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Structural brain damage associated with heart failure is well described; however, little is known about associated changes in various specific brain functions that bear immediate clinical relevance. A satisfactory pathophysiological link between heart failure and decline in cognitive function is still missing. In the present study, we aim to detect functional correlates of heart failure in terms of alterations in functional brain connectivity (quantified by functional magnetic resonance imaging) related to cognitive performance assessed by neuropsychological testing. Eighty patients were post hoc grouped into subjects with and without coronary artery disease. The coronary artery disease patients were further grouped as presenting with or without heart failure according to the guidelines of the European Society of Cardiology. On the basis of resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging, brain connectivity was investigated using network centrality as well as seed-based correlation. Statistical analysis aimed at specifying centrality group differences and potential correlations between centrality and heart failure-related measures including left ventricular ejection fraction and serum concentrations of N-terminal fragment of the pro-hormone brain-type natriuretic peptide. The resulting correlation maps were then analysed using a flexible factorial model with the factors ‘heart failure’ and ‘cognitive performance’. Our core findings are: (i) A statistically significant network centrality decrease was found to be associated with heart failure primarily in the precuneus, i.e. we show a positive correlation between centrality and left ventricular ejection fraction as well as a negative correlation between centrality and N-terminal fragment of the pro-hormone brain-type natriuretic peptide. (ii) Seed-based correlation analysis showed a significant interaction between heart failure and cognitive performance related to a significant decrease of precuneus connectivity to other brain regions. We obtained these results by different analysis approaches indicating the robustness of the findings we report here. Our results suggest that the precuneus is a brain region involved in connectivity decline in patients with heart failure, possibly primarily or already at an early stage. Current models of Alzheimer’s disease—having pathophysiological risk factors in common with cerebrovascular disorders—also consider reduced precuneus connectivity as a marker of brain degeneration. Consequently, we propose that heart failure and Alzheimer’s disease exhibit partly overlapping pathophysiological paths or have common endpoints associated with a more or less severe decrease in brain connectivity. This is further supported by specific functional connectivity alterations between the precuneus and widely distributed cortical regions, particularly in patients showing reduced cognitive performance.

Virtual reality (VR) is thought of as a promising educational medium, especially for learning actions, as it enables learning by enactment. Learning by enactment is associated with the enactment effect which describes a superior memory for enacted actions compared to actions which have not been enacted. To date, however, little is known about whether the enactment effect across different conditions of action learning can be found in VR which sets the stage for our first research question. Additionally, as a second research question, this study explores the extent to which the memory performance of learning by enactment in VR corresponds to learning by enactment in physical reality. We conducted a VR between subjects experiment with four groups (N = 112) that differed in terms of condition or environment. Participants were asked to remember short action phrases for a subsequent memory test. The results indicate that learning by enactment in VR outperforms learning by reading in VR but does not exceed observational learning in VR. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that the memory performance of learning by enactment in VR is similar to that in physical reality. These findings are highly relevant as they demonstrate the potential of VR as a new educational medium supporting learning by enactment.

Increasing sustainable consumption practices of individuals constitutes a crucial pillar of the global sustainable development strategy. Thus, the purpose of the present study was to examine psycho...

Evidence suggests that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) reorganize neural networks via a transient window of neuroplasticity. While previous findings support an effect of SSRIs on intrinsic functional connectivity, little is known regarding the influence of SSRI-administration on connectivity during sequence motor learning. To investigate this, we administered 20 mg escitalopram or placebo for 1-week to 60 healthy female participants undergoing concurrent functional magnetic resonance imaging and sequence motor training in a double-blind randomized controlled design. We assessed task-modulated functional connectivity with a psycho-physiological interaction (PPI) analysis in the thalamus, putamen, cerebellum, dorsal premotor, primary motor, supplementary motor, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices. Comparing an implicit sequence learning condition to a control learning condition, we observed decreased connectivity between the thalamus and bilateral motor regions after 7 days of escitalopram intake. Additionally, we observed a negative correlation between plasma escitalopram levels and PPI connectivity changes, with higher escitalopram levels being associated with greater thalamo-cortico decreases. Our results suggest that escitalopram enhances network-level processing efficiency during sequence motor learning, despite no changes in behaviour. Future studies in more diverse samples, however, with quantitative imaging of neurochemical markers of excitation and inhibition, are necessary to further assess neural responses to escitalopram.

