Search results for "MRI."

2020

(1) Background: Assessments of intervertebral disc (IVD) changes, and IVD tissue adaptations due to physical activity, for example, remains challenging. Newer magnetic resonance imaging techniques can quantify detailed features of the IVD, where T2-mapping and T2-weighted (T2w) and Dixon imaging are potential candidates. Yet, their relative utility has not been examined. The performances of these techniques were investigated to characterize IVD differences in asymptomatic individuals with distinct physical activity histories. (2) Methods: In total, 101 participants (54 women) aged 25–35 years with distinct physical activity histories but without histories of spinal disease were included. T1…

MRI findings and physical performance as predictors of flight-induced musculoskeletal pain incidence among fighter pilots

2017

Summary Study aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the possible association of pre-career magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) find­ings and physical performance level with possible musculoskeletal disorders during jet flight training. Material and methods: The study group consisted of 73 fighter pilots who had undergone pre-career cervical and lumbar spine MRI. Physical performance of a subgroup of the pilots (n = 67) was measured initially at the same time and followed up to the fast jet training phase (ranging from 3.8 to 7.0 years). Musculoskeletal pain history during pilot training was taken from the medical charts. MRI findings and physical performance were associated with perceived…

MRI evaluation to predict tendon size for knee ligament reconstruction.

2017

Background The aim of this study is to evaluate a possible correlation between specific anthropometric parameters and sizes of knee tendons commonly used for ACL reconstruction. We hypothesized that specific clinical and radiological knee measurements could be better tendon sizes predictors than age, gender, height and weight. Materials and methods 100 consecutive patients were enrolled and 77 patients met the inclusion criteria of the study. All patients underwent a MRI of the knee with a 1.5 T super conducting MR System. For each patient, anthropometric data such as gender, height, weight, body mass index (BMI) and knee circumference were recorded. Specific MRI knee measurements were perf…

On application of kernel PCA for generating stimulus features for fMRI during continuous music listening

2018

Background There has been growing interest towards naturalistic neuroimaging experiments, which deepen our understanding of how human brain processes and integrates incoming streams of multifaceted sensory information, as commonly occurs in real world. Music is a good example of such complex continuous phenomenon. In a few recent fMRI studies examining neural correlates of music in continuous listening settings, multiple perceptual attributes of music stimulus were represented by a set of high-level features, produced as the linear combination of the acoustic descriptors computationally extracted from the stimulus audio. New method fMRI data from naturalistic music listening experiment were…

Connectivity Patterns During Music Listening: Evidence for Action-Based Processing in Musicians

2017

Musical expertise is visible both in the morphology and functionality of the brain. Recent research indicates that functional integration between multi-sensory, somato-motor, default-mode (DMN), and salience (SN) networks of the brain differentiates musicians from non-musicians during resting state. Here, we aimed at determining whether brain networks differentially exchange information in musicians as opposed to non-musicians during naturalistic music listening. Whole-brain graph-theory analyses were performed on participants' fMRI responses. Group-level differences revealed that musicians' primary hubs comprised cerebral and cerebellar sensorimotor regions whereas non-musicians' dominant …

Brain integrative function driven by musical training during real-world music listening

2017

The present research investigated differences in the brain dynamics of continuous, real-world music listening between listeners with and without professional musical training, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). A replication study was aimed at validating the reliability of the naturalistic approach to studying brain responses to music, wherein the brain signal and the acoustic information extracted from the musical stimulus were correlated. After a successful replication, a series of three studies dealt with differences in integrative brain function during music listening between musicians and nonmusicians. Findings (a) emphasized the crucial role of the distinctive postura…

Processing of an Audiobook in the Human Brain Is Shaped by Cultural Family Background

2022

Funding Information: Funding: This work was supported by the Academy of Finland [257811, 273469, 276643, 287474, 332309]; Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation; Emil Aaltonen Foundation; Paulo Foundation and Russian Science Foundation grant [No: 22-48-08002]. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. Perception of the same narrative can vary between individuals depending on a listener’s previous experiences. We studied whether and how cultural family background may shape the processing of an audiobook in the human brain. During functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), 48 healthy volunteers from two different cultural family backgrounds listened to an audi…

Parietal Cortex Connectivity as a Marker of Shift in Spatial Attention Following Continuous Theta Burst Stimulation

2021

Non-invasive brain stimulation is a useful tool to probe brain function and provide therapeutic treatments in disease. When applied to the right posterior parietal cortex (PPC) of healthy participants, it is possible to temporarily shift spatial attention and mimic symptoms of spatial neglect. However, the field of brain stimulation is plagued by issues of high response variability. The aim of this study was to investigate baseline functional connectivity as a predictor of response to an inhibitory brain stimulation paradigm applied to the right PPC. In fourteen healthy adults (9 female, aged 24.8 ± 4.0 years) we applied continuous theta burst stimulation (cTBS) to suppress activity in the …

Gūžas locītavas osteoartrīta radioloģisko pazīmju izmaiņas sešu mēnešu periodā pēc mononukleāro šūnu injekcijas

2017

Darba aktualitāte: Osteoartrīts (OA) ir hroniska deģeneratīva locītavu slimība, kura izplatība pieaug līdz ar vecumu. Gūžas locītavas OA samazina cilvēka dzīves kvalitāti. Klasiski OA ārstēšana ir simptomātiska. Tā kā OA procesā galvenokārt tiek iesaistīts locītavas skrimslis, kura pašatjaunošanās notiek ļoti vāji, ir nepieciešama terapija, kas atjaunotu skrimšļa un, iespējams, arī citu locītavas veidojošo audu struktūru. Viena iespēja ir terapija ar mezenhimālajām cilmes šūnām, kas iegūtas no mononukleāro šūnu frakcijas, kas tiek iegūta no paša pacienta kaulu smadzenēm. Mērķis: Noteikt struktūru izmaiņas pēc mononukleāro šūnu injekcijas gūžas locītavās ar OA, izmantojot magnētiskās rezonan…

Rotator cuff calcific tendinopathy: from diagnosis to treatment

2018

Rotator cuff calcific tendinopathy (RCCT) is a very common condition caused by the presence of calcific deposits in the rotator cuff (RC) or in the subacromial-subdeltoid (SASD) bursa when calcification spreads around the tendons. The pathogenetic mechanism of RCCT is still unclear. It seems to be related to cell-mediated disease in which metaplastic transformation of tenocytes into chondrocytes induces calcification inside the tendon of the RC. RCCT is a frequent finding in the RC that may cause significant shoulder pain and disability. It can be easily diagnosed with imaging studies as conventional radiography (CR) or ultrasound (US). Conservative management of RCCT usually involves rest,…