Professor SUSAN FRANCIS's Outputs (118)

High-resolution and highly accelerated MRI T2 mapping as a tool to characterise renal tumour subtypes and grades (2024)
Journal Article
Horvat-Menih, I., Li, H., Priest, A. N., Li, S., Gill, A. B., Mendichovszky, I. A., Francis, S. T., Warren, A. Y., O’Carrigan, B., Welsh, S. J., Jones, J. O., Riddick, A. C. P., Armitage, J. N., Mitchell, T. J., Stewart, G. D., & Gallagher, F. A. (2024). High-resolution and highly accelerated MRI T2 mapping as a tool to characterise renal tumour subtypes and grades. European Radiology Experimental, 8(1), Article 76. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41747-024-00476-8

Background: Clinical imaging tools to probe aggressiveness of renal masses are lacking, and T2-weighted imaging as an integral part of magnetic resonance imaging protocol only provides qualitative information. We developed high-resolution and acceler... Read More about High-resolution and highly accelerated MRI T2 mapping as a tool to characterise renal tumour subtypes and grades.

DYNamic Assessment of Multi‐Organ level dysfunction in patients recovering from COVID‐19: DYNAMO COVID‐19 (2024)
Journal Article
Gupta, A., Nicholas, R., McGing, J. J., Nixon, A. V., Mallinson, J. E., McKeever, T. M., Bradley, C. R., Piasecki, M., Cox, E. F., Bonnington, J., Lord, J. M., Brightling, C. E., Evans, R. A., Hall, I. P., Francis, S. T., Greenhaff, P. L., & Bolton, C. E. (2024). DYNamic Assessment of Multi‐Organ level dysfunction in patients recovering from COVID‐19: DYNAMO COVID‐19. Experimental Physiology, 109(8), 1274-1291. https://doi.org/10.1113/ep091590

We evaluated the impacts of COVID-19 on multi-organ and metabolic function in patients following severe hospitalised infection compared to controls. Patients (n = 21) without previous diabetes, cardiovascular or cerebrovascular disease were recruited... Read More about DYNamic Assessment of Multi‐Organ level dysfunction in patients recovering from COVID‐19: DYNAMO COVID‐19.

Free-breathing Functional Pulmonary Proton MRI: A Novel Approach Using Voxel-wise Lung Ventilation (VOLVE) Assessment in Healthy Volunteers and Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (2024)
Journal Article
Peggs, Z. J., Brooke, J. P., Bolton, C. E., Hall, I. P., Francis, S. T., & Gowland, P. A. (2024). Free-breathing Functional Pulmonary Proton MRI: A Novel Approach Using Voxel-wise Lung Ventilation (VOLVE) Assessment in Healthy Volunteers and Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease. Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, https://doi.org/10.1002/jmri.29444

Background: In respiratory medicine, there is a need for sensitive measures of regional lung function that can be performed using standard imaging technology, without the need for inhaled or intravenous contrast agents. Purpose: To describe VOxel‐wis... Read More about Free-breathing Functional Pulmonary Proton MRI: A Novel Approach Using Voxel-wise Lung Ventilation (VOLVE) Assessment in Healthy Volunteers and Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.

Fast and High‐Resolution T2 Mapping Based on Echo Merging Plus k‐t Undersampling with Reduced Refocusing Flip Angles (TEMPURA) as Methods for Human Renal MRI (2024)
Journal Article
Li, H., Priest, A. N., Horvat‐Menih, I., Huang, Y., Li, S., Stewart, G. D., Mendichovszky, I. A., Francis, S. T., & Gallagher, F. A. (2024). Fast and High‐Resolution T2 Mapping Based on Echo Merging Plus k‐t Undersampling with Reduced Refocusing Flip Angles (TEMPURA) as Methods for Human Renal MRI. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 92(3), 1138-1148. https://doi.org/10.1002/mrm.30115

Purpose: To develop a highly accelerated multi‐echo spin‐echo method, TEMPURA, for reducing the acquisition time and/or increasing spatial resolution for kidney T2 mapping. Methods: TEMPURA merges several adjacent echoes into one k‐space by either co... Read More about Fast and High‐Resolution T2 Mapping Based on Echo Merging Plus k‐t Undersampling with Reduced Refocusing Flip Angles (TEMPURA) as Methods for Human Renal MRI.

Improvements in Between-Vendor MRI Harmonization of Renal T2 Mapping using Stimulated Echo Compensation (2024)
Journal Article
Li, H., Daniel, A. J., Buchanan, C. E., Nery, F., Morris, D. M., Li, S., Huang, Y., Sousa, J. A., Sourbron, S., Mendichovszky, I. A., Thomas, D. L., Priest, A. N., & Francis, S. T. (2024). Improvements in Between-Vendor MRI Harmonization of Renal T2 Mapping using Stimulated Echo Compensation. Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, 60(5), 2144-2155. https://doi.org/10.1002/jmri.29282

Background: T2 mapping is valuable to evaluate pathophysiology in kidney disease. However, variations in T2 relaxation time measurements across MR scanners and vendors may occur requiring additional correction. Purpose: To harmonize renal T2 measurem... Read More about Improvements in Between-Vendor MRI Harmonization of Renal T2 Mapping using Stimulated Echo Compensation.

Assessment of Acute Kidney Injury using MRI (2024)
Journal Article
Selby, N. M., & Francis, S. T. (2024). Assessment of Acute Kidney Injury using MRI. Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, https://doi.org/10.1002/jmri.29281

There has been growing interest in using quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to describe and understand the pathophysiology of acute kidney injury (AKI). The ability to assess kidney blood flow, perfusion, oxygenation, and changes in tissue... Read More about Assessment of Acute Kidney Injury using MRI.

An examination of resting-state functional connectivity in patients with active Crohn's disease (2023)
Journal Article
Francis, S. T., Moran, G. W., Eldeghaidy, S., Radford, S., & Thapaliya, G. (2023). An examination of resting-state functional connectivity in patients with active Crohn's disease. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 17, Article 1265815. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2023.1265815

Background: Alterations in resting state functional connectivity (rs-FC) in Crohn’s Disease (CD) have been documented in default mode network (DMN) and frontal parietal network (FPN) areas, visual, cerebellar, salience and attention resting-state-net... Read More about An examination of resting-state functional connectivity in patients with active Crohn's disease.

An examination of resting-state functional connectivity in patients with active Crohn’s disease (2023)
Journal Article
Thapaliya, G., Eldeghaidy, S., Radford, S. J., Francis, S. T., & Moran, G. W. (in press). An examination of resting-state functional connectivity in patients with active Crohn’s disease. Frontiers in Neuroscience, 17, Article 1265815. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2023.1265815

Background: Alterations in resting state functional connectivity (rs-FC) in Crohn’s Disease (CD) have been documented in default mode network (DMN) and frontal parietal network (FPN) areas, visual, cerebellar, salience and attention resting-state-net... Read More about An examination of resting-state functional connectivity in patients with active Crohn’s disease.

Multiparametric Renal Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Prediction and Annual Monitoring of the Progression of Chronic Kidney Disease over Two Years (2023)
Journal Article
Buchanan, C. E., Mahmoud, H., Cox, E. F., Prestwich, B. L., Noble, R. A., Selby, N. M., …Francis, S. T. (2023). Multiparametric Renal Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Prediction and Annual Monitoring of the Progression of Chronic Kidney Disease over Two Years. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 12(23), Article 7282. https://doi.org/10.3390/jcm12237282

Background: Multiparametric renal Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) provides a non-invasive method to assess kidney structure and function, but longitudinal studies are limited. Methods: A total of 22 patients with CKD category G3-4 (estimated glomeru... Read More about Multiparametric Renal Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Prediction and Annual Monitoring of the Progression of Chronic Kidney Disease over Two Years.

Liver investigation: Testing marker utility in steatohepatitis (LITMUS): Assessment & validation of imaging modality performance across the NAFLD spectrum in a prospectively recruited cohort study (the LITMUS imaging study): Study protocol (2023)
Journal Article
Pavlides, M., Mózes, F. E., Akhtar, S., Wonders, K., Cobbold, J., Tunnicliffe, E. M., …Harrison, S. (2023). Liver investigation: Testing marker utility in steatohepatitis (LITMUS): Assessment & validation of imaging modality performance across the NAFLD spectrum in a prospectively recruited cohort study (the LITMUS imaging study): Study protocol. Contemporary Clinical Trials, 134, Article 107352. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cct.2023.107352

Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is the liver manifestation of the metabolic syndrome with global prevalence reaching epidemic levels. Despite the high disease burden in the population only a small proportion of those with NAFLD will develop... Read More about Liver investigation: Testing marker utility in steatohepatitis (LITMUS): Assessment & validation of imaging modality performance across the NAFLD spectrum in a prospectively recruited cohort study (the LITMUS imaging study): Study protocol.

Multiorgan MRI findings after hospitalisation with COVID-19 in the UK (C-MORE): a prospective, multicentre, observational cohort study (2023)
Journal Article
C-MORE/PHOSP-COVID Collaborative Group, Raman, B., McCracken, C., Cassar, M. P., Moss, A. J., Finnigan, L., …Francis, S. (2023). Multiorgan MRI findings after hospitalisation with COVID-19 in the UK (C-MORE): a prospective, multicentre, observational cohort study. Lancet Respiratory Medicine, 11(11), 1003-1019. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2213-2600%2823%2900262-X

Introduction
The multiorgan impact of moderate to severe coronavirus infections in the post-acute phase is still poorly understood. We aimed to evaluate the excess burden of multiorgan abnormalities after hospitalisation with COVID-19, evaluate thei... Read More about Multiorgan MRI findings after hospitalisation with COVID-19 in the UK (C-MORE): a prospective, multicentre, observational cohort study.

Two-Dimensional Population Receptive Field Mapping of Human Primary Somatosensory Cortex (2023)
Journal Article
Asghar, M., Sanchez-Panchuelo, R., Schluppeck, D., & Francis, S. (2023). Two-Dimensional Population Receptive Field Mapping of Human Primary Somatosensory Cortex. Brain Topography, 36, 816-834. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10548-023-01000-8

Functional magnetic resonance imaging can provide detailed maps of how sensory space is mapped in the human brain. Here, we use a novel 16 stimulator setup (a 4 × 4 grid) to measure two-dimensional sensory maps of between and within-digit (D2–D4) spa... Read More about Two-Dimensional Population Receptive Field Mapping of Human Primary Somatosensory Cortex.

Randomised trial comparing standard versus thermocontrolled haemodialysis using intradialytic cardiac, brain and renal magnetic resonance imaging (2023)
Journal Article
Gullapudi, V. R. L., Cox, E. F., Buchanan, C. E., Canaud, B., White, K., Taal, M. W., …Francis, S. T. (2024). Randomised trial comparing standard versus thermocontrolled haemodialysis using intradialytic cardiac, brain and renal magnetic resonance imaging. Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation, 39(2), 233–241. https://doi.org/10.1093/ndt/gfad150

Background
Ischaemic end-organ damage during haemodialysis (HD) is a significant problem that may be ameliorated by intradialytic cooling. A randomised trial was performed to compare standard HD (SHD; dialysate temperature 37°C) and programmed cooli... Read More about Randomised trial comparing standard versus thermocontrolled haemodialysis using intradialytic cardiac, brain and renal magnetic resonance imaging.

