Most recent paper

Biol Psychiatry Cogn Neurosci Neuroimaging. 2025 Apr 11:S2451-9022(25)00129-6. doi: 10.1016/j.bpsc.2025.03.015. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Mental illnesses extract personal and societal costs, leading to significant challenges in cognitive function, emotional regulation, and social behavior. These disorders are thought to result from disruptions in how different brain regions communicate with each other. Despite advances in neuroimaging, current methods are not always precise enough to fully understand the complexity of these disruptions. More advanced approaches are needed to better identify and characterize the specific brain network alterations linked to different psychiatric conditions.

METHODS: We employed a hierarchical approach to derive Double Functionally Independent Primitives (dFIPs) from resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) data. dFIPs represent independent patterns of functional network connectivity (FNC) across the brain. Our study utilized a large multi-site dataset comprising 5805 individuals diagnosed with schizophrenia (SCZ), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), bipolar disorder (BPD), major depressive disorder (MDD), and healthy controls. We analyzed how combinations of dFIPs differentiate psychiatric diagnoses.

RESULTS: Distinct dFIP patterns emerged for each disorder. Schizophrenia was characterized by heightened cerebellar connectivity and reduced cerebellar-subcortical connectivity. In ASD, sensory domain hyperconnectivity was prominent. Some dFIPs displayed disorder-specific connectivity patterns, while others exhibited commonalities across multiple conditions. These findings underscore the utility of dFIPs in revealing neural connectivity alterations unique to each disorder, serving as unique fingerprints for different mental disorders.

CONCLUSIONS: Our study demonstrates that dFIPs provide a novel, data-driven method for identifying disorder-specific functional connectivity patterns in psychiatric conditions. These distinct neural signatures offer potential biomarkers for mental illnesses, contributing to a deeper understanding of the neurobiological underpinnings of these disorders.

PMID:40222638 | DOI:10.1016/j.bpsc.2025.03.015

J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2025 Apr 10:S0890-8567(25)00206-0. doi: 10.1016/j.jaac.2025.04.005. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: Racial discrimination drives health disparities among racial/ethnic minority youth, creating chronic stress that affects brain development and contributes to mental and behavioral health issues. This study analyzed data from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study to examine the neurobiological mechanisms linking discrimination to mental and behavioral health outcomes.

METHOD: A sample of 3,321 racial/ethnic minority youth was split into training (80%, n=2,674) and testing (20%, n=647) groups. Propensity-score-weighted machine learning was used to assess the effects of perceived discrimination on two-year changes in resting-state functional connectivity between three subcortical regions (nucleus accumbens, amygdala, hippocampus) and large-scale brain networks. Mediation analyses evaluated whether brain changes mediated sex-specific effects on internalizing or externalizing symptoms.

RESULTS: Perceived discrimination was significantly associated with two-year changes in connectivity of the nucleus accumbens, amygdala, and hippocampus in both cross-validation and independent testing. Key findings included decreases in nucleus accumbens connectivity with retrosplenial-temporal and sensorimotor (hand) networks, decreases in amygdala connectivity with the sensorimotor (mouth) network, and increases in hippocampal connectivity with the auditory network. These changes suggest accelerated maturation in these connections among youth reporting higher discrimination levels. Moderated mediation analyses revealed sex differences, with discrimination-related changes in nucleus accumbens connectivity linked to poorer internalizing outcomes in female participants.

CONCLUSIONS: The results indicate perceived racial discrimination experienced in adolescence impact subcortical-cortical brain development, which affect mental and behavioral health outcomes in a sex-specific manner.

PMID:40222403 | DOI:10.1016/j.jaac.2025.04.005

Sci Rep. 2025 Apr 12;15(1):12623. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-85989-x.

