The Present and Future of Artificial Intelligence-Based Medical Image in Diabetes Mellitus: Focus on Analytical Methods and Limitations of Clinical Use.

Artificial intelligence (AI)-based diagnostic technology using medical images can be used to increase examination accessibility and support clinical decision-making for screening and diagnosis. To determine a machine learning algorithm for diabetes complications, a literature review of studies using medical image-based AI technology was conducted using the National Library of Medicine PubMed, and the Excerpta Medica databases. Lists of studies using diabetes diagnostic images and AI as keywords were combined. In total, 227 appropriate studies were selected. Diabetic retinopathy studies using the AI model were the most frequent (85.0%, 193/227 cases), followed by diabetic foot (7.9%, 18/227 cases) and diabetic neuropathy (2.7%, 6/227 cases). The studies used open datasets (42.3%, 96/227 cases) or directly constructed data from fundoscopy or optical coherence tomography (57.7%, 131/227 cases). Major limitations in AI-based detection of diabetes complications using medical images were the lack of datasets (36.1%, 82/227 cases) and severity misclassification (26.4%, 60/227 cases). Although it remains difficult to use and fully trust AI-based imaging analysis technology clinically, it reduces clinicians' time and labor, and the expectations from its decision-support roles are high. Various data collection and synthesis data technology developments according to the disease severity are required to solve data imbalance.

Study of the factors influencing the use of MyData platform based on personal health record data sharing system.

BACKGROUND: The application of telemedicine and electronic health (eHealth) technology has grown in importance during the COVID-19 pandemic, and a new approach in personal data management and processing MyData, has emerged. Data portability and informational self-determination are fundamental concepts of MyData. This study analysed the factors that influence acceptance of the MyData platform, which, reflects the right to self-determine personal data. METHODS: The study involved participants having experience using the MyData platform, and the key factors of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology were used in the research model (performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, facilitation condition and behavioural intention to use). The questionnaire comprided 27 items, and system usage log data were used to confirm that behavioural intention to use affected actual use behaviour through structural equation modeling. RESULTS: In total, 1153 participants completed the survey. The goodness of fit in the structural equation model indices indicates that the data fit the research model well. Performance expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions had direct effects on behavioural intention to use. We used system usage log data to confirm that behavioural intention to use positively affected actual use behaviour. The impact of the main factors in the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology was not moderated by age or gender, except for performance expectancy. CONCLUSIONS: This study is the first to examine the factors influencing the use of the MyData platform based on the personal health record data sharing system in Korea. In addition, the study confirmed the use behaviour of the MyData platform utilising the system's actual usage log for each function and analysing the effect of the intention of use on actual use. Our study serves as a significant foundation for the acceptance of data portability and sharing concepts. It also lays the foundation for expanding the data economy and ecosystem in the pandemic era.

Effects of acute and chronic methamphetamine administration on cynomolgus monkey hippocampus structure and cellular transcriptome.

Methamphetamine (MA), a psychostimulant abused worldwide, gives rise to neurotoxicity in the hippocampus, resulting in cognitive impairments and hippocampal volume reduction. The cellular and molecular mechanisms associated with hippocampal impairments due to MA remain unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of MA on structural alterations and gene expressions in the hippocampus. We analyzed the pattern of volumetric changes in the hippocampus using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) after acute and chronic administration of MA to cynomolgus macaques. In addition, we performed large-scale transcriptome profiling in the hippocampus using RNA-Seq technology. The hippocampus in response to acute and chronic MA exhibited a significant volumetric atrophy compared with the hippocampus of controls. The genes associated with cytoskeleton organization and phagocytosis were downregulated in the acute MA-treated group compared to the control group. On the other hand, genes associated with synaptic transmission, regulation of neuron differentiation and regulation of neurogenesis were downregulated in the chronic MA-treated group. We confirmed that expression patterns for ADM, BMP4, CHRD, PDYN, UBA1, profilin 2 (PFN2), ENO2 and NSE mRNAs were similar to the results from RNA-Seq based on quantitative RT-PCR. In particular, PFN2 mRNA and protein expression levels, which play important roles in actin cytoskeleton dynamics, were decreased by acute and chronic MA administration. These results not only aid the understanding of cellular and molecular mechanisms regulated by MA in the hippocampus but also suggest basic information aiding biomarker and novel drug development for treating hippocampal impairment caused by MA abuse.

