Alterations in Social Brain Network Topology at Rest in Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder

Objective@#Underconnectivity in the resting brain is not consistent in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, it is known that the functional connectivity of the default mode network is mainly decreased in childhood ASD. This study investigated the brain network topology as the changes in the connection strength and network efficiency in childhood ASD, including the early developmental stages. @*Methods@#In this study, 31 ASD children aged 2–11 years were compared with 31 age and sex-matched children showing typical development. We explored the functional connectivity based on graph filtration by assessing the single linkage distance and global and nodal efficiencies using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. The relationship between functional connectivity and clinical scores was also analyzed. @*Results@#Underconnectivities within the posterior default mode network subregions and between the inferior parietal lobule and inferior frontal/superior temporal regions were observed in the ASD group. These areas significantly correlated with the clinical phenotypes. The global, local, and nodal network efficiencies were lower in children with ASD than in those with typical development. In the preschool-age children (2–6 years) with ASD, the anterior-posterior connectivity of the default mode network and cerebellar connectivity were reduced. @*Conclusion@#The observed topological reorganization, underconnectivity, and disrupted efficiency in the default mode network subregions and social function-related regions could be significant biomarkers of childhood ASD.

Influence of Fatigue, Depression and Anxiety on Quality of Life in Pregnant Women with Preterm Labor

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify effects of fatigue, depression and anxiety on quality of life in pregnant women with preterm labor. METHODS: With a survey design, data were collected from 138 mothers who were admitted at a hospital in Seoul, between June 2014 and September 2015. Instruments used to collect the data for the study were: Fatigue Continuum Form, Depression anxiety stress scale (DASS-21) and maternal postpartum quality of life (MAPP-QOL). RESULTS: The mean fatigue score was 68.30 with 50.7% of women being depressed and 79.7% of the 138 women being anxious. The mean quality of life was 18.92 with quality of life being associated with fatigue, depression and anxiety. Depression and fatigue explained 26% of the variance in quality of life. CONCLUSION: Depression and fatigue adversely affected women's quality of life. It is important to address appropriate management of depression and fatigue in order to improve quality of life in pregnant women with preterm labor.

A Study about Effects of Osmotic-Controlled Release Oral Delivery System Methylphenidate on Regional Cerebral Blood Flow in Korean Children with Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to examine the effects of osmotic-controlled release oral delivery system methylphenidate on changes in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) using single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). METHODS: A total of 26 children with ADHD (21 boys, mean age: 9.2±2.05 years old) were recruited. Each ADHD participant was examined for changes in rCBF using technetium-99m-hexamethylpropylene amine oxime brain SPECT before and after 8 weeks methylphenidate medication. Brain SPECT images of pediatric normal controls were selected retrospectively. SPECT images of ADHD children taken before medication were compared with those of pediatric normal controls and those taken after medication using statistical parametric mapping analysis on a voxel-wise basis. RESULTS: Before methylphenidate medication, significantly decreased rCBF in the cerebellum and increased rCBF in the right precuneus, left anterior cingulate, right postcentral gyrus, right inferior parietal lobule and right precentral gyrus were observed in ADHD children compared to pediatric normal controls (p-value<.0005, uncorrected). After medication, we observed significant hypoperfusion in the left thalamus and left cerebellum compared to pediatric normal controls (p-value<.0005, uncorrected). In the comparison between before medication and after medication, there was significant hyperperfusion in the superior frontal gyrus and middle frontal gyrus and significant hypoperfusion in the right insula, right caudate, right middle frontal gyrus, left subcallosal gyrus, left claustrum, and left superior temporal gyrus after methylphenidate medication (p-value<.0005, uncorrected). CONCLUSION: This study supports dysfunctions of fronto-striatal structures and cerebellum in ADHD. We suggest that methylphenidate may have some effects on the frontal lobe, parietal lobe, and cerebellum in children with ADHD.

