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Abstract: Recently, alterations in fascial gliding‐like movement have been invoked as critical in the etiology of myofascial pain. Various methods have been attempted for the relief of this major and debilitating clinical problem. Paramount have been attempts to restore correct gliding between fascial layers and the movement over bone, joint, and muscular structures. One of the key elements that underlies such fascial movement is hyaluronan. However, until now, the precise content of hyaluronan within fasciae has been unknown. This study quantifies for the first time the hyaluronan content of human fascial samples obtained from a variety of anatomic sites. Here, we demonstrate that the average amount varies according to anatomic site, and according to the different kinds of sliding properties of the particular fascia. For example, the fascia lata has 35 μg of hyaluronan per gram of tissue, similar to that of the rectus sheath (29 μg g−1). However, the types of fascia adherent to muscle contain far less hyaluronan: 6 μg g−1 in the fascia overlying the trapezius and deltoid muscles. In the fascia that surrounds joints, the hyaluronan increases to 90 μg g−1, such as in the retinacula of the ankle, where greater degrees of movement occur. Surprisingly, no significant differences were detected at any site as a function of age or sex (P‐value > 0.05, t‐test) with the sole exception of the plantar fascia. This work can provide a better understanding of the role of hyaluronan in fascia. It will facilitate a better comprehension of the modulation of the hyaluronan‐rich layer that occurs in relation to the various conditions that affect fascia, and the diverse factors that underlie the attendant pathologies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Screening nanoparticle toxicity directly on cell culture can be a fast and cheap technique. Nevertheless, to obtain results in accordance with those observed in live animals, the conditions in which cells are cultivated should resemble the one encountered in live systems. Microfluidic devices offer the possibility to satisfy this requirement, in particular with endothelial cell lines, because they are capable to reproduce the flowing media and shear stress experienced by these cell lines in vivo. In this work, we exploit a microfluidic device to observe how human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC) viability changes when subject to a continuous flow of culture medium, in which spherical citrate-stabilized gold nanoparticles of different sizes and at varying doses are investigated. For comparison, the same experiments are also run in multiwells where the cells do not experience the shear stress induced by the flowing medium. We discuss the results considering the influence of mode of exposure and nanoparticle size (24 and 13 nm). We observed that gold nanoparticles show a lower toxicity under flow conditions with respect to static and the HUVEC viability decreases as the nanoparticle surface area per unit volume increases, regardless of size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unlabelled: Primary vesicoureteral reflux is a predisposing factor for urinary tract infections in children. The first-choice technique for the diagnosis of vesicoureteral reflux is voiding cystourethrography, followed by cystoscintigraphy; cystoscintigraphy, however, has the advantage of only minor irradiation of the patient, but it does not allow the morphological evaluation of bladder and vesicoureteral reflux grading. Colour-Doppler cystosonography with echocontrast is a recently introduced method for imaging vesicoureteral reflux. The aim of our study is to evaluate the role of colour-Doppler cystosonography with echocontrast in the diagnosis of vesicoureteral reflux. Twenty children (11M, 9F) aged between 0.4 and 4.9 y underwent colour-Doppler cystosonography using a diluted solution of Levovist (Schering, Germany), after filling up the bladder with saline. In all patients, vesicoureteral reflux diagnosis and grading had been performed previously by voiding cystourethrography within 5 d from ultrasonography. Our data showed high accuracy in the detection of medium to severe vesicoureteral reflux (grades III-V), confirmed by radiological features in 9/9 patients. Conversely, in the 11 patients with mild vesicoureteral reflux (grades I-II), this technique showed extremely low sensitivity, allowing diagnosis in only four cases.Conclusions: Colour-Doppler cystosonography, because of the absence of ionizing radiations, has great advantages, particularly in patients needing prolonged monitoring. Despite experiences reported in the literature, this technique has a role in the diagnosis of vesicoureteral reflux. Our group chooses colour-Doppler cystosonography for the follow-up of medium-severe grade vesicoureteral reflux already diagnosed by radiology and/or scintigraphy. Cystoscintigraphy is employed only to confirm cases resulting negative at ultrasonography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]