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Taljinder Singh^1,2, Francesco de Pasquale³, Gabriele De Luca⁴, Paola Fortini⁵, Valeria Simonelli⁵, and Rossella Canese^1
1MRI Unit, Core Facilities, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy, ²Department of Basic and Applied Sciences for Engineering, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy, ³University of Teramo, Teramo, Italy, ⁴Oncology and Molecular Medicine Dept., Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy, ⁵Environmental and Health Dept., Istituto Superiore di Sanità, Rome, Italy

Keywords: Brain Connectivity, Animals, DTI, oxidant agent

Oxidative stress is involved in the pathogenesis of cancer, neurodegeneration and aging. hMTH1 is a hydrolase able to protect cells by oxidative damage. Overexpression of hMTH1 in transgenic mice confers significant protection against oxidative damage. Our study showed alterations in the brain networks of hMTH1-Tg mice with respect to their controls. The chronical exposure to an oxidant agent (Paraquat, most widely used herbicide) causes differences in the brain function (measured by rs-fMRI) and structure (measured by DTI) of transgenic mice.

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Tamara Vasilkovska^1,2, Mohit H. Adhikari^1,2, Joëlle van Rijswijk^1,2, Eline Van Doninck^1,2, Johan Van Audekerke^1,2, Dorian Pustina³, Roger Cachope³, Haiying Tang³, Deanna M. Marchionini³, Ignacio Munoz-Sanjuan³, Annemie Van der Linden^1,2, and Marleen Verhoye^1,2
1Bio-Imaging Lab, Deparment of Biomedical Sciences, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium, ²μNEURO Research Centre of Excellence, University of Antwerp, Antwerp, Belgium, ³CHDI Management/CHDI Foundation, Princeton, NJ, United States

Keywords: Brain Connectivity, Preclinical, Huntington's Disease, dynamic resting-state fMRI

Dynamic analyses of resting-state (RS) fMRI reveal transient constituents of RS networks such as the quasi-periodic patterns (QPPs), and co-activation patterns (CAPs) that were shown to be sensitive markers of neurodegenerative diseases in rodent models and humans. We investigated the effect of early suppression of mutant huntingtin (mHtt) expression in the LacQ140 mouse model of Huntington’s disease (HD) on QPP and CAP alterations at the manifest state. In both QPPs and CAPs, the observed genotypic changes in local activity were reduced in the mHtt suppressed group. Additionally, a cross-validated, three-class classification using CAP activations successfully predicted the mHtt suppressed group

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Sheng-Min Huang¹, Yu-Chin Huang², Nan-Hao Chen³, Chun-Ying Shen⁴, Ting-Kai Leung^4,5, and Li-Wei Kuo^1,6
1Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Nanomedicine, National Health Research Institutes, Miaoli, Taiwan, ²Department of Neurology, Taoyuan General Hospital, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taoyuan, Taiwan, ³Department of Biomedical Engineering and Environmental Sciences, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan, ⁴Department of Radiology, Taoyuan General Hospital, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Taoyuan, Taiwan, ⁵Graduate Institute of Biomedical Materials and Tissue Engineering, College of Biomedical Engineering, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan, ⁶Institute of Medical Device and Imaging, National Taiwan University College of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan

Keywords: Brain Connectivity, fMRI (resting state), essential tremor

We aim to characterize the functional connectivity in essential tremor to portray the resting-state network organization and its correlation to tremor features. Reduced functional connectivity between default mode network and ventral attention network was found in essential tremor subjects. The inter-network connectivity and intra-network connectivity were also shown to be associated with tremor features. Our result suggest that analysis of resting-state network is a potential approach in detecting the cerebral alterations in ET. 

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Chang-Min Chen¹, Shwu-Fen Wang², Dar-Ming Lai³, and Wen-Chau Wu^1
1Institute of Medical Device and Imaging, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, ²Department of Physical Therapy, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan, ³Department of Surgery, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan

Keywords: Brain Connectivity, fMRI (resting state)

This study aimed to explore the relationship between emotion and pain-related disability in patients with chronic low back pain (CLBP) by using resting-state functional connectivity (FC). Our results showed that as compared with the control group (n = 26), the patient group (n = 26) had decreased FC with the default mode network in multiple brain regions. Specifically, the right Rolandic operculum was identified, where FC was inversely correlated with the Oswestry disability index (r = -0.616, p < 0.001), suggesting the interplay between emotion processing and pain perception.

