Zhuonan Wang¹, Victoria J Williams², Kimberly A Stephens³, Chan-Mi Kim³, Ming Zhang⁴, and David Salat^3
1PET/CT Unit, Medical Imaging, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China, ²Alzheimer's Clinical and Translational Research Unit, Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, United States, ³Athinoula A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Department of Radiology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Charlestown, MA, United States, ⁴Medical Imaging, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, China

The striking spatial overlap between regions of default mode network (DMN) and cortical areas most susceptible to Alzheimer's disease (AD)-related pathology and neurodegeneration, with alterations in DMN functional connectivity routinely observed among individuals with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). We examine the relative associations between white matter lesions of presumed vascular origin and cortical thinning typical of AD pathology with DMN integrity to elucidate mechanisms of disease. The degree of white matter damage may have a specific influence on precuneus and mPFC coupling and the observed preferential associations with white matter lesions support a vascular etiology to subtle impairment in MCI.

Wanfang You¹, Lekai Luo¹, Qian Li¹, Yuxia Wang¹, Qiyong Gong¹, and Fei Li^1
1Huaxi MR Research Centre (HMRRC), Department of Radiology, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, chengdu, China

We investigated disturbances in dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) in whole-brain networks and altered dynamic functional topology of the brain regarding eigenvector centrality in first-episode drug-free patients with schizophrenia. By using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rf-MRI) data, schizophrenia was mainly manifested as prolonged dwell time in a state characterized by sparsely connected FCs and increased temporal variability of nodal centrality in the visual network, which may help us better interpret the mechanisms underlying visual and auditory hallucination in schizophrenia.

Vadim Zotev¹, Aki Tsuchiyagaito¹, and Jerzy Bodurka^1,2
1Laureate Institute for Brain Research, Tulsa, OK, United States, ²Stephenson School of Biomedical Engineering, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK, United States

We report a controlled study of emotion self-regulation training in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) using frontal alpha asymmetry (FAA) EEG neurofeedback (EEG-nf) with simultaneous fMRI. MDD patients learned to significantly upregulate the FAA using EEG-nf while inducing happy emotion. Temporal correlations between the FAA and BOLD activity were significantly enhanced during the EEG-nf for many brain regions involved in emotion regulation, including the left DLPFC and the amygdala. Behavioral responses showed stronger approach bias after the training. Our study provides the first independent-modality evidence that the FAA-based EEG-nf can engage and influence the emotional brain circuitry.

Shin-Eui Park¹, Gwang-Won Kim², Yun-Hyeon Kim³, and Gwang-Woo Jeong^3
11Advanced Institute of Aging Science, Chonnam National University, Gwangju, Korea, Republic of, ²Department of Psychiatry, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, United States, ³Department of Radiology, Chonnam National University Medical School, Gwangju, Korea, Republic of

This current study supports that abnormalities in task-induced functional connectivity and localized brain activation patterns in explicit, verbal short-term memory processing are potentially linked with cognitive and memory impairment. These findings will be helpful for understanding the differential neural mechanisms associated with the severity of clinical symptoms in OCD and GAD.

Giovanni Sighinolfi¹, Stefania Evangelisti², Micaela Mitolo³, Claudio Bianchini², Laura Ludovica Gramegna^2,3, David Neil Manners², Caterina Tonon^2,3, Raffaele Lodi^2,3, Francesca D'Adda², Luca Pellegrini², Marco Menchetti², Domenico Berardi², and Claudia Testa^1
1Dipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy, ²Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche e Neuromotorie, Università di Bologna, Bologna, Italy, ³IRCCS Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna, Bologna, Italy

This study uses a graph-based approach to analyse the brain MRI data of early-stage Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) patients. The topological properties of their Functional Connectivity and Structural Covariance weighted networks are explored. Compared to healthy controls, BPDs exhibit statistically significant alterations at global level, in terms of efficiency and modularity, and at local level, in centrality and efficiency, especially from the functional perspective. The nodal variations are mostly observed in the limbic system, in particular in those regions associated to emotion regulation. Such results may be anticipating structural alterations emerging in later stages of the disease.

