Kai Wang

Anhui Medical University | AHMU · Department of Neurology

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has been demonstrated to be effective in treating depressed patients. Previous neuroimaging studies have focused mainly on alterations in static brain activity and connectivity to study the effects of ECT in depressed patients. However, it remains unclear whether the temporal dynamics of brain activity are associated...

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by global cognitive impairment in multiple cognitive domains. Thalamic dysfunction during AD progression has been reported. However, there are limited studies regarding dysfunction in the functional connectivity (FC) of thalamic subdivisions and the relationship between such dysfunction and clinical assessm...

Anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (anti-NMDAR) encephalitis is a recently identified autoimmune disorder with heterogeneous neurological, psychiatric, and cognitive manifestations. The NMDAR is a key signaling node for neurovascular coupling, the mechanism by which cerebral blood perfusion is enhanced to meet local metabolic requirements from incr...

REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) is closely associated with Parkinson's disease (PD), however, the influence of dopaminergic replacement therapy (DRT) on the clinical course of RBD in PD remains less understood. The objective of our study is to investigate how DRTs modify the evolution of RBD in a longitudinal cohort study of initially de novo PD...

Background Although many previous studies reported structural plasticity of the hippocampus and amygdala induced by electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) in major depressive disorder (MDD), yet the exact roles of both areas for antidepressant effects are still controversial. Methods In the current study, segmentation of amygdala and hippocampal sub-regi...

Objective To evaluate the associations between illness perception, quality of life (QOL), and coping style among patients with epilepsy (PWE), and to establish the behavior of coping style as a mediator of the interplay between illness perception and QOL. Methods A cross-sectional study of 135 adult Chinese PWE was performed. All patients complete...

Background Response inhibition (RI) deficit is an aspect of cognitive impairment in depressed individuals, but currently no effective treatment has been established. This study aimed to explore the effect of individualized repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) targeting the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (lDLPFC)-nucleus accumben...

Disrupted topological organization of functional brain networks has been well documented in major depressive disorder (MDD). However, there is no report about how electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), a rapid way for depression remission, affects whole-brain functional network topological architecture to improve clinical symptoms in individuals with MDD...

Background White matter hyperintensities (WMHs) are commonly observed in older adults and are associated with cognitive impairment. Although resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging studies have explored the mechanisms of cognitive impairment in patients with WMHs, knowledge about the role of dynamic functional connectivity (dFC) is limi...

Purpose: Insomnia is a recognized feature of generalized anxiety disorder (GAD). The underlying neural substrate of insomnia in GAD is still unclear. Cortical folding is a reliable index and possibly an endophenotype of psychiatric disease. The aim of this study was to explore whether the aberrant cortical morphology was associated with insomnia i...

Background While previous neuroimaging studies are mainly focused on dichotomous classification of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) from controls, predicting continuous severity of specific symptom is also pivotal to clinical diagnosis and treatment. Methods We applied a machine-learning approach, connectome-based predictive modeling, on functi...

Background Disorders of consciousness (DOC) are a spectrum of pathologies affecting one’s ability to interact with the external world. At present, High-Definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (HD-tDCS) is used in many patients with DOC as a non-invasive treatment, but electrophysiological research on the effect of HD-tDCS on patients wit...

Cerebral specialization and inter-hemispheric cooperation are two of the most prominent functional architectures of the human brain. Their dysfunctions may be related to pathophysiological changes in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD), who are characterized by unbalanced onset and progression of motor symptoms. This study aimed to characterize...

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a severe neurodegenerative disease, which mainly manifests as memory and progressive cognitive impairment. At present, there is no method to prevent the progression of AD or cure it, and effective intervention methods are urgently needed. Network-targeted intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) may be effective in al...

Deficits in the executive control of attention greatly impact the quality of life of patients diagnosed with major depressive disorder (MDD). However, attentional deficits are often underemphasized in clinical contexts compared with mood-based symptoms, and a comprehensive approach for specifically evaluating and treating them has yet to be develop...

