Selective Aberrant Functional–Structural Coupling of Multiscale Brain Networks in Subcortical Vascular Mild Cognitive Impairment / 神经科学通报·英文版

Subcortical vascular mild cognitive impairment (svMCI) is a common prodromal stage of vascular dementia. Although mounting evidence has suggested abnormalities in several single brain network metrics, few studies have explored the consistency between functional and structural connectivity networks in svMCI. Here, we constructed such networks using resting-state fMRI for functional connectivity and diffusion tensor imaging for structural connectivity in 30 patients with svMCI and 30 normal controls. The functional networks were then parcellated into topological modules, corresponding to several well-defined functional domains. The coupling between the functional and structural networks was finally estimated and compared at the multiscale network level (whole brain and modular level). We found no significant intergroup differences in the functional–structural coupling within the whole brain; however, there was significantly increased functional–structural coupling within the dorsal attention module and decreased functional–structural coupling within the ventral attention module in the svMCI group. In addition, the svMCI patients demonstrated decreased intramodular connectivity strength in the visual, somatomotor, and dorsal attention modules as well as decreased intermodular connectivity strength between several modules in the functional network, mainly linking the visual, somatomotor, dorsal attention, ventral attention, and frontoparietal control modules. There was no significant correlation between the altered module-level functional–structural coupling and cognitive performance in patients with svMCI. These findings demonstrate for the first time that svMCI is reflected in a selective aberrant topological organization in multiscale brain networks and may improve our understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying svMCI.

Therapeutic efficacy of the combined therapy of daoyin prescription and cognitive training on vascular cognitive impairment / 中华老年医学杂志

Objective To investigate the therapeutic efficacy of the combined therapy of daoyin prescription and cognitive training on vascular dementia(VD).Methods Totally 75 patients with VD were randomly divided into 3 treatment groups:daoyin prescription,cognitive training and two combined treatments(n =25 each) for 3 months.Mini mental state examination(MMSE),Loewenstein occupational therapy cognitive assessment(LOTCA)and activities of daily living scale(ADL)were used for assessing therapeutic efficacy among three treatment groups.Results There were no significant differences in baseline clinical data among the three groups (P ＞ 0.05),possessing data comparability.Scores of MMSE,LOTCA,ADL and LOTCA subitems of orientation,visual perception,spatial perception,visual movement,thinking operation and attention were significantly improved in the 3 groups after 3 months intervention versus pre-treatment with three treatments(all P＜0.01).There were significant differences in scores of MMSE,LOTCA,ADL and LOTCA subitems of orientation,visual perception,visuo-motor organization and attention between combination therapy group versus daoyin prescription group and cognitive training group (all P ＜ 0.05).Conclusions Combined treatments of daoyin prescription and cognitive training have better effect on vascular cognitive function in patients with and VD.It can markedly improve the activities of daily living and cognitive function.It is worthy of further research in clinical medicine.