title: Increased short-range and long-range functional connectivity in first-episode, medication-naive schizophrenia at rest.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Schizophrenia is conceived as a disconnection syndrome and anatomical distance may affect functional connectivity (FC) in schizophrenia patients. However, whether and how anatomical distance affects FC remains unclear in first-episode, medication-naive schizophrenia at rest.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-nine schizophrenia patients and 50 age-, sex-, and education-matched healthy controls underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning. Regional FC strength was computed for each voxel in the brain, which was further divided into short-range and long-range FC strength.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The patients exhibited increased short-range positive FC strength in the left superior medial frontal gyrus, and increased long-range positive FC strength in the right angular gyrus and bilateral posterior cingulate cortex (PCC)/precuneus compared with the controls. Further seed-based FC analysis showed that the left superior medial frontal gyrus had increased short-range FC with the right inferior frontal gyrus, while the right angular gyrus and bilateral PCC/precuneus had increased long-range FC with the prefrontal gyrus. No significant correlation was observed between abnormal FC strength and clinical variables in the patient group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings reveal a pattern of increased anatomical distance affecting FC in the patients, with the results of increased short-range positive FC strength in the anterior default-mode network (DMN) and increased long-range positive FC strength in the posterior DMN in schizophrenia, and highlight the importance of the DMN in the neurobiology of schizophrenia.
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Institute of the Second Xiangya Hospital, Key Laboratory of Psychiatry and Mental Health of Hunan Province, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410011, China. Electronic address: guowenbin76@163.com.
authors.forename: Wenbin
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for NeuroInformation of Ministry of Education, School of Life Science and Technology, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, Sichuan 610054, China.
authors.forename: Feng
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Center, the First Affiliated Hospital, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi 530021, China.
authors.forename: Changqing
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Center, the First Affiliated Hospital, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi 530021, China.
authors.forename: Jianrong
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Center, the First Affiliated Hospital, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi 530021, China.
authors.forename: Miaoyu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Center, the First Affiliated Hospital, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi 530021, China.
authors.forename: Zhikun
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Center, the First Affiliated Hospital, Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, Guangxi 530021, China.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Institute of the Second Xiangya Hospital, Key Laboratory of Psychiatry and Mental Health of Hunan Province, Central South University, Changsha, Hunan 410011, China.
authors.forename: Jingping
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhao
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000503:physiopathology; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012146:Rest; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000503:physiopathology*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: anatomical distance; default-mode network; functional connectivity; schizophrenia