Effect of cathodal high-voltage electrical stimulation on pain in women with TMD

BACKGROUND: Pain is the main symptom of patients with temporomandibular disorder (TMD). OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the effect of cathodal high-voltage electrical stimulation (HVES) on pain intensity in women with TMD. METHODS: Twenty women with TMD (24.25±8.90 years old) participated in the study. They were divided into experimental group (EG, n=10), which received 10 applications of HVES, and placebo group (PG, n=10), which received sham treatment with disconnected HVES equipment. For the sample selection, we used the Research Diagnostic Criteria for Temporomandibular Disorder (RDC/TMD). Pain level was evaluated using a visual analog scale (VAS) applied prior to and after the tenth application of HVES. Data were analyzed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test and the Mann-Whitney test. RESULTS: Ten applications of HVES reduced pain intensity in the EG (p=0.01). In the PG, there was no significant difference (p=0.20). After the application of HVES, no difference was found (p=0.65) between the groups. CONCLUSION: The cathodal HVES was effective in reducing pain in women with TMD. Trial Registration RBR-4bk94x.CONTEXTUALIZAÇÃO: A dor é o principal sintoma dos pacientes com disfunção temporomandibular (DTM). OBJETIVO: Avaliar o efeito da estimulação elétrica de alta voltagem catódica (EEAV) sobre a intensidade da dor em mulheres com DTM. MÉTODOS: Participaram do estudo 20 mulheres (24,25±8,90 anos) com DTM, divididas em grupo experimental (GE n=10), no qual as mulheres receberam dez aplicações de EEAV, e grupo placebo (GP n=10), no qual foi aplicada a EEAV, porém com o aparelho desligado. Para seleção da amostra, utilizou-se o critério de diagnóstico em pesquisa para DTM (RDC/TMD) e, para avaliação da dor, utilizou-se a Escala Visual Analógica (EVA) aplicada antes do início do tratamento (pré-tratamento) e após a décima aplicação da EEAV (pós-tratamento). Os dados foram analisados pelos testes Wilcoxon das ordens assinaladas e Mann-Whitney. RESULTADOS: As dez aplicações de EEAV promoveram redução da intensidade da dor no GE (p=0,01); no GP, não se observou diferença significativa (p=0,20). Comparando-se os grupos após a aplicação da EEAV, não se notou diferença (p=0,65). CONCLUSÃO: A EEAV catódica é efetiva para redução da dor em mulheres com DTM. Registro de Ensaio Clinico RBR-4bk94x.1015Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq

Lipopolysaccharide-induced expression of cell surface receptors and cell activation of neutrophils and monocytes in whole human blood

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) activates neutrophils and monocytes, inducing a wide array of biological activities. LPS rough (R) and smooth (S) forms signal through Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), but differ in their requirement for CD14. Since the R-form LPS can interact with TLR4 independent of CD14 and the differential expression of CD14 on neutrophils and monocytes, we used the S-form LPS from Salmonella abortus equi and the R-form LPS from Salmonella minnesota mutants to evaluate LPS-induced activation of human neutrophils and monocytes in whole blood from healthy volunteers. Expression of cell surface receptors and reactive oxygen species (ROS) and nitric oxide (NO) generation were measured by flow cytometry in whole blood monocytes and neutrophils. The oxidative burst was quantified by measuring the oxidation of 2',7'-dichlorofluorescein diacetate and the NO production was quantified by measuring the oxidation of 4-amino-5-methylamino-2',7'-difluorofluorescein diacetate. A small increase of TLR4 expression by monocytes was observed after 6 h of LPS stimulation. Monocyte CD14 modulation by LPS was biphasic, with an initial 30% increase followed by a 40% decrease in expression after 6 h of incubation. Expression of CD11b was rapidly up-regulated, doubling after 5 min on monocytes, while down-regulation of CXCR2 was observed on neutrophils, reaching a 50% reduction after 6 h. LPS induced low production of ROS and NO. This study shows a complex LPS-induced cell surface receptor modulation on human monocytes and neutrophils, with up- and down-regulation depending on the receptor. R- and S-form LPS activate human neutrophils similarly, despite the low CD14 expression, if the stimulation occurs in whole blood.Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) Disciplina de InfectologiaMax-Planck-Institute for ImmunobiologyUNIFESP, Disciplina de InfectologiaFAPESP: 2006/58744-1SciEL

Methanol dissociation on bimetallic surfaces: validity of the general Bronsted-Evans-Polanyi relationship for O-H bond cleavage

