scholarly journals Shared and Distinct Fractional Amplitude of Low-Frequency Fluctuation Patterns in Major Depressive Disorders With and Without Gastrointestinal Symptoms

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaoya Fu ◽  
Huabing Li ◽  
Meiqi Yan ◽  
Jindong Chen ◽  
Feng Liu ◽  
...  

Objective: Gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms are fairly common somatic symptoms in depressed patients. The purpose of this study was to explore the influence of concomitant GI symptoms on the fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF) patterns in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and investigate the connection between aberrant fALFF and clinical characteristics.Methods: This study included 35 MDD patients with GI symptoms (GI-MDD patients), 17 MDD patients without GI symptoms (nGI-MDD patients), and 28 healthy controls (HCs). The fALFF method was used to analyze the resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data. Correlation analysis and pattern classification were employed to investigate the relationship of the fALFF patterns with the clinical characteristics of patients.Results: GI-MDD patients exhibited higher scores in the HRSD-17 and suffered more severe insomnia, anxiety/somatization, and weight loss than nGI-MDD patients. GI-MDD patients showed higher fALFF in the right superior frontal gyrus (SFG)/middle frontal gyrus (MFG) and lower fALFF in the left superior medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) compared with nGI-MDD patients. A combination of the fALFF values of these two clusters could be applied to discriminate GI-MDD patients from nGI-MDD patients, with accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity of 86.54, 94.29, and 70.59%, respectively.Conclusion: GI-MDD patients showed more severe depressive symptoms. Increased fALFF in the right SFG/MFG and decreased fALFF in the left superior MPFC might be distinctive neurobiological features of MDD patients with GI symptoms.

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-10
Author(s):  
Guanmao Chen ◽  
Pan Chen ◽  
JiaYing Gong ◽  
Yanbin Jia ◽  
Shuming Zhong ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Accumulating studies have found structural and functional abnormalities of the striatum in bipolar disorder (BD) and major depressive disorder (MDD). However, changes in intrinsic brain functional connectivity dynamics of striato-cortical circuitry have not been investigated in BD and MDD. This study aimed to investigate the shared and specific patterns of dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) variability of striato-cortical circuitry in BD and MDD. Methods Brain resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data were acquired from 128 patients with unmedicated BD II (current episode depressed), 140 patients with unmedicated MDD, and 132 healthy controls (HCs). Six pairs of striatum seed regions were selected: the ventral striatum inferior (VSi) and the ventral striatum superior (VSs), the dorsal-caudal putamen (DCP), the dorsal-rostral putamen (DRP), and the dorsal caudate and the ventral-rostral putamen (VRP). The sliding-window analysis was used to evaluate dFC for each seed. Results Both BD II and MDD exhibited increased dFC variability between the left DRP and the left supplementary motor area, and between the right VRP and the right inferior parietal lobule. The BD II had specific increased dFC variability between the right DCP and the left precentral gyrus compared with MDD and HCs. The MDD had increased dFC variability between the left VSi and the left medial prefrontal cortex compared with BD II and HCs. Conclusions The patients with BD and MDD shared common dFC alteration in the dorsal striatal-sensorimotor and ventral striatal-cognitive circuitries. The patients with MDD had specific dFC alteration in the ventral striatal-affective circuitry.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meiqi Yan ◽  
Jindong Chen ◽  
Feng Liu ◽  
Huabing Li ◽  
Renzhi Huang ◽  
...  

Background: Gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms are prominent in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). Previous studies have reported brain structural and functional changes in both MDD and digestive system diseases but it remains unclear whether MDD patients with GI symptoms have brain imaging changes.Methods: We recruited 35 MDD patients with GI symptoms, 17 MDD patients without GI symptoms and 28 age-, gender-, and education-matched healthy controls. All participants were scanned by resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Imaging data were analyzed with regional homogeneity (ReHo).Results: The GI group showed higher total HRSD-17 scores, anxiety/somatization, weight loss, and sleep disturbance scores compared to the non-GI group. We found increased ReHo in the right inferior parietal gyrus (IPL), bilateral supplementary motor area (SMA), bilateral cerebellum Crus II, left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), and bilateral superior medial frontal cortex (SMFC) and decreased ReHo in the right posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), bilateral cuneus, and left middle occipital gyrus (MOG) in patients with GI symptoms relative to the HCs. The GI group showed higher ReHo values in the bilateral precuneus than the non-GI group.Conclusion: MDD patients with GI symptoms showed a greater severity of symptoms than MDD patients without GI symptoms, particularly in terms of anxiety/somatization, weight loss, and sleep disturbances. Increased activity in the default-mode network might be associated with GI symptoms in MDD patients.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yan Qiu ◽  
Min Yang ◽  
Sujuan Li ◽  
Ziwei Teng ◽  
Kun Jin ◽  
...  

