Different FreeSurfer versions might generate different statistical outcomes in case-control comparison studies.

Purpose: Neuroimaging pipelines have long been known to generate mildly differing results depending on various factors, including software version. While considered generally acceptable and within the margin of reasonable error, little is known about their effect in common research scenarios such as inter-group comparisons between healthy controls and various pathological conditions. The aim of the presented study was to explore the differences in the inferences and statistical significances in a model situation comparing volumetric parameters between healthy controls and type 1 diabetes patients using various FreeSurfer versions.

Heavy drinking from adolescence to young adulthood is associated with an altered cerebellum.

Excessive alcohol use results in cerebellar damage in adults, but there has been less research on how alcohol use during adolescence affects the cerebellum. In this study, we observed that heavy drinking from adolescence to young adulthood was associated with altered volumes of cerebellar lobules. The study included two groups consisting of 33 heavy-drinking and 25 light-drinking participants.

Structural Alterations in Deep Brain Structures in Type 1 Diabetes.

Even though well known in type 2 diabetes, the existence of brain changes in type 1 diabetes (T1D) and both their neuroanatomical and clinical features are less well characterized. To fill the void in the current understanding of this disease, we sought to determine the possible neural correlate in long-duration T1D at several levels, including macrostructural, microstructural cerebral damage, and blood flow alterations. In this cross-sectional study, we compared a cohort of 61 patients with T1D with an average disease duration of 21 years with 54 well-matched control subjects without diabetes in a multimodal MRI protocol providing macrostructural metrics (cortical thickness and structural volumes), microstructural measures (T1-weighted/T2-weighted [T1w/T2w] ratio as a marker of myelin content, inflammation, and edema), and cerebral blood flow.

Influence of Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation on Human Neurochemistry and Functional Connectivity: A Pilot MRI/MRS Study at 7 T.

Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) is a non-invasive brain stimulation method commonly used in the disciplines of neuroscience, neurology, and neuropsychiatry to examine or modulate brain function. Low frequency rTMS (e.g.

Effects of long-term adolescent alcohol consumption on white matter integrity and their correlations with metabolic alterations.

Alcohol-related white matter (WM) microstructural changes have not been fully elucidated in adolescents. We aimed to investigate influences of subclinical alcohol use during adolescence on WM microstructure and to characterize those with serum metabolic alterations. 35 moderate-to-heavy drinkers (15 males, 20 females) and 27 controls (12 males, 15 females) were selected based on their ten-year Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test scores measured at three time points.

Functional and structural asymmetry in primary motor cortex in Asperger syndrome: a navigated TMS and imaging study.

Motor functions are frequently impaired in Asperger syndrome (AS). In this study, we examined the motor cortex structure and function using navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (nTMS) and voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and correlated the results with the box and block test (BBT) of manual dexterity and physical activity in eight boys with AS, aged 8-11 years, and their matched controls. With nTMS, we found less focused cortical representation areas of distinct hand muscles in AS.

Type 1 Diabetes and Impaired Awareness of Hypoglycemia Are Associated with Reduced Brain Gray Matter Volumes.

In this study, we retrospectively analyzed the anatomical MRI data acquired from 52 subjects with type 1 diabetes (26M/26F, 36 ± 11 years old, A1C = 7.2 ± 0.9%) and 50 age, sex and BMI frequency-matched non-diabetic controls (25M/25F, 36 ± 14 years old).

Biodegradable biliary stents have a different effect than covered metal stents on the expression of proteins associated with tissue healing in benign biliary strictures.

Background: Benign biliary strictures (BBS) are primarily treated endoscopically with covered self-expandable metal stents (CSEMS). Biodegradable biliary stents (BDBS) may be the future of endoscopic therapy of BBS. The aim was to assess the expression of proteins related to tissue healing in BBS compared with the intact bile duct (BD), and to study the protein expression after therapy with CSEMS or BDBS.

Functional neuronal anisotropy assessed with neuronavigated transcranial magnetic stimulation.

Background: Transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) can evaluate cortical excitability and integrity of motor pathways via TMS-induced responses. The responses are affected by the orientation of the stimulated neurons with respect to the direction of the TMS-induced electric field. Therefore, besides being a functional imaging tool, TMS may potentially assess the local structural properties.

Long-Term Response to Cholinesterase Inhibitor Treatment Is Related to Functional MRI Response in Alzheimer's Disease.

Background: Treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD) with cholinesterase inhibitors (ChEI) enhances cholinergic activity and alleviates clinical symptoms. However, there is variation in the clinical response as well as system level changes revealed by functional MRI (fMRI) studies.

Methods: We investigated 18 newly diagnosed mild AD patients with fMRI using a face recognition task after a single oral dose of rivastigmine, a single dose of placebo and 1-month treatment with rivastigmine.

Effect of cholinergic stimulation in early Alzheimer's disease - functional imaging during a recognition memory task.

Treatment of Alzheimer's disease (AD) with acetylcholinesterase inhibitors (AChEI) enhances cholinergic activity and alleviates clinical symptoms. In the present functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study, we investigated the effect of the AChEI rivastigmine on cognitive function and brain activation patterns during a face recognition memory task. Twenty patients with newly-diagnosed mild AD were administered a single oral dose of placebo, a single dose of rivastigmine (acute), and twice-daily treatment with rivastigmine for 4 weeks (chronic).

