A study on effective parameters of electric cortical stimulation for motor-sensory brain mapping

Objective The purpose of the study was to investigate the effective parameters of electric cortex stimulation (ECS) for functional brain mapping. Methods We collected 21 subjects who underwent epilepsy surgeries consecutively in Beijing Institute of Functional Neurosurgery with the epileptogenic zone located in perirolandic areas from

Preoperative functional MRI localization of language areas in Chinese patients with brain tumors Validation with intraoperative electrocortical mapping

Ten Chinese patients with brain tumors involving language regions were selected. Preoperative functional MRI was performed to locate Broca＇s or Wernicke＇s area, and the cortex that was essential for language function was determined by electrocortical mapping. A site-by-site comparison between functional MRI and electrocortical mapping was performed with the aid of a neuronavigation device. Results showed that the sensitivity and specificity of preoperative functional MRI were 80.0% and 85.0% in Broca＇s area and 66.6% and 85.2% in Wemicke＇s area, respectively. These experimental findings indicate that functional MRI is an accurate, reliable technique with which to identify the location of Wernicke＇s area or Broca＇s area in patients with brain tumors.

Comparison of detection results of hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy at different degrees in infant patients between brain electrical activity mapping, transcranial Doppler sonography and computer tomography examinations

BACKGROUND： It has been proved that brain electrical activity mapping （BEAM） and transcranial Doppler （TCD） detection can reflect the function of brain cell and its diseased degree of infant patients with moderate to severe hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy （HIE）. OBJECTIVE： To observe the abnormal results of HIE at different degrees detected with BEAM and TCD in infant patients, and compare the detection results at the same time point between BEAM, TCD and computer tomography （CT） examinations. DESIGN ： Contrast observation SETTING： Departments of Neuro-electrophysiology and Pediatrics, Second Affiliated Hospital of Qiqihar Medical College. PARTICIPANTS： Totally 416 infant patients with HIE who received treatment in the Department of Newborn Infants, Second Affiliated Hospital of Qiqihar Medical College during January 2001 and December 2005. The infant patients, 278 male and 138 female, were at embryonic 37 to 42 weeks and weighing 2.0 to 4.1 kg, and they were diagnosed with CT and met the diagnostic criteria of HIE of newborn infants compiled by Department of Neonatology, Pediatric Academy, Chinese Medical Association. According to diagnostic criteria, 130 patients were mild abnormal, 196 moderate abnormal and 90 severe abnormal. The relatives of all the infant patients were informed of the experiment. METHOOS： BEAM and TCD examinations were performed in the involved 416 infant patients with HIE at different degrees with DYD2000 16-channel BEAM instrument and EME-2000 ultrasonograph before preliminary diagnosis treatment （within 1 month after birth） and 1,3,6,12 and 24 months after birth, and detected results were compared between BEAM, TCD and CT examinations. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES： Comparison of detection results of HIE at different time points in infant patients between BEAM. TCD and CT examinations. RESULTS： All the 416 infant patients with HIE participated in the result analysis. （1） Comparison of the detected results in infant patients with mild HIE at different time points after birth between BEAM, TCD and CT examinations： BEAM examination showed that the recovery was delayed, and the abnormal rate of BEAM examination was significantly higher than that of CT examination 1 and 3 months after birth [55.4%（72/130）vs. 17.0% （22/130 ）,x^2=41.66 ;29.2% （ 38/130 ） vs. 6.2% （ 8/130 ）, x^2=23.77, P 〈 0.01 ], exceptional patients had mild abnormality and reached the normal level in about 6 months. TCD examination showed that the disease condition significantly improved and infant patients with HIE basically recovered 1 or 2 months after birth, while CT examination showed that infant patients recovered 3 or 4 months after birth. （2） Comparison of detection results of infant patients with moderate HIE at different time points between BEAM, TCD and CT examinations： The abnormal rate of BEAM examination was significantly higher than that of CT examination 1,3,6 and 12 months after birth [90.8% （178/196）,78.6% （154/196）,x^2=4.32,P 〈 0.05;64.3% （126/196）,43.9% （86/196） ,x^2=16.44 ;44.9% （88/196） ,22.4% （44/196）,x^2=22.11 ;21.4% （42/196）, 10.2% （20/196）,x^2=9.27, P 〈 0.01]. BEAM examination showed that there was still one patient who did not completely recovered in the 24^th month due to the relatives of infant patients did not combine the treatment,. TCD examination showed that the abnormal rate was 23.1%（30/196）in the 1^st month after birth, and all the patients recovered to the normal in the 3^rd month after birth, while CT examination showed that mild abnormality still existed in the 24^th month after birth （1.0% ,2/196）. （3） Comparison of detection results of infant patients with severe HIE at different time points between BEAM, TCD and CT examinations： The abnormal rate of BEAM examination was significantly higher than that of CT examination in the 1^st, 3^rd, 6^th and 12^th months after birth[86.7% （78/90）,44.4% （40/90）,x^2=35.53;62.2% （56/90）,31.1% （28/90）,x^2=17.51 ;37.8% （34/90）,6.7% （6/90）, x^2=27.14, P 〈 0.01]. BEAM examination showed that mild abnormality still existed in 4 infant patients in the 24^th month after birth. TCD examination showed that the abnormal rate was 11.1% （10/90） in the 3^rd month after birth, and all the infant patients recovered in the 6^th month after birth. CT examination showed that the abnormal rate was 6.7%（6/90） in the 12^th month after birth, and all of infant patients recovered to the normal in the 24^th month after birth.CONCLUSION ： BEAM is the direct index to detect brain function of infant patients with HIE, and positive reaction is still very sensitive in the tracking detection of convalescent period. The positive rate of morphological reaction in CT examination is superior to that in TCD examination, and the positive rate is very high in the acute period of HIE in examination.

