Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Guang Kong, Wu Xiong, Cong Li, Chenyu Xiao, Siming Wang, Wenbo Li, Xiangjun Chen, Juan Wang, Sheng Chen, Yongjie Zhang, Jun Gu, Jin Fan, Zhengshuai Jin
Summary: This study explores the influence of Treg cells on the recovery of BSCB after spinal cord injury (SCI) and its underlying mechanism. The findings suggest that Treg cell-derived exosomes can affect BSCB integrity and motor function by regulating the expression of IRAK1. This provides novel insights for functional repair and inflammation limitation after SCI.
JOURNAL OF NANOBIOTECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Wu Jiang, Fan He, Guoming Ding, Junsong Wu
Summary: This study investigated the effects of Top1 inhibition in a spinal cord injury (SCI) model. The results showed that administration of the Top1 inhibitor CPT improved locomotor functional recovery, reduced neuronal loss, and decreased neutrophil infiltration in mice with SCI. Additionally, CPT inhibited pyroptosis and suppressed neuroinflammation both in vivo and in vitro.
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Jeonghoon Oh, Alexander G. Steele, Blesson Varghese, Catherine A. Martin, Michelle S. Scheffler, Rachel L. Markley, Yi-Kai Lo, Dimitry G. Sayenko
Summary: Transcutaneous spinal stimulation is a promising method for restoring upper limb function in patients with spinal cord injuries. By selectively stimulating different electrode placements, specific groups of upper limb muscles can be activated. This approach may enhance efficacy and help patients recover more diverse motor activities.
Review
Clinical Neurology
Soshi Samejima, Claire Shackleton, Tiev Miller, Chet T. T. Moritz, Thomas M. M. Kessler, Klaus Krogh, Rahul Sachdeva, Andrei V. V. Krassioukov
Summary: Spinal cord injury causes disruptions in autonomic control, leading to cardiovascular, bowel, and lower urinary tract dysfunctions, which significantly reduce quality of life. The mechanisms underlying the effects of spinal cord stimulation for autonomic recovery are still unclear. This review provides the most plausible mechanisms, such as activation of the somatoautonomic reflex and induction of neuroplastic changes in the spinal cord, based on current evidence from preclinical and clinical studies. Areas with limited evidence are highlighted to encourage further exploration of these mechanisms and advancements in the clinical translation of spinal cord stimulation for autonomic recovery.
Review
Neurosciences
Soshi Samejima, Richard Henderson, Jared Pradarelli, Sarah E. Mondello, Chet T. Moritz
Summary: Spinal cord injuries often result in permanent physical impairments despite being incomplete disruptions. However, remaining connections between the brain and spinal cord can induce neural plasticity to improve sensorimotor function, even years post-injury. This review provides an overview of evidence for motor recovery, plasticity, and interventions in spinal cord stimulation for motor control restoration. It discusses both open-loop and closed-loop stimulation approaches, as well as mechanisms of spinal cord neuromodulation for sensorimotor recovery, aiming to advance rehabilitation for spinal cord injuries.
EXPERIMENTAL NEUROLOGY
(2022)
Article
Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
Magda Horakova, Tomas Horak, Jan Valosek, Tomas Rohan, Eva Korit'akova, Marek Dostal, Jan Kocica, Tomas Skutil, Milos Kerkovsky, Zdenek Kadanka, Petr Bednarik, Alena Svatkova, Petr Hlustik, Josef Bednarik
Summary: This study achieved successful semi-automated compression detection based on four parameters. The inter-trial variability of parameters established through two MRI examinations was conclusively better for Spinal Cord Toolbox compared with that of three experts' manual ratings.
QUANTITATIVE IMAGING IN MEDICINE AND SURGERY
(2022)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Sisi Mi, Xue Wang, Jiaxin Gao, Yu Liu, Zhongquan Qi
Summary: After spinal cord injury (SCI), the microenvironment inhibits neural regeneration due to the abundance of inhibitory factors and lack of factors promoting nerve regeneration. This study developed a bioactive material, hp-SHED sheet, to mimic the natural spinal cord structure and enhance nerve cell attachment and migration. Implantation of hp-SHED sheet in SCI rats promoted nerve regeneration, axonal remyelination, and inhibited glial scarring, leading to the restoration of sensory and motor functions.
