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Journal articleChiou SY, Hellyer PJ, Sharp DJ, et al., 2017,
Relationships between the integrity and function of lumbar nerve roots as assessed by diffusion tensor imaging and neurophysiology
, NEURORADIOLOGY, Vol: 59, Pages: 893-903, ISSN: 0028-3940PurposeDiffusion tensor imaging (DTI) has shown promise in the measurement of peripheral nerve integrity, although the optimal way to apply the technique for the study of lumbar spinal nerves is unclear. The aims of this study are to use an improved DTI acquisition to investigate lumbar nerve root integrity and correlate this with functional measures using neurophysiology.MethodsTwenty healthy volunteers underwent 3 T DTI of the L5/S1 area. Regions of interest were applied to L5 and S1 nerve roots, and DTI metrics (fractional anisotropy, mean, axial and radial diffusivity) were derived. Neurophysiological measures were obtained from muscles innervated by L5/S1 nerves; these included the slope of motor-evoked potential input-output curves, F-wave latency, maximal motor response, and central and peripheral motor conduction times.ResultsDTI metrics were similar between the left and right sides and between vertebral levels. Conversely, significant differences in DTI measures were seen along the course of the nerves. Regression analyses revealed that DTI metrics of the L5 nerve correlated with neurophysiological measures from the muscle innervated by it.ConclusionThe current findings suggest that DTI has the potential to be used for assessing lumbar spinal nerve integrity and that parameters derived from DTI provide quantitative information which reflects their function.
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Journal articleFeeney C, Sharp DJ, Hellyer PJ, et al., 2017,
Serum IGF-I levels are associated with improved white matter recovery after TBI.
, Annals of Neurology, Vol: 82, Pages: 30-43, ISSN: 0364-5134OBJECTIVE: Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a common disabling condition with limited treatment options. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) measures recovery of axonal injury in white matter (WM) tracts after TBI. Growth hormone deficiency (GHD) after TBI may impair axonal and neuropsychological recovery, and serum IGF-I may mediate this effect. We conducted a longitudinal study to determine the effects of baseline serum IGF-I concentrations on WM tract and neuropsychological recovery after TBI. METHODS: Thirty-nine adults after TBI (84.6% male; age median 30.5y; 87.2% moderate-severe; time since TBI median 16.3 months, n=4 with GHD) were scanned twice, 13.3 months (12.1-14.9) apart, and 35 healthy controls scanned once. Symptom and quality of life questionnaires and cognitive assessments were completed at both visits (n=33). Our main outcome measure was fractional anisotropy (FA), a measure of WM tract integrity, in a priori regions of interest: splenium of corpus callosum (SPCC), and posterior limb of internal capsule (PLIC). RESULTS: At baseline, FA was reduced in many WM tracts including SPCC and PLIC following TBI compared to controls, indicating axonal injury, with longitudinal increases indicating axonal recovery. There was a significantly greater increase in SPCC FA over time in patients with serum IGF-I above vs. below the median-for-age. Only the higher IGF-I group had significant improvements in immediate verbal memory recall over time. INTERPRETATION: WM recovery and memory improvements after TBI were greater in patients with higher serum IGF-I at baseline. These findings suggest that GH/IGF-I system may be a potential therapeutic target following TBI. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.
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Conference paperSharp DJ, 2017,
BRAIN IMAGING AFTER TBI
, 30th Annual General Meeting of the British-Neuropsychiatry-Association (BNPA), Publisher: BMJ PUBLISHING GROUP, Pages: E10-E10, ISSN: 0022-3050 -
Journal articleDonat CK, Scott G, Gentleman S, et al., 2017,
Microglial activation in traumatic brain injury
, Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, Vol: 9, ISSN: 1663-4365Microglia have a variety of functions in the brain, including synaptic pruning, CNS repair and mediating the immune response against peripheral infection. Microglia rapidly become activated in response to CNS damage. Depending on the nature of the stimulus, microglia can take a number of activation states, which correspond to altered microglia morphology, gene expression and function. It has been reported that early microglia activation following traumatic brain injury (TBI) may contribute to the restoration of homeostasis in the brain. On the other hand, if they remain chronically activated, such cells display a classically activated phenotype, releasing pro-inflammatory molecules, resulting in further tissue damage and contributing potentially to neurodegeneration. However, new evidence suggests that this classification is over-simplistic and the balance of activation states can vary at different points. In this article, we review the role of microglia in TBI, analyzing their distribution, morphology and functional phenotype over time in animal models and in humans. Animal studies have allowed genetic and pharmacological manipulations of microglia activation, in order to define their role. In addition, we describe investigations on the in vivo imaging of microglia using translocator protein (TSPO) PET and autoradiography, showing that microglial activation can occur in regions far remote from sites of focal injuries, in humans and animal models of TBI. Finally, we outline some novel potential therapeutic approaches that prime microglia/macrophages toward the beneficial restorative microglial phenotype after TBI.
