The study evaluates the efficacy of RETROICOR (Retrospective Image Correction) in mitigating physiological artifacts within multi-echo (ME) fMRI data. Two RETROICOR implementations were compared: applying corrections to individual echoes (RTC_ind) versus composite multi-echo data (RTC_comp). Data from 50 healthy participants were collected using diverse acquisition parameters, including multiband acceleration factors and varying flip angles, on a Siemens Prisma 3T scanner. Key metrics such as temporal signal-to-noise ratio (tSNR), signal fluctuation sensitivity (SFS), and variance of residuals demonstrated improved data quality in both RETROICOR models, particularly in moderately accelerated runs (multiband factors 4 and 6) with lower flip angles (45°). Differences between RTC_ind and RTC_comp were minimal, suggesting both methods are viable for practical applications. While the highest acceleration (multiband factor 8) degraded data quality, RETROICOR's compatibility with faster acquisition sequences was confirmed. These findings underscore the importance of optimizing acquisition parameters and noise correction techniques for reliable fMRI investigations.

• Klíčová slova
• RETROICOR, denoising, fMRI, multi‐echo,
• MeSH
• artefakty * MeSH
• dospělí MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• magnetická rezonanční tomografie * metody   MeSH
• mapování mozku * metody   MeSH
• mladý dospělý MeSH
• mozek * diagnostické zobrazování   fyziologie   MeSH
• počítačové zpracování obrazu * metody   MeSH
• poměr signál - šum MeSH
• Check Tag
• dospělí MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mladý dospělý MeSH
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

BACKGROUND: Maladaptive behaviors and interpersonal difficulties in patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) seem connected to biased facial emotion processing. This bias is often accompanied by heightened amygdala activity in patients with BPD as compared to healthy controls. However, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies exploring differences between patients and healthy controls in facial emotion processing have produced divergent results. The current study explored fMRI and heart rate variability (HRV) correlates of negative facial emotion processing in patients with BPD and healthy controls. METHODS: The study included 30 patients with BPD (29 females; age: M = 24.22, SD = 5.22) and 30 healthy controls (29 females; M = 24.66, SD = 5.28). All participants underwent the "faces" task, an emotional face perception task, in an fMRI session simultaneously with ECG. In this task, participants are presented with emotional expressions of disgust, sadness, and fear (as a negative condition) and with the same pictures in a scrambled version (as a neutral condition). RESULTS: We found no differences in brain activity between patients with BPD and healthy controls when processing negative facial expressions as compared to neutral condition. We observed activation in large-scale brain areas in both groups when presented with negative facial expressions as compared to neutral condition. Patients with BPD displayed lower HRV than healthy controls in both conditions. However, there were no significant associations between HRV and amygdala activity and BPD symptoms. CONCLUSION: The results of this study indicate no abnormal brain activity during emotional facial processing in patients with BPD. This result contrasts with previous studies and more studies are needed to clarify the relationship between facial emotion processing and brain activity in patients with BPD. Possible reasons for the absence of brain activity differences are discussed in the study. Consistent with previous findings, patients showed lower HRV than healthy controls. However, HRV was not associated with amygdala activity and BPD symptoms.

• Klíčová slova
• Borderline personality disorder, Faces task, Facial emotion processing, Heart rate variability, Negative facial expressions, fMRI,
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

Transcranial direct current stimulation combined with cognitive training (tDCS-cog) represents a promising approach to combat cognitive decline among healthy older adults and patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). In this 5-day-long double-blinded randomized trial, we investigated the impact of intensified tDCS-cog protocol involving two trains of stimulation per day on working memory (WM) enhancement in 35 amnestic and multidomain amnestic MCI patients. Specifically, we focused to improve WM tasks relying on top-down attentional control and hypothesized that intensified tDCS would enhance performance of visual object matching task (VOMT) immediately after the stimulation regimen and at a 1-month follow-up. Secondarily, we explored whether the stimulation would augment online visual working memory training. Using fMRI, we aimed to elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying the intervention effects by analyzing BOLD activations during VOMT. Our main finding revealed no superior after-effects of tDCS-cog over the sham on VOMT among individuals with MCI as indicated by insignificant immediate and long-lasting after-effects. Additionally, the tDCS-cog did not enhance online training as predicted. The fMRI analysis revealed brain activity alterations in right insula that may be linked to tDCS-cog intervention. In the study we discuss the insignificant behavioral results in the context of the current evidence in tDCS parameter space and opening the discussion of possible interference between trained cognitive tasks.

