rudyvdbrink/CitationDatabase huggingface dataset:
Women in Neurosurgery: From a Matter of Fortuitous Occasions Toward a Conscious Choice.
World neurosurgery, 2021

Medicine has made progress toward gender equality and has achieved almost equal distribution between men and women among graduates. However, more still needs to be done because most surgical subspecialties are still lacking adequate female representation and this persisting gender gap is particularly evident in both practical neurosurgery and the academic world. Gradual advancements have enabled a few women to pursue a successful career in neurologic surgery, pairing clinical practice with mentoring and involvement in academic research. These efforts show that more needs to be done to bridge the historic and current gap, which has recently aroused increasing interest among the neurosurgical community through internationally relevant studies. In neurosurgical societies worldwide, the existence of gender-related issues and women-reserved sections has started to attract attention and recognition on how to properly address this issue among present and future neurosurgeons.
[Immunotherapy for Inflammatory Myopathies].
Brain and nerve = Shinkei kenkyu no shinpo, 2021

Inflammatory myopathies are heterogeneous disorders characterized by muscle inflammation. They are frequently accompanied by extra-muscular manifestations that affect the skin, lungs, heart, and joints. Owing to its low prevalence, wide phenotypic heterogeneity, and variable disease course, it is difficult to make clear recommendations for the treatment of inflammatory myopathies. Corticosteroids are administered as first-line treatment based on clinical experience rather than controlled trial findings. Empirically, addition of an immunosuppressive drug might offer a steroid-sparing effect or an additional benefit. Administration of intravenous immunoglobulins has been shown to be effective as second-line treatment. Recently, there has been a growing interest in assessing the potential of several biological agents in the treatment of inflammatory myopathies. There are multiple ongoing clinical trials that will lead to more treatment options for inflammatory myopathies.
Beyond Baby Siblings-Expanding the Definition of "High-Risk Infants" in Autism Research.
Current psychiatry reports, 2021

Much of our understanding of early development in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) comes from studies of children with a family history of autism. We reviewed the current literature on neurodevelopmental profiles and autism prevalence from other high-risk infant groups to expose gaps and inform next steps. We focused on infants with early medical risk (e.g., preterm birth) and genetic risk (tuberous sclerosis complex [TSC]).
Remarkable migration propensity of dental pulp stem cells towards neurodegenerative milieu: An in vitro analysis.
Neurotoxicology, 2020

Stem cell therapy provides a ray of hope for treating neurodegenerative diseases (ND). Bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (BM-MSC) were extensively investigated for their role in neuroregeneration. However, drawbacks like painful bone marrow extraction, less proliferation and poor CNS engraftment following systemic injections of BM-MSC prompt us to search for alternate/appropriate source of MSC for treating ND. In this context, dental pulp stem cells (DPSC) could be an alternative to BM-MSC as it possess both mesenchymal and neural characteristic features due to its origin from ectoderm, ease of isolation, higher proliferation index and better neuroprotection. A study on the migration potential of DPSC compared to BM-MSC in a neurodegenerative condition is warranted. Given the neural crest origin, we hypothesize that DPSC possess better migration towards neurodegenerative milieu as compared to BM-MSC. In this prospect, we investigated the migration potential of DPSC in an in vitro neurodegenerative condition. Towards this, transwell, Matrigel and chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) migration assays were carried-out by seeding hippocampal neurons in the lower chamber and treated with 300 μM kainic acid (KA) for 6 h to induce neurodegeneration. Subsequently, the upper chamber of transwell was loaded with DPSC/BM-MSC and their migration potential was assessed following 24 h of incubation. Our results revealed that the migration potential of DPSC/BM-MSC was comparable in non-degenerative condition. However, following injury the migration potential of DPSC towards the degenerating site was significantly higher as compared to BM-MSC. Furthermore, upon exposure of naïve DPSC/BM-MSCs to culture medium derived from neurodegenerative milieu resulted in significant upregulation of homing factors like SDF-1alpha, CXCR-4, VCAM-1, VLA-4, CD44, MMP-2 suggesting that the superior migration potential of DPSC might be due to prompt expression of homing factors in DPSC compared to BM-MSCs.
Brain collections at the National Museum of Health and Medicine.
Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 2011

