Abnormalities of Thalamic Functional Connectivity in Patients with Migraine: A Resting-State fMRI Study.

INTRODUCTION: Migraine is a common headache disorder. Many studies have used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to explore the possible pathogenesis of migraine, but they have not reached consistent conclusions and lack rigorous multiple comparison correction. Thus, this study investigates the mechanisms of migraine development from the perspective of altered functional connectivity (FC) in brain regions by using data-driven and regions of interest (ROI)-based approaches. METHODS: Resting-state functional MRI data were collected from 30 patients with migraine and 40 healthy controls (HCs) matched for age, gender, and years of education. For the data-driven method, we used a voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC) approach to compare the FC between the patients and HCs. For the ROI-based method, significant differences in VMHC maps between the patients and HCs were defined as ROI. The seed-based approach further revealed significant differences in FC between the seeds and the other brain regions. Furthermore, the correlations between abnormal FC and clinical characteristics of patients were investigated. A rigorous multiple comparison correction was used with false discovery rate and permutation test (5000 times). RESULTS: In comparison with the controls group, patients showed enhanced VMHC in the bilateral thalamus. We also observed enhanced FC between the left thalamus and the left superior frontal gyrus, and increased FC between the right thalamus and the left middle frontal gyrus (Brodmann area 45 and Brodmann area 8) in patients. Further analysis showed that the FC values in the left superior frontal gyrus and left middle frontal gyrus were negatively corrected with visual analogue scale scores or attack times for headaches. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with migraine showed altered VMHC in the bilateral thalamus, and abnormal FC of bilateral thalamus and other brain regions. The abnormalities in thalamic FC are a likely mechanism for the development of migraine. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry, ChiCTR2000033995. Registered on 20 June 2020.

[Effect of acupuncture on default mode network in patients with migraine based on functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging: a preliminary study].

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of acupuncture on default mode network (DMN) in migraine patients without aura based on functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI). METHODS: Fifteen patients with migraine were included and treated with acupuncture based on "root-knot" theory (Zuqiaoyin [GB 44] for shaoyang headache, Lidui [ST 45] for yangming headache, Zhiyin [BL 67] for taiyang headache, and ashi point), once every other day, three times a week for 4 weeks. The patients received fMRI scanning before and after acupuncture treatment, the effect of acupuncture on DMN in patients with migraine was observed; the frequency of migraine attack, visual analogue scale (VAS) score and the using of analgesic medication before and after treatment were recorded to evaluate the curative effect of acupuncture; the migraine-specific quality of life questionnaire (MSQ), self-rating anxiety scale (SAS) and self-rating depression scale (SDS) were used to evaluate the improvements of quality of life and emotional state. RESULTS: Compared before acupuncture, the functional connections of left parahippocampal cortex (PHC) and anterior medial prefrontal cortex (aMPFC), dorsal medial prefrontal cortex (dMPFC) and lateral temporal cortex (LTC) in DMN after acupuncture were weakened (P<0.05), and the functional connections of bilateral posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and dMPFC were weakened (P<0.05). Compared before treatment, the frequency of migraine attack, VAS, SAS and SDS scores after treatment were decreased (P<0.05), and MSQ score was increased (P<0.05). CONCLUSION: Acupuncture shows good clinical efficacy for migraine without aura, and could adjust the functional connection of DMN.

Long Non-coding RNA LINC00847 Induced by E2F1 Accelerates Non-small Cell Lung Cancer Progression Through Targeting miR-147a/IFITM1 Axis.

Background: Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) can remarkably regulate human malignancies in terms of the development and the progression. Previously, lncRNA LINC00847 (LINC00847) has been reported to present dysregulation in several tumors. However, the expression and function of LINC00847 in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) have not been investigated. Methods: RT-qPCR was performed to determine the expressions of LINC00847 in collected tissue samples and cell lines. The clinical significance of LINC00847 was statistically analyzed. CCK-8 test, cell scratch test and trans-well test were used to evaluate the proliferation, invasion and migration abilities of NSCLC cells, respectively. The xenograft tumor model was constructed to confirm the effects of LINC00847 knockdown on NSCLC in vivo. Further, luciferase reporter assays and Western blot were performed to explore molecular mechanisms underlying the functions of LINC00847. Results: Increased expressions of LINC00847 were observed in NSCLC samples as well as cell lines. Additionally, E2F1 could be capable of directly binding to the LINC00847 promoter region, followed by promoting its expression. Clinically, LINC00847 high-expression could lead to poor prognosis of NSCLC patients. Functionally, LINC00847 knockdown noticeably repressed NSCLC cell growth and metastasis. Mechanically, miR-147a/IFITM1 axis was a downstream target of LINC00847, and silencing of miR-147a could rescue the anti-cancer effects of LINC00847 knockdown on NSCLC cell behaviors. Conclusion: Overall, up regulation of LINC00847 induced by E2F1 promoted the progression of NSCLC by modulating miR-147a/IFITM1 axis, representing a novel regulatory mechanism for NSCLC progression.