4,826 research outputs found
A multi-layer network approach to MEG connectivity analysis
Recent years have shown the critical importance of inter-regional neural network connectivity in supporting healthy brain function. Such connectivity is measurable using neuroimaging techniques such as MEG, however the richness of the electrophysiological signal makes gaining a complete picture challenging. Specifically, connectivity can be calculated as statistical interdependencies between neural oscillations within a large range of different frequency bands. Further, connectivity can be computed between frequency bands. This pan-spectral network hierarchy likely helps to mediate simultaneous formation of multiple brain networks, which support ongoing task demand. However, to date it has been largely overlooked, with many electrophysiological functional connectivity studies treating individual frequency bands in isolation. Here, we combine oscillatory envelope based functional connectivity metrics with a multi-layer network framework in order to derive a more complete picture of connectivity within and between frequencies. We test this methodology using MEG data recorded during a visuomotor task, highlighting simultaneous and transient formation of motor networks in the beta band, visual networks in the gamma band and a beta to gamma interaction. Having tested our method, we use it to demonstrate differences in occipital alpha band connectivity in patients with schizophrenia compared to healthy controls. We further show that these connectivity differences are predictive of the severity of persistent symptoms of the disease, highlighting their clinical relevance. Our findings demonstrate the unique potential of MEG to characterise neural network formation and dissolution. Further, we add weight to the argument that dysconnectivity is a core feature of the neuropathology underlying schizophrenia
Loss of brain inter-frequency hubs in Alzheimer's disease
Alzheimer's disease (AD) causes alterations of brain network structure and
function. The latter consists of connectivity changes between oscillatory
processes at different frequency channels. We proposed a multi-layer network
approach to analyze multiple-frequency brain networks inferred from
magnetoencephalographic recordings during resting-states in AD subjects and
age-matched controls. Main results showed that brain networks tend to
facilitate information propagation across different frequencies, as measured by
the multi-participation coefficient (MPC). However, regional connectivity in AD
subjects was abnormally distributed across frequency bands as compared to
controls, causing significant decreases of MPC. This effect was mainly
localized in association areas and in the cingulate cortex, which acted, in the
healthy group, as a true inter-frequency hub. MPC values significantly
correlated with memory impairment of AD subjects, as measured by the total
recall score. Most predictive regions belonged to components of the
default-mode network that are typically affected by atrophy, metabolism
disruption and amyloid-beta deposition. We evaluated the diagnostic power of
the MPC and we showed that it led to increased classification accuracy (78.39%)
and sensitivity (91.11%). These findings shed new light on the brain functional
alterations underlying AD and provide analytical tools for identifying
multi-frequency neural mechanisms of brain diseases.Comment: 27 pages, 6 figures, 3 tables, 3 supplementary figure
Frequency-based brain networks: From a multiplex framework to a full multilayer description
We explore how to study dynamical interactions between brain regions using
functional multilayer networks whose layers represent the different frequency
bands at which a brain operates. Specifically, we investigate the consequences
of considering the brain as a multilayer network in which all brain regions can
interact with each other at different frequency bands, instead of as a
multiplex network, in which interactions between different frequency bands are
only allowed within each brain region and not between them. We study the second
smallest eigenvalue of the combinatorial supra-Laplacian matrix of the
multilayer network in detail, and we thereby show that the heterogeneity of
interlayer edges and, especially, the fraction of missing edges crucially
modify the spectral properties of the multilayer network. We illustrate our
results with both synthetic network models and real data sets obtained from
resting state magnetoencephalography. Our work demonstrates an important issue
in the construction of frequency-based multilayer brain networks.Comment: 13 pages, 8 figure
Sparse Predictive Structure of Deconvolved Functional Brain Networks
The functional and structural representation of the brain as a complex
network is marked by the fact that the comparison of noisy and intrinsically
correlated high-dimensional structures between experimental conditions or
groups shuns typical mass univariate methods. Furthermore most network