Performance of non-invasive tests and histology for the prediction of clinical outcomes in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: an individual participant data meta-analysis (2023)
Journal Article
Mózes, F. E., Lee, J. A., Vali, Y., Alzoubi, O., Staufer, K., Trauner, M., …Hytiroglou, P. (2023). Performance of non-invasive tests and histology for the prediction of clinical outcomes in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: an individual participant data meta-analysis. The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology, 8(8), 704-713. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2468-1253%2823%2900141-3

Background
Histologically assessed liver fibrosis stage has prognostic significance in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and is accepted as a surrogate endpoint in clinical trials for non-cirrhotic NAFLD. Our aim was to compare... Read More about Performance of non-invasive tests and histology for the prediction of clinical outcomes in patients with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease: an individual participant data meta-analysis.

Renal MRI: From Nephron to NMR Signal (2023)
Journal Article
Bane, O., Seeliger, E., Cox, E., Stabinska, J., Bechler, E., Lewis, S., …Niendorf, T. (2023). Renal MRI: From Nephron to NMR Signal. Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging, https://doi.org/10.1002/jmri.28828

Renal diseases pose a significant socio-economic burden on healthcare systems. The development of better diagnostics and prognostics is well-recognized as a key strategy to resolve these challenges. Central to these developments are MRI biomarkers, d... Read More about Renal MRI: From Nephron to NMR Signal.

Steps on the Path to Clinical Translation: A workshop by the British and Irish Chapter of the ISMRM (2023)
Journal Article
Hubbard Cristinacce, P. L., Markus, J. E., Punwani, S., Mills, R., Lopez, M. Y., Grech-Sollars, M., …Hyare, H. (2023). Steps on the Path to Clinical Translation: A workshop by the British and Irish Chapter of the ISMRM. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 90(3), 1130-1136. https://doi.org/10.1002/mrm.29704

The British and Irish Chapter of the International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine (BIC-ISMRM) held a workshop entitled “Steps on the path to clinical translation” in Cardiff, UK, on 7th September 2022. The aim of the workshop was to promo... Read More about Steps on the Path to Clinical Translation: A workshop by the British and Irish Chapter of the ISMRM.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging to Evaluate Kidney Structure, Function, and Pathology: Moving Toward Clinical Application (2023)
Journal Article
Francis, S. T., Selby, N. M., & Taal, M. W. (2023). Magnetic Resonance Imaging to Evaluate Kidney Structure, Function, and Pathology: Moving Toward Clinical Application. American Journal of Kidney Diseases, 82(4), 491-504. https://doi.org/10.1053/j.ajkd.2023.02.007

Recent advances in multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) allow multiple quantitative measures to assess kidney morphology, tissue microstructure, oxygenation, kidney blood flow, and perfusion to be collected in a single scan session. Anima... Read More about Magnetic Resonance Imaging to Evaluate Kidney Structure, Function, and Pathology: Moving Toward Clinical Application.

fRAT: an interactive, Python-based tool forregion-of-interest summaries of functional imaging data (2023)
Journal Article
Howley, E., Francis, S., & Schluppeck, D. (2023). fRAT: an interactive, Python-based tool forregion-of-interest summaries of functional imaging data. Journal of Open Source Software, 8(85), Article 5200. https://doi.org/10.21105/joss.05200

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is widely used to address basic cognitive as well as clinical neuroscience questions. The specific choice of imaging sequence and parameters used for image acquisition can have a marked effect on the acqui... Read More about fRAT: an interactive, Python-based tool forregion-of-interest summaries of functional imaging data.

Update on state‐of‐the‐art for arterial spin labeling (ASL) human perfusion imaging outside of the brain (2023)
Journal Article
Taso, M., Aramendía-Vidaurreta, V., Englund, E. K., Francis, S., Franklin, S., Madhuranthakam, A. J., …the ISMRM Perfusion Study Group. (2023). Update on state‐of‐the‐art for arterial spin labeling (ASL) human perfusion imaging outside of the brain. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 89(5), 1754-1776. https://doi.org/10.1002/mrm.29609

This review article provides an overview of developments for arterial spin labeling (ASL) perfusion imaging in the body (i.e., outside of the brain). It is part of a series of review/recommendation papers from the International Society for Magnetic R... Read More about Update on state‐of‐the‐art for arterial spin labeling (ASL) human perfusion imaging outside of the brain.

GLP−1 Promotes Cortical and Medullary Perfusion in the Human Kidney and Maintains Renal Oxygenation During NaCl Loading (2023)
Journal Article
Haddock, B., Kristensen, K. B., Tayyab, M., Larsson, H. B. W., Lindberg, U., Vestergaard, M., …Asmar, A. (2023). GLP−1 Promotes Cortical and Medullary Perfusion in the Human Kidney and Maintains Renal Oxygenation During NaCl Loading. Journal of the American Heart Association, 12(3), Article e027712. https://doi.org/10.1161/JAHA.122.027712

Background

GLP‐1 (glucagon‐like peptide‐1) receptor agonists exert beneficial long‐term effects on cardiovascular and renal outcomes. In humans, the natriuretic effect of GLP‐1 depends on GLP‐1 receptor interaction, is accompanied by suppression o... Read More about GLP−1 Promotes Cortical and Medullary Perfusion in the Human Kidney and Maintains Renal Oxygenation During NaCl Loading.

Comparing magnetic resonance liver fat fraction measurements with histology in fibrosis: the difference between proton density fat fraction and tissue mass fat fraction (2022)
Journal Article
Bawden, S. J., Hoad, C., Kaye, P., Stephenson, M., Dolman, G., James, M. W., …Aithal, G. P. (2023). Comparing magnetic resonance liver fat fraction measurements with histology in fibrosis: the difference between proton density fat fraction and tissue mass fat fraction. Magnetic Resonance Materials in Physics, Biology and Medicine, 36(4), 553-563. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10334-022-01052-0

Objective: Magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) provides a powerful method of measuring fat fraction. However, previous studies have shown that MRS results give lower values compared with visual estimates from biopsies in fibrotic livers. This study... Read More about Comparing magnetic resonance liver fat fraction measurements with histology in fibrosis: the difference between proton density fat fraction and tissue mass fat fraction.

The relationship between Central Nervous System morphometry changes and key symptoms in Crohn’s disease (2022)
Journal Article
Thapaliya, G., Eldeghaidy, S., Asghar, M., McGing, J., Radford, S., Francis, S., & Moran, G. W. (2022). The relationship between Central Nervous System morphometry changes and key symptoms in Crohn’s disease. Brain Imaging and Behavior, 17(2), 149–160. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11682-022-00742-6

Alterations in grey matter volume (GMV) and cortical thickness (CT) in Crohn’s disease (CD) patients has been previously documented. However, the findings are inconsistent, and not a true representation of CD burden, as only CD patients in remission... Read More about The relationship between Central Nervous System morphometry changes and key symptoms in Crohn’s disease.

Improved Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced MRI Using Low Rank with Joint Sparsity (2022)
Journal Article
Zhang, J., Najeeb, F., Wang, X., Xu, P., Omer, H., Zheng, J., …Wang, C. (2022). Improved Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced MRI Using Low Rank with Joint Sparsity. IEEE Access, 10, 121193-121203. https://doi.org/10.1109/access.2022.3222313

This work presents a free-breathing dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI reconstruction method called low-rank plus sparse (L+S) with joint sparsity. The proposed method improved dynamic contrast performance by integrating an additional temporal Fast... Read More about Improved Dynamic Contrast-Enhanced MRI Using Low Rank with Joint Sparsity.

Ensemble Kalman inversion for magnetic resonance elastography. (2022)
Journal Article
Iglesias, M., McGrath, D. M., Tretyakov, M. V., & Francis, S. T. (2022). Ensemble Kalman inversion for magnetic resonance elastography. Physics in Medicine and Biology, 67(23), Article 235003. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6560/ac9fa1

Magnetic Resonance Elastography (MRE) is an MRI-based diagnostic method for measuring mechanical properties of biological tissues. MRE measurements are processed by an inversion algorithm to produce a map of the biomechanical properties. In this pape... Read More about Ensemble Kalman inversion for magnetic resonance elastography..

Variability of noninvasive MRI and biological markers in compensated cirrhosis: insights for assessing disease progression (2022)
Journal Article
Bradley, C. R., Cox, E. F., Palaniyappan, N., Aithal, G. P., Francis, S. T., & Guha, I. N. (2022). Variability of noninvasive MRI and biological markers in compensated cirrhosis: insights for assessing disease progression. European Radiology Experimental, 6(1), Article 52. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41747-022-00303-y

Abstract: Background: We annually monitored stable compensated cirrhosis (CC) patients to evaluate serial variation in blood serum, liver stiffness, and multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging (mpMRI) measures to provide reference change values (R... Read More about Variability of noninvasive MRI and biological markers in compensated cirrhosis: insights for assessing disease progression.

Fast Event-Related Mapping of Population Fingertip Tuning Properties in Human Sensorimotor Cortex at 7T (2022)
Journal Article
Khalife, S., Francis, S. T., Schluppeck, D., Sánchez-Panchuelo, R. M., & Besle, J. (2022). Fast Event-Related Mapping of Population Fingertip Tuning Properties in Human Sensorimotor Cortex at 7T. eNeuro, 9(5), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1523/ENEURO.0069-22.2022

fMRI studies that investigate somatotopic tactile representations in the human cortex typically use either block or phase-encoded stimulation designs. Event-related (ER) designs allow for more flexible and unpredictable stimulation sequences than the... Read More about Fast Event-Related Mapping of Population Fingertip Tuning Properties in Human Sensorimotor Cortex at 7T.

Decreased renal perfusion during acute kidney injury in critical COVID-19 assessed by magnetic resonance imaging: a prospective case control study (2022)
Journal Article
Luther, T., Eckerbom, P., Cox, E., Lipcsey, M., Bülow, S., Hultström, M., …Liss, P. (2022). Decreased renal perfusion during acute kidney injury in critical COVID-19 assessed by magnetic resonance imaging: a prospective case control study. Critical Care, 26(1), 262. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13054-022-04132-8

Abstract: Background: Renal hypoperfusion has been suggested to contribute to the development of acute kidney injury (AKI) in critical COVID-19. However, limited data exist to support this. We aim to investigate the differences in renal perfusion, ox... Read More about Decreased renal perfusion during acute kidney injury in critical COVID-19 assessed by magnetic resonance imaging: a prospective case control study.

