Uncovering neural pathways underlying bulimia nervosa: resting-state neural connectivity disruptions correlate with maladaptive eating behaviors.

PURPOSE: Bulimia nervosa (BN) is characterized by recurrent binge-eating episodes and inappropriate compensatory behaviors. This study investigated alterations in resting-state surface-based neural activity in BN patients and explored correlations between brain activity and eating behavior. METHODS: A total of 26 BN patients and 28 healthy controls were enrolled. Indirect measurement of cerebral cortical activity and functional connectivity (FC) analyses were performed in Surfstat. A principal component analysis (PCA) model was used to capture the commonalities within the behavioral questionnaires from the BN group. RESULTS: Compared with the healthy control group, the BN group showed decreased surface-based two-dimensional regional homogeneity in the right superior parietal lobule (SPL). Additionally, the BN group showed decreased FC between the right SPL and the bilateral lingual gyrus and increased FC between the right SPL and the left caudate nucleus and right putamen. In the FC-behavior association analysis, the second principal component (PC2) was negatively correlated with FC between the right SPL and the left caudate nucleus. The third principal component (PC3) was negatively correlated with FC between the right SPL and the left lingual gyrus and positively correlated with FC between the right SPL and the right lingual gyrus. CONCLUSION: We revealed that the right SPL undergoes reorganization with respect to specific brain regions at the whole-brain level in BN. In addition, our results suggest a correlation between brain reorganization and maladaptive eating behavior. These findings may provide useful information to better understand the neural mechanisms of BN. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: V, descriptive study.

Characteristics of white matter alterations along fibres in patients with bulimia nervosa: A combined voxelwise and tractography study.

Accumulating evidence supports the hypothesis that white matter (WM) abnormalities are involved in the pathophysiology of bulimia nervosa (BN); however, findings from in vivo neuroimaging studies have been inconsistent. We aimed to investigate the possible brain WM alterations, including WM volume and microstructure, in patients with BN. We recruited 43 BN patients and 31 healthy controls (HCs). All participants underwent structural and diffusion tensor imaging. Differences in WM volume and microstructure were evaluated using voxel-based morphometry, tract-based spatial statistics, and automated fibre quantification analysis. Compared with HCs, BN patients showed significantly decreased fractional anisotropy in the middle part of the corpus callosum (nodes 31-32) and increased mean diffusivity in the right cranial nerve V (CN V) (nodes 27-33 and nodes 55-88) and vertical occipital fasciculus (VOF) (nodes 58-85). Moreover, we found decreased axial diffusivity in the right inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus (node 67) and increased radial diffusivity in the CN V (nodes 22-34 and nodes 52-89) and left VOF (nodes 60-66 and nodes 81-85). Meanwhile, WM microstructural changes were correlated with patients' clinical manifestations. We did not find any significant differences in WM volume and the main WM fibre bundle properties between BN patients and HCs. Taken together, these findings provide that BN shows significant brain WM reorganization, but primarily in microstructure (part of WM fibre bundle), which is not sufficient to cause changes in WM volume. The automated fibre quantification analysis could be more sensitive to detect the subtle pathological changes in a point or segment of the WM fibre bundle.

Association between decreased interhemispheric functional connectivity of the insula and duration of illness in recurrent depression.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the altered interhemispheric functional connectivity in the resting state in patients with recurrent major depressive disorder (MDD). METHODS: Voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC), a measure of the functional connectivity between any pair of symmetrical interhemispheric voxels, and pattern classification were examined in 41 recurrent MDD patients (22 during the depressive state and 19 during the remitted state) and 60 age, sex, and education level-matched healthy controls (HC) using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). RESULTS: Compared with HC, the recurrent MDD patients exhibited decreased VMHC values in the bilateral fusiform, inferior occipital gyrus, posterior insula, precentral gyrus, precuneus, superior temporal gyrus, and thalamus. A significant negative correlation between the VMHC value of the bilateral posterior insula and illness duration in recurrent MDD was identified. Support vector machine (SVM) analysis showed that VMHC in the fusiform and posterior insula could be used to distinguish recurrent MDD patients from HC with a sensitivity and accuracy >0.6. CONCLUSION: Our findings revealed a reduction in the resting-state brain activity across several neural networks in patients with recurrent MDD, including within the posterior insula. Lower VMHC values in the posterior insula were associated with longer illness duration, suggesting that impairment in interhemispheric synchronization within the salience network may be due to the accumulated pathology of depression and may contribute to future depression relapse. VMHC changes in the posterior insula may serve as a potential imaging marker to discriminate recurrent MDD patients from HC.

