The cognitive dysfunction of claustrum on Alzheimer's disease: A mini-review.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is one of the most common neurodegenerative diseases characterized by cognitive deficits and dementia. AD entails predominant pathological characteristics including amyloid beta (Aβ) plaque formation, neurofibrillary entanglements, and brain atrophy, which gradually result in cognitive dysfunctions. Studies showed that these pathological changes are found in a myriad of brain structures, including the claustrum (CLA), a nucleus that penetrates deeply into the brain and is extensively interconnected to various brain structures.

Individual Variability and Test-Retest Reliability Revealed by Ten Repeated Resting-State Brain Scans over One Month.

Individual differences in mind and behavior are believed to reflect the functional variability of the human brain. Due to the lack of a large-scale longitudinal dataset, the full landscape of variability within and between individual functional connectomes is largely unknown. We collected 300 resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rfMRI) datasets from 30 healthy participants who were scanned every three days for one month.

Developmental changes in the role of different metalinguistic awareness skills in Chinese reading acquisition from preschool to third grade.

The present study investigated the relationship between Chinese reading skills and metalinguistic awareness skills such as phonological, morphological, and orthographic awareness for 101 Preschool, 94 Grade-1, 98 Grade-2, and 98 Grade-3 children from two primary schools in Mainland China. The aim of the study was to examine how each of these metalinguistic awareness skills would exert their influence on the success of reading in Chinese with age. The results showed that all three metalinguistic awareness skills significantly predicted reading success.

Different neural manifestations of two slow frequency bands in resting functional magnetic resonance imaging: a systemic survey at regional, interregional, and network levels.

Temporal and spectral perspectives are two fundamental facets in deciphering fluctuating signals. In resting state, the dynamics of blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signals recorded by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have been proven to be strikingly informative (0.01-0.

An open science resource for establishing reliability and reproducibility in functional connectomics.

Efforts to identify meaningful functional imaging-based biomarkers are limited by the ability to reliably characterize inter-individual differences in human brain function. Although a growing number of connectomics-based measures are reported to have moderate to high test-retest reliability, the variability in data acquisition, experimental designs, and analytic methods precludes the ability to generalize results. The Consortium for Reliability and Reproducibility (CoRR) is working to address this challenge and establish test-retest reliability as a minimum standard for methods development in functional connectomics.

[Study of functional magnetic resonance imaging repeatability of linguistic-functional cortex].

Objective: To explore the reproducibility and stability of brain functional area in the response of language tasks during Chinese word processing with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) by follow-up scanning so as to provide rationales for clinical preoperative localization and the mechanisms of recovery from aphasia.

Methods: The fMRI data were collected by scanning semantic and phonologic judgments in 15 healthy volunteers. Each subject was scanned twice by the same fMRI procedure of both language tasks with an interval of 1 month.

Selectivity of N170 in the left hemisphere as an electrophysiological marker for expertise in reading Chinese.

Objective: The left-lateralized N170, an event-related potential component consistently shown in response to alphabetic words, is a robust electrophysiological marker for reading expertise in an alphabetic language. In contrast, such a marker is lacking for expertise in reading Chinese, because the existing results about the lateralization of N170 for Chinese characters are mixed, reflecting complicated factors such as top-down modulation that contribute to the relative magnitudes of N170 in the left and right hemispheres. The present study aimed to explore a potential electrophysiological marker for reading expertise in Chinese with minimal top-down influence.

Differences in cerebral response to esophageal acid stimuli and psychological anticipation in GERD subtypes--an fMRI study.

Background: To evaluate whether there are differences in the cerebral response to intraesophageal acid and psychological anticipation stimuli among subtypes of gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).

Methods: Thirty nine patients with GERD and 11 healthy controls were enrolled in this study after gastroscopy and 24 hr pH monitoring. GERD subjects were divided into four subgroups: RE (reflux esophagitis), NERD+ (non-erosive reflux disease with excessive acid reflux), NERD-SI+ (normal acid exposure and positive symptom index) and NERD-SI+ (normal acid exposure and negative symptom index, but responded to proton pump inhibitor trial).

Abnormal grey matter in victims of rape with PTSD in Mainland China: a voxel-based morphometry study.

Unlabelled: Sui SG, Wu MX, King ME, Zhang Y, Ling L, Xu JM, Weng XC, Duan L, Shan BC, Li LJ. Abnormal grey matter in victims of rape with PTSD in Mainland China: a voxel-based morphometry study.

Objective: This study examined changes in brain grey matter in victims of rape (VoR) with and without post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

Toward discovery science of human brain function.

