Hierarchical cortical networks of "voice patches" for processing voices in human brain.

Humans have an extraordinary ability to recognize and differentiate voices. It is yet unclear whether voices are uniquely processed in the human brain. To explore the underlying neural mechanisms of voice processing, we recorded electrocorticographic signals from intracranial electrodes in epilepsy patients while they listened to six different categories of voice and nonvoice sounds. Subregions in the temporal lobe exhibited preferences for distinct voice stimuli, which were defined as "voice patches." Latency analyses suggested a dual hierarchical organization of the voice patches. We also found that voice patches were functionally connected under both task-engaged and resting states. Furthermore, the left motor areas were coactivated and correlated with the temporal voice patches during the sound-listening task. Taken together, this work reveals hierarchical cortical networks in the human brain for processing human voices.

Intracranial brain-computer interface spelling using localized visual motion response.

Intracranial brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) can assist severely disabled persons in text communication and environmental control with high precision and speed. Nevertheless, sustainable BCI implants require minimal invasiveness. One of the implantation strategies is to adopt localized and robust cortical activities to drive BCI communication and to make a precise presurgical planning. The visual motion response is a good candidate for inclusion in this strategy because of its focal activity over the middle temporal visual area (MT). Here, we developed an intracranial BCI for spelling, utilizing only three electrodes over the MT area. The best recording electrodes were decided by preoperative functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) localization of the MT, and local neural activities were further enhanced by differential rereferencing of these electrodes. The BCI spelling system was validated both offline and online by five epilepsy patients, achieving the fastest speed of 62 bits/min, i.e., 12 characters/min. Moreover, the response patterns of dual-directional visual motion stimuli provided an additional dimension of BCI target encoding and paved the way for a higher information transfer rate of intracranial BCI spelling.

Neural Correlates of Music Listening and Recall in the Human Brain.

Previous neuroimaging studies have identified various brain regions that are activated by music listening or recall. However, little is known about how these brain regions represent the time course and temporal features of music during listening and recall. Here we analyzed neural activity in different brain regions associated with music listening and recall using electrocorticography recordings obtained from 10 epilepsy patients of both genders implanted with subdural electrodes. Electrocorticography signals were recorded while subjects were listening to familiar instrumental music or recalling the same music pieces by imagery. During the onset phase (0-500 ms), music listening initiated cortical activity in high-gamma band in the temporal lobe and supramarginal gyrus, followed by the precentral gyrus and the inferior frontal gyrus. In contrast, during music recall, the high-gamma band activity first appeared in the inferior frontal gyrus and precentral gyrus, and then spread to the temporal lobe, showing a reversed temporal sequential order. During the sustained phase (after 500 ms), delta band and high-gamma band responses in the supramarginal gyrus, temporal and frontal lobes dynamically tracked the intensity envelope of the music during listening or recall with distinct temporal delays. During music listening, the neural tracking by the frontal lobe lagged behind that of the temporal lobe; whereas during music recall, the neural tracking by the frontal lobe preceded that of the temporal lobe. These findings demonstrate bottom-up and top-down processes in the cerebral cortex during music listening and recall and provide important insights into music processing by the human brain.SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT Understanding how the brain analyzes, stores, and retrieves music remains one of the most challenging problems in neuroscience. By analyzing direct neural recordings obtained from the human brain, we observed dispersed and overlapping brain regions associated with music listening and recall. Music listening initiated cortical activity in high-gamma band starting from the temporal lobe and ending at the inferior frontal gyrus. A reversed temporal flow was observed in high-gamma response during music recall. Neural responses of frontal and temporal lobes dynamically tracked the intensity envelope of music that was presented or imagined during listening or recall. These findings demonstrate bottom-up and top-down processes in the cerebral cortex during music listening and recall.

Human cortical networking by probabilistic and frequency-specific coupling.

