Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation improves Parkinson's freezing of gait via normalizing brain connectivity.

Robust, effective treatments for Parkinson's freezing of gait remain elusive. Our previous study revealed beneficial effects of high-frequency rTMS over the supplementary motor area. The present study aims to explore the neural mechanisms of rTMS treatments utilizing novel exploratory multivariate approaches.

Assessment of optic nerve and optic tract alterations in patients with orbital space-occupying lesions using probabilistic diffusion tractography.

Aim: To investigate the diffusion changes in both the optic nerve and optic tract in orbital space-occupying lesion patients with decreased visual acuity, and its clinical significance using probabilistic diffusion tractography (PDT).

Methods: Twenty patients with orbital space-occupying lesions and 25 age- and gender-matched healthy persons were included. All patients and controls underwent routine orbital magnetic resonance imaging and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), using a 3.

Homotopic Connectivity in Early Pontine Infarction Predicts Late Motor Recovery.

Connectivity-based methods are essential to explore brain reorganization after a stroke and to provide meaningful predictors for late motor recovery. We aim to investigate the homotopic connectivity alterations during a 180-day follow-up of patients with pontine infarction to find an early biomarker for late motor recovery prediction. In our study, resting-state functional MRI was performed in 15 patients (11 males, 4 females, age: 57.

Neuronal Specificity of Acupuncture in Alzheimer's Disease and Mild Cognitive Impairment Patients: A Functional MRI Study.

Although acupuncture is considered to be effective and safe for Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI), the mechanism underlying its therapeutic effect is still unknown. Most studies clarifying the neuronal pathway produced by acupuncture were still applied to healthy subjects with limited single acupuncture point stimulation, which was inconsistency with clinical practice. Thus, in our present study, we investigate the differences between brain activity changes in AD and MCI patients caused by multi-acupuncture point Siguan (four gates), in order to provide visualized evidence for neuronal specificity of clinical acupuncture.

Author Correction: Altered resting-state brain activity in Parkinson's disease patients with freezing of gait.

A correction to this article has been published and is linked from the HTML and PDF versions of this paper. The error has not been fixed in the paper.

Altered resting-state brain activity in Parkinson's disease patients with freezing of gait.

Freezing of gait (FOG) is a common and debilitating symptom in Parkinson's disease (PD). The current study investigated alterations of resting-state spontaneous brain activity in PD patients with FOG. A total of 29 patients with FOG, 28 patients without FOG and 31 controls were included.

Effects of Structural Changes in Subchondral Bone on Articular Cartilage in a Beagle Dog Model.

Objective: Using MR T2-mapping and histopathologic score for articular cartilage to evaluate the effect of structural changes in subchondral bone on articular cartilage.

Methods: Twenty-four male Beagle dogs were randomly divided into a subchondral bone defect group (n = 12) and a bone cement group (n = 12). Models of subchondral bone defectin the medial tibial plateau and subchondral bone filled with bone cement were constructed.

25 Years of Contrast-Enhanced MRI: Developments, Current Challenges and Future Perspectives.

Unlabelled: In 1988, the first contrast agent specifically designed for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), gadopentetate dimeglumine (Magnevist(®)), became available for clinical use. Since then, a plethora of studies have investigated the potential of MRI contrast agents for diagnostic imaging across the body, including the central nervous system, heart and circulation, breast, lungs, the gastrointestinal, genitourinary, musculoskeletal and lymphatic systems, and even the skin. Today, after 25 years of contrast-enhanced (CE-) MRI in clinical practice, the utility of this diagnostic imaging modality has expanded beyond initial expectations to become an essential tool for disease diagnosis and management worldwide.

Lobeline improves acute lung injury via nuclear factor-κB-signaling pathway and oxidative stress.

Acute lung injury (ALI) is a severe, life-threatening medical condition whose pathogenesis is linked to neutrophil infiltration of the lung. Activation and recruitment of neutrophils to the lung is mostly attributed to the production of chemokines NO, IL-6, for instance. This study aims to investigate lobeline ability in reducing NO production, and nitric oxide synthase (iNOs) expression.

Anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory effects of Lobelia chinensis in vitro and in vivo.

Lobelia chinensis Lour (LcL) is a popular herb that has been widely used as folk medicine in China for the treatment of fever, lung cancer, and inflammation for hundreds of years. Recently, several studies have shown that the anti-inflammatory properties were correlated with the inhibition of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) and interleukin-6 (IL-6) from the NF-κB pathway. The aim of this study was to evaluate the anti-oxidative and anti-inflammatory activities of L.

Apigenin-7-glycoside prevents LPS-induced acute lung injury via downregulation of oxidative enzyme expression and protein activation through inhibition of MAPK phosphorylation.

Apigenin-7-glycoside (AP7Glu) with multiple biological activities is a flavonoid that is currently prescribed to treat inflammatory diseases such as upper respiratory infections. Recently, several studies have shown that its anti-inflammatory activities have been strongly linked to the inhibition of secretion of pro-inflammatory proteins, such as inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOs) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) induced through phosphorylation nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) and mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) pathways. Additionally, inflammation, which can decrease the activities of antioxidative enzymes (AOEs) is also observed in these studies.

An FMRI study of neuronal specificity in acupuncture: the multiacupoint siguan and its sham point.

Clarifying the intrinsic mechanisms of acupuncture's clinical effects has recently been gaining popularity. Here, we choose the Siguan acupoint (a combination of bilateral LI4 and Liv3) and its sham point to evaluate multiacupoint specificity. Thirty-one healthy volunteers were randomly divided into real acupoint (21 subjects) and sham acupoint (10 subjects) groups.

