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At least 595 records · Page 33Linked to original sources

Slowly progressive spread of the stroke-like lesions in MELAS.

BACKGROUND: Little is known about temporal and spatial progression of the stroke-like lesion during the acute stage of the stroke-like episode in patients with mitochondrial myopathy, encephalopathy, lactic acidosis, and stroke-like episodes (MELAS). METHODS: In four stroke-like episodes of MELAS observed in three patients, MRI, EEG, and SPECT were studied consecutively within the first month of the onset. RESULTS: The first presenting symptoms were headache in all four stroke-like episodes, followed by hemianopsia, psychosis, and aphasia. In three episodes, epileptic seizure developed subsequently in close association with a progression of stroke-like lesion. In all four episodes, serial MRI showed a slowly progressive spread of the stroke-like lesion evolving from the temporal cortex to the surrounding parietal or occipital cortex over a few weeks following the onset of initial symptoms. Apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) maps showed slightly decreased ADC values in the actively evolving brain lesions compared with those in nonaffected regions of the brain. EEG showed a pattern of focal periodic epileptiform discharges in three episodes. SPECT showed a focal hyperemia in all four stroke-like lesions, in two of which focal hyperemia persisted for the first month. A T1-weighted hyperintense cortical signal on MRI compatible with cortical laminar necrosis was seen during the subacute stage of all stroke-like lesions. CONCLUSION: Slowly and progressively spreading stroke-like lesions on MRI may reflect ongoing neuronal metabolic derangement associated with concomitant vasogenic edema provoked by prolonged epileptic seizure activities.

Adult↗

Spatial variation of resolution and noise in multi-detector row spiral CT.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVES: The authors performed this study to evaluate an approach for measuring the variations of three-dimensional spatial resolution and image noise throughout a field of view imaged with multi-detector row spiral computed tomographic (CT) scanners. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The authors designed a phantom (diameter, 320 mm) that contained 37 metallic spheres (diameter, approximately 0.8 mm) positioned between two disks made of a material with attenuation being that of water. One sphere was located at the isocenter of the phantom, and the rest were evenly spaced in three concentric rings with diameters of 100, 200, and 300 mm, respectively. The phantom was imaged with two widely used multi-detector row CT scanners by using a standard protocol and four variations of that protocol. Because a recently developed theory holds that image resolution should be proportional to the square root of the trace of the covariance matrix of a point spread function, the authors developed a software package to segment high-attenuation spheres from the CT image volume and compute point spread functions from blurred images of the spheres. Three-dimensional spatial resolution and image noise were calculated as a function of radial distance within the field of view. RESULTS: Resolution and noise were quantified in the resultant CT image volumes and found to be nonisotropic, with worse resolution and less noise occurring at the periphery of the field of view. CONCLUSION: The method enabled measurement of variations in spatial resolution and of their distribution on images obtained with multi-detector row CT scanners. These findings may contribute to the development of an improved algorithm for image reconstruction.

Humans↗

Inferring evolutionary signals from ecological data in a plant-pathogen metapopulation.

We followed the dynamics of local epidemics in three populations of a natural plant-pathogen system for four sequential years. We characterize the overwintering process with spatial statistics and use a stochastic, spatially explicit, modeling approach with Bayesian parameter estimation to study the spread of the infection during the growing season. Our modeling approach allows us to infer coevolutionary signals from spatiotemporal data on pathogen prevalence. Most importantly, we are able to assess the distribution of resistant hosts within the distribution of all host plants. We show that resistant hosts occur in areas with high pathogen encounter rates, and that the occurrence of resistance correlates with overwintering probability of the pathogen. The estimates for essentially all model parameters are characterized by a large amount of variation over the years and the populations. While the variation in the fraction of resistant hosts and in the force of infection is to a large extent explained by the population, the other model parameters (two parameters describing the shape of the dispersal kernel) vary essentially in an unpredictable manner, suggesting that much of the variation may occur at very fine spatial and temporal scales.

