Article
Neurosciences
Merve Kaptan, S. Johanna Vannesjo, Toralf Mildner, Ulrike Horn, Ronald Hartley-Davies, Valeria Oliva, Jonathan C. W. Brooks, Nikolaus Weiskopf, Juergen Finsterbusch, Falk Eippert
Summary: Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of the human spinal cord faces challenges due to signal loss caused by local magnetic field inhomogeneities. This study proposes a slice-specific z-shimming technique to address this issue. The effects of z-shimming on various aspects of spinal fMRI are evaluated, and two automated procedures are developed to improve upon the time-consuming and subjective manual selection of z-shims. The results demonstrate the beneficial effects of z-shimming across different echo times and for both the dorsal and ventral horn. The automated approaches are faster than the manual one, leading to significant improvements in gray matter tSNR compared to no z-shimming. While the field-map-based approach performed slightly worse than the manual one, the EPI-based approach performed as well as the manual one and was validated on an external dataset. Overall, automated z-shimming may enhance data quality and reproducibility in future spinal fMRI studies.
HUMAN BRAIN MAPPING
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Ying Chu, Bjorn Fricke, Jurgen Finsterbusch
Summary: This paper introduces a dedicated shim algorithm for cortico-spinal fMRI, which optimizes static second-order shim terms and linear shim terms with minimal user interaction. Results show that using CoSpi shim settings can reduce overall field inhomogeneity by about 65% / 75% (brain / spinal cord volume) compared to the conventional region-wise approach, and achieve similar results as single-volume shim settings. Additionally, geometric distortions and temporal SNR are improved, which could significantly enhance the applicability of cortico-spinal fMRI.
Review
Neurosciences
Hongzan Sun, Yong He, Heqi Cao
Summary: NSFC has been funding various research programs related to fMRI over the past two decades, with increasing support particularly in the General Program and Key Program. Leading research institutes in economically developed provinces and municipalities received the most support and established close collaboration relationships. Notable achievements in data analysis methods, brain connectomes, and computational platforms as well as their applications in brain disorders were reviewed.
CNS NEUROSCIENCE & THERAPEUTICS
(2021)
Review
Neurosciences
Alexandra Tinnermann, Christian Buechel, Julien Cohen-Adad
Summary: Functional magnetic resonance imaging has been used to investigate pain perception in both health and disease, with recent developments allowing for simultaneous recording of neural activity in the brain and spinal cord. However, challenges remain in data acquisition and analysis strategies for this promising technique.
Article
Clinical Neurology
Katie Yoganathan, Naveed Malek, Emma Torzillo, Menaka Paranathala, John Greene
Summary: Structural and functional imaging of the brain, such as CT, MRI, fMRI, SPECT, and PET, plays an important role in planning surgery and predicting outcomes for patients with drug-resistant focal epilepsy. In patients with negative MRI results, PET or SPECT imaging can help localize the epileptogenic zone by demonstrating hypometabolism or hyperperfusion in the area surrounding the seizure focus. These imaging techniques are less invasive than intracranial EEG and can assist in planning EEG electrode placement. Multimodal imaging allows for better characterization of focal pathology and improved surgical outcomes. This paper provides an update on the field and offers practical guidance for selecting appropriate investigations and interpreting findings in patients with drug-resistant focal epilepsy.
JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Ali Khatibi, Shahabeddin Vahdat, Ovidiu Lungu, Jurgen Finsterbusch, Christian Buechel, Julien Cohen-Adad, Veronique Marchand-Pauvert, Julien Doyon
Summary: This study investigated the role of the spinal cord in human motor learning and found that there are changes in spinal cord activation and functional connectivity during the learning process. The subjects showed improved motor performance in the sequence task, which was associated with decreased co-contractions and increased reciprocal activations between wrist muscles. The early learning phase was characterized by activation in the C8 level, while a more rostral activation in the C6-C7 was found during the later learning phase. Increased spinal cord functional connectivity with brain networks, including the motor cortex, superior parietal lobule, and cerebellum, supported motor sequence learning at different stages.
