Objective
Capacitive and resistive electric transfer therapy (CARE) reduces pain and improves quality of life for many orthopaedic degenerative and inflammatory disorders. The research aim was to ...determine the effects of CARE on painful shoulder. The outcomes were pain reduction and recovery of shoulder function.
Methods
A retrospective, observational case-control study was conducted. Participants were 46 patients (22 in the CARE group and 24 in the SHAM group). Clinical data, pain (visual analogic scale, VAS) and functional scale scores (Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand scale, and Constant–Murley Scale) were measured at baseline T0 (before treatment), T1 (after treatment) and follow-up T2 (2 months after the end of the treatment).
Results
VAS scores in the CARE group improved from 7.23 ± 1.11 at baseline to 2.68 ± 0.99 at follow-up. The SHAM group did not experience any improvement. Similarly, functional scale scores improved in the CARE group compared with the SHAM group.
Conclusion
Considering the small number of sessions needed, low cost and long-term benefits, CARE could be a useful therapeutic option for the conservative management of shoulder pain to restore pain-free and powerful movement to the shoulder joint.
Mesotherapy can be included as an ancillary treatment in the management of localized pain in rehabilitation, but there are no definitive treatment protocols for this approach.
The purpose of this ...review was to examine new indications for more standard protocols of mesotherapy in rehabilitation.
This systematic review was performed using the following resources: PubMed, Cochrane, PEDro, Scopus, and Google Scholar. The following algorithm was developed, based on the PICO acronym, to evaluate the effects of mesotherapy, with pain as the primary outcome (MESH terms): mesotherapy AND pain, mesotherapy AND musculoskeletal, mesotherapy AND musculoskeletal disorder, intradermal therapy AND pain, and intradermal therapy AND musculoskeletal disorder.
Seven articles (N=7) satisfied the inclusion criteria and were considered in the review: two of them treated osteoarthritis of the knee (3 sessions) and pes anserine (9 sessions) emphasizing a good efficacy of mesotherapy. Five studies analyzed spine diseases (specifically, two was about chronic and nonspecific neck pain, two about acute low back pain and one about chronic spinal pain): the results of mesotherapy treatment are encouraging both for the resolution of acute and chronic musculoskeletal vertebral pain from one to five sessions.
Mesotherapy showed a good effect to reduce acute and chronic musculoskeletal pain and, also, it is a well-tolerated treatment. Nonetheless future randomized controlled trials should be desirable for more uniform treatment protocols.
Blood is a fluid connective tissue of human body, where it plays vital functions for the nutrition, defense and well-being of the organism. When circulating in peripheral districts, it is exposed to ...some physical stresses coming from outside the human body, as electromagnetic fields (EMFs) which can cross the skin. Such fields may interact with biomolecules possibly inducing non thermal-mediated biological effects at the cellular level. In this study, the occurrence of biochemical/biological modifications in human peripheral blood lympho-monocytes exposed in a reverberation chamber for times ranging from 1 to 20 h to EMFs at 1.8 GHz frequency and 200 V/m electric field strength was investigated. Morphological analysis of adherent cells unveiled, in some of these, appearance of an enlarged and deformed shape after EMFs exposure. Raman spectra of the nuclear compartment of cells exposed to EMFs revealed the onset of biochemical modifications, mainly consisting in the reduction of the DNA backbone-linked vibrational modes. Respirometric measurements of mitochondrial activity in intact lympho-monocytes resulted in increase of the resting oxygen consumption rate after 20 h of exposure, which was coupled to a significant increase of the FoF1-ATP synthase-related oxygen consumption. Notably, at lower time-intervals of EMFs exposure (i.e. 5 and 12 h) a large increase of the proton leak-related respiration was observed which, however, recovered at control levels after 20 h exposure. Confocal microscopy analysis of the mitochondrial membrane potential supported the respiratory activities whereas no significant variations in the mitochondrial mass/morphology was observed in EMFs-exposed lympho-monocytes. Finally, altered redox homeostasis was shown in EMFs-exposed lympho-monocytes, which progressed differently in nucleated cellular subsets. This results suggest the occurrence of adaptive mechanisms put in action, likely via redox signaling, to compensate for early impairments of the oxidative phosphorylation system caused by exposure to EMFs. Overall the data presented warn for health safety of people involved in long-term exposure to electromagnetic fields, although further studies are required to pinpoint the leukocyte cellular subset(s) selectively targeted by the EMFs action and the mechanisms by which it is achieved.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
In this study we assessed the seroprevalence of hepatitis E virus (HEV) infection in both the Italian population and immigrants from developing countries in Foggia (Apulia, Southern Italy). The ...seroprevalence of HEV was determined in 1217 subjects 412 (34%) immigrants and 805 Italian subjects (blood donors, general population, HIV-positive, haemodialysis patients). Serum samples were tested for anti-HEV and confirmed by Western blot assay; in positive patients HEV RNA and genotype were also determined. There were 8·8% of patients that were positive to anti-HEV, confirmed by Western blot. The prevalence in immigrants was 19·7%, and in Italians 3·9% (blood donors 1·3%, general population 2·7%, HIV-positive patients 2·0%, haemodialysis patients 9·6%). Anti-HEV IgM was found in 38/107 (35·5%) of the anti-HEV-positive serum samples (34 immigrants, four Italians). This study indicates a higher circulation of HEV in immigrants and Italian haemodialysis patients, whereas a low prevalence of HEV antibodies was seen in the remaining Italian population.