ABSTRACT

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is is a type B personality disorder primarily characterized by a pattern of unstable interpersonal relationships, a distorted self-concept, and intense emotional reactions, associated with extreme and opposing mental and behavioral states, which coexist and lead to destructive behaviors such as self-harm, commonly recurring over time.. The Personality Inventory for the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), Fifth Edition (PID-5) provides a dimensional assessment of maladaptive domains associated with personality disorders, improving the understanding of their complex clinical presentations. While altered brain functional connectivity (FC) has been reported in BPD, neurobiological-clinical correlations remain debated. This study explores the relationship between the personality dimensions of BPD and resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI) FC. Twenty-eight patients with BPD (6M/22F, 23.7 ± 3.4 years) and twenty-eight matched healthy controls (6M/22F, 24.3 ± 2.8 years) underwent a psychiatric assessment, including the PID-5, and an MRI protocol including rs-fMRI. Functional data were analyzed via graph theory to derive network properties at global and nodal levels, which were correlated with the PID-5 subdomains. The results revealed impairments across all personality trait facets. Patients had lower global connectivity and compromised centrality of several limbic structures and frontotemporal regions. Significant correlations were found between separation insecurity and global efficiency (R = 0.60, adjusted-p = 0.035) and between depressivity and the degree of the left middle temporal gyrus (R = 0.69, adjusted-p = 0.023) in females. These findings suggest links between negative affectivity traits, in particular separation insecurity and depressivity, and specific brain network dysfunctions in BPD.

PMID:40221425 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-025-85989-x

BMJ Open Ophthalmol. 2025 Apr 12;10(1):e001902. doi: 10.1136/bmjophth-2024-001902.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: Glaucoma is a complex neurodegenerative ocular disorder accompanied by brain functional abnormalities that extend beyond the visual system. However, the causal association between the two remains unclear at present. This study aimed to investigate the potential causal relationships between glaucoma and brain functional networks in order to provide novel insights into the neuropathic mechanism of glaucoma.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS: Based on the genome-wide association studies data of glaucoma and resting-state functional MRI (Rs-fMRI), a bidirectional Mendelian randomisation (MR) analysis was conducted between glaucoma and brain functional networks. Inverse variance weighting was applied as the primary method to estimate causality with false discovery rate correction. Additional sensitivity analyses were conducted to evaluate the robustness of the results.

RESULTS: Forward MR analysis suggested that glaucoma was causally associated with two brain networks between the subcortical cerebellum and the attention or visual network (p=0.022), as well as the default mode and central executive network (p=0.008), but without significance after false discovery rate correction (q>0.1). Reverse MR analysis revealed 19 Rs-fMRI traits related to glaucoma risk, including the salience or central executive network in the frontal region (p=0.0005, q=0.08) and the motor network (p=0.0009, q=0.08) with significant causality.

CONCLUSIONS: This MR study revealed potentially causal relationships between glaucoma and brain functional networks. Especially, the functional connectivity of the motor network between the postcentral or precentral areas may potentially lead to increased risk of glaucoma.

PMID:40221145 | DOI:10.1136/bmjophth-2024-001902

Cell Rep. 2025 Apr 11;44(4):115570. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2025.115570. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Subcortical plasticity has mainly been studied using invasive electrophysiology in animals. Here, we leverage precision functional mapping (PFM) to study motor plasticity in the human subcortex during 2 weeks of upper-extremity immobilization with daily resting-state and motor task fMRI. We found previously that, in the cortex, limb disuse drastically impacts disused primary motor cortex functional connectivity (FC) and is associated with spontaneous fMRI pulses. It remains unknown whether disuse-driven plasticity pulses and FC changes are cortex specific or whether they could also affect movement-critical nodes in the thalamus and striatum. Tailored analysis methods now show spontaneous disuse pulses and FC changes in the dorsal posterior putamen and central thalamus (centromedian [CM], ventral-intermediate [VIM], and ventroposterior-lateral nuclei), representing a motor circuit-wide plasticity phenomenon. The posterior putamen effects suggest plasticity in stimulus-driven habit circuitry. Importantly, thalamic plasticity effects are focal to nuclei used as deep brain stimulation targets for essential tremor/Parkinson's disease (VIM) and epilepsy/coma (CM).

PMID:40220292 | DOI:10.1016/j.celrep.2025.115570

Eur J Neurosci. 2025 Apr;61(7):e70077. doi: 10.1111/ejn.70077.

