Biomedical subjects

Franca Tecchio

Publications and source records attributed to Franca Tecchio.

17 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2006

Brain plasticity in recovery from stroke: an MEG assessment.

The aim of this paper was to deepen understanding about the role played by brain plasticity in obtaining clinical recovery. Eighteen patients, who had recovered partially or totally from dysfunctions due to a monohemispheric infarction within the middle cerebral artery territory, underwent magnetoencephalographic (MEG) recordings of rolandic areas cerebral activity both in rest state (spectral power properties) and in response to the electrical stimulation of the contralateral median nerve (M20 and M30 cortical sources). MEG evaluation was performed in acute (T0: mean 5 days from ischemic attach) and post-acute phase (T1: median 6 months). At T1, all the inter-hemispheric asymmetries were reduced for both spontaneous and evoked activity parameters with respect to T0. In post-acute phase, lower cortical excitability, higher delta and theta power and lower spectral entropy were associated to a worse clinical state. An unusual recruitment-as revealed by an excessive inter-hemispheric asymmetry of M20 cortical source position-correlated with higher level of clinical amelioration in the patients who showed a partial recovery. In addition to confirmative evidence that "normalization" of neural activity in both the affected and unaffected hemispheres subtends best clinical recovery, present data provide support to the positive role of cerebral plasticity phenomena--i.e. unusual neural recruitments--to regain lost functions in those patients unable to achieve total recovery.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

Fetal auditory responses to external sounds and mother's heart beat: detection improved by Independent Component Analysis.

In this paper, we present a magnetoencephalographic study of the fetal auditory response to external stimuli and to the sound of the mother's heartbeat. We describe how an ad hoc functional selection procedure allowed us to isolate the sources in the fetal brain responding to sounds only, after the application to the recorded data of a standard Independent Component Analysis algorithm. In our experiment, acoustic stimuli were delivered to twelve healthy women with uncomplicated pregnancies at a time between 36 and 40 weeks gestational age, with their fetuses in breech presentation. Ultrasound images allowed determination of the region over the women's abdomen nearest to the fetal head, over which both the acoustic stimulator and the MEG sensors were subsequently placed. In 8 out of the 12 cases, our analysis provided consistent evidence of a fetal response both to the mother's heartbeat and to the external auditory stimulation; both were characterized by a clear prominent component at around 200 ms latency, which is widely accepted as the marker of the fetal response to auditory stimuli.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

PubMed2006

Hand cortical representation at rest and during activation: gender and age effects in the two hemispheres.

OBJECTIVE: To characterize the age- and gender- dependence of sensory hand cortical representation in the two hemispheres in healthy population. METHODS: In 57 adults, the cerebral activity from rolandic areas as detected by magnetoencephalography was considered both in a resting state (spectral power properties) and in response to the electrical stimulation of the contralateral median nerve (M20 and M30 cortical sources). RESULTS: We found a dependence of rest and evoked activity on age (alpha rhythm slowing, high frequency power increase, M20 latency increase, M20 strength increase, no change in M30) and on gender (higher alpha frequency, higher beta power, higher spectral entropy, lower M20 amplitude in women). These changes were quite symmetrical in the two hemispheres, making the interhemispheric differences non-dependent on age and gender. Moreover, lower total power and faster alpha rhythm appeared in the dominant hemisphere. CONCLUSIONS: Age and gender have a significant effect on spontaneous and evoked activity at the primary sensorimotor cortex. SIGNIFICANCE: The results consolidate the reference base in healthy population, to study pathological conditions. Inter-hemispheric asymmetries are confirmed as a sensitive indicator for the early identification of possible neuronal rearrangements due to unilateral brain injuries.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

Cortical short-term fatigue effects assessed via rhythmic brain-muscle coherence.

