Orofacial Pain and Menstrually Related Migraine

PURPOSE: Migraine is a common, debilitating, primary headache disorder that can cause and be affected by odontalgia. CASE REPORT: A 49-year-old woman(Patient 1) presented with pulsating pain in the left maxillary molar area, and a history of unsuccessful root canal treatment. She was ultimately diagnosed with menstrually related migraine without aura and zolmitriptan was prescribed, which reduced her headache and toothache together. A 45-year-old woman (Patient 2) presented with throbbing pain in the right maxillary molar and cheek area. Past repeated endodontic therapy had been unsuccessful. She was then diagnosed with menstrually related migraine without aura, and sumatriptan significantly reduced her headache and toothache. A 40-year-old woman (Patient 3) presented with pulsating pain near the left maxillary molar region. Pulpectomy was performed after she had previously received a diagnosis of pulpitis in the left maxillary second molar, but her pain did not subside. Patient 2 and 3 were misdiagnosed as pulpitis by dental practitioners and the pain did not relive after pulpectomy. All patients were diagnosed as migraine by headache specialists and were treated with triptans, which resulted in satisfactory pain relief. CONCLUSION: A thorough history and examination, as well as an understanding of migraine headaches, is necessary to differentiate odontogenic pain and migraine headaches. Key Words: menstrually related migraine, orofacial pain, ICHD-3, headache

Orofacial Pain and Menstrually Related Migraine

PURPOSE: Migraine is a common, debilitating, primary headache disorder that can cause and be affected by odontalgia. CASE REPORT: A 49-year-old woman(Patient 1) presented with pulsating pain in the left maxillary molar area, and a history of unsuccessful root canal treatment. She was ultimately diagnosed with menstrually related migraine without aura and zolmitriptan was prescribed, which reduced her headache and toothache together. A 45-year-old woman (Patient 2) presented with throbbing pain in the right maxillary molar and cheek area. Past repeated endodontic therapy had been unsuccessful. She was then diagnosed with menstrually related migraine without aura, and sumatriptan significantly reduced her headache and toothache. A 40-year-old woman (Patient 3) presented with pulsating pain near the left maxillary molar region. Pulpectomy was performed after she had previously received a diagnosis of pulpitis in the left maxillary second molar, but her pain did not subside. Patient 2 and 3 were misdiagnosed as pulpitis by dental practitioners and the pain did not relive after pulpectomy. All patients were diagnosed as migraine by headache specialists and were treated with triptans, which resulted in satisfactory pain relief. CONCLUSION: A thorough history and examination, as well as an understanding of migraine headaches, is necessary to differentiate odontogenic pain and migraine headaches. Key Words: menstrually related migraine, orofacial pain, ICHD-3, headache

Development of Radiation Belt Monitors for the 6U CubeSat X-Ray Observatory NinjaSat

NinjaSat is a 6U CubeSat-sized X-ray observatory to be launched into the low Earth orbit at an altitude of 550 km, and is scheduled for launch this October. NinjaSat is equipped with two 1U-sized gas X-ray detectors (GMC) and is expected to operate mainly for astronomical observations of bright X-ray objects in the sky, such as neutron stars and black holes. Since high voltages are applied to the gas cells of GMC, two radiation belt monitors (RBM) will also be installed to protect GMC from electrical discharges potentially caused by excessively high rate of charged particles. NinjaSat RBM will play a fail-safe function in the voltage suppression operation of GMC in the auroral zone and South Atlantic Anomaly, and also protect GMC from charged particles such as protons and electrons that arrive unexpectedly due to solar flares or other low-Earth orbit radiation events. RBM uses a 9 mm x 9 mm Si-PIN photodiode as a charged particle sensor. By taking advantage of the difference in sensor response to protons and electrons, the sensor is designed to simultaneously count charged particle rates at multiple energy thresholds so that GMC protection function will operate even if either the proton or electron rate increases. RBM can count up to about 10 kcps with almost no loss of counts, and proton beam tests have confirmed that the response performance is sufficient to protect GMC against excessively high charged particle rates above 10 Mcps without choking the circuitry. The flight models of the RBM have passed the thermal vacuum and vibration tests last year. The developed RBM occupies only about 6% of the 1U CubeSat size in volume and weighs only 70g. In addition, since the RBM uses inexpensive, commercially available sensors, it could be installed on small satellites other than NinjaSat with relatively small development resources

Epstein-Barr Virus Infection in Chronically Inflamed Periapical Granulomas

<div><p>Periapical granulomas are lesions around the apex of a tooth caused by a polymicrobial infection. Treatment with antibacterial agents is normally performed to eliminate bacteria from root canals; however, loss of the supporting alveolar bone is typically observed, and tooth extraction is often selected if root canal treatment does not work well. Therefore, bacteria and other microorganisms could be involved in this disease. To understand the pathogenesis of periapical granulomas more precisely, we focused on the association with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) using surgically removed periapical granulomas (n = 32). EBV DNA was detected in 25 of 32 periapical granulomas (78.1%) by real-time PCR, and the median number of EBV DNA copies was approximately 8,688.01/μg total DNA. In contrast, EBV DNA was not detected in healthy gingival tissues (n = 10); the difference was statistically significant according to the Mann-Whitney <i>U</i> test (<i>p</i> = 0.0001). Paraffin sections were also analyzed by <i>in situ</i> hybridization to detect EBV-encoded small RNA (EBER)-expressing cells. EBER was detected in the cytoplasm and nuclei of B cells and plasma cells in six of nine periapical granulomas, but not in healthy gingival tissues. In addition, immunohistochemical analysis for latent membrane protein 1 (LMP-1) of EBV using serial tissue sections showed that LMP-1-expressing cells were localized to the same areas as EBER-expressing cells. These data suggest that B cells and plasma cells in inflamed granulomas are a major source of EBV infection, and that EBV could play a pivotal role in controlling immune cell responses in periapical granulomas.</p></div