0011) (16). Although plane of surgery was an quality control independent predictor of local recurrence, there was no evidence that the benefit of radiation was dependent on the plane of surgery (P=0.3 for trend). The effects of optimal mesorectal resection and radiation were additive, with 3 year local recurrence rate of 1% in patients who had short course preoperative radiotherapy and mesorectal plane of resection. Radiation reduced

local recurrence by greater than 50% regardless of plane of resection. CRM status remains Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical an important indicator of local control in the era of TME, as recognized in NCI consensus guidelines (17). CRM of >2mm is preferable, though the risk of recurrence Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical is likely a continuum, with larger margins at lower risk of recurrence. The presence of close CRM is one factor influencing the decision of whether or not to employ adjuvant radiation therapy, though the MRC CR07

trial suggests that radiation decreases local recurrence even in the setting of CRM >1mm (Table 1). Part of the challenge for treating physicians is deciding on whether the degree of benefit of local control justifies the potential toxicities, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical and the decision to use radiation will depend on a constellation of risk factors rather than margin status alone. MRI scan has been used as a tool to predict negative circumferential margin, with a meta-analysis reporting sensitivity of 94% and specificity of 85% (18). The use of MRI scan to identify patients more likely to benefit from radiation therapy, however, remains investigational. Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Location The anatomic definition of the proximal extent of the rectum is debated. The rectum is extraperitoneal on its posterior surface. The upper one-third of the rectum is covered by the peritoneum on the anterior and lateral surfaces, and the inferior two-thirds of the rectum is completely extraperitoneal.

The proximal extent of the Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical rectum has classically been defined as the peritoneal reflection. The peritoneal reflection cannot be visualized by imaging studies. Rather, it is defined at the time of operation. Therefore, whether or not a tumor is in the true rectum can be challenging to determine prior to surgery. In the adjuvant setting, randomized trials demonstrating a benefit to radiation in stage Entinostat II or III disease have variably defined the rectum as below the peritoneal reflection, below the sacral promontory, <12 cm from the anal verge on rigid proctoscopy, or <16 cm from the anal verge (1), (2), (15), (19), (20), (21), (22). Neoadjuvant trials do not allow for intraoperative evaluation of the peritoneal reflection, and have variably included patients with tumor from <12 cm to <16 cm from the anal verge (15), (21). Yun et al. reported that the average length of the posterior peritoneal reflection from the anal verge at the time of surgery was 14 cm in 46 patients, and it correlated with patient height (23).

Patients’ files were retrospectively reviewed and data were recorded. Characteristics of patients, who were not operated due to any reason and treated with CRT alone or CT following CRT, were assessed. Patients with stage II and III rectal cancer, according to American Joint Committee on Cancer’s (AJCC) Cancer Staging 6th edition 2002 TNM staging system (21) were included in the study. Accordingly, T3-4N0/N+ was selleck products considered locally advanced and, T3-4N0 was considered of stage II, as N+ was stage III. Preoperative evaluations were performed by thoracic,

lower, and upper abdominal computerized tomography (CT), lower abdominal (pelvic) Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), and endorectal ultrasound (US) studies in all patients. Absence of distant metastasis was

confirmed by thoracic, upper, and lower abdominal CT and/or positron emission tomography-computerized tomography (PET-CT). The patients receiving CRT were administered RT in 1.8 Gy/fraction/day dosage for Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical 25 fractions, a total of 45 Gy and in addition they were given 5-fluorourasil (5-FU) 225 mg/m2/day as continuous infusion. The dosage of oxaliplatin was 50 mg/m2/day in cases who received oxaliptalin in addition to RT and 5-FU Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical in CRT protocol. Capecitabine was administered with a dosage of 1,000 mg/m2 every day in cases who received capecitabine instead of 5-FU in CRT protocol. Following CRT, capecitabine Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical was administered as monotherapy with a dosage of 2,500 mg/m2/d for 14 days followed by a 7 day rest. Following CRT, CT was administered in a modified FOLFOX6

