Related Articles

Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) allows the recovery of cortical oxy-and deoxyhemoglobin changes associated with evoked brain activity. NIRS is a back-reflection measurement making it very sensitive to the superficial layers of the head, i.e. the skin and the skull, where systemic interference occurs. As a result, the NIRS signal is strongly contaminated with systemic interference of superficial origin. A recent approach to overcome this problem has been the use of additional short source-detector separation optodes as regressors. Since these additional measurements are mainly sensitive to superficial layers in adult humans, they can be used to remove the systemic interference present in longer separation measurements, improving the recovery of the cortical hemodynamic response function (HRF). One question that remains to answer is whether or not a short separation measurement is required in close proximity to each long separation NIRS channel. Here, we show that the systemic interference occurring in the superficial layers of the human head is inhomogeneous across the surface of the scalp. As a result, the improvement obtained by using a short separation optode decreases as the relative distance between the short and the long measurement is increased. NIRS data was acquired on 6 human subjects both at rest and during a motor task consisting of finger tapping. The effect of distance between the short and the long channel was first quantified by recovering a synthetic hemodynamic response added over the resting-state data. The effect was also observed in the functional data collected during the finger tapping task. Together, these results suggest that the short separation measurement must be located as close as 1.5 cm from the standard NIRS channel in order to provide an improvement which is of practical use. In this case, the improvement in Contrast-to-Noise Ratio (CNR) compared to a standard General Linear Model (GLM) procedure without using any small separation optode reached 50 % for HbO and 100 % for HbR. Using small separations located farther than 2 cm away resulted in mild or negligible improvements only.

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is an established optical neuroimaging method for measuring functional hemodynamic responses to infer neural activation. However, the impact of individual anatomy on the sensitivity of fNIRS measuring hemodynamics within cortical gray matter is still unknown. By means of Monte Carlo simulations and structural MRI of 23 healthy subjects (mean age: years), we characterized the individual distribution of tissue-specific NIR-light absorption underneath 24 prefrontal fNIRS channels. We, thereby, investigated the impact of scalp-cortex distance (SCD), frontal sinus volume as well as sulcal morphology on gray matter volumes () traversed by NIR-light, i.e. anatomy-dependent fNIRS sensitivity. The NIR-light absorption between optodes was distributed describing a rotational ellipsoid with a mean penetration depth of considering the deepest of light. Of the detected photon packages scalp and bone absorbed and absorbed of the energy. The mean volume was negatively correlated () with the SCD and frontal sinus volume () and was reduced by in subjects with relatively large compared to small frontal sinus. Head circumference was significantly positively correlated with the mean SCD () and the traversed frontal sinus volume (). Sulcal morphology had no significant impact on . Our findings suggest to consider individual SCD and frontal sinus volume as anatomical factors impacting fNIRS sensitivity. Head circumference may represent a practical measure to partly control for these sources of error variance.

We sought to determine the extent of the frontal sinus by intraoperative transillumination through the superomedial orbital wall in a subcranial approach to the anterior skull base. After raising a bicoronal flap, the frontal sinus was transilluminated through the superomedial orbital wall with a fiber-optic light source, delineating the extent of the frontal sinus. The frontal sinus boundary was marked with a marker pen. A frontal sinus anterior wall osteotomy was performed with a sagittal saw, staying within the confines of the frontal sinus marking. A bone flap was removed, and the posterior wall was drilled out. The remaining procedure was performed in a standard fashion. At the end of the procedure, the bone flap was fixed with a titanium plate. A total of 58 patients had undergone craniofacial resection from January 2004 to December 2007. In 13 patients, a subcranial approach was employed using the transillumination technique. Transillumination was successful in delineating the frontal sinus periphery in all 13 patients. Intraoperative transillumination of the frontal sinus through the superomedial orbital wall is a simple and effective method to delineate the frontal sinus periphery in a subcranial approach to the anterior skull base.

