Hasil untuk "Neurophysiology and neuropsychology"

Christoph Vogelbacher, Jens Sommer, Miriam H. A. Bopp et al.

Abstract Background The German multicenter research consortium BipoLife aims to investigate the mechanisms underlying bipolar disorders. It focuses in particular on people at high risk of developing the disorder and young patients in the early stages of the disease. Functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) data was collected in all participating centers. The collection of neuroimaging data in a longitudinal, multicenter study requires the implementation of a comprehensive quality assurance (QA) protocol. Here, we outline this protocol and illustrate its application within the BipoLife consortium. Methods The QA protocol consisted of (1) a training of participating research staff, (2) regular phantom measurements to evaluate the MR scanner performance and its temporal stability across the course of the study, and (3) the assessment of the quality of human MRI data by evaluating a variety of image metrics (e.g., signal-to-noise ratio, ghosting level). In this article, we will provide an overview on these QA procedures and show exemplarily the influence of its application on the results of standard neuroimaging analysis pipelines. Discussion The QA protocol helped to characterize the various MR scanners, to record their performance over the course of the study and to detect possible malfunctions at an early stage. It also assessed the quality of the human MRI data systematically to characterize its influence on various analyses. Furthermore, by setting up and publishing this protocol, we define standards that must be considered when analyzing data from the BipoLife consortium. It further promotes a systematic evaluation of data quality and a definition of subject inclusion criteria. In the long term, it will help to increase the chance of achieving clinically relevant results.

Anna Sundström, Erland Löfgren, Jarl Nordqvist et al.

Burnout is an increasing public health problem. Although research indicate that cognitive and affective factors are related to burnout, there is a lack of knowledge about the extent to which specific cognitive and affective symptoms are related to burnout, and whether there are sex-related differences. An aim of this study was to identify specific self-reported cognitive and affective symptoms that are particularly associated with burnout, both in the population in general and in men and women separately. Another aim was to examine the risk of burnout for specific symptoms and total number of symptoms in the general population and in men and women separately. Cross-sectional data were used from a large population-based questionnaire study consisting of 3406 participants (18–79 years) randomly selected from a general population in northern Sweden. Eleven cognitive and affective symptoms were assessed with a subsection of the Environmental Hypersensitivity Symptom Inventory, and the 22-item Shirom-Melamed Burnout Questionnaire (SMBQ) was used to assess burnout. The findings suggest that burnout is associated with a rather large number of cognitive and affective symptoms, in particular feeling tired/lethargic, having concentration difficulties, sleep disturbance, feeling depressed and being absent minded. Women with burnout (SMBQ score ≥ 4) reported higher prevalence of feeling tired/lethargic and sleep disturbance. The results add to the understanding of affective and cognitive symptomatology in burnout, which might have implications for early identification and prevention of burnout and exhaustion disorder.

Stephanie A. Sassoon, Rosemary Fama, Kilian M. Pohl et al.

Background: Childhood abuse is an underappreciated source of stress, associated with adverse mental and physical health consequences. Childhood abuse has been directly associated with risky behavior thereby increasing the likelihood of alcohol misuse and risk of HIV infection, conditions associated with brain structural and functional deficits. Here, we examined the neural and behavioral correlates of childhood trauma history in alcohol use disorder (AUD), HIV infection (HIV), and their comorbidity (AUD+HIV). Methods: Occurrence of childhood trauma was evaluated by retrospective interview. Cortical (frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital), subcortical (hippocampus, amygdala), and regional frontal volumes were derived from structural MRI, adjusted for intracranial volume and age. Test scores of executive functioning, attention/working memory, verbal/visual learning, verbal/visual memory, and motor speed functional domains were standardized on age and education of a laboratory control group. Results: History of childhood abuse was associated with smaller frontal lobe volumes regardless of diagnosis. For frontal subregional volumes, history of childhood abuse was selectively associated with smaller orbitofrontal and supplementary motor volumes. In participants with a child abuse history, poorer verbal/visual memory performance was associated with smaller orbitofrontal and frontal middle volumes, whereas in those without childhood abuse, poorer verbal/visual memory performance was associated with smaller orbitofrontal, frontal superior, and supplemental motor volumes. Conclusions: Taken together, these results comport with and extend the findings that childhood abuse is associated with brain and behavioral sequelae in AUD, HIV, and AUD+HIV comorbidity. Further, these findings suggest that sequelae of abuse in childhood may be best conceptualized as a spectrum disorder as significant deficits may be present in those who may not meet criteria for a formal trauma-related diagnosis yet may be suffering enduring stress effects on brain structural and functional health.