LMISA: A Lightweight Multi-modality Image Segmentation Network via Domain Adaptation using Gradient Magnitude and Shape Constraint (2022)
Journal Article
Jafari, M., Francis, S., Garibaldi, J. M., & Chen, X. (2022). LMISA: A Lightweight Multi-modality Image Segmentation Network via Domain Adaptation using Gradient Magnitude and Shape Constraint. Medical Image Analysis, 81, Article 102536. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.media.2022.102536

In medical image segmentation, supervised machine learning models trained using one image modality (e.g. computed tomography (CT)) are often prone to failure when applied to another image modality (e.g. magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)) even for the... Read More about LMISA: A Lightweight Multi-modality Image Segmentation Network via Domain Adaptation using Gradient Magnitude and Shape Constraint.

Multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging allows non-invasive functional and structural evaluation of diabetic kidney disease (2022)
Journal Article
Makvandi, K., Hockings, P. D., Jensen, G., Unnerstall, T., Leonhardt, H., Jarl, L. V., …Baid-Agrawal, S. (2022). Multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging allows non-invasive functional and structural evaluation of diabetic kidney disease. Clinical Kidney Journal, 15(7), 1387–1402. https://doi.org/10.1093/ckj/sfac054

Background: We sought to develop a novel non-contrast multiparametric MRI (mpMRI) protocol employing several complementary techniques in a single scan session for a comprehensive functional and structural evaluation of diabetic kidney disease (DKD).... Read More about Multiparametric magnetic resonance imaging allows non-invasive functional and structural evaluation of diabetic kidney disease.

In silico evaluation and optimisation of magnetic resonance elastography of the liver (2021)
Journal Article
McGrath, D. M., Bradley, C. R., & Francis, S. T. (2021). In silico evaluation and optimisation of magnetic resonance elastography of the liver. Physics in Medicine and Biology, 66(22), Article 225005. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6560/ac3263

Objective. Magnetic resonance elastography (MRE) is widely adopted as a biomarker of liver fibrosis. However, in vivo MRE accuracy is difficult to assess. Approach. Finite element model (FEM) simulation was employed to evaluate liver MRE accuracy and... Read More about In silico evaluation and optimisation of magnetic resonance elastography of the liver.

Review article: The aetiology of fatigue in inflammatory bowel disease and potential therapeutic management strategies (2021)
Journal Article
McGing, J. J., Radford, S. J., Francis, S. T., Serres, S., Greenhaff, P. L., & Moran, G. W. (2021). Review article: The aetiology of fatigue in inflammatory bowel disease and potential therapeutic management strategies. Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics, 54(4), 368-387. https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.16465

Background: Fatigue is the inability to achieve or maintain an expected work output resulting from central or peripheral mechanisms. The prevalence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) fatigue can reach 86% in active disease, persisting in 50%-52% of... Read More about Review article: The aetiology of fatigue in inflammatory bowel disease and potential therapeutic management strategies.

Comparison of continuous sampling with active noise cancellation and sparse sampling for cortical and subcortical auditory fMRI (2021)
Journal Article
Dewey, R. S., Hall, D. A., Plack, C. J., & Francis, S. T. (2021). Comparison of continuous sampling with active noise cancellation and sparse sampling for cortical and subcortical auditory fMRI. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 86(5), 2577-2588. https://doi.org/10.1002/mrm.28902

Purpose
Detecting sound-related activity using functional MRI requires the auditory stimulus to be more salient than the intense background scanner acoustic noise. Various strategies can reduce the impact of scanner acoustic noise, including “sparse... Read More about Comparison of continuous sampling with active noise cancellation and sparse sampling for cortical and subcortical auditory fMRI.

Comparison of continuous sampling with active noise cancelation and sparse sampling for cortical and subcortical auditory functional MRI (2021)
Journal Article
Dewey, R. S., Hall, D. A., Plack, C. J., & Francis, S. T. (2021). Comparison of continuous sampling with active noise cancelation and sparse sampling for cortical and subcortical auditory functional MRI. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 86(5), 2577-2588. https://doi.org/10.1002/mrm.28902

Purpose
Detecting sound-related activity using functional MRI requires the auditory stimulus to be more salient than the intense background scanner acoustic noise. Various strategies can reduce the impact of scanner acoustic noise, including “sparse... Read More about Comparison of continuous sampling with active noise cancelation and sparse sampling for cortical and subcortical auditory functional MRI.

Muscle and tendon adaptations to moderate load eccentric vs. concentric resistance exercise in young and older males (2021)
Journal Article
Quinlan, J. I., Franchi, M. V., Gharahdaghi, N., Badiali, F., Francis, S., Hale, A., …Narici, M. V. (2021). Muscle and tendon adaptations to moderate load eccentric vs. concentric resistance exercise in young and older males. GeroScience, 43(4), 1567-1584. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11357-021-00396-0

Resistance exercise training (RET) is well-known to counteract negative age-related changes in both muscle and tendon tissue. Traditional RET consists of both concentric (CON) and eccentric (ECC) contractions; nevertheless, isolated ECC contractions... Read More about Muscle and tendon adaptations to moderate load eccentric vs. concentric resistance exercise in young and older males.

Measuring resting cerebral haemodynamics using MRI arterial spin labelling and transcranial Doppler ultrasound: comparison in younger and older adults (2021)
Journal Article
Burley, C. V., Francis, S. T., Whittaker, A. C., Mullinger, K. J., & Lucas, S. J. E. (2021). Measuring resting cerebral haemodynamics using MRI arterial spin labelling and transcranial Doppler ultrasound: comparison in younger and older adults. Brain and Behavior, 11(7), Article e02126. https://doi.org/10.1002/brb3.2126

Introduction: Resting cerebral blood flow (CBF) and perfusion measures have been used to determine brain health. Studies showing variation in resting CBF with age and fitness level using different imaging approaches have produced mixed findings. We a... Read More about Measuring resting cerebral haemodynamics using MRI arterial spin labelling and transcranial Doppler ultrasound: comparison in younger and older adults.

Contrasting Measures of Cerebrovascular Reactivity Between MRI and Doppler: A Cross-Sectional Study of Younger and Older Healthy Individuals (2021)
Journal Article
Burley, C. V., Francis, S. T., Thomas, K. N., Whittaker, A. C., Lucas, S. J., & Mullinger, K. J. (2021). Contrasting Measures of Cerebrovascular Reactivity Between MRI and Doppler: A Cross-Sectional Study of Younger and Older Healthy Individuals. Frontiers in Physiology, 12, Article 656746. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2021.656746

Cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) is used as an outcome measure of brain health. Traditionally, lower CVR is associated with ageing, poor fitness and brain-related conditions (e.g. stroke, dementia). Indeed, CVR is suggested as a biomarker for disease... Read More about Contrasting Measures of Cerebrovascular Reactivity Between MRI and Doppler: A Cross-Sectional Study of Younger and Older Healthy Individuals.

Quantitative T1 mapping using multi-slice multi-shot inversion recovery EPI (2021)
Journal Article
Sanchez Panchuelo, R. M., Mougin, O., Turner, R., & Francis, S. T. (2021). Quantitative T1 mapping using multi-slice multi-shot inversion recovery EPI. NeuroImage, 234, Article 117976. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2021.117976

An efficient multi-slice inversion–recovery EPI (MS-IR-EPI) sequence for fast, high spatial resolution, quantitative T1 mapping is presented, using a segmented simultaneous multi-slice acquisition, combined with slice order shifting across multiple a... Read More about Quantitative T1 mapping using multi-slice multi-shot inversion recovery EPI.

Automated renal segmentation in healthy and chronic kidney disease subjects using a convolutional neural network (2021)
Journal Article
Daniel, A., Buchanan, C., Allcock, T., Scerri, D., Cox, E., Prestwich, B., & Francis, S. (2021). Automated renal segmentation in healthy and chronic kidney disease subjects using a convolutional neural network. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 86(2), 1125-1136. https://doi.org/10.1002/mrm.28768

Purpose: Total Kidney Volume (TKV) is an important measure in renal disease detection and monitoring. We developed a fully automated method to segment the kidneys from T2-weighted magnetic resonance images (MRI) to calculate TKV of healthy control (H... Read More about Automated renal segmentation in healthy and chronic kidney disease subjects using a convolutional neural network.

Multiparametric MRI assessment of renal structure and function in acute kidney injury and renal recovery (2021)
Journal Article
Buchanan, C., Mahmoud, H., Cox, E., Noble, R., Prestwich, B., Kasmi, I., …Selby, N. M. (2021). Multiparametric MRI assessment of renal structure and function in acute kidney injury and renal recovery. Clinical Kidney Journal, 14(8), 1969-1976. https://doi.org/10.1093/ckj/sfaa221

Background: Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) is associated with a marked increase in mortality as well as subsequent chronic kidney disease (CKD) and end stage kidney disease. We performed multiparametric MRI with the aim of identifying potential non-invasi... Read More about Multiparametric MRI assessment of renal structure and function in acute kidney injury and renal recovery.

Thermal taster status: Temperature modulation of cortical response to sweetness perception (2020)
Journal Article
Eldeghaidy, S., Yang, Q., Abualait, T., Williamson, A.-M., Hort, J., & Francis, S. T. (2021). Thermal taster status: Temperature modulation of cortical response to sweetness perception. Physiology and Behavior, 230, Article 113266. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2020.113266

© 2020 Temperature is known to impact taste perception, but its reported effect on sweet taste perception in humans is inconsistent. Here, we assess whether thermal taste phenotype alters the temperature modulation of the brains’ response to sweet sa... Read More about Thermal taster status: Temperature modulation of cortical response to sweetness perception.

Circadian variation in renal blood flow and kidney function in healthy volunteers monitored using non-invasive magnetic resonance imaging (2020)
Journal Article
Eckerbom, P., Hansell, P., Cox, E., Buchanan, C., Weis, J., Palm, F., …Liss, P. (2020). Circadian variation in renal blood flow and kidney function in healthy volunteers monitored using non-invasive magnetic resonance imaging. AJP - Renal Physiology, 319(6), F966-F978. https://doi.org/10.1152/ajprenal.00311.2020

Circadian regulation of kidney function is involved in maintaining whole-body homeostasis and dysfunctional circadian rhythm can potentially be involved in disease development. Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)provides reliable and reproducible repeti... Read More about Circadian variation in renal blood flow and kidney function in healthy volunteers monitored using non-invasive magnetic resonance imaging.

Effective connectivity of the right anterior insula in schizophrenia: the salience network and task-negative to task-positive transition (2020)
Journal Article
Luo, Q., Pan, B., Gu, H., Simmonite, M., Francis, S., Liddle, P. F., & Palaniyappan, L. (2020). Effective connectivity of the right anterior insula in schizophrenia: the salience network and task-negative to task-positive transition. NeuroImage: Clinical, 28, Article 102377. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nicl.2020.102377

Triple network dysfunction theory of schizophrenia postulates that the interaction between the default-mode and the fronto-parietal executive network is disrupted by aberrant salience signals from the right anterior insula (rAI). To date, it is not c... Read More about Effective connectivity of the right anterior insula in schizophrenia: the salience network and task-negative to task-positive transition.