A major methodological challenge of functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is its high sensitivity to haemodynamic fluctuations in the scalp. Superficial fluctuations contribute on the one hand to the physiological noise of fNIRS, impairing the signal-to-noise ratio, and may on the other hand be erroneously attributed to cerebral changes, leading to false positives in fNIRS experiments. Here we explore the localisation, time course and physiological origin of task-evoked superficial signals in fNIRS and present a method to separate them from cortical signals. We used complementary fNIRS, fMRI, MR-angiography and peripheral physiological measurements (blood pressure, heart rate, skin conductance and skin blood flow) to study activation in the frontal lobe during a continuous performance task. The General Linear Model (GLM) was applied to analyse the fNIRS data, which included an additional predictor to account for systemic changes in the skin.

We found that skin blood volume strongly depends on the cognitive state and that sources of task-evoked systemic signals in fNIRS are co-localized with veins draining the scalp. Task-evoked superficial artefacts were mainly observed in concentration changes of oxygenated haemoglobin and could be effectively separated from cerebral signals by GLM analysis. Based on temporal correlation of fNIRS and fMRI signals with peripheral physiological measurements we conclude that the physiological origin of the systemic artefact is a task-evoked sympathetic arterial vasoconstriction followed by a decrease in venous volume.

Since changes in sympathetic outflow accompany almost any cognitive and emotional process, we expect scalp vessel artefacts to be present in a wide range of fNIRS settings used in neurocognitive research. Therefore a careful separation of fNIRS signals originating from activated brain and from scalp is a necessary precondition for unbiased fNIRS brain activation maps.

Highlights

► Task-evoked changes in the skin blood volume induce artefacts in fNIRS signals. ► Artefacts result from a venous volume decrease due to sympathetic vasoconstriction. ► This phenomenon might induce false positives in fNIRS experiments on the forehead.

Functional near infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a portable monitor of cerebral hemodynamics with wide clinical potential. However, in fNIRS, the vascular signal from the brain is often obscured by vascular signals present in the scalp and skull. In this paper, we evaluate two methods for improving in vivo data from adult human subjects through the use of high-density diffuse optical tomography (DOT). First, we test whether we can extend superficial regression methods (which utilize the multiple source–detector pair separations) from sparse optode arrays to application with DOT imaging arrays. In order to accomplish this goal, we modify the method to remove physiological artifacts from deeper sampling channels using an average of shallow measurements. Second, DOT provides three-dimensional image reconstructions and should explicitly separate different tissue layers. We test whether DOT's depth-sectioning can completely remove superficial physiological artifacts. Herein, we assess improvements in signal quality and reproducibility due to these methods using a well-characterized visual paradigm and our high-density DOT system. Both approaches remove noise from the data, resulting in cleaner imaging and more consistent hemodynamic responses. Additionally, the two methods act synergistically, with greater improvements when the approaches are used together.

Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) measures the functional hemodynamic response occuring at the surface of the cortex. Large pial veins are located above the surface of the cerebral cortex. Following activation, these veins exhibit oxygenation changes but their volume likely stays constant. The back-reflection geometry of the NIRS measurement renders the signal very sensitive to these superficial pial veins. As such, the measured NIRS signal contains contributions from both the cortical region as well as the pial vasculature. In this work, the cortical contribution to the NIRS signal was investigated using (1) Monte Carlo simulations over a realistic geometry constructed from anatomical and vascular MRI and (2) multimodal NIRS-BOLD recordings during motor stimulation. A good agreement was found between the simulations and the modeling analysis of in vivo measurements. Our results suggest that the cortical contribution to the deoxyhemoglobin signal change (ΔHbR) is equal to 16–22% of the cortical contribution to the total hemoglobin signal change (ΔHbT). Similarly, the cortical contribution of the oxyhemoglobin signal change (ΔHbO) is equal to 73–79% of the cortical contribution to the ΔHbT signal. These results suggest that ΔHbT is far less sensitive to pial vein contamination and therefore, it is likely that the ΔHbT signal provides better spatial specificity and should be used instead of ΔHbO or ΔHbR to map cerebral activity with NIRS. While different stimuli will result in different pial vein contributions, our finger tapping results do reveal the importance of considering the pial contribution.

