Endothelial dysfunction and blood-brain barrier (BBB) leakage have been suggested as a fundamental role in the development of cerebral small vessel disease (SVD) pathology. However, the molecular and cellular mechanisms that link cerebral hypoxic hypoperfusion and BBB disruption remain elusive. Sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) regulates the BBB integrity by binding to its receptor isoform 1 (S1PR1) on endothelial cells.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTraumatic brain injury (TBI) continues to be a major cause of death and disability worldwide. This study assessed the effectiveness of non-invasive vagus nerve stimulation (nVNS) in reducing brain lesion volume and improving neurobehavioral performance in a rat model of TBI. Animals were randomized into three experimental groups: (1) TBI with sham stimulation treatment (Control), (2) TBI treated with five lower doses (2-min) nVNS, and (3) TBI treated with five higher doses (2 × 2-min) nVNS.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The awake craniotomy (AC) procedure allows for safe and maximal resection of brain tumors from highly eloquent regions. However, geriatric patients are often viewed as poor candidates for AC due to age and medical comorbidities. Frailty assessments gauge physiological reserve for surgery and are valuable tools for preoperative decision-making.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Objectives: Little is known about the effect of education or other indicators of cognitive reserve on the rate of reversion from mild cognitive impairment (MCI) to normal cognition (NC) or the relative rate (RR) of reversion from MCI to NC vs progression from MCI to dementia. Our objectives were to (1) estimate transition rates from MCI to NC and dementia and (2) determine the effect of age, , and indicators of cognitive reserve on the RR of reversion vs progression using multistate Markov modeling.
Methods: We estimated instantaneous transition rates between NC, MCI, and dementia after accounting for transition to death across up to 12 assessments in the Nun Study, a cohort study of religious sisters aged 75+ years.
Background: Signaling pathways mediated by microRNAs (miRNAs) have been identified as one of the mechanisms that regulate stroke progression and recovery. Recent investigations using stroke patient blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) demonstrated disease-specific alterations in miRNA expression. In this study, for the first time, we investigated miRNA expression signatures in freshly removed human stroke brain tissue.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Neurenteric cysts are rare congenital lesions of endodermal origin which result from the failure of the neurenteric canal to close during embryogenesis. The majority of neurenteric cysts occur in the spinal cord, though in rare instances can occur intracranially, typically in the posterior fossa anterior to the pontomedullary junction (80%) or in the supratentorial region adjacent to the frontal lobes (20%).
Case Description: We present the case of a 75-year-old woman with an extra-axial cystic lesion centered in the premedullary cistern causing brainstem compression.
Background: Animal models of stroke play a crucial role in determining the pathophysiology of stroke progression and assessment of any new therapeutic approaches. Transient middle cerebral artery occlusion (tMCAo) in rodent models are the most common site-specific type of ischemia because of their relevance to the clinical setting. Compared with the intraluminal filament technique for inducing tMCAo, the transfemoral approach using endovascular wires is relatively a new technique METHODS: Here we present the use of commercially available wires used for neuro-endovascular surgical procedures to induce tMCAo in rats via a transfemoral approach.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAtypical teratoid/rhabdoid tumors (AT/RTs) are highly malignant CNS neoplasms that typically occur in children <2 years of age. These are characterized by high-grade histologic features and mutations of the INI1/SMARCB1 gene readily detected by loss of expression by immunohistochemistry. Among adults, the majority of AT/RTs occurs in the cerebral hemispheres.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To assess the feasibility of inducing different severities of shock wave (SW)-induced traumatic brain injury (TBI) using lithotripsy.
Methods: Wistar rats (n = 36) were divided into 2 groups: group 1 (n = 20) received 5 SW pulses, and group 2 (n = 16) received 15 SWs pulses. The SW pulses were delivered to the right side of the frontal cortex.
