Effects on resting-state EEG phase-amplitude coupling in insomnia disorder patients following 1 Hz left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex rTMS.

Despite burgeoning evidence for cortical hyperarousal in insomnia disorder, the existing results on electroencephalography spectral features are highly heterogeneous. Phase-amplitude coupling, which refers to the modulation of the low-frequency phase to a high-frequency amplitude, is probably a more sensitive quantitative measure for characterizing abnormal neural oscillations and explaining the therapeutic effect of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in the treatment of patients with insomnia disorder. Sixty insomnia disorder patients were randomly divided into the active and sham treatment groups to receive 4 weeks of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation treatment. Behavioral assessments, resting-state electroencephalography recordings, and sleep polysomnography recordings were performed before and after repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation treatment. Forty good sleeper controls underwent the same assessment. We demonstrated that phase-amplitude coupling values in the frontal and temporal lobes were weaker in Insomnia disorder patients than in those with good sleeper controls at baseline and that phase-amplitude coupling values near the intervention area were significantly enhanced after active repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation treatment. Furthermore, the enhancement of phase-amplitude coupling values was significantly correlated with the improvement of sleep quality. This study revealed the potential of phase-amplitude coupling in assessing the severity of insomnia disorder and the efficacy of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation treatment, providing new insights on the abnormal physiological mechanisms and future treatments for insomnia disorder.

Glutamate levels in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex and resting-state functional connectivity within reward circuits in alcohol-dependent patients.

Great progress has been made in understanding the neural mechanisms associated with alcohol-dependent (AD) patients. However, the interactions within the reward circuits of the patients need further exploration. Glutamatergic projections from the prefrontal cortex to some brain regions are present in the reward circuit. However, little is known about the potential implications of glutamate levels in the prefrontal cortex on abnormal interactions within reward circuits in AD patients. To determine the potential roles of reward circuits in drinking, we investigated differences in resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) and multivariate Granger causality analysis between 20 AD patients and 20 healthy controls (HC). The neuroimaging findings were then correlated with clinical variables (alcohol use disorder identification test). The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VmPFC) is believed to play a critical role in addiction disorders, and glutamatergic projections from the prefrontal cortex to several regions of the brain are present in reward circuits. Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy was also performed to assess the difference in glutamate levels in VmPFC between AD patients and HC. The results showed that the strength of functional connectivity in the reward circuit was generally attenuated in AD patients, and the reciprocal enhancement of activity between the right insula, left thalamus and VmPFC was found to be significantly greater in AD patients. It is worth noting that although glutamate levels in the VmPFC did not show significant differences between the two groups, the level of glutamate in the VmPFC was significantly correlated with RSFC. We hope that the current findings will help us to develop new intervention models based on the important role of the VmPFC in AD.

The changes of intrinsic connectivity contrast in young smokers.

Previous studies demonstrated that reward circuit plays an important role in smoking. The differences of functional and structural connectivity were found among several brain regions such as thalamus and frontal lobe. However, few studies focused on functional connectivity (FC) in whole-brain voxel level of young smokers. In this study, intrinsic connectivity contrast (ICC) was used to perform voxel-based whole-brain analyses in 55 young smokers and 55 matched non-smokers to identify brain regions with significant group differences. ICC results showed that the connectivity of young smokers in medial frontal cortex (MedFC), supramarginal gyrus anterior division left (L_aSMG), central opercular cortex left (L_CO) and middle frontal gyrus left (L_MidFG) showed a significantly lower trend compared with the non-smokers. The seed-based FC analysis about MedFC indicated that young smokers showed reduced connectivity between the MedFC and left hippocampus, left amygdala compared to non-smokers. Correlation analysis showed that the ICC of MedFC in young smokers was significantly negatively correlated with Fagerstrom test for nicotine dependence (FTND) and Questionnaire on Smoking Urges (QSU). The FC between the MedFC and left hippocampus, left amygdala was significantly negatively correlated with Pack_years. The mediation analysis indicated that ICC of MedFC completely mediated FTND and QSU of young smokers. The results suggest that nicotine accumulation may affect the communication of the frontal lobe with the whole brain to some extent, leading to changes in smoking cravings. The above research also provides in-depth insights into the mechanism of adolescent smoking addiction and related intervention treatment.

