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Painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is difficult to manage, as treatment response is often varied. The primary aim of this study was to examine differences in pain phenotypes between responders and nonresponders to intravenous lidocaine treatment using quantitative sensory testing. The secondary aim was to explore differences in brain structure and functional connectivity with treatment response. Forty-five consecutive patients who received intravenous lidocaine treatment for painful DPN were screened. Twenty-nine patients who met the eligibility criteria (responders, n = 14, and nonresponders, n = 15) and 26 healthy control subjects underwent detailed sensory profiling. Subjects also underwent multimodal brain MRI. A greater proportion of patients with the irritable (IR) nociceptor phenotype were responders to intravenous lidocaine treatment compared with nonresponders. The odds ratio of responding to intravenous lidocaine was 8.67 times greater (95% CI 1.4–53.8) for the IR nociceptor phenotype. Responders to intravenous lidocaine also had significantly greater mean primary somatosensory cortex cortical volume and functional connectivity between the insula cortex and the corticolimbic circuitry. This study provides preliminary evidence for a mechanism-based approach for individualizing therapy in patients with painful DPN.

Painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy can be intractable with a major impact, yet the underlying pain mechanisms remain uncertain. A range of neuronal and vascular biomarkers was investigated in painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy (painful-DPN) and painless-DPN and used to differentiate painful-DPN from painless-DPN. Skin biopsies were collected from 61 patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D), and 19 healthy volunteers (HV). All subjects underwent detailed clinical and neurophysiological assessments. Based on the neuropathy composite score of the lower limbs [NIS(LL)] plus seven tests, the T2D subjects were subsequently divided into three groups: painful-DPN (n = 23), painless-DPN (n = 19), and No-DPN (n = 19). All subjects underwent punch skin biopsy, and immunohistochemistry used to quantify total intraepidermal nerve fibers (IENF) with protein gene product 9.5 (PGP9.5), regenerating nerve fibers with growth-associated protein 43 (GAP43), peptidergic nerve fibers with calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), and blood vessels with von Willebrand Factor (vWF). The results showed that IENF density was severely decreased (p < 0.001) in both DPN groups, with no differences for PGP9.5, GAP43, CGRP, or GAP43/PGP9.5 ratios. There was a significant increase in blood vessel (vWF) density in painless-DPN and No-DPN groups compared to the HV group, but this was markedly greater in the painful-DPN group, and significantly higher than in the painless-DPN group (p < 0.0001). The ratio of sub-epidermal nerve fiber (SENF) density of CGRP:vWF showed a significant decrease in painful-DPN vs. painless-DPN (p = 0.014). In patients with T2D with advanced DPN, increased dermal vasculature and its ratio to nociceptors may differentiate painful-DPN from painless-DPN. We hypothesized that hypoxia-induced increase of blood vessels, which secrete algogenic substances including nerve growth factor (NGF), may expose their associated nociceptor fibers to a relative excess of algogens, thus leading to painful-DPN.

Background Clinical phenotypic heterogeneity represents a major barrier to trials in motor neuron disease (MND) and objective surrogate outcome measures are required, especially for slowly progressive patients. We assessed responsiveness of clinical, electrophysiological and radiological muscle-based assessments to detect MND-related progression. Materials and methods A prospective, longitudinal cohort study of 29 MND patients and 22 healthy controls was performed. Clinical measures, electrophysiological motor unit number index/size (MUNIX/MUSIX) and relative T2- and diffusion-weighted whole-body muscle magnetic resonance (MR) were assessed three times over 12 months. Multi-variable regression models assessed between-group differences, clinico-electrophysiological associations, and longitudinal changes. Standardized response means (SRMs) assessed sensitivity to change over 12 months. Results MND patients exhibited 18% higher whole-body mean muscle relative T2-signal than controls (95% CI 7–29%, p p p Conclusion MUNIX and relative T2-weighted MR represent objective surrogate markers of progressive denervation in MND. Radiological changes were maximal in leg muscles, irrespective of clinical onset-site.

Background: Apathy is a common and early symptom in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and is linked to poorer prognosis. Theoretical interpretations of apathy implicate alterations of connections amongst fronto-striatal and limbic regions. Objective: To test the association between presence of apathy and patterns of brain functional connectivity in patients with clinically-established AD. Methods: Seventy AD patients were included. Thirty-five patients experienced apathy as defined by the screening question of the Neuropsychiatric Inventory, and thirty-five did not. All patients agreed to undergo an MRI protocol inclusive of resting-state acquisitions. The hemodynamic-dependent signal was extracted bilaterally from five regions of interest: ventromedial prefrontal cortices, anterior cingulate cortices, dorsolateral prefrontal cortices, insulae and amygdalae. t tests were run to compare connectivity maps of apathetic and non-apathetic patients. Age, education, Mini Mental State Examination score, gray matter volumes and gray matter fractions served as covariates. Results: At a pFWE < 0.05 threshold, apathetic patients had reduced connectivity between the left insula and right superior parietal cortex. Apathetic patients had also increased connectivity between the right dorsolateral prefrontal seed and the right superior parietal cortex. Patients with apathy were significantly more likely to experience other psychiatric symptoms. Conclusion: Our findings support a role of frontal and insular connections in coordinating value-based decisions in AD. Both down-regulation and maladaptive up-regulation mechanisms appear to be at play in these regions.

Accurate and reliable quantification of brain metabolites measured in vivo using 1H magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) is a topic of continued interest. Aside from differences in the basic approach to quantification, the quantification of metabolite data acquired at different sites and on different platforms poses an additional methodological challenge. In this study, spectrally edited γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) MRS data were analyzed and GABA levels were quantified relative to an internal tissue water reference. Data from 284 volunteers scanned across 25 research sites were collected using GABA+ (GABA + co-edited macromolecules (MM)) and MM-suppressed GABA editing. The unsuppressed water signal from the volume of interest was acquired for concentration referencing. Whole-brain T1-weighted structural images were acquired and segmented to determine gray matter, white matter and cerebrospinal fluid voxel tissue fractions. Water-referenced GABA measurements were fully corrected for tissue-dependent signal relaxation and water visibility effects. The cohort-wide coefficient of variation was 17% for the GABA + data and 29% for the MM-suppressed GABA data. The mean within-site coefficient of variation was 10% for the GABA + data and 19% for the MM-suppressed GABA data. Vendor differences contributed 53% to the total variance in the GABA + data, while the remaining variance was attributed to site- (11%) and participant-level (36%) effects. For the MM-suppressed data, 54% of the variance was attributed to site differences, while the remaining 46% was attributed to participant differences. Results from an exploratory analysis suggested that the vendor differences were related to the unsuppressed water signal acquisition. Discounting the observed vendor-specific effects, water-referenced GABA measurements exhibit similar levels of variance to creatine-referenced GABA measurements. It is concluded that quantification using internal tissue water referencing is a viable and reliable method for the quantification of in vivo GABA levels. ispartof: NEUROIMAGE vol:191 pages:537-548 ispartof: location:United States status: published

Background Glutathione (GSH) is an important brain antioxidant and a number of studies have reported its measurement by edited and nonedited localized 1 H spectroscopy techniques within a range of applications in healthy volunteers and disease states. Good test-retest reproducibility is key when assessing the efficacy of treatments aimed at modulating GSH levels within the central nervous system or when noninvasively assessing changes in GSH content over time. Purpose To evaluate the intraday (in vitro and in vivo) and 1-month apart (in vivo) test-retest reproducibility of GSH measurements from GSH-edited MEGA-PRESS acquisitions at 3 T in a phantom and in the brain of a cohort of middle-aged and older healthy volunteers. Study type Prospective. Subjects/phantoms A phantom containing physiological concentrations of GSH and metabolites with overlapping spectral signatures and 10 healthy volunteers (4 F, 6 M, 55 ± 14 years old). Field strength/sequence GSH-edited spectra were acquired at 3 T using the MEGA-PRESS sequence. Assessment The phantom was scanned twice and the healthy subjects were scanned three times (on two separate days, 1 month apart). GSH was quantified from each acquisition, with the in vivo voxels placed at the primary motor cortex (PMC) and the occipital cortex (OCC). Statistical tests Mean coefficients of variation (CV) were used to assess short-term (in vitro and in vivo) and longer-term (in vivo) test-retest reproducibility. Results In vitro, the CV was 2.3%. In vivo, the mean intraday CV was 3.3% in the PMC and 2.4% in the OCC, while the CVs at 1 month apart were 4.6% in the PMC and 7.8% in the OCC. Data conclusion GSH-edited MEGA-PRESS spectroscopy allows measurement of GSH with excellent precision. Evidence level 1 TECHNICAL EFFICACY: Stage 2.

