rudyvdbrink/CitationDatabase huggingface dataset:
Differential effects of progesterone on social recognition and the avoidance of pathogen threat by female mice.
Hormones and behavior, 2021

Although pathogen threat affects social and sexual responses across species, relatively little is known about the underlying neuroendocrine mechanisms. Progesterone has been speculated to be involved in the mediation of pathogen disgust in women, though with mixed experimental support. Here we considered the effects of acute progesterone on the disgust-like avoidance responses of female mice to pathogen threat. Estrous female mice discriminated and avoided the urinary and associated odors of males subclinically infected with the murine nematode parasite, Heligmosomoides polygyrus. These avoidance responses were not significantly affected by pre-treatment with progesterone. Likewise, brief (1 min) exposure to the odors of infected males attenuated the subsequent responses of females to the odors of the normally preferred unfamiliar males and enhanced their preferences for familiar males. Neither progesterone nor allopregnanolone, a central neurosteroid metabolite of progesterone, had any significant effects on the avoidance of unfamiliar males elicited by pre-exposure to a parasitized male. Progesterone and allopregnanolone, did, however, significantly attenuate the typical preferences of estrous females for unfamiliar uninfected males, suggestive of effects on social recognition. These findings with mice indicate that progesterone may have minimal effects on the responses to specific parasite threat and the expression of pathogen disgust but may influence more general social recognition and preferences.
Rasmussen's encephalitis: From immune pathogenesis towards targeted-therapy.
Seizure, 2020

Rasmussen encephalitis (RE) is a unilateral hemispheric encephalitis whose main clinical features include refractory focal epilepsy or epilepsia partialis continua, hemiparesis, and progressive cognitive decline. Despite the autoimmune pathogenesis of RE, the only definitive therapeutic option is currently represented by surgery. We review the clinical features, the immune pathogenesis, and the available therapeutic options for RE, with special focus on immunosuppressive agents. The research includes systematic reviews, meta-analyses, observational studies, clinical trials, cases series and reports, until 2020. The use of immunosuppressive agents in RE is supported by the evidence of an autoimmune involvement of the central nervous system in this condition. Although often insufficient to modify the disease course and to achieve symptomatic control, immune therapy can be effective in patients with slow disease progression or in patients in which surgery is not applicable. Moreover, the documentation of T-cell involvement in the pathogenesis of RE, with a specific cytokine pattern, opens a window of opportunity for the use of T-targeted therapies and biologic drugs (i.e. anti-TNFα agents) in the treatment of this disease.
The renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system: Role in pathogenesis and potential therapeutic target in COVID-19.
Pharmacology research & perspectives, 2020

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the SARS-CoV-2 novel coronavirus, has spread worldwide causing high fatality rates. Neither a vaccine nor specific therapeutic approaches are available, hindering the fight against this disease and making better understanding of its pathogenesis essential. Despite similarities between SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV, the former has unique characteristics which represent a great challenge to physicians. The mechanism of COVID-19 infection and pathogenesis is still poorly understood. In the present review, we highlight possible pathways involved in the pathogenesis of COVID-19 and potential therapeutic targets, focusing on the role of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system.
Update in immunosuppressive therapy of myasthenia gravis.
Autoimmunity reviews, 2021

Myasthenia gravis (MG) is an autoimmune disease of the neuromuscular junction. Immunosuppressive treatments are part of the therapeutic armamentarium in MG. Long-term systemic steroid administration carry considerable risks and adverse events. Consequently, steroid-free immunosuppressive therapy is necessary to reduce the dose or discontinue steroids. First immunosuppressive drug trials in MG were performed in the mid-60s using standard and nonspecific immunosuppression. Since then, only few randomized controlled clinical trials were conducted in MG and assesed drug efficacy in terms of its steroid-sparing capacity and the ability to reduce myasthenic signs and symptoms. Treatment strategy in MG is quite challenging, mainly due to the disease heterogeneity in terms of clinical presentation, immunopathogenesis and drug response. To solve this dilemma, emerging treatment are based on biological drugs and use new targets of the immune pathway.
Using consumption and reward simulations to increase the appeal of plant-based foods.
Appetite, 2020

