Mental chess allows investigating the network of brain areas underlying mental imagery in highly trained individuals. Three amateur chess players (ELO rating > 2000) performed imagined chess movements (rule retrieval by examining movement options, initial moves during opening session) using an alternating task design (30 s activation, 30 s baseline). Control conditions included continuous multiplication of single-digit numbers and arbitrary movements on the chessboard. Real-time whole brain fMRI was performed on a 1.5 T MR scanner (TR 3 s, TE 66 ms, voxel size 6x6x6 mm3). Rule retrieval versus number multiplication resulted in strong activations in parietal cortex (precuneus) and weaker activity in temporal cortex, bilateral dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (BA46, BA9), bilateral motor cortex and in visual areas, possibly area V4/V5, consistent with results from PET and SPECT studies (1,2). Opening moves versus arbitrary movements, as well as rule retrieval versus arbitrary movements, resulted in predominant...

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been used to assess disturbances in brain function and structure following mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). As of yet, however, there is no definitive MRI-based biomarker of mTBI or its associated symptoms. Recent...

A machine learning-based scheme was employed to predict the valence of the autobiographical memories recalled by human subjects based on the information contained in a single functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) scan. Subjects (N = 11, 6 females...

Stroke is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States. Advances in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) have improved diagnostic assessment of stroke-affected brain involvement where accurate quantification is believed important in diagnosis and ...

Amyloid deposition in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) occurs many years before cognitive impairment. Brain imaging techniques targeting plaques will have an important diagnostic value and may help in identifying individuals in preclinical stages of AD. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has a much higher resolution than positron enhanced tomography (PET) imaging and, therefore, is a more sensitive method to detect amyloid plaques. In our initial proof-of-concept studies (Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, in press), we utilized Aβ1-40 peptide, labeled with gadolinium or monocrystalline iron oxide nanoparticles (MION). When either of these ligands is injected in vivo systemically with mannitol to transiently open the blood-brain-barrier, we are able to image ex vivo the majority of Aβ plaques in Tg mice. Using Gd labeled Aβ1-40 and in vivo μMRI, we can also detect a substantial percentage of amyloid lesions. There is a high correlation between the numerical density of Aβ plaques detected by μMRI and by immunohistochemi...

Week of April 29, 2019: Read the Latest Advocacy and Science News

Introduction:Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) provides an indirect measure of cerebral activation via changes in blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) signal,which assumes a coupling between neural activity and tissue oxygenation changes.We sought to determine whether blood pressure(BP) changes contribute to functional activation detected by fMRI.Methods:Images were acquired in rats using a 9.4T MR system prior to and following a BP increase or decrease with and without electrical stimulation of the forepaw.Four BP ranges were investigated (1-30,31-45,46-60 and >60 mmHg).Transient BP increases were produced with norepinephrine (e.g.0.15-1.2ug/kg,I.V.)and decreases with arfonad (e.g.0.5-3.25mg/kg,I.V.).Fuzzy clustering (EvIdent) and cross-correlation analysis were used to identify voxels of apparent activation in response to stimulation or the BP time course measured arterially.Results: Electrical stimulation of the forepaw produced activation in the sensory-motor cortex.This activation increased ...

Background: Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has been used previously to characterize changes in the brains of aging dogs. Old dogs have cortical atrophy and enlarged ventricles compared to brains of the younger dogs when examined with conventional MRI....

Check out these newsworthy studies from the March 29, 2017, issue of JNeurosci. Media interested in obtaining the full text of the studies should contact media@sfn.org.

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