rudyvdbrink/CitationDatabase huggingface dataset:
Reduction in hippocampal volumes subsequent to heavy cannabis use: a 3-year longitudinal study.
Psychiatry research, 2021

Cannabis exposure is related to neuroanatomical changes in brain regions rich in cannabinoid receptors, such as the hippocampus. However, researchers have not clearly determined whether persistent heavy cannabis use leads to morphological changes in the hippocampus or whether an earlier age of onset of first cannabis use and/or higher doses of cannabis exposure exacerbate these alterations. In this longitudinal study, we investigated whether continued heavy cannabis use in young adults is associated with an altered hippocampal volume. Twenty heavy cannabis users (CBs) and 22 healthy controls (HCs) underwent a comprehensive psychological assessment and a T1 structural scan at baseline and at a 3-year follow-up visit. Volumes of the hippocampus and its subregions were estimated using volBrain software. Except for the cornu ammonis 2 (CA2)/CA3 subregions, age had significant effects on all hippocampal subregions in both the CB and HC groups. The relative right hippocampal volume and absolute and relative right CA1 volumes displayed a greater rate of decrease in CBs compared to HCs. In addition, we explored the relationship between alterations in hippocampal volume and cannabis use characteristics. Changes in the relative right hippocampal volume and the relative right CA1 volume were related to age at first cannabis use but not to age at onset of frequent cannabis use. Alterations in the relative right hippocampal volume and absolute and relative right CA1 volumes were associated with Cannabis Use Disorder Identification Test (CUDIT) scores. Based on these results, heavy cannabis use in early adulthood is a risk factor for a greater rate of decrease in the volume of the right hippocampus (particularly the right CA1).
Toll-like receptor 4 mediates the development of fatigue in the murine Lewis Lung Carcinoma model independently of activation of macrophages and microglia.
Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2020

Cancer-related fatigue at the time of tumor diagnosis is commonly attributed to inflammation associated with the disease process. However, we have previously demonstrated that running wheel deficits occur well before increased expression of proinflammatory cytokines in the liver and brain in a murine model of human papilloma virus-related head and neck cancer (mEER). Further, we have demonstrated that genetic deletion of type I interleukin-1 receptor and MyD88 has no effect. In the current investigation we sought to test the generality of this finding by assessing whether there is a role for toll-like receptor (TLR) 4-dependent inflammation in the fatigue-like behavior observed in mice with Lewis Lung Carcinoma (LLC) or mEER tumors. Genetic deletion of TLR4 attenuated tumor-induced elevations in liver pro-inflammatory cytokine expression in both models. However, it only abrogated wheel running deficits in LLC tumor bearing mice. To determine whether TLR4 signaling in the LLC model involves innate immune cells, mice were treated with the colony stimulating factor (CSF)-1 receptor antagonist PLX-5622 before and throughout tumor development to deplete microglia and peripheral macrophages. Administration of PLX-5622 had no protective effect on wheel running deficits in either mEER or LLC tumor models despite effective depletion of microglia and a down regulation of peripheral proinflammatory cytokine expression. These results indicate that the TLR4 signaling that mediates fatigue-like behavior in LLC mice is not dependent upon microglial or peripheral macrophage activation. Based on the literature and our data demonstrating attenuation of ubiquitin proteasome pathway activation in the gastrocnemius muscle of Tlr4
In memoriam Ladislau Steiner, neurosurgeon: some people from transylvania do live forever.
World neurosurgery, 2014

We review the extraordinary professional trajectory of Ladislau Steiner, a prolific neurosurgeon and radiosurgeon, who died earlier this year. Dr. Steiner trained and practiced as a neurosurgeon in his native Romania until he was 42, before moving to Stockholm. After 25 years at the Karolinska Institute, when most people consider retirement, he spent the following 25 years of his life as director of the Lars Leksell Center for Gamma Knife Radiosurgery at the University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia. At 90, nostalgia for Europe made him accept the position of director of the Gamma Knife Center at the International Neuroscience Institute in Hannover, Germany. His life was dedicated to the 15,000 patients whose lives he saved in his lengthy career.
Novel therapeutic directions in Cushing's syndrome.
Expert review of endocrinology & metabolism, 2006

Cushing's disease is the most common cause of endogenous hypercortisolemia. It is a rare disease of unknown etiology that is prone to relapse and damaging to quality of life, even in remission. A significant proportion of patients are not cured by primary surgical treatment, and adjuvant radiotherapy has become an increasingly unattractive proposition for clinicians who wish to spare their patients hypopituitarism and other potential complications. The few effective pharmacological options that are available currently tend to have dose-limiting side effects and new alternatives that are safer and more effective than the adrenal cortical enzyme inhibitors and adrenolytic drugs would be most welcome. This article discusses preliminary efficacy data for several potential new groups of drugs.
Hypermanganesemia Induced Chorea and Cognitive Decline in a Tea Seller.
Tremor and other hyperkinetic movements (New York, N.Y.), 2020

