Tuberin Expression in Ganglioglioma

The expression of tuberin in neurosurgically resected gangliogliomas was investigated. Neither neoplastic astrocytes nor abnormal, multipolar large neurons showed immunoreactivity for tuberin. The reduced immuno-histochemical staining for tuberin was consistent with the reduction observed in Western blot analysis. Eosinophilic granular bodies and Rosenthal fibers were strongly immunoreactive for tuberin. The accumulation of tuberin in astrocytes with intracellular degenerative changes suggests increased expression in reactive cells, and perhaps a broader role for tuberin in central nervous system disease.     

Propofol hemisuccinate suppression of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis

Propofol hemisuccinate is a prodrug water soluble form of the lipophilic, phenolic compound propofol (2,6-di-isopropylphenol), that is the active ingredient in the widely used anesthetic agent Diprovan. Propofol binds to GABA_A receptors but also has a phenolic structure that confers antioxidant properties to the molecule. The effects of propofol hemisuccinate in rat experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) were studied using different doses and time regimes. Propofol hemisuccinate, 100 mg/kg given three times a day from day 7 or day 12 until day 16 after disease initiation, significantly reduced maximal EAE score. Histology studies supported the clinical findings demonstrating reduction in the inflammatory response in the lumbar spinal cord in animals treated with propofol hemisuccinate. Decreased levels of nitrotyrosine and unchanged levels of induced nitric oxide synthase suggest propofol hemisuccinate crossed the blood brain barrier and exerted its effects by lowering reactive oxygen species levels. The results suggest that propofol hemisuccinate may provide an alternative mode of treatment for acute exacerbations of multiple sclerosis.     

A 13-Year National Monitoring Study to Assess Narcotic Prescriptions and Indications (2007–2019)

Drug Safety - Analgesics are among the most widely used drugs worldwide. This study describes the population treated with narcotic analgesics, their therapeutic indications and how the data have...     

Conundrums and confusions regarding how polyethylene glycol-fusion produces excellent behavioral recovery after peripheral nerve injuries

Current Neuroscience dogma holds that transections or ablations of a segment of peripheral nerves produce:(1) Immediate loss of axonal continuity, sensory signaling, and motor control;(2) Wallerian rapid(1-3 days) degeneration of severed distal axons, muscle atrophy, and poor behavioral recovery after many months(if ever, after ablations) by slowly-regenerating(1 mm/d), proximal-stump outgrowths that must specifically reinnervate denervated targets;(3) Poor acceptance of microsutured nerve allografts, even if tissue-matched and immune-suppressed. Repair of transections/ablations by neurorrhaphy and well-specified-sequences of PEG-fusion solutions(one containing polyethylene glycol, PEG) successfully address these problems. However, conundrums and confusions regarding unorthodox and dramatic results of PEG-fusion repair in animal model systems often lead to misunderstandings. For example,(1) Axonal continuity and signaling is re-established within minutes by non-specifically PEG-fusing(connecting) severed motor and sensory axons across each lesion site, but remarkable behavioral recovery to near-unoperated levels takes several weeks;(2) Many distal stumps of inappropriately-reconnected, PEG-fused axons do not ever(Wallerian) degenerate and continuously innervate muscle fibers that undergo much less atrophy than otherwise-denervated muscle fibers;(3) Host rats do not reject PEG-fused donor nerve allografts in a non-immuno-privileged environment with no tissue matching or immunosuppression;(4) PEG fuses apposed open axonal ends or seals each shut(thereby preventing PEG-fusion), depending on the experimental protocol;(5) PEG-fusion protocols produce similar results in animal model systems and early human case studies. Hence, iconoclastic PEG-fusion data appropriately understood might provoke a re-thinking of some Neuroscience dogma and a paradigm shift in clinical treatment of peripheral nerve injuries.