rudyvdbrink/CitationDatabase huggingface dataset:
Direct effects of transcranial electric stimulation on brain circuits in rats and humans.
Nature communications, 2018

Transcranial electric stimulation is a non-invasive tool that can influence brain activity; however, the parameters necessary to affect local circuits in vivo remain to be explored. Here, we report that in rodents and human cadaver brains, ~75% of scalp-applied currents are attenuated by soft tissue and skull. Using intracellular and extracellular recordings in rats, we find that at least 1 mV/mm voltage gradient is necessary to affect neuronal spiking and subthreshold currents. We designed an 'intersectional short pulse' stimulation method to inject sufficiently high current intensities into the brain, while keeping the charge density and sensation on the scalp surface relatively low. We verify the regional specificity of this novel method in rodents; in humans, we demonstrate how it affects the amplitude of simultaneously recorded EEG alpha waves. Our combined results establish that neuronal circuits are instantaneously affected by intensity currents that are higher than those used in conventional protocols.
Vasopressin differentially modulates aggression and anxiety in adolescent hamsters administered anabolic steroids.
Hormones and behavior, 2016

Adolescent Syrian hamsters (Mesocricetus auratus) treated with anabolic/androgenic steroids display increased offensive aggression and decreased anxiety correlated with an increase in vasopressin afferent development, synthesis, and neural signaling within the anterior hypothalamus. Upon withdrawal from anabolic/androgenic steroids, this neurobehavioral relationship shifts as hamsters display decreased offensive aggression and increased anxiety correlated with a decrease in anterior hypothalamic vasopressin. This study investigated the hypothesis that alterations in anterior hypothalamic vasopressin neural signaling modulate behavioral shifting between adolescent anabolic/androgenic steroid-induced offensive aggression and anxiety. To test this, adolescent male hamsters were administered anabolic/androgenic steroids and tested for offensive aggression or anxiety following direct pharmacological manipulation of vasopressin V1A receptor signaling within the anterior hypothalamus. Blockade of anterior hypothalamic vasopressin V1A receptor signaling suppressed offensive aggression and enhanced general and social anxiety in hamsters administered anabolic/androgenic steroids during adolescence, effectively reversing the pattern of behavioral response pattern normally observed during the adolescent exposure period. Conversely, activation of anterior hypothalamic vasopressin V1A receptor signaling enhanced offensive aggression in hamsters exposed to anabolic/androgenic steroids during adolescence. Together, these findings suggest that the state of vasopressin neural development and signaling in the anterior hypothalamus plays an important role in behavioral shifting between aggression and anxiety following adolescent exposure to anabolic/androgenic steroids.
Insight in stable schizophrenia: relations with psychopathology and cognition.
Comprehensive psychiatry, 2013

This study evaluated the relationship among insight, sociodemographic and clinical variables, symptoms and cognitive functions in a population of outpatients with stable schizophrenia, in order to identify possible contributing factors to awareness.
Automatic spike sorting for extracellular electrophysiological recording using unsupervised single linkage clustering based on grey relational analysis.
Journal of neural engineering, 2011

Automatic spike sorting is a prerequisite for neuroscience research on multichannel extracellular recordings of neuronal activity. A novel spike sorting framework, combining efficient feature extraction and an unsupervised clustering method, is described here. Wavelet transform (WT) is adopted to extract features from each detected spike, and the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test (KS test) is utilized to select discriminative wavelet coefficients from the extracted features. Next, an unsupervised single linkage clustering method based on grey relational analysis (GSLC) is applied for spike clustering. The GSLC uses the grey relational grade as the similarity measure, instead of the Euclidean distance for distance calculation; the number of clusters is automatically determined by the elbow criterion in the threshold-cumulative distribution. Four simulated data sets with four noise levels and electrophysiological data recorded from the subthalamic nucleus of eight patients with Parkinson's disease during deep brain stimulation surgery are used to evaluate the performance of GSLC. Feature extraction results from the use of WT with the KS test indicate a reduced number of feature coefficients, as well as good noise rejection, despite similar spike waveforms. Accordingly, the use of GSLC for spike sorting achieves high classification accuracy in all simulated data sets. Moreover, J-measure results in the electrophysiological data indicating that the quality of spike sorting is adequate with the use of GSLC.
Diffusion MRI: literature review in salivary gland tumors.
Oral diseases, 2017

