scholarly journals Caregiver Stress and Empathy: Neural and Hormonal Correlates

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 179-179
Author(s):  
Shalmali Mirajkar ◽  
David Warren ◽  
Janelle Beadle
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Stress Reduction ◽  
Resting State ◽  
Chronic Conditions ◽  
Posterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Supramarginal Gyrus ◽  
Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽  
Tend And Befriend ◽  
The Right

Abstract Providing care to older adults with chronic conditions can be emotionally meaningful and stressful. The tend-and-befriend theory highlights the role of affiliation/empathy in stress reduction, but it has not been established whether this theory extends to caregivers for older adults. Addressing this gap, we assessed caregiver empathy and stress through behavioral, hormone, and neuroimaging measures. In Experiment 1, we compared 19 caregivers (Mage=67.1) to 24 non-caregivers (Mage=72.6), and found that caregivers with a greater reduction in cortisol to an empathic context showed greater prosocial behavior (r2=0.3). In experiment 2 (N=32), we examined differences between caregivers and non-caregivers in whole brain resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) with seed regions of interest (posterior cingulate cortex (PCC); amygdala), and covariation of RSFC with empathy (α=0.05). For emotional empathy, caregivers had stronger connectivity between the PCC seed, medial prefrontal cortex, and right supramarginal gyrus, and between the amygdala seed and the right middle frontal gyrus.

scholarly journals Resting state functional connectivity patterns as biomarkers of treatment response to escitalopram in patients with major depressive disorder

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marieke A. G. Martens ◽  
Nicola Filippini ◽  
Catherine J. Harmer ◽  
Beata R. Godlewska
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Treatment Response ◽  
Resting State ◽  
Rating Scale ◽  
Antidepressant Treatment ◽  
Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽  
The Right ◽  
Treatment Responsivity ◽  
Response Biomarkers

Abstract Rational With no available response biomarkers, matching an appropriate antidepressant to an individual can be a lengthy process. Improving understanding of processes underlying treatment responsivity in depression is crucial for facilitating work on response biomarkers. Objectives To identify differences in patterns of pre-treatment resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) that may underlie response to antidepressant treatment. Methods After a baseline MRI scan, thirty-four drug-free patients with depression were treated with an SSRI escitalopram 10 mg daily for 6 weeks; response was defined as ≥ 50% decrease in Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD) score. Thirty-one healthy controls had a baseline clinical assessment and scan. Healthy participants did not receive treatment. Results Twenty-one (62%) of patients responded to escitalopram. Treatment responsivity was associated with enhanced rsFC of the right fronto-parietal network (FPN)—with the posterior DMN, somatomotor network (SMN) and somatosensory association cortex. The lack of treatment response was characterized by reduced rsFC: of the bilateral FPN with the contralateral SMN, of the right FPN with the posterior DMN, and of the extended sensorimotor auditory area with the inferior parietal lobule (IPL) and posterior DMN. Reduced rsFC of the posterior DMN with IPL was seen in treatment responders, although only when compared with HC. Conclusions The study supports the role of resting-state networks in response to antidepressant treatment, and in particular the central role of the frontoparietal and default mode networks.

scholarly journals Different Resting-State Functional Connectivity Alterations in Smokers and Nonsmokers with Internet Gaming Addiction

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xue Chen ◽  
Yao Wang ◽  
Yan Zhou ◽  
Yawen Sun ◽  
Weina Ding ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Resting State ◽  
Correlation Method ◽  
Posterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Gaming Addiction ◽  
Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽  
Functional Changes ◽  
Internet Gaming ◽  
Internet Gaming Addiction ◽  
The Right

This study investigated changes in resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) of posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) in smokers and nonsmokers with Internet gaming addiction (IGA). Twenty-nine smokers with IGA, 22 nonsmokers with IGA, and 30 healthy controls (HC group) underwent a resting-state fMRI scan. PCC connectivity was determined in all subjects by investigating synchronized low-frequency fMRI signal fluctuations using a temporal correlation method. Compared with the nonsmokers with IGA, the smokers with IGA exhibited decreased rsFC with PCC in the right rectus gyrus. Left middle frontal gyrus exhibited increased rsFC. The PCC connectivity with the right rectus gyrus was found to be negatively correlated with the CIAS scores in the smokers with IGA before correction. Our results suggested that smokers with IGA had functional changes in brain areas related to motivation and executive function compared with the nonsmokers with IGA.

scholarly journals Default(y) Mode Network: Important regions of DMN do not survive alterations in flip angles

