Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Comprehensive Review On Current Interventions, Diagnostic, And Nanotechnology Perspectives Against Sars-Cov-2, Deepak S. Chauhan, Rajendra Prasad, Rohit Srivastava, Meena Jaggi, Subhash C. Chauhan, Murali M. Yallapu

School of Medicine Publications

COVID-19 has dramatically challenged the healthcare system of almost all countries. The authorities are struggling to minimize the mortality along with ameliorating the economy downturn. Unfortunately, till now, there has been no promising medicine or vaccine available. Herein, we deliver a perspective of nanotechnology for increasing the specificity and sensitivity of current interventional platforms towards the urgent need of quickly deployable solutions. This review summarizes the recent involvement of nanotechnology from the development of biosensor to fabrication of multifunctional nanohybrid system practiced for respiratory and deadly viruses, along with the recent interventions and current understanding about SARS-CoV2.

Dataset On The Epidemiology And Genetic Diversification Of Dengue Virus (Denv) Serotypes And Genotypes In Mexico, Eduardo Dominguez-De-La-Cruz, María De Lourdes Muñoz, Ericel Hernández-García, Gerardo Pérez-Ramírez, Randy E. David, Joel Navarrete-Espinosa, Alvaro Diaz-Badillo, Miguel Moreno-Galeana, Cesar Armando Brito-Carreón

School of Medicine Publications

Variation and clade shifts in dengue virus (DENV) genotypes are responsible for numerous dengue fever outbreaks throughout Latin America in the past decade. Molecular analyses of dengue serotypes have revealed extensive genetic diversification and the emergence of new genotypes in Brazil (DENV-4 genotype I) and elsewhere in tropical and subtropical America. The goal of the present study is to assess the extent to which the adventitious introduction of DENV genotypes and their increasing genetic diversity affects dengue epidemiology in Mexico. A nuanced sequence inspection and phylogenetic analysis of the C-prM nucleotide region of DENV was performed for specimens collecting in …

Redes Sociales, Aprendizaje Automatizado Y Cladística En Tiempos De Covid-19 / Social Networks, Machine Learning And Cladistics In The Time Of Covid-19, Alvaro Diaz-Badillo, Carlos Ramirez-Pfeiffer, Juan Carlos Lopez Alvarenga

School of Medicine Publications

El SARS-CoV-2 es un beta-coronavirus, como el MERS-CoV y el SARS-CoV, que tienen su origen en los murciélagos. La idea de que este quiróptero es el reservorio natural se apoya en las recientes secuencias genéticas del virus, obtenidas de pacientes de los Estados Unidos y que son muy similares a las obtenidas en China, cuyo cuadro clínico de COVID-19 se confunde con un amplio espectro de enfermedades con síntomas que varían de leves a graves. En una publicación reciente informaron enfermedad grave en el 16% de las personas infectadas en China¹, y en un informe semanal de morbilidad …

Single Center Study Of The Impella Pump, Supraja Thunuguntla, Charles F. Mild

School of Medicine Publications

Background:

Impella® is a percutaneously inserted ventricular assist device. Its use increased from 11 devices placed in 2016 to 39 in 2019 at Valley Baptist Medical Center (VBMC). We review the anticoagulation options, side effects, and mortality.

Method:

Retrospective chart review of 107 patients placed on Impella from 2016-2020 admitted to VBMC. Descriptive statistics were used to assess the distribution of variables; continuous variables summarized as mean values with standard deviations and categorical variables as counts/percentages.

