Amplified Vasodilatation within the Referred Pain Zone of Trigger Points Is Characteristic of Gluteal Syndrome-A Type of Nociplastic Pain Mimicking Sciatica.

Gluteal syndrome (GS) mimicking sciatica is a new disease that has been recently recognized and included in the International Classification of Diseases, 11th Revision. The present study examines nociplastic pain involvement in GS and sciatica patients using a new Skorupska protocol (SP) test that provokes amplified vasodilatation in the area of expected muscle-referred pain. A positive test is confirmed if there is (i) a development of autonomic referred pain (AURP) and (ii) an increase in the delta of average temperature (Δ₸°) > 0.3 °C at the end of the stimulation and during the observation SP phases. Chronic GS (n = 20) and sciatica (n = 30) patients were examined. The SP test confirmed muscle-referred pain for (i) all GS patients with 90.6% positive thermograms (Δ₸° 0.6 ± 0.8 °C; maximum AURP 8.9 ± 13.6% (both p < 0.05)) and (ii) those sciatica (n = 8) patients who reported pain sensation during the test with 20.6% positive thermograms (Δ₸° 0.7 ± 0.7 °C; maximum AURP 15.1 ± 17.8% (both p < 0.05)). The remaining sciatica (n = 22) patients did not report pain during the test and presented a Δ₸° decrease and the AURP size below 1%. Conclusion: Amplified vasodilatation suggesting nociplastic pain involvement was confirmed for all GS and sciatica patients who reported painful sensations in the zone typical for gluteus minimus referred pain during the test.

Mining the Royal Jelly Proteins: Combinatorial Hexapeptide Ligand Library Significantly Improves the MS-Based Proteomic Identification in Complex Biological Samples.

Royal jelly (RJ) is a complex, creamy secretion produced by the glands of worker bees. Due to its health-promoting properties, it is used by humans as a dietary supplement. However, RJ compounds are not fully characterized yet. Hence, in this research, we aimed to broaden the knowledge of the proteomic composition of fresh RJ. Water extracts of the samples were pre-treated using combinatorial hexapeptide ligand libraries (ProteoMinerTM kit), trypsin-digested, and analyzed by a nanoLC-MALDI-TOF/TOF MS system. To check the ProteoMinerTM performance in the MS-based protein identification, we also examined RJ extracts that were not prepared with the ProteoMinerTM kit. We identified a total of 86 proteins taxonomically classified to Apis spp. (bees). Among them, 74 proteins were detected in RJ extracts pre-treated with ProteoMinerTM kit, and only 50 proteins were found in extracts non-enriched with this technique. Ten of the identified features were hypothetical proteins whose existence has been predicted, but any experimental evidence proves their in vivo expression. Additionally, we detected four uncharacterized proteins of unknown functions. The results of this research indicate that the ProteoMinerTM strategy improves proteomic identification in complex biological samples. Broadening the knowledge of RJ composition may contribute to the development of standards and regulations, enhancing the quality of RJ, and consequently, the safety of its supplementation.

Skin Resistivity Value of Upper Trapezius Latent Trigger Points.

INTRODUCTION: The skin resistivity (SkR) measurement is commonly recommended for acupoints measurement, but for trigger points (TrPs) only one study is available. The purpose of the study was to evaluate SkR for latent TrPs compared to non-TrPs and the surrounding tissue. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Forty-two healthy volunteers with unilateral latent upper trapezius TrPs (12 men, 30 women) aged 21-23 (mean age: 22.1 ± 0.6 y) participated in the study. Keithley electrometer 610B was used for measuring SkR (Ag/AgCl self-adhesive, disposable ground electrode: 30 mm diameter). SkR was measured for latent TrPs and compared to opposite non-TrPs sites and the surrounding tissue. RESULTS: The SkR decrease of TrPs-positive sites as compared to TrPs-negative sites and the surrounding tissue was confirmed. However, no statistically significant difference in the SkR value occurred when all data were analyzed. The same was confirmed after gender division and for TrPs-positive subjects examined for referred pain and twitch response presence. CONCLUSION: SkR reactive changes at latent TrPs are possible but the results were not consistent with the previous study. Thus, caution in applying SkR to latent TrPs isolation is recommended and its clinical use should not be encouraged yet. Further studies, especially on active TrPs, are yet required.

In vitro evaluation of the effect of tobacco smoke on rat cornea function.

The influence of tobacco smoke on the dielectric properties of rat cornea were measured in vitro over the frequency range of the electric field of 500Hz-100kHz and in temperatures of the air from 25 to 150°C. The temperature dependencies of the loss tangent for both healthy and smoky cornea represent the relation between the energy lost and the energy stored in the epithelium-stromal-endothelium systems of the cornea. The differences between the healthy and the smoky cornea concerned the temperature ranges in which there appeared the decomposition of loosely-bound water and ß-relaxation associated with polar side-chains relaxations on protein molecules of this tissue. The effect of smoke is manifested as a shift of the loss tangent peaks of these two processes towards higher temperatures, when compared with the control. The results are interpreted as caused by the toxic compounds of the tobacco smoke leading to higher ion transport in the nonhomogeneous structure of the cornea when compared to that of the control tissue. The activation energy of conductivity were similar for the healthy and smoky cornea as a consequence of the braking of hydrogen and Van der Waals bonds between loosely bound water, and the proteins of channels in the epithelium and endothelium. Recognition of the effect of frequency and temperature on the dielectric behaviour of the smoky cornea may be of interest for disease characterization of this tissue.