ABSTRACT

Cleft lip and palate (CLP) may induce alterations in functional connectivity (FC) throughout the whole brain, potentially leading to speech dysfunctions; however, the precise neurobiological mechanisms involved remain unknown. This study aimed to systematically examine the consequences of neurological impairments associated with CLP on whole-brain FC and speech functionality. A total of 33 CLP individuals and 41 control participants were included in this study. Eight meaningful brain networks were identified through independent component analysis (ICA). The intergroup differences and correlations with speech scores for both intranetwork and internetwork FC were calculated. We observed decreased FC within the sensorimotor network (SMN), default mode network (DMN), and cerebellar network (CN) and increased FC within the executive control network (ECN). Additionally, FC was enhanced between the SMN and the auditory network (AN), attention network (ATN), and salience network (SAN); between the DMN and the visual network (VN) and ECN; and between two independent components of the DMN. Furthermore, significant correlations were observed between altered FC and speech assessment scores. Our research demonstrated that brain plasticity in CLP individuals with speech deficits involves widespread changes in brain connectivity, significantly improving our understanding of the neural basis of speech impairment in CLP individuals.

PMID:40219708 | DOI:10.1111/ejn.70077

Sci Rep. 2025 Apr 12;15(1):12542. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-95560-3.

ABSTRACT

Periventricular venous infarction (PVI) is a subtype of perinatal stroke localized to subcortical white matter occurring before 34 weeks of gestation. An emerging body of literature has reported life-long motor impairments and compromised quality of life in patients with PVI. However, there remains a paucity of foundational knowledge regarding the underlying neurobiological mechanisms that underpin these outcomes. Recent studies (Ferradal et al. in Cereb Cortex 29:1218-1229, 2019) in brain imaging suggest that healthy development of thalamocortical connections is instrumental in coordinating brain connectivity in both prenatal and postnatal periods given the central role the thalamus and basal ganglia play in motor circuitry. Therefore, we provide a regional and cross-network approach to the analysis of interactive pathways of the thalamus, basal ganglia, and cortex to explore possible neurobiological disruptions responsible for clinical motor function in children with PVI. A resting-state fMRI protocol was administered to children with left periventricular venous infarction (PVI) (n = 23) and typically developing children (TDC) (n = 22) to characterize regional oscillatory and thalamocortical disturbances and compare them to clinical motor function. We hypothesized that PVI would affect resting-state measures of both regional and global brain function, marked by abnormally high amplitudes of regional oscillatory activity, as well as lower local and cross-network communication. Using a combination of robust functional metrics to assess spontaneous, oscillatory activity (Amplitude of Low-Frequency Fluctuations [ALFF] and fractional ALFF), as well as local (Regional Homogeneity [ReHo]) and cross-network connectivity (Degree Centrality [DC] and Functional Connectivity [FC]). We found that compared with TDC, children with PVI exhibited higher levels of ALFF, and these functional differences were associated with the severity of motor impairment. Moreover, the thalamus in children with PVI also showed lower connectivity in relaying thalamocortical pathways. These disruptions in thalamocortical pathways from the thalamus were localized to the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), a key hub of the default mode network). Collectively, our findings suggest that heightened levels of regional, oscillatory activity in the thalamus may disrupt more widespread thalamocortical cross-network circuity, possibly contributing to motor impairments in children with PVI.

PMID:40216875 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-025-95560-3

Clin Auton Res. 2025 Apr 12. doi: 10.1007/s10286-025-01124-w. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The aim of our study was to investigate the changes in brain functional activity in heart transplant patients and to explore the relationship between abnormal spontaneous brain activity and cognitive function through amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFF).

METHODS: Sixty-eight heart transplant patients and 56 healthy controls were assessed by the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) scale and the Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE) scale, and resting-state functional magnetic resonance scans were performed. Cortical analysis was applied to calculate the ALFF, and two-sample t test was used to detect differences of mean ALFF in the brain region between the two groups. In addition, the correlations between abnormal functional activity brain regions, cognitive functions, and clinical indicators were analyzed.