Large-scale cortical networking patterns have been established based on the correlation of slow fluctuations of resting fMRI signals. However, the electrophysiological mechanism of cortical networking remained to be elucidated. With large-scale human ECoG recording, we developed a novel approach for functional network parcellation on the basis of probabilistic co-activation of cortical sites in spatio-temporal microstates. The parcellated networks were verified by electrical cortical stimulation (ECS) and somatosensory evoked potentials recording, which showed significantly higher accuracy than the traditional long-term correlation method. This provides direct electrophysiological evidence supporting the dynamic nature of cortical networking. Further analysis revealed that the brain-wide connectivity is likely established on the coupling of ECoG power envelop over a common carrier frequency ranging from alpha to low-beta (8-32Hz). Surprisingly, the cortical networking pattern over this specific frequency was found to be consistent across various tasks, which resembles the resting networks. The high similarity between the above functional network parcellation and the fMRI resting network atlas in individuals also suggested the slow power-envelope coupling of band-limited neural oscillations as the electrophysiological basis of spontaneous BOLD signals. Collectively, our findings on direct human recording revealed a probabilistic and frequency specific coupling mechanism for large-scale cortical networking shared by task and resting brain.

Image-based analysis and long-term clinical outcomes of deep brain stimulation for Tourette syndrome: a multisite study.

BACKGROUND: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) can be an effective therapy for tics and comorbidities in select cases of severe, treatment-refractory Tourette syndrome (TS). Clinical responses remain variable across patients, which may be attributed to differences in the location of the neuroanatomical regions being stimulated. We evaluated active contact locations and regions of stimulation across a large cohort of patients with TS in an effort to guide future targeting. METHODS: We collected retrospective clinical data and imaging from 13 international sites on 123 patients. We assessed the effects of DBS over time in 110 patients who were implanted in the centromedial (CM) thalamus (n=51), globus pallidus internus (GPi) (n=47), nucleus accumbens/anterior limb of the internal capsule (n=4) or a combination of targets (n=8). Contact locations (n=70 patients) and volumes of tissue activated (n=63 patients) were coregistered to create probabilistic stimulation atlases. RESULTS: Tics and obsessive-compulsive behaviour (OCB) significantly improved over time (p<0.01), and there were no significant differences across brain targets (p>0.05). The median time was 13 months to reach a 40% improvement in tics, and there were no significant differences across targets (p=0.84), presence of OCB (p=0.09) or age at implantation (p=0.08). Active contacts were generally clustered near the target nuclei, with some variability that may reflect differences in targeting protocols, lead models and contact configurations. There were regions within and surrounding GPi and CM thalamus that improved tics for some patients but were ineffective for others. Regions within, superior or medial to GPi were associated with a greater improvement in OCB than regions inferior to GPi. CONCLUSION: The results collectively indicate that DBS may improve tics and OCB, the effects may develop over several months, and stimulation locations relative to structural anatomy alone may not predict response. This study was the first to visualise and evaluate the regions of stimulation across a large cohort of patients with TS to generate new hypotheses about potential targets for improving tics and comorbidities.

Early detection of cerebral ischemic events on intraoperative magnetic resonance imaging during surgical procedures for deep brain stimulation.

