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For applications benefitting from the swelling properties of nanolayered silicates (clay minerals), it is of paramount importance to understand the hysteresis in the clay-water interaction. In this context, the present work investigates how the thermal history of Na+- and Li+-intercalated fluorohectorite affects the hydration process. By combining X-ray diffraction and thermogravimetric analysis, water adsorption of preheated and non-preheated fluorohectorite was measured and analyzed in terms of the characteristic interlayer distance. The number of water molecules per cation was also inferred. We find that some of the hydration states in preheated samples are suppressed, and transitions to higher hydration states are achieved at higher relative humidity values. This could be due to the initial water content that facilities crystalline swelling. However, the data for Li-fluorohectorite do not exclude the possibility of a low temperature Hofmann-Klemen effect at 150 degrees C. Our study also provides strong hints that the so-called 1.5 water layer state, observed in previous studies on smectites, is a metastable state. In addition, the impact of a hydrogenous structure in the interlayer space of Li-fluorohectorite on the clay's hydration behavior is demonstrated. The results, if generalized, would have strong implications on a wide range of applications, where the thermal history of smectites is important.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Automated volumetry of the hippocampus is considered useful to assist the diagnosis of hippocampal sclerosis in temporal lobe epilepsy. However, voxel-based morphometry is rarely used for individual subjects because of high rates of false-positives. We investigated whether an approach with high dimensional warping to the template and nonparametric statistics would be useful to detect hippocampal atrophy in patients with hippocampal sclerosis. MATERIALS AND METHODS We performed single-subject voxel-based morphometry with nonparametric statistics within the framework of Statistical Parametric Mapping to compare MRI from 26 well-characterized patients with temporal lobe epilepsy individually against a group of 110 healthy controls. The following statistical threshold was used: P < .05 corrected for multiple comparisons with family-wise error over the region of interest right and left hippocampus. RESULTS The sensitivity for the detection of atrophy related to hippocampal sclerosis was 0.92 (95% CI, 0.67-0.99) for the right hippocampus and 0.60 (0.31-0.83) for the left, and the specificity for volume changes was 0.98 (0.93-0.99). All clusters of decreased hippocampal volumes were correctly lateralized to the seizure focus. Hippocampal volume decrease was in accordance with neuronal cell loss on histology reports. CONCLUSIONS Nonparametric voxel-based morphometry is sensitive and specific for hippocampal atrophy in patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy and may be useful in clinical practice.

Biocompatible encapsulated drug delivery materials are highly desired as they provide for controlled release of bioactive agents, thereby improving the effectiveness of medical treatments. Some of the key properties of better materials for drug delivery include high adsorptive capacity, which can be realized by smectites, a family of clay minerals. Here the influence of pH on encapsulation of the bioactive molecule ciprofloxacin (CIPRO), an antibiotic, by fluorohectorite (FHt), a synthetic smectite, was investigated. Aspects of the clay structure itself were also investigated. By means of X-ray powder diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analysis coupled to Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (TGA/FTIR) and inelastic neutron scattering (INS), it is demonstrated that the capture of ciprofloxacin is more efficient at acidic pH. Geometric considerations based on the XRD results and mass calculations based on the TGA results provided evidence that at acidic pH, the CIPRO-FHt complex contained one CIPRO molecule per unit cell, while at neutral pH the CIPRO content was about half, despite having similar interlayer volume available. Finally it is shown that adsorption of CIPRO by FHt facilitated removal of residual water from the interlayer, providing additional evidence that intercalation is the main adsorptive mechanism at acidic pH. These results lead to a deeper understanding concerning the capture of amphoteric drug molecules by smectites, as well as concerning their molecular interactions, which may lead to more feasible application of clay minerals as a carrier for drug molecules.

While several studies have investigated interactions between the electroencephalography (EEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging BOLD signal fluctuations, less is known about the associations between EEG oscillations and baseline brain haemodynamics, and few studies have examined the link between EEG power outside the alpha band and baseline perfusion. Here we compare whole-brain arterial spin labelling perfusion MRI and EEG in a group of healthy adults (n=16, ten females, median age: 27years, range 21-48) during an eyes closed rest condition. Correlations emerged between perfusion and global average EEG power in low (delta: 2-4Hz and theta: 4-7Hz), middle (alpha: 8-13Hz), and high (beta: 13-30Hz and gamma: 30-45Hz) frequency bands in both cortical and sub-cortical regions. The correlations were predominately positive in middle and high-frequency bands, and negative in delta. In addition, central alpha frequency positively correlated with perfusion in a network of brain regions associated with the modulation of attention and preparedness for external input, and central theta frequency correlated negatively with a widespread network of cortical regions. These results indicate that the coupling between average EEG power/frequency and local cerebral blood flow varies in a frequency specific manner. Our results are consistent with longstanding concepts that decreasing EEG frequencies which in general map onto decreasing levels of activation

Greater low frequency power (<8Hz) in the electroencephalogram (EEG) at rest is normal in the immature developing brain of children when compared to adults. Children with epilepsy also have greater low frequency interictal resting EEG activity. Whether these power elevations reflect brain immaturity due to a developmental lag or the underlying epileptic pathophysiology is unclear. The present study addresses this question by analyzing spectral EEG topographies and sources for normally developing children and children with epilepsy. We first compared the resting EEG of healthy children to that of healthy adults to isolate effects related to normal brain immaturity. Next, we compared the EEG from 10 children with generalized cryptogenic epilepsy to the EEG of 24 healthy children to isolate effects related to epilepsy. Spectral analysis revealed that global low (delta: 1-3Hz, theta: 4-7Hz), medium (alpha: 8-12Hz) and high (beta: 13-25Hz) frequency EEG activity was greater in children without epilepsy compared to adults, and even further elevated for children with epilepsy. Topographical and tomographic EEG analyses showed that normal immaturity corresponded to greater delta and theta activity at fronto-central scalp and brain regions, respectively. In contrast, the epilepsy-related activity elevations were predominantly in the alpha band at parieto-occipital electrodes and brain regions, respectively. We conclude that lower frequency activity can be a sign of normal brain immaturity or brain pathology depending on the specific topography and frequency of the oscillating neuronal network

Contains fulltext : 176656.pdf (publisher's version ) (Closed access), Visually guided finger movements include online feedback of current effector position to guide target approach. This visual feedback may be scaled or otherwise distorted by unpredictable perturbations. Although adjustments to visual feedback scaling have been studied before, the underlying brain activation differences between upscaling (visual feedback larger than real movement) and downscaling (feedback smaller than real movement) are currently unknown. Brain activation differences between upscaling and downscaling might be expected because within-trial adjustments during upscaling require corrective backwards accelerations, whereas correcting for downscaling requires forward accelerations. In this behavioural and fMRI study we investigated adjustments during up- and downscaling in a target-directed finger flexion-extension task with real-time visual feedback. We found that subjects made longer and more complete within-trial corrections for downscaling perturbations than for upscaling perturbations. The finger task activated primary motor (M1) and somatosensory (S1) areas, premotor and parietal regions, basal ganglia, and cerebellum. General scaling effects were seen in the right pre-supplementary motor area, dorsal anterior cingulate cortex, inferior parietal lobule, and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. Stronger activations for down- than for upscaling were observed in M1, supplementary motor area (SMA), S1 and anterior cingulate cortex. We argue that these activation differences may reflect differing online correction for upscaling versus downscaling during finger flexion-extension.