Correlations Between the DMN and the Smoking Cessation Outcome of a Real-Time fMRI Neurofeedback Supported Exploratory Therapy Approach: Descriptive Statistics on Tobacco-Dependent Patients

2021 ◽  
pp. 155005942110627
Author(s):  
Marco Paolini ◽  
Daniel Keeser ◽  
Boris-Stephan Rauchmann ◽  
Sarah Gschwendtner ◽  
Hannah Jeanty ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Smoking Cessation ◽  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Real Time ◽  
Smoking Status ◽  
Connectivity Pattern ◽  
Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽  
Correlation Pattern ◽  
Early Withdrawal ◽  
Seed Analysis ◽  
Negative Coupling

The aim of this study was to explore the potential of default mode network (DMN) functional connectivity for predicting the success of smoking cessation in patients with tobacco dependence in the context of a real-time function al MRI (RT-fMRI) neurofeedback (NF) supported therapy. Fifty-four tobacco-dependent patients underwent three RT-fMRI-NF sessions including resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) runs over a period of 4 weeks during professionally assisted smoking cessation. Patients were randomized into two groups that performed either active NF of an addiction-related brain region or sham NF. After preprocessing, the RSFC baseline data were statistically evaluated using seed-based ROI (SBA) approaches taking into account the smoking status of patients after 3 months (abstinence/relapse). The results of the real study group showed a widespread functional connectivity in the relapse subgroup (n = 10) exceeding the DMN template and mainly low correlations and anticorrelations in the within-seed analysis. In contrast, the connectivity pattern of the abstinence subgroup (n = 8) primarily contained the core DMN in the seed-to-whole-brain analysis and a left lateralized correlation pattern in the within-seed analysis. Calculated Multi-Subject Dictionary Learning (MSDL) matrices showed anticorrelations between DMN regions and salience regions in the abstinence group. Concerning the sham group, results of the relapse subgroup (n = 4) and the abstinence subgroup (n = 6) showed similar trends only in the within-seed analysis. In the setting of a RT-fMRI-NF-assisted therapy, a widespread intrinsic DMN connectivity and a low negative coupling between the DMN and the salience network (SN) in patients with tobacco dependency during early withdrawal may be useful as an early indicator of later therapy nonresponse.

scholarly journals High-amplitude cofluctuations in cortical activity drive functional connectivity

2020 ◽  
Vol 117 (45) ◽  
pp. 28393-28401
Author(s):  
Farnaz Zamani Esfahlani ◽  
Youngheun Jo ◽  
Joshua Faskowitz ◽  
Lisa Byrge ◽  
Daniel P. Kennedy ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Resting State ◽  
Temporal Structure ◽  
Activity Patterns ◽  
High Amplitude ◽  
Network Activity ◽  
Connectivity Pattern ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽  
Brain Organization

Resting-state functional connectivity is used throughout neuroscience to study brain organization and to generate biomarkers of development, disease, and cognition. The processes that give rise to correlated activity are, however, poorly understood. Here we decompose resting-state functional connectivity using a temporal unwrapping procedure to assess the contributions of moment-to-moment activity cofluctuations to the overall connectivity pattern. This approach temporally resolves functional connectivity at a timescale of single frames, which enables us to make direct comparisons of cofluctuations of network organization with fluctuations in the blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) time series. We show that surprisingly, only a small fraction of frames exhibiting the strongest cofluctuation amplitude are required to explain a significant fraction of variance in the overall pattern of connection weights as well as the network’s modular structure. These frames coincide with frames of high BOLD activity amplitude, corresponding to activity patterns that are remarkably consistent across individuals and identify fluctuations in default mode and control network activity as the primary driver of resting-state functional connectivity. Finally, we demonstrate that cofluctuation amplitude synchronizes across subjects during movie watching and that high-amplitude frames carry detailed information about individual subjects (whereas low-amplitude frames carry little). Our approach reveals fine-scale temporal structure of resting-state functional connectivity and discloses that frame-wise contributions vary across time. These observations illuminate the relation of brain activity to functional connectivity and open a number of directions for future research.

scholarly journals Associations between Amygdala-Prefrontal Functional Connectivity and Age Depend on Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce Ramphal ◽  
Mariah DeSerisy ◽  
David Pagliaccio ◽  
Elizabeth Raffanello ◽  
Virginia Rauh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Life Stress ◽  
Socioeconomic Disadvantage ◽  
Connectivity Pattern ◽  
Area Deprivation ◽  
Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Neighborhood Socioeconomic Status ◽  
Neighborhood Ses

