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Background Diagnosis of lumbar facet joint disease is the sum of the combinations consisting of history, physical activity, and diagnostic imaging frequently including computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging scans. Prevalence of facet-based chronic low back pain is 15–45%. Intra-articular injections with corticosteroid or medial branch block are traditionally used prevalently in the management of chronic low back pain due to lumbar facet joints. However, the evidence levels of these procedures are at either a low or a medium level. Radiofrequency neurolysis of the lumbar medial branch can be used as an alternative in the management of lumbar facet joint pain. There are two types of radiofrequency applications for radiofrequency neurolysis as pulsed radiofrequency and conventional radiofrequency. Materials and Methods Patients with lumbar facet pain were separated into 2 groups. Group 1 (n=75): patients were given pulsed radiofrequency under fluoroscopy. Group 2 (n=43): patients were given conventional radiofrequency under fluoroscopy. Pre-op and post-op 1st, 3rd, and 6th month and 1st and 2nd year Visual Analogue Scale values of all patients were asked, recorded, and statistically compared. Visual Analogue Scale values of the groups in the same months were compared as well. At the end of the second year, Odom criteria of both groups were recorded and statistically compared. Results Preoperation Visual Analogue Scale values and postoperation 1st, 3rd, and 6th month and 1st and 2nd year Visual Analogue Scale values were compared in Group 1 and Group 2, and there was a statistically significant difference between preoperation Visual Analogue Scale values and postoperation 1st, 3rd, and 6th month and 1st and 2nd year Visual Analogue Scale values in both groups. However, the number of repetitions of the operation was higher in Group 1. In the comparison of Odom criteria for both groups at the end of the second year, it was observed that the patients in Group 2 were more satisfied with the treatment. Conclusion Conventional radiofrequency in patients with lumbar facet joint pain for medial branch neurolysis effectively decreases Visual Analogue Scale values in both short and long term. The quality of life and daily activities of patients were better at conventional radiofrequency.

One of common pathophysiological states associated with central nervous system is chronic cerebral hypoperfusion (CH) that frequently occurs in conditions such as vascular dementia and Alzheimer's disease. Long term blockage of angiotensin II type 1 (AT(1)) receptor provides protection from ischemia induced injury of brain as well as reduction of cerebrovascular inflammation. Examining effect of the blockage on reduced glutathione (GSH), ascorbic acid (AA), and lipid peroxidation were of purpose in the present study. Modeling CH, rats were subjected to permanent occlusion of common carotid arteries bilaterally. AT(1 )receptor antagonist, candesartan, was given daily for 14 days after surgery. CH caused a significant increase in lipid peroxidation and decrease in GSH content of cerebral hippocampal tissue with no change in AA level. Candesartan (0.5 mg/kg, oral) not only reduced lipid peroxidation but also restored GSH significantly besides elevating AA and improving histopathological alterations. In conclusion, long term AT(1 )receptor blockage may be considered as novel therapeutic approach for protection from damage associated with CH. Underlying mechanism(s) may in part be related to suppressing oxidative stress and preserving brain antioxidant capacity.

We present a calculation of the ground-state binding energy of an impurity magnetopolaron confined in a three-dimensional (3D) parabolic quantum dot potential, in the framework of a variational approach based on two successive canonical transformations. First, we apply a displaced-oscillator type unitary transformation to diagonalize the relevant Fröhlich Hamiltonian. Second, a single-mode squeezed-state transformation is introduced to deal with bilinear terms arising from the first transformation. Finally, the parameters of these transformations together with the parameters included in the electronic trial wavefunction are determined variationally to obtain the ground-state binding energy of an impurity magnetopolaron confined in a 3D parabolic quantum dot potential. Our approach has two advantages: first, the displaced-oscillator transformation allows one to obtain results valid for whole range of electronphonon coupling strength since it is a special combination of Lee-Low-Pines and Huybrechts (LLP-H) canonical transformations, and second, the later transformation improves all-coupling results. It has been shown that the effects of quadratic terms arising from the all-coupling approach are very important and should be taken into account in studying the size-dependent physical properties of nanostructured materials.

By the means of histopathological examination, we suggest that both agents are beneficial against necrotic and apoptotic cell death during steatosis. Thus, melatonin and quercetin might be beneficial in the improvement of hepatic steatosis by supporting conventional therapy in humans (Tab. 1, Fig. 5, Ref. 53).

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The study design was to decrease the damage of spinal cord on the experimentally induced acute spinal cord injury in rats. The objective of this study was to evaluate whether recombinant human erythropoietin (rHu-EPO) and methylprednisolone (MPSS) improve neurological function and histopathological changes if systemically administered after traumatic spinal cord injury. This study included 48 rats that underwent experimental SCI. Forty-eight animals were randomly divided into six groups. Animals constituted a moderate compression of 0.6 N that was produced by application of an aneurysm clip at level T3 for 1 min. rHu-EPO (1,000 and 3,000 U (Unit) per kg of body weight i.p.) and MPSS (30 mg/kg) were administered 5 min after injury, and control group was saline treated. (1) Control group (n=8), (2) MPSS group (n=8), (3) rHu-EPO 1,000 U group (n=8), (4) MPSS + rHu-EPO 1,000 U group (n=8), (5) rHu-EPO 3,000 U group (n=8), and (6) MPSS + rHu-EPO 3,000 U group (n=8). The neurological function and histopathology were evaluated at 24 and 72 h. According to the neurological functional test scores significant improvements between the control group and the other groups that had taken medical treatment were observed (P<0.001). Histopathologically severe ischemic findings were observed in the control group. A significant decrease in ischemic damage was detected in MPSS + rHu-EPO 3,000 U group (P<0.001). The most significant neurological functional and histopathological improvements were observed after systemical administration of MPSS + rHu-EPO 3,000 U and rHu-EPO 3,000 U. Furthermore, the MPSS + rHu-EPO 3,000 U group provides the most improved neurological functional and histopathological recovery.

To observe the effect of combining ellagic acid (EA), a natural phenol present in fruits and vegetables, and temozolomide (TMZ) on the proliferation and expression profile of C6 glioma cell line.MATERIAL and METHODS: Rat C6 glioma cells were treated with 100-µM EA combined with 100 µM TMZ for 24, 48, and 72 hours (h). Cell proliferation and p53 and caspase-3 protein levels were evaluated using immunocytochemistry. Multi drug resistance 1 (MDR1), O6-methylguanine-DNA methyltransferase (MGMT), and apoptotic protein (caspase-3 and p53) expressions were assessed using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR).RESULTS: EA combined with TMZ conspicuously reduced the cell viability at all incubation times (p<0.001). EA significantly downregulated MGMT expression regardless of the presence of TMZ even at early hours (p<0.001). The combination therapy reduced MDR1 expression only on 48 h in comparison with TMZ alone. EA alone upregulated caspase-3 at 48 h but upregulated p53 at 48 and 72 h. The combined therapy enhanced the immunoreactivities of p53 and caspase-3 proteins independent of the treatment durations but not of the genes.CONCLUSION: EA combined with TMZ may have a potential antiproliferative efficacy by inhibiting MGMT expression and activating apoptotic protein, p53 and caspase-3, expression.