• MeSH
• dorsolaterální prefrontální kortex MeSH
• dvojitá slepá metoda MeSH
• kognitivní dysfunkce * terapie   MeSH
• krátkodobá paměť fyziologie   MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mozek diagnostické zobrazování   MeSH
• prefrontální mozková kůra fyziologie   MeSH
• přímá transkraniální stimulace mozku * metody   MeSH
• senioři MeSH
• Check Tag
• lidé MeSH
• senioři MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• randomizované kontrolované studie MeSH

BACKGROUND: Interpersonal difficulties of patients with borderline personality disorder (BPD) are closely related to rejection sensitivity. The aim of the present study was to gain further insight into the experience and cerebral processing of social interactions in patients with BPD by using fMRI during experimentally induced experiences of social exclusion, inclusion, and overinclusion. METHODS: The study involved 30 participants diagnosed with BPD (29 female and 1 male; age: M = 24.22, SD = 5.22) and 30 healthy controls (29 female and 1 male; age: M = 24.66, SD = 5.28) with no current or lifetime psychiatric diagnoses. In the fMRI session, all participants were asked to complete a Cyberball task that consisted of an alternating sequence of inclusion, exclusion, and overinclusion conditions. RESULTS: Compared to healthy controls, participants with BPD reported higher levels of inner tension and more unpleasant emotions across all experimental conditions. At the neural level, the participants with BPD showed lower recruitment of the left hippocampus in response to social exclusion (relative to the inclusion condition) than the healthy controls did. Lower recruitment of the left hippocampus in this contrast was associated with childhood maltreatment in patients with BPD. However, this difference was no longer significant when we added the covariate of hippocampal volume to the analysis. During social overinclusion (relative to the inclusion condition), we observed no significant differences in a group comparison of neural activation. CONCLUSIONS: The results of our study suggest that patients with BPD experience more discomfort than do healthy controls during social interactions. Compared to healthy participants, patients with BPD reported more inner tension and unpleasant emotions, irrespective of the extent to which others included them in social interactions. At a neural level, the participants with BPD showed a lower recruitment of the left hippocampus in response to social exclusion than the healthy controls did. The reduced activation of this neural structure could be related to a history of childhood maltreatment and smaller hippocampal volume in patients with BPD.

• Klíčová slova
• Borderline personality disorder, Cyberball paradigm, Rejection sensitivity, Social exclusion, Social overinclusion, fMRI,
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

Parkinson's disease (PD) affects the language processes, with a significant impact on the patients' daily communication. We aimed to describe specific alterations in the comprehension of syntactically complex sentences in patients with PD (PwPD) as compared to healthy controls (HC) and to identify the neural underpinnings of these deficits using a functional connectivity analysis of the striatum. A total of 20 patients PwPD and 15 HC participated in the fMRI study. We analyzed their performance of a Test of sentence comprehension (ToSC) adjusted for fMRI. A task-dependent functional connectivity analysis of the striatum was conducted using the psychophysiological interaction method (PPI). On the behavioral level, the PwPD scored significantly lower (mean ± sd: 77.3 ± 12.6) in the total ToSC score than the HC did (mean ± sd: 86.6 ± 8.0), p = 0.02, and the difference was also significant specifically for sentences with a non-canonical word order (PD-mean ± sd: 69.9 ± 14.1, HC-mean ± sd: 80.2 ± 11.5, p = 0.04). Using PPI, we found a statistically significant difference between the PwPD and the HC in connectivity from the right striatum to the supplementary motor area [SMA, (4 8 53)] for non-canonical sentences. This PPI connectivity was negatively correlated with the ToSC accuracy of non-canonical sentences in the PwPD. Our results showed disturbed sentence reading comprehension in the PwPD with altered task-dependent functional connectivity from the right striatum to the SMA, which supports the synchronization of the temporal and sequential aspects of language processing. The study revealed that subcortical-cortical networks (striatal-frontal loop) in PwPD are compromised, leading to impaired comprehension of syntactically complex sentences.