Right arcuate fasciculus and left uncinate fasciculus abnormalities in young smoker.

Previous diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies had investigated the white matter (WM) integrity abnormalities in smokers. Exposure to nicotine disrupts neurodevelopment during adolescence, possibly by disrupting the trophic effects of acetylcholine. However, little is known about the diffusion parameters of specific fibre bundles at multiple locations in young smokers. Thirty-seven young smokers and 29 age-, education- and gender-matched healthy non-smokers participated in this study. Automated Fibre Quantification (AFQ) was employed to investigate the WM microstructure in young smokers by integrating multiple indices. Diffusion parameters, that is, fractional anisotropy (FA), axial diffusion (AD), radial diffusion (RD) and mean diffusion (MD), were calculated at 100 points along the length of 18 major brain tracts. The relationships between neuroimaging differences and smoking behaviours were explored, including Fagerström Test of Nicotine Dependence (FTND) and pack-years. Compared with non-smokers, young smokers showed significantly increased FA, AD and decreased RD in the left uncinate fasciculus (UF) and right thalamic radiation (TR), increased AD, RD and decreased FA in the right arcuate fasciculus (Arc). Correlation analyses revealed that FA values of the left UF and RD values of the right Arc were negatively correlated with FTND score in smokers and FA values of the right Arc were positively correlated with FTND scores. Positive correlation was observed between AD values of the left UF and pack-years in smokers. The findings enhanced our understanding of the potential effect of adolescent smoking on WM microstructure.

[Application and challenges of neuroimaging technology in mechanisms and treatment of drug addiction].

Neuroimaging technologies can non-invasively characterize the structure and function of addiction brain, reveal the neural mechanism of addictive behavior, and provide a priori for the potential targets of brain stimulation. Neuroimaging technologies has played an important role in the study of drug addiction diseases, relapse prediction, and therapeutic evaluation of non-invasive brain stimulations, but it also faces many challenges. In this manuscript, we discuss the classification and analysis methods of neuroimaging technologies, its application in addiction and challenges, thus to promote the application of neuroimaging technology in the treatment of drug addiction.

Reduced resting-state functional connectivity and sleep impairment in abstinent male alcohol-dependent patients.

Alcohol dependence is associated with poor sleep quality, which has both been implicated with thalamocortical circuits function. To identify the possible roles of these circuits in the alcohol-sleep association, we investigated the volume of both left and right thalamus and corresponding resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) differences between 15 alcohol-dependent patients (AD) and 15 healthy controls (HC) male participants. The neuroimaging findings were then correlated with clinical variables, that is, Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) and Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Additionally, mediation analysis was carried out to test whether the thalamocortical RSFC mediates the relationship between drinking behavior and sleep impairments in AD when applicable. We observed a significant positive correlation between AUDIT score and PSQI score in AD. Compared with HC, AD showed reduced RSFC between the left thalamus and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), orbitofrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), and right caudate. We also observed a negative correlation between RSFC of the left thalamus-mPFC and PSQI score in AD. More importantly, the left thalamus-mPFC RSFC strength mediated the relationship between AUDIT score and PSQI score in AD. No significant difference was detected in the normalized volume of both left and right thalamus, and volumes were not significantly correlated with clinical variables. Our results demonstrate that AD show abnormal interactions within thalamocortical circuits in association with drinking behaviors and sleep impairments. It is hoped that our study focusing on thalamocortical circuits could provide new information on potential novel therapeutic targets for treatment of sleep impairment in alcohol-dependent patients.

Abnormal frontostriatal tracts in young male tobacco smokers.

