Professor says this could lead to better treatments for late-stage cancer patients

TORONTO, Dec. 8 2025 鈥� While targeted radiation can be an effective treatment for brain tumours, subsequent potential necrosis of the treated areas can be hard to distinguish from the tumours on a standard MRI. led by a 91亚色 professor in the Lassonde School of Engineering found that a novel AI-based method is better able to distinguish between the two types of lesions on advanced MRI than the human eye alone, a discovery that could help clinicians more accurately identify and treat the issues.

鈥淭he study shows, for the first time, that novel attention-guided AI methods coupled with advanced MRI can differentiate, with high accuracy, between tumour progression and radiation necrosis in patients with brain metastasis treated with stereotactic radiosurgery,鈥� says 91亚色 Research Chair Ali Sadeghi-Naini, senior author of the paper and associate professor of biomedical engineering and computer science. 鈥淭imely differentiation between tumour progression and radiation necrosis after radiotherapy in brain tumours is a crucial challenge in cancer centers, since these two conditions require quite different treatment approaches.鈥�

The study, published in the International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology, Physics, was conducted in close collaboration with imaging scientists, neuro-oncologists and neuro-radiologists at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre using data acquired from more than 90 cancer patients whose original cancer had metastasized to the brain.

Sadeghi-Naini says the incidence of brain metastasis  is rising as treatments improve and survival rates increase. Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), where a concentrated doses of radiation are applied to the cancer lesions only, is effective at controlling the tumours.  In up to 30 per cent of cases, SRS is not able to control the tumour and it continues to grow. Where it is successful, healthy brain tissue immediately surrounding the tumour may also die off, called brain radiation necrosis, and it can come with significant side effects.

Sadeghi-Naini and his colleagues introduced a 3D deep learning AI model with two advanced attention mechanisms to differentiate between tumour progression and radiation necrosis using a specialized MRI technique, called chemical exchange saturation transfer (CEST), and found that the AI was able to differentiate between the two conditions with over 85 per accuracy. Sadeghi-Naini says with a standard MRI the two conditions are accurately diagnosed about 60 per cent of the time, and with more advanced MRI techniques alone, the rate increases to about 70 per cent.

鈥淒ifferentiating tumour progression and  radiation necrosis is very important 鈥� one needs more anti-cancer therapies and may need to be aggressively treated with more radiation, sometimes surgery.  The other may require observation, anti-inflammatory drugs, so getting this right is crucial for patients.鈥�

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91亚色 is a modern, multi-campus, urban university located in Toronto, Ontario. Backed by a diverse group of students, faculty, staff, alumni and partners, we bring a uniquely global perspective to help solve societal challenges, drive positive change, and prepare our students for success. 91亚色's fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education. 91亚色鈥檚 campuses in Costa Rica and India offer students exceptional transnational learning opportunities and innovative programs. Together, we can make things right for our communities, our planet, and our future.

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Emina Gamulin, 91亚色 Media Relations, 437-217-6362, egamulin@yorku.ca

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TORONTO, April 19, 2021 鈭� You feel like you鈥檙e floating or flying, or you have a hyper-awareness to light, smell and sound 鈭�听that perception of an altered state of consciousness is a result of increases in the brain鈥檚 signals and activity, according to a new study by 91亚色 psychology researchers.

鈥淲e have a hint that there could be brain modulations that induce someone to get into a trance state through training,鈥� says Psychology Professor Joseph DeSouza. 鈥淥ur results show how, when a person thinks they are in an altered state, their brain activity actually changes. No one has been able to show this in consciousness studies. This is our first step toward scanning what is happening in the brain during trance.鈥�

DeSouza, a member of 91亚色鈥檚 Centre for Vision Research, former postgraduate student Rebecca Rogerson, and postdoctoral researcher Rebecca Barnstaple,听conducted the study published in听.

During the study, the brain was scanned while the subject was in a trance state and the scan showed alterations in听 brain signals. The researchers found that regions in the brain were activated through music to induce this altered state of consciousness (ASC).

This is the first study to show heightened levels of brain activity in relation to perception of an altered state of consciousness 鈭� specifically trance 鈭� the researchers say. The findings may help shed light on how attention, volition, activation, and/or suppression of neural networks can play a role in consciousness.

