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Clin Neurol Neurosurg 2021 Mar 24;205:106604. Epub 2021 Mar 24.

Department of Neurology, State Key Laboratory of Complex Severe and Rare Diseases, Peking Union Medical College Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China. Electronic address:

Introduction: Alzheimer's disease (AD) and frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) are the leading causes of dementia. To better understand the disease development of cognitive function and anatomical structure in AD and FTLD, we analyzed the changes in brain volume by MRI and the psychological test results. Here, we report a dynamic observation of brain structure. Read More

Brain Struct Funct 2021 Apr 22. Epub 2021 Apr 22.

Sorbonne Université, Inserm U 1127, CNRS UMR 7225, Paris Brain Institute, ICM, Hôpital de La Pitié-Salpêtrière, 75013, Paris, France.

Visual mental imagery is the faculty whereby we can "visualize" objects that are not in our line of sight. Longstanding evidence dating back over thirty years has shown that unilateral brain lesions, especially in the left temporal lobe, can impair aspects of this ability. Yet, there is currently no attempt to identify analogies between these neuropsychological findings of hemispheric asymmetry and those from other neuroscientific approaches. Read More

Epilepsia 2021 Apr 22. Epub 2021 Apr 22.

Department of Neurology, University of Campinas, Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil.

Objective: We aimed to better characterize the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings of mild malformation of cortical development with oligodendroglial hyperplasia (MOGHE), a rare clinicopathological entity associated with pharmacoresistance recently described in patients with frontal lobe epilepsy.

Methods: We studied 12 patients who underwent epilepsy surgery and whose surgical specimens showed histopathological findings of MOGHE, characterized by preserved cortical lamination, blurred gray-white matter interface due to increased number of oligodendrocytes, and heterotopic neurons in the white matter. The age at MRI evaluation ranged from 11 to 58 years, except for one 4. Read More

Childs Nerv Syst 2021 Apr 22. Epub 2021 Apr 22.

Pediatric Neurosurgery Department, Dr. Asenjo Neurosurgical Institute, Santiago, Chile.

Primary intracranial smooth muscle tumors are rare. Most cases are related to Epstein-Barr virus proliferation in immunocompromised patients such as organ solid recipients. Only a few cases have been reported in pediatric patients. Read More

Neurobiol Lang (Camb) 2021 1;2(1):22-82. Epub 2020 Dec 1.

Language Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, Vanderbilt University Medical Center.

Recovery from aphasia is thought to depend on neural plasticity, that is, functional reorganization of surviving brain regions such that they take on new or expanded roles in language processing. We carried out a systematic review and meta-analysis of all articles published between 1995 and early 2020 that have described functional imaging studies of six or more individuals with post-stroke aphasia, and have reported analyses bearing on neuroplasticity of language processing. Each study was characterized and appraised in detail, with particular attention to three critically important methodological issues: task performance confounds, contrast validity, and correction for multiple comparisons. Read More

Sci Rep 2021 Apr 21;11(1):8665. Epub 2021 Apr 21.

Laboratory of Epileptogenesis, Nencki Institute of Experimental Biology, Warsaw, Poland.

The present study performed a detailed analysis of behavior in a rat model of epilepsy using both established and novel methodologies to identify behavioral impairments that may differentiate between animals with a short versus long latency to spontaneous seizures and animals with a low versus high number of seizures. Temporal lobe epilepsy was induced by electrical stimulation of the amygdala. Rats were stimulated for 25 min with 100-ms trains of 1-ms biphasic square-wave pluses that were delivered every 0. Read More

Sci Rep 2021 Apr 21;11(1):8662. Epub 2021 Apr 21.

Institute of Neurophysiology, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Charitéplatz 1, 10117, Berlin, Germany.

The actin binding protein drebrin plays a key role in dendritic spine formation and synaptic plasticity. Decreased drebrin protein levels have been observed in temporal lobe epilepsy, suggesting the involvement of drebrin in the disease. Here we investigated the effect of drebrin knockout on physiological and pathophysiological neuronal network activities in mice by inducing gamma oscillations, involved in higher cognitive functions, and by analyzing pathophysiological epileptiform activity. Read More

PLoS One 2021 21;16(4):e0250413. Epub 2021 Apr 21.

Department of Perinatal Imaging and Health, Centre for the Developing Brain, School of Biomedical Engineering and Imaging Sciences, King's College London, London, United Kingdom.