Dani Beck, Lia Ferschmann, Niamh MacSweeney et al.

Research has demonstrated associations between pubertal development and brain maturation. However, existing studies have been limited by small samples, cross-sectional designs, and inconclusive findings regarding directionality of effects and sex differences.We examined the longitudinal temporal coupling of puberty status assessed using the Pubertal Development Scale (PDS) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based grey and white matter brain structure. Our sample consisted of 8896 children and adolescents at baseline (mean age = 9.9) and 6099 at follow-up (mean age = 11.9) from the Adolescent Brain and Cognitive Development (ABCD) Study cohort.Applying multigroup Bivariate Latent Change Score (BLCS) models, we found that baseline PDS predicted the rate of change in cortical thickness among females and rate of change in cortical surface area for both males and females. We also found a correlation between baseline PDS and surface area and co-occurring changes over time in males. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) analyses revealed correlated change between PDS and fractional anisotropy (FA) for both males and females, but no significant associations for mean diffusivity (MD).Our results suggest that pubertal status predicts cortical maturation, and that the strength of the associations differ between sex. Further research spanning the entire duration of puberty is needed to understand the extent and contribution of pubertal development on the youth brain.

Hoda Ranjbar, Monavareh Soti, Kristi A. Kohlmeier et al.

Highlights Purkinje cell excitability dramatically increased after exposure to 3-AP. 3-AP caused a significant decrease in ISI, half-width, and first spike latency. CB1R antagonist attenuated the cellular effects of 3-AP. AM251 reduced the excitability of Purkinje cells exposed to 3-AP.

Molly Monsour, Elliot Neal, Davide Marco Croci et al.

Objective: Giant aneurysms are infrequently complicated with obstructive hydrocephalus (HC), however, when concurrent, effective treatments are unestablished. There are incredibly few reports of HC due to basilar artery giant aneurysms and fewer reports regarding ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt complications in these patients. Case presentation: We report the case of a gentleman in his 70 s who presented with a fusiform aneurysm of the entire basilar artery and mild intra-aneurysmal thrombosis. HC, secondary to the aneurysm, indicated VP shunt placement. Within 12 h following shunt placement, however, the patient deteriorated rapidly due to complete basilar artery occlusion and widespread brainstem ischemia. Endovascular intervention was unsuccessful due to extremely high clot burden. He unfortunately expired 2 days afterwards. Conclusion: Hydrocephalus due to aneurysms is not uncommon, and VP shunt placement should be optimized to avoid unforeseen complications like the one described. We suspect that the shunt placement aggravated the already aberrant flow within the aneurysm, propagating a pro-thrombotic environment. With further reports of this complication, a standardized method to place VP shunts for patients with giant aneurysms while minimizing the risk of thrombotic occlusion could be established.

Sosho Kajiwara, Shuichi Tanoue, Masaru Hirohata et al.

