Neurosciences Commons^™

Novel Advances In Alzheimer's Disease, Jacob P. Naumann

The Downtown Review: An Interdisciplinary Journal Written and Peer-Reviewed by Mandel Honors College Students at Cleveland State University

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Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia in adults, is a progressive degenerative neurological disease that affects memory, cognition, and behavior. Dr. Alois Alzheimer discovered and diagnosed the irreversible disease in 1906 after documenting the famous case of Auguste Deter.¹ Since the discovery of the disease, numerous advances have made it possible to not only better understand the causal factors, but also to improve the medical diagnosis and preventative measures that healthcare providers can implement. For the first time since 1984, the National Institute on Aging (NIAA) and the Alzheimer’s Association (AA) proposed and published new diagnostic guideline …

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Live Imaging Of The Ependymal Cilia In The Lateral Ventricles Of The Mouse Brain, Alzahra J. Al Omran, Hannah C. Saternos, Tongyu Liu, Surya M. Nauli, Wissam A. Aboualaiwi

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

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Multiciliated ependymal cells line the ventricles in the adult brain. Abnormal function or structure of ependymal cilia is associated with various neurological deficits. The current ex vivo live imaging of motile ependymal cilia technique allows for a detailed study of ciliary dynamics following several steps. These steps include: mice euthanasia with carbon dioxide according to protocols of The University of Toledo’s Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC); craniectomy followed by brain removal and sagittal brain dissection with a vibratome or sharp blade to obtain very thin sections through the brain lateral ventricles, where the ependymal cilia can be visualized. …

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Different Neural Mechanisms For Causal Processing In Language And Perception: An Fmri Study, Brett B. Bankson, Dirk B. Den Ouden

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

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Information that is used to establish and evaluate causal relationships between objects and events can be gleaned from many sources, especially those that rely on language and perception. For example, sentences with a verb structure using change of state verbs such as “to break” or “to freeze” imply sequential events that express understood causal relationships. At this time, little research has examined the neural correlates of causal verb processing or has compared them to the more well researched brain activity involved in perceptual causal processing. This study investigated the extent to which the evaluation of causal verbs and causal image …

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Brain Blast 2015 Speakers Poster, Annie Leslie

Brain Blast

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Poster from UNE's Brain Blast 2015 listing the expected presenters at this event.*

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High Definition Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation Als Mogelijke Hulp Bij Afasie-Herstel, Dirk B. Den Ouden

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

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Samenvatting

Nieuwe kennis over het plastische vermogen van het volwassen brein, ook na hersenschade, heeft geleid tot hernieuwde interesse in technieken om deze plasticiteit fysiek te sturen. Een van die technieken is transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS), waarmee de exciteerbaarheid van hersencellen beïnvloed wordt door een zwakke gelijkstroom door de hersenschors te leiden. Als met deze methode hersenplasticiteit bevorderd en gestuurd kan worden, is het wellicht mogelijk om de uitkomsten van afasietherapie te verbeteren, door het aanpakken van de fysieke bron van de stoornis. Dit artikel behandelt kort de geschiedenis en de werking van tDCS, alvorens een overzicht te geven …

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High-Definition Tdcs Of Noun And Verb Retrieval In Naming And Lexical Decision, Svetlana Malyutina, Dirk B. Den Ouden

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

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High-definition transcranial direct current stimulation (HD-tDCS) is a novel brain stimulation method that has high potential for use in language therapy for speakers with aphasia, due to its safety and focality. This study aimed to obtain foundational data on using HD-tDCS to modulate language processing in healthy speakers. Participants received stimulation either of left Broca’s area or of angular gyrus (20 minutes of anodal, cathodal and sham stimulation on separate days), followed by naming and lexical decision tasks with single-word verb and noun stimuli. We found that cathodal stimulation over both Broca’s area and left angular gyrus increased naming speed …

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Targeting The Small- And Intermediate Conductance Ca2+- Activated Potassium Channels: The Drug Binding Pocket At The Channel/Calmodulin Interface, Meng Cui, Guangrong Qin, Kunqian Yu, M. Scott Bowers, Miao Zhang

Pharmacy Faculty Articles and Research

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The small- and intermediate-conductance Ca 2+ -activated potassium (SK/IK) channels play important roles in the regulation of excitable cells in both the central nervous and cardiovascular systems. Evidence from animal models has implicated SK/IK channels in neurological conditions such as ataxia and alcohol use disorders. Further, genome-wide association studies have suggested that cardiovascular abnormalities such as arrhythmias and hypertension are associated with single nucleotide polymorphisms that occur within the genes encoding the SK/IK channels. The Ca 2+ sensitivity of the SK/IK channels stems from a constitutively bound Ca 2+ -binding protein: calmodulin. Small-molecule positive modulators of SK/IK channels have been …

