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Cortical laminar thickness and column spacing in human temporal and inferior parietal lobes: intra-individual anatomical relations.

Harasty, Seldon, Chan, Halliday, and Harding (2003) and Seldon (2005) have proposed a "balloon model" which suggests that myelin growth stretches the cerebral cortex, causing the cortical thickness to decrease and the columnar spacing to increase, in turn affecting the cortical capacity to differentiate afferent signals. This has been tested using temporal lobe (area TA) and inferior parietal lobule (areas PG, PF) histological specimens from human donors. The temporal and inferior parietal regions differ in ways that have never been described. Correlations between the thickness of laminae II-III and columnar spacing in lamina III within individual cytoarchitectonic areas in both hemispheres of each donor were calculated. Those in areas PG/PF are predominantly negative in both hemispheres, as predicted by the model. This is also true for the left hemisphere TA, but the right hemisphere TA shows no correlations between thickness and spacing. Comparisons of thickness and spacing between left and right hemispheres in PG/PF of each donor show no consistent direction, whereas those in TA fairly consistently show thinner laminae and wider column intervals on the left. In the left area TA, females have thinner laminae than males. Thus, intra-area predictions of the balloon model are supported in most areas, whereas the hemispheric asymmetry predictions appear to hold for TA, but not for the inferior parietal lobe.

Adult↗

Frontal and parietal lobe dysfunction in depression: delayed alternation and tactile learning deficits.

To evaluate frontal and parietal lobe involvement in depression, behavioral tests sensitive to damage in these regions were administered to depressed patients over age 50. Delayed alternation (DA), delayed response and object alternation were used to assess dorsolateral frontal and orbitofrontal function. Tactile learning problems (TOL and TRL) assessed parietal lobe integrity. Depressed patients were significantly impaired on DA, TOL and TRL, suggesting spatial memory (DA) and tactile learning deficits. The functional neuroanatomy underlying these deficits may share features with Parkinson's and Alzheimer's diseases.

Aged↗

Tactile apraxia: unimodal apractic disorder of tactile object exploration associated with parietal lobe lesions.

Tactile apraxia is characterized by an isolated disturbance of hand movements for use of and interaction with an object (transitive movements) in the presence of preserved intransitive movements (movements without use of an object, for example repetitive movements or gestures). It is, however, still unclear whether motor and sensory abnormalities represent causal or associated features of tactile apraxia. To address this question, quantitative kinematic recordings of exploratory finger movements (transitive movements) and rapid alternating finger movements (intransitive movements) were studied in 20 healthy volunteers and 22 patients with focal lesions of the parietal, anterofrontal and motor cortex. The most severe deficits of manual object exploration were found in patients with parietal lesions, using the hand contralateral to the lesion. Patients with lesions of the anterior parietal lobe who exhibited prominent sensory deficits and astereognosia showed a decrease in frequency and regularity of exploratory finger movements and a marked increase in exploration space. Patients with posterior parietal lesions exhibiting severe astereognosia, apraxia and deficits in dexterity had a greater decrease in frequency and regularity of manipulative movements, but a less pronounced increase of exploration space than the patients with anterior parietal lesions. Although the patients with parietal lobe lesions could generate rapid alternating finger movements, the regularity of these movements was also impaired. In comparison, patients with frontal lobe lesions exhibited impaired contralesional manipulatory and rapid alternating finger movements but no sensory abnormalities or astereognosia. We conclude that tactile apraxia represents a deficit in the programming of exploratory finger movements mediated by the parietal lobe. The comparison with lesions of other regions participating in the cortical network for tactile exploration reveals that apraxia of exploratory movements in parietal lobe lesions represents a disturbance distinct from elementary motor or sensory abnormalities, but closely related to stereognostic functioning.

Adolescent↗

Panic attacks as ictal manifestations of parietal lobe seizures.

