Neuro: Brains or Bust

Monday 12 May 2014        10:45 - 11:45

Space 1/Power Poster Theatre & Traditional Poster Hall 
Moderators: Patricia Desmond, M.D. & Pramit Phal, M.D.

Click on this video icon to view the introductory session.

Mayank V Jog¹, Robert Smith², Kay Jann², Walter Dunn³, Allan Wu², and Danny JJ Wang^2
1Biomedical Engineering, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States, ²Neurology, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States, ³Psychiatry, University of California Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California, United States

Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS) is a neuromodulation technique shown to have applications in stroke, pain-relief and cognition. tDCS is attractive as a treatment modality since it involves low currents and basic electrode placement on the surface of the head. To date, only mathematical modeling has been used to study tDCS-induced currents on the brain. We used MRI field mapping for in-vivo visualization of tDCS-induced electric currents (Basis: Ampere’s law). Utilizing concurrent tDCS-MRI with a Real/Sham paradigm, we observed significant magnetic field or phase changes in the brain parenchyma providing imaging evidence that tDCS effects do penetrate inside the brain.

Sandeep K Ganji^1,2, Zhongxu An¹, Akshay Madan¹, Elizabeth A Maher^3,4, and Changho Choi^1,2
1Advanced Imaging Research Center, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United States, ²Radiology, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United States, ³Department of Internal Medicine, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United States, ⁴Harold C. Simmons Cancer Center, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX, United States

Recent studies have developed several techniques for measurement of 2-hydroxyglutarate (2HG) levels in brain gliomas and substantiate 2HG levels as a useful clinical biomarker. However for transitioning these methods to routine clinical use and obtain clinically significant results requires rigorous validation and testing. The purpose of this study was to perform repeated measurement of 2HG levels in a group of glioma patients and to determine intersession reproducibility, and repeatability.

Harm J van de Haar¹, Saartje Burgmans¹, Matthias JP van Osch², Jacobus FA Jansen³, Frank CG van Bussel¹, Sau May Wong¹, Martijn Wolters³, Cécile RLPN Jeukens³, Mark A van Buchem², Paul AM Hofman³, Frans RJ Verhey¹, and Walter H Backes^3
1University of Maastricht, Maastricht, Netherlands, ²Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, Netherlands, ³Maastricht University Medical Center, Maastricht, Netherlands

Blood-brain barrier defects prior to neuronal damage are a potential underlying mechanism for dementia. A dual-temporal resolution Dynamic Contrast Enhanced (DCE)-MRI protocol was used to detect differences in terms of fractional plasma volume (vp) and BBB leakage (Ki) in patients suffering from Alzheimer’s disease. The results suggest significantly stronger leakage in normal appearing white matter in the patients compared to the healthy controls, which supports our hypothesis that BBB leakage is increased in patients with (preclinical) Alzheimer’s dementia. Longitudinal research is necessary to reveal the exact relationship with Alzheimer pathology and small vessel disease.

Min Sheng¹, Carrie J. McAdams², Peiying Liu¹, Binu P. Thomas¹, and Hanzhang Lu^1
1Advanced Imaging Research Center, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, United States, ²Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, United States

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a fatal psychiatric disorder. A better understanding of physiological changes in AN patients may help provide a brain-specific health marker, guide treatment, and predict risk for future conditions. In this report, we conducted a systematic study on potential physiological deficits in currently-ill and long term weight-recovered anorexia patients. It appears that, the currently-ill patients receive reduced oxygen delivery to the brain, but the brain compensates for this small reduction. For the recovered patients, they still receive less blood supply to the brain and extract a larger fraction of oxygen from incoming blood to meet their metabolic demand.

Yan Li¹, Yining Huang², Jue Zhang^1,3, and Jing Fang^1,3
1Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University, Beijing, Beijing, China, ²Dept. of Neurology, Peking University First Hospital, Beijing, Beijing, China, ³College of Enigneering, Peking University, Beijing, Beijing, China

Cerebral microbleeds (CMBs) are known to be highly prevalent in patients admitted with ischemic stroke and intracerebral bleeding. Experience depended manual detection of them is time-consuming and has limited reproducibility. In the present study, a computer aided system for the CMBs detection is proposed, which is based on the anatomical location information and the multi-features extracted from the MR images. Compared with the traditional manual method and the other semi-automated methods presented before, the detection system showed a better performance, and has the potential to be used as a convenient tool for clinical detection of CMBs.

Hardik Doshi¹, Ira Casson², David Viano^3,4, John Woodard⁵, E Mark Haacke³, and Zhifeng Kou^3
1Biomedical Engineering, Wayne State University School, Detroit, mi, United States, ²Department of Neurology, Long Island Jewish Medical Center, New Hyde Park, NY, United States, ³Biomedical Engineering and Radiology, Wayne State University School of Medicine, Detroit, MI, United States,⁴ProBiomechanics LLC, Bloomfield Hills, MI, United States, ⁵Department of Phychology, Wayne State University School, Detroit, MI, United States

There are about 1.6-3.9 million sports injury only in USA each year. Specially, players of sports like American football, hockey, boxing etc are more susceptible to injury. Many athletes present constellation of post concussion symptoms (PCS). Further, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) has been also reported related with sports concussion. Cingulum Cortex is an important hub for emotional and memory processing. The main motivation behind this study is to investigate the effects of multiple traumas on the volumes of anterior and posterior cingulum cortex (ACC & PCC) and determine its effects on Neuropsych and functional test scores.

