#functional mri

fMRI shows how obesity blocks the brain's response to food intake

June 16, 2023 -- Brain signals detected on functional MRI during eating may be diminished in people with obesity, and these impaired responses appear to persist even after weight loss, according to a group at Yale University.

Researchers led by endocrinologist Mireille Serlie, MD, PhD, studied functional MRI (fMRI) signals in lean people and people with obesity after they were infused with glucose or fat directly into the stomach. A comparison revealed reduced neuronal activity in obese patients in the striatum, which plays an essential role in regulating eating behavior, according to the group.

"This was surprising," said Serlie, in a news release from the university. "We thought there would be different responses between lean people and people with obesity, but we didn't expect this lack of changes in brain activity in people with obesity."

Medical professionals often depend upon MRI healthcare systems for diagnosing and treating various medical conditions. However, the process of undergoing an MRI scan can be daunting and uncomfortable for many patients. The loud noise, the confined space, and the need to remain still until the process completes can cause anxiety and stress in patients. Virtual skylights for healthcare can alleviate some of these anxieties and create a more comfortable patient experience.

What are Virtual Skylights?

Virtual skylights are a technology designed to simulate the experience of natural light entering a room through a window. We can create a realistic and calming atmosphere within a room using high-resolution images of the sky along with specialized lighting and projection systems. Studies have already proved that using virtual skylights in healthcare settings has helped patients feel more relaxed and at ease throughout the process.

Importance of virtual skylights in the MRI Healthcare systems

Virtual skylight is an innovative solution to the problem of windowless MRI scanning rooms. They offer a way to simulate the effects of natural light and open spaces.

By projecting a realistic sky image onto the ceiling, virtual skylights can create a more relaxed and calming atmosphere for patients. This can help to reduce stress and anxiety during the MRI scan.

The use of virtual skylights can also improve the overall experience for patients. Patients will feel more comfortable during their MRI scan and are more likely to return for future procedures. This can lead to better treatment outcomes and more effective management of medical conditions over time.

Virtual skylights can benefit medical staff as well. Creating a more pleasant and comfortable work environment can increase staff productivity and job satisfaction. This can lead to better patient care and a more positive overall experience for everyone involved.

The technology used in virtual skylights can be customized to suit individual patient needs and preferences. This customization level can help create a more personalized experience for patients, making them feel more comfortable and at ease during the MRI scan.

Conclusion

Virtual skylights for healthcare can provide a range of benefits for patients who require MRI scanning. By creating a calming and comfortable atmosphere, virtual skylights can help to alleviate anxiety and stress, making the overall experience more pleasant for patients. Virtual skylights for healthcare are also easy to install and can be retrofitted to existing MRI machines. This means that healthcare facilities can quickly and cost-effectively implement this technology without the need for extensive renovations or specialized equipment.

Genes to Brains

Over the years scientists have carefully mapped the brain, figuring out which regions perform different functions. Techniques such as functional MRI can show exactly which parts are active when people are doing all kinds of other tasks. Detailed microscopy and brain-scanning studies have traced the intricate network of connections between nerve cells in the brain, revealing the inner wiring of this powerful biological computer. But until now, nobody has tried to link patterns of gene activity into this functional and structural information. For the first time, researchers have generated this map of the brain, with each colour highlighting a particular group of genes that seem to be linked to that region. There are many variations in human genes that can influence traits and conditions affecting the brain, such as intelligence or autism, and this is the first step towards figuring out exactly how these genetic variations might exert their effects.

Written by Kat Arney

Image from work by Qian Peng and colleagues

Department of Human Biology, J. Craig Venter Institute, and Multimodal Imaging Laboratory, Department of Radiology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA

Image originally published under a Creative Commons Licence (BY 4.0)

Published in PLOS Genetics, July 2016

The definitive version of this post was originally published on July 29, 2015 on the PLOS Neuroscience Community website, where I serve as an editor.

