neuroimage

Performance in many visual tasks is impaired when observers attempt to divide spatial attention across multiple visual field locations. Correspondingly, neuronal response magnitudes in visual cortex are often reduced during divided compared with focused spatial attention. This suggests that early visual cortex is the site of capacity limits, where finite processing resources must be divided among attended stimuli. However, behavioral research demonstrates that not all visual tasks suffer such capacity limits: The costs of divided attention are minimal when the task and stimulus are simple, such as when searching for a target defined by orientation or contrast...

PURPOSE: To study clinical profile, neurodevelopmental outcome and its predictors in children with acute symptomatic seizures (ASS). METHODS: Short-term neurodevelopmental outcome and predictors of poor outcomes were prospectively assessed in 105 consecutive children with ASS aged 3 months-12 years RESULTS: Mean age was 51.2+42.2months (3-144 months); 67.2% were males. Central nervous system (CNS) infection in 82%, status epilepticus in 15.2%, abnormal neuroimaging in 62...

PURPOSES: To present the history and aims of the STEP conferences; describe the interdependence of prevention, prediction, plasticity, and participation; reflect on where we stand today regarding those 4 Ps; and discuss how future neurorehabilitation should look for individuals with movement disorders. KEY POINTS: Physical therapists have focused primarily on tertiary prevention, emphasizing primary/secondary prevention far less. Predicting optimal response to intervention is essential for primary prevention...

Formal thought disorder (FTD) refers to a psychopathological dimension characterized by disorganized and incoherent speech. Whether symptoms of FTD arise from aberrant processing in language-related regions or more general cognitive networks, however, remains debated. Here, we addressed this question by a quantitative meta-analysis of published functional neuroimaging studies on FTD. The revised Activation Likelihood Estimation (ALE) algorithm was used to test for convergent aberrant activation changes in 18 studies (30 experiments) investigating FTD, of which 17 studies comprised schizophrenia patients and one study healthy subjects administered to S-ketamine...

Even though much has recently been learned about the neural representation of individual concepts and categories, neuroimaging research is only beginning to reveal how more complex thoughts, such as event and state descriptions, are neurally represented. We present a predictive computational theory of the neural representations of individual events and states as they are described in 240 sentences. Regression models were trained to determine the mapping between 42 neurally plausible semantic features (NPSFs) and thematic roles of the concepts of a proposition and the fMRI activation patterns of various cortical regions that process different types of information...

Blake's pouch cyst is a posterior fossa cystic malformation characterized by a infracerebellar cyst, absence of communication between the fourth ventricle and the subarachnoid space, and tetraventricular hydrocephalus. Children with Blake's pouch cyst typically present with macrocephaly due to hydrocephalus during the neonatal period or infancy. Atypical presentation is, however, possible. Here we present clinical and neuroimaging findings, as well as management and outcome, of an 18-month-old girl with atypical presentation of Blake's pouch cyst characterized by cerebellar ataxia...

The cerebral pseudotumor (PTC) is defined by the increase in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) pressure, a normal composition of the latter in the absence of identified intracranial structural abnormalities, in particular by neuroimaging. The pathophysiology of PTC is poorly understood although its diagnostic criteria are well established. Drugs such as minocycline, tetracycline and doxycycline have been repeatedly implicated as a causative factor in PTC. The prognosis of PTC related to minocycline, reported in the literature is quite variable...

OBJECTIVES: First reports on the application of deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the Nucleus basalis of Meynert (NBM) showed feasibility and safety of the intervention in patients with Alzheimer´s disease. However, clinical effects vary and the mechanisms of actions are still not well understood. The aim of this study was to characterize neuroimaging changes that are associated with the responsiveness to the treatment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We examined preoperative T1-weighted MR images of ten patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) treated with DBS of the NBM and correlated the clinical outcome with volumetric differences of cortical thickness...

Brain atlases play an important role in effectively communicating results from neuroimaging studies in a standardized coordinate system. Furthermore, brain atlases extend analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data by delineating regions of interest over which to evaluate the extent of functional activation as well as measures of inter-regional connectivity. Here we introduce a three-dimensional atlas of the cat cerebral cortex based on established cytoarchitectonic and electrophysiological findings...

Transgenic animal models of Aβ pathology provide mechanistic insight into some aspects of Alzheimer disease (AD) pathology related to Aβ accumulation. Quantitative neuroimaging is a possible aid to improve translation of mechanistic findings in transgenic models to human end phenotypes of brain morphology or function. Therefore, we combined MRI-based morphometry, MRS-based NAA-assessment and quantitative histology of neurons and amyloid plaque load in the APPswe/PS1dE9 mouse model to determine the interrelationship between morphological changes, changes in neuron numbers and amyloid plaque load with reductions of NAA levels as marker of neuronal functional viability...

