Roles of frontal and temporal regions in reinterpreting semantically ambiguous sentences

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

Graded representations of emotional expressions in the left superior temporal sulcus

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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.

Regional ejection fraction: a quantitative radionuclide index of regional left ventricular performance

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Maddox, D.E.; Wynne, J.; Uren, R.; Parker, J.A.; Idoine, J.; Siegel, L.C.; Neill, J.M.; Cohn, P.F.; Holman, B.L.

1979-01-01

Left ventricular regional ejection fractions were derived from background-corrected, time-activity curves in 43 patients assessed by both gated equilibrium radionuclide angiocardiography and left ventricular contrast angiography. From a single, modified left anterior oblique projection, the regional change in background corrected counts was determined in each of three anatomic regions. The normal range for regional radionuclide ejection fraction was determined in 10 patients with normal contrast ventriculograms and without obstructive coronary artery disease at coronary arteriography. Regional ejection fraction was compared with percent segmental axis shortening and extent of akinetic segments in corresponding regions of the contrast ventriculogram. Radionuclide and roentgenographic methods were in agreement as to the presence or absence of abnormal wall motion in 83 of 99 left ventricular regions (84%) in 33 patients evaluated prospectively. Comparison of regional ejection fraction demonstrated significant differences between regions with roentgenographically determined normokinesis hypokinesis, and akinesis. We conclude that the left ventricular regional ejection fraction provides a reliable quantitative assessment of regional left ventricular performance

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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

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

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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…

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

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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.

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

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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

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

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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

Multisensory speech perception without the left superior temporal sulcus.

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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.

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

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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

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

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

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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.

Functional connectivity between right and left mesial temporal structures.

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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

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

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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.

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....

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

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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.

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

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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.

Unimodal and multimodal regions for logographic language processing in left ventral occipitotemporal cortex

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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.

Computed tomography of temporal bone fractures and temporal region anatomy in horses.

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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.

A robust automated left ventricle region of interest localization technique using a cardiac cine MRI atlas

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Ben-Zikri, Yehuda Kfir; Linte, Cristian A.

2016-03-01

Region of interest detection is a precursor to many medical image processing and analysis applications, including segmentation, registration and other image manipulation techniques. The optimal region of interest is often selected manually, based on empirical knowledge and features of the image dataset. However, if inconsistently identified, the selected region of interest may greatly affect the subsequent image analysis or interpretation steps, in turn leading to incomplete assessment during computer-aided diagnosis or incomplete visualization or identification of the surgical targets, if employed in the context of pre-procedural planning or image-guided interventions. Therefore, the need for robust, accurate and computationally efficient region of interest localization techniques is prevalent in many modern computer-assisted diagnosis and therapy applications. Here we propose a fully automated, robust, a priori learning-based approach that provides reliable estimates of the left and right ventricle features from cine cardiac MR images. The proposed approach leverages the temporal frame-to-frame motion extracted across a range of short axis left ventricle slice images with small training set generated from les than 10% of the population. This approach is based on histogram of oriented gradients features weighted by local intensities to first identify an initial region of interest depicting the left and right ventricles that exhibits the greatest extent of cardiac motion. This region is correlated with the homologous region that belongs to the training dataset that best matches the test image using feature vector correlation techniques. Lastly, the optimal left ventricle region of interest of the test image is identified based on the correlation of known ground truth segmentations associated with the training dataset deemed closest to the test image. The proposed approach was tested on a population of 100 patient datasets and was validated against the ground truth

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

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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.

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...

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.

Unleashing creativity: The role of left temporoparietal regions in evaluating and inhibiting the generation of creative ideas.

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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

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.

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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.

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.

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

Developmental dyslexia: dysfunction of a left hemisphere reading network

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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.

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.

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

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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.

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.

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:

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.)

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.

Value-based modulation of memory encoding involves strategic engagement of fronto-temporal semantic processing regions.

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Cohen, Michael S; Rissman, Jesse; Suthana, Nanthia A; Castel, Alan D; Knowlton, Barbara J

2014-06-01

A number of prior fMRI studies have focused on the ways in which the midbrain dopaminergic reward system coactivates with hippocampus to potentiate memory for valuable items. However, another means by which people could selectively remember more valuable to-be-remembered items is to be selective in their use of effective but effortful encoding strategies. To broadly examine the neural mechanisms of value on subsequent memory, we used fMRI to assess how differences in brain activity at encoding as a function of value relate to subsequent free recall for words. Each word was preceded by an arbitrarily assigned point value, and participants went through multiple study-test cycles with feedback on their point total at the end of each list, allowing for sculpting of cognitive strategies. We examined the correlation between value-related modulation of brain activity and participants' selectivity index, which measures how close participants were to their optimal point total, given the number of items recalled. Greater selectivity scores were associated with greater differences in the activation of semantic processing regions, including left inferior frontal gyrus and left posterior lateral temporal cortex, during the encoding of high-value words relative to low-value words. Although we also observed value-related modulation within midbrain and ventral striatal reward regions, our fronto-temporal findings suggest that strategic engagement of deep semantic processing may be an important mechanism for selectively encoding valuable items.

Value-based modulation of memory encoding involves strategic engagement of fronto-temporal semantic processing regions

Science.gov (United States)

Cohen, Michael S.; Rissman, Jesse; Suthana, Nanthia A.; Castel, Alan D.; Knowlton, Barbara J.

2014-01-01

A number of prior fMRI studies have focused on the ways in which the midbrain dopaminergic reward system co-activates with hippocampus to potentiate memory for valuable items. However, another means by which people could selectively remember more valuable to-be-remembered items is to be selective in their use of effective but effortful encoding strategies. To broadly examine the neural mechanisms of value on subsequent memory, we used fMRI to examine how differences in brain activity at encoding as a function of value relate to subsequent free recall for words. Each word was preceded by an arbitrarily assigned point value, and participants went through multiple study-test cycles with feedback on their point total at the end of each list, allowing for sculpting of cognitive strategies. We examined the correlation between value-related modulation of brain activity and participants’ selectivity index, a measure of how close participants were to their optimal point total given the number of items recalled. Greater selectivity scores were associated with greater differences in activation of semantic processing regions, including left inferior frontal gyrus and left posterior lateral temporal cortex, during encoding of high-value words relative to low-value words. Although we also observed value-related modulation within midbrain and ventral striatal reward regions, our fronto-temporal findings suggest that strategic engagement of deep semantic processing may be an important mechanism for selectively encoding valuable items. PMID:24683066

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

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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.

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

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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.

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)

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

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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.

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

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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.

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...

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.)

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

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.

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

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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.

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

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Guido eGainotti

2011-06-01

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

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.

Phosphorus-31 and proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy of the medial temporal region in schizophrenic patients

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamada, Koichiro

1996-01-01

Phosphorus-31 magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) was performed 22 schizophrenic patients and in 22 healthy volunteers. Psychiatric symptoms were estimated on the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale (BPRS), the Scale for the Assessment of Negative Symptoms (SANS) and the Scale for the Assessment of Positive Symptoms (SAPS). The spectra were quantified for phosphomonoesters (PME), inorganic orthophosphate (Pi), phosphodiesters (PDE), phosphocreatine (Pcr) and the γ, α and β phosphates of 5'-adenosine triphosphate (ATP) by peak area measurements. Proton MRS was performed in 15 schizophrenic patients and in 15 healthy volunteers. Psychiatric symptoms were estimated on the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and the SANS. The spectra of N-acetylates (NA), choline-containing compounds (Cho) and creatine-phosphocreatine (Cr) were quantified. The patients showed an increase in the % PDE and a decrease in the % β-ATP in the left temporal region. Positive correlations were found between the % PDE and the subscale of positive symptoms on the BPRS and the total score of SAPS. The % β-ATP correlated negatively with the total score on SAPS. The NA/Cho and NA/Cr ratios were significantly lower in patients than in normal subjects. The Cho/Cr ratio was higher in the patient group. The age at onset of illness correlated positively with the NA/Cho and NA/Cr ratios. No significant correlations were observed between the ratios of metabolites and the scores of PANSS and SANS. There were no significant associations between the mole percentages and the ratios and the daily doses of neuroleptics and anticholinergics. These findings suggest that the disturbed membrane phospholipid and high-energy phosphate metabolism in the left medial temporal region may be one of the pathophysiologies of neuroleptic-resistant positive symptoms in schizophrenia and these abnormalities may be related to neuronal loss and/or neuronal dysfunction in this region. (H.O.)

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

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)

Imaging derived cortical thickness reduction in high-functioning autism: key regions and temporal slope.

Science.gov (United States)

Scheel, Christian; Rotarska-Jagiela, Anna; Schilbach, Leonhard; Lehnhardt, Fritz G; Krug, Barbara; Vogeley, Kai; Tepest, Ralf

2011-09-15

Cortical thickness (CT) changes possibly contribute to the complex symptomatology of autism. The aberrant developmental trajectories underlying such differences in certain brain regions and their continuation in adulthood are a matter of intense debate. We studied 28 adults with high-functioning autism (HFA) and 28 control subjects matched for age, gender, IQ and handedness. A surface-based whole brain analysis utilizing FreeSurfer was employed to detect CT differences between the two diagnostic groups and to investigate the time course of age-related changes. Direct comparison with control subjects revealed thinner cortex in HFA in the posterior superior temporal sulcus (pSTS) of the left hemisphere. Considering the time course of CT development we found clusters around the pSTS and cuneus in the left and the paracentral lobule in the right hemisphere to be thinner in HFA with comparable age-related slopes in patients and controls. Conversely, we found clusters around the supramarginal gyrus and inferior parietal lobule (IPL) in the left and the precentral and postcentral gyrus in the right hemisphere to be thinner in HFA, but with different age-related slopes in patients and controls. In the latter regions CT showed a steady decrease in controls but no analogous thinning in HFA. CT analyses contribute in characterizing neuroanatomical correlates of HFA. Reduced CT is present in brain regions involved in social cognition. Furthermore, our results demonstrate that aberrant brain development leading to such differences is proceeding throughout adulthood. Discrepancies in prior morphometric studies may be induced by the complex time course of cortical changes. Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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.)

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

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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)

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

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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)

Quantitative description of the regional mechanics of the left atria by electroanatomical mapping

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kuklik, Pawel; Molaee, Payman; Brooks, Anthony G; John, Bobby; Worthley, Stephen G; Sanders, Prashanthan

2010-01-01

The left atrium is a complex chamber, which plays an integral role in the maintenance of physiologic hemodynamic and electrical stability of the heart and is involved in many disease states, most commonly atrial fibrillation. Preserving regions of the left atrium that contribute the greatest to atrial mechanical function during curative strategies for atrial fibrillation are important. We present here a new application of the CARTO electroanatomical mapping system in the assessment of the left atria mechanical function. Electroanatomical data were collected in course of the electrophysiological procedure in 11 control patients and 12 patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. The three-dimensional geometry of the left atria was reconstructed in 10 ms intervals and segmented into distinct regions. For each segment, a regional ejection fraction was calculated. We found that anterior, septal and lateral segments have significantly greater regional ejection fraction than atria roof, inferior and posterior segments. Therefore, we hypothesize that in order to minimize the impact on atrial mechanical function, an important determinant of thromboembolic risk, damage should be minimized to these atrial regions

Mesial temporal lobe epilepsy diminishes functional connectivity during emotion perception.

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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

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

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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

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

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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.

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

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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…

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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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)

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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)

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

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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.

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

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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

Bilingualism protects anterior temporal lobe integrity in aging.

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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.

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

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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.

Abstract Linguistic Structure Correlates with Temporal Activity during Naturalistic Comprehension

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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

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

Evaluation of global and regional left ventricular function obtained by quantitative gated SPECT using {sup 99m}Tc-tetrofosmin for left ventricular dysfunction

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Ban, Kazunobu; Nakajima, Tohru; Iseki, Harukazu; Abe, Sumihisa; Handa, Shunnosuke; Suzuki, Yutaka [Tokai Univ., Isehara, Kanagawa (Japan). School of Medicine

2000-08-01

The quantitative gated SPECT (QGS) software is able to calculate LV volumes and visualize LV wall motion and perfusion throughout the cardiac cycle using an automatic edge detection algorithm of the left ventricle. We evaluated the reliability of global and regional LV function assessment derived from QGS by comparing it with the results from left ventriculo-cineangiography (LVG). In 20 patients with left ventricular dysfunction who underwent ECG gated {sup 99m}Tc-tetrofosmin SPECT, the end-diastolic volume (EDV), end-systolic volume (ESV) and ejection fraction (LVEF) were calculated. The QGS-assessed regional wall motion was determined using the cinematic display. QGS-derived EDV, ESV and LVEF correlated well with those by LVG (p<0.001 for each). There was a good correlation between wall motion score (WMS) derived from the QGS and the LVG (r=0.40, p<0.05). In some patients with extensive myocardial infarction, there was a discrepancy in the regional wall motion results between QGS and LVG. The ECG-gated SPECT using QGS is useful to evaluate global and regional LV functions in left ventricular dysfunction. (author)

Measurement of global and regional left ventricular performance with isotope technique in coronary heart disease

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Bostroem, P.-A.; Svensson, M.; Lilja, B.

1988-01-01

To evaluate left ventricular function in coronary artery disease, radionuclide measurements of global and regional ejection fraction (EF), regional wall motion and phase analyses of left ventricular contraction were performed by equilibrium technique, using sup(99m)Tc. One group of patients with angina pectoris and one group with myocardial infarction were compared with a control group. All above-mentioned parameters significantly separated the infarction group from the reference group both at rest and during work, while the group of patients with angina pectoris showed disturbances mainly during work, such as impaired ability to increase global and regional ejection fraction and regional wall motion. Adding regional analysis and phase analysis to the global EF determination increases the possibility of studying the left ventricular function. However, this addition has a limited value in detecting impaired left ventricular function compared to the determination of just global EF in patients with angina pectoris and in patients with myocardial infarction. (author)

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

Paradox image: a noninvasive index of regional left-ventricular dyskinesis

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Holman, B.L.; Wynne, J.; Idoine, J.; Zielonka, J.; Neill, J.

1979-01-01

The paradox image, a functional image of regional dyskinesis derived from the equilibrium (gated) radionuclide ventriculogram, was constructed by subtracting the background-corrected end-diastolic frame from the background-corrected end-systolic frame. In 11 patients showing dyskinesis by contrast ventriculography, the percentage of left-ventricular picture elements containing paradox ranged from 3.6 to 55.6% (21.44% +- 4.45 s.e.m.). In 11 patients with normokinesis and in eight patients with hypookinesis by contrast ventriculography, the left-ventricular picture elements demonstrating paradox were less than 1.1% in all cases. In nine patients with akinesis, the percentage of left-ventricular picture elements containing paradox was 2.05% +- 0.96 s.e.m. and was less than 2% in seven patients. There was also an excellent agreement between the location of dyskinesis on the paradox image and that by contrast ventriculography. The paradox image is a sensitive indicator of left-ventricular dyskinesis and should be useful in the evaluation of patients with suspected left-ventricular asynergy

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

Segregation of Brain Structural Networks Supports Spatio-Temporal Predictive Processing

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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

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

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…

Quantitation of global and regional left ventricular function by MRI

NARCIS (Netherlands)

van der Geest, RJ; Reiber, JHC; Reiber, JHC; VanDerWall, EE

1998-01-01

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides several imaging strategies for assessing left ventricular function. As a three-dimensional imaging technique, all measurements can be performed without relying on geometrical assumptions. Global and regional function parameters can be derived from

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.

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

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.

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

Geographical and temporal variation of regional development and innovation in Finland

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Makkonen, Teemu; Inkinen, Tommi

2015-01-01

Variations in regional development are basically carried forward by technological development together with spatial concentrations of production and finance. The main argument behind this paper is that innovation and regional development variables have temporal variations in a spatial context....... Analysis was conducted using principal component indices from the years 1995–2007 to provide a temporal trend perspective of the most successful locations in innovation activity and regional development. Availability of an extensive workforce, income and higher education have steadily been the most...... “distinct” variables corresponding to regional development in Finland, whereas innovation occupies a stable middling position among explanative variables. Regional development and innovation activity is still concentrated in the core urban regions, but this tendency has lost at least some of its importance....

Spatio-temporal analysis of regional PV generation

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Nuño Martinez, Edgar; Cutululis, Nicolaos Antonio

2016-01-01

Photovoltaic (PV) power is growing in importance worldwide and hence needs to be represented in operation and planning of power system. As opposed to traditional generation technologies, it is characterized by exhibiting both a high variability and a significant spatial dependence. This paper...... presents a fundamental analysis of regional solar generation time series, aiming to potentially facilitate large-scale solar integration. It will focus on characterizing the underlying dependence structure at the system level as well as describing both statistical and temporal properties of regional PV...

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

A method to quantitate regional wall motion in left ventriculography using Hildreth algorithm

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Terashima, Mikio [Hyogo Red Cross Blood Center (Japan); Naito, Hiroaki; Sato, Yoshinobu; Tamura, Shinichi; Kurosawa, Tsutomu

1998-06-01

Quantitative measurement of ventricular wall motion is indispensable for objective evaluation of cardiac function associated with coronary artery disease. We have modified the Hildreth`s algorithm to estimate excursions of the ventricular wall on left ventricular images yielded by various imaging techniques. Tagging cine-MRI was carried out on 7 healthy volunteers. The original Hildreth method, the modified Hildreth method and the centerline method were applied to the outlines of the images obtained, to estimate excursion of the left ventricular wall and regional shortening and to evaluate the accuracy of these methods when measuring these parameters, compared to the values of these parameters measured actually using the attached tags. The accuracy of the original Hildreth method was comparable to that of the centerline method, while the modified Hildreth method was significantly more accurate than the centerline method (P<0.05). Regional shortening as estimated using the modified Hildreth method differed less from the actually measured regional shortening than did the shortening estimated using the centerline method (P<0.05). The modified Hildreth method allowed reasonable estimation of left ventricular wall excursion in all cases where it was applied. These results indicate that when applied to left ventriculograms for ventricular wall motion analysis, the modified Hildreth method is more useful than the original Hildreth method. (author)

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.

Geographical and temporal variation of regional development and innovation in Finland

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Teemu Makkonen

2015-03-01

Full Text Available Variations in regional development are basically carried forward by technological development together with spatial concentrations of production and finance. The main argument behind this paper is that innovation and regional development variables have temporal variations in a spatial context. Analysis was conducted using principal component indices from the years 1995–2007 to provide a temporal trend perspective of the most successful locations in innovation activity and regional development. Availability of an extensive workforce, income and higher education have steadily been the most “distinct” variables corresponding to regional development in Finland, whereas innovation occupies a stable middling position among explanative variables. Regional development and innovation activity is still concentrated in the core urban regions, but this tendency has lost at least some of its importance.

Swelling of the temporal region: a case of benign masticatory muscle hypertrophy

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Gniadecka, M; Weismann, K; Herning, Gudrun Margrethe

1997-01-01

A 35-year-old Caucasian woman had bilateral indolent swelling of the temporal regions. Imaging studies with nuclear magnetic resonance, ultrasonography and histopathological investigation revealed enlargement of the temporal and masseter muscles, with no pathology in the skin or subcutaneous tiss....... A small prolactinoma of the pituitary gland was incidentally found. The condition, designated benign masticatory muscle hypertrophy, should be distinguished from similar diseases affecting the skin and the subcutaneous tissue of the scalp. The cause remains unknown......A 35-year-old Caucasian woman had bilateral indolent swelling of the temporal regions. Imaging studies with nuclear magnetic resonance, ultrasonography and histopathological investigation revealed enlargement of the temporal and masseter muscles, with no pathology in the skin or subcutaneous tissue...

Clinical use of regional Tc-99m-HMPAO uptake in dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Gebhardt, U.; Schmauss, F.; Wagner-Manslau, C.; Buttermann, G.; Zimmer, R.

1993-01-01

In 46 patients with dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT) regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was compared with cognitive performance (MMSE, CAMCOG). The cortico-cerebellar ratio (CCR), determined by 99m Tc-HMPAO-SPECT was used as a rCBF-equivalent. In the mild demented group we found a bilateral CCR-reduction parietal posterior, in moderate DAT bilateral temporoparietal and leftsided frontolateral defects were seen. Severe DAT showed an additional perfusion decrease mid frontal. With increasing severity of DAT an asymmetric perfusion occurred in 17/46 patients with accentuated CCR-reduction on the left side (temporal>parietal). High correlations between CCR and MMSE (r≥0.70) existed frontolateral, temporal and parietal in the left hemisphere. Significant associations between CCR and CAMCOG were obtained for language in the left temporal posterior region (r=0.64), for memory task left temporal anterior (r=0.59) and for praxis left parietal posterior (r=0.55). In detecting rCBF abnormalities the sensitivity for all 46 DAT patients was 91% and 70% in the mild cases. (orig.) [de

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…

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.

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)

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)

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.

