AIM: To assess the validity of the Early Symptomatic Syndromes Eliciting Neurodevelopmental Clinical Examinations-Questionnaire (ESSENCE-Q), a simple screening tool for neurodevelopmental problems, in Japan.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune-mediated disease of the central nervous system characterized by inflammation, demyelination and chronic progressive neurodegeneration. Among its broad and unpredictable range of clinical symptoms, cognitive impairment (CI) is a common and disabling feature greatly affecting the patients' quality of life. Its prevalence is 20% up to 88% with a wide variety depending on the phenotype of MS, with highest frequency and severity in primary progressive MS....

Spiny projection neurons (SPNs) of the striatum are critical in integrating neurochemical information to coordinate motor and reward-based behavior. Mutations in the regulatory transcription factors expressed in SPNs can result in neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs). Paralogous transcription factors Foxp1 and Foxp2, which are both expressed in the dopamine receptor 1 (D1) expressing SPNs, are known to have variants implicated in NDDs. Utilizing mice with a D1-SPN-specific loss of Foxp1, Foxp2,...

Ketamine is a rapid-acting antidepressant associated with various cognitive side effects. To mitigate these side effects while enhancing efficacy, it can be co-administered with other antidepressants. In our study, we adopted a similar strategy by combining ketamine with environmental enrichment, a potent sensory-motor paradigm, in adult male Wistar rats. We divided the animals into four groups based on a combination of housing conditions and ketamine versus vehicle injections. The groups...