Dysfunctions in frontostriatal circuits have been associated with craving and cognitive control in smokers. However, the relevance of white matter (WM) diffusion properties of the ventral and dorsal frontostriatal tracts for behaviors associated with smoking remains relatively unknown, especially in young adulthood, a critical time period for the development and maintenance of addiction. Here, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and probabilistic tractography were used to investigate the WM tracts of the ventral and dorsal frontostriatal circuits in two independent studies (Study1: 36 male smokers (21.3 ±â€¯1.3 years) vs. 35 male nonsmokers (21.2 ±â€¯1.3 years); Study2: 29 male smokers (21.4 ±â€¯1.1 years) vs. 25 male nonsmokers (21.0 ±â€¯1.4 years)). Subjective craving was measured by the Questionnaire on Smoking Urges (QSU) and cognitive control ability was assessed with the Stroop task. In both studies, smokers committed more response errors than nonsmokers during the incongruent condition of the Stroop task. Relative to controls, smokers showed lower fractional anisotropy (FA) and higher radial diffusivity in left medial orbitofrontal cortex-to-nucleus accumbens fiber tracts (ventral frontostriatal path) and also lower FA in right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex-to-caudate fiber tracts (dorsal frontostriatal path). The FA values of the right dorsal fibers were negatively correlated with incongruent response Stroop errors in smokers, whereas the mean diffusivity values of the left ventral fibers were positively correlated with craving in smokers. Thus, WM diffusion properties of the dorsal and ventral frontostriatal tracts were associated with cognitive control and craving, respectively, in young male tobacco smokers. These data highlight the importance of studying WM in relation to neuropsychological changes underlying smoking.

Reduced Thalamus Volume May Reflect Nicotine Severity in Young Male Smokers.

Introduction: Nicotine acts as an agonist at presynaptic nicotinic acetylcholine receptors and to facilitate synaptic release of several neurotransmitters including dopamine and glutamate. The thalamus has the highest density of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the brain, which may make this area more vulnerable to the addictive effects of nicotine. However, the volume of thalamus abnormalities and the association with smoking behaviors in young smokers remains unknown. Methods: Thirty-six young male smokers and 36 age-, gender- and education-matched nonsmokers participated in the current study. The nicotine dependence severity and cumulative effect were assessed with the Fagerström test for nicotine dependence (FTND) and pack-years. We used subcortical volume analyses method in FreeSurfer to investigate the thalamus volume differences between young smokers and nonsmokers. Correlation analysis was used to investigate the relationship between thalamus volume and smoking behaviors (pack-years and FTND) in young smokers. Results and Conclusions: Relative to nonsmokers, the young smokers showed reduced volume of bilateral thalamus. In addition, the left thalamus volume was correlated with FTND in young smokers. It is hoped that our findings can shed new insights into the neurobiology of young smokers. Implications: In this article, we investigated the changes of thalamus volume in young male smokers compared with nonsmokers. Reduced left thalamus volume was correlated with FTND in young smokers, which may reflect nicotine severity in young male smokers.

Altered interhemispheric resting-state functional connectivity in young male smokers.

With the help of advanced neuroimaging approaches, previous studies revealed structural and functional brain changes in smokers compared with healthy non-smokers. Homotopic resting-state functional connectivity between the corresponding regions in cerebral hemispheres may help us to deduce the changes of functional coordination in the whole brain of young male smokers. Functional homotopy reflects an essential aspect of brain function and communication between the left and right cerebral hemispheres, which is important for the integrity of brain function. However, few studies used voxel mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC) method to investigate the changes of homotopic connectivity in young male smokers. Twenty-seven young male smokers and 27 matched healthy male non-smokers were recruited in our study. Compared with healthy male non-smokers, young male smokers showed decreased VMHC values in the insula and putamen, and increased VMHC values in the prefrontal cortex. Correlation analysis demonstrated that there were significant positive correlations between the average VMHC values of the prefrontal cortex and pack-years in young male smokers. In addition, significant negative correlation was found between the average VMHC values in the insula and pack-years. Our results revealed the disrupted homotopic resting-state functional connectivity in young male smokers. The novel findings may extend our understanding of smoking.

