Rejected

Idiopathic rapid eye movement (REM) sleep behavior disorder (iRBD) is increasingly recognised as an important precursor disease state of alpha-synucleinopathies. This parasomnia is characterized by a history of recurrent nocturnal dream enactment behaviour, loss of skeletal muscle atonia, and increased phasic muscle activity during REM sleep. Neuroimaging studies of striatal dopamine transporter uptake tracer signaling suggest increasing dopaminergic deficit across the continuum of the alpha-synucleinopathies, with early sleep dysfunction suggestive of early caudate dysfunction. Henceforth, we set out to investigate the relationship between early sleep changes and the striatal dopaminergic availability in iRBD.

Brucellosis is a zoonotic disease located especially in Central and South America, India, the Mediterranean and the Middle East. Human brucellosis occurs as a systemic infectious disease with various clinical manifestations. We present a case of 45-year-old female patient, nulliparous, not sexually active, with a previous medical history of a treated brucellosis, and no surgical or gynecological history. The patient presented with a history of fever for 7 days of 39 degrees Celsius, chills and acute abdominal pain. She was diagnosed with diffuse peritonitis with left tubo-ovarian abscess and was admitted for an urgent diagnostic laparoscopy. A left adnexectomy was performed. The diagnosis of genital brucellosis was made. This case report discusses an unusual complication of brucellosis represented by a tubo-ovarian abscess associated with acute peritonitis, treated by a laparoscopic adnexectomy and antimicrobials. Acute peritonitis associated with a tubo-ovarian abscess is an unusual complication of brucellosis.

The aim of the present study was to describe two clinical cases showing postoperative pain associated with the use of plastic carrier obturation system and apical bone fenestration. The patients were treated by surgical access and apicoectomy through a modern technique (using magnification and microsurgical approach), thus removing the direct contact between obturation material and submucosal connective tissue. The surgical interventions were carried on without the occurrence of any complication. Postsurgical adverse sequelae were negligible. After few weeks from the surgery, all symptoms disappeared. Radiographic healing was observed after 48 months. The presence of apical bone fenestration could be the cause of persistent pain after root canal treatment. The contact between plastic carrier and submucosal connective tissue could be the direct cause of spontaneous pain even in absence of periapical infection. Since the clinical diagnosis could be difficult, the use of tridimensional radiology could be justified. Surgical approach, by the removal of the contact between the carrier and connective tissues, can be considered a viable option to treat these particular affections.

Intractable neuropathic pain is a frequent consequence of nerve injury or disease. When peripheral nerves are injured, damaged axons undergo Wallerian degeneration. Schwann cells, mast cells, fibroblasts, keratinocytes and epithelial cells are activated leading to the generation of an "inflammatory soup" containing cytokines, chemokines and growth factors. These primary mediators sensitize sensory nerve endings, attract macrophages, neutrophils and lymphocytes, alter gene expression, promote post-translational modification of proteins, and alter ion channel function in primary afferent neurons. This leads to increased excitability and spontaneous activity and the generation of secondary mediators including colony stimulating factor 1 (CSF-1), chemokine C-C motif ligand 21 (CCL-21), Wnt3a, and Wnt5a. Release of these mediators from primary afferent neurons alters the properties of spinal microglial cells causing them to release tertiary mediators, in many situations ATP-dependent mechanisms. Tertiary mediators such as BDNF, tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), interleukin 1β (IL-1β), and other Wnt ligands facilitate the generation and transmission of nociceptive information by increasing excitatory glutamatergic transmission and attenuating inhibitory GABA and glycinergic transmission in the spinal dorsal horn. This review focusses on activation of microglia by secondary mediators, release of tertiary mediators from microglia and a description of their actions in the spinal dorsal horn. Attention is drawn to the substantial differences in the precise roles of various mediators in males compared to females. At least 25 different mediators have been identified but the similarity of their actions at sensory nerve endings, in the dorsal root ganglia and in the spinal cord means there is considerable redundancy in the available mechanisms. Despite this, behavioral studies show that interruption of the actions of any single mediator can relieve signs of pain in experimental animals. We draw attention this paradox. It is difficult to explain how inactivation of one mediator can relieve pain when so many parallel pathways are available.