Background: Exposure to maternal stress in utero is associated with a range of adverse outcomes. We previously observed an association between maternal stress and white matter microstructure in a sample of infants born prematurely. In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between maternal trait anxiety, stressful life events and brain volumes. Read More

EJNMMI Res 2021 Apr 21;11(1):40. Epub 2021 Apr 21.

Department of Biomedical Engineering, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Luoyu Road, Wuhan, 430074, China.

Background: When Alzheimer's disease (AD) is occurring at an early onset before 65 years old, its clinical course is generally more aggressive than in the case of a late onset. We aim at identifying [[Formula: see text]F]florbetaben PET biomarkers sensitive to differences between early-onset Alzheimer's disease (EOAD) and late-onset Alzheimer's disease (LOAD). We conducted [[Formula: see text]F]florbetaben PET/CT scans of 43 newly diagnosed AD subjects. Read More

JAMA Psychiatry 2021 Apr 21. Epub 2021 Apr 21.

Department of Psychiatry, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan.

Importance: Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (1H-MRS) studies indicate that altered brain glutamatergic function may be associated with the pathophysiology of schizophrenia and the response to antipsychotic treatment. However, the association of altered glutamatergic function with clinical and demographic factors is unclear.

Objective: To assess the associations of age, symptom severity, level of functioning, and antipsychotic treatment with brain glutamatergic metabolites. Read More

Acta Neurol Scand 2021 Apr 21. Epub 2021 Apr 21.

First Department of Neurology and Department of Neurosurgery, Brno Epilepsy Center, St. Anne's Hospital and School of Medicine, Brno, Czech Republic.

Objective: It is assumed that temporal lobe resection in older people is associated with worse seizure outcomes and potential postsurgical memory decline. We studied postsurgical memory development and surgical efficacy in patients over 45 years of age compared with younger patients.

Methods: We studied 88 patients (51 male and 37 female) after temporal lobe surgery, which involved hippocampal resection. Read More

Gen Physiol Biophys 2021 Mar;40(2):115-126

Department of Neurology, Panzhihua Municipal Central Hospital, Panzhihua, China.

Emerging evidence proposes that circular RNAs (circRNAs) are involved in epileptogenesis. This study aimed to investigate the role and the function mechanism of circ_0003170 in epilepsy models in vitro. Epilepsy models were established in human hippocampal neurons treated by magnesium-free (Mg2+-free) solution. Read More

Atten Percept Psychophys 2021 Apr 20. Epub 2021 Apr 20.

Department of Psychology; Cognitive Science Program, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA.

In figure-ground organization, the figure is defined as a region that is both "shaped" and "nearer." Here we test whether changes in task set and instructions can alter the outcome of the cross-border competition between figural priors that underlies figure assignment. Extremal edge (EE), a relative distance prior, has been established as a strong figural prior when the task is to report "which side is nearer?" In three experiments using bipartite stimuli, EEs competed and cooperated with familiar configuration, a shape prior for figure assignment in a "which side is shaped?" task. Read More

Surg Neurol Int 2021 17;12:107. Epub 2021 Mar 17.

Department of Neurological Surgery, University of Arkansas, United States.

Background: Approaches to subcortical lesions have traditionally been limited by the morbidity of white matter dissection and fixed blade retraction required to reach these targets. Visualization of deep surgical fields with a traditional operating microscope is also poor. Coordinated use of intra-operative image guidance, a tubular retractor (BrainPath, Nico Corp, Indianapolis, Indiana), a high-definition exoscope (Vitom, Karl Storz Endoscopy America, Inc, El Segundo, California), and a low-profile resection device (Myriad, Nico Corp) facilitates atraumatic access to and resection of subcortical lesions including primary brain tumors, brain metastases, and intracerebral hemorrhages. Read More

Seizure 2021 Apr 17;88:130-137. Epub 2021 Apr 17.

Department of Radiological Science, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California Los Angeles, 10833 Le Conte Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.

Purpose: To assess the association between hypometabolic extension of F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography and diffusion tensor imaging indices, including mean diffusivity (MD) and fractional anisotropy (FA), in hippocampal sclerosis (HS).

Methods: Thirty-six unilateral HS were retrospectively selected and stratified into two groups: broad and localized hypometabolic groups (hypometabolism beyond [n = 26] and within the temporal lobe [n = 10]). Forty-one pairs of gray matter (GM) regions of interest (ROIs) were segmented using FreeSurfer software. Read More

Neuroimage 2021 Apr 17:118083. Epub 2021 Apr 17.

Department of Psychology and Human Development, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.

