Project description:Introduction: Previous studies have shown significant conditional differences between eyes open, fixated at an image (EO) and eyes closed (EC) in the acquired resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) data. Aim: We recently showed significant functional network connectivity (FNC) differences between EO and EC across a variety of networks. In this study, we aim at further evaluating differences in dynamic FNC (dFNC) between EO and EC. Materials and Methods: Rs-fMRI were collected from adolescents aged 9-15 years old during both EO and EC conditions, and dFNC was calculated by using the independent component analysis framework. Results: We found that out of five states (clusters), state 1 was observed to be more dominant in the EO condition, whereas state 2 was observed to be more dominant in the EC condition. States 1 and 2 showed significant differences in the mean dwell time based on false discovery rate, and states 1, 2, 3, and 4 differed in the frequency of occurrences. These results are consistent with our previous study of static connectivity in suggesting that EO and EC differences not only are relatively strong but also importantly reveal that these differences vary over time, especially in one particularly transient connectivity pattern. Conclusion: Our results manifest as changes in the proportion of time spent in unique functional connectivity patterns, and they show unique transient functional connectivity patterns in a subset of identified states. Overall, our findings indicate that both static and dynamic rs-fMRI connectivity patterns are strongly impacted by basic conditional differences such as EO and EC. Impact statement Our findings not only suggest that eyes open, fixated at an image (EO) and eyes closed (EC) condition-related resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging differences are relatively strong, but they also reveal an important attribute of these conditions that these differences vary over time, especially in one particularly transient connectivity pattern. Our results manifest as changes in the proportion of time spent in unique functional connectivity patterns, and they show unique transient functional connectivity patterns in a subset of identified states. We believe there is benefit in having the EO/EC as a contrast of interest in future studies, if time allows.
Project description:This data set contains electroencephalography (EEG) data as well as simultaneous EEG with functional magnetic resonance imaging (EEG/fMRI) data. During EEG/fMRI, the EEG cap was outfitted with a hardware-based add-on consisting of carbon-wire loops (CWL). These yielded six extra׳CWL׳ signals related to Faraday induction of these loops in the main magnetic field "Measurement and reduction of motion and ballistocardiogram artefacts from simultaneous EEG and fMRI recordings" (Masterton et al., 2007) [1]. In this data set, the CWL data make it possible to do a direct regression approach to deal with the BCG and specifically He artifact. The CWL-EEG/fMRI data in this paper has been recorded on two MRI scanners with different Helium pump systems (4 subjects on a 3 T TIM Trio and 4 subjects on a 3T VERIO). Separate EEG/fMRI data sets have been recorded for the helium pump ON as well as the helium pump OFF conditions. The EEG-only data (same subjects) has been recorded for a motion artifact-free reference EEG signal outside of the scanner. This paper also links to an EEGlab "EEGLAB: an open source toolbox for analysis of single-trial EEG dynamics including independent component analysis" (Delorme and Makeig, 2004) [2] plugin to perform a CWL regression approach to deal with the He pump artifact, as published in the main paper "Carbon-wire loop based artifact correction outperforms post-processing EEG/fMRI corrections-A validation of a real-time simultaneous EEG/fMRI correction method" (van der Meer et al., 2016) [3].
Project description:There is fundamental knowledge that during the resting state cerebral activity recorded by electroencephalography (EEG) is strongly modulated by the eyes-closed condition compared to the eyes-open condition, especially in the occipital lobe. However, little research has demonstrated the influence of the eyes-closed condition on the motor cortex, particularly during a self-paced movement. This prompted the question: How does the motor cortex activity change between the eyes-closed and eyes-open conditions? To answer this question, we recorded EEG signals from 15 voluntary healthy subjects who performed a simple motor task (i.e., a voluntary isometric flexion of the right-hand index) under two conditions: eyes-closed and eyes-open. Our results confirmed strong modulation in the mu rhythm (7-13 Hz) with a large event-related desynchronisation. However, no significant differences have been observed in the beta band (15-30 Hz). Furthermore, evidence suggests that the eyes-closed condition influences the behaviour of subjects. This study gives us greater insight into the motor cortex and could also be useful in the brain-computer interface (BCI) domain.
