Synaptic homeostasis transiently leverages Hebbian mechanisms for a multiphasic response to inactivity.

Homeostatic regulation of synapses is vital for nervous system function and key to understanding a range of neurological conditions. Synaptic homeostasis is proposed to operate over hours to counteract the destabilizing influence of long-term potentiation (LTP) and long-term depression (LTD). The prevailing view holds that synaptic scaling is a slow first-order process that regulates postsynaptic glutamate receptors and fundamentally differs from LTP or LTD.

Excitation-transcription coupling, neuronal gene expression and synaptic plasticity.

Excitation-transcription coupling (E-TC) links synaptic and cellular activity to nuclear gene transcription. It is generally accepted that E-TC makes a crucial contribution to learning and memory through its role in underpinning long-lasting synaptic enhancement in late-phase long-term potentiation and has more recently been linked to late-phase long-term depression: both processes require de novo gene transcription, mRNA translation and protein synthesis. E-TC begins with the activation of glutamate-gated N-methyl-D-aspartate-type receptors and voltage-gated L-type Ca channels at the membrane and culminates in the activation of transcription factors in the nucleus.

Developing an Automated Registry (Autoregistry) of Spine Surgery Using Natural Language Processing and Health System Scale Databases.

Background And Objectives: Clinical registries are critical for modern surgery and underpin outcomes research, device monitoring, and trial development. However, existing approaches to registry construction are labor-intensive, costly, and prone to manual error. Natural language processing techniques combined with electronic health record (EHR) data sets can theoretically automate the construction and maintenance of registries.

Dorsal Root Ganglion Stimulation as a Salvage Therapy Following Failed Spinal Cord Stimulation.

Introduction: Spinal cord stimulation (SCS) can provide long-term pain relief for various chronic pain conditions, but some patients have no relief with trial stimulation or lose efficacy over time. To "salvage" relief in patients who do not respond or have lost efficacy, alternative stimulation paradigms or anatomical targets can be considered. Dorsal root ganglion stimulation (DRG-S) has a different mechanism of action and anatomical target than SCS.

Dorsal root ganglion stimulation device explantation: A multicenter pooled data analysis.

Introduction: Dorsal root ganglion stimulation (DRG-S) is a relatively new neuromodulation modality. Therefore, data on long-term device explantation rates is limited. This investigation aimed to assess DRG-S device explantation rates at long-term follow-up.

Allergy Considerations in Implanted Neuromodulation Devices.

Objectives: Allergic reactions are rare and poorly understood complications of neuromodulation device implantation. There are currently no guidelines for management of allergic reactions to these devices and their components. Here we review the published cases of allergic reactions to implanted neuromodulatory devices and leverage the experiences of other specialties that deal with similar complications to formulate recommendations for prevention and management.

Neuronal Inactivity Co-opts LTP Machinery to Drive Potassium Channel Splicing and Homeostatic Spike Widening.

Homeostasis of neural firing properties is important in stabilizing neuronal circuitry, but how such plasticity might depend on alternative splicing is not known. Here we report that chronic inactivity homeostatically increases action potential duration by changing alternative splicing of BK channels; this requires nuclear export of the splicing factor Nova-2. Inactivity and Nova-2 relocation were connected by a novel synapto-nuclear signaling pathway that surprisingly invoked mechanisms akin to Hebbian plasticity: Ca-permeable AMPA receptor upregulation, L-type Ca channel activation, enhanced spine Ca transients, nuclear translocation of a CaM shuttle, and nuclear CaMKIV activation.

Calmodulin shuttling mediates cytonuclear signaling to trigger experience-dependent transcription and memory.

Learning and memory depend on neuronal plasticity originating at the synapse and requiring nuclear gene expression to persist. However, how synapse-to-nucleus communication supports long-term plasticity and behavior has remained elusive. Among cytonuclear signaling proteins, γCaMKII stands out in its ability to rapidly shuttle Ca/CaM to the nucleus and thus activate CREB-dependent transcription.

No difference in antibody titers against xenotropic MLV related virus in prostate cancer cases and cancer-free controls.

New ELISA assays were developed to measure immunoreactivity for XMRV. Antibody titers were measured in a cohort of prostate cancer cases and cancer free controls from the central United States. No statistically significant differences were observed in immunoreactivity between cases and controls for either the XMRV-env or the XMRV-gag antigen.