Fluoxetine Maintains a State of Heightened Responsiveness to Motor Training Early After Stroke in a Mouse Model.

Background And Purpose: Data from both humans and animal models suggest that most recovery from motor impairment after stroke occurs in a sensitive period that lasts only weeks and is mediated, in part, by an increased responsiveness to training. Here, we used a mouse model of focal cortical stroke to test 2 hypotheses. First, we investigated whether responsiveness to training decreases over time after stroke.

On tests of activation map dimensionality for fMRI-based studies of learning.

A methodology for investigating learning is developed using activation distributions, as opposed to standard voxel-level interaction tests. The approach uses tests of dimensionality to consider the ensemble of paired changes in voxel activation. The developed method allows for the investigation of non-focal and non-localized changes due to learning.

The neural correlates of learned motor acuity.

We recently defined a component of motor skill learning as "motor acuity," quantified as a shift in the speed-accuracy trade-off function for a task. These shifts are primarily driven by reductions in movement variability. To determine the neural correlates of improvement in motor acuity, we devised a motor task compatible with magnetic resonance brain imaging that required subjects to make finely controlled wrist movements under visual guidance.

Myocardial structural associations with local electrograms: a study of postinfarct ventricular tachycardia pathophysiology and magnetic resonance-based noninvasive mapping.

Background: The association of scar on late gadolinium enhancement cardiac magnetic resonance (LGE-CMR) with local electrograms on electroanatomic mapping has been investigated. We aimed to quantify these associations to gain insights regarding LGE-CMR image characteristics of tissues and critical sites that support postinfarct ventricular tachycardia (VT).

Methods And Results: LGE-CMR was performed in 23 patients with ischemic cardiomyopathy before VT ablation.