Rejected

Chronic post-thoracotomy pain is still an obstacle for lung-cancer patients even after less invasive surgical procedures. It is unclear whether intercostal analgesia is as useful in the prevention of postoperative chronic pain as it is for acute pain for video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of perioperative intercostal analgesia for chronic pain via a multimodal analgesic regimen for VATS during 6 months of postoperative follow-up.

Subcostal Transversus Abdominis Plane (TAP) block is the standard practice for postoperative analgesia following laparoscopic cholecystectomy. This study aimed to compare the efficacy of modified BRILMA Block (blocking the BRanches of Intercostal nerves at the Level of Mid-Axillary line) with Subcostal TAP block for pain relief following laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

This study aims to explore the trend and knowledge mapping of acupuncture for migraine through bibliometrics.

Tolosa-Hunt syndrome is an idiopathic, inflammatory condition involving the cavernous sinus and is characterized by unilateral, painful ophthalmoparesis. The condition often begins with retro-orbital pain followed by select cranial nerve involvement. We report the case of a 17-year-old female whose presentation with progressive left-sided headache and ophthalmoparesis culminated in the diagnosis of Tolosa-Hunt syndrome. While many of her signs and symptoms have been previously reported in the rare pediatric cases of Tolosa-Hunt syndrome described in the literature, this case illustrates a unique presentation involving cranial nerves V and VII in addition to the more commonly reported cranial nerve III, IV, and VI palsies.

We aimed to investigate the effects of dinalbuphine sebacate (DNS), fentanyl-based patient-controlled analgesia (PCA), and conventional analgesia (CA) for pain management after laparotomy for gynecologic cancers.

Post-stroke depression (PSD) is one of the most common stroke complications, which seriously affects stroke's therapeutic effect and brings great pain for patients. The pathological mechanism of PSD has not been revealed. Jiedu Tongluo granules (JDTLG) is an effective traditional Chinese medicine for PSD treatment which is widely used in clinical treatment. JDTLG has a significant therapeutic effect against PSD, but the mechanism is still unclear. The PSD rat model was established by carotid artery embolization combined with chronic sleep deprivation followed by treating with JDTLG. Neurobehavioral and neurofunctional experiments were engaged in studying the neural function of rats. Histomorphology, proteomics, and western blotting researches were performed to investigate the potential molecular mechanisms related to JDTLG therapy. Oral treatment of JDTLG could significantly improve the symptoms of neurological deficit and depression symptoms of PSD rats. Proteomic analysis identified several processes that may involve the regulation of JDTLG on the PSD animal model, including energy metabolism, nervous system, and N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR)/brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) signal pathway. Our results showed that JDTLG could reduce glutamate (Glu) level and increase gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) level via regulating the NMDAR/BDNF pathway, which may play a vital role in the occurrence and development of PSD.

As a typical neuropathic pain, post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN) is a common complication of herpes zoster (HZ), which seriously affects the normal life and work of patients. The unclear pathogenesis and lack of effective drugs make the clinical efficacy of PHN unsatisfactory. Here, we obtained the transcriptome profile of neuroblastoma cells (SH-SY5Y) and DRG in rats infected with varicella zoster virus (VZV) by transcriptome sequencing (RNA-Seq) combined with publicly available gene array data sets. Next, the data processing of the transcriptome map was analyzed using bioinformatics methods, including the screening of differentially expressed genes (DEGs), Gene Ontology (GO), and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis. Finally, real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to detect the expression of calcium-related genes, and calcium fluorescent probes and calcium colorimetry were used to evaluate the distribution and content of calcium ions in cells after VZV infection. Transcriptome data analysis (GO and KEGG enrichment analysis) showed that calcium disorder played an important role in SH-SY5Y cells infected by VZV and dorsal root ganglion (DRG) of the PHN rat model. The results of qRT-PCR showed that the expression levels of calcium-related genes , , , , and were significantly upregulated, while the expression levels of , , and were significantly downregulated in SH-SY5Y cells infected with VZV. Our calcium fluorescent probe and calcium colorimetric test results showed that VZV could change the distribution of calcium ions in infected cells and significantly increase the intracellular calcium content. In conclusion, our results revealed that the persistence of calcium disorder caused by VZV in nerve cells might be a crucial cause of herpetic neuralgia, and a potential target for clinical diagnosis and treatment of PHN.

Our previous study showed that chronic skin colonization by Staphylococcus aureus exacerbated atopic dermatitis (AD) and that control of such skin colonization using antibiotic ointment might relieve AD-related skin inflammation. However, the role of S. aureus colonization in the pruritus accompanying AD was not elucidated. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of topically applied josamycin, a macrolide antibiotic, on the scratching behavior of NC/Nga mice with AD-like skin lesions. Josamycin (0.1%) was topically administered to NC/Nga mice with AD-like skin lesions induced by a mite antigen, Dermatophagoides farinae extract, and the therapeutic effects of josamycin were assessed by measurement of the skin severity score, S. aureus colonization, scratching count, and interleukin (IL)-31 mRNA expression in the skin lesions. Topical treatment with josamycin ointment significantly suppressed the increase of the skin severity score in NC/Nga mice. This suppressive effect was associated with decreases in the S. aureus count on the lesioned skin, scratching behavior of mice and IL-31 mRNA expression in the lesions. The present results show that the severity of AD-like skin inflammation in NC/Nga mice is correlated with the level of S. aureus colonization and subsequent IL-31 production in the skin. Therefore, topical application of josamycin to AD lesions colonized by S. aureus would be beneficial for control of AD by eliminating superficially located S. aureus and by suppressing the IL-31-induced scratching behavior.

Compared to low concentrations of local anesthetics with opioids for labor epidural analgesia, very high concentrations of local anesthetics are associated with an increased risk of assisted vaginal delivery. We aimed to investigate if moderately high concentrations of plain local anesthetics are also associated with this risk.

Health studies of structural racism/discrimination have been animated through the deployment of neighborhood effects frameworks that engage institutionalist concerns about sociopolitical resources and mobility structures. This study highlights the acute illness risks of place-based inequalities and neighborhood-varying race-based inequalities by focusing on access to and the regulation of mortgage markets.