Mario Quarantelli - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
Papers by Mario Quarantelli
Insights Into Imaging, Dec 17, 2022
Frontiers in Neurology, Aug 17, 2018
European Journal of Neurology, Nov 1, 2016
npj Parkinson's Disease
To assess if the severity of nigrostriatal innervation loss affects the functional connectivity (... more To assess if the severity of nigrostriatal innervation loss affects the functional connectivity (FC) of the sensorimotor cortico-striato-thalamic-cortical loop (CSTCL) in Parkinson’s Disease (PD), Resting-State functional MRI and 18F-DOPA PET data, simultaneously acquired on a hybrid PET/MRI scanner, were retrospectively analyzed in 39 PD and 16 essential tremor patients. Correlations between posterior Putamen DOPA Uptake (pPDU) and the FC of the main CSTCL hubs were assessed separately in the two groups, analyzing the differences between the two groups by a group-by-pPDU interaction analysis of the resulting clusters’ FC. Unlike in essential tremor, in PD patients pPDU correlated inversely with the FC of the thalamus with the sensorimotor cortices, and of the postcentral gyrus with the dorsal cerebellum, and directly with the FC of pre- and post-central gyri with both the superior and middle temporal gyri and the paracentral lobule, and of the caudate with the superior parietal cor...
Diagnostics
Moving from the central role of the thalamus in the integration of inner and external stimuli and... more Moving from the central role of the thalamus in the integration of inner and external stimuli and in the implementation of a stress-related response, the objective of the present study was to investigate the presence of any MRI structural and volumetric changes of the thalamic structures in earthquake witnesses. Forty-one subjects were included, namely 18 university students belonging to the experimental earthquake-exposed group (8 males and 10 females, mean age 24.5 ± 1.8 years) and a control group of 23 students not living in any earthquake-affected areas at the time of the earthquake (14 males and 9 females, mean age 23.7 ± 2.0 years). Instrumental MRI evaluation was performed using a 3-Tesla scanner, by acquiring a three-dimensional fast spoiled gradient-echo (FSPGR) sequence for volumetric analysis and an EPI (echoplanar imaging) sequence to extract fractional anisotropy (FA) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values. As compared to the control one, the experimental group...
Biology, Mar 24, 2022
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
Journal of Clinical Medicine, 2021
Deficit schizophrenia is a subtype of schizophrenia presenting primary and enduring negative symp... more Deficit schizophrenia is a subtype of schizophrenia presenting primary and enduring negative symptoms (NS). Although one of the most updated hypotheses indicates a relationship between NS and impaired motivation, only a few studies have investigated abnormalities of motivational circuits in subjects with deficit schizophrenia (DS). Our aim was to investigate structural connectivity within motivational circuits in DS. We analyzed diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data from 46 subjects with schizophrenia (SCZ) and 35 healthy controls (HCs). SCZ were classified as DS (n = 9) and non-deficit (NDS) (n = 37) using the Schedule for Deficit Syndrome. The connectivity index (CI) and the Fractional Anisotropy (FA) of the connections between selected brain areas involved in motivational circuits were examined. DS, as compared with NDS and HCs, showed increased CI between the right amygdala and dorsal anterior insular cortex and increased FA of the pathway connecting the left nucleus accumbens wit...
Neuroradiology, 2020
Purpose The clinical presentation of idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) may overlap ... more Purpose The clinical presentation of idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) may overlap with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). The Magnetic Resonance Parkinsonism Index (MRPI), MRPI 2.0, and the interpeduncular angle (IPA) have been investigated to differentiate PSP from healthy controls (HC) and other parkinsonisms. We aimed to assess equivalences and differences in MRPI, MRPI 2.0, and IPA in iNPH, PSP, and HC groups. Methods We retrospectively recruited 99 subjects (30 iNPH, 32 PSP, 37 HC) from two institutions. MRI exams, acquired on either 1.5 T or 3 T scanners, included 3D T1-weighted images to measure MRPI, MRPI 2.0, and IPA. Inter- and intra-rater reliability was investigated with the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC), and the two one-sided t tests (TOST) procedure was used to assess these markers in iNPH, PSP, and HC. Results For all the three measures, intra-rater and inter-rater ICC were excellent (range = 0.91–0.93). In the comparison of iNPH and PSP ...
