Neurology Commons^™

A Dynamical Systems Approach To Characterizing Brain–Body Interactions During Movement: Challenges, Interpretations, And Recommendations, Derek C. Monroe, Nathaniel T. Berry, Peter C. Fino, Christopher K. Rhea

Rehabilitation Sciences Faculty Publications

Brain–body interactions (BBIs) have been the focus of intense scrutiny since the inception of the scientific method, playing a foundational role in the earliest debates over the philosophy of science. Contemporary investigations of BBIs to elucidate the neural principles of motor control have benefited from advances in neuroimaging, device engineering, and signal processing. However, these studies generally suffer from two major limitations. First, they rely on interpretations of ‘brain’ activity that are behavioral in nature, rather than neuroanatomical or biophysical. Second, they employ methodological approaches that are inconsistent with a dynamical systems approach to neuromotor control. These limitations represent a …

Targeting Aav Vectors To The Central Nervous System By Engineering Capsid-Receptor Interactions That Enable Crossing Of The Blood-Brain Barrier, Qin Huang, Albert T Chen, Ken Y Chan, Hikari Sorensen, Andrew J Barry, Bahar Azari, Qingxia Zheng, Thomas Beddow, Binhui Zhao, Isabelle G Tobey, Cynthia Moncada-Reid, Fatma-Elzahraa Eid, Christopher J Walkey, M Cecilia Ljungberg, William R Lagor, Jason D Heaney, Yujia A Chan, Benjamin E Deverman

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Viruses have evolved the ability to bind and enter cells through interactions with a wide variety of cell macromolecules. We engineered peptide-modified adeno-associated virus (AAV) capsids that transduce the brain through the introduction of de novo interactions with 2 proteins expressed on the mouse blood-brain barrier (BBB), LY6A or LY6C1. The in vivo tropisms of these capsids are predictable as they are dependent on the cell- and strain-specific expression of their target protein. This approach generated hundreds of capsids with dramatically enhanced central nervous system (CNS) tropisms within a single round of screening in vitro and secondary validation in vivo …

Biological Mechanism Of Sex Difference In Stroke Manifestation And Outcomes, Wi-Sun Ryu, Jinyong Chung, Dawid Schellingerhout, Sang-Wuk Jeong, Hang-Rai Kim, Jung E Park, Beom Joon Kim, Joon-Tae Kim, Keun-Sik Hong, Kyungbok Lee, Tai Hwan Park, Sang-Soon Park, Jong-Moo Park, Kyusik Kang, Yong-Jin Cho, Hong-Kyun Park, Byung-Chul Lee, Kyung-Ho Yu, Mi Sun Oh, Soo Joo Lee, Jae Guk Kim, Jae-Kwan Cha, Dae-Hyun Kim, Jun Lee, Moon-Ku Han, Man Seok Park, Kang-Ho Choi, Juneyoung Lee, Hee-Joon Bae, Dong-Eog Kim

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Female patients tend to have greater disability and worse long-term outcomes after stroke than male patients. To date, the biological basis of sex difference in ischemic stroke remains unclear. We aimed to (1) assess sex differences in clinical manifestation and outcomes of acute ischemic stroke and (2) investigate whether the sex disparity is due to different infarct locations or different impacts of infarct in the same location.

METHODS: This MRI-based multicenter study included 6,464 consecutive patients with acute ischemic stroke (<7 >days) from 11 centers in South Korea (May 2011-January 2013). Multivariable statistical and brain mapping methods …

A Novel Comorbidity Score For Older Adults With Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma: The 3-Factor Risk Estimate Scale, Max J Gordon, Zhigang Duan, Hui Zhao, Loretta Nastoupil, Alessandra Ferrajoli, Alexey V Danilov, Sharon H Giordano

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

For patients with non-Hodgkin lymphoma (NHL), formal comorbidity assessment is recommended but is rarely conducted in routine practice. A simple, validated measure of comorbidities that standardizes their assessment could improve adherence to guidelines. We previously constructed the 3-factor risk estimate scale (TRES) among patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). Here, we investigated TRES in multiple NHL subtypes. In the surveillance, epidemiology, and end results-Medicare database, patients with NHL diagnosed from 2008 to 2017 were included. Upper gastrointestinal, endocrine, and vascular comorbidities were identified using ICD-9/ICD-10 codes to assign TRES scores. Patient characteristic distributions were compared using χ2 or t test. …

