Detection of dynamic brain networks modulated by acupuncture using a graph theory model

Neuroimaging studies involving acute acupuncture manipulation have already demonstrated significant modulatory effects on wide limbic/paralimbic nuclei, subcortical gray structures and the neocortical system of the brain. Due to the sustained effect of acupuncture, however, knowledge on the organization of such large-scale cortical networks behind the active needle stimulation phase is lacking. In this study, we originally adopted a network model analysis from graph theory to evaluate the functional connectivity among multiple brain regions during the post-stimulus phase. Evidence from our findings clearly supported the existence of a large organized functional connectivity network related to acupuncture function in the resting brain. More importantly, acupuncture can change such a network into a functional state underlying both pain perception and modulation, which is exhibited by significant changes in the functional connectivity of some brain regions. This analysis may help us to better understand the long-lasting effects of acupuncture on brain function, as well as the potential benefits of clinical treatments.     

急性脑梗死偏瘫患者踝关节运动功能障碍的fMRI研究

目的:利用功能磁共振成像(fMRI)技术,观察急性脑梗死患者的运动相关皮层的激活图,探讨卒中后踝功能障碍及恢复的脑功能相关性改变.方法:采用1.5T磁共振成像系统对10例急性脑梗死患者和5例正常志愿者进行BOLD-fMRI检查,采用健侧、患侧踝关节背伸、趾屈运动作为刺激任务,比较正常志愿者与急性脑梗死患者踝关节运动时脑部激活情况的异同,并采用LI为指标,观察急性脑梗死患者健侧、患侧踝关节运动时脑部激活的差异.结果:正常对照组踝关节运动主要激活对侧SM1区,激活区形态呈斑片状或者不规则状,此外对侧PM区、SMA区也有不同程度的激活.急性脑梗死患者健侧踝关节运动主要激活对侧SM1区,此外对侧PM区、SMA区、颞叶、枕叶、小脑半球、额叶等也有不同程度的激活,与正常对照组激活区相似;患侧踝关节运动(主观运动)时除了对侧半球SM1区激活之外,同侧SM1区、PM区也可见不同程度的激活,对侧半球的激活体积大部分大于同侧.根据公式计算出LI值,结果显示健侧、患侧踝关节运动LI值之间存在显著性差异(P<0.05).结论:fMRI可以客观的显示急性脑梗死后患者大脑运动皮层的激活情况,提示存在脑功能代偿与重组,fMRI作为监测和研究急性脑梗死后运动功能恢复的有用工具,在临床治疗中具有重要的指导意义.     

一种用于fMRI的嗅觉刺激装置优化与验证

为搭建可用于磁共振环境下的自动控制嗅觉刺激器,本文根据刺激装置搭建的通用要求和实验室已有装置的性能提出了改进需求和系统整体设计方案．刺激装置分为控制系统与气体输送系统两部分．控制系统的软件部分基于LabVIEW平台编程,采用了虚拟仪器方案,提供可输入刺激序列的人机界面,并根据不同的刺激需求来控制电磁阀动作,以切换不同气路．气体输送系统由4条可变支路和1条恒流支路组成,其中的3条可变气路由洁净空气分别通过装有不同气味液体的洗气瓶来产生3种刺激气味．系统搭建完成后,使用霍尼韦尔AWM43600空气流量传感器测量了系统气体流量波动率为0.3%,同时测得不同刺激气路切换时的切换响应时间为1.07 s．最后使用该刺激装置对8名被试进行嗅觉刺激的同时进行功能磁共振成像（fMRI）实验,实验采用了乙醇、吡啶和乙酸异戊酯3种刺激气味,fMRI图像结果显示被试的嗅觉受到刺激后,丘脑、杏仁核、梨状皮质、眶额皮层等嗅觉相关脑区激活．以上实验表明,本文搭建的指标可量化的刺激器更能满足嗅觉fMRI实验的要求．     

基于主成分分析和Granger因果检验的手动任务脑功能效应连接

提出了一种基于Granger因果关系检验和主成分分析的fMRI数据效应连接方法,并将两种方法有效联合研究手动任务下激活皮层的因果效应连接。该方法首先由统计参数图法(SPM)组分析得到任务激活脑空间图,选取感兴趣区域(ROI);其次通过主成分分析提取ROI内fMRI信号的时间主成分,以此特征作为时间参考信息;最后计算参考区域与大脑其余每个体素之间的Granger因果关系,并映射到全脑,形成Granger因果图(Granger Causality Map,GCM)。理论和试验结果阐明了提出方法的有效性及可靠性。运用该方法研究人脑运动功能脑区在手动任务下的效应连接GCM,验证了运动功能神经网络理论。     

Investigating the neural basis for fMRI-based functional connectivity in a blocked design: application to interregional correlations and psycho-physiological interactions

