Interactive mining of neural pathways to preoperative neurosurgical planning.

Background And Objective: Preoperative understanding of white matter anatomy, including its spatial relationship with pathology and superficial landmarks, is vital for effective surgical planning. The ability to interactively synthesize neural pathways from diffusion data and dynamically discern neuroanatomy-referenced fiber patterns enables neurosurgeons to construct detailed mental models of the patient's brain and assess surgical risks. We present a novel interactive software designed for real-time mining of neural pathways from diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) data.

Montreal cognitive assessment in Brazilian adults with sickle cell disease: The burdens of poor sociocultural background.

Sickle cell disease (SCD) patients are at higher risk of developing silent cerebral infarcts and overt stroke, which may reflect cognitive impairment, functional limitations, and worse quality of life. The cognitive function of Brazilian adult SCD patients ( = 124; 19-70 years; 56 men; 79 SS, 28 SC, 10 S/β, 7 S/β) was screened through Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) and correlated the results with possible predictive factors for test performance, including sociocultural, clinical, laboratory data and brain imaging. The Median MoCA score was 23 (8-30); 70% had a 25-or-less score, suggesting some level of cognitive impairment.

Disruption of Resting-State Functional Connectivity in Acute Ischemic Stroke: Comparisons Between Right and Left Hemispheric Insults.

Few resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (RS-fMRI) studies evaluated the impact of acute ischemic changes on cerebral functional connectivity (FC) and its relationship with functional outcomes after acute ischemic stroke (AIS), considering the side of lesions. To characterize alterations of FC of patients with AIS by analyzing 12 large-scale brain networks (NWs) with RS-fMRI. Additionally, we evaluated the impact of the side (right (RH) or left (LH) hemisphere) of insult on the disruption of brain NWs.

Microstructural brain abnormalities, fatigue, and cognitive dysfunction after mild COVID-19.

Although some studies have shown neuroimaging and neuropsychological alterations in post-COVID-19 patients, fewer combined neuroimaging and neuropsychology evaluations of individuals who presented a mild acute infection. Here we investigated cognitive dysfunction and brain changes in a group of mildly infected individuals. We conducted a cross-sectional study of 97 consecutive subjects (median age of 41 years) without current or history of psychiatric symptoms (including anxiety and depression) after a mild infection, with a median of 79 days (and mean of 97 days) after diagnosis of COVID-19.

Fully automatic segmentation of brain lacunas resulting from resective surgery using a 3D deep learning model.

The rapid and constant development of deep learning (DL) strategies is pushing forward the quality of object segmentation in images from diverse fields of interest. In particular, these algorithms can be very helpful in delineating brain abnormalities (lesions, tumors, lacunas, etc), enabling the extraction of information such as volume and location, that can inform doctors or feed predictive models. Here, we describe ResectVol DL, a fully automatic tool developed to segment resective lacunas in brain images of patients with epilepsy.

Impairment of daily occupations in multiple sclerosis: analysis of neuroimaging, general and social cognition, and reserve.

Background: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) can impact performance of daily occupations in both relapsing-remitting (RRMS) and secondary-progressive (SPMS) clinical courses. Work force participation decreases with advancing physical disability but the influence of non-motor factors, neuroimaging, and reserve have been scarcely investigated. We aimed to evaluate MRI, clinical, and cognitive (social and general) factors associated with impairment in different daily occupations and address whether cognitive and brain reserve have a positive impact on the ability to maintain these activities.

Brain volumes and white matter diffusion across the adult lifespan in temporal lobe epilepsy.

Objective: Typical aging is associated with gradual cognitive decline and changes in brain structure. The observation that cognitive performance in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) patients diverges from controls early in life with subsequent decline running in parallel would suggest an initial insult but does not support accelerated decline secondary to seizures. Whether TLE patients demonstrate similar trajectories of age-related gray (GM) and white matter (WM) changes as compared to healthy controls remains uncertain.

Cholinesterase Inhibitors Response Might Be Related to Right Hippocampal Functional Connectivity in Mild Alzheimer's Disease.

The response to cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEIs) treatment is variable in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD). Patients and physicians would benefit if these drugs could be targeted at those most likely to respond in a clinical setting. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the ability of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) AD biomarkers, hippocampal volumes, and Default Mode Network functional connectivity to predict clinical response to ChEIs treatment in mild AD.

Functional Connectome Analysis in Mild Cognitive Impairment: Comparing Alzheimer's Disease Continuum and Suspected Non-Alzheimer Pathology.

Research in brain resting-state functional connectivity (FC) analysis in mild cognitive impairment (MCI) has conflicting results. This work intends to find differences in resting-state FC of 2 groups of MCI subjects due to Alzheimer's disease (MCI-AD) continuum or to suspected non-Alzheimer pathology (MCI-SNAP). Ninety-two subjects older than 55 years were enrolled.

Histopathological Correlations of Qualitative and Quantitative Temporopolar MRI Analyses in Patients With Hippocampal Sclerosis.

Hippocampal sclerosis (HS) is a common cause of pharmacoresistant focal epilepsy. Here, we (1) performed a histological approach to the anterior temporal pole of patients with HS to evaluate cortical and white matter (WM) cell populations, alteration of myelin integrity and markers of neuronal activity, and (2) correlated microscopic data with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings. Our aim was to contribute with the understanding of neuroimaging and pathophysiological mechanisms of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) associated with HS.

Incorporation of quantitative MRI in a model to predict temporal lobe epilepsy surgery outcome.

Quantitative volumetric brain MRI measurement is important in research applications, but translating it into patient care is challenging. We explore the incorporation of clinical automated quantitative MRI measurements in statistical models predicting outcomes of surgery for temporal lobe epilepsy. Four hundred and thirty-five patients with drug-resistant epilepsy who underwent temporal lobe surgery at Cleveland Clinic, Mayo Clinic and University of Campinas were studied.

