Neurosciences Commons^™

Prospective Home-Use Study On Non-Invasive Neuromodulation Therapy For Essential Tremor., Stuart H Isaacson, Elizabeth Peckham, Winona Tse, Olga Waln, Christopher Way, Melita T Petrossian, Nabila Dahodwala, Michael J Soileau, Mark Lew, Cameron Dietiker, Nijee Luthra, Pinky Agarwal, Rohit Dhall, John Morgan, Nicole Calakos, Theresa A Zesiewicz, Ejaz A Shamim, Rajeev Kumar, Peter Lewitt, Holly A Shill, Adam Simmons, Fernando L Pagan, Pravin Khemani, Jessica Tate, Brian Maddux, Lan Luo, William Ondo, Mark Hallett, Apoorva Rajagopal, Paula Chidester, Kathryn H Rosenbluth, Scott L Delp, Rajesh Pahwa

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

Highlights: This prospective study is one of the largest clinical trials in essential tremor to date. Study findings suggest that individualized non-invasive neuromodulation therapy used repeatedly at home over three months results in safe and effective hand tremor reduction and improves quality of life for many essential tremor patients.

Background: Two previous randomized, controlled, single-session trials demonstrated efficacy of non-invasive neuromodulation therapy targeting the median and radial nerves for reducing hand tremor. This current study evaluated efficacy and safety of the therapy over three months of repeated home use.

Methods: This was a prospective, open-label, post-clearance, single-arm study with 263 …

Multiquantal Glutamate Release From Rod Photoreceptors, Cassandra L. Hays

Theses & Dissertations

Neurons communicate via Ca²⁺-dependent release of neurotransmitters packaged into vesicles (quanta). Some CNS neurons, especially sensory synapses, can release multiple vesicles at a time, increasing information transmission and overcoming the unreliability of a stochastic process. Ribbon-bearing neurons, including retinal photoreceptors, face the challenge of encoding sensory receptor potentials into an ever-changing train of vesicle release events. We studied release of glutamate using voltage clamp to measure anion currents activated during glutamate reuptake into presynaptic terminals (I_A(glu)) of salamander and mouse rods, finding that each employ distinct mechanisms for multiquantal release. In amphibian rods, we found that …

Therapeutic Trem2 Activation Ameliorates Amyloid-Beta Deposition And Improves Cognition In The 5xfad Model Of Amyloid Deposition, Brittani R. Price, Tiffany L. Sudduth, Erica M. Weekman, Sherika Johnson, Danielle Hawthorne, Abigail E. Woolums, Donna M. Wilcock

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

BACKGROUND: Triggering receptor expressed on myeloid cell-2 (TREM2) is a lipid and lipoprotein binding receptor expressed by cells of myeloid origin. Homozygous TREM2 mutations cause early onset progressive presenile dementia while heterozygous, point mutations triple the risk of Alzheimer's disease (AD). Although human genetic findings support the notion that loss of TREM2 function exacerbates neurodegeneration, it is not clear whether activation of TREM2 in a disease state would result in therapeutic benefits. To determine the viability of TREM2 activation as a therapeutic strategy, we sought to characterize an agonistic Trem2 antibody (AL002a) and test its efficacy and mechanism of action …

The Trial-Ready Cohort For Preclinical And Prodromal Alzheimer’S Disease (Trc-Pad): Experience From The First 3 Years, S. Walter, O. G. Langford, T. B. Clanton, G. A. Jimenez-Maggiora, R. Raman, M. S. Rafii, E. J. Shaffer, R. A. Sperling, J. L. Cummings, P. S. Aisen, Trc-Pad Investigators

School of Medicine Faculty Research

Background The Trial-Ready Cohort for Preclinical and Prodromal Alzheimer's disease (TRC-PAD) aims to accelerate enrollment for Alzheimer's disease (AD) clinical trials by remotely identifying and tracking individuals who are at high risk for developing symptoms of AD, and referring these individuals to in-person cognitive and biomarker evaluation with the purpose of engaging them in clinical trials. A risk algorithm using statistical modeling to predict brain amyloidosis will be refined as TRC-PAD advances with a maturing data set. Objectives To provide a summary of the steps taken to build this Trial-Ready cohort (TRC) and share results of the first 3 years …

The Trial-Ready Cohort For Preclinical/Prodromal Alzheimer’S Disease (Trc-Pad) Project: An Overview, P. S. Aisen, R. A. Sperling, J. L. Cummings, M. C. Donohue, O. Langford, G. A. Jimenez-Maggiora, R. A. Rissman, M. S. Rafii, S. Walter, T. B. Clanton, R. Raman

