BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The most abundant metabolite visible by proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) in human brain is N-acetylaspartate (NAA), which is often used as a marker of viable neurons. NAA is anecdotally reported to be elevated in children with sickle cell disease (SCD), even though patients can have brain injury or atrophy. We measured NAA levels rigorously in SCD patients to ...

Neuroblastoma is the most commonly extra-cranial solid tumor of childhood frequently diagnosed. The nervous system-specific metabolite N-acetylaspartate (NAA) is synthesized from aspartate and acetyl-CoA in neurons, it is among the most abundant metabolites present in the central nervous system (CNS) and appears to be involved in many CNS disorders. The functional significance of the high NAA c...

To characterize the molecular mechanisms of N-acetylaspartate (NAA) metabolism following traumatic brain injury (TBI), we measured the NAA, adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and adenosine diphosphate (ADP) concentrations and calculated the ATP/ADP ratio at different times from impact, concomitantly evaluating the gene and protein expressions controlling NAA homeostasis (the NAA synthesizing and degr...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE We investigated serial metabolic changes in frontal lobes of patients with deep intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) to examine the correlation between N-acetylaspartate (NAA) and degree of motor impairment or clinical outcome. METHODS - Twenty patients with deep ICH were examined with proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy with the application of a multivoxel method (1 voxel...

Four Na+ -dependent transporters of neutral amino acids (NAA) are known to exist in the abluminal membranes (brain side) of the blood-brain barrier (BBB). This article describes the kinetic characteristics of systems A, ASC, and N that, together with the recently described Na+ -dependent system for large NAA (Na+ -LNAA), provide a basis for understanding the functional organization of the BBB. ...

OBJECTIVES Phase I (PhI): assess the safety of Polyphenon E in people with multiple sclerosis (MS) and determine the futility of Polyphenon E as a neuroprotective agent. Correlate plasma levels of EGCG with neuroprotective effects. Phase II (PhII): Further assess safety and confirm the neuroprotective effects of Polyphenon E. DESIGN PhI: single group futility study. PhII: parallel group rando...

BACKGROUND Several nucleic acid amplification (NAA) tests for Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) have been licensed for the rapid diagnosis of active pulmonary tuberculosis (PTB) in respiratory secretions. There is uncertainty however regarding the practical application of these tests in clinical decision making. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the utility of the COBAS AMPLICOR assay (Roche Diagnostics; ...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Proton MR spectroscopy has recently been applied to the evaluation of seizures, but few comparisons have been made between different clinical spectroscopic techniques. Our goal was to determine whether there is a significant difference between hippocampal NAA/(Cho+Cr) ratios obtained by single-voxel spectroscopy (SVS) and by chemical-shift imaging (CSI). METHODS Twelve ...

Experimental work in animal models of generalized epilepsy and clinical data in humans with idiopathic generalized epilepsy (IGE) indicate that the thalamo-cortical circuitry is involved in the generation of epileptic activity. The purpose of this study was to evaluate in vivo the chemical and structural integrity of the thalamus in patients with IGE. Thalamic proton magnetic resonance spectros...

N-acetylaspartate (NAA) is an amino acid abundant in the brain and claimed the role of a biomarker of neuropsychiatric disorders. The basic ways of NAA concentration measurement in the brain are magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and chromatography. The review examined the relationship between NAA concentrations in different parts of the brain and biological...