Articles: cations.
-
Rheumatic diseases are often associated to debilitating chronic pain, which remains difficult to treat and requires new therapeutic strategies. We had previously identified lysophosphatidylcholine (LPC) in the synovial fluids from few patients and shown its effect as a positive modulator of acid-sensing ion channel 3 (ASIC3) able to induce acute cutaneous pain in rodents. However, the possible involvement of LPC in chronic joint pain remained completely unknown. ⋯ Intra-articular injections of LPC16:0 is a triggering factor of chronic joint pain in both male and female mice, ultimately leading to persistent pain and anxiety-like behaviors. All these effects are dependent on ASIC3 channels, which drive sufficient peripheral inputs to generate spinal sensitization processes. This study brings evidences from mouse and human supporting a role for LPC16:0 via ASIC3 channels in chronic pain arising from joints, with potential implications for pain management in osteoarthritis and possibly across other rheumatic diseases.
-
Anesthesia and analgesia · Oct 2022
Biography Historical ArticleThomas Drysdale Buchanan, MD, and the Birth of Academic Anesthesiology.
Thomas Drysdale Buchanan, MD (1876-1940), founding president of the American Board of Anesthesiology, was the first person in the United States to hold the title "Professor of Anesthesiology" in a medical school faculty position dedicated exclusively to the specialty. An 1897 graduate of New York Medical College, Dr Buchanan joined the faculty of his alma mater in 1902 in response to demands by medical students and recent graduates for a dedicated instructor in anesthesia. Within a decade, the instructorship had become a professorship, and Dr Buchanan was on his way to distinction as one of the founders of academic anesthesiology. This chapter in Dr Buchanan's early career illustrates how anesthesiology took shape as a distinct body of knowledge during the formative decades of modern medical education at the turn of the century, laying the groundwork for its recognition 30 years later as a specialty in its own right.
-
Obesity is a major risk factor for the development of asthma, and the prevalence of obesity is higher in people with asthma than in the general population. Obese people often have severe asthma-recent studies in the United States suggest that 60% of adults with severe asthma are obese. Multiple mechanisms link obesity and asthma, which are discussed in this article, and these pathways contribute to different phenotypes of asthma among people with obesity. ⋯ Obesity also affects response to asthma medications and is associated with an increased risk of co-morbidities such as gastroesophageal reflux disease, depression, and obstructive sleep apnea, all of which may affect asthma control. Obese people may be at elevated risk of exacerbations related to increased risk of severe disease in response to viral infections. Interventions that target improved dietary quality, exercise, and weight loss are likely to be particularly helpful for this patient population.
-
Intraoperative molecular imaging (IMI) using tumor-targeted optical contrast agents can improve cancer resections. The optimal wavelength of the IMI tracer fluorophore has never been studied in humans and has major implications for the field. To address this question, we investigated 2 spectroscopically distinct fluorophores conjugated to the same targeting ligand. ⋯ Long-wavelength near-infrared fluorophores are superior to short-wavelength IMI fluorophores in human tissues. Therefore, future efforts in all human cancers should likely focus on long-wavelength agents.
-
Both gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy can induce diabetes remission. However, deciding which procedure to perform is challenging, because remission rates and morbidity can vary, depending on patient factors as well as disease severity. ⋯ Patients requiring insulin experience higher rates of insulin discontinuation after gastric bypass, but also have significantly higher complication rates when compared to sleeve gastrectomy. However, if patients are on oral diabetic medication alone, rates of medication discontinuation at 1 year are greater than 85% and procedure type is not predictive. Disease severity is an important factor when deciding on the optimal procedure for diabetes.