Brain imaging and behavior
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Brain Imaging Behav · Aug 2017
The influence of interoceptive awareness on functional connectivity in patients with irritable bowel syndrome.
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is characterized by visceral hypersensitivity likely related to altered processing of sensory stimuli along the brain-gut axis. Previous neuroimaging studies demonstrated structural and functional alteration of several brain areas involved in bodily representation, e.g. the insula, in patients with IBS. ⋯ Moreover, we observed a significant and positive correlation between a clinical questionnaire assessing interoception and connectivity between left anterior ventral insula and two clusters located in supramarginal gyrus bilaterally. Our findings highlight an "abnormal network synchrony" reflecting functional alteration, in the absence of structural and micro-structural changes, which might represent a possible therapeutic target for Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
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Brain Imaging Behav · Jun 2017
Altered functional brain networks in amnestic mild cognitive impairment: a resting-state fMRI study.
Amnestic mild cognitive impairment MCI (aMCI) has a high progression to Alzheimer's disease (AD). Recently, resting-state functional MRI (RS-fMRI) has been increasingly utilized in studying the pathogenesis of aMCI, especially in resting-state networks (RSNs). In the current study, we aimed to explore abnormal RSNs related to memory deficits in aMCI patients compared to the aged-matched healthy control group using RS-fMRI techniques. ⋯ The aim of this study is to explore the functional connectivity between these ROIs within networks and also to investigate the connectivity between networks. Comparing aMCI to the control group, our results showed that 1) the hippocampus (HIPP) had decreased FC with the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and inferior parietal lobe (IPL), and the mPFC showed increased connectivity to IPL in the default mode network; 2) the thalamus showed decreased FC with the putamen and HIPP, and the HIPP showed increased connectivity to the putamen in the limbic system; 3) the supplementary motor area had decreased FC with the middle temporal gyrus and increased FC with the superior parietal lobe in the sensorimotor network; 4) increased connectivity between the lingual gyrus and middle occipital gyrus in the visual network; and 5) the DMN has reduced inter-network connectivities with the SMN and VN. These findings indicated that functional brain networks involved in cognition such as episodic memory, sensorimotor and visual cognition in aMCI were altered, and provided a new sight in understanding the important subtype of aMCI.
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Brain Imaging Behav · Jun 2017
Multi-parametric quantitative MRI of normal appearing white matter in multiple sclerosis, and the effect of disease activity on T2.
White matter (WM) lesions with a distinct lesion-tissue contrast are the main radiological hallmark of multiple sclerosis (MS) in standard magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Pathological WM changes beyond lesion development lack suitable contrasts, rendering the investigation of normal appearing WM (NAWM) more challenging. In this study, repeat quantitative MRI (qMRI) was collected in 9 relapsing remitting MS patients with mild disease over nine months. ⋯ In addition, mean T2 values increased significantly with time for patients with radiological disease activity, but not for patients without radiological activity. In conclusion, our data demonstrate the potential of qMRI for investigating MS pathology in NAWM. T2 measurements in NAWM may enable monitoring of disease activity outside of overt lesions.
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Brain Imaging Behav · Jun 2017
Cognitive reserve moderates the relationship between neuropsychological performance and white matter fiber bundle length in healthy older adults.
Recent work using novel neuroimaging methods has revealed shorter white matter fiber bundle length (FBL) in older compared to younger adults. Shorter FBL also corresponds to poorer performance on cognitive measures sensitive to advanced age. However, it is unclear if individual factors such as cognitive reserve (CR) effectively moderate the relationship between FBL and cognitive performance. ⋯ These results demonstrate that lower cognitive performance on the RBANS is more common with low CR and short FBL. On the contrary, when individuals have high CR, the relationship between FBL and cognitive performance is attenuated. Overall, CR protects older adults against lower cognitive performance despite age-associated reductions in FBL.
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Accumulating evidence from brain structural imaging studies has supported that chronic pain could induce changes in brain gray matter volume. However, few studies have focused on the gray matter alterations of Trigeminal neuralgia (TN). In this study, twenty-eight TN patients (thirteen females; mean age, 45.86 years ±11.17) and 28 healthy controls (HC; thirteen females; mean age, 44.89 years ±7.67) were included. ⋯ Based on a voxel-wise analysis, the TN group showed significantly decreased gray matter volume in the bilateral superior/middle temporal gyrus (STG/MTG), bilateral parahippocampus, left anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), caudate nucleus, right fusiform gyrus, and right cerebellum compared with the HC. In addition, we found that the gray matter volume in the bilateral STG/MTG was negatively correlated with the duration of TN. These results provide compelling evidence for gray matter abnormalities in TN and suggest that the duration of TN may be a critical factor associated with brain alterations.