The new edition of the highly popular, The Fractal Geometry of the Brain, reviews the most intriguing applications of fractal analysis in neuroscience with a focus on current and future potential, limits, advantages, and disadvantages. It brings an understanding of fractals to clinicians and researchers even if they do not have a mathematical background, and it serves as a valuable tool for teaching the translational applications of computational fractal-based models to both students and scholars. As a consequence of the novel research developed at Professor Di Ieva's laboratory and other centers around the world, the second edition will explore the use of computational fractal-based analysis in many clinical disciplines and different fields of research, including neurology and neurosurgery, neuroanatomy and psychology, magnetoencephalography (MEG), eye-tracking devices (for the fractal computational characterization of “scanpaths”),deep learning in image analysis, radiomics for the characterization of brain MRIs, characterization of neuropsychological and psychiatric diseases and traits, signal complexity analysis in time series, and functional MRI, amongst others.
Part I. Introduction to Fractal Geometry and its Applications to
Neurosciences.- The Fractal Geometry of the Brain: An Overview.-
2.
Box-Counting Fractal Analysis: A Primer for the Clinician.- Tenets and
Methods of Fractal Analysis (1/f noise).-
4. Tenets, Methods and Applications
of Multifractal Analysis in Neurosciences.- Part II. Fractals in Neuroanatomy
and Basic Neurosciences.- Fractals in Neuroanatomy and Basic Neurosciences:
An Overview.- Morphology and Fractal-Based Classifications of Neurons and
Microglia.- The Morphology of the Brain Neurons: Box-counting Method in
Quantitative Analysis of 2D Image.- Neuronal Fractal Dynamics.- Does a
Self-Similarity Logic Shape the Organization of the Nervous System?.-
Fractality of Cranial Sutures.- The Fractal Geometry of the Human Brain: An
Evolutionary Perspective.- Part III. Fractals in Clinical Neurosciences.-
Fractal Analysis in Clinical Neurosciences: An Overview.- Fractal Analysis in
Neurological Diseases.- Fractal Dimension Studiesof the Brain Shape in Aging
and Neurodegenerative Diseases.- Fractal Analysis in Neurodegenerative
Diseases.- Fractal Analysis of the Cerebrovascular System Physiopathology.-
Fractal and Chaos in the Hemodynamics of Intracranial Aneurysms.-
Fractal-based Analysis of Arteriovenous Malformations (AVMs).- Fractals in
Neuroimaging.- Computational Fractal-Based Analysis of MR Susceptibility
Weighted Imaging (SWI) in Neuro-oncology and neurotraumatology.- Texture
Estimation for Abnormal Tissue Segmentation in Brain MRI.- Tumor Growth in
the Brain: Complexity and Fractality.- Histological Fractal-based
Classification of Brain Tumors.- Computational Fractal-based Analysis of the
Brain Tumors Microvascular Networks.- Fractal analysis of
electroencephalographic time-series (EEG-signals).- On Multiscaling of
Parkinsonian Rest Tremor Signals and Their Classification.- Fractals and
Electromyograms.- Fractal analysis in Neuro-ophthalmology.- Fractals in
Affective and Anxiety Disorders.-Fractal Fluency: An Intimate Relationship
Between the Brain and Processing of Fractal Stimuli.- Part IV. Computational
Fractal-Based Neurosciences.- Computational Fractal-based Neurosciences: An
Overview.- ImageJ in Computational Fractal-based Neuroscience: Pattern
Extraction and Translational Research.- Fractal Analysis in MATLAB: A
Tutorial for Neuroscientists.- Methodology to Increase the Computational
Speed to Obtain the Fractal Dimension Using GPU Programming.- Fractal
Electronics as a Generic Interface to Neurons.- Fractal Geometry meets
Computational Intelligence: Future Perspectives.
Antonio Di Ieva, MD, PhD, FRACS, is Professor of Neurosurgery at Macquarie Medical School, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia; Professor of Neurosurgery, Ministry of Education, University and Research, Italy; Associate Professor of Neuroanatomy, Medical University of Vienna, Austria; Fellow of the Australian Research Council (ARC) and of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons (RACS); Consultant Neurosurgeon, Macquarie Neurosurgery, Sydney, Australia; Founder and Head of the Computational NeuroSurgery (CNS) Lab at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia; Neuroscience & AI Program Leader, Centre for Applied Artificial Intelligence, Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
