deepPGSegNet: MRI-based pituitary gland segmentation using deep learning.

Introduction: In clinical research on pituitary disorders, pituitary gland (PG) segmentation plays a pivotal role, which impacts the diagnosis and treatment of conditions such as endocrine dysfunctions and visual impairments. Manual segmentation, which is the traditional method, is tedious and susceptible to inter-observer differences. Thus, this study introduces an automated solution, utilizing deep learning, for PG segmentation from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Association between cortical thickness and cognitive ability in very preterm school-age children.

Very preterm children, born before 32 weeks of gestation, are at risk for impaired cognitive function, mediated by several risk factors. Cognitive impairment can be measured by various neurodevelopmental assessments and is closely associated with structural alterations of brain morphometry, such as cortical thickness. However, the association between structural alterations and high-order cognitive function remains unclear.

Predicting mild cognitive impairments from cognitively normal brains using a novel brain age estimation model based on structural magnetic resonance imaging.

Brain age prediction is a practical method used to quantify brain aging and detect neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, very few studies have considered brain age prediction as a biomarker for the conversion of cognitively normal (CN) to mild cognitive impairment (MCI). In this study, we developed a novel brain age prediction model using brain volume and cortical thickness features.

DeepParcellation: A novel deep learning method for robust brain magnetic resonance imaging parcellation in older East Asians.

Accurate parcellation of cortical regions is crucial for distinguishing morphometric changes in aged brains, particularly in degenerative brain diseases. Normal aging and neurodegeneration precipitate brain structural changes, leading to distinct tissue contrast and shape in people aged >60 years. Manual parcellation by trained radiologists can yield a highly accurate outline of the brain; however, analyzing large datasets is laborious and expensive.

Involvement of the intrinsic functional network of the red nucleus in complex behavioral processing.

Previous studies suggested the possibility that the red nucleus (RN) is involved in other cognitive functions than motion per se, even though such functions have yet to be clarified. We investigated the activation of RN during several tasks and its intrinsic functional network associated with social cognition and musical practice. The tasks included finger tapping, n-back, and memory recall tasks.

A 16-Channel Dipole Antenna Array for Human Head Magnetic Resonance Imaging at 10.5 Tesla.

For ultra-high field and frequency (UHF) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), the associated short wavelengths in biological tissues leads to penetration and homogeneity issues at 10.5 tesla (T) and require antenna transmit arrays for efficiently generated 447 MHz B fields (defined as the transmit radiofrequency (RF) magnetic field generated by RF coils). Previously, we evaluated a 16-channel combined loop + dipole antenna (LD) 10.

Brain Plasticity Reflects Specialized Cognitive Development Induced by Musical Training.

Learning a musical instrument requires a long period of training and might induce structural and functional changes in the brain. Previous studies have shown brain plasticity resulting from training with a musical instrument. However, these studies did not distinguish the effects on brain plasticity of specific musical instruments as they examined the brain of musicians who had learned a single musical instrument/genre and did not control for confounding factors, such as common or interactive effects involved in music training.

Assessment of olfactory information in the human brain using 7-Tesla functional magnetic resonance imaging.

Olfaction could prove to be an early marker of neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases. To use olfaction for disease diagnosis, elucidating the standard olfactory functions in healthy humans is necessary. However, the olfactory function in the human brain is less frequently assessed because of methodological difficulties associated with olfactory-related cerebral areas.

Cerebral artery segmentation based on magnetization-prepared two rapid acquisition gradient echo multi-contrast images in 7 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging.

Cerebral artery segmentation plays an important role in the direct visualization of the human brain to obtain vascular system information. On ultra-high field magnetic resonance imaging, cerebral arteries appearing hyperintense on T1 weighted (T1w) images could be segmented from brain tissues such as gray and white matter. In this study, we propose an automated method to segment the cerebral arteries using multi-contrast images including T1w images of a magnetization-prepared two rapid acquisition gradient echo (MP2RAGE) sequence at 7 T.

Measurement of ultra-fast signal progression related to face processing by 7T fMRI.

Given that the brain is a dynamic system, the temporal characteristics of brain function are important. Previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have attempted to overcome the limitations of temporal resolution to investigate dynamic states of brain activity. However, finding an fMRI method with sufficient temporal resolution to keep up with the progress of neuronal signals in the brain is challenging.

Brain tissue segmentation based on MP2RAGE multi-contrast images in 7 T MRI.

We proposed a method for segmentation of brain tissues-gray matter, white matter, and cerebrospinal fluid-using multi-contrast images, including a T1 map and a uniform T1-weighted image, from a magnetization-prepared 2 rapid acquisition gradient echoes (MP2RAGE) sequence at 7 Tesla. The proposed method was evaluated with respect to the processing time and the similarity of the segmented masks of brain tissues with those obtained using FSL, FreeSurfer, and SPM12. The processing time of the proposed method (28 ± 0 s) was significantly shorter than those of FSL and SPM12 (444 ± 4 s and 159 ± 2 s for FSL and SPM12, respectively).

Aberrant Neural Activation Underlying Idiom Comprehension in Korean Children with High Functioning Autism Spectrum Disorder.

Purpose: Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by social communication impairments and repetitive behaviors or restricted interests. Impaired pragmatic language comprehension is a universal feature in individuals with ASD. However, the underlying neural basis of pragmatic language is poorly understood.

Estimation of vocational aptitudes using functional brain networks.

The success of human life in modern society is highly dependent on occupation. Therefore, it is very important for people to identify and develop a career plan that best suits their aptitude. Traditional test batteries for vocational aptitudes are not oriented to measure developmental changes in job suitability because repeated measurements can introduce bias as the content of the test batteries is learned.

A Set of Functional Brain Networks for the Comprehensive Evaluation of Human Characteristics.

Many human characteristics must be evaluated to comprehensively understand an individual, and measurements of the corresponding cognition/behavior are required. Brain imaging by functional MRI (fMRI) has been widely used to examine brain function related to human cognition/behavior. However, few aspects of cognition/behavior of individuals or experimental groups can be examined through task-based fMRI.

Steady-state and dynamic network modes for perceptual expectation.

Perceptual expectation can attenuate repetition suppression, the stimulus-induced neuronal response generated by repeated stimulation, suggesting that repetition suppression is a top-down modulatory phenomenon. However, it is still unclear which high-level brain areas are involved and how they interact with low-level brain areas. Further, the temporal range over which perceptual expectation can effectively attenuate repetition suppression effects remains unclear.

Abnormal brain activity in social reward learning in children with autism spectrum disorder: an fMRI study.

Purpose: We aimed to determine whether Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) would show neural abnormality of the social reward system using functional MRI (fMRI).

Materials And Methods: 27 ASDs and 12 typically developing controls (TDCs) participated in this study. The social reward task was developed, and all participants performed the task during fMRI scanning.

Abnormal activation of the social brain network in children with autism spectrum disorder: an FMRI study.

Objective: The aim of this study is to investigate abnormal findings of social brain network in Korean children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) compared with typically developing children (TDC).

Methods: Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was performed to examine brain activations during the processing of emotional faces (happy, fearful, and neutral) in 17 children with ASD, 24 TDC.

Results: When emotional face stimuli were given to children with ASD, various areas of the social brain relevant to social cognition showed reduced activation.

Microscopic functional specificity can be predicted from fMRI signals in ventral visual areas.

Functional areas specialized for recognition can be activated by a non-preferred stimulus as well as a preferred stimulus. The functional magnetic resonance imaging signals detected in response to different stimuli in an area may have the same or different amplitudes. However, it is uncertain whether the responses originate from the same neuronal populations or heterogeneous ones.

Intermixed structure of voxels with different hemispheric characteristics in the fusiform face area.

The fusiform face area, a high-level visual area, is pivotal in processing facial information. This area receives inputs from the left and right visual fields unlike the primary visual area, which only receives inputs from its contralateral visual field. Response of the fusiform face area to ipsilateral stimulation depends on the signals crossing over at the corpus callosum.