Performing endovascular medical interventions safely and efficiently requires a diverse set of skills that need to be practised in dedicated training sessions. Here, we used multimodal magnetic resonance (MR) imaging to determine the structural and functional plasticity and core skills associated with skill acquisition. A training group learned to perform a simulator-based endovascular procedure, while a control group performed a simplified version of the task; multimodal MR images were acquired before and after training. Using a well-controlled interaction design, we found strong, multimodal evidence for the role of the intraparietal sulcus (IPS) in endovascular skill acquisition that is in line with previous work implicating the structure in simple visuo-motor and mental rotation tasks. Our results provide a unique window into the multimodal nature of rapid structural and functional plasticity of the human brain while learning a multifaceted and complex clinical skill. Further, our results provide a detailed description of the plasticity process associated with endovascular skill acquisition and highlight specific facets of skills that could enhance current medical pedagogy and be useful to explicitly target during clinical resident training.

In this paper, the problem of an autonomous unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) approach to a target which is selected in a reference image is addressed. A robust matching algorithm is proposed to reliably project the selected point in the reference image into the live images of a quadrotor helicopter. Projective transformations are applied to the reference image to extract additional keypoints and to gain invariance to out-of-plane perspective transformations. Since the matching algorithm does not exploit the beneficial characteristics of image sequences and because its processing time is not short enough for high frame rates, a tracking algorithm is introduced. High detection rates even for image sequences with large viewpoint changes are achieved. Therefore, the presented algorithm can be used as input to a guidance algorithm for UAVs.

Currently, the influence of a single statistical cluster algorithm on the results of clustering procedures represents a major threat to the objectivity in clustering. To exemplify this question, this paper refers to country clustering in cross-cultural research. In this field, previous research has determined differing numbers of clusters, depending on choices available for the clustering procedure, leading to a high number of inconsistent results. Hence, it is argued that the variety in cluster solutions induced by the choice of different statistical cluster algorithms should be reduced. To this end, this study builds on Multi-Algorithm Voting (MAV) procedure introduced by Bittmann and Gelbard (2007) and presents an advancement to the MAV method. Specifically, MAV procedure is refined for the analysis of larger data sets using the simulated annealing algorithm for optimization. The use of this Optimized MAV (OMAV) is then demonstrated for country clustering in cross-cultural research. Specifically, a set of 57 countries is divided into 12 clusters based on work-related values obtained from GLOBE database reported in House et al. (2004). Thus, results clearly show that the objectivity of clustering results can be significantly improved based on OMAV. Implications for expert and intelligent systems on the use of OMAV are discussed. Namely, OMAV represents a powerful tool supporting the decision-making process in cluster analysis reducing the number of subjective and arbitrary decisions. Taken together, this study contributes to existing literature by providing an integrative and robust method of country clustering using OMAV and by presenting country clusters applicable to various settings.

Behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia (bvFTD) is characterized by severe changes in personality/behavior. Recent studies have provided evidence that a decrease in serotonin receptors and neuronal loss in the raphe nuclei play a role in the bvFTD pathology. Serotonergic antidepressants have been reported to diminish behavioral disturbances in bvFTD, particularly repetitive behaviors, disinhibition, apathy, sexually inappropriate behaviors, and hyperorality. Here, we present the case of an 80-year-old Caucasian male patient with clinically and biomarker supported bvFTD (“probable” bvFTD; disease-specific alterations in 18F-fluorodesoxyglucose positron emission tomography and magnetic resonance imaging). The patient exhibited behavioral disinhibition, apathy, a loss of empathy, perseverative behavior during testing, hyperorality, changes in diet, and executive deficits in neuropsychological testing. Remarkably, he failed in solving crosswords by systematically filling in the blanks by letters in alphabetical order (A, B, C, D, etc.), indicating obsessive-compulsive behavior. One year later, the patient visited the clinic again for a follow-up investigation. He had taken 20 mg of citalopram per day for 1 consecutive year. Remarkably, he had regained the ability to fill in crossword puzzles correctly, although the neuropsychiatric inventory showed overall only small improvement in behavioral impairment. A regimen of 20 mg citalopram per day over the course of 1 year led to a specific improvement in one of the bvFTD core symptoms, obsessive-compulsive behavior, most pronounced in solving crossword puzzles. This case contributes to the understanding of the neuropharmacological correlates of bvFTD and supports the treatment of bvFTD’s behavioral symptoms with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors.

Background: Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) show acute effects on the neural processes associated with negative affective bias in healthy people and people with depression. However, whether and how SSRIs also affect reward and punishment processing on a similarly rapid time scale remains unclear.Methods: We investigated the effects of an acute and clinically relevant dose (20 mg) of the SSRI escitalopram on brain response during reward and punishment processing in 19 healthy participants. In a doubleblind, placebo-controlled study using functional MRI, participants performed a well-established monetary reward task at 3 time points: at baseline; after receiving placebo or escitalopram; and after receiving placebo or escitalopram following an 8-week washout period.Results: Acute escitalopram administration reduced blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) response during punishment feedback in the right thalamus (family-wise error corrected [FWE] p = 0.013 at peak level) and the right caudate head (pFWE = 0.011 at peak level) compared to placebo. We did not detect any significant BOLD changes during reward feedback.Limitations: We included only healthy participants, so interpretation of findings are limited to the healthy human brain and require future testing in patient populations. The paradigm we used was based on monetary stimuli, and results may not be generalizable to other forms of reward.Conclusion: Our findings extend theories of rapid SSRI action on the neural processing of rewarding and aversive stimuli and suggest a specific and acute effect of escitalopram in the punishment neurocircuitry.

The contribution of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors to motor learning by inducing motor cortical plasticity remains controversial given diverse findings from positive preclinical data to negative findings in recent clinical trials. To empirically address this translational disparity, we use functional magnetic resonance imaging in a double-blind, randomized controlled study to assess whether 20 mg escitalopram improves sequence-specific motor performance and modulates cortical motor response in 64 healthy female participants. We found decreased left premotor cortex responses during sequence-specific learning performance comparing single dose and steady escitalopram state. Escitalopram plasma levels negatively correlated with the premotor cortex response. We did not find evidence in support of improved motor performance after a week of escitalopram intake. These findings do not support the conclusion that one week escitalopram intake increases motor performance but could reflect early adaptive plasticity with improved neural processing underlying similar task performance when steady peripheral escitalopram levels are reached.

Serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) reflects state changes in mood disorders. But its relation to brain changes in depression has rarely been investigated in humans. We assessed the association between serum BDNF, cortical thickness, or gray matter volume in 20 subjects with a minor depressive episode and 40 matched healthy subjects. Serum BDNF positively correlated with cortical thickness and volume in multiple brain regions in the minor depression group: the bilateral medial orbitofrontal cortex and rostral anterior cingulate cortex, left insula, and cingulum, right superior frontal gyrus, and other regions—regions typically affected by major depression. Interestingly, these correlations were driven by subjects with first episode depression. There was no significant association between these imaging parameters and serum BDNF in the healthy control group. Interaction analyses supported this finding. Our findings point to a specific association between serum BDNF and magnetic resonance imaging parameters in first-episode minor depression in a region- and condition-dependent manner. A positive correlation between serum BDNF and structural gray matter estimates was most consistently observed for cortical thickness. We discuss why cortical thickness should be preferred to volumetric estimates for such analyses in future studies. Results of our pilot study have to be proven in future larger-scale studies yielding higher statistical power.