School of Medicine Faculty Research

The Trial-Ready Cohort for Preclinical/prodromal Alzheimer’s Disease (TRC-PAD) project is a collaborative effort to establish an efficient mechanism for recruiting participants into very early stage Alzheimer’s disease trials. Clinically normal and mildly symptomatic individuals are followed longitudinally in a web-based component called the Alzheimer’s Prevention Trial Webstudy (APT Webstudy), with quarterly assessment of cognition and subjective concerns. The Webstudy data is used to predict the likelihood of brain amyloid elevation; individuals at relatively high risk are invited for in-person assessment in the TRC screeing phase, during which a cognitive battery is administered and Apolipoprotein E genotype is obtained followed by …

The Human Cerebellum Has Almost 80% Of The Surface Area Of The Neocortex, Martin I. Sereno, J. Rn Diedrichsen, Mohamed Tachrount, Guilherme Testa-Silva, Helen D Arceuil, Chris De Zeeuw

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

© 2020 National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved. The surface of the human cerebellar cortex is much more tightly folded than the cerebral cortex. It was computationally reconstructed for the first time to the level of all individual folia from multicontrast high-resolution postmortem MRI scans. Its total shrinkage-corrected surface area (1,590 cm2) was larger than expected or previously reported, equal to 78% of the total surface area of the human neocortex. The unfolded and flattened surface comprised a narrow strip 10 cm wide but almost 1 m long. By applying the same methods to the neocortex and cerebellum of …

Recruitment Into The Alzheimer Prevention Trials (Apt) Webstudy For A Trial-Ready Cohort For Preclinical And Prodromal Alzheimer’S Disease (Trc-Pad), S. Walter, T. B. Clanton, O. G. Langford, M. S. Rafii, E. J. Shaffer, J. D. Grill, G. A. Jimenez-Maggiora, R. A. Sperling, J. L. Cummings, P. S. Aisen, Trc-Pad Investigators

School of Medicine Faculty Research

Background The Alzheimer Prevention Trials (APT) Webstudy is the first stage in establishing a Trial-ready Cohort for Preclinical and Prodromal Alzheimer's disease (TRC-PAD). This paper describes recruitment approaches for the APT Webstudy. Objectives To remotely enroll a cohort of individuals into a web-based longitudinal observational study. Participants are followed quarterly with brief cognitive and functional assessments, and referred to Sites for in-clinic testing and biomarker confirmation prior to enrolling in the Trial-ready Cohort (TRC). Design Participants are referred to the APT Webstudy from existing registries of individuals interested in brain health and Alzheimer's disease research, as well as through central …

Harnessing Real-World Data To Inform Decision-Making: Multiple Sclerosis Partners Advancing Technology And Health Solutions (Ms Paths)., Ellen M Mowry, Robert A Bermel, James R Williams, Tammie L S Benzinger, Carl De Moor, Elizabeth Fisher, Carrie M Hersh, Megan H Hyland, Izlem Izbudak, Stephen E Jones, Bernd C Kieseier, Hagen H Kitzler, Lauren Krupp, Yvonne W Lui, Xavier Montalban, Robert T Naismith, Jacqueline A Nicholas, Fabio Pellegrini, Alex Rovira, Maximilian Schulze, Björn Tackenberg, Mar Tintore, Madalina E Tivarus, Tjalf Ziemssen, Richard A Rudick

Neuroscience Articles

Background: Multiple Sclerosis Partners Advancing Technology and Health Solutions (MS PATHS) is the first example of a learning health system in multiple sclerosis (MS). This paper describes the initial implementation of MS PATHS and initial patient characteristics. Methods: MS PATHS is an ongoing initiative conducted in 10 healthcare institutions in three countries, each contributing standardized information acquired during routine care. Institutional participation required the following: active MS patient census of ≥500, at least one Siemens 3T magnetic resonance imaging scanner, and willingness to standardize patient assessments, share standardized data for research, and offer universal enrolment to capture a representative sample. …

Admittance Method For Estimating Local Field Potentials Generated In A Multi-Scale Neuron Model Of The Hippocampus, Clayton S. Bingham, Javad Paknahad, Christopher Bc Girard, Kyle Loizos, Jean-Marie C. Bouteiller, Dong Song, Gianluca Lazzi, Theodore W. Berger

