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BMC Neurol 2021 Apr 10;21(1):156. Epub 2021 Apr 10.

Department of Neurology, Liuzhou People's Hospital, Liuzhou, China.

Background: Colony-stimulating factor 1 receptor (CSF1R)-related leukoencephalopathy is a rare and rapidly progressive leukoencephalopathy characterized by cognitive, motor, and neuropsychiatric symptoms, which is often misdiagnosed. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) signs and follow-up MRI of CSF1R-related leukoencephalopathy could help in establishing a diagnosis, but these features are not widely known by general neurologists.

Case Presentation: A 34-year-old man was admitted for progressive weakness of the right limbs over 8 months. Read More

Cureus 2021 Feb 28;13(2):e13607. Epub 2021 Feb 28.

Neurology, Flowers Medical Group, Dothan, USA.

"Person-in-the-barrel" syndrome is a descriptive term for bilateral arm (brachial) paresis in the absence of lower extremity (crural) weakness or bulbar (medullary) weakness. This phenomenon is associated with various descriptive terms such as "distal field infarction", "flail limbs", and "cruciate paralysis". Arriving at a specific diagnosis is a fascinating exercise in anatomical localization. Read More

Sci Rep 2021 Mar 18;11(1):6222. Epub 2021 Mar 18.

OLI-Sistemas Sanitários, S.A., Travessa Do Milão, 3800-235, Aveiro, Portugal.

Multiple wearable devices for cardiovascular self-monitoring have been proposed over the years, with growing evidence showing their effectiveness in the detection of pathologies that would otherwise be unnoticed through standard routine exams. In particular, Electrocardiography (ECG) has been an important tool for such purpose. However, wearables have known limitations, chief among which are the need for a voluntary action so that the ECG trace can be taken, battery lifetime, and abandonment. Read More

Hum Brain Mapp 2021 Mar 5. Epub 2021 Mar 5.

Department of Medicine and Radiology, University of Melbourne, Parkville, Australia.

Upper and lower limb impairments are common in people with multiple sclerosis (pwMS), yet difficult to clinically identify in early stages of disease progression. Tasks involving complex motor control can potentially reveal more subtle deficits in early stages, and can be performed during functional MRI (fMRI) acquisition, to investigate underlying neural mechanisms, providing markers for early motor progression. We investigated brain activation during visually guided force matching of hand or foot in 28 minimally disabled pwMS (Expanded Disability Status Scale (EDSS) < 4 and pyramidal and cerebellar Kurtzke Functional Systems Scores ≤ 2) and 17 healthy controls (HC) using ultra-high field 7-Tesla fMRI, allowing us to visualise sensorimotor network activity in high detail. Read More

BMC Neurol 2021 Feb 18;21(1):81. Epub 2021 Feb 18.

Division of Neurology, Department of Clinical Medicine, Universidade Federal do Ceará, Fortaleza, Brazil.

Background: Erdheim-Chester disease (ECD) is a non-Langerhans histiocytosis that results in multi-organ disease involving the skin, bones, lungs and kidneys. Central nervous system (CNS) involvement occurs in about 50 % of patients, and diabetes insipidus, visual disturbances, and cerebellar ataxia are the most frequent neurological signs. We report a case of Erdheim-Chester disease with central nervous system involvement in the form of enhancing intracranial mass lesions with massive edema. Read More

eNeuro 2021 Jan-Feb;8(1). Epub 2021 Feb 25.

Institute for Integrative Neuroanatomy, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Berlin 10117, Germany

The medial entorhinal cortex (mEC) shows a high degree of spatial tuning, predominantly grid cell activity, which is reliant on robust, dynamic inhibition provided by local interneurons (INs). In fact, feedback inhibitory microcircuits involving fast-spiking parvalbumin (PV) basket cells (BCs) are believed to contribute dominantly to the emergence of grid cell firing in principal cells (PrCs). However, the strength of PV BC-mediated inhibition onto PrCs is not uniform in this region, but high in the dorsal and weak in the ventral mEC. Read More

Neuron 2021 03 1;109(6):997-1012.e9. Epub 2021 Feb 1.

Department of Neurosurgery, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.

