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Biomedical subjects

A H Lockwood

Publications and source records attributed to A H Lockwood.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2002

PET imaging of the normal human auditory system: responses to speech in quiet and in background noise.

The neural mechanisms involved in listening to sentences, and then detecting and verbalizing a specific word are poorly understood, but most likely involve complex neural networks. We used positron emission tomography to identify the areas of the human brain that are activated when young, normal hearing males and females were asked to listen to a sentence and repeat the last word from the Speech in Noise (SPIN) test. Listening conditions were (1) Quiet, (2) Speech, (3) Noise, and (4) SPIN with stimuli presented monaurally to either the left ear or the right ear. The least difficult listening task, Speech, resulted in bilateral activation of superior and middle temporal gyrus and pre-central gyrus. The Noise and SPIN conditions activated many of the same regions as Speech alone plus additional sites within the cerebellum, thalamus and superior/middle frontal gyri. Comparison of the SPIN condition versus Speech revealed additional activation in the right anterior lobe of the cerebellum and right medial frontal gyrus, near the cingulate. None of the left ear-right ear stimulus comparison revealed any significant differences except for the SPIN condition that showed greater activation in the left superior temporal gyrus for stimuli presented to the right ear. No gender differences were observed. These results demonstrate that repeating the last word in a sentence activates mainly auditory and motor areas of the brain when Speech is presented, whereas more difficult tasks, such as SPIN or multi-talker Noise, activate linguistic, attentional, cognitive, working memory, and motor planning areas.

Adult↗
PubMed2001

The functional anatomy of gaze-evoked tinnitus and sustained lateral gaze.

OBJECTIVE: To identify neural sites associated with gaze-evoked tinnitus (GET), an unusual condition that may follow cerebellar-pontine angle surgery. METHODS: The authors examined eight patients with GET and used PET to map the neural sites activated by lateral gaze in them and seven age- and sex-matched control subjects. RESULTS: In patients with GET, tinnitus loudness and pitch increased with lateral gaze and, to a lesser extent, up and down gaze. Evidence for neural activity related to GET was seen in the auditory lateral pontine tegmentum or auditory cortex. GET-associated nystagmus appears to activate the cuneus and cerebellar vermis. These sites were found in addition to an extensive network that included frontal eye fields and other sites in frontal, parietal, and temporal cortex that were activated by lateral gaze in seven control subjects and the patients. The unilateral deafness in patients with GET was associated with expansion of auditory cortical areas responsive to tones delivered to the good ear. In addition to GET, unilateral deafness, end-gaze nystagmus, and facial nerve dysfunction were common. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with GET have plastic changes in multiple neural systems that allow neural activity associated with eye movement, including those associated with the neural integrator, to stimulate the auditory system. Anomalous auditory activation is enhanced by the failure of cross-modal inhibition to suppress auditory cortical activity. The time course for the development of GET suggests that it may be due to multiple mechanisms.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Effects of background noise on audiometric thresholds during positron emission tomography: passive and active noise-reduction.

Position emission tomography (PET) is used to assess the functional activity of the human auditory brain; however, the activity detected by PET could be affected by ambient acoustic noise from the PET equipment. To evaluate these effects, we compared behavioural thresholds in the PET camera with those measured in an audiometric sound booth. Thresholds were measured with: (i) ER2 earphones, (ii) ER2 earphones + Cabot earmuffs, (iii) ER2 earphones + Bose Series II Aviation Headset with active noise-reduction off, and (iv) ER2 earphones + Bose Series II Aviation Headset with active noise-reduction on. Overall ambient noise level in the camera was 73 dB SPL and the maximum octave-band SPL was 68 dB SPL at 250 Hz. Threshold elevations in the PET camera were greatest with ER2 (17 dB, 125 Hz) earphones and lowest with ER2 earphones + Bose Series II Aviation Headset (8 dB at 250 Hz) with active noise-reduction. Thus, PET scanner noise had little or no effect on threshold when stimuli were presented through ER2 earphones covered with an activated Bose Series II Aviation Headset.

Adult↗
PubMed2000

Pesticides and parkinsonism: is there an etiological link?

Two hundred years ago, Parkinson's disease was rare. Now, it is the second most common neurodegenerative disorder. A recent twin study showed clearly that genetic factors play a minor role in determining whether an individual develops this disease, rekindling an interest in the etiological significance of environmental factors. Earlier studies had shown that a MPTP, a contaminant found in some illegal drugs, caused Parkinson's disease. This provided the original impetus for the pesticide hypothesis. Similarities between MPTP and pesticides coupled with epidemiological and animal studies have strengthened the possible link between pesticide exposure and the subsequent development of Parkinson's disease.

