A framework for advancing sustainable magnetic resonance imaging access in Africa.

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) technology has profoundly transformed current healthcare systems globally, owing to advances in hardware and software research innovations. Despite these advances, MRI remains largely inaccessible to clinicians, patients, and researchers in low-resource areas, such as Africa. The rapidly growing burden of noncommunicable diseases in Africa underscores the importance of improving access to MRI equipment as well as training and research opportunities on the continent.

Development and clinical application of Vertebral Metrics: using a stereo vision system to assess the spine.

The biomechanical changes in the spinal column are considered to be the main responsible for rachialgia. Although radiological techniques use ionizing radiation, they are the most applied tools to assess the biomechanics of the spine. To face this problem, non-invasive techniques must be developed.

[Translation, adaptation and psychometric evaluation of the instrument Activity Record (ACTRE)].

Objective: To perform the cultural adaptation of the instrument Activity Record (ACTRE) and evaluate its psychometric qualities.

Method: Six steps were followed:1) translation of the original instrument, 2) back-translation, 3) formal equivalence assessment, 4) evaluation by an expert in Portuguese language, 5) final critique by experts in the field and 6 ) applying the questionnaire to 53 pregnant women, aged between 18 and 39 years, at two different moments with an interval time of two hours aimed to evaluate the reliability level of temporal stability (test-retest) using the the Intraclass Correlation.

Results: The results of the Intraclass Correlation at the level of test / retest reliability ranged between 0.

The Visual Word Form Area remains in the dominant hemisphere for language in late-onset left occipital lobe epilepsies: A postsurgery analysis of two cases.

Automatic recognition of words from letter strings is a critical processing step in reading that is lateralized to the left-hemisphere middle fusiform gyrus in the so-called Visual Word Form Area (VWFA). Surgical lesions in this location can lead to irreversible alexia. Very early left hemispheric lesions can lead to transfer of the VWFA to the nondominant hemisphere, but it is currently unknown if this capability is preserved in epilepsies developing after reading acquisition.

[Vertebral metrics: application of a new mechanical instrument to evaluate the spinal column].

Objective: To present the results of the first application of the new technology - Vertebral Metrics - the analysis of the 3D position of the vertex of each spinous process in pregnant women.

Material And Methods: The Vertebral Metrics was applied to women without associated pathology in four stages of pregnancy (12, 20, 32, 37 weeks gestation). We applied univariate linear models.

Comparative evaluation of the tridimensional spine position measured with a new instrument (Vertebral Metrics) and an optoelectronic system of stereophotogrammetry.

We designed and built a non-invasive instrument, called Vertebral Metrics, to measure the x, y, and z positions of each spinous process of the spine on a standing position. In the present study, we perform a comparative evaluation of Vertebral Metrics, by comparing the results obtained from this instrument with those from a validated optoelectronic system of stereophotogrammetry, with 10 infrared cameras. The sample was composed of 11 women aged between 14 and 39 years.

Functional brain mapping of ictal activity in gelastic epilepsy associated with hypothalamic hamartoma: a case report.

Hypothalamic hamartomas (HHs) have been demonstrated as the cause of gelastic epilepsy, both by intracranial electrodes and functional imaging. The neocortex becomes secondarily involved, through poorly characterized propagation pathways. The detailed dynamics of seizure spread have not yet been demonstrated, owing to the limited spatial-temporal resolution of available functional mapping.

Cognitive function correlates with frontal white matter apparent diffusion coefficients in patients with leukoaraiosis.

Background And Aims: Diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) displays a high sensitivity to white matter changes, even in areas where no lesions are visible. Correlation with vascular risk factors and cognitive dysfunction seems to be feasible using this technique. We aimed to test relations between age, blood pressure and cognitive function,with lesion load and average Apparent Diffusion Coefficient (ADC) values in lesioned (LWM) and in normal appearing white matter (NAWM), in patients with age related white matter lesions (ARWML).

Brain mapping of epileptic activity in a case of idiopathic occipital lobe epilepsy (Panayiotopoulos syndrome).

The Panayiotopoulos type of occipital lobe epilepsy has generated great interest, but the particular brain areas involved in the peculiar seizure manifestations have not been established. We studied a patient with the syndrome, using high-resolution EEG and simultaneous EEG and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Resolution of the scalp EEG was improved using a realistic spline Laplacian algorithm, and produced a complex distribution of current sinks and sources over the occipital lobe.