WorldWideScience

Sample records for left posteroinferior temporal

  1. Bilateral, Mirror-imaged, Postero-inferior Cerebellar Artery Aneurysms: Report of a Rare Case

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    G R Sharma

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available A 60-year-old right-handed lady presented with the features of subarachnoid haemorrhage. The CT angiogram showed a pair of very rare bilateral, mirror-imaged distal postero-inferior cerebellar artery aneurysms. Both aneurysms were clipped via the midline posterior fossa craniectomy under general anaesthesia. The literatures is reviewed on the incidence, presentation, management and outcome of bilateral distal posterior-inferior cerebellar artery aneurysms. Keywords: bilateral mirror image, distal postero-inferior cerebellar artery aneurysms, posterior fossa craniectomy, microsurgical clipping

  2. Postero-Inferior Pedicle Surgical Technique for the Treatment of Grade III Gynecomastia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thiénot, Sophie; Bertheuil, Nicolas; Carloni, Raphaël; Méal, Cécile; Aillet, Sylvie; Herlin, Christian; Watier, Eric

    2017-06-01

    Surgical treatment of Grade III gynecomastia generally utilizes mastectomy techniques and free transplantation of the nipple-areola complex. Moreover, with rising obesity rates and the development of bariatric surgery, an increasing demand for correctional surgery for pseudogynecomastia has been observed, which is comparable to Grade III gynecomastia in terms of its surgical management. Here, we describe an innovative technique to deal with these new demands: fascio-cutaneous flap by postero-inferior pedicle. All patients in the Department of Plastic Surgery from our University Hospital suffering from Grade III gynecomastia or pseudogynecomastia underwent surgery via the postero-inferior pedicle flap technique. Briefly, we performed extensive liposuction of the infero-internal and infero-external mammary quadrants followed by liposuction of the deep tissues of the superior quadrants, except in the area of the pedicle. After removing the skin just above the dermis of the inferior quadrants and performing de-epithelialization of the postero-inferior pedicle flap, the thoracic flap was lowered and the areola transposed. Nine patients underwent surgery between March 2015 and March 2016, and their results were collected prospectively. The mean patient age was 46.6 years, the mean weight was 94.2 kg, and the mean body mass index was 30.8 kg/m 2 . In addition, the mean operative time was 132 min, the mean liposuction volume was 633 mL, the excised weight was 586 g, and the mean hospitalization and drainage durations were 3.8 days. No major complications occurred, no re-intervention was required, and no recurrence was found. We report a new operative technique using a postero-inferior pedicle. Its main advantage is preservation of neurovascular function, which makes this a promising technique for patients who wish to maintain nipple sensitivity. This surgery is reliable and reproducible. We recommend it as the first line treatment for Grade III gynecomastia because

  3. Correlation of vocals and lyrics with left temporal musicogenic epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tseng, Wei-En J; Lim, Siew-Na; Chen, Lu-An; Jou, Shuo-Bin; Hsieh, Hsiang-Yao; Cheng, Mei-Yun; Chang, Chun-Wei; Li, Han-Tao; Chiang, Hsing-I; Wu, Tony

    2018-03-15

    Whether the cognitive processing of music and speech relies on shared or distinct neuronal mechanisms remains unclear. Music and language processing in the brain are right and left temporal functions, respectively. We studied patients with musicogenic epilepsy (ME) that was specifically triggered by popular songs to analyze brain hyperexcitability triggered by specific stimuli. The study included two men and one woman (all right-handed, aged 35-55 years). The patients had sound-triggered left temporal ME in response to popular songs with vocals, but not to instrumental, classical, or nonvocal piano solo versions of the same song. Sentimental lyrics, high-pitched singing, specificity/familiarity, and singing in the native language were the most significant triggering factors. We found that recognition of the human voice and analysis of lyrics are important causal factors in left temporal ME and provide observational evidence that sounds with speech structure are predominantly processed in the left temporal lobe. A literature review indicated that language-associated stimuli triggered ME in the left temporal epileptogenic zone at a nearly twofold higher rate compared with the right temporal region. Further research on ME may enhance understanding of the cognitive neuroscience of music. © 2018 New York Academy of Sciences.

  4. Temporal order processing of syllables in the left parietal lobe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moser, Dana; Baker, Julie M; Sanchez, Carmen E; Rorden, Chris; Fridriksson, Julius

    2009-10-07

    Speech processing requires the temporal parsing of syllable order. Individuals suffering from posterior left hemisphere brain injury often exhibit temporal processing deficits as well as language deficits. Although the right posterior inferior parietal lobe has been implicated in temporal order judgments (TOJs) of visual information, there is limited evidence to support the role of the left inferior parietal lobe (IPL) in processing syllable order. The purpose of this study was to examine whether the left inferior parietal lobe is recruited during temporal order judgments of speech stimuli. Functional magnetic resonance imaging data were collected on 14 normal participants while they completed the following forced-choice tasks: (1) syllable order of multisyllabic pseudowords, (2) syllable identification of single syllables, and (3) gender identification of both multisyllabic and monosyllabic speech stimuli. Results revealed increased neural recruitment in the left inferior parietal lobe when participants made judgments about syllable order compared with both syllable identification and gender identification. These findings suggest that the left inferior parietal lobe plays an important role in processing syllable order and support the hypothesized role of this region as an interface between auditory speech and the articulatory code. Furthermore, a breakdown in this interface may explain some components of the speech deficits observed after posterior damage to the left hemisphere.

  5. Ictal spitting in left temporal lobe epilepsy: report of three cases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caboclo, Luís Otávio Sales Ferreira; Miyashira, Flavia Saori; Hamad, Ana Paula Andrade; Lin, Katia; Carrete, Henrique; Sakamoto, Américo Ceiki; Yacubian, Elza Márcia Targas

    2006-09-01

    Ictal spitting is rarely reported in patients with epilepsy. More often it is observed in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and is presumed to be a lateralizing sign to language nondominant hemisphere. We report three patients with left TLE who had ictal spitting registered during prolonged video-EEG monitoring. Medical charts of all patients with medically refractory partial epilepsy submitted to prolonged video-EEG monitoring in the Epilepsy Unit at UNIFESP during a 3-year period were reviewed, in search of reports of ictal spitting. The clinical, neurophysiological and neuroimaging data of the identified patients were reviewed. Among 136 patients evaluated with prolonged video-EEG monitoring, three (2.2%) presented spitting automatisms during complex partial seizures. All of them were right-handed, and had clear signs of left hippocampal sclerosis on MRI. In two patients, in all seizures in which ictal spitting was observed, EEG seizure onset was seen in the left temporal lobe. In the third patient, ictal onset with scalp electrodes was observed in the right temporal lobe, but semi-invasive monitoring with foramen ovale electrodes revealed ictal onset in the left temporal lobe, confirming false lateralization in surface records. The three patients became seizure-free following left anterior temporal lobectomy. Ictal spitting is a rare finding in patients with epilepsy, and may be considered a localizing sign of seizure onset in the temporal lobe. It may be observed in seizures originating from the left temporal lobe, and thus should not be considered a lateralizing sign of nondominant TLE.

  6. Decreased left temporal lobe volume of panic patients measured by magnetic resonance imaging

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Uchida, R.R.; Del-Ben, C.M.; Araujo, D.; Crippa, J.A.; Graeff, F.G. [Sao Paulo Univ., Ribeirao Preto, SP (Brazil). Dept. de Neurologia e Psicologia Medica]. E-mail: fgraeff@keynet.com.br; Santos, A.C. [Sao Paulo Univ., Ribeirao Preto, SP (Brazil). Dept. de Clinica Medica; Guimaraes, F.S. [Sao Paulo Univ., Ribeirao Preto, SP (Brazil). Dept. de Farmacologia

    2003-07-01

    Reported neuroimaging studies have shown functional and morphological changes of temporal lobe structures in panic patients, but only one used a volumetric method. The aim of the present study was to determine the volume of temporal lobe structures in patients with panic disorder, measured by magnetic resonance imaging. Eleven panic patients and eleven controls matched for age, sex, handedness, socioeconomic status and years of education participated in the study. The mean volume of the left temporal lobe of panic patients was 9% smaller than that of controls (t{sub 21} = 2.37, P = 0.028). In addition, there was a trend (P values between 0.05 and 0.10) to smaller volumes of the right temporal lobe (7%, t{sub 21} = 1.99, P = 0.06), right amygdala (8%, t{sub 21} = 1.83, P = 0.08), left amygdala (5%, t{sub 21} = 1.78, P 0.09) and left hippocampus (9%, t{sub 21} = 1.93, P = 0.07) in panic patients compared to controls. There was a positive correlation between left hippocampal volume and duration of panic disorder (r = 0.67, P = 0.025), with recent cases showing more reduction than older cases. The present results show that panic patients have a decreased volume of the left temporal lobe and indicate the presence of volumetric abnormalities of temporal lobe structures. (author)

  7. Decreased left temporal lobe volume of panic patients measured by magnetic resonance imaging

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Uchida, R.R.; Del-Ben, C.M.; Araujo, D.; Crippa, J.A.; Graeff, F.G.; Santos, A.C.; Guimaraes, F.S.

    2003-01-01

    Reported neuroimaging studies have shown functional and morphological changes of temporal lobe structures in panic patients, but only one used a volumetric method. The aim of the present study was to determine the volume of temporal lobe structures in patients with panic disorder, measured by magnetic resonance imaging. Eleven panic patients and eleven controls matched for age, sex, handedness, socioeconomic status and years of education participated in the study. The mean volume of the left temporal lobe of panic patients was 9% smaller than that of controls (t 21 = 2.37, P = 0.028). In addition, there was a trend (P values between 0.05 and 0.10) to smaller volumes of the right temporal lobe (7%, t 21 = 1.99, P = 0.06), right amygdala (8%, t 21 = 1.83, P = 0.08), left amygdala (5%, t 21 = 1.78, P 0.09) and left hippocampus (9%, t 21 = 1.93, P = 0.07) in panic patients compared to controls. There was a positive correlation between left hippocampal volume and duration of panic disorder (r = 0.67, P = 0.025), with recent cases showing more reduction than older cases. The present results show that panic patients have a decreased volume of the left temporal lobe and indicate the presence of volumetric abnormalities of temporal lobe structures. (author)

  8. Differential neuropsychological test sensitivity to left temporal lobe epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Loring, David W; Strauss, Esther; Hermann, Bruce P; Barr, William B; Perrine, Kenneth; Trenerry, Max R; Chelune, Gordon; Westerveld, Michael; Lee, Gregory P; Meador, Kimford J; Bowden, Stephen C

    2008-05-01

    We examined the sensitivity of the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (AVLT), California Verbal Learning Test (CVLT), Boston Naming Test (BNT), and Multilingual Aphasia Examination Visual Naming subtest (MAE VN) to lateralized temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) in patients who subsequently underwent anterior temporal lobectomy. For the AVLT (n = 189), left TLE patients performed more poorly than their right TLE counterparts [left TLE = 42.9 (10.6), right TLE = 47.7 (9.9); p LTE = 40.7 (11.1), right TLE = 43.8 (9.9); (p measures of confrontation naming ability [BNT: left LTE = 43.1 (8.9), right TLE = 48.1 (8.9); p < .001 (Cohen's d = .56); MAE VN: left TLE = 42.2, right TLE = 45.6, p = .02 (Cohen's d = .36)]. When these data were modeled in independent logistic regression analyses, the AVLT and BNT both significantly predicted side of seizure focus, although the positive likelihood ratios were modest. In the subset of 108 patients receiving both BNT and AVLT, the AVLT was the only significant predictor of seizure laterality, suggesting individual patient variability regarding whether naming or memory testing may be more sensitive to lateralized TLE.

  9. Two cases of spontaneous temporal encephalocele.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kamiya, Kouhei; Mori, Harushi; Kunimatsu, Akira; Kawai, Kensuke; Usami, Kenichi; Ohtomo, Kuni

    2012-12-01

    This is a report of two cases of spontaneous temporal encephalocele: one was anteroinferior and presented with epilepsy; the other was posteroinferior and presented with facial neuritis and labyrinthitis. Spontaneous temporal encephalocele is relatively rare and apparently not familiar to a majority of primary physicians. It may present with a variety of symptoms according to its anatomical location, including cerebrospinal fluid fistulas, recurrent meningitis, chronic otitis media, hearing loss, facial nerve palsy and medically intractable epilepsy. Attention should be paid to this disease entity, as it is easily overlooked in imaging studies and can leave serious neurological deficits. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

  10. Intracerebral stimulation of left and right ventral temporal cortex during object naming.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bédos Ulvin, Line; Jonas, Jacques; Brissart, Hélène; Colnat-Coulbois, Sophie; Thiriaux, Anne; Vignal, Jean-Pierre; Maillard, Louis

    2017-12-01

    While object naming is traditionally considered asa left hemisphere function, neuroimaging studies have reported activations related to naming in the ventral temporal cortex (VTC) bilaterally. Our aim was to use intracerebral electrical stimulation to specifically compare left and right VTC in naming. In twenty-three epileptic patients tested for visual object naming during stimulation, the proportion of naming impairments was significantly higher in the left than in the right VTC (31.3% vs 13.6%). The highest proportions of positive naming sites were found in the left fusiform gyrus and occipito-temporal sulcus (47.5% and 31.8%). For 17 positive left naming sites, an additional semantic picture matching was carried out, always successfully performed. Our results showed the enhanced role of the left compared to the right VTC in naming and suggest that it may be involved in lexical retrieval rather than in semantic processing. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  11. Lateralization of temporal lobe epilepsy using a novel uncertainty analysis of MR diffusion in hippocampus, cingulum, and fornix, and hippocampal volume and FLAIR intensity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nazem-Zadeh, Mohammad-Reza; Schwalb, Jason M; Elisevich, Kost V; Bagher-Ebadian, Hassan; Hamidian, Hajar; Akhondi-Asl, Ali-Reza; Jafari-Khouzani, Kourosh; Soltanian-Zadeh, Hamid

    2014-07-15

    To analyze the utility of a quantitative uncertainty analysis approach for evaluation and comparison of various MRI findings for the lateralization of epileptogenicity in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (mTLE), including novel diffusion-based analyses. We estimated the hemispheric variation uncertainty (HVU) of hippocampal T1 volumetry and FLAIR (Fluid Attenuated Inversion Recovery) intensity. Using diffusion tensor images of 23 nonepileptic subjects, we estimated the HVU levels of mean diffusivity (MD) in the hippocampus, and fractional anisotropy (FA) in the posteroinferior cingulum and crus of fornix. Imaging from a retrospective cohort of 20 TLE patients who had undergone surgical resection with Engel class I outcomes was analyzed to determine whether asymmetry of preoperative volumetrics, FLAIR intensities, and MD values in hippocampi, as well as FA values in posteroinferior cingula and fornix crura correctly predicted laterality of seizure onset. Ten of the cohort had pathologically proven mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS). Seven of these patients had undergone extraoperative electrocorticography (ECoG) for lateralization or to rule out extra-temporal foci. HVU was estimated to be 3.1×10(-5) for hippocampal MD, 0.027 for FA in posteroinferior cingulum, 0.018 for FA in crus of fornix, 0.069 for hippocampal normalized volume, and 0.099 for hippocampal normalized FLAIR intensity. Using HVU analysis, a higher hippocampal MD value, lower FA within the posteroinferior cingulum and crus of fornix, shrinkage in hippocampal volume, and higher hippocampal FLAIR intensity were observed beyond uncertainty on the side ipsilateral to seizure onset for 10, 10, 9, 9, and 10 out of 10 pathology-proven MTS patients, respectively. Considering all 20 TLE patients, these numbers were 18, 15, 14, 13, and 16, respectively. However, consolidating the lateralization results of HVU analysis on these quantities by majority voting has detected the epileptogenic side for 19 out of 20 cases

  12. Task-dependent modulation of regions in the left temporal cortex during auditory sentence comprehension.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Linjun; Yue, Qiuhai; Zhang, Yang; Shu, Hua; Li, Ping

    2015-01-01

    Numerous studies have revealed the essential role of the left lateral temporal cortex in auditory sentence comprehension along with evidence of the functional specialization of the anterior and posterior temporal sub-areas. However, it is unclear whether task demands (e.g., active vs. passive listening) modulate the functional specificity of these sub-areas. In the present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, we addressed this issue by applying both independent component analysis (ICA) and general linear model (GLM) methods. Consistent with previous studies, intelligible sentences elicited greater activity in the left lateral temporal cortex relative to unintelligible sentences. Moreover, responses to intelligibility in the sub-regions were differentially modulated by task demands. While the overall activation patterns of the anterior and posterior superior temporal sulcus and middle temporal gyrus (STS/MTG) were equivalent during both passive and active tasks, a middle portion of the STS/MTG was found to be selectively activated only during the active task under a refined analysis of sub-regional contributions. Our results not only confirm the critical role of the left lateral temporal cortex in auditory sentence comprehension but further demonstrate that task demands modulate functional specialization of the anterior-middle-posterior temporal sub-areas. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  13. Can FDG PET predict verbal specific memory decline after surgery for left temporal lobe epilepsy when MRI is normal?

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Sagona, J.A.; Rowe, C.C.; Thomas, D.; Dickinson-Rowe, K.L.

    2002-01-01

    Full text: Temporal lobectomy gives excellent control of seizures in over 80% of patients with temporal lobe epilepsy. The left temporal lobe, particularly the left hippocampus, is primarily responsible for verbal memory. In most patients, the hippocampus which lies in the medial temporal lobe is abnormal and can be removed without loss of memory function. However, removal of the left hippocampus when it appears normal on MRI, often causes a significant decline in verbal specific memory (VSM) function. This paper explores the significance of pre-operative FDG-PET asymmetry in temporal lobe metabolism in predicting the VSM outcome after left temporal lobectomy when MRI demonstrates a normal hippocampus. Fifteen patients between 1993 and 2000, underwent left temporal lobectomy including left hippocampal resection, Pre-operatively all patients underwent 1.5T MRI, FDG PET and neuropsychological assessment. Neuropsychological assessment was repeated post-operatively. The left hippocampus was normal on MRI in nine and demonstrated mild T2 signal change without atrophy in six. FDG PET demonstrated temporal lobe hypometabolism in 12 patients. Post-operatively, neuropsychological evaluation documented a decline in verbal specific memory function in six patients, three with normal MRI and three with mild T2 change. We found that all patients with normal FDG PET studies (n=3) demonstrated significant verbal memory deterioration post-operatively. Nine of twelve patients (75%) with left temporal lobe hypometabolism did not show new verbal memory deficits. FDG PET improves the risk stratification for verbal specific memory decline with left temporal lobectomy in patients with normal hippocampi on MRI. Copyright (2002) The Australian and New Zealand Society of Nuclear Medicine Inc

  14. Multisensory speech perception without the left superior temporal sulcus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Baum, Sarah H; Martin, Randi C; Hamilton, A Cris; Beauchamp, Michael S

    2012-09-01

    Converging evidence suggests that the left superior temporal sulcus (STS) is a critical site for multisensory integration of auditory and visual information during speech perception. We report a patient, SJ, who suffered a stroke that damaged the left tempo-parietal area, resulting in mild anomic aphasia. Structural MRI showed complete destruction of the left middle and posterior STS, as well as damage to adjacent areas in the temporal and parietal lobes. Surprisingly, SJ demonstrated preserved multisensory integration measured with two independent tests. First, she perceived the McGurk effect, an illusion that requires integration of auditory and visual speech. Second, her perception of morphed audiovisual speech with ambiguous auditory or visual information was significantly influenced by the opposing modality. To understand the neural basis for this preserved multisensory integration, blood-oxygen level dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging (BOLD fMRI) was used to examine brain responses to audiovisual speech in SJ and 23 healthy age-matched controls. In controls, bilateral STS activity was observed. In SJ, no activity was observed in the damaged left STS but in the right STS, more cortex was active in SJ than in any of the normal controls. Further, the amplitude of the BOLD response in right STS response to McGurk stimuli was significantly greater in SJ than in controls. The simplest explanation of these results is a reorganization of SJ's cortical language networks such that the right STS now subserves multisensory integration of speech. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. Functional connectivity between right and left mesial temporal structures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lacuey, Nuria; Zonjy, Bilal; Kahriman, Emine S; Kaffashi, Farhad; Miller, Jonathan; Lüders, Hans O

    2015-09-01

    The aim of this study is to investigate functional connectivity between right and left mesial temporal structures using cerebrocerebral evoked potentials. We studied seven patients with drug-resistant focal epilepsy who were explored with stereotactically implanted depth electrodes in bilateral hippocampi. In all patients cerebrocerebral evoked potentials evoked by stimulation of the fornix were evaluated as part of a research project assessing fornix stimulation for control of hippocampal seizures. Stimulation of the fornix elicited responses in the ipsilateral hippocampus in all patients with a mean latency of 4.6 ms (range 2-7 ms). Two patients (29 %) also had contralateral hippocampus responses with a mean latency of 7.5 ms (range 5-12 ms) and without involvement of the contralateral temporal neocortex or amygdala. This study confirms the existence of connections between bilateral mesial temporal structures in some patients and explains seizure discharge spreading between homotopic mesial temporal structures without neocortical involvement.

  16. Left fronto-temporal dynamics during agreement processing: evidence for feature-specific computations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Molinaro, Nicola; Barber, Horacio A; Pérez, Alejandro; Parkkonen, Lauri; Carreiras, Manuel

    2013-09-01

    Grammatical agreement is a widespread language phenomenon that indicates formal syntactic relations between words; however, it also conveys basic lexical (e.g. grammatical gender) or semantic (e.g. numerosity) information about a discourse referent. In this study, we focus on the reading of Spanish noun phrases, violating either number or gender determiner-noun agreement compared to grammatical controls. Magnetoencephalographic activity time-locked to the onset of the noun in both types of violation revealed a left-lateralized brain network involving anterior temporal regions (~220 ms) and, later in time, ventro-lateral prefrontal regions (>300 ms). These activations coexist with dependency-specific effects: in an initial step (~170 ms), occipito-temporal regions are employed for fine-grained analysis of the number marking (in Spanish, presence or absence of the suffix '-s'), while anterior temporal regions show increased activation for gender mismatches compared to grammatical controls. The semantic relevance of number agreement dependencies was mainly reflected by left superior temporal increased activity around 340 ms. These findings offer a detailed perspective on the multi-level analyses involved in the initial computation of agreement dependencies, and theoretically support a derivational approach to agreement computation. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. AN INVESTIGATION OF IMPLICIT MEMORY THROUGH LEFT TEMPORAL LOBECTOMY FOR EPILEPSY

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tracy, Joseph I.; Osipowicz, Karol; Godofsky, Samuel; Shah, Atif; Khan, Waseem; Sharan, Ashwini; Sperling, Michael R.

    2012-01-01

    Temporal lobe epilepsy patients have demonstrated a relative preservation in the integrity of implicit memory procedures. We examined performance in a verbal implicit and explicit memory task in left anterior temporal lobectomy patients (LATL) and healthy normal controls (NC) while undergoing fMRI. We hypothesized that despite the relative integrity of implicit memory in both the LATL patients and normal controls, the two groups would show distinct functional neuroanatomic profiles during implicit memory. LATLs and NCs performed Jacoby’s Process Dissociation Process (PDP) procedure during fMRI, requiring completion of word stems based on the previously studied words or new/unseen words. Measures of automaticity and recollection provided uncontaminated indices of implicit and explicit memory, respectively. The behavioral data showed that in the face of temporal lobe pathology implicit memory can be carried out, suggesting implicit verbal memory retrieval is non-mesial temporal in nature. Compared to NCs, the LATL patients showed reliable activation, not deactivation, during implicit (automatic) responding. The regions mediating this response were cortical (left medial frontal and precuneus) and striatal. The active regions in LATL patients have the capacity to implement associative, conditioned responses that might otherwise be carried out by a healthy temporal lobe, suggesting this represented a compensatory activity. Because the precuneus has also been implicated in explicit memory, the data suggests this structure may have a highly flexible functionality, capable of supporting implementation of either explicit memory, or automatic processes such as implicit memory retrieval. Our data suggest that a healthy mesial/anterior temporal lobe may be needed for generating the posterior deactivation perceptual priming response seen in normals. PMID:22981890

  18. Processing of Words and Faces by Patients with Left and Right Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Andrew W. Ellis

    1991-01-01

    Full Text Available Tests of word and face processing were given to patients with complex partial epilepsy focussed on the left or right temporal lobe, and to non-epileptic control subjects. The left TLE group showed the greatest impairment on object naming and on reading tests, but the right TLE group also showed a lesser impairment relative to the normal control subjects on both tests. The right TLE group was selectively impaired on distinguishing famous from non-famous faces while the left TLE group was impaired at naming famous faces they had successfully recognized as familiar. There was no significant difference between the three groups on recognition memory for words. The implications of the results for theories of the role of the temporal lobes in word and face processing, and the possible neural mechanisms responsible for the deficits in TLE patients, are discussed.

  19. Accelerated long-term forgetting in temporal lobe epilepsy: evidence of improvement after left temporal pole lobectomy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gallassi, Roberto; Sambati, Luisa; Poda, Roberto; Stanzani Maserati, Michelangelo; Oppi, Federico; Giulioni, Marco; Tinuper, Paolo

    2011-12-01

    Accelerated long term forgetting (ALF) is a characteristic cognitive aspect in patients affected by temporal lobe epilepsy that is probably due to an impairment of memory consolidation and retrieval caused by epileptic activity in hippocampal and parahippocampal regions. We describe a case of a patient with TLE who showed improvement in ALF and in remote memory impairment after an anterior left temporal pole lobectomy including the uncus and amygdala. Our findings confirm that impairment of hippocampal functioning leads to pathological ALF, whereas restoration of hippocampal functioning brings ALF to a level comparable to that of controls. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  20. Reduced sensitivity of the N400 and late positive component to semantic congruity and word repetition in left temporal lobe epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Olichney, John M; Riggins, Brock R; Hillert, Dieter G; Nowacki, Ralph; Tecoma, Evelyn; Kutas, Marta; Iragui, Vicente J

    2002-07-01

    We studied 14 patients with well-characterized refractory temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), 7 with right temporal lobe epilepsy (RTE) and 7 with left temporal lobe epilepsy (LTE), on a word repetition ERP experiment. Much prior literature supports the view that patients with left TLE are more likely to develop verbal memory deficits, often attributable to left hippocampal sclerosis. Our main objectives were to test if abnormalities of the N400 or Late Positive Component (LPC, P600) were associated with a left temporal seizure focus, or left temporal lobe dysfunction. A minimum of 19 channels of EEG/EOG data were collected while subjects performed a semantic categorization task. Auditory category statements were followed by a visual target word, which were 50% "congruous" (category exemplars) and 50% "incongruous" (non-category exemplars) with the preceding semantic context. These auditory-visual pairings were repeated pseudo-randomly at time intervals ranging from approximately 10-140 seconds later. The ERP data were submitted to repeated-measures ANOVAs, which showed the RTE group had generally normal effects of word repetition on the LPC and the N400. Also, the N400 component was larger to incongruous than congruous new words, as is normally the case. In contrast, the LTE group did not have statistically significant effects of either word repetition or congruity on their ERPs (N400 or LPC), suggesting that this ERP semantic categorization paradigm is sensitive to left temporal lobe dysfunction. Further studies are ongoing to determine if these ERP abnormalities predict hippocampal sclerosis on histopathology, or outcome after anterior temporal lobectomy.

  1. A functional MRI study of language networks in left medial temporal lobe epilepsy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yu Aihong, E-mail: yuaihong163@tom.com [Department of Radiology, the 4th Medical College of Peking University, Beijing Jishuitan Hospital, Beijing 100035 (China); Wang Xiaoyi; Xu Guoqing [Beijing Normal University, State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning, Beijing 100875 (China); Li Yongjie [Beijing Institute of Functional Neurosurgery, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital University of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100053 (China); Qin Wen; Li Kuncheng [Department of Radiology, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital University of Medical Sciences (China); Wang, Yuping [Department of Neurology, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital University of Medical Sciences (China)

    2011-11-15

    Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the abnormality of language networks in left medial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) using fMRI. Materials and methods: Eight patients with left MTLE and 15 healthy subjects were evaluated. An auditory semantic judgment (AJ) paradigm was used. The fMRI data were collected on a 3T MR system and analyzed by AFNI (analysis of functional neuroimages) to generate the activation map. Results: Behavioral data showed that the reaction time of the left MTLE patients was significantly longer than that of controls on the AJ task (t = -3.396, P < 0.05). The left MTLE patients also exhibited diffusively decreased activation in the AJ task. Right hemisphere dominance of Broca's and Wernicke's areas was demonstrated in left MTLE patients. Conclusions: Long-term activation of spikes in left MTLE patients results in language impairment, which is associated with an abnormality of the brain neural network.

  2. A functional MRI study of language networks in left medial temporal lobe epilepsy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yu Aihong; Wang Xiaoyi; Xu Guoqing; Li Yongjie; Qin Wen; Li Kuncheng; Wang, Yuping

    2011-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this study was to investigate the abnormality of language networks in left medial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) using fMRI. Materials and methods: Eight patients with left MTLE and 15 healthy subjects were evaluated. An auditory semantic judgment (AJ) paradigm was used. The fMRI data were collected on a 3T MR system and analyzed by AFNI (analysis of functional neuroimages) to generate the activation map. Results: Behavioral data showed that the reaction time of the left MTLE patients was significantly longer than that of controls on the AJ task (t = -3.396, P < 0.05). The left MTLE patients also exhibited diffusively decreased activation in the AJ task. Right hemisphere dominance of Broca's and Wernicke's areas was demonstrated in left MTLE patients. Conclusions: Long-term activation of spikes in left MTLE patients results in language impairment, which is associated with an abnormality of the brain neural network.

  3. Potential role of a cognitive rehabilitation program following left temporal lobe epilepsy surgery

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Camila de Vasconcelos Geraldi

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT Research into memory and epilepsy has focused on measuring problems and exploring causes with limited attention directed at the role of neuropsychological rehabilitation in alleviating post-operative memory difficulties. Objectives To assess the effects of a memory rehabilitation program in patients with left temporal lobe epilepsy following surgery. Methods Twenty-four patients agreed to participate and 18 completed the study; nine received memory rehabilitation while nine had no input and were designated as controls. Verbal learning efficiency, naming abilities, memory subjective ratings, ecological activity measures and a language fMRI paradigm were used as outcome measures. Results Improved verbal learning and naming test performance, increase in memory strategy use and improved self-perception were observed following the rehabilitation. Changes in fMRI activation patterns were seen in the rehabilitation group over the long term. Conclusion The findings support the potential role of a cognitive rehabilitation program following left temporal lobe surgery.

  4. Effects of dual pathology on cognitive outcome following left anterior temporal lobectomy for treatment of epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Prayson, B E; Prayson, R A; Kubu, C S; Bingaman, W; Najm, I M; Busch, R M

    2013-09-01

    The objective of this retrospective study was to determine if dual pathology [DUAL - focal cortical dysplasia (FCD) and mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS)] in patients with left temporal lobe epilepsy is associated with greater risk for cognitive decline following temporal lobectomy than single pathology (MTS only). Sixty-three adults (Mage=36.5years, female: 52.4%) who underwent left anterior temporal lobectomy for treatment of epilepsy (MTS=28; DUAL=35) completed preoperative and postoperative neuropsychological evaluations. The base rate of dual pathology was 55.5%. Repeated measures ANOVAs yielded significant 2-way interactions (group×time) on most measures of language and memory with generally moderate effect sizes. Specifically, patients with MTS only demonstrated postoperative declines, while those with dual pathology remained unchanged or improved. Results suggest that dual pathology may be associated with better cognitive outcome following epilepsy surgery than MTS alone, possibly reflecting limited functionality of the resected tissue or intrahemispheric reorganization of function in the context of a developmental lesion. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. Weighing the value of memory loss in the surgical evaluation of left temporal lobe epilepsy: a decision analysis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akama-Garren, Elliot H; Bianchi, Matt T; Leveroni, Catherine; Cole, Andrew J; Cash, Sydney S; Westover, M Brandon

    2014-11-01

    Anterior temporal lobectomy is curative for many patients with disabling medically refractory temporal lobe epilepsy, but carries an inherent risk of disabling verbal memory loss. Although accurate prediction of iatrogenic memory loss is becoming increasingly possible, it remains unclear how much weight such predictions should have in surgical decision making. Here we aim to create a framework that facilitates a systematic and integrated assessment of the relative risks and benefits of surgery versus medical management for patients with left temporal lobe epilepsy. We constructed a Markov decision model to evaluate the probabilistic outcomes and associated health utilities associated with choosing to undergo a left anterior temporal lobectomy versus continuing with medical management for patients with medically refractory left temporal lobe epilepsy. Three base-cases were considered, representing a spectrum of surgical candidates encountered in practice, with varying degrees of epilepsy-related disability and potential for decreased quality of life in response to post-surgical verbal memory deficits. For patients with moderately severe seizures and moderate risk of verbal memory loss, medical management was the preferred decision, with increased quality-adjusted life expectancy. However, the preferred choice was sensitive to clinically meaningful changes in several parameters, including quality of life impact of verbal memory decline, quality of life with seizures, mortality rate with medical management, probability of remission following surgery, and probability of remission with medical management. Our decision model suggests that for patients with left temporal lobe epilepsy, quantitative assessment of risk and benefit should guide recommendation of therapy. In particular, risk for and potential impact of verbal memory decline should be carefully weighed against the degree of disability conferred by continued seizures on a patient-by-patient basis. Wiley

  6. Differences in graph theory functional connectivity in left and right temporal lobe epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chiang, Sharon; Stern, John M; Engel, Jerome; Levin, Harvey S; Haneef, Zulfi

    2014-12-01

    To investigate lateralized differences in limbic system functional connectivity between left and right temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) using graph theory. Interictal resting state fMRI was performed in 14 left TLE patients, 11 right TLE patients, and 12 controls. Graph theory analysis of 10 bilateral limbic regions of interest was conducted. Changes in edgewise functional connectivity, network topology, and regional topology were quantified, and then left and right TLE were compared. Limbic edgewise functional connectivity was predominantly reduced in both left and right TLE. More regional connections were reduced in right TLE, most prominently involving reduced interhemispheric connectivity between the bilateral insula and bilateral hippocampi. A smaller number of limbic connections were increased in TLE, more so in left than in right TLE. Topologically, the most pronounced change was a reduction in average network betweenness centrality and concurrent increase in left hippocampal betweenness centrality in right TLE. In contrast, left TLE exhibited a weak trend toward increased right hippocampal betweenness centrality, with no change in average network betweenness centrality. Limbic functional connectivity is predominantly reduced in both left and right TLE, with more pronounced reductions in right TLE. In contrast, left TLE exhibits both edgewise and topological changes that suggest a tendency toward reorganization. Network changes in TLE and lateralized differences thereof may have important diagnostic and prognostic implications. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  7. The cognitive profile of occipital lobe epilepsy and the selective association of left temporal lobe hypometabolism with verbal memory impairment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Knopman, Alex A; Wong, Chong H; Stevenson, Richard J; Homewood, Judi; Mohamed, Armin; Somerville, Ernest; Eberl, Stefan; Wen, Lingfeng; Fulham, Michael; Bleasel, Andrew F

    2014-08-01

    We investigated the cognitive profile of structural occipital lobe epilepsy (OLE) and whether verbal memory impairment is selectively associated with left temporal lobe hypometabolism on [18F]-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET). Nine patients with OLE, ages 8-29 years, completed presurgical neuropsychological assessment. Composite measures were calculated for intelligence quotient (IQ), speed, attention, verbal memory, nonverbal memory, and executive functioning. In addition, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) was used as a specific measure of frontal lobe functioning. Presurgical FDG-PET was analyzed with statistical parametric mapping in 8 patients relative to 16 healthy volunteers. Mild impairments were evident for IQ, speed, attention, and executive functioning. Four patients demonstrated moderate or severe verbal memory impairment. Temporal lobe hypometabolism was found in seven of eight patients. Poorer verbal memory was associated with left temporal lobe hypometabolism (p = 0.002), which was stronger (p = 0.03 and p = 0.005, respectively) than the association of left temporal lobe hypometabolism with executive functioning or with performance on the WCST. OLE is associated with widespread cognitive comorbidity, suggesting cortical dysfunction beyond the occipital lobe. Verbal memory impairment is selectively associated with left temporal lobe hypometabolism in OLE, supporting a link between neuropsychological dysfunction and remote hypometabolism in focal epilepsy. Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2014 International League Against Epilepsy.

  8. How Auditory Experience Differentially Influences the Function of Left and Right Superior Temporal Cortices.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Twomey, Tae; Waters, Dafydd; Price, Cathy J; Evans, Samuel; MacSweeney, Mairéad

    2017-09-27

    To investigate how hearing status, sign language experience, and task demands influence functional responses in the human superior temporal cortices (STC) we collected fMRI data from deaf and hearing participants (male and female), who either acquired sign language early or late in life. Our stimuli in all tasks were pictures of objects. We varied the linguistic and visuospatial processing demands in three different tasks that involved decisions about (1) the sublexical (phonological) structure of the British Sign Language (BSL) signs for the objects, (2) the semantic category of the objects, and (3) the physical features of the objects.Neuroimaging data revealed that in participants who were deaf from birth, STC showed increased activation during visual processing tasks. Importantly, this differed across hemispheres. Right STC was consistently activated regardless of the task whereas left STC was sensitive to task demands. Significant activation was detected in the left STC only for the BSL phonological task. This task, we argue, placed greater demands on visuospatial processing than the other two tasks. In hearing signers, enhanced activation was absent in both left and right STC during all three tasks. Lateralization analyses demonstrated that the effect of deafness was more task-dependent in the left than the right STC whereas it was more task-independent in the right than the left STC. These findings indicate how the absence of auditory input from birth leads to dissociable and altered functions of left and right STC in deaf participants. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Those born deaf can offer unique insights into neuroplasticity, in particular in regions of superior temporal cortex (STC) that primarily respond to auditory input in hearing people. Here we demonstrate that in those deaf from birth the left and the right STC have altered and dissociable functions. The right STC was activated regardless of demands on visual processing. In contrast, the left STC was

  9. Composing lexical versus functional adjectives: Evidence for uniformity in the left temporal lobe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Linmin; Pylkkänen, Liina

    2018-04-24

    Featural information (e.g., color or shape) allows interlocutors to focus their attention on the specific items under discussion from the vast set of possibilities in the environment. Intriguingly, when they are used to modify and restrict nouns, adjectives can either carry featural information themselves (e.g., green car) or retrieve featural information from the context (e.g., somebody points at a car and claims that she has the same car or a different car). Do the processing of same/different car and green car share neural correlates? For the composition of nouns with feature-carrying adjectives, prior work revealed early compositional effects (roughly 200 ms after noun onset) in the left anterior temporal lobe. However, although we know that such effects do not extend to cases of numeral quantification, which add no conceptual features to the noun (e.g., two boats), we do not know whether they extend to functional adjectives that themselves introduce no features, but instead reference features in the context. To address this question, we measured magnetoencephalography (MEG) during the processing of five types of noun phrases (NPs): same NPs (e.g., same star), different NPs (e.g., different star), color NPs (e.g., green star), comparative NPs (e.g., larger star), and another NPs (e.g., another star). Our main finding was that between 185 to 240 ms after noun onset, same and different NPs patterned with the color NPs in their elicited left temporal lobe activity, and same NPs even trended toward higher amplitudes than the color NPs. This shows that the mechanism driving combinatory effects in the left temporal cortex does not require the input words to directly name conceptual features, as long as the words reference featural information in the context, and that overlapping neural correlates underlie the composition of featural information from both linguistic and nonlinguistic sources.

  10. Disentangling the cognitive components supporting Austin Maze performance in left versus right temporal lobe epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hocking, Julia; Thomas, Hannah J; Dzafic, Ilvana; Williams, Rebecca J; Reutens, David C; Spooner, Donna M

    2013-12-01

    Neuropsychological tests requiring patients to find a path through a maze can be used to assess visuospatial memory performance in temporal lobe pathology, particularly in the hippocampus. Alternatively, they have been used as a task sensitive to executive function in patients with frontal lobe damage. We measured performance on the Austin Maze in patients with unilateral left and right temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), with and without hippocampal sclerosis, compared to healthy controls. Performance was correlated with a number of other neuropsychological tests to identify the cognitive components that may be associated with poor Austin Maze performance. Patients with right TLE were significantly impaired on the Austin Maze task relative to patients with left TLE and controls, and error scores correlated with their performance on the Block Design task. The performance of patients with left TLE was also impaired relative to controls; however, errors correlated with performance on tests of executive function and delayed recall. The presence of hippocampal sclerosis did not have an impact on maze performance. A discriminant function analysis indicated that the Austin Maze alone correctly classified 73.5% of patients as having right TLE. In summary, impaired performance on the Austin Maze task is more suggestive of right than left TLE; however, impaired performance on this visuospatial task does not necessarily involve the hippocampus. The relationship of the Austin Maze task with other neuropsychological tests suggests that differential cognitive components may underlie performance decrements in right versus left TLE. © 2013.

  11. Increased cortical thickness and altered functional connectivity of the right superior temporal gyrus in left-handers.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Meiling; Chen, Heng; Wang, Junping; Liu, Feng; Wang, Yifeng; Lu, Fengmei; Yu, Chunshui; Chen, Huafu

    2015-01-01

    Altered structure in the temporal cortex has been implicated in the variable language laterality of left-handers (LH). The neuroanatomy of language lateralization and the corresponding synchronous functional connectivity (FC) in handedness cohorts are not, however, fully understood. We used structural and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data to investigate the effect of altered cortical thickness on FC in LH and right-handers (RH). Whole-brain cortical thickness was calculated and compared between the LH and RH. We observed increased cortical thickness in the right superior temporal gyrus (STG) in the LH. A further FC analysis was conducted between the right STG and the remaining voxels in the brain. Compared with RH, the LH showed significantly higher FC in the left STG, right occipital cortex, and lower FC in the left inferior frontal gyrus and supramarginal gyrus. Our findings suggest that LH have atypical connectivity in the language network, with an enhanced role of the STG, findings which provide novel insights into the structural and functional substrates underlying the atypical language development of left-handed individuals. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Multimodal imaging of language reorganization in patients with left temporal lobe epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Yu-Hsuan A; Kemmotsu, Nobuko; Leyden, Kelly M; Kucukboyaci, N Erkut; Iragui, Vicente J; Tecoma, Evelyn S; Kansal, Leena; Norman, Marc A; Compton, Rachelle; Ehrlich, Tobin J; Uttarwar, Vedang S; Reyes, Anny; Paul, Brianna M; McDonald, Carrie R

    2017-07-01

    This study explored the relationships among multimodal imaging, clinical features, and language impairment in patients with left temporal lobe epilepsy (LTLE). Fourteen patients with LTLE and 26 controls underwent structural MRI, functional MRI, diffusion tensor imaging, and neuropsychological language tasks. Laterality indices were calculated for each imaging modality and a principal component (PC) was derived from language measures. Correlations were performed among imaging measures, as well as to the language PC. In controls, better language performance was associated with stronger left-lateralized temporo-parietal and temporo-occipital activations. In LTLE, better language performance was associated with stronger right-lateralized inferior frontal, temporo-parietal, and temporo-occipital activations. These right-lateralized activations in LTLE were associated with right-lateralized arcuate fasciculus fractional anisotropy. These data suggest that interhemispheric language reorganization in LTLE is associated with alterations to perisylvian white matter. These concurrent structural and functional shifts from left to right may help to mitigate language impairment in LTLE. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. Right-to-left-shunt detected by c-TCD using the orbital window in comparison with temporal bone windows.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kobayashi, Kazuto; Kimura, Kazumi; Iguchi, Yasuyuki; Sakai, Kenichirou; Aoki, Junya; Iwanaga, Takeshi; Shibazaki, Kensaku

    2012-01-01

    There have been some reports on right-to-left shunt as a cause of cryptogenic stroke. Although contrast transcranial Doppler (c-TCD) can detect RLS, an insufficient temporal window has occasionally restricted its applicability. Thus, we compared the rates of detecting RLS among temporal windows for the middle cerebral arteries (MCAs) and the orbital window for the internal carotid artery (ICA) on c-TCD. We used c-TCD to detect RLS in patients with suspected ischemic stroke. We enrolled patients who had both sufficient bilateral temporal windows for MCAs and a right orbital window for ICA and performed c-TCD using all three windows simultaneously. We enrolled 106 consecutive patients and identified microembolic signals (MES) in 30 (28%) of them. Among these 30 patients, 15 had MES from all 3 windows. When these 30 patients were defined as being positive for RLS, the rates of detection were 67%, 73%, and 80% from the right temporal, left temporal, and right orbital windows, respectively (P= .795). The right orbital window as well as the temporal window for c-TCD could detect RLS. Insonation from the orbital window should be useful for patients who lack temporal windows. Copyright © 2010 by the American Society of Neuroimaging.

  14. Temporal Fourier transform of digital angiograms for left ventricular regional wall motion analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Katayama, Kazuhiro; Guth, B.D.; Widmann, T.F.; Lee, Jong-Dae; Seitelberger, R.; Peterson, K.L.

    1988-01-01

    To determine whether or not the first harmonic of a temporal Fourier transform, applied pixel-by-pixel on time-intensity curves, can detect the subtle wall motion abnormalities due to ischemia, 6 dogs were instrumented with a micromanometer in the left ventricles, a hydraulic cuff occluder around the circumflex coronary artery, and sonomicrometers on the inferior (ischemic) and anterior (non-ischemic) walls. Left ventricular images, obtained after contrast injection via the pulmonary artery, were compared with dimension signals in control and 3 progressive levels of coronary stenosis (Stenosis I, II and III). Normalized, digital functional images (512 x 512 matrix, 256 shades of gray/pixel) were divided into anterior, apical, and inferior areas to acquire regional mean phase (degrees) and amplitude (intensity units) values. After inducing stenosis, phase in ischemic region significantly increased at all 3 levels of stenosis, whereas amplitude significantly decreased at Stenosis II and III. However, amplitude images showed clearly the topographic site of ischemia. There was a progressive increase in phase and decrease in amplitude in ischemic areas as the percent wall thickening (%WTh) fell (phase vs. %WTh: r = -0.55, p < 0.005; amplitude vs. %WTh: r = 0.71, p < 0.001). Heart rate and peak systolic pressure showed no significant changes during stenoses. We conclude that quantitative functional images, generated from a temporal Fourier transform, are sensitive to the detection of left ventricular regional wall motion abnormalities during mild, moderate, and severe degrees of ischemia. (author)

  15. Correlation of neuropsychological and metabolic changes after epilepsy surgery in patients with left mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Güvenç, Canan; Dupont, Patrick; Van den Stock, Jan; Seynaeve, Laura; Porke, Kathleen; Dries, Eva; Van Bouwel, Karen; van Loon, Johannes; Theys, Tom; Goffin, Karolien E; Van Paesschen, Wim

    2018-04-12

    Epilepsy surgery often causes changes in cognition and cerebral glucose metabolism. Our aim was to explore relationships between pre- and postoperative cerebral metabolism as measured with 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) and neuropsychological test scores in patients with left mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis (MTLE-HS), who were rendered seizure-free after epilepsy surgery. Thirteen patients were included. All had neuropsychological testing and an interictal FDG-PET scan of the brain pre- and postoperative. Correlations between changes in neuropsychological test scores and metabolism were examined using statistical parametric mapping (SPM). There were no significant changes in the neuropsychological test scores pre- and postoperatively at the group level. Decreased metabolism was observed in the left mesial temporal regions and occipital lobe. Increased metabolism was observed in the bi-frontal and right parietal lobes, temporal lobes, occipital lobes, thalamus, cerebellum, and vermis. In these regions, we did not find a correlation between changes in metabolism and neuropsychological test scores. A significant negative correlation, however, was found between metabolic changes in the precuneus and Boston Naming Test (BNT) scores. There are significant metabolic decreases in the left mesial temporal regions and increases in the bi-frontal lobes; right parietal, temporal, and occipital lobes; right thalamus; cerebellum; and vermis in patients with left MTLE-HS who were rendered seizure-free after epilepsy surgery. We could not confirm that these changes translate into significant cognitive changes. A significant negative correlation was found between changes in confrontation naming and changes in metabolism in the precuneus. We speculate that the precuneus may play a compensatory role in patients with postoperative naming difficulties after left TLE surgery. Understanding of these neural mechanisms may aid in

  16. Large-scale brain networks are distinctly affected in right and left mesial temporal lobe epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    de Campos, Brunno Machado; Coan, Ana Carolina; Lin Yasuda, Clarissa; Casseb, Raphael Fernandes; Cendes, Fernando

    2016-09-01

    Mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) with hippocampus sclerosis (HS) is associated with functional and structural alterations extending beyond the temporal regions and abnormal pattern of brain resting state networks (RSNs) connectivity. We hypothesized that the interaction of large-scale RSNs is differently affected in patients with right- and left-MTLE with HS compared to controls. We aimed to determine and characterize these alterations through the analysis of 12 RSNs, functionally parceled in 70 regions of interest (ROIs), from resting-state functional-MRIs of 99 subjects (52 controls, 26 right- and 21 left-MTLE patients with HS). Image preprocessing and statistical analysis were performed using UF(2) C-toolbox, which provided ROI-wise results for intranetwork and internetwork connectivity. Intranetwork abnormalities were observed in the dorsal default mode network (DMN) in both groups of patients and in the posterior salience network in right-MTLE. Both groups showed abnormal correlation between the dorsal-DMN and the posterior salience, as well as between the dorsal-DMN and the executive-control network. Patients with left-MTLE also showed reduced correlation between the dorsal-DMN and visuospatial network and increased correlation between bilateral thalamus and the posterior salience network. The ipsilateral hippocampus stood out as a central area of abnormalities. Alterations on left-MTLE expressed a low cluster coefficient, whereas the altered connections on right-MTLE showed low cluster coefficient in the DMN but high in the posterior salience regions. Both right- and left-MTLE patients with HS have widespread abnormal interactions of large-scale brain networks; however, all parameters evaluated indicate that left-MTLE has a more intricate bihemispheric dysfunction compared to right-MTLE. Hum Brain Mapp 37:3137-3152, 2016. © 2016 The Authors Human Brain Mapping Published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 The Authors Human Brain Mapping Published by

  17. Selective activation around the left occipito-temporal sulcus for words relative to pictures: Individual variability or false positives?

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Wright, Nicholas D.; Mechelli, Andrea; Noppeney, Uta; Veltman, Dick J.; Rombouts, Serge A. R. B.; Glensman, Janice; Haynes, John-Dylan; Price, Cathy J.

    2008-01-01

    We used high-resolution fMRI to investigate claims that learning to read r !sults in greater left occipito-temporal (OT) activation for written words relative to pictures of objects. In tl e first experiment, 9/16 subjects performing a one-back task showed activation in >= 1 left OT voxel for word:

  18. BOLD Response to Motion Verbs in Left Posterior Middle Temporal Gyrus during Story Comprehension

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wallentin, Mikkel; Nielsen, Andreas Hojlund; Vuust, Peter; Dohn, Anders; Roepstorff, Andreas; Lund, Torben Ellegaard

    2011-01-01

    A primary focus within neuroimaging research on language comprehension is on the distribution of semantic knowledge in the brain. Studies have shown that the left posterior middle temporal gyrus (LPMT), a region just anterior to area MT/V5, is important for the processing of complex action knowledge. It has also been found that motion verbs cause…

  19. Memory outcome following left anterior temporal lobectomy in patients with a failed Wada test.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rathore, Chaturbhuj; Alexander, Aley; Sarma, P Sankara; Radhakrishnan, Kurupath

    2015-03-01

    This study aimed to compare the memory outcome following left anterior temporal lobectomy (ATL) between patients with a failed Wada test and patients who passed the Wada test. From 1996 to 2002, we performed the Wada test on all patients with unilateral left mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis (MTLE-HS) and concordant electroclinical data before ATL. We used a 12-item recognition paradigm for memory testing and awarded a score of +1 for each correct response and -0.5 for each incorrect response. No patient was denied surgery on the basis of Wada scores. We assessed cognitive and memory functions using the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale and the Wechsler Memory Scale preoperatively and at one year after ATL. We compared the number of patients who showed decline in memory scores, as per the published reliable change indices, between the patients with a failed Wada test and the patients who passed the Wada test. Out of the 116 eligible patients with left MTLE-HS, 88 underwent bilateral Wada test, while 28 underwent ipsilateral Wada test. None of them developed postoperative amnesia. Approximately, one-third of patients with a failed Wada memory test when the failure was defined as a contralateral score of 8, and as an asymmetry score of failed Wada memory test and the group who passed the Wada memory test. The results remained the same when analyses were repeated at various other cutoff points. The patients with left MTLE-HS with concordant electroclinical, MRI, and neuropsychological data should not be denied ATL solely on the basis of Wada memory test results. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  20. Selective Activation Around the Left Occipito-Temporal Sulcus for Words Relative to Pictures: Individual Variability or False Positives?

    OpenAIRE

    Wright, Nicholas D; Mechelli, Andrea; Noppeney, Uta; Veltman, Dick J; Rombouts, Serge ARB; Glensman, Janice; Haynes, John-Dylan; Price, Cathy J

    2007-01-01

    We used high-resolution fMRI to investigate claims that learning to read results in greater left occipito-temporal (OT) activation for written words relative to pictures of objects. In the first experiment, 9/16 subjects performing a one-back task showed activation in ?1 left OT voxel for words relative to pictures (P < 0.05 uncorrected). In a second experiment, another 9/15 subjects performing a semantic decision task activated ?1 left OT voxel for words relative to pictures. However, at thi...

  1. Distinctive Structural and Effective Connectivity Changes of Semantic Cognition Network across Left and Right Mesial Temporal Lobe Epilepsy Patients

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Xiaotong Fan

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Occurrence of language impairment in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (mTLE patients is common and left mTLE patients always exhibit a primary problem with access to names. To explore different neuropsychological profiles between left and right mTLE patients, the study investigated both structural and effective functional connectivity changes within the semantic cognition network between these two groups and those from normal controls. We found that gray matter atrophy of left mTLE patients was more severe than that of right mTLE patients in the whole brain and especially within the semantic cognition network in their contralateral hemisphere. It suggested that seizure attacks were rather targeted than random for patients with hippocampal sclerosis (HS in the dominant hemisphere. Functional connectivity analysis during resting state fMRI revealed that subregions of the anterior temporal lobe (ATL in the left HS patients were no longer effectively connected. Further, we found that, unlike in right HS patients, increased causal linking between ipsilateral regions in the left HS epilepsy patients cannot make up for their decreased contralateral interaction. It suggested that weakened contralateral connection and disrupted effective interaction between subregions of the unitary, transmodal hub of the ATL may be the primary cause of anomia in the left HS patients.

  2. Distinctive Structural and Effective Connectivity Changes of Semantic Cognition Network across Left and Right Mesial Temporal Lobe Epilepsy Patients

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fan, Xiaotong; Shang, Kun; Wang, Xiaocui; Wang, Peipei; Shan, Yongzhi; Lu, Jie

    2016-01-01

    Occurrence of language impairment in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (mTLE) patients is common and left mTLE patients always exhibit a primary problem with access to names. To explore different neuropsychological profiles between left and right mTLE patients, the study investigated both structural and effective functional connectivity changes within the semantic cognition network between these two groups and those from normal controls. We found that gray matter atrophy of left mTLE patients was more severe than that of right mTLE patients in the whole brain and especially within the semantic cognition network in their contralateral hemisphere. It suggested that seizure attacks were rather targeted than random for patients with hippocampal sclerosis (HS) in the dominant hemisphere. Functional connectivity analysis during resting state fMRI revealed that subregions of the anterior temporal lobe (ATL) in the left HS patients were no longer effectively connected. Further, we found that, unlike in right HS patients, increased causal linking between ipsilateral regions in the left HS epilepsy patients cannot make up for their decreased contralateral interaction. It suggested that weakened contralateral connection and disrupted effective interaction between subregions of the unitary, transmodal hub of the ATL may be the primary cause of anomia in the left HS patients. PMID:28018680

  3. Spontaneous neural activity in the right superior temporal gyrus and left middle temporal gyrus is associated with insight level in obsessive-compulsive disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fan, Jie; Zhong, Mingtian; Gan, Jun; Liu, Wanting; Niu, Chaoyang; Liao, Haiyan; Zhang, Hongchun; Tan, Changlian; Yi, Jinyao; Zhu, Xiongzhao

    2017-01-01

    Insight into illness is an important issue for psychiatry disorder. Although the existence of a poor insight subtype of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) was recognized in the DSM-IV, and the insight level in OCD was specified further in DSM-V, the neural underpinnings of insight in OCD have been rarely explored. The present study was designed to bridge this research gap by using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Spontaneous neural activity were examined in 19 OCD patients with good insight (OCD-GI), 18 OCD patients with poor insight (OCD-PI), and 25 healthy controls (HC) by analyzing the amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) in the resting state. Pearson correlation analysis was performed between regional ALFFs and insight levels among OCD patients. OCD-GI and OCD-PI demonstrated overlapping and distinct brain alterations. Notably, compared with OCD-GI, tOCD-PI had reduced ALFF in left middle temporal gyrus (MTG) and right superior temporal gyrus (STG), as well as increased ALFF in right middle occipital gyrus. Further analysis revealed that ALFF values for the left MTG and right STG were correlated negatively with insight level in patients with OCD. Relatively small sample size and not all patients were un-medicated are our major limitations. Spontaneous brain activity in left MTG and right STG may be neural underpinnings of insight in OCD. Our results suggest the great role of human temporal brain regions in understanding insight, and further underscore the importance of considering insight presentation in understanding the clinical heterogeneity of OCD. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  4. Left temporal and temporoparietal brain activity depends on depth of word encoding: a magnetoencephalographic study in healthy young subjects.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Walla, P; Hufnagl, B; Lindinger, G; Imhof, H; Deecke, L; Lang, W

    2001-03-01

    Using a 143-channel whole-head magnetoencephalograph (MEG) we recorded the temporal changes of brain activity from 26 healthy young subjects (14 females) related to shallow perceptual and deep semantic word encoding. During subsequent recognition tests, the subjects had to recognize the previously encoded words which were interspersed with new words. The resulting mean memory performances across all subjects clearly mirrored the different levels of encoding. The grand averaged event-related fields (ERFs) associated with perceptual and semantic word encoding differed significantly between 200 and 550 ms after stimulus onset mainly over left superior temporal and left superior parietal sensors. Semantic encoding elicited higher brain activity than perceptual encoding. Source localization procedures revealed that neural populations of the left temporal and temporoparietal brain areas showed different activity strengths across the whole group of subjects depending on depth of word encoding. We suggest that the higher brain activity associated with deep encoding as compared to shallow encoding was due to the involvement of more neural systems during the processing of visually presented words. Deep encoding required more energy than shallow encoding but for all that led to a better memory performance. Copyright 2001 Academic Press.

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

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    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’.

  6. Focal epileptic seizures with secondary generalization in cortical atrophy and gliosis dysplasia in the left temporal lobe and hemimegalencephaly in the left occipital lobe

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Manchev, I.; Mancheva-Ganeva, V.; Manolova, T.; Manchev, L.

    2016-01-01

    It is a case of an eight-year-old patient with cortical dysplasia and gliosis in the left temporal lobe clinically manifested with focal epileptic seizures with secondary generalization. Signs of mental retardation and a number of somatic complications - diabetes, etc., were found. The complex therapy with anticonvulsant medications, immunovenin, plasmaphoresis and anti-diabetic drugs was partially effective

  7. Genetic underpinnings of left superior temporal gyrus thickness in patients with schizophrenia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wolthusen, Rick P F; Hass, Johanna; Walton, Esther; Turner, Jessica A; Rössner, Veit; Sponheim, Scott R; Ho, Beng-Choon; Holt, Daphne J; Gollub, Randy L; Calhoun, Vince; Ehrlich, Stefan

    2015-08-07

    Schizophrenia is a highly disabling psychiatric disorder with a heterogeneous phenotypic appearance. We aimed to further the understanding of some of the underlying genetics of schizophrenia, using left superior temporal gyrus (STG) grey matter thickness reduction as an endophenoptype in a genome-wide association (GWA) study. Structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and genetic data of the Mind Clinical Imaging Consortium (MCIC) study of schizophrenia were used to analyse the interaction effects between 1,067,955 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and disease status on left STG thickness in 126 healthy controls and 113 patients with schizophrenia. We next used a pathway approach to detect underlying pathophysiological pathways that may be related to schizophrenia. No SNP by diagnosis interaction effect reached genome-wide significance (5 × 10 -8 ) in our GWA study, but 10 SNPs reached P-values less than 10 -6 . The most prominent pathways included those involved in insulin, calcium, PI3K-Akt and MAPK signalling. Our strongest findings in the GWA study and pathway analysis point towards an involvement of glucose metabolism in left STG thickness reduction in patients with schizophrenia only. These results are in line with recently published studies, which showed an increased prevalence of psychosis among patients with metabolic syndrome-related illnesses including diabetes.

  8. Disrupted topological properties of brain white matter networks in left temporal lobe epilepsy: a diffusion tensor imaging study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Xu, Y; Qiu, S; Wang, J; Liu, Z; Zhang, R; Li, S; Cheng, L; Liu, Z; Wang, W; Huang, R

    2014-10-24

    Mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (mTLE) is the most common drug-refractory focal epilepsy in adults. Although previous functional and morphological studies have revealed abnormalities in the brain networks of mTLE, the topological organization of the brain white matter (WM) networks in mTLE patients is still ambiguous. In this study, we constructed brain WM networks for 14 left mTLE patients and 22 age- and gender-matched normal controls using diffusion tensor tractography and estimated the alterations of network properties in the mTLE brain networks using graph theoretical analysis. We found that networks for both the mTLE patients and the controls exhibited prominent small-world properties, suggesting a balanced topology of integration and segregation. However, the brain WM networks of mTLE patients showed a significant increased characteristic path length but significant decreased global efficiency, which indicate a disruption in the organization of the brain WM networks in mTLE patients. Moreover, we found significant between-group differences in the nodal properties in several brain regions, such as the left superior temporal gyrus, left hippocampus, the right occipital and right temporal cortices. The robustness analysis showed that the results were likely to be consistent for the networks constructed with different definitions of node and edge weight. Taken together, our findings may suggest an adverse effect of epileptic seizures on the organization of large-scale brain WM networks in mTLE patients. Copyright © 2014 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  9. Multivariate pattern analysis reveals anatomical connectivity differences between the left and right mesial temporal lobe epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fang, Peng; An, Jie; Zeng, Ling-Li; Shen, Hui; Chen, Fanglin; Wang, Wensheng; Qiu, Shijun; Hu, Dewen

    2015-01-01

    Previous studies have demonstrated differences of clinical signs and functional brain network organizations between the left and right mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (mTLE), but the anatomical connectivity differences underlying functional variance between the left and right mTLE remain uncharacterized. We examined 43 (22 left, 21 right) mTLE patients with hippocampal sclerosis and 39 healthy controls using diffusion tensor imaging. After the whole-brain anatomical networks were constructed for each subject, multivariate pattern analysis was applied to classify the left mTLE from the right mTLE and extract the anatomical connectivity differences between the left and right mTLE patients. The classification results reveal 93.0% accuracy for the left mTLE versus the right mTLE, 93.4% accuracy for the left mTLE versus controls and 90.0% accuracy for the right mTLE versus controls. Compared with the right mTLE, the left mTLE exhibited a different connectivity pattern in the cortical-limbic network and cerebellum. The majority of the most discriminating anatomical connections were located within or across the cortical-limbic network and cerebellum, thereby indicating that these disease-related anatomical network alterations may give rise to a portion of the complex of emotional and memory deficit between the left and right mTLE. Moreover, the orbitofrontal gyrus, cingulate cortex, hippocampus and parahippocampal gyrus, which exhibit high discriminative power in classification, may play critical roles in the pathophysiology of mTLE. The current study demonstrated that anatomical connectivity differences between the left mTLE and the right mTLE may have the potential to serve as a neuroimaging biomarker to guide personalized diagnosis of the left and right mTLE.

  10. Left Superior Temporal Gyrus Is Coupled to Attended Speech in a Cocktail-Party Auditory Scene.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vander Ghinst, Marc; Bourguignon, Mathieu; Op de Beeck, Marc; Wens, Vincent; Marty, Brice; Hassid, Sergio; Choufani, Georges; Jousmäki, Veikko; Hari, Riitta; Van Bogaert, Patrick; Goldman, Serge; De Tiège, Xavier

    2016-02-03

    Using a continuous listening task, we evaluated the coupling between the listener's cortical activity and the temporal envelopes of different sounds in a multitalker auditory scene using magnetoencephalography and corticovocal coherence analysis. Neuromagnetic signals were recorded from 20 right-handed healthy adult humans who listened to five different recorded stories (attended speech streams), one without any multitalker background (No noise) and four mixed with a "cocktail party" multitalker background noise at four signal-to-noise ratios (5, 0, -5, and -10 dB) to produce speech-in-noise mixtures, here referred to as Global scene. Coherence analysis revealed that the modulations of the attended speech stream, presented without multitalker background, were coupled at ∼0.5 Hz to the activity of both superior temporal gyri, whereas the modulations at 4-8 Hz were coupled to the activity of the right supratemporal auditory cortex. In cocktail party conditions, with the multitalker background noise, the coupling was at both frequencies stronger for the attended speech stream than for the unattended Multitalker background. The coupling strengths decreased as the Multitalker background increased. During the cocktail party conditions, the ∼0.5 Hz coupling became left-hemisphere dominant, compared with bilateral coupling without the multitalker background, whereas the 4-8 Hz coupling remained right-hemisphere lateralized in both conditions. The brain activity was not coupled to the multitalker background or to its individual talkers. The results highlight the key role of listener's left superior temporal gyri in extracting the slow ∼0.5 Hz modulations, likely reflecting the attended speech stream within a multitalker auditory scene. When people listen to one person in a "cocktail party," their auditory cortex mainly follows the attended speech stream rather than the entire auditory scene. However, how the brain extracts the attended speech stream from the whole

  11. 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.

  12. Subliminal semantic priming changes the dynamic causal influence between the left frontal and temporal cortex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Matsumoto, Atsushi; Kakigi, Ryusuke

    2014-01-01

    Recent neuroimaging experiments have revealed that subliminal priming of a target stimulus leads to the reduction of neural activity in specific regions concerned with processing the target. Such findings lead to questions about the degree to which the subliminal priming effect is based only on decreased activity in specific local brain regions, as opposed to the influence of neural mechanisms that regulate communication between brain regions. To address this question, this study recorded EEG during performance of a subliminal semantic priming task. We adopted an information-based approach that used independent component analysis and multivariate autoregressive modeling. Results indicated that subliminal semantic priming caused significant modulation of alpha band activity in the left inferior frontal cortex and modulation of gamma band activity in the left inferior temporal regions. The multivariate autoregressive approach confirmed significant increases in information flow from the inferior frontal cortex to inferior temporal regions in the early time window that was induced by subliminal priming. In the later time window, significant enhancement of bidirectional causal flow between these two regions underlying subliminal priming was observed. Results suggest that unconscious processing of words influences not only local activity of individual brain regions but also the dynamics of neural communication between those regions.

  13. The regional neuronal activity in left posterior middle temporal gyrus is correlated with the severity of chronic aphasia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Jianlin; Du, Dunren; Gao, Wei; Sun, Xichun; Xie, Haizhu; Zhang, Gang; Li, Jian; Li, Honglun; Li, Kefeng

    2017-01-01

    Aphasia is one of the most disabling cognitive deficits affecting >2 million people in the USA. The neuroimaging characteristics of chronic aphasic patients (>6 months post onset) remain largely unknown. The objective of this study was to investigate the regional signal changes of spontaneous neuronal activity of brain and the inter-regional connectivity in chronic aphasia. Resting-state blood oxygenation level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to obtain fMRI data from 17 chronic aphasic patients and 20 healthy control subjects in a Siemens Verio 3.0T MR Scanner. The amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF) was determined, which directly reflects the regional neuronal activity. The functional connectivity (FC) of fMRI was assessed using a seed voxel linear correlation approach. The severity of aphasia was evaluated by aphasia quotient (AQ) scores obtained from Western Aphasia Battery test. Compared with normal subjects, aphasic patients showed decreased ALFF values in the regions of left posterior middle temporal gyrus (PMTG), left medial prefrontal gyrus, and right cerebellum. The ALFF values in left PMTG showed strong positive correlation with the AQ score (coefficient r =0.79, P temporal gyrus (BA20), fusiform gyrus (BA37), and inferior frontal gyrus (BA47\\45\\44). Left PMTG might play an important role in language dysfunction of chronic aphasia, and ALFF value might be a promising indicator to evaluate the severity of aphasia.

  14. Multivariate pattern analysis reveals anatomical connectivity differences between the left and right mesial temporal lobe epilepsy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Peng Fang

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Previous studies have demonstrated differences of clinical signs and functional brain network organizations between the left and right mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (mTLE, but the anatomical connectivity differences underlying functional variance between the left and right mTLE remain uncharacterized. We examined 43 (22 left, 21 right mTLE patients with hippocampal sclerosis and 39 healthy controls using diffusion tensor imaging. After the whole-brain anatomical networks were constructed for each subject, multivariate pattern analysis was applied to classify the left mTLE from the right mTLE and extract the anatomical connectivity differences between the left and right mTLE patients. The classification results reveal 93.0% accuracy for the left mTLE versus the right mTLE, 93.4% accuracy for the left mTLE versus controls and 90.0% accuracy for the right mTLE versus controls. Compared with the right mTLE, the left mTLE exhibited a different connectivity pattern in the cortical-limbic network and cerebellum. The majority of the most discriminating anatomical connections were located within or across the cortical-limbic network and cerebellum, thereby indicating that these disease-related anatomical network alterations may give rise to a portion of the complex of emotional and memory deficit between the left and right mTLE. Moreover, the orbitofrontal gyrus, cingulate cortex, hippocampus and parahippocampal gyrus, which exhibit high discriminative power in classification, may play critical roles in the pathophysiology of mTLE. The current study demonstrated that anatomical connectivity differences between the left mTLE and the right mTLE may have the potential to serve as a neuroimaging biomarker to guide personalized diagnosis of the left and right mTLE.

  15. Graded representations of emotional expressions in the left superior temporal sulcus

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Christopher P Said

    2010-03-01

    Full Text Available Perceptual categorization is a fundamental cognitive process that gives meaning to an often graded sensory environment. Previous research has subdivided the visual pathway into posterior regions that processes the physical properties of a stimulus, and frontal regions that process more abstract properties such as category information. The superior temporal sulcus (STS is known to be involved in face and emotion perception, but the nature of its processing remains unknown. Here, we used targeted fMRI measurements of the STS to investigate whether its representations of facial expressions are categorical or noncategorical. Multivoxel pattern analysis showed that even though subjects were performing a categorization task, the left STS contained graded, noncategorical representations. In the right STS, representations showed evidence for both stimulus-related gradations and a categorical boundary.

  16. Incipient preoperative reorganization processes of verbal memory functions in patients with left temporal lobe epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Milian, Monika; Zeltner, Lena; Erb, Michael; Klose, Uwe; Wagner, Kathrin; Frings, Lars; Veil, Cornelia; Rona, Sabine; Lerche, Holger; Klamer, Silke

    2015-01-01

    We previously reported nonlinear correlations between verbal episodic memory performance and BOLD signal in memory fMRI in healthy subjects. The purpose of the present study was to examine this observation in patients with left mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (mTLE) who often experience memory decline and need reliable prediction tools before epilepsy surgery with hippocampectomy. Fifteen patients with left mTLE (18-57years, nine females) underwent a verbal memory fMRI paradigm. Correlations between BOLD activity and neuropsychological data were calculated for the i) hippocampus (HC) as well as ii) extrahippocampal mTL structures. Memory performance was systematically associated with activations within the right HC as well as with activations within the left extrahippocampal mTL regions (amygdala and parahippocampal gyrus). As hypothesized, the analyses revealed cubic relationships, with one peak in patients with marginal memory performance and another peak in patients with very good performance. The nonlinear correlations between memory performance and activations might reflect the compensatory recruitment of neural resources to maintain memory performance in patients with ongoing memory deterioration. The present data suggest an already incipient preoperative reorganization process of verbal memory in non-amnesic patients with left mTLE by simultaneously tapping the resources of the right HC and left extrahippocampal mTL regions. Thus, in the preoperative assessment, both neuropsychological performance and memory fMRI should be considered together. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  17. Dissociating Effects of Scrambling and Topicalization within the Left Frontal and Temporal Language Areas: An fMRI Study in Kaqchikel Maya.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ohta, Shinri; Koizumi, Masatoshi; Sakai, Kuniyoshi L

    2017-01-01

    Some natural languages grammatically allow different types of changing word orders, such as object scrambling and topicalization. Scrambling and topicalization are more related to syntax and semantics/phonology, respectively. Here we hypothesized that scrambling should activate the left frontal regions, while topicalization would affect the bilateral temporal regions. To examine such distinct effects in our functional magnetic resonance imaging study, we targeted the Kaqchikel Maya language, a Mayan language spoken in Guatemala. In Kaqchikel, the syntactically canonical word order is verb-object-subject (VOS), but at least three non-canonical word orders (i.e., SVO, VSO, and OVS) are also grammatically allowed. We used a sentence-picture matching task, in which the participants listened to a short Kaqchikel sentence and judged whether a picture matched the meaning of the sentence. The advantage of applying this experimental paradigm to an understudied language such as Kaqchikel is that it will allow us to validate the universality of linguistic computation in the brain. We found that the conditions with scrambled sentences [+scrambling] elicited significant activation in the left inferior frontal gyrus and lateral premotor cortex, both of which have been proposed as grammar centers, indicating the effects of syntactic loads. In contrast, the conditions without topicalization [-topicalization] resulted in significant activation in bilateral Heschl's gyrus and superior temporal gyrus, demonstrating that the syntactic and phonological processes were clearly dissociated within the language areas. Moreover, the pre-supplementary motor area and left superior/middle temporal gyri were activated under relatively demanding conditions, suggesting their supportive roles in syntactic or semantic processing. To exclude any semantic/phonological effects of the object-subject word orders, we performed direct comparisons while making the factor of topicalization constant, and

  18. 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…

  19. The Medial Temporal Lobe and the Left Inferior Prefrontal Cortex Jointly Support Interference Resolution in Verbal Working Memory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Oztekin, Ilke; Curtis, Clayton E.; McElree, Brian

    2009-01-01

    During working memory retrieval, proactive interference (PI) can be induced by semantic similarity and episodic familiarity. Here, we used fMRI to test hypotheses about the role of the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) and the medial temporal lobe (MTL) regions in successful resolution of PI. Participants studied six-word lists and responded to a…

  20. Cerebral and cerebellar language organization in a right-handed subject with a left temporal porencephalic cyst : An fMRI study

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    De Coninck, Mattias; Van Hecke, Wim; Crols, Roe; van Dun, Kim; Van Dam, Debby; De Deyn, Peter P.; Brysbaert, Marc; Marien, Peter

    To test the hypothesis of crossed cerebro-cerebellar language dominance (Marien, Engelborghs, Fabbro, & De Deyn, 2001) in atypical populations, the pattern of cerebral and cerebellar language organization in a right-handed woman with a large porencephalic cyst in the left temporal lobe with no

  1. Treatment for Alexia with Agraphia Following Left Ventral Occipito-Temporal Damage: Strengthening Orthographic Representations Common to Reading and Spelling

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kim, Esther S.; Rising, Kindle; Rapcsak, Steven Z.; Beeson, Pélagie M.

    2015-01-01

    Purpose: Damage to left ventral occipito-temporal cortex can give rise to written language impairment characterized by pure alexia/letter-by-letter (LBL) reading, as well as surface alexia and agraphia. The purpose of this study was to examine the therapeutic effects of a combined treatment approach to address concurrent LBL reading with surface…

  2. Osteoradionecrosis of the temporal bone

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fujimori, Masato; Koyama, Yukiko; Enomoto, Fuyuki; Ichikawa, Ginichiro

    2002-01-01

    We report a case of temporal bone necrosis that emerged after radiotherapy for epipharyngeal carcinoma performed 13 years ago. The patient was a 51-year-old male. His major complaint was left facial swelling. The patient underwent chemotherapy and radiotherapy (Co 60, 6120 rad), as the treatment of that period, for epipharyngeal carcinoma from September 30, 1986 to January 31, 1987. He also underwent lobectomy of the left temporal lobe in brain surgery for left temporal lobe necrosis in August, 1989. After that operation, we saw constriction in his left external acoustic meatus and continued the follow-up. On October 22, 1999 he felt a left facial swelling. We found skin defects and ulcer formation in the front part of his left ear. Although we administered an antiseptic and antibiotic to the diseased area, his condition did not improve. He was hospitalized for the purpose of undergoing medical treatment on January 6, 2000. We found extensive skin necrosis and defects in his left auricular area. The corrupted temporal bone reached the zygomatic, the bone department external acoustic meatus and the mastoid process was exposing. We performed debridement of the diseased area on January 19, 2000. On February 23, we performed reconstruction by left trapezius muscle flap after debridement once again. One year after the operation, the flap was completely incorporated. (author)

  3. Osteoradionecrosis of the temporal bone

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Fujimori, Masato; Koyama, Yukiko; Enomoto, Fuyuki; Ichikawa, Ginichiro [Juntendo Univ., Tokyo (Japan). School of Medicine

    2002-08-01

    We report a case of temporal bone necrosis that emerged after radiotherapy for epipharyngeal carcinoma performed 13 years ago. The patient was a 51-year-old male. His major complaint was left facial swelling. The patient underwent chemotherapy and radiotherapy (Co 60, 6120 rad), as the treatment of that period, for epipharyngeal carcinoma from September 30, 1986 to January 31, 1987. He also underwent lobectomy of the left temporal lobe in brain surgery for left temporal lobe necrosis in August, 1989. After that operation, we saw constriction in his left external acoustic meatus and continued the follow-up. On October 22, 1999 he felt a left facial swelling. We found skin defects and ulcer formation in the front part of his left ear. Although we administered an antiseptic and antibiotic to the diseased area, his condition did not improve. He was hospitalized for the purpose of undergoing medical treatment on January 6, 2000. We found extensive skin necrosis and defects in his left auricular area. The corrupted temporal bone reached the zygomatic, the bone department external acoustic meatus and the mastoid process was exposing. We performed debridement of the diseased area on January 19, 2000. On February 23, we performed reconstruction by left trapezius muscle flap after debridement once again. One year after the operation, the flap was completely incorporated. (author)

  4. ERP measures of partial semantic knowledge: left temporal indices of skill differences and lexical quality.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Frishkoff, Gwen A; Perfetti, Charles A; Westbury, Chris

    2009-01-01

    This study examines the sensitivity of early event-related potentials (ERPs) to degrees of word semantic knowledge. Participants with strong, average, or weak vocabulary skills made speeded lexical decisions to letter strings. To represent the full spectrum of word knowledge among adult native-English speakers, we used rare words that were orthographically matched with more familiar words and with pseudowords. Since the lexical decision could not reliably be made on the basis of word form, subjects were obliged to use semantic knowledge to perform the task. A d' analysis suggested that high-skilled subjects adopted a more conservative strategy in response to rare versus more familiar words. Moreover, the high-skilled participants showed a trend towards an enhanced "N2c" to rare words, and a similar posterior temporal effect reached significance approximately 650 ms. Generators for these effects were localized to left temporal cortex. We discuss implications of these results for word learning and for theories of lexical semantic access.

