scholarly journals White matter structural network abnormalities underlie executive dysfunction in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

2016 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 1249-1268 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis Dimond ◽  
Abdullah Ishaque ◽  
Sneha Chenji ◽  
Dennell Mah ◽  
Zhang Chen ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis ◽  
White Matter ◽  
Executive Dysfunction ◽  
Structural Network ◽  
Lateral Sclerosis

scholarly journals Disruption of the white matter structural network and its correlation with baseline progression rate in patients with sporadic amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenbin Li ◽  
Qianqian Wei ◽  
Yanbing Hou ◽  
Du Lei ◽  
Yuan Ai ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis ◽  
White Matter ◽  
Clustering Coefficient ◽  
Single Subject ◽  
Progression Rate ◽  
Motor Systems ◽  
Structural Network ◽  
Structural Networks ◽  
Healthy Participants ◽  
Lateral Sclerosis

Abstract Objective There is increasing evidence that amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease impacting large-scale brain networks. However, it is still unclear which structural networks are associated with the disease and whether the network connectomics are associated with disease progression. This study was aimed to characterize the network abnormalities in ALS and to identify the network-based biomarkers that predict the ALS baseline progression rate. Methods Magnetic resonance imaging was performed on 73 patients with sporadic ALS and 100 healthy participants to acquire diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance images and construct white matter (WM) networks using tractography methods. The global and regional network properties were compared between ALS and healthy subjects. The single-subject WM network matrices of patients were used to predict the ALS baseline progression rate using machine learning algorithms. Results Compared with the healthy participants, the patients with ALS showed significantly decreased clustering coefficient Cp (P = 0.0034, t = 2.98), normalized clustering coefficient γ (P = 0.039, t = 2.08), and small‐worldness σ (P = 0.038, t = 2.10) at the global network level. The patients also showed decreased regional centralities in motor and non-motor systems including the frontal, temporal and subcortical regions. Using the single-subject structural connection matrix, our classification model could distinguish patients with fast versus slow progression rate with an average accuracy of 85%. Conclusion Disruption of the WM structural networks in ALS is indicated by weaker small-worldness and disturbances in regions outside of the motor systems, extending the classical pathophysiological understanding of ALS as a motor disorder. The individual WM structural network matrices of ALS patients are potential neuroimaging biomarkers for the baseline disease progression in clinical practice.

scholarly journals Syntactic Comprehension in Patients with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kentarou Yoshizawa ◽  
Nao Yasuda ◽  
Michinari Fukuda ◽  
Yumi Yukimoto ◽  
Mieko Ogino ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis ◽  
Executive Function ◽  
Sample Size ◽  
Executive Dysfunction ◽  
Frontal Assessment Battery ◽  
Auditory Comprehension ◽  
Assessment Battery ◽  
Visuospatial Function ◽  
Bulbar Onset ◽  
Lateral Sclerosis

Recent neuropsychological studies of patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) have demonstrated that some patients have aphasic symptoms, including impaired syntactic comprehension. However, it is not known if syntactic comprehension disorder is related to executive and visuospatial dysfunction. In this study, we evaluated syntactic comprehension using the Syntax Test for Aphasia (STA) auditory comprehension task, frontal executive function using the Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB), visuospatial function using Raven’s Coloured Progressive Matrices (RCPM), and dementia using the Hasegawa Dementia Scale-Revised (HDS-R) in 25 patients with ALS. Of the 25 patients, 18 (72%) had syntactic comprehension disorder (STA score < IV), nine (36%) had frontal executive dysfunction (FAB score < 14), six (24%) had visuospatial dysfunction (RCPM score < 24), and none had dementia (HDS-R score < 20). Nine of the 18 patients with syntactic comprehension disorder (50%) passed the FAB and RCPM. Although sample size was small, these patients had a low STA score but normal FAB and RCPM score. All patients with bulbar onset ALS had syntactic comprehension disorder. These results indicate that it might be necessary to assess syntactic comprehension in patients with bulbar onset ALS. The implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the pathological continuum of ALS.

Microstructural white matter correlates of emotion recognition impairment in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Cortex ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 53 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiara Crespi ◽  
Chiara Cerami ◽  
Alessandra Dodich ◽  
Nicola Canessa ◽  
Marta Arpone ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis ◽  
White Matter ◽  
Emotion Recognition ◽  
Lateral Sclerosis
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