Interneurons expressing cholecystokinin (CCK) and parvalbumin (PV) constitute two key GABAergic controllers of hippocampal pyramidal cell output. Although the temporally precise and millisecond-scale inhibitory regulation of neuronal ensembles delivered by PV interneurons is well established, the in vivo recruitment patterns of CCK-expressing basket cell (BC) populations has remained unknown. We show in the CA1 of the mouse hippocampus that the activity of CCK BCs inversely scales with both PV and pyramidal cell activity at the behaviorally relevant timescales of seconds. Read More

Brain Struct Funct 2021 Mar 25;226(2):519-562. Epub 2021 Jan 25.

University of Murcia, IMIB-Arrixaca Institute of Biomedical Research, 30120, El Palmar, Murcia, Spain.

We focus this report on the nucleus of the lateral olfactory tract (NLOT), a superficial amygdalar nucleus receiving olfactory input. Mixed with its Tbr1-expressing layer 2 pyramidal cell population (NLOT2), there are Sim1-expressing cells whose embryonic origin and mode of arrival remain unclear. We examined this population with Sim1-ISH and a Sim1-tauLacZ mouse line. Read More

Neurogenetics 2021 03 23;22(1):71-79. Epub 2021 Jan 23.

Sorbonne Université, Institut du Cerveau - Paris Brain Institute - ICM, Inserm, CNRS, APHP, Hôpital de la Pitié Salpêtrière, DMU Neuroscience 6, Paris, France.

Spastic ataxias are rare neurogenetic disorders involving spinocerebellar and pyramidal tracts. Many genes are involved. Among them, CAPN1, when mutated, is responsible for a complex inherited form of spastic paraplegia (SPG76). Read More

Brain Behav Immun 2021 May 9;94:338-356. Epub 2020 Dec 9.

Department of Physiology, Faculty of Medical and Health Sciences, University of Auckland, New Zealand. Electronic address:

Severe postnatal systemic infection is highly associated with persistent disturbances in brain development and neurobehavioral outcomes in survivors of preterm birth. However, the contribution of less severe but prolonged postnatal infection and inflammation to such disturbances is unclear. Further, the ability of modern imaging techniques to detect the underlying changes in cellular microstructure of the brain in these infants remains to be validated. Read More

J Neurosci 2021 01 30;41(4):663-673. Epub 2020 Nov 30.

Krieger Mind/Brain Institute, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21218

Age-related memory deficits are correlated with neural hyperactivity in the CA3 region of the hippocampus. Abnormal CA3 hyperactivity in aged rats has been proposed to contribute to an imbalance between pattern separation and pattern completion, resulting in overly rigid representations. Recent evidence of functional heterogeneity along the CA3 transverse axis suggests that proximal CA3 supports pattern separation while distal CA3 supports pattern completion. Read More

J Neurosci Res 2021 Feb 22;99(2):649-661. Epub 2020 Oct 22.

Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA.

Adolescent alcohol drinking, primarily in the form of binge-drinking episodes, is a serious public health concern. Binge drinking in laboratory animals has been modeled by a procedure involving chronic intermittent ethanol (CIE) administration, as compared with chronic intermittent water (CIW). The prolonged effects of adolescent binge alcohol exposure in adults, such as high risk of developing alcohol use disorder, are severe but available treatments in the clinic are limited. Read More

J Neurol Sci 2020 Dec 15;419:117188. Epub 2020 Oct 15.

Human Neurosciences Department Neurosurgery Division "Sapienza" University, Italy.

Background: The supplementary motor area (SMA) is involved in several aspects of motor control and its can be associated to a contralateral motor deficit and speech disorders. After the resection of low-grade gliomas, this syndrome is diffusely reported but it is rarely investigated in high-grade gliomas. SMA deficits may resolve completely or with minor sequelae within weeks. Read More

Front Comput Neurosci 2020 18;14:74. Epub 2020 Aug 18.

University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan.

To understand the function of the neocortex, which is a hierarchical distributed network, it is useful giving meaning to the signals transmitted between these areas from the computational viewpoint. The overall anatomical structure or organs related to this network, including the neocortex, thalamus, and basal ganglia, has been roughly revealed, and much physiological knowledge, though often fragmentary, is being accumulated. The computational theories involving the neocortex have also been developed considerably. Read More

Acta Crystallogr E Crystallogr Commun 2020 Sep 28;76(Pt 9):1520-1524. Epub 2020 Aug 28.

Department of Chemistry, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, Mumbai 400 076, India.

