Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)

PURPOSE: To implement solid state (31)P MRI ((31)P SMRI) in a clinical scanner to visualize bone mineral.
MATERIALS AND METHODS: Wrists of seven healthy volunteers were scanned. A quadrature wrist (31)P transmit/receive coil provided strong B(1) and good signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). A (1)H-(31)P frequency converter was constructed to enable detection of the (31)P signal by means of the (1)H channel. Data points lost in the receiver dead time were recovered by a second acquisition with longer dwell time and lower gradient strength.

Estimation of causal interactions between brain areas is necessary for elucidating large-scale functional brain networks underlying behavior and cognition. Granger causality analysis of time series data can quantitatively estimate directional information flow between brain regions. Here, we show that such estimates are significantly improved when the temporal sampling rate of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is increased 20-fold.

We established a strategy to perform cross-validation of serial optical coherence scanner imaging (SOCS) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) on a postmortem human medulla. Following DTI, the sample was serially scanned by SOCS, which integrates a vibratome slicer and a multi-contrast optical coherence tomography rig for large-scale three-dimensional imaging at microscopic resolution. The DTI dataset was registered to the SOCS space. An average correlation coefficient of 0.9 was found between the co-registered fiber maps constructed by fractional anisotropy and retardance contrasts.

Glucose is the principal source of energy for the brain and yet the dynamic response of glucose utilization to changes in brain activity is still not fully understood. Positron emission tomography (PET) allows quantitative measurement of glucose metabolism using 2-[(18)F]-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG). However, FDG PET in its current form provides an integral (or average) of glucose consumption over tens of minutes and lacks the temporal information to capture physiological alterations associated with changes in brain activity induced by tasks or drug challenges.

Typical brain development includes coordinated changes in both white matter (WM) integrity and cortical thickness (CT). These processes have been shown to be disrupted in schizophrenia, which is characterized by abnormalities in WM microstructure and by reduced CT. The aim of this study was to identify patterns of association between WM markers and cortex-wide CT in healthy controls (HCs) and patients with schizophrenia (SCZ).

Recent advancements in radio frequency coils, field strength and sophisticated pulse sequences have propelled modern brain mapping and have made validation to biological standards - histology and pathology - possible. The medial temporal lobe has long been established as a pivotal brain region for connectivity, function and unique structure in the human brain, and reveals disconnection in mild Alzheimer's disease.

PURPOSE: We propose a constrained optimization approach for designing parallel transmit (pTx) pulses satisfying all regulatory and hardware limits. We study the trade-offs between excitation accuracy, local and global specific absorption rate (SAR), and maximum and average power for small flip-angle pTx (eight channels) spokes pulses in the torso at 3 T and in the head at 7 T.

PURPOSE: Diffusion magnetic resonance imaging (dMRI) data with very high isotropic resolution can be obtained at 7T. However, for extensive brain coverage, a large number of slices is required, resulting in long acquisition times (TAs). Recording multiple slices simultaneously (SMS) promises to reduce the TA.

This review focuses on the ex vivo magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) modeling of medial temporal cortices and associated structures, the entorhinal verrucae and the perforant pathway. Typical in vivo MRI has limited resolution due to constraints on scan times and does not show laminae in the medial temporal lobe. Recent studies using ex vivo MRI have demonstrated lamina in the entorhinal, perirhinal, and hippocampal cortices.

Localization of sound sources is a considerable computational challenge for the human brain. Whereas the visual system can process basic spatial information in parallel, the auditory system lacks a straightforward correspondence between external spatial locations and sensory receptive fields. Consequently, the question how different acoustic features supporting spatial hearing are represented in the central nervous system is still open.