Xin Hong¹, Ling Guo¹, Roy Teo², Yi Lin Tay², Xuan Vinh To¹, Reshmi Rajendran¹, Si Kang Lew¹, Yee Ling Tan¹, Yihui Huang², Michael R. Hayden^2,3, Mahmoud A. Pouladi^2,3, and Kai-Hsiang Chuang^1
1Singapore Bioimaging Consortium, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore, Singapore, Singapore, ²Translational Laboratory in Genetic Medicine, Agency for Science, Technology and Research, Singapore, Singapore, ³Department of Medicine, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

We performed a longitudinal DTI study to monitor the microstructural changes in white matter (WM) in presymptomatic YAC128 mouse model of Huntington's disease (HD). In YAC128 mice compared to wild-type, decreased fractional anisotropy and parallel diffusivity, and increased radial diffusivity are found in WM regions in a progressive pattern starting from different ages, as early as 1.5 months. This is preceded by deficits in myelin-related transcripts as early as 2 weeks of age. Our results suggest that damage to both myelin and axons may contribute to the observed dynamic and progressive WM abnormalities in presymptomatic YAC128 HD model.

Byeong-Yeul Lee¹, Xiao-Hong Zhu¹, and Wei Chen^1
1Center for Magnetic Resonance Research, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States

The cerebral ATP synthase (ATPase) and creatine kinase (CK) reactions are essential in supporting brain energy and function. In this study, we investigated the central role of oxidative phosphorylation of ATP in response to functional visual stimulus in the human visual cortex using the in vivo 31P MRS with magnetization transfer technique at 7T; and to further study its temporal evolution during and after the stimulation. It was found that both ATPase and CK metabolic fluxes increased during the visual stimulation. Interestingly, the elevated ATPase enzyme activity recovered rapidly to the baseline level after the stimulation; in contrast, a high CK enzyme activity persisted during the sustained post-stimulation period, suggesting distinct roles of ATPase and CK reactions in brain function. More importantly, the significant increase of ATPase observed in this study indicates a high demand of oxidative ATP synthesis/utilization in the activated brain region in supporting the elevated neuronal activity.

Marc Benhamou¹, Vladimir Fonov², Manuel Taso^3,4, Arnaud Le Troter^3,4, Michaël Sdika⁵, Louis Collins², Virginie Callot^3,4, and Julien Cohen-Adad^1
1Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Polytechnique Montreal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, ²Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University, Quebec, Canada, ³Aix-Marseille Université, CNRS, CRMBM UMR 7339, Marseille, France, ⁴APHM, Hôpital de la Timone, CEMEREM, Marseille, France, ⁵: Université de Lyon, CREATIS; CNRS UMR5220; Inserm U1044; INSA-Lyon; Université Lyon 1, Lyon, France

Template-based methods offer a reliable way to conduct inter-subject studies. Building upon recent developments of a spinal cord template, this study focuses on the construction of an atlas of spinal white matter pathways. Cross-sectional drawings of Gray’s anatomy were manually segmented, then warped to the MNI-POLY-AMU_v1 template using symmetric diffeomorphic transformation. The atlas was then propagated between C1 and T1 vertebral levels, yielding 30 different regions of interest, taking into account partial volume effect. We demonstrate the utility of this atlas for quantifying diffusion-tensor-imaging data in five healthy volunteers. The method can be extrapolated to other multiparametric techniques.

Gwenaelle Douaud¹, Adrian Groves¹, Christian Tamnes², Lars Westlye³, Andreas Engvig², Kristine Wavhold², Anthony James⁴, Achim Gass⁵, Andreas Monsch⁶, Paul Matthews⁷, Anders Fjell², Stephen Smith¹, and Heidi Johansen-Berg^1
1FMRIB Centre, University of Oxford, Oxford, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom, ²Research Group for Lifespan Changes in Brain and Cognition, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway, ³KG Jebsen Centre for Psychosis Research, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway, ⁴Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford, Oxfordshire, United Kingdom, ⁵Department of Neurology, University of Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, ⁶Memory Clinic, University Hospital Basel, Basel, Switzerland, ⁷Department of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom

Although several models of brain structure link processes of development and aging, direct evidence for such a relationship remains elusive. Here, we show that brain structural variation across 484 healthy participants identifies one largely transmodal network whose pattern of lifespan age-related change intrinsically supports the “last-in-first-out” hypothesis. We further demonstrate that this network defines areas of heightened vulnerability for disorders impacting the adolescent and ageing brain – specifically schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s. This suggests that the spatial pattern in these disorders is not necessarily specific to these two distinct disease processes, but rather to their timing in disrupting healthy cerebral development and ageing.

