Francesca Baglio
Research interests
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InterestsNeurodegenerative Diseases, Neuroprotection, Alzheimer's Disease, Parkinson's Disease
Publications
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4.41Impact points
Assessing Corpus Callosum Changes in Alzheimer's Disease: Comparison between Tract-Based Spatial Statistics and Atlas-Based Tractography.
PloS one. 01/2012; 7(4):e35856.
Tractography based on Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) represents a valuable tool for investigating brain white matter (WM) microstructure, allowing the computation of damage-related diffusion parameters such as Fractional Anisotropy (FA) in specific WM tracts. This technique appears relevant in the s... [more] Tractography based on Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) represents a valuable tool for investigating brain white matter (WM) microstructure, allowing the computation of damage-related diffusion parameters such as Fractional Anisotropy (FA) in specific WM tracts. This technique appears relevant in the study of pathologies in which brain disconnection plays a major role, such as, for instance, Alzheimer's Disease (AD). Previous DTI studies have reported inconsistent results in defining WM abnormalities in AD and in its prodromal stage (i.e., amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment; aMCI), especially when investigating the corpus callosum (CC). A reason for these inconsistencies is the use of different processing techniques, which may strongly influence the results. The aim of the current study was to compare a novel atlas-based tractography approach, that sub-divides the CC in eight portions, with Tract-Based Spatial Statistics (TBSS) when used to detect specific patterns of CC FA in AD at different clinical stages. FA data were obtained from 76 subjects (37 with mild AD, 19 with aMCI and 20 elderly healthy controls, HC) and analyzed using both methods. Consistent results were obtained for the two methods, concerning the comparisons AD vs. HC (significantly reduced FA in the whole CC of AD patients) and AD vs. aMCI (significantly reduced FA in the frontal portions of the CC in AD patients), thus identifying a relative preservation of the frontal CC regions in aMCI patients compared to AD. Conversely, the atlas-based method but not the TBSS showed the ability to detect a selective FA change in the CC parietal, left temporal and occipital regions of aMCI patients compared to HC. This finding indicates that an analysis including a higher number of voxels (with no restriction to tract skeletons) may detect characteristic pattern of FA in the CC of patients with preclinical AD, when brain atrophy is still modest.
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2.14Impact points
Altered and asymmetric default mode network activity in a "hypnotic virtuoso": An fMRI and EEG study.
Consciousness and cognition. 12/2011; 21(1):393-400.
Very highly hypnotizable subjects are rare, easily induced, and able to manifest the whole spectrum of hypnotic phenomena, including post-hypnotic amnesia. The aim of this study was to detect and localize by means of quantitative functional MRI and EEG changes in cortical activity during hypnosis in... [more] Very highly hypnotizable subjects are rare, easily induced, and able to manifest the whole spectrum of hypnotic phenomena, including post-hypnotic amnesia. The aim of this study was to detect and localize by means of quantitative functional MRI and EEG changes in cortical activity during hypnosis induction and deep "pure hypnosis" in a hypnotic "virtuoso" subject. We focused on areas forming the default mode network (DMN), since previous studies found that very highly suggestible subjects in hypnosis showed decreased activity in anterior DMN. During undisturbed hypnosis, our "virtuoso" subject showed not only detectable changes in DMN, but also peculiar activations of non-DMN areas and hemispheric asymmetries of frontal lobe connectivity. Our findings confirm that hypnosis is associated with significant modulation of connectivity and activity which involve the DMN but are not limited to it, depending on the depth of the hypnotic state, the type of mental content and emotional involvement.
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3.83Impact points
Theory of mind in amnestic mild cognitive impairment: an FMRI study.
Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD. 12/2011; 29(1):25-37.
Theory of Mind (ToM) undergoes changes at the behavioral level in pathological aging (Alzheimer's disease (AD)) and at the neural level in physiological aging. The aim was to determine if there are changes in ToM in the behavioral and neural domains in old subjects with high risk of switching fr... [more] Theory of Mind (ToM) undergoes changes at the behavioral level in pathological aging (Alzheimer's disease (AD)) and at the neural level in physiological aging. The aim was to determine if there are changes in ToM in the behavioral and neural domains in old subjects with high risk of switching from successful to unsuccessful neurocognitive aging. Patients with amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) syndrome were studied, since aMCI was proposed to fill the gap between normal aging and dementia. Sixteen aMCI patients (mean age 71 years) and fifteen healthy controls (mean age 67 years) with no differences in age or education were subjected to increasingly complex ToM tasks and to fMRI scanning while performing the Reading the Mind in the Eyes test (RME), which attributes mental states by focusing on eye-gaze. aMCI subjects had worse performances in two second order false belief tasks, confirming the decay of ToM on the behavioral level. Despite a minor activation of some components (posterior end of the superior temporal sulcus and temporal pole) of the ToM neural circuit, no significant differences in the behavioral performances to the RME was found in aMCI compared to controls. Probably the preservation of the mirror neuron system (precentral gyrus-BA 6; Broca area - BA 44) and the stronger involvement of frontal areas (middle and medial frontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex) supplemented the decay of part of the mentalizing neural circuit, preserving task performance.