Aims: Neuroimaging studies have found structural alterations in brain regions involved in the somatomotor system in diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) and painful-DPN (pDPN). However, most of these studies have had small cohorts of subjects, without consideration of pDPN phenotypes. Here we present the largest DPN neuroimaging study, which examines differences in brain morphology in DPN and phenotypes of painful-DPN. Methods: 229 participants were enrolled, 177 with diabetes (46 no-DPN, 56 painless-DPN and 75 pDPN; 25 irritable [IR] and 50 non-irritable [NIR] phenotype), and 52 healthy volunteers underwent detailed clinical, neurophysiological and quantitative sensory testing (DFNS) assessments, and 3-dimensional T1-weighted brain MRI (3.0T, Phillips). Brain volumetry was performed using Freesurfer. Results: At the post-central gyrus, in comparison with HV (1.92mm±0.11) and NoDPN (1.90mm±0.14), there was a significantly reduced cortical thickness in DPN (1.85mm±0.14), in pDPN (1.87mm±0.12) cortical thickness was reduced compared with HV. At the precentral gyrus, both DPN (2.29mm±0.16) and pDPN (2.28mm±0.16) had significantly reduced cortical thickness compared with HV (2.37mm±0.14) and NoDPN (2.36mm±0.13). At the insula, compared with HV (2.93mm±0.15) the cortical thickness was reduced in DPN (2.85mm±0.18) and pDPN (2.84mm±0.17). The cortical thickness at the pre and postcentral gyrus, and insula correlated with measures of nerve conduction. Moreover, the mean anterior cingulate cortical (ACC) thickness was significantly reduced in the IR- (2.40mm±0.23) compared to NIR-pDPN (2.58mm±0.20; p=0.003). Conclusions: Key somatomotor brain regions have a reduced cortical thickness in patients with DPN and pDPN, which correlate with neurophysiological measures suggestive of an ascending axonopathy. Moreover, the cortical thickness at the ACC differentiated IR and NIR, suggesting neuroplasticity in this region may play a role determining clinical phenotypes in pDPN. Disclosure G. P. Sloan: None. D. Selvarajah: None. K. Teh: None. P. Shillo: None. I. D. Wilkinson: None. S. Tesfaye: Advisory Panel; Self; Angellini, Bayer AG, Eva Pharma, Wörwag Pharma, Speaker’s Bureau; Self; Abbott, AstraZeneca, Grunenthal Group, MSD Corporation, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer Inc.

Objective: We have previously reported increased thalamic vascularity in painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy (PDPN) but the microvascular perfusion characteristics of the other pain processing areas of the brain (Pain Matrix - PM) with or without pain at the time of scanning have not been assessed. The aim thus was to measure the cerebral perfusion of the PM areas using MR-Dynamic Susceptibility Contrast (MR-DSC). Methods: 55 T1DM subjects (20 PDPN, 23 painless-DPN, 13 no-DPN) and 19 healthy volunteers (HV) underwent clinical, neurophysiological and MR-DSC of the passage of IV-gadolinium-chelate through the cerebral vascular bed (3-Tesla, Philips, Netherlands) at rest. The PDPN group was further divided into those that had neuropathic pain during scan - P+ and no pain - P-) and the intensity of pain at the time of scanning was recorded. The Mean Transit Time -MTT and the time-to-peak -TTP concentrations of gadolinium in PM areas (Thalamus, Insular Cortex - IC, Anterior Cingulate Cortex - ACC) were measured. Results: Subjects experiencing spontaneous neuropathic pain (P+, n=10, VAS score≥4) during scanning had shorter mean TTP at the Right-Thalamus: P+ vs. painless-DPN p=0.017, P+ vs. HV p=0.033; Right-IC: P+ vs. painless-DPN p=0.048; and POWM: P+ vs. P- p=0.009, P+ vs. painless-DPN p=0.034, P+ vs. HV p=0.011. The MTT at the Right-Thalamus: P+ vs. HV p=0.043 and at the Left-IC: HV vs. No-DPN p=036, were also significant. Conclusion: This is the first study to show there is altered cerebral perfusion in the pain processing areas of of the brain, with shorter TTP during spontaneous pain at the time of scanning. This seems to be related to a bolus dispersal factor as MTT, and CBF do not match the TTP and the control area is also affected. However, whether this altered perfusion is primary or secondary to the experience of pain is yet to be determined. This novel finding may serve as objective marker of spontaneous neuropathic pain, and a target for the development of novel treatments. Disclosure M. Greig: None. G. P. Sloan: None. P. Shillo: None. D. Selvarajah: None. I. D. Wilkinson: None. S. Tesfaye: Advisory Panel; Self; Angellini, Bayer AG, Eva Pharma, Wörwag Pharma, Speaker’s Bureau; Self; Abbott, AstraZeneca, Grunenthal Group, MSD Corporation, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer Inc. Funding European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes

Painful diabetic neuropathy (DN) is a common, distressing complication of diabetes that is discordant with the degree of peripheral nerve pathology. Very little is known about the cerebral processes involved in pain processing in painful DN. Here we investigated resting-state brain connectivity associated with prolonged pain in DN. Methods: 58 subjects and 36 matched controls were compared with regard to both behavioural measures of pain perception and resting-resting state functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging. The resting-state fMRI brain connectivity was investigated using 20 seed regions located in cardinal pain processing brain regions. Resting-state fMRI analysis was performed using the NITRC Functional Connectivity (CONN) Toolbox and SPM8 (welcome Trust Centre for Neuroimaging London, UK) in Matlab 2014a (the MathWorks, Natick, MA, USA). Functional connectivity matrices between the pre-specified seeds were calculated and the HV versus painful DN phenotype interaction examined. Results: Relative to controls, painful DPN patients displayed increased brain connectivity predominately for the supplementary motor areas (p Conclusion: Our study provides experimental evidence of increased connectivity between frontal midline regions that are implicated in affective pain processing and bilateral sensorimotor regions in painful DPN patients. Disclosure K. Teh: None. I. D. Wilkinson: None. P. Shillo: None. G. P. Sloan: None. S. Tesfaye: Advisory Panel; Self; Angellini, Bayer AG, Eva Pharma, Wörwag Pharma, Speaker’s Bureau; Self; Abbott, AstraZeneca, Grunenthal Group, MSD Corporation, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer Inc. D. Selvarajah: None. Funding Health Education England/University of Sheffield Knowledge Exchange Fund; National Institute for Health Research; EME

Copyright © 2021– The authors. Background: How the relationship between obesity and MRI-defined neural properties varies across distinct stages of cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer’s disease is unclear. Objective: We used multimodal neuroimaging to clarify this relationship. Methods: Scans were acquired from 47 patients clinically diagnosed with mild Alzheimer’s disease dementia, 68 patients with mild cognitive impairment, and 57 cognitively healthy individuals. Voxel-wise associations were run between maps of gray matter volume, white matter integrity, and cerebral blood flow, and global/visceral obesity. Results: Negative associations were found in cognitively healthy individuals between obesity and white matter integrity and cerebral blood flow of temporo-parietal regions. In mild cognitive impairment, negative associations emerged in frontal, temporal, and brainstem regions. In mild dementia, a positive association was found between obesity and gray matter volume around the right temporoparietal junction. Conclusion: Obesity might contribute toward neural tissue vulnerability in cognitively healthy individuals and mild cognitive impairment, while a healthy weight in mild Alzheimer’s disease dementia could help preserve brain structure in the presence of age and disease-related weight loss. European Union Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007– 2013) under grant agreement no. 601055, VPH-DARE@IT; Neurocare; University of Sheffield, Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health PhD scholarship.

