rudyvdbrink/CitationDatabase huggingface dataset:
The effect of 3-nitropropionic acid on behavioral dysfunction, neuron loss and gliosis in the brain of adult male rats: The case of prefrontal cortex, hippocampus and the cerebellum.
Toxicon : official journal of the International Society on Toxinology, 2020

3-nitropropionic acid (3-NP) is a mycotoxin widely used to produce a rat model of Huntington's disease. While there are numerous studies on the effect of this neurotoxin, still further investigation is required to understand the influence of this toxin on different regions of the brain. In the present study, there are two groups of rats of which one is treated with 3-NP. Behavioral, stereological and immunohistochemical analyses were conducted. The results show that locomotor activity is largely affected and anxiety is induced up to a certain level, but there is no gross manifestation of deficit in memory. Microscopic observations illustrate damages in the hippocampus and other parts of the brain. Astrogliosis and glial scars were another finding of this study. In conclusion, although 3-NP can be used as a model of Huntington's disease, it exerts a disseminated effect on different regions of the brain.
Efficacy of an integrative approach for bipolar disorder: preliminary results from a randomized controlled trial.
Psychological medicine, 2021

Bipolar disorder (BD) represents one of the most therapeutically complex psychiatric disorders. The development of a feasible comprehensive psychological approach to complement pharmacotherapy to improve its clinical management is required. The main objective of the present randomized controlled trial (RCT) was to test the efficacy of a novel adjunctive treatment entitled integrative approach in patients with BD, including: psychoeducation, mindfulness training, and functional remediation.
Potential of zebrafish as a model to characterise MicroRNA profiles in mechanically mediated joint degeneration.
Histochemistry and cell biology, 2020

Mechanically mediated joint degeneration and cartilage dyshomeostasis is implicated in highly prevalent diseases such as osteoarthritis. Increasingly, MicroRNAs are being associated with maintaining the normal state of cartilage, making them an exciting and potentially key contributor to joint health and disease onset. Here, we present a summary of current in vitro and in vivo models which can be used to study the role of mechanical load and MicroRNAs in joint degeneration, including: non-invasive murine models of PTOA, surgical models which involve ligament transection, and unloading models based around immobilisation of joints or removal of load from the joint through suspension. We also discuss how zebrafish could be used to advance this field, namely through the availability of transgenic lines relevant to cartilage homeostasis and the ability to accurately map strain through the cartilage, enabling the response of downstream MicroRNA targets to be followed dynamically at a cellular level in areas of high and low strain.
Residential greenness and indicators of stress and mental well-being in a Canadian national-level survey.
Environmental research, 2021

Residential proximity to greenness in urban areas has been shown to confer a number of health benefits, including improved mental health. We investigated whether greenness was associated with self-reported stress, distress, and mental health among adult participants of multiple cycles of a national Canadian health survey, and whether these associations varied by sex, age, income, and neighbourhood characteristics.
Observing Erotic Videos with Heterosexual Content Induces Different Cerebral Responses in Homosexual and Heterosexual Men.
Journal of homosexuality, 2021

To determine the cerebral functionality associated with the perception and processing of erotic stimuli in men with different sexual orientation, this work evaluated the electroencephalographic activity (EEG) from several cortical areas, as well as subjective arousal in homosexual and heterosexual men during observation of an erotic film with heterosexual content. The heterosexual men rated the erotic video with higher general and sexual arousal than the homosexual participants. During observation of the neutral and erotic videos, both groups showed a decreased amplitude of the alpha band in prefrontal and parietal cortices, indicating increased attention. When watching the erotic video, the homosexual men showed an increased amplitude of the theta and fast bands only in the prefrontal cortex, which could be related to the cognitive processing of the erotic stimulus. These EEG results should broaden our knowledge of the cortical mechanisms related to the different perception and processing of erotic stimuli in men with different sexual orientations.
Giuseppe Ferrario and the epidemiology of apoplexy during the 19th century.
Neurology, 2012