Alterations in regional homogeneity and functional connectivity associated with cognitive impairment in patients with hypertension: a resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging study.

Our study aims to investigate the alterations and diagnostic efficiency of regional homogeneity (ReHo) and functional connectivity (FC) in hypertension patients with cognitive impairment. A total of 62 hypertension patients with cognitive impairment (HTN-CI), 59 hypertension patients with normal cognition (HTN-NC), and 58 healthy controls (HCs) with rs-fMRI data were enrolled in this study. Univariate analysis (based on whole-brain ReHo and seed-based FC maps) was performed to observe brain regions with significant differences among the three groups. Multiple voxel pattern analysis (MVPA) was applied to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy in classifying HTN-CI from HTN-NC and HCs. Compared with the HCs and HTN-NC, HTN-CI exhibited decreased ReHo in the right caudate, left postcentral gyrus, posterior cingulate gyrus, insula, while increased ReHo in the left superior occipital gyrus and superior parietal gyrus. HTN-CI showed increased FC between seed regions (left posterior cingulate gyrus, insula, postcentral gyrus) with many specific brain regions. MVPA analysis (based on whole-brain ReHo and seed-based FC maps) displayed high classification ability in distinguishing HTN-CI from HTN-NC and HCs. The ReHo values (right caudate) and the FC values (left postcentral gyrus seed to left posterior cingulate gyrus) were positively correlated with the MoCA scores in HTN-CI. HTN-CI was associated with decreased ReHo and increased FC mainly in the left posterior cingulate gyrus, postcentral gyrus, insula compared to HTN-NC and HC. Besides, MVPA analysis yields excellent diagnostic accuracy in classifying HTN-CI from HTN-NC and HCs. The findings may contribute to unveiling the underlying neuropathological mechanism of HTN-CI.

Disrupted topological organization of functional brain networks is associated with cognitive impairment in hypertension patients: a resting-state fMRI study.

PURPOSE: To investigate the alterations of topological organization of the whole brain functional networks in hypertension patients with cognitive impairment (HTN-CI) and characterize its relationship with cognitive scores. METHODS: Fifty-seven hypertension patients with cognitive impairment and 59 hypertension patients with normal cognition (HTN-NC), and 49 healthy controls (HCs) underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. Graph theoretical analysis was used to investigate the altered topological organization of the functional brain networks. The global topological properties and nodal metrics were compared among the three groups. Network-based statistic (NBS) analysis was used to determine the connected subnetwork. The relationships between network metrics and cognitive scores were also characterized. RESULTS: HTN-CI patients exhibited significantly decreased global efficiency, lambda, and increased shortest path length when compared with HCs. In addition, both HTN-CI and HTN-NC groups exhibited altered nodal degree centrality and nodal efficiency in the right precentral gyrus. The disruptions of global network metrics (lambda, Lp) and the nodal metrics (degree centrality and nodal efficiency) in the right precentral gyrus were positively correlated with the MoCA scores in HTN-CI. NBS analysis demonstrated that decreased subnetwork connectivity was present both in the HTN-CI and HTN-NC groups, which were mainly involved in the default mode network, frontoparietal network, and cingulo-opercular network. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrated the alterations of topographical organization and subnetwork connectivity of functional brain networks in HTN-CI. In addition, the global and nodal network properties were correlated with cognitive scores, which may provide useful insights for the understanding of neuropsychological mechanisms underlying HTN-CI.

