Plos One
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Effects of sensory behavioral tasks on pain threshold and cortical excitability.
Transcutaneous electrical stimulation has been proven to modulate nervous system activity, leading to changes in pain perception, via the peripheral sensory system, in a bottom up approach. We tested whether different sensory behavioral tasks induce significant effects in pain processing and whether these changes correlate with cortical plasticity. ⋯ Lack of correlation between cortical excitability and pain thresholds and lack of differential effects across tasks, but significant changes in pain thresholds suggest that analgesic effects of somatosensory tasks are not primarily associated with motor cortical neural mechanisms, thus, suggesting that subcortical neural circuits and/or spinal cord are involved with the observed effects. Identifying the neural mechanisms of somatosensory stimulation on pain may open novel possibilities for combining different targeted therapies for pain control.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Sarcoplasmic phospholamban protein is involved in the mechanisms of postresuscitation myocardial dysfunction and the cardioprotective effect of nitrite during resuscitation.
Sarcoplasmic reticulum (SR) Ca(2+)-handling proteins play an important role in myocardial dysfunction after acute ischemia/reperfusion injury. We hypothesized that nitrite would improve postresuscitation myocardial dysfunction by increasing nitric oxide (NO) generation and that the mechanism of this protection is related to the modulation of SR Ca(2+)-handling proteins. ⋯ postresuscitation myocardial dysfunction is associated with the impairment of PLB phosphorylation. Nitrite administered during resuscitation improves postresuscitation myocardial dysfunction by preserving phosphorylated PLB protein during resuscitation.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
Head-to-head comparison of humoral immune responses to Vi capsular polysaccharide and Salmonella Typhi Ty21a typhoid vaccines--a randomized trial.
The two typhoid vaccines, the parenteral Vi capsular polysaccharide and the oral live whole-cell Salmonella Typhi Ty21a vaccine, provide similar levels of protection in field trials. Sharing no antigens, they are thought to confer protection by different mechanisms. This is the first head-to-head study to compare the humoral immune responses to these two vaccines. ⋯ The typhoid-specific humoral responses to Vi and Ty21a vaccines are similar in magnitude, but differ in expected localization and antigen-specificity. The unforeseen O antigen-specific response in the Vi group is probably due to lipopolysaccharide contaminating the vaccine preparation. Only the response to Ty21a vaccine was found to imitate that in natural infection.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
The combined propranolol/TSST paradigm--a new method for psychoneuroendocrinology.
Upon perception of a stimulus as stressful, the human brain reacts with the activation of the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and the sympathetic nervous system (SNS), to mobilize energy resources to better cope with the stressor. Since the perception of the stressor is the initial stimulus, a synchronicity between the subjective perception of stress and the physiological stress reactivity should be expected. However, according to a recent meta-analysis, these associations are weak and inconsistent. ⋯ A typical increase in subjective stress could be seen in both groups, with no significant group differences emerging. Complementing previous work, this study further demonstrates a significant interaction between the HPA and the SNS during acute stress. The HPA activity was found to be elevated in the presence of a suppressed SNS in reactivity to the TSST.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Prenatal vitamin d supplementation and child respiratory health: a randomised controlled trial.
Observational studies suggest high prenatal vitamin D intake may be associated with reduced childhood wheezing. We examined the effect of prenatal vitamin D on childhood wheezing in an interventional study. ⋯ Prenatal vitamin D supplementation in late pregnancy that had a modest effect on cord blood vitamin D level, was not associated with decreased wheezing in offspring at age three years.