Engineering Faculty Articles and Research

Significant progress has been made toward model-based prediction of neral tissue activation in response to extracellular electrical stimulation, but challenges remain in the accurate and efficient estimation of distributed local field potentials (LFP). Analytical methods of estimating electric fields are a first-order approximation that may be suitable for model validation, but they are computationally expensive and cannot accurately capture boundary conditions in heterogeneous tissue. While there are many appropriate numerical methods of solving electric fields in neural tissue models, there isn't an established standard for mesh geometry nor a well-known rule for handling any mismatch in spatial resolution. Moreover, the …

Pupil Size Is Modulated By The Size Of Equal-Luminance Gratings, Jie Gao, Athena Ko, Yoshiko Yabe, Melvyn A. Goodale, Juan Chen

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

© 2020 The Authors. Pupil size changes with light. For this reason, researchers studying the effect of attention, contextual processing, and arousal on the pupillary response have matched the mean luminance of their stimuli across conditions to eliminate the contribution of differences in light levels. Here, we argue that the match of mean luminance is not enough. In Experiment 1, we presented a circular sinewave grating on a gray background for 2 seconds. The area of the grating could be 3°, 6°, or 9°. The mean luminance of each grating was equal to the luminance of the gray background, such …

Perioperative Anticoagulation Management In Spine Surgery: Initial Findings From The Ao Spine Anticoagulation Global Survey., Philip Louie, Garrett Harada, James Harrop, Thomas Mroz, Khalid Al-Saleh, Giovanni Barbanti Brodano, Jens R Chapman, Michael Fehlings, Serena Hu, Yoshiharu Kawaguchi, Michael Mayer, Venugopal Menon, Jong-Beom Park, Sheeraz Qureshi, Shanmuganathan Rajasekaran, Marcelo Valacco, Luiz Vialle, Jeffrey C Wang, Karsten Wiechert, K Daniel Riew, Dino Samartzis

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

STUDY DESIGN: Cross-sectional, international survey.

OBJECTIVES: This study addressed the global perspectives concerning perioperative use of pharmacologic thromboprophylaxis during spine surgery along with its risks and benefits.

METHODS: A questionnaire was designed and implemented by expert members in the AO Spine community. The survey was distributed to AO Spine's spine surgeon members (N = 3805). Data included surgeon demographic information, type and region of practice, anticoagulation principles, different patient scenarios, and comorbidities.

RESULTS: A total of 316 (8.3% response rate) spine surgeons completed the survey, representing 64 different countries. Completed surveys were primarily from Europe (31.7%), South/Latin America (19.9%), and …

Biomarker Application For Precision Medicine In Stroke, Alexis N. Simpkins, Miroslaw Janowski, Helieh S. Oz, Jill Roberts, Gregory Bix, Sylvain Doré, Ann M. Stowe

Neurosurgery Faculty Publications

Stroke remains one of the leading causes of long-term disability and mortality despite recent advances in acute thrombolytic therapies. In fact, the global lifetime risk of stroke in adults over the age of 25 is approximately 25%, with 24.9 million cases of ischemic stroke and 18.7 million cases of hemorrhagic stroke reported in 2015. One of the main challenges in developing effective new acute therapeutics and enhanced long-term interventions for stroke recovery is the heterogeneity of stroke, including etiology, comorbidities, and lifestyle factors that uniquely affect each individual stroke survivor. In this comprehensive review, we propose that future biomarker studies …

Editorial Perspective: Time For Another Grading System-From Prisma To Amstar 2., Jens R Chapman

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

No abstract provided.

Real-World Cost Of Treatment For Multiple Sclerosis Patients Initiating And Receiving Infused Disease-Modifying Therapies Per Recommended Label In The United States., Jacqueline Nicholas, Rachel Halpern, Marina Ziehn, Jesse Peterson-Brandt, Michael Leszko, Chinmay Deshpande

Neuroscience Articles

Aims: The study evaluated the real-world cost of treatment in multiple sclerosis (MS) patients initiating infused disease-modifying-therapies (DMT) in the United States.Materials and Methods: This retrospective cohort study using administrative claims data included adult patients with MS initiating index infusion DMT (ocrelizumab (OCR), natalizumab (NTZ) or alemtuzumab (ATZ)) from April 2017-September 2018 with 6-months pre/12-months post-index continuous enrollment. The primary cohort included patients who had prescribed annual dosing visits indicated by the approved product label (PL): 3 OCR, 5 ATZ, and 12-13 NTZ infusion visits within the first year of initiation. Annual treatment cost was the sum of all …