The contribution of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) to motor learning by inducing motor cortical plasticity remains controversial given diverse findings from positive preclinical data to negative findings in recent clinical trials. To empirically address this translational disparity, we use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in a double-blind, randomized controlled study to assess whether 20 mg escitalopram improves sequence-specific motor performance and modulates cortical motor response in 64 healthy female participants. We found decreased left premotor cortex responses during sequence-specific learning performance comparing single dose and steady escitalopram state. Escitalopram plasma-levels negatively correlated with the premotor cortex response. We did not find evidence in support of improved motor performance after a week of escitalopram-intake. These findings do not support the conclusion that one-week escitalopram intake increases motor performance but could reflect early adaptive plasticity with improved neural processing underlying similar task performance when steady peripheral escitalopram levels are reached.

A model predictive control algorithm for autonomous approaches of quadrotor helicopters to a window is presented in this paper. The target is selected by an operator in a reference image which is sent to the vehicle. A wide baseline image matching algorithm is used to obtain the target position in the current image. The vehicle guidance for the approach is realized by a nonlinear model predictive control algorithm which calculates the desired thrust and angular velocities while taking the goals of approaching the target orthogonally and keeping the target visible in the camera image into account. Moreover, two novel methods for the estimation of the orthogonal distance and orientation to the facade plane in which the target window is located are presented. The first method relies on laser rangefinder measurements while the second method is based on the decomposition of the estimated homography matrix between the facade plane in the reference and the live image. Monte Carlo simulations of approaches to a house show the accuracy and robustness of the vehicle guidance. The trajectories converge even from difficult start positions, for example approaches with acute angles between the facade and the quadrotor's orientation. As desired, the window is approached perpendicularly towards the end of the approaches.

A navigation system for quadrotor helicopters operating in outdoor and indoor environments is presented in this paper. The vehicle is equipped with an inertial measurement unit (IMU), a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver, a digital compass, an air pressure sensor, and a 2D laser rangefinder. While accurate navigation solutions can be obtained for outdoor or indoor environments with state-of-the-art approaches, it is important to maintain good performance during outdoor-indoor and indooroutdoor transitions as well as urban canyon scenarios. The navigation system presented in this paper uses absolute GPS position and velocity measurements and relative measurements calculated from laser rangefinder scans simultaneously. Filter state augmentation is used to compensate for delays and to process relative measurements. A filter status is introduced based on the classification of GPS position measurements. This filter status is used to determine the necessity of processing relative measurements. Thus, for example, it can be avoided to process relative measurements in outdoor open sky conditions where GPS measurements are sufficient for good filter performance. The accuracy and robustness of the approach is demonstrated with three trajectories, each covering open sky areas, sections with high buildings and poor GPS signal reception, and transitions into buildings. Despite the challenging environments an accurate and consistent navigation solution is achieved and a seamless integration of absolute and relative measurements is accomplished.

