structural MRI, DTI, and 1H-MRS)

Post-operative sleep disturbance is a common feature of elderly surgical patients, and sleep fragmentation (SF) is closely related to post-operative cognitive dysfunction (POCD). SF is characterized by sleep interruption, increased number of awakenings and sleep structure destruction, similar to obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Research shows that sleep interruption can change neurotransmitter metabolism and structural connectivity in sleep and cognitive brain regions, of which the medial septum and hippocampal CA1 are key brain regions connecting sleep and cognitive processes...

Heart failure demographics have evolved in past decades with the development of improved diagnostics, therapies and prevention. Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) has developed in a similar timeframe to become the gold-standard non-invasive imaging modality for characterising diseases causing heart failure. CMR techniques to assess cardiac morphology and function have progressed since their first use in the 1980s. Increasingly efficient acquisition protocols generate high spatial and temporal resolution images in shorter time frames...

BACKGROUND: Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) has been overwhelmingly applied to motor regions to date and our understanding of frontotemporal metabolic signatures is relatively limited. The association between metabolic alterations and cognitive performance in also poorly characterised. MATERIAL AND METHODS: In a multimodal, prospective pilot study, the structural, metabolic, and diffusivity profile of the hippocampus was systematically evaluated in patients with ALS...

BACKGROUND: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a major neurocognitive disorder identified by memory loss and a significant cognitive decline based on previous level of performance in one or more cognitive domains that interferes in the independence of everyday activities. The accuracy of imaging helps to identify the neuropathological features that differentiate AD from its common precursor, mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Identification of early signs will aid in risk stratification of disease and ensures proper management is instituted to reduce the morbidity and mortality associated with AD...

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a neuropsychiatric illness characterized by obsessions and/or compulsions. Its pathophysiology is still not well understood but it is known that the cortico-striatal-thalamic-cortical (CSTC) circuitry plays an important role. Here, we used a multi-method MRI approach combining proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (H1-MRS) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) techniques to investigate both the metabolic and the microstructural white matter (WM) changes of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) in OCD patients as compared to healthy controls...

Huntington's disease (HD) is a neurodegenerative disorder causing cognitive and motor impairments, evolving to death within 15-20 years after symptom onset. We previously established a mouse model with the entire human HD gene containing 128 CAG repeats (YAC128) which accurately recapitulates the natural history of the human disease. Defined time points in this natural history enable the understanding of longitudinal trajectories from the neurochemical and structural points of view using non-invasive high-resolution multi-modal imaging...

Neuroimaging techniques, such as fMRI, structural MRI, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) have uncovered evidence for widespread functional and anatomical brain abnormalities in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) suggesting it to be a system-wide neural systems disorder. Nevertheless, most previous studies have focused on examining one index of neuropathology through a single neuroimaging modality, and seldom using multiple modalities to examine the same cohort of individuals...

Adjuvant chemotherapy (CT) for breast cancer (BC) is associated with very late side-effects on brain function and structure. However, little is known about neurotoxicity of specific treatment regimens. To compare neurotoxicity profiles after different treatment strategies, we used neurocognitive testing and multimodality MRI in BC survivors randomized to high-dose (HI), conventional-dose (CON-) CT or radiotherapy (RT) only and a healthy control (HC) group. BC survivors who received CON-CT (n = 20) and HC (n = 20) were assessed using a neurocognitive test battery and multimodality MRI including 3D-T1, Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) and 1H-MR spectroscopy (1H-MRS) to measure various aspects of cerebral white (WM) and gray matter (GM)...

Creativity is a vast construct, seemingly intractable to scientific inquiry-perhaps due to the vague concepts applied to the field of research. One attempt to limit the purview of creative cognition formulates the construct in terms of evolutionary constraints, namely that of blind variation and selective retention (BVSR). Behaviorally, one can limit the "blind variation" component to idea generation tests as manifested by measures of divergent thinking. The "selective retention" component can be represented by measures of convergent thinking, as represented by measures of remote associates...

Imaging plays a crucial role in the management of patients with brain tumors. The technical improvement of computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance (MRI) with the development of, new imaging techniques strongly improved the detection and characterization of brain tumors. For the optimal therapeutic management of the oncologic patient not only the recognition of the lesion is needed, but also the exclusion of other diseases that can mimic brain tumors. The preoperative assessment of malignancy and of relationships of the tumor with surrounding eloquent structures are also necessary to allow the correct choice of therapy and to warn surgeons of possible risks of the surgical approach...

BACKGROUND: Tumefactive demyelination (TD) is a relatively uncommon entity which mimics other focal intracranial lesions. Conventional radiological findings in tumefactive demyelination have been well described. However, DTI and MRS findings in TD have not been studied in detail. PURPOSE: To evaluate the usefulness of conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), multivoxel 1H spectroscopy (MRS) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in diagnosis and follow-up of TD of the brain...

BACKGROUND: Evidence suggests that white matter integrity may play an underlying pathophysiological role in schizophrenia. N-acetylaspartate (NAA), as measured by Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS), is a neuronal marker and is decreased in white matter lesions and regions of axonal loss. It has also been found to be reduced in the prefrontal and temporal regions in patients with schizophrenia. Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) allows one to measure the orientations of axonal tracts as well as the coherence of axonal bundles...

OBJECTIVE: To gain insights into the nature and pathogenesis of white matter (WM) abnormalities in PKU. METHODS: Thirty-two patients with phenylalanine hydroxylase deficiency (21 with early and 11 with late diagnosis and treatment) and 30 healthy controls underwent an integrated clinical, neuroimaging (3.0 T MRI, diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), diffusion tensor imaging (DTI)) and neurochemical (1H MRS) investigation. RESULTS: All patients had white matter abnormalities on T2-weighted (T2W) and fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) scans; parietal white was consistently affected, followed by occipital, frontal and temporal white matter...

Primary progressive multiple sclerosis (ppMS; n=4) patients and controls (n=4) were examined by 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in order to map choline (Cho), creatine and N-acetylaspartate (NAA), the fractional anisotropy (FA) and the apparent diffusion constant (ADC). After chemical shift imaging (point-resolved spectroscopy, repetition time/echo time 1,500 ms/135 ms) of a supraventricular volume of interest of 8x8x2 cm3 (64 voxels) MRS peak areas were matched to the results of DTI for the corresponding volume elements...