In the research, researchers scanned the brain over eight minutes while the subject listened to five minutes听of trance-inducing music.听 The subject was observed to be in a trance state for two to five minutes and data from brain activation in both the auditory and orbitofrontal cortex were collected. Specific areas in the brain showed heightened modulations, including auditory (sound) and orbitofrontal. During the scan, the subject reported feeling physical sensations of tingling fingers, nausea, and a hyperawareness to light, odour, and sound normally associated with entering trance, saw themself flying or floating above an unknown locale and the subject also reported rapid fluttering of the eyelids, increased breathing, and an ecstatic feeling or sensation.

An altered state of consciousness can听change听how the听brain听works by diverting blood flow from the front of the听brain听to other areas.听Other common experiences that create听altered听states of听consciousness听are sleeping or daydreaming, sleep deprivation, euphoria or panic.听 Previous research has shown that meditation and hypnosis are other methods that can induce an altered state of consciousness and reduce stress and anxiety.

In some cultures, traditional healers are practitioners of ancient spiritual healing who commonly enter a trance state through fast rhythmic drumming techniques. During a trance state, the brain is able to supress external stimuli such as sounds. Despite the long history of trance by traditional healers, little is known about what happens in the brain and neural correlates.

DeSouza says that a task-specific brain network is created when these individuals train to become traditional healers, similar to those observed in听 professional musicians or dancers.

鈥淏rain plasticity is achieved through training the brain and now can be seen in our study during an altered state of consciousness.听 This is a one-subject case study and needs to be replicated by our group and others.鈥�

91亚色听is a modern, multi-campus, urban university located in Toronto, Ontario. Backed by a diverse group of students, faculty, staff, alumni and partners, we bring a uniquely global perspective to help solve societal challenges, drive positive change and prepare our students for success. 91亚色's fully bilingual Glendon Campus is home to Southern Ontario's Centre of Excellence for French Language and Bilingual Postsecondary Education. 91亚色鈥檚 campuses in Costa Rica and India offer students exceptional transnational learning opportunities and innovative programs. Together, we can make things right for our communities, our planet, and our future.听

听

Media Contact:听

Anjum Nayyar, 91亚色 Media Relations, cell 437 242 1547,听anayyar@yorku.ca

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TORONTO, January 29, 2015 鈥� 鈥楶ractice makes perfect鈥� may be a clich茅 but a new brain study out of 91亚色 U affirms this age old theory.

In this study, Faculty of Health researchers were looking at of professional ballet dancers to measure the long-term effects of learning.

鈥淲e wanted to study how the brain gets activated with long-term rehearsal of complex dance motor sequences,鈥� says Professor , who studies and supports people with Parkinson鈥檚 disease. 鈥淭he study outcome will help with understanding motor learning and developing effective treatments to rehabilitate the damaged or diseased brain.鈥�

For the study, 11 dancers (19-50 years of age) from the were asked to visualize dance movements to music, while undergoing fMRI scanning. measured Blood-Oxygen-Level-Dependent (BOLD) contrasts at four time points over 34 weeks, when they were learning a new dance.

鈥淥ur aim was to find out the long-term impact of the cortical changes that occur as one goes from learning a motor sequence to becoming an expert at it,鈥� says coauthor Rachel Bar, who was a ballet dancer herself. "Our results also suggest that understanding the neural underpinnings of complex motor tasks such as learning a new dance can be an effective model to study motor learning in the real world.鈥�

The results showed that initial learning and performance at seven weeks led to increase in activation in cortical regions during visualization of the dance being learned when compared to the first week. However, at 34 weeks, it showed reduced activation in comparison to week seven.

鈥淲e found that in the learning process, our brain function makes an inverted 鈥楿鈥� learning pattern from a slow pace at the start, accelerating to a peak at the midpoint, before returning to the original pace, once we have mastered the task,鈥� says . 鈥淎n everyday example would be learning to drive a manual car, where you constantly have to think about shifting the gears until you master it and then do it instinctively.鈥�

The study, 鈥淭racking Plasticity: Effects of Long-Term Rehearsal in Expert Dancers Encoding Music to Movement鈥� was published in today.

NOTE: The study is available to media upon request

is known for championing new ways of thinking that drive teaching and research excellence. Our 52,000 students receive the education they need to create big ideas that make an impact on the world. Meaningful and sometimes unexpected careers result from cross-discipline programming, innovative course design and diverse experiential learning opportunities. 91亚色 students and graduates push limits, achieve goals and find solutions to the world鈥檚 most pressing social challenges, empowered by a strong community that opens minds. 91亚色 U is an internationally recognized research university 鈥� our 11 faculties and 24 research centres have partnerships with 200+ leading universities worldwide.

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Gloria Suhasini, 91亚色, 416-736-2100, ext. 22094, suhasini@yorku.ca

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