Greater baseline cortical atrophy in the dorsal attention network predicts faster clinical decline in Posterior Cortical Atrophy.

Background: Posterior Cortical Atrophy (PCA) is a clinical syndrome characterized by progressive visuospatial and visuoperceptual impairment. As the neurodegenerative disease progresses, patients lose independent functioning due to the worsening of initial symptoms and development of symptoms in other cognitive domains. The timeline of clinical progression is variable across patients, and the field currently lacks robust methods for prognostication.

Differential late-stage face processing in autism: a magnetoencephalographic study of fusiform gyrus activation.

Background: Autism is associated with alterations of social communication, such as during face-to-face interactions. This study aimed to probe face processing in autistics with normal IQ utilizing magnetoencephalography to examine event-related fields within the fusiform gyrus during face perception.

Methods: A case-control cohort of 22 individuals diagnosed with autism and 20 age-matched controls (all male, age 29.

An implemented predictive coding model of lexico-semantic processing explains the dynamics of univariate and multivariate activity within the left ventromedial temporal lobe during reading comprehension.

During language comprehension, the larger neural response to unexpected versus expected inputs is often taken as evidence for predictive coding-a specific computational architecture and optimization algorithm proposed to approximate probabilistic inference in the brain. However, other predictive processing frameworks can also account for this effect, leaving the unique claims of predictive coding untested. In this study, we used MEG to examine both univariate and multivariate neural activity in response to expected and unexpected inputs during word-by-word reading comprehension.

Near-infrared diffuse optical characterization of human thyroid using ultrasound-guided hybrid time-domain and diffuse correlation spectroscopies.

Thyroid vascularization and hemodynamics become altered in thyroid pathologies and could thus inform diagnostics, therapy planning, and follow-up. However, the current non-invasive monitoring methods available in clinics lack the necessary sensitivity and/or are impractical for large-scale deployment. As a step towards proposing a new modality, we applied the first platform, to our knowledge, designed to do simultaneous measurements of neck anatomy and thyroid microvascular hemodynamics and metabolism in a single probe placement, integrating state-of-the-art near-infrared spectroscopy techniques and clinical ultrasound.

ECCENTRIC: A fast and unrestrained approach for high-resolution in vivo metabolic imaging at ultra-high field MR.

A novel method for fast and high-resolution metabolic imaging, called ECcentric Circle ENcoding TRajectorIes for Compressed sensing (ECCENTRIC), has been developed at 7 Tesla MRI. ECCENTRIC is a non-Cartesian spatial-spectral encoding method designed to accelerate magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) with high signal-to-noise at ultra-high field. The approach provides flexible and random sampling of the Fourier space without temporal interleaving to improve spatial response function and spectral quality.

In vivo evidence for cell body loss in cortical lesions in people with multiple sclerosis.

Objective: To quantify alterations in soma and neurite density imaging measures within and surrounding cortical lesions in people with multiple sclerosis using in vivo high-gradient diffusion MRI.

Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 41 people with multiple sclerosis and 34 age- and sex-matched healthy controls underwent 3 T high-gradient diffusion MRI. Cortical lesions were segmented on artificial intelligence-enabled double inversion recovery images.

Ketosis regulates K ion channels, strengthening brain-wide signaling disrupted by age.

Aging is associated with impaired signaling between brain regions when measured using resting-state fMRI. This age-related destabilization and desynchronization of brain networks reverses itself when the brain switches from metabolizing glucose to ketones. Here, we probe the mechanistic basis for these effects.

Interest paradigm for early identification of autism spectrum disorder: an analysis from electroencephalography combined with eye tracking.

Introduction: Early identification of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is critical for effective intervention. Restricted interests (RIs), a subset of repetitive behaviors, are a prominent but underutilized domain for early ASD diagnosis. This study aimed to identify objective biomarkers for ASD by integrating electroencephalography (EEG) and eye-tracking (ET) to analyze toddlers' visual attention and cortical responses to RI versus neutral interest (NI) objects.

Design, construction and validation of a magnetic particle imaging (MPI) system for human brain imaging.

Magnetic Particle Imaging (MPI) was introduced in 2005 as a promising, tracer-based medical imaging modality with the potential for high sensitivity and spatial resolution. Since then, numerous preclinical devices have been built but only a few human-scale devices, none of which targeted functional neuroimaging. In this work, we probe the challenges of scaling the technology to meet the needs of human functional neuroimaging with sufficient sensitivity for detecting the hemodynamic changes following brain activation with a spatio-temporal resolution comparable to current functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) approaches.

Development of a fibrin-targeted theranostic for gastric cancer.

