The uncinate fasciculus is a bidirectional, long-range white matter tract that connects lateral orbitofrontal cortex and Brodmann area 10 with the anterior temporal lobes. Although abnormalities in the uncinate fasciculus have been associated with several psychiatric disorders and previous studies suggest it plays a putative role in episodic memory, language and social emotional processing, its exact function is not well understood. In this review we summarize what is currently known about the anatomy of the uncinate, we review its role in psychiatric and neurological illnesses, and we evaluate evidence related to its putative functions. We propose that an overarching role of the uncinate fasciculus is to allow temporal lobe-based mnemonic associations (e.g. an individual’s name + face + voice) to modify behaviour through interactions with the lateral orbitofrontal cortex, which provides valence-based biasing of decisions. The bidirectionality of the uncinate fasciculus information flow allows orbital frontal cortex-based reward and punishment history to rapidly modulate temporal lobe-based mnemonic representations. According to this view, disruption of the uncinate may cause problems in the expression of memory to guide decisions and in the acquisition of certain types of learning and memory. Moreover, uncinate perturbation should cause problems that extend beyond memory to include social–emotional problems owing to people and objects being stripped of personal value and emotional history and lacking in higher-level motivational value.

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Dissecting the uncinate fasciculus: disorders, controversies and a hypothesis.

Bone replacement might have been practiced for centuries with various materials of natural origin, but had rarely met success until the late 19th century. Nowadays, many different bone substitutes can be used. They can be either derived from biological products such as demineralized bone matrix, platelet-rich plasma, hydroxyapatite, adjunction of growth factors (like bone morphogenetic protein) or synthetic such as calcium sulfate, tri-calcium phosphate ceramics, bioactive glasses, or polymer-based substitutes. All these substitutes are not suitable for every clinical use, and they have to be chosen selectively depending on their purpose. Thus, this review aims to highlight the principal characteristics of the most commonly used bone substitutes and to give some directions concerning their clinical use, as spine fusion, open-wedge tibial osteotomy, long bone fracture, oral and maxillofacial surgery, or periodontal treatments. However, the main limitations to bone substitutes use remain the management of large defects and the lack of vascularization in their central part, which is likely to appear following their utilization. In the field of bone tissue engineering, developing porous synthetic substitutes able to support a faster and a wider vascularization within their structure seems to be a promising way of research.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/2041731418776819

Bone substitutes: a review of their characteristics, clinical use, and perspectives for large bone defects management

Therapeutic applications of PARP inhibitors: anticancer therapy and beyond.

Cranioplasty is the surgical intervention to repair cranial defects. The aim of cranioplasty is not only a cosmetic issue; also, the repair of cranial defects gives relief to psychological drawbacks and increases the social performances. Many different types of materials were used throughout the history of cranioplasty. With the evolving biomedical technology, new materials are available to be used by the surgeons. Although many different materials and techniques had been described, there is still no consensus about the best material, and ongoing researches on both biologic and nonbiologic substitutions continue aiming to develop the ideal reconstruction materials. In this article, the principle materials and techniques of cranioplasty are reviewed.

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Cranioplasty: Review of materials and techniques.

Cranioplasty, one of the oldest surgical procedures used to repair cranial defects, has undergone many revolutions over time to find the ideal material to improve patient prognosis. Cranioplasty offers cosmetic and protective benefits for patients with cranial defects. The first primitive cranioplasty procedures date back to 7000 bc and used metal and gourds to repair cranial defects. Cranioplasty was first documented by Fallopius who described repair using gold plates; the first bone graft was documented by van Meekeren. The first significant improvement for this procedure began with experimentation involving bone grafts in the late 19th century as a more natural approach for repairing cranial defects. The next impetus for advancement came because of wartime injuries incurred during World Wars I and II and involved experimentation with synthetic materials to counter the common complications associated with bone grafts. Methyl methacrylate, hydroxyapatite, ceramics, and polyetheretherketone implants among...

/pdf/materials-used-in-cranioplasty-a-history-and-analysis-3sagv4joyp.pdf

Materials used in cranioplasty: a history and analysis.

