Cervical disc herniation presenting with neck pain and contralateral symptoms: a case report.

Introduction: Cervical disc herniation often results in neck and arm pain in patients as a result of direct impingement of nerve roots and associated inflammatory processes. The clinical presentation usually corresponds with the side of herniation and ipsilateral symptoms predominate the clinical picture.

Case Presentation: A 35-year-old Caucasian man presented to our facility with neck pain and left-sided upper and lower extremity pain.

The C. U. Ariëns Kappers brain collection.

The C. U. Ariëns Kappers brain collection, at the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience in Amsterdam, is one of the largest and oldest of the world's catalogued repositories of specimens that reveal the course of brain evolution and the resulting panoply of neural biodiversity.

Diversity of spatial relationships of the claustrum and insula in branches of the mammalian radiation.

Using digital images of stained sections, we conducted a comparative survey of the visible gross morphology of the insular cortex and the claustrum in 26 mammalian species, representing most of the major mammalian radiations. We observed several features that are conserved in the mammals that we examined, including the absence of expansion of the insular cortex into out-branching lobes, the adherence of the claustrum to the fundus of the rhinal sulcus and to endopiriform cellular regions, and several features that varied, including the colocation of the insular and claustrocortex, the cortical origin of the operculations that cover the insula, the locations of large accumulations of claustral cells, and the presence of thin extensions of groups of claustral cells. We suggest that the final shape of the claustrum is highly influenced by the expansion of two medially adjacent subcortical structures, the striatum and amygdala.

Brain collections at the National Museum of Health and Medicine.

Owing in large part to the foresight and efforts of Wally Welker, the National Museum of Health and Medicine has become a major repository for collections of brain specimens vital to the study of neurobehavioral evolution. From its origins in the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology, with the collection of largely pathological specimens assembled by Paul Yakovlev, the museum has added to its resources four additional extensive collections, largely consisting of specimens acquired specifically for comparative and evolutionary studies: Welker's collection from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, John I. Johnson's collection from Michigan State University, the Adolf Meyer Collection from the Johns Hopkins University, and the Elizabeth Crosby collections from the University of Michigan.

Somatosensory nuclei of the manatee brainstem and thalamus.

Florida manatees have an extensive, well-developed system of vibrissae distributed over their entire bodies and especially concentrated on the face. Although behavioral and anatomical assessments support the manatee's reliance on somatosensation, a systematic analysis of the manatee thalamus and brainstem areas dedicated to tactile input has never been completed. Using histochemical and histological techniques (including stains for myelin, Nissl, cytochrome oxidase, and acetylcholinesterase), we characterized the relative size, extent, and specializations of somatosensory regions of the brainstem and thalamus.

Neuroanatomical structure of the spinner dolphin (Stenella longirostris orientalis) brain from magnetic resonance images.

High-resolution magnetic resonance (MR) images of the brain of an adult spinner dolphin (Stenella longirostris orientalis) were acquired in the coronal plane at 55 antero-posterior levels. From these scans a computer-generated set of resectioned virtual images in the two remaining orthogonal planes was constructed with the use of the VoxelView and VoxelMath (Vital Images, Inc.) programs.

Neuroanatomy of the harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) from magnetic resonance images.

Cetacean (dolphin, whale, and porpoise) brains are among the least-studied mammalian brains because of the formidability of collecting and histologically preparing such relatively rare and large specimens. Among cetaceans, there exist relatively few studies of the brain of the harbor porpoise (Phocoena phocoena). Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) offers a means of observing the internal structure of the brain when traditional histological procedures are not practical.

Neuroanatomy of the common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) as revealed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

In this study, magnetic resonance (MR) images of the brain of an adult common dolphin (Delphinus delphis) were acquired in the coronal plane at 66 antero-posterior levels. From these scans a computer-generated set of resectioned virtual images in orthogonal planes was constructed using the programs VoxelView and VoxelMath (Vital Images, Inc., Michigan State Univ.