Traumatic intracranial pseudoaneurysm (TIP) after head trauma is rare, but it frequently ruptures in early phase. Although early detection and prompt treatment is important, the details are still unknown. Here, we report a case who was diagnosed with TIP in early phase after trauma and underwent endovascular treatment with parent artery occlusion (PAO), resulted in a good outcome.A 17-year-old boy hospitalized for severe head trauma. Computed tomography (CT) revealed an acute epidural hematoma (AEDH) in the right middle fossa along with the fracture from the right lateral optic canal to the right superior orbital fissure, and CT angiography showed no obvious aneurysm at that time. CT angiography on 5 days showed an irregular shaped aneurysm at a C2-C3 posterior wall in the right internal carotid artery (ICA). As balloon occlusion test revealed complete ischemic tolerance, endovascular PAO was performed without any bypass. Postoperative imaging showed no hypoperfusion area.Prompt diagnosis for TIP is important and the patients with skull fracture around ICA area are considered to provide cerebral angiography in early phase. In addition, TIP in early phase has a risk of rupture, suitable treatment strategy using BOT is important for the favorable outcome in those patients.

Valeria Pozzilli, A. Cruciani, F. Capone et al.

M. Anghel

Abstract Modeling consumer behavior can be explained in the context of specific paradigms: sociological, psychological, cultural, neurocognitive, anthropological, and economic. With the discoveries in the field of neuroscience, the perspective of over-explaining consumer behavior is heading more toward cognitive neuroscience. The research in neurophysiology has succeeded in explaining the interpsychic processes and in the creation of multiple theories which are trying to determine the cause of human organism reaction to different external stimuli. The current scientifical challenges can be found especially around neuropsychology which is attempting to explain how the human brain works and which are the sections that influence the behavior. The research from neurobiology mentions the fact that at the core of buying purchases is a neurophysiological layer.

M. Murtazina, T. Avdeenko, Alexandra V. Pustovalova

The paper explores the application of the ontological model of knowledge representation for the research of cognitive functions. A brief overview of the application of ontologies in the field of neuropsychology and neurophysiology is given. The relevance of the study is determined by the need for a comprehensive knowledge representation in the research field of cognitive functions based on the psychodiagnostic methods and analysis of EEG signals. An ontological model of knowledge representation for the subject area “Cognitive functions” is described. The model includes knowledge about large-scale brain networks, EEG as a method for studying unconscious components of mental states, basic cognitive functions, and psychodiagnostic methods. The conceptual structure of the developed OWL ontology, its object properties and data properties are given. The presented ontology class structure is intended to collect knowledge about the patterns of brain activity and psychodiagnostic methods that can be used to diagnose mental states. The Protégé 5.5 editor was used to develop the OWL ontology.

Mélanie Strauss, Jacobo D. Sitt, Lionel Naccache et al.

Falling asleep is a dynamical process that is poorly defined. The period preceding sleep, characterized by the progressive alteration of behavioral responses to the environment, which may last several minutes, has no electrophysiological definition, and is embedded in the first stage of sleep (N1). We aimed at better characterizing this drowsiness period looking for neurophysiological predictors of responsiveness using electro and magneto-encephalography. Healthy participants were recorded when falling asleep, while they were presented with continuous auditory stimulations and asked to respond to deviant sounds. We analysed brain responses to sounds and markers of ongoing activity, such as information and connectivity measures, in relation to rapid fluctuations of brain rhythms observed at sleep onset and participants’ capabilities to respond. Results reveal a drowsiness period distinct from wakefulness and sleep, from alpha rhythms to the first sleep spindles, characterized by diverse and transient brain states that come on and off at the scale of a few seconds and closely reflects, mainly through neural processes in alpha and theta bands, decreasing probabilities to be responsive to external stimuli. Results also show that the global P300 was only present in responsive trials, regardless of vigilance states. A better consideration of the drowsiness period through a formalized classification and its specific brain markers such as described here should lead to significant advances in vigilance assessment in the future, in medicine and ecological environments.

Vishal Pandya, Patrick Bauer, Serena Thompson et al.

