.e., linear coefficient b and power-law slope b’ were used and compared with ALFF. The reliability and validity of the PSS approach were evaluated on public RS-fMRI datasets (n = 145 in total) of eyes closed (EC) and eyes open (EO) conditions after image preprocessing, with 21 subjects scanned two times for test–retest reliability analyses. Specifically, we used the paired t-test between EC and EO conditions to assess the validity and intra-class correlation (ICC) to assess the reliability. The results included the following: (1) PSS detected similar spatial patterns of validity (i.e., EC–EO differences) and less test–retest reliability with those of ALFF; (2) PSS linear coefficient b showed better validity and reliability than power-law slope b’; (3) While the PPS showed less validity in most regions, PSS linear coefficient b showed exclusive EC–EO difference in the medial temporal lobe which did not show in ALFF. The power spectrum plot in the parahippocampus showed a “cross-over” of power magnitudes between EC and EO conditions in the higher frequency bands (>0.1 Hz). These results demonstrated that PSS (linear coefficient b) is complementary to ALFF for detecting the local spontaneous activity.

Recent research into the effects of hormonal contraceptives on emotion processing and brain function suggests that hormonal contraceptive users show (a) reduced accuracy in recognizing emotions compared to naturally cycling women, and (b) alterations in amygdala volume and connectivity at rest. To date, these observations have not been linked, although the amygdala has certainly been identified as core region activated during emotion recognition. To assess, whether volume, oscillatory activity and connectivity of emotion-related brain areas at rest are predictive of participant’s ability to recognize facial emotional expressions, 72 participants (20 men, 20 naturally cycling women, 16 users of androgenic contraceptives, 16 users of anti-androgenic contraceptives) completed a brain structural and resting state fMRI scan, as well as an emotion recognition task. Our results showed that resting brain characteristics did not mediate oral contraceptive effects on emotion recognition performance. However, sex and oral contraceptive use emerged as a moderator of brain-behavior associations. Sex differences did emerge in the prediction of emotion recognition performance by the left amygdala amplitude of low frequency oscillations (ALFF) for anger, as well as left and right amygdala connectivity for fear. Anti-androgenic oral contraceptive users (OC) users stood out in that they showed strong brain-behavior associations, usually in the opposite direction as naturally cycling women, while androgenic OC-users showed a pattern similar to, but weaker, than naturally cycling women. This result suggests that amygdala ALFF and connectivity have predictive values for facial emotion recognition. The importance of the different connections depends heavily on sex hormones and oral contraceptive use.

