Myofascial pain syndrome associated with trigger points: A literature review. (I): Epidemiology, clinical treatment and etiopathogeny

Over the last few decades, advances have been made in the understanding of myofascial pain syndrome epidemiology, clinical characteristics and aetiopathogenesis, but many unknowns remain. An integrated hypothesis has provided a greater understanding of the physiopathology of trigger points, which may allow the development of new diagnostic, and above all, therapeutic methods, as well as the establishment of prevention policies and protocols by the health profession. Nevertheless, randomized studies are needed to provide a better understanding and detection of the different factors involved in the origin of trigger points.

Modeling the Emergence of Social Structure from a Phylogenetic Point of View

Based on provious (Hemelrijk 1998; Puga-González, Hildenbrant & Hemelrijk 2009), we have developed an agent-based model and software, called A-KinGDom, which allows us to simulate the emergence of the social structure in a group of non-human primates. The model includes dominance and affiliative interactions and incorporate s two main innovations (preliminary dominance interactions and a kinship factor), which allow us to define four different attack and affiliative strategies. In accordance with these strategies, we compared the data obtained under four simulation conditions with the results obtained in a provious study (Dolado & Beltran 2012) involving empirical observations of a captive group of mangabeys (Cercocebus torquatus)

Short communication. Persistence of point crop yield subjective estimates

En este trabajo se investiga la persistencia de las estimaciones puntuales subjetivas de rendimientos en cultivos anua- les realizadas por un amplio grupo de agricultores. La persistencia en el tiempo es una condición necesaria para la co- herencia y la confiabilidad de las estimaciones subjetivas de variables aleatorias. Los sujetos entrevistados estimaron valores puntuales de rendimientos de cultivos anuales (rendimientos medio, mayor, mínimo y más frecuente). Se han encontrado diferencias relativas poco importantes en todas las variables, excepto en los rendimientos mínimos, donde existe una alta dispersión. Los resultados son interesantes para estimar la adecuación de las técnicas de estimación de probabilidades subjetivas para ser utilizadas en los sistemas de ayuda en la toma de decisiones en agricultura.

End point of Hawking radiation

The formation and semiclassical evaporation of two-dimensional black holes is studied in an exactly solvable model. Above a certain threshold energy flux, collapsing matter forms a singularity inside an apparent horizon. As the black hole evaporates the apparent horizon recedes and meets the singularity in a finite proper time. The singularity emerges naked, and future evolution of the geometry requires boundary conditions to be imposed there. There is a natural choice of boundary conditions which matches the evaporated black hole solution onto the linear dilaton vacuum. Below the threshold energy flux no horizon forms and boundary conditions can be imposed where infalling matter is reflected from a timelike boundary. All information is recovered at spatial infinity in this case.

Protein interaction studies point to new functions for Escherichia coli glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase

Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) is considered a multifunctional protein with defined functions in numerous mammalian cellular processes. GAPDH functional diversity depends on various factors such as covalent modifications, subcellular localization, oligomeric state and intracellular concentration of substrates or ligands, as well as protein-protein interactions. In bacteria, alternative GAPDH functions have been associated with its extracellular location in pathogens or probiotics. In this study, new intracellular functions of E. coli GAPDH were investigated following a proteomic approach aimed at identifying interacting partners using in vivo formaldehyde cross-linking followed by mass spectrometry. The identified proteins were involved in metabolic processes, protein synthesis and folding or DNA repair. Some interacting proteins were also identified in immunopurification experiments in the absence of cross-linking. Pull-down experiments and overlay immunoblotting were performed to further characterize the interaction with phosphoglycolate phosphatase (Gph). This enzyme is involved in the metabolism of 2-phosphoglycolate formed in the DNA repair of 3"-phosphoglycolate ends generated by bleomycin damage. We show that interaction between Gph and GAPDH increases in cells challenged with bleomycin, suggesting involvement of GAPDH in cellular processes linked to DNA repair mechanisms.

