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Quantification of white matter and gray matter volumes from three-dimensional magnetic resonance volume studies using fuzzy classifiers.

We accurately measured white matter (WM) and gray matter (GM) from three-dimensional (3D) volume studies, using a fuzzy classification technique. The new segmentation method is a modification of a recently published method developed for T1 parametric images. 3D MR images were transformed into pseudo forms of T1 parametric images and segmented into WM and GM voxel fraction images with a set of standardized fuzzy classifiers. This segmentation method was validated with synthesized 3D MR images as phantoms. These phantoms were developed from cryosectioned human brain images located in the superior, middle, and inferior regions of the cerebrum. Phantom volume measurements revealed that, generally, the difference between measured and actual volumes was less than 3% for 1.5-mm simulated brain slices. The average cerebral GM/WM ratio calculated from 3D MR studies in four subjects was 1.77, which compared favorably with the estimate of 1.67 derived from anatomical data. Results indicate that this is an accurate and rapid method for quantifying WM and GM from Tl-weighted 3D volume studies.

Brain↗

Diffusion anisotropy in subcortical white matter and cortical gray matter: changes with aging and the role of CSF-suppression.

PURPOSE: To determine the relevance of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF)-suppression for the measurement of diffusion anisotropy in well-localized areas of the brain, particularly the subcortical white matter (WM) within the gyri and cortical gray matter (GM), in young and elderly subjects, and to assess the changes of water diffusivity in the brain with normal aging. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Quantitative measures of anisotropy in 26 regions, including subcortical WM (i.e., in the gyri), cortical GM, major deep WM, and deep GM regions of young (21-25 years, N = 8) and elderly (61-74 years, N = 10) normal volunteers, were assessed with CSF-suppressed diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) relative to standard DTI. RESULTS: CSF-suppressed DTI demonstrated significant increases in fractional anisotropy (FA) of 3-12% in the young and 2-14% in the elderly groups with the largest changes being in the subcortical WM of the gyri. Furthermore, FA decreased by 10-19% in the subcortical WM of the gyri of the elderly subjects relative to the young, primarily due to increases in the perpendicular diffusivity, lambda(3), with age. CONCLUSION: CSF-suppressed DTI yields more accurate measures of quantitative anisotropy in cortical and subcortical brain regions. Reductions of anisotropy with aging were predominantly observed in subcortical WM of the gyri.

Adult↗

Partial-volume model for determining white matter and gray matter cerebral blood volume for analysis of gliomas.

PURPOSE: To model the partial voluming of gray matter (GM) and white matter (WM) in perfusion imaging, and to use this model to estimate the cerebral blood volume (CBV) of pure WM and GM, which could then be used to normalize data across patients in preparation for analyzing tumor perfusion. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Dynamic susceptibility contrast (DSC) perfusion imaging was performed on 20 glioma patients. The perfusion data were registered to the T1 image using rigid-body and non-rigid algorithms. The rCBV for each voxel was computed by gamma-variate fitting and then fit as a linear function of the estimated fractional WM content. The estimated CBV of pure WM was used to normalize across patients, and the resulting tumor CBV values were compared with expectations. RESULTS: Rigid registration improved the correlation between the fractional WM content and CBV for all patients, with non-rigid registration yielding further improvements for all but two patients. The mean GM-to-WM CBV ratio was estimated at 2.15 +/- 0.33 (mean +/- SD). Voxels that exhibited both T1-Gd contrast enhancement and an abnormal proton spectrum were found to have a CBV 2.53 +/- 0.89 times higher than that in the WM. CONCLUSION: A partial-volume model is demonstrated for estimating pure WM and GM CBV. It is also shown that the relationship between the tumor CBV as estimated with this model is generally consistent with expectations based on spectroscopy and imaging.

Adult↗

Elevated protein carbonylation in the brain white matter and gray matter of patients with multiple sclerosis.

