Altered neural anticipation of reward and loss but not receipt in adolescents with obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Background: Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is characterized by persistent, unwanted thoughts and repetitive actions. Such repetitive thoughts and/or behaviors may be reinforced either by reducing anxiety or by avoiding a potential threat or harm, and thus may be rewarding to the individual. The possible involvement of the reward system in the symptomatology of OCD is supported by studies showing altered reward processing in reward-related regions, such as the ventral striatum (VS) and the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC), in adults with OCD.

Improved Visualization and Quantification of Net Water Uptake in Recent Small Subcortical Infarcts in the Thalamus Using Computed Tomography.

Diagnosing recent small subcortical infarcts (RSSIs) via early computed tomography (CT) remains challenging. This study aimed to assess CT attenuation values (Hounsfield Units (HU)) and net water uptake (NWU) in RSSI and explore a postprocessing algorithm's potential to enhance thalamic RSSI detection. We examined non-contrast CT (NCCT) data from patients with confirmed thalamic RSSI on diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) between January 2010 and October 2017.

Triangulating brain alterations in anorexia nervosa: a multimodal investigation of magnetic resonance spectroscopy, morphometry and blood-based biomarkers.

The acute state of anorexia nervosa (AN) is associated with widespread reductions in cortical gray matter (GM) thickness and white matter (WM) volume, suspected changes in myelin content and elevated levels of the neuronal damage marker neurofilament light (NF-L), but the underlying mechanisms remain largely unclear. To gain a deeper understanding of brain changes in AN, we applied a multimodal approach combining advanced neuroimaging methods with analysis of blood-derived biomarkers. In addition to standard measures of cortical GM thickness and WM volume, we analyzed tissue-specific profiles of brain metabolites using multivoxel proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy, T1 relaxation time as a proxy of myelin content leveraging advanced quantitative MRI methods and serum NF-L concentrations in a sample of 30 female, predominately adolescent patients with AN and 30 age-matched female healthy control participants.

Impact of a 12-week olfactory training programme in women with migraine with aura: protocol for a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial.

Introduction: Migraine is a leading cause of disability and suffering worldwide. However, conventional pharmacological migraine preventive therapies are often challenging and accompanied by adverse effects. Recently, structured odour exposure has shown to successfully increase pain thresholds in patients with chronic back pain.

Topographic Mapping of the Primary Sensory Cortex Using Intraoperative Optical Imaging and Tactile Irritation.

The determination of exact tumor boundaries within eloquent brain regions is essential to maximize the extent of resection. Recent studies showed that intraoperative optical imaging (IOI) combined with median nerve stimulation is a helpful tool for visualization of the primary sensory cortex (PSC). In this technical note, we describe a novel approach of using IOI with painless tactile irritation to demonstrate the feasibility of topographic mapping of different body regions within the PSC.

Exploring in vivo lesion myelination dynamics: Longitudinal Myelin Water Imaging in early Multiple Sclerosis.

Background: Multiple Sclerosis (MS) lesions are pathologically heterogeneous and the temporal behavior in terms of growth and myelination status of individual lesions is highly variable, especially in the early phase of the disease. Thus, monitoring the development of individual lesion myelination by using quantitative magnetic resonance myelin water imaging (MWI) could be valuable to capture the variability of disease pathology and get an individual insight into the subclinical disease activity.

Objective: The goal of this work was (1) to observe the variation and longitudinal change of in vivo lesion myelination by means of MWI and its parameter Myelin Water Fraction (MWF), and, (2) to identify individual lesion myelination patterns in early MS.

Is loss avoidance differentially rewarding in adolescents versus adults? Differences in ventral striatum and anterior insula activation during the anticipation of potential monetary losses.

Avoiding loss is a crucial, adaptive guide to human behavior. While previous developmental research has primarily focused on gaining rewards, less attention has been paid to loss processing and its avoidance. In daily life, it is often unknown how likely an action will result in a loss, making the role of uncertainty in loss processing particularly important.

Regional Associations of Cortical Superficial Siderosis and β-Amyloid-Positron-Emission-Tomography Positivity in Patients With Cerebral Amyloid Angiopathy.