Surgical resection is currently the best treatment for salivary gland tumors. A reliable magnetic resonance imaging mapping, encompassing tumor grade, location, and extension may assist safe and effective tumor resection and provide better information for patients regarding potential risks and morbidity after surgical intervention. However, direct examination of the tumor grade and extension using conventional morphological MRI remains difficult, often requiring contrast media injection and complex algorithms on perfusion imaging to estimate the degree of malignancy. In addition, contrast-enhanced MRI technique may be problematic due to the recently demonstrated gadolinium accumulation in the dentate nucleus of the cerebellum. Significant developments in magnetic resonance diffusion imaging, involving voxel-based quantitative analysis through the measurement of the apparent diffusion coefficient, have enhanced our knowledge on the different histopathological salivary tumor grades. Other diffusion imaging-derived techniques, including high-order tractography models, have recently demonstrated their usefulness in assessing the facial nerve location in parotid tumor context. All of these imaging techniques do not require contrast media injection. Our review starts by outlining the physical basis of diffusion imaging, before discussing findings from diagnostic studies testing its usefulness in assessing salivary glands tumors with diffusion MRI.
Ultrasound in the Assessment of Interstitial Lung Disease in Systemic Sclerosis: A Systematic Literature Review by the OMERACT Ultrasound Group.
The Journal of rheumatology, 2020

To provide an overview of the role of lung ultrasound (LUS) in the assessment of interstitial lung disease (ILD) in systemic sclerosis (SSc) and to discuss the state of validation supporting its clinical relevance and application in daily clinical practice.
Subcutaneous immunoglobulin in CIDP and MMN: a short-term nationwide study.
Journal of neurology, 2014

This multi-center Italian prospective observational study reports the 4 months follow-up data of 87 patients affected by chronic inflammatory demyelinating polyradiculoneuropathy (CIDP) and multifocal motor neuropathy (MMN) shifted from intravenous to subcutaneous immunoglobulin treatment. A therapeutic shift from intravenous to subcutaneous immunoglobulin was performed in 87 patients (66 CIDP; 21 MMN) affected by immune-mediated peripheral neuropathies with evidence of a sustained clinical response to intravenous immunoglobulin. Patients were evaluated by means of the Overall Neuropathy Limitation Scale, Medical Research Council Scale and Life Quality Index questionnaire, both at the time of therapeutic shift and after 4 months of subcutaneous immunoglobulin treatment. A sustained clinical efficacy was observed after the switch to subcutaneous immunoglobulin: the Overall Neuropathy Limitation Scale score improved in the group of 66 CIDP patients (P = 0.018), with only one subject reporting a worsening of 1 point, and remained stable in the group of 21 MMN patients (P = 0.841), with one subject reporting a worsening of two points. An improvement in the patient's perception of therapeutic setting was reported in both groups. This large multi-center study confirms the short-term clinical equivalence of subcutaneous versus intravenous immunoglobulin and a possible improvement in the patient's perception of therapeutic setting with the subcutaneous administration. However, further studies are required to extend the results to a longer observational period.
Functional enhancer elements drive subclass-selective expression from mouse to primate neocortex.
Cell reports, 2021

Viral genetic tools that target specific brain cell types could transform basic neuroscience and targeted gene therapy. Here, we use comparative open chromatin analysis to identify thousands of human-neocortical-subclass-specific putative enhancers from across the genome to control gene expression in adeno-associated virus (AAV) vectors. The cellular specificity of reporter expression from enhancer-AAVs is established by molecular profiling after systemic AAV delivery in mouse. Over 30% of enhancer-AAVs produce specific expression in the targeted subclass, including both excitatory and inhibitory subclasses. We present a collection of Parvalbumin (PVALB) enhancer-AAVs that show highly enriched expression not only in cortical PVALB cells but also in some subcortical PVALB populations. Five vectors maintain PVALB-enriched expression in primate neocortex. These results demonstrate how genome-wide open chromatin data mining and cross-species AAV validation can be used to create the next generation of non-species-restricted viral genetic tools.
Transcriptional landscape of the prenatal human brain.
Nature, 2014

