Article
Clinical Neurology
Linling Li, Xue Han, Erni Ji, Xiangrong Tao, Manjun Shen, Dongjian Zhu, Li Zhang, Lingjiang Li, Haichen Yang, Zhiguo Zhang
Summary: This study analyzed functional MRI data of bipolar disorder (BD) patients and healthy controls during a face-matching task and found widely distributed aberrant task-modulated functional connectivity (FC) patterns in BD. The fronto-parietal network was identified as the primary network demonstrating changes in both FC strength and local efficiency in BD.
JOURNAL OF AFFECTIVE DISORDERS
(2022)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Wei Wang, Ziyu Yuan, Xueyan Zhang, Xiaoyan Bai, Hefei Tang, Yanliang Mei, Dong Qiu, Yingkui Zhang, Peng Zhang, Xue Zhang, Yaqing Zhang, Xueying Yu, Binbin Sui, Yonggang Wang
Summary: Using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), we found aberrant functional connectivity in multiple brain regions involved in perception and regulation of emotion and pain in patients with new daily persistent headache (NDPH).
JOURNAL OF HEADACHE AND PAIN
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Xucong Qin, Huan Huang, Ying Liu, Fanfan Zheng, Yuan Zhou, Huiling Wang
Summary: In this study, we investigated functional connectivity during Theory of Mind (ToM) processing in patients with schizophrenia using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). The results showed that patients with schizophrenia were less accurate than healthy controls in judging social stimuli, and displayed increased activity in the right inferior frontal gyrus and increased functional connectivity between the bilateral middle temporal gyrus and the ipsilateral parahippocampal gyrus during ToM processing. These findings provide new insights into the social cognition of schizophrenia.
Article
Neurosciences
Ke Song, Yong Wang, Mei-Xia Ren, Jiao Li, Ting Su, Si-Yi Chen, Yi Shao, Ya-Li Lv
Summary: Using resting-state functional connectivity, this study found abnormal neural activities in specific brain regions of patients with optic neuritis, with significant changes in rsFC, longFCD, and IFCD values, which may help identify the specific mechanism of change in brain function in ON.
FRONTIERS IN NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Emanuele Pravata, Gianna C. Riccitelli, Carlo Sestieri, Rosaria Sacco, Alessandro Cianfoni, Claudio Gobbi, Chiara Zecca
Summary: The study investigated the functional connectivity changes in the brains of multiple sclerosis patients with migraine, finding that RS-FC alterations may be associated with the occurrence of migraine and its impact on daily activities.
FRONTIERS IN NEUROLOGY
(2021)
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Yang Liu, Hui-Qun Fu, Yan Wu, Zun-Shu Du, Bo-Ran Li, Xin Gao, Guan-Wen Lin, Shu-Yi Yang, Tian-Long Wang
Summary: Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) is a promising method for studying brain function, typically performed on anesthetized animals. This study found that different anesthesia methods in aged rats can lead to variations in functional connectivity in different brain regions. Isoflurane anesthesia may be a suitable substitute for Isoflurane + Dexmedetomidine anesthesia in default mode network studies, depending on the regions of interest.
CHINESE MEDICAL JOURNAL
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Jianing Hao, Xintao Hu, Liting Wang, Lei Guo, Junwei Han
Summary: The study suggests that the human cerebellum is involved in a wide range of cognitive tasks beyond traditional motor control and can be divided into distinct functional subregions. By utilizing a naturalistic paradigm of fMRI, the research successfully identified different subregions of the cerebellum, providing an alternative template for exploring neural activities in naturalistic environments.
FRONTIERS IN NEUROSCIENCE
(2021)
Review
Clinical Neurology
Nathan T. Cohen, Hua Xie, Taha Gholipour, William D. Gaillard
Summary: This article summarizes the evidence to date on the network basis of FCD-related epilepsy, and highlights the potential applications of rsfMRI in the diagnosis and treatment of FCD-related epilepsy. Numerous studies have shown a global disruption of cortical functional networks in FCD-related epilepsy, and the underlying pathological subtypes of FCD influence overall functional network patterns.
