10.7272/K4DT-CE92
Weiner, Michael W.
Gulf War Illness
University of California, San Francisco
2012
Adult
Human
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Cognition
Neuropsychological Test
Gulf War
Middle Aged
Persian Gulf Syndrome
Veterans
UCSF Center for Imaging of Neurodegenerative Diseases
2001/2009
2013-06-20T12:04:52+00:00
dataset
20580739
21882779
21094937
UCSF Datashare Data Use Agreement
Some veterans who served in the Gulf War subsequently complained of a wide
variety of physical and neuro-psychological symptoms, termed Gulf War
Illness (GWI). Several investigators have attributed these symptoms to
stress. In contrast, Haley and coworkers reported clusters of symptoms
into three primary syndromes and reported reductions of the neuronal
marker NAcetyl aspartate (NAA, a marker of neuron integrity and density)
in the basal ganglia and pons of some GWI subjects. Based on this and
other data they suggested that GWI has a neurological component. One
limitation of previous studies is that post traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD), depresssion, and alcoholism also cause structural and metabolic
changes in the brain; the previous studies did not carefully control for
these confounds. The primary goal of this project was to test the
hypothesis that: subjects with GWI have metabolic and/or morphological
changes in their brain, which are not accounted for by confounds such as
post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), alcohol abuse, and depression. A
secondary goal was to determine: if these brain changes correlate with CNS
signs and symptoms of GWI. This project studied 200 subjects with GWI and
200 Gulf War Veteran (GWV) controls drawn from Northern California and
surrounding regions. GWI was defined by the same criteria used in previous
VA cooperative studies. The extent of alcohol abuse and PTSD symptoms was
measured. MRI/MRS, audiovestibular, neuro-psychological and other
measurements were also made.
Data Acquisition Location: San Francisco VA Medical Center; Scanner Type:
Siemens Vision 1.5T; Coronal T1 MPRAGE: TR=9ms, TE=4ms, TI=300ms, 1x1mm2,
3mm slice thickness; Axial double spin echo PD & T2: TR=2500ms,
TE=20/80ms, 1x1mm2, 3mm slice thickness