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) has become increasingly established as a promising technique for monitoring functional brain activity. To our knowledge, no study has yet used fNIRS to investigate overt reading of irregular words and nonwords with a full coverage of the cerebral regions involved in reading processes. The aim of our study was to design and validate a protocol using fNIRS for the assessment of overt reading. Twelve healthy French-speaking adults underwent one session of fNIRS recording while performing an overt reading of 13 blocks of irregular words and nonwords. Reading blocks were separated by baseline periods during which participants were instructed to fixate a cross. Sources (n = 55) and detectors (n = 16) were placed bilaterally over frontal, temporal, parietal, and occipital regions. Two wavelengths were used: 690 nm, more sensitive to deoxyhemoglobin (HbR) concentration changes, and 830 nm, more sensitive to oxyhemoglobin (HbO) concentration changes. For all participants, total hemoglobin (HbT) concentrations (HbO + HbR) were significantly higher than baseline for both irregular word and nonword reading in the inferior frontal gyri, the middle and superior temporal gyri, and the occipital cortices bilaterally. In the temporal gyri, although the difference was not significant, [HbT] values were higher in the left hemisphere. In the bilateral inferior frontal gyri, higher [HbT] values were found in nonword than in irregular word reading. This activation could be related to the grapheme-to-phoneme conversion characterizing the phonological pathway of reading. Our findings confirm that fNIRS is an appropriate technique to assess the neural correlates of overt reading.

We describe a near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) method to noninvasively measure relative changes in the pulsate components of cerebral blood flow (pCBF) and volume (pCBV) from the shape of heartbeat oscillations. We present a model that is used and data to show the feasibility of the method. We use a continuous-wave NIRS system to measure the arterial oscillations originating in the brains of piglets. Changes in the animals' CBF are induced by adding CO2 to the breathing gas. To study the influence of scalp on our measurements, comparative, invasive measurements are performed on one side of the head simultaneously with noninvasive measurements on the other side. We also did comparative measurements of CBF using a laser Doppler system to validate the results of our method. The results indicate that for sufficient source-detector separation, the signal contribution of the scalp is minimal and the measurements are representative of the cerebral hemodynamics. Moreover, good correlation between the results of the laser Doppler system and the NIRS system indicate that the presented method is capable of measuring relative changes in CBF. Preliminary results show the potential of this NIRS method to measure pCBF and pCBV relative changes in neonatal pigs.

OBJECTIVE—To develop an in vivo model for testing spatially resolved spectroscopy and quantified near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) cerebral blood flow measurements.
METHOD—Multiple detector NIRS has been used to study changes in tissue oxyhaemoglobin (O2Hb) concentration during selective internal carotid angiography. A significant reduction in O2Hb occurred in tissue interrogated by detectors situated between 0.7 and 4.1cm from the NIRS light source.
RESULTS—The time course of O2Hb concentration change was consistent with displacement of oxygenated blood by the radiocontrast medium from vascular beds of differing flow and NIR light attenuation. Increasing changes in O2Hb concentration per unit photon path length—predicted to occur at greater emitter-detector separations if those changes had occurred predominantly in cerebral tissue—were found in the first four seconds after injection of radiocontrast medium. However, later changes (6-10 s) were larger and were not proportional to emitter-detector separation.
CONCLUSION—The findings indicate that simple assumptions regarding the distribution of the internal carotid artery blood supply to cerebral and extracerebral tissues, the photon path length through those tissues, and their relative contributions to attenuation of NIR light may not be justified.