FRONTIERS IN BIOENGINEERING AND BIOTECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
Haoyang Pei, Ding Xia, Xiang Xu, Yang Yang, Yao Wang, Fang Liu, Li Feng
Summary: This work proposes a novel deep learning-assisted LLIR MRI approach for rapid 3D T-1 mapping without time delay, achieving accurate T-1 estimation.
MAGNETIC RESONANCE IN MEDICINE
(2023)
Article
Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Guangjin Gu, Bin Zhu, Jie Ren, Xiaomeng Song, Baoyou Fan, Han Ding, Jun Shang, Heng Wu, Junjin Li, Hongda Wang, Jinze Li, Zhijian Wei, Shiqing Feng
Summary: This study aimed to investigate whether activating the Ang-(1-7)/MasR axis can regulate local neuroinflammation to achieve functional recovery after SCI. The results showed that activating the Ang-(1-7)/MasR axis can effectively improve the inflammatory microenvironment after spinal cord injury, promote the polarization of microglia/macrophages towards the M2 phenotype, and support the recovery of motor function. Therefore, using Ang-(1-7) as a treatment strategy for spinal cord injury is suggested to minimize the negative consequences of the inflammatory microenvironment.
CELL AND BIOSCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
Fangliang Guo, Xiaolong Zheng, Ziyu He, Ruoying Zhang, Song Zhang, Minghuan Wang, Hong Chen, Wei Wang
Summary: The study found that long-term treatment with NMD helps to improve locomotion, pain-related behaviors, and spasticity-like symptoms in rats with SCI, but has less effect on open-field activity, hind limb grip strength, and bladder function. Additionally, NMD-treated rats showed greater tissue preservation, reduced lesion areas, and increased perilesional neuronal sparing, suggesting a potential therapeutic strategy for SCI treatment.
FRONTIERS IN PHARMACOLOGY
(2021)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Samineh Mesbah, Tyler Ball, Claudia Angeli, Enrico Rejc, Nicholas Dietz, Beatrice Ugiliweneza, Susan Harkema, Maxwell Boakye
Summary: The study found that in individuals with clinically motor complete spinal cord injury, the extent of recovery of lower limb voluntary movements with scES is significantly influenced by the percentage of lumbosacral enlargement coverage by the electrode array and the position of the electrode relative to the lumbosacral enlargement and conus tip.
Article
Clinical Neurology
Samineh Mesbah, Tyler Ball, Claudia Angeli, Enrico Rejc, Nicholas Dietz, Beatrice Ugiliweneza, Susan Harkema, Maxwell Boakye
Summary: The study showed that in individuals with chronic spinal cord injury, there was a significant correlation between the coverage rate of lumbosacral enlargement by the electrode array and the position of the electrode, and the number of joints moved during voluntary lower limb movements. However, there was no significant correlation between the cross-section area of the spinal cord at C3 or the length of severe myelomalacia and the ability to move the lower limbs voluntarily.
Article
Chemistry, Multidisciplinary
Taoyang Yuan, Yu Shao, Xu Zhou, Qian Liu, Zhichao Zhu, Bini Zhou, Yuanchen Dong, Nicholas Stephanopoulos, Songbai Gui, Hao Yan, Dongsheng Liu
Summary: Researchers have developed a DNA hydrogel to repair spinal cord gap in rats, promoting proliferation and differentiation of stem cells for functional recovery. This hydrogel system shows great potential in clinical trials and could be adaptable to other tissue regeneration applications.
ADVANCED MATERIALS
(2021)
Article
Cell Biology
Fangyi Gong, Ting Ge, Jing Liu, Jin Xiao, Xiaochuan Wu, Hehui Wang, Yingchun Zhu, Dongdong Xia, Baiwen Hu
Summary: In this study, the researchers demonstrated for the first time that trehalose reduces degeneration and iron accumulation of neurons in spinal cord injury (SCI) by inhibiting the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and ferroptosis caused by lipid peroxides. This promotes the survival of neurons and improves motor function recovery. The neuroprotective effect of trehalose is mediated by the activation of the NRF2/HO-1 pathway, which inhibits ferroptosis and ferroptosis-related inflammation. These findings provide valuable insights into the role of trehalose in SCI and support the hypothesis that suppressing ferroptosis plays a crucial neuroprotective role.