Animals↗
PubMed1999

Neuroanatomy of tinnitus.

We tested the hypothesis that tinnitus was due to excessive spontaneous activity in the central auditory system by seeking cerebral blood flow (CBF) changes that paralleled changes in the loudness of tinnitus in patients able to alter the loudness of their tinnitus. We found CBF changes in the left temporal lobe in patients with right ear tinnitus, in contrast to bilateral temporal lobe activity associated with stimulation of the right ear. The tones activated more extensive portions of the brain in patients than controls. We conclude that tinnitus is not cochlear in origin and associated with plastic transformations of the central auditory system. We suggest that tinnitus arises as a consequence of these aberrant new pathways and may be the auditory system analog to phantom limb sensations in amputees.

Auditory Diseases, Central↗
PubMed1998

Sex differences in brain regions activated by grammatical and reading tasks.

Do the brains of men and women show similar patterns of functional organization for language, or are men more strongly lateralized? We used PET to measure cerebral blood flow (CBF) as men and women read real and nonce verbs, and produced past tense forms. While the overall patterns of reaction time, error, and brain activation were similar, there were also significant sex-related differences in CBF patterns. During the past tense generation tasks, men showed left-lateralized activation while women recruited bilateral perisylvian cortex, confirming differences in functional laterality. During all tasks, women showed higher activation in occipital and/or cerebellar regions, suggesting differences in basic reading strategies. We conclude that sex differences in functional cortical organization exist in the absence of significant behavioral differences.

Adult↗
PubMed1998

Functional neuroimaging of attention in the auditory modality.

Previous functional neuroimaging studies of attention have emphasized the visual modality. We developed an auditory version of the continuous performance test (CPT) that included simple, focused and divided attention conditions. Positron emission tomographic (PET) scans were acquired during CPT performance in normal young adults and then submitted to statistical parametric mapping. Simple attention brought about a large region of activation involving the anterior cingulate gyrus and the right anterior/mesial frontal lobe. Focused and divided attention CPT conditions were compared but there were few significant differences. The findings are consistent with activation of an anterior attention network during auditory attention, without involvement of posterior attention structures which are more likely to vary in accordance with sensory modality.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed1998

Positron emission tomography in the study of hepatic encephalopathy.

Positron-emission tomography (PET) is a quantitative technique that produces images of biological or physiological processes. The nature of the image depends on the tracer used: common tracers used to study HE include 18F-fluordeoxyglucose, a marker of glucose metabolism; 15O-water, a marker of cerebral blood flow; and 13N-ammonia, a marker of ammonia metabolism. Combined blood flow and ammonia metabolism studies can be used to calculate the permeability surface area product for ammonia at the blood brain barrier. To take full advantage of PET, the data should be analyzed using one of the several sophisticated image processing and analysis techniques that are available. Thus, PET is an ideal technique to evaluate ammonia metabolism and, because of a close linkage of blood flow and glucose metabolism with neural activity, to investigate the neural response to drugs and other treatments and to examine neural systems that mediate specific tasks that are impaired in patients with HE.

Ammonia↗
PubMed1998

The functional neuroanatomy of tinnitus: evidence for limbic system links and neural plasticity.

We used PET to map brain regions responding to changes in tinnitus loudness in four patients who could alter tinnitus loudness by performing voluntary oral facial movements (OFMs). Cerebral blood flow was measured in four patients and six controls at rest, during the OFM, and during stimulation with pure tones. OFM-induced loudness changes affected the auditory cortex contralateral to the ear in which tinnitus was perceived, whereas unilateral cochlear stimulation caused bilateral effects, suggesting a retrocochlear origin for their tinnitus. Patients, compared with controls, showed evidence for more widespread activation by the tones and aberrant links between the limbic and auditory systems. These abnormal patterns provide evidence for cortical plasticity that may account for tinnitus and associated symptoms. Although audiologic symptoms and examinations of these patients were typical, the unusual ability to modulate tinnitus loudness with an OFM suggests some caution may be warranted in generalizing these findings.

Acoustic Stimulation↗
PubMed1998

Modulation of tinnitus by voluntary jaw movements.