Rationale: Heart failure (HF) following heart damage leads to a decreased blood flow due to a reduced pump efficiency of the heart muscle. A consequence can be insufficient oxygen supply to the organism including the brain. While HF clearly shows neurological symptoms, such as fatigue, nausea, and dizziness, the implications for brain structure are not well understood. Few studies show regional gray matter decrease related to HF; however, the underlying mechanisms leading to the observed brain changes remain unclear. Objective: To study the relationship between impaired heart function, hampered blood circulation, and structural brain change in a case-control study. Methods and Results: Within a group of 80 patients of the Leipzig Heart Center, we investigated a potential correlation between HF biomarkers and the brain’s gray matter density (GMD) obtained by magnetic resonance imaging. We observed a significant positive correlation between cardiac ejection fraction and GMD across the whole frontal and parietal medial cortex reflecting the consequence of HF onto the brain’s gray matter. Moreover, we also obtained a relationship between GMD and the NT-proBNP (N-terminal prohormone of brain natriuretic peptide)—a biomarker that is used for screening, diagnosis, and prognosis of HF. Here, we found a significant negative correlation between NT-proBNP and GMD in the medial and posterior cingulate cortex but also in precuneus and hippocampus, which are key regions implicated in structural brain changes in dementia. Conclusions: We obtained significant correlations between brain structure and markers of heart failure including ejection fraction and NT-proBNP. A diminished GMD was found with decreased ejection fraction and increased NT-proBNP in wide brain regions including the whole frontomedian cortex as well as hippocampus and precuneus. Our observations might reflect structural brain damage in areas that are related to cognition; however, whether these structural changes facilitate the development of cognitive alterations has to be proven by further longitudinal studies.

The effects of dopaminergic therapy for Parkinson’s disease (PD) on the brain functional architecture are still unclear. We investigated this topic in 31 PD patients (disease duration: 11.2 ± (SD) 3.6 years) who underwent clinical and MRI assessments under chronic dopaminergic treatment (duration: 8.3 ± (SD) 4.4 years) and after its withdrawal. Thirty healthy controls were also included. Functional and morphological changes were studied, respectively, with eigenvector centrality mapping and seed-based connectivity, and voxel-based morphometry. Patients off medication, compared to controls, showed increased connectivity in cortical sensorimotor areas extending to the cerebello-thalamo-cortical pathway and parietal and frontal brain structures. Dopaminergic therapy normalized this increased connectivity. Notably, patients showed decreased interconnectedness in the medicated compared to the unmedicated condition, encompassing putamen, precuneus, supplementary motor and sensorimotor areas bilaterally. Similarly, lower connectivity was found comparing medicated patients to controls, overlapping with the within-group comparison in the putamen. Seed-based analyses revealed that dopaminergic therapy reduced connectivity in motor and default mode networks. Lower connectivity in the putamen correlated with longer disease duration, medication dose, and motor symptom improvement. Notably, atrophy and connectivity changes were topographically dissociated. After chronic treatment, dopaminergic therapy decreases connectivity of key motor and default mode network structures that are abnormally elevated in PD off condition.

In a study of the social dynamics in organizational change, the present research examined whether employees who are more committed to their top managers, supervisors, and workgroups have greater ch...

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) affects approximately one-third of non-demented Parkinson's Disease (PD) patients. We aimed at investigating the neural correlates of MCI in PD combining multimodal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with large-scale data from the literature. We analyzed 31 PD patients and 30 matched controls. The standard neuropsychological assessment of PD-MCI covered memory, attention, executive functions, language and visuospatial abilities. Following validated criteria, 16 patients were classified as showing MCI. Whole-brain functional connectivity and structural volume changes were assessed, respectively, by means of eigenvector centrality (EC) and voxel-based morphometry. To address the involvement of specific functional brain networks, we validated our results by building a meta-analytic co-activation map (MACM) based on the previous literature and then testing its overlap with the parcellation of functional networks derived from 1000 healthy controls. The EC comparison between PD with normal cognition and controls showed a selective decline in interconnectedness in the bilateral lentiform nuclei. Differently, comparing PD with MCI and controls revealed additional changes in non-motor areas. Directly comparing PD with and without MCI, we found a reduced interconnectedness in the bilateral superior parietal lobules and precuneus. No differences in brain volume were detected comparing these patient groups. The MACM and overlap analyses showed that the observed connectivity changes were localized in the hubs of the dorsal attention network. Notably, this aligned with the predominant attention deficit observed in our sample. Overall, functional impairment in the dorsal attention network seems to be the hallmark of MCI due to PD, thus extending previous findings of brain connectivity disruption in non-motor networks.

