• Neuroinformatics

The purpose of this study was to document a normal range of measures observed in cranial transillumination obtained from testing neurologically intact full-term infants. Ranges, means, and standards deviations in millimeters of transilluminated light of five regions of the skull, i.e., anterior fontanel, frontal midline, left biparietal, right biparietal, and occipital midline regions, were determined. Additional variables, e.g. molding, age when tested, sex, birth weight, type of delivery, head circumference, and size of the anterior fontanel, were analyzed to ascertain if there was any relationship between these variables and the amount of light transilluminated. The study was conducted at the Latter-day Saints Hospital during a 3-week time period. Forty-seven infants were tested between the twenty -fourth and seventy-second hours of life. Parental informed consent was obtained prior to conducting the transillumination procedure. The data were analyzed through the University of Utah Computer Center utilizing a Univac computer. A breakdown program and P Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient were obtained. More light was observed in the anterior fontanel and frontal midline regions than the biparietal areas and more in the biparietal areas than the occipital areas. Generally, the amount of transilluminated light seemed to decrease from the anterior to posterior regions of the head when suture lines were open or adjacent. When the sagittal suture line was overriding there was an increase in the amount of transillumination observed in the frontal midline area. Total transilluminated light, i.e., the sum of the millimeter reading for the five skull areas, was also considered for each infant. The mean was 30.02 millimeters. Standard deviation was 5.77 millimeters. Thirty-one infants scored in this range. Fourteen infants scored in the second standard deviation. Two infants scored above the second standard deviation. These infants were presented. Increasing amounts of light were noted in infants tested from 24 to 37 hours of age, then the amount of transilluminated light showed a slight decline. This trend should be further investigated. Problems and concerns noted during the study as well a recommendations and implications for future research in this areas were discussed.

BSI in paired channels

A number of child psychiatric disorders have recently been associated with specific structural brain abnormalities. This article discusses the advantages of neuroimaging for genetic studies, such as clarifying etiologic heterogeneity and establishing pathophysiology. The advantages of twin or family designs for neuroimaging investigations are also discussed.

Neuromyelitis optica (NMO) is a demyelinating disease consisting of relapsing-remitting optic neuritis and myelitis with a more severe course than Multiple Sclerosis. Recently, it has been shown that almost 50% of patients with NMO can have brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) abnormalities. We report on six Brazilian patients with NMO, fulfilling the 1999 Wingerchuck criteria for this disease, with abnormal brain MRI and discuss their clinical and radiological features.Neuromielite óptica (NMO) é doença desmielinizante, remitente-recorrente, com acometimento predominante dos nervos ópticos e medula espinal e uma evolução mais grave comparada à esclerose múltipla. Estudos recentes demonstraram que até 50% dos pacientes com NMO podem apresentar lesões encefálicas à ressonância magnética (RM). Relatamos seis pacientes brasileiros com NMO, que satisfazem os critérios diagnósticos de Wingerchuck (1999) para NMO, com alterações encefálicas em RM de encéfalo e discutimos seus dados clínicos e de imagem.

Neuroimaging techniques in schizophrenia are powerful tools for understanding the disease process, either through investigation of structural brain abnormalities or through in vivo functions across th

Specific cognitive abilities and motor function were investigated at 5½ years in 104 children of epileptic mothers and in 105 control children with normal intelligence at the Child Neurology Department, Children’s Castle Hospital, Lastenlinnantie, Helsinki, Finland.

Behavioral and EEG asymmetry and asynchrony of 8,680 infantile spasms were analysed in a review of 75 consecutive video-EEG recordings performed at UCLA Medical Center, Los Angeles from 1982 to 1992.

Since the first study in stimulant-dependent individuals using structural MRI was published fifteen years ago, much evidence has accumulated on brain abnormalities associated with stimulant drug dependence. Here we conducted a voxel-based morphometry meta-analysis of published MRI data in stimulant-dependent individuals to clarify the most robust abnormalities underlying the disorder. We found that neuroimaging studies in stimulant-dependent individuals consistently report a gray matter decline in the prefrontal cortex regions associated with self-regulation and self-awareness. One of the next key questions that neuroimaging research today needs to address is the question of causality, namely to what extent these brain abnormalities are caused by the toxic effects of drug exposure, or the possibility that these may have predated drug-taking and even predisposed individuals for the development of drug dependence. Although the question of causality has not yet been answered completely, there has been significant progress made to date.

The impairment and severity of schizophrenia, comparable in disability and lost human potential to other (more established) neurologic disorders, belied its earlier characterization as a psychologic malady devoid of organic causation or pathology. Although its fundamental pathobiology remains elusive, an ever-increasing array of neuroimaging technologies now provides compelling evidence of (subtle) abnormalities of cerebral structure and function in patients with schizophrenia. This article reviews the progress thus far, as the Decade of the Brain draws to a close, in understanding the nature and extent of structural brain abnormalities observed in neuroimaging studies of schizophrenia.

Advances in neonatal neuroimaging have improved detection of preterm brain injury responsible for abnormal neuromotor and cognitive development. Increasingly sophisticated MR imaging setups allow scanning during early preterm life. In this review, we investigated how brain MR imaging in preterm infants should be timed to best predict long-term outcome. Given the strong evidence that structural brain abnormalities are related to long-term neurodevelopment, MR imaging should preferably be performed at term-equivalent age. Early MR imaging is promising because it can guide early intervention studies and is indispensable in research on preterm brain injury.