One of the fundamental challenges when dealing with medical imaging datasets is class imbalance. Class imbalance happens where an instance in the class of interest is relatively low, when compared to the rest of the data. This study aims to apply oversampling strategies in an attempt to balance the classes and improve classification performance. We evaluated four different classifiers from k-nearest neighbors (k-NN), support vector machine (SVM), multilayer perceptron (MLP) and decision trees (DT) with 73 oversampling strategies. In this work, we used imbalanced learning oversampling techniques to improve classification in datasets that are distinctively sparser and clustered. This work reports the best oversampling and classifier combinations and concludes that the usage of oversampling methods always outperforms no oversampling strategies hence improving the classification results.

Cognitive impairments are commonly observed in patients with multiple sclerosis and are associated with lower levels of quality of life. No consensus has been reached on how to tackle effectively cognitive decline in this clinical population non-pharmacologically. This exploratory case-control study aims to investigate the effectiveness of a hypothesis-based cognitive training designed to target multiple domains by promoting the synchronous co-activation of different brain areas and thereby improve cognition and induce changes in functional connectivity in patients with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis. Forty-five patients (36 females and 9 males, mean age 44.62 +/- 8.80 years) with clinically stable relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis were assigned to either a standard cognitive training or to control groups (sham training and non-active control). The standard training included twenty sessions of computerized exercises involving various cognitive functions supported by distinct brain networks. The sham training was a modified version of the standard training that comprised the same exercises and number of sessions but with increased processing speed load. The non-active control group received no cognitive training. All patients underwent comprehensive neuropsychological and magnetic resonance imaging assessments at baseline and after 5 weeks. Cognitive and resting-state magnetic resonance imaging data were analyzed using repeated measures models. At reassessment, the standard training group showed significant cognitive improvements compared to both control groups in memory tasks not specifically targeted by the training: the Buschke Selective Reminding Test and the Semantic Fluency test. The standard training group showed reductions in functional connectivity of the salience network, in the anterior cingulate cortex, associated with improvements on the Buschke Selective Reminding Test. No changes were observed in the sham training group. These findings suggest that multi-domain training that stimulates multiple brain areas synchronously may improve cognition in people with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis if sufficient time to process training material is allowed. The associated reduction in functional connectivity of the salience network suggests that training-induced neuroplastic functional reorganization may be the mechanism supporting performance gains. This study was approved by the Regional Ethics Committee of Yorkshire and Humber (approval No. 12/YH/0474) on November 20, 2013.

Aims/hypothesis The aim of this work was to investigate whether different clinical pain phenotypes of diabetic polyneuropathy (DPN) are distinguished by functional connectivity at rest. Methods This was an observational, cohort study of 43 individuals with painful DPN, divided into irritable (IR, n = 10) and non-irritable (NIR, n = 33) nociceptor phenotypes using the German Research Network of Neuropathic Pain quantitative sensory testing protocol. In-situ brain MRI included 3D T1-weighted anatomical and 6 min resting-state functional MRI scans. Subgroup differences in resting-state functional connectivity in brain regions involved with somatic (thalamus, primary somatosensory cortex, motor cortex) and non-somatic (insular and anterior cingulate cortices) pain processing were examined. Multidimensional reduction of MRI datasets was performed using a machine-learning approach to classify individuals into each clinical pain phenotype. Results Individuals with the IR nociceptor phenotype had significantly greater thalamic–insular cortex (p false discovery rate [FDR] = 0.03) and reduced thalamus–somatosensory cortex functional connectivity (p-FDR = 0.03). We observed a double dissociation such that self-reported neuropathic pain score was more associated with greater thalamus–insular cortex functional connectivity (r = 0.41; p = 0.01) whereas more severe nerve function deficits were more related to lower thalamus–somatosensory cortex functional connectivity (r = −0.35; p = 0.03). Machine-learning group classification performance to identify individuals with the NIR nociceptor phenotype achieved an accuracy of 0.92 (95% CI 0.08) and sensitivity of 90%. Conclusions/interpretation This study demonstrates differences in functional connectivity in nociceptive processing brain regions between IR and NIR phenotypes in painful DPN. We also establish proof of concept for the utility of multimodal MRI as a biomarker for painful DPN by using a machine-learning approach to classify individuals into sensory phenotypes. Graphical abstract

IntroductionThere are no disease-modifying treatments for Parkinson’s disease (PD). We undertook the first drug screen in PD patient tissue and idntified ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) as a promising mitochondrial rescue agent. The aims of this trial are to determine safety and tolerability of UDCA in PD at 30 mg/kg, confirm the target engagement of UDCA, apply a novel motion sensor-based approach to quantify disease progression objectively, and estimate the mean effect size and its variance on the change in motor severity.Methods and analysisThis is a phase II, two-centre, double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial of UDCA at a dose of 30 mg/kg in 30 participants with early PD. Treatment duration is 48 weeks, followed by an 8-week washout phase. Randomisation is 2:1, drug to placebo. Assessments are performed at baseline, week 12, 24, 36, 48 and 56. The primary outcome is safety and tolerability. Secondary outcomes will compare the change between baseline and week 48 using the following three approaches: the Movement Disorders Society Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale Part 3 in the practically defined ‘OFF’ medication state; confirmation of target engagement, applying 31Phosphorus MR Spectroscopy to assess the levels of ATP and relevant metabolites in the brain; and objective quantification of motor impairment, using a validated, motion sensor-based approach. The primary outcome will be reported using descriptive statistics and comparisons between treatment groups. For each secondary outcome, the change from baseline will be summarised within treatment groups using summary statistics and appropriate statistical tests assessing for significant differences. All outcomes will use an intention-to-treat analysis population.Ethics and disseminationThis trial has been approved by the East of England – Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Research Ethics committee. Results will be disseminated in peer-reviewed journals, presentations at scientific meetings and to patients in a lay-summary format.Trial registration numberNCT03840005.

Aims: The management of painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy (pDPN) is inadequate because the disease mechanisms are not fully understood. We assessed cerebral cellular bioenergetics using phosphorus magnetic resonance spectroscopy (31P-MRS) to determine whether high energy phosphate metabolite levels are altered in the pain processing regions of the brain in pDPN. Methods: A total of 66 subjects, 44 with type 2 diabetes (12 no-DPN, 13 painless-DPN and 19 pDPN) and 12 healthy volunteers (HV), underwent detailed clinical and neurophysiological assessments, and 31P-MRS brain imaging at 3-Tesla (Ingenia, Phillips Healthcare) with voxels placed over the right somatosensory cortex and the thalamus (TR 4s, TR 0.26ms, voxel size 21 x 21 x 40mm3). Measures reflecting cellular bioenergetics (mitochondrial function), ATP to phosphocreatine (PCr) and inorganic phosphate (Pi) ratios (ATP:PCr and ATP:Pi) were calculated. Results: There was a significant group effect in the ATP:PCr ratio at the thalamus (p=0.016) and somatosensory cortex (p=0.025). The ATP:PCr at the thalamus was significantly higher in the pDPN group (0.50±0.06) compared to HV (0.44±0.04, p=0.024) and no-DPN (0.42±0.07, p=0.006). Moreover, the ATP:PCr ratio at the somatosensory cortex was significantly higher in pDPN (0.48 ±0.1) compared to HV (0.38 ±0.1, p=0.035). In addition, the ratio correlated with the numeric pain score ratings during the MRI scan at both brain regions. Conclusions: This is the first study to use 31P-MRS to study cerebral energetics in human-DPN and peripheral painful neuropathies. We demonstrated significantly higher ATP:PCr ratios in patients with pDPN in the somatosensory cortex and thalamus, which correlated with pain severity. This is suggestive of increased cellular energy usage in pain processing regions of the brain, perhaps due to continuous nociceptive inputs. Altered cerebral phosphorus metabolite ratios may serve as a biomarker of neuropathic pain in diabetes. Disclosure G.P. Sloan: None. A. Anton: None. D. Selvarajah: None. S. Tesfaye: Advisory Panel; Self; Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation, Wörwag Pharma. Speaker’s Bureau; Self; Abbott, AstraZeneca, Grunenthal Group, Napp Pharmaceuticals, Novo Nordisk Inc., Pfizer Inc. I.D. Wilkinson: None.