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Role Of Astrocyte Network In Edema After Juvenile Traumatic Brain Injury, Andrew Minoru Fukuda

Loma Linda University Electronic Theses, Dissertations & Projects

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Juvenile traumatic brain injury (jTBI) is the leading cause of death and disability in young children and adolescents. Despite its lasting detrimental effects on the developing brain, no pharmacological treatment exists. One of the pathological hallmarks of jTBI is edema. Astrocytes play a key role in the edema process, and have been hypothesized that numerous astrocyte networks allow communication and propagation of edema and secondary injury spread. Two key astrocyte proteins are hypothesized to have a central role in the edema process: Aquaporin 4 (AQP4) and Connexin 43 (Cx43). AQP4 is expressed extensively in astrocyte endfeet, which surrounds the blood …

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Brain Science And Stem Learning, Dennis L. Molfese

Discipline-Based Education Research Group Speaker Series

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Brain Science is an interdisciplinary science and as such touches on a host of domains that among others include Behavioral & Social Sciences, Biological Sciences, Computer & Information Science, Economics, Engineering (multiple domains from Electrical to Mechanical to Structural), Education, Human Resources, Engineering, Environmental, Education, Geosciences, Engineering, Mathematical, Physical Sciences, Psychology, and Zoology. The approach provides a means to study matter from an assortment of elements to the integration of complex domains that stretch from the interactions of neuropeptides to conscious thought that cover the lifespan of single cell organisms to humans. We will touch on a few of these …

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Brain Blast 2014 Poster, Annie Leslie

Brain Blast

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Announcement poster for UNE's Brain Blast 2014, a pechakucha-style brain health and safety awareness and learning event.

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Brain Blast 2014 Speakers Poster, Annie Leslie

Brain Blast

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Poster from UNE's Brain Blast 2014 listing the presenters at this event.

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Two Distinct Dynamic Modes Subtend The Detection Of Unexpected Sounds, Jean-Rémi King, Alexandre Gramfort, Aaron Schurger, Lionel Naccache, Stanislas Dehaene

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

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The brain response to auditory novelty comprises two main EEG components: an early mismatch negativity and a late P300. Whereas the former has been proposed to reflect a prediction error, the latter is often associated with working memory updating. Interestingly, these two proposals predict fundamentally different dynamics: prediction errors are thought to propagate serially through several distinct brain areas, while working memory supposes that activity is sustained over time within a stable set of brain areas. Here we test this temporal dissociation by showing how the generalization of brain activity patterns across time can characterize the dynamics of the underlying …

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Reducing Multi-Sensor Data To A Single Time Course That Reveals Experimental Effects, Aaron Schurger, Sebastien Marti, Stanislas Dehaene

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

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Background: Multi-sensor technologies such as EEG, MEG, and ECoG result in high-dimensional data sets. Given the high temporal resolution of such techniques, scientific questions very often focus on the time-course of an experimental effect. In many studies, researchers focus on a single sensor or the average over a subset of sensors covering a “region of interest” (ROI). However, single-sensor or ROI analyses ignore the fact that the spatial focus of activity is constantly changing, and fail to make full use of the information distributed over the sensor array.

Methods: We describe a technique that exploits the optimality and …

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The Effects Of Mindfulness Meditation On Rumination In Depressed People, Rachel A. Sluder

Honors Theses and Capstones

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Mindfulness meditation is a practice of focus, awareness, and non-judgmental acceptance of one's thoughts (Deyo et al., 2009; Kenny et al., 2007). Rumination is a maladaptive pattern of thought that is common in people with depression and other mood disorders. It can lead to further episodes of depression, and can be very destructive in that way (Nolen-Hoeksema, 2008). This paper reviews several studies on mindfulness meditation, depression, and rumination, with a focus on certain areas and phenomena such as alpha asymmetry (Keune et al 2013) and gamma band activity (Berkovich-Ohana et al., 2012). Modalities such as fMRI and EEG are …

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Training Verb Argument Structure Production In Agrammatic Aphasia: Behavioral And Neural Recovery Patterns, Cynthia K. Thompson, Ellyn A. Riley, Dirk B. Den Ouden, Aya Meltzer-Asscher, Sladjana Lukic