Owing in large part to the foresight and efforts of Wally Welker, the National Museum of Health and Medicine has become a major repository for collections of brain specimens vital to the study of neurobehavioral evolution. From its origins in the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, with the collection of largely pathological specimens assembled by Paul Yakovlev, the museum has added to its resources four additional extensive collections, largely consisting of specimens acquired specifically for comparative and evolutionary studies: Welker's collection from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, John I. Johnson's collection from Michigan State University, the Adolf Meyer Collection from the Johns Hopkins University, and the Elizabeth Crosby collections from the University of Michigan. We describe here the history and contents of each of these five collections, to inform the scientific field of the extent and details of these remarkable resources.
Unanticipated Disturbance in Somatosensory Evoked Potentials in a Patient in Park-Bench Position.
Turkish journal of anaesthesiology and reanimation, 2015

Perioperative neuropathy is a known complication of malpositioning during anaesthesia. Somatosensory evoked potentials are used for detecting such a complication in selected surgeries. Most reports of intraoperative nerve injuries due to malpositioning are limited to injuries to the peripheral nervous system, and there have been no previously reported cases of somatosensory evoked potential monitoring disturbance attributable to position-related cerebral ischemia in the park-bench position. We present the case of a patient with glioblastoma in the park-bench position whose somatosensory evoked potential waveforms disappeared after head and neck repositioning. A prompt diagnosis of this complication and elimination of the underlying cause led to the return of somatosensory evoked potential waveforms, and there was no relevant neurologic deficit at the end of the surgery.
A hierarchical model for interpersonal verbal communication.
Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 2021

The ability to use language makes us human. For decades, researchers have been racking their minds to understand the relation between language and the human brain. Nevertheless, most previous neuroscientific research has investigated this issue from a 'single-brain' perspective, thus neglecting the nature of interpersonal communication through language. With the development of modern hyperscanning techniques, researchers have begun probing the neurocognitive processes underlying interpersonal verbal communication and have examined the involvement of interpersonal neural synchronization (INS) in communication. However, in most cases, the neurocognitive processes underlying INS are obscure. To tentatively address this issue, we propose herein a hierarchical model based on the findings from a growing amount of hyperscanning research. We suggest that three levels of neurocognitive processes are primarily involved in interpersonal verbal communication and are closely associated with distinctive patterns of INS. Different levels of these processes modulate each other bidirectionally. Furthermore, we argued that two processes (shared representation and interpersonal predictive coding) might coexist and work together at each level to facilitate successful interpersonal verbal communication. We hope this model will inspire further innovative research in several directions within the fields of social and cognitive neuroscience.
A role for adaptive developmental plasticity in learning and decision making.
Current opinion in behavioral sciences, 2020

From both a medical and educational perspective, there is enormous value to understanding the environmental factors that sculpt learning and decision making. These questions are often approached from proximate levels of analysis, but may be further informed by the adaptive developmental plasticity framework used in evolutionary biology. The basic adaptive developmental plasticity framework posits that biological sensitive periods evolved to use information from the environment to sculpt emerging phenotypes. Here we lay out how we can apply this framework to learning and decision making in the mammalian brain and propose a working model in which dopamine neurons and their activity may serve to inform downstream circuits about environmental statistics. More widespread use of this evolutionary framework and its associated models can help inform and guide basic research and intervention science.
Letting rationalizations out of the box.
The Behavioral and brain sciences, 2020