  5. Lateralization of spatial rather than temporal attention underlies the left hemifield advantage in rapid serial visual presentation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Asanowicz, Dariusz; Kruse, Lena; Śmigasiewicz, Kamila; Verleger, Rolf

    2017-11-01

    In bilateral rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP), the second of two targets, T1 and T2, is better identified in the left visual field (LVF) than in the right visual field (RVF). This LVF advantage may reflect hemispheric asymmetry in temporal attention or/and in spatial orienting of attention. Participants performed two tasks: the "standard" bilateral RSVP task (Exp.1) and its unilateral variant (Exp.1 & 2). In the bilateral task, spatial location was uncertain, thus target identification involved stimulus-driven spatial orienting. In the unilateral task, the targets were presented block-wise in the LVF or RVF only, such that no spatial orienting was needed for target identification. Temporal attention was manipulated in both tasks by varying the T1-T2 lag. The results showed that the LVF advantage disappeared when involvement of stimulus-driven spatial orienting was eliminated, whereas the manipulation of temporal attention had no effect on the asymmetry. In conclusion, the results do not support the hypothesis of hemispheric asymmetry in temporal attention, and provide further evidence that the LVF advantage reflects right hemisphere predominance in stimulus-driven orienting of spatial attention. These conclusions fit evidence that temporal attention is implemented by bilateral parietal areas and spatial attention by the right-lateralized ventral frontoparietal network. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. Alteration of Interictal Brain Activity in Patients with Temporal Lobe Epilepsy in the Left Dominant Hemisphere: A Resting-State MEG Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Haitao Zhu

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Resting MEG activities were compared between patients with left temporal lobe epilepsy (LTLE and normal controls. Using SAMg2, the activities of MEG data were reconstructed and normalized. Significantly elevated SAMg2 signals were found in LTLE patients in the left temporal lobe and medial structures. Marked decreases of SAMg2 signals were found in the wide extratemporal lobe regions, such as the bilateral visual cortex. The study also demonstrated a positive correlation between the seizure frequency and brain activities of the abnormal regions after the multiple linear regression analysis. These results suggested that the aberrant brain activities not only were related to the epileptogenic zones, but also existed in other extratemporal regions in patients with LTLE. The activities of the aberrant regions could be further damaged with the increase of the seizure frequency. Our findings indicated that LTLE could be a multifocal disease, including complex epileptic networks and brain dysfunction networks.

  7. Reading words and other people: A comparison of exception word, familiar face and affect processing in the left and right temporal variants of primary progressive aphasia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Binney, Richard J; Henry, Maya L; Babiak, Miranda; Pressman, Peter S; Santos-Santos, Miguel A; Narvid, Jared; Mandelli, Maria Luisa; Strain, Paul J; Miller, Bruce L; Rankin, Katherine P; Rosen, Howard J; Gorno-Tempini, Maria Luisa

    2016-09-01

    Semantic variant primary progressive aphasia (svPPA) typically presents with left-hemisphere predominant rostral temporal lobe (rTL) atrophy and the most significant complaints within the language domain. Less frequently, patients present with right-hemisphere predominant temporal atrophy coupled with marked impairments in processing of famous faces and emotions. Few studies have objectively compared these patient groups in both domains and therefore it is unclear to what extent the syndromes overlap. Clinically diagnosed svPPA patients were characterized as left- (n = 21) or right-predominant (n = 12) using imaging and compared along with 14 healthy controls. Regarding language, our primary focus was upon two hallmark features of svPPA; confrontation naming and surface dyslexia. Both groups exhibited naming deficits and surface dyslexia although the impairments were more severe in the left-predominant group. Familiarity judgments on famous faces and affect processing were more profoundly impaired in the right-predominant group. Our findings suggest that the two syndromes overlap significantly but that early cases at the tail ends of the continuum constitute a challenge for current clinical criteria. Correlational neuroimaging analyses implicated a mid portion of the left lateral temporal lobe in exception word reading impairments in line with proposals that this region is an interface between phonology and semantic knowledge. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Auditory temporal processing in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lavasani, Azam Navaei; Mohammadkhani, Ghassem; Motamedi, Mahmoud; Karimi, Leyla Jalilvand; Jalaei, Shohreh; Shojaei, Fereshteh Sadat; Danesh, Ali; Azimi, Hadi

    2016-07-01

    Auditory temporal processing is the main feature of speech processing ability. Patients with temporal lobe epilepsy, despite their normal hearing sensitivity, may present speech recognition disorders. The present study was carried out to evaluate the auditory temporal processing in patients with unilateral TLE. The present study was carried out on 25 patients with epilepsy: 11 patients with right temporal lobe epilepsy and 14 with left temporal lobe epilepsy with a mean age of 31.1years and 18 control participants with a mean age of 29.4years. The two experimental and control groups were evaluated via gap-in-noise and duration pattern sequence tests. One-way ANOVA was run to analyze the data. The mean of the threshold of the GIN test in the control group was observed to be better than that in participants with LTLE and RTLE. Also, it was observed that the percentage of correct responses on the DPS test in the control group and in participants with RTLE was better than that in participants with LTLE. Patients with TLE have difficulties in temporal processing. Difficulties are more significant in patients with LTLE, likely because the left temporal lobe is specialized for the processing of temporal information. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  9. The left middle temporal gyrus in the middle of an impaired social-affective communication network in social anxiety disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yun, Je-Yeon; Kim, Jae-Chang; Ku, Jeonghun; Shin, Jung-Eun; Kim, Jae-Jin; Choi, Soo-Hee

    2017-05-01

    Previous studies on patients diagnosed with social anxiety disorder (SAD) reported changed patterns of the resting-state functional connectivity network (rs-FCN) between the prefrontal cortices and other prefrontal, amygdalar or striatal regions. Using a graph theory approach, this study explored the modularity-based community profile and patterns of inter-/intra-modular communication for the rs-FCN in SAD. In total, for 28 SAD patients and 27 healthy controls (HC), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data were acquired in resting-state and subjected to a graph theory analysis. The within-module degree z-score for a hub region [out of a total of 10 hub regions ranked using the participation coefficient] named left middle temporal gyrus was impaired in SAD compared to HC, proportional to the severity of clinician-scored and patient-reported functional impairment in SAD. Most of participants included in this study were undergraduate students in their early-to-mid 20's. This study showed the importance of functional communication from the left middle temporal gyrus with other opercular-insular-subcortical regions for better objective functioning and lesser subjective disability in SAD. Copyright © 2017 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  10. Activations in temporal areas using visual and auditory naming stimuli: A language fMRI study in temporal lobe epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gonzálvez, Gloria G; Trimmel, Karin; Haag, Anja; van Graan, Louis A; Koepp, Matthias J; Thompson, Pamela J; Duncan, John S

    2016-12-01

    Verbal fluency functional MRI (fMRI) is used for predicting language deficits after anterior temporal lobe resection (ATLR) for temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), but primarily engages frontal lobe areas. In this observational study we investigated fMRI paradigms using visual and auditory stimuli, which predominately involve language areas resected during ATLR. Twenty-three controls and 33 patients (20 left (LTLE), 13 right (RTLE)) were assessed using three fMRI paradigms: verbal fluency, auditory naming with a contrast of auditory reversed speech; picture naming with a contrast of scrambled pictures and blurred faces. Group analysis showed bilateral temporal activations for auditory naming and picture naming. Correcting for auditory and visual input (by subtracting activations resulting from auditory reversed speech and blurred pictures/scrambled faces respectively) resulted in left-lateralised activations for patients and controls, which was more pronounced for LTLE compared to RTLE patients. Individual subject activations at a threshold of T>2.5, extent >10 voxels, showed that verbal fluency activated predominantly the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) in 90% of LTLE, 92% of RTLE, and 65% of controls, compared to right IFG activations in only 15% of LTLE and RTLE and 26% of controls. Middle temporal (MTG) or superior temporal gyrus (STG) activations were seen on the left in 30% of LTLE, 23% of RTLE, and 52% of controls, and on the right in 15% of LTLE, 15% of RTLE, and 35% of controls. Auditory naming activated temporal areas more frequently than did verbal fluency (LTLE: 93%/73%; RTLE: 92%/58%; controls: 82%/70% (left/right)). Controlling for auditory input resulted in predominantly left-sided temporal activations. Picture naming resulted in temporal lobe activations less frequently than did auditory naming (LTLE 65%/55%; RTLE 53%/46%; controls 52%/35% (left/right)). Controlling for visual input had left-lateralising effects. Auditory and picture naming activated

  11. Language development at 2 years is correlated to brain microstructure in the left superior temporal gyrus at term equivalent age: a diffusion tensor imaging study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aeby, Alec; De Tiège, Xavier; Creuzil, Marylise; David, Philippe; Balériaux, Danielle; Van Overmeire, Bart; Metens, Thierry; Van Bogaert, Patrick

    2013-09-01

    This study aims at testing the hypothesis that neurodevelopmental abilities at age 2 years are related with local brain microstructure of preterm infants at term equivalent age. Forty-one preterm infants underwent brain MRI with diffusion tensor imaging sequences to measure mean diffusivity (MD), fractional anisotropy (FA), longitudinal and transverse diffusivity (λ// and λ[perpendicular]) at term equivalent age. Neurodevelopment was assessed at 2 years corrected age using the Bayley III scale. A voxel-based analysis approach, statistical parametric mapping (SPM8), was used to correlate changes of the Bayley III scores with the regional distribution of MD, FA, λ// and λ[perpendicular]. We found that language abilities are negatively correlated to MD, λ// and λ[perpendicular] in the left superior temporal gyrus in preterm infants. These findings suggest that higher MD, λ// and λ[perpendicular] values at term-equivalent age in the left superior temporal gyrus are associated with poorer language scores in later childhood. Consequently, it highlights the key role of the left superior temporal gyrus for the development of language abilities in children. Further studies are needed to assess on an individual basis and on the long term the prognostic value of brain DTI at term equivalent age for the development of language. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. Effect of invasive EEG monitoring on cognitive outcome after left temporal lobe epilepsy surgery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Busch, Robyn M; Love, Thomas E; Jehi, Lara E; Ferguson, Lisa; Yardi, Ruta; Najm, Imad; Bingaman, William; Gonzalez-Martinez, Jorge

    2015-10-27

    The objective of this cohort study was to compare neuropsychological outcomes following left temporal lobe resection (TLR) in patients with epilepsy who had or had not undergone prior invasive monitoring. Data were obtained from an institutional review board-approved, neuropsychology registry for patients who underwent epilepsy surgery at Cleveland Clinic between 1997 and 2013. A total of 176 patients (45 with and 131 without invasive EEG) met inclusion criteria. Primary outcome measures were verbal memory and language scores. Other cognitive outcomes were also examined. Outcomes were assessed using difference in scores from before to after surgery and by presence/absence of clinically meaningful decline using reliable change indices (RCIs). Effect of invasive EEG on cognitive outcomes was estimated using weighting and propensity score adjustment to account for differences in baseline characteristics. Linear and logistic regression models compared surgical groups on all cognitive outcomes. Patients with invasive monitoring showed greater declines in confrontation naming; however, when RCIs were used to assess clinically meaningful change, there was no significant treatment effect on naming performance. No difference in verbal memory was observed, regardless of how the outcome was measured. In secondary outcomes, patients with invasive monitoring showed greater declines in working memory, which were no longer apparent using RCIs to define change. There were no outcome differences on other cognitive measures. Results suggest that invasive EEG monitoring conducted prior to left TLR is not associated with greater cognitive morbidity than left TLR alone. This information is important when counseling patients regarding cognitive risks associated with this elective surgery. © 2015 American Academy of Neurology.

  13. Auditory verbal hallucinations are related to cortical thinning in the left middle temporal gyrus of patients with schizophrenia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cui, Y; Liu, B; Song, M; Lipnicki, D M; Li, J; Xie, S; Chen, Y; Li, P; Lu, L; Lv, L; Wang, H; Yan, H; Yan, J; Zhang, H; Zhang, D; Jiang, T

    2018-01-01

    Auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) are one of the most common and severe symptoms of schizophrenia, but the neuroanatomical abnormalities underlying AVHs are not well understood. The present study aims to investigate whether AVHs are associated with cortical thinning. Participants were schizophrenia patients from four centers across China, 115 with AVHs and 93 without AVHs, as well as 261 healthy controls. All received 3 T T1-weighted brain scans, and whole brain vertex-wise cortical thickness was compared across groups. Correlations between AVH severity and cortical thickness were also determined. The left middle part of the middle temporal gyrus (MTG) was significantly thinner in schizophrenia patients with AVHs than in patients without AVHs and healthy controls. Inferences were made using a false discovery rate approach with a threshold at p < 0.05. Left MTG thickness did not differ between patients without AVHs and controls. These results were replicated by a meta-analysis showing them to be consistent across the four centers. Cortical thickness of the left MTG was also found to be inversely correlated with hallucination severity across all schizophrenia patients. The results of this multi-center study suggest that an abnormally thin left MTG could be involved in the pathogenesis of AVHs in schizophrenia.

  14. Postero-inferior condylar movement induced by artificial occlusal interference on the balancing side during fictive mastication in rabbits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morita, Takumi; Hiraba, Katsunari; Matsunaga, Tomoko; Ito, Yu; Maruo, Hisanobu; Kurita, Kenichi

    2016-06-01

    Tooth contact does not occur on the balancing side during mastication. Hence, it is possible that the presence of occlusal interference on the balancing side causes mandibular rotation followed by atypical condylar movement because the jaw-closing muscle activity on the working side is greater than on the balancing side. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between occlusal contact on the balancing side and condylar movement during mastication. EMG activity of the masseter (MS), lateral pterygoid (LP) and digastric (DG) muscles and jaw movements were recorded. Condylar movements in the sagittal plane were recorded using a high speed charge-coupled device (CCD) camera. Incisal point movements were recorded using a magnet on the mentum and a magnetometric sensor on the nasal bone. A removable biting plate was used to introduce an artificial occlusal interference on the balancing side. Nine of the 10 rabbits showed large postero-inferior condylar movement (Pi-Cm) when a biting plate was applied on the balancing side. Five rabbits showed very small Pi-Cm when a biting plate was applied on the balancing side. In the small Pi-Cm group, MS activity decreased markedly and LP and DG transient activity appeared in the early occlusal phase in the presence of the biting plate. Interference on the balancing side always caused Pi-Cm on the ipsilateral side during mastication. However, the degree of Pi-Cm was often decreased by a jaw opening reflex response. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. Cerebral Activations Related to Writing and Drawing with Each Hand

    Science.gov (United States)

    Potgieser, Adriaan R. E.; van der Hoorn, Anouk; de Jong, Bauke M.

    2015-01-01

    Background Writing is a sequential motor action based on sensorimotor integration in visuospatial and linguistic functional domains. To test the hypothesis of lateralized circuitry concerning spatial and language components involved in such action, we employed an fMRI paradigm including writing and drawing with each hand. In this way, writing-related contributions of dorsal and ventral premotor regions in each hemisphere were assessed, together with effects in wider distributed circuitry. Given a right-hemisphere dominance for spatial action, right dorsal premotor cortex dominance was expected in left-hand writing while dominance of the left ventral premotor cortex was expected during right-hand writing. Methods Sixteen healthy right-handed subjects were scanned during audition-guided writing of short sentences and simple figure drawing without visual feedback. Tapping with a pencil served as a basic control task for the two higher-order motor conditions. Activation differences were assessed with Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM). Results Writing and drawing showed parietal-premotor and posterior inferior temporal activations in both hemispheres when compared to tapping. Drawing activations were rather symmetrical for each hand. Activations in left- and right-hand writing were left-hemisphere dominant, while right dorsal premotor activation only occurred in left-hand writing, supporting a spatial motor contribution of particularly the right hemisphere. Writing contrasted to drawing revealed left-sided activations in the dorsal and ventral premotor cortex, Broca’s area, pre-Supplementary Motor Area and posterior middle and inferior temporal gyri, without parietal activation. Discussion The audition-driven postero-inferior temporal activations indicated retrieval of virtual visual form characteristics in writing and drawing, with additional activation concerning word form in the left hemisphere. Similar parietal processing in writing and drawing pointed at a

  16. Cerebral activations related to writing and drawing with each hand.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Potgieser, Adriaan R E; van der Hoorn, Anouk; de Jong, Bauke M

    2015-01-01

    Writing is a sequential motor action based on sensorimotor integration in visuospatial and linguistic functional domains. To test the hypothesis of lateralized circuitry concerning spatial and language components involved in such action, we employed an fMRI paradigm including writing and drawing with each hand. In this way, writing-related contributions of dorsal and ventral premotor regions in each hemisphere were assessed, together with effects in wider distributed circuitry. Given a right-hemisphere dominance for spatial action, right dorsal premotor cortex dominance was expected in left-hand writing while dominance of the left ventral premotor cortex was expected during right-hand writing. Sixteen healthy right-handed subjects were scanned during audition-guided writing of short sentences and simple figure drawing without visual feedback. Tapping with a pencil served as a basic control task for the two higher-order motor conditions. Activation differences were assessed with Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM). Writing and drawing showed parietal-premotor and posterior inferior temporal activations in both hemispheres when compared to tapping. Drawing activations were rather symmetrical for each hand. Activations in left- and right-hand writing were left-hemisphere dominant, while right dorsal premotor activation only occurred in left-hand writing, supporting a spatial motor contribution of particularly the right hemisphere. Writing contrasted to drawing revealed left-sided activations in the dorsal and ventral premotor cortex, Broca's area, pre-Supplementary Motor Area and posterior middle and inferior temporal gyri, without parietal activation. The audition-driven postero-inferior temporal activations indicated retrieval of virtual visual form characteristics in writing and drawing, with additional activation concerning word form in the left hemisphere. Similar parietal processing in writing and drawing pointed at a common mechanism by which such visually

  17. BOLD response to motion verbs in left posterior middle temporal gyrus during story comprehension

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wallentin, Mikkel; Nielsen, Andreas Højlund; Vuust, Peter

    2011-01-01

    A primary focus within neuroimaging research on language comprehension is on the distribution of semantic knowledge in the brain. Studies have shown that the left posterior middle temporal gyrus (LPMT), a region just anterior to area MT/V5, is important for the processing of complex action...... knowledge. It has also been found that motion verbs cause activation in LPMT. In this experiment we investigated whether this effect could be replicated in a setting resembling real life language comprehension, i.e. without any overt behavioral task during passive listening to a story. During f......, clauses containing motion verbs were accompanied by a robust activation of LPMT with no other significant effects, consistent with the hypothesis that this brain region is important for processing motion knowledge, even during naturalistic language comprehension conditions....

  18. Repeated measurements of cerebral blood flow in the left superior temporal gyrus reveal tonic hyperactivity in patients with auditory verbal hallucinations: A possible trait marker

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Philipp eHoman

    2013-06-01

    Full Text Available Background: The left superior temporal gyrus (STG has been suggested to play a key role in auditory verbal hallucinations in patients with schizophrenia. Methods: Eleven medicated subjects with schizophrenia and medication-resistant auditory verbal hallucinations and 19 healthy controls underwent perfusion magnetic resonance imaging with arterial spin labeling. Three additional repeated measurements were conducted in the patients. Patients underwent a treatment with transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS between the first 2 measurements. The main outcome measure was the pooled cerebral blood flow (CBF, which consisted of the regional CBF measurement in the left superior temporal gyrus (STG and the global CBF measurement in the whole brain.Results: Regional CBF in the left STG in patients was significantly higher compared to controls (p < 0.0001 and to the global CBF in patients (p < 0.004 at baseline. Regional CBF in the left STG remained significantly increased compared to the global CBF in patients across time (p < 0.0007, and it remained increased in patients after TMS compared to the baseline CBF in controls (p < 0.0001. After TMS, PANSS (p = 0.003 and PSYRATS (p = 0.01 scores decreased significantly in patients.Conclusions: This study demonstrated tonically increased regional CBF in the left STG in patients with schizophrenia and auditory hallucinations despite a decrease in symptoms after TMS. These findings were consistent with what has previously been termed a trait marker of auditory verbal hallucinations in schizophrenia.

  19. Abnormal left superior temporal gyrus volumes in children and adolescents with bipolar disorder: a magnetic resonance imaging study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Hua Hsua; Nicoletti, Mark A; Hatch, John P; Sassi, Roberto B; Axelson, David; Brambilla, Paolo; Monkul, E Serap; Keshavan, Matcheri S; Ryan, Neal D; Birmaher, Boris; Soares, Jair C

    2004-06-03

    Abnormalities in left superior temporal gyrus (STG) have been reported in adult bipolar patients. However, it is not known whether such abnormalities are already present early in the course of this illness. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) morphometric analysis of STG was performed in 16 DSM-IV children and adolescents with bipolar disorder (mean age+/-SD 15.5+/-3.4 years) and 21 healthy controls (mean age+/-SD 16.9+/-3.8 years). Subjects underwent a 3D spoiled gradient recalled acquisition MRI examination. Using analysis of covariance with age, gender and intra-cranial brain volume as covariates, we found significantly smaller left total STG volumes in bipolar patients (12.5+/-1.5 cm(3)) compared with healthy controls (13.6+/-2.5 cm(3)) (F=4.45, d.f.=1, 32, P=0.04). This difference was accounted for by significantly smaller left and right STG white matter volumes in bipolar patients. Decreased white matter connections may be the core of abnormalities in STG, which is an important region for speech, language and communication, and could possibly underlie neurocognitive deficits present in bipolar patients.

  20. Selective activation around the left occipito-temporal sulcus for words relative to pictures: individual variability or false positives?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wright, Nicholas D; Mechelli, Andrea; Noppeney, Uta; Veltman, Dick J; Rombouts, Serge A R B; Glensman, Janice; Haynes, John-Dylan; Price, Cathy J

    2008-08-01

    We used high-resolution fMRI to investigate claims that learning to read results in greater left occipito-temporal (OT) activation for written words relative to pictures of objects. In the first experiment, 9/16 subjects performing a one-back task showed activation in > or =1 left OT voxel for words relative to pictures (P or =1 left OT voxel for words relative to pictures. However, at this low statistical threshold false positives need to be excluded. The semantic decision paradigm was therefore repeated, within subject, in two different scanners (1.5 and 3 T). Both scanners consistently localised left OT activation for words relative to fixation and pictures relative to words, but there were no consistent effects for words relative to pictures. Finally, in a third experiment, we minimised the voxel size (1.5 x 1.5 x 1.5 mm(3)) and demonstrated a striking concordance between the voxels activated for words and pictures, irrespective of task (naming vs. one-back) or script (English vs. Hebrew). In summary, although we detected differential activation for words relative to pictures, these effects: (i) do not withstand statistical rigour; (ii) do not replicate within or between subjects; and (iii) are observed in voxels that also respond to pictures of objects. Our findings have implications for the role of left OT activation during reading. More generally, they show that studies using low statistical thresholds in single subject analyses should correct the statistical threshold for the number of comparisons made or replicate effects within subject. (c) 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  1. Unusual postero-inferior condylar movements that depend on the position of occlusal contact during fictive mastication in rabbits.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Morita, Takumi; Hiraba, Katsunari; Matsunaga, Tomoko; Ito, Yu; Maruo, Hisanobu; Kurita, Kenichi

    2015-03-01

    The mandible can be modelled as a triangular plate supported at two joints and the point of occlusion. The mandible is stable if the vector of the jaw-closing muscle forces lies within the triangle of support. If this vector lies outside of the triangle of support, one of the three contact points will tend to separate as the mandible rotates around a line connecting the other two points. Here, we examined whether postero-inferior condylar movements (Pi-Cm) due to mandibular rotation may occur during fictive mastication in anaesthetized rabbits. EMG activities of the masseter (MS) and lateral pterygoid (LP) muscles and movements of the condyle and incisal points were recorded. Condylar movements in the sagittal plane were recorded using a high speed CCD camera. Pi-Cm were observed on the working side during occlusal phase in half of the rabbits (altered-movement group), if the biting point was restricted at the posterior most tooth (M3) on the working side using a metal biting plate. Pi-Cm appeared in the period between the estimated maximum force of the MS and the LP during late occlusal phase. The MS EMG ratio between the working and balancing sides in the altered-movement group was significantly less than that in the unaltered-movement group. Since the space lying between the condyle and the articular eminence expanded during the Pi-Cm, it is likely that the posterior band of the articular disc tended to slip anteriorly. The clinical significance of the Pi-Cm is discussed concerning the anterior dislocation of the disc in patients with TMJ disorder. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Verbal memory after temporal lobe epilepsy surgery in children: Do only mesial structures matter?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Law, Nicole; Benifla, Mony; Rutka, James; Smith, Mary Lou

    2017-02-01

    Previous findings have been mixed regarding verbal memory outcome after left temporal lobectomy in children, and there are few studies comparing verbal memory change after lateral versus mesial temporal lobe resections. We compared verbal memory outcome associated with sparing or including the mesial structures in children who underwent left or right temporal lobe resection. We also investigated predictors of postsurgical verbal memory change. We retrospectively assessed verbal memory change approximately 1 year after unilateral temporal lobe epilepsy surgery using a list learning task. Participants included 23 children who underwent temporal lobe surgery with sparing of the mesial structures (13 left), and 40 children who had a temporal lobectomy that included resection of mesial structures (22 left). Children who underwent resection from the left lateral and mesial temporal lobe were the only group to show decline in verbal memory. Furthermore, when we considered language representation in the left temporal resection group, patients with left language representation and spared mesial structures showed essentially no change in verbal memory from preoperative to follow-up, whereas those with left language representation and excised mesial structures showed a decline. Postoperative seizure status had no effect on verbal memory change in children after left temporal lobe surgery. Finally, we found that patients with intact preoperative verbal memory experienced a significant decline compared to those with below average preoperative verbal memory. Our findings provide evidence of significant risk factors for verbal memory decline in children, specific to left mesial temporal lobe epilepsy. Children who undergo left temporal lobe surgery that includes mesial structures may be most vulnerable for verbal memory decline, especially when language representation is localized to the left hemisphere and when preoperative verbal memory is intact. Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  3. Examining Brain-Cognition Effects of Ginkgo Biloba Extract: Brain Activation in the Left Temporal and Left Prefrontal Cortex in an Object Working Memory Task

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    R. B. Silberstein

    2011-01-01

    Full Text Available Ginkgo Biloba extract (GBE is increasingly used to alleviate symptoms of age related cognitive impairment, with preclinical evidence pointing to a pro-cholinergic effect. While a number of behavioral studies have reported improvements to working memory (WM associated with GBE, electrophysiological studies of GBE have typically been limited to recordings during a resting state. The current study investigated the chronic effects of GBE on steady state visually evoked potential (SSVEP topography in nineteen healthy middle-aged (50-61 year old male participants whilst completing an object WM task. A randomized double-blind crossover design was employed in which participants were allocated to receive 14 days GBE and 14 days placebo in random order. For both groups, SSVEP was recorded from 64 scalp electrode sites during the completion of an object WM task both pre- and 14 days post-treatment. GBE was found to improve behavioural performance on the WM task. GBE was also found to increase the SSVEP amplitude at occipital and frontal sites and increase SSVEP latency at left temporal and left frontal sites during the hold component of the WM task. These SSVEP changes associated with GBE may represent more efficient processing during WM task completion.

  4. Functional substrate for memory function differences between patients with left and right mesial temporal lobe epilepsy associated with hippocampal sclerosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jin, Seung-Hyun; Chung, Chun Kee

    2015-10-01

    Little is known about the functional substrate for memory function differences in patients with left or right mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (mTLE) associated with hippocampal sclerosis (HS) from an electrophysiological perspective. To characterize these differences, we hypothesized that hippocampal theta connectivity in the resting-state might be different between patients with left and right mTLE with HS and be correlated with memory performance. Resting-state hippocampal theta connectivity, identified via whole-brain magnetoencephalography, was evaluated. Connectivity and memory function in 41 patients with mTLE with HS (left mTLE=22; right mTLE=19) were compared with those in 46 age-matched healthy controls and 28 patients with focal cortical dysplasia (FCD) but without HS. Connectivity between the right hippocampus and the left middle frontal gyrus was significantly stronger in patients with right mTLE than in patients with left mTLE. Moreover, this connectivity was positively correlated with delayed verbal recall and recognition scores in patients with mTLE. Patients with left mTLE had greater delayed recall impairment than patients with right mTLE and FCD. Similarly, delayed recognition performance was worse in patients with left mTLE than in patients with right mTLE and FCD. No significant differences in memory function between patients with right mTLE and FCD were detected. Patients with right mTLE showed significantly stronger hippocampal theta connectivity between the right hippocampus and left middle frontal gyrus than patients with FCD and left mTLE. Our results suggest that right hippocampal-left middle frontal theta connectivity could be a functional substrate that can account for differences in memory function between patients with left and right mTLE. This functional substrate might be related to different compensatory mechanisms against the structural hippocampal lesions in left and right mTLE groups. Given the positive correlation between

  5. Triple pathological findings in a surgically amenable patient with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fumin Tong

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS is a well-recognized cause of intractable epilepsy; however, coexistence with focal cortical dysplasia (FCD is less common. Middle fossa epidermoid cysts are rare and may involve the temporal lobe. Most epidermoids are clinically silent, slow-growing, and seldom associated with overt symptomatology, including seizures. We describe a patient with multiple comorbidities including left MTS and a large epidermoid cyst involving the left quadrigeminal plate cistern compressing upon the cerebellar vermis and tail of the left hippocampus, resulting in refractory left temporal lobe epilepsy. The patient underwent left anterior temporal lobectomy. The surgical pathology demonstrated a third pathological finding of left temporal FCD type Ia. The patient has been seizure-free since the surgery. This case provides additional information with regard to the understanding of epileptogenicity and surgical planning in patients with MTS and epidermoid cysts.

  6. Insights into Intrinsic Brain Networks based on Graph Theory and PET in right- compared to left-sided Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

    OpenAIRE

    Thomas Vanicek; Andreas Hahn; Tatjana Traub-Weidinger; Eva Hilger; Marie Spies; Wolfgang Wadsak; Rupert Lanzenberger; Ekaterina Pataraia; Susanne Asenbaum-Nan

    2016-01-01

    The human brain exhibits marked hemispheric differences, though it is not fully understood to what extent lateralization of the epileptic focus is relevant. Preoperative [18F]FDG-PET depicts lateralization of seizure focus in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy and reveals dysfunctional metabolic brain connectivity. The aim of the present study was to compare metabolic connectivity, inferred from inter-regional [18F]FDG PET uptake correlations, in right-sided (RTLE; n?=?30) and left-sided TL...

  7. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation over Left Inferior Frontal and Posterior Temporal Cortex Disrupts Gesture-Speech Integration.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhao, Wanying; Riggs, Kevin; Schindler, Igor; Holle, Henning

    2018-02-21

    Language and action naturally occur together in the form of cospeech gestures, and there is now convincing evidence that listeners display a strong tendency to integrate semantic information from both domains during comprehension. A contentious question, however, has been which brain areas are causally involved in this integration process. In previous neuroimaging studies, left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and posterior middle temporal gyrus (pMTG) have emerged as candidate areas; however, it is currently not clear whether these areas are causally or merely epiphenomenally involved in gesture-speech integration. In the present series of experiments, we directly tested for a potential critical role of IFG and pMTG by observing the effect of disrupting activity in these areas using transcranial magnetic stimulation in a mixed gender sample of healthy human volunteers. The outcome measure was performance on a Stroop-like gesture task (Kelly et al., 2010a), which provides a behavioral index of gesture-speech integration. Our results provide clear evidence that disrupting activity in IFG and pMTG selectively impairs gesture-speech integration, suggesting that both areas are causally involved in the process. These findings are consistent with the idea that these areas play a joint role in gesture-speech integration, with IFG regulating strategic semantic access via top-down signals acting upon temporal storage areas. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Previous neuroimaging studies suggest an involvement of inferior frontal gyrus and posterior middle temporal gyrus in gesture-speech integration, but findings have been mixed and due to methodological constraints did not allow inferences of causality. By adopting a virtual lesion approach involving transcranial magnetic stimulation, the present study provides clear evidence that both areas are causally involved in combining semantic information arising from gesture and speech. These findings support the view that, rather than being

  8. A Rare Case of Craniopharyngioma in the Temporal Lobe

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sasan Razmjoo

    2017-01-01

    Full Text Available Herein, we report on a rare case of craniopharyngioma arising in the left temporal lobe with no prior history of head trauma or surgery. There was a solid-cystic mass in the left temporal lobe on MR images. To the best of our knowledge, this is the second case of a craniopharyngioma occurring in the temporal lobe.

  9. Decreased left middle temporal gyrus volume in antipsychotic drug-naive, first-episode schizophrenia patients and their healthy unaffected siblings.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hu, Maorong; Li, Jun; Eyler, Lisa; Guo, Xiaofeng; Wei, Qingling; Tang, Jingsong; Liu, Feng; He, Zhong; Li, Lihua; Jin, Hua; Liu, Zhening; Wang, Juan; Liu, Fang; Chen, Huafu; Zhao, Jingping

    2013-03-01

    The shared neuropathological characteristics of patients with schizophrenia and their siblings might represent intermediate phenotypes that could be used to investigate genetic susceptibility to the illness. We sought to discover gray matter volume differences in patients with schizophrenia and their unaffected siblings with voxel-based morphometry (VBM). We recruited antipsychotic drug-naive, first-episode schizophrenia (FES) patients, their unaffected siblings and age-, sex- and handedness-matched healthy controls. We used VBM to investigate differences in gray matter volume among the 3 groups. There were significant gray matter volumetric differences among the 3 groups in bilateral hippocampal and parahippocampal gyri, bilateral middle temporal gyri, and superior temporal gyri (FDR ptemporal gyrus, and volume of this region was not different between siblings and patients. Our findings confirm and extend previous VBM analyses in schizophrenia and it indicate that schizophrenia may be characterized by an abnormal development of cerebral lateralization. Furthermore, these data argue that patients and their unaffected siblings might share decreases in the gray matter volume of the left middle temporal gyrus, and this regional reduction might be a potential endophenotype for schizophrenia. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  10. Familial temporal lobe epilepsy due to focal cortical dysplasia type IIIa.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fabera, Petr; Krijtova, Hana; Tomasek, Martin; Krysl, David; Zamecnik, Josef; Mohapl, Milan; Jiruska, Premysl; Marusic, Petr

    2015-09-01

    Focal cortical dysplasia (FCD) represents a common cause of refractory epilepsy. It is considered a sporadic disorder, but its occasional familial occurrence suggests the involvement of genetic mechanisms. Siblings with intractable epilepsy were referred for epilepsy surgery evaluation. Both patients were examined using video-EEG monitoring, MRI examination and PET imaging. They underwent left anteromedial temporal lobe resection. Electroclinical features pointed to left temporal lobe epilepsy and MRI examination revealed typical signs of left-sided hippocampal sclerosis and increased white matter signal intensity in the left temporal pole. PET examination confirmed interictal hypometabolism in the left temporal lobe. Histopathological examination of resected tissue demonstrated the presence FCD type IIIa, i.e. hippocampal sclerosis and focal cortical dysplasia in the left temporal pole. We present a unique case of refractory mesial temporal lobe epilepsy in siblings, characterized by an identical clinical profile and histopathology of FCD type IIIa, who were successfully treated by epilepsy surgery. The presence of such a high concordance between the clinical and morphological data, together with the occurrence of epilepsy and febrile seizures in three generations of the family pedigree points towards a possible genetic nature of the observed FCD type IIIa. Copyright © 2015 British Epilepsy Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  11. A functional magnetic resonance imaging study mapping the episodic memory encoding network in temporal lobe epilepsy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sidhu, Meneka K.; Stretton, Jason; Winston, Gavin P.; Bonelli, Silvia; Centeno, Maria; Vollmar, Christian; Symms, Mark; Thompson, Pamela J.; Koepp, Matthias J.

    2013-01-01

    Functional magnetic resonance imaging has demonstrated reorganization of memory encoding networks within the temporal lobe in temporal lobe epilepsy, but little is known of the extra-temporal networks in these patients. We investigated the temporal and extra-temporal reorganization of memory encoding networks in refractory temporal lobe epilepsy and the neural correlates of successful subsequent memory formation. We studied 44 patients with unilateral temporal lobe epilepsy and hippocampal sclerosis (24 left) and 26 healthy control subjects. All participants performed a functional magnetic resonance imaging memory encoding paradigm of faces and words with subsequent out-of-scanner recognition assessments. A blocked analysis was used to investigate activations during encoding and neural correlates of subsequent memory were investigated using an event-related analysis. Event-related activations were then correlated with out-of-scanner verbal and visual memory scores. During word encoding, control subjects activated the left prefrontal cortex and left hippocampus whereas patients with left hippocampal sclerosis showed significant additional right temporal and extra-temporal activations. Control subjects displayed subsequent verbal memory effects within left parahippocampal gyrus, left orbitofrontal cortex and fusiform gyrus whereas patients with left hippocampal sclerosis activated only right posterior hippocampus, parahippocampus and fusiform gyrus. Correlational analysis showed that patients with left hippocampal sclerosis with better verbal memory additionally activated left orbitofrontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex and left posterior hippocampus. During face encoding, control subjects showed right lateralized prefrontal cortex and bilateral hippocampal activations. Patients with right hippocampal sclerosis showed increased temporal activations within the superior temporal gyri bilaterally and no increased extra-temporal areas of activation compared with

  12. Effects of Time-Compressed Speech Training on Multiple Functional and Structural Neural Mechanisms Involving the Left Superior Temporal Gyrus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maruyama, Tsukasa; Takeuchi, Hikaru; Taki, Yasuyuki; Motoki, Kosuke; Jeong, Hyeonjeong; Kotozaki, Yuka; Nakagawa, Seishu; Nouchi, Rui; Iizuka, Kunio; Yokoyama, Ryoichi; Yamamoto, Yuki; Hanawa, Sugiko; Araki, Tsuyoshi; Sakaki, Kohei; Sasaki, Yukako; Magistro, Daniele; Kawashima, Ryuta

    2018-01-01

    Time-compressed speech is an artificial form of rapidly presented speech. Training with time-compressed speech (TCSSL) in a second language leads to adaptation toward TCSSL. Here, we newly investigated the effects of 4 weeks of training with TCSSL on diverse cognitive functions and neural systems using the fractional amplitude of spontaneous low-frequency fluctuations (fALFF), resting-state functional connectivity (RSFC) with the left superior temporal gyrus (STG), fractional anisotropy (FA), and regional gray matter volume (rGMV) of young adults by magnetic resonance imaging. There were no significant differences in change of performance of measures of cognitive functions or second language skills after training with TCSSL compared with that of the active control group. However, compared with the active control group, training with TCSSL was associated with increased fALFF, RSFC, and FA and decreased rGMV involving areas in the left STG. These results lacked evidence of a far transfer effect of time-compressed speech training on a wide range of cognitive functions and second language skills in young adults. However, these results demonstrated effects of time-compressed speech training on gray and white matter structures as well as on resting-state intrinsic activity and connectivity involving the left STG, which plays a key role in listening comprehension.

  13. Compressed sensing cine imaging with high spatial or high temporal resolution for analysis of left ventricular function.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goebel, Juliane; Nensa, Felix; Schemuth, Haemi P; Maderwald, Stefan; Gratz, Marcel; Quick, Harald H; Schlosser, Thomas; Nassenstein, Kai

    2016-08-01

    To assess two compressed sensing cine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sequences with high spatial or high temporal resolution in comparison to a reference steady-state free precession cine (SSFP) sequence for reliable quantification of left ventricular (LV) volumes. LV short axis stacks of two compressed sensing breath-hold cine sequences with high spatial resolution (SPARSE-SENSE HS: temporal resolution: 40 msec, in-plane resolution: 1.0 × 1.0 mm(2) ) and high temporal resolution (SPARSE-SENSE HT: temporal resolution: 11 msec, in-plane resolution: 1.7 × 1.7 mm(2) ) and of a reference cine SSFP sequence (standard SSFP: temporal resolution: 40 msec, in-plane resolution: 1.7 × 1.7 mm(2) ) were acquired in 16 healthy volunteers on a 1.5T MR system. LV parameters were analyzed semiautomatically twice by one reader and once by a second reader. The volumetric agreement between sequences was analyzed using paired t-test, Bland-Altman plots, and Passing-Bablock regression. Small differences were observed between standard SSFP and SPARSE-SENSE HS for stroke volume (SV; -7 ± 11 ml; P = 0.024), ejection fraction (EF; -2 ± 3%; P = 0.019), and myocardial mass (9 ± 9 g; P = 0.001), but not for end-diastolic volume (EDV; P = 0.079) and end-systolic volume (ESV; P = 0.266). No significant differences were observed between standard SSFP and SPARSE-SENSE HT regarding EDV (P = 0.956), SV (P = 0.088), and EF (P = 0.103), but for ESV (3 ± 5 ml; P = 0.039) and myocardial mass (8 ± 10 ml; P = 0.007). Bland-Altman analysis showed good agreement between the sequences (maximum bias ≤ -8%). Two compressed sensing cine sequences, one with high spatial resolution and one with high temporal resolution, showed good agreement with standard SSFP for LV volume assessment. J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2016;44:366-374. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  14. Late onset temporal lobe epilepsy with MRI evidence of mesial temporal sclerosis following acute neurocysticercosis. Case report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kobayashi, Eliane; Guerreiro, Carlos A.M.; Cendes, Fernando

    2001-01-01

    The objective of this case report is to describe magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) evidence of mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS) in a patient with new onset temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and acute neurocysticercosis with multiple cysts. A 56 years old man with new onset headache, Simple Partial Seizures and Complex Partial Seizures underwent CT scan and lumbar puncture as diagnose proceeding. Multiple cysts and meningitis were identified, with a positive immunology for cysticercosis. Seizures were recorded over the left temporal region in a routine EEG. Treatment with al bendazole was performed for 21 days, with clinical improvement and seizure remission after 4 months. An MRI scan 11 months after treatment, showed complete resolution of those cystic lesions and a left hippocampal atrophy (HA) with hyperintense T2 signal. The presence of HA and hyperintense T 2 signal in this patient has not, to date, been associated with a poor seizure control. Conclusions: This patient presented with MRI evidence of left MTS after new onset partial seizures of left temporal lobe origin. Although we did not have a previous MRI scan, it is likely that this hippocampal abnormality was due to the acute inflammatory response to cysticercosis associated to repeated partial seizures. This suggests that acute neurocysticercosis associated with repeated seizures may cause MTS and late onset TLE. (author)

  15. Late onset temporal lobe epilepsy with MRI evidence of mesial temporal sclerosis following acute neurocysticercosis. Case report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kobayashi, Eliane; Guerreiro, Carlos A.M.; Cendes, Fernando [Universidade Estadual de Campinas, SP (Brazil). Faculdade de Ciencias Medicas. Dept. de Neurologia]. E-mail: fcendes@unicamp.br

    2001-06-01

    The objective of this case report is to describe magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) evidence of mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS) in a patient with new onset temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and acute neurocysticercosis with multiple cysts. A 56 years old man with new onset headache, Simple Partial Seizures and Complex Partial Seizures underwent CT scan and lumbar puncture as diagnose proceeding. Multiple cysts and meningitis were identified, with a positive immunology for cysticercosis. Seizures were recorded over the left temporal region in a routine EEG. Treatment with al bendazole was performed for 21 days, with clinical improvement and seizure remission after 4 months. An MRI scan 11 months after treatment, showed complete resolution of those cystic lesions and a left hippocampal atrophy (HA) with hyperintense T2 signal. The presence of HA and hyperintense T 2 signal in this patient has not, to date, been associated with a poor seizure control. Conclusions: This patient presented with MRI evidence of left MTS after new onset partial seizures of left temporal lobe origin. Although we did not have a previous MRI scan, it is likely that this hippocampal abnormality was due to the acute inflammatory response to cysticercosis associated to repeated partial seizures. This suggests that acute neurocysticercosis associated with repeated seizures may cause MTS and late onset TLE. (author)

  16. Chondroblastoma of temporal bone

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tanohta, K.; Noda, M.; Katoh, H.; Okazaki, A.; Sugiyama, S.; Maehara, T.; Onishi, S.; Tanida, T.

    1986-07-01

    The case of a 55-year-old female with chondroblastoma arising from the left temporal bone is presented. Although 10 cases of temporal chondroblastoma have been reported, this is the first in which plain radiography, pluridirectional tomography, computed tomography (CT) and angiography were performed. We discuss the clinical and radiological aspects of this rare tumor.

  17. Chondroblastoma of temporal bone

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Tanohta, K.; Noda, M.; Katoh, H.; Okazaki, A.; Sugiyama, S.; Maehara, T.; Onishi, S.; Tanida, T.

    1986-01-01

    The case of a 55-year-old female with chondroblastoma arising from the left temporal bone is presented. Although 10 cases of temporal chondroblastoma have been reported, this is the first in which plain radiography, pluridirectional tomography, computed tomography (CT) and angiography were performed. We discuss the clinical and radiological aspects of this rare tumor. (orig.)

  18. Temporal processing asymmetries between the cerebral hemispheres: evidence and implications.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nicholls, M E

    1996-07-01

    This paper reviews a large body of research which has investigated the capacities of the cerebral hemispheres to process temporal information. This research includes clinical, non-clinical, and electrophysiological experimentation. On the whole, the research supports the notion of a left hemisphere advantage for temporal resolution. The existence of such an asymmetry demonstrates that cerebral lateralisation is not limited to the higher-order functions such as language. The capacity for the resolution of fine temporal events appears to play an important role in other left hemisphere functions which require a rapid sequential processor. The functions that are facilitated by such a processor include verbal, textual, and fine movement skills. The co-development of these functions with an efficient temporal processor can be accounted for with reference to a number of evolutionary scenarios. Physiological evidence favours a temporal processing mechanism located within the left temporal cortex. The function of this mechanism may be described in terms of intermittency or travelling moment models of temporal processing. The travelling moment model provides the most plausible account of the asymmetry.

  19. Cognitive Functioning in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy: A BOLD-fMRI Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Guo, Lili; Bai, Genji; Zhang, Hui; Lu, Daoyan; Zheng, Jiyong; Xu, Gang

    2017-12-01

    We aimed to analyze the association between resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (re-fMRI) and cognitive function (including language, executive, and memory functions) in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) patients, which will help to explore the mechanism of brain function in patients. 15 TLE patients and 15 non-TLE patients were recruited. All subjects underwent neuropsychological testing and memory functional evaluation. Changes in verbal intelligence quotient (VIQ), performance intelligence quotient (PIQ), full intelligence quotient (FIQ), and memory quotient (MQ) were compared between two groups. Re-fMRI data were also collected from two groups to evaluate these changes. Each individual score of neuropsychological testing and memory functional evaluation were higher in control group, which was statistically different (all P temporal gyrus back, right superior temporal gyrus, left cerebellum, left angular gyrus, left wedge anterior lobe, and left central back; while the negatively activated brain regions were left prefrontal, right cerebellum, right corner back, and right anterior cingulate gyrus. During the language task, the activated brain regions of the TLE patients were right prefrontal lobe, the lateral temporal gyri, the left cerebellum, left cornu laterale gyrus, left precuneus, and the left postcentral gyrus, whereas the negatively activated brain areas were the left prefrontal cortex, the right cerebellum, right cornu laterale gyrus, and the right anterior cingulate gyrus. During the executive task, epilepsy patients showed activation difference in right prefrontal and right frontal lobe and right brain, left superior temporal gyrus, and right cerebellum anterior lobe compared with the control group; no negatively activated differences in brain areas. During the memory task, the difference lay in bilateral anterior cingulate gyrus and bilateral wedge anterior lobe while the negatively activated brain areas were the left inferior frontal

  20. Interhemispheric coupling between the posterior sylvian regions impacts successful auditory temporal order judgment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bernasconi, Fosco; Grivel, Jeremy; Murray, Micah M; Spierer, Lucas

    2010-07-01

    Accurate perception of the temporal order of sensory events is a prerequisite in numerous functions ranging from language comprehension to motor coordination. We investigated the spatio-temporal brain dynamics of auditory temporal order judgment (aTOJ) using electrical neuroimaging analyses of auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) recorded while participants completed a near-threshold task requiring spatial discrimination of left-right and right-left sound sequences. AEPs to sound pairs modulated topographically as a function of aTOJ accuracy over the 39-77ms post-stimulus period, indicating the engagement of distinct configurations of brain networks during early auditory processing stages. Source estimations revealed that accurate and inaccurate performance were linked to bilateral posterior sylvian regions activity (PSR). However, activity within left, but not right, PSR predicted behavioral performance suggesting that left PSR activity during early encoding phases of pairs of auditory spatial stimuli appears critical for the perception of their order of occurrence. Correlation analyses of source estimations further revealed that activity between left and right PSR was significantly correlated in the inaccurate but not accurate condition, indicating that aTOJ accuracy depends on the functional decoupling between homotopic PSR areas. These results support a model of temporal order processing wherein behaviorally relevant temporal information--i.e. a temporal 'stamp'--is extracted within the early stages of cortical processes within left PSR but critically modulated by inputs from right PSR. We discuss our results with regard to current models of temporal of temporal order processing, namely gating and latency mechanisms. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Activation and Functional Connectivity of the Left Inferior Temporal Gyrus during Visual Speech Priming in Healthy Listeners and Listeners with Schizophrenia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wu, Chao; Zheng, Yingjun; Li, Juanhua; Zhang, Bei; Li, Ruikeng; Wu, Haibo; She, Shenglin; Liu, Sha; Peng, Hongjun; Ning, Yuping; Li, Liang

    2017-01-01

    Under a "cocktail-party" listening condition with multiple-people talking, compared to healthy people, people with schizophrenia benefit less from the use of visual-speech (lipreading) priming (VSP) cues to improve speech recognition. The neural mechanisms underlying the unmasking effect of VSP remain unknown. This study investigated the brain substrates underlying the unmasking effect of VSP in healthy listeners and the schizophrenia-induced changes in the brain substrates. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, brain activation and functional connectivity for the contrasts of the VSP listening condition vs. the visual non-speech priming (VNSP) condition were examined in 16 healthy listeners (27.4 ± 8.6 years old, 9 females and 7 males) and 22 listeners with schizophrenia (29.0 ± 8.1 years old, 8 females and 14 males). The results showed that in healthy listeners, but not listeners with schizophrenia, the VSP-induced activation (against the VNSP condition) of the left posterior inferior temporal gyrus (pITG) was significantly correlated with the VSP-induced improvement in target-speech recognition against speech masking. Compared to healthy listeners, listeners with schizophrenia showed significantly lower VSP-induced activation of the left pITG and reduced functional connectivity of the left pITG with the bilateral Rolandic operculum, bilateral STG, and left insular. Thus, the left pITG and its functional connectivity may be the brain substrates related to the unmasking effect of VSP, assumedly through enhancing both the processing of target visual-speech signals and the inhibition of masking-speech signals. In people with schizophrenia, the reduced unmasking effect of VSP on speech recognition may be associated with a schizophrenia-related reduction of VSP-induced activation and functional connectivity of the left pITG.

  2. Insights into Intrinsic Brain Networks based on Graph Theory and PET in right- compared to left-sided Temporal Lobe Epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Vanicek, Thomas; Hahn, Andreas; Traub-Weidinger, Tatjana; Hilger, Eva; Spies, Marie; Wadsak, Wolfgang; Lanzenberger, Rupert; Pataraia, Ekaterina; Asenbaum-Nan, Susanne

    2016-06-28

    The human brain exhibits marked hemispheric differences, though it is not fully understood to what extent lateralization of the epileptic focus is relevant. Preoperative [(18)F]FDG-PET depicts lateralization of seizure focus in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy and reveals dysfunctional metabolic brain connectivity. The aim of the present study was to compare metabolic connectivity, inferred from inter-regional [(18)F]FDG PET uptake correlations, in right-sided (RTLE; n = 30) and left-sided TLE (LTLE; n = 32) with healthy controls (HC; n = 31) using graph theory based network analysis. Comparing LTLE and RTLE and patient groups separately to HC, we observed higher lobar connectivity weights in RTLE compared to LTLE for connections of the temporal and the parietal lobe of the contralateral hemisphere (CH). Moreover, especially in RTLE compared to LTLE higher local efficiency were found in the temporal cortices and other brain regions of the CH. The results of this investigation implicate altered metabolic networks in patients with TLE specific to the lateralization of seizure focus, and describe compensatory mechanisms especially in the CH of patients with RTLE. We propose that graph theoretical analysis of metabolic connectivity using [(18)F]FDG-PET offers an important additional modality to explore brain networks.

  3. Evaluation of left ventricular function by cardiac CT

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Naito, Hiroaki; Kozuka, Takahiro

    1982-01-01

    Left ventricular function was evaluated by CT, which was compared with the data of left ventriculography for various cardiac diseases. The end diastolic volume of the left ventricle can be readily computed from CT, with a satisfactory correlation with that of left ventriculography (r = 0.95). The left ventricular ejection fraction, calculated from the areal ratio of the left ventricular lumen in end-diastolic imaging to that in end-sytolic imaging, also roughly reflects left ventricular contractile function, but shows correlation with left ventriculography by only r = 0.79. Although the cardiac output is not sensitive for functional evaluation, it can be directly calculated by means of dynamic scanning and shows a satisfactory correlation with the ear piece pigment dilution (r = 0.85). Evaluation of left ventricular function by CT shows a high precision in comparison with left ventriculography, but still lacks temporal resolving power. (Chiba, N.)

  4. Time left in the mouse.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cordes, Sara; King, Adam Philip; Gallistel, C R

    2007-02-22

    Evidence suggests that the online combination of non-verbal magnitudes (durations, numerosities) is central to learning in both human and non-human animals [Gallistel, C.R., 1990. The Organization of Learning. MIT Press, Cambridge, MA]. The molecular basis of these computations, however, is an open question at this point. The current study provides the first direct test of temporal subtraction in a species in which the genetic code is available. In two experiments, mice were run in an adaptation of Gibbon and Church's [Gibbon, J., Church, R.M., 1981. Time left: linear versus logarithmic subjective time. J. Exp. Anal. Behav. 7, 87-107] time left paradigm in order to characterize typical responding in this task. Both experiments suggest that mice engaged in online subtraction of temporal values, although the generalization of a learned response rule to novel stimulus values resulted in slightly less systematic responding. Potential explanations for this pattern of results are discussed.

  5. Functional and anatomical connectivity abnormalities in left inferior frontal gyrus in schizophrenia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jeong, Bumseok; Wible, Cynthia G; Hashimoto, Ryu-ichiro; Kubicki, Marek

    2009-12-01

    Functional studies in schizophrenia demonstrate prominent abnormalities within the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and also suggest the functional connectivity abnormalities in language network including left IFG and superior temporal gyrus during semantic processing. White matter connections between regions involved in the semantic network have also been indicated in schizophrenia. However, an association between functional and anatomical connectivity disruptions within the semantic network in schizophrenia has not been established. Functional (using levels of processing paradigm) as well as diffusion tensor imaging data from 10 controls and 10 chronic schizophrenics were acquired and analyzed. First, semantic encoding specific activation was estimated, showing decreased activation within the left IFG in schizophrenia. Second, functional time series were extracted from this area, and left IFG specific functional connectivity maps were produced for each subject. In an independent analysis, tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) was used to compare fractional anisotropy (FA) values between groups, and to correlate these values with functional connectivity maps. Schizophrenia patients showed weaker functional connectivity within the language network that includes left IFG and left superior temporal sulcus/middle temporal gyrus. FA was reduced in several white matter regions including left inferior frontal and left internal capsule. Finally, left inferior frontal white matter FA was positively correlated with connectivity measures of the semantic network in schizophrenics, but not in controls. Our results indicate an association between anatomical and functional connectivity abnormalities within the semantic network in schizophrenia, suggesting further that the functional abnormalities observed in this disorder might be directly related to white matter disruptions. 2009 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  6. Top-down regulation of left temporal cortex by hypnotic amusia for rhythm: a pilot study on mismatch negativity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Facco, Enrico; Ermani, Mario; Rampazzo, Patrizia; Tikhonoff, Valérie; Saladini, Marina; Zanette, Gastone; Casiglia, Edoardo; Spiegel, David

    2014-01-01

    To evaluate the effect of hypnotically induced amusia for rhythm (a condition in which individuals are unable to recognize melodies or rhythms) on mismatch negativity (MMN), 5 highly (HH) and 5 poorly (LH) hypnotizable nonmusician volunteers underwent MMN recording before and during a hypnotic suggestion for amusia. MMN amplitude was recorded using a 19-channel montage and then processed using the low-resolution electromagnetic tomography (LORETA) to localize its sources. MMN amplitude was significantly decreased during hypnotic amusia (p < .04) only in HH, where the LORETA maps of MMN showed a decreased source amplitude in the left temporal lobe, suggesting a hypnotic top-down regulation of activity of these areas and that these changes can be assessed by neurophysiological investigations.

  7. Temporal Changes in Left Ventricular Mechanics: Impact of Bed Rest and Exercise

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scott, Jessica M.; Matz, Timothy; Caine, Timothy; Martin, David S.; Downs, Meghan; Ploutz-Snyder, Lori

    2014-01-01

    BACKGROUND Current techniques used to assess cardiac function following spaceflight or head-down tilt bed rest (HDTBR) involve invasive and time consuming procedures such as Swan-Ganz catheterization or cardiac magnetic resonance imaging. An alternative approach, echocardiography, can monitor cardiac morphology and function via sequential measurements of left ventricular (LV) mass and ejection fraction (EF). However, LV mass and EF are insensitive measures of early (subclinical) cardiac deconditioning, and a decrease in LV mass and EF become evident only once significant deconditioning has already occurred. The use of more sensitive and specific echocardiographic techniques such as speckle tracking imaging may address the current limitations of conventional cardiac imaging techniques to provide insight into the magnitude and time course of cardiac deconditioning. METHODS Speckle tracking assessment of longitudinal, radial, and circumferential strain and twist was used to evaluate the impact of 70 days of HDTBR (n=7) and HDTBR + exercise (n=11) on temporal changes in LV mechanics. Echocardiograms were performed pre (BR-2), during (BR31, 70), and following (BR+4hr) HDTBR. Multi-level modeling was used to evaluate the effect of HDTBR condition (Control, Exercise) on cardiac variables. RESULTS Compared to BR-2, longitudinal (BR-2: - 19.0 +/- 1.8%; BR31: -15.9 +/- 2.4%; BR70: -14.9 +/- 2.4%; BR+4hr: -16.0 +/- 2.1%) and radial (BR-2: 15.0 +/- 1.9%; BR31: 12.3 +/- 2.4%; BR70: 11.3 +/- 2.2%; BR+4hr: 13.5 +/- 2.5% ) strains were significantly impaired during and following bed rest (pmechanics for longitudinal strain (BR-2: -19.1 +/- 1.5%; BR 31: -19.0 +/- 2.4%; BR70: -19.1 +/- 2.7%; BR+4hr: -17.8 +/- 2.1%), radial strain (BR-2: 13.8 +/- 2.4; BR31: 14.7 +/- 2.4; BR70: 14.4 +/- 1.6; BR+4hr: 14.4 +/- 2.4), and twist (BR-2: 17.8 +/- 3.6deg; BR31: 18.0 +/- 3.6deg; BR70: 18.2 +/- 5.9deg; BR+4hr: 18.3 +/- 4.2deg). CONCLUSIONS Speckle-tracking echocardiography provides important

  8. Left insular cortex and left SFG underlie prismatic adaptation effects on time perception: evidence from fMRI.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Magnani, Barbara; Frassinetti, Francesca; Ditye, Thomas; Oliveri, Massimiliano; Costantini, Marcello; Walsh, Vincent

    2014-05-15

    Prismatic adaptation (PA) has been shown to affect left-to-right spatial representations of temporal durations. A leftward aftereffect usually distorts time representation toward an underestimation, while rightward aftereffect usually results in an overestimation of temporal durations. Here, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study the neural mechanisms that underlie PA effects on time perception. Additionally, we investigated whether the effect of PA on time is transient or stable and, in the case of stability, which cortical areas are responsible of its maintenance. Functional brain images were acquired while participants (n=17) performed a time reproduction task and a control-task before, immediately after and 30 min after PA inducing a leftward aftereffect, administered outside the scanner. The leftward aftereffect induced an underestimation of time intervals that lasted for at least 30 min. The left anterior insula and the left superior frontal gyrus showed increased functional activation immediately after versus before PA in the time versus the control-task, suggesting these brain areas to be involved in the executive spatial manipulation of the representation of time. The left middle frontal gyrus showed an increase of activation after 30 min with respect to before PA. This suggests that this brain region may play a key role in the maintenance of the PA effect over time. Copyright © 2014. Published by Elsevier Inc.

  9. Atypical temporal activation pattern and central-right brain compensation during semantic judgment task in children with early left brain damage.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chang, Yi-Tzu; Lin, Shih-Che; Meng, Ling-Fu; Fan, Yang-Teng

    In this study we investigated the event-related potentials (ERPs) during the semantic judgment task (deciding if the two Chinese characters were semantically related or unrelated) to identify the timing of neural activation in children with early left brain damage (ELBD). The results demonstrated that compared with the controls, children with ELBD had (1) competitive accuracy and reaction time in the semantic judgment task, (2) weak operation of the N400, (3) stronger, earlier and later compensational positivities (referred to the enhanced P200, P250, and P600 amplitudes) in the central and right region of the brain to successfully engage in semantic judgment. Our preliminary findings indicate that temporally postlesional reorganization is in accordance with the proposed right-hemispheric organization of speech after early left-sided brain lesion. During semantic processing, the orthography has a greater effect on the children with ELBD, and a later semantic reanalysis (P600) is required due to the less efficient N400 at the former stage for semantic integration. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. [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.

  11. Autobiographical memory in temporal lobe epilepsy: role of hippocampal and temporal lateral structures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Herfurth, Kirsten; Kasper, Burkhard; Schwarz, Michael; Stefan, Hermann; Pauli, Elisabeth

    2010-11-01

    The present study was aimed at investigating the impact of hippocampal and temporal cortical lesions on remote autobiographical memories in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Episodic specificity, episodic richness, and personal semantic memory from different life periods were assessed using a modified version of the Autobiographical Memory Interview (AMI) (M.D. Kopelman, A.E. Wilson, A. Baddeley, The autobiographical memory interview. Bury St. Edmunds: Thames Valley Test Co.; 1990) in 47 patients with unilateral mesial or lateral TLE and 38 healthy controls. Patients with TLE performed significantly more poorly than controls. Patients with left and right mTLE were equally moderately impaired, but patients with left lateral TLE had the most severe episodic memory deficits, particularly for childhood memories. With respect to personal semantic memory, patients with left TLE were significantly more impaired than those with right TLE, most pronounced for childhood memories. Both autobiographical memory aspects, episodic and personal semantic memory, were significantly intercorrelated, but both did not correlate with anterograde memory, indicating a structural dissociation between both functions. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. Pulmonary Hypertension with Left Heart Disease: Prevalence, Temporal Shifts in Etiologies and Outcome.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Weitsman, Tatyana; Weisz, Giora; Farkash, Rivka; Klutstein, Marc; Butnaru, Adi; Rosenmann, David; Hasin, Tal

    2017-11-01

    Pulmonary hypertension has many causes. While it is conventionally thought that the most prevalent is left heart disease, little information about its proportion, causes, and implications on outcome is available. Between 1993 and 2015, 12,115 of 66,949 (18%) first adult transthoracic echocardiograms were found to have tricuspid incompetence gradient ≥40 mm Hg, a pulmonary hypertension surrogate. Left heart disease was identified in 8306 (69%) and included valve malfunction in 4115 (49%), left ventricular systolic dysfunction in 2557 (31%), and diastolic dysfunction in 1776 (21%). Patients with left heart disease, as compared with those without left heart disease, were of similar age, fewer were females (50% vs 63% P pulmonary hypertension with left heart disease. Independent predictors of mortality were age (hazard ratio [HR] 1.05; 95% CI, 1.04-1.05; P pulmonary hypertension but without left heart disease (HR 1.30; 95% CI, 1.20-1.42 and HR 1.44; 95% CI, 1.33-1.55, respectively; P Pulmonary hypertension was found to be associated with left heart disease in 69% of patients. Among these patients, valve malfunction and diastolic dysfunction emerged as prominent causes. Left ventricular dysfunction carries additional risk to patients with pulmonary hypertension. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. Conscious and nonconscious memory effects are temporally dissociable.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Slotnick, Scott D; Schacter, Daniel L

    2010-03-01

    Intentional (explicit) retrieval can reactivate sensory cortex, which is widely assumed to reflect conscious processing. In the present study, we used an explicit visual memory event-related potential paradigm to investigate whether such retrieval related sensory activity could be separated into conscious and nonconscious components. During study, abstract shapes were presented in the left or right visual field. During test, old and new shapes were presented centrally and participants classified each shape as "old-left", "old-right", or "new". Conscious activity was isolated by comparing accurate memory for shape and location (old-hits) with forgotten shapes (old-misses), and nonconscious activity was isolated by comparing old-left-misses with old-right-misses and vice versa. Conscious visual sensory activity had a late temporal onset (after 800 ms) while nonconscious visual sensory activity had an early temporal onset (before 800 ms). These results suggest explicit memory related sensory activity reflects both conscious and nonconscious processes that are temporally dissociable.

  14. 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.

  15. Focal cortical dysplasia of the temporal lobe with late-onset partial epilepsy: serial quantitative MRI

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rademacher, J.; Seitz, R.J. [Department of Neurology, Heinrich-Heine University Duesseldorf (Germany); Aulich, A. [Department of Radiology, Heinrich-Heine University, Duesseldorf (Germany); Reifenberger, G. [Department of Neuropathology, Heinrich-Heine University, Duesseldorf (Germany); Kiwit, J.C.W. [Department of Neurosurgery, Heinrich-Heine University, Duesseldorf (Germany); Langen, K.J.; Schmidt, D. [Institute of Medicine, Research Center Juelich, Heinrich-Heine University, Duesseldorf (Germany)

    2000-06-01

    We describe serial studies of focal cortical dysplasia causing temporal lobe seizures and progressive aphasia in a 54-year-old woman. Initially, MRI volumetry of the temporal lobes showed significant left cortical thickening corresponding to an elevated aminoacid uptake in the left temporoparietal and inferior frontal cortex on SPECT using 3-[{sup 123}I]iodo-{alpha}-methyl-l-tyrosine (IMT). After 1 year there was severe shrinkage of the left temporal lobe, possibly the result of recurrent complex partial seizures. (orig.)

  16. Focal cortical dysplasia of the temporal lobe with late-onset partial epilepsy: serial quantitative MRI

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rademacher, J.; Seitz, R.J.; Aulich, A.; Reifenberger, G.; Kiwit, J.C.W.; Langen, K.J.; Schmidt, D.

    2000-01-01

    We describe serial studies of focal cortical dysplasia causing temporal lobe seizures and progressive aphasia in a 54-year-old woman. Initially, MRI volumetry of the temporal lobes showed significant left cortical thickening corresponding to an elevated aminoacid uptake in the left temporoparietal and inferior frontal cortex on SPECT using 3-[ 123 I]iodo-α-methyl-l-tyrosine (IMT). After 1 year there was severe shrinkage of the left temporal lobe, possibly the result of recurrent complex partial seizures. (orig.)

  17. Declarative long-term memory and the mesial temporal lobe: Insights from a 5-year postsurgery follow-up study on refractory temporal lobe epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salvato, Gerardo; Scarpa, Pina; Francione, Stefano; Mai, Roberto; Tassi, Laura; Scarano, Elisa; Lo Russo, Giorgio; Bottini, Gabriella

    2016-11-01

    It is largely recognized that the mesial temporal lobe and its substructure support declarative long-term memory (LTM). So far, different theories have been suggested, and the organization of declarative verbal LTM in the brain is still a matter of debate. In the current study, we retrospectively selected 151 right-handed patients with temporal lobe epilepsy with and without hippocampal sclerosis, with a homogeneous (seizure-free) clinical outcome. We analyzed verbal memory performance within a normalized scores context, by means of prose recall and word paired-associate learning tasks. Patients were tested at presurgical baseline, 6months, 2 and 5years after anteromesial temporal lobe surgery, using parallel versions of the neuropsychological tests. Our main finding revealed a key involvement of the left temporal lobe and, in particular, of the left hippocampus in prose recall rather than word paired-associate task. We also confirmed that shorter duration of epilepsy, younger age, and withdrawal of antiepileptic drugs would predict a better memory outcome. When individual memory performance was taken into account, data showed that females affected by left temporal lobe epilepsy for longer duration were more at risk of presenting a clinically pathologic LTM at 5years after surgery. Taken together, these findings shed new light on verbal declarative memory in the mesial temporal lobe and on the behavioral signature of the functional reorganization after the surgical treatment of temporal lobe epilepsy. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  18. 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

  19. Electrophysiological and auditory behavioral evaluation of individuals with left temporal lobe epilepsy Avaliação eletrofisiológica e comportamental da audição em individuos com epilepsia em lobo temporal esquerdo

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Caroline Nunes Rocha

    2010-02-01

    Full Text Available The purpose of this study was to determine the repercussions of left temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE for subjects with left mesial temporal sclerosis (LMTS in relation to the behavioral test-Dichotic Digits Test (DDT, event-related potential (P300, and to compare the two temporal lobes in terms of P300 latency and amplitude. We studied 12 subjects with LMTS and 12 control subjects without LMTS. Relationships between P300 latency and P300 amplitude at sites C3A1,C3A2,C4A1, and C4A2, together with DDT results, were studied in inter-and intra-group analyses. On the DDT, subjects with LMTS performed poorly in comparison to controls. This difference was statistically significant for both ears. The P300 was absent in 6 individuals with LMTS. Regarding P300 latency and amplitude, as a group, LMTS subjects presented trend toward greater P300 latency and lower P300 amplitude at all positions in relation to controls, difference being statistically significant for C3A1 and C4A2. However, it was not possible to determine laterality effect of P300 between affected and unaffected hemispheres.O objetivo deste estudo foi determinar a repercussão da epilepsia de lobo temporal esquerdo (LTE em indivíduos com esclerose mesial temporal esquerda (EMTE em relação à avaliação auditiva comportamental-Teste Dicótico de Dígitos (TDD, ao Potencial Evocado Auditivo de Longa Latência (P300 e comparar o P300 do lobo temporal esquerdo e direito. Estudamos 12 indivíduos com EMTE (grupo estudo e 12 indivíduos controle com desenvolvimento típico. Analisamos as relações entre a latência e amplitude do P300, obtidos nas posições C3A1,C3A2,C4A1 e C4A2 e os resultados obtidos no TDD. No TDD, o grupo estudo apresentou pior desempenho em relação ao grupo controle, sendo esta diferença estatisticamente significante em ambas as orelhas. Para o P300, observamos que em seis indivíduos com EMTE o potencial foi ausente. Para a latência e amplitude, verificamos que estes

  20. Top-down and bottom-up influences on the left ventral occipito-temporal cortex during visual word recognition: an analysis of effective connectivity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schurz, Matthias; Kronbichler, Martin; Crone, Julia; Richlan, Fabio; Klackl, Johannes; Wimmer, Heinz

    2014-04-01

    The functional role of the left ventral occipito-temporal cortex (vOT) in visual word processing has been studied extensively. A prominent observation is higher activation for unfamiliar but pronounceable letter strings compared to regular words in this region. Some functional accounts have interpreted this finding as driven by top-down influences (e.g., Dehaene and Cohen [2011]: Trends Cogn Sci 15:254-262; Price and Devlin [2011]: Trends Cogn Sci 15:246-253), while others have suggested a difference in bottom-up processing (e.g., Glezer et al. [2009]: Neuron 62:199-204; Kronbichler et al. [2007]: J Cogn Neurosci 19:1584-1594). We used dynamic causal modeling for fMRI data to test bottom-up and top-down influences on the left vOT during visual processing of regular words and unfamiliar letter strings. Regular words (e.g., taxi) and unfamiliar letter strings of pseudohomophones (e.g., taksi) were presented in the context of a phonological lexical decision task (i.e., "Does the item sound like a word?"). We found no differences in top-down signaling, but a strong increase in bottom-up signaling from the occipital cortex to the left vOT for pseudohomophones compared to words. This finding can be linked to functional accounts which assume that the left vOT contains neurons tuned to complex orthographic features such as morphemes or words [e.g., Dehaene and Cohen [2011]: Trends Cogn Sci 15:254-262; Kronbichler et al. [2007]: J Cogn Neurosci 19:1584-1594]: For words, bottom-up signals converge onto a matching orthographic representation in the left vOT. For pseudohomophones, the propagated signals do not converge, but (partially) activate multiple orthographic word representations, reflected in increased effective connectivity. Copyright © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  1. Dynamic changes during evacuation of a left temporal abscess in open MRI: technical case report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bernays, R.L.; Yonekawa, Y.; Kollias, S.S.

    2002-01-01

    We demonstrate the usefulness of ''near real-time'' neuro-navigation by open MRI systems for guidance of stereotactic evacuation of intracranial abscesses. A 70-year-old patient was referred to our institution with an intracranial left temporal abscess. He presented with headache, senso-motor aphasia and mild right hemiparesis. The abscess (35 x 25 mm) was stereotactically evacuated under MRI guidance, and a recurrence of a daughter abscess was again evacuated on the 9th postoperative day. ''Near real-time'' imaging showed an indentation of the abscess wall of 11 mm along the trajectory. A thermosensitive MRI protocol demonstrated a higher temperature around the abscess capsule than in the brain tissue more distant to the capsule, demonstrating the inflammatory process. The patient had 6 weeks of antibiotic therapy for gram-negative bacteria and was discharged with improved clinical symptoms 5 weeks after admission. Follow-up CT 2 months postoperatively showed a complete resolution of the abscess. Open MRI-guided interventions with ''near real-time'' imaging demonstrate the anatomical changes during an ongoing procedure and can be accommodated for enhancing the overall precision of stereotactic procedures. Thermosensitive MRI protocols are capable of revealing temperature gradients around inflammatory processes. (orig.)

  2. Temporal pole signal abnormality on MR imaging in temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis: a fluid-attenuated inversion-recovery study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Carrete, Henrique; Abdala, Nitamar; Lin, Kátia; Caboclo, Luís Otávio; Centeno, Ricardo Silva; Sakamoto, Américo Ceiki; Szjenfeld, Jacob; Nogueira, Roberto Gomes; Yacubian, Elza Márcia Targas

    2007-09-01

    To determine the frequency and regional involvement of temporal pole signal abnormality (TPA) in patients with hippocampal sclerosis (HS) using fluid-attenuated inversion-recovery (FLAIR) MR imaging, and to correlate this feature with history. Coronal FLAIR images of the temporal pole were assessed in 120 patients with HS and in 30 normal subjects, to evaluate gray-white matter demarcation. Ninety (75%) of 120 patients had associated TPA. The HS side made difference regarding the presence of TPA, with a left side prevalence (p=0.04, chi2 test). The anteromedial zone of temporal pole was affected in 27 (30%) out of 90 patients. In 63 (70%) patients the lateral zone were also affected. Patients with TPA were younger at seizure onset (p=0.018), but without association with duration of epilepsy. Our FLAIR study show temporal pole signal abnormality in 3/4 of patients with HS, mainly seen on the anteromedial region, with a larger prevalence when the left hippocampus was involved.

  3. Temporal pole signal abnormality on MR imaging in temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis: a fluid-attenuated inversion-recovery study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Carrete Junior, Henrique; Abdala, Nitamar; Szjenfeld, Jacob; Nogueira, Roberto Gomes; Lin, Katia; Caboclo, Luis Otavio; Centeno, Ricardo Silva; Sakamoto, Americo Ceiki; Yacubian, Elza Marcia Targas

    2007-01-01

    Objective: To determine the frequency and regional involvement of temporal pole signal abnormality (TPA) in patients with hippocampal sclerosis (HS) using fluid-attenuated inversion-recovery (FLAIR) MR imaging, and to correlate this feature with history. Method: Coronal FLAIR images of the temporal pole were assessed in 120 patients with HS and in 30 normal subjects, to evaluate gray-white matter demarcation. Results: Ninety (75%) of 120 patients had associated TPA. The HS side made difference regarding the presence of TPA, with a left side prevalence (p=0.04, χ 2 test). The anteromedial zone of temporal pole was affected in 27 (30%) out of 90 patients. In 63 (70%) patients the lateral zone were also affected. Patients with TPA were younger at seizure onset (p=0.018), but without association with duration of epilepsy. Conclusion: Our FLAIR study show temporal pole signal abnormality in 3/4 of patients with HS, mainly seen on the anteromedial region, with a larger prevalence when the left hippocampus was involved. (author)

  4. Primary pericranial Ewing's sarcoma on the temporal bone: A case report.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kawano, Hiroto; Nitta, Naoki; Ishida, Mitsuaki; Fukami, Tadateru; Nozaki, Kazuhiko

    2016-01-01

    Primary Ewing's sarcoma originating in the pericranium is an extremely rare disease entity. A 9-year-old female patient was admitted to our department due to a left temporal subcutaneous mass. The mass was localized under the left temporal muscle and attached to the surface of the temporal bone. Head computed tomography revealed a mass with bony spicule formation on the temporal bone, however, it did not show bone destruction or intracranial invasion. F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography showed no lesions other than the mass on the temporal bone. Magnetic resonance imaging showed that the mass was located between the temporal bone and the pericranium. The mass was completely resected with the underlying temporal bone and the overlying deep layer of temporal muscle, and was diagnosed as primary Ewing's sarcoma. Because the tumor was located in the subpericranium, we created a new classification, "pericranial Ewing's sarcoma," and diagnosed the present tumor as pericranial Ewing's sarcoma. We herein present an extremely rare case of primary pericranial Ewing's sarcoma that developed on the temporal bone.