The near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) frequency-domain multi-distance (FD-MD) method allows for the estimation of optical properties in biological tissue using the phase and intensity of radiofrequency modulated light at different source-detector separations. In this study, we evaluated the accuracy of this method to retrieve the absorption coefficient of the brain at different ages. Synthetic measurements were generated with Monte Carlo simulations in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-based heterogeneous head models for four ages: newborn, 6 and 12 month old infants, and adult. For each age, we determined the optimal set of source-detector separations and estimated the corresponding errors. Errors arise from different origins: methodological (FD-MD) and anatomical (curvature, head size and contamination by extra-cerebral tissues). We found that the brain optical absorption could be retrieved with an error between 8–24% in neonates and infants, while the error increased to 19–44% in adults over all source-detector distances. The dominant contribution to the error was found to be the head curvature in neonates and infants, and the extra-cerebral tissues in adults.

Background

Although Monte Carlo simulations of light propagation in full segmented three-dimensional MRI based anatomical models of the human head have been reported in many articles. To our knowledge, there is no patient-oriented simulation for individualized calibration with NIRS measurement. Thus, we offer an approach for brain modeling based on image segmentation process with in vivo MRI T1 three-dimensional image to investigate the individualized calibration for NIRS measurement with Monte Carlo simulation.

Methods

In this study, an individualized brain is modeled based on in vivo MRI 3D image as five layers structure. The behavior of photon migration was studied for this individualized brain detections based on three-dimensional time-resolved Monte Carlo algorithm. During the Monte Carlo iteration, all photon paths were traced with various source-detector separations for characterization of brain structure to provide helpful information for individualized design of NIRS system.

Results

Our results indicate that the patient-oriented simulation can provide significant characteristics on the optimal choice of source-detector separation within 3.3 cm of individualized design in this case. Significant distortions were observed around the cerebral cortex folding. The spatial sensitivity profile penetrated deeper to the brain in the case of expanded CSF. This finding suggests that the optical method may provide not only functional signal from brain activation but also structural information of brain atrophy with the expanded CSF layer. The proposed modeling method also provides multi-wavelength for NIRS simulation to approach the practical NIRS measurement.

Conclusions

In this study, the three-dimensional time-resolved brain modeling method approaches the realistic human brain that provides useful information for NIRS systematic design and calibration for individualized case with prior MRI data.

Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a portable, non-invasive, brain imaging technology that uses low levels of non-ionizing light to record changes in cerebral blood flow in the brain through optical sensors placed on the surface of the scalp. These signals are recorded via flexible fiber optic cables, which allow neuroimaging experiments to be conducted on participants while performing tasks such as standing or walking. FNIRS has the potential to provide new insights into the evolution of brain activation during ambulatory motor learning tasks and standing tasks to probe balance and vestibular function. In this study, a 32 channel fNIRS system was used to record blood flow changes in the frontal, motor, sensory, and temporal cortices during active balancing associated with playing a video game simulating downhill skiing (Nintendo Wii™; Wii-fit™). Using fNIRS, we found activation of superior temporal gyrus, which was modulated by the difficulty of the balance task. This region had been previously implicated in vestibular function from other animal and human studies.

Highlights

► We recorded NIRS from the visual cortex during pattern-reversal stimulation. ► Transient blood pressure changes were induced by arm-raising. ► Blood pressure changes significantly altered deep and shallow NIRS recordings. ► The effect appears to originate from both intra- and extra-cranial regions. ► Blood pressure must be considered as a potential confound in NIRS studies.

