An Intercellular Flow of Glutathione Regulated by Interleukin 6 Links Astrocytes and the Liver in the Pathophysiology of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Oxidative stress has been proposed as a major mechanism of damage to motor neurons associated with the progression of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Astrocytes are the most numerous glial cells in the central nervous system and, under physiological conditions, protect neurons from oxidative damage. However, it is uncertain how their reactive phenotype may affect motor neurons during ALS progression. In two different ALS mouse models (SOD1G93A and FUS-R521C), we found that increased levels of proinflammatory interleukin 6 facilitate glutathione (GSH) release from the liver to blood circulation, which can reach the astrocytes and be channeled towards motor neurons as a mechanism of antioxidant protection. Nevertheless, although ALS progression is associated with an increase in GSH efflux from astrocytes, generation of reactive oxygen species also increases, suggesting that as the disease progresses, astrocyte-derived oxidative stress could be key to motor-neuron damage

Cost-Effective eHealth System Based on a Multi-Sensor System-on-Chip Platform and Data Fusion in Cloud for Sport Activity Monitoring

eHealth systems provide medical support to users and contribute to the development of mobile and quality health care. They also provide results on the prevention and follow-up of diseases by monitoring health-status indicators and methodical data gathering in patients. Telematic management of health services by means of the Internet of Things provides immediate support and it is cheaper than conventional physical presence methods. Currently, wireless communications and sensor networks allow a person or group to be monitored remotely. The aim of this paper is to develop and assess a system for monitoring physiological parameters to be applied in different scenarios, such as health or sports. This system is based on a distributed architecture, where physiological data of a person are collected by several sensors; next, a Raspberry Pi joins the information and makes a standardization process; then, these data are sent to the Cloud to be processed. Our Cloud system stores the received data and makes a data fusion process in order to indicate the athlete's fatigue status at every moment. This system has been tested in collaboration with a small group of voluntary tri-athletes. A network simulation has been performed to plan a monitoring network for a bigger group of athletes. Finally, we have found that this system is useful for medium-term monitoring of the sports activitie

Métodos no radiológicos para la valoración de las deformidades del raquis

La escoliosis y otras deformidades de la columna vertebral clásicamente son evaluadas para su diagnóstico y seguimiento mediante métodos radiográficos. El problema radica en los efectos nocivos de dosis repetidas de radiación ionizante en los pacientes en crecimiento, así como en el hecho de que el método de Cobb radiográfico no caracteriza por sí solo la deformidad vertebral, ya que depende de otros factores. Se presenta una revisión actualizada sobre nuevas técnicas no invasivas que han surgido a lo largo de los últimos veinte años para la evaluación de las deformidades vertebrales con el objetivo de complementar y sustituir, al menos parcialmente, los estudios radiográficosScoliosis and other deformities of spine are typically evaluated for diagnosis and follow-through with radiographic methods. The problem lies in the deleterious effects of repeated doses of ionizing radiation in patients on growth and in the fact that radiographic Cobb method can’t characterize alone the spinal deformity, as it depends on other factors. An update on new non-invasive techniques that have emerged over the last twenty years for the assessment of vertebral deformities in order to complement and, at least partially, to replace radiographic studies is presente

Revisión y actualización de la eficacia del screening o cribado en la escoliosis idiopática del adolescente.

La escoliosis idiopática del adolescente es el tipo más frecuente de escoliosis. Actualmente, la realización rutinaria de un "screening" o cribado para la escoliosis resulta ser un tema controvertido puesto que existen dudas sobre su eficacia real en disminuir la tasa de cirugía en estos pacientes y supone una importante tasa de falsos positivos. Se realiza, por ello, una revisión y actualización sobre el tema del "screening" en la escoliosis idiopática del adolescente.Adolescent idiopathic scoliosis is the most common type of scoliosis. Nowadays, routine screening in scoliosis turns out to be controversial as to there are doubts about its actual effectiveness in reducing the rate of surgery in these patients and its significant rate of false positives. Therefore, a review and update on the current status of the issue of screening in adolescent idiopathic scoliosis is made

Oxidative Stress, Neuroinflammation and Mitochondria in the Pathophysiology of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a progressive motor neuron (MN) disease. Its primary cause remains elusive, although a combination of different causal factors cannot be ruled out. There is no cure, and prognosis is poor. Most patients with ALS die due to disease-related complications, such as respiratory failure, within three years of diagnosis. While the underlying mechanisms are unclear, different cell types (microglia, astrocytes, macrophages and T cell subsets) appear to play key roles in the pathophysiology of the disease. Neuroinflammation and oxidative stress pave the way leading to neurodegeneration and MN death. ALS-associated mitochondrial dysfunction occurs at different levels, and these organelles are involved in the mechanism of MN death. Molecular and cellular interactions are presented here as a sequential cascade of events. Based on our present knowledge, the discussion leads to the idea that feasible therapeutic strategies should focus in interfering with the pathophysiology of the disease at different steps

Association between physiological stress and skin temperature response after a half marathon

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to determine the association between skin temperature response and the physiological stress after a half marathon. APPROACH: Seventeen runners were measured 48 h before, 24 h before, 24 h after and 48 h after completing a half marathon. The measurements on each day of testing included blood markers (creatine kinase [CK] and glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase [GOT]), perception of pain and fatigue (using a visual analogue scale), skin temperature (using infrared thermography), and jump performance (using countermovement jump test). MAIN RESULTS: CK (p     1.0) increased 24 h after the half marathon, whereas jump performance decreased (p   <  0.01 and ES  =  0.4). No increase of skin temperature was observed in the tests after the competition and no regression model was able to predict physiological stress using skin temperature. Only a bivariate correlation was observed between the 24 h variation (pre-24 h) of CK and the skin temperature of the posterior upper limb (p   =  0.04 and r  =  0.5), and between the 48 h variation (pre-48 h) of pain perceived and the skin temperature of the knee (p   <  0.01 and r  =  0.6). SIGNIFICANCE: In conclusion, follow-up on basal skin temperatures does not seem to be an adequate method to detect physiological stress after a half marathon. In line with the observed results, we recommend caution when interpreting peaks in basal skin temperature in field sports assessments

