Gender Equality in Diastasis Rectus Abdominis in Chronic Back Pain: A Model of M. Transversus Abdominis Motor Control Impairment.

Diastasis rectus abdominis (DRA) is defined as an increased distance between the left and right muscle of the m. rectus abdominis. Pregnancy-related factors are assumed to be dominant factors in the occurrence of DRA.

Anterior and posterior rectus abdominis sheath stiffness in relation to diastasis recti: Abdominal wall training or not?

Introduction: This study explores the anatomical relation of the rectus abdominis muscles with the anterior and posterior rectus sheaths. The elastic behavior of these fascial sheets is also assessed. Both of these analyses form an anatomic-biomechanical basis for diagnosis and treatment, especially in relation to diastasis recti abdominis (DRA).

Prognosis and course of work-participation in patients with chronic non-specific low back pain: a 12-month follow-up cohort study.

Objective: To investigate the clinical course of, and prognostic factors for, work-participation in patients with chronic non-specific low back pain.

Methods: A total of 1,608 patients with chronic non-specific low back pain received a multidisciplinary therapy and were evaluated at baseline and 2-, 5- and 12-month follow-ups. Recovery was defined as absolute recovery if the patient worked 90% of his contract hours at follow-up.

Prognosis and course of pain in patients with chronic non-specific low back pain: A 1-year follow-up cohort study.

Background: It remains unclear to what extent patients recover from chronic non-specific low back pain (NSLBP). The objective of this study was to determine (1) the course of chronic NSLBP in tertiary care and (2) which factors predicted 5- and 12-month outcomes.

Methods: This prospective study includes 1760 chronic NSLBP patients from a rehabilitation clinic (mean age 40.

Prognostic factors and course for successful clinical outcome quality of life and patients' perceived effect after a cognitive behavior therapy for chronic non-specific low back pain: A 12-months prospective study.

This study investigates the clinical course of and prognostic factors for quality of life (Short Form 36 items Health survey (SF-36)) and global perceived effect (GPE) in patients treated for chronic non-specific low back pain at 5 and 12-months follow-up. Data from a prospective cohort (n = 1760) of a rehabilitation center were used, where patients followed a 2-months cognitive behavior treatment. The outcome 'improvement in quality of life (SF-36)' was defined as a 10% increase in score on the SF-36 at follow-up compared with baseline.

Ectopic calcification in β-thalassemia patients is associated with increased oxidative stress and lower MGP carboxylation.

A number of beta-thalassemia (β-thal) patients in the course of the disease exhibit ectopic calcification affecting skin, eyes and the cardiovascular system. Clinical and histopathological features have been described similar to those in pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE), although different genes are affected in the two diseases. Cultured dermal fibroblasts from β-thal patients with and without PXE-like clinical manifestations have been compared for parameters of redox balance and for the expression of proteins, which have been already associated with the pathologic mineralisation of soft connective tissues.

Prognosis and course of disability in patients with chronic nonspecific low back pain: a 5- and 12-month follow-up cohort study.

Background: Few data are available on the course of and predictors for disability in patients with chronic nonspecific low back pain (CNSLBP).

Objective: The purpose of this study was to describe the course of disability and identify clinically important prognostic factors of low-back-pain-specific disability in patients with CNSLBP receiving multidisciplinary therapy.

Design: A prospective cohort study was conducted.

Fibroblast involvement in soft connective tissue calcification.

Soft connective tissue calcification is not a passive process, but the consequence of metabolic changes of local mesenchymal cells that, depending on both genetic and environmental factors, alter the balance between pro- and anti-calcifying pathways. While the role of smooth muscle cells and pericytes in ectopic calcifications has been widely investigated, the involvement of fibroblasts is still elusive. Fibroblasts isolated from the dermis of pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE) patients and of patients exhibiting PXE-like clinical and histopathological findings offer an attractive model to investigate the mechanisms leading to the precipitation of mineral deposits within elastic fibers and to explore the influence of the genetic background and of the extracellular environment on fibroblast-associated calcifications, thus improving the knowledge on the role of mesenchymal cells on pathologic mineralization.

