ANALYZING MUSCULAR PAIN AND THE EFFECTS OF EXERCISE ON CHRONIC PAIN

Most people suffering from various chronic pain syndromes report deep tissue pain. However, our knowledge about chronic musculoskeletal pain is primarily based on rodent models of cutaneous pain. Little is known about muscle nociception and its modulation with exercise training. The overall purpose of this dissertation was to assess muscle pain and determine the role of aerobic exercise in reducing chronic pain induced by acidic saline in mice. This animal model mimics a human condition, fibromyalgia and similar diseases that present with widespread hypersensitivity to mechanical stimuli. All experiments were carried out in 2 different strains of female mice, C57Bl/6 and CF-1. Widespread chronic pain was induced by injections of acidic saline into the gastrocnemius muscle, and treadmill running was chosen as a mode of aerobic exercise training. Hypersensitivity to mechanical stimulation was tested in the cutaneous and muscle tissues utilizing standard methods of von Frey monofilaments, instrumented forceps device and Fos expression of the dorsal horn spinal cells. The effect of aerobic exercise on chronic pain state was tested with behavioral and molecular measures. The results indicated that acid injections induced cutaneous and muscle hyperalgesia in female mice, yet the development of widespread pain is subjected to the variability of genetic background in both strains of mice. In C57BL/6 mice, the effect of acid injections was less robust. The CF-1 mice developed muscle hyperalgesia that lasted up to 2 weeks, suggesting chronic phase of muscle pain. This finding was confirmed with increased Fos activity in the corresponding spinal cord level. Furthermore, the central projection of nociceptors from the paw and the gastrocnemious muscle evoked different Fos activation pattern. The molecular basis for the positive actions of exercise remains poorly understood. Therefore, we tested the effects of exercise training of 2-intensivity levels (mildly-intense on C57BL/6 mice and moderately-intense on CF-1 mice) on widespread chronic pain and neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) synthesis. The results indicated that moderate exercise training reduced widespread hyperalgesia, whereas the effect of mild exercise training was less robust. Likewise, moderately-intense exercise training upregulated NT-3 synthesis in the skeletal muscle; mild exercise training had no effect of NT-3 levels. The increase in NT-3 was more pronounced at the protein levels compared to mRNA expression. In addition, the protein levels were significant only in the gastrocnemius and not in the soleus muscle, suggesting that exercise can preferentially target NT-3 synthesis in specific muscles. In summary, this body of work indicates a novel finding of chronic muscle pain and adds new information to our understanding of deep tissue nociception as well as its spinal distribution. This study is the first to demonstrate the beneficial effect of aerobic exercise training on chronic muscle pain in the acid-pain model. These results strengthen the role of NT-3 as an anti-nociceptive neurotrophin in treating muscle pain and provide further support for exercise training as a therapeutic intervention for the growing field of pain medicine

A Review of Resonant Converter Control Techniques and The Performances

paper first discusses each control technique and then gives experimental results and/or performance to highlights their merits. The resonant converter used as a case study is not specified to just single topology instead it used few topologies such as series-parallel resonant converter (SPRC), LCC resonant converter and parallel resonant converter (PRC). On the other hand, the control techniques presented in this paper are self-sustained phase shift modulation (SSPSM) control, self-oscillating power factor control, magnetic control and the H-∞ robust control technique

Stem cell based therapy retards the progression of osteoarthritis and promotes repair of meniscus injury of sheep model knee joint

ABSTRACT The aim of this study to determine if intra-articular injection of autologous bone marrow mesenchymal stem cells (ABMSCs) could repair surgically induced osteoarthritis in sheep model. Eighteen male healthy sheep (weighed 18-20kg) were divided into two test groups and one control group. The control groups were not different from the test groups with respect to age and weight, but the test animals underwent a bone marrow aspira- tion for cell preparation in the same time of osteoarthritis induction. ABMSCs were isolated from sheep bone marrow and divided into two groups, namely test group A; ABMSCs cultured in FD medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum (FBS), Test group B; ABMSCs were cultured in FD medium supplimented with 1% FBS and 10 ng/ml TGFβ-3 for three weeks. OA was induced by complete excision of the medial meniscus and resection of the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL). Sheep were subjected to exercise for three weeks post OA induction. After 6 weeks post-operation, test groups received direct intra-articular injection of a single dose 10x106 cells suspended in basal medium into injured sheep knee joint. Con- trol animals received basal medium alone. Six weeks post- cel injection, the femoral condyle and the tibial plateau from test and control groups were removed,fixed,photographed, and assessed by two blinded evaluators based on ICRS grading system, decalcified. Specimens were sectioned into 5 µm and stained with H & E and Safranin O. The result demonstrated that Gross observation of femoral condyle and tibia plaetue of the operated knee joint had OA. The severe OA was clearly observed in in control group knee joints. Test group received intra-articular injection of ABMSCs alone showed moderate OA. Interestingly test group B that received intra-articularinjection of TGF-β3 induced ABMSCs showed mild OA. The histological examination showed clear evidence of articular cartilage and menicscus regeneration in test group B of sheep injured knee joint that received TGF-β3 induced ABMSCs when compared with other groups

State-Feedback Controller Based on Pole Placement Technique for Inverted Pendulum System

This paper presents a state space control technique for inverted pendulum system using simulation and real experiment via MATLAB/SIMULINK software. The inverted pendulum is difficult system to control in the field of control engineering. It is also one of the most important classical control system problems because of its nonlinear characteristics and unstable system. It has three main problems that always appear in control application which are nonlinear system, unstable and non-minimumbehavior phase system. This project will apply state feedback controller based on pole placement technique which is capable in stabilizing the practical based inverted pendulum at vertical position. Desired design specifications which are 4 seconds settling time and 5 % overshoot is needed to apply in full state feedback controller based on pole placement technique. First of all, the mathematical model of an inverted pendulum system is derived to obtain the state space representation of the system. Then, the design phase of the State-Feedback Controller can be conducted after linearization technique is performed to the nonlinear equation with the aid of mathematical aided software such as Mathcad. After that, the design is simulated using MATLAB/Simulink software. The controller design of the inverted pendulum system is verified using simulation and experiment test. Finally the controller design is compared with PID controller for benchmarking purpose