The ABC of tDCS: Effects of Anodal, Bilateral and Cathodal Montages of Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation in Patients with Stroke-A Pilot Study.

Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is a noninvasive technique that is emerging as a prospective therapy for different neurologic disorders. Previous studies have demonstrated that anodal and cathodal stimulation can improve motor performance in terms of dexterity and manual force. The objective of this study was to determine whether different electrodes' setups (anodal, cathodal, and simultaneous bilateral tDCS) provide different motor performance and which montage was more effective. As secondary outcome, we have asked to the patients about their satisfaction, and to determine if the bilateral tDCS was more uncomfortable than unilateral tDCS. Nine patients with stroke in subacute phase were enrolled in this study and randomly divided in three groups. Our results showed that tDCS was an effective treatment if compared to Sham stimulation (P = 0.022). In particular, anodal stimulation provided the higher improvement in terms of manual dexterity. Cathodal stimulation seemed to have a little effect in terms of force improvement, not observed with other setups. Bipolar stimulation seemed to be the less effective. No significant differences have been noted for the different set-ups for patients' judgment. These results highlight the potential efficacy of tDCS for patients with stroke in subacute phase.

Role of bacterial endotoxins of intestinal origin in rat heat stress mortality.

Using unanesthetized rats, the effect on heat stress mortality of endotoxin tolerance or zymosan treatment was determined. In addition, the incidence of invasion by gram-negative bacteria and their endotoxins was studied to evaluate the role of gut-derived bacterial endotoxins after heat stress. Endotoxin tolerance resulted in heat stress resistance. The estimated mean total thermal area, which induced an LD50 in endotoxin-tolerant rats (61.85 degrees C . min) was significantly greater (P less than 0.001) than that for non-tolerant rats (44.03 degrees C . min). Rats were significantly (P less than 0.005) more sensitive to endotoxin after zymosan treatment, but this treatment did not alter the heat stress mortality rate. The Limulus amoebocyte lysate test indicated that endotoxemia did not occur as a result of heat stress. Though a significantly increased incidence of high gram-negative bacterial count in the duodenum was noted, extraintestinal invasion was not found. It was concluded that resistance to heat stress may not be due to protection from gut-derived bacterial endotoxins, but resistance may possibly be associated with the ability of endotoxin tolerance to protect from shock syndromes. Thus bacterial endotoxins of intestinal origin did not appear to have a significant role in rat heat stress mortality.