Self-limited focal epilepsy decreased regional brain activity in sensorimotor areas.

OBJECTIVE: The fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF) method was used to identify the regional brain activity deficits of self-limited focal epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes (SLFECS) relative to normal controls (NCs). METHODS: A total of 21 SLFECS (10 females, 11 males; mean age, 8.57 ± 1.5 years) and 21 status-matched (age, sex, and education) NCs (10 females, 11 males; mean age, 8.76 ± 2.19 years) were recruited. The fALFF method was applied to identify SLFECS-related regional brain alterations. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was applied to identify the ability of these regional brain areas in distinguishing the SLFECS group from the NCs group. The relationships between the regional brain activity deficits and clinical features were evaluated by Pearson's correlation analysis. RESULTS: Self-limited focal epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes was associated with widespread regional brain activity alterations, including left cuneus with higher fALFF values, and bilateral striatum, bilateral precentral gyrus, ventral and dorsal pathway of sensory area, left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and left Rolandic area with lower fALFF values. ROC curve revealed excellent AUC value (0.964) of these areas in distinguishing the SLFECS group from the NCs group with high degree of sensitivity (90.5%) and specificity (95.2%). Intelligence quotient score positively correlated with the fALFF value in the left striatum (r = 0.453, p = 0.039). CONCLUSIONS: The fALFF parameter could be served as a potential biomarker to identify the SLFECS-related regional brain deficits in the sensorimotor cortex and their pathways, which may be the etiology of paresthesia in SLFECS.

Regional and network properties of white matter function in Parkinson's disease.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder with dysfunction in cortices as well as white matter (WM) tracts. While the changes to WM structure have been extensively investigated in PD, the nature of the functional changes to WM remains unknown. In this study, the regional activity and functional connectivity of WM were compared between PD patients (n = 57) and matched healthy controls (n = 52), based on multimodel magnetic resonance imaging data sets. By tract-based spatial statistical analyses of regional activity, patients showed decreased structural-functional coupling in the left corticospinal tract compared to controls. This tract also displayed abnormally increased functional connectivity within the left post-central gyrus and left putamen in PD patients. At the network level, the WM functional network showed small-worldness in both controls and PD patients, yet it was abnormally increased in the latter group. Based on the features of the WM functional connectome, previously un-evaluated individuals could be classified with fair accuracy (73%) and area under the curve of the receiver operating characteristics (75%). These neuroimaging findings provide direct evidence for WM functional changes in PD, which is crucial to understand the functional role of fiber tracts in the pathology of neural circuits.