This study is aimed at assessing the short-term effects of muscular fatigue on the sensorimotor areas organization in the left and right hemispheres. Magnetoencephalographic (MEG) and electromyographic (EMG) activities were simultaneously recorded during the execution of a non-fatiguing motor task, performed before and after a task known to induce muscle fatigue (Fatigue). Coherence between cerebral and muscular rhythms as well as cerebral and muscular rhythms spectral densities were estimated during this non-fatiguing task and at rest. The MEG-EMG coherence in the beta band (13-32 Hz) was higher after than before Fatigue. The background activity reduction during contraction with respect to rest (i.e. the cerebral reactivity) was less evident after than before Fatigue in the gamma (33-45 Hz) and beta bands. When differentiating subjects on the base of Fatigue endurance times, while a huge inter-subject variability was found, an evident intra-subject similarity was observed for left and right arms, suggesting that resistance to fatigue is more an individual ability than a motor skill differentiated for the dominant and non-dominant side. In conclusion, signs of a more selective neural recruitment, more coupled with muscular activity, appeared as short-term effects of muscular fatigue in primary sensorimotor cortical areas. Evidence suggested that the reduction of cortical recruitment and the increased cortico-muscular coupling are distinct mechanisms.

Adult↗

PubMed2006

Functional source separation from magnetoencephalographic signals.

We propose a novel cerebral source extraction method (functional source separation, FSS) starting from extra-cephalic magnetoencephalographic (MEG) signals in humans. It is obtained by adding a functional constraint to the cost function of a basic independent component analysis (ICA) model, defined according to the specific experiment under study, and removing the orthogonality constraint, (i.e., in a single-unit approach, skipping decorrelation of each new component from the subspace generated by the components already found). Source activity was obtained all along processing of a simple separate sensory stimulation of thumb, little finger, and median nerve. Being the sources obtained one by one in each stage applying different criteria, the a posteriori "interesting sources selection" step is avoided. The obtained solutions were in agreement with the homuncular organization in all subjects, neurophysiologically reacting properly and with negligible residual activity. On this basis, the separated sources were interpreted as satisfactorily describing highly superimposed and interconnected neural networks devoted to cortical finger representation. The proposed procedure significantly improves the quality of the extraction with respect to a standard BSS algorithm. Moreover, it is very flexible in including different functional constraints, providing a promising tool to identify neuronal networks in very general cerebral processing.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Rhythmic brain activity at rest from rolandic areas in acute mono-hemispheric stroke: a magnetoencephalographic study.

In order to deepen our knowledge of the brain's ability to react to a cerebral insult, it is fundamental to obtain a "snapshot" of the acute phase, both for understanding the neural condition immediately after the insult and as a starting point for follow-up and clinical outcome prognosis. The characteristics of the brain's spontaneous neuronal activity in perirolandic cortical areas were investigated in 32 patients who had a stroke in the middle cerebral artery (MCA) territory of one hemisphere in the previous 10 days. Magnetic fields from both left and right rolandic areas were recorded at rest with open eyes. Total and band power properties, the individual alpha frequency (IAF) and the spectral entropy were analyzed and compared with a sex-age matched control group. In agreement with electroencephalographic literature, low frequency absolute powers were higher and high frequency were lower in the affected (AH) than in the unaffected hemisphere (UH), and also their values in both hemispheres differed from control values. An IAF reduction was found in AH with respect to UH. As new findings, the total power was higher in AH than in UH, after excluding 4 right-damaged patients with cortico-subcortical lesions, who showed a completely disorganized spectral pattern. Spectral entropy was lower in AH than in UH. Clinical severity correlated with the AH decrease of gamma band power, IAF and spectral entropy. Larger lesions were associated to worse clinical pictures and MEG alterations. A lesion affecting the MCA territory of one hemisphere induces a perilesional increase of the low-frequency rhythms' spectral power within the AH rolandic areas; the same effect was present also in the UH, indicating interhemispheric diaschisis. In the AH, results showed an increase of the total power and a reduction of the spectral entropy, suggesting a higher synchrony of local neuronal activity, a reduction of the intra-cortical inhibitory networks efficiency and an increase of neuronal excitability. Direct correlation linked gamma band activity preservation and less severe clinical status. Dependence of the clinical picture, and associated spectral alterations, on the lesion volume and not on the lesion level, suggests a diffuse neuronal impairment, rather than a selective structures damage, contributing to neurological status in the acute phase of stroke.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Alpha rhythms in mild dements during visual delayed choice reaction time tasks: a MEG study.

