Neurosciences Commons^™

Extensive Behavioral Phenotyping Of Williams Syndrome Locus Relevant Mouse Models To Assess Contributions Of Oxytocin And Gtf2ird1, Kayla Rose Nygaard

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Williams Syndrome Critical Region (WSCR) at chromosome 7q11.23 provides a unique opportunity to untangle the relationship between genotype and phenotype in complex behaviors, from fear and anxiety to sociability and sensorimotor processing. Copy number variations (CNVs) in this region result in two syndromes, Williams Syndrome (WS) and Duplication 7q11.23 Syndrome (Dup7), which display phenotypes that may align, indicating a common disruption of a system, or diverge, reflecting an underlying gene dosage-dependent effect. While case studies of atypical deletions resulting in WS have implicated telomeric genes Gtf2ird1 and Gtf2i in the cognitive and behavioral profiles of WS, proving ...

Sik3 & Wnk Signals Through Fray To Regulate Glial K+ Buffering And Seizure Susceptibility In Drosophila Models Of Hyperexcitability, Lorenzo Laronn Lones

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

K+ homeostasis is important for maintaining healthy, physiological levels of neuronal activity. Glial cells play a central role in maintaining homeostatic ion gradients. In previous work from our lab, we unravel a glial K+ buffering program that is centered on a key kinase, salt-inducible kinase 3 (SIK3). SIK3-HDAC4 signaling in glial regulates the transcription of channels and transporters involved in water and ion transport. Defects in this pathway lead to peripheral nerve edema, neuronal hyperactivity, and seizure sensitivity. In an hyperexcitability mutant, eag Shaker, we show this pathway is downregulated and genetic activation suppresses seizure behavior. In this thesis, I ...

The Bidirectional Relationship Between The Circadian Clock And Alzheimer’S Disease, Patrick Sheehan

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The circadian clock and inflammation have a well-described bidirectional relationship in the peripheral immune system: the circadian clock regulates inflammatory responses, but inflammation also impacts oscillatory gene transcription controlled by the clock. The purpose of this thesis work is to understand if manipulation of the circadian clock can impact Alzheimer’s disease pathology, and if pathology itself can alter the circadian clock and its outputs. Here, I show that astrocyte-specific disruption of the circadian clock via deletion of the clock gene Bmal1 surprisingly decreased intra-neuronal protein pathologies. Further investigation found that deletion of the circadian clock resulted in a transcriptomic ...

Living With Brain Cancer: From Researcher To Patient, Stephen P. Chelko, Daniel L. Fay Ph.D.

Patient Experience Journal

As an academic researcher, my work-life revolves around testing the efficaciousness of pharmaceutical drugs on the prevention of cardiac dysfunction, arrhythmias, and sudden cardiac death in animal models of heart disease. I never thought I would go from someone studying a life-threatening disease to a patient living with one in twenty-four hours. Yet, that transformation occurred October 8, 2019. I was just appointed to Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (JHUSOM), yet after sitting for my professional headshot I had a grand mal seizure. I cannot recall this event, but I bit the tip of my tongue ...

Possibilities Of Using Neuromarketing Tools In The Hospitality Industry, Serdar Bulbul

University of South Florida (USF) M3 Publishing

Usage of neurosciences in social sciences has emerged new perspectives and methods for marketing and tourism marketing. Neuro-marketing and Neuro-tourism are some of those concepts. In the hospitality industry, marketing is in a complex state because the decision-making processes of the guests are unpredictable. For this reason, hotel managements are unable to satisfy guest’s requests and demands with traditional methods. Therefore, Neuro-marketing has importance because this new way of marketing has a high chance to replace currently used methods. Usage of Neuro-marketing in the hospitality industry could satisfy the guest requests while generating new marketing perspectives on hotel management ...

Does Integrated Information Theory Make Testable Predictions About The Role Of Silent Neurons In Consciousness?, Gary Bartlett

All Faculty Scholarship for the College of Arts and Humanities

Tononi et al. claim that their integrated information theory of consciousness makes testable predictions. This article discusses two of the more startling predictions, which follow from the theory’s claim that conscious experiences are generated by inactive as well as active neurons. The first prediction is that a subject’s conscious experience at a time can be affected by the disabling of neurons that were already inactive at that time. The second is that even if a subject’s entire brain is “silent,” meaning that all of its neurons are inactive (but not disabled), the subject can still have a ...

Chronic Stress May Disrupt Covariant Fluctuations Of Vitamin D And Cortisol Plasma Levels And Placentome Formation In Pregnant Sheep During The Last Trimester: A Methodological Approach And Preliminary Report, Colin Wakefield

Tower Health Research Day

No abstract provided.

