Thermoheliox: effect on the functional hemodynamics of the human brain.

A kinetic study of the effect of thermoheliox (inhalation of a helium and oxygen mixture, 70 °C) on the functional hemodynamics of the human brain by functional magnetic resonance imaging was carried out. The dynamic responses of the BOLD signal were found to be biphasic. An empirical equation describing the first phase of the hemodynamic response to visual stimulus was proposed. It was shown that preliminary inhalation of thermoheliox stimulates the hemodynamic responses by slowing down the vasoconstriction.

The diffusion-tensor imaging reveals alterations in water diffusion parameters in acute pediatric concussion.

Wide-spread visualization methods which are computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) are not sensitive to mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). However, mTBI may cause changes of cerebral microstructure that could be found using diffusion-tensor imaging. The aim of this study is to reveal the impact of acute mTBI (no more than 3 days after trauma) on diffusion parameters in corpus callosum, corticospinal tract, and thalamus in children (aged 14-18). Fractional anisotropy (FA) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) were analyzed. Significant increase in FA and decrease in ADC were observed in thalamus. The trend to an increase in FA is observed in corpus callosum.

Dynamics of in Vivo Metabolites Concentrations in Posttraumatic Period of Human Brain. 1H MRS Study.

For the first time the intracellular concentrations of N-acetylaspartate (NAA), aspartate (Asp), and glutamate (Glu) were measured in human brain in vivo, and the effect of severe traumatic brain injury on NAA synthesis in acute and remote posttraumatic phases was revealed. In non-damaged (MRI-negative) lobes the next day after injury, Asp and Glu decreased by 45% and 35%, respectively, while NAA decreased only by 16%. A negative correlation between NAA and Asp/Glu ratio was found. The Glu level returned to the norm long after injury, Asp remained below the norm by 60%, NAA decreased by 65% relative to the norm, and Asp/Glu decreased significantly. The results obtained educe the leading role of neuronal aspartate-malate shuttle in NAA synthesis alterations.

[The third case report a patient with primary aldosteronism, seizures, and neurologic abnormalities (PASNA) syndrome de novo variant mutations in the CACNA1D gene]. / Tretii sluchai sindroma pervichnogo al'dosteronizma, sudorog i nevrologicheskikh narushenii (PASNA), obuslovlennogo variantom mutatsii de novo v gene CACNA1D.

Germline mutations in CACNA1D cause the primary aldosteronism, seizures, and neurologic abnormalities (PASNA) syndrome (OMIM# 615474) characterized by primary aldosteronism, seizures and neurological abnormalities. The authors present a case-report of a 1-year 3-month male patient with neurological symptoms such as seizures and global developmental delay with primary hyperaldosteronism. The heterozygosis disease-causing variant c.776T>A in CACNA1D gene was identified.

MRI Study for the Features of Brain Conduction Pathways in Patients with an Ultra-High Risk of Endogenous Psychoses.

Diffusion parameters of brain tracts (n=18) were studied in 27 men with ultra-high risk of endogenous attack-like psychoses and 27 mentally healthy men of the same age group (fractional anisotropy; and average, radial, and axial diffusion). Correlation analysis was performed between these parameters and severity of mental disorders (SOPS scale). The indexes of radial diffusion and axial diffusion were shown to change in the left anterior thalamic radiation and right posterior cingulum bundle, respectively. Our results are consistent with published data that disturbances in the frontal and temporal lobes play an important role in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia. The degree of mental disorders correlated with diffusion parameters in the left and right anterior cingulum bundle.

[Niemann-Pick type C disease in a child]. / Bolezn' Nimanna-Pika tipa S u rebenka.

The authors consider a clinical case of Niemann-Pick disease type C, an orphan hereditary autosomal recessive neurodegenerative disease belonging to the group of lysosomal storage disease, in an 11-year female patient with the late infantile form of the disease. The combination of psychomotor retardation, polymorphic neurological symptoms and physical changes in the form of isolated splenomegaly suggested the diagnosis of Niemann-Pick type C disease. DNA testing was carried out using direct automated sequencing. The patient was treated with miglustat.

