White matter microstructural recovery with abstinence and decline with relapse in alcohol dependence interacts with normal ageing: a controlled longitudinal DTI study.

Background: Alcohol dependence exacts a toll on brain white matter microstructure, which has the potential of repair with prolonged sobriety. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) enables in-vivo quantification of tissue constituents and localisation of tracts potentially affected in alcohol dependence and its recovery. We did an extended longitudinal study of alcoholism's trajectory of effect on selective fibre bundles with sustained sobriety or decline with relapse.

Accelerated aging of selective brain structures in human immunodeficiency virus infection: a controlled, longitudinal magnetic resonance imaging study.

Advances in treatment have transformed human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection from an inexorable march to severe morbidity and premature death to a manageable chronic condition, often marked by good health. Thus, infected individuals are living long enough that there is a potential for interaction with normal senescence effects on various organ systems, including the brain. To examine this interaction, the brains of 51 individuals with HIV infection and 65 uninfected controls were studied using 351 magnetic resonance imaging and a battery of neuropsychological tests collected 2 or more times over follow-up periods ranging from 6 months to 8 years.

Thalamic volume deficit contributes to procedural and explicit memory impairment in HIV infection with primary alcoholism comorbidity.

Component cognitive and motor processes contributing to diminished visuomotor procedural learning in HIV infection with comorbid chronic alcoholism (HIV+ALC) include problems with attention and explicit memory processes. The neural correlates associated with this constellation of cognitive and motor processes in HIV infection and alcoholism have yet to be delineated. Frontostriatal regions are affected in HIV infection, frontothalamocerebellar regions are affected in chronic alcoholism, and frontolimbic regions are likely affected in both; all three of these systems have the potential of contributing to both visuomotor procedural learning and explicit memory processes.

Variation in longitudinal trajectories of regional brain volumes of healthy men and women (ages 10 to 85 years) measured with atlas-based parcellation of MRI.

Numerous cross-sectional MRI studies have characterized age-related differences in regional brain volumes that differ with structure and tissue type. The extent to which cross-sectional assumptions about change are accurate depictions of actual longitudinal measurement remains controversial. Even longitudinal studies can be limited by the age range of participants, sex distribution of the samples, and scan intervals.

Differential effect of alcoholism and HIV infection on visuomotor procedural learning and retention.

Background: Selective declarative memory processes are differentially compromised in chronic alcoholism (ALC) and HIV infection (HIV) and likely reflect neuropathology associated with each condition: frontocerebellar dysfunction in ALC and frontostriatal dysfunction in HIV infection. Evidence for disease overlap derives from observed exacerbated impairments in these declarative memory processes in ALC-HIV comorbidity. Less is known about nondeclarative memory processes in these disease conditions.

Selective neurocognitive deficits and poor life functioning are associated with significant depressive symptoms in alcoholism-HIV infection comorbidity.

Alcoholism, HIV, and depressive symptoms frequently co-occur and are associated with impairment in cognition and life function. We administered the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II), measures of life function, and neurocognitive tests to 67 alcoholics, 56 HIV+ patients, 63 HIV+ alcoholics, and 64 controls to examine whether current depressive symptom level (significant, BDI-II>14 vs. minimal, BDI-II<14) was associated with poorer cognitive or psychosocial function in alcoholism-HIV comorbidity.

Regional brain structural dysmorphology in human immunodeficiency virus infection: effects of acquired immune deficiency syndrome, alcoholism, and age.

Background: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and alcoholism each carries liability for disruption of brain structure and function integrity. Despite considerable prevalence of HIV-alcoholism comorbidity, few studies examined the potentially heightened burden of disease comorbidity.

Methods: Participants were 342 men and women: 110 alcoholics, 59 with HIV infection, 65 with HIV infection and alcoholism, and 108 healthy control subjects.

Combining atlas-based parcellation of regional brain data acquired across scanners at 1.5 T and 3.0 T field strengths.

Longitudinal brain morphometric studies designed for data acquisition at a single MRI field strength can be seriously limited by system replacements from lower to higher field strength. Merging data across field strengths has not been endorsed for a variety of reasons, yet the ability to combine such data would broaden longitudinal investigations. To determine whether structural T1-weighted MRI data acquired across MR field strengths could be merged, parcellations of archival SPGR data acquired in 114 individuals at 1.

Remote semantic memory for public figures in HIV infection, alcoholism, and their comorbidity.

Background: Impairments in component processes of working and episodic memory mark both HIV infection and chronic alcoholism, with compounded deficits often observed in individuals comorbid for these conditions. Remote semantic memory processes, however, have only seldom been studied in these diagnostic groups. Examination of remote semantic memory could provide insight into the underlying processes associated with storage and retrieval of learned information over extended time periods while elucidating spared and impaired cognitive functions in these clinical groups.

Signs of preclinical Wernicke's encephalopathy and thiamine levels as predictors of neuropsychological deficits in alcoholism without Korsakoff's syndrome.

