Neurosciences Commons^™

Somatostatin Regulates Central Clock Function And Circadian Responses To Light, Deborah A.M. Joye, Kayla E. Rohr, Kimberlee Suenkens, Alissa Wuorinen, Thomas Inda, Madeline Arzbecker, Emma Mueller, Alec Huber, Harshida Pancholi, Murray G. Blackmore, Vania Carmona-Alcocer, Jennifer A. Evans

Biomedical Sciences Faculty Research and Publications

Daily and annual changes in light are processed by central clock circuits that control the timing of behavior and physiology. The suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) in the anterior hypothalamus processes daily photic inputs and encodes changes in day length (i.e., photoperiod), but the SCN circuits that regulate circadian and photoperiodic responses to light remain unclear. Somatostatin (SST) expression in the hypothalamus is modulated by photoperiod, but the role of SST in SCN responses to light has not been examined. Our results indicate that SST signaling regulates daily rhythms in behavior and SCN function in a manner influenced by sex. First, we …

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 …

European Society Of Paediatric Radiology Artificial Intelligence Taskforce: A New Taskforce For The Digital Age, Lene Bjerke Laborie, Jaishree Naidoo, Erika Pace, Pierluigi Ciet, Christine Eade, Matthias W Wagner, Thierry A G M Huisman, Susan C Shelmerdine

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

A new task force dedicated to artificial intelligence (AI) with respect to paediatric radiology was created in 2021 at the International Paediatric Radiology (IPR) meeting in Rome, Italy (a joint society meeting by the European Society of Pediatric Radiology [ESPR] and the Society for Pediatric Radiology [SPR]). The concept of a separate task force dedicated to AI was borne from an ESPR-led international survey of health care professionals' opinions, expectations and concerns regarding AI integration within children's imaging departments. In this survey, the majority (> 80%) of ESPR respondents supported the creation of a task force and helped define our …

Five-Year Survivors From Brain Metastases Treated With Stereotactic Radiosurgery: Biology, Improving Treatments, Or Just Plain Luck?, Jane B Pearce, Fang-Chi Hsu, Claire M Lanier, Christina K Cramer, Jimmy Ruiz, Hui-Wen Lo, Fei Xing, Margaret Smith, Wencheng Li, Christopher Whitlow, Jaclyn J White, Stephen B Tatter, Adrian W Laxton, Michael D Chan

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

BACKGROUND: Improvements in therapies have led to an increasing number of long-term survivors of brain metastases. The present series compares a population of 5-year survivors of brain metastases to a generalized brain metastases population to assess for factors attributable to long-term survival.

METHODS: A single institution retrospective review was performed to identify 5-year survivors of brain metastases who received stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS). A historical control population of 737 patients with brain metastases was used to assess similarities and differences between the long-term survivor population and the general population treated with SRS.

RESULTS: A total of 98 patients with brain metastases …

Wwox P47t Partial Loss-Of-Function Mutation Induces Epilepsy, Progressive Neuroinflammation, And Cerebellar Degeneration In Mice Phenocopying Human Scar12, Tabish Hussain, Kevin Sanchez, Jennifer Crayton, Dhurjhoti Saha, Collene Jeter, Yue Lu, Martin Abba, Ryan Seo, Jeffrey L Noebels, Laura Fonken, C Marcelo Aldaz

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

WWOX gene loss-of-function (LoF) has been associated with neuropathologies resulting in developmental, epileptic, and ataxic phenotypes of varying severity based on the level of WWOX dysfunction. WWOX gene biallelic germline variant p.Pro47Thr (P47T) has been causally associated with a new form of autosomal recessive cerebellar ataxia with epilepsy and intellectual disability (SCAR12, MIM:614322). This mutation affecting the WW1 protein binding domain of WWOX, impairs its interaction with canonical proline-proline-X-tyrosine motifs in partner proteins. We generated a mutant knock-in mouse model of Wwox P47T mutation that phenocopies human SCAR12. Wwox

