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Sample records for left pfc lesions

  1. Lesions to the left lateral prefrontal cortex impair decision threshold adjustment for lexical selection.

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    Anders, Royce; Riès, Stéphanie; Van Maanen, Leendert; Alario, F-Xavier

    Patients with lesions in the left prefrontal cortex (PFC) have been shown to be impaired in lexical selection, especially when interference between semantically related alternatives is increased. To more deeply investigate which computational mechanisms may be impaired following left PFC damage due to stroke, a psychometric modelling approach is employed in which we assess the cognitive parameters of the patients from an evidence accumulation (sequential information sampling) modelling of their response data. We also compare the results to healthy speakers. Analysis of the cognitive parameters indicates an impairment of the PFC patients to appropriately adjust their decision threshold, in order to handle the increased item difficulty that is introduced by semantic interference. Also, the modelling contributes to other topics in psycholinguistic theory, in which specific effects are observed on the cognitive parameters according to item familiarization, and the opposing effects of priming (lower threshold) and semantic interference (lower drift) which are found to depend on repetition. These results are developed for the blocked-cyclic picture naming paradigm, in which pictures are presented within semantically homogeneous (HOM) or heterogeneous (HET) blocks, and are repeated several times per block. Overall, the results are in agreement with a role of the left PFC in adjusting the decision threshold for lexical selection in language production.

  2. vlPFC-vmPFC-Amygdala Interactions Underlie Age-Related Differences in Cognitive Regulation of Emotion.

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    Silvers, Jennifer A; Insel, Catherine; Powers, Alisa; Franz, Peter; Helion, Chelsea; Martin, Rebecca E; Weber, Jochen; Mischel, Walter; Casey, B J; Ochsner, Kevin N

    2017-07-01

    Emotion regulation is a critical life skill that develops throughout childhood and adolescence. Despite this development in emotional processes, little is known about how the underlying brain systems develop with age. This study examined emotion regulation in 112 individuals (aged 6-23 years) as they viewed aversive and neutral images using a reappraisal task. On "reappraisal" trials, participants were instructed to view the images as distant, a strategy that has been previously shown to reduce negative affect. On "reactivity" trials, participants were instructed to view the images without regulating emotions to assess baseline emotional responding. During reappraisal, age predicted less negative affect, reduced amygdala responses and inverse coupling between the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and amygdala. Moreover, left ventrolateral prefrontal (vlPFC) recruitment mediated the relationship between increasing age and diminishing amygdala responses. This negative vlPFC-amygdala association was stronger for individuals with inverse coupling between the amygdala and vmPFC. These data provide evidence that vmPFC-amygdala connectivity facilitates vlPFC-related amygdala modulation across development. © The Author 2016. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  3. Semantic strategy training increases memory performance and brain activity in patients with prefrontal cortex lesions.

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    Miotto, Eliane C; Savage, Cary R; Evans, Jonathan J; Wilson, Barbara A; Martin, Maria G M; Balardin, Joana B; Barros, Fabio G; Garrido, Griselda; Teixeira, Manoel J; Amaro Junior, Edson

    2013-03-01

    Memory deficit is a frequent cognitive disorder following acquired prefrontal cortex lesions. In the present study, we investigated the brain correlates of a short semantic strategy training and memory performance of patients with distinct prefrontal cortex lesions using fMRI and cognitive tests. Twenty-one adult patients with post-acute prefrontal cortex (PFC) lesions, twelve with left dorsolateral PFC (LPFC) and nine with bilateral orbitofrontal cortex (BOFC) were assessed before and after a short cognitive semantic training using a verbal memory encoding paradigm during scanning and neuropsychological tests outside the scanner. After the semantic strategy training both groups of patients showed significant behavioral improvement in verbal memory recall and use of semantic strategies. In the LPFC group, greater activity in left inferior and medial frontal gyrus, precentral gyrus and insula was found after training. For the BOFC group, a greater activation was found in the left parietal cortex, right cingulated and precuneus after training. The activation of these specific areas in the memory and executive networks following cognitive training was associated to compensatory brain mechanisms and application of the semantic strategy. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  4. Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation over the Medial Prefrontal Cortex and Left Primary Motor Cortex (mPFC-lPMC) Affects Subjective Beauty but Not Ugliness

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    Nakamura, Koyo; Kawabata, Hideaki

    2015-01-01

    Neuroaesthetics has been searching for the neural bases of the subjective experience of beauty. It has been demonstrated that neural activities in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the left primary motor cortex (lPMC) correlate with the subjective experience of beauty. Although beauty and ugliness seem to be semantically and conceptually opposite, it is still unknown whether these two evaluations represent extreme opposites in unitary or bivariate dimensions. In this study, we applied transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to examine whether non-invasive brain stimulation modulates two types of esthetic evaluation; evaluating beauty and ugliness. Participants rated the subjective beauty and ugliness of abstract paintings before and after the application of tDCS. Application of cathodal tDCS over the mPFC with anode electrode over the lPMC, which induced temporal inhibition of neural excitability of the mPFC, led to a decrease in beauty ratings but not ugliness ratings. There were no changes in ratings of both beauty and ugliness when applying anodal tDCS or sham stimulation over the mPFC. Results from our experiment indicate that the mPFC and the lPMC have a causal role in generating the subjective experience of beauty, with beauty and ugliness evaluations constituting two distinct dimensions. PMID:26696865

  5. Association between right-to-left shunts and brain lesions in sport divers.

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    Gerriets, Tibo; Tetzlaff, Kay; Hutzelmann, Alfred; Liceni, Thomas; Kopiske, Gerrit; Struck, Niklas; Reuter, Michael; Kaps, Manfred

    2003-10-01

    Recent studies suggest that healthy sport divers may develop clinically silent brain damage, based on the association between a finding of multiple brain lesions on MRI and the presence of right-to-left shunt, a pathway for venous gas bubbles to enter the arterial system. We performed echocontrast transcranial Doppler sonography in 42 sport divers to determine the presence of a right-to-left shunt. Cranial MRI was carried out using a 1.5 T magnet. A lesion was counted if it was hyperintense on both T2-weighted and T2-weighted fluid attenuated inversion recovery sequences. To test the hypothesis that the occurrence of postdive arterial gas emboli is related to brain lesions on MRI, we measured postdive intravascular bubbles in a subset of 15 divers 30 min after open water scuba dives. Echocontrast transcranial Doppler sonography revealed a right-to-left shunt in 16 of the divers (38%). Only one hyperintensive lesion of the central white matter was found and that was in a diver with no evidence of a right-to-left shunt. Postdive arterial gas emboli were detected in 3 out of 15 divers; they had a right-to-left shunt, but no pathologic findings on cranial magnetic resonance imaging. Our data support the theory that right-to-left shunts can serve as a pathway for venous gas bubbles into the arterial circulation. However, we could not confirm an association between brain lesions and the presence of a right-to-left shunt in sport divers.

  6. Delusional misidentifications and duplications: right brain lesions, left brain delusions.

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    Devinsky, Orrin

    2009-01-06

    When the delusional misidentification syndromes reduplicative paramnesia and Capgras syndromes result from neurologic disease, lesions are usually bifrontal and/or right hemispheric. The related disorders of confabulation and anosognosis share overlapping mechanisms and anatomic pathology. A dual mechanism is postulated for the delusional misidentification syndromes: negative effects from right hemisphere and frontal lobe dysfunction as well as positive effects from release (i.e., overactivity) of preserved left hemisphere areas. Negative effects of right hemisphere injury impair self-monitoring, ego boundaries, and attaching emotional valence and familiarity to stimuli. The unchecked left hemisphere unleashes a creative narrator from the monitoring of self, memory, and reality by the frontal and right hemisphere areas, leading to excessive and false explanations. Further, the left hemisphere's cognitive style of categorization, often into dual categories, leads it to invent a duplicate or impostor to resolve conflicting information. Delusions result from right hemisphere lesions. But it is the left hemisphere that is deluded.

  7. Lesion characteristics driving right-hemispheric language reorganization in congenital left-hemispheric brain damage.

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    Lidzba, Karen; de Haan, Bianca; Wilke, Marko; Krägeloh-Mann, Ingeborg; Staudt, Martin

    2017-10-01

    Pre- or perinatally acquired ("congenital") left-hemispheric brain lesions can be compensated for by reorganizing language into homotopic brain regions in the right hemisphere. Language comprehension may be hemispherically dissociated from language production. We investigated the lesion characteristics driving inter-hemispheric reorganization of language comprehension and language production in 19 patients (7-32years; eight females) with congenital left-hemispheric brain lesions (periventricular lesions [n=11] and middle cerebral artery infarctions [n=8]) by fMRI. 16/17 patients demonstrated reorganized language production, while 7/19 patients had reorganized language comprehension. Lesions to the insular cortex and the temporo-parietal junction (predominantly supramarginal gyrus) were significantly more common in patients in whom both, language production and comprehension were reorganized. These areas belong to the dorsal stream of the language network, participating in the auditory-motor integration of language. Our data suggest that the integrity of this stream might be crucial for a normal left-lateralized language development. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  8. Activity in dlPFC and its effective connectivity to vmPFC are associated with temporal discounting

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    Todd A Hare

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available There is widespread interest in identifying computational and neurobiological mechanisms that influence the ability to choose long-term benefits over more proximal and readily available rewards in domains such as dietary and economic choice. We present the results of a human fMRI study that examines how neural activity relates to observed individual differences in the discounting of future rewards during an intertemporal monetary choice task. We found that a region of left dlPFC BA-46 was more active in trials where subjects chose delayed rewards, after controlling for the subjective value of those rewards. We also found that the connectivity from dlPFC BA-46 to a region of vmPFC widely associated with the computational of stimulus values, increased at the time of choice, and especially during trials in which subjects chose delayed rewards. Finally, we found that estimates of effective connectivity between these two regions played a critical role in predicting out-of-sample, between-subject differences in discount rates. Together with previous findings in dietary choice, these results suggest that a common set of computational and neurobiological mechanisms facilitate choices in favor of long- term reward in both settings.

  9. Functions of the left superior frontal gyrus in humans: a lesion study.

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    du Boisgueheneuc, Foucaud; Levy, Richard; Volle, Emmanuelle; Seassau, Magali; Duffau, Hughes; Kinkingnehun, Serge; Samson, Yves; Zhang, Sandy; Dubois, Bruno

    2006-12-01

    The superior frontal gyrus (SFG) is thought to contribute to higher cognitive functions and particularly to working memory (WM), although the nature of its involvement remains a matter of debate. To resolve this issue, methodological tools such as lesion studies are needed to complement the functional imaging approach. We have conducted the first lesion study to investigate the role of the SFG in WM and address the following questions: do lesions of the SFG impair WM and, if so, what is the nature of the WM impairment? To answer these questions, we compared the performance of eight patients with a left prefrontal lesion restricted to the SFG with that of a group of 11 healthy control subjects and two groups of patients with focal brain lesions [prefrontal lesions sparing the SFG (n = 5) and right parietal lesions (n = 4)] in a series of WM tasks. The WM tasks (derived from the classical n-back paradigm) allowed us to study the impact of the SFG lesions on domain (verbal, spatial, face) and complexity (1-, 2- and 3-back) processing within WM. As expected, patients with a left SFG lesion exhibited a WM deficit when compared with all control groups, and the impairment increased with the complexity of the tasks. This complexity effect was significantly more marked for the spatial domain. Voxel-to-voxel mapping of each subject's performance showed that the lateral and posterior portion of the SFG (mostly Brodmann area 8, rostral to the frontal eye field) was the subregion that contributed the most to the WM impairment. These data led us to conclude that (i) the lateral and posterior portion of the left SFG is a key component of the neural network of WM; (ii) the participation of this region in WM is triggered by the highest level of executive processing; (iii) the left SFG is also involved in spatially oriented processing. Our findings support a hybrid model of the anatomical and functional organization of the lateral SFG for WM, according to which this region is

  10. Altered functional connectivity differs in stroke survivors with impaired touch sensation following left and right hemisphere lesions.

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    Goodin, Peter; Lamp, Gemma; Vidyasagar, Rishma; McArdle, David; Seitz, Rüdiger J; Carey, Leeanne M

    2018-01-01

    One in two survivors experience impairment in touch sensation after stroke. The nature of this impairment is likely associated with changes associated with the functional somatosensory network of the brain; however few studies have examined this. In particular, the impact of lesioned hemisphere has not been investigated. We examined resting state functional connectivity in 28 stroke survivors, 14 with left hemisphere and 14 with right hemisphere lesion, and 14 healthy controls. Contra-lesional hands showed significantly decreased touch discrimination. Whole brain functional connectivity (FC) data was extracted from four seed regions, i.e. primary (S1) and secondary (S2) somatosensory cortices in both hemispheres. Whole brain FC maps and Laterality Indices (LI) were calculated for subgroups. Inter-hemispheric FC was greater in healthy controls compared to the combined stroke cohort from the left S1 seed and bilateral S2 seeds. The left lesion subgroup showed decreased FC, relative to controls, from left ipsi-lesional S1 to contra-lesional S1 and to distributed temporal, occipital and parietal regions. In comparison, the right lesion group showed decreased connectivity from contra-lesional left S1 and bilateral S2 to ipsi-lesional parietal operculum (S2), and to occipital and temporal regions. The right lesion group also showed increased intra-hemispheric FC from ipsi-lesional right S1 to inferior parietal regions compared to controls. In comparison to the left lesion group, those with right lesion showed greater intra-hemispheric connectivity from left S1 to left parietal and occipital regions and from right S1 to right angular and parietal regions. Laterality Indices were significantly greater for stroke subgroups relative to matched controls for contra-lesional S1 (left lesion group) and contra-lesional S2 (both groups). We provide evidence of altered functional connectivity within the somatosensory network, across both hemispheres, and to other networks in stroke

  11. Altered functional connectivity differs in stroke survivors with impaired touch sensation following left and right hemisphere lesions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peter Goodin

    Full Text Available One in two survivors experience impairment in touch sensation after stroke. The nature of this impairment is likely associated with changes associated with the functional somatosensory network of the brain; however few studies have examined this. In particular, the impact of lesioned hemisphere has not been investigated. We examined resting state functional connectivity in 28 stroke survivors, 14 with left hemisphere and 14 with right hemisphere lesion, and 14 healthy controls. Contra-lesional hands showed significantly decreased touch discrimination. Whole brain functional connectivity (FC data was extracted from four seed regions, i.e. primary (S1 and secondary (S2 somatosensory cortices in both hemispheres. Whole brain FC maps and Laterality Indices (LI were calculated for subgroups. Inter-hemispheric FC was greater in healthy controls compared to the combined stroke cohort from the left S1 seed and bilateral S2 seeds. The left lesion subgroup showed decreased FC, relative to controls, from left ipsi-lesional S1 to contra-lesional S1 and to distributed temporal, occipital and parietal regions. In comparison, the right lesion group showed decreased connectivity from contra-lesional left S1 and bilateral S2 to ipsi-lesional parietal operculum (S2, and to occipital and temporal regions. The right lesion group also showed increased intra-hemispheric FC from ipsi-lesional right S1 to inferior parietal regions compared to controls. In comparison to the left lesion group, those with right lesion showed greater intra-hemispheric connectivity from left S1 to left parietal and occipital regions and from right S1 to right angular and parietal regions. Laterality Indices were significantly greater for stroke subgroups relative to matched controls for contra-lesional S1 (left lesion group and contra-lesional S2 (both groups. We provide evidence of altered functional connectivity within the somatosensory network, across both hemispheres, and to other

  12. Kinesthetic alexia due to left parietal lobe lesions.

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    Ihori, Nami; Kawamura, Mitsuru; Araki, Shigeo; Kawachi, Juro

    2002-01-01

    To investigate the neuropsychological mechanisms of kinesthetic alexia, we asked 7 patients who showed kinesthetic alexia with preserved visual reading after damage to the left parietal region to perform tasks consisting of kinesthetic written reproduction (writing down the same letter as the kinesthetic stimulus), kinesthetic reading aloud, visual written reproduction (copying letters), and visual reading aloud of hiragana (Japanese phonograms). We compared the performance in these tasks and the lesion sites in each patient. The results suggested that deficits in any one of the following functions might cause kinesthetic alexia: (1) the retrieval of kinesthetic images (motor engrams) of characters from kinesthetic stimuli, (2) kinesthetic images themselves, (3) access to cross-modal association from kinesthetic images, and (4) cross-modal association itself (retrieval of auditory and visual images from kinesthetic images of characters). Each of these factors seemed to be related to different lesion sites in the left parietal lobe. Copyright 2002 S. Karger AG, Basel

  13. Ewing sarcoma of the left big toe with trans-articular skip lesion

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    Ahmad F. Kamal

    2009-06-01

    Full Text Available We report the case of the patient who had Ewing Sarcoma in whom radiological and hystopathological appearances revealed a tumor mass in the left big toe along with trans-artikular skip lesion on the left diaphysis of tibia. In Cipto Mangunkusomo Hospital since 1995 until 2004 we have found 20 Ewing sarcoma cases, but only one skip lesion Ewing sarcoma was found. The diagnosis of transarticular skip lesion in association of Ewing sarcoma was confirmed in clinicopathological conferrence. The initial evaluation of all patients included the recording of the medical history, physical examination, and hematological studies. Radiographs of the chest and the site of the primary tumor were made routinely. Systemic staging was performed with use of total-body bone scan. Ray amputation of left big toe and open biopsy from mass of mid-shaft of tibia had been done to confirm the diagnosis. The patient underwent induction chemotherapy and above knee amputation. Ten months after diagnosis, he died because of advanced-distant metastasis. (Med J Indones 2008; 18: 139-44Key words: Ewing sarcoma, trans-articular skip lesion

  14. Left hand tactile agnosia after posterior callosal lesion.

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    Balsamo, Maddalena; Trojano, Luigi; Giamundo, Arcangelo; Grossi, Dario

    2008-09-01

    We report a patient with a hemorrhagic lesion encroaching upon the posterior third of the corpus callosum but sparing the splenium. She showed marked difficulties in recognizing objects and shapes perceived through her left hand, while she could appreciate elementary sensorial features of items tactually presented to the same hand flawlessly. This picture, corresponding to classical descriptions of unilateral associative tactile agnosia, was associated with finger agnosia of the left hand. This very unusual case report can be interpreted as an instance of disconnection syndrome, and allows a discussion of mechanisms involved in tactile object recognition.

  15. Differential Functional Connectivity Alterations of Two Subdivisions within the Right dlPFC in Parkinson's Disease

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    Julian Caspers

    2017-05-01

    Full Text Available Patients suffering from Parkinson's disease (PD often show impairments in executive function (EF like decision-making and action control. The right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC has been strongly implicated in EF in healthy subjects and has repeatedly been reported to show alterations related to EF impairment in PD. Recently, two key regions for cognitive action control have been identified within the right dlPFC by co-activation based parcellation. While the posterior region is engaged in rather basal EF like stimulus integration and working memory, the anterior region has a more abstract, supervisory function. To investigate whether these functionally distinct subdivisions of right dlPFC are differentially affected in PD, we analyzed resting-state functional connectivity (FC in 39 PD patients and 44 age- and gender-matched healthy controls. Patients were examined both after at least 12 h withdrawal of dopaminergic drugs (OFF and under their regular dopaminergic medication (ON. We found that only the posterior right dlPFC subdivision shows FC alterations in PD, while the anterior part remains unaffected. PD-related decreased FC with posterior right dlPFC was found in the bilateral medial posterior parietal cortex (mPPC and left dorsal premotor region (PMd in the OFF state. In the medical ON, FC with left PMd normalized, while decoupling with bilateral mPPC remained. Furthermore, we observed increased FC between posterior right dlPFC and the bilateral dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC in PD in the ON state. Our findings point to differential disturbances of right dlPFC connectivity in PD, which relate to its hierarchical organization of EF processing by stronger affecting the functionally basal posterior aspect than the hierarchically higher anterior part.

  16. Reorganization of the Cerebro-Cerebellar Network of Language Production in Patients with Congenital Left-Hemispheric Brain Lesions

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    Lidzba, K.; Wilke, M.; Staudt, M.; Krageloh-Mann, I.; Grodd, W.

    2008-01-01

    Patients with congenital lesions of the left cerebral hemisphere may reorganize language functions into the right hemisphere. In these patients, language production is represented homotopically to the left-hemispheric language areas. We studied cerebellar activation in five patients with congenital lesions of the left cerebral hemisphere to assess…

  17. The origins of originality: the neural bases of creative thinking and originality.

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    Shamay-Tsoory, S G; Adler, N; Aharon-Peretz, J; Perry, D; Mayseless, N

    2011-01-01

    Although creativity has been related to prefrontal activity, recent neurological case studies postulate that patients who have left frontal and temporal degeneration involving deterioration of language abilities may actually develop de novo artistic abilities. In this study, we propose a neural and cognitive model according to which a balance between the two hemispheres affects a major aspect of creative cognition, namely, originality. In order to examine the neural basis of originality, that is, the ability to produce statistically infrequent ideas, patients with localized lesions in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), and posterior parietal and temporal cortex (PC), were assessed by two tasks involving divergent thinking and originality. Results indicate that lesions in the mPFC involved the most profound impairment in originality. Furthermore, precise anatomical mapping of lesions indicated that while the extent of lesion in the right mPFC was associated with impaired originality, lesions in the left PC were associated with somewhat elevated levels of originality. A positive correlation between creativity scores and left PC lesions indicated that the larger the lesion is in this area the greater the originality. On the other hand, a negative correlation was observed between originality scores and lesions in the right mPFC. It is concluded that the right mPFC is part of a right fronto-parietal network which is responsible for producing original ideas. It is possible that more linear cognitive processing such as language, mediated by left hemisphere structures interferes with creative cognition. Therefore, lesions in the left hemisphere may be associated with elevated levels of originality. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Regulatory impairments following selective kainic acid lesions of the neostriatum.

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    Dunnett, S B; Iversen, S D

    1980-12-01

    Kainic acid lesions were made to the anteromedial (AMC) or ventrolateral (VLC) caudate nucleus and the projection areas of medial and sulcal prefrontal cortex (PFC), respectively. By the second day following lesion, all control and AMC rats had recovered normal food and water intake. By contrast, VLC lesions resulted in severe aphagia and adipsia lasting 3-15 days, accompanied by a rapid loss in weight. Animals were kept alive by palatable food supplement and force-feeding as required. Once all animals had recovered normal food and water intake (3-5 weeks) drinking to various physiological challenges--5% hypertonic saline s.c., food deprivation, quinine adulteration of water and 40% polyethylene glycol--were found to be normal in both lesion groups. By 3 months after lesion the groups did not differ in weight. Acute aphagia and adipsia had been reported following ablation of the sulcal but not the medial PFC in rats. The present experiment obtains parallel results in the PFC projection areas within the neostriatum.

  19. Differential effects of insular and ventromedial prefrontal cortex lesions on risky decision-making.

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    Clark, L; Bechara, A; Damasio, H; Aitken, M R F; Sahakian, B J; Robbins, T W

    2008-05-01

    The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and insular cortex are implicated in distributed neural circuitry that supports emotional decision-making. Previous studies of patients with vmPFC lesions have focused primarily on decision-making under uncertainty, when outcome probabilities are ambiguous (e.g. the Iowa Gambling Task). It remains unclear whether vmPFC is also necessary for decision-making under risk, when outcome probabilities are explicit. It is not known whether the effect of insular damage is analogous to the effect of vmPFC damage, or whether these regions contribute differentially to choice behaviour. Four groups of participants were compared on the Cambridge Gamble Task, a well-characterized measure of risky decision-making where outcome probabilities are presented explicitly, thus minimizing additional learning and working memory demands. Patients with focal, stable lesions to the vmPFC (n = 20) and the insular cortex (n = 13) were compared against healthy subjects (n = 41) and a group of lesion controls (n = 12) with damage predominantly affecting the dorsal and lateral frontal cortex. The vmPFC and insular cortex patients showed selective and distinctive disruptions of betting behaviour. VmPFC damage was associated with increased betting regardless of the odds of winning, consistent with a role of vmPFC in biasing healthy individuals towards conservative options under risk. In contrast, patients with insular cortex lesions failed to adjust their bets by the odds of winning, consistent with a role of the insular cortex in signalling the probability of aversive outcomes. The insular group attained a lower point score on the task and experienced more 'bankruptcies'. There were no group differences in probability judgement. These data confirm the necessary role of the vmPFC and insular regions in decision-making under risk. Poor decision-making in clinical populations can arise via multiple routes, with functionally dissociable effects of vmPFC and

  20. Differential impact of continuous theta-burst stimulation over left and right DLPFC on planning.

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    Kaller, Christoph P; Heinze, Katharina; Frenkel, Annekathrein; Läppchen, Claus H; Unterrainer, Josef M; Weiller, Cornelius; Lange, Rüdiger; Rahm, Benjamin

    2013-01-01

    Most neuroimaging studies on planning report bilateral activations of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). Recently, these concurrent activations of left and right dlPFC have been shown to double dissociate with different cognitive demands imposed by the planning task: Higher demands on the extraction of task-relevant information led to stronger activation in left dlPFC, whereas higher demands on the integration of interdependent information into a coherent action sequence entailed stronger activation of right dlPFC. Here, we used continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS) to investigate the supposed causal structure-function mapping underlying this double dissociation. Two groups of healthy subjects (left-lateralized stimulation, n = 26; right-lateralized stimulation, n = 26) were tested within-subject on a variant of the Tower of London task following either real cTBS over dlPFC or sham stimulation over posterior parietal cortex. Results revealed that, irrespective of specific task demands, cTBS over left and right dlPFC was associated with a global decrease and increase, respectively, in initial planning times compared to sham stimulation. Moreover, no interaction between task demands and stimulation type (real vs. sham) and/or stimulation side (left vs. right hemisphere) were found. Together, against expectations from previous neuroimaging data, lateralized cTBS did not lead to planning-parameter specific changes in performance, but instead revealed a global asymmetric pattern of faster versus slower task processing after left versus right cTBS. This global asymmetry in the absence of any task-parameter specific impact of cTBS suggests that different levels of information processing may span colocalized, but independent axes of functional lateralization in the dlPFC. Copyright © 2011 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  1. Acute myocardial infarction and lesion location in the left circumflex artery

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Waziri, Homa; Jørgensen, Erik; Kelbæk, Henning

    2016-01-01

    AIMS: Due to the limitations of 12-lead ECG, occlusions of the left circumflex artery (LCX) are more likely to present as non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTEACS) compared with other coronary arteries. We aimed to study mortality in patients with LCX lesions and to assess the importance...

  2. Differential contribution of right and left temporo-occipital and anterior temporal lesions to face recognition disorders

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    Guido eGainotti

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available In the study of prosopagnosia, several issues (such as the specific or non-specific manifestations of prosopagnosia, the unitary or non-unitary nature of this syndrome and the mechanisms underlying face recognition disorders are still controversial. Two main sources of variance partially accounting for these controversies could be the qualitative differences between the face recognition disorders observed in patients with prevalent lesions of the right or left hemisphere and in those with lesions encroaching upon the temporo-occipital or the (right anterior temporal cortex.Results of our review seem to confirm these suggestions. Indeed, they show that (a the most specific forms of prosopagnosia are due to lesions of a right posterior network including the OFA and the FFA, whereas (b the face identification defects observed in patients with left temporo-occipital lesions seem due to a semantic defect impeding access to person-specific semantic information from the visual modality. Furthermore, face recognition defects resulting from right anterior temporal lesions can usually be considered as part of a multimodal people recognition disorder.The implications of our review are, therefore, the following: (1 to consider the components of visual agnosia often observed in prosopagnosic patients with bilateral temporo-occipital lesions as part of a semantic defect, resulting from left-sided lesions (and not from prosopagnosia proper; (2 to systematically investigate voice recognition disorders in patients with right anterior temporal lesions to determine whether the face recognition defect should be considered a form of ‘associative prosopagnosia’ or a form of the ‘multimodal people recognition disorder’.

  3. The separation of particulate within PFC decontamination wastewater generated by PFC decontamination

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Gye Nam; Lee, Sung Yeol; Won, Hui Jun; Jung, Chong Hun; Oh, Won Zin; Park, Jin Ho; Narayan, M.

    2005-01-01

    When PFC(Perfluoro carbonate) decontamination technology is applied to removal of radioactive contaminated particulate adhered at surface during the operation of nuclear research facilities, it is necessary to develop a filtration equipment to reuse of PFC solution due to high price, also to minimize the volume of second wastewater. Contaminated characteristics of hot particulate was investigated and a filtration process was presented to remove suspended radioactive particulate from PFC decontamination wastewater generated on PFC decontamination. The range of size of hot particulate adhered at the surface of research facilities measured by SEM was 0.1∼10μm. Hot particulate of more than 2μm in PFC contamination wastewater was removed by first filter and then hot particulate of more than 0.2μm was removed by second filter. Results of filter experiments showed that filtration efficiency of PVDF(Poly vinylidene fluoride), PP(Polypropylene), Ceramic filter was 95∼97%. A ceramic filter showed a higher filtration efficiency with a little low permeate volume. Also, a ceramic of inorganic compound could be broken easily on experiment and has a high price but was highly stable at radioactivity in comparison of PVDF and PP of a macromolecule which generate H 2 gas in alpha radioactivity environment

  4. Reasoning by analogy requires the left frontal pole: lesion-deficit mapping and clinical implications.

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    Urbanski, Marika; Bréchemier, Marie-Laure; Garcin, Béatrice; Bendetowicz, David; Thiebaut de Schotten, Michel; Foulon, Chris; Rosso, Charlotte; Clarençon, Frédéric; Dupont, Sophie; Pradat-Diehl, Pascale; Labeyrie, Marc-Antoine; Levy, Richard; Volle, Emmanuelle

    2016-06-01

    SEE BURGESS DOI101093/BRAIN/AWW092 FOR A SCIENTIFIC COMMENTARY ON THIS ARTICLE  : Analogical reasoning is at the core of the generalization and abstraction processes that enable concept formation and creativity. The impact of neurological diseases on analogical reasoning is poorly known, despite its importance in everyday life and in society. Neuroimaging studies of healthy subjects and the few studies that have been performed on patients have highlighted the importance of the prefrontal cortex in analogical reasoning. However, the critical cerebral bases for analogical reasoning deficits remain elusive. In the current study, we examined analogical reasoning abilities in 27 patients with focal damage in the frontal lobes and performed voxel-based lesion-behaviour mapping and tractography analyses to investigate the structures critical for analogical reasoning. The findings revealed that damage to the left rostrolateral prefrontal region (or some of its long-range connections) specifically impaired the ability to reason by analogies. A short version of the analogy task predicted the existence of a left rostrolateral prefrontal lesion with good accuracy. Experimental manipulations of the analogy tasks suggested that this region plays a role in relational matching or integration. The current lesion approach demonstrated that the left rostrolateral prefrontal region is a critical node in the analogy network. Our results also suggested that analogy tasks should be translated to clinical practice to refine the neuropsychological assessment of patients with frontal lobe lesions. © The Author (2016). Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Guarantors of Brain. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  5. Transradial percutaneous coronary intervention for left main bifurcation lesions using 7.5-Fr sheathless guide catheter.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Huiqiang; Banerjee, Subhash; Chen, Hui; Li, Hongwei

    2018-05-01

    Recent studies have shown sheathless guide catheters (GCs) to be safe and effective during complex lesions such as bifurcations, chronic total occlusion (CTO), and/or calcified lesions. We investigated the feasibility and safety of using 7.5-Fr sheathless GC for transradial percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) to treat left main bifurcation lesions.A total of 82 patients were consecutively enrolled from March 2013 to February 2016. They underwent transradial PCI for left main bifurcation lesions using the 7.5-Fr sheathless GC.The mean syntax score was 28.1 ± 6.1, and the majority (n = 55, 67.1%) was intermediate scores (23∼32). The unprotected LM disease was present in 67 of 82 patients (81.7%), and true bifurcation (Medina 1, 1, 1) was present in 46 of 82 patients (56.1%). The 2-stent technique was used in 62 of 82 patients (75.6%). The 2-stent technique included 31 cases (37.8%) of "Crush," 18 cases (22.0%) of "Cullote," and 13 (15.8%) cases of "T stent and modified T stent" (T stent). Immediate angiographic success rate was 100% (82/82), and procedural success rate was 97.6% (80/82). The vascular complications occurred in 3 patients (3/82, 3.7%).The use of 7.5-Fr sheathless GC is safe and allows PCI for complex bifurcation lesions located in the distal of left main to be performed transradially with a high success rate.

  6. Opposite effects depending on learning and memory demands in dorsomedial prefrontal cortex lesioned rats performing an olfactory task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chaillan, F A; Marchetti, E; Delfosse, F; Roman, F S; Soumireu-Mourat, B

    1997-01-01

    In this study, the functional properties of the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex (dmPFC) of the rat were examined in two olfactory tasks. In a successive cue olfactory discrimination task, dmPFC lesioned animals improved performance across sessions more rapidly than operated control animals. In an olfactory task using fixed interval training, animals with similar lesions were impaired. Both effects, although opposite, can be explained by a temporal processing deficit. The present results seem to indicate that the dmPFC is required for timing, classified as part of non-declarative memory. As reference memory improved in the lesioned animals, the finding is that the dmPFC supports non-declarative memory and thus interacts with declarative memory in the long-term formation of the associations between a particular stimulus (olfactory cue) and particular responses.

  7. Varus deformity of the left lower extremity causing degenerative lesion of the posterior horn of the left medial meniscus in a patient with Paget’s disease of bone

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Al Kaissi, Ali

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available [english] We report on a 42-year-old woman who presented with persistent pain in her left knee with no history of trauma. Sagittal T1-weighted MRI of the left knee showed discontinuity between the anterior and posterior horns of the left medial meniscus, causing effectively the development of degenerative lesion of the posterior horn. The latter was correlated to varus deformity of the left lower extremity associated with subsequent narrowing of the medial knee joint. The unusual craniofacial contour of the patient, the skeletal survey and the elevated serum alkaline phosphatase were compatible with the diagnosis of Paget’s disease of the bone. To alleviate the adverse effect of the mal-alignment of the left femur onto the left knee, corrective osteotomy of the left femoral diaphysis by means of fixators was performed. To the best of our knowledge this is the first clinical report describing the management and the pathological correlation of a unilateral varus deformity of the femoral shaft and degenerative lesions of the left knee in a patient with Paget’s disease of the bone.

  8. MR findings in Shone's complex of left heart obstructive lesions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Roche, K.J.; Genieser, N.B.; Ambrosino, M.M.; Henry, G.L.

    1998-01-01

    Background. Shone's complex is a series of four obstructive or potentially obstructive left-sided cardiac lesions (supravalvular mitral ring, parachute deformity of the mitral value, subaortic stenosis, and coarctation of the aorta). Both the complete form (all four lesions) and incomplete forms (less than four lesions) have been described. Objective. To determine which abnormalities of Shone's complex could be characterized by MR. Materials and methods. MR examinations in three patients (one complete, two incomplete) were retrospectively reviewed. Results. A supravalvular mitral ring, found at surgery in one patient, was not identified. Regurgitant and stenotic flow across the mitral valve, abnormal motion of the valve leaflets and abnormalities of the papillary muscles were identified. Individual chordal attachments were difficult to resolve. Narrowing in the subaortic region and abnormal flow from the subaortic region through the valve plane were demonstrated. A discrete subaortic diaphragm in one patient was not resolved. Both focal and diffuse types of coarctation of the aorta were well characterized. Conclusion. MR imaging is suited to evaluation of patients with Shone's complex. Individual chordal attachments and thin diaphragms of the mitral and aortic valves were difficult to resolve. (orig.)

  9. Visual object naming in patients with small lesions centered at the left temporopolar region.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Campo, Pablo; Poch, Claudia; Toledano, Rafael; Igoa, José Manuel; Belinchón, Mercedes; García-Morales, Irene; Gil-Nagel, Antonio

    2016-01-01

    Naming is considered a left hemisphere function that operates according to a posterior-anterior specificity gradient, with more fine-grained information processed in most anterior regions of the temporal lobe (ATL), including the temporal pole (TP). Word finding difficulties are typically assessed using visual confrontation naming tasks, and have been associated with selective damage to ATL resulting from different aetiologies. Nonetheless, the role of the ATL and, more specifically, of the TP in the naming network is not completely established. Most of the accumulated evidence is based on studies on patients with extensive lesions, often bilateral. Furthermore, there is a considerable variability in the anatomical definition of ATL. To better understand the specific involvement of the left TP in visual object naming, we assessed a group of patients with an epileptogenic lesion centered at the TP, and compared their performance with that of a strictly matched control group. We also administered a battery of verbal and non-verbal semantic tasks that was used as a semantic memory baseline. Patients showed an impaired naming ability, manifesting in a certain degree of anomia and semantically related naming errors, which was influenced by concept familiarity. This pattern took place in a context of mild semantic dysfunction that was evident in different types and modalities of semantic tasks. Therefore, current findings demonstrate that a restricted lesion to the left TP can cause a significant deficit in object naming. Of importance, the observed semantic impairment was far from the devastating degradation observed in semantic dementia and other bilateral conditions.

  10. Ventral medial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) as a target of the dorsolateral prefrontal modulation by transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) in drug addiction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nakamura-Palacios, Ester Miyuki; Lopes, Isabela Bittencourt Coutinho; Souza, Rodolpho Albuquerque; Klauss, Jaisa; Batista, Edson Kruger; Conti, Catarine Lima; Moscon, Janine Andrade; de Souza, Rodrigo Stênio Moll

    2016-10-01

    Here, we report some electrophysiologic and imaging effects of the transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) in drug addiction, notably in alcohol and crack-cocaine dependence. The low resolution electromagnetic tomography (LORETA) analysis obtained through event-related potentials (ERPs) under drug-related cues, more specifically in its P3 segment (300-500 ms) in both, alcoholics and crack-cocaine users, showed that the ventral medial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) was the brain area with the largest change towards increasing activation under drug-related cues in those subjects that kept abstinence during and after the treatment with bilateral tDCS (2 mA, 35 cm(2), cathodal left and anodal right) over dlPFC, applied repetitively (five daily sessions). In an additional study in crack-cocaine, which showed craving decreases after repetitive bilateral tDCS, we examined data originating from diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and we found increased DTI parameters in the left connection between vmPFC and nucleus accumbens (NAcc), such as the number of voxels, fractional anisotropy (FA) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC), in tDCS-treated crack-cocaine users when compared to the sham-tDCS group. This increasing of DTI parameters was significantly correlated with craving decreasing after the repetitive tDCS. The vmPFC relates to the control of drug seeking, possibly by extinguishing this behavior. In our studies, the bilateral dlPFC tDCS reduced relapses and craving to the drug use, and increased the vmPFC activation under drug cues, which may be of a great importance in the control of drug use in drug addiction.

  11. Deficit in complex sequence processing after a virtual lesion of left BA45.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Emeline Clerget

    Full Text Available Although the contribution of Broca's area to motor cognition is generally accepted, its exact role remains controversial. A previous functional imaging study has suggested that Broca's area implements hierarchically organised motor behaviours and, in particular, that its anterior (Brodmann area 45, BA45 and posterior (BA44 parts process, respectively, higher and lower-level hierarchical elements. This function of Broca's area could generalize to other cognitive functions, including language. However, because of the correlative nature of functional imaging data, the causal relationship between Broca's region activation and its behavioural significance cannot be ascertained. To circumvent this limitation, we used on-line repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation to disrupt neuronal processing in left BA45, left BA44 or left dorsal premotor cortex, three areas that have been shown to exhibit a phasic activation when participants performed hierarchically organised motor behaviours. The experiment was conducted in healthy volunteers performing the same two key-press sequences as those used in a previous imaging study, and which differed in terms of hierarchical organisation. The performance of the lower-order hierarchical task (Experiment #1 was unaffected by magnetic stimulation. In contrast, in the higher-order hierarchical task (Experiment #2, "superordinate" task, we found that a virtual lesion of the anterior part of Broca's area (left BA45 delayed the processing of the cue initiating the sequence in an effector-independent way. Interestingly, in this task, the initiation cue only informed the subjects about the rules to be applied to produce the appropriate response but did not allow them to anticipate the entire motor sequence. A second important finding was a RT decrease following left PMd virtual lesions in the superordinate task, a result compatible with the view that PMd plays a critical role in impulse control. The present study

  12. Dissociative Disturbance in Hangul-Hanja Reading after a Left Posterior Occipital Lesion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Key-Chung Park

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available Since the Korean language has two distinct writing systems, phonogram (Hangul and ideogram (Hanja: Chinese characters, alexia can present with dissociative disturbances in reading between the two systems. A 74-year-old right-handed man presented with a prominent reading impairment in Hangul with agraphia of both Hangul and Hanja after a left posterior occipital- parietal lesion. He could not recognize single syllable words and nonwords in Hangul, and visual errors were predominant in both Hanja reading and the Korean Boston Naming Test. In addition, he had difficulties in visuoperceptual tests including Judgment of Line Orientation, Hierarchical Navon figures, and complex picture scanning. These findings are consistent with the hypothesis that Hangul reading impairment results from a general visual perceptual deficit. However, this assumption cannot explain why performance on visually complex Hanja was better than performance on visually simple Hanja in our patient. In addition, the patient did not demonstrate higher accuracy on Hanja characters with fewer strokes than on words with more strokes. Thus, we speculate that the left posterior occipital area may be specialized for Hangul letter identification in this patient. This case demonstrates that Hangul-Hanja reading dissociation impairment can occur after occipital-parietal lesions.

  13. Outcomes After Orbital Atherectomy of Severely Calcified Left Main Lesions: Analysis of the ORBIT II Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Michael S; Shlofmitz, Evan; Shlofmitz, Richard; Sahni, Sheila; Martinsen, Brad; Chambers, Jeffrey

    2016-09-01

    The ORBIT II trial reported excellent outcomes in patients with severely calcified coronary lesions treated with orbital atherectomy. Severe calcification of the left main (LM) artery represents a complex coronary lesion subset. This study evaluated the safety and efficacy of coronary orbital atherectomy to prepare severely calcified protected LM artery lesions for stent placement. The ORBIT II trial was a prospective, multicenter clinical trial that enrolled 443 patients with severely calcified coronary lesions in the United States. The major adverse cardiac event (MACE) rate through 2 years post procedure, defined by cardiac death, myocardial infarction (CK-MB >3x upper limit of normal with or without a new pathologic Q-wave) and target-vessel revascularization, was compared in the LM and non-left main (NLM) groups. Among the 443 patients, a total of 10 underwent orbital atherectomy of protected LM artery lesions. At 2 years, there was no significant difference in the 2-year MACE rate in the LM and NLM groups (30.0% vs 19.1%, respectively; P=.36). Cardiac death was low in both groups (0% vs 4.4%, respectively; P=.99). Myocardial infarction occurred within 30 days in both groups (10.0% vs 9.7%, respectively; P=.99). Severe dissection, perforation, persistent slow flow, and persistent no reflow did not occur in the LM group. Abrupt closure occurred in 1 patient in the LM group. Orbital atherectomy for patients with heavily calcified LM coronary artery lesions is safe and feasible. Further studies are needed to assess the safety and efficacy of orbital atherectomy in patients with severely calcified LM artery lesions.

  14. Development of filtration equipment to reuse PFC decontamination wastewater

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Gye Nam; Lee, Sung Yeol; Won, Hui Jun; Jung Chong Hun; Oh, Won Zin; Park, Jin Ho

    2005-01-01

    When PFC(Perfluorocarbonate) decontamination technology is applied to removal of radioactive contaminated particulate adhered at surface during the operation of nuclear research facilities, it is necessary to develop a filtration equipment to reuse of PFC solution due to high price, also to minimize the volume of second wastewater. Contaminated characteristics of hot particulate was investigated and a filtration process was presented to remove suspended radioactive particulate from PFC decontamination wastewater generated on PFC decontamination

  15. Brain Regions Influencing Implicit Violent Attitudes: A Lesion-Mapping Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cristofori, Irene; Zhong, Wanting; Mandoske, Valerie; Chau, Aileen; Krueger, Frank; Strenziok, Maren; Grafman, Jordan

    2016-03-02

    Increased aggression is common after traumatic brain injuries and may persist after cognitive recovery. Maladaptive aggression and violence are associated with dysfunction in the prefrontal and temporal cortex, but such dysfunctional behaviors are typically measured by explicit scales and history. However, it is well known that answers on explicit scales on sensitive topics--such as aggressive thoughts and behaviors--may not reveal true tendencies. Here, we investigated the neural basis of implicit attitudes toward aggression in humans using a modified version of the Implicit Association Task (IAT) with a unique sample of 112 Vietnam War veterans who suffered penetrating brain injury and 33 healthy controls who also served in combat in Vietnam but had no history of brain injury. We hypothesized that dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) lesions, due to the crucial role of the dlPFC in response inhibition, could influence performance on the IAT. In addition, we investigated the causal contribution of specific brain areas to implicit attitudes toward violence. We found a more positive implicit attitude toward aggression among individuals with lesions to the dlPFC and inferior posterior temporal cortex (ipTC). Furthermore, executive functions were critically involved in regulating implicit attitudes toward violence and aggression. Our findings complement existing evidence on the neural basis of explicit aggression centered on the ventromedial prefrontal cortex. These findings highlight that dlPFC and ipTC play a causal role in modulating implicit attitudes about violence and are crucially involved in the pathogenesis of aggressive behavior. Maladaptive aggression and violence can lead to interpersonal conflict and criminal behavior. Surprisingly little is known about implicit attitudes toward violence and aggression. Here, we used a range of techniques, including voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping, to examine the causal role of brain structures underpinning implicit

  16. [Hyperlexia in an adult patient with lesions in the left medial frontal lobe].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suzuki, K; Yamadori, A; Kumabe, T; Endo, K; Fujii, T; Yoshimoto, T

    2000-04-01

    A 69-year-old right-handed woman developed a transcortical motor aphasia with hyperlexia following resection of a glioma in the left medial frontal lobe. Neurological examination revealed grasp reflex in the right hand and underutilization of the right upper extremity. An MRI demonstrated lesions in the left medial frontal lobe including the supplementary motor area and the anterior part of the cingulate gyrus, which extended to the anterior part of the body of corpus callosum. Neuropsychologically she was alert and cooperative. She demonstrated transcortical motor aphasia. Her verbal output began with echolalia. Furthermore hyperlexia was observed in daily activities and during examinations. During conversation she suddenly read words written on objects around her which were totally irrelevant to the talk. When she was walking in the ward with an examiner she read words written on a trash bag that passed by and signboards which indicated a name of a room. Her conversation while walking was intermingled with reading words, which was irrelevant to the conversation. She also read time on analog clocks, which were hung on a wall in a watch store. In a naming task, she read words written on objects first and named them upon repeated question about their names. When an examiner opened a newspaper in front of her without any instructions she began reading until the examiner prohibited it. Then she began reading again when an examiner turned the page, although she remembered that she should not read it aloud. She showed mild ideomotor apraxia of a left hand. Utilization behavior, imitation behavior, hypergraphia, or compulsive use of objects was not observed throughout the course. Hyperlexic tendency is a prominent feature of this patient's language output. Hyperlexia was often reported in children with pervasive developmental disorders including autism. There are only a few reports about hyperlexia in adults and some of them were related to diffuse brain dysfunction

  17. Comparing and Contrasting the Cognitive Effects of Hippocampal and Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Damage: A Review of Human Lesion Studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McCormick, Cornelia; Ciaramelli, Elisa; De Luca, Flavia; Maguire, Eleanor A

    2018-03-15

    The hippocampus and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) are closely connected brain regions whose functions are still debated. In order to offer a fresh perspective on understanding the contributions of these two brain regions to cognition, in this review we considered cognitive tasks that usually elicit deficits in hippocampal-damaged patients (e.g., autobiographical memory retrieval), and examined the performance of vmPFC-lesioned patients on these tasks. We then took cognitive tasks where performance is typically compromised following vmPFC damage (e.g., decision making), and looked at how these are affected by hippocampal lesions. Three salient motifs emerged. First, there are surprising gaps in our knowledge about how hippocampal and vmPFC patients perform on tasks typically associated with the other group. Second, while hippocampal or vmPFC damage seems to adversely affect performance on so-called hippocampal tasks, the performance of hippocampal and vmPFC patients clearly diverges on classic vmPFC tasks. Third, although performance appears analogous on hippocampal tasks, on closer inspection, there are significant disparities between hippocampal and vmPFC patients. Based on these findings, we suggest a tentative hierarchical model to explain the functions of the hippocampus and vmPFC. We propose that the vmPFC initiates the construction of mental scenes by coordinating the curation of relevant elements from neocortical areas, which are then funneled into the hippocampus to build a scene. The vmPFC then engages in iterative re-initiation via feedback loops with neocortex and hippocampus to facilitate the flow and integration of the multiple scenes that comprise the coherent unfolding of an extended mental event. Copyright © 2017 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  18. Sex differences in the functional lateralization of emotion and decision making in the human brain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Reber, Justin; Tranel, Daniel

    2017-01-02

    Dating back to the case of Phineas Gage, decades of neuropsychological research have shown that the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) is crucial to both real-world social functioning and abstract decision making in the laboratory (see, e.g., Stuss et al., ; Bechara et al., 1994; Damasio et al., ). Previous research has shown that the relationship between the laterality of individuals' vmPFC lesions and neuropsychological performance is moderated by their sex, whereby there are more severe social, emotional, and decision-making impairments in men with right-side vmPFC lesions and in women with left-side vmPFC lesions (Tranel et al., 2005; Sutterer et al., 2015). We conducted a selective review of studies examining the effect of vmPFC lesions on emotion and decision making and found further evidence of sex-related differences in the lateralization of function not only in the vmPFC but also in other neurological structures associated with decision making and emotion. This Mini-Review suggests that both sex and laterality effects warrant more careful consideration in the scientific literature. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  19. tDCS Stimulation of the dlPFC Selectively Moderates the Detrimental Impact of Emotion on Analytical Reasoning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trémolière, Bastien; Maheux-Caron, Véronique; Lepage, Jean-François; Blanchette, Isabelle

    2018-01-01

    There is evidence of a detrimental effect of emotion on reasoning. Recent studies suggest that this relationship is mediated by working memory, a function closely associated with the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). Relying on transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), the present research explores the possibility that anodal stimulation of the dlPFC has the potential to prevent the effect of emotion on analytical reasoning. Thirty-four participants took part in a lab experiment and were tested twice: one session using offline anodal stimulation (with a 2 mA current stimulation applied to the left dlPFC for 20 min), one session using a control (sham) stimulation. In each session, participants solved syllogistic reasoning problems featuring neutral and emotionally negative contents. Results showed that anodal stimulation diminished the deleterious effect of emotion on syllogistic reasoning, but only for a subclass of problems: problems where the conclusion was logically valid. We discuss our results in the light of the reasoning literature as well as the apparent variability of tDCS effects.

  20. Neonatal ventral hippocampus lesion alters the dopamine content in the limbic regions in postpubertal rats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alquicer, Glenda; Silva-Gómez, Adriana B; Peralta, Fernando; Flores, Gonzalo

    2004-04-01

    The neonatal ventral Hippocampus (nVH) lesion in rats has been used as a model to test the hypothesis that early neurodevelopmental abnormalities lead to behavioral changes putatively linked to schizophrenia. The schizophrenic patients tend to social isolation. In addition, considerable evidence from behavioral and neurochemistry studies strongly implicate the dopamine (DA) system and the medial part of the prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in the pathophysiology of the social isolation syndrome. In order to assess effects of the postweaning social isolation (pwSI) on the DA system of the nVH lesions, we investigated the DA content and its metabolite, DOPAC in different limbic subregions in rats postpubertally at postnatal day (P) 78 following nVH lesions at P7 with and without pwSI for 8 weeks. The DA and DOPAC were measured by HPLC with electrochemical detection. The nVH lesion induces increase in the DA content in the hippocampus with no effect in the mPFC, nucleus accumbens and caudate-putamen, while the pwSI induces major increase in the DA content in limbic subregions such as the mPFC, nucleus accumbens and hipocampus with opposite effect in the caudate-putamen. These results suggest that while pwSI has an effect in the postpubertal content of DA in both sham and nVH lesions in rats, the nVH-lesioned rats appear to be affected to a greater extent than the sham animals underscoring the influence of pwSI differences in the development of behaviors in the nVH-lesioned animals.

  1. Cyclo-octafluorobutane (PFC-318) in the global atmosphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Muhle, J.; Vollmer, M. K.; Fraser, P. J.; Rhee, T. S.; Ivy, D. J.; Arnold, T.; Harth, C. M.; Salameh, P.; O'Doherty, S.; Young, D.; Steele, P.; Krummel, P. B.; Leist, M.; Schmidbauer, N.; Lunder, C.; Kim, J.; Kim, K.; Reimann, S.; Simmonds, P.; Prinn, R. G.; Weiss, R. F.

    2010-12-01

    PFC-318 (c-C4F8, cyclo-octafluorobutane) is a long-lived (3200 years) perfluorocarbon (PFC) greenhouse gas with a high 100-year Global Warming Potential (GWP100 = 10,300) and a wide range of industrial uses. We extend previous atmospheric measurements of PFC-318 in the Cape Grim Air Archive (Oram, 1999) with our new in situ measurements from remote and urban AGAGE (Advanced Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment) and affiliated stations. Our longest in situ record is from the Jungfraujoch observatory in the Swiss Alps, and our data set is augmented by measurements of flasks from the King Sejong and Troll coastal Antarctic stations and several locations in the Northern Hemisphere. In mid-2009 we find ˜1.25 ppt (parts-per-trillion, dry mol fraction) in the Northern Hemisphere and ˜1.20 ppt in the Southern Hemisphere, with rise rates of ˜0.03 ppt/yr and an interhemispheric ratio of ˜1.04. We obtain PFC-318 emissions for 2008-2010 of ˜1 Gg/yr using a simple box model, and preliminary measurements of older archived air at SIO indicate similar emissions since at the least the late 1990s. In contrast, the EDGAR v4 emissions database estimates much lower PFC-318 emissions of 0.02 Gg/yr for 2005. Using GWP100 we calculate ˜10 million tons of CO2-equivalent PFC-318 emissions/yr for 2008-2010, about double the CO2-equivalent PFC-218 annual emissions, or 0.4 times the CO2-equivalent PFC-116 annual emissions, reported for 2008-2009 by Mühle et al. (2010). Thus PFC-318 is the third most important PFC in terms of CO2-equivalent emissions. We find mostly baseline conditions at remote AGAGE stations and urban sites in the USA, Europe, and Australia, in contrast to frequent above baseline conditions at Gosan station, Jeju Island, South Korea, indicating significant emission sources in East Asia as found by Saito et al. (2010). Oram, D.E., Trends of long-lived anthropogenic halocarbons in the Southern Hemisphere and model calculation of global emissions, Ph.D. thesis, University

  2. New Perspectives on the Brain Lesion Approach - Implications for Theoretical Models of Human Memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Irish, Muireann; van Kesteren, Marlieke T R

    2018-03-15

    Human lesion studies represent the cornerstone of modern day neuropsychology and provide an important adjunct to functional neuroimaging methods. The study of human lesion groups with damage to distinct regions of the brain permits the identification of underlying mechanisms and structures not only associated with, but essential for, complex cognitive processes. Here, we consider a recent review by McCormick et al., 2018 in which the power of the lesion model approach is elegantly presented with respect to a host of sophisticated cognitive endeavors, including autobiographical memory, future thinking, spatial navigation, and decision-making. By comparing profiles of loss and sparing in hippocampal (HC) and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) lesion groups, the authors provide new insights into the underlying neuroarchitecture of these diverse cognitive functions. Building on this framework, we consider how vmPFC and HC degeneration, in the context of large-scale network dysfunction in dementia, impacts discrete facets of memory and social cognition. Notably, we find remarkable concordance between the available evidence in dementia and that of the HC and vmPFC lesion literature. We further assess the role of the prefrontal cortex in modulating aspects of spatial navigation and discuss the role of schema-related processing in the service of memory more broadly. Far from being obsolete, we contend that human lesion work occupies a crucial position in cognitive neuroscience and offers an array of exciting areas for future study within this field. Copyright © 2017 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  3. High Efficiency PFC Frontend for Class-D Amplifiers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Li, Qingnan; Frium, Mads P.

    2012-01-01

    This thesis investigates the design of high eciency Power Factor Correction (PFC) converter for Class-D amplier at universal line and 3.5kW power range. The work starts with an overview on dierent high eciency Bridgeless PFC topologies and investigates their applicability with respect to the given...... speci- cations in Chapter 1. Based on the conclusions of Chapter 2, the single-phase Two-Boost-Circuit Bridgeless PFC converter topology is considered the most promising to start with regarding the achievable converter eciency and the EMI performances.The subsequent Chapters discuss the method...

  4. Altered functional connectivity in lesional peduncular hallucinosis with REM sleep behavior disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Geddes, Maiya R; Tie, Yanmei; Gabrieli, John D E; McGinnis, Scott M; Golby, Alexandra J; Whitfield-Gabrieli, Susan

    2016-01-01

    Brainstem lesions causing peduncular hallucinosis (PH) produce vivid visual hallucinations occasionally accompanied by sleep disorders. Overlapping brainstem regions modulate visual pathways and REM sleep functions via gating of thalamocortical networks. A 66-year-old man with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation developed abrupt-onset complex visual hallucinations with preserved insight and violent dream enactment behavior. Brain MRI showed restricted diffusion in the left rostrodorsal pons suggestive of an acute ischemic stroke. REM sleep behavior disorder (RBD) was diagnosed on polysomnography. We investigated the integrity of ponto-geniculate-occipital circuits with seed-based resting-state functional connectivity MRI (rs-fcMRI) in this patient compared to 46 controls. Rs-fcMRI revealed significantly reduced functional connectivity between the lesion and lateral geniculate nuclei (LGN), and between LGN and visual association cortex compared to controls. Conversely, functional connectivity between brainstem and visual association cortex, and between visual association cortex and prefrontal cortex (PFC) was significantly increased in the patient. Focal damage to the rostrodorsal pons is sufficient to cause RBD and PH in humans, suggesting an overlapping mechanism in both syndromes. This lesion produced a pattern of altered functional connectivity consistent with disrupted visual cortex connectivity via de-afferentation of thalamocortical pathways. Crown Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Neuroanatomy of the vmPFC and dlPFC predicts individual differences in cognitive regulation during dietary self-control across regulation strategies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schmidt, Liane; Tusche, Anita; Manoharan, Nicolas; Hutcherson, Cendri; Hare, Todd; Plassmann, Hilke

    2018-06-04

    Making healthy food choices is challenging for many people. Individuals differ greatly in their ability to follow health goals in the face of temptation, but it is unclear what underlies such differences. Using voxel-based morphometry (VBM), we investigated in healthy humans (i.e., men and women) links between structural variation in gray matter volume and individuals' level of success in shifting toward healthier food choices. We combined MRI and choice data into a joint dataset by pooling across three independent studies that employed a task prompting participants to explicitly focus on the healthiness of food items before making their food choices. Within this dataset, we found that individual differences in gray matter volume in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) predicted regulatory success. We extended and confirmed these initial findings by predicting regulatory success out of sample and across tasks in a second dataset requiring participants to apply a different regulation strategy that entailed distancing from cravings for unhealthy, appetitive foods. Our findings suggest that neuroanatomical markers in the vmPFC and dlPFC generalized to different forms of dietary regulation strategies across participant groups. They provide novel evidence that structural differences in neuroanatomy of two key regions for valuation and its control, the vmPFC and dlPFC, predict an individual's ability to exert control in dietary choices. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Dieting involves regulating food choices in order to eat healthier foods and fewer unhealthy foods. People differ dramatically in their ability to achieve or maintain this regulation, but it is unclear why. Here, we show that individuals with more gray matter volume in the dorsolateral and ventromedial prefrontal cortex are better at exercising dietary self-control. This relationship was observed across four different studies examining two different forms of dietary

  6. Power factor correction (PFC) converters feeding brushless DC ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    This paper presents a comprehensive study of power factor correction (PFC) converters for feeding brushless DC (BLDC) motor drive. This work explores various configurations of PFC converters which are classified into five different categories of non-isolated, bridgeless (BL) non-isolated, isolated, BL-isolated PFC ...

  7. Prefrontal cortex or basolateral amygdala lesions blocked the stress-induced inversion of serial memory retrieval pattern in mice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chauveau, F; Piérard, C; Coutan, M; Drouet, I; Liscia, P; Béracochéa, D

    2008-09-01

    Previous data from our team have shown that pre-test stress in mice reversed the pattern of memory retrieval in a contextual serial spatial task (CSD; Celerier, A., Pierard, C., Rachbauer, D., Sarrieau, A., & Beracochea, D. (2004). Contextual and serial discriminations: A new learning paradigm to assess simultaneously the effects of acute stress on retrieval of flexible or stable information in mice. Learning and Memory, 11, 196-204). The present study is aimed at determining brain areas which might be critically involved in mediating the stress effect on memory retrieval in the CSD task. For that purpose, we studied hereby the effects of ibotenic acid lesions of either the prefrontal cortex (PFC) or the basolateral amygdala (BLA) in Stressed or Non-Stressed Balb/c mice on memory retrieval in the CSD task. In that task, mice learned two successive spatial discriminations (D1 and D2) within two different internal contexts in a four-hole board. The stressor (electric footshocks) was delivered 5 min before test, occurring 24 h after acquisition. During test, mice were relocated either on the floor of the first or of the second discrimination. Results showed that (i) spatial memory was substantial and remained unaffected both by lesions and stress; (ii) Non-Stressed controls as well as Non-Stressed or Stressed PFC and BLA-lesioned mice remembered accurately D1 but not D2; and (iii) in contrast, Stressed controls accurately remembered D2 but not D1. In parallel to behavioral experiments, we also showed that PFC and BLA lesions did not affect the stress-induced increase of plasma corticosterone levels. All together, PFC and BLA integrity are not necessary for retrieval processes per se; in contrast, the PFC and BLA are critically involved in the mediation of the deleterious stress effects on serial order memory retrieval.

  8. Bridgeless SEPIC PFC Converter for Multistring LED Driver

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jha, Aman; Singh, Bhim

    2018-05-01

    This paper deals with Power Factor Correction (PFC) in Low Voltage High Current (LVHC) multi-string light emitting diode (LED) using a bridgeless (BL) single ended primary inductance converter (SEPIC). This application is designed for large area LED lighting with illumination control. A multi-mode LED dimming technique is used for the lighting control. The BL-SEPIC PFC converter is used as a load emulator for high power factor. The regulated low voltage from flyback converter is a source power to the synchronous buck converters for multi-string LED driver and forced cooling system for LED junction. The BL-SEPIC PFC converter inductor design is based on Discontinuous Inductor Current Modes (DICM) which provides good PFC at low cost. Test results are found quite satisfactory for universal input AC (90-265 V). There is significant improvement in the power factor and input current Total Harmonic Distortion (THD) with good margin of harmonic limits for lighting IEC 61000-3-2 Class C.

  9. Left-sided congenital heart lesions in mosaic Turner syndrome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bouayed Abdelmoula, Nouha; Abdelmoula, Balkiss; Smaoui, Walid; Trabelsi, Imen; Louati, Rim; Aloulou, Samir; Aloulou, Wafa; Abid, Fatma; Kammoun, Senda; Trigui, Khaled; Bedoui, Olfa; Denguir, Hichem; Mallek, Souad; Ben Aziza, Mustapha; Dammak, Jamila; Kaabi, Oldez; Abdellaoui, Nawel; Turki, Fatma; Kaabi, Asma; Kamoun, Wafa; Jabeur, Jihen; Ltaif, Wided; Chaker, Kays; Fourati, Haytham; M'rabet, Samir; Ben Ameur, Hedi; Gouia, Naourez; Mhiri, Mohamed Nabil; Rebai, Tarek

    2018-04-01

    In the era of the diseasomes and interactome networks, linking genetics with phenotypic traits in Turner syndrome should be studied thoroughly. As a part of this stratagem, mosaicism of both X and Y chromosome which is a common finding in TS and an evaluation of congenital heart diseases in the different situations of mosaic TS types, can be helpful in the identification of disturbed sex chromosomes, genes and signaling pathway actors. Here we report the case of a mosaic TS associated to four left-sided CHD, including BAV, COA, aortic aneurysms and dissections at an early age. The mosaicism included two cell lines, well-defined at the cytogenetic and molecular levels: a cell line which is monosomic for Xp and Xq genes (45,X) and another which is trisomic for pseudoautosomal genes that are present on the X and Y chromosomes and escape X inactivation: 45,X[8]/46,X,idic(Y)(pter→q11.2::q11.2→pter)[42]. This case generates two hypotheses about the contribution of genes linked to the sex chromosomes and the signaling pathways involving these genes, in left-sided heart diseases. The first hypothesis suggests the interaction between X chromosome and autosomal genes or loci of aortic development, possibly dose-dependent, and which could be in the framework of TGF-β-SMAD signaling pathways. The second implies that left-sided congenital heart lesions involve sex chromosomes loci. The reduced dosage of X chromosome gene(s), escaping X inactivation during development, contributes to this type of CHD. Regarding our case, these X chromosome genes may have homologues at the Y chromosome, but the process of inactivation of the centromeres of the isodicentric Y spreads to the concerned Y chromosome genes. Therefore, this case emerges as an invitation to consider the mosaics of Turner syndrome and to study their phenotypes in correlation with their genotypes to discover the underlying developmental and genetic mechanisms, especially the ones related to sex chromosomes.

  10. Dyscalculia, Dysgraphia, and Left-Right Confusion from a Left Posterior Peri-Insular Infarct

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    S. Bhattacharyya

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available The Gerstmann syndrome of dyscalculia, dysgraphia, left-right confusion, and finger agnosia is generally attributed to lesions near the angular gyrus of the dominant hemisphere. A 68-year-old right-handed woman presented with sudden difficulty completing a Sudoku grid and was found to have dyscalculia, dysgraphia, and left-right confusion. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI showed a focus of abnormal reduced diffusivity in the left posterior insula and temporoparietal operculum consistent with acute infarct. Gerstmann syndrome from an insular or peri-insular lesion has not been described in the literature previously. Pathological and functional imaging studies show connections between left posterior insular region and inferior parietal lobe. We postulate that the insula and operculum lesion disrupted key functional networks resulting in a pseudoparietal presentation.

  11. Dyscalculia, dysgraphia, and left-right confusion from a left posterior peri-insular infarct.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bhattacharyya, S; Cai, X; Klein, J P

    2014-01-01

    The Gerstmann syndrome of dyscalculia, dysgraphia, left-right confusion, and finger agnosia is generally attributed to lesions near the angular gyrus of the dominant hemisphere. A 68-year-old right-handed woman presented with sudden difficulty completing a Sudoku grid and was found to have dyscalculia, dysgraphia, and left-right confusion. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed a focus of abnormal reduced diffusivity in the left posterior insula and temporoparietal operculum consistent with acute infarct. Gerstmann syndrome from an insular or peri-insular lesion has not been described in the literature previously. Pathological and functional imaging studies show connections between left posterior insular region and inferior parietal lobe. We postulate that the insula and operculum lesion disrupted key functional networks resulting in a pseudoparietal presentation.

  12. Effect of Physical Activity on Symptoms of Morphine Addiction in Rats, after and before of Lesion of the mPFC Area

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Vajiheh Saedi-Marghmaleki

    2013-10-01

    Administration of morphine as aforementioned, and treadmill running on rats with mPFC area, significantly alleviated some of the symptoms and signs, such as, bruxism, cycling, body lift, licking, standing and scratching (P

  13. Impaired awareness of action-outcome contingency and causality during healthy ageing and following ventromedial prefrontal cortex lesions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    O'Callaghan, Claire; Vaghi, Matilde M; Brummerloh, Berit; Cardinal, Rudolf N; Robbins, Trevor W

    2018-02-02

    Detecting causal relationships between actions and their outcomes is fundamental to guiding goal-directed behaviour. The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) has been extensively implicated in computing these environmental contingencies, via animal lesion models and human neuroimaging. However, whether the vmPFC is critical for contingency learning, and whether it can occur without subjective awareness of those contingencies, has not been established. To address this, we measured response adaption to contingency and subjective awareness of action-outcome relationships in individuals with vmPFC lesions and healthy elderly subjects. We showed that in both vmPFC damage and ageing, successful behavioural adaptation to variations in action-outcome contingencies was maintained, but subjective awareness of these contingencies was reduced. These results highlight two contexts where performance and awareness have been dissociated, and show that learning response-outcome contingencies to guide behaviour can occur without subjective awareness. Preserved responding in the vmPFC group suggests that this region is not critical for computing action-outcome contingencies to guide behaviour. In contrast, our findings highlight a critical role for the vmPFC in supporting awareness, or metacognitive ability, during learning. We further advance the hypothesis that responding to changing environmental contingencies, whilst simultaneously maintaining conscious awareness of those statistical regularities, is a form of dual-tasking that is impaired in ageing due to reduced prefrontal function. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  14. Physicochemical characteristics of PFC surfactants for dry decontamination

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Oh, Won Jin; Lee, Chi Woo [Korea University, Seoul (Korea)

    2001-04-01

    Even the trace amount of the used nuclear fuels of high radioactivity are hazardous to the earth and humans. Perfluorocarbons and perfluorocarbon surfactants are emerging to be efficient chemicals in the dry decontamination process of the used fuels of high radioactivity. The theme was undertaken to increase the knowledge on perfluorocarbon surfactants to develop the perfluorocarbon system in the dry decontamination process in Korea. Several cationic and anionic pfc surfactants were synthesized. Effects of pfc surfactants on electrochemical etching of silicon were investigated to form porous silicons. Forces were measured between silicon surfaces and AFM tip in the absence and presence of pfc surfactants. 7 refs., 10 figs. (Author)

  15. Lesion patterns in patients with cryptogenic stroke with and without right-to-left-shunt.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feurer, R; Sadikovic, S; Esposito, L; Schwarze, J; Bockelbrink, A; Hemmer, B; Sander, D; Poppert, H

    2009-10-01

    Despite numerous studies, the role of patent foramen ovale (PFO) as a risk factor for stroke due to paradoxical embolism is still controversial. On the assumption that specific lesion patterns, in particular multiple acute ischaemic lesions on diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging, indicate a cardioembolic origin, we compared the MRI findings in stroke patients with right-to-left shunt (RLS) and those without. The records of 486 patients with diagnosis of cerebral ischaemia were reviewed. For detection of RLS, contrast-enhanced transcranial Doppler (c-TCD) was carried out in all patients. An MRI scan of the brain was performed in all patients. Affected vascular territories were divided into anterior cerebral artery, middle cerebral artery, vertebrobasilar artery system including posterior cerebral artery, brain stem and cerebellar stroke, and strokes occurring in more than one territory. We did not find a specific difference in neuroradiological lesion patterns in patients with RLS compared with patients without RLS. In particular, 23 of 165 patients (13.9%) with RLS showed multiple ischaemic lesions on MRI in comparison with 45 of 321 patients (14.0%) without RLS (P = 0.98). These findings also applied for the subgroup of cryptogenic strokes with and without RLS. We found no association between an ischaemic lesion pattern that is considered as being typical for stroke due to cardiac embolism and the existence of PFO. Therefore, our findings do not provide any support for the common theory of paradoxical embolism as a major cause of stroke in PFO carriers.

  16. Lesion localization in aphasia without hemiparesis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Komatsu, Midori; Senoh, Yoko; Okamoto, Koichi; Morimatsu, Mitsunori; Hirai, Shunsaku

    1983-01-01

    The distribution of the lesions responsible for aphasia unassociated with right-sided hemiparesis was evaluated by cranial computed tomography (CT) among stroke patients. In the Broca aphasia group were observed atypical aphasic symptoms, and the lesions were far more localized than in ordinary Broca one. In the Wernicke aphasia group showed relatively large lesions in the left superior temporal gyrus, sometimes extending to supramarginal and angular gyri, which caused such additional symptoms as apraxia without motor paresis in some cases. In the Transcortical motor aphasia group showed the occlusion of the left internal carotid artery, though without obvious abnormality at CT. In another patient a circumscribed low density lesion was disclosed in the area anterior and superior to so-called Broca's area. In the Transcortical sensory aphasia group, the lesion involved the borderzone supplied by the left middle and posterior cerebral arteries. In the Amnestic aphasia group showed a lesion in the left parietal lobe, while in another no remarkable change was demonstrated. In the Global aphasia group, one had multiple isolated lesions in both anterior and posterior speech areas. Another showed a large lesion involving the whole territory of the left middle cerebral artery. In the remaining one a high density area was observed in the left superior temporal, supramarginal and angular gyri, not extending to the frontal lobe beyond with sylvian fissure. Therefore, in interpreting CTs of such aphasic patients we must take account of not only the extent of the lesion but also the severity of destruction. (J.P.N.)

  17. Lesion localization in aphasia without hemiparesis

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Komatsu, Midori; Senoh, Yoko; Okamoto, Koichi; Morimatsu, Mitsunori; Hirai, Shunsaku (Gunma Univ., Maebashi (Japan). School of Medicine)

    1983-06-01

    The distribution of the lesions responsible for aphasia unassociated with right-sided hemiparesis was evaluated by cranial computed tomography (CT) among stroke patients. In the Broca aphasia group were observed atypical aphasic symptoms, and the lesions were far more localized than in ordinary Broca one. In the Wernicke aphasia group showed relatively large lesions in the left superior temporal gyrus, sometimes extending to supramarginal and angular gyri, which caused such additional symptoms as apraxia without motor paresis in some cases. In the Transcortical motor aphasia group showed the occlusion of the left internal carotid artery, though without obvious abnormality at CT. In another patient a circumscribed low density lesion was disclosed in the area anterior and superior to so-called Broca's area. In the Transcortical sensory aphasia group, the lesion involved the borderzone supplied by the left middle and posterior cerebral arteries. In the Amnestic aphasia group showed a lesion in the left parietal lobe, while in another no remarkable change was demonstrated. In the Global aphasia group, one had multiple isolated lesions in both anterior and posterior speech areas. Another showed a large lesion involving the whole territory of the left middle cerebral artery. In the remaining one a high density area was observed in the left superior temporal, supramarginal and angular gyri, not extending to the frontal lobe beyond with sylvian fissure. Therefore, in interpreting CTs of such aphasic patients we must take account of not only the extent of the lesion but also the severity of destruction.

  18. Prefrontal cortex and hippocampus in behavioural flexibility and posttraumatic functional recovery

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Rytter, Hana Malá; Andersen, Lykke Grønbech; Christensen, Rie Friis

    2015-01-01

    -shifting. Postoperatively, the animals were trained to perform a spatial discrimination go-right task. This was followed by (1) a spatial reversal go-left task (reversal learning), or (2) a visual pattern discrimination task (set-shift). Neither single (PFC or FF) lesion nor combined (COMB) lesions affected the animals....... We conclude that both the PFC and the hippocampus contributed to the mediation of the reversal learning and set-shifting. During functional recovery of reversal learning, these two structures exhibited a mutual dependency, whilst the functional recovery of set-shifting was mediated by a substrate...

