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Traumatic axonal injury (TAI) may result in the disruption of brain functional networks and is strongly associated with cognitive impairment. However, the neural mechanisms affecting the neurocognitive function after TAI remain to be elucidated. We collected the resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data from 28 patients with TAI and 28 matched healthy controls. An automated anatomical labeling atlas was used to construct a functional brain connectome. We utilized a graph theoretical approach to investigate the alterations in global and regional network topologies, and network-based statistics analysis was utilized to localize the connected networks more precisely. The current study revealed that patients with TAI and healthy controls both showed a typical small-world topology of the functional brain networks. However, patients with TAI exhibited a significantly lower local efficiency compared to healthy controls, whereas no significant difference emerged in other small-world properties (Cp, Lp, γ, λ, and σ) and global efficiency. Moreover, patients with TAI exhibited aberrant nodal centralities in some regions, including the frontal lobes, parietal lobes, caudate nucleus, and cerebellum bilaterally, and right olfactory cortex. The network-based statistics results showed alterations in the long-distance functional connections in the subnetwork in patients with TAI, involving these brain regions with significantly altered nodal centralities. These alterations suggest that brain networks of individuals with TAI present aberrant topological attributes that are associated with cognitive impairment, which could be potential biomarkers for predicting cognitive dysfunction and help understanding the neuropathological mechanisms in patients with TAI.

Altered cerebral structure and function have been observed in young survivors of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). However, the topological organization of the morphological brain networks (MBNs) has not yet been investigated at the individual level. Twenty-three young survivors of ALL and twenty healthy controls (HCs) were recruited and underwent T1-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanning. After preprocessing and segmentation, individual-based MBNs were constructed based on the morphological similarity of gray matter using the combined Euclidean distance. Young survivors showed a significantly lower global clustering coefficient (p = 0.008) and local efficiency (p = 0.035) compared with HCs. In addition, ALL survivors exhibited bidirectional alterations (decreases and increases) in nodal centrality and efficiency around the Rolandic operculum and posterior occipital lobe (p < 0.05, false discovery rate (FDR) corrected). Altered nodal topological efficiencies were associated with off-therapy duration and verbal memory capacity in the digit span test (p < 0.05, FDR corrected). Network-based statistical analysis revealed decreased morphological connections mainly in the pallidum subnetwork, which was negatively correlated with off-therapy durations (p < 0.05). Overall, the topological organization of the individual-based MBNs was disrupted in the young survivors of ALL, which may play a crucial role in executive efficiency deficits.

Rationale and Objectives Recently, advanced magnetic resonance imaging has been widely adopted to investigate altered structure and functional activities in patients with diffuse axonal injury (DAI), this patient presumed to be caused by shearing forces and results in significant neurological effects. However, little is known regarding cerebral temporal dynamics and its predictive ability in the clinical dysfunction of DAI. Materials and Methods In this study, static and dynamic fractional amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (fALFF), an improved approach to detect the intensity of intrinsic neural activities, and their temporal variability were applied to examine the alteration between DAI patients (n = 24) and healthy controls (n = 26) at the voxel level. Then, the altered functional index was used to explore the clinical relationship and predict dysfunction in DAI patients. Results We discovered that, compared to healthy controls, DAI patients showed commonly altered regions of static fALFF, and its variability was mainly located in the left cerebellum posterior lobe. Furthermore, decreased static fALFF values over the left cerebellum posterior lobe and bilateral medial frontal gyrus showed significant correlations with disease duration and Mini-Mental State Examination scores. More important, the increased temporal variability of dynamic fALFF in the left caudate could predict the severity of the Glasgow Coma Scale score in DAI patients. Conclusion Overall, these results suggested selective abnormalities in intrinsic neural activities with reduced intensity and increased variability, and this novel predictive marker may be developed as a useful indicator for future connectomics or artificial intelligence analyses.

Objective Using functional connectivity density (FCD) mapping measured by resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI), an ultrafast data-driven graph theory approach, we attempted to study the abnormalities in neural activity of young survivors of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and to explore the neuropathological evidence of chemotherapy-related cognitive impairment of patients. Methods Twenty young survivors of ALL and 18 well-matched healthy controls (HCs) were recruited in this study. All ALL patients and healthy controls underwent rs-fMRI scans and completed neurocognitive testing. The between-group differences in short-range and long-range FCD were calculated by the option of degree centrality (DC) in MATLAB software after preprocessing. The correlations between the FCD value and each of the neurocognitive outcomes were analyzed in the ALL patients. Results The group-averaged FCD maps showed similar spatial patterns between the two groups. Compared with the HCs, ALL patients showed decreased long-range FCD in regions of the bilateral lingual gyrus, cingulate cortex, hippocampal gyrus, and right calcarine fissure. Simultaneously, decreased regions in the short-range FCD map were the bilateral lingual gyrus, cingulate cortex, parahippocampal gyrus and right calcarine fissure. Increased functional connectivity (FC) was observed between the region with decreased long-range FCD and the posterior cerebellar lobe, and decreased FC was observed between the region and the middle occipital gyrus, cuneus and lingual gyrus. Thus, there existed no brain areas with increased FCD. The decreased short-range FCD value of ALL patients was positively correlated with the score on the Digit Span Test (Forward), and the increased FC value was negatively correlated with the score on the Trail Making Test part A. Conclusion Our results suggest the altered functional connectivity of young survivors of ALL in the posterior region of the brain and posterior lobe of the cerebellum. Alterations in spontaneous neuronal activity seem to parallel the neurocognitive testing, which indicates that the rs-fMRI could be used as a neuroimaging marker for neurological impairment in ALL patients.