We are very happy that someone has finally tried to make sense of rationalization. But we are worried about the representational structure assumed by Cushman, particularly the "boxology" belief-desire model depicting the rational planner, and it seems to us he fails to accommodate many of the interpersonal aspects of representational exchange.
Cortical Response to the Natural Speech Envelope Correlates with Neuroimaging Evidence of Cognition in Severe Brain Injury.
Current biology : CB, 2018

Recent studies identify severely brain-injured patients with limited or no behavioral responses who successfully perform functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) or electroencephalogram (EEG) mental imagery tasks [1-5]. Such tasks are cognitively demanding [1]; accordingly, recent studies support that fMRI command following in brain-injured patients associates with preserved cerebral metabolism and preserved sleep-wake EEG [5, 6]. We investigated the use of an EEG response that tracks the natural speech envelope (NSE) of spoken language [7-22] in healthy controls and brain-injured patients (vegetative state to emergence from minimally conscious state). As audition is typically preserved after brain injury, auditory paradigms may be preferred in searching for covert cognitive function [23-25]. NSE measures are obtained by cross-correlating EEG with the NSE. We compared NSE latencies and amplitudes with and without consideration of fMRI assessments. NSE latencies showed significant and progressive delay across diagnostic categories. Patients who could carry out fMRI-based mental imagery tasks showed no statistically significant difference in NSE latencies relative to healthy controls; this subgroup included patients without behavioral command following. The NSE may stratify patients with severe brain injuries and identify those patients demonstrating "cognitive motor dissociation" (CMD) [26] who show only covert evidence of command following utilizing neuroimaging or electrophysiological methods that demand high levels of cognitive function. Thus, the NSE is a passive measure that may provide a useful screening tool to improve detection of covert cognition with fMRI or other methods and improve stratification of patients with disorders of consciousness in research studies.
Role of Monoclonal Antibody "Alemtuzumab" in the Treatment of Multiple Sclerosis.
Cureus, 2021

This article will review current treatment options for multiple sclerosis (MS) while keeping our primary focus on alemtuzumab, as it is now approved in more than 65 countries. From a pathophysiological point of view, MS is a disabling disease impacting a patient's life both physically and mentally, leading to devastating social and economic impact. This review will elaborate on alemtuzumab's role in treating relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) by comparing its efficacy, side effects, and monitoring with other disease-modifying therapies (DMTs) available in the market. It is a point of great concern not only for physicians but also for neurologists, nephrologists, endocrinologists, dermatologists, and oncologists when encountering long-term effects of alemtuzumab in the life of treated MS patients. We hope that our review will not only benefit treating faculties but also those who are suffering from this devastating disease.
Ring of Power: A Band of Peptidergic Midbrain Neurons that Binds Motivation.
Neuron, 2019

A recent Cell paper identifies a novel population of neurons within the ventral tegmental area producing the endogenous opioid nociceptin that regulates dopamine neuron firing and acts uniquely to gate motivation in reward seeking. These results highlight neuropeptidergic signaling as a critical component of functional heterogeneity in the midbrain.
Revealing a Role for NMDA Receptors in Regulating STN Inputs following the Loss of Dopamine.
Neuron, 2017

In this issue of Neuron, Chu et al. (2017) show that dopamine depletion using a 6-OHDA model causes a decrease in hyperdirect inputs from the motor cortex directly to the STN and that rescuing this loss alleviates Parkinsonian symptoms.
X-ray Imaging Analysis of Intrathecal Baclofen Pumps for Pediatric Emergency Medicine.
Pediatric emergency care, 2018

Intrathecal baclofen therapy has become increasingly popular because of its effectiveness in treating spasticity in pediatric patients. The device implanted into each patient is structurally similar. However, x-ray imaging can give the appearance of missing or extraneous objects on or near the intrathecal baclofen device. The composition of the material used in making the catheters is transparent on x-ray images. In addition, the connection port between the pump and catheter may resemble the shape of a needle. This has led to confusion among emergency room personnel, and unnecessary panic for other people involved. It is important that medical professionals understand many of the new designs of the pump-connector system to avoid further complications.
Honey and obesity-related dysfunctions: a summary on health benefits.
The Journal of nutritional biochemistry, 2020

