Pleural Empyema in Six Horses: A Retrospective Case Series.

The clinical findings of pleural empyema in six horses were retrospectively studied using epidemiological, clinical pathology, microbiological, ultrasound, and post-mortem data. The clinical findings included tachycardia (n = 3/6), tachypnea (n = 6/6), cyanotic mucosa (n = 2/6), hyperthermia (n = 4/6), inspiratory or mixed dyspnea (n = 6/6), presence of fluid and/or pleural rubbing (n = 2/6) and coarse crackling on auscultation (n = 4/6). Horses demonstrated leukocytosis (16.

Safety of Cerebrolysin for Neurorecovery after Acute Ischemic Stroke: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Twelve Randomized-Controlled Trials.

We performed a systematic search and meta-analysis of available literature to determine the safety profile of Cerebrolysin in acute ischemic stroke, filling existing safety information gaps and inconsistent results. We searched EMBASE, PubMed, and Cochrane Databases of Systematic Reviews and Clinical Trials up to the end of February 2021. Data collection and analysis were conducted using methods described in the Cochrane Handbook for Systematic Reviews of Interventions.

Effect of high-frequency repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on brain excitability in severely brain-injured patients in minimally conscious or vegetative state.

Background: Repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) induces prolonged functional changes in the cerebral cortex in normal conditions and in altered states of consciousness. Its therapeutic effects have been variously documented.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate the reactivity of electroencephalography (EEG) and the clinical response in six severely brain-injured patients in an altered state of consciousness (minimally conscious state [MCS] or vegetative state [VS]).

The neurobiology of imagination: possible role of interaction-dominant dynamics and default mode network.

This work aims at presenting some hypotheses about the potential neurobiological substrate of imagery and imagination. For the present purposes, we will define imagery as the production of mental images associated with previous percepts, and imagination as the faculty of forming mental images of a novel character relating to something that has never been actually experienced by the subject but at a great extent emerges from his inner world. The two processes appear intimately related and imagery can arguably be considered as one of the main components of imagination.

Aspects on the integrative actions of the brain from neural networks to "brain-body medicine".

"Integration" is a key term in describing how nervous system can perform high level functions. A first condition to have "integration" is obviously the presence of efficient "communication processes" among the parts that have to be combined into the harmonious whole. In this respect, two types of communication processes, called wiring transmission (WT) and volume transmission (VT), respectively, were found to play a major role in the nervous system, allowing the exchange of signals not only between neurons, but rather among all cell types present in the central nervous system (CNS).

Mild traumatic brain injury.

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is among the most frequent neurological disorders. Of all TBIs 90% are considered mild with an annual incidence of 100–300/100.000.

Pachymeningeal involvement in POEMS syndrome: MRI and histopathological study.

Polyneuropathy, organomegaly, endocrinopathy, monoclonal gammopathy, skin changes (POEMS) syndrome is a rare plasma cell disease. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) seems to play a pathogenic role. Peripheral neuropathy is the main neurological feature.

Vascular cognitive disorder. A biological and clinical overview.

Although vascular dementia (VaD) represents the second most common cause of dementia after Alzheimer's disease (AD) in the elderly, and is referred as the "silent epidemic of the twenty-first century", there is still a controversy on terminology, classification and diagnostic criteria of VaD. The diagnosis of VaD resides in clinical criteria determining a cognitive impairment, the presence of cerebrovascular disease and, only in the case of post-stroke dementia or multi-infarct dementia, a temporal relationship between these. The search for a reliable biochemical tests helping in the diagnosis of VaD is so far not available.

Behavioral and neurophysiological effects of repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation on the minimally conscious state: a case study.

Background: In 2007, Schiff et al reported a patient in a minimally conscious state (MCS) who responded to deep brain stimulation (DBS), but clinicians cannot predict which patients might respond prior to the implantation of electrodes.

Methods: A patient in a MCS for 5 years participated in an ABA design alternating between repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and peripheral nerve stimulation. rTMS (condition A) involved the delivery of 10 trains of 100 stimuli at 20 Hz using a stimulator with a 70-mm figure-of-eight coil to elicit a contraction of the abductor pollicis brevis.

C2C12 myoblasts release micro-vesicles containing mtDNA and proteins involved in signal transduction.

Micro-vesicles can be released by different cell types and operate as 'safe containers' mediating inter-cellular communication. In this work we investigated whether cultured myoblasts could release exosomes. The reported data demonstrate, for the first time, that C2C12 myoblasts release micro-vesicles as shown by the presence of two exosome markers (Tsg101 and Alix proteins).

Anti-ganglioside autoantibodies in type 1 diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease that is accompanied by an immune response against pancreatic cells. As gangliosides are expressed in both peripheral nerves and pancreatic cells, we examined the possibility of correlation between type 1 diabetes, anti-ganglioside autoantibodies, and neuropathy. Fifty diabetic patients and 30 controls with other autoimmune diseases underwent neurological examination and search for antibodies to gangliosides, glutamic acid decarboxylase (GAD(65)), and tyrosine phosphatase (IA2).