Assessment of regional left ventricular function by Dual Source Computed Tomography: Interobserver variability and validation to laevocardiography

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Pflederer, T. [Department of Internal Medicine 2 (Cardiology), University of Erlangen (Germany)], E-mail: tobiaspflederer@web.de; Ho, K.T. [Department of Cardiology, Tan Tock Seng Hospital (Singapore)], E-mail: contact@ttsh.com.sg; Anger, T. [Department of Internal Medicine 2 (Cardiology), University of Erlangen (Germany)], E-mail: thomas.anger@uk-erlangen.de; Kraehner, R. [Department of Internal Medicine 2 (Cardiology), University of Erlangen (Germany)], E-mail: robert.kraehner@uk-erlangen.de; Ropers, D. [Department of Internal Medicine 2 (Cardiology), University of Erlangen (Germany)], E-mail: dieter.ropers@uk-erlangen.de; Muschiol, G. [Department of Internal Medicine 2 (Cardiology), University of Erlangen (Germany)], E-mail: gerd.muschiol@uk-erlangen.de; Renz, A. [Department of Internal Medicine 2 (Cardiology), University of Erlangen (Germany)], E-mail: alexandra.renz@uk-erlangen.de; Daniel, W.G. [Department of Internal Medicine 2 (Cardiology), University of Erlangen (Germany)], E-mail: werner.daniel@uk-erlangen.de; Achenbach, S. [Department of Internal Medicine 2 (Cardiology), University of Erlangen (Germany)], E-mail: stephan.achenbach@uk-erlangen.de

2009-10-15

Objective: Assessment of left ventricular function is possible in contrast-enhanced cardiac CT data sets. However, rapid ventricular motion especially in systole can lead to artifacts. Dual Source Computed Tomography (DSCT) has high temporal resolution which effectively limits motion artifact. We therefore assessed the accuracy of DSCT to detect regional left ventricular wall motion abnormalities in comparison to invasive cine angiocardiography. Methods: We analyzed DSCT data sets of 50 patients (39 male, 11 female, mean age: 61 {+-} 10 years) which were acquired after intravenous injection of 55-70 mL contrast agent (rotation time: 330 ms, collimation: 2 mm x 64 mm x 0.6 mm, 120 kV, 380 mAs, ECG-correlated tube current modulation). 10 data sets consisting of transaxial slices with a slice thickness of 1.5 mm, an increment of 1.0 mm and a matrix of 256 x 256 pixels were reconstructed at 10 time instants during the cardiac cycle (0-90% in 10% increments). The data sets were analyzed visually by two independent readers, using standard left ventricular planes, concerning regional wall motion abnormalities. DSCT was verified in a blinded fashion against cine ventriculography performed during cardiac catheterization (RAO and LAO projection), using a 7-segment model. Analysis was performed on a per-patient (presence of at least one hypo-, a- or dyskinetic segment) and on a per-segment basis. Results: Concerning the presence of a wall motion abnormality, the two observers agreed in 340/350 segments (97%) and 48/50 patients (96%). In invasive cine angiocardiography, 22 of 50 patients displayed at least one segment with abnormal contraction. To detect these patients, DSCT showed a sensitivity of 95% (21/22), specificity of 96% (27/28), positive predictive value of 95% and negative predictive value of 96%. Out of a total of 350 left ventricular segments, 66 segments had abnormal contraction in cine angiocardiography (34 hypokinetic, 26 akinetic, 6 dyskinetic). For detection

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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)

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).

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

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

2018-01-01

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

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

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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

Reduced left precentral regional responses in patients with major depressive disorder and history of suicide attempts.

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Tsujii, Noa; Mikawa, Wakako; Tsujimoto, Emi; Adachi, Toru; Niwa, Atsushi; Ono, Hisae; Shirakawa, Osamu

2017-01-01

Previous neuroimaging studies have revealed frontal and temporal functional abnormalities in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and a history of suicidal behavior. However, it is unknown whether multi-channel near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) signal changes among individuals with MDD are associated with a history of suicide attempts and a diathesis for suicidal behavior (impulsivity, hopelessness, and aggression). Therefore, we aimed to explore frontotemporal hemodynamic responses in depressed patients with a history of suicide attempts using 52-channel NIRS. We recruited 30 patients with MDD and a history of suicidal behavior (suicide attempters; SAs), 38 patient controls without suicidal behavior (non-attempters; NAs), and 40 healthy controls (HCs) matched by age, gender ratio, and estimated IQ. Regional hemodynamic responses during a verbal fluency task (VFT) were monitored using NIRS. Our results showed that severities of depression, impulsivity, aggression, and hopelessness were similar between SAs and NAs. Both patient groups had significantly reduced activation compared with HCs in the bilateral frontotemporal regions. Post hoc analyses revealed that SAs exhibited a smaller hemodynamic response in the left precentral gyrus than NAs and HCs. Furthermore, the reduced response in the left inferior frontal gyrus was negatively correlated with impulsivity level and hemodynamic responses in the right middle frontal gyrus were negatively associated with hopelessness and aggression in SAs but not in NAs and HCs. Our findings suggest that MDD patients with a history of suicide attempts demonstrate patterns of VFT-induced NIRS signal changes different from those demonstrated by individuals without a history of suicidal behaviors, even in cases where clinical symptoms are similar. NIRS has a relatively high time resolution, which may help visually differentiate SAs from NAs.

Regional differences in right versus left congenital heart disease diagnoses in neonates in the United States.

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Nelson, Jennifer S; Strassle, Paula D

2018-03-01

Differences in the prevalence of left and right congenital heart defects (CHD) across the United States are unclear. This study evaluated the overall prevalence and the distribution of right versus left CHD across US regions and divisions in neonates. Newborns born from 2000 to 2014 diagnosed with CHD were identified using the National Inpatient Sample. Heart defects were stratified into right, left, and "neither" subtypes. The risk of right and left heart diagnoses between US Census regions and divisions was compared using multivariable binomial regression, adjusting for infant, and hospital characteristics. Two hundred forty thousand four hundred fifty-five newborns were included and 38,185 (15.9%) were classifiable as having either right or left subtypes. Between 2000 and 2014, the prevalence of right defects increased from 1.65 to 2.88 cases/1,000 live born infants (p right heart defect diagnosis compared to the West. When stratified by division, New England states had a significantly higher prevalence of right defects compared to the Pacific (RD adj .09, 95% CI .06, 0.11). No differences in the prevalence of left defects were seen. The prevalence of CHD diagnoses at birth in the US has increased, and regional differences in the prevalence of right defects appear to exist. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Auditory temporal processing in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy.

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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.

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

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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

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

Effect of myocardial viability in the infarct area on regional left ventricular function

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ishii, Toshihiko; Watanabe, Takeshi; Usui, Mikio; Nagai, Yoshikazu

1990-01-01

This study explored the relationship between global left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), regional LVEF of infarct myocardium, and the viability of the myocardium due to the development of collaterals in the infarct area. Each was evaluated by exercise thallium-201 myocardial SPECT, multigated blood pool scintigraphy and coronary angiography. A total of 68 patients with old anteroseptal myocardial infarction and 23 normal persons were studied. The patients were found to have septal defect on exercise thallium images. According to the appearance of redistribution (RD) on delayed images, the patients were classified as having positive RD (n=42, 62%) or negative RD (n=26, 38%). The global LVEF was compared with regional LVEF of the basal, middle and apical areas within septum, as calculated by multigated blood pool scintigraphy. There was no significant difference in global LVEF between the groups of positive and negative RD patients. However, regional LVEF of the basal and middle areas was significantly larger in the group of positive RD than the group of negative RD. Collaterals were significantly observed in the group of positive RD, as compared with the group of negative RD (53% vs 25%). It was more frequent in cases of higher degree of stenosis. In the group of negative RD, none of the patients had collaterals when coronary stenosis was 90% or less. Redistribution may reflect myocardial viability. Myocardial viability within the infarct area had favorable influences on the regional left ventricular function. Therefore, not only global but also regional left ventricular function is necessary for better understanding of pathophysiology of myocardial infarction.(N.K.)

Developmental dyscalculia: compensatory mechanisms in left intraparietal regions in response to nonsymbolic magnitudes

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Starke Marc

2009-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Background Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI studies investigating the neural mechanisms underlying developmental dyscalculia are scarce and results are thus far inconclusive. Main aim of the present study is to investigate the neural correlates of nonsymbolic number magnitude processing in children with and without dyscalculia. Methods 18 children (9 with dyscalculia were asked to solve a non-symbolic number magnitude comparison task (finger patterns during brain scanning. For the spatial control task identical stimuli were employed, instructions varying only (judgment of palm rotation. This design enabled us to present identical stimuli with identical visual processing requirements in the experimental and the control task. Moreover, because numerical and spatial processing relies on parietal brain regions, task-specific contrasts are expected to reveal true number-specific activations. Results Behavioral results during scanning reveal that despite comparable (almost at ceiling performance levels, task-specific activations were stronger in dyscalculic children in inferior parietal cortices bilaterally (intraparietal sulcus, supramarginal gyrus, extending to left angular gyrus. Interestingly, fMRI signal strengths reflected a group × task interaction: relative to baseline, controls produced significant deactivations in (intraparietal regions bilaterally in response to number but not spatial processing, while the opposite pattern emerged in dyscalculics. Moreover, beta weights in response to number processing differed significantly between groups in left – but not right – (intraparietal regions (becoming even positive in dyscalculic children. Conclusion Overall, findings are suggestive of (a less consistent neural activity in right (intraparietal regions upon processing nonsymbolic number magnitudes; and (b compensatory neural activity in left (intraparietal regions in developmental dyscalculia.

Developmental dyscalculia: compensatory mechanisms in left intraparietal regions in response to nonsymbolic magnitudes.

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Kaufmann, Liane; Vogel, Stephan E; Starke, Marc; Kremser, Christian; Schocke, Michael; Wood, Guilherme

2009-08-05

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies investigating the neural mechanisms underlying developmental dyscalculia are scarce and results are thus far inconclusive. Main aim of the present study is to investigate the neural correlates of nonsymbolic number magnitude processing in children with and without dyscalculia. 18 children (9 with dyscalculia) were asked to solve a non-symbolic number magnitude comparison task (finger patterns) during brain scanning. For the spatial control task identical stimuli were employed, instructions varying only (judgment of palm rotation). This design enabled us to present identical stimuli with identical visual processing requirements in the experimental and the control task. Moreover, because numerical and spatial processing relies on parietal brain regions, task-specific contrasts are expected to reveal true number-specific activations. Behavioral results during scanning reveal that despite comparable (almost at ceiling) performance levels, task-specific activations were stronger in dyscalculic children in inferior parietal cortices bilaterally (intraparietal sulcus, supramarginal gyrus, extending to left angular gyrus). Interestingly, fMRI signal strengths reflected a group x task interaction: relative to baseline, controls produced significant deactivations in (intra)parietal regions bilaterally in response to number but not spatial processing, while the opposite pattern emerged in dyscalculics. Moreover, beta weights in response to number processing differed significantly between groups in left - but not right - (intra)parietal regions (becoming even positive in dyscalculic children). Overall, findings are suggestive of (a) less consistent neural activity in right (intra)parietal regions upon processing nonsymbolic number magnitudes; and (b) compensatory neural activity in left (intra)parietal regions in developmental dyscalculia.

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

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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.

The timing of associative memory formation: frontal lobe and anterior medial temporal lobe activity at associative binding predicts memory

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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

Regional homogeneity changes in prelingually deafened patients: a resting-state fMRI study

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Li, Wenjing; He, Huiguang; Xian, Junfang; Lv, Bin; Li, Meng; Li, Yong; Liu, Zhaohui; Wang, Zhenchang

2010-03-01

Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a technique that measures the intrinsic function of brain and has some advantages over task-induced fMRI. Regional homogeneity (ReHo) assesses the similarity of the time series of a given voxel with its nearest neighbors on a voxel-by-voxel basis, which reflects the temporal homogeneity of the regional BOLD signal. In the present study, we used the resting state fMRI data to investigate the ReHo changes of the whole brain in the prelingually deafened patients relative to normal controls. 18 deaf patients and 22 healthy subjects were scanned. Kendall's coefficient of concordance (KCC) was calculated to measure the degree of regional coherence of fMRI time courses. We found that regional coherence significantly decreased in the left frontal lobe, bilateral temporal lobes and right thalamus, and increased in the postcentral gyrus, cingulate gyrus, left temporal lobe, left thalamus and cerebellum in deaf patients compared with controls. These results show that the prelingually deafened patients have higher degree of regional coherence in the paleocortex, and lower degree in neocortex. Since neocortex plays an important role in the development of auditory, these evidences may suggest that the deaf persons reorganize the paleocortex to offset the loss of auditory.

Global left ventricular function in cardiac CT. Evaluation of an automated 3D region-growing segmentation algorithm

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Muehlenbruch, Georg; Das, Marco; Hohl, Christian; Wildberger, Joachim E.; Guenther, Rolf W.; Mahnken, Andreas H.; Rinck, Daniel; Flohr, Thomas G.; Koos, Ralf; Knackstedt, Christian

2006-01-01

The purpose was to evaluate a new semi-automated 3D region-growing segmentation algorithm for functional analysis of the left ventricle in multislice CT (MSCT) of the heart. Twenty patients underwent contrast-enhanced MSCT of the heart (collimation 16 x 0.75 mm; 120 kV; 550 mAseff). Multiphase image reconstructions with 1-mm axial slices and 8-mm short-axis slices were performed. Left ventricular volume measurements (end-diastolic volume, end-systolic volume, ejection fraction and stroke volume) from manually drawn endocardial contours in the short axis slices were compared to semi-automated region-growing segmentation of the left ventricle from the 1-mm axial slices. The post-processing-time for both methods was recorded. Applying the new region-growing algorithm in 13/20 patients (65%), proper segmentation of the left ventricle was feasible. In these patients, the signal-to-noise ratio was higher than in the remaining patients (3.2±1.0 vs. 2.6±0.6). Volume measurements of both segmentation algorithms showed an excellent correlation (all P≤0.0001); the limits of agreement for the ejection fraction were 2.3±8.3 ml. In the patients with proper segmentation the mean post-processing time using the region-growing algorithm was diminished by 44.2%. On the basis of a good contrast-enhanced data set, a left ventricular volume analysis using the new semi-automated region-growing segmentation algorithm is technically feasible, accurate and more time-effective. (orig.)

The anterior temporal lobes support residual comprehension in Wernicke's aphasia.

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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.

Regional wall movement of the left ventricle in coronary heat diseases

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Schad, N.

1979-01-01

The regional wall movement of the left ventriculus is a substantial criterion for the treatment of coronary heart diseases. The non-invasive and riskless intravenous injections of a bolus of Technetium 99m-Pertechnetat and the recording of the first passage through the heart allow to present the regional wall movement of the left ventriculus and, in addition, to make a statement on the haemodynamic feed back effects on lungs and the right heart. The congruency with the wall movement determined invasively, in the contrast substance angiocardiogram, is high both for the normokinesis and for hypo-, A - and dyskinesis (90-92%). The examination proved good in following groups of patients and makes the decision on the further proceding easier: 1) After myocardial infarction. 2) In ishaemia-ECG or persistent ST-elevation. 3) In unstable progressive angina pectoris. 4) In unclear breast aches and negative ECG on exertion. 5) For course control after conservative and surgial therapy. The myocardial reserve can be shown using a after nitroglycerin administration. An investigation on exertion can find out affected vessel territories in the circulation. (orig.) [de

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.

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

Regional brain structural abnormality in ischemic stroke patients: a voxel-based morphometry study

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Ping Wu

2016-01-01

Full Text Available Our previous study used regional homogeneity analysis and found that activity in some brain areas of patients with ischemic stroke changed significantly. In the current study, we examined structural changes in these brain regions by taking structural magnetic resonance imaging scans of 11 ischemic stroke patients and 15 healthy participants, and analyzing the data using voxel-based morphometry. Compared with healthy participants, patients exhibited higher gray matter density in the left inferior occipital gyrus and right anterior white matter tract. In contrast, gray matter density in the right cerebellum, left precentral gyrus, right middle frontal gyrus, and left middle temporal gyrus was less in ischemic stroke patients. The changes of gray matter density in the middle frontal gyrus were negatively associated with the clinical rating scales of the Fugl-Meyer Motor Assessment (r = -0.609, P = 0.047 and the left middle temporal gyrus was negatively correlated with the clinical rating scales of the nervous functional deficiency scale (r = -0.737, P = 0.010. Our findings can objectively identify the functional abnormality in some brain regions of ischemic stroke patients.

Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in schizophrenia during verbal memory activation: a 99mTc-HMPAO single photon emission tomography (SPET) study.

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Busatto, G F; Costa, D C; Ell, P J; Pilowsky, L S; David, A S; Kerwin, R W

1994-05-01

Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was investigated in a group of medicated DSM-III-R schizophrenic patients and age, sex and handedness matched normal volunteers using a split-dose 99mTc-HMPAO Single Photon Emission Tomography (SPET) protocol. Measures were taken during the performance of a verbal memory task aimed at activating the left medial temporal lobe, a region repeatedly suggested to be structurally abnormal in schizophrenia. In normal subjects, the performance of the task was associated with significant rCBF increases in the left medial temporal, left inferior frontal and anterior cingulate cortices, and right cerebellum. Despite their significantly poorer performance on the memory task, the degree of medial temporal activation measured in the schizophrenic patients was not significantly different from that found in the control group. This finding suggests that memory deficits in schizophrenia do not necessarily imply failure to activate the left medial temporal lobe as assessed by 99mTc-HMPAO SPET.

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

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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.

Asymmetry of medial and lateral temporal regional glucose metabolism in temporal lobe epilepsy by F-18-FDG PET

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Dong Soo; Yeo, Jeong Seok; Song, Ho Cheon; Lee, Sang Kun; Kim, Hyun Jip; Chung, June Key; Lee, Myung Chul

1999-01-01

We investigated the difference of glucose metabolism of medial and lateral temporal lobes of patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) utilizing quantitative comparison of regional metabolic activities using asymmetric index. We studied 19 pathologically proven mesial TLE and 25 lateral TLE patients. Lateral TLE patients were either normal on magnetic resonance imaging (cryptogenic: n=14) or had structural lesions (lesional: n=11). Asymmetric index (ASI) was calculated as [(ipsilateral contralateral)/(ipsilateral + contralateral )]x200. ASI of medial and lateral lobes of mesial TLE was decreased (-16.4±8.3 and -12.7± 5.5, respectively). In cryptogenic lateral TLE, ASI of lateral temporal lobe was decreased (-11.8± 4.7), whereas that of medial temporal lobe was not decreased (-4.6±6.3). ASI of medial lobe of lesional lateral TLE was -7.3±9.1, which was significantly different from that of mesial TLE (p<0.05). Patients with lesional lateral TLE had evident metabolic defects or decrease (ASI: -22±10.5) in lateral temporal lobe. While we could not find the difference of metabolic activity in lateral temporal lobes between cryptogenic lateral TLE and mesial TLE patients, the difference of metabolic activity was significant in medial temporal lobes which was revealed by ASI quantitation. Asymmetric decrease of metabolic activity in both medial and lateral temporal lobes indicates medial temporal epilepsy. Symmetry of metabolic activity in medial temporal lobe combined with asymmetry of that in lateral temporal lobe may give hints that the epileptogenic zone is lateral

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

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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. �

Aphasia following left thalamic hemorrhage. A study by Western Aphasia Battery and single photon emission CT

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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.

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

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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

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

Cerebro-cerebellar interactions underlying temporal information processing.

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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.

A region-specific quantitative profile of autonomic innervation of the canine left atrium and pulmonary veins.

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Gao, Chong-han; Wang, Fei; Jiang, Rong; Zhang, Jin; Mou, Huamin; Yin, Yue-hui

2011-07-05

The aim of the present study was to determine and quantify the cardiac autonomic innervation of the canine atria and pulmonary vein. Tissue specimens were taken from the canine pulmonary veins (PVs), posterior left atrium (PLA), left atrial roof (LAR), anterior left atrium (ALA), interatrial septum (IAS), and left atrial appendage (LAA) respectively for immunohistochemical analysis and nerve density determination. Both sympathetic and parasympathetic nerve densities decreased in the order: PLA>PV>IAS>LAR>ALA>LAA. For sympathetic nerve, multiple comparisons between any two regions showed a significant difference (PIAS vs. LAR, and LAR vs. ALA; for parasympathetic nerve, all the differences between any pair of regions were statistically significant (PIAS vs. LAR, LAR vs. ALA, and ALA vs. LAA. For both nerve types, there was a decreasing gradient of nerve densities from the external to internal layer (P<0.001, for each comparisons). Nerve density at the ostia for either nerve type was significantly higher than at the distal segments of PVs (P<0.001). In summary, the LA and PVs are innervated by sympathetic and parasympathetic nerves in a regionally heterogeneous way, which may be important for the pathophysiological investigation and ablation therapy of atrial fibrillation (AF). Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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

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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

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

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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.

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.

Neural regions supporting lexical processing of objects and actions: A case series analysis

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Bonnie L Breining

2014-04-01

Full Text Available Introduction. Linking semantic representations to lexical items is an important cognitive process for both producing and comprehending language. Past research has suggested that the bilateral anterior temporal lobes are critical for this process (e.g. Patterson, Nestor, & Rogers, 2007. However, the majority of studies focused on object concepts alone, ignoring actions. The few that considered actions suggest that the temporal poles are not critical for their processing (e.g. Kemmerer et al., 2010. In this case series, we investigated the neural substrates of linking object and action concepts to lexical labels by correlating the volume of defined regions of interest with behavioral performance on picture-word verification and picture naming tasks of individuals with primary progressive aphasia (PPA. PPA is a neurodegenerative condition with heterogeneous neuropathological causes, characterized by increasing language deficits for at least two years in the face of relatively intact cognitive function in other domains (Gorno-Tempini et al., 2011. This population displays appropriate heterogeneity of performance and focal atrophy for investigating the neural substrates involved in lexical semantic processing of objects and actions. Method. Twenty-one individuals with PPA participated in behavioral assessment within six months of high resolution anatomical MRI scans. Behavioral assessments consisted of four tasks: picture-word verification and picture naming of objects and actions. Performance on these assessments was correlated with brain volume measured using atlas-based analysis in twenty regions of interest that are commonly atrophied in PPA and implicated in language processing. Results. Impaired performance for all four tasks significantly correlated with atrophy in the right superior temporal pole, left anterior middle temporal gyrus, and left fusiform gyrus. No regions were identified in which volume correlated with performance for both

Analysis of the relationship between myocardial viability and regional left ventricular wall motion

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Furutani, Yuhji; Ozaki, Masaharu; Yamamoto, Takeshi; Sato, Shinichi; Saiki, Atsushi; Kusukawa, Reizo

1993-01-01

Myocardial viability was determined by using postsystolic shortening (PSS) as an index, as obtained by cardiac blood pool scintigraphy with Tc-99m HSA. The findings were compared with those of thallium-201 myocardial SPECT. The study population was comparised of 41 patients with single blood vessel disease in the left anterior descending artery (34 with old myocardial infarction and 7 with effort angina pectoris). Left ventricular area was divided into 6 segments, and global and regional left ventricular blood volume curves were obtained. Delayed end-systole was the most common in the apex (41%), followed by the upper septum (37%) and lower septum (10%). PSS resulting from delayed end-systole was seen in 36 areas. PSS/end-diastolic volume (EDV) and PSS/systolic volume (SV) were obtained by adjusting end-diastolic and stroke counts, respectively. Thallium-201 myocardial SPECT images were divided into 5 segments to obtain defect score (DS) for visual Tl uptake. Both PSS/EDV and PSS/SV were greater in association with more delayed end-systole, greater DS, and lower reginal ejection fraction. Areas showing greater PSS were associated with less myocardial viability, as observed on Tl myocardial SPECT images. Thus, PSS seemed to reflect the degree of myocardial necrosis within the region of interest. (N.K.)