(1)H-MRS and MEGA-PRESS pulse sequence in the study of balance of inhibitory and excitatory neurotransmitters in the human brain of ultra-high risk of schizophrenia patients.

The MEGA-PRESS pulse sequence was used for determination of overlapping signals in the (1)H-MRS spectra of the human brain. For the first time, the balance of GABA glutamate/glutamine concentrations was estimated quantitatively in the human brain of patients with ultra-high risk of schizophrenia. It was found that GABA concentration and GABA/GLX ratios were significantly reduced in the left frontal lobe of UHR subjects.

[Dynamics of Brain Activity during Voluntary Movement: fMRI Study].

The use of event-related fMRI makes it possible to investigate spatio-temporal dynamics of cortical and subcortical human brain structures activity during voluntary movement performance in response to presentation of relevant verbal stimuli. The results of the study showed that voluntary movement was associated with higher contralateral brain activation in a number of areas: primary motor and somatosensory cortex, premotor cortex, supplementary motor area and insula with adjacent regions. Ipsilateral activation of the cerebellum also was observed. It should be emphasized that contralateral strio-pallidal complex and ventral thalamus showed significant response to motor tasks. Similarly, the dynamics of cortex and deep brain structures activation involving in the phasic and tonic components of voluntary movement was uncovered. We showed, in particular, the noticeable difference in brain activation between the right and left hand movement performance. The obtained results enable to enhance understanding of the role of deep brain structures in voluntary movement organization in human and motor control system as a whole.

Characteristics of Diffusion in the Corticospinal Tract of Patients with Early Stage of Schizophrenia: Diffusion Tensor Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

Specific features of diffusion in the cerebral corticospinal tract of patients with early stages of schizophrenia were studied using methods of diffusion tensor magnetic-resonance imaging and magnetic resonance spectroscopy. A decrease in the coefficient of fractional anisotropy in the posterior limb of the internal capsule and an increase in diffusion coefficient in the radiate crown and motor cortex were observed. The results reflect different mechanisms of changes in water diffusion in various areas of the corticospinal tract: changes in nerve fiber microstructure in the internal capsule of the left hemisphere and a decrease in their density in the motor cortex and radiate crown.

[Information processing and brain metabolic characteristics in patients at ultra-high risk for endogenous psychosis].

OBJECTIVE: Functional and structural brain abnormalities in people at high risk for psychosis is a subject of intensive studies in biological psychiatry over the last decades. We studied correlations between neurophysiological and neuroimaging parameters in ultra-high risk patients. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Fifty-six patients, aged 17-25 years, with nonpsychotic mental disorders were examined. The control group included 30 age- and sex-matched healthy people. Neurophysiological study measured sensory gating. Proton MR-spectroscopy was used to study metabolic processes in the brain (index for glutamate/glutamine, N-acetylaspartate and choline containing compounds in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and thalamus of both hemispheres as well as in the genu and splenium of the corpus callosum). RESULTS AND CONCLUSION: We found the abnormality of sensory gating in patients at ultra-high risk for endogenous psychosis that was not correlated with the metabolic parameters. The latter were normal or were normalized during treatment.

Diffusion in the corpus callosum in patients with early schizophrenia.

Diffusion in the cerebral corpus callosum in patients with early schizophrenia was studied by diffusion tensor MRT and magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The fraction anisotropy coefficient in the corpus callosum knee was low as a result of high radial diffusion. Spectroscopy detected a decrease of N-acetylaspartate level in the corpus callosum knee indicating axonal lesion during the early stage of schizophrenia.

[Some structural and functional features of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and the corpus callosum genu and auditory information processing (P300) in healthy subjects and patients with juvenile schizophrenia].

Some structural and functional characteristics of the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and corpus callosum genu were analyzed in comparison with electrophysiological markers of selective attention in 18 mentally healthy subjects and 22 remitted patients with juvenile schizophrenia. In both topography zones there were no statistically significant intergroup differences in N-acetylaspartate and choline compounds (by proton MR-spectroscopy), whereas fractional anisotropy (by diffusion tensor imaging) in the corpus callosum genu was lower in patients. Absence of significant correlations between the imaging characteristics and psychopathology scores and their weak correlations with P300 suggest a poor involvement of the analyzed structures in the processes which determine cognitive disorders in patients with juvenile schizophrenia.

