Relationship between self-reported apathy and executive dysfunction in nondemented patients with Parkinson disease.

Objective: The prevalence of apathy was assessed across select cognitive and psychiatric variables in 32 nondemented patients with Parkinson disease (PD) and 29 demographically matched healthy control participants.

Background: Apathy is common in PD, although differentiating apathy from motor, cognitive, and/or other neuropsychiatric symptoms can be challenging. Previous studies have reported a positive relationship between apathy and cognitive impairment, particularly executive dysfunction.

Sensory deprivation alters aggrecan and perineuronal net expression in the mouse barrel cortex.

An important role for the neural extracellular matrix in modulating cortical activity-dependent synaptic plasticity has been established by a number of recent studies. However, identification of the critical molecular components of the neural matrix that mediate these processes is far from complete. Of particular interest is the perineuronal net (PN), an extracellular matrix component found surrounding the cell body and proximal neurites of a subset of neurons.

The sensorimotor slice.

The reciprocal connections between primary motor cortex (M1) and primary somatosensory cortex (S1) are hypothesized to play a role in an animal's ability to update its motor plan in response to changes in the sensory periphery. These interactions provide the sensory cortex with anticipatory knowledge of motor plans. In the mouse neocortex there are representations of the body surface within both M1 and S1.

Venom from the ectoparasitic wasp Nasonia vitripennis increases Na+ influx and activates phospholipase C and phospholipase A2 dependent signal transduction pathways in cultured insect cells.

The mode of action of venom from the ectoparasitic wasp Nasonia vitripennis in eliciting cell death was examined using an in vitro approach with BTI-TN-5B1-4 cells, and the cell responses were compared to those evoked by the extensively studied wasp toxin mastoparan. Wasp venom increased plasma membrane permeability to Na+, resulting in cellular swelling and death due to oncosis. When ouabain was used to disable Na+, K+-ATPases, the effects of venom were enhanced.