Exploring memory function in earthquake trauma survivors with resting-state fMRI and machine learning.

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND:Traumatized earthquake survivors may develop poor memory function. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) and machine learning techniques may one day aid the clinical assessment of individual psychiatric patients. This study aims to use machine learning with Rs-fMRI from the perspectives of neurophysiology and neuroimaging to explore the association between it and the individual memory function of trauma survivors. METHODS:Rs-fMRI data was acquired for eighty-nine survivors (male (33%), average age (SD):45.18(6.31) years) of Wenchuan earthquakes in 2008 each of whom was screened by experienced psychiatrists based on the clinician-administered post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) scale (CAPS), and their memory function scores were determined by the Wechsler Memory Scale-IV (WMS-IV). We explored which memory function scores were significantly associated with CAPS scores. Using simple multiple kernel learning (MKL), Rs-fMRI was used to predict the memory function scores that were associated with CAPS scores. A support vector machine (SVM) was also used to make classifications in trauma survivors with or without PTSD. RESULTS:Spatial addition (SA), which is defined by spatial working memory function, was negatively correlated with the total CAPS score (r?=?-?0.22, P?=?0.04). The use of simple MKL allowed quantitative association of SA scores with statistically significant accuracy (correlation?=?0.28, P?=?0.03; mean squared error?=?8.36; P?=?0.04). The left middle frontal gyrus and the left precuneus contributed the largest proportion to the simple MKL association frame. The SVM could not make a quantitative classification of diagnosis with statistically significant accuracy. LIMITATIONS:The use of the cross-sectional study design after exposure to an earthquake and the leave-one-out cross-validation (LOOCV) increases the risk of overfitting. CONCLUSION:Spontaneous brain activity of the left middle frontal gyrus and the left precuneus acquired by rs-fMRI may be a brain mechanism of visual working memory that is related to PTSD symptoms. Machine learning may be a useful tool in the identification of brain mechanisms of memory impairment in trauma survivors.

SUBMITTER: Li Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6998246 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature