Cognition mediates the relationship between white matter hyperintensity and motor function in patients with cerebral small vessel disease: a cross-sectional study.

Background: White matter hyperintensity (WMH) is a common neuroimaging marker of cerebral small vessel disease (SVD) and a critical independent predictor of motor dysfunction, which increases the risk of disability, morbidity, and mortality. However, the mechanism underlying the relationship between WMH and motor function has not yet been fully clarified. It was hypothesized that cognitive impairment mediates the relationship between WMH and motor dysfunction in patients with SVD, which were considered predictor and outcome variables, respectively.

Bilateral fronto-orbital advancement combined with cranial vault release using a free-floating bone flap technique for nonsyndromic unilateral coronal synostosis.

Background: The goals of operative treatment for unilateral coronal synostosis (UCS) are to improve appearance and allow unrestricted brain growth. However, for severe unilateral premature closure of the coronal suture, existing methods do not address the compression of the brain or expand the volume of the skull cavity. We report our retrospective experience with bilateral fronto-orbital advancement combined with cranial vault release using a free-floating bone flap (CVR + FFBF) technique and the resulting changes in the anterior cranial vault asymmetry index (ACVAI) and intracranial volume.

Iatrogenic Vascular Injury Associated with Cervical Spine Surgery: A Systematic Literature Review.

Background: Iatrogenic vascular injury is an uncommon complication of anterior and/or posterior surgical approaches to the cervical spine. Although the results of this injury may be life-threatening, mortality/morbidity can be reduced by an understanding of its mechanism and proper management.

Methods: We conducted a literature review to provide an update of this devastating complication in spine surgery.

Brain Abscess of Basal Ganglia Presenting with Persistent Hiccups.

Background: Brain abscesses are well-known to neurologic surgeons with well-recognized presentations, which include seizures, neurologic deficit, and headache. Rare symptoms may lead to a delay in diagnosis, which can be life threatening in the setting of a brain abscess.

Case Description: We present the case of a 46-year-old male with intractable hiccups found to have an abscess of the right basal ganglia.

Tunable Lipidoid-Telodendrimer Hybrid Nanoparticles for Intracellular Protein Delivery in Brain Tumor Treatment.

A strategy to precisely engineer lipidoid-telodendrimer binary hybrid nanoparticles that offer enhanced cell membrane permeability for therapeutic proteins to reach the intracellular targets is established. The highly controllable biochemical and physical properties of the nanoparticles make them promising for protein-based brain cancer treatment with the assistance of convection-enhanced delivery.

Affinity-controlled protein encapsulation into sub-30 nm telodendrimer nanocarriers by multivalent and synergistic interactions.

Novel nanocarriers are highly demanded for the delivery of heterogeneous protein therapeutics for disease treatments. Conventional nanoparticles for protein delivery are mostly based on the diffusion-limiting mechanisms, e.g.

Analysis of Factors Contributing to Infections After Cranioplasty: A Single-Institution Retrospective Chart Review.

Objective: Cranioplasty is one of the most common neurosurgical procedures, yet has one of the greatest rates of infection among cranial operations. Although studies have reported on cranioplasty complications, it is unclear what factors contribute to the high rate of infection. This study aims to determine which patient characteristics and operative factors lead to postcranioplasty infections.

A novel brain metastasis xenograft model for convection‑enhanced delivery of targeted toxins via a micro‑osmotic pump system enabled for real‑time bioluminescence imaging.

Brain metastasis is a common cause of mortality in patients with cancer, and is associated with poor prognosis. There is a current requirement for the identification of relevant brain metastasis tumor models, which may be used to test novel therapeutic agents and delivery systems in pre‑clinical studies. The present study aimed to investigate the development of a murine model of brain metastasis, and the application of bioluminescence imaging (BLI) for monitoring tumor growth and response to targeted toxins (TT).

Xanthomatous hypophysitis.

We present a 69-year-old woman who presented with chronic headaches and was found to have a pituitary mass on MRI, which was biopsied and said to be lymphocytic hypophysitis. The woman was placed on prednisone and followed with routine eye examinations. Two years later, the lesion gradually increased in size and the woman developed a decrease in peripheral vision in the right eye.

Efficacy of antiangiogenic targeted immunotoxin DTAT and DTATEGF against glioblastoma multiforme.

Objective: To investigate the in vitro and in vivo anticancer efficacy of the immunotoxin DTAT and DTATEGF against globlastoma multiforme.

Methods: The in vitro cytotoxicity of DTAT and DTATEGF was measured using MTT assay. In vivo studies were performed in which 18 nude mice were randomly divided into 3 groups and the glioma xenograft intracranial mouse model was constructed with U87-luc cell line of human glioma.

[Efficacy of bispecific targeted immunotoxin DTATEGF against NSCLC brain metastatic tumor PC9-BrM3 cells].

Objective: To investigate the in vitro and in vivo anticancer efficacy of the immunotoxin DTATEGF against human NSCLC brain metastatic tumor PC9-BrM3 cell line.

Methods: The effect of the immunotoxin DTATEGF was tested for its ability to inhibit the proliferation of PC9-BrM3 cells in vitro by MTT assay. The cell cycle and the apoptosis of cells with 1 pmol/L DTATEGF were examined by flow cytometry.

Diphtheria toxin-based targeted toxin therapy for brain tumors.

Targeted toxins (TT) are molecules that bind cell surface antigens or receptors such as the transferrin or interleukin-13 receptor that are overexpressed in cancer. After internalization, the toxin component kills the cell. These recombinant proteins consist of an antibody or carrier ligand coupled to a modified plant or bacterial toxin such as diphtheria toxin (DT).

Intracerebral infusion of the bispecific targeted toxin DTATEGF in a mouse xenograft model of a human metastatic non-small cell lung cancer.

The aim of this study is to investigate the anti-cancer effect of the bispecific diphtheria toxin (DT) based immunotoxin DTATEGF, which targets both the epidermal growth factor (EGF) receptor (EGFR) and the urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) receptor (uPAR) in vitro and in vivo when delivered by convection-enhanced delivery (CED) via an osmotic minipump in a human metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) brain tumor mouse xenograft model. The effects of the bispecific immunotoxin DTATEGF, and monospecific DTAT, DTEGF and control DT at various concentrations were tested for their ability to inhibit the proliferation of human metastatic NSCLC PC9-BrM3 cells in vitro by MTT assay. A xenograft model of human metastatic NSCLC intracranial model was established in nude mice using the human NSCLC PC9-BrM3 cell line genetically marked with a firefly luciferase reporter gene.