Neurosciences Commons^™

Administration Of Electroconvulsive Therapy For Depression Associated With Deep Brain Stimulation In A Patient With Post-Traumatic Parkinson's Disease: A Case Study, Miles G. Cunningham, Golnaz Yadollahikhales, Gordana Vitaliano, Craig Van Horne

Neurosurgery Faculty Publications

Background: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has been shown to be effective for parkinsonian symptoms poorly responsive to medications. DBS is typically well-tolerated, as are the maintenance battery changes. Here we describe an adverse event during a battery replacement procedure that caused rapid onset of severe depression.

Case Presentation: The patient is a 58-year-old woman who was in a serious motor vehicle accident and sustained a concussion with loss of consciousness. Within weeks of the accident she began developing parkinsonian symptoms that progressively worsened over the subsequent 10 years. Responding poorly to medications, she received DBS, which controlled her movement symptoms. …

Positive Allosteric Modulator Of Gabab Receptor Alters Behavioral Effects But Not Afterdischarge Progression Induced By Partial Hippocampal Kindling., L Stan Leung, Miao Jin, Liangwei Chu, Jingyi Ma

Physiology and Pharmacology Publications

Hippocampal seizures decreased the function of GABAB receptors, which may further increase seizure susceptibility and contribute to development of schizophrenia-like behaviors. Recent literature indicates that GABAB receptor agonist may normalize schizophrenia-like behaviors and prevent drug-induced behavioral sensitization. We hypothesized that positive modulation of GABAB receptor function during seizure induction will reduce seizure-induced schizophrenia-like behaviors. Using a partial hippocampal kindling model, afterdischarges were induced after injection of saline or dimethyl sulfoxide (vehicle-kindled rats), or a GABAB receptor positive allosteric modulator CGP7930, at 1 mg/kg i.p. (CGP1-kindled) or 5 mg/kg i.p. (CGP5-kindled). The increase in the primary afterdischarge duration during kindling was …

Spinal Cord Injury And Autonomic Dysreflexia- A Case Report, Apurva Bhatt, Brit Moore, Talal Asif, Kristy E. Steigerwalt, Rebecca R. Pauly

Marshall Journal of Medicine

Autonomic dysreflexia (AD) is a life threatening condition affecting patients with spinal cord lesions T6 level and above. A 51 year old male with a history of paraplegia due to a C6 spinal cord injury (30 years prior) presented with recurrent debilitating episodic diaphoresis, hypertension, low body temperature, and bradycardia. Previous hospitalizations presumed sepsis from UTI to be the etiology, however on further evaluation his symptoms were consistent with undiagnosed AD. This article describes a unique case presentation and reviews AD in depth, including the etiology, pathophysiology and management.

The Scripps Research Institute Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship, Ezana Assefa

Trick to the Treat of Internships and Research

This program is a 10-week internship designed for undergraduates interested in the scientific field to engage in current research. Students have the option of requesting to work under three mentors, one of which they will be paired. Students will work in the lab with the principal investigator and other members of the lab. Along with working in the lab, students in the program will also attend bi-weekly talks/lectures from researchers, grad students, and professionals at TSRI as well as participating in two presentations and a final poster or oral presentation.

The Postfinasteride Syndrome; An Overview, David L. Rowland, Ion G. Motofei, Florian Popa, Vlad D. Constantin, Adriana Vasilache, Ioana Păunică, Cristian Bălălău, Georgeta P. Păunică, Petrisor Banu, Stana Păunică

Journal of Mind and Medical Sciences

As a 5-α reductase inhibitor, Finasteride has proven effective in ameliorating two conditions documented to be androgen dependent, namely male androgenic alopecia and benign prostatic hyperplasia. Therapeutic results are maintained as long as the drug is administered, with treatment cessation generally leading to the return of symptomatology for each condition. In addition, during the therapeutic phase, several adverse effects have been reported, some of which persist long or indefinitely after treatment cessation, known as “post-finasteride syndrome.”

Herein we present and discuss the most common finasteride side effects, along with a psycho-neuroendocrine rationale that could explain the persistence of many adverse …

Is Online Motor Control Really Impaired In Parkinson's Disease?, Kate E. Merritt

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) are thought to be selectively impaired in consciously-mediated online automatic motor control, whereas the ability to perform subconscious online adjustments remains intact. This present study evaluates the hypothesis that the previously alleged deficits in online motor control in PD are not due to the consciousness of the correction, but rather are attributable to aspects of the prior experimental designs disproportionately penalizing patients for PD-related bradykinesia. Here, we implemented a modified traditional double-step paradigm to investigate consciously-mediated online motor control in PD, in a manner that would be unconfounded by disease-related bradykinesia. Further, we investigated the …

Characterization And Personalization Of Botulinum Toxin Type A Therapy For Upper Limb Tremor In Parkinson Disease And Essential Tremor Patients Using Multi-Sensor Kinematic Technology, Olivia Samotus