Article
Clinical Neurology
Nan Gao, Haiping Shi, Sheng Hu, Bixiang Zha, Aihong Yuan, Jianhua Shu, Yinqiu Fan, Jin Bai, Hongyu Xie, Jingcheng Cui, Xiaoxiao Wang, Chuanfu Li, Bensheng Qiu, Jun Yang
Summary: This study found that acupuncture can enhance functional connectivity between the dorsal raphe nucleus (RPN) and the right putamen in patients with knee osteoarthritis (KOA), which is related to the intensity of chronic pain. This result suggests that acupuncture can improve the perception of pain in patients with KOA by stimulating neural mechanisms in the brain.
FRONTIERS IN NEUROLOGY
(2022)
Article
Clinical Neurology
N. Tuovinen, A. Stefani, T. Mitterling, A. Heidbreder, B. Frauscher, E. R. Gizewski, W. Poewe, B. Hoegl, C. Scherfler
Summary: Patients with restless legs syndrome showed alterations in connectivity within different resting-state networks, with some networks showing increased connectivity and others showing decreased connectivity, corresponding to regions associated with attention, response inhibitory control, and processing of sensory information. Patients on dopaminergic medication displayed increased connectivity between the thalamus and prefrontal regions.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Xin Zhang, Jiayue Liu, Yang Yang, Shijie Zhao, Lei Guo, Junwei Han, Xintao Hu
Summary: The study examined the test-retest reliability of dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) in functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) under natural viewing condition, revealing significantly improved reliability compared to resting state. This suggests that naturalistic paradigms may enhance the study of functional brain networks using fMRI.
HUMAN BRAIN MAPPING
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Nao-Xin Huang, Zhu-Ling Gao, Jia-Hui Lin, Yan-Juan Lin, Hua-Jun Chen
Summary: Sleep deprivation can alter the stability of the brain's functional architecture and may have implications for various neurocognitive domains.
FRONTIERS IN NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Lu Chen, Ting Huang, Di Ma, Yu-Chen Chen
Summary: This study used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the intrinsic functional connectivity (FC) pattern of the default mode network (DMN) in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). The results showed increased FC between the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) and other brain regions in PD patients compared to healthy controls (HCs). The increased FC values in the right precuneus were also positively correlated with motor severity in the PD group. These findings suggest that altered connectivity in the DMN may play a crucial role in the cognitive decline observed in PD.
FRONTIERS IN NEUROSCIENCE
(2022)
Article
Behavioral Sciences
Wenwen Chang, Hong Wang, Guanghui Yan, Zhiguo Lu, Chong Liu, Chengcheng Hua
Summary: This study investigates the functional connectivity of human brain when facing painful and non-painful situations with pictures of human hand and robot hand. It finds that humans show similar neural response patterns towards humanoid robots under painful stimuli as well as to humans. The early empathy responses and late empathy responses differ in mutual dependences and connectivity weights, with the empathy index proposed as a quantitative indicator of human empathy ability.
Article
Neurosciences
Maria Geisler, Alexander Ritter, Marco Herbsleb, Karl-Juergen Baer, Thomas Weiss
Summary: Endurance athletes exhibit higher pain tolerance thresholds and stronger conditioned pain modulation compared to nonathletes, indicating a more efficient endogenous pain inhibition system. During painful stimulation, athletes showed lower pain ratings and reduced brain activation in several regions typically activated by nociceptive stimulation compared to nonathletes. Additionally, functional connectivity analyses revealed stronger neural networks in athletes during painful heat stimulation, with the exception of reduced connectivity with the brain stem.
HUMAN BRAIN MAPPING
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Matthias Zunhammer, Tamas Spisak, Tor D. Wager, Ulrike Bingel
Summary: Placebo analgesia influences pain-related activity in multiple brain areas, with activity increases mainly in frontoparietal regions, and reductions in regions belonging to ventral attention and somatomotor networks. The findings suggest that the neural mechanisms of placebo analgesia are complex and involve multiple cerebral mechanisms that differ across studies.
