• Communications for Statistical Applications and Methods
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.603-624
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• 2020

There is an emerging interest in brain functional connectivity (FC) based on functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Alzheimer's disease (AD) studies. The complex and high-dimensional structure of FC makes it challenging to explore the association between altered connectivity and AD susceptibility. We develop a pipeline to refine FC as proper covariates in a penalized logistic regression model and classify normal and AD susceptible groups. Three different quantification methods are proposed for FC refinement. One of the methods is dimension reduction based on common component analysis (CCA), which is employed to address the limitations of the other methods. We applied the proposed pipeline to the Alzheimer's Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI) data and deduced pathogenic FC biomarkers associated with AD susceptibility. The refined FC biomarkers were related to brain regions for cognition, stimuli processing, and sensorimotor skills. We also demonstrated that a model using CCA performed better than others in terms of classification performance and goodness-of-fit.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.63-70
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• 2018

It has been suggested that aberrant self-referential processing (SRP) is one of the important components of the explanatory models of social anxiety disorder (SAD). The default mode network (DMN), which reflects intrinsic brain functions, is known to play a critical role in SRP. Recently, resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) research on the functional connectivity in the brain network has gained greater attention as a tool to elucidate the neurobiological basis of various psychiatric disorders. We reviewed resting state fMRI studies that investigated the resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) of the DMN in SAD. Despite of the heterogeneity of the analytic methods and occasional negative findings, most studies consistently reported abnormalities of RSFC within the DMN, suggesting that the DMN may be significant neural correlates of aberrant SRP in SAD. Also, changes in RSFC of the DMN are associated with clinical improvements of therapeutic interventions. Moreover, emerging findings provide the basis for potential use of RSFC as a complementary method in diagnosis of SAD. Ongoing and future research to investigate RSFC of the DMN could broaden our understanding regarding the neurobiological basis of SAD, and contribute to the development of novel treatments for SAD.

• Korean Journal of Biological Psychiatry
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.101-108
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• 2015

Recent breakthroughs in functional neuroimaging techniques have launched the quest of mapping the connections of the human brain, otherwise known as the human connectome. Imaging connectomics is an umbrella term that refers to the neuroimaging techniques used to generate these maps, which recently has enabled comprehensive brain mapping of network connectivity combined with graph theoretic methods. In this review, we present an overview of the key concepts in functional connectomics. Furthermore, we discuss articles that applied task-based and/or resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine network deficits in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). These studies have provided important insights regarding the etiology of PTSD, as well as the overall organization of the brain network. Advances in functional connectomics are expected to provide insight into the pathophysiology and the development of biomarkers for diagnosis and treatment of PTSD.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.10 no.1
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• pp.44-51
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• 2014

Objective : The amygdala has been considered to be a critical region in the pathophysiology of social anxiety disorder, but subregional connectivity pattern has not been examined yet despite lots of previous functional neuroimaging studies. Methods : Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data was obtained in 19 patients with social anxiety disorder and 20 normal controls, and default mode functional connectivity with each of basolateral, centromedial and superficial areas of the amygdala was measured and compared between the two groups. Results : Differential amygdala-based networks between the two groups were distributed to all over the brain. In particular, however, a bias on the amygdala-cingulate pathway was observed in the superficial amygdala only. Connectivity strengths between the superficial amygdala and perigenual anterior cingulate cortex were correlated with scores of social interaction and avoidance. Conclusion : Our findings provide new insights into understanding of the intrinsic cognitive bias model of social anxiety disorder. An abnormality in superficial amygdala-anterior cingulate connectivity may influence on cognitive processing of socially-relevant information in social anxiety disorder.

