Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome associated with antibiotic therapy: a case report and systematic review.

Posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome (PRES) is an acute neurological condition associated with different etiologies, including antibiotic therapy. To date, most data regarding antibiotic-related PRES are limited to case reports and small case series. Here, we report a novel case description and provide a systematic review of the clinico-radiological characteristics and prognosis of available cases of PRES associated with antibiotic therapy.

The impact of lesion side on bilateral upper limb coordination after stroke.

Background: A stroke frequently results in impaired performance of activities of daily life. Many of these are highly dependent on effective coordination between the two arms. In the context of bimanual movements, cyclic rhythmical bilateral arm coordination patterns can be classified into two fundamental modes: in-phase (bilateral homologous muscles contract simultaneously) and anti-phase (bilateral muscles contract alternately) movements.

Prior Movement of One Arm Facilitates Motor Adaptation in the Other.

Many movements in daily life are embedded in motion sequences that involve more than one limb, demanding the motor system to monitor and control different body parts in quick succession. During such movements, systematic changes in the environment or the body might require motor adaptation of specific segments. However, previous motor adaptation research has focused primarily on motion sequences produced by a single limb, or on simultaneous movements of several limbs.

The role of left temporo-parietal and inferior frontal cortex in comprehending syntactically complex sentences: A brain stimulation study.

Background And Objectives: Syntactic competence relies on a left-lateralized network converging on hubs in inferior-frontal and posterior-temporal cortices. We address the question whether anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (a-tDCS) over these hubs can modulate comprehension of sentences, whose syntactic complexity systematically varied along the factors embedding depths and canonicity. Semantic content and length of the sentences were kept identical and forced choice picture matching was required after the full sentence had been presented.

The influence of white matter lesions on the electric field in transcranial electric stimulation.

Background: Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a promising tool to enhance therapeutic efforts, for instance, after a stroke. The achieved stimulation effects exhibit high inter-subject variability, primarily driven by perturbations of the induced electric field (EF). Differences are further elevated in the aging brain due to anatomical changes such as atrophy or lesions.

Distributed networks for auditory memory differentially contribute to recall precision.

Re-directing attention to objects in working memory can enhance their representational fidelity. However, how this attentional enhancement of memory representations is implemented across distinct, sensory and cognitive-control brain network is unspecified. The present fMRI experiment leverages psychophysical modelling and multivariate auditory-pattern decoding as behavioral and neural proxies of mnemonic fidelity.

Differential effects of anodal and dual tDCS on sensorimotor functions in chronic hemiparetic stroke patients.

Background And Purpose: Previous tDCS studies in chronic stroke patients reported highly inconsistent effects on sensorimotor functions. Underlying reasons could be the selection of different kinematic parameters across studies and for different tDCS setups. We reasoned that tDCS may not simply induce global changes in a beneficial-adverse dichotomy, but rather that different sensorimotor kinematics are differentially affected.

Anodal tDCS over the medial prefrontal cortex enhances behavioral adaptation after punishments during reversal learning through increased updating of unchosen choice options.

The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) is thought to be central for flexible behavioral adaptation. However, the causal relationship between mPFC activity and this behavior is incompletely understood. We investigated whether transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the mPFC alters flexible behavioral adaptation during reward-based decision-making, targeting Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI) coordinates  = -8,  = 62,  = 12, which has previously been associated with impaired behavioral adaptation in alcohol-dependent patients.

A checklist for assessing the methodological quality of concurrent tES-fMRI studies (ContES checklist): a consensus study and statement.

Low-intensity transcranial electrical stimulation (tES), including alternating or direct current stimulation, applies weak electrical stimulation to modulate the activity of brain circuits. Integration of tES with concurrent functional MRI (fMRI) allows for the mapping of neural activity during neuromodulation, supporting causal studies of both brain function and tES effects. Methodological aspects of tES-fMRI studies underpin the results, and reporting them in appropriate detail is required for reproducibility and interpretability.

Modulation of neural activity in frontopolar cortex drives reward-based motor learning.

The frontopolar cortex (FPC) contributes to tracking the reward of alternative choices during decision making, as well as their reliability. Whether this FPC function extends to reward gradients associated with continuous movements during motor learning remains unknown. We used anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) over the right FPC to investigate its role in reward-based motor learning.

Decreased thalamo-cortico connectivity during an implicit sequence motor learning task and 7 days escitalopram intake.

Evidence suggests that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) reorganize neural networks via a transient window of neuroplasticity. While previous findings support an effect of SSRIs on intrinsic functional connectivity, little is known regarding the influence of SSRI-administration on connectivity during sequence motor learning. To investigate this, we administered 20 mg escitalopram or placebo for 1-week to 60 healthy female participants undergoing concurrent functional magnetic resonance imaging and sequence motor training in a double-blind randomized controlled design.