A nociresponsive specific area of human somatosensory cortex within BA3a: BA3c? (2020)
Journal Article
Sanchez Panchuelo, R. M., Eldeghaidy, S., Marshall, A., McGlone, F., Francis, S. T., & Favorov, O. (2020). A nociresponsive specific area of human somatosensory cortex within BA3a: BA3c?. NeuroImage, 221, Article 117187. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.117187

© 2020 It is well recognized that in primates, including humans, noxious body stimulation evokes a neural response in the posterior bank of the central sulcus, in Brodmann cytoarchitectonic subdivisions 3b and 1 of the primary somatosensory cortex. T... Read More about A nociresponsive specific area of human somatosensory cortex within BA3a: BA3c?.

A probabilistic atlas of finger dominance in the primary somatosensory cortex (2020)
Journal Article
O’Neill, G., Sengupta, A., Asghar, M., Barratt, E., Besle, J., Schluppeck, D., …Sanchez Panchuelo, R. (2020). A probabilistic atlas of finger dominance in the primary somatosensory cortex. NeuroImage, 217, Article 116880. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2020.116880

With the advent of ultra-high field (7T), high spatial resolution functional MRI (fMRI) has allowed the differentiation of the cortical representations of each of the digits at an individual-subject level in human primary somatosensory cortex (S1). H... Read More about A probabilistic atlas of finger dominance in the primary somatosensory cortex.

Consensus-based technical recommendations for clinical translation of renal ASL MRI (2019)
Journal Article
Nery, F., Buchanan, C. E., Harteveld, A. A., Odudu, A., Bane, O., Cox, E. F., …Fernández-Seara, M. A. (2020). Consensus-based technical recommendations for clinical translation of renal ASL MRI. Magnetic Resonance Materials in Physics, Biology and Medicine, 33(1), 141-161. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10334-019-00800-z

Objectives: To develop technical recommendations for the acquisition, processing and analysis of renal ASL data in the human kidney at 1.5T and 3T field strengths that can promote standardization of renal perfusion measurements and facilitate the com... Read More about Consensus-based technical recommendations for clinical translation of renal ASL MRI.

FU-Net: Multi-class Image Segmentation Using Feedback Weighted U-Net (2019)
Book Chapter
Jafari, M., Li, R., Xing, Y., Auer, D., Francis, S., Garibaldi, J., & Chen, X. (2019). FU-Net: Multi-class Image Segmentation Using Feedback Weighted U-Net. In Image and Graphics: 10th International Conference, ICIG 2019, Beijing, China, August 23–25, 2019, Proceedings, Part II (529-537). Springer Verlag. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-34110-7_44

© 2019, Springer Nature Switzerland AG. In this paper, we present a generic deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) for multi-class image segmentation. It is based on a well-established supervised end-to-end DCNN model, known as U-net. U-net is firs... Read More about FU-Net: Multi-class Image Segmentation Using Feedback Weighted U-Net.

Consensus-based technical recommendations for clinical translation of renal BOLD MRI (2019)
Journal Article
Bane, O., Mendichovszky, I. A., Dekkers, I. A., Milani, B., Deux, J., Eckerbom, P., …Prasad, P. V. (2019). Consensus-based technical recommendations for clinical translation of renal BOLD MRI. Magma, 1-17

Objectives: Harmonization of acquisition and analysis protocols is an important step in the validation of BOLD MRI as a renal biomarker. This harmonization initiative provides technical recommendations based on a consensus report with the aim to move... Read More about Consensus-based technical recommendations for clinical translation of renal BOLD MRI.

Consensus-based technical recommendations for clinical translation of renal T1 and T2 mapping MRI (2019)
Journal Article
Semple, S. I. K., Dekkers, I. A., de Boer, A., Sharma, K., Cox, E. F., Lamb, H. J., …Francis, S. (2020). Consensus-based technical recommendations for clinical translation of renal T1 and T2 mapping MRI. Magnetic Resonance Materials in Physics, Biology and Medicine, 33(1), 163-176. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10334-019-00797-5

© 2019, The Author(s). To develop technical recommendations on the acquisition and post-processing of renal longitudinal (T1) and transverse (T2) relaxation time mapping. A multidisciplinary panel consisting of 18 experts in the field of renal T1 and... Read More about Consensus-based technical recommendations for clinical translation of renal T1 and T2 mapping MRI.

Consensus-based technical recommendations for clinical translation of renal diffusion-weighted MRI (2019)
Journal Article
Ljimani, A., Caroli, A., Laustsen, C., Francis, S., Mendichovszky, I. A., Bane, O., …Sigmund, E. E. (2020). Consensus-based technical recommendations for clinical translation of renal diffusion-weighted MRI. Magnetic Resonance Materials in Physics, Biology and Medicine, 33, 177-195. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10334-019-00790-y

© 2019, European Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine and Biology (ESMRMB). Objectives: Standardization is an important milestone in the validation of DWI-based parameters as imaging biomarkers for renal disease. Here, we propose technical reco... Read More about Consensus-based technical recommendations for clinical translation of renal diffusion-weighted MRI.

Post-stimulus beta responses are modulated by task duration (2019)
Journal Article
Pakenham, D. O., Quinn, A. J., Fry, A., Francis, S. T., Woolrich, M. W., Brookes, M. J., & Mullinger, K. J. (2020). Post-stimulus beta responses are modulated by task duration. NeuroImage, 206, Article 116288. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.116288

Modulation of beta-band neural oscillations during and following movement is a robust marker of brain function. In particular, the post-movement beta rebound (PMBR), which occurs on movement cessation, has been related to inhibition and connectivity... Read More about Post-stimulus beta responses are modulated by task duration.

A randomized, controlled, double-blind crossover study on the effects of isoeffective and isovolumetric intravenous crystalloid and gelatin on blood volume, and renal and cardiac hemodynamics (2019)
Journal Article
Bradley, C. R., Bragg, D. D., Cox, E. F., El-Sharkawy, A. M., Buchanan, C. E., Chowdhury, A. H., …Lobo, D. N. (2020). A randomized, controlled, double-blind crossover study on the effects of isoeffective and isovolumetric intravenous crystalloid and gelatin on blood volume, and renal and cardiac hemodynamics. Clinical Nutrition, 39(7), 2070-2079. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clnu.2019.09.011

Background & aims
Blood volume expanding properties of colloids are superior to crystalloids. In addition to oncotic/osmotic properties, the electrolyte composition of infusions may have important effects on visceral perfusion, with infusions contai... Read More about A randomized, controlled, double-blind crossover study on the effects of isoeffective and isovolumetric intravenous crystalloid and gelatin on blood volume, and renal and cardiac hemodynamics.

The association between subcortical and cortical fMRI and lifetime noise exposure in listeners with normal hearing thresholds (2019)
Journal Article
Dewey, R. S., Francis, S. T., Guest, H., Prendergast, G., Millman, R. E., Plack, C. J., & Hall, D. A. (2020). The association between subcortical and cortical fMRI and lifetime noise exposure in listeners with normal hearing thresholds. NeuroImage, 204, Article 116239. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.116239

© 2019 In animal models, exposure to high noise levels can cause permanent damage to hair-cell synapses (cochlear synaptopathy) for high-threshold auditory nerve fibers without affecting sensitivity to quiet sounds. This has been confirmed in several... Read More about The association between subcortical and cortical fMRI and lifetime noise exposure in listeners with normal hearing thresholds.

Two spatially distinct posterior alpha sources fulfill different functional roles in attention (2019)
Journal Article
Sokoliuk, R., Mayhew, S., Aquino, K., Wilson, R., Brookes, M., Francis, S., …Mullinger, K. (2019). Two spatially distinct posterior alpha sources fulfill different functional roles in attention. Journal of Neuroscience, 39(36), 7183-7194. https://doi.org/10.1523/jneurosci.1993-18.2019

Directing attention helps extracting relevant information and suppressing distracters. Alpha brain oscillations (8-12Hz) are crucial for this process, with power decreases facilitating processing of important information and power increases inhibitin... Read More about Two spatially distinct posterior alpha sources fulfill different functional roles in attention.

Quantitative assessment of renal structural and functional changes in chronic kidney disease using multi-parametric magnetic resonance imaging (2019)
Journal Article
Buchanan, C. E., Mahmoud, H., Cox, E. F., McCulloch, T., Prestwich, B. L., Taal, M. W., …Francis, S. T. (2020). Quantitative assessment of renal structural and functional changes in chronic kidney disease using multi-parametric magnetic resonance imaging. Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation, 35(6), 955-964. https://doi.org/10.1093/ndt/gfz129

BACKGROUND:
Multi-parametric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) provides the potential for a more comprehensive non-invasive assessment of organ structure and function than individual MRI measures, but has not previously been comprehensively evaluated... Read More about Quantitative assessment of renal structural and functional changes in chronic kidney disease using multi-parametric magnetic resonance imaging.

The relationship between negative BOLD responses and ERS and ERD of alpha/beta oscillations in visual and motor cortex (2019)
Journal Article
Wilson, R., Mullinger, K. J., Francis, S. T., & Mayhew, S. D. (2019). The relationship between negative BOLD responses and ERS and ERD of alpha/beta oscillations in visual and motor cortex. NeuroImage, 199, 635-650. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.06.009

Previous work has investigated the electrophysiological origins of the intra-modal (within the stimulated sensory cortex) negative BOLD fMRI response (NBR, decrease from baseline) but little attention has been paid to the origin of cross-modal NBRs,... Read More about The relationship between negative BOLD responses and ERS and ERD of alpha/beta oscillations in visual and motor cortex.

Coupling between cerebral blood flow and cerebral blood volume: contributions of different vascular compartments (2019)
Journal Article
Wesolowski, R., Blockley, N., Driver, I., Francis, S., & Gowland, P. (2019). Coupling between cerebral blood flow and cerebral blood volume: contributions of different vascular compartments. NMR in Biomedicine, 32(3), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1002/nbm.4061

A better understanding of the coupling between changes in cerebral blood flow (CBF) and cerebral blood volume (CBV) is vital for furthering our understanding of the BOLD response. The aim of this study was to measure CBF-CBV coupling in different vas... Read More about Coupling between cerebral blood flow and cerebral blood volume: contributions of different vascular compartments.

Imaging human cortical responses to intraneural microstimulation using magnetoencephalography (2019)
Journal Article
O'Neill, G. C., Watkins, R. H., Ackerley, R., Barratt, E. L., Sengupta, A., Asghar, M., …Francis, S. T. (2019). Imaging human cortical responses to intraneural microstimulation using magnetoencephalography. NeuroImage, 189, 329-340. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2019.01.017

The sensation of touch in the glabrous skin of the human hand is conveyed by thousands of fast-conducting mechanoreceptive afferents, which can be categorised into four distinct types. The spiking properties of these afferents in the periphery in re... Read More about Imaging human cortical responses to intraneural microstimulation using magnetoencephalography.