Oxidative stress has been implicated in the pathophysiology of multiple sclerosis (MS). Increased levels of reactive oxygen species (ROS) derived from infiltrating macrophages and microglial cells have been shown to reduce the levels of endogenous antioxidants and to cause the oxidation of various substrates within the MS plaque. To determine whether oxidative damage takes place beyond visible MS plaques, the occurrence of total carbonyls (TCOs) and protein carbonyls (PCOs) in the normal-appearing white matter (NAWM) and gray matter (NAGM) of eight MS brains was assessed and compared with those of four control brains. The data show that most (7/8) of the MS-WM samples contain increased amounts of PCOs as determined by reaction with 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine and Western blot analysis. These samples also have high levels of glial fibrilary acidic protein (GFAP), suggesting that oxidative damage is related to the presence of small lesions. In contrast, we detected no evidence of protein thiolation (glutathionylation and cysteinylation) in the diseased tissue. To our surprise, MS-NAGM specimens with high GFAP content also showed three times the concentration of TCOs and PCOs as the controls. The increase in PCOs is likely to be a consequence of reduced levels of antioxidants, in that the concentration of nonprotein thiols in both MS-WM and -GM decreased by 30%. Overall, our data support the current view that both NAWM and -GM from MS brains contain considerable biochemical alterations. The involvement of GM in MS was also supported by the decrease in the levels of neurofilament light protein in all the specimens analyzed. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study demonstrating the presence of increased protein carbonylation in post-mortem WM and GM tissue of MS patients.

Blotting, Western↗

Identification of membrane-bound carbonic anhydrase in white matter coated vesicles: the fate of carbonic anhydrase and other white matter coated vesicle proteins in triethyl tin-induced leukoencephalopathy.

We have extended our studies on the content of white matter derived coated vesicles (WMCVs) to show that they are enriched in membrane-bound carbonic anhydrase. Within the myelin complex membrane-bound carbonic anhydrase is concentrated in the periaxolemmal domain; however, this protein is enriched almost sevenfold in the bilayer of coated vesicles even relative to this myelin membrane region. These data suggest that some vesicles are derived from a site at which this enzyme is highly localized. The enrichment observed for membrane-bound carbonic anhydrase is unique since other periaxolemmal proteins such as CNPase and plasmolipin are only present in equal amounts in periaxolemmal-myelin fractions and WMCVs. Based on their known localization, the presence of CNPase coupled with the absence of MAG in WMCVs suggest that these vesicles are derived from the paranodal region. The identification in WMCVs of periaxolemmal-myelin proteins associated with ion and fluid movement, such as carbonic anhydrase, Na+,K+ ATPase, and the putative K+ channel protein plasmolipin, prompted us to examine the status of these vesicles in triethyl tin (TET)-induced myelin edema. Coated vesicles and other membrane fractions were isolated from whole brains of control and TET-treated rats. Whole brains were used so we could compare the effects of TET on WMCV proteins with the effect on proteins enriched in gray matter coated vesicles. The results indicated that TET had no detectable effect on compact or periaxolemmal-myelin, however, Western blot analysis showed that WMCV proteins, such as carbonic anhydrase, CNPase, and plasmolipin, were virtually absent or greatly diminished from the whole brain coated vesicle fraction.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗

Volumetric analysis of white matter, gray matter, and CSF using fractional volume analysis.

Quantitative cerebral tissue volumes may be useful for an objective assessment of pathological changes in brain. Accurate determination of tissue volumes is complicated, however, by the partial volume averaging (PVA) effect. We have, therefore, developed a new pulse sequence that minimizes the PVA through the use of inversion-recovery (IR) and double inversion-recovery (DIR) techniques. This pulse sequence simultaneously acquires four different sets of images to provide the necessary information for volumetric analysis and reduces potential spatial misregistration of images due to patient motion. The image sets acquired from the proposed pulse sequence are 1) gray matter visible, 2) white matter visible, 3) FLAIR, and 4) fast spin-echo proton-density weighted images. An algorithm has been implemented to correct for differential T1-weighting and for tissue quantitation.

