scholarly journals Sepsis-Associated Brain Dysfunction: A Review of Current Literature

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (16) ◽  
pp. 5852
Author(s):  
Piotr F. Czempik ◽  
Michał P. Pluta ◽  
Łukasz J. Krzych
Keyword(s):  
Imaging Techniques ◽  
Screening Method ◽  
Specific Treatment ◽  
Brain Dysfunction ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Clinical Neurological Examination ◽  
Electrographic Seizures ◽  
The Moment ◽  
And Function ◽  
The Brain

Sepsis-associated brain dysfunction (SABD) may be the most common type of encephalopathy in critically ill patients. SABD develops in up to 70% of septic patients and represents the most frequent organ insufficiency associated with sepsis. It presents with a plethora of acute neurological features and may have several serious long-term psychiatric consequences. SABD might cause various pathological changes in the brain through numerous mechanisms. Clinical neurological examination is the basic screening method for SABD, although it may be challenging in subjects receiving with opioids and sedative agents. As electrographic seizures and periodic discharges might be present in 20% of septic patients, screening with electroencephalography (EEG) might be useful. Several imaging techniques have been suggested for non-invasive assessment of structure and function of the brain in SABD patients; however, their usefulness is rather limited. Although several experimental therapies have been postulated, at the moment, no specific treatment exists. Clinicians should focus on preventive measures and optimal management of sepsis. This review discusses epidemiology, clinical presentation, pathology, pathophysiology, diagnosis, management, and prevention of SABD.

Normal ageing and the brain

1998 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 26-28
Author(s):  
CS Breathnach
Keyword(s):  
Cerebral Cortex ◽  
Imaging Techniques ◽  
Structure And Function ◽  
Ageing Population ◽  
Cell Shrinkage ◽  
Ageing Processes ◽  
Normal Ageing ◽  
And Function ◽  
Ageing Brain ◽  
The Brain

AbstractInterest in the psychiatric aspects of old age predated the institution of geriatrics as a clinical discipline, but the systematic study of the ageing brain only began in the second half of this century when an ageing population presented a global numerical challenge to society. In the senescent cerebral cortex, though the number of neurons is not reduced, cell shrinkage results in synaptic impoverishment with consequent cognitive impairment. Recent advances in imaging techniques, combined with burgeoning knowledge of neurobiological structure and function, have increased our understanding of the ageing processes in the human brain and permit an optimistic approach in the application of the newer insights into neuropsychology and geriatric psychiatry.

The language of visual representations in the neurosciences — relating past and future

2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Stahnisch
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Imaging Techniques ◽  
The United States ◽  
Dynamic Interactions ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
And Function ◽  
Open Question ◽  
Pet Scans ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Neuroimaging Techniques

AbstractIn theoretical accounts of the neurosciences, investigative research programs have often been separated into the morphological and physiological tradition. The morphological tradition is seen as describing the structure and form of the external and interior parts of the brain and spinal cord. The physiological tradition is interpreted as a compilation of those approaches which investigate cerebral functions particularly in their dynamic interactions. It must be regarded as an open question, though, whether the distinction between the morphological and physiological tradition in modern clinical and basic neuroscience has now become obsolete with the most recent neuroimaging techniques, such as fMRI, PET scans, SPECT, etc. Taken at face value, these new imaging techniques seem to relate, overlap, and even identify the anatomical with the functional substrate, when mapping individual patterns of neural activity across the visually delineated morphological structures. The particular focus of this review article is primarily on the morphological tradition, beginning with German neuroanatomist Samuel Thomas Soemmerring and leading to recent approaches in the neurohistological work of neuroscience centres in the United States and morphophysiological neuroimaging techniques in Canada. Following some landmark research steps in neuroanatomy detailed in the first section, this article analyzes the changing trajectories to an integrative theory of the brain in its second section. An examination of the relationship between form and function within the material culture of neuroscience in the third and final part, will further reveal an astonishingly heterogeneous investigative and conceptual terrain.