Electron microscope study on a transmissible cytotoxic factor isolated from cerebrospinal fluid of neurological patients: analysis of its structure and of its effects on various types of cell cultures.

Aims: In previous studies, the present group showed that a factor, present in the cerebrospinal fluid of seven neuro-patients, was capable of inducing cell damages on cell cultures of epithelial cells (Vero), glial cells (DG54-MG) and human primary lymphocytes. The cytotoxicity, once induced, could be transmitted to fresh cell cultures using crude preparations obtained from the cytotoxic cell cultures.

Methods And Results: The present electron microscope study describes in detail the pathological changes occurring in the previously assayed cultured cell types, and for the first time in human fibroblasts, as a consequence of the treatment with crude cytotoxic preparation.

Course and prognosis of recovery for chronic non-specific low back pain: design, therapy program and baseline data of a prospective cohort study.

Background: There has been increasing focus on factors predicting the development of chronic musculoskeletal disorders. For patients already experiencing chronic non-specific low back pain it is also relevant to investigate which prognostic factors predict recovery. We present the design of a cohort study that aims to determine the course and prognostic factors for recovery in patients with chronic non-specific low back pain.

Pseudoxanthoma elasticum and familial hypercholesterolemia: a deleterious combination of cardiovascular risk factors.

Background And Objective: Pseudoxanthoma Elasticum (PXE), an autosomal recessive disease due to mutations in ABCC6 gene, is characterised by fragmentation of elastic fibres with involvement of the cardiovascular system. We investigated a 60-year-old female with angina pectoris found to have PXE, associated with elevated plasma LDL-C suspected to be due to autosomal-co-dominant hypercholesterolemia.

Methods: ABCC6, LDLR, PCSK9 and exon 26 of APOB genes were re-sequenced.

Fibroblast protein profile analysis highlights the role of oxidative stress and vitamin K recycling in the pathogenesis of pseudoxanthoma elasticum.

Pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE) is a genetic disorder associated to mutations in the ABCC6 gene; however, the pathogenetic mechanisms leading to elastic fibre calcifications and to clinical manifestations are still unknown. Dermal fibroblasts, directly involved in the production of the extracellular milieu, have been isolated from healthy subjects and from patients affected by PXE, cultured in vitro and characterized for their ability to produce reactive oxygen species, for structural and functional properties of their cell membranes, for changes in their protein profile. Data demonstrate that oxidative stress has profound and endurable consequences on PXE fibroblast phenotype being responsible for: reduced levels of global DNA methylation, increased amount of carbonylated proteins and of lipid peroxidation products, altered structural properties of cell membranes, modified protein expression.

Differences in standing and forward bending in women with chronic low back or pelvic girdle pain: indications for physical compensation strategies.

Study Design: This cohort study compares motion characteristics during forward bending of a group of chronic female patients either with low back pain (LBP) or pelvic girdle pain (PGP) and healthy subjects using computer-video analysis.

Objective: This study determines whether subcategories of back pain patients could be distinguished by motion characteristics of the pelvis and lumbar spine.

Summary Of Background Data: Compared with healthy subjects, patients with low back pain bend forward in distinct manners.

Physical characteristics of women with severe pelvic girdle pain after pregnancy: a descriptive cohort study.

Study Design: Descriptive cohort study.

Objective: This study aims to further elucidate the differences in physical characteristics of women with severe pregnancy-related pelvic girdle pain (PGP).

Summary Of Background Data: There is increasing interest in pelvic girdle pain (PGP).

Matrix Gla protein is involved in elastic fiber calcification in the dermis of pseudoxanthoma elasticum patients.

Mature MGP (Matrix gamma-carboxyglutamic acid protein) is known to inhibit soft connective tissues calcification. We investigated its possible involvement in pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE), a genetic disorder whose clinical manifestations are due to mineralization of elastic fibers. PXE patients have lower serum concentration of total MGP compared to controls (P<0.

Identification of mineralized elastic fibers on wet samples by SEM.

A method is described that could be of potential use for the rapid ultrastructural identification of abnormal and fragmented elastic fibers in very small wet samples of dermal biopsies from patients affected by Pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE). Moreover, the method, which consists of the use of sealed capsules transparent to electrons, allows the rapid and accurate localization and detection of mineralized areas in PXE patients and of their ion composition by X-ray microanalysis. This methodology could be of great help in any tissue disorder, especially in connective tissue disorders, characterized by structural alterations associated with ion precipitation.

