Neurovascular coupling, cognition, and cardiac function in stroke-free atrial fibrillation

Figures

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  Fig. 1. Functional–perfusion processing and ratio mapping workflow. (a) Raw BOLD (top) and ASL (bottom) images and their preprocessing; (b) Preprocessed BOLD‑derived metrics—ALFF, fALFF, ReHo and DC, and ASL‑derived CBF map; (c) Voxel‑wise ratio maps of each functional metric to CBF: ALFF/CBF, ReHo/CBF, fALFF/CBF and DC/CBF. Abbreviations: ALFF, amplitude of low‑frequency fluctuations; fALFF, fractional ALFF; ReHo, regional homogeneity; DC, degree centrality; CBF, cerebral blood flow.

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  Fig. 2. Between-group difference of ALFF, fALFF, ReHo, DC, and CBF maps (voxel p < 0.001, cluster p < 0.05, GFR corrected).

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  Fig. 3. Between-group differences in four NVC patterns at the global GM level (**: Bonferroni-corrected p < 0.01; ***: Bonferroni-corrected p < 0.001).

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  Fig. 4. Spatial maps of between-group differences in four NVC patterns at the AAL atlas level (voxel p < 0.001, cluster p < 0.05, GFR corrected). Red: HCs increased NVC; Blue: HCs decreased NVC. (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)

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  Fig. 5. Multivariate plsc analysis linking neurovascular coupling, cardiac function, and cognitive performance in sfAF. Abbreviations: LA, left atrial diameter; LVEF, left ventricular ejection fraction; LVEDs, left ventricular systolic diameter; LVEDd, left ventricular end-diastolic diameter; EDV, left ventricular end-diastolic volume; ESV, left ventricular end-systolic volume; FS, rate of short-axis shortening of the left ventricle; ADL, ability of daily living scale; IADL, Instrumental Scale of Activities of Daily Living; CDT, Clock Drawing Test; VFT, Speech Fluency Test; GDS, Geriatric Depression Scale; MMSE, Brief Mental State Examination Scale; MoCA, Montreal Cognitive Assessment Scale; DST, Digital Span Task; AVLT, Auditory Words Learning Test.

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  Fig. 6. Mediation analysis: right orbital inferior frontal gyrus fALFF-CBF mediates cardiac function and short-term memory in sfAF. Abbreviations: LVEDd, left ventricular end-diastolic diameter; EDV, left ventricular end-diastolic volume; AVLT, Auditory Words Learning Test; ORBinf.R, right orbital inferior frontal gyrus.