UW Neurological Surgery Recent PubMed Publications

GNAO1 encodes Gα(o) , a heterotrimeric G protein alpha subunit in the Gi/o family. Gα(o) , the most abundant membrane protein in the brain, mediates downstream signaling pathways by itself, or via regulating free Gβγ subunits. To determine the role of Gα(o) protein in regulating synaptic transmission, we use electrophysiology to study cerebellar molecular layer interneuron - Purkinje cell synaptic transmission in a haploinsufficient loss-of-function (LOF) Gnao1 mouse model, manifest with...

The generation of rhythmicity is a fundamental property of the nervous system. Common amongst all rhythmogenic networks is the ability to reconfigure and quickly adapt to changes in metabolic, environmental, and behavioral demands. Yet, this flexibility, and plasticity must be counter-balanced by the need to maintain stability. A group of neurons collectively known as the preBötzinger complex (preBötC) within the ventral respiratory column of the medulla assemble in a network that is both...

Elevated ketone levels have been shown to lead to improvement in diseased contexts including epilepsy, diabetes, obesity, cancer, Alzheimer's, and Parkinson's Disease. It can be difficult for many patients, especially children, to adhere to the strict and intense ketogenic diet necessary to achieve such elevation via dietary manipulation, hence why the field of metabolic therapy continues to explore the use of exogenous ketone supplementation. This preliminary pharmacodynamic study characterizes...

Non-healing wounds are a common complication from chronic disorders such as diabetes, cardiovascular diseases and cancer, among others. Impaired vascularization during the early stages of the wound healing process is a major limitation to tissue repair, and contributes to the chronification of the injury, characterized by the deposition of fibrous tissue by fibroblasts. Targeted therapeutics aimed at enhancing vascularization at the site of injury by transdifferentiating fibroblasts to...

CONCLUSIONS: Most respondents were high users of social media, particularly Instagram, YouTube, and Facebook. High users incorporated social media into their surgical education while perceiving more benefits and fewer risks of social media.

SUMMARY: In patients with severe upper extremity weakness that may result from peripheral nerve injuries, stroke, and spinal cord injuries, standard therapy in the earliest stages of recovery consists primarily of passive rather than active exercises. Adherence to prescribed therapy may be poor, which may contribute to suboptimal functional outcomes. The authors have developed and integrated a custom surface electromyography device with a video game to create an interactive, biofeedback-based...

CONCLUSION: VCD's were successfully deployed in 95.2% of the patients with 4.8% of perioperative minor complications.

No abstract

Co-occurring adversities are common for young children with child protective services (CPS) involvement, with high rates of intimate partner violence (IPV) exposure in this population. Despite extensive research linking childhood IPV exposure to later psychopathology, fewer studies have examined the prospective associations between IPV exposure and psychopathology using a dimensional approach. Here, we conducted secondary analyses of data from a randomized controlled trial of a parenting...

CONCLUSIONS: Adjustment for social determinants of health reduced racial and ethnic disparities in colorectal cancer screening among all minority racial and ethnic groups except non-Hispanic Asian individuals; however, other unmeasured confounders likely exist. See Video Abstract at http://links.lww.com/DCR/B977.

Plasmodium sporozoites invade hepatocytes and transform into liver stages within a parasitophorous vacuole (PV). The parasites then grow and replicate their genome to form exoerythrocytic merozoites that infect red blood cells. We report that the human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum (Pf) expresses a C-type ATP-binding cassette transporter, Pf ABCC2, which marks the transition from invasive sporozoite to intrahepatocytic early liver stage. Using a humanized mouse infection model, we show...

Idiopathic intracranial hypertension (IIH) represents a clinical disease entity without a clear etiology, that if left untreated, can result in severe outcomes, including permanent vision loss. For this reason, early diagnosis and treatment is necessary. Historically, the role of cross-sectional imaging has been to rule out secondary or emergent causes of increased intracranial pressure, including tumor, infection, hydrocephalus, or venous thrombosis. MRI and MRV, however, can serve as valuable...

Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) is clinically used to image the microcirculation at lower imaging frequencies (<2 MHz). Recently, plane-wave acquisitions and Doppler processing have revealed improved microbubble sensitivity, enabling CEUS use at higher frequencies (15 MHz) and the ability to image simultaneously blood flow in the micro- and macrocirculations. We used this approach to assess acute and chronic blood flow changes within contused spinal cord in a rodent spinal cord injury model....

CONCLUSION: APOS was associated with a lower chance of seizure freedom at 1 year post-MRgLITT for mesial temporal lobe epilepsy. Amygdala, hippocampal, entorhinal, and parahippocampal residual volumes after ablation were not significant prognostic factors.

There is a growing awareness that the large number of environmental pollutants we are exposed to on a daily basis are causing major health problems. Compared to traditional studies that focus on individual pollutants, there are relatively few studies on how pollutants mixtures interact. Several studies have reported a relationship between environmental pollutants and the development of cancer, even when pollutant levels are below toxicity reference values. The possibility of synergistic...

CONCLUSION: Our data identify KLK5 to be the causal gene at a novel locus at chr19q13.41 associated with T2-low asthma.

CONCLUSION: The utility of FES in spinal oncology is not well understood. Literature results of this technique show promise. Further study is needed to draw definitive conclusions on FES efficacy and safety in spinal oncology.

Background After severe traumatic brain injury (sTBI), physicians use long-term prognostication to guide acute clinical care yet struggle to predict outcomes in comatose patients. Purpose To develop and evaluate a prognostic model combining deep learning of head CT scans and clinical information to predict long-term outcomes after sTBI. Materials and Methods This was a retrospective analysis of two prospectively collected databases. The model-building set included 537 patients (mean age, 40...

Translation factors have traditionally been viewed as proteins that drive ribosome function and ensure accurate mRNA translation. Recent discoveries have highlighted that these factors can also moonlight in gene regulation, but through functions distinct from their canonical roles in protein synthesis. Notably, the additional functions that translation factors encode are diverse, ranging from transcriptional control and extracellular signaling to RNA binding, and are highly regulated in response...

The objective of this study was to determine the prevalence of sleep-wake disturbances (SWD) following pediatric traumatic brain injury (TBI), and to examine characteristics of TBI and patient demographics that might be predictive of subsequent SWD development. This single-institution retrospective study included patients diagnosed with a TBI during 2008-2019 who also had a subsequent diagnosis of an SWD. Data were collected using ICD-9/10 codes for 207 patients and included the following: age...