The production of meat is a main contributor to current dangerous levels of greenhouse gas emissions. However, the shift to more plant-based diets is hampered by consumers finding meat-based foods more attractive than plant-based foods. How can plant-based foods best be described to increase their appeal to consumers? Based on the grounded cognition theory of desire, we suggest that descriptions that trigger simulations, or re-experiences, of eating and enjoying a food will increase the attractiveness of a food, compared to descriptions emphasizing ingredients. In Study 1, we first examined the descriptions of ready meals available in four large UK supermarkets (N = 240). We found that the labels of meat-based foods contained more references to eating simulations than vegetarian foods, and slightly more than plant-based foods, and that this varied between supermarkets. In Studies 2 and 3 (N = 170, N = 166, pre-registered), we manipulated the labels of plant-based and meat-based foods to either include eating simulation words or not. We assessed the degree to which participants reported that the description made them think about eating the food (i.e., induced eating simulations), and how attractive they found the food. In Study 2, where either sensory or eating context words were added, we found no differences with control labels. In Study 3, however, where simulation-based labels included sensory, context, and hedonic words, we found that simulation-based descriptions increased eating simulations and attractiveness. Moreover, frequent meat eaters found plant-based foods less attractive, but this was attenuated when plant-based foods were described with simulation-inducing words. We suggest that language that describes rewarding eating experiences can be used to facilitate the shift toward healthy and sustainable diets.
Risk factors, comorbidities, quality of life, and complications after surgery in idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus: review of the INPH-CRasH study.
Neurosurgical focus, 2020

Idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (INPH) is a dementia treatable by insertion of a shunt that drains CSF. The cause of the disease is unknown, but a vascular pathway has been suggested. The INPH-CRasH (Comorbidities and Risk Factors Associated with Hydrocephalus) study was a modern epidemiological case-control study designed to prospectively assess parameters regarding comorbidities and vascular risk factors (VRFs) for INPH, quality of life (QOL), and adverse events in patients with shunted INPH. The objective of this review was to summarize the findings of the INPH-CRasH study.
Blood pressure excursions in acute ischemic stroke patients treated with intravenous thrombolysis.
Journal of hypertension, 2021

To investigate the association of blood pressure BP excursions, defined as greater than 185 SBP or greater than 105 DBP, with the probability of intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) and worse functional outcomes in patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) treated with tissue plasminogen activator (tPA).
Intranasal oxytocin administration facilitates the induction of long-term potentiation and promotes cognitive performance of maternally separated rats.
Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2021

Maternal separation (MS) is known to induce permanent changes in the central nervous system and is associated with increased levels of anxiety and cognitive impairments. The neuropeptide oxytocin (OT) has been implicated in a broad spectrum of social and nonsocial and behaviors. Since it plays a significant role in learning and memory and enhances synaptic plasticity, we hypothesized that OT may affect MS-induced changes in synaptic plasticity and cognitive performance. Rat pups underwent MS protocol for 180 min/day from postnatal day (PND) 1-21. OT was administered intranasally (2 μg/μl, 7 days) to control and MS groups from PND 22-34. Plasma corticosterone (CORT) levels, anxiety-like behavior, sociability, learning and memory were measured in adolescent rats. In addition, extracellular evoked field excitatory postsynaptic potentials (fEPSP) were also recorded from hippocampal slices. MS induced higher plasma CORT levels and impaired social interaction, learning and memory. Moreover, MS reduced locomotor activity and increased anxiety-like behavior. Intranasal OT could overcome MS-induced deficits and promoted sociability, learning and memory of MS rats. OT also enhanced locomotor activity in the open field and decreased anxiety-like behavior. Obtained results showed that long term potentiation (LTP) was not induced in MS animals. However, OT injection overcame the MS-induced impairment in LTP generation in CA1 area of the hippocampus.
Bacteroides ovatus Promotes IL-22 Production and Reduces Trinitrobenzene Sulfonic Acid-Driven Colonic Inflammation.
The American journal of pathology, 2021

The intestinal microbiota influences the development and function of the mucosal immune system. However, the exact mechanisms by which commensal microbes modulate immunity is not clear. We previously demonstrated that commensal Bacteroides ovatus ATCC 8384 reduces mucosal inflammation. Herein, we aimed to identify immunomodulatory pathways employed by B. ovatus. In germ-free mice, mono-association with B. ovatus shifted the CD11b
Exparel for Postoperative Pain Management: a Comprehensive Review.
Current pain and headache reports, 2020

Multimodal pain management is the most effective way to treat postsurgical pain. However, the use of opioids for acute pain management has unfortunately been a significant contributor to the current opioid epidemic. The use of opioids should be limited and only considered a "rescue" pain medication after other modalities of pain management have been utilized.
Original Research: Understanding Nursing Home Staff Attitudes Toward Death and Dying: A Survey.
The American journal of nursing, 2020

Nearly 70% of nursing home residents are eligible for palliative care, yet few receive formal palliative care outside of hospice. Little is known about nursing home staff attitudes, knowledge, skills, and behaviors related to palliative care.
Precise memory for pure tones is predicted by measures of learning-induced sensory system neurophysiological plasticity at cortical and subcortical levels.
Learning & memory (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.), 2020