Can simple delayed response tasks affect latency and amplitude of magnetoencephalographic midline alpha rhythms (6-12 Hz) in early dementia? We recruited 15 mild Alzheimer's disease (AD) and 10 vascular dementia (VaD) patients (paired mini mental state exam of 17-24). The control groups comprised 18 young and 22 elderly normal subjects. In the first task, a simple "cue" stimulus (one bit) was memorized along a brief delay period (3.5-5.5s) up to a "go" stimulus triggering (right or left) button press. In the second task, the "cue" stimulus remained available along the delay period. Event-related reduction in power of the alpha rhythms indexed the cortical activation (event-related desynchronization, ERD) for the trials associated with correct behavioral responses. Behavioral performances to both tasks were lower in the AD and VaD patients than in the normal subjects. In particular, just four AD and five VaD patients executed a sufficient amount of correct responses for the alpha ERD analysis, so they were included in a unique group. In both tasks, the alpha ERD peak was later in latency in the demented and normal elderly subjects than in the normal young subjects. Furthermore, the alpha ERD peak was stronger in amplitude in the demented patients than in the normal subjects. These results suggest that simple delayed response tasks during physiological recordings are quite difficult for patients even at an early dementia stage. Such difficulty may induce the abnormal amount of the related cortical activation in dementia as revealed by the alpha ERD.

Adolescent↗

PubMed2005

Neural connectivity in hand sensorimotor brain areas: an evaluation by evoked field morphology.

The connectivity pattern of the neural network devoted to sensory processing depends on the timing of relay recruitment from receptors to cortical areas. The aim of the present work was to uncover and quantify the way the cortical relay recruitment is reflected in the shape of the brain-evoked responses. We recorded the magnetic somatosensory evoked fields (SEF) generated in 36 volunteers by separate bilateral electrical stimulation of median nerve, thumb, and little fingers. After defining an index that quantifies the shape similarity of two SEF traces, we studied the morphologic characteristics of the recorded SEFs within the 20-ms time window that followed the impulse arrival at the primary sensory cortex. Based on our similarity criterion, the shape of the SEFs obtained stimulating the median nerve was observed to be more similar to the one obtained from the thumb (same median nerve innervation) than to the one obtained from the little finger (ulnar nerve innervation). In addition, SEF shapes associated with different brain regions were more similar within an individual than between subjects. Because the SEF morphologic characteristics turned out to be quite diverse among subjects, we defined similarity levels that allowed us to identify three main classes of SEF shapes in normalcy. We show evidence that the morphology of the evoked response describes the anatomo-functional connectivity pattern in the primary sensory areas. Our findings suggest the possible existence of a thalamo-cortico-thalamic responsiveness loop related to the different classes.

Adult↗

PubMed2005

Contingent negative variation in the parasylvian cortex increases during expectancy of painful sensorimotor events: a magnetoencephalographic study.

Previous evidence relating to somatosensory-evoked magnetic fields has shown that the human parasylvian cortex (PC) is affected by ongoing painful sensorimotor interactions. In the present magnetoencephalographic study, the activity of the PC was investigated to evaluate the hypothesis of anticipatory processes preceding painful sensorimotor interactions. Sensorimotor interactions were induced by warned painful electrical stimulations at the left hand concomitant with a motor task of the right hand. The anticipatory activity of the PC was probed via contingent negative variation. Compared with the control nonpainful condition, the anticipation of the painful sensorimotor interactions increased the PC activity over the hemisphere ipsilateral to the stimulation. Dipole modeling indicated that the center of gravity of the anticipatory activity in the PC was located in the secondary somatosensory cortex. These results suggest that anticipation of painful sensorimotor interactions engages the human PC, especially in the hemisphere ipsilateral to upcoming painful stimuli and contralateral to preparatory motor commands.