Declining Autozygosity Over Time: An Exploration In Over 1 Million Individuals From Three Diverse Cohorts, Sarah M C Colbert, Frank R Wendt, Gita A Pathak, Drew A Helmer, Elizabeth R Hauser, Matthew C Keller, Renato Polimanti, Emma C Johnson

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Previous studies have hypothesized that autozygosity is decreasing over generational time. However, these studies were limited to relatively small samples (n < 11,000) lacking in diversity, which may limit the generalizability of their findings. We present data that partially support this hypothesis from three large cohorts of diverse ancestries, two from the US (All of Us, n = 82,474; the Million Veteran Program, n = 622,497) and one from the UK (UK Biobank, n = 380,899). Our results from a mixed-effect meta-analysis demonstrate an overall trend of decreasing autozygosity over generational time (meta-analyzed slope = -0.029, SE = 0.009, p = 6.03e-4). On the basis of our estimates, we would predict F

Aibp Regulates Trpv1 Activation In Chemotherapy-Induced Peripheral Neuropathy By Controlling Lipid Raft Dynamics And Proximity To Tlr4 In Dorsal Root Ganglion Neurons, Juliana M Navia-Pelaez, Julia Borges Paes Lemes, Leonardo Gonzalez, Lauriane Delay, Luciano Dos Santos Aggum Capettini, Jenny W Lu, Gilson Gonçalves Dos Santos, Ann M Gregus, Patrick M Dougherty, Tony L Yaksh, Yury I Miller

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Nociceptive afferent signaling evoked by inflammation and nerve injury is mediated by the opening of ligand-gated and voltage-gated receptors or channels localized to cholesterol-rich lipid raft membrane domains. Dorsal root ganglion (DRG) nociceptors express high levels of toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), which also localize to lipid rafts. Genetic deletion or pharmacologic blocking of TLR4 diminishes pain associated with chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN). In DRGs of mice with paclitaxel-induced CIPN, we analyzed DRG neuronal lipid rafts, expression of TLR4, activation of transient receptor potential cation channel subfamily V member 1 (TRPV1), and TLR4-TRPV1 interaction. Using proximity ligation assay, flow cytometry, and …

Examining The Use Of Expressive Arts Therapies In Neurorehabilitation Treatment Planning, Rebecca J. Horner

Expressive Therapies Capstone Theses

Those undergoing neurorehabilitation after stroke and traumatic brain injury report a diminished sense of overall wellness. This paper examines the conceivable benefits of introducing expressive arts therapies, which is the therapeutic use and combination of the visual arts, movement, drama, music, writing and other intermodal creative processes, into physical therapy and neurorehabilitation treatment planning. Expressive arts therapies have the capacity to engage with an individual’s physical, emotional, social and spiritual states concurrently. They simultaneously offer the ability to promote an increased sense of well-being, address mind-body disconnects, and process trauma non-verbally.

The sections of this narrative literature review focus on …

Differential Degeneration Of Neurons In A Mouse Model Of Canavan Disease, Vibha Chauhan, Quy Nguyen, Jeremy Francis, Paola Leone

Rowan-Virtua Research Day

Canavan disease (CD) is an inherited leukodystrophy caused by inactivating mutations to the glial enzyme aspartoacylase (ASPA). ASPA catabolizes neuronal N-acetylaspartate (NAA) into free acetate and aspartate and loss of this function results in the chronic elevation of non-catabolized NAA and the failure of developmental myelination. Elevated NAA is thought to cause damage to myelin and myelin-producing cells (oligodendrocytes, but the viability of neurons in CD is relatively unexplored. We compare here the progressive degeneration of neurons in two regions of the CD mouse brain, the thalamus and the cortex, distinguished by differing degrees of vacuolation, and show that the …