Altered gray matter volume and functional connectivity in medial orbitofrontal cortex of bulimia nervosa patients: A combined VBM and FC study.

Brain structural and functional abnormalities have been shown to be involved in the neurobiological underpinnings of bulimia nervosa (BN), while the mechanisms underlying this dysregulation are unclear. The main goal of this investigation was to explore the presence of brain structural alterations and relevant functional changes in BN. We hypothesized that BN patients had regional gray matter volume abnormalities and corresponding resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) changes compared with healthy controls. Thirty-one BN patients and twenty-eight matched healthy controls underwent both high-resolution T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and resting-state functional MRI. Structural analysis was performed by voxel-based morphometry (VBM), with subsequent rsFC analysis applied by a seed-based, whole-brain voxelwise approach using the abnormal gray matter volume (GMV) region of interest as the seed. Compared with the controls, the BN patients showed increased GMV in the left medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC). The BN patients also exhibited significantly increased rsFC between the left mOFC and the right superior occipital gyrus (SOG) and decreased rsFC between the left mOFC and the left precentral gyrus, postcentral gyrus, and supplementary motor area (SMA). Furthermore, the z values of rsFC between the left mOFC and right SOG was positively correlated with the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire-external eating scores. Findings from this investigation further suggest that the mOFC plays a crucial role in the neural pathophysiological underpinnings of BN, which may lead to sensorimotor and visual regions reorganization and be related to representations of body image and the drive behind eating behavior. These findings have important implications for understanding neural mechanisms in BN and developing strategies for prevention.

Regional Neural Activity Abnormalities and Whole-Brain Functional Connectivity Reorganization in Bulimia Nervosa: Evidence From Resting-State fMRI.

The management of eating behavior in bulimia nervosa (BN) patients is a complex process, and BN involves activity in multiple brain regions that integrate internal and external functional information. This functional information integration occurs in brain regions involved in reward, cognition, attention, memory, emotion, smell, taste, vision and so on. Although it has been reported that resting-state brain activity in BN patients is different from that of healthy controls, the neural mechanisms remain unclear and need to be further explored. The fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF) analyses are an important data-driven method that can measure the relative contribution of low-frequency fluctuations within a specific frequency band to the whole detectable frequency range. The fALFF is well suited to reveal the strength of interregional cooperation at the single-voxel level to investigate local neuronal activity power. FC is a brain network analysis method based on the level of correlated dynamics between time series, which establishes the connection between two spatial regions of interest (ROIs) with the assistance of linear temporal correlation. Based on the psychological characteristics of patients with BN and the abnormal brain functional activities revealed by previous neuroimaging studies, in this study, we investigated alterations in regional neural activity by applying fALFF analysis and whole-brain functional connectivity (FC) in patients with BN in the resting state and to explore correlations between brain activities and eating behavior. We found that the left insula and bilateral inferior parietal lobule (IPL), as key nodes in the reorganized resting-state neural network, had altered FC with other brain regions associated with reward, emotion, cognition, memory, smell/taste, and vision-related functional processing, which may have influenced restrained eating behavior. These results could provide a further theoretical basis and potential effective targets for neuropsychological treatment in patients with BN.

Altered Brain Structural Reorganization and Hierarchical Integrated Processing in Obesity.