Comparing the effect of An's Shaobei Injection ([symbols; see text]) with Xiaozhiling Injection ([symbols; see text]) in patients with internal hemorrhoids of grade I-III: a prospective cohort study.

Objective: To compare the effect of An's Shaobei Injection ([symbols; see text]) with Xiaozhiling Injection ([symbols; see text]) in patients with internal hemorrhoids of grade I-III.

Methods: This cohort study included 1,520 internal hemorrhoids patients with grade I-III who were scheduled for liquid injection treatment from July 2003 to July 2009. The cohort included patients who underwent either An's Shaobei Injection treatment (the treatment group, 760 cases) or Xiaozhiling Injection treatment (the control group, 760 cases).

Changes of gray matter volume and amplitude of low-frequency oscillations in amnestic MCI: An integrative multi-modal MRI study.

Background: Numerous studies have reported that the amnestic-type mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) patients have impaired brain structural integrity and functional alterations separately.

Purpose: To investigate the changes of gray matter and amplitude of low-frequency oscillations in patients with aMCI by combining structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

Material And Methods: Thirty-four patients with aMCI and 34 controls were recruited.

Assessment of the right and left ventricular function in patients with cor pulmonale using high-definition CT.

Background: Cor pulmonale is often associated with changes of structure and function of the right ventricle (RV) and thus further affects functional changes of the left heart. Our study aimed to assess the left ventricular (LV) and RV function in patients with cor pulmonale using high-definition CT (HDCT).

Methods: We prospectively studied 18 cor pulmonale patients determined by the pulmonary function test, clinical examination, chest radiograph, electrocardiogram, and echocardiogram.

Probabilistic MRI brain anatomical atlases based on 1,000 Chinese subjects.

Brain atlases are designed to provide a standard reference coordinate system of the brain for neuroscience research. Existing human brain atlases are widely used to provide anatomical references and information regarding structural characteristics of the brain. The majority of them, however, are derived from one paticipant or small samples of the Western population.

Korean Red Ginseng Suppresses Metastasis of Human Hepatoma SK-Hep1 Cells by Inhibiting Matrix Metalloproteinase-2/-9 and Urokinase Plasminogen Activator.

Korean red ginseng and ginsenosides have been claimed to possess wide spectrum of medicinal effects, of which anticancer effect is one. The present study was undertaken to investigate the antimetastatic effect of Korean red ginseng on human hepatoma as well as possible mechanisms. The inhibitory effect of the water extract of Korean red ginseng (WKRG) on the invasion and motility of SK-Hep1 cells was evaluated by the Boyden chamber assay in vitro.

Intracranial malignant meningioma with cerebrospinal fluid dissemination: a case report.

Malignant meningiomas are uncommon intracranial tumors. The metastasis of malignant meningiomas to distant extracranial sites are well known. However, dissemination of the tumours in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is rare and few cases have been reported.

[The clinical and magnetic resonance imaging studies of brain damages in neuromyelitis optica].

Objective: To investigate the feature brain damage and clinical manifestations in neuromyelitis optica (NMO) patients; To investigate the relationship between serum NMO-IgG antibody and NMO brain damage.

Methods: Clinical data of 37 NMO patients and their head and spinal cord MRI by 1.5T superconducting MR scanner, were analyzed; serum NMO-IgG antibody were measured by immunofluorescence.

Neural substrates of data-driven scientific discovery: an fMRI study during performance of number series completion task.

Although much has been known about how humans psychologically perform data-driven scientific discovery, less has been known about its brain mechanism. The number series completion is a typical data-driven scientific discovery task, and has been demonstrated to possess the priming effect, which is attributed to the regularity identification and its subsequent extrapolation. In order to reduce the heterogeneities and make the experimental task proper for a brain imaging study, the number magnitude and arithmetic operation involved in number series completion tasks are further restricted.

Time course of Hashimoto's encephalopathy revealed by MRI: report of two cases.

The MRI manifestations of Hashimoto's Encephalopathy (HE) can vary from normal appearance, ischemic lesions, demyelination, vasogenic edema to atrophy. The diverse MRI features of HE reported in the literature made it difficult to understand the pathological process and monitoring the prognosis. To investigate the dynamic changes of MRI manifestations in HE, two cases of HE were retrospectively analyzed with a series of longitudinal MRI data, including T2 weighted image (T2WI), T1 weighted image (T1WI), fluid attenuated inversion recovery image (FLAIR), diffusion weighted image and diffusion tensor image(DTI).

Brain MRI abnormalities in neuromyelitis optica.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore brain MRI findings in neuromyelitis optica (NMO) and to investigate specific brain lesions with respect to the localization of aquaporin-4 (AQP-4).

Materials And Methods: Forty admitted patients (36 women) who satisfied the 2006 criteria of Wingerchuk et al. for NMO were included in this study.

Dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumors: magnetic resonance imaging and magnetic resonance spectroscopy evaluation.

Background: Dysembryoplastic neuroepithelial tumor (DNT) is a rare benign neoplasm of the central nervous system affecting young people. A correct preoperative diagnosis is helpful for planning surgical strategies and improving prognosis. The purpose of this study was to characterize DNTs using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) and to analyze the value of these two techniques in the diagnosis of DNTs.

[Assessment of right ventricular cardiac function using 64-detector CT: comparison with MRI].

Objective: To investigate the value of 64-detector spiral computed tomography versus MRI in the assessment of right ventricular function.

Methods: Thirty healthy volunteers (15 males, 15 females, 48 +/- 24 years) underwent 64-detector spiral computed tomography CT and breath-hold MRI. With semiautomatic contour detection software, the parameters of end-diastolic volume, end-systolic volume, stroke volume and ejection fraction were determined from short-axis CT reformations (MPR) created at every 5% of RR-interval.