Fig. 3. Group comparisons and partial correlations.

A–C Group comparisons of functional network topology metrics found reduced small-worldness and local efficiency in patients with Alzheimer’s dementia compared to healthy controls; (D) patients with Alzheimer’s disease had significantly lower cortical thickness compared to healthy controls and mild cognitive impairment participants. E, F Cortical ¹¹C-PBR28 uptake has significant negative correlations with PC1 and PC2 of FA values in Aβ+ patients; (G) cortical ¹¹C-PBR28 uptake has significant negative correlation with local efficiency; (H) FA PC2 positively correlates with local efficiency; (I) cortical thickness positively correlates with small-worldness; (J–L) FA PC2, local efficiency and cortical thickness positively correlate with mini-mental state examination scores. AD Alzheimer’s dementia, MCI mild cognitive impairment, HC healthy controls, PC principal component, FA fractional anisotropy. *p < 0.05 in pairwise comparisons; ****p < 0.0001 in pairwise comparisons.