Structural and functional alterations in hypothalamic subregions in male patients with alcohol use disorder.

Background: The hypothalamus is involved in stress regulation and reward processing, with its various nuclei exhibiting unique functions and connections. However, human neuroimaging studies on the hypothalamic subregions are limited in drug addiction. This study examined the volumes and functional connectivity of hypothalamic subregions in individuals with alcohol use disorder (AUD).

Cortex-to-caudate volume ratio as a predictor of cognitive decline in Alzheimer's disease and mild cognitive impairment.

Background: Brain and cortical atrophy play crucial roles in supporting the clinical diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (AD). This study hypothesized that the ratios of brain or cortical volume to subcortical gray matter structure volumes are potential imaging markers for cognitive alterations in AD dementia and amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI).

Methods: Seventy-seven subjects diagnosed with AD dementia or aMCI underwent baseline neuropsychological testing, 2-year follow-up cognitive assessments, and high-resolution T1-weighted MRI scans.

Robotic transcranial magnetic stimulation in the treatment of depression: a pilot study.

There has been an increasing demand for robotic coil positioning during repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) treatment. Accurate coil positioning is crucial because rTMS generally targets specific brain regions for both research and clinical application with other reasons such as safety, consistency and reliability and individual variablity. Some previous studies have employed industrial robots or co-robots and showed they can more precisely stimulate the target cortical regions than traditional manual methods.

Association of Intrinsic Functional Connectivity between the Locus Coeruleus and Salience Network with Attentional Ability.

The locus coeruleus (LC) is a brainstem region associated with broad neural arousal because of norepinephrine production, but it has increasingly been associated with specific cognitive processes. These include sustained attention, with deficits associated with various neuropsychological disorders. Neural models of attention deficits have focused on interrupted dynamics between the salience network (SAL) with the frontoparietal network, which has been associated with task-switching and processing of external stimuli, respectively.

Changes of regional cerebral blood flow after repeated transcranial direct current stimulation in healthy participants: a pilot study.

Background: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) can potentially enhance brain function and cognition in healthy individuals as well as in patients with cognitive impairment. However, neural correlates of repeated tDCS remain relatively unexplored in a healthy population.

Purpose: To assess the effects of repeated tDCS on regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) in healthy volunteers in a pilot investigation.

Untreated hypertension and prognosis paradox in acute ischemic stroke.

Introduction: This study is to explore the long-term functional outcome of antihypertensive medication-naïve, untreated hypertension (HTN) patients with acute ischemic stroke compared to those with no prior HTN and those with treated HTN.

Patients And Methods: We analyzed a prospectively collected stroke registry of all patients with acute ischemic stroke consecutively admitted to Incheon St. Mary's Hospital.

Considering dynamic nature of the brain: the clinical importance of connectivity variability in machine learning classification and prediction.

The brain connectivity of resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI) represents an intrinsic state of brain architecture, and it has been used as a useful neural marker for detecting psychiatric conditions as well as for predicting psychosocial characteristics. However, most studies using brain connectivity have focused more on the strength of functional connectivity over time (static-FC) but less attention to temporal characteristics of connectivity changes (FC-variability). The primary goal of the current study was to investigate the effectiveness of using the FC-variability in classifying an individual's pathological characteristics from others and predicting psychosocial characteristics.

Neural circuit pathology driven by Shank3 mutation disrupts social behaviors.

Dysfunctional sociability is a core symptom in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that may arise from neural-network dysconnectivity between multiple brain regions. However, pathogenic neural-network mechanisms underlying social dysfunction are largely unknown. Here, we demonstrate that circuit-selective mutation (ctMUT) of ASD-risk Shank3 gene within a unidirectional projection from the prefrontal cortex to the basolateral amygdala alters spine morphology and excitatory-inhibitory balance of the circuit.

A Randomized, Double-Blind, Sham-Controlled Trial of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation for the Treatment of Persistent Postural-Perceptual Dizziness (PPPD).