Supramolecular amyloid-like assembly of the polypeptide sequence coded by exon 30 of human tropoelastin.

Elastin is known to self-aggregate in twisted-rope filaments. However, an ultrastructural organization different from the fibrils typical of elastin, but rather similar to those shown by amyloid networks, is shown by the polypeptide sequence encoded by exon 30 of human tropoelastin. To better understand the molecular properties of this sequence to give amyloid fibers, we used CD, NMR, and FTIR (Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy) to identify the structural characteristics of the peptide.

The effect on rat thymocytes of the simultaneous in vivo exposure to 50-Hz electric and magnetic field and to continuous light.

Thymus plays an important role in the immune system and can be modulated by numerous environmental factors, including electromagnetic fields (EMF). The present study has been undertaken with the aim to investigate the role of long-term exposure to extremely low frequency electric and magnetic fields (ELF-EMF) on thymocytes of rats housed in a regular dark/light cycle or under continuous light. Male Sprague-Dawley rats, 2 months old, were exposed or sham exposed for 8 months to 50-Hz sinusoidal EMF at two levels of field strength (1 kV/m, 5 microT and 5 kV/m, 100 microT, respectively).

ABCC6 mutations in Italian families affected by pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE).

Pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE) is a genetic disorder, characterized by cutaneous, ocular and cardiovascular clinical symptoms, caused by mutations in a gene (ABCC6) that encodes for MRP6 (Multidrug Resistance associated Protein 6), an ATP-binding cassette membrane transporter. The ABCC6 gene was sequenced in 38 unrelated PXE Italian families. The mutation detection rate was 82.

Extracutaneous ultrastructural alterations in pseudoxanthoma elasticum.

Pseudoxanthoma elasticum (PXE) is caused by mutations in the ABCC6 gene, encoding for the membrane transporter MRP6, whose physiological role is still unknown. PXE is characterized by skin, eye, and cardiovascular alterations mainly due to mineralization of elastic fibers. The ultrastructural alterations of a large number of tissues obtained at autopsy from 2 PXE patients were analyzed and compared to clarify the involvement of the various organs in PXE and to identify cell types responsible for clinical manifestations.

Normal human dermal fibroblasts: proteomic analysis of cell layer and culture medium.

Proteins present within the cell layer and those released in the cell medium from in vitro cultured normal human dermal fibroblasts were separated and characterized in terms of their isoelectric point and molecular weight, by two-dimensional (2-D) gel electrophoresis. All spots in the synthetic gel were firstly analyzed by the Melanie 3 software and compared with those of breast cancer cells, colorectal epithelial cells, HL60, lymphoma cells, and platelets, already available on-line. From the identification of 144 spots from both the cell layer and the medium, we were able to recognize 89 different proteins, since a certain number of spots represented different isoforms of the same molecule.

Reliability and validity of hip adduction strength to measure disease severity in posterior pelvic pain since pregnancy.

Study Design: A cross-sectional analysis was performed in patients with posterior pelvic pain since pregnancy (PPPP). The strength of adduction of the hips was measured and compared with the scores of commonly used disease severity measures of lumbopelvic pain.

Objectives: To assess the reliability and validity of using hip adduction strength as measure of disease severity in patients with PPPP.

Responsiveness of outcome measurements in rehabilitation of patients with posterior pelvic pain since pregnancy.

Study Design: A cohort study was conducted.

Objective: To develop a test battery for evaluating the course of posterior pelvic pain since pregnancy.

Summary Of Background Data: Properly validated scales to evaluate the course of posterior pelvic pain since pregnancy are scarce.

Cell death in the rat thymus: a minireview.

During the last decades, the literature has clearly established the fundamental role of the thymus in the development of an effective immune system. During thymocyte development and maturation, potentially autoreactive thymocytes are eliminated by a process known as apoptosis or programmed cell death responsible for the negative selection occurring within the thymus. This process is in sharp contrast to other types of cell death referred to as necrosis.