title: MEG connectivity analysis in patients with Alzheimer's disease using cross mutual information and spectral coherence.
abstract: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is an irreversible brain disorder which represents the most common form of dementia in western countries. An early and accurate diagnosis of AD would enable to develop new strategies for managing the disease; however, nowadays there is no single test that can accurately predict the development of AD. In this sense, only a few studies have focused on the magnetoencephalographic (MEG) AD connectivity patterns. This study compares brain connectivity in terms of linear and nonlinear couplings by means of spectral coherence and cross mutual information function (CMIF), respectively. The variables defined from these functions provide statistically significant differences (p < 0.05) between AD patients and control subjects, especially the variables obtained from CMIF. The results suggest that AD is characterized by both decreases and increases of functional couplings in different frequency bands as well as by an increase in regularity, that is, more evident statistical deterministic relationships in AD patients' MEG connectivity. The significant differences obtained indicate that AD could disturb brain interactions causing abnormal brain connectivity and operation. Furthermore, the combination of coherence and CMIF features to perform a diagnostic test based on logistic regression improved the tests based on individual variables for its robustness.
authors.affiliation: Department of Automatic Control (ESAII), Biomedical Engineering Research Centre (CREB), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Carrer Pau Gargallo 5, 08028, Barcelona, Spain. joan.francesc.alonso@upc.edu
authors.forename: Joan Francesc
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Alonso
authors.forename: Jesús
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Poza
authors.forename: Miguel Angel
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Mañanas
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Romero
authors.forename: Alberto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fernández
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hornero
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000544:Alzheimer Disease / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping / Q000379:methods; D003198:Computer Simulation; D003936:Diagnosis, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015225:Magnetoencephalography / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D008959:Models, Neurological; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000503:physiopathology*; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000503:physiopathology