The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) of both rats and rabbits has been shown to support trace eyeblink conditioning, presumably by providing an input to the cerebellum via the pons that bridges the temporal gap between conditioning stimuli. The pons of rats and rabbits, however, shows divergence in gross anatomical organization, leaving open the question of whether the topography of prefrontal i...

The capacity for voluntary motor activity underpins all behavior. Although psychiatrists are acutely aware of behavior, we tend to think of its abstract motives more than its concrete mechanisms. This article reviews the basic brain mechanisms of voluntary motor activity, the most useful pyramidal tract or upper motor neuron signs, and their relevance to specific patient groups of interest to p...

In executing a voluntary movement, one is faced with the problem of translating a specification of the movement in task space (e.g., a visual goal) into a muscle-recruitment pattern. Among many brain regions, the primary motor cortex (MI) plays a prominent role in the specification of movements. In what coordinate frame MI represents movement has been a topic of considerable debate. In a two-di...

Several targets and targeting methods are utilized in stereotactic surgery to achieve tremor suppression for patients with intractable tremor. Recent developments in magnetic resonance imaging, including diffusion tensor imaging, have enabled the setting of appropriate targets in stereotactic surgery. In this retrospective study, the optimal target to suppress tremors in stereotactic surgery wa...

BACKGROUND Assessment of the relationship between preoperative neurological deficits and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) parameters in patients with brain tumour within/adjacent to pyramidal tract and motor cortex. Evaluation of the difference in fractional anisotropy (FA) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values in patients with low and high grade gliomas. MATERIAL AND METHODS 20 patie...

BACKGROUND The ventral intermediate nucleus of the thalamus is not readily visible on structural magnetic resonance imaging. Therefore, a method for its visualization for stereotactic targeting is desirable. OBJECTIVE The objective of this study was to define a tractography-based methodology for the stereotactic targeting of the ventral intermediate nucleus. METHODS The lateral and posterio...

Introduction There have been few studies using diffusion MRI based tractography to look at the normal development of specific tracts during late childhood and adolescence. However, there is some evidence for the existence of relationships between diffusion parameters, especially fractional anisotropy (FA) and mean diffusivity (MD), and age or gender (e.g. [1]). In addition, previous work has su...

Leukodystrophies are a group of hereditary progressive diseases the central nervous system characterized by selective lesions in white matter with specific involvement glial cells. There hypomyelinating (absence myelin deposition), demyelinating (loss previously deposited myelin), dysmyelinating (deposition structurally or biochemically abnormal and myelinolytic leukodystrophies (myelin vacuoli...