Basal Ganglia Compensatory White Matter Changes on DTI in Alzheimer's Disease.

The volume reduction of the gray matter structures in patients with Alzheimer's disease is often accompanied by an asymmetric increase in the number of white matter fibers located close to these structures. The present study aims to investigate the white matter structure changes in the motor basal ganglia in Alzheimer's disease patients compared to healthy controls using diffusion tensor imaging. The amounts of tracts, tract length, tract volume, quantitative anisotropy, and general fractional anisotropy were measured in ten patients with Alzheimer's disease and ten healthy controls.

The first description of dermal armour in snakes.

Osteoderms, also called dermal armour, often play a role in predator defence. The presence of osteoderms is highly irregularly distributed across the squamate phylogeny and they have not been found in snakes. In this study, we searched for candidate snake species that would benefit from such armour to protect their body, focusing primarily on fossorial species with defensive tail displays.

Morphology of Anterior Cingulate Cortex and Its Relation to Schizophrenia.

Cortical folding of the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), particularly the cingulate (CS) and the paracingulate (PCS) sulci, represents a neurodevelopmental marker. Deviations in in utero development in schizophrenia can be traced using CS and PCS morphometry. In the present study, we measured the length of CS, PCS, and their segments on T1 MRI scans in 93 patients with first- episode schizophrenia and 42 healthy controls.

Current issues of body donation for teaching and research purposes and their use in the Czech Republic.

Since time immemorial, bodies of deceased have been an integral part of teaching anatomy, and therefore the study of medicine. Without them, the teaching of anatomy, clinical anatomy and many research projects could not be realized. Nowadays, the European countries allow to use exclusively bodies of the deceased donors.

Determinate growth is predominant and likely ancestral in squamate reptiles.

Body growth is typically thought to be indeterminate in ectothermic vertebrates. Indeed, until recently, this growth pattern was considered to be ubiquitous in ectotherms. Our recent observations of a complete growth plate cartilage (GPC) resorption, a reliable indicator of arrested skeletal growth, in many species of lizards clearly reject the ubiquity of indeterminate growth in reptiles and raise the question about the ancestral state of the growth pattern.