Abstract
Understanding the effect of task compared to rest on detecting stroke-related network abnormalities will inform efforts to optimize detection of such abnormalities. The goal of this work was to determine whether connectivity measures obtained during an overt task are more effective than connectivity obtained during a “resting” state for detecting stroke-related changes in network function of the brain. This study examined working memory, discrete pedaling, continuous pedaling and language tasks. Functional magnetic resonance imaging was used to examine regional and inter-regional brain network function in 14 stroke and 16 control participants. Independent component analysis was used to identify 149 regions of interest (ROI). Using the inter-regional connectivity measurements, the weighted sum was calculated across only regions associated with a given task. Both inter-regional connectivity and regional connectivity were greater during each of the tasks as compared to the resting state. The working memory and discrete pedaling tasks allowed for detection of stroke-related decreases in inter-regional connectivity, while the continuous pedaling and language tasks allowed for detection of stroke-related enhancements in regional connectivity. These observations illustrate that task-based functional connectivity allows for detection of stroke-related changes not seen during resting states. In addition, this work provides evidence that tasks emphasizing different cognitive domains reveal different aspects of stroke-related reorganization. We also illustrate that within the motor domain, different tasks can reveal inter-regional or regional stroke-related changes, in this case suggesting that discrete pedaling required more central drive than continuous pedaling.
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Code availability
Pipeline to process these data is available at: https://github.com/kvinehout/Functional_connectivity_pipeline.
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Acknowledgements
Dr. Stephen Wilson provided guidance and the code for the language task. Funding was provided by the Strategic Fund, a component of the Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin endowment at the Medical College of Wisconsin.
Funding
Funding was provided by the Strategic Fund, a component of the Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin endowment at the Medical College of Wisconsin. The presented work has not been published prior, although this work constitutes part of Kaleb Vinehout’s Dissertation.
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“All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee (Medical College of Wisconsin: PRO00027569) and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.”
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Communicated by Winston D Byblow.
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Supplementary Information
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Supplementary file2 Figure S1: Group Differences in Interregional Task Network Identification. Depiction of the interregional task network depicted for the continuous pedaling (A), discrete pedaling (B), working memory (C), and language (D) tasks. All Highlighted connections are in task network definition. The connections identified in only control group are shown C group, only in stroke group are shown in S group and if identified in both control and stroke groups shown in the C+S group. Note order of ROI are the same as listed in Tables S4 – S7. (TIF 32508 KB)
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Supplementary file3 Figure S2: Spatial Extent of Task ROIs. The task ROIs are depicted for the continuous pedaling (A), discrete pedaling (B), working memory (C), and language (D) tasks. Regions shown are only the gray matter areas of each ROI. Colors were randomly assigned to highlight different ROIs. The continuous pedaling task consisted of 7 ROIs, the discrete pedaling task 42 ROIs, the working memory task 19 ROIs, and the language task 7 ROIs. Images depicted are centered around X=46mm, Y=55mm and Z=46mm. ROIs are overlaid on the standard 2mm MNI space. L= left; R= right; A=anterior; P=posterior; S=s Mmc_Figureuperior; I=inferior; ROI=region of interest. (TIF 1445 KB)
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Supplementary file4 Figure S3: A Priori Task ROI Weighted Sum. The mean weighted sum connectivity across all task ROI connections is depicted. Both the resting state and task conditions use the task network connections. Presented is the mean of these connections for each group/condition. Group means (SD) are shown for control (white), and stroke (black) groups. Bar graphs are shown for both the task and resting conditions. One asterisk (*) and a line indicates a significant group difference for given condition. Two asterisks (**) next to the legend for a group indicates a significant task enhancement for that group. The continuous pedaling (A), discrete pedaling (B), working memory (C), and language (D) conditions are depicted. Values on the y-axis are weighted sums of Fischer-Z transformed correlation coefficients. Ped C=continuous pedaling; Ped D=discrete pedaling; Mem=working memory; Lang=language. (TIF 17152 KB)
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Supplementary file5 Figure S4: A Priori Task ROI connectivity. Global connectivity (lines) across all task ROI (circles) are depicted. The task-based connectivity is depicted in A-D for continuous pedaling (A), discrete pedaling (B), working memory (C), and language (D) conditions. The resting-state connectivity is depicted in E-H for continuous pedaling (E), discrete pedaling (F), working memory (G), and language (H) conditions. The size of the circles is representative of the size of the task ROI. The thickness of the lines represents the average control and stroke connectivity. Images were made with BrainNet Viewer (Mingrui Xia, Jinhui Wang & Yong He, 2013). R=Right hemisphere, L=Left hemisphere. Ped C=continuous pedaling; Ped D=discrete pedaling; Mem=working memory; Lang=language. (TIF 706 KB)
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Supplementary file6 Table S1: Maximum Lesion and Task ROI overlap. Table S1 depicts the percentage of a given Task ROIs that has the largest overlap with stroke lesions. These values are taken across all stroke participants. Fslstats was used to calculate percent overlap. Ped C=continuous pedaling; Ped D=discrete pedaling; WM=working memory; Lang=language. (DOCX 19 KB)
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Supplementary file7 Table S2: Task Performance. Table S2 Lists the task performance for all control and stroke participants for the language and memory tasks. Language accuracy and number of trials is averaged across language and symbol parts of the task. Values collected during scanner session are shown. NA indicates datafiles were lost. (DOCX 25 KB)
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Supplementary file8 Table S3: Comparison of task difficulty levels and functional connectivity variance. Table S3 Lists the significant values (T-test for means, F-test for variances) for between-groups comparisons. Significant differences are denoted with a (*). Ped C=continuous pedaling; Ped D=discrete pedaling; WM=working memory; Lang C = language (control portion); Lang L=language (language portion) (DOCX 19 KB)
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Supplementary file9 Table S4: Memory Task ROI and Task Network Characteristics. Table S4 list the task ROIs for the Memory Task and provides the Center of Gravity for the X, Y, Z values in standard space, and volume for each ROI in number of voxels. For each Task ROI included is if that task ROI is included in the regional task network (RC-TN) for both control and stroke groups. C=Control; S=Stroke. (DOCX 22 KB)
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Supplementary file10 Table S5: Language Task ROI and Task Network Characteristics. Table S5 list the task ROIs for the Language Task and provides the Center of Gravity for the X, Y, Z values in standard space, and volume for each ROI in number of voxels. For each Task ROI included is if that task ROI is included in the regional task network (RC-TN) for both control and stroke groups. C=Control; S=Stroke. (DOCX 20 KB)
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Supplementary file11 Table S6: Continuous Pedaling Task ROI and Task Network Characteristics. Table S6 list the task ROIs for the continuous pedaling task and provides the Center of Gravity for the X, Y, Z values in standard space, and volume for each ROI in number of voxels. For each Task ROI included is if that task ROI is included in the regional task network (RC-TN) for both control and stroke groups. C=Control; S=Stroke. (DOCX 20 KB)
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Supplementary file12 Table S7: Discrete Pedaling Task ROI and Task Network Characteristics. Table S7 list the task ROIs for the discrete pedaling task and provides the Center of Gravity for the X, Y, Z values in standard space, and volume for each ROI in number of voxels. For each Task ROI included is if that task ROI is included in the regional task network (RC-TN) for both control and stroke groups. C=Control; S=Stroke. (DOCX 25 KB)
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Vinehout, K., Schindler-Ivens, S., Binder, J.R. et al. Task effects on functional connectivity measures after stroke. Exp Brain Res 240, 575–590 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-021-06261-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00221-021-06261-y