Density functional theory (DFT) calculations were employed to study the dissociation of the O-H bond in methanol on several planar and stepped bimetallic transition metal surfaces, composed of elements showing high or moderate activity towards this reaction, namely, Ni, Rh, Ru, Ir, Pd, Au, Zn and Cu. The activation energies for the O-H bond cleavage were compared with those estimated using a Bronsted-Evans-Polanyi (BEP) relationship for the RO-H bond breakage on pure metal transition surfaces, relating the activation energy for the reaction with the adsorption energies of the reaction products, RO center dot and H-center dot adsorbed on the surface of the catalyst. Furthermore, the average differences between the values of the activation energies calculated with the exhaustive determination of the full reaction path and location of the transition state on each surface model and the activation energies obtained from the BEP relationship with the simple calculation of the adsorption energies of the RO center dot and H-center dot species are similar to 0.14 eV. This suggests that the BEP relationship developed upon the consideration of data for dissociation of the O-H bond in alcohols and water on pure metal surfaces is also valid for a qualitative prediction of the methanol activation energy on bimetallic surfaces

A DFT study of the NO dissociation on gold surfaces doped with transition metals

The NO dissociation on a series of doped gold surfaces (type TMn@Au(111) or TMn@Au(110), with TMn = Ni, Ir, Rh, or Ag and referring n to the number of dopant atoms per unit cell) was investigated through periodic density functional theory calculations. Generally, doping of Au(111) and Au(110) matrices was found to strengthen the interaction with NO species, with the exception of Ag, and was found to increase the energy barrier for dissociation, with the exception of Ni on Au(111). The calculations suggest that the NO dissociation is only possible in the case of the Ir@Au(110) bimetallic surface but only at high temperatures. The increase of the contents of Ir on Au(110) was found to improve significantly the catalytic activity of gold towards the NO dissociation (E-act = similar to 1 eV). Nevertheless, this energy barrier is almost the double of that calculated for NO dissociation on pure Ir(110). However, mixing the two most interesting dopant atoms resulted in a catalyst model of the type Ir@Ni(110) that was found to decrease the energy barrier to values close to those calculated for pure Ir surfaces, i.e., similar to 0.4 eV, and at the same time the dissociation reaction became mildly exothermic. (C) 2013 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4790602

The Echinococcus canadensis (G7) genome: A key knowledge of parasitic platyhelminth human diseases

Background: The parasite Echinococcus canadensis (G7) (phylum Platyhelminthes, class Cestoda) is one of the causative agents of echinococcosis. Echinococcosis is a worldwide chronic zoonosis affecting humans as well as domestic and wild mammals, which has been reported as a prioritized neglected disease by the World Health Organisation. No genomic data, comparative genomic analyses or efficient therapeutic and diagnostic tools are available for this severe disease. The information presented in this study will help to understand the peculiar biological characters and to design species-specific control tools. Results: We sequenced, assembled and annotated the 115-Mb genome of E. canadensis (G7). Comparative genomic analyses using whole genome data of three Echinococcus species not only confirmed the status of E. canadensis (G7) as a separate species but also demonstrated a high nucleotide sequences divergence in relation to E. granulosus (G1). The E. canadensis (G7) genome contains 11,449 genes with a core set of 881 orthologs shared among five cestode species. Comparative genomics revealed that there are more single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) between E. canadensis (G7) and E. granulosus (G1) than between E. canadensis (G7) and E. multilocularis. This result was unexpected since E. canadensis (G7) and E. granulosus (G1) were considered to belong to the species complex E. granulosus sensu lato. We described SNPs in known drug targets and metabolism genes in the E. canadensis (G7) genome. Regarding gene regulation, we analysed three particular features: CpG island distribution along the three Echinococcus genomes, DNA methylation system and small RNA pathway. The results suggest the occurrence of yet unknown gene regulation mechanisms in Echinococcus. Conclusions: This is the first work that addresses Echinococcus comparative genomics. The resources presented here will promote the study of mechanisms of parasite development as well as new tools for drug discovery. The availability of a high-quality genome assembly is critical for fully exploring the biology of a pathogenic organism. The E. canadensis (G7) genome presented in this study provides a unique opportunity to address the genetic diversity among the genus Echinococcus and its particular developmental features. At present, there is no unequivocal taxonomic classification of Echinococcus species; however, the genome-wide SNPs analysis performed here revealed the phylogenetic distance among these three Echinococcus species. Additional cestode genomes need to be sequenced to be able to resolve their phylogeny.Fil: Maldonado, Lucas Luciano. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica; ArgentinaFil: Assis, Juliana. Fundación Oswaldo Cruz; BrasilFil: Gomes Araújo, Flávio M.. Fundación Oswaldo Cruz; BrasilFil: Salim, Anna C. M.. Fundación Oswaldo Cruz; BrasilFil: Macchiaroli, Natalia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica; ArgentinaFil: Cucher, Marcela Alejandra. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica; ArgentinaFil: Camicia, Federico. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica; ArgentinaFil: Fox, Adolfo. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica; ArgentinaFil: Rosenzvit, Mara Cecilia. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica; ArgentinaFil: Oliveira, Guilherme. Instituto Tecnológico Vale; Brasil. Fundación Oswaldo Cruz; BrasilFil: Kamenetzky, Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Oficina de Coordinación Administrativa Houssay. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Instituto de Investigaciones en Microbiología y Parasitología Médica; Argentin