Article
Neurosciences
Wu Jiang, Fan He, Guoming Ding, Junsong Wu
Summary: This study aimed to investigate the protective effect of the novel mitochondria-targeted peptide EPT in spinal cord injury (SCI). The results showed that EPT improved locomotor functional recovery and reduced neuronal loss. EPT also inhibited NLRP3 inflammasome activation and elevated levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Furthermore, EPT alleviated mitochondrial dysfunction and reduced mitochondrial reactive oxygen species level. Therefore, EPT may protect against SCI by inhibiting pyroptosis.
CNS NEUROSCIENCE & THERAPEUTICS
(2023)
Review
Neurosciences
Alberto Redolfi, Damiano Archetti, Silvia De Francesco, Claudio Crema, Fabrizio Tagliavini, Raffaele Lodi, Roberta Ghidoni, Claudia A. M. Gandini Wheeler-Kingshott, Daniel C. Alexander, Egidio D'Angelo
Summary: Neuroinformatics is a research field that focuses on software tools for identifying, analyzing, modeling, organizing, and sharing neuroscience data. With the emergence of big data, neuroinformatics has experienced rapid growth in the past two decades, enabling neuroscientists to acquire and process data faster and more cost-effectively. To address this, neuroimaging-focused neuroinformatics platforms have been developed, aiming to archive and organize data, develop data-driven models, and provide computational and storage resources.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE
(2023)
Article
Medicine, General & Internal
Alex Tsui, Petru-Daniel Tudosiu, Mikael Brudfors, Ashwani Jha, Jorge Cardoso, Sebastien Ourselin, John Ashburner, Geraint Rees, Daniel Davis, Parashkev Nachev
Summary: By studying a group of older patients, it was found that multimodal predictive models based on machine learning can accurately predict long-term mortality. Extracranial bone and soft tissue features contribute more to mortality prediction than intracranial features.
Article
Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
Reuben Dorent, Aaron Kujawa, Marina Ivory, Spyridon Bakas, Nicola Rieke, Samuel Joutard, Ben Glocker, Jorge Cardoso, Marc Modat, Kayhan Batmanghelich, Arseniy Belkov, Maria Baldeon Calisto, Jae Won Choi, Benoit M. Dawant, Hexin Dong, Sergio Escalera, Yubo Fan, Lasse Hansen, Mattias P. Heinrich, Smriti Joshi, Victoriya Kashtanova, Hyeon Gyu Kim, Satoshi Kondo, Christian N. Kruse, Susana K. Lai-Yuen, Hao Li, Han Liu, Buntheng Ly, Ipek Oguz, Hyungseob Shin, Boris Shirokikh, Zixian Su, Guotai Wang, Jianghao Wu, Yanwu Xu, Kai Yao, Li Zhang, Sebastien Ourselin, Jonathan Shapey, Tom Vercauteren
Summary: Domain Adaptation has recently gained attention in the medical imaging community. To overcome the limitations of existing techniques, this article presents a large-scale multi-class benchmark for unsupervised cross-modality domain adaptation. The benchmark focuses on the segmentation of two key brain structures in vestibular schwannoma cases.
MEDICAL IMAGE ANALYSIS
(2023)
Article
Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence
Guilherme Pombo, Robert Gray, M. Jorge Cardoso, Sebastien Ourselin, Geraint Rees, John Ashburner, Parashkev Nachev
Summary: CounterSynth is a conditional generative model that uses diffeomorphic deformations to induce label driven, biologically plausible changes in volumetric brain images. The model is designed to synthesise counterfactual training data augmentations for discriminative modelling tasks affected by data imbalance, distributional instability, confounding, or underspecification, and exhibit unfair performance across different subpopulations. Through various evaluations, we demonstrate that CounterSynth achieves state-of-the-art improvements in fidelity and equity compared to current solutions. The source code for CounterSynth is available at https://github.com/guilherme-pombo/CounterSynth.