Empirical research increasingly challenges the suggested central role of value congruence for commitment. The present study aimed to provide detailed insights into whether and how value levels and value congruence influence commitment. Specifically, this study investigated the effects of value levels and value congruence on commitment, while differentiating between seven value dimensions and between perceived values from and commitment to the organization, supervisor, and team as separate targets. This differentiated approach provides more extensive insights into relationships between values and commitment by demonstrating consistencies and differences across targets and value dimensions. Data from a cross-organizational sample of 1000 employees were analyzed using polynomial regressions with response surface analyses. Results showed that perceived target values most consistently demonstrated strong effects on commitment to that target. Their effects were mostly independent of employee values. Value congruence only contributed to commitment for values concerning performance expectations toward employees. Across targets, people-centered values were most strongly linked to commitment. Accordingly, perceived values of commitment targets, and especially people-centered values, seem to play the key role in value–commitment associations, whereas value congruence has limited practical relevance for commitment. Therefore, practitioners should foster strongly perceived positive values, especially people-centered values, from key commitment targets within organizations, rather than aim for value congruence. This study advances the debate on value congruence’s role for commitment by showing that congruence effects are restricted to certain values, whereas perceived target values are consistently linked to commitment, hence recommending a shift of focus in value–commitment research.

Accurate perception of the emotional content of vocalisations is essential for successful social communication and interaction. However, it is not clear whether our ability to perceive emotional cues from vocal signals is specific to human signals, or can be applied to other species’ vocalisations. Here, we address this issue by evaluating the perception and neural response to affective vocalisations from different primate species (humans, chimpanzees and macaques). We found that the ability of human participants to discriminate emotional valence varied as a function of phylogenetic distance between species. Participants were most accurate at discriminating the emotional valence of human vocalisations, followed by chimpanzee vocalisations. They were, however, unable to accurately discriminate the valence of macaque vocalisations. Next, we used fMRI to compare human brain responses to human, chimpanzee and macaque vocalisations. We found that regions in the superior temporal lobe that are closely associated with the perception of complex auditory signals, showed a graded response to affective vocalisations from different species with the largest response to human vocalisations, an intermediate response to chimpanzees, and the smallest response to macaques. Together, these results suggest that neural correlates of differences in the perception of different primate affective vocalisations are found in auditory regions of the human brain and correspond to the phylogenetic distances between the species.

Objectives: Executive dysfunction is a common feature in Parkinson’s disease (PD). However, there is a lack of brief validated instruments for executive dysfunction in PD. Methods: The aim of the present study was to assess the relation of Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB) scores to age and education, to verify the utility of FAB in the evaluation of executive dysfunction in PD and to differentiate between controls (n=41), PD patients with normal cognition (PD-NC; n=41; Hoehn and Yahr stages 2–3) and PD with mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI; n=32; Hoehn and Yahr stages 2–3). In addition, we studied the relation between voxel-based morphometric (VBM) data and FAB results in PD. Results: We found that FAB scores are significantly related to age and education. The FAB has shown discriminative validity for the differentiation of PD-MCI from PD-NC and controls (area under the curve >.80). Also, the VBM analysis revealed lower FAB scores are specifically related to lower gray matter density in the right ventromedial prefrontal areas and precuneus. Conclusions: The FAB can be recommended as a valid instrument for PD-MCI Level I screening. FAB is sensitive to frontal lobe involvement in PD as reflected by lower gray matter density in prefrontal areas. (JINS, 2017, 23, 675–684)

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship of flexible and permeable boundary management with both life domain conflict and life domain enrichment among expatriate workers. Design/methodology/approach This study utilizes a sample of 199 expatriates working in a higher education context, and analyses survey data with hierarchical regression analysis and cluster analysis. Findings Relationships between the permeability and the flexibility of life domains, and work-private life conflict, private life-work conflict, and work-private life enrichment were found. However, no significant results were obtained for the relationship between boundary management and private life-work enrichment. Two clusters of boundary management used by expatriates are described. Research limitations/implications Due to cross-sectional data, causal influences cannot be determined with confidence. Practical implications The findings underscore the need to consider the role-related stakeholders of expatriates, especially in the private life domain. Implications for the support of expatriates based on the boundary management clusters are discussed. Originality/value This is the first study analysing boundary management distinguishing between flexibility and permeability in an expatriate context.

