The amygdala is a subcortical region in the mesiotemporal lobe that plays a key role in emotional and sensory functions. Conventional neuroimaging experiments treat this structure as a single, uniform entity, but there is ample histological evidence for subregional heterogeneity in microstructure and function. The current study characterized subregional structure-function coupling in the human amygdala, integrating histology and in vivo MRI at ultra-high fields.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFExcitation-inhibition (E/I) imbalance is theorized as a key mechanism in the pathophysiology of epilepsy, with ample research focusing on elucidating its cellular manifestations. However, few studies investigate E/I imbalance at the macroscale, whole-brain level, and its microcircuit-level mechanisms and clinical significance remain incompletely understood. Here, the Hurst exponent, an index of the E/I ratio, is computed from resting-state fMRI time series, and microcircuit parameters are simulated using biophysical models.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Objectives: Neuroimaging studies in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) show widespread brain network alterations beyond the mesiotemporal lobe. Despite the critical role of the cerebrovascular system in maintaining whole-brain structure and function, changes in cerebral blood flow (CBF) remain incompletely understood in the disease. Here, we studied whole-brain perfusion and vascular network alterations in TLE and assessed its associations with gray and white matter compromises and various clinical variables.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is typically associated with pathology of the hippocampus, a key structure involved in relational memory, including episodic, semantic, and spatial memory processes. While it is widely accepted that TLE-associated hippocampal alterations underlie memory deficits, it remains unclear whether impairments relate to a specific cognitive domain or multiple ones.
Methods: We administered a recently validated task paradigm to evaluate episodic, semantic, and spatial memory in 24 pharmacoresistant TLE patients and 50 age- and sex-matched healthy controls.
Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is the most common pharmaco-resistant epilepsy in adults. While primarily associated with mesiotemporal pathology, recent evidence suggests that brain alterations in TLE extend beyond the paralimbic epicenter and impact macroscale function and cognitive functions, particularly memory. Using connectome-wide manifold learning and generative models of effective connectivity, we examined functional topography and directional signal flow patterns between large-scale neural circuits in TLE at rest.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFEnergy communities often lack authority for establishment and operation management. Municipal authorities could take the role of such community operators. Therefore, Local Sustainable Municipalities are introduced, providing a local energy market on the municipal level with inclusion of sustainable resource utilization.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSustainability indicators should implement the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). Indicators in literature often consider large sets of actions and are thus complex in application. Therefore, this work derives energy- and resource-related SDG indicators for communities and municipalities with low complexity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTemporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is one of the most common pharmaco-resistant epilepsies in adults. While hippocampal pathology is the hallmark of this condition, emerging evidence indicates that brain alterations extend beyond the mesiotemporal epicenter and affect macroscale brain function and cognition. We studied macroscale functional reorganization in TLE, explored structural substrates, and examined cognitive associations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTemporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), one of the most common pharmaco-resistant epilepsies, is associated with pathology of paralimbic brain regions, particularly in the mesiotemporal lobe. Cognitive dysfunction in TLE is frequent, and particularly affects episodic memory. Crucially, these difficulties challenge the quality of life of patients, sometimes more than seizures, underscoring the need to assess neural processes of cognitive dysfunction in TLE to improve patient management.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is the most common pharmacoresistant epilepsy in adults. Here we profiled local neural function in TLE in vivo, building on prior evidence that has identified widespread structural alterations. Using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI), we mapped the whole-brain intrinsic neural timescales (INT), which reflect temporal hierarchies of neural processing.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe gradual enactment of legislation for energy communities in individual European countries has increased the public awareness of these novel concepts. While the establishment of individual, isolated energy communities is unlikely to have any far-reaching effects, it is presumed that the large-scale roll-out will indeed significantly impact different stakeholders. Since the diffusion of energy communities is expected to gain momentum within the next years, this study aims to provide a framework to assess the impact of a large-scale roll-out of solar-PV based energy communities.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOpen Res Eur
October 2024
Background: Energy communities and local electricity markets (e.g., as peer-to-peer trading) are on the rise due to increasingly decentralized electricity generation and favorable adjustment of the legal framework in many European countries.
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