MEDICAL IMAGE ANALYSIS
(2023)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Gilbert Thomas-Black, Daniel R. Altmann, Harry Crook, Nita Solanky, Ferran Prados Carrasco, Marco Battiston, Francesco Grussu, Marios C. Yiannakas, Baris Kanber, Jasleen K. Jolly, Jon Brett, Susan M. Downes, Marni Moran, Ping K. Chan, Emmanuel Adewunmi, Claudia A. M. Gandini Wheeler-Kingshott, Andrea H. Nemeth, Richard Festenstein, Fion Bremner, Paola Giunti
Summary: This study comprehensively evaluated the degeneration of the retina in FRDA patients and found heterogeneity in different retinal sectors. The thickness of the retinal nerve fiber layer was associated with frataxin levels. These findings have implications for future clinical trial design.
MOVEMENT DISORDERS
(2023)
Article
Clinical Neurology
Wallace J. Brownlee, Carmen Tur, Andreea Manole, Arman Eshaghi, Ferran Prados, Katherine A. Miszkiel, Claudia A. M. Gandini Wheeler-Kingshott, Henry Houlden, Olga Ciccarelli
Summary: This study found that HLA-DRB1*1501 is associated with the severity of multiple sclerosis (MS), as indicated by long-term disability worsening and greater extent of inflammatory disease activity and tissue loss. HLA-DRB1*1501 may provide useful information for prognosis and treatment decisions in early relapse-onset MS.
MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS JOURNAL
(2023)
Article
Computer Science, Interdisciplinary Applications
Jieqing Jiao, Fiona Heeman, Rachael Dixon, Catriona Wimberley, Isadora Lopes Alves, Juan Domingo Gispert, Adriaan A. Lammertsma, Bart N. M. van Berckel, Casper da Costa-Luis, Pawel Markiewicz, David M. Cash, M. Jorge Cardoso, Sebastien Ourselin, Maqsood Yaqub, Frederik Barkhof
Summary: This paper introduces a Python-based software package called NiftyPAD for versatile analyses of dynamic PET data. NiftyPAD can handle dual-time window scans, pharmacokinetic modelling, and PET data-based motion correction. It produces comparable results with established software packages and has the advantages of multi-platform usage, modular setup, and lightweight.
Article
Robotics
Zicong Wu, Mikel De Iturrate Reyzabal, S. M. Hadi Sadati, Hongbin Liu, Sebastien Ourselin, Daniel Leff, Robert K. K. Katzschmann, Kawal Rhode, Christos Bergeles
Summary: Soft robots that grow through eversion/apical extension are capable of navigating fragile environments inside the human body. This letter presents a physics-based model of a miniature steerable eversion growing robot. The robot's growing, steering, stiffening, and interaction capabilities are demonstrated. The study investigates the interaction between a steerable catheter and a growing sheath, and the behavior of the growing robot under different pressures and external forces. The simulations conducted within the SOFA framework align with extensive experimentation using a physical robot setup, showing a mean absolute error of 10-20% between simulation and experimental results for curvature values.
IEEE ROBOTICS AND AUTOMATION LETTERS
(2023)
Article
Multidisciplinary Sciences
Bojidar Rangelov, Alexandra Young, Watjana Lilaonitkul, Shahab Aslani, Paul Taylor, Eyjolfur Guomundsson, Qianye Yang, Yipeng Hu, John R. Hurst, David J. Hawkes, Joseph Jacob
Summary: The COVID-19 pandemic has presented a significant challenge to healthcare systems worldwide. This study developed an unsupervised data-driven model called SuStaIn, which can be used to predict short-term infectious diseases like COVID-19 based on commonly recorded clinical measures. The model identified three COVID-19 subtypes and introduced disease severity stages, both of which were predictive of in-hospital mortality or escalation of treatment. This model can be adapted for future outbreaks of COVID-19 or other infectious diseases.
