Pressure-constrained sonication activation of flexible printed metal circuit.

Metal micro/nanoparticle ink-based printed circuits have shown promise for promoting the scalable application of flexible electronics due to enabling superhigh metallic conductivity with cost-effective mass production. However, it is challenging to activate printed metal-particle patterns to approach the intrinsic conductivity without damaging the flexible substrate, especially for high melting-point metals. Here, we report a pressure-constrained sonication activation (PCSA) method of the printed flexible circuits for more than dozens of metal (covering melting points from room temperature to 3422 °C) and even nonmetallic inks, which is integrated with the large-scale roll-to-roll process.

Elucidating trauma-related and disease-related regional cortical activity in post-traumatic stress disorder.

Trauma exposure may precipitate a cascade of plastic modifications within the intrinsic activity of brain regions, but it remains unclear which regions could be responsible for the development of post-traumatic stress disorder based on intrinsic activity. To elucidate trauma-related and post-traumatic stress disorder-related alterations in cortical intrinsic activity at the whole-brain level, we recruited 47 survivors diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, 64 trauma-exposed controls from a major earthquake, and 46 age- and sex-matched healthy controls. All subjects were scanned with an echo-planar imaging sequence, and 5 parameters including the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations, fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations, regional homogeneity, degree centrality, and voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity were calculated.

Assessment tools for cognitive performance in Parkinson's disease and its genetic contributors.

Background: We have shown that genetic factors associating with motor progression of Parkinson's disease (PD), but their roles in cognitive function is poorly understood. One reason is that while cognitive performance in PD can be evaluated by various cognitive scales, there is no definitive guide indicating which tool performs better.

Methods: Data were obtained from the Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative, where cognitive performance was assessed using five cognitive screening tools, including Symbol Digit Modalities Test (SDMT), Montreal Cognitive Assessment, Benton Judgment of Line Orientation, Modified Semantic Fluency Test, and Letter Number Sequencing Test, at baseline and subsequent annual follow-up visit for 5 years.

Functional connectivity of the default mode network in first-episode drug-naïve patients with major depressive disorder.

Background: Alterations in the default mode network (DMN) have been reported in major depressive disorder (MDD), well-replicated robust alterations of functional connectivity (FC) of DMN remain to be established. Investigating the functional connections of DMN at the overall and subsystem level in early MDD patients has the potential to advance our understanding of the physiopathology of this disorder.

Methods: We recruited 115 first-episode drug-naïve patients with MDD and 137 demographic-matched healthy controls (HCs).

Trait anxiety mediates the association between hippocampal-insula functional connectivity and anxiety symptom severity in adults with and without generalized anxiety disorder.

Background: Trait anxiety is a vulnerability factor for the development of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). The hippocampus has been implicated in trait anxiety in normal and GAD populations. However, the exact neural mechanism of hippocampal functional connectivity (FC) and its association with clinical symptoms and trait anxiety in GAD patients remains unknown.

Abnormal resting-state functional connectivity of the insula in medication-free patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Background: The function of the insula has been increasingly mentioned in neurocircuitry models of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) for its role in affective processing and regulating anxiety and its wide interactions with the classic cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical circuit. However, the insular resting-state functional connectivity patterns in OCD remain unclear. Therefore, we aimed to investigate characteristic intrinsic connectivity alterations of the insula in OCD and their associations with clinical features.

Brain morphometric abnormalities and their associations with affective symptoms in males with methamphetamine use disorder during abstinence.

Background: Methamphetamine (METH) use induces neurotoxic effects in brain structures and affective symptoms that persist during abstinence. However, the brain morphometry of individuals with METH use disorder (MUD) remains unclear, as well as their associations with affective symptoms during abstinence.

Methods: Forty-eight abstinent males with MUD and 66 age-, sex-, and education-matched healthy controls (HCs) underwent high-resolution T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging.

Aberrant intrinsic hippocampal and orbitofrontal connectivity in drug-naive adolescent patients with major depressive disorder.

Alterations in resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) of hippocampus and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) have been highly implicated in major depressive disorder (MDD) and the researches have penetrated to the subregional level. However, relatively little is known about the intrinsic connectivity patterns of these two regions in adolescent MDD (aMDD), especially that of their functional subregions. Therefore, in the current study, we recruited 68 first-episode drug-naive aMDD patients and 43 matched typically developing controls (TDC) to characterize the alterations of whole-brain rsFC patterns in hippocampus and OFC at both regional and subregional levels in aMDD.

Neuropathological report of propionic acidemia.

Propionic acidemia (PA) is an autosomal recessive inheritable metabolic disease caused by mutations in the propionyl CoA carboxylase gene (PCC) that affects multiple systems of the human body. Here, we report neuropathological findings of a PA patient. The patient was a male infant who presented with increasing lethargy and poor feeding from four days postpartum.

Application of graph theory across multiple frequency bands in drug-naïve obsessive-compulsive disorder with no comorbidity.

Recently, graph theoretical analysis based on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging has provided a means of investigating the complex brain connectome in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) patients. However, these studies have been restricted to spontaneous blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signals with frequency bands between 0.01 and 0.

Characterizing multiscale modular structures in medication-free obsessive-compulsive disorder patients with no comorbidity.

Brain networks exhibit signatures of modular structure, which maintains a fine trade-off between wiring cost and efficiency of information transmission. Alterations in modular structure have been found in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). However, previous studies were focused on a single scale (i.

Abnormal resting-state functional connectivity in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) displays widespread disruption across brain regions revealed by resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) with inconsistent results between studies. We performed a systematic review of 47 seed-based rsFC studies (1863 patients; 1795 healthy controls) to explore brain intrinsic connectivity alterations. Quantitative coordinate-based meta-analysis was conducted for seed regions in the striatum (putamen, caudate, nucleus accumbens [Nac]), thalamus, and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) because there were an adequate number of studies.

Rapid motor progression of Parkinson's disease associates with clinical and genetic variants.

Introduction: Parkinson's disease (PD) is caused by the interplay of genetic and environmental factors during brain aging. About 90 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been recently discovered associations with PD, but whether they associate with the clinical features of PD have not been fully addressed yet.

Methods: Clinical data of 365 patients with PD who enrolled in Parkinson's Progression Markers Initiative (PPMI) study were obtained.

Sex-specific alterations of cortical morphometry in treatment-naïve patients with major depressive disorder.

Major depressive disorder (MDD) shows sex differences in terms of incidence and symptoms, but the neurobiological basis underlying these sex differences remains to be clarified. High resolution T1-weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) scans were obtained from 123 non-comorbid treatment-naïve individuals with MDD and 81 age-, sex-, and handedness-matched healthy controls (HCs). MRI data were preprocessed with FreeSurfer software and four cortical measures were extracted: cortical thickness (CT), surface area (SA), cortical volume (CV), and local gyrification index (LGI).