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

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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

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

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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.

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

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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

Brain Regions Underlying Word Finding Difficulties in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

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Trebuchon-Da Fonseca, Agnes; Guedj, Eric; Alario, F-Xavier; Laguitton, Virginie; Mundler, Olivier; Chauvel, Patrick; Liegeois-Chauvel, Catherine

2009-01-01

Word finding difficulties are often reported by epileptic patients with seizures originating from the language dominant cerebral hemisphere, for example, in temporal lobe epilepsy. Evidence regarding the brain regions underlying this deficit comes from studies of peri-operative electro-cortical stimulation, as well as post-surgical performance.…

A Rare Case of Craniopharyngioma in the Temporal Lobe

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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.

The anterior temporal lobes support residual comprehension in Wernicke’s aphasia

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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

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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

Low regional cerebral blood flow in burning mouth syndrome patients with depression.

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Liu, B-L; Yao, H; Zheng, X-J; Du, G-H; Shen, X-M; Zhou, Y-M; Tang, G-Y

2015-07-01

The main aims of this study were to (i) investigate the emotional disorder status of patients with burning mouth syndrome (BMS) and (ii) detect regional cerebral blood flow in BMS patients with the application of combined single-photon emission computed tomography and computed tomography (SPECT/CT). The degree of pain was measured using the visual analysis scale, and emotional disorder with the self-rating anxiety scale, self-rating depression scale, and Hamilton depression rating scale in 29 patients with BMS and 10 healthy controls. SPECT/CT was performed in 29 patients with BMS and 10 healthy controls, and statistical parametric mapping method was used for between-group analyses. The incidence rate of depression in patients with BMS was 31.0%. Compared to the control group, patients with BMS displayed significantly different depression and anxiety scales (P < 0.05). Significantly lower regional cerebral blood flow in the left parietal and left temporal lobes was recorded for BMS patients with depression (P < 0.05). Patients with BMS experience more depression and anxious emotion. Moreover, depression in patients with BMS may be associated with lower regional cerebral blood flow in the left temporal and left parietal lobes. © 2015 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.

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

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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.

Cine MR imaging assessment of regional left ventricular systolic wall thickening in patients with remote myocardial infarction

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Pfugfelder, P.; White, R.D.; Sechtem, U.; Gould, R.G.; Higgins, C.B.

1986-01-01

Cine MR imaging, a new rapid imaging technique, was used to acquire transverse images of the heart at a rate of 16-30 frames per cardiac cycle. Left ventricular wall thickness was measured at end diastole and end systole in six regions in the midventricular section of 13 healthy subjects and seven patients with previously documented myocardial infarction. Mean percent systolic wall thickening (%SWT) was 51% +- 26% in healthy subjects. In patients, %SWT was -8% +- 22% in the infarct zone and 42% +- 22% in the normal myocardium. In addition to the qualitative information derived from the cinematic display, determination of regional %SWT by cine-MR imaging may be useful for quantifying regional left ventricular dysfunction

Three cases of temporal bone osteoradionecrosis after nasopharyngeal carcinoma treatment

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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

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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

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

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

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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.

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

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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

Clinical use of regional Tc-99m-HMPAO uptake in dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT). Klinische Wertigkeit des regionalen [sup 99m]Tc-HMPAO Uptake bei der Demenz vom Alzheimer-Typ (DAT)

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Gebhardt, U [Nuklearmedizinische Klinik und Poliklinik, TU Muenchen (Germany); Schmauss, F [Nuklearmedizinische Klinik und Poliklinik, TU Muenchen (Germany); Wagner-Manslau, C [Nuklearmedizinische Klinik und Poliklinik, TU Muenchen (Germany); Buttermann, G [Nuklearmedizinische Klinik und Poliklinik, TU Muenchen (Germany); Zimmer, R [Psychiatrische Klinik, TU Muenchen (Germany)

1993-12-01

In 46 patients with dementia of the Alzheimer type (DAT) regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was compared with cognitive performance (MMSE, CAMCOG). The cortico-cerebellar ratio (CCR), determined by [sup 99m]Tc-HMPAO-SPECT was used as a rCBF-equivalent. In the mild demented group we found a bilateral CCR-reduction parietal posterior, in moderate DAT bilateral temporoparietal and leftsided frontolateral defects were seen. Severe DAT showed an additional perfusion decrease mid frontal. With increasing severity of DAT an asymmetric perfusion occurred in 17/46 patients with accentuated CCR-reduction on the left side (temporal>parietal). High correlations between CCR and MMSE (r[>=]0.70) existed frontolateral, temporal and parietal in the left hemisphere. Significant associations between CCR and CAMCOG were obtained for language in the left temporal posterior region (r=0.64), for memory task left temporal anterior (r=0.59) and for praxis left parietal posterior (r=0.55). In detecting rCBF abnormalities the sensitivity for all 46 DAT patients was 91% and 70% in the mild cases. (orig.)

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.

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.

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

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.

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

Temporal variations of gravity in the Aswan region of Egypt

Czech Academy of Sciences Publication Activity Database

Mrlina, Jan; Radwan, A. H.; Hassan, R. M.; Mahmoud, S. M.; Tealeb, A. A.; Issawy, I. A.

2003-01-01

Roč. 35, 4/5 (2003), s. 499-509 ISSN 0264-3707 R&D Projects: GA AV ČR KSK3012103; GA AV ČR IAA3012807; GA ČR GA205/00/1470 Institutional research plan: CEZ:AV0Z3012916 Keywords : gravity * temporal variations * Aswan region Subject RIV: DE - Earth Magnetism, Geodesy, Geography Impact factor: 0.754, year: 2003

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.)

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)

无

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.

Internet Search Alters Intra- and Inter-regional Synchronization in the Temporal Gyrus

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Xiaoyue Liu

2018-03-01

Full Text Available Internet search changed the way we store and recall information and possibly altered our brain functions. Previous studies suggested that Internet search facilitates the information-acquisition process. However, this process may cause individuals to lose the ability to store and recollect specific contents. Despite the numerous behavioral studies conducted in this field, little is known about the neural mechanisms underlying Internet searches. The present study explores potential brain activity changes induced by Internet search. The whole paradigm includes three phases, namely, pre-resting state fMRI (rs-fMRI scan, 6-day Internet search training, and post rs-fMRI scan. We detected the functional integrations induced by Internet search training by comparing post- with pre-scan. Regional homogeneity (ReHo and functional connectivity (FC were used to detect intra- and interregional synchronized activity in 42 university students. Compared with pre-scan, post-scan showed decreased ReHo in the temporal gyrus, the middle frontal gyrus, and the postcentral gyrus. Further seed-based FC analysis showed that the temporal gyrus exhibited decreased FC in the parahippocampal cortex and the temporal gyrus after training. Based on the features of current task and functions exhibited by these brain regions, results indicate that short-term Internet search training changed the brain regional activities involved in memory retrieval. In general, this study provides evidence that supports the idea that Internet search can affect our brain functions.

Internet Search Alters Intra- and Inter-regional Synchronization in the Temporal Gyrus.

Science.gov (United States)

Liu, Xiaoyue; Lin, Xiao; Zheng, Ming; Hu, Yanbo; Wang, Yifan; Wang, Lingxiao; Du, Xiaoxia; Dong, Guangheng

2018-01-01

Internet search changed the way we store and recall information and possibly altered our brain functions. Previous studies suggested that Internet search facilitates the information-acquisition process. However, this process may cause individuals to lose the ability to store and recollect specific contents. Despite the numerous behavioral studies conducted in this field, little is known about the neural mechanisms underlying Internet searches. The present study explores potential brain activity changes induced by Internet search. The whole paradigm includes three phases, namely, pre-resting state fMRI (rs-fMRI) scan, 6-day Internet search training, and post rs-fMRI scan. We detected the functional integrations induced by Internet search training by comparing post- with pre-scan. Regional homogeneity (ReHo) and functional connectivity (FC) were used to detect intra- and interregional synchronized activity in 42 university students. Compared with pre-scan, post-scan showed decreased ReHo in the temporal gyrus, the middle frontal gyrus, and the postcentral gyrus. Further seed-based FC analysis showed that the temporal gyrus exhibited decreased FC in the parahippocampal cortex and the temporal gyrus after training. Based on the features of current task and functions exhibited by these brain regions, results indicate that short-term Internet search training changed the brain regional activities involved in memory retrieval. In general, this study provides evidence that supports the idea that Internet search can affect our brain functions.

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.

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.

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…

The left fusiform gyrus is a critical region contributing to the core behavioral profile of semantic dementia

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Junhua eDing

2016-05-01

Full Text Available Given that extensive cerebral regions are co-atrophic in semantic dementia (SD, it is not yet known which critical regions (SD-semantic-critical regions are really responsible for the semantic deficits of SD. To identify the SD-semantic-critical regions, we explored the relationship between the degree of cerebral atrophy in the whole brain and the severity of semantic deficits in 19 individuals with SD. We found that the gray matter volumes of two regions [left fusiform gyrus (lFFG and left parahippocampal gyrus (lPHG] significantly correlated with the semantic scores of patients with SD. Importantly, the effects of the lFFG remained significant after controlling for the gray matter volumes of the lPHG. Moreover, the effects of the region could not be accounted for by the total gray matter volume, general cognitive ability, laterality of brain atrophy, or control task performance. We further observed that each atrophic portion of the lFFG along the anterior-posterior axis might dedicate to the loss of semantic functions in SD. These results reveal that the lFFG could be a critical region contributing to the semantic deficits of SD.

Regional and temporal differences in gene expression of LH(BETA)T(AG) retinoblastoma tumors.

Science.gov (United States)

Houston, Samuel K; Pina, Yolanda; Clarke, Jennifer; Koru-Sengul, Tulay; Scott, William K; Nathanson, Lubov; Schefler, Amy C; Murray, Timothy G

2011-07-23

The purpose of this study was to evaluate by microarray the hypothesis that LH(BETA)T(AG) retinoblastoma tumors exhibit regional and temporal variations in gene expression. LH(BETA)T(AG) mice aged 12, 16, and 20 weeks were euthanatized (n = 9). Specimens were taken from five tumor areas (apex, anterior lateral, center, base, and posterior lateral). Samples were hybridized to gene microarrays. The data were preprocessed and analyzed, and genes with a P 2.5 were considered to be differentially expressed. Differentially expressed genes were analyzed for overlap with known networks by using pathway analysis tools. There were significant temporal (P regional differences in gene expression for LH(BETA)T(AG) retinoblastoma tumors. At P 2.5, there were significant changes in gene expression of 190 genes apically, 84 genes anterolaterally, 126 genes posteriorly, 56 genes centrally, and 134 genes at the base. Differentially expressed genes overlapped with known networks, with significant involvement in regulation of cellular proliferation and growth, response to oxygen levels and hypoxia, regulation of cellular processes, cellular signaling cascades, and angiogenesis. There are significant temporal and regional variations in the LH(BETA)T(AG) retinoblastoma model. Differentially expressed genes overlap with key pathways that may play pivotal roles in murine retinoblastoma development. These findings suggest the mechanisms involved in tumor growth and progression in murine retinoblastoma tumors and identify pathways for analysis at a functional level, to determine significance in human retinoblastoma. Microarray analysis of LH(BETA)T(AG) retinal tumors showed significant regional and temporal variations in gene expression, including dysregulation of genes involved in hypoxic responses and angiogenesis.

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.

Bilingualism alters brain functional connectivity between "control" regions and "language" regions: Evidence from bimodal bilinguals.

Science.gov (United States)

Li, Le; Abutalebi, Jubin; Zou, Lijuan; Yan, Xin; Liu, Lanfang; Feng, Xiaoxia; Wang, Ruiming; Guo, Taomei; Ding, Guosheng

2015-05-01

Previous neuroimaging studies have revealed that bilingualism induces both structural and functional neuroplasticity in the dorsal anterior cingulate cortex (dACC) and the left caudate nucleus (LCN), both of which are associated with cognitive control. Since these "control" regions should work together with other language regions during language processing, we hypothesized that bilingualism may also alter the functional interaction between the dACC/LCN and language regions. Here we tested this hypothesis by exploring the functional connectivity (FC) in bimodal bilinguals and monolinguals using functional MRI when they either performed a picture naming task with spoken language or were in resting state. We found that for bimodal bilinguals who use spoken and sign languages, the FC of the dACC with regions involved in spoken language (e.g. the left superior temporal gyrus) was stronger in performing the task, but weaker in the resting state as compared to monolinguals. For the LCN, its intrinsic FC with sign language regions including the left inferior temporo-occipital part and right inferior and superior parietal lobules was increased in the bilinguals. These results demonstrate that bilingual experience may alter the brain functional interaction between "control" regions and "language" regions. For different control regions, the FC alters in different ways. The findings also deepen our understanding of the functional roles of the dACC and LCN in language processing. Copyright © 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The effect of regional politics on regional life expectancy in Italy (1980-2010).

Science.gov (United States)

Jonker, Marcel F; D'Ippolito, Edoardo; Eikemo, Terje A; Congdon, Peter D; Nante, Nicola; Mackenbach, Johan P; Kamphuis, Carlijn B M

2017-03-01

The evidence on the association between politics and health is scarce considering the importance of this topic for population health. Studies that investigated the effect of different political regimes on health outcomes show inconsistent results. Bayesian time-series cross-section analyses are used to examine the overall impact of regional politics on variations in Italian regional life expectancy (LE) at birth during the period 1980-2010. Our analyses control for trends in and unobserved determinants of regional LE, correct for temporal as well as spatial autocorrelation, and employ a flexible specification for the timing of the political effects. In the period from 1980 to 1995, we find no evidence that the communist, left-oriented coalitions and Christian Democratic, centre-oriented coalitions have had an effect on regional LE. In the period from 1995 onwards, after a major reconfiguration of Italy's political regimes and a major healthcare reform, we again find no evidence that the Centre-Left and Centre-Right coalitions have had a significant impact on regional LE. The presented results provide no support for the notion that different regional political regimes in Italy have had a differential effect on regional LE, even though Italian regions have had considerable and increasing autonomy over healthcare and health-related policies and expenditures.

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.

Global and Regional Left Ventricular Contractile Impairment In Patients With Wolff-Parkinson-White Syndrome

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Sony Jacob

2009-07-01

Full Text Available Background: To assess regional systolic function and global contractile function in patients with WPW Syndrome.Method: Eleven cases with manifest Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW syndrome in sinus rhythm were compared to 11 age matched controls. 2D strain analysis was performed and peak segmental radial strain (pRS values obtained from basal ventricular parasternal short-axis images (70 ± 5 frames/sec using a dedicated software package. Heterogeneity of radial strain pattern in six circumferential basal left ventricular segments was measured in terms of standard deviations of peak RS (SDpRS or range (difference between maximum and minimum peak RS i.e. RangepRS. Spectral Doppler (continuous wave measurements were acquired through the left ventricular outflow tract to determine Pre Ejection Period (PEP, Left Ventricular Ejection Time (LVET and measures of left ventricular systolic performance. Results: LV segmental radial strain was profoundly heterogeneous in WPW cases in contrast to fairly homogenous strain pattern in normal subjects. Wide SDpRS values 17.5 ± 8.9 vs 3.3 ± 1.4, p<0.001 and RangepRS 42.7 ± 20.8 vs.8.5 ± 3.6 , p<0.001 were observed among WPW and healthy subjects respectively. PEP (132.4 ± 14.7 vs 4.7 ± 0.5ms, p<0.001 and corrected PEP (76.1 ± 8.0 vs 2.7 ± 0.4ms, p<0.001 were significantly longer in WPW patients compared to controls. The PEP/LVET ratio was also significantly greater in WPW cohort (0.49 ± 0.04 vs. 0.28 ± 0.05, p <0.001 suggesting global systolic dysfunction. Conclusion: Patients with manifest preexcitation (predominantly those with right-sided pathways have regional and global contractile dysfunction resulting from aberrant impulse propagation inherent to the preexcited state.

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.)

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.

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.

Differential contributions of the anterior temporal and medial temporal lobe to the retrieval of memory for person identity information.

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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

Statistical parametric mapping for analyzing interictal magnetoencephalography in patients with left frontal lobe epilepsy.

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Zhu, Haitao; Zhu, Jinlong; Bao, Forrest Sheng; Liu, Hongyi; Zhu, Xuchuang; Wu, Ting; Yang, Lu; Zou, Yuanjie; Zhang, Rui; Zheng, Gang

2016-01-01

Frontal lobe epilepsy is a common epileptic disorder and is characterized by recurring seizures that arise in the frontal lobes. The purpose of this study is to identify the epileptogenic regions and other abnormal regions in patients with left frontal lobe epilepsy (LFLE) based on the magnetoencephalogram (MEG), and to understand the effects of clinical variables on brain activities in patients with LFLE. Fifteen patients with LFLE (23.20 ± 8.68 years, 6 female and 9 male) and 16 healthy controls (23.13 ± 7.66 years, 6 female and 10 male) were included in resting-stage MEG examinations. Epileptogenic regions of LFLE patients were confirmed by surgery. Regional brain activations were quantified using statistical parametric mapping (SPM). The correlation between the activations of the abnormal brain regions and the clinical seizure parameters were computed for LFLE patients. Brain activations of LFLE patients were significantly elevated in left superior/middle/inferior frontal gyri, postcentral gyrus, inferior temporal gyrus, insula, parahippocampal gyrus and amygdala, including the epileptogenic regions. Remarkable decreased activations were found mainly in the left parietal gyrus and precuneus. There is a positive correlation between the duration of the epilepsy (in month) and activations of the abnormal regions, while no relation was found between age of seizure onset (year), seizure frequency and the regions of the abnormal activity of the epileptic patients. Our findings suggest that the aberrant brain activities of LFLE patients were not restricted to the epileptogenic zones. Long duration of epilepsy might induce further functional damage in patients with LFLE. Copyright © 2015 British Epilepsy Association. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

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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

Modulation of neural circuits underlying temporal production by facial expressions of pain.

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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.

Differential regional gray matter volumes in patients with on-line game addiction and professional gamers

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Han, Doug Hyun; Lyoo, In Kyoon; Renshaw, Perry F.

2015-01-01

Patients with on-line game addiction (POGA) and professional video game players play video games for extended periods of time, but experience very different consequences for their on-line game play. Brain regions consisting of anterior cingulate, thalamus and occpito-temporal areas may increase the likelihood of becoming a pro-gamer or POGA. Twenty POGA, seventeen pro-gamers, and eighteen healthy comparison subjects (HC) were recruited. All magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed on a 1.5 Tesla Espree MRI scanner (SIEMENS, Erlangen, Germany). Voxel-wise comparisons of gray matter volume were performed between the groups using the two-sample t-test with statistical parametric mapping (SPM5). Compared to HC, the POGA group showed increased impulsiveness and perseverative errors, and volume in left thalamus gray matter, but decreased gray matter volume in both inferior temporal gyri, right middle occipital gyrus, and left inferior occipital gyrus, compared with HC. Pro-gamers showed increased gray matter volume in left cingulate gyrus, but decreased gray matter volume in left middle occipital gyrus and right inferior temporal gyrus compared with HC. Additionally, the pro-gamer group showed increased gray matter volume in left cingulate gyrus and decreased left thalamus gray matter volume compared with the POGA group. The current study suggests that increased gray matter volumes of the left cingulate gyrus in pro-gamers and of the left thalamus in POGA may contribute to the different clinical characteristics of pro-gamers and POGA. PMID:22277302

Regional activation of the human medial temporal lobe during intentional encoding of objects and positions

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Ramsøy, Thomas Z.; Liptrot, Matthew G.; Skimminge, Arnold

2009-01-01

The medial temporal lobe (MTL) consists of several regions thought to be involved in learning and memory. However, the degree of functional specialization among these regions remains unclear. Previous studies have demonstrated effects of both content and processing stage, but findings have been i...

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

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

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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.

Temporal lobe structures and facial emotion recognition in schizophrenia patients and nonpsychotic relatives.

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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.

Audiovisual speech integration in the superior temporal region is dysfunctional in dyslexia.