The anatomical and functional architecture of the human brain is mainly determined by prenatal transcriptional processes. We describe an anatomically comprehensive atlas of the mid-gestational human brain, including de novo reference atlases, in situ hybridization, ultra-high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and microarray analysis on highly discrete laser-microdissected brain regions. In developing cerebral cortex, transcriptional differences are found between different proliferative and post-mitotic layers, wherein laminar signatures reflect cellular composition and developmental processes. Cytoarchitectural differences between human and mouse have molecular correlates, including species differences in gene expression in subplate, although surprisingly we find minimal differences between the inner and outer subventricular zones even though the outer zone is expanded in humans. Both germinal and post-mitotic cortical layers exhibit fronto-temporal gradients, with particular enrichment in the frontal lobe. Finally, many neurodevelopmental disorder and human-evolution-related genes show patterned expression, potentially underlying unique features of human cortical formation. These data provide a rich, freely-accessible resource for understanding human brain development.
Contrasting effects of adolescent and early-adult ethanol exposure on prelimbic cortical pyramidal neurons.
Drug and alcohol dependence, 2020

Adolescence and early-adulthood are vulnerable developmental periods during which binge drinking can have long-lasting effects on brain function. However, little is known about the effects of binge drinking on the pyramidal cells of the prelimbic cortex (PrL) during early and protracted withdrawal periods.
The effect of intranasal oxytocin on the perception of affective touch and multisensory integration in anorexia nervosa: protocol for a double-blind placebo-controlled crossover study.
BMJ open, 2019

Anorexia nervosa (AN) is an eating disorder characterised by restriction of energy intake, fears of gaining weight and related body image disturbances. The oxytocinergic system has been proposed as a pathophysiological candidate for AN. Oxytocin is a neuropeptide involved in bodily processes (eg, breast feeding) and in the onset of social behaviours (eg, bonding). Studies investigating the effect of intranasal oxytocin (IN-OT) in AN showed that it can improve attentional bias for high-calorie food and fat bodies stimuli, and related stress. However, less is known about the effect of IN-OT on bodily awareness and body image distortions, key features of the disorder linked to its development, prognosis and maintenance. Here, we aim to investigate the effect of IN-OT on the perception of affective, C-tactile-optimal touch, known to be impaired in AN and on multisensory integration processes underlying a body ownership illusion (ie, rubber hand illusion). For exploratory purposes, we will also investigate the effect of IN-OT on another interoceptive modality, namely cardiac awareness and its relationship with affective touch.
Elementary motion sequence detectors in whisker somatosensory cortex.
Nature neuroscience, 2019

How the somatosensory cortex (S1) encodes complex patterns of touch, such as those that occur during tactile exploration, is poorly understood. In the mouse whisker S1, temporally dense stimulation of local whisker pairs revealed that most neurons are not classical single-whisker feature detectors, but instead are strongly tuned to two-whisker sequences that involve the columnar whisker (CW) and one specific surround whisker (SW), usually in a SW-leading-CW order. Tuning was spatiotemporally precise and diverse across cells, generating a rate code for local motion vectors defined by SW-CW combinations. Spatially asymmetric, sublinear suppression for suboptimal combinations and near-linearity for preferred combinations sharpened combination tuning relative to linearly predicted tuning. This resembles computation of motion direction selectivity in vision. SW-tuned neurons, misplaced in the classical whisker map, had the strongest combination tuning. Thus, each S1 column contains a rate code for local motion sequences involving the CW, thus providing a basis for higher-order feature extraction.
A Vector-Based Short Hairpin RNA Targeting Aurora B Suppresses Human Prostatic Carcinoma Growth.
Technology in cancer research & treatment, 2017

