Impact Of Pregabalin Treatment On Synaptic Plasticity And Glial Reactivity During The Course Of Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an autoimmune and neurodegenerative disease that affects young adults. It is characterized by generating a chronic demyelinating autoimmune inflammation in the central nervous system. An experimental model for studying MS is the experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), induced by immunization with antigenic proteins from myelin. The present study investigated the evolution of EAE in pregabalin treated animals up to the remission phase. The results demonstrated a delay in the onset of the disease with statistical differences at the 10th and the 16th day after immunization. Additionally, the walking track test (CatWalk) was used to evaluate different parameters related to motor function. Although no difference between groups was obtained for the foot print pressure, the regularity index was improved post treatment, indicating a better motor coordination. The immunohistochemical analysis of putative synapse preservation and glial reactivity revealed that pregabalin treatment improved the overall morphology of the spinal cord. A preservation of circuits was depicted and the glial reaction was downregulated during the course of the disease. qRT-PCR data did not show immunomodulatory effects of pregabalin, indicating that the positive effects were restricted to the CNS environment. Overall, the present data indicate that pregabalin is efficient for reducing the seriousness of EAE, delaying its course as well as reducing synaptic loss and astroglial reaction.

Disarray Of Glomerular And Tubular Cell Adhesion Molecules In The Course Of Experimental Bothrops Moojeni Envenomation.

In this study, we show that administration of Bothrops moojeni venom in rats induces a general disturbance in the distribution and content of the tight junctional protein ZO-1, the cell-matrix receptor beta 1 integrin, the cytoskeletal proteins, vinculin and F-actin, and of the extracellular matrix component laminin in renal corpuscles and cortical nephron tubules. These findings suggest that cell-cell and cell-matrix adhesion proteins may be molecular targets in the B. moojeni-induced kidney injury.

Delivery Of A Urology Online Course Using Moodle Versus Didactic Lectures Methods.

To subjectively and objectively compare an accessible interactive electronic library using Moodle with lectures for urology teaching of medical students. Forty consecutive fourth-year medical students and one urology teacher were exposed to two teaching methods (4 weeks each) in the form of problem-based learning: - lectures and - student-centered group discussion based on Moodle (modular object-oriented dynamic learning environment) full time online delivered (24/7) with video surgeries, electronic urology cases and additional basic principles of the disease process. All 40 students completed the study. While 30% were moderately dissatisfied with their current knowledge base, online learning course delivery using Moodle was considered superior to the lectures by 86% of the students. The study found the following observations: (1) the increment in learning grades ranged from 7.0 to 9.7 for students in the online Moodle course compared to 4.0-9.6 to didactic lectures; (2) the self-reported student involvement in the online course was characterized as large by over 60%; (3) the teacher-student interaction was described as very frequent (50%) and moderately frequent (50%); and (4) more inquiries and requisitions by students as well as peer assisting were observed from the students using the Moodle platform. The Moodle platform is feasible and effective, enthusing medical students to learn, improving immersion in the urology clinical rotation and encouraging the spontaneous peer assisted learning. Future studies should expand objective evaluations of knowledge acquisition and retention.