Primary progressive aphasia (PPA) encompasses the three subtypes nonfluent/agrammatic variant PPA, semantic variant PPA, and the logopenic variant PPA, which are characterized by distinct patterns of language difficulties and regional brain atrophy. To validate the potential of structural magnetic resonance imaging data for early individual diagnosis, we used support vector machine classification on grey matter density maps obtained by voxel-based morphometry analysis to discriminate PPA subtypes (44 patients: 16 nonfluent/agrammatic variant PPA, 17 semantic variant PPA, 11 logopenic variant PPA) from 20 healthy controls (matched for sample size, age, and gender) in the cohort of the multi-center study of the German consortium for frontotemporal lobar degeneration. Here, we compared a whole-brain with a meta-analysis-based disease-specific regions-of-interest approach for support vector machine classification. We also used support vector machine classification to discriminate the three PPA subtypes from each other. Whole brain support vector machine classification enabled a very high accuracy between 91 and 97% for identifying specific PPA subtypes vs. healthy controls, and 78/95% for the discrimination between semantic variant vs. nonfluent/agrammatic or logopenic PPA variants. Only for the discrimination between nonfluent/agrammatic and logopenic PPA variants accuracy was low with 55%. Interestingly, the regions that contributed the most to the support vector machine classification of patients corresponded largely to the regions that were atrophic in these patients as revealed by group comparisons. Although the whole brain approach took also into account regions that were not covered in the regions-of-interest approach, both approaches showed similar accuracies due to the disease-specificity of the selected networks. Conclusion, support vector machine classification of multi-center structural magnetic resonance imaging data enables prediction of PPA subtypes with a very high accuracy paving the road for its application in clinical settings., Highlights • Aim was to evaluate the potential of multi-center MRI data for individual PPA diagnosis. • We used support vector machine classification in PPA variants and healthy controls. • We compared a whole brain approach with a ROI (taken from meta-analyses) approach. • Accuracies were overall quite high, for both, the whole brain and the ROI approach.

Music is organised both spectrally and temporally, determining musical structures such as musical scale, harmony, and sequential rules in chord progressions. A number of human neuroimaging studies investigated neural processes associated with emotional responses to music investigating the influence of musical valence (pleasantness/unpleasantness) comparing the response to music and unpleasantly manipulated counterparts where harmony and sequential rules were varied. Interactions between the previously applied alterations to harmony and sequential rules of the music in terms of emotional experience and corresponding neural activities have not been systematically studied although such interactions are at the core of how music affects the listener. The current study investigates the interaction between such alterations in harmony and sequential rules by using data sets from two functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) experiments. While replicating the previous findings, we found a significant interaction between the spectral and temporal alterations in the fronto-limbic system, including the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC), nucleus accumbens, caudate nucleus, and putamen. We further revealed that the functional connectivity between the vmPFC and the right inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) was reduced when listening to excerpts with alterations in both domains compared to the original music. As it has been suggested that the vmPFC operates as a pivotal point that mediates between the limbic system and the frontal cortex in reward-related processing, we propose that this fronto-limbic interaction might be related to the involvement of cognitive processes in the emotional appreciation of music.

