The effect of tablet-based multimodal training on cognitive functioning in Alzheimer's disease: A randomized controlled trial.

Background: Computerized cognitive training conducted in a home setting has shown beneficial effects on cognitive functions in people with mild cognitive impairment. Similar effects in people suffering from Alzheimer's disease (AD) have not yet been found. We aimed to examine the effect of a six-month tablet-based multimodal training in community-dwelling people with mild to moderate AD on cognitive functions and on the volume of (sub)cortical structures.

Functional connectivity changes in long-Covid patients with and without cognitive impairment.

Long-Covid is associated with cognitive deficits in memory, attention, or executive function. However, the associated cerebral structural and functional changes are insufficiently studied to date. We investigated 39 long-Covid patients with (n = 16) and without (n = 23) cognitive impairment.

Long-term outcome of young patients after ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack: Insights from a multicenter study.

Background: The long-term non-motor outcome of young adults with ischemic stroke (IS) or transient ischemic attack (TIA) is poorly understood.

Aims: Therefore, in this observational cohort study, we explored the prevalence of impairment and factors influencing clinical and neuropsychological outcomes and return-to-work a decade post-stroke.

Methods: After a median follow-up duration of 10.

Glioblastoma targeting by water-soluble hypericin derivate HHL-PVP and photodynamic tumour killing.

Hypericin, a tumour-selective photosensitizer, has shown potential in cancer therapy, but its poor water solubility has limited clinical use. To address this, we developed a water-soluble variant called high hypericin-loaded polyvinylpyrrolidone (HHL-PVP) to enhance hypericin's applicability, particularly for treating glioblastoma, a typically terminal disease. We tested HHL-PVP in both in vitro and in vivo models, first confirming its fluorescent properties in the lab and then assessing its efficacy in more complex animal models.

Voxel-Based Lesion Symptom Mapping to Predict Poststroke Epilepsy After Mechanical Thrombectomy.

Introduction: Poststroke epilepsy (PSE) is an important long-term complication after stroke. Data regarding predictors of PSE in patients with large-vessel occlusion stroke receiving mechanical thrombectomy (MT) are scarce. Voxel-based lesion symptom mapping on brain MRI might be a valuable tool in the risk prediction of PSE.

Free Water as a Marker of Early Small Vessel Disease in Healthy Aging.

Background: Brain aging is associated with cerebrovascular changes and related microstructural pathology. In this context, research indicates that small vessel disease (SVD) is characterized by increases in extracellular free water (FW).

Methods: We examined 94 individuals with early signs of small vessel disease (eSVD; M = 69.

Direct oral anticoagulants versus no anticoagulation for the prevention of stroke in survivors of intracerebral haemorrhage with atrial fibrillation (PRESTIGE-AF): a multicentre, open-label, randomised, phase 3 trial.

Background: Direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) reduce the rate of thromboembolism in patients with atrial fibrillation but the benefits and risks in survivors of intracerebral haemorrhage are uncertain. We aimed to determine whether DOACs reduce the risk of ischaemic stroke without substantially increasing the risk of recurrent intracerebral haemorrhage.

Methods: PRESTIGE-AF is a multicentre, open-label, randomised, phase 3 trial conducted at 75 hospitals in six European countries.

Effects of rhythmic-cued gait training on gait-like task related brain activation in people with multiple sclerosis.

Background: Walking impairment is one of the most debilitating symptoms of multiple sclerosis (MS). A better understanding of brain mechanisms underlying successful gait training could help to improve development of targeted therapy. We therefore investigated changes in brain activation associated with improvements in walking function after rhythmic-cued gait training.

Prevention of Stroke in Intracerebral Haemorrhage Survivors with Atrial Fibrillation: Rationale and Design for PRESTIGE-AF Trial.

Adequate secondary prevention in survivors of intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) who also have atrial fibrillation (AF) is a long-standing clinical dilemma because these patients are at increased risk of recurrent ICH as well as of ischemic stroke. The efficacy and safety of oral anticoagulation, the standard preventive medication for ischemic stroke patients with AF, in ICH patients with AF are uncertain. PRESTIGE-AF is an international, phase 3b, multi-center, randomized, open, blinded end-point assessment (PROBE) clinical trial that compared the efficacy and safety of direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) with no DOAC (either no antithrombotic treatment or any antiplatelet drug).

Changes in thalamic functional connectivity in post-Covid patients with and without fatigue.

Background: Functional brain alterations in post-Covid-19 condition have been minimally explored to date. Here, we investigate differences in resting-state thalamic functional connectivity among post-Covid patients with and without fatigue, alongside structural brain changes and cognition.

Methods: Thirty-nine post-Covid patients (n = 15 fatigued, n = 24 non-fatigued) participated in our study, undergoing comprehensive cognitive assessments, as well as functional and structural neuroimaging.

Fully Automated Hippocampus Segmentation using T2-informed Deep Convolutional Neural Networks.