Artifacts↗

A statistical method for determining the proportions of gray matter, white matter, and CSF using computed tomography.

The brain may be considered as a collection of volume elements (voxels) containing unknown proportions of gray matter (GM), white matter (WM), and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). If one assumes that (1) the attenuation coefficients for voxels with the same proportions of GM, WM, and CSF follow a Gaussian distribution whose mean is a weighted average of the mean attenuation coefficients of pure GM, WM, and CSF and (2) the voxel-to-voxel variation in proportion follows a Dirichlet probability distribution, then the overall proportions of GM, WM, and CSF can be calculated by optimizing the parameters of a compound Dirichlet-Gaussian distribution. This approach permits a quantitative analysis of the compartmental composition of the brain and may be useful in the evaluation of patients with cerebral edema, hydrocephalus, and leukoencephalopathy.

Brain↗

Interactive segmentation of cerebral gray matter, white matter, and CSF: photographic and MR images.

Digital photography of postmortem brain slices was compared with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for morphological analysis of human brain atrophy. In this study, we used two human brains obtained at autopsy: a cognitively defined nondemented control (70-yr-old male) and a demented Alzheimer's disease (AD) subject (82-yr-old female). For each of two brains, interactive manual image segmentation was performed by two observers on two image sets: (a) four coronal T1-weighted MR images (5 mm slices); and (b) four digitized photographic images from comparable rostrocaudal levels. Microcomputer image analysis software was used to measure the areas of three segmented cerebral compartments--gray matter (GM), white matter (WM) and CSF--for both image types. Resegmentation error was defined as the absolute difference between the areas derived from two segmentation trials divided by the value from trial 1 and multiplied by 100. This yielded the percent difference between the area measurements from the two trials. We found intra-observer agreement was better (error rates 1-18%) than inter-observer agreement (3-70%) with best agreement for WM and least for CSF, the smallest object class. MRI overestimated GM area relative to digitized photographs in the control but not the AD brain. The results define limitations of manual image segmentations and comparison of MRI with pathologic section photographic images.

Aged↗

Sediment-dissolved organic matter equilibrium partitioning of pentachlorophenol: the role of humic matter.

The dissolved humic matter (HM) has an essential influence on the release of the bound pentachlorophenol (PCP) from the solid sediment. It was studied how the increase of the dissolved HM concentration affects the equilibrium partitioning of PCP between the solid sediment matter and dissolved HM. The lake sedimentary and dissolved HM were isolated and their structural compositions were compared with elemental analyses, solid-sate 13C NMR spectroscopy and degradative analyses by pyrolysis-GC/MS. At the beginning of the equilibrium experiment, the PCP contaminant (200 microg l(-1)) was added into the water-sediment slurry system having an initial dissolved HM concentration. After 35 days, the system has reached an equilibrium and 75.5% of PCP was bound to the total solid sediment, 1.5% to dissolved HM and 23.0% remained free in water. The dissolved HM content was increased by 150% and, at the second equilibrium state after 91 days, only 63.8% of PCP was bound to the total sediment, and even 6.5% to the dissolved HM and 29.7% was free. The structural analyses indicated that the contents of aliphatics, aromatics and carboxylic carbons are lower in sediment than in dissolved HM, the content of carbohydrates in turn is higher in sediment than in dissolved HM, as well as that of different protein descriptors. The closely related partition coefficients for the sediment and dissolved HM, however, implied that the structural dissimilarity of these sorbents does not play so strong roles in the binding affinity of PCP as it would be postulated. The relatively great sorption coefficient of the minor colloid-like particle fraction in water implied its special but quantitatively quite immaterial roles in the partitioning cycle of PCP.

Adsorption↗

A universal scaling law between gray matter and white matter of cerebral cortex.