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Ye, Zheng; Rüsseler, Jascha; Gerth, Ivonne; Münte, Thomas F

2017-07-25

Dyslexia is an impairment of reading and spelling that affects both children and adults even after many years of schooling. Dyslexic readers have deficits in the integration of auditory and visual inputs but the neural mechanisms of the deficits are still unclear. This fMRI study examined the neural processing of auditorily presented German numbers 0-9 and videos of lip movements of a German native speaker voicing numbers 0-9 in unimodal (auditory or visual) and bimodal (always congruent) conditions in dyslexic readers and their matched fluent readers. We confirmed results of previous studies that the superior temporal gyrus/sulcus plays a critical role in audiovisual speech integration: fluent readers showed greater superior temporal activations for combined audiovisual stimuli than auditory-/visual-only stimuli. Importantly, such an enhancement effect was absent in dyslexic readers. Moreover, the auditory network (bilateral superior temporal regions plus medial PFC) was dynamically modulated during audiovisual integration in fluent, but not in dyslexic readers. These results suggest that superior temporal dysfunction may underly poor audiovisual speech integration in readers with dyslexia. Copyright © 2017 IBRO. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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

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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.

Spatio-Temporal Simulation and Analysis of Regional Ecological Security Based on Lstm

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Gong, C.; Qi, L.; Heming, L.; Karimian, H.; Yuqin, M.

2017-10-01

Region is a complicated system, where human, nature and society interact and influence. Quantitative modeling and simulation of ecology in the region are the key to realize the strategy of regional sustainable development. Traditional machine learning methods have made some achievements in the modeling of regional ecosystems, but it is difficult to determine the learning characteristics and to realize spatio-temporal simulation. Deep learning does not need prior identification of training characteristics, have excellent feature learning ability, can improve the accuracy of model prediction, so the use of deep learning model has a significant advantage. Therefore, we use net primary productivity (NPP), atmospheric optical depth (AOD), moderate-resolution imaging spectrometer (MODIS), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), landcover and population data, and use LSTM to do spatio-temporal simulation. We conduct spatial analysis and driving force analysis. The conclusions are as follows: the ecological deficit of northwestern Henan and urban communities such as Zhengzhou is higher. The reason of former lies in the weak land productivity of the Loess Plateau, the irrational crop cultivation mode. The latter lies in the high consumption of resources in the large urban agglomeration; The positive trend of Henan ecological development from 2013 is mainly due to the effective environmental protection policy in the 12th five-year plan; The main driver of the sustained ecological deficit growth of Henan in 2004-2013 is high-speed urbanization, increasing population and goods consumption. This article provides relevant basic scientific support and reference for the regional ecological scientific management and construction.

SPATIO-TEMPORAL SIMULATION AND ANALYSIS OF REGIONAL ECOLOGICAL SECURITY BASED ON LSTM

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

C. Gong

2017-10-01

Full Text Available Region is a complicated system, where human, nature and society interact and influence. Quantitative modeling and simulation of ecology in the region are the key to realize the strategy of regional sustainable development. Traditional machine learning methods have made some achievements in the modeling of regional ecosystems, but it is difficult to determine the learning characteristics and to realize spatio-temporal simulation. Deep learning does not need prior identification of training characteristics, have excellent feature learning ability, can improve the accuracy of model prediction, so the use of deep learning model has a significant advantage. Therefore, we use net primary productivity (NPP, atmospheric optical depth (AOD, moderate-resolution imaging spectrometer (MODIS, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI, landcover and population data, and use LSTM to do spatio-temporal simulation. We conduct spatial analysis and driving force analysis. The conclusions are as follows: the ecological deficit of northwestern Henan and urban communities such as Zhengzhou is higher. The reason of former lies in the weak land productivity of the Loess Plateau, the irrational crop cultivation mode. The latter lies in the high consumption of resources in the large urban agglomeration; The positive trend of Henan ecological development from 2013 is mainly due to the effective environmental protection policy in the 12th five-year plan; The main driver of the sustained ecological deficit growth of Henan in 2004-2013 is high-speed urbanization, increasing population and goods consumption. This article provides relevant basic scientific support and reference for the regional ecological scientific management and construction.

Regional cerebral blood flow changes associated with clitorally induced orgasm in healthy women.

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Georgiadis, Janniko R; Kortekaas, Rudie; Kuipers, Rutger; Nieuwenburg, Arie; Pruim, Jan; Reinders, A A T Simone; Holstege, Gert

2006-12-01

There is a severe lack of knowledge regarding the brain regions involved in human sexual performance in general, and female orgasm in particular. We used [15O]-H2O positron emission tomography to measure regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in 12 healthy women during a nonsexual resting state, clitorally induced orgasm, sexual clitoral stimulation (sexual arousal control) and imitation of orgasm (motor output control). Extracerebral markers of sexual performance and orgasm were rectal pressure variability (RPstd) and perceived level of sexual arousal (PSA). Sexual stimulation of the clitoris (compared to rest) significantly increased rCBF in the left secondary and right dorsal primary somatosensory cortex, providing the first account of neocortical processing of sexual clitoral information. In contrast, orgasm was mainly associated with profound rCBF decreases in the neocortex when compared with the control conditions (clitoral stimulation and imitation of orgasm), particularly in the left lateral orbitofrontal cortex, inferior temporal gyrus and anterior temporal pole. Significant positive correlations were found between RPstd and rCBF in the left deep cerebellar nuclei, and between PSA and rCBF in the ventral midbrain and right caudate nucleus. We propose that decreased blood flow in the left lateral orbitofrontal cortex signifies behavioural disinhibition during orgasm in women, and that deactivation of the temporal lobe is directly related to high sexual arousal. In addition, the deep cerebellar nuclei may be involved in orgasm-specific muscle contractions while the involvement of the ventral midbrain and right caudate nucleus suggests a role for dopamine in female sexual arousal and orgasm.

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

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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.

Frontal and temporal volumes in Childhood Absence Epilepsy.

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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.

Conscious and nonconscious memory effects are temporally dissociable.

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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.

Temporal Lobe Lesions and Perception of Species-Specific Vocalizations by Macaques

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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.

High-resolution temporal and regional mapping of MAPT expression and splicing in human brain development.

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Hefti, Marco M; Farrell, Kurt; Kim, SoongHo; Bowles, Kathryn R; Fowkes, Mary E; Raj, Towfique; Crary, John F

2018-01-01

The microtubule associated protein tau plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative disease. Recent studies suggest that tau also plays a role in disorders of neuronal connectivity, including epilepsy and post-traumatic stress disorder. Animal studies have shown that the MAPT gene, which codes for the tau protein, undergoes complex pre-mRNA alternative splicing to produce multiple isoforms during brain development. Human data, particularly on temporal and regional variation in tau splicing during development are however lacking. In this study, we present the first detailed examination of the temporal and regional sequence of MAPT alternative splicing in the developing human brain. We used a novel computational analysis of large transcriptomic datasets (total n = 502 patients), quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and western blotting to examine tau expression and splicing in post-mortem human fetal, pediatric and adult brains. We found that MAPT exons 2 and 10 undergo abrupt shifts in expression during the perinatal period that are unique in the canonical human microtubule-associated protein family, while exon 3 showed small but significant temporal variation. Tau isoform expression may be a marker of neuronal maturation, temporally correlated with the onset of axonal growth. Immature brain regions such as the ganglionic eminence and rhombic lip had very low tau expression, but within more mature regions, there was little variation in tau expression or splicing. We thus demonstrate an abrupt, evolutionarily conserved shift in tau isoform expression during the human perinatal period that may be due to tau expression in maturing neurons. Alternative splicing of the MAPT pre-mRNA may play a vital role in normal brain development across multiple species and provides a basis for future investigations into the developmental and pathological functions of the tau protein.

Assessment of changes in regional cerebral blood flow in patients with major depression using the 99mTc-HMPAO single photon emission tomography method

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yazici, K.; Kapucu, Oe.; Erbas, B.; Varoglu, E.; Guelec, C.; Bekdik, C.F.; Hacettepe Univ., Ankara

1992-01-01

Regional cerebral blood flow was investigated in 14 patients with major depression diagnosed according to the DSM-III-R criteria (six patients with single and eight patients with recurrent episodes) and in ten healthy volunteers. The mean ages of the patients and the controls were 33.5±2.7 and 31.6±2.6 years, respectively. The severity of the depression was assessed using the 17-item Hamiltonian Depression Scale (mean: 23.2±1.5). None of the patients was under medication. After administration of 500 MBq technetium-99m hexamethylpropylene amine oxime, a single photon emission tomography study was performed and then transaxial, sagittal and coronal slices were obtained. For the semiquantitative analysis of the data, the ratios of the mean counts/pixel to the whole slice were calculated for 24 regions on three consecutive transaxial slices in the orbitomeatal plane. Additionally, left/right and frontal/occipital ratios were calculated. Both sides of the temporal region had a significantly decreased cerebral blood flow (CBF) when compared to the controls. The left/right ratio of the prefrontal region was also significantly lower in the patients than in the controls. The Hamilton score had a negative correlation with blood flow in the anterofrontal and left prefrontal regions. According to our results, regional CBF seems to be decreased in the left prefrontal and in both temporal regions in major depression. The severity of depression is correlated with the reduction in CBF in the regions of the anterofrontal and left prefrontal cortex. (orig.)

Frontal and temporal contributions to understanding the iconic co-speech gestures that accompany speech.

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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.

Regional gray matter volume is associated with trait modesty: Evidence from voxel-based morphometry.

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Zheng, Chuhua; Wu, Qiong; Jin, Yan; Wu, Yanhong

2017-11-02

Modesty when defined as a personality trait, is highly beneficial to interpersonal relationship, group performance, and mental health. However, the potential neural underpinnings of trait modesty remain poorly understood. In the current study, we used voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to investigate the structural neural basis of trait modesty in Chinese college students. VBM results showed that higher trait modesty score was associated with lager regional gray matter volume in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex, right dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, left superior temporal gyrus/left temporal pole, and right posterior insular cortex. These results suggest that individual differences in trait modesty are linked to brain regions associated with self-evaluation, self-regulation, and social cognition. The results remained robust after controlling the confounding factor of global self-esteem, suggesting unique structural correlates of trait modesty. These findings provide evidence for the structural neural basis of individual differences in trait modesty.

Distinct contribution of the parietal and temporal cortex to hand configuration and contextual judgements about tools.

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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.

Magnetoencephalographic localization of peritumoral temporal epileptic focus previous surgical resection.

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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.

A cross-sectional MRI study of brain regional atrophy and clinical characteristics of temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis.

LENUS (Irish Health Repository)

2012-02-01

PURPOSE: Applying a cross-sectional design, we set out to further characterize the significance of extrahippocampal brain atrophy in a large sample of \\'sporadic\\' mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis (MTLE+HS). By evaluating the influence of epilepsy chronicity on structural atrophy, this work represents an important step towards the characterization of MRI-based volumetric measurements as genetic endophenotypes for this condition. METHODS: Using an automated brain segmentation technique, MRI-based volume measurements of several brain regions were compared between 75 patients with \\'sporadic\\' MTLE+HS and 50 healthy controls. Applying linear regression models, we examined the relationship between structural atrophy and important clinical features of MTLE+HS, including disease duration, lifetime number of partial and generalized seizures, and history of initial precipitating insults (IPIs). RESULTS: Significant volume loss was detected in ipsilateral hippocampus, amygdala, thalamus, and cerebral white matter (WM). In addition, contralateral hippocampal and bilateral cerebellar grey matter (GM) volume loss was observed in left MTLE+HS patients. Hippocampal, amygdalar, and cerebral WM volume loss correlated with duration of epilepsy. This correlation was stronger in patients with prior IPIs history. Further, cerebral WM, cerebellar GM, and contralateral hippocampal volume loss correlated with lifetime number of generalized seizures. CONCLUSION: Our findings confirm that multiple brain regions beyond the hippocampus are involved in the pathogenesis of MTLE+HS. IPIs are an important factor influencing the rate of regional atrophy but our results also support a role for processes related to epilepsy chronicity. The consequence of epilepsy chronicity on candidate brain regions has important implications on their application as genetic endophenotypes.

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

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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.)

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.)

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.

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

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

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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.

Single-photon tomographic determination of regional cerebral blood flow in psychiatric disorders

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Devous, M.D. Sr.; Rush, A.J.; Schlesser, M.A.; Debus, J.; Raese, J.D.; Chehabi, H.H.; Bonte, F.J.

1984-01-01

Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) was measured by single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) of 133-Xe washout in 29 normal volunteers, 22 unipolar endogenous depressives (UPE), 9 unipolar nonendogenous depressives (UPNE), 13 bipolar depressed patients (BPD), and 14 schizophrenic patients (SCHZ). RCBF was measured 2 and 6 cm above and parallel to the cantho-meatal line and quantitated in 14 gray matter regions. Most subjects were drug-free for 4-14 days. Diagnoses were made by experienced clinicians employing the Research Diagnostic Criteria, the Hamilton Rating Scale, and the dexamethasone suppression test. SCHZ were rated with the Brief Psychiatric Rating Scale. UPE had reduced flow compared to normals in the right parietal and temporal lobes and a nonsignificant trend toward left temporal flow reductions. UPNE were not different from normal or other patient groups. BPD had significant flow elevations in the left hemisphere relative to normal, and in both hemispheres relative to UPE. SCHZ were not significantly different from normal or other patient groups. Anterior-posterior flow shifts were evaluated by subtracting parietal or temporal flows from frontal flows. SCHZ demonstrated a greater posterior shift (lower relative frontal lobe flow) in comparison to both UPE and UPNE. The most significant regional flow abnormalities were observed as frontal flow reductions in individual SCHZ, although these were not significant in the whole group in comparison to normal

Differential regional gray matter volumes in patients with on-line game addiction and professional gamers.

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Han, Doug Hyun; Lyoo, In Kyoon; Renshaw, Perry F

2012-04-01

Patients with on-line game addiction (POGA) and professional video game players play video games for extended periods of time, but experience very different consequences for their on-line game play. Brain regions consisting of anterior cingulate, thalamus and occpito-temporal areas may increase the likelihood of becoming a pro-gamer or POGA. Twenty POGA, seventeen pro-gamers, and eighteen healthy comparison subjects (HC) were recruited. All magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was performed on a 1.5 Tesla Espree MRI scanner (SIEMENS, Erlangen, Germany). Voxel-wise comparisons of gray matter volume were performed between the groups using the two-sample t-test with statistical parametric mapping (SPM5). Compared to HC, the POGA group showed increased impulsiveness and perseverative errors, and volume in left thalamus gray matter, but decreased gray matter volume in both inferior temporal gyri, right middle occipital gyrus, and left inferior occipital gyrus, compared with HC. Pro-gamers showed increased gray matter volume in left cingulate gyrus, but decreased gray matter volume in left middle occipital gyrus and right inferior temporal gyrus compared with HC. Additionally, the pro-gamer group showed increased gray matter volume in left cingulate gyrus and decreased left thalamus gray matter volume compared with the POGA group. The current study suggests that increased gray matter volumes of the left cingulate gyrus in pro-gamers and of the left thalamus in POGA may contribute to the different clinical characteristics of pro-gamers and POGA. Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Resting-state functional connectivity predicts the strength of hemispheric lateralization for language processing in temporal lobe epilepsy and normals.

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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.

Significant decreases in frontal and temporal [11C]-raclopride binding after THC challenge.

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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.

Face processing regions are sensitive to distinct aspects of temporal sequence in facial dynamics.

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Reinl, Maren; Bartels, Andreas

2014-11-15

Facial movement conveys important information for social interactions, yet its neural processing is poorly understood. Computational models propose that shape- and temporal sequence sensitive mechanisms interact in processing dynamic faces. While face processing regions are known to respond to facial movement, their sensitivity to particular temporal sequences has barely been studied. Here we used fMRI to examine the sensitivity of human face-processing regions to two aspects of directionality in facial movement trajectories. We presented genuine movie recordings of increasing and decreasing fear expressions, each of which were played in natural or reversed frame order. This two-by-two factorial design matched low-level visual properties, static content and motion energy within each factor, emotion-direction (increasing or decreasing emotion) and timeline (natural versus artificial). The results showed sensitivity for emotion-direction in FFA, which was timeline-dependent as it only occurred within the natural frame order, and sensitivity to timeline in the STS, which was emotion-direction-dependent as it only occurred for decreased fear. The occipital face area (OFA) was sensitive to the factor timeline. These findings reveal interacting temporal sequence sensitive mechanisms that are responsive to both ecological meaning and to prototypical unfolding of facial dynamics. These mechanisms are temporally directional, provide socially relevant information regarding emotional state or naturalness of behavior, and agree with predictions from modeling and predictive coding theory. Copyright © 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Spatial and temporal variability of rainfall in the Tocantins-Araguaia hydrographic region

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Glauber Epifanio Loureiro

2015-01-01

Full Text Available Current paper examines the space-time dynamics of yearly rainfall of the Tocantins-Araguaia Hydrographic Region (TAHR, foregrounded on rainfall volume from isohyet maps and interpolated by Kriging geo-statistical method.  Rainfall space dynamics was undertaken by the analysis of descriptive statistics, Index of Meteorological Irregularity (IMI and Variation Coefficient. Temporal dynamics was analyzed through the distribution of total annual volume precipitation for each TAHR sub-basin by the Standardized Anomaly Index, trend and magnitude test provided by Mann-Kendall and Sen Tests. Results correlated with meteorological anomalies of the Atlantic (Dipole and Pacific (ENOS Oceans show a highly heterogeneous rainfall behavior with temporal variability. Or rather, a decrease of rainfall extensiveness during years of intense meteorological anomaly with a rainfall increase south of the High Tocantins and Araguaia sub-basins and a decrease of rainfall in the Lower Tocantins sub-basin, with El Niño features. Although the Mann-Kendall test does not show statistically a significant trend for rainfall in the TAHR region, Sen’s estimator reveals a decrease in rainfall in the High Tocantins (-1.24 km³ year-1 and Araguaia (-1.13 km³ year-1 sub-basins and a rainfall increase in the Lower Tocantins sub-basin (0.53 km³ year-1 and in the TAHR region (-1.5 km³ year-1.

Differential Effect of Left vs. Right White Matter Hyperintensity Burden on Functional Decline: The Northern Manhattan Study.

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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.

An fMRI study of sex differences in regional activation to a verbal and a spatial task.

Science.gov (United States)

Gur, R C; Alsop, D; Glahn, D; Petty, R; Swanson, C L; Maldjian, J A; Turetsky, B I; Detre, J A; Gee, J; Gur, R E

2000-09-01

Sex differences in cognitive performance have been documented, women performing better on some phonological tasks and men on spatial tasks. An earlier fMRI study suggested sex differences in distributed brain activation during phonological processing, with bilateral activation seen in women while men showed primarily left-lateralized activation. This blood oxygen level-dependent fMRI study examined sex differences (14 men, 13 women) in activation for a spatial task (judgment of line orientation) compared to a verbal-reasoning task (analogies) that does not typically show sex differences. Task difficulty was manipulated. Hypothesized ROI-based analysis documented the expected left-lateralized changes for the verbal task in the inferior parietal and planum temporal regions in both men and women, but only men showed right-lateralized increase for the spatial task in these regions. Image-based analysis revealed a distributed network of cortical regions activated by the tasks, which consisted of the lateral frontal, medial frontal, mid-temporal, occipitoparietal, and occipital regions. The activation was more left lateralized for the verbal and more right for the spatial tasks, but men also showed some left activation for the spatial task, which was not seen in women. Increased task difficulty produced more distributed activation for the verbal and more circumscribed activation for the spatial task. The results suggest that failure to activate the appropriate hemisphere in regions directly involved in task performance may explain certain sex differences in performance. They also extend, for a spatial task, the principle that bilateral activation in a distributed cognitive system underlies sex differences in performance. Copyright 2000 Academic Press.

Regional cerebral blood flow pattern in normal young and aged volunteers: a 99mTc-HMPAO SPET study

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Catafau, A.M.; Lomena, J.; Pavia, J.; Parellada, E.; Bernardo, M.; Setoain, J.; Tolosa, E.

1996-01-01

The aim of this study was to investigate the normal pattern of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) distribution in normal young and aged volunteers using technetium-99m hexamethylpropylene amine oxime ( 99m -Tc-HMPAO) as a tracer. The region brain perfusion of young and aged subjects was compared, especially regarding rCBF differences due to age and gender, and interhemispheric rCBF asymmetries. Sixty-eight right-handed normal volunteers -40 young (mean age 29.5±6.3 years) and 28 aged (mean age 71.2±4.3 years) - were included in the study. rCBF was estimated on the basis of a semiquantitative approach by means of a left-right index and two region/reference ratios, using the cerebellum and the whole brain activity as references. A good correlation between these two region/reference ratios was found (P<0.005 in all cerebral regions). The highest rCBF ratios corresponded to the cerebellum, followed by the occipital lobe. The remaining cortical regions (temporal, parietal, frontal and basal ganglia) showed slightly lower values. The white matter showed rCBF ratios substantially lower than the grey matter. In neighter young nor aged subjects were significant rCBF differences between the genders found in any of the two region/reference indices employed. Aged sugjects showed significantly lower rCBF ratios than young subjects in the left frontal lobe and in the posterior region of the left temporal lobe. In both young and aged subjects, lower perfusion was found in the left hemisphere, except for the white matter region in both age groups and the frontal lobe in the young subjects. Aged subjects presented a slightly higher interhemispheric asymmetry in the frontal lobe. However, interhemispheric asymmetry was minimal (-1.01% to 3.14%). Consequently, a symmetrical rCBF distribution can be assumed between homologous regions, independent of age. (orig.)

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

Automated Volumetry and Regional Thickness Analysis of Hippocampal Subfields and Medial Temporal Cortical Structures in Mild Cognitive Impairment

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Yushkevich, Paul A.; Pluta, John B.; Wang, Hongzhi; Xie, Long; Ding, Song-Lin; Gertje, E. C.; Mancuso, Lauren; Kliot, Daria; Das, Sandhitsu R.; Wolk, David A.