RESULTS: Heart transplant patients had significantly lower MoCA scores and MMSE scores compared to healthy subjects. ALFF were found to be decreased in the right cerebellum anterior lobe, left parahippocampal gyrus, left temporal lobe, left parietal lobe, and right postcentral gyrus, and increased in the right superior frontal gyrus and left middle frontal gyrus. In addition, ALFF in right superior frontal gyrus was positively correlated with MoCA score (r = 0.397, P < 0.05), MMSE score (r = 0.356, P < 0.05), stroke volume (SV, r = 0.412, P < 0.05), and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF, r = 0.614, P < 0.05) in heart transplant patients.

CONCLUSIONS: Cognitive function is impaired in heart transplant patients. The brain activity was altered in heart transplant recipients compared to healthy controls. ALFF changes in these brain regions may be associated with altered hemodynamics after transplantation, leading to impaired cognitive function. These findings help us to understand the neural mechanisms of cognitive changes in heart transplant recipients and provide a basis for developing interventions and rehabilitation strategies.

PMID:40216631 | DOI:10.1007/s10286-025-01124-w

Neuroimage. 2025 Apr 9:121195. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121195. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Functional connectivity in the context of functional magnetic resonance imaging is typically quantified by Pearson´s or partial correlation between regional time series of the blood oxygenation level dependent signal. However, a recent interdisciplinary methodological work proposes more than 230 different metrics to measure similarity between different types of time series.

OBJECTIVE: Hence, we systematically evaluated how the results of typical research approaches in functional neuroimaging vary depending on the functional connectivity metric of choice. We further explored which metrics most accurately detect presumed reductions in connectivity related to age and malignant brain tumors, aiming to initiate a debate on the best approaches for assessing brain connectivity in functional neuroimaging research.

METHODS: We addressed both research questions using four independent neuroimaging datasets, comprising multimodal data from a total of 1187 individuals. We analyzed resting-state functional sequences to calculate functional connectivity using 20 representative metrics from four distinct mathematical domains. We further used T1- and T2-weighted images to compute regional brain volumes, diffusion-weighted imaging data to build structural connectomes, and pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling to measure regional brain perfusion.

RESULTS: First, our findings demonstrate that the results of typical functional neuroimaging approaches differ fundamentally depending on the functional connectivity metric of choice. Second, we show that correlational and distance metrics are most appropriate to cover reductions in connectivity linked to aging. In this context, partial correlation performs worse than other correlational metrics. Third, our findings suggest that the FC metric of choice depends on the utilized scanning parameters, the regions of interest, and the individual investigated. Lastly, beyond the major objective of this study, we provide evidence in favor of brain perfusion measured via pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling as a robust neural entity mirroring age-related neural and cognitive decline.

CONCLUSION: Our empirical evaluation supports a recent theoretical functional connectivity framework. Future functional imaging studies need to comprehensively define the study-specific theoretical property of interest, the methodological property to assess the theoretical property, and the confounding property that may bias the conclusions.

PMID:40216213 | DOI:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121195

Neuroimage. 2025 Apr 9:121201. doi: 10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121201. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Previous studies have shown that the left temporoparietal junction (TPJ) plays a critical role in word reading. Nevertheless, there is still controversy surrounding the phonological and semantic functions of the left TPJ. The parietal unified connectivity-biased computation (PUCC) model posits that the function of the left TPJ depends on both the neurocomputation of this local area and its long-range connectivity. To clarify the specific roles of different TPJ subregions in phonological and semantic processing of Chinese characters, the present study used connectivity-based clustering to identify seven subdivisions within the left TPJ, and conducted comprehensive analyses including functional and structural connectivity, univariate and multivariate analyses (i.e., representational similarity analysis, RSA) on multimodal imaging data (task-state fMRI, resting-state fMRI, and diffusion-weighted imaging [DWI]). Functional and structural connectivity analyses revealed that the left anterior TPJ had stronger connections with the phonological network, while the left posterior TPJ had stronger connections with the semantic network. RSA revealed that the left anterior and posterior TPJ represented phonological and semantic information of Chinese characters, respectively. More importantly, the phonological and semantic representations of the left TPJ were respectively correlated with its functional connectivity to the phonological and semantic networks. Altogether, our results provide a more elaborate perspective on the functional dissociation of the left anterior and posterior TPJ in phonological and semantic processing of Chinese characters, and support the PUCC model.

