Experimental neck muscle pain impairs standing balance in humans

Impaired postural control has been reported in patients with chronic neck pain of both traumatic and non-traumatic etiologies, but whether painful stimulation of neck muscle per se can affect balance control during quiet standing in humans remains unclear. The purpose of the present experiment was thus to investigate the effect of experimental neck muscle pain on standing balance in young healthy adults. To achieve this goal, 16 male university students were asked to stand upright as still as possible on a force platform with their eyes closed in two conditions of No pain and Pain of the neck muscles elicited by experimental painful electrical stimulation. Postural control and postural performance were assessed by the displacements of the center of foot pressure (CoP) and of the center of mass (CoM), respectively. The results showed increased CoP and CoM displacements variance, range, mean velocity, and mean and median frequencies in the Pain relative to the No pain condition. The present findings emphasize the destabilizing effect of experimental neck muscle pain per se, and more largely stress the importance of intact neck neuromuscular function on standing balance

Effects of in vitro addition of captopril on copper-induced low density lipoprotein oxidation.

International audience(Cass. 3e civ., 11 mai 2000, n° 98-18.249, Cts Porcheron et autres c/ Syndicat des copropriétaires du 32, av. du Général-Leclerc et autres

Influence of age, sex and blood pressure on the principal endpoints of the Nordic Diltiazem (NORDIL) Study

Background The aim of the Nordic Diltiazem (NORDIL) Study was to compare patients with essential hypertension receiving calcium-antagonist-based treatment with diltiazem and similar patients receiving conventional diuretic/beta-blocker-based treatment, with respect to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Objective To assess the influence of age, sex, severity of hypertension and heart rate on treatment effects, in a sub-analysis. Methods The NORDIL study was prospective, randomized, open and endpoint-blinded. It enrolled, at health centres in Norway and Sweden, 10881 patients aged 50-74 years who had diastolic blood pressure (DBP) of 100 mmHg or more. Systolic blood pressure (SBP) and DBP were decreased by 20.3/18.7 mmHg in the diltiazem group and by 23.3/18.7 mmHg in the diuretic/beta-blocker group - a significant difference in SBP (P 170 mmHg (n = 5420, RR 0.75,95% CI 0.58 to 0.98; P = 0.032), DBP 105 mmHg (n = 5881, RR 0.74,95% Cl 0.57 to 0.97; P = 0.030) and pulse pressure greater than or equal to 66 mmHg (n = 5461, RR 0.76, 95% Cl 0.58 to 0.99, P = 0.041), and more myocardial infarctions in those with heart rate less than 74 beats/min (n = 5303, RR 1.13, 95% Cl 1.01 to 1.87; P = 0.040). However, the tendencies for fewer strokes and greater incidence of myocardial infarction were present across subgroups when results were analysed for age, sex, severity of hypertension and heart rate, and treatment-subgroup interaction analyses were not statistically significant. Conclusions Compared with a conventional diuretic/beta-blocker-based anti hypertensive regimen, there were additional 25% reductions in stroke in the diltiazem-treated patients with blood pressure or pulse pressure greater than the medians, and an increase in myocardial infarction in those with heart rate less than the median. Such findings may be attributable to chance, but the consistency of, in particular, the stroke findings may also suggest an ability of diltiazem, beyond conventional treatment, to prevent cerebral stroke in hypertensive patients with the greatest cardiovascular risk. (C) 2002 Lippincott Williams Wilkins