Adult↗

PubMed2004

District-related frequency specificity in hand cortical representation: dynamics of regional activation and intra-regional synchronization.

The aim of this work was to study the degree of neuronal synchronization occurring within the portion of the somatosensory cortex devoted to hand control during an external sensory stimulation. In this way, we focused on the properties of the sensory cortical representation, rather than the more investigated motor one. To this aim, we collected magnetoencephalograhic data from healthy subjects during separate stimulation of their thumbs and little fingers and analyzed these data by means of a time-dependent 'synchronization index'. The properties of this index within the beta [16-32 Hz] and gamma [36-44 Hz] frequency bands suggest that the hand representation in the human primary cortex follows a frequency coding, in addition to the somatotopic one, for discriminating different districts. Our results showed that the gamma synchronization is higher following stimulation of the thumb than of the little finger and we suggest that the strength of gamma band synchronization works as a code for functional prevalence. In particular, our comparative analysis of the dynamic synchronization index and the signal amplitude suggests that a prevalent district (thumb) recruits a smaller number of higher-synchronic gamma band tuned neurons than a non-prevalent district (little finger).

Adult↗

PubMed2004

Optimization of an independent component analysis approach for artifact identification and removal in magnetoencephalographic signals.

OBJECTIVE: To propose a noise reduction procedure for magnetoencephalography (MEG) signals introducing an automatic detection system of artifactual components (ICs) separated by an independent component analysis (ICA) algorithm, and a control cycle on reconstructed cleaned data to recovery part of non-artifactual signals possibly lost by the blind mechanism. METHODS: The procedure consisted of three main steps: (1) ICA for blind source separation (BSS); (2) automatic detection method of artifactual components, based on statistical and spectral ICs characteristics; (3) control cycle on 'discrepancy,' i.e. on the difference between original data and those reconstructed using only ICs automatically retained. Simulated data were generated as representative mixtures of some common brain frequencies, a source of internal Gaussian noise, power line interference, and two real artifacts (electrocardiogram=ECG, electrooculogram=EOG), with the adjunction of a matrix of Gaussian external noise. Three real data samples were chosen as representative of spontaneous noisy MEG data. RESULTS: In simulated data the proposed set of markers selected three components corresponding to ECG, EOG and the Gaussian internal noise; in real-data examples, the automatic detection system showed a satisfactory performance in detecting artifactual ICs. 'Discrepancy' control cycle was redundant in simulated data, as expected, but it was a significant amelioration in two of the three real-data cases. CONCLUSIONS: The proposed automatic detection approach represents a suitable strengthening and simplification of pre-processing data analyses. The proposed 'discrepancy' evaluation, after automatic pruning, seems to be a suitable way to render negligible the risk of loose non-artifactual activity when applying BSS methods to real data. SIGNIFICANCE: The present noise reduction procedure, including ICA separation phase, automatic artifactual ICs selection and 'discrepancy' control cycle, showed good performances both on simulated and real MEG data. Moreover, application to real signals suggests the procedure to be able to separate different cerebral activity sources, even if characterized by very similar frequency contents.

Algorithms↗

PubMed2004

Mapping distributed sources of cortical rhythms in mild Alzheimer's disease. A multicentric EEG study.

