able because the patients is a poor surgical risk, TAE has To assess intrahepatic metastasis (IM) and multicenbeen considered the treatment of choice. However, the value tric occurrence (MO) after initial treatment of small heof TAE is limited if the small HCCs have intracapsular or patocellular carcinomas (HCC) ß 2 cm in diameter, we extracapsular invasion. performed clinical and pathological studies in 112 pa-PEIT has been shown to be highly effective in patients with tients who underwent percutaneous ethanol injection HCCs ß3 cm in diameter. with HCC were admitted to Ogaki Municipal Hospital, and 163 of the 750 were found to have an HCC ß2 cm in diameter. One hundred and twelve of these patients who had undergone PEIT or hepatic Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most maligresection were selected for this retrospective study. All cases were nant neoplasms in Japan. Because of recent progress in the diagnosed histologically. Fifteen patients were diagnosed by specific development of new diagnostic modalities, the incidence of imaging diagnosis (histological confirmation was made by analysis detection of small HCCs has increased.1-4 Therapeutic ap-of specimens obtained at surgery) and 97 patients were diagnosed proaches to HCC also have progressed markedly in recent by percutaneous liver tissue core biopsy with ultrasound guidance. years through the development of hepatic resection, trans-The PEIT was performed according to previously published methcatheter arterial embolization, and percutaneous ethanol in-ods 24 in 82 patients who had not undergone surgery because of imjection therapy (PEIT). [5][6][7] The surgical resectability rate of paired liver function or who had requested this type of therapy.Briefly, after administration of a local anesthetic, the needle was HCC, however, has remained low, this is, because most pa- A 25 ). In this series, radical hepatectomy represented the removal of Received December 29, 1995; accepted September 25, 1996. all tumors from the liver. and/or helical with contrast medium were performed every 3 months.

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BackgroundThe objective of this study was to examine the relationship between the myelination and the psychological trait of openness to experience in young cognitively normal volunteers using regional T1-weighted (T1w)/T2w ratios on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). It was hypothesized that axonal myelination would be related to openness, thus linking trait creativity and mental illness.MethodsWe recruited 37 healthy subjects and administered the NEO Five-Factor Inventory to assess personality factors. Regional T1w/T2w MRI values were computed as surrogate indicators of myelination status and correlations between T1w/T2w values and various personality factors (e.g., trait of openness) were calculated with a voxel-based analysis using statistical parametric mapping.ResultsSignificant negative correlations were identified between the trait of openness and T1w/T2w values in the medial frontal cortex, anterior cingulate cortex, posterior cingulate cortex, and posterior insula/adjacent putamen. These relationships remained significant even after adjusting for age, sex, and education as covariates. There were no significant correlations between other personality factors and regional volumes.ConclusionsIndividual differences in openness may be associated with variations in intra-cortical myelination, specifically in the imaginative network of the brain including the midline core ‘hubs’ of the default mode network (anterior cingulate/medial frontal cortex and posterior cingulate cortex) and regions related to motivational state (posterior insula and adjacent putamen). Signal interference related to decreased myelination may facilitate flexible imagination and the trait of openness. Our findings assist in understanding the relationship between myelination and openness, as a link between creativity and mental illness.

The ratio of signal intensity in T1-weighted (T1w) and T2-weighted (T2w) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) was recently proposed to enhance the sensitivity of detecting changes in disease-related signal intensity. The objective of this study was to test the effectiveness of T1w/T2w image ratios as an easily accessible biomarker for amyloid beta (Aβ) accumulation. We performed the T1w/T2w analysis in cognitively normal elderly individuals. We applied [11C] Pittsburgh Compound B (PiB)-PET to the same individuals, and Aβ deposition was quantified by its binding potential (PiB-BPND). The subjects were divided into low and high PiB-BPND groups, and group differences in regional T1w/T2w values were evaluated. In the regions where we found a significant group difference, we conducted a correlation analysis between regional T1w/T2w values and PiB-BPND. Subjects with high global cortical PiB-BPND showed a significantly higher regional T1w/T2w ratio in the frontal cortex and anterior cingulate cortex. We found a significant positive relationship between the regional T1w/T2w ratio and Aβ accumulation. Moreover, with a T1w/T2w ratio of 0.55 in the medial frontal regions, we correctly discriminated subjects with high PiB-BPND from the entire subject population with a sensitivity of 84.6% and specificity of 80.0%. Our results indicate that early Aβ-induced pathological changes can be detected using the T1w/T2w ratio on MRI. We believe that the T1w/T2w ratio is a prospective stable biological marker of early Aβ accumulation in cognitively normal individuals. The availability of such an accessible marker would improve the efficiency of clinical trials focusing on the initial disease stages by reducing the number of subjects who require screening by Aβ-PET scan or lumbar puncture.