Yixiu Pei,1,2 Yong Zhang,3 Yanyan Zhu,1,2 Yanlin Zhao,1,2 Fuqing Zhou,1,2 Muhua Huang,1,2 Lin Wu,1,2 Honghan Gong1,2 1Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330006, People’s Republic of China; 2Neuroradiology Laboratory, Jiangxi Province Medical Imaging Research Institute, Nanchang 330006, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Pain Clinic, The First Affiliated Hospital, Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi Province 330006, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Fuqing ZhouDepartment of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Nanchang University, 17 Yongwaizheng Street, Nanchang, Jiangxi 330006, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86 791 8869 5132Email fq.chou@yahoo.comObjective: To investigate the functional connectivity (FC) and its variability in the primary somatosensory cortex (S1) of patients with low-back-related leg pain (LBLP) in the context of the persistent stimuli of pain and numbness.Patients and Methods: We performed functional magnetic resonance imaging on LBLP patients (n = 26) and healthy controls (HCs; n = 34) at rest. We quantified and compared static FC (sFC) using a seed-based analysis strategy, with 6 predefined bilateral paired spherical regions of interest (ROIs) in the S1 cortex. Then, we captured the dynamic FC using sliding window correlation of ROIs in both the LBLP patients and HCs. Furthermore, we performed a correlational analysis between altered static and dynamic FC and clinical measures in LBLP patients.Results: Compared with controls, the LBLP patients had 1) significantly increased static FC between the left S1back (the representation of the back in the S1) and right superior and middle frontal gyrus (SFG/MFG), between the left S1chest and right SFG/MFG, between right S1chest and right SFG/MFG, between the left S1face and right MFG, and between the right S1face and right inferior parietal lobule (P < 0.001, Gaussian random field theory correction); 2) increased dynamic FC only between the right S1finger and the left precentral and postcentral gyrus and between the right S1hand and the right precentral and postcentral gyrus (P < 0.01, Gaussian random field theory correction); and 3) a negative correlation between the Barthel index and the increased static FC between the left S1face and right inferior parietal lobule (P = 0.048).Conclusion: The present study demonstrated the hyperconnectivity of the S1 cortex to the default mode and executive control network in a spatial pattern and an increase in the tendency for signal variability in the internal network connections of the S1 cortex in patients with LBLP.Keywords: primary somatosensory cortex, static functional connectivity, dynamic functional connectivity, chronic low-back-related leg pain, chronic pain, resting-state functional MRI

To investigates and better understand local functional connectivity and its variability, and explore their predictive values of patients with diffuse axonal injury (DAI). We prospectively enrolled 24 DAI patients and well-matched healthy controls (n = 26) receiving resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. We first assessed static and dynamic regional homogeneity (ReHo); then, a k-means clustering algorithm were performed to cluster ReHo states; finally, the prediction of clinical scores of the altered static and dynamic ReHo values was conducted using a general linear model. Compared with healthy subjects, the DAI patients showed distributed alteration in static and dynamic ReHo in several regions, and their alteration commonly located in the left cerebellum posterior lobe (P

A high precision calibration of the nonlinearity in the energy response of the Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment’s antineutrino detectors is presented in detail. The energy nonlinearity originates from the particle-dependent light yield of the scintillator and charge-dependent electronics response. The nonlinearity model is constrained by γ calibration points from deployed and naturally occurring radioactive sources, the β spectrum from ^(12)B decays, and a direct measurement of the electronics nonlinearity with a new flash analog-to-digital converter readout system. Less than 0.5% uncertainty in the energy nonlinearity calibration is achieved for positrons of kinetic energies greater than 1 MeV.