2014-01-01

We evaluate a fully automatic technique for labeling hippocampal subfields and cortical subregions in the medial temporal lobe (MTL) in in vivo 3 Tesla MRI. The method performs segmentation on a T2-weighted MRI scan with 0.4 × 0.4 × 2.0 mm3 resolution, partial brain coverage, and oblique orientation. Hippocampal subfields, entorhinal cortex, and perirhinal cortex are labeled using a pipeline that combines multi-atlas label fusion and learning-based error correction. In contrast to earlier work on automatic subfield segmentation in T2-weighted MRI (Yushkevich et al., 2010), our approach requires no manual initialization, labels hippocampal subfields over a greater anterior-posterior extent, and labels the perirhinal cortex, which is further subdivided into Brodmann areas 35 and 36. The accuracy of the automatic segmentation relative to manual segmentation is measured using cross-validation in 29 subjects from a study of amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI), and is highest for the dentate gyrus (Dice coefficient is 0.823), CA1 (0.803), perirhinal cortex (0.797) and entorhinal cortex (0.786) labels. A larger cohort of 83 subjects is used to examine the effects of aMCI in the hippocampal region using both subfield volume and regional subfield thickness maps. Most significant differences between aMCI and healthy aging are observed bilaterally in the CA1 subfield and in the left Brodmann area 35. Thickness analysis results are consistent with volumetry, but provide additional regional specificity and suggest non-uniformity in the effects of aMCI on hippocampal subfields and MTL cortical subregions. PMID:25181316

Right fronto-limbic atrophy is associated with reduced empathy in refractory unilateral mesial temporal lobe epilepsy.

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Toller, Gianina; Adhimoolam, Babu; Rankin, Katherine P; Huppertz, Hans-Jürgen; Kurthen, Martin; Jokeit, Hennric

2015-11-01

Refractory mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) is the most frequent focal epilepsy and is often accompanied by deficits in social cognition including emotion recognition, theory of mind, and empathy. Consistent with the neuronal networks that are crucial for normal social-cognitive processing, these impairments have been associated with functional changes in fronto-temporal regions. However, although atrophy in unilateral MTLE also affects regions of the temporal and frontal lobes that underlie social cognition, little is known about the structural correlates of social-cognitive deficits in refractory MTLE. In the present study, a psychometrically validated empathy questionnaire was combined with whole-brain voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to investigate the relationship between self-reported affective and cognitive empathy and gray matter volume in 55 subjects (13 patients with right MTLE, 9 patients with left MTLE, and 33 healthy controls). Consistent with the brain regions underlying social cognition, our results show that lower affective and cognitive empathy was associated with smaller volume in predominantly right fronto-limbic regions, including the right hippocampus, parahippocampal gyrus, thalamus, fusiform gyrus, inferior temporal gyrus, dorsomedial and dorsolateral prefrontal cortices, and in the bilateral midbrain. The only region that was associated with both affective and cognitive empathy was the right mesial temporal lobe. These findings indicate that patients with right MTLE are at increased risk for reduced empathy towards others' internal states and they shed new light on the structural correlates of impaired social cognition frequently accompanying refractory MTLE. In line with previous evidence from patients with neurodegenerative disease and stroke, the present study suggests that empathy depends upon the integrity of right fronto-limbic and brainstem regions and highlights the importance of the right mesial temporal lobe and midbrain

Altered spontaneous brain activity in adolescent boys with pure conduct disorder revealed by regional homogeneity analysis.

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Wu, Qiong; Zhang, Xiaocui; Dong, Daifeng; Wang, Xiang; Yao, Shuqiao

2017-07-01

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have revealed abnormal neural activity in several brain regions of adolescents with conduct disorder (CD) performing various tasks. However, little is known about the spontaneous neural activity in people with CD in a resting state. The aims of this study were to investigate CD-associated regional activity abnormalities and to explore the relationship between behavioral impulsivity and regional activity abnormalities. Resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI) scans were administered to 28 adolescents with CD and 28 age-, gender-, and IQ-matched healthy controls (HCs). The rs-fMRI data were subjected to regional homogeneity (ReHo) analysis. ReHo can demonstrate the temporal synchrony of regional blood oxygen level-dependent signals and reflect the coordination of local neuronal activity facilitating similar goals or representations. Compared to HCs, the CD group showed increased ReHo bilaterally in the insula as well as decreased ReHo in the right inferior parietal lobule, right middle temporal gyrus and right fusiform gyrus, left anterior cerebellum anterior, and right posterior cerebellum. In the CD group, mean ReHo values in the left and the right insula correlated positively with Barratt Impulsivity Scale (BIS) total scores. The results suggest that CD is associated with abnormal intrinsic brain activity, mainly in the cerebellum and temporal-parietal-limbic cortices, regions that are related to emotional and cognitive processing. BIS scores in adolescents with CD may reflect severity of abnormal neuronal synchronization in the insula.

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

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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

Functional connectivity evidence of cortico-cortico inhibition in temporal lobe epilepsy.

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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.

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

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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.)

Quantification of left ventricular regional functions using ECG-gated myocardial perfusion SPECT. Validation of left ventricular systolic functions

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Yamamoto, Akira; Takahashi, Naoto; Iwahara, Shin-ichiro; Munakata, Kazuo; Hosoya, Tetsuo

2006-01-01

We have developed a program to quantify regional left ventricular (LV) function and wall motion synchrony using electrocardiogram (ECG)-gated myocardial perfusion SPECT (MPS). This preliminary study was undertaken to validate the use of this program for estimating regional LV systolic function. Patients were subjected to MPS by 99m Tc-sestamibi at rest. The study included 20 patients who were confirmed to have a low probability of coronary artery disease (LPG; low probability group), 19 heart disease patients who were examined by MPS and equilibrium radionuclide angiography (ERNA) (ERG; ERNA group), and 24 patients who were examined by MPS and 2-dimensional echocardiography (2DE) (2DEG; 2DE group). The values of the ejection fraction (EF) and peak ejection rate (PER) were estimated. The global functions evaluated by this program were compared with those obtained by ERNA in the ERG. For regional assessment, the reference values of the functional indices were obtained for 17 LV segments in LPG. The Z score, (reference average value of the segment-patient's value of the segment)/reference standard deviation of the segment, was used for the evaluation of regional functions; a score equal to or greater than 2 was defined as abnormal. Semiquantitative visual interpretation of 2DE was used as the standard to assess wall motion. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value (PPV), and negative predictive value (NPV) of these criteria and the relationship between 2DE grading and Z scoring were validated in 2DEG. The values of the global EF and PER evaluated by this program correlated with those determined by ERNA (r=0.76 and 0.58, respectively; p -10 ). The potential of this program to quantify the regional systolic function was validated. (author)

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

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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

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

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

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

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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

Left TPJ activity in verbal working memory: implications for storage- and sensory-specific models of short term memory.

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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.

Temporal Profiles Dissociate Regional Extracellular Ethanol versus Dopamine Concentrations

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2015-01-01

In vivo monitoring of dopamine via microdialysis has demonstrated that acute, systemic ethanol increases extracellular dopamine in regions innervated by dopaminergic neurons originating in the ventral tegmental area and substantia nigra. Simultaneous measurement of dialysate dopamine and ethanol allows comparison of the time courses of their extracellular concentrations. Early studies demonstrated dissociations between the time courses of brain ethanol concentrations and dopaminergic responses in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) elicited by acute ethanol administration. Both brain ethanol and extracellular dopamine levels peak during the first 5 min following systemic ethanol administration, but the dopamine response returns to baseline while brain ethanol concentrations remain elevated. Post hoc analyses examined ratios of the dopamine response (represented as a percent above baseline) to tissue concentrations of ethanol at different time points within the first 25–30 min in the prefrontal cortex, NAc core and shell, and dorsomedial striatum following a single intravenous infusion of ethanol (1 g/kg). The temporal patterns of these “response ratios” differed across brain regions, possibly due to regional differences in the mechanisms underlying the decline of the dopamine signal associated with acute intravenous ethanol administration and/or to the differential effects of acute ethanol on the properties of subpopulations of midbrain dopamine neurons. This Review draws on neurochemical, physiological, and molecular studies to summarize the effects of acute ethanol administration on dopamine activity in the prefrontal cortex and striatal regions, to explore the potential reasons for the regional differences observed in the decline of ethanol-induced dopamine signals, and to suggest directions for future research. PMID:25537116

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

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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.

Baseline and cognition activated regional cerebral brain flow of naive paranoid schizophrenics

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Li Huafang; Gu Niufan; Xiu Yan; Chen Shaoliang

2002-01-01

Objective: To investigate the baseline and cognition activated regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in naive paranoid schizophrenics and the relationships between the symptoms and rCBF. Methods: The scale of positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS) was adopted to evaluate the symptoms of schizophrenia. The baseline and cognition activated 99 Tc m -ethylcysteinate dimmer (ECD) SPECT were performed one after the other within two days. Wisconsin card sorting test (WCST) was used as cognitive task. Semi-quantitative analyses were applied. Results: There were no significant differences of WCST results between two groups. Compared with normal controls, the baseline rCBF ratios of left to right interior posterior temporal cortex in patients were significantly higher, while that of left mid-medial frontal cortex was significantly lower in patients. There was no significant difference of rCBF ratios of baseline to cognition activated states in patients. WCST couldn't activate the frontal function in patients. The total score of PANSS, score of positive subscale and general syndrome subscale were correlated with the rCBF ratio of several regions of interest (ROIs) . Some symptoms were correlated with the rCBF ratio of some ROIs. Conclusions: The hyperperfusion of left and right temporal inferior posterior cortex and hypoperfusion of left mid-medial frontal cortex could be seen in naive paranoid schizophrenics. Hypofrontality existed in patients before treatment. Some positive symptoms were correlated with the rCBF of some ROI

Alterations of Regional Cerebral Blood Flow in Major Depressive Disorder

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Lee, Won Hyoung; Chung, Yong An; Seo, Ye Young; Yoo, Ik Dong; Na, Sae Jung; Jung, Hyun Suk; Kim, Ki Jun [College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

2009-04-15

The authors analyzed how the regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) findings of patients with major depression differ from the normal control, and our results were compared to previous reports. Twelve patients fulfilling DSM-IV criteria for major depression who were off all psychotropic medications for > 4 weeks (male: 7, female: 5, age range: 19approx52 years, average age: 29.3+-9.9 years) and 14 normal volunteers (male: 8, female: 6, age range: 19approx53 years, average age: 31.4+-9.2 years) were recruited. Images of brain perfusion SPECT were obtained using Tc-99m ECD and patterns of the rCBF were compared between patients with major depression and the healthy control subjects. The patients with major depression showed increase of the r-CBF in right lingual gyrus, right fusiform gyrus, left lingual gyrus, left precuneus, and left superior temporal gyrus, and showed decrease of r-CBF in right pons, left medial frontal gyrus, cingulate gyrus of left limbic lobe, cingulate gyrus of right frontal lobe, and cingulate gyrus of right limbic lobe compared to the normal control. The Tc-99m ECD brain perfusion SPECT findings in our study did not differ from the previously reported regional cerebral blood flow pattern of patients with major depression. Especially, decreased rCBF pattern typical to major depression patients in the right pons, left medial frontal gyrus, and cingulate regions was clearly demonstrated

Alterations of Regional Cerebral Blood Flow in Major Depressive Disorder

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Lee, Won Hyoung; Chung, Yong An; Seo, Ye Young; Yoo, Ik Dong; Na, Sae Jung; Jung, Hyun Suk; Kim, Ki Jun

2009-01-01

The authors analyzed how the regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) findings of patients with major depression differ from the normal control, and our results were compared to previous reports. Twelve patients fulfilling DSM-IV criteria for major depression who were off all psychotropic medications for > 4 weeks (male: 7, female: 5, age range: 19∼52 years, average age: 29.3±9.9 years) and 14 normal volunteers (male: 8, female: 6, age range: 19∼53 years, average age: 31.4±9.2 years) were recruited. Images of brain perfusion SPECT were obtained using Tc-99m ECD and patterns of the rCBF were compared between patients with major depression and the healthy control subjects. The patients with major depression showed increase of the r-CBF in right lingual gyrus, right fusiform gyrus, left lingual gyrus, left precuneus, and left superior temporal gyrus, and showed decrease of r-CBF in right pons, left medial frontal gyrus, cingulate gyrus of left limbic lobe, cingulate gyrus of right frontal lobe, and cingulate gyrus of right limbic lobe compared to the normal control. The Tc-99m ECD brain perfusion SPECT findings in our study did not differ from the previously reported regional cerebral blood flow pattern of patients with major depression. Especially, decreased rCBF pattern typical to major depression patients in the right pons, left medial frontal gyrus, and cingulate regions was clearly demonstrated

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

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

2010-01-01

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

Mesial temporal sclerosis in children Esclerose mesial temporal em crianças

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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

Differential Effect of Left vs. Right White Matter Hyperintensity Burden on Functional Decline: The Northern Manhattan Study

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Mandip S. Dhamoon

2017-09-01

Full Text Available 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.

Damage to Broca’s area OR the anterior temporal lobe is implicated in stroke-induced agrammatic comprehension: it depends on the task

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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

Association between left ventricular regional sympathetic denervation and mechanical dyssynchrony in phase analysis: a cardiac CZT study

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Gimelli, Alessia; Genovesi, Dario; Giorgetti, Assuero; Kusch, Annette [Fondazione Toscana Gabriele Monasterio, Pisa (Italy); Liga, Riccardo [Scuola Superiore Sant' Anna, Pisa (Italy); Marzullo, Paolo [Fondazione Toscana Gabriele Monasterio, Pisa (Italy); CNR, Institute of Clinical Physiology, Pisa (Italy)

2014-05-15

To evaluate the relationships among myocardial sympathetic innervation, perfusion and mechanical synchronicity assessed with cardiac cadmium-zinc-telluride (CZT) scintigraphy. A group of 29 patients underwent an evaluation of myocardial perfusion with {sup 99m}Tc-tetrofosmin CZT scintigraphy and adrenergic innervation with {sup 123}I-metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) CZT scintigraphy. The summed rest score (SRS), motion score (SMS) and thickening score (STS), as well as the summed {sup 123}I-MIBG defect score (SS-MIBG), were determined. Regional tracer uptake for both {sup 99m}Tc-tetrofosmin and {sup 123}I-MIBG was also calculated. Finally, the presence of significant myocardial mechanical dyssynchrony was evaluated in phase analysis on gated CZT images and the region of latest mechanical activation identified. Significant mechanical dyssynchrony was present in 17 patients (59 %) and associated with higher SRS (P = 0.030), SMS (P < 0.001), STS (P = 0.003) and early SS-MIBG (P = 0.037) as well as greater impairments in left ventricular ejection fraction (P < 0.001) and end-diastolic volume (P < 0.001). In multivariate analysis a higher end-diastolic volume remained the only predictor of mechanical dyssynchrony (P = 0.047). Interestingly, while in the whole population regional myocardial perfusion and adrenergic activity were strongly correlated (R = 0.68), in patients with mechanical dyssynchrony the region of latest mechanical activation was predicted only by greater impairment in regional {sup 123}I-MIBG uptake (P = 0.012) that overwhelmed the effect of depressed regional perfusion. Left ventricular mechanical dyssynchrony is associated with greater depression in contractile function and greater impairments in regional myocardial perfusion and sympathetic activity. In patients with dyssynchrony, the region of latest mechanical activation is characterized by a significantly altered adrenergic tone. (orig.)

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 ...

The neural basis of temporal order processing in past and future thought.

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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.

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

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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.

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

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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.)

Lateralization for dynamic facial expressions in human superior temporal sulcus.

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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

Effects of typical antipsychotic, haloperidol on regional cerebral blood flow in drug-naive schizophrenic patients-study with 99mTc-HMPAO SPECT

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kamoya, Masatoshi

2001-01-01

For the purpose of examining antipsychotic action of haloperidol (HPD), effects of chronic perioral administration of HPD 4.5 mg/day on regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) with 99mTc-HMPAO SPECT were investigated in 12 drug-naive schizophrenic patients with acute hallucinatory and delusional state. Further, the SPECT examinations were performed on 20 normal adult volunteers to investigate differences in rCBFs between schizophrenics and the normal subjects. Results are itemized as follows. The rCBF values were significantly increased in the bilateral superior and middle frontal, cingulate, middle temporal, pre-and post-central gyri, the left superior temporal gyrus, the bilateral inferior parietal lobule, and the bilateral hippocampal and thalamic cortices in comparison between normal subjects and before the HPD dose in schizophrenics. However, the rCBF values after the HPD dose showed significant increases only in the bilateral pre-and post-central gyri in comparison with the normal subjects. The rCBF values were significantly decreased in the bilateral superior, middle and inferior frontal, superior and middle temporal gyri, and the left insular gyrus after the HPD dose in comparison with before the HPD dose. The psychiatric assessment with PANSS showed an improvement of positive symptoms consisting of auditory hallucination and delusions after the HPD dose. Statistical analyses on relationships between the rCBF values and PANSS scores before and after the HPD dose showed positive correlations between the right inferior frontal gyrus and auditory hallucination or positive symptoms, between the right superior temporal gyrus, left thalamus and delusions, and between the left thalamus, insular gyrus and negative symptoms. These results suggest that acute drug-naive schizophrenic patients have widespread cortico-subcortical energic hypermetabolism and HPD reduces the hypermetabolism, leading to whole normalized brain metabolism, in particular with the larger region

Effects of typical antipsychotic, haloperidol on regional cerebral blood flow in drug-naive schizophrenic patients-study with 99mTc-HMPAO SPECT

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kamoya, Masatoshi [Kanazawa Medical Univ., Ishikawa (Japan)

2001-03-01

For the purpose of examining antipsychotic action of haloperidol (HPD), effects of chronic perioral administration of HPD 4.5 mg/day on regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) with 99mTc-HMPAO SPECT were investigated in 12 drug-naive schizophrenic patients with acute hallucinatory and delusional state. Further, the SPECT examinations were performed on 20 normal adult volunteers to investigate differences in rCBFs between schizophrenics and the normal subjects. Results are itemized as follows. The rCBF values were significantly increased in the bilateral superior and middle frontal, cingulate, middle temporal, pre-and post-central gyri, the left superior temporal gyrus, the bilateral inferior parietal lobule, and the bilateral hippocampal and thalamic cortices in comparison between normal subjects and before the HPD dose in schizophrenics. However, the rCBF values after the HPD dose showed significant increases only in the bilateral pre-and post-central gyri in comparison with the normal subjects. The rCBF values were significantly decreased in the bilateral superior, middle and inferior frontal, superior and middle temporal gyri, and the left insular gyrus after the HPD dose in comparison with before the HPD dose. The psychiatric assessment with PANSS showed an improvement of positive symptoms consisting of auditory hallucination and delusions after the HPD dose. Statistical analyses on relationships between the rCBF values and PANSS scores before and after the HPD dose showed positive correlations between the right inferior frontal gyrus and auditory hallucination or positive symptoms, between the right superior temporal gyrus, left thalamus and delusions, and between the left thalamus, insular gyrus and negative symptoms. These results suggest that acute drug-naive schizophrenic patients have widespread cortico-subcortical energic hypermetabolism and HPD reduces the hypermetabolism, leading to whole normalized brain metabolism, in particular with the larger region

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

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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.

Strength of Temporal White Matter Pathways Predicts Semantic Learning.

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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

Connectivity and tissue microstructural alterations in right and left temporal lobe epilepsy revealed by diffusion spectrum imaging

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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.

Gender and hemispheric differences in temporal lobe epilepsy: a VBM study.

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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.

Research on spontaneous activity in adult anisometropic amblyopia with regional homogeneity

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Huang, Yufeng; Zhou, Yifeng

2017-06-01

Amblyopia usually occurs in early childhood and results in monocular visual impairment. The functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have reflected functional anomaly in amblyopia. In resting-state fMRI study, spontaneous activity changes abnormally in anisometropic amblyopia could be revealed by the regional homogeneity (ReHo). Twenty two adult anisometropic amblyopes and Twenty one normal controls participated in this fMRI study. Two sample T test was carried out to analysis ReHo within the whole brain for the inter groups. Compare with normal group, our study found that the amblyopia’s ReHo mainly increased in the left frontal lobe, while decreased in the left cerebellum, the temporal lobe (left and right), and the left parietal lobe. And the ReHo values in middle and inferior temporal lobe, the prefrontal lobe, frontal lobe (positive) and parietal lobe and medial frontal gyrus (negative) could be correlated with the acuity deficit of amblyopia. The results increased in ReHo may indicate compensatory plasticity in higher vision information process, while the decreased in ReHo may reflect decreased ability in eye movement, spatial sense and visuo-motor coordination. The correlation revealed that the vision deficit may correspond to the spontaneous in certain brain area.

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

[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.

Predicting Surgery Targets in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy through Structural Connectome Based Simulations.

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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.

The Role of Medial Temporal Lobe Regions in Incidental and Intentional Retrieval of Item and Relational Information in Aging.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Wei-Chun; Giovanello, Kelly S

2016-06-01

Considerable neuropsychological and neuroimaging work indicates that the medial temporal lobes are critical for both item and relational memory retrieval. However, there remain outstanding issues in the literature, namely the extent to which medial temporal lobe regions are differentially recruited during incidental and intentional retrieval of item and relational information, and the extent to which aging may affect these neural substrates. The current fMRI study sought to address these questions; participants incidentally encoded word pairs embedded in sentences and incidental item and relational retrieval were assessed through speeded reading of intact, rearranged, and new word-pair sentences, while intentional item and relational retrieval were assessed through old/new associative recognition of a separate set of intact, rearranged, and new word pairs. Results indicated that, in both younger and older adults, anterior hippocampus and perirhinal cortex indexed incidental and intentional item retrieval in the same manner. In contrast, posterior hippocampus supported incidental and intentional relational retrieval in both age groups and an adjacent cluster in posterior hippocampus was recruited during both forms of relational retrieval for older, but not younger, adults. Our findings suggest that while medial temporal lobe regions do not differentiate between incidental and intentional forms of retrieval, there are distinct roles for anterior and posterior medial temporal lobe regions during retrieval of item and relational information, respectively, and further indicate that posterior regions may, under certain conditions, be over-recruited in healthy aging. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Real-time fMRI neurofeedback to down-regulate superior temporal gyrus activity in patients with schizophrenia and auditory hallucinations: a proof-of-concept study.