SCIENTIFIC REPORTS
(2023)
Article
Psychiatry
Siegfried K. Wagner, Mario Cortina-Borja, Steven M. Silverstein, Yukun Zhou, David Romero-Bascones, Robbert R. Struyven, Emanuele Trucco, Muthu R. K. Mookiah, Tom MacGillivray, Stephen Hogg, Timing Liu, Dominic J. Williamson, Nikolas Pontikos, Praveen J. Patel, Konstantinos Balaskas, Daniel C. Alexander, Kelsey V. Stuart, Anthony P. Khawaja, Alastair K. Denniston, Jugnoo S. Rahi, Axel Petzold, Pearse A. Keane
Summary: This study found measurable differences in neural and vascular integrity of the retina in patients with schizophrenia, which were mostly secondary to the higher prevalence of diabetes and hypertension in these patients.
Article
Clinical Neurology
Alberto Calvi, Zoe Mendelsohn, Weaam Hamed, Declan Chard, Carmen Tur, Jon Stutters, David MacManus, Baris Kanber, Claudia A. M. Gandini Wheeler-Kingshott, Frederik Barkhof, Ferran Prados
Summary: This study retrospectively analyzed a fingolimod trial in patients with primary progressive MS (PPMS) and found that newly appearing lesions are common and can develop into chronic active lesions. Treatment can reduce the number of these lesions.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROLOGY
(2023)
Article
Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
Saurabh Singh, Francesco Giganti, Louise Dickinson, Harriet Rogers, Baris Kanber, Joey Clemente, Hayley Pye, Susan Heavey, Urszula Stopka-Farooqui, Edward W. Johnston, Caroline M. Moore, Alex Freeman, Hayley C. Whitaker, Daniel C. Alexander, Eleftheria Panagiotaki, Shonit Punwani
Summary: This study aimed to assess the image quality of ADC and FIC maps derived from conventional diffusion-weighted MRI and VERDICT MRI in patients from the INNOVATE trial. The results showed that the image quality was comparable between FIC and ADC, but the image quality of ADC was higher than FIC when assessed using the Likert score.
EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF RADIOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
Rebecca R. Baker, Vivek Muthurangu, Marilena Rega, Javier Montalt-Tordera, Samuel Rot, Bhavana S. Solanky, Claudia A. M. Gandini Wheeler-Kingshott, Stephen B. Walsh, Jennifer A. Steeden
Summary: This study validated the use of 2D sodium MRI with half-sinc excitation and compressed sensing (CS) for quantifying tissue sodium concentration (TSC) with a resolution of 2.25 x 2.25 mm(2) and scan times of <= 5 mins.
MAGNETIC RESONANCE IN MEDICINE
(2023)
Article
Clinical Neurology
William Coath, Marc Modat, M. Jorge J. Cardoso, Pawel J. A. Markiewicz, Christopher A. D. Lane, Thomas D. Parker, Ashvini M. Keshavan, Sarah M. E. Buchanan, Sarah E. J. Keuss, Matthew J. Harris, Ninon Burgos, John Dickson, Anna L. Barnes, David L. Thomas, Daniel B. Beasley, Ian B. Malone, Andrew Wong, Kjell A. Erlandsson, Benjamin A. Thomas, Michael Scholl, Sebastien Ourselin, Marcus C. Richards, Nick C. M. Fox, Jonathan M. M. Schott, David M. Cash
Summary: The Centiloid scale aims to harmonize Aβ PET measures across different analysis methods. This study investigated the Centiloid transformation with PET/MRI data, finding that the transformation is valid but further understanding of the effects of acquisition or biological factors on using white matter as a reference is needed.
ALZHEIMER'S & DEMENTIA: DIAGNOSIS, ASSESSMENT & DISEASE MONITORING
(2023)
Review
Radiology, Nuclear Medicine & Medical Imaging
Ella Fokkinga, Juan A. Hernandez-Tamames, Andrada Ianus, Markus Nilsson, Chantal M. W. Tax, Raquel Perez-Lopez, Francesco Grussu
Summary: This article reviews the latest developments in diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DW-MRI) in the field of oncology, analyzing its value compared to histology measurements. The reviewed techniques provide histologically meaningful indices of cancer microstructure and have sensitivity to microscopic pathological processes.
JOURNAL OF MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING
(2023)
