CO2 low-level laser therapy has an early but not delayed pain effect during experimental tooth movement.

OBJECTIVES: To test the hypothesis that the use of low-level laser therapy (LLLT) reduces elevated pain by controlling the release of neurochemicals during orthodontic tooth movement. SETTING AND SAMPLE POPULATION: Department of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics, Okayama University. Sixty-five Sprague Dawley rats were subjected to tooth movement and LLLT. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Adult Sprague Dawley rats were used in this study. Groups included day 0 controls, irradiation only controls and with or without irradiation sacrificed at 1, 3, 5, 7 and 14 days after tooth movement (n=5 each, total n=65). Tooth movement was achieved by insertion of an elastic module between molar teeth. Immunohistochemistry for CD-11b, GFAP and c-fos in the brain stem was performed. Stains were quantified by constructing a three-dimensional image using IMARIS, and counted using NEURON TRACER and WinROOF software. Two-way ANOVA followed by a Tukey's post hoc test (P<.05) was used for statistical comparison between groups. RESULTS: C-fos expression was significantly increased at one and three days after tooth movement. LLLT significantly diminished this increase in c-fos expression only at one day after tooth movement CD-b11 and GFAP expression also significantly increased after tooth movement. No significant change was observed for CD-11b and GFAP expression in the central nervous system upon LLLT. CONCLUSION: Low-level laser therapy may reduce early neurochemical markers but have no effect on delayed pain neurochemical markers after tooth movement.

Clinical use of exhaled volatile organic compounds in pulmonary diseases: a systematic review.

There is an increasing interest in the potential of exhaled biomarkers, such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), to improve accurate diagnoses and management decisions in pulmonary diseases. The objective of this manuscript is to systematically review the current knowledge on exhaled VOCs with respect to their potential clinical use in asthma, lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cystic fibrosis (CF), and respiratory tract infections. A systematic literature search was performed in PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane database, and reference lists of retrieved studies. Controlled, clinical, English-language studies exploring the diagnostic and monitoring value of VOCs in asthma, COPD, CF, lung cancer and respiratory tract infections were included. Data on study design, setting, participant characteristics, VOCs techniques, and outcome measures were extracted. Seventy-three studies were included, counting in total 3,952 patients and 2,973 healthy controls. The collection and analysis of exhaled VOCs is non-invasive and could be easily applied in the broad range of patients, including subjects with severe disease and children. Various research groups demonstrated that VOCs profiles could accurately distinguish patients with a pulmonary disease from healthy controls. Pulmonary diseases seem to be characterized by a disease specific breath-print, as distinct profiles were found in patients with dissimilar diseases. The heterogeneity of studies challenged the inter-laboratory comparability. In conclusion, profiles of VOCs are potentially able to accurately diagnose various pulmonary diseases. Despite these promising findings, multiple challenges such as further standardization and validation of the diverse techniques need to be mastered before VOCs can be applied into clinical practice.

Chronic rejection in a small bowel transplant with successful revision of the allograft by segmental resection: case report.

An 8-year-old girl was admitted for severe electrolyte imbalance and for hyponatremic seizure. In July 2005, at 3 years of age, she underwent isolated small-bowel transplantation of 100 cm ileum from her father. Her own bowel was only 50 cm of proximal jejunum which had been directly connected to the anus due to extended total aganglionosis. The graft was placed into the middle of her remaining bowel, using the splenic artery and vein as feeding vessels with saving of the spleen. Daclizumab induction and tacrolimus monotherapy were applied for immunosuppression. Two acute cellular rejection episodes, E on day 10 and 4 years after transplantation, were successfully treated with OKT-3 and recombinant antithymocyte globulin, respectively. However, because of intermittent bowel dysfunction, she was hospitalized several times for hydration and metabolic care. On admission, her abdomen was moderately distended, and a simple abdominal film showed a fixed dilated loop. Colonoscopy could not pass the narrowed lumen, with stiffness at the anastomosis between the graft and the distal bowel. Endoscopic biopsy at the entrance to the stricture showed a nonspecific inflammatory reaction with fibrosis. Similar findings on a gastrograffin enema suggested chronic rejection (CR). On laparotomy, an irregularly narrowed fibrotic loop was noticed at the distal part of the graft, proximal to the anastomosis. We performed a 20-cm segmental resection with an end-to-end anastomosis. Histopathologic findings showed CR with fibrosis and hyalinization of the entire bowel wall and vessel walls with mild cellular infiltrations. She recovered in 10 days. The graft may have been saved, but intermittent requirement of hydration over the following months suggested progressive graft dysfunction. A case of segmental involvement of CR with subsequent successful graft salvage by partial resection is rare in the literature.

Dextromethorphan increases tyrosine hydroxylase mRNA in the mesencephalon of adolescent rats.

Dextromethorphan (DM), an antitussive widely available in over-the-counter, has been abused mostly in teenage groups at high doses. To examine effects of DM on the reward pathway, we injected a high dose of DM (40 mg/kg; intraperitoneally) into the adolescent rat and measured tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) mRNA by in situ hybridization in the ventral tegmental area (VTA) and the substantia nigra (SN). Remarkable increases in the level of TH mRNA were observed in the VTA and SN 2 h after DM injection. Stereotyped behavior and ataxia increased, and rearing decreased by DM administration. These results suggest that DM-induced increase in TH mRNA expression in mesencephalon contribute to the reinforcing property and the behavioral effects of DM.

The development of a new method to detect the adulteration of commercial aloe gel powders.

Simple and accurate methods to detect the adulteration of commercial aloe gel powder were developed. Crude polysaccharide in aloe gel powder was isolated by precipitating with excess ethyl alcohol and total hexose in isolated polysaccharide was determined by Dubois assay. After hydrolysis of non-dialysable polysaccharides, resultant free sugar was determined by gas chromatography for sugar recognition and ash contents was considered simultaneously. In some products, the content of ash was very low while the content of total hexose was very high. And polysaccharides of these products revealed typical dextran pattern, therefore, these products could be identified that adulterated with commercial maltodextrin. The content of maltodextrin in adulterated product was determined by HPLC and TLC analysis which could be adopted as a part of a certification process.