Hybrid PET/MRI is an emerging approach to simultaneously investigate the connection of intrinsic metabolic with functional brain changes. In this work, we propose an image analysis workflow for ...longitudinal PET/MRI study in Juvenile-onset Huntington's Disease(JoHD) aiming to evaluate progressive disease-related volumetric, functional, and metabolic alterations. This examination/methodology could be very useful in the characterization of the rapidly worsening course of this degenerative pathology. Also, our main contribution lays in the multimodal hybrid PET/MRI data-fusion approach to identify features as potential markers of JoHD progression, and to support future trials in test drugs and treatments.
Mesial Temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) is one the most common form of focal epilepsy in adults. Electroencephalography (EEG) is the gold standard for diagnosis and treatment of these patients where ...accurate seizure-onset lateralization and localization is based on a visually-interpretation. Instead, quantitative EEG (qEEG) analysis provide objective, automated measures of brain activity, allowing for a more comprehensive interpretation of EEG findings, with particular interest towards the features that can be difficult to detect during EEG analysis overcoming limitations of visual interpretation. In this work, visually-normal EEG signals from 26 patients with MTLE and 26 healthy controls (HC) were analyzed with the aim of compared spectral parameters between two groups of subjects to identify differences. In Matlab environment, with an ad hoc procedure, we calculated the total power of all EEG frequency bands and determined alpha-theta (ATR) and alpha-delta (ADR) power ratios for the whole brain and for the anterior, posterior, and temporal regions. We used statistical t-tests to compare the spectral parameters between two groups (p<0.05). Results showed that ATR and ADR ratios were significantly decreased in patients with MTLE compared to HC and on the contrary no differences have been observed for the power values of frequency bands. This study indicates that there is a difference in the power spectrum of qEEG between patients with MTLE and HC. Specifically, the power spectrum of qEEG in patients with MTLE is shifted towards lower frequencies, compared to HC. Moreover, these findings were observed in visually normal recordings, and this suggests that qEEG could be a valuable tool in the diagnosis and evaluation of MTLE even in cases where traditional visual analysis might not reveal any clear signs of epilepsy.
This study presents a voxel-based multiple regression analysis of different magnetic resonance image modalities, including anatomical T1-weighted, T2* relaxometry, and diffusion tensor imaging. ...Quantitative parameters sensitive to complementary brain tissue alterations, including morphometric atrophy, mineralization, microstructural damage, and anisotropy loss, were compared in a linear physiological aging model in 140 healthy subjects (range 20-74 years). The performance of different predictors and the identification of the best biomarker of age-induced structural variation were compared without a priori anatomical knowledge. The best quantitative predictors in several brain regions were iron deposition and microstructural damage, rather than macroscopic tissue atrophy. Age variations were best resolved with a combination of markers, suggesting that multiple predictors better capture age-induced tissue alterations. These findings highlight the importance of a combined evaluation of multimodal biomarkers for the study of aging and point to a number of novel applications for the method described.
•Mastitis is the most important disease of dairy small ruminants.•First, Italian standardized data electronic collection on small ruminant mastitis.•CNS were the most frequently isolated bacteria in ...dairy sheep and goats, followed by Staphylococcus aureus.
Mastitis is the most important disease of dairy small ruminants affecting animal welfare, agricultural economy, and food safety. Only a few investigations on the bacterial epidemiology of udder infections have been performed. Aim of the study was to describe the Italian epidemiology of bacterial mastitis in small ruminant dairy herds. An ad hoc electronic data collection module was created by the National Reference Center for Sheep and Goat Mastitis (C.Re.N.M.O.C). Public health veterinary laboratories of the Experimental Zooprophylactic Institutes (EE.ZZ.II) (n=10) were selected. Nine (90.0%) EE.ZZ.II. participated to the survey and 8 (87.5%) provided a full report. Bacteriological culture results from 30,232 sheep and goat milk samples collected in 1,795 herds between 2013 and 2014 were analyzed. Coagulase-negative staphylococci (CNS) were the most frequently isolated bacteria in dairy sheep and goats, followed by Staphylococcus aureus; other bacterial species were Pseudomonas spp., Streptococcus uberis, Enterobacteriaceae, Enterococcus spp., Streptococcus spp. and Coryneiforms. Italian results confirm previous findings described in other countries; CNS are the most prevalent bacteria, probably due to subclinical symptoms, whereas Staphyloccocus aureus is the most prevalent clinical mastitis etiological agent. The present survey, based on the first, Italian standardized data electronic collection focused on small ruminant mastitis, may represent the backbone for future control and preventive strategies nationwide.
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