Association Of Mitochondrial Dna Copy Number With Brain Mri Markers And Cognitive Function: A Meta-Analysis Of Community-Based Cohorts, Yuankai Zhang, Xue Liu, Kerri L Wiggins, Nuzulul Kurniansyah, Xiuqing Guo, Amanda L Rodrigue, Wei Zhao, Lisa R Yanek, Scott M Ratliff, Achilleas Pitsillides, Juan Sebastian Aguirre Patiño, Tamar Sofer, Dan E Arking, Thomas R Austin, Alexa S Beiser, John Blangero, Eric Boerwinkle, Jan Bressler, Joanne E Curran, Lifang Hou, Timothy M Hughes, Sharon L R Kardia, Lenore J Launer, Daniel Levy, Thomas H Mosley, Ilya M Nasrallah, Stephen S Rich, Jerome I Rotter, Sudha Seshadri, Wassim Tarraf, Kevin A González, Vasan Ramachandran, Kristine Yaffe, Paul A Nyquist, Bruce M Psaty, Charles S Decarli, Jennifer A Smith, David C Glahn, Hector M González, Joshua C Bis, Myriam Fornage, Susan R Heckbert, Annette L Fitzpatrick, Chunyu Liu, Claudia L Satizabal

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Previous studies suggest that lower mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) copy number (CN) is associated with neurodegenerative diseases. However, whether mtDNA CN in whole blood is related to endophenotypes of Alzheimer disease (AD) and AD-related dementia (AD/ADRD) needs further investigation. We assessed the association of mtDNA CN with cognitive function and MRI measures in community-based samples of middle-aged to older adults.

METHODS: We included dementia-free participants from 9 diverse community-based cohorts with whole-genome sequencing in the Trans-Omics for Precision Medicine (TOPMed) program. Circulating mtDNA CN was estimated as twice the ratio of the average coverage of mtDNA to nuclear …

An Exploratory Simulation Study And Prediction Model On Human Brain Behavior And Activity Using An Integration Of Deep Neural Network And Biosensor Rabi Antenna, Nhat Truong Pham, Montree Bunruangses, Phichai Youplao, Anita Garhwal, Kanad Ray, Arup Roy, Sarawoot Boonkirdram, Preecha Yupapin, Muhammad Arif Jalil, Jalil Ali, Shamim Kaiser, Mufti Mahmud, Saurav Mallik, Zhongming Zhao

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The plasmonic antenna probe is constructed using a silver rod embedded in a modified Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) ad-drop filter. Rabi antennas are formed when space-time control reaches two levels of system oscillation and can be used as human brain sensor probes. Photonic neural networks are designed using brain-Rabi antenna communication, and transmissions are connected via neurons. Communication signals are carried by electron spin (up and down) and adjustable Rabi frequency. Hidden variables and deep brain signals can be obtained by external detection. A Rabi antenna has been developed by simulation using computer simulation technology (CST) software. Additionally, a communication device …

Targeting Metabolic Alterations Associated With Smooth Muscle Α-Actin Pathogenic Variant Attenuates Moyamoya-Like Cerebrovascular Disease, Anita Kaw

Dissertations and Theses (Open Access)

Heterozygous pathogenic variants in ACTA2, encoding smooth muscle α-actin (α-SMA), predispose to thoracic aortic aneurysms and dissections. De novo missense variants disrupting ACTA2 arginine 179 (p.Arg179) cause a multisystemic disease termed smooth muscle dysfunction syndrome (SMDS), which is characterized by early onset thoracic aortic disease and moyamoya disease-like (MMD) cerebrovascular disease. The MMD-like cerebrovascular disease in SMDS patients is marked by bilateral steno-occlusive lesions in the distal internal carotid arteries (ICAs) and their branches. To study the molecular mechanisms that underlie the ACTA2 p.Arg179 variants, a smooth muscle-specific Cre-lox knock-in mouse model of the heterozygous Acta2 R179C variant, termed …

Increased Risk Of Dementia In Patients With Atopic Dermatitis: A Nationwide Population-Based Cohort Study, Yu Ri Woo, Minah Cho, Kyung Do Han, Sang Hyun Cho, Ji Hyun Lee

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a chronic inflammatory skin disorder with bimodal incidence peaks in early childhood and middle-aged and older adults. Few studies have focused on the risk of dementia in AD. The aims of this study were to analyse the incidence, and risk factors for dementia in patients with AD. This nationwide population-based retrospective cohort study enrolled 38,391 adults ≥ 40 years of age with AD and 2,643,602 controls without AD from the Korean National Health Insurance System (NHIS) database from 2009 to 2016. The cumulative incidence probability of all-cause dementia, Alzheimer's disease, or vascular dementia at 8 years …

