Journal of neurotrauma
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Journal of neurotrauma · May 2024
Comparative StudyAdvanced MRI biomarkers of the injured spinal cord - a comparative study of imaging and histology in human traumatic SCI.
A significant problem in the diagnosis and management of traumatic spinal cord injury (tSCI) is the heterogeneity of secondary injury and the prediction of neurological outcome. Imaging biomarkers specific to myelin loss and inflammation after tSCI would enable detailed assessment of the pathophysiological processes underpinning secondary damage to the cord. Such biomarkers could be used to biologically stratify injury severity and better inform prognosis for neurological recovery. ⋯ A decrease in ihMTR was also correlated with the presence of Class II MHC positive immune cells. FA and RD correlated with both Class II MHC and CD68 and may therefore be useful biomarkers for inflammation after tSCI. Our work demonstrates the utility of advanced MRI techniques sensitive to biological tissue damage after tSCI, which is an important step toward using these MRI techniques in the clinic to aid in decision-making.
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Journal of neurotrauma · May 2024
Machine learning web application for predicting functional outcomes in patients with traumatic spinal cord injury following inpatient rehabilitation.
Accurately predicting functional outcomes in patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) helps clinicians set realistic functional recovery goals and improve the home environment after discharge. The present study aimed to develop and validate machine learning (ML) models to predict functional outcomes in patients with SCI and deploy the models within a web application. The study included data from the Japan Association of Rehabilitation Database from January 1, 1991, to December 31, 2015. ⋯ The final models were deployed in a web application to provide functional predictions. The application can be found at http://3.138.174.54:8501. In conclusion, our prediction models developed using ML successfully predicted functional outcomes in patients with SCI and were deployed in an open-access web application.
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Journal of neurotrauma · May 2024
The Positive Correlation between Motor Function and Neuropathic Pain-like behaviors after Spinal Cord Injury: A Longitudinal Study of Mice.
Abstract With the recovery of motor function, some spinal cord injury (SCI) patients still suffer from severe pain-like behaviors symptoms. Whether motor function correlates with neuropathic pain-like behaviors remain unclear. In this study, a longitudinal cohort study of mice with moderate thoracic 10 contusion was performed to explore the characteristics of neuropathic pain-like behaviors and its correlation with motor function in different sexes. ⋯ Importantly, motor function recovery was positively associated with the outcomes of neuropathic pain-like behaviors after SCI, which was more obvious in female mice. Our data not only revealed the characteristics of neuropathic pain-like behaviors but also clarified the correlations between motor function recovery and neuropathic pain-like behaviors after SCI. These findings may provide new opinions and suggestions for promoting the clinical diagnosis and treatment of neuropathic pain-like behaviors after SCI.
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Journal of neurotrauma · May 2024
Construction of a searchable database for gene expression changes in spinal cord injury experiments.
Spinal cord injury (SCI) is a debilitating condition with an estimated 18,000 new cases annually in the United States. The field has accepted and adopted standardized databases such as the Open Data Commons for Spinal Cord Injury (ODC-SCI) to aid in broader analyses, but these currently lack high-throughput data despite the availability of nearly 6000 samples from over 90 studies available in the Sequence Read Archive. ⋯ We have processed 1196 publicly available RNA-Seq samples from 50 bulk RNA-Seq studies across nine different species, resulting in an SQLite database that can be used by the SCI research community for further discovery. We provide both the database as well as a web-based front-end that can be used to query the database for genes of interest, differential gene expression, genes with high variance, and gene set enrichments.
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Journal of neurotrauma · May 2024
Characterization of sleep, emotional and cognitive functions in a new rat model of concomitant spinal cord and traumatic brain injuries.
Traumatic injuries to the spinal cord or the brain have serious medical consequences and lead to long-term disability. The epidemiology, medical complications, and prognosis of isolated spinal cord injury (SCI) and traumatic brain injury (TBI) have been well described. However, there are limited data on patients suffering from concurrent SCI and TBI, even if a large proportion of SCI patients have concomitant TBI. ⋯ We report that SCI-TBI and SCI groups show similar impairments in global locomotor function. While wake/sleep amount and distribution and anxiety- and depression-like symptoms were not affected in SCI-TBI and SCI groups in comparison to the control group (laminectomy and craniotomy only), working memory was impaired only in SCI-TBI rats. This pre-clinical model of concomitant SCI and TBI, including more severe variations of it, shows a translational value for the identification of biomarkers to refine the "dual-diagnosis" of neurotrauma in humans.