Nerve injury can lead to mechanical hypersensitivity in both humans and animal models, such that innocuous touch produces pain. Recent functional studies have demonstrated a critical role for descending pain-facilitating influences from the rostral ventromedial medulla (RVM) in neuropathic pain, but the underlying mechanisms and properties of the relevant neurons within the RVM are essentially ...

Neuropathic pain is a chronic debilitating disease that results from nerve damage, persists long after the injury has subsided, and is characterized by spontaneous pain and mechanical hypersensitivity. Although loss of inhibitory tone in the dorsal horn of the spinal cord is a major contributor to neuropathic pain, the molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying this disinhibition are unclear....

BACKGROUND Mechanical ventilation with high tidal volumes aggravates lung injury in patients with acute lung injury or acute respiratory distress syndrome. The authors sought to determine the effects of short-term mechanical ventilation on local inflammatory responses in patients without preexisting lung injury. METHODS Patients scheduled to undergo an elective surgical procedure (lasting > o...

Patients with cervical spinal cord injury frequently need prolonged mechanical ventilation as a result of worsening pulmonary vital capacity due to paralysis of respiratory muscles, severe impairment of tracheobronchial secretions clearance and high incidence of respiratory complications like pneumonia or atelectasis. Patients with thoracic spinal cord injury may need mechanical ventilation due...

Spinal Cord injury is a disabling condition which affects the respiratory system. The most affected neurological level cervical spine. Many patients with spinal cord are unable to sustain independent ventilation and require mechanical ventilation. Long term use of associated poor quality life, increased morbidity, mortality. In intact phrenic nerve, diaphragmatic pacing can be used help wean of...

Insect herbivory has variable consequences on plant physiology, growth, and reproduction. In some plants, herbivory reduces photosynthetic rate (Pn) activity on remaining tissue of injured leaves. We sought to better understand the influence of leaf injury on Pn of common milkweed, Asclepias syriaca (Asclepiadaceae), leaves. Initially, we tested whether Pn reductions occurred after insect herbi...

Mechanical ventilation is a life-saving intervention in patients with respiratory failure. However, human and animal studies have demonstrated that mechanical ventilation using large tidal volumes (>or=12 ml/kg) induces a potent inflammatory response and can cause acute lung injury. We hypothesized that mechanical ventilation with a "noninjurious" tidal volume of 10 ml/kg would still activate a...

Blast induced traumatic brain injury (bTBI) is a serious concern for military personnel exposed to primary blast. Computational models and imaging diagnostics are useful tools that are commonly used to study mechanical response of the brain during trauma, but rely on information about the mechanical property changes due to injury. In this study, thirty adult, male Sprague-Dawley rats were expos...

OBJECTIVE To review the various challenges of providing mechanical ventilation to pediatric patients with diseases of increased airway resistance, diseases of abnormal lung compliance or normal lungs. SOURCES Original data from our pediatric intensive care unit and animal research laboratory. Relevant articles included in the MEDLINE electronic database during the last 10 years. Also included...

Stress urinary incontinence (SUI) is a common hygienic problem affecting the quality of women's life worldwide. In this research, we revealed the involvement and regulation of extracellular matrix (ECM) remodeling, oxidative damage, and TGF-β1 signaling in the pathological mechanisms of mechanical trauma-induced SUI. We found that excessive mechanical strain significantly increased apoptosis ra...