By using a longitudinal design and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), our previous study (Wang et al., 2020) found a scaffolding effect of early phonological processing in the superior temporal gyrus (STG) in 6-year-old children on later behavioral reading skill in 7.5-year-old children. Read More

Brain Struct Funct 2021 Apr 20. Epub 2021 Apr 20.

MRC Cognition and Brain Science Unit (CBU), University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB2 7EF, UK.

The purpose of this study was to explore an important research goal in cognitive and clinical neuroscience: What are the neurocomputational mechanisms that make cognitive systems "well engineered" and thus resilient across a range of performance demands and to mild levels of perturbation or even damage? A new hypothesis called 'variable neuro-displacement' suggests that cognitive systems are formed with dynamic, spare processing capacity, which balances energy consumption against performance requirements and can be resilient to changes in performance demands. Here, we tested this hypothesis by investigating the neural dynamics of the semantic system by manipulating performance demand. The performance demand was manipulated with two levels of task difficulty (easy vs. Read More

Radiother Oncol 2021 Apr 16. Epub 2021 Apr 16.

OncoRay - National Center for Radiation Research in Oncology, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden - Rossendorf, Dresden, Germany; German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), partner site Dresden, and German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany; Department of Radiotherapy and Radiation Oncology, Faculty of Medicine and University Hospital Carl Gustav Carus, Technische Universität Dresden, Dresden, Germany; National Center for Tumor Diseases (NCT), Partner Site Dresden, Germany: German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany, Helmholtz Association / Helmholtz-Zentrum Dresden - Rossendorf (HZDR), Dresden, Germany. Electronic address:

Background: The limited availability of proton beam therapy (PBT) requires individual treatment selection strategies, such as the model-based approach. In this study, we assessed the dosimetric benefit of PBT compared to photon therapy (XRT), analysed the corresponding changes in normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) on a variety of available models, and illustrated model-based patient selection in an in-silico study for patients with brain tumours.

Methods: For 92 patients treated at two PBT centres, volumetric modulated arc therapy treatment plans were retrospectively created for comparison with the clinically applied PBT plans. Read More

Front Oncol 2021 1;11:599942. Epub 2021 Apr 1.

Department of Medical Ultrasound, First Affiliated Hospital of Guangxi Medical University, Nanning, China.

Purpose: To investigate the role of half-brain delineation in the prediction of radiation-induced temporal lobe injury (TLI) in nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) receiving intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT).

Methods And Materials: A total of 220 NPC cases treated with IMRT and concurrent platinum-based chemotherapy were retrospectively analyzed. Dosimetric parameters of temporal lobes, half-brains, and brains included maximum dose (D), doses covering certain volume (D) from 0. Read More

Neurohospitalist 2021 Jan 22;11(1):66-70. Epub 2020 Jul 22.

Division of Neurology, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Cumming School of Medicine, University of Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Untreated herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) encephalitis is associated with high mortality. Missed cases can have devastating consequences. Detection of HSV-1 in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) with polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is reported to have high sensitivity and specificity and is considered the diagnostic gold standard for HSV-1 encephalitis. Read More

Front Behav Neurosci 2021 1;15:646337. Epub 2021 Apr 1.

Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xiamen University, Xiamen, China.

Studies have shown that addictive behavior is associated with many brain regions, such as the insula, globus pallidus, amygdala, nucleus accumbens, and midbrain dopamine system, but only a few studies have explored the role of the dorsal striatum in addictive behavior. In June 2020, we started contacting 608 patients who were hospitalized between January 2017 and December 2019, and we recruited 11 smoking addicts with dorsal striatum damage and 20 controls with brain damage that did not involve the dorsal striatum (the damaged areas included the frontal lobe, temporal lobe, parietal lobe, brain stem, thalamus, internal capsule, and so on). All study participants had brain damage due to acute cerebral infarction. Read More

J Cereb Blood Flow Metab 2021 Apr 17:271678X211010388. Epub 2021 Apr 17.

Department of Neurosurgery, Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, the Netherlands.

The blood-brain barrier (BBB) is dysfunctional in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). In this regard, microvascular changes are likely present. The aim of this review is to provide an overview of the current knowledge on microvascular changes in epilepsy, and includes clinical and preclinical evidence of seizure induced angiogenesis, barriergenesis and microcirculatory alterations. Read More

Epilepsy Res 2021 Apr 2;173:106630. Epub 2021 Apr 2.

Epilepsy Program, Neurology Department, Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, Barcelona, 08036, Spain; Clinical Institute of Neurosciences, Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, Barcelona, 08036, Spain; Biomedical Research Institute August Pi i Sunyer (IDIBAPS), Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, Barcelona, 08036, Spain.