Whole-Brain Diffusion-Tensor Changes in Parkinsonian Patients with Impulse Control Disorders

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to determine the changes in diffusion-tensor images associated with medication-related impulse control disorder (ICD) in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients undergoing chronic dopamine-replacement therapy. METHODS: Nineteen PD patients, comprising 10 with ICD (PD-ICD) and 9 without ICD (PD-nonICD), and 18 age-matched healthy controls (HCs) with no cognitive or other psychiatric disorders were analyzed. All subjects underwent 3-T magnetic resonance diffusion-tensor imaging. For all PD patients, clinical data on PD duration, antiparkinsonian medication dosages, Unified Parkinson's Disease Rating Scale and Mini-Mental State Examination were collected. Whole-brain voxel-based measures of fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD) were analyzed. RESULTS: In comparison with HCs, the PD-nonICD subjects had low FA at the bilateral orbitofrontal areas. While the PD-ICD subjects exhibited no such difference, their FA was significantly elevated at the anterior corpus callosum. Analysis of FA between the two PD groups revealed that FA in the anterior corpus callosum, right internal capsule posterior limbs, right posterior cingulum, and right thalamic radiations were significantly higher (corrected p<0.05) in the PD-ICD than in the PD-nonICD patients. MD did not differ between the PD-ICD and PD-nonICD groups in any brain regions. CONCLUSIONS: The PD-ICD patients appear to have relatively preserved white-matter integrity in the regions involved in reward-related behaviors compared to PD-nonICD patients. Further investigation is required to determine whether the difference in FA between PD-ICD and PD-nonICD patients reflects microstructural differences in the pathological progression of PD or is secondary to ICD.

The Optimal Pulse Oxygen Saturation in Very Low Birth Weight or Very Preterm Infants

PURPOSE: To determine the effect of changing practice guidelines designed to avoid hyperoxia or hypoxia in very low birth weight or very preterm infants. METHODS: We analyzed a database of <1,500 g birth weight or <32 weeks of gestation infants who were born and admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit of Chungnam National University Hospital from January 2007 to July 2010. First, we defined the relationship between arterial partial pressure of oxygen (PaO2) and pulse oxygen saturation (SpO2). When we evaluated 96 pairs of PaO2 and SpO2 measurements, oxygen saturation was 90-94% at a PaO2 of 43-79 mmHg on the oxyhemoglobin dissociation curve, according to pulse oximetry. Based on this observation, a change in practice was instituted in August 2008 with the objective of avoiding hypoxia and hyperoxia in preterm infants with targeting a SpO2 90-94% (period II). Before the change in practice, high alarms for SpO2 were set at 100% and low alarms at 95% (period I). RESULTS: Sixty-eight infants the met enrollment criteria and 38 (56%) were born during period II, after the change in SpO2 targets. Demographic characteristics, except gender, were similar between the infants born in both periods. After correcting for the effect of confounding factors, the rates for mortality, severe retinopathy of prematurity, and IVH attended to be lower than those for infants in period II. No difference in the rate of patent ductus arteriosus needed to treat was observed. CONCLUSION: A change in the practice guidelines aimed at avoiding low oxygen saturation and hyperoxia did not increase neonatal complication rates and showed promising results, suggesting decreased mortality and improvements in short term morbidity. It is still unclear what range of oxygen saturation is appropriate for very preterm infants but the more careful saturation targeting guideline should be considered to prevent hypoxemic events and hyperoxia.

Brain Neuroadaptative Changes in Adolescents with Internet Addiction: An FDG-PET Study with Statistical Parametric Mapping Analysis

OBJECTIVES: Internet addiction or pathologic internet use is one of the major mental health problems in children and adolescents in Korea. Internet addiction is defined as uncontrollable, markedly time-consuming internet use, which lasts for a period of at least six months. Internet addiction results in poor academic performance and negative parent-child relationships. By using 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET), we investigated the effects of internet addiction on functional changes occurring in the adolescent brain. METHODS: Adolescent patients with an internet addiction (4 boys and 2 girls; 15.6+/-1.2 years) participated in this study. Eight healthy young adults (5 males and 3 females; 18-30 years old) with no previous history of psychiatric illness also participated as normal controls. Brain FDG-PET data was obtained with the participants in the resting condition and with no addictive stimuli. RESULTS: Statistic parametric mapping analysis of the brain FDG-PET data revealed hypometabolic changes in the visual information processing circuits and hypermetabolic changes in the prefrontal areas in the adolescents with internet addiction, as compared with normal controls (p<.001). CONCLUSION: These results suggest a neuronal adaptation to excessive visual stimulation and synaptic plasticity due to internet addiction.

