Basic Science and Pathogenesis.

Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by cognitive decline and increased seizure susceptibility due to brain damage and neural disruptions. This study examines the relationship between cognitive deterioration and seizure pathology in hAPP-J20 transgenic Alzheimer's mice, a model known for amyloid plaque deposition and heightened seizure activity.

Method: We observed hAPP-J20 mice aged 8 to 28 weeks using long-term wireless telemetry to assess hippocampal local field potential, sampled at 2 kHz.

The effect of facial expression intensity on emotion recognition and psychosocial performance in patients with frontal or temporal lobe epilepsy.

Purpose: No studies have examined the relationship between the intensity of facial emotion expression and theory of mind (ToM) ability in people with epilepsy. This study aimed to explore facial emotion recognition in a group of patients with frontal (FLE) or temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and its relationship with the intensities of perceived facial emotion expressions, ToM, and social functioning.

Methods: Twenty-six patients with FLE or TLE and 30 matched controls were included in the study.

Increase in gray matter volume and white matter fractional anisotropy in the motor pathways of patients with secondarily generalized neocortical seizures.

Purpose: Convulsive motor activity is a clinical manifestation of secondarily generalized seizures evolving from different focal regions. The way in which the motor seizures present themselves is not very different from most of the generalized seizures in and between epilepsy patients. This might point towards the involvement of motor-related cortices and corticospinal pathway for wide spread propagation of epileptic activity.

Functional Connectivity of the Corpus Callosum in Epilepsy Patients with Secondarily Generalized Seizures.

The corpus callosum (CC) plays an important role in generalization of seizure activity. We used resting-state function magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) to investigate the regional and interregional functional connectivity of CC in patients with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-negative and secondarily generalized seizures. We measured the multi-regional coherences of blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signals rs-fMRI, cortical thickness high-resolution T1-weighted MRI, and white matter (WM) integrity diffusion-tensor imaging in 16 epilepsy patients as well as in 16 age- and gender-matched healthy subjects.

Resveratrol relieves Angiostrongylus cantonensis - Induced meningoencephalitis by activating sirtuin-1.

Resveratrol, a natural herbal compound found in high levels in grapes and red wine, is frequently used as activator of sirtuin-1. This study investigated the potential function of sirtuin-1 in regulating angiostrongyliasis meningoencephalitis in resveratrol-treated mice. Mice were subjected to meningoencephalitis to study the protective effect of resveratrol against meningoencephalitis and investigate the effects of sirtuin-1 activation on brain.

Phase-amplitude coupling analysis for seizure evolvement using Hilbert Huang Transform.

Recent studies show that the phase-amplitude coupling (PAC) may play a functional role in information processing and cognition. The conventional method for PAC analysis is implemented by using Fourier-based filters, which assumes the signal is stationary and linear. However, as biological signals are nonstationary and nonlinear, this method introduces inaccuracy.

s-SMOOTH: Sparsity and Smoothness Enhanced EEG Brain Tomography.

EEG source imaging enables us to reconstruct current density in the brain from the electrical measurements with excellent temporal resolution (~ ). The corresponding EEG inverse problem is an ill-posed one that has infinitely many solutions. This is due to the fact that the number of EEG sensors is usually much smaller than that of the potential dipole locations, as well as noise contamination in the recorded signals.

Altered structural and functional thalamocortical networks in secondarily generalized extratemporal lobe seizures.

Structural and functional abnormalities in the thalamocortical network in primary generalized epilepsies or mesial temporal lobe epilepsy have recently been identified by voxel-wise analyses of neuroimaging. However, evidence is needed regarding the profiles of the thalamocortical network in patients with secondarily generalized seizures from focal neocortical sources. We used high-resolution T1-weighted, diffusion-tensor and resting-state functional MR imaging (rs-fMRI) to examine 16 patients with secondarily generalized extratemporal lobe seizures and 16 healthy controls.

A Spatially Focused Method for High Density Electrode-Based Functional Brain Mapping Applications.

Mapping the electric field of the brain with electrodes benefits from its superior temporal resolution but is prone to low spatial resolution property comparing with other modalities such as fMRI, which can directly impact the precision of clinical diagnosis. Simulations show that dense arrays with straightforwardly miniaturized electrodes in terms of size and pitch may not improve the spatial resolution but only strengthen the cross coupling between adjacent channels due to volume conduction. We present a new spatially focused method to improve the electrode spatial selectivity and consequently suppress the neural signal coupling from the sources in the vicinity.

Investigation of Subcortical Gray Matter in Patients with Non-lesional Neocortical Focal Epilepsy.

Purpose: To investigate whether there is any change in the subcortical gray matter of patients with neocortical focal epilepsy without visible magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) abnormalities.

Methods: MRI morphometric parameter data from 24 patients and 29 neurologically normal controls were analyzed. All of the MRI scans were reported to have no any anomaly.

