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Topic Review
Gravitational Ischemia in the Brain
The physiological mechanisms for releasing and resolving gravitational ischemia in the brain, and their susceptibility to malfunction, may play an important role in a variety of neurological illnesses. An astronaut on a space walk in a micro-gravity environment may be susceptible to neuro-ocular symptoms associated with unopposed gravity-resistance mechanisms for partially preventing gravitational ischemia in the brain, and for attenuating its impact—mechanisms which may be required for normal brain physiology on Earth. Astronauts on the International Space Station typically breathe a mixture of gasses similar in composition to what they breathed on Earth, following the 1967 death of three astronauts, including Ed White, by fire on the Apollo 1 spacecraft, which was carrying 100% oxygen.
  • 524
  • 12 Oct 2023
Topic Review
Extracellular Vesicles from Mammalian Cells in Neurodegenerative Diseases
A growing number of studies have indicated that extracellular vesicles (EVs), such as exosomes, are involved in the development of neurodegenerative diseases. Components of EVs with biological effects like proteins, nucleic acids, or other molecules can be delivered to recipient cells to mediate physio-/pathological processes. For instance, some aggregate-prone proteins, such as β-amyloid and α-synuclein, had been found to propagate through exosomes. Therefore, either an increase of detrimental molecules or a decrease of beneficial molecules enwrapped in EVs may fully or partly indicate disease progression. 
  • 524
  • 02 Apr 2024
Topic Review
Lumbar Spinal Etiology vs. Peripheral Plexopathies
Clinicians have managed and treated lower back pain since the earliest days of practice. Historically, lower back pain and its accompanying symptoms of radiating leg pain and muscle weakness have been recognized to be due to any of the various lumbar spine pathologies that lead to the compression of the lumbar nerves at the root, the most common of which is the radiculopathy known as sciatica. However, with the increased rise in chronic diseases, the importance of differentially diagnosing a similarly presenting pathology, known as lumbosacral plexopathy, cannot be understated. Given the similar clinical presentation of lumbar spine pathologies and lumbosacral plexopathies, it can be difficult to differentiate these two diagnoses in the clinical setting. Resultingly, the inappropriate diagnosis of either pathology can result in ineffective clinical management. 
  • 523
  • 10 Mar 2023
Topic Review
Liquid Biopsy Analysis for Glioma Diagnosis
Gliomas are the most common primary tumors within the central nervous system (CNS), known for their significant genetic and epigenetic diversity, difficulties in monitoring, and elevated rates of relapse and mortality. Traditional tissue biopsy has long been the standard method for collecting and analyzing tumor cells, facilitating diagnosis, categorization of tumor subtypes, and prognosis prediction when the tumor's location is confirmed for surgical removal. Nonetheless, this approach is invasive and often challenging, making it unsuitable for routine patient screening, mutation detection, disease monitoring, or therapy resistance assessment. Consequently, a minimally invasive alternative known as liquid biopsy has emerged, providing a simpler means of tumor sampling and continuous monitoring. Liquid biopsy is increasingly recognized as an innovative and preferred method for obtaining rapid insights into potential tumor risk, personalized diagnosis, prognosis, and recurrence assessment.
  • 523
  • 20 Sep 2023
Topic Review
Modeling Central Nervous System Injury In Vitro
The central nervous system (CNS) injury, which occurs because of mechanical trauma or ischemia/hypoxia, is one of the main causes of mortality and morbidity in the modern society. Due to some ethical issues with the use of live animals in biomedical research, implementation of experimental strategies that prioritize the use of cells and tissues in the in vitro environment has been encouraged. Implementation of experimental strategies that prioritize the use of cells and tissues in the in vitro environment has significantly reduced the number of in vivo studies. In vitro studies certainly have some advantages compared to in vivo experiments, e.g., they allow high-throughput screening of therapeutic approaches, including the use of cells with human-based backgrounds. However, they still cannot completely replicate the complex intricacies of a living organism’s response to disease or injury as well as to therapeutics. This is something that is particularly true in neuroscience research and one of the main reasons why the neuroprotective strategies, which have been proven promising in the preclinical setting, overall failed to show benefits in human studies.
  • 522
  • 20 Feb 2023
Topic Review
Neuropathological Mechanisms Underlying the Development of Depression
Major depressive disorder is a severe neuropsychiatric disease driven by various hereditary, environmental, and psychological factors. It disables normal functioning and quality of life. 
  • 522
  • 04 May 2023
Topic Review
Network Involvement in Motor Symptoms
Motor symptoms dominate the clinical expression of PD. Muscular rigidity, akinesia, bradykinesia, gait instability, and resting tremor form the core of the motor symptoms. The concept of “parkinsonism” encompasses all motor impairments. For the clinical diagnosis, parkinsonism is defined as bradykinesia accompanied by resting tremor, rigidity, or both. Dopamine (DA) loss secondary to degeneration of the substantia nigra pars compacta (SNc) initiates parkinsonism by causing impaired modulatory function in the motor network.