The purpose of this study was to determine whether meeting historical criteria for unsuspected Wernicke's encephalopathy (WE), largely under-diagnosed in vivo, explains why some alcoholics have severe neuropsychological deficits, whereas others, with a similar drinking history, exhibit preserved performance. Demographic, clinical, alcohol related, and neuropsychological measures were collected in 56 abstinent alcoholics and 38 non-alcohol-dependent volunteers. Alcoholics were classified using the clinical criteria established by Caine et al (1997) and validated in their neuropathological study of alcoholic cases.

Pontocerebellar contribution to postural instability and psychomotor slowing in HIV infection without dementia.

Postural instability occurs in HIV infection, but quantitative balance tests in conjunction with neuroimaging are lacking. We examined whether infratentorial brain tissue volume would be deficient in nondemented HIV-infected individuals and whether selective tissue deficits would be related to postural stability and psychomotor speed performance. The 123 participants included 28 men and 12 women with HIV infection without dementia or alcohol use disorders, and 40 men and 43 women without medical or psychiatric conditions.

Transcallosal white matter degradation detected with quantitative fiber tracking in alcoholic men and women: selective relations to dissociable functions.

Introduction: Excessive alcohol consumption can adversely affect white matter fibers and disrupt transmission of neuronal signals. Here, we examined six anatomically defined transcallosal white matter fiber bundles and asked whether any bundle was specifically vulnerable to alcohol, what aspect of white matter integrity was most affected, whether women were more vulnerable than men, and whether evidence of compromise in specific bundles was associated with deficits in balance, sustained attention, associative learning, and psychomotor function, commonly affected in alcoholics.

Methods: Diffusion tensor imaging quantitative fiber tracking assessed integrity of six transcallosal white matter bundles in 87 alcoholics (59 men, 28 women) and 88 healthy controls (42 men, 46 women).

Contribution of Regional White Matter Integrity to Visuospatial Construction Accuracy, Organizational Strategy, and Memory for a Complex Figure in Abstinent Alcoholics.

Visuospatial construction ability as used in drawing complex figures is commonly impaired in chronic alcoholics, but memory for such information can be enhanced by use of a holistic drawing strategy during encoding. We administered the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (ROCFT) to 41 alcoholic and 38 control men and women and assessed the contribution of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) measures of integrity of selected white matter tracts to ROCFT copy accuracy, copy strategy, and recall accuracy. Although alcoholics copied the figure less accurately than controls, a more holistic strategy at copy was associated with better recall in both groups.

Focus on the brain: HIV infection and alcoholism: comorbidity effects on brain structure and function.

Both HIV infection and alcohol abuse have negative effects on the brain, with some unique to each condition and others shared by both conditions. Investigators have used magnetic resonance imaging to study the size and integrity of various brain structures in participants with alcoholism, HIV infection, or both conditions and in healthy control subjects. In these studies, alcoholics exhibited enlarged, cerebrospinal fluid-filled spaces (i.

Age-related reorganization of functional networks for successful conflict resolution: a combined functional and structural MRI study.

Aging has readily observable effects on the ability to resolve conflict between competing stimulus attributes that are likely related to selective structural and functional brain changes. To identify age-related differences in neural circuits subserving conflict processing, we combined structural and functional MRI and a Stroop Match-to-Sample task involving perceptual cueing and repetition to modulate resources in healthy young and older adults. In our Stroop Match-to-Sample task, older adults handled conflict by activating a frontoparietal attention system more than young adults and engaged a visuomotor network more than young adults when processing repetitive conflict and when processing conflict following valid perceptual cueing.

Callosal degradation in HIV-1 infection predicts hierarchical perception: a DTI study.

HIV-1 infection affects white matter circuits linking frontal, parietal, and subcortical regions that subserve visuospatial attention processes. Normal perception requires the integration of details, preferentially processed in the left hemisphere, and the global composition of an object or scene, preferentially processed in the right hemisphere. We tested whether HIV-related callosal white matter degradation contributes to disruption of selective lateralized visuospatial and attention processes.

Frontostriatal fiber bundle compromise in HIV infection without dementia.

Background: Quantitative fiber tracking derived from diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) was used to determine whether white matter association, projection, or commissural tracts are affected in nondemented individuals with HIV infection and to identify the regional distribution of sparing and impairment of fiber systems.

Methods: DTI measured fractional anisotropy and diffusivity, quantified separately for longitudinal (lambdaL) diffusivity (index of axonal injury) and transverse (lambdaT) diffusivity (index of myelin injury), in 11 association and projection white matter tracts and six commissural tracts in 29 men and 13 women with HIV infection and 88 healthy, age-matched controls (42 men and 46 women).

Results: The total group of HIV-infected individuals had higher diffusivity (principally longitudinal) than controls in the posterior sectors of the corpus callosum, internal and external capsules, and superior cingulate bundles.