Results:

Indication for Impella was protected percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) (71%, of which 18.4% was intervention on a previous coronary artery bypass graft, CABG), …

Intoxication With Endogenous Angiotensin Ii: A Covid-19 Hypothesis, Adonis Sfera, Carolina Osorio, Nyla Jafri, Eddie Lee Diaz, Jose Campo Maldonado

School of Medicine Publications

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 has spread rapidly around the globe. However, despite its high pathogenicity and transmissibility, the severity of the associated disease, COVID-19, varies widely. While the prognosis is favorable in most patients, critical illness, manifested by respiratory distress, thromboembolism, shock, and multi-organ failure, has been reported in about 5% of cases. Several studies have associated poor COVID-19 outcomes with the exhaustion of natural killer cells and cytotoxic T cells, lymphopenia, and elevated serum levels of D-dimer. In this article, we propose a common pathophysiological denominator for these negative prognostic markers, endogenous, angiotensin II toxicity. We hypothesize …

Superior Short-Term Patency Of Stents Over Balloons In Infrapopliteal Artery Disease, Supraja Thunuguntla, Obinna Echeruo, Charles Mild

School of Medicine Publications

Purpose

The optimal strategy for revascularization in below-the-knee (BTK) chronic limb-threatening ischemia (CLTI) remains debatable. High restenosis rates of percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) often warrants re-intervention or amputations. Novel devices such as drug-eluting (paclitaxel) balloons (DEB), stents, and atherectomy devices- directional (HawkOne, SilverHawk, TurboHawk)™ or orbital (DiamondBack 360) ™ are used infrequently as therapy when BTK. We aim to compare the rate of total re-occlusion between these interventions.

Material & Methods

A retrospective chart review of 97 patients who underwent BTK percutaneous intervention in 2015-2020 at our hospital. Descriptive statistics were used to assess the distribution of variables; continuous variables …

Cystic Fibrosis-Related Diabetes: The Unmet Need, Leonardo Pozo, Fatimah Bello, Yamely Mendez, Salim Surani

School of Medicine Publications

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a common autosomal recessive disease. Life expectancy of patients with CF continues to improve mainly driven by the evolving therapies for CF-related organ dysfunction. The prevalence of CF-related diabetes (CFRD) increases exponentially as patients’ age. Clinical care guidelines for CFRD from 2010, recommend insulin as the mainstay of treatment. Many patients with CFRD may not require exogenous insulin due to the heterogeneity of this clinical entity. Maintenance of euglycemia by enhancing endogenous insulin production, secretion and degradation with novel pharmacological therapies like glucagonlike peptide-1 agonist is an option that remains to be fully explored. As such, …

Recent Advances On The Role Of Long Non-Coding Rnas In Alzheimer’S Disease, Kyle Doxtater, Manish K. Tripathi, Mohammad Moshahid Khan

School of Medicine Publications

Dementia is a progressive cognitive impairment that affects the activities of daily living. Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common form of the dementia worldwide accounting for 60–80% of all dementia cases. With an estimated cost exceeding $290 billion in the USA, understanding and development of future therapeutic strategies is vital. In this perspective, we will be examining the current thinking of AD research and therapeutic strategies, while proposing a possible new direction for diagnosis, understanding, and treatment targets. Non-coding RNA accounts for the largest population of the human transcriptome. Long noncoding RNA (lncRNA) is a recent molecule of interest …

Plant-Derived Natural Biomolecule Picein Attenuates Menadione Induced Oxidative Stress On Neuroblastoma Cell Mitochondria, Kavindra Kumar Kesari, Anupam Dhasmana, Shruti Shandilya, Neeraj Prabhakar, Ahmed Shaukat, Jinze Dou, Jessica M. Rosenholm, Tapani Vuorinen, Janne Ruokolainen

School of Medicine Publications

Several bioactive compounds are in use for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Historically, willow (salix sp.) bark has been an important source of salisylic acid and other natural compounds with anti-inflammatory, antipyretic and analgesic properties. Among these, picein isolated from hot water extract of willow bark, has been found to act as a natural secondary metabolite antioxidant. The aim of this study was to investigate the unrevealed pharmacological action of picein. In silico studies were utilized to direct the investigation towards the neuroprotection abilities of picein. Our in vitro studies demonstrate the neuroprotective properties …

