About this Research Topic
The purpose of this Research Topic is to determine if there are authors who wish to discuss advances and limitations of currently used (experimental) procedures in the field of neuroprotection and -rehabilitation. We welcome investigators to share their knowledge about how to select appropriate parameters for translating the concepts of brain plasticity, protection and rehabilitation into meaningful scientific measures, to provide insights into possible limitations of specific quantification methods, or to discuss new views and basic concepts and questioning old ones. By this, we would like to facilitate a critical discussion about “the Good, the Bad and the Better” in the field of brain damage and neurodegenerative diseases:
The Good:
- Defining the paradigmatic challenges to the neuroscience of plasticity and repair as we go forward
- Consideration of often neglected factors like age, sex, gene expression, and epigenetic regulation
- New promising methodological approaches
- Transition from correlative to causal analysis
- Identifying valid and reliable prognostic outcome parameters
The Bad
- Peer-review-induced mediocrity
- Empty Reductionism of complex brain (dys-)function to structural parameters
- Biased experimental concepts
- Funding issues that shape how the science is conducted.
- Inadequate outcomes measures in clinical trials.
The Better
- Critical assessment of used techniques and data analysis, including statistics
- Analysis and interpretation of contradictory results
- Increasing the translational value of pre-clinical animal models for better clinical application
- Questioning of “generally accepted” interpretations of widely used outcome parameters
- Validation of rating scales and timing of assessments in human studies
- Support for non-commercial treatment strategies
- Multi-target approaches
- Clinical trial desig
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.