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ishan Singhal ◽  
Abhishek K. Soni ◽  
Narayanan Srinivasan
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Resting State ◽  
Posterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Intrinsic Activity ◽  
Bold Signal ◽  
Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽  
Physiological Noise ◽  
Fmri Study ◽  
The Brain

AbstractThe default mode network (DMN) is thought to capture intrinsic activity of the brain and has been instrumental in understanding the dynamics of the brain. However, the DMN has not been without critics; both conceptual and empirical. The empirical criticisms caution against physiological noise as a source for the reported connectivity in the DMN. Smaller flip angles (FAs) have been modelled and shown to reduce physiological noise in BOLD signal recordings. A previous functional MRI (fMRI) study with flickering checkerboard stimuli, manipulated FAs to show that activity in the posterior-cingulate cortex (PCC) and precuneus is prone to physiological noise. This raises questions about studies that show activations in these areas (PCC and precuneus) with a fixed FA and the role of these areas in brain networks like DMN. Given the prominent role of PCC and precuneus in DMN, we studied the effect of FAs on the resting-state functional connectivity involving these areas in DMN. We used four FAs and recorded resting-state activity in a 3-T scanner. The results show PCC and precuneus BOLD functional connectivity is inconsistent. We lend support to previous empirical criticisms of DMN, linking its activity to physiological noise. Our results add to concerns about PCC and precuneus related BOLD activity and their putative role in DMN. Alongside previous studies we advocate using smaller flip angles as an empirical tool to investigate physiological noise in fMRI studies.

scholarly journals Strengthened thalamoparietal functional connectivity in patients with hemifacial spasm: a cross-sectional resting-state fMRI study

2020 ◽  
Vol 93 (1108) ◽  
pp. 20190887 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xuan Niu ◽  
Hui Xu ◽  
Chenguang Guo ◽  
Tong Yang ◽  
Dustin Kress ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Hemifacial Spasm ◽  
Resting State ◽  
Resting State Fmri ◽  
Association Cortex ◽  
Resting State Networks ◽  
Supramarginal Gyrus ◽  
Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
The Right

Objective: In spite of the well-known importance of thalamus in hemifacial spasm (HFS), the thalamic resting-state networks in HFS is still rarely mentioned. This study aimed to investigate resting-state functional connectivity (FC) of the thalamus in HFS patients and examine its association with clinical measures. Methods: 25 HFS patients and 28 matched healthy controls underwent functional MRI at rest. Using the left and right thalamus as seed regions respectively, we compared the thalamic resting-state networks between patient and control groups using two independent sample t-test. Results: Compared with controls, HFS patients exhibited strengthened bilateral thalamus-seeded FC with the parietal cortex. Enhanced FC between right thalamus and left somatosensory association cortex was linked to worse motor disturbance, and the increased right thalamus-right supramarginal gyrus connection were correlated with improvement of affective symptoms. Conclusion: Our findings indicate that the right thalamus–left somatosensory association cortex hyperconnectivity may represent the underlying neuroplasticity related to sensorimotor dysfunction. In addition, the upregulated FC between the right thalamus and right supramarginal gyrus in HFS, is part of the thalamo-default mode network pathway involved in emotional adaptation. Advances in knowledge: This study provides new insights on the integrative role of thalamo-parietal connectivity, which participates in differential neural circuitry as a mechanism underlying motor and emotional functions in HFS patients.

Individual differences in the relationship between episodic detail generation and resting state functional connectivity vary with age

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephanie Matijevic ◽  
Jessica R. Andrews-Hanna ◽  
Aubrey Anne Ladd Wank ◽  
Lee Ryan ◽  
Matthew D. Grilli
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Individual Differences ◽  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Resting State ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Brain Behavior ◽  
The Relationship

