Phase II/III placebo-controlled randomized trial of safety and efficacy of growth hormone treatment in incomplete chronic traumatic spinal cord injury.

Study Design: This is a double blind phase II/III placebo-controlled randomized trial of the safety and efficacy of GH treatment in incomplete chronic traumatic spinal cord injury.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the possibility to use exogenous GH administration for motor recovery in chronic traumatic incomplete human SCI. The objectives were to establish safety and efficacy of a combined treatment of subcutaneous GH (or placebo) and rehabilitation in this population.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging and Anatomical Correlation of Human Temporal Lobe Landmarks, in 3D Euclidean Space: A Study of Control and Alzheimer's Disease Subjects.

Background: The medial temporal lobe (MTL), and in particular the hippocampal formation, is essential in the processing and consolidation of declarative memory. The 3D environment of the anatomical structures contained in the MTL is an important issue.

Objective: Our aim was to explore the spatial relationship of the anatomical structures of the MTL and changes in aging and/or Alzheimer's disease (AD).

Quantitative Measurements in the Human Hippocampus and Related Areas: Correspondence between Ex-Vivo MRI and Histological Preparations.

The decrease of volume estimates in different structures of the medial temporal lobe related to memory correlate with the decline of cognitive functions in neurodegenerative diseases. This study presents data on the association between MRI quantitative parameters of medial temporal lobe structures and their quantitative estimate in microscopic examination. Twelve control cases had ex-vivo MRI, and thereafter, the temporal lobe of both hemispheres was sectioned from the pole as far as the level of the splenium of the corpus callosum.

The ependymal region of the adult human spinal cord differs from other species and shows ependymoma-like features.

Several laboratories have described the existence of undifferentiated precursor cells that may act like stem cells in the ependyma of the rodent spinal cord. However, there are reports showing that this region is occluded and disassembled in humans after the second decade of life, although this has been largely ignored or interpreted as a post-mortem artefact. To gain insight into the patency, actual structure, and molecular properties of the adult human spinal cord ependymal region, we followed three approaches: (i) with MRI, we estimated the central canal patency in 59 control subjects, 99 patients with traumatic spinal cord injury, and 26 patients with non-traumatic spinal cord injuries.

Effects of electromyostimulation on muscle and bone in men with acute traumatic spinal cord injury: A randomized clinical trial.

Objective: To study the effect of 14 weeks of electromyostimulation (EMS) training (47 minutes/day, 5 days/week) on both muscle and bone loss prevention in persons with recent, complete spinal cord injury (SCI).

Design: Prospective, experimental, controlled, single-blind randomized trial with external blind evaluation by third parties.

Methods: Eight men with recent SCI (8 weeks from injury; ASIA Impairment Scale (AIS) "A") were randomized into the intervention or the control groups.

Time-course response in serum markers of bone turnover to a single-bout of electrical stimulation in patients with recent spinal cord injury.

The objective of the present repeat-measures study was to determine whether plasma serum levels of testosterone, cortisol, osteocalcin or type I collagen C-telopeptide (CT) are acutely affected following an electro-myostimulation (EMS) bout, and their relation to bone mineral density and muscle mass. Ten men with recent (8 weeks) thoracic spinal cord injury (SCI) (ASIA A) and 10 age-matched able-bodied (AB) men performed one EMS bout on the quadriceps femoris muscle. Blood samples were drawn at basal condition, immediately after EMS, and 15 min, 30 min, 24 h and 48 h post-EMS.

Analysis of fMRI time series with mutual information.

Neuroimaging plays a fundamental role in the study of human cognitive neuroscience. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), based on the Blood Oxygenation Level Dependent signal, is currently considered as a standard technique for a system level understanding of the human brain. The problem of identifying regionally specific effects in neuroimaging data is usually solved by applying Statistical Parametric Mapping (SPM).