![Research paper thumbnail of In vivo imaging of CNS microglial activation/macrophage infiltration with combined [18F]DPA-714-PET and SPIO-MRI in a mouse model of relapsing remitting experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis](https://attachments.academia-assets.com/117956552/thumbnails/1.jpg)
](European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, 2020
PurposeTo evaluate the feasibility and sensitivity of multimodality PET/CT and MRI imaging for no... more PurposeTo evaluate the feasibility and sensitivity of multimodality PET/CT and MRI imaging for non-invasive characterization of brain microglial/macrophage activation occurring during the acute phase in a mouse model of relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RR-MS) using [18F]DPA-714, a selective radioligand for the 18-kDa translocator protein (TSPO), superparamagnetic iron oxide particles (SPIO), and ex vivo immunohistochemistry.MethodsExperimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) was induced in female SJL/J mice by immunization with PLP139–151. Seven symptomatic EAE mice and five controls underwent both PET/CT and MRI studies between 11 and 14 days post-immunization. SPIO was injected i.v. in the same animals immediately after [18F]DPA-714 and MRI acquisition was performed after 24 h. Regional brain volumes were defined according to a mouse brain atlas on co-registered PET and SPIO-MRI images. [18F]DPA-714 standardized uptake value (SUV) ratios (SUVR), with unaffected neocortex...
NeuroImage: Clinical, 2020
Frontiers in neurology, 2018
Lysosomal storage disorders (LSD) are often characterized by abnormal brain development, reflecte... more Lysosomal storage disorders (LSD) are often characterized by abnormal brain development, reflected by a reduction of intracranial volume (ICV). The aim of our study was to perform a volumetric analysis of intracranial tissues in Fabry Disease (FD), investigating possible reductions of ICV as a potential expression of abnormal brain development in this condition. Forty-two FD patients (15 males, mean age 43.3 ± 13.0 years) were enrolled along with 38 healthy controls (HC) of comparable age and sex. Volumetric MRI data were segmented using SPM12 to obtain intracranial tissue volumes, from which ICV values were derived. Mean ICV of FD patients was 8.1% smaller compared to the control group ( < 5·10). Unlike what typically happens in neurodegenerative disorders, no significant differences emerged when comparing between the two groups the fractional volumes of gray matter, white matter and CSF (i.e., normalized by ICV), consistent with a harmonious volumetric reduction of intracranial...
NeuroImage, 2018
Simultaneously evaluating resting-state brain glucose metabolism and intrinsic functional activit... more Simultaneously evaluating resting-state brain glucose metabolism and intrinsic functional activity has potential to impact the clinical neurosciences of Alzheimer Disease (AD). Indeed, integrating such combined information obtained in the same physiological setting may clarify how impairments in neuroenergetic and neuronal function interact and contribute to the mechanisms underlying AD. The present study used this multimodality approach to investigate, by means of a hybrid PET/MR scanner, the coupling between glucose consumption and intrinsic functional activity in 23 patients with AD-related cognitive impairment ranging from amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to mild-moderate AD (aMCI/AD), in comparison with a group of 23 healthy elderly controls. Between-group (Controls > Patients) comparisons were conducted on data from both imaging modalities using voxelwise 2-sample t-tests, corrected for partial-volume effects, head motion, age, gender and multiple tests. FDG-PET/fMR...
