Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin serum level: A potential noninvasive biomarker of endometriosis?

Neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL, also known as lipocalin-2) is an acute-phase protein expressed in many tissues and plays a role in cell proliferation, regulation, and epithelial-mesenchymal transformation. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate serum NGAL levels and endometrioma tissue expression in women with endometriosis. This cross-sectional study was conducted at a university hospital.

The role of ERK-1 and ERK-2 gene polymorphisms in PCOS pathogenesis.

Background: Ovulation is regulated by extracellular signal-regulated kinase-1 (ERK-1) and ERK-2 signaling mechanisms, and ERK-1/2 kinases modulates the function of most of the LH-regulated genes. Defective ERK kinase signaling that is secondary to a genetic problem contributes to both ovulatory dysfunction and metabolic problems in polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS). We planned to investigate ERK-1 and ERK-2 gene polymorphisms in PCOS for the first time in the Turkish population.

Endotrophin as a novel marker in PCOS and its relation with other adipokines and metabolic parameters: a pilot study.

Background: Polycystic ovary syndrome is known to be the most common hormonal disorder in women of reproductive age. Current evidence shows that regulatory proteins secreted from the adipose tissue called adipokines may have a role in polycystic ovary syndrome. We planned to investigate the role of endotrophin that has never been researched in polycystic ovary syndrome before and its correlation with other metabolic parameters and adipokines such as adiponectin and ghrelin in patients with polycystic ovary syndrome.

Transcutaneous trigeminal nerve stimulation induces a long-term depression-like plasticity of the human blink reflex.

The beneficial effects of trigeminal nerve stimulation (TNS) on several neurological disorders are increasingly acknowledged. Hypothesized mechanisms include the modulation of excitability in networks involved by the disease, and its main site of action has been recently reported at brain stem level. Aim of this work was to test whether acute TNS modulates brain stem plasticity using the blink reflex (BR) as a model.

Trigeminal nerve stimulation modulates brainstem more than cortical excitability in healthy humans.

Multiple sites in the central nervous system (CNS) have been hypothesized to explain the beneficial effects of transcutaneous trigeminal nerve stimulation (TNS) on several disorders. This work investigated the acute effects of TNS on the excitability of brainstem and intracortical circuits, as well as on sensorimotor integration processes at cortical level in physiological conditions. Brainstem excitability was evaluated in seventeen healthy subjects measuring the R1 and R2 areas of the blink reflex (BR) and its recovery cycle, with cortical excitability and sensorimotor integration assessed by probing short-interval (SICI) and long-interval (LICI) intracortical inhibition, with short-interval (SICF), intracortical facilitation (ICF), short-latency (SAI) and long-latency (LAI) inhibition measuring motor potentials evoked in the first dorsal interosseous muscle by TMS of the contralateral motor cortex.

A comprehensive assessment of the cross-training effect in ankle dorsiflexors of healthy subjects: A randomized controlled study.

Purpose: To investigate the cross-training effect, induced on ankle dorsiflexors (AD) by unilateral strength-training of the contralateral muscles, as transfer of peak torque (PT) and muscle work (MW) and their relative contributions to muscle performance.

Methods: Thirty healthy volunteers were randomly assigned to a training or control group. The trained group sustained a 4-week maximal isokinetic training of the stronger AD at 90 and 45°/s.

Paired neurophysiological and clinical study of the brainstem at different stages of Parkinson's Disease.

Objective: To study brainstem function in Parkinson's Disease (PD) at different stages, through a battery of vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials (VEMPs) and compare the results with scores on clinical scales assessing the presence of symptoms linked to brainstem involvement.

Methods: Cervical, masseter and ocular VEMPs were recorded in patients with early PD (n=14, disease duration 1.42±0.

Abnormalities of vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials in idiopathic Parkinson's disease are associated with clinical evidence of brainstem involvement.

Brainstem degeneration in Parkinson's disease (PD) may explain the occurrence of many non-motor symptoms in this condition. Purposes of the present work were to investigate brainstem function in PD through a battery of vestibular-evoked myogenic potentials (VEMP) allowing a comprehensive brainstem exploration and to correlate VEMP findings with symptoms related to brainstem involvement. Cervical (cVEMP), masseter (mVEMP) and ocular (oVEMP) VEMPs were investigated in 24 PD patients and compared with those recorded in 24 age-matched controls.

Exploring brainstem function in multiple sclerosis by combining brainstem reflexes, evoked potentials, clinical and MRI investigations.

