Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1981. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ENGINEERING. / Vita. / Bibliography: leaves 109-112. / by Christopher Rose. / M.S.

Introduction. Painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) is a common complication of diabetes that interferes with daily living and causes severe pain. Pharmacotherapy is the accepted treatment strategy, however, this strategy is associated with high cost, minimal reductions in pain, and adverse side effects. Thus, a critical need exists to develop alternative treatment strategies. Purpose. To determine if a 12-week whole-body vibration (WBV) intervention reduces pain in adults with DPN. Methods. Twenty-one adults with physician confirmed painful DPN volunteered to take part in a 26-week time series design study. Pain was assessed with the Brief Pain Inventory Short Form [BPI-sf] and a 0-10 numeric rating scale [NRS]. The BPI-sf contains two indices that respectively measure how pain interferes with daily living and severity. The intervention began after a 12-week control period. At week 13, participants were asked to stand on a WBV machine 3 d/week for 4, 3-min bouts at 30-50 Hz with 1-min rest intervals between bouts. Pain levels were reported using the NRS before and after each bout. Results. Comparing post- to pre-intervention, BPI-sf pain interference scores decreased from 5.61±1.40 to 2.39±1.82 (p≤0.001). BPI-sf pain severity scores decreased from 5.1±0.64 to 3.1±1.87 (p≤0.01). Analyses of the NRS scores indicate that pain decreased each week following WBV and that between weeks, pain continued to decrease. Conclusion. These findings demonstrate that whole-body vibration was effective at reducing pain in a sample of adults with painful DPN. / Graduation date: 2012

Diss. (sammanfattning) Stockholm : Karol inst., 2004. / Härtill 4 uppsatser.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Michigan, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references.

by Zsolt Laszlo Kovacs. / Bibliography: p. 175-184. / Originally presented as the author's thesis, (Ph.D.) in the M.I.T. Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1977. Partial support provided by the Funda? de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de S?Paulo, Brazil and by the National Science Foundation Grant no. NSF/ENG-7705200.

Orientador: Érika Veruska de Paiva Ortolan / Coorientador: Trajano Sardenberg / Banca: Evandro Pereira Palácio / Banca: Gilberto José Cação Pereira / Resumo: Introdução - Há diversas técnicas cirúrgicas para o tratamento dos neuromas doloridos, porém não há consenso em relação a mais eficaz. A implantação do neuroma ou do nervo dentro do osso é uma das cirurgias que proporciona bons resultados clínicos. Contudo, não há conhecimento detalhado sobre o destino do nervo ou neuroma implantado no osso. Objetivos - Os objetivos do estudo foram desenvolver modelo experimental de implantação de nervo no osso e analisar morfologicamente o destino no nervo implantado no osso. Material e Métodos - 24 ratos foram submetidos à implantação do nervo tibial caudal no terço distal do fêmur e estudados histológicamente nos períodos de 1, 3, 6, 13, 24 e 28 semanas por meio de microscopia ótica. Conclusões - Análise das imagens demonstrou que a implantação do nervo no osso desencadeia processo inflamatório que evolui da fase aguda para integração nervo-osso, sem formação de neuroma / Abstract: Introduction - There are several surgical techniques for treatment of painful amputation neuroma. However no consensus has already been reached on the most effective treatment. Burying the neuroma or the nerve in the bone is one of the surgeries which provides good clinical findings. However, there is no deep knowledge of what happens to the nerve or buried neuroma in the bone. Objectives - The objectives of this study were to develop an experimental model of this surgical technique and to morphologically analyze the destiny of the implanted nerve in the bone. Materials and Methods - A total of 24 four rats underwent implantation of the caudal tibial nerve in the distal third of the femur. They were histologically studied in the periods of 1, 3, 6, 13, 24 and 28 weeks by optical microscopy. Conclusion - The analyses of the images showed that implantation of the nerve in the bone triggers an inflammatory response which evolves from the acute phase to the nerve-bone integration with no formation of neuroma / Mestre