Background Individuals with subclinical autistic traits exhibit a pattern of eye avoidance similar to that of typical autism. Our study aimed to test the efficacy of group cognitive behavioral therapy (G-CBT) in promoting gaze toward the eye area of facial expressions, specifically orienting to emotional faces, in individuals with high autistic tra...

Background Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is an effective neuromodulatory treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD), especially for cases resistant to antidepressant drugs. While the precise mechanisms underlying ECT efficacy are still unclear, it is speculated that ECT modulates brain connectivity. The current study aimed to investigate the l...

Objective Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), a rapidly acting treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD), has been reported to regulate brain networks. Nodes and their connections are the main components of the brain network and are essential for establishing and maintaining effective information transmission. This study aimed to evaluate the role...

Objective: This study aimed to determine the minimal scanning duration of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) for producing individualized repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) targets that are superior to the group-level targets. Materials and Methods: This study included 30 healthy subjects and 20 depressive patients with h...

Background Visual-spatial working memory (vsWM) impairment in treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS) currently has no satisfactory treatment. Our study aimed to improve vsWM function in TRS through intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) using neuronavigation equipment to target the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Method TRS patients (n...

Background Atypical eye gaze on emotional faces is a core feature of alexithymia. The inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) is considered to be the neurophysiological basis of alexithymia-related emotional face fixation. Our aim was to examine whether anodal high-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS) administered to the right (r)IFG w...

Background Advanced structural analyses are increasingly being highly valued to uncover pathophysiological understanding of anti-N-methyl-d-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) encephalitis. Therefore, we aimed to explore whether and how antibody-mediated NMDAR dysfunction affected cortical and sub-cortical brain morphology and their relationship with clinic...

Anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) encephalitis is a severe autoimmune disease that is commonly accompanied by cognitive impairment and various neurological and psychiatric symptoms, advanced image analyses help explore the pathogenesis of this disease. Therefore, this study aimed to explore specific structural and functional alterations an...

Background Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is widely considered as an effective and fast-acting option for treating patients with major depressive disorder (MDD). However, the neural basis underlying this powerful therapy remains uncertain. Recent studies have suggested that the healthy brain may operate near a critical state, which may reflect a b...

Objective: Idiopathic generalized epilepsy (IGE) involves aberrant organization and functioning of large-scale brain networks. This study aims to investigate whether the resting-state EEG microstate analysis could provide novel insights into the abnormal temporal and spatial properties of intrinsic brain activities in patients with IGE. Methods: Th...

Objective: Perceptual alternations evoked by binocular rivalry (BR) reflect cortical dynamics strongly dependent on the excitatory–inhibitory balance, suggesting potential utility as a biomarker for epileptogenesis. Therefore, we investigated the characteristics of BR in patients with idiopathic generalized epilepsy (IGE) and potential associations...

Background Deficits in associative memory (AM) are the earliest and most prominent feature of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and demonstrate a clear cause of distress for patients and their families. Objective The present study aimed to determine AM enhancements following accelerated intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS) in patients with AD. Meth...

Approximately two‐thirds of major depressive disorder (MDD) patients have pain, which exacerbates the severity of depression. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is an efficacious treatment that can alleviate depressive symptoms; however, treatment for pain and the underlying neural substrate is elusive. We enrolled 34 patients with MDD and 33 matched...

Background The Cognitive Reserve (CR) theory posits that brains with higher reserve can cope with more cerebral damage to minimize clinical manifestations. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of education (CR proxy) on brain structure and function in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) patients and in...

The habenula (Hb), one of the hottest structures in depression, has been widely demonstrated to be involved in the neurobiology of depression. Although the structural and functional abnormalities of Hb have been reported in major depressive disorders (MDD) patients, the role of Hb in treatment response in MDD remains unclear. In this study, resting...

Characterizing the properties of brain networks across mood states seen in bipolar disorder (BP) can provide a deeper insight into the mechanisms involved in this type of affective disorder. In this study, graph theoretical methods were used to examine global, modular and nodal brain network topology in the resting state using functional magnetic r...