To analyze the pioneering research of Giuseppe Ferrario (1802-1870) on the epidemiology of apoplexy. To our knowledge, his work might have been the first to systematically investigate the epidemiology of cerebrovascular accidents, with the aim of shedding light on the underlying causes.
Subthalamic Nucleus Deep Brain Stimulation Modulates 2 Distinct Neurocircuits.
Annals of neurology, 2020

Current understanding of the neuromodulatory effects of deep brain stimulation (DBS) on large-scale brain networks remains elusive, largely due to the lack of techniques that can reveal DBS-induced activity at the whole-brain level. Using a novel 3T magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)-compatible stimulator, we investigated whole-brain effects of subthalamic nucleus (STN) stimulation in patients with Parkinson disease.
MEG data representing a gamma oscillatory response during the hold/release paradigm.
Data in brief, 2019

The article presents magnetoencephalography (MEG) data from healthy participants while undergoing the Hold/Release paradigm. During the paradigm, participants visually perceived a sequence of two letter strings which either assembled into real words (Hold condition) or pseudowords (Release condition). If the first letter string was morphologically valid, they held their attention (and/or held the item in working-memory) to wait for the second string, whereas if it were invalid, they could release it, respectively. We present data on high-frequency neuronal oscillations of the Hold condition compared to the Release condition. Making this information publicly available could allow other researchers to perform analyses and contribute to understanding the cognitive processes such as language, mnemonic or attentional processes.
Sexual Orientation-Related Differences in Sexual Satisfaction and Sexual Problems-A Population-Based Study in Sweden.
The journal of sexual medicine, 2020

Human sexuality is a natural and important part of peoples' life and well-being. The underlying interactions affecting sexual satisfaction are complex, and sexual orientation differences partly remain to be identified as well as explained.
Genetic investigation of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis patients in south Italy: a two-decade analysis.
Neurobiology of aging, 2021

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a multifactorial disease characterized by the interplay of genetic and environmental factors. In the majority of cases, ALS is sporadic, whereas familial forms occur in less than 10% of patients. Herein, we present the results of molecular analyses performed in a large cohort of Italian ALS patients, focusing on novel and already described variations in ALS-linked genes. Our analysis revealed that more than 10% of tested patients carried a mutation in one of the major ALS genes, with C9orf72 hexanucleotide expansion being the most common mutation. In addition, our study confirmed a significant association between ALS patients carrying the ATNX-1 intermediate repeat and the pathological C9orf72 expansion, supporting the involvement of this risk factor in neuronal degeneration. Overall, our study broadens the known mutational spectrum in ALS and provides new insights for a more accurate view of the genetic pattern of the disease.
Metformin effectively restores the HPA axis function in diet-induced obese rats.
International journal of obesity (2005), 2021

The hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is perturbed in obesity. We previously reported presence of leptin resistance in the brainstem and uncoupling between central noradrenergic tone and the HPA axis in obesity-prone (DIO) rats. Metformin is shown to lower body weight and adiposity, but the underlying mechanism is unclear. We hypothesized that this is associated with restored HPA axis function.
GTP-binding inhibitors increase LRRK2-linked ubiquitination and Lewy body-like inclusions.
Journal of cellular physiology, 2020

Parkinson's disease (PD) is one of the most common movement disorders with loss of dopaminergic neurons and the presence of Lewy bodies in certain brain areas. However, it is not clear how Lewy body (inclusion with protein aggregation) formation occurs. Mutations in leucine-rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) can cause a genetic form of PD and contribute to sporadic PD with the typical Lewy body pathology. Here, we used our recently identified LRRK2 GTP-binding inhibitors as pharmacological probes to study the LRRK2-linked ubiquitination and protein aggregation. Pharmacological inhibition of GTP-binding by GTP-binding inhibitors (68 and Fx2149) increased LRRK2-linked ubiquitination predominantly via K27 linkage. Compound 68- or Fx2149 increased G2019S-LRRK2-linked ubiquitinated aggregates, which occurred through the atypical linkage types K27 and K63. Coexpression of K27R and K63R, which prevented ubiquitination via K27 and K63 linkages, reversed the effects of 68 and Fx2149. Moreover, 68 and Fx2149 also promoted G2019S-LRRK2-linked aggresome (Lewy body-like inclusion) formation via K27 and K63 linkages. These findings demonstrate that LRRK2 GTP-binding activity is critical in LRRK2-linked ubiquitination and aggregation formation. These studies provide novel insight into the LRRK2-linked Lewy body-like inclusion formation underlying PD pathogenesis.
The use of a gene expression signature and connectivity map to repurpose drugs for bipolar disorder.
The world journal of biological psychiatry : the official journal of the World Federation of Societies of Biological Psychiatry, 2020