Yong Zhang,1 Yanyan Zhu,2,3 Yixiu Pei,2,3 Yanlin Zhao,2,3 Fuqing Zhou,2,3 Muhua Huang,2,3 Lin Wu,2,3 Daying Zhang,1 Honghan Gong2,31Department of Pain Clinic, The First Affiliated Hospital, Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi Province 330006, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330006, People’s Republic of China; 3Neuroradiology Lab, Jiangxi Province Medical Imaging Research Institute, Nanchang 330006, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Fuqing ZhouDepartment of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Nanchang University, 17 Yongwaizheng Street,Nanchang, Jiangxi 330006, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86 7 918 869 5132Email fq.chou@yahoo.comDaying ZhangDepartment of Pain Clinic, The First Affiliated Hospital, Nanchang University, 17 Yongwaizheng Street,Nanchang, Jiangxi 330006, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86 7 918 869 3825Email dyzsino@ncu.edu.cnObjective: Chronic low back pain has been observed to decrease movement coordination. However, it is unclear whether the existing alteration of inter-hemispheric synchrony of intrinsic activity in patients with chronic low back-related leg pain (cLBLP). The present study aims to investigate the alteration of homotopic connectivity and its clinical association with the cLBLP patients.Participants and methods: A cohort of cLBLP patients (n=25) and well-matched healthy controls (HCs) (n=27) were recruited and underwent MRI scanning and a battery of clinical tests. The voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC) was used to analyze the interhemispheric coordination in the typical (0.01–0.1Hz) as well as five specific (slow-6 to slow-2) frequency bands and associated with clinical index in cLBLP patients.Results: We observed that cLBLP patients with lower homotopic connectivity than HCs in the inferior temporal gyrus, the superior temporal gyrus, the basal ganglia, the middle frontal gyrus, and the medial prefrontal cortex in the typical and five specific frequency bands, respectively. In the typical and five specific frequency bands, significant positive correlations were observed between the VMHC values of medial prefrontal cortex and the visual analogue scale scores, while the VMHC values of basal ganglia negative correlated with the values of two-point tactile discrimination (2PD) test for the right hand in cLBLP patients, etc. Further receiver operating characteristic curve analysis revealed that VMHC in the above regions with decreased could be used to differentiate the cerebral functional plasticity of cLBLP from healthy individuals with high sensitivity and specificity.Conclusion: Our results imply that multiscale frequency-related interhemispheric disconnectivity may underlie the central pathogenesis of functional coordination in patients with cLBLP.Keywords: interhemispheric integration, voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity, chronic low back-related leg pain, chronic pain, resting-state fMRI

Using time-variant of blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) signal to investigate the temporal changes in functional connectivity (FC) between key nodes may shed light on the dynamic characteristics of network. Twenty-two relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) and 22 well-matched healthy control subjects (HCs) participated in this study. Previously validated key nodes of attention network seeds were defined as spherical regions of interests (ROIs); then, we captured the pattern of dFC using sliding window correlation of ROIs in the RRMS and HCs during rest. Furthermore, correlation analysis between altered dFC of paired-ROIs with clinical measures in RRMS were performed. Compared with the HCs, the RRMS showed: a certain specificity transient pattern of FC of attention network at time window levels, including decreased dFC within dorsal attention network [connections of left intraparietal sulcus (LIPS)-right intraparietal sulcus (RIPS), LIPS-right frontal eye field (RFEF) and left frontal eye field (LFEF)-RIPS] and ventral attention network [connection of right ventral frontal cortex (RVFC)-right temporal parietal junction (RTPJ)], increased dFC between dorsal and ventral attention network (connections of LIPS-RTPJ and LIPS-RVFC). Secondary analysis indicated that the dFC coefficients of the connections of LIPS-RIPS (r = −0.467, P = 0.023) and RVFC-RTPJ (r = −0.452, P = 0.043) were significant negative correlated with the total white matter lesion load. In conclusion, we found that the instantaneous configuration pattern of FC in attention network of RRMS are relate to lesions loads.

BACKGROUND: Primary angle-closure glaucoma (PACG) is a neurodegenerative disease. Previous structural and functional studies of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) have demonstrated widespread dysfunction of spontaneous activity in the PACG brain. In this study, we applied a data-driven graph theory approach of functional connectivity density (FCD) mapping to investigate the altered local and global functional connectivity (FC) of the cortex in PACG. METHODS: Forty-five PACG patients (53.28±10.79 years, 17 males/28 females) and 46 well-matched healthy controls (HCs) (52.67±11.01 years,18 males/28 females) received resting-state fMRI scans. All PACG patients finished complete ophthalmologic examinations, including retinal nerve fiber layer thickness (RNFLT), intraocular pressure (IOP), average cup to disc ratio (A-C/D), and vertical cup to disc ratio (V-C/D). We calculated the between-group FCD difference for short-range and long-range in each voxel. Then, we generated the intrinsic FC of the seed region with the whole brain. Finally, correlations were investigated between FCD value of the altered regions and clinical variables. RESULTS: PACG patients showed increased short-range FCD in the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG)/insula/parahippocampal gyrus and right IFG/insula (P

Understanding the central mechanisms responsible for lumbar nerve root compression may facilitate the development of new therapeutic strategies. In this study, our aim was to investigate the amplitude of fluctuations (AF) in five specific frequency bands and the full-frequency band realm to provide novel insight into the rhythm of the neuronal activity of low back/leg pain (LBLP) patients (n = 25). Compared with healthy controls, LBLP patients exhibited a significantly altered AF in multiple brain regions, including the right or left middle and inferior temporal gyri, bilateral precuneus, right anterior insula/frontal operculum, right or left inferior parietal lobule/postcentral gyrus, and other locations at five specific frequencies (P 0.01, with Gaussian random field theory correction). Trends of an increase and a decrease in the AF in pain- and sensory-related regions, respectively, were also observed from low to high frequencies (Bonferroni-corrected α level of P 0.05/84). In addition, in the bilateral rectal gyrus, a significant association was identified between the AF in the five specific frequency bands and disease status (P

OBJECTIVE Diffuse axonal injury (DAI) is a common pathological process after traumatic brain injury, which may cause survivors severe functional disorders, including cognitive impairment and physical disability. Recent literature indicated lateral hypothalamus and medial hypothalamus damage during DAI. Thus, we aim to investigate whether there is imaging evidence of hypothalamic injury in patients with DAI and its clinical association. METHODS Twenty-four patients with diagnosed DAI and 26 age and sex-matched healthy controls underwent resting-state functional MRI. We assessed the lateral hypothalamus and medial hypothalamus functional connectivity with seed-based analysis in DAI. Furthermore, a partial correlation was used to measure its clinical association. The prediction of the severity of DAI from the altered lateral hypothalamus and medial hypothalamus connectivity was conducted using a general linear model. RESULTS Compared with healthy control, the DAI group showed significantly decreased lateral hypothalamus functional connectivity with the basal ganglia and cingulate gyrus, which was positively correlated with mini-mental state examination scores (Bonferroni correction at P < 0.0125). Importantly, this disrupted functional connectivity can be used to predict the patients' cognitive state reliably (P = 0.006; P = 0.009, respectively) in DAI. Moreover, we also observed increased connectivity of medial hypothalamus with the superior temporal gyrus and the regions around the operculum. Furthermore, there was a trend of negative correlation between the medial hypothalamus functional connectivity changes to the right superior temporal gyrus and the disability rating scale scores in the DAI group. CONCLUSION Our results suggest that there are alterations of medial hypothalamus and lateral hypothalamus connectivity in DAI and further understand its clinical symptoms, including related cognitive impairment.

The prediction of reactor antineutrino spectra will play a crucial role as reactor experiments enter the precision era. The positron energy spectrum of 3.5 million antineutrino inverse beta decay reactions observed by the Daya Bay experiment, in combination with the fission rates of fissile isotopes in the reactor, is used to extract the positron energy spectra resulting from the fission of specific isotopes. This information can be used to produce a precise, data-based prediction of the antineutrino energy spectrum in other reactor antineutrino experiments with different fission fractions than Daya Bay. The positron energy spectra are unfolded to obtain the antineutrino energy spectra by removing the contribution from detector response with the Wiener-SVD unfolding method. Consistent results are obtained with other unfolding methods. A technique to construct a data-based prediction of the reactor antineutrino energy spectrum is proposed and investigated. Given the reactor fission fractions, the technique can predict the energy spectrum to a 2% precision. In addition, we illustrate how to perform a rigorous comparison between the unfolded antineutrino spectrum and a theoretical model prediction that avoids the input model bias of the unfolding method., 22 pages, 10 figures, 6 supplemental materials

Introduction Previous neuroimaging studies have suggested that brain functional impairment and hyperarousal occur during the daytime among patients with chronic insomnia disorder (CID); however, alterations to the brain's intrinsic functional architecture and their association with sleep quality have not yet been documented. Methods In this study, our aim was to investigate the insomnia‐related alterations to the intrinsic connectome in patients with CID (n = 27) at resting state, with a data‐driven approach based on graph theory assessment and functional connectivity density (FCD), which can be interpreted as short‐range (intraregional) or long‐range (interregional) mapping. Results Compared with healthy controls with good sleep, CID patients showed significantly decreased long‐range FCD in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortices and the putamen. These patients also showed decreased short‐range FCD in their multimodal‐processing regions, executive control network, and supplementary motor‐related areas. Furthermore, several regions showed increased short‐range FCD in patients with CID, implying hyper‐homogeneity of local activity. Conclusions Together, these findings suggest that insufficient sleep during chronic insomnia widely affects cortical functional activities, including disrupted FCD and increased short‐range FCD, which is associated with poor sleep quality., Using graph theory assessment and functional connectivity density (FCD) methods to investigate the insomnia‐related alterations to the intrinsic connectome in patients with CID patients, we found that insufficient sleep during chronic insomnia widely affects cortical functional activities, including disrupted FCD and increased short‐range FCD, which is associated with poor sleep quality.