Is the Internet gaming-addicted brain close to be in a pathological state?

Internet gaming addiction (IGA) is becoming a common and widespread mental health concern. Although IGA induces a variety of negative psychosocial consequences, it is yet ambiguous whether the brain addicted to Internet gaming is considered to be in a pathological state. We investigated IGA-induced abnormalities of the brain specifically from the network perspective and qualitatively assessed whether the Internet gaming-addicted brain is in a state similar to the pathological brain. Topological properties of brain functional networks were examined by applying a graph-theoretical approach to analyzing functional magnetic resonance imaging data acquired during a resting state in 19 IGA adolescents and 20 age-matched healthy controls. We compared functional distance-based measures, global and local efficiency of resting state brain functional networks between the two groups to assess how the IGA subjects' brain was topologically altered from the controls' brain. The IGA subjects had severer impulsiveness and their brain functional networks showed higher global efficiency and lower local efficiency relative to the controls. These topological differences suggest that IGA induced brain functional networks to shift toward the random topological architecture, as exhibited in other pathological states. Furthermore, for the IGA subjects, the topological alterations were specifically attributable to interregional connections incident on the frontal region, and the degree of impulsiveness was associated with the topological alterations over the frontolimbic connections. The current findings lend support to the proposition that the Internet gaming-addicted brain could be in the state similar to pathological states in terms of topological characteristics of brain functional networks.

An association study of Taq1A ANKK1 and C957T and - 141C DRD2 polymorphisms in adults with internet gaming disorder: a pilot study.

BACKGROUND: Though Internet gaming disorder (IGD) is considered to share similar genetic vulnerability with substance addictions, little has been explored about the role of the genetic variants on IGD. This pilot study was designed to investigate the association of the Taq1A polymorphism of the ankyrin repeat and kinase domain containing 1 (ANKK1) gene and C957T and - 141C of the dopamine D2 receptor (DRD2) with IGD and their role on the personality and temperament traits in IGD among adult population. METHODS: Sixty-three subjects with IGD and 87 control subjects who regularly played Internet games were recruited. Self-administered questionnaires on self-control, dysfunctional impulsivity, and temperament and character domains were done. The Taq1A ANKK1 and the C957T and - 141C ins/del from the DRD2 genes were genotyped using the specific TaqMan PCR assay. RESULTS: The distributions of allele and genotype frequencies were not significantly different between the IGD and control groups in both genders. In male, excessive gaming and use of gaming to escape from a negative feeling were associated with the del- genotype of the - 141C. Among IGD, the del+ genotype was associated with higher novelty seeking. Logistic regression showed no predictive value of these polymorphisms for IGD when using age and gender as covariates. CONCLUSIONS: Though no direct association of the Taq1A ANKK1 and C957T DRD2 variants with IGD were observed, the - 141C polymorphism may play a role in IGD via mediating symptoms or temperament traits.

Relationship between abstract thinking and eye gaze pattern in patients with schizophrenia.

BACKGROUND: Effective integration of visual information is necessary to utilize abstract thinking, but patients with schizophrenia have slow eye movement and usually explore limited visual information. This study examines the relationship between abstract thinking ability and the pattern of eye gaze in patients with schizophrenia using a novel theme identification task. METHODS: Twenty patients with schizophrenia and 22 healthy controls completed the theme identification task, in which subjects selected which word, out of a set of provided words, best described the theme of a picture. Eye gaze while performing the task was recorded by the eye tracker. RESULTS: Patients exhibited a significantly lower correct rate for theme identification and lesser fixation and saccade counts than controls. The correct rate was significantly correlated with the fixation count in patients, but not in controls. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with schizophrenia showed impaired abstract thinking and decreased quality of gaze, which were positively associated with each other. Theme identification and eye gaze appear to be useful as tools for the objective measurement of abstract thinking in patients with schizophrenia.

Developing a Cost-Effectiveness Model of Digital Therapeutics for Smoking Cessation.

The purpose of this research was to construct a Markov model of digital therapeutics to predict the lifetime costs and consequences that would be incurred by a hypothetical group of adult smokers in Korea who only made a single attempt to stop smoking. To determine the efficacy of DTx, we created an annual cycle Markov model. The result shows that the NRT strategy is determined as the dominant strategy. Digital therapeutics acts as a complement to pharmacotherapy and is a low-cost option.

Comparison of AI with and without hand-crafted features to classify Alzheimer's disease in different languages.