Comparison study of seizure detection using stationary and nonstationary methods.

We present an accurate seizure detection algorithm, and make a detailed comparison of two frequency analysis methods: a widely used stationary method - Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and a relatively new nonstationary method - Hilbert-Huang Transform (HHT). Two public databases and one our own database were tested. The results show that our algorithm has very high accuracy compared with the state-of-the-art.

Automated segmentation and quantification of white matter hyperintensities in acute ischemic stroke patients with cerebral infarction.

White matter hyperintensities (WMHs) of presumed vascular origin are common in ageing population, especially in patients with acute cerebral infarction and the volume has been reported to be associated with mental impairment and the risk of hemorrhage from antithrombotic agents. WMHs delineation can be computerized to minimize human bias. However, the presence of cerebral infarcts greatly degrades the accuracy of WMHs detection and thus limits the application of computerized delineation to patients with acute cerebral infarction.

Evaluation of subcortical grey matter abnormalities in patients with MRI-negative cortical epilepsy determined through structural and tensor magnetic resonance imaging.

Background: Although many studies have found abnormalities in subcortical grey matter (GM) in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy or generalised epilepsies, few studies have examined subcortical GM in focal neocortical seizures. Using structural and tensor magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), we evaluated subcortical GM from patients with extratemporal lobe epilepsy without visible lesion on MRI. Our aims were to determine whether there are structural abnormalities in these patients and to correlate the extent of any observed structural changes with clinical characteristics of disease in these patients.

Through diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging to evaluate the original properties of neural pathways of patients with partial seizures and secondary generalization by individual anatomic reference atlas.

To investigate white matter (WM) abnormalities in neocortical epilepsy, we extract supratentorial WM parameters from raw tensor magnetic resonance images (MRI) with automated region-of-interest (ROI) registrations. Sixteen patients having neocortical seizures with secondarily generalised convulsions and 16 age-matched normal subjects were imaged with high-resolution and diffusion tensor MRIs. Automated demarcation of supratentorial fibers was accomplished with personalized fiber-labeled atlases.

Automatic detection and quantification of acute cerebral infarct by fuzzy clustering and histographic characterization on diffusion weighted MR imaging and apparent diffusion coefficient map.

Determination of the volumes of acute cerebral infarct in the magnetic resonance imaging harbors prognostic values. However, semiautomatic method of segmentation is time-consuming and with high interrater variability. Using diffusion weighted imaging and apparent diffusion coefficient map from patients with acute infarction in 10 days, we aimed to develop a fully automatic algorithm to measure infarct volume.

Features and futures: seizure detection in partial epilepsies.

Many factors underlying basic epileptic conditions determine the characteristics of epileptic seizures and the therapeutic outcome. Diagnosis and treatment rely on the clinical manifestations as well as electroencephalographic (EEG) epileptic activities. This article briefly reviews the fundamentals of the EEG, interictal, and ictal electrical activities of both extracranial and intracranial EEG of partial epilepsies, based on the information obtained from epilepsy patients who have undergone epilepsy surgery.

Heart rate variability in patients with frontal lobe epilepsy.

Objective: To identify autonomic dysregulation in frontal lobe epilepsy (FLE).

Methods: We studied 14 male and 11 female subjects with FLE and an equal number of matched healthy control subjects. Lead I electrocardiograms were obtained for 5 min in the interictal state during daytime.

Heart rate variability in children with refractory generalized epilepsy.

Objective: Repetitive seizures can alter the regulation of cardiac activity by the autonomic nervous system (ANS), and ANS dysregulation is thought to be associated with higher morbidity and mortality in epileptic patients, especially from sudden unexpected death. Few studies of interictal dysregulation of cardiac activity in children with epilepsy have been performed. In this study we characterize heart rate variability (HRV) in children with refractory generalized epilepsy.

Adult-onset autosomal dominant myoclonic epilepsy: report of a family with an overlooked epileptic syndrome.

Objective: Myoclonic epilepsy is a common epileptic syndrome with high genetic contribution. We described a pedigree in which 10 individuals presented with a non-progressive, adult-onset myoclonic epilepsy.

Materials And Methods: The pedigree was constructed and analyzed.

Effect of multiple subpial transection on patients with uncontrolled atypical infantile spasms.

We report a favorable outcome of multiple sub-pial transaction (MST) in two patients who had intractable atypical infantile spasms preceded by partial seizures, without any lateralized magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) abnormalities.

Early-onset Parkinson's disease in a Chinese population: 99mTc-TRODAT-1 SPECT, Parkin gene analysis and clinical study.

Early Onset Parkinson's Disease (EOPD) is characterized by selective degeneration of nigrostriatal dopaminergic neurons and a marked response to levodopa. However, at present, few methods are available as diagnostic tools for EOPD except for 18F-DOPA PET. In addition, little is known about the correlation between clinical severity, neuroimaging grading and genetic susceptibility.