In the title salt, di-μ-oxido-bis-{2,6-bis-[(di-methyl-amino)-meth-yl]phenyl-κ}tellurium(-IV) bis[tri-chlorido-(dimethyl sulfoxide-κ)platinate(II)], (CHNOTe)[PdCl(CHOS)], which crystallizes in the triclinic space group , each Te atom is in a distorted five-coordinated TeONC square-pyramidal geometry (τ values of 0.026 and 0.001) with the C atoms of the phenyl rings occupying the apical positions. Read More

Acta Crystallogr E Crystallogr Commun 2020 Sep 25;76(Pt 9):1503-1507. Epub 2020 Aug 25.

Department of Chemistry, Tajik National University, 17, Rudaki Avenue, Dushanbe, 734025, Tajikistan.

The title compound, [Cu(CHN)(CHNO)Cl(CHN)], is a pyrazolate amino-alcohol complex which contains two di-methyl-pyrazole mol-ecules in monodentate and bidentate-bridged coordination modes and a monodeproton-ated di-ethano-lamine mol-ecule. Both copper atoms are involved in the formation of non-planar five-membered chelate rings. One Cu atom is in a distorted tetra-hedral environment formed by the pyridine nitro-gen atom of the protonated di-methyl-pyrazole mol-ecule, the N atom of the deprotonated bridged di-methyl-pyrazole, the Cl atom and the bridged O atom of the monodeprotonated di-ethano-lamine. Read More

Mol Neurobiol 2021 Jan 7;58(1):92-105. Epub 2020 Sep 7.

Department of Physiology & Neurobiology, Mudanjiang Medical University, Mudanjiang, 157011, China.

Alcohol use-associated disorders are highly comorbid with anxiety disorders; however, their mechanism remains unknown. The amygdala plays a central role in anxiety. We recently found that 7,8-dihydroxyflavone (7,8-DHF) significantly reduces withdrawal symptoms in a rat model of chronic intermittent alcohol (ethanol) exposure. Read More

Neurosurgery 2020 12;88(1):183-192

Neurosurgical Department, King's College Hospital Foundation Trust, London, United Kingdom.

Background: Diffuse gliomas have an increased biological aggressiveness across the World Health Organization (WHO) grading system. The implications of glioma grading on the primary motor cortex (M1)-corticospinal tract (CST) excitability is unknown.

Objective: To assess the excitability of the motor pathway with navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (nTMS). Read More

PLoS One 2020 20;15(8):e0237872. Epub 2020 Aug 20.

IRCCS Centro Neurolesi "Bonino Pulejo", Messina, Italy.

Recent results have established that masticatory function plays a role not only in the balance of the stomatognathic system and in the central motor control, but also in the trophism of the hippocampus and in the cognitive activity. These implications have been shown in clinical studies and in animal researches as well, by means of histological, biochemical and behavioural techniques. This systematic review describes the effects of three forms of experimentally altered mastication, namely soft-diet feeding, molar extraction and bite-raising, on the trophism and function of the hippocampus in animal models. Read More

CNS Spectr 2020 Aug 19:1-9. Epub 2020 Aug 19.

Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA.

Dementia-related psychosis (DRP) is prevalent across dementias and typically manifests as delusions and/or hallucinations. The mechanisms underlying psychosis in dementia are unknown; however, neurobiological and pharmacological evidence has implicated multiple signaling pathways and brain regions. Despite differences in dementia pathology, the neurobiology underlying psychosis appears to involve dysregulation of a cortical and limbic pathway involving serotonergic, gamma-aminobutyric acid ergic, glutamatergic, and dopaminergic signaling. Read More

Biochem Biophys Res Commun 2020 10 14;531(3):357-363. Epub 2020 Aug 14.

State Key Laboratory of Transducer Technology, Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, PR China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 10090, PR China. Electronic address:

Microgravity can cause body fluids to accumulate in the brain, resulting in brain damage. There are few studies that focus on the detection of electrophysiological signals in simulated microgravity rats, and the precise mechanisms are unknown. In this study, a new device was established to investigate the influence of microgravity on hippocampal neurons. Read More

Int J Mol Sci 2020 Jul 30;21(15). Epub 2020 Jul 30.

Department of Neuroscience, Janssen Research & Development, a Division of Janssen Pharmaceutica NV. Turnhoutseweg 30, B-2340 Beerse, Belgium.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is characterized by neuronal loss and impaired synaptic transmission, ultimately leading to cognitive deficits. Early in the disease, the olfactory track seems most sensitive to tauopathy, while most plasticity studies focused on the hippocampal circuits. Functional network connectivity (FC) and long-term potentiation (LTP), considered as the plasticity substrate of learning and memory, were longitudinally assessed in mice of the P301S model of tauopathy following the course (time and location) of progressively neurodegenerative pathology (i. Read More

Front Synaptic Neurosci 2020 8;12:25. Epub 2020 Jul 8.