Abstract Purpose To build and evaluate a national network able to improve the care of thalassemia, a genetic disorder in haemoglobin synthesis often associated with iron accumulation in a variety of ...organs, due to the continuous blood transfusions. Methods The MIOT (Myocardial Iron Overload in Thalassemia) network is constituted by thalassemia and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) centers. Thalassemia centers are responsible for patient recruitment and collection of anamnestic and clinical data. MRI centers have been equipped with a standardized acquisition technique and an affordable workstation for image analysis. They are able to perform feasible and reproducible heart and liver iron overload assessments for a consistent number of thalassemia patients in a robust manner. All centers are linked by a web-based network, configured to collect and share patient data. Results On 30th March 2008, 695 thalassemia patients were involved in the network. The completion percentage of the patient records in the database was 85 ± 6.5%. Six hundred and thirteen patients (88%) successfully underwent MRI examination. Each MRI center had a specific absorption capacity that remained constant over time, but the network was capable of sustaining an increasing number of patients due to continuous enrollment of new centers. The patient's comfort, assessed as the mean distance from the patient home locations to the MRI centers, significantly increased during the network's evolution. Conclusion The MIOT network seems to be a robust and scalable system in which T2* MRI-based cardiac and liver iron overload assessment is available, accessible and reachable for a significant and increasing number of thalassemia patients in Italy (about 420 per year), reducing the mean distance from the patient locations to the MRI sites from 951 km to 387 km. A solid, wide and homogeneous database will constitute an important scientific resource, shortening the time scale for diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutical evidence-based research on the management of thalassemia disease.
Abstract
CffDNA, from 344 non-smoking, 38 smoking and 33 ex-smoking pregnant women at 11 + 0-13 + 6 gestational weeks, was extracted and quantified by the multicopy DYS14, as the fetal DNA marker and ...using the quantitative real-time PCR 7300 detection system. The smoking habit was based on maternal self-report, confirmed by cotinine levels and male fetuses were verified by phenotype at birth. The genders of newborns were compared with DYS14-cffDNA analysis, achieving a 100% diagnostic accuracy of the test. A total of 177 non-smokers, 18 smokers and 22 ex-smoker pregnancies with male fetuses were identified by the cffDNA concentration. Results showed that smoking status was not associated with different amounts of DYS14-cffDNA (p = 0.159), suggesting the possibility of offering cffDNA testing to all pregnant women, even if they are active smokers or ex-smokers, and the test can be unadjusted for smoking status.
The spin trap 5,5-dimethyl-1-pyrroline-1-oxide (DMPO) alone, as well as DMPO or N-tert-butyl-alpha-phenylnitrone (PBN) in the presence of excess dimethyl sulfoxide (Me2SO), have been used as spin ...trapping systems for the detection of hydroxyl radical. However, the instability of DMPO and many of its corresponding spin-trapped adducts has limited the usefulness of this spin trap, particularly in biological systems. Spin trapping of multiple free radicals by the PBN/Me2SO system may undermine the sensitivity of this method to detect small, yet biologically significant amounts of hydroxyl radical. The present study was undertaken to select a spin trapping system with greater sensitivity and selectivity toward.OH than DMPO, DMPO/Me2SO, or PBN/Me2SO. We report that alpha-hydroxyethyl radical, resulting from the reaction of photolytically generated.OH with excess ethanol is spin trapped by 4-pyridyl-1-oxide-N-tert-butylnitrone (4-POBN) with a second-order rate constant nearly 10-fold greater than that for DMPO or PBN. In contrast to DMPO spin-trapped adducts, the alpha-hydroxyethyl radical adduct of 4-POBN, 4-POBN-CH(CH3)OH, is resistant to reduction by superoxide, even in the presence of cysteine. The efficiency of spin trapping and the marked stability of the resulting spin-trapped adduct confer a high degree of sensitivity and demonstrate the potential application of 4-POBN/ETOH toward the detection of hydroxyl radical in biological systems.
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