Purpose: The use of invasive EEG (iEEG) recordings before epilepsy surgery has increased as more complex focal epilepsies are evaluated. Psychotic symptoms (PS) during iEEG have been scarcely reviewed. We aim to report our series of patients with psychotic symptoms (PS) brought about by cortical stimulation (CS) and to identify triggers. Read More

J Nucl Med 2021 Apr 16. Epub 2021 Apr 16.

University of Pittsburgh, United States.

Tau PET tracers exhibit varying levels of specific signal and distinct off-target binding patterns that are more diverse than amyloid PET tracers. This study compares two frequently used tau PET tracers, [F]flortaucipir (FTP) and [F]MK-6240, in the same subjects. [F]flortaucipir and [F]MK-6240 scans were collected within two months in 15 elderly subjects varying in terms of clinical diagnosis and cognition. Read More

Neurosurgery 2021 Apr 16. Epub 2021 Apr 16.

Department of Neurosurgery, Penn State Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, Pennsylvania, USA.

Background: Cortico-amygdalohippocampectomy (CAH) is effective for mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (mTLE). Concerns regarding surgical morbidity have generated enthusiasm for more minimally invasive interventions. A careful analysis of current data is warranted before widespread adoption of these techniques. Read More

Front Mol Neurosci 2021 30;14:643763. Epub 2021 Mar 30.

Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, Department of Neurology with Experimental Neurology, Clinical and Experimental Epileptology, Berlin, Germany.

Epileptiform activity alters gene expression in the central nervous system, a phenomenon that has been studied extensively in animal models. Here, we asked whether also models of seizures are in principle suitable to investigate changes in gene expression due to epileptiform activity and tested this hypothesis mainly in rodent and additionally in some human brain slices. We focused on three genes relevant for seizures and epilepsy: FOS proto-oncogene (), inducible cAMP early repressor () and mammalian target of rapamycin (). Read More

Neurosci Biobehav Rev 2021 Apr 12;126:491-508. Epub 2021 Apr 12.

Department of Rehabilitation Psychology, Daegu University, 201 Daegudae-ro, Gyeongsan-si, Gyeongsangbuk-do, 38453, Republic of Korea. Electronic address:

A network-level model of recollection-based recognition (R), familiarity-based recognition (F), and novelty recognition (N) was constructed, and its validity was evaluated through meta-analyses to produce an integrated view of neuroimaging data. The model predicted the following: (a) the overall magnitude of the frontoparietal control network (FPCN) activity (which supports retrieval and decision effort) is in the order of F > R > N; (b) that of the posterior medial temporal network (MTL) activity (which plays a direct role in retrieval) is in the order of R > N > F; (c) that of the anterior MTL activity (which supports novelty-encoding) is in the order of N > R > F; (d) that of the default mode network (DMN) activity (which supports the subjective experience of remembering) is in the order of R > N > F. The meta-analyses results were consistent with these predictions. Read More

PLoS One 2021 15;16(4):e0249111. Epub 2021 Apr 15.

Department of Psychology, Korea University, Seoul, Republic of Korea.

When people confuse and reject a non-word that is created by switching two adjacent letters from an actual word, is called the transposition confusability effect (TCE). The TCE is known to occur at the very early stages of visual word recognition with such unit exchange as letters or syllables, but little is known about the brain mechanisms of TCE. In this study, we examined the neural correlates of TCE and the effect of a morpheme boundary placement on TCE. Read More

Aesthet Surg J 2021 Apr 15. Epub 2021 Apr 15.

Private practice, Singapore.

Background: With the popularity of facial filler injections, increased severe adverse events, such as cerebral embolism, have been reported.

Objectives: This article aims to summarize the clinical manifestations, and proposed mechanism of the filler-induced cerebral embolism (FICE) cases.

Methods: A literature review was performed with the search keywords including "filler injection, hyaluronic acid, fat graft, cerebral infarction/embolism, stroke, cerebrovascular infarction, disorders of consciousness, and hemiplegia". Read More

Oper Neurosurg (Hagerstown) 2021 Apr;20(5):E342-E343

Department of Neurosurgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts.

Trigeminal schwannomas are benign tumors amendable to curative surgical resection.1 Excellent outcomes, with preservation and improvement of cranial nerve function, including trigeminal nerve function, have been reported with microsurgical resection through skull base approaches.2 Dumbell shaped tumors, involving the middle and posterior fossa, are more challenging. Read More