Gambogic Acid: A Shining Natural Compound To Nanomedicine For Cancer Therapeutics, Elham Hatami, Meena Jaggi, Subhash C. Chauhan, Murali M. Yallapu

School of Medicine Publications

The United State Food and Drug Administration has permitted number of therapeutic agents for cancer treatment. Most of them are expensive and have some degree of systemic toxicity which makes overbearing in clinical settings. Although advanced research continuously applied in cancer therapeutics, but drug resistance, metastasis, and recurrence remain unanswerable These accounts to an urgent clinical need to discover natural compounds with precisely safe and highly efficient for the cancer prevention and cancer therapy. Gambogic acid (GA) is the principle bioactive and caged xanthone component, a brownish gamboge resin secreted from the of Garcinia hanburyi tree. This molecule showed a …

An Elvitegravir Nanoformulation Crosses The Blood–Brain Barrier And Suppresses Hiv-1 Replication In Microglia, Yuqing Gong, Kaining Zhi, Prashanth K.B. Nagesh, Namita Sinha, Pallabita Chowdhury, Hao Chen, Santhi Gorantla, Murali M. Yallapu, Santosh Kumar

School of Medicine Publications

Even with an efficient combination of antiretroviral therapy (ART), which significantly decreases viral load in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1)-positive individuals, the occurrence of HIV-1-associated neurocognitive disorders (HAND) still exists. Microglia have been shown to have a significant role in HIV-1 replication in the brain and in subsequent HAND pathogenesis. However, due to the limited ability of ART drugs to cross the blood–brain barrier (BBB) after systemic administration, in addition to efflux transporter expression on microglia, the efficacy of ART drugs for viral suppression in microglia is suboptimal. Previously, we developed novel poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA)-based elvitegravir nanoparticles (PLGA-EVG …

Friend Or Foe? Recent Strategies To Target Myeloid Cells In Cancer, Mehdi Chaib, Subhash C. Chauhan, Liza Makowski

School of Medicine Publications

The tumor microenvironment (TME) is a complex network of epithelial and stromal cells, wherein stromal components provide support to tumor cells during all stages of tumorigenesis. Among these stromal cell populations are myeloid cells, which are comprised mainly of tumor-associated macrophages (TAM), dendritic cells (DC), myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC), and tumor-associated neutrophils (TAN). Myeloid cells play a major role in tumor growth through nurturing cancer stem cells by providing growth factors and metabolites, increasing angiogenesis, as well as promoting immune evasion through the creation of an immune-suppressive microenvironment. Immunosuppression in the TME is achieved by preventing critical anti-tumor immune responses …

Anticipatory Threat Responding: Associations With Anxiety, Development, And Brain Structure, Rany Abend, Andrea L. Gold, Jennifer C. Britton, Kalina J. Michalska, Tomer Shechner, Jessica F. Sachs, Anderson M. Winkler, Ellen Leibenluft

School of Medicine Publications

BACKGROUND: While translational theories link neurodevelopmental changes in threat learning to pathological anxiety, findings from studies in patients inconsistently support these theories. This inconsistency may reflect difficulties in studying large patient samples with wide age ranges using consistent methods. A dearth of imaging data in patients further limits translational advances. We address these gaps through a psychophysiology and structural brain imaging study in a large sample of patients across the lifespan.

METHODS: A total of 351 participants (8-50 years of age; 209 female subjects; 195 healthy participants and 156 medication-free, treatment-seeking patients with anxiety) completed a differential threat conditioning and …

Coronavirus Disease 2019 And The Cerebrovascular-Cardiovascular Systems: What Do We Know So Far?, Anthony S. Larson, Luis Savastano, Ramanathan Kadirvel, David F. Kallmes, Ameer E. Hassan, Waleed Brinjikji

