NeuroImage
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We employed resting-state functional MRI (R-fMRI) to investigate hemisphere- and gender-related differences in the topological organization of human brain functional networks. Brain networks were first constructed by measuring inter-regional temporal correlations of R-fMRI data within each hemisphere in 86 young, healthy, right-handed adults (38 males and 48 females) followed by a graph-theory analysis. ⋯ Moreover, we observed significant hemisphere-related differences in the regional nodal characteristics in various brain regions, such as the frontal and occipital regions (leftward asymmetry) and the temporal regions (rightward asymmetry), findings that are consistent with previous studies of brain structural and functional asymmetries. Together, our results suggest that the topological organization of human brain functional networks is associated with gender and hemispheres, and they provide insights into the understanding of functional substrates underlying individual differences in behaviors and cognition.
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Hippocampal volumetry for lateralization of temporal lobe epilepsy: automated versus manual methods.
The hippocampus has been the primary region of interest in the preoperative imaging investigations of mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (mTLE). Hippocampal imaging and electroencephalographic features may be sufficient in several cases to declare the epileptogenic focus. In particular, hippocampal atrophy, as appreciated on T1-weighted (T1W) magnetic resonance (MR) images, may suggest a mesial temporal sclerosis. ⋯ LocalInfo proved to have higher concordance (87%) with the manual segmentation method than either HAMMER (85%) or FreeSurfer (83%). The accuracy of lateralization by volumetry in this study with LocalInfo was 74% compared to 78% with the manual segmentation method. LocalInfo yields a closer approximation to that of manual segmentation and may therefore prove to be more reliable than currently published automatic segmentation algorithms.
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The symptoms of primary blast-induced mTBI, posttraumatic stress disorder and depression overlap. Evidence of an organic basis for these entities has been scarce and controversial. ⋯ The most salient findings observed were (1) the peak pressures (P(max)) in the brain, elicited from the blast from the firing of military weapons (P(max) 23-45 kPa), have a similar magnitude as that registered in air close to the head. Corresponding measurements during the detonation pulse from explosives under water show a P(max) in the brain, which is only 10% of that in water outside the head. (2) The rise time of the pressure curve is 10 times longer in the brain as compared with the blast in air outside the head during firing of military weapons. (3) The lower frequencies in the blast wave appear to be transmitted more readily to the brain than the higher frequencies. (4) When animals are exposed to low levels of blast, the blast wave appears mostly transmitted directly to the brain during air exposure, not via the thorax or abdomen. (5) Low levels of blast cause brain edema, as indicated by increased bioelectrical impedance, an increase in the intracranial pressure, small brain hemorrhages and impaired cognitive function.
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Traumatic brain injuries (TBI) potentially induced by blast waves from detonations result in significant diagnostic problems. It may be assumed that several mechanisms contribute to the injury. This study is an attempt to characterize the presumed components of the blast induced TBI. ⋯ The most interesting findings were a downregulation of genes involved in neurogenesis and synaptic transmission. These experiments indicate that rotational acceleration may be a critical factor for DAI and other acute changes after blast TBI. The further exploration of the mechanisms of blast TBI will have to include a search for long-term effects.
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We present and evaluate a new method for automatically labeling the subfields of the hippocampal formation in focal 0.4 × 0.5 × 2.0mm(3) resolution T2-weighted magnetic resonance images that can be acquired in the routine clinical setting with under 5 min scan time. The method combines multi-atlas segmentation, similarity-weighted voting, and a novel learning-based bias correction technique to achieve excellent agreement with manual segmentation. Initial partitioning of MRI slices into hippocampal 'head', 'body' and 'tail' slices is the only input required from the user, necessitated by the nature of the underlying segmentation protocol. ⋯ Intraclass correlation of volume measurements in CA1 and dentate gyrus is above 0.89. Overlap in smaller hippocampal subfields is lower in magnitude (0.54 for CA2, 0.62 for CA3, 0.77 for subiculum and 0.79 for entorhinal cortex) but comparable to overlap between manual segmentations by trained human raters. These results support the feasibility of subfield-specific hippocampal morphometry in clinical studies of memory and neurodegenerative disease.