Brain near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is an emerging neurophysiological tool that combines straightforward activity localization with cost–economy, portability and patient compatibility. NIRS is proving its empirical utility across specific cognitive and emotional paradigms. However, a potential limitation is that it is not only sensitive to haemodynamic changes taking place in the cortex, and task-related cardiovascular responses expressed in the perfusion of extracranial layers may be confounding. Existing literature reports correlations between brain NIRS and systemic blood pressure, yet it falls short of establishing whether in normal participants the blood pressure changes encountered in experimental settings can have confounding effects. Here, we tested this hypothesis by performing two experimental manipulations while recording from superficial occipital cortex, encompassing striate and extrastriate regions. Visual stimulation with reversing chequerboards evoked cortical haemodynamic responses. Simultaneously and independently, transient systemic blood pressure changes were generated through rapid arm-raising. Shallow-penetration NIRS recordings, probing only extra-cerebral tissues, highlighted close haemodynamic coupling with blood pressure. A different coupling pattern was observed in deep-penetration recordings directed at haemodynamic signals from visual cortex. In absence of blood-pressure changes, NIRS signals tracked differences in visual stimulus duration. However when blood pressure was actively manipulated, this effect was absent and replaced by a very large pressure-related response. Our observations demonstrate that blood pressure fluctuations can exert confounding effects on brain NIRS, through expression in extracranial tissues and within the brain itself. We highlight the necessity for continuous blood pressure monitoring alongside brain NIRS, and for further research on methods to correct for physiological confounds.

OBJECTIVE—Blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) contrast functional MRI images show activated cortical areas by detecting a reduced concentration of deoxyhaemoglobin (deoxy-Hb) during neuronal activity; however, near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) has shown various patterns of cerebral blood oxygenation (CBO) changes in the frontal lobe during cognitive tasks. To determine if various patterns of CBO changes occur in the frontal lobe when the brain is directly stimulated, changes in CBO in the frontal lobe induced by deep brain stimulation in patients with implanted electrodes were evaluated.
METHODS—Six patients were studied, including five with Parkinson's disease and one with essential tremor. To reduce tremor or rigidity, the electrodes were implanted at the thalamic nucleus ventralis intermedius (VIM: three Parkinson's disease and one essential tremor) or the globus pallidus internus (GPi: two Parkinson's disease). Using NIRS, changes of deoxy-Hb, oxyhaemoglobin (oxy-Hb) and total haemoglobin (total Hb) were measured in the bilateral frontal lobes during various stimulus conditions.
RESULTS—High frequency (120 Hz) GPi stimulation consistently increased oxy-Hb and total Hb with a decrease of deoxy-Hb in an intensity and time dependent manner. Oxy-Hb and total Hb increased immediately after the onset of stimulation and then gradually decreased when stimulation was continued. By contrast, high frequency (120 Hz) VIM stimulation decreased oxy-Hb, deoxy Hb and total Hb in an intensity dependent manner. In the severe tremor patient with VIM stimulation, frequency response was examined by decreasing stimulus frequencies; deoxy-Hb increased at high frequencies (70-40 Hz), and then decreased below the control level at low frequencies (30-0 Hz), whereas oxy-Hb and total Hb increased consistently at high and low frequencies.
CONCLUSION—The electrical stimulation of GPi and VIM caused various CBO changes in the frontal lobe, which were similar to those found during cognitive tasks. Such a multiplicity of CBO changes in the frontal lobe may be caused by complex neuronal circuits in the frontal lobe which has many neuronal connections to other cortical areas or the basal ganglia.



We used Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) to simultaneously measure brain activity in two people while they played a computer-based cooperation game side by side. Inter-brain activity coherence was calculated between the two participants. We found that the coherence between signals generated by participants right superior frontal cortices increased during cooperation, but not during competition. Increased coherence was also associated with better cooperation performance. To our knowledge, this work represents the first use of a single NIRS instrument for simultaneous measurements of brain activity in two people. This study demonstrates the use of NIRS-based hyperscanning in studies of social interaction in a naturalistic environment.

Summary

A 39 year old female with 24-month history of recurrent mucoid rhinorhea associated with progressive bilateral nasal blockage, headache, anosmia and bilateral impaired vision is reported. There was a past history of sinus surgery. The neuro-ophthalmic examination revealed left non-axial proptosis and visual acuity of nil light perception in both eyes at 3 meters. CT scan of the paranasal sinuses and brain showed markedly expanded left frontal sinus with sclerotic walls and expanded mixed density lesion in all the sinuses. She had surgery via trans-nasal, external and skull base approaches for effective clearance of the polypoidal masses and drainage of the sinus mucopyocele. Histological examination confirmed chronic inflammatory polyp. She remains stable to date although visual impairment and anosmia remained persistent. Patients with nasal polyposis require frequent follow-up even after surgical treatment for the early detection and management of complications to avoid consequences such as visual loss.