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Orlov, Natasza D; Giampietro, Vincent; O'Daly, Owen; Lam, Sheut-Ling; Barker, Gareth J; Rubia, Katya; McGuire, Philip; Shergill, Sukhwinder S; Allen, Paul

2018-02-12

Neurocognitive models and previous neuroimaging work posit that auditory verbal hallucinations (AVH) arise due to increased activity in speech-sensitive regions of the left posterior superior temporal gyrus (STG). Here, we examined if patients with schizophrenia (SCZ) and AVH could be trained to down-regulate STG activity using real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging neurofeedback (rtfMRI-NF). We also examined the effects of rtfMRI-NF training on functional connectivity between the STG and other speech and language regions. Twelve patients with SCZ and treatment-refractory AVH were recruited to participate in the study and were trained to down-regulate STG activity using rtfMRI-NF, over four MRI scanner visits during a 2-week training period. STG activity and functional connectivity were compared pre- and post-training. Patients successfully learnt to down-regulate activity in their left STG over the rtfMRI-NF training. Post- training, patients showed increased functional connectivity between the left STG, the left inferior prefrontal gyrus (IFG) and the inferior parietal gyrus. The post-training increase in functional connectivity between the left STG and IFG was associated with a reduction in AVH symptoms over the training period. The speech-sensitive region of the left STG is a suitable target region for rtfMRI-NF in patients with SCZ and treatment-refractory AVH. Successful down-regulation of left STG activity can increase functional connectivity between speech motor and perception regions. These findings suggest that patients with AVH have the ability to alter activity and connectivity in speech and language regions, and raise the possibility that rtfMRI-NF training could present a novel therapeutic intervention in SCZ.

Thalamotemporal impairment in temporal lobe epilepsy: a combined MRI analysis of structure, integrity, and connectivity.

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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

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...

Effect of acupuncture on regional cerebral blood flow at acupoints GV 20, GV. 26, LI, 4. ST. 36, SP. 6 evaluated by Tc-99m ECD brain SPECT

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Song, Ho Chun; Bom, Hee Seung; Kang, Hwa Jeong; Kim, Seong Min; Jeong, Hwan Jeong; Kim, Ji Yeul [College of Medicine, Dongshin Univ., Naju (Korea, Republic of); Ahn, Soo Gi [College of Medicine, Wonkwang Univ., Iksan (Korea, Republic of)

2000-12-01

To evaluate the effect of acupuncture on regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) at acupoints suggested by oriental medicine to be related to the treatment of cerebrovascular diseases. Rest/acupuncture-stimulation Tc-99m ECD brain SPECT using a same-dose subtraction method was performed on 54 normal volunteers (34 males, 20 females, age range from 18 to 62 years) using six paradigms: acupuncture at acupoints GV. 20, GV. 26, LI. 4, ST. 36 and SP. 6. In the control study, needle location was chosen on a non-meridian focus 1 cm posterior to the right fibular head. All images were spatially normalized, and the differences between rest and acupuncture stimulation were statistically analyzed using SPM for Windows. Acupuncture applied at acupoint GV. 20 increased rCBF in both the anterior frontal lobes, the right frontotemporal lobes, and the left anterior temporal lobe and the left cerebellar hemisphere. Acupuncture at GV. 26 increased rCBF in the left prefrontal cortex. Acupuncture at LI. 4 increased rCBF in the left prefrontal and both the inferior frontal lobes, and the left anterior temporal lobe and the left cerebellar hemisphere. Acupuncture at ST. 36 increased rCBF in the left anterior temporal lobe, the right inferior frontal lobes, and the left cerebellum. Acupuncture at SP 6 increased rCBF in the left inferior frontal and anterior temporal lobes. In the control stimulation, no significant rCBF increase was observed. The results demonstrated a correlation between stimuation at each acupoint with increase in rCBF to the corresponding brain areas.

Effect of acupuncture on regional cerebral blood flow at acupoints GV 20, GV. 26, LI, 4. ST. 36, SP. 6 evaluated by Tc-99m ECD brain SPECT

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Song, Ho Chun; Bom, Hee Seung; Kang, Hwa Jeong; Kim, Seong Min; Jeong, Hwan Jeong; Kim, Ji Yeul; Ahn, Soo Gi

2000-01-01

To evaluate the effect of acupuncture on regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) at acupoints suggested by oriental medicine to be related to the treatment of cerebrovascular diseases. Rest/acupuncture-stimulation Tc-99m ECD brain SPECT using a same-dose subtraction method was performed on 54 normal volunteers (34 males, 20 females, age range from 18 to 62 years) using six paradigms: acupuncture at acupoints GV. 20, GV. 26, LI. 4, ST. 36 and SP. 6. In the control study, needle location was chosen on a non-meridian focus 1 cm posterior to the right fibular head. All images were spatially normalized, and the differences between rest and acupuncture stimulation were statistically analyzed using SPM for Windows. Acupuncture applied at acupoint GV. 20 increased rCBF in both the anterior frontal lobes, the right frontotemporal lobes, and the left anterior temporal lobe and the left cerebellar hemisphere. Acupuncture at GV. 26 increased rCBF in the left prefrontal cortex. Acupuncture at LI. 4 increased rCBF in the left prefrontal and both the inferior frontal lobes, and the left anterior temporal lobe and the left cerebellar hemisphere. Acupuncture at ST. 36 increased rCBF in the left anterior temporal lobe, the right inferior frontal lobes, and the left cerebellum. Acupuncture at SP 6 increased rCBF in the left inferior frontal and anterior temporal lobes. In the control stimulation, no significant rCBF increase was observed. The results demonstrated a correlation between stimuation at each acupoint with increase in rCBF to the corresponding brain areas

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

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.

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

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

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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.

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

Transcriptomic analysis across nasal, temporal, and macular regions of human neural retina and RPE/choroid by RNA-Seq

Science.gov (United States)

Whitmore, S. Scott; Wagner, Alex H.; DeLuca, Adam P.; Drack, Arlene V.; Stone, Edwin M.; Tucker, Budd A.; Zeng, Shemin; Braun, Terry A.; Mullins, Robert F.; Scheetz, Todd E.

2014-01-01

Proper spatial differentiation of retinal cell types is necessary for normal human vision. Many retinal diseases, such as Best disease and male germ cell associated kinase (MAK)-associated retinitis pigmentosa, preferentially affect distinct topographic regions of the retina. While much is known about the distribution of cell-types in the retina, the distribution of molecular components across the posterior pole of the eye has not been well-studied. To investigate regional difference in molecular composition of ocular tissues, we assessed differential gene expression across the temporal, macular, and nasal retina and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE)/choroid of human eyes using RNA-Seq. RNA from temporal, macular, and nasal retina and RPE/choroid from four human donor eyes was extracted, poly-A selected, fragmented, and sequenced as 100 bp read pairs. Digital read files were mapped to the human genome and analyzed for differential expression using the Tuxedo software suite. Retina and RPE/choroid samples were clearly distinguishable at the transcriptome level. Numerous transcription factors were differentially expressed between regions of the retina and RPE/choroid. Photoreceptor-specific genes were enriched in the peripheral samples, while ganglion cell and amacrine cell genes were enriched in the macula. Within the RPE/choroid, RPE-specific genes were upregulated at the periphery while endothelium associated genes were upregulated in the macula. Consistent with previous studies, BEST1 expression was lower in macular than extramacular regions. The MAK gene was expressed at lower levels in macula than in extramacular regions, but did not exhibit a significant difference between nasal and temporal retina. The regional molecular distinction is greatest between macula and periphery and decreases between different peripheral regions within a tissue. Datasets such as these can be used to prioritize candidate genes for possible involvement in retinal diseases with

Transcriptomic analysis across nasal, temporal, and macular regions of human neural retina and RPE/choroid by RNA-Seq.

Science.gov (United States)

Whitmore, S Scott; Wagner, Alex H; DeLuca, Adam P; Drack, Arlene V; Stone, Edwin M; Tucker, Budd A; Zeng, Shemin; Braun, Terry A; Mullins, Robert F; Scheetz, Todd E

2014-12-01

Proper spatial differentiation of retinal cell types is necessary for normal human vision. Many retinal diseases, such as Best disease and male germ cell associated kinase (MAK)-associated retinitis pigmentosa, preferentially affect distinct topographic regions of the retina. While much is known about the distribution of cell types in the retina, the distribution of molecular components across the posterior pole of the eye has not been well-studied. To investigate regional difference in molecular composition of ocular tissues, we assessed differential gene expression across the temporal, macular, and nasal retina and retinal pigment epithelium (RPE)/choroid of human eyes using RNA-Seq. RNA from temporal, macular, and nasal retina and RPE/choroid from four human donor eyes was extracted, poly-A selected, fragmented, and sequenced as 100 bp read pairs. Digital read files were mapped to the human genome and analyzed for differential expression using the Tuxedo software suite. Retina and RPE/choroid samples were clearly distinguishable at the transcriptome level. Numerous transcription factors were differentially expressed between regions of the retina and RPE/choroid. Photoreceptor-specific genes were enriched in the peripheral samples, while ganglion cell and amacrine cell genes were enriched in the macula. Within the RPE/choroid, RPE-specific genes were upregulated at the periphery while endothelium associated genes were upregulated in the macula. Consistent with previous studies, BEST1 expression was lower in macular than extramacular regions. The MAK gene was expressed at lower levels in macula than in extramacular regions, but did not exhibit a significant difference between nasal and temporal retina. The regional molecular distinction is greatest between macula and periphery and decreases between different peripheral regions within a tissue. Datasets such as these can be used to prioritize candidate genes for possible involvement in retinal diseases with

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.

Arteriolymphatic Fistula: An Unusual Cause of Spontaneous Swelling in the Left Supraclavicular Region

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Karuppiah Viswanathan, Ashok Mithra, E-mail: ashokmithrakv@gmail.com; Irodi, Aparna; Keshava, Shyamkumar N., E-mail: aparna-shyam@yahoo.com [Christian Medical College Hospital, Department of Radiology (India); Aneez, Joseph; Karthik, Gunasekaran [Christian Medical College Hospital, Department of Medicine (India)

2016-09-15

An abnormal fistulous communication between an artery and lymphatic system is a rare occurrence. We report a 38-year-old male presenting with sudden onset, spontaneous, pulsatile swelling in the left supraclavicular region following a recent cardiac catheterisation via right femoral arterial access. On evaluation, he was found to have a femoral arteriolymphatic fistula. He was managed conservatively with ultrasound-guided compression with complete resolution of symptoms at follow-up. This case describes a hitherto unknown complication of percutaneous vascular cannulation presenting in an unusual manner, diagnosed with Doppler Ultrasonography and CT angiography and managed effectively with a non-invasive therapeutic image-guided manoeuvre.

Automatic determination of the regional ejection fraction of the left ventricle (gated bloodpool)

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Feser, J.A.

1982-01-01

The left ventricular volume curve and the ejection fraction are calculated according to the ''sliding region of interest'' method in which the ventricle contour is redetermined for every single picture of the various phases of the heart beat. The original set of data, consisting of 32 pictures in 64 x 64 matrix resolution, is processed by a three-dimensional filtering process in space (x,y) and time (t). The ventricle contour is determined by convolution of the filtered images with a 7-point Laplacian operator in 4 independent directions. The atrial and ventricular phase histograms are then calculated on the basis of this contour. (WU) [de

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.

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

The Consolidation of Object and Context Recognition Memory Involve Different Regions of the Temporal Lobe

Science.gov (United States)

Balderas, Israela; Rodriguez-Ortiz, Carlos J.; Salgado-Tonda, Paloma; Chavez-Hurtado, Julio; McGaugh, James L.; Bermudez-Rattoni, Federico

2008-01-01

These experiments investigated the involvement of several temporal lobe regions in consolidation of recognition memory. Anisomycin, a protein synthesis inhibitor, was infused into the hippocampus, perirhinal cortex, insular cortex, or basolateral amygdala of rats immediately after the sample phase of object or object-in-context recognition memory…

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.

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.

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.

Spatio-temporal changes in precipitation over Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, China

Science.gov (United States)

Zhao, Na; Yue, Tianxiang; Li, Han; Zhang, Lili; Yin, Xiaozhe; Liu, Yi

2018-04-01

Changes in precipitation have a large effect on human society and are of primary importance for many scientific fields such as hydrology, agriculture and eco-environmental sciences. The present study intended to investigate the spatio-temporal characteristics of precipitation in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region by using 316 meteorological stations during the period 1965-2014. Geographical Weighted Regression (GWR) method and High Accuracy Surface Modeling (HASM) method were applied to produce the precipitation patterns at different time scales. Mann-Kendall (MK) statistical test was applied to analyze the precipitation temporal variations. Results indicated that annual precipitation over the past 50 years appeared to be a non-periodic oscillation phenomenon; the number of wet years was approximately the same as that of dry years; significant positive trends were observed in spring during 1978-2014 and summer during 1996-2014; on the whole, precipitation in May, June, September, and December showed increasing trends at the 95% confidence level; and significant positive trends were also identified in July during 2000-2013 and August during 1997-2010, while slight decreasing trends were observed in February and November. Summer (June, July, and August) was the wettest season, accounting for 68.73% of annual totals in BTH. In general, northeastern BTH received the highest range of precipitation while northwestern area had the lowest. It was found that precipitation variation in this region had been closely linked to latitude, Digital Elevation Model (DEM), distance to the sea, and urbanization rate. In addition, land use played an important role in the decadal precipitation changes in BTH.

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

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.

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 ...

The association between hemispheric specialization for language production and for spatial attention depends on left-hand preference strength.

Science.gov (United States)

Zago, Laure; Petit, Laurent; Mellet, Emmanuel; Jobard, Gaël; Crivello, Fabrice; Joliot, Marc; Mazoyer, Bernard; Tzourio-Mazoyer, Nathalie

2016-12-01

Cerebral lateralization for language production and spatial attention and their relationships with manual preference strength (MPS) were assessed in a sample of 293 healthy volunteers, including 151 left-handers, using fMRI during covert sentence production (PROD) and line bisection judgment (LBJ) tasks, as compared to high- and low-level reference tasks. At the group level, we found the expected complementary hemispheric specialization (HS) with leftward asymmetries for PROD within frontal and temporal regions and rightward asymmetries for LBJ within frontal and posterior occipito-parieto-temporal regions. Individual hemispheric (HLI) and regional (frontal and occipital) lateralization indices (LI) were then calculated on the activation maps for PROD and LBJ. We found a correlation between the degree of rightward cerebral asymmetry and the leftward behavioral attentional bias recorded during LBJ task. This correlation was found when LBJ-LI was computed over the hemispheres, in the frontal lobes, but not in the occipital lobes. We then investigated whether language production and spatial attention cerebral lateralization relate to each other, and whether manual preference was a variable that impacted the complementary HS of these functions. No correlation was found between spatial and language LIs in the majority of our sample of participants, including right-handers with a strong right-hand preference (sRH, n=97) and mixed-handers (MH, n=97), indicating that these functions lateralized independently. By contrast, in the group of left-handers with a strong left-hand preference (sLH, n= 99), a negative correlation was found between language and spatial lateralization. This negative correlation was found when LBJ-LI and PROD-LI were computed over the hemispheres, in the frontal lobes and between the occipital lobes for LBJ and the frontal lobes for PROD. These findings underline the importance to include sLH in the study sample to reveal the underlying mechanisms of

Autobiographical memory of the recent past following frontal cortex or temporal lobe excisions.

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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.

Progressive gray matter reduction of the superior temporal gyrus during transition to psychosis.

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Takahashi, Tsutomu; Wood, Stephen J; Yung, Alison R; Soulsby, Bridget; McGorry, Patrick D; Suzuki, Michio; Kawasaki, Yasuhiro; Phillips, Lisa J; Velakoulis, Dennis; Pantelis, Christos

2009-04-01

Longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging studies have shown progressive gray matter reduction in the superior temporal gyrus during the earliest phases of schizophrenia. It is unknown whether these progressive processes predate the onset of psychosis. To examine gray matter reduction of the superior temporal gyrus over time in individuals at risk for psychosis and in patients with first-episode psychosis. Cross-sectional and longitudinal comparisons. Personal Assessment and Crisis Evaluation Clinic and Early Psychosis Preventions and Intervention Centre. Thirty-five ultrahigh-risk individuals (of whom 12 later developed psychosis [UHRP] and 23 did not [UHRNP]), 23 patients with first-episode psychosis (FEP), and 22 control subjects recruited from the community. Volumes of superior temporal subregions (planum polare, Heschl gyrus, planum temporale, and rostral and caudal regions) were measured at baseline and follow-up (mean, 1.8 years) and were compared across groups. In cross-sectional comparisons, only the FEP group had significantly smaller planum temporale and caudal superior temporal gyrus than other groups at baseline, whereas male UHRP subjects also had a smaller planum temporale than controls at follow-up. In longitudinal comparison, UHRP and FEP patients showed significant gray matter reduction (approximately 2%-6% per year) in the planum polare, planum temporale, and caudal region compared with controls and/or UHRNP subjects. The FEP patients also exhibited progressive gray matter loss in the left Heschl gyrus (3.0% per year) and rostral region (3.8% per year), which were correlated with the severity of delusions at follow-up. A progressive process in the superior temporal gyrus precedes the first expression of florid psychosis. These findings have important implications for underlying neurobiologic features of emerging psychotic disorders and emphasize the importance of early intervention during or before the first episode of psychosis.

Brain regions associated with cognitive impairment in patients with Parkinson disease: quantitative analysis of cerebral blood flow using 123I iodoamphetamine SPECT.

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Hattori, Naoya; Yabe, Ichiro; Hirata, Kenji; Shiga, Tohru; Sakushima, Ken; Tsuji-Akimoto, Sachiko; Sasaki, Hidenao; Tamaki, Nagara

2013-05-01

Cognitive impairment is a representative neuropsychiatric presentation that accompanies Parkinson disease (PD). The purpose of this study was to localize the cerebral regions associated with cognitive impairment in patients with PD using quantitative SPECT. Thirty-two patients with PD (mean [SD] age, 75 [8] years; 25 women; Hoehn-Yahr scores from 2 to 5) underwent quantitative brain SPECT using 123I iodoamphetamine. Parametric images of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) were spatially normalized to the standard brain atlas. First, voxel-by-voxel comparison between patients with PD with versus without cognitive impairment was performed to visualize overall trend of regional differences. Next, the individual quantitative rCBF values were extracted in representative cortical regions using a standard region-of-interest template to compare the quantitative rCBF values. Patients with cognitive impairment showed trends of lower rCBF in the left frontal and temporal cortices as well as in the bilateral medial frontal and anterior cingulate cortices in the voxel-by-voxel analyses. Region-of-interest-based analysis demonstrated significantly lower rCBF in the bilateral anterior cingulate cortices (right, 25.8 [5.5] vs 28.9 [5.7] mL per 100 g/min, P left, 25.8 [5.8] vs 29.1 [5.7] mL per 100 g/min, P left frontal and temporal cortices as well as in the bilateral medial frontal and anterior cingulate cortices. The results suggested dysexecutive function as an underlining mechanism of cognitive impairment in patients with PD.

Phase image characterization of ventricular contraction in left anterior hemiblock

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Ono, Akifumi; Mizuno, Haruyoshi; Tahara, Yorio; Ishikawa, Kyozo

1991-01-01

We investigated whether or not left anterior hemiblock is present in patients with left axis deviation using first-harmonic Fourier analysis of gated blood-pool images. Gated blood-pool images were taken in 50 patients without contraction abnormality. They included 14 normal subjects, 8 patients with right bundle branch block (RBBB), 20 with left axis deviation (LAD) and 8 with both RBBB and LAD (RBBB+LAD). ECG gated blood-pool scans were acquired in the anterior and 'best septal' left anterior oblique projections. First, the phase images were displayed cinematically as a continuous-loop movie. Next, for quantitative analysis of the phase image, the whole left ventricular and left ventricular high lateral regions of interest were drawn. The 'regional phase shift' (RPS) was then defined as {RPS=A-a} where 'A' is the mean value of the whole left ventricular phase angles and 'a' is that of phase angles in the high lateral region. The left ventricular phase changes and the RPSs in the RBBB and LAD groups were similar to those in the normal group. In the RBBB+LAD group, the latest phase changes occurred in the high anterolateral region. The RPSs of this group were significantly lower than those in the other 3 groups (p<0.01). These data suggest that left anterior hemiblock might coexist with RBBB in patients with RBBB+LAD, whereas left anterior hemiblock might not exist in the majority of patients with LAD alone. (author)

Limbic encephalitis associated with anti-voltage-gated potassium channel complex antibodies as a cause of adult-onset mesial temporal lobe epilepsy.

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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.

Voxel-based lesion analysis of brain regions underlying reading and writing.

