Unlabelled: Mild hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy is common in neonates with no evidence-based therapies, and 30-40% of patients experience adverse outcomes. The nature and progression of mild injury is poorly understood. Thus, we studied the evolution of mild perinatal brain injury using longitudinal two-photon imaging of transgenic fluorescent proteins as a novel readout of neuronal viability and activity at cellular resolution.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFGABA is the primary inhibitory neurotransmitter. Membrane currents evoked by GABA receptor activation have uniquely small driving forces: their reversal potential (E) is very close to the resting membrane potential. As a consequence, GABA currents can flow in either direction, depending on both the membrane potential and the local intra and extracellular concentrations of the primary permeant ion, chloride (Cl).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe early onset epilepsies encompass a heterogeneous group of disorders, some of which result in drug-resistant seizures, developmental delay, psychiatric comorbidities, and sudden death. Advancement in the widespread use of targeted gene panels as well as genome and exome sequencing has facilitated the identification of different causative genes in a subset of these patients. The ability to recognize the genetic basis of early onset epilepsies continues to improve, with de novo coding variants accounting for most of the genetic etiologies identified.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFatally injured neurons may necrose and rupture immediately, or they may initiate a programmed cell death pathway and then wait for microglial phagocytosis. Biochemical and histopathologic assays of neuronal death assess the numbers of neurons awaiting phagocytosis at a particular time point after injury. This number varies with the fraction of neurons that have necrosed vs initiated programmed cell death, the time elapsed since injury, the rate of phagocytosis, and the assay's ability to detect neurons at different stages of programmed cell death.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Following hypoxic-ischemic (HI) brain injury, neuronal cytoplasmic chloride concentration ([Cl]) increases, potentially contributing to depolarizing γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) responses, onset of seizures, and the failure of antiepileptic drugs that target inhibitory chloride-permeable GABA receptors. Post-HI seizures characteristically begin hours after injury, by which time substantial accumulation of [Cl] may have already occurred. In immature neurons, a major pathway for Cl influx is the reversible Na-K-2Cl cotransporter NKCC1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To explore how injury, as a primary barrier, impacts physically inactive Australian women's engagement in sport and physical activity.
Design: Concept mapping.
Methods: Participants used online concept mapping to brainstorm the meaning of injury, then sorted and rated statements for impact and importance (1 (low)-5 (high) scale).
Intraventricular haemorrhage is a common complication of premature birth. Survivors are often left with cerebral palsy, intellectual disability and/or hydrocephalus. Animal models suggest that brain tissue shrinkage, with subsequent vascular stretch and tear, is an important step in the pathophysiology, but the cause of this shrinkage is unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: Seizures can be difficult to control in infants and toddlers. Seizures with periods of apnea and hypoventilation are common following severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). We previously observed that brief apnea with hypoventilation (A&H) in our severe TBI model acutely interrupted seizures.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: The increased amplitude of ictal activity is a common feature of epileptic seizures, but the determinants of this amplitude have not been identified. Clinically, ictal amplitudes are measured electrographically (using, e.g.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Injury/poor health is an important barrier to women's participation in sport and physical activity. This study aimed to identify perceived challenges sport programme deliverers face when supporting physically inactive women to prevent/manage injury.
Methods: Sport programme deliverers, targeting physically inactive women in Victoria, participated in concept mapping to brainstorm, sort and rate (impact on their ability to prevent/manage injury, frequency of and difficulty to overcome the challenge on a 1 (low)-5 (high) scale) the challenges faced.
