NREM sleep improves behavioral performance by desynchronizing cortical circuits.

Sleep improves cognitive performance, yet little is known about the neural mechanisms of this improvement. We performed multielectrode recording in macaque visual and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex while animals performed a visual discrimination task before and after non-rapid eye movement (NREM) sleep. Although sleep induces synchronized fluctuations in population activity across cortical areas, the post-sleep population activity became more desynchronized relative to the pre-sleep state.

Separation surgery for metastatic spine tumors: How less became more.

Metastatic epidural spinal cord compression (MESCC) is an increasingly common clinical entity in cancer patients and is associated with significant morbidity and neurologic sequalae. Management of MESCC has undergone many significant paradigms shifts over the past 50 years and was at times managed exclusively with either surgery or radiation. Historically, aggressive surgical techniques to achieve en bloc or intralesional gross tumor resections were pursued but were associated with significant morbidity and poor tumor control rates when combined with conventional external beam radiation.

Safety and Efficacy of Surgical Implantation of Intrathecal Drug Delivery Pumps in Patients With Cancer With Refractory Pain.

Background And Objectives: Pain management in patients with cancer is a critical issue in oncology palliative care as clinicians aim to enhance quality of life and mitigate suffering. Most patients with cancer experience cancer-related pain, and 30%-40% of patients experience intractable pain despite maximal medical therapy. Intrathecal pain pumps (ITPs) have emerged as an option for achieving pain control in patients with cancer.

Visuo-frontal interactions during social learning in freely moving macaques.

Social interactions represent a ubiquitous aspect of our everyday life that we acquire by interpreting and responding to visual cues from conspecifics. However, despite the general acceptance of this view, how visual information is used to guide the decision to cooperate is unknown. Here, we wirelessly recorded the spiking activity of populations of neurons in the visual and prefrontal cortex in conjunction with wireless recordings of oculomotor events while freely moving macaques engaged in social cooperation.