BACKGROUND: Detecting and analyzing Alzheimer's disease (AD) in its early stages is a crucial and significant challenge. Speech data from AD patients can aid in diagnosing AD since the speech features have common patterns independent of race and spoken language. However, previous models for diagnosing AD from speech data have often focused on the characteristics of a single language, with no guarantee of scalability to other languages. In this study, we used the same method to extract acoustic features from two language datasets to diagnose AD. METHODS: Using the Korean and English speech datasets, we used ten models capable of real-time AD and healthy control classification, regardless of language type. Four machine learning models were based on hand-crafted features, while the remaining six deep learning models utilized non-explainable features. RESULTS: The highest accuracy achieved by the machine learning models was 0.73 and 0.69 for the Korean and English speech datasets, respectively. The deep learning models' maximum achievable accuracy reached 0.75 and 0.78, with their minimum classification time of 0.01s and 0.02s. These findings reveal the models' robustness regardless of Korean and English and real-time diagnosis of AD through a 30-s voice sample. CONCLUSION: Non-explainable deep learning models that directly acquire voice representations surpassed machine learning models utilizing hand-crafted features in AD diagnosis. In addition, these AI models could confirm the possibility of extending to a language-agnostic AD diagnosis.

Effects of bilateral tDCS over DLPFC on response inhibition, craving, and brain functional connectivity in Internet gaming disorder: A randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled trial with fMRI.

Background and aims: Impaired inhibitory control accompanied by enhanced craving is hallmark of addiction. This study investigated the effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on response inhibition and craving in Internet gaming disorder (IGD). We examined the brain changes after tDCS and their correlation with clinical variables. Methods: Twenty-four males with IGD were allocated randomly to an active or sham tDCS group, and data from 22 participants were included for analysis. Participants self-administered bilateral tDCS over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) for 10 sessions. Stop-signal tasks were conducted to measure response inhibition and participants were asked about their cravings for Internet gaming at baseline and post-tDCS. Functional magnetic resonance imaging data were collected at pre- and post-tDCS, and group differences in resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) changes from the bilateral DLPFC and nucleus accumbens were examined. We explored the relationship between changes in the rsFC and behavioral variables in the active tDCS group. Results: A significant group-by-time interaction was observed in response inhibition. After tDCS, only the active group showed a decrease in the stop-signal reaction time (SSRT). Although craving decreased, there were no significant group-by-time interactions or group main effects. The anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) showed group differences in post- versus pre-tDCS rsFC from the right DLPFC. The rsFC between the ACC and left middle frontal gyrus was negatively correlated with the SSRT. Discussion and conclusion: Our study provides preliminary evidence that bilateral tDCS over the DLPFC improves inhibitory control and could serve as a therapeutic approach for IGD.

Decreased Serum Cocaine- and Amphetamine-Regulated Transcript Level in Internet Gaming Disorder.

OBJECTIVE: Vulnerability to internet gaming disorder (IGD) has increased as internet gaming continues to grow. Cocaine- and amphetamine-regulated transcript (CART) is a hormone that plays a role in reward, anxiety, and stress. The purpose of this study was to identify the role of CART in the pathophysiology of IGD. METHODS: The serum CART levels were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and the associations of the serum CART level with psychological variables were analyzed in patients with IGD (n=31) and healthy controls (HC) (n=42). RESULTS: The serum CART level was significantly lower in the IGD than HC group. The IGD group scored significantly higher than the HC group on the psychological domains of depression, anxiety, the reward response in the Behavioral Activation System and Behavioral Inhibition System. There were no significant correlations between serum CART level and other psychological variables in the IGD group. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that a decrease in the expression of the serum CART level is associated with the vulnerability of developing IGD. This study supports the possibility that CART is a biomarker in the pathophysiology of IGD.

Perceived patient-parent relationships and neural representation of parents in schizophrenia.

