Neurovista

There will be a  Minisymposium on translational therapies at the AACR in Los Angeles on Tuesday, April 19th.  The Tumor Section Biennial meeting at the Renaissance Hotel in Washington, D.C. 

The AANS Executive Committee approved the Sympathectomy for Hyperhidrosis Position Statement written by Curtis Dickman, MD, on February 2, 2007. [AANS Current News]

Adult human neural stem cells for autologous cell replacement therapies for neurodegenerative disorders..
A Review…[PubMed: neural stem cell]

Encephalopathy, stroke, and myocardial infarction with DMSO use in stem cell transplantation.
“Stem cell transplants are established therapy for hematologic and solid tumor malignancies. Known neurological complications of stem cell transplantation include CNS infection, seizures, strokes, metabolic encephalopathy, and hemorrhage. We report two cases of autologous stem cell transplantation complicated by cerebral infarction and myocardial injury. We postulate that the cryopreservative dimethyl sulfoxide may be responsible.”
[Neurology current issue]

Sex as a predictor of outcomes in patients treated with thrombolysis for acute stroke. Men may have differential increased benefit from thrombolysis efforts. [Neurology current issue]

Multimodality Molecular Imaging of Glioblastoma Growth Inhibition with Vasculature-Targeting Fusion Toxin VEGF121/rGel.

J Nucl Med. 2007 Mar;48(3):445-454

Authors: Hsu AR, Cai W, Veeravagu A, Mohamedali KA, Chen K, Kim S, Vogel H, Hou LC, Tse V, Rosenblum MG, Chen X

Vascular endothelial growth factor A (VEGF-A) and its receptors, Flt-1/FLT-1 (VEGFR-1) and Flk-1/KDR (VEGFR-2), are key regulators of tumor angiogenesis and tumor growth. The purpose of this study was to determine the antiangiogenic and antitumor efficacies of a vasculature-targeting fusion toxin (VEGF(121)/rGel) composed of the VEGF-A isoform VEGF(121) linked with a G(4)S tether to recombinant plant toxin gelonin (rGel) in an orthotopic glioblastoma mouse model by use of noninvasive in vivo bioluminescence imaging (BLI), MRI, and PET. METHODS: Tumor-bearing mice were randomized into 2 groups and balanced according to BLI and MRI signals. PET with (64)Cu-1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododedane-N,N’,N”,N”’-tetraacetic acid (DOTA)-VEGF(121)/rGel was performed before VEGF(121)/rGel treatment. (18)F-Fluorothymidine ((18)F-FLT) scans were obtained before and after treatment to evaluate VEGF(121)/rGel therapeutic efficacy. In vivo results were confirmed with ex vivo histologic and immunohistochemical analyses. RESULTS: Logarithmic transformation of peak BLI tumor signal intensity revealed a strong correlation with MRI tumor volume (r = 0.89, n = 14). PET with (64)Cu-DOTA-VEGF(121)/rGel before treatment revealed a tumor accumulation (mean +/- SD) of 11.8 +/- 2.3 percentage injected dose per gram at 18 h after injection, and the receptor specificity of the tumor accumulation was confirmed by successful blocking of the uptake in the presence of an excess amount of VEGF(121). PET with (18)F-FLT revealed significant a decrease in tumor proliferation in VEGF(121)/rGel-treated mice compared with control mice. Histologic analysis revealed specific tumor neovasculature damage after treatment with 4 doses of VEGF(121)/rGel; this damage was accompanied by a significant decrease in peak BLI tumor signal intensity. CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that future clinical multimodality imaging and therapy with VEGF(121)/rGel may provide an effective means to prospectively identify patients who will benefit from VEGF(121)/rGel therapy and then stratify, personalize, and monitor treatment to obtain optimal survival outcomes.

Fatal outcome related to carmustine implants in glioblastoma multiforme.

