Methods of study and research techniques

Class By: Monojit (Assistant Professor, SoS JU)

 !! Syllabus
Objectives

• To introduce the concept of brain-behaviour relationships, behaviour genetics

• To acquaint the students with the basic biological processes affecting psychological processes.

Syllabus

• Unit 1: Introduction to biological basis of behavior (10 Hours)

Nature and scope of physiological psychology; Methods of study and research techniques: Neuroanatomical,
Neuroelectric, Neurochemical, and imaging techniques.
• Unit 2: Behavior genetics (8 Hours)
Nature and scope, Methods of study and research techniques: Family, twin, adoption methods; Genetic
principles and mechanism of animal and human behavior, chromosomal functions.
• Unit 3: Nervous System and Neuronal Functions (4.5 Hours)
Major divisions and functions of nervous system: central and autonomic nervous systems.

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 0 Research and Methodology
Research is a scientific and systematic search for pertinent information on a specific topic
Objectives:
1. To gain familiarity with a phenomenon or to achieve new insights into it. (Exploratory or Formulative Research).
2. To portray accurately the characteristics of a particular individual, situation, or a group. (Descriptive Research).
3. To determine the frequency with which somethings occurs or with which it is associated with something else (Diagnostic Research)
4. To test a hypothesis of a casual relationship between variables (Hypothesis-testing Research)

In experimental research everything depends upon the method; for it is the method that produces the results. A
new method to precise results; a vague method has always led only to confused results.

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 1 Method of Research in Biopsychology: Introduction

Flourens was the first to identify the region of the brain that
controls respiration and the first to correctly identify the motor
functions of the cerebellum. To make these discoveries required
careful attention to experimental methods.

Marie Jean Pierre Flourens (1794–1867)

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 1 Method of Research in Biopsychology: Introduction

• Visualizing the Human Brain

• Computerized Tomography
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• Positron Emission Tomography
• Microscopic Approaches to Brain Anatomy
• Recording Brain Electrical Activity
• The Electroencephalogram
• Magnetic Recording
• Microelectrode Recording
• Patch Clamps:
• Brain Stimulation
• Magnetic Stimulation:
• Neurochemical Approaches
• Chemical Stimulation:
• Microiontophoresis:
• Microdialysis:
• Brain Lesion Analysis

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 2 Computerized Tomography

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 2 Computerized Tomography

History:
• 1924 - Mathematical theory of tomographic image reconstructions (Johann Radon)
• 1930 - Conventional tomography (A. Vallebona)
• 1963 - Theoretical basis of CT (A. McLeod Cormack)
• 1971 - First commercial CT (Sir Godfrey Hounsfield)
• 1974 - First 3rd generation CT
• 1979 - Nobel price (Cormack & Hounsfield)
• 1989 - Single-row CT
• 1994 - Double-row spiral CT
• 2001 - 16-row spiral CT
• 2007 - 320-row spiral CT Johann Radon

Alessandro Vallebona

Sir Godfrey Hounsfield

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 2 Computerized Tomography
• A computed tomography scan (usually abbreviated to CT scan; formerly
called computed axial tomography scan or CAT scan) is a medical
imaging technique used to obtain detailed internal images of the body.
• The personnel that perform CT scans are called radiographers or
radiology technologists.
• CT scanners use a rotating X-ray tube and a row of detectors placed in a
gantry to measure X-ray attenuations by different tissues inside the body.
• The multiple X-ray measurements taken from different angles are then
processed on a computer using tomographic reconstruction algorithms to
produce tomographic (cross-sectional) images (virtual "slices") of a
body.
• CT scan can be used in patients with metallic implants or pacemakers,
for whom magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is contraindicated.

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 2 Computerized Tomography

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 2 Computerized Tomography
• Tomography term is obtained from: tomos = slice; graphein = to write
• CT scan is imaging technique of an object by analyzing its slices.
Conventional tomography
• x-ray tube moves in the opposite direction than detector.
• areas outside the focus are blurred, therefore not shown.

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 2 Computerized Tomography
1st generation CT
• X-ray tube and single detector are
connected and move together by
translation and then rotation.
• X-ray beam has linear (pencil-like)
shape.
2nd generation CT
• Multiple detectors arranged in a row.
• Fan shaped x-ray (10 degree) beam
instead of linear shaped.
3rd generation CT
• Fan shaped x-ray (40-60 degree) beam
instead of linear shaped.
• Full rotation of x ray tube + detectors
complex.