  Over the past decade, functional neuroimaging has revealed that our brains go through ever-changing patterns of activity, whether we are active or at rest, healthy or sick, under legal medication or high on illegal drugs. Yet this dynamic…

Multisensory integration and Bayesian causal inference in the brain: new blog post on @PLOSBiology study, w/ interview of the authors!

The definitive version of this post was originally published on April 3, 2015 on the PLOS Neuroscience Community website, where I serve as an editor.

Amidst the incessant onslaught of signals that reach our senses every second, how does the brain determine which auditory and visual signals originate from a common source and should be integrated, and which ones should be distinguished as they…

Here is my live-tweeting from this Investigators’ Workshop from the 2014 Annual Meeting of the American Epilepsy Society on Dec. 7 in Seattle, WA, collected in Storify.

This was a great session with many provocative ideas (starting with the title!), chaired by Dr. Jean Gotmanfrom the Montreal Neurological Institute. The general discussion at the end of the presentations yielded several…

On Halloween, I had to take another pre- operative Epilepsy surgery test, a functional MRI (fMRI). A functional MRI is used to examine which parts of the brain control language, emotion, movement, sensation, and memory. It is used, in my case, for brain surgery testing.

Well, let me tell you how my fMRI went. I am definitely not new to getting a MRI done. But to me, this did not seem like your typical MRI. I decided to do a little research on what happens during a functional MRI. I believe that doing research on the types of tests you are having done is very important. You do not know what types of risks are involved and doctors just give you a vague description of the tests being done. I don't know why I research so much. I'm just a research bug.

Anyways, my fMRI was scheduled for 11:30 am. When I got to the hospital I had to fill out some papers that asked me various questions such as whether I have had surgeries before. I had five surgeries before, three on my right hand and two on my right leg. The papers also asked if I had any allergies to medications and whether I had tattoos or not. I have five tattoos. I guess that is important to ask if someone is getting a MRI because the MRI machine can fade away the ink in the tattoo. I also had to list my seizure medications. No duh!

ARTICLE || Neurological research gives new insights in aesthetic experience, and shows that the perception of art is deeply personal and connected to (the brain's) identity and sense of self 

   Art reaches within: aesthetic experience, the self and the default mode network

Edward A. Vessel, G. Gabrielle Starr and Nava Rubin, Frontiers in Neuroscience Journal

Introduction

The burgeoning field of neuroaesthetics attempts to address the mysteries of the human preoccupation with art by studying the underlying brain mechanisms. And, while understanding the artistic creative process itself is certainly a formidable challenge, many of the open questions concern theresponse to works of art by their viewers, listeners, and readers. What makes us so drawn to certain artistic creations, so influenced and moved by them? In recent years, we have learned a considerable amount from brain imaging studies about the neural correlates of aesthetic experience and how they relate to sensory, reward, and emotion neural processes (for reviews see Di Dio and Gallese, 2009; Brown et al., 2011; Chatterjee, 2011; Nadal and Pearce, 2011). One aspect that has so far received little investigation is that of individual differences: although it is widely recognized that individuals can differ markedly in their aesthetic response, previous research in neuroaesthetics tended to utilize art pieces that were manipulated in a manner intended to have a consistent effect on observers' preferences or that were generally highly regarded and often, widely known (e.g., the Mona Lisa). It seems reasonable to expect that studying widely admired artwork can help uncover the universal aspects of aesthetic experience. But studying artworks that generate a diversity of responses can also be valuable. Brain imaging can, in principle, be used to probe the neural correlates of an experience in a manner dissociable from the external stimuli that gave rise to this experience. In particular, it is possible to capitalize on the differences in individual's responses to artworks to search for commonalities in brain activity associated with the aesthetic experience itself, irrespective of the stimulus properties of specific works of art that gave rise to it. We have used this strategy in a recent study (Vessel et al., 2012) and the results underscore its power and promise, by confirming known results while at the same time revealing new and hitherto unsuspected findings.