The Proprioception in the Muscles Supplied by the Facial Nerve

Proprioception is a quality of somatosensibility that informs the central nervous system about the static and dynamics of muscles and joints. In muscles, the proprioceptive originates in the specialized sensory-organ-denominated muscle spindles. Nevertheless, facial muscles lack muscle spindles, but the facial proprioception plays key roles in the regulation and coordination of facial musculature and diverse reflexes. At the basis of these functional characteristics are the multiple communications between the facial and the trigeminal nerves, and neuroanatomical studies have demonstrated that facial proprioceptive impulses are conveyed via branches of the trigeminal nerve to the central nervous system. Substituting muscle spindles facial muscles contain other kinds of proprioceptors of variable morphology that display immunoreactivity for some putative mechanoproteins known to participate in proprioception (acid-sensing ion channel 2, transient receptor potential vanilloid 4, and Piezo2)

Nonsurgical Strategies for the Treatment of Temporomandibular Joint Disorders

Temporomandibular disorders are common maxillofacial disturbs of different etiologies (traumatic, inflammatory, degenerative, or congenital) that course with pain and dysfunctions of the temporomandibular joint. The treatment of these disorders includes systematically administered drugs (especially nonsteroid anti-inflammatory drugs and corticoids), physical therapies, and minimally invasive therapies that require intraarticular injections. These techniques are directed to clean or drain the articular cavity, to deliver intraarticularly drugs, biologically active compounds (as platelet-rich plasma), or to enhance lubrication (hyaluronic acid). Moreover, minimally invasive strategies are used in regenerative medicine for to deliver cells and stem cells, and nano- or micro-biomaterials. Surgery of temporomandibular disorders is only used in grave diseases that require arthrodesis or remotion of the temporomandibular joint. This review updates the nonsurgical therapeutic strategies to treat temporomandibular disorders, focusing the attention in the articular delivery or hyaluronic acid and platelet-rich plasma, two minimally invasive widely used at present

The Cutaneous Biopsy for the Diagnosis of Peripheral Neuropathies: Meissner’s Corpuscles and Merkel’s Cells

Cutaneous biopsy is a complementary method, alternative to peripheral nerve biopsy, for the analysis of nerve involvement in peripheral neuropathies, systemic diseases, and several pathologies of the central nervous system. Most of these neuropathological studies were focused on the intraepithelial nerve fibers (thin-myelinated Aδ fibers and unmyelinated C fibers), and few studies investigated the variations in dermal innervation, that is, large myelinated fibers, Merkel’s cell-neurite complexes, and Meissner’s corpuscles. Here, we updated and summarized the current data about the quantitative and qualitative changes that undergo MCs and MkCs in peripheral neuropathies. Moreover, we provide a comprehensive rationale to include MCs in the study of cutaneous biopsies when analyzing the peripheral neuropathies and aim to provide a protocol to study them

Proprioceptors in Cephalic Muscles

The proprioception from the head is mainly mediated via the trigeminal nerve and originates from special sensitive receptors located within muscles called proprioceptors. Only muscles innervated by the trigeminal nerve, and rarely some muscles supplied by the facial nerve, contain typical proprioceptors, i.e. muscle spindles. In the other cephalic muscles (at the exception of the extrinsic muscles of the eye) the muscle spindles are replaced by sensory nerve formations (of different morphologies and in different densities) and isolated nerve fibers expressing mechanproteins (especially PIEZO2) related to proprioception. This chapter examines the cephalic proprioceptors corresponding to the territories of the trigeminal, facial, glossopharyngeal and hypoglossal nerves

Seagrass Patch Complexity Affects Macroinfaunal Community Structure in Intertidal Areas: An In Situ Experiment Using Seagrass Mimics

