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Obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) significantly impairs children's growth and cognition. This study aims to elucidate the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying OSAHS in children, with a particular focus on the alterations in cortical information interaction during respiratory events. We analyzed sleep electroencephalography before, during, and after events, utilizing Symbolic Transfer Entropy (STE) for brain network construction and information flow assessment. The results showed a significant increase in STE after events in specific frequency bands during N2 and rapid eye movement (REM) stages, along with increased STE during N3 stage events. Moreover, a noteworthy rise in the information flow imbalance within and between hemispheres was found after events, displaying unique patterns in central sleep apnea and hypopnea. Importantly, some of these alterations were correlated with symptom severity. These findings highlight significant changes in brain region coordination and communication during respiratory events, offering novel insights into OSAHS pathophysiology in children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a prevalent psychiatric condition often accompanied by severe impairments in cognitive and functional capacities. This research was conducted to identify RNA modification-related gene signatures and associated functional pathways in MDD. Differentially expressed RNA modification-related genes in MDD were first identified. And a random forest model was developed and distinct RNA modification patterns were discerned based on signature genes. Then, comprehensive analyses of RNA modification-associated genes in MDD were performed, including functional analyses and immune cell infiltration. The study identified 29 differentially expressed RNA modification-related genes in MDD and two distinct RNA modification patterns. TRMT112, MBD3, NUDT21, and IGF2BP1 of the risk signature were detected. Functional analyses confirmed the involvement of RNA modification in pathways like phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase signaling and nucleotide oligomerization domain (NOD)-like receptor signaling in MDD. NUDT21 displayed a strong positive correlation with type 2 T helper cells, while IGF2BP1 negatively correlated with activated CD8 T cells, central memory CD4 T cells, and natural killer T cells. In summary, further research into the roles of NUDT21 and IGF2BP1 would be valuable for understanding MDD prognosis. The identified RNA modification-related gene signatures and pathways provide insights into MDD molecular etiology and potential diagnostic biomarkers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the United States (US) have been monitoring the autism spectrum disorder (ASD) prevalence, whether the prevalence has continued to increase, decrease, fluctuate or reached a stable level remained unclear during the COVID-19 pandemic. We have requested the 2016–2021 National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH) data in the United States to estimate weighted ASD prevalence and assess linearity/nonlinearity in the time trend. We did not observe linear or nonlinear trends of the ASD prevalence during the 2016–2021 periods. The current ASD prevalence experienced a 0.3% drop from 2019 to 2020 but a 0.3% uptick in 2021, suggesting a stable trend during the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings shed lights on the need for the modified strategy of monitor ASD prevalence during the COVID-19 era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The judgments of moral goodness and moral beauty objectively refer to the perception and evaluation of moral traits, which are generally influenced by facial attractiveness. For centuries, people have equated beauty with the possession of positive qualities, but it is not clear whether the association between beauty and positive qualities exerts a similarly implicit influence on people's responses to moral goodness and moral beauty, how it affects those responses, and what is the neural basis for such an effect. The present study is the first to examine the neural responses to facial attractiveness in the judgments of moral goodness and moral beauty. We found that beautiful faces in both moral judgments activated the left ventral occipitotemporal cortices sensitive to the geometric configuration of the faces, demonstrating that both moral goodness and moral beauty required the automatic visual analysis of geometrical configuration of attractive faces. In addition, compared to beautiful faces during moral goodness judgment, beautiful faces during moral beauty judgment induced unique activity in the ventral medial prefrontal cortex and midline cortical structures involved in the emotional-valenced information about attractive faces. The opposite comparison elicited specific activity in the left superior temporal cortex and premotor area, which play a critical role in the recognition of facial identity. Our results demonstrated that the neural responses to facial attractiveness in the process of higher order moral decision-makings exhibit both task-general and task-specific characteristics. Our findings contribute to the understanding of the essence of the relationship between morality and aesthetics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The process of reading words depends heavily on efficient visual skills, including analyzing and decomposing basic visual features. Surprisingly, previous reading-related studies have almost exclusively focused on gross aspects of visual skills, while only very few have investigated the role of finer skills. The present study filled this gap and examined the relations of two finer visual skills measured by grating acuity (the ability to resolve periodic luminance variations across space) and Vernier acuity (the ability to detect/discriminate relative locations of features) to Chinese character-processing as measured by character form-matching and lexical decision tasks in skilled adult readers. The results showed that Vernier acuity was significantly correlated with performance in character form-matching but not visual symbol form-matching, while no correlation was found between grating acuity and character processing. Interestingly, we found no correlation of the two visual skills with lexical decision performance. These findings provide for the first time empirical evidence that the finer visual skills, particularly as reflected in Vernier acuity, may directly contribute to an early stage of