Behavioral Disorders, Coronavirus and the Nervous System

A special issue of Behavioral Sciences (ISSN 2076-328X).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 February 2021) | Viewed by 10516

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Guest Editor
International Center for Neurological Restoration, Havana, Cuba
Interests: neuroimmunology; neurodegenerations; demyelinating diseases; Multiple Sclerosis; COVID-19 pandemic; HcoV; SARS-CoV-2; virus neuroinvasion; stem cells; neuroinflammation; neurodevelopment disorders
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Department of Experimental Medicine, Division of Biotechnology, Molecular Biology and Histology, University of Campania "L. Vanvitelli", via S. Maria di Costantinopoli 16, 80138 Naples, Italy
Interests: autism; stem cells; gene expression; neuro-immunology
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Guest Editor
Children Hospital ¨ Juan Manuel Marquez¨, Havana University, Havana, Cuba
Interests: neuropediatric disorders and HcoV; COVID-19 pandemic; SARS-CoV-2; virus neuroinvasion; stem cells; neuroinflammation; neurodevelopment disorders; seizures; status epilepticus

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a viral infection caused by SARS-CoV-2 with a rapid increase in the number of infected and deaths around the world from the first patient identified in December 2019. Available data on neuroinvasion and neurological manifestation have been reported from these patients. However, CNS infections are, in this pathology, one of the most critical problems of health, because patients frequently exhibit neurologic sequelae. Today, respiratory viruses have placed themselves as responsible for CNS pathologies and to date, several reports have described the association between respiratory viral infections and neurological symptoms, being the most frequently reported in status epilepticus, neurodegenerations, demyelinating diseases, and neurodevelopmental disorders, encephalopathies, and encephalitis, in any cases supported by cerebrospinal fluid analysis. All these views suggest that these pathogens can be spread throughout the body to reach the CNS at any moment. Thus, the current knowledge of the mechanisms and routes used by these neuroinvasive viruses’ remains scarce, as well as information on the impact of commorbities, short- and long-term neurological disorders, as well as on the neurologic sequelae, in all cases relevant to this Special Issue.

Prof. Dr. Maria De los Angeles Robinson Agramonte
Prof. Dr. Dario Siniscalco
Dr. Ramiro Jorge Garcia Garcia
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • SARS-CoV-2 neuroinvasion
  • neurodegenerations
  • COVID-19
  • Neural manifestations
  • Animal models
  • Biochemistry
  • Neuroinflammation
  • HCoV in infants
  • Neuroimmunology

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Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

