Teng Ma^1,2,3, Xunda Wang^1,2, Linshan Xie^1,2, Pit Shan Chong⁴, Peng Cao³, Pek-Lan Khong³, Lee Wei Lim⁴, Ed. X Wu^1,2,4, and Alex T. L. Leong^1,2
1Laboratory of Biomedical Imaging and Signal Processing, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China, ²Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China, ³Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China, ⁴School of Biomedical Sciences, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

The anterior olfactory nucleus (AON) and the piriform cortex (Pir) are the two primary sensory cortices critical for olfaction. Although it is well documented that both cortices overlap significantly in their functions in olfactory processing, molecular and anatomical tracing studies have indicated otherwise. Consequently, our present understanding of the functions of AON and Pir in olfactory processing at the systems level remains incomplete. In this study, we employed optogenetic fMRI to interrogate the role of AON and Pir in processing olfactory inputs and beyond, and the associated long-range olfactory pathways and their spatiotemporal response properties.

Yawen Liu¹, Pengling Ren², TingTing Zhang^1,2, Linkun Cai¹, Hao Wang², Hongxia Yin², Wei Zheng³, Yishi Wang⁴, Haijun Niu¹, Zhenghan Yang², Dehong Luo⁵, and Zhenchang Wang^2
1School of Biological Science and Medical Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, China, ²Department of Radiology, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China, ³National Space Science Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China, ⁴Philips Heathcare, Beijing, China, ⁵National Cancer Center/Cancer Hospital and Shenzhen Hospital, Shenzhen, China

To explore the alternations in spontaneous brain activities in normal subjects after dobutamine infusion, the regional homogeneity (ReHo) method was used to analyze the interregional synchronized activity of all participants. The results showed that compared with normal resting state, significantly decreased ReHo was found after dobutamine infusion in bilateral frontal lobe, while increased in left temporal lobe and right parietal lobe, suggesting that dobutamine may have an effect on functional brain activity. 

Xunda Wang^1,2, Linshan Xie^1,2, Teng Ma^1,2,3, Pit Shan Chong⁴, Lee-Wei Lim⁴, Peng Cao³, Pek-Lan Khong³, Alex T. L. Leong^1,2, and Ed X. Wu^1,2
1Laboratory of Biomedical Imaging and Signal Processing, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China, ²Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China, ³Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China, ⁴School of Biomedical Sciences, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

Thalamic reticular nucleus (TRN) has been shown to gate sensory thalamo-cortical interactions and selectively modulate thalamic sensory information processing according to behavioral demands. However, whether TRN can exert long-range, i.e., beyond thalamus, cross-modal modulation of sensory processing remains unclear. In this fMRI study, we demonstrate that optogenetic excitation of somatosensory-specific TRN enhances cross-modal excitatory sensory inputs but suppresses cross-modal competing inputs at somatosensory cortices. Our work provides insight into how TRN differentially gate the processing of distinct cross-modal sensory information at large-scale, which may be critical for ensuring the balance between various task demands. 

Cong Peng¹, Ding bo Guo¹, lisha Nie², Liuheng Liu ¹, Dongling Xiao ¹, and Hua Yang^1
1Chongqing Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chongqing, China, ²GE Healthcare, MR Research China, Beijing, Chongqing, China

The current study aims to assess the effect of total sleep deprivation (TSD) under workload on spontaneous brain activity in medical staff and to further investigate its latent associations with clinical markers. It was concluded that spontaneous brain activity abnormalities occurred during TSD under workload, which might explain the reduced performance of these participants on neurocognitive tests.

Pavel Tikhonov¹, Alexander Efimtcev², Dmitriy Iskhakov², and Mikhail Zubkov^1
1School of Physics and Engineering, ITMO University, Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation, ²Department of Radiology, Federal Almazov North‐West Medical Research Center, Saint-Petersburg, Russian Federation

Task-related fMRI studies are providing increasing amount of information on the neurobiological aspects of the Gaming Disorder. This study aims to Explore both the activation patterns and the functional connectivities present in the gaming disorder-like subject brains via task-based fMRI study using individualized visual stimuli. 24 male test participants and 25 male control participants took part in the fMRI scanning with gaming-related and neutral visual stimuli. Data analysis showed altered nucleus accumbens connectivity and amygdala resembling that in cases of substance addiction^1,2.