Project description:Eye-hand coordination during dart throwing includes both the sensory and motor components, as well as cognitive variables, for example, the direction of the subject's attention to the target or to the hand kinematic. In the present study, subjects performed dart throws in the eyes-open and eyes-closed conditions with simultaneous recording of the kinematics of the throwing hand. The results showed that the position of the hand in its raising phase was closer to the torso when performing more accurate throws with the eyes-open condition compared to more peripheral throws and throws performed in the eyes-closed condition. Following the dart release, the position of the hand in the eyes-open condition was lower compared to the eyes-closed condition. Additionally, in the eyes-closed condition, raising the hand in its backward moving phase negatively predicts the throwing accuracy. Thus, the early phase of the movement is associated with attention, and the final phase is associated with the visual feedback about the throwing accuracy. Raising the hand in the eyes-closed condition reflects an increase in muscle tension, which leads to a decrease in the accuracy of movement. The results of the study can be applied in sports and in the treatment of hand-eye-coordination disorders.
Project description:The eyes-open (EO) and eyes-closed (EC) states have differential effects on BOLD-fMRI signal dynamics, affecting both the BOLD oscillation frequency of a single voxel and the regional homogeneity (ReHo) of several neighboring voxels. To explore how the two resting-states modulate the local synchrony through different frequency bands, we decomposed the time series of each voxel into several components that fell into distinct frequency bands. The ReHo in each of the bands was calculated and compared between the EO and EC conditions. The cross-voxel correlations between the mean frequency and the overall ReHo of each voxel's original BOLD series in different brain areas were also calculated and compared between the two states. Compared with the EC state, ReHo decreased with EO in a wide frequency band of 0.01-0.25 Hz in the bilateral thalamus, sensorimotor network, and superior temporal gyrus, while ReHo increased significantly in the band of 0-0.01 Hz in the primary visual cortex, and in a higher frequency band of 0.02-0.1 Hz in the higher order visual areas. The cross-voxel correlations between the frequency and overall ReHo were negative in all the brain areas but varied from region to region. These correlations were stronger with EO in the visual network and the default mode network. Our results suggested that different frequency bands of ReHo showed different sensitivity to the modulation of EO-EC states. The better spatial consistency between the frequency and overall ReHo maps indicated that the brain might adopt a stricter frequency-dependent configuration with EO than with EC.
Project description:Thirty-six chronic neuropathic pain patients (8 men and 28 women) of Mexican nationality with a mean age of 44±13.98 were recruited for EEG signal recording in eyes open and eyes closed resting state condition. Each condition was recorded for 5 min, with a total recording session time of 10 min. An ID number was given to each patient after signing up for the study, with which they answered the painDETECT questionnaire as a screening process for neuropathic pain alongside their clinical history. The day of the recording, the patients answered the Brief Pain Inventory, as an evaluation questionnaire for the interference of the pain with their daily life. Twenty-two EEG channels positioned in accordance with the 10/20 international system were registered with Smarting mBrain device. EEG signals were sampled at 250 Hz with a bandwidth between 0.1 and 100 Hz. The article provides two types of data: (1) raw EEG data in resting state and (2) the report of patients for two validated pain questionnaires. The data described in this article can be used for classifier algorithms considering stratifying chronic neuropathic pain patients with EEG data alongside their pain scores. In sum, this data is of extreme relevance for the pain field, where researchers have been seeking to integrate the pain experience with objective physiological data, such as the EEG.
Project description:BackgroundResting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI) is employed to assess "functional connections" of signal between brain regions. However, multiple rs-fMRI paradigms and data-filtering strategies have been used, highlighting the need to explore BOLD signal across the spectrum. Rs-fMRI data is typically filtered at frequencies ranging between 0.008∼0.2 Hz to mitigate nuisance signal (e.g. cardiac, respiratory) and maximize neuronal BOLD signal. However, some argue neuronal BOLD signal may be parsed at higher frequencies.New methodTo assess the contributions of rs-fMRI along the BOLD spectra on functional network connectivity (FNC) matrices, a spatially constrained independent component analysis (ICA) was performed at seven different frequency "bins", after which FNC values and FNC measures of matrix-randomness were assessed using linear mixed models.ResultsResults show FNCs at higher-frequency bins display similar randomness to those from the typical frequency bins (0.01-0.15), while the largest values are in the 0.31-0.46 Hz bin. Eyes open (EO) vs eyes closed (EC) comparison found EC was less random than EO across most frequency bins. Further, FNC was greater in EC across auditory and cognitive control pairings while EO values were greater in somatomotor, visual, and default mode FNC.Comparison with existing methodsEffect sizes of frequency and resting-state paradigm vary from small to large, but the most notable results are specific to frequency ranges and resting-state paradigm with artifacts like motion displaying negligible effect sizes.ConclusionsThese suggest unique information may be derived from FNC matrices across frequencies and paradigms, but additional data is necessary prior to any definitive conclusions.
