M F Casanova

..An appreciation of the modular framework of the brain provides a better insight as to how minicolumns contribute to the larger scope of information processing in the normal and pathological state...

..The present article is an attempt at finding a macroscopic correlate to the described pathology...

..The authors suggest that these metabolic abnormalities may link basal ganglia mineralization to psychotic symptomatology...

..Patients with Rett syndrome are often misdiagnosed as autistic. Recent reports of minicolumnar abnormalities in the brains of autistic and Asperger's syndrome prompted us to search for similar pathology in Rett syndrome...

..The lack of cell loss not only distinguishes paraphrenia from Alzheimer's disease but offers, in addition, a marked similarity to a condition denoted in the medical literature as senile dementia with tangles...

..This article relates different aspects of the cell minicolumn and larger-scale neuronal assemblies to potential research techniques and their application to clinical practice...

..4% in controls and 18.7% in autism (P = .724). In autism, an increased number of minicolumns, combined with fewer cells per column (or their greater dispersion), results in no global difference in neuronal density...

..Contrary to earlier reports, our results noted no evidence of pyramidal cell disarray in schizophrenic patients. Our results suggest that SP's incorporate, rather than displace, their surrounding neuropil...

..To determine whether differences exist in the configuration of minicolumns between the brains of autistic and control patients...

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..The minicolumnar changes provide a possible link to receptive field abnormalities and a useful clinicopathologic correlate to Asperger's syndrome...

..The accompanying astrocytosis indicates a reactive, ongoing process. The findings suggest new therapeutic interventions in the treatment of paraphilia...

..On this basis several algorithms describe the distribution of cells from the center line and in relation to the available surrounding space. Other algorithms use cluster analyses to determine the spatial orientation of every column...

..Because the minicolumn is a basic anatomical and functional unit of the cortex, this strong evidence showed reorganization in this area of the human brain. The relationship between the minicolumn and cortical volume is also discussed...

..Only human brain tissue revealed robust asymmetry in two aspects of minicolumn morphology: wider columns and more neuropil space on the left side. This asymmetry was absent in chimpanzee and rhesus monkey brains...

..Some of its salient symptomatology refers to language abnormalities that resemble an aphasic disorder. Recent studies suggest that brain structures that define language functions may be abnormally lateralized in schizophrenic patients...

..A reduction in both somatic and nucleolar cross sections could reflect a bias towards shorter connecting fibers, which favors local computation at the expense of inter-areal and callosal connectivity...

..Since old age is the greatest risk factor for dementia, the transition to dementia may involve an extension of normal ageing processes...

..Pyramidal cell arrays within allocortical areas and the neocortex constitute different modular arrangements. This morphological variability may be the expression of evolutionary differences in cortical development...

..This ontogenetic deficit propitiates a cascade of neurochemical changes resulting in varying abnormalities relating information processing to behavioural states...

..The significance of future controlled studies should be judged based on their explanatory powers; that is, how well do they relate to brain growth abnormalities and/or provide useful clinicopathological correlates...

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..In addition to reframing the evolution of mind, this perspective provides a conceptual framework for a better understanding of the origin and maladaptive nature of certain psychiatric conditions...

..The close correspondence of derived values for myelinated axon bundles and pyramidal cell arrays suggests their participation and interaction within the same modular arrangement of the isocortex...

..The findings suggest an alteration in the modulatory systems innervating the cell minicolumn. Furthermore, the lack of variation in core columnarity parameters argues in favor of a defect post-dating the formation of the cell minicolumn...

..Neuropil development follows a prenatal phase of cubic volumetric growth with a postnatal phase of linear volumetric growth. The data suggest the continuity of columnar structures from early in gestation through postnatal maturation...

..The authors conclude that GABAergic interneurons are vital to proper minicolumnar differentiation and signal processing (e.g., filtering capacity of the neocortex), thus providing a putative correlate to autistic symptomatology...

..The lack of variation in the columnarity index argues in favor of a defect postdating the formation of the cell minicolumn...

..0183).The findings were attributed to a bias accrued to referencing measurements in schizophrenics to the distorted circumventricular surface of the temporal horn...

..However, recent advances in methodology enable standardized, quantified comparisons of minicolumn morphology...

..We report minicolumnar abnormalities in the brain of a dyslexic patient. The corresponding developmental disturbance (ie, large minicolumns) could account for the perceptual errors observed in dyslexia...

..Initial experimental results suggest that the proposed 3D texture analysis is a promising supplement to the current techniques for diagnosing autism...

..A minicolumnar phenotype that provides for discrimination and/or focused attention may help explain the savant abilities observed in some autistic people and the intellectually gifted...

..This stream of temporal analysis is of importance in motor movements. Reading might have evolved as an exaptation to motor movements requiring the sequential analysis of information...

..Abdominal migraine therefore stands as a falsifiable hypothesis with added importance accrued to potential therapeutic interventions...

..Further investigation of both the temporal and frontal localizations of the pathophysiology of early onset conduct disorder is warranted in larger samples...

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..This article summarizes possible links between minicolumns and other topics-cortical modularity, age of onset, gliosis, and genetics-relevant to the pathophysiology of autism...