Neuroscience
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While mounting evidence suggests that scalp acupuncture (SA) may be effective in alleviating neurological deficits in patients with acute ischemic stroke (IS), its effect on remote hippocampal damage in acute IS and the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. Thus, proteomics analysis was conducted to identify potential targets of SA therapy in acute IS. SA significantly reduced cerebral infarct volume and attenuated neuronal damage in the ischemic penumbra and hippocampus, as well as alleviated neurological deficits in rats with middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). ⋯ Proteomic analysis suggested that this effect is related to the modulation of the acute inflammatory response. SA attenuated remote hippocampal damage after IS by inhibiting microglia activation and neuroinflammation. Lastly, Kng1, Brd9, and Magl were identified as potential targets that mediate the anti-inflammatory effects of SA.
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To investigate the characteristics and diagnostic values of the eye movement disorders in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD-EMDs), this cross-sectional study enrolled 127 Chinese patients with PD and 80 healthy controls, and divided them into training and validation sets based on enrollment time. Performance in the five oculomotor paradigms was assessed using an infrared pupil and a corneal reflection tracking device. The primary characteristics of PD-EMDs were elucidated as inaccurate fixation with high deviation (frequency and total quantity); inaccurate saccades with delayed reaction and low velocity; saccadic pursuit with high deviation, delayed reaction, and velocity; and decreased visual search ability. ⋯ The model has good feasibility with satisfactory performance on the receiver operating characteristic, calibration, and decision curves, and broad clinical applicability with better discrimination for more advanced PD patients and non-tremor-dominant PD patients. A nomogram was created to make the model more user-friendly in the clinical setting. Overall, we have demonstrated the presence of PD-EMDs and their prospective value for PD preliminary screening.
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Previous research has shown that visual impairment results in reduced audio, tactile and proprioceptive ability. One hypothesis is that these issues arise from inaccurate body representations. Few studies have investigated metric body representations in a visually impaired population. ⋯ Our results showed thatblind participants overestimated their hands and feetto a similar degree. Sighted controls overestimated their hands significantly more than their feet. Taken together, our results partially support our hypothesis and suggest that visual deprivation, even for short periods result in hand size overestimation.
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Stress is triggered by a threatening event that alters the regulation of emotion, behavior, and cognition. The effects of stress on memory in animal models are well-documented. Firstly, this study aimed to determine whether the repeated forced swim stress (FSS) protocol induces memory impairment comparable to single prolonged stress (SPS) in the Y-maze test. ⋯ Mice underwent a Y-maze test, after which they were euthanized, and hippocampal samples were collected. (p-ClPhSe)2 pretreatment protected against the reduction in time spent in the novel arm by mice subjected to FSS. Repeated FSS exposure increased hippocampal protein levels of NMDAR subunits 2A, 2B, and EAAT1 compared to controls. (p-ClPhSe)2 pretreatment prevented this increase. In conclusion, (p-ClPhSe)2 mitigated stress-induced memory impairment in FSS-exposed mice, normalizing hippocampal NMDAR 2A, 2B, and EAAT1 protein levels.
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Obesity and drugs of abuse share overlapping neural circuits and behaviors. Silent synapses are transient synapses that are important for remodeling brain circuits. They are prevalent during early development but largely disappear by adulthood. ⋯ Using a dietary-induced obesity paradigm, mice that chronically consumed high fat diet (HFD) exhibited increased silent synapses in both direct and indirect pathway medium spiny neurons in the dorsolateral striatum. Both the time of onset of increased silent synapses and their normalization upon discontinuation of HFD occurs on an extended time scale compared to drugs of abuse. These data demonstrate that chronic consumption of HFD, like drugs of abuse, can alter mechanisms of circuit plasticity likely facilitating neural reorganization analogous to drugs of abuse.