Estimation of the onset time of cerebral ischemia using T1rho and T2 MRI in rats.

Background And Purpose: Time of ischemia onset is the most critical factor for patient selection for available drug treatment strategies. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the abilities of the absolute longitudinal rotating frame (T(1ρ)) and transverse (T(2)) MR relaxation times to estimate the onset time of ischemia in rats.

Methods: Permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion in rats was used to induce focal cerebral ischemia and animals were imaged with multiparametric MRI at several time points up to 7 hours postischemia.

Diffusion tensor imaging and tract-based spatial statistics in Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment.

We aimed to explore the changes in fractional anisotropy (FA) in subjects with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) by analyzing diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data using the Tract-Based Spatial Statistics (TBSS). DTI data were collected from 17 AD patients, 27 MCI subjects and 19 healthy controls. Voxel-based analysis with TBSS was used to compare FA among the three groups.

Quantitative MRI predicts long-term structural and functional outcome after experimental traumatic brain injury.

In traumatic brain injury (TBI) the initial impact causes both immediate damage and also launches a cascade of slowly progressive secondary damage. The chronic outcome disabilities vary greatly and can occur several years later. The aim of this study was to find predictive factors for the long-term outcome using multiparametric, non-invasive magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) methodology and a clinically relevant rat model of fluid percussion induced TBI.

Distinct MRI pattern in lesional and perilesional area after traumatic brain injury in rat--11 months follow-up.

To understand the dynamics of progressive brain damage after lateral fluid-percussion induced traumatic brain injury (TBI) in rat, which is the most widely used animal model of closed head TBI in humans, MRI follow-up of 11 months was performed. The evolution of tissue damage was quantified using MRI contrast parameters T(2), T(1rho), diffusion (D(av)), and tissue atrophy in the focal cortical lesion and adjacent areas: the perifocal and contralateral cortex, and the ipsilateral and contralateral hippocampus. In the primary cortical lesion area, which undergoes remarkable irreversible pathologic changes, MRI alterations start at 3 h post-injury and continue to progress for up to 6 months.

Quantitative assessment of water pools by T 1 rho and T 2 rho MRI in acute cerebral ischemia of the rat.

The rotating frame longitudinal relaxation magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast, T(1 rho), obtained with on-resonance continuous wave (CW) spin-lock field is a sensitive indicator of tissue changes associated with hyperacute stroke. Here, the rotating frame relaxation concept was extended by acquiring both T(1 rho) and transverse rotating frame (T(2 rho)) MRI data using both CW and adiabatic hyperbolic secant (HSn; n=1, 4, or 8) pulses in a rat stroke model of middle cerebral artery occlusion. The results show differences in the sensitivity of spin-lock T(1 rho) and T(2 rho) MRI to detect hyperacute ischemia.

Proton transfer ratio, lactate, and intracellular pH in acute cerebral ischemia.

The amide proton transfer ratio (APTR) from the asymmetry of the Z-spectrum was determined in rat brain tissue during and after unilateral middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAo). Cerebral lactate (Lac) as determined by (1)H NMR spectroscopy, water diffusion, and T(1rho) were quantified as well. Lac concentrations were used to estimate intracellular pH (pH(i)) in the brain during the MCA occlusion.

Quantitative T(1rho) and adiabatic Carr-Purcell T2 magnetic resonance imaging of human occipital lobe at 4 T.

The feasibility of performing quantitative T(1rho) MRI in human brain at 4 T is shown. T(1rho) values obtained from five volunteers were compared with T2 and adiabatic Carr-Purcell (CP) T2 values. Measured relaxation time constants increased in order from T2, CP-T2, T(1rho) both in white and gray matter, demonstrating differential sensitivities of these methods to dipolar interactions and/or proton exchange and diffusion in local microscopic field gradients, which are so-called dynamic averaging (DA) processes.

Exchange-influenced T2rho contrast in human brain images measured with adiabatic radio frequency pulses.

Transverse relaxation in the rotating frame (T(2rho)) is the dominant relaxation mechanism during an adiabatic Carr-Purcell (CP) spin-echo pulse sequence when no delays are used between pulses in the CP train. The exchange-induced and dipolar interaction contributions (T(2rho,ex) and T(2rho,dd)) depend on the modulation functions of the adiabatic pulses used. In this work adiabatic pulses having different modulation functions were utilized to generate T(2rho) contrast in images of the human occipital lobe at magnetic field of 4 T.

Dynamic dephasing changes in developing ischemic cerebral infarction in rats studied by Carr-Purcell T2 magnetic resonance imaging.

Carr-Purcell (CP) T(2) MRI with adiabatic pulses, acquired with varying interecho interval (tau(CP)), was used to study the time course of T(2) and relative dynamic-dephasing contrast in the rat brain. Exposure to 30 min of middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAo) resulted in an irreversible increase in absolute CP-T(2) relaxation times. This was not associated with signal change in the relative dynamic-dephasing images, as computed by subtracting short tau(CP) CP-T(2) images from long tau(CP) images and normalizing for long tau(CP) images.