Development of Korean Standard Brain Templates

We developed age, gender and ethnic specific brain templates based on MR and Positron-Emission Tomography (PET) images of Korean normal volunteers. Seventy-eight normal right-handed volunteers (M/F=49/29) underwent 3D T1-weighted SPGR MR and F-18-FDG PET scans. For the generation of standard templates, an optimal target brain that has the average global hemispheric shape was selected for each gender. MR images were then spatially normalized by linear transformation to the target brains, and normalization parameters were reapplied to PET images. Subjects were subdivided into 2 groups for each gender: the young/midlife (<55 yr) and the elderly groups. Young and elderly MRI/PET templates were composed by averaging the spatially normalized images. Korean templates showed different shapes and sizes (mean length, width, and height of the brains were 16.5, 14.3 and 12.1 cm for man, and 15.6, 13.5 and 11.4 cm for woman) from the template based on Caucasian (18.3, 14.2, and 13.3 cm). MRI and PET templates developed in this study will provide the framework for more accurate stereotactic standardization and anatomical localization.

Detection of Chlamydia pneumoniae in Korean Patients with Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm or Peripheral Arterial Occlusive Disease

PURPOSE: Chlamydia pneumoniae (CP) infection seems to be related to atherosclerotic diseases. A prospective sero- epidemiologic study was performed to analyze the relationship between CP infection and peripheral vascular disease in Korean patients. The aims of this study were to find the prevalences of CP antibody in the serum and CP antigens in the vascular tissues, and to analyze the differences between several disease groups. METHODS: Our subjects included a total of 61 patients (76 vascular tissues) who had undergone operative procedures for peripheral vascular diseases. They were classified into 3 groups: Group 1; 14 abdominal aortic aneurysm, Group 2; 15 atherosclerosis obliterans, and Group 3; 32 varicose vein cases. The CP antibody titers were determined using the microimmunofluorescence test (MIF) and the CP antigen in the vascular tissues with a semi-nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and an in situ hybridization technique (ISH). RESULTS: The prevalences of chronic or past CP infection from the MIF (IgG antibody titer > or = 1: 32) in Groups 1, 2 and 3 were 78.6, 73.3, and 68.8% respectively, but with statistically significant differences. The prevalences of PCR- positive tissues in Groups 1, 2 and 3 were 21.4, 6.7, and 0% respectively. There was no CP DNA detected in the venous tissue. CP DNA was detected more frequently in aneurysmal disease than atherosclerosis obliterans, but this was not statistically significant(p=0.265). In comparison with the varicose veins, aortic aneurysms showed a significantly higher PCR positivity ratio (p=0.002), and a similar result was seen with ISH. There was no relationship between CP antigen positivity and the known risk factors for atherosclerosis. CONCLUSION: A high prevalence of CP antibodies was observed in the serum of Korean patients with vascular disease, which matched that in western populations. CP DNA was also detected in atherosclerotic tissues, which was especially high in aneurysmal disease, implying a possible causative role of CP infection in the pathogenesis of the atherosclerotic disease. This is the first report on the prevalence of CP in vascular tissues in Korean population.

Quantification of Brain Images Using Korean Standard Templates and Structural and Cytoarchitectonic Probabilistic Maps / 대한핵의학회잡지