OBJECTIVE: The authors describe symptoms and population characteristics in patients with tinnitus who report the ability to control the loudness of their tinnitus by performing voluntary movements. DESIGN: The authors used a questionnaire. SETTING: The study was conducted at a tertiary care center. PATIENTS: Respondents have the self-reported ability to control the loudness of their tinnitus by performing voluntary movements. RESULTS: The authors describe symptoms and population characteristics in 93 patients with tinnitus (83% men, 17% women) who report the ability to control the loudness of their tinnitus by performing voluntary movements: 85% of these report jaw movements and 9% report eye movements affect their tinnitus. In the jaw-movement group, tinnitus loudness increased in 90%. Jaw movement affected the pitch in 51% with an increase in pitch reported by 90%. Other maneuvers, such as pressure applied to the head, affected tinnitus in many subjects. Tinnitus had a major impact on the lives of the authors' respondents: 27% registered mild to moderate depression and 8% moderate to severe depression as shown by the Beck Depression Inventory. CONCLUSIONS: The ability to modulate tinnitus by performing voluntary somatosensory or motor acts is likely the result of plastic changes in the brains of these patients with the development of aberrant connections between the auditory and sensory-motor systems. The strong predominance of men in the sample suggests the presence of a gender-specific factor that mediates these changes.

Adult↗
PubMed1997

An image of the brain in patients with liver disease.

As imaging techniques have advanced from those that are based on tissue density and hence are strictly anatomical in nature, to include those based on physiologic and biochemical factors, the expectation has grown that imaging will be used to evaluate patients with diseases that are caused by disordered metabolism. In this review, recent advances in neuroimaging are discussed that have led to new insights into the pathophysiology of hepatic encephalopathy, a common condition that is caused by the failure of the liver to remove metabolic wastes from the blood.

Animals↗
PubMed1997

Attentional systems and the allocation of cerebral resources in reading and grammatical tasks.

To evaluate the possible role of attentional centers as modulators of neural networks that mediate visual tasks involving reading and grammatical manipulations of verbs, we measured cerebral blood flow (CBF) using positron emission tomography (PET), and reaction times as subjects read verbs, "nonce verbs" such as jelt or brep, and formed past tenses of regular, irregular and nonce verbs after viewing their stems. Statistical parametric maps (SPMs) showed significant activation of the pulvinar in the read verb irregular, and generate nonce past tense tasks, compared to rest. This was confirmed by a post hoc ANOVA of CBF values from a discrete locus in the pulvinar (p = .0000417). Functional links between the pulvinar and other brain regions were shown by high correlations of CBF in the pulvinar with CBF in brain regions known to have anatomical connections to the pulvinar, particularly those mediating vision. There was also a significant relationship between task-specific reaction times and rest minus task CBF differences in a multiple regression analysis that included CBF values from the pulvinar, superior colliculus plus reticular formation, and the anterior cingulate, known attentional centers (p = .021, r2 = 0.99). Regression analyses relating reaction time to the amount of brain activated (pixels in the SPMs) and the degree of activation of the pixels (mean Z score) yielded p values of .078 and .074, respectively. Our data provide direct experimental evidence to support the hypothesis that attentional centers are activated in proportion to the complexity of visually mediated language tasks and that the centers that mediate attention modulate the activity of task-specific neural networks.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Positron-emission tomographic localization of abnormalities of brain metabolism in patients with minimal hepatic encephalopathy.

Many patients with compensated cirrhosis without overt hepatic encephalopathy have deficits in visual-spatial perception, a condition we call minimal hepatic encephalopathy. Five patients with alcohol-induced cirrhosis and nine control subjects underwent positron-emission tomographic imaging of the brain with 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose. Patients also underwent neuropsychological and clinical chemistry tests. The patients had mild arterial hyperammonemia (62 +/- 13 mumol/L, range = 11 to 35 mumol/L) and other abnormalities typical of patients with cirrhosis. The patients' mean percentile scores on the digit symbol and block design subtests, from the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (revised), and Purdue pegboard test were 11 +/- 7, 24 +/- 7 and 7 +/- 8 (right hand). Tests of vocabulary, memory, and new learning were normal. The technique of statistical parametric mapping was used to identify regions where cerebral 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose uptake and metabolism were abnormal. We noted significant reductions in the cingulate gyrus, a center mediating attention, target analysis and response formulation and significant increases in visual associative regions subserving motion and color perception and object orientation. We suggest that minimal hepatic encephalopathy is due to a deficit in the detection and formulation of responses to visual stimuli, a function of the cingulate, which is a part of the anterior attentional system of the brain. Increases in 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose metabolism may be compensatory. These studies show that brain regions differ in their sensitivity to the agents that cause hepatic encephalopathy and that positron-emission tomography is useful in studying the pathophysiology of this disorder.

Adult↗