Searches for electron antineutrino, muon neutrino, and muon antineutrino disappearance driven by sterile neutrino mixing have been carried out by the Daya Bay and MINOS+ collaborations. This Letter presents the combined results of these searches, along with exclusion results from the Bugey-3 reactor experiment, framed in a minimally extended four-neutrino scenario. Significantly improved constraints on the θ_{μe} mixing angle are derived that constitute the most constraining limits to date over five orders of magnitude in the mass-squared splitting Δm_{41}^{2}, excluding the 90% C.L. sterile-neutrino parameter space allowed by the LSND and MiniBooNE observations at 90% CL_{s} for Δm_{41}^{2}

Guojin Xia,1,2 Zhenzhen Hu,3 Fuqing Zhou,1,2 Wenfeng Duan,1,2 Min Wang,1,2 Honghan Gong,1,2 Yulin He,1,2 Yanxing Guan4 1Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Jiangxi, People’s Republic of China; 2Jiangxi Province Medical Imaging Research Institute, Jiangxi, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Thoracic Oncology, Jiangxi Cancer Hospital, Jiangxi, People’s Republic of China; 4Department of Nuclear Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Jiangxi, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Yulin He; Yanxing Guan 17 Yongwaizheng Street, Nanchang City, Jiangxi Province, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86-791-88692585Email 33heyulin@163.com; yanxingguan2000@aliyun.comPurpose: We explored changes in spontaneous brain connectivity in patients with diffuse axonal injury (DAI), assessed via functional connectivity density (FCD) tests using different frequency bands.Patients and Methods: In all, 23 patients with DAI (17 males and 6 females) and 23 healthy controls (HCs; 17 males and 6 females) were included. Functional magnetic resonance imaging scans were performed when the participants were in a resting state and the FCD levels in three frequency bands (slow-4: 0.027– 0.073 Hz, slow-5: 0.01– 0.027 Hz, and typical: 0.01– 0.08 Hz) were measured. In addition, Pearson’s correlation coefficient was used to explore the relationship between clinical indices and brain regions with abnormal FCD values.Results: Compared to HCs, DAI patients had significantly greater FCD values in the right extranuclear/limbic lobe/cingulate gyrus and left limbic lobe/hippocampus/parahippocampal gyrus, and significantly lower FCD values in the left precuneus/posterior cingulate gyrus, in the slow-4 band. In the slow-5 band, the DAI patients had higher FCD values in the left inferior temporal gyrus/superior temporal gyrus, left parahippocampal gyrus/limbic lobe, left extranuclear/cingulate gyrus, and right medial frontal gyrus, and lower values in the right inferior frontal gyrus, right inferior parietal lobule, and left cingulate gyrus/limbic lobe. Moreover, compared to HCs, the values in the typical band were higher in the right extranuclear/limbic lobe/hippocampus/parahippocampal gyrus, but were significantly lower in the right precuneus/posterior cingulate gyrus and right inferior parietal lobule/supramarginal gyrus. The abnormal FCD values of these brain regions were linearly correlated with different clinical scale scores.Conclusion: DAI patients had abnormal FCD values in various brain regions, indicating disruption to the brain functional network. Moreover, the values were frequency dependent. Our results provide new evidence for the pathogenesis of functional impairment and may explain the neuropathological or compensatory mechanism of the disease.Keywords: diffuse axonal injury, functional connectivity density, functional magnetic resonance imaging, frequency bands

Background Although previous studies have shown that intra-network abnormalities in brain functional networks are correlated with clinical/cognitive impairment in multiple sclerosis (MS), there is little information regarding the pattern of causal interactions among cognition-related resting-state networks (RSNs) in different disease stages of relapsing–remitting MS (RRMS) patients. We hypothesized that abnormalities of causal interactions among RSNs occurred in RRMS patients in the acute and remitting phases. Methods Seventeen patients in the acute phases of RRMS, 24 patients in the remitting phases of RRMS, and 23 appropriately matched healthy controls participated in this study. First, we used group independent component analysis to extract the time courses of the spatially independent components from all the subjects. Then, the Granger causality analysis was used to investigate the causal relationships among RSNs in the spectral domain and to identify correlations with clinical indices. Results Compared with the patients in the acute phase of RRMS, patients in the remitting phase of RRMS showed a significantly lower expanded disability status scale, modified fatigue impact scale scores, and significantly higher paced auditory serial addition test (PASAT) scores. Compared with healthy subjects, during the acute phase, RRMS patients had significantly increased driving connectivity from the right executive control network (rECN) to the anterior salience network (aSN), and the causal coefficient was negatively correlated with the PASAT score. During the remitting phase, RRMS patients had significantly increased driving connectivity from the rECN to the aSN and from the rECN to the visuospatial network. Conclusions Together with the disease duration (mean disease duration