Jyun-Ru Chen¹, Chun-Jen Lin^2,3, I-Hui Lee^2,3,4, and Chia-Feng Lu^1
1Department of Biomedical Imaging and Radiological Sciences, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan, ²School of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University, Taipei, Taiwan, ³Neurological Institute, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, ⁴Institute of Brain Science, National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan

Previous studies reported that the patients with asymptomatic internal carotid stenosis (aICS) had a higher risk of stroke and recall verbal memory impairment. However, whether the side of aICS could cause different verbal memory outcomes was less explored. In this study, significant difference of functional connectivity (FC) was found between the left and right aICS groups. The correlation analysis estimating the association between FC and recall verbal memory also presented different profiles between two aICS groups.

Yang Yang¹, Qiuyu Yu¹, Peng Wu², Shuting Han¹, Xiaojuan Wu¹, Hui Dai¹, and Yonggang Li^1
1The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China, ²Philips Healthcare, Shanghai, China

Patients with neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD) develop cognitive symptoms during the course of disease. We observed decreased intra- and internetwork connectivity in the main cognitive networks by Independent Component Analysis in cognitively impaired patients compared to cognitively preserved patients and healthy controls. The decreased intra- and internetwork connectivity was significantly correlated with cognitive performance in the whole NMOSD group. Our findings indicated that aberrant connectivity patterns across the main cognitive networks might suggest the neural substrates underlying cognitive decline in NMOSD.

Siqi Cai^1,2, Chunxiang Jiang^1,2, Zhifeng Shi³, Shihui Zhou^1,2, and Lijuan Zhang*^1
1Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, China, ²University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China, ³Huashan Hospital of Fudan University, Shanghai, China

The structural-functional coupling in the connectivity of the contralesional hemisphere was enhanced and specific to the malignancy grades of glioma. Structural and functional networks in brains with low grade glioma featured with increased global and local efficiency, whereas the plasticity of the functional networks was limited in brians with high grade glioma. These findings provide new knowledge toward innovating the characterization of glioma.

LiMin Cai¹ and HuaJun Chen^1
1Fujian Medical University Union Hospital, Fuzhou, China

We investigated the stability of brain functional architectures and its relationship with cognitive impairment in cirrhotic patients. From  healthy controls, to NHE, and to minimal hepatic encephalopathy(MHE) group, a stepwise reduction of FS was found in right supramarginal gyrus , right middle cingulate cortex, left superior frontal gyrus, and BPCC; whereas, a progressive increment of FS was observed in left middle occipital gyrus and right temporal pole.  Mean FS was correlated with Psychometric Hepatic Encephalopathy Score among cirrhotic patients. FS index showed moderate discrimination potential between NHE and MHE. FS alteration could be potential biomarkers serving for diagnosis about MHE.

Zhao Ruan¹ and Weiyin Vivian Liu^2
1Department of Radiology, Zhongnan Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, China, ²GE Healthcare, Beijing, China

This study aims to integrate psychological behavior, clinical biochemistry and other indicators, and use multi-mode MRI technology to explore specific imaging indicators of VCIND neurovascular coupling (NVC). NVC analysis and CBF/ ALFF ratio calculation were performed to investigate the neurovascular coupling changes and clinical significance of LVCI, SVCI and HC. Regardless of the level of the whole brain or brain regions, we have found neurovascular uncoupling in VCIND patients compared with healthy controls. These findings will be helpful in screening patients with VCIND, and has important theoretical and clinical significance in preventing and delaying the development of dementia.