Manganese associated neurotoxicity and neurodegeneration is quite rare yet established neurological disorder. This neurotoxic element has predilection for depositing in basal ganglia structures, manifesting mainly as parkinsonian and dystonic movement disorders with behavioral abnormalities.
Improved visual discrimination learning in mice with partial 5-HT2B gene deletion.
Neuroscience letters, 2020

The neurotransmitter serotonin (5-hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) has been linked to multiple aspects of cognition. For example, in rodents, discrimination and reversal learning are altered by experimentally induced changes in brain serotonin levels, and reduced expression of the 5-HT
A quantitative reward prediction error signal in the ventral pallidum.
Nature neuroscience, 2020

The nervous system is hypothesized to compute reward prediction errors (RPEs) to promote adaptive behavior. Correlates of RPEs have been observed in the midbrain dopamine system, but the extent to which RPE signals exist in other reward-processing regions is less well understood. In the present study, we quantified outcome history-based RPE signals in the ventral pallidum (VP), a basal ganglia region functionally linked to reward-seeking behavior. We trained rats to respond to reward-predicting cues, and we fit computational models to predict the firing rates of individual neurons at the time of reward delivery. We found that a subset of VP neurons encoded RPEs and did so more robustly than the nucleus accumbens, an input to the VP. VP RPEs predicted changes in task engagement, and optogenetic manipulation of the VP during reward delivery bidirectionally altered rats' subsequent reward-seeking behavior. Our data suggest a pivotal role for the VP in computing teaching signals that influence adaptive reward seeking.
Informational content of cosine and other similarities calculated from high-dimensional Conceptual Property Norm data.
Cognitive processing, 2020

To study concepts that are coded in language, researchers often collect lists of conceptual properties produced by human subjects. From these data, different measures can be computed. In particular, inter-concept similarity is an important variable used in experimental studies. Among possible similarity measures, the cosine of conceptual property frequency vectors seems to be a de facto standard. However, there is a lack of comparative studies that test the merit of different similarity measures when computed from property frequency data. The current work compares four different similarity measures (cosine, correlation, Euclidean and Chebyshev) and five different types of data structures. To that end, we compared the informational content (i.e., entropy) delivered by each of those 4 × 5 = 20 combinations, and used a clustering procedure as a concrete example of how informational content affects statistical analyses. Our results lead us to conclude that similarity measures computed from lower-dimensional data fare better than those calculated from higher-dimensional data, and suggest that researchers should be more aware of data sparseness and dimensionality, and their consequences for statistical analyses.
The influence of rat strain on the development of neuropathic pain and comorbid anxio-depressive behaviour after nerve injury.
Scientific reports, 2020

Back-translating the clinical manifestations of human disease burden into animal models is increasingly recognized as an important facet of preclinical drug discovery. We hypothesized that inbred rat strains possessing stress hyper-reactive-, depressive- or anxiety-like phenotypes may possess more translational value than common outbred strains for modeling neuropathic pain. Rats (inbred: LEW, WKY, F344/ICO and F344/DU, outbred: Crl:SD) were exposed to Spared Nerve Injury (SNI) and evaluated routinely for 6 months on behaviours related to pain (von Frey stimulation and CatWalk-gait analysis), anxiety (elevated plus maze, EPM) and depression (sucrose preference test, SPT). Markers of stress reactivity together with spinal/brain opioid receptor expression were also measured. All strains variously developed mechanical allodynia after SNI with the exception of stress-hyporesponsive LEW rats, despite all strains displaying similar functional gait-deficits after injury. However, affective changes reflective of anxiety- and depressive-like behaviour were only observed for F344/DU in the EPM, and for Crl:SD in SPT. Although differences in stress reactivity and opioid receptor expression occurred, overall they were relatively unaffected by SNI. Thus, anxio-depressive behaviours did not develop in all strains after nerve injury, and correlated only modestly with degree of pain sensitivity or with genetic predisposition to stress and/or affective disturbances.
Predictors for a dementia gene mutation based on gene-panel next-generation sequencing of a large dementia referral series.
Molecular psychiatry, 2020

