scholarly journals Reading-Network in Developmental Dyslexia before and after Visual Training

Symmetry ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 1842
Author(s):  
Tihomir Taskov ◽  
Juliana Dushanova

Electroencephalographic studies using graph-theoretic analysis have found aberrations in functional connectivity in dyslexics. How visual nonverbal training (VT) can change the functional connectivity of the reading network in developmental dyslexia is still unclear. We studied differences in the local and global topological properties of functional reading networks between controls and dyslexic children before and after VT. The minimum spanning tree method was used to construct the reading networks in multiple electroencephalogram (EEG) frequency bands. Compared to controls, pre-training dyslexics had a higher leaf fraction, tree hierarchy, kappa, and smaller diameter (θ—γ-frequency bands), and therefore, they had a less segregated neural network than controls. After training, the reading-network metrics of dyslexics became similar to controls. In β1 and γ-frequency bands, pre-training dyslexics exhibited a reduced degree and betweenness centrality of hubs in superior, middle, and inferior frontal areas in both brain hemispheres compared to the controls. Dyslexics relied on the left anterior temporal (β1, γ1) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (γ1), while in the right hemisphere, they relied on the occipitotemporal, parietal, (β1), motor (β2, γ1), and somatosensory cortices (γ1). After training, hubs appeared in both hemispheres at the middle occipital (β), parietal (β1), somatosensory (γ1), and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices (γ2), while in the left hemisphere, they appeared at the middle temporal, motor (β1), intermediate (γ2), and inferior frontal cortices (γ1, β2). Language-related brain regions were more active after visual training. They contribute to an understanding of lexical and sublexical representation. The same role has areas important for articulatory processes of reading.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tianye Zhai ◽  
Betty Jo Salmeron ◽  
Hong Gu ◽  
Bryon Adinoff ◽  
Elliot A. Stein ◽  
...  

AbstractBackgroundRelapse is one of the most perplexing problems of addiction. The dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) is crucially involved in numerous cognitive and affective processes that are implicated in phenotypes of addiction, and is one of the most frequently reported brain regions with aberrant functionality in substance use disorders. However, the DLPFC is an anatomically large and functionally heterogeneous region, and the specific DLPFC-based circuits that contribute to drug relapse remain unknown.MethodsWe systematically investigated the relationship of cocaine relapse with 98 DLPFC functional circuits defined by evenly sampling the entire bilateral DLPFC in a cohort of cocaine dependent patients (n=43, 5F) following a psychosocial treatment intervention. A Cox regression model was utilized to predict relapse likelihood based on DLPFC functional connectivity strength.ResultsFunctional connectivity from 3 of the 98 DLPFC loci, one on the left and two on the right hemisphere, significantly predicted cocaine relapse with an accuracy of 83.9%, 84.7% and 85.4%, respectively. Combining all three significantly improved prediction validity to 87.5%. Protective and risk circuits related to these DLPFC loci were identified that are known to support “bottom up” drive to use drug and “top down” control over behavior together with social emotional, learning and memory processing.ConclusionThree DLPFC-centric circuits were identified that predict relapse to cocaine use with high accuracy. These functionally distinct DLPFC-based circuits provide insights into the multiple roles played by the DLPFC in cognitive and affective functioning that affects treatment outcome. The identified DLPFC loci may serve as potential neuromodulation targets for addiction treatment and as clinically relevant biomarkers of its efficacy.


2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evie Malaia ◽  
Thomas M Talavage ◽  
Ronnie B Wilbur

Prior studies investigating cortical processing in Deaf signers suggest that life-long experience with sign language and/or auditory deprivation may alter the brain’s anatomical structure and the function of brain regions typically recruited for auditory processing (Emmorey et al., 2010; Pénicaud, et al., 2012 inter alia). We report the first investigation of the task-negative network in Deaf signers and its functional connectivity – the temporal correlations among spatially remote neurophysiological events. We show that Deaf signers manifest increased functional connectivity between posterior cingulate/precuneus and left medial temporal gyrus (MTG), but also inferior parietal lobe and medial temporal gyrus in the right hemisphere- areas that have been found to show functional recruitment specifically during sign language processing. These findings suggest that the organization of the brain at the level of inter-network connectivity is likely affected by experience with processing visual language, although sensory deprivation could be another source of the difference. We hypothesize that connectivity alterations in the task negative network reflect predictive/automatized processing of the visual signal.


