Metamodal Coupling of Vibrotactile and Auditory Speech Processing Systems through Matched Stimulus Representations.

It has been postulated that the brain is organized by "metamodal," sensory-independent cortical modules capable of performing tasks (e.g., word recognition) in both "standard" and novel sensory modalities.

Common Gray Matter Reductions in Alcohol Use and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorders: A Meta-analysis.

Background: Though compulsive drinking is a hallmark of alcohol use disorder (AUD), little is known of the neural mechanisms driving this behavior. To further the understanding of the neural underpinnings of this compulsivity, a meta-analytic approach was used to examine gray matter (GM) volume differences related to AUD, and contrast these differences with GM volume differences in obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), to find common underlying regional brain differences.

Methods: We systematically meta-analyzed case-control studies investigating GM volume that used whole-brain voxel-based morphometry separately for AUD and OCD and then directly compared the results of both.

Two Alzheimer's disease risk genes increase entorhinal cortex volume in young adults.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) risk genes alter brain structure and function decades before disease onset. Apolipoprotein E (APOE) is the strongest known genetic risk factor for AD, and a related gene, apolipoprotein J (APOJ), also affects disease risk. However, the extent to which these genes affect brain structure in young adults remains unclear.

A gene-brain-cognition pathway for the effect of an Alzheimer׳s risk gene on working memory in young adults.

Identifying pathways by which genetic Alzheimer׳s disease (AD) risk factors exert neurocognitive effects in young adults are essential for the effort to develop early interventions to forestall or prevent AD onset. Here, in a brain-imaging cohort of 59 young adults, we investigated effects of a variant within the clusterin (CLU) gene on working memory function and gray matter volume in cortical areas that support working memory. In addition, we investigated the extent to which effects of CLU genotype on working memory were independent of variation in the strongest AD risk factor gene apolipoprotein E (APOE).

Exercise challenge in Gulf War Illness reveals two subgroups with altered brain structure and function.

Nearly 30% of the approximately 700,000 military personnel who served in Operation Desert Storm (1990-1991) have developed Gulf War Illness, a condition that presents with symptoms such as cognitive impairment, autonomic dysfunction, debilitating fatigue and chronic widespread pain that implicate the central nervous system. A hallmark complaint of subjects with Gulf War Illness is post-exertional malaise; defined as an exacerbation of symptoms following physical and/or mental effort. To study the causal relationship between exercise, the brain, and changes in symptoms, 28 Gulf War veterans and 10 controls completed an fMRI scan before and after two exercise stress tests to investigate serial changes in pain, autonomic function, and working memory.

Increased brain white matter axial diffusivity associated with fatigue, pain and hyperalgesia in Gulf War illness.

Background: Gulf War exposures in 1990 and 1991 have caused 25% to 30% of deployed personnel to develop a syndrome of chronic fatigue, pain, hyperalgesia, cognitive and affective dysfunction.

Methods: Gulf War veterans (n = 31) and sedentary veteran and civilian controls (n = 20) completed fMRI scans for diffusion tensor imaging. A combination of dolorimetry, subjective reports of pain and fatigue were correlated to white matter diffusivity properties to identify tracts associated with symptom constructs.