Background: Discriminating between major depressive disorder (MDD) and bipolar disorder (BD) remains challenging and cognitive deficits in MDD and BD are generally recognized. In this study, the fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF) approach was performed to explore neural activity and cognition in first-episode, drug-naïve BD and MDD patients, as well as the relationship between altered fALFF values and clinical or psychometric variables.Methods: A total of 21 BD patients, 25 MDD patients, and 41 healthy controls (HCs) completed clinical assessments and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) scans in this study. The rs-fMRI data were analyzed by fALFF method and Pearson correlation analyses were performed between altered fALFF values and clinical variables or cognition. Support vector machine (SVM) was adopted to identify the three groups from each other with abnormal fALFF values in the brain regions obtained by group comparisons.Results: (1) The fALFF values were significantly different in the frontal lobe, temporal lobe, and left precuneus among three groups. In comparison to HCs, BD showed increased fALFF values in the right inferior temporal gyrus (ITG) and decreased fALFF values in the right middle temporal gyrus, while MDD showed decreased fALFF values in the right cerebellar lobule IV/V. In comparison to MDD, BD showed decreased fALFF values in bilateral posterior cingulate gyrus and the right cerebellar lobule VIII/IX. (2) In the BD group, a negative correlation was found between increased fALFF values in the right ITG and years of education, and a positive correlation was found between decreased fALFF values in the right cerebellar lobule VIII/IX and visuospatial abilities. (3) The fALFF values in the right cerebellar lobule VIII/IX may have the ability to discriminate BD patients from MDD patients, with sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy all over 0.70.Conclusions: Abnormal brain activities were observed in BD and MDD and were related with cognition in BD patients. The abnormality in the cerebellum can be potentially used to identify BD from MDD patients.


2021 ◽  
pp. 028418512110324
Author(s):  
Xiao-Dong Zhang ◽  
Jun Ke ◽  
Jing-Li Li ◽  
Yun-Yan Su ◽  
Jia-Min Zhou ◽  
...  

Background Sjögren’s syndrome (SjS) associated with systemic lupus erythematosus (SjS-SLE) was considered a standalone but often-overlooked entity. Purpose To assess altered spontaneous brain activity in SjS-SLE and SjS using amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF). Material and Methods Sixteen patients with SjS-SLE, 17 patients with SjS, and 17 matched controls underwent neuropsychological tests and subsequent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) examinations. The ALFF value was calculated based on blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) fMRI. Statistical parametric mapping was utilized to analyze between-group differences and multiple comparison was corrected with Analysis of Functional NeuroImages 3dClustSim. Then, the ALFFs of brain regions with significant differences among the three groups were correlated to corresponding clinical and neuropsychological variables by Pearson correlation. Results ALFF differences in the bilateral precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), right parahippocampal gyrus/caudate/insula, and left insula were found among the three groups. Both SjS-SLE and SjS displayed decreased ALFF in the right parahippocampal gyrus, right insula, and left insula than HC. Moreover, SjS-SLE showed wider decreased ALFF in the bilateral precuneus and right caudate, while the SjS group exhibited increased ALFF in the bilateral PCC. Additionally, patients with SjS-SLE exhibited lower ALFF values in the bilateral PCC and precuneus than SjS. Moreover, ALFF values in the right parahippocampal gyrus and PCC were negatively correlated to fatigue score and disease duration, respectively, in SjS-SLE. Conclusion SjS-SLE and SjS exhibited common and different alteration of cerebral functional segregation revealed by AlFF analysis. This result appeared to indicate that SjS-SLE might be different from SjS with a neuroimaging standpoint.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruiping Zheng ◽  
Yuan Chen ◽  
Yu Jiang ◽  
Mengmeng Wen ◽  
Bingqian Zhou ◽  
...  

Background: Major depressive disorder (MDD) has demonstrated abnormalities of static intrinsic brain activity measured by amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF). Recent studies regarding the resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) have found the brain activity is inherently dynamic over time. Little is known, however, regarding the temporal dynamics of local neural activity in MDD. Here, we investigated whether temporal dynamic changes in spontaneous neural activity are influenced by MDD.Methods: We recruited 81 first-episode, drug-naive MDD patients and 64 age-, gender-, and education-matched healthy controls who underwent rs-fMRI. A sliding-window approach was then adopted for the estimation of dynamic ALFF (dALFF), which was used to measure time-varying brain activity and then compared between the two groups. The relationship between altered dALFF variability and clinical variables in MDD patients was also analyzed.Results: MDD patients showed increased temporal variability (dALFF) mainly focused on the bilateral thalamus, the bilateral superior frontal gyrus, the right middle frontal gyrus, the bilateral cerebellum posterior lobe, and the vermis. Furthermore, increased dALFF variability values in the right thalamus and right cerebellum posterior lobe were positively correlated with MDD symptom severity.Conclusions: The overall results suggest that altered temporal variability in corticocerebellar–thalamic–cortical circuit (CCTCC), involved in emotional, executive, and cognitive, is associated with drug-naive, first-episode MDD patients. Moreover, our study highlights the vital role of abnormal dynamic brain activity in the cerebellar hemisphere associated with CCTCC in MDD patients. These findings may provide novel insights into the pathophysiological mechanisms of MDD.


