AAV Systems and Mouse Models for Investigating Ectopic Expression of Neurod1 in Transduced Cells at Subacute and Chronic Times Post-Ischemic Stroke.

Ectopic expression of neurogenic factors in vivo has emerged as a promising approach for replacing lost neurons in disease models. The use of neural basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factors via non-propagating virus-like particle systems, including retrovirus, lentivirus, and adeno-associated virus (AAV), has been extensively reported. For in vivo experiments, AAVs are increasingly used due to their low pathogenicity and potential for translatability.

Ectopic Expression of Neurod1 Is Sufficient for Functional Recovery following a Sensory-Motor Cortical Stroke.

Stroke is the leading cause of adult disability worldwide. The majority of stroke survivors are left with devastating functional impairments for which few treatment options exist. Recently, a number of studies have used ectopic expression of transcription factors that direct neuronal cell fate with the intention of converting astrocytes to neurons in various models of brain injury and disease.

Metformin treatment reduces inflammation, dysmyelination and disease severity in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune disease characterized by inflammation, death or damage of oligodendrocytes, and axonal degeneration. Current MS treatments are non-curative, associated with undesired side-effects, and expensive, highlighting the need for expanded therapeutic options for patients. There is great interest in developing interventions using drugs or therapeutics to reduce symptom onset and protect pre-existing myelin.

Feasibility and Challenges with Measuring Adverse Childhood Experiences in the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit.

Purpose: The Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) screening tool captures some experiences of childhood adversity, ranging from abuse to parental separation. Research has shown a correlation between ACEs and both adult and childhood disease. This study evaluated the feasibility of conducting ACE screening in the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and investigated associations with markers for severity of illness and utilization of resources.

Metformin Improves Functional Outcomes, Activates Neural Precursor Cells, and Modulates Microglia in a Sex-Dependent Manner After Spinal Cord Injury.

Spinal cord injury (SCI) results in devastating patient outcomes with few treatment options. A promising approach to improve outcomes following SCI involves the activation of endogenous precursor populations including neural stem and progenitor cells (NSPCs) which are located in the periventricular zone (PVZ), and oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) found throughout the parenchyma. In the adult spinal cord, resident NSPCs are primarily mitotically quiescent and aneurogenic, while OPCs contribute to ongoing oligodendrogenesis into adulthood.

Family-Centered Advance Care Planning: What Matters Most for Parents of Children with Rare Diseases.

Few studies have described the goals and wishes of parents caring for their children with rare diseases, specifically when children are unable to communicate their preferences directly. The purpose of this study was to describe the parent's understanding of their child's illness, goals of care, and what mattered most to their child from the parent's perspective. Six families completed a feasibility study of the FAmily CEntered (FACE)-Rare pACP intervention.

Toward a deeper understanding of food insecurity among college students: examining associations with emotional eating and biological sex.

Objective: The present study sought to extend our understanding of food insecurity among college students, including aims to replicate the high prevalence of food insecurity among college student samples, examine the food insecurity - emotional eating association, and determine whether biological sex moderates this association.

Participants: Participants included 232 students (82.3% female; 83.

"You Have Made All the Loving Choices": Good Parent Praise in Pediatric Critical Care Conferences.

Background And Objectives: Parents' ideas about what it means to be a "good parent" to their seriously ill child influence parental decision-making. Little is known about when, why, and how clinicians offer good-parent praise or how parents react. Our objective was to describe clinicians' spontaneous use of good-parent praise statements to parents during PICU care conferences and how parents respond.

Shared spiritual beliefs between adolescents with cancer and their families.

Background: FAmily CEntered (FACE) Advance Care Planning helps family decision makers to understand and honor patients' preferences for future health care, if patients cannot communicate. Spiritual well-being is a key domain of pediatric oncology care and an integral dimension of pediatric advance care planning.

Procedure: As part of four-site randomized controlled trial of FACE for teens with cancer, the functional assessment of chronic illness therapy-spiritual well-being- version 4 (FACIT-Sp-EX-4) was completed independently by 126 adolescents with cancer/family dyads.

Subacute metformin treatment reduces inflammation and improves functional outcome following neonatal hypoxia ischemia.

Hypoxia-ischemia (HI) injury is a leading cause of neonatal death and long-term disability, and existing treatment options for HI offer only modest benefit. Early intervention with the drug metformin has been shown to promote functional improvement in numerous rodent models of injury and has pleiotropic cellular effects in the brain. We have previously shown that 1 week of metformin treatment initiated 24 ​h after HI in neonatal mice resulted in improved motor and cognitive performance, activation of endogenous neural precursor cells (NPCs), and increased oligodendrogenesis.

Influence of metabolic syndrome on cerebral perfusion and cognition.

Vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) is associated with chronic cerebral hypoperfusion (CCH) and memory deficits, and often occurs concurrently with metabolic syndrome (MetS). Despite their common occurrence, it is unknown whether CCH and MetS act synergistically to exacerbate VCI-associated pathology. Here, using male Sprague-Dawley rats, we examined the effects of a clinically relevant model of adolescent-onset MetS and adult-onset CCH on neuro-vascular outcomes, combining a cafeteria diet with a 2-vessel occlusion (2VO) model.