  19. Double Kissing Crush Versus Provisional Stenting for Left Main Distal Bifurcation Lesions: DKCRUSH-V Randomized Trial.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Shao-Liang; Zhang, Jue-Jie; Han, Yaling; Kan, Jing; Chen, Lianglong; Qiu, Chunguang; Jiang, Tiemin; Tao, Ling; Zeng, Hesong; Li, Li; Xia, Yong; Gao, Chuanyu; Santoso, Teguh; Paiboon, Chootopol; Wang, Yan; Kwan, Tak W; Ye, Fei; Tian, Nailiang; Liu, Zhizhong; Lin, Song; Lu, Chengzhi; Wen, Shangyu; Hong, Lang; Zhang, Qi; Sheiban, Imad; Xu, Yawei; Wang, Lefeng; Rab, Tanveer S; Li, Zhanquan; Cheng, Guanchang; Cui, Lianqun; Leon, Martin B; Stone, Gregg W

    2017-11-28

    Provisional stenting (PS) is the most common technique used to treat distal left main (LM) bifurcation lesions in patients with unprotected LM coronary artery disease undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention. The double kissing (DK) crush planned 2-stent technique has been shown to improve clinical outcomes in non-LM bifurcations compared with PS, and in LM bifurcations compared with culotte stenting, but has never been compared with PS in LM bifurcation lesions. The authors sought to determine whether a planned DK crush 2-stent technique is superior to PS for patients with true distal LM bifurcation lesions. The authors randomized 482 patients from 26 centers in 5 countries with true distal LM bifurcation lesions (Medina 1,1,1 or 0,1,1) to PS (n = 242) or DK crush stenting (n = 240). The primary endpoint was the 1-year composite rate of target lesion failure (TLF): cardiac death, target vessel myocardial infarction, or clinically driven target lesion revascularization. Routine 13-month angiographic follow-up was scheduled after ascertainment of the primary endpoint. TLF within 1 year occurred in 26 patients (10.7%) assigned to PS, and in 12 patients (5.0%) assigned to DK crush (hazard ratio: 0.42; 95% confidence interval: 0.21 to 0.85; p = 0.02). Compared with PS, DK crush also resulted in lower rates of target vessel myocardial infarction I (2.9% vs. 0.4%; p = 0.03) and definite or probable stent thrombosis (3.3% vs. 0.4%; p = 0.02). Clinically driven target lesion revascularization (7.9% vs. 3.8%; p = 0.06) and angiographic restenosis within the LM complex (14.6% vs. 7.1%; p = 0.10) also tended to be less frequent with DK crush compared with PS. There was no significant difference in cardiac death between the groups. In the present multicenter randomized trial, percutaneous coronary intervention of true distal LM bifurcation lesions using a planned DK crush 2-stent strategy resulted in a lower rate of TLF at 1 year than a PS

  20. The feasibility study of hot cell decontamination by the PFC spray method

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hui-Jun Won; Chong-Hun Jung; Jei-Kwon Moon

    2008-01-01

    The characteristics of per-fluorocarbon compounds (PFC) are colorless, non-toxic, easily vaporized and nonflammable. Also, some of them are liquids of a high density, low surface tension, low latent heat and low specific heat. These particular chemical and physical properties of fluoro-organic compounds permit their use in very different fields such as electronics, medicine, tribology, nuclear and material science. The Sonatol process was developed under a contract with the DOE. The Sonatol process uses an ultrasonic agitation in a PFC solution that contains a fluorinated surfactant to remove radioactive particles from surfaces. Filtering the suspended particles allows the solutions to be reused indefinitely. They applied the Sonatol process to the decontamination of a heterogeneous legacy Pu-238 waste that exhibited an excessive hydrogen gas generation, which prevents a transportation of such a waste to a Waste Isolation Pilot Plant. Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) is developing dry decontamination technologies applicable to a decontamination of a highly radioactive area loosely contaminated with radioactive particles. This contamination has occurred as a result of an examination of a post-irradiated material or the development of the DUPIC process. The dry decontamination technologies developed are the carbon dioxide pellet spray method and the PFC spray method. As a part of the project, PFC ultrasonic decontamination technology was developed in 2004. The PFC spray decontamination method which is based on the test results of the PFC ultrasonic method has been under development since 2005. The developed PFC spray decontamination equipment consists of four modules (spray, collection, filtration and distillation). Vacuum cup of the collection module gathers the contaminated PFC solution, then the solution is moved to the filtration module and it is recycled. After a multiple recycling of the spent PFC solution, it is purified in the distillation

  1. The role of rostral prefrontal cortex in prospective memory: a voxel-based lesion study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Volle, Emmanuelle; Gonen-Yaacovi, Gil; Costello, Angela de Lacy; Gilbert, Sam J; Burgess, Paul W

    2011-07-01

    Patients with lesions in rostral prefrontal cortex (PFC) often experience problems in everyday-life situations requiring multitasking. A key cognitive component that is critical in multitasking situations is prospective memory, defined as the ability to carry out an intended action after a delay period filled with unrelated activity. The few functional imaging studies investigating prospective memory have shown consistent activation in both medial and lateral rostral PFC but also in more posterior prefrontal regions and non-frontal regions. The aim of this study was to determine regions that are necessary for prospective memory performance, using the human lesion approach. We designed an experimental paradigm allowing us to assess time-based (remembering to do something at a particular time) and event-based (remembering to do something in a particular situation) prospective memory, using two types of material, words and pictures. Time estimation tasks and tasks controlling for basic attention, inhibition and multiple instructions processing were also administered. We examined brain-behaviour relationships with a voxelwise lesion method in 45 patients with focal brain lesions and 107 control subjects using this paradigm. The results showed that lesions in the right polar prefrontal region (in Brodmann area 10) were specifically associated with a deficit in time-based prospective memory tasks for both words and pictures. This deficit could not be explained by impairments in basic attention, detection, inhibition or multiple instruction processing, and there was also no deficit in event-based prospective memory conditions. In addition to their prospective memory difficulties, these polar prefrontal patients were significantly impaired in time estimation ability compared to other patients. The same region was found to be involved using both words and pictures, suggesting that right rostral PFC plays a material nonspecific role in prospective memory. This is the first

  2. Investigation of stormwater quality improvements utilizing permeable friction course (PFC).

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-09-01

    This report describes research into the water quality and hydraulics of the Permeable Friction Course (PFC). : Water quality monitoring of 3 locations in the Austin area indicates up to a 90 percent reduction in pollutant : discharges from PFC compar...

  3. Study of radiation heat transfer between PFC and vacuum vessel during SST-1 baking

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chaudhuri, Paritosh E-mail: paritosh@ipr.res.in; Chenna Reddy, D.; Santra, P.; Khirwadkar, S.; Ravi Pragash, N.; Saxena, Y.C

    2003-01-01

    Steady-state superconducting tokamak (SST-1) is a medium size tokamak with superconducting magnetic field coils. Plasma facing components (PFC) of SST-1 are placed inside the vacuum vessel (VV) of the tokamak and are designed to be compatible for steady-state operation. The main consideration in the design of the PFC is the steady-state heat removal of up to 1 MW/m{sup 2}. In addition to remove high heat fluxes, the PFC are also designed to be compatible for baking at high temperature. Since it is difficult to calculate the radiation heat loads between PFC and VV in a 3-D irregular geometry, a simplified model of concentric cylinders has been chosen for the purpose of estimation of the power requirements and the thermal responses of PFC and VV during their bakeout phases. Thermal responses of the PFC and VV have been analysed and the analytical results have been compared with 2-D finite element analysis using ANSYS. The radiation losses between PFC and VV also have been evaluated on the actual model containing all PFC inside the VV.

  4. Design and thermal-hydraulic analysis of PFC baking for SST-1 Tokamak

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chaudhuri, Paritosh; Reddy, D. Chenna; Khirwadkar, S.; Prakash, N. Ravi; Santra, P.; Saxena, Y.C.

    2001-01-01

    The Steady-State Superconducting Tokamak (SST-1) is a medium-size tokamak with super-conducting magnetic field coils. Plasma facing components (PFC) of the SST-1, consisting of divertors, passive stabilisers, baffles, and poloidal limiters, are designed to be compatible for steady-state operation. Except for the poloidal limiters, all other PFC are structurally continuous in the toroidal direction. As SST-1 is designed to run double-null divertor plasmas, these components also have up-down symmetry. A closed divertor configuration is chosen to produce high recycling and high pumping speed in the divertor region. The passive stabilisers are located close to the plasma to provide stability against the vertical instability of the elongated plasma. The main consideration in the design of the PFC is the steady-state heat removal of up to 1 MW/m 2 . In addition to removing high heat fluxes, the PFC are also designed to be compatible for baking at 350 deg. C. Different flow parameters and various tube layouts have been examined to select the optimum thermal-hydraulic parameters and tube layout for different PFC of SST-1. Thermal response of the PFC during baking has been performed analytically (using a Fortran code) and two-dimensional finite element analysis using ANSYS. The detailed thermal hydraulics and thermal responses of PFC baking is presented in this paper

  5. Design and thermal-hydraulic analysis of PFC baking for SST-1 Tokamak

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chaudhuri, Paritosh E-mail: paritosh@ipr.res.in; Reddy, D. Chenna; Khirwadkar, S.; Prakash, N. Ravi; Santra, P.; Saxena, Y.C

    2001-09-01

    The Steady-State Superconducting Tokamak (SST-1) is a medium-size tokamak with super-conducting magnetic field coils. Plasma facing components (PFC) of the SST-1, consisting of divertors, passive stabilisers, baffles, and poloidal limiters, are designed to be compatible for steady-state operation. Except for the poloidal limiters, all other PFC are structurally continuous in the toroidal direction. As SST-1 is designed to run double-null divertor plasmas, these components also have up-down symmetry. A closed divertor configuration is chosen to produce high recycling and high pumping speed in the divertor region. The passive stabilisers are located close to the plasma to provide stability against the vertical instability of the elongated plasma. The main consideration in the design of the PFC is the steady-state heat removal of up to 1 MW/m{sup 2}. In addition to removing high heat fluxes, the PFC are also designed to be compatible for baking at 350 deg. C. Different flow parameters and various tube layouts have been examined to select the optimum thermal-hydraulic parameters and tube layout for different PFC of SST-1. Thermal response of the PFC during baking has been performed analytically (using a Fortran code) and two-dimensional finite element analysis using ANSYS. The detailed thermal hydraulics and thermal responses of PFC baking is presented in this paper.

  6. REPETITIVE TMS ON LEFT CEREBELLUM AFFECTS IMPULSIVITY IN BORDERLINE PERSONALITY DISORDER : A PILOT STUDY

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Giulia Zelda De Vidovich

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available The borderline personality disorder (BPD is characterized by a severe pattern of instability in emotional regulation, interpersonal relationships, identity, and impulse control. These functions are related to the prefrontal cortex (PFC, and since PFC shows a rich anatomical connectivity with the cerebellum, the functionality of the cerebellar-PFC axis may impact on BPD. In this study we investigated the potential involvement of cerebello-thalamo-cortical connections in impulsive reactions through a pre/post stimulation design. BPD patients (n=8 and healthy controls (HC; n=9 performed an Affective Go/No-Go task (AGN assessing information processing biases for positive and negative stimuli before and after repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS; 1 Hz/10 min, 80% RMT over the left lateral cerebellum. The AGN task consisted of four blocks requiring associative capacities of increasing complexity. BPD patients performed significantly worse than the HC, especially when cognitive demands was high (3rd and 4th block, but their performace approached that of HC after rTMS (rTMS was almost ineffective in HC. The more evident effect of rTMS in complex associative tasks might have occurred since the cerebellum is deeply involved in integration and coordination of different stimuli. We hypothesize that, in BPD patients, cerebello-thalamo-cortical communication is altered, resulting in emotional dysregulation and disturbed impulse control. The rTMS over the left cerebellum might have interfered with existing functional connections exerting a facilitating effect on PFC control.

  7. Repetitive TMS on Left Cerebellum Affects Impulsivity in Borderline Personality Disorder: A Pilot Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Vidovich, Giulia Zelda; Muffatti, Riccardo; Monaco, Jessica; Caramia, Nicoletta; Broglia, Davide; Caverzasi, Edgardo; Barale, Francesco; D'Angelo, Egidio

    2016-01-01

    The borderline personality disorder (BPD) is characterized by a severe pattern of instability in emotional regulation, interpersonal relationships, identity and impulse control. These functions are related to the prefrontal cortex (PFC), and since PFC shows a rich anatomical connectivity with the cerebellum, the functionality of the cerebellar-PFC axis may impact on BPD. In this study, we investigated the potential involvement of cerebello-thalamo-cortical connections in impulsive reactions through a pre/post stimulation design. BPD patients ( n = 8) and healthy controls (HC; n = 9) performed an Affective Go/No-Go task (AGN) assessing information processing biases for positive and negative stimuli before and after repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS; 1 Hz/10 min, 80% resting motor threshold (RMT) over the left lateral cerebellum. The AGN task consisted of four blocks requiring associative capacities of increasing complexity. BPD patients performed significantly worse than the HC, especially when cognitive demands were high (third and fourth block), but their performance approached that of HC after rTMS (rTMS was almost ineffective in HC). The more evident effect of rTMS in complex associative tasks might have occurred since the cerebellum is deeply involved in integration and coordination of different stimuli. We hypothesize that in BPD patients, cerebello-thalamo-cortical communication is altered, resulting in emotional dysregulation and disturbed impulse control. The rTMS over the left cerebellum might have interfered with existing functional connections exerting a facilitating effect on PFC control.

  8. PFOS and PFC releases and associated pollution from a PFC production plant in Minnesota (USA).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oliaei, Fardin; Kriens, Don; Weber, Roland; Watson, Alan

    2013-04-01

    Perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and PFOS-related substances have been listed as persistent organic pollutants in the Stockholm Convention. From August 2012, Parties to the Convention needed to address the use, storage, and disposal of PFOS-including production sites and sites where PFOS wastes have been deposited-in their national implementation plans. The paper describes the pollution in Minnesota (USA) caused by the 3M Company at one of the largest per/polyfluorinated chemical (PFC) production facilities. From early 1950s until the end of 2002, when 3M terminated PFOS and perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) production, PFOS, PFOA, and other PFC production wastes were disposed around the plant and in local disposal sites. Discharges from the site and releases from deposits caused widespread contamination of ground and surface waters including local drinking water wells. Fish in the river downstream were contaminated with PFOS to levels that led to fish consumption advisories. Human exposures resulted from ingesting contaminated drinking water, requiring installation of water treatment facilities and alternate water supplies. The critical evaluation of the assessments done revealed a range of gaps in particular of human exposure where relevant exposure pathways including the entire exposure via food have not been taken into consideration. Currently, the exposure assessment of vulnerable groups such as children or Hmong minorities is inadequate and needs to be improved/validated by epidemiological studies. The assessment methodology described for this site may serve-with highlighted improvements-as a model for assessment of other PFOS/PFC production sites in the Stockholm Convention implementation.

  9. Neural signatures of third-party punishment: evidence from penetrating traumatic brain injury.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glass, Leila; Moody, Lara; Grafman, Jordan; Krueger, Frank

    2016-02-01

    The ability to survive within a cooperative society depends on impartial third-party punishment (TPP) of social norm violations. Two cognitive mechanisms have been postulated as necessary for the successful completion of TPP: evaluation of legal responsibility and selection of a suitable punishment given the magnitude of the crime. Converging neuroimaging research suggests two supporting domain-general networks; a mentalizing network for evaluation of legal responsibility and a central-executive network for determination of punishment. A whole-brain voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping approach was used in conjunction with a rank-order TPP task to identify brain regions necessary for TPP in a large sample of patients with penetrating traumatic brain injury. Patients who demonstrated atypical TPP had specific lesions in core regions of the mentalizing (dorsomedial prefrontal cortex [PFC], ventromedial PFC) and central-executive (bilateral dorsolateral PFC, right intraparietal sulcus) networks. Altruism and executive functioning (concept formation skills) were significant predictors of TPP: altruism was uniquely associated with TPP in patients with lesions in right dorsolateral PFC and executive functioning was uniquely associated with TPP in individuals with lesions in left PFC. Our findings contribute to the extant literature to support underlying neural networks associated with TPP, with specific brain-behavior causal relationships confirming recent functional neuroimaging research. © The Author (2015). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  10. Effects of excision of a mass lesion of the precentral region of the left hemisphere on disturbances of graphomotor output

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Tucha, Oliver; Tucha, L.I.; Smely, C.; Lange, K.W.

    2012-01-01

    In the present study, the effect of neurosurgery on graphomotor output of a right-handed female patient with a mass lesion of the precentral region of the left frontal lobe was reported. For examination of handwriting movements a digitizing tablet was used. Preoperatively, the patient showed longer

  11. Causal role of prefrontal cortex in the threshold for access to consciousness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Del Cul, A; Dehaene, S; Reyes, P; Bravo, E; Slachevsky, A

    2009-09-01

    What neural mechanisms support our conscious perception of briefly presented stimuli? Some theories of conscious access postulate a key role of top-down amplification loops involving prefrontal cortex (PFC). To test this issue, we measured the visual backward masking threshold in patients with focal prefrontal lesions, using both objective and subjective measures while controlling for putative attention deficits. In all conditions of temporal or spatial attention cueing, the threshold for access to consciousness was systematically shifted in patients, particular after a lesion of the left anterior PFC. The deficit affected subjective reports more than objective performance, and objective performance conditioned on subjective visibility was essentially normal. We conclude that PFC makes a causal contribution to conscious visual perception of masked stimuli, and outline a dual-route signal detection theory of objective and subjective decision making.

  12. Deficit in rewarding mechanisms and prefrontal left/right cortical effect in vulnerability for internet addiction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Balconi, Michela; Finocchiaro, Roberta

    2016-10-01

    The present research explored the cortical correlates of rewarding mechanisms and cortical 'unbalance' effect in internet addiction (IA) vulnerability. Internet Addiction Inventory (IAT) and personality trait (Behavioural Inhibition System, BIS; Behavioural Activation System, BAS) were applied to 28 subjects. Electroencephalographic (EEG, alpha frequency band) and response times (RTs) were registered during a Go-NoGo task execution in response to different online stimuli: gambling videos, videogames or neutral stimuli. Higher-IAT (more than 50 score, with moderate or severe internet addiction) and lower-IAT (internet addiction). Alpha band and RTs were affected by IAT, with significant bias (reduced RTs) for high-IAT in response to gambling videos and videogames; and by BAS, BAS-Reward subscale (BAS-R), since not only higher-IAT, but also BAS and BAS-R values determined an increasing of left prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity (alpha reduction) in response to videogames and gambling stimuli for both Go and NoGo conditions, in addition to decreased RTs for these stimuli categories. The increased PFC responsiveness and the lateralisation (left PFC hemisphere) effect in NoGo condition was explained on the basis of a 'rewarding bias' towards more rewarding cues and a deficit in inhibitory control in higher-IAT and higher-BAS subjects. In contrast lower-IAT and lower-BAS predicted a decreased PFC response and increased RTs for NoGo (inhibitory mechanism). These results may support the significance of personality (BAS) and IAT measures for explaining future internet addiction behaviour based on this observed 'vulnerability'.

  13. Medial prefrontal cortex lesions impair decision-making on a rodent gambling task: reversal by D1 receptor antagonist administration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Paine, Tracie A; Asinof, Samuel K; Diehl, Geoffrey W; Frackman, Anna; Leffler, Joseph

    2013-04-15

    Decision-making is a complex cognitive process that is impaired in a number of psychiatric disorders. In the laboratory, decision-making is frequently assessed using "gambling" tasks that are designed to simulate real-life decisions in terms of uncertainty, reward and punishment. Here, we investigate whether lesions of the medial prefrontal cortex (PFC) cause impairments in decision-making using a rodent gambling task (rGT). In this task, rats have to decide between 1 of 4 possible options: 2 options are considered "advantageous" and lead to greater net rewards (food pellets) than the other 2 "disadvantageous" options. Once rats attained stable levels of performance on the rGT they underwent sham or excitoxic lesions of the medial PFC and were allowed to recover for 1 week. Following recovery, rats were retrained for 5 days and then the effects of a dopamine D1-like receptor antagonist (SCH23390) or a D2-like receptor antagonist (haloperidol) on performance were assessed. Lesioned rats exhibited impaired decision-making: they made fewer advantageous choices and chose the most optimal choice less frequently than did sham-operated rats. Administration of SCH23390 (0.03 mg/kg), but not haloperidol (0.015-0.03 mg/kg) attenuated the lesion-induced decision-making deficit. These results indicate that the medial PFC is important for decision-making and that excessive signaling at D1 receptors may contribute to decision-making impairments. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  14. 78 FR 76389 - Notice of Passenger Facility Charge (PFC) Approvals and Disapprovals

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-12-17

    ... Aberdeen, South Dakota. Application Number: 13-03-C-00-ABR. Application Type: Impose and use a PFC. PFC... related improvements--design and construction. Redundant main electrical service feed--construction...

  15. A dual task priming investigation of right hemisphere inhibition for people with left hemisphere lesions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Smith-Conway Erin R

    2012-03-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background During normal semantic processing, the left hemisphere (LH is suggested to restrict right hemisphere (RH performance via interhemispheric suppression. However, a lesion in the LH or the use of concurrent tasks to overload the LH's attentional resource balance has been reported to result in RH disinhibition with subsequent improvements in RH performance. The current study examines variations in RH semantic processing in the context of unilateral LH lesions and the manipulation of the interhemispheric processing resource balance, in order to explore the relevance of RH disinhibition to hemispheric contributions to semantic processing following a unilateral LH lesion. Methods RH disinhibition was examined for nine participants with a single LH lesion and 13 matched controls using the dual task paradigm. Hemispheric performance on a divided visual field lexical decision semantic priming task was compared over three verbal memory load conditions, of zero-, two- and six-words. Related stimuli consisted of categorically related, associatively related, and categorically and associatively related prime-target pairs. Response time and accuracy data were recorded and analyzed using linear mixed model analysis, and planned contrasts were performed to compare priming effects in both visual fields, for each of the memory load conditions. Results Control participants exhibited significant bilateral visual field priming for all related conditions (p Conclusions The results from the control group are consistent with suggestions of an age related hemispheric asymmetry reduction and indicate that in healthy aging compensatory bilateral activation may reduce the impact of inhibition. In comparison, the results for the LHD group indicate that following a LH lesion RH semantic processing can be manipulated and enhanced by the introduction of a verbal memory task designed to engage LH resources and allow disinhibition of RH processing.

  16. Similar or different? The role of the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex in similarity detection.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Béatrice Garcin

    Full Text Available Patients with frontal lobe syndrome can exhibit two types of abnormal behaviour when asked to place a banana and an orange in a single category: some patients categorize them at a concrete level (e.g., "both have peel", while others continue to look for differences between these objects (e.g., "one is yellow, the other is orange". These observations raise the question of whether abstraction and similarity detection are distinct processes involved in abstract categorization, and that depend on separate areas of the prefrontal cortex (PFC. We designed an original experimental paradigm for a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI study involving healthy subjects, confirming the existence of two distinct processes relying on different prefrontal areas, and thus explaining the behavioural dissociation in frontal lesion patients. We showed that: 1 Similarity detection involves the anterior ventrolateral PFC bilaterally with a right-left asymmetry: the right anterior ventrolateral PFC is only engaged in detecting physical similarities; 2 Abstraction per se activates the left dorsolateral PFC.

  17. Perfluorocarbon (PFC) emulsions as potential drug carriers

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yuhas, J.M.; Goodman, R.L.; Moore, R.E.

    1984-01-01

    PFC emulsions have excellent oxygen transporting properties and have been reported to enhance the response of murine tumors to both radiation and BCNU. While the presently available emulsions are far too toxic to the immune system to be used in cancer therapy, they can be used to investigate the overall potential of this approach. As an example, the authors have found that these emulsions can alter drug availability. The lipophilicity of both the PFC and the drug in question determine the partitioning of the drug between the organic and aqueous phases of an emulsion. In vitro, this can reduce drug effectiveness by reducing the amount of drug available to the cells. In vivo, however, this partitioning may produce sustained drug exposure, which could be of benefit in cancer therapy and other applications. In brief, as the drug is absorbed from the circulating aqueous phase, additional drug would leach from the PFC, thereby providing a sustained drug exposure similar to that obtained with liposomes. While a great deal more work will be required to evaluate the practicality of this approach, the existence of this phenomenon must be taken into account in both the design and interpretation of efficacy studies in which anesthetics, chemotherapeutics, etc are employed

  18. Investigating the role of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC in the assessment of brands

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jose Paulo eSantos

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available The ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC is believed to be important in everyday preference judgments, processing emotions during decision-making. However, there is still controversy in the literature regarding the participation of the vmPFC. To further elucidate the contribution of the vmPFC in brand preference, we designed a functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI study where 18 subjects assessed positive, indifferent and fictitious brands. Also, both the period during and after the decision process were analyzed, hoping to unravel temporally the role of the vmPFC, using modeled and model-free fMRI analysis. Considering together the period before and after decision-making, there was activation of the vmPFC when comparing positive with indifferent or fictitious brands. However, when the decision-making period was separated from the moment after the response, and especially for positive brands, the vmPFC was more active after the choice than during the decision process itself, challenging some of the existing literature. The results of the present study support the notion that the vmPFC may be unimportant in the decision stage of brand preference, questioning theories that postulate that the vmPFC is in the origin of such a choice. Further studies are needed to investigate in detail why the vmPFC seems to be involved in brand preference only after the decision process.

  19. Clinical evaluation of false-positive scintigraphic lesions of the left lobe in portal hypertension

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Takayasu, Kenichi; Moriyama, Noriyuki; Suzuki, Masao; Yamada, Tatsuya; Fukutake, Toshio.

    1982-01-01

    sup(99m)Tc-phytate liver scan and percutaneous transhepatic portography (PTP) were performed in 33 patients with portal hypertension due to various hepatic diseases. A defect or space occupying lesion in the left lobe on the scan in these patients was analysed with reference to portographic changes of the pars umbilicus of the left portal vein and the following results were obtained. 1) A false-positive defect on the scintigram was found in 6 (18.2%) of 33 patients, and portal vein pressure (PVP) was above 200 mmH 2 O in all 6 which constituted 21.4% of 28 with PVP above 200 mmH 2 O. 2) In five out of 6 patients with false-positive scan findings, the pars umbilicus was dilated to more than 25 x 15 mm in size, and it was huge and tortuous in 3 of them. 3) The mean PVP in the group with a false-positive scan tended to be higher than that in patients with no abnormalities on the scintigram. It was concluded that in reading of liver scintigrams in patients with portal hypertension, a dilated pars umbilicus and huge para-umbilical vein should be considered. (author)

  20. Evidence for a Specific Integrative Mechanism for Episodic Memory Mediated by AMPA/kainate Receptors in a Circuit Involving Medial Prefrontal Cortex and Hippocampal CA3 Region.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Souza Silva, Maria A; Huston, Joseph P; Wang, An-Li; Petri, David; Chao, Owen Yuan-Hsin

    2016-07-01

    We asked whether episodic-like memory requires neural mechanisms independent of those that mediate its component memories for "what," "when," and "where," and if neuronal connectivity between the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the hippocampus (HPC) CA3 subregion is essential for episodic-like memory. Unilateral lesion of the mPFC was combined with unilateral lesion of the CA3 in the ipsi- or contralateral hemispheres in rats. Episodic-like memory was tested using a task, which assesses the integration of memories for "what, where, and when" concomitantly. Tests for novel object recognition (what), object place (where), and temporal order memory (when) were also applied. Bilateral disconnection of the mPFC-CA3 circuit by N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) lesions disrupted episodic-like memory, but left the component memories for object, place, and temporal order, per se, intact. Furthermore, unilateral NMDA lesion of the CA3 plus injection of (6-cyano-7-nitroquinoxaline-2,3-dione) (CNQX) (AMPA/kainate receptor antagonist), but not AP-5 (NMDA receptor antagonist), into the contralateral mPFC also disrupted episodic-like memory, indicating the mPFC AMPA/kainate receptors as critical for this circuit. These results argue for a selective neural system that specifically subserves episodic memory, as it is not critically involved in the control of its component memories for object, place, and time. © The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  1. 76 FR 12405 - Notice of Passenger Facility Charge (PFC) Approvals and Disapprovals

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-03-07

    ... monitoring terminals. Update pavement management program. Reimbursement for jet bridges and acquisition and.... Mandatory pavement markings. Airport signage. Runway guard lights. Wildlife study. PFC application.... Runway 18/36 pavement maintenance. Runway 13/31 pavement maintenance. PFC administration fees. Brief...

  2. An efficiency improved single-phase PFC converter for electric vehicle charger applications

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Zhu, Dexuan; Tang, Yi; Jin, Chi

    2013-01-01

    This paper presents an efficiency improved single-phase power factor correction (PFC) converter with its target application to plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV) charging systems. The proposed PFC converter features sinusoidal input current, three-level output characteristic, and wide range...

  3. Cocaine craving during protracted withdrawal requires PKCε priming within vmPFC.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miller, Bailey W; Wroten, Melissa G; Sacramento, Arianne D; Silva, Hannah E; Shin, Christina B; Vieira, Philip A; Ben-Shahar, Osnat; Kippin, Tod E; Szumlinski, Karen K

    2017-05-01

    In individuals with a history of drug taking, the capacity of drug-associated cues to elicit indices of drug craving intensifies or incubates with the passage of time during drug abstinence. This incubation of cocaine craving, as well as difficulties with learning to suppress drug-seeking behavior during protracted withdrawal, are associated with a time-dependent deregulation of ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) function. As the molecular bases for cocaine-related vmPFC deregulation remain elusive, the present study assayed the consequences of extended access to intravenous cocaine (6 hours/day; 0.25 mg/infusion for 10 day) on the activational state of protein kinase C epsilon (PKCε), an enzyme highly implicated in drug-induced neuroplasticity. The opportunity to engage in cocaine seeking during cocaine abstinence time-dependently altered PKCε phosphorylation within vmPFC, with reduced and increased p-PKCε expression observed in early (3 days) and protracted (30 days) withdrawal, respectively. This effect was more robust within the ventromedial versus dorsomedial PFC, was not observed in comparable cocaine-experienced rats not tested for drug-seeking behavior and was distinct from the rise in phosphorylated extracellular signal-regulated kinase observed in cocaine-seeking rats. Further, the impact of inhibiting PKCε translocation within the vmPFC using TAT infusion proteins upon cue-elicited responding was determined and inhibition coinciding with the period of testing attenuated cocaine-seeking behavior, with an effect also apparent the next day. In contrast, inhibitor pretreatment prior to testing during early withdrawal was without effect. Thus, a history of excessive cocaine taking influences the cue reactivity of important intracellular signaling molecules within the vmPFC, with PKCε playing a critical role in the manifestation of cue-elicited cocaine seeking during protracted drug withdrawal. © 2016 Society for the Study of Addiction.

  4. Age-related changes in overcoming proactive interference in associative memory: The role of PFC-mediated executive control processes at retrieval.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dulas, Michael R; Duarte, Audrey

    2016-05-15

    Behavioral evidence has shown age-related impairments in overcoming proactive interference in memory, but it is unclear what underlies this deficit. Imaging studies in the young suggest overcoming interference may require several executive control processes supported by the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC) and dorsolateral PFC (DLPFC). The present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study investigated whether age-related changes in dissociable executive control processes underlie deficits in overcoming proactive interference in associative memory during retrieval. Participants were tasked with remembering which associate (face or scene) objects were paired with most recently during study, under conditions of high or low proactive interference. Behavioral results demonstrated that, as interference increased, memory performance decreased similarly across groups, with slight associative memory deficits in older adults. Imaging results demonstrated that, across groups, left mid-VLPFC showed increasing activity with increasing interference, though activity did not distinguish correct from incorrect associative memory responses, suggesting this region may not directly serve in successful resolution of proactive interference, per se. Under conditions of high interference, older adults showed reduced associative memory accuracy effects in the DLPFC and anterior PFC. These results suggest that age-related PFC dysfunction may not be ubiquitous. Executive processes supported by ventral regions that detect mnemonic interference may be less affected than processes supported by dorsal and anterior regions that directly resolve interference. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. Stunted PFC activity during neuromuscular control under stress with obesity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mehta, Ranjana K

    2016-02-01

    Obesity is an established risk factor for impaired cognition, which is primarily regulated by the prefrontal cortex (PFC). However, very little is known about the neural pathways that underlie obesity-related declines in neuromuscular control, particularly under stress. The purpose of this study was to determine the role of the PFC on neuromuscular control during handgrip exertions under stress with obesity. Twenty non-obese and obese young adults performed submaximal handgrip exertions in the absence and presence of a concurrent stressful task. Primary dependent measures included oxygenated hemoglobin (HbO2: a measure of PFC activity) and force fluctuations (an indicator of neuromuscular control). Higher HbO2 levels in the PFC were observed in the non-obese compared to the obese group (P = 0.009). In addition, higher HbO2 levels were observed in the stress compared to the control condition in the non-obese group; however, this trend was reversed in the obese group (P = 0.043). In general, force fluctuations increased by 26% in the stress when compared to the control condition (P = 0.001) and obesity was associated with 39% greater force fluctuation (P = 0.024). Finally, while not significant, obesity-related decrements in force fluctuations were magnified under stress (P = 0.063). The current study provides the first evidence that neuromuscular decrements with obesity were associated with impaired PFC activity and this relationship was augmented in stress conditions. These findings are important because they provide new information on obesity-specific changes in brain function associated with neuromuscular control since the knowledge previously focused largely on obesity-specific changes in peripheral muscle capacity.

  6. Engineering and thermal-hydraulics design of PFC cooling for SST-1 Tokamak

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chaudhuri, Paritosh; Reddy, D. Chenna; Santra, P.; Khiwadkar, S.; Prakash, N. Rabi; Ramash, G.; Dubey, Santosh; Prakash, Arun; Saxena, Y. C.

    2003-01-01

    The main consideration in the design of the PFC cooling for SST-1 tokamak is the steady state heat removal of upto 1MW/m2. The PFC also has been design to withstand the peak heat fluxes without significant erosion such that frequent replacement is not necessary. Proper brazing of cooling tube on the copper back plate is necessary for the efficient heat transfer from the tube to the back plate. Design considerations included 2-D steady state and transient tile temperature distribution and resulting thermal loads in PFC during baking, and cooling, coolant parameters necessary to maintain optimum thermal-hydraulic design, and tile fitting mechanism. Finite Element (FE) models using ANSYS have been developed to conduct the heat transfer and stress analyses of the PFC to understand its thermal and mechanical behaviors. The temperature distribution results for different PFC obtained by FE results were assessed by comparison with 2-D Finite Difference code. The results of the calculation led to a good understanding of the coolant flow behavior and the temperature distribution in the tube wall and the different parts of the PFC. The contact at the brazed joint of the tube to the backplate is critical for the above application. The manufactured modules need to be evaluated for the quality of brazed joint. Using an infra-red-camera, spatial and temporal evaluation of the temperature profile is studied under various flow parameters. These results of this study will be presented in details in this paper

  7. Surgical outcome of severe pulmonary arterial hypertension secondary to left-to-right shunt lesions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cha Gon Lee

    2010-02-01

    Full Text Available Purpose : Despite recent advances in pulmonary hypertension management and surgery, appropriate guidelines remain to be developed for operability in congenital heart disease with pulmonary artery hypertension (PAH. Our aim was to evaluate clinical outcomes of patients with severe PAH who underwent surgical closure of left-to-right shunt lesions (LRSL on the basis of pulmonary reactivity. Methods : We retrospectively reviewed 21 patients who underwent surgical closure of LRSL with severe PAH (?#248; Wood unit from January 1995 to April 2009. The median age at operation was 26 years. Atrial septal defect, ventricular septal defect (VSD, VSD and patent ductus arteriosus (PDA, and PDA was present in 11, 4, 4, and 2 patients, respectively. Results : Operability was based on vasoreactivity of PAH. Of the 21 patients, 5 showed response to pulmonary vasodilator therapy and 8 showed vasoreactivity after balloon occlusion of defects. The remaining 8 patients were considered operable because of significant left-to-right shunt (Qp/Qs ?#241;.5. Five patients underwent total closure of defects and 16 were left with small residual shunts. The median follow-up duration was 32 months. There was no significant postoperative mortality or morbidity. Systolic pulmonary artery pressure (PAP decreased in all but 2 patients. All patients except 1 showed improvement of New York Heart Association functional class. Conclusion : Closure of LRSL in patients with severe PAH on the basis of pulmonary vasoreactivity seems reasonable. PAP and clinical symptoms improved in most patients. Further research is needed for the evaluation of long-term results.

  8. Engineering and thermal-hydraulic design of water cooled PFC for SST-1 tokamak

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Paritosh Chaudhuri; Santra, P.; Rabi Prakash, N.; Khirwadkar, S.; Arun Prakash, A.; Ramash, G.; Dubey, S.; Chenna Reddy, D.; Saxena, Y.C.

    2005-01-01

    Full text of publication follows: Steady state Superconducting Tokamak (SST-1) is a medium size tokamak with superconducting magnetic field coils. It is a large aspect ratio tokamak with a major radius of 1.1 m and minor radius of 0.20 m. SST-1 is designed for plasma discharge duration of ∼1000 seconds to obtain fully steady state plasma with total input power up to 1.0 MW. First Wall or Plasma Facing Components (PFC) is one or the major sub-systems of SST-1 tokamak consisting of divertors, passive stabilizers, baffles, and poloidal limiters are designed to be compatible for steady state operation. All the PFC has the same basic configuration: graphite tiles are mechanically attached to a back plate made of high strength copper alloy, and SS tubes are embedded in the groove made in the back plate. Same tube will be used for cooling during plasma operation and baking during wall conditioning. The main consideration in the design of the PFC is the steady state heat removal of up to 1 MW/m 2 . In addition to remove high heat fluxes, the PFC are also designed to be compatible for high temperature baking at 350 deg. C. Water was chosen as the coolant because of its appropriate thermal properties, and while baking, hot nitrogen gas would flow through these tubes to bake the PFC at high temperature. Extensive studies, involving different flow parameters and various cooling layouts, has been done to select the final cooling parameters and layout, compatible for cooling and baking. During steady state operation, divertor and passive stabilizer heat loads are expected to be 0.6 and 0.25 MW/m 2 . The PFC also has been design to withstand the peak heat fluxes without significant erosion such that frequent replacement is not necessary. Since the tile must be mechanically attached to the back plate (heat sink), the fitting technique must provide the highest mechanical stress so that thermal transfer efficiency is maximized. Proper brazing of cooling tube on the copper back

  9. Bilingual language processing after a lesion in the left thalamic and temporal regions. A case report with early childhood onset

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    van Lieshout, P.; Renier, W.; Eling, P.; de Bot, K.; Slis, I.

    1990-01-01

    This case study concerns an 18-year-old bilingual girl who suffered a radiation lesion in the left (dominant) thalamic and temporal region when she was 4 years old. Language and memory assessment revealed deficits in auditory short-term memory, auditory word comprehension, nonword repetition, syntactic processing, word fluency, and confrontation naming tasks. Both languages (English and Dutch) were found to be affected in a similar manner, despite the fact that one language (English) was acquired before and the other (Dutch) after the period of lesion onset. Most of the deficits appear to be related to verbal (short-term) memory dysfunction. Several hypotheses of subcortical involvement in memory processes are discussed with reference to existing theories in this area

  10. Near-Infrared Spectroscopy Reveals Abnormal Hemodynamics in the Left Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex of Menopausal Depression Patients

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiang-Yun Ma

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Background/Objective. Menopausal depression (MD is characterized by depressive symptoms along with hormonal fluctuations. We investigate brain function alteration between major depressive disorder (MDD and MD. Methods. The difference in oxygenated hemoglobin (Oxy-Hb for the prefrontal cortex (PFC was compared retrospectively among 90 females presented with 30 MDD, 30 MD, and 30 healthy controls (HCs using verbal fluency task (VFT with near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS. Results. We observed a significant difference in Oxy-Hb alteration in the left dorsolateral PFC (DLPFC using VFT with NIRS (channel 18, P=0.007 between the MD and MDD groups. A significant difference in Oxy-Hb levels was observed among the three groups in the bilateral DLPFC (channels 18, 27, 33, 39, 41, and 45; P<0.05. Compared to the HCs, the MD group presented lower Oxy-Hb activation in the right DLPFC (channel 41; P=0.048 and the left DLPFC (channels 18, 39, and 45; P<0.05, and the MDD group presented lower Oxy-Hb activation in the right DLPFC (channels 27, 33, and 41; P<0.05 and the left DLPFC (channels 39 and 45; P<0.05. Conclusion. Abnormal hemodynamics of the left DLPFC can differentiate MD from MDD by NIRS.

  11. Apraxia in left-handers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goldenberg, Georg

    2013-08-01

    In typical right-handed patients both apraxia and aphasia are caused by damage to the left hemisphere, which also controls the dominant right hand. In left-handed subjects the lateralities of language and of control of the dominant hand can dissociate. This permits disentangling the association of apraxia with aphasia from that with handedness. Pantomime of tool use, actual tool use and imitation of meaningless hand and finger postures were examined in 50 consecutive left-handed subjects with unilateral hemisphere lesions. There were three aphasic patients with pervasive apraxia caused by left-sided lesions. As the dominant hand is controlled by the right hemisphere, they constitute dissociations of apraxia from handedness. Conversely there were also three patients with pervasive apraxia caused by right brain lesions without aphasia. They constitute dissociations of apraxia from aphasia. Across the whole group of patients dissociations from handedness and from aphasia were observed for all manifestations of apraxia, but their frequency depended on the type of apraxia. Defective pantomime and defective tool use occurred rarely without aphasia, whereas defective imitation of hand, but not finger, postures was more frequent after right than left brain damage. The higher incidence of defective imitation of hand postures in right brain damage was mainly due to patients who had also hemi-neglect. This interaction alerts to the possibility that the association of right hemisphere damage with apraxia has to do with spatial aptitudes of the right hemisphere rather than with its control of the dominant left hand. Comparison with data from right-handed patients showed no differences between the severity of apraxia for imitation of hand or finger postures, but impairment on pantomime of tool use was milder in apraxic left-handers than in apraxic right-handers. This alleviation of the severity of apraxia corresponded with a similar alleviation of the severity of aphasia as

  12. Susceptibility to social pressure following ventromedial prefrontal cortex damage.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Kuan-Hua; Rusch, Michelle L; Dawson, Jeffrey D; Rizzo, Matthew; Anderson, Steven W

    2015-11-01

    Social pressure influences human behavior including risk taking, but the psychological and neural underpinnings of this process are not well understood. We used the human lesion method to probe the role of ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) in resisting adverse social pressure in the presence of risk. Thirty-seven participants (11 with vmPFC damage, 12 with brain damage outside the vmPFC and 14 without brain damage) were tested in driving simulator scenarios requiring left-turn decisions across oncoming traffic with varying time gaps between the oncoming vehicles. Social pressure was applied by a virtual driver who honked aggressively from behind. Participants with vmPFC damage were more likely to select smaller and potentially unsafe gaps under social pressure, while gap selection by the comparison groups did not change under social pressure. Participants with vmPFC damage also showed prolonged elevated skin conductance responses (SCR) under social pressure. Comparison groups showed similar initial elevated SCR, which then declined prior to making left-turn decisions. The findings suggest that the vmPFC plays an important role in resisting explicit and immediately present social pressure with potentially negative consequences. The vmPFC appears to contribute to the regulation of emotional responses and the modulation of decision making to optimize long-term outcomes. © The Author (2015). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  13. Global aphasia without hemiparesis: language profiles and lesion distribution

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hanlon, R.; Lux, W.; Dromerick, A.

    1999-01-01

    OBJECTIVES—Global aphasia without hemiparesis (GAWH) is an uncommon stroke syndrome involving receptive and expressive language impairment, without the hemiparesis typically manifested by patients with global aphasia after large left perisylvian lesions. A few cases of GAWH have been reported with conflicting conclusions regarding pathogenesis, lesion localisation, and recovery. The current study was conducted to attempt to clarify these issues.
METHODS—Ten cases of GAWH were prospectively studied with language profiles and lesion analysis; five patients had multiple lesions, four patients had a single lesion, and one had a subarachnoid haemorrhage. Eight patients met criteria for cardioembolic ischaemic stroke.
RESULTS—Cluster analysis based on acute language profiles disclosed three subtypes of patients with GAWH; these clusters persisted on follow up language assessment. Each cluster evolved into a different aphasia subtype: persistent GAWH, Wernicke's aphasia, or transcortical motor aphasia (TCM). Composite lesion analysis showed that persistent GAWH was related to lesioning of the left superior temporal gyrus. Patients with acute GAWH who evolved into TCM type aphasia had common lesioning of the left inferior frontal gyrus and adjacent subcortical white matter. Patients with acute GAWH who evolved into Wernicke's type aphasia were characterised by lesioning of the left precentral and postcentral gyri. Recovery of language was poor in all but one patient.
CONCLUSIONS—Although patients with acute GAWH are similar on neurological examination, they are heterogeneous with respect to early aphasia profile, language recovery, and lesion profile.

 PMID:10084536

  14. Plasma Facing Components Generic Facilities Review Panel (PFC-GFRP): Final report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McGrath, R.; Allen, S.; Hill, D.; Brooks, J.; Mattas, R.; Davis, J.; Lipschultz, B.; Ulrickson, M.

    1993-10-01

    The Plasma Facing Components (PFC) Facilities Review Panel was chartered by the US Department of Energy, Office of Fusion Energy, ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) and Technology Division, to outline the program plan and identify the supporting test facilities that lead to reliable, long-lived plasma facing components for ITER. This report summarizes the panel's findings and identifies the necessary and sufficient set of test facilities required for ITER PFC development

  15. Coagulation performance of a novel poly-ferric-acetate (PFC) coagulant in phosphate-kaolin synthetic water treatment

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Wei, Yanxin; Lu, Jinpeng; Dong, Xiongzi; Yao, Chengli [Hefei Normal University, Hefei (China); Hao, Jianwen [Anhui Vocational and Technical College, Hefei (China)

    2017-10-15

    The process of coagulation-flocculation is increasingly applied in wastewater treatment. And the polymerized inorganic coagulants are widely used among these coagulation-flocculation processes. However, conventional coagulants using sulfates or chlorides as counter anion may give rise to corrosion. The purpose of this study was to synthesize PFC coagulants in which acetate is used as counter anion. The influences on the preparation of PFC were optimized. The synthesis was done at the optimum conditions, such as temperature of 60 .deg. C, the Fe/CH{sub 3}COOH molar ratio of 1 : 4.0 and reaction time of 6 h, respectively. The prepared PFC coagulants were characterized by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrophotometry and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). PFC was found to mainly form complexation polymeric species and present more cluster and lamellar structure. A series of jar tests were carried out to study the coagulation performance of PFC and PFS in phosphate-kaolin synthetic water treatment. Results showed that the coagulation performance of PFC was more efficient than PFS's in terms of the phosphorus removal efficiency and the residual turbidity. Due to using acetate as counter anion to iron, PFC is less harmful to the processes of water treatment and equipment than that of the conventional coagulants applied chlorides or sulfates. Therefore, PFC is a promising coagulant in the process of corrosion sensitive applications and the process of wastewater containing phosphorus treatment.

  16. Clinical Outcome After DK Crush Versus Culotte Stenting of Distal Left Main Bifurcation Lesions: The 3-Year Follow-Up Results of the DKCRUSH-III Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Shao-Liang; Xu, Bo; Han, Ya-Ling; Sheiban, Imad; Zhang, Jun-Jie; Ye, Fei; Kwan, Tak W; Paiboon, Chitprapai; Zhou, Yu-Jie; Lv, Shu-Zheng; Dangas, George D; Xu, Ya-Wei; Wen, Shang-Yu; Hong, Lang; Zhang, Rui-Yan; Wang, Hai-Chang; Jiang, Tie-Ming; Wang, Yan; Sansoto, Teguh; Chen, Fang; Yuan, Zu-Yi; Li, Wei-Min; Leon, Martin B

    2015-08-24

    The present study aimed to investigate the difference in major adverse cardiac events (MACE) at 3 years after double-kissing (DK) crush versus culotte stenting for unprotected left main distal bifurcation lesions (LMDBLs). The multicenter and randomized DKCRUSH-III (Comparison of double kissing crush versus culotte stenting for unprotected distal left main bifurcation lesions: results from a multicenter, randomized, prospective study) showed that DK crush stenting was associated with fewer MACE at 1-year follow-up in patients with LMDBLs compared with culotte stenting. Here, we report the 3-year clinical outcome of the DKCRUSH-III study. A total of 419 patients with LMDBLs who were randomly assigned to either the DK crush or culotte group in the DKCRUSH-III study were followed for 3 year. The primary endpoint was the occurrence of a MACE at 3 years. Stent thrombosis (ST) was the safety endpoint. Patients were classified by simple and complex LMDBLs according to the DEFINITION (Definition and Impact of Complex Bifurcation Lesions on Clinical Outcomes After Percutaneous Coronary Intervention Using Drug-Eluting Stents) study criteria. At 3 years, MACE occurred in 49 patients the culotte group and in 17 patients in the DK crush group (cumulative event rates of 23.7% and 8.2%, respectively; p DK crush group (p = 0.007). Complex LMDBLs were associated with a higher rate of MACE (35.3%) at 3 years compared with a rate of 8.1% in patients with simple LMDBLs (p DK] Crush Versus Culotte Stenting for the Treatment of Unprotected Distal Left Main Bifurcation Lesions: DKCRUSH-III, a Multicenter Randomized Study Comparing Double-Stent Techniques; ChiCTR-TRC-11001877). Copyright © 2015 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. The Influence of Visual and Auditory Information on the Perception of Speech and Non-Speech Oral Movements in Patients with Left Hemisphere Lesions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schmid, Gabriele; Thielmann, Anke; Ziegler, Wolfram

    2009-01-01

    Patients with lesions of the left hemisphere often suffer from oral-facial apraxia, apraxia of speech, and aphasia. In these patients, visual features often play a critical role in speech and language therapy, when pictured lip shapes or the therapist's visible mouth movements are used to facilitate speech production and articulation. This demands…

  18. Systemic right-to-left shunts, ischemic brain lesions, and persistent migraine activity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koppen, Hille; Palm-Meinders, Inge H; Mess, Werner H; Keunen, Ruud W; Terwindt, Gisela M; Launer, Lenore J; van Buchem, Mark A; Kruit, Mark C; Ferrari, Michel D

    2016-05-03

    To assess whether migraine in the general population is associated with increased risk of systemic right-to-left shunts (RLS) and whether RLS are associated with increased prevalence of brain infarcts and persistent recurrence of migraine attacks at older age. Brain MRI and transcranial Doppler with air contrast in 166 unselected migraineurs (mean age ± SD 56 ± 7.7 years; 70% women; n = 96 migraine with aura) and 69 controls (mean age ± SD 55 ± 7.6 years; 65% women) from the general population. Participants with migraine with aura more frequently had Valsalva-induced RLS (60%), in particular large-sized, compared to controls (42%; odds ratio [OR] 2.1; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.1-3.9; p = 0.02) and participants with migraine without aura (40%; OR 2.3; 95% CI 1.2-4.3; p = 0.01). They also more frequently had spontaneous RLS (35%) than participants with migraine without aura (17%; OR 2.6; 95% CI 1.3-5.6; p = 0.01) but not compared to controls (26%; OR 1.6; 95% CI 0.8-3.1; p = 0.2). Participants with migraine with aura and spontaneous RLS more frequently had persistent migraine activity (85%) than participants with migraine without spontaneous RLS (63%; OR 3.4; 95% CI 1.2-10.1; p = 0.03). Nine percent of participants with RLS had silent posterior circulation infarcts compared to 3% of participants without RLS (OR 2.8; 95% CI 0.9-9.3; p = 0.08), independent of migraine status. RLS were not associated with white matter lesions. RLS are more prevalent in migraineurs with aura but do not explain the increased prevalence of silent posterior circulation infarcts or white matter lesions in migraineurs. Spontaneous RLS are associated with persistent migraine. © 2016 American Academy of Neurology.

  19. Impairments in proverb interpretation following focal frontal lobe lesions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Murphy, Patrick; Shallice, Tim; Robinson, Gail; MacPherson, Sarah E; Turner, Martha; Woollett, Katherine; Bozzali, Marco; Cipolotti, Lisa

    2013-09-01

    The proverb interpretation task (PIT) is often used in clinical settings to evaluate frontal "executive" dysfunction. However, only a relatively small number of studies have investigated the relationship between frontal lobe lesions and performance on the PIT. We compared 52 patients with unselected focal frontal lobe lesions with 52 closely matched healthy controls on a proverb interpretation task. Participants also completed a battery of neuropsychological tests, including a fluid intelligence task (Raven's Advanced Progressive Matrices). Lesions were firstly analysed according to a standard left/right sub-division. Secondly, a finer-grained analysis compared the performance of patients with medial, left lateral and right lateral lesions with healthy controls. Thirdly, a contrast of specific frontal subgroups compared the performance of patients with medial lesions with patients with lateral frontal lesions. The results showed that patients with left frontal lesions were significantly impaired on the PIT, while in patients with right frontal lesions the impairments approached significance. Medial frontal patients were the only frontal subgroup impaired on the PIT, relative to healthy controls and lateral frontal patients. Interestingly, an error analysis indicated that a significantly higher number of concrete responses were found in the left lateral subgroup compared to healthy controls. We found no correlation between scores on the PIT and on the fluid intelligence task. Overall our results suggest that specific regions of the frontal lobes contribute to the performance on the PIT. © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  20. Power factor correction (PFC) converters feeding brushless DC ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    DR OKE

    1Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, INDIA ... Hence, power factor correction (PFC) converters are used for achieving a unity ...... He is currently working as a Systems Engineer (Power IC) in AvantGarde ...

  1. Morphometry of Left Frontal and Temporal Poles Predicts Analogical Reasoning Abilities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aichelburg, Clarisse; Urbanski, Marika; Thiebaut de Schotten, Michel; Humbert, Frederic; Levy, Richard; Volle, Emmanuelle

    2016-03-01

    Analogical reasoning is critical for making inferences and adapting to novelty. It can be studied experimentally using tasks that require creating similarities between situations or concepts, i.e., when their constituent elements share a similar organization or structure. Brain correlates of analogical reasoning have mostly been explored using functional imaging that has highlighted the involvement of the left rostrolateral prefrontal cortex (rlPFC) in healthy subjects. However, whether inter-individual variability in analogical reasoning ability in a healthy adult population is related to differences in brain architecture is unknown. We investigated this question by employing linear regression models of performance in analogy tasks and voxel-based morphometry in 54 healthy subjects. Our results revealed that the ability to reason by analogy was associated with structural variability in the left rlPFC and the anterior part of the inferolateral temporal cortex. Tractography of diffusion-weighted images suggested that these 2 regions have a different set of connections but may exchange information via the arcuate fasciculus. These results suggest that enhanced integrative and semantic abilities supported by structural variation in these areas (or their connectivity) may lead to more efficient analogical reasoning. © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  2. Social learning modulates the lateralization of emotional valence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shamay-Tsoory, Simone G; Lavidor, Michal; Aharon-Peretz, Judith

    2008-08-01

    Although neuropsychological studies of lateralization of emotion have emphasized valence (positive vs. negative) or type (basic vs. complex) dimensions, the interaction between the two dimensions has yet to be elucidated. The purpose of the current study was to test the hypothesis that recognition of basic emotions is processed preferentially by the right prefrontal cortex (PFC), whereas recognition of complex social emotions is processed preferentially by the left PFC. Experiment 1 assessed the ability of healthy controls and patients with right and left PFC lesions to recognize basic and complex emotions. Experiment 2 modeled the patient's data of Experiment 1 on healthy participants under lateralized displays of the emotional stimuli. Both experiments support the Type as well as the Valence Hypotheses. However, our findings indicate that the Valence Hypothesis holds for basic but less so for complex emotions. It is suggested that, since social learning overrules the basic preference of valence in the hemispheres, the processing of complex emotions in the hemispheres is less affected by valence.

  3. Treatment of an Unusual Occurrence of a Complex Left Subclavian Artery/Left Internal Mammary Artery Bifurcation Stenosis in the Setting of Coronary Subclavian Steal Syndrome and Ischemic Left Ventricular Systolic Dysfunction

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Michael J. Martinelli

    2018-01-01

    Full Text Available This case will illustrate the clinical and unique technical challenges, not previously reported, in a patient with a history of progressive left ventricular (LV systolic dysfunction, congestive heart failure (CHF, myocardial infarction (MI, and a complex bifurcation lesion of the left subclavian artery (SA involving the left internal mammary artery (LIMA in the setting of coronary subclavian steal syndrome (CSSS. The approach to this lesion is complicated by significant LIMA involvement requiring intervention directed toward both the SA and the LIMA in the presence of severe LV systolic dysfunction. This clinical scenario necessitates a careful technique, utilizing bifurcation methods similar to those used in coronary intervention.

  4. Anatomic relationship between left coronary artery and left atrium in patients undergoing atrial fibrillation ablation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anselmino, Matteo; Torri, Federica; Ferraris, Federico; Calò, Leonardo; Castagno, Davide; Gili, Sebastiano; Rovera, Chiara; Giustetto, Carla; Gaita, Fiorenzo

    2017-07-01

    Atrial fibrillation transcatheter ablation (TCA) is, within available atrial fibrillation rhythm control strategies, one of the most effective. To potentially improve ablation outcome in case of recurrent atrial fibrillation after a first procedure or in presence of structural myocardial disease, isolation of the pulmonary veins may be associated with extensive lesions within the left atrium. To avoid rare, but potentially life-threatening, complications, thorough knowledge and assessment of left atrium anatomy and its relation to structures in close proximity are, therefore, mandatory. Aim of the present study is to describe, by cardiac computed tomography, the anatomic relationship between aortic root, left coronary artery and left atrium in patients undergoing atrial fibrillation TCA. The cardiac computed tomography scan of 21 patients affected by atrial fibrillation was elaborated to segment left atrium, aortic root and left coronary artery from the surrounding structures and the following distances measured: left atrium and aortic root; left atrium roof and aortic root; left main coronary artery and left atrium; circumflex artery and left atrium appendage; and circumflex artery and mitral valve annulus. Above all, the median distance between left atrium and aortic root (1.9, 1.5-2.1 mm), and between circumflex artery and left atrium appendage ostium (3.0, 2.1-3.4 mm) were minimal (≤3 mm). None of measured distances significantly varied between patients presenting paroxysmal versus persistent atrial fibrillation. The anatomic relationship between left atrium and coronary arteries is extremely relevant when performing atrial fibrillation TCA by extensive lesions. Therefore, at least in the latter case, preablation imaging should be recommended to avoid rare, but potentially life-threatening, complications with the aim of an as well tolerated as possible procedure.

  5. Verification of radiation heat transfer analysis in KSTAR PFC and vacuum vessel during baking

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yoo, S.Y. [Chungnam National University, 79 Daehak-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34167 (Korea, Republic of); Kim, Y.J., E-mail: k43689@nfri.re.kr [National Fusion Research Institute, 169-148 Gwahang-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34133 (Korea, Republic of); Kim, S.T.; Jung, N.Y.; Im, D.S.; Gong, J.D.; Lee, J.M.; Park, K.R.; Oh, Y.K. [National Fusion Research Institute, 169-148 Gwahang-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 34133 (Korea, Republic of)

    2016-11-01

    Highlights: • Thermal network is used to analyze heat transfer from PFC to VV. • Three heat transfer rate equations are derived based on the thermal network. • The equations is verified using Experimental data and design documents. • Most of the heat lost in tokamak is transferred to experimental room air. • The heat loss to the air is 101 kW of the total heat loss of 154 kW in tokamak. - Abstract: KSTAR PFC (Plasma Facing Component) and VV (Vacuum Vessel) were not arrived at the target temperatures in bake-out phase, which are 300 °C and 110 °C, respectively. The purpose of this study is to find out the reason why they have not been reached the target temperature. A thermal network analysis is used to investigate the radiation heat transfer from PFC to VV, and the thermal network is drawn up based on the actual KSTAR tokamak. The analysis model consists of three equations, and is solved using the EES (Engineering Equation Solver). The heat transfer rates obtained with the analysis model is verified using the experimental data at the KSTAR bake-out phase. The analyzed radiation heat transfer rates from PFC to VV agree quite well with those of experiment throughout the bake-out phase. Heat loss from PFC to experimental room air via flange of VV is also calculated and compared, which is found be the main reason of temperature gap between the target temperature and actually attained temperature of KSTAR PFC.

  6. Verification of radiation heat transfer analysis in KSTAR PFC and vacuum vessel during baking

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yoo, S.Y.; Kim, Y.J.; Kim, S.T.; Jung, N.Y.; Im, D.S.; Gong, J.D.; Lee, J.M.; Park, K.R.; Oh, Y.K.

    2016-01-01

    Highlights: • Thermal network is used to analyze heat transfer from PFC to VV. • Three heat transfer rate equations are derived based on the thermal network. • The equations is verified using Experimental data and design documents. • Most of the heat lost in tokamak is transferred to experimental room air. • The heat loss to the air is 101 kW of the total heat loss of 154 kW in tokamak. - Abstract: KSTAR PFC (Plasma Facing Component) and VV (Vacuum Vessel) were not arrived at the target temperatures in bake-out phase, which are 300 °C and 110 °C, respectively. The purpose of this study is to find out the reason why they have not been reached the target temperature. A thermal network analysis is used to investigate the radiation heat transfer from PFC to VV, and the thermal network is drawn up based on the actual KSTAR tokamak. The analysis model consists of three equations, and is solved using the EES (Engineering Equation Solver). The heat transfer rates obtained with the analysis model is verified using the experimental data at the KSTAR bake-out phase. The analyzed radiation heat transfer rates from PFC to VV agree quite well with those of experiment throughout the bake-out phase. Heat loss from PFC to experimental room air via flange of VV is also calculated and compared, which is found be the main reason of temperature gap between the target temperature and actually attained temperature of KSTAR PFC.

  7. Right-to-left shunt and subclinical ischemic brain lesions in Chinese migraineurs: a multicentre MRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jiang, Xiao-Han; Wang, Si-Bo; Tian, Qian; Zhong, Chi; Zhang, Guan-Ling; Li, Ya-Jie; Lin, Pan; You, Yong; Guo, Rong; Cui, Ying-Hua; Xing, Ying-Qi

    2018-02-14

    Migraine is considered as a risk factor for subclinical brain ischemic lesions, and right-to-left shunt (RLS) is more common among migraineurs. This cross-sectional study assessed the association of RLS with the increased prevalence of subclinical ischemic brain lesions in migraineurs. We enrolled 334 migraineurs from a multicentre study from June 2015 to August 2016. Participants were all evaluated using contrast-enhanced transcranial Doppler, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and completed a questionnaire covering demographics, the main risk factors of vascular disease, and migraine status. RLS was classified into four grades (Grade 0 = Negative; Grade I = 1 ≤ microbubbles (MBs) ≤ 10; Grade II = MBs > 10 and no curtain; Grade III = curtain). Silent brain ischemic infarctions (SBI) and white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) were evaluated on MRI. We found no significant differences between migraineurs with RLS and migraineurs without RLS in subclinical ischemic brain lesions.SBI and WMHs did not increase with the size of the RLS(p for trend for SBI = 0.066, p for trend for WMHs = 0.543). Furthermore, curtain RLS in migraineurs was a risk factor for the presence of SBI (p = 0.032, OR = 3.47; 95%CI: 1.12-10.76). There was no association between RLS and the presence of WMHs. Overall, RLS is not associated with increased SBI or WMHs in migraineurs. However, when RLS is present as a curtain pattern, it is likely to be a risk factor for SBIs in migraineurs. No. NCT02425696 ; registered on April 21, 2015.

  8. Reward acts on the pFC to enhance distractor resistance of working memory representations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fallon, Sean James; Cools, Roshan

    2014-12-01

    Working memory and reward processing are often thought to be separate, unrelated processes. However, most daily activities involve integrating these two types of information, and the two processes rarely, if ever, occur in isolation. Here, we show that working memory and reward interact in a task-dependent manner and that this task-dependent interaction involves modulation of the pFC by the ventral striatum. Specifically, BOLD signal during gains relative to losses in the ventral striatum and pFC was associated not only with enhanced distractor resistance but also with impairment in the ability to update working memory representations. Furthermore, the effect of reward on working memory was accompanied by differential coupling between the ventral striatum and ignore-related regions in the pFC. Together, these data demonstrate that reward-related signals modulate the balance between cognitive stability and cognitive flexibility by altering functional coupling between the ventral striatum and the pFC.

  9. [Right extremities pain caused by a malacia lesion in the left putamen:a resting functional magnetic resonance imaging of the marginal division of the human brain].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Zhi-Ye; Ma, Lin

    2014-04-01

    To explore the role of marginal division of the human brain in the pain modulation. Resting functional magnetic resonance imaging was applied in a patient with right extremities pain caused by a malacia lesion in the left putamen and in 8 healthy volunteers. Marginal division was defined using manual drawing on structure images, and was applied to the computation of fuctional connectivity maps. The functional connectivities in the left marginal division showed an evident decrease in the patient when compared with healthy controls. These connectivities were mainly located in the bilateral head of caudate nucleus, putamen, and left globus pallidus. The marginal division may be involved in the pain modulation.

  10. 14 CFR 158.47 - Collection of PFC's on tickets issued outside the U.S.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... OF TRANSPORTATION (CONTINUED) AIRPORTS PASSENGER FACILITY CHARGES (PFC'S) Collection, Handling, and... required to collect a PFC on air travel tickets issued on its own ticket stock unless it serves a point or... public agency controlling the last airport at which the passenger is enplaned prior to departure from the...

  11. Is the ipsilateral cortex surrounding the lesion or the non-injured contralateral cortex important for motor recovery in rats with photochemically induced cortical lesions?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takata, Kotaro; Yamauchi, Hideki; Tatsuno, Hisashi; Hashimoto, Keiji; Abo, Masahiro

    2006-01-01

    To determine whether the ipsilateral cortex surrounding the lesion or the non-injured contralateral cortex is important for motor recovery after brain damage in the photochemically initiated thrombosis (PIT) model. We induced PIT in the sensorimotor cortex in rats and examined the recovery of motor function using the beam-walking test. In 24 rats, the right sensorimotor cortex was lesioned after 2 days of training for the beam-walking test (group 1). After 10 days, PIT was induced in the left sensorimotor cortex. Eight additional rats (group 2) received 2 days training in beam walking, then underwent the beam-walking test to evaluate function. After 10 days of testing, the left sensorimotor cortex was lesioned and recovery was monitored by the beam-walking test for 8 days. In group 1 animals, left hindlimb function caused by a right sensorimotor cortex lesion recovered within 10 days after the operation. Right hindlimb function caused by the left-side lesion recovered within 6 days. In group 2, right hindlimb function caused by induction of the left-side lesion after a total of 12 days of beam-walking training and testing recovered within 6 days as with the double PIT model. The training effect may be relevant to reorganization and neuromodulation. Motor recovery patterns did not indicate whether motor recovery was dependent on the ipsilateral cortex surrounding the lesion or the cortex of the contralateral side. The results emphasize the need for selection of appropriate programs tailored to the area of cortical damage in order to enhance motor functional recovery in this model. Copyright 2006 S. Karger AG, Basel.

  12. Modulating phonemic fluency performance in healthy subjects with transcranial magnetic stimulation over the left or right lateral frontal cortex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smirni, Daniela; Turriziani, Patrizia; Mangano, Giuseppa Renata; Bracco, Martina; Oliveri, Massimiliano; Cipolotti, Lisa

    2017-07-28

    A growing body of evidence have suggested that non-invasive brain stimulation techniques, such as transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS), can improve the performance of aphasic patients in language tasks. For example, application of inhibitory rTMS or tDCs over the right frontal lobe of dysphasic patients resulted in improved naming abilities. Several studies have also reported that in healthy controls (HC) tDCS application over the left prefrontal cortex (PFC) improve performance in naming and semantic fluency tasks. The aim of this study was to investigate in HC, for the first time, the effects of inhibitory repetitive TMS (rTMS) over left and right lateral frontal cortex (BA 47) on two phonemic fluency tasks (FAS or FPL). 44 right-handed HCs were administered rTMS or sham over the left or right lateral frontal cortex in two separate testing sessions, with a 24h interval, followed by the two phonemic fluency tasks. To account for possible practice effects, an additional 22 HCs were tested on only the phonemic fluency task across two sessions with no stimulation. We found that rTMS-inhibition over the left lateral frontal cortex significantly worsened phonemic fluency performance when compared to sham. In contrast, rTMS-inhibition over the right lateral frontal cortex significantly improved phonemic fluency performance when compared to sham. These results were not accounted for practice effects. We speculated that rTMS over the right lateral frontal cortex may induce plastic neural changes to the left lateral frontal cortex by suppressing interhemispheric inhibitory interactions. This resulted in an increased excitability (disinhibition) of the contralateral unstimulated left lateral frontal cortex, consequently enhancing phonemic fluency performance. Conversely, application of rTMS over the left lateral frontal cortex may induce a temporary, virtual lesion, with effects similar to those reported in left frontal

  13. On temporal connectivity of PFC via Gauss-Markov modeling of fNIRS signals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aydöre, Sergül; Mihçak, M Kivanç; Ciftçi, Koray; Akin, Ata

    2010-03-01

    Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is an optical imaging method, which monitors the brain activation by measuring the successive changes in the concentration of oxy- and deoxyhemoglobin in real time. In this study, we present a method to investigate the functional connectivity of prefrontal cortex (PFC) Sby applying a Gauss-Markov model to fNIRS signals. The hemodynamic changes on PFC during the performance of cognitive paradigm are measured by fNIRS for 17 healthy adults. The color-word matching Stroop task is performed to activate 16 different regions of PFC. There are three different types of stimuli in this task, which can be listed as incongruent stimulus (IS), congruent stimulus (CS), and neutral stimulus (NS), respectively. We introduce a new measure, called "information transfer metric" (ITM) for each time sample. The behavior of ITMs during IS are significantly different from the ITMs during CS and NS, which is consistent with the outcome of the previous research, which concentrated on fNIRS signal analysis via color-word matching Stroop task. Our analysis shows that the functional connectivity of PFC is highly relevant with the cognitive load, i.e., functional connectivity increases with the increasing cognitive load.

  14. 2-D temperature distribution and heat flux of PFC in 2011 KSTAR campaign

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bang, Eunnam, E-mail: bang14@nfri.re.kr; Hong, Suk-Ho; Yu, Yaowei; Kim, Kyungmin; Kim, Hongtack; Kim, Hakkun; Lee, Kunsu; Yang, Hyunglyul

    2013-10-15

    Highlights: • The heat flux on PFC tiles of 12 s pulse duration and 630 kA plasma current is about 0.02 MW/m{sup 2}. • When the cryopump is operated, the heat flux of CD is higher than without cryopump. • The more H-mode duration is long, the more heat flux on divertor is high. -- Abstract: KSTAR has reached a plasma current up to 630 kA, plasma duration up to 12 s, and has achieved high confinement mode (H-mode) in 2011 campaign. The heat flux of PFC tile was estimated from the temperature increase of PFC since 2010. The heat flux of PFC tiles increases significantly with higher plasma current and longer pulse duration. The time-averaged heat flux of shots in 2010 campaign (with 3 s pulse durations and I{sub p} of 611 kA) is 0.01 MW/m{sup 2} while that in 2011 campaign (with 12 s pulse duration and I{sub p} of 630 kA) is about 0.02 MW/m{sup 2}. The heat flux at divertor is 1.4–2 times higher than that at inboard limiter or passive stabilizer. With the cryopump operation, the heat flux at the central divertor is higher than that without cryopump. The heat flux at divertor is proportional to, of course, the duration of H-mode. Furthermore, a software tool, which visualizes the 2D temperature distribution of PFC tile and estimates the heat flux in real time, is developed.

  15. Fuzzy Controlled Parallel AC-DC Converter for PFC

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M Subba Rao

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Paralleling of converter modules is a well-known technique that is often used in medium-power applications to achieve the desired output power by using smaller size of high frequency transformers and inductors. In this paper, a parallel-connected single-phase PFC topology using flyback and forward converters is proposed to improve the output voltage regulation with simultaneous input power factor correction (PFC and control. The goal of the control is to stabilize the output voltage of the converter against the load variations. The paper presents the derivation of fuzzy control rules for the dc/dc converter circuit and control algorithm for regulating the dc/dc converter. This paper presents a design example and circuit analysis for 200 W power supply. The proposed approach offers cost effective, compact and efficient AC/DC converter by the use of parallel power processing. MATLAB/SIMULINK is used for implementation and simulation results show the performance improvement.

  16. Forward Conduction Mode Controlled Piezoelectric Transformer-Based PFC LED Drive

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Roedgaard, M. S.; Weirich, M.; Andersen, M. A. E.

    2013-01-01

    Light-emitting diode (LED) illumination is getting more and more common; as LED's performance is rising, the price is falling and is getting competitive. Some of the challenges of ac mains supplied illumination are the requirement of power factor correction (PFC) and the competitiveness of a low...... priced market. In this paper, a new forward conduction mode (FCM) control method for piezoelectric transformer (PT)-based power converters is proposed. A PT-based LED drive facilitating passive PFC is developed, utilizing and validating the FCM control method. The drive utilizes an inductorless half...... LED drive has been developed, supplied from 230-V 50-Hz ac mains, achieving a power factor of 0.96....

  17. Morgellons Disease Presenting As an Eyelid Lesion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sandhu, Rasanamar K; Steele, Eric A

    2016-01-01

    Morgellons disease is characterized by complaints of uncomfortable skin sensations and fibers emanating from nonhealing skin lesions. Morgellons disease is well-known in the dermatology and psychiatry literature, where it is typically considered a subtype of delusional parasitosis, but it has not yet been described in the ophthalmology literature. A patient with self-reported Morgellons disease is presented, who was referred for evaluation of left lower eyelid ectropion. She reported that her skin was infested with fibers that were "trying to get down into the eyelid." On examination, she had ectropion of the left lower eyelid, broken cilia, and an ulcerated left upper eyelid lesion concerning for carcinoma. Biopsy of the lesion was consistent with excoriation. Treatment of her ectropion was deferred out of concern for wound dehiscence, given the patient's aggressive excoriation behavior. This case is presented to make the ophthalmologist aware of this disorder and to highlight the appropriate clinical management.

  18. Video-assisted thoracic surgery for left upper lobectomy for complex lesions: how to extend the indication with optimal safety?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bayard, Nathanaël Frank; Barnett, Stephen Arthur; Rinieri, Philippe; Melki, Jean; Peillon, Christophe; Baste, Jean Marc

    2016-08-01

    The feasibility of extending the VATS approach to locally advanced NSCLC has been described with good clinical outcome. These complex resections are still technically challenging and patient safety must remain the highest priority. In this article, we describe our routine VATS approach for left upper lobectomy in proximal, locally advanced lesions. Both surgical and anaesthesiology teams are trained during simulation sessions to respond rapidly in case of urgent thoracotomy. Encircling arterial and venous vessels allow control of inadvertent bleeding during difficult dissection. Also, whenever needed the double vessel control technique is a time saver waiting for conversion to thoracotomy.

  19. Structural Variation within the Amygdala and Ventromedial Prefrontal Cortex Predict Memory for Impressions in Older Adults

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Brittany Shane Cassidy

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available Research has shown that lesions to regions involved in social and emotional cognition disrupt socioemotional processing and memory. We investigated how structural variation of regions involved in socioemotional memory (ventromedial prefrontal cortex [vmPFC], amygdala, as opposed to a region implicated in explicit memory (hippocampus, affected memory for impressions in young and older adults. Anatomical MRI scans for fifteen young and fifteen older adults were obtained and reconstructed to gather information about cortical thickness and subcortical volume. Young adults had greater amygdala and hippocampus volumes than old, and thicker left vmPFC than old, although right vmPFC thickness did not differ across the age groups. Participants formed behavior-based impressions and responded to interpersonally meaningful, social but interpersonally irrelevant, or non-social prompts, and completed a memory test. Results showed that greater left amygdala volume predicted enhanced overall memory for impressions in older but not younger adults. Increased right vmPFC thickness in older, but not younger, adults correlated with enhanced memory for impressions formed in the interpersonally meaningful context. Hippocampal volume was not predictive of social memory in young or older adults. These findings demonstrate the importance of structural variation in regions linked to socioemotional processing in the retention of impressions with age, and suggest that the amygdala and vmPFC play an integral role when encoding and retrieving social information.

  20. Angiographically borderline left main coronary artery lesions: correlation of transthoracic doppler echocardiography and intravascular ultrasound: a pilot study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Varga Albert

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background the clinical decision making could be difficult in patients with borderline lesions (visually assessed stenosis severity of 30 to 50% of the left main coronary artery (LM. The aim of the study was to evaluate the relationship between transthoracic Doppler (TTDE peak diastolic flow velocity (PDV and intravascular ultrasound (IVUS measurements in the assessment of angiographically borderline LM lesions. Methods 27 patients (mean age 64 ± 8 years, 21 males with borderline LM stenosis referred for IVUS examination were included in the study. We performed standard IVUS with minimal lumen area (MLA and plaque burden (PB measurement and routine quantitative coronary angiography (QCA with diameter stenosis (%DS and area stenosis (%AS assessment in all. During TTDE, resting PDV was measured in the LM. Results interpretable Doppler signal could be obtained in 24 patients (88% feasibility; therefore these patients entered the final analysis. MLA was 7.1 ± 2.7 mm2. TTDE measured PDV correlated significantly with IVUS-derived MLA (r = -0.46, p 2 LM stenosis. Conclusion In angiographically borderline LM disease, resting PDV from transthoracic echocardiography is increased in presence of increased plaque burden by IVUS. TTDE evaluation might be a useful adjunct to other invasive and non-invasive methods in the assessment of borderline LM lesions. Further, large scale studies are needed to establish the exact cut-off value of PDV for routine clinical application.