Differences in structural and functional default mode network connectivity in amyloid positive mild cognitive impairment: a longitudinal study.

Purpose: Default mode network (DMN) has emerged as a potential biomarker of Alzheimer's disease (AD); however, it is not clear whether it can differentiate amnestic mild cognitive impairment with altered amyloid (aMCI-Aβ +) who will evolve to AD. We evaluated if structural and functional connectivity (FC), hippocampal volumes (HV), and cerebrospinal fluid biomarkers (CSF-Aβ, p-Tau, and t-Tau) can differentiate aMCI-Aβ + converters from non-converters.

Methods: Forty-eight individuals (18 normal controls and 30 aMCI subjects in the AD continuum - with altered Aβ in the CSF) were followed up for an average of 13 months.

Subacute functional connectivity correlates with cognitive recovery six months after stroke.

Background And Purpose: Cognitive impairment is a common consequence of stroke, and the rewiring of the surviving brain circuits might contribute to cognitive recovery. Studies investigating how the functional connectivity of networks change across time and whether their remapping relates to cognitive recovery in stroke patients are scarce. We aimed to investigate whether resting-state functional connectivity was associated with cognitive performance in stroke patients and if any alterations in these networks were correlated with cognitive recovery.

Temporal lobe structural evaluation after transsylvian selective amygdalohippocampectomy.

Objective: Mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) is the most common type of focal epilepsy in adolescents and adults, and in 65% of cases, it is related to hippocampal sclerosis (HS). Selective surgical approaches to the treatment of MTLE have as their main goal resection of the amygdala and hippocampus with minimal damage to the neocortex, temporal stem, and optic radiations (ORs). The object of this study was to evaluate late postoperative imaging findings on the temporal lobe from a structural point of view.

Major Depressive Disorder Associated With Reduced Cortical Thickness in Women With Temporal Lobe Epilepsy.

Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is highly prevalent in patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE), especially in women, carrying significant morbidity. This study aimed to investigate the cortical thickness (CT) abnormalities associated with MDD in women with MTLE and hippocampal atrophy (HA). Also, we investigated the impact of MDD upon the volumes of the hippocampus and amygdala in these patients.

Patterns of default mode network in temporal lobe epilepsy with and without hippocampal sclerosis.

The default mode network (DMN) consists of the deactivation of specific regions during the performance of cognitive tasks and activation during resting or mind wandering. Several pieces of evidence indicate the impairment of DMN in patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE). However, most of these studies combined different underlying etiologies, failing to disentangle the influence of seizures and presence and side of hippocampal sclerosis (HS).

Modulation of cortical and subcortical brain areas at low and high exercise intensities.

Introduction: The brain plays a key role in the perceptual regulation of exercise, yet neuroimaging techniques have only demonstrated superficial brain areas responses during exercise, and little is known about the modulation of the deeper brain areas at different intensities.

Objectives/methods: Using a specially designed functional MRI (fMRI) cycling ergometer, we have determined the sequence in which the cortical and subcortical brain regions are modulated at low and high ratings perceived exertion (RPE) during an incremental exercise protocol.

Results: Additional to the activation of the classical motor control regions (motor, somatosensory, premotor and supplementary motor cortices and cerebellum), we found the activation of the regions associated with autonomic regulation (ie, insular cortex) (ie, positive blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal) during exercise.

Hippocampal atrophy disrupts the language network but not hemispheric language lateralization.

Objective: It is still unclear how temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) with and without hippocampal atrophy (HA) affects cortical language distribution. We aimed to investigate the role of the hippocampus on language lateralization, activation pattern, and functional connectivity (FC) in patients with TLE.

Methods: We investigated 93 patients with TLE-divided into right HA (RHA), left HA (LHA), and negative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (non-HA)-and 101 controls using a semantic-language functional MRI (fMRI) task and the Boston Naming Test (BNT).

Anxiety and depression symptoms disrupt resting state connectivity in patients with genetic generalized epilepsies.

Objective: To analyze the lifetime trajectories in genetic generalized epilepsies (GGEs) and investigate the impact of symptoms of anxiety and depression on resting state functional connectivity (FC).

Methods: Seventy-four GGE patients were classified according to the pharmacological response as seizure-free (12 patients), pharmacoresistant (PhR; 14 patients), and fluctuating (FL; 48 patients). Fifty-four subjects completed both the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), and 38 also underwent 3-T resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging.

Cognitive Reserve Relates to Functional Network Efficiency in Alzheimer's Disease.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common form of dementia, with no means of cure or prevention. The presence of abnormal disease-related proteins in the population is, in turn, much more common than the incidence of dementia. In this context, the cognitive reserve (CR) hypothesis has been proposed to explain the discontinuity between pathophysiological and clinical expression of AD, suggesting that CR mitigates the effects of pathology on clinical expression and cognition.

Intranetwork and internetwork connectivity in patients with Alzheimer disease and the association with cerebrospinal fluid biomarker levels.

Background: In the last decade, many studies have reported abnormal connectivity within the default mode network (DMN) in patients with Alzheimer disease. Few studies, however, have investigated other networks and their association with pathophysiological proteins obtained from cerebrospinal fluid (CSF).

Methods: We performed 3 T imaging in patients with mild Alzheimer disease, patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and healthy controls, and we collected CSF samples from the patients with aMCI and mild Alzheimer disease.

Pattern of Reduced Functional Connectivity and Structural Abnormalities in Parkinson's Disease: An Exploratory Study.

Background: MRI brain changes in Parkinson's disease (PD) are controversial.

Objectives: We aimed to describe structural and functional changes in PD.

Methods: Sixty-six patients with PD (57.