Despite identical learning experiences, individuals differ in the memory formed of those experiences. Molecular mechanisms that control the neurophysiological bases of long-term memory formation might control how precisely the memory formed reflects the actually perceived experience. Memory formed with sensory specificity determines its utility for selectively cueing subsequent behavior, even in novel situations. Here, a rodent model of auditory learning capitalized on individual differences in learning-induced auditory neuroplasticity to identify and characterize neural substrates for sound-specific (vs. general) memory of the training signal's acoustic frequency. Animals that behaviorally revealed a naturally induced signal-"specific" memory exhibited long-lasting signal-specific neurophysiological plasticity in auditory cortical and subcortical evoked responses. Animals with "general" memories did not exhibit learning-induced changes in these same measures. Manipulating a histone deacetylase during memory consolidation biased animals to have more signal-specific memory. Individual differences validated this brain-behavior relationship in both natural and manipulated memory formation, such that the degree of change in sensory cortical and subcortical neurophysiological responses could be used to predict the behavioral precision of memory.
The physiological responses to acute stress in alcohol-dependent patients: A systematic review.
European neuropsychopharmacology : the journal of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology, 2020

Dysregulation of physiological stress reactivity plays a key role in the development and relapse risk of alcohol dependence. This article reviews studies investigating physiological responses to experimentally induced acute stress in patients with alcohol dependence. A systematic search from electronic databases resulted in 3641 articles found and after screening 62 articles were included in our review. Studies are analyzed based on stress types (i.e., social stress tasks and nonsocial stress tasks) and physiological markers (i.e., the nervous system, the endocrine system, somatic responses and the immune system). In studies applying nonsocial stress tasks, alcohol-dependent patients were reported to show a blunted stress response compared with healthy controls in the majority of studies applying markers of adrenocorticotropic hormone and cortisol. In studies applying social stress tasks, findings are inconsistent, with less than half of the studies reporting altered physiological stress responses in patients. We discuss the impact of duration of abstinence, comorbidities, baseline physiological arousal and intervention on the discrepancy of study findings. Furthermore, we review evidence for an association between blunted physiological stress responses and the relapse risk among patients with alcohol dependence.
Molecular estimation of neurodegeneration pseudotime in older brains.
Nature communications, 2020

The temporal molecular changes that lead to disease onset and progression in Alzheimer's disease (AD) are still unknown. Here we develop a temporal model for these unobserved molecular changes with a manifold learning method applied to RNA-Seq data collected from human postmortem brain samples collected within the ROS/MAP and Mayo Clinic RNA-Seq studies. We define an ordering across samples based on their similarity in gene expression and use this ordering to estimate the molecular disease stage-or disease pseudotime-for each sample. Disease pseudotime is strongly concordant with the burden of tau (Braak score, P = 1.0 × 10
A survey to establish current methods of venous thromboembolism prophylaxis in stroke patients practiced by Polish neurologists.
Archives of medical science : AMS, 2014

Venous thromboembolism (VTE) is associated with considerable morbidity and mortality in stroke patients. The purpose of our survey was to establish the current methods of VTE prophylaxis practiced by Polish neurologists. We also aimed to determine whether there is enough variation in practice to justify the development of an evidence-based guideline for VTE prevention.
Functionally separated networks for self-paced and externally-cued motor execution in Parkinson's disease: Evidence from deep brain recordings in humans.
NeuroImage, 2018

Spatially segregated cortico-basal ganglia networks have been proposed for the control of goal-directed and habitual behavior. In Parkinson's disease, selective loss of dopaminergic neurons regulating sensorimotor (habitual) behavior might therefore predominantly cause deficits in habitual motor control, whereas control of goal-directed movement is relatively preserved. Following this hypothesis, we examined the electrophysiology of cortico-basal ganglia networks in Parkinson patients emulating habitual and goal-directed motor control during self-paced and externally-cued finger tapping, respectively, while simultaneously recording local field potentials in the subthalamic nucleus (STN) and surface EEG. Only externally-cued movements induced a pro-kinetic event-related beta-desynchronization, whereas beta-oscillations were continuously suppressed during self-paced movements. Connectivity analysis revealed higher synchronicity (phase-locking value) between the STN and central electrodes during self-paced and higher STN to frontal phase-locking during externally-cued movements. Our data provide direct electrophysiological support for the existence of functionally segregated cortico-basal ganglia networks controlling motor behavior in Parkinson patients, and corroborate the assumption of Parkinson patients being shifted from habitual towards goal-directed behavior.
Detection Methods of COVID-19.
SLAS technology, 2020