Thirty-Six Months Recurrence After Acute Ischemic Stroke Among Patients With Comorbid Type 2 Diabetes: A Nested Case-Control Study, Lu Wang, Hongyun Li, Jiheng Hao, Chao Liu, Jiyue Wang, Jingjun Feng, Zheng Guo, Yulu Zheng, Yanbo Zhang, Hongxiang Li, Liyong Zhang, Haifeng Hou

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

Background: Stroke patients have to face a high risk of recurrence, especially for those with comorbid T2DM, which usually lead to much more serious neurologic damage and an increased likelihood of death. This study aimed to explore determinants of stroke relapse among patients with comorbid T2DM. Materials and methods: We conducted this case-control study nested a prospective cohort of ischemic stroke (IS) with comorbid T2DM. During 36-month follow-up, the second stroke occurred in 84 diabetic IS patients who were allocated into the case group, while 613 patients without recurrence were the controls. We collected the demographic data, behaviors and habits ...

Long Term Outcomes After Norse: Treatment With Vagus Nerve Stimulation, Poul H. Espino, Jorge G. Burneo, Gaby Moscol, Teneille Gofton, Keith Macdougall, Ana Suller-Marti

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

New-onset refractory status epilepticus (NORSE) is associated with high mortality, therapy resistant epilepsy (TRE) and poor cognitive and functional outcomes. Some patients develop multifocal TRE, for whom surgery with a curative intention, is not an option. In these patients, Vagus Nerve Stimulation (VNS) is performed as a palliative treatment. We report the long-term outcomes regarding seizure frequency, functional and cognitive outcome, and effectiveness of VNS in two patients with TRE as a consequence of NORSE. In the first patient with cryptogenic NORSE, VNS implantation occurred during the acute stage, probably contributing to the cessation of her status epilepticus. However, in ...

No Statistical Learning Advantage In Children Over Adults: Evidence From Behaviour And Neural Entrainment., Christine N Moreau, Marc F. Joanisse, Jerrica Mulgrew, Laura J. Batterink

Brain and Mind Institute Researchers' Publications

Explicit recognition measures of statistical learning (SL) suggest that children and adults have similar linguistic SL abilities. However, explicit tasks recruit additional cognitive processes that are not directly relevant for SL and may thus underestimate children's true SL capacities. In contrast, implicit tasks and neural measures of SL should be less influenced by explicit, higher-level cognitive abilities and thus may be better suited to capturing developmental differences in SL. Here, we assessed SL to six minutes of an artificial language in English-speaking children (n = 56, 24 females, M = 9.98 years) and adults (n = 44; 31 females, M = 22 ...

Breakdown Of The Central Synapses In C9orf72-Linked Als/Ftd, Layla T. Ghaffari, Davide Trotti, Aaron R. Haeusler, Brigid K Jensen

Department of Neuroscience Faculty Papers

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive, fatal neurodegenerative disease that leads to the death of motor and cortical neurons. The clinical manifestations of ALS are heterogenous, and efficacious treatments to significantly slow the progression of the disease are lacking. Cortical hyper-excitability is observed pre-symptomatically across disease-causative genetic variants, as well as in the early stages of sporadic ALS, and typically precedes motor neuron involvement and overt neurodegeneration. The causes of cortical hyper-excitability are not yet fully understood but is mainly agreed to be an early event. The identification of the nucleotide repeat expansion (GGGGCC)n in the C9ORF72 gene ...

A Case Of Intractable Hyperhidrosis In Spinal Cord Injury: Role Of Stellate Ganglion Block, Soun Sheen, Hemant Kalia, Victoria Kung

Advances in Clinical Medical Research and Healthcare Delivery

Objective:

Autonomic dysreflexia (AD) in spinal cord injury (SCI) can present as hyperhidrosis due to sudomotor dysfunction. Hyperhidrosis can also occur without an identifiable etiology. There are no standard treatment guidelines for refractory hyperhidrosis in the setting of persistent noxious stimulation. Stellate ganglion blockade may prevent hyperhidrosis by inhibiting profound sympathetic surge and vasoconstriction.

Case:

58-year-old female with C7 ASIA-A quadriplegia was admitted to the hospital for episodes of profuse sweating in the setting of autonomic dysreflexia secondary to underlying T7-8 discitis. Despite conservative treatment of discitis, patient continued experience 50-60 episodes of profuse sweating daily. Stellate ganglion block was ...

The Differential Effects Of Acoustic Discriminations On Operant Learning Performance And Neurogenesis In Male And Female Zebra Finches, Kristena L. Newman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Adult neurogenesis, the creation of new neurons, occurs throughout the lifespan in most organisms. However, though neuronal proliferation occurs daily, most of these neurons do not survive to become incorporated into preexisting neural circuitry and become fully functioning neurons. In the mammalian brain, adult neurogenesis occurs within the hippocampus, a brain region known to be important in learning and memory. In rats, successful acquisition of certain learning tasks increased new neuron numbers when the learning was sufficiently challenging (Curlik and Shors, 2011). It has also been demonstrated that a spatial discrimination task requires new neurons when the discrimination is more ...