Objective: To investigate vestibulo-masseteric (VMR), acoustic-masseteric (AMR), vestibulo-collic (VCR) and trigemino-collic (TCR) reflexes in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS); to relate abnormalities of brainstem reflexes (BSRs) to multimodal evoked potentials (EPs), clinical and Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) findings.

Methods: Click-evoked VMR, AMR and VCR were recorded from active masseter and sternocleidomastoid muscles, respectively; TCR was recorded from active sternocleidomastoid muscles, following electrical stimulation of the infraorbital nerve. EPs and MRI were performed with standard techniques.

Ultrasound and laser as stand-alone therapies for myofascial trigger points: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study.

Background And Purpose: Ultrasound (US) and low-level laser therapy (LLLT) are commonly employed for myofascial trigger points (MTP) despite lack of evidence for usage as stand-alone treatments. The aim of the study was to determine, on MTP of the upper trapezius muscle (uTM), the effects of US and LLLT per se, as delivered in accordance with the procedures reported by surveys about their usage among physiotherapists.

Methods: Design was set as a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled study.

Intracortical circuits, sensorimotor integration and plasticity in human motor cortical projections to muscles of the lower face.

Previous studies of the cortical control of human facial muscles documented the distribution of corticobulbar projections and the presence of intracortical inhibitory and facilitatory mechanisms. Yet surprisingly, given the importance and precision in control of facial expression, there have been no studies of the afferent modulation of corticobulbar excitability or of the plasticity of synaptic connections in the facial primary motor cortex (face M1). In 25 healthy volunteers, we used standard single- and paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) methods to probe motor-evoked potentials (MEPs), short-intracortical inhibition, intracortical facilitation, short-afferent and long-afferent inhibition and paired associative stimulation in relaxed and active depressor anguli oris muscles.

Reflex responses of masseter muscles to sound.

Acoustic stimuli can evoke reflex EMG responses (acoustic jaw reflex) in the masseter muscle. Although these were previously ascribed to activation of cochlear receptors, high intensity sound can also activate vestibular receptors. Since anatomical and physiological studies, both in animals and humans, have shown that masseter muscles are a target for vestibular inputs we have recently reassessed the vestibular contribution to masseter reflexes.

Effects of volitional contraction on intracortical inhibition and facilitation in the human motor cortex.

Short-interval intracortical inhibition (SICI), intracortical facilitation (ICF) and short-interval intracortical facilitation (SICF) were assessed in the cortical motor area of the first dorsal interosseous muscle (FDI) of 16 healthy subjects. Paired-pulse TMS was delivered to the left hemisphere at the following interstimulus intervals (ISIs): 2 and 3 ms for SICI, 10 and 15 ms for ICF and 1-5 ms for SICF. Motor-evoked potentials were recorded from the resting and active right FDI.

Intracortical modulation of cortical-bulbar responses for the masseter muscle.

Short interval intracortical inhibition (SICI) and intracortical facilitation (ICF) were evaluated in the masseter muscles of 12 subjects and the cortical silent period (SP) in nine subjects. Motor evoked potentials (MEPs) were recorded from contralateral (cMM) and ipsilateral (iMM) masseters, activated at 10% of maximal voluntary contraction (MVC). Interstimulus intervals (ISIs) were 2 and 3 ms for SICI, 10 and 15 ms for ICF.

Origin of sound-evoked EMG responses in human masseter muscles.

Sound is a natural stimulus for both cochlear and saccular receptors. At high intensities it evokes in active masseter muscles of healthy subjects two overlapping reflexes: p11/n15 and p16/n21 waves, whose origin has not yet been demonstrated. Our purpose was to test which receptor in the inner ear is responsible for these reflexes.

A monosynaptic pathway links the vestibular nuclei and masseter muscle motoneurons in rats.

Physiological evidence indicates that vestibular signals modulate the activity of motoneurons innervating the masseter muscle. Recently, experiments using transynaptic retrograde transport of pseudorabies virus provided anatomical evidence that many neurons concentrated in the dorsomedial part of the parvicellular division of the medial vestibular nucleus (MVePC) and the caudal prepositus hypoglossi (PH) provide inputs to motoneurons innervating the lower third of the superficial layer of the masseter muscle. However, it was not clear whether this vestibulo-trigeminal projection was monosynaptic or polysynaptic.

Transneuronal tracing of vestibulo-trigeminal pathways innervating the masseter muscle in the rat.

