Comment on Greenwood (2007): Solving the puzzle of structure/function relations in the aging brain?

Neuroimaging experiments have shown that prefrontal regions of the brain, which have the most age-related volume loss, are also the regions most likely to be more active in older adults than in younger adults. In an attempt to solve this puzzle, P. M. Greenwood (see record 2007-15625-001) has proposed a cascade that flows from age-related atrophy in the brain to changed processing strategies that result in plastic changes in regions adjacent and contralateral to the atrophic areas, culminating in greater functional activity. This hypothesis should stimulate research into these mechanisms and hopefully will ultimately inform researchers' ability to rehabilitate cognitive disorders in the elderly. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Genetic Architecture and Molecular,Imaging and Prodromic Markers in Dementia with Lewy Bodies: State of the Art,Opportunities and Challenges

Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is one of the most common causes of dementia and belongs to the group of α-synucleinopathies. Due to its clinical overlap with other neurodegenerative disorders and its high clinical heterogeneity, the clinical differential diagnosis of DLB from other similar disorders is often difficult and it is frequently underdiagnosed. Moreover, its genetic etiology has been studied only recently due to the unavailability of large cohorts with a certain diagnosis and shows genetic heterogeneity with a rare contribution of pathogenic mutations and relatively common risk factors. The rapid increase in the reported cases of DLB highlights the need for an easy, efficient and accurate diagnosis of the disease in its initial stages in order to halt or delay the progression. The currently used diagnostic methods proposed by the International DLB consortium rely on a list of criteria that comprises both clinical observations and the use of biomarkers. Herein, we summarize the up-to-now reported knowledge on the genetic architecture of DLB and discuss the use of prodromal biomarkers as well as recent promising candidates from alternative body fluids and new imaging techniques.     

基于智能计算的脑机制研究

解析脑认知原理和脑疾病的发病机制已是当下脑科学研究的热点。智能计算在脑影像领域的应用可为认知心理学研究、脑疾病的识别和干预以及类脑智能理论研究等提供借鉴和参考。本文介绍利用智能影像计算方法在识别脑认知网络成分、构建脑有向连接模型、预测认知行为变化、构建心理过程神经表征等方面的工作,并对未来相关研究进行展望。     

Design Principles for Cationic,Astrocyte-Targeted Probes

The brain's astrocytes play key roles in normal and pathological brain processes. Targeting small molecules to astrocytes in the presence of the many other cell types in the brain will provide useful tools for their visualization and manipulation. Herein, we explore the functional consequences of synthetic modifications to a recently described astrocyte marker composed of a bright rhodamine-based fluorophore and an astrocyte-targeting moiety. We altered the nature of the targeting moiety to probe the dependence of astrocyte targeting on hydrophobicity, charge, and pK_a when exposed to astrocytes and neurons isolated from the mouse cortex. We found that an overall molecular charge of +2 and a targeting moiety with a heterocyclic aromatic amine are important requirements for specific and robust astrocyte labeling. These results provide a basis for engineering astrocyte-targeted molecular tools with unique properties, including metabolite sensing or optogenetic control.     

基于图神经网络的自闭症辅助诊断研究综述

自闭症谱系障碍是一种复杂的神经系统发展障碍疾病,截至目前其病因尚不明确。图神经网络作为非欧几里得空间深度学习的重要分支,在处理图结构数据的相关任务中取得优异表现,为医学领域的成像和非成像模式的集成提供了可能,因此利用图神经网络进行自闭症等脑部疾病神经成像诊断逐渐成为研究热点。阐述传统机器学习方法在自闭症疾病预测中应用,介绍图神经网络的基本分类,按照图中节点与边关系的建模方法,从基于人群图和基于个体图两个角度对图神经网络在自闭症辅助诊断中的应用进行梳理和分析,并归纳现有诊断方法的优劣势。根据目前基于图神经网络的自闭症神经成像诊断的研究现状,总结了脑神经科学领域辅助诊断技术面临的主要挑战和未来研究方向,对于自闭症等脑部疾病辅助诊断的进一步研究具有指导意义和参考价值。     

Review of Handbook of functional neuroimaging of cognition.

