Cost-effectiveness of deep brain stimulation versus treatment as usual for obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Background: Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is effective for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD), but requires expensive medical procedures. To date, no study has examined the cost-effectiveness of DBS for OCD.

Objective: To perform the first economic evaluation of DBS for therapy refractory OCD.

Sexually Dimorphic Changes of Hypocretin (Orexin) in Depression.

Background: Neurophysiological and behavioral processes regulated by hypocretin (orexin) are severely affected in depression. However, alterations in hypocretin have so far not been studied in the human brain. We explored the hypocretin system changes in the hypothalamus and cortex in depression from male and female subjects.

Immune involvement in the pathogenesis of schizophrenia: a meta-analysis on postmortem brain studies.

Although the precise pathogenesis of schizophrenia is unknown, genetic, biomarker and imaging studies suggest involvement of the immune system. In this study, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis of studies investigating factors related to the immune system in postmortem brains of schizophrenia patients and healthy controls. Forty-one studies were included, reporting on 783 patients and 762 controls.

Comparing functional MRI protocols for small, iron-rich basal ganglia nuclei such as the subthalamic nucleus at 7 T and 3 T.

The basal ganglia (BG) form a network of subcortical nuclei. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in the BG could provide insight in its functioning and the underlying mechanisms of Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS). However, fMRI of the BG with high specificity is challenging, because the nuclei are small and variable in their anatomical location.

Aromatase changes in depression: A postmortem and animal experimental study.

A hyperactive hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis is a prominent feature in depression. It has been shown that androgens inhibit HPA activity and that estrogens stimulate it. We have therefore investigated, in human postmortem hypothalamus, whether depression features an increase in aromatase, which is the rate-limiting enzyme for the conversion of androgens to estrogens.

More Severe Insomnia Complaints in People with Stronger Long-Range Temporal Correlations in Wake Resting-State EEG.

The complaints of people suffering from Insomnia Disorder (ID) concern both sleep and daytime functioning. However, little is known about wake brain temporal dynamics in people with ID. We therefore assessed possible alterations in Long-Range Temporal Correlations (LRTC) in the amplitude fluctuations of band-filtered oscillations in electroencephalography (EEG) recordings.

When the Brain Takes 'BOLD' Steps: Real-Time fMRI Neurofeedback Can Further Enhance the Ability to Gradually Self-regulate Regional Brain Activation.

Brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) based on real-time functional magnetic resonance imaging (rtfMRI) are currently explored in the context of developing alternative (motor-independent) communication and control means for the severely disabled. In such BCI systems, the user encodes a particular intention (e.g.

Analysis of neural crest-derived clones reveals novel aspects of facial development.

Cranial neural crest cells populate the future facial region and produce ectomesenchyme-derived tissues, such as cartilage, bone, dermis, smooth muscle, adipocytes, and many others. However, the contribution of individual neural crest cells to certain facial locations and the general spatial clonal organization of the ectomesenchyme have not been determined. We investigated how neural crest cells give rise to clonally organized ectomesenchyme and how this early ectomesenchyme behaves during the developmental processes that shape the face.

Fusarium sacchari, a cause of mycotic keratitis among sugarcane farmers - a series of four cases from North India.

The two most common filamentous fungi causing mycotic keratitis are Aspergillus and Fusarium spp. Around 70 Fusarium spp. are involved in causing human infections.

Frequency-Selective Attention in Auditory Scenes Recruits Frequency Representations Throughout Human Superior Temporal Cortex.

A sound of interest may be tracked amid other salient sounds by focusing attention on its characteristic features including its frequency. Functional magnetic resonance imaging findings have indicated that frequency representations in human primary auditory cortex (AC) contribute to this feat. However, attentional modulations were examined at relatively low spatial and spectral resolutions, and frequency-selective contributions outside the primary AC could not be established.

Cost-effectiveness of i-Sleep, a guided online CBT intervention, for patients with insomnia in general practice: protocol of a pragmatic randomized controlled trial.

Background: Insomnia is a highly prevalent disorder causing clinically significant distress and impairment. Furthermore, insomnia is associated with high societal and individual costs. Although cognitive behavioural treatment for insomnia (CBT-I) is the preferred treatment, it is not used often.

Cortical Thickness, Surface Area and Subcortical Volume Differentially Contribute to Cognitive Heterogeneity in Parkinson's Disease.

Parkinson's disease (PD) is often associated with cognitive deficits, although their severity varies considerably between patients. Recently, we used voxel-based morphometry (VBM) to show that individual differences in gray matter (GM) volume relate to cognitive heterogeneity in PD. VBM does, however, not differentiate between cortical thickness (CTh) and surface area (SA), which might be independently affected in PD.

Testosterone affects language areas of the adult human brain.

Although the sex steroid hormone testosterone is integrally involved in the development of language processing, ethical considerations mostly limit investigations to single hormone administrations. To circumvent this issue we assessed the influence of continuous high-dose hormone application in adult female-to-male transsexuals. Subjects underwent magnetic resonance imaging before and after 4 weeks of testosterone treatment, with each scan including structural, diffusion weighted and functional imaging.

