Verbal episodic memory impairment in Alzheimer's disease: a combined structural and functional MRI study.

Anatomical and functional MRI images were acquired in a group of healthy elderly subjects (n = 11) and a group of patients diagnosed with probable Alzheimer's disease, from mild to moderate severity (n = 8). During functional sessions, verbal episodic Encoding and Recognition tasks were presented to subjects. Both groups were compared in terms of gray matter volume and cerebral activation.

In vivo morphological characterisation of skin by MRI micro-imaging methods.

Background/purpose: Quantitative assessments in skin layers using images obtained with standard magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sequences are limited, since the stratum corneum and dermis, the layers of most clinical interest, have low signal due to their short spin-spin relaxation, T2.

Methods: In the present work, different methods of MRI contrast, such as magnetisation transfer contrast (MTC), T1-weighting (where T1 is spin-lattice relaxation time), T2*-weighting (where T2* is the combination of T2 and magnetic field in-homogeneity effect) and chemical shift, were used. These techniques were combined with high-resolution MRI.

Mental calculation impairment in Alzheimer's disease: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study.

This functional MRI study investigates cerebral activations during mental arithmetic performance, in patients diagnosed with probable Alzheimer's disease (with mild to moderate severity) and age-matched healthy controls. The arithmetic task consisted in three-digit addition and subtraction problems. The task elicited bilateral parietal and prefrontal activations in the control group, in agreement with previous imaging studies of mental arithmetic.

High-resolution imaging at 3T and 7T with multiring local volume coils.

Magnetic resonance (MR) microimaging of the human is becoming increasingly common for studies of tissue microstructure and microfunction. In this study, we consider the constraints that such experiments place on the design of radio-frequency (rf) coils, and describe the advantages of multiring coils, which offer a locally uniform B(1) field. We show that these coils are particularly suitable for high-field imaging of a restricted region of larger experimental animals or humans, offering the same simplicity and efficient use of rf power as a simple surface coil but without requiring sequence modifications such as adiabatic pulses.

In vivo quantitative analysis of the effect of hydration (immersion and Vaseline treatment) in skin layers using high-resolution MRI and magnetisation transfer contrast.

Background/aims: Many claims are made as to the efficacy of topical preparations in moisturising the skin, yet most of these claims cannot be substantiated by scientific study for the skin layers beneath the stratum corneum, and yield no information on the remainder of the epidermis and dermis. This argues for an in vivo quantitative method for measuring the effect of water loading extended to various layers of the skin.

Methods: Detailed high-resolution in vivo MRI studies of hydration and dehydration of finger pad skin layers were conducted on one normal subject using two moisturisation methods (topical white soft paraffin (Vaseline) and water immersion).