Functional and Structural Brain Abnormalities and Clinical Characteristics of Male Patients with Alcohol Dependence

Abstract

Even though many previous studies have reported structural or functional brain abnormalities in patients with alcohol dependence (ADPs), studies observing the structural and functional abnormalities associated with the clinical characteristics of ADPs utilizing a multimodal approach are still scarce. The aim of this study was to demonstrate structural and functional brain abnormalities and their association with the clinical characteristics of alcoholism in male ADPs. Fifteen healthy male controls (HCs) and 15 male ADPs who had been diagnosed according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5 criteria underwent T1-weighted imaging and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. The MRI data were postprocessed using statistical parametric mapping for structural analysis and CONN-fMRI functional connectivity (FC) tools for functional analysis. In comparison with male HCs, male ADPs were characterized by significantly reduced volumes of the white matter in the left globus pallidus (GP) (p-FDR < 0.05). This region affected the altered resting-state FC patterns in male ADPs. Interestingly, an abnormal FC in the precuneus and its positive correlation with the alcohol-use disorder identification test score were observed in ADPs (r = 0.546, p = 0.036). Based on the observations, it could be concluded that the GP serves as a neural marker that impacts abnormal functional networks in men with alcohol dependence. These findings have important clinical implications as they provide insights into the neural mechanism underlying the anatomical, functional, and clinical features of alcoholism.

Predicting Brain Age and Gender from Brain Volume Data Using Variational Quantum Circuits

“…In this study, we utilized three primary datasets: the IXI dataset (n = 563, age range 18-88 years, https://brain-development.org [14] (accessed on 27 April 2023)), the CAU dataset (n = 156, age range 55-83 years [15]), and an in-house collected dataset (n = 438, age range 14-89 years [27][28][29]). All participants included in our analysis underwent careful screening following local study protocols to confirm their status as healthy in-dividuals without a history of neurological, psychiatric, or major medical conditions.…”

“…T1-weighted MRI scans were acquired using either 1.5T or 3T scanners. Detailed information regarding the acquisition protocols for each dataset can be found in the corresponding references [14,15,[27][28][29]. Figure 1 and Table 1 provide an overview of the age and gender distributions across our datasets.…”

“…Brain Sci. 2024, 14, x FOR PEER REVIEW 3 of 13 range 14-89 years [27][28][29]). All participants included in our analysis underwent careful screening following local study protocols to confirm their status as healthy individuals without a history of neurological, psychiatric, or major medical conditions.…”