Associating Disrupted Intrinsic Functional Networks with Cognitive and Socio-Affective Skills Following Cerebellar Stroke.

Stroke patients often experience post-stroke emotional impairments, yet the underlying pathophysiology remains unclear. At the brain level, dysregulation of socio-affective skills should be considered through alterations in brain networks instead of isolated regions. Investigating network alterations may be crucial in explaining emotional or cognitive deficits.

Age-related positivity effect: Distinct mechanisms for lexical access and episodic memory of emotional words.

The age-related positivity effect is the tendency of older adults to preferentially process positive information over negative information when compared to younger adults (e.g., Reed & Carstensen, 2012).

Attention-deficit/hyperactivity and obsessive-compulsive symptoms in adult patients with primary restless legs syndrome.

Comorbidity between Restless Legs Syndrome and Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder remains a matter of debate. This putative association, possibly reflecting a shared brain iron homeostasis and dopaminergic dysfunction, supports the hypothesis of a neurodevelopmental component in Restless Legs Syndrome pathogenesis. The aim of this study was to investigate Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder symptoms prevalence in adult patients with primary Restless Legs Syndrome compared to another ill group of patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome to control for the disease specific effects on psychiatric symptoms and a healthy individuals control group.

The age-related positivity effect: forgetting the negative and/or remembering the positive? An inter-task study.

A growing number of studies have shown that when compared to younger adults, older adults are better at recalling positive information than negative information. However, it is not yet clear whether this age-related positivity effect relies on a greater ability to recall positive information or on a decreased ability to recall negative information. We therefore aimed to study the specific mechanisms underlying the age-related positivity effect using different memory tasks.

Assessment of dream-related aspects and beliefs in a large cohort of French students using a validated French version of the Mannheim Dream questionnaire.

Focusing on a specific population when studying dream characteristics can shed light on underlying mechanisms and correlates of dreaming. The aim of this study is to establish a clearer description of specific dream aspects and beliefs in a large cohort of students using a validated questionnaire, and to further investigate the role of sociodemographic variables such as age, gender and field of study. Participants were 1137 students aged from 18 to 34 (mean age: 22.

[The age-related positivity effect: forgetting the negative and/or remembering the positive? An inter-task study].

A growing number of studies have shown that, compared to young adults, older adults better remember positive information than negative information. However, it is not clear whether this age-related positivity effect relies on an increase in positive information memory and/or on a decrease in negative information memory. Thus, we aimed to study the specific mechanisms underlying the age-related positivity effect in different memory tasks.

3-D motion capture for long-term tracking of spontaneous locomotor behaviors and circadian sleep/wake rhythms in mouse.

Background: Locomotor activity provides an index of an animal's behavioral state. Here, we report a reliable and cost-effective method that allows long-term (days to months) simultaneous tracking of locomotion in mouse cohorts (here consisting of 24 animals).

New Method: The technique is based on a motion capture system used mainly for human movement study.

Attention-Deficit Hyperactivity and Obsessive-Compulsive Symptoms in Adult Patients With Primary Restless Legs Syndrome: Different Phenotypes of the Same Disease?

Objectives: To investigate the prevalence of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) symptoms in adult patients with primary restless legs syndrome (RLS) and to determine the iron biological correlates of these comorbidities.

Participants And Methods: We obtained demographic and clinical data from consecutive 105 outpatients with idiopathic RLS who answered validated questionnaires designed to assess the presence of ADHD and OCD symptoms. In these patients, iron blood parameters were routinely checked.

Activity/rest cycle and disturbances of structural backbone of cerebral networks in aging.

Objective: Although aging is associated with alterations of both activity/rest cycle and brain structure, few studies have evaluated associations between these processes. The aim of this study was to examine relationship between activity/rest cycle quality and brain structural integrity in aging subjects by exploring both grey and white matter compartments.

Material And Methods: Fifty-eight elderly subjects (76±0.

Mood Influences the Concordance of Subjective and Objective Measures of Sleep Duration in Older Adults.

Objective/background: Sleep plays a central role in maintaining health and cognition. In most epidemiologic studies, sleep is evaluated by self-report questionnaires but several reports suggest that these evaluations might be less accurate than objective measures such as polysomnography or actigraphy. Determinants of the discrepancy between objective and subjective measures remain to be investigated.

Affective Prosody and Depression After Stroke: A Pilot Study.

Background And Purpose: Poststroke depression (PSD) is a frequent complication of stroke with detrimental consequences in terms of quality of life and functional outcomes. In individuals with major depression, several studies have demonstrated an alteration of affective prosody. The aim of this study is to identify prosodic markers that may be predictive of PSD.

123I-Iodobenzovesamicol SPECT Imaging of Cholinergic Systems in Dementia with Lewy Bodies.

Unlabelled: Cholinergic alterations in dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) have been widely documented in postmortem studies, whereas in vivo studies are sparse, particularly at the subcortical level. We used I-iodobenzovesamicol, a SPECT radiotracer of the vesicular acetylcholine transporter, to evaluate in vivo in DLB the integrity of the 3 main cholinergic pathways-the Ch1 (septohippocampal), the Ch4 (innominatocortical), and the Ch5 (pontothalamic) cholinergic pathways-as well as the striatal cholinergic interneurons. In addition, we assessed the involvement of the cholinergic system in cognitive and neuropsychiatric disorders in DLB patients.

Simplified Quantification Method for In Vivo SPECT Imaging of the Vesicular Acetylcholine Transporter with 123I-Iodobenzovesamicol.

