Publications by authors named "Brakel K"

Depression and cognitive deficits present at higher rates among people with spinal cord injury (SCI) compared to the general population, yet these SCI comorbidities are poorly addressed. Sex and age appear to play roles in depression incidence, but consensus on the direction of their effects is limited. Systemic and cortical inflammation and disruptions in hippocampal neurogenesis have been identified as potential treatment targets, but a comprehensive understanding of these mechanisms remains elusive.

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Spontaneous intraocular tumors are rarely reported in rabbits, despite their widespread use as laboratory animals. We describe two cases of intraocular neuroectodermal embryonal tumors, formerly primitive neuroectodermal tumors, in young rabbits. Histologically, both tumors exhibited prominent rosette or pseudorosettes, consistent with the histomorphology seen in human tumors.

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Opioids are among the most effective analgesics for the management of pain in the acute phase of a spinal cord injury (SCI), and approximately 80% of patients are treated with morphine in the first 24 h following SCI. We have found that morphine treatment in the first 7 days after SCI increases symptoms of pain at 42 days post-injury and undermines the recovery of locomotor function in a rodent model. Prior research has implicated microglia/macrophages in opioid-induced hyperalgesia and the development of neuropathic pain.

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Respiratory syncytial virus is an important cause of pneumonia in children, the elderly, and immunocompromised individuals. The attachment (G) protein of RSV generates neutralizing antibodies in natural RSV infection which correlate with protection against disease. The immune response to RSV is typically short-lived, which may be related to the heavy glycosylation of RSV-G.

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Objective: The current study aimed to assess trends, associated factors and the changes in these factors for exclusive breast-feeding (EBF) over the past two decades in Lao People's Democratic Republic (Lao PDR).

Design: The current study used a quasi-longitudinal design. Descriptive analyses were done with correction for complex survey design.

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Background: Lumbosacral transitional vertebra can result in an anomalous number of lumbar vertebrae associated with wrong level treatment. The primary aim of this study was to characterize discrepancies between reported referring levels and levels from MRI reports with treated levels. The secondary aim was to analyze interobserver variability between a pain physician and a radiologist when determining levels and classifying lumbosacral transitional vertebrae.

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Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is one of the most important causes of respiratory disease in infants, immunocompromised individuals, and the elderly. Natural infection does not result in long-term immunity, and there is no licensed vaccine. Vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) is a commonly used vaccine vector platform against infectious diseases, and has been used as a vector for a licensed Ebola vaccine.

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Following spinal cord injury, 18-26% of patients are diagnosed with depressive disorders, compared to 8-12% in the general population. As increased inflammation strongly correlates with depression in both animal and human studies, we hypothesized that the immune activation inherent to SCI could increase depression-like behavior. Thus, we proposed that reducing immune activation with minocycline, a microglial inhibitor, would decrease depression-like behavior following injury.

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Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) has been reported to use CX3CR1 as a receptor on cultured primary human airway epithelial cultures. To evaluate CX3CR1 as the receptor for RSV , we used the cotton rat animal model because of its high permissiveness for RSV infection. Sequencing the cotton rat CX3CR1 gene revealed 91% amino acid similarity to human CX3CR1.

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Plantar cutaneous feedback plays an important role in stable and efficient gait, by modulating the activity of ankle dorsi- and plantar-flexor muscles. However, central and peripheral nervous system trauma often decrease plantar cutaneous feedback and/or interneuronal excitability in processing the plantar cutaneous feedback. In this study, we tested a fully implantable neural recording and stimulation system augmenting plantar cutaneous feedback.

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Ankle plantarflexion plays an important role in forward propulsion and anterior-posterior balance during locomotion. This component of gait is often critically impacted by neurotraumas and neurological diseases. We hypothesized that augmenting plantar cutaneous feedback, via closed-loop distal-tibial nerve stimulation, could increase ankle plantarflexion during walking.

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Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) is a major cause of lower respiratory tract (LRT) infections, with increased severity in high-risk human populations, such as infants, the immunocompromised, and the elderly. Although the virus was identified more than 60 years ago, there is still no licensed vaccine available. Over the years, several vaccine delivery strategies have been evaluated.

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Spinal cord injury research in experimental animals aims to define mechanisms of tissue damage and identify interventions that can be translated into effective clinical therapies. Highly reliable models of injury and outcome measurement are essential to achieve these aims and avoid problems with reproducibility. Functional scoring is a critical component of outcome assessment and is currently commonly focused on open field locomotion (the "BBB score").

