[Informatics and health, from digitization to information and communication technologies (TIC)].

Integrating the progress that has been made on a daily basis since it was jointly commissioned in 2013 by the French National Academy of Medicine (Biotechnology Committee XX, Prof Emmanuel-Alain Cabanis) and the Technologies Academy (Pr Jean de Kervasdoué), this report, covering such a vast subject, can only represent one step in a long process. Summarized here in a volume compatible with the Bulletin, it makes reference to the full report (52 pages ; 22 pages of text, 4 pages of references, a 20-page glossary for physicians, plus 522 figures spanning 6 pages), which is available on the Academy's website. The six chapters first define "health" (WHO) and "informatics" and provide a brief history.

[Virtual endoscopic navigation and body transparency based on computed tomography. A step towards in vivo imaging].

Progress in HR-CTdata processing has led to lower X-ray exposure and to better diagnostic performance. We describe 19 adult patients (among 5000) examined by HR CT with 64 detectors, acquisition and exposure protocols in mSv, spiral, 0.6-mm slices, 5To PACS.

[Boxing: traumatology and prevention].

In 1986, a surgeon who, as an amateur boxer himself was concerned with boxers' health, approached a pioneering Parisian neuroimaging unit. Thus began a study in close cooperation with the French Boxing Federation, spanning 25 years. In a first series of 52 volunteer boxers (13 amateurs and 39 professionals), during which MRI gradually replaced computed tomography, ten risk factors were identified, which notably included boxing style: only one of 40 "stylists" with a good boxing technique had cortical atrophy (4.

[Health risks of long-distance air travel. Role of the general practitioner].

Air transport is seeing an increase in long-distance flights (12-16 hours average flight time), greater seating capacity, and a higher proportion of elderly, and hence more fragile, passengers. The French Academy of Medicine recommends that medical care be reinforced, particularly on long-distance flights, through the following measures: (i) passengers should be informed in advance of potential risks, through a Passenger's Guide, (ii) all future passengers should be encouraged to seek health advice and information from their general practitioner, (iii) flight crew members should receive training as "in-flight medical correspondents", and (iv) airlines and plane designers should reserve a "medical space" on the plane, equipped with appropriate medical materials.

[Imaging the brain, from the cell to the organ].

Brain imaging has progressed over the centuries, from prehistory (surgical and sculptural empiricism), through the Middle Ages (dissection and drawings), the Renaissance (printing) and the 18th century (Spallanzani and ultrasounds), to the 19th century and the discovery of piezoelectricity by the Curie brothers and X-rays by Röntgen in 1895. The head had finally become transparent! The microscope was used by Ramon Y Cajal for histological and neuropathological brain studies. Marie Curie's discovery of radioisotopes paved the way for advances in in vivo neurophysiology.

[Personal identification with biometric and genetic methods].

The need for personal identification is growing in many avenues of society. To "identify" a person is to establish a link between his or her observed characteristics and those previously stored in a database. To "authenticate" is to decide whether or not someone is the person he or she claims to be.

[Computed tomography and cranial paleoanthropology].

Since its invention in 1972, computed tomography (C.T.) has significantly evolved.

Neural correlates of simple unimanual discrete and continuous movements: a functional imaging study at 3 T.

Introduction: The cerebral and cerebellar network involved in unimanual continuous and discrete movements was studied in blood oxygenation level-dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) at 3 T.

Methods: Seven healthy right-handed volunteers were scanned (1) while drawing a circle with the tip of the right index finger (continuous motor task), and (2) while drawing a triangle with the tip of the right index finger (discrete motor task).

Results: In both motor tasks, extensive activations were observed in the sensorimotor (M1/S1), parietal, prefrontal, insular, lateral occipital (LOC) and anterior cerebellar cortices.

Anatomical parcellation of the brainstem and cerebellar white matter: a preliminary probabilistic tractography study at 3 T.

Introduction: The aims of this study were: (1) to test whether higher spatial resolution diffusion tensor images and a higher field strength (3 T) enable a more accurate delineation of the anatomical tract within the brainstem, and, in particular, (2) to try to distinguish the different components of the corticopontocerebellar paths in terms of their cortical origins.

