Longitudinal analysis of new multiple sclerosis lesions with magnetization transfer and diffusion tensor imaging.

Objective: The potential of magnetization transfer imaging (MTI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) for the detection and evolution of new multiple sclerosis (MS) lesions was analyzed.

Methods: Nineteen patients with MS obtained conventional MRI, MTI, and DTI examinations bimonthly for 12 months and again after 24 months at 1.5 T MRI.

DigiHEALTH: Suite of Digital Solutions for Long-Term Healthy and Active Aging.

The population in the world is aging dramatically, and therefore, the economic and social effort required to maintain the quality of life is being increased. Assistive technologies are progressively expanding and present great opportunities; however, given the sensitivity of health issues and the vulnerability of older adults, some considerations need to be considered. This paper presents DigiHEALTH, a suite of digital solutions for long-term healthy and active aging.

The Non-Affected Muscle Volume Compensates for the Partial Loss of Strength after Injection of Botulinum Toxin A.

Local botulinum toxin (BTX-A, Botox) injection in overactive muscles is a standard treatment in patients with cerebral palsy. The effect is markedly reduced in children above the age of 6 to 7. One possible reason for this is the muscle volume affected by the drug.

Quantification and Monitoring of the Effect of Botulinum Toxin A on Paretic Calf Muscles of Children With Cerebral Palsy With MRI: A Preliminary Study.

Muscles from patients with cerebral palsy (CP) are often spastic and form contractures that limit the range of motion. Injections of botulinum toxin A (BTX) into the calf muscles are an important treatment for functional equinus; however, improvement in gait function is not always achieved. BTX is also used to test muscle weakening for risk evaluation of muscle lengthening surgery.

Regular Consumption of Lipigo Promotes the Reduction of Body Weight and Improves the Rebound Effect of Obese People Undergo a Comprehensive Weight Loss Program.

Unlabelled: Obesity is a global public health problem.

Objective: To evaluate the effect of the regular consumption of the product Lipigo on body weight and rebound effect on overweight/obese subjects undergoing a comprehensive weight loss program.

Methods: A randomized, parallel, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial was conducted with male and female subjects presenting a BMI 25-39.

Dynamic MR imaging of the skeletal muscle in young and senior volunteers during synchronized minimal neuromuscular electrical stimulation.

Objective: Neuromuscular electrical stimulation (NMES)-induced isometric contraction is feasible during MRI and can be combined with acquisition of volumetric dynamic MR data, in a synchronous and controlled way. Since NMES is a potent resource for rehabilitation, MRI synchronized with NMES presents a valuable validation tool. Our aim was to show how minimal NMES-induced muscle contraction characterization, as evaluated through phase-contrast MRI, differs between senior and young volunteers.

Visualizing artery-specific blood flow patterns above the circle of Willis with vessel-encoded arterial spin labeling.

Purpose: To establish the feasibility of using vessel-encoded pseudocontinuous arterial spin labeling (VEPCASL) for noninvasive vascular territory imaging (VTI) and artery-specific dynamic angiography of a large number of arterial branches above the circle of Willis within a clinically feasible scan time.

Methods: 3D time-of-flight angiography was used to select a labeling plane and establish 7 pairs of encoding cycles. These were used for VEPCASL VTI and dynamic 2D angiography (8 min and 3 min acquisition times, respectively) in healthy volunteers, allowing the separation of signals arising from 13 arterial branches (including extracranial arteries) in postprocessing.

Diagnostic challenges and future perspectives in fracture-related infection.

Fracture-related infection (FRI) is one of the most challenging complications in orthopaedic trauma surgery. It has severe consequences for patients and an important socio-economic impact. FRI has distinct properties and needs to be addressed interdisciplinary.

Initial evaluation of image performance of a 3-D x-ray system: phantom-based comparison of 3-D tomography with conventional computed tomography.

Phantom-based initial performance assessment of a prototype three-dimensional (3-D) x-ray system and comparison of 3-D tomography with computed tomography (CT) were proposed. A 3-D image quality phantom was scanned with a prototype version of 3-D cone-beam CT imaging implemented on a twin robotic x-ray system using three trajectories (163 deg = table, 188 deg = upright, and 200 deg = side), six tube voltages (60, 70, 81, 90, 100, and 121 kV), and four detector doses (0.348, 0.

Aging-related tau astrogliopathy (ARTAG): not only tau phosphorylation in astrocytes.

Aging-related tau astrogliopathy (ARTAG) is defined by the presence of two types of tau-bearing astrocytes: thorn-shaped astrocytes (TSAs) and granular/fuzzy astrocytes in the brain of old-aged individuals. The present study is focused on TSAs in rare forms of ARTAG with no neuronal tau pathology or restricted to entorhinal and transentorhinal cortices, to avoid bias from associated tauopathies. TSAs show 4Rtau phosphorylation at several specific sites and abnormal tau conformation, but they lack ubiquitin and they are not immunostained with tau-C3 antibodies which recognize truncated tau at Asp421.

