The Method to Reveal Pathologic Activity of Human Brain in the Magnetic Encephalography Data

New method for the magnetic encephalography data analysis was proposed. The method transforms multichannel time series into the spatial structure of the human brain activity. In this paper we further develop this method to determine the dominant direction of the electrical sources of brain activity at each node of the calculation grid. We have considered the experimental data, obtained with three 275-channel magnetic encephalographs in New York University, McGill University and Montreal University. The human alpha rhythm phenomenon was selected as a model object. Magnetic encephalograms of the brain spontaneous activity were registered for 5-7 minutes in magnetically shielded room. Detailed multichannel spectra were obtained by the Fourier transform of the whole time series. For all spectral components, the inverse problem was solved in elementary current dipole model and the functional structure of the brain activity was calculated in the frequency band 8-12 Hz. In order to estimate the local activity direction, at the each node of calculation grid the vector of the inverse problem solution was selected, having the maximal spectral power. So, the 3D-map of the brain activity vector field was produced – the directional functional tomogram. Such maps were generated for 15 subjects and some common patterns were revealed in the directions of the alpha rhythm elementary sources. The proposed method can be used to study the local properties of the brain activity in any spectral band and in any brain compartment.

Download Full-text

Language processing is not a race against time

Behavioral and Brain Sciences ◽

10.1017/s0140525x15000692 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 39 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Giosuè Baggio ◽

Carmelo M. Vicario

Keyword(s):

Information Processing ◽

Human Brain ◽

Language Processing ◽

Cognitive Functions ◽

Memory Systems ◽

Language System ◽

Moderating Factors

AbstractWe agree with Christiansen & Chater (C&C) that language processing and acquisition are tightly constrained by the limits of sensory and memory systems. However, the human brain supports a range of cognitive functions that mitigate the effects of information processing bottlenecks. The language system is partly organised around these moderating factors, not just around restrictions on storage and computation.

Download Full-text

Structural and Chemical Studies of Pathological Fibers in Human Neurofibrillary Degeneration

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s042482010012031x ◽

1985 ◽

Vol 43 ◽

pp. 726-729

Author(s):

K.S. Kosik ◽

L.K. Duffy ◽

S. Bakalis ◽

C. Abraham ◽

D.J. Selkoe

Keyword(s):

Monoclonal Antibodies ◽

Alzheimer Disease ◽

Human Brain ◽

Neurofibrillary Tangles ◽

Morphological Analysis ◽

High Specificity ◽

Cytoskeletal Proteins ◽

Neuritic Plaque ◽

Protein Chemistry ◽

Chemical Studies

The major structural lesions of the human brain during aging and in Alzheimer disease (AD) are the neurofibrillary tangles (NFT) and the senile (neuritic) plaque. Although these fibrous alterations have been recognized by light microscopists for almost a century, detailed biochemical and morphological analysis of the lesions has been undertaken only recently. Because the intraneuronal deposits in the NFT and the plaque neurites and the extraneuronal amyloid cores of the plaques have a filamentous ultrastructure, the neuronal cytoskeleton has played a prominent role in most pathogenetic hypotheses.The approach of our laboratory toward elucidating the origin of plaques and tangles in AD has been two-fold: the use of analytical protein chemistry to purify and then characterize the pathological fibers comprising the tangles and plaques, and the use of certain monoclonal antibodies to neuronal cytoskeletal proteins that, despite high specificity, cross-react with NFT and thus implicate epitopes of these proteins as constituents of the tangles.

Download Full-text

Toward a neuroscope: An application of high-performance computing for real-time evaluation of brain function using MRI

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100172346 ◽

1994 ◽

Vol 52 ◽

pp. 922-923

Author(s):

C. S. Potter ◽

C. D. Gregory ◽

H. D. Morris ◽

Z.-P. Liang ◽

P. C. Lauterbur

Keyword(s):

Human Brain ◽

Brain Function ◽

High Performance ◽

Complex Signal ◽

Time Step ◽

Brain Organization ◽

Cognitive Studies ◽

Positron Emission ◽

Imaging And Spectroscopy ◽

3D Anatomy

Over the past few years, several laboratories have demonstrated that changes in local neuronal activity associated with human brain function can be detected by magnetic resonance imaging and spectroscopy. Using these methods, the effects of sensory and motor stimulation have been observed and cognitive studies have begun. These new methods promise to make possible even more rapid and extensive studies of brain organization and responses than those now in use, such as positron emission tomography.Human brain studies are enormously complex. Signal changes on the order of a few percent must be detected against the background of the complex 3D anatomy of the human brain. Today, most functional MR experiments are performed using several 2D slice images acquired at each time step or stimulation condition of the experimental protocol. It is generally believed that true 3D experiments must be performed for many cognitive experiments. To provide adequate resolution, this requires that data must be acquired faster and/or more efficiently to support 3D functional analysis.

Download Full-text