Objective Using functional connectivity density (FCD) mapping measured by resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI), an ultrafast data-driven graph theory approach, we attempted to study the abnormalities in neural activity of young survivors of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) and to explore the neuropathological evidence of chemotherapy-related cognitive impairment of patients. Methods Twenty young survivors of ALL and 18 well-matched healthy controls (HCs) were recruited in this study. All ALL patients and healthy controls underwent rs-fMRI scans and completed neurocognitive testing. The between-group differences in short-range and long-range FCD were calculated by the option of degree centrality (DC) in MATLAB software after preprocessing. The correlations between the FCD value and each of the neurocognitive outcomes were analyzed in the ALL patients. Results The group-averaged FCD maps showed similar spatial patterns between the two groups. Compared with the HCs, ALL patients showed decreased long-range FCD in regions of the bilateral lingual gyrus, cingulate cortex, hippocampal gyrus, and right calcarine fissure. Simultaneously, decreased regions in the short-range FCD map were the bilateral lingual gyrus, cingulate cortex, parahippocampal gyrus and right calcarine fissure. Increased functional connectivity (FC) was observed between the region with decreased long-range FCD and the posterior cerebellar lobe, and decreased FC was observed between the region and the middle occipital gyrus, cuneus and lingual gyrus. Thus, there existed no brain areas with increased FCD. The decreased short-range FCD value of ALL patients was positively correlated with the score on the Digit Span Test (Forward), and the increased FC value was negatively correlated with the score on the Trail Making Test part A. Conclusion Our results suggest the altered functional connectivity of young survivors of ALL in the posterior region of the brain and posterior lobe of the cerebellum. Alterations in spontaneous neuronal activity seem to parallel the neurocognitive testing, which indicates that the rs-fMRI could be used as a neuroimaging marker for neurological impairment in ALL patients.

We report constraints on the dark photon effective kinetic mixing parameter (${\kappa}$) with data taken from two ${p}$-type point-contact germanium detectors of the CDEX-10 experiment at the China Jinping Underground Laboratory. The 90\% confidence level upper limits on ${\kappa}$ of solar dark photon from 205.4 kg-day exposure are derived, probing new parameter space with masses (${m_V}$) from 10 to 300 eV/${c^2}$ in direct detection experiments. Considering dark photon as the cosmological dark matter, limits at 90\% confidence level with ${m_V}$ from 0.1 to 4.0 keV/${c^2}$ are set from 449.6 kg-day data, with a minimum of ${\rm{\kappa=1.3 \times 10^{-15}}}$ at ${\rm{m_V=200\ eV/c^2}}$., Comment: 5 pages, 6 figures

Providing a possible connection between neutrino emission and gravitational-wave (GW) bursts is important to our understanding of the physical processes that occur when black holes or neutron stars merge. In the Daya Bay experiment, using data collected from December 2011 to August 2017, a search has been performed for electron-antineutrino signals coinciding with detected GW events, including GW150914, GW151012, GW151226, GW170104, GW170608, GW170814, and GW170817. We used three time windows of $\mathrm{\pm 10~s}$, $\mathrm{\pm 500~s}$, and $\mathrm{\pm 1000~s}$ relative to the occurrence of the GW events, and a neutrino energy range of 1.8 to 100 MeV to search for correlated neutrino candidates. The detected electron-antineutrino candidates are consistent with the expected background rates for all the three time windows. Assuming monochromatic spectra, we found upper limits (90% confidence level) on electron-antineutrino fluence of $(1.13~-~2.44) \times 10^{11}~\rm{cm^{-2}}$ at 5 MeV to $8.0 \times 10^{7}~\rm{cm^{-2}}$ at 100 MeV for the three time windows. Under the assumption of a Fermi-Dirac spectrum, the upper limits were found to be $(5.4~-~7.0)\times 10^{9}~\rm{cm^{-2}}$ for the three time windows., Comment: 16 pages, 12 figures, 9 tables

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The purpose of this study was to describe the temporal evolution of quantitative lung lesion features on chest computed tomography (CT) in patients with common and severe types of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) pneumonia. Records of patients diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia were reviewed retrospectively from 24 January 2020 to 15 March 2020. Patients were classified into common and severe groups according to the diagnostic criteria of severe pneumonia. The quantitative CT features of lung lesions were automatically calculated using artificial intelligence algorithms, and the percentages of ground-glass opacity volume (PGV), consolidation volume (PCV) and total lesion volume (PTV) were determined in both lungs. PGV, PCV and PTV were analyzed based on the time from the onset of initial symptoms in the common and severe groups. In the common group, PTV increased slowly and peaked at approximately 12 days from the onset of the initial symptoms. In the severe group, PTV peaked at approximately 17 days. The severe pneumonia group exhibited increased PGV, PCV and PTV compared with the common group. These features started to appear in Stage 2 (4–7 days from onset of initial symptoms) and were observed in all subsequent stages (p

