The study aimed to investigate the pathologic mechanism of functional brain regions in attention‐deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) patients through making comparisons of normal and ADHD children from the perspective of the network nodes of brain network and the intensity of functional connection between bilateral of hemispheres by resting‐state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Thirty‐five ADHD and forty‐two children were examined by resting‐state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans. Data analysis was done via the degree centrality (DC) and voxel‐mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC) approaches. Compared with healthy subjects, the ADHD group exhibited significantly decreased DC values in the right posterior cingulate gyrus, left medial superior frontal gyrus, right inferior parietal gyrus, right middle frontal gyrus, left superior frontal gyrus and right superior frontal gyrus. Children with ADHD also exhibited some areas with increased DC values compared with healthy children. These regions included the cerebellar anterior lobe, right middle occipital cortex, left middle cingulate gyrus and right middle cingulate gyrus. VMHC analysis all revealed positive activation in a range of brain regions when comparing ADHD and normal children, suggesting that the VMHC scores of children with ADHD were higher in the bilateral superior frontal lobe, bilateral middle occipital lobe, and bilateral cerebellar anterior lobes. This work provides a new approach for examining the neural mechanisms underlying ADHD, demonstrating that the DC and VMHC methods enabled more comprehensive analysis that can be cross‐checked.

Children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and nocturnal enuresis (NE) have similar symptoms, for example, inattention and dysfunction of working memory. We investigate disorder‐specific abnormal activity by using the simple resting‐state functional magnetic resonance imaging (RS‐fMRI) metric amplitude of low‐frequency fluctuation (ALFF). About 18 ADHD, NE, and typically developing children were examined by RS‐fMRI and the child behavior checklist (CBCL) test. One‐way ANOVA were used to compare the ALFF values of the three groups and post hoc was done. We conducted Pearson correlation analysis on the results of the three groups' scales with ALFF values at the discrepant brain areas after then. Significant group effect was found in the bilateral medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC), left inferior temporal gyrus (ITG), left middle temporal gyrus (MTG), cerebellum anterior lobe (CAL), and left inferior parietal lobule (IPL). There was no shared abnormal region for ADHD and NE. Specially, ADHD showed increased ALFF in the bilateral MPFC, left ITG, and CAL and showed decreased ALFF in the left MTG. The children with NE showed increased ALFF in the left IPL. This study reveals the brain mechanism of cognitive changes on ADHD and NE, which provides neuroimaging basis for behavioral differences among different diseases.

No abstract

Primary nocturnal enuresis (PNE) affects children’s physical and mental health with a high rate. However, its neural mechanism is still unclear. Studies have found that the paraventricular thalamus (PVT) is among the key brain regions implicated with awakening regulation and its control of the transition between sleep and wakening is dependent on signaling through the PVT-nucleus accumbens (NAc) pathway. So this study analyzed the function of brain regions and their connectivity of PVT and NAc. A total of twenty-six PNE and typically developing (TD) children were involved in the study and the methods of amplitude of low frequency fluctuation (ALFF), degree centrality (DC) and functional connectivity (FC) based on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) were used to analyze the brain functions. Results showed that there was no statistical significant difference in ALFF and DC between PNE and TD children in bilateral PVT and NAc. And there was statistical significant difference of the comparison of the FC of left PVT (lPVT) and left NAc (lNAc) between PNE and TD children. Meanwhile, there was negative correlation between awakening score and the FC of rPVT and lNAc, and no obvious correlation between awakening score and the FC of lPVT and lNAc in PNE children. Meanwhile, there was both negative correlation between awakening score and the FC of lPVT, rPTV and lNAc in TD children. Therefore, the FC between rPVT and lNAc was more reliable in assessing the degree of awakening ability in PNE children. This finding could help establish the evaluation index of PNE.

Primary nocturnal enuresis (PNE) is always associated with attention impairment, some of which even could develop to attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The mechanism of attention impairment is not clear, especially lacking of objective indicators of neuroimaging. The aim of this study is to explore the possible functional imaging mechanism of impaired attention in PNE children. A total of 26 PNE children and 26 age-matched normal controls were recruited. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) was performed on these children. Degree centrality (DC) of key brain regions of DAN (lFEF, rFEF, lIFG, rIFG, lIPS, rIPS), VAN (TPJ, VFC) and DMN (PCC, aMPFC, lAG, rAG) were calculated and compared between PNE and normal children. And the correlations between DC values and attention behavioral results were measured. Compared with normal controls, PNE children exhibited lower DC value in the right frontal eye field (rFEF), left inferior parietal sulcus (lIPS), right inferior parietal sulcus (rIPS), temporal parietal junction (TPJ) and left angular gyrus (lAG). The correct number of continuous performance test (CPT) in the PNE group was significantly lower than the normal controls and there was no significant difference in the reaction time between the two groups. The correlation between DC values and attention behavioral results in PNE showed that the DC values of PCC and lAG were negatively correlated with the correct number. This work indicates that the damage of the key brain regions of DAN, VAN and DMN might be the possible functional imaging mechanism of impaired attention in children with PNE.

The aim of the study is to explore the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) characteristics of the improvement in executive function by aerobic exercise in children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Seventeen children with ADHD were selected for 8 weeks of rope skipping aerobic training, and fMRI findings and executive function were examined before and after training. Regional homogeneity (ReHo) and degree centrality (DC) indexes were used in fMRI analysis, whereas the flanker task was used to test executive function. A paired t test was used to compare the fMRI indexes and response time of executive function before and after training. After aerobic exercise, the brain regions in which the ReHo value of ADHD children significantly increased included the left middle frontal gyrus and the right superior frontal gyrus; the brain region in which the DC value increased was the right posterior cingulate cortex. The flanker task response time decreased significantly (P < 0.05, after correction) after aerobic exercise. The study findings support the hypothesis that aerobic exercise can improve the executive function of ADHD children, and the brain mechanism involved is mainly related to the enhancement of spontaneous prefrontal lobe activity.

No abstract

Background: Bronchial asthma often causes cognitive impairment, especially attentional de cit, which has a serious impact on children's learning, but the lack of functional imaging evidence has affected targeted intervention for children.Methods: Thirty-one asthmatic and typically developing children (TDC) were studied by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Brain network-based degree centricity and voxel-mirrored homotopic connectivity (VMHC) methods were used.Results: Compared with the TDC group, asthmatic children had lower DC values in the right superior frontal gyrus (after FDR correction, P<0.05). Meanwhile, VMHC values of bilateral superior frontal gyrus and bilateral superior parietal lobule in asthmatic children were lower than those in TDC children (after FDR correction, P<0.05).Conclusions: In this study, impaired superior frontal gyrus and parietal lobe function are associated with attentional de cit in asthmatic children, and these brain regions are key brain regions in attention-related networks.