PMID:40216211 | DOI:10.1016/j.neuroimage.2025.121201

Ann Indian Acad Neurol. 2025 Apr 11. doi: 10.4103/aian.aian_727_24. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Patients with neurodegenerative disorders generally lose their acquired cognitive skills. However, a few of our patients showed creative skills in new areas, and we tried to evaluate a possible neural substrate for this phenomenon.

METHODS: Patients who attended the memory clinic of National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences between December 2016 and September 2018 were screened as per the inclusion and exclusion criteria. All mandatory investigations including complete neuropsychology workup were done. The Creativity Styles Questionnaire and Temperament and character inventory-Revised (TCI-R) were used to assess creativity. Magnetic resonance imaging, voxel-based morphometry, and resting-state fMRI were done and the results analyzed.

RESULTS: A group of previously non-creative patients showed creative skills in the face of neurodegenerative disorder. Out of 110 patients, 10 patients could be called creative. As the disease worsened, creativity was lost. These persons showed enhanced volume in the non-dominant angular gyrus, and its faciliatory connectivity to dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and inferior parietal lobe was seen. Paradoxically, creativity seems to emerge in some patients with major cognitive disorders and it disappears as the disease progresses. Creative domain varies from person to person, and the longest preserved domain is music. The fMRI findings suggest that the enhanced areas may play a role in sustaining creativity even in patients with degenerative diseases.

CONCLUSION: Although case reports of creative skills in patients with major cognitive disorders exist, a complete workup of the neural basis has not been conducted so far. Higher volume in the non-dominant regions with relatively preserved language domain could be dysfunctional plasticity causing disinhibition of the innate creative skills when frontal lobe functions decline.

PMID:40215086 | DOI:10.4103/aian.aian_727_24

Cereb Cortex. 2025 Apr 1;35(4):bhaf074. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhaf074.

ABSTRACT

General cognitive ability (GCA), also called "general intelligence," is thought to depend on network properties of the brain, which can be quantified through graph theoretic measures such as small worldness and module degree. An extensive set of studies examined links between GCA and graphical properties of resting state connectomes. However, these studies often involved small samples, applied just a few graph theory measures in each study, and yielded inconsistent results, making it challenging to identify the architectural underpinnings of GCA. Here, we address these limitations by systematically investigating univariate and multivariate relationships between GCA and 17 whole-brain and node-level graph theory measures in individuals from the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study (n = 5937). We demonstrate that whole-brain graph theory measures, including small worldness and global efficiency, fail to exhibit meaningful relationships with GCA. In contrast, multiple node-level graphical measures, especially module degree (within-network connectivity), exhibit strong associations with GCA. We establish the robustness of these results by replicating them in a second large sample, the Human Connectome Project (n = 847), and across a variety of modeling choices. This study provides the most comprehensive and definitive account to date of complex interrelationships between GCA and graphical properties of the brain's intrinsic functional architecture.

PMID:40211548 | DOI:10.1093/cercor/bhaf074

Sci Rep. 2025 Apr 10;15(1):12304. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-97580-5.

ABSTRACT

In subjects with Vestibular Migraine (VM), a high Dizziness Handicap Inventory (DHI) scores is commonly observed, often reflecting severe impairment in balance. This investigation aims to evaluate the abnormalities in DHI scores and to explore the associations between alterations in brain function and balance disorders in individuals suffering from VM. Fifty-four subjects with VM and 49 age-, sex-, and education-matched healthy controls (HCs) underwent Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). Differences in whole-brain ReHo and seed-based functional connectivity were assessed. Pearson's correlation was utilized to examine the associations between regions showing significant group disparities and DHI scores. The subjects with VM had higher scores in DHI (mean 49.78 ± 20.07). Compared to the HCs, subjects with VM exhibited significantly decreased ReHo values in the frontal orbital gyrus (FOG), and increased middle cingulate cortex (MCC), and the ReHo in MCC value was significantly negatively correlated with DHI_F scores in the VM group. Additionally, VM exhibited abnormalities in FC between the MCC and precuneus (PreCu). Our findings indicate that subjects with VM frequently experience balance disturbances, which may be attributed to alterations in brain function. These insights provide valuable evidence for the development of physical therapy interventions for VM.

