The heartbeat induces local volumetric compression in the healthy human brain: a 7 T magnetic resonance imaging study on brain tissue pulsations.

Intracerebral blood volume changes along the cardiac cycle cause volumetric strain in brain tissue, measurable with displacement encoding with stimulated echoes (DENSE) magnetic resonance imaging. Individual volumetric strain maps show compressing and expanding voxels, raising the question whether systolic compressions reflect a physiological phenomenon. In DENSE data from nine healthy volunteers, voxels were grouped into three clusters according to volumetric strain in a tissue mask excluding extracerebral blood vessels and cerebrospinal fluid using a two-stage clustering approach.

Normative Population-Derived Data for MRI Manifestations of Cerebral Small Vessel Disease.

Background: Cerebral small vessel disease (SVD) is manifested on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) by white matter hyperintensities, lacunes, microbleeds, and atrophy. While these manifestations can be part of normal aging, a high burden has been associated with cognitive impairment and vascular events. Distinguishing between normal versus abnormal SVD lesion burden in clinical practice remains complex.

Markers of amyloid-β deposition and burden of enlarged perivascular spaces in patients with cognitive impairment and small vessel disease.

MRI-visible enlarged perivascular spaces (EPVS) are common in patients with cognitive impairment and possibly linked to Alzheimer's disease (AD) and cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA). In a study of memory clinic patients (n = 450; mean age 66.5 ± 7.

SGLT2 Inhibitor Use and Risk of Dementia and Parkinson Disease Among Patients With Type 2 Diabetes.

Background And Objectives: Despite the mechanistic potential of sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor (SGLT2i) to improve neurologic outcomes, the efficacy of SGLT2i in neurodegenerative disorders among patients with type 2 diabetes is not well established. This population-based cohort study aimed to investigate the association of SGLT2i use with risks of incident dementia and Parkinson disease (PD) in patients with type 2 diabetes.

Methods: This was a retrospective examination of data from a cohort of 1,348,362 participants with type 2 diabetes (≥40 years), who started antidiabetic drugs from 2014 to 2019, evaluated using the Korean National Health Insurance Service Database.

Are we ready to cure post-stroke cognitive impairment? Many key prerequisites can be achieved quickly and easily.

Purpose: Post-stroke (PS) cognitive impairment (CI) is frequent and its devastating functional and vital consequences are well known. Despite recent guidelines, they are still largely neglected. A large number of recent studies have re-examined the epidemiology, diagnosis, imaging determinants and management of PSCI.

Architecture and anatomy of executive processes: evidence from verbal fluency and Trail Making Test in 2009 stroke patients.

Objectives: The few voxel-wise lesion-symptom mapping (VLSM) studies aimed at identifying the anatomy of executive function are limited by the absence of a model and by small populations. Using Trail Making Test (TMT) and verbal fluency and a model of their architectures, our objective was to identify the key structures underlying two major executive processes, set-shifting and strategic word search.

Methods: We applied a validated VLSM analysis to harmonized cognitive and imaging data from 2009 ischemic stroke patients as a part of the Meta VCI Map consortium.

Role of the vessel morphology on the lenticulostriate arteries hemodynamics during atrial fibrillation: A CFD-based multivariate regression analysis.

Background And Objective: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia, inducing accelerated and irregular beating. Beside well-known disabling symptoms - such as palpitations, reduced exercise tolerance, and chest discomfort - there is growing evidence that an alteration of deep cerebral hemodynamics due to AF increases the risk of vascular dementia and cognitive impairment, even in the absence of clinical strokes. The alteration of deep cerebral circulation in AF represents one of the least investigated among the possible mechanisms.

Microstructural white matter damage on MRI is associated with disease severity in Dutch-type cerebral amyloid angiopathy.

Peak width of skeletonized mean diffusivity (PSMD) is an emerging diffusion-MRI based marker to study subtle early alterations to white matter microstructure. We assessed PSMD over the clinical continuum in Dutch-type hereditary CAA (D-CAA) and its association with other CAA-related MRI-markers and cognitive symptoms. We included (pre)symptomatic D-CAA mutation-carriers and calculated PSMD from diffusion-MRI data.