Resolution Of Cisplatin-Induced Fatigue Does Not Require Endogenous Interleukin-10 In Male Miceb, Kiersten Scott, Nabila Boukelmoune, Cullen Taniguchi, A Phillip West, Cobi J Heijnen, Robert Dantzer

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Based on previous results showing a pivotal role of endogenous interleukin-10 (IL-10) in the recovery from cisplatin-induced peripheral neuropathy, the present experiments were carried out to determine whether this cytokine plays any role in the recovery from cisplatin-induced fatigue in male mice. Fatigue was measured by decreased voluntary wheel running in mice trained to run in a wheel in response to cisplatin. Mice were treated with a monoclonal neutralizing antibody (IL-10na) administered intranasally during the recovery period to neutralize endogenous IL-10. In the first experiment, mice were treated with cisplatin (2.83 mg/kg/day) for five days and IL-10na (12 μg/day for …

The Potential Regulation Of A-To-I Rna Editing On Genes In Parkinson's Disease, Sijia Wu, Qiuping Xue, Xinyu Qin, Xiaoming Wu, Pora Kim, Jacqueline Chyr, Xiaobo Zhou, Liyu Huang

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Parkinson's disease (PD) is characterized by dopaminergic neurodegeneration and an abnormal accumulation of α-synuclein aggregates. A number of genetic factors have been shown to increase the risk of PD. Exploring the underlying molecular mechanisms that mediate PD's transcriptomic diversity can help us understand neurodegenerative pathogenesis. In this study, we identified 9897 A-to-I RNA editing events associated with 6286 genes across 372 PD patients. Of them, 72 RNA editing events altered miRNA binding sites and this may directly affect miRNA regulations of their host genes. However, RNA editing effects on the miRNA regulation of genes are more complex. They can (1) …

Acute Necrotizing Encephalopathy In An Infant: A Case Report, Elisamia Ngowi, Zeenat Juneja, Jacqueline Gabone, Maria Bulimba, Mohamedraza Ebrahim, Yaser Abdallah

Paediatrics and Child Health, East Africa

Background: Acute necrotizing encephalopathy is a rare, severe neurological condition, characterized by symmetrical necrotic brain lesions affecting the thalamus, cerebral white matter, brain stem, and cerebellum. Diagnosis relies on characteristic clinical and radiological features.

Methodology: We describe a 10-month-old female infant presenting with multiple seizures following a brief febrile upper respiratory illness.

Findings: MRI of the brain showed bilateral symmetrical abnormal signal intensities involving both thalami and caudate nucleus, consistent with ANE. Management of ANE is symptom-related but high-dose steroids and IVIG have been used.

Conclusion: This case highlights the importance of recognizing ANE beyond its …

Enoxaparin May Be Associated With Lower Rates Of Mortality Than Unfractionated Heparin In Neurocritical And Surgical Patients, Sophie Samuel, Catherine To, Yaobin Ling, Kai Zhang, Xiaoqian Jiang, Elmer V Bernstam

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Unfractionated heparin (UFH) and low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) are often administered to prevent venous thromboembolism (VTE) in critically ill patients. However, the preferred prophylactic agent (UFH or LMWH) is not known. We compared the all-cause mortality rate in patients receiving UFH to LMWH for VTE prophylaxis. We conducted a retrospective propensity score adjusted analysis of patients admitted to neuro-critical, surgical, or medical intensive care units. Patients were included if they were screened with venous duplex ultrasonography or computed tomography angiography for detection of VTE. The primary outcome was all-cause mortality. Secondary outcomes included the prevalence of VTE, deep vein …

Pocketnet: A Smaller Neural Network For Medical Image Analysis, Adrian Celaya, Jonas A Actor, Rajarajesawari Muthusivarajan, Evan Gates, Caroline Chung, Dawid Schellingerhout, Beatrice Riviere, David Fuentes

