Brain recovery

Neurons have differential and fluctuating energy needs across distinct cellular compartments, shaped by brain electrochemical activity associated with cognition. In vitro studies show that mitochondria transport from soma to axons is key to maintaining neuronal energy homeostasis. Nevertheless, whether the spatial distribution of neuronal mitochondria is dynamically adjusted in vivo in an experience-dependent manner remains unknown. In Drosophila, associative long-term memory (LTM) formation is initiated by an early and persistent upregulation of mitochondrial pyruvate flux in the axonal compartment of neurons in the mushroom body (MB)...

BACKGROUND: Texture analysis extracts many quantitative image features, offering a valuable, cost-effective, and non-invasive approach for individual medicine. Furthermore, multimodal machine learning could have a large impact for precision medicine, as texture biomarkers can underlie tissue microstructure. This study aims to investigate imaging-based biomarkers of radio-induced neurotoxicity in pediatric patients with metastatic medulloblastoma, using radiomic and dosiomic analysis. METHODS: This single-center study retrospectively enrolled children diagnosed with metastatic medulloblastoma (MB) and treated with hyperfractionated craniospinal irradiation (CSI)...

One cannot survive without regularly urinating and defecating. People with neurological injury (spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, stroke) or disease (multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's disease, spina bifida) and many elderly are unable to voluntarily initiate voiding. The great majority of them require bladder catheters to void urine and "manual bowel programs" with digital rectal stimulation and manual extraction to void stool. Catheter-associated urinary tract infections frequently require hospitalization, while manual bowel programs are time-consuming (1-2 hours), stigmatizing, and cause rectal pain and discomfort...

BACKGROUND: BMSC-secreted exosomes (BMSC-Exos) have shown potential for promoting behavioral recovery following spinal cord injury (SCI). However, its role in blocking astrocyte activation remains unclear. Thus, this study aimed to determine whether BMSC-Exos impair the function of astrocytes following SCI in mice and to seek the mechanism. METHODS: BMSC-Exos were collected by ultracentrifugation and identified. The SCI mice were developed by laminectomy combined with spinal cord shock, followed by BMSC-Exos or nerve growth factor (positive control) treatment...

[Objective] This study aims to introduce a novel back projection-induced U-Net-shaped architecture, called ReconU-Net, based on the original U-Net architecture for deep learning-based direct positron emission tomography (PET) image reconstruction. Additionally, our objective is to visualize the behavior of direct PET image reconstruction by comparing the proposed ReconU-Net architecture with the original U-Net architecture and existing DeepPET encoder-decoder architecture without skip connections.
[Approach] The proposed ReconU-Net architecture uniquely integrates the physical model of the back projection operation into the skip connection...

Lead pollution has remained a significant global concern for several decades due to its detrimental effects on the brain, heart, kidneys, lungs, and immune system across all age groups. Addressing the demand for detecting trace amounts of lead in food samples, we have developed a novel biosensor based on fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) from fluorescein R6G to gold nanoclusters (AuNCs-CCY). By utilizing polypeptides as a template, we successfully synthesized AuNCs-CCY with an excitation spectrum that overlaps with the emission spectrum of R6G...

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a method of electrical neuromodulation used to treat a variety of neuropsychiatric conditions including essential tremor, Parkinson's disease, epilepsy, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. The procedure requires precise placement of electrodes such that the electrical contacts lie within or in close proximity to specific target nuclei and tracts located deep within the brain. DBS electrode trajectory planning has become increasingly dependent on direct targeting with the need for precise visualization of targets...

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to explore the effect of flipped venous catheters combined with spinal cord electrical stimulation on functional recovery in patients with sciatic nerve injury. PATIENTS AND METHODS: 160 patients with hip dislocation and sciatic nerve injury were divided into conventional release and flipped catheter + electrical stimulation groups according to the treatment methods (n=80). Motor nerve conduction velocity (MCV) and lower limb motor function were compared...

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) represents a significant public health challenge. Recovery from brain injury necessitates the collaborative efforts of various resident neural cells, predominantly microglia. The present study analyzed rat and mouse RNA expression micro‑arrays, high‑throughput RNA sequencing and single‑cell sequencing data sourced from public databases. To construct an inflammation regulation network around TYRO protein tyrosine kinase‑binding protein (TYROBP), to evaluate the role of TYROBP in cell death after TBI...

BACKGROUND: Cortical excitation/inhibition dynamics have been suggested as a key mechanism occurring after stroke. Their supportive or maladaptive role in the course of recovery is still not completely understood. Here, we used transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)-electroencephalography coupling to study cortical reactivity and intracortical GABAergic inhibition, as well as their relationship to residual motor function and recovery longitudinally in patients with stroke. METHODS: Electroencephalography responses evoked by TMS applied to the ipsilesional motor cortex were acquired in patients with stroke with upper limb motor deficit in the acute (1 week), early (3 weeks), and late subacute (3 months) stages...

