Journal of neuroimaging : official journal of the American Society of Neuroimaging
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Myelin water fraction (MWF) deficits as measured by myelin water imaging (MWI) have been related to worse motor function in persons with multiple sclerosis (PwMS). However, it is unknown if measures from MWI metrics in motor areas relate to fall risk measures in PwMS. The objective of this study was to examine the relationship between MWI measures in motor areas to performance on clinical measures of fall risk and disability in PwMS. ⋯ MWI of key motor regions was associated with walking performance in PwMS. Further MWI studies are needed to identify relationships between pathology and clinical function in PwMS to guide targeted rehabilitation therapies aimed at preventing falls.
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Previous studies have proposed multiple parallel channels for waste clearance from the brain, though many gaps remain in our understanding of these systems. In this study, we examined periarterial fluid drainage around intracranial and extracranial segments of the internal carotid arteries (ICAs) from the brain into the cervical lymph nodes using a noninvasive and clinical-based method. ⋯ We describe the in vivo high-resolution imaging characteristics of periarterial fluid drainage along the vessel walls of ICAs. This represents a potentially major channel for brain waste clearance. We also report interesting sex- and age-based trends in these structures within our cohort.
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Brain death is defined as the irreversible cessation of brain function with a known etiology. This study aims to establish the value of duplex echoencephalography (DEG) in children fulfilling clinical brain death diagnostic criteria. ⋯ In children, DEG following a strict protocol can be used to confirm diagnosis of brain death in the appropriate clinical setting.
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Several distinct conditions present as cystic or pseudocystic lesions within the spinal canal. Some of the most common spinal cystic lesions include spinal meningeal cysts, juxtafacet cysts, dermoid/epidermoid cysts, nerve sheath tumors, and syringohydromyelia. Clinical presentation is usually nonspecific and imaging characteristics are frequently overlapping, which may pose a challenging presurgical diagnosis. ⋯ It provides accurate lesion localization and characterization and, most of the times, it will allow a confident differential diagnosis. High-resolution three-dimensional T2-weighted sequences and diffusion-weighted imaging can provide important hints in specific cases. Signal correlation with T1-weighted and fat-saturated sequences allows to differentiate true cystic lesions from hemorrhage or fat tissue.
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Early diagnosis of cognitive impairment is important because symptoms can be delayed through therapies. Synaptic disconnections are the key characteristics of dementia, and through nonlinear complexity analysis of brain function, it is possible to identify long-range synaptic disconnections in the brain. ⋯ Current findings suggest that combining measures of neural network and motor function, in addition to neuropsychological testing, may provide an accurate tool for assessing early-stage cognitive impairment and age-related decline in cognition.