Zang YF papers

Hear Res. 2025 Apr 6;461:109274. doi: 10.1016/j.heares.2025.109274. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: Subjective tinnitus often coexists with hearing loss, and they share common pathophysiological mechanisms. This comorbidity induces whole-brain gray matter volume (GMV) alterations, manifesting as distributed structural changes in neural networks rather than isolated regional modifications. Multivariate analysis of structural brain patterns is therefore essential to differentiate their underlying mechanisms.

METHODS: Fifty tinnitus patients and 50 age-/gender-matched controls underwent structural MRI and audiometry. Patients were stratified by hearing level into 22 with hearing loss (T+HL) and 28 without (T-HL). To investigate structural brain patterns specific to tinnitus and hearing loss, Source-Based Morphometry (SBM), a multivariate analytical approach based on Independent Component Analysis (ICA), was applied to identify covarying patterns of GMV. The associations between these structural covariance patterns and clinical characteristics were examined using Spearman's correlation analysis.

RESULTS: Our results showed that in T-HL patients, structural abnormalities in the medial prefrontal cortex, precuneus, and auditory cortex were negatively correlated with tinnitus distress. In contrast, in T+HL patients, abnormalities in the insular structural brain pattern were negatively associated with depressive symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS: Our findings revealed that tinnitus-related structural brain patterns involve regions such as the middle frontal gyrus, supplementary motor area (SMA), and anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), with these changes negatively correlating with tinnitus distress, suggesting adaptive mechanisms in tinnitus perception. Moreover, the structural brain pattern involving the insula, putamen, and superior temporal gyrus appears to be primarily driven by hearing loss. These findings support audiometric-based subgrouping in tinnitus management.

PMID:40209328 | DOI:10.1016/j.heares.2025.109274

Int J Psychophysiol. 2025 Mar 22:112560. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2025.112560. Online ahead of print.

ABSTRACT

Individuals naturally make eye movements over time during visual fixation and voluntarily perform changes in eye position. However, the functional implication of spontaneous changes of eye movements remains unclear. Given that visual fixation is commonly used as a baseline condition in cognitive experiments, we conducted an experiment using eye-tracking to test whether spontaneous fluctuations in eye position are linked to sustained attention. Eye-position data were collected while subjects performed visual fixation and a sustained attention task. We found that slow fluctuations (<0.2 Hz) in eye position correlated with slow fluctuations in response behavior [reaction time (RT)] during the sustained attention task. Further analysis revealed that off-task but not on-task slow fluctuations in eye position contributed to slow fluctuations in sustained attention behavior. The spontaneous fluctuations in eye position could predict the behavioral performance in sustained attention. These results provide new insights into the functional significance of eye movements during visual fixation, which should be considered in interpreting the findings of cognitive experiments using visual fixation as the baseline condition.

PMID:40127704 | DOI:10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2025.112560

Brain Stimul. 2025 Mar 17:S1935-861X(25)00063-4. doi: 10.1016/j.brs.2025.03.010. Online ahead of print.

NO ABSTRACT

PMID:40107656 | DOI:10.1016/j.brs.2025.03.010

Front Psychiatry. 2025 Feb 13;16:1544816. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1544816. eCollection 2025.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND/OBJECTIVES: Attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) currently lacks a universally accepted biomarker or diagnostic test, underscoring the need for objective and effective assessment methods. Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) has emerged as a promising tool for both assessing cortical excitability and providing therapeutic interventions. This study conducted two independent meta-analyses to evaluate: 1) the potential of TMS in assessing cortical excitability, and 2) its therapeutic efficacy in managing ADHD symptoms.

METHODS: A systematic search was conducted in EMBASE, MEDLINE, PsycINFO, ClinicalTrials, and PubMed following PRISMA guidelines. The "cortical excitability" meta-analysis included studies comparing TMS-EMG or TMS-EEG neurophysiological measures between ADHD patients and healthy controls. The "therapeutic" meta-analysis focused on randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating repetitive TMS (rTMS) effects on ADHD symptoms. Standardized mean differences (SMDs) were calculated for pooled effect sizes.

RESULTS: In the "cortical excitability" meta-analysis, 17 studies were included, demonstrating significantly reduced short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) in ADHD compared to healthy controls (pooled SMD = 0.65, 95% CI: 0.41-0.88, P < 0.00001). No significant differences were observed for motor evoked potentials (MEP), motor thresholds (aMT/rMT), cortical silent period (cSP), ipsilateral silent period (iSP), or intracortical facilitation (ICF). The "therapeutic" meta-analysis, encompassing 8 samples from 7 studies, demonstrated that rTMS significantly improved ADHD symptoms compared to control conditions (pooled SMD = 0.45, 95% CI: 0.19-0.70, P = 0.0006).

CONCLUSIONS: This study highlights the potential of TMS as both a diagnostic and therapeutic tool in ADHD. Reduced SICI appears to be a key neurophysiological marker of ADHD, reflecting cortical GABAergic dysfunction. Additionally, rTMS shows promise in alleviating ADHD symptoms, though further studies are needed to confirm long-term therapeutic benefits and optimize stimulation protocols.

SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/prospero/, identifier CRD42024507867.

PMID:40018690 | PMC:PMC11865255 | DOI:10.3389/fpsyt.2025.1544816

CNS Neurosci Ther. 2025 Feb;31(2):e70280. doi: 10.1111/cns.70280.

ABSTRACT

AIMS: Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) targeting the supplementary motor area (SMA) may treat Tourette's syndrome (TS) by modulating the function of the globus pallidus internus (GPi) via the cortico-striato-thalamo-cortical circuit.

METHODS: We conducted a randomized longitudinal study to examine circuit functionality and clinical efficacy. The GPi was identified as an "effective region" for TS treatment. Using functional MRI, individualized targets within the SMA were identified. Function-specific targets [left SMA (n = 19), right SMA (n = 16)] were compared with conventional scalp-localized SMA targets (n = 19). Age- and gender-matched typical developmental children (TDC) served as controls (n = 48). TS patients received 50 Hz continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) at 70% RMT over five consecutive days (1800 pulses/day). Clinical efficacy was assessed using the Yale Global Tic Severity Scale (YGTSS) at one and two weeks post-cTBS. Functional connectivity (FC) analyses of the GPi evaluated the impact on brain function.

RESULTS: There was an approximately 3 cm Y-axis distance between the function-specific and conventional targets. TS patients exhibited significantly reduced GPi-base FC in bilateral motor areas at baseline compared to TDC. Following cTBS, 4 out of 19 patients in the left SMA group achieved a ≥ 30% reduction in YGTSS scores. cTBS modulated brain function in the left inferior orbital frontal cortex and right Lingual/cerebellum, primarily influenced by the right SMA target, whereas the conventional target showed no effect on YGTSS scores. Changes in GPi-target FC were significantly correlated with reduction in YGTSS total scores (r = 0.638, p = 0.026).

CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that function-specific SMA targets may yield more pronounced modulatory effects, with the left SMA target achieving "Effectiveness" after just one week of cTBS. Combining function-specific SMA-targeted cTBS with standard treatment shows promise in accelerating clinical efficacy for TS treatment, warranting further investigation.

PMID:39981770 | DOI:10.1111/cns.70280