Diabetic distal symmetrical peripheral polyneuropathy (DSP) results in decreased somatosensory cortical gray matter volume, indicating that the disease process may produce morphological changes in the brains of those affected. However, no study has examined whether changes in brain volume alter the functional organization of the somatosensory cortex and how this relates to the various painful DSP clinical phenotypes. In this case-controlled, multimodal brain MRI study of 44 carefully phenotyped subjects, we found significant anatomical and functional changes in the somatosensory cortex. Subjects with painful DSP insensate have the lowest somatosensory cortical thickness, with expansion of the area representing pain in the lower limb to include face and lip regions. Furthermore, there was a significant relationship between anatomical and functional changes within the somatosensory cortex and severity of the peripheral neuropathy. These data suggest a dynamic plasticity of the brain in DSP driven by the neuropathic process. It demonstrates, for the first time in our knowledge, a pathophysiological relationship between a clinically painful DSP phenotype and alterations in the somatosensory cortex.

Mitochondrial dysfunction is postulated to be central to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis pathophysiology. Evidence comes primarily from disease models and conclusive data to support bioenergetic dysfunction in vivo in patients is currently lacking. This study is the first to assess mitochondrial dysfunction in brain and muscle in people living with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis using phosphorus-31 magnetic resonance spectroscopy, the modality of choice to assess energy metabolism in vivo. We recruited twenty patients and 10 healthy age and gender-matched controls in this cross-sectional clinico-radiological study. Phosphorus-31 magnetic resonance spectroscopy was acquired from cerebral motor regions and from tibialis anterior during rest and exercise. Bioenergetic parameter estimates were derived including: adenosine triphosphate, phosphocreatine, inorganic phosphate, adenosine diphosphate, Gibbs free energy of adenosine triphosphate hydrolysis, phosphomonoesters, phosphodiesters, pH, free magnesium concentration, and muscle dynamic recovery constants. Linear regression was used to test for associations between brain data and clinical parameters (revised amyotrophic functional rating scale, slow vital capacity, and upper motor neuron score) and between muscle data and clinico-neurophysiological measures (motor unit number and size indices, force of contraction, and speed of walking). Evidence for primary dysfunction of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation was detected in brainstem where Gibbs free energy of adenosine triphosphate hydrolysis and phosphocreatine were reduced. Alterations were also detected in skeletal muscle in patients where resting inorganic phosphate, pH, and phosphomonoesters were increased, whereas resting Gibbs free energy of adenosine triphosphate hydrolysis, magnesium, and dynamic phosphocreatine to inorganic phosphate recovery were decreased. Phosphocreatine in brainstem correlated with respiratory dysfunction and disability; in muscle, energy metabolites correlated with motor unit number index, muscle power, and speed of walking. This study provides in vivo evidence for bioenergetic dysfunction in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in brain and skeletal muscle, which appears clinically and electrophysiologically relevant. Phosphorus-31 magnetic resonance spectroscopy represents a promising technique to assess the pathophysiology of mitochondrial function in vivo in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and a potential tool for future clinical trials targeting bioenergetic dysfunction.

Background The hardware and software differences between MR vendors and individual sites influence the quantification of MR spectroscopy data. An analysis of a large data set may help to better understand sources of the total variance in quantified metabolite levels. Purpose To compare multisite quantitative brain MR spectroscopy data acquired in healthy participants at 26 sites by using the vendor-supplied single-voxel point-resolved spectroscopy (PRESS) sequence. Materials and Methods An MR spectroscopy protocol to acquire short-echo-time PRESS data from the midparietal region of the brain was disseminated to 26 research sites operating 3.0-T MR scanners from three different vendors. In this prospective study, healthy participants were scanned between July 2016 and December 2017. Data were analyzed by using software with simulated basis sets customized for each vendor implementation. The proportion of total variance attributed to vendor-, site-, and participant-related effects was estimated by using a linear mixed-effects model. P values were derived through parametric bootstrapping of the linear mixed-effects models (denoted Pboot). Results In total, 296 participants (mean age, 26 years ± 4.6; 155 women and 141 men) were scanned. Good-quality data were recorded from all sites, as evidenced by a consistent linewidth of N-acetylaspartate (range, 4.4-5.0 Hz), signal-to-noise ratio (range, 174-289), and low Cramér-Rao lower bounds (≤5%) for all of the major metabolites. Among the major metabolites, no vendor effects were found for levels of myo-inositol (Pboot > .90), N-acetylaspartate and N-acetylaspartylglutamate (Pboot = .13), or glutamate and glutamine (Pboot = .11). Among the smaller resonances, no vendor effects were found for ascorbate (Pboot = .08), aspartate (Pboot > .90), glutathione (Pboot > .90), or lactate (Pboot = .28). Conclusion Multisite multivendor single-voxel MR spectroscopy studies performed at 3.0 T can yield results that are coherent across vendors, provided that vendor differences in pulse sequence implementation are accounted for in data analysis. However, the site-related effects on variability were more profound and suggest the need for further standardization of spectroscopic protocols. © RSNA, 2020 Online supplemental material is available for this article. ispartof: RADIOLOGY vol:295 issue:1 pages:171-180 ispartof: location:United States status: published

Aim: Recent studies have reported an association between low vitamin D levels and diabetic peripheral neuropathy. However, many of these did not differentiate between people with painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy and those with painless diabetic peripheral neuropathy, or assess major confounding factors including sunlight exposure and daily activity. Our study addressed these limitations and evaluated vitamin D levels in people with carefully phenotyped diabetic peripheral neuropathy and controls. Methods: Forty-five white Europeans with Type 2 diabetes and 14 healthy volunteers underwent clinical and neurophysiological assessments. People with Type 2 diabetes were then divided into three groups (17 with painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy, 14 with painless diabetic peripheral neuropathy and 14 with no diabetic peripheral neuropathy). All had seasonal sunlight exposure and daily activity measured, underwent a lower limb skin biopsy and had 25-hydroxyvitamin D measured during the summer months, July to September. Results: After adjusting for age, BMI, activity score and sunlight exposure, 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels (nmol/l) (se) were significantly lower in people with painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy [painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy 34.9 (5.8), healthy volunteers 62.05 (6.7), no diabetic peripheral neuropathy 49.6 (6.1), painless diabetic peripheral neuropathy 53.1 (6.2); ANCOVAP = 0.03]. Direct logistic regression was used to assess the impact of seven independent variables on painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Vitamin D was the only independent variable to make a statistically significant contribution to the model with an inverted odds ratio of 1.11. Lower 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels also correlated with lower cold detection thresholds (r = 0.39, P = 0.02) and subepidermal nerve fibre densities (r = 0.42, P = 0.01). Conclusions: We have demonstrated a significant difference in 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels in well-characterized people with painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy, while accounting for the main confounding factors. This suggests a possible role for vitamin D in the pathogenesis of painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Further prospective and intervention trials are required to prove causality between low vitamin D levels and painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy.

ObjectiveTo assess clinical, electrophysiological and whole-body muscle MRI measurements of progression in patients with motor neuron disease (MND), as tools for future clinical trials, and to probe pathophysiological mechanisms in vivo.MethodsA prospective, longitudinal, observational, clinicoelectrophysiological and radiological cohort study was performed. Twenty-nine patients with MND and 22 age-matched and gender-matched healthy controls were assessed with clinical measures, electrophysiological motor unit number index (MUNIX) and T2-weighted whole-body muscle MRI, at first clinical presentation and 4 months later. Between-group differences and associations were assessed using age-adjusted and gender-adjusted multivariable regression models. Within-subject longitudinal changes were assessed using paired t-tests. Patterns of disease spread were modelled using mixed-effects multivariable regression, assessing associations between muscle relative T2 signal and anatomical adjacency to site of clinical onset.ResultsPatients with MND had 30% higher relative T2 muscle signal than controls at baseline (all regions mean, 95% CI 15% to 45%, pConclusionsWhole-body muscle MRI offers a new approach to objective assessment of denervation over short timescales in MND and enables investigation of patterns of disease spread in vivo. Muscles inaccessible to conventional clinical and electrophysiological assessment may be investigated using this methodology.