  1. The functional organization of trial-related activity in lexical processing after early left hemispheric brain lesions: An event-related fMRI study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fair, Damien A; Choi, Alexander H; Dosenbach, Yannic B L; Coalson, Rebecca S; Miezin, Francis M; Petersen, Steven E; Schlaggar, Bradley L

    2010-08-01

    Children with congenital left hemisphere damage due to perinatal stroke are capable of acquiring relatively normal language functions despite experiencing a cortical insult that in adults often leads to devastating lifetime disabilities. Although this observed phenomenon is accepted, its neurobiological mechanisms are not well characterized. In this paper we examined the functional neuroanatomy of lexical processing in 13 children/adolescents with perinatal left hemispheric damage. In contrast to many previous perinatal infarct fMRI studies, we used an event-related design, which allowed us to isolate trial-related activity and examine correct and error trials separately. Using both group and single subject analysis techniques we attempt to address several methodological factors that may contribute to some discrepancies in the perinatal lesion literature. These methodological factors include making direct statistical comparisons, using common stereotactic space, using both single subject and group analyses, and accounting for performance differences. Our group analysis, investigating correct trial-related activity (separately from error trials), showed very few statistical differences in the non-involved right hemisphere between patients and performance matched controls. The single subject analysis revealed atypical regional activation patterns in several patients; however, the location of these regions identified in individual patients often varied across subjects. These results are consistent with the idea that alternative functional organization of trial-related activity after left hemisphere lesions is in large part unique to the individual. In addition, reported differences between results obtained with event-related designs and blocked designs may suggest diverging organizing principles for sustained and trial-related activity after early childhood brain injuries. 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Decreased synaptic plasticity in the medial prefrontal cortex underlies short-term memory deficits in 6-OHDA-lesioned rats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matheus, Filipe C; Rial, Daniel; Real, Joana I; Lemos, Cristina; Ben, Juliana; Guaita, Gisele O; Pita, Inês R; Sequeira, Ana C; Pereira, Frederico C; Walz, Roger; Takahashi, Reinaldo N; Bertoglio, Leandro J; Da Cunha, Cláudio; Cunha, Rodrigo A; Prediger, Rui D

    2016-03-15

    Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by motor dysfunction associated with dopaminergic degeneration in the dorsolateral striatum (DLS). However, motor symptoms in PD are often preceded by short-term memory deficits, which have been argued to involve deregulation of medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). We now used a 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) rat PD model to explore if alterations of synaptic plasticity in DLS and mPFC underlie short-term memory impairments in PD prodrome. The bilateral injection of 6-OHDA (20μg/hemisphere) in the DLS caused a marked loss of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra (>80%) and decreased monoamine levels in the striatum and PFC, accompanied by motor deficits evaluated after 21 days in the open field and accelerated rotarod. A lower dose of 6-OHDA (10μg/hemisphere) only induced a partial degeneration (about 60%) of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra with no gross motor impairments, thus mimicking an early premotor stage of PD. Notably, 6-OHDA (10μg)-lesioned rats displayed decreased monoamine levels in the PFC as well as short-term memory deficits evaluated in the novel object discrimination and in the modified Y-maze tasks; this was accompanied by a selective decrease in the amplitude of long-term potentiation in the mPFC, but not in DLS, without changes of synaptic transmission in either brain regions. These results indicate that the short-term memory dysfunction predating the motor alterations in the 6-OHDA model of PD is associated with selective changes of information processing in PFC circuits, typified by persistent changes of synaptic plasticity. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  3. Uncertainty-Dependent Extinction of Fear Memory in an Amygdala-mPFC Neural Circuit Model

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Yuzhe; Nakae, Ken; Ishii, Shin; Naoki, Honda

    2016-01-01

    Uncertainty of fear conditioning is crucial for the acquisition and extinction of fear memory. Fear memory acquired through partial pairings of a conditioned stimulus (CS) and an unconditioned stimulus (US) is more resistant to extinction than that acquired through full pairings; this effect is known as the partial reinforcement extinction effect (PREE). Although the PREE has been explained by psychological theories, the neural mechanisms underlying the PREE remain largely unclear. Here, we developed a neural circuit model based on three distinct types of neurons (fear, persistent and extinction neurons) in the amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). In the model, the fear, persistent and extinction neurons encode predictions of net severity, of unconditioned stimulus (US) intensity, and of net safety, respectively. Our simulation successfully reproduces the PREE. We revealed that unpredictability of the US during extinction was represented by the combined responses of the three types of neurons, which are critical for the PREE. In addition, we extended the model to include amygdala subregions and the mPFC to address a recent finding that the ventral mPFC (vmPFC) is required for consolidating extinction memory but not for memory retrieval. Furthermore, model simulations led us to propose a novel procedure to enhance extinction learning through re-conditioning with a stronger US; strengthened fear memory up-regulates the extinction neuron, which, in turn, further inhibits the fear neuron during re-extinction. Thus, our models increased the understanding of the functional roles of the amygdala and vmPFC in the processing of uncertainty in fear conditioning and extinction. PMID:27617747

  4. Uncertainty-Dependent Extinction of Fear Memory in an Amygdala-mPFC Neural Circuit Model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Yuzhe; Nakae, Ken; Ishii, Shin; Naoki, Honda

    2016-09-01

    Uncertainty of fear conditioning is crucial for the acquisition and extinction of fear memory. Fear memory acquired through partial pairings of a conditioned stimulus (CS) and an unconditioned stimulus (US) is more resistant to extinction than that acquired through full pairings; this effect is known as the partial reinforcement extinction effect (PREE). Although the PREE has been explained by psychological theories, the neural mechanisms underlying the PREE remain largely unclear. Here, we developed a neural circuit model based on three distinct types of neurons (fear, persistent and extinction neurons) in the amygdala and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). In the model, the fear, persistent and extinction neurons encode predictions of net severity, of unconditioned stimulus (US) intensity, and of net safety, respectively. Our simulation successfully reproduces the PREE. We revealed that unpredictability of the US during extinction was represented by the combined responses of the three types of neurons, which are critical for the PREE. In addition, we extended the model to include amygdala subregions and the mPFC to address a recent finding that the ventral mPFC (vmPFC) is required for consolidating extinction memory but not for memory retrieval. Furthermore, model simulations led us to propose a novel procedure to enhance extinction learning through re-conditioning with a stronger US; strengthened fear memory up-regulates the extinction neuron, which, in turn, further inhibits the fear neuron during re-extinction. Thus, our models increased the understanding of the functional roles of the amygdala and vmPFC in the processing of uncertainty in fear conditioning and extinction.

  5. 5-HT2a receptor in mPFC influences context-guided reconsolidation of object memory in perirhinal cortex

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morici, Juan Facundo; Miranda, Magdalena; Gallo, Francisco Tomás; Zanoni, Belén; Bekinschtein, Pedro

    2018-01-01

    Context-dependent memories may guide adaptive behavior relaying in previous experience while updating stored information through reconsolidation. Retrieval can be triggered by partial and shared cues. When the cue is presented, the most relevant memory should be updated. In a contextual version of the object recognition task, we examined the effect of medial PFC (mPFC) serotonin 2a receptor (5-HT2aR) blockade during retrieval in reconsolidation of competing objects memories. We found that mPFC 5-HT2aR controls retrieval and reconsolidation of object memories in the perirhinal cortex (PRH), but not in the dorsal hippocampus in rats. Also, reconsolidation of objects memories in PRH required a functional interaction between the ventral hippocampus and the mPFC. Our results indicate that in the presence of conflicting information at retrieval, mPFC 5-HT2aR may facilitate top-down context-guided control over PRH to control the behavioral response and object memory reconsolidation. PMID:29717980

  6. Inference comprehension in text reading: Performance of individuals with right- versus left-hemisphere lesions and the influence of cognitive functions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Silagi, Marcela Lima; Radanovic, Marcia; Conforto, Adriana Bastos; Mendonça, Lucia Iracema Zanotto; Mansur, Leticia Lessa

    2018-01-01

    Right-hemisphere lesions (RHL) may impair inference comprehension. However, comparative studies between left-hemisphere lesions (LHL) and RHL are rare, especially regarding reading comprehension. Moreover, further knowledge of the influence of cognition on inferential processing in this task is needed. To compare the performance of patients with RHL and LHL on an inference reading comprehension task. We also aimed to analyze the effects of lesion site and to verify correlations between cognitive functions and performance on the task. Seventy-five subjects were equally divided into the groups RHL, LHL, and control group (CG). The Implicit Management Test was used to evaluate inference comprehension. In this test, subjects read short written passages and subsequently answer five types of questions (explicit, logical, distractor, pragmatic, and other), which require different types of inferential reasoning. The cognitive functional domains of attention, memory, executive functions, language, and visuospatial abilities were assessed using the Cognitive Linguistic Quick Test (CLQT). The LHL and RHL groups presented difficulties in inferential comprehension in comparison with the CG. However, the RHL group presented lower scores than the LHL group on logical, pragmatic and other questions. A covariance analysis did not show any effect of lesion site within the hemispheres. Overall, all cognitive domains were correlated with all the types of questions from the inference test (especially logical, pragmatic, and other). Attention and visuospatial abilities affected the scores of both the RHL and LHL groups, and only memory influenced the performance of the RHL group. Lesions in either hemisphere may cause difficulties in making inferences during reading. However, processing more complex inferences was more difficult for patients with RHL than for those with LHL, which suggests that the right hemisphere plays an important role in tasks with higher comprehension demands

  7. Inference comprehension in text reading: Performance of individuals with right- versus left-hemisphere lesions and the influence of cognitive functions.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marcela Lima Silagi

    Full Text Available Right-hemisphere lesions (RHL may impair inference comprehension. However, comparative studies between left-hemisphere lesions (LHL and RHL are rare, especially regarding reading comprehension. Moreover, further knowledge of the influence of cognition on inferential processing in this task is needed.To compare the performance of patients with RHL and LHL on an inference reading comprehension task. We also aimed to analyze the effects of lesion site and to verify correlations between cognitive functions and performance on the task.Seventy-five subjects were equally divided into the groups RHL, LHL, and control group (CG. The Implicit Management Test was used to evaluate inference comprehension. In this test, subjects read short written passages and subsequently answer five types of questions (explicit, logical, distractor, pragmatic, and other, which require different types of inferential reasoning. The cognitive functional domains of attention, memory, executive functions, language, and visuospatial abilities were assessed using the Cognitive Linguistic Quick Test (CLQT.The LHL and RHL groups presented difficulties in inferential comprehension in comparison with the CG. However, the RHL group presented lower scores than the LHL group on logical, pragmatic and other questions. A covariance analysis did not show any effect of lesion site within the hemispheres. Overall, all cognitive domains were correlated with all the types of questions from the inference test (especially logical, pragmatic, and other. Attention and visuospatial abilities affected the scores of both the RHL and LHL groups, and only memory influenced the performance of the RHL group.Lesions in either hemisphere may cause difficulties in making inferences during reading. However, processing more complex inferences was more difficult for patients with RHL than for those with LHL, which suggests that the right hemisphere plays an important role in tasks with higher comprehension

  8. Evaluation of 600V Superjunction Devices in Single Phase PFC Applications under CCM Operation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hernandez Botella, Juan Carlos; Petersen, Lars Press; Andersen, Michael A. E.

    2014-01-01

    electromagnetic interference (EMI). The dynamic characterization is based on a low inductive double pulse tester (DPT). The measured switching energy is used in order to evaluate the devices performance in a conventional PFC. This data is used together with the mathematical model for prediction of the conducted...... electromagnetic interference. The method allows comparing different devices and evaluating the performance as a function of the PFC power density and efficiency....

  9. 76 FR 34124 - Notice of Passenger Facility Charge (PFC) Approvals and Disapprovals

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-06-10

    ...--construction. Security equipment--fingerprinting machine (replacement). PFC Administrative costs. Brief... rescue and firefighting vehicle replacement. Electrical substation and distribution system rehabilitation...

  10. High-power piezo drive amplifier for large stack and PFC applications

    Science.gov (United States)

    Clingman, Dan J.; Gamble, Mike

    2001-08-01

    This paper describes the continuing development of Boeing High Power Piezo Drive Amplifiers. Described is the development and testing of a 1500 Vpp, 8 amp switching amplifier. This amplifier is used to drive a piezo stack driven rotor blade trailing edge flap on a full size helicopter. Also discuss is a switching amplifier designed to drive a Piezo Fiber Composite (PFC) active twist rotor blade. This amplifier was designed to drive the PFC material at 2000 Vpp and 0.5 amps. These amplifiers recycle reactive energy, allowing for a power and weight efficient amplifier design. This work was done in conjunction with the DARPA sponsored Phase II Smart Rotor Blade program and the NASA Langley Research Center sponsored Active Twist Rotor (ATR) blade program.

  11. 47-year-old man with left leg numbness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mahta, Ali; Kim, Ryan Y; Saad, Ali G; Kesari, Santosh

    2013-03-01

    A 47-year-old white male with a history of uveitis, hypercalcemia and nephrolithiasis presented with acute onset partial seizure. On exam he had decreased sensation to light touch on his left lower extremity. A Brain MRI revealed a right frontal mass, which was initially thought to be a metastatic lesion or a primary brain tumor. However, biopsy of the lesion revealed it to be a non-caseating granulomatous lesion consistent with neurosarcoidosis.

  12. Left hemisphere regions are critical for language in the face of early left focal brain injury

    OpenAIRE

    Raja Beharelle, Anjali; Dick, Anthony Steven; Josse, Goulven; Solodkin, Ana; Huttenlocher, Peter R.; Levine, Susan C.; Small, Steven L.

    2010-01-01

    A predominant theory regarding early stroke and its effect on language development, is that early left hemisphere lesions trigger compensatory processes that allow the right hemisphere to assume dominant language functions, and this is thought to underlie the near normal language development observed after early stroke. To test this theory, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging to examine brain activity during category fluency in participants who had sustained pre- or perinatal left h...

  13. Altered Communicative Decisions following Ventromedial Prefrontal Lesions

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Stolk, A.; D'Imperio, D.; Pellegrino, G. di; Toni, I.

    2015-01-01

    Damage to the human ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) leads to profound changes in everyday social interactions [1, 2]. Yet, in the lab, vmPFC patients show surprising proficiency in reasoning about other agents [3-8]. These conflicting observations suggest that what vmPFC patients lack in

  14. 76 FR 70809 - Notice of Passenger Facility Charge (PFC) Approvals and Disapprovals

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-11-15

    .... Pavement condition index airfield inspection. Brief Description of Withdrawn Projects: Safety management... management services. East terminal expansion. New upper level roadway, design and construction. PFC...

  15. Ex vivo dissection of optogenetically activated mPFC and hippocampal inputs to neurons in the basolateral amygdala: implications for fear and emotional memory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cora eHübner

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available Many lines of evidence suggest that a reciprocally interconnected network comprising the amygdala, ventral hippocampus (vHC, and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC participates in different aspects of the acquisition and extinction of conditioned fear responses and fear behavior. This could at least in part be mediated by direct connections from mPFC or vHC to amygdala to control amygdala activity and output. However, currently the interactions between mPFC and vHC afferents and their specific targets in the amygdala are still poorly understood. Here, we use an ex-vivo optogenetic approach to dissect synaptic properties of inputs from mPFC and vHC to defined neuronal populations in the basal amygdala (BA, the area that we identify as a major target of these projections. We find that BA principal neurons (PNs and local BA interneurons (INs receive monosynaptic excitatory inputs from mPFC and vHC. In addition, both these inputs also recruit GABAergic feedforward inhibition in a substantial fraction of PNs, in some neurons this also comprises a slow GABAB-component. Amongst the innervated PNs we identify neurons that project back to subregions of the mPFC, indicating a loop between neurons in mPFC and BA, and a pathway from vHC to mPFC via BA. Interestingly, mPFC inputs also recruit feedforward inhibition in a fraction of INs, suggesting that these inputs can activate dis-inhibitory circuits in the BA. A general feature of both mPFC and vHC inputs to local INs is that excitatory inputs display faster rise and decay kinetics than in PNs, which would enable temporally precise signaling. However, mPFC and vHC inputs to both PNs and INs differ in their presynaptic release properties, in that vHC inputs are more depressing. In summary, our data describe novel wiring, and features of synaptic connections from mPFC and vHC to amygdala that could help to interpret functions of these interconnected brain areas at the network level.

  16. Ex vivo dissection of optogenetically activated mPFC and hippocampal inputs to neurons in the basolateral amygdala: implications for fear and emotional memory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hübner, Cora; Bosch, Daniel; Gall, Andrea; Lüthi, Andreas; Ehrlich, Ingrid

    2014-01-01

    Many lines of evidence suggest that a reciprocally interconnected network comprising the amygdala, ventral hippocampus (vHC), and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) participates in different aspects of the acquisition and extinction of conditioned fear responses and fear behavior. This could at least in part be mediated by direct connections from mPFC or vHC to amygdala to control amygdala activity and output. However, currently the interactions between mPFC and vHC afferents and their specific targets in the amygdala are still poorly understood. Here, we use an ex-vivo optogenetic approach to dissect synaptic properties of inputs from mPFC and vHC to defined neuronal populations in the basal amygdala (BA), the area that we identify as a major target of these projections. We find that BA principal neurons (PNs) and local BA interneurons (INs) receive monosynaptic excitatory inputs from mPFC and vHC. In addition, both these inputs also recruit GABAergic feedforward inhibition in a substantial fraction of PNs, in some neurons this also comprises a slow GABAB-component. Amongst the innervated PNs we identify neurons that project back to subregions of the mPFC, indicating a loop between neurons in mPFC and BA, and a pathway from vHC to mPFC via BA. Interestingly, mPFC inputs also recruit feedforward inhibition in a fraction of INs, suggesting that these inputs can activate dis-inhibitory circuits in the BA. A general feature of both mPFC and vHC inputs to local INs is that excitatory inputs display faster rise and decay kinetics than in PNs, which would enable temporally precise signaling. However, mPFC and vHC inputs to both PNs and INs differ in their presynaptic release properties, in that vHC inputs are more depressing. In summary, our data describe novel wiring, and features of synaptic connections from mPFC and vHC to amygdala that could help to interpret functions of these interconnected brain areas at the network level. PMID:24634648

  17. Provisional versus elective two-stent strategy for unprotected true left main bifurcation lesions: Insights from a FAILS-2 sub-study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kawamoto, Hiroyoshi; Chieffo, Alaide; D'Ascenzo, Fabrizio; Jabbour, Richard J; Naganuma, Toru; Cerrato, Enrico; Ugo, Fabrizio; Pavani, Marco; Varbella, Ferdinando; Boccuzzi, Giacomo; Pennone, Mauro; Garbo, Roberto; Conrotto, Federico; Biondi-Zoccai, Giuseppe; D'Amico, Maurizio; Moretti, Claudio; Escaned, Javier; Gaita, Fiorenzo; Nakamura, Sunao; Colombo, Antonio

    2018-01-01

    This study sought to investigate the optimal percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) strategy for true unprotected left main coronary artery (ULMCA) bifurcations. The FAILS-2 was a retrospective multi-center study including patients with ULMCA disease treated with second-generation drug-eluting stents. Of these, we compared clinical outcomes of a provisional strategy (PS; n=216) versus an elective two-stent strategy (E2S; n=161) for true ULMCA bifurcations. The primary endpoint was the incidence of major adverse cardiac events (MACEs) at 3-years. We further performed propensity-score adjustment for clinical outcomes. There were no significant differences between the groups in terms of patient and lesion characteristics. 9.7% of patients in the PS group crossed over to a provisional two-stent strategy. MACEs were not significantly different between groups (MACE at 3-year; PS 28.1% vs. E2S 28.9%, adjusted p=0.99). The rates of target lesion revascularization (TLR) on the circumflex artery (LCX) were numerically high in the E2S group (LCX-TLR at 3-years; PS 11.8% vs. E2S 16.6%, adjusted p=0.51). E2S was associated with a comparable MACE rate to PS for true ULMCA bifurcations. The rates of LCX-TLR tended to be higher in the E2S group although there was no statistical significance. This study sought to compare the clinical outcomes of a provisional strategy (PS) with an elective two-stent strategy (E2S) for the treatment of true unprotected left main coronary artery bifurcations. 377 Patients (PS 216 vs. E2S 161 patients) were evaluated, and 9.7% in the PS group crossed over to a two-stent strategy. E2S was associated with a similar major adverse cardiac event rate at 3-years when compared to the PS strategy (PS 28.1% vs. E2S 28.9%, p=0.99). However, the left circumflex artery TLR rate at 3-year tended to be higher in the E2S group (PS 11.8% vs. E2S 16.6%, p=0.51). Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. An implant periapical lesion associated with an endodontic-periodontic lesion of an adjacent molar

    OpenAIRE

    Chou, Ting-An; Chang, Yu-Liang; Yu, Ling-Min; Pan, Whei-Ling; Ju, Yuh-Ren; Chan, Chiu-Po

    2010-01-01

    Adjacent natural teeth with untreated pulpal or periodontal pathology may be a potential risk for implant infection. We report a rare case of an implant periapical lesion (IPL) possibly caused by direct extension of a periradicular lesion of an adjacent tooth. A 40-year-old female patient, who had previously received three implants on the edentulous areas of teeth 16, 36 and 46, had a recurrent infection over the lower left second molar area for 2 years. A periapical radiograph revealed incom...

  19. Differential Impairment of Noun and Verb Consequent to LH Lesions in Persian Aphasic Patients

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dr. Reza Nilipour

    2003-08-01

    Full Text Available The major focus of this research is on the differential disruption of language abilities subsequent to brain damages as they relate to site and size of lesion, especially left hemisphere lesions which disrupt the production and processing of "Nouns" vs. "Verbs" as two functionally different lexical categories. Several clinical as well as experimental studies reported on different language have shown that nouns and verbs can be independently disrupted due to brain damage. A prevalent impairment in naming actions (Producing verbs is reported in non-fluent aphasic patients, with lesions involving left frontal lobe, whereas a selective in naming objects (Producing nouns has been observed in amnesic patients, with lesions involving the temporal lobe and the temporal lobe and the posterior association aresas. This research is a theoretical and fundamental based on descriptive and analytical method. The aphasic data in this research were obtained by assessing each patient's aphasic symptoms using a standard Persian aphasia test (Paradis, Nilipoure, Paribakht, 1989 as well as post-test analysis of each patient' connected descriptive speech. The subjects were selected form among aphasics who referred to speech therapy centers in Tehran during a pe5iod of one year since autumn 1999. The subjects selected in the study were a homogenous group with left hemisphere lesions due to CVA. They were educated adult right handed. Speakers of Persian without any risk factor such as nicotine, alcohol or any addiction and diabetes with no gross depression or anxiety problems or face and oral paralysis and hemiaopsia. The subjects in this study comprised to adults ranging between 33 and 76 years of age. The results indicated that there are significant correlation between: 1 The production of nouns and left hemisphere lesion. 2 The production of verbs and left hemisphere lesion. 3 Brain lesion and language deficits. 4 The site of lesion and language abilities

  20. Disseminated cutaneous sporotrichosis associated with ocular lesion in an immunocompetent patient*

    Science.gov (United States)

    Medeiros, Karina Bittencourt; Landeiro, Luana Gomes; Diniz, Lucia Martins; Falqueto, Aloísio

    2016-01-01

    A 59-year-old female patient, previously healthy, immunocompetent, presented left bulbar conjunctiva lesions and nodular-ulcerated lesions on the arms and cervical region, besides left cervical and retroauricular lymphadenopathy. She had previous contact with domestic cats that excoriated her face. The diagnosis was conclusive of disseminated sporotrichosis through clinical and epidemiological history and cultures of skin and ocular secretions. It evolved with good response to oral antifungal therapy. PMID:27579758

  1. Disseminated cutaneous sporotrichosis associated with ocular lesion in an immunocompetent patient.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Medeiros, Karina Bittencourt; Landeiro, Luana Gomes; Diniz, Lucia Martins; Falqueto, Aloísio

    2016-01-01

    A 59-year-old female patient, previously healthy, immunocompetent, presented left bulbar conjunctiva lesions and nodular-ulcerated lesions on the arms and cervical region, besides left cervical and retroauricular lymphadenopathy. She had previous contact with domestic cats that excoriated her face. The diagnosis was conclusive of disseminated sporotrichosis through clinical and epidemiological history and cultures of skin and ocular secretions. It evolved with good response to oral antifungal therapy.

  2. [A surgical case of mesial temporal lobe epilepsy associated with hippocampal sclerosis and traumatic neocortical lesion].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kitazawa, Yu; Jin, Kazutaka; Iwasaki, Masaki; Suzuki, Hiroyoshi; Tanaka, Fumiaki; Nakasato, Nobukazu

    2017-11-25

    A 26-year-old right-handed woman, with a history of left temporal lobe contusion caused by a fall at the age of 9 months, started to have complex partial seizures with oral automatism at the age of 7 years. The seizures occurred once or twice a month despite combination therapy with several antiepileptic agents. Her history and imaging studies suggested the diagnosis of epilepsy arising from traumatic neocortical temporal lesion. Comprehensive assessment including long-term video EEG monitoring, MRI, FDG-PET, MEG, and neuropsychological evaluation was performed at the age of 26 years. The diagnosis was left mesial temporal lobe epilepsy associated with hippocampal atrophy and traumatic temporal cortical lesion. The patient was readmitted for surgical treatment at the age of 27 years. Intracranial EEG monitoring showed that ictal discharges started in the left hippocampus and spread to the traumatic lesion in the left posterior superior temporal gyrus 10 seconds after the onset. This case could not be classified as dual pathology exactly, because the traumatic left temporal cortical lesion did not show independent epileptogenicity. However, the traumatic lesion was highly likely to be the source of the epileptogenicity, and she had right hemispheric dominance for language and functional deterioration in the whole temporal cortex. Therefore, left amygdalo-hippocampectomy and left temporal lobectomy including the traumatic lesion were performed according to the diagnosis of dual pathology. Subsequently, she remained seizure-free for 3 years. Comprehensive assessment of seizure semiology, neurophysiology, neuroradiology, and neuropsychology is important to determine the optimum therapeutic strategies for drug-resistant epilepsy.

  3. Left main percutaneous coronary intervention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teirstein, Paul S; Price, Matthew J

    2012-10-23

    The introduction of drug-eluting stents and advances in catheter techniques have led to increasing acceptance of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) as a viable alternative to coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) for unprotected left main disease. Current guidelines state that it is reasonable to consider unprotected left main PCI in patients with low to intermediate anatomic complexity who are at increased surgical risk. Data from randomized trials involving patients who are candidates for either treatment strategy provide novel insight into the relative safety and efficacy of PCI for this lesion subset. Herein, we review the current data comparing PCI with CABG for left main disease, summarize recent guideline recommendations, and provide an update on technical considerations that may optimize clinical outcomes in left main PCI. Copyright © 2012 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. Left ventricular outflow tract to left atrial communication secondary to rupture of mitral-aortic intervalvular fibrosa in infective endocarditis: diagnosis by transesophageal echocardiography and color flow imaging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bansal, R C; Graham, B M; Jutzy, K R; Shakudo, M; Shah, P M

    1990-02-01

    Infection of the mitral-aortic intervalvular fibrosa occurs most commonly in association with infective endocarditis of the aortic valve. Infection of the aortic valve results in a regurgitant jet that presumably strikes this subaortic interannular zone of fibrous tissue and produces a secondary site of infection. Infection of this interannular zone then leads to the formation of subaortic abscess or pseudoaneurysm of the left ventricular outflow tract. This infected zone of mitral-aortic intervalvular fibrosa or subaortic aneurysm can subsequently rupture into the left atrium with systolic ejection of blood from the left ventricular outflow tract to the left atrium. This report describes the echocardiographic findings in three patients with pathologically proved left ventricular outflow tract to left atrial communication. Precise preoperative diagnosis is important, and this lesion should be differentiated from ruptured aneurysm of the sinus of Valsalva and perforation of the anterior mitral leaflet. Transthoracic echocardiography using color flow imaging and conventional Doppler techniques may show an eccentric mitral regurgitation type of signal in the left atrium originating from the region of the left ventricular outflow tract. However, transesophageal echocardiography provides an accurate preoperative diagnosis and should be used intraoperatively during repair of such lesions.

  5. Apraxia and spatial inattention dissociate in left hemisphere stroke.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Timpert, David C; Weiss, Peter H; Vossel, Simone; Dovern, Anna; Fink, Gereon R

    2015-10-01

    Theories of lateralized cognitive functions propose a dominance of the left hemisphere for motor control and of the right hemisphere for spatial attention. Accordingly, spatial attention deficits (e.g., neglect) are more frequently observed after right-hemispheric stroke, whereas apraxia is a common consequence of left-hemispheric stroke. Clinical reports of spatial attentional deficits after left hemisphere (LH) stroke also exist, but are often neglected. By applying parallel analysis (PA) and voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping (VLSM) to data from a comprehensive neuropsychological assessment of 74 LH stroke patients, we here systematically investigate the relationship between spatial inattention and apraxia and their neural bases. PA revealed that apraxic (and language comprehension) deficits loaded on one common component, while deficits in attention tests were explained by another independent component. Statistical lesion analyses with the individual component scores showed that apraxic (and language comprehension) deficits were significantly associated with lesions of the left superior longitudinal fascicle (SLF). Data suggest that in LH stroke spatial attention deficits dissociate from apraxic (and language comprehension) deficits. These findings contribute to models of lateralised cognitive functions in the human brain. Moreover, our findings strongly suggest that LH stroke patients should be assessed systematically for spatial attention deficits so that these can be included in their rehabilitation regime. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Isolated EWiRaC: A New Low-Stress Single-Stage Isolated PFC Converter

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schneider, Henrik; Bergendorff, Stefan Pihl; Petersen, Lars

    2007-01-01

    A new PFC-family of Efficient Wide Range Converters named EWiRaC was recently introduced. EWiRaC has a major advantage in terms of efficiency at low-line and handles challenges like inrush current limiting as an integrated part of the conversion scheme. The main objective of this paper is to inve......A new PFC-family of Efficient Wide Range Converters named EWiRaC was recently introduced. EWiRaC has a major advantage in terms of efficiency at low-line and handles challenges like inrush current limiting as an integrated part of the conversion scheme. The main objective of this paper...

  7. Pharmacological and therapeutic directions in ADHD: Specificity in the PFC

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Levy Florence

    2008-02-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Recent directions in the treatment of ADHD have involved both a broadening of pharmacological perspectives to include nor-adrenergic as well as dopaminergic agents. A review of animal and human studies of pharmacological and therapeutic directions in ADHD suggests that the D1 receptor is a specific site for dopaminergic regulation of the PFC, but optimal levels of dopamine (DA are required for beneficial effects on working memory. Animal and human studies indicate that the alpha-2A receptor is also important for prefrontal regulation, leaving open the question of the relative importance of these receptor sites. The therapeutic effects of ADHD medications in the prefrontal cortex have focused attention on the development of working memory capacity in ADHD. Hypothesis The actions of dopaminergic vs noradrenergic agents, currently available for the treatment of ADHD have overlapping, but different actions in the prefrontal cortex (PFC and subcortical centers. While stimulants act on D1 receptors in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, they also have effects on D2 receptors in the corpus striatum and may also have serotonergic effects at orbitofrontal areas. At therapeutic levels, dopamine (DA stimulation (through DAT transporter inhibition decreases noise level acting on subcortical D2 receptors, while NE stimulation (through alpha-2A agonists increases signal by acting preferentially in the PFC possibly on DAD1 receptors. On the other hand, alpha-2A noradrenergic transmission is more limited to the prefrontal cortex (PFC, and thus less likely to have motor or stereotypic side effects, while alpha-2B and alpha-2C agonists may have wider cortical effects. The data suggest a possible hierarchy of specificity in the current medications used in the treatment of ADHD, with guanfacine likely to be most specific for the treatment of prefrontal attentional and working memory deficits. Stimulants may have broader effects on both vigilance

  8. Left Ulnar Artery Pseudoaneurysm and Left Hand Swelling Simulated by Elephantiasis in a Patient with Neurofibromatosis Type 1

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ta-Pin Lee

    2017-06-01

    Full Text Available Elephantiasis is a condition featured by gross enlargement of body parts to massive proportions. Neurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1 is a multisystem genetic disorder. Vascular anomaly is one among the complications of NF1. We report a case of NF1 who had a left hand vascular pseudoaneurysm with left hand swelling mimicking elephantiasis. The characteristics of sonography make it an excellent imaging modality to investigate this sort of superficial vascular lesion.

  9. 75 FR 65551 - Notice of Passenger Facility Charge (PFC) Approvals and Disapprovals

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-10-25

    ... lot and rehabilitate north public parking lot. Install high mast lighting for cargo apron. PFC program... that the portions of the proposed project related to the solar energy project were not eligible...

  10. Simple Digital Control of a Two-Stage PFC Converter Using DSPIC30F Microprocessor

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Török, Lajos; Munk-Nielsen, Stig

    2010-01-01

    The use of dsPIC digital signal controllers (DSC) in Switch Mode Power Supply (SMPS) applications opens new perspectives for cheap and flexible digital control solutions. This paper presents the digital control of a two stage power factor corrector (PFC) converter. The PFC circuit is designed...... and built for 70W rated output power. Average current mode control for boost converter and current programmed control for forward converter are implemented on a dsPIC30F1010. Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) technique is used to drive the switching MOSFETs. Results show that digital solutions with ds...

  11. Unprotected Left Main Coronary Artery Disease: Management in the Post NOBLE and EXCEL Era.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Borges, Nyal; Kapadia, Samir R; Ellis, Stephen G

    2017-09-01

    The optimal management of unprotected left main coronary artery (ULMCA) disease is currently a debated topic. Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has seen an increased adoption for the management of ULMCA disease after numerous small-scale randomised trials and cohort studies showed equipoise with coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) for low complexity lesions. The recently published NOBLE and EXCEL trials are two of the largest international randomised clinical trials comparing PCI and CABG in patients with ULMCA disease. In lieu of all the available evidence, PCI appears to be equivalent to CABG in regard to mortality in patients with ULMCA disease. In non-diabetic patients with low complexity coronary disease (SYNTAX score ≤32), PCI appears to be a reasonable alternative to CABG, especially for ostial and midshaft left main coronary lesions. CABG is preferable in the presence of diabetes, multivessel coronary disease in addition to ULMCA or complex coronary lesions (SYNTAX score >33) including distal left main lesions.

  12. Benign lymphoepithelial lesion arising in the parotid gland

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Park, Rae Chung; Choi, Soon Chul; Park, Tae Won; Yoo, Dong Soo

    1996-01-01

    The authors diagnosed a 33 years old female as benign lymphoepithelial lesion after undergoing clinical, radiological and histopathological examinations and the characteristics were as follows : 1. Clinically, the patient complained of painless bilateral swelling of the parotid glands and dryness of the palate. Rheumatoid facor was detected in her serum. 2. Sialograms showed punctuate or globular collections of contrast media distributed evenly throughout the parotid gland s in so-called 'cherry blossom' or 'fearless fruit-laden tree' appearance. 3. A salivary gland scan showed no uptake of radioisotopes by the parotid glands. 4. At T1-weighted imaging of PNS MRI, the lesions had the same signal intensity as the rest of the gland. At T2-weighted imaging, the lesion could be seen as high signal intensity 1.3 cm and 2.1 cm in diameter in the left and the right parotid gland respectively. 5. Ultrasonogram showed sonolucent lesions 20 X 15 mm and 17 X 14 mm in size in the lower part of the left parotid gland an d another 18 X 11 mm in size in the lower part of the parotid gland AS well as many other small sonolucent lesions. 6. Histopathologically, lymphocytic infiltration replacing the normal acini and lymphoid follicles containing germinal centers could be seen. Epimyoepithelial islands were scattered throughout the lesion and benign lymphoepithelial cysts were also observed.

  13. Right colon cancer: Left behind.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gervaz, P; Usel, M; Rapiti, E; Chappuis, P; Neyroud-Kaspar, I; Bouchardy, C

    2016-09-01

    Prognosis of colon cancer (CC) has steadily improved during the past three decades. This trend, however, may vary according to proximal (right) or distal (left) tumor location. We studied if improvement in survival was greater for left than for right CC. We included all CC recorded at the Geneva population-based registry between 1980 and 2006. We compared patients, tumor and treatment characteristics between left and right CC by logistic regression and compared CC specific survival by Cox models taking into account putative confounders. We also compared changes in survival between CC location in early and late years of observation. Among the 3396 CC patients, 1334 (39%) had right-sided and 2062 (61%) left-sided tumors. In the early 1980s, 5-year specific survival was identical for right and left CCs (49% vs. 48%). During the study period, a dramatic improvement in survival was observed for patients with left-sided cancers (Hazard ratio [HR]: 0.42, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.29-0.62, p colon cancer patients, those with right-sided lesions have by far the worse prognosis. Change of strategic management in this subgroup is warranted. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. The left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and caudate pathway: New evidence for cue-induced craving of smokers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yuan, Kai; Yu, Dahua; Bi, Yanzhi; Wang, Ruonan; Li, Min; Zhang, Yajuan; Dong, Minghao; Zhai, Jinquan; Li, Yangding; Lu, Xiaoqi; Tian, Jie

    2017-09-01

    Although the activation of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and the striatum had been found in smoking cue induced craving task, whether and how the functional interactions and white matter integrity between these brain regions contribute to craving processing during smoking cue exposure remains unknown. Twenty-five young male smokers and 26 age- and gender-matched nonsmokers participated in the smoking cue-reactivity task. Craving related brain activation was extracted and psychophysiological interactions (PPI) analysis was used to specify the PFC-efferent pathways contributed to smoking cue-induced craving. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and probabilistic tractography was used to explore whether the fiber connectivity strength facilitated functional coupling of the circuit with the smoking cue-induced craving. The PPI analysis revealed the negative functional coupling of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and the caudate during smoking cue induced craving task, which positively correlated with the craving score. Neither significant activation nor functional connectivity in smoking cue exposure task was detected in nonsmokers. DTI analyses revealed that fiber tract integrity negatively correlated with functional coupling in the DLPFC-caudate pathway and activation of the caudate induced by smoking cue in smokers. Moreover, the relationship between the fiber connectivity integrity of the left DLPFC-caudate and smoking cue induced caudate activation can be fully mediated by functional coupling strength of this circuit in smokers. The present study highlighted the left DLPFC-caudate pathway in smoking cue-induced craving in smokers, which may reflect top-down prefrontal modulation of striatal reward processing in smoking cue induced craving processing. Hum Brain Mapp 38:4644-4656, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  15. A case of neuro-Behcet syndrome with brainstem lesions confirmed by MRI

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Takizawa, Shunya; Haida, Munetaka; Ohsuga, Hitoshi; Takagi, Shigeharu; Shinohara, Yukito

    1988-01-01

    A 49-year-old man presented with a 30-year history of oral and genital aphthous ulcers and joint pain. One day before his admission he developed double vision and weakness in the right extremities. Neurological examination revealed right 5th nerve palsy, left 6th to 18th nerve palsy, left Horner's sign, and motor and sensory impairment in the right upper and lower extremities. X-ray CT showed diffuse, weak, low-density areas in the brainstem. T1 weighted images showed low signals in the left side of the mid-pons, the left tegmentum and the right basis of the upper pons, and the left tegmentum of the midbrain. T2 weighted images showed high signals in the whole pons and the left side of the midbrain. MRI allowed the differentiation of reversible lesions, such as brain edema, and irreversible lesions, such as necrosis and demyelination of the tissue. (Namekawa, K.)

  16. The medial prefrontal cortex is involved in spatial memory retrieval under partial-cue conditions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jo, Yong Sang; Park, Eun Hye; Kim, Il Hwan; Park, Soon Kwon; Kim, Hyun; Kim, Hyun Taek; Choi, June-Seek

    2007-12-05

    Brain circuits involved in pattern completion, or retrieval of memory from fragmented cues, were investigated. Using different versions of the Morris water maze, we explored the roles of the CA3 subregion of the hippocampus and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in spatial memory retrieval under various conditions. In a hidden platform task, both CA3 and mPFC lesions disrupted memory retrieval under partial-cue, but not under full-cue, conditions. For a delayed matching-to-place task, CA3 lesions produced a deficit in both forming and recalling spatial working memory regardless of extramaze cue conditions. In contrast, damage to mPFC impaired memory retrieval only when a fraction of cues was available. To corroborate the lesion study, we examined the expression of the immediate early gene c-fos in mPFC and the hippocampus. After training of spatial reference memory in full-cue conditions for 6 d, the same training procedure in the absence of all cues except one increased the number of Fos-immunoreactive cells in mPFC and CA3. Furthermore, mPFC inactivation with muscimol, a GABA agonist, blocked memory retrieval in the degraded-cue environment. However, mPFC-lesioned animals initially trained in a single-cue environment had no difficulty in retrieving spatial memory when the number of cues was increased, demonstrating that contextual change per se did not impair the behavioral performance of the mPFC-lesioned animals. Together, these findings strongly suggest that pattern completion requires interactions between mPFC and the hippocampus, in which mPFC plays significant roles in retrieving spatial information maintained in the hippocampus for efficient navigation.

  17. Left Hemisphere Regions Are Critical for Language in the Face of Early Left Focal Brain Injury

    Science.gov (United States)

    Beharelle, Anjali Raja; Dick, Anthony Steven; Josse, Goulven; Solodkin, Ana; Huttenlocher, Peter R.; Levine, Susan C.; Small, Steven L.

    2010-01-01

    A predominant theory regarding early stroke and its effect on language development, is that early left hemisphere lesions trigger compensatory processes that allow the right hemisphere to assume dominant language functions, and this is thought to underlie the near normal language development observed after early stroke. To test this theory, we…

  18. Lesion size in relation to ablation site during radiofrequency ablation

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Petersen, H H; Chen, X; Pietersen, A

    1998-01-01

    This study was designed to investigate the effect of the convective cooling of the tip of the ablation electrode during temperature controlled radiofrequency ablation. In vivo two different application sites in the left ventricle of anaesthetised pigs were ablated and in vitro ablation was perfor......This study was designed to investigate the effect of the convective cooling of the tip of the ablation electrode during temperature controlled radiofrequency ablation. In vivo two different application sites in the left ventricle of anaesthetised pigs were ablated and in vitro ablation...... was performed during two different flow-velocities in a tissue bath, while electrode contact pressure and position were unchanged. Target temperature was 80 degrees C. Obtained tip temperature, power consumption and lesion dimensions were measured. In vivo lesion volume, depth and width were found significantly.......61 in vitro). We conclude that during temperature controlled radiofrequency ablation lesion size differs for septal and apical left ventricular applications. Differences in convective cooling might play an important role in this respect. This is supported by our in vitro experiments, where increased...

  19. Simple adaptive control system design for a quadrotor with an internal PFC

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Mizumoto, Ikuro; Nakamura, Takuto; Kumon, Makoto; Takagi, Taro [Dept. of Mechanical Systems Engineering, Kumamoto University 2-39-1 Kurokami, Kumamoto, 860-8555 (Japan)

    2014-12-10

    The paper deals with an adaptive control system design problem for a four rotor helicopter or quadrotor. A simple adaptive control design scheme with a parallel feedforward compensator (PFC) in the internal loop of the considered quadrotor will be proposed based on the backstepping strategy. As is well known, the backstepping control strategy is one of the advanced control strategy for nonlinear systems. However, the control algorithm will become complex if the system has higher order relative degrees. We will show that one can skip some design steps of the backstepping method by introducing a PFC in the inner loop of the considered quadrotor, so that the structure of the obtained controller will be simplified and a high gain based adaptive feedback control system will be designed. The effectiveness of the proposed method will be confirmed through numerical simulations.

  20. Right hemisphere grey matter structure and language outcomes in chronic left hemisphere stroke.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xing, Shihui; Lacey, Elizabeth H; Skipper-Kallal, Laura M; Jiang, Xiong; Harris-Love, Michelle L; Zeng, Jinsheng; Turkeltaub, Peter E

    2016-01-01

    The neural mechanisms underlying recovery of language after left hemisphere stroke remain elusive. Although older evidence suggested that right hemisphere language homologues compensate for damage in left hemisphere language areas, the current prevailing theory suggests that right hemisphere engagement is ineffective or even maladaptive. Using a novel combination of support vector regression-based lesion-symptom mapping and voxel-based morphometry, we aimed to determine whether local grey matter volume in the right hemisphere independently contributes to aphasia outcomes after chronic left hemisphere stroke. Thirty-two left hemisphere stroke survivors with aphasia underwent language assessment with the Western Aphasia Battery-Revised and tests of other cognitive domains. High-resolution T1-weighted images were obtained in aphasia patients and 30 demographically matched healthy controls. Support vector regression-based multivariate lesion-symptom mapping was used to identify critical language areas in the left hemisphere and then to quantify each stroke survivor's lesion burden in these areas. After controlling for these direct effects of the stroke on language, voxel-based morphometry was then used to determine whether local grey matter volumes in the right hemisphere explained additional variance in language outcomes. In brain areas in which grey matter volumes related to language outcomes, we then compared grey matter volumes in patients and healthy controls to assess post-stroke plasticity. Lesion-symptom mapping showed that specific left hemisphere regions related to different language abilities. After controlling for lesion burden in these areas, lesion size, and demographic factors, grey matter volumes in parts of the right temporoparietal cortex positively related to spontaneous speech, naming, and repetition scores. Examining whether domain general cognitive functions might explain these relationships, partial correlations demonstrated that grey matter

  1. Benign Multicystic Mesothelioma in the Left Round Ligament: Case Report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bae, So Young; Yi, Boem Ha; Lee, Hae Kyung; Park, Seong Jin; Cho, Gyu Seok; Kwak, Jeong Ja

    2010-01-01

    Benign multicystic mesothelioma is a rare mesothelial lesion that forms multicystic masses in the upper abdomen, pelvis, and retroperitoneum. Most cases have a benign course. We present the ultrasound and MR findings of benign multicystic mesothelioma in the left round ligament, which caused a left inguinal hernia in a 46-year-old woman

  2. Benign Multicystic Mesothelioma in the Left Round Ligament: Case Report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bae, So Young; Yi, Boem Ha; Lee, Hae Kyung; Park, Seong Jin; Cho, Gyu Seok; Kwak, Jeong Ja [Soonchunhyang University Bucheon Hospital, Bucheon (Korea, Republic of)

    2010-02-15

    Benign multicystic mesothelioma is a rare mesothelial lesion that forms multicystic masses in the upper abdomen, pelvis, and retroperitoneum. Most cases have a benign course. We present the ultrasound and MR findings of benign multicystic mesothelioma in the left round ligament, which caused a left inguinal hernia in a 46-year-old woman.

  3. MALIGNANCY IN LARGE COLORECTAL LESIONS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carlos Eduardo Oliveira dos SANTOS

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available Context The size of colorectal lesions, besides a risk factor for malignancy, is a predictor for deeper invasion Objectives To evaluate the malignancy of colorectal lesions ≥20 mm. Methods Between 2007 and 2011, 76 neoplasms ≥20 mm in 70 patients were analyzed Results The mean age of the patients was 67.4 years, and 41 were women. Mean lesion size was 24.7 mm ± 6.2 mm (range: 20 to 50 mm. Half of the neoplasms were polypoid and the other half were non-polypoid. Forty-two (55.3% lesions were located in the left colon, and 34 in the right colon. There was a high prevalence of III L (39.5% and IV (53.9% pit patterns. There were 72 adenomas and 4 adenocarcinomas. Malignancy was observed in 5.3% of the lesions. Thirty-three lesions presented advanced histology (adenomas with high-grade dysplasia or early adenocarcinoma, with no difference in morphology and site. Only one lesion (1.3% invaded the submucosa. Lesions larger than 30 mm had advanced histology (P = 0.001. The primary treatment was endoscopic resection, and invasive carcinoma was referred to surgery. Recurrence rate was 10.6%. Conclusions Large colorectal neoplasms showed a low rate of malignancy. Endoscopic treatment is an effective therapy for these lesions.

  4. Role of the ventrolateral orbital cortex and medial prefrontal cortex in incentive downshift situations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ortega, Leonardo A; Glueck, Amanda C; Uhelski, Megan; Fuchs, Perry N; Papini, Mauricio R

    2013-05-01

    The present research evaluated the role of two prefrontal cortex areas, the ventrolateral orbital cortex (VLO) and the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), on two situations involving incentive downshifts, consummatory successive negative contrast (cSNC) with sucrose solutions and Pavlovian autoshaping following continuous vs. partial reinforcement with food pellets. Animals received electrolytic lesions and then were tested on cSNC, autoshaping, open-field activity, and sucrose sensitivity. Lesions of the VLO reduced suppression of consummatory behavior after the incentive downshift, but only during the first downshift trial, and also eliminated the enhancement of anticipatory behavior during partial reinforcement, relative to continuous reinforcement, in autoshaping. There was no evidence of specific effects of mPFC lesions on incentive downshifts. Open-field activity was also reduced by VLO lesions, but only in the central area, whereas mPFC lesions had no observable effects on activity. Animals with mPFC lesions exhibited decreased consumption of the lowest sucrose concentration, whereas no effects were observed in animals with VLO lesions. These results suggest that the VLO may exert nonassociative (i.e., motivational, emotional) influences on behavior in situations involving incentive downshifts. No clear role on incentive downshift was revealed by mPFC lesions. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  5. Left ventricular lipoma with pseudoaneurysm-like appearance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kawarai, Shun-ichi; Yaginuma, Gen-ya; Abe, Kazuo; Hamasaki, Azumi; Ishikawa, Kazunori; Tanaka, Daizo

    2010-06-01

    We describe an extremely rare cardiac lipoma, with electrocardiographic changes in ST segments and T waves, suggesting ischemic heart disease. The abnormal electrocardiogram was identified during a routine physical examination of an asymptomatic 57-year-old man. Coronary angiography showed no stenotic or occlusive lesions in the coronary arteries except that the left anterior descending artery followed a winding course in the apical region. Left ventriculography revealed a pseudoaneurysm-like mass around the apical portion. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging revealed a cardiac lipoma that communicated with the left ventricle and resembled a pseudoaneurysm. After complete resection of the lipoma and left ventricle patch plasty, the postoperative course was uneventful. Histologically, the tumor was an intramyocardiac lipoma with no evidence of malignancy. To our knowledge, we are the first to describe an intramyocardiac lipoma resembling a left ventricle pseudoaneurysm.

  6. A supervised framework for lesion segmentation and automated VLSM analyses in left hemispheric stroke

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dorian Pustina

    2015-05-01

    Full Text Available INTRODUCTION: Voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping (VLSM is conventionally performed using skill and knowledge of experts to manually delineate brain lesions. This process requires time, and is likely to have substantial inter-rater variability. Here, we propose a supervised machine learning framework for lesion segmentation capable of learning from a single modality and existing manual segmentations in order to delineate lesions in new patients. METHODS: Data from 60 patients with chronic stroke aphasia were utilized in the study (age: 59.7±11.5yrs, post-stroke interval: 5±2.9yrs, male/female ratio: 34/26. Using a single T1 image of each subject, additional features were created that provided complementary information, such as, difference from template, tissue segmentation, brain asymmetries, gradient magnitude, and deviances of these images from 80 age and gender matched controls. These features were fed into MRV-NRF (multi-resolution voxel-wise neighborhood random forest; Tustison et al., 2014 prediction algorithm implemented in ANTsR (Avants, 2015. The algorithm incorporates information from each voxel and its surrounding neighbors from all above features, in a hierarchy of random forest predictions from low to high resolution. The validity of the framework was tested with a 6-fold cross validation (i.e., train from 50 subjects, predict 10. The process was repeated ten times, producing ten segmentations for each subject, from which the average solution was binarized. Predicted lesions were compared to manually defined lesions, and VLSM models were built on 4 language measures: repetition and comprehension subscores from the WAB (Kertesz, 1982, WAB-AQ, and PNT naming accuracy (Roach, Schwartz, Martin, Grewal, & Brecher, 1996. RESULTS: Manual and predicted lesion size showed high correlation (r=0.96. Compared to manual lesions, the predicted lesions had a dice overlap of 0.72 (±0.14 STD, a case-wise maximum distance (Hausdorff of 21mm (±16

  7. Altered communicative decisions following ventromedial prefrontal lesions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stolk, Arjen; D'Imperio, Daniela; di Pellegrino, Giuseppe; Toni, Ivan

    2015-06-01

    Damage to the human ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) leads to profound changes in everyday social interactions [1, 2]. Yet, in the lab, vmPFC patients show surprising proficiency in reasoning about other agents [3-8]. These conflicting observations suggest that what vmPFC patients lack in everyday social interactions might be the ability to guide their decisions with knowledge about a social partner [9-13], despite preserved access to that knowledge [2, 14]. Quantification of socially relevant decisions during live interaction with different partners offers the possibility of testing this hypothesis. Eight patients with vmPFC damage, eight patients with brain damage elsewhere, and 15 healthy participants were asked to communicate non-verbally with two different addressees, an adult or a child, in an experimentally controlled interactive setting [15, 16]. In reality, a confederate blindly performed the role of both adult and child addressee, with matched performance and response times, such that the two addressees differed only in terms of the communicator's beliefs. Patients with vmPFC damage were able-and motivated-to generate communicatively effective behaviors. However, unlike patient and healthy controls, vmPFC patients failed to adjust their communicative decisions to the presumed abilities of their addressee. These findings indicate that the human vmPFC is necessarily involved in social interactions, insofar as those interactions need to be tailored toward knowledge about a social partner. In this perspective, the known contribution of this region to disparate domains like value-based decision-making [17-19], schema-based memory-processing [20-22], and person-specific mentalizing [11-13] might be instances of decisions based on contingently updated conceptual knowledge. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. 77 FR 33805 - Notice of Passenger Facility Charge (PFC) Approvals and Disapprovals

    Science.gov (United States)

    2012-06-07

    ... AGENCY: Tri State Airport Authority, Huntington, West Virginia. APPLICATION NUMBER: 12-07-C-00-HTS... equipment. Install perimeter fencing. Rehabilitate terminal building. Rehabilitate taxiway A (west). Access.... Passenger loading bridges. Security exit lane equipment. PFC consulting fees. Brief Description of...

  9. Circumferential lesion formation around the pulmonary veins in the left atrium with focused ultrasound using a 2D-array endoesophageal device: a numerical study

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Pichardo, Samuel; Hynynen, Kullervo [Imaging Research-Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, 2075 Bayview Avenue, Room C713, Toronto, ON M4N 3M5 (Canada)

    2007-08-21

    Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most frequently sustained cardiac arrhythmia affecting humans. The electrical isolation by ablation of the pulmonary veins (PVs) in the left atrium (LA) of the heart has been proven as an effective cure of AF. The ablation consists mainly in the formation of a localized circumferential thermal coagulation of the cardiac tissue surrounding the PVs. In the present numerical study, the feasibility of producing the required circumferential lesion with an endoesophageal ultrasound probe is investigated. The probe operates at 1 MHz and consists of a 2D array with enough elements (114 x 20) to steer the acoustic field electronically in a volume comparable to the LA. Realistic anatomical conditions of the thorax were considered from the segmentation of histological images of the thorax. The cardiac muscle and the blood-filled cavities in the heart were identified and considered in the sound propagation and thermal models. The influence of different conditions of the thermal sinking in the LA chamber was also studied. The circumferential ablation of the PVs was achieved by the sum of individual lesions induced with the proposed device. Different scenarios of lesion formation were considered where ultrasound exposures (1, 2, 5 and 10 s) were combined with maximal peak temperatures (60, 70 and 80 {sup 0}C). The results of this numerical study allowed identifying the limits and best conditions for controlled lesion formation in the LA using the proposed device. A controlled situation for the lesion formation surrounding the PVs was obtained when the targets were located within a distance from the device in the range of 26 {+-} 7 mm. When combined with a maximal temperature of 70 {sup 0}C and an exposure time between 5 and 10 s, this distance ensured preservation of the esophageal structures, controlled lesion formation and delivery of an acoustic intensity at the transducer surface that is compatible with existing materials. With a peak

  10. Hyperparathyroidism and bone lesions. A case report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Garrido Modesto, M.; Costa, P.A.; Sapienza, M.T.; Watanabe, T.; Hironaka, F.; Buchpigel, C.A.

    1997-01-01

    Full text: Primary hyperparathyroidism can course with bone lesions known as fibrocystic osteitis in 25% to 60% of the cases and manifest itself by fractures, bone pain, deformations and inflammatory reaction. A 17 years old patient was listened with report of trauma in the left wrist, lumbar and in the right knee pain, with inflammatory signals and thinning 15 kg in 8 months. After x-ray of the left wrist and hand, bone rarefaction and insufflated lesion in the left chiro-dactyl third proximal phalanx were observed. The laboratory examinations have demonstrated hyper calcemia (13mg/dl), hypo phosphatemia (1,3mg/dl) with alkaline phosphatase (1086UI/I) e PTH (1050ng/ml). X-ray of the cranium cap, hip and coxofemoral articulations, knees and ankle was realized and observed disseminated lithic lesions. The bone scintilography with Technetium-99m MDP revealed hypo and hyper uptaked regions in several segments of the appendicular axial skeleton. Because of primary hyperparathyroidism suspicion, parathyroid scintilography with Technetium-99m MIBI in two phases was realized. 30 min after the injection of the radiopharmaceutical whole body images were realized which demonstrated hyper absorption in the areas previously hypo to the bone scintilography. 3 hours after injection the uptake was maintained in projection of the left inferior parathyroid, with posterior adenoma resection. The patient presented a significant reduction of the bone pain and normalization of the serum calcium levels. Nuclear medicine had an important role in the investigation of parathyroid diseases and showed to be useful in the evaluation of the disseminated bone compromising, which can come along with this pathology, avoiding the realization of repeated radiological studies

  11. Behavioral effects of congenital ventromedial prefrontal cortex malformation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Boes Aaron D

    2011-12-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background A detailed behavioral profile associated with focal congenital malformation of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC has not been reported previously. Here we describe a 14 year-old boy, B.W., with neurological and psychiatric sequelae stemming from focal cortical malformation of the left vmPFC. Case Presentation B.W.'s behavior has been characterized through extensive review Patience of clinical and personal records along with behavioral and neuropsychological testing. A central feature of the behavioral profile is severe antisocial behavior. He is aggressive, manipulative, and callous; features consistent with psychopathy. Other problems include: egocentricity, impulsivity, hyperactivity, lack of empathy, lack of respect for authority, impaired moral judgment, an inability to plan ahead, and poor frustration tolerance. Conclusions The vmPFC has a profound contribution to the development of human prosocial behavior. B.W. demonstrates how a congenital lesion to this cortical region severely disrupts this process.

  12. White matter pathways critical for language are also critical for resolving proactive interference in working memory

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stephanie Kathleen Ries

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Background White matter pathways connecting brain regions involved in language processing in the left prefrontal (PFC and temporal cortices have been found to play a critical role in language comprehension (Turken and Dronkers, 2011. Among the frontal brain regions associated with language processing, the left inferior frontal gyrus (lIFG has also been strongly associated with resolving proactive interference in working memory (Jonides and Nee, 2006. Here we investigated whether the white matter pathways connecting the lIFG to the left temporal lobe found to be important in language comprehension were also critical for resolving proactive interference in working memory. Methods We tested 4 patients with left PFC damage involving the lIFG, 5 with left temporal damage and 6 age-matched controls. Critically, 2 left PFC patients and 1 left temporal patient had lesions involving a complete disconnection between the lIFG and the left temporal cortex and the remaining patients had partial disconnection only. Performance was assessed using the Recent Probes test (Monsell, 1978: 4 visually-presented letters are followed by a probe: one central letter. The task was to decide whether or not the probe was part of the immediately preceding set of letters. Whether or not the probe was also part of the previous trial and elicited a positive or negative response was then manipulated and created recent negative (RN and recent positive trials, respectively. RN trials generated interference in trial n compared to non-recent negative (NN trials. Behavioral results were reported using error rates as the dependent variable. Results When the groups were separated based on which cortical lobe was damaged, there was a significant main interference effect (F(1,12=24.94, p <.001, where RN trials were associated with worse performance than NN trials, and a main effect of group (F(2,12=4.65, p <.05, where performance was worse for patients than for controls, but there was

  13. Negative remodeling at the ostium of the left circumflex artery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kobayashi, Y; Mehran, R; Moussa, I; Reyes, A; Moses, J W

    2001-12-01

    We report an ostial lesion with negative remodeling. Coronary angiography revealed a 60% stenosis at the ostium of the left circumflex artery (LCX). Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS)-guided directional atherectomy followed by stenting was planned. However, IVUS images revealed no significant stenosis and negative remodeling at the ostium of the LCX. The lesion did not undergo intervention.

  14. Cerebral and Renal Oxygen Saturation Are Not Compromised in the Presence of Retrograde Blood Flow in either the Ascending or Descending Aorta in Term or Near-Term Infants with Left-Sided Obstructive Lesions

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van der Laan, Michelle E.; Mebius, Mirthe J.; Roofthooft, Marcus T. R.; Bos, Arend F.; Berger, Rolf M. F.; Kooi, Elisabeth M. W.

    2017-01-01

    Background: In infants with left-sided obstructive lesions (LSOL), the presence of retrograde blood flow in either the ascending or descending aorta may lead to diminished cerebral and renal blood flow, respectively. Objectives: Our aim was to compare cerebral and renal tissue oxygen saturation

  15. Anatomical and spatial matching in imitation: Evidence from left and right brain-damaged patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mengotti, Paola; Ripamonti, Enrico; Pesavento, Valentina; Rumiati, Raffaella Ida

    2015-12-01

    Imitation is a sensorimotor process whereby the visual information present in the model's movement has to be coupled with the activation of the motor system in the observer. This also implies that greater the similarity between the seen and the produced movement, the easier it will be to execute the movement, a process also known as ideomotor compatibility. Two components can influence the degree of similarity between two movements: the anatomical and the spatial component. The anatomical component is present when the model and imitator move the same body part (e.g., the right hand) while the spatial component is present when the movement of the model and that of the imitator occur at the same spatial position. Imitation can be achieved by relying on both components, but typically the model's and imitator's movements are matched either anatomically or spatially. The aim of this study was to ascertain the contribution of the left and right hemisphere to the imitation accomplished either with anatomical or spatial matching (or with both). Patients with unilateral left and right brain damage performed an ideomotor task and a gesture imitation task. Lesions in the left and right hemispheres gave rise to different performance deficits. Patients with lesions in the left hemisphere showed impaired imitation when anatomical matching was required, and patients with lesions in the right hemisphere showed impaired imitation when spatial matching was required. Lesion analysis further revealed a differential involvement of left and right hemispheric regions, such as the parietal opercula, in supporting imitation in the ideomotor task. Similarly, gesture imitation seemed to rely on different regions in the left and right hemisphere, such as parietal regions in the left hemisphere and premotor, somatosensory and subcortical regions in the right hemisphere. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Dorsolateral Prefrontal Contributions to Human Intelligence

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barbey, Aron K.; Colom, Roberto; Grafman, Jordan

    2012-01-01

    Although cognitive neuroscience has made remarkable progress in understanding the involvement of the prefrontal cortex in executive control functions for human intelligence, the necessity of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) for key competencies of general intelligence and executive function remains to be well established. Here we studied human brain lesion patients with dlPFC lesions to investigate whether this region is computationally necessary for performance on neuropsychological tests of general intelligence and executive function, administering the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS) and subtests of the Delis Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS) to three groups: dlPFC lesions (n = 19), non-dlPFC lesions (n = 152), and no brain lesions (n = 55). The key results indicate that: (1) patients with focal dlPFC damage exhibit lower scores, at the latent variable level, than controls in general intelligence (g) and executive function; (2) dlPFC patients demonstrate lower scores than controls in several executive measures; and (3) these latter differences are no longer significant when the pervasive influence of the general factor of intelligence (g) is statistically removed. The observed findings support a central role for the dlPFC in general intelligence and make specific recommendations for the interpretation and application of the WAIS and D-KEFS to the study of high-level cognition in health and disease. PMID:22634247

  17. False memories and confabulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Johnson, M K; Raye, C L

    1998-04-01

    Memory distortions range from the benign (thinking you mailed a check that you only thought about mailing), to the serious (confusing what you heard after a crime with what you actually saw), to the fantastic (claiming you piloted a spaceship). We review theoretical ideas and empirical evidence about the source monitoring processes underlying both true and false memories. Neuropsychological studies show that certain forms of brain damage (such as combined frontal and medial-temporal lesions) might result in profound source confusions, called confabulations. Neuroimaging techniques provide new evidence regarding more specific links between underlying brain mechanisms and the normal cognitive processes involved in evaluating memories. One hypothesis is that the right prefrontal cortex (PFC) subserves heuristic judgments based on easily assessed qualities (such as familiarity or perceptual detail) and the left PFC (or the right and left PFC together) subserves more systematic judgments requiring more careful analysis of memorial qualities or retrieval and evaluation of additional supporting or disconfirming information. Such heuristic and systematic processes can be disrupted not only by brain damage but also, for example, by hypnosis, social demands and motivational factors, suggesting caution in the methods used by `memory exploring' professions (therapists, police officers, lawyers, etc.) in order to avoid inducing false memories.

  18. Genital lesions following bestiality

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mittal A

    2000-01-01

    Full Text Available A 48-year-old man presented with painful genital lesions with history of bestiality and abnor-mal sexual behaviour. Examination revealed multiple irregular tender ulcers and erosions, with phimosis and left sided tender inguinal adenopathy. VDRL, TPHA, HIV-ELISA were negative. He was treated with ciprofloxacin 500mg b.d. along with saline compresses with complete resolution.

  19. Localization of lesions in aphasia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hojo, Kei; Watanabe, Shunzo; Tasaki, Hiroichi; Sato, Tokijiro; Metoki, Hirobumi.

    1984-01-01

    Using a microcomputer, the locus and extent of the lesions, as demonstrated by computed tomography for 127 cases with various types of aphasia were superimposed onto standardized marices. The relationship between the foci of the lesions and the types of aphasia was investigated. Broca aphasics (n=39) : Since the accumulated site of the lesions highly involved the deep structures of the lower part of the precentral gyrus as well as the insula and lenticular nucleus, only 60% of the Broca aphasics had lesions on these areas. This finding has proved to have little localizing value. Wernicke aphasics (n=23) : The size of the lesion was significantly smaller than Broca's aphasia. At least 70% of the patients had the superior temporal lesions involving Wernicke's area and subcortical lesions of the superior and middle temporal gyri. Amnestic aphasics (n=18) : The size of the lesion was smaller than any other types. While there was some concentration of the lesions (maximum 40%) in the area of the subcortical region of the anterior temporal gyrus adjacent to Wernicke's area and the lenticular nucleus, the lesions were distributed throughout the left hemisphere. Amnestic aphasia was thought to be the least localizable. Conduction aphasics (n=11) : The lesions were relatively small in size. Many patients had posterior speech area lesions involving at least partially Wernicke's area. In particular, more than 80% of the conduction aphasics had lesions of the supramarginal gyrus and it's adjacent deep structures. Global aphasics (n=36) : In general, the size of the lesion was very large and 70% of the global aphasics had extensive lesions involving both Broca's and Wernicke's areas. However, there were observations showing that the lesions can be small and confined. (J.P.N.)

  20. Right hemisphere grey matter structure and language outcomes in chronic left hemisphere stroke

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xing, Shihui; Lacey, Elizabeth H.; Skipper-Kallal, Laura M.; Jiang, Xiong; Harris-Love, Michelle L.; Zeng, Jinsheng

    2016-01-01

    The neural mechanisms underlying recovery of language after left hemisphere stroke remain elusive. Although older evidence suggested that right hemisphere language homologues compensate for damage in left hemisphere language areas, the current prevailing theory suggests that right hemisphere engagement is ineffective or even maladaptive. Using a novel combination of support vector regression-based lesion-symptom mapping and voxel-based morphometry, we aimed to determine whether local grey matter volume in the right hemisphere independently contributes to aphasia outcomes after chronic left hemisphere stroke. Thirty-two left hemisphere stroke survivors with aphasia underwent language assessment with the Western Aphasia Battery-Revised and tests of other cognitive domains. High-resolution T1-weighted images were obtained in aphasia patients and 30 demographically matched healthy controls. Support vector regression-based multivariate lesion-symptom mapping was used to identify critical language areas in the left hemisphere and then to quantify each stroke survivor’s lesion burden in these areas. After controlling for these direct effects of the stroke on language, voxel-based morphometry was then used to determine whether local grey matter volumes in the right hemisphere explained additional variance in language outcomes. In brain areas in which grey matter volumes related to language outcomes, we then compared grey matter volumes in patients and healthy controls to assess post-stroke plasticity. Lesion–symptom mapping showed that specific left hemisphere regions related to different language abilities. After controlling for lesion burden in these areas, lesion size, and demographic factors, grey matter volumes in parts of the right temporoparietal cortex positively related to spontaneous speech, naming, and repetition scores. Examining whether domain general cognitive functions might explain these relationships, partial correlations demonstrated that grey matter

  1. 78 FR 57211 - Notice of Passenger Facility Charge (PFC) Approvals and Disapprovals

    Science.gov (United States)

    2013-09-17

    ... removal equipment. Emergency radio system upgrade. PFC administrative fees. Decision Date: November 1... Use: Taxiway A pavement analysis and soil test. Taxiway A pavement rehabilitation. Runway 17/35 rehabilitation design. Taxiway/apron/fuel road pavement replacement. Taxiway/apron/fuel road pavement replacement...

  2. 76 FR 56001 - Notice of Passenger Facility Charge (PFC) Approvals and Disapprovals

    Science.gov (United States)

    2011-09-09

    ...: Regional intermodal transportation center. Determination: Partially approved. The FAA determined that... Approved for Collection and Use at a $3.00 PFC Level: Public information display kiosks. Wildlife hazard assessment study. Interactive employee training module. Blast fence extension--taxiway D. Aircraft rescue and...

  3. Robust control of boost PFC converter using adaptive PLL for line synchronization

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Török, Lajos; Mathe, Laszlo; Munk-Nielsen, Stig

    2013-01-01

    The continuous development of the digital processing technology made advanced control strategies available for switched-mode power-supply applications. This paper presents the study and implementation of an adaptive Phased-Locked Loop (PLL)-based grid-fault tolerant control of a boost PFC converter...

  4. 75 FR 33376 - Notice of Passenger Facility Charge (PFC) Approvals and Disapprovals

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-06-11

    ... Firefighting Station. Runway 18r/34l Overlay/Rehabilitation. Pavement Management Plan. Security Enhancement... maintain runway 16/34 pavement. PFC administration. Repair and maintain runway 03/21 pavement. Repair and maintain taxiway A pavement. Repair and maintain taxiway B pavement. [[Page 33377

  5. Clinico-anatomical correlations of left posterior cerebral artery occlusion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Isono, Osamu; Shiota, Junichi; Kawamura, Mitsuru; Hirayama, Keizou; Maki, Toshiyuki.

    1988-01-01

    The relation between neurological signs and symptoms and computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was examined in 11 cases of occlusion of the left posterior cerebral artery. All the patients were righthanded. Right homonimous hemianopia was noted in 8 cases, right upper quadrantanopia in 2 cases, and right lower quadrantanopia in 1 case. Of the 11 cases, alexia without agraphia was noted in 9 cases, all 9 of which showed lesions of inferior occipital cortex (lingual and fusiform gyri) and subjacent white matter. Lesions of splenium were found in only 5 of the cases of alexia without agraphia. In 2 cases with neither alexia nor agraphia, lesions were seen in the medial occipital cortex and the subjacent white matter but not in the inferior occipital lobe. Three patients had color anomia which was accompanied by memory disturbances and alexia without agraphia. In 2 of these 3, lesions were widespread in the region of the left posterior cerebral artery. Memory disturbances were observed in 6 cases, all of which also showed alexia without agraphia. The lesions extended not only of the inferior surface of the occipital lobe and along the interhemispheric fissure, but also of hippocampal and parahippocampal gyri. In 3 cases of alexia without agraphia in which no memory distrubance was found, the symptoms of alexia were slight and disappeared at an early stage. (J.P.N.)

  6. Congenital Absence of Left Circumflex Coronary Artery

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zahra Ansari

    2009-09-01

    Full Text Available Congenital absence of left circumflex artery is a rare congenitalanomaly of the coronary arteries. The prevalence of theanomaly in different studies ranges from 0.6% to 1.3%. Ofthese, 80% are benign and asymptomatic and 20% are clinicallyimportant. We report a 56-year-old man presented withacute resting chest pain who was diagnosed as having acuteanterolateral infarction accompanied by electrocardiographicchanges and elevated cardiac enzymes. Coronary angiographyin different views was conducted, however, no left circumflexartery was found. The territory supplied by the artery had beenperfused by the super dominant right coronary artery. Therewas no left circumflex coronary artery with anomalous origin.Sever stenosis of left anterior ascending artery superimposedto the absent left circumflex artery was presented as acute anterolateralinfarction. Although absence of the artery is mostlyconsidered as a benign condition, atherosclerotic lesions maybe more important in such cases because of diminished compensatingmechanisms.

  7. A Single Phase to Three Phase PFC Half-Bridge Converter Using BLDC Drive with SPWM Technique.

    OpenAIRE

    Srinu Duvvada; Manmadha Kumar B

    2014-01-01

    In this paper, a buck half-bridge DC-DC converter is used as a single-stage power factor correction (PFC) converter for feeding a voltage source inverter (VSI) based permanent magnet brushless DC motor (BLDC) drive. The front end of this PFC converter is a diode bridge rectifier (DBR) fed from single-phase AC mains. The BLDC is used to drive a compressor load of an air conditioner through a three-phase VSI fed from a controlled DC link voltage. The speed of the compressor is controlled to ach...

  8. Damage to white matter bottlenecks contributes to language impairments after left hemispheric stroke

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Joseph C. Griffis

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Damage to the white matter underlying the left posterior temporal lobe leads to deficits in multiple language functions. The posterior temporal white matter may correspond to a bottleneck where both dorsal and ventral language pathways are vulnerable to simultaneous damage. Damage to a second putative white matter bottleneck in the left deep prefrontal white matter involving projections associated with ventral language pathways and thalamo-cortical projections has recently been proposed as a source of semantic deficits after stroke. Here, we first used white matter atlases to identify the previously described white matter bottlenecks in the posterior temporal and deep prefrontal white matter. We then assessed the effects of damage to each region on measures of verbal fluency, picture naming, and auditory semantic decision-making in 43 chronic left hemispheric stroke patients. Damage to the posterior temporal bottleneck predicted deficits on all tasks, while damage to the anterior bottleneck only significantly predicted deficits in verbal fluency. Importantly, the effects of damage to the bottleneck regions were not attributable to lesion volume, lesion loads on the tracts traversing the bottlenecks, or damage to nearby cortical language areas. Multivariate lesion-symptom mapping revealed additional lesion predictors of deficits. Post-hoc fiber tracking of the peak white matter lesion predictors using a publicly available tractography atlas revealed evidence consistent with the results of the bottleneck analyses. Together, our results provide support for the proposal that spatially specific white matter damage affecting bottleneck regions, particularly in the posterior temporal lobe, contributes to chronic language deficits after left hemispheric stroke. This may reflect the simultaneous disruption of signaling in dorsal and ventral language processing streams.

  9. The interaction of process and domain in prefrontal cortex during inductive reasoning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Babcock, Laura; Vallesi, Antonino

    2015-01-01

    Inductive reasoning is an everyday process that allows us to make sense of the world by creating rules from a series of instances. Consistent with accounts of process-based fractionations of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) along the left-right axis, inductive reasoning has been reliably localized to left PFC. However, these results may be confounded by the task domain, which is typically verbal. Indeed, some studies show that right PFC activation is seen with spatial tasks. This study used fMRI to examine the effects of process and domain on the brain regions recruited during a novel pattern discovery task. Twenty healthy young adult participants were asked to discover the rule underlying the presentation of a series of letters in varied spatial locations. The rules were either verbal (pertaining to a single semantic category) or spatial (geometric figures). Bilateral ventrolateral PFC activations were seen for the spatial domain, while the verbal domain showed only left ventrolateral PFC. A conjunction analysis revealed that the two domains recruited a common region of left ventrolateral PFC. The data support a central role of left PFC in inductive reasoning. Importantly, they also suggest that both process and domain shape the localization of reasoning in the brain. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  10. Intracranial non-Langerhans cell histiocytosis presenting as an isolated intraparenchymal lesion

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rajaram, Smitha; Shackley, Fiona; Raghavan, Ashok [Western Bank, Sheffield Children' s Hospital, Sheffield (United Kingdom); Wharton, Stephen B. [University of Sheffield, Department of Neurosciences, Sheffield (United Kingdom); Connolly, Daniel J.A. [Western Bank, Sheffield Children' s Hospital, Sheffield (United Kingdom); University of Sheffield, Academic Radiology, Sheffield (United Kingdom)

    2010-12-15

    Non-Langerhans cell histiocytosis in the absence of cutaneous or other organ involvement is very rare. A Caucasian boy age 3 years 11 months presented with episodes of recurrent right-side seizures over 2 weeks. Brain CT and MR imaging showed a single enhancing left frontal lobe lesion. Stereotactic biopsy was performed and histological examination showed diffuse infiltrate of macrophages with foamy cytoplasm. Four months later there was recurrence of seizure activity despite anti-epileptic medication and a repeat MR scan showed a persistent enhancing lesion in the left frontal lobe. Histological examination of the resection specimen resembled juvenile xanthogranuloma (JXG) involving the central nervous system. In the absence of skin lesions a diagnosis of non-Langerhans cell histiocytosis was made. The child made a full recovery following surgery with resolution of his symptoms. (orig.)