Reduced Vip Expression Affects Circadian Clock Function In Vip-Ires-Cre Mice (Jax 010908), Deborah A.M. Joye, Kayla Rohr, Danielle Keller, Thomas Inda, Adam Telega, Harshida Pancholi, Vania Carmonia-Alcocer, Jennifer A. Evans

Biomedical Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Circadian rhythms are programmed by the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN), which relies on neuropeptide signaling to maintain daily timekeeping. Vasoactive intestinal polypeptide (VIP) is critical for SCN function, but the precise role of VIP neurons in SCN circuits is not fully established. To interrogate their contribution to SCN circuits, VIP neurons can be manipulated specifically using the DNA-editing enzyme Cre recombinase. Although the Cre transgene is assumed to be inert by itself, we find that VIP expression is reduced in both heterozygous and homozygous adult VIP-IRES-Cre mice (JAX 010908). Compared with wild-type mice, homozygous VIP-Cre mice display faster reentrainment and shorter …

The Influence Of Cerebellar Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation On Motor Function In Parkinson’S Disease, Lidio Lima De Albuquerque

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the most common movement disorder and the second most common neurodegenerative disorder. PD is characterized by dopaminergic cell loss in the substantia nigra pars compacta, which leads to a reduction in dopamine in the striatum. These physiological mechanisms lead to a number of motor impairments such as bradykinesia, rigidity, tremor, and postural instability that severely limit the ability of individuals with PD to perform many essential daily living activities. Although current pharmacological, surgical, and physical exercise treatment approaches are valuable they are either only mildly effective, expensive, or associated with a variety of side effects. Therefore, …

Bdnf-Related Gene Expression Of Laser Capture Microdissected Glutamate Neurons From The Anterior Cingulate Cortex In Mouse Models Of Autism Spectrum Disorder, Misty Owens

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder affecting social behaviors. ASD affects 1 in 59 children with males affected more frequently. ASD is postulated to result from excitatory and inhibitory neurotransmission imbalances. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) signaling affects ASD by influencing synaptogenesis, plasticity, and survival. Studying early in-utero neuropathological changes within ASD requires the use of animal models. Expression of BDNF-associated genes were analyzed within laser capture microdissected pyramidal neurons from the anterior cingulate cortex of male and female BTBR and valproic acid mouse models. No expression differences were found in any gene comparing the three groups. Gender comparisons …

Engineered Extracellular Vesicles Loaded With Mir-124 Attenuate Cocaine-Mediated Activation Of Microglia, Ernest T. Chivero, Ke Liao, Fang Niu, Ashutosh Tripathi, Changhai Tian, Shilpa Buch, Guoku Hu

Journal Articles: Pharmacology & Experimental Neuroscience

MicroRNA-124 (miR-124), a brain-enriched microRNA, is known to regulate microglial quiescence. Psychostimulants such as cocaine have been shown to activate microglia by downregulating miR-124, leading, in turn, to neuroinflammation. We thus rationalized that restoring the levels of miR-124 could function as a potential therapeutic approach for cocaine-mediated neuroinflammation. Delivering miRNA based drugs in the brain that are effective and less invasive, however, remains a major challenge in the field. Herein we engineered extracellular vesicles (EVs) and loaded them with miR-124 for delivery in the brain. Approach involved co-transfection of mouse dendritic cells with Dicer siRNA and RVG-Lamp2b plasmid to deplete …

Longitudinal Changes Of Brain Microstructure And Function In Nonconcussed Female Rugby Players, Kathryn Y. Manning, Jeffrey S. Brooks, James P. Dickey, Alexandra Harriss, Lisa Fischer, Tatiana Jevremovic, Kevin Blackney, Christy Barreira, Arthur Brown, Robert Bartha, Tim Doherty, Douglas Fraser, Jeff Holmes, Gregory A. Dekaban, Ravi S. Menon

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

ObjectiveTo longitudinally assess brain microstructure and function in female varsity athletes participating in contact and noncontact sports.MethodsConcussion-free female rugby players (n = 73) were compared to age-matched (ages 18-23) female swimmers and rowers (n = 31) during the in- and off-season. Diffusion and resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI) measures were the primary outcomes. The Sports Concussion Assessment Tool and head impact accelerometers were used to monitor symptoms and impacts, respectively.ResultsWe found cross-sectional (contact vs noncontact) and longitudinal (in- vs off-season) changes in white matter diffusion measures and rs-fMRI network connectivity in concussion-free contact athletes relative to noncontact athletes. In particular, mean, axial, …