• Klíčová slova
• Parkinson’s disease, functional connectivity, language impairment, sentence reading comprehension, striatum, task fMRI,
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has the potential to modulate cognitive training in healthy aging; however, results from various studies have been inconsistent. We hypothesized that inter-individual differences in baseline brain state may contribute to the varied results. We aimed to explore whether baseline resting-state dynamic functional connectivity (rs-dFC) and/or conventional resting-state static functional connectivity (rs-sFC) may be related to the magnitude of cognitive aftereffects of tDCS. To achieve this aim, we used data from our double-blind randomized sham-controlled cross-over tDCS trial in 25 healthy seniors in which bifrontal tDCS combined with cognitive training had induced significant behavioral aftereffects. We performed a backward regression analysis including rs-sFC/rs-dFC measures to explain the variability in the magnitude of tDCS-induced improvements in visual object-matching task (VOMT) accuracy. Rs-dFC analysis revealed four rs-dFC states. The occurrence rate of a rs-dFC state 4, characterized by a high correlation between the left fronto-parietal control network and the language network, was significantly associated with tDCS-induced VOMT accuracy changes. The rs-sFC measure was not significantly associated with the cognitive outcome. We show that flexibility of the brain state representing readiness for top-down control of object identification implicated in the studied task is linked to the tDCS-enhanced task accuracy.

• MeSH
• individualita MeSH
• kognice MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mozek MeSH
• přímá transkraniální stimulace mozku * MeSH
• progrese nemoci MeSH
• Check Tag
• lidé MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• randomizované kontrolované studie MeSH

We wanted to verify the effect of combining multi-echo (ME) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with slice acceleration in simultaneous multi-slice acquisition. The aim was to shed light on the benefits of multiple echoes for various acquisition settings, especially for levels of slice acceleration and flip angle. Whole-brain ME fMRI data were obtained from 26 healthy volunteers (using three echoes; seven runs with slice acceleration 1, 4, 6, and 8; and two different flip angles for each of the first three acceleration factors) and processed as single-echo (SE) data and ME data based on optimal combinations weighted by the contrast-to-noise ratio. Global metrics (temporal signal-to-noise ratio, signal-to-noise separation, number of active voxels, etc.) and local characteristics in regions of interest were used to evaluate SE and ME data. ME results outperformed SE results in all runs; the differences became more apparent for higher acceleration, where a significant decrease in data quality is observed. ME fMRI can improve the observed data quality metrics over SE fMRI for a wide range of accelerated fMRI acquisitions.

• Klíčová slova
• BOLD, TE dependence, acquisition acceleration, multi-echo fMRI, simultaneous multi-slice imaging,
• MeSH
• dospělí MeSH
• echoplanární zobrazování metody   MeSH
• globus pallidus diagnostické zobrazování   fyziologie   MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• magnetická rezonanční tomografie metody   MeSH
• mapování mozku metody   MeSH
• mladý dospělý MeSH
• mozková kůra diagnostické zobrazování   fyziologie   MeSH
• počítačové zpracování obrazu metody   MeSH
• psychomotorický výkon fyziologie   MeSH
• Check Tag
• dospělí MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mladý dospělý MeSH
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH

OBJECTIVES: Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is an innovative method in the treatment of borderline personality disorder (BPD). We hypothesized that prefrontal rTMS in patients with BPD leads to improved BPD symptoms and that these effects are associated with brain connectivity changes. METHODS: Fourteen patients with BPD received 15 sessions of individually navigated prefrontal rTMS over the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Clinical effects were measured by the Borderline Symptom List 23, UPPS-P, the Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS), the Zung Self-Rating Anxiety Scale (SAS), and the Montgomery and Åsberg Depression Rating Scale (MADRS). Effects of rTMS on brain connectivity were observed with a seed correlation analysis on resting-state fMRI and with a beta series correlation analysis on Go/No Go tasks during fMRI. Assessments were made before and immediately after the treatment. RESULTS: The assessments after rTMS showed significant reductions in two subscales of UPPS-P, and in DERS, SAS, and MADRS. The brain connectivity analysis revealed significant decreases in amygdala and insula connectivity with nodes of the posterior default mode network (pDMN; precuneus, posterior cingulate cortex, parietal lobules). Connectivity changes were observed both in the resting state and during inhibition. The decrease of amygdala-pDMN connectivity was positively correlated with reduced depression and lack of premeditation after rTMS. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the study limitations (open single-arm study in a small sample), our findings suggest a possible neural mechanism of rTMS effect in BPD, reduced amygdala connectivity with the pDMN network, which was positively associated with symptom reduction.

