Neurology Commons^™

Alzheimer's Biomarkers Are Correlated With Brain Connectivity In Older Adults Differentially During Resting And Task States, Yang Jiang, Haiqing Huang, Erin Abner, Lucas S. Broster, Gregory A. Jicha, Frederick A. Schmitt, Richard Kryscio, Anders H. Andersen, David Powell, Linda J. Van Eldik, Brian T. Gold, Peter T. Nelson, Charles D. Smith, Mingzhou Ding

Behavioral Science Faculty Publications

β-amyloid (Aβ) plaques and tau-related neurodegeneration are pathologic hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The utility of AD biomarkers, including those measured in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), in predicting future AD risk and cognitive decline is still being refined. Here, we explored potential relationships between functional connectivity (FC) patterns within the default-mode network (DMN), age, CSF biomarkers (Aβ₄₂ and pTau₁₈₁), and cognitive status in older adults. Multiple measures of FC were explored, including a novel time series-based measure [total interdependence (TI)]. In our sample of 27 cognitively normal older adults, no significant associations were found between levels of Aβ …

Eeg Interictal Spike Detection Using Artificial Neural Networks, Howard J. Carey Iii

Theses and Dissertations

Epilepsy is a neurological disease causing seizures in its victims and affects approximately 50 million people worldwide. Successful treatment is dependent upon correct identification of the origin of the seizures within the brain. To achieve this, electroencephalograms (EEGs) are used to measure a patient’s brainwaves. This EEG data must be manually analyzed to identify interictal spikes that emanate from the afflicted region of the brain. This process can take a neurologist more than a week and a half per patient. This thesis presents a method to extract and process the interictal spikes in a patient, and use them to reduce …

A Comparative Study Of Two Prediction Models For Brain Tumor Progression, Deqi Zhou, Loc Tran, Jihong Wang, Jiang Li, Karen O. Egiazarian (Ed.), Sos S. Agaian (Ed.), Atanas P. Gotchev (Ed.)

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

MR diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) technique together with traditional T1 or T2 weighted MRI scans supplies rich information sources for brain cancer diagnoses. These images form large-scale, high-dimensional data sets. Due to the fact that significant correlations exist among these images, we assume low-dimensional geometry data structures (manifolds) are embedded in the high-dimensional space. Those manifolds might be hidden from radiologists because it is challenging for human experts to interpret high-dimensional data. Identification of the manifold is a critical step for successfully analyzing multimodal MR images.

We have developed various manifold learning algorithms (Tran et al. 2011; Tran et al. …

Wordless Intervention For Epilepsy In Learning Disabilities (Wield): Study Protocol For A Randomized Controlled Feasibility Trial, Marie-Anne Durand, Bob Gates, Georgina Parkes, Asif Zia

Dartmouth Scholarship

Epilepsy is the most common neurological problem that affects people with learning disabilities. The high seizure frequency, resistance to treatments, associated skills deficit and co-morbidities make the management of epilepsy particularly challenging for people with learning disabilities. The Books Beyond Words booklet for epilepsy uses images to help people with learning disabilities manage their condition and improve quality of life. Our aim is to conduct a randomized controlled feasibility trial exploring key methodological, design and acceptability issues, in order to subsequently undertake a large-scale randomized controlled trial of the Books Beyond Words booklet for epilepsy.

Three‐Dimensional Brain Mri For Dbs Patients Within Ultra‐Low Radiofrequency Power Limits, Subhendra N. Sarkar, Efstathios Papavassiliou, David Hackney, David Alsop, Ananth Madhuranthakam, Ludy Shih, Reed Busse, Susan Laruche, Rafeeque Bhadelia