Using advanced MR neuroimaging we have demonstrated altered brain structure and functional connectivity that could serve as a potential Central Pain Signature (CPS) for painful diabetic neuropathy (DN). However, the key challenge is how to apply this potential biomarker for routine diagnostic purposes. The aim of this study was to examine if the CPS can accurately classify painful DN patients based on a patient’s pain severity. Methods: 53 painful DN patients underwent detailed clinical and neurophysiological assessments. The NTSS-6, a validated questionnaire that measures both the frequency and the intensity of neuropathic pain was used to assess pain severity. Patients were divided into high pain (NTSS-6 score >7) and low pain ( Results: There was no age or gender difference (p > 0.05) between the high and low pain groups. The CPS classified painful DN patients based on their pain intensity with 94% accuracy (AUC 0.98). The positive and negative predictive values were 0.80 and 1.00 respectively. The F1 scores for predicting high pain and low pain were 0.89 and 0.96 respectively. Brain regions identified as the best classifier were the left and right postcentral gyri, thalami, and anterior and posterior cingulate cortices. Conclusions: This novel study demonstrates that a simple, 15-minute MR brain scan can accurately classify painful DN patients according to pain intensities with high accuracy. This assessment tool has a great potential as a biomarker of diabetic neuropathic pain and may serve as a target for future trials of analgesic compounds for painful DN. Disclosure D. Selvarajah: None. K. Teh: None. G.P. Sloan: None. P. Shillo: None. I.D. Wilkinson: None. S. Tesfaye: Advisory Panel; Self; Mitsubishi Tanabe Pharma Corporation, WÖRWAG Pharma. Speaker's Bureau; Self; AstraZeneca, Merck & Co., Inc., NAPP Pharmaceuticals Limited, Neurometrix, Novo Nordisk Inc., Pfizer Inc. Other Relationship; Self; Impeto Medical. Funding European Foundation for the Study of Diabetes

Purpose of Review The prevalence of diabetes mellitus and its chronic complications are increasing to epidemic proportions. This will unfortunately result in massive increases in diabetic distal symmetrical polyneuropathy (DPN) and its troublesome sequelae, including disabling neuropathic pain (painful-DPN), which affects around 25% of patients with diabetes. Why these patients develop neuropathic pain, while others with a similar degree of neuropathy do not, is not clearly understood. This review will look at recent advances that may shed some light on the differences between painful and painless-DPN. Recent Findings Gender, clinical pain phenotyping, serum biomarkers, brain imaging, genetics, and skin biopsy findings have been reported to differentiate painful- from painless-DPN. Summary Painful-DPN seems to be associated with female gender and small fiber dysfunction. Moreover, recent brain imaging studies have found neuropathic pain signatures within the central nervous system; however, whether this is the cause or effect of the pain is yet to be determined. Further research is urgently required to develop our understanding of the pathogenesis of pain in DPN in order to develop new and effective mechanistic treatments for painful-DPN.

Motor neuron disease can be viewed as an umbrella term describing a heterogeneous group of conditions, all of which are relentlessly progressive and ultimately fatal. The average life expectancy is 2 years, but with a broad range of months to decades. Biomarker research deepens disease understanding through exploration of pathophysiological mechanisms which, in turn, highlights targets for novel therapies. It also allows differentiation of the disease population into sub-groups, which serves two general purposes: (a) provides clinicians with information to better guide their patients in terms of disease progression, and (b) guides clinical trial design so that an intervention may be shown to be effective if population variation is controlled for. Biomarkers also have the potential to provide monitoring during clinical trials to ensure target engagement. This review highlights biomarkers that have emerged from the fields of systemic measurements including biochemistry (blood, cerebrospinal fluid, and urine analysis); imaging and electrophysiology, and gives examples of how a combinatorial approach may yield the best results. We emphasize the importance of systematic sample collection and analysis, and the need to correlate biomarker findings with detailed phenotype and genotype data.

Background\ud \ud A common symptom of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is post-exertional malaise (PEM). Various brain abnormalities have been observed in patients with ME/CFS, especially in insular and limbic areas, but their link with ME/CFS symptoms is still unclear. This pilot study aimed at investigating the association between PEM in ME/CFS and changes in functional connectivity (FC) of two main networks: the salience network (SN) and the default-mode network (DMN).\ud \ud \ud Methods\ud \ud A total of 16 women, 6 with and 10 without ME/CFS, underwent clinical and MRI assessment before and after cognitive exertion. Resting-state FC maps of 7 seeds (3 for the SN and 4 for the DMN) and clinical measures of fatigue, pain and cognition were analysed with repeated-measure models. FC-symptom change associations were also investigated.\ud \ud \ud Results\ud \ud Exertion induced increases in fatigue and pain in patients with ME/CFS compared to the control group, while no changes were found in cognitive performance. At baseline, patients showed altered FC between some DMN seeds and frontal areas and stronger FC between all SN seeds and left temporal areas and the medulla. Significantly higher FC increases in patients than in controls were found only between the right insular seed and frontal and subcortical areas; these increases correlated with worsening of symptoms.\ud \ud \ud Conclusions\ud \ud Cognitive exertion can induce worsening of ME/CFS-related symptoms. These changes were here associated with strengthening of FC of the right insula with areas involved in reward processing and cognitive control.

Purpose MR elastography (MRE) of the brain is being explored as a biomarker of neurodegenerative disease such as dementia. However, MRE measures for healthy brain have varied widely. Differing wave delivery methodologies may have influenced this, hence finite element-based simulations were performed to explore this possibility. Methods The natural frequencies of a series of cranial models were calculated, and MRE-associated vibration was simulated for different wave delivery methods at varying frequency, using simple isotropic viscoelastic material models for the brain. Displacement fields and the corresponding brain constitutive properties estimated by standard inversion techniques were compared across delivery methods and frequencies. Results The delivery methods produced widely different MRE displacement fields and inversions. Furthermore, resonances at natural frequencies influenced the displacement patterns. Consequently, some delivery methods led to lower inversion errors than others, and the error on the storage modulus varied by up to 11% between methods. Conclusion Wave delivery has a considerable impact on brain MRE reliability. Assuming small variations in brain biomechanics, as recently reported to accompany neurodegenerative disease (e.g., 7% for Alzheimer's disease), the effect of wave delivery is important. Hence, a consensus should be established on a consistent methodology to ensure diagnostic and prognostic consistency.

Objective: The aims of this study were (1) to examine cerebrovascular autoregulation in subjects with impaired glucose tolerance and type 2 diabetes and (2) to clarify whether cardiovascular autonomic nerve function is associated with abnormal cerebrovascular autoregulation. Research design and methods: Totally, 46 subjects were recruited (12 = impaired glucose tolerance, 17 = type 2 diabetes and 17 = healthy volunteers). Arterial blood flow was assessed within the internal carotid artery at baseline and 20 min after intravenous pharmacological stress (1 g acetazolamide), using quantitative magnetic resonance phase-contrast angiography. Internal carotid artery vascular reactivity and pulsatility index was determined. All subjects underwent baroreceptor reflex sensitivity assessment. Results: Subjects with impaired glucose tolerance and type 2 diabetes had significantly lower internal carotid artery vascular reactivity [40.2%(19.8) and 41.5%(18.7)], respectively, compared with healthy volunteers [57.0%(14.2); analysis of variance, p = 0.02]. There was no significant difference in internal carotid artery vascular reactivity between type 2 diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance groups ( p = 0.84). There was a significant positive correlation between baroreceptor reflex sensitivity (low frequency:high frequency) with cardiac rhythm variability (ρ = 0.47, p = 0.04) and PI (ρ = 0.46, p = 0.04). Conclusion: We have demonstrated significant cerebrovascular haemodynamic abnormalities in subjects with type 2 diabetes and impaired glucose tolerance. This was associated with greater sympathovagal imbalance. This may provide an important mechanistic explanation for increased risk of cerebrovascular disease in diabetes. It also highlights that these abnormalities may already be present in prediabetes.

Diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) affects up to 50% of patients with diabetes and is a major cause of morbidity and increased mortality. Its clinical manifestations include distressing painful neuropathic symptoms and insensitivity to trauma that result in foot ulcerations and amputations. Several recent studies have implicated poor glycemic control, duration of diabetes, hyperlipidemia (particularly hypertryglyceridaemia), elevated albumin excretion rates, and obesity as risk factors for the development of DPN. However, similar data are not available for painful DPN. Moreover, although there is now strong evidence for the importance of peripheral nerve microvascular disease in the pathogenesis of DPN, peripheral structural biomarkers of painful DPN are lacking. However, there is now emerging evidence for the involvement of the central nervous system in both painful and painless DPN afforded by magnetic resonance imaging. This review will focus on this emerging evidence for central changes in DPN, hitherto considered a peripheral nerve disease only.