Abstract Although severe early life stress has been shown to accelerate the development of frontolimbic resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC), less is known about the effects of socioeconomic disadvantage, a prolonged and multifaceted stressor. In a cross-sectional study of 127 participants aged 5–25, we examined whether lower neighborhood socioeconomic status (SES; measured by Area Deprivation Index and neighborhood poverty and educational attainment) was associated with prematurely reduced amygdala-ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) RSFC. We further tested whether neighborhood SES was more predictive than household SES and whether SES effects on connectivity were associated with anxiety symptoms. We found reduced basolateral amygdala-vmPFC RSFC at earlier ages in participants from more disadvantaged neighborhoods; this effect was unique to neighborhood SES and absent for household SES. Furthermore, this reduced connectivity in more disadvantaged youth and increased connectivity in more advantaged youth were associated with less anxiety; children who deviated from the connectivity pattern associated with their neighborhood SES had more anxiety. These results demonstrate that neighborhood socioeconomic disadvantage is associated with accelerated maturation of amygdala-vmPFC RSFC and suggest that the pathophysiology of pediatric anxiety depends on a child’s neighborhood socioeconomic characteristics. Our findings also underscore the importance of examining SES effects in studies of brain development.

scholarly journals Subarachnoid hemorrhage leads to early and persistent functional connectivity and behavioral changes in mice

2020 ◽  
pp. 0271678X2094015
Author(s):  
David Y Chung ◽  
Fumiaki Oka ◽  
Gina Jin ◽  
Andrea Harriott ◽  
Sreekanth Kura ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Subarachnoid Hemorrhage ◽  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Aneurysmal Subarachnoid Hemorrhage ◽  
Correlation Coefficients ◽  
Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽  
Rotarod Performance ◽  
Intrinsic Signal ◽  
Optical Intrinsic Signal ◽  
Seed Analysis ◽  
Y Maze

Aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) leads to significant long-term cognitive deficits, which can be associated with alterations in resting state functional connectivity (RSFC). However, modalities such as fMRI—which is commonly used to assess RSFC in humans—have practical limitations in small animals. Therefore, we used non-invasive optical intrinsic signal imaging to determine the effect of SAH on RSFC in mice up to three months after prechiasmatic blood injection. We assessed Morris water maze (MWM), open field test (OFT), Y-maze, and rotarod performance from approximately two weeks to three months after SAH. Compared to sham, we found that SAH reduced motor, retrosplenial, and visual seed-based connectivity indices. These deficits persisted in retrosplenial and visual cortex seeds at three months. Seed-to-seed analysis confirmed early attenuation of correlation coefficients in SAH mice, which persisted in predominantly posterior network connections at later time points. Seed-independent global and interhemispheric indices of connectivity revealed decreased correlations following SAH for at least one month. SAH led to MWM hidden platform and OFT deficits at two weeks, and Y-maze deficits for at least three months, without altering rotarod performance. In conclusion, experimental SAH leads to early and persistent alterations both in hemodynamically derived measures of RSFC and in cognitive performance.

Eyes closed or Eyes open? Exploring the alpha desynchronization hypothesis in resting state functional connectivity networks with intracranial EEG

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jaime Gómez-Ramírez ◽  
Shelagh Freedman ◽  
Diego Mateos ◽  
José Luis Pérez-Velázquez ◽  
Taufik Valiante
Keyword(s):  
Functional Connectivity ◽  
Resting State ◽  
Connectivity Pattern ◽  
Cost Calculation ◽  
Resting State Functional Connectivity ◽  
Eyes Closed ◽  
Regional Specificity ◽  
Eyes Open ◽  
First Time ◽  
Intracranial Recordings

AbstractThis paper addresses a fundamental question, are eyes closed and eyes open resting states equivalent baseline conditions, or do they have consistently different electrophysiological signatures? We compare the functional connectivity patterns in an eyes closed resting state with an eyes open resting state, and show that functional connectivity in the alpha band decreases in the eyes open condition compared to eyes closed. This "alpha desynchronization " or reduction in the number of connections from eyes closed to eyes open, is here, for the first time, studied with intracranial recordings. We provide two calculations of the wiring cost, local and mesoscopic, defined in terms of the distance between the electrodes and the likelihood that they are functionally connected. We find that, in agreement with the "alpha desynchronization" hypothesis, the local wiring cost decreases going from eyes closed to eyes open. However, when the wiring cost calculation takes into account the connectivity pattern, the wiring cost variation from eyes closed to eyes open is not as consistent and shows regional specificity. The wiring cost measure defined here, provides a new avenue for understanding the electrophysiology of resting state.

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