estimation methods cannot distinguish between real and spurious correlation
arising from the convolution due to nodes' interaction, which thus introduces
additional noise in the data. We propose a machine learning pipeline aimed at
identifying multivariate differences between brain networks associated to
different experimental conditions. The pipeline (1) leverages the deconvolved
individual contribution of each edge and (2) maps the task into a sparse
classification problem in order to construct the associated "sparse deconvolved
predictive network", i.e., a graph with the same nodes of those compared but
whose edge weights are defined by their relevance for out of sample predictions
in classification. We present an application of the proposed method by decoding
the covert attention direction (left or right) based on the single-trial
functional connectivity matrix extracted from high-frequency
magnetoencephalography (MEG) data. Our results demonstrate how network
deconvolution matched with sparse classification methods outperforms typical
approaches for MEG decoding
Graph analysis of functional brain networks: practical issues in translational neuroscience
The brain can be regarded as a network: a connected system where nodes, or
units, represent different specialized regions and links, or connections,
represent communication pathways. From a functional perspective communication
is coded by temporal dependence between the activities of different brain
areas. In the last decade, the abstract representation of the brain as a graph
has allowed to visualize functional brain networks and describe their
non-trivial topological properties in a compact and objective way. Nowadays,
the use of graph analysis in translational neuroscience has become essential to
quantify brain dysfunctions in terms of aberrant reconfiguration of functional
brain networks. Despite its evident impact, graph analysis of functional brain
networks is not a simple toolbox that can be blindly applied to brain signals.
On the one hand, it requires a know-how of all the methodological steps of the
processing pipeline that manipulates the input brain signals and extract the
functional network properties. On the other hand, a knowledge of the neural
phenomenon under study is required to perform physiological-relevant analysis.
The aim of this review is to provide practical indications to make sense of
brain network analysis and contrast counterproductive attitudes
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The role of HG in the analysis of temporal iteration and interaural correlation
How to build a functional connectomic biomarker for mild cognitive impairment from source reconstructed MEG resting-state activity: the combination of ROI representation and connectivity estimator matters
Our work aimed to demonstrate the combination of machine learning and graph theory for the designing of a connectomic biomarker for mild cognitive impairment (MCI) subjects using eyes-closed neuromagnetic recordings. The whole analysis based on source-reconstructed neuromagnetic activity. As ROI representation, we employed the principal component analysis (PCA) and centroid approaches. As representative bi-variate connectivity estimators for the estimation of intra and cross-frequency interactions, we adopted the phase locking value (PLV), the imaginary part (iPLV) and the correlation of the envelope (CorrEnv). Both intra and cross-frequency interactions (CFC) have been estimated with the three connectivity estimators within the seven frequency bands (intra-frequency) and in pairs (CFC), correspondingly. We demonstrated how different versions of functional connectivity graphs single-layer (SL-FCG) and multi-layer (ML-FCG) can give us a different view of the functional interactions across the brain areas. Finally, we applied machine learning techniques with main scope to build a reliable connectomic biomarker by analyzing both SL-FCG and ML-FCG in two different options: as a whole unit using a tensorial extraction algorithm and as single pair-wise coupling estimations. We concluded that edge-weighed feature selection strategy outperformed the tensorial treatment of SL-FCG and ML-FCG. The highest classification performance was obtained with the centroid ROI representation and edge-weighted analysis of the SL-FCG reaching the 98% for the CorrEnv in α1:α2 and 94% for the iPLV in α2. Classification performance based on the multi-layer participation coefficient, a multiplexity index reached 52% for iPLV and 52% for CorrEnv. Selected functional connections that build the multivariate connectomic biomarker in the edge-weighted scenario are located in default-mode, fronto-parietal and cingulo-opercular network. Our analysis supports the notion of analysing FCG simultaneously in intra and cross-frequency whole brain interactions with various connectivity estimators in beamformed recordings
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