Cooling reduces the cutaneous afferent firing response to vibratory stimuli in glabrous skin of the human foot sole

2013 ◽  
Vol 109 (3) ◽  
pp. 839-850 ◽  
Author(s):  
Catherine R. Lowrey ◽  
Nicholas D. J. Strzalkowski ◽  
Leah R. Bent

Skin on the foot sole plays an important role in postural control. Cooling the skin of the foot is often used to induce anesthesia to determine the role of skin in motor and balance control. The effect of cooling on the four classes of mechanoreceptor in the skin is largely unknown, and thus the aim of the present study was to characterize the effects of cooling on individual skin receptors in the foot sole. Such insight will better isolate individual receptor contributions to balance control. Using microneurography, we recorded 39 single nerve afferents innervating mechanoreceptors in the skin of the foot sole in humans. Afferents were identified as fast-adapting (FA) or slowly adapting (SA) type I or II (FA I n = 16, FA II n = 7, SA I n = 6, SA II n = 11). Receptor response to vibration was compared before and after cooling of the receptive field (2–20 min). Overall, firing response was abolished in 30% of all receptors, and this was equally distributed across receptor type ( P = 0.69). Longer cooling times were more likely to reduce firing response below 50% of baseline; however, some afferent responses were abolished with shorter cooling times (2–5 min). Skin temperature was not a reliable indicator of the level of receptor activation and often became uncoupled from receptor response levels, suggesting caution in the use of this parameter as an indicator of anesthesia. When cooled, receptors preferentially coded lower frequencies in response to vibration. In response to a sustained indentation, SA receptors responded more like FA receptors, primarily coding “on-off” events.

2005 ◽  
Vol 288 (4) ◽  
pp. F614-F625 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dinesh M. Shah

Preeclampsia is a hypertensive disorder unique to pregnancy with consistent involvement of the kidney. The renin-angiotensin system (RAS) has been implicated in the pathogenesis of preeclampsia. In the gravid state, in addition to the RAS in the kidney, there is a tissue-based RAS in the uteroplacental unit. Increased renin expression observed both in human preeclampsia and in a transgenic mouse model with a human preeclampsia-like syndrome supports the concept that activation of the uteroplacental RAS, with angiotensin II entering the systemic circulation, may mediate the pathogenesis of preeclampsia. A novel disease paradigm of the two-kidney one-clip (2K-1C) Goldblatt model is presented for preeclampsia, wherein the gravid uterus is the clipped “kidney” and the two maternal kidneys represent the unclipped kidney. Validation of the 2K-1C Goldblatt model analogy requires evidence of elevated angiotensin II in the peripheral circulation before vascular maladaptation in preeclampsia. Convincing evidence of the elevation of angiotensin II in preeclampsia does not exist despite the fact that much of vascular pathogenesis appears to be due to angiotensin type I (AT1) receptor activation. Vascular maladaptation with increased vasomotor tone, endothelial dysfunction, and increased sensitivity to angiotensin II and norepinephrine in manifest preeclampsia may be explained on the basis of angiotensin II-mediated mechanisms. Recently, novel angiotensin II-related biomolecular mechanisms have been described in preeclampsia. These include AT1and bradykinin B2receptor heterodimerization and the production of an autoantibody against AT1. Various organ systems with a predilection for involvement in preeclampsia are each a site of a tissue-based RAS. How angiotensin II-mediated mechanisms may explain the primary clinical-pathological features of preeclampsia is described. Future investigations are proposed to more precisely define the role of activation of the uteroplacental RAS in the mechanisms underlying preeclampsia.


Author(s):  
Kleiner Nemezio ◽  
Guilherme de Carvalho Yamaguchi ◽  
Ana Paula Boito Ramkrapes ◽  
Mariane Leichsenring Schulz ◽  
Igor Luchini Baptista ◽  
...  

To examine the role of chronic (in)activity on muscle carnosine (MCarn) and how chronic (in)activity affects MCarn responses to β-alanine supplementation in spinal-cord injured athletes, sixteen male athletes with paraplegia were randomized (2:1 ratio) to receive β-alanine (n=11) or placebo (PL, n=5). They consumed 6.4 g‧d-1 of β-alanine or PL for 28 days. Muscle biopsies of the active deltoid and the inactive vastus lateralis (VL) were taken before and after supplementation. MCarn in the VL was also compared with the VL of a group of individuals without paraplegia (n=15). MCarn was quantified in whole muscle and in pools of individual fibers by High-performance Liquid Chromatography. MCarn was higher in chronically inactive VL vs. well-trained deltoid (32.0±12.0 vs. 20.5±6.1 mmol‧kg-1 DM; p=0.018). MCarn was higher in inactive vs. active VL (32.0±12.0 vs. 21.2±7.5 mmol‧kg-1 DM; p=0.011). In type-I fibers, MCarn was significantly higher in the inactive VL than in the active deltoid (38.3±4.7 vs. 27.3±11.8 mmol‧kg-1 DM, p=0.014). MCarn increased similarly between inactive VL and active deltoid in the β-alanine group (VL: 68.9±55.1%, p=0.0002; deltoid: 90.5±51.4%, p<0.0001), with no changes in the PL group. MCarn content was higher in the inactive VL than in the active deltoid and the active VL, but this is probably a consequence of fiber type shift (type I to type II) that occurs with chronic inactivity. Chronically inactive muscle showed an increase in MCarn after BA supplementation equally to the active muscle, suggesting that carnosine accretion following β-alanine supplementation is not influenced by muscle inactivity.


