Ultrasound-guided minimally invasive thread release of carpal tunnel: a cadaveric study.

Purpose: Thread release of the carpal tunnel is the most recent of several minimally invasive ultrasound-guided carpal tunnel release techniques. The purpose of this article is to provide a step-by-step guide for minimally invasive, ultrasound-guided thread release of the carpal tunnel focused on transecting the transverse carpal ligament with minimal damage to the palmar aponeurosis on anatomical specimens.

Methods: Fifteen ultrasound-guided carpal tunnel thread releases were performed on the wrists of soft-embalmed anatomical specimens, which were dissected immediately after the intervention.

Select terpenes from Cannabis sativa are antinociceptive in mouse models of post-operative pain and fibromyalgia via adenosine A receptors.

Background: Terpenes from Cannabis show promise for pain management. Our lab found that the terpenes geraniol, linalool, β-caryophyllene, and α-humulene relieve chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy via Adenosine A receptors (AR). This suggests terpenes as potential non-opioid, non-cannabinoid therapeutics.

Elucidation on the In Vivo Activity of the Bivalent Opioid Peptide MACE2 against Several Types of Chronic Pain.

Biphalin is a bivalent μ/δ opioid receptor agonist showing a promising therapeutic profile with reduced side effects, but as a peptide is limited by poor metabolic stability and blood-brain barrier penetration. To improve these features, we developed the ligand and showed initial in vivo efficacy. To further explore the druggability of this ligand, in this report, we tested metabolic stability in human plasma, receptor engagement by 3 different routes of administration using the tail-flick test, and efficacy in 2 different pathological and chronic pain models.

What Predicts Gene Flow During Speciation? The Relative Roles of Time, Space, Morphology and Climate.

The processes that restrict gene flow between populations are fundamental to speciation. Here, we develop a simple framework for studying whether divergence in morphology, climatic niche, time and space contribute to reduced gene flow among populations and species. We apply this framework to a model system involving a clade of spiny lizards (Sceloporus) occurring mostly in northeastern Mexico, which show striking variation in morphology and habitat among closely related species and populations.

Attention and Interoception Alter Perceptual and Neural Pain Signatures-A Case Study.

Introduction: Fluctuations of chronic pain levels are determined by a complex interplay of cognitive, emotional and perceptual variables. We introduce a pain tracking platform composed of wearable neurotechnology and a smartphone application to measure and predict chronic pain levels and its interplay with other dimensions of experience.

Methods: Our method measures, dynamically and at home, pain strength, phenomenal and neural time series collected with an online tool and low-density EEG.

Inhibiting spinal cord-specific hsp90 isoforms reveals a novel strategy to improve the therapeutic index of opioid treatment.

Opioids are the gold standard for the treatment of chronic pain but are limited by adverse side effects. In our earlier work, we showed that Heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90) has a crucial role in regulating opioid signaling in spinal cord; Hsp90 inhibition in spinal cord enhances opioid anti-nociception. Building on these findings, we injected the non-selective Hsp90 inhibitor KU-32 by the intrathecal route into male and female CD-1 mice, showing that morphine anti-nociceptive potency was boosted by 1.

Genomic SNPs resolve the phylogeny of an ancient amphibian island radiation from the Seychelles.

Unusually for oceanic islands, the granitic Seychelles host multiple lineages of endemic amphibians. This includes an ancient (likely ca. 60 million years) radiation of eight caecilian species, most of which occur on multiple islands.

Select Minor Cannabinoids from Are Cannabimimetic and Antinociceptive in a Mouse Model of Chronic Neuropathic Pain.

Chronic pain conditions affect nearly 20% of the population in the United States. Current medical interventions, such as opioid drugs, are effective at relieving pain but are accompanied by many undesirable side effects. This is one reason increased numbers of chronic pain patients have been turning to for pain management.

Stress in autism (STREAM): A study protocol on the role of circadian activity, sleep quality and sensory reactivity.

Mental health issues are markedly increased in individuals with autism, making it the number one research priority by stakeholders. There is a crucial need to use personalized approaches to understand the underpinnings of mental illness in autism and consequently, to address individual needs. Based on the risk factors identified in typical mental research, we propose the following themes central to mental health issues in autism: sleep difficulties and stress.

Diversity and Molecular Evolution of Nonvisual Opsin Genes across Environmental, Developmental, and Morphological Adaptations in Frogs.

Nonvisual opsins are transmembrane proteins expressed in the eyes and other tissues of many animals. When paired with a light-sensitive chromophore, nonvisual opsins form photopigments involved in various nonvisual, light-detection functions including circadian rhythm regulation, light-seeking behaviors, and seasonal responses. Here, we investigate the molecular evolution of nonvisual opsin genes in anuran amphibians (frogs and toads).

Ultrasound-guided minimally invasive thread release of Guyon's canal: initial experience in cadaveric specimens.

Objective: Guyon's canal syndrome is caused by compression of the ulnar nerve at the wrist, occasionally requiring decompression surgery. In recent times, minimally invasive approaches have gained popularity. The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy and safety of ultrasound-guided thread release for transecting the palmar ligament in Guyon's canal without harming surrounding structures, in a cadaveric specimen model.

