scholarly journals Scale-Free Exponents of Resting State are Biomarkers of Neuro-Typical and Atypical Brain Activity

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
S.J. Hanson ◽  
D. Mastrovito ◽  
C. Hanson ◽  
J. Ramsey ◽  
C. Glymour

AbstractScale-free networks (SFN) arise from simple growth processes, which can encourage efficient, centralized and fault tolerant communication (1). Recently its been shown that stable network hub structure is governed by a phase transition at exponents (>2.0) causing a dramatic change in network structure including a loss of global connectivity, an increasing minimum dominating node set, and a shift towards increasing connectivity growth compared to node growth. Is this SFN shift identifiable in atypical brain activity? The Pareto Distribution (P(D)∼D∧-β) on the hub Degree (D) is a signature of scale-free networks. During resting-state, we assess Degree exponents across a large range of neurotypical and atypical subjects. We use graph complexity theory to provide a predictive theory of the brain network structure. Results.We show that neurotypical resting-state fMRI brain activity possess scale-free Pareto exponents (1.8 se .01) in a single individual scanned over 66 days as well as in 60 different individuals (1.8 se .02). We also show that 60 individuals with Autistic Spectrum Disorder, and 60 individuals with Schizophrenia have significantly higher (>2.0) scale-free exponents (2.4 se .03, 2.3 se .04), indicating more fractionated and less controllable dynamics in the brain networks revealed in resting state. Finally we show that the exponent values vary with phenotypic measures of atypical disease severity indicating that the global topology of the network itself can provide specific diagnostic biomarkers for atypical brain activity.

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Caroline Garcia Forlim ◽  
Siavash Haghiri ◽  
Sandra Düzel ◽  
Simone Kühn

AbstractIn recent years, there has been a massive effort to analyze the topological properties of brain networks. Yet, one of the challenging questions in the field is how to construct brain networks based on the connectivity values derived from neuroimaging methods. From a theoretical point of view, it is plausible that the brain would have evolved to minimize energetic costs of information processing, and therefore, maximizes efficiency as well as to redirect its function in an adaptive fashion, that is, resilience. A brain network with such features, when characterized using graph analysis, would present small-world and scale-free properties.In this paper, we focused on how the brain network is constructed by introducing and testing an alternative method: k-nearest neighbor (kNN). In addition, we compared the kNN method with one of the most common methods in neuroscience: namely the density threshold. We performed our analyses on functional connectivity matrices derived from resting state fMRI of a big imaging cohort (N=434) of young and older healthy participants. The topology of networks was characterized by the graph measures degree, characteristic path length, clustering coefficient and small world. In addition, we verified whether kNN produces scale-free networks. We showed that networks built by kNN presented advantages over traditional thresholding methods, namely greater values for small-world (linked to efficiency of networks) than those derived by means of density thresholds and moreover, it presented also scale-free properties (linked to the resilience of networks), where density threshold did not. A brain network with such properties would have advantages in terms of efficiency, rapid adaptive reconfiguration and resilience, features of brain networks that are relevant for plasticity and cognition as well as neurological diseases as stroke and dementia.HighlightsA novel thresholding method for brain networks based on k-nearest neighbors (kNN)kNN applied on resting state fMRI from a big cohort of healthy subjects BASE-IIkNN built networks present greater small world properties than density thresholdkNN built networks present scale-free properties whereas density threshold did not


Author(s):  
Toshiki Kusano ◽  
Hiroki Kurashige ◽  
Isao Nambu ◽  
Yoshiya Moriguchi ◽  
Takashi Hanakawa ◽  
...  

AbstractSeveral functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have demonstrated that resting-state brain activity consists of multiple components, each corresponding to the spatial pattern of brain activity induced by performing a task. Especially in a movement task, such components have been shown to correspond to the brain activity pattern of the relevant anatomical region, meaning that the voxels of pattern that are cooperatively activated while using a body part (e.g., foot, hand, and tongue) also behave cooperatively in the resting state. However, it is unclear whether the components involved in resting-state brain activity correspond to those induced by the movement of discrete body parts. To address this issue, in the present study, we focused on wrist and finger movements in the hand, and a cross-decoding technique trained to discriminate between the multi-voxel patterns induced by wrist and finger movement was applied to the resting-state fMRI. We found that the multi-voxel pattern in resting-state brain activity corresponds to either wrist or finger movements in the motor-related areas of each hemisphere of the cerebrum and cerebellum. These results suggest that resting-state brain activity in the motor-related areas consists of the components corresponding to the elementary movements of individual body parts. Therefore, the resting-state brain activity possibly has a finer structure than considered previously.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amrit Kashyap ◽  
Shella Keilholz