Since being first detected in China, coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has spread rapidly across the world, triggering a global pandemic with no viable cure in sight. As a result, national responses have focused on the effective minimization of the spread. Border control measures and travel restrictions have been implemented in a number of countries to limit the import and export of the virus. The detection of COVID-19 is a key task for physicians. The erroneous results of early laboratory tests and their delays led researchers to focus on different options. Information obtained from computed tomography (CT) and radiological images is important for clinical diagnosis. Therefore, it is worth developing a rapid method of detection of viral diseases through the analysis of radiographic images. We propose a novel method of detection of COVID-19. The purpose is to provide clinical decision support to healthcare workers and researchers. The article is to support researchers working on early detection of COVID-19 as well as similar viral diseases.
Insights into microbiome research 6: The role of consortia in studying the role of microbes in health and disease.
Multiple sclerosis (Houndmills, Basingstoke, England), 2019

Consortia are large, multidisciplinary research efforts that carry the power of numbers. In addition, they enable the sharing of protocols and strategies, ultimately resulting in credible, reproducible, and groundbreaking discoveries. Several consortia are currently investigating the role of bacteria in health and disease, including the International Multiple Sclerosis Microbiome Study (iMSMS), whose effort is dedicated to multiple sclerosis.
Modeling brain development and diseases with human cerebral organoids.
Current opinion in neurobiology, 2021

Understanding the mechanisms that underlie human brain development and neurological and neuropsychiatric disorders is one of the key topics of neurobiology. Because of the poor accessibility of human and non-human primate brain tissues, the current perception and understanding of human brain development have been mainly derived from studies of rodents. However, some human-specific features of neural development cannot be well characterized by these animal models. Thanks to the advances in stem cell technologies, brain organoids are being under rapid development, showing the promising applications in decoding the human brain development and uncovering the pathology of brain diseases. In this review, we mainly summarized the recent advances in the development of brain organoid technology and discussed the limitations, applications and future prospects of this promising field.
The potential use of tideglusib as an adjuvant radio-therapeutic treatment for glioblastoma multiforme cancer stem-like cells.
Pharmacological reports : PR, 2021

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), a stage IV astrocytoma, is the most common brain malignancy among adults. Conventional treatments of surgical resection followed by radio and/or chemotherapy fail to completely eradicate the tumor. Resistance to the currently available therapies is mainly attributed to a subpopulation of cancer stem cells (CSCs) present within the tumor bulk that self-renew leading to tumor relapse with time. Therefore, identification of characteristic markers specific to these cells is crucial for the development of targeted therapies. Glycogen synthase kinase 3 (GSK-3), a serine-threonine kinase, is deregulated in a wide range of diseases, including cancer. In GBM, GSK-3β is overexpressed and its suppression in vitro has been shown to induce apoptosis of cancer cells.
Somatosensory area 3b is selectively unaffected in corticobasal syndrome: combining MRI and histology.
Neurobiology of aging, 2020

An increasing number of neuroimaging studies addressing patients with corticobasal syndrome use macroscopic definitions of brain regions. As a closer link to functionally relevant units, we aimed at identifying magnetic resonance-based atrophy patterns in regions defined by probability maps of cortical microstructure. For this purpose, three analyses were conducted: (1) Whole-brain cortical thickness was compared between 36 patients with corticobasal syndrome and 24 controls. A pattern of pericentral atrophy was found, covering primary motor area 4, premotor area 6, and primary somatosensory areas 1, 2, and 3a. Within the central region, only area 3b was without atrophy. (2) In 18 patients, longitudinal measures with follow-ups of up to 59 months (mean 21.3 ± 15.4) were analyzed. Areas 1, 2, and 6 showed significantly faster atrophy rates than primary somatosensory area 3b. (3) In an individual autopsy case, longitudinal in vivo morphometry and postmortem pathohistology were conducted. The rate of magnetic resonance-based atrophy was significantly correlated with tufted-astrocyte load in those cytoarchitectonically defined regions also seen in the group study, with area 3b being selectively unaffected.
Glial Interfaces: Advanced Materials and Devices to Uncover the Role of Astroglial Cells in Brain Function and Dysfunction.
Advanced healthcare materials, 2021

Research over the past four decades has highlighted the importance of certain brain cells, called glial cells, and has moved the neurocentric vision of structure, function, and pathology of the nervous system toward a more holistic perspective. In this view, the demand for technologies that are able to target and both selectively monitor and control glial cells is emerging as a challenge across neuroscience, engineering, chemistry, and material science. Frequently neglected or marginally considered as a barrier to be overcome between neural implants and neuronal targets, glial cells, and in particular astrocytes, are increasingly considered as active players in determining the outcomes of device implantation. This review provides a concise overview not only of the previously established but also of the emerging physiological and pathological roles of astrocytes. It also critically discusses the most recent advances in biomaterial interfaces and devices that interact with glial cells and thus have enabled scientists to reach unprecedented insights into the role of astroglial cells in brain function and dysfunction. This work proposes glial interfaces and glial engineering as multidisciplinary fields that have the potential to enable significant advancement of knowledge surrounding cognitive function and acute and chronic neuropathologies.