Synchronous MRI of muscle motion induced by electrical stimulation.

Purpose: Assessing the functionality of muscle fibers is essential to monitor both pathological and physiological processes. Here, we present a new method for accurate, quantitative measurement of muscle contraction with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) using an electrical muscle stimulator (EMS), hence allowing the direct assessment of muscle kinematics.

Methods: A commercially available EMS device was used to induce involuntary periodic muscle contraction of the vastus lateralis muscle (VL) synchronized with high-temporal-resolution cine phase contrast MRI acquisition at 3T.

Imaging of Primary Brain Tumors and Metastases with Fast Quantitative 3-Dimensional Magnetization Transfer.

Background And Purpose: This study assesses whether magnetization transfer (MT) imaging provides additive information to conventional MRI in brain tumors.

Methods: MT data of 26 patients with neoplastic and metastatic brain tumors were analyzed at 1.5 T.

Differences and similarities on neuronal activities of people being happily and unhappily in love: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study.

Background: Brain activity was studied in grief following frustrated love compared to romantic love, and it was hypothesized that unhappy lovers compared to happy lovers would have decreased brain activity in regions specific to emotional and reward circuits, such as frontal brain areas, anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), bilateral insula or posterior cingulate cortex (PCC).

Methods: Twelve volunteers intensely in love and 12 volunteers recently separated from their romantic partners were scanned performing 3 runs of functional magnetic resonance imaging acquisition. Subjects viewed partner pictures versus erotic pictures during the first run of the scanning process, autobiographical pictures versus neutral pictures during the second and autobiographical texts versus neutral texts during the third run.

Blockade of TNF-α rapidly inhibits pain responses in the central nervous system.

There has been a consistent gap in understanding how TNF-α neutralization affects the disease state of arthritis patients so rapidly, considering that joint inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic condition with structural changes. We thus hypothesized that neutralization of TNF-α acts through the CNS before directly affecting joint inflammation. Through use of functional MRI (fMRI), we demonstrate that within 24 h after neutralization of TNF-α, nociceptive CNS activity in the thalamus and somatosensoric cortex, but also the activation of the limbic system, is blocked.

MTR variations in normal adult brain structures using balanced steady-state free precession.

Introduction: Magnetization transfer (MT) is sensitive to the macromolecular environment of water protons and thereby provides information not obtainable from conventional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Compared to standard methods, MT-sensitized balanced steady-state free precession (bSSFP) offers high-resolution images with significantly reduced acquisition times. In this study, high-resolution magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) images from normal appearing brain structures were acquired with bSSFP.

MRI criteria in MS patients with negative and positive oligoclonal bands: equal fulfillment of Barkhof's criteria but different lesion patterns.

In multiple sclerosis (MS) more than 95% of the patients have positive oligoclonal bands (OCB) in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). Previous studies have reported differences between patients with and without OCB mainly with regard to clinical parameters such as age, gender, disease duration, and clinical severity. However, several MRI characteristics have also been hypothesized to be distinct, and a varying lesion load in OCB-negative and -positive patients is proposed.

Valproate-induced metabolic changes in patients with epilepsy: assessment with H-MRS.

Purpose: Valproate (VPA) interferes with mitochondrial metabolism causing hyperammonemia, thereby shifting the balance reaction of glutamine (Gln)/glutamate (Glu) toward Gln. In this study we wanted to determine whether metabolic changes could be reproduced in VPA-treated patients with epilepsy and whether the results differed from those known in chronic hepatic encephalopathy (CHE).

Methods: Seven patients with epilepsy pretreated with VPA and seven healthy volunteers were investigated on a 3T-scanner.

Viroporin activity of murine hepatitis virus E protein.

The viroporin activity of the E protein from murine hepatitis virus (MHV), a member of the coronaviruses, was analyzed. Viroporins are a growing family of viral proteins able to enhance membrane permeability, promoting virus budding. Initially, the MHV E gene was inducibly expressed in Escherichia coli cells, leading to the arrest of bacterial growth, cell lysis and permeabilization to different compounds.

Common developmental requirement for Olig function indicates a motor neuron/oligodendrocyte connection.

The oligodendrocyte lineage genes Olig1 and Olig2 encode related bHLH proteins that are coexpressed in neural progenitors. Targeted disruption of these two genes sheds light on the ontogeny of oligodendroglia and genetic requirements for their development from multipotent CNS progenitors. Olig2 is required for oligodendrocyte and motor neuron specification in the spinal cord.