Levodopa is the first-line treatment for Parkinson’s disease, although the precise mechanisms mediating its efficacy remain elusive. We aimed to elucidate treatment effects of levodopa on brain activity during the execution of fine movements and to compare them with deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nuclei. We studied 32 patients with Parkinson’s disease using functional MRI during the execution of finger-tapping task, alternating epochs of movement and rest. The task was performed after withdrawal and administration of a single levodopa dose. A subgroup of patients (n = 18) repeated the experiment after electrode implantation with stimulator on and off. Investigating levodopa treatment, we found a significant interaction between both factors of treatment state (off, on) and experimental task (finger tapping, rest) in bilateral putamen, but not in other motor regions. Specifically, during the off state of levodopa medication, activity in the putamen at rest was higher than during tapping. This represents an aberrant activity pattern probably indicating the derangement of basal ganglia network activity due to the lack of dopaminergic input. Levodopa medication reverted this pattern, so that putaminal activity during finger tapping was higher than during rest, as previously described in healthy controls. Within-group comparison with deep brain stimulation underlines the specificity of our findings with levodopa treatment. Indeed, a significant interaction was observed between treatment approach (levodopa, deep brain stimulation) and treatment state (off, on) in bilateral putamen. Our functional MRI study compared for the first time the differential effects of levodopa treatment and deep brain stimulation on brain motor activity. We showed modulatory effects of levodopa on brain activity of the putamen during finger movement execution, which were not observed with deep brain stimulation., The study shows fundamentally different effects of symptomatic treatment in Parkinson's disease on activity of motor network during motion and rest. The decreased motion-related activity in the putamen after medication withdrawal was reversed by levodopa but not with subthalamic deep brain stimulation., Graphical Abstract Graphical Abstract

Key Points Question Does estradiol mitigate the negative association of visceral fat with structural brain networks and cognitive health? Findings In this cross-sectional study of a German population-based cohort of 974 adults, higher estradiol levels were associated with increased structural brain network covariance and a reduction in the negative association of visceral fat with network covariance, but only for women. In women, higher estradiol levels were associated with better structural network covariance and cognitive performance during midlife. Meaning Assessing visceral adipose tissue and hormone profiles, particularly in women during midlife, may be essential for promoting a healthy brain aging trajectory., This cross-sectional study of a German population-based cohort assesses whether visceral adipose fat moderates the association between age and brain network structure and whether estradiol moderates the association between visceral adipose fat and brain network structure., Importance Changes in estradiol during aging are associated with increased dementia risk. It remains unclear how estradiol supports cognitive health and whether risk factors, such as midlife obesity, are exacerbated by estrogen loss. Objectives To assess whether visceral adipose tissue (VAT) moderates the association between age and brain network structure and to investigate whether estradiol moderates the association between VAT and brain network structure. Design, Setting, and Participants Cross-sectional study of data from 974 cognitively healthy adults in Germany who participated in the Health Study of the Leipzig Research Centre for Civilization Diseases, a previously described population-based cohort study. Two moderation analyses were performed, including VAT as the moderator variable between age and brain network structure and estradiol as the moderator variable between VAT and brain network structure. The study was conducted from August 1, 2011, to November 23, 2014. Analyses were conducted from August 2017 to September 2018. Exposures Serum estradiol levels from fasting blood and visceral adipose tissue volume from T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Main Outcomes and Measures Brain network covariance (individual loading on structural network derived from T1-weighted MRI) and memory performance (composite score from the Consortium to Establish a Registry for Alzheimer Disease [CERAD] verbal episodic memory test on learning [score range, 0-30], recall [score range, 0-10], and recognition [score range, 0-20]). Results Final analyses included data from 473 women (mean [SD] age, 50.10 [15.63] years) and 501 men (mean [SD] age, 51.24 [15.67] years). Visceral adipose tissue was associated with an exacerbation of the negative association of aging with network covariance for women (interaction term β = −0.02; 95% bias-corrected bootstrap CI, −0.03 to −0.01; P = .001) and men (interaction term β = −0.02; 95% bias-corrected bootstrap CI, −0.03 to −0.01; P