World Neurosurg
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Comparative Study
Determination of relevant neuron-neuron connections for neural prosthetics using time-delayed mutual information: tutorial and preliminary results.
Identification of functional dependence among neurons is a necessary component in both the rational design of neural prostheses as well as in the characterization of network physiology. The objective of this article is to provide a tutorial for neurosurgeons regarding information theory, specifically time-delayed mutual information, and to compare time-delayed mutual information, an information theoretic quantity based on statistical dependence, with cross-correlation, a commonly used metric for this task in a preliminary analysis of rat hippocampal neurons. ⋯ Comparison of time-delayed MI to cross-correlation in identification of functionally dependent neurons indicates that the methods are not equivalent. Time-delayed MI appeared to capture some interactions between CA3-CA1 neurons at physiologically plausible time delays missed by cross-correlation. It should be considered as a method for identification of functional dependence between neurons and may be useful in the development of neural prosthetics.
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Case Reports
Minimally invasive endoscopic endonasal management of skull base cholesterol granulomas.
Skull base cholesterol granulomas (SBCGs) are rare lesions that have traditionally been managed via middle fossa or transtemporal approaches. Despite the relative paucity in the literature, the endoscopic endonasal approach may serve as a potential alternative surgical route. In this study, we report our experience with the management of SBCG using this minimally invasive approach. ⋯ Endoscopic endonasal approach may serve as a technically feasible and minimally invasive alternative to traditional surgical approaches for the management of SBCG in carefully selected patients.
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To evaluate the predictive ability of the original ICH Score (oICH) in a large independent cohort of patients with arteriovenous malformation-associated intracerebral hemorrhage (AVM-ICH), an important cause of intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) that is associated with significantly different epidemiology, clinical course, and outcome compared with primary ICH. ⋯ oICH is a valid clinical grading scale with high predictive accuracy for functional outcome after AVM-ICH. It is unclear whether the score is appropriate for risk stratification with regard to mortality because of the low risk of death associated with AVM-ICH. Simple adjustments of the age and ICH volume cutoff points improve performance of the score and reduce the probability of overestimating a patient's risk of an unfavorable outcome after AVM-ICH.