2019 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 155-166
Author(s):  
Annamaria Painold ◽  
Pascal L. Faber ◽  
Eva Z. Reininghaus ◽  
Sabrina Mörkl ◽  
Anna K. Holl ◽  
...  

Bipolar disorder (BD) is a chronic illness with a relapsing and remitting time course. Relapses are manic or depressive in nature and intermitted by euthymic states. During euthymic states, patients lack the criteria for a manic or depressive diagnosis, but still suffer from impaired cognitive functioning as indicated by difficulties in executive and language-related processing. The present study investigated whether these deficits are reflected by altered intracortical activity in or functional connectivity between brain regions involved in these processes such as the prefrontal and the temporal cortices. Vigilance-controlled resting state EEG of 13 euthymic BD patients and 13 healthy age- and sex-matched controls was analyzed. Head-surface EEG was recomputed into intracortical current density values in 8 frequency bands using standardized low-resolution electromagnetic tomography. Intracortical current densities were averaged in 19 evenly distributed regions of interest (ROIs). Lagged coherences were computed between each pair of ROIs. Source activity and coherence measures between patients and controls were compared (paired t tests). Reductions in temporal cortex activity and in large-scale functional connectivity in patients compared to controls were observed. Activity reductions affected all 8 EEG frequency bands. Functional connectivity reductions affected the delta, theta, alpha-2, beta-2, and gamma band and involved but were not limited to prefrontal and temporal ROIs. The findings show reduced activation of the temporal cortex and reduced coordination between many brain regions in BD euthymia. These activation and connectivity changes may disturb the continuous frontotemporal information flow required for executive and language-related processing, which is impaired in euthymic BD patients.


2017 ◽  
Vol 114 (50) ◽  
pp. 13278-13283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jarod L. Roland ◽  
Abraham Z. Snyder ◽  
Carl D. Hacker ◽  
Anish Mitra ◽  
Joshua S. Shimony ◽  
...  

Resting state functional connectivity is defined in terms of temporal correlations between physiologic signals, most commonly studied using functional magnetic resonance imaging. Major features of functional connectivity correspond to structural (axonal) connectivity. However, this relation is not one-to-one. Interhemispheric functional connectivity in relation to the corpus callosum presents a case in point. Specifically, several reports have documented nearly intact interhemispheric functional connectivity in individuals in whom the corpus callosum (the major commissure between the hemispheres) never develops. To investigate this question, we assessed functional connectivity before and after surgical section of the corpus callosum in 22 patients with medically refractory epilepsy. Section of the corpus callosum markedly reduced interhemispheric functional connectivity. This effect was more profound in multimodal associative areas in the frontal and parietal lobe than primary regions of sensorimotor and visual function. Moreover, no evidence of recovery was observed in a limited sample in which multiyear, longitudinal follow-up was obtained. Comparison of partial vs. complete callosotomy revealed several effects implying the existence of polysynaptic functional connectivity between remote brain regions. Thus, our results demonstrate that callosal as well as extracallosal anatomical connections play a role in the maintenance of interhemispheric functional connectivity.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhibao Li ◽  
Chong Liu ◽  
Qiao Wang ◽  
Kun Liang ◽  
Chunlei Han ◽  
...  

Objective: The objective of this study was to use functional connectivity and graphic indicators to investigate the abnormal brain network topological characteristics caused by Parkinson's disease (PD) and the effect of acute deep brain stimulation (DBS) on those characteristics in patients with PD.Methods: We recorded high-density EEG (256 channels) data from 21 healthy controls (HC) and 20 patients with PD who were in the DBS-OFF state and DBS-ON state during the resting state with eyes closed. A high-density EEG source connectivity method was used to identify functional brain networks. Power spectral density (PSD) analysis was compared between the groups. Functional connectivity was calculated for 68 brain regions in the theta (4–8 Hz), alpha (8–13 Hz), beta1 (13–20 Hz), and beta2 (20–30 Hz) frequency bands. Network estimates were measured at both the global (network topology) and local (inter-regional connection) levels.Results: Compared with HC, PSD was significantly increased in the theta (p = 0.003) frequency band and was decreased in the beta1 (p = 0.009) and beta2 (p = 0.04) frequency bands in patients with PD. However, there were no differences in any frequency bands between patients with PD with DBS-OFF and DBS-ON. The clustering coefficient and local efficiency of patients with PD showed a significant decrease in the alpha, beta1, and beta2 frequency bands (p < 0.001). In addition, edgewise statistics showed a significant difference between the HC and patients with PD in all analyzed frequency bands (p < 0.005). However, there were no significant differences between the DBS-OFF state and DBS-ON state in the brain network, except for the functional connectivity in the beta2 frequency band (p < 0.05).Conclusion: Compared with HC, patients with PD showed the following characteristics: slowed EEG background activity, decreased clustering coefficient and local efficiency of the brain network, as well as both increased and decreased functional connectivity between different brain areas. Acute DBS induces a local response of the brain network in patients with PD, mainly showing decreased functional connectivity in a few brain regions in the beta2 frequency band.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alican Nalci ◽  
Bhaskar D. Rao ◽  
Thomas T. Liu

