Zingiber officinale Roscoe rhizome extract alleviates neuropathic pain by inhibiting neuroinflammation in mice

Background: Current therapies for neuropathic pain are generally symptomatic and possess several side effects, limiting their prolonged usage. Hypothesis/Purpose: Thus, it is urgent to develop novel and safe candidates for the management of this chronical condition. For this purpose, we investigated the analgesic effect of a standardized extract from Zingiber officinale Roscoe rhizomes (ZOE) obtained by CO2 supercritical extraction, in a mice model of peripheral neuropathy. We also explored the mechanism of action of ZOE and its main constituents using an in vitro model of neuroinflammation. Methods: Peripheral mono-neuropathy was induced in mice, by spared nerve injury (SNI). The analgesic effect of ZOE after oral administration was assessed by measuring mechanical and thermal allodynia in SNI mice. The mechanism of action of ZOE and its main constituents were investigated using spinal cords samples and in an in vitro model of neuroinflammation by ELISA, western blotting and immunofluorescence techniques. Results: Oral administration of ZOE 200 mg kg 121 ameliorated mechanical and thermal allodynia in SNI mice, with a rapid and a long-lasting effect. ZOE did not alter locomotor activity. In BV2 cells and spinal cord samples, ZOE, 6-gingerol and 6-shogaol reduced pERK levels, whereas ZOE and terpene fraction reduced HDAC1 protein levels, inhibited NF-\u3baB signalling activation and decreased IL-1\u3b2, TNF-\u3b1 and IL-6 release. ZOE and each tested constituent had a positive effect on inflammation-impaired SH-SY5Y cell viability. Conclusions: The oral administration of ZOE attenuated SNI-induced neuropathic pain symptoms by reducing spinal neuroinflammation, suggesting ZOE as a novel and interesting candidate for the management of neuropathic pain

Automated characterization of TAS-MRAM test arrays

In this work the characterization results of 1kbit TAS-MRAM arrays obtained through RIFLE Automated Test Equipment of 1Kbit array are reported. Such ATE, ensuring flexibility in terms of signals and timing, allowed evaluating hysteresis and to perform 50k write cycles in a very limited time, getting a first insight on TAS-MRAM arrays performance and reliability

Effect of electrode distance in grid electrode: Numerical models and in vitro tests

Electrochemotherapy is an emerging local treatment for the management of superficial tumors and, among these, also chest wall recurrences from breast cancer. Generally, the treatment of this peculiar type of tumor requires the coverage of large skin areas. In these cases, electrochemotherapy treatment by means of standard small size needle electrodes (an array of 0.73 cm spaced needles, which covers an area of 1.5 cm2) is time-consuming and can allow an inhomogeneous coverage of the target area. We have previously designed grid devices suitable for treating an area ranging from 12 to 200 cm2. In this study, we propose different approaches to study advantages and drawbacks of a grid device with needles positioned 2 cm apart. The described approach includes a numerical evaluation to estimate electric field intensity, followed by an experimental quantification of electroporation on a cell culture. The electric field generated in a conductive medium has been studied by means of 3-dimensional numerical models with varying needle pair distance from 1 to 2 cm. In particular, the electric field evaluation shows that the electric field intensity with varying needle distance is comparable in the area in the middle of the 2 electrodes. Differently, near needles, the electric field intensity increases with the increasing electrode distance and supply voltage. The computational results have been correlated with experimental ones obtained in vitro on cell culture. In particular, electroporation effect has been assessed on human breast cancer cell line MCF7, cultured in monolayer. The use of 2-cm distant needles, supplied by 2000 V, produced an electroporation effect in the whole area comprised between the electrodes. Areas of cell culture where reversible and irreversible electroporation occurred were identified under microscope by using fluorescent dyes. The coupling of computation and experimental results could be helpful to evaluate the effect of the needle distance on the electric field intensity in cell cultures in terms of reversible or irreversible electroporation

Constant charge erasing scheme for Flash Memories

none3This paper presents a new erasing scheme for flash memories based on a sequence of bulk to gate-box pulses with increasing voltage amplitude. It is experimentally and analytically demonstrated that the erasing dynamics always reaches an equilibrium condition where each pulse induces a constant and controllable injected charge and, therefore, constant threshold shifts. The analytical study allows us to express both the final threshold voltage and the oxide electric field as a function of technological, physical, and electrical parameters. Electrical parameters can be conveniently adapted to control both the threshold voltage and the oxide fields, thus reducing oxide stresses. Advantages with respect to the standard box erasing scheme are theoretically and experimentally demonstratednoneA. CHIMENTON; P. PELLATI; OLIVO P.Chimenton, Andrea; Pellati, Paolo; Olivo, Pier

Why patients with cardiovascular risk should go to dentist: Is there sufficient evidence of influence of periodontal therapy on cardiovascular disease?

Sin financiación1.711 JCR (2020) Q4, 132/146 Endocrinology & Metabolism0.284 SJR (2020) Q3, 167/232 Endocrinology, Diabetes and MetabolismNo data IDR 2020UE

An Automated Test Equipment for Characterization of emerging MRAM and RRAM arrays

In this paper it is presented a test equipment for the characterization of two different emerging memory technologies like the Thermally Assisted Switching-Magnetic Random Access Memory (TAS-MRAM) and the Resistive Random Access Memory (RRAM). The instrument is developed to allow a fast characterization of test array structures and can be potentially adapted for any other non-volatile memory generation. The hardware architecture is based on a PCI S5933 chipset being the local bus interface of a x86-PC that communicates with the units of the system like 14 bits/100 MHz arbitrary waveform generators and 12 bits/70 MHz programmable measurement units. A user-friendly software interface developed in LabVIEW has been implemented to allow large flexibility in changing the test parameters and a fast analysis of the test results. The instrument performance has been evaluated performing the typical non-volatile memory tests such as endurance and disturbs characterizations, running test flows up to 320 hours for MRAM devices and up to 6,137 hours for RRAM devices

Cannabidiol-rich non-psychotropic Cannabis sativa L. oils attenuate peripheral neuropathy symptoms by regulation of CB2-mediated microglial neuroinflammation

Neuropathic pain (NP) is a chronic disease that affects the normal quality of life of patients. To date, the therapies available are only symptomatic and they are unable to reduce the progression of the disease. Many studies reported the efficacy of Cannabis sativa L. (C. sativa) on NP, but no Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC)-free extracts have been investigated in detail for this activity so far. The principal aim of this work is to investigate the potential pain-relieving effect of innovative cannabidiol-rich non-psychotropic C. sativa oils, with a high content of terpenes (K2), compared to the same extract devoid of terpenes (K1). Oral administration of K2 (25 mg kg−1) induced a rapid and long-lasting relief of pain hypersensitivity in a mice model of peripheral neuropathy. In spinal cord samples, K2 reduced mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPKs) levels and neuroinflammatory factors. These effects were reverted by the administration of a CB2 antagonist (AM630), but not by a CB1 antagonist (AM251). Conversely, K1 showed a lower efficacy in the absence of CB1/CB2-mediated mechanisms. In LPS-stimulated murine microglial cells (BV2), K2 reduced microglia pro-inflammatory phenotype through the downregulation of histone deacetylase 1 (HDAC-1) and nuclear factor of kappa light polypeptide gene enhancer in B-cells inhibitor (IKBα) and increased interleukin-10 (IL-10) expression, an important antiinflammatory cytokine. In conclusion, these results suggested that K2 oral administration attenuated NP symptoms by reducing spinal neuroinflammation and underline the important role of the synergism between cannabinoids and terpenes