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Objective:To investigate the alterations of cerebellar and cerebral functional connectivity (FC) in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) and associations with clinical parameters.Methods:Eighteen acute RRMS patients, 25 remitting RRMS patients and 20 healthy controls (HC) who underwent 3.0 T brain MRI using resting-state functional protocols were collected retrospectively from September 2012 to June 2019 at the First Hospital of Nanchang University. After data preprocessing, the functional connectivity coefficients were calculated between each seed of the cerebellum and every other voxel in the cerebrum for comparison of the inter-groups difference and correlation analysis with clinical variables.Results:Compared with HC, the acute RRMS patients showed significant decreased FC of left cerebellar lobule Ⅵ, the right cerebellar lobule Ⅵ and the left vermis ( P<0.001, Gaussian Random Field theory correction at cluster level P<0.05), the remitting RRMS patients showed the decreased FC of the right cerebellar Crus I, the left cerebellar Crus Ⅰ, the left cerebellar lobule Ⅴ and right cerebellar lobule Ⅴ ( P<0.001, Gaussian Random Field theory correction at cluster level P<0.05). In the acute RRMS patients, FC between the left cerebellar lobule Ⅵ and the right precentral/postcentral gyrus was negatively correlated with illness duration ( r=-0.492, P=0.038). FC between the right cerebellar lobule Ⅵ and the right postcentral gyrus/right superior parietal gyrus was negatively correlated with the expanded disability status scale scores ( r=-0.611, P=0.007). FC between the left vermis and the left calcarine gyrus was negatively correlated with illness duration ( r=-0.534, P=0.02). In the remitting RRMS patients, FC between the right Crus Ⅰ and the left anterior insula was negatively correlated with normalized total white matter lesion load ( r=-0.453, P=0.023). FC between the right Crus Ⅰ and the right anterior insula was negatively correlated with modified fatigue impact scale ( r=-0.450, P=0.024). Conclusions:The cerebello-cerebral connection of cognitive related networks is decreased in both acute attack and remission stages of RRMS patients. In addition, the cerebello-cerebral connection in sensorimotor network can also be significantly impacted in acute attack stage, while the cerebello-cerebral connection of emotional network may be decreased in remission stage.
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Clinical imaging research of spinal cord has urgent realistic needs, and faces enormous challenges and opportunities. Among them, functional magnetic resonance imaging is a hot and difficult topic because of the particularity of spinal cord structure and related technical bottlenecks. In recent years, advances in magnetic resonance hardware and software technology have led to breakthroughs in the technical nodes, which have opened up a new prospect for the clinical application of spinal cord imaging. The recent progress in functional magnetic resonance imaging of spinal cord is reviewed in this article.
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OBJECTIVE: Alcohol causes damage to the brain and is associated with various functional impairments. However, much of the brain damage can be reversed by abstaining for enough time. This study aims to investigate the patterns and degrees of brain function in abstinent patients with alcohol dependence by using resting-state functional connectivity. METHODS: 26 male patients with alcohol dependence (alcohol group) and 28 age-matched male healthy volunteers (control group) were recruited from a mental hospital and the community, respectively. Using 3T MRI scan data, the resting-state functional connectivity of the task-negative and task-positive networks was determined and compared between the groups. RESULTS: There were no significant group differences in the resting-state functional connectivity in the default mode or in the salience and sensorimotor networks. Compared with the control group, the alcohol group showed significantly lower functional connectivity in the executive control network, especially in the cingulo-opercular network and, in some regions of interest, the dorsal attention network. CONCLUSION: This finding suggests that some brain networks do not normalize their functions after abstinence from drinking, and these results may be helpful in future research to investigate the mechanisms for craving alcohol and alcohol relapse prevention.
Subject(s)
Humans , Male , Alcoholism , Brain , Craving , Drinking , Executive Function , Healthy Volunteers , Hospitals, Psychiatric , Magnetic Resonance Imaging , Secondary PreventionABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Executive dysfunction might be an important determinant for response to pharmacotherapy in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and could be sustained independently of symptom relief. The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) has been indicated as a potential neural correlate of executive functioning in OCD. The present study examined the brain-executive function relationships in OCD from the ACC-based resting state functional connectivity networks (rs-FCNs), which reflect information processing mechanisms during task performance. METHODS: For a total of 58 subjects [OCD, n=24; healthy controls (HCs), n=34], four subdomains of executive functioning were measured using the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (RCFT), the Stroop Color-Word Test (SCWT), the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), and the Trail Making Test part B (TMT-B). To probe for differential patterns of the brain-cognition relationship in OCD compared to HC, the ACC-centered rs-FCN were calculated using five seed regions systemically placed throughout the ACC. RESULTS: Significant differences between the OCD group and the HCs with respect to the WCST perseverative errors, SCWT interference scores, and TMT-B reaction times (p<0.05) were observed. Moreover, significant interactions between diagnosis×dorsal ACC [S3]-based rs-FCN strength in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex for RCFT organization summary scores as well as between diagnosis×perigenual ACC [S7]-based rs-FCN strength in the left frontal eye field for SCWT color-word interference scores were unveiled. CONCLUSION: These network-based neural foundations for executive dysfunction in OCD could become a potential target of future treatment, which could improve global domains of functioning broader than symptomatic relief.