  5. Auditory temporal-order thresholds show no gender differences

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Kesteren, Marlieke T. R.; Wierslnca-Post, J. Esther C.

    2007-01-01

    Purpose: Several studies on auditory temporal-order processing showed gender differences. Women needed longer inter-stimulus intervals than men when indicating the temporal order of two clicks presented to the left and right ear. In this study, we examined whether we could reproduce these results in

  6. Auditory temporal-order thresholds show no gender differences

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    van Kesteren, Marlieke T R; Wiersinga-Post, J Esther C

    2007-01-01

    PURPOSE: Several studies on auditory temporal-order processing showed gender differences. Women needed longer inter-stimulus intervals than men when indicating the temporal order of two clicks presented to the left and right ear. In this study, we examined whether we could reproduce these results in

  7. Segregation of Brain Structural Networks Supports Spatio-Temporal Predictive Processing

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Valentina Ciullo

    2018-05-01

    Full Text Available The ability to generate probabilistic expectancies regarding when and where sensory stimuli will occur, is critical to derive timely and accurate inferences about updating contexts. However, the existence of specialized neural networks for inferring predictive relationships between events is still debated. Using graph theoretical analysis applied to structural connectivity data, we tested the extent of brain connectivity properties associated with spatio-temporal predictive performance across 29 healthy subjects. Participants detected visual targets appearing at one out of three locations after one out of three intervals; expectations about stimulus location (spatial condition or onset (temporal condition were induced by valid or invalid symbolic cues. Connectivity matrices and centrality/segregation measures, expressing the relative importance of, and the local interactions among specific cerebral areas respect to the behavior under investigation, were calculated from whole-brain tractography and cortico-subcortical parcellation.Results: Response preparedness to cued stimuli relied on different structural connectivity networks for the temporal and spatial domains. Significant covariance was observed between centrality measures of regions within a subcortical-fronto-parietal-occipital network -comprising the left putamen, the right caudate nucleus, the left frontal operculum, the right inferior parietal cortex, the right paracentral lobule and the right superior occipital cortex-, and the ability to respond after a short cue-target delay suggesting that the local connectedness of such nodes plays a central role when the source of temporal expectation is explicit. When the potential for functional segregation was tested, we found highly clustered structural connectivity across the right superior, the left middle inferior frontal gyrus and the left caudate nucleus as related to explicit temporal orienting. Conversely, when the interaction between

  8. Segregation of Brain Structural Networks Supports Spatio-Temporal Predictive Processing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ciullo, Valentina; Vecchio, Daniela; Gili, Tommaso; Spalletta, Gianfranco; Piras, Federica

    2018-01-01

    The ability to generate probabilistic expectancies regarding when and where sensory stimuli will occur, is critical to derive timely and accurate inferences about updating contexts. However, the existence of specialized neural networks for inferring predictive relationships between events is still debated. Using graph theoretical analysis applied to structural connectivity data, we tested the extent of brain connectivity properties associated with spatio-temporal predictive performance across 29 healthy subjects. Participants detected visual targets appearing at one out of three locations after one out of three intervals; expectations about stimulus location (spatial condition) or onset (temporal condition) were induced by valid or invalid symbolic cues. Connectivity matrices and centrality/segregation measures, expressing the relative importance of, and the local interactions among specific cerebral areas respect to the behavior under investigation, were calculated from whole-brain tractography and cortico-subcortical parcellation. Results: Response preparedness to cued stimuli relied on different structural connectivity networks for the temporal and spatial domains. Significant covariance was observed between centrality measures of regions within a subcortical-fronto-parietal-occipital network -comprising the left putamen, the right caudate nucleus, the left frontal operculum, the right inferior parietal cortex, the right paracentral lobule and the right superior occipital cortex-, and the ability to respond after a short cue-target delay suggesting that the local connectedness of such nodes plays a central role when the source of temporal expectation is explicit. When the potential for functional segregation was tested, we found highly clustered structural connectivity across the right superior, the left middle inferior frontal gyrus and the left caudate nucleus as related to explicit temporal orienting. Conversely, when the interaction between explicit and

  9. 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.

  10. Mesial temporal sclerosis in children Esclerose mesial temporal em crianças

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Eliana Maria Domingues Brandão

    2007-12-01

    Full Text Available Mesial temporal sclerosis is the most frequent cause of drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy but has a satisfactory response to surgery, and is considered infrequent in children. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the clinical, electrographic and radiological spectrum of the disease in children. METHOD: Retrospective study by review of charts of 44 children with a diagnosis of mesial temporal sclerosis on magnetic resonance imaging, attended at the "Hospital das Clínicas" of the University of São Paulo Faculty of Medicine. RESULTS: Febrile seizure was identified in the history of 54% of the patients. Injuries at the left side predominated in patients with schooling difficulties (p=0.049, in those with the first seizures between six months and five years (p=0.021 and in those with complex febrile seizure (p=0.032. Thirteen patients were submitted to surgery and of these, eight remained without seizures. CONCLUSION: Febrile seizure may be related in a more direct way to the presence of left-side mesial temporal sclerosis.Em adultos, esclerose mesial temporal é a causa mais freqüente de epilepsia do lobo temporal intratável por medicamentos e que responde satisfatoriamente a cirurgia, sendo considerada pouco freqüente em criança. OBJETIVO: Avaliar o espectro clínico, eletrográfico e radiológico desta patologia em crianças. MÉTODO: Estudo retrospectivo, por revisão de prontuário de 44 crianças com diagnóstico de esclerose mesial temporal na ressonância magnética, atendidos no Hospital das Clínicas da Faculdade de Medicina de São Paulo. RESULTADO: Foi identificado que 54% dos pacientes apresentaram antecedente de crise febril. Lesão no lado esquerdo predominou nos pacientes com dificuldade escolar (p=0.049, naqueles com primeiras crises entre seis meses e cinco anos (p=0,021 e naqueles com crise febril complicada (p=0,032. Treze pacientes foram operados, dos quais oito ficaram livres de crises. CONCLUSÃO: Crise febril pode estar

  11. Left-right cortical asymmetries of regional cerebral blood flow during listening to words

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Nishizawa, Y; Olsen, T S; Larsen, B

    1982-01-01

    1. Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was measured during rest and during listening to simple words. The xenon-133 intracarotid technique was used and results were obtained from 254 regions of seven right hemispheres and seven left hemispheres. The measurements were performed just after carotid...... of the entire hemisphere. The focal rCBF increases were localized to the superior part of the temporal regions, the prefrontal regions, the frontal eye fields, and the orbitofrontal regions. Significant asymmetries were found in particular in the superior temporal region with the left side showing a more...

  12. Developmental dyslexia: dysfunction of a left hemisphere reading network

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fabio eRichlan

    2012-05-01

    Full Text Available This mini-review summarizes and integrates findings from recent meta-analyses and original neuroimaging studies on functional brain abnormalities in dyslexic readers. Surprisingly, there is little empirical support for the standard neuroanatomical model of developmental dyslexia, which localizes the primary phonological decoding deficit in left temporo-parietal regions. Rather, recent evidence points to a dysfunction of a left hemisphere reading network, which includes occipito-temporal, inferior frontal, and inferior parietal regions.

  13. Temporal lobe volume predicts Wada memory test performance in patients with mesial temporal sclerosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ding, Kan; Gong, Yunhua; Modur, Pradeep N; Diaz-Arrastia, Ramon; Agostini, Mark; Gupta, Puneet; McColl, Roderick; Hays, Ryan; Van Ness, Paul

    2016-02-01

    The Wada test is widely used in the presurgical evaluation of potential temporal lobectomy patients to predict postoperative memory function. Expected asymmetry (EA), defined as Wada memory lateralized to the nonsurgical hemisphere, or a higher score after injection of the surgical hemisphere would be considered favorable in terms of postoperative memory outcome. However, in some cases, nonlateralized memory (NM) results, with no appreciable asymmetry, may occur because of impaired scores after both injections, often leading to denial of surgery. The reason for such nonlateralized Wada memory in patients with intractable temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) remains unclear. Given that quantitative morphometric magnetic resonance imaging studies in TLE patients have shown bilateral regional atrophy in temporal and extratemporal structures, we hypothesized that the volume loss in contralateral temporal structures could contribute to nonlateralized Wada memory performance. To investigate this, we examined the relationship between the volume changes of temporal structures and Wada memory scores in patients with intractable TLE with mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS) using an age- and gender-matched control group. Memory was considered nonlateralized if the absolute difference in the total correct recall scores between ipsilateral and contralateral injections was memory was lateralized in 15 and nonlateralized in 6 patients, with all the nonlateralized scores being observed in left TLE. The recall scores after ipsilateral injection were significantly lower in patients with an NM profile than an EA profile (23 ± 14% vs. 59 ± 18% correct recall, p ≤ 0.001). However, the recall scores after contralateral injection were low but similar between the two groups (25 ± 17% vs. 25 ± 15% correct recall, p=0.97). Compared to controls, all the patients showed greater volume loss in the temporal regions. However, patients with a NM profile showed significantly more volume loss than those

  14. Success of Anomia Treatment in Aphasia Is Associated With Preserved Architecture of Global and Left Temporal Lobe Structural Networks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bonilha, Leonardo; Gleichgerrcht, Ezequiel; Nesland, Travis; Rorden, Chris; Fridriksson, Julius

    2016-03-01

    Targeted speech therapy can lead to substantial naming improvement in some subjects with anomia following dominant-hemisphere stroke. We investigated whether treatment-induced improvement in naming is associated with poststroke preservation of structural neural network architecture. Twenty-four patients with poststroke chronic aphasia underwent 30 hours of speech therapy over a 2-week period and were assessed at baseline and after therapy. Whole brain maps of neural architecture were constructed from pretreatment diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging to derive measures of global brain network architecture (network small-worldness) and regional network influence (nodal betweenness centrality). Their relationship with naming recovery was evaluated with multiple linear regressions. Treatment-induced improvement in correct naming was associated with poststroke preservation of global network small worldness and of betweenness centrality in temporal lobe cortical regions. Together with baseline aphasia severity, these measures explained 78% of the variability in treatment response. Preservation of global and left temporal structural connectivity broadly explains the variability in treatment-related naming improvement in aphasia. These findings corroborate and expand on previous classical lesion-symptom mapping studies by elucidating some of the mechanisms by which brain damage may relate to treated aphasia recovery. Favorable naming outcomes may result from the intact connections between spared cortical areas that are functionally responsive to treatment. © The Author(s) 2015.

  15. Linear regression models for quantitative assessment of left ...

    African Journals Online (AJOL)

    STORAGESEVER

    2008-07-04

    Jul 4, 2008 ... of left ventricular function and structures using M-mode echocardiography ... Pearson's correlation coefficients were computed. Tests were two tailed ... tation may be problematic in some subjects. Excellent temporal ... excluded were subjects with obstructive airway disease, sickle cell disease, pregnancy ...

  16. Activation of the left inferior frontal gyrus in the first 200 ms of reading: evidence from magnetoencephalography (MEG).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Cornelissen, Piers L; Kringelbach, Morten L; Ellis, Andrew W; Whitney, Carol; Holliday, Ian E; Hansen, Peter C

    2009-01-01

    It is well established that the left inferior frontal gyrus plays a key role in the cerebral cortical network that supports reading and visual word recognition. Less clear is when in time this contribution begins. We used magnetoencephalography (MEG), which has both good spatial and excellent temporal resolution, to address this question. MEG data were recorded during a passive viewing paradigm, chosen to emphasize the stimulus-driven component of the cortical response, in which right-handed participants were presented words, consonant strings, and unfamiliar faces to central vision. Time-frequency analyses showed a left-lateralized inferior frontal gyrus (pars opercularis) response to words between 100-250 ms in the beta frequency band that was significantly stronger than the response to consonant strings or faces. The left inferior frontal gyrus response to words peaked at approximately 130 ms. This response was significantly later in time than the left middle occipital gyrus, which peaked at approximately 115 ms, but not significantly different from the peak response in the left mid fusiform gyrus, which peaked at approximately 140 ms, at a location coincident with the fMRI-defined visual word form area (VWFA). Significant responses were also detected to words in other parts of the reading network, including the anterior middle temporal gyrus, the left posterior middle temporal gyrus, the angular and supramarginal gyri, and the left superior temporal gyrus. These findings suggest very early interactions between the vision and language domains during visual word recognition, with speech motor areas being activated at the same time as the orthographic word-form is being resolved within the fusiform gyrus. This challenges the conventional view of a temporally serial processing sequence for visual word recognition in which letter forms are initially decoded, interact with their phonological and semantic representations, and only then gain access to a speech code.

  17. Dynamic changes during evacuation of a left temporal abscess in open MRI: technical case report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bernays, R.L.; Yonekawa, Y. [Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital, Zurich (Switzerland); Kollias, S.S. [Institute of Neuroradiology, University Hospital of Zurich (Switzerland)

    2002-05-01

    We demonstrate the usefulness of ''near real-time'' neuro-navigation by open MRI systems for guidance of stereotactic evacuation of intracranial abscesses. A 70-year-old patient was referred to our institution with an intracranial left temporal abscess. He presented with headache, senso-motor aphasia and mild right hemiparesis. The abscess (35 x 25 mm) was stereotactically evacuated under MRI guidance, and a recurrence of a daughter abscess was again evacuated on the 9th postoperative day. ''Near real-time'' imaging showed an indentation of the abscess wall of 11 mm along the trajectory. A thermosensitive MRI protocol demonstrated a higher temperature around the abscess capsule than in the brain tissue more distant to the capsule, demonstrating the inflammatory process. The patient had 6 weeks of antibiotic therapy for gram-negative bacteria and was discharged with improved clinical symptoms 5 weeks after admission. Follow-up CT 2 months postoperatively showed a complete resolution of the abscess. Open MRI-guided interventions with ''near real-time'' imaging demonstrate the anatomical changes during an ongoing procedure and can be accommodated for enhancing the overall precision of stereotactic procedures. Thermosensitive MRI protocols are capable of revealing temperature gradients around inflammatory processes. (orig.)

  18. Extraction and analysis of left ventricular contours in cardiac radionuclide angiographies

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jouan, A.

    1991-01-01

    The analysis of cardiac scintigraphic sequences is commonly realized with the help of functional or parametric images. The decomposition of the original sequence into a linear combination of the main temporal behaviors yields, after orthogonalization, a set of parametric images representing the pure temporal behaviors present in the original data. The properties of these images are used to extract automatically the left ventricular boundary. The Fourier Descriptors method is then used to get a quantified analysis of the shape of the ventricle. Because of their property of invariance by change of scale, the Fourier descriptors method applied on a sequence of left ventricular contours yields a quantified assessment of the cardiac contraction

  19. Epidemiology of Left Ventricular Systolic Dysfunction and Heart Failure in the Framingham Study

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Vasan, Ramachandran S; Xanthakis, Vanessa; Lyass, Asya

    2018-01-01

    OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to describe the temporal trends in prevalence of left ventricular systolic dysfunction (LVSD) in individuals without and with heart failure (HF) in the community over a 3-decade period of observation. BACKGROUND: Temporal trends in the prevalence and mana......OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to describe the temporal trends in prevalence of left ventricular systolic dysfunction (LVSD) in individuals without and with heart failure (HF) in the community over a 3-decade period of observation. BACKGROUND: Temporal trends in the prevalence...... and management of major risk factors may affect the epidemiology of HF. METHODS: We compared the frequency, correlates, and prognosis of LVSD (left ventricular ejection fraction [LVEF] ... with LVSD (∼2- to 4-fold risk of HF or death) remained unchanged over time. Among participants with new-onset HF (n = 894, mean age 75 years, 52% women), the frequency of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) increased (preserved LVEF ≥50%: 41.0% in 1985 to 1994 vs. 56.17% in 2005 to 2014...

  20. Bilateral generic working memory circuit requires left-lateralized addition for verbal processing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ray, Manaan Kar; Mackay, Clare E; Harmer, Catherine J; Crow, Timothy J

    2008-06-01

    According to the Baddeley-Hitch model, phonological and visuospatial representations are separable components of working memory (WM) linked by a central executive. The traditional view that the separation reflects the relative contribution of the 2 hemispheres (verbal WM--left; spatial WM--right) has been challenged by the position that a common bilateral frontoparietal network subserves both domains. Here, we test the hypothesis that there is a generic WM circuit that recruits additional specialized regions for verbal and spatial processing. We designed a functional magnetic resonance imaging paradigm to elicit activation in the WM circuit for verbal and spatial information using identical stimuli and applied this in 33 healthy controls. We detected left-lateralized quantitative differences in the left frontal and temporal lobe for verbal > spatial WM but no areas of activation for spatial > verbal WM. We speculate that spatial WM is analogous to a "generic" bilateral frontoparietal WM circuit we inherited from our great ape ancestors that evolved, by recruitment of additional left-lateralized frontal and temporal regions, to accommodate language.

  1. Task-modulated activation and functional connectivity of the temporal and frontal areas during speech comprehension.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yue, Q; Zhang, L; Xu, G; Shu, H; Li, P

    2013-05-01

    There is general consensus in the literature that a distributed network of temporal and frontal brain areas is involved in speech comprehension. However, how active versus passive tasks modulate the activation and the functional connectivity of the critical brain areas is not clearly understood. In this study, we used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to identify intelligibility and task-related effects in speech comprehension. Participants performed a semantic judgment task on normal and time-reversed sentences, or passively listened to the sentences without making an overt response. The subtraction analysis demonstrated that passive sentence comprehension mainly engaged brain areas in the left anterior and posterior superior temporal sulcus and middle temporal gyrus (aSTS/MTG and pSTS/MTG), whereas active sentence comprehension recruited bilateral frontal regions in addition to the aSTS/MTG and pSTS/MTG regions. Functional connectivity analysis revealed that during passive sentence comprehension, the left aSTS/MTG was functionally connected with the left Heschl's gyrus (HG) and bilateral superior temporal gyrus (STG) but no area was functionally connected with the left pSTS/MTG; during active sentence comprehension, however, both the left aSTS/MTG and pSTS/MTG were functionally connected with bilateral superior temporal and inferior frontal areas. While these results are consistent with the view that the ventral stream of the temporo-frontal network subserves semantic processing, our findings further indicate that both the activation and the functional connectivity of the temporal and frontal areas are modulated by task demands. Copyright © 2013 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Language localization in cases of left temporal lobe arachnoid cyst : Evidence against interhemispheric reorganization

    NARCIS (Netherlands)

    Stowe, LA; Go, KG; Pruim, J; den Dunnen, W; Meiners, LC; Paans, AMJ

    2000-01-01

    We investigated whether left-hemisphere arachnoid cysts lead to reorganization of the language function using PET. A group analysis demonstrated that patients showed no more right-hemisphere activation than a matched control group. Several patients had clear language localizations in the left

  3. Arteriovenous Malformation in Temporal Lobe Presenting as Contralateral Ocular Symptoms Mimicking Carotid-Cavernous Fistula

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Fadzillah Mohd-Tahir

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Aim. To report a rare case of arteriovenous malformation in temporal lobe presenting as contralateral orbital symptoms mimicking carotid-cavernous fistula. Method. Interventional case report. Results. A 31-year-old Malay gentleman presented with 2-month history of painful progressive exophthalmos of his left eye associated with recurrent headache, diplopia, and reduced vision. Ocular examination revealed congestive nonpulsating 7 mm exophthalmos of the left eye with no restriction of movements in all direction. There was diplopia in left lateral gaze. Left IOP was elevated at 29 mmHg. Left eye retinal vessels were slightly dilated and tortuous. CT scan was performed and showed right temporal arteriovenous malformation with a nidus of 3.8 cm × 2.5 cm with right middle cerebral artery as feeding artery. There was dilated left superior ophthalmic vein of 0.9 mm in diameter with enlarged left cavernous sinus. MRA and carotid angiogram confirmed right temporal arteriovenous malformation with no carotid-cavernous fistula. Most of the intracranial drainage was via left cavernous sinus. His signs and symptoms dramatically improved following successful embolisation, completely resolved after one year. Conclusion. Intracranial arteriovenous malformation is rarely presented with primary ocular presentation. Early intervention would salvage the eyes and prevent patients from more disaster morbidity or fatality commonly due to intracranial haemorrhage.

  4. Aphasia following left thalamic hemorrhage

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Makishita, Hideo; Miyasaka, Motomaro; Tanizaki, Yoshio; Yanagisawa, Nobuo; Sugishita, Morihiro.

    1984-01-01

    We reported 7 patients with left thalamic hemorrhage in the chronic stage (from 1.5 months to 4.5 months), and described language disorders examined by Western Aphasia Battery (WAB) and measured cerebral blood flow by single photon emission CT. Examination of language by WAB revealed 4 aphasics out of 7 cases, and 3 patients had no language deficit. The patient with Wernicke's aphasia showed low density area only in the left posterior thalamus in X-ray CT, and revealed severe low blood flow area extending to left temporal lobe in emission CT. In the case with transcortical sensory aphasia, although X-ray CT showed no obvious low density area, emission CT revealed moderate low flow area in watershed area that involved the territory between posterior cerebral and middle cerebral arteries in the left temporooccipital region in addition to low blood flow at the left thalamus. In one of the two patients classified as anomic aphasia, whose score of repetition (8.4) was higher than that of comprehension (7.4), emission CT showed slight low flow area at the temporo-occipital region similarly as the case with transcortical sensory aphasia. In another case with anomic aphasia, scored 9 on both fluensy and comprehension subtests and 10 on repetition, there was wide low density area all over the left thalamus and midline shift to the right in X-ray CT, and emission CT showed severe low blood flow in the same region spreading widely toward the cerebral surface. On the other hand, in all of the 3 patients without aphasia, emission CT showed low flow region restricted to the left thalamus. (J.P.N.)

  5. Temporal lobe surgery in childhood and neuroanatomical predictors of long-term declarative memory outcome

    Science.gov (United States)

    Skirrow, Caroline; Cross, J. Helen; Harrison, Sue; Cormack, Francesca; Harkness, William; Coleman, Rosie; Meierotto, Ellen; Gaiottino, Johanna; Vargha-Khadem, Faraneh

    2015-01-01

    The temporal lobes play a prominent role in declarative memory function, including episodic memory (memory for events) and semantic memory (memory for facts and concepts). Surgical resection for medication-resistant and well-localized temporal lobe epilepsy has good prognosis for seizure freedom, but is linked to memory difficulties in adults, especially when the removal is on the left side. Children may benefit most from surgery, because brain plasticity may facilitate post-surgical reorganization, and seizure cessation may promote cognitive development. However, the long-term impact of this intervention in children is not known. We examined memory function in 53 children (25 males, 28 females) who were evaluated for epilepsy surgery: 42 underwent unilateral temporal lobe resections (25 left, 17 right, mean age at surgery 13.8 years), 11 were treated only pharmacologically. Average follow-up was 9 years (range 5–15). Post-surgical change in visual and verbal episodic memory, and semantic memory at follow-up were examined. Pre- and post-surgical T1-weighted MRI brain scans were analysed to extract hippocampal and resection volumes, and evaluate post-surgical temporal lobe integrity. Language lateralization indices were derived from functional magnetic resonance imaging. There were no significant pre- to postoperative decrements in memory associated with surgery. In contrast, gains in verbal episodic memory were seen after right temporal lobe surgery, and visual episodic memory improved after left temporal lobe surgery, indicating a functional release in the unoperated temporal lobe after seizure reduction or cessation. Pre- to post-surgical change in memory function was not associated with any indices of brain structure derived from MRI. However, better verbal memory at follow-up was linked to greater post-surgical residual hippocampal volumes, most robustly in left surgical participants. Better semantic memory at follow-up was associated with smaller resection

  6. The right hemisphere supports but does not replace left hemisphere auditory function in patients with persisting aphasia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Teki, Sundeep; Barnes, Gareth R; Penny, William D; Iverson, Paul; Woodhead, Zoe V J; Griffiths, Timothy D; Leff, Alexander P

    2013-06-01

    In this study, we used magnetoencephalography and a mismatch paradigm to investigate speech processing in stroke patients with auditory comprehension deficits and age-matched control subjects. We probed connectivity within and between the two temporal lobes in response to phonemic (different word) and acoustic (same word) oddballs using dynamic causal modelling. We found stronger modulation of self-connections as a function of phonemic differences for control subjects versus aphasics in left primary auditory cortex and bilateral superior temporal gyrus. The patients showed stronger modulation of connections from right primary auditory cortex to right superior temporal gyrus (feed-forward) and from left primary auditory cortex to right primary auditory cortex (interhemispheric). This differential connectivity can be explained on the basis of a predictive coding theory which suggests increased prediction error and decreased sensitivity to phonemic boundaries in the aphasics' speech network in both hemispheres. Within the aphasics, we also found behavioural correlates with connection strengths: a negative correlation between phonemic perception and an inter-hemispheric connection (left superior temporal gyrus to right superior temporal gyrus), and positive correlation between semantic performance and a feedback connection (right superior temporal gyrus to right primary auditory cortex). Our results suggest that aphasics with impaired speech comprehension have less veridical speech representations in both temporal lobes, and rely more on the right hemisphere auditory regions, particularly right superior temporal gyrus, for processing speech. Despite this presumed compensatory shift in network connectivity, the patients remain significantly impaired.

  7. Memory of music: roles of right hippocampus and left inferior frontal gyrus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Watanabe, Takamitsu; Yagishita, Sho; Kikyo, Hideyuki

    2008-01-01

    We investigated neural correlates of retrieval success for music memory using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging. To minimize the interference from MRI scan noise, we used sparse temporal sampling technique. Newly composed music materials were employed as stimuli, which enabled us to detect regions in absence of effects of experience with the music stimuli in this study. Whole brain analyses demonstrated significant retrieval success activities in the right hippocampus, bilateral lateral temporal regions, left inferior frontal gyrus and left precuneus. Anatomically defined region-of-interests analyses showed that the activity of the right hippocampus was stronger than that of the left, while the activities of the inferior frontal gyri showed the reverse pattern. Furthermore, performance-based analyses demonstrated that the retrieval success activity of the right hippocampus was positively correlated with the corrected recognition rate, suggesting that the right hippocampus contributes to the accuracy of music retrieval outcome.

  8. Spatial memory for asymmetrical dot locations predicts lateralization among patients with presurgical mesial temporal lobe epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brown, Franklin C; Hirsch, Lawrence J; Spencer, Dennis D

    2015-11-01

    This study examined the ability of an asymmetrical dot location memory test (Brown Location Test, BLT) and two verbal memory tests (Verbal Selective Reminding Test (VSRT) and California Verbal Learning Test, Second Edition (CVLT-II)) to correctly lateralize left (LTLE) or right (RTLE) mesial temporal lobe epilepsy that was confirmed with video-EEG. Subjects consisted of 16 patients with medically refractory RTLE and 13 patients with medically refractory LTLE who were left hemisphere language dominant. Positive predictive values for lateralizing TLE correctly were 87.5% for the BLT, 72.7% for the VSRT, and 80% for the CVLT-II. Binary logistic regression indicated that the BLT alone correctly classified 76.9% of patients with left temporal lobe epilepsy and 87.5% of patients with right temporal lobe epilepsy. Inclusion of the verbal memory tests improved this to 92.3% of patients with left temporal lobe epilepsy and 100% correct classification of patients with right temporal lobe epilepsy. Though of a limited sample size, this study suggests that the BLT alone provides strong laterality information which improves with the addition of verbal memory tests. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  9. The Average Temporal and Spectral Evolution of Gamma-Ray Bursts

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Fenimore, E.E.

    1999-01-01

    We have averaged bright BATSE bursts to uncover the average overall temporal and spectral evolution of gamma-ray bursts (GRBs). We align the temporal structure of each burst by setting its duration to a standard duration, which we call T left-angleDurright-angle . The observed average open-quotes aligned T left-angleDurright-angle close quotes profile for 32 bright bursts with intermediate durations (16 - 40 s) has a sharp rise (within the first 20% of T left-angleDurright-angle ) and then a linear decay. Exponentials and power laws do not fit this decay. In particular, the power law seen in the X-ray afterglow (∝T -1.4 ) is not observed during the bursts, implying that the X-ray afterglow is not just an extension of the average temporal evolution seen during the gamma-ray phase. The average burst spectrum has a low-energy slope of -1.03, a high-energy slope of -3.31, and a peak in the νF ν distribution at 390 keV. We determine the average spectral evolution. Remarkably, it is also a linear function, with the peak of the νF ν distribution given by ∼680-600(T/T left-angleDurright-angle ) keV. Since both the temporal profile and the peak energy are linear functions, on average, the peak energy is linearly proportional to the intensity. This behavior is inconsistent with the external shock model. The observed temporal and spectral evolution is also inconsistent with that expected from variations in just a Lorentz factor. Previously, trends have been reported for GRB evolution, but our results are quantitative relationships that models should attempt to explain. copyright copyright 1999. The American Astronomical Society

  10. Bilateral macular colobomata: Temporal dragging of optic disc

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    David J Mathew

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available A 13-year-old male presented with decreased vision and squint from childhood. He had bilateral large colobomata at the macula in each eye, the one on the right being larger than the left. The disc was dragged temporally with straightening of the temporal retinal vessels. This is a case report of bilateral large macular coloboma and serves to report its association with a temporally dragged disc and straightened temporal retinal vessels. A dragged disc if present with a colobomatous defect at the macula may strengthen the case for diagnosis of macular coloboma and help exclude other differentials.

  11. Hippocampal Atrophy Is Associated with Altered Hippocampus-Posterior Cingulate Cortex Connectivity in Mesial Temporal Lobe Epilepsy with Hippocampal Sclerosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shih, Y C; Tseng, C E; Lin, F-H; Liou, H H; Tseng, W Y I

    2017-03-01

    Unilateral mesial temporal lobe epilepsy and hippocampal sclerosis have structural and functional abnormalities in the mesial temporal regions. To gain insight into the pathophysiology of the epileptic network in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis, we aimed to clarify the relationships between hippocampal atrophy and the altered connection between the hippocampus and the posterior cingulate cortex in patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis. Fifteen patients with left mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis and 15 healthy controls were included in the study. Multicontrast MR imaging, including high-resolution T1WI, diffusion spectrum imaging, and resting-state fMRI, was performed to measure the hippocampal volume, structural connectivity of the inferior cingulum bundle, and intrinsic functional connectivity between the hippocampus and the posterior cingulate cortex, respectively. Compared with controls, patients had decreased left hippocampal volume (volume ratio of the hippocampus and controls, 0.366% ± 0.029%; patients, 0.277% ± 0.063%, corrected P = .002), structural connectivity of the bilateral inferior cingulum bundle (generalized fractional anisotropy, left: controls, 0.234 ± 0.020; patients, 0.193 ± 0.022, corrected P = .0001, right: controls, 0.226 ± 0.022; patients, 0.208 ± 0.017, corrected P = .047), and intrinsic functional connectivity between the left hippocampus and the left posterior cingulate cortex (averaged z-value: controls, 0.314 ± 0.152; patients, 0.166 ± 0.062). The left hippocampal volume correlated with structural connectivity positively (standardized β = 0.864, P = .001), but it had little correlation with intrinsic functional connectivity (standardized β = -0.329, P = .113). On the contralesional side, the hippocampal volume did not show any significant correlation with structural connectivity or intrinsic functional connectivity ( F 2,12 = 0.284, P = .757, R 2

  12. Altered cortical anatomical networks in temporal lobe epilepsy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lv, Bin; He, Huiguang; Lu, Jingjing; Li, Wenjing; Dai, Dai; Li, Meng; Jin, Zhengyu

    2011-03-01

    Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is one of the most common epilepsy syndromes with focal seizures generated in the left or right temporal lobes. With the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), many evidences have demonstrated that the abnormalities in hippocampal volume and the distributed atrophies in cortical cortex. However, few studies have investigated if TLE patients have the alternation in the structural networks. In the present study, we used the cortical thickness to establish the morphological connectivity networks, and investigated the network properties using the graph theoretical methods. We found that all the morphological networks exhibited the small-world efficiency in left TLE, right TLE and normal groups. And the betweenness centrality analysis revealed that there were statistical inter-group differences in the right uncus region. Since the right uncus located at the right temporal lobe, these preliminary evidences may suggest that there are topological alternations of the cortical anatomical networks in TLE, especially for the right TLE.

  13. High Frequency rTMS over the Left Parietal Lobule Increases Non-Word Reading Accuracy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Costanzo, Floriana; Menghini, Deny; Caltagirone, Carlo; Oliveri, Massimiliano; Vicari, Stefano

    2012-01-01

    Increasing evidence in the literature supports the usefulness of Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) in studying reading processes. Two brain regions are primarily involved in phonological decoding: the left superior temporal gyrus (STG), which is associated with the auditory representation of spoken words, and the left inferior parietal lobe…

  14. Temporal pole signal abnormality on MR imaging in temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis: a fluid-attenuated inversion-recovery study; Anormalidade de sinal na imagem por RM do polo temporal na epilepsia do lobo temporal com esclerose hipocampal: um estudo pela sequencia inversao recuperacao com supressao da agua livre (FLAIR)

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Carrete Junior, Henrique; Abdala, Nitamar; Szjenfeld, Jacob; Nogueira, Roberto Gomes [Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo (UNIFESP-EPM), Sao Paulo, SP (Brazil). Dept. de Diagnostico por Imagem; Lin, Katia; Caboclo, Luis Otavio; Centeno, Ricardo Silva; Sakamoto, Americo Ceiki; Yacubian, Elza Marcia Targas [Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo (UNIFESP-EPM), Sao Paulo, SP (Brazil). Dept. de Neurologia e Neurocirurgia

    2007-09-15

    Objective: To determine the frequency and regional involvement of temporal pole signal abnormality (TPA) in patients with hippocampal sclerosis (HS) using fluid-attenuated inversion-recovery (FLAIR) MR imaging, and to correlate this feature with history. Method: Coronal FLAIR images of the temporal pole were assessed in 120 patients with HS and in 30 normal subjects, to evaluate gray-white matter demarcation. Results: Ninety (75%) of 120 patients had associated TPA. The HS side made difference regarding the presence of TPA, with a left side prevalence (p=0.04, {chi}{sup 2} test). The anteromedial zone of temporal pole was affected in 27 (30%) out of 90 patients. In 63 (70%) patients the lateral zone were also affected. Patients with TPA were younger at seizure onset (p=0.018), but without association with duration of epilepsy. Conclusion: Our FLAIR study show temporal pole signal abnormality in 3/4 of patients with HS, mainly seen on the anteromedial region, with a larger prevalence when the left hippocampus was involved. (author)

  15. The Structural Plasticity of White Matter Networks Following Anterior Temporal Lobe Resection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yogarajah, Mahinda; Focke, Niels K.; Bonelli, Silvia B.; Thompson, Pamela; Vollmar, Christian; McEvoy, Andrew W.; Alexander, Daniel C.; Symms, Mark R.; Koepp, Matthias J.; Duncan, John S.

    2010-01-01

    Anterior temporal lobe resection is an effective treatment for refractory temporal lobe epilepsy. The structural consequences of such surgery in the white matter, and how these relate to language function after surgery remain unknown. We carried out a longitudinal study with diffusion tensor imaging in 26 left and 20 right temporal lobe epilepsy…

  16. A tale of two hemispheres: Contrasting socioemotional dysfunction in right- versus left-lateralised semantic dementia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Muireann Irish

    Full Text Available ABSTRACT Objective: Semantic dementia, a subtype of frontotemporal lobar degeneration, is characterised by cross-modal loss of conceptual knowledge attributable to progressive degeneration of the left anterior temporal lobe. Much less is known regarding the clinical presentation of SD patients with predominantly right-lateralised atrophy. Recent reports emphasise marked socioemotional and behavioural disturbances in such cases. Given the importance of the right anterior temporal lobes in social cognition, we hypothesised that socioemotional functioning would be disproportionately affected in right versus left-lateralised SD cases. Methods: We assessed well-characterised cases of predominantly right (n=10 and left (n=12 SD and 20 matched healthy controls on tests of emotion processing and interpersonal functioning. Results: Right SD cases showed disproportionate difficulties in the recognition of positive and negative facial emotions, specifically happiness and anger, compared with left SD cases. Deficits in anger recognition persisted in right SD despite covarying for facial and semantic processing. On a contextually rich task of emotion recognition using multimodal videos, no subgroup differences were evident. Finally, empathic concern was rated as significantly lower by caregivers of right versus left SD cases. Overall, the extent of socioemotional disturbance was associated with the degree of behavioural changes in SD. Conclusion: Our results reveal considerable overlap in the extent to which socioemotional processes are disrupted in left and right-lateralised cases of SD. Notably, however, right SD cases show disproportionate deficits for recognition of facial emotions and the capacity for empathic concern, supporting a specialised role for the right anterior temporal lobes in mediating these cognitive functions.

  17. Unilateral mesial temporal atrophy after a systemic insult as a possible etiology of refractory temporal lobe epilepsy: case report Esclerose mesial temporal unilateral após insulto sistêmico como possível etiologia de epilepsia refratária do lobo temporal: relato de caso

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Arthur Cukiert

    1997-09-01

    Full Text Available Mesial temporal sclerosis is the main pathological substrate present in refractory temporal lobe epilepsy and its presence is often related to the occurrence of febrile seizures in infancy. There is an on-going discussion on the nature of mesial temporal sclerosis as it related to epilepsy: cause or consequence. A previously normal child developed hyperosmolar coma after abdominal surgery at the age of 6. Three months afterwards he developed simple and complex partial seizures with an increasing frequency and refractory to multiple mono-and polytherapic drug regimens. He was evaluated for surgery at the age of 13. Ictal and interictal recordings showed left temporal lobe abnormalities. Early CT scaning suggested left temporal atrophy. MRI showed mesial temporal sclerosis. Neuropsichological testing showed verbal memory deficits and he passed a left carotid artery amytal injection. He was submitted to a cortico-amygdalo-hippocampectomy and has been seizure-free since then. The clinical data obtained from this patient suggest that at least in this case mesial temporal sclerosis would be related to the cause of epilepsy and not resultant from repeated seizure activity.A esclerose mesial temporal é o principal substrato anatomo-patológico envolvido na epilepsia refratária do lobo temporal e está frequentemente associada à ocorrência de convulsões febris na infância. Persiste até o momento intensa discussão se a esclerose mesial seria causa ou consequência da síndrome epiléptica. Uma criança previamente normal, desenvolveu coma hiperosmolar após intercorrência em cirurgia abdominal aos 6 anos de idade. Após 3 meses iniciaram-se crises parciais simples e complexas em frequência ascendente e refratárias a múltiplos esquemas terapêuticos em mono- e politerapia. Ele realizou investigação pré-operatória para epilepsia aos 13 anos de idade. Registros eletrencefalográficos de superfície ictais e interictais mostraram anormalidades

  18. The role of the left anterior temporal lobe in semantic composition vs. semantic memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Westerlund, Masha; Pylkkänen, Liina

    2014-05-01

    The left anterior temporal lobe (LATL) is robustly implicated in semantic processing by a growing body of literature. However, these results have emerged from two distinct bodies of work, addressing two different processing levels. On the one hand, the LATL has been characterized as a 'semantic hub׳ that binds features of concepts across a distributed network, based on results from semantic dementia and hemodynamic findings on the categorization of specific compared to basic exemplars. On the other, the LATL has been implicated in combinatorial operations in language, as shown by increased activity in this region associated with the processing of sentences and of basic phrases. The present work aimed to reconcile these two literatures by independently manipulating combination and concept specificity within a minimal MEG paradigm. Participants viewed simple nouns that denoted either low specificity (fish) or high specificity categories (trout) presented in either combinatorial (spotted fish/trout) or non-combinatorial contexts (xhsl fish/trout). By combining these paradigms from the two literatures, we directly compared the engagement of the LATL in semantic memory vs. semantic composition. Our results indicate that although noun specificity subtly modulates the LATL activity elicited by single nouns, it most robustly affects the size of the composition effect when these nouns are adjectivally modified, with low specificity nouns eliciting a much larger effect. We conclude that these findings are compatible with an account in which the specificity and composition effects arise from a shared mechanism of meaning specification. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  19. Uncinate fasciculus fiber tracking in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy. Initial findings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Rodrigo, S.; Oppenheim, C.; Meder, J.F.; Chassoux, F.; Golestani, N.; Cointepas, Y.; Poupon, C.; Semah, F.; Mangin, J.F.; Le Bihan, D.

    2007-01-01

    In temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) due to hippocampal sclerosis (HS), ictal discharge spread to the frontal and insulo-perisylvian cortex is commonly observed. The implication of white matter pathways in this propagation has not been investigated. We compared diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) measurements along the uncinate fasciculus (UF), a major tract connecting the frontal and temporal lobes, in patients and controls. Ten right-handed patients referred for intractable TLE due to a right HS were investigated on a 1.5-T MR scanner including a DTI sequence. All patients had interictal fluorodeoxyglucose PET showing an ipsilateral temporal hypometabolism associated with insular and frontal or perisylvian hypometabolism. The controls consisted of ten right-handed healthy subjects. UF fiber tracking was performed, and its fractional anisotropy (FA) values were compared between patients and controls, separately for the right and left UF. The left-minus-right FA UF asymmetry index was computed to test for intergroup differences. Asymmetries were found in the control group with right-greater-than-left FA. This asymmetrical pattern was lost in the patient group. Right FA values were lower in patients with right HS versus controls. Although preliminary, these findings may be related to the preferential pathway of seizure spread from the mesial temporal lobe to frontal and insulo-perisylvian areas. (orig.)

  20. Uncinate fasciculus fiber tracking in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy. Initial findings

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Rodrigo, S.; Oppenheim, C.; Meder, J.F. [Universite Paris-Descartes, Faculte de Medecine, Centre Hospitalier Sainte-Anne, Departement d' Imagerie Morphologique et Fonctionnelle, Paris (France); Chassoux, F. [Universite Paris-Descartes, Faculte de Medecine, Service de Neurochirurgie, Centre Hospitalier Sainte-Anne, Paris (France); Golestani, N.; Cointepas, Y.; Poupon, C.; Semah, F.; Mangin, J.F.; Le Bihan, D. [Service Hospitalier Frederic Joliot, CEA, Orsay (France)

    2007-07-15

    In temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) due to hippocampal sclerosis (HS), ictal discharge spread to the frontal and insulo-perisylvian cortex is commonly observed. The implication of white matter pathways in this propagation has not been investigated. We compared diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) measurements along the uncinate fasciculus (UF), a major tract connecting the frontal and temporal lobes, in patients and controls. Ten right-handed patients referred for intractable TLE due to a right HS were investigated on a 1.5-T MR scanner including a DTI sequence. All patients had interictal fluorodeoxyglucose PET showing an ipsilateral temporal hypometabolism associated with insular and frontal or perisylvian hypometabolism. The controls consisted of ten right-handed healthy subjects. UF fiber tracking was performed, and its fractional anisotropy (FA) values were compared between patients and controls, separately for the right and left UF. The left-minus-right FA UF asymmetry index was computed to test for intergroup differences. Asymmetries were found in the control group with right-greater-than-left FA. This asymmetrical pattern was lost in the patient group. Right FA values were lower in patients with right HS versus controls. Although preliminary, these findings may be related to the preferential pathway of seizure spread from the mesial temporal lobe to frontal and insulo-perisylvian areas. (orig.)

  1. Three cases of temporal bone osteoradionecrosis after nasopharyngeal carcinoma treatment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yamatodani, Takashi; Mizuta, Kunihiro; Nakanishi, Hiroshi; Takizawa, Yoshinori; Hosokawa, Kumiko; Hosokawa, Seiji; Mineta, Hiroyuki

    2012-01-01

    Osteoradionecrosis is most commonly caused by radiation-induced injury. We report on 3 cases of temporal bone necrosis that occurred after chemoradiotherapy for nasopharyngeal carcinoma performed more than 10 years previously. Case 1 was a 42-year-old woman who had nasopharyngeal carcinoma in 1991. The patient underwent chemoradiotherapy (70 Gy total) in 1991, and gamma knife irradiation (20 Gy) in 1998 for local recurrence. The bone in the posterior wall of the left external auditory canal began to be exposed in 2003. Otorrhea from the left ear increased and we found a skin defect and ulcer formation in the postauricular region. We performed radical mastoidectomy and debridement on April, 2010. The area of the defect was covered and filled in with a pedicle musculoperiosteal flap. The intra-aural skin became dry in 6 months, however, she lost consciousness due to a temporal lobe abscess and underwent an emergency operation on April, 2011. After operation, the patient recovered with no neurological symptoms and infections up to the present date. Case 2 was a 58-year-old man who had nasopharyngeal carcinoma in 2001. The patient underwent chemoradiotherapy (66 Gy total) in 2001, and X knife irradiation (15 Gy) 3 months later due to the remaining tumor. The left posterior ear canal wall collapsed and the tympanic membrane retracted with pooling epithelial debris appearing in 2007. Left facial nerve palsy was seen in December 2010. We performed a mastoidectomy on January, 2011. Cholesteatoma and necrotic granuloma with fragile bone filled the mastoid cavity, and a facial canal bone defect was seen. Bone necrosis with cholesteatoma and inflammatory granuloma was revealed by the pathological examination. The facial palsy improved after the operation. Case 3 was a 59-year-old man who had left abducens palsy with nasopharyngeal carcinoma invading the clivus. The patient underwent chemoradiotherapy (60 Gy total) in 2001, and X knife irradiation (24 Gy) 4 months later for

  2. Dyslexic children lack word selectivity gradients in occipito-temporal and inferior frontal cortex

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    O.A. Olulade

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available fMRI studies using a region-of-interest approach have revealed that the ventral portion of the left occipito-temporal cortex, which is specialized for orthographic processing of visually presented words (and includes the so-called “visual word form area”, VWFA, is characterized by a posterior-to-anterior gradient of increasing selectivity for words in typically reading adults, adolescents, and children (e.g. Brem et al., 2006, 2009. Similarly, the left inferior frontal cortex (IFC has been shown to exhibit a medial-to-lateral gradient of print selectivity in typically reading adults (Vinckier et al., 2007. Functional brain imaging studies of dyslexia have reported relative underactivity in left hemisphere occipito-temporal and inferior frontal regions using whole-brain analyses during word processing tasks. Hence, the question arises whether gradient sensitivities in these regions are altered in dyslexia. Indeed, a region-of-interest analysis revealed the gradient-specific functional specialization in the occipito-temporal cortex to be disrupted in dyslexic children (van der Mark et al., 2009. Building on these studies, we here (1 investigate if a word-selective gradient exists in the inferior frontal cortex in addition to the occipito-temporal cortex in normally reading children, (2 compare typically reading with dyslexic children, and (3 examine functional connections between these regions in both groups. We replicated the previously reported anterior-to-posterior gradient of increasing selectivity for words in the left occipito-temporal cortex in typically reading children, and its absence in the dyslexic children. Our novel finding is the detection of a pattern of increasing selectivity for words along the medial-to-lateral axis of the left inferior frontal cortex in typically reading children and evidence of functional connectivity between the most lateral aspect of this area and the anterior aspects of the occipito-temporal cortex. We

  3. Gait Patterns in Hemiplegic Children with Cerebral Palsy: Comparison of Right and Left Hemiplegia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Galli, Manuela; Cimolin, Veronica; Rigoldi, Chiara; Tenore, Nunzio; Albertini, Giorgio

    2010-01-01

    The aims of this study are to compare quantitatively the gait strategy of the right and left hemiplegic children with Cerebral Palsy (CP) using gait analysis. The gait strategy of 28 right hemiparetic CP (RHG) and 23 left hemiparetic CP (LHG) was compared using gait analysis (spatio-temporal and kinematic parameters) and considering the hemiplegic…

  4. Quantification of the temporal component of left ventricular asynergy by gated cardiac blood pool scans

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Solot, G.; Chevigne, M.; Rigo, P.

    1985-01-01

    Fourier analysis (F) has demonstrated that left ventricular (LV) dysfunction can be analyzed in two separate component: an amplitude (AM) and a temporal (T) component. Although the former dominates in hypokinesis and akinesis, and the latter in dyskinesis, they are almost always associated and combine to determine the clinical form of asynergy (AS). The mechanical consequences of the T component cannot be assessed continuously by F which requires setting of a threshold. In this study, the authors have analyzed the potential of a new index; the stroke volume efficiency (SV Eff) to evaluate the importance of T AS in patients (pts) with coronary artery disease studied by gated blood pool scans. The authors have studied 14 controls, 8 pts with coronary artery disease without infarction, 56 pts with myocardial infarction (MI) and 21 pts with LV aneurysm. The SV Eff was calculated as follows after normalization and smoothing of the series: maximum and minimum images were created first and a LV region of interest was traced using the F AM image. The SV Eff ratio was calculated within the LV region of interest as ''diastolic counts - systolic counts/maximum counts - minimum counts''. The SV Eff in controls was 94% +- 2. The authors conclude that SV Eff provides a quantitative measurement of T component of LV dysfunction and an estimate of the dyskinetic component in pts with LV aneurysm. It should prove useful to study these patients serially

  5. Right hemispheric contributions to fine auditory temporal discriminations: high-density electrical mapping of the duration mismatch negativity (MMN

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Pierfilippo De Sanctis

    2009-04-01

    Full Text Available That language processing is primarily a function of the left hemisphere has led to the supposition that auditory temporal discrimination is particularly well-tuned in the left hemisphere, since speech discrimination is thought to rely heavily on the registration of temporal transitions. However, physiological data have not consistently supported this view. Rather, functional imaging studies often show equally strong, if not stronger, contributions from the right hemisphere during temporal processing tasks, suggesting a more complex underlying neural substrate. The mismatch negativity (MMN component of the human auditory evoked-potential (AEP provides a sensitive metric of duration processing in human auditory cortex and lateralization of MMN can be readily assayed when sufficiently dense electrode arrays are employed. Here, the sensitivity of the left and right auditory cortex for temporal processing was measured by recording the MMN to small duration deviants presented to either the left or right ear. We found that duration deviants differing by just 15% (i.e. rare 115 ms tones presented in a stream of 100 ms tones elicited a significant MMN for tones presented to the left ear (biasing the right hemisphere. However, deviants presented to the right ear elicited no detectable MMN for this separation. Further, participants detected significantly more duration deviants and committed fewer false alarms for tones presented to the left ear during a subsequent psychophysical testing session. In contrast to the prevalent model, these results point to equivalent if not greater right hemisphere contributions to temporal processing of small duration changes.

  6. Gray, White Matter Concentration Changes and Their Correlation with Heterotopic Neurons in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Tae, Woo Suk; Joo, Eun Yun; Kim, Sung Tae; Hong, Seung Bong [Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2010-02-15

    To identify changes in gray and white matter concentrations (GMC, WMC), and their relation to heterotopic neuron numbers in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (mTLE). The gray matter or white matter concentrations of 16 left and 15 right mTLE patients who achieved an excellent surgical outcome were compared with those of 24 healthy volunteers for the left group and with 23 healthy volunteers for the right group, by optimized voxel-based morphometry using unmodulated and modulated images. A histologic count of heterotopic neurons was obtained in the white matter of the anterior temporal lobe originating from the patients' surgical specimens. In addition, the number of heterotopic neurons were tested to determine if there was a correlation with the GMC or WMC. The GMCs of the left and right mTLE groups were reduced in the ipsilateral hippocampi, bilateral thalami, precentral gyri, and in the cerebellum. The WMCs were reduced in the ipsilateral white matter of the anterior temporal lobe, bilateral parahippocampal gyri, and internal capsules, but increased in the pons and bilateral precentral gyri. The heterotopic neuron counts in the left mTLE group showed a positive correlation (r = 0.819, p < 0.0001) with GMCs and a negative correlation (r = - 0.839, p < 0.0001) with WMCs in the white matter of the anterior temporal lobe. The present study shows the abnormalities of the cortico-thalamo- hippocampal network including a gray matter volume reduction in the anterior frontal lobes and an abnormality of brain tissue concentration in the pontine area. Furthermore, heterotopic neuron numbers were significantly correlated with GMC or WMC in the left white matter of anterior temporal lobe.

  7. Atypical handedness in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doležalová, Irena; Schachter, Steven; Chrastina, Jan; Hemza, Jan; Hermanová, Markéta; Rektor, Ivan; Pažourková, Marta; Brázdil, Milan

    2017-07-01

    The main aim of our study was to investigate the handedness of patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE). We also sought to identify clinical variables that correlated with left-handedness in this population. Handedness (laterality quotient) was assessed in 73 consecutive patients with MTLE associated with unilateral hippocampal sclerosis (HS) using the Edinburgh Handedness Inventory. Associations between right- and left-handedness and clinical variables were investigated. We found that 54 (74.0%) patients were right-handed, and 19 (26%) patients were left-handed. There were 15 (36.6%) left-handed patients with left-sided seizure onset compared to 4 (12.5%) left-handed patients with right-sided seizure onset (p=0.030). Among patients with left-sided MTLE, age at epilepsy onset was significantly correlated with handedness (8years of age [median; min-max 0.5-17] in left-handers versus 15years of age [median; min-max 3-30] in right-handers (p<0.001). Left-sided MTLE is associated with atypical handedness, especially when seizure onset occurs during an active period of brain development, suggesting a bi-hemispheric neuroplastic process for establishing motor dominance in patients with early-onset left-sided MTLE. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. Reorganization of syntactic processing following left-hemisphere brain damage: does right-hemisphere activity preserve function?

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tyler, Lorraine K; Wright, Paul; Randall, Billi; Marslen-Wilson, William D; Stamatakis, Emmanuel A

    2010-11-01

    The extent to which the human brain shows evidence of functional plasticity across the lifespan has been addressed in the context of pathological brain changes and, more recently, of the changes that take place during healthy ageing. Here we examine the potential for plasticity by asking whether a strongly left-lateralized system can successfully reorganize to the right-hemisphere following left-hemisphere brain damage. To do this, we focus on syntax, a key linguistic function considered to be strongly left-lateralized, combining measures of tissue integrity, neural activation and behavioural performance. In a functional neuroimaging study participants heard spoken sentences that differentially loaded on syntactic and semantic information. While healthy controls activated a left-hemisphere network of correlated activity including Brodmann areas 45/47 and posterior middle temporal gyrus during syntactic processing, patients activated Brodmann areas 45/47 bilaterally and right middle temporal gyrus. However, voxel-based morphometry analyses showed that only tissue integrity in left Brodmann areas 45/47 was correlated with activity and performance; poor tissue integrity in left Brodmann area 45 was associated with reduced functional activity and increased syntactic deficits. Activity in the right-hemisphere was not correlated with damage in the left-hemisphere or with performance. Reduced neural integrity in the left-hemisphere through brain damage or healthy ageing results in increased right-hemisphere activation in homologous regions to those left-hemisphere regions typically involved in the young. However, these regions do not support the same linguistic functions as those in the left-hemisphere and only indirectly contribute to preserved syntactic capacity. This establishes the unique role of the left hemisphere in syntax, a core component in human language.

  9. Cognitive consequences of coexisting temporal lobe developmental malformations and hippocampal sclerosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Martin, R; Dowler, R; Gilliam, F; Faught, E; Morawetz, R; Kuzniecky, R

    1999-09-11

    To characterize patterns of cognitive functioning in a well-defined group of patients with MRI-identified coexisting left temporal lobe developmental malformations (TLDM) and mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS), and to examine neuropsychological outcome in this dual-pathology group following epilepsy surgery. Cognitive functioning in patients with left TLDM and MTS (n = 15) was compared with patients with isolated left MTS (n = 40). TLDM and MTS were identified by high-quality MRI protocol. Patients were administered a battery of neuropsychology tests as part of their presurgical workup for possible epilepsy surgery. Unilateral temporal lobe resection was performed on 10 of the dual-pathology patients and 34 of the isolated MTS patients. Postoperative cognitive performance was also assessed. Both groups displayed impairments in verbal and visual memory, language, and academic achievement. Performance on measures of psychometric intelligence, executive function, and attention were not impaired and were similar between groups. Presence of dual pathology was associated with a significantly less efficient verbal encoding strategy on the word list learning task. Postoperatively, declines were noted for both groups across tasks of verbal memory and language. Groups were not different significantly in terms of neuropsychological outcome after surgery. Patients with coexisting TLDM and MTS have impaired cognitive functioning similar to MTS patients-in particular, with regard to episodic memory and language deficits. Temporal lobe resection produces similar cognitive changes in both groups.

  10. Temporal and extra-temporal hypoperfusion in medial temporal lobe epilepsy evaluated by arterial-spin-labeling based MRI

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shen Lianfang; Zhang Zhiqiang; Lu Guangming; Yuan Cuiping; Wang Zhengge; Wang Haoxue; Huang Wei; Wei Fangyuan; Chen Guanghui; Tan Qifu

    2012-01-01

    Objective: To evaluate the feasibility of the lateralization of unilateral medial temporal lobe epilepsy (mTLE) by using arterial-spin-labeling (ASL) based perfusion MR imaging and investigate the changes of perfusion in the regions related to mTLE network and the relationship between the perfusion and the clinical status. Methods: Twenty-five patients with left-sided and 23 with right-sided mTLE were enrolled, and 30 healthy volunteers were recruited. The cerebral blood flow (CBF) of related region was measured based on pulsed-ASL sequence on Siemens 3 T scanner. The CBF of the mTLE group were compared with that in the controls by using ANOVA analysis. The asymmetric indices of CBF in the medial temporal lobe were calculated as the lesion side compared with the normal side in matched region in mTLE group. Results: Compared with the volunteers, the patients with mTLE showed the decrease of CBF in the bilateral medial and lateral temporal, the frontal and parietal regions relating to the default-mode network and more serious in lesion side. The CBF values of the medial temporal lobe were negatively correlated with the epilepsy duration (r=-0.51, P<0.01). The asymmetric index of CBF as-0.01 has a 76.0% (19/25) sensitivity and a 78.3% (18/23) specificity to distinguish the lesion side. Conclusions: The decrease of CBF in the temporal and extra-temporal region by ASL-based MRI suggests the functional abnormalities in the network involved by mTLE. The ASL technique is a useful tool for lateralizing the unilateral mTLE. (authors)

  11. Study on memories of temporal lobes and the principles of lateralization using near infrared spectroscopy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kamakura, Katsutoshi

    2007-01-01

    In this study we measured the variation of brain blood quantity (Oxy-Hb, Deoxy-Hb and Total-Hb) in the temporal lobes using near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) when the tasks of the memories were presented to the subjects. The memories are classified into the short-term memory (STM) and the long-term memory (LTM) including the episodic and semantic memories. The subjects joined in this study are 11 persons who are university students including graduate students. We used the language task of letter-number sequencing, also reverse sequencing to measure STM and the task of the episodic memory to measure LTM. As a result of analysis, concerning the episodic memory, the variation of Oxy-Hb in the left temporal lobe was larger than that of Oxy-Hb in the right temporal lobe. The result might suggest that the episodic memory has a relationship with cerebral dominance concerning language area in the left temporal lobe. It seems that the episodic memory meditated with the function of language used in this study is much stored in the left temporal lobe than in the right temporal lobe. This result coincides with the principles of lateralization. The variation of Oxy-Hb in the language task of letter-number sequencing was smaller than that of Oxy-Hb in the language task of the episodic memory.

  12. Preoperative MR imaging-based volume measurements of the hippocampal formation and anterior temporal lobe in epileptic patients

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jack, C.R.; Sharbrough, F.W.; Twomey, C.; Zinsmeister, A.R.; Cascino, G.D.; Hirschorn, K.A.; Marsh, W.R.

    1989-01-01

    MR-based volume measurements of the anterior temporal lobe and hippocampal formation were performed in 36 patients who subsequently underwent surgery for medically refractory temporal lobe epilepsy. Seizure lateralization was based on standard clinical and electroencephalographic criteria. No surgical pathologic specimens contained structural lesions; epilepsy in these patients was therefore presumably due to mesial sclerosis. The right-minus-left hippocampal formation volume difference was greater than 0 in all 20 patients operated on the left side and less than 0 in all 16 patients operated on the right side. This difference completely separated the two surgical groups, while the same measurement in a group of 35 normal controls fell between the two surgical groups. Measurements of the anterior temporal to be showed a similar trend but incompletely separated controls, right- and left-sided epileptics. These results suggest that in a significant percentage of cases, MR-based volume measurements correctly identify the unilateral hippocampal atrophy that is known to occur in cases of mesial temporal sclerosis

  13. Coronary artery visibility in free-breathing young children on non-gated chest CT: impact of temporal resolution

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Bridoux, Alexandre; Hutt, Antoine; Faivre, Jean-Baptiste; Pagniez, Julien; Remy, Jacques; Remy-Jardin, Martine [CHRU et Universite de Lille, Department of Thoracic Imaging, Hospital Calmette (EA 2694), 59037 Lille Cedex (France); Flohr, Thomas [Siemens Healthcare, Department of Research and Development in CT, Forchheim (Germany); Duhamel, Alain [Universite de Lille, Department of Biostatistics, Lille (France)

    2015-11-15

    Dual-source CT allows scanning of the chest with high pitch and high temporal resolution, which can improve the detection of proximal coronary arteries in infants and young children when scanned without general anesthesia, sedation or beta-blockade. To compare coronary artery visibility between higher and standard temporal resolution. We analyzed CT images in 93 children who underwent a standard chest CT angiographic examination with reconstruction of images with a temporal resolution of 75 ms (group 1) and 140 ms (group 2). The percentage of detected coronary segments was higher in group 1 than in group 2 when considering all segments (group 1: 27%; group 2: 24%; P = 0.0004) and proximal segments (group 1: 37%; group 2: 32%; P = 0.0006). In both groups, the highest rates of detection were observed for the left main coronary artery (S1) (group 1: 65%; group 2: 58%) and proximal left anterior descending coronary artery (S2) (group 1: 43%; group 2: 42%). Higher rates of detection were seen in group 1 for the left main coronary artery (P = 0.03), proximal right coronary artery (P = 0.01), proximal segments of the left coronary artery (P = 0.02) and proximal segments of the left and right coronary arteries (P = 0.0006). Higher temporal resolution improved the visibility of proximal coronary arteries in pediatric chest CT. (orig.)

  14. Efficient visual object and word recognition relies on high spatial frequency coding in the left posterior fusiform gyrus: evidence from a case-series of patients with ventral occipito-temporal cortex damage.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roberts, Daniel J; Woollams, Anna M; Kim, Esther; Beeson, Pelagie M; Rapcsak, Steven Z; Lambon Ralph, Matthew A

    2013-11-01

    Recent visual neuroscience investigations suggest that ventral occipito-temporal cortex is retinotopically organized, with high acuity foveal input projecting primarily to the posterior fusiform gyrus (pFG), making this region crucial for coding high spatial frequency information. Because high spatial frequencies are critical for fine-grained visual discrimination, we hypothesized that damage to the left pFG should have an adverse effect not only on efficient reading, as observed in pure alexia, but also on the processing of complex non-orthographic visual stimuli. Consistent with this hypothesis, we obtained evidence that a large case series (n = 20) of patients with lesions centered on left pFG: 1) Exhibited reduced sensitivity to high spatial frequencies; 2) demonstrated prolonged response latencies both in reading (pure alexia) and object naming; and 3) were especially sensitive to visual complexity and similarity when discriminating between novel visual patterns. These results suggest that the patients' dual reading and non-orthographic recognition impairments have a common underlying mechanism and reflect the loss of high spatial frequency visual information normally coded in the left pFG.

  15. Composition of complex numbers: Delineating the computational role of the left anterior temporal lobe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Blanco-Elorrieta, Esti; Pylkkänen, Liina

    2016-01-01

    What is the neurobiological basis of our ability to create complex messages with language? Results from multiple methodologies have converged on a set of brain regions as relevant for this general process, but the computational details of these areas remain to be characterized. The left anterior temporal lobe (LATL) has been a consistent node within this network, with results suggesting that although it rather systematically shows increased activation for semantically complex structured stimuli, this effect does not extend to number phrases such as 'three books.' In the present work we used magnetoencephalography to investigate whether numbers in general are an invalid input to the combinatory operations housed in the LATL or whether the lack of LATL engagement for stimuli such as 'three books' is due to the quantificational nature of such phrases. As a relevant test case, we employed complex number terms such as 'twenty-three', where one number term is not a quantifier of the other but rather, the two terms form a type of complex concept. In a number naming paradigm, participants viewed rows of numbers and depending on task instruction, named them as complex number terms ('twenty-three'), numerical quantifications ('two threes'), adjectival modifications ('blue threes') or non-combinatory lists (e.g., 'two, three'). While quantificational phrases failed to engage the LATL as compared to non-combinatory controls, both complex number terms and adjectival modifications elicited a reliable activity increase in the LATL. Our results show that while the LATL does not participate in the enumeration of tokens within a set, exemplified by the quantificational phrases, it does support conceptual combination, including the composition of complex number concepts. Copyright © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  16. Cerebro-cerebellar interactions underlying temporal information processing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Aso, Kenji; Hanakawa, Takashi; Aso, Toshihiko; Fukuyama, Hidenao

    2010-12-01

    The neural basis of temporal information processing remains unclear, but it is proposed that the cerebellum plays an important role through its internal clock or feed-forward computation functions. In this study, fMRI was used to investigate the brain networks engaged in perceptual and motor aspects of subsecond temporal processing without accompanying coprocessing of spatial information. Direct comparison between perceptual and motor aspects of time processing was made with a categorical-design analysis. The right lateral cerebellum (lobule VI) was active during a time discrimination task, whereas the left cerebellar lobule VI was activated during a timed movement generation task. These findings were consistent with the idea that the cerebellum contributed to subsecond time processing in both perceptual and motor aspects. The feed-forward computational theory of the cerebellum predicted increased cerebro-cerebellar interactions during time information processing. In fact, a psychophysiological interaction analysis identified the supplementary motor and dorsal premotor areas, which had a significant functional connectivity with the right cerebellar region during a time discrimination task and with the left lateral cerebellum during a timed movement generation task. The involvement of cerebro-cerebellar interactions may provide supportive evidence that temporal information processing relies on the simulation of timing information through feed-forward computation in the cerebellum.

  17. Insular epilepsy: similarities to temporal lobe epilepsy case report Epilepsia insular: similaridades à epilepsia do lobo temporal - relato de caso

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    ARTHUR CUKIERT

    1998-03-01

    Full Text Available Insular epilepsy has been rarely reported and its clinical and electrographic features are poorly understood. The electrographic study of the insula is difficult since it is hidden from the brain surface by the frontal and temporal lobe. A 48 years-old woman started having simple partial autonomic and complex partial seizures with automatisms and ictal left arm paresis 8 years prior to admission. Seizure's frequency was 1 per week. Pre-operative EEG showed a right temporal lobe focus. Neuropsychological testing disclosed right fronto-temporal dysfunction. MRI showed a right anterior insular cavernous angioma. Intraoperative ECoG obtained after spliting of the sylvian fissure showed independent spiking from the insula and temporal lobe and insular spikes that spread to the temporal lobe. The cavernous angioma and the surrounding gliotic tissue were removed and the temporal lobe was left in place. Post-resection ECoG still disclosed independent temporal and insular spiking with a lower frequency. The patient has been seizure-free since surgery. Insular epilepsy may share many clinical and electroencephalographic features with temporal lobe epilepsy.A epilepsia insular tem sido raramente relatada e suas características clínicas e eletrencefalográficas são pobremente conhecidas. O estudo eletrográfico da ínsula é difícil já que ela se encontra recoberta pelos lobos frontal e temporal. Uma paciente, de 48 anos, começou a ter crises parciais simples autonômicas e crises parciais complexas com automatismos e paresia crítica de membro superior esquerdo 8 anos antes desta internação. A frequência de crises era de 1/semana . O EEG pré-operatório mostrou foco temporal direito. Testagem neuropsicológica demonstrou disfunção fronto-temporal direita. RMN demonstrou cavernoma insular anterior direito. A eletrocorticografia intraoperatória obtida após a abertura da fissura sylviana demonstrou a presença de espículas independentes na

  18. Factors affecting reorganisation of memory encoding networks in temporal lobe epilepsy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sidhu, M.K.; Stretton, J.; Winston, G.P.; Symms, M.; Thompson, P.J.; Koepp, M.J.; Duncan, J.S.

    2015-01-01

    Summary Aims In temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) due to hippocampal sclerosis reorganisation in the memory encoding network has been consistently described. Distinct areas of reorganisation have been shown to be efficient when associated with successful subsequent memory formation or inefficient when not associated with successful subsequent memory. We investigated the effect of clinical parameters that modulate memory functions: age at onset of epilepsy, epilepsy duration and seizure frequency in a large cohort of patients. Methods We studied 53 patients with unilateral TLE and hippocampal sclerosis (29 left). All participants performed a functional magnetic resonance imaging memory encoding paradigm of faces and words. A continuous regression analysis was used to investigate the effects of age at onset of epilepsy, epilepsy duration and seizure frequency on the activation patterns in the memory encoding network. Results Earlier age at onset of epilepsy was associated with left posterior hippocampus activations that were involved in successful subsequent memory formation in left hippocampal sclerosis patients. No association of age at onset of epilepsy was seen with face encoding in right hippocampal sclerosis patients. In both left hippocampal sclerosis patients during word encoding and right hippocampal sclerosis patients during face encoding, shorter duration of epilepsy and lower seizure frequency were associated with medial temporal lobe activations that were involved in successful memory formation. Longer epilepsy duration and higher seizure frequency were associated with contralateral extra-temporal activations that were not associated with successful memory formation. Conclusion Age at onset of epilepsy influenced verbal memory encoding in patients with TLE due to hippocampal sclerosis in the speech-dominant hemisphere. Shorter duration of epilepsy and lower seizure frequency were associated with less disruption of the efficient memory encoding network whilst

  19. Enlarged right superior temporal gyrus in children and adolescents with autism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jou, Roger J; Minshew, Nancy J; Keshavan, Matcheri S; Vitale, Matthew P; Hardan, Antonio Y

    2010-11-11

    The superior temporal gyrus has been implicated in language processing and social perception. Therefore, anatomical abnormalities of this structure may underlie some of the deficits observed in autism, a severe neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by impairments in social interaction and communication. In this study, volumes of the left and right superior temporal gyri were measured using magnetic resonance imaging obtained from 18 boys with high-functioning autism (mean age=13.5±3.4years; full-scale IQ=103.6±13.4) and 19 healthy controls (mean age=13.7±3.0years; full-scale IQ=103.9±10.5), group-matched on age, gender, and handedness. When compared to the control group, right superior temporal gyral volumes was significantly increased in the autism group after controlling for age and total brain volume. There was no significant difference in the volume of the left superior temporal gyrus. Post-hoc analysis revealed a significant increase of the right posterior superior temporal gyral volume in the autism group, before and after controlling for age and total brain volume. Examination of the symmetry index for the superior temporal gyral volumes did not yield statistically significant between-group differences. Findings from this preliminary investigation suggest the existence of volumetric alterations in the right superior temporal gyrus in children and adolescents with autism, providing support for a neuroanatomical basis of the social perceptual deficits characterizing this severe neurodevelopmental disorder. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  20. Cognitive impairments in patients with intractable temporal lobe epilepsy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mahgol Tavakoli

    2011-01-01

    Conclusions: These findings indicated that WMS-III and WAIS-R can differentiate patients with refractory temporal lobe epilepsy from normal subjects. However, the obtained cognitive profile could not differentiate between the right and the left TLE.

  1. 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)

  2. 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).

  3. Topographical gradients of semantics and phonology revealed by temporal lobe stimulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Miozzo, Michele; Williams, Alicia C; McKhann, Guy M; Hamberger, Marla J

    2017-02-01

    Word retrieval is a fundamental component of oral communication, and it is well established that this function is supported by left temporal cortex. Nevertheless, the specific temporal areas mediating word retrieval and the particular linguistic processes these regions support have not been well delineated. Toward this end, we analyzed over 1000 naming errors induced by left temporal cortical stimulation in epilepsy surgery patients. Errors were primarily semantic (lemon → "pear"), phonological (horn → "corn"), non-responses, and delayed responses (correct responses after a delay), and each error type appeared predominantly in a specific region: semantic errors in mid-middle temporal gyrus (TG), phonological errors and delayed responses in middle and posterior superior TG, and non-responses in anterior inferior TG. To the extent that semantic errors, phonological errors and delayed responses reflect disruptions in different processes, our results imply topographical specialization of semantic and phonological processing. Specifically, results revealed an inferior-to-superior gradient, with more superior regions associated with phonological processing. Further, errors were increasingly semantically related to targets toward posterior temporal cortex. We speculate that detailed semantic input is needed to support phonological retrieval, and thus, the specificity of semantic input increases progressively toward posterior temporal regions implicated in phonological processing. Hum Brain Mapp 38:688-703, 2017. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  4. The treatment of malignant ventricular tachycardia by aorto-coronary saphenous vein bypass graft

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ikram, H.; Jeffery, R. M.; Parkins, R. A.; Makey, A. R.; Emery, E. R. J.; Stone, D. L.

    1974-01-01

    A 61-year-old man with a previous cardiac infarction had at least fifteen attacks of ventricular tachycardia which finally did not respond to either drug or electrical therapy. Angiography showed a blocked right coronary artery and a non-contractile portion of postero-inferior left ventricular wall. An aorto to right coronary saphenous vein bypass graft was inserted, and although attacks of tachycardia occurred following the operation these were of short duration and reverted spontaneously. He has been free of tachycardia for 5 weeks, with a greatly improved effort tolerance. ImagesFig. 2Fig. 3

  5. Quantitative Evaluation of Medial Temporal Lobe Morphology in Children with Febrile Status Epilepticus: Results of the FEBSTAT Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McClelland, A C; Gomes, W A; Shinnar, S; Hesdorffer, D C; Bagiella, E; Lewis, D V; Bello, J A; Chan, S; MacFall, J; Chen, M; Pellock, J M; Nordli, D R; Frank, L M; Moshé, S L; Shinnar, R C; Sun, S

    2016-12-01

    The pathogenesis of febrile status epilepticus is poorly understood, but prior studies have suggested an association with temporal lobe abnormalities, including hippocampal malrotation. We used a quantitative morphometric method to assess the association between temporal lobe morphology and febrile status epilepticus. Brain MR imaging was performed in children presenting with febrile status epilepticus and control subjects as part of the Consequences of Prolonged Febrile Seizures in Childhood study. Medial temporal lobe morphologic parameters were measured manually, including the distance of the hippocampus from the midline, hippocampal height:width ratio, hippocampal angle, collateral sulcus angle, and width of the temporal horn. Temporal lobe morphologic parameters were correlated with the presence of visual hippocampal malrotation; the strongest association was with left temporal horn width (P status epilepticus, encompassing both the right and left sides. This association was statistically strongest in the right temporal lobe, whereas hippocampal malrotation was almost exclusively left-sided in this cohort. The association between temporal lobe measurements and febrile status epilepticus persisted when the analysis was restricted to cases with visually normal imaging findings without hippocampal malrotation or other visually apparent abnormalities. Several component morphologic features of hippocampal malrotation are independently associated with febrile status epilepticus, even when complete hippocampal malrotation is absent. Unexpectedly, this association predominantly involves the right temporal lobe. These findings suggest that a spectrum of bilateral temporal lobe anomalies are associated with febrile status epilepticus in children. Hippocampal malrotation may represent a visually apparent subset of this spectrum. © 2016 by American Journal of Neuroradiology.

  6. Assessment of cardiac performance with quantitative radionuclide angiocardiography: sequential left ventricular ejection fraction, normalized left ventricular ejection rate, and regional wall motion

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Marshall, R.C.; Berger, H.J.; Costin, J.C.; Freedman, G.S.; Wolberg, J.; Cohen, L.S.; Gotischalk, A.; Zaret, B.L.

