Institute of Neurology, University College London, Queen Square, London, UK; The Francis Crick Institute, Somers Town, London, UKInterests: aging; alzheimer’s disease; bioinformatics; deep brain stimulation; statistics; microRNAs; microarrays; parkinson’s disease; RNA-SeqSpecial Issues and Topics in IMR Press journals
Dear Colleagues,
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a devastating condition with unknown causes/underlying mechanisms. During my PhD, I studied RNA expression in PD patients using 3’ exon and junction arrays and SOLID small and long read RNA-Seq. This was done prior to and following deep brain stimulation (DBS) neurosurgery, both on and off electrical stimulation. Reversible expression changes were found in several microRNAs. Gene Ontology (GO) biological process and molecular function analysis of the data was also performed using non-parametric Kolmogorov-Smirnov (KS) statistics. Changes in metal ion binding, apoptosis and alternative splicing processes were detected. Statistical tests were applied to the data, as well as classification methods. I found that specific genes were altered in PD patients compared to control patients, including previously reported PD genes such as Park1 and SNCA.
The number of techniques available for invasive and non-invasive brain stimulation has been increasing since deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery for movement disorders began in the 1970’s. Specifically, recent advances in the field include the application of DBS for diseases/movement disorders other than PD. These include epilepsy, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), major depression basal ganglia disorders, and the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease. Furthermore, neuroimaging and MRI, direct current stimulation (tDCS), and repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) are now also applied, as well as nuclear medicine explorations and EEG. This special issue of the journal will focus on recent advances in DBS. Suitable manuscript types include commentaries, short communications, research papers and reviews.
Dr. Lilach Soreq
Guest Editor
Manuscripts should be submitted via our online editorial system at https://imr.propub.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to start your submission. Manuscripts can be submitted now or up until the deadline. All papers will go through peer-review process. Accepted papers will be published in the journal (as soon as accepted) and meanwhile listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, reviews as well as short communications are preferred. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office to announce on this website.
Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts will be thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. Please visit the Instruction for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) in this open access journal is 2200 USD. Submitted manuscripts should be well formatted in good English.