  11. Clinics in diagnostic imaging (164). Morel-Lavallée lesion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cheong, Sook Chuei Wendy; Wong, Bak Siew Steven

    2016-01-01

    A 31-year-old male motorcyclist presented with prepatellar swelling of the left knee after a collision with a car. Magnetic resonance imaging of the knee showed no bony or ligamentous injury to the knee. Instead, a well-defined, thin-walled, T2-weighted hyperintense fluid collection with internal septations was identified in a prefascial location overlying the left patella and patellar tendon. The findings were in keeping with those of a Morel-Lavallée lesion, a closed internal degloving injury. Morel-Lavallée lesions are occasionally encountered after a blunt soft-tissue trauma. The presentation and imaging features are discussed. Copyright © Singapore Medical Association.

  12. Study of intermittent bifurcations and chaos in boost PFC converters by nonlinear discrete models

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang Hao; Ma Xikui; Xue Bianling; Liu Weizeng

    2005-01-01

    This paper mainly deals with nonlinear phenomena like intermittent bifurcations and chaos in boost PFC converters under peak-current control mode. Two nonlinear models in the form of discrete maps are derived to describe precisely the nonlinear dynamics of boost PFC converters from two points of view, i.e., low- and high-frequency regimes. Based on the presented discrete models, both the evolution of intermittent behavior and the periodicity of intermittency are investigated in detail from the fast and slow-scale aspects, respectively. Numerical results show that the occurrence of intermittent bifurcations and chaos with half one line period is one of the most distinguished dynamical characteristics. Finally, we make some instructive conclusions, which prove to be helpful in improving the performances of practical circuits

  13. Scintigraphic evaluation of traumatic splenic lesions in children

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Erasmie, U.; Mortensson, W.; Persson, U.; Laennergren, K.; St. Goerans Children's Hospital, Stockholm

    1988-01-01

    Ninety-eight children with recent blunt abdominal trauma which initially evoked clinical suspicion of splenic injury were examined with colloid scintigraphy of the spleen and the liver using multiple imaging views and with abdominal survey. Nineteen children were, in addition, examined with tomographic scintigraphy. The clinical findings and the course of the disorder were reanalysed. Scintigraphy indicated splenic injury in 56 children and hepatic injury in another 5 children. The left lateral and the left oblique were the optimum imaging views for detecting splenic ruptures. Tomographic scintigraphy did not improve the diagnostic yield. Abdominal survey failed to indicate almost every second case of splenic rupture and provided no additional information of significance. The clinical review agreed with the scintigraphic diagnosis of splenic lesions but, in addition, it suggested possible splenic lesions in another 10 children with normal scintigraphy. This discrepancy cannot be explained as surgery was not employed; the occurrence of splenic lesions too small to become detectable at scintigraphy or to provoke clinically evident symptoms may be supposed. (orig.)

  14. Engagement of the PFC in Consolidation and Recall of Recent Spatial Memory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Leon, Wanda C.; Bruno, Martin A.; Allard, Simon; Nader, Karim; Cuello, A. Claudio

    2010-01-01

    The standard model of system consolidation proposes that memories are initially hippocampus dependent and become hippocampus independent over time. Previous studies have demonstrated the involvement of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in the retrieval of remote memories. The transformations required to make a memory undergo system's…

  15. Anosognosia for hemiparesis after left-sided stroke.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baier, Bernhard; Vucurevic, Goran; Müller-Forell, Wibke; Glassl, Oliver; Geber, Christian; Dieterich, Marianne; Karnath, Hans-Otto

    2014-12-01

    In patients with left-sided lesions, anosognosia for hemiparesis (AHP) seems to be a rare phenomenon. It has been discussed whether this rareness might be due to an inevitable bias due to language dysfunction and whether the left hemisphere's role for our self-awareness of motor actions thus is underestimated. By applying functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) we examined whether patients with AHP following a left hemisphere stroke show a regular, left-sided or a reversed, right-sided lateralization of language functions. Only the former observation would argue for an original role of the left hemisphere in self-awareness about limb function. In a consecutive series of 44 acute left-sided stroke patients, only one patient (=2%) was identified showing AHP. In this case, we could verify by using fMRI that lateralization of AHP and spatial neglect on the one hand and of language functions on the other hand were reversed. The present single case observation thus argues against an original role of the left hemisphere in self-awareness about limb function. We discuss the data in the context of previous observations in the literature. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. A Comparison between Boundary and Continuous Conduction Modes in Single Phase PFC Using 600V Range Devices

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hernandez Botella, Juan Carlos; Petersen, Lars Press; Andersen, Michael A. E.

    2015-01-01

    This paper presents an analysis and comparison of boundary conduction mode (BCM) and continuous conduction mode (CCM) in single phase power factor correction (PFC) applications. The comparison is based on double pulse tester (DPT) characterization results of state-of-the-art superjunction devices...... in the 600V range. The measured switching energy is used to evaluate the devices performance in a conventional PFC. This data is used together with a mathematical model for prediction of the conducted electromagnetic interference (EMI). This allows comparing the different devices in BCM and CCM operation...

  17. Post-traumatic contrast enhancing brain lesion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Dae Jung; Kim, Hyun Sook; Jeong, Min Sun; Kim, Deok Ryeong; Cho, Young Kwon; Choi, Yun Sun

    2014-01-01

    Only a few studies have been reported on the MR contrast enhancement and the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) findings of the post-traumatic lesion of the brain. We report a case of the venous ischemia in the left frontal lobe observed in the MRI obtained one day after the incidence of trauma. Considering the presented slight increase in the ADC, the vasogenic edema was thought to be the major mechanism of the venous ischemia and excitotoxic injury. In spite of a slight increase in the ADC, the hyperintensity in the diffusion weighted imaging and contrast-enhanced areas eventually changed into hemorrhagic lesions.

  18. Post-traumatic contrast enhancing brain lesion

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Dae Jung; Kim, Hyun Sook; Jeong, Min Sun; Kim, Deok Ryeong; Cho, Young Kwon; Choi, Yun Sun [Eulji Hospital, Eulji University College of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2014-10-15

    Only a few studies have been reported on the MR contrast enhancement and the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) findings of the post-traumatic lesion of the brain. We report a case of the venous ischemia in the left frontal lobe observed in the MRI obtained one day after the incidence of trauma. Considering the presented slight increase in the ADC, the vasogenic edema was thought to be the major mechanism of the venous ischemia and excitotoxic injury. In spite of a slight increase in the ADC, the hyperintensity in the diffusion weighted imaging and contrast-enhanced areas eventually changed into hemorrhagic lesions.

  19. Incisional left atrial isolation for ablation of atrial fibrillation in mitral valve surgery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Graffigna, Angelo; Branzoli, Stefano; Sinelli, Stefano; Vigano, Mario

    2009-01-01

    The renewed interest in surgical techniques for atrial fibrillation (AF) limited to the left atrium has risen the importance of the original technique of left atrial isolation by means of surgical incision. Transmurality of lesions and cost containment are strong elements to be appreciated in this technique.

  20. Lesion-induced pseudo-dominance at functional magnetic resonance imaging: implications for preoperative assessments.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ulmer, John L; Hacein-Bey, Lotfi; Mathews, Vincent P; Mueller, Wade M; DeYoe, Edgar A; Prost, Robert W; Meyer, Glenn A; Krouwer, Hendrikus G; Schmainda, Kathleen M

    2004-09-01

    To illustrate how lesion-induced neurovascular uncoupling at functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) can mimic hemispheric dominance opposite the side of a lesion preoperatively. We retrospectively reviewed preoperative fMRI mapping data from 50 patients with focal brain abnormalities to establish patterns of hemispheric dominance of language, speech, visual, or motor system functions. Abnormalities included gliomas (31 patients), arteriovenous malformations (AVMs) (11 patients), other congenital lesions (4 patients), encephalomalacia (3 patients), and tumefactive encephalitis (1 patient). A laterality ratio of fMRI hemispheric dominance was compared with actual hemispheric dominance as verified by electrocortical stimulation, Wada testing, postoperative and posttreatment deficits, and/or lesion-induced deficits. fMRI activation maps were generated with cross-correlation (P frontal gyrus gliomas and in one patient with focal tumefactive meningoencephalitis, fMRI incorrectly suggested strong right hemispheric speech dominance. In two patients with lateral precentral gyrus region gliomas and one patient with a left central sulcus AVM, the fMRI pattern incorrectly suggested primary corticobulbar motor dominance contralateral to the side of the lesion. In a patient with a right superior frontal gyrus AVM, fMRI revealed pronounced left dominant supplementary motor area activity in response to a bilateral complex motor task, but right superior frontal gyrus perilesional hemorrhage and edema subsequently caused left upper-extremity plegia. Pathophysiological factors that might have caused neurovascular uncoupling and facilitated pseudo-dominance at fMRI in these patients included direct tumor infiltration, neovascularity, cerebrovascular inflammation, and AVM-induced hemodynamic effects. Sixteen patients had proven (1 patient), probable (2 patients), or possible (13 patients) but unproven lesion-induced homotopic cortical reorganization. Lesion-induced neurovascular

  1. Atherectomy in complex infrainguinal lesions: a review.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Engelberger, S; van den Berg, J C

    2015-02-01

    In the femoropopliteal segment, endovascular revascularization techniques have gained the role as a first line treatment strategy. Nitinol stent placement has improved the short- and mid-term primary patency rates in most lesion types and is therefore widely applied. Stenting has several shortcomings as in-stent restenosis, stent fractures and foreign material being left behind in the vessel. The concept of atherectomy is plaque debulking. This results in a potential reduction of inflation pressure requirements in angioplasty. Stent placement and consecutive in-stent restenosis may be avoided. In this non systematic literature review, the performance of different atherectomy techniques, such as direct atherectomy, orbital atherectomy, laser debulking and rotational atherectomy in the treatment of complex femoropopliteal lesions, including long lesions, moderately to heavily calcified lesions as well as occlusions and in-stent restenosis, has been analyzed.

  2. Ultrafast Switching Superjunction MOSFETs for Single Phase PFC Applications

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hernandez Botella, Juan Carlos; Petersen, Lars Press; Andersen, Michael A. E.

    2014-01-01

    This paper presents a guide on characterizing state-of-the-art silicon superjunction (SJ) devices in the 600V range for single phase power factor correction (PFC) applications. The characterization procedure is based on a minimally inductive double pulse tester (DPT) with a very low intrusive...... current measurement method, which enables reaching the switching speed limits of these devices. Due to the intrinsic low and non-linear capacitances in vertical SJ MOSFETs, special attention needs to be paid to the gate drive design to minimize oscillations and limit the maximum at turn off. This paper...

  3. Tolosa-Hunt syndrome. A CT demonstration of a high-density lesion

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hirata, Kazuhiro; Muramoto, Masato; Chiba, Yasuhiro; Yagishita, Saburo

    1987-08-01

    CT scan studies of the Tolosa-Hunt syndrome have seldom been reported; positive abnormal findings are especially rare. A 36-year-old man suffered from steady, boring pain behind the left eye for one year. On admission he complained of diplopia on the right lateral gaze and hypesthesea of the first and second divisions of the left trigeminal nerve. A CT scan demonstrated a slightly high-density lesion, which was homogeneously enhanced, in the left cavernous portion and the superior orbital fissure. Carotid angiograms demonstrated no abnormal finding, and the cavernous sinus venography revealed no filling of the left cavernous sinus. A left front-temporal craniotomy was performed for the purpose of biopsy. A histological examination revealed non-specific focal granulomatous pachymeningitis. He responded dramatically to systemic steroid therapy, and he became pain-free by the fourth post-operative day. This diagnosis of the Tolosa-Hunt syndrome was confirmed both clinically and etiologically; however, the CT scan after the treatment demonstrated no definitive change in the lesion. The CT scan is useful for the diagnosis of this syndrome. Considering the stage of the illness, it is possible that the high-resolution CT scan can demonstrate this lesion with an advanced technique. The clinical diagnosis is almost easy, and surgical exploration is not always necessary if there is a prompt remission upon systemic steroid therapy. However, this syndrome should be differentiated from the other causes by appropriate examinations. Some cases similar to ours, especially suspected tumors, need surgical exploration because these angiographic findings are not specific.

  4. Aggression and increased glutamate in the mPFC during withdrawal from intermittent alcohol in outbred mice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hwa, Lara S; Nathanson, Anna J; Shimamoto, Akiko; Tayeh, Jillian K; Wilens, Allison R; Holly, Elizabeth N; Newman, Emily L; DeBold, Joseph F; Miczek, Klaus A

    2015-08-01

    Disrupted social behavior, including occasional aggressive outbursts, is characteristic of withdrawal from long-term alcohol (EtOH) use. Heavy EtOH use and exaggerated responses during withdrawal may be treated using glutamatergic N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) antagonists. The current experiments explore aggression and medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) glutamate as consequences of withdrawal from intermittent access to EtOH and changes in aggression and mPFC glutamate caused by NMDAR antagonists memantine and ketamine. Swiss male mice underwent withdrawal following 1-8 weeks of intermittent access to 20 % EtOH. Aggressive and nonaggressive behaviors with a conspecific were measured 6-8 h into EtOH withdrawal after memantine or ketamine (0-30 mg/kg, i.p.) administration. In separate mice, extracellular mPFC glutamate after memantine was measured during withdrawal using in vivo microdialysis. At 6-8 h withdrawal from EtOH, mice exhibited more convulsions and aggression and decreased social contact compared to age-matched water controls. Memantine, but not ketamine, increased withdrawal aggression at the 5-mg/kg dose in mice with a history of 8 weeks of EtOH but not 1 or 4 weeks of EtOH or in water drinkers. Tonic mPFC glutamate was higher during withdrawal after 8 weeks of EtOH compared to 1 week of EtOH or 8 weeks of water. Five milligrams per kilogram of memantine increased glutamate in 8-week EtOH mice, but also in 1-week EtOH and water drinkers. These studies reveal aggressive behavior as a novel symptom of EtOH withdrawal in outbred mice and confirm a role of NMDARs during withdrawal aggression and for disrupted social behavior.

  5. PLGA/PFC particles loaded with gold nanoparticles as dual contrast agents for photoacoustic and ultrasound imaging

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Yan J.; Strohm, Eric M.; Sun, Yang; Niu, Chengcheng; Zheng, Yuanyi; Wang, Zhigang; Kolios, Michael C.

    2014-03-01

    Phase-change contrast agents consisting of a perfluorocarbon (PFC) liquid core stabilized by a lipid, protein, or polymer shell have been proposed for a variety of clinical applications. Previous work has demonstrated that vaporization can be induced by laser irradiation through optical absorbers incorporated inside the droplet. In this study, Poly-lactide-coglycolic acid (PLGA) particles loaded with PFC liquid and silica-coated gold nanoparticles (GNPs) were developed and characterized using photoacoustic (PA) methods. Microsized PLGA particles were loaded with PFC liquid and GNPs (14, 35, 55nm each with a 20nm silica shell) using a double emulsion method. The PA signal intensity and optical vaporization threshold were investigated using a 375 MHz transducer and a focused 532-nm laser (up to 450-nJ per pulse). The laser-induced vaporization threshold energy decreased with increasing GNP size. The vaporization threshold was 850, 690 and 420 mJ/cm2 for 5μm-sized PLGA particles loaded with 14, 35 and 55 nm GNPs, respectively. The PA signal intensity increased as the laser fluence increased prior to the vaporization event. This trend was observed for all particles sizes. PLGA particles were then incubated with MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cells for 6 hours to investigate passive targeting, and the vaporization of the PLGA particles that were internalized within cells. The PLGA particles passively internalized by MDA cells were visualized via confocal fluorescence imaging. Upon PLGA particle vaporization, bubbles formed inside the cells resulting in cell destruction. This work demonstrates that GNPs-loaded PLGA/PFC particles have potential as PA theranostic agents in PA imaging and optically-triggered drug delivery systems.

  6. Comparative Evaluation of Three-Phase Isolated Matrix-Type PFC Rectifier Concepts for High Efficiency 380VDC Supplies of Future Telco and Data Centers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Cortes, Patricio; Bortis, Dominik; Pittini, Riccardo

    2014-01-01

    rectifier and in many cases a mains transformer is used to provide galvanic isolation. In order to achieve a high efficiency in the DC voltage generation and to implement the required isolation, a single-stage concept, such as a matrix-type rectifier that enables PFC functionality and galvanic isolation...... in a single conversion, can be beneficial. In addition, due to the fact that with the matrix-type rectifier the galvanic isolation is performed with a high-frequency transformer, this results in a more compact rectifier system compared to conventional systems where the mains-frequency isolation transformer...... is located at the input of the PFC rectifier. In this paper, an overview of isolated matrix-type PFC rectifier topologies is given and a new converter circuit is proposed, analyzed and comparatively evaluated against another promising PFC rectifier concept, the phase-modular IMY-rectifier....

  7. Hemispheric Dominance for Stereognosis in a Patient With an Infarct of the Left Postcentral Sensory Hand Area.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moll, Jorge; de Oliveira-Souza, Ricardo

    2017-09-01

    The concept of left hemispheric dominance for praxis, speech, and language has been one of the pillars of neurology since the mid-19th century. In 1906, Hermann Oppenheim reported a patient with bilateral stereoagnosia (astereognosis) caused by a left parietal lobe tumor and proposed that the left hemisphere was also dominant for stereognosis. Surprisingly, few cases of bilateral stereoagnosia caused by a unilateral cerebral lesion have been documented in the literature since then. Here we report a 75-year-old right-handed man who developed bilateral stereoagnosia after suffering a small infarct in the crown of the left postcentral gyrus. He could not recognize objects with either hand, but retained the ability to localize stimuli applied to the palm of his left (ipsilesional) hand. He was severely disabled in ordinary activities requiring the use of his hands. The lesion corresponded to Brodmann area 1, where probabilistic anatomic, functional, and electrophysiologic studies have located one of the multiple somatosensory representations of the hand. The lesion was in a strategic position to interrupt both the processing of afferent tactile information issuing from the primary somatosensory cortex (areas 3a and 3b) and the forward higher-order processing in area 2, the secondary sensory cortex, and the contralateral area 1. The lesion also deprived the motor hand area of its afferent regulation from the sensory hand area (grasping), while leaving intact the visuomotor projections from the occipital cortex (reaching). Our patient supports Oppenheim's proposal that the left postcentral gyrus of some individuals is dominant for stereognosis.

  8. Lateralization of Egocentric and Allocentric Spatial Processing after Parietal Brain Lesions

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iachini, Tina; Ruggiero, Gennaro; Conson, Massimiliano; Trojano, Luigi

    2009-01-01

    The purpose of this paper was to verify whether left and right parietal brain lesions may selectively impair egocentric and allocentric processing of spatial information in near/far spaces. Two Right-Brain-Damaged (RBD), 2 Left-Brain-Damaged (LBD) patients (not affected by neglect or language disturbances) and eight normal controls were submitted…

  9. Levels of integration in cognitive control and sequence processing in the prefrontal cortex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bahlmann, Jörg; Korb, Franziska M; Gratton, Caterina; Friederici, Angela D

    2012-01-01

    Cognitive control is necessary to flexibly act in changing environments. Sequence processing is needed in language comprehension to build the syntactic structure in sentences. Functional imaging studies suggest that sequence processing engages the left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (PFC). In contrast, cognitive control processes additionally recruit bilateral rostral lateral PFC regions. The present study aimed to investigate these two types of processes in one experimental paradigm. Sequence processing was manipulated using two different sequencing rules varying in complexity. Cognitive control was varied with different cue-sets that determined the choice of a sequencing rule. Univariate analyses revealed distinct PFC regions for the two types of processing (i.e. sequence processing: left ventrolateral PFC and cognitive control processing: bilateral dorsolateral and rostral PFC). Moreover, in a common brain network (including left lateral PFC and intraparietal sulcus) no interaction between sequence and cognitive control processing was observed. In contrast, a multivariate pattern analysis revealed an interaction of sequence and cognitive control processing, such that voxels in left lateral PFC and parietal cortex showed different tuning functions for tasks involving different sequencing and cognitive control demands. These results suggest that the difference between the process of rule selection (i.e. cognitive control) and the process of rule-based sequencing (i.e. sequence processing) find their neuronal underpinnings in distinct activation patterns in lateral PFC. Moreover, the combination of rule selection and rule sequencing can shape the response of neurons in lateral PFC and parietal cortex.

  10. Treatment strategies in the left main coronary artery disease associated with acute coronary syndromes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ahmet Karabulut

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available Significant left main coronary artery (LMCA stenosis is not rare and reported 3 to 10% of patients undergoing coronary angiography. Unprotected LMCA intervention is a still clinical challenge and surgery is still going to be a traditional management method in many cardiac centers. With a presentation of drug eluting stent (DES, extensive use of IVUS and skilled operators, number of such interventions increased rapidly which lead to change in recommendation in the guidelines regarding LMCA procedures in the stable angina (Class 2a recommendation for ostial and shaft lesion and class 2b recommendation for distal bifurcation lesion. However, there was not clear consensus about the management of unprotected LMCA lesion associated with acute myocardial infarction (MI with a LMCA culprit lesion itself or distinct culprit lesion of other major coronary arteries. Surgery could be preferred as an obligatory management strategy even in the high risk patients. With this review, we aimed to demonstrate treatment strategies of LMCA disease associated with acute coronary syndrome, particularly acute myocardial infarction (MI. In addition, we presented a short case series with LMCA lesion and ST elevated acute MI in which culprit lesion placed either in the left anterior descending artery or circumflex artery. We reviewed the current medical literature and propose simple algorithm for management.

  11. Anodal transcranial direct current stimulation over right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex alters decision making during approach-avoidance conflict.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chrysikou, Evangelia G; Gorey, Claire; Aupperle, Robin L

    2017-03-01

    Approach-avoidance conflict (AAC) refers to situations associated with both rewarding and threatening outcomes. The AAC task was developed to measure AAC decision-making. Approach behavior during this task has been linked to self-reported anxiety sensitivity and has elicited anterior cingulate, insula, caudate and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC) activity, with right lateral PFC tracking the extent of approach behavior. Guided by these results, we used excitatory transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) to demonstrate the causal involvement of right dlPFC in AAC decision-making. Participants received anodal tDCS at 1.5mA over either left or right dlPFC or sham stimulation, while performing the AAC task and a control short-term memory task. Analyses of variance (ANOVA) revealed that for individuals with high anxiety sensitivity excitatory right (but not left or sham) dlPFC stimulation elicited measurable decreases in approach behavior during conflict. Excitatory left (but not right or sham) dlPFC simulation improved performance on the control task. These results support a possible asymmetry between the contributions of right and left dlPFC to AAC resolution during emotional decision-making. Increased activity in right dlPFC may contribute to anxiety-related symptoms and, as such, serve as a neurobehavioral target of anxiolytic treatments aiming to decrease avoidance behavior. © The Author (2016). Published by Oxford University Press.

  12. [Recognition of onomatopoeias and animal cries during focalized lesions of the cerebral cortex (author's transl)].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Assal, G; Aubert, C

    1979-01-01

    The recognition of animal cries and their onomatopoeias was compared during the course of right or left unilateral cortical lesions. A double dissociation is noted; in left-sided affections there is a more severe deficiency to onomatopoeia than to cries, whereas in right-sided lesions the quality of the performances is reversed. These results suggest that the right hemisphere is dominant in the auditive recognition of familiar sounds, and supply information as to the linguistic value of onomatopoeias.

  13. How distributed processing produces false negatives in voxel-based lesion-deficit analyses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gajardo-Vidal, Andrea; Lorca-Puls, Diego L; Crinion, Jennifer T; White, Jitrachote; Seghier, Mohamed L; Leff, Alex P; Hope, Thomas M H; Ludersdorfer, Philipp; Green, David W; Bowman, Howard; Price, Cathy J

    2018-07-01

    In this study, we hypothesized that if the same deficit can be caused by damage to one or another part of a distributed neural system, then voxel-based analyses might miss critical lesion sites because preservation of each site will not be consistently associated with preserved function. The first part of our investigation used voxel-based multiple regression analyses of data from 359 right-handed stroke survivors to identify brain regions where lesion load is associated with picture naming abilities after factoring out variance related to object recognition, semantics and speech articulation so as to focus on deficits arising at the word retrieval level. A highly significant lesion-deficit relationship was identified in left temporal and frontal/premotor regions. Post-hoc analyses showed that damage to either of these sites caused the deficit of interest in less than half the affected patients (76/162 = 47%). After excluding all patients with damage to one or both of the identified regions, our second analysis revealed a new region, in the anterior part of the left putamen, which had not been previously detected because many patients had the deficit of interest after temporal or frontal damage that preserved the left putamen. The results illustrate how (i) false negative results arise when the same deficit can be caused by different lesion sites; (ii) some of the missed effects can be unveiled by adopting an iterative approach that systematically excludes patients with lesions to the areas identified in previous analyses, (iii) statistically significant voxel-based lesion-deficit mappings can be driven by a subset of patients; (iv) focal lesions to the identified regions are needed to determine whether the deficit of interest is the consequence of focal damage or much more extensive damage that includes the identified region; and, finally, (v) univariate voxel-based lesion-deficit mappings cannot, in isolation, be used to predict outcome in other patients

  14. Recall deficits in stroke patients with thalamic lesions covary with damage to the parvocellular mediodorsal nucleus of the thalamus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pergola, Giulio; Güntürkün, Onur; Koch, Benno; Schwarz, Michael; Daum, Irene; Suchan, Boris

    2012-08-01

    The functional role of the mediodorsal thalamic nucleus (MD) and its cortical network in memory processes is discussed controversially. While Aggleton and Brown (1999) suggested a role for recognition and not recall, Van der Werf et al. (2003) suggested that this nucleus is functionally related to executive function and strategic retrieval, based on its connections to the prefrontal cortices (PFC). The present study used a lesion approach including patients with focal thalamic lesions to examine the functions of the MD, the intralaminar nuclei and the midline nuclei in memory processing. A newly designed pair association task was used, which allowed the assessment of recognition and cued recall performance. Volume loss in thalamic nuclei was estimated as a predictor for alterations in memory performance. Patients performed poorer than healthy controls on recognition accuracy and cued recall. Furthermore, patients responded slower than controls specifically on recognition trials followed by successful cued recall of the paired associate. Reduced recall of picture pairs and increased response times during recognition followed by cued recall covaried with the volume loss in the parvocellular MD. This pattern suggests a role of this thalamic region in recall and thus recollection, which does not fit the framework proposed by Aggleton and Brown (1999). The functional specialization of the parvocellular MD accords with its connectivity to the dorsolateral PFC, highlighting the role of this thalamocortical network in explicit memory (Van der Werf et al., 2003). Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. Evaluation of left atrial linear ablation using contiguous and optimized radiofrequency lesions: the ALINE study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wolf, Michael; El Haddad, Milad; Fedida, Joël; Taghji, Philippe; Van Beeumen, Katarina; Strisciuglio, Teresa; De Pooter, Jan; Lepièce, Caroline; Vandekerckhove, Yves; Tavernier, René; Duytschaever, Mattias; Knecht, Sébastien

    2018-01-08

    Achieving block across linear lesions is challenging. We prospectively evaluated radiofrequency (RF) linear ablation at the roof and mitral isthmus (MI) using point-by-point contiguous and optimized RF lesions. Forty-one consecutive patients with symptomatic persistent AF underwent stepwise contact force (CF)-guided catheter ablation during ongoing AF. A single linear set of RF lesions was delivered at the roof and posterior MI according to the 'Atrial LINEar' (ALINE) criteria, i.e. point-by-point RF delivery (up to 35 W) respecting strict criteria of contiguity (inter-lesion distance ≤ 6 mm) and indirect lesion depth assessment (ablation index ≥550). We assessed the incidence of bidirectional block across both lines only after restoration of sinus rhythm. After a median RF time of 7 min [interquartile range (IQR) 5-9], first-pass block across roof lines was observed in 38 of 41 (93%) patients. Final bidirectional roof block was achieved in 40 of 41 (98%) patients. First-pass block was observed in 8 of 35 (23%) MI lines, after a median RF time of 8 min (IQR 7-12). Additional endo- and epicardial (54% of patients) RF applications resulted in final bidirectional MI block in 28 of 35 (80%) patients. During a median follow-up of 396 (IQR 310-442) days, 12 patients underwent repeat procedures, with conduction recovery in 4 of 12 and 5 of 10 previously blocked roof lines and MI lines, respectively. No complications occurred. Anatomical linear ablation using contiguous and optimized RF lesions results in a high rate of first-pass block at the roof but not at the MI. Due to its complex 3D architecture, the MI frequently requires additional endo- and epicardial RF lesions to be blocked. Published on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved. © The Author(s) 2018. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  16. A numerical investigation of the functionality of coronary bifurcation lesions with respect to lesion configuration and stenosis severity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pagiatakis, Catherine; Tardif, Jean-Claude; L'Allier, Philippe L; Mongrain, Rosaire

    2015-09-18

    The intervention of coronary bifurcation lesions is associated with higher rates of peri- and post-procedural clinical events compared to the treatment of isolated lesions. Overall, the factors that influence the dynamics of these types of configurations are still not well understood. A geometric multiscale model, consisting of a 3D representation of the left main coronary artery bifurcation and a 0D representation of the rest of the cardiovascular system, was developed. Computational fluid dynamics simulations of the 3D domain were executed by implementing the multiscale algorithm, in order to characterize the functionality of different multilesional configurations as a function of stenosis severity. The investigation found that coronary branch steal has a significant impact on the functionality of the disease and can render a two-lesion configuration more severe compared to a three-lesion configuration. As a result of the complexity of this phenomenon, it was also suggested that certain lesion configurations could result in false negatives in diagnosis when employing a pullback pressure recording across the tandem lesions. In conclusion, this study showed that coronary bifurcation lesions are subject to intricate haemodynamic interactions which render the characterization of their functionality complex and could have significant clinical implications with regards to their diagnosis and prognosis. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. Effects of bilateral and unilateral locus coeruleus lesions on beam-walking recovery after subsequent unilateral sensorimotor cortex suction-ablation in the rat.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goldstein, L B

    1997-01-01

    The recovery of beam-walking ability following a unilateral sensorimotor cortex lesion in the rat is hypothesized to be noradrenergically-mediated. We carried out two experiments to further test this hypothesis. In the first experiment, bilateral 6-hydroxydopamine locus coeruleus (LC) lesions or sham LC lesions were made 2 weeks prior to a right sensorimotor cortex suction-ablation lesion or sham cortex lesion. In the second experiment, unilateral left or right LC lesions or sham LC lesions were made 2 weeks prior to a right sensorimotor cortex lesion or sham cortex lesion. Beam-walking recovery was measured over the 12 days following cortex lesioning in each experiment. Bilateral, unilateral left, and unilateral right LC lesions resulted in impaired recovery. These data provide additional support for the hypothesis that beam-walking recovery after sensorimotor cortex injury is, at least in part, noradrenergically mediated.

  18. A low cost rapid prototype platform for a three phase PFC rectifier application

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Haase, Frerk; Kouchaki, Alireza; Nymand, Morten

    2015-01-01

    In this paper the design and development of a low cost rapid prototype platform for a Three Phase PFC rectifier application is presented. The active rectifier consists of a SiC-MOSFET based PWM converter and a low cost rapid prototype platform for simulating and implementing the digital control...

  19. Localization of lesions in aphasia, (2)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hojo, Kei; Watanabe, Shunzo; Tasaki, Hiroichi; Sato, Tokijiro; Metoki, Hirofumi.

    1985-01-01

    The relationship between the focus and the extent of the lesions and the various symptoms was investigated. 1. Broca aphasics: More than 80% of the group with obvious anarthric components had lesions of the third frontal gyrus involving Broca's area and the lower part of the precental gyrus as well as opercular and insular regions. The size of the lesions of this group was significantly larger than that of the group without marked anarthric components, and the latter was proved to have little localizing value. 2. Wernicke aphasics: The group with poor reading comprehension had cortical and/or subcortical lesions, involving posterior parts of both superior and middle temporal gyri as well as the supramarginal gyrus. On the other hand, lesions of the group with poor auditory comprehension were more anteriorly located and localized in the deep structures. Lesions of the group with poor Token test scores were large and scattered more anteriorly and/or posteriorly compared with those of the group with good Token test scores. 3. Amnestic aphaiscs: The group with poor naming scores had somewhat larger lesions than the group with good naming scores, and the lesions were scattered about the left hemisphere. The finding has proved that both groups had little localizing value. 4. Conduction aphasics: Lesions of the non-fluent type were significantly larger than those of the fluent type and distributed more anteriorly. However, highly involved lesions were located in the supramarginal gyrus and posterior parts of superior and/or middle temporal gyri. 5. Global aphasics: Lesions of the group with good articulation and prosody were observed to distribute more posteriorly in comparison with those of the other global aphasics. (J.P.N.)

  20. Myocardial Blood Flow and Flow Reserve in Proximal and Mid-to-Distal Lesions of Left Anterior Descending Artery Measured By N-13 Ammonia PET/CT

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Cho, Sanggeon; Kim, Ju Han; Cho, Jae Young; Kim, Hyeon Sik; Bom, Heeseung

    2013-01-01

    The purpose of this study is to compare the myocardial blood flow (MBF) and flow reserve (MFR) between proximal and mid-to-distal lesions of the left anterior descending artery (pLAD and mdLAD, respectively) using N-13 ammonia positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT). Subjects were 11 patients (six men and five women, mean age 64.5 years) with known coronary artery disease (CAD) involving LAD studied by N-13 ammonia PET/CT. They were divided into two groups by the location of stenotic lesions, i.e. pLAD versus mdLAD. Global and regional MBF and MFR were measured and compared. Characteristics of perfusion defects including the number of involved segments, basal area involvement, location, size, and shape were also compared between the two groups. The regional MFR in mid-anterior segment was significantly lower in pLAD group (1.80±0.35 vs 2.76±1.13 for pLAD and mdLAD groups, respectively, p=0.034), while global MFR was not different (2.10±1.10 vs 2.34±0.84). Both stress and rest MBF in LAD territories were not different in both groups. The size of the perfusion defects were significantly larger in pLAD group (44.0±11.5 % vs 21-1±15.8 %, p=0.041). Other characteristics such as location, basal area involvement, and shape were not significantly different between two groups. Conclusions The proximal lesion makes lower MFR in the mid-anterior segment and larger perfusion defect in the LAD territory but comparable MBF compared with mdLAD lesion

  1. Accurate determination of high-risk coronary lesion type by multidetector cardiac computed tomography.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Alasnag, Mirvat; Umakanthan, Branavan; Foster, Gary P

    2008-07-01

    Coronary arteriography (CA) is the standard method to image coronary lesions. Multidetector cardiac computerized tomography (MDCT) provides high-resolution images of coronary arteries, allowing a noninvasive alternative to determine lesion type. To date, no studies have assessed the ability of MDCT to categorize coronary lesion types. The objective of this study was to determine the accuracy of lesion type categorization by MDCT using CA as a reference standard. Patients who underwent both MDCT and CA within 2 months of each other were enrolled. MDCT and CA images were reviewed in a blinded fashion. Lesions were categorized according to the SCAI classification system (Types I-IV). The origin, proximal and middle segments of the major arteries were analyzed. Each segment comprised a data point for comparison. Analysis was performed using the Spearman Correlation Test. Four hundred eleven segments were studied, of which 110 had lesions. The lesion distribution was as follows: 35 left anterior descending (LAD), 29 circumflex (Cx), 31 right coronary artery (RCA), 2 ramus intermedius, 8 diagonal, 4 obtuse marginal and 2 left internal mammary arteries. Correlations between MDCT and CA were significant in all major vessels (LAD, Cx, RCA) (p < 0.001). The overall correlation coefficient was 0.67. Concordance was strong for lesion Types II-IV (97%) and poor for Type I (30%). High-risk coronary lesion types can be accurately categorized by MDCT. This ability may allow MDCT to play an important noninvasive role in the planning of coronary interventions.

  2. Dual spinal lesion paradigm in the cat: evolution of the kinematic locomotor pattern.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barrière, Grégory; Frigon, Alain; Leblond, Hugues; Provencher, Janyne; Rossignol, Serge

    2010-08-01

    The recovery of voluntary quadrupedal locomotion after an incomplete spinal cord injury can involve different levels of the CNS, including the spinal locomotor circuitry. The latter conclusion was reached using a dual spinal lesion paradigm in which a low thoracic partial spinal lesion is followed, several weeks later, by a complete spinal transection (i.e., spinalization). In this dual spinal lesion paradigm, cats can express hindlimb walking 1 day after spinalization, a process that normally takes several weeks, suggesting that the locomotor circuitry within the lumbosacral spinal cord had been modified after the partial lesion. Here we detail the evolution of the kinematic locomotor pattern throughout the dual spinal lesion paradigm in five cats to gain further insight into putative neurophysiological mechanisms involved in locomotor recovery after a partial spinal lesion. All cats recovered voluntary quadrupedal locomotion with treadmill training (3-5 days/wk) over several weeks. After the partial lesion, the locomotor pattern was characterized by several left/right asymmetries in various kinematic parameters, such as homolateral and homologous interlimb coupling, cycle duration, and swing/stance durations. When no further locomotor improvement was observed, cats were spinalized. After spinalization, the hindlimb locomotor pattern rapidly reappeared, but left/right asymmetries in swing/stance durations observed after the partial lesion could disappear or reverse. It is concluded that, after a partial spinal lesion, the hindlimb locomotor pattern was actively maintained by new dynamic interactions between spinal and supraspinal levels but also by intrinsic changes within the spinal cord.

  3. Object-action dissociation: A voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping study on 102 patients after glioma removal

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alberto Pisoni

    Full Text Available Data concerning the neural basis of noun and verb processing are inconsistent. Some authors assume that action-verb processing is based on frontal areas while nouns processing relies on temporal regions; others argue that the circuits processing verbs and nouns are closely interconnected in a predominantly left-lateralized fronto-temporal-parietal network; yet, other researchers consider that the primary motor cortex plays a crucial role in processing action verbs. In the present study, one hundred and two patients with a tumour either in the right or left hemisphere were submitted to picture naming of objects and actions before and after surgery. To test the effect of specific brain regions in object and action naming, patients' lesions were mapped and voxel-lesion-symptom mapping (VLSM was computed. Behavioural results showed that left-brain damaged patients were significantly more impaired than right brain-damaged patients. The VLSM showed that these two grammatical classes are segregated in the left hemisphere. In particular, scores in naming of objects correlated with damage to the anterior temporal region, while scores in naming of actions correlated with lesions in the parietal areas and in the posterior temporal cortex. In addition, VLSM analyses carried out on non-linguistic tasks were not significant, confirming that the regions associated with deficits in object and action naming were not generally engaged in all cognitive tasks. Finally, the involvement of subcortical pathways was investigated and the inferior longitudinal fasciculus proved to play a role in object naming, while no specific bundle was identified for actions. Keywords: Object action dissociation, Temporal lesion, Frontal lesion, Voxel-based lesion symptom mapping

  4. Neglect severity after left and right brain damage.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suchan, Julia; Rorden, Chris; Karnath, Hans-Otto

    2012-05-01

    While unilateral spatial neglect after left brain damage is undoubtedly less common than spatial neglect after a right hemisphere lesion, it is also assumed to be less severe. Here we directly test this latter hypothesis using a continuous measure of neglect severity: the so-called Center of Cancellation (CoC). Rorden and Karnath (2010) recently validated this index for right brain damaged neglect patients. A first aim of the present study was to evaluate this new measure for spatial neglect after left brain damage. In a group of 48 left-sided stroke patients with and without neglect, a score greater than -0.086 on the Bells Test and greater than -0.024 on the Letter Cancellation Task turned out to indicate neglect behavior for acute left brain damaged patients. A second aim was to directly compare the severity of spatial neglect after left versus right brain injury by using the new CoC measure. While neglect is less frequent following left than right hemisphere injury, we found that when this symptom occurs it is of similar severity in acute left brain injury as in patients after acute right brain injury. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  5. Computer tomographic localization and lesion size in aphasia

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hojo, Kei

    1985-01-01

    Using a microcomputer, the locus and extent of the lesions demonstrated on CT were superimposed on standardized matrices in 127 cases with various types of aphasia, to investigate the relationship between location of the lesions and types of aphasia. Main results were as follows. 1. Broca aphasics: The lesions involved rather large areas in the deep structures of the lower part of the precentral gyrus, the insula and the lenticular nucleus. Therefore, the finding was regarded as being of little localizing value. 2. Wernicke aphasics: At least 70 % of the patients had superior temporal lesions involving Wernicke's area and the subcortical lesions of the superior and middle temporal gyri. The site of the lesion corresponded roughly with that in the previous clinico-pathological reports but was indicated in a little deeper area. 3. Amnestic aphasics: The size of the lesion was smaller than any other type but the lesions were distributed throughout the left hemisphere. Amnestic asphasia was thought to be the least localizable. 4. Conduction aphasics: Most patients had lesions in the posterior speech area involving part of Wernicke's area. In particular, in more than 80 % of the conduction aphasics the lesions were revealed in the supramarginal gyrus and it's adjacent deep structures. 5. Global aphasics: In general, the size of the lesion was very large and 70 % of the global aphasics had extensive lesions involving both Broca's and Wernicke's areas. However, there were some patients showing small and confined lesions. (author)

  6. Multidisciplinary management of concomitant pulpal and periodontal lesion: A case report

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mustafa A. Al Attas, DDS

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available In this case report, the management of a concomitant endodontic-periodontal lesion case is described. A 31-year-old patient presented with symptomatic apical periodontitis of tooth #36 due to failed endodontic treatment and a generalized aggressive periodontitis. Following full-mouth scaling and root-planing, a root-canal retreatment (tooth #36 was initiated. While the distal and mesio-buccal canals were successfully treated, a transportation perforation of the mesio-lingual canal occurred and was repaired by the MTA. An apical microsurgery of the mesial root combined with surgical periodontal debridement for the lower left quadrant was performed. Three weeks later, resective and regenerative periodontal surgeries of the other 3 quadrants were accomplished. Because of the 6-month post-operative healing, the regenerative periodontal surgery for the lower-left quadrant was performed. The 6-month post-operative recall showed complete healing of the mesial root lesion and reduction of the distal root lesion. The multidisciplinary approach and advanced armamentarium contributed to favourable outcome.

  7. NMDA antagonist, but not nNOS inhibitor, requires AMPA receptors in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) to induce antidepressant-like effects

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Pereira, V. S.; Wegener, Gregers; Joca, S. R.

    2013-01-01

    of the glutamatergic and nitrergic systems of the vmPFC on the behavioral consequences induced by forced swimming (FS), an animal model of depression. Male Wistar rats (230-260g) with guide cannulas aimed at the prelimbic (PL) region of vmPFC were submitted to a 15min session of FS and, 24h later, they were submitted...

  8. Cerebral blood flow and metabolism in patients with aphasia due to basal ganglionic lesion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kitamura, Shin; Kato, Toshiaki; Ujike, Takashi; Kuroki, Soemu; Terashi, Akiro

    1987-01-01

    Cerebral blood flow and metabolism in right handed eight patients with subcortical lesion and aphasia were measured to investigate the correlation between aphasia and functional changes in cerebral blood flow (CBF) and cerebral oxygen consumption (CMRO 2 ) in the cortex and the basal ganglionic region. All patients had no lesion in the cortex, but in the basal ganglionic region (putamen, caudate nucleus, internal capsule, and periventricular white matter) on CT images. Patients with bilateral lesion were excluded in this study. Six patients with cerebral infarction in the left basal ganglionic region and two patients with the left putammal hemorrhage were examined. Five patients had non fluent Broca's type speech, two patients had poor comprehension, fluent Wernicke-type speech and one patient was globally aphasic. CBF, CMRO 2 , and oxygen extraction fraction were measured by the positron emission tomography using 15 O 2 , C 15 O 2 inhalation technique. In addition to reduction of CBF and CMRO 2 in the basal ganglionic region, CBF and CMRO 2 decreased in the left frontal cortex especially posterior part in four patients with Broca's aphasia. In two patients with Wernicke type aphasia, CBF and CMRO 2 decreased in the basal ganglionic region and the left temporal cortex. In a globally aphasic patient, marked reduction of CBF and CMRO 2 was observed in the left frontal and temporal cortex, in addition to the basal ganglionic region. These results suggest that dysfunction of cortex as well as that of basal ganglionic region might be related to the occurence of aphasia. However, in one patient with Broca's ahasia, CBF and CMRO 2 were preserved in the cortex and metabolic reduction was observed in only basal ganglia. This case indicates the relation between basal ganglionic lesion and the occurrence of aphasia. These results suggest that measurements of cerebral blood flow and metabolism were necessary to study the responsible lesion for aphasia. (author)

  9. Lesions Responsible for Delayed Oral Transit Time in Post-stroke Dysphagia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moon, Hyun Im; Yoon, Seo Yeon; Yi, Tae Im; Jeong, Yoon Jeong; Cho, Tae Hwan

    2017-10-11

    Some stroke patients show oral phase dysphagia, characterized by a markedly prolonged oral transit time that hinders oral feeding. The aim of this study was to clarify the clinical characteristics and lesions responsible for delayed swallowing. We reviewed 90 patients with stroke. The oral processing time plus the postfaucial aggregation time required to swallow semisolid food was assessed. The patients were divided into two groups according to oral transit time, and we analyzed the differences in characteristics such as demographic factors, lesion factors, and cognitive function. Logistic regression analyses were performed to examine the predictors of delayed oral transit time. Lesion location and volume were measured on brain magnetic resonance images. We generated statistic maps of lesions related to delayed oral phase in swallowing using voxel-based lesion symptom mapping (VLSM). The group of patients who showed delayed oral transit time had significantly low cognitive function. Also, in a regression model, delayed oral phase was predicted with low K-MMSE (Korean version of the Mini Mental Status Exam). Using VLSM, we found the lesion location to be associated with delayed oral phase after adjusting for K-MMSE score. Although these results did not reach statistical significance, they showed the lesion pattern with predominant distribution in the left frontal lobe. Delayed oral phase in post-stroke patients was not negligible clinically. Patients' cognitive impairments affect the oral transit time. When adjusting it, we found a trend that the lesion responsible for delayed oral phase was located in the left frontal lobe, though the association did not reach significance. The delay might be related to praxis function.

  10. An unusual case of ameloblastoma observed in the left anterior mandible.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Canger, Emin Murat; Çelenk, Peruze; Bulut, Emel; Günhan, Ömer

    2014-11-01

    To report a small intaalveolar ameloblastoma which resembled cystic lesion, and to emphasize the value of Computed tomography (CT) in radiographic examination. Ameloblastoma is a slow-growing, locally invasive odontogenic neoplasm that accounts for approximately 10% of all tumors detected in the jaws. Radiographically, those tumors are usually well-defined. Computerized tomography is highly recommended to confirm the diagnosis. A 48-year-old female attended with a chief complaint of painless swelling in the left anterior of mandible, 1 month duration. In intraoral examination, non-fluctuant, immobile, approximately 1 × 1 cm in dimension, painless, swelling which had a bone-like hardness and located in the mandibular canine region was detected. Panoramic radiography revealed a well circumscribed unilocular radiolucent lesion located in the inter-radicular area of left mandibular lateral and canine teeth. In CT examination it was realized that the lesion was multilocular. Histopathological examination of the biopsy specimen was reported as ameloblastoma. It is extremely difficult to find such an ameloblastoma in small dimension in alvolar bone.

  11. An implant periapical lesion associated with an endodontic-periodontic lesion of an adjacent molar

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ting-An Chou

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available Adjacent natural teeth with untreated pulpal or periodontal pathology may be a potential risk for implant infection. We report a rare case of an implant periapical lesion (IPL possibly caused by direct extension of a periradicular lesion of an adjacent tooth. A 40-year-old female patient, who had previously received three implants on the edentulous areas of teeth 16, 36 and 46, had a recurrent infection over the lower left second molar area for 2 years. A periapical radiograph revealed incomplete root canal treatment and an infrabony defect on the mesial side of the lower left second molar; the defect extended to the apical third of the adjacent implant on tooth 36. Open flap debridement was performed 1 year after implant placement, but pain and swelling persisted for another year. Therefore, the second molar was extracted at the patient's request. The patient was unable to seek earlier and prompt treatment as she was abroad; therefore, we were able to observe the progression of severity in the IPL. One year after the extraction, the symptoms had subsided, and a periapical radiograph showed that the radiolucent lesion had decreased in size. She was followed for another 1.5 years and showed marked improvement. In this case, the IPL probably originated from the endodontic-periodontic problem of the adjacent molar, and the infected implant was saved by removing the infection source. We also discuss the treatment and prognosis of IPLs. To prevent the occurrence of an IPL, it is important to evaluate the pulpal and periodontal status of the teeth near the implant site when making a comprehensive treatment plan for an implant.

  12. Exercise thallium-201 myocardial imaging in left main coronary artery disease: sensitive but not specific

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rehn, T.; Griffith, L.S.; Achuff, S.C.; Bailey, I.K.; Bulkley, B.H.; Burow, R.; Pitt, B.; Becker, L.C.

    1981-01-01

    To determine the usefulness of thallium-201 scintigraphy for identifying left main coronary artery disease, the results of scintigraphy at rest and during exercise were compared in 24 patients with 50 percent or greater narrowing of the left main coronary artery and 80 patients with 50 percent or greater narrowing of one or more of the major coronary arteries but without left main coronary involvement. By segmental analysis of the scintigrams, perfusion defects were assigned to the left anterior descending, left circumflex or right coronary artery, singly or in combination, and the pattern of simultaneous left anterior descending and circumflex arterial defects was used to identify left main coronary artery disease. Of the 24 patients with left main coronary artery disease, 22 (92 percent) had abnormal exercise scintigrams. Despite this high sensitivity, the pattern of perfusion defects was not specific; the ''left main pattern'' was found in 3 patients (13 percent) with left main coronary artery disease but also in 3 (33 percent) of 9 patients with combined left anterior descending and left circumflex arterial disease, 4 (19 percent) of 21 patients with three vessel disease and 3 (6 percent) of 50 patients with one or two vessel disease but excluding the group with left anterior descending plus left circumflex arterial disease. The pattern of perfusion defects in the patients with left main coronary artery disease was determined by the location and severity of narrowings in the coronary arteries downstream from the left main arterial lesion. Concomitant lesions in other arteries were found in all patients with left main coronary disease (one vessel in 1 patient, two vessels in 7 patients and three vessels in 16). For this reason, it is unlikely that even with improvements in radiopharmaceutical agents and imaging techniques, myocardial perfusion scintigraphy will be sufficiently specific for definitive identification of left main coronary artery disease

  13. Floating retained root lesion mimicking apical periodontitis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chung, Ming-Pang; Chen, Chih-Ping; Shieh, Yi-Shing

    2009-10-01

    A case of a retained root tip simulating apical periodontitis on radiographic examination is described. The retained root tip, originating from the left lower first molar, floated under the left lower second premolar apical region mimicking apical periodontitis. It appeared as an ill-defined periapical radiolucency containing a smaller radiodense mass on radiograph. The differential diagnosis included focal sclerosing osteomyelitis (condensing osteitis) and ossifying fibroma. Upon exicisional biopsy, a retained root associated with granulation tissue was found. After 1-year follow-up, the patient was asymptomatic and the periradicular lesion was healing. Meanwhile, the associated tooth showed a normal response to stimulation testing.

  14. Computerized detection of mass lesions in digital mammograms

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yin, F.F.; Giger, M.L.; Doi, K.; Metz, C.E.; Vyborny, C.J.; Schmidt, R.A.

    1989-01-01

    Early detection of breast cancer from the periodic screening of asymptomatic women could reduce breast cancer mortality by at least 40%. The authors are developing a computerized scheme for the detection of mass lesions in digital mammograms as an aid to radiologists in such high volume screening programs. Based on left-right architectural symmetry and gray-level histogram analysis, bilateral subtraction of left and right breast images is performed. False-positive detections included in bilateral-difference images are reduced with various images feature-extraction techniques. The database involves clinical film mammograms digitized by a TV camera and analyzed on a Micro-VAX workstation. Among five different bilateral subtraction techniques investigated, a nonlinear approach provided superior lesion enhancement. Feature-extraction techniques reduced substantially the remaining false-positives. Preliminary results, for 32 pairs of clinical mammograms, yielded a true-positive rate of approximately 95% with a false-positive rate of about 2 per image

  15. The effect of future time perspective on delay discounting is mediated by the gray matter volume of vmPFC.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Yiqun; Chen, Zhiyi; Feng, Tingyong

    2017-07-28

    Although several previous studies have shown that individuals' attitude towards time could affect their intertemporal preference, little is known about the neural basis of the relation between time perspective (TP) and delay discounting. In the present study, we quantified the gray matter (GM) cortical volume using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) methods to investigate the effect of TP on delay discounting (DD) across two independent samples. For group 1 (102 healthy college students; 46 male; 20.40 ± 1.87 years), behavioral results showed that only Future TP was a significant predictor of DD, and higher scores on Future TP were related to lower discounting rates. Whole-brain analysis revealed that steeper discounting correlated with greater GM volume in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and ventral part of posterior cingulate cortex (vPCC). Also, GM volume of a cluster in the vmPFC was correlated with Future TP. Interestingly, there was an overlapping region in vmPFC that was correlated with both DD and Future TP. Region-of-interest analysis further indicated that the overlapping region of vmPFC played a partially mediating role in the relation between Future TP and DD in the other independent dataset (Group 2, 36 healthy college students; 14 male; 20.18±1.80 years). Taken together, our results provide a new perspective from neural basis for explaining the relation between DD and future TP. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Cerebral blood flow and metabolism in patients with aphasia due to basal ganglionic lesion

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kitamura, Shin; Kato, Toshiaki; Ujike, Takashi; Kuroki, Soemu; Terashi, Akiro

    1987-03-01

    Cerebral blood flow and metabolism in right handed eight patients with subcortical lesion and aphasia were measured to investigate the correlation between aphasia and functional changes in cerebral blood flow (CBF) and cerebral oxygen consumption (CMRO/sub 2/) in the cortex and the basal ganglionic region. All patients had no lesion in the cortex, but in the basal ganglionic region (putamen, caudate nucleus, internal capsule, and periventricular white matter) on CT images. Patients with bilateral lesion were excluded in this study. Six patients with cerebral infarction in the left basal ganglionic region and two patients with the left putammal hemorrhage were examined. Five patients had non fluent Broca's type speech, two patients had poor comprehension, fluent Wernicke-type speech and one patient was globally aphasic. CBF, CMRO/sub 2/, and oxygen extraction fraction were measured by the positron emission tomography using /sup 15/O/sub 2/, C/sup 15/O/sub 2/ inhalation technique. In addition to reduction of CBF and CMRO/sub 2/ in the basal ganglionic region, CBF and CMRO/sub 2/ decreased in the left frontal cortex especially posterior part in four patients with Broca's aphasia. In two patients with Wernicke type aphasia, CBF and CMRO/sub 2/ decreased in the basal ganglionic region and the left temporal cortex. In a globally aphasic patient, marked reduction of CBF and CMRO/sub 2/ was observed in the left frontal and temporal cortex, in addition to the basal ganglionic region. These results suggest that dysfunction of cortex as well as that of basal ganglionic region might be related to the occurence of aphasia. However, in one patient with Broca's ahasia, CBF and CMRO/sub 2/ were preserved in the cortex and metabolic reduction was observed in only basal ganglia. This case indicates the relation between basal ganglionic lesion and the occurrence of aphasia.

  17. An isolated bridgeless AC-DC PFC converter using a LC resonant voltage doubler rectifier

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Sin-woo; Do, Hyun-Lark

    2016-12-01

    This paper proposed an isolated bridgeless AC-DC power factor correction (PFC) converter using a LC resonant voltage doubler rectifier. The proposed converter is based on isolated conventional single-ended primary inductance converter (SEPIC) PFC converter. The conduction loss of rectification is reduced than a conventional one because the proposed converter is designed to eliminate a full-bridge rectifier at an input stage. Moreover, for zero-current switching (ZCS) operation and low voltage stresses of output diodes, the secondary of the proposed converter is designed as voltage doubler with a LC resonant tank. Additionally, an input-output electrical isolation is provided for safety standard. In conclusion, high power factor is achieved and efficiency is improved. The operational principles, steady-state analysis and design equations of the proposed converter are described in detail. Experimental results from a 60 W prototype at a constant switching frequency 100 kHz are presented to verify the performance of the proposed converter.

  18. Alteration of synaptic transmission in the hippocampal-mPFC pathway during extinction trials of context-dependent fear memory in juvenile rat stress models.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Koseki, Hiroyo; Matsumoto, Machiko; Togashi, Hiroko; Miura, Yoshihide; Fukushima, Kazuaki; Yoshioka, Mitsuhiro

    2009-09-01

    The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) has been proposed to be essential for extinction of fear memory, but its neural mechanism has been poorly understood. The present study examined whether synaptic transmission in the hippocampal-mPFC pathway is related to extinction of context-dependent fear memory in freely moving rats using electrophysiological approaches combined with behavioral analysis. Population spike amplitude in the mPFC was decreased during the first extinction trial by exposure to contextual fear conditioning. This synaptic inhibition was reversed by repeated extinction trials, accompanied by decreases in fear-related freezing behavior. These results suggest that alteration of synaptic transmission in the hippocampal-mPFC pathway is associated with the extinction processes of context-dependent fear memory. Further experiments were performed to elucidate whether early postnatal stress alters the synaptic response in the mPFC during extinction trials using a juvenile stress model, based on our previous findings that early postnatal stress affects the behavioral response to emotional stress. Adult rats that previously were exposed to five footshocks (FS) (shock intensity, 0.5 mA; intershock interval, 28 seconds; shock duration, 2 seconds) at postnatal day 21 to 25 (week 3; 3W-FS) exhibited impaired reversal of both inhibitory synaptic transmission and freezing behavior induced by repeated extinction trials. The neuronal and behavioral deficits observed in the 3W-FS group were prevented by pretreatment with the serotonin(1A) receptor agonist tandospirone (1 mg/kg, i.p.). These results indicate the possiblity that aversive stress exposure during the third postnatal week impaired extinction processes of context-dependent fear memory. The deficits in extinction observed in the 3W-FS group might be attributable to dysfunction of hippocampal-mPFC neural circuits involving 5-HT(1A) receptor mechanisms. 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  19. Right vs. left sensorimotor cortex suction-ablation in the rat: no difference in beam-walking recovery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goldstein, L B

    1995-03-13

    The ability of rats to traverse a narrow elevated beam has been used to quantitate recovery of hindlimb motor function after unilateral injury to the sensorimotor cortex. We tested the hypothesis that the rate of spontaneous beam-walking recovery varies with the side of the cortex lesion. Groups of rats that were trained at the beam-walking task underwent suction-ablation of either the right or left hindlimb sensorimotor cortex. There was no difference in hindlimb motor function between the groups on the first post-operative beam-waking trial carried out the day after cortex ablation and no difference between the groups in overall recovery rates over the next two weeks. Subsequent analyses of lesion surface parameters showed no differences in lesion size or extent. Regardless of the side of the lesion, there were also no differences between the right and left hemispheres in norepinephrine content of the lesioned or contralateral cortex. We conclude that the side of sensorimotor cortex ablation injury does not differentially affect the rate of spontaneous motor recovery as measured with the beam-walking task.

  20. Leaching of PFC from soils contaminated with PFC of different origin

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kalbe, Ute; Piechotta, Christian; Rothe, Robert

    2017-04-01

    Leaching tests are fundamental tools for the assessment of groundwater impact by contaminated soils concerning the soil-groundwater pathway. Such procedures are supposed to serve as the basis for a reliable leachate prognosis. They can be applied to determine the short and long term leaching behaviour as well as the source term of contaminated soils. For this purpose two types of leaching procedures have been validated in Germany for the examination of the leaching behaviour of frequently occurring organic substances (DIN 19528 - column test and DIN 19529 - batch test). A liquid-to-solid ratio (L/S) of 2 L/kg and 10 L/kg) is the basis for the risk assessment which is implemented in different German regulations. The equivalence of test results for both tests for the same material under investigation has been investigated for a variety of pollutants in order to assess their reliability in compliance testing. However, for emerging pollutants there is hardly data available on this issue. Leaching tests on soils contaminated with emerging pollutants such as PFC (Perfluorinated Surfactants) are currently coming more into consideration due to the increasing detection of contaminated sites. Therefore, two soils were investigated in this study from different contamination source (paper sludge containing compost and fire distinguishing foam) using both leaching tests and both liquid-to-solid ratios. The leachability of the various perfluorinated compounds in relation to their content in solid matter was considered. Furthermore the eluate pre-treatment prior analysis (in particular liquid/solid separation step needed for batch tests) has been taken into account. The comparability of the results from batch and column is dependent on the solubility of the various compounds, on the L/S and on the turbidity in the eluates.

  1. [Mirror movement due to the medial frontal lobe lesion].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takahashi, N; Kawamura, M; Hirayama, K

    1995-01-01

    We reported a case with acquired mirror movement in upper limbs due to the lesion of right medial frontal lobe including supplementary motor area, and also discussed a possible mechanism underlying it. A 59-year-old right-handed woman developed left hemiparesis caused by cerebral hemorrhage in the right frontoparietal lobe, on April 5, 1981. She had right hemiparesis and right hemianopsia due to cerebral hemorrhage in the left parieto-occipital lobe, 13 days later. As the patient was recovering from paresis, mirror movement appeared on upper limbs. The features of the mirror movement of this case are summarized as follows: (1) it appeared when using both proximal and distal region of upper limbs; (2) it appeared on left upper limb when the patient intended to move right upper limb or on right upper limb when intended to move left upper limb, while it appeared predominantly in the former; and (3) it was more remarkably found in habitual movement using gesture and pantomimic movement for the use of objects, and it was found in lower degree when actual object was used or when the patient tried to imitate the gesture of the examiner. The lesions in MRI were found in medial region of right frontal lobe (supplementary motor area, medial region of motor area, and cingulate gyrus), right medial parietal lobe, posterior region of right occipital lobe, and medial regions of left parietal and occipital lobes. There was no apparent abnormality in corpus callosum.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

  2. Systemic Embolization from an Unusual Intracardiac Mass in the Left Ventricular Outflow Tract

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Kelechukwu U. Okoro

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Endocarditis can affect any endocardial surface; in the vast majority of cases, the cardiac valves are involved. It is exceedingly rare to develop infective endocarditis on the endocardium of the left ventricular outflow tract due to the high velocity of blood that traverses this area. Herein, we present a rare case of left ventricular outflow tract endocarditis that likely occurred secondary to damage to the aortic valve leaflets (from healed prior aortic valve endocarditis causing a high velocity aortic valve regurgitant jet that impinged upon the interventricular septum which damaged the endocardium and resulted in a fibrotic “jet lesion.” This fibrous jet lesion served as a nidus for bacterial proliferation and vegetation formation. The high shear stress (due to high blood flow velocity through the left ventricular outflow tract likely promoted the multiple embolic events observed in this case. Our patient was successfully treated with aortic valve replacement, vegetation resection, and antibiotics.

  3. Morel-Lavallee Lesion (MLL) Mimicking A Soft Tissue Neoplasm.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kumar, Sandeep; Hasan, Roumina; Kadavigere, Rajagopal; Maddukuri, Satish Babu; Puppala, Radha

    2015-04-01

    Morel-lavallee lesion (MLL) represents post traumatic subcutaneous cyst generally overlying bony prominences like greater trochanter, lower back, knee and scapula. A 51-year-old man presented with a swelling in left thigh since six years which was insidious in onset, gradually progressive in size and not associated with pain, fever or discharge. There was no history of trauma or any associated constitutional symptoms. Since there was no history of trauma recalled by the patient the clinical dilemma was between soft tissue sarcoma and cold abscess. We report a case of slow growing painless mass lesion of thigh, diagnosed on Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) as morel lavallee lesion and describe its salient imaging features with treatment options.

  4. Thermal analysis and improvement of cascode GaN device package for totem-pole bridgeless PFC rectifier

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    She, Shuojie; Zhang, Wenli; Liu, Zhengyang; Lee, Fred C.; Huang, Xiucheng; Du, Weijing; Li, Qiang

    2015-01-01

    The totem-pole bridgeless power factor correction (PFC) rectifier has a simpler topology and higher efficiency than other boost-type bridgeless PFC rectifiers. Its promising performance is enabled by using high-voltage gallium nitride (GaN) high-electron-mobility transistors, which have considerably better figures of merit (e.g., lower reverse recovery charges and less switching losses) than the state-of-the-art silicon metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors. Cascode GaN devices in traditional packages, i.e., the TO-220 and power quad flat no-lead, are used in the totem-pole PFC boost rectifier. But the parasitic inductances induced by the traditional packages not only significantly deteriorate the switching characteristics of the discrete GaN device but also adversely affect the performance of the built PFC rectifier. A new stack-die packaging structure with an embedded capacitor has been introduced and proven to be efficient in reducing parasitic ringing at the turn-off transition and achieving true zero-voltage-switching turn-on. However, the thermal dissipation capability of the device packaged in this configuration becomes a limitation on further pushing the operating frequency and the output current level for high-efficiency power conversion. This paper focuses on the thermal analysis of the cascode GaN devices in different packages and the GaN-based multichip module used in a two-phase totem-pole bridgeless PFC boost rectifier. A series of thermal models are built based on the actual structures and materials of the packaged devices to evaluate their thermal performance. Finite element analysis (FEA) simulation results of the cascode GaN device in a flip-chip format demonstrate the possibility of increasing the device switching speed while maintaining the peak temperature of the device below 125 °C. Thermal analysis of the GaN-based power module in a very similar structure is also conducted using the FEA method. Experimental data measured using

  5. Phonological decisions require both the left and right supramarginal gyri

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hartwigsen, Gesa; Baumgaertner, Annette; Price, Cathy J

    2010-01-01

    Recent functional imaging studies demonstrated that both the left and right supramarginal gyri (SMG) are activated when healthy right-handed subjects make phonological word decisions. However, lesion studies typically report difficulties with phonological processing after left rather than right...... the right or left SMG. Taken together, these findings provide converging evidence that the right SMG contributes to accurate and efficient phonological decisions in the healthy brain, with no evidence that the left and right SMG can compensate for one another during TMS. Our findings motivate detailed...... hemisphere damage. Here, we used a unique dual-site transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) approach to test whether the SMG in the right hemisphere contributes to modality-independent (i.e., auditory and visual) phonological decisions. To test task-specificity, we compared the effect of real or sham TMS...

  6. Effect of dependency versus nondependency on lung lesion visualization

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Pechman, R.D. Jr.

    1987-01-01

    Paraffin blocks and mineral oil were used as a model to determine the effect of dependency versus nondependency on radiographic visualization of lung lesions in lateral thoracic radiographs. It was concluded that the increased opacity of the material surrounding the lesion, not contact between the heart and the lesion, was responsible for the inability to detect lung disease in the dependent lung. The results were tested in dogs with pneumonia in the right middle lung lobe. When the dog was in right lateral recumbency, the dependent right lung was increased in opacity and decreased in volume and the pulmonary lesion was difficult to detect. When the dog was in left lateral recumbency, the non dependent right lung was increased in volume and decreased in opacity and the pulmonary disease was clearly visible. A single recumbent lateral radiograph must not be used to assess a dog with suspected lung disease because lesions in the dependent lung lobes may not be detected

  7. Case of herpes simplex encephalitis(HSE) with a thalamic lesion

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fujimori, K; Koike, R; Yuasa, T; Miyatake, T; Ito, J

    1987-02-01

    A case of herpes simplex encephalitis (HSE) with thalamic involvement was reported. The patient, a 27-year-old man, was admitted because of abnormal behavior and fever. He exhibited a disturbance of consciousness, meningial signs, and hyperreflexia. A CT scan of the head revealed diffuse brain edema. Acute encephalitis, especially HSE, was suspected, and so the intravenous administration of acyclovir and steroid therapy were started. The titer of herpes simplex Type 1 virus, as measured by CF and ELISA, was found to have increased amounts of serum and cerebrospinal fluid. 5 days after the onset, his consciousness worsened. He could not tell his name and scarely opened his eyes upon pain stimulation. A CT scan at this time showed low-density lesions in the left thalamus, cingulate gyrus, and the posterior portion of the putamen. About 5 days later, his consciousness level was increased, but he was mute. This symptom was thought to be thalamic aphasia, which might be correlative with the low-density lesions shown in the left thalamus by the CT scan. About 30 days after the onset of the disease, his speech became normal, and a CT scan at 51 hospital days showed no abnormality. The etiology of low-density lesions of the left thalamus in the CT scan is speculated to be as follows: firstly, vascular damage of circulation disturbance, and secondly a special affinity of herpes simplex Type 1 virus to the thalamus.

  8. vmPFC activation during a stressor predicts positive emotions during stress recovery

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Xi; Garcia, Katelyn M; Jung, Youngkyoo; Whitlow, Christopher T; McRae, Kateri; Waugh, Christian E

    2018-01-01

    Abstract Despite accruing evidence showing that positive emotions facilitate stress recovery, the neural basis for this effect remains unclear. To identify the underlying mechanism, we compared stress recovery for people reflecting on a stressor while in a positive emotional context with that for people in a neutral context. While blood–oxygen-level dependent data were being collected, participants (N = 43) performed a stressful anagram task, which was followed by a recovery period during which they reflected on the stressor while watching a positive or neutral video. Participants also reported positive and negative emotions throughout the task as well as retrospective thoughts about the task. Although there was no effect of experimental context on emotional recovery, we found that ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) activation during the stressor predicted more positive emotions during recovery, which in turn predicted less negative emotions during recovery. In addition, the relationship between vmPFC activation and positive emotions during recovery was mediated by decentering—the meta-cognitive detachment of oneself from one’s feelings. In sum, successful recovery from a stressor seems to be due to activation of positive emotion-related regions during the stressor itself as well as to their downstream effects on certain cognitive forms of emotion regulation. PMID:29462404

  9. Comparison of a Simple Angiographic Approach With a Synergy Between Percutaneous Coronary Intervention With Taxus and Cardiac Surgery Score-Based Approach for Left Main Coronary Artery Stenting: A Pooled Analysis of Serial PRECOMBAT (Premier of Randomized Comparison of Bypass Surgery Versus Angioplasty Using Sirolimus-Eluting Stent in Patients With Left Main Coronary Artery Disease) Studies.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lee, Pil Hyung; Lee, Jong-Young; Lee, Cheol Whan; Kim, Seon-Ok; Ahn, Jung-Min; Park, Duk-Woo; Kang, Soo-Jin; Lee, Seung-Whan; Kim, Young-Hak; Park, Seong-Wook; Park, Seung-Jung

    2018-01-01

    The applicability of Synergy Between Percutaneous Coronary Intervention With Taxus and Cardiac Surgery scores to left main coronary artery disease (CAD) has been questioned. A simplified alternative is needed for guiding decision making. We evaluated the prognostic value of a simplified angiographic classification in comparison with a Synergy Between Percutaneous Coronary Intervention With Taxus and Cardiac Surgery score-based approach for patients with left main CAD undergoing drug-eluting stent implantation. The proposed approach classified left main CAD as either extensive (n=819), defined as left main bifurcation lesions with an involvement of ostial left circumflex artery or as any left main lesion plus multivessel CAD, or limited (n=453), defined as ostial/midshaft lesions or left main bifurcation lesions without an involvement of ostium of left circumflex artery, alone or plus 1-vessel disease. The databases from 4 prospective Premier of Randomized Comparison of Bypass Surgery versus Angioplasty Using Sirolimus-Eluting Stent in Patients with Left Main Coronary Artery Disease studies were pooled, and the primary outcome was a major adverse cardiac event, defined as death, myocardial infarction, or repeat revascularization. During follow-up (median 38 months; interquartile range, 36-61 months), the risk for major adverse cardiac event was significantly higher with extensive than with limited left main CAD (adjusted hazard ratio, 2.13; 95% confidence interval, 1.54-2.94; P Synergy Between Percutaneous Coronary Intervention With Taxus and Cardiac Surgery score tertiles did not effectively stratify these 2 outcome measures. Compared with Synergy Between Percutaneous Coronary Intervention With Taxus and Cardiac Surgery scores, the simpler angiographic approach provided better discrimination for future cardiovascular events in patients with left main CAD undergoing drug-eluting stent implantation. © 2018 American Heart Association, Inc.

  10. Webová aplikace v PLC PFC200

    OpenAIRE

    Michalík, David

    2017-01-01

    Tato bakalářská práce se věnuje implementaci vlastního způsobu ovládání vstupů, výstupů a paměti PLC PFC200 od firmy WAGO pomocí dynamického webového rozhraní. Součástí práce je popis PLC, způsobů jeho ovládání, rešerše volně dostupných webových serverů pro Linux a popis metod pro vytvoření real-time ovládání. Výstupem je webová aplikace běžící na webovém serveru v PLC, využívající vlastní runtime systém formou daemon programů. This bachelor’s thesis is mainly focused on implementation of ...

  11. Grammatical distinctions in the left frontal cortex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shapiro, K A; Pascual-Leone, A; Mottaghy, F M; Gangitano, M; Caramazza, A

    2001-08-15

    Selective deficits in producing verbs relative to nouns in speech are well documented in neuropsychology and have been associated with left hemisphere frontal cortical lesions resulting from stroke and other neurological disorders. The basis for these impairments is unresolved: Do they arise because of differences in the way grammatical categories of words are organized in the brain, or because of differences in the neural representation of actions and objects? We used repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) to suppress the excitability of a portion of left prefrontal cortex and to assess its role in producing nouns and verbs. In one experiment subjects generated real words; in a second, they produced pseudowords as nouns or verbs. In both experiments, response latencies increased for verbs but were unaffected for nouns following rTMS. These results demonstrate that grammatical categories have a neuroanatomical basis and that the left prefrontal cortex is selectively engaged in processing verbs as grammatical objects.

  12. When left-hemisphere reading is compromised: Comparing reading ability in participants after left cerebral hemispherectomy and participants with developmental dyslexia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Katzir, Tami; Christodoulou, Joanna A; de Bode, Stella

    2016-10-01

    We investigated reading skills in individuals who have undergone left cerebral hemispherectomy and in readers with developmental dyslexia to understand diverse characteristics contributing to reading difficulty. Although dyslexia is a developmental disorder, left hemispherectomy requires that patients (re)establish the language process needed to perform the language-based tasks in the nondominant (right) hemisphere to become readers. Participants with developmental dyslexia (DD; n = 11) and participants who had undergone left hemispherectomy (HEMI; n = 11) were matched on age and gender, and were compared on timed and untimed measures of single word and pseudo-word reading. The hemispherectomy group was subdivided into prenatal (in utero) and postnatal (>3 years) insult groups, indicating the timing of the primary lesion that ultimately required surgical intervention. On an untimed reading measure, the readers with DD were comparable to individuals who had undergone left hemispherectomy due to prenatal insult, but both scored higher than the postnatal hemispherectomy group. Timed word reading differed across groups. The hemispherectomy prenatal subgroup had low average scores on both timed and untimed tests. The group with dyslexia had average scores on untimed measures and below average scores on timed reading. The hemispherectomy postnatal group had the lowest scores among the groups by a significant margin, and the most pronounced reading difficulty. Patients with prenatal lesions leading to an isolated right hemisphere (RH) have the potential to develop reading to a degree comparable to that in persons with dyslexia for single word reading. This potential sharply diminishes in individuals who undergo hemispherectomy due to postnatal insult. The higher scores of the prenatal hemispherectomy group on timed reading suggest that under these conditions, individuals with an isolated RH can compensate to a significant degree. Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016

  13. 14 CFR 158.45 - Collection of PFC's on tickets issued in the U.S.

    Science.gov (United States)

    2010-01-01

    ... travel ticket, issuing air carriers and their agents shall collect a PFC from a passenger only for the.... (3) Issuing carriers and their agents shall collect PFCs based on the itinerary at the time of... travel on a nonrefundable or expired ticket is not a change in itinerary. If the ticket purchaser is not...

  14. [Total dream loss secondary to left temporo-occipital brain injury].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Poza, J J; Martí Massó, J F

    2006-04-01

    Recently the case of a woman who reported cessation of dreaming after a bilateral PCA stroke but without REM sleep loss has been reported, suggesting that deep bilateral occipital lobe damage including the right inferior lingual gyrus may represent the "minimal lesion extension" necessary for dream loss. We report the case of a 24-year-old man who ceased dreaming after a unilateral left temporo- occipital hematoma. The polysomnographic characteristics in rapid eyes movements (REM) sleep were otherwise normal. Our patient demonstrates that a unilateral left temporo-occipital injury could be sufficient for losing dreams.