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Baldo, Juliana V; Kacinik, Natalie; Ludy, Carl; Paulraj, Selvi; Moncrief, Amber; Piai, Vitória; Curran, Brian; Turken, And; Herron, Tim; Dronkers, Nina F

2018-03-20

The neural basis of reading and writing has been a source of inquiry as well as controversy in the neuroscience literature. Reading has been associated with both left posterior ventral temporal zones (termed the "visual word form area") as well as more dorsal zones, primarily in left parietal cortex. Writing has also been associated with left parietal cortex, as well as left sensorimotor cortex and prefrontal regions. Typically, the neural basis of reading and writing are examined in separate studies and/or rely on single case studies exhibiting specific deficits. Functional neuroimaging studies of reading and writing typically identify a large number of activated regions but do not necessarily identify the core, critical hubs. Last, due to constraints on the functional imaging environment, many previous studies have been limited to measuring the brain activity associated with single-word reading and writing, rather than sentence-level processing. In the current study, the brain correlates of reading and writing at both the single- and sentence-level were studied in a large sample of 111 individuals with a history of chronic stroke using voxel-based lesion symptom mapping (VLSM). VLSM provides a whole-brain, voxel-by-voxel statistical analysis of the role of distinct regions in a particular behavior by comparing performance of individuals with and without a lesion at every voxel. Rather than comparing individual cases or small groups with particular behavioral dissociations in reading and writing, VLSM allowed us to analyze data from a large, well-characterized sample of stroke patients exhibiting a wide range of reading and writing impairments. The VLSM analyses revealed that reading was associated with a critical left inferior temporo-occipital focus, while writing was primarily associated with the left supramarginal gyrus. Separate VLSM analyses of single-word versus sentence-level reading showed that sentence-level reading was uniquely associated with anterior

Correlation between Left Ventricular Global and Regional Longitudinal Systolic Strain and Impaired Microcirculation in Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction

DEFF Research Database (Denmark)

Løgstrup, Brian B; Høfsten, Dan Eik; Christophersen, Thomas Brøcher

2012-01-01

investigated if LRS and GLS imaging is superior to conventional measures of left ventricle (LV) function. Methods: In a consecutive population of first time AMI patients, who underwent successful revascularization, we performed comprehensive TTE. GLS and LRS were obtained from the three standard apical views...... elevation myocardial infarction. The GLS was -15.2 [-19.3;-10.1]% in the total population of 183 patients. Total wall motion score index (WMSI) in the population was 1.19 [1;1.5]. Eighty-five patients suffered from culprit lesion in left anterior descending artery (LAD). The CFR in these patients was 1......Objectives: We investigated the correlation between left ventricular global and regional longitudinal systolic strain (GLS and LRS) and coronary flow reserve (CFR) assessed by transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) in patients with a recent acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Furthermore, we...

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)

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.

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…

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

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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.

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

Temporal processing of audiovisual stimuli is enhanced in musicians: evidence from magnetoencephalography (MEG.

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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.

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.

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

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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

Preservation of episodic memory in semantic dementia: The importance of regions beyond the medial temporal lobes.

Science.gov (United States)

Irish, Muireann; Bunk, Steffie; Tu, Sicong; Kamminga, Jody; Hodges, John R; Hornberger, Michael; Piguet, Olivier

2016-01-29

Episodic memory impairment represents one of the hallmark clinical features of patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) attributable to the degeneration of medial temporal and parietal regions of the brain. In contrast, a somewhat paradoxical profile of relatively intact episodic memory, particularly for non-verbal material, is observed in semantic dementia (SD), despite marked atrophy of the hippocampus. This retrospective study investigated the neural substrates of episodic memory retrieval in 20 patients with a diagnosis of SD and 21 disease-matched cases of AD and compared their performance to that of 35 age- and education-matched healthy older Controls. Participants completed the Rey Complex Figure and the memory subscale of the Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination-Revised as indices of visual and verbal episodic recall, respectively. Relative to Controls, AD patients showed compromised memory performance on both visual and verbal memory tasks. In contrast, memory deficits in SD were modality-specific occurring exclusively on the verbal task. Controlling for semantic processing ameliorated these deficits in SD, while memory impairments persisted in AD. Voxel-based morphometry analyses revealed significant overlap in the neural correlates of verbal episodic memory in AD and SD with predominantly anteromedial regions, including the bilateral hippocampus, strongly implicated. Controlling for semantic processing negated this effect in SD, however, a distributed network of frontal, medial temporal, and parietal regions was implicated in AD. Our study corroborates the view that episodic memory deficits in SD arise very largely as a consequence of the conceptual loading of traditional tasks. We propose that the functional integrity of frontal and parietal regions enables new learning to occur in SD in the face of significant hippocampal and anteromedial temporal lobe pathology, underscoring the inherent complexity of the episodic memory circuitry. Copyright © 2015

Alterations in regional homogeneity of resting-state brain activity in internet gaming addicts

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Dong Guangheng

2012-08-01

Full Text Available Abstract Backgrounds Internet gaming addiction (IGA, as a subtype of internet addiction disorder, is rapidly becoming a prevalent mental health concern around the world. The neurobiological underpinnings of IGA should be studied to unravel the potential heterogeneity of IGA. This study investigated the brain functions in IGA patients with resting-state fMRI. Methods Fifteen IGA subjects and fourteen healthy controls participated in this study. Regional homogeneity (ReHo measures were used to detect the abnormal functional integrations. Results Comparing to the healthy controls, IGA subjects show enhanced ReHo in brainstem, inferior parietal lobule, left posterior cerebellum, and left middle frontal gyrus. All of these regions are thought related with sensory-motor coordination. In addition, IGA subjects show decreased ReHo in temporal, occipital and parietal brain regions. These regions are thought responsible for visual and auditory functions. Conclusions Our results suggest that long-time online game playing enhanced the brain synchronization in sensory-motor coordination related brain regions and decreased the excitability in visual and auditory related brain regions.

Non-invasive evaluation of regional function of the left ventricle

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Schad, N.; Nickel, O.

1980-01-01

Assessment of regional left ventricular function with first pass angiocardiography in the RAO view almost entirely depends on high image statistics, accurate border definition and background subtraction, as well as an analysis of so called functional images which regionally measure and illustrate functional change during heart action. During first bolus transit the multicrystal camera gives an average of 300,000 cts/sec allowing precise border definition because of steepness of count changes at the LV-border. A varying background adjacent to each border point and also over the LV is subtracted. Measurements of segmental hemiaxis shortening and of zonal ejection fractions in the three zones supplied by the major coronary arteries have been performed. Clinical applications comprise examinations at rest, peak exercise, after nitroglycerin administration and after bypass graft surgery. Wall motion measured by means of hemiaxis shortening (210 segments) showed good correlation with angiocardiography in 91% of segments with normokinesis, in 90% asynergic and 88% of hypokinetic segments. Functional images corrected false negativ and false positiv wall motion measurements. In patients after myocardial infarction, there was (after NTG-administration) a significant increase in hemiaxis shortening in asynergic segment, but not in dyskinesias. Exercise studies in patients with wall motion disorders showed a significantly higher increase in global ejection fraction in patients with resting EF-values and 58% than above that value. Zonal ejection fractions after bypass surgery showed an average increase of 6.4 points if complete vascularization was performed, but no zonal increase or decrease when vascularization was incomplete or the zone included a previous myocardial infarction. (orig.) [de

Altered regional homogeneity of spontaneous brain activity in idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia.

Science.gov (United States)

Wang, Yanping; Zhang, Xiaoling; Guan, Qiaobing; Wan, Lihong; Yi, Yahui; Liu, Chun-Feng

2015-01-01

The pathophysiology of idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia (ITN) has conventionally been thought to be induced by neurovascular compression theory. Recent structural brain imaging evidence has suggested an additional central component for ITN pathophysiology. However, far less attention has been given to investigations of the basis of abnormal resting-state brain activity in these patients. The objective of this study was to investigate local brain activity in patients with ITN and its correlation with clinical variables of pain. Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging data from 17 patients with ITN and 19 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were analyzed using regional homogeneity (ReHo) analysis, which is a data-driven approach used to measure the regional synchronization of spontaneous brain activity. Patients with ITN had decreased ReHo in the left amygdala, right parahippocampal gyrus, and left cerebellum and increased ReHo in the right inferior temporal gyrus, right thalamus, right inferior parietal lobule, and left postcentral gyrus (corrected). Furthermore, the increase in ReHo in the left precentral gyrus was positively correlated with visual analog scale (r=0.54; P=0.002). Our study found abnormal functional homogeneity of intrinsic brain activity in several regions in ITN, suggesting the maladaptivity of the process of daily pain attacks and a central role for the pathophysiology of ITN.

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.)

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

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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.)

Changes in regional cerebral blood flow in the right cortex homologous to left language areas are directly affected by left hemispheric damage in aphasic stroke patients: evaluation by Tc-ECD SPECT and novel analytic software.

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Uruma, G; Kakuda, W; Abo, M

2010-03-01

The objective of this study was to clarify the influence of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) changes in language-relevant areas of the dominant hemisphere on rCBF in each region in the non-dominant hemisphere in post-stroke aphasic patients. The study subjects were 27 aphasic patients who suffered their first symptomatic stroke in the left hemisphere. In each subject, we measured rCBF by means of 99mTc-ethylcysteinate dimmer single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). The SPECT images were analyzed by the statistical imaging analysis programs easy Z-score Imaging System (eZIS) and voxel-based stereotactic extraction estimation (vbSEE). Segmented into Brodmann Area (BA) levels, Regions of Interest (ROIs) were set in language-relevant areas bilaterally, and changes in the relative rCBF as average negative and positive Z-values were computed fully automatically. To assess the relationship between rCBF changes of each ROIs in the left and right hemispheres, the Spearman ranked correlation analysis and stepwise multiple regression analysis were applied. Globally, a negative and asymmetric influence of rCBF changes in the language-relevant areas of the dominant hemisphere on the right hemisphere was found. The rCBF decrease in left BA22 significantly influenced the rCBF increase in right BA39, BA40, BA44 and BA45. The results suggested that the chronic increase in rCBF in the right language-relevant areas is due at least in part to reduction in the trancallosal inhibitory activity of the language-dominant left hemisphere caused by the stroke lesion itself and that these relationships are not always symmetric.

Fronto-Temporal Connectivity Predicts ECT Outcome in Major Depression

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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

Lexical factors and cerebral regions influencing verbal fluency performance in MCI.

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Clark, D G; Wadley, V G; Kapur, P; DeRamus, T P; Singletary, B; Nicholas, A P; Blanton, P D; Lokken, K; Deshpande, H; Marson, D; Deutsch, G

2014-02-01

nouns score in the left inferior frontal gyrus, but for letter A, letter S, and a composite FAS score in the right inferior frontal gyrus. These regressions also revealed a lateralized association of the left subcortical nuclei with all letter fluency scores and fruits and vegetables fluency, and an association of the right lower temporal ROI with letter A, FAS, and verb fluency. Gray matter volume in several bihemispheric ROIs (left dorsal frontal, right lower temporal, right occipital, and bilateral mesial temporal) mediated the relationship between cognitive impairment and fluency for fruits and vegetables. Gray matter volume in the right lower temporal ROI mediated the relationship between cognitive impairment and five fluency raw scores (animals, fruits and vegetables, tools, verbs, and the composite nouns score). Semantic memory exerts the strongest influence on word adjacency in letter fluency as well as semantic verbal fluency tasks. Orthography is a stronger influence than pronunciation. All types of fluency task raw scores (letter, noun, and verb) correlate with cerebral regions known to support verbal or nonverbal semantic memory. The findings emphasize the contribution of right hemisphere regions to fluency task performance, particularly for verb and letter fluency. The relationship between diagnosis and semantic fluency performance is mediated by semantic similarity of words and by gray matter volume in the right lower temporal region. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

Microstructural asymmetry of the corticospinal tracts predicts right-left differences in circle drawing skill in right-handed adolescents.

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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.

Functional MRI approach for assessing hemispheric predominance of regions activated by a phonological and a semantic task

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Cousin, Emilie; Peyrin, Carole; Pichat, Cedric [Laboratoire de Psychologie et Neurocognition, UMR CNRS 5105, Universite Pierre Mendes-France, BP 47, 38040 Grenoble Cedex 09 (France); Lamalle, Laurent; Le Bas, Jean-Francois [Unite IRM, IFR1, CHU Grenoble (France); Baciu, Monica [Laboratoire de Psychologie et Neurocognition, UMR CNRS 5105, Universite Pierre Mendes-France, BP 47, 38040 Grenoble Cedex 09 (France)], E-mail: mbaciu@upmf-grenoble.fr

2007-08-15

This fMRI study performed in healthy subjects aimed at using a statistical approach in order to determine significant functional differences between hemispheres and to assess specialized regions activated during a phonological and during a semantic task. This approach ('flip' method and subsequent statistical analyses of the parameter estimates extracted from regions of interest) allows identifying: (a) hemispheric specialized regions for each language task [semantic (living categorization) and phonological (rhyme detection)] and (b) condition-specific regions with respect to paradigm conditions (task and control). Our results showed that the rhyme-specific task regions were the inferior frontal (sub-region of BA 44, 45) and left inferior parietal (BA 40, 39) lobules. Furthermore, within the inferior parietal lobule, the angular gyrus was specific to target (rhyming) items (related to successfully grapho-phonemic processing). The categorization-specific task regions were the left inferior frontal (sub-region of BA 44, 45) and superior temporal (BA 22) cortices. Furthermore, the superior temporal gyrus was related to non-target (non-living) items (correlated to task difficulty). The relatively new approach used in this study has the advantage of providing: (a) statistical significance of the hemispheric specialized regions for a given language task and (b) supplementary information in terms of paradigm condition-specificity of the activated regions. The results (standard hemispheric specialized regions for a semantic and for a phonological task) obtained in healthy subjects may constitute a basement for mapping language and assessing hemispheric predominance in epileptic patients before surgery and avoiding post-surgical impairments of language.

Functional MRI approach for assessing hemispheric predominance of regions activated by a phonological and a semantic task

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cousin, Emilie; Peyrin, Carole; Pichat, Cedric; Lamalle, Laurent; Le Bas, Jean-Francois; Baciu, Monica

2007-01-01

This fMRI study performed in healthy subjects aimed at using a statistical approach in order to determine significant functional differences between hemispheres and to assess specialized regions activated during a phonological and during a semantic task. This approach ('flip' method and subsequent statistical analyses of the parameter estimates extracted from regions of interest) allows identifying: (a) hemispheric specialized regions for each language task [semantic (living categorization) and phonological (rhyme detection)] and (b) condition-specific regions with respect to paradigm conditions (task and control). Our results showed that the rhyme-specific task regions were the inferior frontal (sub-region of BA 44, 45) and left inferior parietal (BA 40, 39) lobules. Furthermore, within the inferior parietal lobule, the angular gyrus was specific to target (rhyming) items (related to successfully grapho-phonemic processing). The categorization-specific task regions were the left inferior frontal (sub-region of BA 44, 45) and superior temporal (BA 22) cortices. Furthermore, the superior temporal gyrus was related to non-target (non-living) items (correlated to task difficulty). The relatively new approach used in this study has the advantage of providing: (a) statistical significance of the hemispheric specialized regions for a given language task and (b) supplementary information in terms of paradigm condition-specificity of the activated regions. The results (standard hemispheric specialized regions for a semantic and for a phonological task) obtained in healthy subjects may constitute a basement for mapping language and assessing hemispheric predominance in epileptic patients before surgery and avoiding post-surgical impairments of language

Spatial and temporal patterns in trace element deposition to lakes in the Athabasca oil sands region (Alberta, Canada)

Science.gov (United States)

Cooke, Colin A.; Kirk, Jane L.; Muir, Derek C. G.; Wiklund, Johan A.; Wang, Xiaowa; Gleason, Amber; Evans, Marlene S.

2017-12-01

The mining and processing of the Athabasca oil sands (Alberta, Canada) has been occurring for decades; however, a lack of consistent regional monitoring has obscured the long-term environmental impact. Here, we present sediment core results to reconstruct spatial and temporal patterns in trace element deposition to lakes in the Athabasca oil sands region. Early mining operations (during the 1970s and 1980s) led to elevated V and Pb inputs to lakes located quality guidelines, and no spatial or temporal trends were observed in the frequency of guideline exceedence. Our results demonstrate that early mining efforts had an even greater impact on trace element cycling than has been appreciated previously, placing recent monitoring efforts in a critical long-term context.

Altered spontaneous activity of posterior cingulate cortex and superior temporal gyrus are associated with a smoking cessation treatment outcome using varenicline revealed by regional homogeneity.

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Wang, Chao; Shen, Zhujing; Huang, Peiyu; Qian, Wei; Yu, Xinfeng; Sun, Jianzhong; Yu, Hualiang; Yang, Yihong; Zhang, Minming

2017-06-01

Compared to nonsmokers, smokers exhibit a number of potentially important differences in regional brain function. However, little is known about the associations between the local spontaneous brain activity and smoking cessation treatment outcomes. In the present analysis, we aimed to evaluate whether the local features of spontaneous brain activity prior to the target quit date was associated with the smoking cessation outcomes. All the participants underwent magnetic resonance imaging scans and smoking-related behavioral assessments. After a 12-week treatment with varenicline, 23 smokers succeeded in quitting smoking and 32 failed. Smokers underwent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scanning prior to an open label smoking cessation treatment trial. Regional homogeneity (ReHo) was used to measure spontaneous brain activity, and whole-brain voxel-wise comparisons of ReHo were performed to detect brain regions with altered spontaneous brain activity between relapser and quitter groups. After controlling for potentially confounding factors including years of education, years smoked, cigarettes smoked per day and FTND score as covariates, compared to quitters, relapsers displayed significantly decreased ReHo in bilateral posterior cingulate cortex (PCC), as well as increased ReHo in left superior temporal gyrus (STG). These preliminary results suggest that regional brain function variables may be promising predictors of smoking relapse. This study provided novel insights into the neurobiological mechanisms underlying smoking relapse. A deeper understanding of the neurobiological mechanisms associated with relapse may result in novel pharmacological and behavioral interventions.

Left ventricular apical ballooning syndrome

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Rahman, N.; Tai, J.; Soofi, A.

2007-01-01

The transient left ventricular apical ballooning syndrome, also known as Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, is characterized by transient left ventricular dysfunction in the absence of obstructive epicardial coronary disease. Although the syndrome has been reported in Japan since 1990, it is rare in other regions. Rapid recognition of the syndrome can modify the diagnostic and therapeutic attitude i.e. avoiding thrombolysis and performing catheterization in the acute phase. (author)

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

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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…

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.

Multimodality language mapping in patients with left-hemispheric language dominance on Wada test.

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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.

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.

Assessment of global and regional left ventricular function using 64-slice multislice computed tomography and 2D echocardiography: A comparison with cardiac magnetic resonance

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Annuar, Bin Rapaee; Liew, Chee Khoon; Chin, Sze Piaw; Ong, Tiong Kiam; Seyfarth, M. Tobias; Chan, Wei Ling; Fong, Yean Yip; Ang, Choon Kiat; Lin, Naing; Liew, Houng Bang; Sim, Kui Hian

2008-01-01

Objectives: To compare the assessment of global and regional left ventricular (LV) function using 64-slice multislice computed tomography (MSCT), 2D echocardiography (2DE) and cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR). Methods: Thirty-two consecutive patients (mean age, 56.5 ± 9.7 years) referred for evaluation of coronary artery using 64-slice MSCT also underwent 2DE and CMR within 48 h. The global left ventricular function which include left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), left ventricular end diastolic volume (LVdV) and left ventricular end systolic volume (LVsV) were determine using the three modalities. Regional wall motion (RWM) was assessed visually in all three modalities. The CMR served as the gold standard for the comparison between 64-slice MSCT with CMR and 2DE with CMR. Statistical analysis included Pearson correlation coefficient, Bland-Altman plots and κ-statistics. Results: The 64-slice MSCT agreed well with CMR for assessment of LVEF (r = 0.92; p < 0.0001), LVdV (r = 0.98; p < 0.0001) and LVsV (r = 0.98; p < 0.0001). In comparison with 64-slice MSCT, 2DE showed moderate correlation with CMR for the assessment of LVEF (r = 0.84; p < 0.0001), LVdV (r = 0.83; p < 0.0001) and LVsV (r = 0.80; p < 0.0001). However in RWM analysis, 2DE showed better accuracy than 64-slice MSCT (94.3% versus 82.4%) and closer agreement (κ = 0.89 versus 0.63) with CMR. Conclusion: 64-Slice MSCT correlates strongly with CMR in global LV function however in regional LV function 2DE showed better agreement with CMR than 64-slice MSCT

Assessment of global and regional left ventricular function using 64-slice multislice computed tomography and 2D echocardiography: A comparison with cardiac magnetic resonance

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Annuar, Bin Rapaee [Faculty of Medicine, University Malaysia Sarawak (Malaysia); Department of Cardiology, Sarawak General Hospital (Malaysia)], E-mail: rannuar@fmhs.unimas.my; Liew, Chee Khoon; Chin, Sze Piaw; Ong, Tiong Kiam [Department of Cardiology, Sarawak General Hospital (Malaysia); Seyfarth, M. Tobias [Sieman Medical Solution (Germany); Chan, Wei Ling; Fong, Yean Yip; Ang, Choon Kiat [Department of Cardiology, Sarawak General Hospital (Malaysia); Lin, Naing [Universiti Sains Malaysia (Malaysia); Liew, Houng Bang; Sim, Kui Hian [Department of Cardiology, Sarawak General Hospital (Malaysia)

2008-01-15

Objectives: To compare the assessment of global and regional left ventricular (LV) function using 64-slice multislice computed tomography (MSCT), 2D echocardiography (2DE) and cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR). Methods: Thirty-two consecutive patients (mean age, 56.5 {+-} 9.7 years) referred for evaluation of coronary artery using 64-slice MSCT also underwent 2DE and CMR within 48 h. The global left ventricular function which include left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), left ventricular end diastolic volume (LVdV) and left ventricular end systolic volume (LVsV) were determine using the three modalities. Regional wall motion (RWM) was assessed visually in all three modalities. The CMR served as the gold standard for the comparison between 64-slice MSCT with CMR and 2DE with CMR. Statistical analysis included Pearson correlation coefficient, Bland-Altman plots and {kappa}-statistics. Results: The 64-slice MSCT agreed well with CMR for assessment of LVEF (r = 0.92; p < 0.0001), LVdV (r = 0.98; p < 0.0001) and LVsV (r = 0.98; p < 0.0001). In comparison with 64-slice MSCT, 2DE showed moderate correlation with CMR for the assessment of LVEF (r = 0.84; p < 0.0001), LVdV (r = 0.83; p < 0.0001) and LVsV (r = 0.80; p < 0.0001). However in RWM analysis, 2DE showed better accuracy than 64-slice MSCT (94.3% versus 82.4%) and closer agreement ({kappa} = 0.89 versus 0.63) with CMR. Conclusion: 64-Slice MSCT correlates strongly with CMR in global LV function however in regional LV function 2DE showed better agreement with CMR than 64-slice MSCT.