Desempenho cognitivo de pacientes diabéticos tipo II em tratamento com insulina

O Diabetes Mellitus é uma doença crônica que ocorre quando o pâncreas não produz insulina suficiente, ou o organismo não é capaz de utilizar eficazmente a insulina produzida. A classificação atual pela Diabetes Mellitus baseia-se na etiologia e não no tipo de tratamento, os tipos mais frequentes são o tipo 1 e o tipo 2. O Diabetes Mellitus tem sido fortemente associado com o dano ao Sistema Nervoso Central e, consequentes déficits cognitivos e a mudanças estruturais e neurofisiológicas do cérebro. O presente estudo teve como objetivo investigar possíveis danos cognitivos em pacientes com Diabetes Mellitus tipo II em tratamento com insulina do Programa de Automonitoramento Glicêmico Capilar por meio de testagens neuropsicológicas. Métodos: Estudo censitário, observacional, transversal, analítico, com abordagem quantitativa. Foram avaliados 37 pacientes diabéticos tipo II, com idade a partir de 18 anos em uso de insulina e inscrito no Programa de Automonitoramento Glicêmico Capilar, analisados todos os prontuários, aplicado um questionário complementar e os testes Wais III e Wisconsin. Resultados: Na análise da idade e tempo de estudo dos pacientes com o teste Wisconsin a variável Percentual de Respostas de Nível Conceitual apresentaram diferença considerada estatisticamente significativa p<0,05. Discussão/Conclusão: O processo de envelhecimento por si só trás consigo perda de densidade cerebral e prejuízos cognitivos decorrentes do envelhecimento, demonstram ainda uma piora significativa das funções executivas quando associada a um quadro de DM conforme mostram nossos resultados

Desempenho cognitivo de pacientes diabéticos tipo II em tratamento com insulina

O Diabetes Mellitus é uma doença crônica que ocorre quando o pâncreas não produz insulina suficiente, ou o organismo não é capaz de utilizar eficazmente a insulina produzida. A classificação atual pela Diabetes Mellitus baseia-se na etiologia e não no tipo de tratamento, os tipos mais frequentes são o tipo 1 e o tipo 2. O Diabetes Mellitus tem sido fortemente associado com o dano ao Sistema Nervoso Central e, consequentes déficits cognitivos e a mudanças estruturais e neurofisiológicas do cérebro. O presente estudo teve como objetivo investigar possíveis danos cognitivos em pacientes com Diabetes Mellitus tipo II em tratamento com insulina do Programa de Automonitoramento Glicêmico Capilar por meio de testagens neuropsicológicas. Métodos: Estudo censitário, observacional, transversal, analítico, com abordagem quantitativa. Foram avaliados 37 pacientes diabéticos tipo II, com idade a partir de 18 anos em uso de insulina e inscrito no Programa de Automonitoramento Glicêmico Capilar, analisados todos os prontuários, aplicado um questionário complementar e os testes Wais III e Wisconsin. Resultados: Na análise da idade e tempo de estudo dos pacientes com o teste Wisconsin a variável Percentual de Respostas de Nível Conceitual apresentaram diferença considerada estatisticamente significativa p&lt;0,05. Discussão/Conclusão: O processo de envelhecimento por si só trás consigo perda de densidade cerebral e prejuízos cognitivos decorrentes do envelhecimento, demonstram ainda uma piora significativa das funções executivas quando associada a um quadro de DM conforme mostram nossos resultados