Increasing attention has been paid to the possible link between periodontal disease and atherosclerosis over the past decade. The aim of this study is to investigate the presence of five periopathogens: (), (), (), (), and () in atheromatous plaques obtained from the carotid and coronary arteries in patients who underwent coronary artery bypass graft surgery and carotid endarterectomy. Group I (carotid arteries) consisted of 30 patients (mean age: 54.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThis study aimed to assess whether basal hormonal levels can predict the levels of progesterone (P4) on the day of oocyte retrieval (OR) and examine the impact of P4 levels on the day of OR on the outcome of assisted reproduction. One hundred sixty-four patients that were enrolled in the assisted reproduction procedure were classified according to their P4 levels on the OR day (< 2 ng/ml vs. ≥ 2 ng/ml).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIt is by now well established that tetrodotoxin-resistant (TTX-R) afferent fibres from muscle in the rat exhibit a multisensitive profile, including nociception. TTX-R afferent fibres play an important role in motor control, via spinal and supraspinal loops, but their activation and function during muscle exercise and fatigue are still unknown. Therefore, the specific effect of isometric fatiguing muscle contraction on the responsiveness of TTX-R C-fibres has been investigated in this study.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInvestigation and interpretation of defective motor circuitries in transgenic mice required further basic results from wild-type mice. Therefore, we investigated the lumbar motor reflex pattern in anaesthetised mice using intracellular motoneuronal recording and monosynaptic reflex testing. Thresholds and latencies in mice were similar to those in cats: thresholds for monosynaptic (group I) EPSPs were slightly above 1T (T=threshold for the lowest threshold fibres), around 1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: In vivo and ex vivo inhibition of ectopic activity of clinically used and newly developed sodium channel (NaV) blockers were quantified in the rat spinal nerve ligation (SNL) model using a pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic (PKPD) approach and correlated to in vitro NaV1.7 channel inhibition and clinical effective concentrations.
Methods: In vivo, drug exposure and inhibition of ectopic activity were assessed in anaesthetized SNL rats at two dose levels.