Although most panic attacks appear to be primary psychiatric disturbances, some evidence suggests a biologic basis for panic disorder, possibly associated with temporal lobe dysfunction. Fear is a common affective change associated with some complex partial seizures (CPS) originating from the right temporal lobe. We describe a previously unreported association between panic attacks and seizures originating from the parietal lobe in 2 patients with right parietal lobe tumors. Intracranial monitoring documented correlations between the symptoms of fear and restricted regional parietal cortical discharges. Surgical resections of the lesions (one total, one subtotal) resulted in complete recovery or improvement.

Adult↗

Senile dementia and parietal lobe dysfunction.

Two samples of patients suffering from senile dementia were administered the Kew tests for parietal lobe function and aphasia. No evidence emerged of any clinical heterogeneity; parietal lobe test performance was found to be more a function of degree of impairment rather than of age.

Aged↗

Both parietal lobes are involved in drawing: a functional MRI study and implications for constructional apraxia.

In clinical studies, many researchers have reported that drawing can be disturbed by left or right unilateral parietal lobe damage (constructional apraxia). There seem to be two possible predictions about the cerebral laterality for drawing. The first is that drawing requires both parietal lobes, therefore, a lesion to either side can disrupt drawing. The second is that individuals can differ in laterality: some have only right or left activations, and some have bilateral. To test these predictions, we investigated with functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) the cerebral activation whilst 17 right-handed healthy subjects performed a drawing task. The experiment consisted of two conditions: (1). naming an object in a presented picture and drawing it by using right index finger (DRAWING & NAMING); (2). naming an object in a presented picture (NAMING). We considered the brain regions that had greater activity in the DRAWING&NAMING condition than in the NAMING condition were the neural substrates of drawing. Individual analysis revealed that all subjects showed parietal activation bilaterally. We interpret that the results support the first prediction that both parietal lobes are required for drawing. By calculating the laterality indices of the individual parietal activations, it was found that there were more left dominant subjects than right dominant subjects (left, 12; right, 5). The results are inconsistent with previous studies on the incidence of constructional apraxia. In addition, we found activation in regions that were not previously reported in the literature of constructional apraxia: they are the ventral premotor area and posterior part of inferior temporal sulcus.

Adult↗

Parietal lobe abnormalities detected with MR in patients with infantile autism.

OBJECTIVE: Infantile autism is a neurologic disorder that severely disrupts the development of many higher cognitive functions. The most consistent abnormal neuroanatomic findings in autism are loss of Purkinje neurons in the posterior cerebellum as detected by autopsy studies and hypoplasia of the posterior cerebellar vermis and hemispheres as detected by in vivo neuroimaging. Evidence of developmental arrest has also been detected in limbic structures in autopsy studies of autistic patients with mental retardation. Neither in vivo neuroimaging nor autopsy studies of autistic persons have reported abnormalities in the cerebrum. Because the cerebrum mediates many higher cognitive functions, such as social communication, language, abstract reasoning, planning, and organization, that are known to be deficient in patients with autism, a closer examination of the neuroanatomy of the cerebrum in infantile autism is warranted. MATERIALS AND METHODS: MR images of 21 healthy autistic patients (6-32 years old) were mixed with MR images of control subjects and reviewed on four separate occasions by a neuroradiologist for any neuroanatomic abnormalities. Autism was diagnosed on the basis of criteria for autism as defined by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, and the autistic patients did not have any other concurrent neurologic disorders. To control for systematic bias in judging the type and location of abnormalities in the autistic population, three control groups were used: a normal control group of 12 subjects, a control group of 23 nonautistic patients with a variety of brain abnormalities for the first review, and another control group of 17 nonautistic patients for the second review. Control patients with brain abnormalities were selected from patients' files on the basis of MR findings of a variety of brain abnormalities. All MR images were coded for anonymity, randomly mixed, and examined by a neuroradiologist blinded to the purpose of the study and to the group membership of each subject. All normal and abnormal findings seen on the MR images of each subject were described on a standard form listing all major brain structures to ensure an examination of each structure in turn. To test for reliability, three subsequent reviews were performed by the same neuroradiologist. RESULTS: Parietal lobes were abnormal in appearance in 43% (9/21) of autistic patients. Cortical volume loss in the parietal lobes was seen in seven autistic patients; in four of these cases, cortical volume loss extended either into the adjacent superior frontal or occipital lobe. Additional abnormalities detected with MR in these nine patients included white matter volume loss in the parietal lobes (three patients) and thinning of the corpus callosum, especially along the posterior body (two patients). Abnormalities were bilateral. The mesial, lateral, and orbital regions of the frontal lobes; temporal lobes; limbic structures; basal ganglia; diencephalon; and brainstem were normal in all autistic patients. No abnormalities were found in the 12 normal control subjects. The control subjects with neurologic abnormalities had various abnormal findings consistent with their medical conditions. CONCLUSION: Our results indicate that the parietal lobes are reduced in volume in a portion of the autistic population. Possible origins for this localized cerebral abnormality include early-onset altered development and late-onset progressive atrophy.