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
(2021)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Eleonora Borelli, Sarah Bigi, Leonardo Potenza, Fabrizio Artioli, Sonia Eliardo, Claudia Mucciarini, Katia Cagossi, Giorgia Razzini, Antonella Pasqualini, Fausta Lui, Fabio Ferlazzo, Massimiliano Cruciani, Eduardo Bruera, Fabio Efficace, Mario Luppi, Cristina Cacciari, Carlo Adolfo Porro, Elena Bandieri
Summary: Early palliative/supportive care (ePSC) is a medical intervention focused on meeting patients' needs shortly after a cancer diagnosis. This study found that patients perceive social pain more negatively than physical pain, and consider social pain worse than physical pain.
Article
Oncology
Eleonora Borelli, Sarah Bigi, Leonardo Potenza, Sonia Eliardo, Fabrizio Artioli, Claudia Mucciarini, Luca Cottafavi, Katia Cagossi, Giorgia Razzini, Massimiliano Cruciani, Alessandra Pietramaggiori, Valeria Fantuzzi, Laura Lombardo, Umberto Ferrari, Vittorio Ganfi, Fausta Lui, Oreofe Odejide, Cristina Cacciari, Carlo Adolfo Porro, Camilla Zimmermann, Fabio Efficace, Eduardo Bruera, Mario Luppi, Elena Bandieri
Summary: The study found significant benefits of early palliative care for cancer patients and their caregivers. Participants had more positive emotional and cognitive experiences during palliative care intervention, leading to greater acceptance of end-of-life care. Qualitative and quantitative analyses show that emotional and cognitive processes centered around communication with the palliative care team contribute to the psychological well-being of participants.
Article
Oncology
Sarah Bigi, Vittorio Ganfi, Eleonora Borelli, Leonardo Potenza, Fabrizio Artioli, Sonia Eliardo, Claudia Mucciarini, Luca Cottafavi, Massimiliano Cruciani, Cristina Cacciari, Oreofe Odejide, Carlo Adolfo Porro, Camilla Zimmermann, Fabio Efficace, Eduardo Bruera, Mario Luppi, Elena Bandieri
Summary: This study explores perceptions of hope among bereaved caregivers of onco-hematologic patients who received early palliative care (EPC). The results suggest that caregivers perceive hope as resilience and expectations based on patients' clinical conditions. Trusting relationships with healthcare teams enhance hope. EPC interventions are seen as major support for hope.
Review
Oncology
Leonardo Potenza, Eleonora Borelli, Sarah Bigi, Davide Giusti, Giuseppe Longo, Oreofe Odejide, Carlo Adolfo Porro, Camilla Zimmermann, Fabio Efficace, Eduardo Bruera, Mario Luppi, Elena Bandieri
Summary: New targeted drugs have been developed for AML treatment, but their potential efficacy needs to be balanced with the possibility of poor outcomes. Early integration of PC has shown benefits for solid tumor patients, but is underutilized in patients with hematologic malignancies.
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Angela Bartolo, Daniela Ballotta, Luca Nocetti, Patrizia Baraldi, Paolo Frigio Nichelli, Francesca Benuzzi
Summary: The study found that disparagement humor, while perceived as funny, also has offensive elements, with the level of offense being lower than that of other unfunny socially inappropriate humor. Brain activation data showed that feelings of laughter and social inappropriateness coexisted in disparagement humor, while both disparagement humor and unfunny socially inappropriate humor shared a network related to mentalizing and processing negative emotions.