Ping Jiang¹, Zhiang Niu¹, Hai Lin², Yongming Dai², and Jiajun Xu^1
1West China Hospital, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China, ²Central Research Institute, United Imaging Healthcare, Shanghai, China

Keywords: Brain Connectivity, Psychiatric Disorders, Non-suicidal self-injury

Non-suicidal self-injury (NSSI), defined as the deliberate damage or destruction of body tissue without the intent to die, is a common behavior amongst adolescents. We conducted connectome-based analysis to investigate neural correlates of self-injury and identified several potential brain connectivity markers of NSSI diagnosis. On basis of these markers, the random forest model achieved an accuracy of 78.2% to discriminate between NSSI and non-NSSI patients. Our study indicated that structural and functional connectivity could characterize the behavior of self-injury and help early NSSI diagnosis in adolescents.

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Benedikt Sundermann^1,2,3, Reinhold Feldmann⁴, Christian Mathys^1,3, Johanna Rau⁵, Stefan Garde^2,6, Anna Braje², Josef Weglage⁴, and Bettina Pfleiderer^2
1Institute of Radiology and Neuroradiology, Evangelisches Krankenhaus Oldenburg, Medical Campus University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany, ²Clinic of Radiology, Medical Faculty, University of Münster, Münster, Germany, ³Research Center Neurosensory Science, University of Oldenburg, Oldenburg, Germany, ⁴Department of General Pediatrics, University Hospital Münster, Münster, Germany, ⁵Department of Neurology with Institute of Translational Neurology, University Hospital Münster, Münster, Germany, ⁶Bergman Clinics Augenklinik Universitätsallee Bremen, Bremen, Germany

Keywords: Brain Connectivity, fMRI (resting state)

Functional connectivity (FC) between and within a majority of cognition-related brain networks is altered in young adults with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. Findings in a network-level analysis of resting-state fMRI data with a Higher Criticism approach were most obvious within a dorsal attention subnetwork and to a lesser extent in a salience / ventral attention subnetwork. When analyzing these effects further by looking at single connections, no individual FC alteration was statistically significant when adjusting for multiple comparisons. The finding of a wide distribution of FC alterations across networks might help resolve partially contradictory results in previous studies.

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SIMIN LIN¹, MIAOMIAO NIE², BINGSHAN WANG³, and YI HAN^4
1Radiology, Xiamen Cardiovascular Hospital of Xiamen University, Xiamen, China, ²Radiology, Zhongshan Hospital of Xiamen University, Xiamen, China, ³Zhongshan Hospital of Xiamen University, Xiamen, China, ⁴Fujian Provincial Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology and Visual Science, Eye Institute of Xiamen University, Xiamen, China

Keywords: Brain Connectivity, fMRI (resting state), Amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation

Chronic rhinitis (CRS) is one of the most prevalent chronic diseases that increases the risk of anxiety, depression and cognitive disorders. Here we collected rs-fMRI data to assess global brain activity and functional connectivity (FC) in CRS patients. Compared with controls, CRS patients demonstrated increased ALFF in the left orbital superior frontal cortex and decreased FC in the right precuneus cortex, with the former positively correlated with the severity of inflammation and the scores of anxiety and depression. These rs-fMRI studies provided several important hints into the potential neural mechanism related to mood and cognitive dysfunctions in CRS patients. 

Zibin Yang¹, Guanmao Chen¹, Long Qian², and Ying Wang^1
1Medical Imaging Center, First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan, Guangzhou, China, ²GE Healthcare, Beijing, China, Beijing, China

Keywords: Brain Connectivity, fMRI (resting state), Subthreshold depression

The underlying mechanisms of bright light therapy in prevention of individuals with subthreshold symptoms are unclear. This study aimed to assess the midbrain monoamine-producing nuclei treatment–related functional connectivity changes and their correlation to depressive symptom improvements in subthreshold depression. A total of 74 young adults with subthreshold depression were randomly assigned to receive 8-week BLT (N = 38) or placebo (N = 36). The dorsal raphe nucleus, ventral tegmental area, and habenula seed-based whole-brain FC were analyzed. In addition, a multivariate regression model examined whether baseline brain FC was associated with changes in scores on HDRS during BLT treatment.

Baolin Wu¹, Zhiyun Jia^1,2, and Qiyong Gong^1
1Huaxi MR Research Center (HMRRC), Department of Radiology, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China, ²Department of Nuclear Medicine, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Chengdu, China

Keywords: Psychiatric Disorders, fMRI (resting state)

This study aimed to explore the dynamic FC in adolescent MDD patients, with a focus on the temporal properties of functional connectivity states as well as the variability of network topological organization. We found that adolescent MDD patients spent more time in the weakly-connected and relatively highly-modularized State 1, spent less time in the strongly-connected and low-modularized State 2, and had higher variability in the network efficiency than healthy controls. These findings suggest impaired local segregation and global integration of functional networks, as well as segregation-integration imbalance in adolescent MDD patients.

