Endovascular Treatment of Stroke Due to Medium-Vessel Occlusion.

Background: Whether the large effect size of endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) for stroke due to large-vessel occlusion applies to stroke due to medium-vessel occlusion is unclear.

Methods: In a multicenter, prospective, randomized, open-label trial with blinded outcome evaluation, we assigned patients with acute ischemic stroke due to medium-vessel occlusion who presented within 12 hours from the time that they were last known to be well and who had favorable baseline noninvasive brain imaging to receive EVT plus usual care or usual care alone. The primary outcome was the modified Rankin scale score (range, 0 [no symptoms] to 6 [death]) at 90 days, reported as the percentage of patients with a score of 0 or 1.

Cannabidiol enhances socially transmitted food preference: a role of acetylcholine in the mouse basal forebrain.

Rationale And Objective: Rodents acquire food information from their conspecifics and display a preference for the conspecifics' consumed food. This social learning of food information from others promotes the survival of a species, and it is introduced as the socially transmitted food preference (STFP) task. The cholinergic system in the basal forebrain plays a role in the acquisition of STFP.

Is improved access to magnetic resonance imaging imperative for optimal ischemic stroke care?

Neuroimaging, including CT and MRI, is integral to ischemic stroke (IS) treatment, management, and prevention. However, the use of MRI for IS patients is limited despite its potential to provide high-quality images that yield definitive information related to the management of IS. MRI is beneficial when the information provided by CT is insufficient for decisions related to the diagnosis, etiology, or treatment of IS.

Dose-dependent effect of retrieval-extinction on preventing reinstatement of cocaine-associated memory in mice.

As a noninvasive behavioral intervention, the retrieval-extinction (R-E) procedure has drawn much research attention for its capacity to target the reconsolidation of maladaptive memories. However, later research findings suggest that the cause and consequence of R-E may be more complicated than previously suggested. For example, the R-E procedure could increase an animal's motivation for drug-seeking under certain circumstances, and the reversed extinction-retrieval (E-R) procedure could also suppress the drug memory.

Mortality After Total Anterior Circulation Stroke: A 25-Year Observational Study.

Background: Mortality remains a substantial problem after acute ischemic stroke, despite advances in acute stroke treatment over the past three decades. Mortality is particularly high among patients with Total Anterior Circulation Stroke (TACS), generally representing patients with middle cerebral artery occlusions. Notably however, these patients also stand to benefit most from new therapies including endovascular thrombectomy (EVT).

Sex differences in cocaine-associated memory: The interplay between CB, mGluR5, and estradiol.

We know surprisingly little about the sex differences in the neurobiology of cocaine addiction, except females are more susceptible to the rewarding effects of cocaine than their male counterparts. Only a handful of recent studies have examined the neurobiology of cocaine-induced conditioned place preference (CPP) memory among female rodents. We contribute to this emerging line of research by documenting sex differences in cocaine-associated memory and illustrating the underlying signaling pathways in five experiments.

Rottlerin, BDNF, and the impairment of inhibitory avoidance memory.

Rationale And Objective: As a eukaryotic elongation factor 2 kinase (eEF2K) inhibitor and a mitochondrial uncoupler, oncologists have extensively studied rottlerin. Neuroscientists, however, have accumulated scarce data on the role of rottlerin in affective and cognitive functions. Only two prior studies have, respectively, documented its antidepressant-like effect and how it impairs psychostimulant-supported memory.

The facilitating effect of MK-801 on inhibitory avoidance memory via mTOR signaling in the mouse hippocampus.

Despite the widespread belief that MK-801 induces memory deficits associated with dementia and schizophrenia in animal models, data regarding the impairing effect of MK-801 on aversive memory have been inconclusive. In this study, we investigated the effect of MK-801 on multiple memory stages of the inhibitory avoidance task, as well as its underlying signaling mechanism in the mouse hippocampus. We successfully replicated a previous finding suggesting that systemic injection of MK-801 impaired memory acquisition, but we observed that an intrahippocampal infusion of MK-801 facilitated the same memory process.

Endovascular Thrombectomy for Stroke Effectiveness Study-An Audit From a Small Tertiary Care Center.

Purpose: Endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) treatment for acute ischemic stroke is now recommended as a standard of care. However, implementing EVT in routine clinical practice poses many challenges, even in countries with advanced health-care systems. The aim of the current study is to delineate if EVT at our institution is an effective treatment for acute ischemic stroke.

Case-Control Study of Endovascular Thrombectomy in a Canadian Stroke Center.

Background: Although the efficacy of endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) for acute ischemic stroke caused by intracranial anterior circulation large vessel occlusion (LVO) is proven, demonstration of local effectiveness is critical for health system planning and resource allocation because of the complexity and cost of this treatment.

Methods: Using our prospective registry, we identified all patients who underwent EVT for out-of-hospital LVO stroke from February 1, 2013 through January 31, 2017 (n = 44), and matched them 1:1 in a hierarchical fashion with control patients not treated with EVT based on age (±5 years), prehospital functional status, stroke syndrome, severity, and thrombolysis administration. Demographics, in-hospital mortality, discharge disposition from acute care, length of hospitalization, and functional status at discharge from acute care and at follow-up were compared between cases and controls.