1997 ◽  
Vol 85 (2) ◽  
pp. 431-434 ◽  
Author(s):  
Doris C. Weatherly ◽  
Steven E. Ball ◽  
James R. Stacks

The relationship of habitual use of visual imagery and mental rotation was investigated. Reliance on Visual Imagery scores were used to define subjects as high frequency or low frequency visualizers. During the mental rotation task, subjects indicated if a pair of 2-dimensional stimulus figures displayed on a computer screen were identical or mirror-images. Figures on the right were rotated in relation to those on the left by 0, 60, 120, or 180°. Data supported the prediction that subjects who report high use of imagery would perform the task with greater accuracy ( z=1.97, p<.05) than subjects who reported low use. The imagery groups did not differ in response latency ( z = .91, p<.36). A comparison of performance on Trials 1 to 24 with performance on Trials 115-138 indicated a learning effect in both accuracy ( z = 7.58, p<.01) and latency ( z = 9.72, p<.01) for all subjects.


2022 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huan Zhang ◽  
Binrang Yang ◽  
Gang Peng ◽  
Linlin Zhang ◽  
Diangang Fang

Objective: The present study aimed to investigate the effects of the dopamine receptor D4 (DRD4) −521 C/T single-nucleotide polymorphism on brain function among children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and to evaluate whether brain function is associated with behavioral performance among this demographic.Methods: Using regional homogeneity, fractional amplitude low-frequency fluctuation, and functional connectivity as measurement indices, we compared differences in resting-state brain function between 34 boys with ADHD in the TT homozygous group and 37 boys with ADHD in the C-allele carrier group. The Conners' Parent Rating Scale, the SNAP-IV Rating Scale, the Stroop Color Word Test, the go/no-go task, the n-back task, and the working memory index within the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Fourth Edition were selected as comparative indicators in order to test effects on behavioral performance.Results: We found that TT homozygotes had low behavioral performance as compared with C-allele carriers. The regional homogeneity for TT homozygotes decreased in the right middle occipital gyrus and increased in the right superior frontal gyrus as compared with C-allele carriers. In addition, the right middle occipital gyrus and the right superior frontal gyrus were used as the seeds of functional connectivity, and we found that the functional connectivity between the right middle occipital gyrus and the right cerebellum decreased, as did the functional connectivity between the right superior frontal gyrus and the angular gyrus. No statistically significant differences were observed in the respective brain regions when comparing the fractional amplitudes for low-frequency fluctuation between the two groups. Correlation analyses demonstrated that the fractional amplitude low-frequency fluctuation in the precentral gyrus for TT homozygotes were statistically significantly correlated with working memory.Conclusions: We found differing effects of DRD4 −521 C/T polymorphisms on brain function among boys with ADHD. These findings promote our understanding of the genetic basis for neurobiological differences observed among children with ADHD, but they must be confirmed in larger samples.


2021 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Huan Yang ◽  
Xiangyu Xi ◽  
Weimin Wang ◽  
Bing Gu

Background and Aims: Gastrointestinal (GI) symptoms are frequently observed in coronavirus disease (COVID-19) symptoms. Previous studies have mainly focused on epidemiology and characteristics in patients with GI symptoms, little is known about the roles of the immune response in susceptibility to and severity of infection. Here, we analyzed COVID-19 cases to determine immune response and clinical characteristics in COVID-19 patients with GI symptoms.Methods: Based on the presence of GI symptoms, 79 patients in Xuzhou were divided into GI and non-GI groups. A retrospective study investigating the clinical characteristics, selected laboratory abnormalities, immune response, treatment, and clinical outcome was performed to compare patients with or without GI symptoms.Results: Approximately 25% of patients reported at least one GI symptom. Our results showed significantly higher rates of fatigue, increased LDH, increased CK, higher percentage increase neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR), lymphopenia, and bilateral pneumonia in patients with GI symptoms. No significant changes in serum amylase (SAA), immunoglobulin (Ig) G, IgM, C-reactive protein (CRP), procalcitonin (PCT), interleukin-6 (IL-6), viral shedding time, liver injury, and kidney injury between the two groups were observed. The clinical type on admission of patients with GI symptoms reported significantly higher rates of critical disease type (20 vs. 3.3%; p = 0.033). However, the survival rate did not differ between the two groups.Conclusions: Increase in total lymphocytes and NLR as well as the elevation of CRP, SAA, PCT, IL-6, CK, and LDH were closely associated with COVID-19 with GI symptoms, implying reliable indicators COVID-19 patients with GI symptoms were more likely to develop into a severe disease.


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