Made available in DSpace on 2015-12-10T14:23:00Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2015-02-20. Added 1 bitstream(s) on 2015-12-10T14:29:15Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 000847943.pdf: 798739 bytes, checksum: f53b118e7c183c9c7d1e749a4ec9955a (MD5) / Introdução - Há diversas técnicas cirúrgicas para o tratamento dos neuromas doloridos, porém não há consenso em relação a mais eficaz. A implantação do neuroma ou do nervo dentro do osso é uma das cirurgias que proporciona bons resultados clínicos. Contudo, não há conhecimento detalhado sobre o destino do nervo ou neuroma implantado no osso. Objetivos - Os objetivos do estudo foram desenvolver modelo experimental de implantação de nervo no osso e analisar morfologicamente o destino no nervo implantado no osso. Material e Métodos - 24 ratos foram submetidos à implantação do nervo tibial caudal no terço distal do fêmur e estudados histológicamente nos períodos de 1, 3, 6, 13, 24 e 28 semanas por meio de microscopia ótica. Conclusões - Análise das imagens demonstrou que a implantação do nervo no osso desencadeia processo inflamatório que evolui da fase aguda para integração nervo-osso, sem formação de neuroma / Introduction - There are several surgical techniques for treatment of painful amputation neuroma. However no consensus has already been reached on the most effective treatment. Burying the neuroma or the nerve in the bone is one of the surgeries which provides good clinical findings. However, there is no deep knowledge of what happens to the nerve or buried neuroma in the bone. Objectives - The objectives of this study were to develop an experimental model of this surgical technique and to morphologically analyze the destiny of the implanted nerve in the bone. Materials and Methods - A total of 24 four rats underwent implantation of the caudal tibial nerve in the distal third of the femur. They were histologically studied in the periods of 1, 3, 6, 13, 24 and 28 weeks by optical microscopy. Conclusion - The analyses of the images showed that implantation of the nerve in the bone triggers an inflammatory response which evolves from the acute phase to the nerve-bone integration with no formation of neuroma

This document only includes an excerpt of the corresponding thesis or dissertation. To request a digital scan of the full text, please contact the Ruth Lilly Medical Library's Interlibrary Loan Department (rlmlill@iu.edu).

Microtubule targeting agents (MTAs) are chemotherapeutics commonly used in the treatment of breast, ovarian, lung, and lymphoma cancers. There are two main classes of MTAs based upon their effects on microtubule stability. The two classes are the destabilizing agents, which include the drug vincristine, and the stabilizing agents, which include paclitaxel and epothilone B. These drugs are highly effective antineoplastics, but their use is often accompanied by several side effects, one of which is peripheral neuropathy. Peripheral neuropathy can be characterized by burning pain, tingling, loss of proprioception, or numbness in the hands and feet. In some patients, the MTA-induced peripheral neuropathy is debilitating and dose-limiting; however, there are no effective prevention strategies or treatment options for peripheral neuropathy as the mechanisms mediating this side effect are unknown. The goal of this work was to investigate MTA-induced effects on neuronal activity and morphology in order to elucidate the underlying mechanisms involved in the development of MTA-induced peripheral neuropathy. As an indicator of sensory neuronal activity, the basal and stimulated release of the putative nociceptive peptide, calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), was measured from sensory neurons in culture after exposure to the MTAs paclitaxel, epothilone B, and vincristine. Neurite length and branching were also measured in sensory neuronal cultures after treatment with these MTAs. The results described in this thesis demonstrate that MTAs alter the stimulated release of CGRP from sensory neurons in differential ways depending on the MTA agent employed, the CGRP evoking-stimulus used, the concentration of the MTA agent, the duration of exposure to the MTA agent, and the presence of NGF. It was also observed that MTA agents decrease neurite length and branching, independent of the concentration of NGF in the culture media. Thus, this thesis describes MTA-induced alterations of sensory neuronal sensitivity and neurite morphology and begins to elucidate the underlying mechanisms involved in MTA-induced alterations of sensory neurons. These findings will undoubtedly be used to help elucidate the mechanisms underlying MTA-induced peripheral neuropathy.

Selective stimulation and conduction block of specific nerve fibers has been a major area of research in neuroscience. The potential clinical and neurophysiological applications have warranted reliable techniques for transiently blocking conduction through nerves. High Frequency Alternating Current (HFAC) waveforms have been found to induce a reversible and repeatable block in peripheral nerves; however the effect of these waveforms on the neural activity of individual fiber types is currently unknown. Understanding this effect is critical if clinical applications are to be pursued. This dissertation work utilized extracellular electrophysiological techniques to characterize the activity of different fiber type populations in peripheral nerves during application of HFAC waveforms. First, we investigated the phenomenon in the homogeneous unmyelinated nerves of the sea-slug, Aplysia californica. Although complete reversible block was demonstrated in these nerves, a non-monotonic relationship of block threshold to frequency was found which differed from previously published work in the field. We then investigated the effect of HFAC waveforms on amphibian mixed nerves and studied the response of specific fiber types by isolating different components of the compound action potential. We validated our results from the Aplysia nerves by determining the block thresholds of the larger diameter, myelinated A-fibers and comparing them with those of the smaller diameter, unmyelinated C-fibers. We also showed that block threshold behavior during application of the HFAC waveform depends on the nerve fiber type, and this property can be used to selectively block specific fiber types. Finally, we examined the recovery time after block induction in unmyelinated nerves and found that recovery from block was dependent on the duration of application of the HFAC waveform. The time-dependent distribution of the recovery time and the non-monotonic threshold behavior in the smaller diameter unmyelinated nerves indicate that multiple mechanisms are involved in block induction using HFAC waveforms, and these mechanisms are dependent not only on the blocking stimulus but also on the characteristics of the nerve fiber. Overall, this work demonstrates that HFAC waveforms may enable inherent peripheral nerve properties to be exploited for potential clinical applications related to the treatment of unwanted neural activity.