Yingxue Gao¹, Ruohan Feng², Lihua Zhuo², Kaili Liang¹, Weijie Bao¹, Hui Qiu¹, Zilin Zhou¹, Guoping Huang³, and Xiaoqi Huang^1
1Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), Department of Radiology, West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China, ²Department of Radiology, the Third Hospital of Mianyang, Sichuan Mental Health Center, Mianyang, China, Mianyang, China, ³Department of Psychiatry, the Third Hospital of Mianyang, Sichuan Mental Health Center, China, Mianyang, China

The current study investigate functional network alterations in adolescent MDD using the clustering analysis. We found that adolescents with MDD showed decreased connectivity between the frontoparietal network (FPN) and other networks relative to HC. The global connectivity strength of FPN was negatively correlated with the punishment and academic pressure factors, and mediated the association between these two stressors and depression. Our findings suggest that punishment and academic pressure may contribute to the development of depression in adolescence through dysfunction of the FPN, which may promote future prevention of adolescent MDD.

Qian Wu¹, Hao Hu¹, Wen Chen¹, Lu Chen¹, Jiang Zhou¹, Xiaoquan Xu¹, and Feiyun Wu^1
1Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China

We investigate the brain functional alterations in patients with comitant exotropia (CE) before and after surgery, using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging with amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation. Our study suggested that CE may lead to decreased brain functional activities in visual-associated areas and the brain function could partially restore along with recovery of exodeviation after strabismus surgery. Besides, our results provided an explanation to the postoperative remnant of stereopsis impairment, which would be helpful to improve the clinical interventions for patients with CE. 

Amod S Jog¹, Radhika Madhavan², Nastaren Abad³, Eric Fiveland³, Brice Fernandez⁴, Chitresh Bhushan³, Luca Marinelli³, H Doug Morris⁵, and Thomas K Foo^3
1GE Global Research, Bangalore, India, ²GE Healthcare, Niskayuna, NY, United States, ³GE Global Research, Niskayuna, NY, United States, ⁴GE Healthcare, Buc, France, ⁵Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, MD, United States

Signal from conventional single-echo fMRI depends on multiple factors including cerebral metabolic rate for oxygen (CMRO₂), blood flow (CBF) and blood volume (CBV). Interpretation of functional connectivity analyses derived from conventional single-echo fMRI is complicated due to coupling of various factors in the fMRI signal. In this work, we use multi-echo task-fMRI to estimate functional connectivity from fluctuations in R2* (transverse relaxation rate) assumed to be surrogates for fluctuations in CMRO₂. We also investigate the similarities and differences between single-echo and R2* multi-echo fMRI derived functional activation in a visuo-motor decision task paradigm.

Jiawei Han^1,2, Qiangfeng Wang¹, Ying-Hua Chu³, Ying Liu¹, Junqi Xu¹, and He Wang^1,2
1Institute of Science and Technology for Brain-Inspired Intelligence, Fudan University, Shanghai, China, ²Human Phenome Institute, Fudan University, Shanghai, China, ³MR Collaboration, Siemens Healthineers Ltd., Shanghai, China

Balancing food calories and nutrients has become a great concern for contemporary young people. In this study, we found that the calorie information of food activates the response of left middle occipital gyrus, which is related to the current sense of individual satiety. Therefore, it is likely that a sensory hub of the digestive system, corresponding to the visual stimulation of food, is existing.

Yifei Sun¹, Fernando Calamante^1,2,3, and Jinglei Lv^1,2
1School of Biomedical Engineering, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia, ²Brain and Mind Centre, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia, ³Sydney Imaging, University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia

The human brain is a complex dynamic system. Understanding the functional difference of the brain between the resting state and performing tasks helps to decipher the functional brain architecture. In this work, we trained an autoencoder to optimally reconstruct the resting state fMRI (rs-fMRI) data of 50 subjects, and this model was subsequently used to reconstruct the movie watching fMRI (mw-fMRI) data of the same subjects. We have compared the reconstruction error between movie watching and resting state, and significant regional functional differences were found.