Brain connectivityPub Date : 2023-12-01Epub Date: 2023-11-27DOI: 10.1089/brain.2023.0024
Sunil Kumar Khokhar, Manoj Kumar, Sandeep Kumar, Tejaswini Manae, Nithin Thanissery, Subasree Ramakrishnan, Faheem Arshad, Chandana Nagaraj, Sandhya Mangalore, Suvarna Alladi, Tapan K Gandhi, Rose Dawn Bharath
{"title":"Alzheimer's Disease Is Associated with Increased Network Assortativity: Evidence from Metabolic Connectivity.","authors":"Sunil Kumar Khokhar, Manoj Kumar, Sandeep Kumar, Tejaswini Manae, Nithin Thanissery, Subasree Ramakrishnan, Faheem Arshad, Chandana Nagaraj, Sandhya Mangalore, Suvarna Alladi, Tapan K Gandhi, Rose Dawn Bharath","doi":"10.1089/brain.2023.0024","DOIUrl":"10.1089/brain.2023.0024","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p><b><i>Introduction:</i></b> Unraveling the network pathobiology in neurodegenerative disorders is a popular and promising field in research. We use a relatively newer network measure of assortativity in metabolic connectivity to understand network differences in patients with Alzheimer's Disease (AD), compared with those with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). <b><i>Methods:</i></b> Eighty-three demographically matched patients with dementia (56 AD and 27 MCI) who underwent positron emission tomography-magnetic resonance imaging (PET-MRI) study were recruited for this exploratory study. Global and nodal network measures obtained using the BRain Analysis using graPH theory toolbox were used to derive group-level differences (corrected <i>p</i> < 0.05). The methods were validated in age, and gender-matched 23 cognitively normal, 25 MCI, and 53 AD patients from the publicly available Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) data. Regions that revealed significant differences were correlated with the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination-III (ACE-III) scores. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Patients with AD revealed significantly increased global assortativity compared with the MCI group. In addition, they also revealed increased modularity and decreased participation coefficient. These findings were validated in the ADNI data. We also found that the regional standard uptake values of the right superior parietal and left superior temporal lobes were proportional to the ACE-III memory subdomain scores. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> Global errors associated with network assortativity are found in patients with AD, making the networks more regular and less resilient. Since the regional measures of these network errors were proportional to memory deficits, these measures could be useful in understanding the network pathobiology in AD.</p>","PeriodicalId":9155,"journal":{"name":"Brain connectivity","volume":" ","pages":"610-620"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2023-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71477978","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Brain connectivityPub Date : 2023-12-01Epub Date: 2023-12-06DOI: 10.1089/brain.2023.0044
Deepak Sharma, Mini Sharma, Prabhjot Kaur, Soumi Awasthy, Shubham Kaushal, Maria D'Souza, Ganesh Bagler, Shilpi Modi
{"title":"Camouflage Detection and Its Association with Cognitive Style: A Functional Connectivity Study.","authors":"Deepak Sharma, Mini Sharma, Prabhjot Kaur, Soumi Awasthy, Shubham Kaushal, Maria D'Souza, Ganesh Bagler, Shilpi Modi","doi":"10.1089/brain.2023.0044","DOIUrl":"10.1089/brain.2023.0044","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p><b><i>Background:</i></b> Individual differences exist in performance in tasks that require visual search, such as camouflage detection (CD). Field dependence/independence (FD/I), as assessed using the Group Embedded Figures Test (GEFT), is an extensively studied dimension of cognitive style that classifies participants based on their visual perceptual styles. <b><i>Materials and Methods:</i></b> In the present study, we utilized fMRI on 46 healthy participants to investigate the underlying neural mechanisms specific to the cognitive styles of FD/FI while performing a CD task using both activation magnitude and an exploratory functional connectivity (FC) analysis. Group differences between high and low performers on the two extremes of the accuracy continuum of GEFT were studied. <b><i>Results:</i></b> No statistically significant group differences were observed using whole-brain voxel-wise comparison. However, the exploratory FC analysis revealed an enhanced communication between various regions subserving the cognitive traits required for visual search by FI participants over and above their FD counterparts. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> These enhanced connectivities suggest additional recruitment of cognitive functions to provide computational support that might facilitate superior performance in CD task by the participants who display a field-independent cognitive style.</p>","PeriodicalId":9155,"journal":{"name":"Brain connectivity","volume":" ","pages":"598-609"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2023-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41232208","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Brain connectivityPub Date : 2023-12-01Epub Date: 2023-10-19DOI: 10.1089/brain.2023.0033
