Author name cluster
Possible papers associated with this exact author name in Arrow. This page groups case-insensitive exact name matches and is not a full identity disambiguation profile.
YNICL Journal 2025 Journal Article
YNIMG Journal 2025 Journal Article
AIM: F]PI-2620 images for diagnosing 4R-tauopathies and to develop a straight-forward reading algorithm to improve objectivity and data reproducibility. METHODS: F]PI-2620 PET scans were included. Participants were classified as probable 4R-tauopathies (n = 29), Alzheimer's disease (AD) (n = 20), α-synucleinopathies (n = 15), and healthy controls (n = 19) based on clinical criteria. Visual assessment of tau-PET scans (choice: 4R-tauopathy, AD-tauopathy, no-tauopathy) was conducted using either 20-40-minute or 40-60-minute intervals, with raw (common) and cerebellar grey matter scaled standardized reading settings (intensity-scaled). Two readers evaluated scans independently and blinded, with a third reader providing consensus in case of discrepant primary evaluation. A regional analysis was performed using the cortex, basal ganglia, midbrain, and dentate nucleus. Sensitivity, specificity, and interrater agreement were calculated for all settings and compared against the visual reads of parametric images (0-60-minutes, distribution volume ratios, DVR). RESULTS: Patients with 4R-tauopathies in contrast to non-4R-tauopathies were detected at higher sensitivity in the 20-40-minute frame (common: 79%, scaled: 76%) compared to the 40-60-minute frame (common: 55%, scaled: 62%), albeit with reduced specificity in the common setting (20-40-min: 78%, 40-60-min: 95%), which was ameliorated in the intensity-scaled setting (20-40-min: 91%, 40-60-min: 96%). Combined assessment of multiple brain regions did not significantly improve diagnostic sensitivity, compared to assessing the basal ganglia alone (76% each). Evaluation of intensity-scaled parametric images resulted in higher sensitivity compared to intensity-scaled static scans (86% vs. 76%) at similar specificity (89% vs. 91%). CONCLUSION: F]PI-2620 tau-PET scans demonstrated reliable detection of 4R-tauopathies, particularly when standardized processing methods and early imaging windows were employed. Parametric images should be preferred for visual assessment of 4R-tauopathies.
YNICL Journal 2024 Journal Article
OBJECTIVE: Intracranial volume (ICV) represents the maximal brain volume for an individual, attained prior to late adolescence and remaining constant throughout life after. Thus, ICV serves as a surrogate marker for brain growth integrity. To assess the potential impact of adult-onset multiple sclerosis (MS) and its preceding prodromal subclinical changes on ICV in a large cohort of monozygotic twins clinically discordant for MS. METHODS: FSL software was used to derive ICV estimates from 3D-T1-weighted-3 T-MRI images by using an atlas scaling factor method. ICV were compared between clinically affected and healthy co-twins. All twins were compared to a large healthy reference cohort using standardized ICV z-scores. Mixed models assessed the impact of age at MS diagnosis on ICV. RESULTS: ). Younger age at MS diagnosis was strongly associated with lower ICVs (t = 3.76, P = 0.0003). Stratification of twin-pairs by age at MS diagnosis of the affected co-twin (≤30 versus > 30 years) yielded lower ICVs in those twin pairs with younger age at diagnosis (P = 0.01). Comparison within individual twin-pairs identified lower ICVs in the MS-affected co-twins with younger age at diagnosis compared to their corresponding healthy co-twins (P = 0.003). CONCLUSION: We offer for the first-time evidence for strong associations between adult-onset MS and lower ICV, which is more pronounced with younger age at diagnosis. This suggests pre-clinical alterations in early neurodevelopment associated with susceptibility to MS both in individuals with and without clinical manifestation of the disease.
YNICL Journal 2023 Journal Article
INTRODUCTION: Persistent postural-perceptual dizziness (PPPD) (ICD-11) and anxiety disorders (ANX) share behavioural symptoms like anxiety, avoidance, social withdrawal, hyperarousal, or palpitation as well as neurological symptoms like vertigo, stance and gait disorders. Furthermore, previous studies have shown a bidirectional link between vestibulo-spatial and anxiety neural networks. So far, there have been no neuroimaging-studies comparing these groups. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this explorative study was to investigate differences and similarities of neural correlates between these two patient groups and to compare their findings with a healthy control group. METHODS: 63 participants, divided in two patient groups (ANX = 20 and PPPD = 14) and two sex and age matched healthy control groups (HC-A = 16, HC-P = 13) were included. Anxiety and dizziness related pictures were shown during fMRI-measurements in a block-design in order to induce emotional responses. All subjects filled in questionnaires regarding vertigo (VSS, VHQ), anxiety (STAI), depression (BDI-II), alexithymia (TAS), and illness-perception (IPQ). After modelling the BOLD response with a standard canonical HRF, voxel-wise t-tests between conditions (emotional-negative vs neutral stimuli) were used to generate statistical contrast maps and identify relevant brain areas (pFDR 30 voxels). ROI-analyses were performed for amygdala, cingulate gyrus, hippocampus, inferior frontal gyrus, insula, supramarginal gyrus and thalamus (p ≤ 0.05). RESULTS: Patient groups differed from both HC groups regarding anxiety, dizziness, depression and alexithymia scores; ratings of the PPPD group and the ANX group did differ significantly only in the VSS subscale 'vertigo and related symptoms' (VSS-VER). The PPPD group showed increased neural responses in the vestibulo-spatial network, especially in the supramarginal gyrus (SMG), and superior temporal gyrus (STG), compared to ANX and HC-P group. The PPPD group showed increased neural responses compared to the HC-P group in the anxiety network including amygdala, insula, lentiform gyrus, hippocampus, inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) and brainstem. Neuronal responses were enhanced in visual structures, e.g. fusiform gyrus, middle occipital gyrus, and in the medial orbitofrontal cortex (mOFC) in healthy controls compared to patients with ANX and PPPD, and in the ANX group compared to the PPPD group. CONCLUSIONS: These findings indicate that neuronal responses to emotional information in the PPPD and the ANX group are comparable in anxiety networks but not in vestibulo-spatial networks. Patients with PPPD revealed a stronger neuronal response especially in SMG and STG compared to the ANX and the HC group. These results might suggest higher sensitivity and poorer adaptation processes in the PPPD group to anxiety and dizziness related pictures. Stronger activation in visual processing areas in HC subjects might be due to less emotional and more visual processing strategies.
YNICL Journal 2021 Journal Article
Multiple genetic and non-heritable factors have been linked to the risk of multiple sclerosis (MS). These factors seem to contribute to disease pathogenesis before the onset of clinical symptoms, as suggested by incidental MRI evidence of subclinical MS neuropathology in individuals without clinical symptoms. Individuals with high familial risk for MS, such as first-degree relatives of patients with MS, can be studied by MRI to characterize the neuropathology during a subclinical period of MS. 16 studies published in English, which performed brain MRI on healthy individuals with high familial risk of MS were included in this scoping review. Studies suggest either no conclusive (5), or inconclusive yet considerable (4), or conclusive evidence (7) for the incidence of subclinical neuropathology, including focal and diffuse tissue damage. Across all studies, white matter lesions fulfilling MS criteria were observed in 86 of 613 individuals (14%). Future research is needed to evaluate the longitudinal dynamics and clinical relevance of preclinical imaging abnormalities in MS.