Background: The white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) are considered as one of the core neuroimaging findings of cerebral small vessel disease and independently associated with cognitive deficit. The parietal lobe is a heterogeneous area containing many subregions and play an important role in the processes of neurocognition. Objective: To explor...

Cognitive impairments are characteristics of patients with white matter hyperintensities (WMHs), and hypoperfusion is currently a relatively recognized mechanism of WMHs. Brain activity is closely coupled to the regulation of local blood flow. This study aimed to investigate the abnormal local brain activity of patients with WMHs from the viewpoint...

Background There are currently no effective treatments specifically targeting anticipatory anhedonia, a major symptom of severe depression which is associated with poor outcomes. The present study investigated the efficacy of individualized repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) targeting the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (lDLPFC...

Depressive patients frequently present with somatic complaints such as pain and fatigue. The anterior insula (AI) is a crucial region for somatic processing, but reported contributions of AI dysfunction to somatic symptoms have varied across studies. We speculated that functional heterogeneity among AI subdivisions may contribute to this inconsiste...

With the growing population and rapid change in the social environment, nurses in China are suffering from high rates of stress; however, the neural mechanism underlying this occupation related stress is largely unknown. In this study, mental status was determined for 81 nurses and 61 controls using the Symptom Checklist 90 (SCL-90) scale. A subgro...

Background: White matter hyperintensities (WMHs) are a common occurrence with aging and are associated with cognitive impairment. However, the neurobiological mechanisms of WMHs remain poorly understood. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a prominent tool that helps in non-invasive examinations and is increasingly used to diagnose neur...

Objective: Previous research found that autism spectrum disorder (ASD) was characterized by eye avoidance of threatening facial expressions. However, it still remains unclear as to whether these abnormalities are present in parents of children with ASD. Our study aimed to investigate the gaze patterns of parents of children with ASD in the threate...

Objective White matter hyperintensities (WMHs) on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is frequently presumed to be secondary to cerebral small vessel disease (CSVD) and associated with cognitive decline. The cerebellum plays a key role in cognition and has dense connections with other brain regions. Thus, the aim of this study was to investigate if ce...

A large proportion of patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) respond unsatisfactorily to pharmacological and psychological treatments. An alternative novel treatment for these patients is repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). This study aimed to investigate the underlying neural mechanism of rTMS treatment in OCD patients....

Objective: People with schizophrenia have serious impairments in social function, especially in decision-making ability. Transcranial magnetic stimulation modified intermittent theta burst transcranial magnetic stimulation (iTBS) has been shown to regulate the functional connection of brain networks. Our study explored the therapeutic effect of iTB...

Objective: Empirical findings confirmed that autistic and schizotypal traits are associated with attentional function as well as include various dimensions. So far, no study has reported which dimension of these traits relates to attentional networks. This study aimed to find out whether there are associations between attentional networks and auti...

Autistic traits are highly heritable and characterized by social deficits. Common genetic variants of the autism-related CNTNAP2 gene have been linked with social impairments, but the neural substrates are poorly understood. In the present study, we investigated the genetic effect of common variants of CNTNAP2 (rs2710102 and rs7794745) on gray matt...

Background: Cerebral specialization and inter-hemispheric cooperation are two of the most prominent functional architectures of the human brain. Their dysfunctions may be related to pathophysiological changes in patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD), who are characterized by unbalanced onset and progression of motor symptoms. Objective: This study...

Background Long-term disorders of consciousness (DOC) are a huge burden on both patients and their families. Previously, music intervention has been attempted as a potential therapy in DOC, with results indicating an enhancement of arousal and awareness; yet, to date, there are limited studies on music interventions in DOC with electroencephalogram...

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), a rapidly acting and effective treatment for major depressive disorder (MDD), is frequently accompanied by cognitive impairment. Recent studies have documented that ECT reorganizes dysregulated inter/intra- connected cerebral networks, including the affective network, the cognitive control network(CCN) and default m...

Background: Nitrous oxide (N2O), commonly known as laughing gas, is inhaled recreationally because it produces the feelings of euphoria and freedom from pain. The risk of neurological dysfunction secondary to N2O abuse and its clinical diagnosis are, however, not yet sufficiently recognized, especially in China. Here, we have summarized the key cli...