13 pages, 10005 KiB  
Article
EEG-Derived Functional Connectivity Patterns Associated with Mild Cognitive Impairment in Parkinson’s Disease
by Alejandro Armando Peláez Suárez, Sheila Berrillo Batista, Ivonne Pedroso Ibáñez, Enrique Casabona Fernández, Marinet Fuentes Campos and Lilia Morales Chacón
Behav. Sci. 2021, 11(3), 40; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs11030040 - 23 Mar 2021
Cited by 19 | Viewed by 3945
Abstract
Objective: To evaluate EEG-derived functional connectivity (FC) patterns associated with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in Parkinson’s disease (PD). METHODS: A sample of 15 patients without cognitive impairment (PD-WCI), 15 with MCI (PD-MCI), and 26 healthy subjects were studied. The EEG was performed in [...] Read more.
Objective: To evaluate EEG-derived functional connectivity (FC) patterns associated with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in Parkinson’s disease (PD). METHODS: A sample of 15 patients without cognitive impairment (PD-WCI), 15 with MCI (PD-MCI), and 26 healthy subjects were studied. The EEG was performed in the waking functional state with eyes closed, for the functional analysis it was used the synchronization likelihood (SL) and graph theory (GT). RESULTS: PD-MCI patients showed decreased FC in frequencies alpha, in posterior regions, and delta with a generalized distribution. Patients, compared to the healthy people, presented a decrease in segregation (lower clustering coefficient in alpha p = 0.003 in PD-MCI patients) and increased integration (shorter mean path length in delta (p = 0.004) and theta (p = 0.002) in PD-MCI patients). There were no significant differences in the network topology between the parkinsonian groups. In PD-MCI patients, executive dysfunction correlated positively with global connectivity in beta (r = 0.47) and negatively with the mean path length at beta (r = −0.45); alterations in working memory were negatively correlated with the mean path length at beta r = −0.45. CONCLUSIONS: PD patients present alterations in the FC in all frequencies, those with MCI show less connectivity in the alpha and delta frequencies. The neural networks of the patients show a random topology, with a similar organization between patients with and without MCI. In PD-MCI patients, alterations in executive function and working memory are related to beta integration. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Behavioral Disorders, Coronavirus and the Nervous System)
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15 pages, 1223 KiB  
Article
Surgical Outcome in Extratemporal Epilepsies Based on Multimodal Pre-Surgical Evaluation and Sequential Intraoperative Electrocorticography
by Lilia María Morales Chacón, Judith González González, Martha Ríos Castillo, Sheila Berrillo Batista, Karla Batista García-Ramo, Aisel Santos Santos, Nelson Quintanal Cordero, Marilyn Zaldívar Bermúdez, Randis Garbey Fernández, Bárbara Estupiñan Díaz, Zenaida Hernández Díaz, Juan E. Bender del Busto, Abel Sánchez Coroneux, Margarita M. Báez Martin and Lourdes Lorigados Pedre
Behav. Sci. 2021, 11(3), 30; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs11030030 - 4 Mar 2021
Cited by 14 | Viewed by 3044
Abstract
Objective: to present the postsurgical outcome of extratemporal epilepsy (ExTLE) patients submitted to preoperative multimodal evaluation and intraoperative sequential electrocorticography (ECoG). Subjects and methods: thirty-four pharmaco-resistant patients with lesional and non-lesional ExTLE underwent comprehensive pre-surgical evaluation including multimodal neuroimaging such as ictal and [...] Read more.
Objective: to present the postsurgical outcome of extratemporal epilepsy (ExTLE) patients submitted to preoperative multimodal evaluation and intraoperative sequential electrocorticography (ECoG). Subjects and methods: thirty-four pharmaco-resistant patients with lesional and non-lesional ExTLE underwent comprehensive pre-surgical evaluation including multimodal neuroimaging such as ictal and interictal perfusion single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) scans, subtraction of ictal and interictal SPECT co-registered with magnetic resonance imaging (SISCOM) and electroencephalography (EEG) source imaging (ESI) of ictal epileptic activity. Surgical procedures were tailored by sequential intraoperative ECoG, and absolute spike frequency (ASF) was calculated in the pre- and post-resection ECoG. Postoperative clinical outcome assessment for each patient was carried out one year after surgery using Engel scores. Results: frontal and occipital resection were the most common surgical techniques applied. In addition, surgical resection encroaching upon eloquent cortex was accomplished in 41% of the ExTLE patients. Pre-surgical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) did not indicate a distinct lesion in 47% of the cases. In the latter number of subjects, SISCOM and ESI of ictal epileptic activity made it possible to estimate the epileptogenic zone. After one- year follow up, 55.8% of the patients was categorized as Engel class I–II. In this study, there was no difference in the clinical outcome between lesional and non lesional ExTLE patients. About 43.7% of patients without lesion were also seizure- free, p = 0.15 (Fischer exact test). Patients with satisfactory seizure outcome showed lower absolute spike frequency in the pre-resection intraoperative ECoG than those with unsatisfactory seizure outcome, (Mann– Whitney U test, p = 0.005). Conclusions: this study has shown that multimodal pre-surgical evaluation based, particularly, on data from SISCOM and ESI alongside sequential intraoperative ECoG, allow seizure control to be achieved in patients with pharmacoresistant ExTLE epilepsy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Behavioral Disorders, Coronavirus and the Nervous System)
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20 pages, 4482 KiB  
Article
Motor Coordination Disorders Evaluated through the Grid Test and Changes in the Nigral Nrf2 mRNA Expression in Rats with Pedunculopontine Lesion
by Lisette Blanco-Lezcano, Esteban Alberti Amador, María Elena González Fraguela, Guadalupe Zaldívar Lelo de Larrea, Rosa Martha Pérez Serrano, Nadia Angélica Jiménez Luna, Dianet Camejo Rodríguez, Teresa Serrano Sánchez, Liliana Francis Turner, Bárbara Estupiñán Díaz, Yamilé Vega Hurtado and Isabel Fernández Jiménez
Behav. Sci. 2020, 10(10), 156; https://doi.org/10.3390/bs10100156 - 13 Oct 2020
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2748
Abstract
Neurotoxic lesion of the pedunculopontine nucleus (PPN) is known to cause subtle motor dysfunctions. However, motor coordination during advance on a discontinuous and elevated surface has not been studied. It is also not known whether there are changes in the mRNA expression of [...] Read more.
Neurotoxic lesion of the pedunculopontine nucleus (PPN) is known to cause subtle motor dysfunctions. However, motor coordination during advance on a discontinuous and elevated surface has not been studied. It is also not known whether there are changes in the mRNA expression of nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2 (Nrf2) in nigral tissue. Methods: The effects of the unilateral neurotoxic lesion of the PPN in motor coordination evaluated through grid test and Nrf2 mRNA expression in nigral tissue were evaluated. Two experimental designs (ED) were organized: ED#1 behavioral study (7 and 30 days after PPN lesion) and ED#2 molecular biology study (24 h, 48 h and 7 days) after PPN lesion. Results: ED#1—The number of faults made with left limbs, were significant higher in the lesioned groups (p < 0.01) both 7 and 30 days post-lesion. The number of failures made by the right limbs, was also significantly higher (p < 0.05) vs. control groups. ED#2—Nrf2 mRNA expression showed an increase 24 h after PPN injury (p < 0.01), followed by a peak of expression 48 h post injury (p < 0.001). Conclusions: Disorders of motor coordination associated with PPN injury are bilateral. The increased Nrf2 mRNA expression could represent an adaptive response to oxidative stress in the nigral tissue following pontine injury. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Behavioral Disorders, Coronavirus and the Nervous System)
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