Bmc Neurosci
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It is well known that both semantic and syntactic information play a role in pronoun resolution in sentences. However, it is unclear what the relative contribution of these sources of information is for the establishment of a coreferential relationship between the pronoun and the antecedent in combination with a local structural case constraint on the pronoun (i.e. case assignment of a pronoun under preposition governing). In a prepositional phrase in German and Dutch, it is the preposition that assigns case to the pronoun. Furthermore, in these languages different overtly case-marked pronouns are used to refer to male and female persons. Thus, one can manipulate biological/syntactic gender features separately from case marking features. The major aim of this study was to determine what the influence of gender information in combination with a local structural case constraint is on the processing of a personal pronoun in a sentence. Event-related brain potential (ERP) experiments were performed in German and in Dutch. In a word by word sentence reading study in German and Dutch, gender congruency between the antecedent and the pronoun was manipulated and/or case assignment by the preposition was violated while ERPs of young native speakers were recorded. ⋯ Finding negativities and positivities for conditions with a gender violation indicates that pronoun resolution with gender incongruency between the pronoun and the antecedent suffers from semantic as well as syntactic integration problems. The presence of a positivity for the syntactically incongruent conditions without gender violations suggests that the processing of incorrect case marking without a gender violation gives rise to syntactic but not semantic integration problems. We suggest that the more prominent case violation in Dutch caused the earlier onset of the positivity in the Dutch study. In addition, the pattern of ERP effects shows that both case and gender information are used almost immediately implying that the local structural constraint affects the resolution process with more processing activity than for a pronoun of which only one source of information is violated or incongruent.
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Comparative Study
Altered sensory-weighting mechanisms is observed in adolescents with idiopathic scoliosis.
Scoliosis is the most common type of spinal deformity. In North American children, adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) makes up about 90% of all cases of scoliosis. While its prevalence is about 2% to 3% in children aged between 10 to 16 years, girls are more at risk than boys for severe progression with a ratio of 3.6 to 1. The aim of the present study was to test the hypothesis that idiopathic scoliosis interferes with the mechanisms responsible for sensory-reweighting during balance control. ⋯ Altogether, the present results demonstrate that idiopathic scoliosis adolescents have difficulty in reweighting sensory inputs following a brief period of sensory deprivation.
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NF-kappaB binds to the kappaB motif to regulate transcription of genes involved in growth, immunity and inflammation, and plays a pivotal role in the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines after nerve injuries. The zinc finger protein ZAS3 also binds to the kappaB or similar motif. In addition to competition for common DNA sites, in vitro experiments have shown that ZAS3 can inhibit NF-kappaB via the association with TRAF2 to inhibit the nuclear translocation of NF-kappaB. However, the physiological significance of the ZAS3-mediated inhibition of NF-kappaB has not been demonstrated. The purpose of this study is to characterize ZAS3 proteins in nervous tissues and to use spinal nerve ligation, a neuropathic pain model, to demonstrate a functional relationship between ZAS3 and NF-kappaB. ⋯ ZAS3 is expressed in nervous tissues involved in cognitive function and pain modulation. The down-regulation of ZAS3 after peripheral nerve injury may lead to activation of NF-kappaB, allowing Wallerian regeneration and induction of NF-kappaB-dependent gene expression, including pro-inflammatory cytokines. We propose that reciprocal changes in the expression of ZAS3 and NF-kappaB might generate neuropathic pain after peripheral nerve injury.
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Somatosensation of the mammalian head is mainly mediated by the trigeminal nerve that provides innervation of diverse tissues like the face skin, the conjunctiva of the eyes, blood vessels and the mucouse membranes of the oral and nasal cavities. Trigeminal perception encompasses thermosensation, touch, and pain. Trigeminal chemosensation from the nasal epithelia mainly evokes stinging, burning, or pungent sensations. In vitro characterization of trigeminal primary sensory neurons derives largely from analysis of complete neuronal populations prepared from sensory ganglia. Thus, functional properties of primary trigeminal afferents depending on the area of innervation remain largely unclear. ⋯ In conclusion, the usability of PrV mediated tracing of primary afferents was demonstrated. Using this technique it could be shown that compared with neurons innervating the skin nasal trigeminal neurons reveal pronounced chemosensitivity for TRPM8 and TRPV1 channel agonists and only partially meet properties typical for nociceptors. In contrast to P2X3 receptors, TRPM8 and TRPV1 receptors seem to be of pronounced physiological relevance for intranasal trigeminal sensation.
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Nerve growth factor (NGF), glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) all play important roles in the development of the peripheral sensory nervous system. Additionally, these growth factors are proposed to modulate the properties of the sensory system in the adult under pathological conditions brought about by nerve injury or inflammation. We have examined the effects of NGF, GDNF and BDNF on adult rat trigeminal ganglion (TG) neurons in culture to gain a better understanding of how these growth factors alter the cytochemical and functional phenotype of these neurons, with special attention to properties associated with nociception. ⋯ Taken together, our results illustrate that NGF, GDNF and BDNF differentially alter TG sensory neuron survival, neurochemical properties and TRPV1-mediated neuropeptide release in culture. In particular, our findings suggest that GDNF and NGF differentially modulate TRPV1-mediated neuropeptide secretion sensitivity, with NGF having a much greater effect on a per neuron basis than GDNF. These findings are discussed in relation to possible therapeutic roles for growth factors or their modulators in pathological pain states, especially as these relate to the trigeminal system.