Associative memory (AM) is an essential function of everyday life, but is often disrupted in many neurological diseases. Recent studies have found that repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) can effectively enhance AM and have shown its potential in clinical applications. In this study, we aimed to reproduce the 5-day rTMS effect on AM...

Major depressive disorder (MDD) has been shown to be associated with structural abnormalities in a variety of spatially diverse brain regions. However, the correlation between brain structural changes in MDD and gene expression is unclear. Here, we examine the link between brain-wide gene expression and morphometric changes in individuals with MDD,...

Introduction: The Chinese Smell Identification Test (CSIT) was developed specifically for Chinese populations. This work investigated the utility of this test in detecting Parkinson’s disease (PD). Olfactory dysfunction is a common non-motor symptom of PD. There are different opinions on the efficacy of drugs for anosmia in PD. Objective: To invest...

Traditional repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation can only produce a significant but weak effect on the cortex while theta burst stimulation (TBS), a patterned accelerated form of stimulation, can produce a stronger poststimulation effect, which may improve decision‐making abilities. We designed a comparative assessment of the effect of inte...

Background: White matter hyperintensities (WMH)s is a very common neuroradiological manifestation in the elderly and is an increased risk of dementia and cognitive decline. As we all know, the thalamocortical circuit plays an important part in cognition regulation. However, the role of this circuit in WMHs and its related cognitive deficits is stil...

Objective How Parkinson’s disease (PD) affects an individual’s empathic capacity remains poorly understood. By using the event-related potential (ERP) technique, we sought to: (1) study the temporal dynamics of empathic responses in patients with PD; (2) explore whether dopaminergic medication modulates empathic processing. Methods Twenty-six pati...

Value-based decision making plays an important role in social interaction. Previous studies have reported that individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) exhibit deficits in terms of decision making. However, it is still unknown clearly whether individuals with high autistic traits within nonclinical populations employ abnormal neural substrat...

Background A number of functional magnetic resonance imaging studies have shown that the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) is a critical brain region for response inhibition. However, how it exerts this function remains unclear. This study investigated whether stimulating the right dlPFC by transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) affect...

Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) are characterized by attenuated pulmonary function and are frequently reported with cognitive impairments, especially memory impairments. The mechanism underlying the memory impairments still remains unclear. We applied resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (RS-fMRI) to compar...

Noninvasive brain stimulation to enhance cognition is an area of increasing research interest. Theta burst stimulation (TBS) is a novel accelerated form of stimulation, which more closely mimics the brain's natural firing patterns and may have greater effects on cognitive performance. We report here the comparative assessment of the effect of conve...

Background Optical coherence tomography angiography (OCTA) is a novel and noninvasive technique for the quantitative assessment of retinal microvascular perfusion. Since the retinal and cerebral small vessels share similar embryological origins, anatomical features, and physiological properties, altered retinal microvasculature might provide a new...

Background: There is increasing evidence that Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients may present decreased cerebral blood perfusion before pathological brain changes. Using the retina as a window to the brain, we can study disorders of the central nervous system through the eyes. Objective: This study aimed to investigate differences in retinal struc...

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a noninvasive neuromodulation technique with great potential in the treatment of Parkinson's disease (PD). This study aimed to investigate the clinical efficacy of accelerated rTMS and to understand the underlying neural mechanism. In a double‐blinded way, a total of 42 patients with PD were ra...

Anhedonia is a core characteristic of depression, the amelioration of which accounts for depressive symptom improvement. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) has been shown remarkable antidepressive effect, however, less is known about the effect of ECT on anhedonia and its underlying neural mechanism. Herein, we investigated local and global intrinsic...

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a rapid and effective treatment for MDD. However, the mechanism of ECT for MDD has not been clarified. In this study, we used resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) to explore the mechanism of ECT. Two groups of subjects were recruited: healthy controls (HCs) and MDD patients who received bi...

Impaired decision-making is well documented in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and a range of electrophysiological