Despite intracardiac malformation correction, children with Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) may still suffer from brain injury. This cross-sectional study was primarily designed to determine the relationship between blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signal changes after surgery and cognition in school-aged children with TOF. To evaluate the differences between TOF children (n = 9) and healthy children (n = 9), resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children–Chinese revised edition (WISC-CR) were conducted in this study. The results showed that TOF children had a lower full-scale intelligence quotient (FSIQ, 95.444 ± 5.354, p = 0.022) and verbal intelligence quotient (VIQ, 92.444 ± 4.708, p = 0.003) than healthy children (FSIQ = 118.500 ± 4.330;VIQ = 124.250 ± 4.404), and that significant differences in regional homogeneity (ReHo) and amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) existed between the two groups. Besides, VIQ had significantly positive correlations with the decreased ALFF value of the middle inferior occipital gyrus (MIOG, beta = 0.908, p = 0.012) after fully adjusting for all covariates. In addition, elevated ReHo values of the left and right precuneus were positively related to ALFF in the MIOG. This study revealed that brain injury substantially influences neural activity and cognition in postoperative TOF children, providing direct evidence of an association between BOLD signal changes and the VIQ and prompting further attention to language development in TOF children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mindfulness-based interventions have been shown to impact a broad range of outcomes including enhanced attention, memory, and self-regulation. Previously, mindfulness training has been negatively correlated with brain activity across the default mode network nodes following mindfulness-based practice. Currently, little research has been done to understand the neural basis of differences in mindfulness levels in untrained individuals. In this study, we explored the relationship between the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) and fractional ALFF (fALFF) during the resting state and the level of dispositional mindfulness, which was measured by using the Five Facet Mindfulness Questionnaire (FFMQ). The results showed that the total scores on the FFMQ were negatively correlated with the spontaneous activation of left premotor cortex. This indicates that individuals with higher levels of dispositional mindfulness might require less effort to control their irrelevant motor responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The phenomenon of déjà vu (DV) has intrigued scientists for decades, yet its neurophysiological underpinnings remain elusive. Brain regions have been identified in which morphometry differs between healthy individuals according to the frequency of their DV experiences. This study built upon these findings by assessing if and how neural activity in these and other brain regions also differ with respect to DV experience. Resting‐state fMRI was performed on 68 healthy volunteers, 44 of whom reported DV experiences (DV group) and 24 who did not (NDV group). Using multivariate analyses, we then assessed the (fractional) amplitude of low‐frequency fluctuations (fALFF/ALFF), a metric that is believed to index brain tissue excitability, for five discrete frequency bands within sets of brain regions implicated in DV and those comprising the default mode network (DMN). Analyses revealed significantly lower values of fALFF/ALFF for specific frequency bands in the DV relative to the NDV group, particularly within mesiotemporal structures, bilateral putamina, right caudatum, bilateral superior frontal cortices, left lateral parietal cortex, dorsal and ventral medial prefrontal cortex, and the posterior cingulate cortex. The pattern of differences in fALFF/ALFF measures between the brains of individuals who have experienced DV and those who have not provides new neurophysiological insights into this phenomenon, including the potential role of the DMN. We suggest that the erroneous feeling of familiarity arises from a temporary disruption of cortico‐subcortical circuitry together with the upregulation of cortical excitability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As one of the most objectionable sequelae of facial paralysis, patients with facial synkinesis are more likely to be depressed and have lower quality of life than other facial paralysis patients. However, there is no research on the spatial patterns of intrinsic brain activity and functional connectivity in these patients. The objective of this study was to investigate the spatial patterns and cerebral plasticity of facial synkinesis patients. A total of 20 facial synkinesis patients (18 men and 2 women; mean age: 33.35 ± 6.97 years old) and 19 healthy controls (17 men and 2 women; mean age: 33.21 ± 6.75 years old) were enrolled in this study. resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) data were collected, and the amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (ALFF), regional homogeneity (ReHo), and degree centrality (DC) were calculated for each participant. Two-sample t-tests were performed to compare the ALFF, ReHo, and DC maps between the two groups. Compared with the healthy controls, facial synkinesis patients exhibited decreased ALFF in the fusiform gyrus, lingual gyrus, parahippocampal gyrus, triangular inferior frontal gyrus, precentral gyrus, postcentral gyrus, cingulate gyrus, superior frontal gyrus, precuneus, caudate nucleus and thalamus; decreased ReHo in the cingulate gyrus, superior frontal gyrus, insula, superior temporal gyrus, orbital middle frontal gyrus, caudate nucleus and thalamus; and decreased DC in the frontal lobe, insula, cingulate gyrus, superior temporal gyrus, lenticular putamen, hippocampus and parahippocampal gyrus. We found significant overlap in the superior frontal gyrus across the ALFF, ReHo and DC analyses. In facial synkinesis patients, the neurological activity in brain areas is reduced and the local synchronization in motion-related brain regions is decreased. The superior frontal gyrus could be a crucial region in the unique spatial patterns of intrinsic brain activity and functional connectivity in these patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite intracardiac malformation correction, children with Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) may still suffer from brain injury. This cross-sectional study was primarily designed to determine the relationship between blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) signal changes after surgery and cognition in school-aged children with TOF. To evaluate the differences between TOF children (n = 9) and healthy children (n = 9), resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children–Chinese revised edition (WISC-CR) were conducted in this study. The results showed that TOF children had a lower full-scale intelligence quotient (FSIQ, 95.444 ± 5.354, p = 0.022) and verbal intelligence quotient (VIQ, 92.444 ± 4.708, p = 0.003) than healthy children (FSIQ = 118.500 ± 4.330;VIQ = 124.250 ± 4.404), and that significant differences in regional homogeneity (ReHo) and amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) existed between the two groups. Besides, VIQ had significantly positive correlations with the decreased ALFF value of the middle inferior occipital gyrus (MIOG, beta = 0.908, p = 0.012) after fully adjusting for all covariates. In addition, elevated ReHo values of the left and right precuneus were positively related to ALFF in the MIOG. This study revealed that brain injury substantially influences neural activity and cognition in postoperative TOF children, providing direct evidence of an association between BOLD signal changes and the VIQ and prompting further attention to language development in TOF children.

Background: Abnormalities in resting-state functional brain activity have been detected in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). The results of individual neuroimaging studies of TLE, however, are frequently inconsistent due to small and heterogeneous samples, analytical flexibility, and publication bias toward positive findings., Purpose: To investigate the most consistent regions of resting-state functional brain activity abnormality in patients with TLE through a quantitative meta-analysis of published neuroimaging data., Study Type: Meta-analysis., Subjects: Exactly 1474 TLE patients (716 males and 758 females) from 31 studies on resting-state functional brain activity were included in this study., Field Strength/sequence: Studies utilizing 1.5 T or 3 T MR scanners were included for meta-analysis. Resting-state functional MRI using gradient echo-planar imaging, T1-weighted imaging., Assessment: PubMed, Web of Science, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, and WanFang databases were searched to identify studies investigating amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF), fractional ALFF (fALFF), and regional homogeneity (ReHo) at the whole-brain level between patients with TLE and healthy controls (HCs)., Statistical Tests: Seed-based d Mapping with Permutation of Subject Images, standard randomization tests and meta-regression analysis were used. Results were significant if P < 0.05 with family-wise error corrected., Results: Patients with TLE displayed resting-state functional brain activity which was a significant increase in the right hippocampus, and significant decrease in the right angular gurus and right precuneus. Additionally, the meta-regression analysis demonstrated that age (P = 0.231), sex distribution (P = 0.376), and illness duration (P = 0.184), did not show significant associations with resting state functional brain activity in patients with TLE., Data Conclusion: Common alteration patterns of spontaneous brain activity were identified in the right hippocampus and default-model network regions in patients with TLE. These findings may contribute to understanding of the underlying mechanism for potentially effective intervention of TLE., Technical Efficacy Stage: Stage 2., (© 2024 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.)