Adolescent↗

Parietal lobe lesional epilepsy: electroclinical correlation and operative outcome.

We retrospectively studied ictal behavior, extracranial EEG, and operative outcome in 10 consecutive patients with intractable partial epilepsy of presumed parietal lobe origin who received a lesionectomy, i.e., resection of the neuroimaging-identified abnormality, at the Mayo Clinic. Nine patients had a pathologically verified foreign-tissue lesion, e.g., tumor or vascular malformation, and 1 patient had gliosis. All patients with foreign-tissue lesions were rendered seizure-free. The patient with gliosis experienced a reduction in seizure tendency. There were no operative complications. The most common seizure type was a simple partial seizure with visual, motor, or sensory symptoms (n = 8). Complex partial seizures (n = 5) and secondarily generalized tonic-clonic seizures (GTC, n = 2) were also observed. The ictal behavior was often nonspecific although useful in identifying lateralization of the epileptogenic zone. Extracranial interictal and ictal EEG changes were unreliable markers of the parietal lobe origin of seizure activity. Lesionectomy without chronic intracranial monitoring or functional mapping may be an effective and safe alternative surgical procedure in patients with partial epilepsy related to parietal lobe lesions.

Adolescent↗

Inhibitory processing following damage to the parietal lobe.

We investigated inhibitory properties of spatial attention in a group of four patients with lesions involving the posterior parietal lobe. In a first experiment, a double cue inhibition of return (IOR) procedure was employed. The parietal patients showed an IOR effect only when they had to detect targets that appeared on the contralesional side. In a second experiment, we combined an IOR procedure with a Stroop task [Psychon. Bull. Rev. 8 (2001) 315] to explore the neural basis of "inhibitory tagging" as described by Fuentes et al. [Q. J. Exp. Psychol. Hum. Exp. Psychol. 52 (1999) 149]. The results from the control participants replicated the findings of Vivas and Fuentes, Stroop interference was reduced at the cued location, relative to the uncued location. The parietal patients showed a similar result, but only for contralesional targets. These findings suggest that IOR is modulated by the parietal lobe, and that, through this process, the parietal cortex influences the application of inhibitory tagging to stimuli.

Adult↗

Parietal lobe contributions to episodic memory retrieval.

Although the parietal lobe is not traditionally thought to support declarative memory, recent event-related fMRI studies of episodic retrieval have consistently revealed a range of memory-related influences on activation in lateral posterior parietal cortex (PPC) and precuneus extending into posterior cingulate and retrosplenial cortex. This article surveys the fMRI literature on PPC activation during remembering, a literature that complements earlier electroencephalography data. We consider these recent memory-related fMRI responses within the context of classical ideas about parietal function that emphasize space-based attention and motor intention. We conclude by proposing three hypotheses concerning how parietal cortex might contribute to memory.