Estudio de las deformidades de la columna vertebral mediante la topografía de superficie de la espalda basada en luz estructurada

Actualmente, la prueba “gold estándar” para el diagnóstico de la escoliosis y otras deformidades de la columna vertebral es la radiografía de raquis completo (ángulo de Cobb), pero este método presenta una serie de limitaciones ya que no caracteriza completamente la deformidad tridimensional del raquis y puede conllevar, en dosis repetidas, graves riesgos para la salud. Por estos motivos, se presenta un nuevo método óptico, no invasivo, de topografía de superficie de espalda basada en luz estructurada para el estudio de las deformidades vertebrales, que permite cuantificar las asimetrías de la forma de la espalda en los tres planos del espacio mediante tres variables topográficas: DHOPI, POTSI y PC. Esta técnica puede tener gran utilidad clínica como complementaria al estudio radiográficoCurrently the gold standard test for the diagnosis of scoliosis and other spinal deformities is the full-spine radiograph (Cobb angle). However this method has a number of limitations since it does not fully characterize the three-dimensional deformation of the spine resulting in some cases, in unnecessary repeated doses, which could cause serious health risks. Therefore, a new non-invasive optical method to assess the topography of the back has been developed. This method is based on structured light and it has been used in this study to evaluate spinal deformities. The method quantifies the asymmetry of the back in three planes of space using three topographic variables: DHOPI, POTSI and PC. This technique might be of the greatest clinical utility as a complementary method to the radiographic study

Chronic and acute effects on skin temperature from a sport consisting of repetitive impacts from hitting a ball with the hands

Valencian handball consists in hitting the ball with the hands and it may contribute to injury development on the hands. This study aimed to analyze skin temperature asymmetries and recovery after a cold stress test (CST) in professional players of Valencian handball before and after a competition. Thirteen professional athletes and a control group of ten physically active participants were measured. For both groups, infrared images were taken at the baseline condition; later they underwent a thermal stress test (pressing for 2 min with the palm of the hand on a metal plate) and then recovery images were taken. In athletes, the images were also taken after their competition. Athletes at baseline condition presented lower temperatures (p < 0.05) in the dominant hand compared with the non-dominant hand. There were asymmetries in all regions after their match (p < 0.05). After CST, a higher recovery rate was found after the game. The regions with the most significant differences in variation, asymmetries and recovery patterns were the index, middle and ring fingers, and the palm of the dominant hand. Taking into account that lower temperatures and the absence of temperature variation may be the consequence of a vascular adaptation, thermography could be used as a method to prevent injuries in athletes from Valencian handball

Application of machine learning algorithms in thermal images for an automatic classification of lumbar sympathetic blocks

Purpose There are no previous studies developing machine learning algorithms in the classification of lumbar sympathetic blocks (LSBs) performance using infrared thermography data. The objective was to assess the performance of different machine learning algorithms to classify LSBs carried out in patients diagnosed with lower limbs Complex Regional Pain Syndrome as successful or failed based on the evaluation of thermal predictors. Methods 66 LSBs previously performed and classified by the medical team were evaluated in 24 patients. 11 regions of interest on each plantar foot were selected within the thermal images acquired in the clinical setting. From every region of interest, different thermal predictors were extracted and analysed in three different moments (minutes 4, 5, and 6) along with the baseline time (just after the injection of a local anaesthetic around the sympathetic ganglia). Among them, the thermal variation of the ipsilateral foot and the thermal asymmetry variation between feet at each minute assessed and the starting time for each region of interest, were fed into 4 different machine learning classifiers: an Artificial Neuronal Network, K-Nearest Neighbours, Random Forest, and a Support Vector Machine. Results All classifiers presented an accuracy and specificity higher than 70%, sensitivity higher than 67%, and AUC higher than 0.73, and the Artificial Neuronal Network classifier performed the best with a maximum accuracy of 88%, sensitivity of 100%, specificity of 84% and AUC of 0.92, using 3 predictors. Conclusion These results suggest thermal data retrieved from plantar feet combined with a machine learning-based methodology can be an effective tool to automatically classify LSBs performance

Reproducibility of skin temperature response after cold stress test using the Game Ready system: preliminary study

The objective of this preliminary study was to determine the reproducibility of lower limbs skin temperature after cold stress test using the Game Ready system. Skin temperature of fourteen participants was measured before and after cold stress test using the Game Ready system and it was repeated the protocol in four times: at 9:00, at 11:00, at 19:00, and at 9:00 h of the posterior day. To assess skin temperature recovery after cold stress test, a logarithmic equation for each region was calculated, and constant (β0) and slope (β1) coefficients were obtained. Intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), standard error (SE), and within-subject coefficient of variation (CV) were determined. No differences were observed between measurement times in any of the regions for the logarithmic coefficients (p > 0.38). Anterior thigh (β0 ICC 0.33-0.47; β1 ICC 0.31-0.43) and posterior knee (β0 ICC 0.42-0.58; β1 ICC 0.28-0.57) were the regions with the lower ICCs, and the other regions presented values with a fair and good reproducibility (ICC > 0.41). Posterior leg was the region with the better reproducibility (β0 ICC 0.68-0.78; β1 ICC 0.59-0.74; SE 3-4%; within-subject CV 7-12%). In conclusion, cold stress test using Game Ready system showed a fair and good reproducibility, especially when the posterior leg was the region assessed