Tim Wende, Anastasia Hoffmann, Cordula Scherlach, Johannes Kasper, Caroline Sander, Felix Arlt, Eric Dietel, Anika Stockert, Jürgen Meixensberger, Gordian Prasse
{"title":"Preserved White Matter Integrity and Recovery After Brain Tumor Surgery: A Prospective Pilot Study on the Frontal Aslant Tract.","authors":"Tim Wende, Anastasia Hoffmann, Cordula Scherlach, Johannes Kasper, Caroline Sander, Felix Arlt, Eric Dietel, Anika Stockert, Jürgen Meixensberger, Gordian Prasse","doi":"10.1089/brain.2023.0033","DOIUrl":"10.1089/brain.2023.0033","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p><b><i>Introduction:</i></b> Damage to white matter tracts can cause severe neurological deficits, which are often hardly predictable before brain tumor surgery. To explore the possibility of assessing white matter integrity and its preservation, we chose the frontal aslant tract (FAT) due to its involvement in multiple neurological functions such as speech and movement initiation. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> Right-handed patients with left hemispheric intracerebral tumors underwent FAT tractography within 7 days before and 3 days after surgery. Neurological performance score and aphasia score were assessed within 7 days before and after surgery, as well as at follow-up 3 months postoperatively. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Fifteen patients were prospectively analyzed. After multivariate analysis and receiver operating characteristic analysis, we found that preoperative fractional anisotropy (FA) of the left FAT indicated the preoperative aphasia score (cutoff 0.40, <i>p</i> = 0.015). Aphasia scores 3 months postoperatively were predicted by both postoperative FA of the left FAT (cutoff 0.35, <i>p</i> = 0.005) and postoperatively preserved FA of the left FAT (cutoff 95.8%, <i>p</i> = 0.017). Postoperatively preserved right FAT FA inversely predicted postoperative aphasia score (cutoff 95.1%, <i>p</i> = 0.016). <b><i>Discussion:</i></b> Assessment of white matter integrity preservation is possible and correlates with outcome after brain tumor surgery. It may be useful for patient counseling and assessment of rehabilitation potential, as well as to investigate relevant brain networks in the future. <b><i>Clinical Trial Registration:</i></b> The trial was prospectively registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04302857).</p>","PeriodicalId":9155,"journal":{"name":"Brain connectivity","volume":" ","pages":"589-597"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2023-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10468760","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Brain connectivityPub Date : 2023-12-01Epub Date: 2023-12-04DOI: 10.1089/brain.2023.0017
Qian Wei, Xiao-Yu Wang, Li-Juan Zhang, Chen-Yu Yu, Hui-Ye Shu, Xu-Lin Liao, San-Hua Xu, Ting Su, Min Kang, Yi Shao
{"title":"A Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study Using Dynamic Amplitude of Low-Frequency Fluctuation to Assess Brain Activity in Patients with Moyamoya Disease.","authors":"Qian Wei, Xiao-Yu Wang, Li-Juan Zhang, Chen-Yu Yu, Hui-Ye Shu, Xu-Lin Liao, San-Hua Xu, Ting Su, Min Kang, Yi Shao","doi":"10.1089/brain.2023.0017","DOIUrl":"10.1089/brain.2023.0017","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p><b><i>Introduction:</i></b> The purpose of this study was to monitor and record the dynamic brain activity of patients with moyamoya disease (MMD), as well as to study the relationship between brain abnormalities and presenting clinical features. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> A total of 16 patients with MMD (2 males and 14 females) were invited to participate in the study, as were healthy controls (HCs) with the same number and sex ratio. In this study, the dynamic amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (dALFF) was utilized to assess changes in spontaneous brain activity. Moreover, we also used correlation analysis to study the relationship among the measured mean of dALFF, behavioral performances, and the retinal nerve fiber layer and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) score to explore the potential relationship between MMD and anxiety and depression. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Our study reveals that in MMD, dALFF levels decreased in the left lingual gyrus, right insula, and occipital lobe. <b><i>Discussion:</i></b> In this study, we found and discussed the potential relationship between the abnormal activities in multiple brain regions and related functional network disorders in patients with MMD, as well as the damage to brain regions that process emotion and vision, in the hopes of providing more ideas for the clinical diagnosis and treatment of MMD.</p>","PeriodicalId":9155,"journal":{"name":"Brain connectivity","volume":" ","pages":"621-630"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2023-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71477977","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Brain connectivityPub Date : 2023-11-01Epub Date: 2023-09-21DOI: 10.1089/brain.2023.0034
Margo Slomp, Ilke G S de Lange, Joram D Mul, Anouk Schrantee, Susanne E la Fleur
{"title":"Investigating Habenula Functional Connectivity and Reward-Related Activity in Obesity Using Human Connectome Project Data.","authors":"Margo Slomp, Ilke G S de Lange, Joram D Mul, Anouk Schrantee, Susanne E la Fleur","doi":"10.1089/brain.2023.0034","DOIUrl":"10.1089/brain.2023.0034","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p><b><i>Introduction:</i></b> The habenula, a brain region involved in aversion, might negatively modulate caloric intake. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies reported associations between weight loss and habenula functional connectivity. However, whether habenula resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) and reward-related activity are altered in obesity is yet unknown. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> Using data from the Human Connectome Project, we included 300 subjects with various body mass indexes (BMIs) and a healthy long-term blood glucose (hemoglobin A1c [HbA1c]). In addition, we investigated a potential BMI × HbA1c interaction in a separate cohort including subjects with prediabetes (<i>n</i> = 72). Habenula rsFC was assessed using a region of interest (ROI)-to-ROI analysis. Furthermore, a separate analysis using gambling task fMRI data focused on reward-related habenula activity. <b><i>Results:</i></b> We did not find an association between BMI and habenula rsFC for any of the ROIs. For the exploratory analysis of the BMI × HbA1c effect, a significant interaction effect was found for the habenula-ventral tegmental area (VTA) connection, but this did not survive multiple comparisons correction. Monetary punishment compared with reward activated the bilateral habenula in the BMI sample, but this activity was not associated with BMI. <b><i>Discussion:</i></b> In conclusion, we did not find evidence for an association between BMI and habenula rsFC or reward-related activity. However, there might be an interaction between BMI and HbA1c for the habenula-VTA rsFC, suggestive of a role of the habenula in glucose regulation. Future studies should focus on metabolic parameters in their experimental design to confirm our findings and explore the precise role of the habenula in metabolism.</p>","PeriodicalId":9155,"journal":{"name":"Brain connectivity","volume":" ","pages":"541-552"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"9990918","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Brain connectivityPub Date : 2023-11-01Epub Date: 2023-09-21DOI: 10.1089/brain.2023.0020
Kevan S Knowles, Jonathan P Beausejour, Kylie K Harmon, Ryan M Girts, David H Fukuda, Dawson J Kidgell, Matt S Stock
{"title":"The Influence of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Interpulse Interval Duration on Knee Extensor Corticospinal Excitability.","authors":"Kevan S Knowles, Jonathan P Beausejour, Kylie K Harmon, Ryan M Girts, David H Fukuda, Dawson J Kidgell, Matt S Stock","doi":"10.1089/brain.2023.0020","DOIUrl":"10.1089/brain.2023.0020","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p><b><i>Background/Purpose:</i></b> To examine the influence of interpulse interval duration on knee extensor corticospinal excitability. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> Seventeen college-aged males and females participated in a single laboratory visit, during which 25 single transcranial magnetic stimulation pulses were delivered to the motor cortex with interpulse intervals of 5, 10, 15, and 20 sec. Surface electromyographic signals were detected from the dominant vastus lateralis and rectus femoris. Motor evoked potential amplitude was compared across the four conditions. <b><i>Results:</i></b> For the vastus lateralis, the Friedman test indicated significant differences among conditions (chi-squared [3] = 7.80, <i>p</i> = 0.050); however, there were no pairwise differences (<i>p</i> ≥ 0.094) and small effect sizes (<i>d</i> ≤ 0.269). For the rectus femoris, the Friedman test results showed no significant differences among conditions (chi-squared [3] = 2.44, <i>p</i> = 0.487). Across all muscles and conditions, low intraclass correlation coefficients and high standard errors of measurement were suggestive of poor reliability. <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> Unlike resting hand muscles, interpulse interval duration has little influence on corticospinal excitability for the knee extensors during active contractions.