Disruptive and complementary effects of depression symptoms on spontaneous brain activity in the subcortical vascular mild cognitive impairment.

Background: Although depression symptoms are commonly reported in patients with subcortical vascular mild cognitive impairment (svMCI), their impact on brain functions remains largely unknown, with diagnoses mainly dependent on behavioral assessments.

Methods: In this study, we analyzed resting-state fMRI data from a cohort of 34 svMCI patients, comprising 18 patients with depression symptoms (svMCI+D) and 16 patients without (svMCI-D), along with 34 normal controls (NC). The study used the fraction of the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFF), resting-state functional connectivity, correlation analyses, and support vector machine (SVM) techniques.

Selective vulnerability of hippocampal sub-regions in patients with subcortical vascular mild cognitive impairment.

Early diagnosis of subcortical vascular mild cognitive impairment (svMCI) is clinically essential because it is the most reversible subtype of all cognitive impairments. Since structural alterations of hippocampal sub-regions have been well studied in neurodegenerative diseases with pathophysiological cognitive impairments, we were eager to determine whether there is a selective vulnerability of hippocampal sub-fields in patients with svMCI. Our study included 34 svMCI patients and 34 normal controls (NCs), with analysis of T1 images and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) scores.

Acupuncture Treatment Modulate Regional Homogeneity of Dorsal Lateral Prefrontal Cortex in Patients with Amnesic Mild Cognitive Impairment.

Background: Although acupuncture is widely used to improve cognitive and memory in the amnesic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) patients with impressive effectiveness, its neural mechanism remains largely unclear.

Objective: We aimed to explore functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) mechanism of acupuncture for aMCI.

Methods: A randomized, controlled, single-blind research was performed.

Lateralized brain activities in subcortical vascular mild cognitive impairment with differential Chinese medicine patterns: A resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging study.

Background: Subcortical vascular mild cognitive impairment (svMCI) is one of the most treatable cognitive impairments, but could be hampered by the high clinical heterogeneities. Further classification by Chinese Medicine (CM) patterns has been proved to stratify its clinical heterogeneities. It remains largely unknown of the spontaneous brain activities regarding deficiency patterns (DPs) and excess patterns (EPs) of svMCI patients based on fMRI data.

Assessment of Rat Sciatic Nerve Using Diffusion-Tensor Imaging With Readout-Segmented Echo Planar Imaging.

Objectives: This study aimed to compare readout-segmented-3, readout-segmented-5, and readout-segmented-7 echo-planar imaging (RS3-EPI, RS5-EPI, and RS7-EPI) of DTI in the assessment of rat sciatic nerve at 3T MR.

Methods: Eight male adult healthy Sprague-Dawley rats were scanned at 3T MR with RS-3 EPI, RS5-EPI, and RS-7 EPI DTI. The image quality of RS-3 EPI, RS-5 EPI, and RS-7 EPI in terms of the nerve morphology, distortions of the nearby femur, muscles, and homogeneity of neuromuscular were evaluated by two experienced radiologists.

Performance of Single-Shot Echo-Planar Imaging in Diffusion Tensor Imaging in Rat Sciatic Nerve Compared With Readout-Segmented Echo-Planar Imaging.

Objectives: To compare the performances of single-shot echo-planar imaging (SS-EPI) and readout-segmented echo-planar imaging (RS-EPI) for diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) of the rat sciatic nerve.

Methods: Eight healthy adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were anesthetized and scanned with a 3T MRI scanner using SS-EPI and RS-EPI DTI sequences. The image quality in terms of the morphology of the nerve, distortions of the nearby femur, muscles, and homogeneity of neuromuscular were evaluated and scored.

Structural and Functional Trajectories of Middle Temporal Gyrus Sub-Regions During Life Span: A Potential Biomarker of Brain Development and Aging.

Although previous studies identified a similar topography pattern of structural and functional delineations in human middle temporal gyrus (MTG) using healthy adults, trajectories of MTG sub-regions across lifespan remain largely unknown. Herein, we examined gray matter volume (GMV) and resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) using datasets from the Nathan Kline Institute (NKI), and aimed to (1) investigate structural and functional trajectories of MTG sub-regions across the lifespan; and (2) assess whether these features can be used as biomarkers to predict individual's chronological age. As a result, GMV of all MTG sub-regions followed U-shaped trajectories with extreme age around the sixth decade.