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Background: National and international guidelines lack consistency on how to screen metal-on-metal (MoM) hip arthroplasty patients for adverse reactions to metal debris (ARMD). Long-term outcomes of MoM hip arthroplasty are scarce, hindering further development of such guidelines. We present the clinical, radiological and ARMD status of 158 cases of hip resurfacing with >10 years follow-up.

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The incidence of depression is almost twice as high in the spinally injured population compared to the general population. While this incidence has long been attributed to the psychological, economic, and social burdens that accompany spinal cord injury (SCI), data from animal studies indicate that the biology of SCI may play an important role in the development of depression. Inflammation has been shown to impact stress response in rodents and humans, and inflammatory cytokines have been associated with depression for decades.

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In previous studies we have shown that approximately 1/3 of male Sprague Dawley rats develop symptoms of depression following a spinal cord injury (SCI). Using established behavioral tests to measure depression in rodents, we found that after SCI, subjects characterized as depressed had decreased sucrose preference, open field activity, social exploration, and burrowing behavior. As some of these tests of depression could be affected by the compromised motor function inherent to the SCI condition, the current study examined whether non-subjective, physiological differences in heart rate and heart rate variability were also associated with depression, as seen in humans.

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Two unrelated bovine beef calves, aged 2 mo and 3 mo, were presented to The Ohio State University Veterinary Medical Center because of scrotal swelling and abdominal distension. On postmortem examination, there was abundant peritoneal fluid and numerous small friable masses covering all peritoneal surfaces and extending into the scrotum via the tunica vaginalis, with no identifiable primary neoplasm. Based on light microscopy, differential diagnoses included malignant mesothelioma and anaplastic carcinoma.

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Case Summary: A 9-year-old spayed female domestic shorthair cat with clinical signs suggestive of chronic recurrent otitis media and recent seizures was presented with multifocal nervous system disease, including bilateral central and/or peripheral vestibular, cerebellar and forebrain deficits. Prior to presentation, there was inadequate improvement after 6 weeks of treatment for bilateral middle ear effusion from which a highly susceptible species was cultured. This was followed by the development of seizures.

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Background: Campylobacter jejuni is the leading antecedent infection to the autoimmune neuropathy Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), which is accompanied by an autoimmune anti-ganglioside antibody attack on peripheral nerves. Previously, we showed that contrasting immune responses mediate C. jejuni induced colitis and autoimmunity in interleukin-10 (IL-10)-deficient mice, dependent upon the infecting strain.

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Purpose: Recent studies of metal-on-metal (MoM) total hip arthroplasty (THA) using metal-artefact-reducing-sequence software for magnetic resonance Imaging (MARS-MRI) have revealed remarkable soft tissue pathology around the hip, usually referred to as pseudotumours. Case reports describe identical pathology in non-MoM THA, but descriptive overviews of MRI abnormalities in patients with non-MoM prosthesis are scarce.

Methods: A clinical study in a cohort of 50 ceramic-on-polyethylene (CoP) THA selected for high risk of peri-prosthetic pathology including 2 subgroups: (i) 40 patients with a high polyethylene (PE) wear rate (>0.

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The aim of this study was to establish the natural course of unrevised asymptomatic pseudotumours after metal-on-metal (MoM) hip resurfacing during a six- to 12-month follow-up period. We used repeated metal artefact reduction sequence (MARS)-magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), serum metal ion analysis and clinical examination to study 14 unrevised hips (mean patient age 52.7 years, 46 to 68, 5 female, 7 male) with a pseudotumour and 23 hips (mean patient age 52.

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Objective: Follow-up of pseudotumors observed with metal-artefact reducing sequence (MARS)-magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) following metal-on-metal total hip arthroplasty (MoMTHA) depends on how severe these pseudotumors are graded. Several pseudotumor grading systems for MARS-MRI have emerged but little is known of their validity. We studied the intra- and interobserver reliability of three different pseudotumor grading systems in a single cohort of MoMTHA.

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Peri-prosthetic pseudotumor formation can be a severe complication following Metal-on-Metal hip resurfacing arthroplasty (MoMHRA), with limited data on the optimal management of this complication. The aims of this study were (1) to evaluate the prevalence and severity of pseudotumors in a consecutive cohort of 248 MoMHRA (214 patients, mean follow-up 4.6 years, range: 1 - 8.

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We intensified our screening protocol for the presence of pseudotumours in a consecutive series of patients with a hip resurfacing arthroplasty (HRA), to establish whether we should be alert to the presence of 'silent' pseudotumours. Patients categorised with high risk (11 hips) and low risk (10 hips) for pseudotumour development and a control group (23 hips) were screened with metal artefact reduction sequence (MARS) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The Anderson classification to grade any metal-on-metal (MoM) disease present on MARS-MRI images was used.

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