Brain metabolites are associated with sleep architecture and cognitive functioning in older adults.

Sleep deficits are a possible risk factor for development of cognitive decline and dementia in older age. Research suggests that neuroinflammation may be a link between the two. This observational, cross-sectional study evaluated relationships between sleep architecture, neuroinflammation and cognitive functioning in healthy older adults.

Diffusion Tensor Imaging-Along the Perivascular-Space Index Is Associated with Disease Progression in Parkinson's Disease.

Background: The glymphatic clearance pathway is a waste clearance system that allows for removal of soluble proteins such as amyloid β (Aβ) from the brain. Higher Aβ levels are associated with cognitive dysfunction in Parkinson's disease (PD). Diffusion tensor imaging-along the perivascular space (DTI-ALPS) is an imaging measure proposed to indirectly measure glymphatic function.

Relationship between sleep, physical fitness, brain microstructure, and cognition in healthy older adults: A pilot study.

Background: There is a critical need for neuroimaging markers of brain integrity to monitor effects of modifiable lifestyle factors on brain health. This observational, cross-sectional study assessed relationships between brain microstructure and sleep, physical fitness, and cognition in healthy older adults.

Methods: Twenty-three adults aged 60 and older underwent whole-brain multi-shell diffusion imaging, comprehensive cognitive testing, polysomnography, and exercise testing.

Brain temperature and free water increases after mild COVID-19 infection.

The pathophysiology underlying the post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 remains understudied and poorly understood, particularly in healthy adults with a history of mild infection. Chronic neuroinflammation may underlie these enduring symptoms, but studying neuroinflammatory phenomena in vivo is challenging, especially without a comparable pre-COVID-19 dataset. In this study, we present a unique dataset of 10 otherwise healthy individuals scanned before and after experiencing mild COVID-19.

Brain network entropy, depression, and quality of life in people with traumatic brain injury and seizure disorders.

Objective: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) often precedes the onset of epileptic (ES) or psychogenic nonepileptic seizures (PNES) with depression being a common comorbidity. The relationship between depression severity and quality of life (QOL) may be related to resting-state network complexity. We investigated these relationships in adults with TBI-only, TBI + ES, or TBI + PNES using Sample Entropy (SampEn), a measure of physiologic signals complexity.

Neuromorphometric associations with mood, cognition, and self-reported exercise levels in epilepsy and healthy individuals.

Regular physical activity may promote beneficial neuroplasticity, e.g., increased hippocampus volume.

An exploratory study of brain temperature and choline abnormalities in temporal lobe epilepsy patients with depressive symptoms.

Objective: Epilepsy and depression share neurobiological origins, and evidence suggests a possible bidirectional relationship that remains poorly understood. This exploratory, cross-sectional study aimed to investigate this relationship by employing magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) and thermometry (MRSI-t) in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) with comorbid depressive symptoms and control participants. This is the first study to combine MRSI and MRSI-t to examine brain temperature and choline abnormalities in regions implicated in seizure onset and depression.

White Matter Changes after Neurobehavioral Therapy for Functional Seizures.

Objective: We aimed to prospectively quantify changes in white matter morphology after neurobehavioral therapy (NBT) for functional seizures (FS) using neurite orientation dispersion and density imaging (NODDI). We hypothesized that patients with FS would exhibit white matter plasticity in the uncinate fasciculus, fornix/stria terminalis, cingulum, and corticospinal tract following NBT that would correlate with improvements in affective symptoms, postconcussive symptoms, and quality of life (QOL).

Methods: Forty-two patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and FS (TBI+FS) underwent NBT and provided pre-/postintervention neuroimaging and behavioral data; 47 controls with TBI without FS (TBI-only) completed the same measures but did not receive NBT.

Concordance between focal brain temperature elevations and focal edema in temporal lobe epilepsy.

Objective: Neuroinflammation (NI) is a pathophysiological factor in many neurological disorders, including epilepsy. Because NI causes microstructural tissue damage that worsens with increasing brain temperature, abnormally elevated brain temperatures may be a surrogate measure of the biochemical consequences of NI. This study investigated whether patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) have abnormal brain temperature elevations (T ) in seizure-producing regions that show evidence of edema and/or microstructural damage.

Relationship between intrinsic network connectivity and psychiatric symptom severity in functional seizures.

Background: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) may precipitate the onset of functional seizures (FSs). Many patients with FS report at least one prior TBI, and these patients typically present with more severe psychiatric comorbidities. TBI and psychopathology are linked to changes in neural network connectivity, but their combined effects on these networks and relationship to the effects of FS remain unclear.

Corrigendum: Repeatability and Reproducibility of Brain Temperature Measurements.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fnhum.2020.

A Pilot Randomized Controlled Trial of Intermittent Theta Burst Stimulation as Stand-Alone Treatment for Post-Stroke Aphasia: Effects on Language and Verbal Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI).

BACKGROUND There is an ongoing need for facilitating language recovery in chronic post-stroke aphasia. The primary aim of this study (NCT01512264) was to examine if noninvasive intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) applied to the injured left-hemispheric cortex promotes language improvements and fMRI changes in post-stroke aphasia. MATERIAL AND METHODS Participants were randomized to 3 weeks of sham (Tx0) or 1-3 weeks of iTBS (Tx123).