Working and episodic memory in HIV infection, alcoholism, and their comorbidity: baseline and 1-year follow-up examinations.

Background: Selective memory deficits occur in individuals with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and those with chronic alcoholism, but the potential compounded effect of these conditions is seldom considered, despite the high prevalence of alcohol use disorders in HIV infection.

Methods: Here, we examined component processes of working and episodic memory in HIV infection and chronic alcoholism (ALC) in 4 subject groups (HIV, ALC, HIV + ALC, and normal controls) at baseline and 1-year follow-up. Accuracy scores, response times, and rate of information processing were assessed with subtests of the computerized neuropsychological test battery, the MicroCog.

Magnetic resonance imaging of the living brain: evidence for brain degeneration among alcoholics and recovery with abstinence.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides a safe, noninvasive method to examine the brain's macrostructure, microstructure, and some aspects of how the living brain functions. MRI is capable of detecting abnormalities that can occur with alcoholism as well as changes that can occur with sobriety and relapse. The brain pathology associated with chronic excessive alcohol consumption is well documented with imaging of the living body (i.

Frontal Callosal Fiber Integrity Selectively Predicts Coordinated Psychomotor Performance in Chronic Alcoholism.

INTRODUCTION: Quantitative fiber tracking with diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) provides a new approach for assessing deficits in the microstructural integrity of white matter circuits that may underlie cognitive deficits associated with conditions affecting white matter, including chronic alcoholism. METHODS: Alcoholic men and women (n=87) and healthy controls (n=88) performed the Digit Symbol (DS) test and underwent structural and diffusion tensor imaging. Measures of fractional anisotropy (FA) of fibers passing through genu and splenium were computed, as were size of genu and splenium fiber target regions of interest (ROI).

Component cognitive and motor processes of the digit symbol test: differential deficits in alcoholism, HIV infection, and their comorbidity.

Background: Alcoholism (ALC) is highly prevalent in patients with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection (HIV), and those with comorbidity (ALC+HIV) may suffer compounded deficits in cognitive and motor functions affected by both conditions. Given that each disease can adversely affect motor, visuospatial, and executive functions, we used an expanded version of the Digit Symbol (DS) test to assess the separate and combined effects of ALC and HIV infection on these cognitive and motor components.

Methods: Participants were 44 ALC, 43 HIV, 55 ALC+HIV, and 49 normal controls (NC).

Improvement in memory and static balance with abstinence in alcoholic men and women: selective relations with change in brain structure.

We investigated whether changes in memory or static balance in chronic alcoholics, occurring with abstinence or relapse, are associated with changes in lateral and fourth ventricular volume. Alcoholics meeting DSM-IV criteria for Alcohol Dependence (n=15) and non-alcoholic controls (n=26) were examined twice at a mean interval of 2 years with standard Wechsler Abbreviated Scale of Intelligence (WASI), Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R) tests, an ataxia battery, and structural MRI. At study entry, alcoholics had been abstinent on average for over 4 months and achieved lower scores than controls on WASI General IQ Index, WMS-R General Memory Index, and the ataxia battery.

Upper and lower limb motor impairments in alcoholism, HIV infection, and their comorbidity.

Background: Both HIV infection and alcoholism can impair motor abilities involving manual dexterity and postural stability. Given the high prevalence of HIV and alcoholism comorbidity, we examined whether each disease selectively disrupts different components of upper and lower limb motor control and whether these impairments are compounded by disease comorbidity.

Methods: Simple and complex upper (speed and finger dexterity) and lower (static posture) limb functions were tested in 31 men with HIV infection, 27 with alcoholism, 43 comorbid for HIV infection and alcoholism, and 22 normal healthy controls to assess whether comorbid patients would demonstrate greater motor impairment relative to those with a single diagnosis.

Alcoholism, HIV infection, and their comorbidity: factors affecting self-rated health-related quality of life.

Objective: Both alcoholism and HIV infection reduce health-related quality of life (HRQOL), and their co-occurrence is highly prevalent. We sought to determine whether comorbidity for both disorders further reduced HRQOL and what factors exacerbated or mitigated their effect.

Method: HRQOL, CD4 T-cell counts, lifetime alcohol consumption and length of sobriety, depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory [BDI]-II), general cognitive status (Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test II), and other psychiatric comorbidities were assessed in patients with alcohol dependence or abuse (n = 44), HIV infection (n = 44), alcohol + HIV (n = 55), and healthy controls (n = 41).

Diffusion tensor imaging with quantitative fibre tracking in HIV infection and alcoholism comorbidity: synergistic white matter damage.

A substantial proportion of individuals infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) also abuse alcohol. Given that each condition can disrupt brain structural integrity, with a predilection for white matter, we used MR diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and quantitative fibre tracking to examine the separate and combined effects on the microstructure of the corpus callosum. Subjects were men and women with alcoholism alone (n = 87), HIV infection alone (n = 42), alcoholism and HIV infection comorbidity (n = 52) and non-affected controls (n = 88).