Aurora kinase B, playing a vital, important role in mitosis, is frequently detected to be overexpressed in many cancer cell lines and various tumor tissues, including prostatic carcinoma. Given the essential function of Aurora kinase B in mitosis and its association with tumorigenesis, it might be a drug target for prostatic carcinoma treatment. In our study, short hairpin RNA targeting Aurora kinase B was cloned into a pGPU6 plasmid vector and then transfected into human prostatic carcinoma cells. The expression level of Aurora kinase B was verified by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and Western blot. At the same time, cell apoptosis was detected by 3-(4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide, fluorescent staining, and flow cytometric analysis. Furthermore, prostate carcinoma cells were injected into mice to establish a tumor xenograft model. Previous studies have shown the effect of pGPU6-shAURKB plasmid on tumor growth in a prostate carcinoma xenogenic implantation model. From the study, we knew that the Aurora kinase B was significantly downregulated in prostate carcinoma cells, and cell apoptosis was also detected higher in treated groups than that in control groups. Moreover, in the prostate carcinoma xenogenic implantation model, compared with the control groups, the tumor growth was inhibited about 78.7% in the pGPU6-shAURKB plasmid-treated group, and cell apoptosis in the experimental group was notably higher than that in control groups. The average duration of tumor-bearing mice was prolonged to about 35 days. The results of experiment indicated that specific knockdown of Aurora kinase B led to prostate carcinoma cells apoptosis and inhibited tumor growth. Our data clearly confirmed that specific knockdown of Aurora kinase B expression by vector-based short hairpin RNA/liposome may be a potential new approach to treat human prostatic carcinoma.
Sleep-Wake Regulation and Its Impact on Working Memory Performance: The Role of Adenosine.
Biology, 2016

The sleep-wake cycle is regulated by a fine-tuned interplay between sleep-homeostatic and circadian mechanisms. Compelling evidence suggests that adenosine plays an important role in mediating the increase of homeostatic sleep pressure during time spent awake and its decrease during sleep. Here, we summarize evidence that adenosinergic mechanisms regulate not only the dynamic of sleep pressure, but are also implicated in the interaction of homeostatic and circadian processes. We review how this interaction becomes evident at several levels, including electrophysiological data, neuroimaging studies and behavioral observations. Regarding complex human behavior, we particularly focus on sleep-wake regulatory influences on working memory performance and underlying brain activity, with a specific emphasis on the role of adenosine in this interplay. We conclude that a change in adenosinergic mechanisms, whether exogenous or endogenous, does not only impact on sleep-homeostatic processes, but also interferes with the circadian timing system.
Surgical Interventions for Advanced Parameningeal Rhabdomyosarcoma of Children and Adolescents.
Cureus, 2018

Owing to its rarity, rhabdomyosarcoma of the head and neck (HNRMS) has seldom been discussed in the literature. As most of the data is based only on the retrospective experiences of tertiary healthcare centers, there are difficulties in formulating a standard treatment protocol. Moreover, the disease is poorly understood at its pathological, genetic, and molecular levels. For instance, 20% of all histological assessment is inaccurate; even an experienced pathologist can confuse rhabdomyosarcoma (RMS) with neuroblastoma, Ewing's sarcoma, and lymphoma. RMS can occur sporadically or in association with genetic syndromes associated with predisposition to other cancers such as Li-Fraumeni syndrome and neurofibromatosis type 1 (von Recklinghausen disease). Such associations have a potential role in future gene therapies but are yet to be fully confirmed. Currently, chemotherapies are ineffective in advanced or metastatic disease and there is lack of targeted chemotherapy or biological therapy against RMS. Also, reported uses of chemotherapy for RMS have not produced reasonable responses in all cases. Despite numerous molecular and biological studies during the past three decades, the chemotherapeutic regimen remains unchanged. This vincristine, actinomycin, cyclophosphamide (VAC) regime, described in Kilman, et al. (1973) and Koop, et al. (1963), has achieved limited success in controlling the progression of RMS. Thus, the pathogenesis of RMS remains poorly understood despite extensive modern trials and more than 30 years of studies exploring the chemotherapeutic options. This suggests a need to explore surgical options for managing the disease. Surgery is the single most critical therapy for pediatric HNRMS. However, very few studies have explored the surgical management of pediatric HNRMS and there is no standard surgical protocol. The aim of this review is to explore and address such issues in the hope of maximizing the number of options available for young patients with HNRMS.
Optic Nerve Head Drusen: The Relationship Between Intraocular Pressure and Optic Nerve Structure and Function.
Journal of neuro-ophthalmology : the official journal of the North American Neuro-Ophthalmology Society, 2018

