Following a first version AAL of the automated anatomical labeling atlas (Tzourio-Mazoyer et al., 2002), a second version (AAL2) (Rolls et al., 2015) was developed that provided an alternative ...parcellation of the orbitofrontal cortex following the description provided by Chiavaras, Petrides, and colleagues. We now provide a third version, AAL3, which adds a number of brain areas not previously defined, but of interest in many neuroimaging investigations. The 26 new areas in the third version are subdivision of the anterior cingulate cortex into subgenual, pregenual and supracallosal parts; subdivision of the thalamus into 15 parts; the nucleus accumbens, substantia nigra, ventral tegmental area, red nucleus, locus coeruleus, and raphe nuclei. The new atlas is available as a toolbox for SPM, and can be used with MRIcron.
•The automated anatomical atlas 3 (AAL3) is described. The following new areas are added.•Subdivision of the anterior cingulate cortex into subgenual, pregenual and supracallosal parts.•Thalamus, nucleus accumbens, substantia nigra, ventral tegmental area, red nucleus.•Locus coeruleus, and raphe nuclei.•AAL3 is available as a toolbox for SPM at www.oxcns.org.
A modified and extended version, HCPex, is provided of the surface-based Human Connectome Project-MultiModal Parcellation atlas of human cortical areas (HCP-MMP v1.0, Glasser et al. 2016). The ...original atlas with 360 cortical areas has been modified in HCPex for ease of use with volumetric neuroimaging software, such as SPM, FSL, and MRIcroGL. HCPex is also an extended version of the original atlas in which 66 subcortical areas (33 in each hemisphere) have been added, including the amygdala, thalamus, putamen, caudate nucleus, nucleus accumbens, globus pallidus, mammillary bodies, septal nuclei and nucleus basalis. HCPex makes available the excellent parcellation of cortical areas in HCP-MMP v1.0 to users of volumetric software, such as SPM and FSL, as well as adding some subcortical regions, and providing labelled coronal views of the human brain.
The first brain-wide voxel-level resting state functional connectivity neuroimaging analysis of depression is reported, with 421 patients with major depressive disorder and 488 control subjects. ...Resting state functional connectivity between different voxels reflects correlations of activity between those voxels and is a fundamental tool in helping to understand the brain regions with altered connectivity and function in depression. One major circuit with altered functional connectivity involved the medial orbitofrontal cortex Brodmann area 13, which is implicated in reward, and which had reduced functional connectivity in depression with memory systems in the parahippocampal gyrus and medial temporal lobe, especially involving the perirhinal cortex Brodmann area 36 and entorhinal cortex Brodmann area 28. The Hamilton Depression Rating Scale scores were correlated with weakened functional connectivity of the medial orbitofrontal cortex Brodmann area 13. Thus in depression there is decreased reward-related and memory system functional connectivity, and this is related to the depressed symptoms. The lateral orbitofrontal cortex Brodmann area 47/12, involved in non-reward and punishing events, did not have this reduced functional connectivity with memory systems. Second, the lateral orbitofrontal cortex Brodmann area 47/12 had increased functional connectivity with the precuneus, the angular gyrus, and the temporal visual cortex Brodmann area 21. This enhanced functional connectivity of the non-reward/punishment system (Brodmann area 47/12) with the precuneus (involved in the sense of self and agency), and the angular gyrus (involved in language) is thus related to the explicit affectively negative sense of the self, and of self-esteem, in depression. A comparison of the functional connectivity in 185 depressed patients not receiving medication and 182 patients receiving medication showed that the functional connectivity of the lateral orbitofrontal cortex Brodmann area 47/12 with these three brain areas was lower in the medicated than the unmedicated patients. This is consistent with the hypothesis that the increased functional connectivity of the lateral orbitofrontal cortex Brodmann area 47/12 is related to depression. Relating the changes in cortical connectivity to our understanding of the functions of different parts of the orbitofrontal cortex in emotion helps to provide new insight into the brain changes related to depression.