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak closure remains one of the most difficult surgeries for skull base surgeons, particularly with frontal sinus involvement. Technological advances in endoscopic surgery increasingly allow for less morbid approaches to the frontal sinus. We describe a series of patients who underwent endoscopic frontal sinus CSF leak repair utilizing a unilateral approach, to evaluate the utility and outcomes of this method. We performed a retrospective review of four cases in tertiary care centers. Participants included patients with CSF leak involving the frontal sinus. Main outcome measures included cessation of CSF leak and frontal sinus patency. Three patients were closed on the first surgical attempt; one with a communicating hydrocephalus required a revision procedure. Leak etiologies included prior craniotomy for frontal sinus mucopyocele, spontaneous meningoencephalocele, erosion due to mucormycosis, and prior endoscopic sinus surgery. The frontal sinus remained patent in three of four patients. No patients have evidence of a leak at a minimum of 1 year after surgery. The repair of frontal sinus CSF leaks is possible in specific cases with an endoscopic unilateral approach in leaks with multiple etiologies. Surgeons should consider this approach when selecting the appropriate procedure for repair of frontal sinus CSF leaks.

Near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is regarded as a potential medical diagnostic technique for investigation of hemodynamic changes. However, uncertainties pertaining to the origin of NIRS signals have hampered its clinical interpretation. The uncertainities in NIRS measurements especially in case of living tissues are due to lack of rigorous combined theoretical-experimental studies resulting in clear understanding of the origin of NIRS signals. For their reliable interpretation it is important to understand the relationship between spatial changes in optical properties and corresponding changes in the NIRS signal. We investigated spatial sensitivity of near infrared optical measurements using an experimental approach. It uses a liquid optical phantom as tissue equivalent, which is explored under robot-control by a small, approximately point like perturbation of desired optical properties, and a NIRS instrument for trans-illumination/reflection measurements. The experimentally obtained sensitivity has been analyzed and compared with numerical simulations. In preliminary experiments we investigated the influence of various optical properties of the medium and of source/detector distances on the spatial sensitivity distribution. The acquired sensitivity maps can be used to define characteristic parameters. As an example, we used a 25% threshold to define a penetration depth measure which provides values in good accordance with published ones. To the best of our knowledge this is the first experimental study of NIRS spatial sensitivity. The presented method will allow in depth experimental investigation of the influence of various conditions pertaining to medium such as optical properties of tissue (scattering and absorption) and of the source/detector configuration.

Background

As a continuation of our earlier work, we present in this study a Kalman filtering based algorithm for the elimination of motion artifacts present in Near Infrared spectroscopy (NIR) measurements. Functional NIR measurements suffer from head motion especially in real world applications where movement cannot be restricted such as studies involving pilots, children, etc. Since head movement can cause fluctuations unrelated to metabolic changes in the blood due to the cognitive activity, removal of these artifacts from NIR signal is necessary for reliable assessment of cognitive activity in the brain for real life applications.

Methods

Previously, we had worked on adaptive and Wiener filtering for the cancellation of motion artifacts in NIR studies. Using the same NIR data set we have collected in our previous work where different speed motion artifacts were induced on the NIR measurements we compared the results of the newly proposed Kalman filtering approach with the results of previously studied adaptive and Wiener filtering methods in terms of gains in signal to noise ratio. Here, comparisons are based on paired t-tests where data from eleven subjects are used.