Autism is a common developmental condition with a wide, variable range of co-occurring neuropsychiatric symptoms. Contrasting with most extant studies, we explored whole-brain functional organization at multiple levels simultaneously in a large subject group reflecting autism's clinical diversity, and present the first network-based analysis of transient brain states, or dynamic connectivity, in autism. Disruption to inter-network and inter-system connectivity, rather than within individual networks, predominated...

Several neuroimaging studies have suggested that brain impairment and plasticity occur in patients with chronic primary insomnia (CPI); however, the effects of insomnia on the intrinsic organization of the brain remain largely unknown. In this study, a voxel-based functional connectivity strength (FCS) assessment, a data-driven method based on a theoretical approach, was applied to investigate the effects of insomnia on the intrinsic organization of the whole brain in 27 treatment-naïve CPI patients and 26 well-matched healthy controls (HCs)...

Brain systems supporting face and voice processing both contribute to the extraction of important information for social interaction (e.g., person identity). How does the brain reorganize when one of these channels is absent? Here, we explore this question by combining behavioral and multimodal neuroimaging measures (magneto-encephalography and functional imaging) in a group of early deaf humans. We show enhanced selective neural response for faces and for individual face coding in a specific region of the auditory cortex that is typically specialized for voice perception in hearing individuals...

INTRODUCTION: Osteoarthritis (OA) pain is a major cause of long-term disability and chronic pain in the adult population. One in five patients does not receive satisfactory pain relief, which reflects the complexity of chronic pain and the current lack of understanding of mechanisms of chronic pain. Recently, duloxetine has demonstrated clinically relevant pain relief, but only in half of treated patients with OA. Here, the aim is to investigate the neural mechanisms of pain relief and neural signatures that may predict treatment response to duloxetine in chronic knee OA pain...

BACKGROUND: Brainstem networks are pivotal in sensory and motor function and in recovery following experimental spinal cord injury (SCI). OBJECTIVE: To quantify neurodegeneration and its relation to clinical impairment in major brainstem pathways and nuclei in traumatic SCI. METHODS: Quantitative MRI data of 30 chronic traumatic SCI patients (15 with tetraplegia and 15 with paraplegia) and 23 controls were acquired. Patients underwent a full neurological examination...

Recent neuroimaging findings have highlighted the impact of premature birth on subcortical development and morphological changes in the deep grey nuclei and ventricular system. To help characterize subcortical microstructural changes in preterm neonates, we recently implemented a multivariate tensor-based method (mTBM). This method allows to precisely measure local surface deformation of brain structures in infants. Here, we investigated ventricular abnormalities and their spatial relationships with surrounding subcortical structures in preterm neonates...

New neuroimaging techniques have led to significant advancements in our understanding of cerebral mechanisms of primary insomnia. However, the neuronal low-frequency oscillation remains largely uncharacterized in chronic primary insomnia (CPI). In this study, the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF), a data-driven method based on resting-state functional MRI, was used to examine local intrinsic activity in 27 patients with CPI and 27 age-, sex-, and education-matched healthy controls. We examined neural activity in two frequency bands, slow-4 (between 0...

Chorea is a hyperkinetic movement disorder consisting of involuntary irregular, flowing movements of the trunk, neck or face. Although Huntington's disease is the most common cause of chorea in adults, chorea can also result from many other neurodegenerative, metabolic, and autoimmune conditions. While the pathophysiology of these different conditions is quite variable, recent advances in functional imaging have enabled the development of new methods for analysis of brain activity and neuronal dysfunction. In this paper we review the growing body of functional imaging data that has been performed in chorea syndromes and identify particular trends, which can be used to better understand the underlying network changes within the basal ganglia...

Background: Changes to the diagnostic criteria for PTSD in DSM-5 reflect an increased emphasis on negative cognition referring to self and other, including self-blame, and related pervasive negative affective states including for self-conscious emotions such as guilt and shame. Objective: Investigate the neural correlates of valenced self-referential processing (SRP) and other-referential processing (ORP) in persons with PTSD. Method: We compared response to the Visual-Verbal Self-Other Referential Processing Task in an fMRI study of women with (n = 20) versus without (n = 24) PTSD primarily relating to childhood and interpersonal trauma histories using statistical parametric mapping and group independent component analysis...

Postlesional plasticity has been identified in patients with cerebral gliomas by inducing a large functional reshaping of brain networks. Although numerous non-invasive functional neuroimaging methods have extensively investigated the mechanisms of this functional redistribution in patients with cerebral gliomas, little effort has been made to investigate the structural plasticity of cortical and subcortical structures associated with the glioma volume. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether the contralateral cortical and subcortical structures are able to actively reorganize by themselves in these patients...