Measuring the morphological characteristics of thoracolumbar fascia in ultrasound images: an inter-rater reliability study

BACKGROUND: Chronic lower back pain is still regarded as a poorly understood multifactorial condition. Recently, the thoracolumbar fascia complex has been found to be a contributing factor. Ultrasound imaging has shown that people with chronic lower back pain demonstrate both a significant decrease in shear strain, and a 25% increase in thickness of the thoracolumbar fascia. There is sparse data on whether medical practitioners agree on the level of disorganisation in ultrasound images of thoracolumbar fascia. The purpose of this study was to establish inter-rater reliability of the ranking of architectural disorganisation of thoracolumbar fascia on a scale from ‘very disorganised’ to ‘very organised’. METHODS: An exploratory analysis was performed using a fully crossed design of inter-rater reliability. Thirty observers were recruited, consisting of 21 medical doctors, 7 physiotherapists and 2 radiologists, with an average of 13.03 ± 9.6 years of clinical experience. All 30 observers independently rated the architectural disorganisation of the thoracolumbar fascia in 30 ultrasound scans, on a Likert-type scale with rankings from 1 = very disorganised to 10 = very organised. Internal consistency was assessed using Cronbach’s alpha. Krippendorff’s alpha was used to calculate the overall inter-rater reliability. RESULTS: The Krippendorf’s alpha was .61, indicating a modest degree of agreement between observers on the different morphologies of thoracolumbar fascia.The Cronbach’s alpha (0.98), indicated that there was a high degree of consistency between observers. Experience in ultrasound image analysis did not affect constancy between observers (Cronbach’s range between experienced and inexperienced raters: 0.95 and 0.96 respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Medical practitioners agree on morphological features such as levels of organisation and disorganisation in ultrasound images of thoracolumbar fascia, regardless of experience. Further analysis by an expert panel is required to develop specific classification criteria for thoracolumbar fascia

Proteomic Analysis of Pea (Pisum sativum L.) Response During Compatible and Incompatible Interactions with the Pea Aphid (Acyrthosiphon pisum H.)

Acyrthosiphon pisum (pea aphid) is considered to be one of the most agronomically damaging pests on pea and alfalfa crops, and is responsible for significant yield losses in agriculture. For the efficient control of the parasite, a better understanding of its interaction and associated resistance mechanisms at the molecular level is required. We used two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2DE) coupled to mass spectrometry (MSMS) analysis to compare the leaf proteome of two pea accessions displaying different phenotypes to A. pisum infestation. Multivariate statistical analysis identified 203 differential proteins under the experimental conditions, 81 of which were identified using a combination of peptide mass fingerprinting (PMF) and MSMS fragmentation. Most of the identified proteins corresponded to amino acid and carbohydrate metabolism, photosynthesis, folding/degradation, stress response, signal transduction and transcription/translation. Results suggested the involvement of different metabolic pathways that may be activated in order to overcome pea aphid attack in the resistant accession (P665): reduction of photosynthesis and amino acid biosynthesis that may be helpful in tackling pea aphid attack by limiting access to nutrients, up-accumulation of wound signal molecules such as LOXs and LAPs, and activation of the antioxidant ASC-GSH cycle. In contrast, the susceptible accession (cv. Messire) showed an increase in primary metabolism pathways (especially amino acid biosynthesis), from which a relationship to the successful performance of aphids on this accession could be inferred. Results are also discussed with regard to differences in management of photoassimilates against the strong sinks produced by aphid feeding. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media New York.This research was supported by the Spanish AGL2011-22524 project. E. Carrillo was funded by a grant from Cabildo de La Palma- CSIC PhD and Mª Angeles Castillejo by a postdoctoral fellowship from the Spanish Ministry of Education, through the Mobility Program R-D + I 2008–2011.Peer Reviewe

Connectivity between the central nucleus of the amygdala and the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis in the non-human primate: neuronal tract tracing and developmental neuroimaging studies

The lateral division of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis (BSTL) and central nucleus of the amygdala (Ce) form the two poles of the ‘central extended amygdala’, a theorized subcortical macrostructure important in threat-related processing. Our previous work in nonhuman primates, and humans, demonstrating strong resting fMRI connectivity between the Ce and BSTL regions, provides evidence for the integrated activity of these structures. To further understand the anatomical substrates that underlie this coordinated function, and to investigate the integrity of the central extended amygdala early in life, we examined the intrinsic connectivity between the Ce and BSTL in non-human primates using ex vivo neuronal tract tracing, and in vivo diffusion-weighted imaging and resting fMRI techniques. The tracing studies revealed that BSTL receives strong input from Ce; however, the reciprocal pathway is less robust, implying that the primate Ce is a major modulator of BSTL function. The sublenticular extended amygdala (SLEAc) is strongly and reciprocally connected to both Ce and BSTL, potentially allowing the SLEAc to modulate information flow between the two structures. Longitudinal early-life structural imaging in a separate cohort of monkeys revealed that extended amygdala white matter pathways are in place as early as 3 weeks of age. Interestingly, resting functional connectivity between Ce and BSTL regions increases in coherence from 3 to 7 weeks of age. Taken together, these findings demonstrate a time period during which information flow between Ce and BSTL undergoes postnatal developmental changes likely via direct Ce->BSTL and/or Ce <-> SLEAc <-> BSTL projections