Results indicate that partial aqueduct stenosis may be a cause of hydrocephalus. However, only severe occlusion of the aqueduct can cause a significant increase in the ventricle and brain’s extracellular fluid pressure.

Ventriculostomy shunts are commonly used as a remedy to hydrocephalus. They serve to reduce the ventricular pressure to the normal level. However, sensitivity analysis on the shunt’s fluid deliverability parameter has shown that inappropriate design or selection of design shunt may cause under-drainage or over-drainage of the ventricles. Excessive drainage of CSF may increase the normal tensile

stress on trabeculae. It can cause rupture of superior cerebral veins or damage to trabeculae or even brain tissues which in turn may lead to subdural hematoma, a common side-effect of the surgery. These Post-Surgery Reaction (PSR) patterns might occur on much larger time scales than those of the surgery itself, depending on the flow conductivity parameters of the brain. The viscoelastic effects can be significant contingent on the long term tissue moduli and their contrast with the initial ones. (C) 2011

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“Neonatal handling and environmental enrichment have been used to aid the 1 treatment and recovery of a diverse variety of brain dysfunctions. However, the underlying mechanism and the effects on cognitive function following neonatal handling and environmental enrichment are still unclear. In this study, we investigated GAP-43 protein levels in the hippocampus of prenatally stressed rat pups by Western blot on postnatal day (P) 10,

P20 and P45. The cognitive ability of prenatally stressed rat pups was tested by using the Morris water maze on P45. GAP-43 protein levels were upregulated on P10 in the prenatal restraint stress (RS) group and the prenatal restraint stress plus neonatal handling and environmental enrichment (RE) group compared to the negative control (NC) group. However, the expression of GAP-43 in RS pups was lower on P20 and P45 than that in NC and RE pups. Exposure to prenatal stress prolonged average latency and total swim distance, but neonatal handling and environmental enrichment could reverse the change. Differences were also observed in the selection of search strategies. These results indicate that neonatal handling and environmental enrichment can improve the spatial learning and memory ability of prenatally stressed offspring, and the possible mechanism is the upregulation of GAP-43. (C) 2012 Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd.”
“Listeriolysin O (LLO) is a toxin produced by Listeria monocytogenes, an opportunistic bacterial pathogen responsible for the disease listeriosis. This disease starts with the ingestion of contaminated foods and mainly affects immunocompromised individuals, newborns, and pregnant women. In the laboratory, L.