Bayes Theorem↗

Simulated effect of pig-population density on epidemic size and choice of control strategy for classical swine fever epidemics in The Netherlands.

We examined the importance of pig-population density in the area of an outbreak of classical swine fever (CSF) for the spread of the infection and the choice of control measures. A spatial, stochastic, dynamic epidemiological simulation model linked to a sector-level market-and-trade model for The Netherlands were used. Outbreaks in sparsely and densely populated areas were compared under four different control strategies and with two alternative trade assumptions. The obligatory control strategy required by current EU legislation was predicted to be enough to eradicate an epidemic starting in an area with sparse pig population. By contrast, additional control measures would be necessary if the outbreak began in an area with high pig density. The economic consequences of using preventive slaughter rather than emergency vaccination as an additional control measure depended strongly on the reactions of trading partners. Reducing the number of animal movements significantly reduced the size and length of epidemics in areas with high pig density. The phenomenon of carrier piglets was included in the model with realistic probabilities of infection by this route, but it made a negligible contribution to the spread of the infection.

Animal Husbandry↗

In vivo optical mapping of epileptic foci and surround inhibition in ferret cerebral cortex.

The population of neurons participating in an epileptiform event varies from moment to moment. Most techniques currently used to localize epileptiform events in vivo have spatial and/or temporal sampling limitations. Here we show in an animal model that optical imaging based on intrinsic signals is an excellent method for in vivo mapping of clinically relevant epileptiform events, such as interictal spikes, ictal onsets, ictal spread and secondary homotopic foci. In addition, a decrease in the optical signal correlates spatially with a decrease in neuronal activity recorded from cortex surrounding an epileptic focus. Optical mapping of epilepsy might be a useful adjunct in the surgical treatment of neocortical epilepsy, which critically depends on the precise localization of intrinsically epileptogenic neurons.

Animals↗

Ultrashort pulsed bessel beams and spatially induced group-velocity dispersion.

We find a new family of solutions of the nonparaxial wave equation that represents ultrashort pulsed light beam propagation in free space. The spatial and temporal parts of these pulsed beams are separable; the spatial transverse part is described by a Bessel function and remains unchanged during propagation, but the temporal profile can be arbitrary. Therefore the pulsed beam exhibits diffraction-free behavior with no transverse spreading, but the temporal part changes as if in a dispensive medium; the change is dominated by what we call spatially induced group-velocity dispersion. The analytical and numerical investigations show that the even- and odd-order spatially induced dispersions partially compensate for each other so as to give rise to pulse spreading, weakening, asymmetry, and center shift.

Journal Article↗

The role of management segregations in controlling intra-herd foot-and-mouth disease.

Transmission of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) by aerosol spread can occur over considerable distances. However, this is less effective in hot, dry environmental conditions, and a detailed study of an outbreak within a large dairy herd in Saudi Arabia has shown that contact spread is the main mode of transmission within a herd: both physical and spatial barriers curtailed the course of disease across the farm. Hence, the speed and path of an outbreak can be altered by changing the positioning of spatial or physical barriers. Extending the distances between pens, increasing the number of farm pens, decreasing the number of animals within the pens, and placing pens of well-protected stock between those of susceptible stock, can all contribute to the control of FMD involving contact and short-distance aerosol spread. Such management techniques offer a cost-effective supplement to control by vaccination.

Animal Husbandry↗

Clonal and spatial genetic structure in Eurya emarginata (Theaceae).

