An analysis of the axon populations in the nerves to the pelvic viscera in the rat

The present study uses selective surgical ablations combined with electron microscopic analyses to determine the number of axons in yarious catagories in rat hypogastric, pelvic, and pudendal nerves, these being the nerves to the pelvic viscera in this animal. Unmyelinated fibers predominate in all of these nerves. One of the most significant findings is that the pelvic nerve contains almost as many postganglionic sympathetic fibers as the hypogastric nerve. Previous investigators thought that the pelvic nerve supplied the parasympathetic inflow and the hypogastric nerve the sympathetic inflow to the pelvic viscera. The finding that there is a sizable sympathetic component in the pelvic nerve negates this idea, at least for the rat, and presumably calls for a reevaluation of the syndromes that arise from pelvic as opposed to hypogastric nerve section. Other findings of interest are (1) that there are unmyelinated efferent axons in the pudendal nerve, indicating that the pudendal is not a typical somatic nerve, (2) that the hypogastric nerve has a very small sensory component, and (3) that there are fibers surviving in the distal stumps of all these nerves, particularly the pelvic and hypogastric nerves.     

Relationship between Habitual Intake of Vitamins and New-Onset Prediabetes/Diabetes after Acute Pancreatitis

Vitamins have many established roles in human health. However, the role of habitual dietary intake of vitamins in glucose homeostasis in individuals after acute pancreatitis (AP) is yet to be elucidated. The aim was to investigate the associations between habitual intake of fat- and water-soluble vitamins/vitamers and markers of glucose metabolism (fasting plasma glucose (FPG), homeostasis model assessment insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) index, and homeostasis model assessment β-cell function (HOMA-β)) in individuals after AP. A total of 106 participants after AP were included in this cross-sectional study and were grouped based on glycaemic status: new-onset prediabetes/diabetes after AP (NODAP), pre-existing prediabetes/type 2 diabetes (T2DM), and normoglycaemia after AP (NAP). Habitual intake of seven fat-soluble vitamins/vitamers and seven water-soluble vitamins were determined by the EPIC-Norfolk food frequency questionnaire. Multiple linear regression analyses were conducted using five statistical models built to adjust for covariates (age, sex, daily energy intake, visceral/subcutaneous fat volume ratio, smoking status, daily alcohol intake, aetiology of AP, number of AP episodes, cholecystectomy, and use of antidiabetic medications). In the NODAP group, three fat-soluble vitamins/vitamers (α-carotene, β-carotene, and total carotene) were significantly associated with HOMA-β. One water-soluble vitamin (vitamin B3) was also significantly associated with HOMA-β in the NODAP group. None of the studied vitamins were significantly associated with FPG or HOMA-IR in the NODAP group. Prospective longitudinal studies and randomised controlled trials are now warranted to investigate if the observed associations between vitamin/vitamer intake and NODAP are causal and to unveil the specific mechanisms underlying their involvement with NODAP.     

Therapeutic effect of prolonged hyperbaric oxygen in adjuvant arthritis of the rat

Development of adjuvant disease in the rat is suppressed if hyperbaric oxygen is administered within one day after the inoculation of an oil suspension of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and continued for 16 to 17 days. Although 10 to 40% of the rodents developed mild arthritis after discontinuance of therapy, most remained symptom-free for at least 50 days. Oxygen administered after arthritis is advanced still exerted a significant curative effect. Possible mechanisms underlying the therapeutic action of oxygen are discussed.     

The BOLD hemodynamic response in healthy aging

Several previous studies have compared the blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) hemodynamic response (HDR) in healthy elderly subjects to the HDR in young subjects. Some studies have found a relative decreased amplitude in the elderly in the visual cortex, whereas other studies have found the elderly HDR amplitude in the visual cortex to be nearly identical to that in young subjects. A possible explanation for the different findings is that the peak voxel HDR is similar between the groups, but that the HDR in the group-averaged region-of-interest (ROI) is "washed out" by the inclusion of less significant voxels (due to a smaller extent of activation in the elderly) or by the inclusion of negative-peaking voxels. We tested this hypothesis using event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI ). While undergoing fMRI, subjects performed a simple visual and motor task, pressing with their index fingers in response to visual presentation of the word tap. Data from 18 subjects, 8 young and 10 elderly, were analyzed. For each subject, a visual and a motor ROI was selected by choosing the most significant positive voxels within the anatomically defined ROI. This individual subject approach excluded both low-significance and negative-peaking voxels. Similar peaks were found for the elderly and the young subjects in both motor and visual regions and a more sustained BOLD response was found for the elderly in both regions. Additionally, as predicted, a greater percentage of voxels with a negative HDR was found for the elderly in the visual region; this finding was also replicated in our reanalysis of an independent fMRI and aging study from the fMRI Data Center. Functional neuroimaging observations of negative HDRs in visual areas have been interpreted as the effect of unconstrained processing during rest. Our results suggest that the elderly may have more unconstrained visual processing during the rest condition in the scanner. The observation that the group differences in the BOLD response are sensitive to voxel selection (e.g., inclusion of low-significance and/or negative voxels) underscores the importance of ROI selection criteria in the interpretation of fMRI studies using elderly populations.