Advances In Brain Imaging

This volume highlights the remarkable new developments in brain imaging, including those that apply magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and Positron Emission Tomography (PET), that allow us to non invasively study the living human brain in health and in disease. These technological advances have allowed us to obtain new and powerful insights into the structure and function of the healthy brain as it develops across the life cycle, as well as the molecular make up of brain systems and circuits as they develop and change with age. New brain imaging technologies have also given us new insights into the causes of many common brain disorders, including ADHD, schizophrenia, depression and Alzheimer’s disease, which collectively affect a large segment of the population. These new insights have major implications for understanding and treating these brain disorders, and are providing clinicians with the first ever set of biomarkers that can be used to guide diagnosis and monitor treatment effects. The advances in brain imaging over the last 20 years, summarized in this volume, represent a major advance in modern biomedical sciences.

Brain imaging and its application to major psychiatric disorders such as depression, obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), and schizophrenia is one of the most exciting fields in psychiatry today. This thought-provoking collection details the work of five scientists who report some of the most recent findings in the field, review the relevant data in the literature, and place this research within a critical neuroscience context. Each chapter tells a fascinating story: Chapter 1, Functional Brain Imaging in Psychiatry: The Next Wave, reviews the strengths and limitations of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), emphasizes the therapeutic implications of brain imaging findings, and suggests that this field may achieve its greatest utility in the search for the genetic bases for psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia. Chapter 2, Cognitive Neuroscience: The New Neuroscience of the Mind and Its Implications for Psychiatry, emphasizes the importance of cognitive deficits in our understanding of psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia and OCD, presenting an exciting discussion of the development of a theory of altered executive function. Chapter 3, Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Children and Adolescents: Implications for Research on Emotion, explains a compelling new way of using fMRI to investigate disorders of emotion (such as major depression, generalized anxiety disorder, separation anxiety disorder, and social phobia) in children, synthesizing neuroscience, psychiatry, and developmental psychology. Chapter 4, Brain Structure and Function in Late-Life Depression, presents both structural and functional brain imaging findings, such as decreased brain volume and abnormalities of regional cerebral blood flow, in patients with late-life depression, examining how they compare with younger patients with major depression and raising an intriguing question of trait versus state as the cause for some of these abnormalities. Chapter 5, Neuroimaging Studies of Major Depression, details a distinctive longitudinal and intensely multimodal neuroscience approach particularly well suited for brain studies, describing not only the abnormalities, but also the changes in these abnormalities after therapeutic intervention, showing that some appear to depend on the patient's mood and that other neurophysiologic differences persist even after treatment. The provocative research breakthroughs and findings presented in this volume may lead to important insights in diagnosis, treatment response, and prognosis for some of today's most challenging psychiatric disorders. Researchers and clinicians alike will find that this remarkable volume enhances their understanding of the theory and practice of brain imaging in psychiatry and offers an exciting glimpse of the future directions of both the technology and the science.

The book reviews the recent developments in brain imaging and their technological advancements to understand molecular mechanisms associated with neurological disorders and basic behaviors in humans and rodents at the structural, molecular, and functional levels. It discusses the usefulness of advanced optical microscopy techniques, including optical coherence tomography (OCT), miniscope, multiphoton fluorescence (2PF & 3PF), adaptive optics, harmonic generation, and Raman microscopy for understanding pathomechanism of brain disorders and pathological and physiological changes associated with neurodegenerative diseases. Also, the book presents conventional imaging modalities, including Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), for delineating underlying mechanisms and precise early diagnosis of neurological disorders. This book is a useful resource for neuroscientists and researchers working in biomedical engineering and optics.

This volume highlights the remarkable new developments in brain imaging, including those that apply magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and Positron Emission Tomography (PET), that allow us to non invasively study the living human brain in health and in disease. These technological advances have allowed us to obtain new and powerful insights into the structure and function of the healthy brain as it develops across the life cycle, as well as the molecular make up of brain systems and circuits as they develop and change with age. New brain imaging technologies have also given us new insights into the causes of many common brain disorders, including ADHD, schizophrenia, depression and Alzheimer’s disease, which collectively affect a large segment of the population. These new insights have major implications for understanding and treating these brain disorders, and are providing clinicians with the first ever set of biomarkers that can be used to guide diagnosis and monitor treatment effects. The advances in brain imaging over the last 20 years, summarized in this volume, represent a major advance in modern biomedical sciences.

Remarkable advances in medical diagnostic imaging have been made during the past few decades. The development of new imaging techniques and continuous improvements in the display of digital images have opened new horizons in the study of brain anatomy and pathology. The field of brain imaging has now become a fast-moving, demanding and exciting multidisciplinary activity. I hope that this textbook will be useful to students and clinicians in the field of neuroscience, in understanding the fundamentals of advances in brain imaging.

Most people find colorful brain scans highly compelling—and yet, many experts don’t. This discrepancy begs the question: What can we learn from neuroimaging? Is brain information useful in fields such as psychiatry, law, or education? How do neuroscientists create brain activation maps and why do we admire them? Casting Light on The Dark Side of Brain Imaging tackles these questions through a critical and constructive lens—separating fruitful science from misleading neuro-babble. In a breezy writing style accessible to a wide readership, experts from across the brain sciences offer their uncensored thoughts to help advance brain research and debunk the craze for reductionist, headline-grabbing neuroscience. This collection of short, enlightening essays is suitable for anyone interested in brain science, from students to professionals. Together, we take a hard look at the science behind brain imaging and outline why this technique remains promising despite its seldom-discussed shortcomings. Challenges the tendency toward neuro-reductionism Deconstructs hype through a critical yet constructive lens Unveils the nature of brain imaging data Explores emerging brain technologies and future directions Features a non-technical and accessible writing style

This book highlights the rapidly developing field of advanced optical methods for structural and functional brain imaging. As is known, the brain is the most poorly understood organ of a living body. It is indeed the most complex structure in the known universe and, thus, mapping of the brain has become one of the most exciting frontlines of contemporary research. Starting from the fundamentals of the brain, neurons and synapses, this book presents a streamlined and focused coverage of the core principles, theoretical and experimental approaches, and state-of-the-art applications of most of the currently used imaging methods in brain research. It presents contributions from international leaders on different photonics-based brain imaging modalities and techniques. Included are comprehensive descriptions of many of the technology driven spectacular advances made over the past few years that have allowed novel insights of the structural and functional details of neurons. The book is targeted at researchers, engineers and scientists who are working in the field of brain imaging, neuroscience and connectomics. Although this book is not intended to serve as a textbook, it will appeal to undergraduate students engaged in the specialization of brain imaging.

Notable experts in the field of neuroimaging provide comprehensive overviews of advances in functional and structural aspects of both common and uncommon brain disorders. Functional imaging is evolving quickly but researchers and clinicians do not always have a strong understanding of the fundamental basis of the imaging techniques that they use. By focusing on both structure and function this book will provide a strong foundation for emerging developments in the field.