BACKGROUND: Although intracerebral hemorrhage is the most feared complication of deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery, cerebral ischemic events in association with DBS surgery have only rarely been described. We therefore evaluated the role of intraoperative MRI (iMRI) for early identification of cerebral ischemic events during DBS procedures and determined how ischemic infarctions affect patients over acute and long-term periods. METHODS: Between January 2010 and December 2017, 1160 DBS electrodes were implanted in 595 patients at Chinese People's Liberation Army General Hospital, with the help of iMRI. The iMRI was performed in all patients after implantation, to define the accuracy of lead placement and detect complications. A CT scan was performed on postoperative days 1 to 7. RESULTS: The iMRI showed that cerebral ischemic changes happened in nine (1.51% of patients, 0.78% of leads) patients. Only two (0.34%) of nine patients had an ischemic infarction in the basal ganglia, while seven (1.18%) had cortical ischemia. Six (67%) of the nine patients had long-term complications, two with mild hemiparesis, two with seizures, one with language dysfunction, and one with memory loss. Of those with a cortical ischemic infarction, only three (42.86%) of seven patients had no long-term complications. Long-term follow-up imaging showed that not all the patients recovered normal morphological structure in the area of ischemic foci. The factors of sex, age, target, and anesthesia were not related to ischemic events. In six (66.7%) cases, the entry point on the cortex or the path was not ideal. CONCLUSIONS: Intraoperative ischemic events are not uncommon in DBS surgery. Ischemia can cause serious permanent complications, and regions subject to severe ischemia cannot be restored; it is therefore necessary to pay careful attention to any signs of ischemia. iMRI objectively provides the basis for early diagnosis of intraoperative ischemic infarction, providing guidance for follow-up treatment. The deviation in the entry point on the cortex or in the path resulted in vascular injury; it may be the key cause of ischemic events during DBS procedures.

[Three-dimensional Structural Visualization of Subthalamic Nucleus for Deep Brain Stimulation].

The effect of deep brain stimulation(DBS)surgery treatment for Parkinson's disease is determined by the accuracy of the electrodes placement and localization.The subthalamic nuclei(STN)as the implant target is small and has no clear boundary on the images.In addition,the intra-operative magnetic resonance images(MRI)have such a low resolution that the artifacts of the electrodes impact the observation.The three-dimensional(3D)visualization of STN and other nuclei nearby is able to provide the surgeons with direct and accurate localizing information.In this study,pre-and intra-operative MRIs of the Parkinson's disease patients were used to realize the 3Dvisualization.After making a co-registration between the high-resolution pre-operative MRIs and the low-resolution intraoperative MRIs,we normalized the MRIs into a standard atlas space.We used a special threshold mask to search the lead trajectories in each axial slice.After checking the location of the electrode contacts with the coronal MRIs of the patients,we reconstructed the whole lead trajectories.Then the STN and other nuclei nearby in the standard atlas space were visualized with the grey images of the standard atlas,accomplishing the lead reconstruction and nerve nuclei visualization near STN of all patients.This study provides intuitive and quantitative information to identify the accuracy of the DBS electrode implantation,which could help decide the post-operative programming setting.

The involvement of the human prefrontal cortex in the emergence of visual awareness.

Exploring the neural mechanisms of awareness is a fundamental task of cognitive neuroscience. There is an ongoing dispute regarding the role of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in the emergence of awareness, which is partially raised by the confound between report- and awareness-related activity. To address this problem, we designed a visual awareness task that can minimize report-related motor confounding. Our results show that saccadic latency is significantly shorter in the aware trials than in the unaware trials. Local field potential (LFP) data from six patients consistently show early (200-300ms) awareness-related activity in the PFC, including event-related potential and high-gamma activity. Moreover, the awareness state can be reliably decoded by the neural activity in the PFC since the early stage, and the neural pattern is dynamically changed rather than being stable during the representation of awareness. Furthermore, the enhancement of dynamic functional connectivity, through the phase modulation at low frequency, between the PFC and other brain regions in the early stage of the awareness trials may explain the mechanism of conscious access. These results indicate that the PFC is critically involved in the emergence of awareness.

Magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound for essential tremor: a prospective, single center, single-arm study.