The prevalence of diabetes mellitus and its chronic complications continue to increase alarmingly. Consequently, the massive expenditure on diabetic distal symmetrical polyneuropathy (DSPN) and its sequelae, will also likely rise. Up to 50% of patients with diabetes develop DSPN, and about 20% develop neuropathic pain (painful-DSPN). Painful-DSPN can cast a huge burden on sufferers' lives with increased rates of unemployment, mental health disorders and physical co-morbidities. Unfortunately, due to limited understanding of the mechanisms leading to painful-DSPN, current treatments remain inadequate. Recent studies examining the pathophysiology of painful-DSPN have identified maladaptive alterations at the level of both the peripheral and central nervous systems. Additionally, genetic studies have suggested that patients with variants of voltage gated sodium channels may be more at risk of developing neuropathic pain in the presence of a disease trigger such as diabetes. We review the recent advances in genetics, skin biopsy immunohistochemistry and neuro-imaging, which have the potential to further our understanding of the condition, and identify targets for new mechanism based therapies.

Aim: The risk of developing mild cognitive impairment (MCI) increases with type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Brain morphometric changes associated with MCI have been described. However Cerebral Blood Flow (CBF) changes in relation to MCI has not been fully investigated. This study aims to investigate regional CBF changes in subjects with T2DM and MCI. Method: Seventy-four age and gender matched subjects [28, T2DM (T2DM); 17, T2DM+MCI (T2DM/MCI) and 29, healthy volunteers (HV)] were recruited. All subjects underwent clinical and questionnaire (Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Assessment [ACE-R]) assessment along with Arterial Spin Labelling (ASL) perfusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) of the brain. The ASL data was modelled to yield quantitative arterial CBF maps in neuroanatomical regions involved with cognitive function. Results: Demographic data revealed aged-matched participants between all three groups (mean age 69.3-71.5 years, ANOVA, p = 0.164). Mean age of last education was significantly lower in the T2DM/MCI group (mean±SD;15.1 ±0.9 when compared to the other groups (HV 19.3±5.6, T2DM 17.1±2.9) Kruskal-Wallis, p=0.003. T2DM/MCI ACE-R score (mean±SD; 83±4) was significantly lower compared to other groups (HV=96±2, T2DM=94±3; ANOVA p. Pearson’s correlation revealed significant correlations between ACE-R score and regional CBF measurements in the medial temporal lobes, (p Conclusion: This study demonstrates significantly lower CBF in T2DM MCI subjects in neuroanatomical regions responsible for cognitive function. This may be essential to help understand the pathological mechanisms that occur behind the increased risk of developing cognitive impairment in T2DM. Disclosure L. Hunt: None. D. Selvarajah: None. S. Tesfaye: Speaker's Bureau; Self; Pfizer Inc.. Other Relationship; Self; Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Takeda Development Centre Europe Ltd.. Advisory Panel; Self; Wörwag Pharma GmbH & Co. KG. I.D. Wilkinson: None.

Objective: Painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy (painful-DPN) causes distressing neuropathic pain that is only partially responsive to treatment. A better understanding of CNS correlates of painful-DPN is vital to develop more effective therapeutics. The aim of this study was to measure cerebral perfusion of the pain processing areas of the brain using MR-Dynamic Susceptibility Contrast (MR-DSC) imaging at rest and under experimental pain condition. Methods: 55 T1DM subjects (20 painful-DPN, 23 painless-DPN, 13 no-DPN) and 19 Healthy Volunteers (HV); underwent detailed clinical and neurophysiological assessment (NISLL+7 tests of nerve function; DN4 questionnaire). MR images were obtained at 3T using a MR-DSC, T2*-weighted technique (TR/TE=1250/35ms; 72 dynamics) to assess the passage of a bolus of intravenous gadolinium-chelate through cerebral vascular bed. Subjects were scanned at baseline and during 90s of heat-pain applied to the right lateral thigh (non-neuropathic area). The time-to-peak (TTP) concentration of gadolinium in regions of interest (ROI): right and left thalamus, right and left sensory cortices (RSC and LSC), was measured. Results: At baseline, although the mean TTP (s) in the ROIs was shorter in the painful-DPN group [e.g., RT: M (SD): 9.22 (1.13) vs. HV 9.83 (0.99), no-DPN 9.59 (0.90), painless-DPN 9.94 (0.97)] this was not statistically significant (p=0.058). However the ΔTTP in response to thermal pain was significantly different between the groups LT (p=0.021), RT (p=0.003), LSC (p=0.009), RSC (p=0.008). Whilst HV respond to thermal pain by shortening the TTP in ROI the painful-DPN group do the reverse (p Conclusion: Subjects with painful-DPN have a paradoxical increase in TTP, indicating that chronic neuropathic pain state may result in a failure to mount a hemodynamic response to external pain and descending inhibition. This novel finding may serve as an objective marker of painful-DPN, and in the future may facilitate the development of novel treatments. Disclosure M. Greig: None. I.D. Wilkinson: None. D. Selvarajah: None. P. Shillo: None. R. Gandhi: None. S. Tesfaye: Speaker's Bureau; Self; Pfizer Inc.. Other Relationship; Self; Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Takeda Development Centre Europe Ltd.. Advisory Panel; Self; Wörwag Pharma GmbH & Co. KG.

Aims: Diabetic neuropathy (DN) is a serious complication which was hitherto considered a disease of the peripheral nervous system. In this study we sought to investigate in detail changes in brain morphometry in DN. The aim of this study was to identify regional brain volume changes that were specific to DN (painful and painless DN) Methods: 102 patients with diabetes (34 No-DN, 34 Painless DN and 34 Painful DN) and 34 healthy volunteers underwent detailed clinical and neurophysiological assessments. All subjects underwent 3-dimensional T1-weighted brain MRI (3.0T, Philips). Brain volume analysis was performed using SIENAX (www.fmrib.ox.ac.uk/fsl) and Freesurfer (http://surfer.nmr.mgh.harvard.edu/). Results: Groups were matched for age and gender. Total brain volume was significantly lower painful DN [1401.7 (10.7)ml] and painless DN [1393.5 (69.6)ml]) compared to HV [1457.2(79.2)ml] and No DN [1437.2(60.9)ml]; ANOVA p= Conclusion: This is the largest cohort study of brain volume changes in subjects with DN examined to date. We have demonstrated significant reduction in grey matter volume in painful and painless DN subjects. In painful DN this is localised within the somatomotor cortex and insula. These findings highlight significant CNS involvement in DN that provides clues to the pathogenesis of this condition. Disclosure D. Selvarajah: None. F. Heiberg-Gibbons: None. I.D. Wilkinson: None. R. Gandhi: None. S. Tesfaye: Speaker's Bureau; Self; Pfizer Inc.. Other Relationship; Self; Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Takeda Development Centre Europe Ltd.. Advisory Panel; Self; Wörwag Pharma GmbH & Co. KG.

Aim: Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) is thought to be a chronic sequelae of type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Cerebral atrophy is known to be associated with cognitive decline, particularly in dementia. Cerebral tissue volumes, in areas associated with cognitive function, were examined in matched patients with T2DM subjects and early cognitive decline. The aim of this study was to compare T2DM patients with and without MCI to identify regional brain volume changes that were specific to MCI. Method: Seventy-six age and gender matched subjects [30, T2DM+normal cognition (T2DM); 17, T2DM+MCI (T2DM/MCI) and 29, healthy volunteers (HV)] were recruited. All subjects underwent clinical and questionnaire (Addenbrooke’s Cognitive Assessment [ACE-R]) assessments and high-resolution, 3D T1-weighted Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI, 3T Philips Ingenia). Cerebral volumes were analysed using voxel based morphometry (VBM, FSL, Oxford). Results: Demographic data revealed aged-matched participants between all three groups (mean age 69.3-71.5 years, ANOVA, p = 0.164). Mean age of last education was significantly lower in the T2DM/MCI group (mean±SD;15.1 ±0.9 when compared to the other groups (HV 19.3±5.6, T2DM 17.1±2.9) Kruskal-Wallis, p = 0.003. T2DM/MCI ACE-R score (mean±SD; 83±4) was significantly lower compared to other groups (HV=96±2, T2DM=94±3; ANOVA, p Conclusion: This study demonstrates significantly lower cortical differences in areas associated with cognition in patients with T2DM and early cognitive impairment. Further investigation of both anatomical and functional cerebral involvement is required to examine the pathological mechanisms underlying the increased cognitive impairment risk associated with T2DM. Disclosure L. Hunt: None. D. Selvarajah: None. S. Tesfaye: Speaker's Bureau; Self; Pfizer Inc.. Other Relationship; Self; Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Takeda Development Centre Europe Ltd.. Advisory Panel; Self; Wörwag Pharma GmbH & Co. KG. I.D. Wilkinson: None.