Next-generation genetic sequencing (NGS) technologies facilitate the screening of multiple genes linked to neurodegenerative dementia, but there are few reports about their use in clinical practice. Which patients would most profit from testing, and information on the likelihood of discovery of a causal variant in a clinical syndrome, are conspicuously absent from the literature, mostly for a lack of large-scale studies. We applied a validated NGS dementia panel to 3241 patients with dementia and healthy aged controls; 13,152 variants were classified by likelihood of pathogenicity. We identified 354 deleterious variants (DV, 12.6% of patients); 39 were novel DVs. Age at clinical onset, clinical syndrome and family history each strongly predict the likelihood of finding a DV, but healthcare setting and gender did not. DVs were frequently found in genes not usually associated with the clinical syndrome. Patients recruited from primary referral centres were compared with those seen at higher-level research centres and a national clinical neurogenetic laboratory; rates of discovery were comparable, making selection bias unlikely and the results generalisable to clinical practice. We estimated penetrance of DVs using large-scale online genomic population databases and found 71 with evidence of reduced penetrance. Two DVs in the same patient were found more frequently than expected. These data should provide a basis for more informed counselling and clinical decision making.
Cricketers are not tickled pink by the new coloured ball.
Journal of science and medicine in sport, 2021

Cricket administrators have started scheduling long-form matches which finish at night and are played with a pink as opposed to a red ball. However, there are reports that the pink ball may introduce new dangers and alter performance. The aim of this study was to investigate professional cricketers' opinions about the visibility of the pink ball whilst playing in different lighting conditions (afternoon, dusk and night).
Sex differences in prefrontal cortex microglia morphology: Impact of a two-hit model of adversity throughout development.
Neuroscience letters, 2020

Neuroimmune mechanisms play critical roles in brain development and can be impacted by early life adversity. Microglia are the resident immune cells in the brain, with both sex-specific and region-specific developmental profiles. Since early life adversity is associated with several neuropsychiatric disorders with developmental pathogeneses, here we investigated the degree to which maternal separation (MS) impacted microglia over development. Microglia are dynamic cells that alter their morphology in accordance with their functions and in response to stressors. While males and females reportedly display different microglial morphology in several brain regions over development and following immune and psychological challenges, little is known about such differences in the prefrontal cortex (PFC), which regulates several early life adversity-attributable disorders. Additionally, little is known about the potential for early life adversity to prime microglia for later immune challenges. In the current study, male and female rats were exposed to MS followed by lipopolysaccharide administration in juvenility or adolescence. The prelimbic and infralimbic PFC were then separately analyzed for microglial density and morphology. Typically developing males expressed smaller soma and less arborization than females in juvenility, but larger soma than females in adolescence. MS led to fewer microglia in the infralimbic PFC of adolescent males. Both MS and lipopolysaccharide administration affected morphological characteristics in juvenile males and females, with MS exposure leading to a greater increase in soma size following lipopolysaccharide. Interestingly, effects of MS and lipopolysaccharide were not observed in adolescence, while notable sex differences in PFC microglial morphology were apparent. Taken together, these findings provide insight into how PFC microglia may differentially respond to challenges over development in males and females.
Self-assembly of lipid rafts revealed by fluorescence correlation spectroscopy in living breast cancer cells.
Journal of biophotonics, 2020

Lipids and proteins in the plasma membrane are laterally heterogeneous and formalised as lipid rafts featuring unique biophysical properties. However, the self-assembly mechanism of lipid raft cannot be revealed even its physical properties and components were determined in specific physiological processes. In this study, two-photon generalised polarisation imaging and fluorescence correlation spectroscopy were used to study the fusion of lipid rafts through the membrane phase and the lateral diffusion of lipids in living breast cancer cells. A self-assembly model of lipid rafts associated with lipid diffusion and membrane phase was proposed to demonstrate the lipid sorting ability of lipid rafts in the plasma membrane. The results showed that the increased proportion of slow subdiffusion of G
Salt-reduction strategies may compromise salt iodization programs: Learnings from South Africa and Ghana.
Nutrition (Burbank, Los Angeles County, Calif.), 2021

Universal salt iodization has been adopted by many countries to address iodine deficiency. More recently, salt-reduction strategies have been widely implemented to meet global salt intake targets of <5 g/d. Compatibility of the two policies has yet to be demonstrated. This study compares urinary iodine excretion (UIE) according to 24-h urinary sodium excretion, between South Africa (SA) and Ghana; both countries have implemented universal salt iodization, but in Ghana no salt-reduction legislation has been implemented.
The first central nervous system autopsy in Southern Brazil.
Arquivos de neuro-psiquiatria, 2019

The history of Anatomical Pathology in the state of Paraná, in southern Brazil, is closely linked with the foundation of the Universidade Federal do Paraná (UFPR). This study identified the first central nervous system (CNS) clinical autopsy performed by the Department of Anatomical Pathology of the UFPR.
Derivation of four iPSC lines from a male ASD patient carrying a deletion in the middle coding region of NRXN1α gene (NUIGi039-A and NUIGi039-B) and a male sibling control (NUIGi040-A and NUIGi040-B).
Stem cell research, 2021