Alpha and beta neural oscillations differentially reflect age-related differences in bilateral coordination.

Bilateral in-phase (IP) and anti-phase (AP) movements represent two fundamental modes of bilateral coordination that are essential for daily living. Although previous studies have shown that aging is behaviorally associated with decline in bilateral coordination, especially in AP movements, the underlying neural mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we use kinematic measurements and electroencephalography to compare motor performance of young and older adults executing bilateral IP and AP hand movements.

Multimodal Assessment of the Motor System in Patients With Chronic Ischemic Stroke.

Background And Purpose: Despite continuing efforts in the multimodal assessment of the motor system after stroke, conclusive findings on the complementarity of functional and structural metrics of the ipsilesional corticospinal tract integrity and the role of the contralesional hemisphere are still lacking. This research aimed to find the best combination of motor system metrics, allowing the classification of patients into 3 predefined groups of upper limb motor recovery.

Methods: We enrolled 35 chronic ischemic stroke patients (mean 47 [26-66] years old, 29 [6-58] months poststroke) with a single supratentorial lesion and unilateral upper extremity weakness.

Dissonance in Music Impairs Spatial Gait Parameters in Patients with Parkinson's Disease.

Background: It is known that music influences gait parameters in Parkinson's disease (PD). However, it remains unclear whether this effect is merely due to temporal aspects of music (rhythm and tempo) or other musical parameters.

Objective: To examine the influence of pleasant and unpleasant music on spatiotemporal gait parameters in PD, while controlling for rhythmic aspects of the musical signal.

Modulation of premotor cortex response to sequence motor learning during escitalopram intake.

The contribution of selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors to motor learning by inducing motor cortical plasticity remains controversial given diverse findings from positive preclinical data to negative findings in recent clinical trials. To empirically address this translational disparity, we use functional magnetic resonance imaging in a double-blind, randomized controlled study to assess whether 20 mg escitalopram improves sequence-specific motor performance and modulates cortical motor response in 64 healthy female participants. We found decreased left premotor cortex responses during sequence-specific learning performance comparing single dose and steady escitalopram state.

Rapid Quantification of White Matter Disconnection in the Human Brain.

With an estimated five million new stroke survivors every year and a rapidly aging population suffering from hyperintensities and diseases of presumed vascular origin that affect white matter and contribute to cognitive decline, it is critical that we understand the impact of white matter damage on brain structure and behavior. Current techniques for assessing the impact of lesions consider only location, type, and extent, while ignoring how the affected region was connected to the rest of the brain. Regional brain function is a product of both local structure and its connectivity.

Reduction of somatosensory functional connectivity by transcranial alternating current stimulation at endogenous mu-frequency.

Alpha, the most prominent human brain rhythm, might reflect a mechanism of functional inhibition for gating neural processing. This concept has been derived predominantly from local measures of inhibition, while large-scale network mechanisms to guide information flow are largely unknown. Here, we investigated functional connectivity changes on a whole-brain level by concurrent transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) and resting-state functional MRI in humans.

A flexible workflow for simulating transcranial electric stimulation in healthy and lesioned brains.

Simulating transcranial electric stimulation is actively researched as knowledge about the distribution of the electrical field is decisive for understanding the variability in the elicited stimulation effect. Several software pipelines comprehensively solve this task in an automated manner for standard use-cases. However, simulations for non-standard applications such as uncommon electrode shapes or the creation of head models from non-optimized T1-weighted imaging data and the inclusion of irregular structures are more difficult to accomplish.

Anodal Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Over S1 Differentially Modulates Proprioceptive Accuracy in Young and Old Adults.

Background: Proprioception is a prerequisite for successful motor control but declines throughout the lifespan. Brain stimulation techniques such as anodal transcranial direct current stimulation (a-tDCS) are capable of enhancing sensorimotor performance across different tasks and age groups. Despite such growing evidence for a restorative potential of tDCS, its impact on proprioceptive accuracy has not been studied in detail yet.

Kinematic profiles suggest differential control processes involved in bilateral in-phase and anti-phase movements.

In-phase and anti-phase movements represent two basic coordination modes with different characteristics: during in-phase movements, bilateral homologous muscle groups contract synchronously, whereas during anti-phase movements, they contract in an alternating fashion. Previous studies suggested that in-phase movements represent a more stable and preferential bilateral movement template in humans. The current experiment aims at confirming and extending this notion by introducing new empirical measures of spatiotemporal dynamics during performance of a bilateral circle drawing task in an augmented-reality environment.

Semi-automated generation of individual computational models of the human head and torso from MR images.

Purpose: Simulating the interaction of the human body with electromagnetic fields is an active field of research. Individualized models are increasingly being used, as anatomical differences affect the simulation results. We introduce a processing pipeline for creating individual surface-based models of the human head and torso for application in simulation software based on unstructured grids.