Publications by authors named "S J Vannucci"

Background: The Vannucci procedure is widely used to model cerebral hypoxic-ischemic (HI) injury in neonatal rodents. Identifying minimally invasive biomarkers linked to brain injury would improve stratification of pups to experimental treatments. We hypothesized that extreme blood glucose (BG) and β-hydroxybutyrate (bHB) levels immediately after HI will correlate with severity of brain injury in this model.

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Perinatal hypoxic-ischemic (HI) brain damage has long been a major cause of acute mortality and chronic neurological morbidity in infants and children. Experimental animal models are essential to gain insights into the pathogenesis and management of perinatal HI brain damage. Prior to 1980, only large animal models were available.

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Asymmetry of the human brain is a well-known phenomenon, but the nature and extent of these differences throughout postnatal development have not been examined. Accordingly, linear measurements of the brains of 121 infants, children, and adolescents were determined to ascertain cerebral hemispheric asymmetries. Using multiple statistical methods, the results showed that: 1) the frontal lobe is wider on the right, while the occipital lobe is wider on the left; 2) there are no side to side differences in cerebral hemispheric length or height; and 3) there are no major sex differences.

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Brain development is an energy-expensive process. Although glucose is irreplaceable, the developing brain utilizes a variety of substrates such as lactate and the ketone bodies, β-hydroxybutyrate and acetoacetate, to produce energy and synthesize the structural components necessary for cerebral maturation. When oxygen and nutrient supplies to the brain are restricted, as in neonatal hypoxia-ischemia (HI), cerebral energy metabolism undergoes alterations in substrate use to preserve the production of adenosine triphosphate.

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Objective: Currently, there are several published articles detailing brain growth in modern humans. The contained databases were derived using disparate methodologies. The objective of the present investigation was to determine the level of agreement among several collections of immature modern human brains.

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