Accepted

This paper proposes an innovative methodology for finding how many lifting techniques people with chronic low back pain (CLBP) can demonstrate with camera data collected from 115 participants. The system employs a feature extraction algorithm to calculate the knee, trunk and hip range of motion in the sagittal plane, Ward's method, a combination of K-means and Ensemble clustering method for classification algorithm, and Bayesian neural network to validate the result of Ward's method and the combination of K-means and Ensemble clustering method. The classification results and effect size show that Ward clustering is the optimal method where precision and recall percentages of all clusters are above 90, and the overall accuracy of the Bayesian Neural Network is 97.9%. The statistical analysis reported a significant difference in the range of motion of the knee, hip and trunk between each cluster, (9, 1136) = 195.67, < 0.0001. The results of this study suggest that there are four different lifting techniques in people with CLBP. Additionally, the results show that even though the clusters demonstrated similar pain levels, one of the clusters, which uses the least amount of trunk and the most knee movement, demonstrates the lowest pain self-efficacy.

Etoricoxib is a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) used to treat pain and inflammation. The objective of the current study was to develop a sensitive, fast and high-throughput HPLC-ESI-MS/MS method to measure etoricoxib levels in human plasma using a one-step methanol protein precipitation technique. A tandem mass spectrometer equipped with an electrospray ionization (ESI) source operated in a positive mode and multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) were used for data collection. The quantitative MRM transition ions were 359.15 > 279.10 and 363.10 > 282.10 for etoricoxib and IS. The linear range was from 10.00 to 4000.39 ng/mL and the validation parameters were within the acceptance limits of the European Medicine Agency (EMA) and Food and Drug Analysis (FDA) guidelines. The present method was sensitive (10.00 ng/mL with S/N > 40), simple, selective (K prime > 2), and fast (short run time of 2 min), with negligible matrix effect and consistent recovery, suitable for high throughput analysis. The method was used to quantitate etoricoxib plasma concentrations in a bioequivalence study of two 120 mg etoricoxib formulations. Incurred sample reanalysis results further supported that the method was robust and reproducible.

Migraine is one of the most frequent neurological and vascular disorders, with an estimated global prevalence of 14 […].

The degeneration of an intervertebral disc (IVD) is a major cause of lower back pain. IVD degeneration is characterized by the abnormal expression of inflammatory cytokines and matrix degradation enzymes secreted by IVD cells. In addition, macrophage-mediated inflammation is strongly associated with IVD degeneration. However, the precise pathomechanisms of macrophage-mediated inflammation in IVD are still unknown. In this study, we developed a microfluidic platform integrated with an electrical stimulation (ES) array to investigate macrophage-mediated inflammation in human nucleus pulposus (NP). This platform provides multiple cocultures of different cell types with ES. We observed macrophage-mediated inflammation and considerable migration properties via upregulated expression of interleukin (IL)-6 ( < 0.001), IL-8 ( < 0.05), matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-1 ( < 0.05), and MMP-3 ( < 0.05) in human NP cells cocultured with macrophages. We also confirmed the inhibitory effects of ES at 10 μA due to the production of IL-6 ( < 0.05) and IL-8 ( < 0.01) under these conditions. Our findings indicate that ES positively affects degenerative inflammation in diverse diseases. Accordingly, the microfluidic electroceutical platform can serve as a degenerative IVD inflammation in vitro model and provide a therapeutic strategy for electroceuticals.

The purpose of this narrative review is to provide the vascular surgery community with updated recommendations and information regarding the use of Targeted Muscle Reinnervation (TMR) for both the prevention and treatment of chronic pain and phantom limb pain occurring in patients after undergoing lower extremity amputation for peripheral artery disease.

Neuroinflammation, where inflammatory cytokines are produced in excess, contributes to the pathogenesis of delirium. Microglial cells play a central role in neuroinflammation by producing and releasing inflammatory cytokines in response to infection, tissue damage and neurodegeneration. Dexmedetomidine (DEX) is a sedative, which reduces the incidence of delirium. Thus, we hypothesized that DEX may alleviate delirium by exhibiting anti-inflammatory action on microglia. In the present study, we investigated the anti-inflammatory action of DEX on human microglial HMC3 cells. The results indicated that DEX partially suppressed the IL-6 and IL-8 production by lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated HMC3 cells as well as the phosphorylation of p38 MAPK and IκB and the translocation of NF-κB. Furthermore, DEX substantially suppressed IL-6 and IL-8 production by unstimulated HMC3 cells as wells as the phosphorylation of p38 MAPK and IκB and the translocation of NF-κB. These observations suggest that DEX exhibits anti-inflammatory action on not only LPS-stimulated but also unstimulated microglial cells via the suppression of inflammatory signaling and cytokine production.

Transient receptor potential (TRP) channels are involved in the development of oxaliplatin-induced neuropathic pain, a frequent and debilitating side effect of cancer therapy. Here we explored whether oxaliplatin-induced changes in the expression of TRP channels, as well as the development of pain-related behaviours, differed between male and female animals. Adult rats were injected with oxaliplatin or saline and mechanical and cold allodynia were evaluated using Von Frey and Choi Tests. The mRNA levels of TRPV1, TRPM8 and TRPA1 were assessed in lumbar ganglia and spinal cord by using real time RT-PCR. Oxaliplatin administration induced mechanical and cold hypersensitivity and allodynia in both sexes, with more severe responses to cold stimulation detected in females. Oxaliplatin also induced a significant increase in the expression of TRPV1, TRPM8 and TRPA1 in lumbar dorsal root ganglia. Interestingly, while TRPV1 and TRPA1 upregulation showed no sex difference, the increase in TRPM8 mRNA levels was more pronounced in female ganglia, correlating with the increased sensitivity to innocuous cold stimuli observed in females. TRPV1 and TRPM8 were also found to be upregulated in the spinal cord of animals of both sexes. Our results reveal previously undescribed changes in the expression of TRP channels occurring in peripheral ganglia and spinal cord of both male and female oxaliplatin-treated animals, with some of these changes exhibiting sex-related differences that could underlie the development of sex-specific patterns of pain-related behaviours.