Your browser does not fully support modern features. Please upgrade for a smoother experience.
Subject:
All Disciplines Arts & Humanities Biology & Life Sciences Business & Economics Chemistry & Materials Science Computer Science & Mathematics Engineering Environmental & Earth Sciences Medicine & Pharmacology Physical Sciences Public Health & Healthcare Social Sciences
Sort by:
Most Viewed Latest Alphabetical (A-Z) Alphabetical (Z-A)
Filter:
All Topic Review Biography Peer Reviewed Entry Video Entry
Topic Review
Impairment of Blood-Brain Barrier in Alzheimer’s Disease
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common neurodegenerative disorder and its prevalence is increasing. Very few drugs effectively reduce AD symptoms and thus, a better understanding of its pathophysiology is vital to design new effective schemes. Presymptomatic neuronal damage caused by the accumulation of Amyloid β peptide and Tau protein abnormalities remains a challenge, despite recent efforts in drug development. Importantly, therapeutic targets, biomarkers, and diagnostic techniques have emerged to detect and treat AD. Of note, the compromised blood-brain barrier (BBB) and peripheral inflammation in AD are becoming more evident, being harmful factors that contribute to the development of the disease. Perspectives from different pre-clinical and clinical studies link peripheral inflammation with the onset and progression of AD.
  • 780
  • 15 Sep 2022
Topic Review
Role of Astrocytes in Pathophysiology of Lafora Disease
Lafora disease Lafora disease (LD) is a rare disorder caused by loss of function mutations in either the EPM2A or NHLRC1 gene. The initial symptoms of this condition are most commonly epileptic seizures, but the disease progresses rapidly with dementia, neuropsychiatric symptoms, and cognitive deterioration and has a fatal outcome within 5–10 years after onset. The hallmark of the disease is the accumulation of poorly branched glycogen in the form of aggregates known as Lafora bodies in the brain and other tissues. The astrocytic glycogen accumulation drives the neuroinflammatory phenotype of LD but not the increased susceptibility to epilepsy, which might be attributable to neuronal lafora bodies (LBs).
  • 780
  • 24 Mar 2023
Topic Review
Vitamin D Deficiency and Psychiatric Pathology
Vitamin D functions have been studied progressively, and along with their main role in regulating calcium homeostasis, the potential function in the nervous system and the link between different psychiatric disorders and vitamin D deficiency have been revealed. The discovery of vitamin D receptors in multiple brain structures, like the hippocampus, led to the hypothesis that vitamin D deficiency could be responsible for treatment resistance in psychiatric diseases. 
  • 780
  • 30 Nov 2023
Topic Review
Small Vessel Disease
Small vessel disease (SVD) is one of the most frequent pathological conditions which lead to dementia. Biochemical and neuroimaging might help correctly identify the clinical diagnosis of this relevant brain disease. The microvascular alterations which underlie SVD have common origins, similar cognitive outcomes, and common vascular risk factors.
  • 778
  • 31 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Biogenesis and Expression of Corticosteroids in the Brain
Corticosteroids are the kinds of steroidal hormones that are either produced by the body or are artificially synthesized. The biosynthesis of these hormones occurs from cholesterol within the adrenal cortex site, which is also known as the primary site of several steroidogenic biosynthetic reactions.
  • 778
  • 14 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Insulin Resistance Causes Alzheimer’s Disease
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disorder associated with cognitive decline. Despite worldwide efforts to find a cure, no proper treatment has been developed yet, and the only effective countermeasure is to prevent the disease progression by early diagnosis. The reason why new drug candidates fail to show therapeutic effects in clinical studies may be due to misunderstanding the cause of AD. Regarding the cause of AD, the most widely known is the amyloid cascade hypothesis, in which the deposition of amyloid beta and hyperphosphorylated tau is the cause. However, many new hypotheses were suggested. Among them, based on preclinical and clinical evidence supporting a connection between AD and diabetes, insulin resistance has been pointed out as an important factor in the development of AD. 
  • 777
  • 16 Oct 2023
Topic Review
Anticancer Drugs and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a rare progressive motor neuron disease that, due to its high complexity, still lacks effective treatments. Development of a new drug is a highly costly and time-consuming process, and the repositioning of approved drugs can represent an efficient strategy to provide therapeutic opportunities. This is particularly true for rare diseases, which are characterised by small patient populations and therefore attract little commercial interest. Based on the overlap between the biological background of cancer and neurodegeneration, the repurposing of antineoplastic drugs for ALS has been suggested.