Hippocampal atrophy (tissue loss) has become a fundamental outcome parameter in clinical trials on Alzheimer's disease. To accurately estimate hippocampus volume and track its volume loss, a robust and reliable segmentation is essential. Manual hippocampus segmentation is considered the gold standard but is extensive, time-consuming, and prone to rater bias.

The ageing central nervous system in multiple sclerosis: the imaging perspective.

The interaction between ageing and multiple sclerosis is complex and carries significant implications for patient care. Managing multiple sclerosis effectively requires an understanding of how ageing and multiple sclerosis impact brain structure and function. Ageing inherently induces brain changes, including reduced plasticity, diminished grey matter volume, and ischaemic lesion accumulation.

White matter integrity and functional connectivity of the default mode network in acute stroke are associated with cognitive outcome three months post-stroke.

Background: Knowledge about factors that are associated with post-stroke cognitive outcome is important to identify patients with high risk for impairment. We therefore investigated the associations of white matter integrity and functional connectivity (FC) within the brain's default-mode network (DMN) in acute stroke patients with cognitive outcome three months post-stroke.

Methods: Patients aged between 18 and 85 years with an acute symptomatic MRI-proven unilateral ischemic middle cerebral artery infarction, who had received reperfusion therapy, were invited to participate in this longitudinal study.

Three-dimensional EPI with shot-selective CAIPIRIHANA for rapid high-resolution quantitative susceptibility mapping at 3 T.

Purpose: QSM provides insight into healthy brain aging and neuropathologies such as multiple sclerosis (MS), traumatic brain injuries, brain tumors, and neurodegenerative diseases. Phase data for QSM are usually acquired from 3D gradient-echo (3D GRE) scans with long acquisition times that are detrimental to patient comfort and susceptible to patient motion. This is particularly true for scans requiring whole-brain coverage and submillimeter resolutions.

Low-frequency MR elastography reveals altered deep gray matter viscoelasticity in multiple sclerosis.

Introduction: Brain viscoelasticity as assessed by magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) has been discussed as a promising surrogate of microstructural alterations due to neurodegenerative processes. Existing studies indicate that multiple sclerosis (MS) is associated with a global reduction in brain stiffness. However, no study to date systematically investigated the MS-related characteristics of brain viscoelasticity separately in normal-appearing white matter (NAWM), deep gray matter (DGM) and T2-hyperintense white matter (WM) lesions.

Evaluation of a self-administered iPad-based processing speed assessment for people with multiple sclerosis in a clinical routine setting.

Background: Limited resources often hinder regular cognitive assessment of people with multiple sclerosis (pwMS) in standard clinical care. A self-administered iPad®-based cognitive screening-tool (Processing Speed Test; PST) might mitigate this problem.

Objective: To evaluate the PST in clinical routine.

Multimodal analytical tools for the molecular and elemental characterisation of lesions in brain tissue of multiple sclerosis patients.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a prevalent immune-mediated inflammatory disease of the central nervous system inducing a widespread degradation of myelin and resulting in neurological deficits. Recent advances in molecular and atomic imaging provide the means to probe the microenvironment in affected brain tissues at an unprecedented level of detail and may provide new insights. This study showcases state-of-the-art spectroscopic and mass spectrometric techniques to compare distributions of molecular and atomic entities in MS lesions and surrounding brain tissues.

Efficacy assessment of an active tau immunotherapy in Alzheimer's disease patients with amyloid and tau pathology: a post hoc analysis of the "ADAMANT" randomised, placebo-controlled, double-blind, multi-centre, phase 2 clinical trial.

Background: Tau pathology correlates with and predicts clinical decline in Alzheimer's disease. Approved tau-targeted therapies are not available.

Methods: ADAMANT, a 24-month randomised, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, double-blinded, multicenter, Phase 2 clinical trial (EudraCT2015-000630-30, NCT02579252) enrolled 196 participants with Alzheimer's disease; 119 are included in this post-hoc subgroup analysis.

Super-resolution QSM in little or no additional time for imaging (NATIve) using 2D EPI imaging in 3 orthogonal planes.

Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping has the potential to provide additional insights into neurological diseases but is typically based on a quite long (5-10 min) 3D gradient-echo scan which is highly sensitive to motion. We propose an ultra-fast acquisition based on three orthogonal (sagittal, coronal and axial) 2D simultaneous multi-slice EPI scans with 1 mm in-plane resolution and 3 mm thick slices. Images in each orientation are corrected for susceptibility-related distortions and co-registered with an iterative non-linear Minimum Deformation Averaging (Volgenmodel) approach to generate a high SNR, super-resolution data set with an isotropic resolution of close to 1 mm.

Psychological factors and brain magnetic resonance imaging metrics associated with fatigue in persons with multiple sclerosis.

Background: Besides demographics and clinical factors, psychological variables and brain-tissue changes have been associated with fatigue in persons with multiple sclerosis (pwMS). Identifying predictors of fatigue could help to improve therapeutic approaches for pwMS. Therefore, we investigated predictors of fatigue using a multifactorial approach.