The brain receives sensory information about food, evaluates its desirability and value, and responds with approach or withdrawal. The evaluation process of food in the brain with obesity may involve a variety of neurocircuit abnormalities in the integration of internal and external information processing. There is a lack of consistency of the results extant reported for aberrant changes in the brain with obesity that prohibits key brain alterations to be identified. Moreover, most studies focus on the observation of neural plasticity of function or structure, and the evidence for functional and structural correlations in the neuronal plasticity process of obesity is still insufficient. The aims of this article are to explore the key neural structural regions and the hierarchical activity pattern of key structural nodes and evaluate the correlation between changes in functional modulation and eating behavior. Forty-two participants with obesity and 33 normal-weight volunteers were recruited. Gray matter volume (GMV) and Granger causality analysis (GCA) were performed using the DPARSF, CAT12, and DynamicBC toolbox. Compared with the normal weight group, the obesity group exhibited significantly increased GMV in the left parahippocampal gyrus (PG). The obesity group showed decreased causal inflow to the left PG from the left orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), right calcarine, and bilateral supplementary motor area (SMA). Decreased causal outflow to the left OFC, right precuneus, and right SMA from the left PG, as well as increased causal outflow to the left middle occipital gyrus (MOG) were observed in the obesity group. Negative correlations were found between DEBQ-External scores and causal outflow from the left PG to the left OFC, and DEBQ-Restraint scores and causal inflow from the left OFC to the left PG in the obesity group. Positive correlation was found between DEBQ-External scores and causal outflow from the left PG to the left MOG. These results show that the increased GMV in the PG may play an important role in obesity, which may be related to devalued reward system, altered behavioral inhibition, and the disengagement of attentional and visual function for external signals. These findings have important implications for understanding neural mechanisms in obesity and developing individual-tailored strategies for obesity prevention.

Resting-state mapping of neural signatures of vulnerability to depression relapse.

BACKGROUND: Patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) can frequently develop new depressive episodes after remission. However, the neural mechanisms underlying the increased risk for depressive relapse remain unclear. Herein, we aimed to explore whether the specific changes to regional and inter-regional spontaneous brain activities within DMN are associated with the course of episodes in pooled MDD patients. METHODS: Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed on patients with single-episode MDD (SEMDD, n = 30) and multiple-episode MDD (MEMDD, n = 54), and 71 age-, gender-, and educational level-matched healthy controls (HCs). We then accessed the differences in both the fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (fALFF) and functional connectivity by using the right precuneus as the seed among different groups. RESULTS: Compared to the MEMDD and HC groups, the SEMDD group exhibited increased fALFF values in the right subgenual anterior cingulate cortex and right middle temporal gyrus. Decreased fALFF values in the right thalamus in the MEMDD group were also identified relative to the SEMDD and HC group. The peak values of fALFF in the right precuneus showed a negative correlation with the number of depressive episodes across the entire pool of MDD patients. No correlation was identified between functional connectivity using the right precuneus as the seed and the number of depressive episodes for the pooled MDD patients. LIMITATIONS: Medication, a relatively small sample size, and hypothesis driven study. CONCLUSIONS: Our neuroimaging results identified depression relapse-associated neural signatures and also indicated the role of reduced emotional appraisals in the thalamus. It is now possible to believe that the regional activity not inter-regional connectivity within the DMN may be involved in the pathology of depression relapse.

Increased Salience Network Activity in Patients With Insomnia Complaints in Major Depressive Disorder.

BACKGROUND: Insomnia is one of the main symptom correlates of major depressive disorder (MDD), but the neural mechanisms underlying the multifaceted interplay between insomnia and depression are not fully understood. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients with MDD and high insomnia (MDD-HI, n = 24), patients with MDD and low insomnia (MDD-LI, n = 37), and healthy controls (HCs, n = 51) were recruited to participate in the present study. The amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) during the resting state were compared among the three groups. RESULTS: We observed ALFF differences between the three groups in the right inferior frontal gyrus/anterior insula (IFG/AI), right middle temporal gyrus, left calcarine, and bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). Further region of interest (ROI) comparisons showed that the increases in the right IFG/AI reflected an abnormality specific to insomnia in MDD, while increases in the bilateral dlPFC reflected an abnormality specific to MDD generally. Increased ALFF in the right IFG/AI was also found to be correlated with sleep disturbance scores when regressing out the influence of the severity of anxiety and depression. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that increased resting state ALLF in IFG/AI may be specifically related to hyperarousal state of insomnia in patients with MDD, independently of the effects of anxiety and depression.