PMID:40211086 | DOI:10.1038/s41598-025-97580-5

Brain Stimul. 2025 Apr 8:S1935-861X(25)00087-7. doi: 10.1016/j.brs.2025.04.006. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Depression, the leading cause of disability worldwide, is a chronic disease characterized by a relapsing-remitting course. Acute treatments such as electroconvulsive therapy, ketamine, and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation are often effective at initiating remission, but relapse to a major depressive episode is common without ongoing interventions. Stanford Neuromodulation Therapy (SNT) produces high rates of remission after five days of acute treatment; however, the duration of this remission following a single course of SNT in people suffering from treatment-resistant depression is unknown, which poses a significant limit on clinical decision-making.

METHODS: Forty-six participants with treatment-resistant depression (TRD), received five days of SNT. Functional connectivity derived from resting-state functional MRI (fMRI) was used to individually target the region of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex most functionally anticorrelated with the subgenual anterior cingulate cortex. The 6-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS-6) was collected fortnightly for up to 24 weeks. Relapse was defined as two consecutive HDRS-6 scores of 5 or above.

RESULTS: Seventy percent (32 of 46) of participants entered remission the week following treatment. After 12 weeks of treatment, 15 of 46 (33%) participants remained in remission. Of the participants who entered remission, 15 of 32 (47%) remained in remission.

CONCLUSIONS: At 12 weeks, a subset of participants remained in remission, suggesting that the durability of SNT warrants further study. Comparisons with conventional rTMS should be interpreted cautiously given differences in study design, populations, and outcome measures.

PMID:40209894 | DOI:10.1016/j.brs.2025.04.006

Int J Clin Health Psychol. 2025 Jan-Mar;25(1):100560. doi: 10.1016/j.ijchp.2025.100560. Epub 2025 Mar 20.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Diminished capacity for maintaining positive affect (PA) has been identified in subthreshold depression (StD). While recent studies have explored affective dynamics among StD, the relationship between early emotional processing impairments and the capacity to prolong PA remains uncertain. Furthermore, it is unclear how brain connectivity patterns observed in StD are associated with PA maintenance.

METHODS: The experimental procedure comprised a baseline rs-fMRI scan, followed by a PA-inducing movie viewing task, and three further rs-fMRI sessions. Participants provided PA ratings following each session. PA maintenance was quantified through the slope of mood change between each session after movie viewing. We performed a dynamic functional connectivity analysis on movie viewing data, as well as a series of static functional connectivity (FC), analyses on data of all rs-fMRI sessions from 25 StD and 25 healthy controls (HC). Correlations between brain-related measures and slope of mood change were calculated.

RESULTS: Individuals with StD exhibited reduced capacity in sustaining PA, reflected in a decrease in PA in the early maintenance stage. StD also had a lower number of transitions between four brain states during movie viewing, which was related to subsequent impairment in sustaining PA. In addition, StD had weaker static FC between left inferior frontal gyrus and right middle occipital gyrus during the first resting-state session following movie viewing, which in turn was related to a steeper decline in PA.

CONCLUSIONS: These results highlight the brain features driving PA dysregulation in StD and provide a potential avenue for the development of future interventions.

PMID:40206962 | PMC:PMC11979472 | DOI:10.1016/j.ijchp.2025.100560

Sleep Med. 2025 Apr 3;131:106503. doi: 10.1016/j.sleep.2025.106503. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

PURPOSE: This study investigated the restorative effects of napping on cognitive brain networks in night-shift nurses experiencing sleep deprivation (SD).

METHODS: Functional magnetic resonance imaging data and neurocognitive assessments were collected from 20 nurses during three sessions (rested wakefulness (RW), SD, and night-shift napping (NS-NAP)). Functional connectivity (FC) was performed in three core cognitive networks, including the default-mode network (DMN), central executive network (CEN), and salience network (SN).