• Communications for Statistical Applications and Methods
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.87-104
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• 2024

Most functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies in resting state have assumed that the functional connectivity (FC) between time series from distinct brain regions is constant. However, increased interest has recently been in quantifying possible dynamic changes in FC during fMRI experiments. FC study may provide insight into the fundamental workings of brain networks to brain activity. In this work, we focus on the specific problem of estimating the dynamic behavior of pairwise correlations between time courses extracted from two different brain regions. We compare the sliding-window techniques such as moving average (MA) and exponentially weighted moving average (EWMA), dynamic causality with vector autoregressive (VAR) model, dynamic conditional correlation (DCC) based on volatility, and the proposed alternative methods to use differencing and recursive residuals. We investigate the properties of those techniques in a series of simulation studies. We also provide an application with major depressive disorder (MDD) patient fMRI data to demonstrate studying dynamic correlations.

• Anxiety and mood
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• v.18 no.2
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• pp.39-47
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• 2022

Objective : This study investigated brain functional connectivity in male firefighters who showed subclinical post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms. Methods : We compared the data of 17 firefighters who were not diagnosed with PTSD and 18 healthy controls who had no trauma exposure. The following instruments were applied to assess psychiatric symptoms: Korean version of the Post-traumatic stress disorder Checklist for DSM-5 (PCL-5-K), Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI). For all subjects, functional magnetic resonance imaging was performed, and functional connectivity was compared between the two groups (family-wise error-corrected p<0.05). Additionally, correlations between psychiatric symptoms and functional connectivity were explored. Results : The following connectivity was higher than that of healthy controls: 1) the central opercular cortex-superior temporal gyrus, 2) planum polare-parahippocampal gyrus, 3) angular gyrus-amygdala, and 4) temporal fusiform cortex-parahippocampal gyrus. The functional connectivity of 1) the lateral occipital cortex-inferior temporal gyrus, 2) superior parietal lobule-caudate, and 3) middle temporal gyrus-thalamus were lower in firefighters. In firefighters, the connectivity of the planum polare-parahippocampal gyrus showed a negative correlation with the severity of arousal symptoms (rho=-0.586, p=0.013). The connectivity of the middle temporal gyrus-thalamus showed a positive correlation with the severity of intrusion (rho=0.552, p=0.022) and arousal symptoms (rho=0.619, p=0.008). The connectivity of the temporal fusiform cortex-parahippocampal gyrus was negatively correlated with intrusion (rho=-0.491, p=0.045) and arousal (rho=-0.579, p=0.015). Conclusion : Our results indicate that the brain functional connectivity is associated with occupational trauma exposure in firefighters without PTSD. Therefore, this study provides evidence that close monitoring and early intervention are important for firefighters with traumatic experience even at a subthreshold level.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.38 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2024

Cognitive reserve (CR) is a concept that can explain the discrepancies between the pathologic burden of the disease and clinical manifestations. It refers to the individual susceptibility to age-related brain changes and pathologies related to Alzheimer's disease, thus recognized as a factor affecting the trajectories of the disease. The purpose of this study was to explore the current states of clinical studies on neural substrates of CR in Alzheimer's disease using functional magnetic resonance imaging. We searched for clinical studies on CR using fMRI in the Pubmed, Cochrane library, RISS, KISS and ScienceON on August 14, 2023. Once the online search was finished, studies were selected manually by the inclusion criteria. Finally, we analyzed the characteristics of selected articles and reviewed the neural substrates of CR. Total thirty-four studies were included in this study. As surrogate markers of CR, not only education and occupational complexity, but also composite score and questionnaire-based method, which cover various areas of life, were mainly used. The most utilized methods in resting-state fMRI were independent component analysis, seed-based analysis, and graph theory analysis. Through the analysis, we demonstrated that neuroimaging techniques could capture the neural substrates associated with cognitive reserve. Moreover, functional connectivity of brain regions centered on prefrontal and parietal cortex and network areas such as default mode network showed a significant correlation with CR, which indicated a significant association with cognitive performance. CR may induce differential effects according to the disease status. We hope that this perspective on cognitive reserve would be helpful when conducting clinical researches on the mechanisms of traditional Korean medicine for Alzheimer's disease in the future.

