Motor cortex excitability in chronic low back pain.

Chronic pain is associated with dysfunctional cortical excitability. Research has identified altered intracortical motor cortex excitability in Chronic Lower Back Pain (CLBP). However, research identifying the specific intracortical changes underlying CLBP has been met with inconsistent findings. In the present case-control study, we examined intracortical excitability of the primary motor cortex using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) in individuals with CLBP. Twenty participants with CLBP (Mage = 54.45 years, SDage = 15.89 years) and 18 age- and gender-matched, pain-free controls (M = 53.83, SD = 16.72) were included in this study. TMS was applied to the hand motor area of the right hemisphere and motor evoked potentials (MEPs) were recorded from the first dorsal interosseous muscle of the contralateral hand. Resting motor threshold (rMT) and MEP amplitude were measured using single-pulse stimulation. Short interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) and intracortical facilitation (ICF) were assessed using paired-pulse stimulation. Individuals with CLBP had significantly higher rMT (decreased corticospinal excitability) and lower ICF compared to controls. No significant differences were found in MEP amplitude and SICI. These findings add to the growing body of evidence that CLBP is associated with deficits in intracortical modulation involving glutamatergic mechanisms.

Benign schwannoma of the obturator nerve: a case report.

We describe a schwannoma of the obturator nerve in a woman 66 years old. It was diagnosed only postoperatively because of the aspecificity of the symptoms. The difficulty of making a correct diagnosis during surgery is discussed, and the potential serious consequences of total excision of the nerve are described.

Effects of bicyclomycin on RNA- and ATP-binding activities of transcription termination factor Rho.

Bicyclomycin is a commercially important antibiotic that has been shown to be effective against many gram-negative bacteria. Genetic and biochemical evidence indicates that the antibiotic interferes with RNA metabolism in Escherichia coli by inhibiting the activity of transcription termination factor Rho. However, the precise mechanism of inhibition is not completely known. In this study we have used in vitro transcription assays to analyze the effects of bicyclomycin on the termination step of transcription. The Rho-dependent transcription termination region located within the hisG cistron of Salmonella typhimurium has been used as an experimental system. The possible interference of the antibiotic with the various functions of factor Rho, such as RNA binding at the primary site, ATP binding, and hexamer formation, has been investigated by RNA gel mobility shift, photochemical cross-linking, and gel filtration experiments. The results of these studies demonstrate that bicyclomycin does not interfere with the binding of Rho to the loading site on nascent RNA. Binding of the factor to ATP is not impeded, on the contrary, the antibiotic appears to decrease the apparent equilibrium dissociation constant for ATP in photochemical cross-linking experiments. The available evidence suggests that this decrease might be due to an interference with the correct positioning of ATP within the nucleotide-binding pocket leading b an inherent block of ATP hydrolysis. Possibly, as a consequence of this interference, the antibiotic also prevents ATP-dependent stabilization of Rho hexamers.

Inhibitors of type-I interleukin-1 receptor from microbial metabolites.

We describe here the results of a screening program conducted to discover inhibitors of the type-I interleukin-1 receptor (IL-1RI) from samples of microbial origin. An innovative approach, based on automated, nonradioactive receptor binding assays has been employed. Specially prepared cell-free systems have allowed the use of high concentrations of microbial metabolites in the reaction mixtures with a low percentage of false positives. More than 30,000 microbial samples from different species of soil isolates have been tested and two interesting activities have been purified and characterized. One of these, isolated from Streptomyces sp. GE48009, was identified as niphimycin, an antifungal agent also known as scopafungin. Preliminary evidence suggests that this molecule and azalomycin F, a structural analogue, inhibit IL-IRI by virtue of their long-chain guanidinium moiety. The other activity, isolated from Aspergillus sp. GE49752, was identified as flavipin, a substituted o-phthalaldehyde.

Inhibitors of myo-inositol monophosphatase, ATCC 20928 factors A and C. Isolation, physico-chemical characterization and biological properties.

During the course of a screening program for inhibitors of myo-inositol monophosphatase we fermented the strain ATCC 20928, a known producer of L-671,776. We now show that this strain produces a complex of at least three sesquiterpenic compounds, L-671,776 (termed factor B) and two structurally related substances, termed factors A and C. Both factors A and C, like L-671,776, exhibited inhibitory activity against myo-inositol monophosphatase. Six other fungi producing the above mentioned compounds were also isolated and taxonomically characterized.

Mechanism of action of purpuromycin.

Purpuromycin, an antibiotic active against both fungi and bacteria, shows different modes of action against these two kinds of micro-organisms; in Candida albicans it inhibits RNA synthesis, whereas in Bacillus subtilis protein synthesis is primarily affected, with DNA and RNA synthesis blocked at higher concentrations of the drug. In bacterial cell-free protein-synthesis systems, purpuromycin did not inhibit synthesis from endogenous mRNA (elongation of peptides initiated within the intact cell) but inhibited MS2-phase RNA-dependent protein synthesis (which requires initiation) by 50% at 0.1 mg/l. Poly(U)-directed polyphenylalanine synthesis was 50% inhibited by 20 mg of purpuromycin/l when added to a complete system; however, when purpuromycin was preincubated with ribosomes dissociated into 30 S and 50 S subunits, the concentration for 50% inhibition fell to 0.1 mg/l. By contrast, in a C. albicans cell-free system poly(U)-directed polyphenylalanine synthesis was partially inhibited only at 200 mg/l. Purpuromycin also inhibited polynucleotide synthesis in vitro in reactions using Escherichia coli or wheat-germ RNA polymerases or E. coli DNA polymerase I. We suggest that in bacteria the primary target of purpuromycin is on ribosomes and that its action precedes the elongation step of protein synthesis. The effect on nucleic acid synthesis in both fungi and bacteria may be due to interaction of purpuromycin with DNA.

[Automation of ambulatory Doppler color echocardiography using a relational data base in a personal computer]. / Automatizzazione dell'Ambulatorio di ecocardiografia Doppler-color mediante sistema relazionale in database su personal computer.

Office automation in echocardiography is necessary linked to the need of speeding up the reporting which is generally done, to date, in a subsequent phase and it is time consuming With the present work we suggest a software made with the dBASE III Plus applied package, on a PS/2 IBM computer which makes it possible to quickly calculate the bodily surface and at the same time having instantaneous presentation of the normality ranges of the cardiac structures, of the myocardiac kinesis and the Doppler-color appraisal of valvular flows. The speed of reporting is greatly increased and all the data taken make up a database standardized for future statistical elaborations, besides providing an electronic file of echocardiographical reports.

[Screening and vaccination against hepatitis B among health personnel. Short-term results]. / Screening e vaccinazione anti epatite B in operatori sanitari. Risultati a a breve termine.

In the framework of the campaign for anti-HBV vaccination conducted by the Regione Piemonte, the Mauriziano Hospital in Valenza and the Unità Sanitaria Locale 71, screened and then vaccinated a group of 199 medical workers at risk of HBV. It was found that the infection was asymptomatic in the vaccinated subjects (16%) and the chronic HBsAg carriers (1.5%), that the risk of infection increases with age (p less than 0.01) and length of service (p less than 0.05) and that there is a connection with the mean figures produced by other studies conducted on hospital staff. Vaccination gave satisfactory results, with protective antibody responses in 87% of the cases, of whom about half presented levels over 1000 mIU/ml and no significant side effects.

[Management of a clinical pathology laboratory using a record system on personal computer data base]. / Gestione del laboratorio di patologia clinica, mediante sistema relazionale in data base su personal computer.

Data collection and processing via a Report System Data Base (dBASE III) is a new method recently implemented on Personal or Microcomputer. The major advantage compared to other systems lies in the possibility of working simultaneously with several open files that interact amongst themselves practically in real time. Procedures and programmes can also be created without the need to convert them to machine language. Management of the Clinical Pathology Laboratory via dBASE III is described. The Data Base Record files were specially created. Data on the necessary alteration in mass storage dimensions are supplied on the basis of the number of tests to be carried out. Preliminary information on the possibility of translating currently used statistical equations through the keyboard are also given. The package produced is absolutely interactive and does not require special training. It may therefore be used easily both by the laboratory doctor and personnel responsible for input and reference.

El compromiso del intestino delgado en las enfermedades del tejido conectivo. / The involvement of small intestine in connective tissue diseases

Se realiza la revision bibliografica de los hallazgos clinicos y anomalias fisiopatologicas, radiologicas e histologicas del intestino delgado en pacientes portadores de enfermedades del tejido conectivo. Se comenta la experiencia de los autores en el tema y los resultados de la terapeutica medica de dichos pacientes

El compromiso del intestino delgado en las enfermedades del tejido conectivo. / The involvement of small intestine in connective tissue diseases

Se realiza la revision bibliografica de los hallazgos clinicos y anomalias fisiopatologicas, radiologicas e histologicas del intestino delgado en pacientes portadores de enfermedades del tejido conectivo. Se comenta la experiencia de los autores en el tema y los resultados de la terapeutica medica de dichos pacientes

Enfermedad de Darier con compromiso esofagico. / Dariers disease with esophageal involvement

Los autores presentan un caso de enfermedad de Darier con afectacion esofagica, estudiado desde el punto de vista clinico, radiologico, endoscopico e histopatologico. Se hace una breve resena bibliografica de esta infrecuente localizacion digestiva de la enfermedad

Enfermedad de Darier con compromiso esofagico. / Darier's disease with esophageal involvement

Los autores presentan un caso de enfermedad de Darier con afectacion esofagica, estudiado desde el punto de vista clinico, radiologico, endoscopico e histopatologico. Se hace una breve resena bibliografica de esta infrecuente localizacion digestiva de la enfermedad