  • 776
  • 21 Feb 2024
Topic Review
Connection between GUT Metabolome and Neurological Disorders
Scientific evidence indicates that the administration of probiotic bacteria exerts beneficial and protective effects as reduced systemic inflammation, neuroinflammation, and inhibited neurodegeneration. The experimental results performed on animals, but also human clinical trials, show the importance of designing a novel microbiota-based probiotic dietary supplementation with the aim to prevent or ease the symptoms of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases or other forms of dementia or neurodegeneration. The alterations of the gut microbiota, which are called dysbiosis, have been connected with the pathophysiology of numerous common diseases such as type 2 diabetes, obesity, gastrointestinal diseases, and cardiovascular events. Dysbiosis state is also implicated in neurological and neurodegenerative disorders such as autism, and Alzheimer’s (AD) or Parkinson’s (PD) diseases.
  • 774
  • 18 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Central Nervous System Diseases and the Probenecid
Probenecid is an old uricosuric agent used in clinics to treat gout and reduce the renal excretion of antibiotics. In recent years, probenecid has gained attention due to its ability to interact with membrane proteins such as TRPV2 channels, organic anion transporters, and pannexin 1 hemichannels, which suggests new potential therapeutic utilities in medicine. Some current functions of probenecid include their use as an adjuvant to increase the bioavailability of several drugs in the Central Nervous System (CNS). Numerous studies also suggest that this drug has important neuroprotective, antiepileptic, and anti-inflammatory properties, as evidenced by their effect against neurological and neurodegenerative diseases. In these studies, the use of probenecid as a Panx1 hemichannel blocker to reduce neuroinflammation is highlighted since neuroinflammation is a major trigger for diverse CNS alterations.
  • 772
  • 01 Jun 2023
Topic Review
Group I mGluRs in Parkinson’s Disease
Metabotropic glutamate receptors (mGluRs; members of class C G-protein-coupled receptors) have been shown to modulate excitatory neurotransmission, regulate presynaptic extracellular glutamate levels, and modulate postsynaptic ion channels on dendritic spines. mGluRs were found to activate myriad signalling pathways to regulate synapse formation, long-term potentiation, autophagy, apoptosis, necroptosis, and pro-inflammatory cytokines release. A notorious expression pattern of mGluRs has been evident in several neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, and schizophrenia. Among the several mGluRs, mGluR5 is one of the most investigated types of considered prospective therapeutic targets and potential diagnostic tools in neurodegenerative diseases and neuropsychiatric disorders.
  • 771
  • 21 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Biological Alterations Underlying Suicidal Behaviour
Suicidal behaviour is a complex, multi-factorial, polygenic and independent mental health problem caused by a combination of alterations and dysfunctions of several biological pathways and disruption of normal mechanisms in brain regions that remain poorly understood and need further investigation to be deciphered. Suicide complexity and unpredictability gained international interest as a field of research. Several studies have been conducted at the neuropathological, inflammatory, genetic, and molecular levels to uncover the triggers behind suicidal behaviour and develop convenient and effective therapeutic or at least preventive procedures.
  • 770
  • 03 Apr 2023
Topic Review
α-Synuclein Strains in Parkinson’s Disease
Like many neurodegenerative diseases, Parkinson’s disease (PD) is characterized by the formation of proteinaceous aggregates in brain cells. In PD, those proteinaceous aggregates are formed by the α-synuclein (αSyn) and are considered the trademark of this neurodegenerative disease. In addition to PD, αSyn pathological aggregation is also detected in atypical Parkinsonism, including Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB), Multiple System Atrophy (MSA), as well as neurodegeneration with brain iron accumulation, some cases of traumatic brain injuries, and variants of Alzheimer’s disease. Collectively, these (and other) disorders are referred to as synucleinopathies, highlighting the relation between disease type and protein misfolding/aggregation. Despite these pathological relationships, however, synucleinopathies cover a wide range of pathologies, present with a multiplicity of symptoms, and arise from dysfunctions in different neuroanatomical regions and cell populations. Strikingly, αSyn deposition occurs in different types of cells, with oligodendrocytes being mainly affected in MSA, while aggregates are found in neurons in PD. If multiple factors contribute to the development of a pathology, especially in the cases of slow-developing neurodegenerative disorders, the common presence of αSyn aggregation, as both a marker and potential driver of disease, is puzzling.
  • 770
  • 03 Aug 2023
Topic Review
MicroRNAs in Migraine
Preliminary but convergent findings suggest a role for microRNAs (miRNAs) in the generation and maintenance of chronic pain and migraine. Initial observations showed that serum levels of miR-382-5p and miR-34a-5p expression were increased in serum during the migraine attack, with miR-382-5p increasing in the interictal phase as well. By contrast, miR-30a-5p levels were lower in migraine patients compared to healthy controls. Of note, antimigraine treatments proved to be capable of influencing the expression of these miRNAs. Altogether, these observations suggest that miRNAs may represent migraine biomarkers, but several points are yet to be elucidated. A major concern is that these miRNAs are altered in a broad spectrum of painful and non-painful conditions, and thus it is not possible to consider them as truly “migraine-specific” biomarkers.  These miRNAs may represent useful tools to uncover and define different phenotypes across the migraine spectrum with different treatment susceptibilities and clinical features, although further studies are needed to confirm the hypothesis. In this narrative entry , an update and a critical analysis of available data on miRNAs and migraines was provided,  in order to propose possible interpretations. The main objective is to stimulate research in an area that holds promise when it comes to providing reliable biomarkers for theoretical and practical scientific advances.