Indian Journal of Nuclear Medicine, 2016
European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, 2016
Investigative ophthalmology & visual science, 2015
To assess whether and to what extent macro- and/or microstructural modifications are present in t... more To assess whether and to what extent macro- and/or microstructural modifications are present in the brain of patients with selective central visual loss due to a juvenile macular degeneration, Stargardt's disease (STGD), taking advantage of the complementary information provided by voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Eighteen patients with clinical and molecular diagnosis of STGD related to ABCA4 mutations and 23 normally sighted volunteers of comparable age and sex were enrolled. Structural T1-weighted (T1w) volumes, for brain tissue volume assessment by segmentation, and DTI, for the investigation of diffusivity parameters via a tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) procedure, were acquired at 3 Tesla in all subjects. All patients underwent a complete ophthalmologic examination, including best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), biomicroscopy, ophthalmoscopy, electroretinography (ERG), microperimetry, and optical coherence tomography (OCT). Correlatio...
Clinical and Translational Imaging, 2015
Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD, 2014
Anterior communicating artery (ACoA) syndrome, which may occur after rupture of ACoA aneurysms, c... more Anterior communicating artery (ACoA) syndrome, which may occur after rupture of ACoA aneurysms, consists of anterograde memory problems, executive dysfunctions, confabulations, and personality changes. Recently, the employment of diffusion tensor tractography (DTT) has related ACoA to microstructural lesions in the cingulum and the fornix, but an accurate characterization of these subjects should be provided. We report the clinical and neuropsychological findings of a patient who developed a severe and persistent amnesia together with significant behavioral changes, as well as her imaging results, where the sole evidence of brain damage was that of the fornix demonstrated by DTT. The four-year neuropsychological follow-up of the subject allows exclusion of other causes. This case demonstrates that microstructural lesions of fornix may lead to persistent amnesia, executive impairments, and behavioral changes and contributes to the knowledge of its role in cognition.
Radiotherapy and oncology : journal of the European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, 2014
To implement and evaluate a magnetic resonance imaging atlas-based automated segmentation (MRI-AB... more To implement and evaluate a magnetic resonance imaging atlas-based automated segmentation (MRI-ABAS) procedure for cortical and sub-cortical grey matter areas definition, suitable for dose-distribution analyses in brain tumor patients undergoing radiotherapy (RT). 3T-MRI scans performed before RT in ten brain tumor patients were used. The MRI-ABAS procedure consists of grey matter classification and atlas-based regions of interest definition. The Simultaneous Truth and Performance Level Estimation (STAPLE) algorithm was applied to structures manually delineated by four experts to generate the standard reference. Performance was assessed comparing multiple geometrical metrics (including Dice Similarity Coefficient - DSC). Dosimetric parameters from dose-volume-histograms were also generated and compared. Compared with manual delineation, MRI-ABAS showed excellent reproducibility [median DSCABAS=1 (95% CI, 0.97-1.0) vs. DSCMANUAL=0.90 (0.73-0.98)], acceptable accuracy [DSCABAS=0.81 (0...
Schizophrenia Bulletin, 2007
Negative symptoms of schizophrenia have generally been found in association with ventricular enla... more Negative symptoms of schizophrenia have generally been found in association with ventricular enlargement and prefrontal abnormalities. These relationships, however, have not been observed consistently, most probably because negative symptoms are heterogeneous and result from different pathophysiological mechanisms. The concept of deficit schizophrenia (DS) was introduced by Carpenter et al to identify a clinically homogeneous subgroup of patients characterized by the presence of primary and enduring negative symptoms. Findings of brain structural abnormalities reported by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies focusing on DS have been mixed. The present study included 34 patients with DS, 32 with nondeficit schizophrenia (NDS), and 31 healthy comparison subjects, providing the largest set of MRI findings in DS published so far. The Schedule for the Deficit Syndrome was used to categorize patients as DS or NDS patients. The 2 patient groups were matched on age and gender and did not differ on clinical variables, except for higher scores on the negative dimension and more impaired interpersonal relationships in DS than in NDS subjects. Lateral ventricles were larger in NDS than in control subjects but were not enlarged in patients with DS. The cingulate gyri volume was smaller in NDS but not in DS patients as compared with healthy subjects. Both groups had smaller dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and temporal lobes than healthy subjects, but DS patients had significantly less right temporal lobe volume as compared with NDS patients. These findings do not support the hypothesis that DS is the extreme end of a severity continuum within schizophrenia.