To determine whether at the time of diagnosis, the intraocular pressure (IOP) in patients with optic nerve head drusen (ONHD) correlates with the perimetric mean deviation (PMD) and the mean retinal nerve fiber layer (RNFL) thickness on optical coherence tomography (OCT).
Inflammation and α-synuclein's prion-like behavior in Parkinson's disease--is there a link?
Molecular neurobiology, 2013

Parkinson's disease patients exhibit progressive spreading of aggregated α-synuclein in the nervous system. This slow process follows a specific pattern in an inflamed tissue environment. Recent research suggests that prion-like mechanisms contribute to the propagation of α-synuclein pathology. Little is known about factors that might affect the prion-like behavior of misfolded α-synuclein. In this review, we suggest that neuroinflammation plays an important role. We discuss causes of inflammation in the olfactory bulb and gastrointestinal tract and how this may promote the initial misfolding and aggregation of α-synuclein, which might set in motion events that lead to Parkinson's disease neuropathology. We propose that neuroinflammation promotes the prion-like behavior of α-synuclein and that novel anti-inflammatory therapies targeting this mechanism could slow disease progression.
Surprising feedback improves later memory.
Psychonomic bulletin & review, 2009

The hypercorrection effect is the finding that high-confidence errors are more likely to be corrected after feedback than are low-confidence errors (Butterfield & Metcalfe, 2001). In two experiments, we explored the idea that the hypercorrection effect results from increased attention to surprising feedback. In Experiment 1, participants were more likely to remember the appearance of the presented feedback when the feedback did not match expectations. In Experiment 2, we replicated this effect using more distinctive sources and also demonstrated the hypercorrection effect in this modified paradigm. Overall, participants better remembered both the surface features and the content of surprising feedback.
Rosmarinic Acid Mitigates Mitochondrial Dysfunction and Spinal Glial Activation in Oxaliplatin-induced Peripheral Neuropathy.
Molecular neurobiology, 2018

Chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) is a dose-limiting complication which develops as a consequence of treatment with chemotherapeutic agents like oxaliplatin and is a mainstay of therapy for colorectal cancer. Ever since CIPN was identified, understanding its exact pathomechanisms remains a clinical challenge. The role of mitochondrial dysfunction and glial cell activation has surfaced in the etiology of CIPN. Rosmarinic acid (RA), a known mitoprotectant exerts neuroprotection against the oxidative stress and neuroinflammation in various disease conditions. Hence, in the present study, we investigated the effect using rosmarinic acid (25 and 50 mg/kg, po) in the experimental model of oxaliplatin-induced peripheral neuropathy (OIPN) in rats. Results showed that RA significantly (p < 0.001) prevented the functional deficits, reversed oxaliplatin-induced mechanical allodynia and cold hyperalgesia in rats. It reduced the oxidative stress, improved the mitochondrial function, and prevented the oxaliplatin-induced loss of ATP levels. RA significantly (p < 0.01) inhibited the spinal glial cell activation and suppressed the expression of inflammatory markers. RA treatment also resulted in the activation of adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK) in the peripheral nerves and dorsal root ganglion (DRG) which also might have contributed to its neuroprotective actions. In vitro screening also revealed that RA did not compromise the anti-cancer activity of oxaliplatin in colon cancer cells (HT-29). Taken together, the above results demonstrate the therapeutic activity of RA against the oxaliplatin-induced mitochondrial dysfunction and neuroinflammation and thus, suggest its potential for the management of OIPN. Graphical Abstract Schematic representation of neuroprotective mechanisms of rosmarinic acid via AMPK activation in oxaliplatin-evoked peripheral neuropathy.