Short-term changes observed in multi-parametric liver MRI following therapy with direct acting antivirals in chronic hepatitis C virus patients (2018)
Journal Article
Bradley, C., Scott, R., Cox, E., Palaniyappan, N., Thompson, B., Ryder, D., …Francis, S. (2019). Short-term changes observed in multi-parametric liver MRI following therapy with direct acting antivirals in chronic hepatitis C virus patients. European Radiology, 29(6), 3100–3107. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-018-5788-1

Methods: We applied multiparametric MRI to assess changes in liver composition, perfusion and blood flow in 17 patients before DAA therapy and after treatment completion (within 12 weeks of last DAA tablet swallowed).
Results: We observed changes in... Read More about Short-term changes observed in multi-parametric liver MRI following therapy with direct acting antivirals in chronic hepatitis C virus patients.

Addressing challenges of high spatial resolution UHF fMRI for group analysis of higher‐order cognitive tasks: An inter‐sensory task directing attention between visual and somatosensory domains (2018)
Journal Article
Aquino, K. M., Sokoliuk, R., Pakenham, D., Sanchez-Panchuelo, R. M., Hanslmayr, S., Mayhew, S. D., …Francis, S. T. (2019). Addressing challenges of high spatial resolution UHF fMRI for group analysis of higher‐order cognitive tasks: An inter‐sensory task directing attention between visual and somatosensory domains. Human Brain Mapping, 40(4), 1298-1316. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.24450

Functional MRI at ultra-high field (UHF, ≥7T) provides significant increases in BOLD contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR) compared with conventional field strength (3T), and has been exploited for reduced field-of-view, high spatial resolution mapping of pr... Read More about Addressing challenges of high spatial resolution UHF fMRI for group analysis of higher‐order cognitive tasks: An inter‐sensory task directing attention between visual and somatosensory domains.

Is human auditory cortex organization compatible with the monkey model? Contrary evidence from ultra-high-field functional and structural MRI (2018)
Journal Article
Besle, J., Mougin, O., Sánchez-Panchuelo, R.-M., Lanting, C., Gowland, P., Bowtell, R., …Krumbholz, K. (2018). Is human auditory cortex organization compatible with the monkey model? Contrary evidence from ultra-high-field functional and structural MRI. Cerebral Cortex, 29(1), 410-428. https://doi.org/10.1093/cercor/bhy267

It is commonly assumed that the human auditory cortex is organized similarly to that of macaque monkeys, where the primary region, or “core,” is elongated parallel to the tonotopic axis (main direction of tonotopic gradients), and subdivided across t... Read More about Is human auditory cortex organization compatible with the monkey model? Contrary evidence from ultra-high-field functional and structural MRI.

Ultra-high-field arterial spin labeling MRI for non-contrast assessment of cortical lesion perfusion in multiple sclerosis (2018)
Journal Article
Drury, R. J., Falah, Y., Gowland, P. A., Evangelou, N., Bright, M. G., & Francis, S. T. (2019). Ultra-high-field arterial spin labeling MRI for non-contrast assessment of cortical lesion perfusion in multiple sclerosis. European Radiology, 29(4), 2027–2033. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-018-5707-5

Objectives

Assess the feasibility of using an optimised ultra-high-field high-spatial-resolution low-distortion ASL MRI acquisition to measure focal haemodynamic pathology in cortical lesions (CLs) in Multiple Sclerosis (MS).

Methods

Twelve... Read More about Ultra-high-field arterial spin labeling MRI for non-contrast assessment of cortical lesion perfusion in multiple sclerosis.

Ultra-high-field arterial spin labelling MRI for non-contrast assessment of cortical lesion perfusion in multiple sclerosis (2018)
Journal Article
Dury, R. J., Falah, Y., Gowland, P. A., Evangelou, N., Bright, M. G., & Francis, S. T. (2019). Ultra-high-field arterial spin labelling MRI for non-contrast assessment of cortical lesion perfusion in multiple sclerosis. European Radiology, 29(4), 2027-2033. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-018-5707-5

© 2018, The Author(s). Objectives: To assess the feasibility of using an optimised ultra-high-field high-spatial-resolution low-distortion arterial spin labelling (ASL) MRI acquisition to measure focal haemodynamic pathology in cortical lesions (CLs)... Read More about Ultra-high-field arterial spin labelling MRI for non-contrast assessment of cortical lesion perfusion in multiple sclerosis.

MRI assessment of altered dynamic changes in liver haemodynamics following a meal challenge in compensated cirrhosis (2018)
Journal Article
Cox, E. F., Palaniyappan, N., Aithal, G. P., Guha, I. N., & Francis, S. T. (2018). MRI assessment of altered dynamic changes in liver haemodynamics following a meal challenge in compensated cirrhosis. European Radiology Experimental, 2, Article 26. https://doi.org/10.1186/s41747-018-0056-3

Background: To use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to dynamically assess postprandial changes in hepatic and collateral blood flow, liver perfusion and oxygenation in healthy participants and patients with liver disease with compensated cirrhosis (C... Read More about MRI assessment of altered dynamic changes in liver haemodynamics following a meal challenge in compensated cirrhosis.

Using MRI to study the alterations in liver blood flow, perfusion and oxygenation in response to physiological stress challenges: meal, hyperoxia and hypercapnia (2018)
Journal Article
Cox, E. F., Palaniyappan, N., Aithal, G. P., Guha, I. N., & Francis, S. T. (in press). Using MRI to study the alterations in liver blood flow, perfusion and oxygenation in response to physiological stress challenges: meal, hyperoxia and hypercapnia. Journal of Magnetic Resonance Imaging,

Background: Non-invasive assessment of dynamic changes in liver blood flow, perfusion and oxygenation using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may allow detection of subtle haemodynamic alterations in cirrhosis.
Purpose: To assess the feasibility of... Read More about Using MRI to study the alterations in liver blood flow, perfusion and oxygenation in response to physiological stress challenges: meal, hyperoxia and hypercapnia.

Arterial spin labelling MRI to measure renal perfusion: a systematic review and statement paper (2018)
Journal Article
Odudu, A., Nery, F., Harteveld, A. A., Evans, R. G., Pendse, D., Buchanan, C. E., …Fernandez-Seara, M. A. (2018). Arterial spin labelling MRI to measure renal perfusion: a systematic review and statement paper. Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation, 33(Issue suppl_2), ii15-ii21. https://doi.org/10.1093/ndt/gfy180

Renal perfusion provides the driving pressure for glomerular filtration and delivers the oxygen and nutrients to fuel solute reabsorption. Renal ischaemia is a major mechanism in acute kidney injury and may promote the progression of chronic kidney d... Read More about Arterial spin labelling MRI to measure renal perfusion: a systematic review and statement paper.

Addressing challenges of high spatial resolution, UHF field fMRI for group analysis of higher-order cognitive tasks; an inter-sensory task directing attention between visual and somatosensory domains (2018)
Other
Aquino, K. M., Sokoliuk, R., Pakenham, D., Sanchez, R., Hanslmayr, S., Mayhew, S., …Francis, S. (2019). Addressing challenges of high spatial resolution, UHF field fMRI for group analysis of higher-order cognitive tasks; an inter-sensory task directing attention between visual and somatosensory domains

Evaluation of 2D Imaging Schemes for Pulsed Arterial Spin Labeling of the Human Kidney Cortex (2018)
Journal Article
Buchanan, C. E., Cox, E. F., & Francis, S. T. (2018). Evaluation of 2D Imaging Schemes for Pulsed Arterial Spin Labeling of the Human Kidney Cortex. Diagnostics, 8(3), Article 43. https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics8030043

Purpose
A number of imaging readout schemes have been proposed for renal arterial spin labelling (ASL) to quantify kidney cortex perfusion, including gradient echo based methods of balanced fast field echo (bFFE) and gradient-echo echo-planar imagi... Read More about Evaluation of 2D Imaging Schemes for Pulsed Arterial Spin Labeling of the Human Kidney Cortex.

Mapping the topological organisation of beta oscillations in motor cortex using MEG (2018)
Journal Article
Barratt, E., Francis, S. T., Morris, P. G., & Brookes, M. J. (2018). Mapping the topological organisation of beta oscillations in motor cortex using MEG. NeuroImage, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2018.06.041

The spatial topology of the human motor cortex has been well studied, particularly using functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) which allows spatial separation of haemodynamic responses arising from stimulation of different body parts, individu... Read More about Mapping the topological organisation of beta oscillations in motor cortex using MEG.

Somatotopy in the human somatosensory system (2018)
Journal Article
Sanchez Panchuelo, R., Besle, J., Schluppeck, D., Humberstone, M., & Francis, S. (2018). Somatotopy in the human somatosensory system. Frontiers in Human Neuroscience, 12, Article 235. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnhum.2018.00235

Previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have demonstrated digit somatotopy in primary somatosensory cortex (SI), and even shown that at high spatial resolution it is possible to resolve within-digit somatotopy. However, fMRI stu... Read More about Somatotopy in the human somatosensory system.

Multi organ assessment of compensated cirrhosis patients using quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (2018)
Journal Article
Bradley, C. R., Cox, E. F., Scott, R. A., James, M. W., Kaye, P., Aithal, G. P., Francis, S. T., & Guha, I. N. (2018). Multi organ assessment of compensated cirrhosis patients using quantitative magnetic resonance imaging. Journal of Hepatology, 69(5), 1015-1024. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhep.2018.05.037

Background and Aims: Advancing liver disease results in deleterious changes in a number of critical organs. The ability to measure structure, blood flow and tissue perfusion within multiple organs in a single scan has implications for determining the... Read More about Multi organ assessment of compensated cirrhosis patients using quantitative magnetic resonance imaging.

Pretreatment lesions on magnetic resonance imaging in patients with hepatitis C virus infection diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma after initiating direct-acting antiviral therapy (2018)
Journal Article
Scott, R. A., Aithal, G. P., Francis, S. T., & Irving, W. L. (2018). Pretreatment lesions on magnetic resonance imaging in patients with hepatitis C virus infection diagnosed with hepatocellular carcinoma after initiating direct-acting antiviral therapy. Gastroenterology, 154(6), https://doi.org/10.1053/j.gastro.2017.12.047

The Physiological Bases of Hidden Noise-Induced Hearing Loss: Protocol for a Functional Neuroimaging Study (2018)
Journal Article
Dewey, R. S., Hall, D. A., Guest, H., Prendergast, G., Plack, C. J., & Francis, S. T. (2018). The Physiological Bases of Hidden Noise-Induced Hearing Loss: Protocol for a Functional Neuroimaging Study. JMIR Research Protocols, 7(3), Article e79. https://doi.org/10.2196/resprot.9095

Background: Rodent studies indicate that noise exposure can cause permanent damage to synapses between inner hair cells and high-threshold auditory nerve fibers, without permanently altering threshold sensitivity. These demonstrations of what is comm... Read More about The Physiological Bases of Hidden Noise-Induced Hearing Loss: Protocol for a Functional Neuroimaging Study.

