When most fMRI connectivity cannot be detected: Insights from time course reliability.

The level of correlation between two phenomena is limited by the accuracy at which these phenomena are measured. Despite numerous group reliability studies, the strength of the fMRI connectivity that can be detected given the within-subject time course reliability remains elusive. Moreover, it is unclear how within-subject time course reliability limits the robust detection of connectivity on the group level.

Real-time fMRI neurofeedback of the anterior insula using arterial spin labelling.

Arterial spin labelling (ASL) is the only non-invasive technique that allows absolute quantification of perfusion and is increasingly used in brain activation studies. Contrary to the blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) effect ASL measures the cerebral blood flow (CBF) directly. However, the ASL signal has a lower signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), than the BOLD signal, which constrains its utilization in neurofeedback studies.

Fat tails and the need to disclose distribution parameters of qEEG databases.

Neurometry (a.k.a.

An attempt to model the causal structure behind white matter aging and cognitive decline.

In this diffusion tension imaging study, voxel wise structural equation modeling was used to unravel the relation between white matter, cognition, and age. Four neurocognitive ageing models describing the interplay between age, white matter integrity, and cognition were investigated but only two models survived an Akaike information criterion-based model selection procedure. The independent factor model predicts that there is no relation between white matter integrity and cognition although both systems are affected by age.

Impaired Subcortical Detection of Auditory Changes in Schizophrenia but Not in Major Depression.

The mismatch negativity is a cortical response to auditory changes and its reduction is a consistent finding in schizophrenia. Recent evidence revealed that the human brain detects auditory changes already at subcortical stages of the auditory pathway. This finding, however, raises the question where in the auditory hierarchy the schizophrenic deficit first evolves and whether the well-known cortical deficit may be a consequence of dysfunction at lower hierarchical levels.

Expertise Modulates Students' Perception of Pain From a Self-Perspective: Quasi-Experimental Study.

Background: Perception of stimuli presented in a virtual dentistry environment affects regions of the brain that are related to pain perception.

Objective: We investigated whether neural correlates of virtual pain perception are affected by education in dentistry.

Methods: In this functional magnetic resonance imaging study, a sample of 20 dental students and 20 age-matched controls viewed and listened to video clips presenting a dental treatment from the first-person perspective.

On the homogeneity and heterogeneity of cortical thickness profiles in Homo sapiens sapiens.

Cortical thickness has been investigated since the beginning of the 20th century, but we do not know how similar the cortical thickness profiles among humans are. In this study, the local similarity of cortical thickness profiles was investigated using sliding window methods. Here, we show that approximately 5% of the cortical thickness profiles are similarly expressed among humans while 45% of the cortical thickness profiles show a high level of heterogeneity.

Auditory mismatch impairments are characterized by core neural dysfunctions in schizophrenia.

Major theories on the neural basis of schizophrenic core symptoms highlight aberrant salience network activity (insula and anterior cingulate cortex), prefrontal hypoactivation, sensory processing deficits as well as an impaired connectivity between temporal and prefrontal cortices. The mismatch negativity is a potential biomarker of schizophrenia and its reduction might be a consequence of each of these mechanisms. In contrast to the previous electroencephalographic studies, functional magnetic resonance imaging may disentangle the involved brain networks at high spatial resolution and determine contributions from localized brain responses and functional connectivity to the schizophrenic impairments.

Diagnosing developmental dyscalculia on the basis of reliable single case FMRI methods: promises and limitations.

FMRI-studies are mostly based on a group study approach, either analyzing one group or comparing multiple groups, or on approaches that correlate brain activation with clinically relevant criteria or behavioral measures. In this study we investigate the potential of fMRI-techniques focusing on individual differences in brain activation within a test-retest reliability context. We employ a single-case analysis approach, which contrasts dyscalculic children with a control group of typically developing children.

Role of marker lesion when applying intravesical instillations of IL-2 for non-muscle-invasive bladder cancer comparison of the therapeutic effects in two pilot studies.

Aim: Comparison of the therapeutic effect of treatment of non-muscle invasive bladder carcinoma (NMIBC) after intravesical Interleukin-2 (IL-2) instillations in the presence and absence of a marker tumour.

Materials And Methods: Two pilot studies were performed in patients with NMIBC. The first study (10 patients) was performed in Krakow (Poland), the second (26 patients) in Vilnius (Lithuania).

Are reaction times obtained during fMRI scanning reliable and valid measures of behavior?

Assuming that behavior observed during functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is comparable with behavior outside the scanner appears to be a basic tenet in cognitive neuroscience. Nevertheless, this assumption has rarely been tested directly. Here, we examined the reliability and validity of speeded performance during fMRI scanning by having the same 30 participants perform a battery of five reaction time (RT) tasks in two separate fMRI sessions and a standard laboratory (i.

Intratumoural interleukin-2 therapy can induce regression of non-resectable mastocytoma in dogs.

Aim: Mast cell tumours (MCT) are common skin tumours in dogs. If complete surgical removal of the tumours is not possible, then another therapy is needed. In the current study we tested the therapeutic effect of intratumoural injection of interleukin-2 (IL-2).

The role of finger representations and saccades for number processing: an FMRI study in children.