regimen was given once in 14 days, including folinic acid 400 mg/m2 + 5-FU 400 mg/m2 bolus + 5-FU 2,400 mg/m2 46 hours of infusion + oxaliplatin 85 mg/m2. Time from diagnosis to progression was defined as progression free survival (PFS) and time from diagnosis to death was defined as overall survival (OS). The statistical analyses of the data were performed by Statistical Package for Social Sciences for Windows (SPSS) Version 15.0 Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical software; and Kaplan-Meier Method was used for PFS and OS analyses. Results The retrospective GSK-3 analyses of 263 patients with rectal cancer were performed. 86 patients (32.6%) with stage II and 177 patients (67.4%) with stage III rectal cancer had a median age of 59 [18-85] years. The patient characteristics are presented in Table 1. Table 1 General characteristics of all patients with locally advanced stage rectal cancer Among those, 14 patients (5.3%) were determined who could not undergo surgery due to any reason, but received CRT or CT following CRT. 4 of them were women (28.6%) and 10 were men (71.4%) and the median age was 72 [42-87] years. All of these 14 patients had CRT, and additional CT was received by 2 (14.3%) patients.

82-84 However, estrogen must be cycled with progesterone to reduce the risk of uterine cancer, and the extent to which exogenous progesterone results in return of PMS symptoms remains unclear. Progesterone treatment, of PMS was advocated for many years, but numerous studies,

including three large randomized controlled trials, failed to show improvement significantly greater than placebo for the mood and behavioral symptoms of PMS.85-87 Anxiolytics Alprazolam and buspirone showed modest efficacy for PMS in some studies,87-91 but not others.92,93 The Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical well-known risk of dependence with alprazolam must be considered, and this medication should be tried only when the patient, has symptoms clearly limited to the luteal phase (so that the medication is stopped for at least 2 weeks in each cycle) and no history of substance abuse. These medications offer an alternative to antidepressants, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical but the extent to which patients who fail to respond to antidepressants respond to these anxiolytics is not known. Nonpharmacologic approaches Numerous nonpharmacologic approaches have been

advocated for PMS, but few are supported by solid empirical Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical evidence.94 A large study of calcium supplementation (600 mg twice daily) for PMS reduced premenstrual depression, fatigue, edema, and pain significantly more than the placebo. However, the severity of the dysphoric mood symptoms was not indicated, and further information is required to determine the efficacy of this promotion info treatment for premenstrual dysphorias.95 A meta-analysis showed that vitamin B6 was about twice as likely as placebo to improve PMS symptoms Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical overall, with an odds ratio for improvement, in depressive symptoms of 1.69, but the researchers concluded that the quality of the studies was too poor to have confidence in the results.96 There was no significant dose response, indicating that the amount of

vitamin B6 did not affect improvement, and reports of peripheral neuropathies with doses exceeding 200 mg preclude the use Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical of megadoses.96 Several reports of cognitive therapies show improvement of premenstrual symptoms.94 Other complementary and alternative therapies showed no convincing evidence of efficacy for PMS in a review of randomized controlled trials (dietary supplements, 13 trials; herbal Bicalutamide CAS medicines, 7 trials; biofeedback, 2 trials; homeopathy, Carfilzomib relaxation, massage, reflexology, and chiropractic, 1 trial each).97 Emerging from a long history with little understanding and many treatments of doubtful effect, clinically significant PMS is now recognized as a chronic disorder that impairs functioning and personal relationships for a sizeable number of women. Serotonergic antidepressants are the first-line treatment at this time. Using these medications only in the symptomatic luteal phase is effective for women without, other comorbid disorders.