Increased Posterior Insula-Sensorimotor Connectivity Is Associated with Cognitive Function in Healthy Participants with Sleep Complaints.

Insomnia is characterized by sensory hypersensitivity and cognitive impairments. Recent work has identified the insula as a central brain region involved in both bottom-up gating of sensory information and top-down cognitive control. However, the specific relationships between insular subregion connectivity and emotional and cognitive functions remain unclear. In this study, resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data were obtained from 25 healthy participants with sleep complaints (HPS) and 25 age-, gender- and educational level-matched healthy participants without insomnia complaints (HP). We performed insular subregion (ventral anterior, dorsal anterior and posterior) functional connectivity (FC) analyses, and cognitive function was measured with several validated test procedures (e.g., the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test [WCST], Continuous Performance Test [CPT] and Trail making Test [TMT]). There were no significant differences between the two groups for WCST, CPT and TMT scores. The HPS group showed enhanced connectivity from the right posterior insula (R-PI) to the left postcentral gyrus (L-postCG) compared to HP group. WCST random errors (RE), sleep disturbance scores and HAMA scores correlated with this connectivity measurement in both HP and HPS groups. Our results provide direct evidence that the posterior insula (PI) synchronizes with sensorimotor areas to detect homeostatic changes and suggest that alteration of the latter is related to executive dysfunction in subjects with insomnia.

Diffusion Tensor Imaging Tractography Reveals Disrupted White Matter Structural Connectivity Network in Healthy Adults with Insomnia Symptoms.

Neuroimaging studies have revealed that insomnia is characterized by aberrant neuronal connectivity in specific brain regions, but the topological disruptions in the white matter (WM) structural connectivity networks remain largely unknown in insomnia. The current study uses diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) tractography to construct the WM structural networks and graph theory analysis to detect alterations of the brain structural networks. The study participants comprised 30 healthy subjects with insomnia symptoms (IS) and 62 healthy subjects without IS. Both the two groups showed small-world properties regarding their WM structural connectivity networks. By contrast, increased local efficiency and decreased global efficiency were identified in the IS group, indicating an insomnia-related shift in topology away from regular networks. In addition, the IS group exhibited disrupted nodal topological characteristics in regions involving the fronto-limbic and the default-mode systems. To our knowledge, this is the first study to explore the topological organization of WM structural network connectivity in insomnia. More importantly, the dysfunctions of large-scale brain systems including the fronto-limbic pathways, salience network and default-mode network in insomnia were identified, which provides new insights into the insomnia connectome. Topology-based brain network analysis thus could be a potential biomarker for IS.

Disrupted Topology of Frontostriatal Circuits Is Linked to the Severity of Insomnia.

Insomnia is one of the most common health complaints, with a high prevalence of 30~50% in the general population. In particular, neuroimaging research has revealed that widespread dysfunctions in brain regions involved in hyperarousal are strongly correlated with insomnia. However, whether the topology of the intrinsic connectivity is aberrant in insomnia remains largely unknown. In this study, resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) in conjunction with graph theoretical analysis, was used to construct functional connectivity matrices and to extract the attribute features of the small-world networks in insomnia. We examined the alterations in global and local small-world network properties of the distributed brain regions that are predominantly implicated in the frontostriatal network between 30 healthy subjects with insomnia symptoms (IS) and 62 healthy subjects without insomnia symptoms (NIS). Correlations between the small-world properties and clinical measurements were also generated to identify the differences between the two groups. Both the IS group and the NIS group exhibited a small-worldness topology. Meanwhile, the global topological properties didn't show significant difference between the two groups. By contrast, participants in the IS group showed decreased regional degree and efficiency in the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) compared with subjects in the NIS group. More specifically, significantly decreased nodal efficiency in the IFG was found to be negatively associated with insomnia scores, whereas the abnormal changes in nodal betweenness centrality of the right putamen were positively correlated with insomnia scores. Our findings suggested that the aberrant topology of the salience network and frontostriatal connectivity is linked to insomnia, which can serve as an important biomarker for insomnia.

