Comparatively high excitability of myelinated fibres suggests that they represent a major mediator of deep brain stimulation effects. Such effects can be modelled using different levels of abstraction, ranging from simple electric field estimates to complex multicompartment axon models. In this study, we explored three metrics to evaluate axonal activation: electric field magnitudes, electric field projections and pathway activation modelling.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGene expression shapes the brain's functional connectome, yet it is unclear whether genes linked to the same disorder converge on shared networks. We introduce gene network mapping-a framework combining spatial transcriptomics with normative functional connectivity to identify networks associated with gene expression. By generating -network maps, we captured distributed connectivity patterns for individual genes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDisorders of consciousness are characterized by severe impairments in arousal and awareness. Deep brain stimulation is a potential treatment, but outcomes vary-possibly due to differences in patient characteristics, electrode placement, or the specific brain network engaged. We describe 40 patients with disorders of consciousness undergoing deep brain stimulation targeting the thalamic centromedian-parafascicular complex.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMagnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound (MRgFUS) thalamotomy is an effective treatment for medically refractory essential tremor. We investigate ablation sites and potential tracts associated with optimal tremor control and side effects based on the analysis of 351 cases from three international hospitals. Lesions were segmented on day 1 thin-cut T2 axial images, mapped to standard Montreal Neurological Institute space, and used to derive probabilistic maps and tracts associated with tremor improvement and side effects.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDeep brain stimulation (DBS) of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) improves motor symptoms in patients with Parkinson's disease. Using functional MRI, optimal DBS response networks have been characterized. However, neural activity associated with Parkinsonian symptoms is magnitudes faster than what can be resolved by this method.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIn Parkinson's Disease (PD), deep brain stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (STN-DBS) reliably improves motor symptoms, and the circuits mediating these effects have largely been identified. However, non-motor outcomes are more variable, and it remains unclear which specific brain circuits need to be modulated or avoided to improve them. Since numerous non-motor symptoms potentially respond to DBS, it is challenging to independently identify the circuits mediating each one of them.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImportance: Identifying anatomy causally involved in psychosis could inform therapeutic neuromodulation targets for schizophrenia.
Objective: To assess whether lesions that cause secondary psychosis have functional connections to a common brain circuit.
Design, Setting, And Participants: This case-control study mapped functional connections of published cases of lesions causing secondary psychosis compared with control lesions unassociated with psychosis.
Deep brain stimulation is an efficacious treatment for dystonia. While the internal pallidum serves as the primary target, recently, stimulation of the subthalamic nucleus (STN) has been investigated. However, optimal targeting within this structure and its surroundings have not been studied in depth.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFrontal circuits play a critical role in motor, cognitive and affective processing, and their dysfunction may result in a variety of brain disorders. However, exactly which frontal domains mediate which (dys)functions remains largely elusive. We studied 534 deep brain stimulation electrodes implanted to treat four different brain disorders.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF. Constructing a theoretical framework to improve deep brain stimulation (DBS) based on the neuronal spatiotemporal patterns of the stimulation-affected areas constitutes a primary target..
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFrontal circuits play a critical role in motor, cognitive, and affective processing - and their dysfunction may result in a variety of brain disorders. However, exactly which frontal domains mediate which (dys)function remains largely elusive. Here, we study 534 deep brain stimulation electrodes implanted to treat four different brain disorders.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFollowing its introduction in 2014 and with support of a broad international community, the open-source toolbox Lead-DBS has evolved into a comprehensive neuroimaging platform dedicated to localizing, reconstructing, and visualizing electrodes implanted in the human brain, in the context of deep brain stimulation (DBS) and epilepsy monitoring. Expanding clinical indications for DBS, increasing availability of related research tools, and a growing community of clinician-scientist researchers, however, have led to an ongoing need to maintain, update, and standardize the codebase of Lead-DBS. Major development efforts of the platform in recent years have now yielded an end-to-end solution for DBS-based neuroimaging analysis allowing comprehensive image preprocessing, lead localization, stimulation volume modeling, and statistical analysis within a single tool.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDeep brain stimulation (DBS) to the fornix is an investigational treatment for patients with mild Alzheimer's Disease. Outcomes from randomized clinical trials have shown that cognitive function improved in some patients but deteriorated in others. This could be explained by variance in electrode placement leading to differential engagement of neural circuits.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBeet yellows virus, which belongs to the genus , family and has a significant negative economic impact, has proven to be challenging to detect and diagnose. To obtain antibodies against BYV, we propose an easier bioinformatics approach than the isolation and purification of the wild virus as an antigen. We used the SWISS-MODEL Workspace (Biozentrum Basel) protein 3D prediction program to discover epitopes of major coat protein p22 lying on the surface of the BYV capsid.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is an established therapy for patients with Parkinson's disease. In silico computer models for DBS hold the potential to inform a selection of stimulation parameters. In recent years, the focus has shifted towards DBS-induced firing in myelinated axons, deemed particularly relevant for the external modulation of neural activity.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRibonucleic acid (RNA) can act as a hapten in the direct immunization of animals. For antigen synthesis, 65 mg of viroid RNA were obtained by transcription of the recombinant DNA. We received a reasonable immune response in mice and rabbits with synthesized conjugate viroid RNA-lysozyme.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDeep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is an efficacious treatment option for an increasing range of brain disorders. To enhance our knowledge about the mechanisms of action of DBS and to probe novel targets, basic research in animal models with DBS is an essential research base. Beyond nonhuman primate, pig, and mouse models, the rat is a widely used animal model for probing DBS effects in basic research.
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