Bovine coenurosis

An 18-month-old mixed breed steer had incoordination, blindness, and opisthotonos for ten days. The clinical condition progressed to lethargy and lateral recumbency, and the steer was euthanized due to poor prognosis. There is a cyst located mainly on the left side of the brain, moderately distending the third ventricle and protruding through the transverse fissure into the right dorsal thalamic region anterior to the rostral colliculi. The cyst is 3.3 x 3.5 x 3 cm, consists of a thin transparent membrane filled with translucent fluid, and has numerous slightly elongated opaque white structures of approximately 1 mm (protoscolices) adhered to the inner aspect of the capsule (Fig. 1). The cyst causes compression and atrophy of the thalamus and hippocampus, more pronounced on the left side (Fig. 2). There is dilation of the lateral ventricles, moderate on the left side and mild on the right side. The mesencephalic aqueduct is moderately distended.

Early Detection of Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that occurs due to corrosion of the substantia nigra, located in the thalamic region of the human brain, and is responsible for transmission of neural signals throughout the human body by means of a brain chemical, termed as “dopamine.” Diagnosis of PD is difficult, as it is often affected by the characteristics of the medical data of the patients, which include presence of various indicators, imbalance cases of patients' data records, similar cases of healthy/affected persons, etc. Through this chapter, an intelligent diagnostic system is proposed by integrating one-class SVM, extreme learning machine, and data preprocessing technique. The proposed diagnostic model is validated with six existing techniques and four learning models. The experimental results prove the combination of proposed method with ELM learning model to be highly effective in case of early detection of Parkinson's disease, even in presence of underlying data issues.

Leigh Syndrome in an Adolescent Girl: A Case Report

Leigh syndrome (LS) is a disorder of infancy and rarely late childhood. It presents with regression of mental and motor skills. Here, we present LS in an adolescent girl who presented with generalized dystonia and cognitive decline. Her infective, metabolic, endocrinal and autoimmune work up was normal. The neuroimaging showed progressive symmetric involvement of basal ganglia with focal intensity over bilateral lentiform nucleus and thalamic region. The cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) lactate level was elevated. Genetic test could not be performed; however the history of neuro-regression with extrapyramidal involvement with CSF and neuroimaging finding led to the diagnosis of Leigh’s syndrome.

Two Thalamic Regions Screened Using Laser Capture Microdissection with Whole Human Genome Microarray in Schizophrenia Postmortem Samples

We used whole human genome microarray screening of highly enriched neuronal populations from two thalamic regions in postmortem samples from subjects with schizophrenia and controls to identify brain region-specific gene expression changes and possible transcriptional targets. The thalamic anterior nucleus is reciprocally connected to anterior cingulate, a schizophrenia-affected cortical region, and is also thought to be schizophrenia affected; the other thalamic region is not. Using two regions in the same subject to identify disease-relevant gene expression differences was novel and reduced intersubject heterogeneity of findings. We found gene expression differences related to miRNA-137 and other SZ-associated microRNAs, ELAVL1, BDNF, DISC-1, MECP2 and YWHAG associated findings, synapses, and receptors. Manual curation of our data may support transcription repression.

Early Detection of Parkinson's Disease

Parkinson's disease (PD) is a neurodegenerative disorder that occurs due to corrosion of the substantia nigra, located in the thalamic region of the human brain, and is responsible for transmission of neural signals throughout the human body by means of a brain chemical, termed as “dopamine.” Diagnosis of PD is difficult, as it is often affected by the characteristics of the medical data of the patients, which include presence of various indicators, imbalance cases of patients' data records, similar cases of healthy/affected persons, etc. Through this chapter, an intelligent diagnostic system is proposed by integrating one-class SVM, extreme learning machine, and data preprocessing technique. The proposed diagnostic model is validated with six existing techniques and four learning models. The experimental results prove the combination of proposed method with ELM learning model to be highly effective in case of early detection of Parkinson's disease, even in presence of underlying data issues.

A time-stamp mechanism may provide temporal information necessary for egocentric to allocentric spatial transformations

Learning the spatial organization of the environment is essential for most animals’ survival. This requires the animal to derive allocentric spatial information from egocentric sensory and motor experience. The neural mechanisms underlying this transformation are mostly unknown. We addressed this problem in electric fish, which can precisely navigate in complete darkness and whose brain circuitry is relatively simple. We conducted the first neural recordings in the preglomerular complex, the thalamic region exclusively connecting the optic tectum with the spatial learning circuits in the dorsolateral pallium. While tectal topographic information was mostly eliminated in preglomerular neurons, the time-intervals between object encounters were precisely encoded. We show that this reliable temporal information, combined with a speed signal, can permit accurate estimation of the distance between encounters, a necessary component of path-integration that enables computing allocentric spatial relations. Our results suggest that similar mechanisms are involved in sequential spatial learning in all vertebrates.

