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Previous studies have shown that nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) plays a unique role in many physiological stress processes. The present study investigated the role of Nrf2 in modulating traumatic brain injury (TBI)-induced secondary brain injury. Wild-type Nrf2 (+/+) and Nrf2 (-/-)-deficient mice were subjected to a moderately severe weight-drop impact head injury. The absence of Nrf2 function in mice resulted in exacerbated brain injury as shown by the increased severity of neurological deficit, apoptosis, and brain edema at 24h after TBI. This exacerbation of brain injury in Nrf2-deficient mice was associated with increased mRNA and protein expression of inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta), and interleukin-6 (IL-6), and with decreased mRNA expression and enzymatic activity of antioxidant and detoxifying enzymes including NAD(P)H:quinone oxidoreductase 1 (NQO1) and glutathione S-transferase alpha-1 (GST-alpha1), compared with their wild-type counterparts after TBI. In combination, these results suggest that Nrf2 plays an important role in protecting TBI-induced secondary brain injury, possibly by regulating inflammatory cytokines and inducing antioxidant and detoxifying enzymes.

Study Design. Bibliometric analysis. Objective. This study aims to identify and summarize the articles related to sacral fracture surgery, to compare the papers from different countries and journals, to show the trends of researches on sacral fracture surgery. Summary of Background Data. In recent years, studies on sacral fracture are growing rapidly, but there were no bibliometric studies regarding sacral fracture surgery. Methods. Excel 2016 and VOSviewer were used to identify and summarize the articles from Web of Science between 1900 and 2018. Publication number, publication year, publication country, publication organization, publication source, author, sum of times cited, H-index, and journal's impact factors were recorded and analyzed. Bibliometric maps of co-citations and maps of co-occurrence of keywords are drawn. Results. A total of 611 publications were extracted. United States published most articles (227, 37.2%), both total citations (3536) and H-index (32) of United States ranked first of all the countries. The most productive organization on sacral fracture surgery is Johns Hopkins University (14). Spine (43) published the most articles on sacral fracture surgery. The latest keyword “patterns” appeared in 2017 in 5 articles. Other relatively new keywords include “proximal junctional kyphosis,” “spondylopelvic dissociation,” “fragility fracture,” “lumbopelvic fixation” that appeared in 2017 in eight, six, six, and 25 articles, respectively. Conclusion. This bibliometric study showed that there is a growing trend both in published articles related to sacral fracture surgery and relative research interest in the last 30 years. United States dominates the research regarding sacral fracture surgery. Johns Hopkins University, Johannes Gutenberg University of Mainz, and Harborview Medical Center are the best institutions related to sacral fracture surgery research. Spine, J Orthop Trauma, and Injury are the top three productive journals on sacral fracture surgery. Sacral fracture patterns, proximal junctional kyphosis, spondylopelvic dissociation, fragility fracture, and lumbopelvic fixation may be the new research hotspot in this field. Level of Evidence: 5

Microglia have been shown to be of critical importance to the progression of temporal lobe epilepsy. However, the broad transcriptional changes that these cells undergo following seizure induction is not well understood. As such, we utilized RNAseq analysis upon microglia isolated from the hippocampus to determine expression pattern alterations following kainic acid induced seizure. We determined that microglia undergo dramatic changes to their expression patterns, particularly with regard to mitochondrial activity and metabolism. We also observed that microglia initiate immunological activity, specifically increasing interferon beta responsiveness. Our results provide novel insights into microglia transcriptional regulation following acute seizures and suggest potential therapeutic targets specifically in microglia for the treatment of seizures and epilepsy.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13041-018-0376-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.