Heart failure following acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Our previous observation that injection of apoptotic peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) suspensions was able to restore long-term cardiac function in a rat AMI model prompted us to study the effect of soluble factors derived from apoptotic PBMC on ventricular remodelling after AMI. Cell culture supernatants derived from irradiated apoptotic peripheral blood mononuclear cells (APOSEC) were collected and injected as a single dose intravenously after myocardial infarction in an experimental AMI rat model and in a porcine closed chest reperfused AMI model. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and echocardiography were used to quantitate cardiac function. Analysis of soluble factors present in APOSEC was performed by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and activation of signalling cascades in human cardiomyocytes by APOSEC in vitro was studied by immunoblot analysis. Intravenous administration of a single dose of APOSEC resulted in a reduction of scar tissue formation in both AMI models. In the porcine reperfused AMI model, APOSEC led to higher values of ejection fraction (57.0 vs. 40.5%, p < 0.01), a better cardiac output (4.0 vs. 2.4 l/min, p < 0.001) and a reduced extent of infarction size (12.6 vs. 6.9%, p < 0.02) as determined by MRI. Exposure of primary human cardiac myocytes with APOSEC in vitro triggered the activation of pro-survival signalling-cascades (AKT, Erk1/2, CREB, c-Jun), increased anti-apoptotic gene products (Bcl-2, BAG1) and protected them from starvation-induced cell death. Intravenous infusion of culture supernatant of apoptotic PBMC attenuates myocardial remodelling in experimental AMI models. This effect is probably due to the activation of pro-survival signalling cascades in the affected cardiomyocytes.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s00395-011-0224-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The aim of this work was to use probabilistic diffusion tractography to examine the organization of the human insular cortex based on the similarities of its remote projections. Forty right-handed healthy subjects (33.8 ± 12.7 years old) with no history of neurological injury were included in the study. After the spatial standardization of diffusion tensor images, insular cortical masks were delineated based on the Harvard-Oxford Cortical Atlas and were used to initiate fibertracking. Cluster analysis by the k-means algorithm was employed to partition the insular voxels into two groups that featured the most distinct distribution of connections. In order to perform volumetric comparisons, the assigned label maps were transformed back to space of the subjects' native anatomical MR images. The outlines of the change in connectivity profile did not respect the known cytoarchitectural subdivisions and were shown to be independent from the gyral anatomy. Interhemispheric asymmetry in the volumes of connectivity-based subdivisions was observed putatively marking a leftward functional dominance of the anterior insula and its reciprocally interconnected targets which influences the size of insular area where similar connections are represented. The fractional anisotropy values were not significantly different between the hemipsheres or connectivity-based clusters; however, the mean diffusivity was higher in the anterior insula in both hemispheres.

After months of restrictive containment efforts to fight the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) epidemic, European countries are planning to reopen. To support the process, we conducted a cross-sectional survey among the Hungarian population to estimate the prevalence of

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:Neurosurgical interventions of the thalamus rely on transferring stereotactic coordinates from an atlas onto the patient's MR brain images. We propose a prototype application for performing thalamus target map individualization by fusing patient-specific thalamus geometric information and diffusion tensor tractography.

The cerebral projection of vestibular signaling was studied by using PET with a special differential experimental protocol. Caloric vestibular stimulation (CVS)-induced regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) changes were investigated in two populations. Butanol perfusion scans were carried out on six healthy volunteers and on six patients following the removal of tumors from the right cerebello pontine angle. The complete loss of the vestibular function postoperatively allowed a comparison of the rCBF changes in the populations with or without this input and offered a promising functional approach whereby to delineate the cortical region most responsive to pure vestibular input. The activations by left-sided and right-sided CVS were determined for both the healthy volunteers and the patient population. Statistical analysis of the data obtained following left-sided CVS did not reveal any cerebral region for which there was a significant difference in CVS-induced response by these two populations. In the case of right-sided CVS, however, the statistical comparison of the CVS-related responses demonstrated a single contralateral area characterized by a significantly different degree of response. This cortical area corresponds to part of the cortical region described recently which can be activated by both CVS and neck vibration. It appears to be anatomically identical to the aggregate of the somatosensory area SII and the retroinsular cortex described in primates, a region identified by other investigators as an analog of the parietoinsular vestibular cortex.