Nervous System Commons^™

Changes In Brain Functional Connectivity Associated With Transcutaneous Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation In Healthy Controls, Daniel A. Monti, Nancy Wintering, Faezeh Vedaei, Alicia Steinmetz, Feroze Mohamed, Andrew B. Newberg

Marcus Institute of Integrative Health Faculty Papers

PURPOSE: A growing number of research studies have explored the potential effects of vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) on brain physiology as well as clinical effects particularly related to stress and anxiety. However, there currently are limited studies showing functional changes during different frequencies of stimulation and laterality effects transcutaneous auricular VNS (TaVNS). In this study, we evaluated whether TaVNS alters functional connectivity in the brain of healthy controls. We hypothesized that TaVNS would significantly alter connectivity in areas involved with emotional processing and regulation including the limbic areas, insula, frontal lobe regions, and cerebellum.

METHODS: We enrolled 50 healthy controls. …

Magnetization Transfer Ratio In The Typically Developing Pediatric Spinal Cord: Normative Data And Age Correlation, Sara Naghizadeh Kashani, Iswarya Vel, Zahra Sadeghi Adl, Shiva Shahrampour, Devon Middleton, Mahdi Alizadeh, Laura Krisa, Scott Faro, Slimane Tounekti, Julien Cohen-Adad, Feroze Mohamed

Department of Radiology Faculty Papers

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: This study presents automated atlas-based magnetization transfer (MT) measurements of the typically developing pediatric cervical spinal cord (SC). We report normative MT ratio (MTR) values from the whole cervical cord white matter (WM) and WM tracts, examining variations with age, sex, height, and weight.

METHODS: MT scans of 33 healthy females (mean age = 12.8) and 22 males (mean age = 13.09) were acquired from the cervical SC (C2-C7) using a 3.0 T MRI. Data were processed using the SC Toolbox, segmented, and registered to the PAM50 template. Affine and non-rigid transformations co-registered the PAM50 WM atlas …

Womb, Gravity, And Space: Shifting Towards The Cerebellum-Basal Ganglia Paradigm In Dystonia, Diego Iacono

Department of Neurology Faculty Papers

No abstract provided.

Reliability Of The International Spinal Cord Injury Physical Therapy-Occupational Therapy Basic Data Set, Edelle C. Field-Fote, Kim D. Anderson, Maclain Capron, Ruediger Rupp, Linda Jones, M. Schmidt-Read, Vanessa K. Noonan, Anne Bryden, Sara Mulroy, Walter Weiss, Mario Widmer, Henrik Hagen Poder, Vivien Jørgensen, Eimear Smith, Mariel Purcell, Fin Biering-Sørensen

Department of Rehabilitation Medicine Faculty Papers

In interventional clinical trials for persons with spinal cord injury (SCI), the influence of experimental biological, pharmacological, or device-related interventions must be differentiated from that of physical and occupational therapy interventions, as rehabilitation influences motor-related outcomes. The International Spinal Cord Injury (ISCI) Physical Therapy–Occupational Therapy Basic Data Set (PT-OT BDS) was developed with the intent to track the content and time of rehabilitation interventions that are delivered concurrently with experimental interventions. We assessed the reliability of the PT-OT BDS based on agreement between users. Following an online training session, physical therapists (PTs) and occupational therapists (OTs) from 10 SCI clinical …

Nf-Κb As An Inducible Regulator Of Inflammation In The Central Nervous System, Sudha Anilkumar, Elizabeth Wright-Jin

Department of Medicine Faculty Papers

The NF-κB (nuclear factor K-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells) transcription factor family is critical for modulating the immune proinflammatory response throughout the body. During the resting state, inactive NF-κB is sequestered by IκB in the cytoplasm. The proteasomal degradation of IκB activates NF-κB, mediating its translocation into the nucleus to act as a nuclear transcription factor in the upregulation of proinflammatory genes. Stimuli that initiate NF-κB activation are diverse but are canonically attributed to proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines. Downstream effects of NF-κB are cell type-specific and, in the majority of cases, result in the activation of pro-inflammatory cascades. Acting as …

Synlight: A Bicistronic Strategy For Simultaneous Active Zone And Cell Labeling In The Drosophila Nervous System, Michael A. Aimino, Jesse Humenik, Michael J. Parisi, Juan Carlos Duhart, Timothy J. Mosca

Farber Institute for Neuroscience Faculty Papers

At synapses, chemical neurotransmission mediates the exchange of information between neurons, leading to complex movement, behaviors, and stimulus processing. The immense number and variety of neurons within the nervous system make discerning individual neuron populations difficult, necessitating the development of advanced neuronal labeling techniques. In Drosophila, Bruchpilot-Short and mCD8-GFP, which label presynaptic active zones and neuronal membranes, respectively, have been widely used to study synapse development and organization. This labeling is often achieved via the expression of 2 independent constructs by a single binary expression system, but expression can weaken when multiple transgenes are expressed by a single driver. Recent …