Previous studies reported that the activity of trigeminal motoneurons innervating masseter muscles is modulated by vestibular inputs. We performed the present study to provide an anatomical substrate for these physiological observations. The transynaptic retrograde tracer pseudorabies virus-Bartha was injected into multiple sites of the lower third of the superficial layer of the masseter muscle in rats, a subset of which underwent a sympathectomy prior to virus injections, and the animals were euthanized 24-120 h later.

A sound-evoked vestibulomasseteric reflex in healthy humans.

Averaged responses to loud clicks were recorded in the unrectified and rectified masseter electromyogram (EMG) of 18 healthy subjects. Unilateral clicks (0.1 ms, 3 Hz, 70-100 dB NHL), delivered during a steady masseter contraction, evoked bilateral responses that appeared to consist of 2 components on the basis of threshold, latency, and their appearance in rectified EMG.

Nitric oxide increases the spontaneous firing rate of rat medial vestibular nucleus neurons in vitro via a cyclic GMP-mediated PKG-independent mechanism.

The effects of nitric oxide (NO) on the discharge rate of medial vestibular nucleus neurons (MVNn) were investigated in rat brainstem slices. The NO-donor sodium nitroprusside (SNP, 200 microM) caused a marked enhancement (+36.7%) of MVNn spontaneous firing rate, which was prevented by the NO-scavenger, carboxy-PTIO (300 microM).

A short latency vestibulomasseteric reflex evoked by electrical stimulation over the mastoid in healthy humans.

We describe EMG responses recorded in active masseter muscles following unilateral and bilateral electrical vestibular stimulation (EVS, current pulses of 5 mA intensity, 2 ms duration, 3 Hz frequency). Averaged responses in unrectified masseter EMG induced by unilateral EVS were examined in 16 healthy subjects; effects induced by bilateral (transmastoid) stimulation were studied in 10 subjects. Results showed that unilateral as well as bilateral EVS induces bilaterally a clear biphasic response (onset latency ranging from 7.

Melatonin inhibits rat medial vestibular nucleus neuron activity in vitro.

The present study evaluated the effects of melatonin on the discharge rate of tonically active medial vestibular nucleus (MVN) neurons in an in vitro slice preparation of the rat dorsal brainstem. The results demonstrated that, when melatonin was applied to the slice for a period of 7-10 min, a decrease in MVN neuron firing rate was observed in 21/58 (36%) of the cells sampled. The inhibitory effects of melatonin were present in synaptic uncoupling condition and were mimicked by 2-iodomelatonin, a non-selective agonist with high affinity for melatonin membrane receptor subtypes (MT(1), MT(2), MT(3)).

Modulation of masseter exteroceptive suppression by non-nociceptive upper limb afferent activation in humans.

The effects induced by non-noxious electrical stimulation of upper limb nerves on exteroceptive suppression (ES) of masseter muscle EMG activity were studied in 15 healthy subjects. EMG activity of masseter muscles was recorded bilaterally and great care was taken to minimise the activation of afferents other than the stimulated ones. Masseter ES was elicited by applying a non-noxious electrical stimulus to the skin above the mental nerve (Mt) of one side, during a voluntary contraction of masseter muscles at a prescribed steady clenching level.

Non-nociceptive upper limb afferents modulate masseter muscle EMG activity in man.

Recent electrophysiological data obtained in anaesthetized rats evidenced jaw muscle excitatory responses to the electrical stimulation of type II limb somatosensory afferents. In the present work, we describe an inhibitory reflex evoked in human masseter muscles by stimulation of non-nociceptive fibres travelling in the median and radial nerves (MED and RAD, respectively). Eighteen healthy volunteers participated in the study.

Jaw muscle response to stimulation of type II somatosensory afferents of limbs in the rat.

Convergence of various afferent inputs onto brainstem neurones may play an important role in the regulation of trigeminal motor activity. In particular, previous studies suggest that, besides sensory inputs arising from the orofacial region, extratrigeminal information may modulate jaw muscle function. In the present study the actions exerted on masseter and digastric muscles by the activation of somatosensory afferents coming from fore- and hind limbs were examined.

Modulation of rat medial vestibular nucleus neurone activity by vasopressin and noradrenaline in vitro.

In the present study, we examined the effects of bath application of vasopressin and noradrenaline on the spontaneous tonic discharge of medial vestibular nucleus (MVN) neurones and investigated if there is an interaction between the two drugs in an in vitro slice preparation of the rat brainstem containing the MVN. The results showed that vasopressin did not affect the spontaneous discharge rate of MVN neurones when applied either as a 60 s pulse or when the drug continuously perfused the slice for a period of 10 min. In contrast, noradrenaline affected the spontaneous discharge rate of the majority of cells tested (53/60, 88%).