Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Cortical Thickness Estimation In Individuals With Cerebral Small Vessel Disease, Focal Atrophy, And Chronic Stroke Lesions, Miracle Ozzoude, Joel Ramirez, Pradeep Reddy Raamana, Melissa F. Holmes, Kirstin Walker, Christopher J.M. Scott, Fuqiang Gao, Maged Goubran, Donna Kwan, Maria C. Tartaglia, Derek Beaton, Gustavo Saposnik, Ayman Hassan, Jane Lawrence-Dewar, Dariush Dowlatshahi, Stephen C. Strother, Sean Symons, Robert Bartha, Richard H. Swartz, Sandra E. Black

Medical Biophysics Publications

Background: Regional changes to cortical thickness in individuals with neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular diseases (CVD) can be estimated using specialized neuroimaging software. However, the presence of cerebral small vessel disease, focal atrophy, and cortico-subcortical stroke lesions, pose significant challenges that increase the likelihood of misclassification errors and segmentation failures. Purpose: The main goal of this study was to examine a correction procedure developed for enhancing FreeSurfer’s (FS’s) cortical thickness estimation tool, particularly when applied to the most challenging MRI obtained from participants with chronic stroke and CVD, with varying degrees of neurovascular lesions and brain atrophy. Methods: In 155 CVD participants …

Acute Ischemic Stroke As The Presenting Feature Of Covid-19 In The Young And Pregnant, Nermila A. Ballmick, Jiri F. Kubac, Hossein Akhondi

HCA Healthcare Journal of Medicine

Introduction: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an emerging and rapidly evolving public health issue that has become globally widespread and an overwhelming pandemic. Clinical manifestations of the disease include asymptomatic carrier states, acute respiratory distress syndrome, and even multiorgan dysfunction. Here, we present a unique and rare case of an acute ischemic stroke (AIS) in an asymptomatic pregnant woman with no predisposing medical illnesses.

Discussion: An 18-year-old G2P1 African American woman at 7 weeks gestational age with no significant medical or family history presenting to the Emergency Department during the initial phases of the pandemic with complaints of new onset left …

Diagnosing And Managing Post-Stroke Aphasia, Shannon M. Sheppard, Rajani Sebastian

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

Introduction: Aphasia is a debilitating language disorder and even mild forms of aphasia can negatively affect functional outcomes, mood, quality of life, social participation, and the ability to return to work. Language deficits after post-stroke aphasia are heterogeneous.

Areas covered: The first part of this manuscript reviews the traditional syndrome-based classification approach as well as recent advances in aphasia classification that incorporate automatic speech recognition for aphasia classification. The second part of this manuscript reviews the behavioral approaches to aphasia treatment and recent advances such as noninvasive brain stimulation techniques and pharmacotherapy options to augment the effectiveness of …

Ontario Neurodegenerative Disease Research Initiative (Ondri): Structural Mri Methods And Outcome Measures, Joel Ramirez, Melissa F. Holmes, Christopher J.M. Scott, Miracle Ozzoude, Miracle Ozzoude, Sabrina Adamo, Gregory M. Szilagyi, Maged Goubran, Fuqiang Gao, Stephen R. Arnott, Jane M. Lawrence-Dewar, Jane M. Lawrence-Dewar, Derek Beaton, Stephen C. Strother, Douglas P. Munoz, Mario Masellis, Richard H. Swartz, Robert Bartha, Sean P. Symons, Sandra E. Black, Michael Strong, Peter Kleinstiver, Natalie Rashkovan, Susan Bronskill, Sandra E. Black, Michael Borrie, Elizabeth Finger, Corinne Fischer, Andrew Frank, Morris Freedman, Sanjeev Kumar, Stephen Pasternak

Medical Biophysics Publications

The Ontario Neurodegenerative Research Initiative (ONDRI) is a 3 years multi-site prospective cohort study that has acquired comprehensive multiple assessment platform data, including 3T structural MRI, from neurodegenerative patients with Alzheimer's disease, mild cognitive impairment, Parkinson's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, frontotemporal dementia, and cerebrovascular disease. This heterogeneous cross-section of patients with complex neurodegenerative and neurovascular pathologies pose significant challenges for standard neuroimaging tools. To effectively quantify regional measures of normal and pathological brain tissue volumes, the ONDRI neuroimaging platform implemented a semi-automated MRI processing pipeline that was able to address many of the challenges resulting from this heterogeneity. The purpose …

Role Of Neuronal Nitric Oxide Synthase On Cardiovascular Functions In Physiological And Pathophysiological States, Ahmmed Ally, Isabella Powell, Minora M. Ally, Kevin Chaitoff, Surya M. Nauli

