Technical Development and In Silico Implementation of SyntheticMR in Head and Neck Adaptive Radiation Therapy: A Prospective R-IDEAL Stage 0/1 Technology Development Report.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the technical feasibility of integrating the quantitative maps available from SyntheticMR into the head and neck adaptive radiation oncology workflow. While SyntheticMR has been investigated for diagnostic applications, no studies have investigated its feasibility and potential for MR-Simulation or MR-Linac workflow. Demonstrating the feasibility of using this technique will facilitate rapid quantitative biomarker extraction which can be leveraged to guide adaptive radiation therapy decision making.

Chromatic bleaching and fractionation effects on optically stimulated luminescent dosimeter reuse.

Background: Optically stimulated luminescent dosimeters (OSLDs) can be bleached and reused, but questions remain about the effects of repeated bleaching and fractionation schedules on OSLD performance.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate how light sources with different wavelengths and different fractionation schemes affect the performance of reused OSLDs.

Methods: OSLDs (N = 240) were irradiated on a cobalt-60 beam in different step sizes until they reached an accumulated dose of 50 Gy.

Impedance trend from a symptomatic perielectrode cystic cavity following deep brain stimulation: illustrative case.

Background: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a well-established neurosurgical intervention for a growing number of neurological and psychiatric diseases. Patients who are affected by Parkinson's disease may benefit from DBS of either the subthalamic nucleus or the globus pallidus internus. Patients who undergo DBS often notice a significant reduction in their clinical symptoms; however, the procedure is not without risks.

Altered task demands lead to a division of labour for sensory and cognitive processing in the middle temporal area.

Neurons in the primate middle temporal (MT) area signal information about visual motion and work together with the lateral prefrontal cortex (LPFC) to support memory-guided comparisons of visual motion direction. These areas are reciprocally connected, and both contain neurons that signal visual motion direction in the strength of their responses. Previously, LPFC was shown to display marked changes in stimulus coding with altered task demands, including changes in selectivity for motion direction, trial-to-trial variability in responses and comparison effects.

Practical methods for segmentation and calculation of brain volume and intracranial volume: a guide and comparison.

Background: Accurate segmentation and calculation of total brain volume (BV) and intracranial volume (ICV) (further-volumetry) may serve various clinical tasks and research studies in neuroscience. Manual segmentation is extremely time consuming. There is a relative lack of published broad recommendations and comparisons of tools for automated volumetry, especially for users without expertise in computer science, for settings with limited resources, and when neuroimaging quality is suboptimal due to clinical circumstances.

Virtual Reality in the Neurosciences: Current Practice and Future Directions.

Virtual reality has made numerous advancements in recent years and is used with increasing frequency for education, diversion, and distraction. Beginning several years ago as a device that produced an image with only a few pixels, virtual reality is now able to generate detailed, three-dimensional, and interactive images. Furthermore, these images can be used to provide quantitative data when acting as a simulator or a rehabilitation device.

Reproducible asystole following vagal nerve stimulator lead replacement: a case report.

Background: Vagal nerve stimulation (VNS) is approved therapy for the treatment of intractable epilepsy. The stimulation of either nerve, left or right, is effective. However, due to the anatomic and physiological effects of cardiac innervation, the right vagus nerve is typically avoided in order to minimize the risk of cardiac bradyarrhythmias.

Brain Tumor Biobank Development for Precision Medicine: Role of the Neurosurgeon.

Neuro-oncology biobanks are critical for the implementation of a precision medicine program. In this perspective, we review our first year experience of a brain tumor biobank with integrated next generation sequencing. From our experience, we describe the critical role of the neurosurgeon in diagnosis, research, and precision medicine efforts.

Influence of stereotactic imaging on operative time in deep brain stimulation.

Background: Various techniques are used across institutions for implantation of deep brain stimulation (DBS) leads. The most used techniques for each step include preoperative MRI fused to in-frame CT, intraoperative fluoroscopy, and postoperative CT, but postimplantation MRI also is used, as it was at our center. We present the quality assurance study performed at our institution after a change from postimplantation MRI performed across the hospital to postimplantation in room CT.

Effects of pair housing on voluntary alcohol intake in male and female Wistar rats.

A number of different voluntary alcohol intake paradigms are available for home cage drinking studies. Traditionally, these paradigms involve single housing in order for individual intake to be measured. This study aimed at investigating the effects of pair housing on voluntary alcohol intake.