Methods: The main tracts of the brainstem of four volunteers were studied at 3 T using a probabilistic diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) axonal tracking. The resulting tractograms enabled anatomical well-delineated structures to be identified on the diffusion tensor coloured images.

Cortical projection to the human red nucleus: complementary results with probabilistic tractography at 3 T.

Introduction: In a previous study using streamlined diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) axonal tracking at 1.5 T, we found that the main afferents to the human red nucleus arise from the sensorimotor and prefrontal cortices. However, the spatial resolution of our data was low and our streamlining DTI algorithm was less powerful than the probabilistic tractography algorithm usually used to define connections between low anisotropic cortical or nuclear areas.

The neural network involved in a bimanual tactile-tactile matching discrimination task: a functional imaging study at 3 T.

Introduction: The cerebral and cerebellar network involved in a bimanual object recognition was studied in blood oxygenation dependent level functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

Methods: Nine healthy right-handed volunteers were scanned (1) while performing bilateral finger movements (nondiscrimination motor task), and (2) while performing a bimanual tactile-tactile matching discrimination task using small chess pieces (tactile discrimination task).

Results: Extensive activations were specifically observed in the parietal (SII, superior lateral lobule), insular, prefrontal, cingulate and neocerebellar cortices (HVIII), with a left predominance in motor areas, during the tactile discrimination task in contrast to the findings during the nondiscrimination motor task.

Three-dimensional Procrustes analysis of modern human craniofacial form.

The objective of this study was to analyze modern human craniofacial form using 3D Procrustes superimposition in order to establish a reference model and validate it on computed tomography (CT). The sample consists of 136 specimens from five modern human regional groups. Thirty-three craniofacial landmark coordinates have been recorded using a Microscribe and calculated on CT scans for five crania from the sample.

Cortical projections to the human red nucleus: a diffusion tensor tractography study with a 1.5-T MRI machine.

Introduction: Previous studies in apes and monkeys have shown that the red nucleus receives projections from the sensorimotor and premotor cortices, whereas other experiments carried out with injured human brains have found corticorubral projections issuing from associative areas. Therefore, we reassessed in vivo the human anatomical projections from the cerebral cortex to the red nucleus using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) axonal tracking.

Methods: The connectivity between the cerebral cortex and the red nuclei of seven volunteers was studied at 1.

Resolution of homonymous visual field loss documented with functional magnetic resonance and diffusion tensor imaging.

A 68-year-old man developed right homonymous hemianopic paracentral scotomas from acute infarction of the left extrastriate area. He was studied over the ensuing 12 months with visual fields, conventional MRI, functional MRI (fMRI), and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). As the visual field defect became smaller, fMRI demonstrated progressively larger areas of cortical activation.

Cortical areas functionally linked with the cerebellar second homunculus during out-of-phase bimanual movements.

We used functional magnetic resonance imagery (fMRI) to study cortical activation during index finger-thumb opposition of both hands using in-phase and out-of-phase modes. In-phase movements activated the sensorimotor cortex. During out-of-phase movements, activations were also observed in the supplementary motor area (SMA), in the cingulate motor area (CMA) and, less frequently, in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC).

[The visual pathways, from anatomical MRI to physiological with (f)MRI and tractography with diffusion tensor MRI (DTMRI)].

Advances in MRI technology have led to a better knowledge of visual pathways (1984-2004), with a new descriptive anatomy and functional model. The authors first describe the technical development of MRI over the last thirty years, then describe and illustrate the new descriptive anatomy. Cephalic MRI reveals brain structures that were previously invisible, on different encephalic planes, in the optic pathways, horizontally from the cornea to the calcarin fissure (neuro-ocular plane (NOP), oblique trans-hemispheric neuro-ocular (OTNOP) and neuro-opto-tractal planes (NOTP)), in their orthogonal orientation upon the oculomotor pathways: head and axonal optic nerve pack (visual deutoneurons in their meninges), optic tracts, lateral geniculate bodies, optic radiations and the calcarian fissure.

Eruption of third molars: relationship to inclination of adjacent molars.

The purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between the sagittal inclination of the first and second maxillary molars and the eruption of the third molars. The sample consisted of 2 groups. The subjects in the first group (n = 28) had complete normal dentitions including third molars; those in the second group (n = 32) had impacted right and left third molars.