Decreased Resting-State Activity in the Precuneus Is Associated With Depressive Episodes in Recurrent Depression.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate alterations in resting-state spontaneous brain activity in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) experiencing multiple episodes. METHODS: Between May 2007 and September 2014, 24 recurrent and 22 remitted patients diagnosed with MDD with the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders (SCID-I), and 69 healthy controls matched for age, sex, and educational level participated in this study. Among them, 1 healthy control was excluded due to excessive head motion. The fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF) was assessed for all recruited subjects during the completion of resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. Relationships between fALFF and clinical measurements, including number of depressive episodes and illness duration, were examined. RESULTS: Compared to patients with remitted MDD and to healthy controls, patients with recurrent MDD exhibited decreased fALFF in the right posterior insula and right precuneus and increased fALFF in the left ventral anterior cingulate cortex. Decreased fALFF in the right precuneus and increased fALFF in the right middle insula were correlated with the number of depressive episodes in the recurrent MDD groups (r = -0.75, P < .01 and r = 0.78, P < .01, respectively) and remitted MDD groups (r = -0.63, P < .01 and r = 0.41, P = .03, respectively). In addition to regions in the default mode network (DMN) and salience network, the altered resting-state activity in the middle temporal and visual cortices was also identified. CONCLUSIONS: Altered resting-state activity was observed across several neural networks in patients with recurrent MDD. Consistent with the emerging theory that altered DMN activity is a risk factor for depression relapses, the association between reduced fALFF in the right precuneus and number of depressive episodes supports the role of the DMN in the pathology of recurrent depression.

Reduced spontaneous neuronal activity in the insular cortex and thalamus in healthy adults with insomnia symptoms.

Poor sleep and insomnia have been recognized to be strongly correlated with the development of depression. The exploration of the basic mechanism of sleep disturbance could provide the basis for improved understanding and treatment of insomnia and prevention of depression. In this study, 31 subjects with insomnia symptoms as measured by the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAMD-17) and 71 age- and gender-matched subjects without insomnia symptoms were recruited to participate in a clinical trial. Using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI), we examined the alterations in spontaneous brain activity between the two groups. Correlations between the fractional amplitude of low frequency fluctuations (fALFF) and clinical measurements (e.g., insomnia severity and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale [HAMD] scores) were also tested in all subjects. Compared to healthy participants without insomnia symptoms, participants with insomnia symptoms showed a decreased fALFF in the left ventral anterior insula, bilateral posterior insula, left thalamus, and pons but an increased fALFF in the bilateral middle occipital gyrus and right precentral gyrus. More specifically, a significant, negative correlation of fALFF in the left thalamus with early morning awakening scores and HAMD scores in the overall sample was identified. These results suggest that insomnia symptoms are associated with altered spontaneous activity in the brain regions of several important functional networks, including the insular cortex of the salience and the thalamus of the hyperarousal network. The altered fALFF in the left thalamus supports the "hyperarousal theory" of insomnia symptoms, which could serve as a biomarker for insomnia.

Self-Reported and Interviewer-Rated Oral Health in Patients With Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, and Major Depressive Disorder.

PURPOSE: To compare self-reported (SR) and interviewer-rated (IR) oral health between schizophrenia (SZ), bipolar disorder (BP), and major depressive disorder (MDD) patients. DESIGN AND METHODS: 356 patients with SZ, BP, or MDD underwent assessments of psychopathology, side effects, SR, and IR oral health status. FINDINGS: 118 patients (33.1%) reported poor oral health; the corresponding proportion was 36.4% in BP, 34.8% in SZ, and 25.5% in MD (p = .21). SR and IR oral health correlated only modestly (r = 0.17-0.36) in each group. PRACTICE IMPLICATIONS: Psychiatric patients need to be assessed for both SR and IR oral health.

Alteration of spontaneous neuronal activity within the salience network in partially remitted depression.