• Journal of the Korean Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
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• v.23 no.2
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• pp.57-62
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• 2012

Objectives : Characteristic symptoms, including hyperactivity and easy distractibility, in children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) suggest that their brain status, even at rest, might differ from that of healthy children. This study was conducted in order to determine whether resting state brain activity is compromised in medication-naive children with ADHD. Methods : Twenty medication-naive children with ADHD (mean age $10.3{\pm}2.5$) and 28 age- and gender-matched healthy volunteers (mean age $10.3{\pm}2.0$) underwent measurements for resting state brain activity using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Among resting state related-independent components (RSICs) extracted from fMRI data using independent component analysis, a significant difference in RSICs was observed between groups, using a mixed Gaussian/gamma model. Results : Except for IQ, which was higher in the healthy control group, no demographic difference was observed between the two groups (p<.001). Significantly less activation of one RSIC, which includes the bilateral precuneus/posterior cingulate cortex, occipito-temporal junction, and anterior cingulate cortex, was observed in the ADHD group, compared with the control group (p<.05). Conclusion : An abnormal RSIC, posterior default mode network (DMN), was observed in the medication-naive ADHD group. Results of our study suggest that abnormality of posterior DMN is one of the main pathophysiologies of ADHD.

• The Korean Journal of Pain
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• v.36 no.1
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• pp.113-127
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• 2023

Background: Resting-state functional connectivity (rs-FC) may aid in understanding the link between painmodulating brain regions and the descending pain modulatory system (DPMS) in fibromyalgia (FM). This study investigated whether the differences in rs-FC of the primary somatosensory cortex in responders and non-responders to the conditioned pain modulation test (CPM-test) are related to pain, sleep quality, central sensitization, and the impact of FM on quality of life. Methods: This cross-sectional study included 33 females with FM. rs-FC was assessed by functional magnetic resonance imaging. Change in the numerical pain scale during the CPM-test assessed the DPMS function. Subjects were classified either as non-responders (i.e., DPMS dysfunction, n = 13) or responders (n = 20) to CPM-test. A generalized linear model (GLM) and a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis were performed to check the accuracy of the rs-FC to differentiate each group. Results: Non-responders showed a decreased rs-FC between the left somatosensory cortex (S1) and the periaqueductal gray (PAG) (P < 0.001). The GLM analysis revealed that the S1-PAG rs-FC in the left-brain hemisphere was positively correlated with a central sensitization symptom and negatively correlated with sleep quality and pain scores. ROC curve analysis showed that left S1-PAG rs-FC offers a sensitivity and specificity of 85% or higher (area under the curve, 0.78, 95% confidence interval, 0.63-0.94) to discriminate who does/does not respond to the CPM-test. Conclusions: These results support using the rs-FC patterns in the left S1-PAG as a marker for predicting CPM-test response, which may aid in treatment individualization in FM patients.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Radiology
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• v.81 no.3
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• pp.676-687
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• 2020

Purpose To analyze the altered brain regions and intrinsic brain activity patterns in trauma-exposed firefighters without posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Materials and Methods Resting-state functional MRI (rsfMRI) was performed for all subjects. Thirty-one firefighters over 40 years of age without PTSD (31 men; mean age, 49.8 ± 4.7 years) were included. Twenty-six non-traumatized healthy controls (HCs) (26 men; mean age, 65.3 ± 7.84 years) were also included. Voxel-based morphometry was performed to investigate focal differences in the brain anatomy. Seed-based functional connectivity analysis was performed to investigate differences in spontaneous brain characteristics. Results The mean z-scores of the Seoul Verbal Learning Test for immediate and delayed recall, Controlled Oral Word Association Test (COWAT) score for animals, and COWAT phonemic fluency were significantly lower in the firefighter group than in the HCs, indicating decreased neurocognitive function. Compared to HCs, firefighters showed reduced gray matter volume in the left superior parietal gyrus and left inferior temporal gyrus. Further, in contrast to HCs, firefighters showed alterations in rsfMRI values in multiple regions, including the fusiform gyrus and cerebellum. Conclusion Structural and resting-state functional abnormalities in the brain may be useful imaging biomarkers for identifying alterations in trauma-exposed firefighters without PTSD.