Myofascial pain associated to trigger points: A literature review. Part 2: Differential diagnosis and treatment

During the last decades the advance in knowledge of myofascial pain has been constant in the medical and dental community. However, although several aspects have been clarified in relation to its epidemiology, clinical characteristics and etiopathogenesis, many uncertainties remain. Many clinical conditions are included in the differential diagnosis of myofascial pain associated to trigger points. A good anamnesis and clinical exploration is thus required in order to ensure correct diagnosis and treatment. Among the numerous treatments used in application to trigger points, the spray-and-stretch technique and direct injection targeted to such trigger points have been found to be the most effective options. In chronic cases, psychosocial intervention is required, due to the high incidence of mood disorders and/or anxiety observed in these patients, who in turn present a poorer prognosis. This underscores the importance of early diagnosis and treatment.

Developmental expression of the oligodendrocyte myelin glycoprotein in the mouse telencephalon

The oligodendrocyte myelin glycoprotein is a glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored protein expressed by neurons and oligodendrocytes in the CNS. Attempts have been made to identify the functions of the myelin-associated inhibitory proteins (MAIPs) after axonal lesion or in neurodegeneration. However, the developmental roles of some of these proteins and their receptors remain elusive. Recent studies indicate that NgR1 and the recently discovered receptor PirB restrict cortical synaptic plasticity. However, the putative factors that trigger these effects are unknown. Since Nogo-A is mostly associated with the endoplasmic reticulum and MAG appears late during development, the putative participation of OMgp should be considered. Here we examine the pattern of development of OMgp immunoreactive elements during mouse telencephalic development. OMgp immunoreactivity in the developing cortex follows the establishment of the thalamo-cortical barrel-field. At cellular level, we located OMgp neuronal membranes in dendrites and axons as well as in brain synaptosome fractions and axon varicosities. Lastly, the analysis of the barrel-field in OMgp-deficient mice revealed that although thalamo-cortical connections were formed, their targeting in layer IV was altered and numerous axons ectopically invaded layer II-III. Our data support the idea that early-expressed MAIPs play an active role during development and point to OMgp participating in thalamo-cortical connections.

Point sampling with uniformly distributed lines

In this paper we address the problem of extracting representative point samples from polygonal models. The goal of such a sampling algorithm is to find points that are evenly distributed. We propose star-discrepancy as a measure for sampling quality and propose new sampling methods based on global line distributions. We investigate several line generation algorithms including an efficient hardware-based sampling method. Our method contributes to the area of point-based graphics by extracting points that are more evenly distributed than by sampling with current algorithms

Splat-based surface reconstruction from defect-laden point sets

We introduce a method for surface reconstruction from point sets that is able to cope with noise and outliers. First, a splat-based representation is computed from the point set. A robust local 3D RANSAC-based procedure is used to filter the point set for outliers, then a local jet surface - a low-degree surface approximation - is fitted to the inliers. Second, we extract the reconstructed surface in the form of a surface triangle mesh through Delaunay refinement. The Delaunay refinement meshing approach requires computing intersections between line segment queries and the surface to be meshed. In the present case, intersection queries are solved from the set of splats through a 1D RANSAC procedure

Optimal latent period in a bacteriophage population model structured by infection-age

We study the lysis timing of a bacteriophage population by means of a continuously infection-age-structured population dynamics model. The features of the model are the infection process of bacteria, the death process, and the lysis process which means the replication of bacteriophage viruses inside bacteria and the destruction of them. The time till lysis (or latent period) is assumed to have an arbitrary distribution. We have carried out an optimization procedure, and we have found that the latent period corresponding to maximal fitness (i.e. maximal growth rate of the bacteriophage population) is of fixed length. We also study the dependence of the optimal latent period on the amount of susceptible bacteria and the number of virions released by a single infection. Finally, the evolutionarily stable strategy of the latent period is also determined as a fixed period taking into account that super-infections are not considered