Sphingosine-1-Phosphate: Its Pharmacological Regulation And The Treatment Of Multiple Sclerosis: A Review Article., Stanley Cohan, Elisabeth Lucassen, Kyle E Smoot, Justine Brink, Chiayi Chen

Articles, Abstracts, and Reports

Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), via its G-protein-coupled receptors, is a signaling molecule with important regulatory properties on numerous, widely varied cell types. Five S1P receptors (S1PR1-5) have been identified, each with effects determined by their unique G-protein-driven downstream pathways. The discovery that lymphocyte egress from peripheral lymphoid organs is promoted by S1P via S1PR-1 stimulation led to the development of pharmacological agents which are S1PR antagonists. These agents promote lymphocyte sequestration and reduce lymphocyte-driven inflammatory damage of the central nervous system (CNS) in animal models, encouraging their examination of efficacy in the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS). Preclinical research has also demonstrated …

Looming And Receding Visual Networks In Awake Marmosets Investigated With Fmri, Justine C. Cléry, David J. Schaeffer, Yuki Hori, Kyle M. Gilbert, Lauren K. Hayrynen, Joseph S. Gati, Ravi S. Menon, Stefan Everling

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

© 2020 The Author(s) An object that is looming toward a subject or receding away contains important information for determining if this object is dangerous, beneficial or harmless. This information (motion, direction, identity, time-to-collision, size, velocity) is analyzed by the brain in order to execute the appropriate behavioral responses depending on the context: fleeing, freezing, grasping, eating, exploring. In the current study, we performed ultra-high-field functional MRI (fMRI) at 9.4T in awake marmosets to explore the patterns of brain activation elicited by visual stimuli looming toward or receding away from the monkey. We found that looming and receding visual stimuli …

Veterans Helping Veterans Mid-Day Talk: Gulf War Illness Research, Bill Watts, Elizabeth G. Balbin

INIM Research Seminar Series

• Meet the Gulf War Illness Research Team.
• Learn about the ease of participating in research.
• Hear from veterans who have participated in research.
• Learn about different studies currently available.

Olfaction Modulates Inter-Subject Correlation Of Neural Responses, Paul Deguzman, Anshul Jain, Matthias H. Tabert, Lucas C. Parra

Publications and Research

Odors can be powerful stimulants. It is well-established that odors provide strong cues for recall of locations, people and events. The effects of specific scents on other cognitive functions are less well-established. We hypothesized that scents with different odor qualities will have a different effect on attention. To assess attention, we used Inter-Subject Correlation of the EEG because this metric is strongly modulated by attentional engagement with natural audiovisual stimuli.We predicted that scents known to be “energizing” would increase Inter-Subject Correlation during watching of videos as compared to “calming” scents. In a first experiment, we confirmed this for eucalyptol and …

Β-Amyloid And Tau Drive Early Alzheimer's Disease Decline While Glucose Hypometabolism Drives Late Decline, Tyler C. Hammond, Xin Xing, Chris Wang, David Ma, Kwangsik Nho, Paul K. Crane, Fanny Elahi, David A. Ziegler, Gongbo Liang, Qiang Cheng, Lucille M. Yanckello, Nathan Jacobs, Ai-Ling Lin

Sanders-Brown Center on Aging Faculty Publications

Clinical trials focusing on therapeutic candidates that modify β-amyloid (Aβ) have repeatedly failed to treat Alzheimer’s disease (AD), suggesting that Aβ may not be the optimal target for treating AD. The evaluation of Aβ, tau, and neurodegenerative (A/T/N) biomarkers has been proposed for classifying AD. However, it remains unclear whether disturbances in each arm of the A/T/N framework contribute equally throughout the progression of AD. Here, using the random forest machine learning method to analyze participants in the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative dataset, we show that A/T/N biomarkers show varying importance in predicting AD development, with elevated biomarkers of Aβ …

Disrupted Hypothalamic Crh Neuron Responsiveness Contributes To Diet-Induced Obesity, Canjun Zhu, Yuanzhong Xu, Zhiying Jiang, Jin Bin Tian, Ryan M Cassidy, Zhao-Lin Cai, Gang Shu, Yong Xu, Mingshan Xue, Benjamin R Arenkiel, Qingyan Jiang, Qingchun Tong