GABA, the primary inhibitory neurotransmitter, stimulates GABAA receptors (GABAARs) to increase the chloride conductance of the cytosolic membrane. The driving forces for membrane chloride currents are determined by the local differences between intracellular and extracellular chloride concentrations (Cli and Clo, respectively). While several strategies exist for the measurement of Cli, the field lacks tools for non-invasive measurement of Clo.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBACKGROUNDFXLEARN, the first-ever large multisite trial of effects of disease-targeted pharmacotherapy on learning, was designed to explore a paradigm for measuring effects of mechanism-targeted treatment in fragile X syndrome (FXS). In FXLEARN, the effects of metabotropic glutamate receptor type 5 (mGluR5) negative allosteric modulator (NAM) AFQ056 on language learning were evaluated in 3- to 6-year-old children with FXS, expected to have more learning plasticity than adults, for whom prior trials of mGluR5 NAMs have failed.METHODSAfter a 4-month single-blind placebo lead-in, participants were randomized 1:1 to AFQ056 or placebo, with 2 months of dose optimization to the maximum tolerated dose, then 6 months of treatment during which a language-learning intervention was implemented for both groups.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA common point of failure in translation of preclinical neurological research to successful clinical trials comes in the giant leap from rodent models to humans. Non-human primates are phylogenetically close to humans, but cost and ethical considerations prohibit their widespread usage in preclinical trials. Swine have large, gyrencencephalic brains, which are biofidelic to human brains.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Neonatal seizures are common, but the impact of neonatal seizures on long-term neurologic outcome remains unclear. We addressed this question by analyzing data from an early-phase controlled trial of bumetanide to treat neonatal seizures.
Methods: Neonatal seizure burden was calculated from continuous video-EEG data.
In models of acute brain injury, neuronal death may overwhelm the capacity for microglial phagocytosis, creating a queue of dying neurons awaiting clearance. Neurons undergoing programmed cell death are in this queue, and are the most visible and frequently quantified measure of neuronal death after injury. However, the size of this queue should be equally sensitive to changes in neuronal death and the rate of phagocytosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA common point of failure in translation of preclinical neurological research to successful clinical trials comes in the giant leap from rodent models to humans. Non-human primates are phylogenetically close to humans, but cost and ethical considerations prohibit their widespread usage in preclinical trials. Swine have large, gyrencencephalic brains, which are biofidelic to human brains.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFUnlabelled: After acute brain injury, neuronal apoptosis may overwhelm the capacity for microglial phagocytosis, creating a queue of dying neurons awaiting clearance. The size of this queue should be equally sensitive to changes in neuronal death and the rate of phagocytosis. Using rodent organotypic hippocampal slice cultures as a model of acute perinatal brain injury, serial imaging demonstrated that the capacity for microglial phagocytosis of dying neurons was overwhelmed for two weeks.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFOn-demand inhibition of neuronal activity reduced spontaneous seizures in mice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: To form a James Lind Alliance (JLA) Priority Setting Partnership (PSP) to determine research priorities related to the cause, diagnosis, treatment and management of pernicious anaemia (PA) from the perspectives of patients, carers and clinicians.
Design: The PSP conducted two surveys and a workshop to identify the Top 10 questions for research. A first survey identified questions relating to the cause, diagnosis, treatment and management of PA.
Acute ataxia is a common neurologic presentation in the pediatric population that carries a broad differential diagnosis. The tempo of the presentation, distribution of the ataxia (focal or diffuse), examination findings, and paraclinical testing may be helpful in guiding diagnosis and management. Although Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS) and its variant, Miller Fisher syndrome (MFS), are well defined, frequently encountered acute autoimmune neuropathies, the GBS/MFS spectrum have at least 12 different phenotypes with distinct neurologic features, 4 of which include ataxia.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInt J Environ Res Public Health
July 2022
Rates of childhood obesity within Australia continue to rise, with consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages one contributing factor. Community sport provides an opportunity to implement policies promoting water as the beverage of choice. However, the attitudes of parents toward a water-only policy are not known.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTo date, post-traumatic epilepsy (PTE) research in large animal models has been limited. Recent advances in neocortical microscopy have made possible new insights into neocortical PTE. However, it is very difficult to engender convincing neocortical PTE in rodents.
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