Fit24, A Digital Health Intervention To Reduce Type 2 Diabetes Risk Among Hispanic Youth: Protocol For A Feasibility Pilot Study, Erica G Soltero, Callie Lopez, Salma M Musaad, Teresia M O'Connor, Debbe Thompson

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

BACKGROUND: Poor physical activity (PA) and sleep behaviors in Hispanic adolescents contributes to increased risk for type 2 diabetes. Commonly owned digital devices and services like smartphones and text-messaging are highly used among adolescents and are promising intervention tools for reaching this age group. Personal activity trackers assess activity and sleep, making them ideal tools for addressing these behaviors. We propose to examine the feasibility of a 12-week intervention that uses theoretically grounded text messages and a Fitbit device to improve PA and sleep among Hispanic adolescents with obesity, as compared to a wait-list control group with a Fitbit device …

Approaching Object Acceleration Differentially Affects The Predictions Of Neuronal Collision Avoidance Models, Fabrizio Gabbiani, Thomas Preuss, Richard B Dewell

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

The processing of visual information for collision avoidance has been investigated at the biophysical level in several model systems. In grasshoppers, the (so-called) [Formula: see text] model captures reasonably well the visual processing performed by an identified neuron called the lobular giant movement detector as it tracks approaching objects. Similar phenomenological models have been used to describe either the firing rate or the membrane potential of neurons responsible for visually guided collision avoidance in other animals. Specifically, in goldfish, the [Formula: see text] model has been proposed to describe the Mauthner cell, an identified neuron involved in startle escape responses. …

Correction To: Multiple Sclerosis And Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum Disorder: Onset Following Acute Covid-19 Infection, A Case Series, Mirla Avila, Yuanyuan Tan, Roberto Hernandez, Hafsa Zuberi, Victor M Rivera

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Correction to: Neurol Ther (2023) 12:319–327 10.1007/s40120-022-00418-9

In this article, the author name Yuanyuan Tan was incorrectly written as YuanYan Tan.

The original article has been corrected.

Even Heterozygous Loss Of Cdkn2a/B Greatly Accelerates Recurrence In Aggressive Meningioma, A Basit Khan, Collin W English, William C Chen, Prazwal Athukuri, James C Bayley, Vicky L Brandt, Arya Shetty, Caroline C Hadley, Abrar Choudhury, Hsiang-Chih Lu, Arif O Harmanci, Akdes S Harmanci, Stephen T Magill, David R Raleigh, Tiemo J Klisch, Akash J Patel

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

No abstract provided.

Antagonistic Pleiotropy In Alzheimer's Disease, Annie Hollis

Undergraduate Research Conference

Apolipoprotein E (APOE) ε4 allele has been linked with Alzheimer’s disease; specifically having two copies of the APOE ε4 allele greatly increases the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease in older age. Studies have attempted to relate an antagonistic pleiotropy hypothesis to this gene, i.e., the ε4 allele has positive effects on cognition and memory in early life and negative effects later in life. Many of these studies have had several limitations and conflicting results, such as testing adults in upper middle age or comparing the absence of the ε4 allele with the presence of at least one ε4 allele. Studies …

Phage Peptide Technology To Characterize Extracellular Vesicles In The Brain Tumors, Jadelynn Rudolf

Undergraduate Research Conference

Extracellular vesicles (EV) are lipid-bound containers derived from the endosomal membrane network or from the extracellular membrane of cells. They can carry proteins, lipids, miRNAs, and other molecules, and may be involved in intercellular communication via membrane-associated proteins. Glioblastomas (GBM) are aggressive cancers of the brain and spinal cord derived from astrocytes. Extracellular vesicles derived from glioblastomas can make their way through the blood brain barrier and find their way to different bodily fluids, and so could serve as biomarkers for this cancer. We have isolated phage-display peptides from a commercial library of random phage-displayed peptides that will bind glioblastoma …

Experiences And Perspectives Of Filipino Patients With Stroke On Physical Therapy Telerehabilitation: A Phenomenological Study Protocol, Christopher G. Cruz, Donald S. Lipardo, Nicole Trizia S. Esplana, Beatrice Ann Q. Loa, Micah L. Dismaya, Janelle Meara Y. Lau, Mirzi Chelsea R. Quizzagan, Arianne B. Cardenas, Adellene Therese S. Celso, Hanz Lauren A. Taguinod, Kristian Joseph C. Martin, Leonardo S. Uy Iii