hierarchical word processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three experiments examined whether a Stroop effect emerges in the processing of complex Chinese characters that contain a color-related radical. In Experiment 1, a Stroop effect occurred when participants responded to the black or white color of the simple characters [InlineMediaObject not available: see fulltext.] (black) and [InlineMediaObject not available: see fulltext.] (white) by making a left or right keypress. For Experiment 2, in which the stimuli were complex characters whose meanings were unrelated to color but that contained [InlineMediaObject not available: see fulltext.] or [InlineMediaObject not available: see fulltext.] as a radical, a Stroop effect also occurred, although it was smaller than in Experiment 1. Furthermore, this Stroop effect as a function of radical meaning was shown again in Experiment 3 for low-frequency complex characters but not high-frequency ones. These results suggest that the semantic representations of the complex characters' color-related radicals are accessed in the context of a Stroop color word task, especially for low-frequency characters. Reduction of the Stroop effect in complex characters composed of one radical with color meaning and one without is similar to dilution of the Stroop effect that occurs when a color word is accompanied by a neutral word. Possible implications of the results for accounts of Stroop dilution are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we investigated whether the meanings of radicals are involved in reading ideogrammic compounds in a spatial Stroop task. We found spatial Stroop effects of similar size for the simple characters [InlineMediaObject not available: see fulltext.] ('up') and [InlineMediaObject not available: see fulltext.] ('down') and for the complex characters [InlineMediaObject not available: see fulltext.] ('nervous') and [InlineMediaObject not available: see fulltext.] ('nervous'), which are ideogrammic compounds containing a radical [InlineMediaObject not available: see fulltext.] or [InlineMediaObject not available: see fulltext.], in Experiments 1 and 2. In Experiment 3, the spatial Stroop effects were also similar for the simple characters [InlineMediaObject not available: see fulltext.] ('east') and [InlineMediaObject not available: see fulltext.] ('west') and for the complex characters [InlineMediaObject not available: see fulltext.] ('state') and [InlineMediaObject not available: see fulltext.] ('spray'), which contain [InlineMediaObject not available: see fulltext.] and [InlineMediaObject not available: see fulltext.] as radicals. This outcome occurred regardless of whether the task was to identify the character (Exps. 1 and 3) or its location (Exp. 2). Thus, the spatial Stroop effect emerges in the processing of radicals just as it does for processing simple characters. This finding suggests that when reading ideogrammic compounds, (a) their radicals' meanings can be processed and (b) ideogrammic compounds have little or no influence on their radicals' semantic processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of the study was to further elucidate the potential mechanisms underlying left hemiparalexia induced by a splenium lesion in corpus callosum. A patient KY, who had infarctions in the splenium and the left ventral medial occipitotemporal area, was examined with neuropsychological tests and fMRI. KY presented left hemiparalexia when he read aloud characters presented in central foveal field tachistoscopically as well as in free-view field. KY also showed left hemialexia for characters in left visual field, while no left hemiparalexia occurred when characters were presented in the right visual field. KY performed poorly in lexical decision tasks. He could judge the directions of Landolt's rings gaps in the left or right visual field equally. The result of fMRI indicated that characters in the left visual field could not activate the visual word form area (VWFA), such as left mid-fusiform cortex. All the above neuropsychological and fMRI findings have provided evidences against the assumption of left hemineglect dyslexia. Instead, they support the mechanism of disconnection of visual word form processing pathway. In conclusion, the evidences suggested that the visual information transmission of characters in the left visual field from right occipital area to the VWFA in the left hemisphere was interrupted by the splenium lesion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have identified an area in the left lateral fusiform cortex that is highly responsive to written words and has been named the visual word form area (VWFA). However, there is disagreement on the specific functional role of this area in word recognition. Chinese characters, which are dramatically different from Roman alphabets in the visual form and in the form to phonological mapping, provide a unique opportunity to investigate the properties of the VWFA. Specifically, to clarify the orthographic sensitivity in the mid-fusiform cortex, we compared fMRI response amplitudes (Exp. 1) as well as the spatial patterns of response across multiple voxels (Exp. 2) between Chinese characters and stimuli derived from Chinese characters with different orthographic properties. The fMRI response amplitude results suggest the existence of orthographic sensitivity in the VWFA. The results from multi-voxel pattern analysis indicate that spatial distribution of the responses across voxels in the occipitotemporal cortex contained discriminative information between the different types of character-related stimuli. These results together suggest that the orthographic rules are likely represented in a distributed neural network with the VWFA containing the most specific information regarding a stimulus' orthographic regularity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Representational similarity analysis (RSA) is a rapidly developing multivariate platform to investigate the structure of neural activities. Similarity/dissimilarity is the core concept of RSA, realized by the construction of a representational dissimilarity matrix, that addresses the closeness/distance for each pair of research elements (e.g., one minus the correlation between the brain responses to 2 different stimuli) and in turn, constitutes a multivariate pattern as its analytic foundation. This approach is also welcome for its sensitivity in detecting subtle differences of distributed experimental effects in the brain. Importantly, RSA is not only an experimental tool but a promising data-analytical framework