Techniques

This book provides an introduction to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the scanning technique that allows the mapping of active processes within the brain. There are six sections to the book, with chapters from an international team. Part I provides a broad overview of the field and sets the context. Part II describes the physiological and physical background to fMRI, including coverage of the hardware required and pulse-sequence selection. Practical issues involving experimental design of the paradigms, psycho-physical stimulus delivery, and subject response are covered in Part III, followed by a comprehensive treatment of data analysis in Part IV. Part V deals with practical applications of the technique in the field of neuroscience and in clinical practice. The final section describes how fMRI can be integrated with other neuro-electromagnetic functional mapping techniques.

This book provides an atlas of the normal human brain based on three dimensional reconstructions of magnetic resonance scans obtained in normal living adults as well as neurological patients with focal brain lesions. It provides detailed descriptions of sulci and gyri and illustrates how they appear in different brains. The book shows how different slice orientations obtained in the same brain produce different images that can be anatomically misinterpreted, in normal brains as well as brains with lesions. The book also addresses quantitative differences between the human brain and the brains of apes; gray and white matter differences between the hemispheres; and differences related to gender, age, and congenital deafness.

The field of research in 5-hydroxytryptamine has exploded into furious activity over the past decade and nowhere have the implications been more far reaching than in psychiatry. Thanks largely to the introduction of radioligand-binding techniques, a bewildering variety of 5-hydroxytryptamine receptors has been revealed, and powerful new families of centrally active drugs have emerged. The importance of these new discoveries for psychiatric practice can hardly be exaggerated. To mention but one example, our understanding, and with it the treatment, of obsessive-compulsive disorder has been transformed in a very few years. The excitement continues, and almost daily, some important new insight, usually drug led, alters our whole perception of psychiatric illness. Due to this activity, the CINP chose 5-hydroxytryptamine and psychiatry as the topic for its first President's Workshop. The CINP is an international neuropharmacological organization renowned for its massive, comprehensive, and prestigious biennial congress. It recently decided to complement these with a different type of gathering, a small brain-storming meeting, dominated by a free-flowing discussion. The record of this first President's Workshop is recorded here.

Since the 1980s, MRI scanners have told us much about brain function and played an important role in the clinical diagnosis of a number of conditions — both in the brain and the rest of the body. Their routine use has made the diagnosis of brain tumours and brain damage both quicker and more accurate. However, some neuroscientific advances, in particular those that relate specifically to the mind have provoked excitement and discussion in a number of disciplines. One of the most thought provoking developments in recent neuroscience has been the progress made with ‘mind-reading’. There seems nothing more private than one's thoughts, some of which we might choose to share with others, and some not. Yet, until now, little has been published on the particular issue of privacy in relation to ‘brain’ or ‘mind’ reading. This book presents an interdisciplinary account of the neuroscientific evidence on ‘mind reading’, as well as a thorough analysis of both legal and moral accounts of privacy. The book considers such issues as the use of imaging to detect awareness in those considered to be in a vegetative state. It looks at issues of mental imaging and national security, the neurobiology of violence, and issues regarding diminished responsibility in criminals, and thus reduced punishment. It also considers how the use of neuroimaging can and should be regulated.

This volume provides up-to-date information concerning new applications of brain imaging to the study of Parkinson’s disease (PD). The chapters, written by experts in this field, focus on the various imaging methodologies that have recently been used to study the natural history of the disease with emphasis on each of the distinctive clinical features that characterize the disorder (e.g., bradykinesia, rigidity, tremor and gait disturbance). Individual chapters also address the role of imaging in differential diagnosis, and in the evaluation of cognitive dysfunction/dementia in parkinsonian patients. Considerable emphasis is placed on potential applications of neuroimaging in clinical trials to assess new pharmacologic and surgical treatment strategies for PD, including deep brain stimulation (DBS), cell transplantation, and gene therapy. In-depth discussion is provided on advanced imaging applications, including rest-state and activation fMRI, volumetric MR, PET assessment of dopaminergic and cholinergic neurotransmission, and echosonography. Additional topics cover recent developments in the use of brain imaging to assess disease mechanisms including neuroinflammation, protein aggregation, and disordered brain network organization in PD.