JOURNAL/nrgr/04.03/01300535-202409000-00041/figure1/v/2024-01-16T170235Z/r/image-tiff The safety and effectiveness of magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound thalamotomy has been broadly established and validated for the treatment of essential tremor. In 2018, the first magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound system in Chinese mainland was installed at the First Medical Center of the PLA General Hospital. This prospective, single center, open-label, single-arm study was part of a worldwide prospective multicenter clinical trial (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03253991) conducted to confirm the safety and efficacy of magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound for treating essential tremor in the local population. From 2019 to 2020, 10 patients with medication refractory essential tremor were recruited into this open-label, single arm study. The treatment efficacy was determined using the Clinical Rating Scale for Tremor. Safety was evaluated according to the incidence and severity of adverse events. All of the subjects underwent a unilateral thalamotomy targeting the ventral intermediate nucleus. At the baseline assessment, the estimated marginal mean of the Clinical Rating Scale for Tremor total score was 58.3 ± 3.6, and this improved after treatment to 23.1 ± 6.4 at a 12-month follow-up assessment. A total of 50 adverse events were recorded, and 2 were defined as serious. The most common intraoperative adverse events were nausea and headache. The most frequent postoperative adverse events were paresthesia and equilibrium disorder. Most of the adverse events were mild and usually disappeared within a few days. Our findings suggest that magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound for the treatment of essential tremor is effective, with a good safety profile, for patients in Chinese mainland.

Phase I clinical trial of intracerebral injection of lentiviral-ABCD1 for the treatment of cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy.

This was a single-arm, multicenter, open-label phase I trial. Lentiviral vectors (LV) carrying the ABCD1 gene (LV-ABCD1) was directly injected into the brain of patients with childhood cerebral adrenoleukodystrophy (CCALD), and multi-site injection was performed. The injection dose increased from 200 to 1600 µL (vector titer: 1×109 TU/mL), and the average dose per kilogram body weight ranges from 8 to 63.6 µL/kg. The primary endpoint was safety, dose-exploration and immunogenicity and the secondary endpoint was initial evaluation of efficacy and the expression of ABCD1 protein. A total of 7 patients participated in this phase I study and were followed for 1 year. No injection-related serious adverse event or death occurred. Common adverse events associated with the injection were irritability (71%, 5/7) and fever (37.2 â„ƒ-38.5 â„ƒ, 57%, 4/7). Adverse events were mild and self-limited, or resolved within 3 d of symptomatic treatment. The maximal tolerable dose is 1600 µL. In 5 cases (83.3%, 5/6), no lentivirus associated antibodies were detected. The overall survival at 1-year was 100%. The ABCD1 protein expression was detected in neutrophils, monocytes and lymphocytes. This study suggests that the intracerebral injection of LV-ABCD1 for CCALD is safe and can achieve successful LV transduction in vivo; even the maximal dose did not increase the risk of adverse events. Furthermore, the direct LV-ABCD1 injection displayed low immunogenicity. In addition, the effectiveness of intracerebral LV-ABCD1 injection has been preliminarily demonstrated while further investigation is needed. This study has been registered in the Chinese Clinical Trial Registry (https://www.chictr.org.cn/, registration number: ChiCTR1900026649).

Deep brain stimulation of symptom-specific networks in Parkinson's disease.

Deep Brain Stimulation can improve tremor, bradykinesia, rigidity, and axial symptoms in patients with Parkinson's disease. Potentially, improving each symptom may require stimulation of different white matter tracts. Here, we study a large cohort of patients (N = 237 from five centers) to identify tracts associated with improvements in each of the four symptom domains. Tremor improvements were associated with stimulation of tracts connected to primary motor cortex and cerebellum. In contrast, axial symptoms are associated with stimulation of tracts connected to the supplementary motor cortex and brainstem. Bradykinesia and rigidity improvements are associated with the stimulation of tracts connected to the supplementary motor and premotor cortices, respectively. We introduce an algorithm that uses these symptom-response tracts to suggest optimal stimulation parameters for DBS based on individual patient's symptom profiles. Application of the algorithm illustrates that our symptom-tract library may bear potential in personalizing stimulation treatment based on the symptoms that are most burdensome in an individual patient.

Toward a minimally invasive brain-computer interface using a single subdural channel: a visual speller study.