Assessment of global and regional left ventricular function using 64-slice multislice computed tomography and 2D echocardiography: a comparison with cardiac magnetic resonance.

Science.gov (United States)

Annuar, Bin Rapaee; Liew, Chee Khoon; Chin, Sze Piaw; Ong, Tiong Kiam; Seyfarth, M Tobias; Chan, Wei Ling; Fong, Yean Yip; Ang, Choon Kiat; Lin, Naing; Liew, Houng Bang; Sim, Kui Hian

2008-01-01

To compare the assessment of global and regional left ventricular (LV) function using 64-slice multislice computed tomography (MSCT), 2D echocardiography (2DE) and cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR). Thirty-two consecutive patients (mean age, 56.5+/-9.7 years) referred for evaluation of coronary artery using 64-slice MSCT also underwent 2DE and CMR within 48h. The global left ventricular function which include left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), left ventricular end diastolic volume (LVdV) and left ventricular end systolic volume (LVsV) were determine using the three modalities. Regional wall motion (RWM) was assessed visually in all three modalities. The CMR served as the gold standard for the comparison between 64-slice MSCT with CMR and 2DE with CMR. Statistical analysis included Pearson correlation coefficient, Bland-Altman plots and kappa-statistics. The 64-slice MSCT agreed well with CMR for assessment of LVEF (r=0.92; p<0.0001), LVdV (r=0.98; p<0.0001) and LVsV (r=0.98; p<0.0001). In comparison with 64-slice MSCT, 2DE showed moderate correlation with CMR for the assessment of LVEF (r=0.84; p<0.0001), LVdV (r=0.83; p<0.0001) and LVsV (r=0.80; p<0.0001). However in RWM analysis, 2DE showed better accuracy than 64-slice MSCT (94.3% versus 82.4%) and closer agreement (kappa=0.89 versus 0.63) with CMR. 64-Slice MSCT correlates strongly with CMR in global LV function however in regional LV function 2DE showed better agreement with CMR than 64-slice MSCT.

Relationship between regional brain glucose metabolism and temperament factor of personality

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Cho, Sang Soo; Lee, Eun Ju; Yoon, Eun Jin; Kim, Yu Kyeong; Lee, Won Woo; Kim, Sang Eun [Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

2005-07-01

Temperament factor of personality has been considered to have correlation with activity in a specific central monoaminergic system. In an attempt to explore neuronal substrate of biogenetic personality traits, we examined the relationship between regional brain glucose metabolism and temperament factor of personality. Twenty right-handed healthy subjects (age, 24{+-}4 yr: 10 females and 10 males) were studied with FDG PET. Their temperaments were assessed using the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI), which consisted of four temperament factors (harm avoidance (HA), novelty seeking (NS), reward dependence (RD), persistency) and three personality factors. The relationship between regional glucose metabolism and each temperament score was tested using SPM99 (P < 0.005, uncorrected). NS score was negatively correlated with glucose metabolism in the frontal areas, insula, and superior temporal gyrus mainly in the right hemisphere. Positive correlation between NS score and glucose metabolism was observed in the left superior temporal gyrus. HA score showed negative correlation with glucose metabolism in the middle and orbitofrontal gyri as well as in the parahippocampal gyrus. RD score was positively correlated with glucose metabolism in the left middle frontal gyrus and negative correlated in the posterior cingulate gyrus and caudate nucleus. We identified the relationship between regional brain glucose metabolism and temperamental personality trait. Each temperament factor had a relation with functions of specific brain areas. These results help understand biological background of personality and specific feedback circuits associated with each temperament factor.

Relationship between regional brain glucose metabolism and temperament factor of personality

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Cho, Sang Soo; Lee, Eun Ju; Yoon, Eun Jin; Kim, Yu Kyeong; Lee, Won Woo; Kim, Sang Eun

2005-01-01

Temperament factor of personality has been considered to have correlation with activity in a specific central monoaminergic system. In an attempt to explore neuronal substrate of biogenetic personality traits, we examined the relationship between regional brain glucose metabolism and temperament factor of personality. Twenty right-handed healthy subjects (age, 24±4 yr: 10 females and 10 males) were studied with FDG PET. Their temperaments were assessed using the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI), which consisted of four temperament factors (harm avoidance (HA), novelty seeking (NS), reward dependence (RD), persistency) and three personality factors. The relationship between regional glucose metabolism and each temperament score was tested using SPM99 (P < 0.005, uncorrected). NS score was negatively correlated with glucose metabolism in the frontal areas, insula, and superior temporal gyrus mainly in the right hemisphere. Positive correlation between NS score and glucose metabolism was observed in the left superior temporal gyrus. HA score showed negative correlation with glucose metabolism in the middle and orbitofrontal gyri as well as in the parahippocampal gyrus. RD score was positively correlated with glucose metabolism in the left middle frontal gyrus and negative correlated in the posterior cingulate gyrus and caudate nucleus. We identified the relationship between regional brain glucose metabolism and temperamental personality trait. Each temperament factor had a relation with functions of specific brain areas. These results help understand biological background of personality and specific feedback circuits associated with each temperament factor

Four-dimensional echocardiography area strain combined with exercise stress echocardiography to evaluate left ventricular regional systolic function in patients with mild single vessel coronary artery stenosis.

Science.gov (United States)

Deng, Yan; Peng, Long; Liu, Yuan-Yuan; Yin, Li-Xue; Li, Chun-Mei; Wang, Yi; Rao, Li

2017-09-01

The aim of this prospective study was to assess the diagnosis value of four-dimensional echocardiography area strain (AS) combined with exercise stress echocardiography to evaluate left ventricular regional systolic function in patients with mild single vessel coronary artery stenosis. Based on treadmill exercise load status, two-dimensional conventional echocardiography and four-dimensional echocardiography area strain were performed on patients suspected coronary artery disease before coronary angiogram. Thirty patients (case group) with mild left anterior descending coronary artery stenosis (stenosis Four-dimensional echocardiography area strain combined with exercise stress echocardiography could sensitively find left ventricular regional systolic function abnormality in patients with mild single vessel coronary artery stenosis, and locate stenosis coronary artery accordingly. © 2017, Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

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

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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.

Evaluation of left ventricular function by digital subtraction angiography

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kuribayashi, Sachio; Ootaki, Makoto; Matsuyama, Seiya; Kanemoto, Nariaki; Furuya, Hideo

1985-01-01

Effects of contrast medium doses on left ventriculographic images using intravenous digital subtraction angiography (IVDSA-LVG) were assessed. The validity of IVDSA-LVG in evaluating ejection fraction (FF) and left ventricular regional wall motion was determined by comparison with conventional left ventriculography using direct injection (direct LVG). The advantages of left ventriculography using intraarterial subtraction angiography (IADSA-LVG) performed by injecting small doses of contrast media directly into the left ventricle were stressed. 1. To assess the effects of doses of contrast media on IVDSA-LVG, 10, 20, and 30 ml Urografin-76 were injected into the superior vena cava in 16 patients, and the resulting images were compared in each patient. With only 10 ml contrast medium, left ventricular opacification was fairly good, and regional wall motion was evaluated in many cases, but 30 ml were needed to calculate ventricular volume and EF. 2. To determine the validity of IVDSA-LVG in evaluating EF and regional wall motion, we compared IVDSA-LVG using 30 ml of contrast medium with direct LVG in 18 patients. There was a good correlation between the two methods in determining EF (r = 0.877), and 90 % of the interpretations of regional wall motion were in agreement by the two methods. IVDSA-LVG was useful and accurate in evaluating EF and regional wall motion of the left ventricle. 3. IADSA-LVG was performed for five patients, and good quality images were obtained in many cases, even with relatively small doses (10 ml) of contrast media. These results suggested that this method may be used in cases with impaired LV function, to avoid hemodynamic derangement induced by conventional direct LVG using large doses of contrast medium. (author)

Atypical handedness in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy.

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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.

Auditory properties in the parabelt regions of the superior temporal gyrus in the awake macaque monkey: an initial survey.

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Kajikawa, Yoshinao; Frey, Stephen; Ross, Deborah; Falchier, Arnaud; Hackett, Troy A; Schroeder, Charles E

2015-03-11

The superior temporal gyrus (STG) is on the inferior-lateral brain surface near the external ear. In macaques, 2/3 of the STG is occupied by an auditory cortical region, the "parabelt," which is part of a network of inferior temporal areas subserving communication and social cognition as well as object recognition and other functions. However, due to its location beneath the squamous temporal bone and temporalis muscle, the STG, like other inferior temporal regions, has been a challenging target for physiological studies in awake-behaving macaques. We designed a new procedure for implanting recording chambers to provide direct access to the STG, allowing us to evaluate neuronal properties and their topography across the full extent of the STG in awake-behaving macaques. Initial surveys of the STG have yielded several new findings. Unexpectedly, STG sites in monkeys that were listening passively responded to tones with magnitudes comparable to those of responses to 1/3 octave band-pass noise. Mapping results showed longer response latencies in more rostral sites and possible tonotopic patterns parallel to core and belt areas, suggesting the reversal of gradients between caudal and rostral parabelt areas. These results will help further exploration of parabelt areas. Copyright © 2015 the authors 0270-6474/15/354140-11$15.00/0.

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

NARCIS (Netherlands)

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

2012-01-01

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

Nonrandom community assembly and high temporal turnover promote regional coexistence in tropics but not temperate zone.

Science.gov (United States)

Freestone, Amy L; Inouye, Brian D

2015-01-01

A persistent challenge for ecologists is understanding the ecological mechanisms that maintain global patterns of biodiversity, particularly the latitudinal diversity gradient of peak species richness in the tropics. Spatial and temporal variation in community composition contribute to these patterns of biodiversity, but how this variation and its underlying processes change across latitude remains unresolved. Using a model system of sessile marine invertebrates across 25 degrees of latitude, from the temperate zone to the tropics, we tested the prediction that spatial and temporal patterns of taxonomic richness and composition, and the community assembly processes underlying these patterns, will differ across latitude. Specifically, we predicted that high beta diversity (spatial variation in composition) and high temporal turnover contribute to the high species richness of the tropics. Using a standardized experimental approach that controls for several confounding factors that hinder interpretation of prior studies, we present results that support our predictions. In the temperate zone, communities were more similar across spatial scales from centimeters to tens of kilometers and temporal scales up to one year than at lower latitudes. Since the patterns at northern latitudes were congruent with a null model, stochastic assembly processes are implicated. In contrast, the communities in the tropics were a dynamic spatial and temporal mosaic, with low similarity even across small spatial scales and high temporal turnover at both local and regional scales. Unlike the temperate zone, deterministic community assembly processes such as predation likely contributed to the high beta diversity in the tropics. Our results suggest that community assembly processes and temporal dynamics vary across latitude and help structure and maintain latitudinal patterns of diversity.

Regional cerebral blood flow changes associated with transcranial magnetic stimulation in refractory depressed patients

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kim, C. H.; Chung, Y. A.; Chae, J. H.; Oh, J. H.; Kim, S. H.; Sohn, H. S.; Chung, S. K.

2005-01-01

Imaging studies by repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) demonstrates biological activities of the brain. The aim of this study was to investigate the patterns of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) after a series of therapeutic rTMS sessions. Nine patients with refractory depression who had not been responsive to appropriate pharmacotherapy over 1 year were randomly assigned to daily 1 Hz right-sided rTMS or 20 Hz left-sided rTMS sessions for over 3 weeks. Baseline and 3-week post-rTMS treatment SPECT images were obtained 40 minutes after intravenous injection of approximately 740925 MBq of Tc-99m ECD using a multi-detector scanner (ECAM plus; Siemens, Erlangen, Germany) equipped with a low-energy, fan-beam collimator. All patients showed a good clinical outcome. Statistically significant common increase in rCBF patterns was found in the fusiform gyrus of left temporal lobe, left hippocampus, left superior parietal lobule, superior frontal gyrus of right frontal lobe, right lateral globus pallidus and cingulated gyrus of both limbic lobes. And in the fusiform gyrus of left occipital lobe and middle frontal gyrus of right frontal lobe decreased uptake was seen compared to controls. Low-frequency rTMS on the right prefrontal cortex and high-frequency rTMS on the left prefrontal cortex for 3 weeks as an add-on regimen have increased activity in specific brain regions in patients with treatment refractory depression. Therapeutic TMS seems to influence distinct cortical regions, as well as different pathways, affecting rCBF in a homogeneous manner that is probably region dependent and illness related

Regional cerebral blood flow changes associated with transcranial magnetic stimulation in refractory depressed patients

Energy Technology Data Exchange (ETDEWEB)

Kim, C. H.; Chung, Y. A.; Chae, J. H.; Oh, J. H.; Kim, S. H.; Sohn, H. S.; Chung, S. K. [The Catholic University of Korea, Seoul (Korea, Republic of)

2005-07-01

Imaging studies by repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) demonstrates biological activities of the brain. The aim of this study was to investigate the patterns of regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) after a series of therapeutic rTMS sessions. Nine patients with refractory depression who had not been responsive to appropriate pharmacotherapy over 1 year were randomly assigned to daily 1 Hz right-sided rTMS or 20 Hz left-sided rTMS sessions for over 3 weeks. Baseline and 3-week post-rTMS treatment SPECT images were obtained 40 minutes after intravenous injection of approximately 740925 MBq of Tc-99m ECD using a multi-detector scanner (ECAM plus; Siemens, Erlangen, Germany) equipped with a low-energy, fan-beam collimator. All patients showed a good clinical outcome. Statistically significant common increase in rCBF patterns was found in the fusiform gyrus of left temporal lobe, left hippocampus, left superior parietal lobule, superior frontal gyrus of right frontal lobe, right lateral globus pallidus and cingulated gyrus of both limbic lobes. And in the fusiform gyrus of left occipital lobe and middle frontal gyrus of right frontal lobe decreased uptake was seen compared to controls. Low-frequency rTMS on the right prefrontal cortex and high-frequency rTMS on the left prefrontal cortex for 3 weeks as an add-on regimen have increased activity in specific brain regions in patients with treatment refractory depression. Therapeutic TMS seems to influence distinct cortical regions, as well as different pathways, affecting rCBF in a homogeneous manner that is probably region dependent and illness related.

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.

Music listening engages specific cortical regions within the temporal lobes: differences between musicians and non-musicians.

Science.gov (United States)

Angulo-Perkins, Arafat; Aubé, William; Peretz, Isabelle; Barrios, Fernando A; Armony, Jorge L; Concha, Luis

2014-10-01

Music and speech are two of the most relevant and common sounds in the human environment. Perceiving and processing these two complex acoustical signals rely on a hierarchical functional network distributed throughout several brain regions within and beyond the auditory cortices. Given their similarities, the neural bases for processing these two complex sounds overlap to a certain degree, but particular brain regions may show selectivity for one or the other acoustic category, which we aimed to identify. We examined 53 subjects (28 of them professional musicians) by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), using a paradigm designed to identify regions showing increased activity in response to different types of musical stimuli, compared to different types of complex sounds, such as speech and non-linguistic vocalizations. We found a region in the anterior portion of the superior temporal gyrus (aSTG) (planum polare) that showed preferential activity in response to musical stimuli and was present in all our subjects, regardless of musical training, and invariant across different musical instruments (violin, piano or synthetic piano). Our data show that this cortical region is preferentially involved in processing musical, as compared to other complex sounds, suggesting a functional role as a second-order relay, possibly integrating acoustic characteristics intrinsic to music (e.g., melody extraction). Moreover, we assessed whether musical experience modulates the response of cortical regions involved in music processing and found evidence of functional differences between musicians and non-musicians during music listening. In particular, bilateral activation of the planum polare was more prevalent, but not exclusive, in musicians than non-musicians, and activation of the right posterior portion of the superior temporal gyrus (planum temporale) differed between groups. Our results provide evidence of functional specialization for music processing in specific

Effects of Level of Retrieval Success on Recall-Related Frontal and Medial Temporal Lobe Activations

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Daniela Montaldi

2002-01-01

Full Text Available Brain dedicated single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT was used to compare the neuroactivation produced by the cued recall of response words in a set of studied word pairs with that produced by the cued retrieval of words semantically related to unstudied stimulus words. Six of the 12 subjects scanned were extensively trained so as to have good memory of the studied pairs and the remaining six were minimally trained so as to have poor memory. When comparing episodic with semantic retrieval, the well-trained subjects showed significant left medial temporal lobe activation, which was also significantly greater than that shown by the poorly trained subjects, who failed to show significant medial temporal lobe activation. In contrast, the poorly trained subjects showed significant bilateral frontal lobe activation, which was significantly greater than that shown by the well-trained subjects who failed to show significant frontal lobe activation. The frontal activations occurred mainly in the dorsolateral region, but extended into the ventrolateral and, to a lesser extent, the frontal polar regions. It is argued that whereas the medial temporal lobe activation increased as the proportion of response words successfully recalled increased, the bilateral frontal lobe activation increased in proportion to retrieval effort, which was greater when learning had been less good.

Human left ventral premotor cortex mediates matching of hand posture to object use.

Directory of Open Access Journals (Sweden)

Guy Vingerhoets

Full Text Available Visuomotor transformations for grasping have been associated with a fronto-parietal network in the monkey brain. The human homologue of the parietal monkey region (AIP has been identified as the anterior part of the intraparietal sulcus (aIPS, whereas the putative human equivalent of the monkey frontal region (F5 is located in the ventral part of the premotor cortex (vPMC. Results from animal studies suggest that monkey F5 is involved in the selection of appropriate hand postures relative to the constraints of the task. In humans, the functional roles of aIPS and vPMC appear to be more complex and the relative contribution of each region to grasp selection remains uncertain. The present study aimed to identify modulation in brain areas sensitive to the difficulty level of tool object - hand posture matching. Seventeen healthy right handed participants underwent fMRI while observing pictures of familiar tool objects followed by pictures of hand postures. The task was to decide whether the hand posture matched the functional use of the previously shown object. Conditions were manipulated for level of difficulty. Compared to a picture matching control task, the tool object - hand posture matching conditions conjointly showed increased modulation in several left hemispheric regions of the superior and inferior parietal lobules (including aIPS, the middle occipital gyrus, and the inferior temporal gyrus. Comparison of hard versus easy conditions selectively modulated the left inferior frontal gyrus with peak activity located in its opercular part (Brodmann area (BA 44. We suggest that in the human brain, vPMC/BA44 is involved in the matching of hand posture configurations in accordance with visual and functional demands.

Regional cerebral blood flow in vascular depression assessed by 123I-IMP SPECT

International Nuclear Information System (INIS)

Kimura, Mahito; Shimoda, Kengo; Mizumura, Sunao; Tateno, Amane; Fujito, Tatsuma; Mori, Takao; Endo, Shunkichi

2003-01-01

As the prevalence of white matter hyperintensities detected on T2 weighted MRI scans in patients with late-onset depression is higher than that in nondepressed patients, the concept of ''vascular depression'' (VDep) was introduced in 1997. However, the pathology of vascular depression has not been clarified. This study examined the differences in functional imaging between vascular and non-vascular depression (non-VDep). We utilized 123 I-IMP single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) to compare regional cerebral blood flows (rCBF) between 9 patients with VDep (Krishnan criteria) and 11 age- and sex-matched patients with non-VDep in both depressed and remitted states. In both VDep and non-VDep patients, mean rCBF increased significantly as depression improved, partially aided by changes in left anterior temporal blood flow. In addition, compared to non-VDep patients, the left anterior frontal rCBF for VDep patients was significantly lower in both depressed and remitted states. Left anterior temporal rCBF therefore appears to represent a state marker that increases as symptoms associated with late-onset depression improve, regardless of vascular changes. Furthermore, in VDep patients, left anterior frontal rCBF was low in both states compared to non-VDep patients, and might not only represent a trait marker, but also correlated with the duration of disease and likelihood of recurrence and relapse. (author)

Differential activity in left inferior frontal gyrus for pseudowords and real words: an event-related fMRI study on auditory lexical decision.

Science.gov (United States)

Xiao, Zhuangwei; Zhang, John X; Wang, Xiaoyi; Wu, Renhua; Hu, Xiaoping; Weng, Xuchu; Tan, Li Hai

2005-06-01

After Newman and Twieg and others, we used a fast event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) design and contrasted the lexical processing of pseudowords and real words. Participants carried out an auditory lexical decision task on a list of randomly intermixed real and pseudo Chinese two-character (or two-syllable) words. The pseudowords were constructed by recombining constituent characters of the real words to control for sublexical code properties. Processing of pseudowords and real words activated a highly comparable network of brain regions, including bilateral inferior frontal gyrus, superior, middle temporal gyrus, calcarine and lingual gyrus, and left supramarginal gyrus. Mirroring a behavioral lexical effect, left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) was significantly more activated for pseudowords than for real words. This result disconfirms a popular view that this area plays a role in grapheme-to-phoneme conversion, as such a conversion process was unnecessary in our task with auditory stimulus presentation. An alternative view was supported that attributes increased activity in left IFG for pseudowords to general processes in decision making, specifically in making positive versus negative responses. Activation in left supramarginal gyrus was of a much larger volume for real words than for pseudowords, suggesting a role of this region in the representation of phonological or semantic information for two-character Chinese words at the lexical level.