Preoperative and Postoperative Diffusion Tensor Imaging in Patients with Extra-Axial Lesions at the Frontal or Temporal Regions of the Brain and Their Correlations with Neuropsychological Outcomes

The underlying changes in the neuronal connectivity adjacent to brain tumours cannot always be depicted by conventional MR imaging. The hypothesis of this study was that preoperative neuropsychological deficits were associated with impairment of diffusivity in association fibre bundles. Hence, we investigated the potential of combined diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) fibre tracking and fractional anisotropy (FA) values of the fibres to determine changes in association fibres and their correlation to neuropsychological scores. Our study consisted of eighteen patients with extra-axial brain tumours in areas adjacent to the frontal and temporal lobes. They were assessed pre- and postoperatively with DTI and neuropsychological assessments. MR examinations were performed on a 3T-scanner. FA values were calculated for the uncinate fasciculus, arcuate fasciculus, superior fronto-occipital fasciculus, inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus and corticospinal tracts ipsilateral and contralateral to the tumor. These values were compared with neuropsychological scores for language, memory and attention. The analysis revealed marked differences in pre- and post-excision of the tumor in both FA values and neuropsychological scores. Quantitative DTI was able to show significant differences in diffusivity of the association fibres before and after the surgery (P < 0.05). The additional use of DTI-fibre integrity and neuropsychological tests may aid in prognostication and decision making prior to surgery.

Electroacupuncture at Tianshu (ST 25) for diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome using positron emission tomography Changes in visceral sensation center

Previous studies have demonstrated that electroacupuncture therapy is effective in the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome. However, the precise mechanism of this therapy is unknown. The present study served to investigate the effects of electroacupuncture therapy on treatment of patients with diarrhea-predominant irritable bowel syndrome （IBS）. We compared brain activation maps based on the changes of cerebral glucose metabolism obtained by 18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography scanning under three conditions： resting, rectal balloon distension and rectal balloon distension plus electroacupuncture. Under the resting condition, compared with healthy controls, IBS patients displayed an increasing regional cerebral metabolic rate of glucose over a wide range： bilateral superior temporal gyrus, right middle occipital gyrus, superior frontal gyrus and bilateral middle frontal gyrus. However, there was no significant activity in the visceral pain center. Compared with the resting condition, under the rectal balloon distension condition, patients with IBS had a greater regional cerebral metabolic rate of glucose in the prefrontal cortex, left anterior cingulate cortex, postcentral gyrus, precentral gyrus and temporal gyrus. Under the rectal balloon distension plus electroacupuncture condition, stimulation by electroacupuncture at Tianshu （ST 25） manifested a decreased regional cerebral metabolic rate of glucose in the left cingulate gyrus, right insula, right caudate nucleus, fusiform gyrus and hippocampal gyrus. Electroacupuncture therapy relieved abdominal pain, distension or discomfort by decreasing glucose metabolism in the brain.

