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Recent research has shown that social anxiety disorder (SAD) is accompanied by abnormalities in brain functional connections. However, these findings are based on group comparisons, and, therefore, little is known about whether functional connections could be used in the diagnosis of an individual patient with SAD. Here, we explored the potential of the functional connectivity to be used for SAD diagnosis. Twenty patients with SAD and 20 healthy controls were scanned using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging. The whole brain was divided into 116 regions based on automated anatomical labeling atlas. The functional connectivity between each pair of regions was computed using Pearson's correlation coefficient and used as classification feature. Multivariate pattern analysis was then used to classify patients from healthy controls. The pattern classifier was designed using linear support vector machine. Experimental results showed a correct classification rate of 82.5 % (p < 0.001) with sensitivity of 85.0 % and specificity of 80.0 %, using a leave-one-out cross-validation method. It was found that the consensus connections used to distinguish SAD were largely located within or across the default mode network, visual network, sensory-motor network, affective network, and cerebellar regions. Specifically, the right orbitofrontal region exhibited the highest weight in classification. The current study demonstrated that functional connectivity had good diagnostic potential for SAD, thus providing evidence for the possible use of whole brain functional connectivity as a complementary tool in clinical diagnosis. In addition, this study confirmed previous work and described novel pathophysiological mechanisms of SAD.

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Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies have indicated that the structure deficits and resting-state functional connectivity (FC) imbalances in cortico-limbic circuitry might underline the pathophysiology of MDD. Using structure and functional MRI, our aim is to investigate gray matter abnormalities in patients with treatment-resistant depression (TRD) and treatment-responsive depression (TSD), and test whether the altered gray matter is associated with altered FC. Voxel-based morphometry was used to investigate the regions with gray matter abnormality and FC analysis was further conducted between each gray matter abnormal region and the remaining voxels in the brain. Using one-way analysis of variance, we found significant gray matter abnormalities in the right middle temporal cortex (MTG) and bilateral caudate among the TRD, TSD and healthy controls. For the FC of the right MTG, we found that both the patients with TRD and TSD showed altered connectivity mainly in the default-mode network (DMN). For the FC of the right caudate, both patient groups showed altered connectivity in the frontal regions. Our results revealed the gray matter reduction of right MTG and bilateral caudate, and disrupted functional connection to widely distributed circuitry in DMN and frontal regions, respectively. These results suggest that the abnormal DMN and reward circuit activity might be biomarkers of depression trait.

Multiple episodes of fast exhumation since Cretaceous in southeast Tibet, revealed by low-temperature thermochronology, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, pp 62-76, https://doi. Abstract 33The southeast margin of the Tibetan plateau is characterized by deeply incised river 34 valleys separated by a perched low relief landscape that gently descends from the high 35 Tibetan plateau towards the southeast. When and how this unique landscape formed is 36 debated. The onset of increased river incision is often interpreted as a proxy for the timing of 37 surface uplift. Here, apatite and zircon (U-Th)/He and apatite fission track 38 thermochronometries are employed to map the spatial and temporal pattern of exhumation in 39 the region. Vertical profiles of granitic rocks were collected near Deqin (~28.5°N) and Weixi 40 (~27.5°N). The two transects share a similar exhumation history, with two episodes of 41 relatively fast exhumation (~100-300 m/Myr) in the Cenozoic: during the Paleocene to 42 Eocene (60-40 Ma) and Miocene to present (20-0 Ma), separated by an intervening period of 43 slow exhumation. A pulse of moderate to high exhumation (70-300 m/Myr) during the mid-44 to late-Cretaceous (120-80 Ma) is also present in the data. However, the rate and total amount 45 of exhumation near Deqin is larger than at Weixi and is especially pronounced in the interval 46 between 20 Ma to present. We interpret this difference as possibly related to differences in 47 erosion rates between the Lancang (Deqin) and the Jinsha (Weixi) rivers. The Paleocene to 48 Eocene episode of fast exhumation is likely in response to early Cenozoic deformation along 49 tectonic boundary structures, related to the transpressional collision of the Indian plate with 50 this region. Pre-Miocene episodes of fast exhumation corroborate recent paleoaltimetric 51 studies, which show that the southeast margin of the Tibetan plateau was elevated prior to the 52 Oligocene.53 54

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