The study aimed at mapping (i) the distributed electroencephalographic (EEG) sources specific for mild Alzheimer's disease (AD) compared to vascular dementia (VaD) or normal elderly people (Nold) and (ii) the distributed EEG sources sensitive to the mild AD at different stages of severity. Resting EEG (10-20 electrode montage) was recorded from 48 mild AD, 20 VaD, and 38 Nold subjects. Both AD and VaD patients had 24-17 of mini mental state examination (MMSE). EEG rhythms were delta (2-4 Hz), theta (4-8 Hz), alpha 1 (8-10.5 Hz), alpha 2 (10.5-13 Hz), beta 1 (13-20 Hz), and beta 2 (20-30 Hz). Cortical EEG sources were modeled by low resolution brain electromagnetic tomography (LORETA). Regarding issue i, there was a decline of central, parietal, temporal, and limbic alpha 1 (low alpha) sources specific for mild AD group with respect to Nold and VaD groups. Furthermore, occipital alpha 1 sources showed a strong decline in mild AD compared to VaD group. Finally, distributed theta sources were largely abnormal in VaD but not in mild AD group. Regarding issue ii, there was a lower power of occipital alpha 1 sources in mild AD subgroup having more severe disease. Compared to previous field studies, this was the first investigation that illustrated the power spectrum profiles at the level of cortical (macroregions) EEG sources in mild AD patients having different severity of the disease with respect to VaD and normal subjects. Future studies should evaluate the clinical usefulness of this approach in early differential diagnosis, disease staging, and therapy monitoring.

Aged↗

PubMed2004

Brain sensorimotor hand area functionality in acute stroke: insights from magnetoencephalography.

An understanding of the functional readjustments that the brain undergoes during the early days after a stroke would give us a major insight into how and how much neurons are capable to react to an insult. Thirty-two patients affected by an acute monohemispheric ischemic stroke were enrolled in the study. Magnetoencephalography was used to record the somatosensory-evoked fields (SEF) generated in response to median nerve stimulation. Latency, strength, and position of the related early cortical components (M20 and M30) were studied both separately within each hemisphere, and in terms of interhemispheric differences. Interhemispheric cross-correlations among SEF waveshapes in the two hemispheres were also investigated. Overall, except for some source displacement possibly induced by the perilesional edema, results did not demonstrate any unusual neural recruitment. The severity of the clinical picture was found related to the sources' strengths (both as absolute values and as interhemispheric differences), to excessive interhemispheric differences in SEF waveshapes and in the M30 latencies. Signs of an enhanced excitability were present in the affected hemisphere (AH) following a cortical lesion, usually in combination with preserved hand functionality. An enhanced excitability of the unaffected hemisphere (UH) was paired with larger lesions with cortical involvement; signs compatible with an abnormal transcallosal transmission and intracortical function of inhibitory GABAergic interneurons in the AH were found subtending UH enhancement. Spared responsiveness from Brodmann's area (BA) 2 and posterior parietal areas despite an altered response from BA 3b was found in six patients, combined to high hand functionality. Present results in acute phase increase the knowledge of the mechanisms governing brain adaptation/reaction capabilities, for future efforts to establish therapeutic and rehabilitative procedures.

Acute Disease↗

PubMed2004

Inhibition of auditory cortical responses to ipsilateral stimuli during dichotic listening: evidence from magnetoencephalography.

The present magnetoencephalography (MEG) study on auditory evoked magnetic fields (AEFs) was aimed at verifying whether during dichotic listening the contralateral auditory pathway inhibits the ipsilateral one, as suggested by behavioural and patient studies. Ten healthy subjects were given a randomized series of three complex tones (261, 293 and 391 Hz, 500 ms duration), which were delivered monotically and dichotically with different intensities [60, 70 or 80 dBA (audio decibels)]. MEG data were recorded from the right auditory cortex. Results showed that the M100 amplitude over the right auditory cortex increased progressively when tones of increasing intensity were provided at the ipsilateral (right) ear. This effect on M100 was abolished when a concurrent tone of constant intensity was delivered dichotically at the contralateral (left) ear, suggesting that the contralateral pathway inhibited the ipsilateral one. The ipsilateral inhibition was present only when the contralateral tone fundamental frequency was similar to the ipsilateral tone. It was proposed that the occlusion mechanism would be exerted in cortical auditory areas as the dichotic effects were observed at M100 but not M50 component. This is the first evidence showing a neurophysiological inhibition driven by the contralateral auditory pathway over the ipsilateral one during dichotic listening.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

PubMed2003

Gamma synchronization in human primary somatosensory cortex as revealed by somatosensory evoked neuromagnetic fields.