Article
Clinical Neurology
Shana R. Black, Jace B. King, Mark A. Mahan, Jeffrey Anderson, Christopher R. Butson
Summary: Neuropathic pain is a chronic pain condition affecting a large population of spinal cord injury patients, with poorly understood neurophysiological mechanisms. Recent neuroimaging studies suggest differential patterns of functional activity in patients with neuropathic pain. Analysis using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and high-resolution resting state fMRI revealed significant differences in functional activation and connectivity in the brains of neuropathic pain patients compared to non-painful patients within the spinal cord injury cohort.
FRONTIERS IN 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
Biology
Valeria Oliva, Ron Hartley-Davies, Rosalyn Moran, Anthony E. Pickering, Jonathan Cw Brooks
Summary: Shifting attention away from a threatening event can decrease pain perception. This phenomenon may involve neural pathways connecting the anterior cingulate with the locus coeruleus and periaqueductal grey-rostral ventromedial medulla, with potential roles for noradrenergic and opioidergic modulators.
Article
Anesthesiology
Thierry Paquette, Nasim Eskandari, Hugues Leblond, Mathieu Piche
Summary: This study aimed to examine spinal neurovascular coupling in a rat model of chronic back pain induced by muscle inflammation. The results showed that although chronic inflammatory back pain affected the time course of spinal cord blood flow, neurovascular coupling was comparable between the model rats and patients with chronic back pain, highlighting the need for caution in using spinal functional magnetic resonance imaging in animal models and patients with chronic back pain.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Foteini Simistira Liwicki, Vibha Gupta, Rajkumar Saini, Kanjar De, Nosheen Abid, Sumit Rakesh, Scott Wellington, Holly Wilson, Marcus Liwicki, Johan Eriksson
Summary: This paper presents the first publicly available bimodal dataset of EEG and fMRI data acquired during inner-speech production. The aim is to contribute towards speech prostheses by decoding inner speech.
Article
Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
Ling Wang, Shengqiang Wang, Weimin Zheng, Beining Yang, Yanhui Yang, Xin Chen, Qian Chen, Xuejing Li, Yongsheng Hu, Jubao Du, Wen Qin, Jie Lu, Nan Chen
Summary: This study reveals the specific functional changes in the brain of children after complete spinal cord injury, providing potential neural mechanisms for the sensory motor and cognitive-emotional deficits they face during rehabilitation.
JOURNAL OF MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING
(2023)
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Xue Jiao, Ming Yuan, Qiuju Li, Yufei Huang, Miaomiao Ji, Jing Li, Shumin Yan, Hao Sun, Xinyu Wang, Zangyu Pan, Qianhui Ren, Dawei Wang, Guoyun Wang
Summary: This study used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate brain morphological alterations and regional dysfunctions in patients with adenomyosis-related pain. The results showed changes in multiple brain regions associated with pain as well as anxiety and depression symptoms.
JOURNAL OF CLINICAL MEDICINE
(2022)
Article
Neurosciences
Kimberly J. Hemmerling, Mark A. Hoggarth, Milap S. Sandhu, Todd B. Parrish, Molly G. Bright
Summary: Upper extremity motor paradigms during spinal cord functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) were studied. Hand-grasping is an important daily function with clinical significance. Activation of group motor activity was highly lateralized to the hemicord ipsilateral to the side of the task, primarily localized to the C7 spinal cord segment. The impact of data quantity and spatial smoothing on sensitivity to hand-grasp motor task activation was explored.
HUMAN BRAIN MAPPING
(2023)
Article
Neurosciences
Fei Jiang, Huaqing Jin, Yijing Gao, Xihe Xie, Jennifer Cummings, Ashish Raj, Srikantan Nagarajan
Summary: This article introduces a novel framework called TVDN for studying dynamic resting state functional connectivity. The framework includes a generative model and an inference algorithm that can automatically and adaptively learn the low-dimensional manifold of dynamic RSFC and detect dynamic state transitions in data. Experimental results demonstrate that TVDN is able to accurately capture the dynamics of brain activity and more robustly detect brain state switching.
Article
Neurosciences
Jose Sanchez-Bornot, Roberto C. Sotero, J. A. Scott Kelso, Ozguer Simsek, Damien Coyle
Summary: This study proposes a multi-penalized state-space model for analyzing unobserved dynamics, using a data-driven regularization method. Novel algorithms are developed to solve the model, and a cross-validation method is introduced to evaluate regularization parameters. The effectiveness of this method is validated through simulations and real data analysis, enabling a more accurate exploration of cognitive brain functions.