NF-kappaB dimers in the regulation of neuronal survival.

Nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) is a dimeric transcription factor composed of five members, p50, RelA/p65, c-Rel, RelB, and p52 that can diversely combine to form the active transcriptional dimer. NF-kappaB controls the expression of genes that regulate a broad range of biological processes in the central nervous system such as synaptic plasticity, neurogenesis, and differentiation. Although NF-kappaB is essential for neuron survival and its activation may protect neurons against oxidative-stresses or ischemia-induced neurodegeneration, NF-kappaB activation can contribute to inflammatory reactions and apoptotic cell death after brain injury and stroke.

Neurolupus is associated with anti-ribosomal P protein antibodies: an inception cohort study.

Objective: Serum IgG antibodies (Abs) to phosphorylated ribosomal (P ribosomal) proteins have been inconsistently associated with neuropsychiatric manifestations in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Our aim was to assess whether serum IgG Abs to ribosomal P proteins are associated with neuropsychiatric SLE.

Patients And Methods: We examined an inception cohort of 219 SLE patients.

NF-kappaB p50/RelA and c-Rel-containing dimers: opposite regulators of neuron vulnerability to ischaemia.

Diverse nuclear factor-kappaB subunits mediate opposite effects of extracellular signals on neuron survival. While RelA is activated by neurotoxic agents, c-Rel drives neuroprotective effects. In brain ischaemia RelA and p50 factors rapidly activate, but how they associate with c-Rel to form active dimers and contribute to the changes in diverse dimer activation for neuron susceptibility is unknown.

Post-ischemic brain damage: NF-kappaB dimer heterogeneity as a molecular determinant of neuron vulnerability.

Nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) has been proposed to serve a dual function as a regulator of neuron survival in pathological conditions associated with neurodegeneration. NF-kappaB is a transcription family of factors comprising five different proteins, namely p50, RelA/p65, c-Rel, RelB and p52, which can combine differently to form active dimers in response to external stimuli. Recent research shows that diverse NF-kappaB dimers lead to cell death or cell survival in neurons exposed to ischemic injury.

Alpha-synuclein aggregation and cell death triggered by energy deprivation and dopamine overload are counteracted by D2/D3 receptor activation.

Progressive degeneration and intraneuronal Lewy bodies made of filamentous alpha-synuclein (alpha-syn) in dopaminergic cells of the nigrostriatal system are characteristics of Parkinson's disease (PD). Glucose uptake is reduced in some of the brain regions affected by PD neurodegenerative changes. Defects in mitochondrial activity in the substantia nigra have been observed in the brain of patients affected by PD and substantia nigra lesions can induce the onset of a secondary parkinsonism.

Neurological complications of celiac disease and autoimmune mechanisms: a prospective study.

Humoral immune mechanisms may have a role in the neurological complications of celiac disease (CD). We assessed 71 CD patients for neurologic manifestations and presence of serum antibodies to neural antigens. Sixteen patients (22.

Extensive cortical inflammation is associated with epilepsy in multiple sclerosis.

Introduction: Epilepsy is three to six times more frequent in MS than in the general population. Previous studies based on conventional magnetic resonance (MR) imaging have suggested a possible correlation between cortical inflammatory pathology and epileptic seizures. However, pure intracortical lesions (ICLs) are unlikely to be demonstrated with conventional MR.

Targeting IKK2 by pharmacological inhibitor AS602868 prevents excitotoxic injury to neurons and oligodendrocytes.

Among the diverse mechanisms involved in the pathophysiology of post-ischemic and post-traumatic injuries, excitotoxicity and nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) activation through induction of IkappaB kinase (IKK) complex have a primary role. We investigated the effects of the selective inhibitor of the IKK2 subunit, the anilinopyrimidine derivative AS602868, on excitotoxic injury produced in rat organotypic hippocampal slices and cerebellar primary neurons. Brief exposure to N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) induces astrocyte reactivity, neuron cell death and oligodendrocyte degeneration in hippocampal slices.

Antibodies to muscle and ganglionic acetylcholine receptors (AchR) in celiac disease.

Background: About 2.5% of patients with idiopathic peripheral neuropathy or idiopathic dysautonomia have underlying celiac disease (CD). Antibodies to ganglioside have been reported in CD patients with neuropathy.

Activation of NF-kappaB p65/c-Rel dimer is associated with neuroprotection elicited by mGlu5 receptor agonists against MPP(+) toxicity in SK-N-SH cells.

Nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) is a transcriptional regulator of neuron survival eliciting diverse effects according to the specific composition of its active dimer. While p50/p65 mediates neurodegenerative events, c-Rel-containing dimers promote cell survival. Stimulation of metabotropic glutamate receptors type 5 (mGlu5) reduces neuron vulnerability to amyloid-beta through activation of anti-apoptotic, c-Rel-dependent transcription of Bcl-X(L) pathway.