Acta Neurochir (Wien). 2007 Mar;149(3):261-5

Authors: Gallego JM, Barcia JA, Barcia-Mariño C

Following the resection of newly diagnosed or recurrent glioblastomas, local implantation of carmustine-impregnated biodegradable wafers (Gliadel((R))) in the resection cavity constitutes an adjuvant therapy that can improve the possibilities of survival. However, some precautions should be taken regarding Gliadel implantation. We report three cases in whom patients with glioblastoma multiforme were implanted with fibrin glue-secured Gliadel after the lateral ventricles had been opened, and who later developed severe hydrocephalus leading to death. Although Gliadel may be an important adjunct to treatment, opening of the ventricles during surgery as part of its application should be considered a contra-indication.

The ABC2 foundation announces 2007 applications.

For micropayment hosting, S3 is a bit challenging as an interface but offers good pricing for infrequently accessed files.

COILING VERSUS CLIPPING FOR THE TREATMENT OF ANEURYSMAL SUBARACHNOID HEMORRHAGE: A LONGITUDINAL INVESTIGATION INTO COGNITIVE OUTCOME. [Neurosurgery – Current Table Of Contents]

Development and differentiation of neural rosettes derived from human embryonic stem cells.. Neurons and glia are important targets of human embryonic stem cell research, promising a renewable source of these differentiated cells for biomedical research and regenerative medicine. Neurons and glia are derived in vivo from the neuroepithelium of the neural tube. Concomitant to development along the anterior to posterior axis, gradients of morphogens across the dorsal and ventral axis of the neural tube establish positional codes that generate distinct progenitor domains and ultimately specify subtype identity. The neural rosette is the developmental signature of neuroprogenitors in cultures of differentiating embryonic stem cells; rosettes are radial arrangements of columnar cells that express many of the proteins expressed in neuroepithelial cells in the neural tube. In addition to similar morpholog [PubMed: neural stem cell]

Cell surface antigens on rat neural progenitors and characterization of the CD3 (+)/CD3 (-) cell populations..While the hematopoietic lineage has been extensively studied using cluster of differentiation (CD) antibodies, very few data are available on the extracellular epitopes expressed by rat neural progenitors (rNPC) and their derivatives. In the present study, we used flow cytometry to screen 47 cell surface antigens, initially known as immune markers. The quantitative analyses were performed on [PubMed: neural stem cell]

Brainmaps.org goes online.
Researchers at the UC Davis Center for Neuroscience have just launched Brainmaps.org, an online database containing over 50 terabytes (15 million megapixels) of zoomable, high resolution neuroanatomical data. The database includes sets of data from humans, 4 monkey species, dogs, cats, rodents, monotremes (duck-billed platypus and echidna) and owls.
[Neurophilosophy]

Neurogenesis in the adult human brain.
One of the central dogmas of neuroscience was that the brains of adult mammals cannot generate new nerve cells. But about 10 years ago, this changed, when it was discovered that in the hippocampi of adult rodents there are stem cells which are capable of generating new neurons.[…] [Neurophilosophy]

Hematoma growth is a determinant of mortality and poor outcome after intracerebral hemorrhage [Neurology current issue]

EARLY RELEASE: Stent Thrombosis in Randomized Clinical Trials of Drug-Eluting Stents. No difference noted between bare metal and drug eluting…. .. [New England Journal of Medicine]

Cerebellar infarction after gamma knife radiosurgery of a vestibular schwannoma [Neurology current issue]

Is sight possible for kids once thought permanently blind?. from [Boston Globe — Health and Science]

France to open nanotechnology-based neurosurgery clinic – Nanowerk LLC. The clinic is the initiative of Professor Alim-Louis Benabib, a neurosurgeon. Under his guidance, the clinic will make use of the latest medical … [neurosurgery neurosurgeon – Google News]

Neurosurgery at an earlier stage of Parkinson disease: A randomized, controlled trial. from [Neurology current issue]

Do I get paid too much?. Every year, the Boston Globe publishes a story listing the total compensation received by the CEOs of the major Boston hospitals. The story is derived from the Forms 990 that are filed by every non-profit, and the numbers are interesting enough that the story always gets good placement in the newspaper.

CEOs do not set their own salaries. Each hospital has a public board of trustees who determine the compensation for their chief executives and who also hold that CEO accountable for running the organization. ……[Running a hospital]