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 2 Computerized Tomography
4th generation CT
• Stationary detector ring, rotating X-ray
tube.
• Circular array of fixed detectors is
used.
• The fixed array detector overcome
detector drift (ring artifact in third
generation).
• Thus it is a Rotate/Stationary process.
5th generation CT
• 5th generation CT scanner is also
Ring Artifact
called as Electron Beam scanners and
Cine CT scanners.
6th generation CT
• 6th generation CT scanner is also
called as Helical CT scanners.
7th generation CT
• 7th generation ct scanner used a cone
shaped X ray beam.

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 2 Computerized Tomography

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 2 Computerized Tomography
Advantages
• Previous to CT scan:
• entire body areas were inaccessible to radiography - brain, mediastinum, retroperitoneum.
• diagnostic procedures showing better detail in these areas were potentially harmful and or poorly tolerated by the patient -
pneumoencephalography, diagnostic pneumomediastinum, diagnostic laparotomy.
Hounsfield scale - Tissue density is expressed in HF scale which is in different shades of grey in relation to its xray absorption
• water = 0, air = -1000
• scale -1000 to 3095
Image reconstruction
• It is done in CT window
• window width
• window level (center)
• mediastinal window
• W 350, L 50
• lowest HU = -125 (50-350/2)
• highest HU = 225 (50+350/2)
• Lung window
• W 2000, L -200
• Bone window
• W 1500, L 300
• Brain window
• W 80, L 30

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 2 Computerized Tomography

Reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMSryzRvC8Y
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 2 Computerized Tomography

Reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnpqylFYtqI
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 3 Magnetic resonance imaging
MRI scan: Introduction
• Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a medical imaging technique used in radiology to form pictures of the anatomy and the
physiological processes of the body. It records changing magnetic fields
• MRI scanners use strong magnetic fields, magnetic field gradients, and radio waves to generate images of the organs in the body.
• MRI does not involve X-rays or the use of ionizing radiation, which distinguishes it from CT and PET scans.
• MRI is a medical application of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) which can also be used for imaging in other NMR applications, such
as NMR spectroscopy.
• Also called Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR)
• Can give different kinds of images based on the pulse sequence
• Capable of complete body scans, but commonly used for brain.

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 3 Magnetic resonance imaging
MRI: Instrumentation
• The magnetic resonance imaging is accomplished through the absorption and emission of energy of the radio frequency (RF) range of the
electromagnetic spectrum.
• The main parts of the machine are:
• RF Coils
• Gradient Coils
• Magnet

• Patient is required to lay as still as possible

• One scan can cost from $400 to $3,500 / Rs. 7K – 15K
• A machine can cost as much as $1 million/ Rs. 8,21,63,400.00/-
• MRI is safe for most patients
• Patients who cannot receive a scan are:
• People who get nervous in small places (claustrophobic)
• People with non-MRI-compatible implants
• People with metal pieces near vital organs

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 3 Magnetic resonance imaging

Reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E44W54z_Ykw
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 3 Magnetic resonance imaging

Reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFkBhUYynUw
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 3 Magnetic resonance imaging

Reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMSryzRvC8Y
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 4 Positron Emission Tomography
• Positron emission tomography (PET) is a functional imaging
technique that uses radioactive substances known as
radiotracers to visualize and measure changes in metabolic
processes, and in other physiological activities including
blood flow, regional chemical composition, and absorption.
• PET involves the injection of a tracer substance labeled with
a positron-emitting radionuclide.
• One common tracer is labeled fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG), a
sub-course that is taken up by cells when they need glucose
for nutrition.
• Over the course of a few minutes, metabolically active
portions of the brain will accumulate more FDG than well
less active regions.
• By determining where FDG is accumulating in the brain,
patterns of differential brain activation can be mapped.
• PET scanning is now widely used to study patterns of brain
activity that underlie higher mental functions.

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 4 Positron Emission Tomography
Positron emission tomography (PET)- Instrumentation
• To conduct the scan, a short-lived radioactive tracer isotope is injected into the living
subject (usually into blood circulation). Each tracer atom has been chemically
incorporated into a biologically active molecule. There is a waiting period while the
active molecule becomes concentrated in tissues of interest; then the subject is
placed in the imaging scanner. During the scan, a record of tissue concentration is
made as the tracer decays.