[EN] Seagrasses, as key ecosystem engineers in coastal ecosystems, contribute to enhancing diversity in comparison with nearby bare areas. It has been proved mainly for epifauna, but data on infauna are still scarce. The present study addresses how seagrass structural complexity (i.e., canopy properties) affects the diversity of infaunal organisms inhabiting those meadows. Canopy attributes were achieved using seagrass mimics, which were used to construct in situ vegetation patches with two contrasting canopy properties (i.e., shoot density and morphology) resembling the two seagrass species thriving in the inner Cadiz Bay: Zostera noltei and Cymodocea nodosa. After three months, bare nearby areas, two mimicked seagrass patches (‘Zostera’ and ‘Cymodocea’), and the surrounding natural populations of Zostera noltei were sampled in a spatially explicit way. Shifts in organism diets were also determined using15N and13C analyses in available food sources and main infaunal organisms, mixing models, and niche metrics (standard ellipse area). Seagrass-mimicked habitats increased the species richness (two-fold), organism abundance (three to four times), and functional diversity compared with bare nearby areas. The clam Scrobicularia plana (deposit/filter feeder) and the worm Hediste diversicolor (omnivore) were dominant in all of the samples (> 85%) and showed an opposite spatial distribution in the reconstructed patches: whilst S. plana accumulated in the outer-edge parts of the meadow, H. diversicolor abounded in the center. Changes in the isotopic signature of both species depending on the treatment suggest that this faunal distribution was associated with a shift in the diet of the organisms. Based on our results, we concluded that facilitation processes (e.g., reduction in predation and in bioturbation pressures) and changes in food availability (quality and quantity) mediated by seagrass canopies were the main driving forces structuring this community in an intertidal muddy area of low diversitySIThis work was supported by the Spanish Project PAVAROTTI (CTM2017-85365-R) from the Ministry of Science and Innovation and by the Junta de Andalucía Excellence Project PAMBIO (P08-RNM-03783

Excavaciones en el conjunto megalítico de la Peña Oviedo (Camaleño, Cantabria)

La excavación del conjunto megalítico de la Peña Oviedo, pretende ser el inicio de un estudio más amplio que aborde de manera global el fenómeno megalítico en las cue.ncas altas de los ríos Deva y Nansa. El total desconocimiento que se tenía hasta esta década, no ya del fenómeno megalítico, sino incluso de su existencia en estos valles montañosos del Occidente de Cantabria hace necesario un estudio que ponga de manifiesto sus características y las relaciones con las áreas vecinas.The excavation of the megalithic complex of the Peña Oviedo, pretends to be the beginning of a larger study that approaches the megalithic phenomenon in the global River basins of the Deva and Nansa rivers. The total lack of knowledge of the megalithic phenomenon, but not even of its existence in these mountain valleys of western Cantabria, requires a study that reveals its characteristics and relations with neighboring areas

Models and Observations of Sunspot Penumbrae

The mysteries of sunspot penumbrae have been under an intense scrutiny for the past 10 years. During this time, some models have been proposed and refuted, while the surviving ones had to be modified, adapted and evolved to explain the ever-increasing array of observational constraints. In this contribution I will review two of the present models, emphasizing their contributions to this field, but also pinpointing some of their inadequacies to explain a number of recent observations at very high spatial resolution. To help explaining these new observations I propose some modifications to each of them. These modifications bring those two seemingly opposite models closer together into a general picture that agrees well with recent 3D magneto-hydrodynamic simulations.Comment: 9 pages, 1 color figure. Review talk to appear in the proceedings of the International Workshop of 2008 Solar Total Eclipse: Solar Magnetism, Corona and Space Weather--Chinese Space Solar Telescope Scienc

Lectinhistochemical study in penis and prepuce of bulls experimantally infected with tritrichomonas foetus

En trabajos anteriores hemos demostrado, mediante lectinhistoquímica, que el patrón de carbohidratos del epitelio de los órganos genitales de las hembras bovinas se modifica en la tritricomonosis y en la campilobacteriosis. Para el caso de la tritricomonosis estas modificaciones pudieron repetirse en un modelo experimental murino. El toro actúa como transmisor de estas enfermedades venéreas, que producen severos trastornos en las hembras, incluyendo muerte embrionaria y aborto, pero que en el macho generan solo en ocasiones una inflamación local leve.Facultad de Ciencias Veterinaria

Informe de la asistencia bucodental en el servicio de odontología de la villa paralímpica durante los IX Juegos Paralímpicos de Barcelona '92

Durante los Juegos Paralímpicos se dispuso de un servicio de Odontología para atender cualquier problema urgente bucodental que se les pudiera presentar a los integrantes de la 'familia paralímpica'. Se hace hincapié en los motivos por los que acudieron al servicio y se quiere llamar la atención sobre el mal estado bucodental de los deportistas