UW Neurological Surgery Recent PubMed Publications

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Germline pathogenic variants that activate the Ras/mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway cause neurodevelopmental disorders called Rasopathies. Because many affected proteins directly regulate Ras, causative mutations may alter other Ras-dependent pathways in addition to MAPK signaling. To better understand which Rasopathy sequelae result from hyperactivation of downstream MAPKs, we engineered mice with a gain-of-function mutation in the terminal MAPK gene Mapk1, which encodes ERK2 and...

The calcified chondroid mesenchymal neoplasm (CCMN) was first recognized as a distinct pathologic entity in 2021 at the University of Washington, and fewer than 100 cases of CCMN have been described in the literature. The CCMN tumor is characterized by the presence of chondroid matrix elements with an FN1-receptor TK gene fusion. CCMNs frequently arise in the distal extremity joints, but less commonly, they have been known to involve the temporomandibular joint (TMJ). This report details the...

Stable isotope-tracing assays track few metabolites, yet cells use many nutrients to sustain nitrogen metabolism. Here we create a platform for tracing 30 nitrogen isotope-labelled metabolites in parallel to enable a system-level understanding of cellular nitrogen metabolism. This platform reveals that while primitive cells engage both de novo and salvage pyrimidine synthesis pathways, differentiated cells nearly exclusively salvage uridine. This link between cell state and pyrimidine synthesis...

Three-dimensional reconstruction of cortical surfaces from MRI for subsequent morphometric analysis is fundamental for understanding brain structure. While high-field Magnetic Resonance Imaging (HF-MRI) is the standard in research and clinical settings, its relatively limited availability hinders widespread use. Low-field MRI (LF-MRI), particularly portable systems, offers a cost-effective and accessible alternative. However, existing cortical surface analysis tools, such as FreeSurfer, are...

BACKGROUND: Older adults frequently experience acute and long-term cognitive impairment following critical illness hospitalization in an intensive care unit (ICU). Delirium affects up to 80% of ICU patients and is linked to cognitive dysfunction and increased risk of cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD). Sleep and circadian rhythm disturbances are present in about 75-80% of ICU patients and may exacerbate delirium and undermine cognitive...

CONCLUSIONS: Fixed start-up and time-dependent costs were minimal. Variable costs were 66.7% of implementation costs and 69.3% of costs annually afterward. The primary cost driver was NCM time conducting MA Model-related work. The additional value of the model will depend on associated downstream outcomes. These results may be helpful to health care systems considering implementing the MA Model.

Bacteria encode diverse defence systems, including restriction-modification and CRISPR-Cas, that cleave nucleic acid to protect against phage infection. Bioinformatic analyses demonstrate that many recently identified antiphage defence operons comprise a nuclease and NTPase protein, suggesting that additional nucleic acid-targeting systems remain to be understood. Here we develop large-scale comparative cell biology and biochemical approaches to analyse 16 nuclease-NTPase systems and define...

Brain autopsy plays a critical role advancing understanding of neurological conditions, providing unique insights that may otherwise not be captured through studies of living individuals. In addition, given our increasing reliance on biomarkers of disease biology, pathology is the gold standard to validate biomarkers showing that early evidence of disease biology is consistent with postmortem pathology. Postmortem tissue collection is challenging, and opportunities to correlate neuropathological...

Radiation therapy is an essential mode of treatment for cancer, but it is limited by resistance, potential damage to healthy tissue, and inefficacy in later-stage cancers. To overcome these limitations, nanoparticles made from high atomic number (Z) atoms, such as silver (AgNPs), gold (AuNPs), and hafnium oxide (HfONPs), have been investigated for their ability to increase radiation dose deposition in cancer cells. Historically, it is believed that radiation dose enhancement primarily is...

BACKGROUND: Malaria remains a major cause of mortality globally, especially among young children in sub-Saharan Africa. The long-acting monoclonal antibody L9LS has shown high efficacy in preventing malaria in children aged 6-10 years exposed to seasonal transmission but remains untested in perennial transmission settings and younger children. We assessed the safety, tolerability, and efficacy of L9LS in infants and children in a high perennial malaria transmission setting.

Longitudinal trajectories of sleep in subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) survivors are not well known. We identified subgroups of SAH survivors based on distinct trajectories of sleep during the first 6 months post-SAH and compared sociodemographic characteristics, clinical characteristics, inflammatory biomarkers (Toll-like receptor 4, tumor necrosis factor [TNF]-α, interleukin [IL]-1β, and IL-6), and symptom-related characteristics (depression/anxiety, fatigue, sleep quality, and cognition) among...

CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest the ICD-10 codes for each individual MI subtype have such low sensitivity that they may not reliably and accurately identify these MI subtypes in clinical research or in quality metrics and value-based programs.

CONCLUSION: MaVD using the suture-pexy technique is a safe and durable strategy for treating macrovascular CN and brainstem compression syndromes. This technique provides reliable decompression when standard MVD is inadequate.

CONCLUSIONS: Resection is safe and durable for the treatment of TDAVF not otherwise amenable to embolization. It can achieve a high degree of success with a low rate of perioperative complications and permanent neurological deficits, benefits far exceeding the risks associated with TDAVF natural history or management with less effective modalities.

Rett syndrome is an x-linked genetic neurological disorder primarily caused by mutations in the methyl-CpG-binding protein 2 (MECP2) gene. This progressive neurodevelopmental condition hinders patients' ability to breathe and eat normally. It remains unclear how Mecp2 deficiency leads to the high prevalence of dysphagia and aspiration pneumonia observed in individuals with Rett syndrome. This study aims to determine the effects of Mecp2 deficiency on swallow-related neuromuscular mechanisms that...

CONCLUSIONS: TELD and IELD are safe, effective techniques. IELD enables faster recovery and greater short-term functional improvement, whereas TELD provides durable long-term benefit, especially for foraminal and upper lumbar pathology. Outcomes depend on surgical exposure, disc morphology, and body habitus, supporting an anatomy-guided, individualized approach.

CONCLUSIONS: SVB and PED demonstrated comparable angiographic efficacy and clinical safety for unruptured DACA aneurysms. Despite procedural differences, mid-term occlusion rates and outcomes were similar. Device selection in this distal territory may be guided primarily by anatomical considerations and operator preference rather than expectations of differential performance.