Enhanced functional connectivity of the default mode network (DMN) in patients with spleen deficiency syndrome: A resting-state fMRI study.

Numerous studies had investigated the biological basis of spleen deficiency syndrome on gastrointestinal dysfunctions. However, little was known about neuropsychological mechanism of spleen deficiency syndrome. The default model network (DMN) plays an important role in cognitive processing. Our aim is to investigate the change of neuropsychological tests and DMN in patients with spleen deficiency syndrome.Sixteen patients and 12 healthy subjects underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging examination, and 15 patients with spleen deficiency syndrome and 6 healthy subjects take part in the two neuropsychological tests.Compared with healthy subjects, patients with spleen deficiency syndrome revealed significantly increased functional connectivity within DMN, and significantly higher in the scores of 2-FT (P = .002) and 3-FT (P = .014).Our findings suggest that patients with spleen deficiency syndrome are associated with abnormal functional connectivity of DMN and part of neuropsychological tests, which provide new evidence in neuroimaging to support the notion of TCM that the spleen stores Yi and domains thoughts.

A case study of Ramsay Hunt Syndrome in conjunction with cranial polyneuritis.

RATIONALE: Ramsay Hunt syndrome in conjunction with cranial polyneuritis is not extensively documented, and is very easily misdiagnosed. PATIENT CONCERNS: A case of a 53-year-old male with Ramsay Hunt syndrome in conjunction with cranial polyneuritis is presented with early symptoms of vertigo, cephalalgia, and facial palsy, followed by zoster oticus 10 days later. DIAGNOSES: Diagnosis was challenging as this condition presents with multiple neuropathies, and attempting to diagnose based on clinical symptoms was often misleading. Polymerase chain reaction can be used to test for presence of the virus in the cerebrospinal fluid, followed by targeted drug therapy. INTERVENTIONS: Acupuncture, in conjunction with fire cupping, bloodletting around the afflicted region on the face, as well as oral consumption of herbal medicine and vitamins for nerve nourishment was given to treat this disease. OUTCOMES: Due to misdiagnosis resulting in delayed treatment, peripheral facial paralysis was left as the main sequelae, while other symptoms responded quickly to treatment. After a 6-month follow-up, facial palsy was still present. LESSONS: Considering that targeted antiviral therapy can be used to increase the effectiveness of treatment, early diagnosis, and timely use of medication is critical.

Altered effective connectivity of resting state networks by acupuncture stimulation in stroke patients with left hemiplegia: A multivariate granger analysis.

The aim of this study was to explore the response feature of resting-state networks (RSNs) of stroke patients with left hemiplegia by acupuncture stimulation.Nineteen stroke patients with left hemiplegia and 17 controls were recruited in this study. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data before and after acupuncture were acquired using magnetic scanning. The independent component analysis (ICA) was employed to extract RSNs related to motion, sensation, cognition, and execution, including sensorimotor network (SMN), left and right frontoparietal network (LFPN and RFPN), anterior and posterior default mode network (aDMN, pDMN), visual network (VN), and salience network (SN). Granger causality method was used to explore how acupuncture stimulation affects the causality between intrinsic RSNs in stroke patients. Compared with healthy subjects, stroke patients presented the more complex effective connectivity. Before acupuncture stimulation, LFPN inputted most information from other networks while DMN outputted most information to other networks; however, the above results were reversal by acupuncture. In addition, we found aDMN reside in between SMN and LFPN after acupuncture.The finding suggested that acupuncture probably integrated the effective connectivity internetwork by modulating multiple networks and transferring information between LFPN and SMN by DMN as the relay station.

Altered structural and functional connectivity between the bilateral primary motor cortex in unilateral subcortical stroke: A multimodal magnetic resonance imaging study.

A large number of functional imaging studies have focused on the understanding of motor-related neural activities after ischemic stroke. However, the knowledge is still limited in the structural and functional changes of the interhemispheric connections of the bilateral primary motor cortices (M1s) and their potential influence on motor function recovery following stroke.Twenty-four stroke patients with right hemispheric subcortical infarcts and 25 control subjects were recruited to undergo multimodal magnetic resonance imaging examinations. Structural impairments between the bilateral M1s were measured by fractional anisotropy. Functional changes of the bilateral M1s were assessed via M1-M1 resting-state functional connectivity. Task-evoked activation analysis was applied to identify the roles of the bilateral hemispheres in motor function recovery. Compared with control subjects, unilateral subcortical stroke patients revealed significantly decreased fractional anisotropy and functional connectivity between the bilateral M1s. Stroke patients also revealed higher activations in multiple brain regions in both hemispheres and that more regions were located in the contralesional hemisphere.This study increased our understanding of the structural and functional alterations between the bilateral M1s that occur in unilateral subcortical stroke and provided further evidence for the compensatory role played by the contralesional hemisphere for these alterations during motor function recovery.