The Physiological Bases of Hidden Noise-Induced Hearing Loss: Protocol for a Functional Neuroimaging Study (Preprint) (2018)
Other
Dewey, R. S., Hall, D. A., Guest, H., Prendergast, G., Plack, C. J., & Francis, S. T. (2018). The Physiological Bases of Hidden Noise-Induced Hearing Loss: Protocol for a Functional Neuroimaging Study (Preprint)

Background:

Rodent studies indicate that noise exposure can cause permanent damage to synapses between inner hair cells and high-threshold auditory nerve fibers, without permanently altering threshold sensitivity. These demonstrations of what is c... Read More about The Physiological Bases of Hidden Noise-Induced Hearing Loss: Protocol for a Functional Neuroimaging Study (Preprint).

Variation in thermally induced taste response across thermal tasters (2018)
Journal Article
Skinner, M., Eldeghaidy, S., Ford, R., Giesbrecht, T., Thomas, A., Francis, S., & Hort, J. (2018). Variation in thermally induced taste response across thermal tasters. Physiology and Behavior, 188, 67-78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2018.01.017

Thermal tasters (TTs) perceive thermally induced taste (thermal taste) sensations when the tongue is stimulated with temperature in the absence of gustatory stimuli, while thermal non tasters (TnTs) only perceive temperature. This is the first study... Read More about Variation in thermally induced taste response across thermal tasters.

Cortical differences in diverticular disease and correlation with symptom reports (2018)
Journal Article
Pitiot, A., Smith, J. K., Garratt, J., Francis, S. T., Gowland, P. A., Spiller, R. C., & Marciani, L. (2018). Cortical differences in diverticular disease and correlation with symptom reports. Neurogastroenterology and Motility, 30(7), Article e13303. https://doi.org/10.1111/nmo.13303

Background

Recent studies have shown that the brain of patients with gastrointestinal disease differ both structurally and functionally from that of controls. Highly somatizing diverticular disease (HSDD) patients were also shown to differ from l... Read More about Cortical differences in diverticular disease and correlation with symptom reports.

Exploring the advantages of multiband fMRI with simultaneous EEG to investigate coupling between gamma frequency neural activity and the BOLD response in humans (2018)
Journal Article
Uji, M., Wilson, R., Francis, S. T., Mullinger, K. J., & Mayhew, S. D. (2018). Exploring the advantages of multiband fMRI with simultaneous EEG to investigate coupling between gamma frequency neural activity and the BOLD response in humans. Human Brain Mapping, 39(4), 1673-1687. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.23943

We established an optimal combination of EEG recording during sparse multiband (MB) fMRI that preserves high resolution, whole brain fMRI coverage whilst enabling broad-band EEG recordings which are uncorrupted by MRI gradient artefacts (GAs). We fir... Read More about Exploring the advantages of multiband fMRI with simultaneous EEG to investigate coupling between gamma frequency neural activity and the BOLD response in humans.

An automated method to detect and quantify fungiform papillae in the human tongue: Validation and relationship to phenotypical differences in taste perception (2017)
Journal Article
Eldeghaidy, S., Thomas, D., Skinner, M., Ford, R., Giesbrecht, T., Thomas, A., …Francis, S. (2018). An automated method to detect and quantify fungiform papillae in the human tongue: Validation and relationship to phenotypical differences in taste perception. Physiology and Behavior, 184, 226-234. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2017.12.003

Determination of the number of fungiform papillae (FP) on the human tongue is an important measure that has frequently been associated with individual differences in oral perception, including taste sensitivity. At present, there is no standardised m... Read More about An automated method to detect and quantify fungiform papillae in the human tongue: Validation and relationship to phenotypical differences in taste perception.

Multiparametric renal magnetic resonance imaging: validation, interventions, and alterations in chronic kidney disease (2017)
Journal Article
Cox, E. F., Buchanan, C. E., Bradley, C. R., Prestwich, B., Mahmoud, H., Taal, M., Selby, N. M., & Francis, S. T. (2017). Multiparametric renal magnetic resonance imaging: validation, interventions, and alterations in chronic kidney disease. Frontiers in Physiology, 8, Article 696. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2017.00696

Background: This paper outlines a multiparametric renal MRI acquisition and analysis protocol to allow non-invasive assessment of hemodynamics (renal artery blood flow and perfusion), oxygenation (BOLD T2*), and microstructure (diffusion, T1 mapping)... Read More about Multiparametric renal magnetic resonance imaging: validation, interventions, and alterations in chronic kidney disease.

Sodium MRI: a new frontier in imaging in nephrology (2017)
Journal Article
Francis, S. T., Buchanan, C., Prestwich, B., & Taal, M. W. (2017). Sodium MRI: a new frontier in imaging in nephrology. Current Opinion in Nephrology and Hypertension, 26(6), 435-441. https://doi.org/10.1097/MNH.0000000000000370

Purpose of review

This review focuses on the recent technological advances in quantitative sodium (23Na) MRI to provide a noninvasive measure of tissue viability for use in clinical studies of patients with kidney disease. 23Na MRI is the only non... Read More about Sodium MRI: a new frontier in imaging in nephrology.

Decoding fMRI events in sensorimotor motor network using sparse paradigm free mapping and activation likelihood estimates: Decoding fMRI Events in SMN (2017)
Journal Article
Tan, F. M., Caballero-Gaudes, C., Mullinger, K. J., Cho, S.-Y., Zhang, Y., Dryden, I. L., …Gowland, P. A. (2017). Decoding fMRI events in sensorimotor motor network using sparse paradigm free mapping and activation likelihood estimates: Decoding fMRI Events in SMN. Human Brain Mapping, 38(11), 5778-5794. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.23767

Most functional MRI (fMRI) studies map task-driven brain activity using a block or event-related paradigm. Sparse paradigm free mapping (SPFM) can detect the onset and spatial distribution of BOLD events in the brain without prior timing information,... Read More about Decoding fMRI events in sensorimotor motor network using sparse paradigm free mapping and activation likelihood estimates: Decoding fMRI Events in SMN.

FGF21 is an insulin-dependent postprandial hormone in adult humans (2017)
Journal Article
Samms, R. J., Lewis, J. E., Norton, L., Stephens, F. B., Gaffney, C. J., Butterfield, T., …Tsintzas, K. (in press). FGF21 is an insulin-dependent postprandial hormone in adult humans. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, https://doi.org/10.1210/jc.2017-01257

Context: Fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) secretion has been shown to respond directly to carbohydrate consumption, with glucose, fructose and sucrose all reported to increase plasma levels of FGF21 in rodents and humans. However, carbohydrate con... Read More about FGF21 is an insulin-dependent postprandial hormone in adult humans.

An intra-neural microstimulation system for ultra-high field magnetic resonance imaging and magnetoencephalography (2017)
Journal Article
Glover, P. M., Watkins, R. H., O’Neill, G. C., Ackerley, R. M., Sánchez-Panchuelo, R.-M., McGlone, F., Brookes, M. J., Wessberg, J., & Francis, S. T. (2017). An intra-neural microstimulation system for ultra-high field magnetic resonance imaging and magnetoencephalography. Journal of Neuroscience Methods, 290, 69-78. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneumeth.2017.07.016

Background

Intra-neural microstimulation (INMS) is a technique that allows the precise delivery of low-current electrical pulses into human peripheral nerves. Single unit INMS can be used to stimulate individual afferent nerve fibres during micron... Read More about An intra-neural microstimulation system for ultra-high field magnetic resonance imaging and magnetoencephalography.

Post-stimulus fMRI and EEG responses: evidence for a neuronal origin hypothesised to be inhibitory (2017)
Journal Article
Mullinger, K. J., Cherukara, M. T., Buxton, R. B., Francis, S. T., & Mayhew, S. D. (2017). Post-stimulus fMRI and EEG responses: evidence for a neuronal origin hypothesised to be inhibitory. NeuroImage, 157, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.06.020

Post-stimulus undershoots, negative responses following cessation of stimulation, are widely observed in functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) data. However, the debate surrounding whether the origin of this re... Read More about Post-stimulus fMRI and EEG responses: evidence for a neuronal origin hypothesised to be inhibitory.

Intramyocellular lipid content and lipogenic gene expression responses following a single bout of resistance type exercise differ between young and older men (2017)
Journal Article
Tsintzas, K., Stephens, F. B., Snijders, T., Wall, B. T., Cooper, S., Mallinson, J., …van Loon, L. J. (2017). Intramyocellular lipid content and lipogenic gene expression responses following a single bout of resistance type exercise differ between young and older men. Experimental Gerontology, 93, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exger.2017.03.018

The aim of this study was to examine the temporal relationship between intramyocellular lipid (IMCL) content and the expression of genes associated with IMCL turnover, fat metabolism, and inflammation during recovery from an acute bout of resistance... Read More about Intramyocellular lipid content and lipogenic gene expression responses following a single bout of resistance type exercise differ between young and older men.

³¹P magnetization transfer magnetic resonance spectroscopy: assessing the activation induced change in cerebral ATP metabolic rates at 3 T (2017)
Journal Article
Chen, C., Stephenson, M. C., Peters, A., Morris, P. G., Francis, S. T., & Gowland, P. A. (2018). ³¹P magnetization transfer magnetic resonance spectroscopy: assessing the activation induced change in cerebral ATP metabolic rates at 3 T. Magnetic Resonance in Medicine, 79(1), 22-30. https://doi.org/10.1002/mrm.26663

Purpose: In vivo ³¹P MRS magnetization transfer (MT) provides a direct measure of neuronal activity at the metabolic level. This work aims to use functional ³¹P MRS-MT to investigate the change in cerebral ATP metabolic rates in healthy adults upon r... Read More about ³¹P magnetization transfer magnetic resonance spectroscopy: assessing the activation induced change in cerebral ATP metabolic rates at 3 T.

Abnormal task driven neural oscillations in multiple sclerosis: a visuomotor MEG study (2017)
Journal Article
Barratt, E. L., Tewarie, P. K., Clarke, M. A., Hall, E. L., Gowland, P. A., Morris, P. G., …Brookes, M. J. (2017). Abnormal task driven neural oscillations in multiple sclerosis: a visuomotor MEG study. Human Brain Mapping, 38(5), 2441-2453. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.23531

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a debilitating disease commonly attributed to degradation of white matter myelin. Symptoms include fatigue, as well as problems associated with vision and movement. Although areas of demyelination in white matter are observ... Read More about Abnormal task driven neural oscillations in multiple sclerosis: a visuomotor MEG study.