School of Medicine Publications

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pandemic of 2019 to 2020 has resulted in multiple hospitalizations, deaths, and economic hardships worldwide. Although respiratory involvement in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is well known, the potential cardiovascular and cerebrovascular manifestations are less understood. We performed a PubMed and Google Scholar search and reviewed relevant literature on COVID-19 and cardiovascular system involvement. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 possesses high affinity for angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptor, which is highly concentrated in the lungs and cardiovascular tissue, thereby provoking concern for cardiovascular involvement in COVID-19 cases. Preexisting cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease …

Overexpression Of Tc-Ptp In Murine Epidermis Attenuates Skin Tumor Formation, Mihwa Kim, Liza D. Morales, Cheol Jung Lee, Serena A. Olivarez, Woo Jin Kim, Joselin Hernandez, Srinivas Mummidi, Christopher Jenkinson, Andrew Tsin, Ik-Soon Jang, Thomas J. Slaga, Dae Joon Kim

School of Medicine Publications

T-cell protein tyrosine phosphatase (TC-PTP), encoded by Ptpn2, has been shown to function as a tumor suppressor during skin carcinogenesis. In the current study, we generated a novel epidermal-specific TC-PTP-overexpressing (K5HA.Ptpn2) mouse model to show that TC-PTP contributes to the attenuation of chemically induced skin carcinogenesis through the synergistic regulation of STAT1, STAT3, STAT5, and PI3K/AKT signaling. We found overexpression of TC-PTP increased epidermal sensitivity to DMBA-induced apoptosis and it decreased TPA-mediated hyperproliferation, coinciding with reduced epidermal thickness. Inhibition of STAT1, STAT3, STAT5, or AKT reversed the effects of TC-PTP overexpression on epidermal survival and proliferation. Mice overexpressing TC-PTP in …

Friend Or Foe? Recent Strategies To Target Myeloid Cells In Cancer, Mehdi Chaib, Subhash C. Chauhan, Liza Makowski

School of Medicine Publications

The tumor microenvironment (TME) is a complex network of epithelial and stromal cells, wherein stromal components provide support to tumor cells during all stages of tumorigenesis. Among these stromal cell populations are myeloid cells, which are comprised mainly of tumor-associated macrophages (TAM), dendritic cells (DC), myeloid-derived suppressor cells (MDSC), and tumor-associated neutrophils (TAN). Myeloid cells play a major role in tumor growth through nurturing cancer stem cells by providing growth factors and metabolites, increasing angiogenesis, as well as promoting immune evasion through the creation of an immune-suppressive microenvironment. Immunosuppression in the TME is achieved by preventing critical anti-tumor immune responses …

Whatever Happened To Evidence-Based Practice During Covid-19?, Helene J. Krouse

School of Medicine Publications

Contemporary medical practice is grounded in rigorous scientific evidence in concert with best clinical practices and informed shared decision making with patients. During these times of uncertainty, disruption, and even anxiety, it becomes critical that we engage with our patients and communities in thoughtful dialogue and realistic expectations regarding treatments surrounding COVID-19. The hope for a “miracle” cure and urgency to return back to normal times can stimulate irrational thought and behavior and even desperate measures by individuals or groups. It becomes especially important that we continue to use reasonable, informed clinical judgment in discussing the various options with patients.

Diabetic Retinopathy: Targeting Bigh3 To Develop Novel Molecular Therapies, Reanna Rodriguez, Anjalee Choudhury, Daniela Gonzalez, Cristian Mercado, Andrew Tsin

School of Medicine Publications

Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is a complication of diabetes due to damage of blood vessels in the retina. Aside from being a major cause of blindness in the world, DR also has a significant impact on quality of life. Although there are methods to delay the progression of DR, there are no existing therapeutic regimens for early intervention. Thus, it is critical to develop cost-effective therapies towards preventing DR development.

