Endocannabinoids (EC), particularly anandamide (AEA), released constitutively in pain pathways might be accountable for the inhibitory effect on nociceptors. Pathogenesis of neuropathic pain may reflect complex remodeling of the dorsal root ganglia (DRGs) and spinal cord EC system. Multiple pathways involved both in the biosynthesis and degradation of AEA have been suggested. We investigated th...

The inhibitory environment of the spinal cord and the intrinsic properties of neurons prevent regeneration of axons following CNS injury. However, both ascending and descending axons of the injured spinal cord have been shown to regenerate into grafts of embryonic neural progenitor cells (NPCs). Previous studies have shown that grafts composed of glial-restricted progenitors (GRPs) and neural-r...

BACKGROUND Somatostatin (SST) and some of its receptor subtypes have been implicated in pain signaling at the spinal level. In this study we have investigated the role of SST and its sst2A receptor (sst2A) in dorsal root ganglia (DRGs) and spinal cord. RESULTS SST and sst2A protein and sst2 transcript were found in both mouse and human DRGs, sst2A-immunoreactive (IR) cell bodies and processes...

The aim of the present study was to establish the origin and chemical phenotyping of neurons involved in skin innervation of the porcine hind leg. The dorsal root ganglia (DRGs) of the lumbar (L4-L6) and sacral (S1-S3) spinal nerves were visualized using the fluorescent tracer Fast Blue (FB). The morphometric analysis of FB-positive (FB+)neurons showed that in the L4, L5, S1 and S2 DRGs, the sm...

BACKGROUND Switzerland introduces a DRG (Diagnosis Related Groups) based system for hospital financing in 2012 in order to increase efficiency and transparency of Swiss health care. DRG-based hospital reimbursement is not simultaneously realized in all Swiss cantons and several cantons already implemented DRG-based financing irrespective of the national agenda, a setting that provides an opport...

BACKGROUND To determine the contribution of laboratory costs to the overall costs of managing hospital patients with different diseases, we studied the costs of laboratory testing overall and in relation to the other costs incurred during hospitalization. METHODS We used a database developed by the University HealthSystems Consortium containing >1 million patients in 60 University Hospitals w...

OBJECTIVE Acupuncture therapy effectively reduces post-surgical pain, but its mechanism of action remains unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate whether expression of γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) and the neuropeptides substance P (SP) and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) in the primary sensory neurons of cervical dorsal root ganglia (DRG) are involved in electroacupuncture (EA)-i...

Diagnosis-Related Group (DRG) systems across Europe are very heterogeneous, in particular because of different classification variables and algorithms as well as costing methodologies. But, given the challenge of increasing patient mobility within Europe, health systems are forced to incorporate a common patient classification language in order to compare and identify similar patients e.g. for ...

Context. The classification scheme for high redshift galaxies is complex at the present time, with simple colour selection criteria (i.e. EROs, IEROs, LBGs, DRGs, BzKs), resulting in ill-defined properties regarding stellar mass and star formation rate for these distant galaxies. Aims. The goal of this work is to investigate the properties of different classes of high-z galaxies, focusing in pa...

We present a study of the submillimeter (submm) emission of Distant Red Galaxies (DRGs). The DRGs are selected by the criterion J −K > 2.3, and are generally massive galaxies at redshifts higher than 2, with red rest-frame optical colors. Using a deep SCUBA submm image of a field centred on the cluster MS 1054−03, we obtain a statistical detection of the DRGs at redshift z = 2 − 3.5, with an av...