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Objective To investigate the abnormalities of brain gray matter volume in patients with clinically-confirmed essential tremor (ET)of the hands only.Methods We analyzed brain gray matter voxel of 1 7 patients (younger than 55 years)with ET of the hands only and 1 7 healthy controls matched in age,gender and education by optimized voxel-based morphometry (VBM).Results VBM showed marked expansion of the bilateral cerebella, occipital fusiform cortices,and precentral lobes (P uncorrected < 0.005 )in ET patients compared with the controls. Atrophy was only detected in left parietal lobe.We also found volume enlargement in the thalamus,midbrain,and melluda of the left side by region of interest (ROI )analysis (P uncorrected <0.005).Conclusion Patients with arm tremor show expansion of gray matter,which might represent the adaptive reorganizational compensation through the increased demand on the visuospatial control of skilled movements in ET patients with early-stage arm tremor. These morphological changes may help to assess early stage and distinguish subtype of ET.
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PURPOSE: To investigate the correlations between Seoul Neuropsychological Screening Battery (SNSB) scores and the gray matter volumes (GMV) in patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD) and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and cognitively normal (CN) elderly subjects with correcting the genotypes. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Total 75 subjects were enrolled with 25 subjects for each group. The apolipoprotein E (APOE) epsilon genotypes, SNSB scores, and the 3D T1-weighted images were obtained from all subjects. Correlations between SNSB scores and GMV were investigated with the multiple regression method for each subject group using both voxel-based and region-of-interest-based analyses with covariates of age, gender, and the genotype. RESULTS: In the AD group, Rey Complex Figure Test (RCFT) delayed recall scores were positively correlated with GMV. In the MCI group, Seoul Verbal Learning Test (SVLT) scores were positively correlated with GMV. In the CN group, GMV negatively correlated with Boston Naming Test (K-BNT) scores and Mini-Mental State Examimation (K-MMSE) scores, but positively correlated with RCFT scores. CONCLUSION: When we used covariates of age, gender, and the genotype, we found statistically significant correlations between some SNSB scores and GMV at some brain regions. It may be necessary to further investigate a longitudinal study to understand the correlation.