Electrocorticography (ECoG) has attracted increasing interest for implementing advanced brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) in the past decade. However, real-life application of ECoG BCI demands mitigation of its invasive nature by minimizing both the size of the involved brain regions and the number of implanted electrodes. In this study, we employed a recently proposed BCI paradigm that utilizes the attentional modulation of visual motion response. With ECoG data collected from five epilepsy patients, power increase of the high gamma (60-140Hz) frequency range was found to be associated with the overtly attended moving visual stimuli in the parietal-temporal-occipital junction and the occipital cortex. Event-related potentials (ERPs) were elicited as well but with broader cortical distribution. We achieved significantly higher BCI classification accuracy by employing both high gamma and ERP responses from a single ECoG electrode than by using ERP responses only (84.22±5.54% vs. 75.48±4.18%, p<0.005, paired t-test, 3-trial averaging, binary results of attended vs. unattended). More importantly, the high gamma responses were located within brain regions specialized in visual motion processing as mapped by fMRI, suggesting the spatial location for electrode implantation can be determined prior to surgery using non-invasive imaging. Our findings demonstrate the feasibility of implementing a minimally invasive ECoG BCI.

Long-term efficacy of deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus in patients with pharmacologically intractable epilepsy: A case series of six patients.

OBJECTIVE: Epilepsy is one of the widespread neurological illnesses, and about 20%-40% of epilepsy patients are pharmacoresistant. We aimed to assess the long-term efficacy of subthalamic nucleus (STN) deep brain stimulation (DBS) for drug-resistant epilepsy. METHODS: We included pharmacologically intractable epilepsy patients who had STN-DBS at the Chinese People's Liberation Army General Hospital between June 2016 and December 2018. We retrospectively evaluated pre- and postoperative clinical outcomes, including seizure frequency, seizure type, anti-seizure medication, cognitive function, anatomical target coordinates, stimulation parameters, and adverse events following the surgical procedure. Six patients with a mean follow-up of 49.3 ± 10.2 months, were included. RESULTS: Seizure frequency decreased by an average of 64.0% after STN-DBS at last year follow-up (p = .046), and one patient (1/6) achieved seizure-free status. For seizure type, anti-seizure medication, and cognitive function, there were no significant differences between pre-and post-operation (p > .05). In terms of stimulation parameters, the pulse width, amplitude, and frequency were 58.3 ± 9.4 µs, 2.5 ± .7 V, and 122.5 ± 15.7 Hz, respectively. None of the patients showed normal electroencephalography during the electroencephalography reexamination. There were no surgery-related complications, and chronic STN stimulation was generally well tolerated in five patients. However, one patient (1/6) had a difficulty of dyskinesia in the right arm. SIGNIFICANCE: In conclusion, neuromodulation of the STN by DBS is a promising option for patients with pharmacologically intractable epilepsy, especially for whose epileptic zone originates mainly from the frontoparietal region and who are unsuitable for resective surgery. Further prospective multicenter studies with a larger sample size are necessary for further exploration.

Cerebellar gray matter alterations predict deep brain stimulation outcomes in Meige syndrome.