Li-Ting Chen,1,* Xiao-Le Fan,2,* Hai-Jun Li,1 Cheng-Long Ye,1 Hong-Hui Yu,1 Hui-Zhen Xin,1 Hong-Han Gong,1 De-Chang Peng,1 Li-Ping Yan3 1Department of Radiology, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, China; 2Department of General Surgery, the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, China; 3Department of Cardiology, People’s Hospital of Jiangxi Province, Nanchang, Jiangxi Province, China *These authors contributed equally to this work Objective: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is accompanied by widespread abnormal spontaneous regional activity related to cognitive deficits. However, little is known about the topological properties of the functional brain connectome of patients with OSA. This study aimed to use the graph theory approaches to investigate the topological properties and functional connectivity (FC) of the functional connectome in patients with OSA, based on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI). Methods: Forty-five male patients with newly diagnosed untreated severe OSA and 45 male good sleepers (GSs) underwent a polysomnography (PSG), clinical evaluations, and rs-fMRI scans. The automated anatomical labeling (AAL) atlas was used to construct the functional brain connectome. The topological organization and FC of brain functional networks in patients with OSA were characterized using graph theory methods and investigated the relationship between functional network topology and clinical variables. Results: Both the patients with OSA and the GSs exhibited high-efficiency “small-world” network attributes. However, the patients with OSA exhibited decreased σ, γ, Eglob; increased Lp, λ; and abnormal nodal centralities in several default-mode network (DMN), salience network (SN), and central executive network (CEN) regions. However, the patients with OSA exhibited abnormal functional connections between the DMN, SN, and CEN. The disrupted FC was significantly positive correlations with the global network metrics γ and σ. The global network metrics were significantly correlated with the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) score, Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) score, and oxygen desaturation index. Conclusion: The findings suggest that the functional connectome of patients with OSA exhibited disrupted functional integration and segregation, and functional disconnections of the DMN, SN, and CEN. The aberrant topological attributes may be associated with disrupted FC and cognitive functions. These topological abnormalities and disconnections might be potential biomarkers of cognitive impairments in patients with OSA. Keywords: obstructive sleep apnea, graph theory, functional connectome, cognitive function, resting-state fMRI

Fuqing Zhou,1,2 Lili Gu,3 Shunda Hong,1,2 Jiaqi Liu,1,2 Jian Jiang,1,2 Muhua Huang,1,2 Yong Zhang,3 Honghan Gong1,2 1Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, People’s Republic of China; 2Neuroradiology Laboratory, Jiangxi Province Medical Imaging Research Institute, Nanchang, Jiangxi, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Pain Clinic, The First Affiliated Hospital, Nanchang University, Nanchang, Jiangxi, People’s Republic of China Objective: The aim of this study was to explore the amplitude of intrinsic low-frequency oscillations (LFOs) in patients with discogenic low-back and leg pain (LBLP).Participants and methods: We obtained and compared the LFO amplitude from 25 right-handed discogenic LBLP patients (13 males; mean age 55.16±1.83years) and 27 well-matched healthy controls (15 males; mean age 52.96±1.63years). The LFO amplitude was examined using the voxel-wise amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFFs), and partial correlation analysis was performed to determine the relationship between the regions with altered ALFF values and clinical parameters in discogenic LBLP patients.Results: Compared with healthy controls, the patients with discogenic LBLP showed a significant increase in ALFF in the affective system of the pain matrix (left anterior cingulate cortex, right anterior insula/frontal operculum, and bilateral orbitofrontal cortex) and information-processing regions (middle occipital/temporal gyrus). In addition, a significant decrease in ALFF was observed in the default mode network (DMN; inferior parietal lobule (IPL) and medial prefrontal cortex [mPFC]) and the processing system of the pain matrix (basal ganglia/thalamus/midbrain, postcentral gyrus [PoCG], and fusiform gyrus). Several regions with altered ALFF were associated with disease duration, visual analog scale scores, Barthel index, and fine sensory modality measurements (two-point tactile discrimination of the left and/or right leg). Further operating characteristic curves analysis suggested that the mean ALFF values in the right IPL, left IPL/PoCG, left anterior cingulate cortex, and left mPFC could serve as markers to separate individuals with discogenic LBLP from healthy subjects.Conclusion: Our results revealed widespread abnormalities in ALFF in the pain matrix and information-processing regions as well as a decrease in ALFF in the DMN. These results open up an important new avenue to better understand the nature of the link between intrinsic activity and peripheral pain and sensory impairment in discogenic LBLP patients. Keywords: amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations, resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging, discogenic low-back and leg pain, amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations

A pulse shape discrimination method to discriminate neutron events from backgrounds based on the double-pulse effect of 3He proportional counters is proposed and detailed in this paper. We made an ambient thermal neutron measurement system composed of a commercial 3He proportional counter tube and the corresponding readout electronics. The background of the system has been measured and the minimum detectable amount of the 3He proportional counter tube will be reduced by an order of magnitude with this method. The system was applied to measure the ambient thermal neutron flux inside a large neutron shielding structure at a deep underground laboratory and the pulse shape discrimination method proves to be effective.