The ability to generate episodic details while recollecting autobiographical events is believed to depend on a collection of brain regions that form a posterior medial network (PMN). How age-related differences in episodic detail generation relate to the PMN, however, remains unclear. The present study sought to examine individual differences, and the role of age, in PMN resting state functional connectivity (rsFC) associations with episodic detail generation. Late middle-aged and older adults (N = 41, ages 52-81), and young adults (N = 21, ages 19-35) were asked to describe recent personal events, and these memory narratives were coded for episodic, semantic and ‘miscellaneous’ details. Independent components analysis and regions-of-interest analyses were used to assess rsFC within anterior PMN connections (hippocampal and medial prefrontal) and posterior PMN connections (hippocampal, parahippocampal and parieto-occipital). Compared to younger adults, older adults produced memory narratives with lower episodic specificity (ratio of episodic:total details) and a greater amount of semantic detail. Among the older adults, episodic detail amounts and episodic specificity were reduced with increasing age. There were no significant age differences in PMN rsFC. Stronger anterior PMN rsFC was related to lower episodic detail in the older adult group, but not in the young. Among the older adults, increasing age brought on an association between increased anterior PMN rsFC and reduced episodic specificity. The present study provides evidence that functional connectivity within the PMN, particularly anterior PMN, tracks individual differences in the amount of episodic details retrieved by older adults. Furthermore, these brain-behavior relationships appear to be age-specific.

scholarly journals Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction-related changes in posterior cingulate resting brain connectivity

2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (7) ◽  
pp. 777-787 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tammi R A Kral ◽  
Ted Imhoff-Smith ◽  
Douglas C Dean ◽  
Dan Grupe ◽  
Nagesh Adluru ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Stress Reduction ◽  
Resting State ◽  
Diffusion Tensor ◽  
Structural Connectivity ◽  
Posterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽  
Post Intervention ◽  
Posterior Cingulate ◽  
Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction

Abstract Mindfulness meditation training has been shown to increase resting-state functional connectivity between nodes of the frontoparietal executive control network (dorsolateral prefrontal cortex [DLPFC]) and the default mode network (posterior cingulate cortex [PCC]). We investigated whether these effects generalized to a Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) course and tested for structural and behaviorally relevant consequences of change in connectivity. Healthy, meditation-naïve adults were randomized to either MBSR (N = 48), an active (N = 47) or waitlist (N = 45) control group. Participants completed behavioral testing, resting-state fMRI scans and diffusion tensor scans at pre-randomization (T1), post-intervention (T2) and ~5.5 months later (T3). We found increased T2–T1 PCC–DLPFC resting connectivity for MBSR relative to control groups. Although these effects did not persist through long-term follow-up (T3–T1), MBSR participants showed a significantly stronger relationship between days of practice (T1 to T3) and increased PCC–DLPFC resting connectivity than participants in the active control group. Increased PCC–DLPFC resting connectivity in MBSR participants was associated with increased microstructural connectivity of a white matter tract connecting these regions and increased self-reported attention. These data show that MBSR increases PCC–DLPFC resting connectivity, which is related to increased practice time, attention and structural connectivity.

scholarly journals Resting-State Functional Connectivity Signatures of Apathy in Community-Living Older Adults

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jung Yun Jang ◽  
S. Duke Han ◽  
Belinda Yew ◽  
Anna E. Blanken ◽  
Shubir Dutt ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Orbitofrontal Cortex ◽  
Resting State ◽  
Neural Mechanism ◽  
Resting State Fmri ◽  
Brain Regions ◽  
Anterior Cingulate ◽  
Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽  
The Right

Apathy predicts poor outcomes in older adults, and its underlying neural mechanism needs further investigation. We examined the association between symptoms of apathy and functional connectivity (FC) in older adults without stroke or dementia. Participants included 48 individuals (mean age = 70.90) living independently in the community, who underwent resting-state fMRI and completed the Apathy Evaluation Scale (AES). Seed-to-voxel analysis (cluster-level p-FDR <0.05, voxel threshold p < 0.001) tested the association between AES scores and the whole-brain FC of brain regions involved in reward- and salience-related processing. We found that AES scores were negatively associated with FC of the right insula cortex and right anterior temporal regions (124 voxels, t = −5.10) and FC of the left orbitofrontal cortex and anterior cingulate regions (160 voxels, t = −5.45), and were positively associated with FC of the left orbitofrontal cortex and left lateral prefrontal (282 voxels, t = 4.99) and anterior prefrontal (123 voxels, t = 4.52) regions. These findings suggest that apathy in older adults may reflect disruptions in neural connectivity involved in reward- and salience-related processing.

scholarly journals Longitudinal effects of meditation on brain resting-state functional connectivity

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zongpai Zhang ◽  
Wen-Ming Luh ◽  
Wenna Duan ◽  
Grace D. Zhou ◽  
George Weinschenk ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Resting State ◽  
Longitudinal Design ◽  
Resting State Fmri ◽  
Potential Effect ◽  
Posterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Focused Attention ◽  
Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽  
The Right ◽  
Practice Time

