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Background Although it has been suggested that the different cultural and social environments between countries contribute to variations in pain catastrophizing (PC), an international comparison of PC in patients with chronic pain has not yet been reported. Prior to undertaking this comparison, a cross-cultural assessment of the pain catastrophizing scale (PCS) was undertaken to explore the different factor structures among each translated version of the PCS. Methods The protocol for this systematic review was prospectively registered on International Prospective Register of Systematic Reviews 2018 (CRD 42018086719). Electronic searches were conducted in the following databases: Ovid/Embase, Ovid/MEDLINE and Ovid/PsycINFO, and then 19 articles (16 language versions) were included in this review. Based on the COSMIN check list, we investigated language translation followed by five domains of cross-cultural validation: structural validity, internal consistency, test-retest reliability and hypotheses testing for construct validity in each study. Results We found that (a) there were inconsistent structural models among each translated version, leading to variant subdomain structures for rumination, magnification and helplessness; (b) all languages versions showed sufficient internal consistency when assessing whole items and (c) the correlation coefficients between pain intensities and total scores of the PCS among each sample of chronic pain varied across the studies. Conclusions These results indicate that the total score of the PCS could be compared across each translated version, however, caution is warranted when each subdomain of the PCS is compared between countries. Significance Although the pain catastrophizing scale has been translated into approximately 20 languages, methodological quality during their translation process has not been systematically assessed. We found that all languages versions showed sufficient internal consistency when assessing whole items, however, there were inconsistent structural models among each translated version, leading to variant subdomain structures for rumination, magnification and helplessness.

We report the case of a non‐cirrhotic 25‐year‐old female patient with cryptogenic portal hypertension who underwent cyanoacrylate injection for acute gastroesophageal variceal bleeding with a subsequent embolic stroke via a previously unrecognised portopulmonary venous anastomosis., We report the case of a noncirrhotic 25‐year‐old female patient with cryptogenic portal hypertension who underwent cyanoacrylate injection for acute gastroesophageal variceal bleeding with a subsequent embolic stroke via a previously unrecognized portopulmonary venous anastomosis.

Introduction In this study we assessed the test-retest reliability of a Rydel-Seiffer tuning fork and an electronic vibrameter with hand-held and fixed probes. Methods Fifty healthy volunteers were assessed twice in the upper and lower limb 15 minutes apart. Reliability was assessed by intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and standard error of measurement (SEM). The effect of stimulus parameters on vibration disappearance threshold (VDT) was assessed by analysis of variance. Results All 3 tools showed good reliability (ICCs = 0.65-0.95). Vibrameter recordings with the fixed probe showed high variability. The vibrameter was more sensitive in detecting body-site and age differences in vibration thresholds than the tuning fork. Significantly higher VDT was observed when higher starting amplitudes and slower rates of change were used. Discussion The hand-held vibrameter is a superior tool to monitor vibration sense. The stimulus amplitude and rate of change are important to control as they alter VDT. Muscle Nerve 59:229-235, 2019.

The present investigation has been performed to better characterize, in vitro, normal aponeurotic cells in comparison with dermal fibroblasts and with cells derived from Dupuytren's affected aponeuroses. Cells were cultured in monolayer and/or into three-dimensional collagen gels. Cell structure, adhesion, and spreading capability on different substrates, as well as integrin expression were investigated by light and electron microscopy and by flow cytometry. Cell-matrix interactions were also analyzed by gel retraction experiments in the presence, or absence, of RGD peptides and anti-integrin antibodies. Normal aponeurotic cells, compared with dermal fibroblasts, exhibited in vitro peculiar structural features, which were substantially maintained in Dupuytren's aponeurotic cells, irrespective of the substrate they were grown on. By contrast, the aponeurotic cell behavior was different in normal and diseased cells, these latter approaching that of dermal fibroblasts. Normal aponeurotic cells, in fact, were characterized by low efficiency in retracting the collagen gel, low alpha 2, alpha 1, and alpha 5 integrin subunit expression and low adhesion properties onto collagen and fibronectin, whereas cells isolated from the aponeuroses of Dupuytren's patients exhibited higher capability of retracting the collagen gel, increased adhesion properties toward collagen and fibronectin, and higher levels of integrin expression. No differences were observed between dermal fibroblasts from Dupuytren's patients or from normal subjects. These in vitro results are consistent with those previously obtained in situ, suggesting that palmar aponeurotic cells have a peculiar phenotype and that changes in cell-matrix interactions occur in Dupuytren's contracture. Moreover, by comparing data obtained from the retracted fibrotic cords and the still clinically unaffected aponeuroses of the same patients, it may be noted that Dupuytren's disease is not only confined to the clinically involved branches, but includes the whole aponeurosis of the affected hand.