Blood Pressure Variability and Plasma Biomarkers of Neuronal Injury and Alzheimer's Disease: A Clinic-Based Study of Patients with Diseases Along the Heart-Brain Axis.

 Higher blood pressure variability (BPV) predisposes to cognitive decline. To investigate underlying mechanisms, we measured 24-h ambulatory BPV, nocturnal dipping and orthostatic hypotension in 518 participants with vascular cognitive impairment, carotid occlusive disease, heart failure, or reference participants. We determined cross-sectional associations between BPV indices and plasma biomarkers of neuronal injury (neurofilament light chain) and Alzheimer's disease (phosphorylated-tau-181 and Aβ42/Aβ40).

Orthostatic hypotension, cognition and structural brain imaging in hemodynamically impaired patients.

Background: Orthostatic hypotension (OH) is associated with an increased risk of dementia, potentially attributable to cerebral hypoperfusion. We investigated which patterns and characteristics of OH are related to cognition or to potentially underlying structural brain injury in hemodynamically impaired patients and healthy reference participants.

Methods: Participants with carotid occlusive disease or heart failure, and reference participants from the Heart-Brain Connection Study underwent OH measurements, neuropsychological assessment and brain MRI.

Strategic white matter hyperintensity locations associated with post-stroke cognitive impairment: A multicenter study in 1568 stroke patients.

Background: Post-stroke cognitive impairment (PSCI) occurs in up to 50% of stroke survivors. Presence of pre-existing vascular brain injury, in particular the extent of white matter hyperintensities (WMH), is associated with worse cognitive outcome after stroke, but the role of WMH location in this association is unclear.

Aims: We determined if WMH in strategic white matter tracts explain cognitive performance after stroke.

Cortical microinfarcts in adults with Down syndrome assessed with 3T-MRI.

Background: Cortical microinfarcts (CMI) were attributed to cerebrovascular disease and cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA). CAA is frequent in Down syndrome (DS) while hypertension is rare, yet no studies have assessed CMI in DS.

Methods: We included 195 adults with DS, 63 with symptomatic sporadic Alzheimer's disease (AD), and 106 controls with 3T magnetic resonance imaging.

Enhancing Cognitive Performance Prediction through White Matter Hyperintensity Connectivity Assessment: A Multicenter Lesion Network Mapping Analysis of 3,485 Memory Clinic Patients.

Introduction: White matter hyperintensities of presumed vascular origin (WMH) are associated with cognitive impairment and are a key imaging marker in evaluating cognitive health. However, WMH volume alone does not fully account for the extent of cognitive deficits and the mechanisms linking WMH to these deficits remain unclear. We propose that lesion network mapping (LNM), enables to infer if brain networks are connected to lesions, and could be a promising technique for enhancing our understanding of the role of WMH in cognitive disorders.

Assessment of Small Vessel Function Using 7T MRI in Patients With Sporadic Cerebral Small Vessel Disease: The ZOOM@SVDs Study.

Background And Objectives: Cerebral small vessel disease (cSVD) is a major cause of stroke and dementia, but little is known about disease mechanisms at the level of the small vessels. 7T-MRI allows assessing small vessel function in vivo in different vessel populations. We hypothesized that multiple aspects of small vessel function are altered in patients with cSVD and that these abnormalities relate to disease burden.

Alzheimer's Disease and Cognitive Decline in Patients with Cardiovascular Diseases Along the Heart-Brain Axis.

Background: We hypothesize that Alzheimer's disease (AD)-related pathology may accelerate cognitive decline in patients with cardiovascular diseases.

Objective: To investigate the association between blood-based biomarkers of AD, astrocyte activation, and neurodegeneration and cognitive decline.

Methods: From the multi-center Heart-Brain study, we included 412 patients with heart failure, carotid occlusive disease or vascular cognitive impairment (age:68.