Brain Mapping↗

Asymmetry of parietal lobe activation during piano performance: a high field functional magnetic resonance imaging study.

Functional asymmetry of the parietal lobes during piano performance was assessed utilizing independent component-cross correlation-sequential epoch analysis of functional magnetic resonance imaging time series. Eight right handed musically trained subjects played the piano with their right hand, left hand, or both hands as cued by visually presented musical scores. The areas activated included the posterior parietal cortex (PPC) and the primary sensorimotor areas (SM1). While unilateral SM1 activation was correlated to motion of the corresponding contralateral hand, PPC activation was correlated to piano performance irrespective of hand modality. Furthermore, PPC activation exhibited significant asymmetry, with left hemisphere dominance. The results indicate that the left parietal lobe plays a significant role in the cortical processes of piano performance.

Adult↗

Intracerebral potentials to rare target and distractor auditory and visual stimuli. I. Superior temporal plane and parietal lobe.

Event-related potentials were recorded from 537 sites in the superior temporal plane and parietal lobe of 41 patients. Depth electrodes were implanted to localize seizure origin prior to surgical treatment. Subjects received an auditory discrimination task with target and non-target rare stimuli ("standard oddball paradigm"). In some cases, the target, distracting and frequent tones were completely balanced across blocks for pitch and volume. Variants included an analogous visual discrimination task, or auditory tasks where the rare target event was the omission of a tone, or the repetition of a tone within a series of alternating tones. In some subjects, the same auditory stimuli were delivered but the patient ignored them while reading. Three general response patterns could be distinguished on the basis of their wave forms, latencies and task correlates. First, potentials apparently related to rarity per se, as opposed to differences in sensory characteristics, or in habituation, were observed in the posterior superior temporal plane, beginning with a large positivity superimposed on early components. This positivity peaked at 150 msec after stimulus onset and inverted in sites superior to the Sylvian fissure. Subsequent components could be large, focal and/or inverting in polarity, and usually included a positivity at 230 msec and a negativity at 330 msec. All components in this area were specific to the auditory modality. Second, in the posterior cingulate and supramarginal gyri, a sharp triphasic negative-positive-negative wave form with peaks at about 210-300-400 msec was observed. This wave form was of relatively small amplitude and diffuse, and seldom inverted in polarity. It was multimodal but most prominent to auditory stimuli, appeared to remain when the stimuli were ignored, and was not apparent to repeated words and faces. Third, a broad, often monophasic, wave form peaking at about 380 msec was observed in the superior parietal lobe, similar to that which has been recorded in the hippocampus. This wave form could be of large amplitude, often highly focal, and could invert over short distances. It was equal to visual and auditory stimuli and was also evoked by repeating words and faces. The early endogenous activity in auditory cortex may embody activity that is antecedent to the other patterns in multimodal association cortex. The "triphasic" pattern may embody a diffuse non-specific orienting response that is also reflected in the scalp P3a. The later broad pattern may embody the cognitive closure that is also reflected in the scalp P3b or late positive component.

Acoustic Stimulation↗

Parietal lobe epilepsy: clinical features and seizure localization by ictal SPECT.

We studied clinical and ictal single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) features in 14 patients with parietal lobe epilepsy, nine of whom had structural parietal lobe lesions. Thirteen patients had simple partial seizures of somatosensory (eight), psychic (four), and motor (nine) types. Complex partial seizures (CPS) occurred in seven patients; six were psychoparetic (prominent staring, relative immobility) and one had hyperkinetic activity. Seizures lasted 7 to 110 seconds; 99mTc-HMPAO (hexamethylpropylene amine oxime) was injected ictally, 7 to 89 seconds from seizure onset and 0 to 74 seconds (mean, 21.0 +/- 24.4 seconds) before seizure termination. Ictal SPECT demonstrated focal areas of parietal hyperperfusion in all 14 cases and corresponded with sites of the structural lesions. Parietal hyperperfusion was anterior in eight, posterior in four, and diffuse in two. Quantitative analysis revealed increases in parietal side-to-side perfusion ratios on ictal compared with interictal scans of 11 to 51% (mean, 25.5 +/- 14.4%). Ictal SPECT localization correlated with two main clinical seizure patterns: an anterior syndrome characterized by sensorimotor manifestations and a posterior syndrome characterized by CPS of the psychoparetic type. Ictal SPECT is helpful for localization of parietal seizures. Parietal hyperperfusion is discrete and short-lived, demanding true ictal injections for diagnostic studies.