Eurya emarginata (Thunb.) Makino (Theaceae) is a dioecious, insect-pollinated tree, which combines sexual reproduction and clonal spread. It is narrowly distributed in coastal areas from southern China, along southern Korea, and extending to central and southern Japan. We used allozyme loci and spatial autocorrelation statistics to examine the clonal structure and the spatial distribution of allozyme polymorphisms of sexually reproduced individuals in a study population (70 m x 120 m area) in Korea. The population maintains moderate levels of allozyme variability (mean He=0.133), and multilocus genotypic diversity is high (mean DG=0. 992). The frequency of clones was 0.377 (90/239), and the mean clone-pair distance was very large (35.06 m +/- 1.91 m [SE]), indicating that clones can form at long distances away from their ancestors. In addition, it was found that genetic patch width was at least 24 m. However, join-count statistics for the total number of unlike joins showed that, contrary to expectation for such species, clonal reproduction does not contribute substantially to genetic isolation by distance neither among the sexually reproduced individuals nor the whole population. In contrast, limits to seed and pollen dispersal create substantial levels of genetic structure.

Alleles↗

Using conservation of pattern to estimate spatial parameters from a single snapshot.

Rapid reaction in the face of an epidemic is a key element in effective and efficient control; this is especially important when the disease has severe public health or economic consequences. Determining an appropriate level of response requires rapid estimation of the rate of spread of infection from limited disease distribution data. Generally, the techniques used to estimate such spatial parameters require detailed spatial data at multiple time points; such data are often time-consuming and expensive to collect. Here we present an alternative approach that is computationally efficient and only requires spatial data from a single time point, hence saving valuable time at the start of the epidemic. By assuming that fundamental spatial statistics are near equilibrium, parameters can be estimated by minimizing the expected rate of change of these statistics, hence conserving the general spatial pattern. Although applicable to both ecological and epidemiological data, here we focus on disease data from computer simulations and real epidemics to show that this method produces reliable results that could be used in practical situations.

Animals↗

Condom acceptance is higher among travelers in Uganda.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the role played by mobile residents in the spread of HIV through rural Uganda. DESIGN: Travel history and sexual network data were collected from a random sample of 1627 residents aged 15-49 years in Rakai District, Uganda during 1994. METHODS: Travelers and non-travelers are compared with respect to socio-demographic attributes, risk exposure, knowledge, attitudes and use of condoms using descriptive statistics and multivariate logistic regression. A demographic profile of travelers' partners is developed using information from a local network survey module. RESULTS: The population is highly mobile, with over 70% reporting travel to a potentially higher risk destination in the past year. Travelers are somewhat more likely to have higher levels of sexual risk behavior, but the risk appears to be offset by significantly greater knowledge, acceptance, and use of condoms. In multivariate analysis, the sexual risk differential for travelers is explained by occupational exposure and higher socio-economic status. The differential in condom acceptance, by contrast, appears to be associated with travel itself. Condom use with non-spousal partners is three times higher among travelers than non-travelers (P< 0.001), and travel remains a significant predictor after controlling for age, education, residence, occupation and multiple partners. Travelers are more likely to use condoms with both their local and non-local partners. Partners of male travelers are likely to be younger and better educated than those of male non-travelers. CONCLUSIONS: The mobile population in this rural region appears willing to adopt risk reduction measures appropriate to their exposure. This suggests that targeting condom promotion programs to travelers and their partners is likely to be effective in reducing the spatial diffusion of HIV, and may be an efficient method for spreading behavioral change into rural areas.

Adolescent↗

The evolution of dispersal.

A non-local model for dispersal with continuous time and space is carefully justified and discussed. The necessary mathematical background is developed and we point out some interesting and challenging problems. While the basic model is not new, a 'spread' parameter (effectively the width of the dispersal kernel) has been introduced along with a conventional rate paramter, and we compare their competitive advantages and disadvantages in a spatially heterogeneous environment. We show that, as in the case of reaction-diffusion models, for fixed spread slower rates of diffusion are always optimal. However, fixing the dispersal rate and varying the spread while assuming a constant cost of dispersal leads to more complicated results. For example, in a fairly general setting given two phenotypes with different, but small spread, the smaller spread is selected while in the case of large spread the larger spread is selected.

Animals↗

Assessment of mitochondrial polarization status in living cells based on analysis of the spatial heterogeneity of rhodamine 123 fluorescence staining.

The mitochondrial membrane potential (psimito) is an important parameter not only of mitochondrial but also of cellular status. Prolonged mitochondrial depolarization is associated with various forms of neuronal death. Assessment of mitochondrial depolarization can take advantage of the specific properties of the lipophilic dyes that distribute in a potentiometrically determined ratio across membranes. Using conventional imaging, we showed that rhodamine 123 accumulated in the mitochondria, generating a highly heterogeneous pattern of spatial distribution of fluorescence across the cell body. Collapse of the psimito following exposure to a protonophore, carbonylcyanide p-chloromethoxyphenylhydrazone (CCCP), released rhodamine 123 from mitochondria into the cytosol. Under acutely changed conditions, this increased the overall intensity of the fluorescence signal and significantly decreased the degree of spatial heterogeneity of the signal. If mitochondrial depolarization was sustained chronically, the intensity of the signal decreased, but the increase in the spatial homogeneity of the fluorescent signal was maintained. Image analysis showed that the level of spatial heterogeneity of the signal can be assessed by calculating, for each individual neurone, the spread of pixel intensities values around the mean. This spread is defined by the coefficient of variation (CV), which is a measure of the standard deviation normalized to the average, and was inversely related to mitochondrial depolarization measured under different conditions. Thus, the degree of spatial heterogeneity of the rhodamine 123 signal measured from a neurone is a reliable indicator for the assessment of mitochondrial depolarization and can be used in experiments to monitor psimito over shorter or longer periods.

Animals↗

Superresolution and convergence properties of the expectation-maximization algorithm for maximum-likelihood deconvolution of incoherent images.

Computational optical-sectioning microscopy with a nonconfocal microscope is fundamentally limited because the optical transfer function, the Fourier transform of the point-spread function, is exactly zero over a conic region of the spatial-frequency domain. Because of this missing cone of optical information, images are potentially artifactual. To overcome this limitation, superresolution, in the sense of band extrapolation, is necessary. I present a frequency-domain analysis of the expectation-maximization algorithm for maximum-likelihood image estimation that shows how the algorithm achieves this band extrapolation. This analysis gives the theoretical absolute bandwidth of the restored image; however, this absolute value may not be realistic in many cases. Then a second analysis is presented that assumes a Gaussian point-spread function and a specimen function and shows more realistic behavior of the algorithm and demonstrates some of its properties. Experimental results on the superresolving capability of the algorithm are also presented.

Algorithms↗

Electroencephalographic activity associated with shifts of visuospatial attention.

The neural processes underlying shifts of visuospatial attention were studied in normal adults by non-invasive recording of brain electrical activity. Event-related evoked potentials (ERPs) were recorded during target detection tasks with targets preceded by central or peripheral directional cues in the visual field, which are hypothesized to provoke voluntary and reflexive shifts of spatial attention. Reaction time to targets varied as a function of cue type and cue-target interval, indicating that the tasks induced shifts of spatial attention across the visual field. Event-related evoked potential recordings showed that central cues elicited negative potential shifts starting 240 ms after cue onset over posterior scalp sites contralateral to the cued visual field, which spread to anterior scalp sites over time. After 500 ms post cue, negative potentials were more negative in right temporal parietal sites regardless of cue direction. Peripheral cues enhanced the N1 component (140-200 ms post cue) over the contralateral hemisphere. Following N1 enhancement, a sustained negative potential shift appeared after 460 ms post cue at posterior scalp sites contralateral to cued field and spread over the temporal and central regions. These results suggest that the neural processes underlying spatial selection are initiated in the posterior region and that other cortical activities are recruited in a serial fashion. Symmetrical early activation of each contralateral hemisphere suggest independent involvement of the hemispheres in the early stages of shifting attention toward the contralateral visual field. A predominant contribution of the right hemisphere to sustained spatial attention was demonstrated in the late stage of cue processing at the right temporal and parietal regions. Different ERP patterns generated by central and peripheral cues support the hypothesis that distinct neural systems are involved in voluntary and reflexive mechanisms of attention shift.

