Dec 8, 2016 - Albert C. Ludolph1 & Jan Kassubek1 ...... Power, J. D., Barnes, K. A., Snyder, A. Z., Schlaggar, B. L. & Petersen, S. E. Spurious but systematic ...
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OPEN
received: 21 July 2016 accepted: 08 November 2016 Published: 08 December 2016
Functional connectivity changes resemble patterns of pTDP-43 pathology in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis Ines Schulthess1,*, Martin Gorges1,*, Hans-Peter Müller1, Dorothée Lulé1, Kelly Del Tredici2, Albert C. Ludolph1 & Jan Kassubek1 ‘Resting-state’ fMRI allows investigation of alterations in functional brain organization that are associated with an underlying pathological process. We determine whether abnormal connectivity in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in a priori-defined intrinsic functional connectivity networks, according to a neuropathological staging scheme and its DTI-based tract correlates, permits recognition of a sequential involvement of functional networks. ‘Resting-state’ fMRI data from 135 ALS patients and 56 matched healthy controls were investigated for the motor network (corresponding to neuropathological stage 1), brainstem (stage 2), ventral attention (stage 3), default mode/hippocampal network (stage 4), and primary visual network (as the control network) in a cross-sectional analysis and longitudinally in a subgroup of 27 patients after 6 months. Group comparison from cross-sectional and longitudinal data revealed significantly increased functional connectivity (p