Results

The preliminary results in this current study revealed that the proposed Kalman filtering method provides better estimates in terms of the gain in signal to noise ratio than the classical adaptive filtering approach without the need for additional sensor measurements and results comparable to Wiener filtering but better suitable for real-time applications.

Conclusions

This paper presented a novel approach based on Kalman filtering for motion artifact removal in NIR recordings. The proposed approach provides a suitable solution to the motion artifact removal problem in NIR studies by combining the advantages of the existing adaptive and Wiener filtering methods in one algorithm which allows efficient real time application with no requirement on additional sensor measurements.

Near Infra-Red Spectroscopy (NIRS) and Diffuse Optical Imaging (DOI) are increasingly used to detect hemodynamic changes in the cerebral cortex induced by brain activity. Until recently, the small number of optodes in NIRS instruments has hampered measurement of optical signals from diverse brain regions. Our new DOI system has 32 detectors and 32 sources; by arranging them in a specific pattern we can cover most of the adult head. With the increased number of optodes we can collect optical data from prefrontal, sensorimotor, and visual cortices in both hemispheres simultaneously. In this paper, we describe the system, report system characterization measurements on phantoms as well as on human subjects at rest and during visual, motor and cognitive stimulation. Tacking advantage of the system’s larger number of sources and detectors, we explored the spatiotemporal patterns of physiological signals during rest. These physiological signals, arising from cardiac, respiratory, and blood pressure modulations, interfere with measurement of the hemodynamic response to brain stimulation. Whole-head optical measurements, in addition to providing maps of multiple brain regions’ responses to brain activation, will enable better understandings of the physiological signals ultimately leading to better signal processing algorithms to distinguish physiological signal clutter from brain activation signals.

Near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is an increasingly popular technology for studying brain function. NIRS presents several advantages relative to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), such as measurement of concentration changes in both oxygenated- and deoxygenated hemoglobin, finer temporal resolution, and ease of administration, as well as disadvantages, most prominently inferior spatial resolution and decreased signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). While fMRI has become the gold standard for in vivo imaging of the human brain, in practice NIRS is a more convenient and less expensive technology than fMRI. It is therefore of interest to many researchers how NIRS compares to fMRI in studies of brain function. In the present study we scanned participants with simultaneous NIRS and fMRI on a battery of cognitive tasks, placing NIRS probes over both frontal and parietal brain regions. We performed detailed comparisons of the signals in both temporal and spatial domains. We found that NIRS signals have significantly weaker SNR, but are nonetheless often highly correlated with fMRI measurements. Both SNR and the distance between the scalp and the brain contributed to variability in the NIRS/fMRI correlations. In the spatial domain, we found that a photon path forming an ellipse between the NIRS emitter and detector correlated most strongly with the BOLD response. Taken together these findings suggest that, while NIRS can be an appropriate substitute for fMRI for studying brain activity related to cognitive tasks, care should be taken when designing studies with NIRS to ensure that: 1) the spatial resolution is adequate for answering the question of interest and 2) the design accounts for weaker SNR, especially in brain regions more distal from the scalp.

Frontal sinus injuries may range from isolated anterior table fractures resulting in a simple aesthetic deformity to complex fractures involving the frontal recess, orbits, skull base, and intracranial contents. The risk of long-term morbidity can be significant. Optimal treatment strategies for the management of frontal sinus fractures remain controversial. However, it is critical to have a thorough understanding of frontal sinus anatomy as well as the current treatment strategies used to manage these injuries. A thorough physical exam and thin-cut, multiplanar (axial, coronal, and sagittal) computed tomography scan should be performed in all patients suspected of having a frontal sinus fracture. The most appropriate treatment strategy can be determined by assessing five anatomic parameters including the: frontal recess, anterior table integrity, posterior table integrity, dural integrity, and presence of a cerebrospinal fluid leak. A well thought out management strategy and meticulous surgical techniques are critical to success. The primary surgical goal is to provide a safe sinus while minimizing patient morbidity. This article offers an anatomically based treatment algorithm for the management of frontal sinus fractures and highlights the key steps to surgical repair.

