Life Sciences Commons^™

The Adaptor Protein P66shc Governs Central Nervous System Cell Metabolism And Resistance To Aβ Toxicity, Asad Lone

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Alzheimer’s disease (AD), a progressive and irreversible neurodegenerative disorder, and is the leading cause of dementia worldwide. It has been posited that AD is caused by the gradual deposition of toxic amyloid-b (Ab) plaques in the brain- that cause oxidative stress and eventually leads to neuronal death and synaptic loss. However, multiple therapies that either interfere with the production, or enhance the removal of Ab from the brain, have ultimately failed to slow or prevent AD. With the ever-increasing burden of AD worldwide, there exists an urgent need for novel therapeutic targets. The adult human brain is an energy demanding …

Shedding Light On Hearing In Coma: Investigating The Applicability Of Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy For Assessing Auditory Function And Aiding Prognosis In Patients With Acute Disorders Of Consciousness, Reza Moulavi Ardakani

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

There is a critical need for a bedside neuroimaging tool to aid in the prediction of functional recovery outcomes for patients with acute disorders of consciousness (DoC) in the early days following severe brain injury. Current neurobehavioral examinations and prognosis tools have limitations in predicting good outcomes, leading to potential mistreatment or premature withdrawal of life support. Functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) is a viable candidate for such purposes due to its portability and cost-effectiveness. Auditory processing, viewed as a multi-level and multifaceted brain function, could provide a sensitive and specific marker of residual cognitive function in unresponsive patients. This study …

Maturation Of Default Mode Network Functional Connectivity Strength In Utero And The Association With Subcortical Macrostructure: Mapping Brain Ontogeny Supporting Early Cognitive Processing, Susana Correa

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The third trimester of gestation is scarcely studied despite this being a key window for the development of learning and memory systems. In a prospective cohort study, 30 pregnant women participated in one or two fetal MR imaging sessions between 28- and 39 weeks of gestational age. Activation time courses were extracted from the default mode (DMN), medial temporal lobe (MTL), and thalamocortical (TCN) networks of the fetal brain. Generalized estimating equations were used to examine the association between the DMN-MTL, DMN-TCV connectivity strength, and subcortical volumes. Increased functional connectivity strength between the DMN-MTL networks was negatively associated with smaller …

Vertebral Endplate Structural Defects: Measurement, Prevalence And Associated Factors, Aliyu Lawan

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Objective: To synthesize current knowledge on the association of endplate structural defects (EPSD) with back pain (BP), improve EPSD measurement, and investigate EPSD prevalence, distribution, and association with age and body mass index (BMI).

Methods: In study 1, a systematic review was conducted on five databases for studies reporting on the association between EPSD and BP. Studies 2 and 3 used CTs and mCTs of 19 embalmed cadavers to examine the diagnostic accuracy of common EPSD assessment methods, and to develop and validate a novel method. Study 4 used the novel method on 200 adult males’ MRI to estimate EPSD …

Sarcopenia In Head And Neck Cancer: A Prognostic Analysis, Nedeljko Jovanovic

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Introduction: In head and neck cancer (HNC), loss of skeletal muscle mass (SMM), or sarcopenia, is a strong prognostic factor for outcomes. However, inconsistencies in its assessment limit our understanding of the relationship between sarcopenia and nutrition-related outcomes. This project evaluated the significance of sarcopenia as described in the literature and as demonstrated in a cohort of HNC patients.

Methods: A scoping review was first conducted followed by a retrospective cohort study with data collected from 194 oropharyngeal carcinoma patients treated with definitive radiation/chemoradiation. Sarcopenia was assessed from computed tomography (CT) imaging at the third cervical vertebra (C3) and the …