A Cost-Utility Analysis of Endovascular Thrombectomy in a Real-World Setting.

Objective: Endovascular thrombectomy (EVT) is efficacious for ischemic stroke caused by proximal intracranial large-vessel occlusion involving the anterior cerebral circulation. However, evidence of its cost-effectiveness, especially in a real-world setting, is limited. We assessed whether EVT ± tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) was cost-effective when compared with standard care ± tPA at our center.

Evidence for a GPR18 Role in Chemotaxis, Proliferation, and the Course of Wound Closure in the Cornea.

Purpose: We previously showed that cannabinoid-related GPR18 receptors are present in the murine corneal epithelium, but their function remains unknown. The related CB1 receptors regulate corneal healing, possibly via chemotaxis. We therefore examined a potential role for GPR18 in corneal epithelial chemotaxis and wound healing.

A GPR119 Signaling System in the Murine Eye Regulates Intraocular Pressure in a Sex-Dependent Manner.

Purpose: GPR119 is a G protein-coupled receptor that may be the endogenous target for 2-oleoylglycerol (2-OG), a lipid related to the endocannabinoid family of neuromodulators. Interest in GPR119 has centered on its role in regulating insulin secretion; however, the role of GPR119 has not been examined in the eye. The purpose of this study was to explore a potential GPR119-based signaling system in the murine eye.

Harnessing the Endocannabinoid 2-Arachidonoylglycerol to Lower Intraocular Pressure in a Murine Model.

Purpose: Cannabinoids, such as Δ9-THC, act through an endogenous signaling system in the vertebrate eye that reduces IOP via CB1 receptors. Endogenous cannabinoid (eCB) ligand, 2-arachidonoyl glycerol (2-AG), likewise activates CB1 and is metabolized by monoacylglycerol lipase (MAGL). We investigated ocular 2-AG and its regulation by MAGL and the therapeutic potential of harnessing eCBs to lower IOP.

Involvement of TRPV1 in the Olfactory Bulb in Rimonabant-Induced Olfactory Discrimination Deficit.

Rimonabant is well recognized as a cannabinoid CB₁ receptor antagonist/inverse agonist. Rimonabant not only antagonizes the effects induced by exogenous cannabinoids and endocannabinoids at CB₁ receptors, it also exerts several pharmacological and behavioral effects independent of CB₁ receptor inactivation. For example, rimonabant can function as a low-potency mixed agonist/antagonist of the transient receptor potential vanilloid receptor 1 (TRPV1).

Patient perspectives of methadone formulation change in British Columbia, Canada: outcomes of a provincial survey.

Background: In British Columbia, Canada, methadone maintenance treatment formulation transitioned from the oral liquid compound Tang™-flavoured methadone to the ten-times more concentrated cherry-flavoured Methadose™ in February 2014. We quantitatively describe perceptions and reported consequences among a sample of patients on methadone maintenance treatment following this transition.

Methods: A province-wide survey was used.

Distribution of the Endocannabinoid System in the Central Nervous System.

The endocannabinoid system consists of endogenous cannabinoids (endocannabinoids), the enzymes that synthesize and degrade endocannabinoids, and the receptors that transduce the effects of endocannabinoids. Much of what we know about the function of endocannabinoids comes from studies that combine localization of endocannabinoid system components with physiological or behavioral approaches. This review will focus on the localization of the best-known components of the endocannabinoid system for which the strongest anatomical evidence exists.

Quantification of type VI secretion system activity in macrophages infected with Burkholderia cenocepacia.

The Gram-negative bacterial type VI secretion system (T6SS) delivers toxins to kill or inhibit the growth of susceptible bacteria, while other secretion systems target eukaryotic cells. Deletion of atsR, a negative regulator of virulence factors in B. cenocepacia K56-2, increases T6SS activity.

Cannabinoid-induced chemotaxis in bovine corneal epithelial cells.

Purpose: Cannabinoid CB1 receptors are found in abundance in the vertebrate eye, with most tissue types expressing this receptor. However, the function of CB1 receptors in corneal epithelial cells (CECs) is poorly understood. Interestingly, the corneas of CB1 knockout mice heal more slowly after injury via a mechanism proposed to involve protein kinase B (Akt) activation, chemokinesis, and cell proliferation.

Medial prefrontal cannabinoid CB1 receptors modulate consolidation and extinction of cocaine-associated memory in mice.

Rationale: Cannabinoid CB1 receptors are implicated in various forms of learning and memory, including acquisition and reinstatement of cocaine-associated memory. However, roles of CB1 receptors in consolidation and extinction processes of cocaine-associated memory and the brain areas potentially involved remain unknown.

Objective: This study examined the effect of rimonabant, a CB1 receptor antagonist, administered systemically or directly into the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) on memory consolidation and extinction of cocaine-induced conditioned place preference (CPP).