RESULTS: The SD session showed decreased FC across almost the entire DMN, while only showed increased FC in several key nodes of the CEN and SN. Napping partially mitigated SD-related FC alterations within the DMN and essentially restored FC abnormities in both the CEN and SN. Changes in neurocognitive performance observed between SD and NS-NAP sessions were correlated with alterations in FC within the DMN.

CONCLUSION: The functional integration of core neurocognitive networks can be restored to varying degrees through appropriate NS-NAP practices, potentially improving neurocognitive performance in nurses experiencing SD.

CLINICAL TRIAL NUMBER: not applicable.

PMID:40203612 | DOI:10.1016/j.sleep.2025.106503

Neuroreport. 2025 May 7;36(7):364-377. doi: 10.1097/WNR.0000000000002158. Epub 2025 Apr 9.

ABSTRACT

Low back pain (LBP) is a prevalent pain condition whose persistence can lead to changes in the brain regions responsible for sensory, cognitive, attentional, and emotional processing. Previous neuroimaging studies have identified various structural and functional abnormalities in patients with LBP; however, how the static and dynamic large-scale functional network connectivity (FNC) of the brain is affected in these patients remains unclear. Forty-one patients with chronic low back pain (cLBP) and 42 healthy controls underwent resting-state functional MRI scanning. The independent component analysis method was employed to extract the resting-state networks. Subsequently, we calculate and compare between groups for static intra- and inter-network functional connectivity. In addition, we investigated the differences between dynamic functional network connectivity and dynamic temporal metrics between cLBP patients and healthy controls. Finally, we tried to distinguish cLBP patients from healthy controls by support vector machine method. The results showed that significant reductions in functional connectivity within the network were found within the DMN,DAN, and ECN in cLBP patients. Significant between-group differences were also found in static FNC and in each state of dynamic FNC. In addition, in terms of dynamic temporal metrics, fraction time and mean dwell time were significantly altered in cLBP patients. In conclusion, our study suggests the existence of static and dynamic large-scale brain network alterations in patients with cLBP. The findings provide insights into the neural mechanisms underlying various brain function abnormalities and altered pain experiences in patients with cLBP.

PMID:40203235 | DOI:10.1097/WNR.0000000000002158

Hum Brain Mapp. 2025 Apr 1;46(5):e70167. doi: 10.1002/hbm.70167.

ABSTRACT

Individualized transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) targeting using functional connectivity analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has been demonstrated to be advantageous in inducing neuroplasticity. However, how this approach can benefit modulating the episodic memory function supported by the hippocampal network remains elusive. We use the resting-state fMRI data from a large cohort to reveal tentative TMS targets at cortical regions within the hippocampal network. Functional MRI from 1,133 individuals in the Human Connectome Project was used to analyze the hippocampal network using seed-based functional connectivity. Using a weighted sum of time series at the cortex, we identified the average centroids of individualized targets at the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and posterior parietal cortices (PPCs) at (-10, 49, 7) and (-40, -67, 30) in the left hemisphere, respectively. The mPFC and PPC coordinate at the right hemispheres are (11, 51, 6) and (48, -59, 24) in the right hemisphere, respectively. Centroids of the individualized functional connectivity at the mPFC and PPC were reproducible between sessions with separations in average about 2 and 4 mm, respectively. These separations were significantly smaller than the distance to average functional connectivity centroids (~10 mm) and atlas coordinate (~20 mm). These coordinates can be reliably identified (> 90% of individuals) using cortical "seedmaps." Our results suggest candidate TMS target coordinates to modulate the hippocampal function.

PMID:40202284 | DOI:10.1002/hbm.70167

Eur J Neurosci. 2025 Apr;61(7):e70105. doi: 10.1111/ejn.70105.

