Proceedings of the Third Annual Deep Brain Stimulation Think Tank: A Review of Emerging Issues and Technologies.

The proceedings of the 3rd Annual Deep Brain Stimulation Think Tank summarize the most contemporary clinical, electrophysiological, imaging, and computational work on DBS for the treatment of neurological and neuropsychiatric disease. Significant innovations of the past year are emphasized. The Think Tank's contributors represent a unique multidisciplinary ensemble of expert neurologists, neurosurgeons, neuropsychologists, psychiatrists, scientists, engineers, and members of industry.

Evidence for a neuroprotective microRNA pathway in amnestic mild cognitive impairment.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) that regulate mRNA stability have been linked to amyloid production, tau phosphorylation, and inflammation in Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, whether cerebral miRNA networks are dysregulated during the earliest stages of AD remains underexplored. We performed miRNA expression analysis using frontal cortex tissue harvested from subjects who died with a clinical diagnosis of no cognitive impairment (NCI), amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI, a putative prodromal AD stage), or mild AD.

Dopamine Transporter (DaT) Scan Utilization in a Movement Disorder Center.

Background: The aim of this work was to describe utilization patterns of dopamine transporter (DaT) scan and its influence on patient management at a single movement disorders center. DaT scan helps differentiate between neurodegenerative from non-neurodegenerative parkinsonism and essential tremor (ET). It has been recently approved in the United States in 2011.

Gender differences in human single neuron responses to male emotional faces.

Well-documented differences in the psychology and behavior of men and women have spurred extensive exploration of gender's role within the brain, particularly regarding emotional processing. While neuroanatomical studies clearly show differences between the sexes, the functional effects of these differences are less understood. Neuroimaging studies have shown inconsistent locations and magnitudes of gender differences in brain hemodynamic responses to emotion.

Novel pathogenic variants and genes for myopathies identified by whole exome sequencing.

Neuromuscular diseases (NMD) account for a significant proportion of infant and childhood mortality and devastating chronic disease. Determining the specific diagnosis of NMD is challenging due to thousands of unique or rare genetic variants that result in overlapping phenotypes. We present four unique childhood myopathy cases characterized by relatively mild muscle weakness, slowly progressing course, mildly elevated creatine phosphokinase (CPK), and contractures.

Fixational eye movements and binocular vision.

During attempted visual fixation, small involuntary eye movements-called fixational eye movements-continuously change of our gaze's position. Disagreement between the left and right eye positions during such motions can produce diplopia (double vision). Thus, the ability to properly coordinate the two eyes during gaze fixation is critical for stable perception.

The value of glioma extent of resection in the modern neurosurgical era.

Objective: There remains no general consensus in the neurosurgical oncology literature regarding the role of extent of glioma resection in improving patient outcome. Although the value of resection in establishing a diagnosis and alleviating mass effect is clear, there is less certainty in ascertaining the influence of extent of resection (EOR). Here, we review the recent literature to synthesize a comprehensive review of the value of extent of resection for gliomas in the modern neurosurgical era.

Stronger misdirection in curved than in straight motion.

Illusions developed by magicians are a rich and largely untapped source of insight into perception and cognition. Here we show that curved motion, as employed by the magician in a classic sleight of hand trick, generates stronger misdirection than rectilinear motion, and that this difference can be explained by the differential engagement of the smooth pursuit and the saccadic oculomotor systems. This research exemplifies how the magician's intuitive understanding of the spectator's mindset can surpass that of the cognitive scientist in specific instances, and that observation-based behavioral insights developed by magicians are worthy of quantitative investigation in the neuroscience laboratory.

Social misdirection fails to enhance a magic illusion.

Visual, multisensory and cognitive illusions in magic performances provide new windows into the psychological and neural principles of perception, attention, and cognition. We investigated a magic effect consisting of a coin "vanish" (i.e.

A novel mutation of the ARX gene in a male with nonsyndromic mental retardation.

ARX (Aristaless-related homeobox gene) is located at Xp22. It contains 5 exons and encodes a 562-amino acid protein. The protein contains 4 polyalanine tracts, 3 of which are encoded in exon 2 and 1 in exon 4.

Adolf Hitler had post-encephalitic Parkinsonism.

Adolf Hitler had Parkinson symptoms in 1934, at age 45 years. He may have had transient symptoms in 1923, at age 34 years. Young-onset parkinsonism, during the 1920s, favored a diagnosis of post-encephalitic rather than idiopathic parkinsonism.

Experience with selegiline and levodopa in advanced Parkinson's disease.

We compared the results of treatment with selegiline (deprenyl, Eldepryl) in 17 patients with advanced Stage 4 Parkinson Disease (PD) who were on levodopa (as Sinemet) with 65 Stage 2 or 3 patients with early PD who were also on levodopa. The first group consisted of 17 patients with advanced Stage 4 PD without response fluctuations ("wearing off" or "on off" phenomena). Their mean age was 72.