Having a relationship with one's parents is a fundamental social interaction and is a significant environmental factor in the long-term course of illness in schizophrenia. We explored subjective reports regarding the communicative relationship with parents and the implicit behavioral and neural responses of patients toward stimuli that referred to parents. Fourteen outpatients with schizophrenia and 15 healthy volunteers with living parents were scanned using a functional magnetic resonance imaging while performing an imaginary sentence completion test that involved contemplation of their mothers and fathers. In patients with schizophrenia, subjective reports of better communicative fluency with one's mother were associated with faster response time and lower incomplete rate, reflecting favorable responses toward mothers. Relative to control participants, patients with schizophrenia demonstrated greater neural activation in the superior temporal sulcus and the parahippocampal gyrus for parental stimuli. When patients with schizophrenia contemplated their mothers, activities in these regions were associated with a level of negative symptoms or affective ambivalence in patients. The results indicated that parental cues are processed in a more socially driven manner, and that perceived communicative relationships with one's parents can be used to estimate implicit responses, especially in relation to mothers in patients with schizophrenia. Furthermore, the findings of the current study suggest that affective ambivalence toward one's mother is one such implicit response and emphasize the importance of prudent family interventions in the psychiatric rehabilitation of patients with schizophrenia.

Regional cerebral blood flow changes and performance deficit during a sustained attention task in schizophrenia: (15) O-water positron emission tomography.

AIM: Attention deficit has been reported in both schizophrenia patients and patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). The aim of this study was to elucidate the deficits in sustained attention and associated neural network dysfunctions in schizophrenia patients and MDD patients, and to investigate the difference between the two patient groups. METHODS: Twelve schizophrenia patients, 12 patients with non-psychotic MDD, and 12 healthy control subjects participated in this study. A sustained attention to response task (SART) was used to measure attention capacity. Cerebral blood flow (CBF) during attention tasks was measured using H(2) (15) O positron emission tomography. Statistical parametric mapping and analysis of covariance were performed to compare the behavioral performance and CBF changes during SART among three groups. RESULTS: Behavioral performances were not significantly different among the three groups except for an increased commission error rate in the schizophrenia group. Regional CBF during SART was significantly reduced in the left inferior frontal gyrus, the left cuneus, and the right superior parietal lobule and increased in the right superior frontal gyrus and the right cuneus in the schizophrenia group compared to the healthy control group. In the MDD group, neither significant regional CBF difference nor behavioral deficit was found compared to the healthy control group. CONCLUSION: Behavioral performance deficit and perfusion changes in the prefrontal and parietal cortices during SART were observed only in the schizophrenia group. Prefrontal and parietal network dysfunction for sustained attention may be involved in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia.

Activation of the occipital cortex and deactivation of the default mode network during working memory in the early blind.

Although blind people heavily depend on working memory to manage daily life without visual information, it is not clear yet whether their working memory processing involves functional reorganization of the memory-related cortical network. To explore functional reorganization of the cortical network that supports various types of working memory processes in the early blind, we investigated activation differences between 2-back tasks and 0-back tasks using fMRI in 10 congenitally blind subjects and 10 sighted subjects. We used three types of stimulus sequences: words for a verbal task, pitches for a non-verbal task, and sound locations for a spatial task. When compared to the sighted, the blind showed additional activations in the occipital lobe for all types of stimulus sequences for working memory and more significant deactivation in the posterior cingulate cortex of the default mode network. The blind had increased effective connectivity from the default mode network to the left parieto-frontal network and from the occipital cortex to the right parieto-frontal network during the 2-back tasks than the 0-back tasks. These findings suggest not only cortical plasticity of the occipital cortex but also reorganization of the cortical network for the executive control of working memory.

Reduced Volume of a Brainstem Substructure in Adolescents with Problematic Smartphone Use.

OBJECTIVES: Despite the growing concern regarding the adverse effects related to problematic smartphone use (PSU), little is known about underlying morphologic changes in the brain. The brainstem is a deep brain structure that consists of several important nuclei associated with emotions, sensations, and motor functions. In this study, we sought to examine the difference in the volume of brainstem substructures among adolescents with and without PSU. METHODS: A total of 87 Korean adolescents participated in this study. The PSU group (n=20, age=16.2±1.1, female:male=12:8) was designated if participants reported a total Smartphone Addiction Proneness Scale (SAPS) score of ≥42, whereas the remaining participants were assigned to the control group (n=67, age=15.3±1.7, female:male=19:48). High-resolution T1 magnetic resonance imaging was performed, and the volume of each of the four brainstem substructures [midbrain, pons, medulla, and superior cerebellar peduncle (SCP)] was measured. Analysis of covariance was conducted to reveal group differences after adjusting for effects of age, gender, whole brain-stem volume, depressive symptoms, and impulsivity. RESULTS: The PSU group showed a significantly smaller volume of the SCP than the control group (F=8.273, p=0.005). The volume of the SCP and the SAPS score were negatively correlated (Pearson's r=-0.218, p=0.047). CONCLUSION: The present study is the first to reveal an altered volume of the brainstem substructure among adolescents with PSU. This finding suggests that the altered white matter structure in the brainstem could be one of the neurobiological mechanisms underlying behavioral changes in PSU.