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Tremor commonly affects the upper extremities in essential tremor (ET) and Parkinson disease (PD) patients where many experience functional disability and ultimately seek therapy. As ET and PD tremor features overlap and clinical assessment is challenging due to its highly complex nature, misdiagnosis is common resulting in unsuitable therapies and prognosis. Current treatment options for ET and PD tremor include pharmacotherapy, focal therapy with botulinum toxin type A (BoNT-A) injections, and surgical interventions which provide modest relief of tremor. However, such therapies are commonly associated with significant adverse events and lack long-term efficacy and tolerability. Hence lack of standardized, objective …

Mir-27a And Mir-27b Regulate Autophagic Clearance Of Damaged Mitochondria By Targeting Pten-Induced Putative Kinase 1 (Pink1), Jaekwang Kim, Fabienne C. Fiesel, Krystal C. Belmonte, Roman Hudec, Wang-Xia Wang, Chaeyoung Kim, Peter T. Nelson, Wolfdieter Springer, Jungsu Kim

Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Faculty Publications

Background: Loss-of-function mutations in PINK1 and PARKIN are the most common causes of autosomal recessive Parkinson’s disease (PD). PINK1 is a mitochondrial serine/threonine kinase that plays a critical role in mitophagy, a selective autophagic clearance of damaged mitochondria. Accumulating evidence suggests mitochondrial dysfunction is one of central mechanisms underlying PD pathogenesis. Therefore, identifying regulatory mechanisms of PINK1 expression may provide novel therapeutic opportunities for PD. Although post-translational stabilization of PINK1 upon mitochondrial damage has been extensively studied, little is known about the regulation mechanism of PINK1 at the transcriptional or translational levels.

Results: Here, we demonstrated that microRNA-27a (miR-27a) and …

Can Gait Signatures Provide Quantitative Measures For Aiding Clinical Decision-Making? A Systematic Meta-Analysis Of Gait Variability Behavior In Patients With Parkinson’S Disease, Niklas König Ignasiak

Physical Therapy Faculty Articles and Research

A disturbed, inconsistent walking pattern is a common feature of patients with Parkinson's disease (PwPD). Such extreme variability in both temporal and spatial parameters of gait has been associated with unstable walking and an elevated prevalence of falls. However, despite their ability to discretise healthy from pathological function, normative variability values for key gait parameters are still missing. Furthermore, an understanding of each parameter's response to pathology, as well as the inter-parameter relationships, has received little attention. The aim of this systematic literature review and meta-analysis was therefore to define threshold levels for pathological gait variability as well as to …

Reverse Engineering A Kinetic Model Of A Dopaminergic Neuron To Apoptosis, Johnathan Morris

Biology and Medicine Through Mathematics Conference

No abstract provided.

An Initial Analysis Of A Long-Term Ketogenic Diet’S Impact On Motor Behavior, Brain Purine Systems, And Nigral Dopamine Neurons In A New Genetic Rodent Model Of Parkinson’S Disease, Jacob Rubin, William H. Church

Senior Theses and Projects

A growing body of research suggests that dopaminergic cell death seen in Parkinson’s disease is caused by mitochondrial dysfunction. Oxidative stress, with subsequent generation of reactive oxygen species, is the hallmark biochemical product of mitochondrial dysfunction. The ketogenic diet has been found to enhance mitochondrial energy production, protect against reactive oxygen species-generated cell death, and increase adenosine, a purine that modulates dopamine activity. The current study evaluates the effects of a long-term (5-month) ketogenic diet on behavioral, neurochemical, and neuroanatomical measures in PINK1-KO rats, a new animal model of Parkinson’s disease. Both wild-type and PINK1-KO animals fed a ketogenic diet …

Revealing The Quality Of Movement: A Meta-Analysis Review To Quantify The Thresholds To Pathological Variability During Standing And Walking, Niklas König Ignasiak

Physical Therapy Faculty Articles and Research

Neuromotor processes are inherently noisy, which results in variability during movement and fluctu-ations in motor control. Although controversial, low levels of variability are traditionally considered healthy, while increased levels are thought to be pathological. This systematic review and meta-analysisof the literature investigates the thresholds between healthy and pathological task variability.

After examining 13,195 publications, 109 studies were included. Results from over 3000 healthy sub-jects and 2775 patients revealed an overall positive effect size of pathology on variability of 0.59 forwalking and 0.80 for sway. For the coefficient of variation of stride time (ST) and sway area (SA), upperthresholds of 2.6% …

Antibodies To Heterogenous Nuclear Ribonucleoprotein A1 Penetrate Neurons Leading To Multiple Downstream Effects Resulting In Neurodegeneration, Joshua Nathan Douglas