  15. ["Habitual" left branch block alternating with 2 "disguised" bracnch block].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lévy, S; Jullien, G; Mathieu, P; Mostefa, S; Gérard, R

    1976-10-01

    Two cases of alternating left bundle branch block and "masquerading block" (with left bundle branch morphology in the stnadard leads and right bundle branch block morphology in the precordial leads) were studied by serial tracings and his bundle electrocardiography. In case 1 "the masquerading" block was associated with a first degree AV block related to a prolongation of HV interval. This case is to our knowledge the first cas of alternating bundle branch block in which his bundle activity was recorded in man. In case 2, the patient had atrial fibrilation and His bundle recordings were performed while differents degrees of left bundle branch block were present: The mechanism of the alternation and the concept of "masquerading" block are discussed. It is suggested that this type of block represents a right bundle branch block associated with severe lesions of the "left system".

  16. Differential contributions of dorsolateral and frontopolar cortices to working memory processes in the primate

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Erica A. Boschin

    2015-10-01

    Full Text Available The ability to maintain and manipulate information across temporal delays is a fundamental requirement to bridge the gap between perception and action. In the case of higher-order behavior, the maintenance of rules and strategies is particularly helpful in bridging this gap. The prefrontal cortex (PFC has long been considered critical for such processes, and research has focused on different subdivisions of PFC to gain an insight into their diverse contributions to these mechanisms. Substantial evidence indicates that dorsolateral PFC (dlPFC is an important structure for maintaining information across delays, with cells actively firing across delays and lesions to this region causing deficits in tasks involving delayed responses and maintenance of rules online. Frontopolar cortex (FP, on the other hand, appears to show the opposite pattern of results, with cells not firing across delays and lesions to this region not affecting the same rule-based, delayed response tasks that are impaired following dlPFC lesions. The body of evidence therefore suggests that dlPFC and FP’s contributions to working memory differ. In this article, we will provide a perspective on how these regions might implement distinct but complementary and interactive functions that contribute to more general temporally-extended processes and support flexible, dynamic behavior.

  17. A rare diagnosis of a focal liver lesion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alberto Del Prato

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available Splenosis can be considered as a benign condition due to the presence of heterotopic splenic tissue in abdomen, thorax and pelvis because of a massive splenic trauma or surgery. Here we report the case of a patient with an unknown hepatic mass, chronic hepatitis C, liver cirrhosis and a previous splenectomy after abdominal trauma. In our case lesion could not be clearly defined by ultrasound, computed tomography and magnetic resonance. Classical features of malignancy were not demonstrated at computed tomography, while at magnetic resonance imaging the differential diagnosis of the lesion appeared quite difficult and debate. Then an ultrasound-guided biopsy demonstrated the liver mass in left hepatic lobe consisted of splenic tissue and some millimetric accessory spleens in the left upper quadrant. So the possibility of an intra-hepatic splenosis should be taken into account in patients with an unknown liver mass and a history of previous abdominal trauma, followed by splenectomy. The conclusive diagnosis of intra-hepatic splenosis was given by ultrasound-guided biopsy.

  18. Treatment of a Periodontic-Endodontic Lesion in a Patient with Aggressive Periodontitis

    OpenAIRE

    Fahmy, Mina D.; Luepke, Paul G.; Ibrahim, Mohamed S.; Guentsch, Arndt

    2016-01-01

    Case Description. This case report describes the successful management of a left mandibular first molar with a combined periodontic-endodontic lesion in a 35-year-old Caucasian woman with aggressive periodontitis using a concerted approach including endodontic treatment, periodontal therapy, and a periodontal regenerative procedure using an enamel matrix derivate. In spite of anticipated poor prognosis, the tooth lesion healed. This case report also discusses the rationale behind different tr...

  19. Important considerations in lesion-symptom mapping: Illustrations from studies of word comprehension.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shahid, Hinna; Sebastian, Rajani; Schnur, Tatiana T; Hanayik, Taylor; Wright, Amy; Tippett, Donna C; Fridriksson, Julius; Rorden, Chris; Hillis, Argye E

    2017-06-01

    Lesion-symptom mapping is an important method of identifying networks of brain regions critical for functions. However, results might be influenced substantially by the imaging modality and timing of assessment. We tested the hypothesis that brain regions found to be associated with acute language deficits depend on (1) timing of behavioral measurement, (2) imaging sequences utilized to define the "lesion" (structural abnormality only or structural plus perfusion abnormality), and (3) power of the study. We studied 191 individuals with acute left hemisphere stroke with MRI and language testing to identify areas critical for spoken word comprehension. We use the data from this study to examine the potential impact of these three variables on lesion-symptom mapping. We found that only the combination of structural and perfusion imaging within 48 h of onset identified areas where more abnormal voxels was associated with more severe acute deficits, after controlling for lesion volume and multiple comparisons. The critical area identified with this methodology was the left posterior superior temporal gyrus, consistent with other methods that have identified an important role of this area in spoken word comprehension. Results have implications for interpretation of other lesion-symptom mapping studies, as well as for understanding areas critical for auditory word comprehension in the healthy brain. We propose that lesion-symptom mapping at the acute stage of stroke addresses a different sort of question about brain-behavior relationships than lesion-symptom mapping at the chronic stage, but that timing of behavioral measurement and imaging modalities should be considered in either case. Hum Brain Mapp 38:2990-3000, 2017. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  20. Clinical evaluation of false-positive scintigraphic lesions of the left lobe in portal hypertension. Comparison with portographic findings of the pars umbilicus of the portal vein

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Takayasu, Kenichi; Moriyama, Noriyuki; Suzuki, Masao; Yamada, Tatsuya [National Cancer Center, Tokyo (Japan). Hospital; Fukutake, Toshio

    1982-09-01

    sup(99m)Tc-phytate liver scan and percutaneous transhepatic portography (PTP) were performed in 33 patients with portal hypertension due to various hepatic diseases. A defect or space occupying lesion in the left lobe on the scan in these patients was analysed with reference to portographic changes of the pars umbilicus of the left portal vein and the following results were obtained. 1) A false-positive defect on the scintigram was found in 6 (18.2%) of 33 patients, and portal vein pressure (PVP) was above 200 mmH/sub 2/O in all 6 which constituted 21.4% of 28 with PVP above 200 mmH/sub 2/O. 2) In five out of 6 patients with false-positive scan findings, the pars umbilicus was dilated to more than 25 x 15 mm in size, and it was huge and tortuous in 3 of them. 3) The mean PVP in the group with a false-positive scan tended to be higher than that in patients with no abnormalities on the scintigram. It was concluded that in reading of liver scintigrams in patients with portal hypertension, a dilated pars umbilicus and huge para-umbilical vein should be considered.

  1. NEURAL CORRELATES FOR APATHY: FRONTAL - PREFRONTAL AND PARIETAL CORTICAL - SUBCORTICAL CIRCUITS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rita Moretti

    2016-12-01

    Full Text Available Apathy is an uncertain nosographical entity, which includes reduced motivation, abulia, decreased empathy, and lack of emotional invovlement; it is an important and heavy-burden clinical condition which strongly impacts in every day life events, affects the common daily living abilities, reduced the inner goal directed behavior, and gives the heaviest burden on caregivers. Is a quite common comorbidity of many neurological disease, However, there is no definite consensus on the role of apathy in clinical practice, no definite data on anatomical circuits involved in its development, and no definite instrument to detect it at bedside. As a general observation, the occurrence of apathy is connected to damage of prefrontal cortex (PFC and basal ganglia; emotional affective apathy may be related to the orbitomedial PFC and ventral striatum; cognitive apathy may be associated with dysfunction of lateral PFC and dorsal caudate nuclei; deficit of autoactivation may be due to bilateral lesions of the internal portion of globus pallidus, bilateral paramedian thalamic lesions, or the dorsomedial portion of PFC. On the other hand, apathy severity has been connected to neurofibrillary tangles density in the anterior cingulate gyrus and to grey matter atrophy in the anterior cingulate (ACC and in the left medial frontal cortex, confirmed by functional imaging studies. These neural networks are linked to projects, judjing and planning, execution and selection common actions, and through the basolateral amygdala and nucleus accumbens projects to the frontostriatal and to the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Therefore, an alteration of these circuitry caused a lack of insight, a reduction of decision-making strategies and a reduced speedness in action decsion, major resposnible for apathy. Emergent role concerns also the parietal cortex, with its direct action motivation control.We will discuss the importance of these circuits in different pathologies

  2. A Radial Sclerosing Lesion Mimicking Breast Cancer on Mammography in a Young Woman

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Masashi Furukawa

    2012-02-01

    Full Text Available A spiculated mass on a mammogram is highly suggestive of malignancy. We report the case of a 32-year-old woman with a radial sclerosing lesion that mimicked breast cancer on mammography. She visited her physician after palpating a lump in her left breast. Mammography showed architectural distortion in the upper inner quadrant of the left breast. Ultrasonography showed a low echoic area with an ambiguous boundary. Core needle biopsy was performed because of the suspicion of malignancy. Histological examination did not reveal any malignant cells. After 6 months, the breast lump became larger and the patient was referred to our hospital. Mammography performed in our hospital showed a spiculated mass, and therefore mammotome biopsy was performed. Histological examination revealed dense fibroelastic stroma with a wide variety of mastopathic changes, leading to a diagnosis of a radial sclerosing lesion. One year after the biopsy, the lump on her left breast had disappeared and mammography showed no spiculated mass.

  3. A case of herpes simplex encephalitis(HSE) with a thalamic lesion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fujimori, Katsuya; Koike, Ryoko; Yuasa, Tatsuhiko; Miyatake, Tadashi; Ito, Jusuke.

    1987-01-01

    A case of herpes simplex encephalitis (HSE) with thalamic involvement was reported. The patient, a 27-year-old man, was admitted because of abnormal behavior and fever. He exhibited a disturbance of consciousness, meningial signs, and hyperreflexia. A CT scan of the head revealed diffuse brain edema. Acute encephalitis, especially HSE, was suspected, and so the intravenous administration of acyclovir and steroid therapy were started. The titer of herpes simplex Type 1 virus, as measured by CF and ELISA, was found to have increased amounts of serum and cerebrospinal fluid. 5 days after the onset, his consciousness worsened. He could not tell his name and scarely opened his eyes upon pain stimulation. A CT scan at this time showed low-density lesions in the left thalamus, cingulate gyrus, and the posterior portion of the putamen. About 5 days later, his consciousness level was increased, but he was mute. This symptom was thought to be thalamic aphasia, which might be correlative with the low-density lesions shown in the left thalamus by the CT scan. About 30 days after the onset of the disease, his speech became normal, and a CT scan at 51 hospital days showed no abnormality. The etiology of low-density lesions of the left thalamus in the CT scan is speculated to be as follows: firstly, vascular damage of circulation disturbance, and secondly a special affinity of herpes simplex Type 1 virus to the thalamus. (author)

  4. Multiple myeloma presenting with a maxillary lesion as the first sign

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ramaiah, Kiran Kumar Kotagudda; Joshi, Vajendra; Thayi, Shilpa Ravishankar; Sathyanarayana, Pathalapate; Patil, Prashant [Dept. of Oral Medicine and Radiology, Navodaya Dental College and Hospital, Raichur (Korea, Republic of); Ahmed, Zaheer [Dept. of Public Health Dentistry, Navodaya Dental College and Hospital, Raichur (Korea, Republic of)

    2015-03-15

    Multiple myeloma is a clonal neoplastic proliferation of terminally differentiated B-lymphocytes involving the skeletal system in a multifocal fashion. Its oral manifestations are less common in the maxilla than in the mandible due to the lower amount of hemopoietic bone marrow in the maxilla. We report the case of a 50-year-old man who presented with a mass in the left maxillary alveolar region with tooth mobility. The mass had become enlarged after the teeth were extracted 15 days previously. Radiographs demonstrated multiple punched-out radiolucent lesions in the skull and pelvic region. Computed tomography images showed a soft tissue density mass in the left maxilla, eroding the floor and walls of the maxillary sinus. Although several analytical techniques were used to characterize the lesion, it was finally confirmed as multiple myeloma through immunohistochemistry.

  5. Effects of aging on working memory performance and prefrontal cortex activity: A time-resolved spectroscopy study

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Jie Shi; Wenjing Zhou; Tongchao Geng; Huancong Zuo; Masahiro Tanida; Kaoru Sakatani

    2016-01-01

    Objective:This study aimed to employ time‐resolved spectroscopy(TRS)to explore age‐related differences in prefrontal cortex(PFC)activity while subjects performed a working memory task.Methods:We employed TRS to measure PFC activity in ten healthy younger and ten healthy older subjects while they performed a working memory(WM)task.All subjects performed the Sternberg test(ST)in which the memory‐set size varied between one and six digits.Using TRS,we recorded changes in cerebral blood oxygenation as a measure of changes in PFC activity during the task.In order to identify left/right asymmetry of PFC activity during the working memory task,we calculated the laterality score,i.e.,Δoxy‐Hb(rightΔoxy‐Hb—leftΔoxy‐Hb);positive values indicate greater activity in the right PFC,while negative values indicate greater activity in the left PFC.Results:During the ST,statistical analyses showed no significant differences between the younger and older groups in accuracy for low memory‐load and high memory‐load.In high memory‐load tasks,however,older subjects were slower than younger subjects(P<0.05).We found that the younger group showed right lateral responses with a stronger right than left activation in the frontal pole,whereas the older group showed bilateral responses(P<0.05).Conclusions:The present results are consistent with the hemispheric asymmetry reduction in older adults(HAROLD)model;working memory tasks cause asymmetrical PFC activation in younger adults,while older adults tend to show reduced hemispheric lateralization.

  6. Intradiploic encephalocele of the left parietal bone: A case report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kim, Hyung Sock; Huh, Choon Woong; Kim, Dal Soo; Mok, Jin Ho; Kim, In Soo; Yang, Geun Seok [Myongji St. Mary' s Hospital, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2015-06-15

    Encephaloceles are generally regarded as midline abnormalities. A 50-year-old man presented with a parietal intradiploic encephalocele manifesting as intermittent headache for the past 6 months. Computed tomography (CT) showed bone destruction associated with a left parietal lesion. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) demonstrated brain herniation within the intradiploic space. Cerebral angiographic imaging showed a normal cerebral vessel pattern within the herniated brain lesion. In this case, surgical treatment may not be necessary in the absence of concurrent symptoms and neurologic deficit. We report the CT, MRI, and angiographic findings of an extremely rare case of parietal intradiploic encephalocele in adulthood.

  7. Intradiploic encephalocele of the left parietal bone: A case report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kim, Hyung Sock; Huh, Choon Woong; Kim, Dal Soo; Mok, Jin Ho; Kim, In Soo; Yang, Geun Seok

    2015-01-01

    Encephaloceles are generally regarded as midline abnormalities. A 50-year-old man presented with a parietal intradiploic encephalocele manifesting as intermittent headache for the past 6 months. Computed tomography (CT) showed bone destruction associated with a left parietal lesion. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) demonstrated brain herniation within the intradiploic space. Cerebral angiographic imaging showed a normal cerebral vessel pattern within the herniated brain lesion. In this case, surgical treatment may not be necessary in the absence of concurrent symptoms and neurologic deficit. We report the CT, MRI, and angiographic findings of an extremely rare case of parietal intradiploic encephalocele in adulthood

  8. The relationship between right-to-left shunt and brain white matter lesions in Japanese patients with migraine: a single center study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iwasaki, Akio; Suzuki, Keisuke; Takekawa, Hidehiro; Takashima, Ryotaro; Suzuki, Ayano; Suzuki, Shiho; Hirata, Koichi

    2017-12-01

    There may be a link between right-to-left shunt (RLs) and brain white matter lesions (WMLs) in patients with migraine. In this study, we assessed the relationship between WMLs and RLs in Japanese migraine patients. A total of 107 consecutive patients with migraine with (MA) and without aura (MWOA) were included in this study. Contrast transcranial Doppler ultrasound was used to detect RLs. WMLs were graded using brain magnetic resonance imaging based on well-established criteria. The prevalence of RLs was significantly increased in the WMLs positive group (n = 24) compared with the WMLs negative group (n = 83) (75.0% vs. 47.0%, p = 0.015). In prevalence of WMLs between MA and MWOA patients, there were no statistical differences (p = 0.410). Logistic regression analysis adjusted by age and disease duration of migraine identified an RLs-positive status as the sole determinant for the presence of WMLs (OR = 6.15; 95% CI 1.82-20.8; p = 0.003) CONCLUSION: Our study suggests a possible link between RLs and WMLs in Japanese patients with migraine.

  9. [The treatment of decubitus lesions].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fugazza, G; Moroni, S; Bona, F

    1995-01-01

    The authors present a plan for pharmacological treatment of pressure sores in patients affected by neurological pathologies: cerebrovascular accidents, head injuries, spinal cord injuries. This plan is easily applicable to all pressure sores included between first and third degree of the Reuler and Cooney classification. Authors identified some drugs specifically usefull in different cutaneous lesion degrees. Skin lesions and employed medicines are described as follows: Erythema: semi occlusive bandage with porous adsorbing membrane. This dressing must be left in for five days at least. Excoriation: bactericidal or bacteriostatic medicines if it's situated in a non pressed area while the same dressing utilized for erythema if it's localized in a pressed area. Pressure sores: if there is local infection cleanse the wound from bacterial defilement using topic antibiotics apply compresses with vitamin C if the cutaneous lesion is larger than deeper, Cadexomero lodico if it's deeper than larger. Fistulas: wadding with tablets of collagen. Necrobiosis: complete or partial surgical removal of eschar preceded by the use of enzymatic drugs when eschar is firmly adherent to subcutaneous tissues. The first group collects 9 patients with stroke and head injury: 8 with sacral and 1 with heel pressure sores. First degree pressure sores heal within 45 days and third degree lesions within 160 days. The second group collects 10 spinal cord injury patients mostly with complete lesion among which: 7 sacral, 1 heel, 1 ischiatic and 1 malleolar lesions. First degree pressure sores heal within 30 days, third degree pressure sores heal within 200 days. Healing time are considered acceptable. Pressure sores recovery swiftness can be related to different factors such as pressure sores sterness, neurological pathology and arising of clinical complication (hyperthermia, infections, low serum albumin values, etc).

  10. No inherent left and right side in human 'mental number line': evidence from right brain damage.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aiello, Marilena; Jacquin-Courtois, Sophie; Merola, Sheila; Ottaviani, Teresa; Tomaiuolo, Francesco; Bueti, Domenica; Rossetti, Yves; Doricchi, Fabrizio

    2012-08-01

    Spatial reasoning has a relevant role in mathematics and helps daily computational activities. It is widely assumed that in cultures with left-to-right reading, numbers are organized along the mental equivalent of a ruler, the mental number line, with small magnitudes located to the left of larger ones. Patients with right brain damage can disregard smaller numbers while mentally setting the midpoint of number intervals. This has been interpreted as a sign of spatial neglect for numbers on the left side of the mental number line and taken as a strong argument for the intrinsic left-to-right organization of the mental number line. Here, we put forward the understanding of this cognitive disability by discovering that patients with right brain damage disregard smaller numbers both when these are mapped on the left side of the mental number line and on the right side of an imagined clock face. This shows that the right hemisphere supports the representation of small numerical magnitudes independently from their mapping on the left or the right side of a spatial-mental layout. In addition, the study of the anatomical correlates through voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping and the mapping of lesion peaks on the diffusion tensor imaging-based reconstruction of white matter pathways showed that the rightward bias in the imagined clock-face was correlated with lesions of high-level middle temporal visual areas that code stimuli in object-centred spatial coordinates, i.e. stimuli that, like a clock face, have an inherent left and right side. In contrast, bias towards higher numbers on the mental number line was linked to white matter damage in the frontal component of the parietal-frontal number network. These anatomical findings show that the human brain does not represent the mental number line as an object with an inherent left and right side. We conclude that the bias towards higher numbers in the mental bisection of number intervals does not depend on left side spatial

  11. Deficit-Lesion Correlations in Syntactic Comprehension in Aphasia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caplan, David; Michaud, Jennifer; Hufford, Rebecca; Makris, Nikos

    2015-01-01

    The effects of lesions on syntactic comprehension were studied in thirty one people with aphasia (PWA). Participants were tested for the ability to parse and interpret four types of syntactic structures and elements -- passives, object extracted relative clauses, reflexives and pronouns – in three tasks – object manipulation, sentence picture matching with full sentence presentation and sentence picture matching with self-paced listening presentation. Accuracy, end-of-sentence RT and self-paced listening times for each word were measured. MR scans were obtained and analyzed for total lesion volume and for lesion size in 48 cortical areas. Lesion size in several areas of the left hemisphere was related to accuracy in particular sentence types in particular tasks and to self-paced listening times for critical words in particular sentence types. The results support a model of brain organization that includes areas that are specialized for the combination of particular syntactic and interpretive operations and the use of the meanings produced by those operations to accomplish task-related operations. PMID:26688433

  12. Deficit-lesion correlations in syntactic comprehension in aphasia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caplan, David; Michaud, Jennifer; Hufford, Rebecca; Makris, Nikos

    2016-01-01

    The effects of lesions on syntactic comprehension were studied in thirty-one people with aphasia (PWA). Participants were tested for the ability to parse and interpret four types of syntactic structures and elements - passives, object extracted relative clauses, reflexives and pronouns - in three tasks - object manipulation, sentence picture matching with full sentence presentation and sentence picture matching with self-paced listening presentation. Accuracy, end-of-sentence RT and self-paced listening times for each word were measured. MR scans were obtained and analyzed for total lesion volume and for lesion size in 48 cortical areas. Lesion size in several areas of the left hemisphere was related to accuracy in particular sentence types in particular tasks and to self-paced listening times for critical words in particular sentence types. The results support a model of brain organization that includes areas that are specialized for the combination of particular syntactic and interpretive operations and the use of the meanings produced by those operations to accomplish task-related operations. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. A case of tactile agnosia with a lesion restricted to the post-central gyrus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Estañol, Bruno; Baizabal-Carvallo, José Fidel; Sentíes-Madrid, Horacio

    2008-01-01

    Tactile agnosia has been described after lesions of the primary sensory cortex but the exact location and extension of those lesions is not clear. We report the clinical features and imaging findings in a patient with an acute ischemic stroke restricted to the primary sensory area (S1). A 73-year-old man had a sudden onset of a left alien hand, without left hemiparesis. Neurological examination showed intact primary sensory functions, but impaired recognition of shape, size (macrogeometrical) and texture (microgeometrical) of objects; damage confined to the post-central gyrus, sparing the posterior parietal cortex was demonstrated on MRI. An embolic occlusion of the anterior parietal artery was suspected as mechanism of stroke. Tactile agnosia with impaired microgeometrical and macrogeometrical features' recognition can result from a single lesion in the primary sensory cortex (S1) in the right parietal hemisphere, sparing other regions of the cerebral cortex which presumably participate in tactile object recognition.

  14. Testing the Language of German Cerebral Palsy Patients with Right Hemispheric Language Organization after Early Left Hemispheric Damage

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schwilling, Eleonore; Krageloh-Mann, Ingeborg; Konietzko, Andreas; Winkler, Susanne; Lidzba, Karen

    2012-01-01

    Language functions are generally represented in the left cerebral hemisphere. After early (prenatally acquired or perinatally acquired) left hemispheric brain damage language functions may be salvaged by reorganization into the right hemisphere. This is different from brain lesions acquired in adulthood which normally lead to aphasia. Right…

  15. Music reduces pain and increases resting state fMRI BOLD signal amplitude in the left angular gyrus in fibromyalgia patients

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Garza-Villarreal, Eduardo A; Jiang, Zhiguo; Vuust, Peter

    2015-01-01

    , correlated to the analgesia reports. The post-hoc seed-based functional connectivity analysis of the lAnG showed found higher connectivity after listening to music with right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (rdlPFC), the left caudate (lCau), and decreased connectivity with right anterior cingulate cortex (r......Music reduces pain in fibromyalgia (FM), a chronic pain disease, but the functional neural correlates of music-induced analgesia (MIA) are still largely unknown. We recruited FM patients (n = 22) who listened to their preferred relaxing music and an auditory control (pink noise) for 5 min without...... external noise from fMRI image acquisition. Resting state fMRI was then acquired before and after the music and control conditions. A significant increase in the amplitude of low frequency fluctuations of the BOLD signal was evident in the left angular gyrus (lAnG) after listening to music, which in turn...

  16. Case report 387: Gaucher disease affecting the skeleton (left femur)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tabas, J.H.; Daffner, R.H.; Hartsock, R.J.; Blakley, J.B.

    1986-01-01

    A case is described of a non-Jewish (Italian) 49-year-old man who presented to the hospital with pain in the left hip. Radionuclide studies showed decreased tracer activity with 99m Tc MDP over a lytic area in the subtrochanteric region of the left femur. Increased activity, however, was present in the right temporal bone, low anterior rib cage and right tenth posterior rib. The presence of subendosteal sclerosis with some cortical thickening adjacent to the femoral lesion, suggested the possibility of malignant neoplasm, (e.g. chondrosarcoma). Biopsy of the bone marrow showed the presence of Gaucher disease. (orig./SHA)

  17. Case report 387: Gaucher disease affecting the skeleton (left femur)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tabas, J.H.; Daffner, R.H.; Hartsock, R.J.; Blakley, J.B.

    1986-08-01

    A case is described of a non-Jewish (Italian) 49-year-old man who presented to the hospital with pain in the left hip. Radionuclide studies showed decreased tracer activity with /sup 99m/Tc MDP over a lytic area in the subtrochanteric region of the left femur. Increased activity, however, was present in the right temporal bone, low anterior rib cage and right tenth posterior rib. The presence of subendosteal sclerosis with some cortical thickening adjacent to the femoral lesion, suggested the possibility of malignant neoplasm, (e.g. chondrosarcoma). Biopsy of the bone marrow showed the presence of Gaucher disease. (orig./SHA).

  18. Effects of aging on working memory performance and prefrontal cortex activity:A time-resolved spectroscopy study

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    Jie Shi; Wenjing Zhou; Tongchao Geng; Huancong Zuo; Masahiro Tanida; Kaoru Sakatani

    2016-01-01

    Objective:This study aimed to employ time‐resolved spectroscopy (TRS) to explore age‐related differences in prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity while subjects performed a working memory task. Methods:We employed TRS to measure PFC activity in ten healthy younger and ten healthy older subjects while they performed a working memory (WM) task. All subjects performed the Sternberg test (ST) in which the memory‐set size varied between one and six digits. Using TRS, we recorded changes in cerebral blood oxygenation as a measure of changes in PFC activity during the task. In order to identify left/right asymmetry of PFC activity during the working memory task, we calculated the laterality score, i.e.,Δoxy‐Hb (rightΔoxy‐Hb—leftΔoxy‐Hb);positive values indicate greater activity in the right PFC, while negative values indicate greater activity in the left PFC. Results:During the ST, statistical analyses showed no significant differences between the younger and older groups in accuracy for low memory‐load and high memory‐load. In high memory‐load tasks, however, older subjects were slower than younger subjects (P Conclusions: The present results are consistent with the hemispheric asymmetry reduction in older adults (HAROLD) model;working memory tasks cause asymmetrical PFC activation in younger adults, while older adults tend to show reduced hemispheric lateralization.

  19. Integration of Teaching Processes and Learning Assessment in the Prefrontal Cortex during a Video Game Teaching-learning Task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takeuchi, Naoyuki; Mori, Takayuki; Suzukamo, Yoshimi; Izumi, Shin-Ichi

    2016-01-01

    Human teaching is a social interaction that supports reciprocal and dynamical feedback between the teacher and the student. The prefrontal cortex (PFC) is a region of particular interest due to its demonstrated role in social interaction. In the present study, we evaluated the PFC activity simultaneously in two individuals playing the role of a teacher and student in a video game teaching-learning task. For that, we used two wearable near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) devices in order to elucidate the neural mechanisms underlying cognitive interactions between teachers and students. Fifteen teacher-student pairs in total ( N = 30) participated in this study. Each teacher was instructed to teach the video game to their student partner, without speaking. The PFC activity was simultaneously evaluated in both participants using a wearable 16-channel NIRS system during the video game teaching-learning task. Two sessions, each including a triplet of a 30-s teaching-learning task, were performed in order to evaluate changes in PFC activity after advancement of teaching-learning state. Changes in the teachers' left PFC activity between the first and second session positively correlated with those observed in students ( r = 0.694, p = 0.004). Moreover, among teachers, multiple regression analysis revealed a correlation between the left PFC activity and the assessment gap between one's own teaching and the student's understanding ( β = 0.649, p = 0.009). Activity in the left PFC changed synchronously in both teachers and students after advancement of the teaching-learning state. The left PFC of teachers may be involved in integrating information regarding one's own teaching process and the student's learning state. The present observations indicate that simultaneous recording and analysis of brain activity data during teacher-student interactions may be useful in the field of educational neuroscience.

  20. Left-right subtraction of brain CT

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ishiguchi, Tsuneo; Sakuma, Sadayuki

    1986-01-01

    A new image-processing method to obtain a left-right subtraction image of CT was designed for the automated detection of abnormalities in brain CT. An original CT image was divided in two by a centerline. Then the right half of the image was subtracted from the left half by calculating the absorption value of the pixels on the symmetrical positions against the centerline. The mean and the standard deviation of the absorption value of the pixels in the subtraction image were used as parameters for analysis, and the detectability of abnormal CT findings was evaluated in 100 cases - 50 cases each with normal and abnormal CT. The presence of abnormalities could be diagnosed with a sensitivity of 86 %, a specificity of 90 %, and an overall accuracy of 88 % when the borderline of these parameters between normal and abnormal CT was set at the mean + 2SD in the normal group. As a further analysis, the CT image was subdivided into several areas from a functional or anatomical viewpoint, such as cerebral vascular territories, and the left-right subtraction image of each area was obtained. The possibilities of diagnosing the location of an abnormality and of detecting smaller lesions with this method were shown. Left-right subtraction was considered to be a useful method for the detection of asymmetric abnormalities in the automated diagnosis of brain CT. (author)

  1. Right ventricular function assessment in single LAD lesion patients ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    Rania Gaber

    2015-10-09

    Oct 9, 2015 ... Doppler method in patients with single LAD lesion. Methods: The patient group was ... Results: The right ventricular tissue Doppler parameters (Sm, E, A, E/A ratio, IVA, E/E00) of the patients group were significantly .... cardial interaction effect of tethered LV anterior myocardium. Mittal et al. reported that Left ...

  2. Incremental benefit of three-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography in the assessment of left main coronary artery stent protrusion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Arisha, Mohammed J; Hsiung, Ming C; Ahmad, Amier; Nanda, Navin C; Elkaryoni, Ahmed; Mohamed, Ahmed H; Yin, Wei-Hsian

    2017-06-01

    Ostial lesions represent a challenging clinical scenario and percutaneous intervention (PCI) of left main coronary artery ostial lesions has been associated with postintervention complications, including protrusion of deployed stents into a sinus of Valsalva or aortic root. We report a case of stent protrusion into the aortic root following aorto-ostial left main coronary artery PCI, in which three-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography (3DTEE) provided incremental benefit over standard two-dimensional images. Specifically, 3DTEE confirmed the presence of stent protrusion by allowing clear visualization of the stent scaffold, in addition to characterizing the relationship between the stent and surrounding structures. © 2017, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  3. Location of lesion determines motor vs. cognitive consequences in patients with cerebellar stroke

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Catherine J. Stoodley

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Cerebellar lesions can cause motor deficits and/or the cerebellar cognitive affective syndrome (CCAS; Schmahmann's syndrome. We used voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping to test the hypothesis that the cerebellar motor syndrome results from anterior lobe damage whereas lesions in the posterolateral cerebellum produce the CCAS. Eighteen patients with isolated cerebellar stroke (13 males, 5 females; 20–66 years old were evaluated using measures of ataxia and neurocognitive ability. Patients showed a wide range of motor and cognitive performance, from normal to severely impaired; individual deficits varied according to lesion location within the cerebellum. Patients with damage to cerebellar lobules III–VI had worse ataxia scores: as predicted, the cerebellar motor syndrome resulted from lesions involving the anterior cerebellum. Poorer performance on fine motor tasks was associated primarily with strokes affecting the anterior lobe extending into lobule VI, with right-handed finger tapping and peg-placement associated with damage to the right cerebellum, and left-handed finger tapping associated with left cerebellar damage. Patients with the CCAS in the absence of cerebellar motor syndrome had damage to posterior lobe regions, with lesions leading to significantly poorer scores on language (e.g. right Crus I and II extending through IX, spatial (bilateral Crus I, Crus II, and right lobule VIII, and executive function measures (lobules VII–VIII. These data reveal clinically significant functional regions underpinning movement and cognition in the cerebellum, with a broad anterior-posterior distinction. Motor and cognitive outcomes following cerebellar damage appear to reflect the disruption of different cerebro-cerebellar motor and cognitive loops.

  4. Clearly delineated lesion in a case of Wallenberg's syndrome by magnetic resonance imaging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Okumiya, Noriya; Yamaguchi, Takenori; Miyashita, Takeshi; Kozuka, Takahiro

    1985-01-01

    Diagnosis of Wallenberg's syndrome has been made by typical neurological symptoms and signs which are compatible with those of lesion in the lateral aspect of medulla oblongata. Although X-ray CT is an extraordinary useful measure for detecting lesions in the central nervous system, brainstem lesion is difficult to be evaluated by it because of varieties of artifact. A recent advance in techniques of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) made it possible to produce fairly good images of infratentorial structure without artifact. But, there are no reports on patients with Wallenberg's syndrome whose lesion was clearly delineated by MRI. A 44 year-old man with a history of hypertension was referred to our hospital because of vertigo, pain on the right side of the face, disturbance of swallowing and hiccup 22 days after onset. On admission, neurological examination revealed right Horner's sign, decreased gag reflex and cerebellar ataxia on the right side, and dissociated sensory impairment on the right side of the face and left extremities. Clinical diagnosis of Wallenberg's syndrome was made, but X-ray CT showed no definite lesion in the infratentorial structure. Cerebral angiography revealed occlusion of the right vertebral artery without reflux of contrast media from the left vertebral artery. Then, there was no visualization of the right posterior inferior cerebellar artery. MRI using Magnetom (0.35 Tesla of static magnetic field produced by superconducting magnet) clearly delineated low intensity area in the right lateral aspect of the medulla oblongata. This is the first case of Wallenberg's syndrome whose anatomical lesion was demonstrated by MRI. (author)

  5. Treatment of a Periodontic-Endodontic Lesion in a Patient with Aggressive Periodontitis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fahmy, Mina D; Luepke, Paul G; Ibrahim, Mohamed S; Guentsch, Arndt

    2016-01-01

    Case Description. This case report describes the successful management of a left mandibular first molar with a combined periodontic-endodontic lesion in a 35-year-old Caucasian woman with aggressive periodontitis using a concerted approach including endodontic treatment, periodontal therapy, and a periodontal regenerative procedure using an enamel matrix derivate. In spite of anticipated poor prognosis, the tooth lesion healed. This case report also discusses the rationale behind different treatment interventions. Practical Implication. Periodontic-endodontic lesions can be successfully treated if dental professionals follow a concerted treatment protocol that integrates endodontic and periodontic specialties. General dentists can be the gatekeepers in managing these cases.

  6. Treatment of a Periodontic-Endodontic Lesion in a Patient with Aggressive Periodontitis

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mina D. Fahmy

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Case Description. This case report describes the successful management of a left mandibular first molar with a combined periodontic-endodontic lesion in a 35-year-old Caucasian woman with aggressive periodontitis using a concerted approach including endodontic treatment, periodontal therapy, and a periodontal regenerative procedure using an enamel matrix derivate. In spite of anticipated poor prognosis, the tooth lesion healed. This case report also discusses the rationale behind different treatment interventions. Practical Implication. Periodontic-endodontic lesions can be successfully treated if dental professionals follow a concerted treatment protocol that integrates endodontic and periodontic specialties. General dentists can be the gatekeepers in managing these cases.

  7. Association between Ability Emotional Intelligence and Left Insula during Social Judgment of Facial Emotions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quarto, Tiziana; Blasi, Giuseppe; Maddalena, Chiara; Viscanti, Giovanna; Lanciano, Tiziana; Soleti, Emanuela; Mangiulli, Ivan; Taurisano, Paolo; Fazio, Leonardo; Bertolino, Alessandro; Curci, Antonietta

    2016-01-01

    The human ability of identifying, processing and regulating emotions from social stimuli is generally referred as Emotional Intelligence (EI). Within EI, Ability EI identifies a performance measure assessing individual skills at perceiving, using, understanding and managing emotions. Previous models suggest that a brain "somatic marker circuitry" (SMC) sustains emotional sub-processes included in EI. Three primary brain regions are included: the amygdala, the insula and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC). Here, our aim was to investigate the relationship between Ability EI scores and SMC activity during social judgment of emotional faces. Sixty-three healthy subjects completed a test measuring Ability EI and underwent fMRI during a social decision task (i.e. approach or avoid) about emotional faces with different facial expressions. Imaging data revealed that EI scores are associated with left insula activity during social judgment of emotional faces as a function of facial expression. Specifically, higher EI scores are associated with greater left insula activity during social judgment of fearful faces but also with lower activity of this region during social judgment of angry faces. These findings indicate that the association between Ability EI and the SMC activity during social behavior is region- and emotion-specific.

  8. Visuo-spatial construction in patients with frontal and parietal lobe lesions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Himani Kashyap

    2011-04-01

    Full Text Available Visuospatial construction, traditionally viewed as a putative parietal function, also requires sustained attention, planning, organization strategies and error correction, and hence frontal lobe mediation. The relative contributions of the frontal and parietal lobes are poorly understood. To examine the contributions of parietal, frontal lobes, as well as right and left cerebral hemispheres to visuospatial construction. The Stick Construction Test for two-dimensional construction and the Block Construction Test for three-dimensional construction were administered pre-surgically to patients with lesions in the parietal lobe (n =9 and the frontal lobe (n=11, along with normal control subjects (n =20 matched to the patients on age (+/- 3 years, gender, education (+/- 3 years and handedness. The patients were significantly slower than the controls on both two-dimensional and three-dimensional tests. Patients with parietal lesions were slower than those with frontal lesions on the test of three-dimensional construction. Within each lobe patients with right and left sided lesions did not differ significantly. It appears that tests of three-dimensional construction might be most sensitive to visuospatial construction deficits. Visuospatial construction involves the mediation of both frontal and parietal lobes. The function does not appear to be lateralized. The networks arising from the parieto-occipital areas and projecting to the frontal cortices (e.g., occipito-frontal fasciculus may be the basis of the mediation of both lobes in visuospatial construction. The present findings need replication from studies with larger sample sizes.

  9. Hypoplastic left heart syndrome

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Thiagarajan Ravi

    2007-05-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Hypoplastic left heart syndrome(HLHS refers to the abnormal development of the left-sided cardiac structures, resulting in obstruction to blood flow from the left ventricular outflow tract. In addition, the syndrome includes underdevelopment of the left ventricle, aorta, and aortic arch, as well as mitral atresia or stenosis. HLHS has been reported to occur in approximately 0.016 to 0.036% of all live births. Newborn infants with the condition generally are born at full term and initially appear healthy. As the arterial duct closes, the systemic perfusion becomes decreased, resulting in hypoxemia, acidosis, and shock. Usually, no heart murmur, or a non-specific heart murmur, may be detected. The second heart sound is loud and single because of aortic atresia. Often the liver is enlarged secondary to congestive heart failure. The embryologic cause of the disease, as in the case of most congenital cardiac defects, is not fully known. The most useful diagnostic modality is the echocardiogram. The syndrome can be diagnosed by fetal echocardiography between 18 and 22 weeks of gestation. Differential diagnosis includes other left-sided obstructive lesions where the systemic circulation is dependent on ductal flow (critical aortic stenosis, coarctation of the aorta, interrupted aortic arch. Children with the syndrome require surgery as neonates, as they have duct-dependent systemic circulation. Currently, there are two major modalities, primary cardiac transplantation or a series of staged functionally univentricular palliations. The treatment chosen is dependent on the preference of the institution, its experience, and also preference. Although survival following initial surgical intervention has improved significantly over the last 20 years, significant mortality and morbidity are present for both surgical strategies. As a result pediatric cardiologists continue to be challenged by discussions with families regarding initial decision

  10. Research on High Efficient Single-Phase Multi-Stage Interleaved Bridgeless PFC Frontend for Class-D Amplifiers

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Li, Qingnan; Thomsen, Ole Cornelius; Andersen, Michael A. E.

    2012-01-01

    In this paper, a 3.5kW single-phase high efficient interleaved Bridgeless PFC (IBPFC) is proposed for class-D amplifiers. This topology achieves a relatively higher efficiency in a wide output power range, which helps to reduce the energy consuming of the whole system. In addition, a detailed...

  11. Destructive, granulating lesion in the temporal bone after elevated plasma homocysteine

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bonding, Per; Skriver, Elisabeth; Helin, Pekka

    2004-01-01

    lesion in the left temporal bone was discovered; repeated histologic examination only showed simple granulation tissue. After 6 months, a part of the bony cochlea was extruded. With approximately 8 months' delay and after the patient had had postoperative lung embolism, plasma homocysteine was found...... to be significantly elevated, a condition known as an independent risk factor for thromboembolic lesions. In the acquired form, it is most often caused by nutritional deficiency of vitamin B cofactors. Accordingly, the patient was treated with folic acid, which rapidly normalized plasma homocysteine. Subsequently...

  12. Case of neuro-Behcet syndrome with brainstem lesions confirmed by MRI. Relationship between X-ray CT and MRI findings and neurological symptoms

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Takizawa, Shunya; Haida, Munetaka; Ohsuga, Hitoshi; Takagi, Shigeharu; Shinohara, Yukito

    1988-03-01

    A 49-year-old man presented with a 30-year history of oral and genital aphthous ulcers and joint pain. One day before his admission he developed double vision and weakness in the right extremities. Neurological examination revealed right 5th nerve palsy, left 6th to 18th nerve palsy, left Horner's sign, and motor and sensory impairment in the right upper and lower extremities. X-ray CT showed diffuse, weak, low-density areas in the brainstem. T1 weighted images showed low signals in the left side of the mid-pons, the left tegmentum and the right basis of the upper pons, and the left tegmentum of the midbrain. T2 weighted images showed high signals in the whole pons and the left side of the midbrain. MRI allowed the differentiation of reversible lesions, such as brain edema, and irreversible lesions, such as necrosis and demyelination of the tissue. (Namekawa, K.).

  13. Investigation of lithium PFC surface characteristics and low recycling at LTX/LTX-Beta

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maan, Anurag; Kaita, Robert; Elliott, Drew; Boyle, Dennis; Majeski, Richard; Donovan, David; Buzi, Luxherta; Koel, Bruce E.; Biewer, Theodore M.

    2017-10-01

    Lithium coatings on high-Z PFCs at LTX have led to improved plasma performance. The initial hypothesis was that lithium retains hydrogen by forming lithium hydride and thereby enabling low recycling in LTX. However, recent in-vacuo measurements indicate the presence of lithium oxide in deposited lithium coatings. Improved plasma performance continued to be observed in the presence of lithium oxide. These observations raise questions like what is the nature of the lithium oxide surface, whether the PFC is an amorphous mixture of lithium and lithium oxide or something more ordered like a lithium oxide layer growing on top of lithium, and whether lithium oxide is responsible for any retention of hydrogen from the plasma. To investigate the mechanism by which the LTX PFC might be responsible for low recycling, we discuss the results of deuterium retention measurements using NRA/RBS and sample characterization using high resolution XPS (HR-XPS) in bulk lithium samples. Baseline HR-XPS scans indicate the presence of Lithium Oxide on sputtered lithium samples. Status of related planned experiments at LTX- β will also be discussed. This work was supported by the US. D.O.E. contract DE-AC05-00OR22725 and DE-AC02-09CH11466. BEK acknowledges support of this work by the U.S. DOE, Office of Science/FES under Award Number DE-SC0012890.

  14. Calcification within the lesion of an old cerebral infarction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hanyu, Haruo; Hagiwara, Akiyoshi; Yamaguchi, Katsuhiko; Imamura, Toshiharu; Iwamoto, Toshihiko; Katsunuma, Hideyo

    1987-01-01

    We described a 68-year-old woman with marked calcification in the lesion of an old cerebral infarction. Calcified deposits in an old infarcted area of the left middle cerebral artery were demonstrated by CT 9 months after she had suffered a stroke, probably because of an embolism. There have been few reports of calcification associated with cerebral infarction. (author)

  15. Parietal Wall Hydatid Cyst Presenting as a Primary Lesion | Gharde ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    A 54.year.old female patient from central India, farmer by occupation, non vegetarian by diet came with chief complaints of a painless mass in the left iliac fossa, gradually increasing in size over a period of 6 months. Superficial ultrasound revealed a lesion resembling a hydatid cyst. Surgical excision was done without ...

  16. A Unique Case of Melorheostosis Presenting with Two Radiologically Distinct Lesions in the Shoulder

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ahmed A. Elsheikh

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Melorheostosis is a rare, nonhereditary, benign, mesenchymal condition of unknown aetiology affecting the bones and surrounding tissues. A male patient complaining of left shoulder pain, swelling, and mildly limited range of motion has an exclusive combination of the classic dripping wax lesion in the scapula and the myositis ossificans-like lesion in the deltoid muscle; this combination is the first to be reported in the shoulder. Both lesions showed typical findings of melorheostosis in radiographs, CT, MRI, and bone scan. This case has a stationary course over the follow-up period, and no specific treatment is needed in due course.

  17. A case of left-sided unilateral spatial neglect owing to the cerebral infarction in the distribution of the right posterior cerebral artery

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Odagaki, Yuji; Oka, Iori; Kon, Yutaka; Asano, Yutaka

    1985-01-01

    We report a case of left-sided unilateral spatial neglect (USN) induced by the cerebral infarction in the distribution of right posterior cerebral artery (PCA). A 69-year-old, right-handed man, who had had a sudden onset of left hemiparesis in August 1983, was admitted to our hospital on January 16, 1984, because of nocturnal delirium. He became alert a few days after admission, but was euphoric and sometimes irritable. Neurologic examination disclosed left homonymous hemianopsia, dysarthria, left central facial weakness, spastic left hemiparesis, hyperactive reflexes on the left with no Babinski sign, left hemisensory loss, and left thalamic pain. On neuropsychologic examination it was revealed that he had a tendency to neglect the left half of his extrapersonal space. When asked to locate cities on a blank map of Japan, he located most of them not only on the right side of the map but also incorrectly. He also had a severe acalculia. There was gradual improvement in these neuropsychologic symptoms. CT demonstrated an area of decreased density in the territory of the right PCA, posterolateral portion of the right thalamus, and the posterior limb of right internal capsule, sparing parietal and temporal lobes. Single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) using the Xenon-133 inhalation method showed, however, diminished regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in an area larger than the area of infarction demonstrated by CT, including the right parieto-temporo-occipital junctional area, which has been considerd to be responsible for left-sided USN. The authors ascribed the patient's left-sided USN to the lesion of this area that was revealed not morphologically by CT but functionally by SPECT, although the possibility that the lesions of the medial portion of the right occipital lobe and/or subcortical lesions of such areas as the thalamus and the internal capsule more or less influenced the neuropsychologic symptoms could not be excluded. (author)

  18. Differential Impairment of Noun and Verb Consequent to LH Lesions in Persian Aphasic Patients

    OpenAIRE

    Dr. Reza Nilipour; Rabeeh Ariaei; Dr. Hassan Ashayeri

    2003-01-01

    The major focus of this research is on the differential disruption of language abilities subsequent to brain damages as they relate to site and size of lesion, especially left hemisphere lesions which disrupt the production and processing of "Nouns" vs. "Verbs" as two functionally different lexical categories. Several clinical as well as experimental studies reported on different language have shown that nouns and verbs can be independently disrupted due to brain damage. A prevalent impairmen...

  19. Severity of Post-stroke Aphasia According to Aphasia Type and Lesion Location in Koreans

    OpenAIRE

    Kang, Eun Kyoung; Sohn, Hae Min; Han, Moon-Ku; Kim, Won; Han, Tai Ryoon; Paik, Nam-Jong

    2009-01-01

    To determine the relations between post-stroke aphasia severity and aphasia type and lesion location, a retrospective review was undertaken using the medical records of 97 Korean patients, treated within 90 days of onset, for aphasia caused by unilateral left hemispheric stroke. Types of aphasia were classified according to the validated Korean version of the Western Aphasia Battery (K-WAB), and severities of aphasia were quantified using WAB Aphasia Quotients (AQ). Lesion locations were clas...

  20. Perturbation of the left inferior frontal gyrus triggers adaptive plasticity in the right homologous area during speech production

    OpenAIRE

    Hartwigsen, Gesa; Saur, Dorothee; Price, Cathy J.; Ulmer, Stephan; Baumgaertner, Annette; Siebner, Hartwig R.

    2013-01-01

    The role of the right hemisphere in aphasia recovery is unclear. We demonstrate that a virtual lesion of left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) decreased activity in the targeted area and increased activity in the contralateral homologous area during pseudoword repetition. This was associated with a stronger facilitatory drive from the right IFG to the left IFG. Importantly, responses became faster with increased influence of the right IFG on the left IFG. Our results shed new light on the dynamic...

  1. Association Between Local Bipolar Voltage and Conduction Gap Along the Left Atrial Linear Ablation Lesion in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Masuda, Masaharu; Fujita, Masashi; Iida, Osamu; Okamoto, Shin; Ishihara, Takayuki; Nanto, Kiyonori; Kanda, Takashi; Sunaga, Akihiro; Tsujimura, Takuya; Matsuda, Yasuhiro; Mano, Toshiaki

    2017-08-01

    A bipolar voltage reflects a thick musculature where formation of a transmural lesion may be hard to achieve. The purpose of this study was to explore the association between local bipolar voltage and conduction gap in patients with persistent atrial fibrillation (AF) who underwent atrial roof or septal linear ablation. This prospective observational study included 42 and 36 consecutive patients with persistent AF who underwent roof or septal linear ablations, respectively. After pulmonary vein isolation, left atrial linear ablations were performed, and conduction gap sites were identified and ablated after first-touch radiofrequency application. Conduction gap(s) after the first-touch roof and septal linear ablation were observed in 13 (32%) and 19 patients (53%), respectively. Roof and septal area voltages were higher in patients with conduction gap(s) than in those without (roof, 1.23 ± 0.77 vs 0.73 ± 0.42 mV, p = 0.010; septal, 0.96 ± 0.43 vs 0.54 ± 0.18 mV, p = 0.001). Trisected regional analyses revealed that the voltage was higher at the region with a conduction gap than at the region without. Complete conduction block across the roof and septal lines was not achieved in 3 (7%) and 6 patients (17%), respectively. Patients in whom a linear conduction block could not be achieved demonstrated higher ablation area voltage than those with a successful conduction block (roof, 1.91 ± 0.74 vs 0.81 ± 0.51 mV, p = 0.001; septal, 1.15 ± 0.56 vs 0.69 ± 0.31 mV, p = 0.006). In conclusion, a high regional bipolar voltage predicts failure to achieve conduction block after left atrial roof or septal linear ablation. In addition, the conduction gap was located at the preserved voltage area. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Emergency surgery for obstructing colonic cancer: a comparison between right-sided and left-sided lesions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Faucheron, J-L; Paquette, B; Trilling, B; Heyd, B; Koch, S; Mantion, G

    2018-02-01

    Few studies compare management and outcomes of obstructive colonic cancer, depending on the tumor site. We aim to evaluate the differences in patient characteristics, tumor characteristics, and outcomes of emergency surgery for obstructive right-sided versus left-sided colonic cancers. Between 2000 and 2009, 71 consecutive patients had an emergency colectomy following strict and clear definition of obstruction in a single institution. We retrospectively analyzed pre, per, and postoperative data that were prospectively collected. There were 31 and 40 patients in the right and left group, respectively. Patients aged over 80 were more frequent in the right group (p = 0.03). At operation, ileocecal valve was less often competent in the right group (p = 0.03). The one-stage strategy was more frequent in the right group (p = 0.008). Patients in the right group had a higher rate of nodes invasion (p = 0.04). One- and two-year mortality rate in the right group had a tendency to be higher. Patients presenting with a right obstructive colonic cancer are older, have a more advanced locoregional disease, and are more often treated in a one-stage strategy than patients with a left obstructive tumor.

  3. Lesion mapping in acute stroke aphasia and its implications for recovery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Forkel, Stephanie J; Catani, Marco

    2018-03-29

    Patients with stroke lesions offer a unique window into understanding human brain function. Studying stroke lesions poses several challenges due to the complexity of the lesion anatomy and the mechanisms causing local and remote disruptions on brain networks. In this prospective longitudinal study, we compare standard and advanced approaches to white matter lesion mapping applied to acute stroke patients with aphasia. Eighteen patients with acute left hemisphere stroke were recruited and scanned within two weeks from symptom onset. Aphasia assessment was performed at baseline and six-month follow-up. Structural and diffusion MRI contrasts indicated an area of maximum overlap in the anterior external/extreme capsule with diffusion images showing a larger overlap extending into posterior perisylvian regions. Predictors of recovery included damage to ipsilesional tracts (as shown by both structural and diffusion images) and contralesional tracts (as shown by diffusion images only). These findings indicate converging results from structural and diffusion lesions mapping analysis but clear differences between the two approaches in their ability to identify predictors of recovery. Copyright © 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  4. Aggressive Ewing's sarcoma appearing as a cold lesion on bone scan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chatti, K.; Guezguez, M.; Maha Ben Fredj, M.; Sfar, R.; Essabbah, H.; Mtaoumi, M.; Chatti, K.

    2009-01-01

    Ewing's sarcoma classically presents as a hot spot on bone scan as a result of increased vascularity of the tumor and new bone formation. Purpose We report and analyze an uncommon pattern of a 'cold' lesion in Ewing's sarcoma on bone scan and its pathophysiologic significance. Case report A 15-year-old boy complaining of thigh pain. CT scan evoked Ewing's sarcoma or osteitis. MRI evoked chronic osteitis. Scintigraphy showed a fairly intense and heterogeneous uptake on the femoral lesion and no abnormal uptake elsewhere. Biopsy showed none pathologic pattern. Three months later, a second biopsy concluded to Ewing's sarcoma. Bone scan showed a larger lesion with peripheral intense uptake centered by enlarged 'cold' area in the left femoral diaphysis and no evident bone metastasis. The patient underwent chemotherapy and surgery. Three months later, bone scan showed extensive skeletal metastasis. Conclusion Ewing's sarcoma appears usually as an intense lesion on bone scan. Nevertheless, decreased radiopharmaceutical uptake or 'cold' lesion may be seen in aggressive Ewing's sarcoma with lytic tumor, growth of which is very rapid and bony reaction is minimal. (authors)

  5. Localization of lesions in aphasia, (2). Clinical-CT scan correlations

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hojo, Kei; Watanabe, Shunzo; Tasaki, Hiroichi; Sato, Tokijiro (Hirosaki Univ., Aomori (Japan). School of Medicine); Metoki, Hirofumi

    1985-01-01

    The relationship between the focus and the extent of the lesions and the various symptoms was investigated. 1. Broca aphasics: More than 80% of the group with obvious anarthric components had lesions of the third frontal gyrus involving Broca's area and the lower part of the precental gyrus as well as opercular and insular regions. The size of the lesions of this group was significantly larger than that of the group without marked anarthric components, and the latter was proved to have little localizing value. 2. Wernicke aphasics: The group with poor reading comprehension had cortical and/or subcortical lesions, involving posterior parts of both superior and middle temporal gyri as well as the supramarginal gyrus. On the other hand, lesions of the group with poor auditory comprehension were more anteriorly located and localized in the deep structures. Lesions of the group with poor Token test scores were large and scattered more anteriorly and/or posteriorly compared with those of the group with good Token test scores. 3. Amnestic aphasics: The group with poor naming scores had somewhat larger lesions than the group with good naming scores, and the lesions were scattered about the left hemisphere. The finding has proved that both groups had little localizing value. 4. Conduction aphasics: Lesions of the non-fluent type were significantly larger than those of the fluent type and distributed more anteriorly. However, highly involved lesions were located in the supramarginal gyrus and posterior parts of superior and/or middle temporal gyri. 5. Global aphasics: Lesions of the group with good articulation and prosody were observed to distribute more posteriorly in comparison with those of the other global aphasics.

  6. Exploring liquid metal plasma facing component (PFC) concepts-Liquid metal film flow behavior under fusion relevant magnetic fields

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Narula, M.; Abdou, M.A.; Ying, A.; Morley, N.B.; Ni, M.; Miraghaie, R.; Burris, J.

    2006-01-01

    The use of fast moving liquid metal streams or 'liquid walls' as a plasma contact surface is a very attractive option and has been looked upon with considerable interest over the past several years, both by the plasma physics and fusion engineering programs. Flowing liquid walls provide an ever replenishing contact surface to the plasma, leading to very effective particle pumping and surface heat flux removal. A key feasibility issue for flowing liquid metal plasma facing component (PFC) systems, pertains to their magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) behavior under the spatially varying magnetic field environment, typical of a fusion device. MHD forces hinder the development of a smooth and controllable liquid metal flow needed for PFC applications. The present study builds up on the ongoing research effort at UCLA, directed towards providing qualitative and quantitative data on liquid metal free surface flow behavior under fusion relevant magnetic fields

  7. Study on a Novel High-Efficiency Bridgeless PFC Converter

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cao Taiqiang

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available In order to implement a high-efficiency bridgeless power factor correction converter, a new topology and operation principles of continuous conduction mode (CCM and DC steady-state character of the converter are analyzed, which show that the converter not only has bipolar-gain characteristic but also has the same characteristic as the traditional Boost converter, while the voltage transfer ratio is not related with the resonant branch parameters and switching frequency. Based on the above topology, a novel bridgeless Bipolar-Gain Pseudo-Boost PFC converter is proposed. With this converter, the diode rectifier bridge of traditional AC-DC converter is eliminated, and zero-current switching of fast recovery diode is achieved. Thus, the efficiency is improved. Next, we also propose the one-cycle control policy of this converter. Finally, experiments are provided to verify the accuracy and feasibility of the proposed converter.

  8. Stereotactic biopsy of cerebellar lesions: straight versus oblique frame positioning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Quick-Weller, Johanna; Brawanski, Nina; Dinc, Nazife; Behmanesh, Bedjahn; Kammerer, Sara; Dubinski, Daniel; Seifert, Volker; Marquardt, Gerhard; Weise, Lutz

    2017-10-26

    Biospies of brain lesions with unknown entity are an everyday procedure among many neurosurgical departments. Biopsies can be performed frame-guided or frameless. However, cerebellar lesions are a special entity with a more complex approach. All biopsies in this study were performed stereotactically frame guided. Therefore, only biopsies of cerebellar lesions were included in this study. We compared whether the frame was attached straight versus oblique and we focused on diagnostic yield and complication rate. We evaluated 20 patients who underwent the procedure between 2009 and 2017. Median age was 56.5 years. 12 (60%) Patients showed a left sided lesion, 6 (30%) showed a lesion in the right cerebellum and 2 (10%) patients showed a midline lesion. The stereotactic frame was mounted oblique in 12 (60%) patients and straight in 8 (40%) patients. Postoperative CT scan showed small, clinically silent blood collection in two (10%) of the patients, one (5%) patient showed haemorrhage, which caused a hydrocephalus. He received an external ventricular drain. In both patients with small haemorrhage the frame was positioned straight, while in the patient who showed a larger haemorrhage the frame was mounted oblique. In all patients a final histopathological diagnosis was established. Cerebellar lesions of unknown entity can be accessed transcerebellar either with the stereotactic frame mounted straight or oblique. Also for cerebellar lesions the procedure shows a high diagnostic yield with a low rate of severe complications, which need further treatment.

  9. Neural correlates of self-deception and impression-management.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farrow, Tom F D; Burgess, Jenny; Wilkinson, Iain D; Hunter, Michael D

    2015-01-01

    Self-deception and impression-management comprise two types of deceptive, but generally socially acceptable behaviours, which are common in everyday life as well as being present in a number of psychiatric disorders. We sought to establish and dissociate the 'normal' brain substrates of self-deception and impression-management. Twenty healthy participants underwent fMRI scanning at 3T whilst completing the 'Balanced Inventory of Desirable Responding' test under two conditions: 'fake good', giving the most desirable impression possible and 'fake bad' giving an undesirable impression. Impression-management scores were more malleable to manipulation via 'faking' than self-deception scores. Response times to self-deception questions and 'fake bad' instructions were significantly longer than to impression-management questions and 'fake good' instructions respectively. Self-deception and impression-management manipulation and 'faking bad' were associated with activation of medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and left ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC). Impression-management manipulation was additionally associated with activation of left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and left posterior middle temporal gyrus. 'Faking bad' was additionally associated with activation of right vlPFC, left temporo-parietal junction and right cerebellum. There were no supra-threshold activations associated with 'faking good'. Our neuroimaging data suggest that manipulating self-deception and impression-management and more specifically 'faking bad' engages a common network comprising mPFC and left vlPFC. Shorter response times and lack of dissociable neural activations suggests that 'faking good', particularly when it comes to impression-management, may be our most practiced 'default' mode. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. Identification of focal adenomyosis as a uterine lesion in two dogs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stöcklin-Gautschi, N M; Guscetti, F; Reichler, I M; Geissbühler, U; Braun, S A; Arnold, S

    2001-08-01

    A focal uterine adenomyosis is described in two bitches. In both cases, the uterus showed knobbly enlargements of 4 to 8 cm in diameter, which resulted in distinct clinical symptoms. Other pathological changes of the uterus were not present. One bitch was presented because of a history of vaginal discharge of several months' duration. Radiographs, as well as ultrasonography, revealed a soft tissue lesion at the cervix. The other bitch showed a marked reduction in its general condition and a sudden onset of a tense abdomen. Radiologically, a lesion of soft tissue opacity was observed in the mid-abdomen and was seen to originate from the left uterine horn during exploratory laparotomy. A torsion of the lesion was present, which explained the clinical signs in this second case.

  11. Magnetic resonance imaging and angiography of the brain in embolic left atrial myxoma

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Marazuela, M.; Yebra, M.; Diego, J.; Durantez, A.; Garcia-Merino, A.; Brasa, J.M.

    1989-01-01

    A case of left atrial myxoma presenting exclusively with neurological symptoms, studies with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) combined with cerebral angiography and computed tomography (CT) is reported. Typical angiographic findings suggested the diagnosis of myxoma. MRI showed multiple ischemic lesions disseminated throughout the entire brain, some of which had been clinically asymptomatic. Because of its sensitivity in identifying small cerebral infarcts, MRI should prove in the future to be a first-choice technique in the evaluation of the presence of an extent of cerebral involvement in embolic left atrial myxoma. (orig.)

  12. Dilatation of the intrahepatic bile ducts associated with benign liver lesions: an unusual finding

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Lapeyre, Matthieu; Mathieu, Didier; Rahmouni, Alain; Kobeiter, Hicham; Tailboux, Laurent

    2002-01-01

    In three patients presenting different types of liver lesions, including isolated cyst, focal nodular hyperplasia (FNH), and hemangioma, intrahepatic bile duct dilatation was observed on US and CT. Final diagnosis was obtained by surgery in two cases (cyst and FNH) and by 1-year follow-up in one patient presenting an isolated hemangioma. The only common characteristic in our three cases was that lesions were present in segment four according to Couinaud's classification, at the level of the transverse fissure, suggesting that a space-occupying lesion at this site may cause compression of the common hepatic duct and right or left intrahepatic bile ducts. Our report indicates that compression may occur even with lesion of moderate size (35-40 mm in diameter). A benign liver lesion may cause a bile duct dilatation, particularly if located in segment 4, close to the hilum. Awareness of this possibility is important to avoid unnecessary invasive diagnostic procedures, particularly when all imaging criteria are consistent with a benign lesion. (orig.)

  13. Report on achievement in the preceding research related to global industry technologies for the global industry technology research and development project. Research on gas systems substituting global warming gases such as PFC used in manufacturing semiconductors; 1998 nendo chikyu kankyo sangyo gijutsu ni kakawaru sendo kenkyu. Handotai seizo nado ni shiyosuru PFC nado no chikyu ondanka gas no daitai gas system no kenkyu

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    NONE

    1999-03-01

    The present semiconductor manufacturing process uses a great amount of PFC having large global warming coefficients and extremely long atmospheric life. A research was made particularly on reduction of its emission from etching processes. After introducing how the semiconductor industry has been working conventionally on protection of the global environment, this paper makes clear the purpose and positioning of this preceding research, as well as how it is moved forward. The paper also reports the results of analyzing and discussing the exhaust gases from etching devices using several kinds of substitute PFC gases. Survey results are reported on the possibilities of new substitute gases, plasma decomposition and treatment of exhaust gases, reaction process simulation, and in-situ analyzing and evaluating technologies. Investigations were made on the possibility of using no PFC in wiring processes which consume greater amount of PFC, as well as on wiring techniques using inter-layer insulation film with low dielectric rate, a new wiring structure forming technology, new functional elements, circuits and systems in a wide range. Proposals were given on specific research and development themes and plans that begin in fiscal 1999. (NEDO)

  14. The Role of Left Hemispheric Structures for Emotional Processing as a Monitor of Bodily Reaction and Felt Chill - a Case-Control Functional Imaging Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Grunkina, Viktoria; Holtz, Katharina; Klepzig, Kai; Neubert, Jörg; Horn, Ulrike; Domin, Martin; Hamm, Alfons O; Lotze, Martin

    2016-01-01

    Background: The particular function of the left anterior human insula on emotional arousal has been illustrated with several case studies. Only after left hemispheric insula lesions, patients lose their pleasure in habits such as listening to joyful music. In functional magnetic resonance imaging studies (fMRI) activation in the left anterior insula has been associated with both processing of emotional valence and arousal. Tight interactions with different areas of the prefrontal cortex are involved in bodily response monitoring and cognitive appraisal of a given stimulus. Therefore, a large left hemispheric lesion including the left insula should impair the bodily response of chill experience (objective chill response) but leave the cognitive aspects of chill processing (subjective chill response) unaffected. Methods: We investigated a patient (MC) with a complete left hemispheric media cerebral artery stroke, testing fMRI representation of pleasant (music) and unpleasant (harsh sounds) chill response. Results: Although chill response to both pleasant and unpleasant rated sounds was confirmed verbally at passages also rated as chilling by healthy participants, skin conductance response was almost absent in MC. For a healthy control (HC) objective and subjective chill response was positively associated. Bilateral prefrontal fMRI-response to chill stimuli was sustained in MC whereas insula activation restricted to the right hemisphere. Diffusion imaging together with lesion maps revealed that left lateral tracts were completely damaged but medial prefrontal structures were intact. Conclusion: With this case study we demonstrate how bodily response and cognitive appraisal are differentially participating in the internal monitor of chill response.

  15. Lesions in mink (Mustela vison) infected with giant kidney worm (Dioctophyma renale).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mace, T F

    1976-01-01

    Adult Dioctophyma renale occupied the enlarged renal pelvis of the right kidney of naturally infected mink. Lesions in the kidney parenchyma consisted of connective tissue proliferation in the interstitial tissue, tubular atrophy and fibrosis, and periglomerular fibrosis. The luminal surface of the renal pelvis wall was formed of numerous papillae covered with transitional epithelium. The nematodes in the lumen were bathed in an albuminous fluid containing red blood cells, epithelial cells and D. renale eggs. The left (uninfected) kidney was 60% larger than the left kidney of normal mink.

  16. The common traits of the ACC and PFC in anxiety disorders in the DSM-5: meta-analysis of voxel-based morphometry studies.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jing Shang

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: The core domains of social anxiety disorder (SAD, generalized anxiety disorder (GAD, panic disorder (PD with and without agoraphobia (GA, and specific phobia (SP are cognitive and physical symptoms that are related to the experience of fear and anxiety. It remains unclear whether these highly comorbid conditions that constitute the anxiety disorder subgroups of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders--Fifth Edition (DSM-5 represent distinct disorders or alternative presentations of a single underlying pathology. METHODS: A systematic search of voxel-based morphometry (VBM studies of SAD, GAD, PD, GA, and SP was performed with an effect-size signed differential mapping (ES-SDM meta-analysis to estimate the clusters of significant gray matter differences between patients and controls. RESULTS: Twenty-four studies were eligible for inclusion in the meta-analysis. Reductions in the right anterior cingulate gyrus and the left inferior frontal gyrus gray matter volumes (GMVs were noted in patients with anxiety disorders when potential confounders, such as comorbid major depressive disorder (MDD, age, and antidepressant use were controlled for. We also demonstrated increased GMVs in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC in comorbid depression-anxiety (CDA, drug-naïve and adult patients. Furthermore, we identified a reduced left middle temporal gyrus and right precentral gyrus in anxiety patients without comorbid MDD. CONCLUSION: Our findings indicate that a reduced volume of the right ventral anterior cingulate gyrus and left inferior frontal gyrus is common in anxiety disorders and is independent of comorbid depression, medication use, and age. This generic effect supports the notion that the four types of anxiety disorders have a clear degree of overlap that may reflect shared etiological mechanisms. The results are consistent with neuroanatomical DLPFC models of physiological responses, such as worry and

  17. Modified jailed balloon technique for bifurcation lesions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Saito, Shigeru; Shishido, Koki; Moriyama, Noriaki; Ochiai, Tomoki; Mizuno, Shingo; Yamanaka, Futoshi; Sugitatsu, Kazuya; Tobita, Kazuki; Matsumi, Junya; Tanaka, Yutaka; Murakami, Masato

    2017-12-04

    We propose a new systematic approach in bifurcation lesions, modified jailed balloon technique (M-JBT), and report the first clinical experience. Side branch occlusion brings with a serious complication and occurs in more than 7.0% of cases during bifurcation stenting. A jailed balloon (JB) is introduced into the side branch (SB), while a stent is placed in the main branch (MB) as crossing SB. The size of the JB is half of the MB stent size. While the proximal end of JB attaching to MB stent, both stent and JB are simultaneously inflated with same pressure. JB is removed and then guidewires are recrossed. Kissing balloon dilatation (KBD) and/or T and protrusion (TAP) stenting are applied as needed. Between February 2015 and February 2016, 233 patients (254 bifurcation lesions including 54 left main trunk disease) underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) using this technique. Procedure success was achieved in all cases. KBD was performed for 183 lesions and TAP stenting was employed for 31 lesions. Occlusion of SV was not observed in any of the patients. Bench test confirmed less deformity of MB stent in M-JBT compared with conventional-JBT. This is the first report for clinical experiences by using modified jailed balloon technique. This novel M-JBT is safe and effective in the preservation of SB patency during bifurcation stenting. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  18. The nature of hemispheric specialization for linguistic and emotional prosodic perception: a meta-analysis of the lesion literature.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Witteman, Jurriaan; van Ijzendoorn, Marinus H; van de Velde, Daan; van Heuven, Vincent J J P; Schiller, Niels O

    2011-11-01

    It is unclear whether there is hemispheric specialization for prosodic perception and, if so, what the nature of this hemispheric asymmetry is. Using the lesion-approach, many studies have attempted to test whether there is hemispheric specialization for emotional and linguistic prosodic perception by examining the impact of left vs. right hemispheric damage on prosodic perception task performance. However, so far no consensus has been reached. In an attempt to find a consistent pattern of lateralization for prosodic perception, a meta-analysis was performed on 38 lesion studies (including 450 left hemisphere damaged patients, 534 right hemisphere damaged patients and 491 controls) of prosodic perception. It was found that both left and right hemispheric damage compromise emotional and linguistic prosodic perception task performance. Furthermore, right hemispheric damage degraded emotional prosodic perception more than left hemispheric damage (trimmed g=-0.37, 95% CI [-0.66; -0.09], N=620 patients). It is concluded that prosodic perception is under bihemispheric control with relative specialization of the right hemisphere for emotional prosodic perception. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Association between Ability Emotional Intelligence and Left Insula during Social Judgment of Facial Emotions.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tiziana Quarto

    Full Text Available The human ability of identifying, processing and regulating emotions from social stimuli is generally referred as Emotional Intelligence (EI. Within EI, Ability EI identifies a performance measure assessing individual skills at perceiving, using, understanding and managing emotions. Previous models suggest that a brain "somatic marker circuitry" (SMC sustains emotional sub-processes included in EI. Three primary brain regions are included: the amygdala, the insula and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC. Here, our aim was to investigate the relationship between Ability EI scores and SMC activity during social judgment of emotional faces. Sixty-three healthy subjects completed a test measuring Ability EI and underwent fMRI during a social decision task (i.e. approach or avoid about emotional faces with different facial expressions. Imaging data revealed that EI scores are associated with left insula activity during social judgment of emotional faces as a function of facial expression. Specifically, higher EI scores are associated with greater left insula activity during social judgment of fearful faces but also with lower activity of this region during social judgment of angry faces. These findings indicate that the association between Ability EI and the SMC activity during social behavior is region- and emotion-specific.

  20. Fabrication and characterization of tungsten and graphite based PFC for divertor target elements of ITER like tokamak application

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Khirwadkar, S.S., E-mail: sameer@ipr.res.in [Institute For Plasma Research, Bhat, Gandhinagar, Gujarat (India); Singh, K.P.; Patil, Y.; Khan, M.S.; Buch, J.J.U.; Patel, Alpesh; Tripathi, Sudhir [Institute For Plasma Research, Bhat, Gandhinagar, Gujarat (India); Jaman, P.M.; Rangaraj, L.; Divakar, C. [Materials Science Division, National Aerospace Laboratories, CSIR, Bangalore, Karnataka (India)

    2011-10-15

    The development of the fabrication technology of macro-brush configuration of tungsten (W) and carbon (graphite and CFC) plasma facing components (PFCs) for ITER like tokamak application is presented. The fabrication of qualified joint of PFC is a requirement for fusion tokamak. Vacuum brazing method has been employed for joining of W/CuCrZr and C/CuCrZr. Oxygen free high conductivity (OFHC) copper casting on W tiles was performed followed by machining, polishing and ultrasonic cleaning of the samples prior to vacuum brazing. The W/CuCrZr and graphite/CuCrZr based test mockups were vacuum brazed using silver free alloys. The mechanical shear and tensile strengths were evaluated for the W/CuCrZr and graphite/CuCrZr brazed joint samples. The micro-structural examination of the joints showed smooth interface. The details of fabrication and characterization procedure for macro-brush tungsten and carbon based PFC test mockups are presented.

  1. Neglecting the Left Side of a City Square but Not the Left Side of Its Clock: Prevalence and Characteristics of Representational Neglect

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guariglia, Cecilia; Palermo, Liana; Piccardi, Laura; Iaria, Giuseppe; Incoccia, Chiara

    2013-01-01

    Representational neglect, which is characterized by the failure to report left-sided details of a mental image from memory, can occur after a right hemisphere lesion. In this study, we set out to verify the hypothesis that two distinct forms of representational neglect exist, one involving object representation and the other environmental representation. As representational neglect is considered rare, we also evaluated the prevalence and frequency of its association with perceptual neglect. We submitted a group of 96 unselected, consecutive, chronic, right brain-damaged patients to an extensive neuropsychological evaluation that included two representational neglect tests: the Familiar Square Description Test and the O'Clock Test. Representational neglect, as well as perceptual neglect, was present in about one-third of the sample. Most patients neglected the left side of imagined familiar squares but not the left side of imagined clocks. The present data show that representational neglect is not a rare disorder and also support the hypothesis that two different types of mental representations (i.e. topological and non-topological images) may be selectively damaged in representational neglect. PMID:23874416

  2. Lesion localization of speech comprehension deficits in chronic aphasia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pillay, Sara B; Binder, Jeffrey R; Humphries, Colin; Gross, William L; Book, Diane S

    2017-03-07

    Voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping (VLSM) was used to localize impairments specific to multiword (phrase and sentence) spoken language comprehension. Participants were 51 right-handed patients with chronic left hemisphere stroke. They performed an auditory description naming (ADN) task requiring comprehension of a verbal description, an auditory sentence comprehension (ASC) task, and a picture naming (PN) task. Lesions were mapped using high-resolution MRI. VLSM analyses identified the lesion correlates of ADN and ASC impairment, first with no control measures, then adding PN impairment as a covariate to control for cognitive and language processes not specific to spoken language. ADN and ASC deficits were associated with lesions in a distributed frontal-temporal parietal language network. When PN impairment was included as a covariate, both ADN and ASC deficits were specifically correlated with damage localized to the mid-to-posterior portion of the middle temporal gyrus (MTG). Damage to the mid-to-posterior MTG is associated with an inability to integrate multiword utterances during comprehension of spoken language. Impairment of this integration process likely underlies the speech comprehension deficits characteristic of Wernicke aphasia. © 2017 American Academy of Neurology.

