by Kim Lawson

Received: 05 November 2019;  Published: 20 January 2020;  doi: 10.21926/obm.neurobiol.2001049

Fibromyalgia, characterised by persistent pain, sleep disturbance, fatigue and cognitive dysfunction, is a central sensitivity syndrome that also involves abnormality in peripheral generators and in the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis. Heterogeneity of clinical expression of fibromyalgia with a multifactorial aetiology has made the development of effective therapeutic strategies challenging. Non-restorative sleep associated with poor sleep quality is a characteristic of fibromyalgia which is linked to symptom s [...]

by Edwin Meresh  , David Daniels  , Jack H. Owens  , David Thompson  , Sarah Mennella  , Michael Levy  and Brenda Swartz

Received: 10 November 2019;  Published: 10 January 2020;  doi: 10.21926/obm.neurobiol.2001048

Agitation is a common manifestation of acute brain injury. When not addressed, agitation can lead to slower recovery rates, including delayed admission to acute rehabilitation programs. Antipsychotics are commonly used to control agitation in acute brain injury in the ICU. However, there is no current consensus on the most "efficacious and safest strategy" for use of antipsychotics in acute TBI. Haloperidol is arguably the commonly used antipsychotic for agitation in ICU setting at present. Interestingly, there are [...]

by Maryanna D. Klatt  , Emaline Wise  , Olivia Gabram  , Megan Huber  , Lai Wei  and Mira Katz

Received: 02 April 2019;  Published: 11 December 2019;  doi: 10.21926/obm.neurobiol.1904047

Background: The global principles of Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction (MBSR) have led to the creation of Mindfulness-Based Interventions (MBIs), which are interventions that retrain the mind to modify its usual stress response to increase coping and resilience. Mindfulness in Motion (MIM) is an MBI that has shown significant biologic and positive psychosocial outcomes with adult working populations, but had not previously been tested in oncology populations and their caregivers. Utilizing MIM to improve sleep qua [...]

by Arnold De Loof  and Liliane Schoofs

Received: 03 October 2019;  Published: 29 November 2019;  doi: 10.21926/obm.neurobiol.1904046

There is a growing awareness that the proteins—amyloid-beta (Aβ) and tau—do not cause Alzheimer’s disease (AD) but are produced as a result of it. Similarly, doubt reigns over the degree of causality of high plasma cholesterol and prenylation in AD. This review proposes a fresh and important perspective, in addition to the current line of thinking. It emerges from comparative analysis, in evolutionary retrospect, of the characteristics of the mevalonate biosynthetic pathways in insects versus [...]

by Francisco J Alvarez  , Antonia A. Alvarez  , Hector Lafuente  , Daniel Alonso-Alconada  , Jose L. Blanco-Bruned  , Francisco Santaolalla  and Enrique Hilario

Received: 24 June 2019;  Published: 15 November 2019;  doi: 10.21926/obm.neurobiol.1904045

Background: The newborn affected by severe hypoxic-ischemic brain injury usually end up dying, and those who survive suffer neurodevelopmental handicaps. Biomarkers are required to identify the hypoxic-ischemic insult in order to determine the early rescue treatment method to be followed. The aim of the present study was to correlate relevant biomarkers to the pathophysiological process of hypoxic-ischemic brain injury at 6 h and 72 h in newborn piglets. Methods:Hypoxia-ischemia was induced in the piglets by clampi [...]

by E. Papaconstantinou  , V. Quick  , E. Vogel  and S. Coffey

Received: 09 August 2019;  Published: 31 October 2019;  doi: 10.21926/obm.neurobiol.1904044

Background: Post-secondary students are at increased risk for sleep problems and poor eating behaviours that overtime may lead to negative health outcomes later in life. However, limited research has examined associations of sleep quality with eating behaviours and eating competence (e.g., being positive, flexible, and comfortable with eating and getting enough enjoyable and nutritious foods) among Canadian post-secondary students. Methods: Using a cross-sectional study design, participants completed an online surv [...]

by Claire Sanderson  and Paul D. Loprinzi

Received: 15 July 2019;  Published: 09 October 2019;  doi: 10.21926/obm.neurobiol.1904043

Objective: Reversal learning requires an individual to alter their behavior when previously learned reward-based contingencies are reversed. Reversal learning is heavily influenced by cognitive flexibility, which has been shown to be enhanced with acute exercise. However, minimal work has directly evaluated the effects of acute exercise on reversal learning, which was the purpose of this experiment. Methods: A between-subject randomized controlled intervention was employed. Participants (N=60) were randomized into [...]

by Alan J Pearce

Received: 05 July 2019;  Published: 27 September 2019;  doi: 10.21926/obm.neurobiol.1903042

Background: Sport-related concussion is a growing public health concern. Defined as a injury that disturbs neurological functions, concussion is characterised by a constellation of signs and symptoms. However, clinical imaging methods do not reveal any structural damage. Recently, neurophysiological techniques such as single and paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) are being applied to quantify neurophysiological changes (specifically corticospinal and intracortical excitation and intracortical inhi [...]

by Rastislav Burda  , Viera Danielisová  and Jozef Burda

Received: 03 June 2019;  Published: 20 September 2019;  doi: 10.21926/obm.neurobiol.1903041

Background: Many experiments have been done to demonstrate robust ischemic tolerance efficiency using mostly young and healthy animals. However, the translation of these results to usually elderly and sick patients moreover taking many various medicines has to date been disappointing. 3-Methyltin (TMT) poisoning and short-term transient cerebral ischemia cause similar damage, especially, to selectively vulnerable brain regions such as hippocampal CA1 and CA3. Methods: Using dual conditioning, we activated the full [...]

by Joseph S. D'Arrigo

Received: 22 August 2019;  Published: 16 September 2019;  doi: 10.21926/obm.neurobiol.1903040

Microvascular endothelial dysfunction precedes, often by decades, the cognitive decline associated with Alzheimer's disease. Hence, preservation of a healthy cerebrovascular endothelium can be an important therapeutic target. By incorporating appropriate drug(s) into biomimetic (lipid cubic phase) nanocarriers, one obtains a multitasking combination therapeutic which targets certain cell-surface scavenger receptors, mainly class B type I (i.e., SR-BI), and crosses the blood-brain barrier. Documented similarities in [...]