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© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

Background: Numerous anterior neuroimaging researches have revealed that corneal ulcers (CU) are related to changes in cerebral anatomic structure and functional area. Nonetheless, functional characteristics of the brain’s network organization still show no definite research results. The study was designed to confirm CU-associated spatial centrality distribution functional network of the whole cerebrum and explore the mechanism through which the larvaceous changed the intrinsic functional hubs. Material and Methods: In this study, 40 patients with CU and 40 normal controls (matched in sex, age, and education level) were enrolled in this study to undergo resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scans. The differences between the groups were determined by measuring the voxel-wise degree centrality (DC) throughout the whole cerebrum. For the purpose of assessing the correlation between abnormal DC value and clinical variables, the Linear correlation analysis was used. Results: Compared with normal controls (NCs), CU patients revealed high DC values in the frontal lobe, precuneus, inferior parietal lobule, posterior cingulate, occipital lobe, and temporal lobe in the brain functional connectivity maps throughout the brain. The intergroup differences also had high similarity on account of different thresholds. In addition, DC values were positively related to the duration of CU in the left middle frontal gyrus. Conclusions: The experimental results revealed that patients with CU showed spatially unnatural intrinsic functional hubs whether DC values increased or decreased. This brings us to a new level of comprehending the functional features of CU and may offer useful information to make us obtain a clear understanding of the dysfunction of CU.

Details

Title
Abnormal Intrinsic Functional Hubs in Corneal Ulcer: Evidence from a Voxel-Wise Degree Centrality Analysis
Author
Min-Jie, Chen; Huang, Rong; Rong-Bin Liang; Yi-Cong Pan; Hui-Ye, Shu; Xu-Lin, Liao  VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; San-Hua, Xu; Ying, Ping; Kang, Min; Li-Juan, Zhang; Qian-Min, Ge  VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Shao, Yi  VIAFID ORCID Logo 
First page
1478
Publication year
2022
Publication date
2022
Publisher
MDPI AG
e-ISSN
20770383
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2642417862
Copyright
© 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.