Ape1 Promotes Pancreatic Cancer Proliferation Through Gfrα1/Src/Erk Axis-Cascade Signaling In Response To Gdnf, Yoo-Duk Choi, Ji-Yeon Jung, Minwoo Baek, Sheema Khan, Peter I. Song, Sunhyo Ryu, Joo-Yeon Koo, Subhash C. Chauhan, Andrew Tsin, Chan Choi, Won Jae Kim, Mihwa Kim

School of Medicine Publications

Pancreatic cancer is the worst exocrine gastrointestinal cancer leading to the highest mortality. Recent studies reported that aberrant expression of apurinic/apyrimidinic endodeoxyribonuclease 1 (APE1) is involved in uncontrolled cell growth. However, the molecular mechanism of APE1 biological role remains unrevealed in pancreatic cancer progression. Here, we demonstrate that APE1 accelerates pancreatic cancer cell proliferation through glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF)/glial factor receptor α1 (GFRα1)/Src/ERK axis-cascade signaling. The proliferation of endogenous APE1 expressed-MIA PaCa-2, a human pancreatic carcinoma cell line, was increased by treatment with GDNF, a ligand of GFRα1. Either of downregulated APE1 or GFRα1 expression using small interference …

Neurocognitive Impairment In Type 2 Diabetes: Evidence For Shared Genetic Aetiology, Josephine Mollon, Joanne E. Curran, Samuel R. Mathias, Emma E. M. Knowles, Phoeve Carlisle, Peter T. Fox, Rene L. Olvera, Harald Hh Goring, Amanda Rodrigue, Laura Almasy, Ravindranath Duggirala, John Blangero, David C. Glahn

School of Medicine Publications

Aims/hypothesis: Type 2 diabetes is associated with cognitive impairments, but it is unclear whether common genetic factors influence both type 2 diabetes risk and cognition.

Methods: Using data from 1892 Mexican-American individuals from extended pedigrees, including 402 with type 2 diabetes, we examined possible pleiotropy between type 2 diabetes and cognitive functioning, as measured by a comprehensive neuropsychological test battery.

Results: Negative phenotypic correlations (ρp) were observed between type 2 diabetes and measures of attention (Continuous Performance Test [CPT d']: ρp = -0.143, p = 0.001), verbal memory (California Verbal Learning Test [CVLT] recall: ρp = -0.111, p = 0.004) …

Disparity In Physician Recognition Of Qt Interval Duration And Associated Mortality, Supraja Thunuguntla, Mohammed Rizwan, Charles Mild

School of Medicine Publications

Background

QT interval prolongation is associated with all-cause mortality (1,2). American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology (AHA/ACC) recommends considering QTc interval above 99th percentile as abnormally prolonged, to prevent Torsade de Pointes (TdP).

Methods

This is a retrospective chart review of 291 EKG’s (162 unique), from patients visiting our facility at Valley Baptist Medical Center (Harlingen) from January 2016 to March 2020. All EKG’s were read, the measured QT interval was corrected for heart rate using the Bazett formula. Simple descriptive statistics were created with all variables considered: patient age, gender, interpreting physician, report/ documentation of long QT, presence of …

Dialysis Access Steals And Leads To Limb Ischemia, Supraja Thunuguntla, Mohammed Rizwan, Jose E. Campo Maldonado

School of Medicine Publications

Dialysis Access Associated Steal Syndrome (DASS) reported incidence is low, (6.2%) [1]. Symptoms are dialysis induced hand pain, coldness, numbness, sensory loss which can lead to inevitable digital gangrene and amputation if the diagnosis is delayed. Duplex arterial ultrasound and electromyography (EMG) can help differentiate DASS from Ischemic monomelic neuropathy (IMN), a variation of DASS. Treatment options are individualized based on the location of the AV fistula, severity of presentation, presence of anatomical anomalies of involved vasculature. Comprehensive review of literature demonstrates this outcome of finger gangrene in young patients with ESRD is primarily associated with preexisting diffuse vascular disease …

Novel Paclitaxel Nanoformulation Impairs De Novo Lipid Synthesis In Pancreatic Cancer Cells And Enhances Gemcitabine Efficacy, Advait Shetty, Prashanth K.B. Nagesh, Saini Setua, Bilal B. Hafeez, Meena Jaggi, Murali M. Yallapu, Subhash C. Chauhan

