Adv Exp Med Biol
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Review Historical Article
Awareness 1960 - 2002, explicit recall of events during general anaesthesia.
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In summary, therapy with opioids is an exciting new development for arthritis especially since there is the potential for fewer side effects from molecules which act outside the CNS. We found kappa-opioid drugs to be powerfully anti-inflammatory, reducing disease severity by as much as 80%; attenuating arthritis in a dose-dependent, stereoselective, antagonist-reversible manner. By contrast opioids acting at other receptors were only therapeutic at near toxic doses. ⋯ The increased potency of kappa-opioids in females is likely to be a significant advantage for treatment of inflammatory disease with these agents. Thus our work supports the findings of Stein's group, that opioids do indeed have powerful actions in the periphery via specific receptors at that site. Peripherally acting opioids may prove to be a potent new treatment for rheumatoid arthritis sufferers in the future.
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Comparative Study
Postocclusive reactive hyperemia in healthy volunteers and patients with peripheral vascular disease measured by three noninvasive methods.
Postocclusive reactive hyperemia (PORH) was evaluated in three healthy volunteers and in three patients with different etiologies and suffering from peripheral arterial occlusive disease (PAOD). Three noninvasive methods were used: transcutaneous oximetry (TcPO2), near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), and laser Doppler flowmetry (LDF). Changes in perfusion and oxygenation of tissue were measured on foot before, during, and after arterial occlusion on thigh. ⋯ Results of all three methods provided distinction between healthy volunteers and patients. The experimental optical techniques of NIRS and LDF demonstrated more clearly than the well-established TcPO2 method the difference between healthy volunteers and patients. The dynamics of the PORH response proved to be a better indicator of peripheral vascular disorder than the amplitude of responses.