Abnormal functional integration across core brain networks in migraine without aura.

Background: As a complex subjective experience, pain processing may be related to functional integration among intrinsic connectivity networks of migraine patients without aura. However, few study focused on the pattern alterations in the intrinsic connectivity networks of migraine patients without aura. Results: Thirty-one migraine patients without aura and 31 age- and education-matched healthy controls participated in this study. After identifying the default mode network, central executive network and salience network as core intrinsic connectivity networks by using independent component analysis, functional connectivity, and effective connectivity during the resting state were used to investigate the abnormalities in intrinsic connectivity network interactions. Migraine patients without aura showed decreased functional connectivity among intrinsic connectivity networks compared with healthy controls. The strength of causal influences from the right frontoinsular cortex to the right anterior cingulate cortex became weaker, and the right frontoinsular cortex to the right medial prefrontal cortex became stronger in migraine patients without aura. Conclusions: These changes suggested that the salience network may play a major role in the pathophysiological features of migraine patients without aura and helped us to synthesize previous findings into an aberrant network dynamical framework.

White matter integrity of central executive network correlates with enhanced brain reactivity to smoking cues.

The attentional bias to smoking cues contributes to smoking cue reactivity and cognitive declines underlines smoking behaviors, which were probably associated with the central executive network (CEN). However, little is known about the implication of the structural connectivity of the CEN in smoking cue reactivity and cognitive control impairments in smokers. In the present study, the white matter structural connectivity of the CEN was quantified in 35 smokers and 26 non-smokers using the diffusion tensor imaging and deterministic fiber tractography methods. Smoking cue reactivity was evaluated using cue exposure tasks, and cognitive control performance was assessed by the Stroop task. Relative to non-smokers, smokers showed increased fractional anisotropy (FA) values of the bilateral CEN fiber tracts. The FA values of left CEN positively correlated with the smoking cue-induced activation of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and right middle occipital cortex in smokers. Meanwhile, the FA values of left CEN positively correlated with the incongruent errors during Stroop task in smokers. Collectively, the present study highlighted the role of the structural connectivity of the CEN in smoking cue reactivity and cognitive control performance, which may underpin the attentional bias to smoking cues and cognitive deficits in smokers. The multimodal imaging method by forging links from brain structure to brain function extended the notion that structural connections can modulate the brain activity in specific projection target regions. Hum Brain Mapp 38:6239-6249, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

The left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and caudate pathway: New evidence for cue-induced craving of smokers.

Although the activation of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and the striatum had been found in smoking cue induced craving task, whether and how the functional interactions and white matter integrity between these brain regions contribute to craving processing during smoking cue exposure remains unknown. Twenty-five young male smokers and 26 age- and gender-matched nonsmokers participated in the smoking cue-reactivity task. Craving related brain activation was extracted and psychophysiological interactions (PPI) analysis was used to specify the PFC-efferent pathways contributed to smoking cue-induced craving. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and probabilistic tractography was used to explore whether the fiber connectivity strength facilitated functional coupling of the circuit with the smoking cue-induced craving. The PPI analysis revealed the negative functional coupling of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and the caudate during smoking cue induced craving task, which positively correlated with the craving score. Neither significant activation nor functional connectivity in smoking cue exposure task was detected in nonsmokers. DTI analyses revealed that fiber tract integrity negatively correlated with functional coupling in the DLPFC-caudate pathway and activation of the caudate induced by smoking cue in smokers. Moreover, the relationship between the fiber connectivity integrity of the left DLPFC-caudate and smoking cue induced caudate activation can be fully mediated by functional coupling strength of this circuit in smokers. The present study highlighted the left DLPFC-caudate pathway in smoking cue-induced craving in smokers, which may reflect top-down prefrontal modulation of striatal reward processing in smoking cue induced craving processing. Hum Brain Mapp 38:4644-4656, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Frontostriatal circuits, resting state functional connectivity and cognitive control in internet gaming disorder.

