PURPOSE: To determine the features of cortical atrophy in frontotemporal dementia (FTD) and Alzheimer disease by using a hemispheric surface display generated with magnetic resonance (MR) images. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The extent of cortical atrophy was evaluated with automated MR hemispheric surface display and volumetry in 18 patients with FTD and in 18 matched patients with Alzheimer disease. Results were compared with those in 18 healthy, matched control subjects. RESULTS: Most cortical regions were significantly atrophic in FTD and Alzheimer disease. The frontal and anterior temporal lobes were significantly more atrophic in FTD than in Alzheimer disease. The mean hemispheric-to-intracranial volume ratio in patients with FTD (56.2%) and those with Alzheimer disease (58.4%) was significantly smaller than the ratio in the control subjects (66.0%). Asymmetry of hemispheric volume was significantly larger in the FTD group than in the Alzheimer disease and control groups. CONCLUSION: Cortical atrophy in F...

Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that starts in early childhood and has a comprehensive impact on psychosocial activity and education as well as general health across the lifespan. Despite its prevalence, the current diagnostic criteria for ADHD are debated. Saccadic eye movements are easy to quantify and may be a quantitative biomarker for a wide variety of neurological and psychiatric disorders, including ADHD. The goal of this study was to examine whether children with ADHD exhibit abnormalities during a visually guided pro-saccadic eye-movement and to clarify the neurophysiological mechanisms associated with their behavioral impairments. Thirty-seven children with ADHD (aged 5–11 years) and 88 typically developing (TD) children (aged 5–11 years) were asked to perform a simple saccadic eye-movement task in which step and gap conditions were randomly interleaved. We evaluated the gap effect, which is the difference in the reaction time between the two conditions. Children with ADHD had a significantly longer reaction time than TD children (p < 0.01) and the gap effect was markedly attenuated (p < 0.01). These results suggest that the measurement of saccadic eye movements may provide a novel method for evaluating the behavioral symptoms and clinical features of ADHD, and that the gap effect is a potential biomarker for the diagnosis of ADHD in early childhood.

Recent studies have demonstrated that immune cells play an important role in the pathogenesis of many neurological conditions. Immune cells constantly survey the brain microvasculature for irregularities in levels of factors that signal homeostasis. Immune responses are initiated when necessary, resulting in mobilisation of the microglial cells resident in the central nervous system (CNS) and/or of infiltrating peripheral cells. However, little is known about the kinetics of immune cells in healthy and diseased CNS, because it is difficult to perform long-term visualisation of cell motility in live tissue with minimal invasion. Here, we describe highly sensitive in vivo MRI techniques for sequential monitoring of cell migration in the CNS at the single-cell level. We show that MRI combined with intravenous administration of super-paramagnetic particles of iron oxide (SPIO) can be used to monitor the transmigration of peripheral phagocytes into healthy or LPS-treated mouse brains. We also demonstrate dynamic cell migration in live animal brains with time-lapse MRI videos. Time-lapse MRI was used to visualise and track cells with low motility in a control mouse brain. High-sensitivity MRI cell tracking using SPIO offers new insights into immune cell kinetics in the brain and the mechanisms of CNS homeostasis.

In this paper, we describe a human health management system scheme and its practical applications. Specifically, it focuses on health management, medical diagnosis, and surgical support system of systems engineering (SoSE). The application domains discussed here are broad and essential in health management and clinical practice. Firstly, we describe a system of systems (SoS) in human health management. Within it, a notion of health management is introduced and discussed from the viewpoint of SoS. Human health management is the first level of daily monitoring for a healthy human. Sensing and control technology during sleep are espectially focused on because the quality and quantity of sleep has considerable impact on health. Secondly, an SoS in medical diagnostic imaging is discussed. This section introduces a clinical usage of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scanner for the diagnosis of certain diseases. In it, there is a new system that consists of image processing system and expert medical knowledge system described by fuzzy logic. To demonstrate the effectiveness of the new system, applications to human brain magnetic resonance images and orthopedic kinematic analyses are introduced. Thirdly, we describe an SoS in medical ultrasonic surgery support device. This section introduces a novel ultrasonic support system for supporting crash bone orthopedic surgery.