The brain connectome of multiple sclerosis (MS) has been investigated by several previous studies; however, it is still unknown how the network changes in clinically isolated syndrome (CIS), the earliest stage of MS, and how network alterations on a functional level relate to the structural level in MS disease. Here, we investigated the topological alterations of both the structural and functional connectomes in 41 CIS and 32 MS patients, compared to 35 healthy controls, by combining diffusion tensor imaging and resting-state functional MRI with graph analysis approaches. We found that the structural connectome showed a deviation from the optimal pattern as early as the CIS stage, while the functional connectome only showed local changes in MS patients, not in CIS. When comparing two patient groups, the changes appear more severe in MS. Importantly, the disruptions of structural and functional connectomes in patients occurred in the same direction and locally correlated in sensorimotor component. Finally, the extent of structural network changes was correlated with several clinical variables in MS patients. Together, the results suggested early disruption of the structural brain connectome in CIS patients and provided a new perspective for investigating the relationship of the structural and functional alterations in MS.
Global sea surface salinity (SSS) has been obtained from space since 2009 by the Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) mission and has been further enhanced by Aquarius in 2011 and Soil Moisture Active‐Passive (SMAP) missions in 2015. Due to the differences between SMOS, Aquarius, and SMAP in the instruments used, retrieval algorithms, and error correction strategies, the quality of their gridded products are different. In this paper, we have assessed the accuracy of three satellite products using in situ gridded data and buoy data. Compared with gridded in situ salinity measurements, the monthly Aquarius data are of the best quality, reaching the mission target accuracy (0.2 PSU) in the open ocean. SMOS and SMAP agree well with in situ data in the open ocean between 40°S and 40°N (root‐mean‐square deviation [RMSD]: SMOS 0.211 PSU, SMAP 0.233 PSU). The RMSD of SMAP is lower than that of SMOS at high latitudes, which may due to the fact that the roughness correction of SMAP is based on the Aquarius geophysical model function. Meanwhile, time series comparison of salinity measured at 1 m by moored buoys indicates that satellite SSS captures variability of SSS at weekly time scales with reasonably good accuracy (RMSD: SMOS 0.25 PSU, SMAP 0.26 PSU), when excluding suspicious buoy data. Synergetic analysis of satellite SSS and Argo data indicates that satellite SSS can be applied as real‐time quality control of buoy 1‐m salinity data.
NMO showed predominately spinal cord atrophy with mild brain atrophy, while MS demonstrated more brain atrophy, especially in the gray matter. MUCCA is the main MRI-derived parameter for explaining clinical disability in NMO and MS, and may serve as a potential biomarker for further clinical trials, especially in NMO.
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