NeuroImage. Clinical
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NeuroImage. Clinical · Jan 2018
Meta AnalysisA meta-analytic study of experimental and chronic orofacial pain excluding headache disorders.
Chronic orofacial pain (COFP) disorders are prevalent and debilitating pain conditions affecting the head, neck and face areas. Neuroimaging studies have reported functional and grey matter abnormalities, but not all the studies have reported consistent findings. Identifying convergent abnormalities across COFPs provides a basis for future hypothesis-driven research aimed at elucidating common CNS mechanisms. ⋯ The functional COFP meta-analysis identified a consistent increase in brain activity in the left medial and posterior thalamus and lesser activity in the left posterior insula in COFP, compared to healthy controls. Overall, these findings provide evidence of brain abnormalities in pain-related regions, namely the thalamus and insula, across different COFP disorders. The convergence of thalamic abnormalities in both structure and function suggest a key role for this region in COFP pathophysiology.
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NeuroImage. Clinical · Jan 2018
The anatomy of the human medial forebrain bundle: Ventral tegmental area connections to reward-associated subcortical and frontal lobe regions.
Despite their importance in reward, motivation, and learning there is only sparse anatomical knowledge about the human medial forebrain bundle (MFB) and the connectivity of the ventral tegmental area (VTA). A thorough anatomical and microstructural description of the reward related PFC/OFC regions and their connection to the VTA - the superolateral branch of the MFB (slMFB) - is however mandatory to enable an interpretation of distinct therapeutic effects from different interventional treatment modalities in neuropsychiatric disorders (DBS, TMS etc.). This work aims at a normative description of the human MFB (and more detailed the slMFB) anatomy with respect to distant prefrontal connections and microstructural features. ⋯ The anatomical description of the human MFB shows far reaching connectivity of VTA to reward-related subcortical and cortical prefrontal regions - but not to emotion-related regions on the medial cortical surface - realized via the superolateral branch of the MFB. Local tractography approaches appear to be inferior in showing these far-reaching projections. Since these local approaches are typically used for surgical targeting of DBS procedures, the here established detailed map might - as a normative template - guide future efforts to target deep brain stimulation of the slMFB in depression and other disorders related to dysfunction of reward and reward-associated learning.
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NeuroImage. Clinical · Jan 2018
ReviewNeuroimaging and other modalities to assess Alzheimer's disease in Down syndrome.
People with Down syndrome (DS) develop Alzheimer's disease (AD) at higher rates and a younger age of onset compared to the general population. As the average lifespan of people with DS is increasing, AD is becoming an important health concern in this group. Neuroimaging is becoming an increasingly useful tool in understanding the pathogenesis of dementia development in relation to clinical symptoms. ⋯ Future PET studies relating tau distribution to clinical symptoms will provide further insight into the role this protein plays in dementia development. Brain activity changes demonstrated by EEG and metabolic changes seen via FDG-PET may also follow predictable patterns that can help track dementia progression. Finally, newer approaches such as retinal imaging will hopefully overcome some of the limitations of neuroimaging and allow for detection of dementia at an earlier stage.
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NeuroImage. Clinical · Jan 2018
Randomized Controlled TrialEnhancing treatment of osteoarthritis knee pain by boosting expectancy: A functional neuroimaging study.
Expectation can significantly modulate pain and treatment effects. This study aims to investigate if boosting patients' expectancy can enhance the treatment of knee osteoarthritis (KOA), and its underlying brain mechanism. ⋯ Our study provides a novel method and mechanism for boosting the treatment of pain in patients with KOA. Our findings may shed light on enhancing outcomes of pharmacological and integrative medicines in clinical settings.
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NeuroImage. Clinical · Jan 2018
Isolated focal dystonia phenotypes are associated with distinct patterns of altered microstructure.
Isolated adult-onset focal dystonia is considered a network disorder with disturbances to the motor basal ganglia and cerebellar circuits playing a pathophysiological role, but why specific body regions become affected remains unknown. We aimed to use diffusion tensor imaging to determine if the two most common phenotypes of focal dystonia are associated with distinguishing microstructural changes affecting the motor network. ⋯ Different focal dystonia phenotypes are associated with distinct patterns of altered microstructure within constituent regions of basal ganglia and cerebellar circuits.