A novel time-stamp mechanism transforms egocentric encounters into an allocentric spatial representation

Learning the spatial organization of the environment is essential for most animals’ survival. This often requires the animal to derive allocentric information about the environment from egocentric sensory and motor experience. The neural circuits and mechanisms underlying this transformation are currently unknown. We addressed this problem in electric fish, which can precisely navigate in complete darkness and whose requisite brain circuitry is relatively simple. We conducted the first neural recordings in the preglomerular complex, the thalamic region exclusively connecting the optic tectum with the spatial learning circuits in the dorsolateral pallium. While tectal egocentric information was eliminated in preglomerular neurons, the time-intervals between object encounters were precisely encoded. We show that this highly-reliable temporal information, combined with a speed signal, can permit accurate path-integration that then enables computing allocentric spatial relations. Our results suggest that similar mechanisms are involved in spatial learning via sequential encounters in all vertebrates.

Central poststroke pain: A systematic review

Background Physical, psychological, and/or social impairment can result after a stroke and can be exacerbated by pain. One type of pain after stroke, central poststroke pain, is believed to be due to primary central nervous system mechanisms. Estimated prevalence of central poststroke pain ranges widely from 8% to 55% of stroke patients, suggesting a difficulty in reliably, accurately, and consistently identifying central poststroke pain. This may be due to the absence of a generally accepted definition. Aim We aimed to clarify the role of thalamic strokes and damage to the spinothalamic pathway in central poststroke pain patients. Also, we aimed to gain a current understanding of anatomic substrates, brain imaging, and treatment of central poststroke pain. Summary of review Two independent reviewers identified 10,144 publications. Based on Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines, we extracted data from 23 papers and categorized the articles’ aims into four sections: somatosensory deficits, pathway stimulation, clinical trials, and brain imaging. Conclusions Our systematic review suggests that damage to the spinothalamic pathway is associated with central poststroke pain and this link could provide insights into mechanisms and treatment. Moreover, historical connection of strokes in the thalamic region of the brain and central poststroke pain should be reevaluated as many studies noted that strokes in other regions of the brain have high occurrence of central poststroke pain as well.

Abstract TP147: Central Post Stroke Pain: A Systematic Review

Background: Central Post Stroke Pain (CPSP) is reportedly due to strokes in the thalamic region (Dishinbition Theory); however, the Central Imbalance Theory states that CPSP is due to damage to the spinothalamic pathway (STP). Aims: 1) Clarify the role of thalamic strokes and STP damage in CPSP patients. 2) Gain a current understanding of anatomic substrates, brain imaging, and treatment of CPSP. Methods: Two independent reviewers systematically reviewed PUBMED, CINAHL and Web of Science for studies including original, clinical studies and randomized controlled trials (RCTs) using PRISMA guidelines. Studies had to assess CPSP, using a single question or pain scale. Results: Search from January – July 2016, identifying 731 publications. We extracted data from 23 studies and categorized the articles’ aims into 4 sections: somatosensory deficits (5 studies), STP (3 studies), brain imaging (7 studies), and RCTs (8 studies). Somatosensory studies showed high rates of CPSP; however, the underlying causes of these deficits were unclear. Most studies did not refer to stroke location as playing a role in CPSP, but that pathways may. STP studies displayed consistent evidence that the STP plays a major role in CPSP, delineating that CPSP can occur even when the stroke is not in the thalamic region but in other regions (e.g. cerebellum, basal ganglia, medulla). Four of the brain imaging studies found CPSP not related and 3 found it was related to thalamic strokes. All 7 studies had major limitations including sample size, no control groups, and selection bias. RCTs were mostly negative, but brain stem and motor cortex stimulation studies showed the most promise. Conclusions: While CPSP has been linked to the thalamic region since the early 1900’s, the peer-reviewed literature showed equivocal results when examining location of stroke. Our systematic review suggests damage to the STP is associated with CPSP and this could provide insights into mechanisms and treatment. Moreover, historical connection of strokes in the thalamic region and CPSP should be reevaluated as many studies noted that strokes in other regions of the brain also produce CPSP.