2007 ◽  
Vol 21 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Babbette LaMarca ◽  
Josh Speed ◽  
Lillian Fournier ◽  
Kathy Cockrell ◽  
Derrick Chandler ◽  
...  

Crisis ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 160-164 ◽  
Author(s):  
Almir Fajkic ◽  
Orhan Lepara ◽  
Martin Voracek ◽  
Nestor D. Kapusta ◽  
Thomas Niederkrotenthaler ◽  
...  

Background: Evidence on youth suicides from Southeastern Europe is scarce. We are not aware of previous reports from Bosnia and Herzegovina, which experienced war from 1992 to 1995. Durkheim’s theory of suicide predicts decreased suicide rates in wartime and increased rates afterward. Aims: To compare child and adolescent suicides in Bosnia and Herzegovina before and after the war. Methods: Data on youth suicide for prewar (1986–90) and postwar (2002–06) periods were analyzed with respect to prevalence, sex and age differences, and suicide methods. Suicide data from 1991 through 2001 were not available. Results: Overall youth suicide rates were one-third lower in the postwar than in the prewar period. This effect was most pronounced for girls, whose postwar suicide rates almost halved, and for 15–19-year-old boys, whose rates decreased by about a one-fourth. Suicides increased among boys aged 14 or younger. Firearm suicides almost doubled proportionally and were the predominant postwar method, while the most common prewar method had been hanging. Conclusions: The findings from this study indicate the need for public education in Bosnia and Herzegovina on the role of firearm accessibility in youth suicide and for instructions on safe storage in households. Moreover, raising societal awareness about suicide risk factors and suicide prevention is needed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 55-72
Author(s):  
Herlin Hamimi ◽  
Abdul Ghafar Ismail ◽  
Muhammad Hasbi Zaenal

Zakat is one of the five pillars of Islam which has a function of faith, social and economic functions. Muslims who can pay zakat are required to give at least 2.5 per cent of their wealth. The problem of poverty prevalent in disadvantaged regions because of the difficulty of access to information and communication led to a gap that is so high in wealth and resources. The instrument of zakat provides a paradigm in the achievement of equitable wealth distribution and healthy circulation. Zakat potentially offers a better life and improves the quality of human being. There is a human quality improvement not only in economic terms but also in spiritual terms such as improving religiousity. This study aims to examine the role of zakat to alleviate humanitarian issues in disadvantaged regions such as Sijunjung, one of zakat beneficiaries and impoverished areas in Indonesia. The researcher attempted a Cibest method to capture the impact of zakat beneficiaries before and after becoming a member of Zakat Community Development (ZCD) Program in material and spiritual value. The overall analysis shows that zakat has a positive impact on disadvantaged regions development and enhance the quality of life of the community. There is an improvement in the average of mustahik household incomes after becoming a member of ZCD Program. Cibest model demonstrates that material, spiritual, and absolute poverty index decreased by 10, 5, and 6 per cent. Meanwhile, the welfare index is increased by 21 per cent. These findings have significant implications for developing the quality of life in disadvantaged regions in Sijunjung. Therefore, zakat is one of the instruments to change the status of disadvantaged areas to be equivalent to other areas.


Author(s):  
Sanjeeva Kumar Goud T ◽  
Rahul Kunkulol

The present study was aimed to study the effect of Sublingual Vitamin D3 on Serum Vitamin D level in Vitamin D deficiency patients. This was a cross-sectional and interventional study. All the Vitamin D deficiency patients of age 18-60years and either gender, willing to participate in the study were included. Patients who had greater than 20 ng/ml were excluded from the study. The total number of participants in our study was 200, out of these 111 males and 89 females, the mean age in our study was 51.07 ± 7.39Yrs. All volunteers were given sublingual vitamin D3 (60,000IU) in six doses every fifteen days of follow up for 3 months. The subject’s serum 25(OH)D levels were estimated before and after the treatment of sublingual vitamin D3. There was a statistically significant difference in serum vitamin D3 level before 16.61±6.71 ng/ml and after 35.80±7.80 ng/ml after treatment with Sublingual Vitamin D3. Six doses of 60,000IU of Vitamin D3 sublingual route having improved the role of serum 25(OH)D levels in the treatment of Vitamin D3 deficiency patients.Keywords: Vitamin D3; Sublingual route


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document