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

This review describes and summarizes the role of neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS) on the central nervous system, particularly on brain regions such as the ventrolateral medulla (VLM) and the periaqueductal gray matter (PAG), and on blood vessels and the heart that are involved in the regulation and control of the cardiovascular system (CVS). Furthermore, we shall also review the functional aspects of nNOS during several physiological, pathophysiological, and clinical conditions such as exercise, pain, cerebral vascular accidents or stroke and hypertension. For example, during stroke, a cascade of molecular, neurochemical, and cellular changes occur that affect the nervous system …

Impact Of Order Set Use On Stroke Care, Bilal Nadeem, Edward Waseleski, Meryem Maras-Casey, Sabih Alam, Adnan Faruqui, Michael Gutierrez, Maruthsakhi Molugu, Christina Oricompil, Ashar Mahmood, Katherine Torralba, Fatima Agha, Nour Tlimat, Olu Oyesanmi, Irina Davis, Salman Muddassir, Nikolay Mitzov

West Florida Division GME Research Day 2020

• A case control study on stroke patients was recently completed for a quality improvement (QI) investigation.
• The objective was to determine if the use of either Hemorrhagic or Ischemic Stroke Order Set had an effect on the length of stay (LOS) or adherence to current stroke guideline recommendations

Striatal Acetylcholine Helps To Preserve Functional Outcomes In A Mouse Model Of Stroke, Daniela F. Goncalves, Monica S. Guzman, Robert Gros, André R. Massensini, Robert Bartha, Vania F. Prado, Marco A.M. Prado

Medical Biophysics Publications

Acetylcholine (ACh) has been suggested to facilitate plasticity and improve functional recovery after different types of brain lesions. Interestingly, numerous studies have shown that striatal cholinergic interneurons are relatively resistant to acute ischemic insults, but whether ACh released by these neurons enhances functional recovery after stroke is unknown. We investigated the role of endogenous striatal ACh in stroke lesion volume and functional outcomes following middle cerebral artery occlusion to induce focal ischemia in striatum-selective vesicular acetylcholine transporter-deficient mice (stVAChT-KO). As transporter expression is almost completely eliminated in the striatum of stVAChT-KO mice, ACh release is nearly abolished in this area. …

Regulation Of Neuroinflammation After Ischemic Stroke By Astroglial Endothelin Receptor Type-B Signaling, John Mcinnis

Graduate College Dissertations and Theses

A large body of neuroscientific research has focused on reactive gliosis and glial scar formation because these are among the most prominent features of the cellular response to central nervous system (CNS) injury. Despite much progress in our understanding, controversy remains regarding the relative balance between the protective nature of the astroglial scar and its anti-regenerative features. Recent work suggests that astrocytes are heterogeneous in their resting state and in their reactivity. In traumatic injuries such as stroke and spinal cord injury, proliferative reactive astrocytes protect CNS tissue. By contrast, under neuroinflammatory and/or neurodegenerative conditions, neurotoxic astrocyte phenotypes may contribute …

Peripheral Axonal Excitability In Hemiplegia Related To Subacute Stroke, Zeynep Turan, Murat Zi̇nnuroğlu

Turkish Journal of Medical Sciences

Background/aim: This study aims to investigate peripheral nerve excitability in patients with subacute stroke. Materials and methods: The study was performed in 29 stroke patients within the subacute period and 29 healthy controls using QTRAC software and TRONDNF protocol. The threshold electrotonus, recovery cycle, stimulus-response, strength-duration, and current-threshold relationships were recorded. Results: The membrane was more hyperpolarized, and excitability was decreased in the hemiplegic side. The impairment of inward rectifying channel function, degree of hyperpolarization, and decrease of excitability were directly related to the Brunnstrom stages, which were more pronounced in lower stages. Conclusion: The lower motor neurons were affected …

Silent Cerebral Infarct In Sickle Cell Anemia Patients Of Southern Turkey, Ezgi̇ Nafi̇le Sayman, Göksel Leblebi̇satan, Şeri̇fe Leblebi̇satan, Yunus Kenan Biçakci, Yurdanur Kilinç, Adnan Barutçu

Turkish Journal of Medical Sciences

Background/aim: Silent cerebral infarct (SCI) is an ischemic lesion seen before clinical signs of brain infarct and ischemic changes in brain tissue. This study aimed to detect SCI with noninvasive methods and to determine related risk factors in patients with sickle cell anemia (SCA). Materials and methods: Fifty-four SCA patients who had no history of cerebral infarct and whose neurological examinations were normal were included in this study. Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and diffusion MRI were taken and the acquired data was compared statistically. Results: SCI was detected in 11.1% (6/54) of the patients. No statistical differences in age, …