Recent studies revealed structural and functional brain changes in heavy smokers. However, the specific changes in topological brain connections are not well understood. We used Gaussian Undirected Graphs with the graphical lasso algorithm on rs-fMRI data from smokers and non-smokers to identify significant changes in brain connections. Our results indicate high stability in the estimated graphs and identify several brain regions significantly affected by smoking, providing valuable insights for future clinical research.

翻译：近期研究揭示了重度吸烟者大脑结构与功能的改变。然而，大脑拓扑连接的具体变化尚未得到充分理解。我们采用高斯无向图模型结合图套索算法，对吸烟者与非吸烟者的静息态功能磁共振数据进行分析，以识别大脑连接的显著变化。结果表明，所估计的图结构具有高度稳定性，并识别出多个受吸烟影响显著的脑区，为未来的临床研究提供了有价值的见解。