  3. An fMRI investigation of cognitive stages in reasoning by analogy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krawczyk, Daniel C; McClelland, M Michelle; Donovan, Colin M; Tillman, Gail D; Maguire, Mandy J

    2010-06-25

    We compared reasoning about four-term analogy problems in the format (A:B::C: D) to semantic and perceptual control conditions that required matching without analogical mapping. We investigated distinct phases of the problem solving process divided into encoding, mapping/inference, and response. Using fMRI, we assessed the brain activation relevant to each of these phases with an emphasis on achieving a better understanding of analogical reasoning relative to these other matching conditions. We predicted that the analogical condition would involve the most cognitive effort in the encoding and mapping/inference phases, while the control conditions were expected to engage greater prefrontal cortex (PFC) activation at the response period. Results showed greater activation for the analogical condition relative to the control conditions at the encoding phase in several predominantly left lateralized and medial areas of the PFC. Similar results were observed for the mapping/inference phase, though this difference was limited to the left PFC and rostral PFC. The response phase resulted in the fastest and most accurate responses in the analogy condition relative to the control conditions. This was accompanied by greater processing within the left lateral and the medial PFC for the control conditions relative to the analogy condition, consistent with most of the cognitive processing of the analogy condition having occurred in the prior task phases. Overall we demonstrate that the left ventral and dorsal lateral, medial, and rostral PFC are important in both the encoding of relational information, mapping and inference processes, and verification of semantic and perceptual responses in four term analogical reasoning. Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  4. Estimation of reliability of a interleaving PFC boost converter

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gulam Amer Sandepudi

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Reliability plays an important role in power supplies. For other electronic equipment, a certain failure mode, at least for a part of the total system, can often be employed without serious (critical effects. However, for power supply no such condition can be accepted, since very high demands on its reliability must be achieved. At higher power levels, the continuous conduction mode (CCM boost converter is preferred topology for implementation a front end with PFC. As a result, significant efforts have been made to improve the performance of high boost converter. This paper is one of the efforts for improving the performance of the converter from the reliability point of view. In this paper, interleaving boost power factor correction converter is simulated with single switch in continuous conduction mode (CCM, discontinuous conduction mode (DCM and critical conduction mode (CRM under different output power ratings. Results of the converter are explored from reliability point of view.

  5. HIDRA: A new device for PFC and PMI development

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andruczyk, Daniel; Ruzic, David N.; Allain, Jean Paul; Curreli, Davide; HIDRA Team

    2014-10-01

    A toroidal plasma device is being constructed at the University of Illinois dedicated in part as a toroidal liquid-metal PFC technology test bench. The Hybrid Illinois stellarator/tokamak Device for Research and Applications (HIDRA) is a medium sized classical stellarator (previously WEGA, IPP Greifswald) with, R = 0.72 m, a = 0.19 m, B < 0.5 T and will be able to reach Te = 10-50 eV, ne = 1017--1018 m-3 with plasmas running up to several minutes. A critical knowledge gap for liquid-metal PFCs is their integration and performance in asymmetric confinement fusion environments. HIDRA will be used to evaluate technologies such as TEMHD driven flows for the first wall, help address key questions including whether a full toroidal liquid-metal loop can operate in a toroidal machine, test low recycling regimes and whether D can be removed and recycled easily. Also, UIUC's experience with in-situ diagnostics will open up new opportunities for innovative Material Application Testing (HIDRA-MAT).

  6. Phonotactic awareness deficit following left-hemisphere stroke

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maryam Ghaleh

    2015-04-01

    Likert-type scale responses were z-transformed and coded accurate for positive z-values in condition 3 and negative z-values in condition 1 trials. Accuracy was analyzed using binomial mixed effects models and z-transformed scale responses were analyzed using linear mixed effects models. For both analyses, the fixed effects of stimulus, trial number, group (patient/control, education, age, response time, phonotactic regularity (1/3, and gender were examined along with all relevant interactions. Random effects for participant and stimuli as well as random slopes were also included. Model fitting was performed in a backward-stepwise iterative fashion, followed by forward fitting of maximal random effects structure. Models were evaluated by model fitness comparisons using Akaike Information Criterion and Bayesian Information Criterion. Accuracy analysis revealed that healthy participants were significantly more accurate than patients [β = 0.47, p<0.001] in Englishness rating. Scale response analysis revealed a significant effect of phonotactic regularity [β = 1.65, p<0.0001] indicating that participants were sensitive to phonotactic regularity differences among non-words. However, the significant interaction of group and phonotactic regularity [β = -0.5, p= 0.02] further demonstrated that, compared to healthy adults, patients were less able to recognize the phonotactic regularity differences between non-words. Results suggest that left-hemisphere lesions cause impaired phonotactic processing and that the left hemisphere might be necessary for phonotactic awareness. These preliminary findings will be followed up by further analyses investigating the interactions between phonotactic processing and participants’ scores on other linguistic/cognitive tasks as well as lesion-symptom mapping.

  7. Bisphosphonate-Induced Osteonecrosis of the Maxilla Resembling a Persistent Endodontic Lesion.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mosaferi, Hossein; Fazlyab, Mahta; Sharifi, Sanaz; Rahimian, Sepideh

    2016-01-01

    A 52-year-old Caucasian woman suffering from pain in the anterior maxillary region, presented to the clinic. Examination revealed a draining sinus tract in the buccal vestibule of the maxilla in the left anterior segment and expansion in the middle of palate. On conventional radiographic examination the lesion was initially assumed to be a periapical problem related to the incisors but subsequently it was diagnosed to be a bisphosphonate osteonecrosis. Acquiring a comprehensive medical history from the patients, conducting the clinical vitality tests and most importantly being familiar with the non-odontogenic lesions that can be side effects of specific medications are important requirements for reaching a correct diagnosis.

  8. Chronic LSD alters gene expression profiles in the mPFC relevant to schizophrenia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin, David A; Marona-Lewicka, Danuta; Nichols, David E; Nichols, Charles D

    2014-08-01

    Chronic administration of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD) every other day to rats results in a variety of abnormal behaviors. These build over the 90 day course of treatment and can persist at full strength for at least several months after cessation of treatment. The behaviors are consistent with those observed in animal models of schizophrenia and include hyperactivity, reduced sucrose-preference, and decreased social interaction. In order to elucidate molecular changes that underlie these aberrant behaviors, we chronically treated rats with LSD and performed RNA-sequencing on the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC), an area highly associated with both the actions of LSD and the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and other psychiatric illnesses. We observed widespread changes in the neurogenetic state of treated animals four weeks after cessation of LSD treatment. QPCR was used to validate a subset of gene expression changes observed with RNA-Seq, and confirmed a significant correlation between the two methods. Functional clustering analysis indicates differentially expressed genes are enriched in pathways involving neurotransmission (Drd2, Gabrb1), synaptic plasticity (Nr2a, Krox20), energy metabolism (Atp5d, Ndufa1) and neuropeptide signaling (Npy, Bdnf), among others. Many processes identified as altered by chronic LSD are also implicated in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia, and genes affected by LSD are enriched with putative schizophrenia genes. Our results provide a relatively comprehensive analysis of mPFC transcriptional regulation in response to chronic LSD, and indicate that the long-term effects of LSD may bear relevance to psychiatric illnesses, including schizophrenia. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Association of A Dilated Coronary Sinus in the Fetus with Actual and Apparent Coarctation of the Aorta and Diminutive Left Heart Structures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ramaswamy, Prema; Rafii, Daniela; Osmolovsky, Marina; Agarwal, Arpit; Amirtharaj, Cynthia

    2016-12-01

    Evidence suggests an association between left heart obstructive lesions and dilated coronary sinus (DCS), but this has not been studied in fetuses. A retrospective review of fetal echocardiograms (FE) over an 8-year period was conducted, and patients with DCS were identified and confirmed postnatally. There were 5840 FE performed on 4920 women during this period. Of 49 patients with DCS, 22 had normal intracardiac anatomy and 27 patients had congenital heart disease (CHD) yielding an incidence of 4.6 % in the presence of CHD (27/584). Of 27 patients with DCS and CHD, approximately a third had either hypoplastic left ventricles and/or coarctations (10/27, 37 %). The incidence of left heart obstructive lesions was much higher in the presence of a DCS (37 % vs 45/557, 8 %, p < 0.0001). The odds ratio of left heart hypoplasia in fetuses with CHD and a DCS was 6.6 (95 % CI 2.8-15.3). Comparison of patients with postnatally confirmed coarctation with those with normal intracardiac anatomy with DCS, revealed that in the former, the right ventricle (p = 0.005), pulmonic valve annulus (p = 0.0001) and the tricuspid inflow were larger (p = 0.001) compared to corresponding left-sided structures. The size of the DCS was not significantly different between the two groups, but in the former, the DCS was more closely related to the posterior leaflet of the mitral valve and caused a significant diminution of the mitral inflow. Our study suggests a strong association, possibly causal, between left heart obstructive lesions and DCS in utero.

  10. Utility of lead aVR for identifying the culprit lesion in acute myocardial infarction

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kühl, Jørgen Tobias; Berg, Ronan M G

    2009-01-01

    BACKGROUND: Lead aVR is a neglected, however, potentially useful tool in electrocardiography. Our aim was to evaluate its value in clinical practice, by reviewing existing literature regarding its utility for identifying the culprit lesion in acute myocardial infarction (AMI). METHODS: Based...... on a systematic search strategy, 16 studies were assessed with the intent to pool data; diagnostic test rates were calculated as key results. RESULTS: Five studies investigated if ST-segment elevation (STE) in aVR is valuable for the diagnosis of left main stem stenosis (LMS) in non-ST-segment AMI (NSTEMI......). The studies were too heterogeneous to pool, but the individual studies all showed that STE in aVR has a high negative predictive value (NPV) for LMS. Six studies evaluated if STE in aVR is valuable for distinguishing proximal from distal lesions in the left anterior descending artery (LAD) in anterior ST...

  11. Scuba diving, acute left anterior descending artery occlusion and normal ECG

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doll, Sébastien Xavier; Rigamonti, Fabio; Roffi, Marco; Noble, Stéphane

    2013-01-01

    We report the case of an acute proximal occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary (LAD) artery following a scuba diving decompression accident and associated with normal ECG. Following uneventful thromboaspiration and coronary stenting, the patient was discharged on day  4 with secondary preventative therapies. A transthoracic echocardiography performed at this point showed a complete recovery compared with an initial localised akinesia involving the anterior and apical portion of the left ventricle upon admission. This case highlights that significant acute coronary lesions involving the LAD can occur without any ECG anomaly. The presence of acute and persistent angina associated with troponin elevation should prompt physicians to consider coronary angiography without delay, independently of the ECG results. PMID:23376677

  12. Giant cell lesion of the jaw as a presenting feature of Noonan syndrome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sinnott, Bridget P; Patel, Maya

    2018-05-30

    This is a case of a 20-year-old woman who presented with a left jaw mass which was resected and found to be a giant cell granuloma of the mandible. Her history and physical examination were suggestive for Noonan syndrome which was confirmed with genetic testing and the finding of a PTPN11 gene mutation which has rarely been associated with giant cell lesions of the jaw. Given her particular genetic mutation and the presence of a giant cell lesion, we present a case of Noonan-like/multiple giant cell lesion syndrome. © BMJ Publishing Group Ltd (unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.

  13. Functional Topography of Early Periventricular Brain Lesions in Relation to Cytoarchitectonic Probabilistic Maps

    Science.gov (United States)

    Staudt, Martin; Ticini, Luca F.; Grodd, Wolfgang; Krageloh-Mann, Ingeborg; Karnath, Hans-Otto

    2008-01-01

    Early periventricular brain lesions can not only cause cerebral palsy, but can also induce a reorganization of language. Here, we asked whether these different functional consequences can be attributed to topographically distinct portions of the periventricular white matter damage. Eight patients with pre- and perinatally acquired left-sided…

  14. Isolated left-sided pulmonary artery agenesis with left lung hypoplasia: A report of two cases

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    V Govindaraj

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Unilateral absence of pulmonary artery or pulmonary artery agenesis (UAPA is a rare congenital malformation that can present as an isolated lesion or in association with other cardiac anomalies. Though congenital, presentation in adults are also reported. Most common presentation in adults is of exercise intolerance. The developing lung on the affected side is hypoplastic. Diagnosis of UAPA is established by imaging methods like CT and MRI . There is no specific treatment for this condition. Treatment depends on patients symptomatology, presence of pulmonary hypertension and collateral circulation. Presence of pulmonary hypertension carries a bad prognosis. We present two adult patients with isolated left sided unilateral pulmonary artery agenesis with ipsilateral lung hypoplasia. The diagnosis was confirmed by CT chest and perfusion scan.

  15. Involvement of serotonin 2A receptor activation in modulating medial prefrontal cortex and amygdala neuronal activation during novelty-exposure

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hervig, Mona El-Sayed; Jensen, Nadja Cecilie Hvid; Rasmussen, Nadja Bredo

    2017-01-01

    The medial prefrontal cortex (PFC) plays a major role in executive function by exerting a top-down control onto subcortical areas. Novelty-induced frontal cortex activation is 5-HT2A receptor (5-HT2AR) dependent. Here, we further investigated how blockade of 5-HT2ARs in mice exposed to a novel open-field...... of 5-HT2AR blockade on the striatal-projecting BLA neurons. Systemic administration of ketanserin (0.5 mg/kg) prior to novel open-field exposure resulted in reduced total numbers of c-Fos-IR cells in dorsomedial PFC areas and the BLA. Moreover, there was a positive correlation between the relative time...... spent in the centre of the open-field and BLA c-Fos-IR in the ketanserin-treated animals. Unilateral medial PFC lesions blocked this effect, ascertaining an involvement of this frontal cortex area. On the other hand, medial PFC lesioning exacerbated the more anxiogenic-like behaviour of the ketanserin...

  16. Phonological decisions require both the left and right supramarginal gyri.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hartwigsen, Gesa; Baumgaertner, Annette; Price, Cathy J; Koehnke, Maria; Ulmer, Stephan; Siebner, Hartwig R

    2010-09-21

    Recent functional imaging studies demonstrated that both the left and right supramarginal gyri (SMG) are activated when healthy right-handed subjects make phonological word decisions. However, lesion studies typically report difficulties with phonological processing after left rather than right hemisphere damage. Here, we used a unique dual-site transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) approach to test whether the SMG in the right hemisphere contributes to modality-independent (i.e., auditory and visual) phonological decisions. To test task-specificity, we compared the effect of real or sham TMS during phonological, semantic, and perceptual decisions. To test laterality and anatomical specificity, we compared the effect of TMS over the left, right, or bilateral SMG and angular gyri. The accuracy and reaction times of phonological decisions were selectively disrupted relative to semantic and perceptual decisions when real TMS was applied over the left, right, or bilateral SMG. These effects were not observed for TMS over the angular gyri. A follow-up experiment indicated that the threshold-intensity for inducing a disruptive effect on phonological decisions was identical for unilateral TMS over the right or left SMG. Taken together, these findings provide converging evidence that the right SMG contributes to accurate and efficient phonological decisions in the healthy brain, with no evidence that the left and right SMG can compensate for one another during TMS. Our findings motivate detailed studies of phonological processing in patients with acute or long-term damage of the right SMG.

  17. Dynamically Allocated Hub in Task-Evoked Network Predicts the Vulnerable Prefrontal Locus for Contextual Memory Retrieval in Macaques.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Takahiro Osada

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available Neuroimaging and neurophysiology have revealed that multiple areas in the prefrontal cortex (PFC are activated in a specific memory task, but severity of impairment after PFC lesions is largely different depending on which activated area is damaged. The critical relationship between lesion sites and impairments has not yet been given a clear mechanistic explanation. Although recent works proposed that a whole-brain network contains hubs that play integrative roles in cortical information processing, this framework relying on an anatomy-based structural network cannot account for the vulnerable locus for a specific task, lesioning of which would bring impairment. Here, we hypothesized that (i activated PFC areas dynamically form an ordered network centered at a task-specific "functional hub" and (ii the lesion-effective site corresponds to the "functional hub," but not to a task-invariant "structural hub." To test these hypotheses, we conducted functional magnetic resonance imaging experiments in macaques performing a temporal contextual memory task. We found that the activated areas formed a hierarchical hub-centric network based on task-evoked directed connectivity, differently from the anatomical network reflecting axonal projection patterns. Using a novel simulated-lesion method based on support vector machine, we estimated severity of impairment after lesioning of each area, which accorded well with a known dissociation in contextual memory impairment in macaques (impairment after lesioning in area 9/46d, but not in area 8Ad. The predicted severity of impairment was proportional to the network "hubness" of the virtually lesioned area in the task-evoked directed connectivity network, rather than in the anatomical network known from tracer studies. Our results suggest that PFC areas dynamically and cooperatively shape a functional hub-centric network to reallocate the lesion-effective site depending on the cognitive processes, apart from

  18. Bronchial Mucus Properties in Lung Cancer: Relationship with Site of Lesion

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    J Gustavo Zayas

    1999-01-01

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: To compare the biophysical properties of mucus from the left and right mainstem bronchi in patients undergoing diagnostic bronchoscopy because of a unilateral radiological abnormality. It was hypothesized that abnormalities in the properties of mucus would be greater on the side with the lesion and that this would be most obvious in patients with unilateral lung cancer.

  19. Comparison of Balance Abilities of Patients with Right and Left Hemiplegics Stroke

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alireza Shamsoddini

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available Objective: Improvement of independence of hemiplegics patient especially in balance maintenance is most significant aim of such rehabilitation. Areas of brain lesions in hemiplegics patient and also function of their right and left brain hemispheres were different. We study balance abilities in this two groups of patients. Materials & Methods: In this comparative and cross sectional study 30 patients with brain stroke were selected with non probability and simple selection in two groups by right hemiplegics (16 objects and left hemiplegics (14 objects. Ranges of Their age were 30 – 58 years and 6 months passed of stroke. The patient balance ability evaluated by Berg Balance Scale (B.B.S and Forward Functional Reach (F.F.R and data were analyzed by use of statistical tests such as: Kolmogorov – Smirnov, Independent T and paired T test. Results: According to results, average difference of two groups in (B.B.S test was significant (P=0.030 but average of score of right group (38/36 was more than left group (28/90. But in (F.F.R test, average difference between two groups wasn’t significant (P=0.841. Conclusion: According to results, balance especially dynamic balance was related to the side of lesion but in static balance, there was no difference between two groups. According to such results, we can consider good rehabilitation program for improvement of balance of such patients.

  20. Leptomeningeal angiomatosis of the left occipital surface detected by CT scan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Niiro, Masaki; Mihara, Tadahiro; Maeda, Yoshiki; Awa, Hiroshi; Kadota, Koki; Asakura, Tetsuhiko

    1982-01-01

    A case of left occipital leptomeningeal angiomatosis was reported. The patient was a 12-year-old boy who had episodes of severe vascular type headache accompanied by transient right homonymous hemianopsia. CT scan showed localized superficial high density area in the left occipital pole. Remarkable enhancement of the lower and inner surface of the left occipital lobe was demonstrated. Angiography showed poor filling of the distal portion of the left posterior cerebral artery. Skull tomograms showed linear calcifications in the left occipital region. Brain scan showed increased RI uptake in the left occipital region. During operation, the surface of the left occipital lobe was covered by excessive, fine, vascular networks which extended over the arachnoid membrane. The abnormal vessels were cauterized by a CO 2 laser as throughly as possible. The occipital pole, felt gritty. Histologically, the abnormal vessels had spread into the subarachnoid space and were predominantly veins with thin and enlarged walls. The abnormal vessels followed the leptomeninges in the sulci of the cerebral cortex. Underneath the abnormal vessels, in the external layers of the cerebral cortex, calcium deposits were scattered and gliosis and degeneration of the ganglion cells were observed. The lesion was comparable with leptomeningeal angiomatosis. Though the pathological findings of the specimen, CT findings, and brain scan findings were extremely similar to those of Sturge-Weber disease, in this case, the typical clinical and roentgenographic findings of Sturge-Weber disease were all absent. (author)

  1. Anatomical variations of the thymus in relation to the left brachiocephalic vein, findings of necropsia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Plaza, Oscar Alonso; Moreno, Freddy

    2018-04-01

    Two cases of anatomical variations of the thymus are presented with respect to the anatomical relations with the left brachiocephalic vein and found during the necropsy process. Less than 2 days after birth with Noonan Syndrome, when the left brachiocephalic vein was scanning behind the upper thymus horns, there were other adjacent lesions consisting of three supernumerary spleens and three hepatic veins. The second case was an 8-year-old infant with child malpractice who died from urinary sepsis due to obstructive uropathy, in which case the upper lobes of the thymus were fused and formed a ring through which the left brachiocephalic vein passed. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  2. Subacute narrowing of the left main coronary artery following directional atherectomy for proximal obstructive coronary artery disease

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Piek, J. J.; Koch, K. T.; van der Wal, A. C.; Becker, A. E.

    1997-01-01

    Directional atherectomy is an alternative device for treatment of highly eccentric or proximal coronary lesions considered less suitable for balloon angioplasty. We report a patient with exuberant neointimal proliferation, extending into the left main coronary artery, following directional

  3. The Plasma-Facing Components Transporter (PFCT) : a Prototype System for PFC Replacement on the new ITER 2001 Cassette Mock-up

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Micciche, G.; Lorenzelli, L.; Muro, L.; Irving, M.

    2006-01-01

    The remote maintainability of the early ITER divertor cassette (based on the ITER 1998 design) was successfully proved during test campaigns carried out in the Divertor Refurbishment Platform (DRP) at the ENEA research centre at Brasimone over the period 1999-2003. Due to subsequent major modifications in the ITER divertor cassette design, the main focus over the past few years has been on the design and manufacture of the various components, devices and tools needed for refurbishment of the new ITER 2001 Divertor Cassette. The design of this new cassette differs substantially from the earlier version: in particular the shape, weight and attachment system of the Plasma Facing Components (PFC's) has been completely revised, and this also entailed a review of the procedures adopted for its refurbishment. One of the major requirements of the cassette refurbishment process is removal and replacement of the three PFC's. In the old cassette concept, target replacement was performed by means of a purpose-built '' C '' frame slung from a standard bridge crane. The 2001 cassette design precludes such handling methods for a number of reasons, notably because of the extremely tight inter-PFC clearances, and the need for controlled inclination of the target in addition to normal translational movements, both impossible with a simple Cartesian crane. To demonstrate the refurbishment feasibility operations for the new ITER Divertor 2001 cassettes, an experimental machine known as the Plasma-Facing Component Transporter (PFCT) has been designed, fabricated and commissioned in the years 2004-5. This full six degree-of-freedom system has been designed to handle payloads of up to 5 tonnes with good positional accuracy, and axes capable of very low joint velocities, including inclination of the PFC's over the range of ± 10 o in both horizontal axes, and controlled rotation about the vertical axis. Preliminary trials carried out during the commissioning phase have proved its

  4. Resection of highly language-eloquent brain lesions based purely on rTMS language mapping without awake surgery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ille, Sebastian; Sollmann, Nico; Butenschoen, Vicki M; Meyer, Bernhard; Ringel, Florian; Krieg, Sandro M

    2016-12-01

    The resection of left-sided perisylvian brain lesions harbours the risk of postoperative language impairment. Therefore the individual patient's language distribution is investigated by intraoperative direct cortical stimulation (DCS) during awake surgery. Yet, not all patients qualify for awake surgery. Non-invasive language mapping by repetitive navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) has frequently shown a high correlation in comparison with the results of DCS language mapping in terms of language-negative brain regions. The present study analyses the extent of resection (EOR) and functional outcome of patients who underwent left-sided perisylvian resection of brain lesions based purely on rTMS language mapping. Four patients with left-sided perisylvian brain lesions (two gliomas WHO III, one glioblastoma, one cavernous angioma) underwent rTMS language mapping prior to surgery. Data from rTMS language mapping and rTMS-based diffusion tensor imaging fibre tracking (DTI-FT) were transferred to the intraoperative neuronavigation system. Preoperatively, 5 days after surgery (POD5), and 3 months after surgery (POM3) clinical follow-up examinations were performed. No patient suffered from a new surgery-related aphasia at POM3. Three patients underwent complete resection immediately, while one patient required a second rTMS-based resection some days later to achieve the final, complete resection. The present study shows for the first time the feasibility of successfully resecting language-eloquent brain lesions based purely on the results of negative language maps provided by rTMS language mapping and rTMS-based DTI-FT. In very select cases, this technique can provide a rescue strategy with an optimal functional outcome and EOR when awake surgery is not feasible.

  5. Interaction between the medial prefrontal cortex and hippocampal CA1 area is essential for episodic-like memory in rats.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chao, Owen Y; Nikolaus, Susanne; Lira Brandão, Marcus; Huston, Joseph P; de Souza Silva, Maria A

    2017-05-01

    The interplay between medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and hippocampus, particularly the hippocampal CA3 area, is critical for episodic memory. To what extent the mPFC also interacts with the hippocampus CA1 subregion still requires elucidation. To investigate this issue, male rats received unilateral N-methyl- D -aspartate lesions of the mPFC together with unilateral lesions of the hippocampal CA1 area, either in the same (control) or in the opposite hemispheres (disconnection). They underwent an episodic-like memory test, combining what-where-when information, and separate tests for novel object preference (what), object place preference (where) and temporal order memory (when). Compared to controls, the disconnected mPFC-CA1 rats exhibited disrupted episodic-like memory with an impaired integration of the what-where-when elements. Both groups showed intact memories for what and when, while only the control group showed intact memory for where. These findings suggest that the functional interaction of the mPFC-CA1 circuit is crucial for the processing of episodic memory and, in particular, for the integration of the spatial memory component. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. Overall behaviour of PFC integrated SST-1 vacuum system

    Science.gov (United States)

    Khan, Ziauddin; Raval, Dilip C.; Paravasu, Yuvakiran; Semwal, Pratibha; Dhanani, Kalpeshkumar R.; George, Siju; Shoaib, Mohammad; Prakash, Arun; Babu, Gattu R.; Thankey, Prashant; Pathan, Firozkhan S.; Pradhan, Subrata

    2017-04-01

    As a part of phase-I up-gradation of Steady-state Superconducting Tokamak (SST-1), Graphite Plasma Facing Components (PFCs) have been integrated inside SST-1 vacuum vessel as a first wall (FW) during Nov 14 and May 2015. The SST-1 FW has a total surface area of the installed PFCs exposed to plasma is ∼ 40 m2 which is nearly 50% of the total surface area of stainless steel vacuum chamber (∼75 m2). The volume of the vessel within the PFCs is ∼ 16 m3. After the integration of PFCs, the entire vessel as well as the PFC cooling/baking circuits has been qualified with an integrated helium leak tightness of baked at 250 °C for nearly 20 hours employing hot nitrogen gas to remove the absorbed water vapours. Thereafter, Helium glow discharges cleaning were carried out towards the removal of surface impurities. The pump down characteristics of SST-1 vacuum chamber and the changes in the residual gaseous impurities after the installation of the PFCs will be discussed in this paper.

  7. Severity of post-stroke aphasia according to aphasia type and lesion location in Koreans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kang, Eun Kyoung; Sohn, Hae Min; Han, Moon-Ku; Kim, Won; Han, Tai Ryoon; Paik, Nam-Jong

    2010-01-01

    To determine the relations between post-stroke aphasia severity and aphasia type and lesion location, a retrospective review was undertaken using the medical records of 97 Korean patients, treated within 90 days of onset, for aphasia caused by unilateral left hemispheric stroke. Types of aphasia were classified according to the validated Korean version of the Western Aphasia Battery (K-WAB), and severities of aphasia were quantified using WAB Aphasia Quotients (AQ). Lesion locations were classified as cortical or subcortical, and were determined by magnetic resonance imaging. Two-step cluster analysis was performed using AQ values to classify aphasia severity by aphasia type and lesion location. Cluster analysis resulted in four severity clusters: 1) mild; anomic type, 2) moderate; Wernicke's, transcortical motor, transcortical sensory, conduction, and mixed transcortical types, 3) moderately severe; Broca's aphasia, and 4) severe; global aphasia, and also in three lesion location clusters: 1) mild; subcortical 2) moderate; cortical lesions involving Broca's and/or Wernicke's areas, and 3) severe; insular and cortical lesions not in Broca's or Wernicke's areas. These results revealed that within 3 months of stroke, global aphasia was the more severely affected type and cortical lesions were more likely to affect language function than subcortical lesions.

  8. Directional atherectomy facilitates the interventional procedure and leads to a low rate of recurrent stenosis in left anterior descending and left circumflex artery ostium stenoses: subgroup analysis of the FLEXI‐CUT study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dahm, J B; Ruppert, J; Hartmann, S; Vogelgesang, D; Hummel, A; Felix, S B

    2006-01-01

    Objectives To examine by retrospective analysis of data from the FLEXI‐CUT monocentre registry whether atherectomy can effectively simplify complex stent implantation in ostial bifurcation lesions by reducing the procedure to stenting of the left anterior descending (LAD) or left circumflex (LCX) artery ostium alone. Patients and methods All patients who had been enrolled in the prospective FLEXI‐CUT study (directional atherectomy with adjunctive balloon angioplasty) were retrospectively analysed on the basis of significant LAD or LCX ostial stenosis (⩾ 70% stenosis) deriving from an undiseased left main stem. The primary combined end point was the rate of target lesion revascularisation (TLR) and binary restenosis; secondary end points were procedural success and major adverse cardiac events (MACE) at the six‐month follow up. Results Of 30 patients enrolled with significant LAD or LCX ostium stenosis, 29 were effectively treated with directional atherectomy (96.7% procedural success). All patients underwent single‐vessel stenting procedures of solely the LAD or LCX ostium. At follow up, binary stenosis was 25% (6 of 24), TLR (angiographic plus clinical) 10.3% (3 of 29) and total MACE 6.9% (2 of 29). Conclusions Directional atherectomy with single‐vessel stenting procedures facilitates the interventional treatment of LAD and LCX ostium stenosis, and leads to remarkably low TLR and binary stenosis at follow up. PMID:16449510

  9. Lesion progression in post-treatment persistent endodontic lesions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yu, Victoria Soo Hoon; Messer, Harold Henry; Shen, Liang; Yee, Robert; Hsu, Chin-ying Stephen

    2012-10-01

    Radiographic lesions related to root-filled teeth may persist for long periods after treatment and are considered to indicate failure of initial treatment. Persistent lesions are found in a proportion of cases, but information on lesion progression is lacking. This study examined the incidence of lesion improvement, remaining unchanged, and deterioration among persistent lesions in a group of patients recruited from a university-based clinic and identified potential predictors for lesion progression. Patients of a university clinic with persistent endodontic lesions at least 4 years since treatment and with original treatment radiographs available were recruited with informed consent. Data were obtained by interview and from dental records and clinical and radiographic examinations. Univariate and multivariate statistical analyses were carried out by using SPSS (version 19). One hundred fifty-one persistent lesions were identified in 114 patients. A majority of the lesions (107, 70.9%) received treatment between 4 and 5 years prior. Eighty-six lesions (57.0%) improved, 18 (11.9%) remained unchanged, and 47 (31.1%) deteriorated since treatment. Potential predictors for lesions that did not improve included recall lesion size, pain on biting at recall examination, history of a postobturation flare-up, and a non-ideal root-filling length (P < .05). Lesions that had persisted for a longer period appeared less likely to be improving (relative risk, 1.038; 95% confidence interval, 1.000-1.077). A specific time interval alone should not be used to conclude that a lesion will not resolve without intervention. This study identified several clinical factors that are associated with deteriorating persistent lesions, which should aid in identifying lesions that require further intervention. Copyright © 2012 American Association of Endodontists. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. Measurement of left-to-right shunts by gated radionuclide angiography: concise communication

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rigo, P.; Chevigne, M.

    1982-01-01

    Gated cardiac blood-pool scans allow comparison of left- and right-ventricular stroke volume. We have applied these measurements to the quantification of left-to-right shunts (QP/QS) in nine patients with atrial septal defects, one patients with partial anomalous pulmonary venous return, four patients with ventricular septal defects, and two patients with patent ductus arteriosus. None of these patients had combined lesions. QP/QS was measured as the right-ventricular (RV) stroke counts divided by the left-ventricular (LV) stroke counts and as the LV stroke counts divided by the RV stroke counts in patients with RV and LV diastolic volume overload respectively. All patients had also QP/QS measurements by oximetry and first-pass radionuclide angiography. The stroke-count measurements indicated the overloaded ventricle in all patients. QP/QS determined by equilibrium gated studies correlated well with those obtained by oximetry (r . 0.79). Reproducibility of the equilibrium measurements was good. We conclude that gated cardiac blood-pool scans can measure left-to-right shunts and can distinguish between shunts with RV and LV volume overload

  11. Thinning of the lateral prefrontal cortex during adolescence predicts emotion regulation in females.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vijayakumar, Nandita; Whittle, Sarah; Yücel, Murat; Dennison, Meg; Simmons, Julian; Allen, Nicholas B

    2014-11-01

    Adolescence is a crucial period for the development of adaptive emotion regulation strategies. Despite the fact that structural maturation of the prefrontal cortex during adolescence is often assumed to underlie the maturation of emotion regulation strategies, no longitudinal studies have directly assessed this relationship. This study examined whether use of cognitive reappraisal strategies during late adolescence was predicted by (i) absolute prefrontal cortical thickness during early adolescence and (ii) structural maturation of the prefrontal cortex between early and mid-adolescence. Ninety-two adolescents underwent baseline and follow-up magnetic resonance imaging scans when they were aged approximately 12 and 16 years, respectively. FreeSurfer software was used to obtain cortical thickness estimates for three prefrontal regions [anterior cingulate cortex; dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC); ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC)]. The Emotion Regulation Questionnaire was completed when adolescents were aged approximately 19 years. Results showed that greater cortical thinning of the left dlPFC and left vlPFC during adolescence was significantly associated with greater use of cognitive reappraisal in females, though no such relationship was evident in males. Furthermore, baseline left dlPFC thickness predicted cognitive reappraisal at trend level. These findings suggest that cortical maturation may play a role in the development of adaptive emotion regulation strategies during adolescence. © The Author (2014). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  12. Past Tense in Children with Focal Brain Lesions

    OpenAIRE

    Konstantinopoulou, P.; Stavrakaki, S.; Manouilidou, C.; Zafeiriou, D.

    2013-01-01

    In this study, 22 children with early left hemisphere (LHD) or right hemisphere (RHD) focal brain lesions (FL, n ¼ 14 LHD,\\ud n ¼ 8 RHD) were administered an English past tense elicitation test (M ¼ 6:5 years). Proportion correct and frequency of overregularization\\ud and zero-marking errors were compared to age-matched samples of children with specific language impairment (SLI,\\ud n ¼ 27) and with typical language development (TD, n ¼ 27). Similar rates of correct production and error patter...

  13. Cerebral lesions and event-related potential P300 using positron emission tomography (PET)

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sakai, Yasujiro; Okamoto, Kazuma; Tanaka, Makoto; Kondoh, Susumu; Hirai, Shunsaku

    1993-01-01

    To determine what lesions are involved in prolonging event-related potential P300 latency, regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) and metabolism were investigated by positron emission tomography (PET) in a total of 40 patients with neurologic diseases (12 with chronic cerebrovascular disorder, 9 with spino-cerebellar degeneration, 4 with Alzheimer's type dementia, 4 with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and 11 with miscellaneous diseases). There was inverse correlation between rCBF and P300 latency in terms of any of the whole, left, and right hemispheres: P300 latency was associated with decreased rCBF. This was more noticeable in the cerebral cortex than white matter and in the right than left hemisphere, although there was no significant difference between them. In none of the regions, however, was there significant correlation between cerebral oxygen consumption and P300 latency. When the right and left frontal, temporal, parietal and occipital cortexes, thalamus, putamen, and caudatum were examined as regions of interest, there was significantly inverse correlation between rCBF and P300 latency in all regions except for the occipital cortex. This was more noticeable on the right than the left side, although no significant difference was observed. Cerebral oxygen consumption in these lesions did not correlate with P300 latency. In the study on bilateral rCBF difference, decreased rCBF confined to the right parietal lobe, bilateral thalamus and bilateral temporal lobes was found to be associated with a significantly prolonged P300 latency. Thus, rCBF in these regions seemed to be particularly responsible for P300 latency. (N.K.)

  14. Cerebral lesions and event-related potential P300 using positron emission tomography (PET)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Sakai, Yasujiro; Okamoto, Kazuma; Tanaka, Makoto; Kondoh, Susumu; Hirai, Shunsaku (Gunma Univ., Maebashi (Japan). School of Medicine)

    1993-06-01

    To determine what lesions are involved in prolonging event-related potential P300 latency, regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) and metabolism were investigated by positron emission tomography (PET) in a total of 40 patients with neurologic diseases (12 with chronic cerebrovascular disorder, 9 with spino-cerebellar degeneration, 4 with Alzheimer's type dementia, 4 with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and 11 with miscellaneous diseases). There was inverse correlation between rCBF and P300 latency in terms of any of the whole, left, and right hemispheres: P300 latency was associated with decreased rCBF. This was more noticeable in the cerebral cortex than white matter and in the right than left hemisphere, although there was no significant difference between them. In none of the regions, however, was there significant correlation between cerebral oxygen consumption and P300 latency. When the right and left frontal, temporal, parietal and occipital cortexes, thalamus, putamen, and caudatum were examined as regions of interest, there was significantly inverse correlation between rCBF and P300 latency in all regions except for the occipital cortex. This was more noticeable on the right than the left side, although no significant difference was observed. Cerebral oxygen consumption in these lesions did not correlate with P300 latency. In the study on bilateral rCBF difference, decreased rCBF confined to the right parietal lobe, bilateral thalamus and bilateral temporal lobes was found to be associated with a significantly prolonged P300 latency. Thus, rCBF in these regions seemed to be particularly responsible for P300 latency. (N.K.).

  15. Cortical hypometabolism and its recovery following nucleus basalis lesions in baboons: a PET study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kiyosawa, M.; Pappata, S.; Duverger, D.

    1987-01-01

    The cerebral metabolic rate for glucose was measured serially with positron emission tomography and [ 18 F]fluorodeoxyglucose in five baboons with stereotactic electrocoagulation of the left nucleus basalis of Meynert (NbM). Four days after lesion, a significant metabolic depression was present in the ipsilateral cerebral cortex, most marked in the frontotemporal region, and which recovered progressively within 6-13 weeks. These data demonstrate that adaptive mechanisms efficiently compensate for the cortical metabolic effects of NbM-lesion-induced cholinergic deafferentation. Moreover, unilateral NbM lesions also induced a transient reduction in contralateral cortical metabolic rate, the mechanisms of which are discussed. Explanation of these effects of cholinergic deafferentation in the primate could further our understanding of the metabolic deficits observed in dementia of the Alzheimer's type

  16. Measuring prefrontal cortical activity during dual task walking in patients with Parkinson's disease: feasibility of using a new portable fNIRS device.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nieuwhof, Freek; Reelick, Miriam F; Maidan, Inbal; Mirelman, Anat; Hausdorff, Jeffrey M; Olde Rikkert, Marcel G M; Bloem, Bastiaan R; Muthalib, Makii; Claassen, Jurgen A H R

    2016-01-01

    Many patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) have difficulties in performing a second task during walking (i.e., dual task walking). Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a promising approach to study the presumed contribution of dysfunction within the prefrontal cortex (PFC) to such difficulties. In this pilot study, we examined the feasibility of using a new portable and wireless fNIRS device to measure PFC activity during different dual task walking protocols in PD. Specifically, we tested whether PD patients were able to perform the protocol and whether we were able to measure the typical fNIRS signal of neuronal activity. We included 14 PD patients (age 71.2 ± 5.4 years, Hoehn and Yahr stage II/III). The protocol consisted of five repetitions of three conditions: walking while (i) counting forwards, (ii) serially subtracting, and (iii) reciting digit spans. Ability to complete this protocol, perceived exertion, burden of the fNIRS devices, and concentrations of oxygenated (O 2 Hb) and deoxygenated (HHb) hemoglobin from the left and right PFC were measured. Two participants were unable to complete the protocol due to fatigue and mobility safety concerns. The remaining 12 participants experienced no burden from the two fNIRS devices and completed the protocol with ease. Bilateral PFC O 2 Hb concentrations increased during walking while serially subtracting (left PFC 0.46 μmol/L, 95 % confidence interval (CI) 0.12-0.81, right PFC 0.49 μmol/L, 95 % CI 0.14-0.84) and reciting digit spans (left PFC 0.36 μmol/L, 95 % CI 0.03-0.70, right PFC 0.44 μmol/L, 95 % CI 0.09-0.78) when compared to rest. HHb concentrations did not differ between the walking tasks and rest. These findings suggest that a new wireless fNIRS device is a feasible measure of PFC activity in PD during dual task walking. Future studies should reduce the level of noise and inter-individual variability to enable measuring differences in PFC activity between different dual

  17. The Visual Word Form Area remains in the dominant hemisphere for language in late-onset left occipital lobe epilepsies: A postsurgery analysis of two cases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lopes, Ricardo; Nunes, Rita Gouveia; Simões, Mário Rodrigues; Secca, Mário Forjaz; Leal, Alberto

    2015-05-01

    Automatic recognition of words from letter strings is a critical processing step in reading that is lateralized to the left-hemisphere middle fusiform gyrus in the so-called Visual Word Form Area (VWFA). Surgical lesions in this location can lead to irreversible alexia. Very early left hemispheric lesions can lead to transfer of the VWFA to the nondominant hemisphere, but it is currently unknown if this capability is preserved in epilepsies developing after reading acquisition. In this study, we aimed to determine the lateralization of the VWFA in late-onset left inferior occipital lobe epilepsies and also the effect of surgical disconnection from the adjacent secondary visual areas. Two patients with focal epilepsies with onset near the VWFA underwent to surgery for epilepsy, with sparing of this area. Neuropsychology evaluations were performed before and after surgery, as well as quantitative evaluation of the speed of word reading. Comparison of the surgical localization of the lesion, with the BOLD activation associated with the contrast of words-strings, was performed, as well as a study of the associated main white fiber pathways using diffusion-weighted imaging. Neither of the patients developed alexia after surgery (similar word reading speed before and after surgery) despite the fact that the inferior occipital surgical lesions reached the neighborhood (less than 1cm) of the VWFA. Surgeries partly disconnected the VWFA from left secondary visual areas, suggesting that pathways connecting to the posterior visual ventral stream were severely affected but did not induce alexia. The anterior and superior limits of the resection suggest that the critical connection between the VWFA and the Wernicke's Angular Gyrus cortex was not affected, which is supported by the detection of this tract with probabilistic tractography. Left occipital lobe epilepsies developing after reading acquisition did not produce atypical localizations of the VWFA, even with foci in the

  18. Single-port laparoscopic approach of the left liver: initial experience.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Camps Lasa, Judith; Cugat Andorrà, Esteban; Herrero Fonollosa, Eric; García Domingo, María Isabel; Sánchez Martínez, Raquel; Vargas Pierola, Harold; Rodríguez Campos, Aurora

    2014-11-01

    New technological advances have enabled the development of single-port laparoscopic surgery. This approach began with cholecystectomy and subsequently with other abdominal surgeries. However, few publications on laparoscopic liver surgery have described the use of complete single-port access. We present our initial experience of a single-port laparoscopic hepatectomy. Between May 2012 and December 2013, 5 single-port laparoscopic hepatectomies were performed: one for benign disease and four for colorectal liver metastases. The lesions were approached through a 3-5 cm right supraumbilical incision using a single-port access device. All the lesions were located in hepatic segments II or III. Four left lateral sectorectomies and one left hepatectomy were performed. Median operative time was 135 min. No cases were converted to conventional laparoscopic or open surgery. The oral intake began at 18 h. There were no postoperative complications and no patients required blood transfusion. The median hospital stay was 3 days. The degree of satisfaction was very good in 4 cases and good in one. Patients resumed their normal daily activities at 8 days. Single-port laparoscopic hepatectomy is safe and feasible in selected cases and may reduce surgical aggression and offer better cosmetic results. Comparative studies are needed to determine the real advantages of this approach. Copyright © 2014 AEC. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.

  19. Voxel-based lesion analysis of brain regions underlying reading and writing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baldo, Juliana V; Kacinik, Natalie; Ludy, Carl; Paulraj, Selvi; Moncrief, Amber; Piai, Vitória; Curran, Brian; Turken, And; Herron, Tim; Dronkers, Nina F

    2018-03-20

    The neural basis of reading and writing has been a source of inquiry as well as controversy in the neuroscience literature. Reading has been associated with both left posterior ventral temporal zones (termed the "visual word form area") as well as more dorsal zones, primarily in left parietal cortex. Writing has also been associated with left parietal cortex, as well as left sensorimotor cortex and prefrontal regions. Typically, the neural basis of reading and writing are examined in separate studies and/or rely on single case studies exhibiting specific deficits. Functional neuroimaging studies of reading and writing typically identify a large number of activated regions but do not necessarily identify the core, critical hubs. Last, due to constraints on the functional imaging environment, many previous studies have been limited to measuring the brain activity associated with single-word reading and writing, rather than sentence-level processing. In the current study, the brain correlates of reading and writing at both the single- and sentence-level were studied in a large sample of 111 individuals with a history of chronic stroke using voxel-based lesion symptom mapping (VLSM). VLSM provides a whole-brain, voxel-by-voxel statistical analysis of the role of distinct regions in a particular behavior by comparing performance of individuals with and without a lesion at every voxel. Rather than comparing individual cases or small groups with particular behavioral dissociations in reading and writing, VLSM allowed us to analyze data from a large, well-characterized sample of stroke patients exhibiting a wide range of reading and writing impairments. The VLSM analyses revealed that reading was associated with a critical left inferior temporo-occipital focus, while writing was primarily associated with the left supramarginal gyrus. Separate VLSM analyses of single-word versus sentence-level reading showed that sentence-level reading was uniquely associated with anterior

  20. Temporal Lobe Lesions and Perception of Species-Specific Vocalizations by Macaques

    Science.gov (United States)

    Heffner, Henry E.; Heffner, Rickye S.

    1984-10-01

    Japanese macaques were trained to discriminate two forms of their coo vocalization before and after unilateral and bilateral ablation of the temporal cortex. Unilateral ablation of the left superior temporal gyrus, including auditory cortex, resulted in an initial impairment in the discrimination, but similar unilateral ablation of the right superior temporal gyrus had no effect. Bilateral temporal lesions including auditory cortex completely abolished the ability of the animals to discriminate their coos. Neither unilateral nor bilateral ablation of cortex dorsal to and sparing the auditory cortex had any effect on the discrimination. The perception of species-specific vocalizations by Japanese macaques seems to be mediated by the temporal cortex, with the left hemisphere playing a predominant role.

  1. Internal and external resorption in a lower molar with an associated endodontic-periodontic lesion: a case report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Komabayashi, Takashi; Zhu, Qiang

    2012-08-01

    This article describes a unique case in which both internal and external inflammatory resorption and endodontic-periodontic lesions were present at the same time in the patient's left mandibular first molar. Based on clinical and radiographic findings, it was determined that the nature of this case was a pulpal infection-induced inflammatory resorption and furcation lesion. After root canal therapy, the furcation lesion and external inflammatory resorption were completely resolved. This case indicates that the correct diagnosis of the stimulating factor for tooth resorption and determination of the primary origin of endodontic-periodontic lesions are critical for clinical management and success. Published 2011. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

  2. A case of hemiballism presenting atypical, responsive lesion by CT scan

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kawahata, Nobuya; Honda, Masao.

    1983-01-01

    Hemiballism of the right limbs developed after cerebral infarction in an 83-year-old female patient. On admission, examination revealed hemiballism of the right limbs, monologia, disorientation of thought and motor skills, irritability and the absence of DTR in the right upper limb. Without aggressive treatment, however, involuntary movement disappeared after 18 days, and she was discharged on her own power. CT scan demonstrated a low density area in the left fronto-parietal lobe. However, no obvious abnormality in bilateral subthalamic nuclei was observed. Although the contralateral subthalamic body of Luys is involved in most instances, lesions have been reported to exist in the cerebral cortex, thalamus, corpus striatum, internal capsule and brain stem in some cases. The prognosis for this disease has been generally considered to be fatal. However, this case demonstrated an atypical lesion in CT scan, and spontaneous recovery from hemiballism took place within three weeks. Previous reports on hemiballism were reviewed, and responsive lesions and the prognosis for this case were discussed. (author)

  3. Duplication of the Left Vertebral Artery Origin: A Case Report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Shin, Sang Wook; Park, Dong Woo; Park, Choong Ki; Lee, Young Jun [Dept. of Radiology, College of Medicine, Hanyang University, Hanyang University Guri Hospital, Guri (Korea, Republic of)

    2013-01-15

    Duplication of vertebral arteries is a very rare but clinically important condition. A duplicated vertebral artery origin can influence hemodynamics, pathogenesis of vascular lesions and treatment options. In cases of vertebral artery duplication, the vertebral arteries generally enter the transverse foramen higher up than normal. Awareness of these vertebral artery variants before procedures, such as neurointervention or surgery, may be beneficial. Here, we describe a case of a 51-year-old female patient with left vertebral artery duplication which was detected incidentally.

  4. Duplication of the Left Vertebral Artery Origin: A Case Report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shin, Sang Wook; Park, Dong Woo; Park, Choong Ki; Lee, Young Jun

    2013-01-01

    Duplication of vertebral arteries is a very rare but clinically important condition. A duplicated vertebral artery origin can influence hemodynamics, pathogenesis of vascular lesions and treatment options. In cases of vertebral artery duplication, the vertebral arteries generally enter the transverse foramen higher up than normal. Awareness of these vertebral artery variants before procedures, such as neurointervention or surgery, may be beneficial. Here, we describe a case of a 51-year-old female patient with left vertebral artery duplication which was detected incidentally.

  5. In vivo imaging of stepwise vessel occlusion in cerebral photothrombosis of mice by 19F MRI.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gesa Weise

    Full Text Available (19F magnetic resonance imaging (MRI was recently introduced as a promising technique for in vivo cell tracking. In the present study we compared (19F MRI with iron-enhanced MRI in mice with photothrombosis (PT at 7 Tesla. PT represents a model of focal cerebral ischemia exhibiting acute vessel occlusion and delayed neuroinflammation.Perfluorocarbons (PFC or superparamagnetic iron oxide particles (SPIO were injected intravenously at different time points after photothrombotic infarction. While administration of PFC directly after PT induction led to a strong (19F signal throughout the entire lesion, two hours delayed application resulted in a rim-like (19F signal at the outer edge of the lesion. These findings closely resembled the distribution of signal loss on T2-weighted MRI seen after SPIO injection reflecting intravascular accumulation of iron particles trapped in vessel thrombi as confirmed histologically. By sequential administration of two chemically shifted PFC compounds 0 and 2 hours after illumination the different spatial distribution of the (19F markers (infarct core/rim could be visualized in the same animal. When PFC were applied at day 6 the fluorine marker was only detected after long acquisition times ex vivo. SPIO-enhanced MRI showed slight signal loss in vivo which was much more prominent ex vivo indicative for neuroinflammation at this late lesion stage.Our study shows that vessel occlusion can be followed in vivo by (19F and SPIO-enhanced high-field MRI while in vivo imaging of neuroinflammation remains challenging. The timing of contrast agent application was the major determinant of the underlying processes depicted by both imaging techniques. Importantly, sequential application of different PFC compounds allowed depiction of ongoing vessel occlusion from the core to the margin of the ischemic lesions in a single MRI measurement.

  6. [Left lateral gaze paresis due to subcortical hematoma in the right precentral gyrus].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sato, K; Takamori, M

    1998-03-01

    We report a case of transient left lateral gaze paresis due to a hemorrhagic lesion restricted in the right precentral gyrus. A 74-year-old female experienced a sudden clumsiness of the left upper extremity. A neurological examination revealed a left central facial paresis, distal dominant muscle weakness in the left upper limb and left lateral gaze paresis. There were no other focal neurological signs. Laboratory data were all normal. Brain CTs and MRIs demonstrated a subcortical hematoma in the right precentral gyrus. The neurological symptoms and signs disappeared over seven days. A recent physiological study suggested that the human frontal eye field (FEF) is located in the posterior part of the middle frontal gyrus (Brodmann's area 8) and the precentral gyrus around the precentral sulcus. More recent studies stressed the role of the precentral sulcus and the precentral gyrus. Our case supports those physiological findings. The hematoma affected both the FEF and its underlying white matter in our case. We assume the lateral gaze paresis is attributable to the disruption of the fibers from the FEF. It is likely that fibers for motor control of the face, upper extremity, and lateral gaze lie adjacently in the subcortical area.

  7. Left ventricular mechanical adaptation to chronic aortic regurgitation in intact dogs

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Florenzano, F.; Glantz, S.A.

    1987-01-01

    Increased and end-diastolic wall stress has been hypothesized to stimulate left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy following volume overload. The authors instrumented intact-chest dogs with radiopaque markers in both ventricles and created volume overload by puncturing one aortic valve cusp. An x-ray system with biplane fluoroscopic and cineradiographic capabilities was used. End-diastolic stress increased immediately, then fell over 3 mo as the heart hypertrophied. End-systolic stress did not change significantly. Chamber contractility, quantified as E/sub max/, the end-systolic pressure-volume line slope, increased. E/sub max/ normalized by multiplying by LV mass increased following the lesion before but not after β-blockade with propranolol and did not change significantly over time, suggesting that chamber contractility changed because of increased mass and sympathetic tone rather than changed intrinsic muscle function. LV mass did not initially correlate with lesion size, but steady-state mass did. Over the range of lesions the authors produced, increased end-diastolic wall stress appears to stimulate hypertrophy at a fixed rate, which stops when end-diastolic wall stress has been reduced to an acceptable level

  8. Palilalia, echolalia, and echopraxia-palipraxia as ictal manifestations in a patient with left frontal lobe epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cho, Yang-Je; Han, Sang-Don; Song, Sook Keun; Lee, Byung In; Heo, Kyoung

    2009-06-01

    Palilalia is a relatively rare pathologic speech behavior and has been reported in various neurologic and psychiatric disorders. We encountered a case of palilalia, echolalia, and echopraxia-palipraxia as ictal phenomena of left frontal lobe epilepsy. A 55-year-old, right-handed man was admitted because of frequent episodes of rapid reiteration of syllables. Video-electroencephalography monitoring revealed stereotypical episodes of palilalia accompanied by rhythmic head nodding and right-arm posturing with ictal discharges over the left frontocentral area. He also displayed echolalia or echopraxia-palipraxia, partially responding to an examiner's stimulus. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed encephalomalacia on the left superior frontal gyrus and ictal single photon emission computed tomography showed hyperperfusion just above the lesion, corresponding to the left supplementary motor area (SMA), and subcortical nuclei. This result suggests that the neuroanatomic substrate involved in the generation of these behaviors as ictal phenomena might exist in the SMA of the left frontal lobe.

  9. Alexia and agraphia with lesions of the angular and supramarginal gyri: evidence for the disruption of sequential processing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sakurai, Yasuhisa; Asami, Masahiko; Mannen, Toru

    2010-01-15

    To determine the features of alexia or agraphia with a left angular or supramarginal gyrus lesion. We assessed the reading and writing abilities of three patients using kanji (Japanese morphograms) and kana (Japanese syllabograms). Patient 1 showed kana alexia and kanji agraphia following a hemorrhage in the left angular gyrus and the adjacent lateral occipital gyri. Patient 2 presented with minimal pure agraphia for both kanji and kana after an infarction in the left angular gyrus involving part of the supramarginal gyrus. Patient 3 also showed moderate pure agraphia for both kanji and kana after an infarction in the left supramarginal and postcentral gyri. All three patients made transposition errors (changing of sequential order of kana characters) in reading. Patient 1 showed letter-by-letter reading and a word-length effect and made substitution errors (changing hiragana [one form of kana] characters in a word to katakana [another form of kana] characters and vice versa) in writing. Alexia occurs as "angular" alexia only when the lesion involves the adjacent lateral occipital gyri. Transposition errors suggest disrupted sequential phonological processing from the angular and lateral occipital gyri to the supramarginal gyrus. Substitution errors suggest impaired allographic conversion between hiragana and katakana attributable to a dysfunction in the angular/lateral occipital gyri.

  10. Ligation of the left renal vein in epm1-wistar rats: functional and morphologic alterations in the kidneys, testes and suprarenal glands

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    José Carlos Costa Baptista-Silva

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: The ligation of the left renal vein (LLVR in man is a contraversial procedure in view of the risks of lesion to the renal parenchyma. With the objective of studying the morphologic and functional alterations caused by these lesions, we conducted experimental research with rats. MATERIAL AND METHODS: 64 male adult EPM1-WISTAR rats were used, divided into 8 groups - 4 for LLRV and four for control. Each LLRV group and corresponding control group were sacrificed progressively on the 7th, 15th, 30th and 60th day after the initial surgery. RESULTS: We found morphofunctional alterations only in animals that underwent LLRV in the four periods of sacrifice.The proteinuria creatinine in serum, testosterone in serum and serum corticosterone in serum showed practically no alteration in relation to the normal values for rats. Statistically significant severe histological lesions were found in the kidneys and testes of the LLRV groups. Lesions in the suprarenal glands were also present in these groups, but no sufficient to demonstrate statistical significance CONCLUSION: Based on these results we can conclude that the ligation of the left renal vein is a procedure of high risk in these animals.

  11. Local Control of Perivascular Malignant Liver Lesions Using Percutaneous Irreversible Electroporation: Initial Experiences

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Eller, Achim, E-mail: Achim.Eller@uk-erlangen.de; Schmid, Axel, E-mail: axel.schmid@uk-erlangen.de [University Hospital Erlangen, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Department of Radiology (Germany); Schmidt, Joachim, E-mail: joachim.schmidt@kfa.imed.uni-erlangen.de [University Hospital Erlangen, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Department of Anesthesiology (Germany); May, Matthias, E-mail: matthias.may@uk-erlangen.de; Brand, Michael, E-mail: michael.brand@uk-erlangen.de; Saake, Marc, E-mail: marc.saake@uk-erlangen.de; Uder, Michael, E-mail: michael.uder@uk-erlangen.de; Lell, Michael, E-mail: michael.lell@uk-erlangen.de [University Hospital Erlangen, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg, Department of Radiology (Germany)

    2015-02-15

    PurposeThis study was designed to assess efficacy and safety in the treatment of perivascular malignant liver lesions using percutaneous, computed tomography (CT)-guided irreversible electroporation (IRE).MethodsFourteen patients (mean age 58 ± 11 years) with 18 malignant liver lesions were consecutively enrolled in this study. IRE was performed in patients not eligible for surgery and lesions abutting large vessels or bile ducts. Follow-up exams were performed using multislice-CT (MS-CT) or MRI.ResultsMedium lesion diameter was 20 ± 5 mm. Ten of 14 (71 %) were successfully treated with no local recurrence to date (mean follow-up 388 ± 160 days). One case left initial tumor control unclear and additional RFA was performed 4 weeks after IRE. Complications occurred in 4 of 14 (29 %) cases. In one case, intervention was terminated and abdominal bleeding required laparotomy. In two cases, a postinterventional hematothorax required intervention. In another case, abdominal bleeding could be managed conservatively. No complications related to the bile ducts occurred.ConclusionsPercutaneous IRE seems to be effective in perivascular lesions but is associated with a higher complication rate compared with thermoablative techniques.

  12. Left-Sided Catamenial Pneumothorax with Thoracic Endometriosis and Bullae in the Alveolar Wall.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takahashi, Ryo; Kurihara, Masatoshi; Mizobuchi, Teruaki; Ebana, Hiroki; Yamanaka, Sumitaka

    2017-04-20

    Catamenial pneumothorax (CP) is generally caused by intraperitoneal air leaking from the uterus into the thoracic cavity via a defect in the endometrial tissue of the diaphragm and is usually detected in the right thorax. We report a case of left-sided CP caused by endometriosis in the visceral pleura and with no abnormal findings in the diaphragm. A 33-year-old female patient presented at the end of a course of low-dose contraceptive pills for pelvic endometriosis, with spontaneous pneumothorax in the left chest. Chest CT revealed a bulla in the left upper lung lobe. The patient underwent partial resection of the lung. Immunohistochemistry confirmed the presence of endometrial stromal tissue in the visceral pleura and confirmed this as the cause of pneumothorax since there were no observable abnormalities in the diaphragm. This case suggests that immunohistochemical examination of patients with spontaneous pneumothorax can detect alternative endometrial lesions.

  13. Experimental Qualification of the Sleeved Pin Multilink Attachment for Divertor PFC's

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Poutanen, J.; McCallum, A.; Turner, A.; Merola, M.

    2006-01-01

    The latest design for connecting the limited life ITER divertor plasma facing components (PFC's) to the reusable cassette body is the so called sleeved pin multilink attachment. The connection is made by expanding a 43 mm diameter hollow AlBr pin inside the fixation holes of components of the cassette body and PFC by a swaging process. The multilink is an easy, safe and fast assembly method, but the original dismantling method of drilling out the pin was found troublesome. Therefore, in the latest attachment design a thin sleeve is incorporated between the pin and the holes, which makes it possible to dismantle the joint by simply pulling out the pin and sleeve sequentially. Experimental qualification of the new sleeved design is now proceeding. The aim of the experimental qualification is to prove that the sleeved design meets the requirements of load carrying capability, clearance free connection, and easy and safe removal. Associated analytical studies were performed to develop and verify theoretical models and correlations for use in design. Results from the experimental qualification will provide reference information for developing tools for making and removing the connection. Theoretical finite element models in association with the results of earlier test campaigns with nonsleeved design were used to determine pin expansion parameters. The expansion parameters were verified with plate-pin tests measuring contact pressures produced by pin expansion. The plate-pin tests were also used to demonstrate the feasibility of pin removal and develop pin removal methodology. The mechanical capabilities of the connection design are being examined with test series of cyclic tensile loading plus articulation-induced loading of a single connection mock-up. Remaking properties of the attachment are being studied with multiple swaging and removing of the pin into the fixation holes. Finally the dismantling of the connection will be examined with full length pin extraction

  14. Effect of PFC recycling conditions on JET pedestal density

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wiesen, S.; Brezinsek, S.; Dittmar, T.; Matveev, D.; Harting, D.; De la Luna, E.; Schmid, K.

    2016-01-01

    There is experimental evidence that the pedestal dynamics in type-I ELMy H-mode discharges is significantly affected by a change in the recycling conditions at the tungsten plasma-facing components (W-PFCs) after an ELM event. The integrated code JINTRAC has been employed to assess the impact of recycling conditions during type-I ELMs in JET ITER-like wall H-mode discharges. By employing a heuristic approach, a model to mimic the physical processes leading to formation and release (i.e. outgassing) of finite near-surface fuel reservoirs in W-PFCs has been implemented into the EDGE2D-EIRENE plasma-wall interaction code being part of JINTRAC. As main result it is shown, that a delay in the density pedestal build-up after an ELM event can be provoked by reduced recycling induced by depleted W-PFC particle near-surface reservoirs. However the pedestal temperature evolution is barely affected by the change in recycling parameters suggesting that the presented model is incomplete. (copyright 2016 The Authors. Contributions to Plasma Physics published by Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH and Co. KGaA Weinheim. This)

  15. Lithium vapor trapping at a high-temperature lithium PFC divertor target

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jaworski, Michael; Abrams, T.; Goldston, R. J.; Kaita, R.; Stotler, D. P.; de Temmerman, G.; Scholten, J.; van den Berg, M. A.; van der Meiden, H. J.

    2014-10-01

    Liquid lithium has been proposed as a novel plasma-facing material for NSTX-U and next-step fusion devices but questions remain on the ultimate temperature limits of such a PFC during plasma bombardment. Lithium targets were exposed to high-flux plasma bombardment in the Magnum-PSI experimental device resulting in a temperature ramp from room-temperature to above 1200°C. A stable lithium vapor cloud was found to form directly in front of the target and persist to temperature above 1000°C. Consideration of mass and momentum balance in the pre-sheath region of an attached plasma indicates an increase in the magnitude of the pre-sheath potential drop with the inclusion of ionization sources as well as the inclusion of momentum loss terms. The low energy of lithium emission from a surface measured in previous experiments (Contract DE-AC02-09CH11466.

  16. Can tokamaks PFC survive a single event of any plasma instabilities?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hassanein, A.; Sizyuk, V.; Miloshevsky, G.; Sizyuk, T.

    2013-07-01

    Plasma instability events such as disruptions, edge-localized modes (ELMs), runaway electrons (REs), and vertical displacement events (VDEs) are continued to be serious events and most limiting factors for successful tokamak reactor concept. The plasma-facing components (PFCs), e.g., wall, divertor, and limited surfaces of a tokamak as well as coolant structure materials are subjected to intense particle and heat loads and must maintain a clean and stable surface environment among them and the core/edge plasma. Typical ITER transient events parameters are used for assessing the damage from these four different instability events. HEIGHTS simulation showed that a single event of a disruption, giant ELM, VDE, or RE can cause significant surface erosion (melting and vaporization) damage to PFC, nearby components, and/or structural materials (VDE, RE) melting and possible burnout of coolant tubes that could result in shut down of reactor for extended repair time.

  17. Can tokamaks PFC survive a single event of any plasma instabilities?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hassanein, A.; Sizyuk, V.; Miloshevsky, G.; Sizyuk, T.

    2013-01-01

    Plasma instability events such as disruptions, edge-localized modes (ELMs), runaway electrons (REs), and vertical displacement events (VDEs) are continued to be serious events and most limiting factors for successful tokamak reactor concept. The plasma-facing components (PFCs), e.g., wall, divertor, and limited surfaces of a tokamak as well as coolant structure materials are subjected to intense particle and heat loads and must maintain a clean and stable surface environment among them and the core/edge plasma. Typical ITER transient events parameters are used for assessing the damage from these four different instability events. HEIGHTS simulation showed that a single event of a disruption, giant ELM, VDE, or RE can cause significant surface erosion (melting and vaporization) damage to PFC, nearby components, and/or structural materials (VDE, RE) melting and possible burnout of coolant tubes that could result in shut down of reactor for extended repair time

  18. Can tokamaks PFC survive a single event of any plasma instabilities?

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hassanein, A., E-mail: hassanein@purdue.edu [Center for Materials under Extreme Environment, School of Nuclear Engineering, Purdue University, 400 Central Drive, West Lafayette, IN 47907 (United States); Sizyuk, V.; Miloshevsky, G.; Sizyuk, T. [Center for Materials under Extreme Environment, School of Nuclear Engineering, Purdue University, 400 Central Drive, West Lafayette, IN 47907 (United States)

    2013-07-15

    Plasma instability events such as disruptions, edge-localized modes (ELMs), runaway electrons (REs), and vertical displacement events (VDEs) are continued to be serious events and most limiting factors for successful tokamak reactor concept. The plasma-facing components (PFCs), e.g., wall, divertor, and limited surfaces of a tokamak as well as coolant structure materials are subjected to intense particle and heat loads and must maintain a clean and stable surface environment among them and the core/edge plasma. Typical ITER transient events parameters are used for assessing the damage from these four different instability events. HEIGHTS simulation showed that a single event of a disruption, giant ELM, VDE, or RE can cause significant surface erosion (melting and vaporization) damage to PFC, nearby components, and/or structural materials (VDE, RE) melting and possible burnout of coolant tubes that could result in shut down of reactor for extended repair time.

  19. Effects on executive function following damage to the prefrontal cortex in the rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moore, Tara L; Schettler, Stephen P; Killiany, Ronald J; Rosene, Douglas L; Moss, Mark B

    2009-04-01

    Executive function is a term used to describe the cognitive processes subserved by the prefrontal cortex (PFC). An extensive body of work has characterized the effects of damage to the PFC in nonhuman primates, but it has focused primarily on the capacity of recognition and working memory. One limitation in studies of the functional parcellation of the PFC has been the absence of tests that assess executive function or its functional components. The current study used an adaptation of the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test, a classic test of frontal lobe and executive function in humans, to assess the effects of bilateral lesions in the dorsolateral PFC on executive function in the rhesus monkey (Macaca mulatta). The authors used the category set-shifting task, which requires the monkey to establish a pattern of responding to a specific category (color or shape) based on reward contingency, maintain that pattern of responding, and then shift to responding to a different category when the reward contingency changes. Rhesus monkeys with lesions of the dorsolateral PFC were impaired in abstraction, establishing a response pattern to a specific category and maintaining and shifting that response pattern on the category set-shifting task. (c) 2009 APA, all rights reserved.

  20. Do brain lesions in stroke affect basic emotions and attachment?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Farinelli, Marina; Panksepp, Jaak; Gestieri, Laura; Maffei, Monica; Agati, Raffaele; Cevolani, Daniela; Pedone, Vincenzo; Northoff, Georg

    2015-01-01

    The aim of the current study was to investigate basic emotions and attachment in a sample of 86 stroke patients. We included a control group of 115 orthopedic patients (matched for age and cognitive status) without brain lesions to control for unspecific general illness effects of a traumatic recent event on basic emotions and attachment. In order to measure basic emotions and attachment style we applied the Affective Neuroscience Personality Scale (ANPS) and the Attachment Style Questionnaire (ASQ). The stroke patients showed significantly different scores in the SEEKING, SADNESS, and ANGER subscales of the ANPS as well as in the Relationship as Secondary Attachment dimension of the ASQ when compared to the control group. These differences show a pattern influenced by lesion location mainly as concerns basic emotions. Anterior, medial, left, and subcortical patients provide scores significantly lower in ANPS-SEEKING than the control group; ANPS-SADNESS scores in anterior, right, medial, and subcortical patients were significantly higher than those of the control group. ANPS-ANGER scores in posterior, right, and lateral patients were significantly higher than those in the control group; finally, the ANPS-FEAR showed slightly lower scores in posterior patients than in the control group. Minor effects on brain lesions were also individuated in the attachment style. Anterior lesion patients showed a significantly higher average score in the ASQ-Need for Approval subscale than the control group. ASQ-Confidence subscale scores differed significantly in stroke patients with lesions in medial brain regions when compared to control subjects. Scores at ANPS and ASQ subscales appear significantly more correlated in stroke patients than in the control group. Such finding of abnormalities, especially concerning basic emotions in stroke brain-lesioned patients, indicates that the effect of brain lesions may enhance the interrelation between basic emotions and attachment with

  1. Minimally invasive radical pancreatectomy for left-sided pancreatic cancer: Current status and future perspectives

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kang, Chang Moo; Lee, Sung Hwan; Lee, Woo Jung

    2014-01-01

    Minimally invasive distal pancreatectomy with splenectomy has been regarded as a safe and effective treatment for benign and borderline malignant pancreatic lesions. However, its application for left-sided pancreatic cancer is still being debated. The clinical evidence for radical antegrade modular pancreatosplenectomy (RAMPS)-based minimally invasive approaches for left-sided pancreatic cancer was reviewed. Potential indications and surgical concepts for minimally invasive RAMPS were suggested. Despite the limited clinical evidence for minimally invasive distal pancreatectomy in left-sided pancreatic cancer, the currently available clinical evidence supports the use of laparoscopic distal pancreatectomy under oncologic principles in well-selected left sided pancreatic cancers. A pancreas-confined tumor with an intact fascia layer between the pancreas and left adrenal gland/kidney positioned more than 1 or 2 cm away from the celiac axis is thought to constitute a good condition for the use of margin-negative minimally invasive RAMPS. The use of minimally invasive (laparoscopic or robotic) anterior RAMPS is feasible and safe for margin-negative resection in well-selected left-sided pancreatic cancer. The oncologic feasibility of the procedure remains to be determined; however, the currently available interim results indicate that even oncologic outcomes will not be inferior to those of open radical distal pancreatosplenectomy. PMID:24605031

  2. Non-compact left ventricle/hypertrabeculated left ventricle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Restrepo, Gustavo; Castano, Rafael; Marmol, Alejandro

    2005-01-01

    Non-compact left ventricle/hypertrabeculated left ventricle is a myocardiopatie produced by an arrest of the normal left ventricular compaction process during the early embryogenesis. It is associated to cardiac anomalies (congenital cardiopaties) as well as to extracardial conditions (neurological, facial, hematologic, cutaneous, skeletal and endocrinological anomalies). This entity is frequently unnoticed, being diagnosed only in centers with great experience in the diagnosis and treatment of myocardiopathies. Many cases of non-compact left ventricle have been initially misdiagnosed as hypertrophic myocardiopatie, endocardial fibroelastosis, dilated cardiomyopatie, restrictive cardiomyopathy and endocardial fibrosis. It is reported the case of a 74 years old man with a history of chronic arterial hypertension and diabetes mellitus, prechordial chest pain and mild dyspnoea. An echocardiogram showed signs of non-compact left ventricle with prominent trabeculations and deep inter-trabecular recesses involving left ventricular apical segment and extending to the lateral and inferior walls. Literature on this topic is reviewed

  3. Focal knee lesions in knee pairs of asymptomatic and symptomatic subjects with OA risk factors—Data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chundru, Renu, E-mail: renu.chundru@ucsf.edu [Musculoskeletal and Quantitative Imaging Research Group, Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California San Francisco, 185 Berry Street, Suite 350, San Francisco, CA 94107 (United States); Baum, Thomas, E-mail: thbaum@gmx.de [Musculoskeletal and Quantitative Imaging Research Group, Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California San Francisco, 185 Berry Street, Suite 350, San Francisco, CA 94107 (United States); Nardo, Lorenzo, E-mail: lorenzo.nardo@ucsf.edu [Musculoskeletal and Quantitative Imaging Research Group, Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California San Francisco, 185 Berry Street, Suite 350, San Francisco, CA 94107 (United States); Nevitt, Michael C., E-mail: MNevitt@psg.ucsf.edu [Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California San Francisco, 185 Berry Street, Suite 5700, San Francisco, CA 94107 (United States); Lynch, John, E-mail: JLynch@psg.ucsf.edu [Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California San Francisco, 185 Berry Street, Suite 5700, San Francisco, CA 94107 (United States); McCulloch, Charles E., E-mail: CMcCulloch@epi.ucsf.edu [Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of California San Francisco, 185 Berry Street, Suite 5700, San Francisco, CA 94107 (United States); Link, Thomas M., E-mail: tmlink@radiology.ucsf.edu [Musculoskeletal and Quantitative Imaging Research Group, Department of Radiology and Biomedical Imaging, University of California San Francisco, 185 Berry Street, Suite 350, San Francisco, CA 94107 (United States)

    2013-08-15

    Objective: To better understand the relationship between knee pain and bilateral knee lesions, we compared focal knee lesions in knee pairs of subjects with no, unilateral, and bilateral knee pain, and risk factors for knee osteoarthritis (OA), but no radiographic knee OA. Materials and methods: We examined both knees of 120 subjects from the Osteoarthritis Initiative database. We randomly selected 60 subjects aged 45–55 years with OA risk factors, no knee pain (WOMAC pain score = 0) and no radiographic OA (KL-score ≤1) in both knees. We also selected two comparison groups with OA risk factors and no radiographic OA in both knees, but with knee pain (WOMAC pain score ≥5): 30 subjects with right only knee pain and 30 subjects with bilateral knee pain. All subjects underwent 3T MRI of both knees and focal knee lesions were assessed. Results: Statistically significant associations between prevalence of focal lesions in the right and left knee with odds ratios up to 13.5 were found in all three subject groups. Focal knee lesions were generally not associated with pain in analyses comparing knee pairs of subjects with unilateral knee pain (p > 0.05). The prevalence and severity of focal knee lesions were not significantly different in knee pairs of subjects with no knee pain and those with bilateral knee pain (p > 0.05). Conclusion: Focal knee lesions in the right and left knee of subjects with OA risk factors were positively associated with each other independent of knee pain status, and were not statistically significant different between knees in subjects with unilateral knee pain.

  4. Focal knee lesions in knee pairs of asymptomatic and symptomatic subjects with OA risk factors—Data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Chundru, Renu; Baum, Thomas; Nardo, Lorenzo; Nevitt, Michael C.; Lynch, John; McCulloch, Charles E.; Link, Thomas M.