Exploring structure and function of sensory cortex with 7 T MRI (2017)
Journal Article
Schluppeck, D., Sánchez-Panchuelo, R.-M., & Francis, S. T. (2018). Exploring structure and function of sensory cortex with 7 T MRI. NeuroImage, 164, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2017.01.081

In this paper, we present an overview of 7 Tesla magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies of the detailed function and anatomy of sensory areas of the human brain. We discuss the motivation for the studies, with particular emphasis on increasing the... Read More about Exploring structure and function of sensory cortex with 7 T MRI.

Endotoxemia in peritoneal dialysis patients: a pilot study to examine the role of intestinal perfusion and congestion (2017)
Journal Article
Grant, C., Harrison, L., Hoad, C., Marciani, L., Cox, E., Buchanan, C., …McIntyre, C. (2017). Endotoxemia in peritoneal dialysis patients: a pilot study to examine the role of intestinal perfusion and congestion. Peritoneal Dialysis International, 37(1), 111-115. https://doi.org/10.3747/pdi.2016.00079

Endotoxemia is common in advanced chronic kidney disease and is particularly severe in those receiving dialysis. In hemodialysis patients, translocation from the bowel occurs as a consequence of recurrent circulatory stress leading to a reduction in... Read More about Endotoxemia in peritoneal dialysis patients: a pilot study to examine the role of intestinal perfusion and congestion.

Intradialytic Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging to Assess Cardiovascular Responses in a Short-Term Trial of Hemodiafiltration and Hemodialysis (2016)
Journal Article
Buchanan, C., Mohammed, A., Cox, E., Köhler, K., Canaud, B., Taal, M. W., …McIntyre, C. W. (2017). Intradialytic Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging to Assess Cardiovascular Responses in a Short-Term Trial of Hemodiafiltration and Hemodialysis. Journal of the American Society of Nephrology, 28(4), 1269-1277. https://doi.org/10.1681/ASN.2016060686

Hemodynamic stress during hemodialysis (HD) results in recurrent segmental ischemic injury (myocardial stunning) that drives cumulative cardiac damage. We performed a fully comprehensive study of the cardiovascular effect of dialysis sessions using i... Read More about Intradialytic Cardiac Magnetic Resonance Imaging to Assess Cardiovascular Responses in a Short-Term Trial of Hemodiafiltration and Hemodialysis.

Imaging the kidney using magnetic resonance techniques: structure to function (2016)
Journal Article
Mahmoud, H., Buchanan, C., Francis, S. T., & Selby, N. M. (2016). Imaging the kidney using magnetic resonance techniques: structure to function. Current Opinion in Nephrology and Hypertension, 25(6), https://doi.org/10.1097/MNH.0000000000000266

Purpose of review
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) offers the possibility to non-invasively assess both the structure and function of the kidney in a single MR scan session. This review summarises recent advancements in functional renal MRI techniqu... Read More about Imaging the kidney using magnetic resonance techniques: structure to function.

Field strength dependence of grey matter R2* on venous oxygenation (2016)
Journal Article
Croal, P. L., Driver, I. D., Francis, S. T., & Gowland, P. A. (2017). Field strength dependence of grey matter R2* on venous oxygenation. NeuroImage, 146, 327-332. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.10.004

The relationship between venous blood oxygenation and change in transverse relaxation rate (ΔR2 *) plays a key role in calibrated BOLD fMRI. This relationship, defined by the parameter β, has previously been determined using theoretical simulations a... Read More about Field strength dependence of grey matter R2* on venous oxygenation.

Prior consumption of a fat meal in healthy adults modulates the brain’s response to fat (2016)
Journal Article
Eldeghaidy, S., Marciani, L., Hort, J., Hollowood, T. A., Singh, G., Bush, D., Foster, T., Taylor, A. J., Busch, J., Spiller, R. C., Gowland, P. A., & Francis, S. T. (2016). Prior consumption of a fat meal in healthy adults modulates the brain’s response to fat. Journal of Nutrition, 146(11), 2187-2198. https://doi.org/10.3945/jn.116.234104

Background: Consumption of fat is regulated by reward and homeostatic pathways, but no studies have examined the role of the intake of a high fat meal (HFM) on subsequent brain activation to oral stimuli.
Objective: We evaluated how prior consumptio... Read More about Prior consumption of a fat meal in healthy adults modulates the brain’s response to fat.

Non-invasive assessment of portal hypertension using quantitative magnetic resonance imaging (2016)
Journal Article
Palaniyappan, N., Cox, E., Bradley, C., Scott, R., Austin, A., O’Neill, R., Ramjas, G., Travis, S., White, H., Singh, R., Thurley, P., Guha, I. N., Francis, S., & Aithal, G. P. (2016). Non-invasive assessment of portal hypertension using quantitative magnetic resonance imaging. Journal of Hepatology, 65(6), 1131-1139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhep.2016.07.021

Background & Aims

Hepatic venous pressure gradient (HVPG) measurement is currently the only validated technique to accurately evaluate changes in portal pressure. In this study, we evaluate the use of non-contrast quantitative magnetic resonance i... Read More about Non-invasive assessment of portal hypertension using quantitative magnetic resonance imaging.

Mapping quantal touch using 7 Tesla functional magnetic resonance imaging and single-unit intraneural microstimulation (2016)
Journal Article
Sanchez Panchuelo, R., Ackerley, R. M., Glover, P. M., Bowtell, R. W., Wessberg, J., Francis, S. T., & McGlone, F. (2016). Mapping quantal touch using 7 Tesla functional magnetic resonance imaging and single-unit intraneural microstimulation. eLife, 5(MAY2016), Article e.Life.12812. https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.12812

Using ultra-high field 7 Tesla (7T) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we map the cortical and perceptual responses elicited by intraneural microstimulation (INMS) of single mechanoreceptive afferent units in the median nerve, in humans. A... Read More about Mapping quantal touch using 7 Tesla functional magnetic resonance imaging and single-unit intraneural microstimulation.

Anticipation of thermal pain in diverticular disease (2016)
Journal Article
Smith, J. K., Marciani, L., Humes, D. J., Francis, S. T., Gowland, P. A., & Spiller, R. C. (2016). Anticipation of thermal pain in diverticular disease. Neurogastroenterology and Motility, 28(6), https://doi.org/10.1111/nmo.12790

Background
The relative importance of peripheral nerve injury or differences in central pain processing in painful diverticular disease (DD) is unclear. Functional MRI has demonstrated changes in the anticipation of pain in irritable bowel syndrom... Read More about Anticipation of thermal pain in diverticular disease.

Thermal taster status: evidence of cross-modal integration (2016)
Journal Article
Hort, J., Ford, R. A., Eldeghaidy, S., & Francis, S. T. (2016). Thermal taster status: evidence of cross-modal integration. Human Brain Mapping, 37(6), 2263-2275. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.23171

Thermal taster status refers to the finding that, in some individuals, thermal stimulation of the tongue elicits a phantom taste. Little is known regarding the mechanism for this, it is hypothesised to be a result of cross-wiring between gustatory an... Read More about Thermal taster status: evidence of cross-modal integration.

Global signal modulation of single-trial fMRI response variability: effect on positive vs negative BOLD response relationship (2016)
Journal Article
Mayhew, S. D., Mullinger, K. J., Ostwald, D., Porcaro, C., Bowtell, R. W., Bagshaw, A. P., & Francis, S. T. (2016). Global signal modulation of single-trial fMRI response variability: effect on positive vs negative BOLD response relationship. NeuroImage, 133, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2016.02.077

In functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), the relationship between positive BOLD responses (PBRs) and negative BOLD responses (NBRs) to stimulation is potentially informative about the balance of excitatory and inhibitory brain responses in se... Read More about Global signal modulation of single-trial fMRI response variability: effect on positive vs negative BOLD response relationship.

Voxel-based, brain-wide association study of aberrant functional connectivity in schizophrenia implicates thalamocortical circuitry (2015)
Journal Article
Cheng, W., Palaniyappan, L., Li, M., Kendrick, K. M., Zhang, J., Luo, Q., …Feng, J. (2015). Voxel-based, brain-wide association study of aberrant functional connectivity in schizophrenia implicates thalamocortical circuitry. npj Schizophrenia, 1, Article 15016. https://doi.org/10.1038/npjschz.2015.16

BACKGROUND: Wernicke’s concept of ‘sejunction’ or aberrant associations among specialized brain regions is one of the earliest hypotheses attempting to explain the myriad of symptoms in psychotic disorders. Unbiased data mining of all possible brain-... Read More about Voxel-based, brain-wide association study of aberrant functional connectivity in schizophrenia implicates thalamocortical circuitry.

Functional connectivity in MRI is driven by spontaneous BOLD events (2015)
Journal Article

A study of T1 relaxation time as a measure of liver fibrosis and the influence of confounding histological factors (2015)
Journal Article

Liver biopsy is the standard test for the assessment of fibrosis in liver tissue of patients with chronic liver disease. Recent studies have used a non‐invasive measure of T1 relaxation time to estimate the degree of fibrosis in a single slice of the... Read More about A study of T1 relaxation time as a measure of liver fibrosis and the influence of confounding histological factors.

Lipid-induced insulin resistance is associated with an impaired skeletal muscle protein synthetic response to amino acid ingestion in healthy young men (2015)
Journal Article
Stephens, F. B., Chee, C., Wall, B. T., Murton, A. J., Shannon, C. E., van Loon, L. J., & Tsintzas, K. (2015). Lipid-induced insulin resistance is associated with an impaired skeletal muscle protein synthetic response to amino acid ingestion in healthy young men. Diabetes, 64(5), https://doi.org/10.2337/db14-0961

The ability to maintain skeletal muscle mass appears to be impaired in insulin-resistant conditions, such as type 2 diabetes, that are characterized by muscle lipid accumulation. The current study investigated the effect of acutely increasing lipid a... Read More about Lipid-induced insulin resistance is associated with an impaired skeletal muscle protein synthetic response to amino acid ingestion in healthy young men.

Cerebrovascular and blood-brain barrier impairments in Huntington's disease: Potential implications for its pathophysiology: Vascular impairments in HD (2015)
Journal Article
Drouin-Ouellet, J., Sawiak, S. J., Cisbani, G., Lagacé, M., Kuan, W.-L., Saint-Pierre, M., …Cicchetti, F. (2015). Cerebrovascular and blood-brain barrier impairments in Huntington's disease: Potential implications for its pathophysiology: Vascular impairments in HD. Annals of Neurology, 78(2), 160-177. https://doi.org/10.1002/ana.24406

Objective

Although the underlying cause of Huntington's disease (HD) is well established, the actual pathophysiological processes involved remain to be fully elucidated. In other proteinopathies such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases, there... Read More about Cerebrovascular and blood-brain barrier impairments in Huntington's disease: Potential implications for its pathophysiology: Vascular impairments in HD.

