Ultrasonographic evidence of joint thickening reversibility in acromegalic patients treated with lanreotide for 12 months.

Background: A major cause of morbidity and functional disability in acromegaly is represented by axial and peripheral arthropathy.

Objective: The effect of a 12-month treatment with lanreotide (LAN) on arthropathy in 12 untreated acromegalic patients has been evaluated. Twelve healthy subjects served as controls.

Exploring brain function with magnetic resonance imaging.

Since its invention in the early 1990s, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has rapidly assumed a leading role among the techniques used to localize brain activity. The spatial and temporal resolution provided by state-of-the-art MR technology and its non-invasive character, which allows multiple studies of the same subject, are some of the main advantages of fMRI over the other functional neuroimaging modalities that are based on changes in blood flow and cortical metabolism. This paper describes the basic principles and methodology of fMRI and some aspects of its application to functional activation studies.