    2013-01-01

    Objective: To better understand the relationship between knee pain and bilateral knee lesions, we compared focal knee lesions in knee pairs of subjects with no, unilateral, and bilateral knee pain, and risk factors for knee osteoarthritis (OA), but no radiographic knee OA. Materials and methods: We examined both knees of 120 subjects from the Osteoarthritis Initiative database. We randomly selected 60 subjects aged 45–55 years with OA risk factors, no knee pain (WOMAC pain score = 0) and no radiographic OA (KL-score ≤1) in both knees. We also selected two comparison groups with OA risk factors and no radiographic OA in both knees, but with knee pain (WOMAC pain score ≥5): 30 subjects with right only knee pain and 30 subjects with bilateral knee pain. All subjects underwent 3T MRI of both knees and focal knee lesions were assessed. Results: Statistically significant associations between prevalence of focal lesions in the right and left knee with odds ratios up to 13.5 were found in all three subject groups. Focal knee lesions were generally not associated with pain in analyses comparing knee pairs of subjects with unilateral knee pain (p > 0.05). The prevalence and severity of focal knee lesions were not significantly different in knee pairs of subjects with no knee pain and those with bilateral knee pain (p > 0.05). Conclusion: Focal knee lesions in the right and left knee of subjects with OA risk factors were positively associated with each other independent of knee pain status, and were not statistically significant different between knees in subjects with unilateral knee pain

  5. Assessment of the left ventricular systolic and diastolic function by the left ventricular density curve derived from intravenous digital subtraction angiography in children

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Horigome, Hitoshi; Satoh, Hideo; Isobe, Takeshi; Takita, Hitoshi

    1991-01-01

    To evaluate the left ventricular (LV) systolic and diastolic function, fifty-four children with various heart diseases underwent intravenous digital subtraction angiography (IV-DSA). Global left ventricular density curve was obtained through densitometry of the DSA images. The curve was smoothed by a third-degree Fourier transformation and systolic and diastolic indexes were obtained. In the control group, consisting of Kawasaki disease without coronary lesion and mild pulmonary stenosis, the peak ejection rate (PER) and the peak filling rate in early diastole (PFR-E) correlated positively with the heart rate (HR) in a quadratic curve manner [PER: r= 0.93 p<0.01, PFR-E: r= 0.94 p<0.01]. Time from end-diastolic to PER (T-PER) and time from end-systolic to PFR (T-PFR) were correlated negatively with HR [T-PER: r=-0.86 p<0.01, T-PFR: r=-0.91 p<0.01]. However, T-PER/RR and T-PFR/RR values were rather constant (20.9±3.2%, 17.0±2.6%, respectively). We also found significant correlations of PER and PFR-E with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). Patients with corrected tetralogy of Fallot and with cardiomyopaties showed not only abnormal systolic indexes but some depressed diastolic indexes. LV density curve also disclosed isolated diastolic dysfunction in a group of aortic stenosis and in two patients with coronary lesions. A correlation of LVEF derived from the density curve and conventional area-length method was high [r= 0.91 p<0.001]. To evaluate the reproducibility, we were able to obtain the digital data twice with over one month interval on 24 patients. The intraobserver correlation was satisfactory. We applied the remasking method, resulting in improving the quality of digital images under spontaneous breathing. Our results indicated that IV-DSA was a less-invasive and clinically reliable method for assessment of LV function in children. (author)

  6. Assessment of the left ventricular systolic and diastolic function by the left ventricular density curve derived from intravenous digital subtraction angiography in children

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Horigome, Hitoshi; Satoh, Hideo; Isobe, Takeshi; Takita, Hitoshi (Tsukuba Univ., Ibaraki (Japan). Inst. of Clinical Medicine)

    1991-05-01

    To evaluate the left ventricular (LV) systolic and diastolic function, fifty-four children with various heart diseases underwent intravenous digital subtraction angiography (IV-DSA). Global left ventricular density curve was obtained through densitometry of the DSA images. The curve was smoothed by a third-degree Fourier transformation and systolic and diastolic indexes were obtained. In the control group, consisting of Kawasaki disease without coronary lesion and mild pulmonary stenosis, the peak ejection rate (PER) and the peak filling rate in early diastole (PFR-E) correlated positively with the heart rate (HR) in a quadratic curve manner (PER: r= 0.93 p<0.01, PFR-E: r= 0.94 p<0.01). Time from end-diastolic to PER (T-PER) and time from end-systolic to PFR (T-PFR) were correlated negatively with HR (T-PER: r=-0.86 p<0.01, T-PFR: r=-0.91 p<0.01). However, T-PER/RR and T-PFR/RR values were rather constant (20.9+-3.2%, 17.0+-2.6%, respectively). We also found significant correlations of PER and PFR-E with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). Patients with corrected tetralogy of Fallot and with cardiomyopaties showed not only abnormal systolic indexes but some depressed diastolic indexes. LV density curve also disclosed isolated diastolic dysfunction in a group of aortic stenosis and in two patients with coronary lesions. A correlation of LVEF derived from the density curve and conventional area-length method was high (r= 0.91 p<0.001). To evaluate the reproducibility, we were able to obtain the digital data twice with over one month interval on 24 patients. The intraobserver correlation was satisfactory. We applied the remasking method, resulting in improving the quality of digital images under spontaneous breathing. Our results indicated that IV-DSA was a less-invasive and clinically reliable method for assessment of LV function in children. (author).

  7. Long Term Neuropsychological Follow-Up in Patients With Herpes Simplex Encephalitis and Predominantly Left-Sided Lesions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    B. Laurent

    1991-01-01

    Full Text Available Five patients with predominantly dominant cerebral hemisphere lesions due to herpes simplex encephalitis are described. Verbal amnesia was the main deficit but amnesic aphasia sometimes associated with impairment of remote memory also occurred. Semantic and episodic memory deficits were also explored in one case and the role of the right cerebral hemisphere in facilitating recovery of learning is discussed.

  8. Occipital transtentorial/falcine approach, a "cross-court" trajectory to accessing contralateral posterior thalamic lesions: case report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iwami, Kenichiro; Fujii, Masazumi; Saito, Kiyoshi

    2017-07-01

    Surgical treatment of lesions in the posterior thalamus, especially those extending laterally, is technically challenging because of a deep surgical field, narrow operative corridor, and the surrounding critical neurovascular structures. The authors describe an occipital transtentorial/falcine approach (OTFA) that was successfully used in the treatment of a cavernous malformation (CM) extending laterally from thalamus to midbrain. A 40-year-old man complained of progressive right hemiparesis and numbness. Radiological evaluation revealed a large CM in the left thalamus, surfacing on the pulvinar thalami, and extending 4 cm laterally from the midline. In addition to the usual procedures of a right-sided occipital transtentorial approach, the authors incised the falx cerebri to expand the operative corridor to the left thalamus. They achieved generous exposure of the left thalamus through a "cross-court" oblique trajectory while avoiding excessive retraction on the occipital lobe. The CM was completely removed, and no newly developed or worsening deficits were detected postoperatively. To better understand the OTFA and its application, the authors performed a cadaveric dissection. The OTFA provides increased exposure of the posterior thalamus without cortical incision and facilitates lateral access to this area through the "cross-court" operative corridor. This approach adds to the armamentarium for neurosurgeons treating thalamic lesions.

  9. Discriminant analysis of functional optical topography for schizophrenia diagnosis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chuang, Ching-Cheng; Nakagome, Kazuyuki; Pu, Shenghong; Lan, Tsuo-Hung; Lee, Chia-Yen; Sun, Chia-Wei

    2014-01-01

    Abnormal prefrontal function plays a central role in the cognition deficits of schizophrenic patients; however, the character of the relationship between discriminant analysis and prefrontal activation remains undetermined. Recently, evidence of low prefrontal cortex (PFC) activation in individuals with schizophrenia has also been found during verbal fluency tests (VFT) and other cognitive tests with several neuroimaging methods. The purpose of this study is to assess the hemodynamic changes of the PFC and discriminant analysis between schizophrenia patients and healthy controls during VFT task by utilizing functional optical topography. A total of 99 subjects including 53 schizophrenic patients and 46 age- and gender-matched healthy controls were studied. The results showed that the healthy group had larger activation in the right and left PFC than in the middle PFC. Besides, the schizophrenic group showed weaker task performance and lower activation in the whole PFC than the healthy group. The result of the discriminant analysis showed a significant difference with P value <0.001 in six channels (CH 23, 29, 31, 40, 42, 52) between the schizophrenic and healthy groups. Finally, 68.69% and 71.72% of subjects are correctly classified as being schizophrenic or healthy with all 52 channels and six significantly different channels, respectively. Our findings suggest that the left PFC can be a feature region for discriminant analysis of schizophrenic diagnosis.

  10. Simultaneous occurrence of a severe Morel-Lavallée lesion and gluteal muscle necrosis as a sequela of transcatheter angiographic embolization following pelvic fracture: a case report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shimizu, Takayoshi; Matsuda, Shuichi; Sakuragi, Atsushi; Tsukie, Tomio; Kawanabe, Keiichi

    2015-03-26

    Morel-Lavallée lesions are posttraumatic hemolymphatic collections caused by disruption of the interfascial planes between the subcutaneous soft tissue and muscle. Severe peripelvic Morel-Lavallée lesions have rarely been reported in the literature. By contrast, a number of cases of gluteal muscle necrosis following transcatheter angiographic embolization for pelvic fracture have been reported. Each entity can result in severe infection and sepsis, and the mortality rate in such cases is quite high. However, to date, no previous reports have described a case in which these life-threatening entities occurred simultaneously. A 32-year-old Asian man simultaneously developed severe peripelvic Morel-Lavallée lesions and gluteal muscle necrosis with sepsis following transcatheter angiographic embolization after an unstable pelvic fracture. Extremely large skin and soft tissue defects, which were untreatable with any commonly used flaps, were generated after repeated debridement. In addition, a deep-bone infection was suspected in his left fractured iliac bone, while motor function was almost completely lost in his left leg, possibly as a sequela of transcatheter angiographic embolization. As a result of his condition, a left hemipelvectomy was unavoidable. A pedicled fillet flap from his sacrificed left limb was used for the treatment of the defects and to provide a durable base for a prosthesis. Our patient survived and returned to his previous job 24 months after the surgery wearing a prosthetic left leg. As illustrated by the present case, severe peripelvic Morel-Lavallée lesions and gluteal muscle necrosis following transcatheter angiographic embolization can occur simultaneously after unstable pelvic fractures. Physicians should recognize that these entities can result in life-threatening sepsis and, therefore, should attempt to detect them as early as possible. When hemipelvectomy is unavoidable, a pedicled upper and lower leg in-continuity fillet flap may

  11. Left regular bands of groups of left quotients

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    El-Qallali, A.

    1988-10-01

    A semigroup S which has a left regular band of groups as a semigroup of left quotients is shown to be the semigroup which is a left regular band of right reversible cancellative semigroups. An alternative characterization is provided by using spinned products. These results are applied to the case where S is a superabundant whose set of idempotents forms a left normal band. (author). 13 refs

  12. Kinetic properties and adrenergic control of TREK-2-like channels in rat medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) pyramidal neurons.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ładno, W; Gawlak, M; Szulczyk, P; Nurowska, E

    2017-06-15

    TREK-2-like channels were identified on the basis of electrophysiological and pharmacological tests performed on freshly isolated and enzymatically/mechanically dispersed pyramidal neurons of the rat medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). Single-channel currents were recorded in cell-attached configuration and the impact of adrenergic receptors (α 1 , α 2 , β) stimulation on spontaneously appearing TREK-2-like channel activity was tested. The obtained results indicate that noradrenaline decreases the mean open probability of TREK-2-like channel currents by activation of β 1 but not of α 1 - and α 2 -adrenergic receptors. Mean open time and channel conductance were not affected. The system of intracellular signaling pathways depends on the activation of protein kinase A. We also show that adrenergic control of TREK-2-like channel currents by adrenergic receptors was similar in pyramidal neurons isolated from young, adolescent, and adult rats. Immunofluorescent confocal scans of mPFC slices confirmed the presence of the TREK-2 protein, which was abundant in layer V pyramidal neurons. The role of TREK-2-like channel control by adrenergic receptors is discussed. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  13. Dose-response characteristics of methylphenidate on locomotor behavior and on sensory evoked potentials recorded from the VTA, NAc, and PFC in freely behaving rats

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Swann Alan C

    2006-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Methylphenidate (MPD is a psychostimulant commonly prescribed for attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. The mode of action of the brain circuitry responsible for initiating the animals' behavior in response to psychostimulants is not well understood. There is some evidence that psychostimulants activate the ventral tegmental area (VTA, nucleus accumbens (NAc, and prefrontal cortex (PFC. Methods The present study was designed to investigate the acute dose-response of MPD (0.6, 2.5, and 10.0 mg/kg on locomotor behavior and sensory evoked potentials recorded from the VTA, NAc, and PFC in freely behaving rats previously implanted with permanent electrodes. For locomotor behavior, adult male Wistar-Kyoto (WKY; n = 39 rats were given saline on experimental day 1 and either saline or an acute injection of MPD (0.6, 2.5, or 10.0 mg/kg, i.p. on experimental day 2. Locomotor activity was recorded for 2-h post injection on both days using an automated, computerized activity monitoring system. Electrophysiological recordings were also performed in the adult male WKY rats (n = 10. Five to seven days after the rats had recovered from the implantation of electrodes, each rat was placed in a sound-insulated, electrophysiological test chamber where its sensory evoked field potentials were recorded before and after saline and 0.6, 2.5, and 10.0 mg/kg MPD injection. Time interval between injections was 90 min. Results Results showed an increase in locomotion with dose-response characteristics, while a dose-response decrease in amplitude of the components of sensory evoked field responses of the VTA, NAc, and PFC neurons. For example, the P3 component of the sensory evoked field response of the VTA decreased by 19.8% ± 7.4% from baseline after treatment of 0.6 mg/kg MPD, 37.8% ± 5.9% after 2.5 mg/kg MPD, and 56.5% ± 3.9% after 10 mg/kg MPD. Greater attenuation from baseline was observed in the NAc and PFC. Differences in the intensity of

  14. Transcortical mixed aphasia due to cerebral infarction in left inferior frontal lobe and temporo-parietal lobe

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Maeshima, S.; Matsumoto, T.; Ueyoshi, A.; Toshiro, H.; Sekiguchi, E.; Okita, R.; Yamaga, H.; Ozaki, F.; Moriwaki, H.; Roger, P.

    2002-01-01

    We present a case of transcortical mixed aphasia caused by a cerebral embolism. A 77-year-old right-handed man was admitted to our hospital with speech disturbance and a right hemianopia. His spontaneous speech was remarkably reduced, and object naming, word fluency, comprehension, reading and writing were all severely disturbed. However, repetition of phonemes and sentences and reading aloud were fully preserved. Although magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed cerebral infarcts in the left frontal and parieto-occipital lobe which included the inferior frontal gyrus and angular gyrus, single photon emission CT revealed a wider area of low perfusion over the entire left hemisphere except for part of the left perisylvian language areas. The amytal (Wada) test, which was performed via the left internal carotid artery, revealed that the left hemisphere was dominant for language. Hence, it appears that transcortical mixed aphasia may be caused by the isolation of perisylvian speech areas, even if there is a lesion in the inferior frontal gyrus, due to disconnection from surrounding areas. (orig.)

  15. Transcortical mixed aphasia due to cerebral infarction in left inferior frontal lobe and temporo-parietal lobe

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Maeshima, S.; Matsumoto, T.; Ueyoshi, A. [Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Wakayama Medical University, Wakayama (Japan); Toshiro, H.; Sekiguchi, E.; Okita, R.; Yamaga, H.; Ozaki, F.; Moriwaki, H. [Department of Neurological Surgery, Hidaka General Hospital, Wakayama (Japan); Roger, P. [School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW (Australia)

    2002-02-01

    We present a case of transcortical mixed aphasia caused by a cerebral embolism. A 77-year-old right-handed man was admitted to our hospital with speech disturbance and a right hemianopia. His spontaneous speech was remarkably reduced, and object naming, word fluency, comprehension, reading and writing were all severely disturbed. However, repetition of phonemes and sentences and reading aloud were fully preserved. Although magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed cerebral infarcts in the left frontal and parieto-occipital lobe which included the inferior frontal gyrus and angular gyrus, single photon emission CT revealed a wider area of low perfusion over the entire left hemisphere except for part of the left perisylvian language areas. The amytal (Wada) test, which was performed via the left internal carotid artery, revealed that the left hemisphere was dominant for language. Hence, it appears that transcortical mixed aphasia may be caused by the isolation of perisylvian speech areas, even if there is a lesion in the inferior frontal gyrus, due to disconnection from surrounding areas. (orig.)

  16. Interictal epileptiform discharges have an independent association with cognitive impairment in children with lesional epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Glennon, Jennifer M; Weiss-Croft, Louise; Harrison, Sue; Cross, J Helen; Boyd, Stewart G; Baldeweg, Torsten

    2016-09-01

    The relative contribution of interictal epileptiform discharges (IEDs) to cognitive dysfunction in comparison with the underlying brain pathology is not yet understood in children with lesional focal epilepsy. The current study investigated the association of IEDs with intellectual functioning in 103 children with medication-resistant focal epilepsy. Hierarchical multiple regression analyses were used to determine the independent contribution of IED features on intellectual functioning, after controlling for effects of lesional pathology, epilepsy duration, and medication. Exploratory analyses were conducted for language and memory scores as well as academic skills available in a subset of participants. The results reveal that IEDs have a negative association with IQ with independent, additive effects documented for frequent and bilaterally distributed IEDs as well as discharge enhancement in sleep. Left-lateralized IEDs had a prominent effect on verbal intelligence, in excess of the influence of left-sided brain pathology. These effects extended to other cognitive functions, most prominently for sleep-enhanced IEDs to be associated with deficits in expressive and receptive language, reading, spelling and numerical skills. Overall, IED effects on cognition were of a magnitude similar to lesional influences or drug effects (topiramate use). This study demonstrates an association between IEDs and cognitive dysfunction, independent of the underlying focal brain pathology. Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 International League Against Epilepsy.

  17. Occult left atrial ball-like thrombus in a patient referred for surgical removal of suspected cerebellum tumor

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Możeńska, Olga; Kalińska, Irena; Brodowski, Karol; Walecki, Jerzy; Kosior, Dariusz A.

    2014-01-01

    Atrial fibrillation and related cardio-embolic cerebrovascular accidents are two well-defined major healthcare problems worldwide. It has been approximated that 2.2 million people in America and 4.5 million in European Union have paroxysmal or persistent atrial fibrillation. And atrial fibrillation itself is an independent long-term risk factor of stroke. We present a case of patient referred to our center for surgical removal of suspected cerebellum tumor, a case that had a rather unexpected ending. A 58-year-old male patient with a history of atrial fibrillation, congestive heart failure (NYHA II/III), stable coronary artery disease, diabetes type 2 and hyperlipidemia presented with vertigo, headaches, mainly during physical activity and increased tiredness. Performed computer tomography revealed two lesions in the cerebellum and in the left lateral chamber. The diagnosis of a proliferative disease of the cerebellum was established and patient was referred to the Neurosurgical Department. Fortunately, before the operation the echocardiography was performed, which revealed two lesions in left atrium. The decision of the Heart Team was to refer the patient for an open-heart surgery, in which two thrombi were removed. Neurosurgeons decided to withdraw from further surgery and proceed with head MRI and conservative treatment, deciding that the lesion in the cerebellum was most likely an ischemic area. Looking at the brain lesion should always be done from the whole patient’s perspective. And using mutlimodality imaging may lead to appropriate diagnosis, correct course of therapeutic action and unexpected ending of a rather non-extraordinary case

  18. [THE INFLUENCE OF MONO- AND MULTIVASCULAR LESIONS OF CORONARY ARTERIES ON THE COURSE OF CORONARY HEART DISEASE IN PATIENTS WITH DIABETES MELLITUS TYPE 2].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sypalo, A; Kravchun, P; Kadykova, O

    2017-03-01

    The article assesses the influence of mono- and multivascular lesions of coronary arteries on the course of coronary heart disease at patients with diabetes mellitus type 2. For this purpose, a comprehensive survey of 75 patients with coronary heart disease and diabetes mellitus type 2 was arranged. Depending on the number of vascular lesions of the coronary arteries, according to the data of coronary arteries computer tomography, all patients were divided into two subgroups. The first subgroup included 27 patients with coronary heart disease and diabetes mellitus type 2 with monovascular lesions of coronary arteries. To the second subgroup were included 48 patients with coronary heart disease and diabetes mellitus type 2 with multivascular lesions of coronary arteries. During the analysis of carbohydrate metabolism in cases of coronary heart disease and diabetes mellitus type 2 the HOMA index increase by 25.40% and insulin level increase by 17.05% were revealed at patients with multivascular lesions of coronary arteries in comparison with patients with monovascular lesions of coronary arteries, respectively. The combination of coronary heart disease and diabetes mellitus type 2 with multivascular lesions of coronary arteries was associated with an increase of sortilin level (233,47±47,85 ng/l). A significant increase in triglycerides, lipoprotein cholesterol of very low density influences greatly on the progression of coronary atherosclerosis with lesions of greater number of coronary arteries at patients surveyed. At patients with coronary heart disease and diabetes mellitus type 2 with multivascular lesions of coronary arteries the left ventricle myocardial re-modeling occurred through the increase of left ventricle's size and cavity.

  19. Acute Korsakoff-like amnestic syndrome resulting from left thalamic infarction following a right hippocampal hemorrhage.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rahme, R; Moussa, R; Awada, A; Ibrahim, I; Ali, Y; Maarrawi, J; Rizk, T; Nohra, G; Okais, N; Samaha, E

    2007-04-01

    Korsakoff-like amnestic syndromes have been rarely described following structural lesions of the central nervous system. In this report, we describe a case of acute Korsakoff-like syndrome resulting from the combination of a left anteromedian thalamic infarct and a right hippocampal hemorrhage. We also review the literature relevant to the neuropathology and pathophysiology of Korsakoff syndrome and anterograde amnesia.

  20. Involvement of the Left Supramarginal Gyrus in Manipulation Judgment Tasks: Contributions to Theories of Tool Use.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lesourd, Mathieu; Osiurak, François; Navarro, Jordan; Reynaud, Emanuelle

    2017-09-01

    Two theories of tool use, namely the gesture engram and the technical reasoning theories, make distinct predictions about the involvement of the left inferior parietal lobe (IPL) in manipulation judgement tasks. The objective here is to test these alternative predictions based on previous studies on manipulation judgment tasks using transcranial magnetic stimulations (TMS) targeting the left supramarginal gyrus (SMG). We review recent TMS studies on manipulation judgement tasks and confront these data with predictions made by both tool use theories. The left SMG is a highly intertwined region, organized following several functionally distinct areas and TMS may have disrupted a cortical network involved in the ability to use tools rather than only one functional area supporting manipulation knowledge. Moreover, manipulation judgement tasks may be impaired following virtual lesions outside the IPL. These data are more in line with the technical reasoning hypothesis, which assumes that the left IPL does not store manipulation knowledge per se. (JINS, 2017, 23, 685-691).

  1. Arterial spin labelling shows functional depression of non-lesion tissue in chronic Wernicke's aphasia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robson, Holly; Specht, Karsten; Beaumont, Helen; Parkes, Laura M; Sage, Karen; Lambon Ralph, Matthew A; Zahn, Roland

    2017-07-01

    Behavioural impairment post-stroke is a consequence of structural damage and altered functional network dynamics. Hypoperfusion of intact neural tissue is frequently observed in acute stroke, indicating reduced functional capacity of regions outside the lesion. However, cerebral blood flow (CBF) is rarely investigated in chronic stroke. This study investigated CBF in individuals with chronic Wernicke's aphasia (WA) and examined the relationship between lesion, CBF and neuropsychological impairment. Arterial spin labelling CBF imaging and structural MRIs were collected in 12 individuals with chronic WA and 13 age-matched control participants. Joint independent component analysis (jICA) investigated the relationship between structural lesion and hypoperfusion. Partial correlations explored the relationship between lesion, hypoperfusion and language measures. Joint ICA revealed significant differences between the control and WA groups reflecting a large area of structural lesion in the left posterior hemisphere and an associated area of hypoperfusion extending into grey matter surrounding the lesion. Small regions of remote cortical hypoperfusion were observed, ipsilateral and contralateral to the lesion. Significant correlations were observed between the neuropsychological measures (naming, repetition, reading and semantic association) and the jICA component of interest in the WA group. Additional ROI analyses found a relationship between perfusion surrounding the core lesion and the same neuropsychological measures. This study found that core language impairments in chronic WA are associated with a combination of structural lesion and abnormal perfusion in non-lesioned tissue. This indicates that post-stroke impairments are due to a wider disruption of neural function than observable on structural T1w MRI. Copyright © 2016 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.

  2. Contributions of the Hippocampus and Medial Prefrontal Cortex to Energy and Body Weight Regulation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Davidson, T. L.; Chan, Kinho; Jarrard, Leonard E.; Kanoski, Scott E.; Clegg, Deborah J.; Benoit, Stephen C.

    2008-01-01

    The effects of selective ibotenate lesions of the complete hippocampus (CHip), the hippocampal ventral pole (VP), or the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) in male rats were assessed on several measures related to energy regulation (i.e., body weight gain, food intake, body adiposity, metabolic activity general behavioral activity, conditioned appetitive responding). The testing conditions were designed to minimize the nonspecific debilitating effects of these surgeries on intake and body weight. Rats with CHip and VP lesions exhibited significantly greater weight gain and food intake compared to controls. Furthermore, CHip-lesioned rats, but not rats with VP lesions, showed elevated metabolic activity, general activity in the dark phase of the light-dark cycle, and greater conditioned appetitive behavior, compared to control rats without these brain lesions. In contrast, rats with mPFC lesions were not different from controls on any of these measures. These results indicate that hippocampal damage interferes with energy and body weight regulation, perhaps by disrupting higher-order learning and memory processes that contribute to the control of appetitive and consummatory behavior. PMID:18831000

  3. Kawasaki disease-associated coronary artery lesions with navigator echo-based. Respiratory-gated three dimensional coronary magnetic resonance angiography compared with echocardiography in young children

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Amino, Masayuki; Teraoka, Kunihiko; Hirano, Masaharu; Kawashima, Naoshi; Kakizaki, Dai; Ookubo, Yasuo; Sasaki, Kazuyoshi; Katuyama, Hiroaki

    2004-01-01

    Navigator echo-based respiratory-gated three dimensional coronary magnetic resonance angiography (3D-CMRA) was compared with echocardiography, to determine whether 3D-CMRA was useful for the evaluation of Kawasaki disease-associated coronary artery lesions. Sixteen consecutive patients (imaging was performed 17 times in total) who were given a diagnosis of Kawasaki's disease at the pediatric department of our hospital and examined for the precise examination of complicating coronary artery lesions on MRI using a navigator-echo technique because of their incapability of holding their breath during imaging were entered into the present study. A 1.5T MRI system was used. Gd-DOTA was given at a total volume of 0.1 mmol/kg. During imaging, CMRA visualized the left coronary arteries in all 17 cases and the right coronary arteries in 16 cases, but not in one case. The left main coronary trunk segment no.5 was demonstrated in all cases with CMRA, but not in 4 cases with echocardiography. The left anterior descending branch no.6 was visualized in 11 of the 17 cases with CMRA, but only in 5 cases with echocardiography. The left circumflex branch no.11 was observed in 6 cases with CMRA, but only in 2 cases with echocardiography. As for the right coronary arteries, branches no.1 and no.2 were observed in 16 and 9 cases with CMRA, respectively, and in 13 and 3 cases with echocardiography, respectively. Vascular diameters measured on CMRA were almost identical to those on echocardiography, within the range of arteries visualized. 3D-CMRA combined with a navigator echo technique appears to be a useful tool for the observation of coronary artery lesions associated with Kawasaki's disease because it is superior in lesion visualization to echocardiography. (author)

  4. [A patient with prosopagnosia which developed after an infarction in the left occipital lobe in addition to an old infarction in the right occipital lobe].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Iwanaga, Keisuke; Satoh, Akira; Satoh, Hideyo; Seto, Makiko; Ochi, Makoto; Tsujihata, Mitsuhiro

    2011-05-01

    A 66-year-old, right-handed male, was admitted to our hospital with difficulty in recognizing faces and colors. He had suffered a stroke in the right occipital region three years earlier that had induced left homonymous hemianopsia, but not prosopagnosia. A neurological examination revealed prosopagnosia, color agnosia, constructional apraxia, and topographical disorientation, but not either hemineglect or dressing apraxia. The patient was unable to distinguish faces of familiar persons such as his family and friends, as well as those of unfamiliar persons such as doctors and nurses. Brain MRI demonstrated an old infarction in the right medial occipital lobe and a new hemorrhagic infarction in the left medial occipital lobe, including the fusiform and lingual gyrus. It is unclear whether a purely right medial occipital lesion can be responsible for prosopagnosia, or whether bilateral medial occipital lesions are necessary for this occurrence. The current case indicated that bilateral medial occipital lesions play an important role in inducing porsopagnosia.

  5. [Case of suspected multiple sclerosis with transcallosal lesions involving the upper surface of the corpus callosum].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shirafuji, Toshihiko; Oya, Yasushi; Nakamura, Harumasa; Ogata, Katsuhisa; Ogawa, Masafumi; Kawai, Mitsuru

    2008-05-01

    A 26-year-old woman noticed gradually progressive, right lower leg weakness over a 1.5-month period. Neurological examination revealed right hemiparesis with slightly increased deep tendon reflexes, Babinski's sign on the right side, loss of position sense in the right leg, and slight loss of superficial sensation in the right toes. MR FLAIR images showed a high intensity area measuring 5 x 2 x 3 cm in the left frontal lobe, extending to the outer surface of the body of the corpus callosum and the adjacent right cingulate gyrus. Gadolinium enhancement was seen along the cortex and the outer surface of the body of the corpus callosum. CSF findings showed no pleocytosis, a protein content of 32 mg/dl, a sugar level of 85 mg/dl, and an IgG index of 0.46. The biopsy specimen obtained from the superior frontal gyrus showed perivascular cuffing of T-lymphocytes and some B-lymphocytes, as well as multiple small foci of demyelination. Starting on the second day of admission, the patient was treated with methylprednisolone pulse therapy (1,000 mg/day for 3 days); she was then switched to oral prednisolone (20 mg/day). Thereafter, the patient had two clinical relapses: one was due to a lesion in the dorsal part of the medulla oblongata associated with a disturbance of deep sensation in both hands, and the other was due to a lesion involving the right internal capsule, the globus pallidus, and the caudate nucleus associated with left facial nerve palsy. Visual evoked potentials suggested a demyelinating lesion in the right optic nerve. We suspected a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis based on the presence of more than two clinical episodes of neurological deficits with identifiable lesions on MRI. Multiple sclerosis should be considered in the differential diagnosis of lesions located in the outer part of the corpus callosum and transcallosal bilateral hemispheres on MRI, even though inner callosal lesions are common in multiple sclerosis.

  6. A face to remember: emotional expression modulates prefrontal activity during memory formation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sergerie, Karine; Lepage, Martin; Armony, Jorge L

    2005-01-15

    Emotion can exert a modulatory role on episodic memory. Several studies have shown that negative stimuli (e.g., words, pictures) are better remembered than neutral ones. Although facial expressions are powerful emotional stimuli and have been shown to influence perception and attention processes, little is known about their effect on memory. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in humans to investigate the effects of expression (happy, neutral, and fearful) on prefrontal cortex (PFC) activity during the encoding of faces, using a subsequent memory effect paradigm. Our results show that activity in right PFC predicted memory for faces, regardless of expression, while a homotopic region in the left hemisphere was associated with successful encoding only for faces with an emotional expression. These findings are consistent with the proposed role of right dorsolateral PFC in successful encoding of nonverbal material, but also suggest that left DLPFC may be a site where integration of memory and emotional processes occurs. This study sheds new light on the current controversy regarding the hemispheric lateralization of PFC in memory encoding.

  7. Language function distribution in left-handers: A navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tussis, Lorena; Sollmann, Nico; Boeckh-Behrens, Tobias; Meyer, Bernhard; Krieg, Sandro M

    2016-02-01

    Recent studies suggest that in left-handers, the right hemisphere (RH) is more involved in language function when compared to right-handed subjects. Since data on lesion-based approaches is lacking, we aimed to investigate language distribution of left-handers by repetitive navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS). Thus, rTMS was applied to the left hemisphere (LH) and RH in 15 healthy left-handers during an object-naming task, and resulting naming errors were categorized. Then, we calculated error rates (ERs=number of errors per number of stimulations) for both hemispheres separately and defined a laterality score as the quotient of the LH ER - RH ER through the LH ER + RH ER (abbreviated as (L-R)/(L+R)). In this context, (L-R)/(L+R)>0 indicates that the LH is dominant, whereas (L-R)/(L+R)left-handers and right-handers (source data of another study) for all errors (mean 0.01±0.14 vs. 0.19±0.20, p=0.0019) and all errors without hesitation (mean -0.02±0.20 vs. 0.19±0.28, p=0.0051) was revealed, whereas the comparison for no responses did not show a significant difference (mean: -0.004±0.27 vs. 0.09±0.44, p=0.64). Accordingly, left-handers present a comparatively equal language distribution across both hemispheres with language dominance being nearly equally distributed between hemispheres in contrast to right-handers. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. In vitro parameter optimization for spatial control of focused ultrasound ablation when using low boiling point phase-change nanoemulsions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Puett, Connor; Phillips, Linsey C; Sheeran, Paul S; Dayton, Paul A

    2013-01-01

    Phase-shift nanoemulsions (PSNEs) provide cavitation sites when the perfluorocarbon (PFC) nanodroplets (ND) are vaporized to microbubbles by acoustic energy. Their presence lowers the power required to ablate tissue by high-intensity focused ultrasound (HIFU), potentially making it a safer option for a broader range of treatment sites. However, spatial control over the ablation region can be problematic when cavitation is used to enhance heating. This study explored relationships between vaporization, ablation, and the PSNE concentration in vitro to optimize the acoustic intensity and insonation time required for spatially controlled ablation enhancement using a PSNE that included a volatile PFC component. HIFU (continuous wave at 1 MHz; insonation times of 5, 10, 15, and 20 s; cool-down times of 2, 4, and 6 s; peak negative pressures of 2, 3, and 4 MPa) was applied to albumin-acrylamide gels containing PFC agents (1:1 mix of volatile decafluorobutane and more stable dodecafluoropentane at 10(5) to 10(8) PFC ND per milliliter) or agent-free controls. Vaporization fields (microbubble clouds) were imaged by conventional ultrasound, and ablation lesions were measured directly by calipers. Controlled ablation was defined as the production of 'cigar'-shaped lesions corresponding with the acoustic focal zone. This control was considered to be lost when ablation occurred in prefocal vaporization fields having a predominantly 'tadpole' or oblong shape. Changes in the vaporization field shape and location occurred on a continuum with increasing PSNE concentration and acoustic intensity. Working with the maximum concentration-intensity combinations resulting in controlled ablation demonstrated a dose-responsive relationship between insonation time and volumes of both the vaporization fields (approximately 20 to 240 mm(3)) and the ablation lesions (1 to 135 mm(3)) within them. HIFU ablation was enhanced by this PSNE and could be achieved using intensities ≤650 W/cm(2

  9. Analysis of lesions in patients with unilateral tactile agnosia using cytoarchitectonic probabilistic maps.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hömke, Lars; Amunts, Katrin; Bönig, Lutz; Fretz, Christian; Binkofski, Ferdinand; Zilles, Karl; Weder, Bruno

    2009-05-01

    We propose a novel methodical approach to lesion analyses involving high-resolution MR images in combination with probabilistic cytoarchitectonic maps. 3D-MR images of the whole brain and the manually segmented lesion mask are spatially normalized to the reference brain of a stereotaxic probabilistic cytoarchitectonic atlas using a multiscale registration algorithm based on an elastic model. The procedure is demonstrated in three patients suffering from aperceptive tactile agnosia of the right hand due to chronic infarction of the left parietal cortex. Patient 1 presents a lesion in areas of the postcentral sulcus, Patient 3 in areas of the superior parietal lobule and adjacent intraparietal sulcus, and Patient 2 lesions in both regions. On the basis of neurobehavioral data, we conjectured degradation of sequential elementary sensory information processing within the postcentral gyrus, impeding texture recognition in Patients 1 and 2, and disturbed kinaesthetic information processing in the posterior parietal lobe, causing degraded shape recognition in the patients 2 and 3. The involvement of Brodmann areas 4a, 4p, 3a, 3b, 1, 2, and areas IP1 and IP2 of the intraparietal sulcus was assessed in terms of the voxel overlap between the spatially transformed lesion masks and the 50%-isocontours of the cytoarchitectonic maps. The disruption of the critical cytoarchitectonic areas and the impaired subfunctions, texture and shape recognition, relate as conjectured above. We conclude that the proposed method represents a promising approach to hypothesis-driven lesion analyses, yielding lesion-function correlates based on a cytoarchitectonic model. Finally, the lesion-function correlates are validated by functional imaging reference data. (c) 2008 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  10. Orbital atherectomy as an adjunct to debulk difficult calcified lesions prior to mesenteric artery stenting.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Manunga, Jesse M; Oderich, Gustavo S

    2012-08-01

    To describe a technique in which percutaneous orbital atherectomy is used to debulk heavily calcified superior mesenteric artery (SMA) occlusions as an adjunct in patients undergoing angioplasty and stenting. The technique is demonstrated in a 62-year-old woman with a replaced right hepatic artery originating from an SMA occluded by densely calcified lesions. Via a left transbrachial approach, a 7-F MPA guide catheter was used to engage the ostium of the SMA, which was crossed using a catheter and guidewire. The calcified lesion was debulked using the 2-mm Diamondback 360° orbital atherectomy system. The wire was exchanged for a 0.014-inch filter wire and 0.018-inch guidewire. Using a 2-guidewire technique, the SMA was stented with a self-expanding stent for the distal lesion that crossed side branches and a balloon-expandable stent at the ostium. A 0.014-inch guidewire was placed into the replaced hepatic artery through a cell of the self-expanding stent, followed by deployment of a small balloon-expandable stent to address the residual lesion. The use of orbital atherectomy to debulk occluded and heavily calcified SMA lesions may optimize the technical results with angioplasty and stenting.

  11. A rare case in which necrotic brain lesions were calcified after radiation therapy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kowada, Masayoshi; Goto, Katsuya; Hirayama, Akihiko; Gito, Yoji; Watanabe, Kazuo

    1976-01-01

    This is a 20-year-old female who had diabetes insipidus and disturbance of visual acuity at the age of 10. Because she had been diagnosed as having craniopharyngioma, she received 1000 R by 60 Co in August 1965 (at the age of 16), 4000 R from November to August 1966, and 2600 R in June 1967, a total of 7600 R for one year and ten months. At that time, the left facial palsy was noticed. Incomplete palsy was seen in the left lower extremity in October 1967 (at the age of 18). Disturbances of hearing and speaking appeared in March 1968 (at the age of 19). She complained of high fever (38 0 C) and migraine on the left in December 1974. The skull plain x-ray revealed calcification in the left temporal region of the skull, corresponding to the skin scar caused by 60 Co irradiation. Left carotid arteriography revealed lesions in the left temporal lobe, but no tumor stains. Right carotid arteriography revealed marked stricture in the right middle cerebral artery, and obstruction of the cortical branches. Brain scintigram (sup(99m)Tc) revealed the moduratoly increased activity on both temporal regions. The pneumo-encephalography revealed calcification in the left temporal horn of lateral ventricle. The pathological findings after the operation showed necrosis and calcification of brain tissues caused by intimitis and obstruction of the cerebral vessels. (Kanao, N.)

  12. Application of a data-mining method based on Bayesian networks to lesion-deficit analysis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herskovits, Edward H.; Gerring, Joan P.

    2003-01-01

    Although lesion-deficit analysis (LDA) has provided extensive information about structure-function associations in the human brain, LDA has suffered from the difficulties inherent to the analysis of spatial data, i.e., there are many more variables than subjects, and data may be difficult to model using standard distributions, such as the normal distribution. We herein describe a Bayesian method for LDA; this method is based on data-mining techniques that employ Bayesian networks to represent structure-function associations. These methods are computationally tractable, and can represent complex, nonlinear structure-function associations. When applied to the evaluation of data obtained from a study of the psychiatric sequelae of traumatic brain injury in children, this method generates a Bayesian network that demonstrates complex, nonlinear associations among lesions in the left caudate, right globus pallidus, right side of the corpus callosum, right caudate, and left thalamus, and subsequent development of attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, confirming and extending our previous statistical analysis of these data. Furthermore, analysis of simulated data indicates that methods based on Bayesian networks may be more sensitive and specific for detecting associations among categorical variables than methods based on chi-square and Fisher exact statistics.

  13. Efficacy of CTA portography for preoperatively determining the segmental location of focal hepatic lesions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nelson, R.C.; Chemzmar, J.L.; Sugarbaker, P.H.; Bernardino, M.E.

    1989-01-01

    Using cross-sectional images to localize tumors to specific hepatic segments before resection might be difficult because the transverse scissura, an important segmental landmark, is approximately parallel to the axial plane. Since this plane is parallel to the main right and left portal pedicles, the authors postulated that they could localize lesions above this plane to segments 2,4A,7, or 8, and below this plane to segments 3, 4B,5, or 6. The authors have retrospectively evaluated, in a blinded fashion, 24 hepatic masses in 13 patients who underwent CTA-portography and subsequent tumor resection. Using this scheme, they have accurately predicted the primary segmental location in 22 (92%) of 24 surgically confirmed lesions

  14. Aortic stenosis with abnormal eccentric left ventricular remodeling secondary to hypothyroidism in a Bourdeaux Mastiff

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Guilherme Augusto Minozzo

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT: This paper describes a case of congenital aortic stenosis with eccentric left ventricular hypertrophy associated with hypothyroidism in a 1-year-old Bourdeaux Mastiff dog. The dog had ascites, apathy, alopecic and erythematous skin lesions in different parts of the body. A two-dimensional echocardiogram revealed aortic valve stenosis, with poststenotic dilation in the ascending aorta. The same exam showed eccentric hypertrophy and dilation of the left ventricle during systole and diastole. Aortic stenosis usually results in concentric left ventricular hypertrophy instead of eccentric hypertrophy; and therefore, this finding was very unusual. Hypothyroidism, which is uncommon in young dogs, may be incriminated as the cause of ventricular dilation, making this report even more interesting. Because hypothyroidism would only result in dilatation, the eccentric hypertrophy was attributed to pressure overload caused by aortic stenosis. Thus, cardiac alterations of this case represent a paradoxical association of both diseases.

  15. Strengthening of Existing Episodic Memories Through Non-invasive Stimulation of Prefrontal Cortex in Older Adults with Subjective Memory Complaints

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Rosa Manenti

    2017-12-01

    Full Text Available Episodic memory is critical to daily life functioning. This type of declarative memory declines with age and is the earliest cognitive function to be compromised in Alzheimer’s disease (AD. Subjective memory complaints are commonly reported by older adults and have been considered a risk factor for developing AD. The possibilities for prevention of memory disorders in older adults have increased substantially in recent years. Previous studies have shown that anodal transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS applied over the left lateral prefrontal cortex (PFC after a contextual reminder strengthened existing verbal episodic memories, conceivably through reconsolidation, in elderly people. In this study, we hypothesized that anodal tDCS applied over the left lateral PFC after a contextual reminder would improve delayed memory retrieval relative to placebo (sham stimulation in elderly individuals with SMC. Twenty-two subjects learned a list of words. Twenty-four hour later, tDCS (anodal or placebo was applied over the left lateral PFC after a contextual reminder. Memory retrieval was tested 48h and 30 days later. These findings showed that anodal tDCS over the left lateral PFC strengthened existing episodic memories, a behavioral effect documented by improved recognition up to 30 days, relative to placebo stimulation. This study suggests that tDCS after a contextual reminder can induce long-lasting beneficial effects by facilitating the consolidation processes and opens up the possibility to design specific non-invasive interventions aimed at preventing memory decline in this at-risk population.

  16. Neural Correlates of Moral Evaluation and Psychopathic Traits in Male Multi-Problem Young Adults

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Josjan Zijlmans

    2018-06-01

    Full Text Available Multi-problem young adults (18–27 years present with a plethora of problems, including varying degrees of psychopathic traits. The amygdala and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC have been implicated in moral dysfunction in psychopathy in adolescents and adults, but no studies have been performed in populations in the transitional period to adulthood. We tested in multi-problem young adults the hypothesis that psychopathic traits are related to amygdala and vmPFC activity during moral evaluation. Additionally, we explored the relation between psychopathic traits and other regions consistently implicated in moral evaluation. Our final sample consisted of 100 multi-problem young adults and 22 healthy controls. During fMRI scanning, participants judged whether pictures showed a moral violation on a 1–4 scale. Whole brain analysis revealed neural correlates of moral evaluation consistent with the literature. Region of interest analyses revealed positive associations between the affective callous-unemotional dimension of psychopathy and activation in the left vmPFC, left superior temporal gyrus, and left cingulate. Our results are consistent with altered vmPFC function during moral evaluation in psychopathy, but we did not find evidence for amygdala involvement. Our findings indicate the affective callous-unemotional trait of psychopathy may be related to widespread altered activation patterns during moral evaluation in multi-problem young adults.

  17. A PFC3D-based numerical simulation of cutting load for lunar rock simulant and experimental validation

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Peng; Jiang, Shengyuan; Tang, Dewei; Xu, Bo

    2017-05-01

    For sake of striking a balance between the need of drilling efficiency and the constrains of power budget on the moon, the penetrations per revolution of drill bit are generally limited in the range around 0.1 mm, and besides the geometric angle of the cutting blade need to be well designed. This paper introduces a simulation approach based on PFC3D (particle flow code 3 dimensions) for analyzing the cutting load feature on lunar rock simulant, which is derived from different geometric-angle blades with a small cutting depth. The mean values of the cutting force of five blades in the survey region (four on the boundary points and one on the center point) are selected as the macroscopic responses of model. The method of experimental design which includes Plackett-Burman (PB) design and central composite design (CCD) method is adopted in the matching procedure of microparameters in PFC model. Using the optimization method of enumeration, the optimum set of microparameters is acquired. Then, the experimental validation is implemented by using other twenty-five blades with different geometric angles, and the results from both simulations and laboratory tests give fair agreements. Additionally, the rock breaking process cut by different blades are quantified from simulation analysis. This research provides the theoretical support for the refinement of the rock cutting load prediction and the geometric design of cutting blade on the drill bit.

  18. A pediatric case with peripheral facial nerve palsy caused by a granulomatous lesion associated with cat scratch disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nakamura, Chizuko; Inaba, Yuji; Tsukahara, Keiko; Mochizuki, Mie; Sawanobori, Emi; Nakazawa, Yozo; Aoyama, Kouki

    2018-02-01

    Cat scratch disease is a common infectious disorder caused by Bartonella henselae that is transmitted primarily by kittens. It typically exhibits a benign and self-limiting course of subacute regional lymphadenopathy and fever lasting two to eight weeks. The most severe complication of cat scratch disease is involvement of the nervous system, such as encephalitis, meningitis, and polyneuritis. Peripheral facial nerve palsy associated with Bartonella infection is rare; few reported pediatric and adult cases exist and the precise pathogenesis is unknown. A previously healthy 7-year-old boy presented with fever, cervical lymphadenopathy, and peripheral facial nerve palsy associated with serologically confirmed cat scratch disease. The stapedius muscle reflex was absent on the left side and brain magnetic resonance imaging revealed a mass lesion at the left internal auditory meatus. The patient's symptoms and imaging findings were gradually resolved after the antibiotics and corticosteroids treatment. The suspected granulomatous lesion was considered to have resulted from the host's immune reaction to Bartonella infection and impaired the facial nerve. This is the first case report providing direct evidence of peripheral facial nerve palsy caused by a suspected granulomatous lesion associated with cat scratch disease and its treatment course. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  19. A comparison of methods for monitoring low airborne concentrations of argon-41 and tritium, with MIT-PFC design applications

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    McLoughlin, J.C.

    1990-08-01

    Two primary methods, GM- and NaI-detection, of airborne 41 Ar monitoring were compared experimentally to determine the lowest resolvable concentration given reasonable sample sizes. NaI-detectors provided a lower resolvable concentration than GM tubes, primarily due to energy resolution, which greatly reduced background noise. Airborne 3 H collection was compared for two primary collection and one ancillary method (direct condensation). All 3 H detection was performed via liquid scintillation. Tritium collection with water baths yielded higher collection efficiencies than dessicant traps for short sampling durations. As the length of the sampling duration increased, water traps yielded lower collection efficiencies than dessicant traps, primarily due to evaporation of water from the water traps. Direct condensation as a collection method of airborne 3 H was found unsuitable, since large amounts of gas were initially condensed, yet evaporated as the sample's coolant was removed. 41 Ar detection for the MIT-PFC was determined to be best provided by a low 40 K NaI crystal shielded with lead and steel. A Marinelli beaker was used as a monitoring volume to hold the effluent sample. 3 H monitoring at the MIT-PFC was fulfilled with dessicant traps to catalytically separate the [HTO] and [HT] fractions without the use of a carrier gas for the [HT

  20. The Impact of Sex and Language Dominance on Material-Specific Memory Before and After Left Temporal Lobe Surgery

    Science.gov (United States)

    Helmstaedter, C.; Brosch, T.; Kurthen, M.; Elger, C. E.

    2004-01-01

    Recent findings raised evidence that in early-onset left temporal lobe epilepsy, women show greater functional plasticity for verbal memory than men. In particular, women with lesion- or epilepsy-driven atypical language dominance show an advantage over men. The question asked in this study was whether there is evidence of sex- and language…

  1. Exploring the role of task performance and learning style on prefrontal hemodynamics during a working memory task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Anderson, Afrouz A; Parsa, Kian; Geiger, Sydney; Zaragoza, Rachel; Kermanian, Riley; Miguel, Helga; Dashtestani, Hadis; Chowdhry, Fatima A; Smith, Elizabeth; Aram, Siamak; Gandjbakhche, Amir H

    2018-01-01

    Existing literature outlines the quality and location of activation in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) during working memory (WM) tasks. However, the effects of individual differences on the underlying neural process of WM tasks are still unclear. In this functional near infrared spectroscopy study, we administered a visual and auditory n-back task to examine activation in the PFC while considering the influences of task performance, and preferred learning strategy (VARK score). While controlling for age, results indicated that high performance (HP) subjects (accuracy > 90%) showed task dependent lower activation compared to normal performance subjects in PFC region Specifically HP groups showed lower activation in left dorsolateral PFC (DLPFC) region during performance of auditory task whereas during visual task they showed lower activation in the right DLPFC. After accounting for learning style, we found a correlation between visual and aural VARK score and level of activation in the PFC. Subjects with higher visual VARK scores displayed lower activation during auditory task in left DLPFC, while those with higher visual scores exhibited higher activation during visual task in bilateral DLPFC. During performance of auditory task, HP subjects had higher visual VARK scores compared to NP subjects indicating an effect of learning style on the task performance and activation. The results of this study show that learning style and task performance can influence PFC activation, with applications toward neurological implications of learning style and populations with deficits in auditory or visual processing.

  2. [Deficit of verbal recall caused by left dorso-lateral thalamic infarction].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rousseaux, M; Cabaret, M; Benaim, C; Steinling, M

    1995-01-01

    A case of amnesia with preferential disorder of verbal recall, associated to a limited infarct of the left superior, external and anterior thalamus, is reported. This lesion involved the anterior and middle dorso-lateral nuclei and the centrolateral nucleus, sparing most of the structures classically incriminated in diencephalic amnesia. At the initial stage, the patient presented discrete language impairment and severe deficit of semantic processing, which later recovered. At the late stage, the anterograde and retrograde amnesia principally concerned the recall of verbal information used in daily life, verbal learning using short-term and long-term recall, questionnaires evaluating retrograde memory and requiring the evocation of proper names. Verbal priming was also affected. Verbal recognition was preserved. Evocation of the most recent events of the personal life was also impaired. Confrontation of this case with others previously reported suggests that various thalamic amnesias may be described, associated to different cognitive deficits, in relation with the preferential situation of lesions.

  3. Combustion Control System Design of Diesel Engine via ASPR based Output Feedback Control Strategy with a PFC

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mizumoto, Ikuro; Tsunematsu, Junpei; Fujii, Seiya

    2016-09-01

    In this paper, a design method of an output feedback control system with a simple feedforward input for a combustion model of diesel engine will be proposed based on the almost strictly positive real-ness (ASPR-ness) of the controlled system for a combustion control of diesel engines. A parallel feedforward compensator (PFC) design scheme which renders the resulting augmented controlled system ASPR will also be proposed in order to design a stable output feedback control system for the considered combustion model. The effectiveness of our proposed method will be confirmed through numerical simulations.

  4. Indication of the radiofrequency induced lesion size by pre-ablation measurements

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Stagegaard, Niels; Petersen, Helen Høgh; Chen, Xu

    2005-01-01

    BACKGROUND: During radiofrequency ablation of arrhythmias tissue heating and hence lesion size depend on electrode-tissue contact and cooling of the electrode tip caused by cavitary blood flow. These factors are unique and unknown for each catheter placement in the beating heart. A tool for asses......BACKGROUND: During radiofrequency ablation of arrhythmias tissue heating and hence lesion size depend on electrode-tissue contact and cooling of the electrode tip caused by cavitary blood flow. These factors are unique and unknown for each catheter placement in the beating heart. A tool...... for assessing these factors prior to ablation may indicate the lesion size which will be obtained for any given catheter position. METHODS AND RESULTS: Radiofrequency ablation was performed in vitro on strips of left ventricular porcine myocardium during two different levels of convective cooling (0 or 0.1 m....../s), two different contact pressures (10 or 30 g) and parallel or perpendicular electrode-tissue orientation using 7F 4 mm tip catheters. Prior to ablation the impedance rise (DeltaIMP) caused by the obtained contact and the temperature rise with a 0.6 W 5 s test pulse (DeltaT) were measured. Subsequently...

  5. Corticospinal tract integrity and lesion volume play different roles in chronic hemiparesis and its improvement through motor practice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sterr, Annette; Dean, Phil J A; Szameitat, Andre J; Conforto, Adriana Bastos; Shen, Shan

    2014-05-01

    Initial evidence suggests that the integrity of the ipsilesional corticospinal tract (CST) after stroke is strongly related to motor function in the chronic state but not the treatment gain induced by motor rehabilitation. We examined the association of motor status and treatment benefit by testing patients with a wide range of severity of hemiparesis of the left and right upper extremity. Diffusion tensor imaging was performed in 22 patients beyond 12 months after onset of stroke with severe to moderate hemiparesis. Motor function was tested before and after 2 weeks of modified constraint-induced movement therapy. CST integrity, but not lesion volume, correlated with the motor ability measures of the Wolf Motor Function Test and the Motor Activity Log. No differences were found between left and right hemiparesis. Motor performance improved significantly with the treatment regime, and did so equally for patients with left and right arm paresis. However, treatment benefit was not associated with either CST integrity or lesion volume. CST integrity correlated best in this small trial with chronic long-term status but not treatment-induced improvements. The CST may play a different role in the mechanisms mediating long-term outcome compared to those underlying practice-induced gains after a chronic plateau in motor function.

  6. Threat-related amygdala functional connectivity is associated with 5-HTTLPR genotype and neuroticism

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Madsen, Martin Korsbak; Mc Mahon, Brenda; Andersen, Sofie Bech

    2016-01-01

    between right amygdala and mPFC and visual cortex, and between both amygdalae and left lateral orbitofrontal (lOFC) and ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (vlPFC). Notably, 5-HTTLPR moderated the association between neuroticism and functional connectivity between both amygdalae and left l...... is not fully understood. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, we evaluated independent and interactive effects of the 5-HTTLPR genotype and neuroticism on amygdala functional connectivity during an emotional faces paradigm in 76 healthy individuals. Functional connectivity between left amygdala......Communication between the amygdala and other brain regions critically regulates sensitivity to threat, which has been associated with risk for mood and affective disorders. The extent to which these neural pathways are genetically determined or correlate with risk-related personality measures...

  7. Borsa de PFC de l'ETSEIB: un projecte col·laboratiu entre la Biblioteca i el seu centre

    OpenAIRE

    Alonso, Laia; Ceña Cosials, Margarita; Codina Vila, Miquel

    2008-01-01

    In order to obtain a degree, the final step for the student at the Industrial Engineering School of Barcelona (ETSEIB) of the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC) is the submission of his/her dissertation. Before implementing the “Stock Exchange of Dissertations” the process of PFC was generally quite regulated and systematized, and with a good support of interaction through a web site, except in the initial part of the process, when the students have to choose the subject and the director...

  8. The effect of steroid on FDG uptake in experimental tumors, granulomatous and inflammatory lesions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhao Songji; Yuji Kuge; Kunihiro Nakada; Masayuki Sato; Toshiki Takei; Zhao Yan; Nagara Tamaki; Masashi Kohanawa; Ken-ichi Seki

    2004-01-01

    Objectives: FDG accumulates not only in malignant tumors but also inflammatory lesions, especially in granulomatous lesions, which makes differentiate malignant tumors from benign lesions difficult. To obtain a clue for differentiating malignant lesions from benign ones by FDG-PET, we determined the effect of steroid on FDG uptake in granulomatous and inflammatory lesions, and compared them with those in malignant tumors in rats. Methods: Rats were inoculated with a suspension of allogenic hepatoma cells (KDH-8), Bacille bili e de Calmette-Guerin-(BCG) or Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus), or with turpentine oil into the left calf muscle. Two weeks after KDH-8, 19 days after BCG, or one week after S. aureus or turpentine oil inoculations, the rats were fasted overnight and divided into two subgroups (n=5-6, in each group): Prednisolone (PRE)-pretreated (Methylprednisolone acetate, 8 mg/kg body weight, i.m. injection 20 hour before the FDG intravenous injection) and control (untreated) groups. Radioactivity in tissues was determined one hour after i.v. injection of FDG. FDG uptake in tissues were expressed as the percentage of injected dose per gram of tissue after normalization to animal's weight (%ID/g tissue/kg body weight). Results: FDG uptake in the tumor, granulomatous and inflammatory lesions were shown in Table. In the untreated animals, remarkably higher accumulations of FDG were observed in the tumor and granulomatous lesions, compared with those in the inflammatory lesions induced by S. aureus and turpentine oil. There was no significant difference in the level of FDG uptake between the tumor and granulomatous lesions, and between the two inflammatory lesions. PRE pre-treatment significantly decreased the level of FDG uptake in granulomatous lesions induced by BCG, inflammatory lesions induced by S. aureus and turpentine oil to 52%, 73% and 76% of the control value, respectively. The level of FDG uptake in the tumor was not significantly decreased by PRE

  9. Anatomic distribution of culprit lesions in patients with non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction and normal ECG.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moustafa, Abdelmoniem; Abi-Saleh, Bernard; El-Baba, Mohammad; Hamoui, Omar; AlJaroudi, Wael

    2016-02-01

    In patients presenting with non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI), left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery and three-vessel disease are the most commonly encountered culprit lesions in the presence of ST depression, while one third of patients with left circumflex (LCX) artery related infarction have normal ECG. We sought to determine the predictors of presence of culprit lesion in NSTEMI patients based on ECG, echocardiographic, and clinical characteristics. Patients admitted to the coronary care unit with the diagnosis of NSTEMI between June 2012 and December 2013 were retrospectively identified. Admission ECG was interpreted by an electrophysiologist that was blinded to the result of the coronary angiogram. Patients were dichotomized into either normal or abnormal ECG group. The primary endpoint was presence of culprit lesion. Secondary endpoints included length of stay, re-hospitalization within 60 days, and in-hospital mortality. A total of 118 patients that were identified; 47 with normal and 71 with abnormal ECG. At least one culprit lesion was identified in 101 patients (86%), and significantly more among those with abnormal ECG (91.5% vs. 76.6%, P=0.041).The LAD was the most frequently detected culprit lesion in both groups. There was a higher incidence of two and three-vessel disease in the abnormal ECG group (P=0.041).On the other hand, there was a trend of higher LCX involvement (25% vs. 13.8%, P=0.18) and more normal coronary arteries in the normal ECG group (23.4% vs. 8.5%, P=0.041). On multivariate analysis, prior history of coronary artery disease (CAD) [odds ratio (OR) 6.4 (0.8-52)], male gender [OR 5.0 (1.5-17)], and abnormal admission ECG [OR 3.6 (1.12-12)], were independent predictors of a culprit lesion. There was no difference in secondary endpoints between those with normal and abnormal ECG. Among patients presenting with NSTEMI, prior history of CAD, male gender and abnormal admission ECG were independent predictors of a

  10. PSA kinetics following primary focal cryotherapy (hemiablation) in organ-confined prostate cancer patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kongnyuy, Michael; Islam, Shahidul; Mbah, Alfred K; Halpern, Daniel M; Werneburg, Glenn T; Kosinski, Kaitlin E; Chen, Connie; Habibian, David J; Schiff, Jeffrey T; Corcoran, Anthony T; Katz, Aaron E

    2018-02-01

    We aim to evaluate prostate-specific antigen (PSA) trends in post-primary focal cryotherapy (PFC) patients. This was an institutional review board-approved retrospective study of PFC patients from 2010 to 2015. Patients with at least one post-PFC PSA were included in the study. Biochemical recurrence (BCR) was determined using the Phoenix criteria. PSA bounce was also assessed. We analyzed rates of change of PSA over time of post-PFC between BCR and no BCR groups. PSA-derived variables were analyzed as potential predictors of BCR. A total of 104 PFC patients were included in our analysis. Median (range) age and follow-up time were 66 (48-82) years and 19 (6.3-38.6) months, respectively. Four (3.8%) patients experienced PSA bounce. The median percent drop in first post-PFC PSA of 80.0% was not associated with BCR (p = 0.256) and may indicate elimination of the index lesion. The rate of increase of PSA in BCR patients was significantly higher compared to patients who did not recur (median PSA velocity (PSAV): 0.15 vs 0.04 ng/ml/month, p = 0.001). Similar to PSAV (HR 9.570, 95% CI 3.725-24.592, p PSA nadir ≥ 2 ng/ml [HR (hazard ratio) 1.251, 95% CI 1.100-1.422, p = 0.001] was independently associated with BCR. A significant drop in post-PFC PSA may indicate elimination of the index lesion. Patients who are likely to recur biochemically have a significantly higher PSAV compared to those who do not recur. Nadir PSA of less than 2 ng/ml may be considered the new normal PSA in focal cryotherapy (hemiablation) follow-up.

  11. Assessment of the effect of left atrial cryoablation enhanced by ganglionated plexi ablation in the treatment of atrial fibrillation in patients undergoing open heart surgery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bárta, Jiří; Brát, Radim

    2017-08-17

    The aim of our study was to investigate, whether enhancement of left atrial cryoablation by ablation of the autonomic nervous system of left atrium leads to influencing the outcomes of surgical treatment of atrial fibrillation in patients with structural heart disease undergoing open-heart surgery. The observed patient file consisted of 100 patients, who have undergone a combined open-heart surgery at our department between July 2012 and December 2014. The patients were indicated for the surgical procedure due to structural heart disease, and suffered from paroxysmal, persistent, or long-standing persistent atrial fibrillation. In all cases, left atrial cryoablation was performed in the extent of isolation of pulmonary veins, box lesion, connecting lesion with mitral annulus, amputation of the left atrial appendage and connecting lesion of the appendage base with left pulmonary veins. Furthermore, 35 of the patients underwent mapping and radiofrequency ablation of ganglionated plexi, together with discision and ablation of the ligament of Marshall (Group GP). A control group was consisted of 65 patients without ganglionated plexi intervention (Group LA). The main primary outcome was establishment and duration of sinus rhythm in the course of one-year follow-up. Evaluation of the number of patients with a normal sinus rhythm in per cent has shown comparable values in both groups (Group GP - 93.75%, Group LA - 86.67%, p = 0.485); comparable results were also observed in patients with normal sinus rhythm without anti-arrhythmic treatment in the 12th month (Group GP - 50%, Group LA - 47%, p = 0.306). We have not observed any relation between the recurrence of atrial fibrillation and the presence of a mitral valve surgery, or between the presence of a mitral and tricuspid valves surgery and between the left atrial diameter > 50 mm. Enhancement of left atrial cryoablation by gangionated plexi ablation did not influence the outcomes of surgical ablation due to

  12. The spiritual brain: selective cortical lesions modulate human self-transcendence.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Urgesi, Cosimo; Aglioti, Salvatore M; Skrap, Miran; Fabbro, Franco

    2010-02-11

    The predisposition of human beings toward spiritual feeling, thinking, and behaviors is measured by a supposedly stable personality trait called self-transcendence. Although a few neuroimaging studies suggest that neural activation of a large fronto-parieto-temporal network may underpin a variety of spiritual experiences, information on the causative link between such a network and spirituality is lacking. Combining pre- and post-neurosurgery personality assessment with advanced brain-lesion mapping techniques, we found that selective damage to left and right inferior posterior parietal regions induced a specific increase of self-transcendence. Therefore, modifications of neural activity in temporoparietal areas may induce unusually fast modulations of a stable personality trait related to transcendental self-referential awareness. These results hint at the active, crucial role of left and right parietal systems in determining self-transcendence and cast new light on the neurobiological bases of altered spiritual and religious attitudes and behaviors in neurological and mental disorders. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. Osteochondral lesions in distal tarsal joints of Icelandic horses reveal strong associations between hyaline and calcified cartilage abnormalities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ley, C J; Ekman, S; Hansson, K; Björnsdóttir, S; Boyde, A

    2014-03-25

    Osteochondral lesions in the joints of the distal tarsal region of young Icelandic horses provide a natural model for the early stages of osteoarthritis (OA) in low-motion joints. We describe and characterise mineralised and non-mineralised osteochondral lesions in left distal tarsal region joint specimens from twenty-two 30 ±1 month-old Icelandic horses. Combinations of confocal scanning light microscopy, backscattered electron scanning electron microscopy (including, importantly, iodine staining) and three-dimensional microcomputed tomography were used on specimens obtained with guidance from clinical imaging. Lesion-types were described and classified into groups according to morphological features. Their locations in the hyaline articular cartilage (HAC), articular calcified cartilage (ACC), subchondral bone (SCB) and the joint margin tissues were identified and their frequency in the joints recorded. Associations and correlations between lesion-types were investigated for centrodistal joints only. In centrodistal joints the lesion-types HAC chondrocyte loss, HAC fibrillation, HAC central chondrocyte clusters, ACC arrest and ACC advance had significant associations and strong correlations. These lesion-types had moderate to high frequency in centrodistal joints but low frequencies in tarsometatarsal and talocalcaneal-centroquartal joints. Joint margin lesion-types had no significant associations with other lesion-types in the centrodistal joints but high frequency in both the centrodistal and tarsometatarsal joints. The frequency of SCB lesion-types in all joints was low. Hypermineralised infill phase lesion-types were detected. Our results emphasise close associations between HAC and ACC lesions in equine centrodistal joints and the importance of ACC lesions in the development of OA in low-motion compression-loaded equine joints.

  14. Emotion reactivity and regulation in late-life generalized anxiety disorder: Functional connectivity at baseline and post-treatment

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andreescu, Carmen; Sheu, Lei K.; Tudorascu, Dana; Gross, James J.; Walker, Sarah; Banihashemi, Layla; Aizenstein, Howard

    2014-01-01

    Objectives Generalized Anxiety Disorder (GAD) is one of the most prevalent mental disorders in the elderly, but its functional neuroanatomy is not well understood. Given the role of emotion dysregulation in GAD, we sought to describe the neural bases of emotion regulation in late-life GAD by analyzing the functional connectivity (FC) in the Salience Network and the Executive Control Network during worry induction and worry reappraisal. Design, setting and participants Twenty-eight elderly GAD and thirty-one non-anxious comparison participants were included. Twelve elderly GAD completed a 12-week pharmacotherapy trial. We used an in-scanner worry script that alternates blocks of worry induction and reappraisal. We assessed network FC, employing the following seeds: anterior insula (AI), dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), the bed nucleus of stria terminalis (BNST), the paraventricular nucleus (PVN). Results GAD participants exhibited greater FC during worry induction between the left AI and the right orbito-frontal cortex (OFC), and between the BNST and the subgenual cingulate. During worry reappraisal, the non-anxious participants had greater FC between the left dlPFC and the medial PFC, as well as between the left AI and the medial PFC, while elderly GAD had greater FC between the PVN and the amygdala. Following twelve weeks of pharmacotherapy, GAD participants had greater connectivity between the dlPFC and several prefrontal regions during worry reappraisal. Conclusion FC during worry induction and reappraisal points toward abnormalities in both worry generation and worry reappraisal. Following successful pharmacologic treatment, we observed greater connectivity in the prefrontal nodes of the Executive Control Network during reappraisal of worry. PMID:24996397

  15. Pure Laparoscopic Left Hemihepatectomy for Hepatic Peribiliary Cysts with Biliary Intraepithelial Neoplasia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Akira Umemura

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Introduction. Hepatic peribiliary cysts (HPCs usually originate due to the cystic dilatation of the intrahepatic extramural peribiliary glands. We describe our rare experience of pure laparoscopic left hemihepatectomy (PLLH in a patient with HPCs accompanied by a component of biliary intraepithelial neoplasia (BilIN. Case Presentation. A 65-year-old man was referred for further investigation of mild hepatic dysfunction. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography showed dilatation of the left-sided intrahepatic bile duct, and biliary cytology showed class III cells. The patient was highly suspected of having left side-dominated cholangiocarcinoma and underwent PLLH. Microscopic findings revealed multiple cystic dilatations of the extramural peribiliary glands; hence, this lesion was diagnosed as HPCs. The resected intrahepatic bile duct showed that the normal ductal lumen comprised low columnar epithelia; however, front formation on the BilIN was observed in some parts of the intrahepatic bile duct, indicating that the BilIN coexisted with HPCs. Conclusion. We chose surgical therapy for this patient owing to the presence of some features of biliary malignancy. We employed noble PLLH as a minimally invasive procedure for this patient.

  16. Is the motor system necessary for processing action and abstract emotion words? Evidence from focal brain lesions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Felix R. Dreyer

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Neuroimaging and neuropsychological experiments suggest that modality-preferential cortices, including motor- and somatosensory areas contribute to the semantic processing of action related concrete words. In contrast, a possible role of modality-preferential – including sensorimotor – areas in processing abstract meaning remains under debate. However, recent fMRI studies indicate an involvement of the left sensorimotor cortex in the processing of abstract-emotional words (e.g. love. But are these areas indeed necessary for processing action-related and abstract words? The current study now investigates word processing in two patients suffering from focal brain lesion in the left frontocentral motor system. A speeded lexical decision task (LDT on meticulously matched word groups showed that the recognition of nouns from different semantic categories – related to food, animals, tools and abstract-emotional concepts – was differentially affected. Whereas patient HS with a lesion in dorsolateral central sensorimotor cortex next to the hand area showed a category-specific deficit in recognizing tool words, patient CA suffering from lesion centered in the left SMA was primarily impaired in abstract-emotional word processing. These results point to a causal role of the motor cortex in the semantic processing of both action-related object concepts and abstract-emotional concepts and therefore suggest that the motor areas previously found active in action-related and abstract word processing can serve a meaning-specific necessary role in word recognition. The category-specific nature of the observed dissociations is difficult to reconcile with the idea that sensorimotor systems are somehow peripheral or ‘epiphenomenal’ to meaning and concept processing. Rather, our results are consistent with the claim that cognition is grounded in action and perception and based on distributed action perception circuits reaching into sensorimotor areas.

  17. The Nature of Hemispheric Specialization for Linguistic and Emotional Prosodic Perception: A Meta-Analysis of the Lesion Literature

    Science.gov (United States)

    Witteman, Jurriaan; van IJzendoorn, Marinus H.; van de Velde, Daan; van Heuven, Vincent J. J. P.; Schiller, Niels O.

    2011-01-01

    It is unclear whether there is hemispheric specialization for prosodic perception and, if so, what the nature of this hemispheric asymmetry is. Using the lesion-approach, many studies have attempted to test whether there is hemispheric specialization for emotional and linguistic prosodic perception by examining the impact of left vs. right…

  18. Two cases of cystic lesions in the parotid region diagnosed by CT sialogram

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kubo, Masahiko; Ukai, Kotaro; Itoh, Hiroshi; Miyoshi, Yasuro; Itoh, Yukiko; Kohdera, Urara; Taki, Norio; Furukawa, Yuichi.

    1985-01-01

    This is a case report of two patients with cystic lesions in the parotid region. The diagnostic value of CT sialogram is discussed. A 62-year-old male had a swelling in the left parotid region which felt cystic on manual palpation. A CT sialogram clearly demonstrated a cystic mass superficial to the parotid gland. Histologically, the mass was an epidermoid cyst. A 9-year-old male had pain and swelling in the right parotid region which was not reduced by antibiotic therapy. An extraparotid abscess was diagnosed by CT sialogram 14 days after the onset. CT sialogram is effective in differentiating intrinsic from extrinsic parotid lesions and also shows the relationship of the tumor mass to the facial nerve and helps to differentiate between benign and malignant neoplasms. (author)

  19. Squamous cell carcinoma developing in a cutaneous lichen planus lesion: a rare case.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ghosh, Saptarshi; Kotne, Sivasankar; Ananda Rao, P B; Turlapati, S P V; Kumar Soren, Dillip

    2014-01-01

    Lichen planus is a benign disorder characterized by an itchy, noninfectious skin rash. Though lichen planus is a common papulosquamous disorder affecting about 1-2% of the population, neoplastic transformation of cutaneous lichen planus lesions occurs very rarely and should be borne in mind while treating nonhealing longstanding lesions of lichen planus. Studies suggest an estimated 0.3-3% risk of malignancy in patients with oral lichen planus, however, cutaneous lichen planus does not carry an increased risk of malignant degeneration. We present a case of a 36-year-old male with a 10-year-long history of hypertrophic lichen planus who presented with a nonhealing ulcer in the left popliteal fossa. The patient underwent wide local excision with superficial skin grafting. Postoperative histopathological examination revealed verrucous squamous cell carcinoma complicating lichen planus. In view of underlying structure involvement, adjuvant radiation therapy was given. This case is being reported to emphasize the infrequent possibility of development of malignancy in cutaneous lichen planus, especially if it presents as a longstanding, nonhealing, itchy lesion with patchy areas of depigmentation in the lower limbs.

  20. Radiation-induced lesions of the aorta

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Doessing, M; Rasmussen, S [Medical Department C, Diakonissestiftelsen, Copenhagen (Denmark); Fischer-Hansen, B; Walbom-Joergensen, S

    1977-04-09

    A description is given of pathological changes detected in the aortic arch of a 21-year-old man. The patient died from an acute myocardial infarction 16 months after a dose of 3696 rads to a mantle field for Hodgkin's disease confined to the midcervical lymph nodes on the left side of the neck. Histological examination of the exposed part of the aortic arch showed the wall to be focally thickened owing to a pronounced fibrosis of the luminal third of the wall. The elastic lamellae in this area were reduced in number, broken up, and haphazardly arranged. The intima appeared normal. There was no leucocytic infiltration, no proliferation of vasa vasorum and no significant adventitial fibrosis. It is suggested that these noncharacteristic changes may have been early radiation-induced lesions which later might induce fibrotic scarring with perhaps clinically evident disease.

  1. Lesions of the posterior limb of the internal capsule in neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Long, Youming; Wu, Linzhan; Zhong, Rong; Ouyang, Xiaoming; Liang, Junyan; Gao, Cong; Chen, Xiaohui; Qiu, Wei; Chang, Yanyu; Wang, Zhanhang; Ye, Jinlong

    2017-05-01

    Posterior limb of the internal capsule lesions (PLICL) are one of the MRI features of neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD). However, there is no evidence that such lesions are pathogenically related to NMOSD. We retrospectively analyzed features of PLICL in NMOSD, and other central nervous system inflammatory disorders, in 561 patients. We also examined the pathological samples of six patients. Of the 561 patients investigated, PLICL were found in 65 patients (11.6%). Lesions were bilateral in 26 cases (40%) and unilateral in 39 cases (60%). Unilateral lesions were mainly located on the left side (74.3%, 29/39). Of the 65 patients with PLICL, 46 patients had NMOSD (70.8%) and were positive for anti-aquaporin (AQP4-IgG), four had NMOSD (6.2%) and were AQP4-IgG negative, 10 patients had multiple sclerosis (MS), three patients had NMDAR encephalitis, and two had autoimmune meningoencephalitis. Of the six patients whose pathological samples were evaluated, all had PLICL and were negative for AQP4-IgG, and none had pathological NMOSD lesion features. These cases included three patients with multiple sclerosis, one with anti-N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor encephalitis, and two with autoimmune meningoencephalitis. In conclusion, PLICL are found not only in patients with NMOSD, but also in MS and other disorders.