Fast Independent Component Analysis Algorithm-Based Diagnosis of L5 Nerve Root Compression and Changes of Brain Functional Areas Using 3D Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

In this paper, the application of 3-dimensional (3D) functional magnetic resonance imaging (FMRI) in the diagnosis of the 5 lumbar (L5) nerve root compression and brain functional areas in patients with lumbar disc herniation (LDH) was analyzed. The traditional fast independent component analysis (Fast ICA) algorithm was optimized based on the modified whitening matrix to establish a new type of Modified-Fast ICA (M-Fast ICA) algorithm that was compared with the introduced traditional Fast ICA and ICA. M-Fast ICA was applied to the 3D FMRI diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) evaluation of 65 patients with L5 nerve root pain due to LDH (group A) and 50 healthy volunteers (group B).

Cortical Alterations Are Associated with Depression in Subcortical Vascular Mild Cognitive Impairment Revealed by Surface-Based Morphometry.

Background: Late-life depression often coexists with vascular cognitive impairment and affects the quality of life for elders. However, little is known about cortical morphometric interactions between subcortical vascular mild cognitive impairment (svMCI) and concomitant mild depressive symptoms at the early stage.

Objective: We aimed to investigate cortical alterations of svMCI with and without depressive symptoms and determine whether these parameters are associated with depression symptoms and/or cognitive impairments.

Different patterns of functional and structural alterations of hippocampal sub-regions in subcortical vascular mild cognitive impairment with and without depression symptoms.

In addition to cognitive impairments, depression symptoms were reported in subcortical vascular mild cognitive impairment. Although hippocampal alterations were associated with cognitive decline in subcortical vascular mild cognitive impairment, the neural mechanism underlying depression symptoms remains unclear. Thus, a cohort of 18 patients with depression symptoms, 17 patients without depression symptoms, and 23 normal controls was used.

Alterations of White Matter Microstructure in Subcortical Vascular Mild Cognitive Impairment with and without Depressive Symptoms.

Background: Depressive symptoms were thought to increase the risk of vascular dementia. Previous studies reported widespread white matter damages in the subcortical vascular mild cognitive impairment (svMCI), but little is known about the mechanism of depressive symptoms in svMCI.

Objective: In the current study, we aim to explore the white matter microstructural alterations in svMCI with depressive symptoms, and their associations with clinical measurements.

Structural and Functional Disruptions in Subcortical Vascular Mild Cognitive Impairment With and Without Depressive Symptoms.

Many previous studies have revealed structural and functional abnormalities in patients with the subcortical vascular mild cognitive impairment (svMCI). Although depression symptoms were suggested to serve as a potential marker of conversion to dementia in patients with svMCI, whether these disruptions or other new findings will be identified in the svMCI comorbid with depression symptoms has not been established. In the current study, we combined voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and the resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the structural and functional disruptions in the svMCI with and without depression symptoms using a cohort of 18 svMCI with depression symptoms (svMCI+D), 17 svMCI without depression symptoms (svMCI-D), and 23 normal controls (NC).

Delineating functional segregations of the human middle temporal gyrus with resting-state functional connectivity and coactivation patterns.

Although the middle temporal gyrus (MTG) has been parcellated into subregions with distinguished anatomical connectivity patterns, whether the structural topography of MTG can inform functional segregations of this area remains largely unknown. Accumulating evidence suggests that the brain's underlying organization and function can be directly and effectively delineated with resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) by identifying putative functional boundaries between cortical areas. Here, RSFC profiles were used to explore functional segregations of the MTG and defined four subregions from anterior to posterior in two independent datasets, which showed a similar pattern with MTG parcellation scheme obtained using anatomical connectivity.

Correlation between cervical lordosis and cervical disc herniation in young patients with neck pain.

Abnormal cervical curvature and cervical disc herniation are closely related to neck pain and should be taken into account before any treatment. However, studies have rarely reported on the correlation between cervical lordosis and cervical disc herniation in patients with neck pain. Therefore, in this study, we collect young neck pain patients with abnormal cervical curvature to evaluate the relationship between cervical lordosis and cervical disc herniation.

Alterations of Sub-cortical Gray Matter Volume and Their Associations With Disease Duration in Patients With Restless Legs Syndrome.

The purpose of this study was to uncover the pathology of restless legs syndrome (RLS) by exploring brain structural alterations and their corresponding functional abnormality. Surface-based morphometry (SBM) and voxel-based morphometry (VBM) were performed to explore the alterations in cortical and sub-cortical gray matter volume (GMV) in a cohort of 20 RLS and 18 normal controls (NC). Furthermore, resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) was also performed to identify the functional alterations in patients with RLS.

Alterations in White Matter Integrity in Young Adults with Smartphone Dependence.

Smartphone dependence (SPD) is increasingly regarded as a psychological problem, however, the underlying neural substrates of SPD is still not clear. High resolution magnetic resonance imaging provides a useful tool to help understand and manage the disorder. In this study, a tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) analysis on diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was used to measure white matter integrity in young adults with SPD.