Philippine Journal of Physical Therapy

Introduction: Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the Philippines, so these patients must continuously undergo rehabilitation for faster recovery. With the rise of COVID-19, physical therapy (PT) telerehabilitation (TR) has emerged, where services are provided outside the usual rehabilitation setting for patients with stroke to continue their treatment while reducing the risk of acquiring COVID-19. However, it is a relatively new service in the country; hence, further research is needed to identify the factors and needs of these patients during TR, which may help improve PT TR services.

Objective: This study aims to explore the experiences …

A Learned Map For Places And Concepts In The Human Medial Temporal Lobe, Nora A. Herweg, Lukas Kunz, Daniel Schonhaut, Armin Brandt, Paul A. Wanda, Ashwini D. Sharan, Michael R. Sperling, Andreas Schulze-Bonhage, Michael J. Kahana

Department of Neurology Faculty Papers

Distinct lines of research in both humans and animals point to a specific role of the hippocampus in both spatial and episodic memory function. The discovery of concept cells in the hippocampus and surrounding medial temporal lobe (MTL) regions suggests that the MTL maps physical and semantic spaces with a similar neural architecture. Here, we studied the emergence of such maps using MTL microwire recordings from 20 patients (9 female, 11 male) navigating a virtual environment featuring salient landmarks with established semantic meaning. We present several key findings. The array of local field potentials in the MTL contains sufficient information …

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 …

Interaction Analysis Of Ancestry-Enriched Variants With Apoe-Ɛ4 On Mci In The Study Of Latinos-Investigation Of Neurocognitive Aging, Einat Granot-Hershkovitz, Rui Xia, Yunju Yang, Brian Spitzer, Wassim Tarraf, Priscilla M Vásquez, Richard B Lipton, Martha Daviglus, Maria Argos, Jianwen Cai, Robert Kaplan, Myriam Fornage, Charles Decarli, Hector M Gonzalez, Tamar Sofer

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

APOE-ɛ4 risk on Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and Alzheimer's Disease (AD) differs between race/ethnic groups, presumably due to ancestral genomic background surrounding the APOE locus. We studied whether African and Amerindian ancestry-enriched genetic variants in the APOE region modify the effect of the APOE-ɛ4 alleles on Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) in Hispanics/Latinos. We defined African and Amerindian ancestry-enriched variants as those common in one Hispanic/Latino parental ancestry and rare in the other two. We identified such variants in the APOE region with a predicted moderate impact based on the SnpEff tool. We tested their interaction with APOE-ɛ4 on MCI in …

Single-Cell Rna Sequencing Reveals Immunosuppressive Myeloid Cell Diversity During Malignant Progression In A Murine Model Of Glioma, Sakthi Rajendran, Yang Hu, Alessandro Canella, Clayton Peterson, Amy Gross, Maren Cam, Matthew Nazzaro, Abigail Haffey, Akdes Serin-Harmanci, Rosario Distefano, Giovanni Nigita, Wesley Wang, Daniel Kreatsoulas, Zihai Li, Jesse A Sepeda, Andrew Sas, Mark E Hester, Katherine E Miller, Olivier Elemento, Ryan D Roberts, Eric C Holland, Ganesh Rao, Elaine R Mardis, Prajwal Rajappa

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

Recent studies have shown the importance of the dynamic tumor microenvironment (TME) in high-grade gliomas (HGGs). In particular, myeloid cells are known to mediate immunosuppression in glioma; however, it is still unclear if myeloid cells play a role in low-grade glioma (LGG) malignant progression. Here, we investigate the cellular heterogeneity of the TME using single-cell RNA sequencing in a murine glioma model that recapitulates the malignant progression of LGG to HGG. LGGs show increased infiltrating CD4+ and CD8+ T cells and natural killer (NK) cells in the TME, whereas HGGs abrogate this infiltration. Our study identifies distinct macrophage clusters in …

