A role for leucine-rich, glioma inactivated 1 in regulating pain sensitivity.

Neuronal hyperexcitability is a key driver of persistent pain states including neuropathic pain. Leucine-rich, glioma inactivated 1 (LGI1), is a secreted protein known to regulate excitability within the nervous system and is the target of autoantibodies from neuropathic pain patients. Therapies that block or reduce antibody levels are effective at relieving pain in these patients, suggesting that LGI1 has an important role in clinical pain.

Regional structural characterization of the brain of schizophrenia patients.

Rationale And Objectives: We study morphologic characteristics and age-related changes in patients with schizophrenia to investigate whether abnormal neurodevelopment and brain structure have a role in the pathophysiological course of this disease.

Materials And Methods: Our data consist of a set of cranial magnetic resonance images of 46 patients with schizophrenia and age- and sex-matched healthy controls. We deformed a template brain image to our set of subject images.

The South African stroke risk in general practice study.

Background: Incidence of stroke is increasing in sub-Saharan Africa and stroke prevention is an essential component of successful stroke management. General practitioners (GPs) are well placed to manage stroke risk factors. To design appropriate strategies for risk factor reduction we need to know the risk factor prevalence in each of the population groups attending GPs.

Characterization of brain plasticity in schizophrenia using template deformation.

Rationale And Objective: Abnormal neurodevelopment may play a role in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. We used deformation-based morphometry to examine voxel-wise age-related changes in patients with schizophrenia compared with healthy brains.

Materials And Methods: We used a set of skull-stripped brains from an image database of cranial magnetic resonance images.