BackgroundTo overcome the current overexploitation of fish rich in n-3 long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LCPUFA), microalgae have become a promising marine lipid source. The purpose of this study was to assess eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA, 20:5n-3) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6n-3), isolated or combined from distinct marine origins, on the promotion of neuroprotective effects.MethodsThe experiment lasted for 10 weeks and involved 32 Wistar rats, divided into 4 diets (n = 8): a diet rich in milk fat was taken as control (Milk Fat) and compared to n-3 LCPUFA enriched diets, either in EPA + DHA form through fish oil (Fish Oil), or EPA through Nannochloropsis oil (Nanno), or DHA through Schizochytrium oil (Schyzo), while maintaining Milk Fat incorporation.ResultsPlasma lipid profile and dopamine levels were more beneficial in Fish Oil diet. In addition, n-3 LCPUFA incorporation was found increased in liver and erythrocytes from Fish Oil fed rats, suggesting that fish oil is a better dietary source for fatty acids deposition in the organism than microalgae. The Forced Swimming Test revealed a positive behavioural action of EPA + DHA, in opposition to Milk Fat and Nanno diets, which had higher immobile times. mRNA levels of serotonin receptors, HT1A and HT2A along with CREB, the transmission factor for learning and memory, were higher in the hippocampus of rats fed n-3 LCPUFA diets comparative to Milk Fat.ConclusionTaken together, the combination of EPA and DHA from fish oil can counteract the undesirable health effects of saturated fat based diets and benefit, in the long run, neurological function.
Anxiety contributes to postsurgical pain, and midazolam is frequently prescribed preoperatively. Conflicting results have been described concerning the impact of midazolam on pain. This study aims to evaluate the effect of systemic midazolam on pain after open inguinal hernia repair, clarifying its relationship with preoperative anxiety. A prospective observational cohort study was conducted in three Portuguese ambulatory units between September 2018 and March 2020. Variable doses of midazolam were administered. Postsurgical pain was evaluated up to three months after surgery. We enrolled 306 patients and analyzed 281 patients. The mean preoperative anxiety Numeric Rating Scale score was 4 (3) and the mean Surgical Fear Questionnaire score was 22 (16); the mean midazolam dose was 1.7 (1.1) mg with no correlation to preoperative anxiety scores. Pain ≥4 was present in 67% of patients 24 h after surgery and in 54% at seven days; at three months, 27% were classified as having chronic postsurgical pain. Preoperative anxiety correlated to pain severity at all time points. In multivariable regression, higher midazolam doses were associated with less pain during the first week, with no apparent effect on chronic pain. However, subgroup analyses uncovered an effect modification according to preoperative anxiety: the decrease in acute pain occurred in the low-anxiety patients with no effect on the high-anxiety group. Inversely, there was an increase in chronic postsurgical pain in the very anxious patients, without any effect on the low-anxiety group. Midazolam, generally used as an anxiolytic, might impact distinctively on pain depending on anxiety.
We thoroughly study the behavioural theory of epi, a π -calculus extended with polyadic synchronisation. We show that the natural contextual equivalence, barbed congruence, coincides with early bisimilarity, which is thus its co-inductive characterisation. Moreover, we relate early bisimilarity with the other usual notions, ground, late and open, obtaining a lattice of equivalence relations that clarifies the relationship among the "standard" bisimilarities. Furthermore, we apply the theory developed to obtain an expressiveness result: epi extended with key encryption primitives may be fully abstractly encoded in the original epi calculus. The proposed encoding is sound and complete with respect to barbed congruence; hence, cryptographic epi (crypto-epi) gets behavioural theory for free, which contrasts with other process languages with cryptographic constructs that usually require a big effort to develop such theory. Therefore, it is possible to use crypto-epi to analyse and to verify properties of security protocols using equational reasoning. To illustrate this claim, we prove compliance with symmetric and asymmetric cryptographic system laws, and the correctness of a protocol of secure message exchange.
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