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Journal articleGeranmayeh F, Wing Chau T, Wise RJS, et al., 2017,
Domain-general subregions of the medial prefrontal cortex contribute to recovery of language after stroke
, Brain, Vol: 140, Pages: 1947-1958, ISSN: 1460-2156We hypothesized that the recovery of speech production after left hemisphere stroke not only depends on the integrity of language-specialized brain systems, but also on ‘domain-general’ brain systems that have much broader functional roles. The presupplementary motor area/dorsal anterior cingulate forms part of the cingular-opercular network, which has a broad role in cognition and learning. Consequently, we have previously suggested that variability in the recovery of speech production after aphasic stroke may relate in part to differences in patients’ abilities to engage this domain-general brain region. To test our hypothesis, 27 patients (aged 59 ± 11 years) with a left hemisphere stroke performed behavioural assessments and event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging tasks at two time points; first in the early phase (∼2 weeks) and then ∼4 months after the ictus. The functional magnetic resonance imaging tasks were designed to differentiate between activation related to language production (sentential overt speech production—Speech task) and activation related to cognitive processing (non-verbal decision making). Simple rest and counting conditions were also included in the design. Task-evoked regional brain activations during the early and late phases were compared with a longitudinal measure of recovery of language production. In accordance with a role in cognitive processing, substantial activity was observed within the presupplementary motor area/dorsal anterior cingulate during the decision-making task. Critically, the level of activation within this region during speech production correlated positively with the longitudinal recovery of speech production across the two time points (as measured by the in-scanner performance in the Speech task). This relationship was observed for activation in both the early phase (r = 0.363, P = 0.03 one-tailed) and the late phase (r = 0.538, P = 0.004). Furthermore, presupplem
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Journal articleBooiman T, Wit FW, Maurer I, et al., 2017,
High Cellular Monocyte Activation in People Living With Human Immunodeficiency Virus on Combination Antiretroviral Therapy and Lifestyle-Matched Controls Is Associated With Greater Inflammation in Cerebrospinal Fluid.
, Open Forum Infectious Diseases, Vol: 4, ISSN: 2328-8957BACKGROUND: Increased monocyte activation and intestinal damage have been shown to be predictive for the increased morbidity and mortality observed in treated people living with human immunodeficiency virus (PLHIV). METHODS: A cross-sectional analysis of cellular and soluble markers of monocyte activation, coagulation, intestinal damage, and inflammation in plasma and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of PLHIV with suppressed plasma viremia on combination antiretroviral therapy and age and demographically comparable HIV-negative individuals participating in the Comorbidity in Relation to AIDS (COBRA) cohort and, where appropriate, age-matched blood bank donors (BBD). RESULTS: People living with HIV, HIV-negative individuals, and BBD had comparable percentages of classical, intermediate, and nonclassical monocytes. Expression of CD163, CD32, CD64, HLA-DR, CD38, CD40, CD86, CD91, CD11c, and CX3CR1 on monocytes did not differ between PLHIV and HIV-negative individuals, but it differed significantly from BBD. Principal component analysis revealed that 57.5% of PLHIV and 62.5% of HIV-negative individuals had a high monocyte activation profile compared with 2.9% of BBD. Cellular monocyte activation in the COBRA cohort was strongly associated with soluble markers of monocyte activation and inflammation in the CSF. CONCLUSIONS: People living with HIV and HIV-negative COBRA participants had high levels of cellular monocyte activation compared with age-matched BBD. High monocyte activation was predictive for inflammation in the CSF.
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Conference paperTarroni G, Oktay O, Bai W, et al., 2017,
Learning-based heart coverage estimation for short-axis cine cardiac MR images
, Functional Imaging and Modelling of the Heart (FIMH), Publisher: Springer, Pages: 73-82The correct acquisition of short axis (SA) cine cardiac MRimage stacks requires the imaging of the full cardiac anatomy betweenthe apex and the mitral valve plane via multiple 2D slices. While in theclinical practice the SA stacks are usually checked qualitatively to en-sure full heart coverage, visual inspection can become infeasible for largeamounts of imaging data that is routinely acquired, e.g. in populationstudies such as the UK Biobank (UKBB). Accordingly, we propose alearning-based technique for the fully-automated estimation of the heartcoverage for SA image stacks. The technique relies on the identificationof cardiac landmarks (i.e. the apex and the mitral valve sides) on twochamber view long axis images and on the comparison of the landmarks’positions to the volume covered by the SA stack. Landmark detection isperformed using a hybrid random forest approach integrating both re-gression and structured classification models. The technique was appliedon 3000 cases from the UKBB and compared to visual assessment. Theobtained results (error rate = 2.3%, sens. = 73%, spec. = 90%) indicatethat the proposed technique is able to correctly detect the vast majorityof the cases with insufficient coverage, suggesting that it could be usedas a fully-automated quality control step for CMR SA image stacks.
