VBM

Growing evidence demonstrates that meditation practice supports cognitive functions including attention and interoceptive processing, and is associated with structural changes across cortical networks including prefrontal regions, and the insula. However, the extent of subcortical morphometric changes linked to meditation practice is less appreciated. A noteworthy candidate is the Pineal Gland, a key producer of melatonin, which regulates circadian rhythms that augment sleep-wake patterns, and may also provide neuroprotective benefits to offset cognitive decline...

BACKGROUND: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a highly heterogeneous mental condition with a diverse symptom. Existing studies classified OCD on the basis of conventional phenomenology-based taxonomy ignoring the fact that the same subtype identified in accordance with clinical symptom may have different mechanisms and treatment responses. METHODS: This research involved 50 medicine-free patients with OCD and 50 matched healthy controls (HCs). All the participants were subjected to structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)...

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INTRODUCTION: The efficiency of The International Classification of Headache Disorders (ICHD-3) in reflecting patients' disability has recently been questioned. This prompts consideration that clinical features beyond pain may more accurately indicate the extent of underlying brain impairment than the mere frequency of headache days. Important cognitive dysfunctions and psychological impairment have been reported in burdensome cases of migraine, and the presence of these alterations has been associated with biological changes in the nervous system...

UNLABELLED: To disclose possible associations between poorer sleep quality and structural brain alterations in a non-psychiatric healthy population, this study investigated the association between the Pittsburgh sleep quality index (PSQI) and brain correlates, using a whole-brain approach. This study included 371 right-handed healthy adults (138 males, mean age: 46.4 ± 14.0 years [range: 18-75]) who were right-handed. Subjective sleep quality was assessed using the Japanese version of the PSQI (PSQI-J), and the cutoff score for poor subjective sleep quality was set at ≥ 6...

Several population-based studies have reported that higher serum N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) levels are associated with brain morphological changes. However, no population-based studies have examined the relationship between serum NT-proBNP and various regional brain volumes in detail. We here analyzed the brain MRI data of 1,201 community-dwelling Japanese aged ≥65 years. Regional gray matter volumes (GMV) and intracranial volume (ICV) were estimated by applying voxel-based morphometry (VBM) methods...

Thought control ability (TCA) plays an important role in individuals' health and happiness. Previous studies demonstrated that TCA was closely conceptually associated with happiness. However, empirical research supporting this relationship was limited. In addition, the neural basis underlying TCA and how this neural basis influences the relationship between TCA and happiness remain unexplored. In the present study, the voxel-based morphometry (VBM) method was adopted to investigate the neuroanatomical basis of TCA in 314 healthy subjects...

Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and surface-based morphometry (SBM) are two widely used neuroimaging techniques for investigating brain anatomy. These techniques rely on statistical inferences at individual points (voxels or vertices), clusters of points, or a priori regions-of-interest. They are powerful tools for describing brain anatomy, but offer little insights into the generative processes that shape a particular set of findings. Moreover, they are restricted to a single spatial resolution scale, precluding the opportunity to distinguish anatomical variations that are expressed across multiple scales...

Volatile Binding Media (VBM) are waxy solids that can be used for temporary consolidation of heritage artifacts and architectural surfaces thanks to their spontaneous sublimation at room temperature. They are used to temporary shelter, consolidate or protect materials during high-risk operation, such as excavation, transportation, water-based treatments, etc. Although they are employed since the 1990s, research focused almost entirely on one of them, cyclododecane (CDD), which is by far the most used in onsite applications...

AIMS: The aim of this study is to investigate differences in gray matter volume and cortical complexity between Parkinson's disease with depression (PDD) patients and Parkinson's disease without depression (PDND) patients. METHODS: A total of 41 PDND patients, 36 PDD patients, and 38 healthy controls (HC) were recruited and analyzed by Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and surface-based morphometry (SBM). Differences in gray matter volume and cortical complexity were compared using the one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and correlated with the Hamilton Depression Scale-17 (HAMD-17) scores...

AIM: The diagnosis of cervical spondylotic myelopathy (CSM) relies on several methods, including x-rays, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Although MRI is the most useful diagnostic tool, strategies to improve the precise and independent diagnosis of CSM using novel MRI imaging techniques are urgently needed. This study aimed to explore potential brain biomarkers to improve the precise diagnosis of CSM through the combination of voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and tensor-based morphometry (TBM) with machine learning techniques...

