Gender, Age, and Stress Plasticity in BK Channel Expression in the Mouse Adrenal Medulla

Catecholamine release from chromaffin cells in the adrenal medulla is a vital element of the stress response. The activity of large conductance Ca2+-and-voltage-gated potassium channels (BK channels) is an important regulator of chromaffm cell excitability. The subunits, ?2, ?4, and the stress-regulated Slo-? splice variant, STREX, modulate the kinetic properties of BK channels and their sensitivity to chemicals. Previous research has found gender dimorphisms in the expression of Slo-?, ?2, and STREX mRNA in adrenal medullae from adult SJL mice, with males showing significantly higher expression than females. Recent literature has also identified chronic-stress-dependent increases in the expression of Slo and STREX mRNA in the adult male SJL adrenal medulla. The SJL mouse strain is of interest, as adult SJL males differ from females in size, behavior, and adrenal morphology. This investigation used quantitative real-time RT-PCR to examine changes in the expression of Slo, STREX, ?2, ?3, and ?4 mRNA in the SJL mouse adrenal medulla with respect to gender, stress, and age. Among adult mice tested for Slo, STREX, and ?2, males showed significantly higher mRNA expression in all subunits compared to females. Male adolescent mice showed higher mRNA expression of Slo, STREX, ?2, ?3, and ?4 compared to females, significantly for ?2. Stress increased the expression of all BK subunits in adolescent mice, significantly for ?2, ?3 and STREX. In age comparisons, adolescent mice showed significantly higher expression of ?2 mRNA and significantly lower expression of Slo and STREX mRNA compared to adults. These results suggest male mice have more excitable chromaffin cells than do females and provide evidence for a role of chronic stress in shaping excitability and, in turn, levels of catecholamines in the blood

Carotid angioplasty and stenting in a patient with high grade stenosis of Internal Carotid Artery associated with both vertebral arteries and contralateral carotid occlusion

Severe internal carotid artery (ICA) stenosis is a common cause of cerebrovascular accident (CVA) in middle-aged patients. Contralateral carotid occlusion (CCO) in patients with severe ICA stenosis is associated with high risk of CVA. Carotid endarterectomy (CEA) is associated with more complications in patients with CCO than those without CCO. In this study, we present the case of a 61-year-old patient who presented with multiple transient ischemic attack and severe ICA stenosis associated with CCO and occlusion of vertebral arteries. The patient was treated successfully with carotid angioplasty and stenting

Doppler Microembolic Signals in Behcet\'s Disease with Nervous System Involvement

Background: Behçet’s disease (BD) is a multisystemic inflammatory vasculitis of unknown etiology, and vasculitis being its major pathological feature. Objectives: We studied the prevalence of microembolic signals (MES) in patients with diagnosis Behçet's disease. We also tried to determine the frequency of MES in BD patients with or without neurological involvement. Materials and Methods: This study enrolled 40 patients who fulfilled the diagnostic criteria of International Study Group for BD during 2012 to 2013. Bilateral transcranialDoppler ultrasound of the middle cerebral arteries was performed by multigate method. MES were identified based on the criteria of International Consensus group on Microembolus Detection. Results: We found MES in none of our patients with BD. We measured intima-media thickness in all patients. Conclusion: It seems that in our population core histopathologic phenomenon to be other than MES andvasculiticphenomenonmay be implicated as a pathophysiologic factor for central nervous system involvement.The clarification of this subject needs further investigations on Iranian BD patients

An Open Study of Botulinum-A Toxin Treatment of Idiopathic Trigeminal Neuralgia

Introduction: Trigeminal Neuralgia (TN) is a unilateral, recurrent, sharp facial pain disorder that is limited to the distribution of divisions of the trigeminal nerve. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of Botulinum neurotoxin type A (BTX-A) for alleviating the frequency and severity of TN pain. Materials and Methods: This trial was performed as a before and after study. We treated 31 patients (15 male and 16 female) with mean age of 52 year old that their diagnosis was made at least 4.5 years before. We injected BTX-A in various parts of face and particularly in the origin of mandibular and maxillary branches of trigeminal nerve. Injection volume was determined by the necessity and pain intensity measured with visual analog scale up to 100U. Patients were evaluated before and after the injection and were followed after week, and each month, for a three months period. Other related variables were recorded such as: toxin complications, pain status variations by brushing, chewing, cold weather and patient’s satisfaction with their therapy. Results: showed that after injection, pain intensity and frequency decreased after tooth brushing, chewing and cold weather (

Cerebral vein thrombosis in women using short course oral contraceptive consumption

Background: Muslim women tend to postpone their menstrual period using short course oral contraceptives (OC) during Ramadan, Muslims fasting month. Recently, many cases of stroke, particularly cerebral vein thrombosis (CVT), have been reported in Ramadan. Objective: This work studies the incidence of CVT and its relation to Ramadan. Materials and Methods: This is a cohort study conducted from October 2006 to October 2009 and included 4 consecutive Ramadan’s. All patients with definite diagnosis of CVT who were referred to the neurology department of Ghaem Hospital, Mashhad, Iran in this four-year period were included in the study. Results: During the study period, 70 cases with CVT (11 males and 59 females) were recruited. Twenty five cases were admitted during Ramadan months which was significantly higher than all the other 32 months (p=1.9×10-7). The higher frequency of females (6 times more) among CVT cases probed by investigating possible risk factors and short term OC consumption was revealed as the major risk factor (p=0.00071). Conclusion: Higher incidence of CVT in females during Ramadan suggests the presence of specific risk factors in this group. Our study revealed that short-term use of OCs may be a major risk factor for CVT