Background: Human palmar aponeurosis can be affected by a fibrotic process whose aetiopathology is unknown. As the organization of that normal tissue has not been completely investigaged, the aim of the present study was to define the ultrastructure of the aponeurosis in order to better understand its biology and behaviour in pathology. Methods: Bioptic samples from normal subjects of different ages were analyses by optical and electron microscopy and by immunocytochemistry. Results: The aponeurotic branches consisted of thick, almost parallel collagen bundles containing columns of prominent cells, characterized by long cytoplasmic projections. Cells did not change in number and distribution with age and appeared longer and slighter in the old than in the young subjects. They exhibited plasma membrane almost completely decorated by pinocytic vesicles, intracytoplasmic bundles of thin filaments with zonal thickenings close to the cell membrane, and well-developed subcellular structures. Cells expressed smooth muscle cell α-actin, as revealed by immunostaining. The external surface of the plasma membrane was underlined by a discontinuous basement membrane–like structure and by a thick coat of interwoven filaments, highly positive to hyaluronan-recognizing antibodies. Immunocytochemical analyses revealed that collagen fibrils were positive for collagen types I, III, and VI and that elastin fiber composition was rather complex. Conclusions: Independently of the age, normal palmar aponeurotic cells show peculiar morphological features and peculiar cell-matrix interactions, very likely mediated by hyaluronan. These findings indicate that normal aponeurotic cells cannot be regarded as typical tenocytes and suggest the need for a better definition of their phenotype in order to understand their behaviour in pathological processes. © 1994 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

A variety of [Ru(CO)2L(η4enone)] complexes (L = phosphines, phosphites, and arsines, enone = (E)-4-phenylbut-3-en-2-one) have been synthesized. 1H-, 13C-, and 31P-NMR spectra are reported and the X-ray structures of two Ru complexes with L Ph3P(7), Et3P (10) and one Fe complex with L Ph3P (14) are presented. All three compounds crystallize in the same monoclinic space group P21/n with a = 10.575(2) A, b =9.213(2) A, and c = 27.608(5) A, β = 100.04(2)°, Z = 4 for 7, a = 10.276(3) A, b = 12.935(3) A, and c = 14.854(2) A, β = 96.96(2)°, Z = 4 for 10, and a = 10.492(2) A, b = 9.232(3) A, and c = 27.129(3) A, β = 98.67(2)°, Z = 4 for 14. The structures of the Ru complexes are compared with the Fe analogues. In the case of M Ru and L (EtO)3P, (MeO)3P, and (i-PrO)3P (9, 11, and 13, respectively) stereoisomers could be detected by 31P-NMR at room temperature, wich arise from rotation at the coordinated metal centre.

International audience; Sexual maturation in sea trout (Salmo lrutlo L.) running up the River Calonne (Normandy, France), at the finnock stage, is characterized. Autopsy of I18 finnock in summer showed that 87 ± 7 % aged 2+ and 33 ± 15% aged 1 + were undergoing gametogenesis. In autumn all the fish were maturing. The analysis of plasma levels of 11-ketotestosterone, 17β-0estradiol, maturational gonadotropin and vitellogenin showed that only females in vitellogenesis can be well identified in summer (plasma vitellogenin greater than 0.30 mg ml-1). The morphological recognition of females among 134 autumn finnock and the ELISA assay of plasma vitellogenin of 814 summer finnock, demonstrated that vitellogenic females represented 12 ±2%0 of the 1 + individuals and 46 ± 2% of 2+ fish captured during the 1985 run. The question of a possible relationship between the salinity tolerance ofjuvenile trout migrating towards the sea in the spring and their age on first migration in the river is discussed.

The synthesis of 36 [Fe(CO)2L1(η4-diene)], three [Fe(CO)2L1(η4-encne)], and five [Ru(CO)2L1(η4-diene)] complexes (L1 = Ph3P, Et3P, (EtO)3P, (MeO)3p, C6H11NC) by thermal, selective CO ligand displacement in the corresponding tricarbonyl precursor complexes is described. In a second step, photochemical CO displacement by another phosphorus ligand L2 leads to a new type of η4-diene complexes with a centre of chirality at the metal atom (Fe, Ru). 23 Fe and three Ru complexes of this type have been prepared and characterized. In the case of complexes with unsymmetrical dienes, racemic diastereoisomers are formed which can be separated by chromatographic methods. The molecular structures of [Fe(CO)(Ph3P)((MeO)3P)(buta-1,3-diene)] (52), [Fe(CO)(Ph3P)((MeO)3P)(isoprene)] (58) and [Fe(CO)(Et3P)(EtO)3P(hexa-2,4-dienal)] (62a) were determined by X-ray diffraction. All complexes were investigated by 13C-, 31P- and, in part, 1H-NMR spectroscopy. At low temperatures, conformational isomers (rotamers) can be differentiated which probably arise from ψ rotation at the coordinated metal centre.