Search results for "Function"
showing 10 items of 14432 documents
Differential impact of continuous theta-burst stimulation over left and right DLPFC on planning
2011
Most neuroimaging studies on planning report bilateral activations of the dorsolateral prefron- tal cortex (dlPFC). Recently, these concurrent activations of left and right dlPFC have been shown to dou- ble dissociate with different cognitive demands imposed by the planning task: Higher demands on the extraction of task-relevant information led to stronger activation in left dlPFC, whereas higher demands on the integration of interdependent information into a coherent action sequence entailed stronger activa- tion of right dlPFC. Here, we used continuous theta-burst stimulation (cTBS) to investigate the supposed causal structure-function mapping underlying this double dissociation. Two grou…
Serial echocardiographic left ventricular ejection fraction measurements: A tool for detecting thalassemia major patients at risk of cardiac death
2013
Cardiac damage remains a major cause of mortality among patients with thalassemia major. The detection of a lower cardiac magnetic resonance T2* (CMR-T2*) signal has been suggested as a powerful predictor of the subsequent development of heart failure. However, the lack of worldwide availability of CMR-T2* facilities prevents its widespread use for follow-up evaluations of cardiac function in thalassemia major patients, warranting the need to assess the utility of other possible procedures. In this setting, the determination of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) offers an accurate and reproducible method for heart function evaluation. These findings suggest a reduction in LVEF≥7%, ov…
Reference interval determination for N-terminal-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP): A study in blood donors
2005
We assessed reference values in a group of apparently healthy blood donors. A total of 1980 blood donors was recruited and tested for the presence of NT-proBNP using a newly developed electrochemiluminescence immunoassay (ECLIA) method. NT-proBNP clustered in all blood donors below the age of 50 years and an upper limit of normal (ULN) was found to be 84 pg/ml for males and 146 pg/ml for females. Mean NT-proBNP values increased with increasing age which was due to an increasing number of individuals exceeding the ULN. Age- and gender-appropriate NT-proBNP levels decreased with increasing hemoglobin levels. Hemoglobin but not creatinine levels influenced the NT-proBNP concentration in this c…
Cardiac output in single-lead VDD pacing versus rate-matched VVIR pacing.
1995
The importance of atrioventricular synchronous pacing compared with single-chamber rate-responsive pacing is still under discussion, especially for low-intensity workload representing daily life activities. We evaluated hemodynamics in single-lead VDD pacing versus VVIR pacing in 11 patients (8 men and 3 women, aged 58.6 +/- 13.8 years) with normal left ventricular function and a previously implanted single-lead VDDR pacemaker. A low-intensity steady-state treadmill test at 1 to 2.5 mph with a gradient of 2% to 4% was performed. Cardiac output was determined using a standard carbon dioxide rebreathing technique. Initially, the VDD mode was programmed, and after 5 minutes of exercise, cardia…
Frontal hypoactivation and alterations in the reward-system during humor processing in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders
2018
Humor is a ubiquitous human ability with important implications for both social and emotional functioning. Patients with neuropsychiatric disorders, such as schizophrenia, experience difficulties in the comprehension and appreciation of humor. However, the specific neural mechanisms underlying these deficits are unknown. In the current study, we sought to elucidate the neural correlates of humor processing in patients with schizophrenia spectrum disorders (SSD). Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) was used in thirty-one patients with SSD and a control group, performing a humor processing paradigm. Both regional brain activation and parametric modulation of brain responses via subje…
Cognitive and Motor Loops of the Human Cerebro-cerebellar System
2010
Abstract We applied fMRI and diffusion-weighted MRI to study the segregation of cognitive and motor functions in the human cerebro-cerebellar system. Our fMRI results show that a load increase in a nonverbal auditory working memory task is associated with enhanced brain activity in the parietal, dorsal premotor, and lateral prefrontal cortices and in lobules VII–VIII of the posterior cerebellum, whereas a sensory-motor control task activated the motor/somatosensory, medial prefrontal, and posterior cingulate cortices and lobules V/VI of the anterior cerebellum. The load-dependent activity in the crus I/II had a specific relationship with cognitive performance: This activity correlated negat…
Repetitive TMS of cerebellum interferes with millisecond time processing
2007
Time processing is important in several cognitive and motor functions, but it is still unclear how the human brain perceives time intervals of different durations. Processing of time in millisecond and second intervals may depend on different neural networks and there is now considerable evidence to suggest that these intervals are possibly measured by independent brain mechanisms. Using repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), we determined that the cerebellum is essential in explicit temporal processing of millisecond time intervals. In the first experiment, subjects' performance in a time reproduction task of short (400-600 ms) and long (1,600-2,400 ms) intervals, were evalua…
Changes in cerebellar activation pattern during two successive sequences of saccades
2002
The changes in the cerebellar activation pattern of two successive fMRI scanning runs were determined for visually guided to‐and‐fro saccades in 12 healthy volunteers familiar with the study paradigm. Group and single subject‐analyses revealed a constant activation of the paramedian cerebellar vermis (uvula, tonsils, tuber, folium/declive), which reflects constant ocular motor activity in both runs. A significant decrease in activation of the cerebellar hemispheres found in the second run is best explained by either a decrease in attention or the effects of motor optimization and learning. The significant, systematic changes of the cerebellar activation pattern in two successive runs were n…
Are signs of ocular tilt reaction in patients with cerebellar lesions mediated by the dentate nucleus?
2008
A sensitive clinical sign of a vestibular tone imbalance in the roll plane is the ocular tilt reaction (OTR), a combination of skew deviation, ocular torsion and head and perceptual tilts such as tilts of the subjective visual vertical (SVV). Of these OTR components tilts of SVV are the most frequent. While these signs are regularly seen in patients with unilateral brainstem lesions, only a few case studies are available on their occurrence in patients with cerebellar lesions. Thus, the question arises whether cerebellar structures may be involved in contra- and/or ipsiversive tilts of the perceived vertical and other signs of OTR. We used lesion-mapping techniques in a total of 31 patients…
Increased facilitation of the primary motor cortex following 1 Hz repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation of the contralateral cerebellum in nor…
2005
Connections between the cerebellum and the contralateral motor cortex are dense and important, but their physiological significance is difficult to measure in humans. We have studied a group of 10 healthy subjects to test whether a modulation of the excitability of the left cerebellum can affect the excitability of the contralateral motor cortex. We used repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) at 1 Hz frequency to transiently depress the excitability of the left cerebellar cortex and paired-pulse TMS testing of intracortical inhibition (ICI) and intracortical facilitation (ICF) to probe the excitability of cortico-cortical connections in the right motor cortex. The cortical sile…