302 research outputs found
chronic urticaria is usually associated with fibromyalgia syndrome
Although the pathophysiology of chronic urticaria is not fully understood, it is possible that dysfunctioning of peripheral cutaneous nerve fibres may be involved. It has also been suggested that fibromyalgia syndrome, a multi-symptomatic chronic pain condition, may be associated with alterations and dysfunctioning of peripheral cutaneous nerve fibres. The aim of this study was to determine whether patients with chronic urticaria are also affected by fibromyalgia syndrome. A total of 126 patients with chronic urticaria were investigated for fibromyalgia syndrome. An unexpectedly high proportion (over 70%) had fibromyalgia syndrome. The corresponding proportion for 50 control dermatological patients was 16%, which is higher than previously published data for the Italian general population (2.2%). It is possible that dysfunctional cutaneous nerve fibres of patients with fibromyalgia syndrome may release neuropeptides, which, in turn, may induce dermal microvessel dilatation and plasma extravasation. Furthermore, some neuropeptides may favour mast cell degranulation, which stimulates nerve endings, thus providing positive feedback. Chronic urticaria may thus be viewed in many patients, as a consequence of fibromyalgia syndrome. Speculatively, skin neuropathy (fibromyalgia syndrome) may trigger neurogenic skin inflammation (chronic urticaria)
Local structure in crystalline and liquid tellurium probed by X-ray absorption spectroscopy
The velocity peaks in the cold dark matter spectrum on Earth
The cold dark matter spectrum on earth is expected to have peaks in velocity
space. We obtain estimates for the sizes and locations of these peaks. To this
end we have generalized the secondary infall model of galactic halo formation
to include angular momentum of the dark matter particles. This new model is
still spherically symmetric and it has self-similar solutions. Our results are
relevant to direct dark matter search experiments.Comment: 12 pages including 1 table and 4 figures, LaTeX, REVTEX 3.0 versio
On a Light Spinless Particle Coupled to Photons
A pseudoscalar or scalar particle that couples to two photons but not
to leptons, quarks and nucleons would have effects in most of the experiments
searching for axions, since these are based on the coupling.
We examine the laboratory, astrophysical and cosmological constraints on
and study whether it may constitute a substantial part of the dark matter. We
also generalize the interactions to possess gauge
invariance, and analyze the phenomenological implications.Comment: LaTex, 20p., 6 figures. Changes in sections 4, 5 and figure 2, our
bounds are now more stringent. To be published in Physical Review
QCD axion and quintessential axion
The axion solution of the strong CP problem is reviewed together with the
other strong CP solutions. We also point out the quintessential
axion(quintaxion) whose potential can be extremely flat due to the tiny ratio
of the hidden sector quark mass and the intermediate hidden sector scale. The
quintaxion candidates are supposed to be the string theory axions, the model
independent or the model dependent axions.Comment: 15 pages. Talk presented at Castle Ringberg, June 9-14, 200
The “healthcare workers’ wellbeing (Benessere operatori)” project: A picture of the mental health conditions of italian healthcare workers during the first wave of the covid-19 pandemic
During the last year, the COVID-19 outbreak put all the healthcare workers around the world at risk of physical and psychological sequelae. The general purpose of the present study was to assess the mental health of Italian healthcare workers during the COVID-19 outbreak and to identify high-risk groups. Here, we present results from the baseline assessment of the “Healthcare workers’ wellbeing (Benessere Operatori)” project on a sample of 1055 healthcare workers. Participants completed the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale-21, the Insomnia Severity Index, the Impact of Event Scale-Revised, the State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory-2, and the Maslach Burnout Inventory. Healthcare workers who worked in COVID wards reported higher levels of anxiety, insomnia, posttraumatic stress, anger, and burnout, compared to those reported by the healthcare workers who worked in non-COVID wards. Moreover, nurses, both in COVID and non-COVID wards, were at higher risk of experiencing psychological distress compared to other groups of healthcare workers. These findings highlight the importance of implementing targeted psychological interventions for healthcare workers operating in COVID wards and nurses, who seem to be the most vulnerable categories
Optimized EPI for fMRI studies of the orbitofrontal cortex: compensation of susceptibility-induced gradients in the readout direction
Object Most functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies record the blood oxygen leveldependent (BOLD) signal using gradient-echo echo-planar imaging (GE EPI). EPI can suffer from substantial BOLD sensitivity loss caused by magnetic field inhomogeneities. Here, BOLD sensitivity losses due to susceptibility- induced gradients in the readout (RO) direction are characterized and a compensation approach is developed
Preformed Membrane-Associated Stores of Interleukin (Il)-12 Are a Previously Unrecognized Source of Bioactive IL-12 That Is Mobilized within Minutes of Contact with an Intracellular Parasite
FOXP3(+) cell density in primary tumor has no prognostic impact in patients with cutaneous malignant melanoma
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