Jing Liu¹, Hailong Li¹, Lingxiao Cao¹, Xue Li², Suming Zhang¹, and Xiaoqi Huang^1
1Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), Functional and molecular imaging Key Laboratory of Sichuan Province, Department of Radiology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China, ²Sichuan University, Chengdu, China

In current study, we use static and dynamic functional connectivity (sFC/dFC) to examine the connectivity alternation of bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) in medication-free patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) to clarify the neural underpinnings of OCD. We found that BNST demonstrated different connected regions in sFC and dFC, indicating that the combination between sFC and dFC can help to detect BNST network alternations in OCD in a more comprehensive way by considering both the static and time-varying aspects.

Kun Qin¹, Nanfang Pan¹, Ziyu Zhu¹, Feifei Zhang¹, Jing Yang¹, Xueling Suo¹, and Qiyong Gong^1
1West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China

Despite the absence of positive clinical manifestations, there may be neurofunctional signatures of genetic vulnerability in the relatives of patients with mood disorders. We performed a meta-analysis integrating task-based fMRI studies comparing unaffected relatives of patients with mood disorders and healthy controls. Hyper-activation in the insula, as well as hypo-activation in the inferior parietal cortex and precuneus were identified in the high-risk relatives. Functional decoding further suggested emotion-related dysfunction might be primarily associated with abnormal activation pattern among deficits in multiple behavioral domains. These neurofunctional correlates may serve as high-risk biomarkers underlying illness onset and development in mood disorders.

Li Jiang^1,2, Brenda Hanna-Pladdy^1,2, Jiachen Zhuo^1,2, Paul Fishman³, and Rao Gullapalli^1,2
1Center for Advanced Imaging Research, University of Maryland Baltimore, Baltimore, MD, United States, ²Department of Diagnostic Radiology & Nuclear Medicine, University of Maryland Baltimore, Baltimore, MD, United States, ³Department of Neurology, University of Maryland Baltimore, Baltimore, MD, United States

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is one of the most common neurodegenerative disorders characterized by progressive deterioration of motor function as well as a non-motor symptom complex. Resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI) provides important insights on the pathophysiological mechanisms of PD. Here we used rs-fMRI to systematically investigate the cerebellar functional connectivity changes in de novo drug naïve PD patients compared with healthy controls, and the association between altered cerebellar connectivity and neuropsychological assessments. Our findings support that cerebellar connectivity changes while reflective of early symptoms of PD, also may suggest a possible compensatory mechanism prior to clinical presentation of non-motor features of the disease.

Cheng Zhou¹, Tao Guo¹, Jingjing Wu¹, Xueqin Bai¹, Xiaojun Guan¹, and Minming Zhang^1
1Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

A major emphasis has been placed on the symptom related brain alterations caused by dopamine deficiency, the brain organization underlying the norepinephrine deficiency is largely unknown. We used the neuromelanin sensitive-magnetic resonance imaging for evaluating the degeneration of LC, and using graph theory-based network analysis for characterizing the brain functional topology in 94 PD patients and 68 healthy controls.Relationships between LC degeneration, network disruption and cognitive/motor manifestations in PD patients were assessed.An independent PD subgroup  with MRI scanning before and after levodopa administration was enrolled to clarify whether LC degeneration related network disruption were independent of dopamine deficiency. 

Karthik R Sreenivasan¹, Xiaowei Zhuang¹, Zhengshi Yang¹, Dietmar Cordes¹, Aaron Ritter¹, Jessica Caldwell¹, Zoltan Mari¹, and Virendra Mishra^1
1Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, Las Vegas, NV, United States

Freezing-of-gait (FOG) can be attributed to overloading across neural networks in an attempt to compensate for reduced motor functions. Resting-state fMRI studies in Parkinson’s disease (PD) patients with FOG have implicated dysfunctional connectivity between cortical and subcortical regions over mainly the frontoparietal network, default mode, and visual networks. Our results suggest that despite not observing many global or local network differences there was a clear shift in the topological organization from occipital to frontal regions in both the PD-FOG patients and PD patients without FOG. Specifically, the PD-FOG groups showing significantly reduced rich-club connectivity when compared to the other groups.

