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Exercise is known to improve cognitive functions and to induce neuroprotection. In this study we used a short-term, moderate intensity treadmill exercise protocol to investigate the effects of exercise on usual markers of hippocampal synaptic and structural plasticity, such as synapsin I (SYN), synaptophysin (SYP), neurofilaments (NF), microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP2), glutamate receptor subunits GluR1 and GluR2/3, brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP). Immunohistochemistry, Western blotting and real-time PCR were used. We also evaluated the number of cells positive for the proliferation marker 5-bromo-2-deoxyuridine (BrdU), the neurogenesis marker doublecortin (DCX) and the plasma corticosterone levels. Adult male Wistar rats were adapted to a treadmill and divided into 4 groups: sedentary (SED), 3-day exercise (EX3), 7-day exercise (EX7) and 15-day exercise (EX15). The protein changes detected were increased levels of NF68 and MAP2 at EX3, of SYN at EX7 and of GFAP at EX15, accompanied by a decreased level of GluR1 at EX3. Immunohistochemical findings revealed a similar pattern of changes. The real-time PCR analysis disclosed only an increase of MAP2 mRNA at EX7. We also observed an increased number of BrdU-positive cells and DCX-positive cells in the subgranular zone of the dentate gyrus at all time points and increased corticosterone levels at EX3 and EX7. These results reveal a positive effect of short-term, moderate treadmill exercise on hippocampal plasticity. This effect was in general independent of transcriptional processes and of BDNF upregulation, and occurred even in the presence of increased corticosterone levels.

Objective. To assess the efficacy of medial-wedge insoles in valgus knee osteoarthritis (OA). Methods. Thirty consecutive women with valgus-deformity knee OA >8 degrees were randomized into 2 groups: medial insole (insoles with 8-mm medial elevation at the rearfoot [n ‫؍‬ 16]) and neutral insole (similar insole without elevation [n ‫؍‬ 14]). Both groups also wore ankle supports. A blinded examiner assessed pain on movement, at rest, and at night with a visual analog scale (VAS), the Lequesne index, and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis (WOMAC) Index. Femorotibial, talocalcaneal, and talar tilt angles were evaluated at baseline and after 8 weeks of insole use. Results. Significant reductions in the medial insole group were observed for pain on movement (mean ؎ SD VAS pre-and postintervention 8.1 ؎ 1.5 versus 4.2 ؎ 2.4; P ‫؍‬ 0.001), at rest (5.1 ؎ 2.3 versus 2.7 ؎ 2.4; P ‫؍‬ 0.002), and at night (6.1 ؎ 2.7 versus 3.1 ؎ 2.1; P ‫؍‬ 0.001). In addition, a decrease in Lequesne (14.7 ؎ 3.4 versus 9.6 ؎ 3.8; P ‫؍‬ 0.001) and WOMAC scores (74.1 ؎ 14.2 versus 56.1 ؎ 14.9; P ‫؍‬ 0.001) was observed for the medial insole group. In the neutral insole group, a significant reduction was observed only for night pain (mean ؎ SD VAS pre-and postintervention 5.8 ؎ 2.4 versus 4.6 ؎ 2.4; P ‫؍‬ 0.019). An increase in femorotibial angle (169.0 ؎ 3.4 versus 170.8 ؎ 3.7; P ‫؍‬ 0.001) occurred only in the medial insole group. Moreover, the difference in measured femorotibial angles pre-and postintervention was 1.84 ؎ 1.42 versus ؊0.18 ؎ 0.67 (P < 0.001) for the medial and neutral insole groups. Conclusion. The use of medial-wedge insoles was highly effective in reducing pain at rest and on movement and promoted a functional improvement of valgus knee OA.

Ferreira AFB, Laurindo IMM, Rodrigues PT, Ferraz MB, Kowalski SC, Tanaka C. Brazilian version of the foot health status questionnaire (FHSQ-BR): cross-cultural adaptation and evaluation of measurement properties. Clinics. 2008;63(5):595-600. OBJECTIVE:To conduct a cross-cultural adaptation of the Foot Health Status Questionnaire into Brazilian-Portuguese and to assess its measurement properties. INTRODUCTION:This instrument is an outcome measure with �0 domains with scores ranging from 0-�00, worst to �est, rehis instrument is an outcome measure with �0 domains with scores ranging from 0-�00, worst to �est, respectively. The translated instrument will improve the examinations and foot care of rheumatoid arthritis patients. METHODS: The questions were translated, �ack-translated, evaluated �y a multidisciplinary committee and pre-tested (n = 40 rheumatoid arthritis su�jects). The new version was su�mitted to a field test (n = 65) to evaluate measurement properties such as test-retest relia�ility, internal consistency and construct validity. The Health Assessment Questionnaire, Numeric Rating Scale for foot pain and Sharp/van der Heijde scores for foot X-rays were used to test the construct validity. RESULTS: The cross-cultural adaptation was completed with minor wording adaptations from the original instrument. The evaluation of measurement properties showed high relia�ility with low variation coefficients �etween interviews. The α-Cron�ach coefficients varied from 0.468 to 0.855, while correlation to the Health Assessment Questionnaire and Numeric Rating Scale was statistically significant for five out of eight domains. DISCUSSION: Intra-and inter-o�server correlations showed high relia�ility. Internal consistency coefficients were high for all domains, revealing higher values for less su�jective domains. As for construct validity, each domain revealed correlations with a specific group of parameters according to what the domains intended to measure. CONCLUSION: The FHSQ was cross-culturally adapted, generating a relia�le, consistent, and valid instrument that is useful for evaluating foot health in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