Publications and Research

Background: For patients with deep brain stimulators (DBS), local absorbed radiofrequency (RF) power is unknown and is much higher than what the system estimates. We developed a comprehensive, highquality brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) protocol for DBS patients utilizing three-dimensional (3D) magnetic resonance sequences at very low RF power. Methods: Six patients with DBS were imaged (10 sessions) using a transmit/receive head coil at 1.5 Tesla with modified 3D sequences within ultra-low specific absorption rate (SAR) limits (0.1 W/kg) using T2, fast fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) and T1- weighted image contrast. Tissue signal and tissue contrast from the low-SAR images …

Effects Of Hyperthermia On Photochemical Internalization-Mediated Delivery Of Bleomycin, Christina Schlazer

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Standard treatment protocols for high-grade gliomas, such as glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), are highly ineffective due to their inability to eradicate infiltrating tumor cells. Improvements in overall survival are likely to be realized only with the development of more effective localized therapies capable of eradicating tumor cells in the surgical resection margin and beyond. Photochemical internalization (PCI) is a localized light-based therapeutic modality that enhances the efficacy of therapeutic macromolecules including chemotherapeutic agents such as bleomycin. A number of studies have shown that this photodynamic therapy (PDT) - based modality may prove effective in the treatment of high-grade gliomas.

Three-dimensional multicell …

Short-Term Plasticity At The Schaffer Collateral: A New Model With Implications For Hippocampal Processing, Andrew Hamilton Toland

Dissertations and Theses

A new mathematical model of short-term synaptic plasticity (STP) at the Schaffer collateral is introduced. Like other models of STP, the new model relates short-term synaptic plasticity to an interaction between facilitative and depressive dynamic influences. Unlike previous models, the new model successfully simulates facilitative and depressive dynamics within the framework of the synaptic vesicle cycle. The novelty of the model lies in the description of a competitive interaction between calcium-sensitive proteins for binding sites on the vesicle release machinery. By attributing specific molecular causes to observable presynaptic effects, the new model of STP can predict the effects of specific …

Eeg Artifact Removal Using A Wavelet Neural Network, Hoang-Anh T. Nguyen, John Musson, Jiang Li, Frederick Mckenzie, Guangfan Zhang, Roger Xu, Carl Richey, Tom Schnell, Thomas E. Pinelli (Ed.)

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

In this paper we developed a wavelet neural network. (WNN) algorithm for Electroencephalogram (EEG) artifact removal without electrooculographic (EOG) recordings. The algorithm combines the universal approximation characteristics of neural network and the time/frequency property of wavelet. We compared the WNN algorithm with the ICA technique and a wavelet thresholding method, which was realized by using the Stein's unbiased risk estimate (SURE) with an adaptive gradient-based optimal threshold. Experimental results on a driving test data set show that WNN can remove EEG artifacts effectively without diminishing useful EEG information even for very noisy data.

Prediction Of Brain Tumor Progression Using Multiple Histogram Matched Mri Scans, Debrup Banerjee, Loc Tran, Jiang Li, Yuzhong Shen, Frederic Mckenzie, Jihong Wang, Ronald M. Summers (Ed.), Bram Van Ginneken (Ed.)

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

In a recent study [1], we investigated the feasibility of predicting brain tumor progression based on multiple MRI series and we tested our methods on seven patients' MRI images scanned at three consecutive visits A, B and C. Experimental results showed that it is feasible to predict tumor progression from visit A to visit C using a model trained by the information from visit A to visit B. However, the trained model failed when we tried to predict tumor progression from visit B to visit C, though it is clinically more important. Upon a closer look at the MRI scans …

Histogram Analysis Of Adc In Brain Tumor Patients, Debrup Banerjee, Jihong Wang, Jiang Li, Norbert J. Pelc (Ed.), Ehsan Samei (Ed.), Robert M. Nishikawa (Ed.)