AbstractChanges in brain resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) were investigated using a longitudinal design by following a 2-month focused attention meditation (FAM) practice and analyzing their association with FAM practice time. Ten novice meditators were recruited from a university meditation course. Participants were scanned with a resting-state fMRI sequence with multi-echo EPI acquisition at baseline and at the 2-month follow-up. Total FAM practice time was calculated from the daily log of the participants. We observed significantly increased rsFC between the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and dorsal attention network (DAN), the right middle temporal (RMT) region and default mode network (DMN), the left and right superior parietal lobules (LSPL/RSPL) and DMN, and the LSPL/RSPL and DAN. Furthermore, the rsFC between the LSPL and medial prefrontal cortex was significantly associated with the FAM practice time. These results demonstrate increased connectivity within the DAN, between the DMN and DAN, and between the DMN and visual cortex. These findings demonstrate that FAM can enhance the brain connection among and within brain networks, especially DMN and DAN, indicating potential effect of FAM on fast switching between mind wandering and focused attention and maintaining attention once in the attentive state.

scholarly journals Brain Activation during Thoughts of One’s Own Death and Its Linear and Curvilinear Correlations with Fear of Death in Elderly Individuals: An fMRI Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kanan Hirano ◽  
Kentaro Oba ◽  
Toshiki Saito ◽  
Shohei Yamazaki ◽  
Ryuta Kawashima ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Brain Activation ◽  
Posterior Cingulate Cortex ◽  
Fear Of Death ◽  
Supramarginal Gyrus ◽  
Brain Responses ◽  
Fmri Study ◽  
Negative Linear Correlation ◽  
The Right ◽  
Older Populations ◽  
Existential Issues

Abstract Facing one’s own death and managing the fear of death are important existential issues, particularly in older populations. Although recent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have investigated brain responses to death-related stimuli, none has examined whether this brain activation was specific to one’s own death or how it was related to dispositional fear of death. In this study, during fMRI, 34 elderly participants (aged, 60–72 years) were presented with either death-related or death-unrelated negative words and asked to evaluate the relevance of these words to the “self” or the “other.” The results showed that only the left supplementary motor area (SMA) was selectively activated during self-relevant judgments of death-related words. Regression analyses of the effect of fear of death on brain activation during death-related thoughts identified a significant negative linear correlation in the right supramarginal gyrus (SMG) and an inverted-U-shaped correlation in the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) only during self-relevant judgments. Our results suggest potential involvement of the SMA in the existential aspect of thoughts of death. The distinct fear-of-death-dependent responses in the SMG and PCC may reflect fear-associated distancing of the physical self and the processing of death-related thoughts as a self-relevant future agenda, respectively.

Resting-state Functional Connectivity of the Right Temporoparietal Junction Relates to Belief Updating and Reorienting during Spatial Attention

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (6) ◽  
pp. 1130-1141
Author(s):  
Anne-Sophie Käsbauer ◽  
Paola Mengotti ◽  
Gereon R. Fink ◽  
Simone Vossel
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Cognitive Processing ◽  
Resting State ◽  
Prior Information ◽  
Dependent Manner ◽  
Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽  
Belief Updating ◽  
Temporoparietal Junction ◽  
Right Temporoparietal Junction ◽  
The Right

Although multiple studies characterized the resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) of the right temporoparietal junction (rTPJ), little is known about the link between rTPJ rsFC and cognitive functions. Given a putative involvement of rTPJ in both reorienting of attention and the updating of probabilistic beliefs, this study characterized the relationship between rsFC of rTPJ with dorsal and ventral attention systems and these two cognitive processes. Twenty-three healthy young participants performed a modified location-cueing paradigm with true and false prior information about the percentage of cue validity to assess belief updating and attentional reorienting. Resting-state fMRI was recorded before and after the task. Seed-based correlation analysis was employed, and correlations of each behavioral parameter with rsFC before the task, as well as with changes in rsFC after the task, were assessed in an ROI-based approach. Weaker rsFC between rTPJ and right intraparietal sulcus before the task was associated with relatively faster updating of the belief that the cue will be valid after false prior information. Moreover, relatively faster belief updating, as well as faster reorienting, were related to an increase in the interhemispheric rsFC between rTPJ and left TPJ after the task. These findings are in line with task-based connectivity studies on related attentional functions and extend results from stroke patients demonstrating the importance of interhemispheric parietal interactions for behavioral performance. The present results not only highlight the essential role of parietal rsFC for attentional functions but also suggest that cognitive processing during a task changes connectivity patterns in a performance-dependent manner.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document