Li Jiang^1,2, Stephanie Chen³, Lorenna Vidal⁴, Jiachen Zhuo^1,2, Rao Gullapalli^1,2, and Prashant Raghavan^2
1Center for Advanced Imaging Research, University of Maryland Baltimore, Baltimore, MD, United States, ²Department of Diagnostic Radiology & Nuclear Medicine, University of Maryland Baltimore, Baltimore, MD, United States, ³Department of Neurology, University of Maryland Baltimore, Baltimore, MD, United States, ⁴Department of Radiology, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, United States

Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is the most common type of epilepsy in adults. Language impairment can result from both continued seizures and surgical attempts to treat it. Thus, accurate preoperative assessment of language function is essential. Here we used resting-state fMRI to investigate the altered amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (ALFF) in language eloquent areas in medically-refractory TLE patients and its relationship with clinical language test measures. Our findings suggest that left TLE disrupts language function more than right TLE and that intrinsic spontaneous brain activity is altered even in the absence of detectable clinical language impairment.

 

Sicong Tu¹, Marion Sourty², Fernando Calamante¹, Manojkumar Saranathan³, Ricarda Menke⁴, Kevin Talbot⁴, Matthew Kiernan¹, and Martin Turner^4
1The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia, ²Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France, ³University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, United States, ⁴University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a rapidly progressive neurodegenerative disease with widespread extra-motor cortical and subcortical abnormality. The current findings highlight significant regional volumetric and connectivity abnormality in the thalamus associated with clinical features and may be a promising marker of disease burden.

Jing Huang¹, Juan Wei², and Jie Lu^1
1Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijng, China, ²GE Healthcare, MR Research, Beijng, China

The amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (ALFF) in middle temporal gyrus and middle frontal gyrus might play important role in the prognosis of visual acuity in optic neuritis, which might be used as a potential imaging marker to predict the outcome of visual acuity.

Paola Valsasina¹, Laura Cacciaguerra^1,2,3, Damiano Mistri¹, Vittorio Martinelli², Massimo Filippi^1,2,3,4,5, and Maria A. Rocca^1,2,3
1Neuroimaging Research Unit, Division of Neuroscience, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy, ²Neurology Unit, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy, ³Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Milan, Italy, ⁴Neurorehabilitation Unit, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy, ⁵Neurophysiology Service, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan, Italy

In this study, we used dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) to characterize time-varying connectivity abnormalities of the precuneus in 27 patients with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorders (NMOSD) and test their correlation with cognitive impairment. Compared to controls, NMOSD patients showed reduced precuneus dFC with deep grey matter, temporal, occipital, frontal and cerebellar regions. Increased dFC within the precuneus, and between precuneus and thalamic, insular and temporal regions was also detected. In NMOSD, abnormally high dFC correlated with depression and cognitive deficits.

Cheng Zhou¹ and Minming Zhang^1
1Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

In this paper, we investigated spatiotemporal dynamics of the phase interactions among resting-state blood oxygen level-dependent signals of Parkinson’s disease patients (n = 159) and normal controls (n = 152). We demonstrated that diminished dopaminergic function and the pathological changes in thalamus related structures responsible for decreased cortical synchronization and metastability, further affect cognitive function in Parkinson’s disease.

Yin Tang¹, Ling Zhang¹, Yi Zhu², Hongyuan Ding¹, Yaxin Gao², Long Qian³, Weiqiang Dou³, and Ming Qi^1
1Radiology department, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China, ²Rehabilitation Department, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China, ³MR Research China, GE Healthcare, Beijing, China

In this study, whole brain amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) changes have been respectively investigated for patients with subjective cognitive decline (SCD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and healthy controls (HCs). Relative to HCs, significantly lower ALFF values have been separately found in the regions of right supramarginal gyrus,  left precuneus and right supplementary motor area for SCD and MCI patients. Additionally, the ALFFs at these regions also showed strong correlations with multiple clinical scales. Therefore, ALFF might be considered an effective index in the early detection of SCD patients.

