The cause of motor neuron death in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) remains a mystery. Initial implications of neurotrophic factor impairment involved in disease progression causing selective motor neuron death were brought forward in the late 1980s. These implications were based on several in vitro studies of motor neuron cultures in which a near to complete rescue of axotomized neonatal mo...

A primary cause of deafness is damage of receptor cells in the inner ear. Clinically, it has been demonstrated that effective functionality can be provided by electrical stimulation of the auditory nerve, thus bypassing damaged receptor cells. However, subsequent to sensory cell loss there is a secondary degeneration of the afferent nerve fibers, resulting in reduced effectiveness of such cochl...

The cause of motor neuron death in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) remains a mystery. Initial implications of neurotrophic factor impairment involved in disease progression causing selective motor neuron death were brought forward in the late 1980s. These implications were based on several in vitro studies of motor neuron cultures in which a near to complete rescue of axotomized neonatal mo...

Background: Ionizing radiation causes cognitive impairment in adult brain. However, the effects of various irradiation protocols with fractionated fixed total dose on hippocampal function have not yet been studied. Materials and Methods: Fractionated whole brain irradiation with a total dose of 36 Gy was performed according to the following protocols: 2Gy-18 fractions (2Gy*18), 4Gy-9 fraction (...

Background Brain-derived neurotrophic factors are known to be related to the psychopathology of major depressive disorder. However, studies focusing on drug-naïve first-episode patients are still rare. Methods Over a 6-year period, we examined the serum brain-derived neurotrophic factors levels in patients with first-episode drug-naïve major depressive disorder and compared them with sex-match...