ABSTRACT

The discovery of the glymphatic system has provided a theoretical framework for understanding neurofluid dynamics and waste clearance within the brain. Recent studies suggest that the function of the glymphatic system is also reflected in the resting-state spontaneous brain activity. However, whether and how these functions change in perinatally HIV-infected (PHIV) adolescents, a population characterized by neuroviral infection and antiviral treatment, is largely unknown. This study aims to investigate whether PHIV-exposed infected and uninfected adolescents exhibit changes in glymphatic function and spontaneous brain activity that differ from their healthy, typically developing peers, and if these changes are associated with pathways involving related gene and receptor expression. Sixteen adolescents with perinatally acquired HIV infection (HIV+), 18 perinatally HIV-exposed but uninfected adolescents (HEU), and 30 demographically matched typically developing (TD) adolescents were enrolled. Cognitive, clinical, structural, and functional MRI data were collected. Diffusion tensor imaging along the perivascular space (DTI-ALPS) was employed to characterize glymphatic function, and whole-brain functional connectivity based on resting-state fMRI was used to investigate the diffusion of global oscillatory signals. Further mediation analysis was conducted to delineate the interactive relationships among DTI-ALPS, whole-brain signal dynamics, and cognitive assessments. HIV+ and HEU adolescents exhibited comparable DTI-ALPS scores (p > 0.05), yet both groups showed significantly higher DTI-ALPS compared with TD peers (p < 0.05). These findings suggest that not only perinatal HIV infection but also perinatal HIV exposure significantly and profoundly impacts subsequent adolescent brain glymphatic function and whole-brain signal dynamics.

PMID:40202035 | DOI:10.1111/ejn.70105

Neural Plast. 2025 Mar 31;2025:8176431. doi: 10.1155/np/8176431. eCollection 2025.

ABSTRACT

Objective: This study aims to investigate the impact of action observation therapy (AOT) on swallowing disorders following a stroke. Utilizing functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology, the study will examine adjustments in brain activity and functional connectivity (FC), providing novel insights for the rehabilitation of swallowing function in stroke patients. Methods: In this study, 11 healthy controls (HCs) and 11 stroke patients were included. The stroke patients underwent a 4-week AOT. To assess the differences in brain region activity between the patients before and after treatment and the HCs, regional homogeneity (ReHo), and degree centrality (DC) were calculated based on fMRI data separately. Important brain regions were selected as regions of interest (ROIs) for subsequent FC analysis, and finally, comparisons were made to evaluate the therapeutic effects. Results: Comparing stroke patients before treatment with HCs, the ReHo values were relatively higher in the inferior temporal gyrus, median cingulate, and paracingulate gyri, and relatively lower in the calcarine fissure and surrounding cortex, middle occipital gyrus, and paracentral lobule. The DC values were relatively higher in the cerebellum, middle frontal gyrus, inferior temporal gyrus, inferior frontal gyrus, orbital part, middle frontal gyrus, and supramarginal gyrus, and relatively lower in the cuneus and paracentral lobule. The FC between the parahippocampal gyrus and the superior parietal gyrus was relatively high, and the FC between the superior occipital gyrus and the superior parietal gyrus was relatively low. Comparing stroke patients after treatment with HCs, the ReHo values were relatively higher in the caudate nucleus, and relatively lower in the cerebellum, superior frontal gyrus, medial orbital, calcarine fissure and surrounding cortex, and middle temporal gyrus. The DC values were relatively higher in the middle frontal gyrus and superior frontal gyrus, and relatively lower in the temporal pole: superior temporal gyrus, calcarine fissure, and surrounding cortex. The FC between the caudate nucleus and the superior parietal gyrus was relatively high, and the FC between the calcarine fissure and surrounding cortex, middle frontal gyrus, orbital part, and the superior parietal gyrus was relatively low. There was no significant difference in ReHo values between stroke patients before and after treatment. The DC value in the superior parietal gyrus increased, and the FC in the superior parietal gyrus and precuneus gyrus was also significantly enhanced before and after treatment. Conclusion: The results of this study indicate that the AOT has a positive effect on enhancing the functional connection and information transmission capabilities of specific brain regions. The impact of this therapy on brain function helps us understand the potential mechanisms of swallowing function network reorganization deeper. Trial Registration: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry: ChiCTR1900021849.

PMID:40201620 | PMC:PMC11976039 | DOI:10.1155/np/8176431