Brain mappings in non-fluent late Chinese-English bilinguals / 中华外科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To discuss the distribution characteristics of language areas in Chinese-English non-fluent late bilinguals.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Six Chinese-English bilinguals with eloquent tumors underwent awake-surgeries. The activated areas of BOLD-fMRI were obtained as the patients performed pure naming, verb generation, and abstract/concrete judgment tasks. Direct cortical stimulation(DCS) as the golden standard of language mapping were performed during awake-surgeries on the exposed cortical areas. BOLD-fMRI results of 3 language tasks were compared with DCS results. The statistical method was McNemer.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>Sixteen positive sites(22.5%) were comfirmed out of 71 stimulations. There were 3 specific language sites, in which 2 sites were specific English sites and 1 site was specific Chinese site. When activated areas of BOLD-fMRI were compared with the DCS results, verb generation task had the highest concordance rate 40.9% (95%CI:30.2%-52.5%) . There were significant differences between the results of BOLD-fMRI and DCS of all 3 bilingual tasks(P < 0.017).</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>There are specific language areas in Chinese-English non-fluent late bilinguals. The BOLD-fMRI language mapping could not substitute DCS in the context of mapping language areas in bilinguals.</p>

Effect of venlafaxine on excitability of cortical language function area in healthy subjects / 中华神经医学杂志

[Objective]To observe the effect of serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor (SNRI) venlafaxine on cortex language area excitability in healthy subjects by means of functional MRI (fMRI) and behavioral language tests.[Methods]In a randomized,double-blind,crossover study,8 right-handed healthy subjects received 75 mg daily of either venlafaxine or placebo over a period of 7 d separated by a period of 3 d washing-out.Parallel behavioral language tests,including fluency of spontaneous language (i min) and the naming testing,were performed before treatment,7 and 18 d after treatment in each volunteer.The repeated fMRI examination was employed to exam the activation of the brain when performing the tasks (animal naming and tool naming).The test [Results] were analyzed with SPSS13.0 software using the cross-analysis of two-srage test.[Results] Naming scores in velafaxine session was significantly higher than that in placebo session (P＜0.05);and the performance of spontaneous language frequency in venlafaxin session was significantly higher than that in placebo session (P＜0.05).As compared with the administration of placebo,the fMRI data suggested that venlafaxine induced hyperactivation on the superior part of the left middle front gyri (BA44/45) and the premotor area (PMA) (BA6) in the left-sided brain;the hyperactivation of these areas were positively correlated with the naming scores (animal naming:r=0.972,P-=0.000;tool naming:r=0.944,P=0.000).[Conclusion] In healthy subjects,venlafaxine for 7 d might promote the output of phonetic cortex on frontal lobe of language dominant hemisphere and the ability of language behavior.

A study on the neuronal mechanism of retrieval of long-term digital memory in human by functional magnetic resonance imaging / 生理学报

To investigate the neuronal mechanism of retrieval of long-term digital memory in healthy volunteers, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technique was used in the study. Twenty-two right-handed volunteers were subjected to a long-term digital memory test with block-design. The memory task and control task were adopted in the experiment alternatively. The fMRI data were recorded by a Siemens 1.5T MR machine and analyzed by SPM99. The activated brain regions were shown in the Talairach coordinate. The results showed that the Brodmann's area (BA) 9 region in left middle frontal gyrus was the most activated cortex during the long-term digital memory task. The left medial frontal gyrus, left inferior frontal gyrus, right inferior frontal gyrus, cingulate gyrus, left inferior parietal lobule, left superior parietal lobule, right superior parietal lobule, right middle temporal gyrus, left lingual gyrus, left middle occipital gyrus, right middle brain, cerebellum and right caudate nucleus tail were also involved. The activation in cortices showed obvious left predominance. It is suggested that a series of brain regions with left predominance are involved in long-term digital memory. Left lateral frontal cortex would be the most important structure for information extraction, while the other cortices and their connections may be important for processing and long-term storage of digital information.

Pituitary stalk interruption syndrome: a report of 9 cases / 中华神经医学杂志

Objective To explore the clinical characteristics of pituitary stalk interruption syndrome (PSIS) to raise our awareness of this disease. Methods The clinical data, including clinical manifestations, MR image changes and disorders of endocrine system, of 9 patients admitted to our hospital were collected and analyzed. Results Eight of 9 patients showed absence of pituitary stalk under MRI with height of the pituitary no more than 3 mm; only one exceptional patient with traumatic etiology showed 4.5 mm of the pituitary. Two patients were adult-onset and clearly induced by head trauma, and both of them were hospitalized due to pituitary crisis; the other 7 patients, having the disease at the age of 5 to 12, were complained of growth and development retardation at the age of 17 to 28. All the patients were totally deficient in growth hormone (GH) and pituitary gonadotropin (GnH) secretion; in addition, secondary hypothyroidism and hypocortisolism occurred in 6 of the 7 young-onset patients. No consanguinity, sign of pituitary crisis, and septooptic dysplasia were noted in those young-onset patients.Conclusion PSIS is characterized by absence of pituitary stalk and pituitary hypoplasia, by GH and GnH deficiency, and mostly combined with ACTH and TSH deficiency of different extent.

Pituitary stalk interruption syndrome due to trauma: analysis of 2 cases / 中华神经医学杂志

Objective To analyze the clinical characteristics of pituitary stalk interruption syndrome (PSIS) for its better understanding. Methods The clinical manifestations and endocrine alterations were analyzed retrospectively in 2 PSIS cases, and the literatures concerning this disease were reviewed. Results Both of the 2 adult patients had definite history of head injuries, and one of them exhibited nervous system sequelae. The diagnoses remained erroneous for 15 and 2 years, respectively. This disease was characterized by gradual clinical hypopituitarism, and both of the 2 patients were admitted for pituitary crisis, which occurred for several times in 1 case;neither of the patients had diabetes insipidus. Endocrine examination suggested hypofunction of the thyroid gland, sexual gland and adrenal glands due to hypopituitarism. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed pituitary atrophy, pituitary stalk interruption and posterior lobe hyperintensity in the infundibular recess. So far only 2 juvenile cases of traumatic PSIS were reported, which had distinct differences from early-onset PSlS and from simple traumatic hypopituitarism without pituitary stalk interruption. Conclusion Traumatic PSIS is a rare clinical entity. In cases of endocrine alterations following head injury, traumatic PSIS might be suspected and appropriate treatment should be administered.