This study aims to compare the success rate of thoracic paravertebral block (TPVB) and the effect of postoperative analgesia between two approaches.

Although sibling sexual abuse (SSA) may be the most common type of intrafamilial sexual abuse, it has not been widely studied. The lack of studies makes it very difficult for clinicians to create a comprehensive framework about this complex phenomenon, particularly in comparison with other forms of intrafamilial sexual abuse, such as father-daughter incest. SSA is still underrecognized and underdisclosed but it has the potential to be every bit as harmful as sexual abuse by a parent. The topic rarely finds its way into the more general psychiatry or social work literature. It is imperative to increase healthcare practitioners' awareness of this complex subject to improve their ability to listen to, detect, and manage the disclosures of SSA in adolescent populations. This paper presents vignettes of three 13-to-15-year-old adolescent girls who disclosed SSA during inpatient hospitalization in an adolescent psychiatric and medicine department. These cases illustrate the complexity of SSA, which has been associated with a wide spectrum of both mental and physical symptoms. Adolescent victims of SSA experience serious distress, with various and numerous psychiatric manifestations, including but not limited to depression and suicide attempts, addictive behaviors, post-traumatic stress symptoms, and eating disorders. Physical symptoms should also alert practitioners: adolescent survivors are more likely to be affected by somatic complications such as sexually transmitted diseases, chronic pain, urogenital symptoms, and nutritional disorders. We offer some recommendations to improve the detection and support of distressed adolescents disclosing SSA. Listening to them and offering a protective multidisciplinary response can limit the lasting damage and contribute to the repair process.

Several factors can contribute to the development and chronification of migraines, including stress, which is undoubtedly a major trigger. Beyond pharmacotherapy, other treatment methods also exist, including behavioral techniques aiming at reducing patients' stress response. However, the exact brain mechanisms underlying the efficacy of such methods are poorly understood. Our pilot study examined whether the regular practice of autogenic training (AT) induces functional brain changes and if so, how it could be associated with the improvement of migraine parameters. By exploring neural changes through which AT exerts its effect, we can get closer to the pathomechanism of migraine. In particular, we investigated the effect of a headache-specific AT on brain activation using an implicit face emotion processing functional MRI (fMRI) task in female subjects with and without episodic migraine. Our focus was on migraine- and psychological stress-related brain regions. After a 16-week training course, migraineurs showed decreased activation in the migraine-associated dorsal pons to fearful compared with neutral visual stimuli. We also detected decreasing differences in supplementary motor area (SMA) activation to fearful stimuli, and in posterior insula activation to happy stimuli between healthy subjects and migraineurs. Furthermore, migraineurs reported significantly less migraine attacks. These brain activation changes suggest that AT may influence the activity of brain regions responsible for emotion perception, emotional and motor response integration, as well as cognitive control, while also being able to diminish the activation of regions that have an active role in migraine attacks. Improvements induced by the training and the underlying neurophysiological mechanisms are additional arguments in favor of evidence-based personalized behavioral therapies.

Trigeminal neuralgia (TN) is a debilitating neuropathic pain involving the fifth cranial nerve. There has been no study investigating the clinical and socioeconomical characteristics of patients with TN in Indonesia. A total of 100 patients were included in this study. Symptoms indicating a later stage of the illness, namely, involvement of all the trigeminal nerve branches, numbness, and concomitant persistent pain, were the common presentations found in our cohort. Only one TN diagnosis was made by a general practitioner (GP). None were immediately referred to a neurosurgeon following their diagnosis. Access to our clinic took as long as 4.7 ± 5.1 years (mean ± SD) from the onset. Older age was a significant predictor of an increased likelihood of not knowing their illness upon the referral (21.9%, = 0.008). Upon their first presentation, 25.5% of patients had experienced drug-related side effects due to prolonged medication. Only 50% of patients were compensated by the universal health coverage (UHC) system. Seven patients spent ≥ 50 million rupiahs and eight patients had already lost their jobs. In conclusion, early contact with a neurosurgeon contributes to better management of TN, both for the patients and healthcare system in Indonesia. A refined understanding of TN nature is still needed in this country.