Symmetrical anatomical variant of the anterior belly of the digastric muscle: clinical implicat

The digastric muscle is an important surgical landmark. Several anatomical variants of the digastric muscle are reported in literature and, in particular, the presence of accessory anterior bellies of the muscle is not uncommon. Here, an unreported symmetrical variant of the digastric muscle was found during a dissection of the suprahyoid region. The dissection showed digastric muscles with an accessory anterior belly, which originated from the anterior belly of muscles in proximity and anteriorly to the intermediate tendon. The accessory bellies were fused together on the midline and were attached with a unique tendon to the inner surface of the mental symphysis. These muscles completely filled the submental triangle. This unreported anatomical variant could be considered an additional contribution to description of the anatomical variants of the digastric muscle, with several implications in head and neck pathology, diagnosis and surgery.

Development of NASH in Obese Mice is Confounded by Adipose Tissue Increase in Inflammatory NOV and Oxidative Stress

Aim. Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is the consequence of insulin resistance, fatty acid accumulation, oxidative stress, and lipotoxicity.We hypothesize that an increase in the inflammatory adipokine NOV decreases antioxidant Heme Oxygenase 1 (HO- 1) levels in adipose and hepatic tissue, resulting in the development of NASH in obese mice. Methods. Mice were fed a high fat diet (HFD) and obese animals were administered an HO-1 inducer with or without an inhibitor of HO activity to examine levels of adipose-derived NOV and possible links between increased synthesis of inflammatory adipokines and hepatic pathology. Results. NASH mice displayed decreased HO-1 levels and HO activity, increased levels of hepatic heme, NOV, MMP2, hepcidin, and increased NAS scores and hepatic fibrosis. IncreasedHO-1 levels are associated with a decrease in NOV, improved hepatic NAS score, ameliorated fibrosis, and increases in mitochondrial integrity and insulin receptor phosphorylation. Adipose tissue function is disrupted in obesity as evidenced by an increase in proinflammatory molecules such as NOV and a decrease in adiponectin. Importantly, increased HO-1 levels are associated with a decrease of NOV, increased adiponectin levels, and increased levels of thermogenic and mitochondrial signaling associated genes in adipose tissue. Conclusions.These results suggest that the metabolic abnormalities in NASH are driven by decreased levels of hepatic HO-1 that is associated with an increase in the adipose-derived proinflammatory adipokine NOV in our obese mouse model of NASH. Concurrently, induction of HO-1 provides protection against insulin resistance as seen by increased insulin receptor phosphorylation. Pharmacological increases in HO-1 associated with decreases in NOV may offer a potential therapeutic approach in preventing fibrosis, mitochondrial dysfunction, and the development of NASH

Antioxidant Properties of Propofol

Propofol is an intravenous sedative-hypnotic agent indicated for induction and maintenance of general anesthesia as well as for sedation of intubated, mechanically ventilated adults in intensive care units (ICU). Propofol is characterized by a phenolic structure similar to that of a-tocopherol, and presents antioxidant properties that have been demonstrated both in vitro and in vivo. The aim of the present review is to evaluate the antioxidant properties of propofol in various models and whether or not it may be considered an efficient therapeutic tool in counteracting oxidative stress during general anesthesia and sedation in ICU

The myloglossus in a human cadaver study: common or uncommon anatomical structure?

Background: Additional extrinsic muscles of the tongue are reported in literature and one of them is the myloglossus muscle (MGM). Since MGM is nowadays considered as anatomical variant, the aim of this study is to clarify some open questions by evaluating and describing the myloglossal anatomy (including both MGM and its ligamentous counterpart) during human cadaver dissections. Materials and methods: Twenty-one regions (including masticator space, sublingual space and adjacent areas) were dissected and the presence and appearance of myloglossus were considered, together with its proximal and distal insertions, vascularisation and innervation. Results: The myloglossus was present in 61.9% of cases with muscular, ligamentous or mixed appearance and either bony or muscular insertion. Facial artery provided myloglossal vascularisation in the 84.62% and lingual artery in the 15.38%; innervation was granted by the trigeminal system (buccal nerve and mylohyoid nerve), sometimes (46.15%) with hypoglossal component. Conclusions: These data suggest us to not consider myloglossus as a rare anatomical variant.