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

At various stage of progression, most brain tumors are not homogenous. In this presentation, we retrospectively studied the distribution of ADC values inside tumor volume during the course of tumor treatment and progression for a selective group of patients who underwent an anti-VEGF trial. Complete MRI studies were obtained for this selected group of patients including pre- and multiple follow-up, post-treatment imaging studies. In each MRI imaging study, multiple scan series were obtained as a standard protocol which includes T1, T2, T1-post contrast, FLAIR and DTI derived images (ADC, FA etc.) for each visit. All scan series (T1, T2, FLAIR, …

Y-Aminobutyric Acid Inhibits Synergistic Interleukin-6 Release And Increases Intracellular Cytokine Content In C6 Astrocytoma Cells In Vitro, Daniella Sandoval, Becky M. Hess, Bryan L. Spangelo

Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program (UROP)

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that is characterized by memory loss and is the most common cause of dementia. It is has been hypothesized that pro-inflammatory cytokines induce the inflammation that is believed to be the cause of the neuronal death that is associated with AD. γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) is a major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the Central Nervous System possessing membrane hyperpolarization or depolarization activities. A decline in GABA may enhance cytokine release in Alzheimer’s disease resulting in neuroinflammation. Therefore, we investigated the GABA-mediated suppression of the synergistic release of interleukin-6 (IL-6) induced by interleukin 1- (IL-1) and …

White Matter Diffusion Alterations In Normal Women At Risk Of Alzheimer's Disease, Charles D. Smith, Himachandra Chebrolu, Anders H. Andersen, David A. Powell, Mark A. Lovell, Shuling Xiong, Brian T. Gold

Neurology Faculty Publications

Increased white matter mean diffusivity and decreased fractional anisotropy (FA) has been observed in subjects diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's disease (AD). We sought to determine whether similar alterations of white matter occur in normal individuals at risk of AD. Diffusion tensor images were acquired in 42 cognitively normal right-handed women with both a family history of dementia and at least one apolipoprotein E4 allele. These were compared with images from 23 normal women without either AD risk factor. Group analyses were performed using tract-based spatial statistics. Reduced FA was observed in the fronto-occipital and inferior temporal …

Prediction Of Brain Tumor Progression Using A Machine Learning Technique, Yuzhong Shen, Debrup Banerjee, Jiang Li, Adam Chandler, Yufei Shen, Frederic D. Mckenzie, Jihong Wang, Nico Karssemeijer (Ed.), Ronald M. Summers (Ed.)

Electrical & Computer Engineering Faculty Publications

A machine learning technique is presented for assessing brain tumor progression by exploring six patients' complete MRI records scanned during their visits in the past two years. There are ten MRI series, including diffusion tensor image (DTI), for each visit. After registering all series to the corresponding DTI scan at the first visit, annotated normal and tumor regions were overlaid. Intensity value of each pixel inside the annotated regions were then extracted across all of the ten MRI series to compose a 10 dimensional vector. Each feature vector falls into one of three categories:normal, tumor, and normal but progressed to …

Signal Processing With Neural Networks, Pero Smrzlic

Masters Theses

In this study, we introduce the Adaptive Back Propagation (ABP) learning algorithm, computationally superior to the standard Back Propagation. The ABP is based on the new activation function, with its corresponding adaptive learning parameter. By using the combination of computer simulations and analysis in the domain of activation function, the Method of One Hidden layer was developed for the effective utilization of units in one-hidden layer networks. A parallel version of the ABP was designed and implemented on a nCUBE-2 supercomputer with 128 processors.

The simulation results suggested a strong correlation between frequency of signals and the role of hidden …

Factors Which Deterred Twenty-Three Selected Patients From Utilizing Public Health Nursing Services, Lora Wood Welch

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

A study was conducted to identify factors which deterred twenty-three selected epileptic patients from utilizing public health nursing services. The literature was reviewed in areas relating to factors which may contribute to or deter patients use of clinic or public health services.

The descriptive survey approach employing an interview guide was used. Data on the guide were classified in two areas: (1) personal characteristics and (2) participant responses. The participant responses were further categorized according to (1) perception of the public health department and public health nursing services, (2) perception of the needs of the epileptic patient and his parents, …