Adolescent↗

Parietal lobe epilepsy: diagnostic considerations and results of surgery.

Eleven patients, evaluated between 1983 and 1988, with parietal lobe seizure origin as determined by circumscribed lesion detection in all and successful surgery in 10, were retrospectively evaluated in terms of clinical seizure characteristics and electroencephalographic (EEG) findings. Seven of 11 patients reported auras prior to seizures. In 4 patients, auras were lateralized somatosensory sensations, but in 1 they were ipsilateral to the side of seizure origin, and in 2 they had only occurred many years previously when seizures began. Other auras were either nonspecific or suggested seizure origin outside of the parietal lobe. Observed seizures were of two types: asymmetrical tonic seizures with or without clonic activity and complex partial seizures with loss of contact and automatisms. Four patients had only the first type of seizure and an equal number had only the second type. Three patients had both types of seizures during different episodes. Scalp EEGs correctly localized the side and region of seizure onset in only 1 patient. Three additional patients with congruent parietal localization on scalp EEG had additional misleading EEG findings. All patients had lesions detected with neuroimaging, but in 5 this detection occurred after they had been initially evaluated. These 5 patients had intracranial EEG studies designed to localize the region of seizure origin, and correct seizure onset localization was achieved in 2. Of the other 3 patients, false localization occurred in 1, and 2 could not be localized. Four patients with known lesions and 2 of the patients in whom lesions were detected after initial intracranial evaluations were studied with subdural grid electrodes placed over the lesions.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adolescent↗

[A case of conduction aphasia due to small infarction in the left parietal lobe].

This is a report on the patient with conduction aphAsia due to small infarction in the left parietal lobe. The patient is a right-handed man aged 74, who developed a speech disorder and mild paralysis of the right hand on November 13. 1996. A CT scan showed a small low-density in the supramarginal gyrus of the left parietal lobe. Standard Language Test of aphasia (SLTA) conducted at five days after admission to the hospital showed preserved auditory comprehension and phonemic para-aphasia symptoms with respect to volitional speech, naming, reading aloud and repetition. Frequent self-correction was also observed while repetition was not remarkably impaired. A test at three months after the onset revealed generally fluent speech, while there still remained occasional phonemic para-aphasia and self-correction for the speech disruption. Three years and four months later, most of the aphasic syndromes disappeared, although the patient claimed he still had difficulty in speaking. This case suggests that conduction aphasia can be caused by a lesion, though small, located in arcuate fibers of the cerebrum. The characteristics are phonemic para-aphasia with respect to general speech functions as well as self-correction toward target words. The indicated that lesions in the pathway connecting Broca's area and Wernicke's area causes difficulties in selecting accurate phonemes due to a malfunctioning interface between the two areas.

Aged↗

Pain-related cerebral potentials in patients with frontal or parietal lobe lesions.

The present study investigated the processing of painful electrical stimuli in patients with unilateral frontal or parietal lobe damage and matched control subjects. Patients with frontal lesions showed increased pain thresholds when the stimuli were administered contralateral to the lesion. While the peak-to-peak amplitudes of the N150/P250 components of the somatosensory potentials increased linearly with stimulus intensity in the control subjects, the responses in the frontal group did not change significantly between stimulation at pain and tolerance threshold. There was no evidence for altered pain processing in patients with parietal lobe lesions. The findings of the present study support the hypothesis of an involvement of the frontal cortex in pain perception in humans.

Adult↗