PURPOSE: Population based structural and functional maps of the brain provide effective tools for the analysis and interpretation of complex and individually variable brain data. Brain MRI and PET standard templates and statistical probabilistic maps based on image data of Korean normal volunteers have been developed and probabilistic maps based on cytoarchitectonic data have been introduced. A quantification method using these data was developed for the objective assessment of regional intensity in the brain images. Materials and METHODS: Age, gender and ethnic specific anatomical and functional brain templates based on MR and PET images of Korean normal volunteers were developed. Korean structural probabilistic maps for 89 brain regions and cytoarchitectonic probabilistic maps for 13 Brodmann areas were transformed onto the standard templates. Brain FDG PET and SPGR MR images of normal volunteers were spatially normalized onto the template of each modality and gender. Regional uptake of radiotracers in PET and gray matter concentration in MR images were then quantified by averaging (or summing) regional intensities weighted using the probabilistic maps of brain regions. Regionally specific effects of aging on glucose metabolism in cingulate cortex were also examined. RESULTS: Quantification program could generate quantification results for single spatially normalized images per 20 seconds. Glucose metabolism change in cingulate gyrus was regionally specific: ratios of glucose metabolism in the rostral anterior cingulate vs. posterior cingulate and the caudal anterior cingulate vs. posterior cingulate were significantly decreased as the age increased. 'Rostral anterior'/ 'posterior' was decreased by 3.1% per decade of age (P< 10 (-11), r=0.81) and 'caudal anterior'/ 'posterior' was decreased by 1.7% (P< 10 (-8), r=0.72). CONCLUSION: Ethnic specific standard templates and probabilistic maps and quantification program developed in this study will be useful for the analysis of brain image of Korean people since the difference in shape of the hemispheres and the sulcal pattern of brain relative to age, gender, races, and diseases cannot be fully overcome by the nonlinear spatial normalization techniques.

Voxel-based Morphometry (VBM) Based Assessment of Gray Matter Loss in Medial Temporal Lobe Epilepsy: Comparison with FDG PET / 대한핵의학회잡지

PURPOSE: The aims of this study were to find brain regions in which gray matter volume was reduced and to show the capability of voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analysis for lateralizing epileptogenic zones in medial temporal lobe epilepsy (mTLE). The findings were compared with fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG PET). MATERIALS AND METHODS: MR T1-weighted images of 12 left mTLE and 11 right mTLE patients were compared with those of 37 normal controls. Images were transformed to standard MNI space and averaged in order to create study-specific brain template. Each image was normalized to this local template and brain tissues were segmented. Modulation VBM analysis was performed in order to observe gray matter volume change. Gray matter was smoothed with a Gaussian kernel. After these preprocessing, statistical analysis was performed using statistical parametric mapping software (SPM99). FDG PET images were compared with those of 22 normal controls using SPM. RESULTS: Gray matter volume was significantly reduced in the left amygdala and hippocampus in left mTLE. In addition, volume of cerebellum, anterior cingulate, and fusiform gyrus in both sides and left insula was reduced. In right mTLE, volume was reduced significantly in right hippocampus. In contrast, FDG uptake was decreased in broad areas of left or right temporal lobes in left TLE and right TLE, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Gray matter loss was found in the ipsilateral hippocampus by modulation VBM analysis in medial temporal lobe epilepsy. This VBM analysis might be useful in lateralizing the epileptogenic zones in medial temporal lobe epilepsy, while SPM analysis of FDG PET disclosed hypometabolic epileptogenic zones.

Application of False Discovery Rate Control in the Assessment of Decrease of FDG Uptake in Early Alzheimer Dementia / 대한핵의학회잡지

PURPOSE: Determining an appropriate thresholding is crucial for PDG PET analysis since strong control of Type I error could fail to find pathological differences between early Alzheimer' disease (AD) patients and healthy normal controls. We compared the SPM results on FDG PET imaging of early AD using uncorrected p-value, random-field based corrected p-value and false discovery rate (FDR) control. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Twenty-eight patients (66+/-7 years old) with early AD and 18 age-matched normal controls (68+/-6 years old) underwent FDG brain PET. To identify brain regions with hypo-metabolism in group or individual patient compared to normal controls, group images or each patient's image was compared with normal controls using the same fixed p-value of 0.001 on uncorrected thresholding, random-field based corrected thresholding and FDR control. RESULTS: The number of hypo-metabolic voxels was smallest in corrected p-value method, largest in uncorrected p-value method and intermediate in FDG thresholding in group analysis. Three types of result pattern were found. The first was that corrected p-value did not yield any voxel positive but FDR gave a few significantly hypometabolic voxels (8/28, 29%). The second was that both corrected p-value and FDR did not yield any positive region but numerous positive voxels were found with the threshold of uncorrected p-values (6/28, 21%). The last was that FDR was detected as many positive voxels as uncorrected p-value method (14/28, 50%). CONCLUSIONS: FDR control could identify hypo-metabolic areas in group or individual patients with early AD. We recommend FDR control instead of uncorrected or random-field corrected thresholding method to find the areas showing hypometabolism especially in small group or individual analysis of FDG PET.