Neocortex, a new and rapidly evolving brain structure in mammals, has a similar layered architecture in species over a wide range of brain sizes. Larger brains require longer fibers to communicate between distant cortical areas; the volume of the white matter that contains long axons increases disproportionally faster than the volume of the gray matter that contains cell bodies, dendrites, and axons for local information processing, according to a power law. The theoretical analysis presented here shows how this remarkable anatomical regularity might arise naturally as a consequence of the local uniformity of the cortex and the requirement for compact arrangement of long axonal fibers. The predicted power law with an exponent of 4/3 minus a small correction for the thickness of the cortex accurately accounts for empirical data spanning several orders of magnitude in brain sizes for various mammalian species, including human and nonhuman primates.

Animals↗

The relationship between rumen bacterial growth, intake of dry matter, digestible organic matter and volatile fatty acid production in buffalo (Bos bubalis) calves.

1. The production rates of bacteria in the rumen of buffalo (Bos bubalis) calves were estimated using an isotope-dilution technique. A series of fifteen experiments was done with animals given green maize and nine experiments with animals given cowpea (Vigna unguiculata). 2. The turnover time ranged from 205 to 567 min in the group given green maize and from 330 to 648 min in animals offered cowpea. The production rates of bacteria were (mean +/- SE; g/d) 145.77 +/- 7.240 and 237.09 +/- 11.847 in animals given green maize and cowpea respectively. 3. There was a significant correlation between bacterial production rates and dry matter intake, digestible organic matter and total volatile fatty acids formed in the rumen. 4. Regression equations obtained for the two foodstuffs were different suggesting that the bacterial growth rate may vary depending upon the quantity and quality of foodstuff digested and possibly the ratio nitrogen:energy of the foodstuff.

Animal Feed↗

The digestion by cattle of silage-containing diets fed at two dry matter intakes. 1. Digestion of organic matter and nitrogen.

In a 4 X 4 Latin square experiment four cattle were given in two meals per d diets consisting of (g/kg dry matter (DM)) 500 barley, 400 grass silage and 100 soya-bean meal. The diets were given at either 1.15 (L) or 2.3 times (H) maintenance energy requirements and the soya-bean meal was either untreated (U) or formaldehyde-treated (T). A 24 h collection of duodenal digesta and a 7 d collection of faeces were made using chromium sesquioxide for flow estimation and 35S as a marker of microbial nitrogen entering the small intestine. Samples of rumen fluid were also taken for estimation of rumen pH, ammonia and volatile fatty acid concentrations. Spot samples of duodenal digesta were obtained after administration of Cr2O3-mordanted silage-fibre and soya-bean meal, to determine the rates of outflow of these markers from the rumen. Similar samples were also obtained after cessation of a continuous intraruminal infusion of ruthenium phenanthroline, 35S and CoEDTA. Incubations of each feedingstuff in porous synthetic fibre (psf) bags were carried out in the rumen and the rates of N disappearance from the bags determined. Increasing DM intake significantly (P less than 0.001) increased the quantities of organic matter (OM), total N and amino acid-N entering the small intestine and amounts subsequently voided in the faeces. Apparent digestibilities of OM and N were unaffected by DM intake; the proportions of total digestible OM digested in the rumen were significantly lower (P less than 0.01) at the higher level of DM intake. Formaldehyde treatment of the soya-bean meal increased the quantities of N entering the small intestine; these increases were not significant. Increased DM intake increased the quantities of both microbial N (P less than 0.001) and undegraded feed N (P less than 0.01) entering the small intestine; HCHO-treatment also significantly (P less than 0.05) increased the quantities of undegraded feed N entering the small intestine. The efficiency of microbial N synthesis within the rumen was not significantly affected by dietary treatments whereas apparent feed N degradability was reduced significantly (P less than 0.05) both by increasing DM intake and by HCHO-treatment of the soya-bean meal. Rates of disappearance of N from psf bags in the rumen were different for different feedingstuffs. However, for a given feedingstuff, the rate of N disappearance was not affected by the diets fed.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Animal Feed↗

A comprehensive particulate matter monitoring system and dosimetry-based ambient particulate matter standards.