Purpose: Our study evaluates patterns of anti-seizure medication (ASM) usage prior to pre-surgical evaluation in drug resistant epilepsy (DRE). Methods: We conducted a retrospective study of patients with DRE presenting for pre-surgical evaluation from 1/1/2017 to 12/31/2018. We abstracted demographic data, ASM usage, MRI and EEG findings, and distance from home to our center. Results: In total, 54 patients (23 female) were included. The mean number of ASM trials at the time of pre-surgical evaluation was 5.62 (±3.3; range 1–15). A mean of 0.4 ASMs (±1.1; range 0–6) were initiated at our center prior to pre-surgical evaluation. MRI localization to regions other than the hippocampal or temporal region (p = 0.002) was associated with higher numbers of ASM trials. A trend for a larger number of ASM trials was seen for increased distance of patient primary residence from our center, right-sided ictal EEG laterality, and posterior quadrant or non-localized ictal EEG patterns. Conclusions: Only 17% of patients were referred for pre-surgical evaluation after a trial of 1–2 ASMs. On average, patients tried 5.6 different ASMs with most of those trials predating referral to our center. Temporal lobe lesions were associated with fewer ASM trials prior to referral. Female sex was associated with an average of two more ASM trials than males. Our data do not allow us to determine how access to care, patient choice, and physician opinions impact the variability of ASM trials prior to referral for surgical evaluation. Our data indicate that delays to pre-surgical evaluation continue to occur.

Yevheniia Lyndina

The article highlights the issue of interdisciplinary links in speech therapy, in particular, the philosophy of language. Given that the number of children with special educational needs is increasing, the relevance of the article is indeed justified. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the problem in question more in detail. The article aims to a) clarify such concepts as “language”, “philosophy of language”, “hermeneutics”, “speech therapy”, b) analyze an interdisciplinary approach to preventing and correcting speech disorders in children and adults and c) study the causes of such disorders. Research methods include a detailed analysis of scientific sources, as well as a systematic analysis. As shown by the relevant recent work in this area, the interaction of methods from neurology, neurophysiology and neuropsychology contributes to restoring the functional system of language and speech. Speech disorders are mostly typical for people diagnosed with autism, attention deficit disorder, hyperactivity disorder, Huntington’s disease, sclerosis, dementia, and mouth or throat cancer. The novelty lies in the fact that speech therapists should be able to use neurostimulation technologies in the course of corrective work. In conclusion, speech therapy should follow an interdisciplinary approach so that specialists can make an effective diagnosis of speech disorders in children and adults.

Sarah C. Vogel, Rosemarie E. Perry, Annie Brandes-Aitken et al.

There has been a shift in the study of childhood adversity towards a focus on dimensions of adversity as opposed to a focus on cumulative risk or specific adversities. The Dimensional Model of Adversity and Psychopathology (DMAP) proposes deprivation and threat as core dimensions of childhood adversity. Previous work using DMAP has found links between deprivation and cognitive development and threat and emotional development in adolescence, but few studies have applied this framework to a poverty context, in which children are at heightened risk for adversity experiences, and none have examined outcomes in early childhood. We use data from the Family Life Project (n = 1292) to examine deprivation and threat at child age 24 months as developmental mediators in the association between socioeconomic status (SES) measured at 15 months and executive functions (EF) measured at 48 months. In a multiple mediation model, lower SES was related to higher deprivation and threat. Deprivation was negatively associated with EF, and threat was not associated with EF. Deprivation fully mediated association between SES and EF. These results expand previous work using the DMAP and point to new directions in understanding children’s cognitive adaptations to adversity.

