大鼠致痫后血清和脑组织皮质醇水平的测定及其意义

应用放免技术测定了马桑内酯致痫和对照组大鼠大脑皮层和海马脑组织皮质醇含量及血清皮质醇水平结果显示，血清对照组为２．７７±２．０７ｎｇ／ｍｌ，致痫组为０．９８±０．７５ｎｇ／ｍｌ，两组比较无显著差异（Ｐ＞０．０５）；海马正常对照组为２５．７７±１２．９８ｎｇ／ｇ湿重，致痫组为０．９８±０．４２ｎｇ／ｇ湿重组织，海马致痫组显著降低（Ｐ＜０．０１）；大脑皮层对照组为８．８３±１．９６ｎｇ／ｇ湿重，致痫组为０．３３±０．１１ｎｇ／ｇ湿重组织，大脑皮层致痫组降低极为显著（（Ｐ＜０．００１）。表明致痫后大鼠大脑皮层、海马脑组织皮质醇含量均明显降低，提示皮质醇在癫痫的发病中起重要作用。     

Brain Imaging in Stroke: Insight Beyond Diagnosis

Stroke, whether hemorrhagic or ischemic in nature, has the ability to lead to devastating and debilitating patient outcomes, which not only has direct implications from a healthcare standpoint, but its effects are longstanding and they impact the community as a whole. For decades, the goal of advancement and refinement in imaging modalities has been to develop the most precise, convenient, widely available and reproducible interpretable modality for the detection of stroke, not only in its hyperacute phase, but a method to be able to predict its evolution through the natural course of disease. Diagnosis is one of the most important initial roles, which imaging fulfills after the identification of existent pathology. However, imaging fulfills an even more important goal by using a combination of imaging modalities and their precise interpretation, which lends itself to understanding the mechanisms and pathophysiology of underlying disease, and therefore guides therapeutic decision-making in a patient-tailored fashion. This review explores the most commonly used brain imaging modalities, computer tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging, with an aim to demonstrate their dynamic use in uncovering stroke mechanism, facilitating prognostication, and potentially guiding therapy.     

Beyond Self-report: Brain Imaging at the Threshold of Odor Perception

Odorants exert their effects at many levels. Most often, these stimuli are well above detection threshold and allow the investigator to use self-report or behavioral techniques to evaluate odor effects. There are, however, considerable data demonstrating effects for odor stimuli that are below sensory thresholds or are undetected by subjects. In these cases, self-report is of little use, and brain imaging has been very effective in helping to explain these findings. This paper reviews the problem of low-intensity odors and the application of a wide variety of brain imaging techniques to research on this phenomenon. Finally, a model of undetected odor effects and brain imaging is presented to help simplify the variations in nomenclature that are used to describe this field.     

Beyond Functional Architecture in Cognitive Neuropsychology: A Reply to Coltheart (2010)

We ( Patterson & Plaut, 2009 ) argued that cognitive neuropsychology has had a limited impact on cognitive science due to a nearly exclusive reliance on (a) single‐case studies, (b) dissociations in cognitive performance, and (c) shallow, box‐and‐arrow theorizing, and we advocated adopting a case‐series methodology, considering associations as well as dissociations, and employing explicit computational modeling in studying “how the brain does its cognitive business.” In reply, Coltheart (2010) claims that our concern is misplaced because cognitive neuropsychology is concerned only with studying the mind, in terms of its “functional architecture,” without regard to how this is implemented in the brain. In this response, we do not dispute his characterization of cognitive neuropsychology as it has typically been practiced over the last 40 years, but we suggest that our understanding of brain structure and function has advanced to the point where studying the mind without regard to the brain is unwise and perpetuates the field’s isolation.     

Resetting the Brain as Well as the Nomenclature. Reply to Szalavitz

Szalavitz’s model and mine share a good many components. Foremost among them is the conviction that addiction is a developmental trajectory, not a disease. Szalavitz is correct that we should consider controlled substance use an acceptable outcome, though I would like her to shift her terminology away from the medical mainstream. Finally, I suggest that Szalavitz's important idea of a "reset" in brain development might best be addressed by the notion of kindling.     

Loss of Cortisol Circadian Rhythm in Patients with Traumatic Brain Injury: A Microdialysis Evaluation

Background  

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is commonly associated with disturbances of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis secretion. Cerebral microdialysis techniques have been recently applied to measure brain interstitial cortisol levels.     

Structure,Function, and Mechanism of Progranulin; the Brain and Beyond

Mutation of human GRN, the gene encoding the secreted glycoprotein progranulin, results in a form of frontotemporal lobar degeneration that is characterized by the presence of ubiquitinated inclusions containing phosphorylated and cleaved fragments of the transactivation response element DNA-binding protein-43. This has stimulated interest in understanding the role of progranulin in the central nervous system, and in particular, how this relates to neurodegeneration. Progranulin has many roles outside the brain, including regulation of cellular proliferation, survival, and migration, in cancer, including cancers of the brain, in wound repair, and inflammation. It often acts through the extracellular signal-regulated kinase and phopshatidylinositol-3-kinases pathways. The neurobiology of progranulin has followed a similar pattern with proposed roles for progranulin (PGRN) in the central nervous system as a neuroprotective agent and in neuroinflammation. Here we review the structure, biology, and mechanism of progranulin action. By understanding PGRN in a wider context, we may be better able to delineate its roles in the normal brain and in neurodegenerative disease.