</p>","PeriodicalId":9155,"journal":{"name":"Brain connectivity","volume":" ","pages":"521-527"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10274217","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Brain connectivityPub Date : 2023-11-01DOI: 10.1089/brain.2023.29056.editorial
Paul Edison
{"title":"<i>Brain Connectivity: A Journal of Clinical Neurology, Neuroscience, & Neuroimaging</i> Advancing the Field of Neurology.","authors":"Paul Edison","doi":"10.1089/brain.2023.29056.editorial","DOIUrl":"10.1089/brain.2023.29056.editorial","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":9155,"journal":{"name":"Brain connectivity","volume":"13 9","pages":"519-520"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"92152676","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Brain connectivityPub Date : 2023-11-01Epub Date: 2023-08-22DOI: 10.1089/brain.2023.0006
Smitha Karavallil Achuthan, Despina Stavrinos, Haley B Holm, Sheeba Arnold Anteraper, Rajesh K Kana
{"title":"Alterations of Functional Connectivity in Autism and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder Revealed by Multi-Voxel Pattern Analysis.","authors":"Smitha Karavallil Achuthan, Despina Stavrinos, Haley B Holm, Sheeba Arnold Anteraper, Rajesh K Kana","doi":"10.1089/brain.2023.0006","DOIUrl":"10.1089/brain.2023.0006","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p><b><i>Background:</i></b> Autism and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are comorbid neurodevelopmental disorders that share common and distinct neurobiological mechanisms, with disrupted brain connectivity patterns being a hallmark feature of both conditions. It is challenging to gain a mechanistic understanding of the underlying disorder, because brain connectivity changes in autism and ADHD are heterogeneous. <b><i>Objectives:</i></b> The present resting state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) study focuses on investigating the shared and distinct resting state-fMRI connectivity (rsFC) patterns in autistic and ADHD adults using multi-voxel pattern analysis (MVPA). By identifying spatial patterns of fMRI activity across a given time course, MVPA is an innovative and powerful method for generating seed regions of interest (ROIs) without <i>a priori</i> hypotheses. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> We performed a data-driven, whole-brain, connectome-wide MVPA on rs-fMRI data collected from 15 autistic, 19 ADHD, and 15 neurotypical (NT) young adults. <b><i>Results:</i></b> MVPA identified cerebellar vermis 9, precuneus, and the right cerebellum VI for autistic versus NT, right inferior frontal gyrus and vermis 9 for ADHD versus NT, and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex for autistic versus ADHD as significant clusters. <i>Post hoc</i> seed-to-voxel analyses using these clusters as seed ROIs were performed for further characterization of group differences. The cerebellum VI, vermis, and precuneus in autistic adults, and the vermis and frontal regions in ADHD showed different connectivity patterns in comparison with NT. <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> The study characterizes the rsFC profile of cerebellum with key cortical areas in autism and ADHD, and it emphasizes the importance of studying the role of the functional connectivity of the cerebellum in neurodevelopmental disorders.</p>","PeriodicalId":9155,"journal":{"name":"Brain connectivity","volume":" ","pages":"528-540"},"PeriodicalIF":3.4,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10045771","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Brain connectivityPub Date : 2023-11-01Epub Date: 2023-09-19DOI: 10.1089/brain.2023.0013
Qianyun Chen, Jill Abrigo, Min Deng, Lin Shi, Yi-Xiang Wang, Winnie C W Chu