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Journal articleMartin-Bastida A, Ward RJ, Newbould R, et al., 2017,
Brain iron chelation by deferiprone in a phase 2 randomised double-blinded placebo controlled clinical trial in Parkinson's disease
, Scientific Reports, Vol: 7, ISSN: 2045-2322Parkinson’s disease (PD) is associated with increased iron levels in the substantia nigra (SNc). This study evaluated whether the iron chelator, deferiprone, is well tolerated, able to chelate iron from various brain regions and improve PD symptomology. In a randomised double-blind, placebo controlled trial, 22 early onset PD patients, were administered deferiprone, 10 or 15 mg/kg BID or placebo, for 6 months. Patients were evaluated for PD severity, cognitive function, depression rating and quality of life. Iron concentrations were assessed in the substantia nigra (SNc), dentate and caudate nucleus, red nucleus, putamen and globus pallidus by T2* MRI at baseline and after 3 and 6 months of treatment. Deferiprone therapy was well tolerated and was associated with a reduced dentate and caudate nucleus iron content compared to placebo. Reductions in iron content of the SNc occurred in only 3 patients, with no changes being detected in the putamen or globus pallidus. Although 30 mg/kg deferiprone treated patients showed a trend for improvement in motor-UPDRS scores and quality of life, this did not reach significance. Cognitive function and mood were not adversely affected by deferiprone therapy. Such data supports more extensive clinical trials into the potential benefits of iron chelation in PD.
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Journal articleCole JH, Ritchie SJ, Bastin ME, et al., 2017,
Brain age predicts mortality
, Molecular Psychiatry, Vol: 23, Pages: 1385-1392, ISSN: 1476-5578Age-associated disease and disability are placing a growing burden on society. However, ageing does not affect people uniformly. Hence, markers of the underlying biological ageing process are needed to help identify people at increased risk of age-associated physical and cognitive impairments and ultimately, death. Here, we present such a biomarker, ‘brain-predicted age’, derived using structural neuroimaging. Brain-predicted age was calculated using machine-learning analysis, trained on neuroimaging data from a large healthy reference sample (N = 2001), then tested in the Lothian Birth Cohort 1936 (N = 669), to determine relationships with age-associated functional measures and mortality. Having a brain-predicted age indicative of an older-appearing brain was associated with: weaker grip strength, poorer lung function, slower walking speed, lower fluid intelligence, higher allostatic load and increased mortality risk. Furthermore, while combining brain-predicted age with grey matter and cerebrospinal fluid volumes (themselves strong predictors) not did improve mortality risk prediction, the combination of brain-predicted age and DNA-methylation-predicted age did. This indicates that neuroimaging and epigenetics measures of ageing can provide complementary data regarding health outcomes. Our study introduces a clinically-relevant neuroimaging ageing biomarker and demonstrates that combining distinct measurements of biological ageing further helps to determine risk of age-related deterioration and death.
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Journal articleUnderwood J, Cole JH, Caan M, et al., 2017,
Grey and white matter abnormalities in treated HIV-disease and their relationship to cognitive function.
, Clinical Infectious Diseases, Vol: 65, Pages: 422-432, ISSN: 1537-6591Background: Long-term comorbidities such as cognitive impairment remain prevalent in otherwise effectively treated people-living-with-HIV. We investigate the relationship between cognitive impairment and brain structure in successfully treated patients using multi-modal neuroimaging from the Co-morBidity in Relation to AIDS (COBRA) cohort. Methods: Cognitive function, brain tissue volumes and white matter microstructure were assessed in 134 HIV-positive patients and 79 controls. All patients had suppressed plasma HIV RNA at cohort entry. In addition to comprehensive voxelwise analyses of volumetric and diffusion tensor imaging, we used an unsupervised machine learning approach to combine cognitive, diffusion and volumetric data, taking advantage of the complementary information they provide. Results: Compared to the highly comparable control group, cognitive function was impaired in four out of the six cognitive domains tested (median global T-scores: 50.8 vs. 54.2, p<0.001). Patients had lower grey but not white matter volumes, observed principally in regions where structure generally did not correlate with cognitive function. Widespread abnormalities in white matter microstructure were also seen, including reduced fractional anisotropy with increased mean and radial diffusivity. In contrast to the grey matter, these diffusion abnormalities correlated with cognitive function. Multivariate neuroimaging analysis identified a neuroimaging phenotype associated with poorer cognitive function, HIV-infection and systemic immune activation. Conclusions: Cognitive impairment, lower grey matter volume and white matter microstructural abnormalities were evident in HIV-positive individuals despite fully suppressive antiretroviral therapy. White matter abnormalities appear to be a particularly important determinant of cognitive dysfunction seen in well-treated HIV-positive individuals.
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