Brain-wide neuronal circuit connectome of human glioblastoma.

Glioblastoma (GBM) infiltrates the brain and can be synaptically innervated by neurons, which drives tumor progression. Synaptic inputs onto GBM cells identified so far are largely short-range and glutamatergic. The extent of GBM integration into the brain-wide neuronal circuitry remains unclear.

Navigated Osteosynthesis for Unstable Atlas Fractures: Technical Note and Case Series.

Objective: Fractures of the atlas are typically considered stable or unstable based on the integrity of the transverse ligament. Whereas stable Jefferson burst fractures can be treated nonoperatively, unstable fractures with disruption of the transverse ligament often require surgical intervention. Atlas osteosynthesis has been proposed as a motion-preserving alternative to atlantoaxial fusion.

Dopaminergic Axon Tracts Within a Hyaluronic Acid Hydrogel Encasement to Restore the Nigrostriatal Pathway.

Parkinson's disease is characterized by motor deficits emerging from insufficient dopamine in the striatum after degeneration of dopaminergic neurons and their long-projecting axons comprising the nigrostriatal pathway. To address this, a tissue-engineered nigrostriatal pathway (TE-NSP) featuring a tubular hydrogel with a collagen/laminin core that encases aggregated dopaminergic neurons and their axonal tracts is developed. This engineered microtissue can be implanted to replace neurons and axons with fidelity to the lost pathway and thus may provide dopamine according to feedback from host circuitry.

The sixth sense: how much does interictal intracranial EEG add to determining the focality of epileptic networks?

Intracranial EEG is used for two main purposes: to determine (i) if epileptic networks are amenable to focal treatment and (ii) where to intervene. Currently, these questions are answered qualitatively and differently across centres. There is a need to quantify the focality of epileptic networks systematically, which may guide surgical decision-making, enable large-scale data analysis and facilitate multi-centre prospective clinical trials.

Return of intracranial beta oscillations and traveling waves with recovery from traumatic brain injury.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) remains a pervasive clinical problem associated with significant morbidity and mortality. However, TBI remains clinically and biophysically ill-defined, and prognosis remains difficult even with the standardization of clinical guidelines and advent of multimodality monitoring. Here we leverage a unique data set from TBI patients implanted with either intracranial strip electrodes during craniotomy or quad-lumen intracranial bolts with depth electrodes as part of routine clinical practice.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging-Guided Frameless Stereotactic Injections of the Bilateral Cerebellar Dentate Nuclei in Nonhuman Primates: Technical Note.

Background And Objectives: Nonhuman primates (NHPs) are important preclinical models for evaluating therapeutics because of their anatomophysiological similarities to humans, and can be especially useful for testing new delivery targets. With the growing promise of cell and gene therapies for the treatment of neurological diseases, it is important to ensure the accurate and safe delivery of these agents to target structures in the brain. However, a standard guideline or method has not been developed for stereotactic targeting in NHPs.

Cell Replacement Therapy for Brain Repair: Recent Progress and Remaining Challenges for Treating Parkinson's Disease and Cortical Injury.

Neural transplantation represents a promising approach to repairing damaged brain circuitry. Cellular grafts have been shown to promote functional recovery through "bystander effects" and other indirect mechanisms. However, extensive brain lesions may require direct neuronal replacement to achieve meaningful restoration of function.

CHEX-seq detects single-cell genomic single-stranded DNA with catalytical potential.

Genomic DNA (gDNA) undergoes structural interconversion between single- and double-stranded states during transcription, DNA repair and replication, which is critical for cellular homeostasis. We describe "CHEX-seq" which identifies the single-stranded DNA (ssDNA) in situ in individual cells. CHEX-seq uses 3'-terminal blocked, light-activatable probes to prime the copying of ssDNA into complementary DNA that is sequenced, thereby reporting the genome-wide single-stranded chromatin landscape.

Odor representations from the two nostrils are temporally segregated in human piriform cortex.

The human olfactory system has two discrete channels of sensory input, arising from olfactory epithelia housed in the left and right nostrils. Here, we asked whether the primary olfactory cortex (piriform cortex [PC]) encodes odor information arising from the two nostrils as integrated or distinct stimuli. We recorded intracranial electroencephalogram (iEEG) signals directly from PC while human subjects participated in an odor identification task where odors were delivered to the left, right, or both nostrils.

Neurological Surgery Residency Programs in the United States: A National Cross-Sectional Survey.