Ischaemic stroke results in the formation of a cerebral infarction bordered by an ischaemic penumbra. Characterising the proteins within the ischaemic penumbra may identify neuro-protective targets and novel circulating markers to improve patient care. This review assessed data from studies using proteomic platforms to compare ischaemic penumbra tissues to controls following experimental stroke in animal models. Proteins reported to differ significantly between penumbra and control tissues were analysed in silico to identify protein-protein interactions and over-represented pathways...

Cognitive control of behavior is crucial for well-being, as allows subject to adapt to changing environments in a goal-directed way. Changes in cognitive control of behavior is observed during cognitive decline in elderly and in pathological mental conditions. Therefore, the recovery of cognitive control may provide a reliable preventive and therapeutic strategy. However, its neural basis is not completely understood. Cognitive control is supported by the prefrontal cortex, structure that integrates relevant information for the appropriate organization of behavior...

In controlled organ donation after circulatory determination of death (cDCDD), accurate and timely death determination is critical, yet knowledge gaps persist. Further research to improve the science of defining and determining death by circulatory criteria is therefore warranted. In a workshop sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, experts identified research opportunities pertaining to scientific, conceptual, and ethical understandings of DCDD and associated technologies. This article identifies a research strategy to inform the biomedical definition of death, the criteria for its determination, and circulatory death determination in cDCDD...

Surgical brain injury (SBI), induced by neurosurgical procedures or instruments, has not attracted adequate attention. The pathophysiological process of SBI remains sparse compared to that of other central nervous system diseases thus far. Therefore, novel and effective therapies for SBI are urgently needed. In this study, we found that neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) were present in the circulation and brain tissues of rats after SBI, which promoted neuroinflammation, cerebral edema, neuronal cell death, and aggravated neurological dysfunction...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Because the corpus callosum connects the left and right hemispheres and a variety of WM bundles across the brain in complex ways, damage to the neighboring WM microstructure may specifically disrupt interhemispheric communication through the corpus callosum following mild traumatic brain injury. Here we use a mediation framework to investigate how callosal interhemispheric communication is affected by WM microstructure in mild traumatic brain injury. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Multishell diffusion MR imaging was performed on 23 patients with mild traumatic brain injury within 1 month of injury and 17 healthy controls, deriving 11 diffusion metrics, including DTI, diffusional kurtosis imaging, and compartment-specific standard model parameters...

BACKGROUND: We investigated the effects of combination therapy albendazole and doxycycline in Angiostrongylus cantonensis-infected mice during early and late treatment. MATERIALS AND METHODS: C57BL/6 and BALB/c mice were divided into five groups: (i) uninfected, (ii) infected with A. cantonensis, (iii) infected + 10 mg/kg albendazole, (iv) infected + 25mg/kg doxycycline, and (v) infected + 10 mg/kg albendazole + 25 mg/kg doxycycline. We administered drugs in both early treatments started at 7-day post infections (dpi) and late treatments (14 dpi) to A...

Recent studies have highlighted the involvement of pyroptosis-mediated cell death and neuroinflammation in ischemic stroke (IS) pathogenesis. DL-3-n-butylphthalide (NBP), a synthesized compound based on an extract from seeds of Apium graveolens, possesses a broad range of biological effects. However, the efficacy and the underlying mechanisms of NBP in IS remain contentious. Herein, we investigated the therapeutic effects of NBP and elucidated its potential mechanisms in neuronal cell pyroptosis and microglia inflammatory responses...

Spinal cord injury (SCI) triggers a complex cascade of events, including myelin loss, neuronal damage, neuroinflammation, and the accumulation of damaged cells and debris at the injury site. Infiltrating bone marrow derived macrophages (BMDMϕ) migrate to the epicenter of the SCI lesion, where they engulf cell debris including abundant myelin debris to become pro-inflammatory foamy macrophages (foamy Mϕ), participate neuroinflammation, and facilitate the progression of SCI. This study aimed to elucidate the cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the functional changes in foamy Mϕ and their potential implications for SCI...

BACKGROUND: Concussion leads to persistent post-concussion symptoms (PPCS) in up to one-third of those affected. While previous research has linked the initial trauma to elevated serum levels of neurofilament light chain (NFL), inflammatory markers, and neurotoxic metabolites within the kynurenine pathway, few studies have explored their relevance in PPCS. This study aims to investigate these biomarkers in PPCS patients, elucidating their relevance in the prolonged phase of concussion...

BACKGROUND: Notch1 signaling inhibiton with N-[N-(3,5-difluorophenacetyl)-1-alanyl]-S-phenylglycine t-butylester] (DAPT) treatment could promote brain recovery and the intervention effect is different between striatum (STR) and cortex (CTX), which might be accounted for different changes of glial activities, but the in-depth mechanism is still unknown. The purpose of this study was to identify whether DAPT could modulate microglial subtype shifts and astroglial-endfeet aquaporin-4 (AQP4) mediated waste solute drainage...