NRXN1 deletions are commonly found in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other neurodevelopmental/neuropsychiatric disorders. Derivation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from different diseases involving different deletion regions are essential, as NRXN1 may produce thousands of splicing variants. We report here the derivation of iPSCs from a sibling control and an ASD proband carrying de novo heterozygous deletions in the middle region of NRXN1, using a non-integrating Sendai viral kit. The genotype and karyotype of the iPSCs were validated by whole genome SNP array. All iPSC lines highly expressed pluripotency markers and could be differentiated into three germ layers.
[A Case of Transorbital Penetrating Cavernous Sinus Injury by a Bamboo Stick Treated by Craniotomy in the Hybrid Operating Room].
No shinkei geka. Neurological surgery, 2020

Herein, we report a rare case of penetrating transorbital cavernous sinus injury caused by a bamboo stick, treated by craniotomy in a hybrid operating room. A 63-year-old gardener presented at our hospital with right upper orbital injury after falling on a bamboo basket. Neurological examination revealed right II, III, IV, and VI cranial nerve palsies. CT and MRI revealed a right transorbital penetrating injury by a small sharp wooden foreign body, extending from the orbit to the cavernous sinus via the superior orbital fissure. Preoperative digital subtraction angiography revealed partial occlusion of the right cavernous sinus by the foreign body and no internal carotid artery(ICA)injury. There was a nine-day waiting period after the injury because the patient was on dual antiplatelet therapy for ischemic heart disease. Subsequently, the bamboo stick was completely removed through the right fronto-temporo-orbito-zygomatic approach in a hybrid operating room. To treat the potential massive hemorrhage, a five-French balloon catheter was inserted in the right ICA at its origin via the right transfemoral approach before the craniotomy. The bamboo stick was completely removed with minor hemorrhage in the cavernous sinus; this was controlled using hemostatic materials. The postoperative course was uneventful. The patient was discharged with blindness and total ophthalmoplegia in the right eye but he was able to return to his prior job. This is the first report of such a treatment of a transorbital penetrating injury in a hybrid operating room.
Effect of morphine sulphate eye drops on hyperalgesia in the rat cornea.
Pain, 2003

In addition to their traditional role in centrally mediated analgesia, opiate compounds produce significant effects when administered peripherally. Using a recently characterized model of acute chemical injury to the rat cornea, we assessed the effects of morphine sulphate eye drops on corneal inflammation and hyperalgesia. Topical application of a 5 microM morphine sulphate eye drop preparation attenuated capsaicin-induced blinking in a concentration-dependent manner. However, morphine had no effect on capsaicin-induced blinking when applied to healthy, non-inflamed rat cornea. In addition, 5 microM morphine given every 2 h following cauterization retarded the development of both stromal edema and the infiltration of immune cells. Both the analgesic and anti-inflammatory effects of morphine were prevented by the opioid receptor antagonists naloxone, CTAP, and naltrindole. We conclude that morphine acts on mu and delta opioid receptors located in the rat cornea to attenuate inflammation and hyperalgesia.
Recovering Spatial Information through Reactivation: Brain Oxidative Metabolism Involvement in Males and Females.
Neuroscience, 2021

Memory involves a complex network system of interconnected brain areas in which labile trace memories are transformed into enduring ones and reorganized in a time-dependant manner. Although it has been observed that remote memories are less prone to destabilizing, they can become fragile and lead to behavioural decline. We explored the behavioural outcomes of male and female rats in response to the reactivation of a previously acquired allocentric spatial reference memory, under conditions in which animals have shown a retrieval decay. In addition, we assessed their brain metabolic activity through cytochrome c oxidase (CCO) histochemistry. Our results show that a spatial memory amnesia-like behaviour with a time interval of 45 days can be recovered after re-exposure to the environmental configuration with the reinforced contingencies. Moreover, we observed that, following reactivation, male rats reveal a decrease in metabolic activity in septal nuclei and thalamic structures, whereas female rats add a metabolic reduction in the hippocampus, amygdala, mPFC, and retrosplenial, parietal and rhinal cortices, suggesting that they efficiently employ these brain areas when reactivation a memory that has suffered a decay with time. Finally, although male and female rats perform the behavioural task equally, we found sex differences at the brain metabolism level, revealing the differential contribution of brain limbic system energy demands by sex, even when their performance is similar. In conclusion, our work provides behavioural and brain data about remote spatial retrieval and memory reactivation processes.
The curious case of a wandering kinase: CaMKII spreads the wealth?
Neuron, 2009

Calcium/calmodulin-dependent kinase II has been suggested to produce input-specific long-term potentiation of synaptic strength. This idea has been complicated by results from Rose, Jin, and Craig demonstrating that spatiotemporally restricted NMDA receptor excitation at contiguous synapses can result in the translocation of activated CaMKII throughout the dendritic arbor.