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Comparison between skeleton-based and atlas-based approach in the assessment of corpus callosum damages in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Alzheimer Disease.
Conference proceedings : ... Annual International Conference of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. Conference. 08/2011; 2011:7808-11.
The damage of specific bundles in the brain white matter (WM) is currently assessed in Alzheimer Disease (AD) and amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI) by tractography based on diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and the consequent evaluation of diffusion parameters in reconstructed tracts. Controver... [more] The damage of specific bundles in the brain white matter (WM) is currently assessed in Alzheimer Disease (AD) and amnestic Mild Cognitive Impairment (aMCI) by tractography based on diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and the consequent evaluation of diffusion parameters in reconstructed tracts. Controversial results may be due to the use of different techniques. This work aims at comparing an atlas-based technique to compute fractional anisotropy (FA) in specific tracts with the voxelwise approach of Tract-Based Spatial Statistics (TBSS). FA was evaluated in 7 portions of the corpus callosum (CC) of 10 elderly healthy controls (HC), 10 aMCI and 10 mild AD patients with both approaches. Atlas-based tractography revealed concordant results with TBSS, displaying the same significant differences between AD and HC and no significant difference between aMCI and HC. However, as regards the AD to aMCI contrast only the atlas-based method was able to find significantly lowered FA in AD in frontal and parietal CC portions. This finding shows that a proper analysis which considers a higher number of voxels, not restricting the observation to the skeleton in the assessment of CC damages, could be useful for AD to aMCI differential diagnosis and prognosis.
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4.01Impact points
Diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging tractography in progressive supranuclear palsy.
Movement disorders : official journal of the Movement Disorder Society. 04/2011; 26(9):1752-5.
Diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging tractography allows quantification of in vivo white matter tract damage. Using tractography, diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging metrics were obtained from the superior and middle cerebellar peduncles and major cerebral white matter tracts in 5 pat... [more] Diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging tractography allows quantification of in vivo white matter tract damage. Using tractography, diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging metrics were obtained from the superior and middle cerebellar peduncles and major cerebral white matter tracts in 5 patients with progressive supranuclear palsy and 13 controls. Patients showed severe intrinsic damage to the superior cerebellar peduncle, corpus callosum, and cingulum bilaterally. Only decreased axial diffusivity was found in the left middle cerebellar peduncle. Diffusion tensor magnetic resonance imaging tractography holds promise for providing accurate in vivo cartography of progressive supranuclear palsy tissue damage.
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1.13Impact points
Mapping levels of theory of mind in Alzheimer's disease: a preliminary study.
Aging & mental health. 03/2011; 15(2):157-68.
Research on Theory of Mind (ToM), the ability to understand behaviour based on mental state representation, has shifted towards a life span perspective in typical and atypical conditions (dementia). The aim of this study is to investigate the presence and the features of ToM decay in early Alzheimer... [more] Research on Theory of Mind (ToM), the ability to understand behaviour based on mental state representation, has shifted towards a life span perspective in typical and atypical conditions (dementia). The aim of this study is to investigate the presence and the features of ToM decay in early Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients compared to healthy controls adopting a neurodevelopmental stance. Sixteen AD patients and 16 healthy controls were submitted to an increasing complexity ToM battery, tapping ToM precursors, standard first- and second-order false beliefs and advanced ToM tasks (Eyes Test and strange stories). The results underline a similar pattern of increasing difficulty of the tasks that explore ToM abilities in both the groups. They also confirm the presence of a strong gap in performance between the CTR and the AD groups, especially in the more complex ToM tasks, whereas there is no significant difference between the two groups in the first level of reasoning about beliefs (first-order false belief). The impairment in specific cognitive functions (i.e. memory and executive functions) seems to correlate with the decline in the most complex mentalistic abilities. This study identifies a specific pattern of deterioration in ToM abilities in AD patients, following backwards developmental steps typical of the acquisition of mentalizing abilities, where the most complex ToM levels are impaired, whereas the intermediate and the simplest ones are preserved.