Insights Into Imaging, Dec 17, 2022
Frontiers in Neurology, Aug 17, 2018
European Journal of Neurology, Nov 1, 2016
npj Parkinson's Disease
To assess if the severity of nigrostriatal innervation loss affects the functional connectivity (... more To assess if the severity of nigrostriatal innervation loss affects the functional connectivity (FC) of the sensorimotor cortico-striato-thalamic-cortical loop (CSTCL) in Parkinson’s Disease (PD), Resting-State functional MRI and 18F-DOPA PET data, simultaneously acquired on a hybrid PET/MRI scanner, were retrospectively analyzed in 39 PD and 16 essential tremor patients. Correlations between posterior Putamen DOPA Uptake (pPDU) and the FC of the main CSTCL hubs were assessed separately in the two groups, analyzing the differences between the two groups by a group-by-pPDU interaction analysis of the resulting clusters’ FC. Unlike in essential tremor, in PD patients pPDU correlated inversely with the FC of the thalamus with the sensorimotor cortices, and of the postcentral gyrus with the dorsal cerebellum, and directly with the FC of pre- and post-central gyri with both the superior and middle temporal gyri and the paracentral lobule, and of the caudate with the superior parietal cor...
Diagnostics
Moving from the central role of the thalamus in the integration of inner and external stimuli and... more Moving from the central role of the thalamus in the integration of inner and external stimuli and in the implementation of a stress-related response, the objective of the present study was to investigate the presence of any MRI structural and volumetric changes of the thalamic structures in earthquake witnesses. Forty-one subjects were included, namely 18 university students belonging to the experimental earthquake-exposed group (8 males and 10 females, mean age 24.5 ± 1.8 years) and a control group of 23 students not living in any earthquake-affected areas at the time of the earthquake (14 males and 9 females, mean age 23.7 ± 2.0 years). Instrumental MRI evaluation was performed using a 3-Tesla scanner, by acquiring a three-dimensional fast spoiled gradient-echo (FSPGR) sequence for volumetric analysis and an EPI (echoplanar imaging) sequence to extract fractional anisotropy (FA) and apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values. As compared to the control one, the experimental group...
Biology, Mar 24, 2022
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative... more This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY
Journal of Clinical Medicine, 2021
Deficit schizophrenia is a subtype of schizophrenia presenting primary and enduring negative symp... more Deficit schizophrenia is a subtype of schizophrenia presenting primary and enduring negative symptoms (NS). Although one of the most updated hypotheses indicates a relationship between NS and impaired motivation, only a few studies have investigated abnormalities of motivational circuits in subjects with deficit schizophrenia (DS). Our aim was to investigate structural connectivity within motivational circuits in DS. We analyzed diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) data from 46 subjects with schizophrenia (SCZ) and 35 healthy controls (HCs). SCZ were classified as DS (n = 9) and non-deficit (NDS) (n = 37) using the Schedule for Deficit Syndrome. The connectivity index (CI) and the Fractional Anisotropy (FA) of the connections between selected brain areas involved in motivational circuits were examined. DS, as compared with NDS and HCs, showed increased CI between the right amygdala and dorsal anterior insular cortex and increased FA of the pathway connecting the left nucleus accumbens wit...
Neuroradiology, 2020
Purpose The clinical presentation of idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) may overlap ... more Purpose The clinical presentation of idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) may overlap with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP). The Magnetic Resonance Parkinsonism Index (MRPI), MRPI 2.0, and the interpeduncular angle (IPA) have been investigated to differentiate PSP from healthy controls (HC) and other parkinsonisms. We aimed to assess equivalences and differences in MRPI, MRPI 2.0, and IPA in iNPH, PSP, and HC groups. Methods We retrospectively recruited 99 subjects (30 iNPH, 32 PSP, 37 HC) from two institutions. MRI exams, acquired on either 1.5 T or 3 T scanners, included 3D T1-weighted images to measure MRPI, MRPI 2.0, and IPA. Inter- and intra-rater reliability was investigated with the intra-class correlation coefficient (ICC), and the two one-sided t tests (TOST) procedure was used to assess these markers in iNPH, PSP, and HC. Results For all the three measures, intra-rater and inter-rater ICC were excellent (range = 0.91–0.93). In the comparison of iNPH and PSP ...