Converging evidence has identified cognitive control deficits in internet gaming disorder (IGD). Recently, mounting evidence had revealed that resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) and structural connectivity of frontostriatal circuits could modulate cognitive control in healthy individuals. Unfortunately, relatively little is known about the thoroughly circuit-level characterization of the frontostriatal pathways (both the dorsal and ventral striatum) during resting-state and their association with cognitive control in IGD. In the current study, the differences of striatum volume and RSFC networks were investigated between 43 young IGD individuals and 44 healthy controls. Meanwhile, cognitive control deficits were assessed by Stroop task performances. The neuroimaging findings were then correlated with the Stroop task behaviors. In IGD subjects, we demonstrated an increased volume of right caudate and nucleus accumbens (NAc) as well as reduced RSFC strength of dorsal prefrontal cortex (DLPFC)-caudate and orbitofrontal cortex (OFC)-NAc. NAc volumes were positively correlated with internet addiction test scores in IGD. The caudate volume and DLPFC-caudate RSFC was correlated with the impaired cognitive control (more incongruent errors in Stroop task) in IGD. Consistent with substance use disorder (SUD) findings, we detected striatum volume and frontostriatal circuits RSFC differences between IGD and healthy controls, which provided evidence of some degree of the similarity between IGD and SUD. More importantly, the cognitive control deficits in IGD were correlated with the reduced frontostrital RSFC strength. It is hoped that our results could shed insight on the neurobiological mechanisms of IGD and suggest potential novel therapeutic targets for treatment.

The implication of frontostriatal circuits in young smokers: A resting-state study.

The critical roles of frontostriatal circuits had been revealed in addiction. With regard to young smokers, the implication of frontostriatal circuits resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) in smoking behaviors and cognitive control deficits remains unclear. In this study, the volume of striatum subsets, i.e., caudate, putamen, and nucleus accumbens, and corresponding RSFC differences were investigated between young smokers (n1 = 60) and nonsmokers (n2 = 60), which were then correlated with cigarette smoking measures, such as pack_years-cumulative effect of smoking, Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence (FTND)-severity of nicotine addiction, Questionnaire on Smoking Urges (QSU)-craving state, and Stroop task performances. Additionally, mediation analysis was carried out to test whether the frontostriatal RSFC mediates the relationship between striatum morphometry and cognitive control behaviors in young smokers when applicable. We revealed increased volume of right caudate and reduced RSFC between caudate and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), orbitofrontal cortex in young smokers. Significant positive correlation between right caudate volume and QSU as well as negative correlation between anterior cingulate cortex-right caudate RSFC and FTND were detected in young smokers. More importantly, DLPFC-caudate RSFC strength mediated the relationship between caudate volume and incongruent errors during Stroop task in young smokers. Our results demonstrated that young smokers showed abnormal interactions within frontostriatal circuits, which were associated with smoking behaviors and cognitive control impairments. It is hoped that our study focusing on frontostriatal circuits could provide new insights into the neural correlates and potential novel therapeutic targets for treatment of young smokers. Hum Brain Mapp 37:2013-2026, 2016. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

White matter integrity in young smokers: a tract-based spatial statistics study.

Previous diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) studies revealed contradictory effects of smoking on fractional anisotropy (FA). Multiple DTI-derived indices may help to deduce the pathophysiological type of white matter (WM) changes and provide more specific biomarkers of WM neuropathology in the whole brain of young smokers. Twenty-three young smokers and 22 age-, education- and gender-matched healthy non-smoking controls participated in this study. Tract-based spatial statistics was employed to investigate the WM microstructure in young smokers by integrating multiple indices, including FA, mean diffusivity (MD), radial diffusivity (RD) and axial diffusivity (AD). Compared with healthy non-smoking controls, young smokers showed significantly increased FA with increased AD and decreased RD in several brain regions, while no difference in MD was observed. Specifically, the overlapped WM regions with increased FA, increased AD and decreased RD were found in the right posterior limb of the internal capsule, the right external capsule and the right superior corona radiata. Additionally, average FA and RD values in the WM regions mentioned earlier were significantly correlated with pack-years and Fagerström Test for Nicotine Dependence, while no correlation in AD was found. The WM tracts with increased FA may be more associated with RD, rather than AD in young smokers. We suggested that WM properties of several fibres in young smokers may be the biomarker as the cumulative effect and severity of nicotine dependence.