Graduate Program in Biosciences, Universidade Federal de Ciências da Saúde de Porto Alegre (UFCSPA), Porto Alegre, Brazil.

The human cingulate cortex (CC), included in the paralimbic cortex, participates in emotion, visceral responses, attention, cognition, and social behaviors. The CC has spindle-shaped/fusiform cell body neurons in its layer V, the von Economo neurons (VENs). VENs have further developed in primates, and the characterization of human VENs can benefit from the detailed descriptions of the shape of dendrites and spines. Read More

Cell Mol Life Sci 2021 Jan 15;78(2):415-426. Epub 2020 Jul 15.

KU-KIST Graduate School of Converging Science and Technology, Korea University, 145 Anam-ro, Seogbuk-gu, Seoul, 02841, Republic of Korea.

μ-opioid receptor (MOR) is a class of opioid receptors that is critical for analgesia, reward, and euphoria. MOR is distributed in various brain regions, including the hippocampus, where traditionally, it is believed to be localized mainly at the presynaptic terminals of the GABAergic inhibitory interneurons to exert a strong disinhibitory effect on excitatory pyramidal neurons. However, recent intensive research has uncovered the existence of MOR in hippocampal astrocytes, shedding light on how astrocytic MOR participates in opioid signaling via glia-neuron interaction in the hippocampus. Read More

J Physiol 2020 09 4;598(18):4047-4062. Epub 2020 Aug 4.

UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, University College London, Queen Square, London, WC1N 3BG, UK.

Key Points: Rapid changes in neuronal network activity trigger widespread waves of extracellular GABA in hippocampal neuropil. Elevations of extracellular GABA narrow the coincidence detection window for excitatory inputs to CA1 pyramidal cells. GABA transporters control the effect of extracellular GABA on coincidence detection. Read More

Brain Struct Funct 2020 Jul 13;225(6):1817-1838. Epub 2020 Jun 13.

Graduate Program in Neuroscience, The University of Western Ontario, London, ON, N6A5C1, Canada.

The present study investigated the short-term and long-term synaptic plasticity of excitatory synapses formed by the nucleus reuniens (RE) and entorhinal cortex (EC) on the distal apical dendrites of CA1 pyramidal cells. RE-CA1 synapses are implicated in memory involving the hippocampus and medial prefrontal cortex. Current source density (CSD) analysis was used to identify excitatory and inhibitory currents following stimulation of RE or medial perforant path (MPP) in urethane-anesthetized mice in vivo. Read More

Neurobiol Aging 2020 09 8;93:85-96. Epub 2020 Apr 8.

Menzies Institute for Medical Research, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. Electronic address:

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) can affect individuals at any age, with the potential of causing lasting neurologic consequences. The lack of effective therapeutic solutions and recommendations for patients that acquire a TBI can be attributed, at least in part, to an inability to confidently predict long-term outcomes following TBI, and how the response of the brain differs across the life span. The purpose of this study was to determine how age specifically affects TBI outcomes in a preclinical model. Read More

Front Cell Neurosci 2020 14;14:93. Epub 2020 May 14.

Departament de Biomedicina, Facultat de Medicina i Ciències de la Salut, Universitat de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.

The role of the WDFY1 protein has been studied as a TLR3/4 scaffold/recruiting protein in the immune system and in different oncogenic conditions. However, its function in brain remains poorly understood. We have found that in mice devoid of (He mice), a transcription factor specifically expressed during the development of the immune cells and the central nervous system, there is a permanent and sustained increase of gene expression in the striatum and hippocampus. Read More

Otol Neurotol 2020 09;41(8):e1072

Department of Otology and Laryngology, Harvard Medical School.

Background: Stapedial myoclonus is an uncommon condition involving the rhythmic contraction of the stapedial tendon that may result in a host of symptoms, including tinnitus . There is a dearth of robust diagnostic modalities to diagnose stapedial myoclonus, and most patients are treated without definitive diagnosis. Herein, we hypothesize that stapedial myoclonus can be readily diagnosed by awake otoendoscopy (see Video, Supplemental Digital Content 1, http://links. Read More