Terpenes from Cannabis sativa induce antinociception in a mouse model of chronic neuropathic pain via activation of adenosine A 2A receptors.

Terpenes are small hydrocarbon compounds that impart aroma and taste to many plants, including Cannabis sativa . A number of studies have shown that terpenes can produce pain relief in various pain states in both humans and animals. However, these studies were methodologically limited and few established mechanisms of action.

Diversity and Evolution of Frog Visual Opsins: Spectral Tuning and Adaptation to Distinct Light Environments.

Visual systems adapt to different light environments through several avenues including optical changes to the eye and neurological changes in how light signals are processed and interpreted. Spectral sensitivity can evolve via changes to visual pigments housed in the retinal photoreceptors through gene duplication and loss, differential and coexpression, and sequence evolution. Frogs provide an excellent, yet understudied, system for visual evolution research due to their diversity of ecologies (including biphasic aquatic-terrestrial life cycles) that we hypothesize imposed different selective pressures leading to adaptive evolution of the visual system, notably the opsins that encode the protein component of the visual pigments responsible for the first step in visual perception.

The bii4africa dataset of faunal and floral population intactness estimates across Africa's major land uses.

Sub-Saharan Africa is under-represented in global biodiversity datasets, particularly regarding the impact of land use on species' population abundances. Drawing on recent advances in expert elicitation to ensure data consistency, 200 experts were convened using a modified-Delphi process to estimate 'intactness scores': the remaining proportion of an 'intact' reference population of a species group in a particular land use, on a scale from 0 (no remaining individuals) to 1 (same abundance as the reference) and, in rare cases, to 2 (populations that thrive in human-modified landscapes). The resulting bii4africa dataset contains intactness scores representing terrestrial vertebrates (tetrapods: ±5,400 amphibians, reptiles, birds, mammals) and vascular plants (±45,000 forbs, graminoids, trees, shrubs) in sub-Saharan Africa across the region's major land uses (urban, cropland, rangeland, plantation, protected, etc.

The Role of Ryanodine Receptor 2 in Drug-Associated Learning.

Type-2 ryanodine receptor (RyR2) ion channels facilitate the release of Ca from stores and serve an important function in neuroplasticity. The role for RyR2 in hippocampal-dependent learning and memory is well established and chronic hyperphosphorylation of RyR2 (RyR2P) is associated with pathological calcium leakage and cognitive disorders, including Alzheimer's disease. By comparison, little is known about the role of RyR2 in the ventral medial prefrontal cortex (vmPFC) circuitry important for working memory, decision making, and reward seeking.

Increases in local skin temperature correlate with spontaneous foot lifting and heat hyperalgesia in both incisional inflammatory models of pain.

Background: This study investigated if a localized increase in skin temperature in rat models of incisional and inflammatory pain correlates with the intensity of spontaneous and evoked pain behaviors.

Methods: Anesthetized rats received either a 20-mm longitudinal incision made through the skin, fascia, and muscle of the plantar hind paw or an injection of complete Freund adjuvant into the plantar hind paw of anesthetized rats to induce local inflammation. Spontaneous and evoked pain behaviors were assessed, and changes in skin temperature were measured using a noncontact infrared thermometer.

Frog phylogeny: A time-calibrated, species-level tree based on hundreds of loci and 5,242 species.

Large-scale, time-calibrated phylogenies from supermatrix studies have become crucial for evolutionary and ecological studies in many groups of organisms. However, in frogs (anuran amphibians), there is a serious problem with existing supermatrix estimates. Specifically, these trees are based on a limited number of loci (15 or fewer), and the higher-level relationships estimated are discordant with recent phylogenomic estimates based on much larger numbers of loci.

Mismatches between phenotype and environment shape fitness at hyperlocal scales.

In the era of human-driven climate change, understanding whether behavioural buffering of temperature change is linked with organismal fitness is essential. According to the 'cost-benefit' model of thermoregulation, animals that live in environments with high frequencies of favourable thermal microclimates should incur lower thermoregulatory costs, thermoregulate more efficiently and shunt the associated savings in time and energy towards other vital tasks such as feeding, territory defence and mate acquisition, increasing fitness. Here, we explore how thermal landscapes at the scale of individual territories, physiological performance and behaviour interact and shape fitness in the southern rock agama lizard ().

Microchromosome fusions underpin convergent evolution of chameleon karyotypes.

Evolutionary shifts in chromosome compositions (karyotypes) are major drivers of lineage and genomic diversification. Fusion of ancestral chromosomes is one hypothesized mechanism for the evolutionary reduction of the total chromosome number, a frequently implied karyotypic shift. Empirical tests of this hypothesis require model systems with variable karyotypes, known chromosome features, and a robust phylogeny.

The chemicals between us-First results of the cluster analyses on anatomy embalming procedures in the German-speaking countries.

Hands-on courses utilizing preserved human tissues for educational training offer an important pathway to acquire basic anatomical knowledge. Owing to the reevaluation of formaldehyde limits by the European Commission, a joint approach was chosen by the German-speaking anatomies in Europe (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) to find commonalities among embalming protocols and infrastructure. A survey comprising 537 items was circulated to all anatomies in German-speaking Europe.