Evidence of a persistent altered neural state in people with fibromyalgia syndrome during functional MRI studies and its relationship with pain and anxiety
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Altered neural signaling in fibromyalgia syndrome (FM) was investigated with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We employed a novel fMRI network analysis method, Structural and Physiological Modeling (SAPM), which provides more detailed information than previous methods. The study involved brain fMRI data from participants with FM (N = 22) and a control group (HC, N = 18), acquired during a noxious stimulation paradigm. The analyses were supported by fMRI data from the brainstem and spinal cord in FM and HC, brain fMRI data from participants with provoked vestibulodynia (PVD), and eye-tracking data from an fMRI study of FM. The results demonstrate differences in connectivity, and in blood oxygenation-level dependent (BOLD) responses, between FM and HC. In the FM group, BOLD signals underwent a large increase during the first 40 seconds of each fMRI run, prior to the application of any stimuli, compared to much smaller increases in HC. This indicates a heightened state of neural activity in FM that is sustained during fMRI runs, and dissipates between runs. The exaggerated initial rise was not observed in PVD. Autonomic functioning differed between groups. Pupil sizes were larger in FM than in HC, and the groups exhibited pupil dilation to the same levels during noxious stimulation. The initial BOLD increase varied in relation to state and trait anxiety scores. The results indicate that people with FM enter a heightened state of neural activity associated with anxiety and autonomic functioning, during every fMRI run, concurrent with increased pupil sizes, and heightened pain sensitivity. These findings may relate to the well-known hypervigilance and global hypersensitivity of FM participants.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.001 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".