    1977-01-01

    Sequential quantitative first pass radionuclide angiocardiograms (RA) were used to measure left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and left ventricular ejection rate (LVER), and to assess regional wall motion (RWM) in the anterior (ANT) and left anterior oblique (LAO) positions. Studies were obtained with a computerized multicrystal scintillation camera suitable for acquiring high count-rate data. Background was determined in a new fashion by selecting frames temporally from the left ventricular region of interest time-activity curve. A ''representative'' cardiac cycle was formed by summing together counts over three to six cardiac cycles. From this background corrected, high count-rate ''representative''cardiac cycle, LVEF, LVER, and RWM were determined. In 22 patients with normal sinus rhythm in the absence of significant valvular regurgitation, RA LVEF correlated well with that measured by contrast angiography (r = 0.95). LVER correlated well with LVEF measured at contrast angiography (r = 0.90) and allowed complete separation of those with normal (LVER = 3.4 +- 0.17 sec -1 ) and abnormal (LVER = 1.22 +- 0.11 sec -1 ) (P < 0.001) left ventricular performance. This separation was independent of background. Isoproterenol infusion in five normal subjects caused LVER to increase by 81 +- 17% while LVEF increased by 10 +- 2.0%. RWM was correctly defined in 21/22 patients and 89% of left ventricular segments with abnormal wall motion

  7. Task-based and resting-state fMRI reveal compensatory network changes following damage to left inferior frontal gyrus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hallam, Glyn P; Thompson, Hannah E; Hymers, Mark; Millman, Rebecca E; Rodd, Jennifer M; Lambon Ralph, Matthew A; Smallwood, Jonathan; Jefferies, Elizabeth

    2018-02-01

    Damage to left inferior prefrontal cortex in stroke aphasia is associated with semantic deficits reflecting poor control over conceptual retrieval, as opposed to loss of knowledge. However, little is known about how functional recruitment within the semantic network changes in patients with executive-semantic deficits. The current study acquired functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from 14 patients with semantic aphasia, who had difficulty with flexible semantic retrieval following left prefrontal damage, and 16 healthy age-matched controls, allowing us to examine activation and connectivity in the semantic network. We examined neural activity while participants listened to spoken sentences that varied in their levels of lexical ambiguity and during rest. We found group differences in two regions thought to be good candidates for functional compensation: ventral anterior temporal lobe (vATL), which is strongly implicated in comprehension, and posterior middle temporal gyrus (pMTG), which is hypothesized to work together with left inferior prefrontal cortex to support controlled aspects of semantic retrieval. The patients recruited both of these sites more than controls in response to meaningful sentences. Subsequent analysis identified that, in control participants, the recruitment of pMTG to ambiguous sentences was inversely related to functional coupling between pMTG and anterior superior temporal gyrus (aSTG) at rest, while the patients showed the opposite pattern. Moreover, stronger connectivity between pMTG and aSTG in patients was associated with better performance on a test of verbal semantic association, suggesting that this temporal lobe connection supports comprehension in the face of damage to left inferior prefrontal cortex. These results characterize network changes in patients with executive-semantic deficits and converge with studies of healthy participants in providing evidence for a distributed system underpinning semantic control that

  8. A follow-up MRI study of the fusiform gyrus and middle and inferior temporal gyri in schizophrenia spectrum.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Takahashi, Tsutomu; Zhou, Shi-Yu; Nakamura, Kazue; Tanino, Ryoichiro; Furuichi, Atsushi; Kido, Mikio; Kawasaki, Yasuhiro; Noguchi, Kyo; Seto, Hikaru; Kurachi, Masayoshi; Suzuki, Michio

    2011-12-01

    While longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies have demonstrated progressive gray matter reduction of the superior temporal gyrus (STG) during the early phases of schizophrenia, it remains largely unknown whether other temporal lobe structures also exhibit similar progressive changes and whether these changes, if present, are specific to schizophrenia among the spectrum disorders. In this longitudinal MRI study, the gray matter volumes of the fusiform, middle temporal, and inferior temporal gyri were measured at baseline and follow-up scans (mean inter-scan interval=2.7 years) in 18 patients with first-episode schizophrenia, 13 patients with schizotypal disorder, and 20 healthy controls. Both schizophrenia and schizotypal patients had a smaller fusiform gyrus than controls bilaterally at both time points, whereas no group difference was found in the middle and inferior temporal gyri. In the longitudinal comparison, the schizophrenia patients showed significant fusiform gyrus reduction (left, -2.6%/year; right, -2.3%/year) compared with schizotypal patients (left: -0.4%/year; right: -0.2%/year) and controls (left: 0.1%/year; right: 0.0%/year). However, the middle and inferior temporal gyri did not exhibit significant progressive gray matter change in all diagnostic groups. In the schizophrenia patients, a higher cumulative dose of antipsychotics during follow-up was significantly correlated with less severe gray matter reduction in the left fusiform gyrus. The annual gray matter loss of the fusiform gyrus did not correlate with that of the STG previously reported in the same subjects. Our findings suggest regional specificity of the progressive gray matter reduction in the temporal lobe structures, which might be specific to overt schizophrenia within the schizophrenia spectrum. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  9. Right anterior temporal lobe dysfunction underlies theory of mind impairments in semantic dementia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Irish, Muireann; Hodges, John R; Piguet, Olivier

    2014-04-01

    Semantic dementia is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder characterized by the amodal and profound loss of semantic knowledge attributable to the degeneration of the left anterior temporal lobe. Although traditionally conceptualized as a language disorder, patients with semantic dementia display significant alterations in behaviour and socioemotional functioning. Recent evidence points to an impaired capacity for theory of mind in predominantly left-lateralized cases of semantic dementia; however, it remains unclear to what extent semantic impairments contribute to these deficits. Further the neuroanatomical signature of such disturbance remains unknown. Here, we sought to determine the neural correlates of theory of mind performance in patients with left predominant semantic dementia (n=11), in contrast with disease-matched cases with behavioural-variant frontotemporal dementia (n=10) and Alzheimer's disease (n=10), and healthy older individuals (n=14) as control participants. Participants completed a simple cartoons task, in which they were required to describe physical and theory of mind scenarios. Irrespective of subscale, patients with semantic dementia exhibited marked impairments relative to control subjects; however, only theory of mind deficits persisted when we covaried for semantic comprehension. Voxel-based morphometry analyses revealed that atrophy in right anterior temporal lobe structures, including the right temporal fusiform cortex, right inferior temporal gyrus, bilateral temporal poles and amygdalae, correlated significantly with theory of mind impairments in the semantic dementia group. Our results point to the marked disruption of cognitive functions beyond the language domain in semantic dementia, not exclusively attributable to semantic processing impairments. The significant involvement of right anterior temporal structures suggests that with disease evolution, the encroachment of pathology into the contralateral hemisphere heralds the

  10. Cortical Activation during a Cognitive Challenge in Patients with Chronic Temporal Lobe Epilepsy—A Dynamic SPECT Study

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    P. J. Kirkpatrick

    1993-01-01

    Full Text Available In a pilot group of six patients suffering from chronic temporal lobe epilepsy, single photon emission computerized tomography (SPECT has been used to image the changes in relative cerebral blood flow between rest (static scan and conditions of cognitive activation (activated scan. The cognitive challenge used during activation comprised a test of word memory, and the performance was expressed as a word memory score (WMS for each individual. An activation index (AI was calculated from the mean normalized density counts in specific regions of interest (ROIs, and values obtained were analysed for correlation with the WMS. The mean AI was increased significantly in the right lateral temporal cortex, the right and left inferior frontal regions, the left temporal pole, and the right medial temporal cortex. A positive correlation with the WMS was found in the medial temporal cortices, and this relationship was significant for the right medial temporal ROI.

  11. Altered organization of face processing networks in temporal lobe epilepsy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riley, Jeffrey D.; Fling, Brett W.; Cramer, Steven C.; Lin, Jack J.

    2015-01-01

    SUMMARY Objective Deficits in social cognition are common and significant in people with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), but the functional and structural underpinnings remain unclear. The present study investigated how the side of seizure focus impacts face processing networks in temporal lobe epilepsy. Methods We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of a face processing paradigm to identify face responsive regions in 24 individuals with unilateral temporal lobe epilepsy (Left = 15; Right = 9) and 19 healthy controls. fMRI signals of face responsive regions ispilateral and contralateral to the side of seizure onset were delineated in TLE and compared to the healthy controls with right and left side combined. Diffusion tensor images were acquired to investigate structural connectivity between face regions that differed in fMRI signals between the two groups. Results In temporal lobe epilepsy, activation of the cortical face processing networks varied according to side of seizure onset. In temporal lobe epilepsy, the laterality of amygdala activation was shifted to the side contralateral to the seizure focus while controls showed no significant asymmetry. Furthermore, compared to controls, patients with TLE showed decreased activation of the occipital face responsive region in the ipsilateral side and an increased activity of the anterior temporal lobe in the contralateral side to the seizure focus. Probabilistic tractography revealed that the occipital face area and anterior temporal lobe are connected via the inferior longitudinal fasciculus, which in individuals with temporal lobe epilepsy showed reduced integrity. Significance Taken together, these findings suggest that brain function and white matter integrity of networks subserving face processing are impaired on the side of seizure onset, accompanied by altered responses on the side contralateral to the seizure. PMID:25823855

  12. Bilingualism protects anterior temporal lobe integrity in aging.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Abutalebi, Jubin; Canini, Matteo; Della Rosa, Pasquale A; Sheung, Lo Ping; Green, David W; Weekes, Brendan S

    2014-09-01

    Cerebral gray-matter volume (GMV) decreases in normal aging but the extent of the decrease may be experience-dependent. Bilingualism may be one protective factor and in this article we examine its potential protective effect on GMV in a region that shows strong age-related decreases-the left anterior temporal pole. This region is held to function as a conceptual hub and might be expected to be a target of plastic changes in bilingual speakers because of the requirement for these speakers to store and differentiate lexical concepts in 2 languages to guide speech production and comprehension processes. In a whole brain comparison of bilingual speakers (n = 23) and monolingual speakers (n = 23), regressing out confounding factors, we find more extensive age-related decreases in GMV in the monolingual brain and significantly increased GMV in left temporal pole for bilingual speakers. Consistent with a specific neuroprotective effect of bilingualism, region of interest analyses showed a significant positive correlation between naming performance in the second language and GMV in this region. The effect appears to be bilateral though because there was a nonsignificantly different effect of naming performance on GMV in the right temporal pole. Our data emphasize the vulnerability of the temporal pole to normal aging and the value of bilingualism as both a general and specific protective factor to GMV decreases in healthy aging. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. Levels of word processing and incidental memory: dissociable mechanisms in the temporal lobe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Castillo, E M; Simos, P G; Davis, R N; Breier, J; Fitzgerald, M E; Papanicolaou, A C

    2001-11-16

    Word recall is facilitated when deep (e.g. semantic) processing is applied during encoding. This fact raises the question of the existence of specific brain mechanisms supporting different levels of information processing that can modulate incidental memory performance. In this study we obtained spatiotemporal brain activation profiles, using magnetic source imaging, from 10 adult volunteers as they performed a shallow (phonological) processing task and a deep (semantic) processing task. When phonological analysis of the word stimuli into their constituent phonemes was required, activation was largely restricted to the posterior portion of the left superior temporal gyrus (area 22). Conversely, when access to lexical/semantic representations was required, activation was found predominantly in the left middle temporal gyrus and medial temporal cortex. The differential engagement of each mechanism during word encoding was associated with dramatic changes in subsequent incidental memory performance.

  14. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) based assessment of gray matter loss in medial temporal lobe epilepsy; comparison with FDG PET

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kang, Hye Jin; Lee, Ho Young; Lee, Jae Sung; Kang, Eun Joo; Lee, Sang Gun; Chang, Kee Hyun; Lee, Dong Soo

    2004-01-01

    The aims of this study were to find brain regions in which gray matter volume was reduced and to show the capability of voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analysis for lateralizing epileptogenic zones in medial temporal lobe epilepsy (mTLE). The findings were compared with fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG PET). MR T1-weighted images of 12 left mTLE and 11 right mTLE patients were compared with those of 37 normal controls. Images were transformed to standard MNI space and averaged in order to create study-specific brain template. Each image was normalized to this local template and brain tissues were segmented. Modulation VBM analysis was performed in order to observe gray matter volume change. Gray matter was smoothed with a Gaussian kernel. After these preprocessing, statistical analysis was performed using statistical parametric mapping software (SPM99). FDG PET images were compared with those of 22 normal controls using SPM. Gray matter volume was significantly reduced in the left amygdala and hippocampus in left mTLE. In addition, volume of cerebellum, anterior cingulate, and fusiform gyrus in both sides and left insula was reduced. In right mTLE, volume was reduced significantly in right hippocampus. In contrast, FDG uptake was decreased in broad areas of left or right temporal lobes in left TLE and right TLE, respectively. Gray matter loss was found in the ipsilateral hippocampus by modulation VBM analysis in medial temporal lobe epilepsy. This VBM analysis might be useful in lateralizing the epileptogenic zones in medial temporal lobe epilepsy, while SPM analysis of FDG PET disclosed hypometabolic epileptogenic zones

  15. Voxel-based morphometry (VBM) based assessment of gray matter loss in medial temporal lobe epilepsy; comparison with FDG PET

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kang, Hye Jin; Lee, Ho Young; Lee, Jae Sung; Kang, Eun Joo; Lee, Sang Gun; Chang, Kee Hyun; Lee, Dong Soo [College of Medicine, Seoul National Univ., Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2004-02-01

    The aims of this study were to find brain regions in which gray matter volume was reduced and to show the capability of voxel-based morphometry (VBM) analysis for lateralizing epileptogenic zones in medial temporal lobe epilepsy (mTLE). The findings were compared with fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG PET). MR T1-weighted images of 12 left mTLE and 11 right mTLE patients were compared with those of 37 normal controls. Images were transformed to standard MNI space and averaged in order to create study-specific brain template. Each image was normalized to this local template and brain tissues were segmented. Modulation VBM analysis was performed in order to observe gray matter volume change. Gray matter was smoothed with a Gaussian kernel. After these preprocessing, statistical analysis was performed using statistical parametric mapping software (SPM99). FDG PET images were compared with those of 22 normal controls using SPM. Gray matter volume was significantly reduced in the left amygdala and hippocampus in left mTLE. In addition, volume of cerebellum, anterior cingulate, and fusiform gyrus in both sides and left insula was reduced. In right mTLE, volume was reduced significantly in right hippocampus. In contrast, FDG uptake was decreased in broad areas of left or right temporal lobes in left TLE and right TLE, respectively. Gray matter loss was found in the ipsilateral hippocampus by modulation VBM analysis in medial temporal lobe epilepsy. This VBM analysis might be useful in lateralizing the epileptogenic zones in medial temporal lobe epilepsy, while SPM analysis of FDG PET disclosed hypometabolic epileptogenic zones.

  16. The acquisition of face and person identity information following anterior temporal lobectomy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Moran, Maria; Seidenberg, Michael; Sabsevitz, Dave; Swanson, Sara; Hermann, Bruce

    2005-05-01

    Thirty unilateral anterior temporal lobectomy (ATL) subjects (15 right and 15 left) and 15 controls were presented a multitrial learning task in which unfamiliar faces were paired with biographical information (occupation, city location, and a person's name). Face recognition hits were similar between groups, but the right ATL group committed more false-positive errors to face foils. Both left and right ATL groups were impaired relative to controls in acquiring biographical information, but the deficit was more pronounced for the left ATL group. Recall levels also varied for the different types of biographical information; occupation was most commonly recalled followed by city name and person name. In addition, city and person name recall was more likely when occupation was also recalled. Overall, recall of biographical information was positively correlated with clinical measures of anterograde episodic memory. Findings are discussed in terms of the role of the temporal lobe and associative learning ability in the successful acquisition of new face semantic (biographical) representations.

  17. Levels of Processing with Free and Cued Recall and Unilateral Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lespinet-Najib, Veronique; N'Kaoua, Bernard; Sauzeon, Helene; Bresson, Christel; Rougier, Alain; Claverie, Bernard

    2004-01-01

    This study investigates the role of the temporal lobes in levels-of-processing tasks (phonetic and semantic encoding) according to the nature of recall tasks (free and cued recall). These tasks were administered to 48 patients with unilateral temporal epilepsy (right ''RTLE''=24; left ''LTLE''=24) and a normal group (n=24). The results indicated…

  18. An MRI Study of Superior Temporal Gyrus Volume in Women With Schizotypal Personality Disorder

    OpenAIRE

    Dickey, Chandlee C.; McCarley, Robert William; Voglmaier, Martina M.; Niznikiewicz, Margaret A.; Seidman, Larry Joel; Demeo, Susan; Frumin, Melissa; Shenton, Martha Elizabeth

    2003-01-01

    Objective: An abnormal superior temporal gyrus has figured prominently in schizophrenia research, and left superior temporal gyrus volume has been shown to be smaller in male subjects with schizotypal personality disorder. This is the first structural magnetic resonance imaging study to examine a group of female subjects with schizotypal personality disorder. Method: The superior temporal gyrus was drawn on coronal images acquired from female subjects recruited from the community (schizotypal...

  19. Multimodal imaging of temporal processing in typical and atypical language development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kovelman, Ioulia; Wagley, Neelima; Hay, Jessica S F; Ugolini, Margaret; Bowyer, Susan M; Lajiness-O'Neill, Renee; Brennan, Jonathan

    2015-03-01

    New approaches to understanding language and reading acquisition propose that the human brain's ability to synchronize its neural firing rate to syllable-length linguistic units may be important to children's ability to acquire human language. Yet, little evidence from brain imaging studies has been available to support this proposal. Here, we summarize three recent brain imaging (functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and magnetoencephalography (MEG)) studies from our laboratories with young English-speaking children (aged 6-12 years). In the first study (fNIRS), we used an auditory beat perception task to show that, in children, the left superior temporal gyrus (STG) responds preferentially to rhythmic beats at 1.5 Hz. In the second study (fMRI), we found correlations between children's amplitude rise-time sensitivity, phonological awareness, and brain activation in the left STG. In the third study (MEG), typically developing children outperformed children with autism spectrum disorder in extracting words from rhythmically rich foreign speech and displayed different brain activation during the learning phase. The overall findings suggest that the efficiency with which left temporal regions process slow temporal (rhythmic) information may be important for gains in language and reading proficiency. These findings carry implications for better understanding of the brain's mechanisms that support language and reading acquisition during both typical and atypical development. © 2014 New York Academy of Sciences.

  20. Task activation and functional connectivity show concordant memory laterality in temporal lobe epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sideman, Noah; Chaitanya, Ganne; He, Xiaosong; Doucet, Gaelle; Kim, Na Young; Sperling, Michael R; Sharan, Ashwini D; Tracy, Joseph I

    2018-04-01

    In epilepsy, asymmetries in the organization of mesial temporal lobe (MTL) functions help determine the cognitive risk associated with procedures such as anterior temporal lobectomy. Past studies have investigated the change/shift in a visual episodic memory laterality index (LI) in mesial temporal lobe structures through functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) task activations. Here, we examine whether underlying task-related functional connectivity (FC) is concordant with such standard fMRI laterality measures. A total of 56 patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) (Left TLE [LTLE]: 31; Right TLE [RTLE]: 25) and 34 matched healthy controls (HC) underwent fMRI scanning during performance of a scene encoding task (SET). We assessed an activation-based LI of the hippocampal gyrus (HG) and parahippocampal gyrus (PHG) during the SET and its correspondence with task-related FC measures. Analyses involving the HG and PHG showed that the patients with LTLE had a consistently higher LI (right-lateralized) than that of the HC and group with RTLE, indicating functional reorganization. The patients with RTLE did not display a reliable contralateral shift away from the pathology, with the mesial structures showing quite distinct laterality patterns (HG, no laterality bias; PHG, no evidence of LI shift). The FC data for the group with LTLE provided confirmation of reorganization effects, revealing that a rightward task LI may be based on underlying connections between several left-sided regions (middle/superior occipital and left medial frontal gyri) and the right PHG. The FCs between the right HG and left anterior cingulate/medial frontal gyri were also observed in LTLE. Importantly, the data demonstrate that the areas involved in the LTLE task activation shift to the right hemisphere showed a corresponding increase in task-related FCs between the hemispheres. Altered laterality patterns based on mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) pathology manifest as several

  1. Comparison of IMP-SPECT findings to subtest scores of Wechsler intelligence adult Scale-Revised in temporal lobe epilepsy patients

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kan, Rumiko; Uejima, Masahiko; Kaneko, Yuko; Miyamoto, Yuriko; Watabe, Manabu; Takahashi, Ruriko; Niwa, Shin-ichi; Shishido, Fumio [Fukushima Medical Coll. (Japan)

    1998-02-01

    In this study, 40 temporal lobe epilepsy patients were assessed, using the Laterality Index (LI) of ROI values in IMP-SPECT findings, Wechsler adult intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) and subtest scores. LIs of the frontal, temporal and occipital lobes were calculated as follows: the ROI values on the right side were subtracted from those on the left, and the results was divided by the sum of the ROI values on the right and left sides. The individual subtest scores on WAIS-R were standardized by all evaluation scores in order to exclude the influence of differences in intelligence level as much as possible. The results were as follows: there was a positive correlation (r=0.74, p<0.001) between LI values and the performance in Arithmetic in the left temporal lobe hypoperfusion group. And there was a positive correlation (r=0.50, p<0.02) between LI values and the performance in Vocabulary in the left temporal lobe hypoperfusion group. In the right occipital lobe hypoperfusion group, there was a negative correlation (r=-O.44, p

  2. Comparison of IMP-SPECT findings to subtest scores of Wechsler intelligence adult Scale-Revised in temporal lobe epilepsy patients

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kan, Rumiko; Uejima, Masahiko; Kaneko, Yuko; Miyamoto, Yuriko; Watabe, Manabu; Takahashi, Ruriko; Niwa, Shin-ichi; Shishido, Fumio

    1998-01-01

    In this study, 40 temporal lobe epilepsy patients were assessed, using the Laterality Index (LI) of ROI values in IMP-SPECT findings, Wechsler adult intelligence Scale-Revised (WAIS-R) and subtest scores. LIs of the frontal, temporal and occipital lobes were calculated as follows: the ROI values on the right side were subtracted from those on the left, and the results was divided by the sum of the ROI values on the right and left sides. The individual subtest scores on WAIS-R were standardized by all evaluation scores in order to exclude the influence of differences in intelligence level as much as possible. The results were as follows: there was a positive correlation (r=0.74, p<0.001) between LI values and the performance in Arithmetic in the left temporal lobe hypoperfusion group. And there was a positive correlation (r=0.50, p<0.02) between LI values and the performance in Vocabulary in the left temporal lobe hypoperfusion group. In the right occipital lobe hypoperfusion group, there was a negative correlation (r=-O.44, p< O.05) between LI values and the performance in Coding. It is suggested that decreased blood flow areas detected by SPECT might influence brain function. (author)

  3. Congenital pial arteriovenous fistula in the temporal region draining into cavernous sinus: A case report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Zhang, Ziyin; Wang, Chaohua; Zhang, Changwei; Xie, Xiaodong; Wang, Kun; Tang, Jianjian

    2013-01-01

    This report concerns a 4-month-old infant with progressive prominent and redness of his left eye since birth. This report concerns a 4-month-old infant with progressive prominent redness of his left eye since birth. Angiography revealed a congenital pial arteriovenous fistula between the temporal branch of the left posterior cerebral artery and left cavernous sinus through the sphenoparietal sinus, a condition not reported in the literature. The fistula was successfully occluded with two micro-coils by vertebrobasilar approach.

  4. Abstract Linguistic Structure Correlates with Temporal Activity during Naturalistic Comprehension

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brennan, Jonathan R.; Stabler, Edward P.; Van Wagenen, Sarah E.; Luh, Wen-Ming; Hale, John T.

    2016-01-01

    Neurolinguistic accounts of sentence comprehension identify a network of relevant brain regions, but do not detail the information flowing through them. We investigate syntactic information. Does brain activity implicate a computation over hierarchical grammars or does it simply reflect linear order, as in a Markov chain? To address this question, we quantify the cognitive states implied by alternative parsing models. We compare processing-complexity predictions from these states against fMRI timecourses from regions that have been implicated in sentence comprehension. We find that hierarchical grammars independently predict timecourses from left anterior and posterior temporal lobe. Markov models are predictive in these regions and across a broader network that includes the inferior frontal gyrus. These results suggest that while linear effects are wide-spread across the language network, certain areas in the left temporal lobe deal with abstract, hierarchical syntactic representations. PMID:27208858

  5. Visual paired-associate learning: in search of material-specific effects in adult patients who have undergone temporal lobectomy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Smith, Mary Lou; Bigel, Marla; Miller, Laurie A

    2011-02-01

    The mesial temporal lobes are important for learning arbitrary associations. It has previously been demonstrated that left mesial temporal structures are involved in learning word pairs, but it is not yet known whether comparable lesions in the right temporal lobe impair visually mediated associative learning. Patients who had undergone left (n=16) or right (n=18) temporal lobectomy for relief of intractable epilepsy and healthy controls (n=13) were administered two paired-associate learning tasks assessing their learning and memory of pairs of abstract designs or pairs of symbols in unique locations. Both patient groups had deficits in learning the designs, but only the right temporal group was impaired in recognition. For the symbol location task, differences were not found in learning, but again a recognition deficit was found for the right temporal group. The findings implicate the mesial temporal structures in relational learning. They support a material-specific effect for recognition but not for learning and recall of arbitrary visual and visual-spatial associative information. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. A Direct Carotid-Cavernous Fistula due to Penetrating Trauma by a Knitting Needle to the Temporal Region

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Selcuk Gocmen

    2012-08-01

    Full Text Available Traumatic carotid-cavernous and #64257;stulas (CCF usually occur after closed head injuries. In addition, CCFs can also be caused by penetrating injuries with stab or gunshot injuries. We present the case of traumatic CCF that was caused with a knitting needle directly penetrating through the temporal region. A 46-year-old man consulted with a progressive left swollen eye. His head computed tomography (CT revealed a left temporal lobe contusion and fracture of the left temporal bone. Digital subtraction angiography (DSA showed a direct high-flow fistula (Type-A lesion. After the balloon occlusion test, which was well tolerated by the patient, the internal carotid artery was occluded by the interventional radiologist. A review of the literature demonstrated that all of the traumatic CCFs occurred due to penetrating stab injuries through the orbita. To our knowledge, such a case has not been previously reported. [Arch Clin Exp Surg 2012; 1(4.000: 261-264

  7. Evaluation of seizure propagation on ictal brain SPECT using statistical parametric mapping in temporal lobe epilepsy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jeon, Tae Joo; Lee, Jong Doo; Kim, Hee Joung; Lee, Byung In; Kim, Ok Joon; Kim, Min Jung; Jeon, Jeong Dong

    1999-01-01

    Ictal brain SPECT has a high diagnostic sensitivity exceeding 90 % in the localization of seizure focus, however, it often shows increased uptake within the extratemporal areas due to early propagation of seizure discharge. This study aimed to evaluate seizure propagation on ictal brian SPECT in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) by statistical parametric mapping (SPM). Twenty-one patients (age 27.14 5.79 y) with temporal lobe epilepsy (right in 8, left in 13) who had successful seizure outcome after surgery and nine normal control were included. The data of ictal and interictal brain SPECT of the patients and baseline SPECT of normal control group were analyzed using automatic image registration and SPM96 softwares. The statistical analysis was performed to compare the mean SPECT image of normal group with individual ictal SPECT, and each mean image of the interictal groups of the right or left TLE with individual ictal scans. The t statistic SPM [t] was transformed to SPM [Z] with a threshold of 1.64. The statistical results were displayed and rendered on the reference 3 dimensional MRI images with P value of 0.05 and uncorrected extent threshold p value of 0.5 for SPM [Z]. SPM data demonstrated increased uptake within the epileptic lesion in 19 patients (90.4 %), among them, localized increased uptake confined to the epileptogenic lesion was seen in only 4 (19%) but 15 patients (71.4%) showed hyperperfusion within propagation sites. Bi-temporal hyperperfusion was observed in 11 out of 19 patients (57.9%, 5 in the right and 6 in the left); higher uptake within the lesion than contralateral side in 9, similar activity in 1 and higher uptake within contralateral lobe in one. Extra-temporal hyperperfusion was observed in 8 (2 in the right, 3 in the left, 3 in bilateral); unilateral hyperperfusion within the epileptogenic temporal lobe and extra-temporal area in 4, bi-temporal with extra-temporal hyperperfusion in remaining 4. Ictal brain SPECT is highly

  8. Measuring the volume of temporal lobe in healthy Chinese adults of the Han nationality on the high-resolution MRI

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jia Kefeng; Wu Li; Duan Hui; Han Dan; Chen Nan; Li Kuncheng

    2010-01-01

    Objective: To explore the morphological features of temporal lobe of healthy Chinese Han adults on the high-resolution MRI and provide morphological data of temporal lobe for the construction of database for Chinese Standard Brain. Methods: This is a clinical multi-center study. Three hundred healthy Chinese volunteers (male 150, and female 150) recruited from 15 hospitals were divided equally into five groups according to their age, i.e., 18-30 (Group A), 31-40 (Group B), 41-50 (Group C), 51- 60(Group D), 61-70(Group E). All subjects were scanned using T 1 WI 3D MPRAGE sequence and volumes of standardized temporal lobe were collected. The bilateral volumes of standardized temporal lobe were compared by variance analysis between male and female subjects and among five age groups. Results: The mean volumes of left and right temporal lobe were (97 126±15 703) mm 3 and (97 015 ± 15 545) mm 3 respectively for men, and (95 123 ± 14 564) mm 3 and (96 423 ± 13 407) mm 3 for women. The difference temporal lobe volume between male and female wasn't significant on the same side (F=1.336, 0.127, P= 0.249, 0.722). The left temporal lobe volumes of Group A-E were (93 873±13 351), (95 566± 11 964), (10 1890 ± 14 511), (93 972 ± 14 050) and (95 636 ± 19 864) mm 3 respectively, and those on the right side were (93 409 ± 10 984), (98 158 ± 16 392), (102 079 ± 15 112), (95 448 ± 11 123) and (94 658 ± 16 928) mm 3 . There were significant differences among 5 groups between left and right temporal lobe volume(F=2.940, 3.514, P=0.021, 0.008). Further pairwise comparison revealed that left and right temporal lobe volume in Group C is higher than those of Group A and D (P 0.05). Conclusion: High-resolution MRI could offer detailed images and precise morphological data of temporal lobe, which provides morphological data of temporal lobe for the construction of database for Chinese Standard Brain. (authors)

  9. Mesial temporal lobe epilepsy diminishes functional connectivity during emotion perception.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Steiger, Bettina K; Muller, Angela M; Spirig, Esther; Toller, Gianina; Jokeit, Hennric

    2017-08-01

    Unilateral mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) has been associated with impaired recognition of emotional facial expressions. Correspondingly, imaging studies showed decreased activity of the amygdala and cortical face processing regions in response to emotional faces. However, functional connectivity among regions involved in emotion perception has not been studied so far. To address this, we examined intrinsic functional connectivity (FC) modulated by the perception of dynamic fearful faces among the amygdala and limbic, frontal, temporal and brainstem regions. Regions of interest were identified in an activation analysis by presenting a block-design with dynamic fearful faces and dynamic landscapes to 15 healthy individuals. This led to 10 predominately right-hemispheric regions. Functional connectivity between these regions during the perception of fearful faces was examined in drug-refractory patients with left- (n=16) or right-sided (n=17) MTLE, epilepsy patients with extratemporal seizure onset (n=15) and a second group of 15 healthy controls. Healthy controls showed a widespread functional network modulated by the perception of fearful faces that encompassed bilateral amygdalae, limbic, cortical, subcortical and brainstem regions. In patients with left MTLE, a downsized network of frontal and temporal regions centered on the right amygdala was present. Patients with right MTLE showed almost no significant functional connectivity. A maintained network in the epilepsy control group indicates that findings in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy could not be explained by clinical factors such as seizures and antiepileptic medication. Functional networks underlying facial emotion perception are considerably changed in left and right MTLE. Alterations are present for both hemispheres in either MTLE group, but are more pronounced in right MTLE. Disruption of the functional network architecture possibly contributes to deficits in facial emotion recognition frequently

  10. ECG-gated scintillation probe measurement of left ventricular function

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Bacharach, S.L.; Green, M.V.; Borer, J.S.; Ostrow, H.G.; Redwood, D.R.; Johnston, G.S.

    1977-01-01

    A nonimaging, ECG-gated scintillation-probe system is described that permits real-time quantification, at high temporal resolution, of the time variation of left ventricular (LV) volume over a complete, average cardiac cycle. Linearity between counting rate and volume, probe positioning, and background correction were investigated for both cylindrically collimated (CC) and parallel-hole-collimated (PC) detectors. In 53 patient studies, results obtained with these probes were compared with results obtained from an ECG-gated gamma camera system (CS) with high temporal resolution. Time-activity curves obtained by all three devices were essentially identical in shape (for CC against CS, r = 0.93; for PC against CS, r = 0.98) and in intracycle timing. Left-ventricular ejection fractions obtained with the probes showed workable agreement with the camera: for CC against CS, r = 0.85 (N = 31); for PC against CS, r = 0.90 (N = 21). When LV background is removed as a source of error, the correlation between (PC) probe and camera is improved (r = 0.95, N = 21). This suggests that the portable probe system be used in circumstances where exact knowledge of LV background is minimally important--e.g., continuous bedside monitoring of changes in LV function

  11. Temporal reliability and lateralization of the resting-state language network.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhu, Linlin; Fan, Yang; Zou, Qihong; Wang, Jue; Gao, Jia-Hong; Niu, Zhendong

    2014-01-01

    The neural processing loop of language is complex but highly associated with Broca's and Wernicke's areas. The left dominance of these two areas was the earliest observation of brain asymmetry. It was demonstrated that the language network and its functional asymmetry during resting state were reproducible across institutions. However, the temporal reliability of resting-state language network and its functional asymmetry are still short of knowledge. In this study, we established a seed-based resting-state functional connectivity analysis of language network with seed regions located at Broca's and Wernicke's areas, and investigated temporal reliability of language network and its functional asymmetry. The language network was found to be temporally reliable in both short- and long-term. In the aspect of functional asymmetry, the Broca's area was found to be left lateralized, while the Wernicke's area is mainly right lateralized. Functional asymmetry of these two areas revealed high short- and long-term reliability as well. In addition, the impact of global signal regression (GSR) on reliability of the resting-state language network was investigated, and our results demonstrated that GSR had negligible effect on the temporal reliability of the resting-state language network. Our study provided methodology basis for future cross-culture and clinical researches of resting-state language network and suggested priority of adopting seed-based functional connectivity for its high reliability.

  12. Temporal reliability and lateralization of the resting-state language network.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Linlin Zhu

    Full Text Available The neural processing loop of language is complex but highly associated with Broca's and Wernicke's areas. The left dominance of these two areas was the earliest observation of brain asymmetry. It was demonstrated that the language network and its functional asymmetry during resting state were reproducible across institutions. However, the temporal reliability of resting-state language network and its functional asymmetry are still short of knowledge. In this study, we established a seed-based resting-state functional connectivity analysis of language network with seed regions located at Broca's and Wernicke's areas, and investigated temporal reliability of language network and its functional asymmetry. The language network was found to be temporally reliable in both short- and long-term. In the aspect of functional asymmetry, the Broca's area was found to be left lateralized, while the Wernicke's area is mainly right lateralized. Functional asymmetry of these two areas revealed high short- and long-term reliability as well. In addition, the impact of global signal regression (GSR on reliability of the resting-state language network was investigated, and our results demonstrated that GSR had negligible effect on the temporal reliability of the resting-state language network. Our study provided methodology basis for future cross-culture and clinical researches of resting-state language network and suggested priority of adopting seed-based functional connectivity for its high reliability.

  13. Temporal Reliability and Lateralization of the Resting-State Language Network

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zou, Qihong; Wang, Jue; Gao, Jia-Hong; Niu, Zhendong

    2014-01-01

    The neural processing loop of language is complex but highly associated with Broca's and Wernicke's areas. The left dominance of these two areas was the earliest observation of brain asymmetry. It was demonstrated that the language network and its functional asymmetry during resting state were reproducible across institutions. However, the temporal reliability of resting-state language network and its functional asymmetry are still short of knowledge. In this study, we established a seed-based resting-state functional connectivity analysis of language network with seed regions located at Broca's and Wernicke's areas, and investigated temporal reliability of language network and its functional asymmetry. The language network was found to be temporally reliable in both short- and long-term. In the aspect of functional asymmetry, the Broca's area was found to be left lateralized, while the Wernicke's area is mainly right lateralized. Functional asymmetry of these two areas revealed high short- and long-term reliability as well. In addition, the impact of global signal regression (GSR) on reliability of the resting-state language network was investigated, and our results demonstrated that GSR had negligible effect on the temporal reliability of the resting-state language network. Our study provided methodology basis for future cross-culture and clinical researches of resting-state language network and suggested priority of adopting seed-based functional connectivity for its high reliability. PMID:24475058

  14. The right hemisphere's contribution to discourse processing: A study in temporal lobe epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lomlomdjian, Carolina; Múnera, Claudia P; Low, Daniel M; Terpiluk, Verónica; Solís, Patricia; Abusamra, Valeria; Kochen, Silvia

    2017-08-01

    Discourse skills - in which the right hemisphere has an important role - enables verbal communication by selecting contextually relevant information and integrating it coherently to infer the correct meaning. However, language research in epilepsy has focused on single word analysis related mainly to left hemisphere processing. The purpose of this study was to investigate discourse abilities in patients with right lateralized medial temporal lobe epilepsy (RTLE) by comparing their performance to that of patients with left temporal lobe epilepsy (LTLE). 74 pharmacoresistant temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) patients were evaluated: 34 with RTLE and 40 with LTLE. Subjects underwent a battery of tests that measure comprehension and production of conversational and narrative discourse. Disease related variables and general neuropsychological data were evaluated. The RTLE group presented deficits in interictal conversational and narrative discourse, with a disintegrated speech, lack of categorization and misinterpretation of social meaning. LTLE group, on the other hand, showed a tendency to lower performance in logical-temporal sequencing. RTLE patients showed discourse deficits which have been described in right hemisphere damaged patients due to other etiologies. Medial and anterior temporal lobe structures appear to link semantic, world knowledge, and social cognition associated areas to construct a contextually related coherent meaning. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. Congenital tracheobiliary fistula diagnosed with contrast-enhanced CT and 3-D reformation

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Chawla, Soni C. [Olive View-UCLA Medical Center, Department of Radiological Sciences, Sylmar, CA (United States); University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), Department of Radiological Sciences, Sylmar, CA (United States); Jha, Priyanka; Breiman, Richard; Gooding, Charles [University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), Department of Radiological Sciences, San Francisco, CA (United States); Farmer, Diana [University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), Department of Pediatric Surgery, San Francisco, CA (United States)

    2008-09-15

    Congenital tracheobiliary fistula (CTBF) is a rare malformation. So far 24 cases have been reported in the English language literature. The imaging techniques used in diagnosis have been bronchography, fistulography, cholangiography, hepatobiliary nuclear imaging and MRI. We report a newborn patient who presented with right lung consolidation and biliptysis. The radiographic diagnosis of tracheobiliary fistula was made on multidetector CT scan of the chest and abdomen. Multiple 3-D volume-rendered reformations were performed. An abnormal air-filled tract was seen connecting the posteroinferior aspect of the carina and left biliary system, which was successfully treated surgically. (orig.)

  16. Atrophy progression in semantic dementia with asymmetric temporal involvement: a tensor-based morphometry study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brambati, S M; Rankin, K P; Narvid, J; Seeley, W W; Dean, D; Rosen, H J; Miller, B L; Ashburner, J; Gorno-Tempini, M L

    2009-01-01

    We performed a longitudinal anatomical study to map the progression of gray matter atrophy in anatomically defined predominantly left (LTLV) and right (RTLV) temporal lobe variants of semantic dementia (SD). T1-weighted MRI scans were obtained at presentation and one-year follow-up from 13 LTLV, 6 RTLV, and 25 control subjects. Tensor-based morphometry (TBM) in SPM2 was applied to derive a voxel-wise estimation of regional tissue loss over time from the deformation field required to warp the follow-up scan to the presentation scan in each subject. When compared to controls, both LTLV and RTLV showed significant progression of gray matter atrophy not only within the temporal lobe most affected at presentation, but also in the controlateral temporal regions (p<0.05 FWE corrected). In LTLV, significant progression of volume loss also involved the ventromedial frontal and the left anterior insular regions. These results identified the anatomic substrates of the previously reported clinical evolution of LTLV and RTLV into a unique 'merged' clinical syndrome characterized by semantic and behavioral deficits and bilateral temporal atrophy.

  17. Specialization of the left supramarginal gyrus for hand-independent praxis representation is not related to hand dominance

    Science.gov (United States)

    Króliczak, Gregory; Piper, Brian J.; Frey, Scott H.

    2016-01-01

    Data from focal brain injury and functional neuroimaging studies implicate a distributed network of parieto-fronto-temporal areas in the human left cerebral hemisphere as playing distinct roles in the representation of meaningful actions (praxis). Because these data come primarily from right-handed individuals, the relationship between left cerebral specialization for praxis representation and hand dominance remains unclear. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to evaluate the hypothesis that strongly left-handed (right hemisphere motor dominant) adults also exhibit this left cerebral specialization. Participants planned familiar actions for subsequent performance with the left or right hand in response to transitive (e.g., “pounding”) or intransitive (e.g. “waving”) action words. In linguistic control trials, cues denoted non-physical actions (e.g., “believing”). Action planning was associated with significant, exclusively left-lateralized and extensive increases of activity in the supramarginal gyrus (SMg), and more focal modulations in the left caudal middle temporal gyrus (cMTg). This activity was hand- and gesture-independent, i.e., unaffected by the hand involved in subsequent action performance, and the type of gesture (i.e., transitive or intransitive). Compared directly with right-handers, left-handers exhibited greater involvement of the right angular gyrus (ANg) and dorsal premotor cortex (dPMC), which is indicative of a less asymmetric functional architecture for praxis representation. We therefore conclude that the organization of mechanisms involved in planning familiar actions is influenced by one’s motor dominance. However, independent of hand dominance, the left SMg and cMTg are specialized for ideomotor transformations—the integration of conceptual knowledge and motor representations into meaningful actions. These findings support the view that higher-order praxis representation and lower-level motor dominance rely

  18. Temporal-spatial characteristics of phase-amplitude coupling in electrocorticogram for human temporal lobe epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Ruihua; Ren, Ye; Liu, Chunyan; Xu, Na; Li, Xiaoli; Cong, Fengyu; Ristaniemi, Tapani; Wang, YuPing

    2017-09-01

    Neural activity of the epileptic human brain contains low- and high-frequency oscillations in different frequency bands, some of which have been used as reliable biomarkers of the epileptogenic brain areas. However, the relationship between the low- and high-frequency oscillations in different cortical areas during the period from pre-seizure to post-seizure has not been completely clarified. We recorded electrocorticogram data from the temporal lobe and hippocampus of seven patients with temporal lobe epilepsy. The modulation index based on the Kullback-Leibler distance and the phase-amplitude coupling co-modulogram were adopted to quantify the coupling strength between the phase of low-frequency oscillations (0.2-10Hz) and the amplitude of high-frequency oscillations (11-400Hz) in different seizure epochs. The time-varying phase-amplitude modulogram was used to analyze the phase-amplitude coupling pattern during the entire period from pre-seizure to post-seizure in both the left and right temporal lobe and hippocampus. Channels with strong modulation index were compared with the seizure onset channels identified by the neurosurgeons and the resection channels in the clinical surgery. The phase-amplitude coupling strength (modulation index) increased significantly in the mid-seizure epoch and decrease significantly in seizure termination and post-seizure epochs (ptemporal cortex and hippocampus. The "fall-max" phase-amplitude modulation pattern, i.e., high-frequency amplitudes were largest in the low-frequency phase range [-π, 0], which corresponded to the falling edges of low-frequency oscillations, appeared in the middle period of the seizures at epileptic focus channels. Channels with strong modulation index appeared on the corresponding left or right temporal cortex of surgical resection and overlapped with the clinical resection zones in all patients. The "fall-max" pattern between the phase of low-frequency oscillation and amplitude of high

  19. Recurrent diarrhea as a manifestation of temporal lobe epilepsy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Tomohiko Murai

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available A woman with temporal lobe epilepsy manifesting with repeated episodes of sudden diarrhea and loss of consciousness is reported. A 63-year-old, right-handed female presented with chief complaints of sudden diarrhea and loss of consciousness for almost three decades. The first attack occurred in her 30s, and similar attacks repeated several times in a year. Her attacks comprised abrupt abdominal discomfort, diarrhea, sudden emergence of old memories relating to when she had played with her brother in her childhood, and loss of consciousness during defecation. She had no convulsion or automatism and fully recovered in a few minutes. Every time she was transferred to emergency hospital by ambulance, she had examinations such as blood test, head computed tomography, electrocardiogram, abdominal ultrasound, and electroencephalography (EEG, but no specific diagnosis was made. On admission to our hospital, vital signs, neurological examination, and blood tests did not show abnormal findings. During long-term video-EEG monitoring for 40 h, she had no habitual event. Interictal EEG showed intermittent irregular delta waves and sharp regional transients in the left anterio-midtemporal area. Sharp transients were not as outstanding from background activities as to be defined as epileptiform discharges, but they were reproducible in morphology and distribution and appeared not only in sleep but also in wakefulness. Brain magnetic resonance imaging was unremarkable. Single-photon emission computed tomography showed a decrease of blood flow in the left frontal and temporal lobes. Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—III showed a decline of verbal comprehension. We concluded that the patient was suffering from partial epilepsy originating from the left temporal lobe. Carbamazepine markedly improved her seizures. Temporal lobe epilepsy can manifest with diverse autonomic symptoms and signs. Abdominal sensations often herald the onset of epileptic seizures

  20. Selective attention to phonology dynamically modulates initial encoding of auditory words within the left hemisphere.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yoncheva, Yuliya; Maurer, Urs; Zevin, Jason D; McCandliss, Bruce D

    2014-08-15

    Selective attention to phonology, i.e., the ability to attend to sub-syllabic units within spoken words, is a critical precursor to literacy acquisition. Recent functional magnetic resonance imaging evidence has demonstrated that a left-lateralized network of frontal, temporal, and posterior language regions, including the visual word form area, supports this skill. The current event-related potential (ERP) study investigated the temporal dynamics of selective attention to phonology during spoken word perception. We tested the hypothesis that selective attention to phonology dynamically modulates stimulus encoding by recruiting left-lateralized processes specifically while the information critical for performance is unfolding. Selective attention to phonology was captured by manipulating listening goals: skilled adult readers attended to either rhyme or melody within auditory stimulus pairs. Each pair superimposed rhyming and melodic information ensuring identical sensory stimulation. Selective attention to phonology produced distinct early and late topographic ERP effects during stimulus encoding. Data-driven source localization analyses revealed that selective attention to phonology led to significantly greater recruitment of left-lateralized posterior and extensive temporal regions, which was notably concurrent with the rhyme-relevant information within the word. Furthermore, selective attention effects were specific to auditory stimulus encoding and not observed in response to cues, arguing against the notion that they reflect sustained task setting. Collectively, these results demonstrate that selective attention to phonology dynamically engages a left-lateralized network during the critical time-period of perception for achieving phonological analysis goals. These findings suggest a key role for selective attention in on-line phonological computations. Furthermore, these findings motivate future research on the role that neural mechanisms of attention may

  1. Selective attention to phonology dynamically modulates initial encoding of auditory words within the left hemisphere

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yoncheva; Maurer, Urs; Zevin, Jason; McCandliss, Bruce

    2015-01-01

    Selective attention to phonology, i.e., the ability to attend to sub-syllabic units within spoken words, is a critical precursor to literacy acquisition. Recent functional magnetic resonance imaging evidence has demonstrated that a left-lateralized network of frontal, temporal, and posterior language regions, including the visual word form area, supports this skill. The current event-related potential (ERP) study investigated the temporal dynamics of selective attention to phonology during spoken word perception. We tested the hypothesis that selective atten tion to phonology dynamically modulates stimulus encoding by recruiting left-lateralized processes specifically while the information critical for performance is unfolding. Selective attention to phonology was captured by ma nipulating listening goals: skilled adult readers attended to either rhyme or melody within auditory stimulus pairs. Each pair superimposed rhyming and melodic information ensuring identical sensory stimulation. Selective attention to phonology produced distinct early and late topographic ERP effects during stimulus encoding. Data- driven source localization analyses revealed that selective attention to phonology led to significantly greater re cruitment of left-lateralized posterior and extensive temporal regions, which was notably concurrent with the rhyme-relevant information within the word. Furthermore, selective attention effects were specific to auditory stimulus encoding and not observed in response to cues, arguing against the notion that they reflect sustained task setting. Collectively, these results demonstrate that selective attention to phonology dynamically engages a left-lateralized network during the critical time-period of perception for achieving phonological analysis goals. These findings support the key role of selective attention to phonology in the development of literacy and motivate future research on the neural bases of the interaction between phonological

  2. Relationship between remnant hippocampus and amygdala and memory outcomes after stereotactic surgery for mesial temporal lobe epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malikova, Hana; Kramska, Lenka; Vojtech, Zdenek; Sroubek, Jan; Lukavsky, Jiri; Liscak, Roman

    2015-01-01

    Mesial temporal structures play an important role in human memory. In mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE), seizure activity is generated from the same structures. Surgery is the definitive treatment for medically intractable MTLE. In addition to standard temporal lobe microsurgical resection, stereotactic radiofrequency amygdalohippocampectomy (SAHE) is used as an alternative MTLE treatment. While memory impairments after standard epilepsy surgery are well known, it has been shown that memory decline is not a feature of SAHE. The aim of the present study was to correlate the volume of the remnant hippocampus and amygdala in patients treated by SAHE with changes in memory parameters. Thirty-seven MTLE patients treated by SAHE (ten right, 27 left) were included. Patients underwent magnetic resonance imaging examinations including hippocampal and amygdalar volumetry and neuropsychological evaluation preoperatively and 1 year after surgery. Using Spearman correlation analyses, larger left-sided hippocampal reductions were associated with lower verbal memory performance (ρ=-0.46; P=0.02). On the contrary, improvement of global memory quotient (MQ) was positively correlated with larger right-sided hippocampal reduction (ρ=0.66; P=0.04). Similarly, positive correlations between the extent of right amygdalar reduction and verbal MQ (ρ=0.74; P=0.02) and global MQ change (ρ=0.69; P=0.03) were found. Thus, larger right hippocampal and amygdalar reduction was associated with higher global and verbal MQ change after SAHE. Larger left-sided hippocampal reductions were associated with lower verbal memory performance. This finding is in accordance with the material-specific model of human memory, which states that the dominant hemisphere is specialized for the learning and recall of verbal information. We hypothesize that larger right-sided ablations enable the left temporal lobe to support memory more effectively, perhaps as a consequence of epileptiform discharges spreading

  3. [Preserved ability to read aloud kanji idioms in left handed alexia].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Suzuki, Taemi; Suzuki, Kyoko; Iizuka, Osamu; Endo, Keiko; Yamadori, Atushi; Mori, Eturou

    2004-08-01

    We report a 69-year-old left-handed man, who developed alexia after a right medial occipito-temporal lobe infarction. On admission to the rehabilitation department two months after the onset, neurological examination showed left hemianopia, left hemiparesis, decreased deep sensation on the left side, and alexia. A brain MRI demonstrated infarcts in the right medial occipito-temporal lobe and the splenium of the corpus callosum. Detailed neuropsychological examination was performed two months after the onset. The patient was alert and cooperative. His speech was fluent with some word-finding difficulty. Comprehension for spoken materials, repetition, and naming abilities were all preserved. Systematic examination for reading revealed that reading aloud was disturbed in both kanji and kana words. Reading comprehension was significantly better for kanji words than kana words. First, we examined the effects of number of characters in a word. The number of characters in a word didn't affect his reading performance. Second, his performance on reading aloud of usual kanji words was compared with that of kanji words representing idioms. A kanji idiom is different from usual kanji words, in which pronunciation of each character is selected from several options. Reading aloud kanji idioms was significantly better than usual kanji words. In addition, reaction time to complete reading a word was much shorter for kanji idioms than usual kanji. An analysis of qualitative features of errors revealed that most errors in kanji idiom reading were semantically similar to the correct answers, while many errors in usual kanji word reading were classified into "don't know" responses. These findings suggested that a kanji idiom was tightly connected to its pronunciation, which resulted in his much better performance for kanji idiom reading. Overlearning of a unique relationship between a kanji idiom and its pronunciation might modify neuronal organization for reading.

  4. Left or right? Lateralizing temporal lobe epilepsy by dynamic amygdala fMRI.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ives-Deliperi, Victoria; Butler, James Thomas; Jokeit, Hennric

    2017-05-01

    In this case series, the findings of 85 functional MRI studies employing a dynamic fearful face paradigm are reported. Previous findings have shown the paradigm to generate bilateral amygdala activations in healthy subjects and unilateral activations in patients with MTLE, in the contralateral hemisphere to seizure origin. Such findings suggest ipsilateral limbic pathology and offer collateral evidence in lateralizing MTLE. The series includes 60 patients with TLE, 12 patients with extra-temporal lobe epilepsy, and 13 healthy controls. Functional MRI studies using a 1.5T scanner were conducted over a three-year period at a single epilepsy center and individual results were compared with EEG findings. In the cohort of unilateral TLE patients, lateralized activations of the amygdala were concordant with EEG findings in 76% of patients (77% lTLE, 74% rTLE). The differences in the mean lateralized indices of the lTLE, rTLE, and healthy control groups were all statistically significant. Lateralized amygdala activations were concordant with EEG findings in only 31% of the 12 patients with extra-temporal lobe epilepsy and bilateral amygdala activations were generated in all but one of the healthy control subjects. This case series further endorses the utility of the dynamic fearful face functional MRI paradigm using the widely available 1.5T as an adjunctive investigation to lateralize TLE. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. Dynamic changes in left ventricular function during cold pressor stimulation assessed with gold-195m

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Dymond, D.S.; Caplin, J.; Flatman, W.

    1985-01-01

    The temporal changes in left ventricular function induced by cold pressor stimulation were assessed in 12 normal controls and 12 patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) by rapid, sequential first-pass nuclear angiography with gold-195m. Imaging was performed at rest, after 1, 2.5, and 4 min of cold pressor and after 2 min of recovery. After 1 min, LVEF (left ventricular ejection fraction) fell significantly in normals and in patients but only in the coronary patients was a significant fall maintained at 2.5 and 4 min. The number of new abnormalities on the regional ejection fraction images for normals and those with CAD, respectively, was 12 and 19 at 1 min, 1 and 21 at 2.5 min, 2 and 13 at 4 min, and 0 and 8 during recovery. The authors conclude that (1) cold pressor-induced depression of left ventricular function is transient in normals but often prolonged in patients with CAD and (2) the temporal dissociation between rise in blood pressure and fall in LVEF suggests factors other than afterload changes may be involved in depression of cardiac function

  6. Temporal lobe cortical electrical stimulation during the encoding and retrieval phase reduces false memories.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paulo S Boggio

    Full Text Available A recent study found that false memories were reduced by 36% when low frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS was applied to the left anterior temporal lobe after the encoding (study phase. Here we were interested in the consequences on a false memory task of brain stimulation throughout the encoding and retrieval task phases. We used transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS because it has been shown to be a useful tool to enhance cognition. Specifically, we examined whether tDCS can induce changes in a task assessing false memories. Based on our preliminary results, three conditions of stimulation were chosen: anodal left/cathodal right anterior temporal lobe (ATL stimulation ("bilateral stimulation"; anodal left ATL stimulation (with a large contralateral cathodal electrode--referred as "unilateral stimulation" and sham stimulation. Our results showed that false memories were reduced significantly after the two active conditions (unilateral and bilateral stimulation as compared with sham stimulation. There were no significant changes in veridical memories. Our findings show that false memories are reduced by 73% when anodal tDCS is applied to the anterior temporal lobes throughout the encoding and retrieval stages, suggesting a possible strategy for improving certain aspects of learning.

  7. Trans-middle temporal gyrus selective amygdalohippocampectomy for medically intractable mesial temporal lobe epilepsy in adults: seizure response rates, complications, and neuropsychological outcomes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bandt, S Kathleen; Werner, Nicole; Dines, Jennifer; Rashid, Samiya; Eisenman, Lawrence N; Hogan, R Edward; Leuthardt, Eric C; Dowling, Joshua

    2013-07-01

    Selective amygdalohippocampectomy (AHC) has evolved to encompass a variety of techniques to resect the mesial temporal lobe. To date, there have been few large-scale evaluations of trans-middle temporal gyrus selective AHC. The authors examine a large series of patients who have undergone the trans-middle temporal gyrus AHC and assess its clinical and neuropsychological impact. A series of 76 adult patients underwent selective AHC via the trans-middle temporal gyrus approach over a 10-year period, 19 of whom underwent pre- and postoperative neuropsychological evaluations. Favorable seizure response rates were achieved (92% Engel class I or II), with very low surgical morbidity and no mortality. Postoperative neuropsychological assessment revealed a decline in verbal memory for the left AHC group. No postoperative memory decline was identified for the right AHC group, but rather some improvements were noted within this group. The trans-middle temporal gyrus selective AHC is a safe and effective choice for management of medically refractory epilepsy in adults. Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  8. Correlation between memory, proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy, and interictal epileptiform discharges in temporal lobe epilepsy related to mesial temporal sclerosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mantoan, Marcele Araújo Silva; Caboclo, Luís Otávio Sales Ferreira; de Figueiredo Ferreira Guilhoto, Laura Maria; Lin, Katia; da Silva Noffs, Maria Helena; de Souza Silva Tudesco, Ivanda; Belzunces, Erich; Carrete, Henrique; Bussoletti, Renato Tavares; Centeno, Ricardo Silva; Sakamoto, Américo Ceiki; Yacubian, Elza Márcia Targas

    2009-11-01

    The aim of the study described here was to examine the relationship between memory function, proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1)H-MRS) abnormalities, and interictal epileptiform discharge (IED) lateralization in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) related to unilateral mesial temporal sclerosis. We assessed performance on tests of memory function and intelligence quotient (IQ) in 29 right-handed outpatients and 24 controls. IEDs were assessed on 30-minute-awake and 30-minute-sleep EEG samples. Patients had (1)H-MRS at 1.5 T. There was a negative correlation between IQ (P=0.031) and Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test results (P=0.022) and epilepsy duration; between(1)H-MRS findings and epilepsy duration (P=0.027); and between N-acetylaspartate (NAA) levels and IEDs (P=0.006) in contralateral mesial temporal structures in the left MTS group. (1)H-MRS findings, IEDs, and verbal function were correlated. These findings suggest that IEDs and NAA/(Cho+Cr) ratios reflecting neural metabolism are closely related to verbal memory function in mesial temporal sclerosis. Higher interictal activity on the EEG was associated with a decline in total NAA in contralateral mesial temporal structures.

  9. Assessing signal-driven mechanism in neonates: brain responses to temporally and spectrally different sounds

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yasuyo eMinagawa-Kawai

    2011-06-01

    Full Text Available Past studies have found that in adults that acoustic properties of sound signals (such as fast vs. slow temporal features differentially activate the left and right hemispheres, and some have hypothesized that left-lateralization for speech processing may follow from left-lateralization to rapidly changing signals. Here, we tested whether newborns’ brains show some evidence of signal-specific lateralization responses using near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS and auditory stimuli that elicits lateralized responses in adults, composed of segments that vary in duration and spectral diversity. We found significantly greater bilateral responses of oxygenated hemoglobin (oxy-Hb in the temporal areas for stimuli with a minimum segment duration of 21 ms, than stimuli with a minimum segment duration of 667 ms. However, we found no evidence for hemispheric asymmetries dependent on the stimulus characteristics. We hypothesize that acoustic-based functional brain asymmetries may develop throughout early infancy, and discuss their possible relationship with brain asymmetries for language.

  10. Temporal summation of heat pain in humans: Evidence supporting thalamocortical modulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tran, Tuan D; Wang, Heng; Tandon, Animesh; Hernandez-Garcia, Luis; Casey, Kenneth L

    2010-07-01

    Noxious cutaneous contact heat stimuli (48 degrees C) are perceived as increasingly painful when the stimulus duration is extended from 5 to 10s, reflecting the temporal summation of central neuronal activity mediating heat pain. However, the sensation of increasing heat pain disappears, reaching a plateau as stimulus duration increases from 10 to 20s. We used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in 10 healthy subjects to determine if active central mechanisms could contribute to this psychophysical plateau. During heat pain durations ranging from 5 to 20s, activation intensities in the bilateral orbitofrontal cortices and the activation volume in the left primary (S1) somatosensory cortex correlated only with perceived stimulus intensity and not with stimulus duration. Activation volumes increased with both stimulus duration and perceived intensity in the left lateral thalamus, posterior insula, inferior parietal cortex, and hippocampus. In contrast, during the psychophysical plateau, both the intensity and volume of thalamic and cortical activations in the right medial thalamus, right posterior insula, and left secondary (S2) somatosensory cortex continued to increase with stimulus duration but not with perceived stimulus intensity. Activation volumes in the left medial and right lateral thalamus, and the bilateral mid-anterior cingulate, left orbitofrontal, and right S2 cortices also increased only with stimulus duration. The increased activity of specific thalamic and cortical structures as stimulus duration, but not perceived intensity, increases is consistent with the recruitment of a thalamocortical mechanism that participates in the modulation of pain-related cortical responses and the temporal summation of heat pain. Published by Elsevier B.V.

  11. Early sensitivity of left perisylvian cortex to relationality in nouns and verbs.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Williams, Adina; Reddigari, Samir; Pylkkänen, Liina

    2017-06-01

    The ability to track the relationality of concepts, i.e., their capacity to encode a relationship between entities, is one of the core semantic abilities humans possess. In language processing, we systematically leverage this ability when computing verbal argument structure, in order to link participants to the events they participate in. Previous work has converged on a large region of left posterior perisylvian cortex as a locus for such processing, but the wide range of experimental stimuli and manipulations has yielded an unclear picture of the region's exact role(s). Importantly, there is a tendency for effects of relationality in single-word studies to localize to posterior temporo-parietal cortex, while argument structure effects in sentences appear in left superior temporal cortex. To characterize these sensitivities, we designed two MEG experiments that cross the factors relationality and eventivity. The first used minimal noun phrases and tested for an effect of semantic composition, while the second employed full sentences and a manipulation of grammatical category. The former identified a region of the left inferior parietal lobe sensitive to relationality, but not eventivity or combination, beginning at 170ms. The latter revealed a similarly-timed effect of relationality in left mid-superior temporal cortex, independent of eventivity and category. The results suggest that i) multiple sub-regions of perisylvian cortex are sensitive to the relationality carried by concepts even in the absence of arguments, ii) linguistic context modulates the locus of this sensitivity, consistent with prior studies, and iii) relationality information is accessed early - before 200ms - regardless of the concept's event status or syntactic category. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Improved proper name recall in aging after electrical stimulation of the anterior temporal lobes

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Lars A Ross

    2011-10-01

    Full Text Available Evidence from neuroimaging and neuropsychology suggests that portions of the anterior temporal lobes play a critical role in proper name retrieval. We previously found that anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS to the anterior temporal lobes improved retrieval of proper names in young adult. Here we extend that finding to older adults who tend to experience greater proper-naming deficits than young adults. The task was to look at pictures of famous faces or landmarks and verbally recall the associated proper name. Our results show a numerical improvement in face naming after left or right anterior temporal lobe stimulation, but a statistically significant effect only after left-lateralized stimulation. The magnitude of the enhancing effect was similar in older and younger adults but the lateralization of the effect differed depending on age. These results provide evidence that tDCS may be a useful tool for the neurorehabilitation of cognitive function in healthy and pathological cognitive decline.

  13. The course of language functions after temporal lobe epilepsy surgery: a prospective study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Giovagnoli, A R; Parente, A; Didato, G; Manfredi, V; Deleo, F; Tringali, G; Villani, F

    2016-12-01

    Anterior temporal lobectomy (ATL) within the language-dominant hemisphere can impair naming. This prospective study examined the pre-operative to post-operative course of different language components, clarifying which changes are relevant within the short-term and long-term outcome of language. Patients with drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) were evaluated using the Token, Boston Naming and Word Fluency tests assessing sentence comprehension and word-finding on visual, semantic or phonemic cues. A total of 106 patients were evaluated before and 6 months, 1 and 2 years after ATL; 60 patients were also evaluated after 5 years and 38 controls were assessed at baseline. Seizure outcome was comparable between the left and right TLE patients. Before surgery, naming and word fluency were impaired in the left and right TLE patients, whereas sentence comprehension was normal. After left or right ATL, word fluency progressively improved, naming showed early worsening and late improvement after left ATL and progressive improvement after right ATL, and sentence comprehension did not change. At the 5-year follow-up, naming improvement was clinically significant in 31% and 71% of the left and right TLE patients, respectively. Pre-operative naming, ATL laterality, schooling, and post-operative seizure frequency and number of antiepileptic drugs predicted post-operative naming. Pre-operative word fluency and schooling predicted post-operative word fluency. Left or right TLE can impair word-finding but not sentence comprehension. After ATL, word-finding may improve for a long time, depending on TLE laterality, seizure control and mental reserve. These findings may clarify prognosis prior to treatment. © 2016 EAN.

  14. Comparison of rCBF between patients with medial temporal lobe epilepsy and normal controls using H215O PET

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kang, Eun Joo; Lee, Jae Sung; Nam, Hyun Woo; Lee, Sang Kun; Lee, Dong Soo; Chung, June Key; Lee, Myung Chul

    2002-01-01

    The aim of this study was to identify the brain areas whose regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was changed in medial temporal lobe epilepsy (mTLE) using H 2 15 O-PET. 12 patients with mTLE (6 left, 6 right mTLE) and 6 normal controls were scanned during a fixation baseline period and a sensory-motor condition where subjects pressed a button to an upward arrow. A voxel-based analysis using SPM99 software was performed to compare the patient groups with the normal controls for the rCBF during fixation baseline period and for relative changes of rCBF during the sensory-motor task relative to fixation. Duirng the fixation baseline, a significant reduction of rCBF was found posterior insula bilaterally and right frontopolar regions in right mTLE patients compared to the normal controls. In left mTLE patients, the reduction was found in left frontopolar and temporal regions. During the sensory-motor task, rCBF increase over the fixation period, was reduced in left frontal and superior temporal regions in the right mTLE patients whereas in various areas of right hemisphere in left mTLE patients, relative to normal controls. However, the increased rCBF was also found in the left inferior parietal and anterior thalamic/fornix regions in both right and left mTLE patients compared to normal controls. Epilepsy induced changes were found not only in relative increase/ decrease of rCBF during a simple sensory-motor control condition relative to a fixation rest condition but also in the relative rCBF distribution during the rest period

  15. 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

  16. Association Between Left Atrial Compression And Atrial Fibrillation: A Case Presentation And A Short Review Of Literature.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ahmed, Niloy; Carlos, Morales-Mangual; Moshe, Gunsburg; Yitzhak, Rosen

    2016-01-01

    This case report describes a patient who developed palpitations and chest pain and was found to be in atrial fibrillation, which was likely due to the presence of an extra-cardiac mass. This was compressing the left atrium. The mass was related to small cell carcinoma, which decreased significantly in size after chemotherapy. Resolution of the atrial fibrillation correlated temporally with reduction in the size of the mass and alleviation of the left atrial compression.

  17. Differences in visual vs. verbal memory impairments as a result of focal temporal lobe damage in patients with traumatic brain injury.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ariza, Mar; Pueyo, Roser; Junqué, Carme; Mataró, María; Poca, María Antonia; Mena, Maria Pau; Sahuquillo, Juan

    2006-09-01

    The aim of the present study was to determine whether the type of lesion in a sample of moderate and severe traumatic brain injury (TBI) was related to material-specific memory impairment. Fifty-nine patients with TBI were classified into three groups according to whether the site of the lesion was right temporal, left temporal or diffuse. Six-months post-injury, visual (Warrington's Facial Recognition Memory Test and Rey's Complex Figure Test) and verbal (Rey's Auditory Verbal Learning Test) memories were assessed. Visual memory deficits assessed by facial memory were associated with right temporal lobe lesion, whereas verbal memory performance assessed with a list of words was related to left temporal lobe lesion. The group with diffuse injury showed both verbal and visual memory impairment. These results suggest a material-specific memory impairment in moderate and severe TBI after focal temporal lesions and a non-specific memory impairment after diffuse damage.

  18. Crisis del lóbulo temporal registrada mediante magnetoencefalografía: caso clínico Temporal lobe seizure recorded by magnetoencephalography: case report

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Carlos Amo

    2004-09-01

    Full Text Available La localización del inicio de las crisis es un factor importante para la evaluación prequirúrgica de la epilepsia. En este trabajo se describe la localización del inicio de una crisis registrada mediante magnetoencefalografía (MEG en un niño de 12 años que presenta crisis parciales complejas farmacorresistentes. La RM muestra una lesión de 20mm de diámetro en el hipocampo izquierdo. EEG de superficie con ondas theta temporales izquierdas. Registro MEG interictal con punta-onda aislada posterior e inferior a la lesión de la RM. Registro MEG ictal con punta-onda (2 Hz. La localización de los dipolos indica el inicio de la crisis en la circunvolución temporal inferior en la misma localización que la actividad interictal MEG. Esta actividad ictal se propaga bilateralmente a áreas frontales. El registro corticográfico intraquirúrgico confirma los resultados de la localización interictal mediante MEG.Ictal onset localization is a important factor in presurgical evaluation of epilepsy. This paper describes the localization of a seizure onset recorded by magnetoencephalography (MEG from a 12-year-old male patient who suffered from complex partial drug-resistant seizures. MRI revealed a 20mm diameter lesion located in left hippocampus. Scalp EEG showed left temporal theta waves. Interictal MEG registrations detected isolated spike-wave activity posterior and inferior to the MRI lesion. Ictal MEG showed continuous spike-wave activity (2 Hz. Dipole localization sited seizure onset in the inferior left temporal gyrus, the same localization of the interictal MEG activity. This ictal activity spreads bilaterally to frontal areas. Intrasurgical electrocorticography recording confirmed interictal MEG results.

  19. Measurement of temporal regional cerebral perfusion with single-photon emission tomography predicts rate of decline in language function and survival in early Alzheimer's disease

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Claus, J.J.; Walstra, G.J.M.; Hijdra, A.; Gool, W.A. van; Royen, E.A. van; Verbeeten, B. Jr.

    1999-01-01

    We determined the relationship between regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) measured with single-photon emission tomography (SPET) and decline in cognitive function and survival in Alzheimer's disease. In a prospective follow-up study, 69 consecutively referred patients with early probable Alzheimer's disease (NINCDS/ADRDA criteria) underwent SPET performed at the time of initial diagnosis using technetium-99m-labelled hexamethylpropylene amine oxime. Neuropsychological function was assessed at baseline and after 6 months and survival data were available on all patients, extending to 5.5 years of follow-up. Lower left temporal (P<0.01) and lower left parietal (P<0.01) rCBF were statistically significantly related to decline in language function after 6 months. The association between left temporal rCBF and survival was also statistically significant (P<0.05) using Cox proportional hazards regression analysis. Performing analysis with quartiles of the distribution, we found a threshold effect for low left temporal rCBF (rCBF<73.7%, P<0.01) and high risk of mortality. In this lowest quartile, median survival time was 2.7 years (follow-up to 5.2 years), compared with 4.4 years in the other quartiles (follow-up to 5.5 years). Kaplan-Meier survival curves showed statistically significant (P<0.05, log rank test) survival curves for the lowest versus other quartiles of left temporal rCBF. All results were unaffected by adjustment for age, sex, dementia severity, duration of symptoms, education and ratings of local cortical atrophy. We conclude that left temporal rCBF predicts decline in language function and survival in patients with early probable Alzheimer's disease, with a threshold effect of low rCBF and high risk of mortality. (orig.)

  20. Absolute spike frequency as a predictor of surgical outcome in temporal lobe epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ngo, Ly; Sperling, Michael R; Skidmore, Christopher; Mintzer, Scott; Nei, Maromi

    2017-04-01

    Frequent interictal epileptiform abnormalities may correlate with poor prognosis after temporal lobe resection for refractory epilepsy. To date, studies have focused on limited resections such as selective amygdalohippocampectomy and apical temporal lobectomy without hippocampectomy. However, it is unclear whether the frequency of spikes predicts outcome after standard anterior temporal lobectomy. Preoperative scalp video-EEG monitoring data from patients who subsequently underwent anterior temporal lobectomy over a three year period and were followed for at least one year were reviewed for the frequency of interictal epileptiform abnormalities. Surgical outcome for those patients with frequent spikes (>60/h) was compared with those with less frequent spikes. Additionally, spike frequency was evaluated as a continuous variable and correlated with outcome to determine if increased spike frequency correlated with worse outcome, as assessed by modified Engel Class outcome. Forty-seven patients (18 men, 29 women; mean age 40 years at surgery) were included. Forty-six patients had standard anterior temporal lobectomy (24 right, 22 left) and one had a modified left temporal lobectomy. There was no significant difference in seizure outcome between those with frequent (57% Class I) vs. those with less frequent (58% Class I) spikes. Increased spike frequency did not correlate with worse outcome. Greater than 20 complex partial seizures/month and generalized tonic-clonic seizures within one year of surgery correlated with worse outcome. This study suggests that absolute spike frequency does not predict seizure outcome after anterior temporal lobectomy unlike in selective procedures, and should not be used as a prognostic factor in this population. Copyright © 2017 British Epilepsy Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  1. Context-dependent lexical ambiguity resolution: MEG evidence for the time-course of activity in left inferior frontal gyrus and posterior middle temporal gyrus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mollo, Giovanna; Jefferies, Elizabeth; Cornelissen, Piers; Gennari, Silvia P

    An MEG study investigated the role of context in semantic interpretation by examining the comprehension of ambiguous words in contexts leading to different interpretations. We compared high-ambiguity words in minimally different contexts (to bowl, the bowl) to low-ambiguity counterparts (the tray, to flog). Whole brain beamforming revealed the engagement of left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) and posterior middle temporal gyrus (LPMTG). Points of interest analyses showed that both these sites showed a stronger response to verb-contexts by 200 ms post-stimulus and displayed overlapping ambiguity effects that were sustained from 300 ms onwards. The effect of context was stronger for high-ambiguity words than for low-ambiguity words at several different time points, including within the first 100 ms post-stimulus. Unlike LIFG, LPMTG also showed stronger responses to verb than noun contexts in low-ambiguity trials. We argue that different functional roles previously attributed to LIFG and LPMTG are in fact played out at different periods during processing. Crown Copyright © 2018. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. Dynamic spatial organization of the occipito-temporal word form area for second language processing.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gao, Yue; Sun, Yafeng; Lu, Chunming; Ding, Guosheng; Guo, Taomei; Malins, Jeffrey G; Booth, James R; Peng, Danling; Liu, Li

    2017-08-01

    Despite the left occipito-temporal region having shown consistent activation in visual word form processing across numerous studies in different languages, the mechanisms by which word forms of second languages are processed in this region remain unclear. To examine this more closely, 16 Chinese-English and 14 English-Chinese late bilinguals were recruited to perform lexical decision tasks to visually presented words in both their native and second languages (L1 and L2) during functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning. Here we demonstrate that visual word form processing for L1 versus L2 engaged different spatial areas of the left occipito-temporal region. Namely, the spatial organization of the visual word form processing in the left occipito-temporal region is more medial and posterior for L2 than L1 processing in Chinese-English bilinguals, whereas activation is more lateral and anterior for L2 in English-Chinese bilinguals. In addition, for Chinese-English bilinguals, more lateral recruitment of the occipito-temporal region was correlated with higher L2 proficiency, suggesting higher L2 proficiency is associated with greater involvement of L1-preferred mechanisms. For English-Chinese bilinguals, higher L2 proficiency was correlated with more lateral and anterior activation of the occipito-temporal region, suggesting higher L2 proficiency is associated with greater involvement of L2-preferred mechanisms. Taken together, our results indicate that L1 and L2 recruit spatially different areas of the occipito-temporal region in visual word processing when the two scripts belong to different writing systems, and that the spatial organization of this region for L2 visual word processing is dynamically modulated by L2 proficiency. Specifically, proficiency in L2 in Chinese-English is associated with assimilation to the native language mechanisms, whereas L2 in English-Chinese is associated with accommodation to second language mechanisms. Copyright © 2017

  3. Morphometric MRI features are associated with surgical outcome in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garcia, Maria Teresa Fernandes Castilho; Gaça, Larissa Botelho; Sandim, Gabriel Barbosa; Assunção Leme, Idaiane Batista; Carrete, Henrique; Centeno, Ricardo Silva; Sato, João Ricardo; Yacubian, Elza Márcia Targas

    2017-05-01

    Corticoamygdalohippocampectomy (CAH) improves seizure control, quality of life, and decreases mortality for refractory mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis (MTLE-HS). One-third of patients continue having seizures, and it is pivotal to determine structural abnormalities that might influence the postoperative outcome. Studies indicate that nonhippocampal regions may play a role in the epileptogenic network in MTLE-HS and could generate seizures postoperatively. The aim of this study is to analyze areas of atrophy, not always detected on routine MRI, comparing patients who became seizure free (SF) with those non seizure free (NSF) after CAH, in an attempt to establish possible predictors of surgical outcome. 105 patients with refractory MTLE-HS submitted to CAH (59 left MTLE; 46 males) and 47 controls were enrolled. FreeSurfer was performed for cortical thickness and volume estimation comparing patients to controls and SF versus NSF patients. The final sample after post processing procedures resulted in 99 patients. Cortical thickness analyses showed reductions in left insula in NSF patients compared to those SF. Significant volume reductions in SF patients were present in bilateral thalami, hippocampi and pars opercularis, left parahippocampal gyrus and right temporal pole. In NSF patients reductions were present bilaterally in thalami, hippocampi, entorhinal cortices, superior frontal and supramarginal gyri; on the left: superior and middle temporal gyri, temporal pole, parahippocampal gyrus, pars opercularis and middle frontal gyrus; and on the right: precentral, superior, middle and inferior temporal gyri. Comparison between SF and NSF patients showed ipsilateral gray matter reductions in the right entorhinal cortex (p=0.003) and contralateral parahippocampal gyrus (p=0.05) in right MTLE-HS. Patients NSF had a longer duration of epilepsy than those SF (p=0.028). NSF patients exhibited more extensive areas of atrophy than SF ones. As entorhinal

  4. Semantic memory is impaired in patients with unilateral anterior temporal lobe resection for temporal lobe epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lambon Ralph, Matthew A; Ehsan, Sheeba; Baker, Gus A; Rogers, Timothy T

    2012-01-01

    Contemporary clinical and basic neuroscience studies have increasingly implicated the anterior temporal lobe regions, bilaterally, in the formation of coherent concepts. Mounting convergent evidence for the importance of the anterior temporal lobe in semantic memory is found in patients with bilateral anterior temporal lobe damage (e.g. semantic dementia), functional neuroimaging and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation studies. If this proposal is correct, then one might expect patients with anterior temporal lobe resection for long-standing temporal lobe epilepsy to be semantically impaired. Such patients, however, do not present clinically with striking comprehension deficits but with amnesia and variable anomia, leading some to conclude that semantic memory is intact in resection for temporal lobe epilepsy and thus casting doubt over the conclusions drawn from semantic dementia and linked basic neuroscience studies. Whilst there is a considerable neuropsychological literature on temporal lobe epilepsy, few studies have probed semantic memory directly, with mixed results, and none have undertaken the same type of systematic investigation of semantic processing that has been conducted with other patient groups. In this study, therefore, we investigated the semantic performance of 20 patients with resection for chronic temporal lobe epilepsy with a full battery of semantic assessments, including more sensitive measures of semantic processing. The results provide a bridge between the current clinical observations about resection for temporal lobe epilepsy and the expectations from semantic dementia and other neuroscience findings. Specifically, we found that on simple semantic tasks, the patients' accuracy fell in the normal range, with the exception that some patients with left resection for temporal lobe epilepsy had measurable anomia. Once the semantic assessments were made more challenging, by probing specific-level concepts, lower frequency

  5. 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

  6. Bilateral Facial Paralysis Caused by Bilateral Temporal Bone Fracture: A Case Report and a Literature Review

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sultan Şevik Eliçora

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available Bilateral facial paralysis caused by bilateral temporal bone fracture is a rare clinical entity, with seven cases reported in the literature to date. In this paper, we describe a 40-year-old male patient with bilateral facial paralysis and hearing loss that developed after an occupational accident. On physical examination, House-Brackmann (HB facial paralysis of grade 6 was observed on the right side and HB grade 5 paralysis on the left. Upon temporal bone computed tomography (CT examination, a fracture line exhibiting transverse progression was observed in both petrous temporal bones. Our patient underwent transmastoid facial decompression surgery of the right ear. The patient refused a left-side operation. Such patients require extensive monitoring in intensive care units because the presence of multiple injuries means that facial functions are often very difficult to evaluate. Therefore, delays may ensue in both diagnosis and treatment of bilateral facial paralysis.

