Reduced Endocannabinoid Tone in Saliva of Chronic Orofacial Pain Patients

Background: the endocannabinoid system (ECS) participates in many physiological and pathological processes including pain generation, modulation, and sensation. Its involvement in chronic orofacial pain (OFP) in general, and the reflection of its involvement in OFP in salivary endocannabinoid (eCBs) levels in particular, has not been examined. Objectives: to evaluate the association between salivary (eCBs) levels and chronic OFP. Methods: salivary levels of 2 eCBs, anandamide (AEA), 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG), 2 endocannabinoid-like compoundsN-palmitoylethanolamine (PEA), N-oleoylethanolamine (OEA), and their endogenous precursor and breakdown product, arachidonic acid (AA), were analyzed using liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry in 83 chronic OFP patients and 43 pain-free controls. The chronic OFP patients were divided according to diagnosis into musculoskeletal, neurovascular/migraine, and neuropathic pain types. Results: chronic OFP patients had lower levels of OEA (p = 0.02) and 2-AG (p = 0.01). Analyzing specific pain types revealed lower levels of AEA and OEA in the neurovascular group (p = 0.04, 0.02, respectively), and 2-AG in the neuropathic group compared to controls (p = 0.05). No significant differences were found between the musculoskeletal pain group and controls. Higher pain intensity was accompanied by lower levels of AA (p = 0.028), in neuropathic group. Conclusions: lower levels of eCBs were found in the saliva of chronic OFP patients compared to controls, specifically those with neurovascular/migraine, and neuropathic pain. The detection of changes in salivary endocannabinoids levels related to OFP adds a new dimension to our understanding of OFP mechanisms, and may have diagnostic as well as therapeutic implications for pain.     

Approximate convexity and submonotonicity

It is shown that a locally Lipschitz function is approximately convex if, and only if, its Clarke subdifferential is a submonotone operator. Consequently, in finite dimensions, the class of locally Lipschitz approximately convex functions coincides with the class of lower-C¹ functions. Directional approximate convexity is introduced and shown to be a natural extension of the class of lower-C¹ functions in infinite dimensions. The following characterization is established: a multivalued operator is maximal cyclically submonotone if, and only if, it coincides with the Clarke subdifferential of a locally Lipschitz directionally approximately convex function, which is unique up to a constant. Furthermore, it is shown that in Asplund spaces, every regular function is generically approximately convex.     

On the continuity of the solution operator to the wave map system

We investigate the continuity properties of the solution operator to the wave map system from ? × ?ⁿ to a general nonflat target of arbitrary dimension, and we prove by an explicit class of counterexamples that this map is not uniformly continuous in the critical norms on any neighborhood of 0. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Spectral characteristics of non-collinear acousto-optic tunable filters

The bandpass width and the diffraction efficiency of a non-collinear acousto-optic tunable filter are considered as functions of the optical wavelength for fixed values of the direction of propagation of the optic wave, the length of the acousto-optic interaction and the power density of the controlling RF-signal. A comparison between the calculated and the experimentally measured spectral dependencies is discussed and illustrated from the viewpoint of practical application for a TeO₂ filter. It is shown that in the approximation used, satisfactory agreement can be achieved between the experimental and calculated dependencies.     

Synthesis of Amine Derivatives of the Polyhedral Borane Anion [B(20)H(18)](4)(-)

Ethylenediamine (en) reacts with the polyhedral borane anion [n-B(20)H(18)](2)(-), in the presence or absence of strong nonnucleophilic auxiliary bases, to produce the [ae-B(20)H(17)(en)](3)(-) anion. In either case, substitution is accompanied, to an approximately equal extent, by reduction of the starting material to form [a(2)()-B(20)H(18)](4)(-). As found with similar substituted systems derived from this 20-boron structure, [ae-B(20)H(17)(en)](3)(-) may be conveniently rearranged to the [a(2)()-B(20)H(17)(en)](3)(-) anion. A more convenient synthesis of the known [ae-B(20)H(17)NH(3)](3)(-) ion, which employs acetonitrile as the source of the NH(3) ligand instead of liquid ammonia, is also described.     