Loss of GPR3 reduces the amyloid plaque burden and improves memory in Alzheimer's disease mouse models.

The orphan G protein (heterotrimeric guanine nucleotide-binding protein)-coupled receptor (GPCR) GPR3 regulates activity of the γ-secretase complex in the absence of an effect on Notch proteolysis, providing a potential therapeutic target for Alzheimer's disease (AD). However, given the vast resources required to develop and evaluate any new therapy for AD and the multiple failures involved in translational research, demonstration of the pathophysiological relevance of research findings in multiple disease-relevant models is necessary before initiating costly drug development programs. We evaluated the physiological consequences of loss of Gpr3 in four AD transgenic mouse models, including two that contain the humanized murine Aβ sequence and express similar amyloid precursor protein (APP) levels as wild-type mice, thereby reducing potential artificial phenotypes.

Phasic dopamine release induced by positive feedback predicts individual differences in reversal learning.

Striatal dopamine (DA) is central to reward-based learning. Less is known about the contribution of DA to the ability to adapt previously learned behavior in response to changes in the environment, such as a reversal of response-reward contingencies. We hypothesized that DA is involved in the rapid updating of response-reward information essential for successful reversal learning.

Deep Brain Stimulation for Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder: A Meta-Analysis of Treatment Outcome and Predictors of Response.

Background: Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has been proposed as an alternative to ablative neurosurgery for severe treatment-resistant Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder (OCD), although with partially discrepant results probably related to differences in anatomical targetting and stimulation conditions. We sought to determine the efficacy and tolerability of DBS in OCD and the existence of clinical predictors of response using meta-analysis.

Methods: We searched the literature on DBS for OCD from 1999 through January 2014 using PubMed/MEDLINE and PsycINFO.

Cladophialophora bantiana as an Emerging Pathogen in Animals: Case Report of Equine Endometritis and Review of the Literature.

We present an unusual equine endometritis case associated with Cladophialophora bantiana in a 15-year-old mare. The mare displayed infertility and uterine fluid accumulation with numerous black, hairy granules. Microscopically, the fluid revealed numerous septate, dark fungal hyphae and conidia in chains.

Brain region-specific gene expression profiles in freshly isolated rat microglia.

Microglia are important cells in the brain that can acquire different morphological and functional phenotypes dependent on the local situation they encounter. Knowledge on the region-specific gene signature of microglia may hold valuable clues for microglial functioning in health and disease, e.g.

Phenotypic variation in Aicardi-Goutières syndrome explained by cell-specific IFN-stimulated gene response and cytokine release.

Aicardi-Goutières syndrome (AGS) is a monogenic inflammatory encephalopathy caused by mutations in TREX1, RNASEH2A, RNASEH2B, RNASEH2C, SAMHD1, ADAR1, or MDA5. Mutations in those genes affect normal RNA/DNA intracellular metabolism and detection, triggering an autoimmune response with an increase in cerebral IFN-α production by astrocytes. Microangiopathy and vascular disease also contribute to the neuropathology in AGS.

How attention can create synaptic tags for the learning of working memories in sequential tasks.

Intelligence is our ability to learn appropriate responses to new stimuli and situations. Neurons in association cortex are thought to be essential for this ability. During learning these neurons become tuned to relevant features and start to represent them with persistent activity during memory delays.

Sleep and Food Choice in a Dutch Student Population.

Background: The increased risk of obesity among short sleepers is most likely explained by increased energy intake. However, food intake could not only be altered quantitavely but also qualitatively. Therefore, we performed a correlational analysis on self-reported food intake and sleep in 51 students from Maastricht and surroundings.

The Effect of Task Instruction on Haptic Texture Processing: The Neural Underpinning of Roughness and Spatial Density Perception.

Perceived roughness is associated with a variety of physical factors and multiple peripheral afferent types. The current study investigated whether this complexity of the mapping between physical and perceptual space is reflected at the cortical level. In an integrative psychophysical and imaging approach, we used dot pattern stimuli for which previous studies reported a simple linear relationship of interdot spacing and perceived spatial density and a more complex function of perceived roughness.

Asexual propagation of a virulent clone complex in a human and feline outbreak of sporotrichosis.

Sporotrichosis is one of the most frequent subcutaneous fungal infections in humans and animals caused by members of the plant-associated, dimorphic genus Sporothrix. Three of the four medically important Sporothrix species found in Brazil have been considered asexual as no sexual stage has ever been reported in Sporothrix schenckii, Sporothrix brasiliensis, or Sporothrix globosa. We have identified the mating type (MAT) loci in the S.

White matter microstructure in transsexuals and controls investigated by diffusion tensor imaging.

Biological causes underpinning the well known gender dimorphisms in human behavior, cognition, and emotion have received increased attention in recent years. The advent of diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging has permitted the investigation of the white matter microstructure in unprecedented detail. Here, we aimed to study the potential influences of biological sex, gender identity, sex hormones, and sexual orientation on white matter microstructure by investigating transsexuals and healthy controls using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI).