Impaired Social Cognition in Epilepsy: A Review of What We Have Learnt From Neuroimaging Studies.

Social cognition refers to specific mental processes that subserve social interaction. Impaired social cognition has been increasingly reported in patients with epilepsy and negatively affects overall quality of life (QOL). In this article, we will review neuroimaging studies of social cognition in people with epilepsy.

Relationship Between EEG Electrode and Functional Cortex in the International 10 to 20 System.

Introduction: In this study, we attempted to define the variability in the anatomical relationship between scalp EEG electrodes and eloquent cortical function, as inferred from fMRI.

Methods: MRI-compatible fiducial markers were positioned at locations of CZ, C3 and C4, T3 and T4, and F7 and F8 in 10 healthy subjects. Well-validated fMRI paradigms were administered to activate primary motor cortex and language regions, and the distance between these brain regions and fiducial markers was measured.

Functional Mapping in Pediatric Epilepsy Surgical Candidates: Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Under Sedation With Chloral Hydrate.

Objectives: Functional magnetic resonance imaging is a useful tool to lateralize and localize language in presurgical patients, as well as to localize other functionally salient cortex. The procedure is typically reserved for older children and adults, since it necessitates cooperation and participation in tasks. We have explored the applicability of functional magnetic resonance imaging for language and motor mapping at our epilepsy surgical center in younger children under sedation with chloral hydrate.

Mindfulness based cognitive therapy may improve emotional processing in bipolar disorder: pilot ERP and HRV study.

Emotional processing in bipolar disorder (BD) is impaired. We aimed to measure the effects of mindfulness based cognitive-behavioral therapy (MBCT) in BD on emotional processing, as measured by event related potentials (ERP) and by heart rate variability (HRV). ERP and HRV were recorded during the completion of a visual matching task, which included object matching, affect matching, and affect labeling.

Functional MRI language mapping in pre-surgical epilepsy patients: findings from a series of patients in the Epilepsy Unit at Mediclinic Constantiaberg.

Background: Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is commonly applied to study the neural substrates of language in clinical research and for neurosurgical planning. fMRI language mapping is used to assess language lateralisation, or determine hemispheric dominance, and to localise regions of the brain involved in language. Routine fMRI has been introduced in the Epilepsy Unit at Mediclinic Constantiaberg to contribute to the current functional mapping procedures used in pre-surgical planning.

The effects of mindfulness-based cognitive therapy in patients with bipolar disorder: a controlled functional MRI investigation.

Background: Preliminary research findings have shown that mindfulness-based cognitive therapy improves anxiety and depressive symptoms in bipolar disorder. In this study, we further investigated the effects of MBCT in bipolar disorder, in a controlled fMRI study.

Method: Twenty three patients with bipolar disorder underwent neuropsychological testing and functional MRI.

Increased thalamic phospholipid concentration evident in bipolar I disorder.

Background: Bipolar disorder is characterised by changes in brain metabolites, as measured by (1)H-MRS. However, there is no consistent metabolic profile for bipolar disorder, which includes changes in N-acetyl-aspartate (NAA), choline metabolites and myo-inositol. The aim of the present paper is to add to this literature of (1)H-MRS, the metabolite profiles in bipolar disorder.

Mindfulness based cognitive therapy improves frontal control in bipolar disorder: a pilot EEG study.

Background: Cognitive processing in Bipolar Disorder is characterized by a number of attentional abnormalities. Mindfulness Based Cognitive Therapy combines mindfulness meditation, a form of attentional training, along with aspects of cognitive therapy, and may improve attentional dysfunction in bipolar disorder patients.

Methods: 12 euthymic BD patients and 9 control participants underwent record of electroencephalography (EEG, band frequency analysis) during resting states (eyes open, eyes closed) and during the completion of a continuous performance task (A-X version, EEG event-related potential (ERP) wave component analysis).

The neural substrates of mindfulness: an fMRI investigation.

"Mindfulness" is a capacity for heightened present-moment awareness that we all possess to a greater or lesser extent. Enhancing this capacity through training has been shown to alleviate stress and promote physical and mental well-being. As a consequence, interest in mindfulness is growing and so is the need to better understand it.