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

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Introduction

Neuroimaging and lesion studies indicate a left hemisphere network for verb and verb argument structure processing, involving both frontal and temporoparietal brain regions. Although their verb comprehension is generally unimpaired, it is well known that individuals with agrammatic aphasia often present with verb production deficits, characterized by an argument structure complexity hierarchy, indicating faulty access to argument structure representations for production and integration into syntactic contexts. Recovery of verb processing in agrammatism, however, has received little attention and no studies have examined the neural mechanisms associated with improved verb and argument structure processing. In the present study we trained …

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The Neural Substrates Of Complex Argument Structure Representations: Processing “Alternating Transitivity” Verbs, Aya Meltzer-Asscher, Julia Schuchard, Dirk B. Den Ouden, Cynthia K. Thompson

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

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This study examines the neural correlates of processing verbal entries with multiple argument structures using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). We compared brain activation in response to “alternating transitivity” verbs, corresponding to two different verbal alternates—one transitive and one intransitive—and simple verbs, with only one, intransitive, thematic grid. Fourteen young healthy participants performed a lexical decision task with the two verb types. Results showed significantly greater activation in the angular and supramarginal gyri (Brodmann areas (BAs) 39 and 40) extending to the posterior superior and middle temporal gyri bilaterally, for alternating compared to simple verbs. Additional activation was detected in …

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Blast-Induced Brain Injury: Influence Of Shockwave Components, Dexter V. Reneer

Theses and Dissertations--Neuroscience

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Blast-induced traumatic brain injury (bTBI) has been described as the defining injury of Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF). Previously, most blast injury research has focused on the effects of blast on internal, gas filled organs due to their increased susceptibility. However, due to a change in enemy tactics combined with better armor and front-line medical care, bTBI has become one of the most common injuries due to blast. Though there has been a significant amount of research characterizing the brain injury produced by blast, a sound understanding of the contribution of each component of the shockwave to the …

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Network Modulation During Complex Syntactic Processing, Dirk B. Den Ouden, Dorothee Saur, Wolfgang Mader, Björn Schelter, Sladjana Lukic, Eisha Wali, Jens Timmer, Cynthia K. Thompson

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

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Complex sentence processing is supported by a left-lateralized neural network including inferior frontal cortex and posterior superior temporal cortex. This study investigates the pattern of connectivity and information flow within this network. We used fMRI BOLD data derived from 12 healthy participants reported in an earlier study (Thompson, C. K., Den Ouden, D. B., Bonakdarpour, B., Garibaldi, K., & Parrish, T. B. (2010b). Neural plasticity and treatment-induced recovery of sentence processing in agrammatism. Neuropsychologia, 48(11), 3211–3227) to identify activation peaks associated with object-cleft over syntactically less complex subject-cleft processing. Directed Partial Correlation Analysis was conducted on time series …

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Pontine Haemorrhage Due To Chondrosarcoma Of The Skull Base, Maliha Iqbal Jumani, Roomasa Channa, Sayed Nabeel Zafar, Ather Enam

Section of Neurosurgery

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A young adult presented with acute weakness of right side of body and slurring of speech. An initial brain CT scan showed a pontine haemorrhage, however MRI done a few days later revealed a mass in the left parapharyngeal space. Histopathology of the mass revealed that it was a chondrosarcoma. Subsequently the patient was initially treated with chemotherapy and radiotherapy and later surgery. Skull base chondrosarcomabe is to be included in the differentials of a young patient presenting with signs consistent with pontine haemorrhage.

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Neural Plasticity And Treatment-Induced Recovery Of Sentence Processing In Agrammatism, Cynthia K. Thompson, Dirk B. Den Ouden, Borna Bonakdarpour, Kyla Garibaldi, Todd B. Parrish

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

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This study examined patterns of neural activation associated with treatment-induced improvement of complex sentence production (and comprehension) in six individuals with stroke-induced agrammatic aphasia, taking into account possible alterations in blood flow often associated with stroke, including delayed time-to-peak of the hemodynamic response function (HRF) and hypoperfused tissue. Aphasic participants performed an auditory verification fMRI task, processing object cleft, subject cleft, and simple active sentences, prior to and following a course of Treatment of Underlying Forms (TUF; Thompson et al., 2003), a linguistically based approach for treating aphasic sentence deficits, which targeted object relative clause constructions. The patients also were …

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Multiscale Genomic Analysis Of The Corticolimbic System: Uncovering The Molecular And Anatomic Substrates Of Anxiety-Related Behavior, Khyobeni Mozhui

Theses and Dissertations (ETD)

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Genetic diversity generates variation at multiple phenotypic levels, ranging from the most basic molecular to higher-order cognitive and behavioral traits. The far-reaching impact that genes have on higher traits is apparent in several neuropsychiatric conditions such as stress and anxiety disorders. Like most, if not all, neural phenotypes, stress, anxiety, and other emotion-related traits are extremely complex and are defined by the interplay of multiple genetic, environmental, experiential, and epigenetic factors.