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Medical imaging deep learning models are often large and complex, requiring specialized hardware to train and evaluate these models. To address such issues, we propose the PocketNet paradigm to reduce the size of deep learning models by throttling the growth of the number of channels in convolutional neural networks. We demonstrate that, for a range of segmentation and classification tasks, PocketNet architectures produce results comparable to that of conventional neural networks while reducing the number of parameters by multiple orders of magnitude, using up to 90% less GPU memory, and speeding up training times by up to 40%, thereby allowing …

Hyperphosphorylated Tau In Mesial Temporal Lobe Epilepsy: A Neuropathological And Cognitive Study, Eliana C B Toscano, Érica L M Vieira, Lea T Grinberg, Natalia P Rocha, Joseane A S Brant, Regina S Paradela, Alexandre V Giannetti, Claudia K Suemoto, Renata E P Leite, Ricardo Nitrini, Milene A Rachid, Antonio L Teixeira

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) often courses with cognitive deficits, but its underlying neuronal basis remains unclear. Confluent data suggest that epilepsy share pathophysiological mechanisms with neurodegenerative diseases. However, as most studies analyze subjects 60 years old and older, it is challenging to rule out that neurodegenerative changes arise from age-related mechanisms rather than epilepsy in these individuals. To fill this gap, we conducted a neuropathological investigation of the hippocampal formation of 22 adults with mesial TLE and 20 age- and sex-matched controls (both younger than 60 years). Moreover, we interrogated the relationship between these neuropathological metrics and cognitive performance. Hippocampal …

Genetic Correlations Between Alzheimer’S Disease And Gut Microbiome Genera, Davis Cammann, Yimei Lu, Melika J Cummings, Mark L Zhang, Joan Manuel Cue, Jenifer Do, Jeffrey Ebersole, Xiangning Chen, Edwin C Oh, Jeffrey L Cummings, Jingchun Chen

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

A growing body of evidence suggests that dysbiosis of the human gut microbiota is associated with neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's disease (AD) via neuroinflammatory processes across the microbiota-gut-brain axis. The gut microbiota affects brain health through the secretion of toxins and short-chain fatty acids, which modulates gut permeability and numerous immune functions. Observational studies indicate that AD patients have reduced microbiome diversity, which could contribute to the pathogenesis of the disease. Uncovering the genetic basis of microbial abundance and its effect on AD could suggest lifestyle changes that may reduce an individual's risk for the disease. Using the largest genome-wide …

Acupuncture Treatment For Post-Stroke Depression: Intestinal Microbiota And Its Role, Hailun Jiang, Shizhe Deng, Jieying Zhang, Junjie Chen, Boxuan Li, Weiming Zhu, Menglong Zhang, Chao Zhang, Zhihong Meng

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Stroke-induced depression is a common complication and an important risk factor for disability. Besides psychiatric symptoms, depressed patients may also exhibit a variety of gastrointestinal symptoms, and even take gastrointestinal symptoms as the primary reason for medical treatment. It is well documented that stress may disrupt the balance of the gut microbiome in patients suffering from post-stroke depression (PSD), and that disruption of the gut microbiome is closely related to the severity of the condition in depressed patients. Therefore, maintaining the balance of intestinal microbiota can be the focus of research on the mechanism of acupuncture in the treatment of …

Use Of Dual Genomic Sequencing To Screen Mitochondrial Diseases In Pediatrics: A Retrospective Analysis, Teng-Hui Wu, Jing Peng, Li Yang, Yan-Hui Chen, Xiu-Lan Lu, Jiao-Tian Huang, Jie-Yu You, Wen-Xian Ou-Yang, Yue-Yu Sun, Yi-Nan Xue, Xiao Mao, Hui-Ming Yan, Rong-Na Ren, Jing Xie, Zhi-Heng Chen, Victor-Wei Zhang, Gui-Zhen Lyu, Fang He