  2. Myocardial perfusion scintigraphy fi ndings in patients with mild coronary atherosclerotic lesions on coronary angiography

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Zeki Dostbil

    2010-09-01

    Full Text Available Objectives: Myocardial perfusion scintigraphy (MPS iswidely used in functional assessment of myocardial per-fusion. But, some study results are in contradiction withseverity of coronary artery disease detected by coronaryangiography (CA. It is frequently encountered case thatCA is completely normal whereas MPS describes isch-emia. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether mildatherosclerotic lesions cause ischemia.Materials and methods: MPS with 99mTc-MIBI was per-formed in 52 patients who applied to cardiology clinics forhistory of chest pain and underwent diagnostic CA within3 months.Results: In 22 of 52 patients with mild atherosclerotic le-sions, ischemia in various degrees was detected on MPS.In statistical analysis, any signifi cant relationship was notfound between ischemia and gender, hypertension, DM,dyslipidemia, smoking, mitral valve insuffi ciency, left ven-tricular hypertrophy, exercise testing result and affectedcoronary artery.Conclusion: Our study fi ndings have shown that mild ath-erosclerotic lesions even at very early stage may causemyocardial ischemia

  3. Predicting Motivation: Computational Models of PFC Can Explain Neural Coding of Motivation and Effort-based Decision-making in Health and Disease.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vassena, Eliana; Deraeve, James; Alexander, William H

    2017-10-01

    Human behavior is strongly driven by the pursuit of rewards. In daily life, however, benefits mostly come at a cost, often requiring that effort be exerted to obtain potential benefits. Medial PFC (MPFC) and dorsolateral PFC (DLPFC) are frequently implicated in the expectation of effortful control, showing increased activity as a function of predicted task difficulty. Such activity partially overlaps with expectation of reward and has been observed both during decision-making and during task preparation. Recently, novel computational frameworks have been developed to explain activity in these regions during cognitive control, based on the principle of prediction and prediction error (predicted response-outcome [PRO] model [Alexander, W. H., & Brown, J. W. Medial prefrontal cortex as an action-outcome predictor. Nature Neuroscience, 14, 1338-1344, 2011], hierarchical error representation [HER] model [Alexander, W. H., & Brown, J. W. Hierarchical error representation: A computational model of anterior cingulate and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Neural Computation, 27, 2354-2410, 2015]). Despite the broad explanatory power of these models, it is not clear whether they can also accommodate effects related to the expectation of effort observed in MPFC and DLPFC. Here, we propose a translation of these computational frameworks to the domain of effort-based behavior. First, we discuss how the PRO model, based on prediction error, can explain effort-related activity in MPFC, by reframing effort-based behavior in a predictive context. We propose that MPFC activity reflects monitoring of motivationally relevant variables (such as effort and reward), by coding expectations and discrepancies from such expectations. Moreover, we derive behavioral and neural model-based predictions for healthy controls and clinical populations with impairments of motivation. Second, we illustrate the possible translation to effort-based behavior of the HER model, an extended version of PRO

  4. Rehardening of caries-like lesions in root surfaces by saliva substitutes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Turssi, Cecilia P; Lima, Renata Q V; Faraoni-Romano, Juliana J; Serra, Mônica C

    2006-12-01

    This study sought to evaluate whether root dentine caries-like lesions could be remineralised by saliva substitutes. Root dentine slabs (3 x 3 x 2 mm) were cut from bovine incisors, ground flat, polished and pre-tested for Knoop microhardness (KHN) at five locations spaced 500 microm apart and 500 microm from the left edge of each sectioned piece. After 60 out of the 100 slabs had been selected based upon their KHN values, specimens were coated with wax except for their outer surface. Specimens were then cycled through a highly cariogenic challenge model to induce caries-like lesions, whose formation was confirmed by KHN measurements located 500 microm from the right edge of the specimen. According to a randomised complete block design, the experimental units (n = 15) were exposed to 1.5 ml of saliva substitutes, based on either mucin (MC) or carboxymethylcellulose (CM), to natural human saliva (HS) or to 100% relative humidity (RH) over 20 days. Remineralisation was verified by KHN measurements located 1000 microm apart from the right edge of the specimen. Analysis of variance indicated a significant (p < 0.0001) difference among the KHN values attained by the carious root dentine after exposure to the remineralising agents. Tukey's test ascertained that remineralisation was greatest with MC, intermediate with CM and least with HS, but rehardening did not reach the pre-caries lesion formation values. Saliva substitutes may provide partial remineralisation to preformed caries-like lesions in root dentine.

  5. An elusive persistent left superior vena cava draining into left atrium

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    A. Soward; F.J. ten Cate (Folkert); P.M. Fioretti (Paolo); P.W.J.C. Serruys (Patrick); J.R.T.C. Roelandt (Jos)

    1986-01-01

    textabstractA case report of a persistent left superior vena cava draining into left atrium with a fibromuscular left ventricular outflow tract obstruction and a small atrial septal defect. The anomalous vessel escaped detection during two right and left heart catheterizations from the right arm and

  6. Step-down vs. step-up noxious stimulation: differential effects on pain perception and patterns of brain activation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Choi, J C; Kim, J; Kang, E; Choi, J-H; Park, W Y; Choi, Y-S; Cha, J; Han, C; Park, S K; Kim, M H; Lee, G H; Do, H-J; Jung, S W; Lee, J-M

    2016-01-01

    We hypothesize that pain and brain responses are affected by changes in the presentation sequence of noxious stimuli that are, overall, identical in intensity and duration. During functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning, 21 participants experienced three patterns of noxious stimulation: Up-type (step-up noxious stimulation, 15 s), Down-type (step-down noxious stimulation, 15 s), and Down-up-type (decreasing and increasing pattern of noxious stimulation, 15 s). The total intensity and duration of the three noxious stimulation patterns were identical, but the stimulation sequences were different. Pain and unpleasantness ratings in the Down- and Down-up-type noxious stimulations were lower than in the Up-type noxious stimulation. The left prefrontal cortex [(PFC, BA (Brodmann area) 10, (-45, 50, 1)] was more highly activated in the Down- and Down-up-type noxious stimulations than in the Up-type noxious stimulation. The S1, S2, insula, bilateral PFC (BA 46), and midcingulate cortex were more highly activated in the Up-type noxious stimulation than in the Down-type noxious stimulation. PFC BA 10 was located at an inferior level compared to the bilateral PFC BA 46 (Z axis = 1 for BA 10, compared to 22 and 25 for the right and left BA 46, respectively). When cortisol level was increased, the left hippocampal cortex, along with the left parahippocampal cortex, was greatly activated for the Up-type noxious stimulation. When pain cannot be avoided in clinical practice, noxious stimuli should be applied to patients in a step-down pattern that delivers the most intense pain first and the least intense pain last. © 2015 The Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica Foundation. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  7. Impact of Lesion Length on Functional Significance in Intermediate Coronary Lesions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Morteza Safi

    2017-07-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: The present study aimed at assessing the role of lesion length in predicting Fractional Flow Reserve (FFR value for physiological evaluation of intermediate coronary lesions.Methods: In the current study, 68 patients with 83 coronary lesions were enrolled. All of the patients in this study underwent routine coronary angiography, according to appropriate indications. To evaluate physiologically significant intermediate coronary stenosis (defined between 40% and 70% on visual estimation, the Fractional Flow Reserve (FFR study was performed and the Quantitative Coronary Angiography (QCA data were also assessed for measurement of lesion length. The correlation between QCA data and FFR values was also examined.Results: Eighty-three lesions were evaluated from 68 patients. Stenosis was considered physiologically significant when FFR was lower than 0.75. The FFR was significant in twelve lesions (14.5%. There was a negative correlation between FFR value and lesion length (r = -0.294 and P = 0.013. Moreover, lesion length in physiologically significant FFR group (21.07  ± 6.9 was greater than that of the non-significant FFR group (15.23 ± 6.5 (P value < 0.05. Furthermore, the correlation between QCA data and FFR values was also investigated, yet, there was only a positive correlation between FFR and Minimum Luminal Diameter (MLD values (r = 0.248 and P value = 0.04. The Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC curve analysis for predicting the significant FFR value demonstrated that a lesion length greater than 17.5 mm was the best cut-off point for prediction of the significant FFR value with acceptable sensitivity and specificity of 83.3% and 68.8%, respectively.Conclusions: There is a negative correlation between lesion length and FFR value in intermediate coronary lesions. In addition, a lesion length greater than 17.5 mm is the best cut- off point for prediction of significant FFR values.

  8. AAV-mediated overexpression of the CB1 receptor in the mPFC of adult rats alters cognitive flexibility, social behavior and emotional reactivity

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Matthias eKlugmann

    2011-07-01

    Full Text Available The endocannabinoid (ECB system is strongly involved in the regulation of cognitive processing and emotional behavior and evidence indicates that ECB signaling might affect these behavioral abilities by modulations of prefrontal cortical functions. The aim of the present study was to examine the role of the CB1 receptor in the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC on cognitive flexibility and emotional behavior. Therefore, the CB1 receptor was overexpressed by adeno-associated virus (AAV vector-mediated gene transfer specifically in the mPFC of adult Wistar rats. Animals were then tested in different anxiety-related paradigms for emotional reactivity (e.g. elevated plus maze (EPM, light/dark emergence test (EMT, social interaction and the attentional set shift task (ASST - an adaptation of the human Wisconsin card sorting test - for cognitive abilities and behavioral flexibility. A subtle increase in exploratory behavior was found in CB1 receptor overexpressing animals (CB1-R compared to empty vector injected controls (Empty in the EMT and EPM, although general locomotor activity did not differ between the groups. During social interaction testing, social contact behavior towards the unknown conspecific was found to be decreased, whereas social withdrawal was increased in CB1-R animals and they showed an inadequate increase in exploratory behavior compared to control animals. In the ASST, impaired reversal learning abilities were detected in CB1-R animals compared to controls, indicating reduced behavioral flexibility. In conclusion, upregulation of the CB1 receptor specifically in the rat mPFC induces alterations in emotional reactivity, leads to inadequate social behavior and impairs cognitive flexibility. These findings might be relevant for neuropsychiatric disorders, since higher cortical CB1 receptor expression levels as well as similar behavioral impairments as observed in the present study have been described in schizophrenic patients.

  9. The neural basis of trait self-esteem revealed by the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations and resting state functional connectivity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pan, Weigang; Liu, Congcong; Yang, Qian; Gu, Yan; Yin, Shouhang; Chen, Antao

    2016-03-01

    Self-esteem is an affective, self-evaluation of oneself and has a significant effect on mental and behavioral health. Although research has focused on the neural substrates of self-esteem, little is known about the spontaneous brain activity that is associated with trait self-esteem (TSE) during the resting state. In this study, we used the resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) signal of the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations (ALFFs) and resting state functional connectivity (RSFC) to identify TSE-related regions and networks. We found that a higher level of TSE was associated with higher ALFFs in the left ventral medial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) and lower ALFFs in the left cuneus/lingual gyrus and right lingual gyrus. RSFC analyses revealed that the strengths of functional connectivity between the left vmPFC and bilateral hippocampus were positively correlated with TSE; however, the connections between the left vmPFC and right inferior frontal gyrus and posterior superior temporal sulcus were negatively associated with TSE. Furthermore, the strengths of functional connectivity between the left cuneus/lingual gyrus and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex were positively related to TSE. These findings indicate that TSE is linked to core regions in the default mode network and social cognition network, which is involved in self-referential processing, autobiographical memory and social cognition. © The Author (2015). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  10. Osteochondral lesions in distal tarsal joints of Icelandic horses reveal strong associations between hyaline and calcified cartilage abnormalities

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    CJ Ley

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available Osteochondral lesions in the joints of the distal tarsal region of young Icelandic horses provide a natural model for the early stages of osteoarthritis (OA in low-motion joints. We describe and characterise mineralised and non-mineralised osteochondral lesions in left distal tarsal region joint specimens from twenty-two 30 ±1 month-old Icelandic horses. Combinations of confocal scanning light microscopy, backscattered electron scanning electron microscopy (including, importantly, iodine staining and three-dimensional microcomputed tomography were used on specimens obtained with guidance from clinical imaging. Lesion-types were described and classified into groups according to morphological features. Their locations in the hyaline articular cartilage (HAC, articular calcified cartilage (ACC, subchondral bone (SCB and the joint margin tissues were identified and their frequency in the joints recorded. Associations and correlations between lesion-types were investigated for centrodistal joints only. In centrodistal joints the lesion-types HAC chondrocyte loss, HAC fibrillation, HAC central chondrocyte clusters, ACC arrest and ACC advance had significant associations and strong correlations. These lesion-types had moderate to high frequency in centrodistal joints but low frequencies in tarsometatarsal and talocalcaneal-centroquartal joints. Joint margin lesion-types had no significant associations with other lesion-types in the centrodistal joints but high frequency in both the centrodistal and tarsometatarsal joints. The frequency of SCB lesion-types in all joints was low. Hypermineralised infill phase lesion-types were detected. Our results emphasise close associations between HAC and ACC lesions in equine centrodistal joints and the importance of ACC lesions in the development of OA in low-motion compression-loaded equine joints.

  11. The brain and the subjective experience of time. A voxel based symptom-lesion mapping study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Trojano, Luigi; Caccavale, Michelina; De Bellis, Francesco; Crisci, Claudio

    2017-06-30

    The aim of the study was to identify the anatomical bases involved in the subjective experience of time, by means of a voxel based symptom-lesion mapping (VLSM) study on patients with focal brain damage. Thirty-three patients (nineteen with right-hemisphere lesions -RBD, and fourteen with left lesion- LBD) and twenty-eight non-neurological controls (NNC) underwent the semi-structured QUEstionnaire for the Subjective experience of Time (QUEST) requiring retrospective and prospective judgements on self-relevant time intervals. All participants also completed tests to assess general cognitive functioning and two questionnaires to evaluate their emotional state. Both groups of brain-damaged patients achieved significantly different scores from NNC on the time performance, without differences between RBD and LBD. VLSM showed a cluster of voxels located in the right inferior parietal lobule significantly related to errors in the prospective items. The lesion subtraction analysis revealed two different patterns possibly associated with errors in the prospective items (the right inferior parietal cortex, rolandic operculum and posterior middle temporal gyrus) and in the retrospective items (superior middle temporal gyrus, white matter posterior to the insula). Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  12. Assessment of cardiac blood pool imaging in patients with left ventricular outflow tract stenosis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nakamura, Yutaka; Ono, Yasuo; Kohata, Tohru; Tsubata, Shinichi; Kamiya, Tetsuroh.

    1993-01-01

    We performed cardiac blood pool imagings with Tc-99m at rest and during supine ergometer exercise to evaluate left ventricular performance in 14 patients with left ventricular outflow tract stenosis. All catheterized patients were divided into two subgroups: 8 patients with peak systolic left ventricular to descending aortic pressure gradients of less than 50 mmHg (LPG group) and 6 patients with peak systolic gradients of more than 50 mmHg (HPG group). Control group included 10 patients without stenotic coronary lesions after Kawasaki disease. Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was obtained as systolic index; both filling fraction during the first third of diastole (1/3FF) and mean filling rate during the first third of diastole (1/3FR mean) were obtained as diastolic indices. None of the patients had abnormal findings on 201 Tl imaging. LVEF at rest in HPG group was significantly higher than those in control group, but LVEF in HPG group did not increase after exercise. It increased significantly in control group and LPG group. 1/3 FF in HPG group was significantly lower not only at rest but also during exercise. 1/3 FR mean at rest was not different significantly among the 3 groups. However, 1/3FR mean during exercise in LPG group was significantly lower; and 1/3 FR mean during exercise was significantly lower in HPG group than LPG group. The ratio of left ventricular muscular mass to left ventricular end-diastolic volume (M/V) calculated from left ventricular cineangiograms was different significantly among the 3 groups. The M/V ratio showed a correlation with LVEF and 1/3 FF both at rest and during exercise. These results would indicate that systolic function was impaired on exercise in severe left ventricular outflow tract stenosis and diastolic function was impaired on exercise in mild and severe left ventricular outflow tract stenosis. This may correlate with left ventricular hypertrophy and interaction of systolic function. (author)

  13. Human papillomavirus in oral lesions Virus papiloma humano en lesiones orales

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    Joaquín V. Gónzalez

    2007-08-01

    Full Text Available Growing evidence suggests a role for human papillomavirus (HPV in oral cancer; however its involvement is still controversial. This study evaluates the frequency of HPV DNA in a variety of oral lesions in patients from Argentina. A total of 77 oral tissue samples from 66 patients were selected (cases; the clinical-histopathological diagnoses corresponded to: 11 HPV- associated benign lesions, 8 non-HPV associated benign lesions, 33 premalignant lesions and 25 cancers. Sixty exfoliated cell samples from normal oral mucosa were used as controls. HPV detection and typing were performed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR using primers MY09, 11, combined with RFLP or alternatively PCR using primers GP5+, 6+ combined with dot blot hybridization. HPV was detected in 91.0% of HPV- associated benign lesions, 14.3% of non-HPV associated benign lesions, 51.5% of preneoplasias and 60.0% of cancers. No control sample tested HPV positive. In benign HPV- associated lesions, 30.0% of HPV positive samples harbored high-risk types, while in preneoplastic lesions the value rose to 59.9%. In cancer lesions, HPV detection in verrucous carcinoma was 88.9% and in squamous cell carcinoma 43.8%, with high-risk type rates of 75.5% and 85.6%, respectively. The high HPV frequency detected in preneoplastic and neoplastic lesions supports an HPV etiological role in at least a subset of oral cancers.Crecientes evidencias sugieren que el virus Papiloma humano (HPV tiene un rol en el cáncer oral; sin embargo su participación es todavía controvertida. Este estudio evalúa la frecuencia de ADN de HPV en una variedad de lesiones orales de pacientes de Argentina. Se seleccionaron 77 muestras de tejido oral de 66 pacientes (casos; el diagnóstico histo-patológico correspondió a: 11 lesiones benignas asociadas a HPV, 8 lesiones benignas no asociadas a HPV, 33 lesiones premalignas y 25 cánceres. Como controles se usaron 60 muestras de células exfoliadas de mucosa oral normal. La

  14. Japanese universities' activities for PFC development and PMI studies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hino, T.

    1998-01-01

    Development of reliable plasma facing components (PFC) with active cooling structures is required for divertor plates of fusion devices in order to remove a large heat flow to the divertor. It is also known that plasma material interactions (PMIs), i.e. fuel hydrogen recycling and erosion of plasma facing material (PFM) determine the energy confinement characteristics. The lifetime of PFCs is limited by the erosion of PFMs. In Japanese universities, studies concerning PFCs and PMIs have been carried out so far for LHD and ITER. For the LHD divertor, both graphite/copper brazed components and mechanical joint components have been developed, and the heat load performance has been examined. For the particle control in LHD, a localized divertor called LID has been designed, the preliminary experiment was conducted in a small helical device, the CHS. In order to reduce the oxygen impurity level, boronization experiments have been conducted systematically, and properties such as oxygen gettering and hydrogen retention were clarified. In the TRIAM-1M tokamak, the damage of PFMs has been investigated using a surface probe. Data on hydrogen retention, which determines the degree of hydrogen recycling, have been accumulated for graphite, Li, B, B 4 C, SiC and W. Conditioning methods are also suggested. In this paper, the problems associated with PFCs and PMIs are pointed out and data recently obtained in Japanese universities and NIFS are briefly introduced. (orig.)

  15. Lexical learning in mild aphasia: gesture benefit depends on patholinguistic profile and lesion pattern.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kroenke, Klaus-Martin; Kraft, Indra; Regenbrecht, Frank; Obrig, Hellmuth

    2013-01-01

    Gestures accompany speech and enrich human communication. When aphasia interferes with verbal abilities, gestures become even more relevant, compensating for and/or facilitating verbal communication. However, small-scale clinical studies yielded diverging results with regard to a therapeutic gesture benefit for lexical retrieval. Based on recent functional neuroimaging results, delineating a speech-gesture integration network for lexical learning in healthy adults, we hypothesized that the commonly observed variability may stem from differential patholinguistic profiles in turn depending on lesion pattern. Therefore we used a controlled novel word learning paradigm to probe the impact of gestures on lexical learning, in the lesioned language network. Fourteen patients with chronic left hemispheric lesions and mild residual aphasia learned 30 novel words for manipulable objects over four days. Half of the words were trained with gestures while the other half were trained purely verbally. For the gesture condition, rootwords were visually presented (e.g., Klavier, [piano]), followed by videos of the corresponding gestures and the auditory presentation of the novel words (e.g., /krulo/). Participants had to repeat pseudowords and simultaneously reproduce gestures. In the verbal condition no gesture-video was shown and participants only repeated pseudowords orally. Correlational analyses confirmed that gesture benefit depends on the patholinguistic profile: lesser lexico-semantic impairment correlated with better gesture-enhanced learning. Conversely largely preserved segmental-phonological capabilities correlated with better purely verbal learning. Moreover, structural MRI-analysis disclosed differential lesion patterns, most interestingly suggesting that integrity of the left anterior temporal pole predicted gesture benefit. Thus largely preserved semantic capabilities and relative integrity of a semantic integration network are prerequisites for successful use of

  16. Damage to the Left Precentral Gyrus Is Associated With Apraxia of Speech in Acute Stroke.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Itabashi, Ryo; Nishio, Yoshiyuki; Kataoka, Yuka; Yazawa, Yukako; Furui, Eisuke; Matsuda, Minoru; Mori, Etsuro

    2016-01-01

    Apraxia of speech (AOS) is a motor speech disorder, which is clinically characterized by the combination of phonemic segmental changes and articulatory distortions. AOS has been believed to arise from impairment in motor speech planning/programming and differentiated from both aphasia and dysarthria. The brain regions associated with AOS are still a matter of debate. The aim of this study was to address this issue in a large number of consecutive acute ischemic stroke patients. We retrospectively studied 136 patients with isolated nonlacunar infarcts in the left middle cerebral artery territory (70.5±12.9 years old, 79 males). In accordance with speech and language assessments, the patients were classified into the following groups: pure form of AOS (pure AOS), AOS with aphasia (AOS-aphasia), and without AOS (non-AOS). Voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping analysis was performed on T2-weighted images or fluid-attenuated inversion recovery images. Using the Liebermeister method, group-wise comparisons were made between the all AOS (pure AOS plus AOS-aphasia) and non-AOS, pure AOS and non-AOS, AOS-aphasia and non-AOS, and pure AOS and AOS-aphasia groups. Of the 136 patients, 22 patients were diagnosed with AOS (7 patients with pure AOS and 15 patients with AOS-aphasia). The voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping analysis demonstrated that the brain regions associated with AOS were centered on the left precentral gyrus. Damage to the left precentral gyrus is associated with AOS in acute to subacute stroke patients, suggesting a role of this brain region in motor speech production. © 2015 American Heart Association, Inc.

  17. Pure associative tactile agnosia for the left hand: clinical and anatomo-functional correlations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Veronelli, Laura; Ginex, Valeria; Dinacci, Daria; Cappa, Stefano F; Corbo, Massimo

    2014-09-01

    Associative tactile agnosia (TA) is defined as the inability to associate information about object sensory properties derived through tactile modality with previously acquired knowledge about object identity. The impairment is often described after a lesion involving the parietal cortex (Caselli, 1997; Platz, 1996). We report the case of SA, a right-handed 61-year-old man affected by first ever right hemispheric hemorrhagic stroke. The neurological examination was normal, excluding major somaesthetic and motor impairment; a brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) confirmed the presence of a right subacute hemorrhagic lesion limited to the post-central and supra-marginal gyri. A comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation detected a selective inability to name objects when handled with the left hand in the absence of other cognitive deficits. A series of experiments were conducted in order to assess each stage of tactile recognition processing using the same stimulus sets: materials, 3D geometrical shapes, real objects and letters. SA and seven matched controls underwent the same experimental tasks during four sessions in consecutive days. Tactile discrimination, recognition, pantomime, drawing after haptic exploration out of vision and tactile-visual matching abilities were assessed. In addition, we looked for the presence of a supra-modal impairment of spatial perception and of specific difficulties in programming exploratory movements during recognition. Tactile discrimination was intact for all the stimuli tested. In contrast, SA was able neither to recognize nor to pantomime real objects manipulated with the left hand out of vision, while he identified them with the right hand without hesitations. Tactile-visual matching was intact. Furthermore, SA was able to grossly reproduce the global shape in drawings but failed to extract details of objects after left-hand manipulation, and he could not identify objects after looking at his own drawings. This case

  18. Pathological generosity: an atypical impulse control disorder after a left subcortical stroke.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ferreira-Garcia, Rafael; Fontenelle, Leonardo F; Moll, Jorge; de Oliveira-Souza, Ricardo

    2014-01-01

    Changes in socio-emotional behavior and conduct, which are characteristic symptoms of frontal lobe damage, have less often been described in patients with focal subcortical injuries. We report on a case of pathological generosity secondary to a left lenticulocapsular stroke with hypoperfusion of several anatomically intact cortical areas. A 49-year-old man developed excessive and persistent generosity as he recovered from a left lenticulocapsular hematoma. His symptoms resembled an impulse control disorder. (99m)Tc-HMPAO SPECT demonstrated hypoperfusion mostly in the ipsilateral striatum, dorsolateral, and orbitofrontal cortex. This case study adds pathological generosity to the range of behavioral changes that may result from discrete unilateral lesions of the lenticular nucleus and nearby pathways. In our particular case, post-stroke pathological generosity was not ascribable to disinhibition, apathy, mania, or depression. Because pathological generosity may lead to significant distress and financial burden upon patients and their families, it may warrant further consideration as a potential type of impulse control disorder.

  19. Left-right functional asymmetry of ventral hippocampus depends on aversiveness of situations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sakaguchi, Yukitoshi; Sakurai, Yoshio

    2017-05-15

    Many studies suggest that animals exhibit lateralized behaviors during aversive situations, and almost all animals exhibit right hemisphere-dominant behaviors associated with fear or anxiety. However, which brain structure in each hemisphere underlies such lateralized function is unclear. In this study, we focused on the hippocampus and investigated the effects of bilateral and unilateral lesions of the ventral hippocampus (VH) on anxiety-like behavior using the successive alleys test. We also examined the expression of c-fos in the VH, which was induced by an aversive situation. Results revealed that consistent right VH dominance trended with the anxiety level. Weaker anxiety induced both right and left VH functions, whereas stronger anxiety induced right VH function. From these results, we conclude that animals are able to adaptively regulate their behaviors to avoid aversive stimuli by changing the functional dominance of their left and right VH. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  20. Intraosseous osteolytic lesions

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Adler, C.P.; Wenz, W.

    1981-10-01

    Any pathological damage occurring in a bone will produce either an osteolytic or osteosclerotic lesion which can be seen in the macroscopic specimen as well as in the roentgenogram. Various bone lesions may lead to local destructions of the bone. An osteoma or osteoplastic osteosarcoma produces an osteosclerotic lesion showing a dense mass in the roentgenogram; a chondroblastoma or an osteoclastoma, on the other hand, induces an osteolytic focal lesion. This paper presents examples of different osteolytic lesions of the humerus. An osteolytic lesion seen in the roentgenogram may be either produced by an underlying non-ossifying fibroma of the bone, by fibrous dysplasia, osteomyelitis or Ewing's sarcoma. Differential diagnostic considerations based on the radiological picture include eosinophilic bone granuloma, juvenile or aneurysmal bone cyst, multiple myeloma or bone metastases. Serious differential diagnostic problems may be involved in case of osteolytic lesions occurring in the humerus. Cases of this type involving complications have been reported and include the presence of an teleangiectatic osteosarcoma as well as that of a hemangiosarcoma of the bone.

  1. Periodontal bone lesions

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Linden, L.W.J. van der.

    1985-01-01

    In the course of life the periodontum is subject to changes which may be physiological or pathological. Intraoral radiographs give insight into the hard structures of the dentomaxillar region and provides information on lesions in the bone of the periodontum in that they show radiopacities and radiolucencies caused by such lesions. In this thesis the relation is investigated between the true shape and dimensions of periodontal bone lesions and their radiographic images. A method is developed and tested of making standardized and reproducible radiographs suitable for longitudinal studies of periodontal lesions. Also the possibility is demonstrated of an objective and reproducible interpretation of radiographic characteristics of periodontal bone lesions. (Auth.)

  2. Perspectives on Imaging the Left Main Coronary Artery Using Intravascular Ultrasound and Optical Coherence Tomography

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Harry C Lowe

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI for significant left main coronary artery (LMCA stenosis is increasingly being viewed as a viable alternative to Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG (1. This is leading to an expectation of increasing numbers of such procedures, with a consequent focus on both the ability to image both lesion severity, and assess more accurately the results of PCI. While there have been advances in physiologic assessment of left main severity using fractional flow reserve (FFR, imaging of the LMCA using Intravascular Ultrasound (IVUS and more recently Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT has the specific advantage of being able to provide detailed anatomical information both pre and post PCI, such that it is timely to review briefly the current status of these two imaging technologies in the context of LMCA intervention.

  3. Managing Carious Lesions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Schwendicke, F; Frencken, J E; Bjørndal, L

    2016-01-01

    should be prioritized, while in shallow or moderately deep lesions, restoration longevity becomes more important. For teeth with shallow or moderately deep cavitated lesions, carious tissue removal is performed according toselective removal to firm dentine.In deep cavitated lesions in primary......The International Caries Consensus Collaboration undertook a consensus process and here presents clinical recommendations for carious tissue removal and managing cavitated carious lesions, including restoration, based on texture of demineralized dentine. Dentists should manage the disease dental...

  4. Intermittent Ethanol during Adolescence Leads to Lasting Behavioral Changes in Adulthood and Alters Gene Expression and Histone Methylation in the PFC

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jennifer T. Wolstenholme

    2017-09-01

    Full Text Available Adolescents primarily consume alcohol in binges, which can be particularly harmful to the developing frontal cortex and increase risk for an adult alcohol use disorder. We conducted a study investigating immediate and long lasting changes to the prefrontal cortex (PFC transcriptome to determine the molecular mechanisms underlying adult ethanol behavioral sensitivity following binge ethanol in adolescence. DBA/2J mice were orally dosed with 4 g/kg ethanol intermittently from day 29 to 42. Adolescent mice were tested for anxiety-like behavior and ethanol sensitivity using the loss of righting reflex task. As adults, mice were tested for cognitive changes using the novel object recognition task, ethanol-induced anxiolysis and ethanol sensitivity. Adolescent binge ethanol altered ethanol sensitivity in young mice and led to lasting memory deficits in the object recognition test and greater ethanol sensitivity in adulthood. Using genomic profiling of transcripts in the PFC, we found that binge ethanol reduced myelin-related gene expression and altered chromatin modifying genes involved in histone demethylation at H3K9 and H3K36. We hypothesize that ethanol’s actions on histone methylation may be a switch for future transcriptional changes that underlie the behavioral changes lasting into adulthood.

  5. Human papillomavirus in oral lesions Virus papiloma humano en lesiones orales

    OpenAIRE

    Joaquín V. Gónzalez; Rafael A. Gutiérrez; Alicia Keszler; Maria Del Carmen Colacino; Lidia V. Alonio; Angélica R. Teyssie; Maria Alejandra Picconi

    2007-01-01

    Growing evidence suggests a role for human papillomavirus (HPV) in oral cancer; however its involvement is still controversial. This study evaluates the frequency of HPV DNA in a variety of oral lesions in patients from Argentina. A total of 77 oral tissue samples from 66 patients were selected (cases); the clinical-histopathological diagnoses corresponded to: 11 HPV- associated benign lesions, 8 non-HPV associated benign lesions, 33 premalignant lesions and 25 cancers. Sixty exfoliated cell ...

  6. An evaluation of coronary artery lesions of Kawasaki disease and congenital heart disease using rotary three dimensional digital cardiovascular angiography

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Watanabe, Masanori; Ogawa, Shunichi; Kumazaki, Tatsuo; Hirayama, Tsuneo

    1994-01-01

    Congenital heart disease and the coronary artery lesions of children suffering from Kawasaki disease were evaluated by cardiovascular angiography using a newly developed rotary three-dimensional digital angiography method, and the usefulness of the device was examined. This method enable the observation of lesions from 144 directions within a 180 degree range depicting an image from optimal directions. In addition, the radiation exposure during one angiography was about one fifth of that of conventional cineangiography. With regard to the lesions of the coronary artery, identification of the localization of the stenotic lesions were made possible, especially at bifurcations, or the stenotic lesions overlapping with other bifurcations or coronary arteries aneurysms as well as the structure at the ostium of the left and right coronary arteries, which were difficult to identify using conventional coronary artery angiography. For the case of patient ductus arteriosus or major aortopulmonary collateral artery (MAPCA), separation and imaging of the overlap with other blood vessels through the three-dimensional observation became possible. This method is effective for the evaluation of the site, direction and morphology of these arteries. With regard to stenosis of the right ventricular outflow tract, the morphology and the degree of stenosis could be evaluated more accurately than by conventional cineangiography. In addition, the images matched well with the operative findings. This method was also effective for the diagnosis and evaluation of the stenosis at the main pulmonary artery and stenosis of the bifurcation of the right and left pulmonary arteries overlapping with the main trunk of the pulmonary artery. The problem with this method is that it cannot be used for the quantitative evaluation of the cardiac function because it cannot take images from multiple directions at the same time or cannot take temporal images from one direction. (author)

  7. Processing closely spaced lesions during Nucleotide Excision Repair triggers mutagenesis in E. coli

    Science.gov (United States)

    Isogawa, Asako; Fujii, Shingo

    2017-01-01

    It is generally assumed that most point mutations are fixed when damage containing template DNA undergoes replication, either right at the fork or behind the fork during gap filling. Here we provide genetic evidence for a pathway, dependent on Nucleotide Excision Repair, that induces mutations when processing closely spaced lesions. This pathway, referred to as Nucleotide Excision Repair-induced Mutagenesis (NERiM), exhibits several characteristics distinct from mutations that occur within the course of replication: i) following UV irradiation, NER-induced mutations are fixed much more rapidly (t ½ ≈ 30 min) than replication dependent mutations (t ½ ≈ 80–100 min) ii) NERiM specifically requires DNA Pol IV in addition to Pol V iii) NERiM exhibits a two-hit dose-response curve that suggests processing of closely spaced lesions. A mathematical model let us define the geometry (infer the structure) of the toxic intermediate as being formed when NER incises a lesion that resides in close proximity of another lesion in the complementary strand. This critical NER intermediate requires Pol IV / Pol II for repair, it is either lethal if left unrepaired or mutation-prone when repaired. Finally, NERiM is found to operate in stationary phase cells providing an intriguing possibility for ongoing evolution in the absence of replication. PMID:28686598

  8. CT and MR imaging of post-aortic left brachiocephalic vein

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Amano, Yasuo; Takagi, Ryo; Hayashi, Hiromitsu; Kumazaki, Tatsuo (Nippon Medical School, Tokyo (Japan))

    1993-10-01

    The usefulness of CT and MR imaging (MRI) for the diagnosis of post-aortic left brachiocephalic vein (PALBV) is discussed. The subjects of the present study consisted of five patients with PALBV, two males and three females, aged for months to sixty years. Chest CT and MRI were performed as a follow-up study of other intrathoracic lesions in two cases, and for further examination of congenital heart diseases in two infant cases. The other patient underwent both CT and MRI to evaluate sporadic chest pain. Therefore, all PALBV were found incidentally. PALBV passes below the aortic arch in front of the trachea, draining the superior vena cava behind the ascending aorta. The finding was particularly well documented on consecutive coronal sections on MRI. In patients with intrathoracic malignant or specific inflammatory lesion, differentiation between PALBV and lymphadenopathy is necessary for treatment. From our experience, marked enhancement on CT and no signal intensity on MRI in PALBV could differentiate this anomaly from mediastinal lymphadenopathy. In two infantile cases with congenital cardiovascular anomalies such as tetralogy of Fallot, right aortic arch and pulmonary arterial stenosis, MRI was found to be superior to CT in demonstrating these anomalies. (author).

  9. CT and MR imaging of post-aortic left brachiocephalic vein

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Amano, Yasuo; Takagi, Ryo; Hayashi, Hiromitsu; Kumazaki, Tatsuo

    1993-01-01

    The usefulness of CT and MR imaging (MRI) for the diagnosis of post-aortic left brachiocephalic vein (PALBV) is discussed. The subjects of the present study consisted of five patients with PALBV, two males and three females, aged for months to sixty years. Chest CT and MRI were performed as a follow-up study of other intrathoracic lesions in two cases, and for further examination of congenital heart diseases in two infant cases. The other patient underwent both CT and MRI to evaluate sporadic chest pain. Therefore, all PALBV were found incidentally. PALBV passes below the aortic arch in front of the trachea, draining the superior vena cava behind the ascending aorta. The finding was particularly well documented on consecutive coronal sections on MRI. In patients with intrathoracic malignant or specific inflammatory lesion, differentiation between PALBV and lymphadenopathy is necessary for treatment. From our experience, marked enhancement on CT and no signal intensity on MRI in PALBV could differentiate this anomaly from mediastinal lymphadenopathy. In two infantile cases with congenital cardiovascular anomalies such as tetralogy of Fallot, right aortic arch and pulmonary arterial stenosis, MRI was found to be superior to CT in demonstrating these anomalies. (author)

  10. [Autopsy case of Lissauer's general paresis with rapidly progressive left hemiparesis].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kato, Hiroko; Yoshida, Mari; Ando, Tetsuo; Sugiura, Makoto; Hashizume, Yoshio

    2009-06-01

    A 48-years-old man presented with slowly progressive bradykinesia, personality change and rapidly progressive left hemiparesis. On admission, he presented dementia, poor judgment, left hemiparesis. MRI revealed a widespread high intensity area in right hemisphere and MRA was almost normal. Serological tests of serum and CSF demonstrated high titers of antibodies to Treponema pallidum. He was treated for syphilis with daily penicillin injections without improvement. He died of sepsis eight months after admission. At autopsy, the brain weighed 1,100 g and the right cerebral hemisphere was atrophic, especially in frontal base, temporal, parietal, angular, and posterior regions covered by thickened, fibrotic leptomeninges. Microscopically, chronic meningoencephalitis was observed. Severe neuronal loss with gliosis was seen in the right cerebral cortices. Scattered rod-shaped microglia and inflammatory cell infiltration were visible in the cerebral parenchyma. The dorsal column of the spinal cord was not involved and meningovascular syphilis was unclear. The distribution of the encephalitic lesions was well correlated with the clinical and neuroradiological findings. This was a rare autopsy case presenting Lissauer's general paresis, clinically manifesting as rapidly progressive stroke-like episode.

  11. Evaluating the effect of multiple sclerosis lesions on automatic brain structure segmentation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sandra González-Villà

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available In recent years, many automatic brain structure segmentation methods have been proposed. However, these methods are commonly tested with non-lesioned brains and the effect of lesions on their performance has not been evaluated. Here, we analyze the effect of multiple sclerosis (MS lesions on three well-known automatic brain structure segmentation methods, namely, FreeSurfer, FIRST and multi-atlas fused by majority voting, which use learning-based, deformable and atlas-based strategies, respectively. To perform a quantitative analysis, 100 synthetic images of MS patients with a total of 2174 lesions are simulated on two public databases with available brain structure ground truth information (IBSR18 and MICCAI’12. The Dice similarity coefficient (DSC differences and the volume differences between the healthy and the simulated images are calculated for the subcortical structures and the brainstem. We observe that the three strategies are affected when lesions are present. However, the effects of the lesions do not follow the same pattern; the lesions either make the segmentation method underperform or surprisingly augment the segmentation accuracy. The obtained results show that FreeSurfer is the method most affected by the presence of lesions, with DSC differences (generated − healthy ranging from −0.11 ± 0.54 to 9.65 ± 9.87, whereas FIRST tends to be the most robust method when lesions are present (−2.40 ± 5.54 to 0.44 ± 0.94. Lesion location is not important for global strategies such as FreeSurfer or majority voting, where structure segmentation is affected wherever the lesions exist. On the other hand, FIRST is more affected when the lesions are overlaid or close to the structure of analysis. The most affected structure by the presence of lesions is the nucleus accumbens (from −1.12 ± 2.53 to 1.32 ± 4.00 for the left hemisphere and from −2.40 ± 5.54 to 9.65 ± 9.87 for the right hemisphere, whereas the

  12. Correlation between Left Ventricular Global and Regional Longitudinal Systolic Strain and Impaired Microcirculation in Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Løgstrup, Brian B; Høfsten, Dan Eik; Christophersen, Thomas Brøcher

    2012-01-01

    investigated if LRS and GLS imaging is superior to conventional measures of left ventricle (LV) function. Methods: In a consecutive population of first time AMI patients, who underwent successful revascularization, we performed comprehensive TTE. GLS and LRS were obtained from the three standard apical views...... elevation myocardial infarction. The GLS was -15.2 [-19.3;-10.1]% in the total population of 183 patients. Total wall motion score index (WMSI) in the population was 1.19 [1;1.5]. Eighty-five patients suffered from culprit lesion in left anterior descending artery (LAD). The CFR in these patients was 1......Objectives: We investigated the correlation between left ventricular global and regional longitudinal systolic strain (GLS and LRS) and coronary flow reserve (CFR) assessed by transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) in patients with a recent acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Furthermore, we...

  13. Differences in the location and activity of intestinal Crohn's disease lesions between adult and paediatric patients detected with MRI

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Maccioni, Francesca; Carrozzo, Federica; Pino, Anna Rosaria; Staltari, Ilaria; Ansari, Najwa Al; Marini, Mario; Viola, Franca; Di Nardo, Giovanni; Cucchiara, Salvatore; Vestri, Annarita; Signore, Alberto

    2012-01-01

    To prospectively compare paediatric patients (PP) and adult patients (AP) affected by Crohn's disease (CD) in terms of the location and activity of intestinal lesions. Forty-three children (mean age 15 years) and 43 adults (mean age 48 years) with proven CD underwent magnetic resonance enterography (MRE) to localise lesions and detect their activity in 9 segments of the small and large bowel. The results were analysed on a per patient and per segment basis. Ileo-colonoscopy was performed in all patients. P values less than 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Involvement of terminal ileum was significantly different in the two groups: observed in 100 % of AP (43/43) versus 58 % (23/43) of PP (P < 0.0001). Conversely, the colon was diseased in 84 % of PP versus 64 % of AP. In particular, left colonic segments were significantly more involved in PP (descending colon 53 % versus 21 %, P < 0.01; rectum 67 % versus 23 %, P < 0.0001; sigmoid colon 56 % versus 37 %, not significant), whereas caecal involvement was equal in both groups. In children the maximal disease activity was found in left colonic segments, whereas in adults it was in the terminal ileum. MRE detected significant differences between the two populations, showing a more extensive and severe involvement of the left colon in children but the distal ileum in adults. (orig.)

  14. Single-incision video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery left-lower lobe anterior segmentectomy (S8).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Galvez, Carlos; Lirio, Francisco; Sesma, Julio; Baschwitz, Benno; Bolufer, Sergio

    2017-01-01

    Unusual anatomical segmentectomies are technically demanding procedures that require a deep knowledge of intralobar anatomy and surgical skill. In the other hand, these procedures preserve more normal lung parenchyma for lesions located in specific anatomical segments, and are indicated for benign lesions, metastasis and also early stage adenocarcinomas without nodal involvement. A 32-year-old woman was diagnosed of a benign pneumocytoma in the anterior segment of the left-lower lobe (S8, LLL), so we performed a single-incision video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (SI-VATS) anatomical S8 segmentectomy in 140 minutes under intercostal block. There were no intraoperative neither postoperative complications, the chest tube was removed at 24 hours and the patient discharged at 5 th postoperative day with low pain on the visual analogue scale (VAS). Final pathologic exam reported a benign sclerosant pneumocytoma with free margins. The patient has recovered her normal activities at 3 months completely with radiological normal controls at 1 and 3 months.

  15. An unusual case of metastasis to the left side of the heart: a case report

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Boyars Michael

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Introduction Cardiac metastases are found in six to 20% of autopsies of patients with malignant neoplasm. The most common neoplasms that metastasize to the heart are malignant melanoma, lymphoma, and leukemia, but the relative numbers are greater with breast and lung cancers, reflecting the most common incidence of these cancers. Case presentation A 60-year-old Hispanic man presented to our hospital after being transferred from an outside hospital for workup and evaluation of an adrenal mass of the abdomen and pelvis, found on computed tomography. His chief complaint upon admission was altered mental status. Physical examination was unremarkable. He was alert and oriented and had a dry and non-erythematous oropharynx, and bilateral diffuse wheezing on lung examination. Computed tomography of the chest showed multiple hypodense lesions in the left ventricular myocardium, suggestive of metastases. There were also tiny sub-centimeter nodular densities in the right upper and lower lobes. Adrenal glands contained hypodense lesions, which showed characteristic adenocarcinomatous malignant cells. Conclusion Cancers which have metastasized to the heart are found in six to 20% of patients with malignant neoplasms. The right side of the heart is more commonly involved in metastasis. This study is unusual in that a tumor of an unknown primary origin had metastasized to the left side of the heart.

  16. Effect of MTA-based sealer on the healing of periapical lesions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gomes-Filho, João Eduardo; Watanabe, Simone; Cintra, Luciano Tavares Angelo; Nery, Mauro Juvenal; Dezan-Júnior, Eloi; Queiroz, India Olinta Azevedo; Lodi, Carolina Simonetti; Basso, Maria Daniela

    2013-01-01

    Some manufacturers have recently added specific components to improve the ease of handling and insertion material properties of MTA in order to create MTA-based sealers. The aim of this study was to evaluate the healing of periapical lesions in canine teeth after a single session of endodontic treatment with MTA Fillapex® compared with Sealapex® or Endo-CPM-Sealer®. Sixty-two root canals were performed on two 1-year-old male dogs. After coronal access and pulp extirpation, the canals were exposed to the oral cavity for 6 months in order to induce periapical lesions. The root canals were prepared, irrigated with a solution of 2.5% sodium hypochlorite and filled with gutta-percha and different sealers, according to the following groups: 1) Sealapex®; 2) Endo-CPM-Sealer®; and 3) MTA Fillapex®. Some teeth with periapical lesions were left untreated for use as positive controls. Healthy teeth were used as negative controls. After 6 months, the animals were sacrificed and serial sections from the roots were prepared for histomorphologic analysis and stained with hematoxylin and eosin and the Brown and Brenn technique. The lesions were scored according to pre-established histomorphologic parameters and the scores statistically analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis test. All 3 materials produced similar patterns of healing (p>0.05); in particular, persistent inflammation and absence of complete periapical tissue healing were consistently noted. Preparation of the infected root canals followed by filling with the materials studied was insufficient to provide complete healing of the periapical tissues.

  17. Whole exome sequencing in 342 congenital cardiac left sided lesion cases reveals extensive genetic heterogeneity and complex inheritance patterns

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alexander H. Li

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Left-sided lesions (LSLs account for an important fraction of severe congenital cardiovascular malformations (CVMs. The genetic contributions to LSLs are complex, and the mutations that cause these malformations span several diverse biological signaling pathways: TGFB, NOTCH, SHH, and more. Here, we use whole exome sequence data generated in 342 LSL cases to identify likely damaging variants in putative candidate CVM genes. Methods Using a series of bioinformatics filters, we focused on genes harboring population-rare, putative loss-of-function (LOF, and predicted damaging variants in 1760 CVM candidate genes constructed a priori from the literature and model organism databases. Gene variants that were not observed in a comparably sequenced control dataset of 5492 samples without severe CVM were then subjected to targeted validation in cases and parents. Whole exome sequencing data from 4593 individuals referred for clinical sequencing were used to bolster evidence for the role of candidate genes in CVMs and LSLs. Results Our analyses revealed 28 candidate variants in 27 genes, including 17 genes not previously associated with a human CVM disorder, and revealed diverse patterns of inheritance among LOF carriers, including 9 confirmed de novo variants in both novel and newly described human CVM candidate genes (ACVR1, JARID2, NR2F2, PLRG1, SMURF1 as well as established syndromic CVM genes (KMT2D, NF1, TBX20, ZEB2. We also identified two genes (DNAH5, OFD1 with evidence of recessive and hemizygous inheritance patterns, respectively. Within our clinical cohort, we also observed heterozygous LOF variants in JARID2 and SMAD1 in individuals with cardiac phenotypes, and collectively, carriers of LOF variants in our candidate genes had a four times higher odds of having CVM (odds ratio = 4.0, 95% confidence interval 2.5–6.5. Conclusions Our analytical strategy highlights the utility of bioinformatic resources, including human

  18. The medial prefrontal cortex and memory of cue location in the rat.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rawson, Tim; O'Kane, Michael; Talk, Andrew

    2010-01-01

    We developed a single-trial cue-location memory task in which rats experienced an auditory cue while exploring an environment. They then recalled and avoided the sound origination point after the cue was paired with shock in a separate context. Subjects with medial prefrontal cortical (mPFC) lesions made no such avoidance response, but both lesioned and control subjects avoided the cue itself when presented at test. A follow up assessment revealed no spatial learning impairment in either group. These findings suggest that the rodent mPFC is required for incidental learning or recollection of the location at which a discrete cue occurred, but is not required for cue recognition or for allocentric spatial memory. Copyright 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. Heterogeneity in semantic priming effect with a lexical decision task in patients after left hemisphere stroke

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Candice Steffen Holderbaum

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT Investigations on the semantic priming effect (SPE in patients after left hemisphere (LH lesions have shown disparities that may be explained by the variability in performance found among patients. The aim of the present study was to verify the existence of subgroups of patients after LH stroke by searching for dissociations between performance on the lexical decision task based on the semantic priming paradigm and performance on direct memory, semantic association and language tasks. All 17 patients with LH lesions after stroke (ten non-fluent aphasics and seven non aphasics were analyzed individually. Results indicated the presence of three groups of patients according to SPE: one exhibiting SPE at both stimulus onset asynchronies (SOAs, one with SPE only at long SOA, and another, larger group with no SPE.

  20. Descriptive data on cancerous lung lesions detected by auto-fluorescence bronchoscope: A five-year study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Asmitananda Thakur

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Background: Auto-fluorescence bronchoscopy (AFB has been used for the identification and localization of intra-epithelial pre-neoplastic and neoplastic lesions within the bronchus. Objectives: To determine the applicability of AFB for the detection and localization of precancerous and cancerous lesions, in addition to analyzing the morphologic presentation, their association to histological type and the variation between genders. Methods: A five-year study involving 4983 patients, who underwent routine bronchoscopy [B] examination in a local tertiary teaching hospital, was done. The B examination was performed under intratracheal lidocaine, and samples were obtained using suitable approach. One thousand four hundred and eighty-five pathologically confirmed lung cancer patients were included in the study. The following parameters were studied: Morphological presentation, biopsy sites, histology. Differences between the groups were analyzed using Chi square test. Result: One thousand four hundred and eighty-five patients who had hyperplasia or neoplastic lesions were further confirmed as lung cancer pathologically. Lung cancer was more commonly found in the right lung (51.58% vs. 42.82%. The lesion occurred more frequently in the upper lobe than the lower lobe (44.17% vs. 22.42%. Male patients with squamous cell carcinoma showed upper lobe involvement more commonly, while the left main bronchus was more commonly involved in female patients. Adenocarcinoma mostly involved lesion of the upper lobe. Squamous cell carcinoma and small cell carcinoma were the major proliferative types (80.15% and 76.16% respectively. Conclusion: AFB is efficient in the detection of pre-invasive and invasive lung lesions. The morphological presentation is associated to the histological type. There is variation in the presentation and histology of cancerous lung lesions between genders.

  1. Improvement of cerebral hypometabolism after resection of radiation-induced necrotic lesion in a patient with cerebral arteriovenous malformation

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Harada, Yae; Hirata, Kenji; Nakayama, Naoki; Yamaguchi, Shigeru; Yoshida, Michiharu; Onodera, Shunsuke; Manabe, Osamu; Shiga, Tohru; Terae, Satoshi; Shirato, Hiroki; Tamaki, Nagara

    2015-01-01

    A 55-year-old woman underwent radiosurgery for a left cerebral hemisphere arteriovenous malformation (AVM) and developed radiation-induced necrosis causing a massive edema in the surrounding brain tissues. Despite various therapies, the edema expanded to the ipsilateral hemisphere and induced neurological symptoms. The radiation-induced necrotic lesion was surgically removed 4 years after radiosurgery. While the preoperative FDG PET revealed severe hypometabolism in the left cerebrum, the necrotomy significantly ameliorated the brain edema, glucose metabolism (postoperative FDG PET), and symptoms. This case indicates that radiation necrosis-induced neurological deficits may be associated with brain edema and hypometabolism, which could be reversed by appropriate necrotomy

  2. Working Memory Modulates Glutamate Levels in the Dorsolateral Prefrontal Cortex during 1H fMRS

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eric A. Woodcock

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available Glutamate is involved in excitatory neurotransmission and metabolic processes related to brain function. Previous studies using proton functional magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H fMRS have demonstrated elevated cortical glutamate levels by 2–4% during visual and motor stimulation, relative to periods of no stimulation. Here, we extended this approach to working memory cognitive task performance, which has been consistently associated with dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC activation. Sixteen healthy adult volunteers completed a continuous visual fixation “rest” task followed by a letter 2-back working memory task during 1H fMRS acquisition of the left dlPFC, which encompassed Brodmann areas 45 and 46 over a 4.5-cm3 volume. Using a 100% automated fitting procedure integrated with LCModel, raw spectra were eddy current-, phase-, and shift-corrected prior to quantification resulting in a 32s temporal resolution or 8 averages per spectra. Task compliance was high (95 ± 11% correct and the mean Cramer-Rao Lower Bound of glutamate was 6.9 ± 0.9%. Relative to continuous passive visual fixation, left dlPFC glutamate levels were significantly higher by 2.7% (0.32 mmol/kg wet weight during letter 2-back performance. Elevated dlPFC glutamate levels reflect increased metabolic activity and excitatory neurotransmission driven by working memory-related cognitive demands. These results provide the first in vivo demonstration of elevated dlPFC glutamate levels during working memory.

  3. Increases in the right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and decreases the rostral prefrontal cortex activation after-8 weeks of focused attention based mindfulness meditation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tomasino, Barbara; Fabbro, Franco

    2016-02-01

    Mindfulness meditation is a form of attention control training. The training exercises the ability to repeatedly focus attention. We addressed the activation changes related to an 8-weeks mindfulness-oriented focused attention meditation training on an initially naïve subject cohort. Before and after training participants underwent an fMRI experiment, thus, although not strictly a cross over design, they served as their internal own control. During fMRI they exercised focused attention on breathing and body scan as compared to resting. We found increased and decreased activation in different parts of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) by comparing pre- vs. post-mindfulness training (MT) during breathing and body scan meditation exercises that were compared against their own resting state. In the post-MT (vs. pre-MT) meditation increased activation in the right dorsolateral PFC and in the left caudate/anterior insula and decreased activation in the rostral PFC and right parietal area 3b. Thus a brief mindfulness training caused increased activation in areas involved in sustaining and monitoring the focus of attention (dorsolateral PFC), consistent with the aim of mindfulness that is exercising focused attention mechanisms, and in the left caudate/anterior insula involved in attention and corporeal awareness and decreased activation in areas part of the "default mode" network and is involved in mentalizing (rostral PFC), consistent with the ability trained by mindfulness of reducing spontaneous mind wandering. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  4. Evaluation of Pleasure-Displeasure Induced by Use of Lipsticks with Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS): Usefulness of 2-Channel NIRS in Neuromarketing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tanida, M; Okabe, M; Tagai, K; Sakatani, K

    2017-01-01

    In order to examine whether near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) would be a useful neuromarketing tool, we employed NIRS to evaluate the difference of pleasure-displeasure in women, induced by the use of different types of lipsticks. The subjects used lipsticks A and B; A is softer than B. Concentration changes of oxy-Hb were measured in the bilateral prefrontal cortex (PFC) during use of lipsticks A and B. We evaluated the right and left dominancy of PFC activity by calculating the Laterality Index (LI) (LI = leftΔoxy-Hb - rightΔoxy-Hb); positive LI indicates left-dominant activity while negative LI indicate right-dominant activity. We found a significant interaction between the use of lipsticks A and B, using a two-way factorial analysis of variance [F(1,13) = 9.63, p neuromarketing tool, since it allows objective assessment of pleasure-unpleasure.

  5. Investigation of left and right lateral fluid percussion injury in C57BL6/J mice: In vivo functional consequences.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schurman, Lesley D; Smith, Terry L; Morales, Anthony J; Lee, Nancy N; Reeves, Thomas M; Phillips, Linda L; Lichtman, Aron H

    2017-07-13

    Although rodent models of traumatic brain injury (TBI) reliably produce cognitive and motor disturbances, behavioral characterization resulting from left and right hemisphere injuries remains unexplored. Here we examined the functional consequences of targeting the left versus right parietal cortex in lateral fluid percussion injury, on Morris water maze (MWM) spatial memory tasks (fixed platform and reversal) and neurological motor deficits (neurological severity score and rotarod). In the MWM fixed platform task, right lateral injury produced a small delay in acquisition rate compared to left. However, injury to either hemisphere resulted in probe trial deficits. In the MWM reversal task, left-right performance deficits were not evident, though left lateral injury produced mild acquisition and probe trial deficits compared to sham controls. Additionally, left and right injury produced similar neurological motor task deficits, impaired righting times, and lesion volumes. Injury to either hemisphere also produced robust ipsilateral, and modest contralateral, morphological changes in reactive microglia and astrocytes. In conclusion, left and right lateral TBI impaired MWM performance, with mild fixed platform acquisition rate differences, despite similar motor deficits, histological damage, and glial cell reactivity. Thus, while both left and right lateral TBI produce cognitive deficits, laterality in mouse MWM learning and memory merits consideration in the investigation of TBI-induced cognitive consequences. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  6. Neural processing associated with cognitive and affective Theory of Mind in adolescents and adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sebastian, Catherine L; Fontaine, Nathalie M G; Bird, Geoffrey; Blakemore, Sarah-Jayne; Brito, Stephane A De; McCrory, Eamon J P; Viding, Essi

    2012-01-01

    Theory of Mind (ToM) is the ability to attribute thoughts, intentions and beliefs to others. This involves component processes, including cognitive perspective taking (cognitive ToM) and understanding emotions (affective ToM). This study assessed the distinction and overlap of neural processes involved in these respective components, and also investigated their development between adolescence and adulthood. While data suggest that ToM develops between adolescence and adulthood, these populations have not been compared on cognitive and affective ToM domains. Using fMRI with 15 adolescent (aged 11-16 years) and 15 adult (aged 24-40 years) males, we assessed neural responses during cartoon vignettes requiring cognitive ToM, affective ToM or physical causality comprehension (control). An additional aim was to explore relationships between fMRI data and self-reported empathy. Both cognitive and affective ToM conditions were associated with neural responses in the classic ToM network across both groups, although only affective ToM recruited medial/ventromedial PFC (mPFC/vmPFC). Adolescents additionally activated vmPFC more than did adults during affective ToM. The specificity of the mPFC/vmPFC response during affective ToM supports evidence from lesion studies suggesting that vmPFC may integrate affective information during ToM. Furthermore, the differential neural response in vmPFC between adult and adolescent groups indicates developmental changes in affective ToM processing.

  7. Re-implant of the right coronary artery: a surgical technique for the treatment of ostial lesions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Bongiovani Hércules Lisboa

    2002-01-01

    Full Text Available Previously described surgical treatment for ostial coronary artery stenosis relied on either venous or arterial bypasses or ostial patch angioplasty. These surgical procedures are performed with bovine pericardium, saphenous vein or internal thoracic artery. We describe a technique of right coronary artery re-implantation into the aorta. The procedure was performed in four patients with right coronary artery ostial stenosis along with other left coronary artery lesions.

  8. Fluvoxamine maleate effects on dopamine signaling in the prefrontal cortex of stressed Parkinsonian rats: Implications for learning and memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dallé, Ernest; Daniels, Willie M U; Mabandla, Musa V

    2017-06-01

    Parkinson's disease (PD) is also associated with cognitive impairment and reduced extrinsic supply of dopamine (DA) to the prefrontal cortex (PFC). In the present study, we looked at whether exposure to early life stress reduces DA and serotonin (5-HT) concentration in the PFC thus leading to enhanced cognitive impairment in a Parkinsonian rat model. Maternal separation was the stressor used to develop an animal model for early life stress that has chronic effects on brain and behavior. Sprague-Dawley rats were treated with the antidepressant Fluvoxamine maleate (FM) prior to a unilateral 6-hydroxydopamine (6-OHDA) lesion to model motor deficits in rats. The Morris water maze (MWM) and the forelimb use asymmetry (cylinder) tests were used to assess learning and memory impairment and motor deficits respectively. Blood plasma was used to measure corticosterone concentration and prefrontal tissue was collected for lipid peroxidation, DA, and 5-HT analysis. Our results show that animals exposed to early life stress displayed learning and memory impairment as well as elevated basal plasma corticosterone concentration which were attenuated by treatment with FM. A 6-OHDA lesion effect was evidenced by impairment in the cylinder test as well as decreased DA and 5-HT concentration in the PFC. These effects were attenuated by FM treatment resulting in higher DA concentration in the PFC of treated animals than in non-treated animals. This study suggests that DA and 5-HT signaling in the PFC are responsive to FM and may reduce stress-induced cognitive impairment in PD. Copyright © 2017. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  9. Bidirectional modulation of goal-directed actions by prefrontal cortical dopamine.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hitchcott, Paul K; Quinn, Jennifer J; Taylor, Jane R

    2007-12-01

    Instrumental actions are a vital cognitive asset that endows an organism with sensitivity to the consequences of its behavior. Response-outcome feedback allows responding to be shaped in order to maximize beneficial, and minimize detrimental, outcomes. Lesions of the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) result in behavior that is insensitive to changes in outcome value in animals and compulsive behavior in several human psychopathologies. Such insensitivity to changes in outcome value is a defining characteristic of instrumental habits: responses that are controlled by antecedent stimuli rather than goal expectancy. Little is known regarding the neurochemical substrates mediating this sensitivity. The present experiments used sensitivity to posttraining outcome devaluation to index the action-habit status of instrumental responding. Infusions of dopamine into the ventral mPFC (vmPFC), but not dorsal mPFC, restored outcome sensitivity bidirectionally-decreasing responding following outcome devaluation and increasing responding when the outcome was not devalued. This bidirectionality makes the possibility that these infusions nonspecifically dysregulated vmPFC dopamine transmission unlikely. VmPFC dopamine promoted instrumental responding appropriate to outcome value. Reinforcer consumption data indicated that this was not a consequence of altered sensitivity to the reinforcer itself. We suggest that vmPFC dopamine reengages attentional processes underlying goal-directed behavior.

  10. Involvement of serotonin 2A receptor activation in modulating medial prefrontal cortex and amygdala neuronal activation during novelty-exposure.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hervig, Mona El-Sayed; Jensen, Nadja Cecilie Hvid; Rasmussen, Nadja Bredo; Rydbirk, Rasmus; Olesen, Mikkel Vestergaard; Hay-Schmidt, Anders; Pakkenberg, Bente; Aznar, Susana

    2017-05-30

    The medial prefrontal cortex (PFC) plays a major role in executive function by exerting a top-down control onto subcortical areas. Novelty-induced frontal cortex activation is 5-HT 2A receptor (5-HT 2A R) dependent. Here, we further investigated how blockade of 5-HT 2A Rs in mice exposed to a novel open-field arena affects medial PFC activation and basolateral amygdala (BLA) reactivity. We used c-Fos immunoreactivity (IR) as a marker of neuronal activation and stereological quantification for obtaining the total number of c-Fos-IR neurons as a measure of regional activation. We further examined the impact of 5-HT 2A R blockade on the striatal-projecting BLA neurons. Systemic administration of ketanserin (0.5mg/kg) prior to novel open-field exposure resulted in reduced total numbers of c-Fos-IR cells in dorsomedial PFC areas and the BLA. Moreover, there was a positive correlation between the relative time spent in the centre of the open-field and BLA c-Fos-IR in the ketanserin-treated animals. Unilateral medial PFC lesions blocked this effect, ascertaining an involvement of this frontal cortex area. On the other hand, medial PFC lesioning exacerbated the more anxiogenic-like behaviour of the ketanserin-treated animals, upholding its involvement in modulating averseness. Ketanserin did not affect the number of activated striatal-projecting BLA neurons (measured by number of Cholera Toxin b (CTb) retrograde labelled neurons also being c-Fos-IR) following CTb injection in the ventral striatum. These results support a role of 5-HT 2A R activation in modulating mPFC and BLA activation during exposure to a novel environment, which may be interrelated. Conversely, 5-HT 2A R blockade does not seem to affect the amygdala-striatal projection. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  11. Functional plasticity in the respiratory drive to thoracic motoneurons in the segment above a chronic lateral spinal cord lesion

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ford, T W; Anissimova, Natalia P; Meehan, Claire Francesca

    2016-01-01

    A previous neurophysiological investigation demonstrated an increase in functional projections of expiratory bulbospinal neurons (EBSNs) in the segment above a chronic lateral thoracic spinal cord lesion that severed their axons. We have now investigated how this plasticity might be manifested...... in thoracic motoneurons by measuring their respiratory drive and the connections to them from individual EBSNs. In anesthetized cats, simultaneous recordings were made intracellularly from motoneurons in the segment above a left-side chronic (16 wk) lesion of the spinal cord in the rostral part of T8, T9......, or T10 and extracellularly from EBSNs in the right caudal medulla, antidromically excited from just above the lesion but not from below. Spike-triggered averaging was used to measure the connections between pairs of EBSNs and motoneurons. Connections were found to have a very similar distribution...

  12. Regional brain [(11)C]carfentanil binding following tobacco smoking.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Domino, Edward F; Hirasawa-Fujita, Mika; Ni, Lisong; Guthrie, Sally K; Zubieta, Jon Kar

    2015-06-03

    To determine if overnight tobacco abstinent carriers of the AG or GG (*G) vs. the AA variant of the human mu opioid receptor (OPRM1) A118G polymorphism (rs1799971) differ in [(11)C]carfentanil binding after tobacco smoking. Twenty healthy American male smokers who abstained from tobacco overnight were genotyped and completed positron emission tomography (PET) scans with the mu opioid receptor agonist, [(11)C]carfentanil. They smoked deniconized (denic) and average nicotine (avnic) cigarettes during the PET scans. Smoking avnic cigarette decreased the binding potential (BPND) of [(11)C]carfentanil in the right medial prefrontal cortex (mPfc; 6, 56, 18), left anterior medial prefrontal cortex (amPfc; -2, 46, 44), right ventral striatum (vStr; 16, 3, -10), left insula (Ins; -42, 10, -12), right hippocampus (Hippo; 18, -6, -14) and left cerebellum (Cbl; -10, -88, -34), and increased the BPND in left amygdala (Amy; -20, 0, -22), left putamen (Put; -22, 10, -6) and left nucleus accumbens (NAcc; -10, 12, -8). In the AA allele carriers, avnic cigarette smoking significantly changed the BPND compared to after denic smoking in most brain areas listed above. However in the *G carriers the significant BPND changes were confirmed in only amPfc and vStr. Free mu opioid receptor availability was significantly less in the *G than the AA carriers in the Amy and NAcc. The present study demonstrates that BPND changes induced by avnic smoking in OPRM1 *G carriers were blunted compared to the AA carriers. Also *G smokers had less free mu opioid receptor availability in Amy and NAcc. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. Mediodorsal Thalamic Neurons Mirror the Activity of Medial Prefrontal Neurons Responding to Movement and Reinforcement during a Dynamic DNMTP Task.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miller, Rikki L A; Francoeur, Miranda J; Gibson, Brett M; Mair, Robert G

    2017-01-01

    The mediodorsal nucleus (MD) interacts with medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) to support learning and adaptive decision-making. MD receives driver (layer 5) and modulatory (layer 6) projections from PFC and is the main source of driver thalamic projections to middle cortical layers of PFC. Little is known about the activity of MD neurons and their influence on PFC during decision-making. We recorded MD neurons in rats performing a dynamic delayed nonmatching to position (dDNMTP) task and compared results to a previous study of mPFC with the same task (Onos et al., 2016). Criterion event-related responses were observed for 22% (254/1179) of neurons recorded in MD, 237 (93%) of which exhibited activity consistent with mPFC response types. More MD than mPFC neurons exhibited responses related to movement (45% vs. 29%) and reinforcement (51% vs. 27%). MD had few responses related to lever presses, and none related to preparation or memory delay, which constituted 43% of event-related activity in mPFC. Comparison of averaged normalized population activity and population response times confirmed the broad similarity of common response types in MD and mPFC and revealed differences in the onset and offset of some response types. Our results show that MD represents information about actions and outcomes essential for decision-making during dDNMTP, consistent with evidence from lesion studies that MD supports reward-based learning and action-selection. These findings support the hypothesis that MD reinforces task-relevant neural activity in PFC that gives rise to adaptive behavior.

  14. Development of temperamental effortful control mediates the relationship between maturation of the prefrontal cortex and psychopathology during adolescence: A 4-year longitudinal study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nandita Vijayakumar

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available This study investigated the relationship between the development of effortful control (EC, a temperamental measure of self-regulation, and concurrent development of three regions of the prefrontal cortex (anterior cingulate cortex, ACC; dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, dlPFC; ventrolateral prefrontal cortex, vlPFC between early- and mid-adolescence. It also examined whether development of EC mediated the relationship between cortical maturation and emotional and behavioral symptoms. Ninety-two adolescents underwent baseline assessments when they were approximately 12 years old and follow-up assessments approximately 4 years later. At each assessment, participants had MRI scans and completed the Early Adolescent Temperament Questionnaire-Revised, as well as measures of depressive and anxious symptoms, and aggressive and risk taking behavior. Cortical thicknesses of the ACC, dlPFC and vlPFC, estimated using the FreeSurfer software, were found to decrease over time. EC also decreased over time in females. Greater thinning of the left ACC was associated with less reduction in EC. Furthermore, change in effortful control mediated the relationship between greater thinning of the left ACC and improvements in socioemotional functioning, including reductions in psychopathological symptoms. These findings highlight the dynamic association between EC and the maturation of the anterior cingulate cortex, and the importance of this relationship for socioemotional functioning during adolescence.

  15. Analogical reasoning and prefrontal cortex: evidence for separable retrieval and integration mechanisms.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bunge, Silvia A; Wendelken, Carter; Badre, David; Wagner, Anthony D

    2005-03-01

    The present study examined the contributions of prefrontal cortex (PFC) subregions to two component processes underlying verbal analogical reasoning: semantic retrieval and integration. Event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging data were acquired while subjects performed propositional analogy and semantic decision tasks. On each trial, subjects viewed a pair of words (pair 1), followed by an instructional cue and a second word pair (pair 2). On analogy trials, subjects evaluated whether pair 2 was semantically analogous to pair 1. On semantic trials, subjects indicated whether the pair 2 words were semantically related to each other. Thus, analogy--but not semantic--trials required integration across multiple retrieved relations. To identify regions involved in semantic retrieval, we manipulated the associative strength of pair 1 words in both tasks. Anterior left inferior PFC (aLIPC) was modulated by associative strength, consistent with a role in controlled semantic retrieval. Left frontopolar cortex was insensitive to associative strength, but was more sensitive to integration demands than was aLIPC, consistent with a role in integrating the products of semantic retrieval to evaluate whether distinct representations are analogous. Right dorsolateral PFC exhibited a profile consistent with a role in response selection rather than retrieval or integration. These findings indicate that verbal analogical reasoning depends on multiple, PFC-mediated computations.

  16. Compensation or inhibitory failure? Testing hypotheses of age-related right frontal lobe involvement in verbal memory ability using structural and diffusion MRI

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cox, Simon R.; Bastin, Mark E.; Ferguson, Karen J.; Allerhand, Mike; Royle, Natalie A.; Maniega, Susanna Muñoz; Starr, John M.; MacLullich, Alasdair M.J.; Wardlaw, Joanna M.; Deary, Ian J.; MacPherson, Sarah E.

    2015-01-01

    Functional neuroimaging studies report increased right prefrontal cortex (PFC) involvement during verbal memory tasks amongst low-scoring older individuals, compared to younger controls and their higher-scoring contemporaries. Some propose that this reflects inefficient use of neural resources through failure of the left PFC to inhibit non-task-related right PFC activity, via the anterior corpus callosum (CC). For others, it indicates partial compensation – that is, the right PFC cannot completely supplement the failing neural network, but contributes positively to performance. We propose that combining structural and diffusion brain MRI can be used to test predictions from these theories which have arisen from fMRI studies. We test these hypotheses in immediate and delayed verbal memory ability amongst 90 healthy older adults of mean age 73 years. Right hippocampus and left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) volumes, and fractional anisotropy (FA) in the splenium made unique contributions to verbal memory ability in the whole group. There was no significant effect of anterior callosal white matter integrity on performance. Rather, segmented linear regression indicated that right DLPFC volume was a significantly stronger positive predictor of verbal memory for lower-scorers than higher-scorers, supporting a compensatory explanation for the differential involvement of the right frontal lobe in verbal memory tasks in older age. PMID:25241394

  17. Amygdala-prefrontal cortex resting-state functional connectivity varies with first depressive or manic episode in bipolar disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wei, Shengnan; Geng, Haiyang; Jiang, Xiaowei; Zhou, Qian; Chang, Miao; Zhou, Yifang; Xu, Ke; Tang, Yanqing; Wang, Fei

    2017-02-22

    Bipolar disorder (BD) is one of the most complex mental illnesses, characterized by interactive depressive and manic states that are 2 contrary symptoms of disease states. The bilateral amygdala and prefrontal cortex (PFC) appear to play critical roles in BD; however, abnormalities seem to manifest differently in the 2 states and may provide further insight into underlying mechanisms. Sixteen participants with first-episode depressive and 13 participants with first-episode manic states of bipolar disorder as well as 30 healthy control (HC) participants underwent resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) between the bilateral amygdala and PFC was compared among the 3 groups. Compared with depressive state participants of the BD group, manic state participants of the BD group showed a significant decrease in rsFC between the amygdala and right orbital frontal cortex (pamygdala and left middle frontal cortex was significantly decreased in depressive and manic state participants of the BD group when compared with the HC group (pamygdala- left PFC functional connectivity might present the trait feature for BD, while deficits in amygdala- right PFC functional connectivity might be specific to manic episode, compared to depressive episode. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. Gender-specific hemodynamics in prefrontal cortex during a verbal working memory task by near-infrared spectroscopy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Ting; Luo, Qingming; Gong, Hui

    2010-05-01

    The presence or absence of gender differences in working memory, localized in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), has been debated in a few fMRI studies. However, the hypothesis of gender differences in PFC function has not been elaborated, and comparisons among hemodynamic parameters designed to test for gender differences are scarce. We utilized near-infrared spectroscopy during verbal N-back tasks on 26 male and 24 female healthy volunteers. Changes in the concentrations of oxy- (Delta[oxy-Hb]), deoxy- (Delta[deoxy-Hb]) and total hemoglobin (Delta[tot-Hb]) were recorded simultaneously. Delta[oxy-Hb] and Delta[tot-Hb] exhibited obvious gender differences, but Delta[deoxy-Hb] did not. Males showed bilateral activation with slight left-side dominance, whereas females showed left activation. The activation in males was more wide-spread and stronger than in females. Furthermore, females required a lower hemodynamic supply than males to obtain comparable performance, and only females exhibited positive correlations between hemodynamic parameters and behavioral performance. The results reinforce the existence of a gender effect in hemodynamic-based functional imaging studies. Our findings suggest that females possess more efficient hemodynamics in the PFC during working memory and emphasize the importance of studying the PFC to further a scientific understanding of gender differences.

  19. Benign fibroosseous lesions

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Cansu Köseoğlu Seçgin

    2016-05-01

    Full Text Available Benign fibroosseous lesions represent a group of lesions that share the same basic evolutive mechanism and are characterized by replacement of normal bone with a fibrous connective tissue that gradually undergoes mineralization. These lesions are presented by a variety of diseases including developmental, reactive-dysplastic processes and neoplasms. Depending on the nature and amount of calcified tissue, they can be observed as radiolucent, mixed or radiopaque. Their radiographic features could be well-defined or indistinguishable from the surrounding bone tissue. They can be asymptomatic as in osseous dysplasias and can be detected incidentally on radiographs, or they can lead to expansion in the affected bone as in ossifying fibroma. All fibroosseous lesions seen in the jaws and face are variations of the same histological pattern. Therefore, detailed clinical and radiographic evaluation in differential diagnosis is important. In this review, fibroosseous benign lesions are classified as osseous dysplasia, fibrous dysplasia and fibroosseous tumors; and radiographic features and differential diagnosis of these lesions are reviewed taking into account this classification.

  20. Systolic left ventricular function according to left ventricular concentricity and dilatation in hypertensive patients

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Bang, Casper; Gerdts, Eva; Aurigemma, Gerard P

    2013-01-01

    Left ventricular hypertrophy [LVH, high left ventricular mass (LVM)] is traditionally classified as concentric or eccentric based on left ventricular relative wall thickness. We evaluated left ventricular systolic function in a new four-group LVH classification based on left ventricular dilatation...... [high left ventricular end-diastolic volume (EDV) index and concentricity (LVM/EDV)] in hypertensive patients....