School of Medicine Publications

Pancreatic cancer (PanCa) is a highly lethal disease with a poor 5 year survival rate, less than 7%. It has a dismal prognosis, and more than 50% of cases are detected at an advanced and metastatic stage. Gemcitabine (GEM) is a gold standard chemotherapy used for PanCa treatment. However, GEM-acquired resistance in cancer cells is considered as a major setback for its continued clinical implementation. This phenomenon is evidently linked to de novo lipid synthesis. PanCa cells rely on de novo lipid synthesis, which is a prime event in survival and one of the key drivers for tumorigenesis, cancer progression, …

Efficacy Of The Combination Of Pinaverium Bromide 100mg Plus Simethicone 300mg In Abdominal Pain And Bloating In Irritable Bowel Syndrome: A Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial, Max J. Schmulson, Jazmin Chiu-Ugalde, Adolfo Saez-Rios, Aurelio Lopez-Colombo, Gualberto J. Mateos-Perez, Jose Mario Remes-Troche, Sergio Sobrino-Cossio, Julio C. Soto-Perez, Jose L. Tamayo De La Cuesta, Oscar T. Teramoto-Matsubara, Juan Carlos Lopez Alvarenga

School of Medicine Publications

Goals: We aimed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of PB+S (pinaverium bromide 100 mg plus simethicone 300 mg) in patients with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

Background: IBS is a multifactorial disorder; thus, combination therapy with different mechanisms of action is expected to be useful. PB+S has shown effectiveness in an open-label clinical study in IBS. However, there are no placebo-controlled trials.

Materials and Methods: IBS-Rome III patients with abdominal pain/discomfort for at least 2 days within the week prior to baseline assessment were included in this 12-week, randomized, doubleblind, placebo-controlled study of PB+S versus placebo, bid. The primary …

Mobile Personal Healthcare System For Non-Invasive, Pervasive And Continuous Blood Pressure Monitoring: A Feasibility Study, Luis J. Mena, Vanessa G. Felix, Rodolfo Ostos, Armando J. Gonzalez, Rafael Martinez-Pelaez, Jesus D. Melgarejo, Gladys E. Maestre

School of Medicine Publications

Background: Smartphone-based blood pressure (BP) monitor using photoplethysmogram (PPG) technology has emerged as a promising approach to empower users with self-monitoring for effective diagnosis and control ofhypertension (HT).

Objective: This study aimed to develop a mobile personal healthcare system for non-invasive, pervasive, and continuous estimation of BP level and variability to be user-friendly to elderly.

Methods: The proposed approach was integrated by a self-designed cuffless, calibration-free, wireless and wearable PPG-only sensor, and a native purposely-designed smartphone application using multilayer perceptron machine learning techniques from raw signals. We performed a pilot study with three elder adults (mean age 61.3 ± 1.5 …

Neurology Problem Based Learning With Limited Neurologist Resources Is Feasible, Irma Duncan, Xiaoqian Fang, Norma Loprez, Michael Dobbs

School of Medicine Publications

Objective: To determine if a single neurologist can lead neurology PBL for an entire medical school class and assess the effect of a neurologist assisting in facilitating during neurology module problem-based learning on student perception of knowledge gained.