To create a gene expression signature (GES) to represent the biological effects of a combination of known drugs for bipolar disorder (BD) on cultured human neuronal cells (NT2-N) and rat brains, which also has evidence of differential expression in individuals with BD. To use the GES to identify new drugs for BD using Connectivity Map (CMap).
Physiological characterization of a rare subpopulation of doublet-spiking neurons in the ferret lateral geniculate nucleus.
Journal of neurophysiology, 2020

Interest in exploring homologies in the early visual pathways of rodents, carnivores, and primates has recently grown. Retinas of these species contain morphologically and physiologically heterogeneous retinal ganglion cells that form the basis for parallel visual information processing streams. Whether rare retinal ganglion cells with unusual visual response properties in carnivores and primates project to the visual thalamus and drive unusual visual responses among thalamic relay neurons is poorly understood. We surveyed neurophysiological responses among hundreds of lateral geniculate nucleus (LGN) neurons in ferrets and observed a novel subpopulation of LGN neurons displaying doublet-spiking waveforms. Some visual response properties of doublet-spiking LGN neurons, like contrast and temporal frequency tuning, were intermediate to those of X and Y LGN neurons. Interestingly, most doublet-spiking LGN neurons were tuned for orientation and displayed direction selectivity for horizontal motion. Spatiotemporal receptive fields of doublet-spiking neurons were diverse and included center/surround organization, On/Off responses, and elongated separate On and Off subregions. Optogenetic activation of corticogeniculate feedback did not alter the tuning or spatiotemporal receptive fields of doublet-spiking neurons, suggesting that their unusual tuning properties were inherited from retinal inputs. The doublet-spiking LGN neurons were found throughout the depth of LGN recording penetrations. Together these findings suggest that while extremely rare (<2% of recorded LGN neurons), unique subpopulations of LGN neurons in carnivores receive retinal inputs that confer them with nonstandard visual response properties like direction selectivity. These results suggest that neuronal circuits for nonstandard visual computations are common across a variety of species, even though their proportions vary.
Sleep Disruption in Epilepsy: Ictal and Interictal Epileptic Activity Matter.
Annals of neurology, 2020

Disturbed sleep is common in epilepsy. The direct influence of nocturnal epileptic activity on sleep fragmentation remains poorly understood. Stereo-electroencephalography paired with polysomnography is the ideal tool to study this relationship. We investigated whether sleep-related epileptic activity is associated with sleep disruption.
Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder in China: A Nationwide Multi-center Population-based Study Among Children Aged 6 to 12 Years.
Neuroscience bulletin, 2020

This study aimed to obtain the first national estimate of the prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in Chinese children. We targeted the population of 6 to 12-year-old children for this prevalence study by multistage convenient cluster sampling. The Modified Chinese Autism Spectrum Rating Scale was used for the screening process. Of the target population of 142,086 children, 88.5% (n = 125,806) participated in the study. A total of 363 children were confirmed as having ASD. The observed ASD prevalence rate was 0.29% (95% CI: 0.26%-0.32%) for the overall population. After adjustment for response rates, the estimated number of ASD cases was 867 in the target population sample, thereby achieving an estimated prevalence of 0.70% (95% CI: 0.64%-0.74%). The prevalence was significantly higher in boys than in girls (0.95%; 95% CI: 0.87%-1.02% versus 0.30%; 95% CI: 0.26%-0.34%; P < 0.001). Of the 363 confirmed ASD cases, 43.3% were newly diagnosed, and most of those (90.4%) were attending regular schools, and 68.8% of the children with ASD had at least one neuropsychiatric comorbidity. Our findings provide reliable data on the estimated ASD prevalence and comorbidities in Chinese children.
Divergent Alterations of Structural-Functional Connectivity Couplings in First-episode and Chronic Schizophrenia Patients.
Neuroscience, 2021