that can integrate cross-modal imaging signals, explore brain-behavior link, and verify computational models according to measured neural activities. RSA substantiates its integrative power by relating similarity structure in one domain (e.g., stimulus features) to that in another domain (e.g., neural activities). This review summarizes dissimilarity/similarity definition of RSA, introduces how to derive the dissimilarity structure in neural response pattern, and carry out connectivity analysis based on RSA platform. Several recent advances are highlighted, such as the extraction of across-subjects regularity, cross-validation of brain reactivity in human beings and monkeys, the incorporation of computational models and behavioral profiles into RSA. Voxel receptor field modeling, another promising multivariate tool of pattern elucidation, is presented and compared. The application of RSA is expected to surge and extend in many fields of neuroscience, computation, psychology and medicine. We also discuss the limitations of RSA and some critical questions that need to be addressed in future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multivariate pattern analysis (MVPA) is a recently-developed approach for functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data analyses. Compared with the traditional univariate methods, MVPA is more sensitive to subtle changes in multivariate patterns in fMRI data. In this review, we introduce several significant advances in MVPA applications and summarize various combinations of algorithms and parameters in different problem settings. The limitations of MVPA and some critical questions that need to be addressed in future research are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regulation of food intake is very important for health. It has been reported that people have decreased appetite at high altitude (HA). The current study recruited long-term HA residents to participate in an fMRI experiment which involved food craving. Result shows that the HA group showed decreased activation in the neural circuit for food craving, accompanied by decreased activation in regions for cognitive control and increased activation in regions for emotional processing. Such results also reflect the decreased gray matter volume and the hypometabolism mechanism under prolonged hypoxia stress at HA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Oxygen is critical to normal brain functioning and development. In high altitude where the oxygen concentration and pressure are very low, human cognitive capability such as working memory has been found to be jeopardized. Such effect might persist with long-term high-altitude residence. The current study investigated the verbal working memory of 28 high-altitude residents with blood level oxygen dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), in contrast with that of the 30 sea level residents. All of the subjects were healthy college students, matched on their age, gender ratio and social-economic status; they also did not show any difference on their hemoglobin level. The high-altitude subjects showed longer reaction time and decreased response accuracy in behavioral performance. Both groups showed activation in the typical regions associated with the 2-back verbal working memory task, and the behavioral performance of both groups showed significant correlations with the BOLD signal change amplitude and Granger causality values (as a measure of the interregional effective connectivity) between these regions. With group comparison statistics, the high-altitude subjects showed decreased activation at the inferior and middle frontal gyrus, the middle occipital and the lingual gyrus, the pyramis of vermis, as well as the thalamus. In conclusion, the current study revealed impairment in verbal working memory among high-altitude residents, which might be associated with the impact of prolonged chronic hypoxia exposure on the brain functionality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whether the cerebellum is involved in voluntary motor learning or motor performance is the subject of a new debate. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we examined cerebellar activation in eight volunteers before and after an extended period of training. Activation volume on both sides of cerebellum after learning was significantly reduced compared to that before learning even under the same motor frequency. Remarkably, while motor frequency for the training sequence was significantly higher than the control sequence after 41 d of learning, activation in the cerebellum for both sequences, with respect to activation loci and volumes, was very similar. These results suggest that the cerebellum was involved in motor learning but not motor performance. Changes of cerebellar activation from training thus appear to be associated with learning but not with improvement on task performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The impact of learning on brain functional laterality has not been systematically investigated. We employed an event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging combined with a delayed sequential movement task to investigate brain activation pattern and laterality during a transient practice in 12 subjects. Both hemispheres, involving motor areas and posterior parietal cortex, were engaged during motor preparation and execution, with larger activation volume in the left hemisphere than in the right. Activation volume in these regions significantly decreased after a transient practice, with more reduction in the right hemisphere resulting increase in left lateralization. The theoretical implications of these findings are discussed in relation to the physiological significance of brain functional laterality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigates the hemodynamic responses in the primary motor cortex (M1), supplementary motor area (SMA) and premotor cortex (PMC) in six healthy right-handed subjects. Details of the experiment in which the subjects performed a visually-guided finger-tapping task with their dominant or non-dominant hands; Finding of significant activation in M1, SMA and PMC during this simple task; The dominant hand movements engaging contralateral motor areas; Non-dominant hand movements activating ipsilateral SMA and PMC; Suggestion that the secondary motor areas are involved in simple voluntary movements; Suggestion that dominant-hand movements engage the contralateral secondary motor areas; Suggestion that non-dominant hand movements activate bilateral secondary motor areas.