Adult↗

A wavefront generator for complex pupil function synthesis and point spread function engineering.

We describe a simple method to produce an arbitrary complex optical field using a ferroelectric liquid crystal spatial light modulator. The system is configured so as to act as a pupil plane filter in a confocal microscope. The ability to tune the complex pupil function permits the system to be used both to modify the imaging performance by effectively engineering the point spread function as well as to remove optical aberrations present in the optical system.

Journal Article↗

Building spike representation in tetrodes.

This paper presents a new technique for analyzing the recorded information from tetrodes in freely behaving rats, based on independent component analysis (ICA). The ion-specific pumps and channels allow fast transfer of charges such as Na+, K+, Cl- and eventually Ca2+ during each action potential (AP). These groups of charges under an electrical field have distinct spatial trajectories. Therefore, the generated signals within a tetrode are considered to be composed mainly by statistically independent signal sources that can be obtained by performing ICA. In order to compute the position of independent sources during AP generation, the triangulation method uses an iterative Newton-Raphson algorithm. The representation of the independent signal sources in three-dimensional tetrode space is then obtained. Since the charge movements are extensively spread on the neuron's surface, the representation in tetrode space reveals electrical spatial patterns of activation during each AP. The analysis of several spikes coming from the same neuron reveals small changes from spike to spike in the 3D shape. Since information within spikes is highly transferred by ionic fluxes these electrical patterns of activation reflect neuronal computation occurring during each AP.

Action Potentials↗

Comparison of pain properties in fibromyalgia patients and rheumatoid arthritis patients.

Pain properties of 50 fibromyalgia patients were examined and compared with pain properties of 50 rheumatoid arthritis patients. In both fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis, pain was bilateral, involved multiple sites, and was of equal intensity (60.8 versus 58.7, respectively, on a scale of 100). Fibromyalgia pain, however, was less localized to the joints and suggested greater spatial diffusion. It involved more kinds of pain experiences (radiating, steady, spreading, spasms, gnawing, unlocalized, pricking, crushing, shooting, pressing, splitting, cramping, nagging, and pins and needles), and was dispersed over larger areas of the body. The anatomic sites best for discrimination between patients with fibromyalgia and patients with rheumatoid arthritis were the lower back, thigh, abdomen, head, and hips for fibromyalgia, and wrist, foot, and fingers for rheumatoid arthritis. The traditional clinical description of aching and stiffness does not appear to accurately describe the complexity of the fibromyalgia pain syndrome.

Adolescent↗

Natural linewidth chemical shift imaging (NL-CSI).

The discrete Fourier transform (FT) is a conventional method for spatial reconstruction of chemical shifting imaging (CSI) data. Due to point spread function (PSF) effects, FT reconstruction leads to intervoxel signal leakage (Gibbs ringing). Spectral localization by imaging (SLIM) reconstruction was previously proposed to overcome this intervoxel signal contamination. However, the existence of magnetic field inhomogeneities creates an additional source of intervoxel signal leakage. It is demonstrated herein that even small field inhomogeneities substantially amplify intervoxel signal leakage in both FT and SLIM reconstruction approaches. A new CSI data acquisition strategy and reconstruction algorithm (natural linewidth (NL) CSI) is presented that eliminates effects of magnetic field inhomogeneity-induced intervoxel signal leakage and intravoxel phase dispersion on acquired data. The approach is based on acquired CSI data, high-resolution images, and magnetic field maps. The data are reconstructed based on the imaged object structure (as in the SLIM approach) and a reconstruction matrix that takes into account the inhomogeneous field distribution inside anatomically homogeneous compartments. Phantom and in vivo results show that the new method allows field inhomogeneity effects from the acquired MR signal to be removed so that the signal decay is determined only by the "natural" R2 relaxation rate constant (hence the term "natural linewidth" CSI).

Algorithms↗