[Modern aspects of diabetic ketoacidosis treatment in children].

UNLABELLED: The aim of the research - the analysis of the regularities of diabetic ketoacidosis treatment in children and adolescents with type 1 diabetes mellitus, the explanation of the results obtained with the use of biological systems stability theory elements. MATHERIALS AND METHODS: The study included 90 children with type I diabetes mellitus in a state of diabetic ketoacidosis of different severity degree. With newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes mellitus - 56 children, with the "courced" diabetes - 34 children. In the evaluation of patients status was defined glucose, pH, and other indicators of acid-base status, using gas analyzer GEM Premier 3000 ("Instrumental laboratory", USA). RESULTS: All children received treatment under the Protocol, approved by the Moscow Health Department, withdrawn from the state of diabetic ketoacidosis without any complications. In the basis of this methodology is application of glucose solutions and "small" doses of insulin from the start of infusion therapy in spite of hyperglycemia. This therapy helps to prevent cerebral edema against the background of gradually reduce the blood glucose. pH recovery was explained by the existence of a common pathophysiology process. Given the qualitative description of this process on the basis of biological systems stability theory. Were determined 3 stationary state: pH = 7.4 and pH < 6,9; and one is unstable, called "the point of no return" - pH = 6.9. The conclusions of this theory substantiate the effectiveness of ketoacidosis treatment with offered method CONCLUSION: The offered technique for diabetic ketoacidosis treatment on the basis of the glucose solutions infusion throughout the treatment and "small" doses of insulin values pH and glucose in a safe range, even in patients with high risk of brain edema, which is confirmed by biological systems stability theory.

Metabolic dysfunction and relationship in human frontoparietal cortex in severe traumatic brain injury: single-voxel (1)H magnetic resonance spectroscopy study.

(1)H-magnetic resonance spectroscopy revealed that apparently normal (from the data of magnetic resonance imaging) human brain frontoparietal cortex in the subacute stage of traumatic brain injury is characterized by decreased level of N-acetylaspartate (NAA) and increase in levels of myoinositol, choline-containing compounds (Cho), and creatine/phosphocreatine (Cr). Correlations between Cr, Cho, and NAA were established. We propose a scheme of neuronal metabolic processes that joins these substances.

[Some electrophysiological and hemodynamic characteristics of auditory selective attention in norm and schizophrenia].

Six patients in the state of remission after the first episode ofjuvenile schizophrenia and seven sex- and age-matched mentally healthy subjects were examined by fMRI and ERP methods. The auditory oddball paradigm was applied. Differences in P300 parameters didn't reach the level of significance, however, a significantly higher hemodynamic response to target stimuli was found in patients bilaterally in the supramarginal gyrus and in the right medial frontal gyrus, which points to pathology of these brain areas in supporting of auditory selective attention.

[Structural-functional characteristics of the brain in juvenile patients in remission after first-episode of endogenous psychosis].

The structural MRI and auditory evoked potentials (odd-ball paradigm) were analyzed in juvenile patients at the remission stage after the first episode of endogenous psychosis. Eleven male patients and 11 male controls, aged 18-25, years were examined. There were no statistically significant between-group differences by averaged volume of grey matter in superior and middle frontal gyri, anterior cingulate gyrus, hippocampus, and superior temporal gyrus in both hemispheres as well by P300 amplitude and latency. It can be assumed that the certain normalization of neurobiological processes can be seen at the studied stage of the disease.

Effect of cell therapy on metabolite content in brain structures of children with consequences of severe brain injury: 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy study.

The effect of intravenous injection of human umbilical cord blood cells on the levels of N-acetylaspartate, creatine and phosphocreatine, choline-containing compounds, glutamine and glutamate, and myoinositol in morphologically intact areas of the cortex, white matter, and hippocampus of children with consequences of traumatic brain injury was studied by single voxel 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy. It was shown that cell therapy increases the content of N-acetylaspartate, a marker of functional integrity of neurons, in the white matter and in the cortex at the boundary between the frontotemporal and parietal lobes and reduces neurological deficit.