Project description:BackgroundThis report describes the design and methodology of the "Eyes of Africa: The Genetics of Blindness," a collaborative study funded through the Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa) program of the National Institute of Health.MethodsThis is a case control study that is collecting a large well phenotyped data set among glaucoma patients and controls for a genome wide association study. (GWAS). Multiplex families segregating Mendelian forms of early-onset glaucoma will also be collected for exome sequencing.DiscussionA total of 4500 cases/controls have been recruited into the study at the end of the 3rd funded year of the study. All these participants have been appropriately phenotyped and blood samples have been received from these participants. Recent GWAS of POAG in African individuals demonstrated genome-wide significant association with the APBB2 locus which is an association that is unique to individuals of African ancestry. This study will add to the existing knowledge and understanding of POAG in the African population.
Project description:Recent BOLD-fMRI studies have revealed spatial distinction between variability- and mean-based between-condition differences, suggesting that BOLD variability could offer complementary and even orthogonal views of brain function with traditional activation. However, these findings were mainly observed in block-designed fMRI studies. As block design may not be appreciate for characterizing the low-frequency dynamics of BOLD signal, the evidences suggesting the distinction between BOLD variability and mean are less convincing. Based on the high reproducibility of signal variability modulation between continuous eyes-open (EO) and eyes-closed (EC) states, here we employed EO/EC paradigm and BOLD-fMRI to compare variability- and mean-based EO/EC differences while the subjects were in light. The comparisons were made both on block-designed and continuous EO/EC data. Our results demonstrated that the spatial patterns of variability- and mean-based EO/EC differences were largely distinct with each other, both for block-designed and continuous data. For continuous data, increases of BOLD variability were found in secondary visual cortex and decreases were mainly in primary auditory cortex, primary sensorimotor cortex and medial nuclei of thalamus, whereas no significant mean-based differences were observed. For the block-designed data, the pattern of increased variability resembled that of continuous data and the negative regions were restricted to medial thalamus and a few clusters in auditory and sensorimotor networks, whereas activation regions were mainly located in primary visual cortex and lateral nuclei of thalamus. Furthermore, with the expanding window analyses we found variability results of continuous data exhibited a rather slower dynamical process than typically considered for task activation, suggesting block design is less optimal than continuous design in characterizing BOLD variability. In sum, we provided more solid evidences that variability-based modulation could represent orthogonal views of brain function with traditional mean-based activation.
Project description:Purpose:To characterize the corneal biomechanical properties of glaucoma eyes by comparing the dynamic Scheimpflug biomechanical parameters between untreated glaucoma and control eyes. Methods:Cross-sectional observational data of dynamic Scheimpflug analyzer (Corvis ST) examinations were retrospectively collected from 35 eyes of 35 consecutive patients with untreated normal tension glaucoma and 35 eyes of 35 healthy patients matched on age and IOP. Ten biomechanical parameters were compared between the two groups using multivariable models adjusting for IOP, central corneal thickness, age, and axial length. The Benjamini-Hochberg method was used to correct for multiple comparison. Results:In multivariable models, glaucoma was associated with smaller applanation 1 time (P < 0.001, coefficient = -0.5865), applanation 2 time (P = 0.012, coefficient = -0.1702), radius (P = 0.006, coefficient = -0.5447), larger peak distance (P = 0.011, coefficient = 0.1023), deformation amplitude ratio at 1 mm (P < 0.001, coefficient = 0.072), and integrated radius (P < 0.001, coefficient = 1.094). These associations consistently indicate greater compliance of the cornea in glaucoma eyes. Conclusions:Untreated normal tension glaucoma eyes were more compliant than healthy eyes. The greater compliance (smaller stiffness) of normal tension glaucoma eyes may increase the risk of optic nerve damage. These results suggest the relevance of measuring biomechanical properties of glaucoma eyes.