The work presented in this dissertation is a multi-scalar, integrative analysis of the molecular and neuroanatomic substrates that underlie emotion-related behavior. The amygdala is a principle component of the …

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Neuroimaging And Recovery Of Language In Aphasia, Cynthia K. Thompson, Dirk B. Den Ouden

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

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The use of functional neuroimaging techniques has advanced what is known about the neural mechanisms used to support language processing in aphasia resulting from brain damage. This paper highlights recent findings derived from neuroimaging studies focused on neuroplasticity of language networks, the role of the left and right hemispheres in this process, and studies examining how treatment affects the neurobiology of recovery. We point out variability across studies as well as factors related to this variability, and we emphasize challenges that remain for research.

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Argument Structure Effects In Action Verb Naming In Static And Dynamic Conditions, Dirk B. Den Ouden, Steve Fix, Todd B. Parrish, Cynthia K. Thompson

Communication Sciences and Disorders Faculty Articles and Research

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Argument structure, as in the participant roles entailed within the lexical representation of verbs, affects verb processing. Recent neuroimaging studies show that when verbs are heard or read, the posterior temporoparietal region shows increased activation for verbs with greater versus lesser argument structure complexity, usually bilaterally. In addition, patients with agrammatic aphasia show verb production deficits, graded based on argument structure complexity. In the present study, we used fMRI to examine the neural correlates of verb production in overt action naming conditions. In addition, we tested the differential effects of naming when verbs were presented dynamically in video segments versus …

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Dependence In Prestroke Mobility Predicts Adverse Outcomes Among Patients With Acute Ischemic Stroke, Mary I. Dallas, Shari Rone-Adams, John L. Echternach, Lawrence M. Bass, Dawn M. Bravata

Rehabilitation Sciences Faculty Publications

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Background and Purpose - Stroke survivors are commonly dependent in activities of daily living; however, the relation between prestroke mobility impairment and poststroke outcomes is poorly understood. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate the association between prestroke mobility impairment and 4 poststroke outcomes. The secondary objective was to evaluate the association between prestroke mobility impairment and a plan for physical therapy.

Methods - This was a secondary analysis of the National Stroke Project data, a retrospective cohort of Medicare beneficiaries who were hospitalized with an acute ischemic stroke (1998 to 2001). Logistic-regression modeling was used to examine …

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Narcotic Analgesics For Acute Migraine In The Emergency Room: Are We Meeting Headache Societies' Guidelines?, Mohammad Wasay, Khawaja Slaman Zaki, Saqib Uddin Khan, Rifat Rehmani

Department of Emergency Medicine

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We analysed 161 patients with acute migraine in our emergency room (ER) to identify the use of narcotic analgesics as first-line treatment. Twenty-four percent of patients were treated with opioid analgesics and 76% patients were treated with non-opioid analgesics. Pain was completely relieved in 100 (62%) patients, partially relieved in 50 (31%) patients and was not relieved in 11 (7%) patients at the time of discharge. Pain relief was not related to the use of opioids vs. non-opioids. The treatment of acute migraine in our ER is in line with the guidelines of the Headache Societies and needs further improvement.

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Kalirin Dbl-Homology Guanine Nucleotide Exchange Factor 1 Domain Initiates New Axon Outgrowths Via Rhog-Mediated Mechanisms, Victor May, Martin R. Schiller, Betty A. Eipper, Richard E. Mains

Life Sciences Faculty Research

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The large multidomain Kalirin and Trio proteins containing dual Rho GTPase guanine nucleotide exchange factor (GEF) domains have been implicated in the regulation of neuronal fiber extension and pathfinding during evelopment. In mammals, Kalirin is expressed predominantly in the nervous system, whereas Trio, broadly expressed throughout the body, is expressed at a lower level in the nervous system. To evaluate the role of Kalirin in fiber initiation and outgrowth, we microinjected cultured sympathetic neurons with vectors encoding Kalirin or with Kalirin antisense oligonucleotides, and we assessed neuronal fiber growth in a serum-free, satellite cell-free environment. Kalirin antisense oligonucleotides blocked the …

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