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Neurosciences
Jessica Rossi, Francesco Cavallieri, Giada Giovannini, Francesca Benuzzi, Daniela Ballotta, Anna Elisabetta Vaudano, Francesca Ferrara, Sara Contardi, Antonello Pietrangelo, Elena Corradini, Fausta Lui, Stefano Meletti
Summary: This paper describes the MRI findings of a patient with Wilson disease and a seizure disorder resembling juvenile myoclonic epilepsy. The structural MRI revealed a deposition of ferromagnetic materials in the basal ganglia, resulting in marked hypointensities in T2-weighted images of the globus pallidus internus bilaterally. Resting-state fMRI study showed increased functional connectivity in networks involving the primary motor cortex and cortical regions, as well as between the globus pallidus and the thalamo-frontal network. These findings suggest that globus pallidus alterations caused by metal accumulation can disrupt the normal inhibitory function of the globus pallidus on the thalamo-(motor)-cortical pathway, leading to hyperconnectivity in the motor cortex circuitry and the development of myoclonus and tonic-clonic seizures. It is hypothesized that Wilson disease in this patient created a "lesion model" of myoclonic epilepsy.
Letter
Health Care Sciences & Services
Monica Morselli, Federico Banchelli, Eleonora Borelli, Stefano Cordella, Fabio Forghieri, Francesca Bettelli, Sarah Bigi, Giuseppe Longo, Roberto D'Amico, Carlo Adolfo Porro, Fabio Efficace, Eduardo Bruera, Mario Luppi, Elena Bandieri, Leonardo Potenza
BMJ SUPPORTIVE & PALLIATIVE CARE
(2022)
Article
Oncology
Sarah Bigi, Vittorio Ganfi, Eleonora Borelli, Leonardo Potenza, Fabrizio Artioli, Sonia Eliardo, Claudia Mucciarini, Luca Cottafavi, Umberto Ferrari, Laura Lombardo, Katia Cagossi, Alessandra Pietramaggiori, Valeria Fantuzzi, Ilaria Bernardini, Massimiliano Cruciani, Cristina Cacciari, Oreofe Odejide, Carlo Adolfo Porro, Camilla Zimmermann, Fabio Efficace, Eduardo Bruera, Mario Luppi, Elena Bandieri
Summary: Early palliative care interventions can increase the acceptance of death in patients with advanced cancer and their caregivers, with the EPC group showing a more positive attitude towards death.
Article
Oncology
Eleonora Borelli, Sarah Bigi, Leonardo Potenza, Fabio Gilioli, Fabrizio Artioli, Giampiero Porzio, Carlo Adolfo Porro, Fabio Efficace, Eduardo Bruera, Mario Luppi, Elena Bandieri
Summary: This study explores whether and how gratitude may originate in patients with advanced cancer and their caregivers undergoing early palliative care (EPC). The results suggest that interventions within the EPC model based on doctor-patient-caregiver communication may allow patients and caregivers to experience a feeling of gratitude, which can be a resource to improve their physical and psychosocial wellbeing.
FRONTIERS IN ONCOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Francesca Benuzzi, Daniela Ballotta, Claudia Casadio, Vanessa Zanelli, Carlo Adolfo Porro, Paolo Frigio Nichelli, Fausta Lui
Summary: Facial imitation during the perception of an emotional facial expression is automatic and prevents the accuracy of emotion recognition. This fMRI study examined the impact of posing a facial expression on the recognition of ambiguous facial expressions. The results showed that posing an emotional face increased congruence with the perceived emotion, and activating bilateral anterior insula when perceiving non-congruent emotions. The study also found correlations between brain activity and empathic traits, particularly empathic concern, fantasy, and personal distress.
Article
Psychology, Multidisciplinary
Daniela Ballotta, Riccardo Maramotti, Eleonora Borelli, Fausta Lui, Giuseppe Pagnoni
Summary: This study aimed to identify the neural circuits involved in processing positive and negative valence of facial expressions and words. Using fMRI, the researchers found that early visual cortices were the only areas showing differential response to negative and positive valence, with faces eliciting stronger activations. The effect was mediated by the amygdala for positive faces and the fusiform face area for negative faces, while for words, it was mainly imputable to the primary visual cortex.
FRONTIERS IN PSYCHOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Eleonora Borelli, Francesca Benuzzi, Daniela Ballotta, Elena Bandieri, Mario Luppi, Cristina Cacciari, Carlo Adolfo Porro, Fausta Lui
Summary: Recent studies have found that processing semantic pain affects pain perception and activates regions of the pain matrix. This study aims to compare the brain activity related to perceiving nociceptive pain and semantic pain, in order to identify common and distinct neural substrates.