scholarly journals Everything you wanted to know about neuroimaging and psychiatry, but were afraid to ask

2015 ◽  
Vol 21 (4) ◽  
pp. 251-260 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Martinelli ◽  
Sukhwinder S. Shergill
Keyword(s):  
Clinical Practice ◽  
Psychiatric Disorder ◽  
Mental Disorder ◽  
Brain Structure ◽  
Imaging Techniques ◽  
Structure And Function ◽  
Everyday Clinical Practice ◽  
Brain Structure And Function ◽  
And Function ◽  
The Brain

SummaryRecent years have seen a dramatic increase in the advances and applications of medical imaging techniques. Tools with familiar acronyms such as MRI, EEG/MEG and PET/SPECT have provided invaluable information not only about the brain structure and function associated with psychiatric disorders, but increasingly about the mechanisms underpinning these disorders. This evolving understanding of the specific pathophysiology of mental disorder paves the way for improvement in the diagnosis, treatment and prognosis of the disorders managed in everyday clinical practice. This article gives an overview of the main neuroimaging approaches, contemporary applications of this technology to psychiatric disorder and signposts to the exciting possibilities for the future.

Evaluation of right ventricular function

2015 ◽  
pp. 336-351
Author(s):  
Luc A. Pierard ◽  
Raluca E. Dulgheru
Keyword(s):  
Right Ventricular ◽  
Tissue Characterization ◽  
Imaging Techniques ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Wide Availability ◽  
Line Imaging ◽  
Modality Approach ◽  
And Function ◽  
Rv Function ◽  
Function Assessment

A correct and attentive evaluation of right ventricular (RV) morphology and function is mandatory in each patient. RV is considered rather difficult to assess by imaging techniques. However, with the use of echocardiography and CMR, a complete assessment of RV geometry and function is usually achievable. Because of its non-invasive nature, wide availability, and repeatability, echocardiography remains the first-line imaging technique to be used for assessing RV morphology and function in patients with suspected right-side heart disease. CMR is, undoubtedly, the ‘gold-standard’ in assessing RV volumes, ejection fraction, and tissue characterization. 3D-echocardiography, deformation imaging, and cardiac CT add valuable information, depending on the clinical question to be answered. A multi-modality approach for RV function assessment is recommended when echocardiography is not able to provide complete diagnostic information.

Non-convulsive brain stimulation

2020 ◽  
pp. 291-310
Author(s):  
Kevin A. Caulfield ◽  
Mark S. George
Keyword(s):  
Brain Stimulation ◽  
Vagus Nerve Stimulation ◽  
Imaging Techniques ◽  
Functional Neuroanatomy ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Positron Emission ◽  
Transcranial Alternating Current Stimulation ◽  
Catch Up ◽  
Magnetic Resonance Imaging Mri ◽  
The Brain

Before 1990, neurologists and psychiatrists could not readily image or examine (except at death) their main organ of study, the brain, causing clinical neuroscience to lag behind the rest of medicine. In the past 30 years, new brain-imaging techniques (positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)) have allowed neuropsychiatrists to play catch-up, equipped with a more detailed and complex understanding of functional neuroanatomy. Researchers could then theorize about how circuit-based dysfunction might cause psychiatric diseases. In addition to the tools of electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and brain surgery, we now have a rapidly expanding therapeutic toolkit of non-invasive brain-stimulation devices. This chapter presents a representative landmark imaging paper from the functional imaging revolution, and four device-based papers (two on transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), and one each on transcranial alternating current stimulation (tACS) and vagus nerve stimulation (VNS)). These papers broadly cover the path that led to the exciting current and future possibilities for therapeutic non-invasive brain stimulation.