  7. Measurement of temporal regional cerebral perfusion with single-photon emission tomography predicts rate of decline in language function and survival in early Alzheimer`s disease

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Claus, J.J.; Walstra, G.J.M.; Hijdra, A.; Gool, W.A. van [Department of Neurology, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam (Netherlands); Royen, E.A. van [Department of Nuclear Medicine, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam (Netherlands); Verbeeten, B. Jr. [Department of Radiology, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam (Netherlands)

    1999-03-01

    We determined the relationship between regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) measured with single-photon emission tomography (SPET) and decline in cognitive function and survival in Alzheimer`s disease. In a prospective follow-up study, 69 consecutively referred patients with early probable Alzheimer`s disease (NINCDS/ADRDA criteria) underwent SPET performed at the time of initial diagnosis using technetium-99m-labelled hexamethylpropylene amine oxime. Neuropsychological function was assessed at baseline and after 6 months and survival data were available on all patients, extending to 5.5 years of follow-up. Lower left temporal (P<0.01) and lower left parietal (P<0.01) rCBF were statistically significantly related to decline in language function after 6 months. The association between left temporal rCBF and survival was also statistically significant (P<0.05) using Cox proportional hazards regression analysis. Performing analysis with quartiles of the distribution, we found a threshold effect for low left temporal rCBF (rCBF<73.7%, P<0.01) and high risk of mortality. In this lowest quartile, median survival time was 2.7 years (follow-up to 5.2 years), compared with 4.4 years in the other quartiles (follow-up to 5.5 years). Kaplan-Meier survival curves showed statistically significant (P<0.05, log rank test) survival curves for the lowest versus other quartiles of left temporal rCBF. All results were unaffected by adjustment for age, sex, dementia severity, duration of symptoms, education and ratings of local cortical atrophy. We conclude that left temporal rCBF predicts decline in language function and survival in patients with early probable Alzheimer`s disease, with a threshold effect of low rCBF and high risk of mortality. (orig.) With 3 figs., 3 tabs., 44 refs.

  8. Strength of Temporal White Matter Pathways Predicts Semantic Learning.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ripollés, Pablo; Biel, Davina; Peñaloza, Claudia; Kaufmann, Jörn; Marco-Pallarés, Josep; Noesselt, Toemme; Rodríguez-Fornells, Antoni

    2017-11-15

    Learning the associations between words and meanings is a fundamental human ability. Although the language network is cortically well defined, the role of the white matter pathways supporting novel word-to-meaning mappings remains unclear. Here, by using contextual and cross-situational word learning, we tested whether learning the meaning of a new word is related to the integrity of the language-related white matter pathways in 40 adults (18 women). The arcuate, uncinate, inferior-fronto-occipital and inferior-longitudinal fasciculi were virtually dissected using manual and automatic deterministic fiber tracking. Critically, the automatic method allowed assessing the white matter microstructure along the tract. Results demonstrate that the microstructural properties of the left inferior-longitudinal fasciculus predict contextual learning, whereas the left uncinate was associated with cross-situational learning. In addition, we identified regions of special importance within these pathways: the posterior middle temporal gyrus, thought to serve as a lexical interface and specifically related to contextual learning; the anterior temporal lobe, known to be an amodal hub for semantic processing and related to cross-situational learning; and the white matter near the hippocampus, a structure fundamental for the initial stages of new-word learning and, remarkably, related to both types of word learning. No significant associations were found for the inferior-fronto-occipital fasciculus or the arcuate. While previous results suggest that learning new phonological word forms is mediated by the arcuate fasciculus, these findings show that the temporal pathways are the crucial neural substrate supporting one of the most striking human abilities: our capacity to identify correct associations between words and meanings under referential indeterminacy. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT The language-processing network is cortically (i.e., gray matter) well defined. However, the role of the

  9. Imaging of left ventricular wall motion via venous DSA

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Witte, G.; Roediger, W.; Buecheler, E.; Hamburg Univ.

    1986-01-01

    Until now, angiographical and nuclear medicine examination techniques for imaging left ventricular wall motion have been presenting with difficulties endemic to the methods themselves. For the first time in cardiological diagnostics, digital subtraction angiography (DSA) makes it possible to perform a fairly non-invasive examination with good spatial and temporal resolution. Functional analytic evaluation, however, still demands time-consuming, complicated post-processing. In this article we introduce a method that uses an additive window technique for the immediate generation of wall motion images. (orig.) [de

  10. Superior temporal gyrus thickness correlates with cognitive performance in multiple sclerosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Achiron, Asaf; Chapman, Joab; Tal, Sigal; Bercovich, Eran; Gil, Hararai; Achiron, Anat

    2013-07-01

    Decreased cortical thickness that signifies gray matter pathology and its impact on cognitive performance is a research field with growing interest in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS) and needs to be further elucidated. Using high-field 3.0 T MRI, three-dimensional T1-FSPGR (voxel size 1 × 1 × 1 mm) cortical thickness was measured in 82 regions in the left hemisphere (LH) and right hemisphere (RH) in 20 RRMS patients with low disease activity and in 20 age-matched healthy subjects that in parallel underwent comprehensive cognitive evaluation. The correlation between local cortical atrophy and cognitive performance was examined. We identified seven regions with cortical tissue loss that differed between RRMS and age-matched healthy controls. These regions were mainly located in the frontal and temporal lobes, specifically within the gyrus rectus, inferior frontal sulcus, orbital gyrus, parahippocampal gyrus, and superior temporal gyrus, with preferential left asymmetry. Increased cortical thickness was identified in two visual sensory regions, the LH inferior occipital gyrus, and the RH cuneus, implicating adaptive plasticity. Correlation analysis demonstrated that only the LH superior temporal gyrus thickness was associated with cognitive performance and its thickness correlated with motor skills (r = 0.65, p = 0.003), attention (r = 0.45, p = 0.042), and information processing speed (r = 0.50, p = 0.025). Our findings show that restricted cortical thinning occurs in RRMS patients with mild disease and that LH superior temporal gyrus atrophy is associated with cognitive dysfunction.

  11. Application of dynamic susceptibility contrast-enhanced perfusion in temporal lobe epilepsy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Xing, Wu; Wang, Xiaoyi; Xie, Fangfang; Liao, Weihua [Dept. of Radiology, Xiangya Hospital of Central South Univ., Changsha (China)], e-mail: doctoring@sina.com

    2013-02-15

    Background: Accurately locatithe epileptogenic focus in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is important in clinical practice. Single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and positron-emission tomography (PET) have been widely used in the lateralization of TLE, but both have limitations. Magnetic resonance perfusion imaging can accurately and reliably reflect differences in cerebral blood flow and volume. Purpose: To investigate the diagnostic value of dynamic susceptibility contrast-enhanced (DSC) perfusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the lateralization of the epileptogenic focus in TLE. Material and Methods: Conventional MRI and DSC-MRI scanning was performed in 20 interictal cases of TLE and 20 healthy volunteers. The relative cerebral blood volume (rCBV) and relative cerebral blood flow (rCBF) of the bilateral mesial temporal lobes of the TLE cases and healthy control groups were calculated. The differences in the perfusion asymmetry indices (AIs), derived from the rCBV and rCBF of the bilateral mesial temporal lobes, were pared between the two groups. Results: In the control group, there were no statistically significant differences between the left and right sides in terms of rCBV (left 1.55 {+-} 0.32, right 1.57 {+-} 0.28) or rCBF (left 99.00 {+-} 24.61, right 100.38 {+-} 23.46) of the bilateral mesial temporal lobes. However, in the case group the ipsilateral rCBV and rCBF values (1.75 {+-} 0.64 and 96.35 {+-} 22.63, respectively) were markedly lower than those of the contralateral side (2.01 {+-} 0.79 and 108.56 {+-} 26.92; P < 0.05). Both the AI of the rCBV (AIrCBV; 13.03 {+-} 10.33) and the AI of the rCBF (AIrCBF; 11.24 {+-} 8.70) of the case group were significantly higher than that of the control group (AIrCBV 5.55 {+-} 3.74, AIrCBF 5.12 {+-} 3.48; P < 0.05). The epileptogenic foci of nine patients were correctly lateralized using the 95th percentile of the AIrCBV and AIrCBF of the control group as the normal upper limits. Conclusion: In

  12. Temporal Variation of Large Scale Flows in the Solar Interior ...

    Indian Academy of Sciences (India)

    tribpo

    Temporal Variation of Large Scale Flows in the Solar Interior. 355. Figure 2. Zonal and meridional components of the time-dependent residual velocity at a few selected depths as marked above each panel, are plotted as contours of constant velocity in the longitude-latitude plane. The left panels show the zonal component, ...

  13. Improved Spatial Ability Correlated with Left Hemisphere Dysfunction in Turner's Syndrome. Implications for Mechanism.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rovet, Joanne F.

    This study contrasts the performance of a 17-year-old female subject with Turner's syndrome before and after developing left temporal lobe seizures, as a means of identifying the mechanism responsible for the Turner's syndrome spatial impairment. The results revealed a deficit in spatial processing before onset of the seizure disorder. Results…

  14. Singing can improve speech function in aphasics associated with intact right basal ganglia and preserve right temporal glucose metabolism: Implications for singing therapy indication.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Akanuma, Kyoko; Meguro, Kenichi; Satoh, Masayuki; Tashiro, Manabu; Itoh, Masatoshi

    2016-01-01

    Clinically, we know that some aphasic patients can sing well despite their speech disturbances. Herein, we report 10 patients with non-fluent aphasia, of which half of the patients improved their speech function after singing training. We studied ten patients with non-fluent aphasia complaining of difficulty finding words. All had lesions in the left basal ganglia or temporal lobe. They selected the melodies they knew well, but which they could not sing. We made a new lyric with a familiar melody using words they could not name. The singing training using these new lyrics was performed for 30 minutes once a week for 10 weeks. Before and after the training, their speech functions were assessed by language tests. At baseline, 6 of them received positron emission tomography to evaluate glucose metabolism. Five patients exhibited improvements after intervention; all but one exhibited intact right basal ganglia and left temporal lobes, but all exhibited left basal ganglia lesions. Among them, three subjects exhibited preserved glucose metabolism in the right temporal lobe. We considered that patients who exhibit intact right basal ganglia and left temporal lobes, together with preserved right hemispheric glucose metabolism, might be an indication of the effectiveness of singing therapy.

  15. Nerve canals at the fundus of the internal auditory canal on high-resolution temporal bone CT

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ji, Yoon Ha; Youn, Eun Kyung; Kim, Seung Chul

    2001-01-01

    To identify and evaluate the normal anatomy of nerve canals in the fundus of the internal auditory canal which can be visualized on high-resolution temporal bone CT. We retrospectively reviewed high-resolution (1 mm thickness and interval contiguous scan) temporal bone CT images of 253 ears in 150 patients who had not suffered trauma or undergone surgery. Those with a history of uncomplicated inflammatory disease were included, but those with symptoms of vertigo, sensorineural hearing loss, or facial nerve palsy were excluded. Three radiologists determined the detectability and location of canals for the labyrinthine segment of the facial, superior vestibular and cochlear nerve, and the saccular branch and posterior ampullary nerve of the inferior vestibular nerve. Five bony canals in the fundus of the internal auditory canal were identified as nerve canals. Four canals were identified on axial CT images in 100% of cases; the so-called singular canal was identified in only 68%. On coronal CT images, canals for the labyrinthine segment of the facial and superior vestibular nerve were seen in 100% of cases, but those for the cochlear nerve, the saccular branch of the inferior vestibular nerve, and the singular canal were seen in 90.1%, 87.4% and 78% of cases, respectiveIy. In all detectable cases, the canal for the labyrinthine segment of the facial nerve was revealed as one which traversed anterolateralIy, from the anterosuperior portion of the fundus of the internal auditory canal. The canal for the cochlear nerve was located just below that for the labyrinthine segment of the facial nerve, while that canal for the superior vestibular nerve was seen at the posterior aspect of these two canals. The canal for the saccular branch of the inferior vestibular nerve was located just below the canal for the superior vestibular nerve, and that for the posterior ampullary nerve, the so-called singular canal, ran laterally or posteolateralIy from the posteroinferior aspect of

  16. Nerve canals at the fundus of the internal auditory canal on high-resolution temporal bone CT

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Ji, Yoon Ha; Youn, Eun Kyung; Kim, Seung Chul [Sungkyunkwan Univ., School of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2001-12-01

    To identify and evaluate the normal anatomy of nerve canals in the fundus of the internal auditory canal which can be visualized on high-resolution temporal bone CT. We retrospectively reviewed high-resolution (1 mm thickness and interval contiguous scan) temporal bone CT images of 253 ears in 150 patients who had not suffered trauma or undergone surgery. Those with a history of uncomplicated inflammatory disease were included, but those with symptoms of vertigo, sensorineural hearing loss, or facial nerve palsy were excluded. Three radiologists determined the detectability and location of canals for the labyrinthine segment of the facial, superior vestibular and cochlear nerve, and the saccular branch and posterior ampullary nerve of the inferior vestibular nerve. Five bony canals in the fundus of the internal auditory canal were identified as nerve canals. Four canals were identified on axial CT images in 100% of cases; the so-called singular canal was identified in only 68%. On coronal CT images, canals for the labyrinthine segment of the facial and superior vestibular nerve were seen in 100% of cases, but those for the cochlear nerve, the saccular branch of the inferior vestibular nerve, and the singular canal were seen in 90.1%, 87.4% and 78% of cases, respectiveIy. In all detectable cases, the canal for the labyrinthine segment of the facial nerve was revealed as one which traversed anterolateralIy, from the anterosuperior portion of the fundus of the internal auditory canal. The canal for the cochlear nerve was located just below that for the labyrinthine segment of the facial nerve, while that canal for the superior vestibular nerve was seen at the posterior aspect of these two canals. The canal for the saccular branch of the inferior vestibular nerve was located just below the canal for the superior vestibular nerve, and that for the posterior ampullary nerve, the so-called singular canal, ran laterally or posteolateralIy from the posteroinferior aspect of

  17. Effect of Batroxobin on Expression of Neural Cell Adhesion Molecule in Temporal Infarction Rats and Spatial Learning and Memory Disorder

    Institute of Scientific and Technical Information of China (English)

    2001-01-01

    The effect of Batroxobin expression of neural cell adhesion molecule (NCAM) in left temporal ischemic rats with spatial memory disorder was investigated by means of Morri's water maze and immunohistochemical methods. The results showed that the mean reaction time and distance of temporal ischemic rats for searching a goal were significantly longer than those of sham-operated rats and at the same time NCAM expression of left temporal ischemic region was significantly increased. However, the mean reaction time and distance of Batroxobin-treated rats were shorter and they used normal strategies more often and earlier than those of ischemic rats. The number of NCAM immune reactive cells of Batroxobin-treated rats was more than that of ischemic group. In conclusion, Batroxobin can improve spatial memory disorder of temporal ischemic rats and the regulation of the expression of NCAM is probably related to the neuroprotective mechanism.

  18. Effect of Temporal Constraints on Hemispheric Asymmetries during Spatial Frequency Processing

    Science.gov (United States)

    Peyrin, Carole; Mermillod, Martial; Chokron, Sylvie; Marendaz, Christian

    2006-01-01

    Studies on functional hemispheric asymmetries have suggested that the right vs. left hemisphere should be predominantly involved in low vs. high spatial frequency (SF) analysis, respectively. By manipulating exposure duration of filtered natural scene images, we examined whether the temporal characteristics of SF analysis (i.e., the temporal…

  19. Non-retinotopic motor-visual recalibration to temporal lag

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Masaki eTsujita

    2012-11-01

    Full Text Available Temporal order judgment between the voluntary motor action and its perceptual feedback is important in distinguishing between a sensory feedback which is caused by observer’s own action and other stimulus, which are irrelevant to that action. Prolonged exposure to fixed temporal lag between motor action and visual feedback recalibrates motor-visual temporal relationship, and consequently shifts the point of subjective simultaneity (PSS. Previous studies on the audio-visual temporal recalibration without voluntary action revealed that both low and high level processing are involved. However, it is not clear how the low and high level processings affect the recalibration to constant temporal lag between voluntary action and visual feedback. This study examined retinotopic specificity of the motor-visual temporal recalibration. During the adaptation phase, observers repeatedly pressed a key, and visual stimulus was presented in left or right visual field with a fixed temporal lag (0 or 200 ms. In the test phase, observers performed a temporal order judgment for observer’s voluntary keypress and test stimulus, which was presented in the same as or opposite to the visual field in which the stimulus was presented in the adaptation phase. We found that the PSS was shifted toward the exposed lag in both visual fields. These results suggest that the low visual processing, which is retinotopically specific, has minor contribution to the multimodal adaptation, and that the adaptation to shift the PSS mainly depends upon the high level processing such as attention to specific properties of the stimulus.

  20. Abnormalities of hippocampal-cortical connectivity in temporal lobe epilepsy patients with hippocampal sclerosis

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Wenjing; He, Huiguang; Lu, Jingjing; Wang, Chunheng; Li, Meng; Lv, Bin; Jin, Zhengyu

    2011-03-01

    Hippocampal sclerosis (HS) is the most common damage seen in the patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). In the present study, the hippocampal-cortical connectivity was defined as the correlation between the hippocampal volume and cortical thickness at each vertex throughout the whole brain. We aimed to investigate the differences of ipsilateral hippocampal-cortical connectivity between the unilateral TLE-HS patients and the normal controls. In our study, the bilateral hippocampal volumes were first measured in each subject, and we found that the ipsilateral hippocampal volume significantly decreased in the left TLE-HS patients. Then, group analysis showed significant thinner average cortical thickness of the whole brain in the left TLE-HS patients compared with the normal controls. We found significantly increased ipsilateral hippocampal-cortical connectivity in the bilateral superior temporal gyrus, the right cingulate gyrus and the left parahippocampal gyrus of the left TLE-HS patients, which indicated structural vulnerability related to the hippocampus atrophy in the patient group. However, for the right TLE-HS patients, no significant differences were found between the patients and the normal controls, regardless of the ipsilateral hippocampal volume, the average cortical thickness or the patterns of hippocampal-cortical connectivity, which might be related to less atrophies observed in the MRI scans. Our study provided more evidence for the structural abnormalities in the unilateral TLE-HS patients.

  1. Upper motor neuron predominant degeneration with frontal and temporal lobe atrophy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Konagaya, M; Sakai, M; Matsuoka, Y; Konagaya, Y; Hashizume, Y

    1998-11-01

    The autopsy findings of a 78-year-old man mimicking primary lateral sclerosis (PLS) are reported. He showed slowly progressive spasticity, pseudobulbar palsy and character change, and died 32 months after the onset of symptoms. Autopsy revealed severe atrophy of the frontal and temporal lobes, remarkable neuronal loss and gliosis in the precentral gyrus, left temporal lobe pole and amygdala, mild degeneration of the Ammon's horn, degeneration of the corticospinal tract, and very mild involvement of the lower motor neurons. The anterior horn cells only occasionally demonstrated Bunina body by cystatin-C staining, and skein-like inclusions by ubiquitin staining. This is a peculiar case with concomitant involvement in the motor cortex and temporal lobe in motor neuron disease predominantly affecting the upper motor neuron.

  2. fMRI brain response during sentence reading comprehension in children with benign epilepsy with centro-temporal spikes.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Malfait, D; Tucholka, A; Mendizabal, S; Tremblay, J; Poulin, C; Oskoui, M; Srour, M; Carmant, L; Major, P; Lippé, S

    2015-11-01

    Children with benign epilepsy with centro-temporal spikes (BECTS) often have language problems. Abnormal epileptic activity is found in central and temporal brain regions, which are involved in reading and semantic and syntactic comprehension. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we examined reading networks in BECTS children with a new sentence reading comprehension task involving semantic and syntactic processing. Fifteen children with BECTS (age=11y 1m ± 16 m; 12 boys) and 18 healthy controls (age=11 y 8m ± 20 m; 11 boys) performed an fMRI reading comprehension task in which they read a pair of syntactically complex sentences and decided whether the target sentence (the second sentence in the pair) was true or false with respect to the first sentence. All children also underwent an exhaustive neuropsychological assessment. We demonstrated weaknesses in several cognitive domains in BECTS children. During the sentence reading fMRI task, left inferior frontal regions and bilateral temporal areas were activated in BECTS children and healthy controls. However, additional brain regions such as the left hippocampus and precuneus were activated in BECTS children. Moreover, specific activation was found in the left caudate and putamen in BECTS children but not in healthy controls. Cognitive results and accuracy during the fMRI task were associated with specific brain activation patterns. BECTS children recruited a wider network to perform the fMRI sentence reading comprehension task, with specific activation in the left dorsal striatum. BECTS cognitive performance differently predicted functional activation in frontal and temporal regions compared to controls, suggesting differences in brain network organisation that contribute to reading comprehension. Crown Copyright © 2015. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  3. Gray matter deficits and altered resting-state connectivity in the superior temporal gyrus among individuals with problematic hypersexual behavior.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Seok, Ji-Woo; Sohn, Jin-Hun

    2018-04-01

    Neuroimaging studies on the characteristics of hypersexual disorder have been accumulating, yet alternations in brain structures and functional connectivity in individuals with problematic hypersexual behavior (PHB) has only recently been studied. This study aimed to investigate gray matter deficits and resting-state abnormalities in individuals with PHB using voxel-based morphometry and resting-state connectivity analysis. Seventeen individuals with PHB and 19 age-matched healthy controls participated in this study. Gray matter volume of the brain and resting-state connectivity were measured using 3T magnetic resonance imaging. Compared to healthy subjects, individuals with PHB had significant reductions in gray matter volume in the left superior temporal gyrus (STG) and right middle temporal gyrus. Individuals with PHB also exhibited a decrease in resting-state functional connectivity between the left STG and left precuneus and between the left STG and right caudate. The gray matter volume of the left STG and its resting-state functional connectivity with the right caudate both showed significant negative correlations with the severity of PHB. The findings suggest that structural deficits and resting-state functional impairments in the left STG might be linked to PHB and provide new insights into the underlying neural mechanisms of PHB. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  4. MEG evidence for conceptual combination but not numeral quantification in the left anterior temporal lobe during language production

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Paul eDel Prato

    2014-06-01

    Full Text Available The left anterior temporal lobe (LATL has risen as a leading candidate for a brain locus of composition in language; yet the computational details of its function are unknown. Although most literature discusses it as a combinatory region in very general terms, it has also been proposed to reflect the more specific function of conceptual combination, which in the classic use of this term mainly pertains to the combination of open class words with obvious conceptual contributions. We aimed to distinguish between these two possibilities by contrasting plural nouns in contexts where they were either preceded by a color modifier (red cups, eliciting conceptual combination, or by a number word (two cups, eliciting numeral quantification but no conceptual combination. This contrast was chosen because within a production task, it allows the manipulation of composition type while keeping the physical stimulus constant: a display of two red cups can be named as two cups or red cups depending on the task instruction. These utterances were compared to productions of two-word number and color lists, intended as noncombinatory control conditions. MEG activity was recorded during the planning for production, prior to motion artifacts. As expected on the basis of comprehension studies, color modification elicited increased LATL activity as compared to color lists, demonstrating that this basic combinatory effect is strongly crossmodal. However, numeral quantification did not elicit a parallel effect, suggesting that the function of the LATL is (i semantic and not syntactic (given that both color modification and numeral quantification involve syntactic composition and (ii corresponds more closely to the classical psychological notion of conceptual combination as opposed to a more general semantic combinatory function.

  5. Left atrial appendage segmentation and quantitative assisted diagnosis of atrial fibrillation based on fusion of temporal-spatial information.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jin, Cheng; Feng, Jianjiang; Wang, Lei; Yu, Heng; Liu, Jiang; Lu, Jiwen; Zhou, Jie

    2018-05-01

    In this paper, we present an approach for left atrial appendage (LAA) multi-phase fast segmentation and quantitative assisted diagnosis of atrial fibrillation (AF) based on 4D-CT data. We take full advantage of the temporal dimension information to segment the living, flailed LAA based on a parametric max-flow method and graph-cut approach to build 3-D model of each phase. To assist the diagnosis of AF, we calculate the volumes of 3-D models, and then generate a "volume-phase" curve to calculate the important dynamic metrics: ejection fraction, filling flux, and emptying flux of the LAA's blood by volume. This approach demonstrates more precise results than the conventional approaches that calculate metrics by area, and allows for the quick analysis of LAA-volume pattern changes of in a cardiac cycle. It may also provide insight into the individual differences in the lesions of the LAA. Furthermore, we apply support vector machines (SVMs) to achieve a quantitative auto-diagnosis of the AF by exploiting seven features from volume change ratios of the LAA, and perform multivariate logistic regression analysis for the risk of LAA thrombosis. The 100 cases utilized in this research were taken from the Philips 256-iCT. The experimental results demonstrate that our approach can construct the 3-D LAA geometries robustly compared to manual annotations, and reasonably infer that the LAA undergoes filling, emptying and re-filling, re-emptying in a cardiac cycle. This research provides a potential for exploring various physiological functions of the LAA and quantitatively estimating the risk of stroke in patients with AF. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  6. Frontal and temporal volumes in Childhood Absence Epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Caplan, Rochelle; Levitt, Jennifer; Siddarth, Prabha; Wu, Keng Nei; Gurbani, Suresh; Sankar, Raman; Shields, W Donald

    2009-11-01

    This study compared frontotemporal brain volumes in children with childhood absence epilepsy (CAE) to age- and gender-matched children without epilepsy. It also examined the association of these volumes with seizure, demographic, perinatal, intelligence quotient (IQ), and psychopathology variables. Twenty-six children with CAE, aged 7.5-11.8 years, and 37 children without epilepsy underwent brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans at 1.5 Tesla. Tissue was segmented, and total brain, frontal lobe, frontal parcellations, and temporal lobe volumes were computed. All children had IQ testing and structured psychiatric interviews. Parents provided seizure, perinatal, and behavioral information on each child. The CAE group had significantly smaller gray matter volumes of the left orbital frontal gyrus as well as both left and right temporal lobes compared to the age- and gender-matched children without epilepsy. In the CAE group these volumes were related to age, gender, ethnicity, and pregnancy complications but not to seizure, IQ, and psychopathology variables. In the group of children without epilepsy, however, the volumes were related to IQ. These findings suggest that CAE impacts brain development in regions implicated in behavior, cognition, and language. In addition to supporting the cortical focus theory of CAE, these findings also imply that CAE is not a benign disorder.

  7. Implicit and Explicit Memory for Affective Passages in Temporal Lobectomy Patients

    Science.gov (United States)

    Burton, Leslie A.; Rabin, Laura; Vardy, Susan Bernstein; Frohlich, Jonathan; Porter, Gwinne Wyatt; Dimitri, Diana; Cofer, Lucas; Labar, Douglas

    2008-01-01

    Eighteen temporal lobectomy patients (9 left, LTL; 9 right, RTL) were administered four verbal tasks, an Affective Implicit Task, a Neutral Implicit Task, an Affective Explicit Task, and a Neutral Explicit Task. For the Affective and Neutral Implicit Tasks, participants were timed while reading aloud passages with affective or neutral content,…

  8. The impact of left and right intracranial tumors on picture and word recognition memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goldstein, Bram; Armstrong, Carol L; Modestino, Edward; Ledakis, George; John, Cameron; Hunter, Jill V

    2004-02-01

    This study investigated the effects of left and right intracranial tumors on picture and word recognition memory. We hypothesized that left hemispheric (LH) patients would exhibit greater word recognition memory impairment than right hemispheric (RH) patients, with no significant hemispheric group picture recognition memory differences. The LH patient group obtained a significantly slower mean picture recognition reaction time than the RH group. The LH group had a higher proportion of tumors extending into the temporal lobes, possibly accounting for their greater pictorial processing impairments. Dual coding and enhanced visual imagery may have contributed to the patient groups' similar performance on the remainder of the measures.

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

    Science.gov (United States)

    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

  10. 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

  11. Contrasting effects of vocabulary knowledge on temporal and parietal brain structure across lifespan.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richardson, Fiona M; Thomas, Michael S C; Filippi, Roberto; Harth, Helen; Price, Cathy J

    2010-05-01

    Using behavioral, structural, and functional imaging techniques, we demonstrate contrasting effects of vocabulary knowledge on temporal and parietal brain structure in 47 healthy volunteers who ranged in age from 7 to 73 years. In the left posterior supramarginal gyrus, vocabulary knowledge was positively correlated with gray matter density in teenagers but not adults. This region was not activated during auditory or visual sentence processing, and activation was unrelated to vocabulary skills. Its gray matter density may reflect the use of an explicit learning strategy that links new words to lexical or conceptual equivalents, as used in formal education and second language acquisition. By contrast, in left posterior temporal regions, gray matter as well as auditory and visual sentence activation correlated with vocabulary knowledge throughout lifespan. We propose that these effects reflect the acquisition of vocabulary through context, when new words are learnt within the context of semantically and syntactically related words.

  12. Whole-brain voxel-based morphometry of white matter in medial temporal lobe epilepsy

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Yu Aihong [Department of Radiology, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital University of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100053 (China); Li Kuncheng [Department of Radiology, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital University of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100053 (China)], E-mail: Likuncheng@vip.sina.com; Li Lin; Shan Baoci [Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (China); Wang Yuping; Xue Sufang [Department of Neurology, Xuanwu Hospital, Capital University of Medical Sciences (China)

    2008-01-15

    Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze whole-brain white matter changes in medial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE). Materials and methods: We studied 23 patients with MTLE and 13 age- and sex-matched healthy control subjects using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) on T1-weighted 3D datasets. The seizure focus was right sided in 11 patients and left sided in 12. The data were collected on a 1.5 T MR system and analyzed by SPM 99 to generate white matter density maps. Results: Voxel-based morphometry revealed diffusively reduced white matter in MTLE prominently including bilateral frontal lobes, bilateral temporal lobes and corpus callosum. White matter reduction was also found in the bilateral cerebellar hemispheres in the left MTLE group. Conclusion: VBM is a simple and automated approach that is able to identify diffuse whole-brain white matter reduction in MTLE.

  13. Whole-brain voxel-based morphometry of white matter in medial temporal lobe epilepsy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yu Aihong; Li Kuncheng; Li Lin; Shan Baoci; Wang Yuping; Xue Sufang

    2008-01-01

    Purpose: The purpose of this study was to analyze whole-brain white matter changes in medial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE). Materials and methods: We studied 23 patients with MTLE and 13 age- and sex-matched healthy control subjects using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) on T1-weighted 3D datasets. The seizure focus was right sided in 11 patients and left sided in 12. The data were collected on a 1.5 T MR system and analyzed by SPM 99 to generate white matter density maps. Results: Voxel-based morphometry revealed diffusively reduced white matter in MTLE prominently including bilateral frontal lobes, bilateral temporal lobes and corpus callosum. White matter reduction was also found in the bilateral cerebellar hemispheres in the left MTLE group. Conclusion: VBM is a simple and automated approach that is able to identify diffuse whole-brain white matter reduction in MTLE

  14. Functional asymmetry between the left and right human fusiform gyrus explored through electrical brain stimulation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rangarajan, Vinitha; Parvizi, Josef

    2016-03-01

    The ventral temporal cortex (VTC) contains several areas with selective responses to words, numbers, faces, and objects as demonstrated by numerous human and primate imaging and electrophysiological studies. Our recent work using electrocorticography (ECoG) confirmed the presence of face-selective neuronal populations in the human fusiform gyrus (FG) in patients implanted with intracranial electrodes in either the left or right hemisphere. Electrical brain stimulation (EBS) disrupted the conscious perception of faces only when it was delivered in the right, but not left, FG. In contrast to our previous findings, here we report both negative and positive EBS effects in right and left FG, respectively. The presence of right hemisphere language dominance in the first, and strong left-handedness and poor language processing performance in the second case, provide indirect clues about the functional architecture of the human VTC in relation to hemispheric asymmetries in language processing and handedness. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. Neuropsychology Outcomes Following Trephine Epilepsy Surgery: The Inferior Temporal Gyrus Approach for Amygdalohippocampectomy in Medically Refractory Mesial Temporal Lobe Epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schoenberg, Mike R; Clifton, William E; Sever, Ryan W; Vale, Fernando L

    2017-06-08

    Surgery is indicated in cases of mesial temporal lobe epilepsy(MTLE) that are refractory to medical management. The inferior temporal gyrus (ITG) approach provides access to the mesial temporal lobe (MTL) structures with minimal tissue disruption. Reported neuropsychology outcomes following this approach are limited. To report neuropsychological outcomes using an ITG approach to amygdalohippocampectomy (AH) in patients with medically refractory MTLE based on a prospective design. Fifty-four participants had Engel class I/II outcome following resection of MTL using the ITG approach. All participants had localization-related epilepsy confirmed by long-term surface video-electroencephalography and completed pre/postsurgical evaluations that included magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), Wada test or functional MRI, and neuropsychology assessment. Clinical semiology/video-electroencephalography indicated that of the 54 patients, 28 (52%) had left MTLE and 26 (48%) had right MTLE. Dominant hemisphere resections were performed on 23 patients (43%), nondominant on 31(57%). Twenty-nine (29) had pathology-confirmed mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS). Group level analyses found declines in verbal memory for patients with language-dominant resections ( P .05). Neuropsychology outcomes of an ITG approach for selective mesial temporal resection are comparable to other selective AH techniques showing minimal adverse cognitive effects. These data lend support to the ITG approach for selective AH as an option for MTLE. © Congress of Neurological Surgeons 2017.

  16. Comparison of rCBF between patients with medial temporal lobe epilepsy and normal controls using H{sub 2}{sup 15}O PET

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Kang, Eun Joo; Lee, Jae Sung; Nam, Hyun Woo; Lee, Sang Kun; Lee, Dong Soo; Chung, June Key; Lee, Myung Chul [College of Medicine, Seoul National Univ., Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2002-06-01

    The aim of this study was to identify the brain areas whose regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was changed in medial temporal lobe epilepsy (mTLE) using H{sub 2}{sup 15}O-PET. 12 patients with mTLE (6 left, 6 right mTLE) and 6 normal controls were scanned during a fixation baseline period and a sensory-motor condition where subjects pressed a button to an upward arrow. A voxel-based analysis using SPM99 software was performed to compare the patient groups with the normal controls for the rCBF during fixation baseline period and for relative changes of rCBF during the sensory-motor task relative to fixation. Duirng the fixation baseline, a significant reduction of rCBF was found posterior insula bilaterally and right frontopolar regions in right mTLE patients compared to the normal controls. In left mTLE patients, the reduction was found in left frontopolar and temporal regions. During the sensory-motor task, rCBF increase over the fixation period, was reduced in left frontal and superior temporal regions in the right mTLE patients whereas in various areas of right hemisphere in left mTLE patients, relative to normal controls. However, the increased rCBF was also found in the left inferior parietal and anterior thalamic/fornix regions in both right and left mTLE patients compared to normal controls. Epilepsy induced changes were found not only in relative increase/ decrease of rCBF during a simple sensory-motor control condition relative to a fixation rest condition but also in the relative rCBF distribution during the rest period.

  17. Temporal-lobe morphology differs between healthy adolescents and those with early-onset of depression

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Mahdi Ramezani

    2014-01-01

    Full Text Available Major depressive disorder (MDD has previously been linked to structural changes in several brain regions, particularly in the medial temporal lobes (Bellani, Baiano, Brambilla, 2010; Bellani, Baiano, Brambilla, 2011. This has been determined using voxel-based morphometry, segmentation algorithms, and analysis of shape deformations (Bell-McGinty et al., 2002; Bergouignan et al., 2009; Posener et al., 2003; Vasic et al., 2008; Zhao et al., 2008: these are methods in which information related to the shape and the pose (the size, and anatomical position and orientation of structures is lost. Here, we incorporate information about shape and pose to measure structural deformation in adolescents and young adults with and without depression (as measured using the Beck Depression Inventory and Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders criteria. As a hypothesis-generating study, a significance level of p < 0.05, uncorrected for multiple comparisons, was used, so that subtle morphological differences in brain structures between adolescent depressed individuals and control participants could be identified. We focus on changes in cortical and subcortical temporal structures, and use a multi-object statistical pose and shape model to analyze imaging data from 16 females (aged 16–21 and 3 males (aged 18 with early-onset MDD, and 25 female and 1 male normal control participants, drawn from the same age range. The hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus, putamen, and superior, inferior and middle temporal gyri in both hemispheres of the brain were automatically segmented using the LONI Probabilistic Brain Atlas (Shattuck et al., 2008 in MNI space. Points on the surface of each structure in the atlas were extracted and warped to each participant's structural MRI. These surface points were analyzed to extract the pose and shape features. Pose differences were detected between the two groups, particularly in the left and right putamina, right hippocampus

  18. Parahippocampal Involvement in Mesial Temporal Lobe Epilepsy with Hippocampal Sclerosis: A Proof of Concept from Memory-Guided Saccades

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Silvia Colnaghi

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available ObjectiveMesial temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis (MTLE-HS may involve extrahippocampal areas of structural damage and dysfunction. The accuracy of medium-term spatial memory can be tested by memory-guided saccades (MGS to evaluate a functional impairment of the parahippocampal cortex (PHC, while voxel-based morphometry (VBM analysis can be used to detect a structural damage of the latter region.MethodsMGS with 3- and 30-s memorization delays were compared between 7 patients affected by right MTLE-HS (r-MTLE-HS, 6 patients affected by left MTLE-HS, and 13 healthy controls. The same subjects underwent brain MRI for a VBM analysis. Correlation analysis was performed between the results of VBM and MGS and with patients’ clinical data.ResultsRight MTLE-HS patients showed impaired accuracy of leftward MGS with a 30-s memorization delay; their gray-matter volume was reduced in the right hippocampus and inferior temporal gyrus, and bilaterally in the cerebellum. Left MTLE-HS patients had normal MGS accuracy; their gray-matter volume was reduced in the left hippocampus, in the right-inferior temporal gyrus and corpus callosus, and bilaterally in the insular cortex and in the cerebellum. The difference between right and left parahippocampal volumes correlated with MGS accuracy, while right and left hippocampal volumes did not. Hippocampal and parahippocampal volume did not correlate with clinical variables such as febrile seizures, age at disease onset, disease duration, and seizure frequency.ConclusionMGS abnormalities suggested the functional involvement of the right PHC in patients with r-MTLE-HS, supporting a right lateralization of spatial memory control and showing a relation between functional impairment and degree of atrophy.

  19. Roles of frontal and temporal regions in reinterpreting semantically ambiguous sentences

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sylvia eVitello

    2014-07-01

    Full Text Available Semantic ambiguity resolution is an essential and frequent part of speech comprehension because many words map onto multiple meanings (e.g., bark, bank. Neuroimaging research highlights the importance of the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG and the left posterior temporal cortex in this process but the roles they serve in ambiguity resolution are uncertain. One possibility is that both regions are engaged in the processes of semantic reinterpretation that follows incorrect interpretation of an ambiguous word. Here we used fMRI to investigate this hypothesis. 20 native British English monolinguals were scanned whilst listening to sentences that contained an ambiguous word. To induce semantic reinterpretation, the disambiguating information was presented after the ambiguous word and delayed until the end of the sentence (e.g., the teacher explained that the BARK was going to be very damp. These sentences were compared to well-matched unambiguous sentences. Supporting the reinterpretation hypothesis, these ambiguous sentences produced more activation in both the LIFG and the left posterior inferior temporal cortex. Importantly, all but one subject showed ambiguity-related peaks within both regions, demonstrating that the group-level results were driven by high inter-subject consistency. Further support came from the finding that activation in both regions was modulated by meaning dominance. Specifically, sentences containing biased ambiguous words, which have one more dominant meaning, produced greater activation than those with balanced ambiguous words, which have two equally frequent meanings. Because the context always supported the less frequent meaning, the biased words require reinterpretation more often than balanced words. This is the first evidence of dominance effects in the spoken modality and provides strong support that frontal and temporal regions support the updating of semantic representations during speech comprehension.

  20. Species-specific calls evoke asymmetric activity in the monkey's temporal poles.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Poremba, Amy; Malloy, Megan; Saunders, Richard C; Carson, Richard E; Herscovitch, Peter; Mishkin, Mortimer

    2004-01-29

    It has often been proposed that the vocal calls of monkeys are precursors of human speech, in part because they provide critical information to other members of the species who rely on them for survival and social interactions. Both behavioural and lesion studies suggest that monkeys, like humans, use the auditory system of the left hemisphere preferentially to process vocalizations. To investigate the pattern of neural activity that might underlie this particular form of functional asymmetry in monkeys, we measured local cerebral metabolic activity while the animals listened passively to species-specific calls compared with a variety of other classes of sound. Within the superior temporal gyrus, significantly greater metabolic activity occurred on the left side than on the right, only in the region of the temporal pole and only in response to monkey calls. This functional asymmetry was absent when these regions were separated by forebrain commissurotomy, suggesting that the perception of vocalizations elicits concurrent interhemispheric interactions that focus the auditory processing within a specialized area of one hemisphere.

  1. Crossed aphasia following cerebral infarction in a right-handed patient with atypical cerebral language dominance.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tan, Xiaoping; Guo, Yang; Dun, Saihong; Sun, Hongzan

    2018-05-18

    Crossed aphasia (CA), usually referred to as an acquired language disturbance, is caused by a lesion in the cerebral hemisphere ipsilateral to the dominant hand, and the exact mechanism is not clear. The development of handedness is influenced by education and training and the impact of habitualization, while language is more susceptible to the impact of speech habits, and it is not absolutely accurate to judge cerebral language dominance by the degree of hand preference. We describe a case of CA after right hemispheric stroke in a right-handed patient with atypical language dominance and attempt to analyze the mechanism of CA based on functional imaging methods, including arterial spin labeling (ASL) and positron emission tomography/magnetic resonance imaging (PET-MRI). Brain MRI at 24 h after admission showed a large cerebral infarction in the right cerebral hemisphere, including the posteroinferior part of Broca's area in the right frontal lobe, the right temporal lobe, and the right occipital lobe. The patient exhibited a non-fluent aphasia on a standard language test (the Aphasia Battery of Chinese [ABC]) performed on the 7th day after onset. Thus, atypical language dominance was suspected. One week after admission, ASL imaging showed high perfusion in the infarct core zone and low perfusion in the left cerebellar hemisphere. Two months later, PET/MRI demonstrated low metabolism in the posterior frontal lobe, temporal lobe, temporal occipital junction area, and the right basal ganglia. The findings suggest that the patient has right-sided cerebral language dominance, or that both hemispheres have linguistic functions. Not all patients show linguistic capabilities on the side opposite hand preference. The language dominance should be predicted by a combination of clinical manifestations and functional imaging techniques.

  2. Application of dynamic susceptibility contrast-enhanced perfusion in temporal lobe epilepsy

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Xing, Wu; Wang, Xiaoyi; Xie, Fangfang; Liao, Weihua

    2013-01-01

    Background: Accurately locatithe epileptogenic focus in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is important in clinical practice. Single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and positron-emission tomography (PET) have been widely used in the lateralization of TLE, but both have limitations. Magnetic resonance perfusion imaging can accurately and reliably reflect differences in cerebral blood flow and volume. Purpose: To investigate the diagnostic value of dynamic susceptibility contrast-enhanced (DSC) perfusion magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the lateralization of the epileptogenic focus in TLE. Material and Methods: Conventional MRI and DSC-MRI scanning was performed in 20 interictal cases of TLE and 20 healthy volunteers. The relative cerebral blood volume (rCBV) and relative cerebral blood flow (rCBF) of the bilateral mesial temporal lobes of the TLE cases and healthy control groups were calculated. The differences in the perfusion asymmetry indices (AIs), derived from the rCBV and rCBF of the bilateral mesial temporal lobes, were pared between the two groups. Results: In the control group, there were no statistically significant differences between the left and right sides in terms of rCBV (left 1.55 ± 0.32, right 1.57 ± 0.28) or rCBF (left 99.00 ± 24.61, right 100.38 ± 23.46) of the bilateral mesial temporal lobes. However, in the case group the ipsilateral rCBV and rCBF values (1.75 ± 0.64 and 96.35 ± 22.63, respectively) were markedly lower than those of the contralateral side (2.01 ± 0.79 and 108.56 ± 26.92; P < 0.05). Both the AI of the rCBV (AIrCBV; 13.03 ± 10.33) and the AI of the rCBF (AIrCBF; 11.24 ± 8.70) of the case group were significantly higher than that of the control group (AIrCBV 5.55 ± 3.74, AIrCBF 5.12 ± 3.48; P < 0.05). The epileptogenic foci of nine patients were correctly lateralized using the 95th percentile of the AIrCBV and AIrCBF of the control group as the normal upper limits. Conclusion: In patients with TLE interictal

  3. A metastatic glomus jugulare tumor. A temporal bone report

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    El Fiky, F.M.; Paparella, M.M.

    1984-01-01

    The clinicopathologic findings in the temporal bone of a patient with a highly malignant metastasizing glomus jugulare tumor are reported. The patient exhibited all the symptoms of primary malignant tumors of the ear, including facial paralysis, otorrhea, pain, hearing loss, tinnitus, dizziness, and vertigo. He was treated with cobalt irradiation followed by radium implant in the ear canal for a residual tumor; then a left-sided radical mastoidectomy was performed

  4. Determinants of brain metabolism changes in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chassoux, Francine; Artiges, Eric; Semah, Franck; Desarnaud, Serge; Laurent, Agathe; Landre, Elisabeth; Gervais, Philippe; Devaux, Bertrand; Helal, Ourkia Badia

    2016-06-01

    To determine the main factors influencing metabolic changes in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) due to hippocampal sclerosis (HS). We prospectively studied 114 patients with MTLE (62 female; 60 left HS; 15- to 56-year-olds) with (18) F-fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography and correlated the results with the side of HS, structural atrophy, electroclinical features, gender, age at onset, epilepsy duration, and seizure frequency. Imaging processing was performed using statistical parametric mapping. Ipsilateral hypometabolism involved temporal (mesial structures, pole, and lateral cortex) and extratemporal areas including the insula, frontal lobe, perisylvian regions, and thalamus, more extensively in right HS (RHS). A relative increase of metabolism (hypermetabolism) was found in the nonepileptic temporal lobe and in posterior areas bilaterally. Voxel-based morphometry detected unilateral hippocampus atrophy and gray matter concentration decrease in both frontal lobes, more extensively in left HS (LHS). Regardless of the structural alterations, the topography of hypometabolism correlated strongly with the extent of epileptic networks (mesial, anterior-mesiolateral, widespread mesiolateral, and bitemporal according to the ictal spread), which were larger in RHS. Notably, widespread perisylvian and bitemporal hypometabolism was found only in RHS. Mirror hypermetabolism was grossly proportional to the hypometabolic areas, coinciding partly with the default mode network. Gender-related effect was significant mainly in the contralateral frontal lobe, in which metabolism was higher in female patients. Epilepsy duration correlated with the contralateral temporal metabolism, positively in LHS and negatively in RHS. Opposite results were found with age at onset. High seizure frequency correlated negatively with the contralateral metabolism in LHS. Epileptic networks, as assessed by electroclinical correlations, appear to be the main determinant of

  5. Magnetoencephalographic localization of peritumoral temporal epileptic focus previous surgical resection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amo, Carlos; Saldaña, Cristóbal; Hidalgo, Mercedes González; Maestú, Fernando; Fernández, Alberto; Arrazola, Juan; Ortiz, Tomás

    2003-01-01

    Magnetoencephalography (MEG) is suggested as a localizing technique of epileptogenic areas in drug-resistant seizure patients due to intracraneal lesions. A male 42-year-old patient who begins at 26 with partial complex drug-resistant seizures is put forward. MRI shows a 9 mm diameter lesion located in left superior temporal gyrus which seems compatible with cavernoma. Both conventional and sleep deprivation EEGs have proved normal. Sleep EEG shows sharp waves in left temporal region. MEG helps to localize interictal spike and spike-wave activity, as well as wide slow wave (2-7 Hz) activity areas. Craniotomy under analgesia and aware sedation conditions is carried out. Intrasurgery cortical electric stimulation assisted by neuronavigator causes a limited partial complex seizure which the patient recognizes to be exactly like his. Thus, MEG localization of the epileptogenic area is confirmed. Surgical resection of both the lesion and the epileptogenic area is carried out. The patient remains free from seizures 9 months after surgery. A control MEG study reveals no epileptogenic nor slow wave activity. in this particular case, MEG has proven to be a useful presurgical evaluation technique to localize epileptogenic activity, validated by intrasurgical cortical stimulation.

  6. Radiation-induced osteochondroma of the T4 vertebra causing spinal cord compression

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Gorospe, Luis; Madrid-Muniz, Carmen; Royo, Aranzazu; Garcia-Raya, Pilar [Department of Radiology, La Paz University Hospital, Madrid (Spain); Alvarez-Ruiz, Fernando [Department of Neurosurgery, La Paz University Hospital, Madrid (Spain); Lopez-Barea, Fernando [Department of Pathology, La Paz University Hospital, Madrid (Spain)

    2002-04-01

    A case of a radiation-induced osteochondroma arising from the vertebral body of T4 in an 18-year-old man is reported. The patient presented with a history of progressive left lower extremity weakness. At 7 years of age, he had undergone resection of a cerebellar medulloblastoma and received adjunctive craniospinal irradiation and systemic chemotherapy. Both CT and MR imaging revealed an extradural mass contiguous with the posteroinferior endplate of the T4 vertebral body. This case indicates that radiation-induced osteochondroma should be considered in the differential diagnosis of patients with symptoms of myelopathy or nerve root compression and a history of radiation therapy involving the spine in childhood. (orig.)

  7. Decreasing Temporal Lobe Dose With Five-Field Intensity-Modulated Radiotherapy for Treatment of Pituitary Macroadenomas

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Parhar, Preeti K.; Duckworth, Tamara; Shah, Parinda; DeWyngaert, J. Keith; Narayana, Ashwatha; Formenti, Silvia C.; Shah, Jinesh N.

    2010-01-01

    Purpose: To compare temporal lobe dose delivered by three pituitary macroadenoma irradiation techniques: three-field three-dimensional conformal radiotherapy (3D-CRT), three-field intensity-modulated radiotherapy (3F IMRT), and a proposed novel alternative of five-field IMRT (5F IMRT). Methods and Materials: Computed tomography-based external beam radiotherapy planning was performed for 15 pituitary macroadenoma patients treated at New York University between 2002 and 2007 using: 3D-CRT (two lateral, one midline superior anterior oblique [SAO] beams), 3F IMRT (same beam angles), and 5F IMRT (same beam angles with additional right SAO and left SAO beams). Prescription dose was 45 Gy. Target volumes were: gross tumor volume (GTV) = macroadenoma, clinical target volume (CTV) = GTV, and planning target volume = CTV + 0.5 cm. Structure contouring was performed by two radiation oncologists guided by an expert neuroradiologist. Results: Five-field IMRT yielded significantly decreased temporal lobe dose delivery compared with 3D-CRT and 3F IMRT. Temporal lobe sparing with 5F IMRT was most pronounced at intermediate doses: mean V25Gy (% of total temporal lobe volume receiving ≥25 Gy) of 13% vs. 28% vs. 29% for right temporal lobe and 14% vs. 29% vs. 30% for left temporal lobe for 5F IMRT, 3D-CRT, and 3F IMRT, respectively (p -7 for 5F IMRT vs. 3D-CRT and 5F IMRT vs. 3F IMRT). Five-field IMRT plans did not compromise target coverage, exceed normal tissue dose constraints, or increase estimated brain integral dose. Conclusions: Five-field IMRT irradiation technique results in a statistically significant decrease in the dose to the temporal lobes and may thus help prevent neurocognitive sequelae in irradiated pituitary macroadenoma patients.

  8. Late bilateral temporal lobe necrosis after conventional radiotherapy. Case report

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Hoshi, Michio; Hayashi, Toshiyuki; Kagami, Hiroshi; Murase, Ikurou; Nakatsukasa, Masashi [Saiseikai Utsunomiya Hospital (Japan)

    2003-04-01

    A 63-year-old woman presented with radionecrosis in the bilateral temporal lobes manifesting as dementia about 30 years after undergoing conventional radiotherapy for pituitary adenoma. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging showed edema and cystic lesions in both temporal lobes. The mass in the left temporal lobe was excised. MR imaging 12 days after surgery showed reduced edema. Her dementia had improved. Radionecrosis usually occurs between several months and a few years after radiotherapy. The incidence of radionecrosis is estimated as 5%, but may be higher with longer follow-up periods. Clinical reports have suggested that larger total doses of radiation are associated with earlier onset of delayed necrosis and the fractional dose is the most significant factor causing cerebral radionecrosis. Radionecrosis can occur long after conventional radiotherapy or stereotactic radiosurgery using a linac-based system or a gamma knife unit. (author)

  9. Atypical language representation in children with intractable temporal lobe epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Maulisova, Alice; Korman, Brandon; Rey, Gustavo; Bernal, Byron; Duchowny, Michael; Niederlova, Marketa; Krsek, Pavel; Novak, Vilem

    2016-05-01

    This study evaluated language organization in children with intractable epilepsy caused by temporal lobe focal cortical dysplasia (FCD) alone or dual pathology (temporal lobe FCD and hippocampal sclerosis, HS). We analyzed clinical, neurological, fMRI, neuropsychological, and histopathologic data in 46 pediatric patients with temporal lobe lesions who underwent excisional epilepsy surgery. The frequency of atypical language representation was similar in both groups, but children with dual pathology were more likely to be left-handed. Atypical receptive language cortex correlated with lower intellectual capacity, verbal abstract conceptualization, receptive language abilities, verbal working memory, and a history of status epilepticus but did not correlate with higher seizure frequency or early seizure onset. Histopathologic substrate had only a minor influence on neuropsychological status. Greater verbal comprehension deficits were noted in children with atypical receptive language representation, a risk factor for cognitive morbidity. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  10. Parametric fMRI analysis of visual encoding in the human medial temporal lobe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rombouts, S A; Scheltens, P; Machielson, W C; Barkhof, F; Hoogenraad, F G; Veltman, D J; Valk, J; Witter, M P

    1999-01-01

    A number of functional brain imaging studies indicate that the medial temporal lobe system is crucially involved in encoding new information into memory. However, most studies were based on differences in brain activity between encoding of familiar vs. novel stimuli. To further study the underlying cognitive processes, we applied a parametric design of encoding. Seven healthy subjects were instructed to encode complex color pictures into memory. Stimuli were presented in a parametric fashion at different rates, thus representing different loads of encoding. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to assess changes in brain activation. To determine the number of pictures successfully stored into memory, recognition scores were determined afterwards. During encoding, brain activation occurred in the medial temporal lobe, comparable to the results obtained by others. Increasing the encoding load resulted in an increase in the number of successfully stored items. This was reflected in a significant increase in brain activation in the left lingual gyrus, in the left and right parahippocampal gyrus, and in the right inferior frontal gyrus. This study shows that fMRI can detect changes in brain activation during variation of one aspect of higher cognitive tasks. Further, it strongly supports the notion that the human medial temporal lobe is involved in encoding novel visual information into memory.

  11. Treatment of Proper Name Retrieval Deficits in an Individual with Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Minkina, Irene; Ojemann, Jeffrey G.; Grabowski, Thomas J.; Silkes, JoAnn P.; Phatak, Vaishali; Kendall, Diane L.

    2013-01-01

    Purpose: Studies investigating language deficits in individuals with left temporal-lobe epilepsy have consistently demonstrated impairments in proper name retrieval. The aim of this Phase I rehabilitation study was to investigate the effects of a linguistically distributed word retrieval treatment on proper name retrieval in an individual with…

  12. 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

  13. A conceptual lemon: theta burst stimulation to the left anterior temporal lobe untangles object representation and its canonical color.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chiou, Rocco; Sowman, Paul F; Etchell, Andrew C; Rich, Anina N

    2014-05-01

    Object recognition benefits greatly from our knowledge of typical color (e.g., a lemon is usually yellow). Most research on object color knowledge focuses on whether both knowledge and perception of object color recruit the well-established neural substrates of color vision (the V4 complex). Compared with the intensive investigation of the V4 complex, we know little about where and how neural mechanisms beyond V4 contribute to color knowledge. The anterior temporal lobe (ATL) is thought to act as a "hub" that supports semantic memory by integrating different modality-specific contents into a meaningful entity at a supramodal conceptual level, making it a good candidate zone for mediating the mappings between object attributes. Here, we explore whether the ATL is critical for integrating typical color with other object attributes (object shape and name), akin to its role in combining nonperceptual semantic representations. In separate experimental sessions, we applied TMS to disrupt neural processing in the left ATL and a control site (the occipital pole). Participants performed an object naming task that probes color knowledge and elicits a reliable color congruency effect as well as a control quantity naming task that also elicits a cognitive congruency effect but involves no conceptual integration. Critically, ATL stimulation eliminated the otherwise robust color congruency effect but had no impact on the numerical congruency effect, indicating a selective disruption of object color knowledge. Neither color nor numerical congruency effects were affected by stimulation at the control occipital site, ruling out nonspecific effects of cortical stimulation. Our findings suggest that the ATL is involved in the representation of object concepts that include their canonical colors.

  14. Temporal lobe epilepsy: analysis of patients with dual pathology.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Salanova, V; Markand, O; Worth, R

    2004-02-01

    To determine the frequency and types of dual pathology in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and to analyze the clinical manifestations and surgical outcome. A total of 240 patients with TLE underwent temporal resections following a comprehensive pre-surgical evaluation. Thirty-seven (15.4%) of these had hippocampal sclerosis (HS) or temporal lobe gliosis in association with another lesion (dual pathology). Eighteen of 37 patients with dual pathology had heterotopia of the temporal lobe, nine had cortical dysplasia, four had cavernous angiomas or arteriovenous malformations, one had a dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumor, one had a contusion and four patients had cerebral infarctions in childhood. 68.5% had abnormal head magnetic resonance imagings, 91.3% had abnormal positron emission tomography scans, and 96% had abnormal ictal SPECT. The intracarotid amobarbital procedure (IAP) showed impaired memory of the epileptogenic side in 72% of the patients. Twenty patients had left and 17 had right-sided en bloc temporal resections, including the lesion and mesial temporal structures. Twenty-six (70.2%) became seizure-free, eight (21.6%) had rare seizures, two (5.4%) had worthwhile seizure reduction and one (2.7%) had no improvement (range of follow-up 1-16 years, mean = 7.4 years). 15.4% had dual pathology. The dual pathology was almost exclusively seen in patients whose lesions were congenital, or occurred early in life, suggesting that the hippocampus is more vulnerable and more readily develops HS in early childhood. Resections, including the lateral and mesial temporal structures led to a favorable outcome with no mortality and little morbidity.

  15. Auras and clinical features in temporal lobe epilepsy: a new approach on the basis of voxel-based morphometry.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santana, Maria Teresa Castilho Garcia; Jackowski, Andrea Parolin; da Silva, Henrique Hattori; Caboclo, Luis Otávio Sales Ferreira; Centeno, Ricardo Silva; Bressan, Rodrigo A; Carrete, Henrique; Yacubian, Elza Márcia Targas

    2010-05-01

    MRI investigations in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) with mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS) have demonstrated structural abnormalities extending beyond ipsilateral hippocampus which may be studied through voxel-based morphometry (VBM). We investigated brain morphology related to clinical features in patients with refractory TLE with MTS using VBM. One hundred patients with unilateral TLE with MTS (59 left) and 30 controls were enrolled. VBM5 was employed to analyze (1) hemispheric damage, (2) influence of initial precipitating injury (IPI): 23 patients with febrile seizures and 19 with status epilepticus, and (3) types of auras classified as: mesial, including psychic auras (19 patients); anterior mesio-lateral, as autonomic symptoms, specially epigastric auras (27 patients) and neocortical, which included auditory, vertiginous, somatosensory and visual auras (16 patients). (1) Left TLE patients presented more widespread gray matter volume (GMV) reductions affecting ipsilateral hippocampus, temporal neocortex, insula and also left uncus, precentral gyrus, thalamus, parietal lobule, cuneus and bilateral cingulum. (2) Febrile seizures group presented ipsilateral GMV reductions in hippocampus, neocortical temporal, frontal and occipital cortices, insula and cingulum. Status epilepticus group presented more widespread GMV reductions involving temporal and extratemporal lobes. (3) Patients with mesial auras showed significant ipsilateral GMV reductions in hippocampus and amygdala, particularly right TLE group, who presented greater extension of GMV reduction in the entorhinal cortex. Significant reductions in hippocampus, amygdala and insula were seen in patients with anterior mesio-lateral auras. This study evaluated a large number of TLE-MTS patients showing structural damage extending beyond hippocampus, and different types of IPI associated with the extension of brain damage. Subtypes of auras are related to different clusters of areas of GMV reductions in

  16. The lateralising significance of hypergraphia in temporal lobe epilepsy

    OpenAIRE

    Roberts, JKA; Robertson, MM; Trimble, MR

    1982-01-01

    Six patients with hypergraphia and epilepsy are presented and their clinical features compared with other patients reported in the literature. It is suggested that hypergraphia occurs more frequently in patients with right-sided non-dominant temporal lobe lesions, in contrast for example to the schizophreniform presentation of left-sided lesions. Other features of psychopathology possibly associated with non-dominant lesions, including elation, hypereligiosity and déjà vu experiences, are als...

  17. Functional imaging of semantic memory predicts postoperative episodic memory functions in chronic temporal lobe epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Köylü, Bülent; Walser, Gerald; Ischebeck, Anja; Ortler, Martin; Benke, Thomas

    2008-08-05

    Medial temporal (MTL) structures have crucial functions in episodic (EM), but also in semantic memory (SM) processing. Preoperative functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) activity within the MTL is increasingly used to predict post-surgical memory capacities. Based on the hypothesis that EM and SM memory functions are both hosted by the MTL the present study wanted to explore the relationship between SM related activations in the MTL as assessed before and the capacity of EM functions after surgery. Patients with chronic unilateral left (n=14) and right (n=12) temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) performed a standard word list learning test pre- and postoperatively, and a fMRI procedure before the operation using a semantic decision task. SM processing caused significant bilateral MTL activations in both patient groups. While right TLE patients showed asymmetry of fMRI activation with more activation in the left MTL, left TLE patients had almost equal activation in both MTL regions. Contrasting left TLE versus right TLE patients revealed greater activity within the right MTL, whereas no significant difference was observed for the reverse contrast. Greater effect size in the MTL region ipsilateral to the seizure focus was significantly and positively correlated with preoperative EM abilities. Greater effect size in the contralateral MTL was correlated with better postoperative verbal EM, especially in left TLE patients. These results suggest that functional imaging of SM tasks may be useful to predict postoperative verbal memory in TLE. They also advocate a common neuroanatomical basis for SM and EM processes in the MTL.

  18. Temporal lobe epilepsy and surgery selectively alter the dorsal, not the ventral, default-mode network

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Gaelle Eve Doucet

    2014-03-01

    Full Text Available The default-mode network (DMN is a major resting-state network. It can be divided in 2 distinct networks: one is composed of dorsal and anterior regions (referred to as the dorsal DMN, dDMN, while the other involves the more posterior regions (referred to as the ventral DMN, vDMN. To date, no studies have investigated the potentially distinct impact of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE on these networks. In this context, we explored the effect of TLE and anterior temporal lobectomy (ATL on the dDMN and vDMN. We utilized 2 resting-state fMRI sessions from left, right TLE patients (pre-/post-surgery and normal controls (NCs, sessions 1/2. Using independent component analysis, we identified the 2 networks. We then evaluated for differences in spatial extent for each network between the groups, and across the scanning sessions. The results revealed that, pre-surgery, the dDMN showed larger differences between the three groups than the vDMN, and more particularly between right and left TLE than between the TLE patients and controls. In terms of change post-surgery, in both TLE groups, the dDMN also demonstrated larger changes than the vDMN. For the vDMN, the only changes involved the resected temporal lobe for each ATL group. For the dDMN, the left ATL group showed post-surgical increases in several regions outside the ictal temporal lobe. In contrast, the right ATL group displayed a large reduction in the frontal cortex. The results highlight that the 2 DMNs are not impacted by TLE and ATL in an equivalent fashion. Importantly, the dDMN was the more affected, with right ATL having a more deleterious effects on the dDMN than left ATL. We are the first to highlight that the dDMN more strongly bears the negative impact of TLE than the vDMN, suggesting there is an interaction between the side of pathology and DM subnetwork activity. Our findings have implications for understanding the impact TLE and subsequent ATL on the functions implemented by the distinct

  19. Gender-specific effects of emotional modulation on visual temporal order thresholds.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liang, Wei; Zhang, Jiyuan; Bao, Yan

    2015-09-01

    Emotions affect temporal information processing in the low-frequency time window of a few seconds, but little is known about their effect in the high-frequency domain of some tens of milliseconds. The present study aims to investigate whether negative and positive emotional states influence the ability to discriminate the temporal order of visual stimuli, and whether gender plays a role in temporal processing. Due to the hemispheric lateralization of emotion, a hemispheric asymmetry between the left and the right visual field might be expected. Using a block design, subjects were primed with neutral, negative and positive emotional pictures before performing temporal order judgment tasks. Results showed that male subjects exhibited similarly reduced order thresholds under negative and positive emotional states, while female subjects demonstrated increased threshold under positive emotional state and reduced threshold under negative emotional state. Besides, emotions influenced female subjects more intensely than male subjects, and no hemispheric lateralization was observed. These observations indicate an influence of emotional states on temporal order processing of visual stimuli, and they suggest a gender difference, which is possibly associated with a different emotional stability.

  20. 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.

  1. TMS interferes with lexical-semantic retrieval in left inferior frontal gyrus and posterior middle temporal gyrus: Evidence from cyclical picture naming.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Krieger-Redwood, Katya; Jefferies, Elizabeth

    2014-11-01

    We used TMS to investigate the contribution of left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) and posterior middle temporal gyrus (pMTG) to lexical/semantic selection and retrieval processes using a cyclical naming paradigm. Participants named pictures that were presented repeatedly across six cycles, either in semantically related or unrelated sets. Previous research has suggested that selection demands are higher for related sets, especially after repetition, since participants experience competition from the activation of semantic neighbours. In contrast, retrieval demands are greater for unrelated sets in the absence of semantic priming, particularly on the first cycle when the target names have not been previously activated. Therefore, this paradigm can reveal independent effects of (i) retrieval demands (i.e., the ease of accessing picture names from visual input) and (ii) selection/competition. We found that rTMS to LIFG and pMTG produced similar behavioural effects: stimulation of both sites disrupted picture naming performance on early cycles (when participants were less practised at producing the picture names) and for semantically-related sets (when there was the potential for increased competition and yet also facilitation from semantic neighbours). There were no effects of TMS when either retrieval or selection requirements were maximal on their own. The data therefore support the view that both LIFG and pMTG contribute to picture name retrieval, with both sites playing a critical role in mediating the semantic facilitation of naming when retrieval demands are high. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  2. Presurgical language mapping in epilepsy: Using fMRI of reading to identify functional reorganization in a patient with long-standing temporal lobe epilepsy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Layla Gould

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available We report a 55-year-old, right-handed patient with intractable left temporal lobe epilepsy, who previously had a partial left temporal lobectomy. The patient could talk during seizures, suggesting that he might have language dominance in the right hemisphere. Presurgical fMRI localization of language processing including reading of exception and regular words, pseudohomophones, and dual meaning words confirmed the clinical hypothesis of right language dominance, with only small amounts of activation near the planned surgical resection and, thus, minimal eloquent cortex to avoid during surgery. Postoperatively, the patient was rendered seizure-free without speech deficits.

  3. Radioanatomy of the singular nerve canal

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Muren, C. [Dept. of Diagnostic Radiology, Sabbatsbergs Hospital, Stockholm (Sweden); Wadin, K. [University Hospital, Uppsala (Sweden); Dimopoulos, P. [University Hospital, Uppsala (Sweden)

    1991-08-01

    The singular canal conveys vestibular nerve fibers from the ampulla of the posterior semicircular canal to the posteroinferior border of the internal auditory meatus. Radiographic identification of this anatomic structure helps to distinguish it from a fracture. It is also a landmark in certain surgical procedures. Computed tomography (CT) examinations of deep-frozen temporal bone specimens were compared with subsequently prepared plastic casts of these bones, showing good correlation between the anatomy and the images. The singular canal and its variable anatomy were studied in CT examinations of 107 patients. The singular canal could be identified, in both the axial and in the coronal planes. Its point of entry into the internal auditory meatus varied considerably. (orig.)

  4. Synchronous retinotopic frontal-temporal activity during long-term memory for spatial location.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Slotnick, Scott D

    2010-05-12

    Early visual areas in occipital cortex are known to be retinotopic. Recently, retinotopic maps have been reported in frontal and parietal cortex during spatial attention and working memory. The present event-related potential (ERP) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study determined whether spatial long-term memory was associated with retinotopic activity in frontal and parietal regions, and assessed whether retinotopic activity in these higher level control regions was synchronous with retinotopic activity in lower level visual sensory regions. During encoding, abstract shapes were presented to the left or right of fixation. During retrieval, old and new shapes were presented at fixation and participants classified each shape as old and previously on the "left", old and previously on the "right", or "new". Retinotopic effects were manifested by accurate memory for items previously presented on the left producing activity in the right hemisphere and accurate memory for items previously presented on the right producing activity in the left hemisphere. Retinotopic ERP activity was observed in frontal regions and visual sensory (occipital and temporal) regions. In frontal cortex, retinotopic fMRI activity was localized to the frontal eye fields. There were no significant ERP or fMRI retinotopic memory effects in parietal regions. The present long-term memory retinotopic effects complement previous spatial attention and working memory findings (and suggest retinotopic activity in parietal cortex may require an external peripheral stimulus). Furthermore, ERP cross-correlogram analysis revealed that retinotopic activations in frontal and temporal regions were synchronous, indicating that these regions interact during retrieval of spatial information. (c) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  5. Differences in Brain Adaptive Functional Reorganization in Right and Left Total Brachial Plexus Injury Patients.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Feng, Jun-Tao; Liu, Han-Qiu; Xu, Jian-Guang; Gu, Yu-Dong; Shen, Yun-Dong

    2015-09-01

    Total brachial plexus avulsion injury (BPAI) results in the total functional loss of the affected limb and induces extensive brain functional reorganization. However, because the dominant hand is responsible for more cognitive-related tasks, injuries on this side induce more adaptive changes in brain function. In this article, we explored the differences in brain functional reorganization after injuries in unilateral BPAI patients. We applied resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging scanning to 10 left and 10 right BPAI patients and 20 healthy control subjects. The amplitude of low-frequency fluctuation (ALFF), which is a resting-state index, was calculated for all patients as an indication of the functional activity level of the brain. Two-sample t-tests were performed between left BPAI patients and controls, right BPAI patients and controls, and between left and right BPAI patients. Two-sample t-tests of the ALFF values revealed that right BPAIs induced larger scale brain reorganization than did left BPAIs. Both left and right BPAIs elicited a decreased ALFF value in the right precuneus (P right BPAI patients exhibited increased ALFF values in a greater number of brain regions than left BPAI patients, including the inferior temporal gyrus, lingual gyrus, calcarine sulcus, and fusiform gyrus. Our results revealed that right BPAIs induced greater extents of brain functional reorganization than left BPAIs, which reflected the relatively more extensive adaptive process that followed injuries of the dominant hand. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. Temporal Dissociation of Neocortical and Hippocampal Contributions to Mental Time Travel Using Intracranial Recordings in Humans.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Schurr, Roey; Nitzan, Mor; Eliahou, Ruth; Spinelli, Laurent; Seeck, Margitta; Blanke, Olaf; Arzy, Shahar

    2018-01-01

    In mental time travel (MTT) one is "traveling" back-and-forth in time, remembering, and imagining events. Despite intensive research regarding memory processes in the hippocampus, it was only recently shown that the hippocampus plays an essential role in encoding the temporal order of events remembered, and therefore plays an important role in MTT. Does it also encode the temporal relations of these events to the remembering self? We asked patients undergoing pre-surgical evaluation with depth electrodes penetrating the temporal lobes bilaterally toward the hippocampus to project themselves in time to a past, future, or present time-point, and then make judgments regarding various events. Classification analysis of intracranial evoked potentials revealed clear temporal dissociation in the left hemisphere between lateral-temporal electrodes, activated at ~100-300 ms, and hippocampal electrodes, activated at ~400-600 ms. This dissociation may suggest a division of labor in the temporal lobe during self-projection in time, hinting toward the different roles of the lateral-temporal cortex and the hippocampus in MTT and the temporal organization of the related events with respect to the experiencing self.

  7. Prevention of Cerebral Embolism Progression by Emergency Surgery of the Left Atrial Myxoma

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Syuichi Tetsuka

    2015-01-01

    Full Text Available A 21-year-old woman developed left hemiparesis during work and was hospitalized. Her National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score was 4. Hyperintense areas in the left basal ganglia, corona radiata, and cortex of the temporal lobe were found by brain diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging, indicating acute cerebral infarction. Echocardiography showed a giant mass of diameter 7 × 4 cm in the left atrium. Therefore, she was diagnosed with cerebral embolism due to a left atrial myxoma. Currently, thrombolytic therapy may continue to be effective because the embolic source may be composed of tumor tissue itself. In case of atrial myxoma, we considered that the use of tPA as emergency treatment in all patients with infarction by atrial myxoma may be questioned. Thus, cardiac tumor extraction was performed the next day after hospitalization without thrombolytic therapy. The excised myxoma measured 7 × 6 × 4 cm. The patient recovered and her neurological symptoms also improved. Furthermore, her National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score improved to 0. Thirteen days after admission, the patient was discharged from our hospital. Cardiac myxoma is often associated with a high risk of embolic episodes, which emphasizes the need for prompt surgical excision as soon as the diagnosis is confirmed.

  8. Processamento temporal, localização e fechamento auditivo em portadores de perda auditiva unilateral Temporal processing, localization and auditory closure in individuals with unilateral hearing loss

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Regiane Nishihata

    2012-01-01

    , sound localization, and auditory closure, and to investigate possible associations with complaints of learning, communication and language difficulties in individuals with unilateral hearing loss. METHODS: Participants were 26 individuals with ages between 8 and 15 years, divided into two groups: Unilateral hearing loss group; and Normal hearing group. Each group was composed of 13 individuals, matched by gender, age and educational level. All subjects were submitted to anamnesis, peripheral hearing evaluation, and auditory processing evaluation through behavioral tests of sound localization, sequential memory, Random Detection Gap test, and speech-in-noise test. Nonparametric statistical tests were used to compare the groups, considering the presence or absence of hearing loss and the ear with hearing loss. RESULTS: Unilateral hearing loss started during preschool, and had unknown or identified etiologies, such as meningitis, traumas or mumps. Most individuals reported delays in speech, language and learning developments, especially those with hearing loss in the right ear. The group with hearing loss had worse responses in the abilities of temporal ordering and resolution, sound localization and auditory closure. Individuals with hearing loss in the left ear showed worse results than those with hearing loss in the right ear in all abilities, except in sound localization. CONCLUSION: The presence of unilateral hearing loss causes sound localization, auditory closure, temporal ordering and temporal resolution difficulties. Individuals with unilateral hearing loss in the right ear have more complaints than those with unilateral hearing loss in the left ear. Individuals with hearing loss in the left ear have more difficulties in auditory closure, temporal resolution, and temporal ordering.

  9. Imaging of odor perception delineates functional disintegration of the limbic circuits in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ciumas, Carolina; Lindström, Per; Aoun, Bernard; Savic, Ivanka

    2008-01-15

    Metabolic and neuro-receptor abnormalities within the extrafocal limbic circuits are established in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE). However, very little is known about how these circuits process external stimuli. We tested whether odor activation can help delineate limbic functional disintegration in MTLE, and measured cerebral blood flow with PET during birhinal smelling of familiar and unfamiliar odors, using smelling of odorless air as the baseline condition. Patients with MTLE (13 left-sided, 10 right-sided) and 21 controls were investigated. In addition to odor activation, the analysis included functional connectivity, using right and left piriform cortex as seed regions. Healthy controls activated the amygdala, piriform, anterior insular, and cingulate cortices on both sides. Smelling of familiar odors engaged, in addition, the right parahippocampus, and the left Brodmann Area (BA) 44, 45, 47. Patients failed to activate the amygdala, piriform and the anterior insular cortex in the epileptogenic hemisphere. Furthermore, those with left MTLE did not activate the left BA 44, 45 and 47 with familiar odors, which they perceived as less familiar than controls. Congruent with the activation data each seed region was in patients functionally disconnected with the contralateral amygdala+piriform+insular cortex. The functional disintegration in patients exceeded the reduced activation, and included the contralateral temporal neocortex, and in subjects with right MTLE also the right orbitofrontal cortex. Imaging of odor perception may be used to delineate functional disintegration of the limbic networks in MTLE. It shows an altered response in several regions, which may underlie some interictal behavioral problems associated with this condition.

  10. Temporal lobe dual pathology in malignant migrating partial seizures in infancy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Coppola, Giangennaro; Operto, Francesca Felicia; Auricchio, Gianfranca; D'Amico, Alessandra; Fortunato, Delia; Pascotto, Antonio

    2007-06-01

    A child had the characteristic clinical and EEG pattern of migrating partial seizures in infancy with left temporal lobe atrophy, hippocampal sclerosis and cortical-subcortical blurring. Seizures were drug-resistant, with recurring episodes of status epilepticus. The child developed microcephaly with arrest of psychomotor development. Focal brain lesions, in the context of migrating partial seizures, have not been previously reported.[Published with video sequences].

  11. Tuning for temporal interval in human apparent motion detection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bours, Roger J E; Stuur, Sanne; Lankheet, Martin J M

    2007-01-08

    Detection of apparent motion in random dot patterns requires correlation across time and space. It has been difficult to study the temporal requirements for the correlation step because motion detection also depends on temporal filtering preceding correlation and on integration at the next levels. To specifically study tuning for temporal interval in the correlation step, we performed an experiment in which prefiltering and postintegration were held constant and in which we used a motion stimulus containing coherent motion for a single interval value only. The stimulus consisted of a sparse random dot pattern in which each dot was presented in two frames only, separated by a specified interval. On each frame, half of the dots were refreshed and the other half was a displaced reincarnation of the pattern generated one or several frames earlier. Motion energy statistics in such a stimulus do not vary from frame to frame, and the directional bias in spatiotemporal correlations is similar for different interval settings. We measured coherence thresholds for left-right direction discrimination by varying motion coherence levels in a Quest staircase procedure, as a function of both step size and interval. Results show that highest sensitivity was found for an interval of 17-42 ms, irrespective of viewing distance. The falloff at longer intervals was much sharper than previously described. Tuning for temporal interval was largely, but not completely, independent of step size. The optimal temporal interval slightly decreased with increasing step size. Similarly, the optimal step size decreased with increasing temporal interval.