Background: The incidence of Alzheimer disease (AD) is increasing with the ageing population. The development of low cost non-invasive diagnostic aids for AD is a research priority. This pilot study investigated whether an approach based on a novel dynamic quantitative parametric EEG method could detect abnormalities in people with AD. Methods: 20 patients with probable AD, 20 matched healthy controls (HC) and 4 patients with probable fronto temporal dementia (FTD) were included. All had detailed neuropsychology along with structural, resting state fMRI and EEG. EEG data were analyzed using the Error Reduction Ratio-causality (ERR-causality) test that can capture both linear and nonlinear interactions between different EEG recording areas. The 95% confidence intervals of EEG levels of bi-centroparietal synchronization were estimated for eyes open (EO) and eyes closed (EC) states. Results: In the EC state, AD patients and HC had very similar levels of bi-centro parietal synchronization, but in the EO resting state, patients with AD had significantly higher levels of synchronization (AD = 0.44, interquartile range (IQR) 0.41 vs. HC = 0.15, IQR 0.17, p &lt, 0.0001). The EO/EC synchronization ratio, a measure of the dynamic changes between the two states, also showed significant differences between these two groups (AD ratio 0.78 versus HC ratio 0.37 p &lt, 0.0001). EO synchronization was also significantly different between AD and FTD (FTD = 0.075, IQR 0.03, p &lt, 0.0001). However, the EO/EC ratio was not informative in the FTD group due to very low levels of synchronization in both states (EO and EC). Conclusion: In this pilot work, resting state quantitative EEG shows significant differences between healthy controls and patients with AD. This approach has the potential to develop into a useful non-invasive and economical diagnostic aid in AD.

PURPOSE: As Quantitative Susceptibility Mapping (QSM) is maturing, more clinical applications are being explored. With this comes the question whether QSM is sufficiently robust and reproducible to be directly used in a clinical setting where patients are possibly not cooperative and/or unable to suppress involuntary movements sufficiently. Subjects and Methods: Twenty-nine patients with Alzheimer's Disease (AD), 31 patients with Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and 41 healthy controls (HC) were scanned on a 3T scanner, including a multi-echo gradient-echo sequence for QSM and an inversion-prepared segmented gradient-echo sequence (T1-TFE, MPRAGE). The severity of motion artifacts (excessive/strong /noticeable/invisible) was categorized via visual inspection by two independent raters. Quantitative susceptibility was reconstructed using "Joint background-field removal and segmentation-Enhanced Dipole Inversion" (JEDI), based on segmented subcortical gray-matter regions, as well as using "Morphology Enabled Dipole Inversion" (MEDI). Statistical analysis of the susceptibility maps was performed per region. Results: A large fraction of the data showed motion artifacts, visible in both magnitude images and susceptibility maps. No statistically significant susceptibility differences were found between groups including motion-affected data. Considering only subjects without visible motion, a significant susceptibility differences were observed in caudate nucleus as well as in putamen. Conclusion: Motion-effects can obscure statistically significant differences in QSM between patients and controls. Additional measures to restrict and/or compensate for subject motion should be taken for QSM in standard clinical settings to avoid risk of false findings.&#13.

Background: Processing speed (PS) decline is the most commonly observed cognitive deficit in\ud people with multiple sclerosis (MS) resulting in a significant impact on quality of life. Despite its\ud importance, knowledge of the underlying neural substrates is lacking.\ud Objective: As MS is increasingly recognised as a disconnection syndrome, our aim was to carry out a\ud systematic literature review to clarify the relationship between PS performance and MRI measures of\ud structural and functional brain connectivity in people with MS.\ud Search methods: A literature search was carried out on PubMed and Web of Science that included\ud publications predating September 2017. Additional articles were added after inspection of the\ud reference lists of all selected papers.\ud Data extraction: All selected papers were categorised in three sections according to the MRI\ud measures investigated, independently or both. Quality assessment was carried out using a\ud customised set of criteria.\ud Results: Thirty-two articles met the inclusion criteria and were included in the review. Microstructural\ud integrity of the anterior corpus callosum and functional connectivity of frontal areas were more\ud consistently found to correlate with PS performance, though high variability of findings was observed\ud across studies. Several methodological flaws emerged from the reviewed literature.\ud Conclusions: Despite the observed trends, no definite conclusions can be drawn on the relationship\ud between brain connectivity and PS decline in MS given the limitations of the current literature. Future\ud investigations may benefit from theoretical and methodological advances to clarify how MS-related\ud brain damage affects patients’ cognition.

Background Clinical phenotypic heterogeneity represents a major barrier to trials in motor neuron disease (MND) and objective surrogate outcome measures are required, especially for slowly progressive patients. We assessed responsiveness of clinical, electrophysiological and radiological muscle-based assessments to detect MND-related progression. Materials and methods A prospective, longitudinal cohort study of 29 MND patients and 22 healthy controls was performed. Clinical measures, electrophysiological motor unit number index/size (MUNIX/MUSIX) and relative T2- and diffusion-weighted whole-body muscle magnetic resonance (MR) were assessed three times over 12 months. Multi-variable regression models assessed between-group differences, clinico-electrophysiological associations, and longitudinal changes. Standardized response means (SRMs) assessed sensitivity to change over 12 months. Results MND patients exhibited 18% higher whole-body mean muscle relative T2-signal than controls (95% CI 7–29%, p

Purpose Magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) of the brain has demonstrated potential as a biomarker of neurodegenerative disease such as dementia but requires further evaluation. Cranial anatomical features such as the falx cerebri and tentorium cerebelli membranes may influence MRE measurements through wave reflection and interference and tissue heterogeneity at their boundaries. We sought to determine the influence of these effects via simulation. Methods MRE-associated mechanical stimulation of the brain was simulated using steady state harmonic finite element analysis. Simulations of geometrical models and anthropomorphic brain models derived from anatomical MRI data of healthy individuals were compared. Constitutive parameters were taken from MRE measurements for healthy brain. Viscoelastic moduli were reconstructed from the simulated displacement fields and compared with ground truth. Results Interference patterns from reflections and heterogeneity resulted in artifacts in the reconstructions of viscoelastic moduli. Artifacts typically occurred in the vicinity of boundaries between different tissues within the cranium, with a magnitude of 10%–20%. Conclusion Given that MRE studies for neurodegenerative disease have reported only marginal variations in brain elasticity between controls and patients (e.g., 7% for Alzheimer's disease), the predicted errors are a potential confound to the development of MRE as a biomarker of dementia and other neurodegenerative diseases. Magn Reson Med, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

BackgroundThe anatomical location of the earliest damage in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is still debated. Two main competing hypotheses have been proposed: the dying-forward hypothesis states the damage occurs in the precentral gyrus (PCG) and spreads caudally, which is in contrast with the dying-back hypothesis. This study aims to address this question of directionality of neurodegeneration in vivo using a multimodal neuroimaging approach to derive measures of damage of the motor pathway and analyse them in a common domain.MethodsMRI was performed on 78 ALS patients and 13 controls. PCG thickness was derived from using FreeSurfer, corticospinal tract (CST) fractional anisotropy (FA) from diffusion tensor imaging using FSL, and axial C3 cord area estimates using Philips online software. Comparisons between patients and controls were reported using unpaired t-tests. Parameter estimates were converted to z-scores, referenced to control data, plotted from PCG through CST to cord and directionality of damage assessed by fitting a mixed-effects linear regression model.ResultsZ-scores were not significantly different between PCG and FA (0.24,[95%CI -0.13,0.61], p=0.208) but were significantly lower in FA compared to cross-sectional cord area (-0.85,[95%CI -1.25,-0.46] pDiscussionThis novel multimodal imaging approach supports a dying-forward neurodegenerative process in ALS.

Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) is the only biomedical imaging method that can noninvasively detect endogenous signals from the neurotransmitter γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in the human brain. Its increasing popularity has been aided by improvements in scanner hardware and acquisition methodology, as well as by broader access to pulse sequences that can selectively detect GABA, in particular J-difference spectral editing sequences. Nevertheless, implementations of GABA-edited MRS remain diverse across research sites, making comparisons between studies challenging. This large-scale multi-vendor, multi-site study seeks to better understand the factors that impact measurement outcomes of GABA-edited MRS. An international consortium of 24 research sites was formed. Data from 272 healthy adults were acquired on scanners from the three major MRI vendors and analyzed using the Gannet processing pipeline. MRS data were acquired in the medial parietal lobe with standard GABA+ and macromolecule- (MM-) suppressed GABA editing. The coefficient of variation across the entire cohort was 12% for GABA+ measurements and 28% for MM-suppressed GABA measurements. A multilevel analysis revealed that most of the variance (72%) in the GABA+ data was accounted for by differences between participants within-site, while site-level differences accounted for comparatively more variance (20%) than vendor-level differences (8%). For MM-suppressed GABA data, the variance was distributed equally between site- (50%) and participant-level (50%) differences. The findings show that GABA+ measurements exhibit strong agreement when implemented with a standard protocol. There is, however, increased variability for MM-suppressed GABA measurements that is attributed in part to differences in site-to-site data acquisition. This study's protocol establishes a framework for future methodological standardization of GABA-edited MRS, while the results provide valuable benchmarks for the MRS community. This work was supported by NIH grants R01 EB016089, R01 EB023963 and P41 EB015909. Data collection was supported by the Shandong Provincial Key Research and Development Plan of China (2016ZDJS07A16) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China for Young Scholars (no. 81601479). IDW thanks Mrs. J. Bigley of the University of Sheffield MRI Unit for her assistance with data acquisition. JJP was supported by NIAAA grant K23 AA020842. MPS was supported by NIH grant F32 EY025121. NAJP receives salary support from NIH grant K99 MH107719. The authors acknowledge implementation contributions from a number of employees of Siemens Medical Solutions, including Dr. Keith Heberlein and Dr. Sinyeob Ahn, to the Siemens WIP sequences, which are shared with several research sites under sequencespecific agreements.

Gravitational forces may lead to local changes in subarachnoid cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) layer thickness, which has important implications for neurophysiological modulation and recording techniques. This study examines the effect of gravitational pull associated with different head positions on the distribution of subarachnoid CSF using structural magnetic resonance imaging. Images of seven subjects in three different positions (supine, left lateral and prone) were statistically compared. Results suggest that subarachnoid CSF volume decreases on the side of the head closest to the ground, due to downward brain movement with gravity. These findings warrant future research into currently unexplored gravitation-induced changes in regional subarachnoid CSF thickness.

The role of language in exact calculation is the subject of debate. Some behavioral and functional neuroimaging investigations of healthy participants suggest that calculation requires language resources. However, there are also reports of individuals with severe aphasic language impairment who retain calculation ability. One possibility in resolving these discordant findings is that the neural basis of calculation has undergone significant reorganization in aphasic calculators. Using fMRI, we examined brain activations associated with exact addition and subtraction in two patients with severe agrammatic aphasia and retained calculation ability. Behavior and brain activations during two-digit addition and subtraction were compared to those of a group of 11 healthy, age-matched controls. Behavioral results confirmed that both patients retained calculation ability. Imaging findings revealed individual differences in processing, but also a similar activation pattern across patients and controls in bilateral parietal cortices. Patients differed from controls in small areas of increased activation in peri-lesional regions, a shift from left fronto-temporal activation to the contralateral region, and increased activations in bilateral superior parietal regions. Our results suggest that bilateral parietal cortex represents the core of the calculation network and, while healthy controls may recruit language resources to support calculation, these mechanisms are not mandatory in adult cognition.

To examine the extent of brain abnormality in patients with coeliac disease referred for neurological opinion and evaluate MR imaging sequences as biomarkers for neurological dysfunction, given the lack of readily available serological markers of neurological disease in this cohort.Retrospective examination of a consecutive cohort of patients (n = 33, mean age = 44 ± 13 years (range 19-64)) with biopsy proven coeliac disease referred for neurological opinion. Patients were divided into subgroups based on their primary neurological complaint (balance disturbance, headache and sensory loss). 3T MR was used to evaluate differences in brain grey matter density, cerebellar volume, cerebellar neurochemistry and white matter abnormalities (WMAs) between subjects and controls.Cerebellar volume was significantly less in the patient group than in controls (6.9 ± 0.7% vs 7.4 ± 0.9% of total intracranial volume, p0.05). Significantly less grey matter density was found in multiple brain regions, both above and below the tentorium cerebelli, than in controls (p0.05). 12 (36%) patients demonstrated WMAs unexpected for the patient's age, with the highest incidence occurring in the headache subgroup. This subgroup averaged almost twice the number of WMAs per MR imaging than the subgroup with balance disturbance and six times more than the subgroup with sensory loss.Patients with established coeliac disease referred for neurological opinion show significant brain abnormality on MR imaging. MR imaging may provide valuable biomarkers of disease in this patient cohort.

Although there is evidence that exact calculation recruits left hemisphere perisylvian language systems, recent work has shown that exact calculation can be retained despite severe damage to these networks. In this study, we sought to identify a "core" network for calculation and hence to determine the extent to which left hemisphere language areas are part of this network. We examined performance on addition and subtraction problems in two modalities: one using conventional two-digit problems that can be easily encoded into language; the other using novel shape representations. With regard to numerical problems, our results revealed increased left fronto-temporal activity in addition, and increased parietal activity in subtraction, potentially reflecting retrieval of linguistically encoded information during addition. The shape problems elicited activations of occipital, parietal and dorsal temporal regions, reflecting visual reasoning processes. A core activation common to both calculation types involved the superior parietal lobule bilaterally, right temporal sub-gyral area, and left lateralized activations in inferior parietal (BA 40), frontal (BA 6/8/32) and occipital (BA 18) regions. The large bilateral parietal activation could be attributed to visuo-spatial processing in calculation. The inferior parietal region, and particularly the left angular gyrus, was part of the core calculation network. However, given its activation in both shape and number tasks, its role is unlikely to reflect linguistic processing per se. A possibility is that it serves to integrate right hemisphere visuo-spatial and left hemisphere linguistic and executive processing in calculation.

Hadjivassiliou M, Wallis LI, Hoggard N, Grunewald RA, Griffiths PD, Wilkinson ID. MR spectroscopy and atrophy in Gluten, Friedreich’s and SCA6 ataxias. Acta Neurol Scand: 2012: 126: 138–143. © 2011 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Background – Previous work using proton MR spectroscopy (1H-MRS) of the cerebellum in the ataxias suggested that 1H-MRS abnormalities and atrophy do not necessarily occur concurrently. Aims – To investigate the spectroscopic features of different types of ataxias. Methods – Using a clinical MR system operating at 1.5T, we performed 1H-MRS with a single voxel placed over the right dentate nucleus in 22 patients with gluten ataxia (GA), six patients with Friedreich’s ataxia (FA), six patients with spinocerebellar ataxia type 6 (SCA6) and 21 healthy volunteers. Atrophy of the vermis and hemispheres on standard MRI was rated by a neuroradiologist. Any interaction between atrophy and 1H-MRS was analysed for the three groups of patients and controls. Results – Patients with GA had significant atrophy of the vermis and hemispheres as well as abnormal 1H-MRS. Patients with SCA6 had more severe overall atrophy of the vermis and hemispheres, but relatively preserved N-acetyl-aspartate/creatine (NAA/Cr). The FA group showed significant atrophy of only the superior vermis with normal 1H-MRS. Conclusions – This study suggests that 1H-MRS of the cerebellum in patients with ataxia provides information in addition to the presence of atrophy. There are significant 1H-MRS differences amongst different types of ataxia with interesting correlations between atrophy and NAA/Cr.