Emerging evidence suggests that the coupling relating the structural connectivity (SC) of the brain to its functional connectivity (FC) exhibits remarkable changes during development, normal aging, and diseases. Although altered structural-functional connectivity couplings (SC-FC couplings) have been previously reported in schizophrenia patients, the alterations in SC-FC couplings of different illness stages of schizophrenia (SZ) remain largely unknown. In this study, we collected structural and resting-state functional MRI data from 73 normal controls (NCs), 61 first-episode (FeSZ) and 78 chronic (CSZ) schizophrenia patients. Positive and negative syndrome scale (PANSS) scores were assessed for all patients. Structural and functional brain networks were constructed using gray matter volume (GMV) and resting-state magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) time series measurements. At the connectivity level, the CSZ patients showed significantly increased SC-FC coupling strength compared with the FeSZ patients. At the node strength level, significant decreased SC-FC coupling strength was observed in the FeSZ patients compared to that of the NCs, and the coupling strength was positively correlated with negative PANSS scores. These results demonstrated divergent alterations of SC-FC couplings in FeSZ and CSZ patients. Our findings provide new insight into the neuropathological mechanisms underlying the developmental course of SZ.
Controllable self-patterning behaviours of flexible self-assembling peptide nanofibers.
Nanoscale advances, 2021

In recent years, fabricating flexible one-dimensional nanofibers with a high aspect ratio and controlling their two-dimensional patterns on a certain surface have attracted more and more attention. Although molecular self-assembly as a useful strategy has been widely used to obtain nanofibers from soft materials such as peptides and polymers, extremely long nanofibers with high flexibility were rarely reported, and it's even more challenging to organize these organic nanofibers into ordered patterns in a controllable manner. In this study, we designed a flat-wedge-shaped bolaamphiphilic peptide which could self-assemble into ultra-flexible long nanofibers. These nanofibers were deposited on a mica surface by long-term incubation and exhibited various self-patterning behaviours as controlled by intended treatment. By changing the incubation time on the mica surface, vapour pH in the incubation device, and the peptide concentration, various patterns including nanofiber coils, parallel or single straight long nanofibers, and a network of hexagonally aligned short nanofibers could be obtained. These results indicated that not only the nanostructure formed by self-assembling peptides, but also the higher-order patterning behaviour of the nanostructures could be rationally controlled, providing a promising strategy for fabricating complicated nanoscale architectures with various potential applications.
Mixed methods implementation research of cognitive stimulation therapy (CST) for dementia in low and middle-income countries: study protocol for Brazil, India and Tanzania (CST-International).
BMJ open, 2019

In low/middle-income countries (LMICs), the prevalence of people diagnosed with dementia is expected to increase substantially and treatment options are limited, with acetylcholinesterase inhibitors not used as frequently as in high-income countries (HICs). Cognitive stimulation therapy (CST) is a group-based, brief, non-pharmacological intervention for people with dementia that significantly improves cognition and quality of life in clinical trials and is cost-effective in HIC. However, its implementation in other countries is less researched. This protocol describes CST-International; an implementation research study of CST. The aim of this research is to develop, test, refine and disseminate implementation strategies for CST for people with mild to moderate dementia in three LMICs: Brazil (upper middle-income), India (lower middle-income) and Tanzania (low-income).
The regulatory mechanisms of behavioral and cognitive aging.
Yi chuan = Hereditas, 2021