Honey is a natural product, containing flavonoids and phenolic acids, appreciated for its therapeutic abilities since ancient times. Although the bioactive potential is linked to the composition, that is variable depending on mainly the botanical origin, honey has antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Therefore, honey, administered alone or in combination with conventional therapy, might result useful in the management of chronic diseases that are commonly associated with oxidative stress and inflammation state. Obesity is a metabolic disorder characterized by visceral adiposity. The adipose tissue becomes hypertrophic and undergoes hyperplasia, resulting in a hypoxic environment, oxidative stress and production of pro-inflammatory mediators that can be responsible for other disorders, such as metabolic syndrome and neurodegeneration. Experimental evidence from animals have shown that honey improves glycemic control and lipid profile with consequent protection from endothelial dysfunction and neurodegeneration. The purpose of the present review is to summarize the current literature concerning the beneficial effects of honey in the management of the obesity-related dysfunctions, including neurodegeneration. Based on the key constituents of honey, the paper also highlights polyphenols to be potentially responsible for the health benefits of honey. Further well-designed and controlled studies are necessary to validate these benefits in humans.
The effects of exercise training on hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis reactivity and autonomic response to acute stress-a randomized controlled study.
Trials, 2020

Exercise training is suggested to have a stress-buffering effect on physiological reactions to acute stress. The so-called cross-stressor adaptation hypothesis is one of many theories behind the plausible effects, proposing that the attenuated physiological reaction seen in trained individuals in response to acute exercise is also seen when the individual is exposed to acute psychosocial stress. However, few randomized controlled trials (RCT) are available in this field. Therefore, the aim of the present trial was to study the effects of a 6-month aerobic exercise intervention on the physiological response to acute laboratory stress.
Triggering factors in non-traumatic intracerebral hemorrhage.
Journal of stroke and cerebrovascular diseases : the official journal of National Stroke Association, 2020

In ischemic stroke and subarachnoid hemorrhage, there are known preceding triggering events that predispose to the stroke by, for example, abruptly raising blood pressure. We explored, whether triggering events can be identified in non-traumatic intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH).
A momentum effect in temporal arithmetic.
Cognition, 2021

The mental representation of brief temporal durations, when assessed in standard laboratory conditions, is highly accurate. Here we show that adding or subtracting temporal durations systematically results in strong and opposite biases, namely over-estimation for addition and under-estimation for subtraction. The difference with respect to a baseline temporal reproduction task changed across durations in an operation-specific way and survived correcting for the effect due to operation sign alone, indexing a reliable signature of arithmetic processing on time representation. A second experiment replicated these findings with a different set of stimuli. This novel behavioral marker conceptually mirrors in the time domain the representational momentum found with motion, whereby the estimated spatial position of a visual target is displaced in the direction of motion itself. This momentum effect in temporal arithmetic suggests a striking analogy between time processing and visuospatial processing, which might index the presence of common computational principles.
Constructive Disappointment and Disbelief: Building a Career in Neuroethics.
Cambridge quarterly of healthcare ethics : CQ : the international journal of healthcare ethics committees, 2018

Sometimes one's greatest academic disappointments can have unexpected outcomes. This is especially true when one is trying to change career trajectories or do something that others did not take seriously. My path into neuroethics was an unexpected journey catalyzed in part by constructive disappointment and the disbelief of colleagues who thought that the work I was pursuing nearly two decades prior was a fool's errand. After all, could anyone-in his or her right mind-ever conceive of waking up a person unconscious from brain injury and getting him to speak? 1.
Joint Multi-modal Parcellation of the Human Striatum: Functions and Clinical Relevance.
Neuroscience bulletin, 2020