Children’s Nutrition Research Center Staff Publications

Mitochondrial diseases (MDs) were a large group multisystem disorders, attributable in part to the dual genomic control. The advent of massively sequencing has improved diagnostic rates and speed, and was increasingly being used as a first-line diagnostic test. Paediatric patients (aged <  18 years) who underwent dual genomic sequencing were enrolled in this retrospective multicentre study. We evaluated the mitochondrial disease criteria (MDC) and molecular diagnostic yield of dual genomic sequencing. Causative variants were identified in 177 out of 503 (35.2%) patients using dual genomic sequencing. Forty-six patients (9.1%) had mitochondria-related variants, including 25 patients with nuclear DNA (nDNA) variants, 15 with mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variants, and six with dual genomic variants (MT-ND6 and POLG; MT-ND5 and RARS2; MT-TL1 and NARS2; MT-CO2 and NDUFS1; MT-CYB and SMARCA2; and CHRNA4 and MT-CO3). Based on the MDC, 15.2% of the patients with mitochondria-related variants were classified as "unlikely to have mitochondrial disorder". Moreover, 4.5% of the patients with non-mitochondria-related variants and 1.43% with negative genetic tests, were classified as "probably having mitochondrial disorder". Dual genomic sequencing in suspected MDs provided a more comprehensive and accurate diagnosis for pediatric patients, especially for patients with dual genomic variants.

Mglu5 Inhibition In The Basolateral Amygdala Prevents Estrous Cycle-Dependent Changes In Cue-Induced Cocaine Seeking, Claire M. Corbett, Emily N. D. Miller, Jessica A. Loweth

Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine Departmental Research

Drug associated cues are a common relapse trigger for individuals recovering from cocaine use disorder. Sex and ovarian hormones influence patterns of cocaine use and relapse vulnerability, with studies indicating that females show increased cue-induced craving and relapse vulnerability compared to males. In a rodent model of cocaine craving and relapse vulnerability, cue-induced cocaine seeking behavior following weeks of withdrawal from extended-access cocaine self-administration is higher in females in the estrus stage of the reproductive (estrous) cycle (Estrus Females) compared to both Males and females in all other stages (Non-Estrus Females). However, the neuronal substrates and cellular mechanisms underlying these …

Cervical Spinal Cord Injury Leads To Injury And Altered Metabolism In The Lungs, Emily E. Huffman, Brittany E. Dong, Harrison A. Clarke, Lyndsay E. A. Young, Matthew S. Gentry, Derek B. Allison, Ramon C. Sun, Christopher M. Waters, Warren J. Alilain

Saha Cardiovascular Research Center Faculty Publications

High-cervical spinal cord injury often disrupts respiratory motor pathways and disables breathing in the affected population. Moreover, cervically injured individuals are at risk for developing acute lung injury, which predicts substantial mortality rates. While the correlation between acute lung injury and spinal cord injury has been found in the clinical setting, the field lacks an animal model to interrogate the fundamental biology of this relationship. To begin to address this gap in knowledge, we performed an experimental cervical spinal cord injury (N = 18) alongside sham injury (N = 3) and naïve animals (N = 15) to assess lung injury …

Intellectual Disability Related To De Novo Germline Loss Of The Distal End Of The P-Arm Of Chromosome 17: A Case Report, Eden Pope, Matthew Huertas, Amar Paul, Braden Cunningham, Matthew Jennings, Ryan Perry, Stephanie Chavez, John A. Kriak, Kyle B. Bills, David W. Sant

Annual Research Symposium

Hypothesis/Purpose: In this report we present a case of a 20-year-old female with congenital intellectual disability, stunted growth, and hypothyroidism. Competitive genetic hybridization (CHG) revealed a loss of 17p13.3, and the deletion was not present in either parent. This deletion has not previously been characterized, but mutations on the p-arm of chromosome 17 are responsible for Miller-Dieker Syndrome and Isolated Lissencephaly Sequence, both of which share symptoms in common with the patient.

Methods: Peripheral mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were used for karyotyping and competitive genetic hybridization (CHG). Bioinformatic analysis was carried out using the Genome Data Viewer (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/genome/gdv).

Results: Karyotype was …

Response Assessment In Pediatric Craniopharyngioma: Recommendations From The Response Assessment In Pediatric Neuro-Oncology (Rapno) Working Group, Lindsey M Hoffman, Camilo Jaimes, Kshitij Mankad, David M Mirsky, Benita Tamrazi, Christopher L Tinkle, Cassie Kline, Aparna Ramasubramanian, Fatema Malbari, Ross Mangum, Holly Lindsay, Vincent Horne, David J Daniels, Sameer Keole, David R Grosshans, Tina Young Poussaint, Roger Packer, Sergio Cavalheiro, Brigitte Bison, Todd C Hankinson, Hermann L Müller, Ute Bartels, Katherine E Warren, Murali Chintagumpala

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Craniopharyngioma is a histologically benign tumor of the suprasellar region for which survival is excellent but quality of life is often poor secondary to functional deficits from tumor and treatment. Standard therapy consists of maximal safe resection with or without radiation therapy. Few prospective trials have been performed, and response assessment has not been standardized.

