Laboratory for Rehabilitation Neuroscience
Article here Abstract Progression markers of Parkinson’s disease are crucial for successful therapeutic development. Recently, a diffusion magnetic resonance imaging analysis technique using a bitensor model was introduced allowing the estimation of the fractional volume of free water within a voxel, which is expected to increase in neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s disease. Prior work […]
Abstract Burciu et al. (2017) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28594097 Cervical dystonia (CD) is the most common type of focal dystonia, causing abnormal movements of the neck and head. In this study, we used noninvasive imaging to investigate the motor system of patients with CD and uncover the neural correlates of dystonic symptoms. Furthermore, we examined whether a commonly […]
Cereb Cortex. 2017 Mar 14:1-15. doi: 10.1093/cercor/bhx066. [Epub ahead of print] A Template and Probabilistic Atlas of the Human Sensorimotor Tracts using Diffusion MRI. Archer DB, Vaillancourt DE, Coombes SA. Abstract The purpose of this study was to develop a high-resolution sensorimotor area tract template (SMATT) which segments corticofugal tracts based on 6 cortical regions […]
J Neurophysiol. 2016 Nov 30:jn.00650.2016. doi: 10.1152/jn.00650.2016. [Epub ahead of print] Automated Classification of Pain Perception using High Density Electroencephalography Data. Misra G, Wang WE, Archer DB, Roy A, Coombes SA1. Translating brief millisecond-long pain-eliciting stimuli to the subjective perception of pain is associated with changes in theta, alpha, beta, and gamma oscillations over sensorimotor […]
Abstract Accurate motor performance may depend on the scaling of distinct oscillatory activity within the motor cortex and effective neural communication between the motor cortex and other brain areas. Oscillatory activity within the beta-band (13-30Hz) has been suggested to provide distinct functional roles for attention and sensorimotor control, yet it remains unclear how beta-band and […]
Abstract Developing in vivo functional and structural neuroimaging assays in Dyt1 ΔGAG heterozygous knock-in (Dyt1 KI) mice provide insight into the pathophysiology underlying DYT1 dystonia. In the current study, we examined in vivo functional connectivity of large-scale cortical and subcortical networks in Dyt1 KI mice and wild-type (WT) controls using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging […]
Hum Brain Mapp. 2016 Feb 27. doi: 10.1002/hbm.23155. Microstructural properties of premotor pathways predict visuomotor performance in chronic stroke. Archer DB, Misra G, Patten C, Coombes SA. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26920656 Microstructural properties of the corticospinal tract (CST) descending from the motor cortex predict strength and motor skill in the chronic phase after stroke. Much less is known […]
Abstract Rasagiline is a monoamine oxidase type B inhibitor that possesses no amphetamine-like properties, and provides symptomatic relief in early and late stages of Parkinson’s disease (PD). Data in animal models of PD suggest that chronic administration of rasagiline is associated with structural changes in the substantia nigra, and raise the question whether the structure […]
Link to paper Abstract Conventional single tensor diffusion analysis models have provided mixed findings in the substantia nigra of Parkinson’s disease, but recent work using a bi-tensor analysis model has shown more promising results. Using a bi-tensor model, free-water values were found to be increased in the posterior substantia nigra of Parkinson’s disease compared with […]
Abstract There is a clear need to develop non-invasive markers of substantia nigra progression in Parkinson’s disease. We previously found elevated free-water levels in the substantia nigra for patients with Parkinson’s disease compared with controls in single-site and multi-site cohorts. Here, we test the hypotheses that free-water levels in the substantia nigra of Parkinson’s disease […]