AbstractBrain Network Models have become a promising theoretical framework in simulating signals that are representative of whole brain activity such as resting state fMRI. However, it has been difficult to compare the complex brain activity between simulated and empirical data. Previous studies have used simple metrics that surmise coordination between regions such as functional connectivity, and we extend on this by using various different dynamical analysis tools that are currently used to understand resting state fMRI. We show that certain properties correspond to the structural connectivity input that is shared between the models, and certain dynamic properties relate more to the mathematical description of the Brain Network Model. We conclude that the dynamic properties that gauge more temporal structure rather than spatial coordination in the rs-fMRI signal seem to provide the largest contrasts between different BNMs and the unknown empirical dynamical system. Our results will be useful in constraining and developing more realistic simulations of whole brain activity.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Takashi Nakano ◽  
Masahiro Takamura ◽  
Haruki Nishimura ◽  
Maro Machizawa ◽  
Naho Ichikawa ◽  
...  

AbstractNeurofeedback (NF) aptitude, which refers to an individual’s ability to change its brain activity through NF training, has been reported to vary significantly from person to person. The prediction of individual NF aptitudes is critical in clinical NF applications. In the present study, we extracted the resting-state functional brain connectivity (FC) markers of NF aptitude independent of NF-targeting brain regions. We combined the data in fMRI-NF studies targeting four different brain regions at two independent sites (obtained from 59 healthy adults and six patients with major depressive disorder) to collect the resting-state fMRI data associated with aptitude scores in subsequent fMRI-NF training. We then trained the regression models to predict the individual NF aptitude scores from the resting-state fMRI data using a discovery dataset from one site and identified six resting-state FCs that predicted NF aptitude. Next we validated the prediction model using independent test data from another site. The result showed that the posterior cingulate cortex was the functional hub among the brain regions and formed predictive resting-state FCs, suggesting NF aptitude may be involved in the attentional mode-orientation modulation system’s characteristics in task-free resting-state brain activity.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lv Han ◽  
Liu Zhaohui ◽  
Yan Fei ◽  
Li Ting ◽  
Zhao Pengfei ◽  
...  

Numerous investigations studying the brain functional activity of the tinnitus patients have indicated that neurological changes are important findings of this kind of disease. However, the pulsatile tinnitus (PT) patients were excluded in previous studies because of the totally different mechanisms of the two subtype tinnitus. The aim of this study is to investigate whether altered baseline brain activity presents in patients with PT using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) technique. The present study used unilateral PT patients (n=42) and age-, sex-, and education-matched normal control subjects (n=42) to investigate the changes in structural and amplitude of low-frequency (ALFF) of the brain. Also, we analyzed the relationships between these changes with clinical data of the PT patients. Compared with normal controls, PT patients did not show any structural changes. PT patients showed significant increased ALFF in the bilateral precuneus, and bilateral inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and decreased ALFF in multiple occipital areas. Moreover, the increased THI score and PT duration was correlated with increased ALFF in precuneus and bilateral IFG. The abnormalities of spontaneous brain activity reflected by ALFF measurements in the absence of structural changes may provide insights into the neural reorganization in PT patients.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fayyaz Ahmad ◽  
Zunira Saghir ◽  
Namra Aamir ◽  
Turki Abulait ◽  
Safee Ullah Chaudhary ◽  
...  

Schizophrenia is a psychotic brain disorder in which patients exhibit aberrant connectivity between different regions of the brain. Neuroimaging is a state-of-the-art technique that is now increasingly been employed in clinical investigation of Schizophrenia. In the present study, we have used resting-state functional magnetic resonance neuroimaging (rsfMRI) to elucidate the cause-and-effect relationships among four regions of the brain including occipital, temporal, and frontal lobes and hippocampus in Schizophrenia. For that, we have employed independent component analysis, a seed-based temporal correlation analysis, and Granger causality analysis for measuring causal relationships amongst four regions of the brain in schizophrenia patients. Eighteen subjects with nine patients and nine controls were evaluated in the study. Our results show that Schizophrenia patients exhibit significantly different activation patterns across the selected regions of the brain in comparison with the control. In addition to that, we also observed an aberrant causal relationship between these four regions of the brain. In particular, the temporal and frontal lobes of patients with schizophrenia had a significantly lowered causal relationship with the other areas of the brain. Taken together, the study elucidates the dysregulated brain activity in Schizophrenia patients, decodes its causal mapping and provides novel insights towards employment in clinical evaluation of Schizophrenia.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yameng Gu ◽  
Lucas E. Sainburg ◽  
Sizhe Kuang ◽  
Feng Han ◽  
Jack W. Williams ◽  
...  