  12. Learning and memory and its relationship with the lateralization of epileptic focus in subjects with temporal lobe epilepsy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniel Fuentes

    2014-04-01

    Full Text Available Background : In medial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE, previous studies addressing the hemispheric laterality of epileptogenic focus and its relationship with learning and memory processes have reported controversial findings. Objective : To compare the performance of MTLE patients according to the location of the epileptogenic focus on the left (MTLEL or right temporal lobe (MTLER on tasks of episodic learning and memory for verbal and visual content. Methods : One hundred patients with MTLEL and one hundred patients with MTLER were tested with the following tasks: the Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test (RAVLT and the Logical Memory-WMS-R to evaluate verbal learning and memory; and the Rey Visual Design Learning Test (RVDLT and the Visual Reproduction-WMS-R to evaluate visual learning and memory. Results : The MTLEL sample showed significantly worse performance on the RAVLT (p < 0.005 and on the Logical Memory tests (p < 0.01 than MTLER subjects. However, there were no significant between-group differences in regard to the visual memory tests. Discussion : Our findings suggest that verbal learning and memory abilities are dependent on the structural and functional integrity of the left temporal lobe, while visual abilities are less dependent on the right temporal lobe.

  13. Damage to Broca’s area OR the anterior temporal lobe is implicated in stroke-induced agrammatic comprehension: it depends on the task

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Corianne Rogalsky

    2015-04-01

    Full Text Available The neurobiology of sentence comprehension remains unresolved. Previous large-scale studies of stroke patients have yielded conflicting results regarding sentence comprehension, implicating inferior frontal, anterior temporal and/or posterior temporal regions (Dronkers et al., 2004; Magnusdottir et al., 2013; Thothathiri et al. 2012. Furthermore, only one large-scale lesion study (Magnusdottir et al. 2013 has examined the neural underpinnings of agrammatic comprehension (i.e. substantially worse performance on sentences with noncanonical word orders compared to canonical word order sentences in English, a hallmark of Broca’s aphasia. This one previous study of noncanonical < canonical sentence performance on a sentence picture-matching task implicated damage to the left anterior temporal lobe (ATL and to a lesser degree Broca’s area damage (i.e. < 10% of significant voxels (Magnusdottir et al. 2013. The present study investigated the neurobiology of agrammatic comprehension with two sentence comprehension tasks in the MARC test battery: a sentence-picture matching task (the SOAP Test: a test of syntactic complexity; Love & Oster, 2002 and a sentence plausibility judgment task. Each task contained active, passive, subject-relative and object-relative sentences. Participants included 91 patients with chronic focal cerebral damage. First, we conducted voxel-based lesion symptom mapping (VLSM; Bates et al. 2003 for each sentence type in each task. Consistent with previous studies (Magnusdottir et al. 2013; Thothathiri et al. 2012, the VLSMs identified a significant association between sentence comprehension impairments and damage to a large left temporal-inferior parietal network for all sentences (peak t values were in posterior temporal and inferior parietal voxels; no areas of frontal lobe damage were significant for any sentence type/task. We then conducted VLSMs to identify areas of damage associated specifically with agrammatic

  14. Differential contributions of the anterior temporal and medial temporal lobe to the retrieval of memory for person identity information.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tsukiura, Takashi; Suzuki, Chisato; Shigemune, Yayoi; Mochizuki-Kawai, Hiroko

    2008-12-01

    Although previous studies have suggested the importance of the bilateral anterior temporal (ATL) and medial temporal lobes (MTL) in the retrieval of person identity information, there is little evidence concerning how these regions differentially contribute to the process. Here we investigated this question using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Before scanning, subjects learned associations among faces (F), names (N), and job titles (as a form of person-related semantics, S). During retrieval with fMRI, subjects were presented with previously learned and new S stimuli, and judged whether the stimuli were old or new. Successful retrieval (H) trials were divided into three conditions: retrieval of S and associated F and N (HSFN); retrieval of S and associated F (HSF); and retrieval of S only (HS). The left ATL was significantly activated in HSFN, compared to HSF or HS, whereas the right ATL and MTL were significantly activated in HSFN and HSF relative to HS. In addition, activity in bilateral ATL was significantly correlated with reaction time for HSFN, whereas we found no significant correlation between activity in the right MTL and reaction time in any condition. The present findings suggest that the left ATL may mediate associations between names and person-related semantic information, whereas the right ATL mediates the association between faces and person-related semantic information in memory for person identity information. In addition, activation of the right MTL region implies that this area may contribute to a more general relational processing of associative components, including memory for person identity information. Copyright 2007 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

  15. The processing of semantic relatedness in the brain: Evidence from associative and categorical false recognition effects following transcranial direct current stimulation of the left anterior temporal lobe.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Díez, Emiliano; Gómez-Ariza, Carlos J; Díez-Álamo, Antonio M; Alonso, María A; Fernandez, Angel

    2017-08-01

    A dominant view of the role of the anterior temporal lobe (ATL) in semantic memory is that it serves as an integration hub, specialized in the processing of semantic relatedness by way of mechanisms that bind together information from different brain areas to form coherent amodal representations of concepts. Two recent experiments, using brain stimulation techniques along with the Deese-Roediger-McDermott (DRM) paradigm, have found a consistent false memory reduction effect following stimulation of the ATL, pointing to the importance of the ATL in semantic/conceptual processing. To more precisely identify the specific process being involved, we conducted a DRM experiment in which transcranial direct current stimulation (anode/cathode/sham) was applied over the participants' left ATL during the study of lists of words that were associatively related to their non-presented critical words (e.g., rotten, worm, red, tree, liqueur, unripe, cake, food, eden, peel, for the critical item apple) or categorically related (e.g., pear, banana, peach, orange, cantaloupe, watermelon, strawberry, cherry, kiwi, plum, for the same critical item apple). The results showed that correct recognition was not affected by stimulation. However, an interaction between stimulation condition and type of relation for false memories was found, explained by a significant false recognition reduction effect in the anodal condition for associative lists that was not observed for categorical lists. Results are congruent with previous findings and, more importantly, they help to clarify the nature and locus of false memory reduction effects, suggesting a differential role of the left ATL, and providing critical evidence for understanding the creation of semantic relatedness-based memory illusions. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  16. Microstructural asymmetry of the corticospinal tracts predicts right-left differences in circle drawing skill in right-handed adolescents

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Angstmann, Steffen; Madsen, Kathrine Skak; Skimminge, Arnold

    2016-01-01

    Most humans show a strong preference to use their right hand, but strong preference for the right hand does not necessarily imply a strong right-left asymmetry in manual proficiency (i.e., dexterity). Here we tested the hypothesis that intra-individual asymmetry of manual proficiency would...... be reflected in microstructural differences between the right and left corticospinal tract (CST) in a cohort of 52 right-handed typically-developing adolescents (11-16 years). Participants were asked to fluently draw superimposed circles with their right dominant and left non-dominant hand. Temporal regularity...... of circle drawing movements was assessed for each hand using a digitizing tablet. Although all participants were right-handed, there was substantial inter-individual variation regarding the relative right-hand advantage for fluent circle drawing. All subjects underwent whole-brain diffusion tensor imaging...

  17. c-Fos expression during temporal order judgment in mice.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Makoto Wada

    Full Text Available The neuronal mechanisms for ordering sensory signals in time still need to be clarified despite a long history of research. To address this issue, we recently developed a behavioral task of temporal order judgment in mice. In the present study, we examined the expression of c-Fos, a marker of neural activation, in mice just after they carried out the temporal order judgment task. The expression of c-Fos was examined in C57BL/6N mice (male, n = 5 that were trained to judge the order of two air-puff stimuli delivered bilaterally to the right and left whiskers with stimulation intervals of 50-750 ms. The mice were rewarded with a food pellet when they responded by orienting their head toward the first stimulus (n = 2 or toward the second stimulus (n = 3 after a visual "go" signal. c-Fos-stained cell densities of these mice (test group were compared with those of two control groups in coronal brain sections prepared at bregma -2, -1, 0, +1, and +2 mm by applying statistical parametric mapping to the c-Fos immuno-stained sections. The expression of c-Fos was significantly higher in the test group than in the other groups in the bilateral barrel fields of the primary somatosensory cortex, the left secondary somatosensory cortex, the dorsal part of the right secondary auditory cortex. Laminar analyses in the primary somatosensory cortex revealed that c-Fos expression in the test group was most evident in layers II and III, where callosal fibers project. The results suggest that temporal order judgment involves processing bilateral somatosensory signals through the supragranular layers of the primary sensory cortex and in the multimodal sensory areas, including marginal zone between the primary somatosensory cortex and the secondary sensory cortex.

  18. 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....

  19. Association of HeartMate II left ventricular assist device flow estimate with thermodilution cardiac output.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hasin, Tal; Huebner, Marianne; Li, Zhuo; Brown, Daniel; Stulak, John M; Boilson, Barry A; Joyce, Lyle; Pereira, Naveen L; Kushwaha, Sudhir S; Park, Soon J

    2014-01-01

    Cardiac output (CO) assessment is important in treating patients with heart failure. Durable left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) provide essentially all CO. In currently used LVADs, estimated device flow is generated by a computerized algorithm. However, LVAD flow estimate may be inaccurate in tracking true CO. We correlated LVAD (HeartMate II) flow with thermodilution CO during postoperative care (day 2-10 after implant) in 81 patients (5,616 paired measurements). Left ventricular assist device flow and CO correlated with a low correlation coefficient (r = 0.42). Left ventricular assist device readings were lower than CO measurements by approximately 0.36 L/min, trending for larger difference with higher values. Left ventricular assist device flow measurements showed less temporal variability compared with CO. Grouping for simultaneous measured blood pressure (BP device flow generally trends with measured CO, but large variability exists, hence flow measures should not be assumed to equal with CO. Clinicians should take into account variables such as high CO, BP, and opening of the aortic valve when interpreting LVAD flow readout. Direct flow sensors incorporated in the LVAD system may allow for better estimation.

  20. Aphasia following left thalamic hemorrhage. A study by Western Aphasia Battery and single photon emission CT

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Makishita, Hideo; Miyasaka, Motomaro; Tanizaki, Yoshio; Yanagisawa, Nobuo; Sugishita, Morihiro

    1984-07-01

    A report is given of 7 patients with left thalamic hemorrhage in the chronic stage (from 1.5 months to 4.5 months) in which language disorders were examined by Western Aphasia Battery (WAB) and cerebral blood flow was measured by single photon emission CT. Examination of language by WAB revealed 4 aphasics out of 7 cases, and 3 patients had no language deficit. The patient with Wernicke's aphasia showed low density area only in the left posterior thalamus in X-ray CT, and revealed severe low blood flow area extending to left temporal lobe in emission CT. In the case with transcortical sensory aphasia, although X-ray CT showed no obvious low density area, emission CT revealed moderate low flow area in the left temporooccipital region and low blood flow at the left thalamus. In one of the two patients classified as anomic aphasia, emission CT showed slight low flow area at the temporo-occipital region similar to the case with transcortical sensory aphasia. In another case with anomic aphasia there was a wide low density area all over the left thalamus and midline shift to the right in X-ray CT, and emission CT showed severe low blood flow in the same region spreading widely toward the cerebral surface. In all of the 3 patients without aphasia, emission CT showed low flow region restricted to the left thalamus.

  1. Seizure semiology identifies patients with bilateral temporal lobe epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Loesch, Anna Mira; Feddersen, Berend; Tezer, F Irsel; Hartl, Elisabeth; Rémi, Jan; Vollmar, Christian; Noachtar, Soheyl

    2015-01-01

    Laterality in temporal lobe epilepsy is usually defined by EEG and imaging results. We investigated whether the analysis of seizure semiology including lateralizing seizure phenomena identifies bilateral independent temporal lobe seizure onset. We investigated the seizure semiology in 17 patients in whom invasive EEG-video-monitoring documented bilateral temporal seizure onset. The results were compared to 20 left and 20 right consecutive temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) patients who were seizure free after anterior temporal lobe resection. The seizure semiology was analyzed using the semiological seizure classification with particular emphasis on the sequence of seizure phenomena over time and lateralizing seizure phenomena. Statistical analysis included chi-square test or Fisher's exact test. Bitemporal lobe epilepsy patients had more frequently different seizure semiology (100% vs. 40%; p<0.001) and significantly more often lateralizing seizure phenomena pointing to bilateral seizure onset compared to patients with unilateral TLE (67% vs. 11%; p<0.001). The sensitivity of identical vs. different seizure semiology for the identification of bilateral TLE was high (100%) with a specificity of 60%. Lateralizing seizure phenomena had a low sensitivity (59%) but a high specificity (89%). The combination of lateralizing seizure phenomena and different seizure semiology showed a high specificity (94%) but a low sensitivity (59%). The analysis of seizure semiology including lateralizing seizure phenomena adds important clinical information to identify patients with bilateral TLE. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  2. IgG4-Related Disease of Bilateral Temporal Bones.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Li, Lilun; Ward, Bryan; Cocks, Margaret; Kheradmand, Amir; Francis, Howard W

    2017-03-01

    IgG4-related disease (IgG4-RD) is an idiopathic inflammatory condition that causes pseudotumor formation in single or multiple organs, including those of the head and neck. Temporal bone involvement is rare, with only 3 cases of unilateral temporal bone IgG4-RD described in the literature. We report the first known case of IgG4-RD of bilateral temporal bones and describe its clinical presentation, diagnosis, and treatment. The patient was a 52-year-old man with latent tuberculosis (TB) who presented with a 10-year history of bilateral profound hearing loss and vestibular dysfunction. Computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated bilateral labyrinthine destruction with invasion of the posterior fossa. Immunoglobulin level testing showed elevated total serum IgG levels with normal IgG4 levels. Bilateral mastoidectomies were performed, with biopsy samples demonstrating IgG4 staining with IgG4-positive plasma cells up to 40/HPF (high power field) on the right and 20/HPF on the left, consistent with bilateral IgG4-RD. IgG4-RD of bilateral temporal bones presents with chronic and progressive bilateral hearing loss and vestibular dysfunction. Clinical presentation and radiologic findings are nonspecific, and definitive diagnosis must be made with histopathology and immunostaining. Corticosteroids are therapeutic, but surgical resection may be necessary for temporal bone IgG4-RD to improve long-term remission.

  3. Autobiographical memory of the recent past following frontal cortex or temporal lobe excisions.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Thaiss, Laila; Petrides, Michael

    2008-08-01

    Previous research has raised questions regarding the necessity of the frontal cortex in autobiographical memory and the role that it plays in actively retrieving contextual information associated with personally relevant events. Autobiographical memory was studied in patients with unilateral excisions restricted to the frontal cortex or temporal lobe involving the amygdalo-hippocampal region and in normal controls using an event-sampling method. We examined accuracy of free recall, use of strategies during retrieval and memory for specific aspects of the autobiographical events, including temporal order. Patients with temporal lobe excisions were impaired in autobiographical recall. By contrast, patients with frontal cortical excisions exhibited normal autobiographical recall but were less likely to use temporal order spontaneously to organize event retrieval. Instruction to organize retrieval by temporal order failed to improve recall in temporal lobe patients and increased the incidence of plausible intrusion errors in left temporal patients. In contrast, patients with frontal cortical excisions now surpassed control subjects in recall of autobiographical events. Furthermore, the retrieval accuracy for the temporal order of diary events was not impaired in these patients. In a subsequent cued recall test, temporal lobe patients were impaired in their memory for the details of the diary events and their context. In conclusion, a basic impairment in autobiographical memory (including memory for temporal context) results from damage to the temporal lobe and not the frontal cortex. Patients with frontal excisions fail to use organizational strategies spontaneously to aid retrieval but can use these effectively if instructed to do so.

  4. Temporal Dissociation of Neocortical and Hippocampal Contributions to Mental Time Travel Using Intracranial Recordings in Humans

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Roey Schurr

    2018-02-01

    Full Text Available In mental time travel (MTT one is “traveling” back-and-forth in time, remembering, and imagining events. Despite intensive research regarding memory processes in the hippocampus, it was only recently shown that the hippocampus plays an essential role in encoding the temporal order of events remembered, and therefore plays an important role in MTT. Does it also encode the temporal relations of these events to the remembering self? We asked patients undergoing pre-surgical evaluation with depth electrodes penetrating the temporal lobes bilaterally toward the hippocampus to project themselves in time to a past, future, or present time-point, and then make judgments regarding various events. Classification analysis of intracranial evoked potentials revealed clear temporal dissociation in the left hemisphere between lateral-temporal electrodes, activated at ~100–300 ms, and hippocampal electrodes, activated at ~400–600 ms. This dissociation may suggest a division of labor in the temporal lobe during self-projection in time, hinting toward the different roles of the lateral-temporal cortex and the hippocampus in MTT and the temporal organization of the related events with respect to the experiencing self.

  5. Temporal Lobe Epilepsy and the Selective Reminding Test: The Conventional 30-Minute Delay Suffices

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bell, Brian D.; Fine, Jason; Dow, Christian; Seidenberg, Michael; Hermann, Bruce P.

    2005-01-01

    Conventional memory assessment may fail to identify memory dysfunction characterized by intact recall for a relatively brief period but rapid forgetting thereafter. This study assessed learning and retention after 30-min and 24-hr delays on auditory and visual selective reminding tests (SRTs) in right (n=20) and left (n=22) temporal lobe epilepsy…

  6. Spatio-temporal precipitation climatology over complex terrain using a censored additive regression model.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stauffer, Reto; Mayr, Georg J; Messner, Jakob W; Umlauf, Nikolaus; Zeileis, Achim

    2017-06-15

    Flexible spatio-temporal models are widely used to create reliable and accurate estimates for precipitation climatologies. Most models are based on square root transformed monthly or annual means, where a normal distribution seems to be appropriate. This assumption becomes invalid on a daily time scale as the observations involve large fractions of zero observations and are limited to non-negative values. We develop a novel spatio-temporal model to estimate the full climatological distribution of precipitation on a daily time scale over complex terrain using a left-censored normal distribution. The results demonstrate that the new method is able to account for the non-normal distribution and the large fraction of zero observations. The new climatology provides the full climatological distribution on a very high spatial and temporal resolution, and is competitive with, or even outperforms existing methods, even for arbitrary locations.

  7. Granule cell dispersion is associated with memory impairment in right mesial temporal lobe epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Neves, Rafael Scarpa da Costa; de Souza Silva Tudesco, Ivanda; Jardim, Anaclara Prada; Caboclo, Luís Otávio Sales Ferreira; Lancellotti, Carmen; Ferrari-Marinho, Taíssa; Hamad, Ana Paula; Marinho, Murilo; Centeno, Ricardo Silva; Cavalheiro, Esper Abrão; Scorza, Carla Alessandra; Yacubian, Elza Márcia Targas

    2012-11-01

    We analyzed the association of granule cell dispersion (GCD) with memory performance, clinical data and surgical outcome in a series of patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) and mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS). Hippocampal specimens from 54 patients with MTLE (27 patients with right MTLE and 27 with left MTLE) and unilateral MTS, who were separated into GCD and no-GCD groups and thirteen controls were studied. Quantitative neuropathological evaluation was performed using hippocampal sections stained with NeuN. Patients' neuropsychological measures, clinical data, type of MTS and surgical outcome were reviewed. GCD occurred in 28 (51.9%) patients. No correlation between GCD and MTS pattern, clinical data or surgical outcome was found. The presence of GCD was correlated with worse visuospatial memory performance in right MTLE, but not with memory performance in left MTLE. GCD may be related to memory impairment in right MTLE-MTS patients. However, the role of GCD in memory function is not precisely defined. Copyright © 2012 British Epilepsy Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  8. Direct comparison of high-temporal-resolution CINE MRI with Doppler ultrasound for assessment of diastolic dysfunction in mice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Roberts, Thomas A; Price, Anthony N; Jackson, Laurence H; Taylor, Valerie; David, Anna L; Lythgoe, Mark F; Stuckey, Daniel J

    2017-10-01

    Diastolic dysfunction is a sensitive early indicator of heart failure and can provide additional data to conventional measures of systolic function. Transmitral Doppler ultrasound, which measures the one-dimensional flow of blood through the mitral valve, is currently the preferred method for the measurement of diastolic function, but the measurement of the left ventricular volume changes using high-temporal-resolution cinematic magnetic resonance imaging (CINE MRI) is an alternative approach which is emerging as a potentially more robust and user-independent technique. Here, we investigated the performance of high-temporal-resolution CINE MRI and compared it with ultrasound for the detection of diastolic dysfunction in a mouse model of myocardial infarction. An in-house, high-temporal-resolution, retrospectively gated CINE sequence was developed with a temporal resolution of 1 ms. Diastolic function in mice was assessed using a custom-made, open-source reconstruction package. Early (E) and late (A) left ventricular filling phases were easily identifiable, and these measurements were compared directly with high-frequency, pulsed-wave, Doppler ultrasound measurements of mitral valve inflow. A repeatability study established that high-temporal-resolution CINE MRI and Doppler ultrasound showed comparable accuracy when measuring E/A in normal control mice. However, when applied in a mouse model of myocardial infarction, high-temporal-resolution CINE MRI indicated diastolic heart failure (E/A = 0.94 ± 0.11), whereas ultrasound falsely detected normal cardiac function (E/A = 1.21 ± 0.11). The addition of high-temporal-resolution CINE MRI to preclinical imaging studies enhances the library of sequences available to cardiac researchers and potentially identifies diastolic heart failure early in disease progression. © 2017 The Authors. NMR in Biomedicine published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

  9. Gender and hemispheric differences in temporal lobe epilepsy: a VBM study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Santana, Maria Teresa Castilho Garcia; Jackowski, Andrea Parolin; Britto, Fernanda Dos Santos; Sandim, Gabriel Barbosa; Caboclo, Luís Otávio Sales Ferreira; Centeno, Ricardo Silva; Carrete, Henrique; Yacubian, Elza Márcia Targas

    2014-04-01

    Gender differences are recognized in the functional and anatomical organization of the human brain. Differences between genders are probably expressed early in life, when differential rates of cerebral maturation occur. Sexual dimorphism has been described in temporal lobe epilepsy with mesial temporal sclerosis (TLE-MTS). Several voxel-based morphometry (VBM) studies have shown that TLE-MTS extends beyond mesial temporal structures, and that there are differences in the extent of anatomical damage between hemispheres, although none have approached gender differences. Our aim was to investigate gender differences and anatomical abnormalities in TLE-MTS. VBM5 was employed to analyze gender and hemispheric differences in 120 patients with TLE-MTS and 50 controls. VBM abnormalities were more widespread in left-TLE; while in women changes were mostly seen in temporal areas, frontal regions were more affected in men. Our study confirmed that gender and laterality are important factors determining the nature and severity of brain damage in TLE-MTS. Differential rates of maturation between gender and hemispheres may explain the distinct areas of anatomical damage in men and women. Copyright © 2013 British Epilepsy Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. Cholesterol granuloma of temporal bone: CT and MR findings

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ruiz Jauriguizuria, J.C.; Ferrero Collado, A.; Ereno Ealo, M.J.; Grande Icaran, D.

    1994-01-01

    Three cases of cholesterol granuloma of the left temporal bone are presented, two located in the petrous apex and the other at the otomastoid level. One of the patients had a history of mastoid surgery and the other surgery of the bone ridge. The three cases were confirmed histologically following surgical resection. The etiopathogenesis of the lesion is discussed, as are the clinical, histological and radiological features, with a broad description of the computed tomography and magnetic resonance findings. The differential diagnosis is also dealt with. (Author)

  11. Integrating speech in time depends on temporal expectancies and attention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Scharinger, Mathias; Steinberg, Johanna; Tavano, Alessandro

    2017-08-01

    Sensory information that unfolds in time, such as in speech perception, relies on efficient chunking mechanisms in order to yield optimally-sized units for further processing. Whether or not two successive acoustic events receive a one-unit or a two-unit interpretation seems to depend on the fit between their temporal extent and a stipulated temporal window of integration. However, there is ongoing debate on how flexible this temporal window of integration should be, especially for the processing of speech sounds. Furthermore, there is no direct evidence of whether attention may modulate the temporal constraints on the integration window. For this reason, we here examine how different word durations, which lead to different temporal separations of sound onsets, interact with attention. In an Electroencephalography (EEG) study, participants actively and passively listened to words where word-final consonants were occasionally omitted. Words had either a natural duration or were artificially prolonged in order to increase the separation of speech sound onsets. Omission responses to incomplete speech input, originating in left temporal cortex, decreased when the critical speech sound was separated from previous sounds by more than 250 msec, i.e., when the separation was larger than the stipulated temporal window of integration (125-150 msec). Attention, on the other hand, only increased omission responses for stimuli with natural durations. We complemented the event-related potential (ERP) analyses by a frequency-domain analysis on the stimulus presentation rate. Notably, the power of stimulation frequency showed the same duration and attention effects than the omission responses. We interpret these findings on the background of existing research on temporal integration windows and further suggest that our findings may be accounted for within the framework of predictive coding. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  12. Temporal lobe structures and facial emotion recognition in schizophrenia patients and nonpsychotic relatives.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Goghari, Vina M; Macdonald, Angus W; Sponheim, Scott R

    2011-11-01

    Temporal lobe abnormalities and emotion recognition deficits are prominent features of schizophrenia and appear related to the diathesis of the disorder. This study investigated whether temporal lobe structural abnormalities were associated with facial emotion recognition deficits in schizophrenia and related to genetic liability for the disorder. Twenty-seven schizophrenia patients, 23 biological family members, and 36 controls participated. Several temporal lobe regions (fusiform, superior temporal, middle temporal, amygdala, and hippocampus) previously associated with face recognition in normative samples and found to be abnormal in schizophrenia were evaluated using volumetric analyses. Participants completed a facial emotion recognition task and an age recognition control task under time-limited and self-paced conditions. Temporal lobe volumes were tested for associations with task performance. Group status explained 23% of the variance in temporal lobe volume. Left fusiform gray matter volume was decreased by 11% in patients and 7% in relatives compared with controls. Schizophrenia patients additionally exhibited smaller hippocampal and middle temporal volumes. Patients were unable to improve facial emotion recognition performance with unlimited time to make a judgment but were able to improve age recognition performance. Patients additionally showed a relationship between reduced temporal lobe gray matter and poor facial emotion recognition. For the middle temporal lobe region, the relationship between greater volume and better task performance was specific to facial emotion recognition and not age recognition. Because schizophrenia patients exhibited a specific deficit in emotion recognition not attributable to a generalized impairment in face perception, impaired emotion recognition may serve as a target for interventions.

  13. Left-handedness and health

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Milenković Sanja

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Hand dominance is defined as a proneness to use one hand rather than another in performing the majority of activities and this is the most obvious example of cerebral lateralization and an exclusive human characteristic. Left-handed people comprise 6-14% of the total population, while in Serbia, this percentage is 5-10%, moving from undeveloped to developed environments, where a socio-cultural pressure is less present. There is no agreement between investigators who in fact may be considered a left-handed person, about the percentage of left-handers in the population and about the etiology of left-handedness. In the scientific literature left-handedness has been related to health disorders (spine deformities, immunological disorders, migraine, neurosis, depressive psychosis, schizophrenia, insomnia, homosexuality, diabetes mellitus, arterial hypertension, sleep apnea, enuresis nocturna and Down Syndrome, developmental disorders (autism, dislexia and sttutering and traumatism. The most reliable scientific evidences have been published about the relationship between left-handedness and spinal deformities in school children in puberty and with traumatism in general population. The controversy of other results in up-to-now investigations of health aspects of left-handedness may partly be explained by a scientific disagreement whether writing with the left hand is a sufficient criterium for left-handedness, or is it necessary to investigate other parameters for laterality assessment. Explanation of health aspects of left-handedness is dominantly based on Geschwind-Galaburda model about 'anomalous' cerebral domination, as a consequence of hormonal disbalance. .

  14. [Left-handedness and health].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Milenković, Sanja; Belojević, Goran; Kocijancić, Radojka

    2010-01-01

    Hand dominance is defined as a proneness to use one hand rather than another in performing the majority of activities and this is the most obvious example of cerebral lateralization and an exclusive human characteristic. Left-handed people comprise 6-14% of the total population, while in Serbia, this percentage is 5-10%, moving from undeveloped to developed environments, where a socio-cultural pressure is less present. There is no agreement between investigators who in fact may be considered a left-handed person, about the percentage of left-handers in the population and about the etiology of left-handedness. In the scientific literature left-handedness has been related to health disorders (spine deformities, immunological disorders, migraine, neurosis, depressive psychosis, schizophrenia, insomnia, homosexuality, diabetes mellitus, arterial hypertension, sleep apnea, enuresis nocturna and Down Syndrome), developmental disorders (autism, dislexia and sttutering) and traumatism. The most reliable scientific evidences have been published about the relationship between left-handedness and spinal deformities in school children in puberty and with traumatism in general population. The controversy of other results in up-to-now investigations of health aspects of left-handedness may partly be explained by a scientific disagreement whether writing with the left hand is a sufficient criterium for left-handedness, or is it necessary to investigate other parameters for laterality assessment. Explanation of health aspects of left-handedness is dominantly based on Geschwind-Galaburda model about "anomalous" cerebral domination, as a consequence of hormonal disbalance.

  15. Microstructural asymmetry of the corticospinal tracts predicts right-left differences in circle drawing skill in right-handed adolescents.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Angstmann, Steffen; Madsen, Kathrine Skak; Skimminge, Arnold; Jernigan, Terry L; Baaré, William F C; Siebner, Hartwig Roman

    2016-12-01

    Most humans show a strong preference to use their right hand, but strong preference for the right hand does not necessarily imply a strong right-left asymmetry in manual proficiency (i.e., dexterity). Here we tested the hypothesis that intra-individual asymmetry of manual proficiency would be reflected in microstructural differences between the right and left corticospinal tract (CST) in a cohort of 52 right-handed typically-developing adolescents (11-16 years). Participants were asked to fluently draw superimposed circles with their right dominant and left non-dominant hand. Temporal regularity of circle drawing movements was assessed for each hand using a digitizing tablet. Although all participants were right-handed, there was substantial inter-individual variation regarding the relative right-hand advantage for fluent circle drawing. All subjects underwent whole-brain diffusion tensor imaging at 3 Tesla. The right and left CST were defined as regions-of-interest and mean fractional anisotropy (FA) and diffusivity values were calculated for right and left CST. On average, mean FA values were higher in the left CST relative to right CST. The degree of right-left FA asymmetry showed a linear relationship with right-left asymmetry in fluent circle drawing after correction for age and gender. The higher the mean FA values were in the left dominant CST relative to the right non-dominant CST, the stronger was the relative right-hand advantage for regular circle drawing. These findings show that right-left differences in manual proficiency are highly variable in right-handed adolescents and that this variation is associated with a right-left microstructural asymmetry of the CST.

  16. Temporal Bone Fractures and its Classification: Retrospective Study of Incidence, Causes, Clinical Features, Complications and Outcome

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Umamaheshwari Basavaraju

    2017-10-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: Temporal bone fracture is usually associated with high energy head injury and can cause potentially severe complications. Immediate detection of temporal bone fracture and its complications helps in providing early and effective treatment, which if left untreated can have drastic consequences. Aim: The main objective of the study is to document the frequency and most prevalent type of temporal bone fracture, co-existing complications and to establish association between them. Materials and Methods: One year (2015-2016 retrospective study of head injured patients presented to the Emergency Department, Mysore Medical College And Research Institute was conducted. Age and gender distribution, cause of injury, radiological findings, otorhinolaryngological clinical presentations and treatment given were analyzed. The results were tabulated and were evaluated by Microsoft Excel 2013. Results: Out of 1450 patients evaluated for head injury 154 patients were positive for temporal bone fracture. Incidence of the study was 10.6%. Majority of the patients were male (66.2% and were between 30 to 40 years (50.1%. The major cause of injury was motor vehicle accidents (84.48%. Right side was involved (58.4% more than the left side (41.5%. Most common clinical presentation was otorrhea 68.8%, followed by otalgia (35.04% and otorhinorrhea (24.67%. Longitudinal type fracture was most frequent 56.25%. Otic capsule involvement was present in 35.93%. Most of the fractures were managed conservatively whereas surgery was required in 12 patients (7.7%. Conclusion: Temporal bone fractures were frequently associated with severe traumatic brain injury leading to serious long term morbidity and sequelae. CT-scan is of utmost importance in detection of fractures and its complications.

  17. Temporal processing of audiovisual stimuli is enhanced in musicians: evidence from magnetoencephalography (MEG.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yao Lu

    Full Text Available Numerous studies have demonstrated that the structural and functional differences between professional musicians and non-musicians are not only found within a single modality, but also with regard to multisensory integration. In this study we have combined psychophysical with neurophysiological measurements investigating the processing of non-musical, synchronous or various levels of asynchronous audiovisual events. We hypothesize that long-term multisensory experience alters temporal audiovisual processing already at a non-musical stage. Behaviorally, musicians scored significantly better than non-musicians in judging whether the auditory and visual stimuli were synchronous or asynchronous. At the neural level, the statistical analysis for the audiovisual asynchronous response revealed three clusters of activations including the ACC and the SFG and two bilaterally located activations in IFG and STG in both groups. Musicians, in comparison to the non-musicians, responded to synchronous audiovisual events with enhanced neuronal activity in a broad left posterior temporal region that covers the STG, the insula and the Postcentral Gyrus. Musicians also showed significantly greater activation in the left Cerebellum, when confronted with an audiovisual asynchrony. Taken together, our MEG results form a strong indication that long-term musical training alters the basic audiovisual temporal processing already in an early stage (direct after the auditory N1 wave, while the psychophysical results indicate that musical training may also provide behavioral benefits in the accuracy of the estimates regarding the timing of audiovisual events.

  18. Temporal processing of audiovisual stimuli is enhanced in musicians: evidence from magnetoencephalography (MEG).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lu, Yao; Paraskevopoulos, Evangelos; Herholz, Sibylle C; Kuchenbuch, Anja; Pantev, Christo

    2014-01-01

    Numerous studies have demonstrated that the structural and functional differences between professional musicians and non-musicians are not only found within a single modality, but also with regard to multisensory integration. In this study we have combined psychophysical with neurophysiological measurements investigating the processing of non-musical, synchronous or various levels of asynchronous audiovisual events. We hypothesize that long-term multisensory experience alters temporal audiovisual processing already at a non-musical stage. Behaviorally, musicians scored significantly better than non-musicians in judging whether the auditory and visual stimuli were synchronous or asynchronous. At the neural level, the statistical analysis for the audiovisual asynchronous response revealed three clusters of activations including the ACC and the SFG and two bilaterally located activations in IFG and STG in both groups. Musicians, in comparison to the non-musicians, responded to synchronous audiovisual events with enhanced neuronal activity in a broad left posterior temporal region that covers the STG, the insula and the Postcentral Gyrus. Musicians also showed significantly greater activation in the left Cerebellum, when confronted with an audiovisual asynchrony. Taken together, our MEG results form a strong indication that long-term musical training alters the basic audiovisual temporal processing already in an early stage (direct after the auditory N1 wave), while the psychophysical results indicate that musical training may also provide behavioral benefits in the accuracy of the estimates regarding the timing of audiovisual events.

  19. Face shape and face identity processing in behavioral variant fronto-temporal dementia: A specific deficit for familiarity and name recognition of famous faces.

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Winter, François-Laurent; Timmers, Dorien; de Gelder, Beatrice; Van Orshoven, Marc; Vieren, Marleen; Bouckaert, Miriam; Cypers, Gert; Caekebeke, Jo; Van de Vliet, Laura; Goffin, Karolien; Van Laere, Koen; Sunaert, Stefan; Vandenberghe, Rik; Vandenbulcke, Mathieu; Van den Stock, Jan

    2016-01-01

    Deficits in face processing have been described in the behavioral variant of fronto-temporal dementia (bvFTD), primarily regarding the recognition of facial expressions. Less is known about face shape and face identity processing. Here we used a hierarchical strategy targeting face shape and face identity recognition in bvFTD and matched healthy controls. Participants performed 3 psychophysical experiments targeting face shape detection (Experiment 1), unfamiliar face identity matching (Experiment 2), familiarity categorization and famous face-name matching (Experiment 3). The results revealed group differences only in Experiment 3, with a deficit in the bvFTD group for both familiarity categorization and famous face-name matching. Voxel-based morphometry regression analyses in the bvFTD group revealed an association between grey matter volume of the left ventral anterior temporal lobe and familiarity recognition, while face-name matching correlated with grey matter volume of the bilateral ventral anterior temporal lobes. Subsequently, we quantified familiarity-specific and name-specific recognition deficits as the sum of the celebrities of which respectively only the name or only the familiarity was accurately recognized. Both indices were associated with grey matter volume of the bilateral anterior temporal cortices. These findings extent previous results by documenting the involvement of the left anterior temporal lobe (ATL) in familiarity detection and the right ATL in name recognition deficits in fronto-temporal lobar degeneration.

  20. The Functional Organisation of the Fronto-Temporal Language System: Evidence from Syntactic and Semantic Ambiguity

    Science.gov (United States)

    Rodd, Jennifer M.; Longe, Olivia A.; Randall, Billi; Tyler, Lorraine K.

    2010-01-01

    Spoken language comprehension is known to involve a large left-dominant network of fronto-temporal brain regions, but there is still little consensus about how the syntactic and semantic aspects of language are processed within this network. In an fMRI study, volunteers heard spoken sentences that contained either syntactic or semantic ambiguities…

  1. Significant decreases in frontal and temporal [11C]-raclopride binding after THC challenge.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Stokes, Paul R A; Egerton, Alice; Watson, Ben; Reid, Alistair; Breen, Gerome; Lingford-Hughes, Anne; Nutt, David J; Mehta, Mitul A

    2010-10-01

    Delta9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) increases prefrontal cortical dopamine release in animals, but this is yet to be examined in humans. In man, striatal dopamine release can be indexed using [11C]-raclopride positron emission tomography (PET), and recent reports suggest that cortical [11C]-raclopride binding may also be sensitive to dopaminergic challenges. Using an existing dataset we examined whether THC alters [11C]-raclopride binding potential (BP(ND)) in cortical regions. Thirteen healthy volunteers underwent two [11C]-raclopride PET scans following either oral 10 mg THC or placebo. Significant areas of decreased cortical [11C]-raclopride BP(ND) were identified using whole brain voxel-wise analysis and quantified using a region of interest (ROI) ratio analysis. Effect of blood flow on binding was estimated using a simplified reference tissue model analysis. Results were compared to [11C]-raclopride test-retest reliability in the ROIs identified using a separate cohort of volunteers. Voxel-wise analysis identified three significant clusters of decreased [11C]-raclopride BP(ND) after THC in the right middle frontal gyrus, left superior frontal gyrus and left superior temporal gyrus. Decreases in [11C]-raclopride BPND following THC were greater than test-retest variability in these ROIs. R1, an estimate of blood flow, significantly decreased in the left superior frontal gyrus in the THC condition but was unchanged in the other ROIs. Decreased frontal binding significantly correlated to catechol-o-methyl transferase (COMT) val108 status. We have demonstrated for the first time significant decreases in bilateral frontopolar cortical and left superior temporal gyrus [11C]-raclopride binding after THC. The interpretation of these findings in relation to prefrontal dopamine release is discussed. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  2. New strict left bundle branch block criteria reflect left ventricular activation differences

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Emerek, Kasper Janus Grønn; Risum, Niels; Hjortshøj, Søren Pihlkjær

    2015-01-01

    AIMS: Pacing lead electrical delays and strict left bundle branch block (LBBB) criteria were assessed against cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) outcome. METHODS: Forty-nine patients with LBBB and QRS duration >130 milliseconds underwent CRT-implantation. Sensed right ventricular to left ven....... CONCLUSION: Interventricular electrical delay predicts left ventricular remodeling after CRT and new, strict ECG criteria of LBBB are superior in predicting remodeling.......AIMS: Pacing lead electrical delays and strict left bundle branch block (LBBB) criteria were assessed against cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) outcome. METHODS: Forty-nine patients with LBBB and QRS duration >130 milliseconds underwent CRT-implantation. Sensed right ventricular to left...... ventricular electrical delay (RV-LV-IED) was measured. Response to CRT was defined as ≥15% decrease in left ventricular end-systolic volume. RESULTS: Eighteen of 20 (90%) patients with non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and 18 of 29 (62%) with ischemic heart disease (IHD) responded to CRT, p

  3. Beat-to-beat evaluation of left ventricular ejection in cardiac arrhythmias

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Itti, R.; Philippe, L.; Lorgeron, J.M.

    1982-01-01

    Conventional multi-gated cardiac blood pool studies suffer from two kinds of superimpositions: the spatial overlapping of various heart chambers and the temporal superimposition of a large number of cardiac cycles. The first problem can be partially solved by first pass techniques or by emission tomography. For the second one, which is specially critical arrhythmias, the single probe device (''nuclear stethoscope'') represents an original solution. Patients with normal cardiac rythm and patients presenting various kinds of cardiac rythm alterations were examined using a commercial ''nuclear stethoscope''. Some characteristic results achieved in these cases, were presented. For blood pool labeling, 20 mCi of 99mTc albumin was injected. The single probe detector was then positioned over the left ventricular area. The beat-to-beat left ventricular activity curve was then recorded for several minutes on paper in the same time as the E.C.G. signal. In cases with irregular cardiac rythm, the multigated techniques yield an average value of left ventricular ejection. Due to the relatively constant duration of systole, the superimposition of cycles may be valid during contration: differences mainly appear during diastole. But, as it could be demonstrated using the ''nuclear stethoscope'', individual cycles can show a large variability of ejection and average ejection fraction is only a very partial aspect of the real cardiac function

  4. Multidimensional scaling of emotional responses to music in patients with temporal lobe resection.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dellacherie, D; Bigand, E; Molin, P; Baulac, M; Samson, S

    2011-10-01

    The present study investigated emotional responses to music by using multidimensional scaling (MDS) analysis in patients with right or left medial temporal lobe (MTL) lesions and matched normal controls (NC). Participants were required to evaluate emotional dissimilarities of nine musical excerpts that were selected to express graduated changes along the valence and arousal dimensions. For this purpose, they rated dissimilarity between pairs of stimuli on an eight-point scale and the resulting matrices were submitted to an MDS analysis. The results showed that patients did not differ from NC participants in evaluating emotional feelings induced by the musical excerpts, suggesting that all participants were able to distinguish refined emotions. We concluded that the ability to detect and use emotional valence and arousal when making dissimilarity judgments was not strongly impaired by a right or left MTL lesion. This finding has important clinical implications and is discussed in light of current neuropsychological studies on emotion. It suggests that emotional responses to music can be at least partially preserved at a non-verbal level in patients with unilateral temporal lobe damage including the amygdala. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Srl. All rights reserved.

  5. A Novel Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Paradigm for the Preoperative Assessment of Auditory Perception in a Musician Undergoing Temporal Lobe Surgery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hale, Matthew D; Zaman, Arshad; Morrall, Matthew C H J; Chumas, Paul; Maguire, Melissa J

    2018-03-01

    Presurgical evaluation for temporal lobe epilepsy routinely assesses speech and memory lateralization and anatomic localization of the motor and visual areas but not baseline musical processing. This is paramount in a musician. Although validated tools exist to assess musical ability, there are no reported functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) paradigms to assess musical processing. We examined the utility of a novel fMRI paradigm in an 18-year-old left-handed pianist who underwent surgery for a left temporal low-grade ganglioglioma. Preoperative evaluation consisted of neuropsychological evaluation, T1-weighted and T2-weighted magnetic resonance imaging, and fMRI. Auditory blood oxygen level-dependent fMRI was performed using a dedicated auditory scanning sequence. Three separate auditory investigations were conducted: listening to, humming, and thinking about a musical piece. All auditory fMRI paradigms activated the primary auditory cortex with varying degrees of auditory lateralization. Thinking about the piece additionally activated the primary visual cortices (bilaterally) and right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Humming demonstrated left-sided predominance of auditory cortex activation with activity observed in close proximity to the tumor. This study demonstrated an fMRI paradigm for evaluating musical processing that could form part of preoperative assessment for patients undergoing temporal lobe surgery for epilepsy. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  6. Relationship between remnant hippocampus and amygdala and memory outcomes after stereotactic surgery for mesial temporal lobe epilepsy

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Malikova H

    2015-11-01

    Full Text Available Hana Malikova,1,2,* Lenka Kramska,3,* Zdenek Vojtech,4,5 Jan Sroubek,6 Jiri Lukavsky,7 Roman Liscak8 1Department of Radiology, Na Homolce Hospital, 2Institute of Anatomy, Second Medical Faculty, Charles University in Prague, 3Department of Clinical Psychology, Na Homolce Hospital, 4Department of Neurology, Na Homolce Hospital, 5Department of Neurology, 3rd Medical Faculty, Charles University in Prague, 6Department of Neurosurgery, Na Homolce Hospital, 7Institute of Psychology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, 8Department of Radiation and Stereotactic Neurosurgery, Na Homolce Hospital, Prague, Czech Republic *These authors contributed equally to this work Background and purpose: Mesial temporal structures play an important role in human memory. In mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE, seizure activity is generated from the same structures. Surgery is the definitive treatment for medically intractable MTLE. In addition to standard temporal lobe microsurgical resection, stereotactic radiofrequency amygdalohippocampectomy (SAHE is used as an alternative MTLE treatment. While memory impairments after standard epilepsy surgery are well known, it has been shown that memory decline is not a feature of SAHE. The aim of the present study was to correlate the volume of the remnant hippocampus and amygdala in patients treated by SAHE with changes in memory parameters.Materials and methods: Thirty-seven MTLE patients treated by SAHE (ten right, 27 left were included. Patients underwent magnetic resonance imaging examinations including hippocampal and amygdalar volumetry and neuropsychological evaluation preoperatively and 1 year after surgery.Results: Using Spearman correlation analyses, larger left-sided hippocampal reductions were associated with lower verbal memory performance (ρ=-0.46; P=0.02. On the contrary, improvement of global memory quotient (MQ was positively correlated with larger right-sided hippocampal reduction (ρ=0.66; P=0

  7. Superior temporal gyrus volume reduction and P300 in schizophrenia prior to treatment

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Hirayasu, Akira; Hokama, Hiroto; Ogura, Chikara; Ohta, Hirokazu; Arakaki, Hajime; Asato, Naohiko; Yamaguchi, Keiichiro

    1998-01-01

    Authors measured the superior temporal gyrus volume by 3D MRI imaging for the schizophrenics and simultaneously recorded the P300 component during the auditory odd-ball exercise. Subjects were 8 cases of schizophrenics and the sex- and age-matched healthy control adults. In schizophrenics, the superior temporal gyrus volume reduction was found. When the superior temporal gyrus was divided into two parts, the anterior part containing the primary auditory area, and the posterior part containing the planum temporale and the Wernicle speech area, the volume reduction of left side in the posterior part was remarkable. There was no difference in the latent time and the P300 amplitude between schizophrenics and healthy controls, suggesting that the superior temporal gyrus abnormalities will appear prior to P300 abnormalities. We could not find any correlation between findings of MRI and P300 and psychic symptoms. We discuss the possible contribution on the elucidation of the pathogenesis of the schizophrenia by simultaneous recordings of 3D MRI imaging and the event-related potentials. (K.H.)

  8. [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.

  9. Left atrial systolic force in hypertensive patients with left ventricular hypertrophy: the LIFE study

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Chinali, M.; Simone, G. de; Wachtell, K.

    2008-01-01

    In hypertensive patients without prevalent cardiovascular disease, enhanced left atrial systolic force is associated with left ventricular hypertrophy and increased preload. It also predicts cardiovascular events in a population with high prevalence of obesity. Relations between left atrial...... systolic force and left ventricular geometry and function have not been investigated in high-risk hypertrophic hypertensive patients. Participants in the Losartan Intervention For Endpoint reduction in hypertension echocardiography substudy without prevalent cardiovascular disease or atrial fibrillation (n...... = 567) underwent standard Doppler echocardiography. Left atrial systolic force was obtained from the mitral orifice area and Doppler mitral peak A velocity. Patients were divided into groups with normal or increased left atrial systolic force (>14.33 kdyn). Left atrial systolic force was high in 297...

  10. Limbic encephalitis associated with anti-voltage-gated potassium channel complex antibodies as a cause of adult-onset mesial temporal lobe epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Toyota, Tomoko; Akamatsu, Naoki; Tsuji, Sadatoshi; Nishizawa, Shigeru

    2014-06-01

    Recently, some reports have indicated that limbic encephalitis associated with anti-voltage-gated potassium channel complex antibodies (VGKC-Ab) is a cause of adult-onset mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE). We report a 53-year-old woman who had her first epileptic seizure at the age of 50 years old. Examination by 3-Tesla brain MRI revealed left hippocampal high signal intensity and swelling on fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) and T2-weighted imaging at 2 months after her first seizure. The patient received intravenous methylprednisolone and carbamazepine 300 mg/day. One month later, MRI revealed improvement of her left hippocampal abnormalities. Thereafter, she had no seizures, however, three years after her first seizure, EEG revealed a seizure pattern in the left temporal region. Brain MRI revealed left hippocampal high signal intensity and brain fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography revealed hypermetabolism. Her serum VGKC-Ab levels were 118 pM(normal VGKC-Ab levels decreased to 4.4 pM. Remission of the epileptic seizures was also observed. This MTLE in the middle age was considered as limbic encephalitis associated with anti- VGKC-Ab. In cases of unexplained adult-onset MTLE, limbic encephalitis associated with anti-VGKC-Ab, which responds well to immunotherapy, should be considered in the differential diagnosis.

  11. Theta-Burst Stimulation-Induced Plasticity over Primary Somatosensory Cortex Changes Somatosensory Temporal Discrimination in Healthy Humans

    Science.gov (United States)

    Conte, Antonella; Rocchi, Lorenzo; Nardella, Andrea; Dispenza, Sabrina; Scontrini, Alessandra; Khan, Nashaba; Berardelli, Alfredo

    2012-01-01

    Background The somatosensory temporal discrimination threshold (STDT) measures the ability to perceive two stimuli as being sequential. Precisely how the single cerebral structures contribute in controlling the STDT is partially known and no information is available about whether STDT can be modulated by plasticity-inducing protocols. Methodology/Principal Findings To investigate how the cortical and cerebellar areas contribute to the STDT we used transcranial magnetic stimulation and a neuronavigation system. We enrolled 18 healthy volunteers and 10 of these completed all the experimental sessions, including the control experiments. STDT was measured on the left hand before and after applying continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS) on the right primary somatosensory area (S1), pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA), right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) and left cerebellar hemisphere. We then investigated whether intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS) on the right S1 improved the STDT. After right S1 cTBS, STDT values increased whereas after iTBS to the same cortical site they decreased. cTBS over the DLPFC and left lateral cerebellum left the STDT statistically unchanged. cTBS over the pre-SMA also left the STDT statistically unchanged, but it increased the number of errors subjects made in distinguishing trials testing a single stimulus and those testing paired stimuli. Conclusions/Significance Our findings obtained by applying TBS to the cortical areas involved in processing sensory discrimination show that the STDT is encoded in S1, possibly depends on intrinsic S1 neural circuit properties, and can be modulated by plasticity-inducing TBS protocols delivered over S1. Our findings, giving further insight into mechanisms involved in somatosensory temporal discrimination, help interpret STDT abnormalities in movement disorders including dystonia and Parkinson's disease. PMID:22412964

  12. Theta-burst stimulation-induced plasticity over primary somatosensory cortex changes somatosensory temporal discrimination in healthy humans.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Antonella Conte

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: The somatosensory temporal discrimination threshold (STDT measures the ability to perceive two stimuli as being sequential. Precisely how the single cerebral structures contribute in controlling the STDT is partially known and no information is available about whether STDT can be modulated by plasticity-inducing protocols. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: To investigate how the cortical and cerebellar areas contribute to the STDT we used transcranial magnetic stimulation and a neuronavigation system. We enrolled 18 healthy volunteers and 10 of these completed all the experimental sessions, including the control experiments. STDT was measured on the left hand before and after applying continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS on the right primary somatosensory area (S1, pre-supplementary motor area (pre-SMA, right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC and left cerebellar hemisphere. We then investigated whether intermittent theta-burst stimulation (iTBS on the right S1 improved the STDT. After right S1 cTBS, STDT values increased whereas after iTBS to the same cortical site they decreased. cTBS over the DLPFC and left lateral cerebellum left the STDT statistically unchanged. cTBS over the pre-SMA also left the STDT statistically unchanged, but it increased the number of errors subjects made in distinguishing trials testing a single stimulus and those testing paired stimuli. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our findings obtained by applying TBS to the cortical areas involved in processing sensory discrimination show that the STDT is encoded in S1, possibly depends on intrinsic S1 neural circuit properties, and can be modulated by plasticity-inducing TBS protocols delivered over S1. Our findings, giving further insight into mechanisms involved in somatosensory temporal discrimination, help interpret STDT abnormalities in movement disorders including dystonia and Parkinson's disease.

  13. Graph theoretical analysis reveals disrupted topological properties of whole brain functional networks in temporal lobe epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wang, Junjing; Qiu, Shijun; Xu, Yong; Liu, Zhenyin; Wen, Xue; Hu, Xiangshu; Zhang, Ruibin; Li, Meng; Wang, Wensheng; Huang, Ruiwang

    2014-09-01

    Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is one of the most common forms of drug-resistant epilepsy. Previous studies have indicated that the TLE-related impairments existed in extensive local functional networks. However, little is known about the alterations in the topological properties of whole brain functional networks. In this study, we acquired resting-state BOLD-fMRI (rsfMRI) data from 26 TLE patients and 25 healthy controls, constructed their whole brain functional networks, compared the differences in topological parameters between the TLE patients and the controls, and analyzed the correlation between the altered topological properties and the epilepsy duration. The TLE patients showed significant increases in clustering coefficient and characteristic path length, but significant decrease in global efficiency compared to the controls. We also found altered nodal parameters in several regions in the TLE patients, such as the bilateral angular gyri, left middle temporal gyrus, right hippocampus, triangular part of left inferior frontal gyrus, left inferior parietal but supramarginal and angular gyri, and left parahippocampus gyrus. Further correlation analysis showed that the local efficiency of the TLE patients correlated positively with the epilepsy duration. Our results indicated the disrupted topological properties of whole brain functional networks in TLE patients. Our findings indicated the TLE-related impairments in the whole brain functional networks, which may help us to understand the clinical symptoms of TLE patients and offer a clue for the diagnosis and treatment of the TLE patients. Copyright © 2014 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  14. Assessment of working memory in patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy associated with unilateral hippocampal sclerosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tudesco, Ivanda de Souza Silva; Vaz, Leonardo José; Mantoan, Marcele Araújo Silva; Belzunces, Erich; Noffs, Maria Helena; Caboclo, Luís Otávio Sales Ferreira; Yacubian, Elza Márcia Targas; Sakamoto, Américo Ceiki; Bueno, Orlando Francisco Amodeo

    2010-07-01

    The aim of the present study was to investigate whether working memory is impaired in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis (MTLE-HS), a controversial and largely unexplored matter. Twenty subjects with left MTLE-HS, 19 with right MTLE-HS, and 21 control right-handed subjects underwent neuropsychological assessment of episodic and semantic memory, executive functions, and specific working memory components. Left and right epileptogenic foci resulted in impairment of verbal and nonverbal episodic memory (verbal memory deficit greater in left MTLE-HS than in right MTLE-HS). In addition, patients with left MTLE-HS were impaired in learning paired associates, verbal fluency, and Trail Making. No differences were seen in the tests carried out to evaluate the working memory components (except visuospatial short-term memory in right MTLE-HS). In this study we did not detect reliable working memory impairment in patients with MTLE-HS with either a left or right focus in most tasks considered as tests of working memory components. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  15. Risk factors for spatial memory impairment in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amlerova, Jana; Laczo, Jan; Vlcek, Kamil; Javurkova, Alena; Andel, Ross; Marusic, Petr

    2013-01-01

    At present, the risk factors for world-centered (allocentric) navigation impairment in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) are not known. There is some evidence on the importance of the right hippocampus but other clinical features have not been investigated yet. In this study, we used an experimental human equivalent to the Morris water maze to examine spatial navigation performance in patients with drug-refractory unilateral TLE. We included 47 left-hemisphere speech dominant patients (25 right sided; 22 left sided). The aim of our study was to identify clinical and demographic characteristics of TLE patients who performed poorly in allocentric spatial memory tests. Our results demonstrate that poor spatial navigation is significantly associated with younger age at epilepsy onset, longer disease duration, and lower intelligence level. Allocentric navigation in TLE patients was impaired irrespective of epilepsy lateralization. Good and poor navigators did not differ in their age, gender, or preoperative/postoperative status. This study provides evidence on risk factors that increase the likelihood of allocentric navigation impairment in TLE patients. The results indicate that not only temporal lobe dysfunction itself but also low general cognitive abilities may contribute to the navigation impairment. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  16. Resting-state functional connectivity predicts the strength of hemispheric lateralization for language processing in temporal lobe epilepsy and normals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Doucet, Gaëlle E; Pustina, Dorian; Skidmore, Christopher; Sharan, Ashwini; Sperling, Michael R; Tracy, Joseph I

    2015-01-01

    In temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), determining the hemispheric specialization for language before surgery is critical to preserving a patient's cognitive abilities post-surgery. To date, the major techniques utilized are limited by the capacity of patients to efficiently realize the task. We determined whether resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) is a reliable predictor of language hemispheric dominance in right and left TLE patients, relative to controls. We chose three subregions of the inferior frontal cortex (pars orbitalis, pars triangularis, and pars opercularis) as the seed regions. All participants performed both a verb generation task and a resting-state fMRI procedure. Based on the language task, we computed a laterality index (LI) for the resulting network. This revealed that 96% of the participants were left-hemisphere dominant, although there remained a large degree of variability in the strength of left lateralization. We tested whether LI correlated with rsFC values emerging from each seed. We revealed a set of regions that was specific to each group. Unique correlations involving the epileptic mesial temporal lobe were revealed for the right and left TLE patients, but not for the controls. Importantly, for both TLE groups, the rsFC emerging from a contralateral seed was the most predictive of LI. Overall, our data depict the broad patterns of rsFC that support strong versus weak left hemisphere language laterality. This project provides the first evidence that rsFC data may potentially be used on its own to verify the strength of hemispheric dominance for language in impaired or pathologic populations. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  17. Epilepsy surgery in a liver-transplanted girl with temporal lobe epilepsy and hippocampal sclerosis following PRES with status epilepticus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dilena, Robertino; Nebbia, Gabriella; Fiorica, Lorenzo; Farallo, Marcello; Degrassi, Irene; Gozzo, Francesca; Pelliccia, Veronica; Barbieri, Sergio; Cossu, Massimo; Tassi, Laura

    2016-07-01

    Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) with status epilepticus may occur after liver transplant. This may rarely lead to refractory epilepsy and hippocampal sclerosis (HS). We report the first case of epilepsy surgery in a liver-transplanted patient with refractory temporal lobe epilepsy. A 3-year-old girl underwent liver transplant for congenital biliary atresia. Four days after transplant she manifested PRES with status epilepticus, but she recovered within a couple of weeks. At the age of 5 years she started presenting complex partial seizures, that became refractory to antiepileptic drugs (AED), worsening psychosocial performances. The pre-surgical work-up identified a left HS and temporal pole alterations. A left antero-mesial temporal lobectomy was performed, leading to epilepsy remission and allowing AED withdrawal. Drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy and HS may occur as sequelae of PRES with status epilepticus related to liver transplant and cyclosporine use. In this setting early epilepsy surgery may reduce the time of chronic exposure to AED and severe illness due to repeated seizures. This option might have additional advantages in the subgroup of epileptic patients with liver transplant, preserving the liver from the potential damage due to multiple AED trials and their interaction with commonly used immunosuppressant drugs. Copyright © 2016 European Paediatric Neurology Society. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  18. Sex differences in verbal and nonverbal learning before and after temporal lobe epilepsy surgery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berger, Justus; Oltmanns, Frank; Holtkamp, Martin; Bengner, Thomas

    2017-01-01

    Women outperform men in a host of episodic memory tasks, yet the neuroanatomical basis for this effect is unclear. It has been suggested that the anterior temporal lobe might be especially relevant for sex differences in memory. In the current study, we investigated whether temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) has an influence on sex effects in learning and memory and whether women and men with TLE differ in their risk for memory deficits after epilepsy surgery. 177 patients (53 women and 41 men with left TLE, 42 women and 41 men with right TLE) were neuropsychologically tested before and one year after temporal lobe resection. We found that women with TLE had better verbal, but not figural, memory than men with TLE. The female advantage in verbal memory was not affected by temporal lobe resection. The same pattern of results was found in a more homogeneous subsample of 84 patients with only hippocampal sclerosis who were seizure-free after surgery. Our findings challenge the concept that the anterior temporal lobe plays a central role in the verbal memory advantage for women. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. Lateralization for dynamic facial expressions in human superior temporal sulcus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    De Winter, François-Laurent; Zhu, Qi; Van den Stock, Jan; Nelissen, Koen; Peeters, Ronald; de Gelder, Beatrice; Vanduffel, Wim; Vandenbulcke, Mathieu

    2015-02-01

    Most face processing studies in humans show stronger activation in the right compared to the left hemisphere. Evidence is largely based on studies with static stimuli focusing on the fusiform face area (FFA). Hence, the pattern of lateralization for dynamic faces is less clear. Furthermore, it is unclear whether this property is common to human and non-human primates due to predisposing processing strategies in the right hemisphere or that alternatively left sided specialization for language in humans could be the driving force behind this phenomenon. We aimed to address both issues by studying lateralization for dynamic facial expressions in monkeys and humans. Therefore, we conducted an event-related fMRI experiment in three macaques and twenty right handed humans. We presented human and monkey dynamic facial expressions (chewing and fear) as well as scrambled versions to both species. We studied lateralization in independently defined face-responsive and face-selective regions by calculating a weighted lateralization index (LIwm) using a bootstrapping method. In order to examine if lateralization in humans is related to language, we performed a separate fMRI experiment in ten human volunteers including a 'speech' expression (one syllable non-word) and its scrambled version. Both within face-responsive and selective regions, we found consistent lateralization for dynamic faces (chewing and fear) versus scrambled versions in the right human posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS), but not in FFA nor in ventral temporal cortex. Conversely, in monkeys no consistent pattern of lateralization for dynamic facial expressions was observed. Finally, LIwms based on the contrast between different types of dynamic facial expressions (relative to scrambled versions) revealed left-sided lateralization in human pSTS for speech-related expressions compared to chewing and emotional expressions. To conclude, we found consistent laterality effects in human posterior STS but not

  20. Functional connectivity evidence of cortico-cortico inhibition in temporal lobe epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tracy, Joseph I; Osipowicz, Karol; Spechler, Philip; Sharan, Ashwini; Skidmore, Christopher; Doucet, Gaelle; Sperling, Michael R

    2014-01-01

    Epileptic seizures can initiate a neural circuit and lead to aberrant neural communication with brain areas outside the epileptogenic region. We focus on interictal activity in focal temporal lobe epilepsy and evaluate functional connectivity (FC) differences that emerge as function of bilateral versus strictly unilateral epileptiform activity. We assess the strength of FC at rest between the ictal and non-ictal temporal lobes, in addition to whole brain connectivity with the ictal temporal lobe. Results revealed strong connectivity between the temporal lobes for both patient groups, but this did not vary as a function of unilateral versus bilateral interictal status. Both the left and right unilateral temporal lobe groups showed significant anti-correlated activity in regions outside the epileptogenic temporal lobe, primarily involving the contralateral (non-ictal/non-pathologic) hemisphere, with precuneus involvement prominent. The bilateral groups did not show this contralateral anti-correlated activity. This anti-correlated connectivity may represent a form of protective and adaptive inhibition, helping to constrain epileptiform activity to the pathologic temporal lobe. The absence of this activity in the bilateral groups may be indicative of flawed inhibitory mechanisms, helping to explain their more widespread epileptiform activity. Our data suggest that the location and build up of epilepsy networks in the brain are not truly random, and are not limited to the formation of strictly epileptogenic networks. Functional networks may develop to take advantage of the regulatory function of structures such as the precuneus to instantiate an anti-correlated network, generating protective cortico-cortico inhibition for the purpose of limiting seizure spread or epileptogenesis. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  1. Repair of aorto-left ventricular tunnel arising from the left sinus of valsalva.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nezafati, Mohammad Hassan; Maleki, Mahmood Hosseinzadeh; Javan, Hadi; Zirak, Nahid

    2010-05-01

    Aortico-left ventricular tunnel (ALVT) is a rare congenital cardiac defect that bypasses the aortic valve via a para-valvular connection from the left ventricle to the aorta. In most cases, the tunnel arises from the right aortic sinus. In this case report, we are presenting a case of ALVT, of which the aortic orifice arose from the left aortic sinus, requiring special attention to avoid the left coronary artery injury at the time of surgical repair.

  2. What's Left of the Left-Right Dimension? Why the Economic Policy Positions of Europeans Do Not Fit the Left-Right Dimension.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Otjes, Simon

    2018-01-01

    In political science the economic left-right dimension plays a central role. A growing body of evidence shows that the economic policy preferences of a large segment of citizens do not scale sufficiently. Using Mokken scale analysis, this study determines the causes of this phenomenon. Differences in the extent to which the economic policy preferences of citizens fit the left-right dimension can be explained in terms of the interaction between individual level and political system-level variables: citizens who spend more attention to politicians with views that conform to the left-right dimension, have views that conform to the left-right dimension. There is also a role for the legacy of communist dictatorship: citizens who were socialised in democratic countries have views that fit the left-right dimension better than those socialised during communism.

  3. 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.

  4. The timing of associative memory formation: frontal lobe and anterior medial temporal lobe activity at associative binding predicts memory

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hales, J. B.

    2011-01-01

    The process of associating items encountered over time and across variable time delays is fundamental for creating memories in daily life, such as for stories and episodes. Forming associative memory for temporally discontiguous items involves medial temporal lobe structures and additional neocortical processing regions, including prefrontal cortex, parietal lobe, and lateral occipital regions. However, most prior memory studies, using concurrently presented stimuli, have failed to examine the temporal aspect of successful associative memory formation to identify when activity in these brain regions is predictive of associative memory formation. In the current study, functional MRI data were acquired while subjects were shown pairs of sequentially presented visual images with a fixed interitem delay within pairs. This design allowed the entire time course of the trial to be analyzed, starting from onset of the first item, across the 5.5-s delay period, and through offset of the second item. Subjects then completed a postscan recognition test for the items and associations they encoded during the scan and their confidence for each. After controlling for item-memory strength, we isolated brain regions selectively involved in associative encoding. Consistent with prior findings, increased regional activity predicting subsequent associative memory success was found in anterior medial temporal lobe regions of left perirhinal and entorhinal cortices and in left prefrontal cortex and lateral occipital regions. The temporal separation within each pair, however, allowed extension of these findings by isolating the timing of regional involvement, showing that increased response in these regions occurs during binding but not during maintenance. PMID:21248058

  5. Single breath-hold real-time cine MR imaging: improved temporal resolution using generalized autocalibrating partially parallel acquisition (GRAPPA) algorithm

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Wintersperger, Bernd J.; Nikolaou, Konstantin; Dietrich, Olaf; Reiser, Maximilian F.; Schoenberg, Stefan O.; Rieber, Johannes; Nittka, Matthias

    2003-01-01

    The purpose of this study was to test parallel imaging techniques for improvement of temporal resolution in multislice single breath-hold real-time cine steady-state free precession (SSFP) in comparison with standard segmented single-slice SSFP techniques. Eighteen subjects were examined on a 1.5-T scanner using a multislice real-time cine SSFP technique using the GRAPPA algorithm. Global left ventricular parameters (EDV, ESV, SV, EF) were evaluated and results compared with a standard segmented single-slice SSFP technique. Results for EDV (r=0.93), ESV (r=0.99), SV (r=0.83), and EF (r=0.99) of real-time multislice SSFP imaging showed a high correlation with results of segmented SSFP acquisitions. Systematic differences between both techniques were statistically non-significant. Single breath-hold multislice techniques using GRAPPA allow for improvement of temporal resolution and for accurate assessment of global left ventricular functional parameters. (orig.)

  6. Decreased middle temporal gyrus connectivity in the language network in schizophrenia patients with auditory verbal hallucinations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zhang, Linchuan; Li, Baojuan; Wang, Huaning; Li, Liang; Liao, Qimei; Liu, Yang; Bao, Xianghong; Liu, Wenlei; Yin, Hong; Lu, Hongbing; Tan, Qingrong

    2017-07-13

    As the most common symptoms of schizophrenia, the long-term persistence of obstinate auditory verbal hallucinations (AVHs) brings about great mental pain to patients. Neuroimaging studies of schizophrenia have indicated that AVHs were associated with altered functional and structural connectivity within the language network. However, effective connectivity that could reflect directed information flow within this network and is of great importance to understand the neural mechanisms of the disorder remains largely unknown. In this study, we utilized stochastic dynamic causal modeling (DCM) to investigate directed connections within the language network in schizophrenia patients with and without AVHs. Thirty-six patients with schizophrenia (18 with AVHs and 18 without AVHs), and 37 healthy controls participated in the current resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study. The results showed that the connection from the left inferior frontal gyrus (LIFG) to left middle temporal gyrus (LMTG) was significantly decreased in patients with AVHs compared to those without AVHs. Meanwhile, the effective connection from the left inferior parietal lobule (LIPL) to LMTG was significantly decreased compared to the healthy controls. Our findings suggest aberrant pattern of causal interactions within the language network in patients with AVHs, indicating that the hypoconnectivity or disrupted connection from frontal to temporal speech areas might be critical for the pathological basis of AVHs. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  7. The anterior temporal lobes support residual comprehension in Wernicke's aphasia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robson, Holly; Zahn, Roland; Keidel, James L; Binney, Richard J; Sage, Karen; Lambon Ralph, Matthew A

    2014-03-01

    Wernicke's aphasia occurs after a stroke to classical language comprehension regions in the left temporoparietal cortex. Consequently, auditory-verbal comprehension is significantly impaired in Wernicke's aphasia but the capacity to comprehend visually presented materials (written words and pictures) is partially spared. This study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the neural basis of written word and picture semantic processing in Wernicke's aphasia, with the wider aim of examining how the semantic system is altered after damage to the classical comprehension regions. Twelve participants with chronic Wernicke's aphasia and 12 control participants performed semantic animate-inanimate judgements and a visual height judgement baseline task. Whole brain and region of interest analysis in Wernicke's aphasia and control participants found that semantic judgements were underpinned by activation in the ventral and anterior temporal lobes bilaterally. The Wernicke's aphasia group displayed an 'over-activation' in comparison with control participants, indicating that anterior temporal lobe regions become increasingly influential following reduction in posterior semantic resources. Semantic processing of written words in Wernicke's aphasia was additionally supported by recruitment of the right anterior superior temporal lobe, a region previously associated with recovery from auditory-verbal comprehension impairments. Overall, the results provide support for models in which the anterior temporal lobes are crucial for multimodal semantic processing and that these regions may be accessed without support from classic posterior comprehension regions.

  8. The repeatability of left ventricular volume assessment by a new ambulatory radionuclide monitoring system during head-up tilt

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Takase, Bonpei; Hosaka, Haruhiko; Kitamura, Katsuhiro

    2001-01-01

    The precise measurement of changes in left ventricular volume is important to elucidate the mechanisms of neurally mediated syncope. This study was conducted to determine whether or not a brand-new ambulatory radionuclide monitoring system (C-VEST system) can be clinically used to easily and precisely measure left ventricular volume and function in tilt testing. To assess the repeatability of the C-VEST system, 12 healthy volunteers (mean age 24±4 years old) underwent 20 minute head-up tilt testing and we measured the temporal changes in left ventricular volume and ejection fraction twice a day (first and second studies). To investigate the changes in the C-VEST measurements and the detector position in the first and second studies, tilt testing was performed with an 80-degree passive tilt, which is the same as the standard procedure used in diagnosing neurally mediated syncope. The coefficient of repeatability for both the C-VEST and detector position was well within the clinical range (coefficient of repeatability in left ventricular volume ranged from 1.7 to 2.8; coefficient of repeatability in the detector position ranged from 2.3 to 3.1). Precise evaluation of the left ventricular volume can be achieved by an ambulatory radionuclide monitoring system in tilt testing. (author)

  9. Dissociable contributions of MRI volume reductions of superior temporal and fusiform gyri to symptoms and neuropsychology in schizophrenia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Nestor, Paul G; Onitsuka, Toshiaki; Gurrera, Ronald J; Niznikiewicz, Margaret; Frumin, Melissa; Shenton, Martha E; McCarley, Robert W

    2007-03-01

    We sought to identify the functional correlates of reduced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) volumes of the superior temporal gyrus (STG) and the fusiform gyrus (FG) in patients with chronic schizophrenia. MRI volumes, positive/negative symptoms, and neuropsychological tests of facial memory and executive functioning were examined within the same subjects. The results indicated two distinct, dissociable brain structure-function relationships: (1) reduced left STG volume-positive symptoms-executive deficits; (2) reduced left FG-negative symptoms-facial memory deficits. STG and FG volume reductions may each make distinct contributions to symptoms and cognitive deficits of schizophrenia.

  10. Understanding Actions of Others: The Electrodynamics of the Left and Right Hemispheres. A High-Density EEG Neuroimaging Study

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ortigue, Stephanie; Sinigaglia, Corrado; Rizzolatti, Giacomo; Grafton, Scott T.

    2010-01-01

    Background When we observe an individual performing a motor act (e.g. grasping a cup) we get two types of information on the basis of how the motor act is done and the context: what the agent is doing (i.e. grasping) and the intention underlying it (i.e. grasping for drinking). Here we examined the temporal dynamics of the brain activations that follow the observation of a motor act and underlie the observer's capacity to understand what the agent is doing and why. Methodology/Principal Findings Volunteers were presented with two-frame video-clips. The first frame (T0) showed an object with or without context; the second frame (T1) showed a hand interacting with the object. The volunteers were instructed to understand the intention of the observed actions while their brain activity was recorded with a high-density 128-channel EEG system. Visual event-related potentials (VEPs) were recorded time-locked with the frame showing the hand-object interaction (T1). The data were analyzed by using electrical neuroimaging, which combines a cluster analysis performed on the group-averaged VEPs with the localization of the cortical sources that give rise to different spatio-temporal states of the global electrical field. Electrical neuroimaging results revealed four major steps: 1) bilateral posterior cortical activations; 2) a strong activation of the left posterior temporal and inferior parietal cortices with almost a complete disappearance of activations in the right hemisphere; 3) a significant increase of the activations of the right temporo-parietal region with simultaneously co-active left hemispheric sources, and 4) a significant global decrease of cortical activity accompanied by the appearance of activation of the orbito-frontal cortex. Conclusions/Significance We conclude that the early striking left hemisphere involvement is due to the activation of a lateralized action-observation/action execution network. The activation of this lateralized network mediates the

  11. Mapping of the left-sided phrenic nerve course in patients undergoing left atrial catheter ablations.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Huemer, Martin; Wutzler, Alexander; Parwani, Abdul S; Attanasio, Philipp; Haverkamp, Wilhelm; Boldt, Leif-Hendrik

    2014-09-01

    Catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation has been associated with left-sided phrenic nerve palsy. Knowledge of the individual left phrenic nerve course therefore is essential to prevent nerve injury. The aim of this study was to test the feasibility of an intraprocedural pace mapping and reconstruction of the left phrenic nerve course and to characterize which anatomical areas are affected. In patients undergoing left atrial catheter ablation, a three-dimensional map of the left atrial anatomical structures was created. The left-sided phrenic nerve course was determined by high-output pace mapping and reconstructed in the map. In this study, 40 patients with atrial fibrillation or atrial tachycardias were included. Left phrenic nerve capture was observed in 23 (57.5%) patients. Phrenic nerve was captured in 22 (55%) patients inside the left atrial appendage, in 22 (55%) in distal parts, in 21 (53%) in medial parts, and in two (5%) in ostial parts of the appendage. In three (7.5%) patients, capture was found in the distal coronary sinus and in one (2.5%) patient in the left atrium near the left atrial appendage ostium. Ablation target was changed due to direct spatial relationship to the phrenic nerve in three (7.5%) patients. No phrenic nerve palsy was observed. Left-sided phrenic nerve capture was found inside and around the left atrial appendage in the majority of patients and additionally in the distal coronary sinus. Phrenic nerve mapping and reconstruction can easily be performed and should be considered prior catheter ablations in potential affected areas. ©2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  12. Dissociated repetition deficits in aphasia can reflect flexible interactions between left dorsal and ventral streams and gender-dimorphic architecture of the right dorsal stream.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Berthier, Marcelo L; Froudist Walsh, Seán; Dávila, Guadalupe; Nabrozidis, Alejandro; Juárez Y Ruiz de Mier, Rocío; Gutiérrez, Antonio; De-Torres, Irene; Ruiz-Cruces, Rafael; Alfaro, Francisco; García-Casares, Natalia

    2013-01-01

    Assessment of brain-damaged subjects presenting with dissociated repetition deficits after selective injury to either the left dorsal or ventral auditory pathways can provide further insight on their respective roles in verbal repetition. We evaluated repetition performance and its neural correlates using multimodal imaging (anatomical MRI, DTI, fMRI, and(18)FDG-PET) in a female patient with transcortical motor aphasia (TCMA) and in a male patient with conduction aphasia (CA) who had small contiguous but non-overlapping left perisylvian infarctions. Repetition in the TCMA patient was fully preserved except for a mild impairment in nonwords and digits, whereas the CA patient had impaired repetition of nonwords, digits and word triplet lists. Sentence repetition was impaired, but he repeated novel sentences significantly better than clichés. The TCMA patient had tissue damage and reduced metabolism in the left sensorimotor cortex and insula. DTI showed damage to the left temporo-frontal and parieto-frontal segments of the arcuate fasciculus (AF) and part of the left ventral stream together with well-developed right dorsal and ventral streams, as has been reported in more than one-third of females. The CA patient had tissue damage and reduced metabolic activity in the left temporoparietal cortex with additional metabolic decrements in the left frontal lobe. DTI showed damage to the left temporo-parietal and temporo-frontal segments of the AF, but the ventral stream was spared. The direct segment of the AF in the right hemisphere was also absent with only vestigial remains of the other dorsal subcomponents present, as is often found in males. fMRI during word and nonword repetition revealed bilateral perisylvian activation in the TCMA patient suggesting recruitment of spared segments of the left dorsal stream and right dorsal stream with propagation of signals to temporal lobe structures suggesting a compensatory reallocation of resources via the ventral streams. The

  13. Frontal and superior temporal auditory processing abnormalities in schizophrenia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Yu-Han; Edgar, J Christopher; Huang, Mingxiong; Hunter, Michael A; Epstein, Emerson; Howell, Breannan; Lu, Brett Y; Bustillo, Juan; Miller, Gregory A; Cañive, José M

    2013-01-01

    Although magnetoencephalography (MEG) studies show superior temporal gyrus (STG) auditory processing abnormalities in schizophrenia at 50 and 100 ms, EEG and corticography studies suggest involvement of additional brain areas (e.g., frontal areas) during this interval. Study goals were to identify 30 to 130 ms auditory encoding processes in schizophrenia (SZ) and healthy controls (HC) and group differences throughout the cortex. The standard paired-click task was administered to 19 SZ and 21 HC subjects during MEG recording. Vector-based Spatial-temporal Analysis using L1-minimum-norm (VESTAL) provided 4D maps of activity from 30 to 130 ms. Within-group t-tests compared post-stimulus 50 ms and 100 ms activity to baseline. Between-group t-tests examined 50 and 100 ms group differences. Bilateral 50 and 100 ms STG activity was observed in both groups. HC had stronger bilateral 50 and 100 ms STG activity than SZ. In addition to the STG group difference, non-STG activity was also observed in both groups. For example, whereas HC had stronger left and right inferior frontal gyrus activity than SZ, SZ had stronger right superior frontal gyrus and left supramarginal gyrus activity than HC. Less STG activity was observed in SZ than HC, indicating encoding problems in SZ. Yet auditory encoding abnormalities are not specific to STG, as group differences were observed in frontal and SMG areas. Thus, present findings indicate that individuals with SZ show abnormalities in multiple nodes of a concurrently activated auditory network.

