Altered ALFF in the RRMS patients.

<p>Note: ALFF: amplitude of low frequency fluctuation, L: left, LH: left hemisphere, R: right, RH: right hemisphere; RRMS = relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. The color bars indicate the display window for t-values.</p

Exemplary surface maps of thalamocortical disturbances in two slow frequency bands.

<p>The difference of thalamo-cortical rsFC in slow-5 and slow-4 bands, between the patients with CSM versus controls, red and blue colors denote increased and decreased connectivity coefficients, respectively. (LH, left hemisphere; RH, right hemisphere).</p

Compreender a Avaliação das Revistas e Estratégias para Aumentar o Impacto

<div><p>Background and Purpose</p><p>Recent advanced MRI studies on cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) revealed alterations of sensorimotor cortex, but the disturbances of large-scale thalamocortical systems remains elusive. The purpose of this study was to characterizing the CSM-related thalamocortical disturbances, which were associated with spinal cord structural injury, and clinical measures.</p><p>Methods</p><p>A total of 17 patients with degenerative CSM and well-matched control subjects participated. Thalamocortical disturbances were quantified using thalamus seed-based functional connectivity in two distinct low frequencies bands (slow-5 and slow-4), with different neural manifestations. The clinical measures were evaluated by Japanese Orthopaedic Association (JOA) score system and Neck Disability Index (NDI) questionnaires.</p><p>Results</p><p>Decreased functional connectivity was found in the thalamo-motor, -somatosensory, and -temporal circuits in the slow-5 band, indicating impairment of thalamo-cortical circuit degeneration or axon/synaptic impairment. By contrast, increased functional connectivity between thalami and the bilateral primary motor (M1), primary and secondary somatosensory (S1/S2), premotor cortex (PMC), and right temporal cortex was detected in the slow-4 band, and were associated with higher fractional anisotropy values in the cervical cord, corresponding to mild spinal cord structural injury.</p><p>Conclusions</p><p>These thalamocortical disturbances revealed by two slow frequency bands inform basic understanding and vital clues about the sensorimotor dysfunction in CSM. Further work is needed to evaluate its contribution in central functional reorganization during spinal cord degeneration.</p></div

Illustration of the sensory-motor cortex (SMC) mask used in this study (L = left hemisphere; R = right hemisphere).

<p>Functional SMC mask generated with independent component analysis (ICA) was obtained from the Medical Image Analysis (MIA) Lab (Allen et al., 2011). The SMC mask consists of the bilateral primary motor cortex, the supplementary motor area (SMA), and the bilateral primary somatosensory cortex.</p

Thalamic dysconnectivity patterns in slow-5 frequency-band (a-e).

<p>There were significantly dysconnectivity between the thalamic segments (number 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, respective) and primary motor cortex (P < 0.05, AlphaSim corrected; cluster size > = 20), primary and secondary somatosensory (P < 0.05, AlphaSim corrected; cluster size > = 16), prefrontal (P < 0.05, AlphaSim corrected; cluster size > = 90), premotor (lateral and medial) (P < 0.05, AlphaSim corrected; cluster size > = 50), and temporal (P <0.05, AlphaSim corrected; cluster size > = 80). Functional connected seeding from bilateral anatomy connectivity-based thalamic segmentation templates (f) to the exclusive cortex.</p

Relationship between clinical status indices and the z-ALFF values in CM patients.

<p>Notes: JOA =  Japanese Orthopaedic Association; FA =  Fractional Anisotropy; C =  Cervical vertebra.</p><p>*P<0.05, significant correlation between indices and the z-ALFF value.</p

CSM-related thalamocortical connectivity coefficients related with clinical measures.

<p>Positive correlation between the fractional anisotropy (FA) value in the C2 vertebra level and CC z-values in right PostG1 (a),and right PostG3 (b) and right MFG (c1); Positive correlation between the FA value in the most severe cervical canal stenosis level and CC z-values in right middle frontal gyrus (MFG) (c2). (* P < 0.05, ** P < 0.01, with post-hoc correlation).</p

Demographic data and clinical measures scores for cervicalspondylotic myelopathy group and healthy controls.

<p>n/a = not applicable; JOA = Japanese Orthopaedic Association; NDI = Neck Disability Index; FA = Fractional Anisotropy; C = Cervicalvertebra; CSM = cervical spondylotic myelopathy; HC = healthy controls.</p><p>Demographic data and clinical measures scores for cervicalspondylotic myelopathy group and healthy controls.</p

Exemplary surface maps of thalamocortical disturbances in two slow frequency bands.

<p>The difference of thalamo-cortical rsFC in slow-5 and slow-4 bands, between the patients with CSM versus controls, red and blue colors denote increased and decreased connectivity coefficients, respectively. (LH, left hemisphere; RH, right hemisphere).</p

Thalamic hyperconnectivity patterns in slow-4 frequency-band (a-e).

<p>There were significantly hyperconnectivity between the thalamic segments (number 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, respective) and primary motor cortex (P < 0.05, AlphaSim corrected; cluster size > = 20), primary and secondary somatosensory (P < 0.05, AlphaSim corrected; cluster size > = 16), prefrontal (P < 0.05, AlphaSim corrected; cluster size > = 90), premotor (lateral and medial) (P < 0.05, AlphaSim corrected; cluster size > = 50), and temporal (P < 0.05, AlphaSim corrected; cluster size > = 80). Cortical subdivisions(ⅰ-ⅴ): green = M1 (corresponding to Seg1); cyan = S1/S2 (corresponding to Seg2); yellow = PFC (corresponding to Seg4); magenta = PMC (corresponding to Seg5); red = temporal (corresponding to Seg7); (ⅵ) Seven segmentation of the human thalamus base on anatomy connectivity. (ⅶ) An axial sample of thalamic section from the cytoarchitectonic atlas[<a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0125913#pone.0125913.ref016" target="_blank">16</a>]. VA = ventral anterior nucleus; VLa = ventral lateral anterior nucleus; VLp = ventral lateral posterior nucleus; VPL = ventral posterior lateral nucleus; LP = lateral posterior nucleus; Pu = pulvinar; MD = mediodorsal nucleus.</p