Background And Objectives: The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education has approved 117 neurological surgery residency programs which develop and educate neurosurgical trainees. We present the current landscape of neurosurgical training in the United States by examining multiple aspects of neurological surgery residencies in the 2022-2023 academic year and investigate the impact of program structure on resident academic productivity.

Methods: Demographic data were collected from publicly available websites and reports from the National Resident Match Program.

Protocol for human brain organoid transplantation into a rat visual cortex to model neural repair.

Human stem-cell-derived organoids represent a promising substrate for transplantation-based neural repair. Here, we describe a protocol for transplanting forebrain organoids into an injured adult rat visual cortex. This protocol includes surgical details for craniectomy, aspiration injury, organoid transplantation, and cranioplasty.

Quantifying interictal intracranial EEG to predict focal epilepsy.

Introduction: Intracranial EEG (IEEG) is used for 2 main purposes, to determine: (1) if epileptic networks are amenable to focal treatment and (2) where to intervene. Currently these questions are answered qualitatively and sometimes differently across centers. There is a need for objective, standardized methods to guide surgical decision making and to enable large scale data analysis across centers and prospective clinical trials.

Effect of Race and Insurance Type on Access to, and Outcomes of, Epilepsy Surgery: A Literature Review.

Background: Despite higher rates of seizure freedom, a large proportion of patients with medically refractory seizures who could benefit from epilepsy surgery do not receive surgical treatment. This literature review describes the association of race and insurance status with epilepsy surgery access and outcomes.

Methods: Searches in Scopus and PubMed databases related to disparities in epilepsy surgery were conducted.

Seizure onset patterns predict outcome after stereo-electroencephalography-guided laser amygdalohippocampotomy.

Objective: Stereotactic laser amygdalohippocampotomy (SLAH) is an appealing option for patients with temporal lobe epilepsy, who often require intracranial monitoring to confirm mesial temporal seizure onset. However, given limited spatial sampling, it is possible that stereotactic electroencephalography (stereo-EEG) may miss seizure onset elsewhere. We hypothesized that stereo-EEG seizure onset patterns (SOPs) may differentiate between primary onset and secondary spread and predict postoperative seizure control.

Neurosurgeons Deliver Similar Quality Care Regardless of First Assistant Type: Resident Physician versus Nonphysician Surgical Assistant.

Objective: There are limited data evaluating the outcomes of attending neurosurgeons with different types of first assistants. This study considers a common neurosurgical procedure (single-level, posterior-only lumbar fusion surgery) and examines whether attending surgeons deliver equal patient outcomes, regardless of the type of first assistant (resident physician vs. nonphysician surgical assistant [NPSA]), among otherwise exact-matched patients.

Odor representations from the two nostrils are temporally segregated in human piriform cortex.

The human olfactory system has two discrete channels of sensory input, arising from olfactory epithelia housed in the left and right nostrils. Here, we asked whether primary olfactory cortex (piriform cortex, PC) encodes odor information arising from the two nostrils as integrated or distinct stimuli. We recorded intracranial EEG signals directly from PC while human subjects participated in an odor identification task where odors were delivered to the left, right, or both nostrils.

Distinguishing Progression from Pseudoprogression in Glioblastoma Using F-Fluciclovine PET.

Accurate differentiation between tumor progression (TP) and pseudoprogression remains a critical unmet need in neurooncology. F-fluciclovine is a widely available synthetic amino acid PET radiotracer. In this study, we aimed to assess the value of F-fluciclovine PET for differentiating pseudoprogression from TP in a prospective cohort of patients with suspected radiographic recurrence of glioblastoma.

Axonal Tract Reconstruction Using a Tissue-Engineered Nigrostriatal Pathway in a Rat Model of Parkinson's Disease.

Parkinson's disease (PD) affects 1-2% of people over 65, causing significant morbidity across a progressive disease course. The classic PD motor deficits are caused by the degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNpc), resulting in the loss of their long-distance axonal projections that modulate striatal output. While contemporary treatments temporarily alleviate symptoms of this disconnection, there is no approach able to replace the nigrostriatal pathway.

Molecular landscapes of human hippocampal immature neurons across lifespan.

Immature dentate granule cells (imGCs) arising from adult hippocampal neurogenesis contribute to plasticity and unique brain functions in rodents and are dysregulated in multiple human neurological disorders. Little is known about the molecular characteristics of adult human hippocampal imGCs, and even their existence is under debate. Here we performed single-nucleus RNA sequencing aided by a validated machine learning-based analytic approach to identify imGCs and quantify their abundance in the human hippocampus at different stages across the lifespan.