When neuromodulation met control theory.

The brain is a highly complex physical system made of assemblies of neurons that work together to accomplish elaborate tasks such as motor control, memory and perception. How these parts work together has been studied for decades by neuroscientists using neuroimaging, psychological manipulations, and neurostimulation. Neurostimulation has gained particular interest, given the possibility to perturb the brain and elicit a specific response.

Working memory related functional connectivity in adult ADHD and its amenability to training: A randomized controlled trial.

Background: Working memory (WM) deficits are among the most prominent cognitive impairments in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). While functional connectivity is a prevailing approach in brain imaging of ADHD, alterations in WM-related functional brain networks and their malleability by cognitive training are not well known. We examined whole-brain functional connectivity differences between adults with and without ADHD during n-back WM tasks and rest at pretest, as well as the effects of WM training on functional and structural brain connectivity in the ADHD group.

Microstructural White Matter Abnormalities in Children and Adolescents With Narcolepsy Type 1.

Background: In 2010, the H1N1 Pandemrix vaccination campaign was followed by a sudden increase in narcolepsy type 1 (NT1). We investigated the brain white matter microstructure in children with onset of NT1 within two years after the Pandemrix vaccination.

Methods: We performed diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) on 19 children and adolescents with NT1 and 19 healthy controls.

Abnormal wiring of the structural connectome in adults with ADHD.

Current knowledge of white matter changes in large-scale brain networks in adult attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is scarce. We collected diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging data in 40 adults with ADHD and 36 neurotypical controls and used constrained spherical deconvolution-based tractography to reconstruct whole-brain structural connectivity networks. We used network-based statistic (NBS) and graph theoretical analysis to investigate differences in these networks between the ADHD and control groups, as well as associations between structural connectivity and ADHD symptoms assessed with the Adult ADHD Self-Report Scale or performance in the Conners Continuous Performance Test 2 (CPT-2).