2009; Ziegenhorn et al. 2007]. Furthermore, Kim and colleagues and Lee and Kim investigated BDNF levels in the plasma of depressive BET bromodomain inhibitor patients and also found unchanged levels [Kim et al. 2007; Lee and Kim, 2008]. We had difficulties in comparing our results with those of the other studies since subtypes of depression were not defined or evaluated as separate groups in almost all of the studies. Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical We found

that patients with recurrent depressive episodes have lower BDNF serum levels compared with patients with a single episode and healthy controls. This finding is in line with the study of Dell’Osso and colleagues who stated that patients who were suffering from a recurrent episode had significantly lower levels of plasma BDNF [Dell’Osso et al. 2010]. Kauer-Sant’Anna and colleagues have shown that bipolar patients later in the course of their illness have greater decrements in BDNF compared with those earlier in the illness, suggesting a possible cumulative deficit in BDNF after multiple episodes Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical [Kauer-Sant’Anna et al. 2009]. Furthermore, there are several studies indicating that BDNF levels correlate negatively with increased severity of depression [Karege et al. 2002; Shimizu

et al. 2003; Gonul et al. 2005; Dell’Osso et al. 2010; Bus et al. 2011]. However, we also assessed the severity of depression with the use of HDRS and did not find any relation between the severity of depression and BDNF levels. This finding was in line with the study of Lee and colleagues Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical [Lee et al. 2007]. The number of studies investigating the association

of VEGF with depression is limited. Kahl and colleagues found increased concentrations of VEGF in nonmedicated depressive patients with borderline personality disorder in comparison with healthy controls [Kahl et al. 2009]. Iga and colleagues had previously Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical suggested that a higher expression of VEGF mRNA in the peripheral leucocytes might be associated with the depressive state [Iga et al. 2007]. Takebayashi and colleagues reported that plasma VEGF levels were increased significantly in MDD patients compared with matched controls [Takebayashi et Dacomitinib al. 2010]. However, patients were taking psychotrophic add to favorites agents in the last two studies. In parallel with our findings Dome and colleagues and Ventriglia and colleagues did not find any significant differences in serum VEGF levels between the MDD patients and healthy controls [Dome et al. 2008; Ventriglia et al. 2009]. In a recent animal study, Elfving and colleagues reported that VEGF levels were significantly decreased in the hippocampus and frontal cortex of a genetic depression rat model [Elfving et al. 2010]; however, no such difference was observed in serum levels of VEGF.

However, in multiple logistic regression analysis comparing PSDEP with non-PSDEP, PSDEP did not appear to be related to Retardation, which corresponds with a recent report [Keller et al. 2006], and only with

the dimension of Emotional Dysregulation. The latter finding corresponds with the hierarchic structure that has repeatedly been found for the nonpsychotic symptoms of patients with a depression with psychotic features [Surtees and Kendell, 1979]. In fact, Emotional Dysregulation appeared only to be negatively related Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical to NE after accounting for the effect of the high Emotional Dysregulation inherent to PSDEP. The use of the dimensions of Anxiety, Retardation and Emotional Dysregulation as covariates therefore enabled a rigorous test of our hypotheses. The finding of patients with melancholic PSDEP having the strongest relation

with plasma NE concentration, while not being better characterized by correlating NE and AVP concentrations Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical than the whole subcategory of PSDEP, may suggest a weakness of the diagnostic criteria Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical for melancholic depression. The data warrant further investigation of the most specific nonpsychotic symptoms involved in PSDEP. In all analyses, Paclitaxel structure smoking habit and the use of tricyclic antidepressant therapy appeared to be highly significant confounders of plasma NE. The negative relation that we found with smoking habit does not seem to correspond to the increasing effect on NE of smoking one cigarette [Grassi et al. 1994] or chronic smoking [Christensen Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical and Jensen, 1995; Christensen and Knudsen, 1998] in subjects without depression. However, a comparison of the upper level of the data (see Figure 2) suggests that the negative correlation that we found in patients with depression particularly www.selleckchem.com/products/FTY720.html pertains to high levels of NE in the range above ±320 pg/ml and Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical not to the lower levels that were found in the investigation of subjects without depression [Christensen and Jensen, 1995; Christensen and Knudsen,

1998]. These data correspond with an antinoradrenergic effect of smoking in several conditions of high noradrenergic activation, like PSDEP and the use of tricyclic antidepressant Dacomitinib treatment. The finding of high plasma NE during tricyclic antidepressant therapy corresponds with previous findings for desipramine in depression [Veith et al. 1994]. Although the number of patients with PSDEP on tricyclic treatment was very small, the effects of PSDEP and tricyclic treatment seemed to be additive. The absence of a negative effect of SSRI treatment in this study corresponds with the nonsignificant effect found previously in patients with depression [Barton et al. 2007]. Figure 2. Relations between plasma norepinephrine and smoking habit. Potential causes of increased noradrenergic activation in psychotic depression Part of the increased noradrenergic activation in PSDEP may be genetically determined [Keller et al.