AbstractIn resting-state fMRI, dynamic functional connectivity (DFC) measures are used to characterize temporal changes in the brain’s intrinsic functional connectivity. A widely used approach for DFC estimation is the computation of the sliding window correlation between blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) signals from different brain regions. Although the source of temporal fluctuations in DFC estimates remains largely unknown, there is growing evidence that they may reflect dynamic shifts between functional brain networks. At the same time, recent findings suggest that DFC estimates might be prone to the influence of nuisance factors such as the physiological modulation of the BOLD signal. Therefore, nuisance regression is used in many DFC studies to regress out the effects of nuisance terms prior to the computation of DFC estimates. In this work we examined the relationship between DFC estimates and nuisance factors. We found that DFC estimates were significantly correlated with temporal fluctuations in the magnitude (norm) of various nuisance regressors, with significant correlations observed in the majority (76%) of the cases examined. Significant correlations between the DFC estimates and nuisance regressor norms were found even when the underlying correlations between the nuisance and fMRI time courses were relatively small. We then show that nuisance regression does not eliminate the relationship between DFC estimates and nuisance norms, with significant correlations observed in the majority (71%) of the cases examined after nuisance regression. We present theoretical bounds on the difference between DFC estimates obtained before and after nuisance regression and relate these bounds to limitations in the efficacy of nuisance regression with regards to DFC estimates.


2017 ◽  
Vol 41 (S1) ◽  
pp. S551-S551
Author(s):  
R. Amodio ◽  
A. Prinster ◽  
A.M. Monteleone ◽  
F. Esposito ◽  
A. Canna ◽  
...  

IntroductionThe functional interplay between brain hemispheres is fundamental for behavioral, cognitive and emotional control. Several pathophysiological aspects of eating disorders (EDs) have been investigated by the use of functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI).ObjectivesThe objective of the study was to investigate functional brain asymmetry of resting-state fMRI correlations in symptomatic patients with anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN).AimsWe aimed at revealing whether brain regions implicated in reward, cognitive control, starvation and emotion regulation show altered inter-hemispheric functional connectivity in patients with AN and BN.MethodsUsing resting-state fMRI, voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC) and regional inter-hemispheric spectral coherence (IHSC) analyses in two canonical slow frequency bands (“Slow-5”, “Slow-4”) were studied in 15AN and 13BN patients and 16 healthy controls (HC). Using T1-weighted and diffusion tensor imaging MRI scans, regional VMHC values were correlated with the left-right asymmetry of corresponding homotopic gray matter volumes and with the white matter callosal fractional anisotropy (FA).ResultsCompared to HC, AN patients exhibited reduced VMHC in cerebellum, insula and precuneus, while BN patients showed reduced VMHC in dorso-lateral prefrontal and orbito-frontal cortices. The regional IHSC analysis highlighted that the inter-hemispheric functional connectivity was higher in the ‘Slow-5′Band in all regions except the insula. No group differences in left-right structural asymmetries and in VMHC vs callosal FA correlations were found.ConclusionsThese anomalies indicate that AN and BN, at least in their acute phase, are associated with a loss of inter-hemispheric connectivity in regions implicated in self-referential, cognitive control and reward processing.Disclosure of interestThe authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.