Hemispheric asymmetry in cerebrovascular reactivity of the human primary motor cortex: an in vivo study at 7 T (2015)
Journal Article
Driver, I. D., Andoh, J., Blockley, N. P., Francis, S. T., Gowland, P. A., & Paus, T. (2015). Hemispheric asymmetry in cerebrovascular reactivity of the human primary motor cortex: an in vivo study at 7 T. NMR in Biomedicine, 28(5), 538-545. https://doi.org/10.1002/nbm.3282

Current functional MRI (fMRI) approaches assess underlying neuronal activity through monitoring the related local variations in cerebral blood oxygenation, blood volume and blood flow. This vascular response is likely to vary across brain regions and... Read More about Hemispheric asymmetry in cerebrovascular reactivity of the human primary motor cortex: an in vivo study at 7 T.

7 Tesla fMRI reveals systematic functional organization for binocular disparity in dorsal visual cortex (2015)
Journal Article
Sánchez-Panchuelo, R. M., Goncalves, N. R., Schluppeck, D., Ban, H., Sanchez-Panchuelo, R., Welchman, A. E., & Francis, S. T. (2015). 7 Tesla fMRI reveals systematic functional organization for binocular disparity in dorsal visual cortex. Journal of Neuroscience, 35(7), 3056-3072. https://doi.org/10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3047-14.2015

© 2015 the authors. The binocular disparity between the views of the world registered by the left and right eyes provides a powerful signal about the depth structure of the environment. Despite increasing knowledge of the cortical areas that process... Read More about 7 Tesla fMRI reveals systematic functional organization for binocular disparity in dorsal visual cortex.

The effect of isocapnic hyperoxia on neurophysiology as measured with MRI and MEG (2015)
Journal Article
Croal, P. L., Hall, E. L., Driver, I. D., Brookes, M. J., Gowland, P. A., & Francis, S. T. (2015). The effect of isocapnic hyperoxia on neurophysiology as measured with MRI and MEG. NeuroImage, 105, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.10.036

The physiological effect of hyperoxia has been poorly characterised, with studies reporting conflicting results on the role of hyperoxia as a vasoconstrictor. It is not clear whether hyperoxia is the primary contributor to vasoconstriction or whether... Read More about The effect of isocapnic hyperoxia on neurophysiology as measured with MRI and MEG.

Assessing the spatial precision of SE and GE-BOLD contrast at 7 Tesla (2014)
Journal Article

Fish oil omega-3 fatty acids partially prevent lipid-induced insulin resistance in human skeletal muscle without limiting acylcarnitine accumulation (2014)
Journal Article
Stephens, F. B., Mendis, B., Shannon, C. E., Cooper, S., Ortori, C. A., Barrett, D. A., …Tsintzas, K. (2014). Fish oil omega-3 fatty acids partially prevent lipid-induced insulin resistance in human skeletal muscle without limiting acylcarnitine accumulation. Clinical Science, 127(5), 315-322. https://doi.org/10.1042/cs20140031

Acylcarnitine accumulation in skeletal muscle and plasma has been observed in numerous models of mitochondrial lipid overload and insulin resistance. Fish oil n3PUFA (omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids) are thought to protect against lipid-induced i... Read More about Fish oil omega-3 fatty acids partially prevent lipid-induced insulin resistance in human skeletal muscle without limiting acylcarnitine accumulation.

Neuroimaging paradigms for tonotopic mapping (II): the influence of acquisition protocol. (2014)
Journal Article

Functional quantitative susceptibility mapping (fQSM) (2014)
Journal Article
Balla, D. Z., Sánchez-Panchuelo, R.-M., Wharton, S. J., Hagberg, G. E., Scheffler, K., Francis, S. T., & Bowtell, R. (2014). Functional quantitative susceptibility mapping (fQSM). NeuroImage, 100, 112-124. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.06.011

Blood oxygenation level dependent (BOLD) functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a powerful technique, typically based on the statistical analysis of the magnitude component of the complex time-series. Here, we additionally interrogated the p... Read More about Functional quantitative susceptibility mapping (fQSM).

A Randomized, Controlled, Double-Blind Crossover Study on the Effects of 1-L Infusions of 6% Hydroxyethyl Starch Suspended in 0.9% Saline (Voluven) and a Balanced Solution (Plasma Volume Redibag) on Blood Volume, Renal Blood Flow Velocity, and Renal Cortical Tissue Perfusion in Healthy Volunteers (2014)
Journal Article
Chowdhury, A., Fox, E., Francis, S., & Lobo, D. (2014). A Randomized, Controlled, Double-Blind Crossover Study on the Effects of 1-L Infusions of 6% Hydroxyethyl Starch Suspended in 0.9% Saline (Voluven) and a Balanced Solution (Plasma Volume Redibag) on Blood Volume, Renal Blood Flow Velocity, and Renal Cortical Tissue Perfusion in Healthy Volunteers. Annals of Surgery, 259(5), 881–887. https://doi.org/10.1097/SLA.0000000000000324

Objective: We compared the effects of intravenous administration of 6% hydroxyethyl starch (maize-derived) in 0.9% saline (Voluven; Fresenius Kabi, Runcorn, United Kingdom) and a “balanced” preparation of 6% hydroxyethyl starch (potato-derived) [Plas... Read More about A Randomized, Controlled, Double-Blind Crossover Study on the Effects of 1-L Infusions of 6% Hydroxyethyl Starch Suspended in 0.9% Saline (Voluven) and a Balanced Solution (Plasma Volume Redibag) on Blood Volume, Renal Blood Flow Velocity, and Renal Cortical Tissue Perfusion in Healthy Volunteers.

Evidence that the negative BOLD response is neuronal in origin: a simultaneous EEG–BOLD–CBF study in humans (2014)
Journal Article
Mullinger, K. J., Mayhew, S. D., Bagshaw, A. P., Bowtell, R. W., & Francis, S. T. (2014). Evidence that the negative BOLD response is neuronal in origin: a simultaneous EEG–BOLD–CBF study in humans. NeuroImage, 94, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2014.02.029

Unambiguous interpretation of changes in the BOLD signal is challenging because of the complex neurovascular coupling that translates changes in neuronal activity into the subsequent haemodynamic response. In particular, the neurophysiological origin... Read More about Evidence that the negative BOLD response is neuronal in origin: a simultaneous EEG–BOLD–CBF study in humans.

Event-related fMRI at 7T reveals overlapping cortical representations for adjacent fingertips in S1 of individual subjects (2013)
Journal Article
Besle, J., Sánchez-Panchuelo, R.-M., Bowtell, R., Francis, S., & Schluppeck, D. (2014). Event-related fMRI at 7T reveals overlapping cortical representations for adjacent fingertips in S1 of individual subjects. Human Brain Mapping, 35(5), 2027-2043. https://doi.org/10.1002/hbm.22310

Recent fMRI studies of the human primary somatosensory cortex have been able to differentiate the cortical representations of different fingertips at a single-subject level. These studies did not, however, investigate the expected overlap in cortical... Read More about Event-related fMRI at 7T reveals overlapping cortical representations for adjacent fingertips in S1 of individual subjects.

Skeletal muscle carnitine loading increases energy expenditure, modulates fuel metabolism gene networks and prevents body fat accumulation in humans (2013)
Journal Article
Stephens, F. B., Wall, B. T., Marimuthu, K., Shannon, C. E., Constantin-Teodosiu, D., MacDonald, I. A., & Greenhaff, P. L. (2013). Skeletal muscle carnitine loading increases energy expenditure, modulates fuel metabolism gene networks and prevents body fat accumulation in humans. Journal of Physiology, 591(18), https://doi.org/10.1113/jphysiol.2013.255364

Twelve weeks of daily L-carnitine and carbohydrate feeding in humans increases skeletal muscle total carnitine content, and prevents body mass accrual associated with carbohydrate feeding alone. Here we determined the influence of L-carnitine and car... Read More about Skeletal muscle carnitine loading increases energy expenditure, modulates fuel metabolism gene networks and prevents body fat accumulation in humans.

Poststimulus undershoots in cerebral blood flow and BOLD fMRI responses are modulated by poststimulus neuronal activity (2013)
Journal Article
Mullinger, K. J., Mayhew, S. D., Bagshaw, A. P., Bowtell, R., & Francis, S. T. (2013). Poststimulus undershoots in cerebral blood flow and BOLD fMRI responses are modulated by poststimulus neuronal activity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 110(33), https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1221287110

fMRI is the foremost technique for noninvasive measurement of human brain function. However, its utility is limited by an incomplete understanding of the relationship between neuronal activity and the hemodynamic response. Though the primary peak of... Read More about Poststimulus undershoots in cerebral blood flow and BOLD fMRI responses are modulated by poststimulus neuronal activity.

Regional structural differences across functionally parcellated Brodmann areas of human primary somatosensory cortex (2013)
Journal Article

Ultra-high-field (UHF) MRI is ideally suited for structural and functional imaging of the brain. High-resolution structural MRI can be used to map the anatomical boundaries between functional domains of the brain by identifying changes related to the... Read More about Regional structural differences across functionally parcellated Brodmann areas of human primary somatosensory cortex.

Calibrated BOLD using direct measurement of changes in venous oxygenation (2012)
Journal Article
Driver, I. D., Hall, E. L., Wharton, S. J., Pritchard, S. E., Francis, S. T., & Gowland, P. A. (2012). Calibrated BOLD using direct measurement of changes in venous oxygenation. NeuroImage, 63(3), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2012.08.045

Calibration of the BOLD signal is potentially of great value in providing a closer measure of the underlying changes in brain function related to neuronal activity than the BOLD signal alone, but current approaches rely on an assumed relationship bet... Read More about Calibrated BOLD using direct measurement of changes in venous oxygenation.

Motion-related artefacts in EEG predict neuronally plausible patterns of activation in fMRI data (2012)
Journal Article
Jansen, M., White, T. P., Mullinger, K. J., Liddle, E. B., Gowland, P. A., Francis, S. T., …Liddle, P. F. (2012). Motion-related artefacts in EEG predict neuronally plausible patterns of activation in fMRI data. NeuroImage, 59(1), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2011.06.094

The simultaneous acquisition and subsequent analysis of EEG and fMRI data is challenging owing to increased noise levels in the EEG data. A common method to integrate data from these two modalities is to use aspects of the EEG data, such as the ampli... Read More about Motion-related artefacts in EEG predict neuronally plausible patterns of activation in fMRI data.

The change in cerebrovascular reactivity between 3T and 7T measured using graded hypercapnia (2010)
Journal Article
Driver, I., Blockley, N., Fisher, J., Francis, S., & Gowland, P. A. (2010). The change in cerebrovascular reactivity between 3T and 7T measured using graded hypercapnia. NeuroImage, 51(1), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuroimage.2009.12.113

Mapping cerebrovascular reactivity (CVR) to hypercapnia is important both clinically and for improved understanding of the haemodynamic properties of the BOLD effect. In this work BOLD/R2* CVR was investigated by using a device which provided small,... Read More about The change in cerebrovascular reactivity between 3T and 7T measured using graded hypercapnia.