Life Sciences Commons^™

Striatal Dopaminergic Innervation Regulates Subthalamic Beta-Oscillations And Cortical-Subcortical Coupling During Movements: Preliminary Evidence In Subjects With Parkinson’S Disease, Andrea Canessa, Nicolo G. Pozzi, Gabriele Arnulfo, Joachim Brumberg, Martin M. Reich, Gianni Pezzoli, Maria F. Ghilardi, Cordula Matthies, Frank Steigerwald, Jens Volkman, Ioannis U. Isais

Publications and Research

Activation of the basal ganglia has been shown during the preparation and execution of movement. However, the functional interaction of cortical and subcortical brain areas during movement and the relative contribution of dopaminergic striatal innervation remains unclear. We recorded local field potential (LFP) activity from the subthalamic nucleus (STN) and high-density electroencephalography (EEG) signals in four patients with Parkinson’s disease (PD) off dopaminergic medication during a multi-joint motor task performed with their dominant and non-dominant hand. Recordings were performed by means of a fully-implantable deep brain stimulation (DBS) device at 4 months after surgery. Three patients also performed a single-photon …

Narrative Review Of Vitamin D And Its Specific Impact On Balance Capacity In Older Adults, Ray Marks

Publications and Research

Introduction and Aims: Falls injuries among older adults, a widespread well-established contributor to high disability levels, excess morbidity and mortality rates, have many causes. This review examines the association between vitamin D levels and postural stability or balance control—a fairly consistent predictor of falls among older adults.

Materials and Method: All relevant English language peer reviewed research publications detailing the relationship between vitamin D levels and balance control among the elderly were sought. Key words included “Vitamin D and Balance or Postural Control.” Databases used were Academic Search Complete, PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science.

Results: Analysis showed no consistent …

Hiv Glycoprotein Gp120 Impairs Fast Axonal Transport By Activating Tak1 Signaling Pathways, Sarah H. Berth, Nichole Mesnard-Hoaglin, Bin Wang, Hajwa Kim, Yuyu Song, Maria Sapar, Gerardo Morfini, Scott T. Brady

Publications and Research

Sensory neuropathies are the most common neurological complication of HIV. Of these, distal sensory polyneuropathy (DSP) is directly caused by HIV infection and characterized by length-dependent axonal degeneration of dorsal root ganglion (DRG) neurons. Mechanisms for axonal degeneration in DSP remain unclear, but recent experiments revealed that the HIV glycoprotein gp120 is internalized and localized within axons of DRG neurons. Based on these findings, we investigated whether intra-axonal gp120 might impair fast axonal transport (FAT), a cellular process critical for appropriate maintenance of the axonal compartment. Significantly, we found that gp120 severely impaired both anterograde and retrograde FAT. Providing a …

Tricurin, A Novel Formulation Of Curcumin, Epicatechin Gallate, And Resveratrol, Inhibits The Tumorigenicity Of Human Papillomaviruspositive Head And Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma, Longzhu Piao, Sumit Mukherjee, Qing Chang, Xiujie Xie, Hong Li, Mario R. Castellanos, Probal Banerjee, Hassan Iqbal, Ryan Ivancic, Xueqian Wang, Theodoros N. Teknos, Quintin Pan

Publications and Research

Head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) is the sixth most prevalent cancer worldwide with about 600,000 new cases diagnosed in the last year. The incidence of human papillomavirus-positive head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HPV-positive HNSCC) has rapidly increased over the past 30 years prompting the suggestion that an epidemic may be on the horizon. Therefore, there is a clinical need to develop alternate therapeutic strategies to manage the growing number of HPV-positive HNSCC patients. TriCurin is a composition of three food-derived polyphenols in unique stoichiometric proportions consisting of curcumin from the spice turmeric, resveratrol from red grapes, and …

Comparative Error-Free And Error-Prone Translesion Synthesis Of N2‑2′-Deoxyguanosine Adducts Formed By Mitomycin C And Its Metabolite, 2,7-Diaminomitosene, In Human Cells, Arindam Bose, Chaitra Surugihalli, Paritosh Pande, Elise Champeil, Ashis K. Basu

Publications and Research

Mitomycin C (MC) is a cytotoxic and mutagenic antitumor agent that alkylates DNA upon reductive activation. 2,7-Diaminomitosene (2,7-DAM) is a major metabolite of MC in tumor cells, which also alkylates DNA. MC forms seven DNA adducts, including monoadducts and inter- and intrastrand cross-links, whereas 2,7-DAM forms two monoadducts. Herein, the biological effects of the dG-N2 adducts formed by MC and 2,7-DAM have been compared by constructing single-stranded plasmids containing these adducts and replicating them in human embryonic kidney 293T cells. Translesion synthesis (TLS) efficiencies of dG-N2-MC and dG-N2-2,7-DAM were 38 ± 3 and 27 …

A Model Of Blood Pressure, Heart Rate, And Vaso-Vagal Responses Produced By Vestibulo-Sympathetic Activation, Theodore Raphan, Bernard Cohen, Yongqing Xiang, Sergei B. Yakushin

Publications and Research

Blood Pressure (BP), comprised of recurrent systoles and diastoles, is controlled by central mechanisms to maintain blood flow. Periodic behavior of BP was modeled to study how peak amplitudes and frequencies of the systoles are modulated by vestibular activation. The model was implemented as a relaxation oscillator, driven by a central signal related to Desired BP. Relaxation oscillations were maintained by a second order system comprising two integrators and a threshold element in the feedback loop. The output signal related to BP was generated as a nonlinear function of the derivative of the first state variable, which is a summation …

Abnormal Tau Induces Cognitive Impairment Through Two Different Mechanisms: Synaptic Dysfunction And Neuronal Loss, J. Di, L. S. Cohen, C. P. Corbo, Greg R. Phillips, Abdeslem El Idrissi, Alejandra D. Alonso

Publications and Research

The hyperphosphorylated microtubule-associated protein tau is present in several neurodegenerative diseases, although the causal relationship remains elusive. Few mouse models used to study Alzheimerlike dementia target tau phosphorylation. We created an inducible pseudophosphorylated tau (Pathological Human Tau, PH-Tau) mouse model to study the effect of conformationally modified tau in vivo. Leaky expression resulted in two levels of PH-Tau: low basal level and higher upon induction (4% and 14% of the endogenous tau, respectively). Unexpectedly, low PH-Tau resulted in significant cognitive deficits, decrease in the number of synapses (seen by EM in the CA1 region), reduction of synaptic proteins, and localization …