  14. Brain structural network topological alterations of the left prefrontal and limbic cortex in psychogenic erectile dysfunction.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Jianhuai; Chen, Yun; Gao, Qingqiang; Chen, Guotao; Dai, Yutian; Yao, Zhijian; Lu, Qing

    2018-05-01

    Despite increasing understanding of the cerebral functional changes and structural abnormalities in erectile dysfunction, alterations in the topological organization of brain networks underlying psychogenic erectile dysfunction remain unclear. Here, based on the diffusion tensor image data of 25 patients and 26 healthy controls, we investigated the topological organization of brain structural networks and its correlations with the clinical variables using the graph theoretical analysis. Patients displayed a preserved overall small-world organization and exhibited a less connectivity strength in the left inferior frontal gyrus, amygdale and the right inferior temporal gyrus. Moreover, an abnormal hub pattern was observed in patients, which might disturb the information interactions of the remaining brain network. Additionally, the clustering coefficient of the left hippocampus was positively correlated with the duration of patients and the normalized betweenness centrality of the right anterior cingulate gyrus and the left calcarine fissure were negatively correlated with the sum scores of the 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale. These findings suggested that the damaged white matter and the abnormal hub distribution of the left prefrontal and limbic cortex might contribute to the pathogenesis of psychogenic erectile dysfunction and provided new insights into the understanding of the pathophysiological mechanisms of psychogenic erectile dysfunction.

  15. Increased BOLD Signals Elicited by High Gamma Auditory Stimulation of the Left Auditory Cortex in Acute State Schizophrenia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Hironori Kuga, M.D.

    2016-10-01

    We acquired BOLD responses elicited by click trains of 20, 30, 40 and 80-Hz frequencies from 15 patients with acute episode schizophrenia (AESZ, 14 symptom-severity-matched patients with non-acute episode schizophrenia (NASZ, and 24 healthy controls (HC, assessed via a standard general linear-model-based analysis. The AESZ group showed significantly increased ASSR-BOLD signals to 80-Hz stimuli in the left auditory cortex compared with the HC and NASZ groups. In addition, enhanced 80-Hz ASSR-BOLD signals were associated with more severe auditory hallucination experiences in AESZ participants. The present results indicate that neural over activation occurs during 80-Hz auditory stimulation of the left auditory cortex in individuals with acute state schizophrenia. Given the possible association between abnormal gamma activity and increased glutamate levels, our data may reflect glutamate toxicity in the auditory cortex in the acute state of schizophrenia, which might lead to progressive changes in the left transverse temporal gyrus.

  16. Changes in Left Ventricular Morphology and Function After Mitral Valve Surgery

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shafii, Alexis E.; Gillinov, A. Marc; Mihaljevic, Tomislav; Stewart, William; Batizy, Lillian H.; Blackstone, Eugene H.

    2015-01-01

    Degenerative mitral valve disease is the leading cause of mitral regurgitation in North America. Surgical intervention has hinged on symptoms and ventricular changes that develop as compensatory ventricular remodeling takes place. In this study, we sought to characterize the temporal response of left ventricular (LV) morphology and function to mitral valve surgery for degenerative disease, and identify preoperative factors that influence reverse remodeling. From 1986–2007, 2,778 patients with isolated degenerative mitral valve disease underwent valve repair (n=2,607/94%) or replacement (n=171/6%) and had at least 1 postoperative transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE); 5,336 TTEs were available for analysis. Multivariable longitudinal repeated-measures analysis was performed to identify factors associated with reverse remodeling. LV dimensions decreased in the first year after surgery (end-diastolic from 5.7±0.80 to 4.9±1.4 cm; end-systolic from 3.4±0.71 to 3.1±1.4 cm). LV mass index decreased from 139±44 to 112±73 g·m−2. Reduction of LV hypertrophy was less pronounced in patients with greater preoperative left heart enlargement (P.2). In conclusion, a positive response toward normalization of LV morphology and function after mitral valve surgery is greatest in the first year. The best response occurs when surgery is performed before left heart dilatation, LV hypertrophy, or LV dysfunction develop. PMID:22534055

  17. Diabetes mellitus, hypertension and medial temporal lobe atrophy: the LADIS study

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Korf, E S C; van Straaten, E C W; de Leeuw, F-E

    2007-01-01

    HYPOTHESIS: Based on recent findings on the association between vascular risk factors and hippocampal atrophy, we hypothesized that hypertension and diabetes mellitus (DM) are associated with medial temporal lobe atrophy (MTA) in subjects without disability, independent of the severity of white...... matter hyperintensities. METHODS: In the Leukoaraiosis And DISability in the elderly (LADIS) study, we investigated the relationships between DM, hypertension, blood pressure and MTA in 582 subjects, stratified by white matter hyperintensity severity, using multinomial logistic regression. MTA...... was visually scored for the left and right medial temporal lobe (score 0-4), and meaned. RESULTS: Mean age was 73.5 years (sd 5.1), 54% was female. Of the subjects, 15% had DM, and 70% had a history of hypertension. The likelihood of having MTA score 3 was significantly higher in subjects with DM (OR 2.9; 95...

  18. Improvement in the performance of CAD for the Alzheimer-type dementia based on automatic extraction of temporal lobe from coronal MR images

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Kaeriyama, Tomoharu; Kodama, Naoki; Kaneko, Tomoyuki; Shimada, Tetsuo; Tanaka, Hiroyuki; Takeda, Ai; Fukumoto, Ichiro

    2004-01-01

    In this study, we extracted whole brain and temporal lobe images from MR images (26 healthy elderly controls and 34 Alzheimer-type dementia patients) by means of binarize, mask processing, template matching, Hough transformation, and boundary tracing etc. We assessed the extraction accuracy by comparing the extracted images to images extracts by a radiological technologist. The results of assessment by consistent rate; brain images 91.3±4.3%, right temporal lobe 83.3±6.9%, left temporal lobe 83.7±7.6%. Furthermore discriminant analysis using 6 textural features demonstrated sensitivity and specificity of 100% when the healthy elderly controls were compared to the Alzheimer-type dementia patients. Our research showed the possibility of automatic objective diagnosis of temporal lobe abnormalities by automatic extracted images of the temporal lobes. (author)

  19. Network-wise cerebral blood flow redistribution after 20 Hz rTMS on left dorso-lateral prefrontal cortex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Shang, Yuan-Qi; Xie, Jun; Peng, Wei; Zhang, Jian; Chang, Da; Wang, Ze

    2018-04-01

    The repetitive application of transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) on left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC) has been consistently shown to be beneficial for treating various neuropsychiatric or neuropsychological disorders, but its neural mechanisms still remain unclear. The purpose of this study was to measure the effects of high-frequency left DLPFC rTMS using cerebral blood flow (CBF) collected from 40 young healthy subjects before and after applying 20 Hz left DLPFC rTMS or SHAM stimulations. Relative CBF (rCBF) changes before and after 20 Hz rTMS or SHAM were assessed with paired-t test. The results show that 20 Hz DLPFC rTMS induced CBF redistribution in the default mode network, including increased rCBF in left medial temporal cortex (MTC)/hippocampus, but reduced rCBF in precuneus and cerebellum. Meanwhile, SHAM stimulation didn't produce any rCBF changes. After controlling SHAM effects, only the rCBF increase in MTC/hippocampus remained. Those data suggest that the beneficial effects of high-frequency rTMS may be through a within-network rCBF redistribution. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  20. Left auditory cortex gamma synchronization and auditory hallucination symptoms in schizophrenia

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Shenton Martha E

    2009-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Oscillatory electroencephalogram (EEG abnormalities may reflect neural circuit dysfunction in neuropsychiatric disorders. Previously we have found positive correlations between the phase synchronization of beta and gamma oscillations and hallucination symptoms in schizophrenia patients. These findings suggest that the propensity for hallucinations is associated with an increased tendency for neural circuits in sensory cortex to enter states of oscillatory synchrony. Here we tested this hypothesis by examining whether the 40 Hz auditory steady-state response (ASSR generated in the left primary auditory cortex is positively correlated with auditory hallucination symptoms in schizophrenia. We also examined whether the 40 Hz ASSR deficit in schizophrenia was associated with cross-frequency interactions. Sixteen healthy control subjects (HC and 18 chronic schizophrenia patients (SZ listened to 40 Hz binaural click trains. The EEG was recorded from 60 electrodes and average-referenced offline. A 5-dipole model was fit from the HC grand average ASSR, with 2 pairs of superior temporal dipoles and a deep midline dipole. Time-frequency decomposition was performed on the scalp EEG and source data. Results Phase locking factor (PLF and evoked power were reduced in SZ at fronto-central electrodes, replicating prior findings. PLF was reduced in SZ for non-homologous right and left hemisphere sources. Left hemisphere source PLF in SZ was positively correlated with auditory hallucination symptoms, and was modulated by delta phase. Furthermore, the correlations between source evoked power and PLF found in HC was reduced in SZ for the LH sources. Conclusion These findings suggest that differential neural circuit abnormalities may be present in the left and right auditory cortices in schizophrenia. In addition, they provide further support for the hypothesis that hallucinations are related to cortical hyperexcitability, which is manifested by

  1. Infinitival before and after-clauses in European Portuguese: temporal and aspectual properties

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Purificação Silvano

    2015-06-01

    Full Text Available The main goal of this paper is to discuss temporal and aspectual features of sentences with clauses introduced by the connectives antes de + Infinitivo (‘before’ + Infinitive and depois de + Infinitivo (‘after’ + Infinitive combined with situations in the Pretérito Perfeito in European Portuguese. Our discussion is based on the widespread view that these clauses are locating adverbials (cf. Kamp and Reyle (1993 with temporal information of anteriority, in the case of antes de, and posteriority, in the case of depois de. However, this analysis is not as straightforward as one would expect, because, while before-clauses consistently render the same temporal relation (of anteriority, after-clauses may convey a temporal relation of inclusion, in addition to the standard posteriority relation. We put forward the hypothesis that aspectual characteristics play an important role in these differences, insofar as allowing a temporal reading that at first sight is not predicted from the semantic nature of the connective. In order to maintain a uniform treatment of before and after-clauses with respect to their temporal features, accounting simultaneously for the differences that emerge in their linguistic behaviour, we claim, along with Beaver & Condoravdi (2003 and Condoravdi (2010, that the locating time interval provided by these clauses is bounded to the left, but not to the right, that is, what is focused is the initial frontier of the situation that provides the time interval, leaving the final one undetermined. Furthermore, we show that, although the temporal mechanisms are parallel, the interference of aspectual properties leads to interesting differences in the final interpretation of before and after-sentences.

  2. Modulation of neural circuits underlying temporal production by facial expressions of pain.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ballotta, Daniela; Lui, Fausta; Porro, Carlo Adolfo; Nichelli, Paolo Frigio; Benuzzi, Francesca

    2018-01-01

    According to the Scalar Expectancy Theory, humans are equipped with a biological internal clock, possibly modulated by attention and arousal. Both emotions and pain are arousing and can absorb attentional resources, thus causing distortions of temporal perception. The aims of the present single-event fMRI study were to investigate: a) whether observation of facial expressions of pain interferes with time production; and b) the neural network subserving this kind of temporal distortions. Thirty healthy volunteers took part in the study. Subjects were asked to perform a temporal production task and a concurrent gender discrimination task, while viewing faces of unknown people with either pain-related or neutral expressions. Behavioural data showed temporal underestimation (i.e., longer produced intervals) during implicit pain expression processing; this was accompanied by increased activity of right middle temporal gyrus, a region known to be active during the perception of emotional and painful faces. Psycho-Physiological Interaction analyses showed that: 1) the activity of middle temporal gyrus was positively related to that of areas previously reported to play a role in timing: left primary motor cortex, middle cingulate cortex, supplementary motor area, right anterior insula, inferior frontal gyrus, bilateral cerebellum and basal ganglia; 2) the functional connectivity of supplementary motor area with several frontal regions, anterior cingulate cortex and right angular gyrus was correlated to the produced interval during painful expression processing. Our data support the hypothesis that observing emotional expressions distorts subjective time perception through the interaction of the neural network subserving processing of facial expressions with the brain network involved in timing. Within this frame, middle temporal gyrus appears to be the key region of the interplay between the two neural systems.

  3. Disruption of Spelling-to-Sound Correspondence Mapping during Single-Word Reading in Patients with Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ledoux, Kerry; Gordon, Barry

    2011-01-01

    Processing and/or hemispheric differences in the neural bases of word recognition were examined in patients with long-standing, medically-intractable epilepsy localized to the left (N = 18) or right (N = 7) temporal lobe. Participants were asked to read words that varied in the frequency of their spelling-to-sound correspondences. For the right…

  4. Early Local Activity in Temporal Areas Reflects Graded Content of Visual Perception

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Chiara Francesca Tagliabue

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available In visual cognitive neuroscience the debate on consciousness is focused on two major topics: the search for the neural correlates of the different properties of visual awareness and the controversy on the graded versus dichotomous nature of visual conscious experience. The aim of this study is to search for the possible neural correlates of different grades of visual awareness investigating the Event Related Potentials (ERPs to reduced contrast visual stimuli whose perceptual clarity was rated on the four-point Perceptual Awareness Scale (PAS. Results revealed a left centro-parietal negative deflection (Visual Awareness Negativity; VAN peaking at 280-320 ms from stimulus onset, related to the perceptual content of the stimulus, followed by a bilateral positive deflection (Late Positivity; LP peaking at 510-550 ms over almost all electrodes, reflecting post-perceptual processes performed on such content. Interestingly, the amplitude of both deflections gradually increased as a function of visual awareness. Moreover, the intracranial generators of the phenomenal content (VAN were found to be located in the left temporal lobe. The present data thus seem to suggest 1 that visual conscious experience is characterized by a gradual increase of perceived clarity at both behavioral and neural level and 2 that the actual content of perceptual experiences emerges from early local activation in temporal areas, without the need of later widespread frontal engagement.

  5. Left-Deviating Prism Adaptation in Left Neglect Patient: Reflexions on a Negative Result

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jacques Luauté

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Adaptation to right-deviating prisms is a promising intervention for the rehabilitation of patients with left spatial neglect. In order to test the lateral specificity of prism adaptation on left neglect, the present study evaluated the effect of left-deviating prism on straight-ahead pointing movements and on several classical neuropsychological tests in a group of five right brain-damaged patients with left spatial neglect. A group of healthy subjects was also included for comparison purposes. After a single session of exposing simple manual pointing to left-deviating prisms, contrary to healthy controls, none of the patients showed a reliable change of the straight-ahead pointing movement in the dark. No significant modification of attentional paper-and-pencil tasks was either observed immediately or 2 hours after prism adaptation. These results suggest that the therapeutic effect of prism adaptation on left spatial neglect relies on a specific lateralized mechanism. Evidence for a directional effect for prism adaptation both in terms of the side of the visuomanual adaptation and therefore possibly in terms of the side of brain affected by the stimulation is discussed.

  6. Temporal pole signal abnormality on MR imaging in temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis: a fluid-attenuated inversion-recovery study Anormalidade de sinal na imagem por RM do pólo temporal na epilepsia do lobo temporal com esclerose hipocampal: um estudo pela seqüência inversão recuperação com supressão da água livre (FLAIR

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Henrique Carrete Junior

    2007-09-01

    Full Text Available OBJECTIVE: To determine the frequency and regional involvement of temporal pole signal abnormality (TPA in patients with hippocampal sclerosis (HS using fluid-attenuated inversion-recovery (FLAIR MR imaging, and to correlate this feature with history. METHOD: Coronal FLAIR images of the temporal pole were assessed in 120 patients with HS and in 30 normal subjects, to evaluate gray-white matter demarcation. RESULTS: Ninety (75% of 120 patients had associated TPA. The HS side made difference regarding the presence of TPA, with a left side prevalence (p=0.04, chi2 test. The anteromedial zone of temporal pole was affected in 27 (30% out of 90 patients. In 63 (70% patients the lateral zone were also affected. Patients with TPA were younger at seizure onset (p=0.018, but without association with duration of epilepsy. CONCLUSION: Our FLAIR study show temporal pole signal abnormality in 3/4 of patients with HS, mainly seen on the anteromedial region, with a larger prevalence when the left hippocampus was involved.OBJETIVO: Determinar a freqüência e o envolvimento regional da anormalidade de sinal do pólo temporal (APT em pacientes com esclerose hipocampal (EH utilizando seqüência inversão recuperação com supressão da água (FLAIR por RM, e correlacioná-la com a história. MÉTODO: Foram analisadas as imagens coronais FLAIR dos pólos temporais de 120 pacientes com EH e de 30 indivíduos normais, para avaliar a demarcação entre substâncias branca e cinzenta. RESULTADOS: Noventa (75% dos 120 pacientes tinham APT associada. Houve prevalência do lado esquerdo (p=0.04, chi2 teste na relação entre APT e o lado da EH. A zona ântero-medial estava acometida em 27 (30% destes pacientes. Em 63 (70% pacientes também a zona lateral estava acometida. Pacientes com APT apresentaram início da epilepsia quando mais jovens (p=0.018, porém sem associação com a sua duração. CONCLUSÃO: A seqüência FLAIR mostra haver ATP em 3/4 dos pacientes com EH

  7. Nonvisual spatial navigation fMRI lateralizes mesial temporal lobe epilepsy in a patient with congenital blindness.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Toller, Gianina; Adhimoolam, Babu; Grunwald, Thomas; Huppertz, Hans-Jürgen; König, Kristina; Jokeit, Hennric

    2015-01-01

    Nonvisual spatial navigation functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) may help clinicians determine memory lateralization in blind individuals with refractory mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE). We report on an exceptional case of a congenitally blind woman with late-onset left MTLE undergoing presurgical memory fMRI. To activate mesial temporal structures despite the lack of visual memory, the patient was requested to recall familiar routes using nonvisual multisensory and verbal cues. Our findings demonstrate the diagnostic value of a nonvisual fMRI task to lateralize MTLE despite congenital blindness and may therefore contribute to the risk assessment for postsurgical amnesia in rare cases with refractory MTLE and accompanying congenital blindness.

  8. Decrease of NAA with aging outside the seizure focus in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy--a proton-MRS study at 3 Tesla.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Riederer, Franz; Bittsanský, Michal; Lehner-Baumgartner, Eva; Baumgartner, Christoph; Mlynárik, Vladimír; Gruber, Stephan; Moser, Ewald; Kaya, Marihan; Serles, Wolfgang

    2007-11-07

    There is evidence that chronic pharmacoresistant temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is a progressive disorder accompanied by mental deterioration. We investigated effects of aging on cerebral N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA) concentrations in the temporal lobe of 12 patients with pharmacoresistant mesial TLE (mTLE) and 22 healthy controls by means of proton-magnetic resonance spectroscopy ((1)H-MRS) at 3 T. Furthermore, we calculated correlations between NAA concentrations and measures of verbal and figural memory in patients. In mTLE patients but not in healthy controls the concentration of NAA in the lateral temporal lobe was negatively correlated with age. In patients with mTLE NAA in left lateral temporal voxels correlated with verbal memory. NAA in medial temporal voxels did not correlate with age or neuropsychological measures. Significant decrease of NAA with age in the lateral temporal lobe of patients with mTLE provides evidence for progressive neuronal dysfunction with aging. NAA is a marker of neuronal integrity since it correlates with verbal memory.

  9. Fibrous Dysplasia of the Temporal Bone with External Auditory Canal Stenosis and Secondary Cholesteatoma.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liu, Yu-Hsi; Chang, Kuo-Ping

    2016-04-01

    Fibrous dysplasia is a slowly progressive benign fibro-osseous disease, rarely occurring in temporal bones. In these cases, most bony lesions developed from the bony part of the external auditory canals, causing otalgia, hearing impairment, otorrhea, and ear hygiene blockade and probably leading to secondary cholesteatoma. We presented the medical history of a 24-year-old woman with temporal monostotic fibrous dysplasia with secondary cholesteatoma. The initial presentation was unilateral conductive hearing loss. A hard external canal tumor contributing to canal stenosis and a near-absent tympanic membrane were found. Canaloplasty and type I tympanoplasty were performed, but the symptoms recurred after 5 years. She received canal wall down tympanomastoidectomy with ossciculoplasty at the second time, and secondary cholesteatoma in the middle ear was diagnosed. Fifteen years later, left otorrhea recurred again and transcanal endoscopic surgery was performed for middle ear clearance. Currently, revision surgeries provide a stable auditory condition, but her monostotic temporal fibrous dysplasia is still in place.

  10. Small temporal pole encephalocele: A hidden cause of "normal" MRI temporal lobe epilepsy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Toledano, Rafael; Jiménez-Huete, Adolfo; Campo, Pablo; Poch, Claudia; García-Morales, Irene; Gómez Angulo, Juan Carlos; Coras, Roland; Blümcke, Ingmar; Álvarez-Linera, Juan; Gil-Nagel, Antonio

    2016-05-01

    Small temporal pole encephalocele (STPE) can be the pathologic substrate of epilepsy in a subgroup of patients with noninformative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Herein, we analyzed the clinical, neurophysiologic, and radiologic features of the epilepsy found in 22 patients with STPE, and the frequency of STPE in patients with refractory focal epilepsy (RFE). We performed an observational study of all patients with STPE identified at our epilepsy unit from January 2007 to December 2014. Cases were detected through a systematic search of our database of RFE patients evaluated for surgery, and a prospective collection of patients identified at the outpatient clinic. The RFE database was also employed to analyze the frequency of STPE among the different clinical subgroups. We identified 22 patients with STPE (11 women), including 12 (4.0%) of 303 patients from the RFE database, and 10 from the outpatient clinic. The median age was 51.5 years (range 29-75) and the median age at seizure onset was 38.5 years (range 15-73). Typically, 12 (80%) of 15 patients with left STPE reported seizures with impairment of language. Among the RFE cases, STPE were found in 9.6% of patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), and in 0.5% of those with extra-TLE (p = 0.0001). STPEs were more frequent in TLE patients with an initial MRI study reported as normal (23.3%) than in those with MRI-visible lesions (1.4%; p = 0.0002). Stereo-electroencephalography was performed in four patients, confirming the localization of the epileptogenic zone at the temporal pole with late participation of the hippocampus. Long-term seizure control was achieved in four of five operated patients. STPE can be a hidden cause of TLE in a subgroup of patients with an initial report of "normal" MRI. Early identification of this lesion may help to select patients for presurgical evaluation and tailored resection. Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 International League Against Epilepsy.

  11. Developmental trajectories of the fronto-temporal lobes from infancy to early adulthood in healthy individuals.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Tanaka, Chiaki; Matsui, Mie; Uematsu, Akiko; Noguchi, Kyo; Miyawaki, Toshio

    2012-01-01

    changes in males became greater), with male GM volume increasing for a longer time than that of females. WM volume growth changes were similar across regions, all increasing rapidly until early childhood but slowing down thereafter. All regions displayed significant rightward volumetric asymmetry regardless of sex. Furthermore, the right temporal and frontal lobes showed a greater volumetric increase than the left for the first several years, with this tendency reversing at around 6 years of age. In addition, the left frontal and temporal lobes increased in volume for a longer period of time. Taken together, these findings indicated that brain developmental trajectories differ depending on brain region, sex and brain hemisphere. Gender-related factors such as sex hormones and functional laterality may affect brain development. Copyright © 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel.

  12. Cetuximab with radiotherapy as an alternative treatment for advanced squamous cell carcinoma of the temporal bone.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ebisumoto, Koji; Okami, Kenji; Hamada, Masashi; Maki, Daisuke; Sakai, Akihiro; Saito, Kosuke; Shimizu, Fukuko; Kaneda, Shoji; Iida, Masahiro

    2018-06-01

    The prognosis of advanced temporal bone cancer is poor, because complete surgical resection is difficult to achieve. Chemoradiotherapy is one of the available curative treatment options; however, its systemic effects on the patient restrict the use of this treatment. A 69-year-old female (who needed peritoneal dialysis) presented at our clinic with T4 left external auditory canal cancer and was treated with cetuximab plus radiotherapy (RT). The primary lesion showed complete response. The patient is currently alive with no evidence of disease two years after completion of the treatment and does not show any late toxicity. This is the first advanced temporal bone cancer patient treated with RT plus cetuximab. Cetuximab plus RT might be a treatment alternative for patients with advanced temporal bone cancer. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  13. [False recognition of faces associated with fronto-temporal dementia with prosopagnosia].

    Science.gov (United States)

    Verstichel, P

    2005-09-01

    The association of prosopagnosia and false recognition of faces is unusual and contributes to our understanding of the generation of facial familiarity. A 67-year-old man with a left prefrontal traumatic lesion, developed a temporal variety of fronto-temporal dementia (semantic dementia) with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Cerebral imagery demonstrated a bilateral, temporal anterior atrophy predominating in the right hemisphere. The main cognitive signs consisted in severe difficulties to recognize faces of familiar people (prosopagnosia), associated with systematic false recognition of unfamiliar people. Neuropsychological testing indicated that the prosopagnosia probably resulted from the association of an associative/mnemonic mechanism (inability to activate the Face Recognition Units (FRU) from the visual input) and a semantic mechanism (degradation of semantic/biographical information or deconnexion between FRU and this information). At the early stage of the disease, the patient could activate residual semantic information about individuals from their names, but after a 4-year course, he failed to do so. This worsening could be attributed to the extension of the degenerative lesions to the left temporal lobe. Familiar and unfamiliar faces triggered a marked feeling of knowing. False recognition concerned all the unfamiliar faces, and the patient claimed spontaneously that they corresponded to actors, but he could not provide any additional information about their specific identities. The coexistence of prosopagnosia and false recognition suggests the existence of different interconnected systems processing face recognition, one intended to identification of individuals, and the other producing the sense of familiarity. Dysfunctions at different stages of one or the other of these two processes could result in distortions in the feeling of knowing. From this case and others reported in literature, we propose to complete the classical model of face processing

  14. Unleashing creativity: The role of left temporoparietal regions in evaluating and inhibiting the generation of creative ideas.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mayseless, Naama; Aharon-Peretz, Judith; Shamay-Tsoory, Simone

    2014-11-01

    Human creativity is thought to entail two processes. One is idea generation, whereby ideas emerge in an associative manner, and the other is idea evaluation, whereby generated ideas are evaluated and screened. Thus far, neuroimaging studies have identified several brain regions as being involved in creativity, yet only a handful of studies have examined the neural basis underlying these two processes. We found that an individual with left temporoparietal hemorrhage who had no previous experience as an artist developed remarkable artistic creativity, which diminished as the hemorrhage receded. We thus hypothesized that damage to the evaluation network of creativity during the initial hematoma had a releasing effect on creativity by "freeing" the idea generation system. In line with this hypothesis, we conducted a subsequent fMRI study showing that decreased left temporal and parietal activations among healthy individuals as they evaluated creative ideas selectively predicted higher creativity. The current studies provide converging multi-method evidence suggesting that the left temporoparietal area is part of a neural network involved in evaluating creativity, and that as such may act as inhibitors of creativity. We propose an explanatory model of creativity centered upon the key role of the left temporoparietal regions in evaluating and inhibiting creativity. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  15. TMS over the Left Angular Gyrus Impairs the Ability to Discriminate Left from Right

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hirnstein, Marco; Bayer, Ulrike; Ellison, Amanda; Hausmann, Markus

    2011-01-01

    The underlying cognitive and neural mechanisms of the ability to discriminate left from right are hardly explored. Clinical studies from patients with impairments of left-right discrimination (LRD) and neuroimaging data suggest that the left angular gyrus is particularly involved in LRD. Moreover, it is argued that the often reported sex…

  16. Impaired Facial Expression Recognition in Children with Temporal Lobe Epilepsy: Impact of Early Seizure Onset on Fear Recognition

    Science.gov (United States)

    Golouboff, Nathalie; Fiori, Nicole; Delalande, Olivier; Fohlen, Martine; Dellatolas, Georges; Jambaque, Isabelle

    2008-01-01

    The amygdala has been implicated in the recognition of facial emotions, especially fearful expressions, in adults with early-onset right temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). The present study investigates the recognition of facial emotions in children and adolescents, 8-16 years old, with epilepsy. Twenty-nine subjects had TLE (13 right, 16 left) and…

  17. Combining Temporal and Spectral Information with Spatial Mapping to Identify Differences between Phonological and Semantic Networks: A Magnetoencephalographic Approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    McNab, Fiona; Hillebrand, Arjan; Swithenby, Stephen J; Rippon, Gina

    2012-01-01

    Early, lesion-based models of language processing suggested that semantic and phonological processes are associated with distinct temporal and parietal regions respectively, with frontal areas more indirectly involved. Contemporary spatial brain mapping techniques have not supported such clear-cut segregation, with strong evidence of activation in left temporal areas by both processes and disputed evidence of involvement of frontal areas in both processes. We suggest that combining spatial information with temporal and spectral data may allow a closer scrutiny of the differential involvement of closely overlapping cortical areas in language processing. Using beamforming techniques to analyze magnetoencephalography data, we localized the neuronal substrates underlying primed responses to nouns requiring either phonological or semantic processing, and examined the associated measures of time and frequency in those areas where activation was common to both tasks. Power changes in the beta (14-30 Hz) and gamma (30-50 Hz) frequency bands were analyzed in pre-selected time windows of 350-550 and 500-700 ms In left temporal regions, both tasks elicited power changes in the same time window (350-550 ms), but with different spectral characteristics, low beta (14-20 Hz) for the phonological task and high beta (20-30 Hz) for the semantic task. In frontal areas (BA10), both tasks elicited power changes in the gamma band (30-50 Hz), but in different time windows, 500-700 ms for the phonological task and 350-550 ms for the semantic task. In the left inferior parietal area (BA40), both tasks elicited changes in the 20-30 Hz beta frequency band but in different time windows, 350-550 ms for the phonological task and 500-700 ms for the semantic task. Our findings suggest that, where spatial measures may indicate overlapping areas of involvement, additional beamforming techniques can demonstrate differential activation in time and frequency domains.

  18. Electrophysiological resting-state biomarker for diagnosing mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Jin, Seung-Hyun; Chung, Chun Kee

    2017-01-01

    The main aim of the present study was to evaluate whether resting-state functional connectivity of magnetoencephalography (MEG) signals can differentiate patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) from healthy controls (HC) and can differentiate between right and left MTLE as a diagnostic biomarker. To this end, a support vector machine (SVM) method among various machine learning algorithms was employed. We compared resting-state functional networks between 46 MTLE (right MTLE=23; left MTLE=23) patients with histologically proven HS who were free of seizure after surgery, and 46 HC. The optimal SVM group classifier distinguished MTLE patients with a mean accuracy of 95.1% (sensitivity=95.8%; specificity=94.3%). Increased connectivity including the right posterior cingulate gyrus and decreased connectivity including at least one sensory-related resting-state network were key features reflecting the differences between MTLE patients and HC. The optimal SVM model distinguished between right and left MTLE patients with a mean accuracy of 76.2% (sensitivity=76.0%; specificity=76.5%). We showed the potential of electrophysiological resting-state functional connectivity, which reflects brain network reorganization in MTLE patients, as a possible diagnostic biomarker to differentiate MTLE patients from HC and differentiate between right and left MTLE patients. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  19. Clinical evaluation of automated processing of electrocardiograms by the Veterans Administration program (AVA 3.4).

    Science.gov (United States)

    Brohet, C R; Richman, H G

    1979-06-01

    Automated processing of electrocardiograms by the Veterans Administration program was evaluated for both agreement with physician interpretation and interpretative accuracy as assessed with nonelectrocardiographic criteria. One thousand unselected electrocardiograms were analyzed by two reviewer groups, one familiar and the other unfamiliar with the computer program. A significant number of measurement errors involving repolarization changes and left axis deviation occurred; however, interpretative disagreements related to statistical decision were largely language-related. Use of a printout with a more traditional format resulted in agreement with physician interpretation by both reviewer groups in more than 80 percent of cases. Overall sensitivity based on agreement with nonelectrocardiographic criteria was significantly greater with use of the computer program than with use of the conventional criteria utilized by the reviewers. This difference was particularly evident in the subgroup analysis of myocardial infarction and left ventricular hypertrophy. The degree of overdiagnosis of left ventricular hypertrophy and posteroinferior infarction was initially unacceptable, but this difficulty was corrected by adjustment of probabilities. Clinical acceptability of the Veterans Administration program appears to require greater physician education than that needed for other computer programs of electrocardiographic analysis; the flexibility of interpretation by statistical decision offers the potential for better diagnostic accuracy.

  20. 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...

  1. Reliable 5-min real-time MR technique for left-ventricular-wall motion analysis

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Katoh, Marcus; Spuentrup, Elmar; Guenther, Rolf W.; Buecker, Arno; Kuehl, Harald P.; Lipke, Claudia S.A.

    2007-01-01

    The aim of this study was to investigate the value of a real-time magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) approach for the assessment of left-ventricular-wall motion in patients with insufficient transthoracic echocardiography in terms of accuracy and temporal expenditure. Twenty-five consecutive patients were examined on a 1.5-Tesla whole-body MR system (ACS-NT, Philips Medical Systems, Best, NL) using a real-time and ECG-gated (the current gold standard) steady-state free-precession (SSFP) sequence. Wall motion was analyzed by three observers by consensus interpretation. In addition, the preparation, scanning, and overall examination times were measured. The assessment of the wall motion demonstrated a close agreement between the two modalities resulting in a mean κ coefficient of 0.8. At the same time, each stage of the examination was significantly shortened using the real-time MR approach. Real-time imaging allows for accurate assessment of left-ventricular-wall motion with the added benefit of decreased examination time. Therefore, it may serve as a cost-efficient alternative in patients with insufficient echocardiography. (orig.)

  2. Distinct contribution of the parietal and temporal cortex to hand configuration and contextual judgements about tools.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Andres, Michael; Pelgrims, Barbara; Olivier, Etienne

    2013-09-01

    Neuropsychological studies showed that manipulatory and semantic knowledge can be independently impaired in patients with upper-limb apraxia, leading to different tool use disorders. The present study aimed to dissociate the brain regions involved in judging the hand configuration or the context associated to tool use. We focussed on the left supramarginalis gyrus (SMG) and left middle temporal gyrus (MTG), whose activation, as evidenced by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies, suggests that they may play a critical role in tool use. The distinctive location of SMG in the dorsal visual stream led us to postulate that this parietal region could play a role in processing incoming information about tools to shape hand posture. In contrast, we hypothesized that MTG, because of its interconnections with several cortical areas involved in semantic memory, could contribute to retrieving semantic information necessary to create a contextual representation of tool use. To test these hypotheses, we used neuronavigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to interfere transiently with the function of either left SMG or left MTG in healthy participants performing judgement tasks about either hand configuration or context of tool use. We found that SMG virtual lesions impaired hand configuration but not contextual judgements, whereas MTG lesions selectively interfered with judgements about the context of tool use while leaving hand configuration judgements unaffected. This double dissociation demonstrates that the ability to infer a context of use or a hand posture from tool perception relies on distinct processes, performed in the temporal and parietal regions. The present findings suggest that tool use disorders caused by SMG lesions will be characterized by difficulties in selecting the appropriate hand posture for tool use, whereas MTG lesions will yield difficulties in using tools in the appropriate context. Copyright © 2012. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  3. Age-Dependent Mesial Temporal Lobe Lateralization in Language FMRI

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sepeta, Leigh N.; Berl, Madison M.; Wilke, Marko; You, Xiaozhen; Mehta, Meera; Xu, Benjamin; Inati, Sara; Dustin, Irene; Khan, Omar; Austermuehle, Alison; Theodore, William H.; Gaillard, William D.

    2015-01-01

    Objective FMRI activation of the mesial temporal lobe (MTL) may be important for epilepsy surgical planning. We examined MTL activation and lateralization during language fMRI in children and adults with focal epilepsy. Methods 142 controls and patients with left hemisphere focal epilepsy (Pediatric: epilepsy, n = 17, mean age = 9.9 ± 2.0; controls, n = 48; mean age = 9.1 ± 2.6; Adult: epilepsy, n = 20, mean age = 26.7 ± 5.8; controls, n = 57, mean age = 26.2 ± 7.5) underwent 3T fMRI using a language task (auditory description decision task). Image processing and analyses were conducted in SPM8; ROIs included MTL, Broca’s area, and Wernicke’s area. We assessed group and individual MTL activation, and examined degree of lateralization. Results Patients and controls (pediatric and adult) demonstrated group and individual MTL activation during language fMRI. MTL activation was left lateralized for adults but less so in children (p’s < 0.005). Patients did not differ from controls in either age group. Stronger left-lateralized MTL activation was related to older age (p = 0.02). Language lateralization (Broca’s and Wernicke’s) predicted 19% of the variance in MTL lateralization for adults (p = 0.001), but not children. Significance Language fMRI may be used to elicit group and individual MTL activation. The developmental difference in MTL lateralization and its association with language lateralization suggests a developmental shift in lateralization of MTL function, with increased left lateralization across the age span. This shift may help explain why children have better memory outcomes following resection compared to adults. PMID:26696589

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. 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

  7. Modulation of neural circuits underlying temporal production by facial expressions of pain.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Daniela Ballotta

    Full Text Available According to the Scalar Expectancy Theory, humans are equipped with a biological internal clock, possibly modulated by attention and arousal. Both emotions and pain are arousing and can absorb attentional resources, thus causing distortions of temporal perception. The aims of the present single-event fMRI study were to investigate: a whether observation of facial expressions of pain interferes with time production; and b the neural network subserving this kind of temporal distortions. Thirty healthy volunteers took part in the study. Subjects were asked to perform a temporal production task and a concurrent gender discrimination task, while viewing faces of unknown people with either pain-related or neutral expressions. Behavioural data showed temporal underestimation (i.e., longer produced intervals during implicit pain expression processing; this was accompanied by increased activity of right middle temporal gyrus, a region known to be active during the perception of emotional and painful faces. Psycho-Physiological Interaction analyses showed that: 1 the activity of middle temporal gyrus was positively related to that of areas previously reported to play a role in timing: left primary motor cortex, middle cingulate cortex, supplementary motor area, right anterior insula, inferior frontal gyrus, bilateral cerebellum and basal ganglia; 2 the functional connectivity of supplementary motor area with several frontal regions, anterior cingulate cortex and right angular gyrus was correlated to the produced interval during painful expression processing. Our data support the hypothesis that observing emotional expressions distorts subjective time perception through the interaction of the neural network subserving processing of facial expressions with the brain network involved in timing. Within this frame, middle temporal gyrus appears to be the key region of the interplay between the two neural systems.

  8. Modulation of neural circuits underlying temporal production by facial expressions of pain

    Science.gov (United States)

    Lui, Fausta; Porro, Carlo Adolfo; Nichelli, Paolo Frigio; Benuzzi, Francesca

    2018-01-01

    According to the Scalar Expectancy Theory, humans are equipped with a biological internal clock, possibly modulated by attention and arousal. Both emotions and pain are arousing and can absorb attentional resources, thus causing distortions of temporal perception. The aims of the present single-event fMRI study were to investigate: a) whether observation of facial expressions of pain interferes with time production; and b) the neural network subserving this kind of temporal distortions. Thirty healthy volunteers took part in the study. Subjects were asked to perform a temporal production task and a concurrent gender discrimination task, while viewing faces of unknown people with either pain-related or neutral expressions. Behavioural data showed temporal underestimation (i.e., longer produced intervals) during implicit pain expression processing; this was accompanied by increased activity of right middle temporal gyrus, a region known to be active during the perception of emotional and painful faces. Psycho-Physiological Interaction analyses showed that: 1) the activity of middle temporal gyrus was positively related to that of areas previously reported to play a role in timing: left primary motor cortex, middle cingulate cortex, supplementary motor area, right anterior insula, inferior frontal gyrus, bilateral cerebellum and basal ganglia; 2) the functional connectivity of supplementary motor area with several frontal regions, anterior cingulate cortex and right angular gyrus was correlated to the produced interval during painful expression processing. Our data support the hypothesis that observing emotional expressions distorts subjective time perception through the interaction of the neural network subserving processing of facial expressions with the brain network involved in timing. Within this frame, middle temporal gyrus appears to be the key region of the interplay between the two neural systems. PMID:29447256

  9. Multimodality language mapping in patients with left-hemispheric language dominance on Wada test.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Kojima, Katsuaki; Brown, Erik C; Rothermel, Robert; Carlson, Alanna; Matsuzaki, Naoyuki; Shah, Aashit; Atkinson, Marie; Mittal, Sandeep; Fuerst, Darren; Sood, Sandeep; Asano, Eishi

    2012-10-01

    We determined the utility of electrocorticography (ECoG) and stimulation for detecting language-related sites in patients with left-hemispheric language-dominance on Wada test. We studied 13 epileptic patients who underwent language mapping using event-related gamma-oscillations on ECoG and stimulation via subdural electrodes. Sites showing significant gamma-augmentation during an auditory-naming task were defined as language-related ECoG sites. Sites at which stimulation resulted in auditory perceptual changes, failure to verbalize a correct answer, or sensorimotor symptoms involving the mouth were defined as language-related stimulation sites. We determined how frequently these methods revealed language-related sites in the superior-temporal, inferior-frontal, dorsolateral-premotor, and inferior-Rolandic regions. Language-related sites in the superior-temporal and inferior-frontal gyri were detected by ECoG more frequently than stimulation (p hemispheric language-dominance. Measurement of language-related gamma-oscillations is warranted in presurgical evaluation of epileptic patients. Copyright © 2012 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

  10. Emotion recognition and social cognition in temporal lobe epilepsy and the effect of epilepsy surgery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Amlerova, Jana; Cavanna, Andrea E; Bradac, Ondrej; Javurkova, Alena; Raudenska, Jaroslava; Marusic, Petr

    2014-07-01

    The abilities to identify facial expression from another person's face and to attribute mental states to others refer to preserved function of the temporal lobes. In the present study, we set out to evaluate emotion recognition and social cognition in presurgical and postsurgical patients with unilateral refractory temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). The aim of our study was to investigate the effects of TLE surgery and to identify the main risk factors for impairment in these functions. We recruited 30 patients with TLE for longitudinal data analysis (14 with right-sided and 16 with left-sided TLE) and 74 patients for cross-sectional data analysis (37 with right-sided and 37 with left-sided TLE) plus 20 healthy controls. Besides standard neuropsychological assessment, we administered an analog of the Ekman and Friesen test and the Faux Pas Test to assess emotion recognition and social cognition, respectively. Both emotion recognition and social cognition were impaired in the group of patients with TLE, irrespective of the focus side, compared with healthy controls. The performance in both tests was strongly dependent on the intelligence level. Beyond intelligence level, earlier age at epilepsy onset, longer disease duration, and history of early childhood brain injury predicted social cognition problems in patients with TLE. Epilepsy surgery within the temporal lobe seems to have neutral effect on patients' performances in both domains. However, there are a few individual patients who appear to be at risk of postoperative decline, even when seizure freedom is achieved following epilepsy surgery. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  11. Me, myself and I: temporal dysfunctions during self-evaluation in patients with schizophrenia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pauly, Katharina D; Kircher, Tilo T J; Schneider, Frank; Habel, Ute

    2014-11-01

    Self-concept is deeply affected in schizophrenia. Positive symptoms in particular are related to disturbed self/other distinctions. The neural networks underlying self-evaluation in schizophrenia have barely been investigated. The study reported here involved 13 patients with schizophrenia and 13 matched controls. During functional MRI, participants decided in three conditions whether the presented positive and negative personality traits characterized themselves, an intimate person, or included a certain letter. Based on the responses, each experimental condition was designed using a flexible factorial model. Controls and patients showed a similar behavioral pattern during self-evaluation, with group comparison revealing decreased activation in patients in the left inferior temporal gyrus and both temporal poles during self-ascription of traits, and in the anterior medial prefrontal cortex during evaluation of an intimate person. In patients, positive symptoms correlated positively with brain activation in the left parahippocampus during trait self-ascription. Hence, while evaluating themselves, schizophrenia patients revealed decreased activation in areas related to self-awareness overlapping with networks involved in theory of mind, empathy and social knowledge. Moreover, patients' brain activation during self-reflection was affected by the current positive symptomatology. The close interaction between self and other highlights the clinical and social relevance of self-processing deficits in schizophrenia. © The Author (2013). Published by Oxford University Press. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  12. Fronto-Temporal Connectivity Predicts ECT Outcome in Major Depression

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Amber M. Leaver

    2018-03-01

    Full Text Available BackgroundElectroconvulsive therapy (ECT is arguably the most effective available treatment for severe depression. Recent studies have used MRI data to predict clinical outcome to ECT and other antidepressant therapies. One challenge facing such studies is selecting from among the many available metrics, which characterize complementary and sometimes non-overlapping aspects of brain function and connectomics. Here, we assessed the ability of aggregated, functional MRI metrics of basal brain activity and connectivity to predict antidepressant response to ECT using machine learning.MethodsA radial support vector machine was trained using arterial spin labeling (ASL and blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI metrics from n = 46 (26 female, mean age 42 depressed patients prior to ECT (majority right-unilateral stimulation. Image preprocessing was applied using standard procedures, and metrics included cerebral blood flow in ASL, and regional homogeneity, fractional amplitude of low-frequency modulations, and graph theory metrics (strength, local efficiency, and clustering in BOLD data. A 5-repeated 5-fold cross-validation procedure with nested feature-selection validated model performance. Linear regressions were applied post hoc to aid interpretation of discriminative features.ResultsThe range of balanced accuracy in models performing statistically above chance was 58–68%. Here, prediction of non-responders was slightly higher than for responders (maximum performance 74 and 64%, respectively. Several features were consistently selected across cross-validation folds, mostly within frontal and temporal regions. Among these were connectivity strength among: a fronto-parietal network [including left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC], motor and temporal networks (near ECT electrodes, and/or subgenual anterior cingulate cortex (sgACC.ConclusionOur data indicate that pattern classification of multimodal f

  13. Understanding actions of others: the electrodynamics of the left and right hemispheres. A high-density EEG neuroimaging study.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stephanie Ortigue

    Full Text Available BACKGROUND: When we observe an individual performing a motor act (e.g. grasping a cup we get two types of information on the basis of how the motor act is done and the context: what the agent is doing (i.e. grasping and the intention underlying it (i.e. grasping for drinking. Here we examined the temporal dynamics of the brain activations that follow the observation of a motor act and underlie the observer's capacity to understand what the agent is doing and why. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Volunteers were presented with two-frame video-clips. The first frame (T0 showed an object with or without context; the second frame (T1 showed a hand interacting with the object. The volunteers were instructed to understand the intention of the observed actions while their brain activity was recorded with a high-density 128-channel EEG system. Visual event-related potentials (VEPs were recorded time-locked with the frame showing the hand-object interaction (T1. The data were analyzed by using electrical neuroimaging, which combines a cluster analysis performed on the group-averaged VEPs with the localization of the cortical sources that give rise to different spatio-temporal states of the global electrical field. Electrical neuroimaging results revealed four major steps: 1 bilateral posterior cortical activations; 2 a strong activation of the left posterior temporal and inferior parietal cortices with almost a complete disappearance of activations in the right hemisphere; 3 a significant increase of the activations of the right temporo-parietal region with simultaneously co-active left hemispheric sources, and 4 a significant global decrease of cortical activity accompanied by the appearance of activation of the orbito-frontal cortex. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We conclude that the early striking left hemisphere involvement is due to the activation of a lateralized action-observation/action execution network. The activation of this lateralized network

  14. Left ventricular filling under elevated left atrial pressure

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gaddam, Manikantam; Samaee, Milad; Santhanakrishnan, Arvind

    2017-11-01

    Left atrial pressure (LAP) is elevated in diastolic dysfunction, where left ventricular (LV) filling is impaired due to increase in ventricular stiffness. The impact of increasing LAP and LV stiffness on intraventricular filling hemodynamics remains unclear. We conducted particle image velocimetry and hemodynamics measurements in a left heart simulator (LHS) under increasing LAP and LV stiffness at a heart rate of 70 bpm. The LHS consisted of a flexible-walled LV physical model fitted within a fluid-filled chamber. LV wall motion was generated by a piston pump that imparted pressure fluctuations in the chamber. Resistance and compliance elements in the flow loop were adjusted to obtain bulk physiological hemodynamics in the least stiff LV model. Two LV models of increasing stiffness were subsequently tested under unchanged loop settings. LAP was varied between 5-20 mm Hg for each LV model, by adjusting fluid level in a reservoir upstream of the LV. For constant LV stiffness, increasing LAP lowered cardiac output (CO), while ejection fraction (EF) and E/A ratio were increased. For constant LAP, increasing LV stiffness lowered CO and EF, and increased E/A ratio. The implications of these altered hemodynamics on intraventricular filling vortex characteristics will be presented.

  15. Quantification of Global Left Ventricular Function: Comparison of Multidetector Computed Tomography and Magnetic Resonance Imaging. A Meta-analysis and Review of the Current Literature

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Vleuten, P.A. van der; Willems, T.P.; Goette, M.J.; Tio, R.A.; Greuter, M.J.; Zijlstra, F.; Oudkerk, M.

    2006-01-01

    Cardiac morbidity and mortality are closely related to cardiac volumes and global left ventricular (LV) function, expressed as left ventricular ejection fraction. Accurate assessment of these parameters is required for the prediction of prognosis in individual patients as well as in entire cohorts. The current standard of reference for left ventricular function is analysis by short-axis magnetic resonance imaging. In recent years, major extensive technological improvements have been achieved in computed tomography. The most marked development has been the introduction of the multidetector CT (MDCT), which has significantly improved temporal and spatial resolutions. In order to assess the current status of MDCT for analysis of LV function, the current available literature on this subject was reviewed. The data presented in this review indicate that the global left ventricular functional parameters measured by contemporary multi-detector row systems combined with adequate reconstruction algorithms and post-processing tools show a narrow diagnostic window and are interchangeable with those obtained by MRI

  16. Left hemisphere lateralization for lexical and acoustic pitch processing in Cantonese speakers as revealed by mismatch negativity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gu, Feng; Zhang, Caicai; Hu, Axu; Zhao, Guoping

    2013-12-01

    For nontonal language speakers, speech processing is lateralized to the left hemisphere and musical processing is lateralized to the right hemisphere (i.e., function-dependent brain asymmetry). On the other hand, acoustic temporal processing is lateralized to the left hemisphere and spectral/pitch processing is lateralized to the right hemisphere (i.e., acoustic-dependent brain asymmetry). In this study, we examine whether the hemispheric lateralization of lexical pitch and acoustic pitch processing in tonal language speakers is consistent with the patterns of function- and acoustic-dependent brain asymmetry in nontonal language speakers. Pitch contrast in both speech stimuli (syllable /ji/ in Experiment 1) and nonspeech stimuli (harmonic tone in Experiment 1; pure tone in Experiment 2) was presented to native Cantonese speakers in passive oddball paradigms. We found that the mismatch negativity (MMN) elicited by lexical pitch contrast was lateralized to the left hemisphere, which is consistent with the pattern of function-dependent brain asymmetry (i.e., left hemisphere lateralization for speech processing) in nontonal language speakers. However, the MMN elicited by acoustic pitch contrast was also left hemisphere lateralized (harmonic tone in Experiment 1) or showed a tendency for left hemisphere lateralization (pure tone in Experiment 2), which is inconsistent with the pattern of acoustic-dependent brain asymmetry (i.e., right hemisphere lateralization for acoustic pitch processing) in nontonal language speakers. The consistent pattern of function-dependent brain asymmetry and the inconsistent pattern of acoustic-dependent brain asymmetry between tonal and nontonal language speakers can be explained by the hypothesis that the acoustic-dependent brain asymmetry is the consequence of a carryover effect from function-dependent brain asymmetry. Potential evolutionary implication of this hypothesis is discussed. © 2013.

  17. Dissociation of Short- and Long-Term Face Memory: Evidence from Long-Term Recency Effects in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bengner, T.; Malina, T.

    2007-01-01

    We tested whether memory deficits in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) are better described by a single- or dual-store memory model. To this aim, we analyzed the influence of TLE and proactive interference (PI) on immediate and 24-h long-term recency effects during face recognition in 16 healthy participants and 18 right and 21 left non-surgical TLE…

  18. Exploratory assessment of left ventricular strain–volume loops in severe aortic valve diseases

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hulshof, Hugo G.; van Dijk, Arie P.; George, Keith P.; Hopman, Maria T. E.; Thijssen, Dick H. J.

    2017-01-01

    Key points Severe aortic valve diseases are common cardiac abnormalities that are associated with poor long‐term survival.Before any reduction in left ventricular (LV) function, the left ventricle undergoes structural remodelling under the influence of changing haemodynamic conditions.In this study, we combined temporal changes in LV structure (volume) with alterations in LV functional characteristics (strain, ԑ) into a ԑ–volume loop, in order to provide novel insight into the haemodynamic cardiac consequences of aortic valve diseases in those with preserved LV ejection fraction.We showed that our novel ԑ–volume loop and the specific loop characteristics provide additional insight into the functional and mechanical haemodynamic consequences of severe aortic valve diseases (with preserved LV ejection fraction).Finally, we showed that the ԑ–volume loop characteristics provide discriminative capacity compared with conventional measures of LV function. Abstract The purpose of this study was to examine left ventricular (LV) strain (ԑ)–volume loops to provide novel insight into the haemodynamic cardiac consequences of aortic valve stenosis (AS) and aortic valve regurgitation (AR). Twenty‐seven participants were retrospectively recruited: AR (n = 7), AS (n = 10) and control subjects (n = 10). Standard transthoracic echocardiography was used to obtain apical four‐chamber images to construct ԑ–volume relationships, which were assessed using the following parameters: early systolic ԑ (ԑ_ES); slope of ԑ–volume relationship during systole (Sslope); end‐systolic peak ԑ (peak ԑ); and diastolic uncoupling (systolic ԑ–diastolic ԑ at same volume) during early diastole (UNCOUP_ED) and late diastole (UNCOUP_LD). Receiver operating characteristic curves were used to determine the ability to detect impaired LV function. Although LV ejection fraction was comparable between groups, longitudinal peak ԑ was reduced compared with control subjects

  19. Exploratory assessment of left ventricular strain-volume loops in severe aortic valve diseases.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Hulshof, Hugo G; van Dijk, Arie P; George, Keith P; Hopman, Maria T E; Thijssen, Dick H J; Oxborough, David L

    2017-06-15

    Severe aortic valve diseases are common cardiac abnormalities that are associated with poor long-term survival. Before any reduction in left ventricular (LV) function, the left ventricle undergoes structural remodelling under the influence of changing haemodynamic conditions. In this study, we combined temporal changes in LV structure (volume) with alterations in LV functional characteristics (strain, ԑ) into a ԑ-volume loop, in order to provide novel insight into the haemodynamic cardiac consequences of aortic valve diseases in those with preserved LV ejection fraction. We showed that our novel ԑ-volume loop and the specific loop characteristics provide additional insight into the functional and mechanical haemodynamic consequences of severe aortic valve diseases (with preserved LV ejection fraction). Finally, we showed that the ԑ-volume loop characteristics provide discriminative capacity compared with conventional measures of LV function. The purpose of this study was to examine left ventricular (LV) strain (ԑ)-volume loops to provide novel insight into the haemodynamic cardiac consequences of aortic valve stenosis (AS) and aortic valve regurgitation (AR). Twenty-seven participants were retrospectively recruited: AR (n = 7), AS (n = 10) and control subjects (n = 10). Standard transthoracic echocardiography was used to obtain apical four-chamber images to construct ԑ-volume relationships, which were assessed using the following parameters: early systolic ԑ (ԑ_ES); slope of ԑ-volume relationship during systole (Sslope); end-systolic peak ԑ (peak ԑ); and diastolic uncoupling (systolic ԑ-diastolic ԑ at same volume) during early diastole (UNCOUP_ED) and late diastole (UNCOUP_LD). Receiver operating characteristic curves were used to determine the ability to detect impaired LV function. Although LV ejection fraction was comparable between groups, longitudinal peak ԑ was reduced compared with control subjects. In contrast, ԑ_ES and Sslope were

  20. Deep processing activates the medial temporal lobe in young but not in old adults.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Daselaar, Sander M; Veltman, Dick J; Rombouts, Serge A R B; Raaijmakers, Jeroen G W; Jonker, Cees

    2003-11-01

    Age-related impairments in episodic memory have been related to a deficiency in semantic processing, based on the finding that elderly adults typically benefit less than young adults from deep, semantic as opposed to shallow, nonsemantic processing of study items. In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that elderly adults are not able to perform certain cognitive operations under deep processing conditions. We further hypothesised that this inability does not involve regions commonly associated with lexical/semantic retrieval processes, but rather involves a dysfunction of the medial temporal lobe (MTL) memory system. To this end, we used functional MRI on rather extensive groups of young and elderly adults to compare brain activity patterns obtained during a deep (living/nonliving) and a shallow (uppercase/lowercase) classification task. Common activity in relation to semantic classification was observed in regions that have been previously related to semantic retrieval, including mainly left-lateralised activity in the inferior prefrontal, middle temporal, and middle frontal/anterior cingulate gyrus. Although the young adults showed more activity in some of these areas, the finding of mainly overlapping activation patterns during semantic classification supports the idea that lexical/semantic retrieval processes are still intact in elderly adults. This received further support by the finding that both groups showed similar behavioural performances as well on the deep and shallow classification tasks. Importantly, though, the young revealed significantly more activity than the elderly adults in the left anterior hippocampus during deep relative to shallow classification. This finding is in line with the idea that age-related impairments in episodic encoding are, at least partly, due to an under-recruitment of the medial temporal lobe memory system.

  1. 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

  2. Surgically induced astigmatism after 3.0 mm temporal and nasal clear corneal incisions in bilateral cataract surgery

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Je Hwan Yoon

    2013-01-01

    Full Text Available Aims: To compare the corneal refractive changes induced after 3.0 mm temporal and nasal corneal incisions in bilateral cataract surgery. Materials and Methods: This prospective study comprised a consecutive case series of 60 eyes from 30 patients with bilateral phacoemulsification that were implanted with a 6.0 mm foldable intraocular lens through a 3.0 mm horizontal clear corneal incision (temporal in the right eyes, nasal in the left eyes. The outcome measures were surgically induced astigmatism (SIA and uncorrected visual acuity (UCVA 1 and 3 months, post-operatively. Results: At 1 month, the mean SIA was 0.81 diopter (D for the temporal incisions and 0.92 D for nasal incisions (P = 0.139. At 3 months, the mean SIA were 0.53 D for temporal incisions and 0.62 D for nasal incisions (P = 0.309. The UCVA was similar in the 2 incision groups before surgery, and at 1 and 3 months post-operatively. Conclusion: After bilateral cataract surgery using 3.0 mm temporal and nasal horizontal corneal incisions, the induced corneal astigmatic change was similar in both incision groups. Especially in Asian eyes, both temporal and nasal incisions (3.0 mm or less would be favorable for astigmatism-neutral cataract surgery.

  3. 99mTc-HMPAO SPECT in dementia of the Alzheimer type. Hypoperfusion in the medial temporal region

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Nakamura, Yu; Kawakatsu, Shinobu; Shinohara, Masao; Nadaoka, Toshihide; Totsuka, Shiro; Komatani, Akio

    1995-01-01

    This study examined regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) by single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) using technetium 99m-hexamethyl-propyleneamineoxime and correlated the results with neuropsychological findings in 30 patients with dementia of the Alzheimer type (AT dementia). Ten healthy persons served as controls. The group of mild AT dementia exhibited a significant decrease in rCBF in the lower part of the right lateral frontal lobe and in the right parietal lobe. In the group of moderate AT dementia, the significant decrease in rCBF was noted in the lower part of the bilateral frontal lobes, the parietal part of the temporal lobe, the parietal lobe, and the medial temporal lobe. Factor analysis for neuropsychological test revealed three factors involved in rCBF. There was a significantly positive correlation between the factor responsible for memory and recall and rCBF in the left frontal lobe, the anterior part of the lateral temporal lobe, and the medial temporal lobe. These findings suggested that disturbance of the memory circuit may exist in the medial temporal lobe and others as pathophysiology of AT dementia. (N.K.)

  4. Neural correlates of auditory temporal predictions during sensorimotor synchronization

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Nadine ePecenka

    2013-08-01

    Full Text Available Musical ensemble performance requires temporally precise interpersonal action coordination. To play in synchrony, ensemble musicians presumably rely on anticipatory mechanisms that enable them to predict the timing of sounds produced by co-performers. Previous studies have shown that individuals differ in their ability to predict upcoming tempo changes in paced finger-tapping tasks (indexed by cross-correlations between tap timing and pacing events and that the degree of such prediction influences the accuracy of sensorimotor synchronization (SMS and interpersonal coordination in dyadic tapping tasks. The current functional magnetic resonance imaging study investigated the neural correlates of auditory temporal predictions during SMS in a within-subject design. Hemodynamic responses were recorded from 18 musicians while they tapped in synchrony with auditory sequences containing gradual tempo changes under conditions of varying cognitive load (achieved by a simultaneous visual n-back working-memory task comprising three levels of difficulty: observation only, 1-back, and 2-back object comparisons. Prediction ability during SMS decreased with increasing cognitive load. Results of a parametric analysis revealed that the generation of auditory temporal predictions during SMS recruits (1 a distributed network in cortico-cerebellar motor-related brain areas (left dorsal premotor and motor cortex, right lateral cerebellum, SMA proper and bilateral inferior parietal cortex and (2 medial cortical areas (medial prefrontal cortex, posterior cingulate cortex. While the first network is presumably involved in basic sensory prediction, sensorimotor integration, motor timing, and temporal adaptation, activation in the second set of areas may be related to higher-level social-cognitive processes elicited during action coordination with auditory signals that resemble music performed by human agents.

  5. Greater repertoire and temporal variability of cross-frequency coupling (CFC modes in resting-state neuromagnetic recordings among children with reading difficulties

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Stavros I Dimitriadis

    2016-04-01

    Full Text Available AbstractCross-frequency, phase-to-amplitude coupling (PAC between neuronal oscillations at rest may serve as the substrate that supports information exchange between functionally specialized neuronal populations both within and between cortical regions. The study utilizes novel algorithms to identify prominent instantaneous modes of cross-frequency coupling and their temporal stability in resting state magnetoencephalography (MEG data from 23 students experiencing severe reading difficulties (RD and 27 age-matched non-impaired readers (NI.Phase coherence estimates were computed in order to identify the prominent mode of PAC interaction for each sensor, sensor pair, and pair of frequency bands (from δ to γ at successive temporal segments of the continuous MEG record. The degree of variability in the characteristic frequency-pair PACf1-f2 modes over time was also estimated. Results revealed a wider repertoire of prominent PAC interactions in RD as compared to NI students, suggesting an altered functional substrate for information exchange between neuronal assemblies in the former group. Moreover, RD students showed significant variability in PAC modes over time. This temporal instability of PAC values was particularly prominent: (a within and between right hemisphere temporal and occipitotemporal sensors and, (b between left hemisphere frontal, temporal, and occipitotemporal sensors and corresponding right hemisphere sites. Altered modes of neuronal population coupling may help account for extant data revealing reduced, task-related neurophysiological and hemodynamic activation in left hemisphere regions involved in the reading network in RD. Moreover, the spatial distribution of pronounced instability of cross-frequency coupling modes in this group may provide an explanation for previous reports suggesting the presence of inefficient compensatory mechanisms to support reading.

  6. The anterior temporal lobes support residual comprehension in Wernicke’s aphasia

    Science.gov (United States)

    Robson, Holly; Zahn, Roland; Keidel, James L.; Binney, Richard J.; Sage, Karen; Lambon Ralph, Matthew A.

    2014-01-01

    Wernicke’s aphasia occurs after a stroke to classical language comprehension regions in the left temporoparietal cortex. Consequently, auditory–verbal comprehension is significantly impaired in Wernicke’s aphasia but the capacity to comprehend visually presented materials (written words and pictures) is partially spared. This study used functional magnetic resonance imaging to investigate the neural basis of written word and picture semantic processing in Wernicke’s aphasia, with the wider aim of examining how the semantic system is altered after damage to the classical comprehension regions. Twelve participants with chronic Wernicke’s aphasia and 12 control participants performed semantic animate–inanimate judgements and a visual height judgement baseline task. Whole brain and region of interest analysis in Wernicke’s aphasia and control participants found that semantic judgements were underpinned by activation in the ventral and anterior temporal lobes bilaterally. The Wernicke’s aphasia group displayed an ‘over-activation’ in comparison with control participants, indicating that anterior temporal lobe regions become increasingly influential following reduction in posterior semantic resources. Semantic processing of written words in Wernicke’s aphasia was additionally supported by recruitment of the right anterior superior temporal lobe, a region previously associated with recovery from auditory-verbal comprehension impairments. Overall, the results provide support for models in which the anterior temporal lobes are crucial for multimodal semantic processing and that these regions may be accessed without support from classic posterior comprehension regions. PMID:24519979

  7. Direct current induced short-term modulation of the left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex while learning auditory presented nouns

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Meyer Martin

    2009-07-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Little is known about the contribution of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS to the exploration of memory functions. The aim of the present study was to examine the behavioural effects of right or left-hemisphere frontal direct current delivery while committing to memory auditory presented nouns on short-term learning and subsequent long-term retrieval. Methods Twenty subjects, divided into two groups, performed an episodic verbal memory task during anodal, cathodal and sham current application on the right or left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC. Results Our results imply that only cathodal tDCS elicits behavioural effects on verbal memory performance. In particular, left-sided application of cathodal tDCS impaired short-term verbal learning when compared to the baseline. We did not observe tDCS effects on long-term retrieval. Conclusion Our results imply that the left DLPFC is a crucial area involved in short-term verbal learning mechanisms. However, we found further support that direct current delivery with an intensity of 1.5 mA to the DLPFC during short-term learning does not disrupt longer lasting consolidation processes that are mainly known to be related to mesial temporal lobe areas. In the present study, we have shown that the tDCS technique has the potential to modulate short-term verbal learning mechanism.

  8. Topography of the accessory left gastric artery (ALGA) analyzed by CT angiography from the left hepatic artery

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Shioyama, Yasukazu; Takasaka, Isao; Onaya, Hiroaki

    2003-01-01

    To avoid gastric complications when we perform transcatheter treatment via left hepatic artery, we analyzed the topography of ALGA (accessory left gastric artery) by left hepatic arteriography and CT angiography from left hepatic artery. Six hundred seventy eight cases of CT angiography were performed between 1995 and 2000. Among them, selective left hepatic arteriography was done in 85 cases. We analyzed the frequency and the course of ALGA on the hepatic angiogram and CT angiogram. ALGA were identified in eighteen (21.2 %) of the 85 cases. We classified them into eleven cases of the proximal type and six cases of the distal type. When ALGA bifurcated from the left hepatic artery very close to the bifurcation of A2 (dorsolateral branch) and A3 (ventrolateral branch), we classified them as the distal type on hepatic angiogram. On the other hand, when ALGA bifurcated from the left hepatic artery apart from the bifurcation of A2 and A3 they were classified as the proximal type. In one rare case ALGA originated from the dorsolateral branch of the left hepatic artery. ALGA were classified as the distal and proximal types. Distal type of ALGA often overlapped dorsolateral branch of the left hepatic artery, and it was sometimes difficult to notice the existence of them. We should check the existence of ALGA on the arterial phase of dynamic CT before we plan to make a transcatheter treatment from the left hepatic artery. Then we can avoid gastric complications caused by a transcatheter treatment from the left hepatic artery. (author)

  9. Connectivity and tissue microstructural alterations in right and left temporal lobe epilepsy revealed by diffusion spectrum imaging

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Alia Lemkaddem

    2014-01-01

    Global connectivity, hub architecture and regional connectivity patterns were altered in TLE patients and showed different characteristics in RTLE vs LTLE with stronger abnormalities in RTLE. The microstructural analysis suggested that disturbed axonal density contributed more than fiber orientation to the connectivity changes affecting the temporal lobes whereas fiber orientation changes were more involved in extratemporal lobe changes. Our study provides further structural evidence that RTLE and LTLE are not symmetrical entities and DSI-based imaging could help investigate the microstructural correlate of these imaging abnormalities.

  10. Left Atrial Decompression by Percutaneous Left Atrial Venting Cannula Insertion during Venoarterial Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Support

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Ha Eun Kim

    2016-06-01

    Full Text Available Patients with venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO frequently suffer from pulmonary edema due to left ventricular dysfunction that accompanies left heart dilatation, which is caused by left atrial hypertension. The problem can be resolved by left atrium (LA decompression. We performed a successful percutaneous LA decompression with an atrial septostomy and placement of an LA venting cannula in a 38-month-old child treated with venoarterial ECMO for acute myocarditis.

  11. Social aspects of left-handedness

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Belojević Goran

    2010-01-01

    Full Text Available Throughout human history left-handedness has been considered as sinful. It has been associated with the devil, weakness, female gender, unhealthiness, evil, something that has to be turned to a “good” - right side by force. Left-handedness is being more and more acceptable at rational level, but in everyday life it is still considered to be unusual if someone writes with the left hand. Lessening of the number of lefthanders is associated with ageing. There are about 13% lefthanders among people in twenties and less than 1% lefthanders among those in eighties. This finding may be explaned with more pronounced socio-cultural pressure on left-handed people in the past, compared to nowadays. On the other hand, this may also support the hypothesis about a reduced life span of lefthanded people. With cross-exercising of left-handedness, certain typical characteristics and behavioral patterns appear in these people. This was a sort of provoked behavior and an attack on the integrity of an emotional attitude toward oneself. Stuttering may also appear as a consequence of unsuccessful cross-exercising of left-handedness. The hypothesis about left-handedness as an advantage is supported with the reports about relatively more lefthanders in some specific groups such as: mathematicians, sculptors, architects, painters, musicians, actors, tennis players, as well as famous army commanders and rulers.

  12. Fracture of the temporal bone in patients with traumatic brain injury

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Secchi, Myrian Marajó Dal

    2012-01-01

    Full Text Available Introduction: The fractures in the temporal bone are lesions that are observed in patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI. The computed tomography of high-resolution (CT allows evaluating the fracture and the complications. Objective: Evaluate patients with TBI and temporal bone fracture. Way of study: Retrospective study. Method: Were evaluated 28 patients interned by TBI with clinical evidence and/or radiologic from temporal bone fractures. Results: The age ranged from 3 to 75 years. The most affected side was the right side 50% (n=14, left side 36% (n=10 and both sides 14% (n=4. The etiology of the trauma was the falling 25% (n=7, accidents with motorcycles and bicycles 21% (n=6, physical aggression 14% (n=4, running over 11% (n=3, fall of object 4% (n=1 and other causes 25% (n=7. The clinical signs were: Otorrhagia 78%, otalgia 11% (n=3, otorrhea 7% (n=2, facial paralysis 7% (n=2 and hearing loss 7% (n=2. The otoscopic findings: otorrhagia 57% (n=16, laceration of external auditory canal 36% (n=10, hemotympanum 11% (n=3, normal 7% (n=2 and Battle signal 7% (n=2. The findings for CT of skull were: with no alterations 54% (n=15 and temporal fracture 7% (n=2 and the CT of temporal bones were: line of fracture 71% (n=20, opacification of the mastoid 25% (n=7, glenoid cavity air 14% (n=1, dislocation of the ossicular chain 7% (n=2 and veiling of the middle ear 4% (n=1. Conclusion: Patients with TBI must be submitted to the otorhinolaryngological evaluation and imaging, for the early diagnosis of the complications and treatment.

  13. Left ventricular assist device implantation via left thoracotomy: alternative to repeat sternotomy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pierson, Richard N; Howser, Renee; Donaldson, Terri; Merrill, Walter H; Dignan, Rebecca J; Drinkwater, Davis C; Christian, Karla G; Butler, Javed; Chomsky, Don; Wilson, John R; Clark, Rick; Davis, Stacy F

    2002-03-01

    Repeat sternotomy for left ventricular assist device insertion may result in injury to the right heart or patent coronary grafts, complicating intraoperative and postoperative management. In 4 critically ill patients, left thoracotomy was used as an alternative to repeat sternotomy. Anastomosis of the outflow conduit to the descending thoracic aorta provided satisfactory hemodynamic support.

  14. VARIATION IN THE OPENINGS (OSTIA OF LEFT PULMONARY VEINS INTO THE LEFT ATRIUM: A CASE REPORT

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sesi

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available During early embryonic development, absorption of pulmonary venous network by the left primitive atrial chamber results in opening of four pulmonary veins which drain independently into its chamber. The extent of absorption and hence, the number of pulmon ary veins which open into the left atrium, may vary. Here we report a variation in the opening of the Left upper (superior pulmonary vein into the Left atrium. A total of six openings observed

  15. Effect of left ventricular diastolic dysfunction on left atrial appendage function and thrombotic potential in nonvalvular atrial fibrillation.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Demirçelik, Muhammed Bora; Çetin, Mustafa; Çiçekcioğlu, Hülya; Uçar, Özgül; Duran, Mustafa

    2014-05-01

    We aimed to investigate effects of left ventricular diastolic dysfunction on left atrial appendage functions, spontaneous echo contrast and thrombus formation in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation. In 58 patients with chronic nonvalvular atrial fibrilation and preserved left ventricular systolic function, left atrial appendage functions, left atrial spontaneous echo contrast grading and left ventricular diastolic functions were evaluated using transthoracic and transoesophageal echocardiogram. Patients divided in two groups: Group D (n=30): Patients with diastolic dysfunction, Group N (n=28): Patients without diastolic dysfunction. Categorical variables in two groups were evaluated with Pearson's chi-square or Fisher's exact test. The significance of the lineer correlation between the degree of spontaneous echo contrast (SEC) and clinical measurements was evaluated with Spearman's correlation analysis. Peak pulmonary vein D velocity of the Group D was significantly higher than the Group N (p=0.006). However, left atrial appendage emptying velocity, left atrial appendage lateral wall velocity, peak pulmonary vein S, pulmonary vein S/D ratio were found to be significantly lower in Group D (p=0.028, patrial appendage emptying, filling, pulmonary vein S/D levels and lateral wall velocities respectively (r=-0.438, r=-0.328, r=-0.233, r=-0.447). Left atrial appendage emptying, filling, pulmonary vein S/D levels and lateral wall velocities were significantly lower in SEC 2-3-4 than SEC 1 (p=0.003, p=0.029, patrial fibrillation and preserved left ventricular ejection fraction, left atrial appendage functions are decreased in patients with left ventricular diastolic dysfunction. Left ventricular diastolic dysfunction may constitute a potential risk for formation of thrombus and stroke.

  16. 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.

  17. Bilateral Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma of the Temporal Bone: A Rare and Unusual Presentation

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Sanjay Vaid

    2016-01-01

    Full Text Available Primary lymphoma of the temporal bone is an unusual finding in clinical practice and bilateral affection is even more rare. To the best of our knowledge, there are no reports of bilateral primary temporal bone lymphoma without middle ear involvement in the English medical literature so far. We report, for the first time, a case of primary lymphoma involving both temporal bones which presented with left-sided infranuclear facial palsy. A combination of contrast enhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI and high resolution computed tomography (HRCT was used to characterize and to map the extent of the lesion, as well as to identify the exact site of facial nerve affection. An excision biopsy and immunohistochemistry revealed diffuse large B-cell non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma (DLBCL. Whole body fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG positron emission tomography-computed tomography study (PET-CT was performed to stage the disease. The patient was treated with chemotherapy and radiation therapy and is now on regular follow-up. The patient is alive and asymptomatic without disease progression for the last twenty months after initial diagnosis.

  18. A eletromiografia como auxílio na conduta terapêutica após cirurgia de craniotomia fronto-temporal: relato de caso Electromyography as an aid in therapeutic behavior after fronto-temporal craniotomy surgery: case report

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Maristella Cecco Oncins

    2009-01-01

    insertion. After the surgery, the patient had dysfunction in temporal muscle and in temporo-mandibular joint, with reduction of the opening of mouth, pain while speaking and eating. Electromyography was used to quantitatively record the electrical activity of the temporal and masseter muscles in the initial evaluation and during the therapeutic process. Records were made at rest position, maximum occlusion and chew. They did miofuncional therapy throughout the process. RESULTS: examination data showed a significant increase in the electrical activity of the right anterior temporal muscle and a reduction in the activity of the left anterior temporal muscle. The initial Record showed a lower electrical activity on the right side compared to the left. With the miofunctional exercises there was a more effective participation of the right anterior temporal muscle, greater openness of mouth, without pain, making easier chewing and speech tasks, harmonizing the stomatognathic system. CONCLUSION: comparative records concerning electromyography in different stages of the therapeutic process helped and directed the best therapy, achieving a balance concerning the functions of breathing, sucking, chewing, swallowing and speech related to the stomatognathic system, considering the limitations of the case.