  • 522
  • 04 Aug 2023
Topic Review
Stem Cell Scaffolds for Spinal Cord Injury Treatment
Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a profoundly debilitating yet common central nervous system condition resulting in significant morbidity and mortality rates. Major causes of SCI encompass traumatic incidences such as motor vehicle accidents, falls, and sports injuries. Treatment strategies for SCI aim to improve and enhance neurologic functionality. The ability for neural stem cells (NSCs) to differentiate into diverse neural and glial cell precursors has stimulated the investigation of stem cell scaffolds as potential therapeutics for SCI. Various scaffolding modalities including composite materials, natural polymers, synthetic polymers, and hydrogels have been explored.
  • 522
  • 10 Aug 2023
Topic Review
Personalized Management and Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a priority health problem with a high cost to society and a large consumption of medical and social resources. The management of AD patients is complex and multidisciplinary. Over 90% of patients suffer from concomitant diseases and require personalized therapeutic regimens to reduce adverse drug reactions (ADRs), drug–drug interactions (DDIs), and unnecessary costs. Men and women show substantial differences in their AD-related phenotypes. Genomic, epigenetic, neuroimaging, and biochemical biomarkers are useful for predictive and differential diagnosis. The most frequent concomitant diseases include hypertension (>25%), obesity (>70%), diabetes mellitus type 2 (>25%), hypercholesterolemia (40%), hypertriglyceridemia (20%), metabolic syndrome (20%), hepatobiliary disorder (15%), endocrine/metabolic disorders (>20%), cardiovascular disorder (40%), cerebrovascular disorder (60–90%), neuropsychiatric disorders (60–90%), and cancer (10%). Over 90% of AD patients require multifactorial treatments with risk of ADRs and DDIs. The implementation of pharmacogenetics in clinical practice can help optimize the limited therapeutic resources available to treat AD and personalize the use of anti-dementia drugs, in combination with other medications, for the treatment of concomitant disorders. 
  • 520
  • 13 Apr 2022
Topic Review
Blood–Brain Barrier Breakdown in Alzheimer’s Disease
The blood–brain barrier (BBB) is a unique and selective feature of the central nervous system’s vasculature. BBB dysfunction has been observed as an early sign of Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) before the onset of dementia or neurodegeneration. The intricate relationship between the BBB and the pathogenesis of AD, especially in the context of neurovascular coupling and the overlap of pathophysiology in neurodegenerative and cerebrovascular diseases, underscores the urgency to understand the BBB’s role more deeply. Preserving or restoring the BBB function emerges as a potentially promising strategy for mitigating the progression and severity of AD. Molecular and genetic changes, such as the isoform ε4 of apolipoprotein E (ApoEε4), a significant genetic risk factor and a promoter of the BBB dysfunction, have been shown to mediate the BBB disruption. Additionally, receptors and transporters like the low-density lipoprotein receptor-related protein 1 (LRP1), P-glycoprotein (P-gp), and the receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGEs) have been implicated in AD’s pathogenesis.
  • 516
  • 18 Dec 2023
Topic Review
Loss of Consciousness Predicts Development of mTBI Symptoms
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a condition caused by a blow or jolt to the head. TBI may be classified as mild, moderate, or severe based on several criteria, including the duration of loss of consciousness (LOC), when present. While the majority of mild TBI (mTBI) patients recover without intervention, a subset of patients experience persistent and debilitating symptoms. Therefore, prediction of symptom development in mTBI patients remains an ongoing research goal. LOC is associated with adverse outcomes after mTBI, such as cognitive and memory deficits; psychiatric disorders; physical symptoms; and brain abnormalities associated with the aforementioned impairments.
  • 515
  • 16 May 2023
Topic Review
Blood–Brain Barrier Permeability Post-Ischemia
The impact of post-ischemic brain damage on the function of the BBB is the subject of intensive research, among others, in the context of preventing or treating neurodegenerative changes with the use of substances that would pass through the barrier to the damaged brain tissue. An ischemia-reperfusion episode causes a series of changes that increase the permeability of the BBB to cellular and non-cellular blood components, lead to the opening of tight junctions, and sometimes to diffuse leakage of all blood elements through the necrotic vessel wall.
  • 515
  • 19 Jul 2023
Topic Review
Adverse Childhood Experiences in Multiple Sclerosis Development
Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), such as abuse, neglect, and household dysfunction, contribute to long-term systemic toxic stress and inflammation that may last well into adulthood. Such early-life stressors have been associated with increased susceptibility to multiple sclerosis (MS) in observational studies and with the development of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis in animal models. ACEs dysregulate neurodevelopment, stress responses, and immune reactivity; they also alter the interplay between the immune system and neural networks. All of this may be relevant for MS risk. 
  • 515
  • 18 Feb 2024
Topic Review
Impact of Aquaporins in the Central Nervous System
Aquaporins (AQPs), integral membrane proteins facilitating selective water and solute transport across cell membranes, have been the focus of extensive research over the past few decades. Particularly noteworthy is their role in maintaining cellular homeostasis and fluid balance in neural compartments, as dysregulated AQP expression is implicated in various degenerative and acute brain pathologies.