European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, 2020
PurposeTo evaluate the feasibility and sensitivity of multimodality PET/CT and MRI imaging for no... more PurposeTo evaluate the feasibility and sensitivity of multimodality PET/CT and MRI imaging for non-invasive characterization of brain microglial/macrophage activation occurring during the acute phase in a mouse model of relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis (RR-MS) using [18F]DPA-714, a selective radioligand for the 18-kDa translocator protein (TSPO), superparamagnetic iron oxide particles (SPIO), and ex vivo immunohistochemistry.MethodsExperimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) was induced in female SJL/J mice by immunization with PLP139–151. Seven symptomatic EAE mice and five controls underwent both PET/CT and MRI studies between 11 and 14 days post-immunization. SPIO was injected i.v. in the same animals immediately after [18F]DPA-714 and MRI acquisition was performed after 24 h. Regional brain volumes were defined according to a mouse brain atlas on co-registered PET and SPIO-MRI images. [18F]DPA-714 standardized uptake value (SUV) ratios (SUVR), with unaffected neocortex...
NeuroImage: Clinical, 2020
Frontiers in neurology, 2018
Lysosomal storage disorders (LSD) are often characterized by abnormal brain development, reflecte... more Lysosomal storage disorders (LSD) are often characterized by abnormal brain development, reflected by a reduction of intracranial volume (ICV). The aim of our study was to perform a volumetric analysis of intracranial tissues in Fabry Disease (FD), investigating possible reductions of ICV as a potential expression of abnormal brain development in this condition. Forty-two FD patients (15 males, mean age 43.3 ± 13.0 years) were enrolled along with 38 healthy controls (HC) of comparable age and sex. Volumetric MRI data were segmented using SPM12 to obtain intracranial tissue volumes, from which ICV values were derived. Mean ICV of FD patients was 8.1% smaller compared to the control group ( < 5·10). Unlike what typically happens in neurodegenerative disorders, no significant differences emerged when comparing between the two groups the fractional volumes of gray matter, white matter and CSF (i.e., normalized by ICV), consistent with a harmonious volumetric reduction of intracranial...
NeuroImage, 2018
Simultaneously evaluating resting-state brain glucose metabolism and intrinsic functional activit... more Simultaneously evaluating resting-state brain glucose metabolism and intrinsic functional activity has potential to impact the clinical neurosciences of Alzheimer Disease (AD). Indeed, integrating such combined information obtained in the same physiological setting may clarify how impairments in neuroenergetic and neuronal function interact and contribute to the mechanisms underlying AD. The present study used this multimodality approach to investigate, by means of a hybrid PET/MR scanner, the coupling between glucose consumption and intrinsic functional activity in 23 patients with AD-related cognitive impairment ranging from amnestic mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to mild-moderate AD (aMCI/AD), in comparison with a group of 23 healthy elderly controls. Between-group (Controls > Patients) comparisons were conducted on data from both imaging modalities using voxelwise 2-sample t-tests, corrected for partial-volume effects, head motion, age, gender and multiple tests. FDG-PET/fMR...
Indian Journal of Nuclear Medicine, 2016
European Journal of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging, 2016
Investigative ophthalmology & visual science, 2015
To assess whether and to what extent macro- and/or microstructural modifications are present in t... more To assess whether and to what extent macro- and/or microstructural modifications are present in the brain of patients with selective central visual loss due to a juvenile macular degeneration, Stargardt's disease (STGD), taking advantage of the complementary information provided by voxel-based morphometry (VBM) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). Eighteen patients with clinical and molecular diagnosis of STGD related to ABCA4 mutations and 23 normally sighted volunteers of comparable age and sex were enrolled. Structural T1-weighted (T1w) volumes, for brain tissue volume assessment by segmentation, and DTI, for the investigation of diffusivity parameters via a tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) procedure, were acquired at 3 Tesla in all subjects. All patients underwent a complete ophthalmologic examination, including best-corrected visual acuity (BCVA), biomicroscopy, ophthalmoscopy, electroretinography (ERG), microperimetry, and optical coherence tomography (OCT). Correlatio...