• As the radioisotope undergoes positron emission decay (also known as positive

beta decay), it emits a positron, an antiparticle of the electron with opposite charge.
The emitted positron travels in tissue for a short distance (typically less than 1 mm,
but dependent on the isotope), during which time it loses kinetic energy, until it
decelerates to a point where it can interact with an electron. The encounter
annihilates both electron and positron, producing a pair of annihilation (gamma)
photons moving in approximately opposite directions. These are detected when
they reach a scintillator in the scanning device, creating a burst of light which is
detected by photomultiplier tubes or silicon avalanche photodiodes (Si APD).
• The technique depends on simultaneous or coincident detection of the pair of
photons moving in approximately opposite directions (they would be exactly
opposite in their center of mass frame, but the scanner has no way to know this, and
so has a built-in slight direction-error tolerance). Photons that do not arrive in
temporal "pairs" (i.e. within a timing-window of a few nanoseconds) are
ignored.
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 0 Positron & Beta Decay
Positron
• The positron or antielectron is the antiparticle or the antimatter counterpart of the electron. It has an electric charge of +1 e, a spin of 1/2,
and the same mass as an electron. When a positron collides with an electron, annihilation occurs.

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 4 Positron Emission Tomography
Positron emission tomography (PET)- Instrumentation

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 4 Positron Emission Tomography
Positron emission tomography (PET)- Use

• To examine links between specific psychological processes or disorders and brain activity.
• Numerous compounds that bind selectively to neuroreceptors of interest in biological psychiatry have been radiolabeled with C-11 or F-18.
• Radioligands that bind to dopamine receptors (D1, D2 receptor, reuptake transporter), serotonin receptors (5HT1A, 5HT2A, reuptake
transporter) opioid receptors (mu and kappa) cholinergic receptors (nicotinic and muscarinic) and other sites have been used successfully in
studies with human subjects.
• Studies have been performed examining the state of these receptors in patients compared to healthy controls in schizophrenia, substance abuse,
mood disorders and other psychiatric conditions.
• PET imaging with oxygen-15 indirectly measures blood flow to the brain. In this method, increased radioactivity signal indicates increased
blood flow which is assumed to correlate with increased brain activity. Because of its 2-minute half-life, 15O must be piped directly from a
medical cyclotron for such uses, which is difficult.
• PET imaging with 18F-FDG takes advantage of the fact that the brain is normally a rapid user of glucose. Standard 18F-FDG PET of the brain
measures regional glucose use and can be used in neuropathological diagnosis.

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 5 Ultrasound
Ultrasound

• Diagnostic ultrasound, also called sonography or diagnostic medical

sonography, is an imaging method that uses sound waves to produce
images of structures within your body. The images can provide
valuable information for diagnosing and directing treatment for a
variety of diseases.
• Doctors order head ultrasounds when there's a concern about
neurological problems in an infant. Premature babies get head
ultrasounds to rule out neurological problems from their early birth,
such as bleeding in the brain (intraventricular hemorrhage, or IVH)
or injury to the white matter of the brain surrounding the ventricles
(periventricular leukomalacia, or PVL).
• A doctor also might order a head ultrasound for a baby with:
• an unusual increase in head size
• a bulging fontanel
• any neurological symptoms
• Head ultrasounds can help doctors diagnose:
• bleeding in the brain tissue or ventricles
• hydrocephalus
• a mass in the brain, such as a tumor or cyst
• suspected complications of meningitis

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 6 X-ray
X-RAY- only for spinal cord and skull

• An X-ray, or, much less commonly, X-radiation, is a penetrating

form of high-energy electromagnetic radiation. Most X-rays have a
wavelength ranging from 10 picometers to 10 nanometers,
corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30
exahertz (3×1016 Hz to 3×1019 Hz) and energies in the range 145
eV to 124 keV.
• X-ray wavelengths are shorter than those of UV rays and typically
longer than those of gamma rays. In many languages, X-radiation is
referred to as Röntgen radiation, after the German scientist Wilhelm
Conrad Röntgen, who discovered it on November 8, 1895.
• X-rays of the skull may be done to diagnose fractures of the bones
of the skull, birth defects, infection, foreign bodies, pituitary tumors,
and certain metabolic and endocrine disorders that cause bone
defects of the skull.

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 6 Imaging Techniques: Advantage & Disadvantages

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 Q&A

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 Food for Thought
▪ Difference between fMRI and MRI.
▪ What are tracers?
▪ How will be Alzheimer's disease diagnosed using MRI?
▪ Why PET scan is not recommended for Pregnant woman?
▪ Differentiate between CT, US, MRI, XRAY, fMRI.

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 Chill

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