For the studied population, DRG stimulation at the L2-L3 levels was effective at relieving low back pain. These reductions in pain were associated with improvements in quality of life. Thus, DRG stimulation at these levels may be effective for low back pain by recruiting both segmental and nonsegmental neural pathways that are not otherwise accessible via traditional SCS.
A20 IIA1.6 B cells cotransfected with FcαR and wild-type γ-chain (wt-ITAM (immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motif)) or FcαR and γ-chain, in which the wt-ITAM was substituted with the FcγRIIA ITAM (IIA-ITAM), were used to investigate cell signaling events influencing presentation of FcαR-targeted exogenous Ag in the context of MHC class II. wt-ITAM cells presented FcαR-targeted OVA more efficiently than IIA-ITAM transfectants to OVA-specific T cell hybridomas. Phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI 3-kinase) inhibition abrogated Ag presentation, suggesting that FcαR may trigger a PI 3-kinase-dependent signal transduction pathway, and thus phosphatidylinositol-dependent protein kinase (PDK1) and protein kinase B α (PKBα) activation. Cross-linking FcαR on wt-ITAM or IIA-ITAM cells triggered equivalent PI 3-kinase-dependent activation of PKBα. Furthermore, FcαR cross-linking triggered recruitment of PDK1 and serine-phosphorylated PKBα to capped cell surface FcαR irrespective of the γ-chain ITAM. Although FcαR endocytosis was accompanied by translocation of PDK1 and phospho-PKBα to FcαR-containing vesicles in both transfectants, this was decreased in IIA-ITAM cells, and a significant proportion of PDK1 and PKBα remained at the plasma membrane. In wt-ITAM cells, PDK1 and serine-phosphorylated PKBα translocated to lysosomal-associated membrane glycoprotein 1- and cathepsin B-containing vesicles, consistent with MHC class II peptide-loading compartments (MIIC) described by other groups. Our data indicate that translocation of signal transduction mediators to MIIC-like compartments accompanies efficient presentation of receptor-targeted Ag, and suggest a mechanism connecting signaling to the Ag-processing pathway.
Our previous work demonstrated that the action encoding parietofrontal network, which is crucial in planning and executing motor tasks, is less active in prosthesis users who imitate movements of intact actors (mismatched limb) versus prosthesis users (matched limb). Such activation could have behavioral consequences in prosthesis users rehabilitating with intact therapists. The goal was to identify behavioral effects of matched versus mismatched limb action imitation in naïve users of prostheses. Intact subjects donned a specially adapted prosthetic device to simulate the wrist and forearm movement that transradial amputees experience. While electrogoniometry was recorded, non-amputated prosthesis users (NAPUs) observed and imitated demonstrations of a skillful motor task performed by either an intact actor or NAPU. We hypothesized that NAPUs would elicit less motion variability when performing matched versus mismatched imitation. Matched imitation resulted in a significant decrease in shoulder motion variability compared with mismatched imitation. The matched group also developed elbow motion patterns similar to the NAPU demonstrator, while the mismatched group attempted patterns similar to the intact demonstrator. This suggests a behavioral advantage to matched imitation when adapting to a prosthetic device, as it yielded more consistent movements and facilitated development of new motor patterns. Further, these results suggest that when prosthesis users are faced with the impossible task of imitating movements of an intact hand, they perform this action with greater variability and poorer technique. This work has implications on how prosthetic device operation is conveyed to persons with amputation as their clinical interactions often involve mismatched limb imitation.
We provide a detailed description of a new method for counting very low numbers of leukocytes present in platelet products. The method uses fluorescent staining of leukocyte DNA using propidium iodide and flow cytometry. The assay is accurate over a range of leukocyte concentrations from 0.1 to 10 WBC/microliter. We validated the method using specially designed dilution studies and applied it to the measurement of leukocyte content in leukocyte-depleted platelet products prepared by apheresis or filtration. This method should prove useful in studies which address the clinical impact of leukocyte-depleted platelet products.
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