High and low frequency transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation inhibits nociceptive responses induced by CO2 laser stimulation in humans

The aim of the study was to evaluate the effects of transcutaneous electric nerve stimulation (TENS) on CO(2) laser evoked potentials (LEPs) in 16 normal subjects. The volar side of the forearm was stimulated by 10 Hz TENS in eight subjects and by 100 Hz TENS in the remainder; the skin of the forearm was stimulated by CO(2) laser and the LEPs were recorded in basal conditions and soon after and 15 min after TENS. Both low and high frequency TENS significantly reduced the subjective rating of heat stimuli and the LEPs amplitude, although high frequency TENS appeared more efficacious. TENS seemed to exert a mild inhibition of the perception and processing of pain induced by laser Adelta fibres activation; the implications of these effects in the clinical employment of TENS remain to be clarified.     

Employing a systematic approach to biobanking and analyzing clinical and genetic data for advancing COVID-19 research

Within the GEN-COVID Multicenter Study, biospecimens from more than 1000 SARS-CoV-2 positive individuals have thus far been collected in the GEN-COVID Biobank (GCB). Sample types include whole blood, plasma, serum, leukocytes, and DNA. The GCB links samples to detailed clinical data available in the GEN-COVID Patient Registry (GCPR). It includes hospitalized patients (74.25%), broken down into intubated, treated by CPAP-biPAP, treated with O₂ supplementation, and without respiratory support (9.5%, 18.4%, 31.55% and 14.8, respectively); and non-hospitalized subjects (25.75%), either pauci- or asymptomatic. More than 150 clinical patient-level data fields have been collected and binarized for further statistics according to the organs/systems primarily affected by COVID-19: heart, liver, pancreas, kidney, chemosensors, innate or adaptive immunity, and clotting system. Hierarchical clustering analysis identified five main clinical categories: (1) severe multisystemic failure with either thromboembolic or pancreatic variant; (2) cytokine storm type, either severe with liver involvement or moderate; (3) moderate heart type, either with or without liver damage; (4) moderate multisystemic involvement, either with or without liver damage; (5) mild, either with or without hyposmia. GCB and GCPR are further linked to the GCGDR, which includes data from whole-exome sequencing and high-density SNP genotyping. The data are available for sharing through the Network for Italian Genomes, found within the COVID-19 dedicated section. The study objective is to systematize this comprehensive data collection and begin identifying multi-organ involvement in COVID-19, defining genetic parameters for infection susceptibility within the population, and mapping genetically COVID-19 severity and clinical complexity among patients.Subject terms: Genetics research, Viral infection     

Operant conditioning studies of taste discrimination in the pigeon (Columba livia)

In the conditioning procedure employed in this study, pigeons were trained to dip their bills into a container and then to peck either at a left or at a right key, depending on whether the container was full of distilled water or of a solution of the substance being tested. The discrimination thresholds found (from one bird each) were 2 g/l (0.034 M) for NaCl, 2 g/l (0.024 M) for NaHCO₃, 1 g/l (0.013 M) for KCl, 0.5 g/l (0.005 M) for KHCO₃. Following the same procedure, two birds were then faced with the choice between the solution of the known substance and of a novel one. A higher degree of discrimination was found between NaHCO₃ and KHCO₃ than between NaHCO₃ and NaCl; in the latter case, choices appeared to be mostly based on the concentration of the two substances.     

Morphometric and histological evaluation of uterine leiomyomas treated with GnRH agonists or progestational agents

Both gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH agonists) and progestational agents are commonly used in order to reduce the size of uterine leiomyomas before surgery. So far, little is known about the histologic changes underlying such shrinkage mechanism. Probably the conflicting data on this subject are due to the qualitative and subjective methods used by most previous reports. In this study we analyzed 42 leiomyomas from patients treated with GnRH agonists (14 different patient samples), patients treated with progestational agents (14 different patient samples) and age-matched control patients (14 different patient samples), using qualitative (light microscope analysis) and quantitative (morphometric analysis by a specific software) methods. We assessed the following parameters: areas of necrosis, areas of hyalinization, vasal density, vasal thrombi, thickness of vasal walls, size of vasal lumina, cell density, maximum nuclear diameter, maximum cytoplasmic diameter, mitotic index on each sample. The analysis showed that leiomyomas from women treated with GnRH agonist exhibited broader areas of necrosis, greater cell density, and wider vasal lumina, while those from women treated with progestational agents exhibited thicker vasal walls than the other two groups, respectively. In conclusion, our results suggest that vasal wall changes are the basis of leiomyomas shrinkage after GnRH agonist therapy.     

Antigenic sites of poliovirus type 3 eliciting IgA monoclonal antibodies in orally immunized mice

A panel of neutralizing IgA monoclonal antibodies was produced from mice orally inoculated with poliovirus type 3 Sabin and cholera toxin as adjuvant. Low levels of neutralizing antibodies were elicited in mice after several boosts, but only in the presence of cholera toxin. Characterization of IgA MAbs by neutralization-escape virus mutants showed that all but one neutralizing MAbs against type 3 poliovirus were directed to antigenic site N-AgIII, which was previously found by us to be the major target of mucosal immune response to Sabin 1 in the mouse. Our data indicate that residue 236 of VP3, not previously reported, is also involved in forming site N-AgIII in addition to formerly described VP3 (aa 58-59) and VP1 (aa 286-290) residues. Unlike poliovirus type 1 IgA MAbs, all IgA MAbs herein described neutralized the wild-type parental poliovirus.     

The Pap test in HIV-positive women]

The aim of this work was to estimate the frequency of abnormal Papanicolau (Pap) smears in a group of HIV-infected women undergoing cervical screening. We re-examined 162 Pap smears from 118 patients infected with HIV. The patients were aged 23-55 years. A total of 108 smears (66.6%) from 80 patients were negative; 14 smears (8.6%) from 14 patients showed inflammation; 3 smears (1.8%) from 3 patients had atypical squamous cells of undetermined significance (ASCUS); 20 smears (13.5%) from 16 patients were abnormal for human papillomavirus (HPV); 13 smears (8.0%) from 9 patients revealed low-grade, squamous intraepithelial lesions; 10 smears (6.2%) from 7 patients were SIL-HG; the diagnosis of carcinoma was made in 3 cases (1.8%) and 2 smears from 2 patients were unsatisfactory. HIV-infected women have an increased rate of abnormal Pap smears for both HPV infections and cervical dysplasia. These results confirm the validity of cervical screening by Pap test.