Thermal decomposition and kinetic data of Cd(BF4)2·6H2O

The thermal dehydration and decomposition of Cd(BF₄)₂·6H₂O were studied by means of DTA, TG, DSC and X-ray diffraction methods and the end products of the thermal decomposition were identified. The results of thermal analysis show that the compound is fused first, then it is dehydrated until Cd(BF₄)₂·3H₂O is obtained, which has not been described in the literature so far. The enthalpy of phase transition is H _ph.tr.=115.6 kJ mol^–1 Separation of the compound is difficult since it is highly hygroscopic. Then, dehydration and decomposition take place simultaneously until CdF₂ is obtained which is proved by X-ray diffraction. On further increasing the temperature, CdF₂ is oxidized to CdO and the characteristic curve assumes a linear character.Based on TG data, kinetic analyses were carried out separately for both parts of the curve: first until formation of the trihydrate and then — until formation of CdF₂. The formal kinetic parameters are as follows:for the first phase:E ^*=45.3 kJ mol^–1; rate equationF=^2/3; correlation coefficient 0.9858 for the second phase:E ^*=230.1 kJ mol^–1; rate equationF=(1–)^2/3[1-(1–)^1/3]^–1; correlation coefficient 0.9982.     

CO rebinding to protoheme: investigations of the proximal and distal contributions to the geminate rebinding barrier

The rebinding kinetics of CO to protoheme (FePPIX) in the presence and absence of a proximal imidazole ligand reveals the magnitude of the rebinding barrier associated with proximal histidine ligation. The ligation states of the heme under different solvent conditions are also investigated using both equilibrium and transient spectroscopy. In the absence of imidazole, a weak ligand (probably water) is bound on the proximal side of the FePPIX-CO adduct. When the heme is encapsulated in micelles of cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB), photolysis of FePPIX-CO induces a complicated set of proximal ligation changes. In contrast, the use of glycerol-water solutions leads to a simple two-state geminate kinetic response with rapid (10-100 ps) CO recombination and a geminate amplitude that can be controlled by adjusting the solvent viscosity. By comparing the rate of CO rebinding to protoheme in glycerol solution with and without a bound proximal imidazole ligand, we find the enthalpic contribution to the proximal rebinding barrier, H(p), to be 11 +/- 2 kJ/mol. Further comparison of the CO rebinding rate of the imidazole bound protoheme with the analogous rate in myoglobin (Mb) leads to a determination of the difference in their distal free energy barriers: DeltaG(D) approximately 12 +/- 1 kJ/mol. Estimates of the entropic contributions, due to the ligand accessible volumes in the distal pocket and the xenon-4 cavity of myoglobin ( approximately 3 kJ/mol), then lead to a distal pocket enthalpic barrier of H(D) approximately 9 +/- 2 kJ/mol. These results agree well with the predictions of a simple model and with previous independent room-temperature measurements of the enthalpic MbCO rebinding barrier (18 +/- 2 kJ/mol).     

Behavior of pure and mixed DPPC liposomes spread or adsorbed at the air-water interface

Liposomes from pure dipalmitoylphosphatidylcholine (DPPC) and mixed DPPC: distearoylphosphatidylcholine (DSPC): soybean lecithin (SL) prepared by the Bangham method with sonication were dispersed into solution or spread at the interface and the kinetics of the surface film formation was studied by measuring and recording the evolution of superficial tension, surface potential, and superficial (¹⁴C labeled) DPPC density.A simple theoretical approach can describe these kinetics by two processes: irreversible diffusion of closed vesicles into or from the bulk phase, and irrevers ible transformation of closed spherical vesicles into destroyed ones which form the surface film. Diffusion controls the phenomenon for small initial amounts of liposomes.Transformation controls the phenomenon for important initial amounts of liposomes. The kinetic constant of the transformation,K, does not depend on the technique used to form the surface film (spreading or adsorption).The equilibrium and rheological properties of surface films formed after liposome spreading are compared to those of monolayers