Background: Problem-based learning (PBL) groups are widely becoming integrated into medical school curriculum. During each module, clinicians from the specialty area of study help conduct PBL and facilitate students through cases. For example, during the neurology module, neurologist facilitate cases pertaining to their study. At the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV), there is a shortage of neurologists and it is …

Towards Precision Medicine: Defining And Characterizing Adipose Tissue Dysfunction To Identify Early Immunometabolic Risk In Symptom-Free Adults From The Gemm Family Study, Ernesto Rodriguez-Ayala, Esther C. Gallegos-Cabrales, Laura Gonzalez-Lopez, Hugo A. Laviada-Molina, Rocio A. Salinas-Osornio, Edna J. Nava-Gonzalez, Irene Leal-Berumen, Claudia Escudero-Lourdes, Fabiola Escalante-Araiza, Juan Carlos Lopez Alvarenga

School of Medicine Publications

Interactions between macrophages and adipocytes are early molecular factors influencing adipose tissue (AT) dysfunction, resulting in high leptin, low adiponectin circulating levels and low-grade metaflammation, leading to insulin resistance (IR) with increased cardiovascular risk. We report the characterization of AT dysfunction through measurements of the adiponectin/leptin ratio (ALR), the adipo-insulin resistance index (Adipo-IRi), fasting/postprandial (F/P) immunometabolic phenotyping and direct F/P differential gene expression in AT biopsies obtained from symptom-free adults from the GEMM family study. AT dysfunction was evaluated through associations of the ALR with F/P insulin-glucose axis, lipid-lipoprotein metabolism, and inflammatory markers. A relevant pattern of negative associations between …

Infant Behavioral Reactivity Predicts Change In Amygdala Volume 12 Years Later, Courtney A. Filippi, Jessica F. Sachs, Dominique Phillips, Anderson M. Winkler, Andrea L. Gold, Ellen Leibenluft, Daniel S. Pine, Nathan A. Fox

School of Medicine Publications

The current study examined the link between temperamental reactivity in infancy and amygdala development in middle childhood. A sample (n = 291) of four-month-old infants was assessed for infant temperament, and two groups were identified: those exhibiting negative reactivity (n = 116) and those exhibiting positive reactivity (n = 106). At 10 and 12 years of age structural imaging was completed on a subset of these participants (n = 75). Results indicate that, between 10 and 12 years of age, left amygdala volume increased more slowly in those with negative compared to positive reactive temperament. These results provide novel evidence …

Spanish Validation And Cultural Adaptation Of The Five-Word Test For The Detection Of The Neurocognitive Disorder In Older Adults [Adaptación Cultural Y Validación Al Español De La Prueba De Cinco Palabras Para Detectar El Trastorno Neurocognitivo En Adultos Mayores], Sara G. Aguilar-Navarro, Alberto José Mimenza-Alvarado, Rafael Martínez-Sánchez, Silvia Mejia-Arango, José Alberto Avila-Funes

School of Medicine Publications

Introduction: “Episodic” memory problems are common in people with cognitive impairment due to Alzheimer’s disease and related disorders. Dubois et al. developed the Five-Word Test (5WT) to evaluate episodic memory, which has proved to be an easy and valid test for identifying cognitive disorders. However, its validation and cultural adaptation from French to Spanish has not been undertaken and its usefulness in Mexican population is unknown.

Objective: Validation and cultural adaptation of the 5WT for screening minor and major neurocognitive disorder (ND) in Mexican older adults with probable Alzheimer’s disease.

Method: Two hundred and fifteen participants (70 cognitively healthy subjects, …

White Matter Structure And Myelin-Related Gene Expression Alterations With Experience In Adult Rats, Cassandra Sampaio-Baptista, Astrid Vallès, Alexandre A. Khrapitchev, Guus Akkermans, Anderson M. Winkler, Sean Foxley, Nicola R. Sibson, Mark Roberts, Karla Miller, Matthew E. Diamond

School of Medicine Publications

White matter (WM) plasticity during adulthood is a recently described phenomenon by which experience can shape brain structure. It has been observed in humans using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) and myelination has been suggested as a possible mechanism. Here, we set out to identify molecular and cellular changes associated with WM plasticity measured by DTI. We combined DTI, immunohistochemistry and mRNA expression analysis and examined the effects of somatosensory experience in adult rats. First, we observed experience-induced DTI differences in WM and in grey matter structure. C-Fos mRNA expression, a marker of cortical activity, in the barrel cortex correlated with …