The preprocessing of diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) data involve numerous steps, including the corrections for head motion, susceptibility distortion, low signal‐to‐noise ratio, and ...signal drifting. Researchers or clinical practitioners often need to configure different preprocessing steps depending on disparate image acquisition schemes, which increases the technical threshold for dMRI analysis for nonexpert users. This could cause disparities in data processing approaches and thus hinder the comparability between studies. To make the dMRI data processing steps transparent and adapt to various dMRI acquisition schemes for researchers, we propose a semi‐automated pipeline tool for dMRI named integrated diffusion image operator or iDIO. This pipeline integrates features from a wide range of advanced dMRI software tools and targets at providing a one‐click solution for dMRI data analysis, via adaptive configuration for a set of suggested processing steps based on the image header of the input data. Additionally, the pipeline provides options for post‐processing, such as estimation of diffusion tensor metrics and whole‐brain tractography‐based connectomes reconstruction using common brain atlases. The iDIO pipeline also outputs an easy‐to‐interpret quality control report to facilitate users to assess the data quality. To keep the transparency of data processing, the execution log and all the intermediate images produced in the iDIO's workflow are accessible. The goal of iDIO is to reduce the barriers for clinical or nonspecialist users to adopt the state‐of‐art dMRI processing steps.
To make the dMRI data processing steps transparent and adapt to various dMRI acquisition schemes for researchers, we propose a semi‐automated pipeline tool for dMRI named integrated diffusion image operator or iDIO. This pipeline integrates features from a wide range of advanced dMRI software tools and targets at providing a one‐click solution for dMRI data analysis, via adaptive configuration for a set of suggested processing steps based on the image header of the input data.
Abstract
Background
The electronics industry is one of the largest global industries, and significant numbers of workers are engaged in this industry. Evidence suggests two associations, including ...one between ergonomic risks and shoulder disorders and another between psychological stress and psychological problems among workers in this industry. Investigations on ergonomic risks, psychological stress, and sex effects for shoulder disorders in this industry are limited. This study aimed to explore personal and work-related factors associated with shoulder disorders and to investigate the combined effect of similar ergonomic risk factors.
Methods
In this cross-sectional study, 931 workers aged 20 to 58 from an electronics factory in Taiwan were recruited. A Nordic musculoskeletal questionnaire was used to assess shoulder symptoms. Sociodemographic factors and work-related factors, including psychological stress, were assessed. One hundred random sample workers with shoulder symptoms underwent a standardized clinical test for the evaluation of subacromial impingement syndrome. The ergonomic risks were assessed by the risk filter of ‘upper limb disorders in the workplace’, including repetition, posture, force, vibration, and duration of exposure.
Results
The prevalence of shoulder symptoms was 30.5, and 19% of those with shoulder symptoms had subacromial impingement syndrome. In multivariable analyses, older age (adjusted odds ratio (aOR) = 1.37, 95% CI 1.01–1.86), repetition (aOR = 1.73, 95% CI 1.15–2.60) and posture (aOR = 1.85, 95% CI 1.10–3.11) were associated with shoulder symptoms. Regarding the gender effect, older age (aOR = 1.46, 95% CI 1.01–2.11), repetition (aOR = 1.64, 95% CI 1.00–2.68), posture (aOR = 1.89, 95% CI 1.01–3.52), and force (aOR = 1.68, 95% CI 0.99–2.85) were associated with shoulder symptoms in men, whereas posture (aOR = 2.12, 95% CI 0.99–4.57) was associated with symptoms in women.
Conclusions
This study implies that repetition and posture are important risk factors for shoulder disorders in the electronics industry. The risk exhibited sex differences, and force was more important for shoulder disorders in men. Such information is useful to help occupational health practitioners and policy makers conduct preventive programmes on shoulder disorders in this working population. Future longitudinal studies on work-related shoulder disorders are warranted.