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common demyelinating disorder of the central nervous system. MS is believed to occur in genetically susceptible individuals due to an unknown environmental stimulus. MS patients produce autoantibodies to heterogenous nuclear ribonuclearprotein A1 (hnRNP A1), an RNA binding protein (RBP) highly expressed in neurons. hnRNP A1 functions in pre-mRNA splicing, mRNA trafficking, and translation. Furthermore, the anti-hnRNP A1 antibodies are specific to a N-terminal region termed ‘M9’ which serves as a nuclear export sequence/nuclear localization sequence (NES/NLS) responsible for nuclear/cytoplasmic transport of the protein. In this manuscript we will provide data revealing that anti-hnRNP A1 …

Gene Expression Profiling In An Alzheimer's Disease Mouse Model, Matthew R. Dalton

Senior Honors Theses

Explaining precisely how Alzheimer’s disease (AD)—the world’s most common form of dementia—materializes in the human brain has proven to be one of the most elusive ends in modern medicine. Progressive memory loss, neurodegeneration, and the presence of abnormal protein aggregates of amyloid-beta (Aβ) and neurofibrillary tangles (NFT) characterize this disease. Genome sequencing provides researchers with the ability to better identify disease-related changes in gene expression, some of which may play a role in the initiation and progression toward the AD-like state. Intimate interactions between tissues have been observed in many diseases, particularly between the brain and blood. This analysis seeks …

An Initial Analysis Of A Long-Term Ketogenic Diet’S Impact On Motor Behavior, Brain Purine Systems, And Nigral Dopamine Neurons In A New Genetic Rodent Model Of Parkinson’S Disease, Jacob Rubin, William H. Church

Masters Theses

A growing body of research suggests that dopaminergic cell death seen in Parkinson’s disease is caused by mitochondrial dysfunction. Oxidative stress, with subsequent generation of reactive oxygen species, is the hallmark biochemical product of mitochondrial dysfunction. The ketogenic diet has been found to enhance mitochondrial energy production, protect against reactive oxygen species-generated cell death, and increase adenosine, a purine that modulates dopamine activity. The current study evaluates the effects of a long-term (5-month) ketogenic diet on behavioral, neurochemical, and neuroanatomical measures in PINK1-KO rats, a new animal model of Parkinson’s disease. Both wild-type and PINK1-KO animals fed a ketogenic diet …

Post-Tbi Hippocampal Neurogenesis In Different Tbi Models, Kaushal S. Patel

Theses and Dissertations

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) leads to short-term and long-term consequences that can cause many different life-long disorders. Studies of TBI have generally focused on the acute stage; however, it is now becoming important to investigate chronic responses following TBI as clinical reports of dementia and cognitive impairments have been linked to a history of TBI. Recent data have established that cognitive function is associated with hippocampal neurogenesis. Chronic injury induced changes in the brain may affect this endogenous process. Chronic responses following TBI include cell death pathways and inflammatory responses that are persistent in the brain for months to years …

Examining The Potential Clinical Value Of Curcumin In The Prevention And Diagnosis Of Alzheimer's Disease, K. G. Goozee, T. M. Shah, Hamid R. Sohrabi, Stephanie Rainey-Smith, B. Brown, Guiseppe Verdile, Ralph Martins

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Curcumin derived from turmeric is well documented for its anti-carcinogenic, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Recent studies show that curcumin also possesses neuroprotective and cognitive-enhancing properties that may help delay or prevent neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Currently, clinical diagnosis of AD is onerous, and it is primarily based on the exclusion of other causes of dementia. In addition, phase III clinical trials of potential treatments have mostly failed, leaving disease-modifying interventions elusive. AD can be characterised neuropathologically by the deposition of extracellular β amyloid (Aβ) plaques and intracellular accumulation of tau-containing neurofibrillary tangles. Disruptions in Aβ metabolism/clearance contribute to …

Histological And Behavioral Consequences Of Repeated Mild Traumatic Brain Injury In Mice, Amanda Nicholle Bolton Hall

Theses and Dissertations--Physiology

The majority of the estimated three million traumatic brain injuries that occur each year are classified as “mild” and do not require surgical intervention. However, debilitating symptoms such as difficulties focusing on tasks, anxiety, depression, and visual deficits can persist chronically after a mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) even if an individual appears “fine”. These symptoms have been observed to worsen or be prolonged when an individual has suffered multiple mild TBIs. To test the hypothesis that increasing the amount of time between head injuries can reduce the histopathological and behavioral consequences of repeated mild TBI, a mouse model of …

The Effects Of External Focus Of Attention Exercise Rehabilitation On Dual Task Walking In Parkinson's Disease, Eric N. Beck

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Parkinson’s disease impairs control of well-learned movements, and therefore, individuals with Parkinson’s disease are forced to walk with greater conscious control. This causes difficulties while walking and completing a secondary task simultaneously (dual tasking), in that distractions from conscious control of walking increase the risk of falls and injury. Although, attention-based exercise may be a potential avenue to decrease the demands associated with walking in Parkinson’s disease. For example, an external focus of attention (on manipulated objects) has been found to recruit the networks that are important for walking with little conscious control (automatic control networks). In contrast, an internal …