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4.35Impact points
Effects of aging on mindreading ability through the eyes: an fMRI study.
Neuropsychologia. 05/2010; 48(9):2586-94.
Theory of Mind--ToM, the capacity to understand one's own and other people's mental states and to refer to them to foresee and explain the behaviour--relies upon a circumscribed neural system: the posterior end of the superior temporal sulcus (pSTS), the adjacent temporo-parietal junction (T... [more] Theory of Mind--ToM, the capacity to understand one's own and other people's mental states and to refer to them to foresee and explain the behaviour--relies upon a circumscribed neural system: the posterior end of the superior temporal sulcus (pSTS), the adjacent temporo-parietal junction (TPJ), the temporal pole (TP), the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the adjacent paracingulate cortex. To our knowledge, the neural basis of mentalizing has not yet been studied in a developmental perspective covering old age, so the aim of this work is to compare the neural basis of a specific aspect of ToM, the mindreading ability through the eyes, in healthy young and old subjects. Two groups of healthy adults (young: 25.2 years; old: 65.2 years) were submitted to an fMRI scanning while performing the Reading the Mind in the Eyes test, which requires the attribution of a mental state to the other person focussing only on the eye-gaze. There was no difference in the behavioural performances between young and old and both groups of subjects activated the pSTS and the TP, thus indicating that old people show no impairment of mentalizing circuits. However, a relevant shifting of the neural circuit implied in each group to solve the task emerged. Old subjects showed a more bilateral activation of frontal areas and a stronger involvement of the linguistic components of the mirror neuron system (i.e. area 44), as compared to young. Both young and old participants activated the non-linguistic components of the mirror neuron system, such as area 6. These findings are discussed taking into account the recent literature dealing with cognitive functions during normal aging.
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0.86Impact points
EEG evidence of posterior cortical disconnection in PD and related dementias.
The International journal of neuroscience. 02/2010; 120(2):88-98.
Electroencephalogram (EEG) reactivity to eyes opening and 12-Hz photic stimulation was investigated in 14 healthy elderly subjects, 21 parkinsonian patients (PD), 7 demented parkinsonian patients (PDD), and 10 patients with Lewy body dementia (LBD) using global field synchronization (GFS). During ey... [more] Electroencephalogram (EEG) reactivity to eyes opening and 12-Hz photic stimulation was investigated in 14 healthy elderly subjects, 21 parkinsonian patients (PD), 7 demented parkinsonian patients (PDD), and 10 patients with Lewy body dementia (LBD) using global field synchronization (GFS). During eyes closed Theta GFS was increased in Parkinson's disease and patients and alpha1 GFS was decreased in LBD subjects. During 12-Hz intermittent photic stimulation (IPS), reactivity of posterior electrodes was decreased in PD and LBD patients. No reactivity was observed in PDD. Results are consistent with a graded posterior cortical disconnection in parkinsonian syndromes and with a model of dopamine-modulated thalamocortical interplay in visual processing.
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Frequency and clinical features of Lewy body dementia in Italian memory clinics.
Acta bio-medica : Atenei Parmensis. 05/2009; 80(1):57-64.
BACKGROUND: The latest developments in Lewy Body Dementia (DLB) raise some controversies on clinical features, neuroimaging and therapy. The aim of our study is to determine clinical, neuropsychological, neuroimaging and EEG profile of DLB through retrospective and prospective data of 102 patients. ... [more] BACKGROUND: The latest developments in Lewy Body Dementia (DLB) raise some controversies on clinical features, neuroimaging and therapy. The aim of our study is to determine clinical, neuropsychological, neuroimaging and EEG profile of DLB through retrospective and prospective data of 102 patients. METHODS: data were collected with an analytical form that was developed by an expertise of neurologists. RESULTS: DLB represented 4.8% of the dementia population, with no sex difference. Family history of dementia was common (24.5%), while familiarity for parkinsonism was rare (4.9%). Cognitive disturbances were the predominant clinical presentation at onset (49%), followed by behavioral symptoms (29.4%) and parkinsonism (21.6%). Clinical features at consultation were: memory disturbances (almost all cases), symmetrical (68.6%) or asymmetrical (18.6%) parkinsonism, cognitive fluctuations (49%), visuospatial deficits (53.9%), and visual hallucinations (44.1%). Autonomic signs were present in a third of the cases, while sleep disorders were present in 44.1%. Some clinical response to antiparkinsonian drugs was evident in half of the cases. MRI, SPET, EEG and Neuropsychiatric Inventory data were available in a subgroup of patients. CONCLUSIONS: Most of our data were in accordance with the previous literature. However, some data underline the relationship between DLB, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.