Patients with advanced gastric cancer (GCa) have limited treatment options, and alternative treatment approaches are necessary to improve their clinical outcomes. Because fibrin is abundant in gastric tumors but not in healthy tissues, we hypothesized that fibrin could be used as a high-concentration depot for a high-energy beta-emitting cytotoxic radiopharmaceutical delivered to tumor cells. We showed that fibrin is present in 64 to 75% of primary gastric tumors and 50 to 100% of metastatic gastric adenocarcinoma cores.

Extra-axial inflammatory signal and its relationship to peripheral and central immunity in depression.

Although both central and peripheral inflammation have been observed consistently in depression, the relationship between the two remains obscure. Extra-axial immune cells may play a role in mediating the connection between central and peripheral immunity. This study investigates the potential roles of calvarial bone marrow and parameningeal spaces in mediating interactions between central and peripheral immunity in depression.

The QIBA Profile for Dynamic Susceptibility Contrast MRI Quantitative Imaging Biomarkers for Assessing Gliomas.

The dynamic susceptibility contrast (DSC) MRI measures of relative cerebral blood volume (rCBV) play a central role in monitoring therapeutic response and disease progression in patients with gliomas. Previous investigations have demonstrated promise of using rCBV in classifying tumor grade, elucidating tumor viability after therapy, and differentiating pseudoprogression and pseudoresponse. However, the quantification and reproducibility of rCBV measurements across patients, devices, and software remain a critical barrier to routine or clinical trial use of longitudinal DSC MRI in patients with gliomas.

Neuroreceptor Mapping in 2024.

Neuroreceptor mapping provides insights into neurotransmitter changes and receptor dynamics that improve the understanding of brain functions. This Viewpoint highlights the advancements in the development of novel radiotracers (imaging tools) and quantification of receptor dynamics based on presentations from the , 2024. The Viewpoint also emphasizes the applications of neuroreceptor mapping in clinical research and the latest technologies for imaging the brain with positron emission tomography (PET).

Deconstructing the self and reshaping perceptions: An intensive whole-brain 7T MRI case study of the stages of insight during advanced investigative insight meditation.

The stages of insight (SoI) are a series of psychological realizations experienced through advanced investigative insight meditation (AIIM). SoI provide a powerful structured framework of AIIM for understanding and evaluating insight-based meditative development through changes in perception, experiences of self, cognition, and emotional processing. Yet, the neurophenomenology of SoI remains unstudied due to methodological difficulties, rarity of suitable advanced meditation practitioners, and dominant research emphasis on attention-based meditative practices.

REM disruption and REM vagal activity predict extinction recall in trauma-exposed individuals.

Background: Accumulating evidence suggests that rapid eye movement sleep (REM) supports the consolidation of extinction memory. REM is disrupted in posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and REM abnormalities after traumatic events increase the risk of developing PTSD. Therefore, it was hypothesized that abnormal REM in trauma-exposed individuals may pave the way for PTSD by interfering with the processing of extinction memory.

Dysphagia is a risk factor of malnutrition in X-linked Dystonia-Parkinsonism.

Introduction: Malnutrition is a leading cause of death for persons living with X-linked dystonia-parkinsonism (XDP), a degenerative disease endemic to the Philippines. Difficulty swallowing has been linked to malnutrition in other populations; however, knowledge of this relationship is limited in XDP. As such, the purpose of this study was to determine the association between dysphagia and malnutrition in this population.

Onset timing of letter processing in auditory and visual sensory cortices.

Here, we report onset latencies for multisensory processing of letters in the primary auditory and visual sensory cortices. Healthy adults were presented with 300-ms visual and/or auditory letters (uppercase Roman alphabet and the corresponding auditory letter names in English). Magnetoencephalography (MEG) evoked response generators were extracted from the auditory and visual sensory cortices for both within-modality and cross-sensory activations; these locations were mainly consistent with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) results in the same subjects.

Claustrum volumes are lower in schizophrenia and mediate patients' attentional deficits.

Background: While the last decade of extensive research revealed the prominent role of the claustrum for mammalian forebrain organization, i.e., widely distributed claustral-cortical circuits coordinate basic cognitive functions such as attention, it is poorly understood whether the claustrum is relevant for schizophrenia and related cognitive symptoms.

Manganese-based type I collagen-targeting MRI probe for in vivo imaging of liver fibrosis.

Liver fibrosis is a common pathway shared by all forms of progressive chronic liver disease. There is an unmet clinical need for noninvasive imaging tools to diagnose and stage fibrosis, which presently relies heavily on percutaneous liver biopsy. Here we explored the feasibility of using a novel type I collagen-targeted manganese (Mn)-based MRI probe, Mn-CBP20, for liver fibrosis imaging.