The aim of this study was to evaluate patients with Cushing's disease (CD) who had undergone transsphenoidal surgery in terms of depression, quality of life (QoL), and perception of body image in comparison to healthy controls. Forty patients with CD and 40 healthy controls matched for demographic characteristics were included in the study. The subjects were evaluated with the Beck depression inventory (BDI), the health survey-short form (SF-36) and the multidimensional body-self relations questionnaire (MBSRQ). Subgroups of the patients with CD were formed on the basis of remission status and BDI scores. In this study, QoL in the general health category and body image were lower in the patients with CD than in the healthy subjects. However, no differences in depression scores were found between the two groups. When the CD group was evaluated according to remission rate, the mean BDI score was significantly higher in the CD patients without remission than in both the CD patients with remission and the healthy subjects (p = 0.04). However, the physical functioning, bodily pain and general health scores of the CD patients without remission on the SF-36 questionnaire were lower than in the CD patients in remission and the healthy subjects (p = 0.002, p = 0.04, p = 0.002, respectively). Fitness evaluation, health evaluation and body areas satisfaction scores of the MBSRQ were significantly different in the three groups (p = 0.003, p = 0.009 and p = 0.001, respectively). In this study, patients with CD were found to have lower QoL, lower body image perception and higher levels of depression compared to healthy controls, particularly if the disease is persistant despite surgery.

Evaluation of depression, quality of life and body image in patients with Cushing’s disease

Objective. We review the neuroanatomical aspects of the temporal lobe related to the temporal lobe epilepsy. The neuronal, the ventricular, and the vascular structures are demonstrated. Methods. The previous articles published from the laboratory of the senior author are reviewed. Results. The temporal lobe has four surfaces. The medial surface has a complicated microanatomy showing close relation to the intraventricular structures, such as the amygdala or the hippocampus. There are many white matter bundles in the temporal lobe showing relation to the extra- and intraventricular structures. The surgical approaches commonly performed to treat temporal lobe epilepsy are discussed under the light of these data. Conclusion. A thorough knowledge of the microanatomy is necessary in cortical, subcortical, and intraventricular structures of the temporal lobe to achieve better results.

/pdf/microsurgical-anatomy-of-the-temporal-lobe-and-its-3myu5snhqe.pdf

Microsurgical Anatomy of the Temporal Lobe and Its Implications on Temporal Lobe Epilepsy Surgery

Cancer develops through interactions between polygenic and environmental factors, and changes in DNA repair pathway can increase susceptibility to tumours. XRCC1 and PARP1 are two proteins that act cooperatively in base excision repair (BER) of DNA. The polymorphisms of genes coding these proteins may effect their action in BER pathway. In this study, we aimed to investigate the associations between glioma risk and XRCC1 Arg399Gln and PARP1 Val762Ala polymorphisms per se and in combination. XRCC1 Arg399Gln and PARP1 Val726Ala polymorphisms were investigated by PCR-RFLP method in 119 glioma patients and 180 cancer-free control subjects. The results were statistically analysed by calculating the odds ratios (OR) and their 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) using the χ2 tests. Glioma patients in this study had significantly higher frequencies of XRCC1 Arg399Gln polymorphism both in homozygote (GG) and heterozygote (AG) status (31% and 56%, respectively) (p < 0.001), and also increased frequency of 399Gln (G) allele (59%) (p < 0.001). Val/Ala (VA) genotype of PARP1 Val762Ala polymorphism was significantly more in the control group (p = 0.02). The combined genotypes of XRCC1 AG or GG with PARP1 VA or AA, and XRCC1 AG or GG with PARP1 VV were more represented in the glioma patients (p = 0.001 and 0.003, respectively). We conclude that XRCC1 Arg399Gln polymorphism is a significant risk factor, and 399Gln (G) allele carries a 3.5 times greater risk for glioma, while PARP1 Val/Ala genotype may be protective against it. We also suspect that in the presence of a polymorphic (G) allele of XRCC1, the plausible protective effect of PARP1 VA genotype may be greatly suppressed.

Glioma risk associates with polymorphisms of DNA repair genes, XRCC1 and PARP1.

Study design
A morphometric study of the linear and angular parameters of the spinal vertebra was conducted by computerized tomographic scans and comparison with previous studies in literature.

Baris Kucukyuruk

Papers

Cranioplasty: Review of materials and techniques.

Evaluation of depression, quality of life and body image in patients with Cushing’s disease

Microsurgical Anatomy of the Temporal Lobe and Its Implications on Temporal Lobe Epilepsy Surgery

Glioma risk associates with polymorphisms of DNA repair genes, XRCC1 and PARP1.

Anatomic basis of anterior and posterior instrumentation of the spine: morphometric study.