V. Sicard, D.D. Stephenson, A.B. Dodd et al.

Attention is inherently biased towards the visual modality during most multisensory scenarios in adults, but the developmental trajectory towards visual dominance has not been fully elucidated. More recent evidence in primates and adult humans suggests a modality-specific stratification of the prefrontal cortex. The current study therefore used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to investigate the neuronal correlates of proactive (following cues) and reactive (following probes) cognitive control for simultaneous audio-visual stimulation in 67 healthy adolescents (13–18 years old). Behavioral results were only partially supportive of visual dominance in adolescents, with both reduced response times and accuracy during attend-visual relative to attend-auditory trials. Differential activation of medial and lateral prefrontal cortex for processing incongruent relative to congruent stimuli (reactive control) was also only observed during attend-visual trials. There was no evidence of modality-specific prefrontal cortex stratification during the active processing of multisensory stimuli or during separate functional connectivity analyses. Attention-related modulations were also greater within visual relative to auditory cortex, but were less robust than observed in previous adult studies. Collectively, current results suggest a continued transition towards visual dominance in adolescence, as well as limited modality-specific specialization of prefrontal cortex and attentional modulations of unisensory cortex.

David Millett, Suzanne Pach

A 20-year-old woman with Dravet syndrome and multiple prior episodes of status epilepticus presented to our hospital in November 2018 in super-refractory status epilepticus. After 5 weeks of unsuccessful continuous treatment with anesthetics, including pentobarbital and ketamine, we sought and were granted an emergency approval by the United States Food and Drug Administration to administer fenfluramine, an investigational new drug, to this patient. One week of treatment with fenfluramine at 0.4 mg/kg/day was ineffective. The dose of fenfluramine was titrated to 0.7 mg/kg/day, and after 1 week, electrographic seizures ceased. One week later, the patient was seizure-free and off all anesthetic agents. Add-on treatment with fenfluramine was continued with no further episodes of status epilepticus and >90% reduction in tonic-clonic seizures. This case report illustrates the potential for fenfluramine to prevent reoccurrence of status epilepticus and to manage super-refractory status epilepticus in patients with Dravet syndrome.

Naoya Hasegawa, Masafumi Fukuda

We investigated the efficacy of lacosamide (LCM) polytherapy in improving seizure outcomes and psychiatric symptoms in patients with epilepsy with psychiatric comorbidities. We retrospectively collected data from medical records of outpatients of the Department of Psychiatry of Nishiniigata Chuo Hospital Epilepsy Center in Japan. We extracted data from all patients with epilepsy and psychiatric comorbidities who had been treated with LCM. We evaluated seizure prognosis and changes in psychiatric symptoms after LCM polytherapy. After LCM administration, 19 (47.5%) patients had improvements in seizure outcomes. The other 18 (45%) patients experienced no changes in seizure outcomes, and the remaining 3 (7.5%) patients experienced worse seizure outcomes after LCM polytherapy. LCM administration improved psychiatric symptoms in 21 (52.5%) of the 40 patients; psychiatric symptoms did not change in 14 (35%) patients and worsened in 5 patients (12.5%). There was no significant association between psychiatric and seizure prognoses. LCM polytherapy may have less negative influence on psychiatric comorbidities in patients with epilepsy compared with other antiseizure medications, and may also improve seizure severity. While LCM polytherapy might improve psychiatric symptoms as seizures improve, a small number of patients experienced worsening of psychiatric symptoms despite seizure improvement.

Brittany K. Taylor, Christine M. Embury, Elizabeth Heinrichs-Graham et al.

Fluid intelligence, the ability to problem-solve in novel situations, is linked to higher-order cognitive abilities, and to academic achievement in youth. Previous research has demonstrated that fluid intelligence and the underlying neural circuitry continues to develop throughout adolescence. Neuroimaging studies have predominantly focused on identifying the spatial distribution of brain regions associated with fluid intelligence, with only a few studies examining the temporally-sensitive cortical oscillatory dynamics underlying reasoning abilities. The present study collected magnetoencephalography (MEG) during an abstract reasoning task to examine these spatiotemporal dynamics in a sample of 10-to-16 year-old youth. We found increased cortical activity across a distributed frontoparietal network. Specifically, our key results showed: (1) age was associated with increased theta activity in occipital and cerebellar regions, (2) robust sex differences were distributed across frontoparietal regions, and (3) that specific frontoparietal regions differentially predicted abstract reasoning performance among males versus females despite similar mean performance. Among males, increased theta activity mediated the relationship between age and faster reaction times; conversely, among females, decreased theta mediated the relationship between age and improved accuracy. These findings may suggest that males and females engage in distinct neurocognitive strategies across development to achieve similar behavioral outcomes during fluid reasoning tasks.