Patients’ predisposition to hyponatremia and consecutive seizures despite anticonvulsant, treatment may be increased.51 Other newer substances, eg, gabapentin and topiramate, show promise from case studies; however, randomized studies are still Tofacitinib lacking.28-52 Smoking cessation A very recent

field with potential usefulness of some new anticonvulsants is smoking cessation. Due to 2-(aminomethyl)phenylacetic acid AMPA/kainate antagonism, topiramate has been assumed to be a potential candidate medication. A small open study by Khazaal et al53 supports this assumption; however, in briefly abstinent smokers topiramate may also enhance withdrawal and rewarding effects when Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical relapsing, thus calling into question its usefulness.54 selleck chemical anxiety disorders and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) A broad area for the use of antiepileptic drugs in psychiatry is anxiety disorders, especially generalized anxiety (GAD), social phobia and panic attacks, as well as post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). This area has been most recently Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical comprehensively reviewed by Mula et al.16 Repetitive activation and kindling of brain structures Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical involved in fear responses, such as the amygdala and the hippocampus, may result in an inadequate, excitatory output, similar to that observed in epilepsy.

Thus, ACs could be of potential value by limiting this excessive activation. Open studies provide some limited evidence for the usefulness of carbamazepine in PTSD,55-57 whereas for other Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical anxiety syndromes the evidence is vague or negative (eg, for panic disorder58). For valproate, one controlled study and several open studies reported efficacy in panic disorder alone or when accompanied by mood symptoms.59 Lum60 compared valproate with placebo for 6 weeks. He observed Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical a significant reduction in the intensity and the duration of panic attacks. However, this

study is clearly limited by the small number of patients (n=12). Also of interest is an open study by Keck.61 In patients with a history of panic attacks, panic attacks were induced by lactate infusions. After treatment, with valproate for 1 month, almost half of the patients were free of spontaneous panic attacks, and 10 out of 12 patients tested no longer developed panic attacks provoked by lactate infusions. For other anxiety syndromes and PTSD, evidence is again restricted Cilengitide to open-label trials (eg, ref 62) and case series. Moderate evidence stemming from a small, but controlled study exists for the use of lamotrigine in PTSD63; however, no proper-sized randomized studies have been conducted so far. Another double-blind, placebo-controlled trial assessed efficacy and safety of topiramate monotherapy in civilian posttraumatic stress disorder and found evidence supporting topiramate’s efficacy.

The same Annier CPR simulated dummies were used in the test. Statistical processing The SPSS15.0 software system was used in data processing. The measured materials were expressed with x- ± s, and analyzed by t Test; the calculated materials were tested by χ2, and the influence factors were analyzed by multi-factor Logistic repression method, and P<0.05 referred to the distinct

difference in statistics. Results According to the testing indexes of compression depth, frequency and released pressure between compressions, 86.4% of the medical volunteers met the standard requirements of performance, and only 31.9% of the medical workers in the compared group could Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical meet the standard requirements of performance. In terms of tested unilateral indexes, the pass rate of volunteers was much Sorafenib Tosylate msds higher

than that of ordinary medical workers, as could be shown in Table Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical ​Table11. Table 1 Comparison of Two Ponatinib Bcr-Abl groups in Performance Qualities There were no distinct differences between the two groups in the average number of practical compression per minute. Compared with that of ordinary medical workers, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical the time of ventilation used by the volunteers was shorter. There was no difference between the two groups in the total time used in 5 CPR, which were 118.4±18.5s and 116.0±5.4s. There was no distinct difference between the two groups in the number of practical compression per minute, as could be shown in Table ​Table22. Table 2 Comparison of Number of Practical Compression Per Minute & Time Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical of Compression and Ventilation (x- ± s) Note: Compared with those ordinary medical workers/

doctors t=4.41, *P<0.05 The factors which could influence CPR performance were given parameters, including gender (male=0, female=1) and age (≤30y=0, 31y~45y=1, ≥46y=2); proper hand skill, posture and position, and attending repeating standard training were given 0, and on the contrary they were given 1.The tested results of multi-factor parameters were put into Logistic Repression Model and analyzed. The results showed that such factors as the hand skill, posture of compression and repeating training had clear relationship with CPR performance qualities, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical as could be shown in Table ​Table33. Table 3 Logistic Repression Analysis of CPR Performance Entinostat Discussion CPR is one of the most important emergency techniques. Proper, immediate and effective CPR is the key to resuscitation, and it should be popularized as an important item in public health care. The emergency work is very important in meetings, ceremonies, sports games and so on. Before Mt. Taishan International Mounting Festival was held, the medical volunteers were experienced repeating trainings of emergency theories and techniques for six months. The study selected 52 medical volunteers at random and tested their CPR performance, and compared them with those of ordinary medical workers who had been working in emergency department in 3 hospitals of Taian.

158 Summary The goal of this review is to highlight consistencies in the ASD fMRI literature. Given the array of imaging tasks reviewed, it is perhaps not surprising that findings are heterogenous. Despite variations in findings, there is a sufficient degree of consistency to draw a number of substantive conclusions. Studies of social processes have generally found evidence of hypoactivation in nodes of the “social Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical brain,” including the medial prefrontal cortex, the inferior frontal gyrus and the anterior insula, the posterior superior temporal sulcus, the interparietal sulcus, the amygdala, and the fusiform gyrus. Studies addressing cognitive control,

designed to address neural mechanisms underlying restricted and repetitive behaviors and interests, have converged on aberrant frontostriatal functioning in ASDs, specifically Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical in inferior and middle frontal gyri, anterior cingulate cortex, and the basal ganglia. Communication impairments in ASDs have been linked to differential patterns of language Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical function lateralization, decreased synchrony- of brain regions www.selleckchem.com/products/Lenalidomide.html processing language, and recruitment of brain regions that do not typically processing language. Reward processing studies have highlighted mesolimbic and mesocortical

impairments when processing both social and nonsocial incentives in ASDs. Finally, task-based functional connectivity Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical studies in ASDs have reported local overconnectivity and long-distance (ie, between frontal and posterior regions) underconnectivity-, whereas resting state connectivity studies indicate decreased anterior-posterior connectivity and less coherent endogenous low-frequency oscillations across multiple regions. Future directions Most studies reviewed here focus on adulthood or adolescence, yet ASDs are present from very early childhood. It will be critical to address developmental profiles in children with ASDs to disambiguate proximal effects of altered brain function from downstream effects on learning and motivation. There also may be critical

Carfilzomib periods during early development Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical when brain dysfunction creates a predisposition to develop a number of disorders, and understanding factors that influence these processes will be essential for the prevention of symptom onset. Indeed, emerging techniques allow for functional brain imaging in children as young as 12 months old, and future studies that focus on young samples are needed. Additionally, most studies reviewed here contain small samples, and larger samples will be needed to identify meaningful subgroups and track developmental profiles. Given the high costs associated with brain imaging and challenges recruiting large pediatric patient samples, it will be critical to leverage available bioinformatics tools to facilitate data sharing across reference 4 research groups.