Ziyun Xu¹, Gangqiang Hou¹, Yingli Zhang¹, Bo Peng¹, Long Qian², and wentao Lai^1
1Shenzhen Kangning Hospital, Shenzhen, China, ²MR Research, GE Healthcare, Beijing, China

Keywords: Brain Connectivity, Brain Connectivity

Although major depressive disorder (MDD) has been deeply studied in decades, there are still no reliable biological markers. Here, we combine the T1-wighted, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and inhomogeneous magnetization transfer imaging (IhMT) to detect cortical morphometric changes in individuals with MDD. Morphometric similarity network (MSN) was established for each subject. Network properties and rich-club organizations were assessed and analyzed between groups. MDD showed significant alteration in global and nodal properties, as well as reorganization of rich clubs. Consequently, topological structure of the morphometric similarity network is disrupted, which may be a potential biomarker for major depressive disorder.

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Yael Jacob¹, Gaurav Verma¹, Laurel S Morris¹, Lara Marcuse¹, Madeline Fields¹, James W Murrough W Murrough¹, and Priti Balchandani^1
1Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY, United States

Keywords: Brain Connectivity, Aging

Brain network organization, and specifically its efficiency, is known to be associated with age, implying older brain exhibit reduced network efficiency. Using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging, we investigate if estimated brain age according to functional network efficiency is deviant from chronological age in major depressive disorder (MDD) and Epilepsy patients (EP). Global network efficiency significantly predicted chronological age among HC. Importantly, we found the differences between predicted and true brain age among MDD and EP patients were significantly associated with age at onset, indicating that the prediction of an older age brain is associated with early age disorder onset.

Xiaofang Cheng^1,2, Jianshan Chen¹, Xiaofei Zhang¹, Ting Wang³, Jiaqi Sun¹, Yanling Zhou¹, Ruilan Yang¹, Yeyu Xiao³, Amei Chen³, Ziyi Song¹, Pinrui Chen¹, Chanjuan Yang¹, Qiuxia Wu¹, Taifeng Lin¹, Yingmei Chen¹, Yongzhou Xu⁴, Liping Cao¹, and Xinhua Wei^2
1The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China, ²South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China, ³Guangzhou Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Guangzhou, China, ⁴Philips Healthcare, Guangzhou, China

Keywords: Brain Connectivity, Adolescents, Major depressive disorder; suicide; frontal cortex

This study combined dynamic and static amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) approaches to investigate the differences in local spontaneous brain activities between depressed adolescents with and without suicide attempts (SA). Our findings suggest that alterations in brain activities in regions involved in emotional processing, decision-making, and response inhibition are associated with an increased risk of suicidal behaviors in depressed adolescents.

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Xirui Zhao¹, Paul Condron², Haribalan Kumar^1,2,3, Eryn Kwon^1,2,4,5, Gina Waters ^4,6, Christopher Erb⁶, Makarena Dudley^4,6, Davidson Taylor^2,7, Gil Newburn², Jerome Maller³, Vickie Shim^1,2, Alan Wang^1,4,5, Samantha Holdsworth^2,4,5, Karen Waldie^4,6, and Justin Fernandez^1,2,8
1Auckland Bioengineering Institute, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand, ²Mātai Medical Research Institute, Tairāwhiti/Gisborne, New Zealand, ³General Electric Healthcare AUS/NZ, Melbourne, Australia, ⁴Centre for Brain Research, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand, ⁵Department of Anatomy and Medical Imaging, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand, ⁶Department of Psychology, Faculty of Science, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand, ⁷Ngai Tāmanuhiri, Rongowhakaata, Ngāti Porou, Tūranganui-a-Kiwa, Tairāwhiti, New Zealand, ⁸Department of Engineering Science, Faculty of Engineering, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand

Keywords: Brain Connectivity, fMRI (task based), ADHD, fidgeting MRI

People with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) are often observed to fidget or display repetitive fine motor skills. Though it has been proposed that fidgeting may assist with concentration and sustained attention, there is little objective evidence to support this idea. This is the first study to evaluate the impact of fidgeting, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), with neurotypical and ADHD adult volunteers. Comparative analyses revealed significant increases in medial prefrontal cortex brain activation while fidgeting during executive functioning in the ADHD participant. This distinction may provide additional information in future MRI diagnosis of ADHD.