Yi Yin¹, Houyu Zhao², Guiquan Shen¹, Mingming Huang¹, Xiaoxu Zhang¹, Yawen Liu¹, Lisha Nie³, and Hui Yu^1
1Department of Imaging, Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou Medical University, Gui yang, China, ²Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Affiliated Hospital of Guizhou Medical University, Gui yang, China, ³GE Healthcare, MR Research, Beijing, China

Long-term hearing loss can lead to changes in brain structure and function in preschool children with sensorineural hearing loss(SNHL). we uses regional homogeneity(ReHo) and voxel mirror homology connectivity(VMHC) methods to evaluate the abnormal changes of functional activities in regional brain and interhemispheric functional connections in children after hearing deprivation during resting-state. The results of this study showed that the structure and function of auditory related brain regions were reorganized, and the interhemispheric information transfer was also changed, which would contribute to a better understanding the neuropathological mechanism of preschool deafness.

Ji Won Bang¹, Carlos Parra¹, Gadi Wollstein¹, Joel S Schuman¹, and Kevin C Chan^1,2
1Department of Ophthalmology, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, United States, ²Department of Radiology, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, NY, United States

Glaucoma patients have a high incidence of sleep disorders. This relationship implies that glaucoma may involve alterations in sleep-regulating systems. Here, we examined how glaucoma affects sleep-regulating subcortical systems. In particular, we focused on the ventrolateral preoptic nucleus (VLPO), a central sleep-inducing hub. We demonstrated that glaucoma patients had altered functional connectivity of VLPO with the subcortical arousal system and the occipital cortex. We also showed that glaucoma patients had reduced GABA levels in the occipital cortex. Overall, our study suggests that sleep-regulating subcortical structures involving VLPO and their inhibitory projections to the cortex are impaired in glaucoma. 

Zhengshi Yang^1,2, Cieri Filippo¹, Xiaowei Zhuang^1,2, Marwan Sabbagh¹, Jefferson W. Kinney², Jeffrey L. Cummings², Dietmar Cordes^1,2,3, and Jessica Z.K. Caldwell^1
1Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health, Las Vegas, NV, United States, ²University of Nevada Las Vegas, Las Vegas, NV, United States, ³University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, CO, United States

Despite the prevalence of AD in women and the recognized sex-dependent genetic factors and male/female differences in cognitive measures in AD, how sex is related to AD phenotypic variability remains unclear. We demonstrated a varying spatial extent and magnitude of sex differences in brain function in an AD cohort, suggesting the dynamic contribution of sex in disease progression. Opposite network topological changes were observed from cognitively normal to MCI, and more rapid progression occurred in women than men from MCI to AD. The occipital lobe contributed more in men but frontal lobe contributed more in women in disease progression.

An ping Shi¹ and Xi yang Tang^2
1Department of Radiology & Functional and Molecular Imaging Key Lab of Shaanxi Province, Department of Radiology & Functional and Molecular Imaging Key Lab of Shaanxi Province, Tangdu Hospital, Fourth Military Medical University (Air Force Medical University), Xi'an, Shaanxi, China, ²Department of thoracic surgery, Tangdu Hospital, Air Force Medical University., Xi'an, China

Resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) patterns of the human brain show unique inherent or intrinsic characteristics, similar to a fingerprint. There is significant interest in using RSFC to predict human behavior. Inspired by previous RSFC fingerprinting studies, we adopted whole-brain RSFC as discriminative features to predicted the MoCA scores in 102 individuals with T2DM, using a connectome-based predictive modeling (CPM). We find that, the identified CPM, based on whole-brain RSFC patterns, are strong for predicting the MoCA scores in T2DM. The application of CPM to predict neurocognitive abilities can complement conventional neurocognitive assessments and aid the management of people with T2DM.