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To examine the effectiveness of application of a static magnetic field (SMF) in reducing pain associated with frozen shoulder, a pathophysiological study of shoulder pain was performed using thermography and deep body thermometry in conjunction with the patients' subjective and objective symptoms. A total of 40 patients (18 men and 22 women; age range, 27 to 83 years; mean age, 57.3 years) with pain associated with frozen shoulder for a duration of 1 week to 36 years (mean, 7 years) were investigated. The subjective and objective symptoms were evaluated with inspection and palpation in conjunction with a visual analogue scale. Patients were randomly assigned to be exposed to active or dummy magnets in a doubleblind test. Active magnets [Ferrite Magnets (130 ± 10 mT, 15 mm in diameter and 7.2 mm in height)] were applied externally to the painful area. In other patients, dummy magnets (0 mT) were applied externally as a placebo. All patients wore 12 pieces of active or dummy magnets for 3 weeks, aft...

Intracellular free Ca2+, [Ca2+]i, levels were measured in platelets from stroke-prone spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRSP) and normotensive Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY) using fura-2AM. In the presence of extracellular Ca2+ (1 mM), [Ca2+]i levels in unstimulated platelets of 2- and 9-month-old SHRSP were both significantly higher than those of the age matched WKY. In the absence of extracellular Ca2+, the levels in platelets from 9-month-old SHRSP were also higher than any other groups examined. Receptor-linked Ca2+ influxes of old SHRSP were smaller when thrombin or collagen was given to the platelets. Phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (TPA) enhanced more prominently the Ca2+ influx into old SHRSP platelets than into old WKY platelets. These results strongly suggest that the Ca2+ permeability across plasma membrane is increased in young as well as old SHRSP platelets, where the resting [Ca2+]i level is highly sustained because of an impaired Ca2+ uptake mechanism and possible enhancement of protein kinase C activity.

To clarify the relationships between free calcium levels, ATP release and aggregation potencies of SHRSP platelets, we examined the platelets from 9-month-old SHRSP and WKY using fura-2AM and luciferine-luciferase. In the absence of extracellular Ca2+, each reagent elevated the free calcium level to the same extent in the samples of both SHRSP and WKY. With regard to ATP release, thrombin and collagen less potentiated the platelet action in SHRSP than WKY, and ATP release was not affected by extracellular Ca2+. Collagen and ADP induced aggregations showed lower activities in SHRSP than WKY. TPA caused higher Ca2+ influx and aggregation activity in SHRSP than WKY in the presence of extracellular Ca2+. These results indicate that Ca2+ release must be followed by ATP release, and ATP release may be less potentiated, while thrombin and TPA induced aggregation is likely to be stimulated in SHRSP platelets, because protein kinase C activity in SHRSP platelets appears to be high.