Bioinformatic Analysis Predicts Microglial Dysfunction In Murine Aging, Amadu Idrisa Jalloh

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Age-related disease is a growing concern as the global geriatric population increases. Neurodegenerative diseases scale unfavorably in prevalence with aging and inflict disastrous consequences to human health and well-being. These disorders are challenging to investigate because they arise from complex molecular origins. The neuroimmune system is a common factor among these diseases and microglia play an important role in maintaining homeostasis in the central nervous system. Aging progressively impairs microglia by decreasing their ability to adapt and respond to noxious environmental stimuli or injury. Microglial dysfunction aggravates neurodegenerative pathology when microglia are unable to regulate neuroinflammation effectively. We investigated aging …

Soybean Gmsaul1, A Bona Fide U-Box E3 Ligase, Negatively Regulates Immunity Likely Through Repressing The Activation Of Gmmpk3, Jun-Mei Li, Mei-Yan Ye, Chaofeng Wang, Xiao-Han Ma, Ni-Ni Wu, Chen-Li Zhong, Yanjun Zhang, Ninghui Cheng, Paul A Nakata, Lirong Zeng, Jian-Zhong Liu

Faculty, Staff and Students Publications

E3 ubiquitin ligases play important roles in plant immunity, but their role in soybean has not been investigated previously. Here, we used Bean pod mottle virus (BPMV)-mediated virus-induced gene silencing (VIGS) to investigate the function of GmSAUL1 (Senescence-Associated E3 Ubiquitin Ligase 1) homologs in soybean. When two closely related SAUL1 homologs were silenced simultaneously, the soybean plants displayed autoimmune phenotypes, which were significantly alleviated by high temperature, suggesting that GmSAUL1a/1b might be guarded by an R protein. Interestingly, silencing GmSAUL1a/1b resulted in the decreased activation of GmMPK6, but increased activation of GmMPK3 in response to flg22, …

Glia-Neuron Coupling Via A Bipartite Sialylation Pathway Promotes Neural Transmission And Stress Tolerance Iglia-Neuron Coupling Via A Bipartite Sialylation Pathway Promotes Neural Transmission And Stress Tolerance In Drosophila, Hilary Scott, Boris Novikov, Berrak Ugur, Brooke Allen, Ilya Mertsalov, Pedro Monagas-Valentin, Melissa Koff, Sarah Baas Robinson, Kazuhiro Aoki, Raisa Veizaj, Dirk J Lefeber, Michael Tiemeyer, Hugo Bellen, Vladislav Panin

Duncan NRI Faculty and Staff Publications

Modification by sialylated glycans can affect protein functions, underlying mechanisms that control animal development and physiology. Sialylation relies on a dedicated pathway involving evolutionarily conserved enzymes, including CMP-sialic acid synthetase (CSAS) and sialyltransferase (SiaT) that mediate the activation of sialic acid and its transfer onto glycan termini, respectively. In Drosophila, CSAS and DSiaT genes function in the nervous system, affecting neural transmission and excitability. We found that these genes function in different cells: the function of CSAS is restricted to glia, while DSiaT functions in neurons. This partition of the sialylation pathway allows for regulation of neural functions via …

Intravital Imaging Of Cellular Response Due To Traumatic Brain Injury Using Confocal Microscopy, Enoch G. Kim, Jeffrey Horbatiuk, Carolyn Harris

Medical Student Research Symposium

Introduction: Cellular reaction to traumatic brain injury is complex and involves considerable interactions between cells and reactivity to foreign bodies. Our objective was to assess neurons, microglia, astrocytes, and intracellular Ca²⁺ signaling by creating a novel confocal microscopy technique involving an air immersed lens that does not sacrifice resolution and limits signal attenuation. This study aimed to create a consistent dynamic methodology to observe the cortical cellular response using real-time intravital imaging as trauma is being induced.

Methods: Once surgical plane was achieved, rodent cortices were exposed via craniotomy and blunt insertion with a silicone shunt catheter into the …