Journal of visualized experiments : JoVE
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Cortical folding (gyrification) is determined during the first months of life, so that adverse events occurring during this period leave traces that will be identifiable at any age. As recently reviewed by Mangin and colleagues(2), several methods exist to quantify different characteristics of gyrification. For instance, sulcal morphometry can be used to measure shape descriptors such as the depth, length or indices of inter-hemispheric asymmetry(3). ⋯ This process is repeatedly iterated with largely overlapping regions of interest, resulting in cortical maps of gyrification for subsequent statistical comparisons (Fig. 1). Of note, another measurement of local gyrification with a similar inspiration was proposed by Toro and colleagues(7), where the folding index at each point is computed as the ratio of the cortical area contained in a sphere divided by the area of a disc with the same radius. The two implementations differ in that the one by Toro et al. is based on Euclidian distances and thus considers discontinuous patches of cortical area, whereas ours uses a strict geodesic algorithm and include only the continuous patch of cortical area opening at the brain surface in a circular region of interest.
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Diabetes mellitus is a major independent risk factor for increased morbidity and mortality in the hospitalized patient, and elevated blood glucose concentrations, even in non-diabetic patients, predicts poor outcomes. The 2008 consensus statement by the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) and the American Diabetes Association (ADA) states that "hyperglycemia in hospitalized patients, irrespective of its cause, is unequivocally associated with adverse outcomes." It is important to recognize that hyperglycemia occurs in patients with known or undiagnosed diabetes as well as during acute illness in those with previously normal glucose tolerance. The Normoglycemia in Intensive Care Evaluation-Survival Using Glucose Algorithm Regulation (NICE-SUGAR) study involved over six thousand adult intensive care unit (ICU) patients who were randomized to intensive glucose control or conventional glucose control. ⋯ Specifically, a substantial increase in the time spent within the target blood glucose concentration range, as well as a decrease in the prevalence of severe hypoglycemia (BG < 40 mg/dL), clinical hypoglycemia (BG < 70 mg/dL), and hyperglycemia (BG > 180 mg/dL), was witnessed in the first five months after implementation of the computerized glucose management system. The computerized system achieved target concentrations in greater than 75% of all readings while minimizing the risk of hypoglycemia. The prevalence of hypoglycemia (BG < 70 mg/dL) with the use of the computer glucose management system was well under 1%.
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Fear is maladaptive when it persists long after circumstances have become safe. It is therefore crucial to develop an approach that persistently prevents the return of fear. Pavlovian fear-conditioning paradigms are commonly employed to create a controlled, novel fear association in the laboratory. ⋯ A recent study employing this behavioral manipulation in rats has successfully blocked fear memory using these temporal parameters. Additional studies in humans have demonstrated that introducing new information after the retrieval of previously consolidated motor, episodic, or declarative memories leads to interference with the original memory trace. We outline below a novel protocol used to block fear recovery in humans.
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Auditory cortex pertains to the processing of sound, which is at the basis of speech or music-related processing. However, despite considerable recent progress, the functional properties and lateralization of the human auditory cortex are far from being fully understood. Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) is a non-invasive technique that can transiently or lastingly modulate cortical excitability via the application of localized magnetic field pulses, and represents a unique method of exploring plasticity and connectivity. ⋯ Here, fMRI was carried out before and immediately after TMS to provide direct measures of the functional organization of the auditory cortex, and more specifically of the plastic reorganization of the auditory neural network occurring after the neural intervention provided by TMS. Combined fMRI and TMS applied over the auditory cortex should enable a better understanding of brain mechanisms of auditory processing, providing physiological information about functional effects of TMS. This knowledge could be useful for many cognitive neuroscience applications, as well as for optimizing therapeutic applications of TMS, particularly in auditory-related disorders.
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Neuroimaging studies of human cognitive, sensory, and motor processes are usually based on noninvasive techniques such as electroencephalography (EEG), magnetoencephalography or functional magnetic-resonance imaging. These techniques have either inherently low temporal or low spatial resolution, and suffer from low signal-to-noise ratio and/or poor high-frequency sensitivity. Thus, they are suboptimal for exploring the short-lived spatio-temporal dynamics of many of the underlying brain processes. ⋯ The results from our passive SIGFRIED mapping technique have been shown to exhibit substantial concurrence with the results derived using ECS mapping. The protocol described in this paper establishes a general methodology for gathering human ECoG data, before proceeding to illustrate how experiments can be initiated using the BCI2000 software platform. Finally, as a specific example, we describe how to perform passive functional mapping using the BCI2000-based SIGFRIED system.