The Terracol and Ardouin developmental model of frontal sinus drainage pathway and surrounding spaces: a radiologic validation

The complexity of the frontal sinus drainage pathway (FSDP) can be challenging even for expert surgeons. Several classifications have been proposed to simplify the understanding of FSDP, whose anatomical variability can be simplified based on the knowledge of its developmental mechanisms

The Italian Sensorimotor Norms: Perception and action strength measures for 959 words

Neuroscience research has provided evidence that semantic information is stored in a distributed brain network involved in sensorimotor and linguistic processing. More specifically, according to the embodied cognition accounts, the representation of concepts is deemed as grounded in our bodily states. For these reasons, normative measures of words should provide relevant information about the extent to which each word embeds perceptual and action properties. In the present study, we collected ratings for 959 Italian nouns and verbs from 398 volunteers, recruited via an online platform. The words were mostly taken from the Italian adaptation of the Affective Norms for English Words (ANEW). A pool of 145 verbs was added to the original set. All the words were rated on 11 sensorimotor dimensions: six perceptual modalities (vision, audition, taste, smell, touch, and interoception) and five effectors (hand-arm, foot-leg, torso, mouth, head). The new verbs were also rated on the ANEW dimensions. Results showed good reliability and consistency with previous studies. Relations between perceptual and motor dimensions are described and interpreted, along with relations between the sensorimotor and the affective dimensions. The currently developed dataset represents an important novelty, as it includes different word classes, i.e., both nouns and verbs, and integrates ratings of both sensorimotor and affective dimensions, along with other psycholinguistic parameters; all features only partially accomplished in previous studies

Prokineticin 2 upregulation in the peripheral nervous system has a major role in triggering and maintaining neuropathic pain in the chronic constriction injury model

The new chemokine Prokineticin 2 (PROK2) and its receptors (PKR1 and PKR2) have a role in inflammatory pain and immunomodulation. Here we identified PROK2 as a critical mediator of neuropathic pain in the chronic constriction injury (CCI) of the sciatic nerve in mice and demonstrated that blocking the prokineticin receptors with two PKR1-preferring antagonists (PC1 and PC7) reduces pain and nerve damage. PROK2 mRNA expression was upregulated in the injured nerve since day 3 post injury (dpi) and in the ipsilateral DRG since 6 dpi. PROK2 protein overexpression was evident in Schwann Cells, infiltrating macrophages and axons in the peripheral nerve and in the neuronal bodies and some satellite cells in the DRG. Therapeutic treatment of neuropathic mice with the PKR-antagonist, PC1, impaired the PROK2 upregulation and signalling. This fact, besides alleviating pain, brought down the burden of proinflammatory cytokines in the damaged nerve and prompted an anti-inflammatory repair program. Such a treatment also reduced intraneural oedema and axon degeneration as demonstrated by the physiological skin innervation and thickness conserved in CCI-PC1 mice. These findings suggest that PROK2 plays a crucial role in neuropathic pain and might represent a novel target of treatment for this disease

Stress proteins in experimental nephrotoxicity: a ten year experience

Heat shock proteins and glucose­regulated proteins represent an extraordinary mechanism of defense induced in the kidney by chemicals or drugs and essential to survive. Here we resume our experience on the presence and regulation of stress proteins into acute and chronic nephrotoxic models in rodents and in vitro. In acute renal damage, induced in rats by a single injection of inorganic mercury, stress proteins enhanced in a dose-dependent manner to recover cytoskeleton and mitochondria and maintain nuclear activity. When we pre-treated mercury injected-rats with antioxidant melatonin or with bimoclomol, a stress proteins-coinducer, stress proteins expression was modulated together with tubular recovery. Similar data were obtained in ischemia-reperfusion in rats treated with stannous chloride, that provided cytoprotection stimulating heme oxygenase induction. During nephrotoxicity induced by administration of cyclosporine A at therapeutic dosage for 1-2 months, stress protein overexpression well correlated with oxidative and cell death, but decreased if we counteracted renal damage using antioxidants. In aluminium intoxication through drinking water for 3-6 months, we detected a time-dependent stress response in the rat kidney that was organ specific and different from the liver. In vitro studies on rat tubular proximal cells exposed to heavy metals demonstrated that stress protein expression was related to peculiar mechanisms of action of each metal. In conclusion, experimental studies on the renal chaperones can greatly contribute to understand their role, and agents able to modulate the stress response might be considered promising therapeutic tools to reduce nephrotoxicity

Expression of endothelial nitric oxide synthase in blood vessels and silicic acid consumption

NO produces by endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) represents one of the most representative vasoactive molecules able to regulate vascular tone; it is released by endothelial cells and it diffuses to adjacent vascular smooth muscle cells causing vasorelaxation. In addition, endothelium-derived NO is know to be involved in multiple ways to prevent the progression of age-related vascular diseases. Senescent endothelial cells are characterized by a decreased production of endothelium-derived NO due to a decrease of eNOS activity that could be attributable to a reduction in eNOS protein expression as well as in eNOS phosphorylation (Matsushita et al., 2001). Previous studies showed that silicon, mainly as silicic acid, plays an important role as protective factor against the development of age-related vascular diseases, maintaining integrity, stability and elastic properties of arterial walls (Schwarz et al., 1977). So, the aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the expression of eNOS and silicic acid consumption in a mouse model of early physiological aging. We evaluated qualitatively and quantitatively by immunohistochemical method, the expression of eNOS in the vessel wall of aorta and renal vessels in relation with the administration of silicic acid in drinking water. The results showed that loss of eNOS expression was prevented by regular consumption of silicic acid rich water, supporting the potential protective role of silicon against age related-vascular disorders