A numerical particulate matter (PM) measurement model is developed to characterize and evaluate PM sampling methods. Simulations are conducted using the model to evaluate currently widely used PM samplers, including Federal Reference Method (FRM) samplers. The simulations show that current PM samplers are very vulnerable to both changes in measurement target (i.e., natural variability of particle size distribution) and the sampler's design, manufacturing, and operating conditions, potentially resulting in significant errors in the monitoring data. The numerical model is used in conjunction with two types of commercially available PM monitoring devices to form a Comprehensive Particulate Matter Monitoring System (CPMMS). The first type of device can be any mass-based PM monitor with a well-defined sampling efficiency curve. The second type of device is one capable of measuring particle size distribution with a reasonably good relative accuracy between size categories but not necessarily accurate in measuring absolute mass concentrations. This study shows that CPMMS can produce much higher quality PM monitoring data than the current PM samplers under the same conditions. In addition, unlike past and current PM monitoring data such as total suspended particulates, coarse PM (PM10), fine PM (PM2.5), etc., the CPMMS monitoring data will survive changes in PM regulatory definition. A new concept, dosimetry-based PM metrics and standards, is proposed to define ambient PM level based on the deposition fraction of particles in the human respiratory tract. The dosimetry-based PM metrics is more meaningful because it correlates the ambient PM level with the portion that can be deposited in the respiratory tract without an arbitrary cutoff particle diameter. CPMMS makes dosimetry-based PM metrics and standards feasible.

Air Pollutants↗

The relation of white matter hyperintensities to cognitive performance in the normal old: education matters.

This study examined whether the severity of cerebral white matter abnormalities (evident on MR images as white matter hyperintensities (WMH)) was related to the cognitive performance of 141 high-functioning older adults. The elderly showed the typical age decrement on measures of processing speed, working memory, and inhibition; however WMH severity was significantly related only to processing speed. The strength of this relationship was, however, influenced by the educational level of the participants, such that processing speed was more associated with WMH severity in less-educated than in well-educated participants. This is consistent with recent concepts of cognitive reserve, but does raise a question as to the underlying source of the cognitive decrement found in the sort of well-educated elders typically used in cognitive-aging studies.

Adolescent↗

The influence of contamination with separate mycotoxins (aflatoxins, ochratoxin A, citrinin, patulin, penicillic acid or sterigmatocystin) on the in vitro dry matter and organic matter digestibilities of some roughages (berseem hay and wheat straw).

In vitro study on berseem hay and wheat straw was undertaken to investigate the the effect of mycotoxin contamination on dry matter and organic matter digestibilities. The data revealed a negative effect of most studied mycotoxins on the materials digestibility. Among the investigated mycotoxins, penicillic acid with its two concentrations (5 and 10 nmol) was the most negative, affecting digestibilities of both feed materials. Wheat straw digestibility was more influenced than berseem hay by the ochratoxin A, citrinin and sterigmatocystin (besides the penicillic acid) particularly with their high level (10 nmol). Yet, some mycotoxins act as antibiotics which may affect only the harmful flora but encourage the rumen microflora resulting in slight improvement of digestibility. The rumen conditions were able to metabolize or deform the used levels of all mycotoxins studied. Thus, there were no detectable residues of these mycotoxins in the digestion media after the in vitro fermentation.

Aflatoxins↗

Grey matter and white matter ischemic damage is reduced by the competitive AMPA receptor antagonist, SPD 502.

Protection of both grey and white matter is important for improvement in stroke outcome. In the present study the ability of a competitive alpha-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionic acid (AMPA) antagonist to protect axons, oligodendrocytes, and neuronal perikarya, was examined in a rodent model of transient focal cerebral ischemia. SPD 502 (8-methyl-5-(4-( -dimethylsulfamoyl)phenyl)-6,7,8,9-tetrahydro-1H-pyrrolo[3,2h]-isoquinoline-2,3-dione-3-o(4-hydroxybutyricacid-2-yl)oxime) was administered as an intravenous bolus (16 mg/kg) 15 minutes before transient (3-hour) middle cerebral artery (MCA) occlusion, followed by an intravenous infusion (16 mg kg(-1) hr(-1)) of the drug for 4 hours. Twenty-one hours after ischemia, axonal damage was reduced by 45% (P = 0.006) in the SPD 502-treated group compared with the vehicle. The anatomic extent of ischemically damaged oligodendrocytes, determined by Tau1 immunoreactivity, was reduced in the cerebral cortex by 53% (P = 0.024) in SPD 502-treated rats compared with vehicle-treated rats, but there was minimal effect in the subcortex. The volume of neuronal perikaryal damage after MCA occlusion was significantly reduced by SPD 502 in the cerebral cortex (by 68%; P = 0.005), but there was minimal change in the subcortex with drug treatment. The AMPA receptor antagonist significantly reduced the anatomic extent of lipid peroxidation (assessed as the volume of 4-hydroxynonenol immunoreactivity), and this may have contributed to its ability to protect multiple cell types in ischemia. The data demonstrate that AMPA blockade protects both grey and white matter from damage induced by transient focal ischemia.

Aldehydes↗

Graphical analysis of MR feature space for measurement of CSF, gray-matter, and white-matter volumes.

The problem of volume averaging in quantitating CSF, gray-matter, and white-matter fractions in the brain is solved using a three-compartment model and a simple graphical analysis of a multispectral MR feature space. Compartmentalization is achieved without the ambiguities of thresholding techniques or the need to assume that the underlying pixel probability distributions have a particular form. A 2D feature space is formed by double SE (proton density- and T2-weighted) MR data with image nonuniformity removed by a novel technique in which the brain itself serves as a uniformity reference. Compartments other than the basic three were rejected by the tailoring of limits in feature space. Phantom scans substantiate this approach, and the importance of the careful selection and standardization of pure tissue reference signals is demonstrated. Compartmental profiles from standardized subvolumes of three normal brains, based on a 3D (Talairach) coordinate system, demonstrate slice-by-slice detail; longitudinal studies confirm reproducibility. Compartmentalization may be described graphically and algebraically, complementing data displays in feature space and images of compartmentalized brain scans. These studies anticipate the application of our compartmentalization technique to patients with neurological disorders.

Adult↗

Magnetization transfer ratio histogram analysis of normal-appearing gray matter and normal-appearing white matter in multiple sclerosis.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this work was to determine the extent of disease and disease severity in the conventional MR normal-appearing gray matter (NAGM) and white matter (NAWM) in patients with relapsing-remitting (RR) and secondary progressive (SP) multiple sclerosis (MS) utilizing quantitative magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) histogram analysis. METHOD: Twenty-seven patients with MS (16 RR, 11 SP) and 16 healthy control subjects were studied. MTR was calculated in the totally segmented GM and WM without T2 lesions in each group. RESULTS: Each of the RR and SP MS patient groups had significantly smaller MTR histogram mean values in NAGM and NAWM than the healthy subjects (p </= 0.0015). SP MS patients had a significantly lower first quartile and MTR histogram peak height for NAGM only (p </= 0.004) when compared with both RR MS patients and healthy subjects. The T2 lesion load had a modest negative correlation with MTR values in both RR and SP MS, but only in NAGM. CONCLUSION: Separate analysis of GM and WM MTR histograms may allow better detection of subtle damage and better understanding of the natural history of MS disease and ultimately the response to therapeutics.

Adult↗