Cortical sensory neurons synchronize their activity at multiple frequency bands after an external stimulation. In the somatosensory cortical areas, previous reports describe more discrete and somatotopically specific neural synchronization at the gamma band. Therefore, an efficient gamma synchronization of the neurons in primary somatosensory cortex (S1) may be expected to characterize the stimulus processing from the thumb, i.e. the hand's most skillful area. To test this hypothesis, neuromagnetic fields were evoked over human S1 by the electrical stimulation of the contralateral thumb or little finger. Neuronal synchronization was indexed by the spectral coherence of the evoked neuromagnetic fields overlying S1. The frequencies of interest were the beta (16-32 Hz) and gamma (36-46 Hz) bands. The global amount of the coherence was defined as the total event-related coherence (ERCoh) among all magnetic sensors overlying the S1. Results showed prevalent increment of beta ERCoh (20-32 Hz) after the little finger stimulation and of gamma ERCoh (36-44 Hz) after the thumb stimulation. These results suggest that the neural synchronization in S1, as revealed by the ERCoh, may vary in frequency as a function of the finger stimulated. In this framework, the neural synchronization at gamma band may characterize the cortical representation of thumb, functionally prevalent with respect to little finger in humans.

Afferent Pathways↗

PubMed2003

Auditory sensory processing in autism: a magnetoencephalographic study.

BACKGROUND: Patients with autism show clinical features suggestive of abnormal processing of auditory and other sensory information. We hypothesized that low-functioning autistic subjects present abnormalities in discriminating simple auditory stimuli at sensory system preconscious stages of cortical processing. METHODS: To verify our hypothesis, we used magnetoencephalographic measurements of mismatch field (MMF), which reflects the detection of a change in the physical characteristics of a repetitive sound. Fourteen patients (aged 8-32 years) who met DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for autistic disorder participated in an auditory oddball experiment. Ten healthy participants matched for age and gender acted as control subjects. RESULTS: Significant differences in cerebral responses between patients and control subjects were recorded. Whereas control subjects showed a clearly identifiable MMF, with distinct generators in the M100 brain wave with regard to latency, position, and strength, no identifiable MMF was present in the autistic group. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that low-functioning autistic subjects present a dysfunction at preconscious stages of cortical auditory discrimination, playing a role in the abnormal processing of auditory sensory afferences. The attention independence of the MMF allows for exclusion of an effect related to impaired attention or task-related responses.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

PubMed2002

Carpal tunnel syndrome modifies sensory hand cortical somatotopy: a MEG study.

The adult somatosensory system has shown reorganizational abilities at cortical and subcortical levels after peripheral nerve lesions. In the present study the effects of carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) are investigated as reflected on the somatotopy of the primary cortical hand representation. Position and intensity of cortical sources activated by the separate electrical stimulation of median nerve and Digits 1, 3, and 5 of both affected and non-affected hands are evaluated by magnetoencephalographic (MEG) technique. Correlation of MEG results with patient-, physician- and neurophysiological-oriented evaluations of CTS was carried out. Patients showed changes in cortical hand somatotopy in strict relationship to self-referred assessment of symptoms and hand disability in daily activities, including: 1) a more extended representation of the affected hand when paresthesias prevailed; and 2) a more restricted representation due to lateral shift of the little finger was observed when pain symptoms dominated the clinical picture. Contralateral to the side of CTS, the cortical sources activated by Digit 5-stimulation appeared significantly enhanced with respect to contralateral ones from non-affected hand. When comparing the amplitude of peripheral sensory nerve action potentials of median and ulnar nerves to that of cortical responses (i.e., ECD strengths of M20 and M30 components after stimulation of Digits 3 and 5), a significant selective amplification of M30 with respect to M20 and sensory nerve action potential (SNAP) appeared during Digit 3 stimulation compared to that observed for Digit 5. This has been interpreted as a central magnification mechanism in brain responsiveness, possibly revealing a safety factor enabling sensory perception despite the small peripheral signal due to nerve trunk dysfunction. Hum.

Adult↗