J Pediatr Hematol Oncol
January 2019
Congenital brain tumors are rare, representing <2% of all childhood brain tumors. Of these, ependymoblastoma is a profoundly aggressive embryonal brain tumor that is included in the diagnostic entity known as an embryonal tumor with multilayered rosettes. This report of a congenital ependymoblastoma diagnosed at birth aims to highlight how much remains unknown about embryonal tumor with multilayered rosettes and the devastating prognosis of this condition.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWe present a longitudinal study of cerebral metabolism using [F]fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) in a rat model of shockwave-induced traumatic brain injury (SW-TBI). Anesthetized rats received 5 or 10 SW pulses to the right anterior lateral or dorsal frontal regions using SW lithotripsy. Animals were scanned for FDG uptake at baseline, 3 h post-injury, and 3 days post-injury, using a small animal PET/computed tomography (CT) scanner.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe optimal treatment of pituitary carcinomas (PC) is unknown. Treatment includes surgical resection, radiation, and more recently, temozolomide (TMZ). Pituitary adenomas have relatively high expression of vascular endothelial growth factor; therefore, bevacizumab, an antiangiogenic agent, has been used in a small number of aggressive or malignant pituitary tumors after recurrence.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIgG4-related hypophysitis is a rare, inflammatory process of the pituitary that mimics more commonly seen pituitary tumors. We report a case of IgG4-related hypophysitis in a 16-year-old female with diabetes insipidus who was found to have IgG4-related hypophysitis based on tissue diagnosis. This entity has not been previously described in a pediatric patient.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWhile several studies link the cell-surface marker CD44 to cancer progression, conflicting results show both positive and negative correlations with increased CD44 levels. Here, we demonstrate that the survival outcomes of genetically induced glioma-bearing mice and of high-grade human glioma patients are biphasically correlated with CD44 level, with the poorest outcomes occurring at intermediate levels. Furthermore, the high-CD44-expressing mesenchymal subtype exhibited a positive trend of survival with increased CD44 level.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Vasc Interv Neurol
October 2016
Background And Purpose: Chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) is a neurodegenerative disease occurring most commonly in athletes and is caused by repeated concussive or subconcussive blows to the head. The main purpose of this review is to evaluate the published literature on chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) in athletes participating in high-impact sports. In particular, we highlight the significance of concussive and subconcussive impacts in multiple sports, elucidate the differences between clinical/pathological features of CTE and related neurodegenerative diseases, and provide an explanation for the variation in clinical presentation between athletes of different sports.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFParagangliomas are rare neuroendocrine tumors that are mostly found in the head and neck. Even less common are gangliocytic variant paragangliomas of the spine for which there are only 7 other documented cases in the literature. We report a case of gangliocytic paraganglioma of the sacral spine in a 68-year-old man.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThrombin and membrane lipid peroxidation (MLP) have been implicated in various central nervous system (CNS) disorders from CNS trauma to stroke, Alzheimer's (AD) and Parkinson's (PD) diseases. Because thrombin also induces MLP in platelets and its involvement in neurodegenerative diseases we hypothesized that its deleterious effects might, in part, involve formation of MLP in neuronal cells. We previously showed that thrombin induced caspase-3 mediated apoptosis in motor neurons, via a proteinase-activated receptor (PAR1).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAim: To investigate the neuropathology of the brain in a rare case of remission following diagnosis of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML).
Methods: Consent from the family for an autopsy was obtained, clinical records and radiograms were retrieved. A complete autopsy was performed, with brain examination after fixation and coronal sectioning at 1 cm intervals.
Noonan syndrome (NS) is an autosomal dominant developmental disorder caused by mutations in the RAS-MAPK signaling pathway that is well known for its relationship with oncogenesis. An 8.1-fold increased risk of cancer in Noonan syndrome has been reported, including childhood leukemia and solid tumors.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBalamuthia mandrillaris is a free-living amoeba that can cause granulomatous amebic encephalitis (GAE). We report a case in an individual with a history of alcohol abuse, cocaine use, and ditch water exposure. This is the first reported case of GAE due to B mandrillaris in New Mexico.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBlast-induced traumatic brain injury (bTBI) is the "signature" injury of the recent Iraq and Afghanistan wars. Here, we present a novel method to induce bTBI using shock wave (SW) lithotripsy. Using a lithotripsy machine, Wistar rats (N = 70; 408.
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