METHODS: The Response Assessment in Pediatric Neuro-Oncology (RAPNO) committee devised consensus guidelines to assess craniopharyngioma response prospectively.

RESULTS: Magnetic resonance imaging is the recommended radiologic modality for baseline and follow-up assessments. Radiologic response is defined by 2-dimensional measurements of both solid and cystic tumor …

The Gdf15-Gfral Axis Mediates Chemotherapy-Induced Fatigue In Mice, Brandon Chelette, Chinenye L Chidomere, Robert Dantzer

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

Cancer-related fatigue is defined as a distressing persistent subjective sense of physical, emotional, and/or cognitive tiredness or exhaustion related to cancer or cancer treatment that is not proportional to recent activity and that interferes with usual functioning. This form of fatigue is highly prevalent during cancer treatment and in some patients, it can persist for years after treatment has ended. An understanding of the mechanisms that drive cancer-related fatigue is still lacking, which hampers the identification of effective treatment options. Various chemotherapeutic agents including cisplatin are known to induce mitochondrial dysfunction and this effect is known to mediate chemotherapy-induced peripheral …

Genetics And Pathogenesis Of Parkinson's Syndrome, Hui Ye, Laurie A Robak, Meigen Yu, Matthew Cykowski, Joshua M Shulman

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Parkinson's disease (PD) is clinically, pathologically, and genetically heterogeneous, resisting distillation to a single, cohesive disorder. Instead, each affected individual develops a virtually unique form of Parkinson's syndrome. Clinical manifestations consist of variable motor and nonmotor features, and myriad overlaps are recognized with other neurodegenerative conditions. Although most commonly characterized by alpha-synuclein protein pathology throughout the central and peripheral nervous systems, the distribution varies and other pathologies commonly modify PD or trigger similar manifestations. Nearly all PD is genetically influenced. More than 100 genes or genetic loci have been identified, and most cases likely arise from interactions among many common …

Circadian Rhythms As Modulators Of Brain Health During Development And Throughout Aging, Rachel Van Drunen, Kristin Eckel-Mahan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The circadian clock plays a prominent role in neurons during development and throughout aging. This review covers topics pertinent to the role of 24-h rhythms in neuronal development and function, and their tendency to decline with aging. Pharmacological or behavioral modification that augment the function of our internal clock may be central to decline of cognitive disease and to future chronotherapy for aging-related diseases of the central nervous system.

A Low-Fat/Sucrose Diet Rich In Complex Carbohydrates Reverses High-Fat/Sucrose Diet-Induced Corneal Dysregulation, Prince K Akowuah, Carolina Lema, Rolando E Rumbaut, Alan R Burns

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

High-fat/sucrose diet feeding in mice causes loss of corneal nerve function and impairs corneal wound healing. While changing to a diet with a low fat/sugar composition and enrichments in complex carbohydrates mitigates the reduction in nerve function, it remains to be determined if it has an effect on corneal wound healing. In this study, 6-week-old C57BL/6 male mice were fed either a normal diet or a high-fat/sucrose diet for 20 weeks. A third group (diet reversal) was placed on a high-fat/sucrose diet for 10 weeks followed by a normal diet for an additional 10 weeks. A central corneal epithelial abrasion …

Parental Instincts: The Neurological And Biological Factors Associated With Parenthood, Jared Reeder

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The following project involves a systematic review of the scientific literature on neural and biological changes of mothers and fathers in parenthood. Until very recently, little scientific research was devoted to studying how bearing children affects a man or woman’s long-term biology. Over the last twenty years, studies of neuroplastic changes in new mothers show specific neural mechanisms responsible for altering the behaviors of mothers during and after pregnancy. These changes in neuroplasticity alter behavior in such a way that led to mothers requiring less sleep and being more prone to hearing the cries of their children. In addition to …