Zhao C, Viana A, Ma Y et al.

Chen Zhao,1,2 Alonço Viana,2– 4 Yifei Ma,5 Robson Capasso2 1Department of Otorhinolaryngology, The First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning, People’s Republic of China; 2Division of Sleep Surgery, Department of Otolaryngology- Head & Neck Surgery, Stanford University Medical Center, Stanford, CA, USA; 3Graduate Program of Neurology, Rio de Janeiro State Federal University (UNIRIO), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; 4Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Marcílio Dias Naval Hospital, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; 5Department of Otolaryngology- Head & Neck Surgery, Stanford University Medical Center, Stanford, CA, USACorrespondence: Chen ZhaoDepartment of Otorhinolaryngology, The First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, No. 155, North Nanjing Street, Heping District, Shenyang, Liaoning 110001, People’s Republic of ChinaTel +86 13998856576Fax +86 02483282997Email zhaochen@cmu.edu.cnPurpose: Identification of upper airway (UA) obstruction based on pharyngeal factors is important for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) evaluation. This study is to assess the association between UA collapse characteristics and Friedman tongue position (FTP) in patients with OSA through drug-induced sleep endoscopy (DISE).Patients and Methods: Retrospective study in individuals with OSA who were intolerant to continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment, submitted to DISE between June 1, 2013, and July 31, 2017. All subjects were classified as having an FTP grade of I to IV, and the velum, oropharynx, tongue base, epiglottis (VOTE) classification was used to analyze the DISE findings. UA collapse characteristics by DISE and FTP grading were compared between groups. The associations between specific DISE findings and FTP were analyzed.Results: In total, 205 patients were assessed. A positive and significant correlation was identified between the presence of retropalatal complete concentric collapse (CCC) and FTP grade, according to the following distributions: I, 17.4%; II, 22.9%; III, 33.7%; and IV, 48.7% (P = 0.014). A logistic regression model revealed that CCC was associated with FTP grade IV. After adjusting for age, sex, body mass index (BMI), and tonsil size (TS), the grade IV individuals had a 4.4-fold higher risk of having CCC than grade I individuals (P = 0.026). Multiple collapse sites and palatopharyngeal or combined (palatopharyngeal and hypopharyngeal) collapse were more prevalent in grade IV individuals.Conclusion: OSA patients intolerant to CPAP have a strong positive correlation between the FTP grade and presence of retropalatal CCC. FTP grade IV is an independent risk factor for velum-CCC, controlling for sex, age, BMI, and TS grade.Keywords: drug-induced sedation endoscopy, sleep endoscopy, obstructive sleep apnea, tongue position, upper airway collapse, complete concentric collapse

M. Rossi, M. C. Nibali, Fabio Torregrossa et al.

In recent years, advances in cortical-subcortical mapping, intraoperative neurophysiology, and neuropsychology have increased the ability to remove intrinsic brain tumors, expanding indications and maximizing the extent of resection. This has provided a significant improvement in progression-free survival, time of malignant transformation (in low-grade gliomas), and overall survival. Although current techniques enable preservation of language and motor functions during surgery, the maintenance of a complex set of functions defined with the term cognition is not always achievable. Cognition is defined as every neural process underlying a high human function and includes motor haptic and visuospatial functions, memory, social interactions, empathy, and emotions. In this regard, an extensive preoperative and postoperative neuropsychological evaluation is strongly suggested to assess cognitive impairment due to tumor growth, to assess surgical result, and to plan cognitive rehabilitation. This article discusses the main recent innovations introduced for cognitive mapping with the aim to preserve cognitive functions, which are essential to maintain a high quality of life.