Rejected

To compare 3 commonly used methods for drug delivery via the lumbar spinal subarachnoid space in rats.

This paper reviews the pros and cons of various alternatives to the surgical castration of male piglets without pain relief. Castration is mostly motivated by the presence of boar taint in the meat from some entire male pigs. It results in pain during surgery and markedly increases feed costs and the fat content of the carcass. Raising entire male pigs avoids pain at castration, but animals can suffer from increased stress during the finishing period because of aggressive and mounting behavior. Feed efficiency and carcass quality are much better than in surgical castrates. The quality of meat from entire male pigs is lower because of boar taint, a reduced intramuscular fat content, and increased unsaturation of the fat. Immunocastration prevents boar taint, pain associated with surgery, and stress related to aggressive and mounting behavior. Feed efficiency and carcass quality are intermediate between surgical castrates and entire males. Meat quality is similar to surgical castrates. Anesthesia alone prevents pain during surgery, but not after, while analgesia alone mitigates pain after surgery, but not during it. With the currently available methods, the cost of combined anesthesia and analgesia is too high for conventional production systems in most countries.

Previous studies indicated that both inflammatory responses and hyperglycemia are involved in the similar pathophysiological mechanisms after onset of intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH). However the relationship between hyperglycemia and inflammation remains unknown. We aim to evaluate the associations of hyperglycemia with inflammation and neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR) in patients with ICH. Patients with acute ICH were retrospectively enrolled. Clinical characteristics and imaging features were obtained. The associations between outcome and laboratory biomarkers were assessed by multivariable logistic regression analysis. Spearman analysis and multiple linear regression analysis were performed to estimate the association of NLR and serum glucose. 175 patients were enrolled. Poor outcome occurred in 86 patients at 30 days. Elevated blood glucose level (BGL) and NLR were strongly associated with outcome in patients with ICH. Moreover, combined NLR-BGL exhibited a better predictive accuracy compared with the peripheral leukocyte counts. Furthermore, there was a robust association between BGL and NLR. We first demonstrated both of NLR and BGL were independently associated with each other. Our results indicate that inflammatory responses and the pathological process of hyperglycemia may influence each other by several complex pathological mechanisms and have a mutual promoting effect to secondary brain injury.

Mobile healthcare increasingly relies on analytical tools that can extract meaningful information from ambulatory physiological recordings. We tested whether a nonlinear tool of fractal physiology could predict long-term health consequences in a large, elderly cohort. Fractal physiology is an emerging field that aims to study how fractal temporal structures in physiological fluctuations generated by complex physiological networks can provide important information about system adaptability. We assessed fractal temporal correlations in the spontaneous fluctuations of ambulatory motor activity of 1275 older participants at baseline, with a follow-up period of up to 13 years. We found that people with reduced temporal correlations (more random activity fluctuations) at baseline had increased risk of frailty, disability, and all-cause death during follow-up. Specifically, for 1-SD decrease in the temporal activity correlations of this studied cohort, the risk of frailty increased by 31%, the risk of disability increased by 15 to 25%, and the risk of death increased by 26%. These incidences occurred on average 4.7 years (frailty), 3 to 4.2 years (disability), and 5.8 years (death) after baseline. These observations were independent of age, sex, education, chronic health conditions, depressive symptoms, cognition, motor function, and total daily activity. The temporal structures in daily motor activity fluctuations may contain unique prognostic information regarding wellness and health in the elderly population.

A 63-year-old woman with a prior history of chronic lower extremity lymphedema came to the hospital for evaluation of new-onset left leg pain and swelling associated with haemorrhagic blisters and foul-smelling discharge. Relevant history included a recent trip to a Hudson River Valley beach in New York 1 week prior to hospitalisation. Laboratory evaluation revealed significant leukocytosis and lactic acidosis. She was found to have sepsis and bacteremia secondary to (serotype non-O1, non-O139). During a prolonged intensive care unit course requiring intravenous pressor support and broad-spectrum antibiotics, she underwent debridement of her left foot eschar along with skin grafting. Once clinically stable and improved, she was discharged to a subacute rehabilitation centre with close follow-up for wound care. infection is rare and often benign but can be transmitted from contaminated seawater to individuals with underlying chronic illness and cause severe symptoms, including sepsis.

Chronic musculoskeletal pain affects the quality of life of older adults by interfering in their ability to perform activities of daily living. Aerobic exercise programs have been used in the treatment of various health conditions, including musculoskeletal disorders. However, there is still little evidence on the effects of aerobic exercise for the treatment of older adults with chronic musculoskeletal pain. Thus, the objective of this study is to assess the effects of aerobic exercise in improving pain and function of older adults with chronic pain as a consequence of different chronic musculoskeletal conditions.

The objective of this study was to obtain utilities by means of EQ-5D-5L for different health states in patients with knee osteoarthritis (KOA) or hip osteoarthritis (HOA) in Spain, and to compare these values with those used in foreign studies with the aim of discussing their transferability for their use in economic evaluations conducted in Spain.

Failing to recognise the signs and symptoms of subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) causes diagnostic delay and may result in poorer outcomes. We report a rare case of SAH secondary to a vertebral artery dissection (VAD) that initially presented with cauda equina-like features, followed by symptoms more typical of SAH.

Long-term opioid treatment for chronic non-cancer pain has become controversial, given the increasing prevalence of opioid dependence. However, there is little information on therapeutic strategies for this condition in Japanese patients. Here, we present a case of successful management of iatrogenic opioid dependence with tramadol in a patient with chronic low back pain.

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGY RELEVANCE: the root decoction of Cnestis ferruginea Vahl ex DC (Connaraceae) is widely used in traditional African medicine for the treatment of various ailments including pain, inflammation and epilepsy. We have earlier reported anticonvulsant effect of Cnestis ferruginea root extract in mice.