Notes From An Epicenter: Navigating Behavioral Clinical Trials On Autism Spectrum Disorder Amid The Covid-19 Pandemic In The Bronx, Alaina S Berruti, Roseann C Schaaf, Emily A Jones, Elizabeth Ridgway, Rachel L. Dumont, Benjamin E Leiby, Catherine Sancimino, Misung Yi, Sophie Molholm

Department of Occupational Therapy Faculty Papers

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic impacted nearly all facets of our daily lives, and clinical research was no exception. Here, we discuss the impact of the pandemic on our ongoing, three-arm randomized controlled trial (RCT) Sensory Integration Therapy (SIT) in Autism: Mechanisms and Effectiveness (NCT02536365), which investigates the immediate and sustained utility of SIT to strengthen functional daily-living skills and minimize the presence of maladaptive sensory behaviors in autistic children.

Main text: In this text, we detail how we navigated the unique challenges that the pandemic brought forth between the years 2020 and 2021, including the need to rapidly adjust our ...

Exploring The Structural And Functional Effects Of Pediatric Hydrocephalus On The Hippocampus, Lili Meng

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Hydrocephalus is one of the most common pediatric neurological problems that requires brain surgery in children. Pediatric hydrocephalus is characterized as an abnormal cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) buildup in the brain’s ventricles due to ineffective CSF reabsorption. When this fluid builds up in these cavities, it increases intracranial pressure and has a direct mass effect on the surrounding brain tissue and structures. Ultimately, various functions are affected including—but not limited to—vision, learning, memory, motor control, and hearing. Despite current literature suggesting that hydrocephalus may be associated with reduced hippocampal volume among rats and human adults, findings remain limited ...

In-Vitro Validation Of Intratumoral Modulation Therapy For Glioblastoma, Abdulla Elsaleh

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Intratumoral modulation therapy (IMT) is a novel electrotherapy used to treat brain cancer tumours using electric fields applied directly to the tumours through implanted electrodes. Previous research has validated IMT's effectiveness and provided computer-simulated optimizations for IMT electric fields. This work validates these computer optimizations in-vitro, using a PCB construct to deliver electric fields, and bioluminescence imaging to assess cell viability.

We found electric field strength to correlate with cell viability, and found that rotating (phase-shifted) electric fields did not produce significant improvements in IMT efficacy. Future work will investigate different IMT frequencies and other parameters, while providing biological ...

Auditory Sensory Filtering And Development In Children With Autism Spectrum Disorder, Hiruthika Ravi, Ala Seif, Ryan A. Stevenson

Undergraduate Student Research Internships Conference

Sensory filtering is the process of separating and distilling relevant sensory information from irrelevant, which in turn greatly reduces the quantity of sensory information that is fully processed and leads to significant increases in efficiency. Atypical sensory filtering can result in sensory hypo- or hypersensitivity — atypical sensory filtering and hypo/hypersensitivity have been observed in people with autism. Atypical sensory filtering contributes to canonical symptoms in Autism.

Sensory filtering can be measured in a few different ways, one of which is the Acoustic Startle Response (ASR). ASR is a reflexively produced muscular reaction to sudden auditory stimuli.

Our study aims ...

How Valuable Are Clinical Neuropsychological Assessments? A Meta-Analysis Of Neuropsychological Tests With Comparison To Common Medical Tests And Treatments, Murphy Harrell

Theses and Dissertations

There has been a general decrease in neuropsychological assessments at a time when medical diagnostic technology and treatments have expanded, leading to a faulty assumption that medical tests and healthcare treatments provide more reliable or valid data than psychological assessments. A landmark report from the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Psychological Assessment Work Group (PAWG) found that validity coefficients for many psychological tests were indistinguishable from those of medical tests (Meyer et al., 2001). An updated systematic review of the advancement in neuropsychological testing is essential to the continued advancement of the value of neuropsychological assessment in healthcare. This meta-analysis ...

Neuropsychology Of Primary Headache Disorders: A Meta-Analysis, Jasmin H. Pizer

Theses and Dissertations

Objective: A meta-analysis was conducted comparing cognition on clinical measures between individuals with a primary headache disorder (PHD) and healthy controls (HC). Data Selection: The University of South Alabama Libraries’ OneSearch and PubMed, with a uniform search-strategy, were used to locate original research comparing cognition between PHD and HC samples. Analyses were modeled under random effects. Hedge’s g was used as a bias-corrected estimate of effect size. Between-study heterogeneity was assessed using Cochran’s Q and I2. Data Synthesis: The initial search interval spanned inception–May 2021 and yielded 6692 results. Fifty-seven studies were analyzed. Meta-analysis showed a significant ...

Editorial: Glia-Mediated Neurotoxicity: Uncovering The Molecular Mechanisms, Amit K Srivastava, Barbara Lukomska, Lorraine Iacovitti

Farber Institute for Neurosciences Faculty Papers

No abstract provided.