机械热痛觉感受器的热痛感受机制(英文)

The current knowledge about heat nociception is mainly confined to the thermosensors including the transient receptor potential cation channel V1 expressed in the nociceptive neurons of dorsal root ganglion(DRG). However,the loss of thermosensors only partially impairs heat nociception,suggesting the existence of undiscovered mechanisms. Using single-cell RNA sequencing and in vivo electrophysiological recording,we analyzed the transcriptome and functions of DRG neurons. At least six types of mechanoheat nociceptors were identified. However,the molecular network and mechanism responsible for heat nociception in these mechanoheat nociceptors remain to be explored. We found that fibroblast growth factor 13(FGF13) was highly expressed in five types of mechanoheat nociceptors.FGF13 is an intracellular,non-secretory protein,a member of FGF11 subfamily. We found that the loss of FGF13 in the mouse DRG neurons selectively abolished heat nociception. The noxious heat stimuli could not evoke the sustained action potential firing in small DRG neurons from FGF13-deficient mice. Furthermore,FGF13 interacted with sodium channel Na_v1.7 at the C-terminal region in a heatfacilitated manner. FGF13 increased Na_v1.7 sodium currents and maintained the membrane localization of Na_v1.7 during noxious heat stimulation,enabling the sustained firing of action potentials. Disrupting the FGF13/Na_v1.7 interaction reduced the heat-evoked action potential firing and nociceptive behavior.Thus,beyond the thermosensors,the FGF13/Na_v1.7 complex is essential for sustaining the transmission of noxious heat signals.

Perilesional reorganization of somatosensory function following traumatic cortical contusion A case report

The present study reports on a 23-year-old male patient with somatosensory dysfunction of the left hand following cortical contusion. His somatosensory dysfunction recovered to a nearly normal state at 6 months after injury. Functional MRI results demonstrated that the contralateral primary sensorimotor cortex centered on the primary somatosensroy cortex was activated during touch stimulation of the patient＇s right hand and either hand of control subjects. By contrast, the anterior area of the lesion centered on the precentral knob in the right hemisphere was activated during touch stimulation of the left hand. These findings show that the somatosensory function of the affected hand appears to have been recovered by the somatosensory cortex reorganizing into the anterior area of the contused primary somatosensory cortex.