This paper investigates how well different kinds of fMRI functional connectivity analysis reflect the underlying interregional neural interactions. This is hard to evaluate using real experimental data where such relationships are unknown. Rather, we use a biologically realistic neural model to simulate both neuronal activities and multiregional fMRI data from a blocked design. Because we know how every element in the model is related to every other element, we can compare functional connectivity measurements across different spatial and temporal scales. We focus on (1) psycho-physiological interaction (PPI) analysis, which is a simple brain connectivity method that characterizes the activity in one brain region by the interaction between another region's activity and a psychological factor, and (2) interregional correlation analysis. We investigated the neurobiological underpinnings of PPI using simulated neural activities and fMRI signals generated by a large-scale neural model that performs a visual delayed match-to-sample task. Simulated fMRI data are generated by convolving integrated synaptic activities (ISAs) with a hemodynamic response function. The simulation was done under three task conditions: high-attention, low-attention and a control task ('passive viewing'). We investigated how biological and scanning parameters affect PPI and compared these with functional connectivity measures obtained using correlation analysis. We performed correlational and PPI analyses with three types of time-series data: ISA, fMRI and deconvolved fMRI (which yields estimated neural signals) obtained using a deconvolution algorithm. The simulated ISA can be considered as the 'gold standard' because it represents the underlying neural activity. Our main findings show (1) that evaluating the change in an interregional functional connection using the difference in regression coefficients (as is essentially done in the PPI method) produces results that better reflect the underlying changes in neural interrelationships than does evaluating the functional connectivity difference as a change in correlation coefficient; (2) that using fMRI and deconvolved fMRI data led to similar conclusions in the PPI-based functional connectivity results, and these generally agreed with the nature of the underlying neural interactions; and (3) the functional connectivity correlation measures often led to different conclusions regarding significance for different scanning and hemodynamic parameters, but the significances of the PPI regression parameters were relatively robust. These results highlight the way in which neural modeling can be used to help validate the inferences one can make about functional connectivity based on fMRI data.     

SNR and functional sensitivity of BOLD and perfusion-based fMRI using arterial spin labeling with spiral SENSE at 3 T

Blood oxygenation level-dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies using parallel imaging to reduce the readout window have reported a loss in temporal signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) that is less than would be expected given a purely thermal noise model. In this study, the impact of parallel imaging on the noise components and functional sensitivity of both BOLD and perfusion-based fMRI data was investigated. Dual-echo arterial spin labeling data were acquired on five subjects using sensitivity encoding (SENSE), at reduction factors (R) of 1, 2 and 3. Direct recording of cardiac and respiratory activity during data acquisition enabled the retrospective removal of physiological noise. The temporal SNR of the perfusion time series closely followed the thermal noise prediction of a √R loss in SNR as the readout window was shortened, with temporal SNR values (relative to the R=1 data) of 0.72 and 0.56 for the R=2 and R=3 data, respectively, after accounting for physiological noise. However, the BOLD temporal SNR decreased more slowly than predicted even after accounting for physiological noise, with relative temporal SNR values of 0.80 and 0.63 for the R=2 and R=3 data, respectively. Spectral analysis revealed that the BOLD trends were dominated by low-frequency fluctuations, which were not dominant in the perfusion data due to signal processing differences. The functional sensitivity, assessed using mean F values over activated regions of interest (ROIs), followed the temporal SNR trends for the BOLD data. However, results for the perfusion data were more dependent on the threshold used for ROI selection, most likely due to the inherently low SNR of functional perfusion data.     

基于CCA的fMRI时空模型数据处理的方法

在目前大脑认知功能的研究中,人们常常采用功能性磁共振(fMR I)技术.相关分析是常见的用于检测fMR I数据的方法,而其检测的准确度有一定局限性.在典型相关分析(CCA)基础上将时域相关系数与空域相关系数有机结合,并得到新的相关系数进行阈值分割,进而对fMR I数据进行提取.经过仿真数据与实际fMR I数据的应用分析,证明了本算法的有效性.     

增强低场下脑功能磁共振成像显著性的研究

实现了基于低场0.35 T磁共振成像系统的大脑功能磁共振成像（functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging,fMRI）的研究. 基于质子密度加权的快速自旋回波(Turbo Spin Echo,TSE)图像,重点研究增强低场fMRI显著性的方法,目的在于提高低场fMRI的可用性. 结果表明：健康受试者在执行手动任务期间,大脑运动区的信号强度变化可以由基于血管外质子信号增强 (Signal Enhancement by Extravascular water Protons,EEP)的对比机制探测. 优化TSE序列参数能提高图像SNR和扫描速度,并在统计分析中增加外在屏蔽图像,可以有效地提高低场下fMRI研究结果的显著性.     

EEG quality during simultaneous functional MRI of interictal epileptiform discharges

This article concerns the evaluation of the quality of interictal epileptiform EEG discharges recorded throughout simultaneous echo planar imaging (EPI). BOLD (blood oxygen level dependent) functional MRI (fMRI) images were acquired continuously on a patient with intractable epilepsy. EEG was sampled simultaneously, during and after imaging, with removal of pulse and imaging artifacts by subtraction of channel-specific running averages. Contiguous EEG epochs recorded with and without fMRI (fMRI+ve vs. fMRI−ve) were next randomized and presented to two blinded observers. Epileptiform discharges were identified retrospectively, and comparison was made in terms of the number of identified events, their amplitude, and spatiotemporal distribution. A spectral analysis was also performed on the EEG. In the randomized comparison of EEG segments, 80 (fMRI+ve) vs. 69 (fMRI−ve) discharges were noted with good interobserver agreement (69%). There were no significant differences in amplitude or spatio-temporal distribution. Comparison of the events detected and measured by two expert observers demonstrated that the Interictal Epileptiform Discharge (IED) characteristics were indistinguishable with and without scanning. We review briefly the existing literature on EEG recording quality for combined EEG/fMRI.     

The effects of caffeine ingestion on cortical areas: Functional imaging study

The effect of caffeine as a cognitive enhancer is well known; however, caffeine-induced changes in the cortical regions are still not very clear. Therefore, in this study, we conducted an investigation of the activation and deactivation with blood-oxygenation-level-dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and of metabolic activity change with positron emission tomography (PET) in the human brain.