Expertise modulates local regional homogeneity of spontaneous brain activity in the resting brain: an fMRI study using the model of skilled acupuncturists.

Studies on training/expertise-related effects on human brain in context of neuroplasticity have revealed that plastic changes modulate not only task activations but also patterns and strength of internetworks and intranetworks functional connectivity in the resting state. Much has known about plastic changes in resting state on global level; however, how training/expertise-related effect affects patterns of local spontaneous activity in resting brain remains elusive. We investigated the homogeneity of local blood oxygen level-dependent fluctuations in the resting state using a regional homogeneity (ReHo) analysis among 16 acupuncturists and 16 matched nonacupuncturists (NA). To prove acupuncturists' expertise, we used a series of psychophysical tests. Our results demonstrated that, acupuncturists significantly outperformed NA in tactile-motor and emotional regulation domain and the acupuncturist group showed increased coherence in local BOLD signal fluctuations in the left primary motor cortex (MI), the left primary somatosensory cortex (SI) and the left ventral medial prefrontal cortex/orbitofrontal cortex (VMPFC/OFC). Regression analysis displayed that, in the acupuncturists group, ReHo of VMPFC/OFC could predict behavioral outcomes, evidenced by negative correlation between unpleasantness ratings and ReHo of VMPFC/OFC and ReHo of SI and MI positively correlated with the duration of acupuncture practice. We suggest that expertise could modulate patterns of local resting state activity by increasing regional clustering strength, which is likely to contribute to advanced local information processing efficiency. Our study completes the understanding of neuroplasticity changes by adding the evidence of local resting state activity alterations, which is helpful for elucidating in what manner training effect extends beyond resting state.

Altered morphometric similarity networks in insomnia disorder.

Previous studies on structural covariance network (SCN) suggested that patients with insomnia disorder (ID) show abnormal structural connectivity, primarily affecting the somatomotor network (SMN) and default mode network (DMN). However, evaluating a single structural index in SCN can only reveal direct covariance relationship between two brain regions, failing to uncover synergistic changes in multiple structural features. To cover this research gap, the present study utilized novel morphometric similarity networks (MSN) to examine the morphometric similarity between cortical areas in terms of multiple sMRI parameters measured at each area. With seven T1-weighted imaging morphometric features from the Desikan-Killiany atlas, individual MSN was constructed for patients with ID (N = 87) and healthy control groups (HCs, N = 84). Two-sample t-test revealed differences in MSN between patients with ID and HCs. Correlation analyses examined associations between MSNs and sleep quality, insomnia symptom severity, and depressive symptoms severity in patients with ID. The right paracentral lobule (PCL) exhibited decreased morphometric similarity in patients with ID compared to HCs, mainly manifested by its de-differentiation (meaning loss of distinctiveness) with the SMN, DMN, and ventral attention network (VAN), as well as its decoupling with the visual network (VN). Greater PCL-based de-differentiation correlated with less severe insomnia and fewer depressive symptoms in the patients group. Additionally, patients with less depressive symptoms showed greater PCL de-differentiation from the SMN. As an important pilot step in revealing the underlying morphometric similarity alterations in insomnia disorder, the present study identified the right PCL as a hub region that is de-differentiated with other high-order networks. Our study also revealed that MSN has an important potential to capture clinical significance related to insomnia disorder.

Multimodal frontal neuroimaging markers predict longitudinal craving reduction in abstinent individuals with heroin use disorder.