AB076.Prototypical spatial patterns of activation from common experience

Background:The guiding principle of functional brain mapping is that the cortex exhibits a spatial pattern of response reflecting its underlying functional organization.We know that large-scale patterns are common across individuals-everyone roughly has the same visual areas for example,but we do not know about small patterns,like the distribution of ocular dominance and orientation columns.Studies investigating the temporal aspect of brain-to-brain similarity have shown that a large portion of the brain is temporally synchronized across subjects(Hasson et al.,2004),but spatial pattern similarity has been scarcely studied,let alone at a fine scale.In the current study,we investigated fine-scale spatial pattern similarity between subjects during movie viewing and generated a map of prototypical patterns spanning the visual system.Characteristics of the map,such as spatial pattern size and distribution,reveal properties of the underlying structure and organisation of the visual cortex.These results will guide future brain mapping studies in decoding the informative spatial patterns of the visual cortex and increasing the resolution of current brain maps.Methods:We had 56 subjects watch two movie clips from“Under the Sea 3D:IMAX”during an fMRI scan.Each clip was 5 minutes in length and was presented in 2D and 3D,in random order.We calculated the intersubject correlation of the spatial pattern inside predefined searchlights of diameter 3,5,7,9 and 11 mm,covering the entire brain.A single threshold permutations test was used to test for significance:we generated 1,000 permutations made from scrambling the spatial patterns inside each searchlight of every subject,pooled these permutations together to generate a large distribution and used the 95th percentile to threshold the actual measurements.We compared these spatial pattern correlations to convexity variance between subjects to determine whether spatial pattern correlation could be explained by differing degrees of alignment across the cortex.We also compared spatial pattern correlation during 2D and 3D movie presentation.Results:We found significant correlations in spatial pattern between subjects in the majority of early visual cortex,as well as higher visual areas.We found that mean spatial pattern similarity in a visual area tended to decrease as we move up the visual hierarchy.Spatial pattern correlation showed significant positive correlation with convexity variance for most visual areas,meaning that as anatomical misalignment increased,patterns became more similar.Spatial pattern correlation therefore cannot be explained by anatomical misalignment.Lastly,spatial pattern correlations tended to be higher for 3D movie presentation compared to 2D.Conclusions:Our results suggest that many processes in early visual areas and even higher visual areas process visual information the same way in different individuals.Our results expand past studies by exploring spatial patterns instead of temporal patterns and studying at a fine-scale.This is the first study,to our knowledge,exploring fine-scale spatial patterns across the visual system.Our results show that fine-scale structures underlying activation patterns may be highly similar across subjects,pointing to a more ingrained organisation of the visual system than previously believed.This map we termed the“protoSPACE map”,may one day result in the detection of more subtle abnormalities that arise only during realistic vision in situations such as schizophrenia or mild traumatic brain injury,where traditional anatomical MRI scans report no changes.

Moral Dilemma Judgment Revisited: A Loreta Analysis

Background: Recent neuroscience investigations on moral judgment have provided useful information about how brain processes such complex decision making. All these studies carried out so far were fMRI investigations and therefore were constrained by the poor temporal resolution of this technique. Recent advances in electroencephalography (EEG) analysis provided by Low Resolution Tomogray (Loreta), Principal Component (PCA), Correlation and Regression Analysis improved EEG spatial resolution and made EEG a very useful technique in decision-making studies. Methods: Here, we reinvestigate previous fMRI study of personal (PD) and impersonal (ID) moral dilemma judgment, taking profit of these new EEG analysis improvements. Results: PCA analysis disclosed three different patterns of brain activity associated with dilemma judgment. These patterns are proposed to disclose the neural circuits involved in benefit and risk evaluation, calculating intention to act and controlling decision-making. Regression analysis showed that activity at some cortical areas favors action implementation by increasing intention to act, while activity at some other areas opposes it by decreasing intention to act. Comparison with Existing Methods: Compared to the previous fMRI results, Loreta and PCA revealed a much greater number of cortical areas involved in dilemma judgment, whose temporal and spatial distribution were different for ID compared to PD. The present paper suggests that whenever final temporal details of the decision making process are desired, EEG becomes the tool of choice as compared with fMRI. Conclusions: The presented results are discussed from the utilitarian point of view that proposes adequacy of human action being dependent upon how much pleasure and fear/pain they are associated.

Mapping Domain- and Age-Specific Functional Brain Activity for Children’s Cognitive and Affective Development

The human brain undergoes rapid development during childhood,with significant improvement in a wide spectrum of cognitive and affective functions.Mapping domain-and age-specific brain activity patterns has important implications for characterizing the development of children’s cognitive and affective functions.The current mainstay of brain templates is primarily derived from structural magnetic resonance imaging(MRI),and thus is not ideal for mapping children’s cognitive and affective brain development.By integrating task-dependent functional MRI data from a large sample of 250 children(aged 7 to 12)across multiple domains and the latest easy-to-use and transparent preprocessing workflow,we here created a set of age-specific brain functional activity maps across four domains:attention,executive function,emotion,and risky decision-making.Moreover,we developed a toolbox named Developmental Brain Functional Activity maps across multiple domains that enables researchers to visualize and download domain-and age-specific brain activity maps for various needs.This toolbox and maps have been released on the Neuroimaging Informatics Tools and Resources Clearinghouse website(http://www.nitrc.org/projects/dbfa).Our study provides domain-and age-specific brain activity maps for future developmental neuroimaging studies in both healthy and clinical populations.