2018 ◽  
Vol 128 (2) ◽  
pp. 305-316 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mahsa Malekmohammadi ◽  
Nicholas AuYong ◽  
Collin M. Price ◽  
Evangelia Tsolaki ◽  
Andrew E. Hudson ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Anesthetics are believed to alter functional connectivity across brain regions. However, network-level analyses of anesthesia, particularly in humans, are sparse. The authors hypothesized that propofol-induced loss of consciousness results in functional disconnection of human sensorimotor cortices underlying the loss of volitional motor responses. Methods The authors recorded local field potentials from sensorimotor cortices in patients with Parkinson disease (N = 12) and essential tremor (N = 7) undergoing deep brain stimulation surgery, before and after propofol-induced loss of consciousness. Local spectral power and interregional connectivity (coherence and imaginary coherence) were evaluated separately across conditions for the two populations. Results Propofol anesthesia caused power increases for frequencies between 2 and 100 Hz across the sensorimotor cortices and a shift of the dominant spectral peak in α and β frequencies toward lower frequencies (median ± SD peak frequency: 24.5 ± 2.6 Hz to 12.8 ± 2.3 Hz in Parkinson disease; 13.8 ± 2.1 Hz to 12.1 ± 1.0 Hz in essential tremor). Despite local increases in power, sensorimotor cortical coherence was suppressed with propofol in both cohorts, specifically in β frequencies (18 to 29 Hz) for Parkinson disease and α and β (10 to 48 Hz) in essential tremor. Conclusions The decrease in functional connectivity between sensory and motor cortices, despite an increase in local spectral power, suggests that propofol causes a functional disconnection of cortices with increases in autonomous activity within cortical regions. This pattern occurs across diseases evaluated, suggesting that these may be generalizable effects of propofol in patients with movement disorders and beyond. Sensorimotor network disruption may underlie anesthetic-induced loss of volitional control.


2011 ◽  
Vol 26 (S2) ◽  
pp. 945-945 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Theodoropoulou ◽  
S. Tei ◽  
D. Lehmann ◽  
P.L. Faber ◽  
F. Schlegel ◽  
...  

IntroductionArithmetic reportedly involves left parietal areas.ObjectivesTo test this in independent groups of healthy persons.AimsWhich brain regions are activated / inhibited during mental arithmetic compared to task-free resting?MethodsWe examined four independent groups of healthy adults (N = 15, 14, 14, 23, respectively) during simple arithmetic (continuous subtraction of 7) and task-free resting before and after arithmetic, all with closed eyes. Multichannel head surface EEG (19–58 channels) was continually recorded, then recomputed (using sLORETA functional tomography) into current density for 6239 cortical voxels, for each of the eight EEG frequency bands (delta through gamma, 1.5–44 Hz). Pre- and post-arithmetic resting was averaged. Using paired t-tests, frequency band-wise normalized and log-transformed current density was compared between arithmetic and resting for each group. The resulting p-values were combined across groups using Fisher’s combination procedure. For each frequency band, sLORETA voxels differing between conditions at Fisher’s (across groups) p < 0.05 were computed into centers of gravity separately for increased and decreased activation.ResultsActivity that was stronger during arithmetic compared to resting had gravity centers in midline anterior regions for slow frequency bands (delta, theta, alpha-1) and in right posterior regions for fast frequency bands (alpha-2 through gamma). Activity that was weaker during arithmetic compared to resting was centered around left parietal areas for all eight frequency bands.ConclusionsThe results suggest that arithmetic compared to resting involves frontal inhibition coupled with increased right parietal activation, and left parietal reduced facilitatory and reduced inhibitory activity.


Nutrients ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 2186
Author(s):  
Ting-Yu Su ◽  
Pi-Lien Hung ◽  
Chien Chen ◽  
Ying-Jui Lin ◽  
Syu-Jyun Peng

Ketogenic diet therapies (KDTs) are widely used treatments for epilepsy, but the factors influencing their responsiveness remain unknown. This study aimed to explore the predictors or associated factors for KDTs effectiveness by evaluating the subtle changes in brain functional connectivity (FC) before and after KDTs. Segments of interictal sleep electroencephalography (EEG) were acquired before and after six months of KDTs. Analyses of FC were based on network-based statistics and graph theory, with a focus on different frequency bands. Seventeen responders and 14 non-responders were enrolled. After six months of KDTs, the responders exhibited a significant functional connectivity strength decrease compared with the non-responders; reductions in global efficiency, clustering coefficient, and nodal strength in the beta frequency band for a consecutive range of weighted proportional thresholds were observed in the responders. The alteration of betweenness centrality was significantly and positively correlated with seizure reduction rate in alpha, beta, and theta frequency bands in weighted adjacency matrices with densities of 90%. We conclude that KDTs tended to modify minor-to-moderate-intensity brain connections; the reduction of global connectivity and the increment of betweenness centrality after six months of KDTs were associated with better KD effectiveness.


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