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5.94Impact points
Functional brain changes in early Parkinson's disease during motor response and motor inhibition.
Neurobiology of aging. 02/2009;
Motor impairment represents the main clinical feature of Parkinson's disease (PD). Cognitive deficits are also frequently observed in patients with PD, with a prominent involvement of executive functions and visuo-spatial abilities. We used event-related functional MRI (fMRI) and a paradigm base... [more] Motor impairment represents the main clinical feature of Parkinson's disease (PD). Cognitive deficits are also frequently observed in patients with PD, with a prominent involvement of executive functions and visuo-spatial abilities. We used event-related functional MRI (fMRI) and a paradigm based on visual attention and motor inhibition (Go/NoGO-task) to investigate brain activations in 13 patients with early PD in comparison with 11 healthy controls. The two groups did not report behavioural differences in task performance. During motor inhibition (NoGO-effect), PD patients compared to controls showed an increased activation in the prefrontal cortex and in the basal ganglia. They also showed a reduced and less coherent hemodynamic response in the occipital cortex. These results indicate that specific cortico-subcortical functional changes, involving not only the fronto-striatal network but also the temporal-occipital cortex, are already present in patients with early PD and no clinical evidence of cognitive impairment. We discuss our findings in terms of compensatory mechanisms (fronto-striatal changes) and preclinical signs of visuo-perceptual deficits and visual hallucinations.
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2.41Impact points
Voxel-wise analysis of diffusion tensor MRI improves the confidence of diagnosis of corticobasal degeneration non-invasively.
Parkinsonism & related disorders. 08/2008; 14(5):436-9.
Corticobasal degeneration (CBD) presents with symptoms that often overlap with other neurological conditions. In many cases, diagnosis, prognosis and consequent clinical management remain uncertain. Structural and functional asymmetric brain changes represent the most consistent imaging findings tha... [more] Corticobasal degeneration (CBD) presents with symptoms that often overlap with other neurological conditions. In many cases, diagnosis, prognosis and consequent clinical management remain uncertain. Structural and functional asymmetric brain changes represent the most consistent imaging findings that may assist in CBD diagnosis. Diffusion Tensor MRI (DT-MRI) is a quantitative technique that allows microscopic tissue abnormalities to be non-invasively assessed in vivo. A single case of clinically suspected CBD with symmetric diffuse brain atrophy on conventional-MRI scans was studied using DT-MRI by voxel-wise comparison with eight healthy subjects. The lateralized distribution of DT-MRI abnormalities was consistent with clinical features providing a substantial support to the diagnosis.
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9.49Impact points
Brain tissue damage in dementia with Lewy bodies: an in vivo diffusion tensor MRI study.
Brain : a journal of neurology. 08/2005; 128(Pt 7):1595-604.
The aim of the present study was to apply diffusion tensor MRI (DT-MRI), a quantitative MRI measure which reflects tissue organization, to dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). DT-MRI scans were obtained from 15 patients with probable DLB and 10 sex- and age-matched healthy controls. Abnormalities were f... [more] The aim of the present study was to apply diffusion tensor MRI (DT-MRI), a quantitative MRI measure which reflects tissue organization, to dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB). DT-MRI scans were obtained from 15 patients with probable DLB and 10 sex- and age-matched healthy controls. Abnormalities were found in the corpus callosum, pericallosal areas and the frontal, parietal, occipital and, less prominently, temporal white matter of patients compared with controls. Abnormalities were also found in the caudate nucleus and the putamen. The average grey matter volume was lower in patients than in controls. These findings of concomitant grey matter atrophy and white matter abnormalities (as detected by DT-MRI) in regions with a high prevalence of long connecting fibre tracts might suggest the presence of neurodegeneration involving associative cortices. The modest involvement of the temporal lobe fits with the relative preservation of global neuropsychological measures and memory tasks in the early stage of DLB. The selective involvement of parietal, frontal and occipital lobes might explain some of the clinical and neuropsychological features of DLB, providing a possible distinctive marker for this disease. The abnormalities found in the subcortical grey matter may indicate that DLB and Parkinson's disease share a similar nigrostriatal involvement caused by common pathophysiological mechanisms.
Following (8)
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Monica Falautano
Irccs san raffaele -
Paolo Caffarra
Università degli studi di Parma -
Elisabetta Farina
Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi -
Dario Alpini
Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi -
Margherita Alberoni
Fondazione Don Carlo Gnocchi