BACKGROUND: The physiopathologic mechanism of Meige syndrome (MS) has not been clarified, and neuroimaging studies centering on cerebellar changes in MS are scarce. Moreover, even though deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) has been recognized as an effective surgical treatment for MS, there has been no reliable biomarker to predict its efficacy. OBJECTIVE: To characterize the volumetric alterations of gray matter (GM) in the cerebellum in MS and to identify GM measurements related to a good STN-DBS outcome. METHODS: We used voxel-based morphometry and lobule-based morphometry to compare the regional and lobular GM differences in the cerebellum between 47 MS patients and 52 normal human controls (HCs), as well as between 31 DBS responders and 10 DBS non-responders. Both volumetric analyses were achieved using the Spatially Unbiased Infratentorial Toolbox (SUIT). Further, we performed partial correlation analyses to probe the relationship between the cerebellar GM changes and clinical scores. Finally, we plotted the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve to select biomarkers for MS diagnosis and DBS outcomes prediction. RESULTS: Compared to HCs, MS patients had GM atrophy in lobule Crus I, lobule VI, lobule VIIb, lobule VIIIa, and lobule VIIIb. Compared to DBS responders, DBS non-responders had lower GM volume in the left lobule VIIIb. Moreover, partial correlation analyses revealed a positive relationship between the GM volume of the significant regions/lobules and the symptom improvement rate after DBS surgery. ROC analyses demonstrated that the GM volume of the significant cluster in the left lobule VIIIb could not only distinguish MS patients from HCs but also predict the outcomes of STN-DBS surgery with high accuracy. CONCLUSION: MS patients display bilateral GM shrinkage in the cerebellum relative to HCs. Regional GM volume of the left lobule VIIIb can be a reliable biomarker for MS diagnosis and DBS outcomes prediction.

Safety and precision of frontal trajectory of lateral habenula deep brain stimulation surgery in treatment-resistant depression.

Introduction: The lateral habenula (LHb) is a promising deep brain stimulation (DBS) target for treatment-resistant depression (TRD). However, the optimal surgical trajectory and its safety of LHb DBS are lacking. Methods: We reported surgical trajectories for the LHb in six TRD patients treated with DBS at the General Hospital of the Chinese People's Liberation Army between April 2021 and May 2022. Pre-operative fusions of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) were conducted to design the implantation trajectory of DBS electrodes. Fusions of MRI and CT were conducted to assess the safety or precision of LHb DBS surgery or implantable electrodes locations. Results: Results showed that the optimal entry point was the posterior middle frontal gyrus. The target coordinates (electrode tips) were 3.25 ± 0.82 mm and 3.25 ± 0.82 mm laterally, 12.75 ± 0.42 mm and 13.00 ± 0.71 mm posterior to the midpoint of the anterior commissure-posterior commissure (AC-PC) line, and 1.83 ± 0.68 mm and 1.17 ± 0.75 mm inferior to the AC-PC line in the left and right LHb, respectively. The "Ring" angles (relative to the AC-PC level on the sagittal section plane) of the trajectories to the left and right LHb were 51.87° ± 6.67° and 52.00° ± 7.18°, respectively. The "Arc" angles (relative to the midline of the sagittal plane) were 33.82° ± 3.39° and 33.55° ± 3.72°, respectively. Moreover, there was small deviation of actual from planned target coordinates. No patient had surgery-, disease- or device-related adverse events during the perioperative period. Conclusion: Our results suggested that LHb-DBS surgery via frontal trajectory is safe, accurate, and feasible. This is an applicable work to report in detail the target coordinates and surgical path of human LHb-DBS. It has of great clinical reference value to treat more cases of LHb-DBS for TRD.

Delayed Recovery After Deep Brain Stimulation Surgery for Parkinson's Disease Under General Anesthesia-Cases Report.

