The diffusion of water molecules inside organic tissues is often anisotropic (1). Namely, if there are aligned structures in the tissue, the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) of water may vary depending on the orientation along which the diffusion-weighted (DW) measurements are taken. In the late 1980s, diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) became possible by combining MR diffusion measurements w...

Lissencephaly is a rare brain malformation characterized histologically by arrested neuronal migration such that the brain resembles that of a fetus before 23-24 weeks gestation. We studied a neonate with lissencephaly by using diffusion tensor imaging and suggest the dysplastic densely cellular layer IV is visible as a band of anisotropic diffusion. Fiber tracking showed lack of connectivity b...

To estimate diffusion tensor MRI (DTI) measures, such as fractional anisotropy and fiber orientation, reliably, a large number of diffusion-encoded images is needed, preferably cardiac gated to reduce pulsation artifacts. However, the concomitant longer acquisition times increase the chances of subject motion adversely affecting the estimation of these measures. While correcting for motion arti...

The purpose of this article is to explain how the random walks of water molecules undergoing diffusion in living tissue may be exploited to garner information on the white matter of the human brain and its connections. We discuss the concepts underlying diffusion-weighted (DW) imaging, and diffusion tensor imaging before exploring fibre tracking, or tractography, which aims to reconstruct the t...

This paper and Part 1 which appeared in the last issue, set out the results of a housing field trial designed to evaluate the impact of an enhanced energy performance standard for dwellings. The project was designed to inform the next review of Part L of the Building Regulations for England and Wales, which, following the publication of the UK government’s white paper on energy policy (DTI, 200...

In the last decade, several studies have described the typical brain white matter maturation in children and adolescents. Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is the most frequent MRI technique used to investigate the structural changes across development. However, few previous studies have used the magnetization transfer ratio (MTR), which gives a closer measure of myelin content. Here, we employed ...

J. Nogee, B. S. Stone, D. W. Mack, L. J. Martin, M. I. Miller, S. Mori, F. J. Northington, and J. Zhang Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, United States, Pediatrics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Pathology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Center of Imaging Science, Johns Hopkins University, Radiology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medici...

This work reviews magnetic resonance imaging in the developing human brain. It focuses on fetal brain imaged in vivo and in utero with complementary sections on abnormalities seen in clinical settings, and on potential of diffusion tensor imaging and of proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy. The main purposes are to illustrate the normal fetal developing brain and its abnormalities commonly en...