FRONTIERS IN NEUROSCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
Slimane Tounekti, Mahdi Alizadeh, Devon Middleton, James S. Harrop, Bassem Hiba, Laura Krisa, Choukri Mekkaoui, Feroze B. Mohamed
Summary: This study proposes and demonstrates a new method combining reduced field-of-view strategy with phase segmented EPI to address geometric distortion in post-operative DTI scans of patients with metal implants. The results show that the new method outperforms traditional techniques in reducing distortion.
MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING
(2024)
Article
Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
Silvia Minosse, Eliseo Picchi, Valentina Ferrazzoli, Noemi Pucci, Valerio Da Ros, Raffaella Giocondo, Roberto Floris, Francesco Garaci, Francesca Di Giuliano
Summary: The aim of this study was to investigate the variation of DCE-MRI-derived kinetic parameters in brain tumors as a function of acquisition time. The results showed that K-ep and V-e were time-dependent and required longer scan times to obtain reliable parameter values, while K-trans was time-independent and remained the same in all acquisition times, making it a reliable parameter for short acquisition times.
MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING
(2024)
Article
Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
Xingmin Guan, Xinheng Zhang, Hsin-Jung Yang, Rohan Dharmakumar
Summary: This study aims to investigate why DIR-prepared dark-blood T2* weighted images have lower SNR, CNR, and diagnostic accuracy for intramyocardial hemorrhage (IMH) detection compared to non-DIR-prepared bright-blood T2* images. Through phantom and animal studies, it was confirmed that the signal loss on DIR-prepared T2* images mainly originates from spin-relaxation during the DIR preparation. Therefore, when used for IMH detection, extra attention should be paid to the SNR of DIR-prepared dark-blood T2* imaging protocols.
MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING
(2024)
Article
Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
Beatriz Laureano, Hassna Irzan, Helen OReilly, Sebastian Ourselin, Neil Marlow, Andrew Melbourne
Summary: Prematurity and preterm stressors have significant effects on the development of infants, especially at earlier gestations. While neonatal care advances have reduced preterm mortality rates, disability rates continue to grow in middle-income settings. Imaging the preterm brain using MR technology has improved our understanding of its development and the affected regions and networks. This research aims to support interventions, improve neurodevelopment, and provide accurate prognoses for preterm infants. This study focuses on the fully developed brain of extremely preterm subjects and examines myelin-related biomarkers to assess long-term effects. The findings suggest altered connectivity and cognitive outcomes in the adult preterm brain.
MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING
(2024)
Article
Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
Julian Rauch, Frederik B. Laun, Peter Bachert, Mark E. Ladd, Tristan A. Kuder
Summary: This study presents a method for reducing concomitant field effects in double diffusion encoding (DDE) sequences by adding oscillating gradient pulses. The modified sequences successfully reduced accumulated concomitant phase without significant changes in the original sequence characteristics. The proposed method led to an increase in signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) for phantom and in vivo experiments, supported by simulations.
MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING
(2024)
Article
Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
Marlon Bran Lorenzana, Shekhar S. Chandra, Feng Liu
Summary: Sparse reconstruction is important in MRI for reducing acquisition time and improving spatial-temporal resolution. This paper introduces two decoupling techniques for explicit 1D regularization and a combined 1D + 2D reconstruction technique that improves image quality.
MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING
(2024)
Article
Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
Yifan Gou, W. Christopher Golden, Zixuan Lin, Jennifer Shepard, Aylin Tekes, Zhiyi Hu, Xin Li, Kumiko Oishi, Marilyn Albert, Hanzhang Lu, Peiying Liu, Dengrong Jiang
Summary: ARTS algorithm improves the reliability of Y-v estimation in noncompliant subjects, enhancing the utility of Y-v as a biomarker for brain diseases.
MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING
(2024)
