A New Surgical Model of Skeletal Muscle Injuries in Rats Reproduces Human Sports Lesions.

Skeletal muscle injuries are the most common sports-related injuries in sports medicine. In this work, we have generated a new surgically-induced skeletal muscle injury in rats, by using a biopsy needle, which could be easily reproduced and highly mimics skeletal muscle lesions detected in human athletes. By means of histology, immunofluorescence and MRI imaging, we corroborated that our model reproduced the necrosis, inflammation and regeneration processes observed in dystrophic mdx-mice, a model of spontaneous muscle injury, and realistically mimicked the muscle lesions observed in professional athletes. Surgically-injured rat skeletal muscles demonstrated the longitudinal process of muscle regeneration and fibrogenesis as stated by Myosin Heavy Chain developmental (MHCd) and collagen-I protein expression. MRI imaging analysis demonstrated that our muscle injury model reproduces the grade I-II type lesions detected in professional soccer players, including edema around the central tendon and the typically high signal feather shape along muscle fibers. A significant reduction of 30% in maximum tetanus force was also registered after 2 weeks of muscle injury. This new model represents an excellent approach to the study of the mechanisms of muscle injury and repair, and could open new avenues for developing innovative therapeutic approaches to skeletal muscle regeneration in sports medicine.

[Safety in melatonin use]. / Seguridad en el uso de la melatonina.

INTRODUCTION: The interest on melatonin (MLT) as a psychiatric treatment has increased a lot in the last decade. This is mainly due to MLT safety and its lack of serious adverse reactions. The aim of this paper consists of reviewing the adverse effects to MLT consumption in humans. METHOD: A 35-year (1966-2000) bibliographic search using the Medline database was carried out. The intersection of the key word melatonin with the group of words adverse effects or side effects or adverse reactions or toxicity was the strategy of the search. RESULTS: 307 articles were elicited and 9 were related to MLT adverse effects. The range of MLT dose involved in the adverse reactions oscillated between 1 mg and 36 mg. The adverse reactions were: one patient with autoimmune hepatitis, one case of confusion due to MLT overdose, one case of optic neuropathy, four subjects with fragmented sleep, one psychotic episode, one case of nistagmus, four cases of seizures, one case of headache and two cases of skin eruptions. CONCLUSIONS: Attention should be paid on the necessity of enquiring about the drugs that patients are taking, because this product is not harmless for health.

Effect of castration method and the provision of local anesthesia on plasma cortisol, scrotal circumference, growth, and feed intake of bull calves.

To determine the effects of castration of calves, with or without local anesthesia, on plasma cortisol, scrotal circumference, ADG, and ADFI, 56 Friesian bulls (5.5 mo of age; mean +/- SE BW = 173 +/- 2 kg) were randomly assigned to each of seven treatments: 1) control (CON); 2) s.c. injection of .1 mg of a human serum albumin-GnRH conjugate with DEAE-dextran adjuvant (HSA-GnRH); 3) burdizzo castration without local anesthetic (BURD); 4) burdizzo castration following local anesthetic administration (BURD + LA); 5) surgical castration without local anesthetic (SURG); 6) surgical castration following local anesthetic administration (SURG + LA); and 7) local anesthetic administration alone (LAA). Blood samples for cortisol analyses were taken via jugular catheter from -2 to 10 h and at 24, 48, and 72 h relative to treatment. Average daily feed intakes were recorded for 5-d periods and calves weighed at 7-d intervals before and after treatment. Local anesthetic alone had no effect (P > .10) on any variable. The HSA-GnRH calves had elevated (P < .05) plasma cortisol from 2 to 6 h compared with CON calves. Peak plasma cortisol was elevated (P < .01) in BURD, BURD + LA, SURG, and SURG + LA compared with CON calves. The SURG calves (46.0 ng/mL) had higher (P < .03) peak cortisol than BURD (31.4 ng/mL) and SURG + LA (35.4 ng/mL) calves. There was no difference in peak cortisol between BURD and BURD + LA (26.5 ng/mL) calves. The ADG from d 0 to 7 was reduced (P < .05) in calves in BURD + LA, SURG, and SURG + LA treatments (-.01, -.83 and -.24 kg, respectively) compared with CON calves (.54 kg). The ADFI were reduced (P < .05) in BURD and BURD + LA calves during d 1 to 5 and in BURD + LA, SURG, and SURG + LA calves during d 6 to 10 compared with CON calves. The scrotal circumferences of BURD and BURD + LA calves were greater (P < .05) than those of CON calves for 7- and 35-d periods post-castration, respectively. Castration induced increases in cortisol and decreases in ADG and ADFI. Surgical castration induced a greater plasma cortisol response than burdizzo castration, and the administration of local anesthetic reduced the cortisol response of surgical castrates but was less effective for burdizzo castrates.

Structural abnormalities of the brain in schizophrenia: sex differences in the Cantabria First Episode of Schizophrenia Study.

This paper examines structural brain abnormalities, as evaluated by the CT scan, in first episodes of schizophrenia and their association with sociodemographic, diagnostic and clinical variables. The investigation included all patients with a first episode of schizophrenia who, over a 2-year period, made contact with any of the public mental health services of the Autonomous Region of Cantabria in Northern Spain. Diagnostic and clinical characteristics were evaluated through the use of the Spanish version of the Present State Examination (PSE-9) and the Scales for the Assessment of Positive and Negative Symptoms (SANS and SAPS respectively). The study demonstrated the presence of structural brain abnormalities in this sample of first episode schizophrenics. These abnormalities were mainly expressed in the presence of larger VBR for schizophrenic patients than in the controls, these findings being more marked in women than in men. We failed to reveal, however, any evidence of an association of these brain abnormalities with diagnostic or clinical characteristics.

The Cantabria first episode schizophrenia study: a summary of general findings.

This article describes the general findings of the initial cross-sectional stage of a prospective follow-up study of all first episodes of schizophrenia that occurred in the Autonomous Community of Cantabria over a 2-year period and that established contact with any mental health service. The project comprises: i) a 2-year cross-sectional stage, in which the sample was gathered and studied with structured psychiatric instruments such as the Present State Examination and the Scales for the Assessment of Negative and Positive Symptoms (SANS and SAPS), and; ii) a continuous follow-up. We detected, in the risk age ranged of 15-54 years, an incidence of 1.9 per 10,000 inhabitants per year for schizophrenia and of 1.3 per 10,000 inhabitants per year for the S+ CATEGO diagnosis, without any significant gender difference of morbidity. The mean age for the total schizophrenic population was 26 years, being significantly higher in women than in men. In contrast with what happens with marital status, type of household or urban/rural way of life, there was no gender difference in relation to the other sociodemographic variables. The way in which nosological and clinical variables are associated with first episodes of schizophrenia was also examined in this study. We found that 75% of patients reached a maximum CATEGO-ID level, 71% received a S+ CATEGO diagnosis, 59% presented first-rank symptoms of schizophrenia and that the percentage of a schizophrenic negative syndrome, as identified by the SANS and SAPS, was very low.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)