The human striatum is essential for both low- and high-level functions and has been implicated in the pathophysiology of various prevalent disorders, including Parkinson's disease (PD) and schizophrenia (SCZ). It is known to consist of structurally and functionally divergent subdivisions. However, previous parcellations are based on a single neuroimaging modality, leaving the extent of the multi-modal organization of the striatum unknown. Here, we investigated the organization of the striatum across three modalities-resting-state functional connectivity, probabilistic diffusion tractography, and structural covariance-to provide a holistic convergent view of its structure and function. We found convergent clusters in the dorsal, dorsolateral, rostral, ventral, and caudal striatum. Functional characterization revealed the anterior striatum to be mainly associated with cognitive and emotional functions, while the caudal striatum was related to action execution. Interestingly, significant structural atrophy in the rostral and ventral striatum was common to both PD and SCZ, but atrophy in the dorsolateral striatum was specifically attributable to PD. Our study revealed a cross-modal convergent organization of the striatum, representing a fundamental topographical model that can be useful for investigating structural and functional variability in aging and in clinical conditions.
SLC38A8 mutations result in arrested retinal development with loss of cone photoreceptor specialization.
Human molecular genetics, 2020

Foveal hypoplasia, optic nerve decussation defects and anterior segment dysgenesis is an autosomal recessive disorder arising from SLC38A8 mutations. SLC38A8 is a putative glutamine transporter with strong expression within the photoreceptor layer in the retina. Previous studies have been limited due to lack of quantitative data on retinal development and nystagmus characteristics. In this multi-centre study, a custom-targeted next generation sequencing (NGS) gene panel was used to identify SLC38A8 mutations from a cohort of 511 nystagmus patients. We report 16 novel SLC38A8 mutations. The sixth transmembrane domain is most frequently disrupted by missense SLC38A8 mutations. Ninety percent of our cases were initially misdiagnosed as PAX6-related phenotype or ocular albinism prior to NGS. We characterized the retinal development in vivo in patients with SLC38A8 mutations using high-resolution optical coherence tomography. All patients had severe grades of arrested retinal development with lack of a foveal pit and no cone photoreceptor outer segment lengthening. Loss of foveal specialization features such as outer segment lengthening implies reduced foveal cone density, which contributes to reduced visual acuity. Unlike other disorders (such as albinism or PAX6 mutations) which exhibit a spectrum of foveal hypoplasia, SLC38A8 mutations have arrest of retinal development at an earlier stage resulting in a more under-developed retina and severe phenotype.
Lifetime Methamphetamine Use Disorder and Reported Sleep Quality in Adults Living with HIV.
AIDS and behavior, 2020

This study evaluated whether a history of lifetime methamphetamine (MA) use disorder increases risk for poor sleep quality in people with or without HIV infection (HIV+/HIV-). Participants (n = 313) were stratified into four groups based on HIV status and lifetime MA use disorder diagnosis [HIV+/MA+ (n = 84); HIV+/MA- (n = 141); HIV-/MA+ (n = 16); and HIV-/MA- (n = 72)] and compared on global sleep outcomes using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Significant differences on global sleep were observed between HIV+/MA+ and HIV+/MA- groups, but not between the HIV- groups. Follow-up multiple regression analyses within the HIV+ subgroups examined global sleep scores as a function of MA status and clinical covariates, including those related to HIV disease and demographics. HIV+ individuals with a history of MA use disorder evidenced significantly poorer sleep quality and were more likely to be classified as problematic sleepers than those without a lifetime disorder. This was independent of depressed mood, body mass index, and viral suppression while on treatment. Poorer reported sleep quality among HIV+/MA+ was associated also with multiple adverse functional outcomes, including greater objective cognitive impairment, unemployment, clinical ratings of functional impairment, and self-reported cognitive difficulties, decreased independence in activities of daily living, and poorer overall life quality. Interventions to avoid or curtail MA use in HIV+ individuals may help protect sleep quality and improve functioning.