Functional Connectivity of the Human Brain: From Mechanisms to Clinical Applications

Functional Connectivity of the Human Brain: From Mechanisms to Clinical Applications is a comprehensive review of mechanisms and analysis of methods of functional connectivity to map brain organization in healthy individuals and sick patients. Providing full coverage of the discipline for a wide audience of different research and clinical specialists, this volume begins with descriptions of mechanisms of functional connectivity and methodological approaches to quantify it, followed by a focus on how functional connectivity has been used to describe brain function in healthy people and to characterize network disruption in diseased conditions.

This practical balance in book structure is suitable for readers with a technical or clinical orientation, providing background that is easy to approach for clinicians or scientists. Chapters examine fMRI and electrophysiological techniques, brain maturation, aging, and cognitive neurosciences, as well as functional connectivity in neuroinflammatory, neurodegenerative, and neuropsychiatric conditions. Future perspectives look forward to functional connectivity in multimodal analysis, artificial intelligence, and more. This book will be of use to a wide audience working on functional connectivity experiments, as well as any courses on the topic.

• Covers the main mechanisms of functional connectivity
• Provides an overview of the main methodological aspects to map brain organization
• Describes state-of-the-art achievements obtained with functional connectivity to study network functioning in healthy individuals and sick patients
• Discusses future developments in the field

Professor Rocca is Head of the “Neuroimaging of CNS White Matter Unit”, Division of Neuroscience, Scientific Institute Ospedale San Raffaele, Milan, Italy and Associate Professor of Neurology at Vita-Salute San Raffaele University. Her activity is mainly focused on the application of structural and functional MR based techniques to improve the understanding of CNS function and dysfunction in healthy individuals and diseased people, particularly patients with multiple sclerosis (MS) and other white matter disorders. She is currently conducting and coordinating several national and international projects in adult and pediatric populations. She is also extensively applying advanced methods of analysis in an attempt to improve the understanding of the role of brain functional and structural plasticity in the different phases of MS, and the influence of pharmacological and rehabilitative interventions on brain reorganization. Prof. Rocca is member of various national and international Scientific Societies and, in some of them, she covered or is covering institutional roles. She has been chair of the MAGNIMS network since 2018, and is author or co-author of 53 book chapters and more than 500 papers published on peer-reviewed journals.

Massimo Filippi, MD, is Full Professor of Neurology at Vita-Salute San Raffaele University, Director of the Residency School in Neurology, President of the Bacherlor’s Degree in Physiotherapy, Chair of the Neurology and Neurorehabilitation Units, Director of the MS Center, Director of the Neurophysiology Service, and Director of the Neuroimaging Research Unit at IRCCS Scientific Institute San Raffaele, Milan. His research activity has always focused on the definition of the mechanisms underlying various neurological conditions, including multiple sclerosis, neurodegenerative disorders, and migraine. As Director of the of the Neuroimaging Research Unit, he coordinated the MRI acquisition and analysis of several large-scale international MRI-monitored trials of multiple sclerosis. He is member of various national and international Scientific Societies and Boards and for some of them, he holds or has held institutional roles. He is Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Neurology, Associate Editor of Human Brain Mapping, Radiology, and Neurological Sciences.