• Klíčová slova
• Go/NoGo task, borderline personality disorder, connectivity changes, posterior default mode network, transcranial magnetic stimulation,
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

BACKGROUND: Cognitive impairment in Parkinson's disease (PD) is associated with altered connectivity of the resting state networks (RSNs). Longitudinal studies in well cognitively characterized PD subgroups are missing. OBJECTIVES: To assess changes of the whole-brain connectivity and between-network connectivity (BNC) of large-scale functional networks related to cognition in well characterized PD patients using a longitudinal study design and various analytical methods. METHODS: We explored the whole-brain connectivity and BNC of the frontoparietal control network (FPCN) and the default mode, dorsal attention, and visual networks in PD with normal cognition (PD-NC, n = 17) and mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI, n = 22) as compared to 51 healthy controls (HC). We applied regions of interest-based, partial least squares, and graph theory based network analyses. The differences among groups were analyzed at baseline and at the one-year follow-up visit (37 HC, 23 PD all). RESULTS: The BNC of the FPCN and other RSNs was reduced, and the whole-brain analysis revealed increased characteristic path length and decreased average node strength, clustering coefficient, and global efficiency in PD-NC compared to HC. Values of all measures in PD-MCI were between that of HC and PD-NC. After one year, the BNC was further increased in the PD-all group; no changes were detected in HC. No cognitive domain z-scores deteriorated in either group. CONCLUSION: As compared to HC, PD-NC patients display a less efficient transfer of information globally and reduced BNC of the visual and frontoparietal control network. The BNC increases with time and MCI status, reflecting compensatory efforts.

• Klíčová slova
• Between-network connectivity, Parkinson’s disease, cognitive resting state brain networks, functional MRI, graph measures, longitudinal, mild cognitive impairment, partial least squares analysis,
• MeSH
• dospělí MeSH
• kognitivní dysfunkce etiologie   patologie   psychologie   MeSH
• lidé středního věku MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• longitudinální studie MeSH
• magnetická rezonanční tomografie MeSH
• mozek diagnostické zobrazování   patologie   MeSH
• nervová síť diagnostické zobrazování   patologie   MeSH
• neurozobrazování MeSH
• Parkinsonova nemoc komplikace   patologie   psychologie   MeSH
• prefrontální mozková kůra patologie   MeSH
• senioři nad 80 let MeSH
• senioři MeSH
• studie případů a kontrol MeSH
• temenní lalok patologie   MeSH
• testy pro posouzení mentálních funkcí a demence MeSH
• zrakové korové centrum patologie   MeSH
• Check Tag
• dospělí MeSH
• lidé středního věku MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• senioři nad 80 let MeSH
• senioři MeSH
• ženské pohlaví MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH

During social interactions, decision-making involves mutual reciprocity-each individual's choices are simultaneously a consequence of, and antecedent to those of their interaction partner. Neuroeconomic research has begun to unveil the brain networks underpinning social decision-making, but we know little about the patterns of neural connectivity within them that give rise to reciprocal choices. To investigate this, the present study measured the behaviour and brain function of pairs of individuals (N = 66) whilst they played multiple rounds of economic exchange comprising an iterated ultimatum game. During these exchanges, both players could attempt to maximise their overall monetary gain by reciprocating their opponent's prior behaviour-they could promote generosity by rewarding it, and/or discourage unfair play through retaliation. By adapting a model of reciprocity from experimental economics, we show that players' choices on each exchange are captured accurately by estimating their expected utility (EU) as a reciprocal reaction to their opponent's prior behaviour. We then demonstrate neural responses that map onto these reciprocal choices in two brain regions implicated in social decision-making: right anterior insula (AI) and anterior/anterior-mid cingulate cortex (aMCC). Finally, with behavioural Dynamic Causal Modelling, we identified player-specific patterns of effective connectivity between these brain regions with which we estimated each player's choices with over 70% accuracy; namely, bidirectional connections between AI and aMCC that are modulated differentially by estimates of EU from our reciprocity model. This input-state-output modelling procedure therefore reveals systematic brain-behaviour relationships associated with the reciprocal choices characterising interactive social decision-making.

• Klíčová slova
• anterior (mid-)cingulate cortex, anterior insula, behavioural Dynamic Causal Modelling, connectivity, iterated ultimatum game, reciprocity, social decision-making,
• MeSH
• cingulární gyrus diagnostické zobrazování   fyziologie   MeSH
• dospělí MeSH
• exekutivní funkce fyziologie   MeSH
• interpersonální vztahy * MeSH
• konektom * MeSH
• lidé středního věku MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• magnetická rezonanční tomografie MeSH
• mladý dospělý MeSH
• mozková kůra diagnostické zobrazování   fyziologie   MeSH
• nervová síť diagnostické zobrazování   fyziologie   MeSH
• rozhodování fyziologie   MeSH
• senioři MeSH
• sociální percepce * MeSH
• výběrové chování fyziologie   MeSH
• Check Tag
• dospělí MeSH
• lidé středního věku MeSH
• lidé MeSH
• mladý dospělý MeSH
• mužské pohlaví MeSH
• senioři MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH