Presynaptic GABA receptors inhibit vomeronasal nerve transmission to accessory olfactory bulb mitral cells.

Vomeronasal sensory neurons (VSNs) recognize pheromonal and kairomonal semiochemicals in the lumen of the vomeronasal organ. VSNs send their axons along the vomeronasal nerve (VN) into multiple glomeruli of the accessory olfactory bulb (AOB) and form glutamatergic synapses with apical dendrites of mitral cells, the projection neurons of the AOB. Juxtaglomerular interneurons release the inhibitory neurotransmitter γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA).

Sensing and avoiding sick conspecifics requires Gαi2 vomeronasal neurons.

Background: Rodents utilize chemical cues to recognize and avoid other conspecifics infected with pathogens. Infection with pathogens and acute inflammation alter the repertoire and signature of olfactory stimuli emitted by a sick individual. These cues are recognized by healthy conspecifics via the vomeronasal or accessory olfactory system, triggering an innate form of avoidance behavior.

Rasch validation and refinement of the Lymphedema Life Impact Scale version 2 in an Italian cohort with secondary lymphedema.

Purpose: To produce and validate an Italian version of the Lymphedema Life Impact Scale version 2 (LLISv2-It), a tool measuring the impact of lymphedema on health-related quality of life, and investigate its main psychometric characteristics.

Methods: After translation and cross-cultural adaptation of the LLISv2, we administered it to 156 subjects with secondary lymphedema (upper or lower limb), together with (depending on the limb involved) either the Disabilities of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand questionnaire (DASH) or the Lower Extremity Functional Scale (LEFS). We analyzed the performance of LLISv2-It using Classical Test Theory and Rasch methods.

A central mechanism of analgesia in mice and humans lacking the sodium channel Na1.7.

Deletion of SCN9A encoding the voltage-gated sodium channel Na1.7 in humans leads to profound pain insensitivity and anosmia. Conditional deletion of Na1.

Central role of G protein Gαi2 and Gαi2 vomeronasal neurons in balancing territorial and infant-directed aggression of male mice.

Aggression is controlled by the olfactory system in many animal species. In male mice, territorial and infant-directed aggression are tightly regulated by the vomeronasal organ (VNO), but how diverse subsets of sensory neurons convey pheromonal information to limbic centers is not yet known. Here, we employ genetic strategies to show that mouse vomeronasal sensory neurons expressing the G protein subunit Gαi2 regulate male-male and infant-directed aggression through distinct circuit mechanisms.

Psychometric evaluation of the Persian version of the Lymphedema Life Impact Scale (LLIS, version 1) in breast cancer patients.

Background: Despite the high prevalence of lymphedema in Iranian breast cancer patients, there is no valid instrument for measuring quality of life in this population. The aim of this study was to assess reliability and validity of the Persian version of Lymphedema Life Impact Scale (LLIS) in breast cancer patients.

Methods: Forward-backward procedure was applied to translate The LLIS from English into Persian.

Type 3 inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate receptor is dispensable for sensory activation of the mammalian vomeronasal organ.

Signal transduction in sensory neurons of the mammalian vomeronasal organ (VNO) involves the opening of the canonical transient receptor potential channel Trpc2, a Ca-permeable cation channel that is activated by diacylglycerol and inhibited by Ca-calmodulin. There has been a long-standing debate about the extent to which the second messenger inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (InsP) and type 3 InsP receptor (InsPR3) are involved in the opening of Trpc2 channels and in sensory activation of the VNO. To address this question, we investigated VNO function of mice carrying a knockout mutation in the Itpr3 locus causing a loss of InsPR3.

Trpm5 expression in the olfactory epithelium.

The Ca-activated monovalent cation channel Trpm5 is a key element in chemotransduction of taste receptor cells of the tongue, but the extent to which Trpm5 channels are expressed in olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs) of the main olfactory epithelium (MOE) of adult mice as part of a specific pheromonal detection system is debated. Here, we used a novel Trpm5-IRES-Cre knockin strain to drive Cre recombinase expression, employed previously validated Trpm5 antibodies, performed in situ hybridization experiments to localize Trpm5 RNA, and searched extensively for Trpm5 splice variants in genetically-labeled, Trpm5-expressing MOE cells. In contrast to previous reports, we find no evidence for the existence in adult mouse OSNs of the classical Trpm5 channel known from taste cells.

Self-care status, symptom burden, and reported infections in individuals with lower-extremity primary lymphedema.

Purpose: The purposes of this study were (a) to evaluate self-care, symptom burden, and reported infections among individuals with lower-extremity primary lymphedema; (b) to examine the differences in self-care, symptom burden, and reported infections between individuals with unilateral and those with bilateral lower-extremity primary lymphedema; and (c) to examine the associations among self-care status, symptom burden, and reported infections in individuals with lower-extremity primary lymphedema.

Design: A secondary data analysis was used. Data were collected from a cross-sectional survey study supported by the National Lymphedema Network from March 2006 through January 2010.

Altered synaptic transmission at olfactory and vomeronasal nerve terminals in mice lacking N-type calcium channel Cav2.2.

We investigated the role of voltage-activated calcium (Cav) channels for synaptic transmission at mouse olfactory and vomeronasal nerve terminals at the first synapse of the main and accessory olfactory pathways, respectively. We provided evidence for a central role of the N-type Cav channel subunit Cav2.2 in presynaptic transmitter release at these synapses.

Factors Associated with Reported Infection and Lymphedema Symptoms among Individuals with Extremity Lymphedema.

Purpose: This study aimed to examine factors associated with reported infection and symptoms among individuals with extremity lymphedema.

Design: A cross-sectional study was used.

Methods: Data were collected from a survey supported by the National Lymphedema Network from March 2006 through January 2010.

Link between pain and olfaction in an inherited sodium channelopathy.

In a major breakthrough in our understanding of human olfaction, a recent study showed that loss-of-function mutations in the voltage-gated sodium channel Nav1.7, encoded by the gene SCN9A, cause a loss of the sense of smell (congenital general anosmia) in mice and humans. These findings are of special clinical relevance because Nav1.

Loss-of-function mutations in sodium channel Nav1.7 cause anosmia.

Loss of function of the gene SCN9A, encoding the voltage-gated sodium channel Na(v)1.7, causes a congenital inability to experience pain in humans. Here we show that Na(v)1.

Temperature-induced self-assembly of triple-responsive triblock copolymers in aqueous solutions.

A series of triple-thermoresponsive triblock copolymers from poly(N-n-propylacrylamide) (PNPAM, A), poly(methoxydiethylene glycol acrylate) (PMDEGA, B), and poly(N-ethylacrylamide) (PNEAM, C) was synthesized by sequential reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer polymerizations. Polymers of differing block sequences, ABC, BAC, and ACB, with increasing phase transition temperatures in the order A < B < C were prepared. Their aggregation behavior in dilute aqueous solution was investigated using dynamic light scattering, turbidimetry, and NMR spectroscopy.

Universal polymer analysis by (1)H NMR using complementary trimethylsilyl end groups.

New degenerative chain transfer agents, namely 4-(trimethylsilyl)benzyl 4'-(trimethylsilyl)butane-dithioate, 4-(trimethylsilyl)benzyl 3'-(trimethylsilyl)propyl trithiocarbonate and their 3-(trimethylsilyl)benzyl isomers, that are two-fold labeled with complementary trimethylsilyl (TMS) markers, were designed and shown to be powerful tools for universal polymer analysis by conventional (1)H NMR spectroscopy. Their use in controlled free radical polymerization, here the reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) method, resulted in polymers with low polydispersities up to high molar masses, as well as with defined complementary TMS end groups. Thus, routine (1)H NMR spectra allowed facile determination of the molar masses of polymers of various chemical structures up to at least 10(5) g/mol, and simultaneously provided crucial information about the content of end groups that is typically >95% when polymerizations are correctly performed.

Glycinergic transmission in the Mammalian retina.

Glycine and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) are the major inhibitory neurotransmitters in the retina. Approximately half of the amacrine cells release glycine at their synapses with bipolar, other amacrine, and ganglion cells. Glycinergic amacrine cells are small-field amacrine cells with vertically oriented dendrites and comprise more than 10 different morphological types.

Glycinergic input of widefield, displaced amacrine cells of the mouse retina.

Glycine receptors (GlyRs) of displaced amacrine cells of the mouse retina were analysed using whole cell recordings and immunocytochemical staining with subunit-specific antibodies. During the recordings the cells were filled with a fluorescent tracer and 11 different morphological types could be identified. The studies were performed in wild-type mice and in mutant mice deficient in the GlyRalpha1 (Glra1(spd-ot), 'oscillator' mouse), the GlyRalpha2 (Glra2(-/-)) and the GlyRalpha3 subunit (Glra3(-/-)).

Ca2+ -calmodulin feedback mediates sensory adaptation and inhibits pheromone-sensitive ion channels in the vomeronasal organ.

The mammalian vomeronasal organ (VNO) mediates the regulation of social behaviors by complex chemical signals. These cues trigger transient elevations of intracellular Ca(2+) in vomeronasal sensory neurons (VSNs), but the functional role of such Ca(2+) elevations is unknown. We show that stimulus-induced Ca(2+) entry plays an essential role as a negative feedback regulator of VSN sensitivity.

Synthesis of diacetylene-containing peptide building blocks and amphiphiles, their self-assembly and topochemical polymerization in organic solvents.

A series of functional iodoacetylenes was prepared and converted into the corresponding diacetylene-substituted amino acids and peptides via Pd/Cu-promoted sp-sp carbon cross-coupling reactions. The unsymmetrically substituted diacetylenes can be incorporated into oligopeptides without a change in the oligopeptide strand's directionality. Thus, a series of oligopeptide-based, amphiphilic diacetylene model compounds was synthesized, and their self-organization as well as their UV-induced topochemical polymerizability was investigated in comparison to related polymer-substituted macromonomers.

Consecutive conformational transitions and deaggregation of multiple-helical poly(diacetylene)s.

The polymerization of diacetylene macromonomers based on oligopeptide-polymer conjugates yields conjugated polymers with multiple-helical quaternary structures. These polymers exhibit a rich dynamic folding behavior upon the addition of protic cosolvents. Thus, a helix-helix transition under helix-sense inversion was followed by a reversible helix-coil transition.