Objective: Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative syndrome, and deep-brain stimulation (DBS) is an effective therapy for carefully screened patients with PD. However, delayed recovery after anesthesia, which occurs after taking prolonged general anesthesia for such patients, has been reported less frequently in literature. This report explores the possible causes of postoperative awakening delay in patients undergoing DBS surgery due to general anesthesia and provides a reference for anesthesia management of similar operations in the future. Case Presentation: Three patients with PD elective underwent DBS surgery. The first patients demonstrated walking disability, gait deficits, unstable posture, limb stiffness, and imbalance. The second demonstrated left limb static tremor, stiffness, and bradykinesia. The third demonstrated bradykinesia, rigidity, walking deficits, and decreased facial expression. These included two males and one female with a mean patient age of 60.7 ± 6.7year, weight of 63.7 ± 11 kg, the height of 163.3 ± 7.6 cm, and preoperative American Society of Anesthesiology rating of 2.3 ± 0.6. The preoperative Glasgow Coma Scale mean score was 15. All patients completed the operation under general anesthesia (the mean anesthesia time was 5.3 ± 1.1 h). The mean operation time was 252 ± 60 min. The mean bleeding volume was 50 ml, and the urine volume was 867 ± 569 ml. However, all the patients showed unconsciousness after 95 ± 22 min after stopping the anesthetic, and the respiratory function was in good condition, but they could not cooperate with anesthesiologists and had no response to the anesthesiologist's instructions. The mean hospital stay was 17 ± 7 days. All patients were discharged uneventfully. The average number of days patients followed up postoperatively was 171 ± 28.5 days. Motor and speech were improved significantly postoperatively in three patients compared with preoperatively. Taking anti-Parkinson medication was markedly reduced. There were no complications during postoperative follow-up. Conclusions: To prevent delayed recovery occurring after DBS surgery in Parkinson's disease, it is recommended to take scalp nerve block + general anesthesia to complete the procedure while avoiding general anesthesia.

The Long-Term Efficacy, Prognostic Factors, Safety, and Hospitalization Costs Following Denervation and Myotomy of the Affected Muscles and Deep Brain Stimulation in 94 Patients with Spasmodic Torticollis.

The surgical methods for treating spasmodic torticollis include the denervation and myotomy (DAM) of the affected muscles and deep brain stimulation (DBS). This study reports on the long-term efficacy, prognostic factors, safety, and hospitalization costs following these two procedures. We collected data from 94 patients with spasmodic torticollis, of whom 41 and 53 were treated with DAM and DBS, respectively, from June 2008 to December 2020 at the Chinese People's Liberation Army General Hospital. We used the Tsui scale and the global outcome score of the Toronto Western Spasmodic Torticollis Rating Scale (TWSTRS) to evaluate the preoperative and postoperative clinical conditions in all patients. We also determined the costs of hospitalization, prognostic factors, and serious adverse events following the two surgical procedures. The mean follow-up time was 68.83 months (range = 13-116). Both resection surgery and DBS showed good results in terms of Tsui (Z = -5.103, p = 0.000; Z = -6.210, p = 0.000) and TWSTRS scores (t = 8.762, p = 0.000; Z = -6.308, p = 0.000). Compared with the DAM group, the preoperative (47.71, range 24-67.25) and postoperative (18.57, range 0-53) TWSTRS scores in the DBS group were significantly higher (Z = -3.161, p = 0.002). We found no correlation between prognostic factors and patient age, gender, or disease duration for either surgical procedure. However, prognostic factors were related to the length of the postoperative follow-up period in the DBS surgery group (Z = -2.068, p = 0.039; Z = -3.287, p = 0.001). The mean hospitalization cost in the DBS group was 6.85 times that found in the resection group (Z = -8.284, p = 0.000). The total complication rate was 4.26%. We found both resection surgery and DBS showed good results in the patients with spasmodic torticollis. Compared with DAM, DBS had a greater improvement in TWSTRS score; however, it was more expensive. Prognostic factors were related to the length of the postoperative follow-up period in patients who underwent DBS surgery.

Multiple step saccades in simply reactive saccades could serve as a complementary biomarker for the early diagnosis of Parkinson's disease.

Objective: It has been argued that the incidence of multiple step saccades (MSS) in voluntary saccades could serve as a complementary biomarker for diagnosing Parkinson's disease (PD). However, voluntary saccadic tasks are usually difficult for elderly subjects to complete. Therefore, task difficulties restrict the application of MSS measurements for the diagnosis of PD. The primary objective of the present study is to assess whether the incidence of MSS in simply reactive saccades could serve as a complementary biomarker for the early diagnosis of PD. Materials and methods: There were four groups of human subjects: PD patients, mild cognitive impairment (MCI) patients, elderly healthy controls (EHCs), and young healthy controls (YHCs). There were four monkeys with subclinical hemi-PD induced by injection of 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) through the unilateral internal carotid artery and three healthy control monkeys. The behavioral task was a visually guided reactive saccade. Results: In a human study, the incidence of MSS was significantly higher in PD than in YHC, EHC, and MCI groups. In addition, receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis could discriminate PD from the EHC and MCI groups, with areas under the ROC curve (AUCs) of 0.76 and 0.69, respectively. In a monkey study, while typical PD symptoms were absent, subclinical hemi-PD monkeys showed a significantly higher incidence of MSS than control monkeys when the dose of MPTP was greater than 0.4 mg/kg. Conclusion: The incidence of MSS in simply reactive saccades could be a complementary biomarker for the early diagnosis of PD.