Objective: This is a cross-sectional study to evaluate whether β-amyloid-(Aβ)-PET positivity and cortical superficial siderosis (cSS) in patients with cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA) are regionally colocalized.

Methods: Ten patients with probable or possible CAA (73.3 ± 10.

Ventral Striatal Activation During Reward Anticipation of Different Reward Probabilities in Adolescents and Adults.

Adolescence has been linked to an enhanced tolerance of uncertainty and risky behavior and is possibly connected to an increased response toward rewards. However, previous research has produced inconsistent findings. To investigate whether these findings are due to different reward probabilities used in the experimental design, we extended a monetary incentive delay (MID) task by including three different reward probabilities.

Colocalization of Tau but Not β-Amyloid with Cortical Superficial Siderosis in a Case with Probable CAA.

Cortical superficial siderosis (cSS) is a common feature in patients with cerebral amyloid angiopathy (CAA). The correlation between β-amyloid and/or tau pathology and the occurrence of cSS is unclear. We report on an 80-year-old male patient who was diagnosed with probable CAA according to modified Boston criteria and underwent longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging, amyloid positron emission tomography (PET), and additional tau PET imaging.

Impact of thrombus surface on first pass reperfusion in contact aspiration and stent retriever thrombectomy.

Background: To assess whether thrombus surface morphology has an impact on first pass reperfusion in contact aspiration (CA) and stent retriever (SR) thrombectomy.

Methods: From January 2016 to December 2018, consecutive stroke patients with an occlusion of the middle cerebral artery and thrombectomy (CA or SR) were examined in this retrospective study. We assessed patients' characteristics, procedural data and clinical outcome.

Mapping of language and motor function during awake neurosurgery with intraoperative optical imaging.

Intraoperative optical imaging (IOI) is a marker-free, contactless, and noninvasive imaging technique that is able to visualize metabolic changes of the brain surface following neuronal activation. Although it has been used in the past mainly for the identification of functional brain areas under general anesthesia, the authors investigated the potential of the method during awake surgery. Measurements were performed in 10 patients who underwent resection of lesions within or adjacent to cortical language or motor sites.

Exploring individual multiple sclerosis lesion volume change over time: Development of an algorithm for the analyses of longitudinal quantitative MRI measures.

Background: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is used to follow-up multiple sclerosis (MS) and evaluate disease progression and therapy response via lesion quantification. However, there is a lack of automated post-processing techniques to quantify individual MS lesion change.

Objective: The present study developed a secondary post-processing algorithm for MS lesion segmentation routine to quantify individual changes in volume over time.

Multi-component relaxation in clinically isolated syndrome: Lesion myelination may predict multiple sclerosis conversion.

We performed a longitudinal case-control study on patients with clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) with the aid of quantitative whole-brain myelin imaging. The aim was (1) to parse early myelin decay and to break down its distribution pattern, and (2) to identify an imaging biomarker of the conversion into clinically definite Multiple Sclerosis (MS) based on measurable changes of myelination. Imaging and clinical data were collected immediately after the onset of first neurological symptoms and follow-up explorations were performed after 3, 6, and, 12 months.

Retrospective assessment of MRI-based volumetric changes of normal tissues in glioma patients following radio(chemo)therapy.

In glioma patients, linac-based photon beam irradiation is a widely applied therapy, which achieves highly conformal target volume coverage, but is also known to cause side-effects to adjacent areas of healthy tissue. Apart from subjective measures, such as quality of life assessment and neurocognitive function tests, objective methods to quantify tissue damage are needed to assess this impact. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a well-established method for brain tumor diagnoses as well as assessing treatment response.

Evaluation of intraoperative optical imaging analysis methods by phantom and patient measurements.

Intraoperative optical imaging (IOI) is a localization method for functional areas of the human brain cortex during neurosurgical procedures. The aim of the current work was to develop of a new analysis technique for the computation of two-dimensional IOI activity maps that is suited especially for use in clinical routine. The new analysis technique includes a stimulation scheme that comprises 30-s rest and 30-s stimulation conditions, in connection with pixelwise spectral power analysis for activity map calculation.