  • 769
  • 29 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Dopamine Signaling in Substantia Nigra
In-depth, the role of dopamine in locomotor function is discussed in aging and Parkinson's disease. It highlights the inherent differences in dopamine regulation within the nigrostriatal neuron in striatum as compared to substantia nigra. Given the copious amount of evidence of differential dopamine regulation between striatum and substantia nigra, dopamine signaling in the substantia nigra is as equally important, if not more so, in regulation of locomotor function. The ever increasing evidence that nigral dopamine can regulate locomotor function has recently come to light in the past 10 years, reigniting the efforts that began over 30 years ago since the first studies that reported such a role.
  • 769
  • 02 Feb 2024
Topic Review
Frontotemporal-TDP Neurocognitive Disorders
Frontotemporal lobar degeneration (FTLD) belongs to a heterogeneous group of highly complex neurodegenerative diseases and represents the second cause of presenile dementia in individuals under 65. Frontotemporal-TDP is a subgroup of frontotemporal dementia characterized by the aggregation of abnormal protein deposits, predominantly transactive response DNA-binding protein 43 (TDP-43), in the frontal and temporal brain regions. These deposits lead to progressive degeneration of neurons resulting in cognitive and behavioral impairments. Limbic age-related encephalopathy (LATE) pertains to age-related cognitive decline primarily affecting the limbic system, which is crucial for memory, emotions, and learning.
  • 768
  • 03 Nov 2023
Topic Review
Community Occupational Therapists' Competencies in Neurorehabilitation
More than three million people in Chile suffer from neurological conditions, and many of these become permanent users of health services with a community approach. Interventions are essentially on a personal and microsocial level, focusing first on pathology and treatment, and later comprehending the interactions with a patient’s close social environment, such as family, schoolmates, and workmates and their physical environment at home, school, and the workplace. Although the final objective of community intervention is present in the discourse as being able to generate structural changes that favor well-being and social inclusion, concrete competencies are not appreciated on a macrosocial level.
  • 768
  • 20 Jun 2022
Topic Review
Analysis of Spinal Cord Injuries
The CatWalk system (CW) is an automated and exceptionally reliable system for assessing gait abnormalities and motor coordination. CW is a good tool for both studying improvements in the walking of animals after suffering a peripheral nerve and spinal cord lesion and to select the best therapies and procedures after tissue destruction, given that it provides objective and quantifiable data.
  • 766
  • 27 Aug 2021
Topic Review
MRI Response Assessment in Glioblastoma Patients Treated
In order to compare responses to different therapies among clinical trials and to differentiate between therapy-induced changes and true tumor progression, reliable response parameters are crucial. MRI scans were evaluated using MacDonald, RANO, Vol-RANO, mRANO, Vol-mRANO and iRANO criteria. Tumor volumes (T1 contrast-enhancing as well as T2/FLAIR volumes) were calculated by semiautomatic segmentation.
  • 765
  • 25 Mar 2022
Topic Review
Exercise in Cognition and Brain Health in Aging
Physical activity and exercise have a biologically plausible and temporal relationship with a multitude of diseases, including coronary heart disease, atherosclerosis, stroke, type 2 diabetes, some cancers, and all-cause mortality. Physical activity is any bodily movement produced by skeletal muscles that requires energy expenditure. Exercise, on the other hand, is a subset of physical activity that is planned, structured and repetitive and has the improvement or maintenance of physical fitness. Regular endurance and resistance exercise training decreases age-related morbidity and mortality, improves risk factors for chronic disease, and helps maintain independent functioning.
  • 765
  • 07 Apr 2024
Topic Review
Olfactory Dysfunction in Parkinson’s Disease
Olfactory dysfunction (OD) is one of the earliest features of PD and has been found to occur even four years before the diagnosis of this neurodegenerative disorder. This affects the patient’s quality of life, considering that the olfactory system plays a crucial role in influencing food flavors, detecting whether they are spoiled, and identifying harmful volatile compounds. 
  • 764
  • 25 Jun 2023
  • Page
  • of
  • 54
Featured Entry Collections
>>

Featured Books

>>
Encyclopedia of Digital Society, Industry 5.0 and Smart City
Encyclopedia of Engineering
Encyclopedia of Social Sciences
Encyclopedia of COVID-19
Academic Video Service
Feedback