The variation in improvement among individuals with addiction after abstinence is a critical issue. Here, we aimed to identify robust multimodal markers associated with high response to 8-month abstinence in the individuals with heroin use disorder (HUD) and explore whether the identified markers could be generalized to the individuals with methamphetamine use disorder (MUD). According to the median of craving changes, 53 individuals with HUD with 8-month abstinence were divided into two groups: higher craving reduction and lower craving reduction. At baseline, clinical variables, cortical thickness and subcortical volume, fractional anisotropy (FA) of fibers and resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) were extracted. Different strategies (single metric, multimodal neuroimaging fusion and multimodal neuroimaging-clinical data fusion) were used to identify reliable features for discriminating the individuals with HUD with higher craving reduction from those with lower reduction. The generalization ability of the identified features was validated in the 21 individuals with MUD. Multimodal neuroimaging-clinical fusion features with best performance was achieved an 87.1 ± 3.89% average accuracy in individuals with HUD, with a moderate accuracy of 66.7% when generalizing to individuals with MUD. The multimodal neuroimaging features, primarily converging in frontal regions (e.g., the left superior frontal (LSF) thickness, FA of the LSF-occipital tract, and RSFC of left middle frontal-right superior temporal lobe), collectively contributed to prediction alongside dosage and attention impulsiveness. In this study, we identified the validated multimodal frontal neuroimaging markers associated with higher response to long-term abstinence and revealed insights for the neural mechanisms of addiction abstinence, contributing to clinical strategies and treatment for addiction.

Alterations of regional spontaneous neuronal activity and corresponding brain circuit changes during resting state in migraine without aura.

Although previous resting-state studies have reported abnormal functional cerebral changes in patients with migraine without aura (MwoA), few have focused on alterations in both regional spontaneous neuronal activity and corresponding brain circuits in MwoA patients during rest. Eighteen MwoA patients and 18 age- and gender-matched healthy controls (HC) were recruited in the current study. Baseline cerebral alterations were investigated using amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) and region of interest (ROI)-based functional connectivity (FC) analyses. Compared with HC, MwoA patients showed decreased ALFF values in the left rostral anterior cingulate cortex (rACC) and bilateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) as well as increased ALFF values in the right thalamus. FC analysis also revealed abnormal FCs associated with these ROIs. In addition, ALFF values of the left rACC correlated with duration of disease in MwoA. Our findings could lead to a better understanding of intrinsic functional architecture of baseline brain activity in MwoA, providing both regional and brain circuit spontaneous neuronal activity properties.

Increased interhemispheric resting-state functional connectivity in functional dyspepsia: a pilot study.

Recent brain imaging studies have emphasized the role of regional brain activity abnormalities in the pathophysiology of functional dyspepsia (FD). However, whether the functional connectivity between brain regions is changed, especially between the cerebral hemispheres, in patients with FD remains unknown. Thus, the present study aimed to examine the interhemispheric resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) changes in patients with FD. Resting-state functional MRI (fMRI) was performed in 26 patients with FD and in 20 matched healthy controls. An interhemispheric RSFC map was obtained by calculating the Pearson correlation (Fisher Z transformed) between each pair of homotopic voxel time series for each subject. The between-group difference in interhemispheric RSFC was then examined at global and voxelwise levels separately. The global difference in interhemispheric RSFC between groups was tested using the independent two-sample t-test. Voxelwise comparisons were carried out using a permutation-based nonparametric test, and multiple comparisons across space were corrected using the threshold-free cluster enhancement (TFCE) method. The results showed that patients with FD had higher global interhemispheric RSFC than healthy controls (p < 0.01). Furthermore, voxelwise analysis revealed that patients with FD had increased interhemispheric RSFC in brain regions including the anterior cingulate cortex, insula and thalamus (p < 0.01, TFCE corrected). Our findings provide preliminary evidence of interhemispheric correlation abnormalities in patients with FD and contribute to a better understanding of the pathophysiology of the disease.