Cortical mapping of cognitive function during infancy is poorly understood in low-income countries due to the lack of transportable neuroimaging methods. We have successfully piloted functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) as a neuroimaging tool in rural Gambia. Four-to-eight month old infants watched videos of Gambian adults perform social movements, while haemodynamic responses were recorded using fNIRS. We found distinct regions of the posterior superior temporal and inferior frontal cortex that evidenced either visual-social activation or vocally selective activation (vocal > non-vocal). The patterns of selective cortical activation in Gambian infants replicated those observed within similar aged infants in the UK. These are the first reported data on the measurement of localized functional brain activity in young infants in Africa and demonstrate the potential that fNIRS offers for field-based neuroimaging research of cognitive function in resource-poor rural communities.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/srep04740 | DOI Listing |
Hum Brain Mapp
February 2025
BCBL - Basque Center on Cognition Brain and Language, Donostia - San Sebastián, Spain.
Population receptive field (pRF) mapping is a quantitative functional MRI (fMRI) analysis method that links visual field positions with specific locations in the visual cortex. A common preprocessing step in pRF analyses involves projecting volumetric fMRI data onto the cortical surface, typically leading to upsampling of the data. This process may introduce biases in the resulting pRF parameters.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAlzheimers Dement
January 2025
Institute of Neurological and Psychiatric Disorders, Shenzhen Bay Laboratory, Shenzhen, China.
Introduction: Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients with higher educational attainment (EA) often exhibit better cognitive function. However, the relationship among EA status, AD pathology, structural brain reserve, and cognitive decline requires further investigation.
Methods: We compared cognitive performance across different amyloid beta (Aβ) positron emission tomography (A ±) statuses and EA levels (High EA/Low EA).
J Neuropsychol
January 2025
Department of Aged Care and Rehabilitation, Liverpool Hospital, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
In 1941, André Rey published the Rey Complex Figure, a widely used test for assessing visual-constructional ability and visual memory. It consists of two parts: copy and recall. Evaluating the copy portion presents challenges, as it requires the administrator to focus on both the process and outcome.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAnaesthesia
January 2025
Clinical Research Unit, The Second Affiliated Hospital and Yuying Children's Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China.
Introduction: Data regarding the incidence of 12-month postoperative cognitive decline following regional or general anaesthesia in older patients undergoing hip fracture surgery remain observational. Compared with general anaesthesia, we hypothesised that regional anaesthesia would decrease the incidence of 12-month postoperative cognitive decline.
Methods: This is substudy of a multicentre randomised trial of regional anaesthesia with no sedation vs.
J Rural Health
January 2025
University of Tennessee Knoxville, College of Nursing, Knoxville, Tennessee, USA.
Background: Cognitive impairment and limited health literacy are prevalent among patients with heart failure, particularly those residing in rural areas, and are linked to poor health outcomes. Little is known about the intricate relationships among cognitive function, health literacy, and rehospitalization and death in rural patients with heart failure.
Objectives: To determine the relationships among cognitive function, health literacy, and cardiac event-free survival (ie, heart failure hospitalizations and cardiac mortality) in rural patients with heart failure.
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