Caudate nucleus volume mediates the link between glutamatergic neurotransmission and problematic smartphone use in youth.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Problematic smartphone use (PSU) is growing rapidly among teens. It has similar presentations as other behavioral addictions in terms of excessive use, impulse control problems, and negative consequences. However, the underlying neurobiological mechanisms remain undiscovered. We hypothesized that structural changes in the striatum might serve as an important link between alteration in glutamate signaling and development of PSU. METHODS: Among 88 participants, twenty (F:M, 12:8; age 16.2 ± 1.1) reported high scores in the smartphone addiction proneness scale (SAPS) with a cut-off score of 42; the other 68 (F:M, 19:49; age 15.3 ± 1.7) comprised the control group. Sociodemographic data and depression, anxiety, and impulsivity traits were measured. Striatal volumes (caudate, putamen, and nucleus accumbens) were estimated from T1 imaging data. Serum glutamate levels were estimated from peripheral blood samples. Group comparisons of each data were performed after controlling for age and gender. Mediation analyses were conducted to test the indirect effects of glutamate level alteration on PSU through striatal volumetric alteration. RESULTS: The PSU group showed a decrease in both caudate volumes than the control group. Left caudate volume was positively correlated with serum glutamate level, and negatively with impulsivity traits and SAPS scores. The mediation model revealed a significant indirect effect of serum glutamate on SAS scores through the reduced left caudate volume. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that altered glutamatergic neurotransmission may be associated with PSU among teens, possibly through reduced left caudate volume. Current findings might support neural mechanisms of smartphone addiction.

The neural basis underlying impaired attentional control in problematic smartphone users.

As a portable media device that enables ubiquitous access to friends and entertainment, smartphones are inextricably linked with our lives. Although there is growing concern about the detrimental effect of problematic smartphone use on attentional control, the underlying neural mechanisms of impaired attentional control in problematic smartphone users (PSU) has yet to be investigated. Using a modified cognitive conflict task, we examined behavioral performance in the presence of distracting words during functional magnetic resonance imaging in 33 PSU and 33 control participants (CON). Compared with the CON group, the PSU group demonstrated impaired performance that was accompanied by constantly enhanced but not differentiated activation in the frontoparietal regions across all conditions, regardless of distractor saliency. The inferior parietal lobule (IPL) activation in the PSU group, in particular, showed an association with performance deficits in the distractor conditions. Furthermore, the PSU group exhibited decreased functional connectivity of the right IPL with the right superior temporal gyrus of the ventral attention system in the attention-demanding condition relative to the easiest condition, which was associated with the severe dependence on smartphone use. Our findings suggest that greater distractibility in the PSU group during the attentional control task may be associated with inefficient recruitment of the ventral attention network involved in bottom-up attentional processing, as indicated by hyperactivation but less coherence within the network. The present study provides evidence for understanding the neural mechanisms underlying the impaired ability to keep attention from being oriented to task-irrelevant stimuli observed in PSU.

Altered connectivity in the right inferior frontal gyrus associated with self-control in adolescents exhibiting problematic smartphone use: A fMRI study.

BACKGROUND: With the continued spread of smartphones and development of the internet, the potential negative effects arising from problematic smartphone use (PSU) in adolescents are being reported on an increasing basis. This study aimed to investigate whether altered resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) is related to the psychological factors underlying PSU in adolescents. METHODS: Resting-state functional magnetic resonance images were acquired from 47 adolescents with PSU and 46 healthy control adolescents (the CON group). Seed-based functional connectivity analyses were then performed to compare the two groups with respect to rsFC in the right inferior frontal gyrus, associated with various forms of self-control, and rsFC in the left inferior frontal gyrus. RESULTS: Compared to the CON group, the PSU group exhibited a reduction in rsFC between the right inferior frontal gyrus and limbic areas, including the bilateral parahippocampal gyrus, the left amygdala, and the right hippocampus. In addition, a reduction in fronto-limbic rsFC was associated with the severity of PSU, the degree of self-control, and the amount of time the subjects used their smartphones. CONCLUSION: Adolescents with PSU exhibited reduced levels of fronto-limbic functional connectivity; this mechanism is involved in salience attribution and self-control, attributes that are critical to the clinical manifestation of substance and behavioral addictions. Our data provide clear evidence for alterations in brain connectivity with respect to self-control in PSU.