Suhua Huang,1 Fuqing Zhou,2,3 Jian Jiang,2,3 Muhua Huang,2,3 Xianjun Zeng,2,3 Shan Ding,1 Honghan Gong2,3 1Department of Radiology, Jiangxi Province Children’s Hospital, 2Department of Radiology, The First Affiliated Hospital, Nanchang University, 3Jiangxi Province Medical Imaging Research Institute, Nanchang, People’s Republic of China Abstract: Several neuroimaging studies have suggested that brain impairment and plasticity occur in patients with chronic primary insomnia (CPI); however, the effects of insomnia on the intrinsic organization of the brain remain largely unknown. In this study, a voxel-based functional connectivity strength (FCS) assessment, a data-driven method based on a theoretical approach, was applied to investigate the effects of insomnia on the intrinsic organization of the whole brain in 27 treatment-naïve CPI patients and 26 well-matched healthy controls (HCs). Compared with HCs, CPI patients exhibited decreased FCS primarily in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, the right medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), the left basal ganglia/insula, and the right cerebellum anterior lobe (CAL) due to decreased functional connectivity patterns. These results suggest that poor sleep quality could impair FCS within the brain, including the MPFC and the CAL, which are important for cognitive control and modulating motor and limbic functions. Additionally, a receiver operator characteristic analysis revealed that altered FCS has moderate sensitivity (76.9%–88.5%) and specificity (59.3%–70.4%) as a reference indicator to discriminate CPI patients from HCs. Taken together, these findings provide evidence for abnormal intrinsic brain activity in CPI patients and might improve our understanding of the pathophysiological processes that occur in insomnia patients. Keywords: functional connectivity strength, disconnection, chronic primary insomnia, sleep disorders, resting-state fMRI

The aim of this study is to investigate changes in regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in awake people with untreated severe obstructive sleep apnoea (OSAs) compared with good sleepers (GSs). Arterial spin labelling perfusion imaging was used to quantify cerebral perfusion based on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Lying supine in a 3.0-T magnetic resonance imaging scanner in the night was done. Included in this study were 30 subjects with OSA (males; mean age 38.4 years, range 25–55) and 30 controls (males; mean age: 38.3 years, range 26–52) matched for age and years of education. Compared with GSs, participants with severe OSA had reduced rCBF in the left cerebellum posterior lobe, left temporal lobe, right medial frontal gyrus, and bilateral parahippocampal gyrus and increased rCBF in the bilateral superior frontal gyrus. The lower mean CBF in the right parahippocampal gyrus exhibited a significant positive correlation with arousal index (r = 0.365, P = 0.047). The increased mean CBF in the left superior frontal gyrus exhibited a significant positive correlation with the longest apnoea time (r = 0.422, P = 0.020), and the increased mean CBF in the right superior frontal gyrus exhibited a significant positive correlation with the longest apnoea time (r = 0.447, P = 0.013). Our results show that the altered rCBF pattern in the left cerebellum posterior lobe, left temporal lobe, left medial frontal gyrus, bilateral parahippocampal gyrus and superior frontal gyrus in patients have with severe OSA. The arterial spin labelling perfusion imaging method is a useful non-invasive imaging tool for detection of early changes in the regional cerebral blood flow in patients with OSA.

We present the improved constraints on couplings of solar axions and more generic bosonic dark matter particles using 737.1 kg-days of data from the CDEX-1B experiment. The CDEX-1B experiment, located at the China Jinping Underground Laboratory, primarily aims at the direct detection of weakly interacting massive particles using a p-type point-contact germanium detector. We adopt the profile likelihood ratio method for analysis of data in the presence of backgrounds. An energy threshold of 160 eV was achieved, much better than the 475 eV of CDEX-1A with an exposure of 335.6 kg-days. This significantly improves the sensitivity for the bosonic dark matter below 0.8 keV among germanium detectors. Limits are also placed on the coupling $g_{Ae} < 2.48 \times 10^{-11}$ from Compton, bremsstrahlung, atomic-recombination and de-excitation channels and $g^{eff}_{AN} \times g_{Ae} < 4.14 \times 10^{-17}$ from a $^{57}$Fe M1 transition at 90\% confidence level., version accepted by PRD, 9 pages, 11 figures

This Letter reports the first extraction of individual antineutrino spectra from ^{235}U and ^{239}Pu fission and an improved measurement of the prompt energy spectrum of reactor antineutrinos at Daya Bay. The analysis uses 3.5×10^{6} inverse beta-decay candidates in four near antineutrino detectors in 1958 days. The individual antineutrino spectra of the two dominant isotopes, ^{235}U and ^{239}Pu, are extracted using the evolution of the prompt spectrum as a function of the isotope fission fractions. In the energy window of 4-6 MeV, a 7% (9%) excess of events is observed for the ^{235}U (^{239}Pu) spectrum compared with the normalized Huber-Mueller model prediction. The significance of discrepancy is 4.0σ for ^{235}U spectral shape compared with the Huber-Mueller model prediction. The shape of the measured inverse beta-decay prompt energy spectrum disagrees with the prediction of the Huber-Mueller model at 5.3σ. In the energy range of 4-6 MeV, a maximal local discrepancy of 6.3σ is observed.