Adam T Eggebrecht¹, Silvina L Ferradal², Amy Robichaux-Viehoever¹, Mahlega Hassanpour³, Hamid Dehghani⁴, Abraham Z Snyder⁵, Tamara Hershey⁶, and Joseph P Culver^1,2
1Radiology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, United States, ²Biomedical Engineering, Washington University School of Medicine, MO, United States, ³Physics, Washington University School of Medicine, MO, United States, ⁴School of Computer Science, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom, ⁵Neurology, Washington University School of Medicine, MO, United States, ⁶Psychiatry, Washington University School of Medicine, MO, United States

Mapping distributed brain function has transformed our understanding of brain function. Brain function traditionally, has been studied with positron emission tomography (PET) and with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). However, PET uses ionizing radiation, which is not permitted as an experimental procedure in children. fMRI involves exposure to strong magnetic fields and induced electric fields, which is contraindicated in patients with implanted electronic devices (e.g., deep brain stimulators, pacemakers, cochlear implants). I present herein a large field-of-view high-density diffuse optical tomography (HD-DOT) system with anatomical modeling approaches that collectively provide new imaging capabilities and enable novel milestones for optical neuroimaging.

Hassan Bagher-Ebadian^1,2, Marie Luby³, James R Ewing^2,4, Panayiotis Mitsias⁴, and Hamid Soltanian-Zadeh^1,5
1Radiology, Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, MI, United States, ²Physics, Oakland University, Rochester, MI, United States, ³National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, MD, United States, ⁴Neurology, Henry Ford Hospital, Detroit, MI, United States, ⁵CIPCE, ECE Dept., University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

This pilot study introduces four different adaptive-models (the inelastic-collision (IC) model, the Kohonen-Multi-Parametric-Self-Organizing-Map (KMP-SOM), the Generalized-Linear-Model (GLM) and an Artificial-Neural-Network) for multi-parametric analysis. These models are applied on acute MR information of eleven treatment-naïve patients to predict tissue recovery in chronic stroke. All patients presenting with acute neurological deficit consistent with stroke, and had MRI studies done within 24h of onset. Results imply that adaptive models are capable of identifying the ischemic growth (in pattern and size), and may describe tissue viability. Thus adaptive models can play important role in the assessment of acute and sub-acute therapeutic interventions of stroke.

Mark Drakesmith¹, Anirban Dutt², Glyn Lewis³, Anthony S David², and Derek K Jones^1
1CUBRIC, Cardiff University, Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom, ²Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London, London, United Kingdom, ³Academic Unit of Psychiatry, University of Bristol, Bristol, United Kingdom

Psychosis has long been considered a disconnection syndrome. Graph theory is a useful tool for examining dysconnectivity in psychosis. Here we apply the approach to tractography data acquired from subjects with sub-clinical psychotic experiences. We show that density and efficiency of structural brain networks is significantly lower in subjects with psychotic experiences. There were regional decreases in efficiency and node degree and differences in betweenness centrality and clustering coefficient. Local changes in network structure were found in inferior frontal, temporopolar, cingulate and occipitoparietal cortices. Identifying future transitions to full psychosis will further isolate graph theoretical predictors of psychotic illness.

Steve H Fung^1,2, Christof Karmonik^1,2, Mario F Dulay^1,2, Belen Pascual^1,2, Daniel Y Lee^1,2, Stephen B Chiang^1,2, Ronald E Fisher^1,2, Robert G Grossman^1,2, Bryan M Spann^1,2, and Gustavo C Roman^1,2
1Houston Methodist Research Institute, Houston, Texas, United States, ²Houston Methodist Hospital, Houston, Texas, United States

Pattern of regional cerebral hypometabolism observed by FDG-PET is well-established technique for diagnosing Alzheimer’s disease as well as differentiation from other causes of dementia. Recent studies using ASL have shown similar diagnostic utility by observing regional cerebral hypoperfusion pattern. We compared regional and voxel-level CBF estimated from ASL to SUV from FDG-PET, test-retest reliability of CBF from ASL, and CBF from ASL in eyes-open versus eyes-closed states in patients evaluated for neurodegenerative disease. Aside for occipital lobe, we found good correlation between CBF on ASL and SUV on FDG-PET, in agreement with previous published studies. Due to discrepancy in the occipital lobe, caution should be made in interpreting occipital hypoperfusion with ASL, especially when considering dementia with Lewy bodies or Parkinson’s disease.

Torben Schneider¹, Wallace Brownlee¹, Hui Zhang², Olga Ciccarelli³, David H Miller¹, and Claudia A. M. Wheeler-Kingshott^1
1NMR Research Unit, Department of Neuroinflammation, Queen Square MS Centre, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, United Kingdom, ²Department of Computer Science & Centre for Medical Image Computing, UCL, London, United Kingdom, ³Department of Brain Repair and Rehabilitation, UCL Institute of Neurology, London, United Kingdom

Neurite orientation and dispersion and density imaging (NODDI) is a new technique that promises unique insight into the density and orientation dispersion of neuronal tissue. In this pilot study we apply NODDI for the first time to Multiple Sclerosis patients and compare with standard DTI metrics. We show that NODDI detects and provides more distinction of the microstructural disruption in Multiple Sclerosis in both lesional tissue and normal appearing white matter compared to healthy controls.