Machine learning prediction of dropping out of outpatients with alcohol use disorders.

BACKGROUND: Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a chronic disease with a higher recurrence rate than that of other mental illnesses. Moreover, it requires continuous outpatient treatment for the patient to maintain abstinence. However, with a low probability of these patients to continue outpatient treatment, predicting and managing patients who might discontinue treatment becomes necessary. Accordingly, we developed a machine learning (ML) algorithm to predict which the risk of patients dropping out of outpatient treatment schemes. METHODS: A total of 839 patients were selected out of 2,206 patients admitted for AUD in three hospitals under the Catholic Central Medical Center in Korea. We implemented six ML models-logistic regression, support vector machine, k-nearest neighbor, random forest, neural network, and AdaBoost-and compared the prediction performances thereof. RESULTS: Among the six models, AdaBoost was selected as the final model for recommended use owing to its area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUROC) of 0.72. The four variables affecting the prediction based on feature importance were the length of hospitalization, age, residential area, and diabetes. CONCLUSION: An ML algorithm was developed herein to predict the risk of patients with AUD in Korea discontinuing outpatient treatment. By testing and validating various machine learning models, we determined the best performing model, AdaBoost, as the final model for recommended use. Using this model, clinicians can manage patients with high risks of discontinuing treatment and establish patient-specific treatment strategies. Therefore, our model can potentially enable patients with AUD to successfully complete their treatments by identifying them before they can drop out.

Increase of orexin A in the peripheral blood of adolescents with Internet gaming disorder.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Overindulgence in Internet gaming, which is related to rapid development of the online game industry, can cause a psychiatric disorder known as Internet gaming disorder (IGD). The number of adolescents with IGD is on the rise in countries with developed Internet technologies, such as South Korea. Therefore, it is important to develop biomarkers to detect patients at high risk of IGD. This study investigated expression levels of proteins in the blood of adolescents to provide insight into the development of biomarkers. METHODS: We collected blood samples from 73 subjects [40 healthy adolescents (Internet gaming control, IGC) and 33 adolescents with IGD] between 13:00 and 15:00. We analyzed the expression levels of orexin A, oxytocin, cortisol, melatonin, BDNF, sICAM-1, RANTES, and NCAM using multiplex assay kits. RESULTS: Orexin A was significantly (p = .016) elevated in the IGD group and the expression levels of melatonin tended to be higher (p = .055) in the IGD group. On the other hand, increased Internet gaming time in the IGD group was negatively correlated (p = .041) with expression of BDNF. On the contrary, sICAM-1 associated with inflammation exhibited the tendency of the positive correlation (p = .073) with Internet gaming time in the IGD group. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: We identified elevation of orexin A in the peripheral blood of adolescents with IGD and a negative correlation between Internet gaming time and BDNF in adolescents with IGD. Our results provide useful information to understand the pathophysiology of IGD in adolescents.

Altered core networks of brain connectivity and personality traits in internet gaming disorder.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Although the Internet has provided convenience and efficiency in many areas of everyday life, problems stemming from Internet use have also been identified, such as Internet gaming disorder (IGD). Internet addiction, which includes IGD, can be viewed as a behavioral addiction or impulse control disorder. This study investigated the altered functional and effective connectivity of the core brain networks in individuals with IGD compared to healthy controls (HCs). METHODS: Forty-five adults with IGD and 45 HCs were included in this study. To examine the brain networks related to personality traits that influence problematic online gaming, the left and right central executive network (CEN) and the salience network (SN) were included in the analysis. Also, to examine changes in major brain network topographies, we analyzed the default mode network (DMN). RESULTS: IGD participants showed lower functional connectivity between the dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and other regions in the CEN than HC participants during resting state. Also, IGD participants revealed reduced functional connectivity between the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex and other regions in the SN and lower functional connectivity in the medial prefrontal cortex of the anterior DMN. Notably, in IGD individuals but not HC individuals, there was a positive correlation between IGD severity and effective connectivity and a positive correlation between reward sensitivity and effective connectivity within the ventral striatum of the SN. CONCLUSIONS: Problematic online gaming was associated with neurofunctional alterations, impairing the capacity of core brain networks.