Descending control of spinal nociception, which originates in many brain regions, is a major determinant of the pain experience. Descending control is dynamic and can either depress or enhance spinal nociceptive signalling depending on where it originates or what triggers it (Heinricher et al. 2009). A major challenge for therapeutic utility, whether that be engaged by physical or chemical mean...

the purpose of the present study was to investigate the use of personal and impersonal metadiscourse (md) by persian- and english-speaking writers in academic writing. for this purpose, 80 abstracts were selected (40 written by persian-speaking writers and 40 by english-speaking ones) and analyzed. these abstracts were selected from endocrinology and metabolism journals published during 2010 to...

Thalamic relay nuclei transmit basal ganglia output to the frontal cortex, forming the last link in corticobasal ganglia circuitry. The thalamus regulates cortical activity through differential laminar connections, providing not only feedback, but also initiating "feedforward" loops, via nonreciprocal projections, that influence higher cortical areas. This study examines the organization of tha...

Increasing evidence indicates that the medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) and the amygdala mediate expression and extinction of conditioned fear, but few studies have examined the inputs to these structures. The dorsal part of the midline thalamus (dMT) contains structures such as the mediodorsal nucleus, paraventricular nucleus, and paratenial nucleus that project prominently to mPFC, as well as ...

Kotz, Catherine M., Mary A. Mullett, and ChuanFeng Wang. Diminished feeding responsiveness to orexin A (hypocretin 1) in aged rats is accompanied by decreased neuronal activation. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol 289: R359–R366, 2005. First published May 5, 2005; doi:10.1152/ajpregu.00717.2004.—Orexin A is produced in caudal lateral, posterior, perifornical, and dorsomedial hypothalamic a...

Yasser Aladdin, MD James Scozzafava, MD, FRCPC Taim Muayqil, MD Maher Saqqur, MD CLINICAL PEARLS 1. The palatal myoclonus in symptomatic cases is usually silent as the involved muscle is the levator veli palatini. This is in contrast to the audible clicking sound (generated by the synchronous collapse of the eustachian tube) in patients with essential palatal myoclonus in which the involved mus...

Male Long-Evans rats were injected with 32 ng/mul of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor antagonist 3-(2-carboxypiperazin-4-yl) propyl-1-phosphonic acid (CPP) or vehicle and trained to locate a hidden platform in a different location (reversal training) than used on the initial 4 days of training. Rats treated with vehicle or CPP into the dorsal hippocampus, basolateral amygdala, or mediod...

Damage to the magnocellular mediodorsal thalamic nucleus (MDmc) in the human brain is associated with both retrograde and anterograde amnesia. In the present study we made selective neurotoxic MDmc lesions in rhesus monkeys and compared the effects of these lesions on memory acquisition and retrieval. Monkeys learned 300 unique scene discriminations preoperatively and retention was assessed in ...

We read with interest that Wanschitz and colleagues found a substantial increase in tryptophan hydroxylase-immunoreactive neurons in the pons (superior central nucleus) and medulla (raphe obscurus nucleus) of fatal familial insomnia (FFI) patients, suggesting that a serotoninergic system impairment represents the functional substrate of some typical FFI symptoms. We report the lumbar cerebrospi...