Study identifies brain rewiring mechanism that may aid stroke recovery

But you didn't create a protocol to implement this; SO COMPLETELY FUCKING USELESS!

I'd fire all of you for stupidity! Your use of the magical word; neuroplasticity; won't save you from being fired! You don't know how to make neuroplasticity repeatable on demand, so stop referencing it as 'Magic occurs here'.
Study identifies brain rewiring mechanism that may aid stroke recovery

Stroke recovery may involve brain rewiring in undamaged regions, new research suggests, with scans showing a younger brain structure in people with severe movement problems.

The study analysed brain scans from more than 500 stroke survivors across 34 research sites in eight countries. Using deep learning models, a form of artificial intelligence, trained on tens of thousands of MRI scans, researchers estimated the biological age of different brain regions in each hemisphere to examine how stroke damage affects brain structure and recovery. They found that larger strokes accelerated ageing in the damaged hemisphere but appeared to make the opposite side of the brain look younger.

The pattern may reflect neuroplasticity, the brain’s ability to rewire and reorganise itself.

The research was carried out by scientists at the USC Mark and Mary Stevens Neuroimaging and Informatics Institute as part of the international ENIGMA Stroke Recovery Working Group, a global alliance bringing together data from more than 50 countries.

Arthur W. Toga, director of the Stevens INI and provost professor at USC, said: “By pooling data from hundreds of stroke survivors worldwide and applying cutting-edge AI, we can detect subtle patterns of brain reorganisation that would be invisible in smaller studies.

“These findings of regionally differential brain ageing in chronic stroke could eventually guide personalised rehabilitation strategies.”

The research team used a graph convolutional network, an advanced form of artificial intelligence, to predict the biological age of 18 brain regions from MRI data.

They then compared the gap between predicted brain age and actual age with motor performance scores.

They found that stroke survivors with severe movement deficits, even after more than six months of rehabilitation, showed younger-than-expected brain age in regions on the opposite side to the damage.

This was particularly evident in the frontoparietal network, a brain system involved in motor planning, attention and coordination.

The study was conducted through ENIGMA, a global alliance that unites data from more than 50 countries to better understand the brain across diseases.

Researchers harmonised MRI data and clinical measures across dozens of cohorts to build what they described as the world’s largest stroke neuroimaging dataset of its kind.

The team plans to expand the work to include longitudinal studies, which track patients over time, from the acute to chronic stages of stroke recovery.

By observing how patterns of brain ageing and reorganisation develop over time, clinicians may be able to tailor interventions to each patient’s neural adaptation process.

Hosung Kim, associate professor of research neurology at the Keck School of Medicine of USC and co-senior author of the study, said: “We found that larger strokes accelerate ageing in the damaged hemisphere but paradoxically make the opposite side of the brain appear younger.

“This pattern suggests the brain may be reorganising itself, essentially rejuvenating undamaged networks to compensate for lost function.

“These findings suggest that when stroke damage leads to greater movement loss, undamaged regions on the opposite side of the brain may adapt to help compensate.

“We saw this in the contralesional frontoparietal network, which showed a more ‘youthful’ pattern and is known to support motor planning, attention, and coordination.

“Rather than indicating full recovery of movement, this pattern may reflect the brain’s attempt to adjust when the damaged motor system can no longer function normally. #

“This gives us a new way to see neuroplasticity that traditional imaging could not capture.”