Search results for "brain"

Modulation of GABAA receptors by neurosteroids. A new concept to improve cognitive and motor alterations in hepatic encephalopathy

2016

Hepatic encephalopathy (HE) is a complex neuropsychiatric syndrome affecting patients with liver diseases, mainly those with liver cirrhosis. The mildest form of HE is minimal HE (MHE), with mild cognitive impairment, attention deficit, psychomotor slowing and impaired visuo-motor and bimanual coordination. MHE may progress to clinical HE with worsening of the neurological alterations which may lead to reduced consciousness and, in the worse cases, may progress to coma and death. HE affects several million people in the world and is a serious health, social and economic problem. There are no specific treatments for the neurological alterations in HE. The mechanisms underlying the cognitive …

Somatosensory Training Improves Proprioception and Untrained Motor Function in Parkinsons Disease

2018

Background: Proprioceptive impairment is a common feature of Parkinson's disease (PD). Proprioceptive function is only partially restored with anti-parkinsonian medication or deep brain stimulation. Behavioral exercises focusing on somatosensation have been promoted to overcome this therapeutic gap. However, conclusive evidence on the effectiveness of such somatosensory-focused behavioral training for improving somatosensory function is lacking. Moreover, it is unclear, if such training has any effect on motor performance in PD.Objective: To investigate, whether proprioception improves with a somatosensory focused, robot-aided training in people with PD (PWPs), and whether enhanced proprioc…

NT-3 protein levels are enhanced in the hippocampus of PRG1-deficient mice but remain unchanged in PRG1/LPA2 double mutants

2015

The plasticity-related gene 1 (PRG1) modulates bioactive lipids at the postsynaptic density and is a novel player in neuronal plasticity and regulation of glutamatergic transmission at principal neurons. PRG1, a neuronal molecule, is highly expressed during development and regeneration processes at the postsynaptic density, modulates synaptic lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) levels and is related to epilepsy and brain injury. In the present study, we analyzed the interaction between the synaptic molecules PRG1 and LPA2R with other plasticity-related molecules the neurotrophins. The protein levels of NGF, BDNF and NT-3 were measured using ELISA in hippocampal tissue of homozygous (PRG(-/-)) and h…

Obesogenic Diets Cause Alterations on Proteins and Theirs Post-Translational Modifications in Mouse Brains

2021

Obesity constitutes a major global health threat and is associated with a variety of diseases ranging from metabolic and cardiovascular disease, cancer to neurodegeneration. The hallmarks of neurodegeneration include oxidative stress, proteasome impairment, mitochondrial dysfunction and accumulation of abnormal protein aggregates as well as metabolic alterations. As an example, in post-mortem brain of patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD), several studies have reported reduction of insulin, insulin-like growth factor 1 and insulin receptor and an increase in tau protein and glycogen-synthase kinase-3β compared to healthy controls suggesting an impairment of metabolism in the AD patient’s …

Olesoxime improves cerebral mitochondrial dysfunction and enhances Aβ levels in preclinical models of Alzheimer's disease.

2019

Abstract Background Approved drugs for Alzheimer's disease (AD) only have a symptomatic effects and do not intervene causally in the course of the disease. Olesoxime (TRO19622) has been tested in AD disease models characterized by improved amyloid precursor protein processing (AβPP) and mitochondrial dysfunction. Methods Three months old Thy-1-AβPPSL (tg) and wild type mice (wt) received TRO19622 (100 mg/kg b.w.) in supplemented food pellets for 15 weeks (tg TRO19622). Mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP) and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) levels were determined in dissociated brain cells (DBC). Respiration was analyzed in mitochondria isolated from brain tissue. Citrate synthase (CS) activ…

Successful management of a cerebral abscess secondary to chronic cholesteatoma caused by Prevotella melaninogenica and Peptococcus anaerobius – A cas…

2016

Abstract Cerebral abscess following cholesteatomatous otomastoiditis is a life-threatening complication and poses diagnostic and therapeutic challenges. We report a case of life-threatening cerebritis and cerebral abscess due to a collection of pus from an aerobic super infections occurring months after the apparent resolution of an otogenic brain abscess in a 67-year-old immunocompetent Italian female. Two gram-positive anaerobic pathogens were isolated during secondary neurosurgical procedures and antibiotic treatment was adopted to resolve the complications. Another objective of this study was to review the literature on gram-positive anaerobic pathogens and brain abscess complications i…

Can mild cognitive impairment be stabilized by showering brain mitochondria with laser photons?

2019

There is now substantial evidence that cerebral blood flow (CBF) declines with age. From age 20 to 60, CBF is estimated to dip about 16% and continues to drop at a rate of 0.4%/year. This CBF dip will slowly reduce oxygen/glucose delivery to brain thus lowering ATP energy production needed by brain cells to perform normal activities. Reduced ATP production from mitochondrial loss or damage in the wear-and-tear of aging worsens when vascular risk factors (VRF) to Alzheimer's disease develop that can accelerate both age-decline CBF and mitochondrial deficiency to a level where mild cognitive impairment (MCI) develops. To date, no pharmacological or any other treatment has been successful in r…

Changing paradigm in mild traumatic brain injury research

2016

Complete locked-in and locked-in patients: Command following assessment and communication with vibro-tactile P300 and motor imagery brain-computer in…

2017

Many patients with locked-in syndrome (LIS) or complete locked-in syndrome (CLIS) also need brain-computer interface (BCI) platforms that do not rely on visual stimuli and are easy to use. We investigate command following and communication functions of mindBEAGLE with 9 LIS, 3 CLIS patients and three healthy controls. This tests were done with vibro-tactile stimulation with 2 or 3 stimulators (VT2 and VT3 mode) and with motor imagery (MI) paradigms. In VT2 the stimulators are fixed on the left and right wrist and the participant has the task to count the stimuli on the target hand in order to elicit a P300 response. In VT3 mode an additional stimulator is placed as a distractor on the shoul…

Assessing Command-Following and Communication With Vibro-Tactile P300 Brain-Computer Interface Tools in Patients With Unresponsive Wakefulness Syndro…

2018

Persons diagnosed with disorders of consciousness (DOC) typically suffer from motor disablities, and thus assessing their spared cognitive abilities can be difficult. Recent research from several groups has shown that non-invasive brain-computer interface (BCI) technology can provide assessments of these patients' cognitive function that can supplement information provided through conventional behavioral assessment methods. In rare cases, BCIs may provide a binary communication mechanism. Here, we present results from a vibrotactile BCI assessment aiming at detecting command-following and communication in 12 unresponsive wakefulness syndrome (UWS) patients. Two different paradigms were admi…