Multimodal Imaging in Psychiatry: The Electroencephalogram as a Complement to Other Modalities

CNS Spectrums ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 4 (8) ◽  
pp. 44-57
Author(s):  
Dean F. Salisbury ◽  
Brian F. O'Donnell ◽  
Paul G. Nestor ◽  
Martha E. Shenton ◽  
Robert W. McCarley
Keyword(s):  
Multimodal Imaging ◽  
Imaging Techniques ◽  
Brain Activity ◽  
Multimodal Approach ◽  
Resonance Imaging ◽  
Anatomy And Physiology ◽  
Levels Of Detail ◽  
Underlying Causes ◽  
And Function ◽  
The Brain

ABSTRACTThe use of different imaging modalities provides the clinician and researcher with different views of anatomy and physiology at unprecedented levels of detail. Multimodal imaging allows for noninvasive measurement of structure and function in humans during complex behavior, and thus provides information about the inner workings of the brain previously unavailable. The present paper examines the various imaging techniques available, and describes their application to the clinic—in the case of epilepsy—and to research—in the case of schizophrenia. Because the electroen-cephalogram has a dynamic response in milliseconds, it provides the best temporal sensitivity of functional measures of brain activity. When coupled with high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging measures of brain structure, this multimodal approach provides a powerful tool for understanding brain activity. Clinically, the use of multimodal imaging has provided greater precision in localization of the epileptogenic focus. For researchers attempting to determine the underlying causes of schizophrenia, the use of multimodal imaging has helped lead the field away from a specific lesion view to a more distributed system abnormality view of this disorder.

MRI and MRA Diagnosis of Intracranial Aneurysms

2011 ◽  
Vol 140 ◽  
pp. 178-182
Author(s):  
Guang Qian Ji ◽  
Jun Wei ◽  
Yu Tian
Keyword(s):  
Magnetic Resonance ◽  
Intracranial Aneurysm ◽  
Intracranial Aneurysms ◽  
Imaging Techniques ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Line Imaging ◽  
Magnetic Resonance Imaging Mri ◽  
Arteries And Veins ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Diagnostic Pitfalls

With the development of modern medical imaging technology, computer tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), magnetic resonance angiography (MRA), digital subtraction angiography (DSA) and other ways widely used, more and more intracranial aneurysms were diagnosed. In the imaging methods described above, MRI is a non-invasive diagnostic method for intracranial aneurysm which shows in detail the aneurysm and its relationship to the brain, and it has become first-line imaging techniques in assessment of the patient with suspected intracranial aneurysm. MRA can show the arteries and veins of the brain as well as the aneurysm. Nowadays, MRI and MRA are extensively used in the diagnosis of intracranial aneurysms, intracranial aneurysms after treatment and intracranial aneurysms inflammation. This review describes the advantages of MRI and MRA for diagnosis and describes diagnostic pitfalls.

Is Schizophrenia A Brain Disorder?

Schizophrenia ◽  
2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen J. Glatt ◽  
Stephen V. Faraone ◽  
Ming T. Tsuang
Keyword(s):  
Brain Tumours ◽  
Brain Dysfunction ◽  
Past Century ◽  
X Rays ◽  
Brain Disorder ◽  
Social Events ◽  
Physical Effects ◽  
And Function ◽  
Psychiatry Disorders ◽  
The Brain