  19. Autonoetic Consciousness in Autobiographical Memories after Medial Temporal Lobe Resection

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    M. Noulhiane

    2008-01-01

    Full Text Available This study aims to investigate autonoetic consciousness associated with episodic autobiographical memory in patients who had undergone unilateral medial temporal lobe resection for intractable epilepsy. Autonoetic consciousness, defined as the conscious feeling of mentally travelling back in time to relive a specific event, was assessed using the Remember/Know (R/K paradigm across different time periods as proposed in the autobiographical memory task developed by Piolino et al. (TEMPau task. Results revealed that the two patient groups (left and right temporal resection gave reduced sense of reliving (R responses and more familiarity (K responses than healthy controls. This poor autonoetic consciousness was highlighted when patients were asked to justify their Remember responses by recalling sensory-perceptive, affective or spatiotemporal specific details across all life periods. These results support the bilateral MTL contribution to episodic autobiographical memory covering the entire lifespan, which is consistent with the multiple trace theory of MTL function [7,9]. This study also demonstrates the bilateral involvement of MTL structures in recalling specific details of personal events characterized by autonoetic consciousness.

  20. Autonoetic Consciousness in Autobiographical Memories after Medial Temporal Lobe Resection

    Science.gov (United States)

    Noulhiane, M.; Piolino, P.; Hasboun, D.; Clemenceau, S.; Baulac, M.; Samson, S.

    2008-01-01

    This study aims to investigate autonoetic consciousness associated with episodic autobiographical memory in patients who had undergone unilateral medial temporal lobe resection for intractable epilepsy. Autonoetic consciousness, defined as the conscious feeling of mentally travelling back in time to relive a specific event, was assessed using the Remember/Know (R/K) paradigm across different time periods as proposed in the autobiographical memory task developed by Piolino et al. (TEMPau task). Results revealed that the two patient groups (left and right temporal resection) gave reduced sense of reliving (R) responses and more familiarity (K) responses than healthy controls. This poor autonoetic consciousness was highlighted when patients were asked to justify their Remember responses by recalling sensory-perceptive, affective or spatiotemporal specific details across all life periods. These results support the bilateral MTL contribution to episodic autobiographical memory covering the entire lifespan, which is consistent with the multiple trace theory of MTL function [7,9]. This study also demonstrates the bilateral involvement of MTL structures in recalling specific details of personal events characterized by autonoetic consciousness. PMID:18413911

  1. The effect of percutaneous transcatheter occlusion of left atrial appendage on left atrium and adjacent anatomic structure in canine

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Yang Zhihong; Wu Hong; Qin Yongwen; Hu Jianqiang; Ding Zhongru; Liu Zongjun; Liu Biao; Zheng Xing

    2009-01-01

    Objective: To observe the effect of percutaneous transcatheter occlusion of left atrial appendage (LAA) with a new self-manufactured LAA occluder on left atrium and adjacent anatomic structure in canine. Methods: A new self-manufactured LAA occluder was implanted into the LAA through a transseptal catheter in 20 dogs. Before and after the procedure, the experimental dogs were anaesthetized and examined by transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) to measure the diameter and the volume of the left atrium, the left superior pulmonary vein flow velocity and the left atrioventricular valve flow velocity separately. The contrast radiography of the LAA and the left coronary arteriography were performed. Results: The new LAA occluder was implanted successfully in 14 dogs. No obvious changes in the diameter and the volume of the left atrium, in left superior pulmonary vein flow velocity and in left atrioventricular valve flow velocity were found. On arteriography, left circumflex artery was normally displayed after the procedure. No migration of the occluder was seen on TTE and angiography after procedure. Conclusion: Percutaneous transcatheter occlusion of left atrial appendage with a new self-manufactured LAA occluder has no obvious effect on left atrium and adjacent anatomic structure in experimental canine, which indicates that the new-type device is a safe and feasible occluder for LAA. (authors)

  2. The temporal-relevance temporal-uncertainty model of prospective duration judgment.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Zakay, Dan

    2015-12-15

    A model aimed at explaining prospective duration judgments in real life settings (as well as in the laboratory) is presented. The model is based on the assumption that situational meaning is continuously being extracted by humans' perceptual and cognitive information processing systems. Time is one of the important dimensions of situational meaning. Based on the situational meaning, a value for Temporal Relevance is set. Temporal Relevance reflects the importance of temporal aspects for enabling adaptive behavior in a specific moment in time. When Temporal Relevance is above a certain threshold a prospective duration judgment process is evoked automatically. In addition, a search for relevant temporal information is taking place and its outcomes determine the level of Temporal Uncertainty which reflects the degree of knowledge one has regarding temporal aspects of the task to be performed. The levels of Temporal Relevance and Temporal Uncertainty determine the amount of attentional resources allocated for timing by the executive system. The merit of the model is in connecting timing processes with the ongoing general information processing stream. The model rests on findings in various domains which indicate that cognitive-relevance and self-relevance are powerful determinants of resource allocation policy. The feasibility of the model is demonstrated by analyzing various temporal phenomena. Suggestions for further empirical validation of the model are presented. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  3. Frontal and temporal contributions to understanding the iconic co-speech gestures that accompany speech.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dick, Anthony Steven; Mok, Eva H; Raja Beharelle, Anjali; Goldin-Meadow, Susan; Small, Steven L

    2014-03-01

    In everyday conversation, listeners often rely on a speaker's gestures to clarify any ambiguities in the verbal message. Using fMRI during naturalistic story comprehension, we examined which brain regions in the listener are sensitive to speakers' iconic gestures. We focused on iconic gestures that contribute information not found in the speaker's talk, compared with those that convey information redundant with the speaker's talk. We found that three regions-left inferior frontal gyrus triangular (IFGTr) and opercular (IFGOp) portions, and left posterior middle temporal gyrus (MTGp)--responded more strongly when gestures added information to nonspecific language, compared with when they conveyed the same information in more specific language; in other words, when gesture disambiguated speech as opposed to reinforced it. An increased BOLD response was not found in these regions when the nonspecific language was produced without gesture, suggesting that IFGTr, IFGOp, and MTGp are involved in integrating semantic information across gesture and speech. In addition, we found that activity in the posterior superior temporal sulcus (STSp), previously thought to be involved in gesture-speech integration, was not sensitive to the gesture-speech relation. Together, these findings clarify the neurobiology of gesture-speech integration and contribute to an emerging picture of how listeners glean meaning from gestures that accompany speech. Copyright © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

  4. Different types of working memory binding in epilepsy patients with unilateral anterior temporal lobectomy.

    Science.gov (United States)

    van Geldorp, Bonnie; Bouman, Zita; Hendriks, Marc P H; Kessels, Roy P C

    2014-03-01

    The medial temporal lobe is an important structure for long-term memory formation, but its role in working memory is less clear. Recent studies have shown hippocampal involvement during working memory tasks requiring binding of information. It is yet unclear whether this is limited to tasks containing spatial features. The present study contrasted three binding conditions and one single-item condition in patients with unilateral anterior temporal lobectomy. A group of 43 patients with temporal lobectomy (23 left; 20 right) and 20 matched controls were examined with a working memory task assessing spatial relational binding (object-location), non-spatial relational binding (object-object), conjunctive binding (object-colour) and working memory for single items. We varied the delay period (3 or 6s), as there is evidence showing that delay length may modulate working memory performance. The results indicate that performance was worse for patients than for controls in both relational binding conditions, whereas patients were unimpaired in conjunctive binding. Single-item memory was found to be marginally impaired, due to a deficit on long-delay trials only. In conclusion, working memory binding deficits are found in patients with unilateral anterior temporal lobectomy. The role of the medial temporal lobe in working memory is not limited to tasks containing spatial features. Rather, it seems to be involved in relational binding, but not in conjunctive binding. The medial temporal lobe gets involved when working memory capacity does not suffice, for example when relations have to be maintained or when the delay period is long. Copyright © 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  5. The New Left in the European Democracies: The Case of the German Radical Left

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Marco Damiani

    2015-03-01

    Full Text Available The new form of the social and political conflict cannot be explained by the traditional categories of right and left, but it articulates to them on two plans, that of the establishment, intended like plan of the structured political conflict from the traditional actors, and that of the anti-establishment, in which new representations of politics emerge. The New Left is characterized by type of intermittent participation and new perspectives on mobilization inside the parties and the social movements. This type of parties differs moreover from the traditional ones left of the socialist and social democratic left in not arranging of organizations collaterals placed under the direction of the leadership of the same party. The mobilization that spontaneously assumes not conventional forms of active participation of the citizens, or is primed by the action of an associative network of which the same parties take part, than however does not monopo-lize the collective action. In this regard, the attention will be dedicated to the study of Die Linke: an anti-establishment party of the non-socialist German left-wing, heir to the communist tradition. The choice was affected to the German model because: 1 Germany is a country with a strong social democratic tradition, but 25 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall the German political system identifies a new antagonist political party; 2 Die Linke represents an interesting case in the political landscape of the European radical left because is a one-party that gives up at the federation of parties to try to unify the political parties of German radical left-wing.

  6. Significance of blood pool scintigraphy and echocardiography in the investigation of left heart ventricle

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Otto, L.; Krosse, B.; Neumann, G.; Rother, T.; Loebe, M.; Otto, J.; Koegler, A.; Wuensche, A.; Schneider, G.

    1990-01-01

    Left ventricular ejection (LVEF) was assessed by both radionuclide ventriculography and echocardiography. The correlation coefficient of 0.74 revealed a just good agreement. It was better in the range of normal than of pathological values. The analysis of regional wall motion performed by echocardiography was not as reliable as by radionuclide ventriculography. The main advantage of echocardiography is its good spatial resolution. Its domain is the diagnosis of pathomorphological changes including valvular disorders. Advantages of radionuclide ventriculography are good temporal resolution, registration of the third dimension practicability during exercise and as bedside method (nuclear stethoscope). Functional disturbances of both ventricles are its field of application. (author)

  7. What is Beyond Right/Left?

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Dyrberg, Torben Bech

    2009-01-01

    The article looks at New Labour's move beyond right/left in the mid/late 1990s, which is an occasion to spell out the nature of right/left and what it means for democracy. In contrast to both defenders and critics of this move I argue in the first part that right/left is not an empty label bound up...... with the cleavage-lines of industrial society, but that it is an orientational metaphor which is articulated with others-in/out, up/down and front/back-and that we are in the process of moving beyond the industrial society right/left prototype. The second part looks at where New Labour is heading when moving beyond...... right/left. I argue that the new hegemonic orientation is that of front/back, which designs political renewal as a response to the social changes cutting across the outdated lines of contestation of partisan politics. The democratic problem of this move lies in squeezing politics between technocratic...

  8. Poor receptive joint attention skills are associated with atypical gray matter asymmetry in the posterior superior temporal gyrus of chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes)

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Hopkins, William D; Misiura, Maria; Reamer, Lisa A

    2014-01-01

    and behavioral data on receptive joint attention (RJA) was obtained from a sample of 191 chimpanzees. We found that chimpanzees that performed poorly on the RJA task had less GM in the right compared to left hemisphere in the posterior but not anterior superior temporal gyrus. We further found that middle......-aged and elderly chimpanzee performed more poorly on the RJA task and had significantly less GM than young-adult and sub-adult chimpanzees. The results are consistent with previous studies implicating the posterior temporal gyrus in the processing of socially relevant information....

  9. Temporal envelope processing in the human auditory cortex: response and interconnections of auditory cortical areas.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Gourévitch, Boris; Le Bouquin Jeannès, Régine; Faucon, Gérard; Liégeois-Chauvel, Catherine

    2008-03-01

    Temporal envelope processing in the human auditory cortex has an important role in language analysis. In this paper, depth recordings of local field potentials in response to amplitude modulated white noises were used to design maps of activation in primary, secondary and associative auditory areas and to study the propagation of the cortical activity between them. The comparison of activations between auditory areas was based on a signal-to-noise ratio associated with the response to amplitude modulation (AM). The functional connectivity between cortical areas was quantified by the directed coherence (DCOH) applied to auditory evoked potentials. This study shows the following reproducible results on twenty subjects: (1) the primary auditory cortex (PAC), the secondary cortices (secondary auditory cortex (SAC) and planum temporale (PT)), the insular gyrus, the Brodmann area (BA) 22 and the posterior part of T1 gyrus (T1Post) respond to AM in both hemispheres. (2) A stronger response to AM was observed in SAC and T1Post of the left hemisphere independent of the modulation frequency (MF), and in the left BA22 for MFs 8 and 16Hz, compared to those in the right. (3) The activation and propagation features emphasized at least four different types of temporal processing. (4) A sequential activation of PAC, SAC and BA22 areas was clearly visible at all MFs, while other auditory areas may be more involved in parallel processing upon a stream originating from primary auditory area, which thus acts as a distribution hub. These results suggest that different psychological information is carried by the temporal envelope of sounds relative to the rate of amplitude modulation.

  10. Diminished caudate and superior temporal gyrus responses to effort-based decision making in patients with first-episode major depressive disorder.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Yang, Xin-hua; Huang, Jia; Lan, Yong; Zhu, Cui-ying; Liu, Xiao-qun; Wang, Ye-fei; Cheung, Eric F C; Xie, Guang-rong; Chan, Raymond C K

    2016-01-04

    Anhedonia, the loss of interest or pleasure in reward processing, is a hallmark feature of major depressive disorder (MDD), but its underlying neurobiological mechanism is largely unknown. The present study aimed to examine the underlying neural mechanism of reward-related decision-making in patients with MDD. We examined behavioral and neural responses to rewards in patients with first-episode MDD (N=25) and healthy controls (N=25) using the Effort-Expenditure for Rewards Task (EEfRT). The task involved choices about possible rewards of varying magnitude and probability. We tested the hypothesis that individuals with MDD would exhibit a reduced neural response in reward-related brain structures involved in cost-benefit decision-making. Compared with healthy controls, patients with MDD showed significantly weaker responses in the left caudate nucleus when contrasting the 'high reward'-'low reward' condition, and blunted responses in the left superior temporal gyrus and the right caudate nucleus when contrasting high and low probabilities. In addition, hard tasks chosen during high probability trials were negatively correlated with superior temporal gyrus activity in MDD patients, while the same choices were negatively correlated with caudate nucleus activity in healthy controls. These results indicate that reduced caudate nucleus and superior temporal gyrus activation may underpin abnormal cost-benefit decision-making in MDD. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  11. Temporal dynamics of divided spatial attention.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Itthipuripat, Sirawaj; Garcia, Javier O; Serences, John T

    2013-05-01

    In naturalistic settings, observers often have to monitor multiple objects dispersed throughout the visual scene. However, the degree to which spatial attention can be divided across spatially noncontiguous objects has long been debated, particularly when those objects are in close proximity. Moreover, the temporal dynamics of divided attention are unclear: is the process of dividing spatial attention gradual and continuous, or does it onset in a discrete manner? To address these issues, we recorded steady-state visual evoked potentials (SSVEPs) as subjects covertly monitored two flickering targets while ignoring an intervening distractor that flickered at a different frequency. All three stimuli were clustered within either the lower left or the lower right quadrant, and our dependent measure was SSVEP power at the target and distractor frequencies measured over time. In two experiments, we observed a temporally discrete increase in power for target- vs. distractor-evoked SSVEPs extending from ∼350 to 150 ms prior to correct (but not incorrect) responses. The divergence in SSVEP power immediately prior to a correct response suggests that spatial attention can be divided across noncontiguous locations, even when the targets are closely spaced within a single quadrant. In addition, the division of spatial attention appears to be relatively discrete, as opposed to slow and continuous. Finally, the predictive relationship between SSVEP power and behavior demonstrates that these neurophysiological measures of divided attention are meaningfully related to cognitive function.

  12. Wisconsin Card Sorting Test performance and impulsivity in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy: suicidal risk and suicide attempts.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Garcia Espinosa, Arlety; Andrade Machado, René; Borges González, Susana; García González, María Eugenia; Pérez Montoto, Ariadna; Toledo Sotomayor, Guillermo

    2010-01-01

    The goal of the study described here was to determine if executive dysfunction and impulsivity are related to risk for suicide and suicide attempts in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy. Forty-two patients with temporal lobe epilepsy were recruited. A detailed medical history, neurological examination, serial EEGs, Mini-International Neuropsychiatric Interview, executive function, and MRI were assessed. Multiple regression analysis was carried out to examine predictive associations between clinical variables and Wisconsin Card Sorting Test measures. Patients' scores on the Risk for Suicide Scale (n=24) were greater than 7, which means they had the highest relative risk for suicide attempts. Family history of psychiatric disease, current major depressive episode, left temporal lobe epilepsy, and perseverative responses and total errors on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test increased by 6.3 and 7.5 suicide risk and suicide attempts, respectively. Executive dysfunction (specifically perseverative responses and more total errors) contributed greatly to suicide risk. Executive performance has a major impact on suicide risk and suicide attempts in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy. 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  13. Anterior Temporal Lobe Tracks the Formation of Prejudice.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Spiers, Hugo J; Love, Bradley C; Le Pelley, Mike E; Gibb, Charlotte E; Murphy, Robin A

    2017-03-01

    Despite advances in understanding the brain structures involved in the expression of stereotypes and prejudice, little is known about the brain structures involved in their acquisition. Here, we combined fMRI, a task involving learning the valence of different social groups, and modeling of the learning process involved in the development of biases in thinking about social groups that support prejudice. Participants read descriptions of valenced behaviors performed by members of novel social groups, with majority groups being more frequently encountered during learning than minority groups. A model-based fMRI analysis revealed that the anterior temporal lobe tracked the trial-by-trial changes in the valence associated with each group encountered in the task. Descriptions of behavior by group members that deviated from the group average (i.e., prediction errors) were associated with activity in the left lateral PFC, dorsomedial PFC, and lateral anterior temporal cortex. Minority social groups were associated with slower acquisition rates and more activity in the ventral striatum and ACC/dorsomedial PFC compared with majority groups. These findings provide new insights into the brain regions that (a) support the acquisition of prejudice and (b) detect situations in which an individual's behavior deviates from the prejudicial attitude held toward their group.

  14. The findings of Tc-99m ECD brain perfusion SPECT in the patients with left anterior thalamic infarction

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Jeong, Y. A.; Kim, S. H.; Sohn, H. S.; Jeong, S. G. [The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

    2005-07-01

    The thalamus has multiple connections with areas of the cerebral cortex involved in arousal and cognition. Thalamic damage has been reported to be associated with variable neuropsychological dysfunctions and dementia. This study evaluates the changes of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) by using SPM analysis of brain perfusion SPECT and examining the neuropsychological abnormalities of 4 patients with anterior thalamic infarctions. Four patients with left anterior thalamic infarctions and eleven normal controls were evaluated. K-MMSE and the Seoul Neuropsychological Screening Battery were performed within 2 days after stroke. The normalized SPECT data of 4 patients were compared to those of 11 controls for the detection of areas with decreased rCBF by SPM analysis. All 4 patients showed anterograde amnesia in their verbal memory, which was not improved by recognition. Dysexecutive features were occasionally present, such as decreased word fluency and impaired Stroop test results. SPM analysis revealed decreased rCBF in the left supra marginal gyrus, the superior temporal gyrus, the middle and inferior frontal gyrus, the medial dorsal and anterior nucleus of the left thalamus. The changes of rCBF in patients with left anterior thalamic infarctions may be due to the remote suppression on metabolism by the interruption of the cortico-subcortical circuit, which connects the anterior thalamic nucleus and various cortical areas. The executive dysfunction and dysnomia may be caused by the left dorsolateral frontal dysfunction of the thalamo-cortical circuit. Anterograde amnesia with storage deficit may be caused by the disruption of mamillothalamic tract.

  15. The findings of Tc-99m ECD brain perfusion SPECT in the patients with left anterior thalamic infarction

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Jeong, Y. A.; Kim, S. H.; Sohn, H. S.; Jeong, S. G.

    2005-01-01

    The thalamus has multiple connections with areas of the cerebral cortex involved in arousal and cognition. Thalamic damage has been reported to be associated with variable neuropsychological dysfunctions and dementia. This study evaluates the changes of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) by using SPM analysis of brain perfusion SPECT and examining the neuropsychological abnormalities of 4 patients with anterior thalamic infarctions. Four patients with left anterior thalamic infarctions and eleven normal controls were evaluated. K-MMSE and the Seoul Neuropsychological Screening Battery were performed within 2 days after stroke. The normalized SPECT data of 4 patients were compared to those of 11 controls for the detection of areas with decreased rCBF by SPM analysis. All 4 patients showed anterograde amnesia in their verbal memory, which was not improved by recognition. Dysexecutive features were occasionally present, such as decreased word fluency and impaired Stroop test results. SPM analysis revealed decreased rCBF in the left supra marginal gyrus, the superior temporal gyrus, the middle and inferior frontal gyrus, the medial dorsal and anterior nucleus of the left thalamus. The changes of rCBF in patients with left anterior thalamic infarctions may be due to the remote suppression on metabolism by the interruption of the cortico-subcortical circuit, which connects the anterior thalamic nucleus and various cortical areas. The executive dysfunction and dysnomia may be caused by the left dorsolateral frontal dysfunction of the thalamo-cortical circuit. Anterograde amnesia with storage deficit may be caused by the disruption of mamillothalamic tract

  16. Measuring temporal summation in visual detection with a single-photon source.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Holmes, Rebecca; Victora, Michelle; Wang, Ranxiao Frances; Kwiat, Paul G

    2017-11-01

    Temporal summation is an important feature of the visual system which combines visual signals that arrive at different times. Previous research estimated complete summation to last for 100ms for stimuli judged "just detectable." We measured the full range of temporal summation for much weaker stimuli using a new paradigm and a novel light source, developed in the field of quantum optics for generating small numbers of photons with precise timing characteristics and reduced variance in photon number. Dark-adapted participants judged whether a light was presented to the left or right of their fixation in each trial. In Experiment 1, stimuli contained a stream of photons delivered at a constant rate while the duration was systematically varied. Accuracy should increase with duration as long as the later photons can be integrated with the proceeding ones into a single signal. The temporal integration window was estimated as the point that performance no longer improved, and was found to be 650ms on average. In Experiment 2, the duration of the visual stimuli was kept short (100ms or photons was varied to explore the efficiency of summation over the integration window compared to Experiment 1. There was some indication that temporal summation remains efficient over the integration window, although there is variation between individuals. The relatively long integration window measured in this study may be relevant to studies of the absolute visual threshold, i.e., tests of single-photon vision, where "single" photons should be separated by greater than the integration window to avoid summation. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

  17. The A Theory Of Magnitude (ATOM) model in temporal perception and reproduction tasks.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Fabbri, Marco; Cancellieri, Jennifer; Natale, Vincenzo

    2012-01-01

    According to the A Theory of Magnitude (ATOM) model, time, numbers and space are processed by a common analog magnitude system. The model proposes that time, numbers and space are influenced by each other. Indeed, spatial-temporal (STEARC effect), spatial-numerical (SNARC effect) and temporal-numerical (TiNARC effect) interactions have been observed. However, the processing of time, numbers and space has not yet been studied within the same experimental procedure. The goal of this study is to test the ATOM model using a procedure in which time, numbers and space are all present. The participants were asked to perform temporal estimation (Experiment 1) and reproduction (Experiment 2) tasks in two different conditions, with either numbers or letters as stimuli. In Experiment 1, significant STEARC, SNARC and TiNARC effects were found in general and when numbers were presented. Moreover, a significant triple interaction between space, time and magnitude was observed, indicating associations between the left key, short duration and small magnitudes, as well as between the right key, long duration and large magnitudes. These results were similar in reaction times and accuracy. In Experiment 2, the results of reproduction times mirrored the previous data but the triple interaction was not found on reproduction times. Considering the temporal accuracy, the STEARC, SNARC and TiNARC effects as well as triple interaction were found. The results seem to partially confirm the ATOM model, even if differences between temporal tasks should be posited. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  18. Posterior glenoid rim deficiency in recurrent (atraumatic) posterior shoulder instability

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Weishaupt, D.; Zanetti, M.; Hodler, J.; Nyffeler, R.W.; Gerber, C.

    2000-01-01

    Objective. To assess the shape of the posterior glenoid rim in patients with recurrent (atraumatic) posterior instability.Design and patients. CT examinations of 15 shoulders with recurrent (atraumatic) posterior instability were reviewed in masked fashion with regard to abnormalities of the glenoid shape, specifically of its posterior rim. The glenoid version was also assessed. The findings were compared with the findings in 15 shoulders with recurrent anterior shoulder instability and 15 shoulders without instability. For all patients, surgical correlation was available.Results. Fourteen of the 15 (93%) shoulders with recurrent (atraumatic) posterior shoulder instability had a deficiency of the posteroinferior glenoid rim. In patients with recurrent anterior instability or stable shoulders such deficiencies were less common (60% and 73%, respectively). The craniocaudal length of the deficiencies was largest in patients with posterior instability. When a posteroinferior deficiency with a craniocaudal length of 12 mm or more was defined as abnormal, sensitivity and specificity for diagnosing recurrent (atraumatic) posterior instability were 86.7% and 83.3%, respectively. There was a statistically significant difference in glenoid version between shoulders with posterior instability and stable shoulders (P=0.01).Conclusion. Recurrent (atraumatic) posterior shoulder instability should be considered in patients with a bony deficiency of the posteroinferior glenoid rim with a craniocaudal length of more than 12 mm. (orig.)

  19. Abstract Representations of Object-Directed Action in the Left Inferior Parietal Lobule.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chen, Quanjing; Garcea, Frank E; Jacobs, Robert A; Mahon, Bradford Z

    2018-06-01

    Prior neuroimaging and neuropsychological research indicates that the left inferior parietal lobule in the human brain is a critical substrate for representing object manipulation knowledge. In the present functional MRI study we used multivoxel pattern analyses to test whether action similarity among objects can be decoded in the inferior parietal lobule independent of the task applied to objects (identification or pantomime) and stimulus format in which stimuli are presented (pictures or printed words). Participants pantomimed the use of objects, cued by printed words, or identified pictures of objects. Classifiers were trained and tested across task (e.g., training data: pantomime; testing data: identification), stimulus format (e.g., training data: word format; testing format: picture) and specific objects (e.g., training data: scissors vs. corkscrew; testing data: pliers vs. screwdriver). The only brain region in which action relations among objects could be decoded across task, stimulus format and objects was the inferior parietal lobule. By contrast, medial aspects of the ventral surface of the left temporal lobe represented object function, albeit not at the same level of abstractness as actions in the inferior parietal lobule. These results suggest compulsory access to abstract action information in the inferior parietal lobe even when simply identifying objects.

  20. Abnormal temporal lobe response in Alzheimer's disease during cognitive processing as measured by 11C-2-deoxy-D-glucose and PET

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Miller, J.D.; de Leon, M.J.; Ferris, S.H.; Kluger, A.; George, A.E.; Reisberg, B.; Sachs, H.J.; Wolf, A.P.

    1987-01-01

    Elderly controls and probable Alzheimer's disease patients underwent serial positron emission tomography (PET) studies during a baseline condition and while performing a verbal memory task. For the temporal lobes, all 7 Alzheimer patients demonstrated a relative shift in glucose metabolic rates to the right hemisphere during the memory condition relative to baseline, and 5 of 7 controls showed a shift to the left hemisphere. Baseline absolute regional metabolic rates replicate previous findings and were somewhat less useful than the memory challenge in differentiating patients from controls. These results indicate that a temporal lobe abnormality in Alzheimer's disease is related to memory performance

  1. The Prognostic Value of Left Atrial Peak Reservoir Strain in Acute Myocardial Infarction Is Dependent on Left Ventricular Longitudinal Function and Left Atrial Size

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Ersbøll, Mads; Andersen, Mads J; Valeur, Nana

    2013-01-01

    of PALS and left ventricular longitudinal strain (global longitudinal strain) in large-scale populations in regard to prognosis. METHODS AND RESULTS: We prospectively included 843 patients (mean age 62.1+/-11.8; 74% male) with acute myocardial infarction and measured global longitudinal strain, left......BACKGROUND: Peak atrial longitudinal strain (PALS) during the reservoir phase has been proposed as a measure of left atrium function in a range of cardiac conditions, with the potential for added pathophysiological insight and prognostic value. However, no studies have assessed the interrelation...

  2. Temporal plus epilepsy is a major determinant of temporal lobe surgery failures.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Barba, Carmen; Rheims, Sylvain; Minotti, Lorella; Guénot, Marc; Hoffmann, Dominique; Chabardès, Stephan; Isnard, Jean; Kahane, Philippe; Ryvlin, Philippe

    2016-02-01

    Reasons for failed temporal lobe epilepsy surgery remain unclear. Temporal plus epilepsy, characterized by a primary temporal lobe epileptogenic zone extending to neighboured regions, might account for a yet unknown proportion of these failures. In this study all patients from two epilepsy surgery programmes who fulfilled the following criteria were included: (i) operated from an anterior temporal lobectomy or disconnection between January 1990 and December 2001; (ii) magnetic resonance imaging normal or showing signs of hippocampal sclerosis; and (iii) postoperative follow-up ≥ 24 months for seizure-free patients. Patients were classified as suffering from unilateral temporal lobe epilepsy, bitemporal epilepsy or temporal plus epilepsy based on available presurgical data. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis was used to calculate the probability of seizure freedom over time. Predictors of seizure recurrence were investigated using Cox proportional hazards model. Of 168 patients included, 108 (63.7%) underwent stereoelectroencephalography, 131 (78%) had hippocampal sclerosis, 149 suffered from unilateral temporal lobe epilepsy (88.7%), one from bitemporal epilepsy (0.6%) and 18 (10.7%) from temporal plus epilepsy. The probability of Engel class I outcome at 10 years of follow-up was 67.3% (95% CI: 63.4-71.2) for the entire cohort, 74.5% (95% CI: 70.6-78.4) for unilateral temporal lobe epilepsy, and 14.8% (95% CI: 5.9-23.7) for temporal plus epilepsy. Multivariate analyses demonstrated four predictors of seizure relapse: temporal plus epilepsy (P temporal lobe surgery failure was 5.06 (95% CI: 2.36-10.382) greater in patients with temporal plus epilepsy than in those with unilateral temporal lobe epilepsy. Temporal plus epilepsy represents a hitherto unrecognized prominent cause of temporal lobe surgery failures. In patients with temporal plus epilepsy, anterior temporal lobectomy appears very unlikely to control seizures and should not be advised. Whether larger

  3. Sentence processing in anterior superior temporal cortex shows a social-emotional bias.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Mellem, Monika S; Jasmin, Kyle M; Peng, Cynthia; Martin, Alex

    2016-08-01

    The anterior region of the left superior temporal gyrus/superior temporal sulcus (aSTG/STS) has been implicated in two very different cognitive functions: sentence processing and social-emotional processing. However, the vast majority of the sentence stimuli in previous reports have been of a social or social-emotional nature suggesting that sentence processing may be confounded with semantic content. To evaluate this possibility we had subjects read word lists that differed in phrase/constituent size (single words, 3-word phrases, 6-word sentences) and semantic content (social-emotional, social, and inanimate objects) while scanned in a 7T environment. This allowed us to investigate if the aSTG/STS responded to increasing constituent structure (with increased activity as a function of constituent size) with or without regard to a specific domain of concepts, i.e., social and/or social-emotional content. Activity in the left aSTG/STS was found to increase with constituent size. This region was also modulated by content, however, such that social-emotional concepts were preferred over social and object stimuli. Reading also induced content type effects in domain-specific semantic regions. Those preferring social-emotional content included aSTG/STS, inferior frontal gyrus, posterior STS, lateral fusiform, ventromedial prefrontal cortex, and amygdala, regions included in the "social brain", while those preferring object content included parahippocampal gyrus, retrosplenial cortex, and caudate, regions involved in object processing. These results suggest that semantic content affects higher-level linguistic processing and should be taken into account in future studies. Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

  4. Asymmetrical hippocampal connectivity in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy: evidence from resting state fMRI

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Castellano Gabriela

    2010-06-01

    Full Text Available Abstract Background Mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE, the most common type of focal epilepsy in adults, is often caused by hippocampal sclerosis (HS. Patients with HS usually present memory dysfunction, which is material-specific according to the hemisphere involved and has been correlated to the degree of HS as measured by postoperative histopathology as well as by the degree of hippocampal atrophy on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI. Verbal memory is mostly affected by left-sided HS, whereas visuo-spatial memory is more affected by right HS. Some of these impairments may be related to abnormalities of the network in which individual hippocampus takes part. Functional connectivity can play an important role to understand how the hippocampi interact with other brain areas. It can be estimated via functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI resting state experiments by evaluating patterns of functional networks. In this study, we investigated the functional connectivity patterns of 9 control subjects, 9 patients with right MTLE and 9 patients with left MTLE. Results We detected differences in functional connectivity within and between hippocampi in patients with unilateral MTLE associated with ipsilateral HS by resting state fMRI. Functional connectivity resulted to be more impaired ipsilateral to the seizure focus in both patient groups when compared to control subjects. This effect was even more pronounced for the left MTLE group. Conclusions The findings presented here suggest that left HS causes more reduction of functional connectivity than right HS in subjects with left hemisphere dominance for language.

  5. The functional organization of the left STS: a large scale meta-analysis of PET and fMRI studies of healthy adults

    Science.gov (United States)

    Liebenthal, Einat; Desai, Rutvik H.; Humphries, Colin; Sabri, Merav; Desai, Anjali

    2014-01-01

    The superior temporal sulcus (STS) in the left hemisphere is functionally diverse, with sub-areas implicated in both linguistic and non-linguistic functions. However, the number and boundaries of distinct functional regions remain to be determined. Here, we present new evidence, from meta-analysis of a large number of positron emission tomography (PET) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies, of different functional specificity in the left STS supporting a division of its middle to terminal extent into at least three functional areas. The middle portion of the left STS stem (fmSTS) is highly specialized for speech perception and the processing of language material. The posterior portion of the left STS stem (fpSTS) is highly versatile and involved in multiple functions supporting semantic memory and associative thinking. The fpSTS responds to both language and non-language stimuli but the sensitivity to non-language material is greater. The horizontal portion of the left STS stem and terminal ascending branches (ftSTS) display intermediate functional specificity, with the anterior-dorsal ascending branch (fatSTS) supporting executive functions and motor planning and showing greater sensitivity to language material, and the horizontal stem and posterior-ventral ascending branch (fptSTS) supporting primarily semantic processing and displaying greater sensitivity to non-language material. We suggest that the high functional specificity of the left fmSTS for speech is an important means by which the human brain achieves exquisite affinity and efficiency for native speech perception. In contrast, the extreme multi-functionality of the left fpSTS reflects the role of this area as a cortical hub for semantic processing and the extraction of meaning from multiple sources of information. Finally, in the left ftSTS, further functional differentiation between the dorsal and ventral aspect is warranted. PMID:25309312

  6. The functional organization of the left STS: a large scale meta-analysis of PET and fMRI studies of healthy adults

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Einat eLiebenthal

    2014-09-01

    Full Text Available The superior temporal sulcus (STS in the left hemisphere is functionally diverse, with sub-areas implicated in both linguistic and non-linguistic functions. However, the number and boundaries of distinct functional regions remain to be determined. Here, we present new evidence, from meta-analysis of a large number of positron emission tomography (PET and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI studies, of different functional specificity in the left STS supporting a division of its middle to terminal extent into at least three functional areas. The middle portion of the left STS stem (fmSTS is highly specialized for speech perception and the processing of language material. The posterior portion of the left STS stem (fpSTS is highly versatile and involved in multiple functions supporting semantic memory and associative thinking. The fpSTS responds to both language and non-language stimuli but the sensitivity to non-language material is greater. The horizontal portion of the left STS stem and terminal ascending branches (ftSTS display intermediate functional specificity, with the anterior ascending branch adjoining the supramarginal gyrus (fatSTS supporting executive functions and motor planning and showing greater sensitivity to language material, and the horizontal stem and posterior ascending branch adjoining the angular gyrus (fptSTS supporting primarily semantic processing and displaying greater sensitivity to non-language material. We suggest that the high functional specificity of the left fmSTS for speech is an important means by which the human brain achieves exquisite affinity and efficiency for native speech perception. In contrast, the extreme multi-functionality of the left fpSTS reflects the role of this area as a cortical hub for semantic processing and the extraction of meaning from multiple sources of information. Finally, in the left ftSTS, further functional differentiation between the dorsal and ventral aspect is warranted.

  7. Perceived Conventionality in Co-speech Gestures Involves the Fronto-Temporal Language Network

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Dhana Wolf

    2017-11-01

    Full Text Available Face-to-face communication is multimodal; it encompasses spoken words, facial expressions, gaze, and co-speech gestures. In contrast to linguistic symbols (e.g., spoken words or signs in sign language relying on mostly explicit conventions, gestures vary in their degree of conventionality. Bodily signs may have a general accepted or conventionalized meaning (e.g., a head shake or less so (e.g., self-grooming. We hypothesized that subjective perception of conventionality in co-speech gestures relies on the classical language network, i.e., the left hemispheric inferior frontal gyrus (IFG, Broca's area and the posterior superior temporal gyrus (pSTG, Wernicke's area and studied 36 subjects watching video-recorded story retellings during a behavioral and an functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI experiment. It is well documented that neural correlates of such naturalistic videos emerge as intersubject covariance (ISC in fMRI even without involving a stimulus (model-free analysis. The subjects attended either to perceived conventionality or to a control condition (any hand movements or gesture-speech relations. Such tasks modulate ISC in contributing neural structures and thus we studied ISC changes to task demands in language networks. Indeed, the conventionality task significantly increased covariance of the button press time series and neuronal synchronization in the left IFG over the comparison with other tasks. In the left IFG, synchronous activity was observed during the conventionality task only. In contrast, the left pSTG exhibited correlated activation patterns during all conditions with an increase in the conventionality task at the trend level only. Conceivably, the left IFG can be considered a core region for the processing of perceived conventionality in co-speech gestures similar to spoken language. In general, the interpretation of conventionalized signs may rely on neural mechanisms that engage during language comprehension.

  8. Selective amygdalohippocampectomy versus standard temporal lobectomy in patients with mesiotemporal lobe epilepsy and unilateral hippocampal sclerosis: post-operative facial emotion recognition abilities.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Wendling, Anne-Sophie; Steinhoff, Bernhard J; Bodin, Frédéric; Staack, Anke M; Zentner, Josef; Scholly, Julia; Valenti, Maria-Paula; Schulze-Bonhage, Andreas; Hirsch, Edouard

    2015-03-01

    Surgical treatment of mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (mTLE) patients involves the removal either of the left or the right hippocampus. Since the mesial temporal lobe is responsible for emotion recognition abilities, we aimed to assess facial emotion recognition (FER) in two homogeneous patient cohorts that differed only in the administered surgery design since anterior temporal lobectomy (ATL) or selective amygdalohippocampectomy (SAH) were performed independently of the underlying electroclinical conditions. The patient selection for the two respective surgical procedures was carried out retrospectively between 2000 and 2009 by two independent epilepsy centres, the Kork Epilepsy Centre, Germany and the University Hospital of Strasbourg, France. All included patients had presented with unilateral hippocampus sclerosis (HS) without associated dysplasia or white matter blurring and had become seizure-free postoperatively. Psychometric evaluation was carried out with the Ekman 60 Faces Test and screened for depression and psychosomatic symptoms with the SCL-90 R and the BDI. Thirty healthy volunteers participated as control subjects. Sixty patients were included, 27 had undergone SAH and 33 ATL. Patients and controls obtained comparable scores in FER for surprise, happiness, anger and sadness. Concerning fear and disgust the patient group scored significantly worse. Left-sided operations led to the the most pronounced impairment. The ATL group scored significantly worse for recognition of fear compared with SAH patients. Inversely, after SAH scores for disgust were significantly lower than after ATL, independently of the side of resection. Unilateral temporal damage impairs FER. Different neurosurgical procedures may affect FER differently. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  9. Using time-to-contact information to assess potential collision modulates both visual and temporal prediction networks

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Jennifer T Coull

    2008-09-01

    Full Text Available Accurate estimates of the time-to-contact (TTC of approaching objects are crucial for survival. We used an ecologically valid driving simulation to compare and contrast the neural substrates of egocentric (head-on approach and allocentric (lateral approach TTC tasks in a fully factorial, event-related fMRI design. Compared to colour control tasks, both egocentric and allocentric TTC tasks activated left ventral premotor cortex/frontal operculum and inferior parietal cortex, the same areas that have previously been implicated in temporal attentional orienting. Despite differences in visual and cognitive demands, both TTC and temporal orienting paradigms encourage the use of temporally predictive information to guide behaviour, suggesting these areas may form a core network for temporal prediction. We also demonstrated that the temporal derivative of the perceptual index tau (tau-dot held predictive value for making collision judgements and varied inversely with activity in primary visual cortex (V1. Specifically, V1 activity increased with the increasing likelihood of reporting a collision, suggesting top-down attentional modulation of early visual processing areas as a function of subjective collision. Finally, egocentric viewpoints provoked a response bias for reporting collisions, rather than no-collisions, reflecting increased caution for head-on approaches. Associated increases in SMA activity suggest motor preparation mechanisms were engaged, despite the perceptual nature of the task.

  10. Anodal Stimulation of the Left DLPFC Increases IGT Scores and Decreases Delay Discounting Rate in Healthy Males

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Qinghua He

    2016-09-01

    Full Text Available Previous correlational imaging studies have implicated the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC in decision making. Using High-Definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (HD-tDCS, the present study directly investigated the causal role of the DLPFC in performing the Iowa Gambling Task (IGT and the Inter-Temporal Choice (ITC task. Three experiments were conducted: Exp. 1 (N = 41 to study the left DLPFC, Exp. 2 (N = 49 to study the right DLPFC, and Exp. 3 (N = 20, a subset of those in Exp. 1 to switch the experimental and control conditions. All participants were healthy male college students. For Exps. 1 and 2, participants were randomly assigned to either the HD- tDCS or the sham stimulation condition. For Exp. 3, participants were assigned to the condition they were not in during Exp. 1. Results showed that HD-tDCS over the left DLPFC increased IGT score, decreased the recency parameter in IGT, and lowered delay discounting rate (k in the ITC task. We discussed the potential roles of impulse control and time perception in mediating the effect of tDCS stimulation of left DLPFC on decision making. Our results have clinical implications for the treatment of disorders involving poor decision-making, such as addictions.

  11. Aetiological factors in left-handedness

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Milenković Sanja M.

    2005-01-01

    Full Text Available Lateralisation associates the extremities and senses of one side of the body, which are connected by afferent and efferent pathways, with the primary motor and sensory areas of the hemisphere on the opposite side. Dominant laterality denotes the appearance of a dominant extremity or sense in the performance of complex psychomotor activities. Laterality is manifested both as right-handedness or left-handedness, which are functionally equivalent and symmetrical in the performance of activities. Right-handedness is significantly more common than left-handedness. Genetic theory is most widely accepted in explaining the onset of lateralisation. According to this theory, the models of brain organisation asymmetry (anatomical, functional, and biochemical are strongly, genetically determined. However, the inability to clearly demonstrate the association between genetic factors and left-handedness has led researchers to investigate the effects of the environment on left-handedness. Of particular interest are the intrauterine environment and the factors influencing foetal development, of which hormones and ultrasound exposure are the most significant. It has been estimated that an extra five cases of nonright-handed lateralisation can be expected in every 100 males who were exposed to ultrasound in utero compared to those who were not. Socio-cultural pressure on left-handed individuals was much more severe in the past, which is confirmed by scientific findings that left-handedness is present in 13% of individuals in their twenties, while in less than 1% of individuals in their eighties.

  12. 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)

  13. 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.

  14. Semantics of Temporal Models with Multiple Temporal Dimensions

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Kraft, Peter; Sørensen, Jens Otto

    ending up with lexical data models. In particular we look upon the representations by sets of normalised tables, by sets of 1NF tables and by sets of N1NF/nested tables. At each translation step we focus on how the temporal semantic is consistently maintained. In this way we recognise the requirements...... for representation of temporal properties in different models and the correspondence between the models. The results rely on the assumptions that the temporal dimensions are interdependent and ordered. Thus for example the valid periods of existences of a property in a mini world are dependent on the transaction...... periods in which the corresponding recordings are valid. This is not the normal way of looking at temporal dimensions and we give arguments supporting our assumption....

  15. Temporal networks

    CERN Document Server

    Saramäki, Jari

    2013-01-01

    The concept of temporal networks is an extension of complex networks as a modeling framework to include information on when interactions between nodes happen. Many studies of the last decade examine how the static network structure affect dynamic systems on the network. In this traditional approach  the temporal aspects are pre-encoded in the dynamic system model. Temporal-network methods, on the other hand, lift the temporal information from the level of system dynamics to the mathematical representation of the contact network itself. This framework becomes particularly useful for cases where there is a lot of structure and heterogeneity both in the timings of interaction events and the network topology. The advantage compared to common static network approaches is the ability to design more accurate models in order to explain and predict large-scale dynamic phenomena (such as, e.g., epidemic outbreaks and other spreading phenomena). On the other hand, temporal network methods are mathematically and concept...

  16. Left-handedness and language lateralization in children.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Szaflarski, Jerzy P; Rajagopal, Akila; Altaye, Mekibib; Byars, Anna W; Jacola, Lisa; Schmithorst, Vincent J; Schapiro, Mark B; Plante, Elena; Holland, Scott K

    2012-01-18

    This fMRI study investigated the development of language lateralization in left- and righthanded children between 5 and 18 years of age. Twenty-seven left-handed children (17 boys, 10 girls) and 54 age- and gender-matched right-handed children were included. We used functional MRI at 3T and a verb generation task to measure hemispheric language dominance based on either frontal or temporo-parietal regions of interest (ROIs) defined for the entire group and applied on an individual basis. Based on the frontal ROI, in the left-handed group, 23 participants (85%) demonstrated left-hemispheric language lateralization, 3 (11%) demonstrated symmetric activation, and 1 (4%) demonstrated right-hemispheric lateralization. In contrast, 50 (93%) of the right-handed children showed left-hemispheric lateralization and 3 (6%) demonstrated a symmetric activation pattern, while one (2%) demonstrated a right-hemispheric lateralization. The corresponding values for the temporo-parietal ROI for the left-handed children were 18 (67%) left-dominant, 6 (22%) symmetric, 3 (11%) right-dominant and for the right-handed children 49 (91%), 4 (7%), 1 (2%), respectively. Left-hemispheric language lateralization increased with age in both groups but somewhat different lateralization trajectories were observed in girls when compared to boys. The incidence of atypical language lateralization in left-handed children in this study was similar to that reported in adults. We also found similar rates of increase in left-hemispheric language lateralization with age between groups (i.e., independent of handedness) indicating the presence of similar mechanisms for language lateralization in left- and right-handed children. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  17. Temporal Ventriloquism Reveals Intact Audiovisual Temporal Integration in Amblyopia.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Richards, Michael D; Goltz, Herbert C; Wong, Agnes M F

    2018-02-01

    We have shown previously that amblyopia involves impaired detection of asynchrony between auditory and visual events. To distinguish whether this impairment represents a defect in temporal integration or nonintegrative multisensory processing (e.g., cross-modal matching), we used the temporal ventriloquism effect in which visual temporal order judgment (TOJ) is normally enhanced by a lagging auditory click. Participants with amblyopia (n = 9) and normally sighted controls (n = 9) performed a visual TOJ task. Pairs of clicks accompanied the two lights such that the first click preceded the first light, or second click lagged the second light by 100, 200, or 450 ms. Baseline audiovisual synchrony and visual-only conditions also were tested. Within both groups, just noticeable differences for the visual TOJ task were significantly reduced compared with baseline in the 100- and 200-ms click lag conditions. Within the amblyopia group, poorer stereo acuity and poorer visual acuity in the amblyopic eye were significantly associated with greater enhancement in visual TOJ performance in the 200-ms click lag condition. Audiovisual temporal integration is intact in amblyopia, as indicated by perceptual enhancement in the temporal ventriloquism effect. Furthermore, poorer stereo acuity and poorer visual acuity in the amblyopic eye are associated with a widened temporal binding window for the effect. These findings suggest that previously reported abnormalities in audiovisual multisensory processing may result from impaired cross-modal matching rather than a diminished capacity for temporal audiovisual integration.

  18. Conceptual control across modalities: graded specialisation for pictures and words in inferior frontal and posterior temporal cortex

    OpenAIRE

    Krieger-Redwood, Katya; Teige, Catarina; Davey, James; Hymers, Mark; Jefferies, Elizabeth

    2015-01-01

    Controlled semantic retrieval to words elicits co-activation of inferior frontal (IFG) and left posterior temporal cortex (pMTG), but research has not yet established (i) the distinct contributions of these regions or (ii) whether the same processes are recruited for non-verbal stimuli. Words have relatively flexible meanings – as a consequence, identifying the context that links two specific words is relatively demanding. In contrast, pictures are richer stimuli and their precise meaning is ...

  19. Quantum Temporal Imaging

    OpenAIRE

    Tsang, Mankei; Psaltis, Demetri

    2006-01-01

    The concept of quantum temporal imaging is proposed to manipulate the temporal correlation of entangled photons. In particular, we show that time correlation and anticorrelation can be converted to each other using quantum temporal imaging.

  20. Preoperative left ventricular ejection fraction and left atrium reverse remodeling after mitral regurgitation surgery.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Machado, Lucia R; Meneghelo, Zilda M; Le Bihan, David C S; Barretto, Rodrigo B M; Carvalho, Antonio C; Moises, Valdir A

    2014-11-06

    Left atrium enlargement has been associated with cardiac events in patients with mitral regurgitation (MR). Left atrium reverse remodeling (LARR) occur after surgical correction of MR, but the preoperative predictors of this phenomenon are not well known. It is therefore important to identify preoperative predictors for postoperative LARR. We enrolled 62 patients with chronic severe MR (prolapse or flail leaflet) who underwent successful mitral valve surgery (repair or replacement); all with pre- and postoperative echocardiography. LARR was defined as a reduction in left atrium volume index (LAVI) of ≥ 25%. Stepwise multiple regression analysis was used to identify independent predictors of LARR. LARR occurred in 46 patients (74.2%), with the mean LAVI decreasing from 85.5 mL/m2 to 49.7 mL/m2 (p <0.001). These patients had a smaller preoperative left ventricular systolic volume (p =0.022) and a higher left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) (p =0.034). LVEF was identified as the only preoperative variable significantly associated with LARR (odds ratio, 1.086; 95% confidence interval, 1.002-1.178). A LVEF cutoff value of 63.5% identified patients with LARR of ≥ 25% with a sensitivity of 71.7% and a specificity of 56.3%. LARR occurs frequently after mitral valve surgery and is associated with preoperative LVEF higher than 63.5%.

  1. Temporal dynamics of conflict monitoring and the effects of one or two conflict sources on error-(related) negativity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Armbrecht, Anne-Simone; Wöhrmann, Anne; Gibbons, Henning; Stahl, Jutta

    2010-09-01

    The present electrophysiological study investigated the temporal development of response conflict and the effects of diverging conflict sources on error(-related) negativity (Ne). Eighteen participants performed a combined stop-signal flanker task, which was comprised of two different conflict sources: a left-right and a go-stop response conflict. It is assumed that the Ne reflects the activity of a conflict monitoring system and thus increases according to (i) the number of conflict sources and (ii) the temporal development of the conflict activity. No increase of the Ne amplitude after double errors (comprising two conflict sources) as compared to hand- and stop-errors (comprising one conflict source) was found, whereas a higher Ne amplitude was observed after a delayed stop-signal onset. The results suggest that the Ne is not sensitive to an increase in the number of conflict sources, but to the temporal dynamics of a go-stop response conflict. Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

  2. Speech-specific tuning of neurons in human superior temporal gyrus.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Chan, Alexander M; Dykstra, Andrew R; Jayaram, Vinay; Leonard, Matthew K; Travis, Katherine E; Gygi, Brian; Baker, Janet M; Eskandar, Emad; Hochberg, Leigh R; Halgren, Eric; Cash, Sydney S

    2014-10-01

    How the brain extracts words from auditory signals is an unanswered question. We recorded approximately 150 single and multi-units from the left anterior superior temporal gyrus of a patient during multiple auditory experiments. Against low background activity, 45% of units robustly fired to particular spoken words with little or no response to pure tones, noise-vocoded speech, or environmental sounds. Many units were tuned to complex but specific sets of phonemes, which were influenced by local context but invariant to speaker, and suppressed during self-produced speech. The firing of several units to specific visual letters was correlated with their response to the corresponding auditory phonemes, providing the first direct neural evidence for phonological recoding during reading. Maximal decoding of individual phonemes and words identities was attained using firing rates from approximately 5 neurons within 200 ms after word onset. Thus, neurons in human superior temporal gyrus use sparse spatially organized population encoding of complex acoustic-phonetic features to help recognize auditory and visual words. © The Author 2013. Published by Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.

  3. Producing The New Regressive Left

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Crone, Christine

    members, this thesis investigates a growing political trend and ideological discourse in the Arab world that I have called The New Regressive Left. On the premise that a media outlet can function as a forum for ideology production, the thesis argues that an analysis of this material can help to trace...... the contexture of The New Regressive Left. If the first part of the thesis lays out the theoretical approach and draws the contextual framework, through an exploration of the surrounding Arab media-and ideoscapes, the second part is an analytical investigation of the discourse that permeates the programmes aired...... becomes clear from the analytical chapters is the emergence of the new cross-ideological alliance of The New Regressive Left. This emerging coalition between Shia Muslims, religious minorities, parts of the Arab Left, secular cultural producers, and the remnants of the political,strategic resistance...

  4. Bronchial compression by an enlarged left atrium in infants; a cause of hypovascularity of the left lung

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Corr, L.; Hallidie-Smith, K.A.; McCarthy, P.A.; Lavender, J.P.

    1988-09-01

    In three infants seen recently at our institution we noted signs of compression of the left main bronchus associated with enlarged left atria. None of our cases demonstrated the more usual signs of hyperinflation which are a hyperlucent lung field, depressed hemidiaphragm and mediastinal shift away from the affected side. In addition, hypoperfusion of the left lung was noted in each case. We believe that bronchial compression due to an enlarged left atrium, with consequent hypoxic vasoconstriction is a clinically significant entity, which is not well described and may be unappreciated in infants in whom the typical signs of hyperinflation are absent.

  5. Computed tomography of temporal bone fractures and temporal region anatomy in horses.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Pownder, S; Scrivani, P V; Bezuidenhout, A; Divers, T J; Ducharme, N G

    2010-01-01

    In people, specific classifications of temporal bone fractures are associated with clinical signs and prognosis. In horses, similar classifications have not been evaluated and might be useful establishing prognosis or understanding pathogenesis of certain types of trauma. We hypothesized associations between temporal bone fracture location and orientation in horses detected during computed tomography (CT) and frequency of facial nerve (CN7) deficit, vestibulocochlear nerve (CN8) deficit, or temporohyoid osteoarthropathy (THO). Complex temporal region anatomy may confound fracture identification, and consequently a description of normal anatomy was included. All horses undergoing temporal region CT at our hospital between July 1998 and May 2008. Data were collected retrospectively, examiners were blinded, and relationships were investigated among temporal bone fractures, ipsilateral THO, ipsilateral CN7, or ipsilateral CN8 deficits by Chi-square or Fischer's exact tests. Seventy-nine horses had CT examinations of the temporal region (158 temporal bones). Sixteen temporal bone fractures were detected in 14 horses. Cranial nerve deficits were seen with fractures in all parts of the temporal bone (petrosal, squamous, and temporal) and, temporal bone fractures were associated with CN7 and CN8 deficits and THO. No investigated fracture classification scheme, however, was associated with specific cranial nerve deficits. Without knowledge of the regional anatomy, normal structures may be mistaken for a temporal bone fracture or vice versa. Although no fracture classification scheme was associated with the assessed clinical signs, simple descriptive terminology (location and orientation) is recommended for reporting and facilitating future comparisons.

  6. Thalamotemporal impairment in temporal lobe epilepsy: a combined MRI analysis of structure, integrity, and connectivity.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Keller, Simon S; O'Muircheartaigh, Jonathan; Traynor, Catherine; Towgood, Karren; Barker, Gareth J; Richardson, Mark P

    2014-02-01

    Thalamic abnormality in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is well known from imaging studies, but evidence is lacking regarding connectivity profiles of the thalamus and their involvement in the disease process. We used a novel multisequence magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) protocol to elucidate the relationship between mesial temporal and thalamic pathology in TLE. For 23 patients with TLE and 23 healthy controls, we performed T1 -weighted (for analysis of tissue structure), diffusion tensor imaging (tissue connectivity), and T1 and T2 relaxation (tissue integrity) MRI across the whole brain. We used connectivity-based segmentation to determine connectivity patterns of thalamus to ipsilateral cortical regions (occipital, parietal, prefrontal, postcentral, precentral, and temporal). We subsequently determined volumes, mean tractography streamlines, and mean T1 and T2 relaxometry values for each thalamic segment preferentially connecting to a given cortical region, and of the hippocampus and entorhinal cortex. As expected, patients had significant volume reduction and increased T2 relaxation time in ipsilateral hippocampus and entorhinal cortex. There was bilateral volume loss, mean streamline reduction, and T2 increase of the thalamic segment preferentially connected to temporal lobe, corresponding to anterior, dorsomedial, and pulvinar thalamic regions, with no evidence of significant change in any other thalamic segments. Left and right thalamotemporal segment volume and T2 were significantly correlated with volume and T2 of ipsilateral (epileptogenic), but not contralateral (nonepileptogenic), mesial temporal structures. These convergent and robust data indicate that thalamic abnormality in TLE is restricted to the area of the thalamus that is preferentially connected to the epileptogenic temporal lobe. The degree of thalamic pathology is related to the extent of mesial temporal lobe damage in TLE. © 2014 The Authors. Epilepsia published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc

  7. The neural basis of temporal order processing in past and future thought.

    Science.gov (United States)

    D'Argembeau, Arnaud; Jeunehomme, Olivier; Majerus, Steve; Bastin, Christine; Salmon, Eric

    2015-01-01

    Although growing evidence has shown that remembering the past and imagining the future recruit a common core network of frontal-parietal-temporal regions, the extent to which these regions contribute to the temporal dimension of autobiographical thought remains unclear. In this fMRI study, we focused on the event-sequencing aspect of time and examined whether ordering past and future events involve common neural substrates. Participants had to determine which of two past (or future) events occurred (or would occur) before the other, and these order judgments were compared with a task requiring to think about the content of the same past or future events. For both past and future events, we found that the left posterior hippocampus was more activated when establishing the order of events, whereas the anterior hippocampus was more activated when representing their content. Aside from the hippocampus, most of the brain regions that were activated when thinking about temporal order (notably the intraparietal sulcus, dorsolateral pFC, dorsal anterior cingulate, and visual cortex) lied outside the core network and may reflect the involvement of controlled processes and visuospatial imagery to locate events in time. Collectively, these findings suggest (a) that the same processing operations are engaged for ordering past events and planned future events in time, (b) that anterior and posterior portions of the hippocampus are involved in processing different aspects of autobiographical thought, and (c) that temporal order is not necessarily an intrinsic property of memory or future thought but instead requires additional, controlled processes.

  8. Verbal learning and memory outcome in selective amygdalohippocampectomy versus temporal lobe resection in patients with hippocampal sclerosis.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Foged, Mette Thrane; Vinter, Kirsten; Stauning, Louise; Kjær, Troels W; Ozenne, Brice; Beniczky, Sándor; Paulson, Olaf B; Madsen, Flemming Find; Pinborg, Lars H

    2018-02-01

    With the advent of new very selective techniques like thermal laser ablation to treat drug-resistant focal epilepsy, the controversy of resection size in relation to seizure outcome versus cognitive deficits has gained new relevance. The purpose of this study was to test the influence of the selective amygdalohippocampectomy (SAH) versus nonselective temporal lobe resection (TLR) on seizure outcome and cognition in patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) and histopathological verified hippocampal sclerosis (HS). We identified 108 adults (>16years) with HS, operated between 1995 and 2009 in Denmark. Exclusion criteria are the following: Intelligence below normal range, right hemisphere dominance, other native languages than Danish, dual pathology, and missing follow-up data. Thus, 56 patients were analyzed. The patients were allocated to SAH (n=22) or TLR (n=34) based on intraoperative electrocorticography. Verbal learning and verbal memory were tested pre- and postsurgery. Seizure outcome did not differ between patients operated using the SAH versus the TLR at 1year (p=0.951) nor at 7years (p=0.177). Verbal learning was more affected in patients resected in the left hemisphere than in the right (p=0.002). In patients with left-sided TLR, a worsening in verbal memory performance was found (p=0.011). Altogether, 73% were seizure-free for 1year and 64% for 7years after surgery. In patients with drug-resistant focal MTLE, HS and no magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) signs of dual pathology, selective amygdalohippocampectomy results in sustained seizure freedom and better memory function compared with patients operated with nonselective temporal lobe resection. Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  9. Unimodal and multimodal regions for logographic language processing in left ventral occipitotemporal cortex

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Yuan eDeng

    2013-09-01

    Full Text Available The human neocortex appears to contain a dedicated visual word form area (VWFA and an adjacent multimodal (visual/auditory area. However, these conclusions are based on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI of alphabetic language processing, languages that have clear grapheme-to-phoneme correspondence (GPC rules that make it difficult to disassociate visual-specific processing from form-to-sound mapping. In contrast, the Chinese language has no clear GPC rules. Therefore, the current study examined whether native Chinese readers also have the same VWFA and multimodal area. Two cross-modal tasks, phonological retrieval of visual words and orthographic retrieval of auditory words, were adopted. Different task requirements were also applied to explore how different levels of cognitive processing modulate activation of putative VWFA-like and multimodal-like regions. Results showed that the left occipitotemporal sulcus responded exclusively to visual inputs and an adjacent region, the left inferior temporal gyrus, showed comparable activation for both visual and auditory inputs. Surprisingly, processing levels did not significantly alter activation of these two regions. These findings indicated that there are both unimodal and multimodal word areas for non-alphabetic language reading, and that activity in these two word-specific regions are independent of task demands at the linguistic level.

  10. Cortical processing of tactile stimuli applied in quick succession across the fingertips: temporal evolution of dipole sources revealed by magnetoencephalography.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Karageorgiou, Elissaios; Koutlas, Ioannis G; Alonso, Aurelio A; Leuthold, Arthur C; Lewis, Scott M; Georgopoulos, Apostolos P

    2008-08-01

    We used magnetoencephalography (MEG) in 10 healthy human subjects to study cortical responses to tactile stimuli applied to the fingertips of digits 2-5 of the right hand. Each stimulus lasted 50 ms and was produced by air-driven elastic membranes. Four-hundred stimuli were delivered on each finger in three temporal patterns (conditions). In the "Discrete" condition, stimuli were applied to each finger repetitively with an interstimulus interval (ISI) of 1-2 s. In the "Continuous" condition, stimuli were applied to the fingers sequentially as four-stimulus trains with zero ISI and 1-2 s intervening between trains. Finally, in the "Gap" condition, stimuli were applied as in the Continuous condition but with an ISI of 50 ms. A sensation of tactile motion across fingers (digit 2 --> digit 5) was reported by all subjects in the Continuous and Gap conditions. Cortical responses were extracted as single equivalent current dipoles over a period of 1 s following stimulus onset. In all three conditions, initial responses in left primary somatosensory cortex (SI) were observed ~20 to 50 ms after stimulus onset and were followed by additional left SI responses and bilateral responses in the secondary somatosensory cortex (SII). In addition, in the Continuous and Gap conditions, there was an activation of the precentral gyrus, the temporal aspects of which depended on the temporal relation of the administered stimuli, as follows. An ISI of 0 ms led to activation of the precentral gyrus shortly after the second stimulation, whereas an ISI of 50 ms led to activation of the precentral gyrus after the third stimulation. The current findings support results from previous studies on temporal activity patterns in SI and SII, verify the participation of the precentral gyrus during tactile motion perception and, in addition, reveal aspects of integration of sequential sensory stimulations over nonadjacent areas as well as temporal activity patterns in the postcentral and precentral

  11. Impaired cerebral blood flow networks in temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis: A graph theoretical approach.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Sone, Daichi; Matsuda, Hiroshi; Ota, Miho; Maikusa, Norihide; Kimura, Yukio; Sumida, Kaoru; Yokoyama, Kota; Imabayashi, Etsuko; Watanabe, Masako; Watanabe, Yutaka; Okazaki, Mitsutoshi; Sato, Noriko

    2016-09-01

    Graph theory is an emerging method to investigate brain networks. Altered cerebral blood flow (CBF) has frequently been reported in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), but graph theoretical findings of CBF are poorly understood. Here, we explored graph theoretical networks of CBF in TLE using arterial spin labeling imaging. We recruited patients with TLE and unilateral hippocampal sclerosis (HS) (19 patients with left TLE, and 21 with right TLE) and 20 gender- and age-matched healthy control subjects. We obtained all participants' CBF maps using pseudo-continuous arterial spin labeling and analyzed them using the Graph Analysis Toolbox (GAT) software program. As a result, compared to the controls, the patients with left TLE showed a significantly low clustering coefficient (p=0.024), local efficiency (p=0.001), global efficiency (p=0.010), and high transitivity (p=0.015), whereas the patients with right TLE showed significantly high assortativity (p=0.046) and transitivity (p=0.011). The group with right TLE also had high characteristic path length values (p=0.085), low global efficiency (p=0.078), and low resilience to targeted attack (p=0.101) at a trend level. Lower normalized clustering coefficient (p=0.081) in the left TLE and higher normalized characteristic path length (p=0.089) in the right TLE were found also at a trend level. Both the patients with left and right TLE showed significantly decreased clustering in similar areas, i.e., the cingulate gyri, precuneus, and occipital lobe. Our findings revealed differing left-right network metrics in which an inefficient CBF network in left TLE and vulnerability to irritation in right TLE are suggested. The left-right common finding of regional decreased clustering might reflect impaired default-mode networks in TLE. Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  12. Developing a comprehensive presurgical functional MRI protocol for patients with intractable temporal lobe epilepsy: a pilot study

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Deblaere, K.; Vandemaele, P.; Achten, E.; Backes, W.H.; Hofman, P.; Wilmink, J.; Boon, P.A.; Vonck, K.; Boon, P.; Troost, J.; Vermeulen, J.; Aldenkamp, A.

    2002-01-01

    Our aim was to put together and test a comprehensive functional MRI (fMRI) protocol which could compete with the intracarotid amytal (IAT) or Wada test for the localisation of language and memory function in patients with intractable temporal lobe epilepsy. The protocol was designed to be performed in under 1 h on a standard 1.5 tesla imager. We used five paradigms to test nine healthy right-handed subjects: complex scene-encoding, picture-naming, reading, word-generation and semantic-decision tasks. The combination of these tasks generated two activation maps related to memory in the mesial temporal lobes, and three language-related maps of activation in a major part of the known language network. The functional maps from the encoding and naming tasks showed typical and symmetrical posterior mesial temporal lobe activation related to memory in all subjects. Only four of nine subjects also showed symmetrical anterior hippocampal activation. Language lateralisation was best with the word generation and reading paradigms and proved possible in all subjects. The reading paradigm enables localisation of language function in the left anterior temporal pole and middle temporal gyrus, areas typically resected during epilepsy surgery. The combined results of this comprehensive f MRI protocol are adequate for a comparative study with the IAT in patients with epilepsy being assessed for surgery. (orig.)

  13. Developing a comprehensive presurgical functional MRI protocol for patients with intractable temporal lobe epilepsy: a pilot study

    Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

    Deblaere, K.; Vandemaele, P.; Achten, E. [MRI Department -1 K12, Department of Radiology, Ghent University Hospital, De Pintelaan 185, 9000 Ghent (Belgium); Backes, W.H.; Hofman, P.; Wilmink, J. [Department of Neuroradiology, University Hospital Maastricht, Postbus 5800, 6202 AZ Maastricht (Netherlands); Boon, P.A.; Vonck, K. [Department of Neurology, Ghent University Hospital, De Pintelaan 185, 9000 Ghent (Belgium); Boon, P. [Department of Medical Psychology, University Hospital Maastricht (Netherlands); Troost, J. [Department of Neurology, University Hospital Maastricht (Netherlands); Vermeulen, J. [S.E.I.N Heemstede, Psychological Laboratory, Achterweg 5, 2103 SW Heemstede (Netherlands); Aldenkamp, A. [Epilepsy Center ' Kempenhaeghe' , Postbus 61, 5900 AB Heeze (Netherlands)

    2002-08-01

    Our aim was to put together and test a comprehensive functional MRI (fMRI) protocol which could compete with the intracarotid amytal (IAT) or Wada test for the localisation of language and memory function in patients with intractable temporal lobe epilepsy. The protocol was designed to be performed in under 1 h on a standard 1.5 tesla imager. We used five paradigms to test nine healthy right-handed subjects: complex scene-encoding, picture-naming, reading, word-generation and semantic-decision tasks. The combination of these tasks generated two activation maps related to memory in the mesial temporal lobes, and three language-related maps of activation in a major part of the known language network. The functional maps from the encoding and naming tasks showed typical and symmetrical posterior mesial temporal lobe activation related to memory in all subjects. Only four of nine subjects also showed symmetrical anterior hippocampal activation. Language lateralisation was best with the word generation and reading paradigms and proved possible in all subjects. The reading paradigm enables localisation of language function in the left anterior temporal pole and middle temporal gyrus, areas typically resected during epilepsy surgery. The combined results of this comprehensive f MRI protocol are adequate for a comparative study with the IAT in patients with epilepsy being assessed for surgery. (orig.)

  14. Differential Effect of Left vs. Right White Matter Hyperintensity Burden on Functional Decline: The Northern Manhattan Study.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Dhamoon, Mandip S; Cheung, Ying-Kuen; Bagci, Ahmet; Alperin, Noam; Sacco, Ralph L; Elkind, Mitchell S V; Wright, Clinton B

    2017-01-01

    Asymmetry of brain dysfunction may disrupt brain network efficiency. We hypothesized that greater left-right white matter hyperintensity volume (WMHV) asymmetry was associated with functional trajectories. Methods: In the Northern Manhattan Study, participants underwent brain MRI with axial T1, T2, and fluid attenuated inversion recovery sequences, with baseline interview and examination. Volumetric WMHV distribution across 14 brain regions was determined separately by combining bimodal image intensity distribution and atlas based methods. Participants had annual functional assessments with the Barthel index (BI, range 0-100) over a mean of 7.3 years. Generalized estimating equations (GEE) models estimated associations of regional WMHV and regional left-right asymmetry with baseline BI and change over time, adjusted for baseline medical risk factors, sociodemographics, and cognition, and stroke and myocardial infarction during follow-up. Results: Among 1,195 participants, greater WMHV asymmetry in the parietal lobes (-8.46 BI points per unit greater WMHV on the right compared to left, 95% CI -3.07, -13.86) and temporal lobes (-2.48 BI points, 95% CI -1.04, -3.93) was associated with lower overall function. Greater WMHV asymmetry in the parietal lobes (-1.09 additional BI points per year per unit greater WMHV on the left compared to right, 95% CI -1.89, -0.28) was independently associated with accelerated functional decline. Conclusions: In this large population-based study with long-term repeated measures of function, greater regional WMHV asymmetry was associated with lower function and functional decline. In addition to global WMHV, WHMV asymmetry may be an important predictor of long-term functional status.

  15. DCDC2 polymorphism is associated with left temporoparietal gray and white matter structures during development.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Darki, Fahimeh; Peyrard-Janvid, Myriam; Matsson, Hans; Kere, Juha; Klingberg, Torkel

    2014-10-22

    Three genes, DYX1C1, DCDC2, and KIAA0319, have been previously associated with dyslexia, neuronal migration, and ciliary function. Three polymorphisms within these genes, rs3743204 (DYX1C1), rs793842 (DCDC2), and rs6935076 (KIAA0319) have also been linked to normal variability of left temporoparietal white matter volume connecting the middle temporal cortex to the angular and supramarginal gyri. Here, we assessed whether these polymorphisms are also related to the cortical thickness of the associated regions during childhood development using a longitudinal dataset of 76 randomly selected children and young adults who were scanned up to three times each, 2 years apart. rs793842 in DCDC2 was significantly associated with the thickness of left angular and supramarginal gyri as well as the left lateral occipital cortex. The cortex was significantly thicker for T-allele carriers, who also had lower white matter volume and lower reading comprehension scores. There was a negative correlation between white matter volume and cortical thickness, but only white matter volume predicted reading comprehension 2 years after scanning. These results show how normal variability in reading comprehension is related to gene, white matter volume, and cortical thickness in the inferior parietal lobe. Possibly, the variability of gray and white matter structures could both be related to the role of DCDC2 in ciliary function, which affects both neuronal migration and axonal outgrowth. Copyright © 2014 the authors 0270-6474/14/3414455-08$15.00/0.

  16. The left atrium, atrial fibrillation, and the risk of stroke in hypertensive patients with left ventricular hypertrophy

    DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

    Wachtell, K.; Devereux, R.B.; Lyle, P.A.

    2008-01-01

    was superior to atenolol-based treatment for reducing new-onset AF and complications, especially stroke, associated with new-onset or pre-existing AF. Potential mechanisms of AF prevention by angiotensin receptor blockade supported by LIFE results include greater reduction in left atrial size and LV......The Losartan Intervention For Endpoint reduction in hypertension (LIFE) study provided extensive data on predisposing factors, consequences, and prevention of atrial fibrillation (AF) in patients with hypertension and left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy. Randomized losartan-based treatment...... hypertrophy. Differential effects of antihypertensive treatment on the left atrium and left ventricle may help prevent AF and reduce risk of stroke associated with hypertensive heart disease Udgivelsesdato: 2008/12...

  17. Development from childhood to adulthood increases morphological and functional inter-individual variability in the right superior temporal cortex.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Bonte, Milene; Frost, Martin A; Rutten, Sanne; Ley, Anke; Formisano, Elia; Goebel, Rainer

    2013-12-01

    We study the developmental trajectory of morphology and function of the superior temporal cortex (STC) in children (8-9 years), adolescents (14-15 years) and young adults. We analyze cortical surface landmarks and functional MRI (fMRI) responses to voices, other natural categories and tones and examine how hemispheric asymmetry and inter-subject variability change across age. Our results show stable morphological asymmetries across age groups, including a larger left planum temporale and a deeper right superior temporal sulcus. fMRI analyses show that a rightward lateralization for voice-selective responses is present in all groups but decreases with age. Furthermore, STC responses to voices change from being less selective and more spatially diffuse in children to highly selective and focal in adults. Interestingly, the analysis of morphological landmarks reveals that inter-subject variability increases during development in the right--but not in the left--STC. Similarly, inter-subject variability of cortically-realigned functional responses to voices, other categories and tones increases with age in the right STC. Our findings reveal asymmetric developmental changes in brain regions crucial for auditory and voice perception. The age-related increase of inter-subject variability in right STC suggests that anatomy and function of this region are shaped by unique individual developmental experiences. © 2013.

  18. Left TPJ activity in verbal working memory: implications for storage- and sensory-specific models of short term memory.

    Science.gov (United States)

    Ravizza, Susan M; Hazeltine, Eliot; Ruiz, Sandra; Zhu, David C

    2011-04-15

    Patients with damage to the left temporoparietal junction (TPJ) have a low verbal span without concomitant deficits in speech perception. This pattern of cognitive impairment is taken as evidence for a dedicated phonological buffer that plays little role in perception (storage-specific account). In contrast, other research suggests that items are maintained and perceived in the same regions (sensory-specific account). In an fMRI study, we demonstrate that the left TPJ does not respond in a way predicted of a phonological buffer; that is, activity in this region is not sustained during encoding or maintenance. Instead, a region in the superior temporal gyrus that has been associated with both speech perception and production demonstrated the expected profile of a store: it was more active in the verbal condition than the object condition and was active during both encoding and maintenance. These results support the sensory-specific account of short term memory rather than the storage-specific account. Based on the pattern of activity in the left TPJ, we suggest that the impairment of verbal working memory observed in patients with TPJ damage may be due to diminished attentional processes rather than reduced storage capacity. Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

  19. Predicting Surgery Targets in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy through Structural Connectome Based Simulations.

    Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

    Frances Hutchings

    2015-12-01

    Full Text Available Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE is a prevalent neurological disorder resulting in disruptive seizures. In the case of drug resistant epilepsy resective surgery is often considered. This is a procedure hampered by unpredictable success rates, with many patients continuing to have seizures even after surgery. In this study we apply a computational model of epilepsy to patient specific structural connectivity derived from diffusion tensor imaging (DTI of 22 individuals with left TLE and 39 healthy controls. We validate the model by examining patient-control differences in simulated seizure onset time and network location. We then investigate the potential of the model for surgery prediction by performing in silico surgical resections, removing nodes from patient networks and comparing seizure likelihood post-surgery to pre-surgery simulations. We find that, first, patients tend to transit from non-epileptic to epileptic states more often than controls in the model. Second, regions in the left hemisphere (particularly within temporal and subcortical regions that are known to be involved in TLE are the most frequent starting points for seizures in patients in the model. In addition, our analysis also implicates regions in the contralateral and frontal locations which may play a role in seizure spreading or surgery resistance. Finally, the model predicts that patient-specific surgery (resection areas chosen on an individual, model-prompted, basis and not following a predefined procedure may lead to better outcomes than the currently used routine clinical procedure. Taken together this work provides a first step towards patient specific computational modelling of epilepsy surgery in order to inform treatment strategies in individuals.

  20. Balloon-occluded retrograde transvenous obliteration of gastric varix draining via the left inferior phrenic vein into the left hepatic vein

    International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

    Ibukuro, Kenji; Mori, Koichi; Tsukiyama, Toshitaka; Inoue, Yoshihiro; Iwamoto, Yukako; Tagawa, Kazumi

    1999-01-01

    We encountered a patient with gastric varix draining not via the usual left suprarenal vein but via the left inferior phrenic vein joining the left hepatic vein. Transfemoral balloon-occluded retrograde transvenous obliteration (BRTO) of the varix was performed under balloon occlusion of the left inferior phrenic vein via the left hepatic vein and retrograde injection of the sclerosing agent (5% of ethanolamine oleate) into the gastric varix. Disappearance of the gastric varix was confirmed on endoscopic examination 2 months later.