Reviews the book, Handbook of functional neuroimaging of cognition by Roberto Cabeza and Alan Kingstone. In fairness to the contributors of this excellent volume, much of the contents deals with sober reflection on the difficulties and uncertainties of interpreting the neuroimaging data in a variety of domains such as attention, vision, semantic and episodic memory, language, and working memory. In general, the authors of this volume present a fair, sophisticated, and valuable overview of the progress (or lack thereof) that functional imaging has contributed in a variety of different domains. This book provides a sense of a field that is undergoing rapid development and that clearly will have much to offer in the future. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A review of EEG, ERP, and neuroimaging studies of creativity and insight.

Creativity is a cornerstone of what makes us human, yet the neural mechanisms underlying creative thinking are poorly understood. A recent surge of interest into the neural underpinnings of creative behavior has produced a banquet of data that is tantalizing but, considered as a whole, deeply self-contradictory. We review the emerging literature and take stock of several long-standing theories and widely held beliefs about creativity. A total of 72 experiments, reported in 63 articles, make up the core of the review. They broadly fall into 3 categories: divergent thinking, artistic creativity, and insight. Electroencephalographic studies of divergent thinking yield highly variegated results. Neuroimaging studies of this paradigm also indicate no reliable changes above and beyond diffuse prefrontal activation. These findings call into question the usefulness of the divergent thinking construct in the search for the neural basis of creativity. A similarly inconclusive picture emerges for studies of artistic performance, except that this paradigm also often yields activation of motor and temporoparietal regions. Neuroelectric and imaging studies of insight are more consistent, reflecting changes in anterior cingulate cortex and prefrontal areas. Taken together, creative thinking does not appear to critically depend on any single mental process or brain region, and it is not especially associated with right brains, defocused attention, low arousal, or alpha synchronization, as sometimes hypothesized. To make creativity tractable in the brain, it must be further subdivided into different types that can be meaningfully associated with specific neurocognitive processes. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Nonhuman primate neuroimaging and cocaine medication development.

Given the important role of the dopamine transporter (DAT) in the addictive properties of cocaine, the development and use of compounds that target the DAT represents a reasonable approach for the pharmacological treatment of cocaine abuse. The present report describes a series of studies conducted in nonhuman primates that evaluated the effectiveness of DAT inhibitors in reducing cocaine self-administration. In addition, drug substitution studies evaluated the abuse liability of the DAT inhibitors. Positron emission tomography neuroimaging studies quantified DAT occupancy at behaviorally relevant doses, characterized the time-course of drug uptake in brain, and documented drug-induced changes in cerebral blood flow as a model of brain activation. Selective DAT inhibitors were effective in reducing cocaine use but high (>70%) levels of DAT occupancy were associated with significant reductions in cocaine self-administration. The selective DAT inhibitors were reliably self-administered but rates of responding were lower than those maintained by cocaine even at higher levels of DAT occupancy. A profile of slow rate of drug uptake in brain accompanied by a gradual increase in extracellular dopamine may account for the more limited reinforcing effectiveness of the DAT inhibitors. Selective serotonin transporter (SERT) inhibitors were also effective in reducing cocaine use and blocked cocaine-induced brain activation and increases in extracellular dopamine. Coadministration of SERT inhibitors with a selective DAT inhibitor was more effective than the DAT inhibitor administered alone, even at comparable levels of DAT occupancy. The results indicate that combined inhibition of DAT and SERT may be a viable approach to treat cocaine addiction. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Neuropsychology and imaging.

Introduces this special of issue of Neuropsychology, the theme of which is Neuropsychology and Imaging. The question for neuropsychology is no longer how to locate the lesions, but, rather, how to consistently relate neuropsychological dysfunctionings with the image of the lesion. Both questions are easier to answer when lesions are better circumscribed. Answers are more difficult in the presence of multiple, diffuse, or subcortical lesions. In order to address the more difficult questions, this issue includes papers by Levin and High, Wilson et al., Wiednann et al., and Jernigan and Butters which are devoted to challenging clinical diseases (head injury, Alzheimer's, and Huntington's) where lesions and dysfunctionings are not consistently defined. Interestingly, some disease-related correlations emerge from these papers, and SPECT data are viewed as well. Correlating neuropsychological and imaging measurements is both unbounded and restrained. Papers in this special issue on Neuropsychology and Imaging highlight this, and the issues and concerns for future investigations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)