A possible functional role of finger representations for the development of early numerical cognition has been the subject of recent debate; however, until now, only behavioral studies have directly supported this view. Working from recent models of number processing, we focused on the neural networks involved in numerical tasks and their relationship to the areas underlying finger representations and saccades in children aged 6-12 years. We were able to differentiate three parietal circuits that were related to distinct aspects of number processing.

Micro and macro pattern analyses of FMRI data support both early and late interaction of numerical and spatial information.

Numbers and space are two semantic primitives that interact with each other. Both recruit brain regions along the dorsal pathway, notably parietal cortex. This makes parietal cortex a candidate for the origin of numerical-spatial interaction.

Sensitivity, reproducibility, and reliability of self-paced versus fixed stimulus presentation in an fMRI study on exact, non-symbolic arithmetic in typically developing children aged between 6 and 12 years.

Fixed stimulus presentation times pose several methodological problems for developmental functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies that can be avoided by self-paced study designs. Yet, methodological issues of self-paced stimulus presentation for fMRI studies are largely understudied. Therefore, we compared sensitivity, reproducibility, and reliability of neural activation of a fixed and a self-paced design for an exact, non-symbolic addition paradigm in a sample of children aged 6-12 years.

Low-dose IL-2 therapy reduces HCV RNA and HBV DNA: case report.

Background: Patients with concomitant hepatitis C (HCV) and B (HBV) infection are difficult to treat due to lack of medicines that control these viral infections and the high risk of hepatocellular carcinoma. Currently, there are insufficient data regarding the therapeutic effect of interleukin-2 (IL-2) during chronic viral infection, but this cytokine has shown antineoplastic activity and may have also an antiviral effect.

Case Report: We present the case of a 44-year-old patient with hemophilia A, HBV and HCV related compensated liver cirrhosis (Child-Pugh A) with several zones in the liver, highly suspicious for hepatocellular carcinoma.

Histopathologic studies of the below-the-knee great saphenous vein after endovenous laser ablation.

Background: There has been hesitation to use endovenous laser ablation (EVLA) for the treatment of incompetence of the below-the-knee great saphenous vein (GSV).

Objective: To assess early pathologic changes in the below-the-knee nonvaricose GSV and adjacent tissue after EVLA in legs scheduled for below-the-knee amputation.

Methods: The below-the-knee GSV in five patients was exposed to EVLA using 14-, 12-, and 10-watt laser power with continuous or intermittent laser exposure using a 600-nm core, bare tip fiber.

Genetic contribution to variation in cognitive function: an FMRI study in twins.

Little is known about the genetic contribution to individual differences in neural networks subserving cognition function. In this functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) twin study, we found a significant genetic influence on brain activation in neural networks supporting digit working memory tasks. Participants activating frontal-parietal networks responded faster than individuals relying more on language-related brain networks.

A developmental fMRI study of nonsymbolic numerical and spatial processing.

This functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study systematically investigates whether there is a neurofunctional overlap of nonsymbolic numerical and spatial cognition in (intra)parietal regions in children and adults. The study also explores the association between finger use and (nonsymbolic) number processing across development. Twenty-four healthy individuals (12 children, 12 adults) were asked to make nonsymbolic numerical and spatial (experimental tasks) as well as color discriminations (control task).

Local therapy of cancer with free IL-2.

This is a position paper about the therapeutic effects of locally applied free IL-2 in the treatment of cancer. Local therapy: IL-2 therapy of cancer was originally introduced as a systemic therapy. This therapy led to about 20% objective responses.

[Pseudomembranous colitis].

For some thirty years it has been known that pathologic proliferation oftoxigenic Clostridium difficile may lead to inflammation of colonic mucosa which, in its fully developed form, manifests as pseudomembranous colitis. CDAD (Clostridium difficile - Associated Disease or Diarrhoea) is the term which is generally and quite aptly used for the disease in literature on the subject. In most cases, the disease develops after the administration of broad-spectrum antibiotics, yet there are also other important pathogenetic factors involved which should not be ignored.

[Imported cryptococcal infection mimicking primary sclerosing cholangitis].

Expanding travel industry may increase the incidence of some rare infections diseases. One of them is cryptococcosis developing especially in immunosuppressed individuals. However, massive cryptococcal infection may lead to a severe clinical course even in people without impaired immunity.

Treatment of ocular squamous cell carcinomas in cattle with interleukin-2.

In total, 174 bovine ocular squamous cell carcinomas of varying sizes (20 to 2800 mm(2) in area) were treated daily with peritumoural injections of solvent, or solvent containing 5000 U, 20,000 U, 200,000 U, 500,000 U, 1 million U or 2 million U interleukin-2 (IL-2) for 10 days. The tumours were measured and clinically staged before treatment and at one, three, four, nine and 20 months after treatment. After 20 months, 14 per cent of the tumours treated with the solvent had regressed completely, a significantly smaller proportion than the 55 per cent treated with 5000 U IL-2, 52 per cent treated with 20,000 U IL-2, 58 per cent treated with 200,000 U IL-2, 50 per cent treated with 500,000 U IL-2, 69 per cent of tumours treated with 1 million U IL-2, 52 per cent treated with 2 million U IL-2.