Disruption of basal forebrain cholinergic neurons after traumatic brain injury does not compromise environmental enrichment-mediated cognitive benefits.

Environmental enrichment (EE) attenuates traumatic brain injury (TBI)-induced loss of medial septal (MS) choline acetyltransferase (ChAT)-cells and enhances spatial learning and memory vs. standard (STD) housing. Whether basal forebrain cholinergic neurons (BFCNs) are important mediators of EE-induced benefits after TBI requires further investigation.

Systemic administration of donepezil attenuates the efficacy of environmental enrichment on neurobehavioral outcome after experimental traumatic brain injury.

Background: The acetylcholinesterase inhibitor (AChEI) donepezil (DON) is recommended as a potential treatment for cognition after clinical traumatic brain injury (TBI) and therefore may be prescribed as an adjunct therapy during rehabilitation. However, a dose-response study evaluating DON after a controlled cortical impact (CCI) injury in rats did not reveal cognitive benefits.

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the effect of DON on behavioral and histological outcome when combined with environmental enrichment (EE), a preclinical model of neurorehabilitation.

Firing of an Implantable Cardiac Defibrillator: An Unusual Presentation of Celiac Crisis.

Celiac crisis, an atypical presentation of celiac disease, is characterized by acute diarrhea and severe metabolic derangements. This diagnosis is often missed in the differential of acute diarrheal illness. Our patient is a 69-year-old man who presented with ICD firing and was found to have profound metabolic derangements.

Repair of the UL21 locus in pseudorabies virus Bartha enhances the kinetics of retrograde, transneuronal infection in vitro and in vivo.

The attenuated pseudorabies virus (PRV) strain Bartha contains several characterized mutations that affect its virulence and ability to spread through neural circuits. This strain contains a small genomic deletion that abrogates anterograde spread and is widely used as a retrograde-restricted neural circuit tracer. Previous studies showed that the retrograde-directed spread of PRV Bartha is slower than that of wild-type PRV.

Simultaneous occurrence of primary sclerosing cholangitis and autoimmune chronic active hepatitis in a patient with ulcerative colitis.

The simultaneous occurrence of PSC and autoimmune CAH in a patient with ulcerative colitis is described. Although each disease is a well documented complication of UC, their combination has never been reported. The diagnosis of PSC was based on typical findings on ERCP and liver biopsy and that of CAH was based on typical findings on liver biopsy supported by HLA typings and a remarkable response to a combination of glucocorticoids and azathioprine.

Disease recurrence and rejection following liver transplantation for autoimmune chronic active liver disease.

Autoimmune chronic active liver disease (ACALD), a major indication for liver transplantation, is associated strongly with antigenic determinants HLA-B8 and DR3. A retrospective analysis of 43 patients who underwent OLTx for putative ACALD and who, as well as their tissue organ donors, were typed, was performed. Disease recurrence and graft rejection episodes were determined by chart review and histopathological review of all material available.

Reversal of andro-genetic alopecia in a male. A spironolactone effect?

This 73-year-old white male has been bald since the age of 28. He developed nonA-nonB-induced liver cirrhosis and had been treated with spironolactone for the last 6 years. For the last 3 months, his hair had started to regrow over the scalp.

Microcirculatory stasis precedes tissue necrosis in ethanol-induced gastric mucosal injury in the rat.

The relation of blood flow stasis to the development of unequivocal histologic necrosis (loss of parietal cells from the column of contiguous cells) in ethanol-induced gastric mucosal injury was studied in anesthetized rats. The most rapid vascular change that occurred when the gastric mucosa was exposed to 100% ethanol was a severe segmental constriction of the large submucosal venules. At 22 sec, the average venular diameter was 52.