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Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is the most common form of focal epilepsy. Parameters of microstructural abnormalities derived from diffusion tensor imaging(DTI) have been reported to be helpful in differentiating between Left and Right TLE (L-TLE and R-TLE) but few of them compared L-TLE and R-TLE with a voxelwise approach. In this study, a whole brain tract based spatial statistical analysis was performed on DTI, diffusion kurtosis and NODDI derived parameters of 88 subjects to identify specific white matter patterns of alteration in patient affected by L-TLE and R-TLE with respect to healthy controls. Our findings demonstrated the presence of specific patterns of white matter alterations, with L-TLE more widely affected both in cerebral and cerebellar regions. This result supports the need to consider patients separately, according to the side of their pathology.

BACKGROUND: Head down tilt 15° (HDT15°), applied before recanalization, increases collateral flow and improves outcome in experimental ischemic stroke. For its simplicity and low cost, HDT15° holds considerable potential to be developed as an emergency treatment of acute stroke in the pre-hospital setting, where hemorrhagic stroke is the major mimic of ischemic stroke. In this study, we assessed safety of HDT15° in the acute phase of experimental intracerebral hemorrhage. METHODS: Intracerebral hemorrhage was produced by stereotaxic injection of collagenase in Wistar rats. A randomized non-inferiority trial design was used to assign rats to HDT15° or flat position (n=64). HDT15° was applied for 1 hour during the time window of hematoma expansion. The primary outcome was hematoma volume at 24 hours. Secondary outcomes were mass effect, mortality and functional deficit in the main study and acute changes of intracranial pressure, hematoma growth and cardiorespiratory parameters in separate sets of randomized animals (n=32). RESULTS: HDT15° achieved the specified criteria of non-inferiority for hematoma volume at 24 hours. Mass effect, mortality and functional deficit at 24 hours showed no difference in the two groups. HDT15° induced a mild increase in intracranial pressure with respect to the pre-treatment values (+ 2.91 +/- 1.76 mmHg). HDT15° had a neutral effect on MRI-based analysis of hematoma growth and cardiorespiratory parameters. CONCLUSIONS: Application of HDT15° in the hyperacute phase of experimental intracerebral hemorrhage does not worsen early outcome. Further research is needed to implement HDT15° as an emergency collateral therapeutic for acute stroke.

Gold nanoparticles carrying fluorinated ligands in their monolayer are, by themselves, contrast agents for 19F magnetic resonance imaging displaying high sensitivity because of the high density of fluorine nuclei achievable by grafting suitable ligands on the gold core surface. Functionalization of these nanoparticles with Gd(III) chelates allows adding a further functional activity to these systems, developing materials also acting as contrast agents for proton magnetic resonance imaging. These dual mode contrast agents may allow capitalizing on the benefits of 1H and 19F magnetic resonance imaging in a single diagnostic session. In this work, we describe a proof of principle of this approach by studying these nanoparticles in a high field preclinical scanner. The Gd(III) centers within the nanoparticles monolayer shorten considerably the 19F T1 of the ligands but, nevertheless, these systems display strong and sharp NMR signals which allow recording good quality 19F MRI phantom images at nanoparticle concentration of 20 mg/mL after proper adjustment of the imaging sequence. The Gd(III) centers also influence the T1 relaxation time of the water protons and high quality 1H MRI images could be obtained. Gold nanoparticles protected by hydrogenated ligands and decorated with Gd(III) chelates are reported for comparison as 1H MRI contrast agents.