Mapping Underlying Maturational Changes in Human Brain

Human brain development is a complex process that continues between birth and maturity, and monitoring the underlying maturational changes at these stages is crucial for our understanding of typical development as well as neurodevelopmental disorders. During the critical periods of brain development, on one hand, many human capacities originate, but on the other hand, a brain undergoing rapid plastic changes may also be vulnerable to neuropsychiatric disorders . Multi-modal magnetic resonance imaging （MRI） has been increasingly used for its ability to noninvasively reveal structural and functional changes in the brain. However, interpretation of the neurobiological processes underlying the findings obtained with MRI is very limited .

Development of 3-actoxymethoxycarbonyl-2,2,5,5-tetramethyl-1-pyrrolidinyloxyl as an electron paramagnetic resonance imaging reagent for in vivo mapping brain oxygen distribution and infarction in ischemic brain

Measurement of oxygen concentration and distribution in brain is essential to understanding the pathophysiology of stroke. Although brain oxygen level is critical for brain tissue survival,

Diffusion magnetic resonance imaging for Brainnetome:A critical review

Increasing evidence shows that the human brain is a highly self-organized system that shows attributes of smallworldness,hierarchy and modularity.The ＂connectome＂ was conceived several years ago to identify the underpinning physical connectivities of brain networks.The need for an integration of multi-spatial and-temporal approaches is becoming apparent.Therefore,the ＂Brainnetome＂（brain-net-ome） project was proposed.Diffusion magnetic resonance imaging（dMRI） is a non-invasive way to study the anatomy of brain networks.Here,we review the principles of dMRI,its methodologies,and some of its clinical applications for the Brainnetome.Future research in this field is discussed.

Recovery mechanisms of somatosensory function in stroke patients: implications of brain imaging studies

Somatosensory dysfunction is associated with a high incidence of functional impairment and safety in patients with stroke. With developments in brain mapping techniques, many studies have addressed the recovery of various functions in such patients. However, relatively little is known about the mechanisms of recovery of somatosensory function. Based on the previous human studies, a review of 11 relevant studies on the mecha- nisms underlying the recovery of somatosensory function in stroke patients was conducted based on the fol- lowing topics： （1） recovery of an injured somatosensory pathway, （2） peri-lesional reorganization, （3） contribu- tion of the unaffected somatosensory cortex, （4） contribution of the secondary somatosensory cortex, and （5） mechanisms of recovery in patients with thalamic lesions. We believe that further studies in this field using combinations of diffusion tensor imaging, functional neuroimaging, and magnetoencephalography are needed. In addition, the clinical significance, critical period, and facilitatory strategies for each recovery mechanism should be clarified.

Cortical language activation in aphasia: a functional MRI study

Background Functional neuroimaging has been used in neurolinguistic research on normal subjects and on patients with brain damage. This study was designed to investigate the differences of the neural basis underlying language processing between normal subjects and aphasics.Methods Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) was used to map the language network in 6 normal subjects and 3 patients with aphasia who were in the stage of recovery from acute stroke. The participants performed a word generation task during multi-slice functional scanning for the measurement of signal change associated with regional neural activity induced by the task. Results In normal subjects, a distributed language network was activated. Activations were present in the frontal, temporal, parietal and occipital regions. In the patient group, however, no activation was detected in the left inferior frontal gyrus whether the patient had a lesion in the left frontal lobe or not. Two patients showed activations in some right hemisphere regions where no activation appeared in normal subjects. Conclusions fMRI with word generation task is feasible for evaluating language function in aphasic patients. Remote effect of focal lesion and functional redistribution or reorganisation can be found in aphasic patients.