Clinical and Translational Imaging, 2015
Journal of Alzheimer's disease : JAD, 2014
Anterior communicating artery (ACoA) syndrome, which may occur after rupture of ACoA aneurysms, c... more Anterior communicating artery (ACoA) syndrome, which may occur after rupture of ACoA aneurysms, consists of anterograde memory problems, executive dysfunctions, confabulations, and personality changes. Recently, the employment of diffusion tensor tractography (DTT) has related ACoA to microstructural lesions in the cingulum and the fornix, but an accurate characterization of these subjects should be provided. We report the clinical and neuropsychological findings of a patient who developed a severe and persistent amnesia together with significant behavioral changes, as well as her imaging results, where the sole evidence of brain damage was that of the fornix demonstrated by DTT. The four-year neuropsychological follow-up of the subject allows exclusion of other causes. This case demonstrates that microstructural lesions of fornix may lead to persistent amnesia, executive impairments, and behavioral changes and contributes to the knowledge of its role in cognition.
Radiotherapy and oncology : journal of the European Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology, 2014
To implement and evaluate a magnetic resonance imaging atlas-based automated segmentation (MRI-AB... more To implement and evaluate a magnetic resonance imaging atlas-based automated segmentation (MRI-ABAS) procedure for cortical and sub-cortical grey matter areas definition, suitable for dose-distribution analyses in brain tumor patients undergoing radiotherapy (RT). 3T-MRI scans performed before RT in ten brain tumor patients were used. The MRI-ABAS procedure consists of grey matter classification and atlas-based regions of interest definition. The Simultaneous Truth and Performance Level Estimation (STAPLE) algorithm was applied to structures manually delineated by four experts to generate the standard reference. Performance was assessed comparing multiple geometrical metrics (including Dice Similarity Coefficient - DSC). Dosimetric parameters from dose-volume-histograms were also generated and compared. Compared with manual delineation, MRI-ABAS showed excellent reproducibility [median DSCABAS=1 (95% CI, 0.97-1.0) vs. DSCMANUAL=0.90 (0.73-0.98)], acceptable accuracy [DSCABAS=0.81 (0...
Schizophrenia Bulletin, 2007
Negative symptoms of schizophrenia have generally been found in association with ventricular enla... more Negative symptoms of schizophrenia have generally been found in association with ventricular enlargement and prefrontal abnormalities. These relationships, however, have not been observed consistently, most probably because negative symptoms are heterogeneous and result from different pathophysiological mechanisms. The concept of deficit schizophrenia (DS) was introduced by Carpenter et al to identify a clinically homogeneous subgroup of patients characterized by the presence of primary and enduring negative symptoms. Findings of brain structural abnormalities reported by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies focusing on DS have been mixed. The present study included 34 patients with DS, 32 with nondeficit schizophrenia (NDS), and 31 healthy comparison subjects, providing the largest set of MRI findings in DS published so far. The Schedule for the Deficit Syndrome was used to categorize patients as DS or NDS patients. The 2 patient groups were matched on age and gender and did not differ on clinical variables, except for higher scores on the negative dimension and more impaired interpersonal relationships in DS than in NDS subjects. Lateral ventricles were larger in NDS than in control subjects but were not enlarged in patients with DS. The cingulate gyri volume was smaller in NDS but not in DS patients as compared with healthy subjects. Both groups had smaller dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and temporal lobes than healthy subjects, but DS patients had significantly less right temporal lobe volume as compared with NDS patients. These findings do not support the hypothesis that DS is the extreme end of a severity continuum within schizophrenia.