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

The current obesity epidemic mainly results from high-fat high-caloric diet (HFD) feeding and may also be contributed by chronic stress; however, the neural basis underlying stress-related diet-induced obesity remains unknown. Corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) neurons in the paraventricular hypothalamus (PVH), a known body weight-regulating region, represent one key group of stress-responsive neurons. Here, we found that HFD feeding blunted PVH CRH neuron response to nutritional challenges as well as stress stimuli and dexamethesone, which normally produce rapid activation and inhibition on these neurons, respectively. We generated mouse models with the activity of these neurons clamped at high or low levels, both …

Music As A Scaffold For Listening To Speech: Better Neural Phase-Locking To Song Than Speech, Christina M. Vanden Bosch Der Nederlanden, Marc F. Joanisse, Jessica A. Grahn

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

© 2020 The Authors Neural activity synchronizes with the rhythmic input of many environmental signals, but the capacity of neural activity to entrain to the slow rhythms of speech is particularly important for successful communication. Compared to speech, song has greater rhythmic regularity, a more stable fundamental frequency, discrete pitch movements, and a metrical structure, this may provide a temporal framework that helps listeners neurally track information better than the rhythmically irregular rhythms of speech. The current study used EEG to examine whether entrainment to the syllable rate of linguistic utterances, as indexed by cerebro-acoustic phase coherence, was greater when …

The "Inferior Temporal Numeral Area" Distinguishes Numerals From Other Character Categories During Passive Viewing: A Representational Similarity Analysis, Darren J. Yeo, Courtney Pollack, Rebecca Merkley, Daniel Ansari, Gavin R. Price

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

A region in the posterior inferior temporal gyrus (pITG) is thought to be specialized for processing Arabic numerals, but fMRI studies that compared passive viewing of numerals to other character types (e.g., letters and novel characters) have not found evidence of numeral preference in the pITG. However, recent studies showed that the engagement of the pITG is modulated by attention and task contexts, suggesting that passive viewing paradigms may be ill-suited for examining numeral specialization in the pITG. It is possible, however, that even if the strengths of responses to different category types are similar, the distributed response patterns (i.e., …

Expanding The Search For Genetic Biomarkers Of Parkinson's Disease Into The Living Brain, Simon M. Benoit, Hu Xu, Susanne Schmid, Roumiana Alexandrova, Gaganjot Kaur, Bhooma Thiruvahindrapuram, Sergio L. Pereira, Mandar Jog, Matthew O. Hebb

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Altered gene expression related to Parkinson's Disease (PD) has not been described in the living brain, yet this information may support novel discovery pertinent to disease pathophysiology and treatment. This study compared the transcriptome in brain biopsies obtained from living PD and Control patients. To evaluate the novelty of this data, a comprehensive literature review also compared differentially expressed gene (DEGs) identified in the current study with those reported in PD cadaveric brain and peripheral tissues. RNA was extracted from rapidly cryopreserved frontal lobe specimens collected from PD and Control patients undergoing neurosurgical procedures. RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) was performed and …

Prelimbic Input To Basolateral Amygdala Facilitates The Acquisition Of Trace Cued Fear Memory Under Weak Training Conditions, Adam Kirry, Robert C. Twining, Marieke R. Gilmartin

Biomedical Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

The ability to predict the occurrence of an aversive outcome based on available cues requires associative learning and plastic changes in the amygdala. When the predictive cue and aversive shock outcome are separated in time as in trace fear conditioning, additional circuitry is needed, including the prelimbic (PL) area of the prefrontal cortex. We have previously shown that neuronal firing in the PL during the trace interval separating the cue and shock is required for trace cued fear memory formation, but whether this mnemonic signal is conveyed to the amygdala is unknown. Here we show in males that silencing PL …

Indicators Of Mild Cognitive Impairment Associated With Language Processing And Production, Diana Julbe-Delgado

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The research purpose of the present study was to (1) examine cognitive-linguistic features related to processing and production across a series of tasks that are representative of everyday discourse and (2) compare older adults with and without mild cognitive impairment (MCI) across linguistic features. Twenty-seven participants, including 12 individuals with- and 15 individuals without MCI, were enrolled from a larger study (Hudak et al., 2019). Cognitive status was initially assessed as part of the larger study using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA; Nasreddine et al., 2005). Participants who scored ≤ 25 on the MoCA received a standardized neuropsychological evaluation and …