Xiaofang Cheng^1,2, Jianshan Chen¹, Xiaofei Zhang¹, Ting Wang³, Jiaqi Sun¹, Yanling Zhou¹, Ruilan Yang¹, Yeyu Xiao³, Amei Chen³, Ziyi Song¹, Pinrui Chen¹, Chanjuan Yang¹, Qiuxia Wu¹, Taifeng Lin¹, Yingmei Chen¹, Yongzhou Xu⁴, Liping Cao¹, and Xinhua Wei^2
1The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Guangzhou Medical University, Guangzhou, China, ²South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China, ³Guangzhou Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Guangzhou, China, ⁴Philips Healthcare, Guangzhou, China

Keywords: Brain Connectivity, Adolescents, major depressive disorder; suicide; FCS

This study used graph theory-based dynamic and static functional connectivity strength (FCS) approaches to investigate the differences in global brain connectivity patterns in depressed adolescents with and without suicide attempts. Our findings suggest that abnormal connectivity patterns in multiple brain regions involving cognition and emotion control, and self-referential processing are associated with the increasing risk of vulnerability to a suicide attempt in depressed adolescents.

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Qian Zhang¹, Youjin Zhao¹, Chenyang Yao¹, Yaxuan Wang¹, Ziyuan Zhao¹, Aoxiang Zhang¹, and Qiyong Gong^1
1Department of Radiology, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, Huaxi MR Research Center, Chengdu, China

Keywords: Psychiatric Disorders, Brain, major depressive disorder

Multimodal joint differences in the right dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex, bilateral superior and inferior parietal lobules, and bilateral calcarine cortex contributed to identification of patients with major depressive disorder (MDD), offering promise in the multimodal psychoradiological characterization for MDD diagnosis. In addition, widespread gray matter alterations across neocortex were associated with cognitive impairments, and partially mediated the age-related cognitive difficulties associated with MDD, deepening the understanding of the relationships between brain alterations and neurocognitive changes in MDD.

Shaowei Liu¹, Jianhuai Chen², and Weiqiang Dou^3
1Radiology, Jiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, China, ²Andrology, Jiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing, China, ³GE Healthcare, MR Research China, Beijing, China

Keywords: Brain Connectivity, Brain Connectivity

This study aimed to explore the central neural mechanisms underlying sertraline in the treatment of premature ejaculation (PE). Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) of PE patients before and after treatment with sertraline were acquired. The brain regions with altered regional homogeneity (ReHo) values were found. Increased activity in the occipital lobe and decreased activity in the prefrontal and parietal lobe and thalamus might be the mechanisms of sertraline in the treatment of PE.

Shuting Han¹, Peng Wu², and Yonggang Li^1
1Department of Radiology, First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou, China, Suzhou city, China, ²Philips Healthcare, Shanghai, China, Shanghai, China

Keywords: Brain Connectivity, fMRI (resting state), tinnitus

As a common disorder, the development of tinnitus deserves the attention of neuroscientists. The present study combined fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations and functional connectivity to explore brain functional abnormalities in transition from recent-onset to chronic tinnitus. Abnormal intraregional neural activity and functional connectivity were observed in the left middle frontal gyrus and left dorsolateral superior frontal gyrus during the development of chronic tinnitus, and these regions are major components of attention network and executive control network. These findings provide us with a better understanding of the aberrant brain changes and neuropathophysiological mechanisms of the progression of tinnitus.

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Jiapei Xie¹ and Meiyun Wang^1
1Henan Provincial People's Hospital, Zhengzhou, China

Keywords: Brain Connectivity, Brain Connectivity

To investigate the differences of spontaneous brain activity and brain functional connectivity between chronic tinnitus patients with hearing loss and healthy control group. Resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) was performed to obtain the low-frequency fluctuation amplitude (ALFF), regional homogeneity (ReHo) and functional connectivity (FC). In this study, compared with healthy controls, chronic tinnitus patients with hearing loss showed aberrant brain activity increased in the temporal lobe, frontal lobe, hippocampus, precuneus, amygdala and cingulate cortex. It provided additional evidence to understand the neuropathophysiological mechanism of chronic tinnitus with hearing loss.

Hang Qu¹, Wei-qiang Dou², and Wang Wei^3
1RADIOLOGY, Affiliated Hospital of Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China, ²GE Healthcare, MR Research China, Beijing, China, ³Radiology, Affiliated Hospital of Yangzhou University, Yangzhou, China

Keywords: Brain Connectivity, fMRI (task based)

The cross-modal plasticity was truly involved in theWorking memory (WM) that related to decision-making and memory processing after exercise intervention. However, we know little about the functional connectivity changes after the exercise intervention. The purpose of this study was to examine the cross modal plasticity and Granger causality connectivity among the internetwork in deaf children when performing a WM task before and after exercise intervention. Our results show that aerobic exercise intervention could improve working memory performance in reaction time and mean accuracy rate accompanied with increased internetwork casual flow connectivity.