Unlabelled: (123)I-iodobenzovesamicol is a SPECT radioligand selective for the vesicular acetylcholine transporter (VAChT) and used to assess the integrity of cholinergic pathways in various neurologic disorders. The current noninvasive method for quantitative analysis of (123)I-iodobenzovesamicol, based on multilinear reference tissue model 2 (MRTM2), requires repeated scans for several hours, limiting its application in clinical trials. Our objective was to validate a simplified acquisition method based on a single (123)I-iodobenzovesamicol static scan preserving the quantification accuracy.

Circadian sleep/wake rhythm abnormalities as a risk factor of a poststroke apathy.

Background: Poststroke apathy affects 19-55% of patients following stroke and has a negative impact on functional recovery, general health, and quality of life, as well as being a source of significant burden for caregivers.

Aims: A major clinical issue is the delayed diagnosis of poststroke apathy, and so the aim of our study is to evaluate the relationship between early poststroke alterations of circadian rhythms of sleep/wake cycles and the occurrence of poststroke apathy.

Methods: Forty-six patients with a recent magnetic resonance imaging confirmed stroke were included.

[(123)I]-IBVM SPECT imaging of cholinergic systems in multiple system atrophy: A specific alteration of the ponto-thalamic cholinergic pathways (Ch5-Ch6).

Unlabelled: We evaluated in vivo the integrity of brain cholinergic pathways in Multiple System Atrophy (MSA) and the relationship between cholinergic dysfunction and motor disturbances, by measuring the vesicular acetylcholine transporter (VAChT) expression using Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) and [(123)I]-iodobenzovesamicol ([(123)I]-IBVM).

Methods: Nine patients with probable MSA and 12 healthy volunteers underwent a dynamic [(123)I]-IBVM SPECT-CT scan and a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan. All patients were examined with the Unified MSA Rating Scale (UMSARS; subscale I = activities of daily living (ADL), II = motor and IV = disability).

Improvement of in vivo quantification of [123I]-Iodobenzovesamicol in single-photon emission computed tomography/computed tomography using anatomic image to brain atlas nonrigid registration.

Brain anatomy variability is a major problem in quantifying functional images in nuclear medicine, in particular relative to aging and neurodegenerative diseases. The aim of this study was to compare affine and elastic model-based methods for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to brain atlas registration and to assess their impact on the quantification of cholinergic neurotransmission. Patients with multiple system atrophy (MSA) and age-matched healthy subjects underwent an MRI and a single-photon emission computed tomographic (SPECT) examination using [123I]-iodobenzovesamicol (IBVM).

Cerebellum involvement in post-stroke mood: a combined ecological and MRI study.

This study evaluated a new approach combining magnetic resonance imaging and the experience sampling method in the understanding of post-stroke mood pathophysiology. Findings revealed that emotional cognition after stroke may be related to phenotypic characteristics such as cerebellar volume, thereby suggesting that this combined approach could provide new insights into the pathophysiology of post-stroke mood disorders as well as other forms of comorbidity.

Progressive supranuclear palsy: in vivo SPECT imaging of presynaptic vesicular acetylcholine transporter with [123I]-iodobenzovesamicol.

Purpose: To evaluate the integrity of brain cholinergic pathways in vivo in patients with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) by measuring the vesicular acetylcholine transporter expression at single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) with [123I]-iodobenzovesamicol.

Materials And Methods: All participants provided informed written consent according to institutional human ethics committee guidelines. Ten patients with PSP and 12 healthy volunteers underwent dynamic [123I]-iodobenzovesamicol SPECT and magnetic resonance (MR) imaging.

Paradoxical effect of severe dietary restriction on Long-Evans rat life span.

It has been firmly established that the longevity of 20- to 60%-calorie-restricted rodents, with malnutrition (essential nutrients deficiency) being avoided, is increased when compared to ad libitum fed rodents. However, the effects on life span of severe dietary restriction (i. e.

Low brain allopregnanolone levels mediate flattened circadian activity associated with memory impairments in aged rats.

Background: Sleep and cognitive impairments are two of the most prevalent neuropsychiatric disorders in the aged population. Age-related memory dysfunctions can result from alterations in sleep/wake circadian rhythm. However, the underlying mechanism of these alterations is unknown.

Alteration of attentional blink in high functioning autism: a pilot study.

Autism is characterized by deficits in attention. However, no study has investigated the dynamics of attentional processes in autistic patients yet. The attentional blink (AB) paradigm provides information about the temporal dynamics of attention in particular about the allocation and the duration of an attentional episode.

Neurosteroids and cholinergic systems: implications for sleep and cognitive processes and potential role of age-related changes.

Rationale: The neurosteroids pregnenolone sulfate (PREGS), dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS) and allopregnanolone (3alpha,5alpha THPROG) have been implicated as powerful modulators of memory processes and sleep states in young and aged subjects with memory impairment. As these processes depend on the integrity of cholinergic systems, a specific effect of neurosteroids on these systems may account for their effects on sleep and memory.

Objective: To review the evidence for a specific and differential effect of neurosteroids on cholinergic systems.

Sleep-wake states and cortical synchronization control by pregnenolone sulfate into the pedunculopontine nucleus.

Cholinergic neurons of the pedunculopontine tegmentum nucleus (PPT) are crucial for initiation and maintenance of electroencephalographic (EEG) desynchronization states like paradoxical sleep and wakefulness. These neurons are regulated by classical neurotransmitter systems from the pontomesencephalic reticular formation and basal ganglia. In addition to this regulation, PPT neuron activity could be modulated by endogenous neurosteroids and particularly by pregnenolone sulfate (PREG-S) because synthesis enzymes of this neurosteroid are present in this area and peripheral administrations of PREG-S affect sleep-wakefulness states.