{"title":"Structural Network Topology Reveals Higher Brain Resilience in Individuals with Preclinical Alzheimer's Disease.","authors":"Qianyun Chen, Jill Abrigo, Min Deng, Lin Shi, Yi-Xiang Wang, Winnie C W Chu","doi":"10.1089/brain.2023.0013","DOIUrl":"10.1089/brain.2023.0013","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p><b><i>Introduction:</i></b> The diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD) requires the presence of amyloid and tau pathology, but it remains unclear how they affect the structural network in the pre-clinical stage. We aimed to assess differences in topological properties in cognitively normal (CN) individuals with varying levels of amyloid and tau pathology, as well as their association with AD pathology burden. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> A total of 68 CN individuals were included and stratified by normal/abnormal (-/+) amyloid (A) and tau (T) status based on positron emission tomography results, yielding three groups: A-T- (<i>n</i> = 19), A+T- (<i>n</i> = 28), and A+T+ (<i>n</i> = 21). Topological properties were measured from structural connectivity. Group differences and correlations with A and T were evaluated. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Compared with the A-T- group, the A+T+ group exhibited changes in the structural network topology. At the global level, higher assortativity was shown in the A+T+ group and was correlated with greater tau burden (<i>r</i> = 0.29, <i>p</i> = 0.02), while no difference in global efficiency was found across the three groups. At the local level, the A+T+ group showed disrupted topological properties in the left hippocampus compared with the A-T- group, characterized by lower local efficiency (<i>p</i> < 0.01) and a lower clustering coefficient (<i>p</i> = 0.014). <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> The increased linkage in the higher level architecture of the white matter network reflected by assortativity may indicate increased brain resilience in the early pathological state. Our results encourage further investigation of the topological properties of the structural network in pre-clinical AD.</p>","PeriodicalId":9155,"journal":{"name":"Brain connectivity","volume":" ","pages":"553-562"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10771874/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10649852","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Brain connectivityPub Date : 2023-11-01Epub Date: 2023-09-29DOI: 10.1089/brain.2023.0001
William D Reeves, Ishfaque Ahmed, Brooke S Jackson, Wenwu Sun, Michelle L Brown, Celestine F Williams, Catherine L Davis, Jennifer E McDowell, Nathan E Yanasak, Shaoyong Su, Qun Zhao
{"title":"Characterization of Resting-State Functional Connectivity Changes in Hypertension by a Modified Difference Degree Test.","authors":"William D Reeves, Ishfaque Ahmed, Brooke S Jackson, Wenwu Sun, Michelle L Brown, Celestine F Williams, Catherine L Davis, Jennifer E McDowell, Nathan E Yanasak, Shaoyong Su, Qun Zhao","doi":"10.1089/brain.2023.0001","DOIUrl":"10.1089/brain.2023.0001","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p><b><i>Introduction:</i></b> Hypertension affects over a billion people worldwide, and the application of neuroimaging may elucidate changes brought about by the disease. We have applied a graph theory approach to examine the organizational differences in resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) data between hypertensive and normotensive participants. To detect these groupwise differences, we performed statistical testing using a modified difference degree test (DDT). <b><i>Methods:</i></b> Structural and rs-fMRI data were collected from a cohort of 52 total (29 hypertensive and 23 normotensive) participants. Functional connectivity maps were obtained by partial correlation analysis of participant rs-fMRI data. We modified the DDT null generation algorithm and validated the change through different simulation schemes and then applied this modified DDT to our experimental data. <b><i>Results:</i></b> Through a comparative analysis, the modified DDT showed higher true positivity rates (TPR) when compared with the base DDT while also maintaining false positivity rates below the nominal value of 5% in nearly all analytically thresholded trials. Applying the modified DDT to our rs-fMRI data showed differential organization in the hypertension group in the regions throughout the brain including the default mode network. These experimental findings agree with previous studies. <b><i>Conclusions:</i></b> While our findings agree with previous studies, the experimental results presented require more investigation to prove their link to hypertension. Meanwhile, our modification to the DDT results in higher accuracy and an increased ability to discern groupwise differences in rs-fMRI data. We expect this to be useful in studying groupwise organizational differences in future studies.</p>","PeriodicalId":9155,"journal":{"name":"Brain connectivity","volume":" ","pages":"563-573"},"PeriodicalIF":2.4,"publicationDate":"2023-11-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10664569/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"10402522","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}