The use of near infrared (NIR) spectroscopy was proved to be a useful tool for quality analysis of fruits. A bifurcated fiber type NIR spectrometer, with a detection range of 800~2500 nm by InGaAs detector, was used to evaluate the firmness of peaches. Anisotropy of NIR spectra and firmness of peaches in relation to detecting positions of different parts (including three latitudes and three longitudes) were investigated. Both spectra absorbency and firmness of peach were influenced by longitudes (i, ii, iii) and latitudes (A, B, C). For modeling, two thirds of the samples were used as the calibration set and the remaining one third were used as the validation or prediction set. Partial least square regression (PLSR) models for different longitude and latitude spectra and for the whole fruit show that collecting several NIR spectra from different longitudes and latitudes of a fruit for NIR calibration modeling can improve the modeling performance. In addition, proper spectra pretreatments like scattering correction or derivative also can enhance the modeling performance. The best results obtained in this study were from the holistic model with multiplicative scattering correction (MSC) pretreatment, with correlation coefficient of cross-validation r cv=0.864, root mean square error of cross-validation RMSECV=6.71 N, correlation coefficient of calibration r=0.948, root mean square error of calibration RMSEC=4.21 N and root mean square error of prediction RMSEP=5.42 N. The results of this study are useful for further research and application that when applying NIR spectroscopy for objectives with anisotropic differences, spectra and quality indices are necessarily measured from several parts of each object to improve the modeling performance.

Diffuse optical imaging (DOI) is a non invasive technique allowing the recovery of hemodynamic changes in the brain. Due to the diffusive nature of photon propagation in turbid media and the fact that cerebral tissues are located around 1.5 cm under the adult human scalp, DOI measurements are subject to partial volume errors. DOI measurements are also sensitive to large pial vessels because oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin are the dominant chromophores in the near infrared window. In this study, the effect of the extra-cerebral vasculature in proximity of the sagittal sinus was investigated for its impact on DOI measurements simulated over the human adult visual cortex. Numerical Monte Carlo simulations were performed on two specific models of the human head derived from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans. The first model included the extra-cerebral vasculature in which constant hemoglobin concentrations were assumed while the second did not. The screening effect of the vasculature was quantified by comparing recovered hemoglobin changes from each model for different optical arrays and regions of activation. A correction factor accounting for the difference between the recovered and the simulated hemoglobin changes was computed in each case. The results show that changes in hemoglobin concentration are better estimated when the extra-cerebral vasculature is modeled and the correction factors obtained in this case were at least 1.4-fold lower. The effect of the vasculature was also examined in a high-density diffuse optical tomography configuration. In this case, the difference between changes in hemoglobin concentration recovered with each model was reduced down to 10%.

Bioelectric source analysis in the human brain from scalp electroencephalography (EEG) signals is sensitive to geometry and conductivity properties of the different head tissues. We propose a low resolution conductivity estimation (LRCE) method using simulated annealing optimization on high resolution finite element models that individually optimizes a realistically-shaped four-layer volume conductor with regard to the brain and skull compartment conductivities. As input data, the method needs T1- and PD-weighted magnetic resonance images for an improved modeling of the skull and the cerebrospinal fluid compartment and evoked potential data with high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Our simulation studies showed that for EEG data with realistic SNR, the LRCE method was able to simultaneously reconstruct both the brain and the skull conductivity together with the underlying dipole source and provided an improved source analysis result. We have also demonstrated the feasibility and applicability of the new method to simultaneously estimate brain and skull conductivity and a somatosensory source from measured tactile somatosensory evoked potentials of a human subject. Our results show the viability of an approach that computes its own conductivity values and thus reduces the dependence on assigning values from the literature and likely produces a more robust estimate of current sources. Using the LRCE method, the individually optimized four-compartment volume conductor model can in a second step be used for the analysis of clinical or cognitive data acquired from the same subject.