  • 513
  • 28 Sep 2023
Topic Review
Advances in Substance Addiction Research
Addiction is a complex brain disease influenced by genetic, environmental, and neurological factors. Psychostimulants, cocaine, and methamphetamine influence different cell types in different brain regions, with a focus on the neurons responsible for rewarding effects in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) and ventral tegmental area (VTA). Known markers for psychostimulant-induced neuronal plasticity in combination with droplet-based high-throughput single-cell sequencing divided the heterogeneity of cell populations in NAc and VTA into clusters, where all cells of the same type do not respond equally to exposure to psychostimulants. 
  • 513
  • 07 Feb 2024
Topic Review
Linc-ROR in Cancer and Disease
Cancer is responsible for more than 10 million deaths every year. Metastasis and drug resistance lead to a poor survival rate and are a major therapeutic challenge. Substantial evidence demonstrates that an increasing number of long non-coding RNAs are dysregulated in cancer, including the long intergenic non-coding RNA, regulator of reprogramming (linc-ROR), which mostly exerts its role as an onco-lncRNA acting as a competing endogenous RNA that sequesters micro RNAs.
  • 511
  • 11 May 2023
Topic Review
NF-κB in Microglia/Macrophages of GBM and AD
Microglia and macrophages are pivotal to the brain’s innate immune response and have garnered considerable attention in the context of glioblastoma (GBM) and Alzheimer’s disease (AD) research.  The NF-κB pathway, first identified in 1986 by Sen and Baltimore, plays a pivotal role in the immune response, cell proliferation, and apoptosis. Its molecular architecture includes five DNA-binding members: REL (c-REL), RELA (p65), RELB, NF-κB1 (p50), and NF-κB2 (p52), with the unique attribute of NF-κB2 (p52) lacking transactivation domains. NF-κB signaling encompasses three distinct pathways: canonical, non-canonical, and atypical, each with unique activation mechanisms and cellular responses. Through multiple graphic depictions, the reference clearly presented the traditional pathways and components of NF-κB. The canonical pathway, generally activated by microbial infections or pro-inflammatory cytokines, involves the phosphorylation and subsequent degradation of IκB proteins by the IκB kinase (IKK) complex, releasing p65/p50 NF-κB dimers for nuclear translocation and transcription activation. The non-canonical pathway, selectively activated by receptors like CD40, B-cell-activating factor receptor (BAFF-R), and lymphotoxin beta receptor (LTβR), primarily involves NF-κB2 (p100/p52) proteins and RELB. This pathway initiates with ligand binding, triggering NF-κB-inducible kinase (NIK) to phosphorylate and activate IKK1 (IKKα), leading to p100’s processing into p52 and the subsequent translocation of p52/RELB dimers to the nucleus, thus regulating gene expression differently compared to the canonical pathway. The atypical pathway, which is less well-characterized, can be triggered by DNA-damaging agents independently of IKK, illustrating the versatility and complexity of NF-κB signaling in cellular dynamics.
  • 505
  • 28 Dec 2023
Topic Review
Chronic Orofacial Pain
In exploring chronic orofacial pain (COFP), it's very important to highlight its global impact on life quality and critiques current diagnostic systems, including the ICD-11, ICOP, and ICHD-3, for their limitations in addressing COFP’s complexity. The mismanagement of pain not only leads to severe physical, psychological, and social repercussions but also incurs substantial economic costs, both in terms of healthcare expenditure and lost productivity.
  • 504
  • 14 Dec 2023
Topic Review
Carcinogenesis in Myotonic Dystrophy
Myotonic dystrophy (DM) is the most common muscular dystrophy in adults. Dominantly inherited CTG and CCTG repeat expansions in dystrophia myotonica protein kinase (DMPK) and  cellular nucleic acid-binding protein (CNBP) genes cause DM type 1 (DM1) and 2 (DM2), respectively. These genetic defects lead to the abnormal splicing of different mRNA transcripts, which are thought to be responsible for the multiorgan involvement of these diseases. Cancer frequency in patients with DM appears to be higher than in the general population or non-DM muscular dystrophy cohorts. 
  • 503
  • 15 Mar 2023
Topic Review
Antibodies in the Course of Autoimmune Encephalitis
Encephalitis is a condition with a variety of etiologies, clinical presentations, and degrees of severity. The causes of these disorders include both neuroinfections and autoimmune diseases in which host antibodies are pathologically directed against self-antigens. In autoimmune encephalitis, autoantibodies are expressed in the central nervous system. The incidence of this disease is approximately 4% of all reported cases of encephalitis. Autoimmune encephalitis can be induced by antibodies against neuronal surface antigens such as N-methyl-D-aspartate-activated glutamate receptors (NMDAR), α-amino-3-hydroxy-5-methyl-4-isoxazole propionate receptors (AMPAR) or gangliosides GQ1b, DPPX, CASPR2, LGI1, as well as by antibodies against neuronal intracellular antigens. 
  • 503
  • 11 Aug 2023
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