Neutrophils kill invading pathogens by AMPs, including cathelicidins, ROS, and NETs. The human pathogen Staphylococcus aureus exhibits enhanced resistance to neutrophil AMPs, including the murine cathelicidin CRAMP, in part, as a result of alanylation of teichoic acids by the dlt operon. In this study, we took advantage of the hypersusceptible phenotype of S. aureus DeltadltA against cationic A...

Background Muscle cramps affect approximately 1 in 3 people in the general community each year. Many interventions are available for lower limb cramps, but not all are efficacious or supported by evidence. Many treatments are controversial, no treatment guidelines exist, and many people experience no benefit from the interventions prescribed. In clinical trials, no drug treatment for cramps has...

In 1911, Oppenheim coined the term ‘dystonia’ to describe disordered motor control, characterised by an association of hypotonia and tonic muscle spasm. Focal hand dystonia is one form of this disorder, in which symptoms are often task-specific and occur during skilled movements such as writing (writer’s cramp) or playing a musical instrument (musician’s cramp). Much research has been conducted...

Although cramp has been mentioned as a symptom by several writers on the subject of prolapsed intervertebral discs (Bradford and Spurling, 1941; O'Connell, 1943; Lenhard, 1947) no study has hitherto been made of its exact nature, frequency, and relationships. It was not until the routine follow-up of cases of sciatica, which had been treated surgically, was begun that it was noticed that the sy...

BACKGROUND To investigate if the cramp threshold frequency (CTF) can be altered by electrical muscle stimulation in a shortened position. METHODS A total of 15 healthy male sport students were randomly allocated to an intervention (IG, n = 10) and a non-treatment control group (CG, n = 5). Calf muscles of both legs in the IG were stimulated equally twice a week over 6 weeks. The protocol was ...

A rapid contraction of the calf muscles, which can leave an hour discomfort and soreness. Imagine that it happens to elderly people who live alone bare their suffering helplessly. The goal this research is develop a device automatically alleviate pain cramp. This paper describes ongoing development focusing on how minimize power consumption (heat plate placement structure) but providing optimal...

Often considered no more than an historical curiosity, writer's cramp remains an important disability in the workplace and the mechanism, which has puzzled the best medical minds for generations, remains contentious. A remarkable range of hypotheses has been put forward to try and explain a disability which periodically reached epidemic and economically worrying levels, but in the end medical o...