10,994 research outputs found
Resting state functional connectivity in the default mode network and aerobic exercise in young adults
Around the world Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is on the rise. Previous studies have shown the default mode network (DMN) sees changes with AD progression as the disease erodes away cortical areas. Aerobic exercise with significant increases to cardiorespiratory fitness could show neuro-protective changes to delay AD. This study will explore if functional connectivity changes in the DMN can be seen in a young adult sample by using group independent component analysis through FSL MELODIC. The young adult sample of 19 were selected from a larger study at the Brain Plasticity and Neuroimaging Laboratory at Boston University. The participants engaged in a twelve-week exercise intervention in either a strength training or aerobic training group. They also completed pre-intervention and post-intervention resting-state fMRI scans to evaluate change in functional connectivity in the default mode network. Cardiorespiratory fitness was assessed using a modified Balke protocol with pre-intervention and post-intervention VO2 max percentiles being used. Through two repeated-measure ANOVA analyses, this study found no significant increase in mean functional connectivity or cardiorespiratory fitness in the young adult sample. While improvements in mean VO2 max percentile and functional connectivity would have been seen with a larger sample size, this study adds to the literature by suggesting if fitness does not improve significantly, neither will functional connectivity in the default mode network
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The role of HG in the analysis of temporal iteration and interaural correlation
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State and trait characteristics of anterior insula time-varying functional connectivity.
The human anterior insula (aINS) is a topographically organized brain region, in which ventral portions contribute to socio-emotional function through limbic and autonomic connections, whereas the dorsal aINS contributes to cognitive processes through frontal and parietal connections. Open questions remain, however, regarding how aINS connectivity varies over time. We implemented a novel approach combining seed-to-whole-brain sliding-window functional connectivity MRI and k-means clustering to assess time-varying functional connectivity of aINS subregions. We studied three independent large samples of healthy participants and longitudinal datasets to assess inter- and intra-subject stability, and related aINS time-varying functional connectivity profiles to dispositional empathy. We identified four robust aINS time-varying functional connectivity modes that displayed both "state" and "trait" characteristics: while modes featuring connectivity to sensory regions were modulated by eye closure, modes featuring connectivity to higher cognitive and emotional processing regions were stable over time and related to empathy measures
Dwelling Quietly in the Rich Club: Brain Network Determinants of Slow Cortical Fluctuations
For more than a century, cerebral cartography has been driven by
investigations of structural and morphological properties of the brain across
spatial scales and the temporal/functional phenomena that emerge from these
underlying features. The next era of brain mapping will be driven by studies
that consider both of these components of brain organization simultaneously --
elucidating their interactions and dependencies. Using this guiding principle,
we explored the origin of slowly fluctuating patterns of synchronization within
the topological core of brain regions known as the rich club, implicated in the
regulation of mood and introspection. We find that a constellation of densely
interconnected regions that constitute the rich club (including the anterior
insula, amygdala, and precuneus) play a central role in promoting a stable,
dynamical core of spontaneous activity in the primate cortex. The slow time
scales are well matched to the regulation of internal visceral states,
corresponding to the somatic correlates of mood and anxiety. In contrast, the
topology of the surrounding "feeder" cortical regions show unstable, rapidly
fluctuating dynamics likely crucial for fast perceptual processes. We discuss
these findings in relation to psychiatric disorders and the future of
connectomics.Comment: 35 pages, 6 figure
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