Purpose
Recent advances in diffusion‐weighted MRI provide “restricted diffusion signal fraction” and restricting pore size estimates. Materials based on co‐electrospun oriented hollow cylinders have ...been introduced to provide validation for such methods. This study extends this work, exploring accuracy and repeatability using an extended acquisition on a 300 mT/m gradient human MRI scanner, in substrates closely mimicking tissue, that is, non‐circular cross‐sections, intra‐voxel fiber crossing, intra‐voxel distributions of pore‐sizes, and smaller pore‐sizes overall.
Methods
In a single‐blind experiment, diffusion‐weighted data were collected from a biomimetic phantom on a 3T Connectom system using multiple gradient directions/diffusion times. Repeated scans established short‐term and long‐term repeatability. The total scan time (54 min) matched similar protocols used in human studies. The number of distinct fiber populations was estimated using spherical deconvolution, and median pore size estimated through the combination of CHARMED and AxCaliber3D framework. Diffusion‐based estimates were compared with measurements derived from scanning electron microscopy.
Results
The phantom contained substrates with different orientations, fiber configurations, and pore size distributions. Irrespective of one or two populations within the voxel, the pore‐size estimates (~5 μm) and orientation‐estimates showed excellent agreement with the median values of pore‐size derived from scanning electron microscope and phantom configuration. Measurement repeatability depended on substrate complexity, with lower values seen in samples containing crossing‐fibers. Sample‐level repeatability was found to be good.
Conclusion
While no phantom mimics tissue completely, this study takes a step closer to validating diffusion microstructure measurements for use in vivo by demonstrating the ability to quantify microgeometry in relatively complex configurations.
Using network analysis of resting-state functional MRI data, we demonstrate that significant randomization of global network metrics, and greater resilience to targeted attack on network hubs, was ...replicably demonstrable in Chinese patients with schizophrenia, and was also demonstrated for the first time in their nonpsychotic first-degree relatives. These results support the hypothesis that functional networks are abnormally randomized and resilient in schizophrenia and indicate that network randomization/resilience may be an endophenotype, or marker of familial risk, for schizophrenia. We suggest that the greater randomization of the brain network endophenotype of schizophrenia may confer advantages in terms of greater resilience to pathological attack that may explain the selection and persistence of risk genes for schizophrenia in the general population.
Schizophrenia is increasingly conceived as a disorder of brain network organization or dysconnectivity syndrome. Functional MRI (fMRI) networks in schizophrenia have been characterized by abnormally random topology. We tested the hypothesis that network randomization is an endophenotype of schizophrenia and therefore evident also in nonpsychotic relatives of patients. Head movement-corrected, resting-state fMRI data were acquired from 25 patients with schizophrenia, 25 first-degree relatives of patients, and 29 healthy volunteers. Graphs were used to model functional connectivity as a set of edges between regional nodes. We estimated the topological efficiency, clustering, degree distribution, resilience, and connection distance (in millimeters) of each functional network. The schizophrenic group demonstrated significant randomization of global network metrics (reduced clustering, greater efficiency), a shift in the degree distribution to a more homogeneous form (fewer hubs), a shift in the distance distribution (proportionally more long-distance edges), and greater resilience to targeted attack on network hubs. The networks of the relatives also demonstrated abnormal randomization and resilience compared with healthy volunteers, but they were typically less topologically abnormal than the patientsâ networks and did not have abnormal connection distances. We conclude that schizophrenia is associated with replicable and convergent evidence for functional network randomization, and a similar topological profile was evident also in nonpsychotic relatives, suggesting that this is a systems-level endophenotype or marker of familial risk. We speculate that the greater resilience of brain networks may confer some fitness advantages on nonpsychotic relatives that could explain persistence of this endophenotype in the population.
Patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) exhibit concurrent deficits in both sensory and higher-order cognitive processing. Connectome studies have suggested a principal primary-to-transmodal ...gradient in functional brain networks, supporting the spectrum from sensation to cognition. However, whether this gradient structure is disrupted in patients with MDD and how this disruption associates with gene expression profiles and treatment outcome remain unknown. Using a large cohort of resting-state fMRI data from 2227 participants (1148 MDD patients and 1079 healthy controls) recruited at nine sites, we investigated MDD-related alterations in the principal connectome gradient. We further used Neurosynth, postmortem gene expression, and an 8-week antidepressant treatment (20 MDD patients) data to assess the meta-analytic cognitive functions, transcriptional profiles, and treatment outcomes related to MDD gradient alterations, respectively. Relative to the controls, MDD patients exhibited global topographic alterations in the principal primary-to-transmodal gradient, including reduced explanation ratio, gradient range, and gradient variation (Cohen's d = 0.16-0.21), and focal alterations mainly in the primary and transmodal systems (d = 0.18-0.25). These gradient alterations were significantly correlated with meta-analytic terms involving sensory processing and higher-order cognition. The transcriptional profiles explained 53.9% variance of the altered gradient pattern, with the most correlated genes enriched in transsynaptic signaling and calcium ion binding. The baseline gradient maps of patients significantly predicted symptomatic improvement after treatment. These results highlight the connectome gradient dysfunction in MDD and its linkage with gene expression profiles and clinical management, providing insight into the neurobiological underpinnings and potential biomarkers for treatment evaluation in this disorder.
Abstract
The human hippocampus is involved in forming new memories: damage impairs memory. The dual stream model suggests that object “what” representations from ventral stream temporal cortex ...project to the hippocampus via the perirhinal and then lateral entorhinal cortex, and spatial “where” representations from the dorsal parietal stream via the parahippocampal gyrus and then medial entorhinal cortex. The hippocampus can then associate these inputs to form episodic memories of what happened where. Diffusion tractography was used to reveal the direct connections of hippocampal system areas in humans. This provides evidence that the human hippocampus has extensive direct cortical connections, with connections that bypass the entorhinal cortex to connect with the perirhinal and parahippocampal cortex, with the temporal pole, with the posterior and retrosplenial cingulate cortex, and even with early sensory cortical areas. The connections are less hierarchical and segregated than in the dual stream model. This provides a foundation for a conceptualization for how the hippocampal memory system connects with the cerebral cortex and operates in humans. One implication is that prehippocampal cortical areas such as the parahippocampal TF and TH subregions and perirhinal cortices may implement specialized computations that can benefit from inputs from the dorsal and ventral streams.
In this study, ultraviolet (UV)-ozone treated ultrathin Nb-doped ZnO (NZO) films are developed as an efficient anode buffer layer to improve the overall performance of organic light-emitting diodes ...(OLEDs). The results show that the UV-ozone treated NZO buffer layer containing 1 mol% of Nb2O5 possesses a higher oxygen content and a greater work function (5.22 eV) as compared to that of an indium tin oxide (ITO) film (~4.7 eV) signifying a reduction in hole injection barrier and thus an improvement in the injection efficiency. In addition, UV-ozone treatment can increase the surface energy of NZO films while reducing their surface roughness. Importantly, the UV-ozone treated 1 nm-thick NZO film with a Nb2O5 doping concentration of 1 mol% can help to lower the turn-on voltage from 3.2 V to 2.8 V, increase the luminance from 10,450 cd/m2 to 25370 cd/m2, and improve the current efficiency from 3.46 cd/A to 5.26 cd/A, (~52 % enhancement as compared to the standard OLED device). Moreover, OLEDs with the developed buffer layer reveal a significant improvement in the roll-off phenomenon under high current densities, indicating a key role of the optimized NZO film in enhancing the carrier balance of the devices. When applied to the p-i-n structure, the NZO film also lead to a superior device performance as compared to the conventional p-i-n structure using NPB:MoO3 as a hole injection layer, suggesting a widespread use of the developed thin film. These findings therefore show a promising use of the UV-ozone treated NZO ultrathin film as an effective anode buffer material for enhancing OLED overall performance.
•Nb2O5 doping, UV-ozone surface treatment, anode buffer layer, organic light-emitting diodes (OLED).
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