Intermittent Theta Burst Stimulation (iTBS) for Treatment of Chronic Post-Stroke Aphasia: Results of a Pilot Randomized, Double-Blind, Sham-Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND Research indicates intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) is a potential treatment of post-stroke aphasia. MATERIAL AND METHODS In this double-blind, sham-controlled trial (NCT01512264) participants were randomized to receive 3 weeks of sham (G₀), 1 week of iTBS/2 weeks of sham (G₁), 2 weeks of iTBS/1 week of sham (G₂), or 3 weeks of iTBS (G₃). FMRI localized residual language function in the left hemisphere; iTBS was applied to the maximum fMRI activation in the residual language cortex in the left frontal lobe.

Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of Language Following Constraint-Induced Aphasia Therapy Primed with Intermittent Theta Burst Stimulation in 13 Patients with Post-Stroke Aphasia.

BACKGROUND Aphasia is a debilitating consequence of stroke. This study aimed to investigate the role of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) activation changes during overt language tasks in promoting language improvements following constraint-induced aphasia therapy (CIAT) primed with intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS) in 13 patients with aphasia following ischemic stroke. MATERIAL AND METHODS Participants with post-stroke aphasia participated in CIAT primed with iTBS on 10 consecutive weekdays.

Repeatability and Reproducibility of Brain Temperature Measurements.

Magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) is a neuroimaging technique that may be useful for non-invasive mapping of brain temperature (i.e., thermometry) over a large brain volume.

Cannabidiol normalizes resting-state functional connectivity in treatment-resistant epilepsy.

Objective: Resting-state (rs) network dysfunction is a contributing factor to treatment resistance in epilepsy. In treatment-resistant epilepsy (TRE), pharmacological and nonpharmacological therapies have been shown to improve such dysfunction. In this study, our goal was to prospectively evaluate the effect of highly purified plant-derived cannabidiol (CBD; Epidiolex®) on rs functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) functional connectivity (rs-FC).

A preliminary study of the effects of cannabidiol (CBD) on brain structure in patients with epilepsy.

Cannabis use is associated with changes in brain structure and function; its neurotoxic effects are largely attributed to Δ-tetrahydrocannabidiol. Whether such effects are present in patients with epilepsy exposed to a highly-purified cannabidiol isolate (CBD; Epidiolex®; Greenwich Biosciences, Inc.) has not been investigated to date.

Sex, Age, and Handedness Modulate the Neural Correlates of Active Learning.

Background: Self-generation of material compared to passive learning results in mproved memory performance; this may be related to recruitment of a fronto-temporal encoding network. Using a verbal paired-associate learning fMRI task, we examined the effects of sex, age, and handedness on the neural correlates of self-generation.

Methods: Data from 174 healthy English-speaking participants (78M, 56 atypically handed; ages 19-76) were preprocessed using AFNI and FSL.

FMRI response to acute psychological stress differentiates patients with psychogenic non-epileptic seizures from healthy controls - A biochemical and neuroimaging biomarker study.

We investigated psychological stress response in the brain regions involved in emotion-motor-executive control in psychogenic non-epileptic seizures (PNES). 12 PNES patients and 12 healthy controls (HCs) underwent stress task and resting state functional MRI (fMRI), mood and quality of life (QOL) assessments, and measurements of salivary cortisol, alpha-amylase, and heart rate. Group differences were assessed, and we correlated beta values from a priori selected brain regions showing stress task fMRI group differences with other stress response measures.

fMRI study of cannabidiol-induced changes in attention control in treatment-resistant epilepsy.

Patients with treatment-resistant epilepsy (TRE) frequently exhibit memory and attention deficits that contribute to their poor personal and societal outcomes. We studied the effects of adjunct treatment with pharmaceutical grade cannabidiol (CBD) oral solution (Epidiolex®; Greenwich Biosciences, Inc.) on attention control processes related to stimulus conflict resolution in patients with TRE.

A pilot study of combined endurance and resistance exercise rehabilitation for verbal memory and functional connectivity improvement in epilepsy.

Memory impairment is common in persons with epilepsy (PWE), and exercise may be a strategy for its improvement. In this pilot study, we hypothesized that exercise rehabilitation would improve physical fitness and verbal memory and induce changes in brain networks involved in memory processes. We examined the effects of combined endurance and resistance exercise rehabilitation on memory and resting state functional connectivity (rsFC).

Cortical excitability affects mood state in patients with idiopathic generalized epilepsies (IGEs).

Previously, we demonstrated an association between cortical hyperexcitability and mood disturbance in healthy adults. Studies have documented hyperexcitability in patients with idiopathic generalized epilepsies (IGEs; long-interval intracortical inhibition [LICI]) and high prevalence of mood comorbidities. This study aimed to investigate the influences of cortical excitability and seizure control on mood state in patients with IGEs.

Cortical excitability and seizure control influence attention performance in patients with idiopathic generalized epilepsies (IGEs).

We recently found that higher cortical excitability is associated with poorer attention performance in healthy adults. While patients with idiopathic generalized epilepsies (IGEs), previously termed genetic generalized epilepsies, are known to demonstrate increased cortical excitability and cognitive deficits, a relationship between these variables in IGEs has not been investigated. Therefore, we aimed to characterize the effects of cortical excitability and seizure control on cognitive performance in IGEs.

Background connectivity between frontal and sensory cortex depends on task state, independent of stimulus modality.

The human brain has the ability to process identical information differently depending on the task. In order to perform a given task, the brain must select and react to the appropriate stimuli while ignoring other irrelevant stimuli. The dynamic nature of environmental stimuli and behavioral intentions requires an equally dynamic set of responses within the brain.