Osteoarthritis Disease Severity in the Temporomandibular Joint and the Knee Joint: A Comparative Cadaveric Study.

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the level of disease severity in a pilot cohort of temporomandibular joints (TMJs) and compare them to the pathology findings previously characterized in cadaveric knee joints.

Design: Thirty-one intact TMJs from 17 cadaveric donors were harvested and arthritic lesioning seen in the knee joint was investigated on the condyle and the fossa of the TMJ. Prevalence of gross alterations was equated and disease severity was determined for sex- and age-based donor pools using a validated, osteoarthritis (OA) disease severity scale (DSS).

Remediation practices for health profession students and clinicians: An integrative review.

Background: The current state of practices in health care remediation is not well known. The purpose of this review is to characterize, assess, and present synthesized results of current student and professional remediation practices described in the literature.

Methods: This study used an integrative review process including article extraction and review, descriptive characterization and statistics, classification of levels of evidence, assessment of risk of bias, and examination of relationships between factors and types of remediation.

Selective blockade of the OGF-OGFr pathway by naltrexone accelerates fibroblast proliferation and wound healing.

Naltrexone (NTX) is an opioid receptor antagonist that acts at classical and non-classical opioid receptors including the opioid growth factor receptor (OGFr). Animal models of type 1 and type 2 diabetes, as well as normal rodents, have shown that topical NTX enhances the healing rates of corneal epithelium and full-thickness cutaneous wounds. The mechanism of this general opioid antagonist on growth, and in particular the specific receptor pathway involved, is not understood.

Topical Naltrexone as Treatment for Type 2 Diabetic Cutaneous Wounds.

Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is associated with impaired cutaneous wound healing and can result in ulceration, infection, and/or amputation. More than 25 million people in the United States have T2D and are vulnerable to epithelial-related complications. Current therapies are limited in their efficacy.

Topical treatment with the opioid antagonist naltrexone accelerates the remodeling phase of full-thickness wound healing in type 1 diabetic rats.

Wound repair involves a series of overlapping phases that include inflammation, proliferation, and tissue remodeling, with the latter phase requiring months for proper healing. Delays in any of these processes can result in infection, chronic ulceration, and possible amputation. Diabetes is a major risk factor for improper wound repair, and impaired wound healing is a major complication for more than 26 million people in the US diagnosed with diabetes.

Topical naltrexone accelerates full-thickness wound closure in type 1 diabetic rats by stimulating angiogenesis.

Delays in wound healing often result in infection, chronic ulceration, and possible amputation of extremities. Impaired wound healing is a major complication of the 23 million people in the USA with diabetes, and financial and medical burdens are demanding new treatments for wound healing. Previous studies have demonstrated that topical application of the opioid antagonist naltrexone (NTX) dissolved in moisturizing cream reverses delays in wound closure in rats with streptozotocin-induced type 1 diabetes.

Ocular surface abnormalities related to type 2 diabetes are reversed by the opioid antagonist naltrexone.

Background: Ocular surface complications of type 2 diabetes are associated with reductions in tear production, increased corneal surface sensitivity, and delayed corneal re-epithelialization. This study examined the efficacy of topical application of the opioid antagonist naltrexone (NTX) in reversing these diabetic-related ocular surface complications in mice.

Methods: The genetic db/db mouse model of type 2 diabetes, along with C57Bl/6 wild-type mice were investigated.

Topical treatment with the opioid antagonist naltrexone facilitates closure of full-thickness wounds in diabetic rats.

A major problem associated with diabetes is the complication of chronic non-healing wounds that can lead to the formation of debilitating ulcers, and can progress to more serious problems including amputation. There is no fully effective prevention of these complications, constituting an unmet medical need to understand the pathophysiology and treatment of wound healing in diabetes. This study determined whether blockade of opioid receptors from opioid peptides, known to inhibit cell proliferation and be overexpressed in diabetes, by topical application of the opioid antagonist naltrexone (NTX) reverses delays in wound closure.