Digital video images of the underside of mice were recorded at ˜150 frames per sec. Each image represents ˜7 msec of locomotion; the paw area indicates the temporal placement of the paw relative to the treadmill belt. The color images were converted to their binary matrix equivalents and the areas of the approaching

or retreating paws relative to the belt and camera were calculated throughout each stride. The plotted area of each digital paw print (paw contact area) imaged sequentially in time provides a dynamic gait signal, representing the temporal record of paw placement Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical relative to the treadmill belt. Each gait signal for each limb comprises a stride duration that includes the stance duration when the paw of a limb is in contact with the walking

surface, plus the swing duration when the Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical paw of the same limb is not in contact with the walking surface. Stance duration was further subdivided into braking duration (selleck chem inhibitor defined as increasing paw contact area over time) and propulsion duration (defined as decreasing paw contact area over time). Stride frequency was calculated from the number of gait signals (see above) over time (Fig. ​(Fig.2a).2a). Stride length was calculated from the following equation: speed = stride frequency X stride Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical length. Stance widths and paw placement angles at full stance were obtained by fitting ellipses to the paws and determining the centers, vertices, and major axes of the ellipses. Forelimb and hind limb stance widths were calculated as the perpendicular distance between the major axis of the left and right fore paw images and between the major axis of the

left and right hind paw images during peak stance. Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical Paw placement angle was calculated as the angle that the long axis of a paw makes with the direction of motion of the animal during peak stance (Fig. Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical ​(Fig.2b).2b). Gait data were collected and selleck chemicals llc pooled from both the left and right forelimbs, and the left and right hindlimbs. Figure 2 (A) Lateral view of a right hind paw during one stride depicting instances of time in swing and stance. Stance is comprised of braking and propulsion. (B) Paw Placement Angle is measured between the long axis through the hind paw and a line drawn through … Measures of stride-to-stride variability (gait variability) for stride length, stance Brefeldin_A width, and paw placement angle were determined as the standard deviation and the coefficient of variation (CV). The standard deviation reflects the dispersion about the average value for a parameter. CV, expressed as a%, was calculated from the following equation: 100× standard deviation/mean value. The maximal rates of change of area with respect to time, during the braking phase (+dA/dtmax) and during the propulsion phase (−dA/dtmin) of stance, were also determined.

The ability to differentiate between gray and white matter tissue had to await the introduction of magnetic resonance imaging (Figure 2). Parenthetically, and of historical interest here, following the introduction of CT, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), as it was called then, was developed in the early 1970s based on the work of Peter Mansfield14 and Paul Lauterbur.15 These individuals went on to share the Nobel Prize in Z-VAD-FMK FDA medicine in

2003 for their independent contributions to the seminal ideas that led to MRI and its application, in vivo, to humans. Importantly, MRI has no known adverse effects (ie, no radiation as in X-rays and CT), and it is a far more Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical powerful tool than CT for visualizing soft tissue contrast in the brain and body. Figure 1. This CT scan shows separation of brain from fluid, including CSF and blood. This is a CT scan, post-contrast, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical of a patient with a bleed from an aneurysm (black color is blood and CSF). CT, computed tomography; CSF, cerebrospinal

fluid Figure 2. This MR scan shows one coronal slice Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical through the superior aspects of the lateral ventricles. Note the clear differentiation between gray and white matter. Gray matter appears gray and can be seen in the ribbon around the selleck catalog cortex, as well as in subcortical … The first MR scanners were built in the 1980s, with, as noted above, the first MRI of a patient with schizophrenia performed in 1984. These early MR images of the brain were quite poor in resolution, with slices as thick as 1 cm, and they did not cover the entire brain. This is in contrast to major advances in technology today, where 1-mm slice thickness is common, Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical and it is relatively easy to image the entire brain in a relatively short period of time. Today, in fact, MR scanners Inhibitors,research,lifescience,medical are used routinely to measure tissue properties in the brain and body at submillimeter spatial resolution, based on the NMR of

hydrogen in the magnetic field. Put even more into perspective, the ability to examine the inner workings of the human body was limited, historically, to the study of cadavers. Advances in medical imaging technology, however, have provided researchers with a new window into the living human body. Such advances have revolutionized nearly every Brefeldin_A area of medicine, with psychiatry in the forefront of this revolution. These advances include both dramatic improvements in image resolution and the development of novel imaging techniques, from CT to positron emission tomography (PET), to single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), to MRI, including functional MRI (fMRI) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), to magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), and ultrasound – all of which provide an unprecedented view, in exquisite detail, of anatomical structures and/or functions in the living human.