Although it is being successfully implemented for exploration of the genome, discovery science has eluded the functional neuroimaging community. The core challenge remains the development of common paradigms for interrogating the myriad functional systems in the brain without the constraints of a priori hypotheses. Resting-state functional MRI (R-fMRI) constitutes a candidate approach capable of addressing this challenge.

fMRI study of pain reaction in the brain under state of "Qigong".

In this study, 4 male Qigong masters (aged 60 +/- 12) who had Qigong practicing experience for more than 30 years were tested. By using the technique of fMRI, the change of brain function under the state of Qigong was observed through the peripheral pain stimulation generated by potassium penetrating method. The fMRI examination was running on a GE signa VH/3.

Similar brain activation patterns for writing logographic and phonetic symbols in Chinese.

This event-related functional MRI study examined the neural correlates for Chinese writing, by comparing the writing of logographic characters and that of pinyin, a phonetic notation system for Chinese characters. The temporal profile of the activations indicated that the middle frontal gyrus, superior parietal lobule, and posterior inferior temporal gyrus reflected more central processes for writing. Although pinyin writing elicited greater activity overall than character writing, the critical finding is that the two types of symbols recruited essentially the same brain regions.

[Functional magnetic resonance imaging of whole brain related to motor preparation and execution].

Objective: To investigate the roles the different functional activation areas in whole human brain related to movement play during motor preparation (CUE) and execution (GO).

Methods: Event-related functional MRI technique was used on 12 right-handed healthy subjects to record the brain activation in a manner of delayed sequential finger movement. Activation maps and time-signal intensity curves were generated.

[Study of paroxysmal kinesigenic dyskinesia with fMRI].

Objective: To detect the differences in subcortical structures between patients with paroxysmal kinesigenic dyskinesia (PKD) and normal subjects during movement preparation and execution.

Methods: The PKD patients performed a movement task, in which a CUE signal (preparation) indicated the movement sequence prior to the appearance of an imperative GO signal (execution). Event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and 3dDeconvolve program of AFNI were used to estimate the hemodynamic response function and to generate activation maps.

[Lateralized distribution of motor areas involved in voluntary movement].

Objective: To investigate the brain functional laterality in motor areas during motor execution systematically.

Methods: Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was employed combined with right hand sequential finger movement task to investigate brain activation pattern and laterality in 8 right-handed subjects. 3dDeconvolve program of AFNI was used to estimate the hemodynamic response function and to generate activation maps.

[Heterogeneity of aging brain: a preliminary comparative study of functional magnetic resonance imaging in elderly people].

Objective: To explore the heterogeneity of aging brain.

Methods: Blood oxygenation level dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed on 10 subjects meeting the standards of successful aging (SA), 9 subjects meeting the standards of usual aging (UA), and 9 subjects meeting the criteria of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), all age, and sex-matched, under stimulation of verbal fluent test (VFT). The activation level of different regions of interest (ROI), laterality index, and the activation level of occipital lobe were analyzed.

[Functional MRI of human brain in musicians and non-musicians].

Objective: To explore the differences in brain activation between musicians and non-musicians by use of functional MRI.

Methods: Twelve right-handed musicians and twelve right-handed non-musicians were recruited in the study. During a listening task, they were scanned on the Sigma 1.

Neural activity associated with cognitive regulation in heroin users: A fMRI study.

Previous research has found heroin addicts to be impulsive. This study employed functional magnetic resonance imaging technology to investigate the differences between heroin addicts and normal controls in neural activity associated with cognitive regulation of behavior. Twenty-one Chinese men participated in this study, 11 of whom were newly admitted heroin-addicted patients and 10 of whom were healthy volunteers.

Functional MRI in attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: evidence for hypofrontality.

Using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging to study the Stroop effect on both behavioral and brain activation of ADHD children off or on methylphenidate (MPH). Nine ADHD boys (aged 9.8-14.

Continuous representation of human portraits and natural scenery in human ventral temporal cortex: evidence from functional magnetic resonance imaging.

Background: Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has become a powerful tool for tracking human brain activity in vivo. This technique is mainly based on blood oxygenation level dependence (BOLD) contrast. In the present study, we employed this newly developed technique to characterize the neural representations of human portraits and natural sceneries in the human brain.

Cortical language activation in aphasia: a functional MRI study.

Background: Functional neuroimaging has been used in neurolinguistic research on normal subjects and on patients with brain damage. This study was designed to investigate the differences of the neural basis underlying language processing between normal subjects and aphasics.

Methods: Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to map the language network in 6 normal subjects and 3 patients with aphasia who were in the stage of recovery from acute stroke.