With the increase of life expectancy, the world's population is aging rapidly. Previous work in the field of aging greatly increases our understanding of biological mechanisms underlying longevity. Researchers have unraveled a number of longevity pathways conserved from yeast to mammals. However, recent evidence shows that mechanisms regulating the life span and those regulating age-related behavioral decline could be dissociated. The regulatory mechanisms underlying behavioral and cognitive aging is largely unknown. Previous work has described a significant age-related decline in cognitive behaviors including episodic memory, working memory, processing speed, as well as motor function deterioration and circadian dysfunction. With the advance of neuroscience and technology, more and more studies have focused on the age-related changes in structure and function of the brain. In this review, we briefly describe the deterioration of cognitive function and other behaviors in the aging process, and survey the role of age-related changes in brain structure and network, neuron morphology and function, transcriptome in brain and some conserved biological pathways on age-related cognitive and behavioral decline. Further studies on the mechanisms underpinning age-related cognitive and behavioral decline may provide clues not only for improving the quality of life for the ageing population, but also for developing intervention approaches for neurodegenerative diseases.
Concurrent E-cigarette and marijuana use and health-risk behaviors among U.S. high school students.
Preventive medicine, 2021

The use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) and marijuana remain prevalent problems among adolescents nationwide. We assessed current (past 30-day) exclusive e-cigarette use, exclusive marijuana use, and concurrent use with unintentional injury and violent behaviors, alcohol and other drug use behaviors, and sexual behaviors among U.S. high school students. We analyzed 2017 Youth Risk Behavior Survey data including 12,578 high school students nationwide. Multivariable logistic regression models were performed to compare these health-risk behaviors among exclusive e-cigarette users, exclusive marijuana users, and concurrent users with non-users among the overall sample, and then to compare exclusive e-cigarette users and exclusive marijuana users with concurrent users among current users only. All models adjusted for adolescent sex, grade, and race/ethnicity, and other tobacco product use. Approximately 77% of students were non-users, 5.2% were exclusive e-cigarette users, 9.9% were exclusive marijuana users, and 7.8% were concurrent users. Compared to non-users, exclusive e-cigarette users and exclusive marijuana users were more likely to engage in most negative health-risk behaviors associated with unintentional injuries and violence, alcohol and other drug use, and sexual behaviors. Among current users only, exclusive e-cigarette users and exclusive marijuana users were at reduced odds of engaging in most of these health-risk behaviors when compared to concurrent users of both substances. The relationship between exclusive and concurrent e-cigarette and marijuana use and health-risk behaviors highlights the importance of comprehensive educational efforts during high school. Findings suggest need for more studies on influence of e-cigarette and marijuana use on injury and violence risk among youth.
Cadaveric Evidence of Complete Transection of the Lumbar Sympathetic Trunk After Extreme Lateral Transpsoas Approach to the Lumbar Spine: A Word of Caution.
Cureus, 2021

Lateral transpsoas approaches to the lumbar spine are believed to entail less risk of injury to the lumbar sympathetic trunk and plexus than anterior approaches. However, even the lateral approach can occasionally injure the sympathetic trunk. We report a literature review and cadaveric case of complete resection of the left sympathetic trunk at L3 following lateral transpsoas approach performed by a well-trained spine surgeon. A left lateral approach to the lumbar spine for a two-level total discectomy at L3-L4 and L4-L5 was undertaken on a fresh-frozen cadaver by an experienced spinal surgeon. The procedure followed standard spinal technique under fluoroscopy guidance. The cadaver was placed in a right lateral position and an operative corridor to the lateral aspect of the psoas major muscle was developed. Blunt dissection was carried through the muscle and standard total discectomy was completed at the target levels. Following the procedure, the lumbar spine and adjacent structures were anatomically dissected. It was found that the sympathetic trunk had been completely transected at the L3 level during the surgical procedure. Other major structures such as the femoral nerve, obturator nerve, and roots of the lumbar spinal nerves had not been injured. The above case highlights the proximity of the sympathetic trunk to lateral transpsoas approaches and the possibility of injury to it. We review the literature on postoperative cases of lumbar sympathetic dysfunction (SD) following such procedures and posit that some of these are due to direct iatrogenic injury.