Alzheimer's disease (AD) has an insidious onset and lacks clear early diagnostic markers, and by the time overt dementia symptoms appear, the disease is already in the mid-to-late stages. The search for early diagnostic markers of AD may open a critical window for Alzheimer's treatment and facilitate early intervention to slow the progression of AD. In this study, we aimed to explore the imaging markers for early diagnosis of AD through the combined application of structural magnetic resonance imaging (sMRI), resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI), and 1 H-magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1 H-MRS) multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) techniques at the animal experimental level, with the aim to provide a certain reference for early clinical diagnosis of AD...

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the characteristics of brain structure in children with focal cortical dysplasia (FCD)-induced pharmacoresistant epilepsy, and explore the potential mechanisms of cognitive impairment from the view of gray matter alteration. METHODS: 25 pharmacoresistant pediatric patients with pathologically confirmed focal cortical dysplasia (FCD), and 25 gender-matched healthy controls were included in this study. 3.0T MRI data and intelligence tests using the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-Forth Edition (WISC-IV) were generated for all subjects...

Procrastination has adverse consequences across cultural contexts. Behavioral research found a positive correlation between punishment sensitivity and procrastination. However, little is known about the neural substrates underlying the association between them. We employed voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) methods to address this issue with two independent samples. In Sample 1, behavioral results found that punishment sensitivity was positively related to procrastination...

Investigating cerebral asymmetries in non-human primates would facilitate to understand the evolutional traits of the human brain specialization related to language and other high-level cognition. However, brain asymmetrical studies of monkeys produced controversial results. Here, we investigated the cerebral asymmetries using a combination of the optimized voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) protocols in monkeys. The study-specific MRI and DTI-based templates were created in 66 adult Macaca fascicularis, and the asymmetrical index of grey and white matter was subsequently examined...

PURPOSE: Single-subject voxel-based morphometry (VBM) compares an individual T1-weighted MRI to a sample of normal MRI in a normative database (NDB) to detect regional atrophy. Outliers in the NDB might result in reduced sensitivity of VBM. The primary aim of the current study was to propose a method for outlier removal ("NDB cleaning") and to test its impact on the performance of VBM for detection of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD). METHODS: T1-weighted MRI of 81 patients with biomarker-confirmed AD (n = 51) or FTLD (n = 30) and 37 healthy subjects with simultaneous FDG-PET/MRI were included as test dataset...

In panic disorder (PD), functional disturbance of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis has been considered. However, in neuroimaging studies of PD, the hypothalamus and pituitary gland are poorly studied.We investigated the volume of PD patients' hypothalamus and pituitary gland, enrolling 38 PD patients and 38 healthy controls. Severity of PD was mild to moderate according to the Panic Disorder Severity Scale, and the illness duration was relatively short (median = 2.8 years). The hypothalamus' gray matter was automatically extracted and segmented, whereas the pituitary gland was manually traced...

Lipocalin-2 (LCN2) is essential for the regulation of neuroinflammation and cellular uptake of iron. This study aimed to evaluate plasma LCN2 levels and explore their correlation with clinical and neuroimaging features in Parkinson's disease (PD) patients. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to measure plasma LCN2 levels in 120 subjects. Evaluation of motor symptoms and nonmotor symptoms in PD patients was assessed by the associated scales. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) was used to evaluate brain volume alterations, and quantitative susceptibility mapping (QSM) was used to quantitatively analyze brain iron deposition in 46 PD patients...

Brain damage in children with unilateral cerebral palsy (UCP) affects motor function, with varying severity, making it difficult the performance of daily actions. Recently, qualitative and semi-quantitative methods have been developed for lesion classification, but studies on mild to moderate hand impairment are lacking. The present study aimed to characterize lesion topography and preserved brain areas in UCP children with specific patterns of hand manipulation. A homogeneous sample of 16 UCP children, aged 9 to 14 years, was enrolled in the study...

Background: Adjuvant chemotherapy for breast cancer might impact cognitive function and brain structure. Methods: In this study, we investigated the cerebral microstructural changes in breast cancer survivors after adjuvant chemotherapy and the correlation with cognitive function with both cross-sectional and longitudinal study designs. All participants underwent structural MRI. In total, we recruited 67 prechemotherapy patients (BB), 67 postchemotherapy patients (BA), and 77 healthy controls (BH). For the follow-up study, 28 participants in the BH and 28 in the BB groups returned for imaging and assessment (BHF, BBF)...