Long-term efficacy, prognostic factors, and safety of deep brain stimulation in patients with refractory Tourette syndrome: A single center, single target, retrospective study.

BACKGROUND: To evaluate the long-term efficacy, prognostic factors, and safety of posteroventral globus pallidus internus deep brain stimulation (DBS) in patients with refractory Tourette syndrome (RTS). METHODS: This retrospective study recruited 61 patients with RTS who underwent posteroventral globus pallidus internus (GPi) DBS from January 2010 to December 2020 at the Chinese People's Liberation Army General Hospital. The Yale Global Tic Severity Scale (YGTSS), Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (YBOCS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), Gilles de la Tourette Syndrome Quality-of-Life Scale (GTS-QOL) were used to evaluate the preoperative and postoperative clinical condition in all patients. Prognostic factors and adverse events following surgery were analyzed. RESULTS: Patient follow up was conducted for an average of 73.33 ± 28.44 months. The final postoperative YGTSS (32.39 ± 22.34 vs 76.61 ± 17.07), YBOCS (11.26 ± 5.57 vs 18.31 ± 8.55), BDI (14.36 ± 8.16 vs 24.79 ± 11.03) and GTS-QOL (39.69 ± 18.29 vs 78.08 ± 14.52) scores at the end of the follow-up period were significantly lower than those before the surgery (p < 0.05). While age and the duration of follow-up were closely related to prognosis, the disease duration and gender were not. No serious adverse events were observed and only one patient exhibited symptomatic deterioration. CONCLUSIONS: Posteroventral-GPI DBS provides long-term effectiveness, acceptable safety and can improve the quality of life in RTS patients. Moreover, DBS is more successful among younger patients and with longer treatment duration.

Role of High-Frequency Oscillation in Locating an Epileptogenic Zone for Radiofrequency Thermocoagulation.

Radiofrequency thermocoagulation (RFTC) has been proposed as a first-line surgical treatment option for patients with drug-resistant focal epilepsy (DRE) that is associated with gray matter nodular heterotopia (GMNH). Excellent results on seizures have been reported following unilateral RFTC performed on ictal high-frequency-discharge, fast-rhythm, and low-voltage initiation areas. Complex cases (GMNH plus other malformations of cortical development) do not have good outcomes with RFTC. Yet, there is little research studying the effect of high-frequency oscillation in locating epileptogenic zones for thermocoagulation on unilateral, DRE with bilateral GMNH. We present a case of DRE with bilateral GMNH, treated using RFTC on unilateral GMNH and the overlying cortex, guided by stereotactic electroencephalogram (SEGG), and followed up for 69 months. Twenty-four-hour EGG recordings, seizure frequency, post-RFTC MRI, and neuropsychological tests were performed once yearly. To date, this patient is seizure-free, the electroencephalogram is normal, neuropsychological problems have not been found, and the trace of RFTC has been clearly identified on MRI. His dosage of antiepileptic medication has, furthermore, been significantly reduced. It is concluded that RFTC on unilateral DRE with bilateral GMNH may achieve good long-term effects, lasting up to, and perhaps longer than, 69 months. Ictal high-frequency oscillation (fast ripple) inside the heterotopia and the overlying cortex may be the key to this successful effect.