Context

...

Context

...

Context

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a disease affecting approximately 1 out of 1000 people in the U.S. Patients suffer from a variety of neurologic symptoms. The disease typically manifests itself in people in their 20s and 30s, and progresses over years and decades, often severely limiting the independence and productivity...

Context

Unlike other organs the brain has no lymphatic vessels. In mice, clearance of potentially neurotoxic catabolites is performed through the glymphatic system. Homeostasis between the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and the interstitial fluid in the space between the cells of the brain parenchyma drains several metabolites, including beta-amyloid, whose deposition in the cerebral extracellular space has been related to the pathogenesis and progression of Alzheimer’s disease. Very recently, it has been shown that the clearance through the cerebral glymphatic...

Context

Cerebral small vessel disease (SVD) is the most common vascular cause of dementia worldwide (Wardlaw et al., 2013), and represents a major determinant of cognitive and physical disability in the aging population (Guttmann et al., 2000; Pantoni, 2010). Several studies, including our own reports (Kaplan et al., 2009; Moscufo et al., 2011, 2012; Papp et al., 2014;...

The “Structured Planning and Implementation of New Explorations” (SPINE) is a web platform designed the to help researches in the design and management the whole lifecycle of a research experiment involving MRI images and clinical data. SPINE aims to answer scientific questions by providing all the required tools to the scientist, enabling experts, such as radiologist, to integrate their knowledge, computer scientist to insert image processing procedures, and statisticians to input models for the analysis of the results, all in the same place. SPINE can...

PI: Michele Cavallari

A visiting research trainee - Fernanda Troili, MD - is evaluating the association between enlarged perivascular spaces (as visible on magnetic resonance imaging) and beta-amyloid burden (as measured by positron emission tomography) in subjects from families carrying gene mutations known to cause familial Alzheimer’s disease, under the mentorship of Drs. Cavallari and Guttmann.

PI: Michele Cavallari

Aim: to describe retinal vascular abnormalities in multiple sclerosis patients and assess their relationship with inflammatory and neurodegenerative features of the disease. This study is in collaboration with the Partners Multiple Sclerosis Center at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and is part of the CLIMB study (Comprehensive Longitudinal Investigation of Multiple Sclerosis at Brigham and Women’s Hospital).

Overview

Our overall goal is to develop next generation MRI markers of clinical disease progression to be used as primary outcome measures in phase 2 trials for progressive MS (PMS) in a fashion analogous to the use of Gadolinium-enhancement in relapsing MS trials. The underlying hypothesis is that disease progression in MS is detectable through MRI prior to its clinical expression, and that we will be able to infer measures or features of the MRI that may not be directly observable and that have the following characteristics:

i)...

Principal Investigators: William B. White, M.D., Leslie Wolfson, M.D., University of Connecticut Health Center

Local PI: Charles R.G. Guttmann, MD

Co-investigator: Nicola Moscufo, PhD

Site: University of Connecticut Health Center

NIH R01 AG022092

Years: 2011-2018

Reductions in mobility and cognitive function linked to accrual of brain microvascular disease related white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) on magnetic resonance imaging can occur in older hypertensive patients in as little as 2 years. We...

Principal Investigator: Leslie Wolfson, M.D., Professor of Neurology

Co-investigator: Nicola Moscufo

Site: University of Connecticut Health Center

NIH R01 AG022092

Years: 2004-2009

Summary

Aim of the study was to advance our understanding of the relationship between vascular disease risk factors (VDRF), occurrence of white matter (WM) lesions in the brain, and mobility. VDRFs include hypertension, orthostatic hypotension, metabolic and...

Context

Unlike other organs the brain has no lymphatic vessels. In mice, clearance of potentially neurotoxic catabolites is performed through the glymphatic system. Homeostasis between the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and the interstitial fluid in the space between the cells of the brain parenchyma drains several metabolites, including beta-amyloid, whose deposition in the cerebral extracellular space has been related to the pathogenesis and progression of Alzheimer’s disease. Very recently, it has been shown that the clearance through the cerebral glymphatic...

Context

Cerebral small vessel disease (SVD) is the most common vascular cause of dementia worldwide (Wardlaw et al., 2013), and represents a major determinant of cognitive and physical disability in the aging population (Guttmann et al., 2000; Pantoni, 2010). Several studies, including our own reports (Kaplan et al., 2009; Moscufo et al., 2011, 2012; Papp et al., 2014; Wakefield et al., 2010; White et al., 2011; Wolfson et al., 2013), supported the association between the characteristic focal white matter lesions associated with cerebral SVD and decline in...