Background: Persistent postural-perceptual dizziness (PPPD) is a functional vestibular disorder that causes chronic dizziness interfering with daily activities. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) has reportedly improved dizziness in patients with phobic postural vertigo in an open-label trial. However, no randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled study has been conducted on its therapeutic efficacy in PPPD.

Retroactive memory interference reduces false positive outcomes of informed innocents in the P300-based concealed information test.

In the Concealed Information Test (CIT), differential responses between crime-relevant and crime-irrelevant items are indicative of concealed knowledge of a crime, and are used to classify an individual as either "guilty" or "innocent". However, when crime-relevant items are leaked before the test, an innocent examinee can exhibit enhanced responses to the crime-relevant items, thus causing such examinee to be wrongly classified as guilty. In an attempt to solve this problem, we examined the role of retroactive memory interference (RI) in differentiating informed innocents from guilty participants, using a P300-based CIT.

Regional Cerebral Blood Flow Abnormalities in Neurosyphilis: A Pilot SPECT Study.

Clinical and radiological findings on neurosyphilis are fairly non-specific and there is a paucity of functional neuroimaging studies on neurosyphilis other than case reports and case series. The purpose of this study was to investigate brain perfusion abnormalities in patients with neurosyphilis. Four HIV-negative neurosyphilis patients and 4 healthy controls underwent clinical evaluation, brain technetium-99m ethyl cysteinate dimer (99mTc-ECD) single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging, and neuropsychological assessments which included the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR), Clinical Dementia Rating-Sum of Boxes (CDR-SOB), and Global Deterioration Scale (GDS).

Age-Related Intrinsic Functional Connectivity Changes of Locus Coeruleus from Childhood to Older Adults.

The locus coeruleus is critical for selective information processing by modulating the brain's connectivity configuration. Increasingly, studies have suggested that LC controls sensory inputs at the sensory gating stage. Furthermore, accumulating evidence has shown that young children and older adults are more prone to distraction and filter out irrelevant information less efficiently, possibly due to the unoptimized LC connectivity.

A clinical study of 288 patients with anterior cerebral artery infarction.

Objective: Acute ischemic stroke in the territory of anterior cerebral artery (ACA) is uncommon. Therefore, large population studies evaluating ACA infarction are scarce. We sought to evaluate epidemiological and etiological characteristics of ACA infarction compared to other territorial infarctions.

The association between serum sodium level and tuberculous meningitis compared with viral and bacterial meningitis.

We evaluated the association between hyponatremia and tuberculous meningitis (TBM) with the aim of providing additional information for differential diagnosis from other types of infectious meningitis, especially viral meningitis (VM). Cross-sectional and longitudinal data involving 5026 participants older than 18 years were analyzed in the total population and a propensity-matched population. The initial and lowest sodium levels and longitudinal changes in TBM, bacterial meningitis (BM), and VM patients were compared.

The Prevalence of Microembolic Signals in Transcranial Doppler Sonography With Bubble Test in Acute Ischemic Stroke.

Objectives: Transcranial Doppler ultrasound (TCD) is noninvasive and highly sensitive and specific for the diagnosis of patent foramen ovale (PFO). We evaluated the diagnostic implications of the TCD with a saline agitation test as a routine work-up for ischemic stroke patients.

Methods: A TCD bubble study was performed in all consecutive ischemic stroke patients as a routine work-up.

Imaging Characteristics of Brain SPECT, PET, and MRI in Neurosyphilis.

The incidence of neurosyphilis has declined since effective penicillin therapy against was introduced. However, the diagnosis of neurosyphilis early in the disease course is very important in order to select appropriate antibiotic therapy. We report brain MRI, SPECT with Tc-99m ECD, and PET with F-18 FDG findings before antibiotic therapy in a neurosyphilis patient with neurological symptoms.

Effects of transcranial direct current stimulation on addictive behavior and brain glucose metabolism in problematic online gamers.

Background And Aims: Some online gamers may encounter difficulties in controlling their gaming behavior. Previous studies have demonstrated beneficial effects of transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) on various kinds of addiction. This study investigated the effects of tDCS on addictive behavior and regional cerebral metabolic rate of glucose (rCMRglu) in problematic online gamers.