Of major depression patients, 29-66% show only partial remission on a single antidepressant trial. Such patients are characterized by residual depressive symptoms such as anhedonia, psychic anxiety, sleep disturbance, and cognitive dysfunction. Despite having a tremendous impact on outcomes such as future relapse, morbidity, and mortality, the neural mechanisms of partially remitted depression remain unclear. Using the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF) approach, we investigated the intrinsic neural oscillation alterations during resting state in partially remitted depression. A total of 23 partially remitted depression patients and 68 healthy controls underwent magnetic resonance imaging for functional imaging. We compared ALFF differences between groups as well as correlations between clinical measurements and ALFF in the brain regions showing significant group differences. Compared with healthy controls, partially remitted depression patients showed increased ALFF in the left ventral anterior insula, bilateral posterior insula, and bilateral supramarginal gyrus, and decreased ALFF in the left calcarine gyrus. A trend positive correlation between the number of depressive episodes and ALFF values was found in the right posterior insula in the partially remitted depression group. In addition, the ALFF in the right supramarginal gyrus were negatively correlated with Hamilton Depression Rating Scale scores. Consistent with the emerging theory of the role of the salience network in sensing the changes of homeostasis that contributes to partially remitted depression, the current findings suggest that the increased intrinsic neural oscillation of the insula is related to the refractoriness to treatment and may be an imaging marker for predicting future depression recurrence.

Voxel-based morphometry study of the insular cortex in bipolar depression.

Bipolar depression (BD) is a common psychiatric illness characterized by deficits in emotional and cognitive processing. Abnormalities in the subregions of the insula are common findings in neuroanatomical studies of patients with bipolar disorder. However, the specific relationships between morphometric changes in specific insular subregions and the pathogenesis of BD are not clear. In this study, structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was used to investigate gray matter volume abnormalities in the insular subregion in 27 patients with BD and in 27 age and sex-matched controls. Using DARTEL (diffeomorphic anatomical registration through exponentiated lie algebra) for voxel-based morphometry (VBM), we examined changes in regional gray matter volumes of the insula in patients with BD. As compared with healthy controls, the BD patients showed decreased gray matter volumes in the right posterior insula and left ventral anterior insula and increased gray matter volumes in the left dorsal anterior insula. Consistent with the emerging theory of insular interference as a contributor to emotional-cognitive dysregulation, the current findings suggest that the insular cortex may be involved in the neural substrates of BD.

Diaqua-bis-(2-hy-droxy-5-meth-oxy-benzoato-κO)zinc.

The title compound, [Zn(C(8)H(7)O(4))(2)(H(2)O)(2)], has been synthesized by hydro-thermal methods. The Zn(II) atom, whose symmetry element is a twofold axis, is four coordinated by two O atoms from 5-meth-oxy-salicylate anions and two aqua O atoms in a distorted tetra-hedral geometry. In the crystal, mol-ecules are linked into a layer by O-H⋯O hydrogen bonds, which stabilize the packing.

Manufacture of cellulose nanocrystals by cation exchange resin-catalyzed hydrolysis of cellulose.

Cellulose nanocrystals (CNC) were prepared from microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) by hydrolysis with cation exchange resin (NKC-9) or 64% sulfuric acid. The cation exchange resin hydrolysis parameters were optimized by using the Box-Behnken design and response surface methodology. An optimum yield (50.04%) was achieved at a ratio of resin to MCC (w/w) of 10, a temperature of 48 °C and a reaction time of 189 min. Electron microscopy (EM) showed that the diameter of CNCs was about 10-40 nm, and the length was 100-400 nm. Regular short rod-like CNCs were obtained by sulfuric acid hydrolysis, while long and thin crystals of cellulose were obtained with the cation exchange resin. X-ray diffraction (XRD) showed that, compared with MCC, the crystallinity of H2SO4-CNC and resin-CNC increased from 72.25% to 77.29% and 84.26%, respectively. The research shows that cation exchange resin-catalyzed hydrolysis of cellulose could be an excellent method for manufacturing of CNC in an environmental-friendly way.