Results
As shown in Table 1, episodic memory (RCFT delayed recall) and MMSE at baseline were significantly reduced in the MCI group as compared with the control group. As expected, other cognitive variables showed no significant differences between groups.
The MMSE significantly decreased at one-year follow-up (25.6 ± 1.8) compared with baseline (27.6 ± 1.1) in the MCI group (p= 0.000018, Wilcoxon Matched Pairs Test). Furthermore, three out of twenty-four MCI patients progressed to dementia, according to NINDS/ADRDA criteria for probable AD.
Group comparisons of network metrics at the minimum density showed that the global modularity (Q index) increased while the global efficiency decreased, both at baseline and at follow-up, in the MCI group as compared to the control group (Table 2, Figures 2). For the AUC values, the global modularity was the only one that showed significant differences, both at baseline and follow-up, between the MCI group and the control group, showing the greatest percent of change, with a clear increment at follow-up (Table 2). The AUC global efficiency in the MCI group was almost significant for the baseline and significantly during follow-up as compared to the control group.
In contrast to the global modularity and global efficiency, the mean local efficiency showed no significant difference in the minimum density and
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Although there were no perfect matches with known large-scale functional brain networks [14], the identified modules seem to resemble some of them. Control module I appears to represent visual/attentional networks, control module IV sensorimotor networks, and control modules II, III, and V mainly fragments of the default mode network (DMN)