Partial motor restoration upon administration of sildenafil: a case study.

Objective: Extensive research in the past decade has confirmed that the adult brain maintains some plasticity, including neural cell birth, migration and integration. Pre-clinical data strongly suggest that phosphodiesterase type 5 (PDE5) inhibitors promote cerebral neovascularization and neurogenesis. Animal studies of cerebral stroke suggest potential regenerative benefits following treatment with sildenafil citrate, a PDE5 inhibitor.

Pancreatitis associated with Strongyloides stercoralis infection in a patient chronically treated with corticosteroids.

Strongyloides stercoralis is a nematode that is a ubiquitous parasite in man. Life-threatening infections can occur in immunocompromised patients. We report a case of a 64-year-old Puerto Rican gentleman treated chronically with corticosteroids for reactive airway disease, who presented to our institution with pancreatitis complicated by sepsis and acute lung injury requiring mechanical ventilation.

Intact gram-negative Helicobacter pylori, Helicobacter felis, and Helicobacter hepaticus bacteria activate innate immunity via toll-like receptor 2 but not toll-like receptor 4.

Molecular and genetic studies have demonstrated that members of the Toll-like receptor (TLR) family are critical innate immune receptors. TLRs are recognition receptors for a diverse group of microbial ligands including bacteria, fungi, and viruses. This study demonstrates that distinct TLRs are responsible for the recognition of Helicobacter lipopolysaccharide (LPS) versus intact Helicobacter bacteria.

Putting names to faces: successful encoding of associative memories activates the anterior hippocampal formation.

The ability to form associations between previously unrelated items of information, such as names and faces, is an essential aspect of episodic memory function. The neural substrate that determines success vs. failure in learning these associations remains to be elucidated.

fMRI studies of associative encoding in young and elderly controls and mild Alzheimer's disease.

Objective: To examine alterations in patterns of brain activation seen in normal aging and in mild Alzheimer's disease by functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) during an associative encoding task.

Methods: 10 young controls, 10 elderly controls, and seven patients with mild Alzheimer's disease were studied using fMRI during a face-name association encoding task. The fMRI paradigm used a block design with three conditions: novel face-name pairs, repeated face-name pairs, and visual fixation.