In the language of psychiatry, disorders that change the functioning of psy­chological processes or emotion are called either ‘symptomatic’ or ‘idiopathic’. Symptomatic disorders are those for which there is a known physical cause. For example, temporal lobe epilepsy, strokes, and brain tumours can change mental functioning and emotional expression. In these cases, the physical cause can be found by using electroencephalograms (which measure the electrical activity of the brain), X- rays, or similar, but more sophisticated, methods of assessment. In contrast, we say a disorder is idiopathic if it has no known phys­ical cause. We emphasize the word ‘known’ because most scientists expect that physical causes of schizophrenia will some day be found when we can look moreclosely at the molecular level. The term ‘idiopathic’ originally reflected the be­lief that these disorders were due to psychological and social events that had no physical effects on the brain.When the first edition of this book was published, psychiatry was undergoing a revolution in its approach to mental illness, especially schizophrenia. Many scientists and clinicians were starting to question the idea that schizophrenia was rooted in psychological and family conflict. Instead, they thought that the massive alterations in thought and emotion in people with schizophrenia were due to a disease of the brain.This chapter reviews evidence showing that biological processes are altered in the brains of individuals with schizophrenia. During the past century, scien­tists have created many methods for studying the brain. As each of these new neuroimaging technologies emerged, they were swiftly applied to the study of schizophrenia. As we shall see, most of these measurements led to the same con­clusion: that the structure and function of the brains of some individuals with schizophrenia were not normal. We are, however, still uncertain about many of the details of the aetiology and pathophysiology of the disorder. Aetiology re­fers to the causes of brain dysfunction (e.g., defective genes, environmental risk factors); pathophysiology denotes the specific modifications of the brain that lead to illness (e.g., brain atrophy, too much dopamine).

scholarly journals Small within the largest: brain size and anatomy of the extinct Neoepiblema acreensis , a giant rodent from the Neotropics

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 20190914 ◽  
Author(s):  
José D. Ferreira ◽  
Francisco R. Negri ◽  
Marcelo R. Sánchez-Villagra ◽  
Leonardo Kerber
Keyword(s):  
Brain Size ◽  
Imaging Techniques ◽  
Cranial Nerves ◽  
Ecological Factors ◽  
Energetic Cost ◽  
Brain Anatomy ◽  
Non Invasive ◽  
Adaptive Value ◽  
Caviomorph Rodents ◽  
The Brain

The ecomorphological diversity of caviomorph rodents in South America included giant forms, such as the chinchilloid Neoepiblema acreensis from the Upper Miocene of Brazil. The evolution of the brain anatomy and size of these animals can be now studied with non-invasive imaging techniques and exceptional fossils. Caviomorphs show diversity in the traits of the olfactory bulbs, cerebrum, cerebellum, cranial nerves, and blood vessels. Neoepiblema acreensis had a gyrencephalic brain, with an expansion of the frontal lobe, lacking an evident paraflocculus. Compared to the predictions based on extant taxa, even when considering taphonomical effects, N. acreensis , a rodent that weighted almost 80 kg, had a very low encephalization quotient compared to other rodents. The adaptive value of a low energetic cost and other ecological factors could explain the presence of a small brain in this giant rodent––a pattern we also hypothesize for other Neogene giant rodents.

Ultrastructure of developing visual cortical synapses in the cat superior colliculus

1991 ◽  
Vol 49 ◽  
pp. 156-157
Author(s):  
Caroline A. Miller ◽  
Laura L. Bruce
Keyword(s):  
Superior Colliculus ◽  
Phosphate Buffer ◽  
Receptive Fields ◽  
Visual Cortical Area ◽  
Cortical Synapses ◽  
Visual Cortical ◽  
And Function ◽  
Phosphate Buffered Saline ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Cat Superior Colliculus

The first visual cortical axons arrive in the cat superior colliculus by the time of birth. Adultlike receptive fields develop slowly over several weeks following birth. The developing cortical axons go through a sequence of changes before acquiring their adultlike morphology and function. To determine how these axons interact with neurons in the colliculus, cortico-collicular axons were labeled with biocytin (an anterograde neuronal tracer) and studied with electron microscopy.Deeply anesthetized animals received 200-500 nl injections of biocytin (Sigma; 5% in phosphate buffer) in the lateral suprasylvian visual cortical area. After a 24 hr survival time, the animals were deeply anesthetized and perfused with 0.9% phosphate buffered saline followed by fixation with a solution of 1.25% glutaraldehyde and 1.0% paraformaldehyde in 0.1M phosphate buffer. The brain was sectioned transversely on a vibratome at 50 μm. The tissue was processed immediately to visualize the biocytin.

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