BACKGROUND This paper summarizes the findings of a long term study addressing the question of how several brain volume measure are related to three major mental illnesses in a Colorado subject group. It reports results obtained from a large N, collected and analyzed by the same laboratory over a multiyear period, with visually guided MRI segmentation being the primary initial analytic tool. M...

retrograde approach is considered technically more challenging, with published failure rates for ileal intubation as high as 30% [1]. The technique for ileal intubation described by Yamamoto et al. involves visualizing the ileocecal valve (ICV) while the overtube balloon is inflated in the ascending colon, followed by pull-back of the balloon to reduce the ileocolic angle (thus exposing the ICV...

Ghrelin, an acylated peptide produced predominantly in the stomach, stimulates feeding and GH secretion via interactions with the GH secretagogue type 1a receptor (GHS-R1a), the functionally active form of the GHS-R. Ghrelin molecules exist in the stomach and hypothalamus as two major endogenous forms, a form acylated at serine 3 (ghrelin) and a des-acylated form (des-acyl ghrelin). Acylation i...

Recently, the carbon monoxide (CO)-heme oxygenase pathway has been shown to play an important role in fever generation by acting on the central nervous system, but the mechanisms involved have not been assessed. Thus the present study was designed to determine whether prostagandins participate in the rise in body temperature (T(b)) observed after induction of the CO-heme oxygenase pathway in th...

The contribution of the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus (PVN) in mediating cardiovascular, renal, hormonal and sympathetic nerve responses to increased cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) [Na] was investigated in conscious sheep. ICV hypertonic NaCl (0.5 mol/L, 20 μL/min for 60 min) increased arterial blood pressure (+13.4 mmHg SD 2.0, P<0.001, AP) and central venous pressure (+2.8 mmHg SD 1....

Coronaviruses are positive-strand RNA viruses that replicate in the cytoplasm of infected cells by generating a membrane-associated replicase complex. The replicase complex assembles on double membrane vesicles (DMVs). Here, we studied the role of a putative replicase anchor, nonstructural protein 4 (nsp4), in the assembly of murine coronavirus DMVs. We used reverse genetics to generate infecti...

BACKGROUND Left ventricular (LV) remodeling and activation of sympathetic nervous system (SNS) are cardinal features of heart failure. We previously demonstrated that enhanced central sympathetic outflow is associated with brain toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) probably mediated by brain angiotensin II type 1 receptor in mice with myocardial infarction (MI)-induced heart failure. The purpose of the ...

Background and Objective: Intracerebroventricular (ICV) injection of streptozotocin (STZ) causes cognitive impairment in rats. The beneficial effect of saffron main component, safranal was investigated on ICV STZ-induced learning, memory, and cognitive impairment in male rats. Materials and Methods: For this purpose, rats were injected with ICV STZ bilaterally, on days 1 and 3 (3 mg/kg). The ST...

BACKGROUND Codeine represents a commonly used drug to suppress cough. Central antitussive effect of codeine has been confirmed in a number of animal studies. However, available data related to antitussive activity of codeine in rabbits are very limited. OBJECTIVE We investigated the effects of codeine on cough, single expiratory responses (expiration-like reflex) induced by mechanical tracheo...

The bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BNST) plays a critical role in fear and anxiety. The BNST is important for contextual fear learning, but the mechanisms regulating this function remain unclear. One candidate mechanism is corticotropin-releasing-factor (CRF) acting at CRF type 1 receptors (CRFr1s). Yet, there has been little progress in elucidating if CRFr1s in the BNST are involved in d...