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The aim of this study was to analyze the plastic effects of moderate exercise upon the motor cortex (M1 and M2 areas), cerebellum (Cb), and striatum (CPu) of the rat brain. This assessment was made by verifying the expression of AMPA-type glutamate receptor subunits (GluR1 and GluR2/3). We used adult Wistar rats, divided into 5 groups based on duration of exercise training, namely 3 days (EX3), 7 days (EX7), 15 days (EX15), 30 days (EX30), and sedentary (S). The exercised animals were subjected to a treadmill exercise protocol at the speed of the 10 meters/min for 40 min. After exercise, the brains were subjected to immunohistochemistry and immunoblotting to analyze changes of GluR1 and GluR2/3, and plasma corticosterone was measured by ELISA in order to verify potential stress induced by physical training. Overall, the results of immunohistochemistry and immunoblotting were similar and revealed that GluR subunits show distinct responses over the exercise periods and for the different structures analyzed. In general, there was increased expression of GluR subunits after longer exercise periods (such as EX30), although some opposite effects were seen after short periods of exercise (EX3). In a few cases, biphasic patterns with decreases and subsequent increases of GluR expression were seen and may represent the outcome of exercise-dependent, complex regulatory processes. The data show that the protocol used was able to promote plastic GluR changes during exercise, suggesting a specific involvement of these receptors in exercise-induced plasticity processes in the brain areas tested.

The plastic brain responses generated by the training with acrobatic exercise (AE) and with treadmill exercise (TE) may be different. We evaluated the protein expression of synapsin I (SYS), synaptophysin (SYP), microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP2) and neurofilaments (NF) by immunohistochemistry and Western blotting in the motor cortex, striatum and cerebellum of rats subjected to TE and AE. Young adult male Wistar rats were divided into 3 groups: sedentary (Sed) (n=15), TE (n=20) and AE (n=20). The rats were trained 3 days/week for 4 weeks on a treadmill at 0.6 km/h, 40 min/day (TE), or moved through a circuit of obstacles 5 times/day (AE). The rats from the TE group exhibited a significant increase of SYS and SYP in the motor cortex, of NF68, SYS and SYP in the striatum, and of MAP2, NF and SYS in the cerebellum, whereas NF was decreased in the motor cortex and the molecular layer of the cerebellar cortex. On the other hand, the rats from the AE group showed a significant increase of MAP2 and SYP in the motor cortex, of all four proteins in the striatum, and of SYS in the cerebellum. In conclusion, AE induced changes in the expression of synaptic and structural proteins mainly in the motor cortex and striatum, which may underlie part of the learning of complex motor tasks. TE, on the other hand, promoted more robust changes of structural proteins in all three regions, especially in the cerebellum, which is involved in learned and automatic tasks.

Physical exercise is known to enhance brain function in several aspects. We evaluated the acute effects of a moderate forced exercise protocol on synaptic proteins, namely synapsin I (SYN) and synaptophysin (SYP), and structural proteins (neurofilaments, NFs) in rat brain regions related to motor function and often affected by neurodegenerative disorders. Immunohistochemistry, Western blotting and real-time PCR were used to analyze the expression of those proteins after 3, 7 and 15days of exercise (EX3, EX7 and EX15). In the cerebellum, increase of SYN was observed at EX7 and EX15 and of NF68 at EX3. In the substantia nigra, increases of protein levels were observed for NF68 and NF160 at EX3. In the striatum, there was an increase of SYN at EX3 and EX7, of SYP at EX7 and of NF68 at EX3. In the cortex, decreased levels of NF68 and NF160 were observed at EX3, followed by an increase of NF68 at EX15. In the reticular formation, all NF proteins were increased at EX15. The mRNA data for each time-point and region also revealed significant exercise-related changes of SYN, SYP and NF expression. These results suggest that moderate physical exercise modulates synaptic and structural proteins in motor brain areas, which may play an important role in the exercise-dependent brain plasticity.