The study of brain aging has been revolutionized through advances in molecular neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience, and brain imaging. The application of new concepts and techniques has permitted investigators to explore the changes in structure, function, and biochemistry in living humans in order to unravel mechanisms that underlie both age-related cognitive decline and preservation of cognition into old age. This book reviews both the basic science and clinical applications of brain imaging in the study of brain aging. Topics reviewed include technical issues associated with imaging studies in older brains, pathology of brain aging, structural changes in the aging brain, changes in dopamine function, and mechanisms of brain reserve and plasticity. The use of genetics in combination with brain imaging and the use of animal models are also explored. Clinical applications include the diagnosis and prediction of cognitive decline using a variety of different imaging approaches as well as a detailed description of amyloid imaging using PET scanning. Other topics include functional MRI studies in aging, the use of imaging in therapeutic monitoring and drug development, and the role of large-scale databases. The volume contains information both for those involved in brain imaging research and for those new to the field who are in need of a systematic overview.

Locomotor training is an emerging rehabilitation intervention for recovery of function after neurologic injury or disease and the physiological basis and scientific evidence supporting its use is discussed in this book. The book also reviews physical rehabilitation for posture, standing, and walking from a historical perspective that provides a context for the emergence of locomotor training as an activity-based therapy after spinal cord injury (SCI) and stroke by implementing evidence-based practice providing new strategies to augment already successful therapeutic approaches. As an activity-based therapy, locomotor training provides activation of the neuromuscular system below the level of lesion with the goal of retraining the nervous system to recover specific motor tasks related to mobility, posture, standing, and walking. The book presents the four guiding principles that serve as the basis for clinical decisions throughout the three components of locomotor training. Successfully providing the locomotor training intervention is dependent on knowledge, skill, proper equipment and attire, and clinical decisions for progression. Community integration prepares the client for functioning at home and in the community. The primary goal of both overground assessment and community integration is to translate the capacity of the nervous system developed during step training to walking at home and in the community. The locomotor training intervention is implemented by identifying specific goals based on the current phase of recovery. Properly and continuously challenging clients to achieve higher levels of performance is critical to recovery. Even though the accomplished neural plasticity may not have yet resulted in reaching functional goals such as transferring, standing, or improvements in walking, the assessments in the phasing will show more incremental changes in neural recovery. The sequence of implementing these specific goals is based both on the scientific evidence and the experience of many physical therapists who have provided the intervention in research and clinical environments over the past decade.

Magnetoencephalography (MEG) is an exciting brain imaging technology that allows real-time tracking of neural activity, making it an invaluable tool for advancing our understanding of brain function. This introduction to MEG brings together chapters which provide the basic tools for planning and executing MEG experiments, as well as analyzing and interpreting the resulting data. Chapters on the basics describe the fundamentals of MEG and its instrumentation, and provide guidelines for designing experiments and performing successful measurements. Chapters on data analysis present it in detail, from general concepts and assumptions to analysis of evoked responses and oscillatory background activity. Chapters on solutions propose potential solutions to the inverse problem using techniques such as minimum norm estimates, spatial filters, and beamformers. Chapters on combinations elucidate how MEG can be used to complement other neuroimaging techniques. Chapters on applications provide practical examples of how to use MEG to study sensory processing and cognitive tasks, and how MEG can be used in a clinical setting.

The biomedical sciences have recently undergone revolutionary change, due to the ability to digitize and store large data sets. In neuroscience, the data sources include measurements of neural activity measured using electrode arrays, EEG and MEG, brain imaging data from PET, fMRI, and optical imaging methods. Analysis, visualization, and management of these time series data sets is a growing field of research that has become increasingly important both for experimentalists and theorists interested in brain function. The first part of the book contains a set of chapters which provide non-technical conceptual background to the subject. Salient features include the adoption of an active perspective of the nervous system, an emphasis on function, and a brief survey of different theoretical accounts in neuroscience. The second part is the longest in the book, and contains a refresher course in mathematics and statistics leading up to time series analysis techniques. The third part contains applications of data analysis techniques to the range of data sources indicated above, and the fourth part contains special topics.