AbstractThe brain exhibits highly organized patterns of spontaneous activity as measured by resting-state fMRI fluctuations that are being widely used to assess the brain’s functional connectivity. Some evidence suggests that spatiotemporally coherent waves are a core feature of spontaneous activity that shapes functional connectivity, though this has been difficult to establish using fMRI given the temporal constraints of the hemodynamic signal. Here we investigated the structure of spontaneous waves in human fMRI and monkey electrocorticography. In both species, we found clear, repeatable, and directionally constrained activity waves coursed along a spatial axis approximately representing cortical hierarchical organization. These cortical propagations were closely associated with activity changes in distinct subcortical structures, particularly those related to arousal regulation, and modulated across different states of vigilance. The findings demonstrate a neural origin of spatiotemporal fMRI wave propagation at rest and link it to the principal gradient of resting-state fMRI connectivity.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giri P. Krishnan ◽  
Oscar C. González ◽  
Maxim Bazhenov

AbstractResting or baseline state low frequency (0.01-0.2 Hz) brain activity has been observed in fMRI, EEG and LFP recordings. These fluctuations were found to be correlated across brain regions, and are thought to reflect neuronal activity fluctuations between functionally connected areas of the brain. However, the origin of these infra-slow fluctuations remains unknown. Here, using a detailed computational model of the brain network, we show that spontaneous infra-slow (< 0.05 Hz) fluctuations could originate due to the ion concentration dynamics. The computational model implemented dynamics for intra and extracellular K+ and Na+ and intracellular Cl- ions, Na+/K+ exchange pump, and KCC2 co-transporter. In the network model representing resting awake-like brain state, we observed slow fluctuations in the extracellular K+ concentration, Na+/K+ pump activation, firing rate of neurons and local field potentials. Holding K+ concentration constant prevented generation of these fluctuations. The amplitude and peak frequency of this activity were modulated by Na+/K+ pump, AMPA/GABA synaptic currents and glial properties. Further, in a large-scale network with long-range connections based on CoCoMac connectivity data, the infra-slow fluctuations became synchronized among remote clusters similar to the resting-state networks observed in vivo. Overall, our study proposes that ion concentration dynamics mediated by neuronal and glial activity may contribute to the generation of very slow spontaneous fluctuations of brain activity that are observed as the resting-state fluctuations in fMRI and EEG recordings.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kefan Wang ◽  
Xiaonan Zhang ◽  
Chengru Song ◽  
Keran Ma ◽  
Man Bai ◽  
...  

It is well established that epilepsy is characterized by the destruction of the information capacity of brain network and the interference with information processing in regions outside the epileptogenic focus. However, the potential mechanism remains poorly understood. In the current study, we applied a recently proposed approach on the basis of resting-state fMRI data to measure altered local neural dynamics in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (mTLE), which represents how long neural information is stored in a local brain area and reflect an ability of information integration. Using resting-state-fMRI data recorded from 36 subjects with mTLE and 36 healthy controls, we calculated the intrinsic neural timescales (INT) of neural signals by summing the positive magnitude of the autocorrelation of the resting-state brain activity. Compared to healthy controls, the INT values were significantly lower in patients in the right orbitofrontal cortices, right insula, and right posterior lobe of cerebellum. Whereas, we observed no statistically significant changes between patients with long- and short-term epilepsy duration or between left-mTLE and right-mTLE. Our study provides distinct insight into the brain abnormalities of mTLE from the perspective of the dynamics of the brain activity, highlighting the significant role of intrinsic timescale in understanding neurophysiological mechanisms. And we postulate that altered intrinsic timescales of neural signals in specific cortical brain areas may be the neurodynamic basis of cognitive impairment and emotional comorbidities in mTLE patients.


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